Random Thought

Well, at least the Ukraine got its gas secured. I wonder what you gonna do now. Doesn't look like you can get away from russia that easily.

Now, it's official Merkel got re-elect chancellor for germany. It would have been interesting if a guy from the other side of the coalition got elected withing parliament.

mitsuki, those are not sentimental of USSR, they just think of themselves as Russians since they speak russian and live close to russia, probably descended or have relatives there. A lot of them reject native ukrainian language and culture.
It's how it happened historicaly - in short those eastern lands were wiped of native Ukrainians and then a lot of Russians (and not very nice ones) was sent there back in days of russian empire. Funny, east of Ukraine is like Mordor - most of the industry, coal mining and chemistry is concentrated there, some industrial cities are known for terrible chemical fog etc. while western parst of Ukraine is about forest, traditions, agriculture. Tolkien would've been happy

Almael, we'll see how it will end, but so far nothing good is on the horizon.
What I'm gonna do - i'll just vote when next election comes. It's the only way to do it right - this much I learned from what I seen in life

Spoiler:

I'm totally ignorant about the history of Ukraine.  

I been reading up on General McClellan and from what I've read it's changed my mind about him.
He might have actually been a better President than Lincoln,at least from what his record of New Jersey governor,he would have definitely been more conservative.Fact up until Wilson the Democrats were
actually the more conservative party in the U.S.

The same story applies to most of south asia with the chinese from french colonial times and from newer economic times. As you said voting is the (legal) way to do it. Well, if there is election manipulation or other tricks ... As I said a while back the judicial branch of government is the last to fall back if all else fails. You need to find something unconstitutional to oust him out of office. Of course unless the justices are no longer reliable. Time for Judge Dredd!

We got this theory of division of power but the problem is they are too much related. If they were really independent of each and really controlling each other than it wouldn't  be a problem. I guess it's simply impossible.

China shot down the Bitcoin! Hmmm, weren't they among the first to use it? (e.g trade in the WoW game)

I dunno about McClellan. I think the real good part of a leader is not just leading or governing but he must have the right vision and realize it (to the bitter end).
Lincoln did the later part which imho is more important.

Btw. there's this white "ramen" like version. You prepare it the like normal ramen but you need to (cow) cook meat more thoroughly or similar (with more intense preparation). Therefore, this food usually has more fat.  And beware it the white ramen disolves quickly (after a while) so you got to boil the water first then put it in before you eat it. I think the normal ramen is better.
I eat asian food once a month at most.

Almael wrote:The same story applies to most of south asia with the chinese from french colonial times and from newer economic times. As you said voting is the (legal) way to do it. Well, if there is election manipulation or other tricks ... As I said a while back the judicial branch of government is the last to fall back if all else fails. You need to find something unconstitutional to oust him out of office. Of course unless the justices are no longer reliable. Time for Judge Dredd!

To tell you the truth - I don't think it's problem of bad people at government, I believe it's problem of people who elected it. People here had more than one occasion to change things, but government reflect the state and values of society. Everyone is waiting for just and lawful country to live in and maybe then they'll start paying taxes and respect law without understanding that it begins with them.
We are where Europe been hundreds of years back and I guess there's no other way but walking this same path, maybe a little bit faster.

As for Ramen - well, mine was pretty good, but I think I had the classic one - 3 types of broth: chicken, meat and fish are mixed together + Chinese noodles, some shrimps (fried), the meat (which used to make meat broth) and some eggs. There's more little ingredients, but I'm sure you get the picture

It was my first attempt :)Although I do have some experience in making various simple soups, it's been of use very often, but that was simple and efficient stuff - I'm not much of a cook

Well, see Bush or Obama or Hollande the masses doesn't vote based on what the minds says but what the stomage says. (Although, I didn't mean it literally, it is truely literally). The world is the way it is because "everyone" wanted it. Everyone may deny it but that's the truth. Everyone does their part whether they know or not or want it... You can try to talk to the masses but it won't work. A lot of people probably realize it but don't do anything for various reason or just do it wrong thinking they do the right thing. I'm tired of activists who are on the "wave" because it's "in" but actually support the wrong side. Simple example a lot of people support environment but when they party in the park they leave lots of trash or this year animal fur is fashion again. People can't even do these simple things right let alone complicated politics or world changing things. A lot of work and sacrifices is needed or you gotta be super popular. A lot of people do humanitarian and similar idealistic things at site and many do die but does it touch the masses? Not really. It may not be always hypocrisy (although I think politics is) but that's how it ends up being.

That ramen sure does look right, though, the noodle looks a bit thick. Well, done for a novice. *thumbs up* Not like I'm a better cook either.
This is the thick white version:
http://www.chew.hu/exploring_budapests_four_tiger/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pho
This is the thin white version with recipe (german):
http://peho.typepad.com/chili_und_ciabatta/2005/07/bun_bo_rindflei.html
But yellow (egg) ramen is better in general but the problem imho it's viewed as common. A typical "luxury" vs. "cheap" contradiction.

Yummy!  

On a sad note last Sunday a dead body of a woman was found in our town park.After investigating
they came to the conclusion that she had committed suicide.There were prescription drugs and a
note left in a sandwich bag.

*sizes last chance to post before xmas*
Everyone, have a happy or *ahem* merry xmas and happy holidays!


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The Pussy Cats got released! (only days before their jail time is over.) They wanted to stay but were forced to leave.

This weekend the humanoid robot test was held by darpa and Google won!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25493584
Actually, it's a japanese company recently under google's control or rather bought for this contest. Surprise!

Merry Christmas All!  

Cracked had a list up of what people got wrong about 2013.According to MARVEL the SENTINELS
are supposed to be rounding up all Mutants now.Then again as Cracked pointed out our most
advanced robots these days are hardly anything to be worried about!
Yeah,They're more like something that Jubilee and her friends in Gen X would play with as toys.  

Next Tuesday I get to celebrate New Year's Eve by going to the doctor for my annual exam.  
At least I get it over with sooner though I always hate the having to wait to have breakfast bit and the whole having to get the prostrate examined bit.
It's a nuisance but y'know have to get it taken care of.

Oh...and regards the whole "War on Christmas" thing:I don't think Bill O'Reilly would survive in
Commonwealth England or Plymouth Colony for that matter.Both banned Christmas.

Merry Christmas! Sorry for being late

I always forget when it is, you know - in america... It comes later to us in here.
Funny thing -  people here think merry christmas is the "new year", and the christmas associated with Christ and stuff follows shortly, not so loudly celebrated though and it's but not like Christmas in America.

People love these "dual holidays" since it's the longest ones, usually 10-13 days. Although officially it's not, but problem is - there's no point in having 2-3 working days before next hollidays (Christmas) so most people took vacations anyway (to visit relatives, go somewhere etc.) and everyone just gave on work eventually

P.S. Almael, if you're interested in seing more from what happened in Ukraine but not from "official channels" - here's and interesting video from MIA (min. of int. affairs) internal surveillance. It would be nice to hear your opinion - what if it would happen in US for example and how it would end:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib_malXYw5Y

Yeah, I heard you guys got it similar to the chinese new years. Although, we all more or less use the gregorian calender pretty much non-european/north-american all follow different calendars.

Well, I think a lot of people try to chain holidays when ever possible. In economic terms or ruling there's this european "tradition" to led regions(=guilds) have their own rules how to deal with those days. So it's like when theirs a special day off for a certain region, people in the region natural get that day off..in return they all have to make up on the regular days. In the us, japan or say switzerland the working ethics is work work ... depending on the industry not everyone gets off. Of-course families get priority.

Well, I'm kind of boycotting google for forcing registration (even though I do have an account). Anyway, I saw the video. Quite good, well done getting it all together.
My first thoughts are "nice doing with the fences" and the sprays. Oh, and wasn't that the woman (on the van) who got beat up the other day?
I'm not really for violence but I'm not really a pacifist either. In certain regions of the world violence or hitting people is normal. So my perception or opinion and judgement changes with regions. I think a little violence to show you people are serious is fine. Just don't make it bigger. When it's not an ethical problem I would say the one thing to keep in mind is that the soldiers or police men are also part of the people. I guess you can't rely on this in your case. So escalation of violence is very bad. Keep up the protest or make so they know it's not over until it is really over. But that's just my own opinion. You are staking your lives there. It's not my place to tell you what you gotta do. Be smart and flexible if it seems getting out of hand then run. If you can't run hid in the houses nearby. You can't be too cautious here.

Don't you think police would act more brutal in US and Europe with all that stuff they're doing? That's the argument I hear often.
To be honest - with all this revolution thing there's no end to people who try to argue with me and try to accept their point of view. The sad thing is that I have some friends on both sides - some within revolutionary guys and even more among police sf as well. And both view actions of radicals as bad, but some justify it and others say that if you accept this as normal - you can't build country governed by law. True indeed.
I still can't really decide what is the best course of action from now on, but I know what the worst is and I hope I won't be seeing it here.
But staying out of politics seem the best thing I can do, as always. I'm all for peace until there's really no other way.

If you compare violence of the police then there is no country in the world ...where it doesn't happen or is brutal. Well, maybe the japanese but it's different story...
But if you compare how often it happens or how much provocation you can do then some european countries do look better. These days violence by the youth is increasing everywhere and the policemen don't get much respect. It's kind of understandable they would out of frustration or their own defense act violently. Of course it's not an excuse.
The other common problem with european(japan) countries is that they mostly haven't dealt much with their sins from wwii. Only some people got punished but the majority went on. Things didn't really change. People from east germany were for example taken over into the government after unification. Naturally there are unresolved problems. Then again people also accuse the us or canada and others of similar crimes of denial. It's pretty much normal and everywhere. I doubt people realize this. Just look at the german nazi case among police/government.
So the real problem is it can get worse. I agree you are on the verge where the law may no longer hold true. Imho, the top priority is to protect free-speech & the press and the judicial. You do that by electing the right party and or leaders. Sadly, there is no other way in most democratic/republican systems. In the us there is the Justice of the Peace system who get elected to deal some civil laws. So it's a bit better in normal life but not really safer.
Well, if you are good friends you shouldn't stop discussing things because everything starts from here or should I say your influence starts from here.

Happy New Year!

Time went by so fast.
This year I want to eat more veggies. I'm not converting yet.

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interesting facts:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25567884
Looks like he kept some "extra" stuff for new year or the employees?

*from the point of view of the populace*
"The sino government has been introducing a new id card (2nd gen) for awhile with amazing abilities. Not only does it provide government support at any time anywhere, but now it also contains amazing information about you yourself don't know about. For example it will call up a policeman who will tell you you got AIDS and prevents you from infecting other people."

In german news it seems formula one pilot Schumacher ranks just below the pope and (way) above the chancellor.

Happy 2014!!!  

1.Two ironic facts about the expedition that got caught in the antarctic:
 1)they were there to study global warming and how it was impacting on the antarctic ice flow.
 2)film made by the Mawson expedition back in 1912 in the same region
showed it to actually be ice freeback then.Even shows penguins waddling around on bare rock!  


2.Well looks like G4 finally folded,though wonder how many actually stuck
around to the bitter end.I think once they decided to move it from a
techie/gamer oriented network to be a Spiketv clone they lost their main
audience.Personally I stopped watching regularly after Anime Unleashed was cancelled.

3.I had my annual check up and found out that not only am I constipated by it's stopped up the wazzu.There's something blocking
my system and my doctor wants to do a clonoscopy to find out.

1. maybe it was a warm year?
The odyssey goes on! After being evacuated now the chinese ship needs evac.

2. Figures. Killing their main raison d'etre.

3. I'm curious what it is. I hope it's not something malicious.

I hear some folk had stolen some bee hive in Norfolk. It's winter and stealing some...dunno doesn't make sense. Besides it doesn't cost that much to by queens (sold by some elder ladies in the states).

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/daily-world/woman-rescued-from-toilet-wedge
Woman got stuck in the toilet...but the interesting thing is there's over 1000 cases!

Oy Vey!  

Yeah that be embarrassing alright.

As far as stealing beehives goes...who knows...all I can think of is college prank or someone who was too high.Can't think of a sane sober person doing something like that.And if they happen to be allergic and get stung,well I guess we get the first Darwin Winner of the Year!  


Just checked out Alison Weir's book The Princes In The Tower after all the to do about finding Richard III's skeleton in that car park I thought it be an interesting book to read.

I guess the detective work is the interesting part of the story.

This morning the temperature fell below 15 F (around 12 F). Well, not much from where I have been living for a very long time...but I seemed to have gotten used to the warmer desert so I do feel it now. As to the weather & climate, there seems to be a kind of a swing happening between extreme warm and cold season & years for the past decade. Kind of wobbling between NA and EU/ASIA. I haven't looked into it yet. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of jet stream and the northern air mass (interaction with southern). *shrug* I just hope it doesn't "swing up" to something worse.

I don't mind the cold as much as having to go out and shovel the snow.I could do without the shoveling so much.It's the one thing I despise about the Winter.Otherwise it's not bad.
As far as the book I'm reading,it's pretty hard not to say that Richard III did it or at least ordered the
deaths as he was the only one who had the authority to make it happen.Interesting fact that even
Louis XI of France who is noted for not being a nice man himself said that he thought Richard was
a "cruel and evil man",which speaks something of Richard's character.

The cold is over and it's likely to get warm now that it turns toward the EU/Asia.

Yeah. The fact that such statements make it trough history already means it's true or at least a myth based on some truth.

Looks like the ISS will get a life extension. Was about time. Putting up 100 billion just to get rid of it after some years is too much of a waste. My guess is it's probably cheaper to keep it alive for two decades than building it overall.

How long did Skylab last? Or Mir for that matter?Wonder if the ISS will outlast either of them.
And now talk that the Chinese might be thinking one day of building their own space station.

It's been a regular adventure trying to walk around town the last couple of days.Really icy except for when you get to downtown.So it's more sliding and hoping you don't fall than  actual walking.  
Had to even get on my hands and half crawl a couple of places where it was too slick to stand up.

And so it looks like it's an all-NFC West NFC Championship game this time.This time I hope the
'Hawks win or else...I know a lot of people have money bet on the Niners now to win.It be sweet
if the 'Hawks won just 'cause so many people are betting against them.

The same goes with the Superbowl. I mean if it turns out to be Seattle vs. Denver(which I think a lot of Seahawks fans are hoping for since Denver is the one team from Seattle's days in the AFC West
that we really hate about as much as Oakland,though nothing comes close to our hatred of the
Raiders except the Yankees in MLB)everyone who isn't a Seahawk fan will be betting on the Broncos.

ISS has the size advantage, of course it will. The chinese just want to put a note in history it's nothing to take serious about. Besides they already are on the down slob economically as predicted. I doubt they can or will do more than reaching the necessary initial milestones.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/chuck-norris-can-shut-down-your-wannabe-bitcoin-with-just-his-fingers/
Been a while I saw a Norris joke.

Child shock guidelines 'are deadly'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25713749
We had this already but...until the media gets it...until the average person gets it...a decade later.

AMD just presented their latest AMD Kaveri core. It uses both a CPU and GPU and combines them with a cross bar. Well, it's like branch prediction so it's not really surprising. There are basic differences you can't unify, and even if it's probably too complex and ends up not feasible. A typical (engineering) development of finding a solution. But it's still something for them to manage to do it. I find the pins covering that much area as well as the chip on the other side is quite interesting. Although, shifted pin arrangement in the past could have packed even more. I guess the circuit side wouldn't allow that with this equal large a chip.

Well I think you meant down slide economically,I don't know what a
down slob would be.

Yeah longish time since the last Chuck Norris jokes.I think the last was
when he was supporting Huckabee for President.  

Lately I have been following two different threads when it comes to
mediveal history,well one isn't so much historical as historical novelish.

1.The identity of Edward The Exile's wife Agatha.There seems to be
a lot of controversy of her origins.Though after reading as much about
every theory that exists I have come to the conclusion that the simple and
most likely theory is that she was an Hungarian noblewoman who was somehow related to both the Hungarian Royal Family and the Holy Roman Emperor.

2.The historical novelish thread I been following is the anti-Philippa Gregory meme.  

Philippa Gregory is the writer who wrote The Other Boleyn Girl
and other trashy novels claiming to be an historian.I read one of her
novels:The White Queen about the Wars of the Roses. Pretty
soap operay aweful.    

Looks like there's not much hope for the Ukraine. You are as good as a russian province. The problem is of course either
1. too many real russian decendants or
2. too many sympathizers. There's still a chance but 20 years from now, doubtful.

It's official, china has successfully tested a hypersonic vehicle (missile) @ M12.
No picture yet. I guess it's an american-like copy or some simple missile combination.