Kow wrote:

I wasn't defending Spain at all...

Don't worry, I know. It just felt like it was all about to erupt into YAAAP. (Yet another argument about politics.)

Kow wrote:

Ceuta and Melilla are similar cases but worse is Perejil Island, which is a small rock 200 metres off the coast of Morocco, inhabited by a few goats. About 15 years ago Spain nearly got involved in a military clash over a perceived 'invasion' of this 'Spanish territory'. There was much flag waving.

He's not wrong. Ah, jingoism. Fuck it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perejil_Island_crisis

The Perejil Island crisis was a bloodless armed conflict between Spain and Morocco that took place on 11–20 July 2002. The incident took place over the small, uninhabited Perejil Island, when a squad of the Royal Moroccan Navy occupied it. [...] The island itself is unpopulated, only seldom visited by Moroccan shepherds.

Blue Swirl wrote:

Woh woh woh, lads. I just thought it was interesting. Hugs?

It’s all good - I wasn’t trying to write anything in a confrontational manner and I didn’t get the impression that Kow was either. Hard to tell tone on forums, though, curse of the internet innit.

It's definitely a big old subject, and I agree with Kow that the current settlers' feelings aren't the only consideration, I've made my feelings on democracy clear before, but it should be a very large one, as the feelings of the living should be placed above the feelings of the dead, the local above the remote, and the needs over the desires

It's a thing is never considered as a child because in the South of England it was never close to me, I became a bit obsessed when I saw the Berlin wall come down and then my teenage years were full of the breakup of the Eastern Bloc, Ceaucescu, Czechoslovakia, the Baltic States, and then obviously Yugoslavia which I ended up learning a lot more about. Definitely learnt there to empathise with the reasons why folk didn't want to move, what their attachments and motivations were

One of the biggest was their parents, even going back several generations. The fact that their great great grandfather was buried somewhere gave them (a sense of) ownership of that place. Not something I understood initially, having no family, but learnt to empathise. Then later living in Finland and hearing about the Russian annexation of Karjala and how Finland managed to repatriate so many of their people, despite the obvious loss to those families

Minnesänger wrote:

It’s all good - I wasn’t trying to write anything in a confrontational manner and I didn’t get the impression that Kow was either. Hard to tell tone on forums, though, curse of the internet innit.

I wagered it was that. I just got worried that it was about to blow up into a giant flame war.

Bitcoin now accounts for 0.25% of the world's energy use. Yesterday, Bitcoin used an an estimated 155 million terrawatt hours. That's the daily consumption of Bangladesh.

https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2020/05/27/satoshi-nakaboto-sp-500-outperformed-bitcoin-over-the-past-year/

In 2003, Aston Martin received the Queens Award for Enterprise for "outstanding contribution(s) to international trade". The company has gone bust seven times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aston_Martin

Like failing to get a degree seven times and then getting an award for contributions to academia.

I don't understand the world of business. I can see why Sony will sell a console at a loss, because they'll make the money back on the games. But why would you sell a car at a loss? It's not like Aston Martin sell you petrol as well.

Yeah, but the supermarkets call them loss leaders. Cheap stuff to get people through the door but then make up the loss on other stuff. It's not like you pick up a second car on your way out of the show room. Maybe they thought they would make up the losses on services?

Blue Swirl wrote:

cockbeard wrote:

Yet we let it happen, the supermarkets do the same

They sell some items at a loss. As Goober said, it gets customers into the shop, and then they make their profit on the rest of the stuff you buy. Same as console makers, the console is always sold at a loss - they make their money on the games. (Except Nintendo, I think. Their "use old tech in interesting ways" schtick means everything from the Wii forward has been sold at a profit. IIRC.)

GooberTheHat wrote:

Maybe they thought they would make up the losses on services?

Seems like a risky plan. "We'll make luxury cars that are so shit you have to bring them back for repairs all the time."

Absolutely. I'm sure it wasn't the plan, I just can't think what else it could have been.

During a 1979 attempt to become the first car to break the sound barrier, the United States Airforce measured the Budweiser Rocket's velocity at 38 mph. They had accidentally locked the radar onto a truck in the background.

My cpu can do a calculation before it's even thought about it, and all that after licking the road clean.

Ramesses II issued passport for international flight:

https://twitter.com/VictorOcampo/status/1304351074019467272

nick_md wrote:

Ramesses II issued passport for international flight:

https://twitter.com/VictorOcampo/status/1304351074019467272

Can't say that's a very 1970s looking passport. 1990s maybe. Looks like my first one (apart from the photo maybe)

Kow wrote:

nick_md wrote:

Ramesses II issued passport for international flight:

https://twitter.com/VictorOcampo/status/1304351074019467272

Can't say that's a very 1970s looking passport. 1990s maybe. Looks like my first one (apart from the photo maybe)

Yeah reading the comments and wiki, there are no actual images of the passport, but it's a QI story nonetheless and I enjoyed the mock up

There is an island in New York State called Just Room Enough Island. Because... well.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Room_Enough_Island