Dr. Gonzo

Is anyone seriously surprised by that info though?

He’s still a bad guy. But tbf to him, pretty much all world leaders are.

I am late to seeing this, but holy shit that looks fucking tasty

Wow what a mental story, but yeah... fucking cunt for sure

It’s so fucking good. Pretty easy to make too!

I made this last night Sirloin steak, roasted potatoes & bruschetta (and I grilled the bread for the bruschetta which was, frankly, a brilliant idea)

Rats are actually supposed to be really great pets that are very affectionate.

I highly doubt a dictators daughter tested a rushed vaccine

I remain skeptical as fuck

Or he’s just very shit at washing his hands?

One of my good friends here who’s been so good about staying inside and away from people was feeling pretty sick for a few days, then noticed he lost his sense of taste so he got tested. Tested positive. He lives in a big tower of flats, so while he stays inside as much as he can he has to go to communal areas to do things like get his mail and to get food. He thinks he must have gotten it at a supermarket. Pretty shit though to follow guidance as much as possible and still get it. Hope he has a speedy recovery. I’m a bit worried because he’s a pretty heavy smoker (of cigarettes) and we know this attacks the lungs. He says he’s not feeling too bad, he just misses tasting food.

It’s disgusting seeing the tories go full “American politician” nowadays. Their motto might as well be “rules for thee, not for me”

Agreed

With the Beirut explosion, it’s now being confirmed as one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever. Similar incidents took a lot more lives, and this would have been more devastating if it were normal times. Covid saved lives here, weirdly. The port was less packed than normal and as a result some buildings that were empty or almost empty and that saved their lives. Obviously still very tragic for everyone who died as a result of the explosion. And with thousands injured, it clearly was still very devasting.

Seems stupid to store fireworks with something that explosive...

To me it looks like fireworks (or ammo) that’s burning/exploding over a shitload of explosives. I’m no expert, but I’ve seen a shitload of fireworks explode all at once on accident. And it looked fuck all like that massive explosion.

Is that fireworks or an ammo cache?

Started playing Night Call... didn’t think I’d like it as much as I did. But I sort of got sucked in. Pretty great game

Herd immunity usually takes longer than just a few months though.

@Azeem, have you heard any specific details about the big Iran-China trade deal? Iranian nationalists, both in Iran and abroad, seem to hate it. It’s weirdly put some people that hate Ahmadinejad using his vocal criticism of the deal as their own words. Pragmatically though, does Iran really have any choice but to enter into a deal with China? They can’t really turn to the US or EU (especially not now), and the parts of Asia that rely heavily on trading with the west - South Korea’s absolutely fucked them too by refusing to pay for $7b worth of oil they imported... so Russia and China are all they have left to turn to... and China’s the superpower not Russia. But these big trade deals with China tend to mean ceding a lot of influence and control of their country to Beijing. For a country that’s had terrible experiences with foreign meddling and for a regime that’s held the position that foreign influence should get the fuck out of Iran since 1979... it’s a pretty controversial topic.

Mexico fucked up big time tbh, they responded too slow and didn’t take things seriously enough to impose restrictions early on. Story of pretty much most of the American countries other than Canada tbh. But Mexico’s inaction after seeing what was going on with their neighbors to the north and in Brazil... it makes it almost unforgivable. In San Diego, which is right on the border, the communities most effected by the virus were/are the post codes literally right on the border. There are also lots of people, both Americans and Mexicans, that live in Tijuana/Ensenada and work in the San Diego - because the pay is so much higher in the US, but housing is so much more affordable, so to them it’s worth the 2hr+ commute (although the fast-track card to get across the border helps cut that time significantly). I’m sure that’s the case with many other cities on the border that have a sister city literally right across the other side of the border. Neither the US nor Mexico shut down the border (I think both sides were scared to further slow trade down in the face of an economic meltdown), or placed restrictions on border crossings. Mexico didn’t put restrictions on as many public gatherings or businesses until far too late, which meant you’d get Americans tired of being home for weeks/months driving down to Mexico so they could go to bars and shit like that and enjoy the fun they were missing out on. When you’ve got lack of direction from the government (which both the US and Mexico have, just in different ways), you rely on people to be responsible enough to prevent outbreaks. Humanity’s history demonstrates that most people aren’t responsible at all. But Mexico exploding with cases shouldn’t surprise anyone tbh. It’s a country that’s had decades of political instability and the home of the most violent scenes of the drug war. And it’s neighbor to the north is essentially the global equivalent of a rich methhead that also does steroids. It’s never good to have a meth head as a neighbor, but it’s much worse to have a meth head neighbor that’s strong and rich enough to do whatever it wants. And they haven’t even got their own house in order from decades of instability. That’s why the country’s been such a mess for so long, and why a crisis like this will hit it so bad.

Yup - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53630497

I've started playing Rocket League again. That game is timeless imo, I'll probably be playing it for as long as they keep servers up and running.

I'm not sure cost shouldn't be a factor? If Coutinho was a cheaper player and not on bigger wages, he'd probably still be getting a chance at Barca to turn his career around. With great expense comes great expectation. I think Pulisic's done well actually for his first season though. You can argue his price was pretty high (although pre-covid prices... seemed to be a decent price for a potentially great winger if he unlocks that promise he showed pretty early on), but I think expectations were a bit tempered because he was coming off the back of a season where he didn't look as good as when he first broke out (which can be an issue if you never kick on... Dele Alli...), Chelsea had just lost their main creative spark in Hazard, and I think people were willing to afford him the time to settle in. And when he first joined... yeah, looked a bit shite... but that sometimes happens when you switch leagues, so you just have to hope they eventually settle in. And his role in the side changed and he swapped flanks and pretty clearly settled in - I think he's done a good job to show his manager that he's got plenty of reason to rely on him in the coming season. And I think value for money wise, if he keeps that up... there's no way he can reasonably be labeled a flop. And labeling him one in a first season like that would have been harsh, regardless because we've seen in the past some players are a bit shit when they first join a club. Then they really kick on and show everyone how good they can be.

Most talented players are still talented when they flop, they're just in a circumstance that doesn't set them up for success. Two good examples are Salah and KDB, didn't make the cut at Chelsea and then prospered elsewhere. It's different when an expensive signing fails because of some sort of physical reason, but shit like Pulisic not looking as good in his final season at Dortmund or not fitting in right away at Chelsea doesn't necessarily mean he's suddenly gone from looking great to shit. Maybe he's a confidence player, maybe he needs to be used in a really specific way to get the best out of him? Who knows. But yeah, players flop all the time. Doesn't mean players can't still be pretty good players just in a shit circumstance. When a player never rebounds from flopping (like say someone like Balotelli) then I think it's a more fair label. But had Pulisic been that bad for that long that we'd just assume he was no longer a talented young player? Nah. Especially not during his first season in a new league.