Dr. Gonzo

I read an article that explained it… but I’m going to be honest, I didn’t really understand it @Eco & @Cicero might be able to explain it better - @Cicero’s explained American laws that I don’t understand to me in nice short definitions. But I’ll give explaining it a shot in the way I understand it. So in the 2000s, the prosecutors office had these allegations against Cosby but though they would be impossible to prove in criminal court. So to give the victim some kind of justice, they promised Cosby they wouldn’t go after him in criminal court. This apparently meant he could have to testify under oath in a non-criminal trial by the victim, so she could get some money out of Cosby at court. So in this civil trial, he gave testimony on how he drugged women to molest them. Then a new head prosecutor was in charge of criminal cases in that state. And they took Cosby to court for criminal proceedings and used his testimony where he admitted the crimes against him. So on appeal, I think what happened is they said Cosby was denied his right to not self-incriminate himself(?) by that initial promise to not be prosecuted for these crimes leading him to be truthful in court. It seems weird and doesn’t really make sense to me, but I think that’s what happened.

Good news, Donald Rumsfeld has died

I want Youri the most tbh. But it’s an unrealistically expensive option

The Hancock memes I've seen today have all been absolutely hilarious. He should resign ASAP, but he's a shameless twat so there's no way he will.

So apparently we're not longer in for Neuhaus as our Gini replacement. The names Neil Jones have given are: McGinn, Bissouma and Renato Sanchez. Out of those 3, I think Bissouma's probably the one I want the most. I've got massive question marks over whether Renato Sanchez would be good. McGinn... I think he's a good player, but the price that's been quoted for him is outrageous. Especially as I don't think he'd be the greatest replacement for Wijnaldum.

Florida, Texas and Georgia are all worrying states in terms of you can see what the GOP's schemes are for the future of America... and this new law in Florida, requiring students and faculty to report their political views to the state, is bizarre... https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/education/559881-florida-gov-signs-law-requiring-students-and-faculty-be I don't think anyone, regardless of their political affiliation, should support anything like this. I think it's makes the US's slippery slope into fascism all the more slippery.

Would anyone else's job be infinitely harder if Excel (or any sort of software that was anywhere remotely near it) never existed?

For me the soreness was less bad for the second jab… but I did feel more side effects overall after the second. But just for a day. Seems like there’s loads of possible reactions to it. If you’re lucky you won’t feel much for the second jab at all!

He hasn't been affiliated with the company for a very long time - and actually made a video about how he hates the company now and how difficult it is to get off your computer. They're a very awful company though with some horrible practices, like that auto-renewing shite... and then making it virtually impossible to cancel it and get refunded for the months of the subscription you wont use. So I'm sorry to hear they're still doing that (they've done the same shit to me, and I'm pretty sure the prices now are even more outrageous than they were a few years ago when they've done that). They're a bunch of cunts.

John McAfee, founder of McAfee antivirus and eccentric weirdo that made funny online videos/killed someone in Belize, has killed himself in a Spanish prison after it was revealed he was set to be extradicted for US tax fraud & cryptocurrency manipulation (this one's funny as Elon Musk did the same exact thing McAfee was accused of, on a much higher profile... and he seems to be in no legal trouble).

I'm not sure if that's right, tbh? I think the vaccine's meant to stop the virus at a rate of whatever it's efficacy rate is. These MRNA ones work different to other vaccines we've had in our lifetimes - but I think it's still meant to be thought of as working at a vaccine. Just like how getting a flu vaccine doesn't guarantee that you'll be protected against every flu variant out there. But they do protect against certain strains of the flu at a certain efficacy rate. That's what's happening here. So technically this is nothing abnormal. I think the concern comes from these following points, this: It's a novel virus - which means that we've got only so many vaccines out and they're all brand new. Now we're seeing a new variant spreading within a highly vaccinated population indicates that the virus can mutate into variants that our current vaccines can't handle. I'm no a virologist - so I can't tell you whether that puts us all the way back at the "mad scramble for the world to develop a vaccine" time period or if it would just be a minor setback. But it's definitely something to consider. I think it's pretty clear the vaccine works. But that doesn't mean there should be no cause for concern in a vaccinated population.

First jab or second? First moderna jab I felt nothing other than the arm soreness. The second one though is where the next day felt a bit shit. But magically the day after I felt totally fine Israel's now reporting an outbreak of the delta variant... and that's concerning because they're the most vaccinated country in the world.

Hahaha they can do that? Why didn't they do that a long time ago if they can do that? Interesting way of poking at Iran's hardliners though. It'll piss them off, but probably not get taken as seriously as killing off IRGC members like we'd seen under Trump/Netanyahu.

I get MLK day off. It does depend on the organization, but not everyone gives every federal holiday off & many companies give as few holidays as possible off because that's just how those companies operate. Sometimes state holidays are favoured over federal holidays too. Like in California, most people won't get Columbus day off. But a decent number of them get Cesar Chavez day off. But federal employees will be quite pleased they get another day off. Because they get all federal holidays off.

Some positive news from the new Israeli government - a nice change compared to recent news coming from that country! While I think Bennett is a right wing piece of shit like his predecessor - because his coalition is so broad and includes so many different parties, his health minister is the head of Meretz, a left wing, pro-peace, progressive party. And the health minister has announced they're going to be transfering 1.2 million Pfizer vaccines to the Palestinian territories. That's very big news compared to when the Israeli government was actively denying them vaccines not too long ago and it's something I'd like to see. It's a shame Meretz don't have more power in this coalition, but hopefully over time they gain more power in Israeli politics. In less positive news, Iran's bullshit elections are underway. Expect to see Raisi win that election. Tbh, I don't think he'll be much different for Iranians than Rouhani because late stage Iranian presidents basically always fall out with Khamenei and end their tenure as basically a figurehead rather than an actual leader, while the IRGC runs things. But Raisi's popular with Khamenei and the IRGC, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Iran's domestic policy become even more repressive - while it's foreign policy to become more aggressive. Raisi is someone I personally hate and someone that's really hated in my family. He was one of the leaders of the judiciary in the political purges in Iran of the late 1980s after the long war with Iraq. He's responsible for sending thousands of people to their deaths because of their political beliefs... including some relatives. I hope he dies slowly and painfully while in office.

Yeah after asking the question I just googled it... and it made me feel ignorant as fuck. But tbf, I never really learned much about US history... so I'm not surprised I'd never heard of it. I think it's pretty shameful that even in the senate 100% of Republicans voted for it, but in the house those 14 were against it. Especially the Texans that voted against recognising it - almost as though they're proud to have been the state to cling to slavery the longest. I do think it's funny though that they've ultimately voted to give themselves a holiday, as most people working in America aren't going to get Juneteenth off unless they're government employees. Makes me think the senate republicans, many of whom have been pretty openly racist, decided this would look good for them (it's easy to claim those that voted against it being a holiday are racist, so now they can say "look I'm not racist, I supported Juneteenth being a holiday) and figured by voting for it yesterday... they wouldn't have to bother to turn up to work today.

I didn't know where to put this... but... that's the former president of Iran

Wtf is Juneteenth? I know it's meant to be tomorrow... but the name is so vague it could be anything between June 13th-19th... and that's all I know about it.

I remember at the start of the pandemic, I asked @DeadLinesman if I should wear a mask in the car and he said something that amounted to "but... it's your fucking car" So I don't think I've ever worn the mask in my car other than the times when I've forgotten to take it off after getting back in the car... so I'll take it off mid-drive. But I've definitely seen loads of people driving around with masks on. Even now when I'm in a similar situation to you where everyone over 17 here has had at least 1 jab (but over 60% of adults have both jabs now, pretty decent stat for the city I live in)... but you still will sometimes see people wearing masks in their car. Which is bizarre because I went to a supermarket after our restrictions had ended and I think I only saw about 2 people still wearing masks.

I have a friend here who was born in Israel and has family there - they left a few years after Rabin was assassinated because they felt that the political culture there was very much culminating in something very ugly. And they were right - I think Israel's always been an ethnostate since it's creation - but the situation has just been gradually getting worse and worse since Rabin's assassination. So in the people I know in my life personally, the most vocally anti-Israeli government person I know is... an Israeli. He gets some pretty horrible comments when he makes posts online by virtue of being Jewish and being vocal against Israeli policies.

Is that because of the quality of their defense, or because of the defensive setup Arteta uses? I'm glad it's not my job in trying to fix Arsenal and get them back to where their fans would want them to be, because I don't even know where I'd start.

California’s done a full reopen. No more tiered system where things get more restrictive as cases go up, no more mask mandate, no more reduced capacity for buildings. There will probably be a big uptick in cases as unvaccinated liars walk around unmasked going about their lives, but it’s interesting going out and still seeing so many people wearing masks.

Israel & Gaza heating up again. Israeli airstrikes in response to Hamas sending incendiary balloons over to Israel. No report on casualties that I’ve seen yet.

You did, and it was a great game. I'll play these remakes.

Jesus, what a fucking logistical mess. Planning a wedding with my wife was one of the most genuinely irritating things I've ever had to do in my life - I can't imagine doing it now with this fucking plague constantly changing what the rules are. It's got to be a fucking nightmare.