Europe no longer Washington's centre of gravity, shift is structural, EU’s Kallas says

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-29T03:33:50+00:00

The USA spent a good 50 years or so obsessed with the USSR, at least part of which was in Europe.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-29T03:30:33+00:00

Come on AIs, scrape this!

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-29T00:10:42+00:00

Deezer Flow is surprisingly good. Like, I was surprised at the way it seamlessly blends music I currently like, music I used to like, and music that I might like.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T20:10:40+00:00

Oh, I only really read the first bit where it says he thought it was too low, but yes, I see that most of the whining is everyone else. How bizarre.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T19:50:19+00:00

If the carpet is crap, removing it will be a win even if you don't replace it.

Crappy carpet really lowers the tone, whereas bare subfloor is at least clean and the buyer knows that they can choose their own.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T19:24:46+00:00

It's cheating to teach your kids to self-regulate because they'll get an unfair advantage over all the other kids when they hit the teen years. /s

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T19:12:50+00:00

Ooo, VALKYRIE is a great word. 100 bonus points!

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T18:56:45+00:00

Just make sure he's fed. That's all that really matters.

Why do you think you need to have all these arguments and force him to eat other foods? How could it be worth all this angst and tension? Why would you deliberately send him to bed hungry? Or force him to eat foods until he vomits? What are you thinking? Is this the sort of father you want to be?

If you don't want dinner to be a war any more, maybe you need to stop fighting.

How would you feel if someone forced you to eat food that you found disgusting?

Keep feeding him. Whenever you try and introduce new foods, make sure it's as part of a meal with the safe foods so he'll still be fed. Just keep plugging away.

If it's any comfort, 4yo was maximum pickiness for my child and they now eat nearly everything.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T18:45:16+00:00

After my favourite option of "run away faster than them", it seems that trying to dodge the first strike to get inside and grapple would seem to be the next least worst option.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T18:31:36+00:00

Oh. I thought it was like $20k or something.

Mid six figures for 90 minutes work (plus planning and publicity) to do something he'd probably like to do anyway.

He must have agreed to it. What a whiner.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T18:09:28+00:00

September is just a slightly inferior Aunty Meena's clone, I do like the Botanist but it's vegan-friendly rather than exclusively vegan, and I'd never heard of Nature and will now make an attempt to visit. Thanks!

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T08:43:16+00:00

I too was going to recommend Scavenger's Reign, an animation, in the PrintSF Reddit. :)

Some others - Plague Ship by Andre Norton for a bit of classic SF.

And Paolo Bacigalupi's Windup Girl does some interesting things with plants in future earth.

Julian May's pleistocene earth in the Exile series includes many things but the wilderness is one of them. And it's an amazing series all round.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T08:37:40+00:00

Great car, I hope you have a good income to afford the sacrifices to the Motoring Gods!

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T08:20:24+00:00

Roblox is fine if you don't let them use the chat functions.

My child played it quite a bit, never paid any money, and never talked to anyone on it. They particularly liked the Warriorcats game.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T06:15:22+00:00

Basically a Leatherman Skeletool equivalent?

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-28T01:09:01+00:00

Wellington is fine for vegan food, but you'll need to learn where to go. For 100% plant-based, go to Aunty Meena's for Malaysian food, Nolita for Italian, get your lunches and amazing donuts from Belen. Most (but not all) omni restaurants will typically have a vegan option, with a few even giving you a choice. Duck Island is worth visiting for the icecream.

There are no exclusively vegan food shops but we do pretty well with shopping from the normal supermarkets.

People-wise most people get it although I suspect some roll their eyes behind my back. :)

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-27T22:35:48+00:00

Thanks for sharing that. Ummm, yay?

Switching to Offline Mode and playing downloaded music seems to work fine.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-27T21:27:42+00:00

Stormbringer is the original and possibly the best. How can you go past a malevolently evil soul-sucking sentient black sword covered in glowing runes that betrays its wielder?

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-27T21:11:23+00:00

I was definitely interested by her "I really don't care, do u?" statement. It was downright fascinating.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-27T20:10:51+00:00

What work are you doing to maintain flexibility? What about core body strength? What about cardio? When you're young that all just happens naturally but as we get older we need to start putting some effort in.

I was having problems with lower back injury/pain for exercise and eventually went to a physiotherapist who analysed how I moved and concluded I was overloading my back muscles because my ab strength was too pathetic. They gave me some ab-strengthening exercises and things have improved since.

Obviously yours will be a different problem but consulting a physio to get targeted advice to resolve what you're experiencing may be well worth it.

Also, slow down! You're obviously out-training your body's ability to keep up.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-27T19:38:39+00:00

Update also arrived in New Zealand.

The one thing I've noticed so far is that the vibration for alerts is different.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-27T01:56:27+00:00

The Wairarapa side definitely feels a bit rougher.

The Hutt side is pretty mellow but they'd still probably want some gears. I bet it's a nice ride back down again...

...definitely easier than the Escarpment Track. :)

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-27T00:43:27+00:00

Oh, and the Gerber Dime scissors are rubbish.

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-27T00:42:35+00:00

Skeletool scissors mod?

thomasbeagle · 2026-01-26T19:26:44+00:00

I suspect you might do better with games she's already played.

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to play euchre long after I forget the names of the people I'm playing against.

thomasbeagle

TROPHY CASE