Dr. Gonzo

I think until a large chunk of the UK's population is fully vaccinated the delay is probably the right thing to do. Especially when the delta variant is the dominant strain now. It's definitely shit for people like @Stan and @Batard and I feel for them... It is absolute bollocks trying to plan an event that's likely going to be one of those life defining events, in weddings, which are fucking incredibly tough to plan when the world around you keeps changing. I did see that some of the restrictions on wedding guests are to be lifted though, so there's a bit of a silver lining? but considering how governments not being cautious enough early on led us to the absolute shitshow of 2020... I'm not going to fault a government that's taking a bit of extra precaution with the spread of this new variant so there are enough hospital beds and so the already very tested NHS infrastructure can cope with a potential worst case scenario with the delta variant.

They had to have infiltrated Iranian intelligence - and probably other members of Iran's political apparatus that keep everything "under control" like the Revolutionary Guard. Iran's cultivated a society where there's a lot of benefit to being "a traitor" to their government. They're incredibly repressive and continually mismanage the economy (granted, sanctions don't help - but they're not going to get sanctions removed while maintaining a hard line) while government elites somehow manage to keep getting richer and richer. But there's no way they conducted that really sophisticated assassination of the recent head of nuclear science for Iran without having people on the inside working for them. And I wouldn't be surprised if the reason they've got access to computer systems of critical infrastructure is due to similar infiltration. But also, what can Iran really do in response? Israel's basically given a free pass at whatever they want to do on the international stage due to the US intervening, whereas if Iran responds they'll get bombed back into the stoneage by Israel and the US. With hardliners coming back into power soon, I think the government isn't showing their hand... but it's easy to see how they're going to play their cards. They've got no interest in rejoining the JCPOA or any new deal with America - any deal will only be as good as Biden's administration is in power... which might not even be 2 full terms. And the US and Israel will act with inpunity for as long as Iran isn't nuclear. So unfortunately, I think the regime is going to be on a fast track to building up a nuclear weapon... as well as generally modernising it's military. And once they've got a nuclear weapon, I think all hope of reform in Iran is pretty much dead - the status quo will be maintained because turbulent politics and upheaval will be too much to worry about for the world powers to allow. Basically, Trump showed them the path they should follow with the way he treated North Korea compared to them.

I think there's pros and cons to working from home vs. working at an office. On some days I'm far more productive at home, but I think those days are more rare compared to how productive I am at the office.

Is the vaccine situation in Australia getting any better? The turnaround between how things were here before the vaccination rollout to how it’s been with the vaccine being open to all adults here has been staggering. Normalcy seems much closer here than it did in January or February & the biggest impediment to the states getting back to normal even quicker is the huge number of vaccine skeptics.

It comes back at different times for different people. My friend got his sense of taste back after about a month.

Yeah but centrists like Manchin and Sinema don’t come off looking much better. They look owned by the same businesses and rich people as the GOP.

I agree with him... and with you. American politics is an absolute shitshow. Republican states are passing restrictive voting laws, with the goal of preventing ethnic minorities and poor people generally from being able to vote as easily, Biden's administration is being held up by a democrat in the senate that thinks his party should move more to the right to meet an increasingly radical GOP in the middle. And a concerning amount of democrats are doing nothing while American democracy slowly eats itself alive. The GOP is so far away from what it was not that long ago, and it is scary how much of the party's establishment have moved more and more radical with their base.

That's shit pal. Hope you feel better ASAP.

Iran’s upcoming elections are a bit of a massive shitshow. Only one serious candidate (Raisi) and all other candidates are extremely unpopular. Ahmadinejad is running again and he’s the next most popular candidate , but Raisi’s popularity is almost double his according to surveys taken. All 7 candidates that were approved to run are hardliners - no real moderates or reformists. Which I think was to be expected because Iran’s democracy isn’t very democratic as all & all candidates are picked by lifetime appointed hardliners… and reformists have basically expended all of their political capital. The JCPOA falling apart was very damaging for them politically, but Soleimani’s assassination & the numerous Israeli terrorist attacks within Iran domestically have killed their limited support with the people who hold all the power. The public’s faith in these elections is probably at an all time low - and Iran usually has pretty high voter turnout, despite many people believing elections are fixed. This year is different though as many people are just saying they will not vote at all.

I went to a museum exhibition once about "the history of beer" and they claimed Egypt had invented it - but now I'm going to take some of the info I learned at that exhibition with a handful of salt given that there's evidence of beer fermentation earlier. With the knowledge that beer led to humanity settling down from hunter-gathering... I'd like to think that the first buildings ever made were the first bars

Wasn't beer invented for the pyramid workers? Hands down one of the most important inventions of all time. I just started reading "Squeeze Me" by Carl Hiassen yesterday because I've heard it's a very good book, and I read "Bad Monkey" (another of his books) a while back and I enjoyed it.

I'd want a lot of fucking cash to go along with Tammy, if I were Dortmund. Not that Tammy is bad - but I do think he's miles worse than Haaland.

Lol that's not a fair swap at all.

Naftali Bennett is most likely going to be the man replacing Bibi. I hope Bibi faces justice for the corruption scandal he's embroiled in. And I hope that one day he faces justice for the war crimes that have taken place under his watch. But Naftali Bennett is also a horrific person to be running Israel. He's not interested in peace, he's a leader in Israel's illegal settlement movement (so probably good pals with Chelsea's Roman Abramovich), and is firmly opposed to any two state solution. His base are made up of a bunch of ultra-religious ultra-nationalistic dickheads. So they're really just replacing one right winged ethnonationalist, with another right winged ethnonationalist. And this guy may be even less interested in making the Middle East more stable than Bibi, and Bibi had 0 interest in stability in the Middle East.

It looks fun

I've been playing Knockout City over the weekend. Pretty fun little game - looks like Fortnite... but it's not like Fortnite at all. It's best out of 3 (well in most game modes) unrealistic as fuck dodgeball and it's great. Reminds me a lot of Rocket League, tbh. Simple game that's easy to get into, but there's a pretty high skill ceiling so the ranked competitive mode is really great if you're into that sort of thing. I don't think it's quite like Rocket League where the skill ceiling is absolutely outrageous... but I'm not sure because I've been playing Rocket League for years but this game I've only played for a few days. Probably never would have tried it if it wasn't on gamepass and my friends weren't playing. But I'm glad I gave it a whirl because it's pretty fucking fun.

I expect at least 2 Balon d'Ors in one season, and anything less will be immeasurably disappointing Yeah, he's not really had much stability in his career tbh... so two years at one club is big for him. He's a very talented, but still very far from perfect player - so expecting him to be a key player for Brentford is probably unreasonable. But this is a big moment for him in his career, hope he seizes the opportunity. I don't think he's the best Iranian player around - but I think he's got the potential to be the star of the Iran national team. If he can build on last season, which is a HUGE ask I realise - because he's been promoted a division, it'll be massive for him. And for Team Melli. And probably Brentford as well!

I just hope Ghoddos does more in the league than Jahanbakhsh has done so far (because that's been a bit disappointing). But very cool to have 2 Iranians in the league now.

I think we could do with the £50m more than we could do with a player with noted back issues

Welcome to the premier league!

Happy birthday @CaaC (John)! Get nice and drunk pal

Looks like Gini’s making the move there, as has been long suspected

Afghanistan’s a multi-ethnic society, sure - but it’s also a country that’s been fractured with instability and warfare pretty much since the Soviets invaded. It’s only going to get worse in the coming months, I’m fairly certain. I don’t think the Afghan government itself is up to keeping things safe and stable. They just play into the ethnic and religious divisions.

Yeah, so I tagged Naftali Bennet in this

@nudge