Micas wrote on Dec 8, 2021, 13:56:
The Get Back documentary is incredible.

Good to know.
It’s on my list of stuff I have to watch. My first attempt ended nonplussed 20 minutes in.
I will definitely make another attempt at it when my grey matter allows.

I often wonder what the world would be like today, without all the assassinations that took place between 1968 and 1980.

Must respect your trying to be careful.
I also feel disgusted by the world craziness, but mostly I pity mankind (me too) as victims of our failings and drives.
Though people also can produce the works of art that you are enjoying (paintings, statues, architecture, music, writings, and movies, games, etc).
Some well managed balanced societies in Europe are real works of art.

An so on, even down to a lovingly cooked meal for the family or a knitted gift.

I believe we only have rights over ourselves, let the rest navigate as they best decide or are allowed.
If the world should turn insufferable, the simplest solution is the personal one, why involve others, they carry their own crosses.

Anyway, you're out there, have the best and safest vacation.

I've tried to be responsible as possible while travelling, unlike the multitudes around me that do not. The reality is the virus is here to stay. The other reality is that life must go on. We simply can't afford to be stuck in lockdown forever - psychologically or financially. Sooner or later the Band-Aid has to be ripped off.

I still say we'd have been better off if we simply let it run its course. And yes there are winners and losers in that scenario but that's true of life every second of every day on this rock. In a perfect world we'd wouldn't have any problems and we'd all be holding hands singing Kumbaya. Welcome to the real world.

And after being surrounded by really selfish and stupid shitheels for a month, now more than ever, I'm convinced that humanity is long overdue for a good culling. If I had the gauntlet I'd make the snap too.

Cutter, hope your voyage delights you and you derive many memorable experiences.

But let's be frank, after your many railings against the failings of neighbours, compatriots and any you disagree with, even to seriously promoting mass euthanasia.

You are another unnecessary traveler in a pandemy helping to spread it :
Oh, not you of course. But, perhaps you, of course.

*Some* of those like you, travelling because they couldn't or wouldn't wait, *will*, *are* or *did* spread Alpha, Delta and Omicron.

Because you just couldn't wait or prioritize others over your having a swell time.

Does this seems like an attack to you ?
Probably, but to me is just a description of why we are totally *f@cked*.
When the chips are down, people will do whatever they want and feel perfectly justified.
And the majority will remain silent to avoid conflict or be "civil" as if it mattered to the unruly.

Bent wrote on Dec 8, 2021, 14:36:
Yeah, the Louvre is incredible. You could spend days just trying to see everything.

I'd strongly recommend not waiting in the incredibly long line to get a quick peek at the Mona Lisa. There are better things to see there and better uses for the time you have.

Yeah, I didn't bother. Hell, 99% of people who go to museums virtually sprint through them. They're only there to see a couple of famous things and be able to say they've been there and seen it. Just watching them for a minute and soon as they get up to it they take a selfie with it and leave. It's fucking infuriating.

Meanwhile they're surrounded by far better paintings and completely oblivious to them. And I'm having to fight the crowds to see these paintings by Titian, et al. And Leo's other work - all better work - goes mostly unnoticed. Boggles the fucking mind.

I still prefer the Uffizi and other Italian museums as I'm down with the Quattrocentro more than anything else anyway. And as far as the antiquities in the Louvre go I thought they were far better in the Vatican museums and the Pergamon in Berlin.

Also glad to hear you came out unscathed, jdreyer.

Doctor decides to quit treating patients after getting punched out by anti-vaxxers. The costs of the misinformation campaign are more than just the deaths of anti-vaxxers. Here's the first bit, the whole thing is on Reddit.

After more than three decades as a physician, the Q maniacs have succeeded in driving me out of providing care to patients. I, like many of my colleagues, am moving into medically-adjacent work, where we can continue to apply our training and decades off knowledge without ever having to come in contact with sick people.

I've been able to deal with the years of patients who attended Google Medical School, and the hours wasted explaining things such as why cinnamon cannot be used to treat diabetes, or that garlic and beetroot can't treat HIV. And Lord save me from essential oils.

COVID and Q finally proved to be the one of amateur "experts" that was too much for me. The horrific deaths are beyond what you might imagine. They emerge almost unrecognizable to their families. Since June, I have never seen a horrible case of someone who was vaccinated. I have seen people struggling to breathe through lungs that have hardened to near uselessness, begging us in their ignorance to give them the vaccine now. We can tell, almost without fail, which ones will die when they come through the door of the ICU, but we do everything in our power to keep them alive - BIPAP, ECMO, ventilator - knowing we are stretching out the inevitable. We use paralytics with ECMO and ventilators, then ease them off to see if they can function. And as the drugs wane, the look of terror emerges, the tears. We try to calm them, to swallow our desire to scream at them: This is your fault! This didn't have to happen! Often, their spouse or their uncle or neighbor is nearby, dying along with them. And we work hard for those rare cases where we can pull them back from the edge.

RedEye9 wrote on Dec 8, 2021, 15:35:

jdreyer wrote on Dec 8, 2021, 15:23:
We survived the floods, thanks RedEye. Lost power for about 10s only, but most of downtown had no power for a day (literally starting with the block next to my building). That said, it looks like the spike may have fried one of my external hard drives. Despite being connected to a surge protector at the time, I can't get it to connect to my PC now. The worst part of the storm was the constant cell phone alerts. Got half a dozen, the last one coming at 11pm.

Glad to hear you fared well.
Cell phone alerts are next to useless. Unless they can give you 8 hour advance notice of a tsunami.

The alerts said Flood Warning, which based on the constant rain-induced whiteout conditions of the past 24 hours, I could pretty easily deduce. But better than nothing I suppose.
They are pretty useful for tsunamis, as they come out a few hours before the tsunami is set to arrive from Alaska, Philippines, Peru, etc. Lets you know to check the internet to find out whether it will be twelve or six inches by the time it gets here. 😄

jdreyer wrote on Dec 8, 2021, 15:23:
We survived the floods, thanks RedEye. Lost power for about 10s only, but most of downtown had no power for a day (literally starting with the block next to my building). That said, it looks like the spike may have fried one of my external hard drives. Despite being connected to a surge protector at the time, I can't get it to connect to my PC now. The worst part of the storm was the constant cell phone alerts. Got half a dozen, the last one coming at 11pm.

Glad to hear you fared well.
Cell phone alerts are next to useless. Unless they can give you 8 hour advance notice of a tsunami.

We survived the floods, thanks RedEye. Lost power for about 10s only, but most of downtown had no power for a day (literally starting with the block next to my building). That said, it looks like the spike may have fried one of my external hard drives. Despite being connected to a surge protector at the time, I can't get it to connect to my PC now. The worst part of the storm was the constant cell phone alerts. Got half a dozen, the last one coming at 11pm.

I'd heard of most of the weird Christmas stuff like Krampus and the Finnish terror cat but I hadn't heard of the Welsh Mari Lwyd. Horse skull on a stick, travel around getting in pagan rap battles with home dwellers you come across to see if you can come in.

Speaking of Santa judging naught vs nice, I found the Killers video Don't Shoot Me Santa. However, I can't find their video that has Santa with the shotgun and the candy cane nunchucks. I wonder if it got taken down or something.

Yeah, the Louvre is incredible. You could spend days just trying to see everything.

I'd strongly recommend not waiting in the incredibly long line to get a quick peek at the Mona Lisa. There are better things to see there and better uses for the time you have.

Was at the Louvre all day today. At the Rodin Museum yesterday and the Pompidou the day before that. The Pompidou is a mixed bag for modern art but the building itself is fucking amazing. But with that I am museum'd out. I've seen more culture in a month than I have in the rest of my life. It's certainly been a grand fucking tour. I am ready for the familiarity of home once again though. Home again, home again, jiiggity jig.

Rodin's Thinker is every bit as impressive as you'd imagine.

The highlight of the Louvre for me was John Martin's Pandemonium. I didn't even know it was there. Blew me away! Way bigger than I thought it'd be. Seeing it close-up was fucking amazing. Had all kinds of detail I never knew existed. If I was going to steal a painting that would be the one.

The Get Back documentary is incredible.

Speaking of dead rock stars I'm going to head out to Pere-Lachaise cemitaire tomorrow and pay my respects to ol' Jim Morrison.

audun wrote on Dec 8, 2021, 12:01:
I’m Norwegian and I’ve never heard about hiding your broom. We do, however, watch Donald Duck on Christmas Eve just like the Swedes.

...and the Danes right?

I’m Norwegian and I’ve never heard about hiding your broom. We do, however, watch Donald Duck on Christmas Eve just like the Swedes.