We dont know how much power they have, it’s illegal to know:

| Due to secrecy laws, it is extremely hard to find documentary evidence of the queen’s exercise of influence. In the United Kingdom, government documents that “relate to” communications with the sovereign or the next two persons in line to the throne, as well as palace officials acting on their behalf, are subject to an absolute exemption from release under freedom of information or by government archives.

• “relate to” is so broad and it means we have no idea what is going on.

| But The Guardian has managed to expose a chink in this armour of secrecy. In the UK’s National Archives, it discovered documents from 1973 showing the queen’s personal solicitor lobbied public servants to change a proposed law so that it would not allow companies, or the public, to learn of the queen’s shareholdings in Britain. The gambit succeeded, and the draft bill was changed to suit the queen’s wishes. Perhaps these documents escaped the secrecy embargo because they involved communications with a private solicitor, rather than palace officials

https://theconversation.com/the-queens-gambit-new-evidence-shows-how-her-majesty-wields-influence-on-legislation-154818

Geri is my favourite Indonesian crackers, but not so much the chocolate ones…

a bit pricey

Look on the map for Bónus supermarkets, I found them to be the best value but with a good range of stuff to try. I thought the rye bread (Rúgbrauð) and skyr were particularly delicious in Iceland.

Australia already spends time and money maintaining the English monarch as the head of state. And it’s not a ceremonial position; the governor-general has reserve powers, such as the ability to remove office holders, like in 1975. It is only convention, not law that appoints and makes the GG act on the PMs ‘recommendations’ rather than the Monarch; the description of the office has not been rewritten. We can’t rely on convention to govern a country and need to have explicit laws that match our ideals of how a democracy should behave. It’s unexploded ordinance that should be cleaned up… let’s do that rather than spending our time and money changing all the pictures on the money, and the pronouns on all the legal documents each time a monarch croaks.

If you find this kind of humour humourous, look for “Look around you”. It’s around on YouTube so go take a look!

I’ve had it farm fresh in Bali and at a swanky cafe in Penang. The shared characteristic was how smooth it is. Tastes different, not necessarily better or worse. Depends on what you’re after in your beverage.

In Penang, we had it with a normal espresso to compare. After drinking the Luwak coffee, the espresso lost all it’s flavour… It did something to our sense of taste!

Going through a factory you can tell there’s no chance the poop makes it to the final product. In fact, none of the cherry meat is used, only the bean, so I question what effect the digestive process has. Maybe the preparation method is different? I haven’t been to a normal coffee factory to compare.

The conditions the Luwak are kept in vary wildly, apparently the worst practices are in Vietnam. The Luwak are super cute , amazing fur, ones kept as pets were fun to interact with. The size of two house cats. Nocturnal, so I’ve only seen them active once.

I liked the coffee but not so much that I want to support demand for it. The Luwak is a totally unnecessary step in making what is already a great beverage regardless.

🧑‍🚒

her status and authority, unfortunately, make her an acceptable target

Agreed, but It’s really more that she’s a complete arsehole. As a nimby mining magnate, she is a sponsor of organised climate denialism and vocal about it herself, a race she clearly has a horse in. She’s also an active libertarian who wants to further dismantle the welfare system, and reduce taxation, and wants Australian workers to be cool like Africans and work for $2 a day. And a vocal Trump supporter.

It’s not the painting that makes her ugly, it’s her behaviour and ideology.

As the oldest Millennial (just scrape in), I insist they peaked at Dragon Ball. A half beaten to death pre-teen launching himself through the bad guy to defeat him? Epic stuff.

(Married at 22. You can marry young and be in your 40’s discussing Dragon Ball with internet strangers!)

I have this problem. A couple of AAA projects I worked on, years of work, got cancelled and all that exists now is “stolen” footage. Then there’s the dozen mobile apps that have been pulled from the app stores (or gotten “out of date” and no longer supported). Can’t find APKs or store listings, just 3rd party site reviews are the only evidence of their existence.

Yes, but the video has been deleted and reuploaded several times after been called out.

For any cave dweller who haven’t seen it, here’s Hbomberguy talking about the history of this video and it’s plagiarism, as @Mago alluded to. https://piped.video/watch?v=yDp3cB5fHXQ&t=5071 (if the timecode doesn’t work, it’s arond the 1:24~25 mark.

You don’t lose credibility for going against the grain, you become a superstar… You just have to have compelling evidence.

All the cases I’ve seen of people who complain about this aren’t being ridiculed for ‘revealing the truth’, but for doing shoddy research and sticking by it.

In Australia at least we usually use tartar sauce for the fish (shark) and ‘chicken salt’ with maybe some vinegar or soy sauce for the chips.

Best giant prawns (langoustines) I’ve had were on the Isle of Skye (at the Oyster Shed)! They weren’t battered, though.

Yeahh, morning shake is the best.

Took me about a week to get used to this kind of breakfast, from then on it’s been my preferred choice, on the rare occasion I actually eat breakfast these days (AKA when it’s free).

This is my thinking, let me know if you see any issues with my interpretation:

First line of Wikipedia Left-wing politics: Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy as a whole.

First list of Wikiepdia Authoritarianism: Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voting.

By these definitions, Left-wing politics should want to evenly distribute power democratically, whereas authoritarianism wants to centralise power in a single entity such as a the military or a dictator.

The perpetual dictatorship of the proletariat in Marxist-Leninism is functionally indifferent from the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. The authoritarian leadership just becomes the new bourgeoisie.

If left-wing authoritarianism isn’t an oxymoron, then what the heck does left-wing mean?

I agree that authoritarianism does not equal fascism, but the only meaningful definition of left-right politics (in my opinion) is a measure of belief in and adherence to social hierarchies. And the USSR was definitely heavily into hierarchy.

Otaru is a beautiful town! Passed through regularly this year on our way to/from Sapporo. Would love to an extended time there.

Great shot! What time was this taken? I remember taking a similar (but not as good) shot in Helsinki around midnight, which was a very special thing to see, as an Australian who had never seen the sun past 9pm.