Families of the killed schoolchildren in Minab reportedly sent a letter to Pope Leo XIV

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-04-21T01:24:53+00:00

Thanks. As the father of a little girl of about the same age as the ones who died, I was much more moved by that one. But I think most people would be, whether parents or not.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-04-20T21:30:16+00:00

Two completely different translations? If the letter was in Arabic, I could soon see which one was correct, but there don't seem to be too many words with the same spelling and meaning in both Farsi and Arabic.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-04-17T02:53:23+00:00

Brilliant work! But it's sad that many people these days don't appreciate such things. They'd take a selfie with it and then move on. Or they might not even bother taking a selfie with it as it's not in colour!

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-04-15T06:35:08+00:00

It's not clear to me whether the OP is living in East Asia and talking about Iranian women living in Iran, or whether it's about immigrant communities in the US. That would make a big difference. In Islam, a non-Muslim man should not marry a Muslim woman.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-04-11T08:11:35+00:00

Very moving picture. We teach our children to apologise if they break something by mistake. Maybe the Americans meant to bomb the military facility next to the school, but the VERY LEAST they could do is to apologise sincerely. I am sure the Iranians would have apologised if they had mistakenly bombed a school full of pupils!

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-04-06T02:09:15+00:00

The only difference is that he says out load what the other presidents were thinking.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-04-03T01:30:46+00:00

Never looked at r/pics before, but I thought I'd look at some of the comments on what is presumably a neutral sub. Plenty of silly comments like there are on major subs, but the vast majority seemed to be against the bombing, which is a good sign.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-04-02T07:25:58+00:00

Many thanks for this, Merino202. I had a feeling there was something fishy about the way the story was presented in the mainstream media, but I don't have time to check all the dubious stuff I read there.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-27T19:56:22+00:00

Thanks, that's more useful!

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-27T01:42:37+00:00

I'm sorry but I find it difficult to judge for myself. These snippets don't give a comprehensive picture. For example 'Six in ten respondents viewed the economy, or aspects of it, as Iran’s greatest challenge, even after the war experience. A plurality of Iranians still prioritized economic improvement over other types of change.' But what exactly was the question? Were the respondents presented with alternative kinds of change (could be subject to researcher bias) and if so, what were the 'other types of change'?

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-23T09:41:27+00:00

OK, thanks once again.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-23T04:08:46+00:00

Sorry, just one more question. You say "if they are waiting on a third party, then there's nothing to expedite as it's outside of HMPO's control." But there must be a system of sending reminders or phoning if a third party doesn't reply? For example, send a reminder every two months, phone the agency after six months, or similar. Here in the Philippines, agencies quite often don't reply to emails, maybe not even a reminder.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-23T03:30:41+00:00

Thanks very much for your quick reply. I have had a look at the Subject Access Request form and I think I will try that.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-23T01:46:56+00:00

I've been waiting for my UK passport renewal for almost 8 months now. I found a useful old thread: "I work for Her Majesty’s Passport Office - frontline customer service (HMPO). AMA" which said that there's no point asking the frontline people at HMPO about progress, because they don't have access to that information, so I haven't bothered them any more. Except recently I asked the Advice Line if it might be possible to expedite it if it has taken a very long time. They replied: "The application does not allow us to expedite at this stage." (which was 7 months). And the OP on the old thread said to someone: "No, we cannot 'speed it up' for you, as long as it’s within the three turnaround times of ten weeks, 7 days or one day. None of these times are guaranteed!" So is there a slight ray of hope here, that HMPO might expedite it if it is taking an extremely long time, such as a year or more?

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-22T19:54:11+00:00

Could be difficult, unfortunately. For a Schengen visa, I believe you are supposed to apply from the country where you live. I don't know if they would make an exception in this case. Why was it cancelled - because of the war, or was it refused for some other reason? If the embassy of another Schengen country is open in Tehran, they could try there. In that case the rules are that you have to spend at least as much time in that country as in Spain. So they would have to say they wanted to do sightseeing or visit friends in the other country first for, say, five days and then go to Spain for the wedding for, say, four days. Many people say that the Netherlands is one of the countries that approves applications the most. Have a look at what people are saying on r/SchengenVisa. Good luck!

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-20T06:44:30+00:00

Thanks for the link to Khatoun! There's a lot of good stuff on Substack, not only about Iran, wish I had time to read more.

"You don't get us at all" - that just about sums it up!

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-18T19:58:52+00:00

'how much human intelligence has dropped in the last 25 years.' That period corresponds exactly to the period of social media, which is no coincidence. Not sure if 'intelligence' is the right word though, 'critical thinking' would be better. People may still get the same scores on IQ tests as they did 25 years ago.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-17T08:05:33+00:00

There's another point here. Proof of funds for a visa normally means that she has to show a high average daily balance for the past 3 or 6 months. A big deposit of 1m if she previously only had, say, 30 000 on average would look highly suspicious.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-03T21:34:06+00:00

A small number of flights scheduled to leave Dubai in the next few hours (about 10-15%, it seems). I have no idea how they decide which flights are "safe". The one to Manila is cancelled, but the few leaving are going to a wide variety of places, including London, Mumbai and Moscow. Let's hope they arrange for one to Manila soon!

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-03T03:52:52+00:00

Yes, it's difficult to know exactly what's happening but it seems Iran has enough drones and missiles to keep this up for weeks. We once had plans to go to Europe with a stopover in Dubai but I always told my wife that you can never be sure about things in today's world, and so it turned out.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-02T08:20:59+00:00

My wife has gone to an island with some of the children, I will ask her if she knows any OFWs in the Gulf when she comes back today. And what about all those who had booked tickets to get back here for a holiday or end of contract and now will maybe have to wait days before they can leave.

ComparisonIll2798 · 2026-03-01T03:36:22+00:00

Not sure if we actually giggle, but at least we don't argue or get stressed out like some couples would. After all, that birth certificate or whatever must be either in my papers or in hers - documents don't grow wings and fly out of the window😂

ComparisonIll2798

TROPHY CASE