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ro5s posted:Average HoI4 peace conference. Seems to be missing random enclaves and tiny rump states that comprise five disconnected provinces scattered on the borders of the state's former area.
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Mar 1, 2023 18:11
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 19:19 |
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Around this time last year I ran a D20 Modern oneshot for my D&D group where I pregenerated a bunch of PCs for them to choose from and one of them was literally a wiccan from Newport who looked like Velma. Spooooooky. If it turns out this girl's name was Daisy I'm going to assume she's dead now and has for some reason chosen to haunt my dice.
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Mar 16, 2023 14:04
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MeinPanzer posted:Anyone else involved in the ongoing UCU (University and College Union) strike? If so, how’s it going for members at your institution? I have a family member in the union who is furious over the whole handling of the industrial action, convinced that the union has been co-opted by people who are more interested in their twitter followers than their members. More and more of the UCU's members at their branch are now secretly scabbing because they're just fed up with the whole thing. At least as they tell it, the union leadership has consistently favoured strikes over industrial actions short of a strike like work-to-rule because you can't put pictures of lecturers only marking exams during business hours up on social media, and that overrides concerns like "keeping everyone in the union onside" and "letting members get paid". A point they've made is that the UCU only works as a union if everyone sticks together, and like it or not a union made up of middle-class professionals does not have the same class interests as the urban proletariat or indeed the same power to withdraw their labour: Every day a factory is closed the capitalist loses profit and their customers, most of whom are other capitalists, get angry. Every day a university is closed, the work just piles up for the striking staff to clear down by putting in extra hours after the strike is done, any by and large because Students support their teachers, the university's customers don't get angry, or at least not in a way that threatens to cost the university money. In their view, the difficult truth is that the teaching and research staff of a university or college is not a nest of communists, it's a place where a lot of the people you're asking to strike are basically Tories or Lib Dems for whom an order to go on strike is followed only begrudgingly, and like it or not if you keep those people out on strike too long, or if you strike without appearing to have a plan, or if you appear to have no credible negotiating strategy, those people will just go back to work, which is a death sentence for the credibility of the union. How true that all is, I can't say, but that's a rough summation of the feelings they've shared with me. I haven't spoken to them though since this most recent deal. Reveilled fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Mar 23, 2023 |
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Mar 23, 2023 15:43
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Incy posted:The twitter point is very much something, the GS in particular is absolutely obsessed with twitter and will publish most of their messaging on there over actually passing it to members. They do like the strike mandates, but don't seem to know what to do with them, and have spent more time fussing around with who's on what negotiating team and what's going on there (it's not the leadership's job to do this, as it's meant to be up to the elected negotiators). It's very odd and as above, I don't fully understand why this is the case. I'm personally unfamiliar with the exact workings of a university so I'm curious, if, say, a week of teaching is not performed at a university, how exactly does it cost them money? Do the students who have paid for tuition (or the state if they're publically funded like in Scotland) get some of that money back? If a researcher has, say, a grant from a research society to do a particular project, and then can't do that work for a week because they're on strike, how does that translate into money lost for the university, as opposed to just the project being delivered a week later, assuming it's not just completed in unpaid overtime? I promise these are questions of genuine curiosity, I'm always worried when I have discussions that it sounds like I'm being facetious or trying to catch someone in a gotcha, but I'm uninformed on the details and interested to understand.
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Mar 23, 2023 16:45
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Thanks Incy and MeinPanzer for the responses and explanations.  In fairness to my family member, anything that seems wrong in my accounting of what they said is more likely to be as a result of me misunderstanding things and unintentionally mischaracterising their position, rather than an error on their part.
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Mar 23, 2023 17:33
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Failed Imagineer posted:Unclear if that's talking about the current or contemporaneous Duchess, but it's funny to think that the current Queen was at an illegal ABBA party If "The wives of Prince Charles and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson" makes it unclear which Duchess of Cornwall we're talking about, we might need to go back to ghostchat since it's big news if Diana and Carrie are best pals.
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Mar 24, 2023 13:19
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Al-Saqr posted:Wow i just got the news that scotland elected its first muslim leader, probably the first muslim head of state in europe, who is this guy? Is he decent or some kind of tory-lite wierdo? As mentioned, not a head of state, merely the head of a devolved government, and "elected" in the sense that an internal leadership election among members of his party selected him as the candidate. He's...okay...ish? The SNP as a party under his predecessor's leadership was a pretty bog-standard social democratic party in every sense of what that means in 21st century Europe--progressive rhetoric and a general commitment not to make things worse while shying away from anything that could be considered even slightly radical on policy, with the added benefit in the SNP's case that they can blame their failure to push actual left-wing reforms on the fact that they don't have full fiscal independence from the UK. But to their credit the SNP have actually navigated the recent public sector strikes markedly better than the Tories, managing to avert strikes in Scotland by actually negotiating with unions instead of trying to starve them out, and they burned a hell of a lot of political capital getting through the Gender Recognition Act because it was the right thing to do. Yousaf was the continuity candidate following from the previous leader Nicola Sturgeon, so under his leadership we can expect the SNP not to change very much, I think. His election also means the survival of the Green-SNP coalition in the Scottish Parliament, which would likely have collapsed otherwise. Many were worried the election of either of the other two candidates would have seen the SNP lurch to the right. As for the man himself, he has something of a reputation for being irritable and humourless--people who disliked Stugeon won't feel differently about him, and people who liked Sturgeon, so far as I have seen, don't find him to be charismatic or straight-talking. It wasn't uncommon for people during the race to openly despair that Humza would have been their last choice for leader until they saw who was running against him. Also, I haven't bothered to check but surely Bosnia and Albania have had a muslim head of State, and that's before considering if Turkey counts. Or if the Ottoman Empire or any of the muslim states in Italy or Spain pre-1500 count. Reveilled fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Mar 28, 2023 |
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Mar 28, 2023 04:40
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My history education (in Glasgow) was Vikings and Glaswegian history in primary school, including an inordinate amount of time spent on the Clydebank blitz to the point where as I grew older the fact that the blitz was just two nights completely faded from my memory and I was shocked to later re-learn that as an adult. In Secondary school our history lessons were the Scottish Wars of Independence, the Origins of the Scottish People and The Scottish Wars of Religion. Maybe some other subjects but those are the only ones I remember, I didn't take History past second year. Origins of the Scottish People was a wild ride, my teacher had this weird approach where he was keen to hammer home that the Scots were a "Mongrel Race" (his words, on the blackboard) as a kind of...pro-multicultural message? I can no longer remember if his point was "Mongrels are the healthiest dogs" or "Any Scot who clings to racial purity is a fool", or both, but I do remember at least that his conclusion which followed from that was "immigrants and minorities are every bit as scottish as everyone else in this country". Which I guess is the right conclusion even if he used some utterly wild inversion of eugenics to reach it. So pretty much zero non-Scottish history, though if you count Classical Studies I did The Peloponnesian War, The Founding of Rome, and The Fall of the Roman Republic.
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Apr 4, 2023 13:02
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Payndz posted:That was my thought too, especially after Sturgeon's husband was released without charge. They clearly didn't have the nerve to do it while she was actually in office (even though you'd think that would be even more damaging to the SNP), but the timing came across as very pour encourager les autres. It's worth noting that the detention period without charge is shorter in Scotland, generally you can only be held for 12 hours rather than 24 as in England, though that detention can be extended to 24 if a senior police officer deems it necessary. There's no option as in England to go to a magistrate and request longer detention up to 4 days, though both England and Scotland share the rule of allowing 14 days for Terrorism Act offences. I would still presume a charge to be coming for Murrell.
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Apr 6, 2023 17:06
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OwlFancier posted:Sure but like, salt was very useful and quite valuable in antiquity, so it seems like a very expensive way to try and destroy farmland when you could just, like, fill it full of rocks or something. Or break all their shadufs. I always assumed it was less "make salt from seawater, dump on the farms" and more "just dump seawater on the farms". Salt's really valuable, but salty water is free. But thinking on it even that seems like a terrible hassle. I guess when you have slaves to do the hauling, maybe not so much?
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Apr 13, 2023 01:17
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The Wicked ZOGA posted:All this horseshit about Stones of Destiny and Swords of Mercy and that is pretty modern, right? I feel like most coronations historically would've been "let's get that poo poo on my head before the other bugger's army comes back" I don't think that's right, people in the past placed importance on ceremony just as we do today. They may not have needed the town crier tweeting out announcements on who was carrying what relic to the masses, but I expect the various dukes and earls of medieval England would have cared a great deal about who was carrying the Rod of Many Parts and the Biggoron Sword and so on, because those would be political decisions. Doing a proper coronation would have been an important part of cementing your legitimacy as king because "able to organise a public ceremony" is a key attribute of a good king. In a sense your own coronation is the first big test of your abilities as a king. Coronations also usually involve senior nobility from the length and breadth of the kingdom (sometimes even other kingdoms) coming to publicly pay homage to the king as an outward sign of loyalty so you usually wouldn't want to rush the process unduly--unless something went seriously wrong in succession you should in principle be surrounded in your first weeks as king by your father's most loyal men, people you should be able to count on to support you, doing a coronation quickly with just these people is kinda pointless. The coronation gets in the nobility from far away, who've maybe never met you, or last met you as a child, and gets them to recommit and swear oaths of loyalty to you. That's the actual important bit of the ceremony for you as king--the crown isn't magic, it's the oaths which give you the ability to rule the kingdom, not the shiny hat.
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Apr 28, 2023 10:24
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smellmycheese posted:Come, sweet bullets Hammer grip on a saber smh what are we teaching our soldiers these days
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Apr 30, 2023 17:23
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Julio Cruz posted:so do we literally not have any mods ITT or what At 2am on a Sunday?
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May 1, 2023 02:13
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Julio Cruz posted:well they clearly haven't done anything from multiple previous reports, I mean As I understand it the general rule these days is if it's in a regional thread and not urgent, leave it to the IK.
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May 1, 2023 02:24
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OwlFancier posted:It's just, like, what do people think a king is. It is absurd to point to this supposed ancient tradition and then go "oh no I didn't mean the bit where he gets to do whatever he wants and has his own goon squad that is also the government" If we ditched the royal family, I wouldn't object to hiring a King to give tours of Buckingham Palace, sign autographs and pose for selfies, like a Disney cast member or a birthday party princess. We could employ someone a bit more personable and photogenic too, maybe have a part time princess regent who fills in on the King's days off.
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May 6, 2023 19:45
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I think I've finally lost my grasp on trolling because this is the most weirdly committed I've ever seen someone be to a single bit.
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May 12, 2023 14:29
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Jedit posted:Nah, it's not a bit. Farage is serious. I mean @Davethe25219352 who posts over and over again that his 75 year old granny fought in world war 2 and then retweets anyone who points out that she was born after WW2.
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May 12, 2023 14:37
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Jedit posted:That high whooshing sound was not a Spitfire, moi droog. Based on the quoted example I think I am now allowed to just pretend I was being dumb on purpose and then the joke is on you somehow?
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May 12, 2023 14:45
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sebzilla posted:I am the very model of a woman biological You'll find I have no truck with all this mad post-modern workery Across mumsnet and twitter I am lauded for my bravery I'm ready to scream out if I see children getting medicine I am the sole decider on who should be prescribed estrogen A libra'y mascot that's ungendered's not fit to read stories Stopping all these things is why I'm voting for the tories Cancel me but there's no doubt that I will be the winner I learned absolutely nothing from what happened to ol' Glinner I'll retweet any tweeter who just happens to agree with me I've even retweet nazis and that not even hyperbole And though my single-mindedness is surely pathological I am the very model of a woman biological
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May 18, 2023 15:34
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History Comes Inside! posted:I was more surprised that he was an animal hospital something something inappropriate joke about juvenile goats
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May 23, 2023 13:39
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bessantj posted:Which is a pity really because there are several reasons we may want to leave a door open. One thing I tend to wonder about these "tiktok trends" though is they're always incredibly vague about numbers. Like, is walking into people's homes and being obnoxious actually a new "trend"? Aside from this Mizzy and his shitebag pals, how many teenagers out there are doing this poo poo, posting it to tiktok? The fact that all the focus was on this one guy seems to suggest to me that it's not actually a trend at all.
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May 25, 2023 17:44
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Guavanaut posted:https://twitter.com/PaulRim12810742/status/1662003703262453761 LOL at all the people in the replies who are like "I agree with all of this as long as you don't ban catholics" Like, dude. The loving poem. Everyone knows the loving poem. How is this lost on you.
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May 26, 2023 17:00
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forkboy84 posted:Did your school just not do Chemistry? I don't think my school had technicians either, the chemistry classes were in special classrooms with these huge wooden benches linked up to the gas, and cupboards that contained lab equipment underneath. I think the chemistry teachers mostly did the tech work, maybe? I'm not sure exactly what that work would have involved. but I never met a tech, at least, not even when I was I'm also boggling a bit at the assertion that teachers are expected to wear a suit and tie. Maybe I just never noticed the jackets of the male teachers if they'd hung them up somewhere but they wore shirts and most of them but definitely not all wore ties, but there's really only one teacher (other than the head teacher, of course) I can remember actually wearing a suit jacket. Mind you my school didn't require pupils to wear shirts, ties or blazers (at the time) so maybe mine was the exception and I never realised we were so unusual. Or it's a complete false memory and they were all wearing suits and I've just forgotten.
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May 27, 2023 23:22
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 19:19 |
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Processed cheese singles are surprisingly good for making cheese sauces without needing flour for a roux (useful if you’re gluten intolerant or can’t be hosed with the hassle), owing to their emulsifying salts. 25g of cheese slices (cut or torn into small pieces) plus 25g of good cheese (grated) plus about 125ml of milk makes a good sauce. Add to a pot, apply gentle heat and stir constantly until all the cheese has melted. Will look like it’s not working until suddenly it does, ready when the sauce is smooth and a spoon drawn through the pan leaves an empty trail behind it (though bear in mind sauce will thicken as it cools). Theoretically you should also be able to do this with emulsifying salts directly but in my experience this results in sauces with a slimy texture so I do not recommend that option. Uh, not sure why I wrote this but that’s my 1 in the morning recipe tip.
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May 30, 2023 01:37
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