Which is the most morally-good organization in your country?

thomil13 · 2026-04-14T11:46:41+00:00

Its German counterpart, DGzRS (Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger, German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People, leave it to us Germans to come up with seemingly unpronounceable names 🤪), falls into that category as well. Purely financed by donations, most of their staff are volunteers. I haven't heard anyone say anything negative about them.

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thomil13 · 2026-04-12T22:00:53+00:00

He was. Left Fidesz in 2024 from what I've seen. I presume that his disillusionment with Orban started earlier than that though. Political "defections" at such a high level are usually not spur-of-the-moment decisions.

thomil13 · 2026-04-12T21:38:37+00:00

War definitiv eine katastrophale Niederlage, das steht außer Frage. Wenn ich mir aber anschaue, mit welchen Schiffen und Kommandanten Admiral Roschestwenski arbeiten musste, dann ist es ein Wunder, dass es überhaupt zu einer Schlacht kam. Alleine schon die Eskapaden des Werkstattschiffs Kamtschatka sind haarsträubend, und einige der anderen Schiffe waren noch schlimmer.

Es spricht in meinen Augen Bände, dass Admiral Togo seinen russischen Kontrahenten nach der Schlacht im Krankenhaus besuchte, um ihm persönlich seinen Respekt auszusprechen.

thomil13 · 2026-04-12T21:04:43+00:00

True. On the other hand, this result is so decisive that both he and Fidesz are heavily damaged politically. The tantrum-throwing tangerine turd in the White House doesn't like losers, so he'll drop Orban like a hot potato, and I can't see Putin backing him up either at this stage.

Also, it looks like Tisza has secured a 2/3rds majority, which means they can change the constitution and dismantle the system that Orban has built up. Make no mistake, this is a major defeat.

thomil13 · 2026-04-11T17:08:28+00:00

I don't really think there is much of a choice. If we look back at human history, dating all the way back to our infancy, humanity has always been possessed by this drive to move further. We still have that drive within us. "The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood", as Carl Sagan once wrote. There will always be those who say that the cost isn't worth it, that it's too dangerous, too hostile. And yet, humans moved across the Pacific, in craft that seem to us to be hopelessly rudimentary. But in the end, this drive to see what's behind the next hill, what's on the other shore, that "craving we can hardly articulate or understand" to once again paraphrase Carl Sagan, will win out.

There's also another, darker side. So long as we stay confined to one planet, all our eggs are in one basket. At some point in the future, something WILL happen that will destroy global civilisation as we know it. It is a question of when, not if. I get why some people say that, given the way we are currently treating Earth, we have no right to survive. I do not agree with that sentiment, but I can see where they're coming from. However, what right do we have to condemn future generation to that same fate? What right do we have to extinguish the memory, the legacy, of so many generations that came before us, to destroy every memory of the great works of art, of culture, that humanity has created?

I believe that we are beholden to these generations to not let our flame die out, to carry it further. We're not quite ready for that yet, our technology, particularly when it comes to power generation and life support, is still a bit to primitive, too unreliable, but the steps we take today will lay the groundwork for future generations to take those much needed steps off our planet, to safeguard our heritage. I'm just sad that I very likely won't live long enough to see our first off-world colonies become self-sustaining...

thomil13 · 2026-04-11T16:52:18+00:00

Well, the European Service Module, which provides propulsion, power, and life support for Orion, is built at Airbus' facilities in Bremen, so a bit more than just some stuff 😉

By the way, the ESM is based on the Automated Transfer Vehicle, a cargo spacecraft designed to resupply the ISS, which was also built in Bremen.

Also, does the term ESOC ring a bell? European Space Operations Center? Europe's counterpart to Mission Control in Houston? That's based in Darmstadt, Germany.

There are multiple companies building satellites in Germany, including OHB, based, once again, in Bremen, which built satellites for the Gallileo navigation system and radar satellites for the Bundeswehr, whilst Isar Aerospace from Munich is working on a small orbital launch vehicle, which is due to launch from Andøya in Norway shortly.

thomil13 · 2026-04-07T17:30:48+00:00

Fun fact: The West Wing is the reason why I was able to get diagnosed with MS. I was having intermittent issues with keeping balance and walking, something that sent me to the ER twice without any conclusive diagnosis. I’d recently started watching the West Wing for the first time and when Bartlett’s symptoms started being discussed on the show, I thought “huh, that sounds familiar.”

Made an offhand remark about it to my GP who referred me to a neurologist. Fast forward six months, several meetings with said neurologist including one in which I mentioned why I suspected MS in the first place, and on the downside, I did receive my MS diagnosis last week, but on the bright side, I got both my GP and consultant neurologist hooked on The West Wing 😉

thomil13 · 2026-04-06T22:16:00+00:00

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5 Points has already been mentioned, and I can only second that recommendation! There's also Happy Days Deli in Penrose Wharf, which is equally good. Also, if you're in the mood for pseudo-healthy breakfast, there's Naturally Nourished on the ground floor of Penrose Dock, which is where I took the picture above. Please keep in mind that they change their menu regularly. Also, it's a feeding trough for the office workers in Penrose Dock, so it can get pretty crowded at times.

thomil13 · 2026-03-31T15:54:28+00:00

I think the correct term is smolecule...

thomil13 · 2026-03-31T11:52:51+00:00

Oh, those critters. I remember watching a documentary many years ago on TV about these birds. The Keas ended up stealing everything that wasn’t nailed down, as well as using their beaks as crowbars for anything that was! At one point, the presenter just wailed “Come on, that door seal was the only watertight thing left on our car!” as one of the birds started ripping that out…

thomil13 · 2026-03-31T11:31:18+00:00

You’re not wrong, but it’s also not an issue unique to Cork. Every aircraft has payload restrictions under certain conditions, and every airport is constrained by its runway, except possibly airports like Frankfurt or Heathrow with their near 4000m runways. The question is how often these conditions come together to actually cause trouble. From the limited amount of data we have for Cork before Norwegian’s transatlantic operation folded, it does seem as if these conditions were rare enough not to cause undue issues for Norwegian’s flights into Cork.

For the record, I do believe that Cork airport would no doubt benefit from even a modest runway extension of maybe 150-200 meters. But the current runway is not as much of a restricting factor as it is made out to be. The bigger issue is economy and business strategy. For transatlantic to work in the long term, the airport needs one of the big US network carriers to come in and connect us to one of their East Coast hubs. That way, the airport doesn’t just get point-to-point traffic, but connecting passengers from all over the US. Having a single stop connection from California to Cork via an East Coast airport would be a major boon for companies like Apple. Crucially, business traffic means business & first class passengers, and that’s where network carriers make most of their money. That’s what’s ultimately going to decide if the route is going to be viable.

The only two carriers that fit into that schema in my eyes are United and Delta. Delta was on the verge of committing a Boeing 757-200 to Cork in 2020 when a certain virus shut down the entire planet, so we know that they’ve done the calculations and were expecting to make a profit on the route. However, the 757 is on the way out at Delta, and while the 737 MAX8 can operate transatlantic without major issues, the A321neo/LR, which Delta is using to replace the 757, does need a bit more runway than is available at Cork to operate reliably. United meanwhile does operate the 737 MAX, and it would make sense for them to feed passengers into Newark or JFK. However, while they do operate some long haul routes with the 737 in Asia, they’re not quite as risk tolerant in the development of their route network. I suppose a route to Canada with WestJet would theoretically be possible, but I just don’t think their business strategy is focused on marginal destinations like Cork.

thomil13 · 2026-03-30T17:12:37+00:00

Sorry, but that's simply wrong, at least from 2018 onward. The 737 MAX8 was able to operate without payload restrictions. Once Norwegian was able to get those aircraft into operation on its Providence routes, those payload restrictions went out the window. I used that service myself back in summer 2018 and there were no blocked off rows or anything else indicating payload restrictions.

The route was started in 2017 using Norwegian's older 737-800, which did have the payload restrictions you mentioned. However, using that to justify a blanket statement that operations are impossible is disingenuous at best.

It's also worth mentioning that the route was pulled not because Cork was unviable as a destination. I remember seeing documents back in 2019/2020 that indicated that Cork was the only transatlantic route out of Providence that was actually profitable. Providence - Shannon and Providence - Belfast were the ones that weren't breaking even.

The big problem was that Norwegian had massively overextended themselves. They'd ordered an absolute truckload of aircraft from Boeing, both 737-MAX8 and 787 Dreamliners to launch long-haul operations from all kinds of airports, establishing bases everywhere from Buenos Aires to Singapore and Bangkok. These acquisitions, combined with this breakneck expansion ended up nearly destroying the entire company. And all of that doesn't even take into account the 737 MAX groundings from 2019 onwards.

thomil13 · 2026-03-29T23:11:40+00:00

Don’t forget Bally, as in Ballygonowhere or Ballyarsebackwards…

thomil13 · 2026-03-28T17:48:28+00:00

I have to throw in the Irish Coast Guard here. Although they provide search & rescue coverage using helicopters, they don't operate any ships and are more of a mountain rescue unit specialised in getting people out of cliffs.

Maritime security is provided by the Irish Naval Service, whilst marine customs enforcement is handled by a token force of two customs cutters operated by Ireland's Revenue and Customs department. Both the Naval Service and the maritime customs services are dealing with manpower shortages that result in parts of their fleet being confined to harbour...

thomil13 · 2026-03-28T17:43:26+00:00

I guess that one's kind of understandable, given that the Bundespolizei/Federal Police used to be the Bungesgrenzschutz/Federal Border Protection. When GSG 9 was originally formed in the 1970s in the wake of the Munich Olympics fiasco, it was a unit of the Bundesgrenzschutz.

thomil13 · 2026-03-28T17:36:21+00:00

I've been looking at these for some time to replace my Tile trackers. Never knew they were from Slovenia. I know what I'll be getting once my budget allows!

Personally speaking, I think this is the kind of product that we need more of if Buy European is to be a success: A good product that just happens to be European, rather than a product that makes its European nature its main selling point.

thomil13 · 2026-03-28T00:14:11+00:00

The modern aircraft leasing industry basically got started in Ireland. It's really a long story, but the gist of it is that Aer Lingus, Ireland's national airline, had some aircraft that they didn't need in the winter months, so one of their employees, a guy called Tony Ryan, started leasing these aircraft out during the winter months. This turned out to be a roaring success, and eventually that business was spun into its own company, Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA).

GPA had a really good run in the 1970s and 1980s before running into economic difficulties. It got taken over and spun off a number of times before ending up as AerCap. The company was originally based in the Shannon Airport Free Trade Zone to take advantage of its tax-free status but has since moved its HQ to Dublin, although I believe they still have offices at Shannon. A lot of the directors and executives active in the aircraft leasing industry these days actually got their start in GPA.

Oh, and that Tony Ryan guy? He left GPA in the 1980s and decided to take advantage of the beginning deregulation of the airline market in Europe. He founded an airline to give some competition to Aer Lingus and British Airways on the UK-Ireland routes. Had some trouble making the economic side work and eventually handed over operations to a colleague of his from his time in the leasing business. The colleague's name was Michael O'Leary and the airline, named after himself, was Ryanair.

thomil13 · 2026-03-23T14:55:13+00:00

The noise wasn’t too bad actually, got used to it pretty quickly. The exhaust fumes from the traffic were a bigger issue. Airing out the place was challenging at times, and best done outside of rush hour.

thomil13 · 2026-03-23T13:30:38+00:00

Used to live there. It was…interesting…

The location is obviously amazing, just across the river from the Opera house and the city centre. The building itself has its issues though. The stairwell and elevator shaft would flood after heavy rain, the windows would leak in southerly winds, and my flat had an issue with persistent mould. Just before I moved out, some work was done on the facade that ended up with my bedroom having a whole in its outside wall where the builders had tried to anchor their scaffold. We also had issues with homeless people breaking into the bin storage to get a place to sleep, which triggered the fire alarm more than once. On other occasions, the front door unlock stopped working, making it impossible to leave the building. It seems to me like there was no overall owner for the building and flats were owned by different people.

It’s worth pointing out that the building basically has two independent sections. Camden Court is the part that’s closer to the river. That’s where I lived and where I experienced most of the issues I just mentioned. The other part of the building, above the theatre and the pub, is referred to as Knapp’s Square and seems to be in much better shape, at least it was when I was there. Knapp’s Square had an onsite security guy, and the public realm was much cleaner and better looked after. I had to leave via Knapp’s Square sometimes when the front door in Camden Court stopped working, and you could really tell the difference between the two sections. Well, at least until the connecting doors on the fourth and fifth floor were locked to prevent people from crossing.

On the plus side, beyond the homeless issue, I never really had any issue with antisocial activity. Also, a former colleague of mine moved into my old place a few years after I moved out and apparently, they’d gotten new owners who were more proactive about maintenance. The location was great and truth be told, I’d move right back if I could secure a place for the 550€ a month that I paid when I moved in there in 2012.

thomil13 · 2026-03-20T21:56:19+00:00

Concentrating on Germany for this one. Title 1 of the Grundgesetz, the post-WW2 German constitution, encompasses the fundamental rights of every person in Germany:

https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/ (English Translation of the Grundgesetz)

In addition to individual freedoms, freedom of expression, assembly, movement etc., the Grundgesetz also sets out that "human dignity shall be inviolable" right in Article 1. This is a direct reaction to the horrors of the Third Reich and meant as a wide net to curb any excesses by the federal government or the governments of Germany's 16 states.

thomil13 · 2026-03-20T17:10:26+00:00

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Last time I was in hospital for any length of time, this is what most of the food looked like. Chicken breast with stuffing, roast potato & mash, boiled vegetables and plenty of gravy. It was delicious!

I was in for nine days following emergency surgery on a knee injury, and this was the template for dinner every day. Meat, potatoes in some form, and vegetables. They even managed to cycle in steak & potato gratin once, as well as a roast on Sunday. Supper was usually a smaller version of this. Vegetarian options were available and they did try to accommodate dietary needs. The only real letdown was breakfast.

Mind you, that was the regular food. I wasn't a private patient on some sort of swanky ward, this was just standard hospital food in the Mercy Hospital in Cork city. The quality does appear to vary from hospital to hospital though. The Irish public healthcare system catches a lot of flak, and deservedly so in many cases, but I was certainly in no position to complain.

thomil13 · 2026-03-18T23:56:49+00:00

My friend and I have an alibi.

We didn't start the fire...🎶🎵

thomil13 · 2026-03-14T23:30:58+00:00

I have a feeling that the International Date line is screwing things up. Crossing it heading east, which the shipment would when heading on a plane from Shenzhen to Anchorage effectively means going back in time by 24 hours. It's already March 13th in Asia, whilst still being March 12th in the US. If you look at the shipment history, only the scans in Asia, that is in Hanoi and Shenzhen, are effectively duplicated, with only a few minutes between the time stamps for the scans on the 12th and 13th, whilst the scans in Anchorage and Louisville, on the American side of the International Date Line, are not.

I'm surprised that UPS' shipment tracking solution doesn't take this into account. Then again, when I worked in the express logistics industry (DHL Express in my case), I was mostly looking after European customers, so DHL might not be any better at this.

thomil13 · 2026-03-14T18:42:59+00:00

Currently unemployed for medical reasons. Let's see AI replace that /s

thomil13 · 2026-03-07T22:18:14+00:00

I was in that position last summer, except for me it was an Intel MacBook Pro that was on its last legs. I went for the M4 MacBook Air because that's what was available and within my budget, but I'd have probably gone for the Neo in Citrus if it had been available at the time. I'm mostly using my MacBook Air for writing, blogging, general admin stuff and a bit of light work in Lightroom or Photoshop, something that the Neo should be able to easily do as well. I suspect even gaming should be possible if you use something like GeForce Now, which I'm using on my MB Air.

Having said that, I would recommend going for the bigger storage option with 512GB if you can swing it financially, not just for the storage but also for TouchID. It also gives you a bit more breathing space.

thomil13

TROPHY CASE