

In my experience the people in the back have their fingers in their ears and are going “lalalalalala”.
Go on go on go on go on go on
In my experience the people in the back have their fingers in their ears and are going “lalalalalala”.
Extra info you didn’t ask for but might help: the doctor gave me a sheet to record my BP for a week. Two readings in the morning, a few minutes apart, two readings in the afternoon, a few minutes apart. Once I’d done that he added and divided the results to get the average. Too high, so now I’m on meds.
I was a bit blasé about it at first - pfft, I feel fine! But he explained that high BP can cause a stroke. You can recover just fine from a heart attack, but a stroke can be devastating, if you even survive it. You will feel absolutely fine until suddenly you’re on the floor, unable to move one side of your body or speak coherently. Scared me into taking it seriously!
For example Caoimhe, pronounced Keeva.
I’ve been reading up on the front-runners for Pope and some of them are super old school illiberal. Though the fellow from Ghana does apparently concede that the laws on homosexuality in some African countries are a bit harsh.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/21/who-next-pope-francis-potential-candidates-succeed
Always always signal your intention. I heard a woman complaining that her new car had lane control, which forced her to indicate when changing lanes. “It’s so annoying, I mean it’s obvious I’m overtaking, I don’t need to indicate!”
Also, as a frequent pedestrian I appreciate when drivers and cyclists indicate and judge heavily when they don’t. So frustrating to be waiting to cross the road and someone turns without indicating.
Oh fantastic! My ancestors are mostly Scottish, I didn’t realise when I moved here to Scotland that I could just TAKE some land! Off to appropriate my next door neighbour’s back garden, they aren’t using it much. Next week: taking over the house my great great grandfather built. It’s by the beach!
You forgot about the Defenestration of Prague.
Shout-out to the nice Indian gentleman whose YouTube video walked me through disassembling an ancient laptop so I could add a bit of RAM. I ended with a few leftover screws and a rattle, but it worked! Still chuntering away (slowly, it’s geriatric) on Linux. I was amazed to find a video of the exact model.
The Guardian does an occasional feature called Flashback, where a celebrity recreates a childhood photo. It’s a bit of fun! You have my permission to go right ahead. A sense of humour is very attractive.
Twenty-one bum salute.
My (perfectly good) PC isn’t Win 11 compatible, so I can’t upgrade from 10. I’ve got Linux running on an old laptop so I’m thinking of installing it on my PC. Buuut a few years back I moved from Google Drive to OneDrive and so now I’m looking at Proton Drive instead. It’s all a big time soak, sigh. But worth it? I guess… The timing isn’t great either - I’ve got an exam in October that I need to study hard for and do practical prep as well, plus I have travel plans. It’s all a bit much. I’m too old to be this busy!
From the Guardian: "The export figures from Heard Island and McDonald Islands are even more perplexing. The territory does have a fishery but no buildings or human habitation whatsoever.
"Despite this, according to export data from the World Bank, the US imported US$1.4m (A$2.23m) of products from Heard Island and McDonald Islands in 2022, nearly all of which was “machinery and electrical” imports. It was not immediately clear what those goods were.
“In the five years prior, imports from Heard Island and McDonald Islands ranged from US$15,000 (A$24,000) to US$325,000 (A$518,000) per year.”
So my best guess is that someone is running some kind of money laundering scheme involving fictitious imports… I have no idea how this would work, but those figures are insane.
The Norfolk Island tariffs are also barking.
Words to watch out for are things like “attacked”, “bashed” or “slammed” instead of “criticised”; “forced” instead of “chose”, eg “company forced to cut jobs”; “muzzled” or “gagged” instead of perhaps “censored”. The implied violence charges the story emotionally, it’s the most common form of news manipulation. They’re trying to make you feel - usually fear or anger - rather than think.
Exactly. Everyone in Scotland knows what town former prime minister Gordon Brown lives in. Thanks to Google Maps, we know the exact address. It’s the only blurred-out house.
I tripped and fell over one time and the racket I made woke my dog up. He looked across at me lying on the floor, yawned and went back to sleep. “Still alive? Jolly good. Wake me again at dinnertime.”
Oh dear, I didn’t read them! Little England xenophobia at its finest.
That’s true actually - they are escalating pretty hard already.
As a long-term peacenik though, I hate the thought of gun battles on the streets. I wish you all the very best. I first visited the US in 1976 and have toured around a lot since then. My one single bad experience was Homeland Security when transiting through LAX. We’re tourists not terrorists, jeez cool your jets! I can’t imagine how bad ICE is.
I suspect your government would love it if you started shooting. They’d declare martial law. Goodbye elections, hello police state.
You’re obviously not from round here… (Gesturing vaguely at shuffling hordes of very plain people in my town. Self included. I fit right in.)
Seriously though, comparing yourself with strangers is a terrible idea. That said, if you do want to smarten up a bit, I’d suggest going to a menswear store and asking an assistant to assist. Explain your dilemma, ask them to help you put together one outfit, “smart casual” would be a good start. Good luck!