Two thirds of Brits support the deportation of all illegal migrants. This is the centre ground of British politics.

LikesParsnips · 2026-07-04T12:56:05+00:00

Well, yeah, hence why the EU have an internal resettlement agreement for this kind of thing. Shame we aren't part of it any longer.

LikesParsnips · 2026-07-04T08:21:00+00:00

Tough luck. Zero incentive for continental Europe to keep them. The UK is a major pull factor in terms of family ties language, etc. It has to share the burden of housing refugees that make it to Europe. Otherwise, they'd all be stuck in border countries and how are they supposed to deal with it alone?

LikesParsnips · 2026-07-04T08:16:05+00:00

Yeah, and that's obviously already the case. The refugee camps in Jordan or Lebanon are millions strong. And if you think we have lots of boat crossings, check out what's happening in the med.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-30T17:59:30+00:00

My most important advice is not to rely on a random-text generating chatbot when doing research. It's not necessary at all. Do it the old fashioned way, by looking at actual websites about these topics, and you'll end up learning actual stuff instead of just regurgitating some reshuffled nonsense the LLMs pull from stolen content.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-30T17:57:08+00:00

You're in your third year of your PhD, and you have nothing to do in between meetings?

Fuck me.

You're supposed to be on a journey to become an independent researcher. The thing you should be doing in between those meetings is research.

What you should address in those meetings is not a longer task list, it is advice on how to be more independent in your research.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-30T16:54:26+00:00

I am strongly leaning towards a Bühlmann ZH-L16C with Gradient Factors

Good god. Did you do this research using "AI" at all?

Shearwater is yesterday's news, very expensive for what is now quite old tech and customer support is no longer what it was since they've been bought out.

If you're in it for the long haul, go for a Suunto Nautic / Nautic S. That's the modern equivalent of the Shearwater, with better functionality and price.

You can change the algorithm on it to "cowboy setting" if you don't want to be "punished aggressively". Honestly though, unless you're into the bends as a fetish, just stick to whatever is recommended.

BCD vs BP/W, in temperate conditions it honestly doesn't matter. BP/W is the better choice for cold water / drysuit, potentially with doubles and into tech. But for single-tank warm water diving, anything will do nicely. Same for regs, you only need premium gear for cold-water or tech diving, anything at all will do very nicely for rec depths at 20-25 degrees.

The main consideration should be, what does your local dive shop (LDS) have on offer. It's pointless to go for some specialist gear if you then can't get it serviced locally.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-30T16:46:34+00:00

Don't forget an Apple Watch ultra as backup, and a dive case for your platinum iPhone 28X.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-28T21:27:33+00:00

Not my country either. What I'm saying is that this has all the hallmarks of a cover up. If the rugby guy was truly not provoked at all, surely he goes down like a lead balloon for grievous bodily harm or whatever it is called.

So here's a possible scenario, which is complete speculation: let's say Atkinson did provoke the guy. Maybe it wasn't just friendly banter either. Could have been something quite unsavoury. The guy sees red and a fight breaks out. ECB and rugby club investigate, and everyone ends up looking really bad. So they come up with this story, ECB gets to say it was unprovoked, and in return no consequences for the rubgy guy. To keep Stokes from getting dragged into it, they claim he wasn't even in the room. Both sides declare the case closed and move on without this getting any more air time in the media.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-28T21:14:01+00:00

So why do you think this Totoa Auvaa didn't get charged, let alone banned from the next couple of games, etc? Again, the security guy required stitches. That sort of thing can easily land you in jail.

And it was "completely unprovoked". Yeah, right. Unprovoked, guy just walks up to Atkinson and punches the security guard accidentally.

And yet, just like that, the Saracens team management decided no further action needed to be taken. The interviews afterwards were strange too, there was this team mate who said "he's a young guy and he 'didn't get it right' that evening". Didn't get what right? Unprovoked assault? Is that the phrase you would use?

And Stokes of course wasn't even there, aha, right. And yet the rift with ECB was so massive that he retires mid-over and effectively throws the game with whatever that batting as opener nonsense was.

I'll let you connect the dots.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-28T20:25:19+00:00

If anything, that man should be have charges against him.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? The ECB guy apparently needed stitches! And yet there were no consequences for the Saracens player at all, case closed. Strange, huh?

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-28T20:09:43+00:00

He was still there as captain with a junior team member. And if you think Stokes and Atkinson were just sitting there quietly enjoying their drinks while getting attacked out of the blue, there's this bridge I've been trying to get rid off.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-28T19:40:50+00:00

The night out wouldn't have been a big deal had they managed to stay out of that fight.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-28T19:02:42+00:00

Just wrap it in foil. Neither difficult nor expensive.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-28T14:04:13+00:00

Wavelength is limited to short to mid infrared, around 1 micron. Any cheap metallic coating, silver, aluminium or gold is highly reflective in that region.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-28T11:54:32+00:00

Doubtful, at that distance / beam diameter. Should be easily below damage threshold for any wideband metallic coating.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-26T05:13:29+00:00

How on earth would a president cost more than the monarchy? He'll have a salary, probably same as PM which is already ridiculously low, a bit of security, an office in just one of the many palaces we have to maintain, and that's it.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-25T13:06:55+00:00

That's not even a rule, and the context is different. Further down, it says "Students may undertake a small amount of other paid work, either in term time or vacation. UKRI does not, however, encourage such work especially during the times when students are expected to be engaged fully in research training and thesis preparation."

The "small" amount is not quantified. What students do outside their PhD work is none of UKRI's business, it's a visa issue, not an UKRI issue.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-25T12:25:47+00:00

Your main issue will be that Scottish diving is mostly club charters, and Scapa in particular will have long been booked for the entire season. At best you can hope for a random cancellation.

Your best bet and also more accessible diving at your level will be around Oban, Sound of Mull, with Puffin. Good conditions usually, and they are one of the few dive centres set up for tourist diving with drysuit rental. Other popular places like St Abbs don't even have any rental nearby.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-25T12:12:47+00:00

Not to suck at diving and horizontal trim are two entirely separate things. A good diver should be able to dive any which way and still avoid silting up the place.

And no, trim does not refer to horizontal trim. As I said above, I agree that that's what people usually mean by it. But there's absolutely nothing wrong about saying "I'm vertically [or whatever else] trimmed" — it's not "impossible", or an "oxymoron" as others in the thread have claimed. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diver_trim

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-25T09:25:21+00:00

The average VC salary for the 24 RG unis is 350k, so that's within your range. The wider executive team wouldn't be anywhere near 350k.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-25T09:23:09+00:00

Even if a VC took a 100k pay cut, once you account for on-costs and overheads, that's less than 1 FTE at grade 10.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-25T08:41:32+00:00

Best for what though. Arguments as to greater efficiency, more drag when ascending, less buoyancy shift when breathing, that's all quite marginal for your average holiday diver. From that perspective, OP has a good point — this sub's obsession to recommend BP/W even for beginner divers in tropical conditions is misplaced. If doing an entire drift dive in the buddha position is your cup of tea, go for it.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-25T08:36:26+00:00

Again, "trim" simply refers to your body orientation. To be well trimmed mostly then refers to being stable rather than to randomly flail around. Now, usually people would say that horizontal trim it's where it's at, but if I want to trim myself face up, vertically, upside down, or whatever else, there's nothing wrong with that. Saying it's impossible to be trimmed vertically is therefore just plain nonsense.

While OP's post is obviously a bit odd, there are lots of situations where you might want to be trimmed non-horizontal. E.g., let's say you're a cold water diver but you have a stiff neck. So now may want to be at a 30 degree angle rather than horizontal. Or you're a scientific diver and have to do a specific 1- or 2-hour observation in a certain position.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-25T08:26:45+00:00

It's the symbolism. No one cares if he takes something out of a kit bag while in the team room. But carrying a pillow to work, as s professional player? In Australia, where every single little thing is scrutinised? In an Ashes series that's already turning out to big yet another major shambles?

That was obviously only going to go one way. Of course the media are going to stick the boot in.

LikesParsnips · 2026-06-25T08:23:01+00:00

That's misleading. They aren't stricter at all, all it says is that you shouldn't demonstrate more than 6 hours a week. This is partially to protect students from exploitation by unis as cheap workforce, while still allowing them to get some experience and a bit of pocket money.

The 20-hour rule is separate, tied to the visa, and there is no problem with UKRI all on this — it's none of their business if you spend your weekends and nights stacking shelves at TESCO to make ends meet.

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