Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@social.cleverlibre.org
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
I'm still very surprised that the insurers permitted drivers that young. I had a Saab 9000 turbo (a standard road car) and I always insured it 'any driver' but the insurance stipulated that no driver under 25 was covered to drive it!
I would have thought therefore with a car that expensive and powerful, that the insurance would have stipulated 'no driver under 30'
I suffered a bout of catastrophic depression that put me in a psychiatric hospital for six months at age 15.
I was very lucky, there was a proper psychiatric hospital not too far from where I lived and plenty of spare capacity in it. These days with the tory scum slashing budgets for every NHS service, if the same happened today, I'm sure that I'd just be left to commit suicide (I lived conveniently close to Beachy Head; Britain's No 1 suicide spot).
Unfortunately, it left me and I'm sure it leaves other people who have been through something similar, with a lifelong fear of relapsing into that terrifying dark place. I also carried the stigma of serious mental illness with me, for a lot of my working life!
I'm 73 now and (fingers crossed) I haven't relapsed but I guess I'm still defending against it!
Who the hell hires a Lamborghini to school kids who are presumably only about 17 or 18 YOA. Most car hire companies won't hire a Mini to anyone under 21 let alone a Lambo!
At an hotel where I stayed for a few weeks in Thailand, I discovered the Buddhist equivalent of a Gideon's Bible in the drawer of the bedside locker. It's a far better read than any bible, in my opinion, and is freely available.
https://www.abhayagiri.org/media/books/Without-and-Within-by-Ajahn-Jayasaro.pdf
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
I hope y'all can read this link. It's a heartbreaking description of one small business - a small press - and the catastrophic effects of the worst economic crime ever perpetrated against a country by its politicians.
#UKPolitics #BrexitBrokeBritain #SmallBusiness #SmallPress #Bookstodon #FuckTheTories
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1679441618221387776.html
If I were a parent and a headteacher turned up on my doorstep to collect my child, I'd tell them to FUCK OFF in no uncertain terms!
Very American!
You make the very few exceptions to the rule so massively important that it justifies half the population driving these damned wretched things!
For the record, I have no problem with people who, for whatever reason, need a 4x4 SUV - farmers, people who live in areas without made-up roads, people who live in areas with heavy winter snowfalls (like we used to have 20 years back before climate change abolished winter snow fall more or less completely).
I'm pretty certain that an SUV is far from being the only type of vehicle that can accommodate a very tall driver or the Netherlands would be choc full of them and guess what - it isn't!
Of course in large towns, the public transport in the Netherlands is exemplary but outside of large towns; not so much. Where I live, in Luxembourg it is probably even better. Every village over a certain size is served by a regular bus service. In the capital city, there are trams that cover the most popular routes and buses for all the rest. All public transport; trains, trams and buses, in Luxembourg is completely free (except for 1st class travel on trains where there is a modest charge).
One person being taller than average is no excuse whatever for the fact that in parts of Europe, about 1 vehicle in 4 is a damned great SUV.
I visit the Netherlands quite often. The Dutch are the world's tallest nation with both Dutch men and women commonly being 2 metres tall and many are taller that that! However the number of SUVs on the road is tiny compared to Luxembourg where I live!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Paris to charge #SUV drivers higher parking fees to tackle ‘auto-besity’ - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/11/paris-charge-suv-drivers-higher-parking-fees-tackle-auto-besity great idea - everywhere should do the same if they don't ban them outright...
A really excellent idea. It's more than ironic that we are in the midst of a climate change crisis and yet idiots are still buying gigantic SUVs or "Chelsea tractors" as they are know in England.
Are people unaware of the climate crisis - or is it what I suspect, that the people who buy them are of the "I don't give a shit about my fellow (wo)men, I'm going to buy a massive SUV as a penis extension"
Do none of the buyers realise that buying such a vehicle with it's massive, unnecessary fuel consumption and correspondingly massive tyre consumption (tyre wear produces rubber/plastic dust which is now a very major pollutant) is super massively damaging to the environment.
It wouldn't be so bad if the people driving them were aware that they aren't that much wider than an average family car but they drive like they were piloting a 40 tonne truck - right in middle of the fückin road!
On the very narrow roads where I live they are a bloody menace thundering imperiously down the middle of the road and forcing more competent drivers on to the grass verges!
I love seeing them trashed in accidents on the side of country roads where they have tried it on with one of the local truck drivers and lost - rather badly!
For god's sake; no one in science uses degrees Fahrenheit - science uses degrees Celsius or degrees Kelvin!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Poorest people in UK poorer than Anywhere ELSE in Europe
Dr Clare Gerada, president of the Royal College of GPs, said: “The poorest people in this country are poorer than any other counterparts in Europe . . . and it’s poor diet.
“The most common reason a child under five has a general anaesthetic now is for dental care, so that’s a sign of malnutrition.
“This isn’t about the health system, it’s about the social determinants of ill health, indicative of the last 15 years of austerity.”
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
One of the biggest habits that humanity has to kick is that of seeing a human-free space and assuming it’s worthless/empty unless we fill it up with something. It’s happening with plans for the ocean, deforestation for “development”, talk of delivery drones filling the future sky, cube sats that will hide the stars. This “space” is the planetary engine, and it’s incredibly valuable NOW. doing all sorts of things that keep us alive & enrich our lives. We should protect it. #ocean #climate #Earth
Yes, I had Covid several months back (maybe even a year back, now) and although I recovered within days, it left me with lingering brain fog that is still present - either that or I'm going senile - always possible!
Ahhhh whereabouts in Lux do you live?
I'm in Buschdorf lost in the countryside (near Mersch)
Ahhhhh - I didn't get that bit!
Facts
We don't have too many racoons around these parts what we have are these charming little chaps: Martens (fouines) sweet little creatures until they get into the engine compartment of your car and bite through all the rubber hoses!
Dunno that it's that random - we all buy from Amazon and other online retailers so it's logical that we all have the same issues with deliveries!
@Radical_EgoCom@kolektiva.social
This is probably the wrong moment to bring up the fact that Ukraine's territorial integrity was guarantee by a treaty signed by Ukraine, Russia, the USA and the UK. In exchange for those guarantees, Ukraine agreed to hand the nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation.
We build walls where there need be none! No one in the US would be surprised to receive out of state replies but the British mentality is one of hard borders rather than of unity in variety!
It's a shame as Europe (and the EU) is such a wonderful place - I can go from the north west of France to the southernmost tip of Spain of Italy and from the far west of France to the Russian border without ever going through (or even seeing) a customs post!
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
