Things you don't need to know…

Was shopping for shoes, and found this Reebok promotion:

30% Off Combat Apparel
…
Essentials Using Code COMBAT30!

WTF?

I'm in London, UK.

Now, for a globetrotter like me (having visited 14 countries. Including Norway), I am of course very familiar with the most important European cities. And if I'm in doubt, my tickets (if I kept them, which I usually do - my pockets are filled with … things), will usually tell me where I am. Usually. If everything else fails, here are a few signs that may tell you where you are, or at the very least where you're not. All based on traversing Oxford Street on foot yesterday.

1. People.
There are lots of people abroad. Back in good ol' Norway we're around 12 humans per square kilometer. London is noticeably more crowded. Which can cause problems. Because: When walking around, my movements tends to be a bit … erratic, some may even say brownian (nothing to do with alchohole, I almost never touch it). Further, my mind and especially my eyes tend to be focused on shop windows, entertainers, other stuff, but not on my immeidate surroundings. Fortunately said surroundings seems to be well aware of said surroundings, but when they're not … let me put it this way: I fully understand why light takes 100,000+ years from the core of the sun to the surface.

2. Traffic.
Cars come from where they're not supposed to. I've said it before: getting a driver's licence in the uk must be very easy, since they let you get away with driving on the wrong side of the road. This is clearly an example of left being wrong, and right being right. Unlike politics. Back home, as a pedestrian I tend to regard traffic lights as suggestions, a sort of guidance, not to be taken literally. I cross the street whenever there are no cars around (only if I intended to cross in the first place, stupid). Can't do that here, because even if I see no cars, there may still be one or two of them on a potential collison course. So I choose to wait for the little green men. I could of course follow the natives, but in general, being the second one trying to run towards the other side is not recommended. So, yes, I do wait for the little green men.

BTW, I saw three bicyclists stopping for red lights. And I even encountered a bicyclist stopping for me at whatcha-call-it-thoee-zebra-stripes-in-the-streets. Uncanny? Makes me shiver.

3. Escalators.
People know how to behave in escalators (admittedly I haven't been near one late at night when people are drunk). Stand to the right, and if hasty, walk/run on the leftish part. If you don't get it right (you're a tourist), a gentle kick in your but will soon enlighten you. Back home? *laughs*.

4, Language.
If people in general refuse to speak Norwegian, your'e not in Norway. Simple as that.

5. Other things.

pibbur who when in Rome does as Norwegians do.

I assume being in London is a part preparation for your fated visit to the Land of Oz!!!!

Ill fated?

Pibbur who tries (not very hard) to find reasons to go to a country not accessible by train

Russia submits screenshots of mobile game as evidence of military wrongdoing.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20…deo-game-still

Why anyone would believe anything said by the Russians is beyond me.

What REALLY surprises me is that the US is able to have a successful colaboration running the International Space Station.

I'm glad you guys are sorting out some new rockets. Relying on them for launches never struck me as a good idea.

Yeah, and the US military has been buying Russian engines for years. The new engines will drop that dependency. It's very tricky business to develop them though.

Woman Makes Edible Roasted Alien Facehugger, And Now She’s “Not Allowed To Make It For Thanksgiving”

https://www.boredpanda.com/thanksgiv…ey-36monsters/

Originally Posted by Eye
80 Mb/s. (fiber)

I see your 80 and raise you 200.

Cable connection. Unfortunately, the upload speed is horrendous. 20 Mb/s there. Makes it harder to upload those ginormous YouTube videos.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/…bscene-drawing

Bodies donated for science being chopped up and sold for private profit. More corporate scumbaggery making the world a worse place.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates…odies-science/

I wondered if they'd made a chestburster. And they did.

pibbur who imagines an egg cake.

Originally Posted by Ripper
Bodies donated for science being chopped up and sold for private profit. More corporate scumbaggery making the world a worse place.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates…odies-science/

We did have too few bodies available for study already back in my days at med school. But that was in Norway, and long before this company was born.

During anatomy lessons I dissected an arm and a brain. A bit strange doing these things, considering that the specimens belonged to humans that once were alive. Important to remember this in order to handle them respectfully. Occasionally there have been examples of really disrespectful behaviour, but I discovered (later when working at the anatomy department) only one very minor infraction, more to do with not thinking than bad will.

pibbur

Firefox has released a new version of it's browser, the Firefox Quantum. It's said to be twice as fast as it's predecessor.

Given it's title this suggests that you can not be as sure where clicking on a link takes you.

pibbur who ponders the destiny of a cat in a potentially life threatening box moving at exactly 50 kph.

Originally Posted by Ripper
Bodies donated for science being chopped up and sold for private profit. More corporate scumbaggery making the world a worse place.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates…odies-science/

This is just disgusting.

Shows to me the Rule Of Capitalism over everything else. And Greed, of course.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
This is just disgusting.

Shows to me the Rule Of Capitalism over everything else. And Greed, of course.

You're right, of course. Deeply uncivilised behaviour that fails to respect basic humanity, and reflects the mentality encouraged by our current economic arrangements. They'd be hawking us Soylent Green the moment they thought they'd get away with it.

Originally Posted by pibbur who
Firefox has released a new version of it's browser, the Firefox Quantum. It's said to be twice as fast as it's predecessor.

Given it's title this suggests that you can not be as sure where clicking on a link takes you.

pibbur who ponders the destiny of a cat in a potentially life threatening box moving at exactly 50 kph.

On Linux there is a nightly build that also uses the new Wayland display server. It's buttery smooth, if a little bit crash-prone, but it definitely looks like the way forward.

Originally Posted by joxer

This happened to my mother once. Also, she had a cat that somehow got inside her china/glassware cabinet. Luckily nothing was broken. Cats are always causing trouble.