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
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Feels like the freedom to not get shot for ringing the wrong doorbell and the freedom to not live in so much fear that you shoot anyone who rings your doorbell would be exponentially more valuable than the freedom to own guns.
Yeah - land of the free!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
I served as a Minister in 3 Govt Depts. I never came across “activist civil servants” w “passive - aggressive tactics” wanting to block Govt policy. Everyone I worked with was a hard working, public servant.
#Raab is demonstrating why he was never fit for public office.
https://bird.makeup/users/pippacrerar/statuses/1649446711062921217
All round, that was pretty predictable really! You release a load of violet criminals and after 6 months in the army, you send them home with a pocketful of money!
They're no fools; they have sent them to Luxembourg for me to look after!
Someone was saying they've had to alter it to accommodate his ears
@ChrisMayLA6
That is the conclusion toward which I was inevitably drawn.
The protocol used in most states in the USA has the potential to result in death by slow torture.
I'm sure there are plenty of Americans for whom this is a reason for celebration!
They don't want you to work until age 70 - that's a myth!
What they want to do is to withhold your right to a pension until you are 70 - that's the truth! These people couldn't give a flying fcuk whether you are fit to work to 70 of if you stave to death because you can't find work as what they really want is you to die before you get to pensionable age!
I watched a TV programme about medical euthanasia in Belgium (where it is also legal and practiced). One of the doctors who implements the service held up a vial containing maybe 25ml of a clear liquid and said this is what we use, it causes loss of consciousness in seconds, and a completely painless death in about 15 minutes.
At that moment, I began wondering why the Americans insist on using such barbarous and complex protocols that leave open the possibility that their executions if incorrectly carried out, either accidentally or deliberately, would amount to torture (being paralysed and therefore unable to breathe and thus slowly suffocating to death and/or being conscious when the bolus of potassium chloride goes in would be full on torture).
At age 72, and already a cancer sufferer, I take the view that we all have to die of something! As a resident of Luxembourg, I do take comfort in the fact that, I am entitled to ask for medical euthanasia; something that is perfectly legal here, should I succumb to an illness that causes me unbearable suffering.
Not sure about space flights but certainly healthcare is not at all suited to the profit motive!
I seem to have 9 lives - I narrowly missed being on aircraft that crashed (all on board were killed) when I was traveling in India!
I narrowly missed getting wiped out in a road accident when the steering failed on an old Austin 1100. A swivel snapped on the drivers side and the steering gouged out a tidy sized trench in the tarmac but I just managed to wrestle the steering wheel round to take the car up a grass bank on the passenger's side rather than having a head-on collision with an oncoming truck that was going quite quick!
That has always been my attitude to the USA except for once:
I nearly made an exception back in 1999 when I was looking for work as a contract programmer and wasn't having very much luck in England as all the major companies had used up their IT budgets fixing the Y2K issues.
As my CV said clearly that I was prepared to work anywhere in the world, I was approached by two agents one with a job for a mobile phone company called Mobistar in Brussels, and one for a company whose name I cannot now recall in New York. I remember the agent saying to me “I hope you're not scared of heights!” so I asked him why and he replied that the job involved working towards the top of the tallest building in the USA. “Errrr, the Empire State Building” I ventured, “No, you’re a bit out of date, The World Trade Centre” he replied. I know he mentioned that the job was on a floor that was 100+ stories up and if I recall correctly, no one from those very high floors got out alive!
The rate was pretty damned tempting at $1000/day and so I would almost certainly have taken the job if offered it but there was a problem with me getting a green card and the employer was in a hurry, so I reluctantly took the job in Brussels for a lot less money! The contract in New York was a long one and I would still have been there when the towers came down!
Of course it does - it means the author has more money that feckin sense!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
🚀 We have gone to space with Copernicus, Galileo and – soon – IRIS²
🔬 We have spearheaded research and innovation with Horizon Europe
📣 We have taken action to uphold fundamental rights in the #EU
Yet, this didn't stop us from being amazed by the impressive community we discovered on #Mastodon.
One year has already passed since we joined the #Fediverse!
Your vibrant voice and keen interest have helped us build a greener, fairer, and more open Europe.
Thanks for being part of our journey 😊
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
