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From silence to noise in just a few moments... I suppose it could be frightening to begin with

Life changing indeed... The kid's completely overwhelmed with the sudden soud of everything around him, can imagine something like that will take a while to process and get used to...

Technology can be such a life changing thing... https://9gag.com/gag/aVwR4y2

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic + Knights of the Old Republic II. A great RPG, even if you don't like the movies or never watched them. The Godfather. A fantastic game that retells the entire first movie from the eyes of a new recruit.

I’m watching Cobra Kai

2 old guys slugging it out... Is this the best America can offer people

This post sounds like propaganda from the 70s, haha. "Leader of the free world"; such a cringy term, a relict of the Cold War and a patronising representation of "the west vs the rest" narrative. Those days are long gone, and nobody needs the president of the US (or any other country, really) to become a self-proclaimed global leader again and attempt to dictate the course of action to the rest of the world.

I know I should care less than I do. But I really can't help but feel the entire world would be so profoundly different under a more coherent president, and a generally more liberal United States. I feel the Covid outcomes throughout the entire western world would have been profoundly different if a US president operating in the role of leader of the free world had stood up, sent their people into China and grabbed the bull by the horns and led the world's response. Instead Barking Spider's "I don't want the numbers to look bad" stance dominated and everybody was behind the 8 ball.

Omg we have to get rid of these filters

To train speed you need to train strength and power. Heavy back squats, front squats, RDLs will get your glutes quads and hamstrings all strong, if you use a good program, you'll se very significant progress within 4 months. On top of that do a power day, back squats and conventional deadlifts at 50% load for low reps, at the highest explosive force possible.

Biden was being a regular bullshitting politician that was also interrupting and avoiding staying on topic when Trump actually made decent points about Biden Difference is that he didn't do it like an uncontrollable mess like Trump. The main win here for Biden was Trump shooting himself in the foot with his stance on race relations. Bernie should've won this whole thing but he definitely would've gotten into a shouting match... Tulsi Gabbard would've had both for lunch.

Love this one...

Mostly old stuff but these two spring to mind Alien: Isolation Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (really old school this one) Pick any of the older Star Wars games or try the new one which is a seriously good platformer/adventure game (Fallen Order)

I think at this point, America needs to handle its own various issues before dictating anything to the rest of the world. A pandemic’s epicentre, racial tensions constantly turning violent, and political and religious militias popping up as the country gets more divided... it doesn’t feel like the “leader of the free world,” at least not to the perspective of this English guy living in the US.

Combine this with you're either with us or against us mentality

Really enjoyed Season 1. Season 2, not so much, but still decent... Johnny is the best

Yes, superpowers flexing their muscles and using all sorts of influence to dictate the course of events around the globe has been happening for thousands of years and it's part of geopolitics, so I agree with you that it's an inevitable reality, sadly. I can also understand prefering one superpower over another, though as you duly noted in your last paragraph, that's also often questionable. It's not what grinded my gears though. It's the suggestion that the world actually NEEDS the president of the US to assume the role of "the leader of the free world" (lol) in order for the humanity to be saved and prosper, as if the rest of the world were a bunch of peasant hillbillies with no skill, knowledge and competence and needed the guidance of a benevolent figurehead from a glorious superpower to save them all. That's borderline Cold War rhetoric full of demagoguery that is condescending and, frankly, quite insulting to the rest of the world.

Yeah, usually he's a good moderator, but he took WAY too long to remind Trump that he is not abiding by the rules he agreed to...I think it was 75 minutes into it that the moderator said that? What a joke.

In the UK whilst there are multiple parties, in reality it's a two party system governed by the Civil Service. It's more about process and being seen to maintain a facade of democracy.

I mean, I was always able to separate the art from the artist, so it doesn't really bother me, especially considering that all that happened at least five decades ago and was, at least partially, a product of different time. Also his works are too good to miss... There's a TV adaptation coming up, by the way!

ha, cheers. I'm certainly not 'very' wealthy, but my wife, child, and I don't struggle. We also don't buy a lot of needless things and each of us keep some money aside for our things that we each want, and this is mine.

Copycat! I quite enjoyed that one, a decent story.

Decided to follow @nudge's route and will begin to tackle The Hugo Award Winners since it's inception. Couldn't find the first winner, The Demolished Man, at my library, so I bought a used copy online for a couple of bucks.

Weirdly, these are the words of a true Metallica fan

Yea, that was a bit weird but then what wasn't.. It was some real hippy LSD tripping going on in that episode for sure... Liked the way they did the 50's style sci-fi in it that was pretty cool though..

Because we've got all of these similar yet slightly different ethnicities that hate the fucking shit out of each other, because people are fucking stupid.

If this is in the wrong forum please be welcome to move it Admin/Mods Robots and magnetic soap: scientists rethink oil spill clean-ups © Photograph: Laura Morosoli/EPA Community-made floating barriers of straw and fabric to contain oil washing ashore off the south-east coast of Mauritius. Special sponges, magnetic soap and autonomous robots are among the latest wave of inventions aimed at tackling oil spills. Incidents such as the tanker stranding in Mauritius in August can devastate the environment and threaten communities who rely on the sea or tourism for their livelihoods. They often take months or years to clean up. Prof Vinayak Dravid and Vikas Nandwana, a PhD student, believe the humble sponge could be the key to fighting oil spillages in the oceans. “As long as fossil fuels are still in circulation, there will always be oil spills,” said Dravid. “We wanted to create a technology which can make cleaning oil spillages much easier and, more importantly, much cleaner and safer for the environment.” Dravid and Nanwana, both at Northwestern University, Illinois, have developed a sponge capable of selectively soaking up oil spills found in ocean water. The sponge has a coating of magnetic nanostructures and a carbon-based surface that attracts oil and resists water. It binds to the oil molecules, capturing and storing the oil until it is squeezed out, and can absorb more than 30 times its weight in oil. To mimic natural waves, the team put the sponge on a shaker submerged in water. Even after vigorous shaking, the sponge released less than 1% of the oil it had absorbed back into the water. “We are confident this sponge could help save the fauna and flora on Mauritius’s shores,” said Dravid. “Its biggest advantage is how the sponge can be made into balls to be left in an oil-laden sand or soil pit. The oil will get absorbed in days, and the sponge can be reused.” Last month three sailors died and one went missing after their tugboat capsized while clearing the Mauritius oil spill. In June, Russia declared a state of emergency after 20,000 tonnes of diesel fuel spilt from a power plant in Norilsk into the Ambarnaya River, a main connector to the Arctic Ocean. – A decade on from the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon spill in the US, oil production has now outstripped pre-accident levels, raising safety concerns within the Barking Spider administration. Nandwana likened the sponge to a Swiss army knife of the future. “This is a nanoscale solution to a gigaton problem,” he said. “The oil recovered from our sponges can be sold back to who is responsible for the spillage. We hope after an oil recovery the sponge can be recycled and burned into soot for use as an electrode for lithium-ion batteries.” Magnetic soap is another unusual option for cleaning up oil spills. Scientists from Bristol University have created a soap composed of dissolvable iron-rich salts, which responds to magnetic fields when placed in solution. It is hoped the soap could one day revolutionise industrial cleaning operations and environmental clean-up procedures. Prof Julian Eastoe, part of the team who developed the magnetic soap, hopes one day the soap may move into commercial usage. “The potential applications of magnetic surfactants are huge,” he said. “Their responsiveness to external stimuli allows a range of properties, such as their electrical conductivity, melting point, the size and shape, and how readily it dissolves in water, to be altered by a simple magnetic on and off switch.” Self-driving navigating robots may be another solution. Carlo Ratti, the director of the MIT Senseable City Lab, pioneered the Sea Swarm robot in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. “This technology was conceived to be deployed anywhere it was needed –– in oceans, rivers, or seas. It’s mostly useful in deltas and zigzagging coastlines where most of the other technologies fail,” Ratti said. “We all need to be accountable for the environment. Some accidents are still bound to occur, so we still need to develop mitigation or cleaning strategies.” The robot can hold up to 20 times its weight in oil. It works as a fleet or “swarm” of vehicles communicating their location through GPS. Each robot consists of a head covered by a layer of photovoltaic cells and a conveyor belt covered with tiny wires. The cells generate enough electricity to propel the vehicles forward for several weeks at a time. “As the head moves through the water, the conveyor belt constantly rotates and sucks up pollution,” Ratti said. “The nanowire-covered belt is then compressed to remove the oil. As the clean part of the belt comes out of the head, it immediately begins absorbing oil, making the collection process seamless. After each use, the fabric can be heated to remove the oil. Once the oil is removed, the nanowire mesh can be recycled again and again. In terms of end of life, they are trackable, so they can be collected and disposed of.” https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/robots-and-magnetic-soap-scientists-rethink-oil-spill-clean-ups/ar-BB19wxTR?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=mailsignout

It can be backed up relatively simply. Football as a spectacle was much better without all this shite.

Is that a @DeadLinesman doll he’s holding up?

I managed to get a table booked at a restaurant near the waters of Leith for family only seeing wee Kaiden could not have his Birthday party with his friends because of the Coronavirus regulations, me, the wife, son & daughter had a meal there in a corner all by ourselves, funny enough our son's Birthday was the same day as Kaiden's so the wee man was chuffed seeing his uncle Darren there, cost me a bit with presents etc but I could not give a shite, family enjoyment comes first.

When you're waiting all day for the Sun to go down till it's cool enough for walkies...

Tbf the last time that happened, half of America decided they needed a racist orange man who can’t read. And before that they shot the President in the head. And this debate is a shitshow.

Went for something different today... Yellow curry and roti.