willedoo

Wrong link. I think I know what's happened here. The right click copy of the intended link didn't work and when the paste was done, the link from the scam thread was still on the clipboard. I get that problem a lot when I don't quite get the mouse pointer on the highlighted text before the right click/copy action.

Somewhere in that article it said the truth about putler's KGB career is probably halfway between the claims of top spy and administrative errand boy. It was certainly a very ordinary career. In his postings at St. Petersburg and later East Germany, his main work was keeping tabs on students and foreigners. He was possibly involved with programmes to recruit foreign students as that was all a part of it, but he was certainly no James Bond. That early photo of him in uniform shows him with the rank of Captain, but it's commonly said he retired as a Lt. Colonel. When the Soviet Union collapsed, putin quit the KGB and went back to his home town of St. Petersburg to work for the Mayor, who is said to be his mentor in getting into politics. After that he made the move to Moscow where he would have found it easy to brown nose the drunken fool Yeltsin to climb the political ladder. Yeltsin appointed putler as head of the FSB, the successor to the KGB, for about a year. A lot of people mistakenly say putin was the head of the KGB, but he was just an ordinary middle ranking officer there. But he did run the Russian Federation FSB for a short time.

I never would have picked Bill Wyman. Here's one from times past:

A skinnier version of Tim Brooke-Taylor.

The Kerch shipyard in Crimea has come under missile attack. The Russian MOD has said a ship was damaged, but no indication of which ship. The Ukrainians and some Russian sources are naming a missile carrying corvette as being hit, but no confirmation yet.

Looks like Eric Clapton.

This small concrete shed at Charleville airport in Queensland was a secure storage shed for Norden sights. When the B-17's were on the ground, the sights would be removed and kept in the shed under armed guard.

It's a growing trend where I live. The two major supermarkets are guilty of it in multiple stores around the district. Particularly in the last year or two; it's happening more and more all the time. Very frustrating practice.

It seems to me that Hamas launched the attacks to purposely get the type of Israeli response they are receiving. Taking into account Netanyahu is back in power, they would know this is exactly the reaction they would get from him. I think they are purposely sacrificing the people of Gaza to win the media/info war and finally turn the world completely against Israel. They don't give two hoots about their people. In an interview, one of the Hamas leaders was questioned why Hamas has built 500klm of underground tunnels for their military use, but not one civilian bomb shelter. His answer was that it's the U.N.'s job to look after the civilians.

I was watching the news on TV last night and a Victorian police spokesman was commenting on the mushroom poisoning case. He said there hasn't been another case, not only in Victoria but nation wide as well, that has generated this much public interest. I could name a few: Lindy Chamberlain, Peter Falconio, the Beaumont children, Donald Mackay. Edit: here's his original quote - "I cannot think of another investigation that has generated this level of media and public interest, not only here in Victoria but also nationally and internationally."

Basically, a twit has bought Twitter. As well as users, advertisers have left in droves since he took over. There's probably more than one reason for that, but I wonder how much it would be connected to Musk account-walling Twitter. Previously, non account holders could freely view Twitter content. They couldn't post or comment, but could certainly click on advertising, and advertising is what makes the money. I think Musk shot himself in the foot with that one. Since taking over Twitter, the real Musk has surfaced in his ludicrous tweets and antics, and people have started to doubt his mental stability. It also leaves open the question of whether the U.S. government will continue to trust him with the future of the country's space program. Also, from the Ukraine experience, the U.S. government has surely realised that Starlink cannot be relied upon to do the right thing in critical times of warfare. Unless Musk does an about face with his behaviour and attitude, I can see a future where the Pentagon and government start moving away from any reliance on companies he is involved in. It could be goodbye Comrade Musk, hello Boeing. Buying Twitter was a bad move for Musk in two ways. Firstly, he's totally incompetent at managing a social media platform and has thrown away billions in the process. Secondly, he has completely trashed his reputation. Before buying Twitter, a lot of people were dazzled by electric cars and space rockets. He had an almost cult following with millions thinking he was this really cool guy who made really cool stuff. Since Twitter, the bad Genie is out of the bottle and it's not pretty. Musk's problem is that he wants to use Twitter as his personal vehicle to spread his obnoxious politics and beliefs, but he still wants to be seen as that cool guy while doing so. Sorry Elon, it doesn't work like that; the two don't mix.

The politicians all like talking about a two state solution. I can't see that working unless they split the acreage 50/50, which the Israelis will never do. Both sides are always going to want more.

The rumours of putler dying a few days ago don't seem to be getting much traction. As far as the MSM coverage, I've only seen it referenced on a couple of Indian outlets and Sky. It all started with a claim he had a serious heart attack recently. The claim was made by the same dude that said putler fell down the stairs and crapped his pants a few months back. He's a Russian Telegram blogger and Youtuber who goes by the moniker of General SVR. He claims to have contacts in the Kremlin but none of his claims are ever verified or sourced. Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon has interviewed Russian political scientist and historian Valery Solovei on the subject. Solovei said putler is dead as a door nail and is in cold storage in his home at Valdai. Solovei's story is that putler was getting life prolonging cancer treatment from the Israelis until they stopped it due to putler transferring technology to Iran. Then came the heart attack a week ago culminating in putler croaking it last Thursday. Solovei has a history of spreading putin rumours that don't come true. Here's the Sky article about the claimed heart attack. Sky quotes a source who claims to have sources. This is what journalism has come to, running news articles based on people making unverified claims on social media. Also another link to a Business Insider article discussing General SVR at the time of the claim of putler crapping his duds. Who knows, General SVR could be an attention and click seeking blogger or could even be the FSB indulging in red herring psyops. Starting rumours of leaders dying or falling ill is supposed to be an old Soviet era KGB trick to identify those loyal or disloyal, and to find any potential coup plotters. https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/russian-president-vladimir-putin-suffers-cardiac-arrest-in-presidential-bedroom-an-insider-group-reveals/news-story/c02c8dff64dd79a4c8e53bec6ae8f3d8 https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-general-svr-telegram-account-seeding-wild-putin-stories-2022-12

I was reading where Gaza has a population over 2 million and it would fit into Kangaroo Island 12 times.

ome, as you say, anyone who knows your name knows what you're talking about.

There's been media headlines and stories about a mob storming a Russian airport looking for Jews arriving on a flight from Israel. It happened in the Muslim majority Republic of Dagestan in Russia, and it turns out it wasn't the flight from Israel. A later flight from Israel was diverted due to security. As usual, social media gets a bit carried away with it all. In some reports, they are using this photo to claim that the mob even searched inside the engine cowlings for Jews hiding. My bet is that the bloke has never been that close to a jet engine before and was just curious to see what it looked like inside.

When I visited Northern Ireland in the 80's, I noticed some of the females had an unusual combination of jet black hair and blue eyes.

The Vikings also had a permanent settlement in the Wirral and Merseyside area south of Liverpool. They initially settled in the land between the Mersey and Dee and spread out a bit from there. Starting in 902A.D., settlers were initially Norsemen driven out of Ireland, but were later joined by fellow Scandinavians from the Isle of Man, the Isles of Scotland and the Viking homelands of Norway and Denmark. Researchers did some DNA sampling of men from the area with surnames predating the industrial revolution and found 50% had Norse ancestry. There's a possibility I might be in that category. My great grandparents came from Shropshire, but the surname has it's history in Wirral. The brother had his DNA done so I might ask him. Neither of us have had an interest in rowing or pillaging, so maybe not.

Bad lisp you've got there Nev.

I think the behaviour and habits of ravens can vary with their environment. I assume there would be a big difference between urban and bush feeding practices. The ravens at my place don't seem to bother other bird species and most of the various species get on ok. I put that down to the fact that it's natural bush country and there's plenty of ground tucker available. There's a lot of insect life and thick leaf litter coverage that harbours plenty of creepy crawly critters. Then there's the cane toads. I wouldn't say the same for the local murder of Torresian crows. They're a bunch of total dickheads and no humans or other birds around here like them. For the last few months they have been carrying out very noisy raiding parties trying to expand territory and I suspect they harass other non crow species. Luckily the ravens are smarter and have used their brains to counter the aggressiveness of the Torresian crows. The photo below is typical of most of my place, so there's plenty of natural tucker to go round. I think it stops the need for a lot competition between bird species.

Bruce, the U.S. Senate doesn't have a speaker. He's the speaker of the lower house, the House of Representatives. Right-wing loony is fairly accurate. Another one of his is that banning abortion would help the economy because if all those babies had lived, they would add much needed workers to the workforce. Most people who are against abortion are so for moral and ethic reasons, but this bloke puts it in economic terms.

I've seen them in the airport at Bangkok with their arms full of duty free grog to take home. Mostly Arabs.

I thought Copper Naphthenate had been banned as carcinogenic, but I must have been thinking of something else as it's still used. There was something they used to use on the wooden trawlers in the slipway that was fairly bad for the health.

putler will be happy, he now has two leaders of EU/NATO countries in his pocket as good allies. The waste of oxygen PM of Hungary, Victor Orban, is a long time Kremlin supporter, and since the recent elections in Slovakia, the pro Kremlin party holds the reins of power. Orban and Slovakian PM Robert Fico have announced in advance they will not be supporting the allocation of a €50bn aid package to Ukraine from the EU fund. The EU budget update requires the support of all 27 EU members.

I saw another clip of an Israeli missile dropping a four story building in Gaza. The missile hit at street level right on the outer edge of the building and it pancaked straight down like a controlled demolition. A lot of them seem to do that. I think that apart from bad concrete and reinforcing, they must have terribly inadequate footings to drop like that. The flattening of the buildings seems out of proportion to the blast force of the missiles. Weak or barely existing footings is the only thing I can think of that would cause that effect. A hit like that on a normally constructed building would blow out a large chunk of the building but not drop it flat in one hit. Maybe they are using a specific bunker busting missile that penetrates deep and wrecks any footings.