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The Off Topic Topic

Started by Korea, March 10, 2009, 06:24:26 AM

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Admiral Yi

 :lol:

Homey, you need to hang out with more posh people.

HVC

Sheilbh had the voice of an angel :wub: and I sometimes forget not all our Brit posters sound like him.
Being lazy is bad; unless you still get what you want, then it's called "patience".
Hubris must be punished. Severely.

Grey Fox

#88577
Quote from: Josquius on June 03, 2023, 01:37:25 AMMy boy has gotten a new book. Very posh and old timey one called hide and seek pig. On each page there's a rhyme, a flap, and an animal is found.
Usually they rhyme.
Seek, beak. Sheet, feet. So on.

On one page however they go with here and ear. :blink:
Does that rhyme to anyone?

Ask your wife. 😆

It's the same sound twice. No difference, none.
Colonel Caliga is Awesome.

Sheilbh

Quote from: Syt on June 03, 2023, 02:02:06 AMProbably more of a "Geordie accent" question? :P
Still fighting the good fight against the great vowel shift :lol:
Let's bomb Russia!

Josquius

Its strange but I've found ways to make them rhyme albeit not in the original sentence. :hmm:


Today I learned in Scotland shops are open all day on Sunday. I've been in Scotland a lot in my life but I've somehow never noticed this.
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Sheilbh

There was never any legal restrictions but Presbyterians were not keen on Sunday activities so very few shops opened. Certainly in parts of the Highlands things were more likely to be closed than in England.

For example the furore of the Sunday ferry service or infamous examples like play parks being chained up on a Sunday (or worse).
Let's bomb Russia!

Syt

In a fairly depressing process, the ailing Social Democrats in Austria, in opposition since 2017 and unable to capitalize on the number of scandals in Conservative and far-right parties, have been voting for a new party chairman since the lackluster effort in recent years has been blamed on Pamela Rendi-Wagner who was seen as competent, but about as engaging as a grey wall and unable to motivate voters. So she was the first to drop out in the three way contest between her, Andreas Babler, and Hans Peter Doskozil.

Doskozil has been running the state of Burgenland since 2019now, originally inheriting a coalition with the FPÖ. After the 2020 elections, the SPÖ is governing alone in Burgenland. However, Doskozil has been quite cozy with the FPÖ in general, and especially taking up some of their points re: migration.

Babler on the other hand comes from the party's left wing. In May he said he considers himself a Marxist, though he was later quick to add that he meant it in the way that Marx's views have shaped social democracy in general, and that he was "of course" against things like the abolition of private property, nationalizing of the means of production, or a dictatorship of the proletariat. In 2020 he said in an interview that "the EU is the most externally aggressive military alliance that ever existed" and that it had "worse doctrines than NATO." He explained that leaving the EU was not an option for him, and that falling back into the age of nation states was not an alternative, rather that the EU would need to be reformed.

Anyways, on Sunday ca. 600 members cast their votes between the two. Doskozil won with 52.66% vs. Babler's 46.51%.

Today, Monday, someone noticed that the vote totals didn't add up - one vote was missing. When they made the correction they realized ... that it was actually Babler who had the 52.66% and Doskozil with 46.51%. When the results were added up in Excel, someone put the results in the wrong columns. :bleeding: :bleeding: :bleeding:

Hard to imagine if this would have been noticed not a day later, but a month, or a year later. :lol: :bleeding:

Good luck to Babler. In recent state elections the SPÖ didn't make a great figure, and in fact the Communist Party is picking up their votes. It's understandable - voters who want to vote left have the choice of the anemic SPÖ, the Greens who look terrible and terribly weak in federal government with the ÖVP, or, well, the Commies. (Though tbf the Austrian Communists have long distanced themselves from the former regimes in Eastern Europe; most of their positions are closer to social democrat positions from the 1970s, plus some 1980s/90s Greens.) So having a "proper" alternative left of center that can engage the general voter is direly needed here. Of course the problem remains that many working class folks keep voting FPÖ, who generally make politics for the corporations (and their party cronies), but promise to keep immigrants out.

(A promise that the ÖVP also keeps making, which is kind of funny, since in the past 20+ years it was FPÖ and ÖVP who ran the ministry of the interior which is responsible for questions of immigration and protecting the border ... :P )
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Sheilbh

:lol: On the Excel mistake. That's amazing and alarming.

Out of interest - I know about inter-war Red Vienna (:wub: :mmm:) - but has there ever really been a "left" in post-War Austria? My totally ignorant perception is that Austria, until the rise of the FPO, was basically in permanent grand coalition and it was pretty corporatist/divvying up the spoils.

That's probably very unfair and as I say I know nothing about it.
Let's bomb Russia!

Syt

Quote from: Sheilbh on June 05, 2023, 03:05:15 PM:lol: On the Excel mistake. That's amazing and alarming.

Out of interest - I know about inter-war Red Vienna (:wub: :mmm:) - but has there ever really been a "left" in post-War Austria? My totally ignorant perception is that Austria, until the rise of the FPO, was basically in permanent grand coalition and it was pretty corporatist/divvying up the spoils.

That's probably very unfair and as I say I know nothing about it.
In the 70s, the SPÖ ran the federal government under Kreisky for about 10 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Kreisky
QuoteLegacy

Today, Kreisky's chancellorship is the subject of both controversy and nostalgia. Many of his former supporters see in Kreisky the last socialist of the old school and look back admiringly at an era when the standard of living was noticeably rising, when the welfare state was in full swing and when, by means of a state-funded programme promoting equality of opportunity, working class children were encouraged to stay on at school and eventually receive higher education.[citation needed] All this resulted in a decade of prosperity and optimism about the future.

Conservatives criticize Kreisky's policy of deficit spending, expressed in his famous comment during the 1979 election campaign that he preferred that the state run up high debts rather than see people become unemployed.[19] They hold Kreisky responsible for Austria's subsequent economic difficulties.

Despite this criticism, Kreisky did much to transform Austria during his time in office, with considerable improvements in working conditions, a dramatic rise in the average standard of living,[20] and a significant expansion of the welfare state,[21][22][23] and arguably remains the most successful socialist Chancellor of Austria

There's also his, uhm, problematic relationship to Israel.

These days, Austria is similar to most countries - the cities are leaning left of center, with the countryside being more conservative.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Barrister

So, the PGA Tour, European Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Gold announced a merger.

https://www.tsn.ca/golf/pga-tour-merges-with-liv-golf-1.1969799

Interesting.One thing I'm trying to figure out though - who actually "owns" the PGA Tour and European Tour?  Is this "merger" actually just a backdoor Saudi buyout of professional golf?
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

FunkMonk

So, uh, there was litigation between the PGA and the Saudi LIV, right? Did the Saudis just basically end the court case against them by buying the plaintiff?
Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

Barrister

Quote from: FunkMonk on June 06, 2023, 11:00:57 AMSo, uh, there was litigation between the PGA and the Saudi LIV, right? Did the Saudis just basically end the court case against them by buying the plaintiff?

Thats kind of what I was wondering.  Part of the deal is a mutual end to litigation.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

FunkMonk

Quote from: Barrister on June 06, 2023, 11:02:40 AM
Quote from: FunkMonk on June 06, 2023, 11:00:57 AMSo, uh, there was litigation between the PGA and the Saudi LIV, right? Did the Saudis just basically end the court case against them by buying the plaintiff?

Thats kind of what I was wondering.  Part of the deal is a mutual end to litigation.

Unsure. From what I understand, the governor of the Saudi PIF, who is also currently the chairman of the Premier League Club Newcastle United, will also be the chairman of the new PGA/LIV entity.
Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

Admiral Yi

I think the PGA is structured as a non profit membership organization like the NCAA.

Barrister

Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 06, 2023, 01:33:55 PMI think the PGA is structured as a non profit membership organization like the NCAA.

Yeah I've finally seen that.

This strongly smells of a way to structure the deal such that the PGA Tour maintains its non-profit status but winds up controlled by the Saudis.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.