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Grant
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Thanks for reminder. I've just put it on
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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Half-time.
So far, the advertising banners round the ground seem more entertaining than the game.
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Grant
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I can see why Mick says they need a striker.
That Mbappe looks a useful player
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Grant
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Mick doesn't know what he's talking about. Who needs a striker?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Radio 4 are running a series on the rise and rise of Elon Musk. We desperately need a properly objective account of this important figure but I was not encouraged by the first episode going on and on about Apartheid's effect on Musk.
Since he grew up in a standard prosperous white middle class environment--no different from, say, Bill Gates--and left South Africa aged seventeen, this amounts to near-nil. Despite which the pious presenter made sure plenty of mud stuck. But I shall stick with it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xdxb
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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Do let us know how the BBC handles the success of SpaceX.
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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| Mick Harper wrote: | | a bloke who was breeding Maremmano-Abruzzese Italian guard dogs ... officially for keeping foxes away from free-range chickens, but actually as pets-cum-prestige adornments. "I'll breed some more if anyone asks," he told Countryfile cheerfully. |
It's a known thing.
| Livestock guardian dogs specialise in protection of small farm animals ... The dogs are introduced to livestock as puppies so they "imprint" on the animals. Experts recommend that the pups begin living with the herd at 4 to 5 weeks of age |
We have accidentally found the same with our Retriever puppies and our hens.
| The three qualities most sought after in LGDs are trustworthiness, attentiveness, and protectiveness; trustworthy in that they do not roam off and are not aggressive with the livestock, attentive in that they are situationally aware of threats by predators, and protective in that they attempt to drive off predators. |
The puppies are introduced to the hens bit by bit from one month old. The puppies will initially be inquisitive. Wanting to smell the hens or even play with them. The hens soon show them who's boss. After that the dogs and hens mix together with no problems. The dogs will always alert us if anything strange comes near.
But be warned! It does depend a lot on the breed. No way would I even attempt it with some breeds like terriers or lurchers.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| But be warned! It does depend a lot on the breed. |
Guard dogs, the evidence appears to show, are the original 'breed' of domesticated dog, as described in my Lapps(arian) theory.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Al-Jazeera Trump Speak
Stock market down = recession
Stock market up = volatility | |
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Channel 4 News Values
1st story:
World in turmoil due to Trump tariffs (twenty-five minutes)
2nd story:
Northern Ireland problems being in EU and UK (eight minutes)
3rd story:
Israeli doing wicked things in Gaza (five minutes)
4th story:
Four members of the Blackmore and Sparkford Hunt found guilty by Weymouth magistrates of not preventing hounds killing a fox (four minutes)
5th story:
World in turmoil due to Trump tariffs (rest of programme)
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Britain's Best Buys. What's the Big Deal? (Channel 4)
The slang word 'quid' signifying a pound sterling is rarely heard in common discourse. Occasionally with heavy irony perhaps but it is generally passé even among the market trading classes.
| Except in television consumer programmes, when it is used compulsively. |
Last night, for instance, the presenter used quid/quids on possibly twenty occasions. I listened carefully. She said 'pound' just once, towards the end when she seemed a bit overwhelmed after an hour of constant price comparisons.
If I'd been the director/producer of the programme I would have told her to cut out at least nineteen quids. The first time establishes she is a man of the people, after that it is not so much patronising as just plain weird.
But, for all I know, focus groups have established that, if she did not reiterate the word on every conceivable occasion, she would be marked down as a toffee-nosed git. The situation may be more complex than I have given it credit for.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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The series on Musk continues apace. My worries about BBC bias were not allayed when the presenter remarked that Musk chose to launch two Americans into space via his Spacex rocket ship on the very same day George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police.
I don't think 'nuff said' quite summed up my feelings of outrage.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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However, I have a technical quibble too. With these rags-to-riches accounts there are always three stages 1. The modest upbringing 2. The breakthrough 3. The march to world domination.
The first is uninformative. It is always the same story of bourgeois backgrounds and nerdy preoccupations. The third part is more varied but still formulaic. It is the second we want to to hear about. So we can do it ourselves or fall amazed at why we didn't or couldn't.
I was all ears at how Elon Musk did it. According to the BBC, he drifted around from university to university studying this and that (check) and ended up in Silicon Valley (check). He started something to do with something (I went home) and sold it for three hundred million dollars. I missed the details because it was all over in a minute.
But it was all I needed to know if I had my time over again.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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On Your Farm: "Apples All Over" (BBC Radio 4)
We were all brought up on Bulmer's Woodpecker Cider, and I see Thatcher's Cider advertised everywhere, so it was interesting to hear the Thatchers (unlike the Bulmers who are now Magnus/Guinness) are an actual family, growing actual apples, 'in Zummerzet, where the soyder apples grow'. (Yes, I can do the accent, Jim lad.)
They were all excitedly talking about the varieties they've got 'down on the farm' -- 456 in one field -- so I couldn't help wondering how they ensured it tastes the same bottle by bottle, year after year. If it does. They mentioned darkly that 'tastes were changing and we have to anticipate them years ahead' but didn't say from what to what. As long as it was sweet was all I cared about growing up.
A fascinating listen for urban teetotallers.
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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| Mick Harper wrote: | | Musk chose to launch two Americans into space via his Spacex rocket ship on the very same day George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. |
Guilty by association. Or aiding and abetting.
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