Things Noticeable this week

[deepsepia]

Originally Posted by wildtig2013

Russia and China are now in cahoot worries me.

They're not.

Russia is a fraction of China's population, wealth and technical capacity.

What do you have in your house "made in Russia?"

Some porn, a computer virus, and a Trump meme.

Russia has far more to worry about, long term, from China than they do from the US.

Originally Posted by wildtig2013

World War III is coming and USA may not exist after that.

Hard to see why. What do Russia or China want from the US? China cares about China. Russia just wants to fuck with us to we don't undermine their regime.

Originally Posted by wildtig2013

Can't fight Russia and China at the same time on different fronts even if it's just a conventional war and at the same time still have to fight ISIS/ISIL and terrorists.

China has little interest in fighting us. Their strategic aims are clear: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet. They want us out of the Western Pacific-- but then, that's their home, not ours.

Let's recall that China fought us once, and has zero nostalgia for the event.

ISIS and terrorists are random nuisances who we've elevated into existential threats through hysteria.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by palo5

You mean Britain being a peripheral nuisance

I've asked you many times to read about Crimean & Ukrainian history.What was the problem?

I have already answered that question, Palo.

Originally Posted by scoundrel

This is called "irredentism". The territory of another country is not yours to take whether you have issued passports to people living there or not.

The answer remains the same. Britain is not powerful enough to fight a war against Russia, but foolishly we guaranteed the territorial integrity of Ukraine [as did the United States]. Since we cannot declare war on Russia (and I certainly wish we could) what we do instead is make ourselves unpleasant out of all proportion to our apparent size and weight. Until Russia and Ukraine negotiate a settlement, this will continue, I have no doubt at all.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by Greenman

You know that Blur song Parklife with the line "I get up when I want except on Wednesdays when I get rudely awaken by the dustman..." well two days running now it has been for me "I get up at 9.30am when I've been rudely awaken by a chainsaw!" Two doors down had their huge tree in their garden felled bit by bit and they started at 9am but it is almost impossible to ignore the whine of the machine. Unless the tree is ill or dead they may gain their garden space back but it means losing some privacy from the maisonettes in front of it.

The tree may have been too close to the house, GM. The root system of a mature tree extends beyond the tree canopy and if it reachs anywhere near the foundations, well, the foundations of typical Victorian and Edwardian era London housing are not as deep and they should be. Subsidence is very likely.

[Greenman]

Hmm well I looked out of the window and it doesn't look as if the entire tree has been taken out so it could just be it was too tall and needed loping. I don't just stay up and watch those channels I do actually catch up on other things AND I also talk to a friend of mine (via the Ipad) each night, trouble is most of the time he sounds so depressed, but lately he has cheered up a bit now he has a permanent job and his mother is making a recovery from a life-threatening illness. I do a lot of work around the house as basically a carer for my parents so late night is ME time but I don't spend all morning in bed but I do need 5-6hrs sleep which I now get. Believe me sleep deprivation is the worst feeling ever and I suffered a lot for 4 years which is why I am so used to staying up late now-it wasn't planned.

[Dr Pepper]

Originally Posted by deepsepia

The funny thing is that there is a wonderful English writer of ghost stories who this reminds me of, M.R. James.

He was a headmaster at Eton, a Biblical scholar, and on school holidays went visiting old gothic churches in Britain and the Continent. . . .

I suspect these Russian gentlemen are a bit less in the antiquarian line of entertainments.

I have a boxed set of some of his better known works-and IIRC 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquarian' was done as a (BBC?) TV series some years ago?....

[Reclaimedwg]

5 dead but it has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm now.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/14/us/hu...wxc/index.html

But those folks are not out of the woods yet.

The torrential downpour rain will continue.

A Tropical Storm still has the power to do biblical floods and kill.

Look at Tropical Storm Allison in 2001.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Allison

I was in it. I almost died and came close to within seconds of it too.

Meanwhile in Space:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ia-claims.html

If this was done deliberately in space, who could had done it?

There are only so many people on the ISS!

6 of them right now.

https://www.howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com/

Also I don't think anyone on the ISS would want to do anything that will risk getting himself (or herself) killed by rapid decompression and lack of oxygen unless they are suicidal.

Now if it was done on earth, well, how many people had access to that Soyuz spacecraft?

[deepsepia]

Originally Posted by Dr Pepper

I have a boxed set of some of his better known works-and IIRC 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquarian' was done as a (BBC?) TV series some years ago?....

That's the one. A terrific writer, you can compare to Saki and to Roald Dahl -- and I suppose to 19th century gothic writers, like Sheridan LeFanu. Definitely old fashioned now, but lots of fun.

Probably the best known film adaptation is the eerie "Night of the Demon" -- which is an adaptation of his "Casting the Runes". It gets a lurid poster, but is much more interesting and psychological than the ordinary monster movie

[CARLTON BROWN]

Originally Posted by deepsepia

They're not. Russia is a fraction of China's population, wealth and technical capacity. China cares about China. Russia just wants to fuck with us to we don't undermine their regime.

China has little interest in fighting us. Their strategic aims are clear: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet. They want us out of the Western Pacific-- but then, that's their home, not ours. ISIS and terrorists are random nuisances who we've elevated into existential threats through hysteria.

The Russians have good resources, a very large nuclear arsenal and some very clever scientists and engineers. Their expertise has been especially useful to the Chinese in a number of areas such as military technology, or by supporting their space programme. It's just worth mentioning that Russia has been propping up US military and civil space operations with high grade rocket engines for a while now, which does not appear to be widespread public knowledge. It really would be a huge mistake to start underestimating them. Russia still represents a viable threat and something disasterous could be triggered accidentally as was almost the case with Able Archer in 1983.

In the case of China, everyone is now their customer. It's becoming hard to buy anything that is not made there. For this reason alone, the Chinese do not want to upset the apple cart.

However there is again the possibility of a situation developing between China and the US, perhaps by accident, or maybe the invasion of Taiwan or something connected with North Korea who remain a buffer zone for China.

Should China eventually become the world's leading economy (which is quite probable) while the US begins to falter, things could be become really dangerous.

ISIS will remain a long-term lower level threat, but they could become a real problem if support by a country like Pakistan which goes rogue and has a good stockpile of nukes. Islamic extremists will remain serious trouble for the lifetime of any VEF member and probably longer. Iran is yet another potentially dangerous regime capable of starting a substantial war and they almost certainly have a small number of nukes and a delivery system.

The world seems to be becoming a very unstable place and resources, plus the runaway global population can only make things worse - IMHO!

[otokonomidori]

Originally Posted by Greenman

AND I also talk to a friend of mine (via the Ipad) each night, trouble is most of the time he sounds so depressed,

No wonder with you calling him up in the middle of the f*cking night!

[Greenman]

Nooooooo this is between 10.45-11,30pm each night as he has to get up early and half the time he goes off for a 20 min break inbetween so we hardly get a conversation going(via Fbook messenger) before he says cheerio! He has been without a job for aa few months, looking after his now well again mother, but he feels more secure now they have offered him a permanent place.