Recent posts

#31

Off the Record / Re: Climate Change/Mass Extinc...

Last post by Josquius - July 04, 2025, 11:59:24 AM

Im sure there's something with the heat and humidity that gives me massive headaches. Ugh.

#32

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Syt - July 04, 2025, 11:58:38 AM

That political assassination in Minnesota has pretty much disappeared from main headlines, right? Wouldn't this normally be headline news for weeks on end?

#33

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Josquius - July 04, 2025, 11:58:30 AM

Wang Yi apparently stated to Von Der Leyen that china can't afford a Russian defeat in Ukraine.

If true we're basically at war, if undeclared and only via proxy. But this isn't going to get any better anytime soon.

And a Ukrainian defeat is thus not unlikely either.

I wonder what they mean by defeat.

Would a return to pre invasion status quo peace apply?
Or are we talking full Russian collapse and regime change?

#34

Off the Record / Re: Climate Change/Mass Extinc...

Last post by Duque de Bragança - July 04, 2025, 11:51:25 AM

Also, the other heat wave classic: full A/C, with open windows. 

[opened in the morning and at night and closed during the day would be a good start, Southern Europe has been doing that for a long time.]

#35

Off the Record / Re: Climate Change/Mass Extinc...

Last post by mongers - July 04, 2025, 11:28:52 AM

Problem with A/C in non-wet and windy Europe  is that it kills humidity and gives lots of sore throats. Not good for hospitals and the rest.
(Better) insulation and blinds persianas in Castilian and Portuguese, opened in the morning and at night and closed during the day would be a good start, Southern Europe has been doing that for a long time.

And vast majority of Brits total fail at that; my new neighbours, nice people, but all during the recent heatwaves, doors and some windows open all day, come 8pm and a hit of cooling down, everything shut up for the night. 

#36

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Syt - July 04, 2025, 11:20:27 AM

I've seen the 70mm version before, but not the Nolan version (which doesn't use any digital enhancement/clean-up techniques and retains imperfections from the movie's initial run. Essentially, he aimed at recreating as exactly a version as the one he saw in the theaters in the 60s. They showed it last year, too, but I missed it then. Gartenbau loves its Kubrick stuff. When it opened in 1960, they screened the Austrian premiere of Spartacus, with Kirk Douglas attending (and, according to uncorroborated reports, Kubrick, too).

The restored the theater a few years ago to its original glory (if you like that kind of flair ).

[Beijing may have to make July 4 its own national holiday going forward: American Electricity Dependence Day.]

#37

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by crazy canuck - July 04, 2025, 11:02:35 AM

What an inauspicious birthday for America. I wonder what our 250th will bring...

July 4th - American dependance on China day

Can you hear it — that loud roar coming from the East? It's the sound of 1.4 billion Chinese laughing at us.

The Chinese simply can't believe their luck: that at the dawn of the electricity-guzzling era of artificial intelligence, the U.S. president and his party have decided to engage in one of the greatest acts of strategic self-harm imaginable. They have passed a giant bill that, among other craziness, deliberately undermines America's ability to generate electricity through renewables — solar, battery and wind power in particular.

And why? Because they view those as "liberal" energy sources, even though today they are the quickest and cheapest ways to boost our electricity grid to meet the explosion of demand from A.I. data centers.

It is exactly the opposite of what China is doing. Indeed, Beijing may have to make July 4 its own national holiday going forward: American Electricity Dependence Day.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/opinion/trump-bill-clean-energy-china.html

#38

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by crazy canuck - July 04, 2025, 10:55:32 AM

Those pesky unsafe Russian windows again eh

#39

Off the Record / Re: Climate Change/Mass Extinc...

Last post by Duque de Bragança - July 04, 2025, 10:55:21 AM

Problem with A/C in non-wet and windy Europe  is that it kills humidity and gives lots of sore throats. Not good for hospitals and the rest.
(Better) insulation and blinds persianas in Castilian and Portuguese, opened in the morning and at night and closed during the day would be a good start, Southern Europe has been doing that for a long time.

#40

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Duque de Bragança - July 04, 2025, 10:50:36 AM

70 mm screening this Sunday again in Paris this Sunday at the Pathé Palace (premium cinema) near Opéra, as well
Next Sunday, Clockwork Orange.