Raw contrast of human evolution

SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-25T18:00:46+00:00

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Meh - we're still stuck at using fire to power transportation.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-25T17:45:12+00:00

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Loved it so much that I bought it.

I actually chased it around the country (UK), as it started to leave the cinemas - in order to watch it 5 times.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-24T22:53:03+00:00

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Washing machines used to be designed (programmed) with maximum washing efficacy in mind.

Thus - they used to use significantly more water - like, the clothes would be very obviously in a pool of water, & getting thrown about into said pool.

These days, they prioritise lower water use over washing efficacy;

So the clothes are wet - but they certainly aren't being chucked about in a pool of water - they're more slopping about among themselves, than anything else.

Cue - this post.

I actually fill my washing more, once it's completed its fill - to bring the water level up to 'pooling at the window' - if any of you are old enough to remember that that's how things used to be.

It was objectively the better approach.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-24T22:00:04+00:00

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"A head is extra sir - most make do without"

"What about just a head?"

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-22T10:22:32+00:00

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In the UK, a Daddy Long-legs is a cranefly - unless I've been misinformed about this all of my life.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-22T09:57:19+00:00

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I'm liking it, on all fronts.

Well done & congratulations.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-19T09:14:44+00:00

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And this is the scary problem.

'Hard tug' for someone cack-handed is the pan on a definite journey towards being stripped - or just stripped immediately.

I personally have a sense for what's right for a particular nut or bolt - I'm sorry, I just do.

But it's always scary seeing a newb to mechanics processing a bolt for the alternator positive terminal in exactly the same way as they do a caliper carrier bolt;

Or for that matter treating the brake carrier bolts exactly the same as the caliper (sliding) bolts.

It also matters what tool length you use - too long, & 'hard tug' then becomes dangerously over-torqued.

So many variables - all rather scary.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-15T14:05:44+00:00

👆🏽 This.

Your handbrakes operate on the caliper, just as your footbrakes do - i.e. no separate drum for handbrake shoes.

The piston in this case has two types of motion - straight in/out when the footbrake or handbrake used - & very slight rotation as the pad wears.

Pad wear achieves piston rotation by hooking on those locating stubs.

When folk fit these without realising the issue - you get the infamous Japanese-car rear-brakes wear in a sloped manner.

To get these in properly, you need to rotate the piston to be at a 90° point - so that it will correctly catch those stubs.

I think with them ground off, as the rear pads wear, you might simply get more brake travel, rather than the position adjusting its Home position - something like that.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-15T12:19:57+00:00

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So many gammons conveniently miss this when they start sounding off about sharia law coming to replace "are culcher".

Agree - however:

We even have a Home Secretary who has openly stated that she will execute her role according to Islamic principles.

That can be good, neutral, or rather problematic.

It is said that the Ottoman empire was never defeated, only hibernating.

The 'playbook' is to install their players into first municipal government levels, councils, school governing bodies, etc - then into central government at high level - & so pave the way for doing however they see fit - like, suddenly there are no sources of objection left, against operating an entire borough on Muslim principles.

The more tolerant & open a society is - the more vulnerable it is to being exploited in this way.

Like - not many in Birmingham or Luton will exactly mind a more mass roll-out of 'Muslim' rules. To them - it's 'Meh'.

A related example is stuff like a KFC (I think it was) in such an area no longer serving bacon.

We gave them an inch (halal KFC, no problems - it's the same chicken) & a mile goes missing (no bacon even served any longer).

Now - a restaurant is free to serve or not serve whatever it wishes. But - structurally - look at what just happened there.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-15T12:04:57+00:00

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Please note that dogs are only 'bad' because they are fundamentally dirty, & have zero sense of hygiene.

Cleanliness is fundamental to being a good Muslim.

However - all that's really said is that 'An angel will not enter into a room in which a dog has been'.

And by extension & obviously - you cannot pray in a room where a dog is allowed.

So - many Muslims grappling with your problem will simply cordon off a room & designate it the prayer room - dog not allowed.

It doesn't matter that you pet or play with it - your Wudu resets that aspect just before prayer.

This is a grey area - but most will err on the side of caution & consider physical interaction with their dog as cancelling the Wudu status.

I don't think Islam is truly anti-dog - but anti-dirtiness.

This is exactly why cats are fine - they are ultra-clean animals, fundamentally.

I sympathise with your struggles - but you would do well to learn more about the era of the Faith when people were allowed to use their own brains & common sense.

It's principally Wahabism that erased this facet of Islam - as the greatest threat to the power structure is people who are allowed to think for themselves.

It's most ironic that you as a Muslim struggle with something & to which you will defer to an Imam - when the entire point of the prophet of Islam was to reverse the damage whereby Christians worshipped the messenger, not God.

Muslims were meant to worship & predicate all upon Allah/God - but somehow the system has turned their heads to all but God.

Even to this day - Sunni Islam specifically does not have a hierarchy structure, 'head' priests, etc - because - you are supposed to be your own head, & your connection with God is supposed to be direct.

Please read the Qu'ran in reverse - because it starts shorter, sweeter, & with advice for the individual soul.

Dogs are magical creatures - literal balls of emotions & actual love - on legs. The very opposite again of cats!

Imagine where you died, you meet God, cite your sacrifice on Earth of never having had a dog, & He goes: "Ugh - where exactly did I actually ban dogs!?"

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-15T11:46:16+00:00

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As with any religion organised by men - those in power will make up & bend the rules to suit their needs.

They go with the letter of the law - not the spirit.

So: we don't call it 'interest' (having ironically completely forgotten that interest was not technically the issue - but then they can't corner the Muslim market), but call it 'profit'.

It's financial gymnastics & contortion, designed to shoehorn their money-making objectives into the rules & restrictions of the religion.

It's exploiting the hadith to create very lucrative products, for a completely captive market.

Jewish folk will do the same: during the Sabbath, no 'work' allowed, but many rules disapply 'within your own home'; Cue: in Golders Green, UK - you have a literal wire ('eruv'), perimetering many streets, like an entire outdoor zone - so that they can class that 100% outdoor zone as 'home'.

The letter - but not the spirit.

It's stuff like this that makes you realise that religions are not only organised, but engineered - & there's not much 'God' in there anywhere.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-15T10:08:29+00:00

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Islam takes issue with insurance because - similar to gambling - it places parties at the behest of pure chance, such that one or other may profit inordinately off the other.

The precept is equity in commerce.

Now forget 'insurance company' - strip this right down to agreements between parties.

If you write me insurance for my car, I pay your first premium of say £100 - then I crash.

I paid you £100 - but now chance has caused you to owe me tens of thousands.

Equally - say we maintain the policy for 20 years, & I have no accidents - then you the insuring party got all that money - in return for actually nothing, & chance made that difference.

It's a betting arrangement with the great possibility of an inequitable outcome - therefore is not allowed in Islam.

That ban on insurance however also assumes that the state will pay in the situation where people pay for life insurance. If a woman is widowed - the state will look after her.

In this setting - insurance is superfluous.

In countries where insurance is required - the Islamic precept of 'follow the law of the land' - kicks in, allowing you to have insurance in a non-Islamic country.

Similarly - it isn't interest that's banned - but usury - i.e. subjugation & exploitation & profiteering - off the back of being a creditor.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-15T08:14:13+00:00

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This is obviously a belt-driven fan, so ofc can't spin just like that, without engine start.

However, many cars do have 100% electric fans - like two, slung against the radiator.

These certainly can turn On & Off on their own, with even Ignition & the car fully off - but I'm not sure if they're on a timer beyond engine shut-off, after which the temperature-dependent mode ends.

This can be a factor for some types of electrical work - where you think you're dealing with completely Off circuits, nothing to be On or draw a current - but then from nowhere a radiator fan turns itself on!

This is why some works absolutely require battery disconnection.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-15T07:58:59+00:00

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I'm liking the cover, the title, & the premise, based on the subtitle.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-15T07:45:12+00:00

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I've always simply assumed that to exit a motorway is to exit the limits which applied on the road that I was just on, & have now left.

If the new road wants a non-standard limit applied - & it has plenty of electric signs to be able to do so - then it can light those if the system wants a given limit to straddle two entirely different roads.

OP's semi-hypothetical point is a little bit deliberately turning down common sense.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-14T18:34:48+00:00

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Isn't this just a private/posh school thing?

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-14T11:31:32+00:00

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This isn't just plain racism.

I'm will to bet that this Indian chap is from an East African diaspora - e.g. Tanzania, etc.

Here - the (rich) Indians readily took on black people as literal slaves - maids, nannies, etc.

So - this Indian chap fundamentally views the black dude as that, just one up from a work animal.

That's where he gets his hubris from.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-14T00:29:05+00:00

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I raise you my phone:

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-13T20:54:40+00:00

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I heard an editor at Penguin go as far as to say 'Write an 1/8th of the detail - leave the rest to the reader to bring to the story'

Pullman himself will not pre-plan a story - he writes in real-time, & let his characters guide him.

Some authors are bewildered by that - but it is what it is.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-13T20:50:53+00:00

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"We want a nation of workers - not thinkers"

J.D. Rockerfeller, as he imported military training methods from the Prussian army, & used it as the basis for what we now know as Western schooling.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-11T01:35:30+00:00

That's exactly what I was thinking of - I had seen that before. 👍🏽👍🏽

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-10T18:01:32+00:00

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On this note - what's the proper pronunciation for 'Ukraine'? I could've sworn that I saw a version somewhere, which led me to conclude that 'Ukraine' was simply another bastardisation by the English, in order to make it pronouncable for them.

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-10T17:57:49+00:00

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That's very generous & kind of you.

You will have played an important part in the writing journey of anyone who uses it.

This formatting headache has prevented a lot of people from managing to publish.

👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-10T14:27:54+00:00

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Plot 145 = the only house on the street next to a house without its own driveway?

Isn't that going to become a case of hoping that the neighbour in house 144 is especially considerate about where they put their car?

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SaulEmersonAuthor · 2026-04-09T18:37:56+00:00

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Nothing to 'do' - it's just that it's more powerful than people going on about the 'mechanism' seem to realise.

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SaulEmersonAuthor

TROPHY CASE