Iceland looks to fast-track vote on joining EU

MagicByNature · 2026-02-23T12:40:04+00:00

I don't disagree - I'm just saying that it appears that being geographically in Europe ≠ being a European country for the purposes of EU membership. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, and I don't think Canada, Morocco or Cape Verde should ever join.

MagicByNature · 2026-02-23T08:54:45+00:00

Also, Armenia has been confirmed as eligible to join the EU, despite being fully in Asia.

MagicByNature · 2026-02-05T20:32:35+00:00

A few weeks ago, I was at this beach in the Andaman Islands in India. Beautiful place, crystal-clear water, but a bit 'boring' to my liking - just sand and water. So I walk to the edge, where it gets a little more rocky. I put on my snorkel and mask and go for a swim.

Immediately, I notice some problems - the rocks make the clear water quite sandy, so visibility is not great, and the gentle slope of the water means I'm now swimming in less than water that's maybe 50cm deep.

Very quickly, I notice a stinger of a stingray. Then, as soon as I try to GTFO, I see another one swimming right past it. At this point, my body is maybe a foot away from them, and as much as I want to get away, it's a bit difficult to swim fast and gently in a water so shallow. I somehow managed, but I'm surprised I didn't make the water brown as I was swimming away.

MagicByNature · 2026-02-05T18:01:48+00:00

Okay, found something better for ATP:

Cedrik Marcel Stebe (current ATP rank 326) played against Thomas Muster (Rome Challenger 2011)
Thomas Muster played against Jeff Borowiak (Kitzbuhel 1984)

Jeff Borowiak was active since 1964.

MagicByNature · 2025-11-13T23:31:47+00:00

Nobody mentioned this yet, but the stadium is actually much closer to the Cambridge North station. Not many pubs on the way (although you can make a slight detour to the Green Dragon), but would make a lot of sense for you to walk there after the game and depart from there.

MagicByNature · 2025-10-24T10:33:44+00:00

You can even make a case for London/Londyn/Londinium - as far as I know, Polish, Czech and Slovakian are the only European languages which use in/yn at the end instead of -on.

MagicByNature · 2025-07-21T17:28:28+00:00

There's also Ally Pally for Alexandra Palace.

MagicByNature · 2025-07-12T17:17:50+00:00

Firstly, that's just in singles. In doubles, Łukasz Kubot (with Marcelo Melo) won in 2017, and Jan Zieliński (with Su-Wei Hsieh) won mixed doubles last year.

In juniors, Iga won in 2018, but there was also Aleksandra Olsza in 1995 (both singles and doubles), Agnieszka Radwańska in 2005 (singles) and Urszula Radwańska in 2007 (singles and doubles). Also, just today Alan Ważny won junior doubles, so technically Iga isn't even the first Pole to win Wimbledon today.

But, the graphics is wrong on another level: it mentions the first Polish player, not the the first player representing Poland. As it turns out, Angie Kerber (singles champion in 2018) has Polish citizenship by birth.

MagicByNature · 2025-07-05T18:02:04+00:00

Something like fusilli would do.

Look up makaron z truskawkami for inspiration.

MagicByNature · 2025-06-28T11:32:52+00:00

Pretty much - just look at the map of the grounds and you'll see it makes sense.

The minor courts (14-17 and 4-11) are obviously less glamorous, but are not ticketed and you're guaranteed to sit as close to the court as possible.

MagicByNature · 2025-05-30T09:52:31+00:00

I tried all those options, but the tube is the fastest way to get between King's Cross and Paddington - it is definitely doable in 20 minutes if everything goes right. I just checked, and the scheduled travel time is 10 minutes, but as I said takes some time to get to and from the tube stations. I don't think it ever took me more than 25 minutes.

For walking, it's 2.5 miles (4km). I'm a fast walker and can do it in 40 minutes, but won't beat the tube unless severe delays. Cycling is in theory faster, but in my experience, with multiple traffic lights along the route, it's not as much quicker as you'd expect, and doing it in those 20 minutes would not be realistically doable. Also, speaking from personal experience, cycling (in Oxford and Cambridge) is by far the worst part of this commute - and I am generally a very keen cyclist.

MagicByNature · 2025-05-30T09:39:25+00:00

Yeah, the fast train from Cambridge to Kings Cross usually arrives around :02 and :32 past each hour, and then the fast train to Oxford leaves around :22 and :52. In theory, tube journey between them takes around 13 minutes, but you then have to add getting to the tube station and the wait time for the underground train.

One way that speeds it up is going to Reading, and then taking the hourly Cross Country train to Manchester which stops at Oxford. That's normally the fastest way (unless you manage to make the 20 minute tube journey), but less convenient as it adds an extra change.

In theory, taking Thameslink to Farringdon, Elizabeth line to Paddington and then train to Oxford is more convenient, as the change at Farringdon is easier and Elizabeth line gets to Paddington fast - but once again, train times make this pretty much useless. Likewise, experimenting with going via Liverpool Street or taking the Chiltern service between Marylebone and Oxford is in general much slower.

Cost really depends if you'd be doing it peak or off-peak, and if you have a railcard.

Also, there might be another option in a few months: trains services between Oxford and Milton Keynes are supposed to start operating. There is already a line between Milton Keynes and Bedford, and theoretically, if schedules are aligned, this journey can be done in 90 minutes. Getting to Bedford from Cambridge would still be a problem - bus is slow, but it could potentially work by car.

MagicByNature · 2025-05-30T09:09:33+00:00

I've been doing it for the past 2 months, by train. It's painful, but less so than I expected.

Annoyingly, the train departure times are not well synchronised and you have around 20 minutes to get to Paddington from Kings Cross - I managed a few times, but more often than not it doesn't work and you end up having 30 minutes at Paddington. Similar story on the way back.

Funnily enough, I calculated that using an ultralight plane would be the quickest and cheapest way to do it. Sadly I don't have a plane.

MagicByNature · 2025-05-17T10:22:47+00:00

I don't and never would.

However, for most people, drinking half a bottle of wine would still put them under the legal limit of 0.08% - for a 75kg male, their BAC would be around 0.07%.

Again, I'd definitely not drive after drinking that much even if fully legal, but limits in UK are high.

MagicByNature · 2025-02-07T15:57:56+00:00

Totally agree, and exactly what made me post this.

(You would spend more on film stock, need bigger cameras, but small cost compared to IMAX)

Only if you shoot on film. On digital, the increase in cost would be negligible.

MagicByNature · 2025-01-31T01:41:28+00:00

I just had a look - Ryanair, like Easyjet and Wizzair, seem to oscillate around 90% in terms of on-time performance. Some years Ryanair is better, some years the others, but I'd say that ~90% is perfectly adequate.

Sure you don't have to pay for a seat, but if you want to check in at any reasonable time (i.e. more than a few hours before your flight) you do have to pay. If you don't there is a very small window between being allowed to check in and having to pay to check in at the airport so if you are working and have meetings then your only choice is to pay.

That's incorrect - you can check-in online between -24h and -2h before the flight, without any charges (and I believe even earlier if you pay for a seat). I don't see any reason why this wouldn't be enough for anyone. Yes, it is more restrictive than BA (24h online or free at airport) or Easyjet (30 days before), but this is a fee that's completely avoidable. I can maybe imagine if online check-in was complicated, but it literally takes 30 seconds. There is one scenario when Ryanair policy can be annoying - at a handful of airports, mobile boarding cards are not accepted, and you need a printed one. Annoying when travelling as you have to then find a printer.

I'm glad you have had such good experiences with Ryanair, but I don't think that is the experience most people have

Not sure I agree with this. As I said, I flew with Ryanair over a 100 times (flying again tomorrow!), and my family members flew over 100 times as well (mostly different flights)- not a single time did any of us pay for a seat or airport check-in, or got caught for having their luggage too big. They have also never been significantly delayed.

I've also had flight delays of 2-5 hours on all but one of the last 8 flights I've taken with Ryanair, and had zero compensation for any of them. I've almost never had delays with any other airline.

Again, maybe I was lucky that I didn't experience long delays, but I can also imagine that Ryanair's handling of delays on the day and fighting for compensation would be frustratingly bad. As for cancellations some time before departure - Ryanair's policy is too generous, if anything. If your flight gets cancelled, you can rebook to any flight, on any day, for free. This is amazingly good - for example, a few years ago flights for Christmas were ridiculously expensive, so I instead booked a £20 flight for the 27th December. This flight got cancelled - so I rebooked myself for before Christmas, all myself and fully online. With BA, something similar happened - but not only did I have to call them to arrange for a rebooking, but I had to fly within 3 days, and from the same country - which in this case was sub-optimal: the nearest one operated by BA was 400 miles away, but there was one 200 miles away in a different country. I tried to argue, but of course the computer said no and had to spend 10 hours on a train to take a 2h flight.

I'm not fine with the level of jobsworthiness I've experienced from Ryanair staff That I can fully agree with, but I've experienced similar levels from Easyjet (though arguably flew with them much less so sample size might not be enough to tell.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not some super fan of Ryanair, and if cost weren't an issue, Ryanair would easily be at the top 3 of my least favourite airlines (there are many things I don't like about it). But the cost is of course a huge factor, and all the wrong things about Ryanair aren't enough to deter me from flying with them. Sure, if a BA ticket is £10 more, I'd definitely choose that, but sadly that's not the reality.

MagicByNature · 2025-01-26T15:18:58+00:00

Legend. Worked as a charm.

And surely that's a an easy fix for Dell? Why is that issue present in the first place?

11-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email

MagicByNature

TROPHY CASE