puppet masters, eh

Who’s a pretty boy then?

A bit of explication wouldn’t go amiss here.

I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Well – it’s getting dangerous now:

Another top tip: Soak a large, absorbent piece of fabric such as, say, a blanket, in cold water, and wrap yourself up in it. Would be quite fitting.

Because, thankfully/hopefully, they’re dying out – They’re losing the automatic power that used to come with just being white, male, well-off and loud, and they find that terrifying

This. Very much this.

But the British Muslim population is not a single amorphous blob, there is a spectrum of views

Sure, but at the 2017 general election, 85% of British Muslims voted Labour. So that’s around 2.5 million voters. If Starmer loses a significant percentage of that support, as polls suggest due to increasing dissatisfaction with Starmer amongst British Muslims, he will lose a significant number of voters. Events in Palestine affect British Muslims. Ergo, they might have strong opinions regarding Israel, and if Starmer sides with Israel uncritically, as he has done, then he will lose the support of a lot of voters.

Keep the tropes coming

What ‘tropes’? Please explain.

While it’s easy to try and smear people as using anti-semitic tropes

It’s cowardly and weak. Pathetic.

This is getting annoying. Replacement rails arrived, also bowed. One is very very nearly straight but no, it still lifts at the end and the other needs to go back anyway so both will. One more try. If the next one’s aren’t straight I’ll get my money back and buy Makita I think.

Buy cheap, buy twice…

It’s for this reason, I invest in good tools. A good quality tool is something you’ll want to use again and again. A poor quality one, something you don’t want to use so ends up being quite redundant. And therefore, poor value for money. I’d rather buy a quality tool and sell it after I’ve done with it, if I’m only going to use it once/a limited number of times, than something cheap and nasty, with no residual value.

The build quality of the Mafell is something else though, its like driving a top end car after you’ve been driving a bangernomic special.

This. Using quality tools, in this case power tools, makes so much difference. The higher build quality/manufacturing tolerances mean there will be less vibration, for example, leading to easier and more comfortable use. Higher quality steel in blades means they last longer, and cut cleaner. I had to use a lower end DeWalt chop saw recently, and it was awful; I’m so used to the good stuff, that it just felt horrid. Poor quality results, mainly from excessive lay in the bearings, so not the level of accuracy I normally require. Did the job, but not very well. And it hasn’t been sued all that much; it’s just a ‘consumer’ level tool for occasional DIYers, so adequate for just that.

I am talking about the importance of Israel to the voters, it has nothing to do with me informing and educating myself thanks. I know rather a LOT about Israel thanks.

It’s of very high importance to both Labour and the tories, and it will be of importance to a lot of voters; not least the nearly 3 million British Muslims who Starmer seems willing to alienate, as well as millions of other British people, by not condemning the Israeli apartheid towards Palestinians and Arabs. 3 million; that’s a lot of votes. More than enough to swing an election. You just want to dismiss this, as you don’t want to acknowledge facts. Because it’s not convenient for your own (very poor) arguments. YOU might not think it’s important, but it is. If you did, as you claim, know ‘rather a LOT about Israel’, you would actually know this…

Puppet masters eh

Yeah; puppet masters. And?

Eh?

No, I thought that, too. Bewildering.

Who are they, I haven’t noticed any?

Very funny. :D

And no, Israel is of no importance to the voters however much you would like to dream it was.

Sticking your fingers in your ears and just singing ‘la la la’ loudly, doesn’t make it any less real. I’ll forgive your ignorance regarding just how globally important Israel actually is (several aspects of your life are influenced by Israeli innovations and technology), but it’s a good idea to inform and educate yourself. Israel is of massive inmportance to he Labour leadership; this is why Starmer pledged allegiance to Zionism, and why he will not be at all critical of the actions of the Israeli regime. Israel relies on the support and validation of the West, in order to survive. So ties with any political party that potentially could be in power in the UK, are vital.

Israel might not be important to many voters, but it sure as hell is important to Labour. Why, they’ve even gone and employed an ex-Israeli spy, to manage their social media:

Assaf Kaplan will work in the office of Labour leader Keir Starmer, a source with knowledge of the hire said.Kaplan was in Israeli military intelligence for nearly five years, an officer in Unit 8200, its cyberwarfare branch.Unit 8200 specializes in spying, hacking and encryption. It carries out blackmail, mass surveillance and systematic discrimination against Palestinians.In 2014, a group of whistleblowers detailed how the unit spies on Palestinian civilians living under Israeli military occupation.

Israel is also very important to the tories, for balance:

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/high-level-israel-lobby-interference-british-politics-says-ex-minister

IE; Israel is important. Dismissing that fact just because you don’t want to ackknowledge it, just proves your own blinkered delusion.

Puppet masters eh…

Yes, puppet masters. And?

Don’t worry; in a few years, when all the office jobs have either become redundant or outsourced to India etc, you’ll all be working in factories making cheap shit for wealthy Chinese people, and you’ll be too busy to worry about being uncomfortable. So you do at least have something to look forward to.

The artists probably looked at how other people, celebrities, sports personalities etc, get abused if they dare speak up against the status quo, and thought that discretion was the better option. People are receiving death threats, and even being attacked, for their views, increasingly by right-wing ****, as the toxic environment engendered by the government starts to really kick in. We are sliding rapidly towards fascism, and whilst it may be very worthy to take a stand, for the individual, it might just not be worth it. It’s up to the rest of us to kick back against this tide of fascist aggression; you’re either prepared to do what you can, or by your own inaction, are complicit. That’s the bottom line.

How to destroy a political party..

Looks like Kier could do with a few more billionaire puppet masters…

That Steve Bell cartoon sums it up so well. Support for Armrest is waning rapidly. I think even some of the most ardent Armresters on here are deserting the sinking ship, now it’s obvious Armrest is a complete and utter failure. He’s making Milliband and Kinnock look competent ffs.

I know Binners doesn’t realise just how relevant Israel is to this particular political discussion, but the implications towards democracy and privacy are very serious indeed:

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/07/19/pegasus-spyware-imessage-targets-activists/

I wonder what sort of ‘activists’ this spyware would be used to target?

Christ knows how some of you would cope in an actual warm climate (let alone hot), doing actual manual work.

Try doing manual labour FFS guys its a bit warm

Just not cut out for actual manly* work, some of these office wallahs. ;)

*The vast majority of women would just get on with it. Tends to be mainly men who whine and moan about how hard life is…

Bowl of cold water under your desk. Maybe add some ice, even. Put your bare feet in it. Makes a huge difference.

Christ. It’ll be Katie Hopkins next.

She’s being deported from Australia. Lol! The irony…

You could fill it with knowledge. It wouldn’t take much effort, by all accounts…

I said “led by”. I don’t know who makes up their membership, I can only go by who set them up and puts their names to them.

Again; you know nothing about them.

I’m sure you will have a complex reason why I’m wrong

It’s not very complex at all. You just haven’t thought it through very much, that’s all.

when something in demand is in short supply normally the price goes up

Oh the goods themselves will, no question. But wages won’t. Because there are too many people who have to take whatever they can get, in order to survive. Because the ‘safety net’ has ever growing holes…

If you have a mass membership organisation where single interest pressure groups can wield extraordinary influence on what is the ultimate party policy then you have a recipe for opposition

Please explain what ‘influence’ groups such as LatW, Socialist Appeal, Resist and Labour in Exile actually have, towards the greater membership? And isn’t debate vital in establishing democracy anyway?

So pay for workers in some low paid sectors is going to increase….

Is it? How?

Am sure I read somewhere you need to be careful with grease, as some can react with Ti…

The whole point of Titanium is that it doesn’t corrode in air, or react with most other chemicals. So no grease that you can buy, will ever be an issue. Some greases can damage the lacquer on Carbon Fibre, but the biggest issue with metals is rust (steel) or galvanic corrosion with aluminium. Grease or copperslip on the threads will help alleviate this. I’ve had to remove stuck aluminium seatposts from steel bike frames; the corrosion causes the seatpost to ‘swell’ slightly, if you like, which makes it get stuck. Violence and caustic soda were used, and the steel frames suffered no lasting damage.

A bolt coming loose is better than one getting stuck (on something that you want to remove like a bottle cage at least). Sounds like either the thread on the frame of the bolt itself might be slightly below the required dimension. Threadlock can help, as can a bit of PTFE tape, I’ve found in the past.

All the ‘standards’ on it will be obsolete in 6 months, necessitating a new frame the next time you need to replace a headset, bottom bracket, hub etc…

If done systematically, you might discover a new type of glue.

The one that left seemingly immovable skids in the toilet recently, could well be a contender. Stubborn bastard. Resisted even strong bleach.

Farrage is like a floater that keeps popping up no matter how many times you flush. Or that permanent stench you get in plastic wheelie bins, that refuses to go away no matter how many industrial chemicals you throw at it.

We actually have this sticker on our bin:

All those groups listed in that Guardian piece (well the ones I’ve heard of) are led by the kind of people that most people “on the left” wouldn’t want to be associated with

Such utter ignorance. You have no idea about ‘the kind of people’ in any of those organisations. I doubt you’ve even heard of them, or the myriad other small political organisations affiliated to Labour. They are by and large, middle class bleeding heart liberals, truth be told, in many small groups. The few actual ‘Marxists’ are mostly older Labour members, who have absolutely no power or influence in the party anyway. Labour Against The Witchhunt actually numbers quite a few Jewish people, so once again, Starmer will be expelling the ‘wrong sort of Jews’ again. This is totally about removing any form of dissent or alternative opinions, and dismantling any form of democracy within the party. At a time when Labour are still hemorrhaging members, support and potential voters, Starmer’s best move is to expel and alienate even more members? Way to go.

Starmer; sub-contractor of the Tories

He really is nothing more, now. A corporate stooge, acting in the interests of wealth. This much is clear.

I still wish he was PM

If he were, how do you think he’d affect any significant and necessary change in our society?

The irony of Cuba is…

…That in spite of the USA’s best efforts, Cuba has survived, and is actually at the forefront of things like medical care and research, fighting off the Covid pandemic, education and youth literacy, social care, arts, music, etc. That darned Socialism, eh?

Well, perhaps we can eat some good old fashioned proper British grub instead, like…

Myriad issues aside, Cuba is testament to the fact that even a small nation can survive in spite of massive belligerence from a global superpower. Imagine what Cuba could be, if it hadn’t had the USA imposing such imperialist belligerence for the last 60 years?

I think the curry industry should be asking why they can’t train enough chefs in the UK…..

Because they only want to pay minimum wage or as near as, which even supposing a 40 hour week, would fall somewhat short of the £35k pa minimum the government requires migrant workers from places outside the EU to earn. Pretty much the story across many sectors; Brexit means a shortage of cheap labour, and many sectors rely on such cheap labour to be able to survive. But wasn’t it literally Starmer’s job to address Brexit concerns, under Corbyn? I don’t remember him doing much at all, if anything. Perhaps if he’d actually bothered to do the job he’d been appointed to, instead of just sitting there like a piece of wet lettuce, he’d have half a clue as to how to move forward and win back voters…

Had that; had to wear a brace thing for a couple of months. Was very annoying, kept me off a bike for a while, and couldn’t do any washing up/housework for ages. What a shame. Always look for the silver lined cloud.

The one bright spot is that riding a bike doesn’t seem to aggravate it.

It might not feel like that; I felt fine riding a bike, but my physiotherapist said it was probably aggravating it, even if I didn’t feel pain. Stopping riding definitely helped, and it took a while, but I seem to have made a good recovery and have had no problems since. It is essential to stop doing anything that might aggravate it at all, if you want a good recovery. Otherwise you could end up with problems that last for the rest of your life.

Is that a map of Manhattan on your bench, Kayak?

Junior Disprin.

Depends on what you’re trying to achieve; putting together some kitchen cabinets, then powertools, pocket hole jigs, dominos etc all the way. If you’re making ‘bespoke hand-made furniture’, then powertools only for things like thicknessing, band-sawing, ripping timber, drilling etc, cos doing those things by hand sucks any joy out of it, and hand tools for the joinery and fiddly bits. I’ll often sand by hand, because power sanders can be a bit too coarse/violent, and a more delicate touch is required. I’m much more of a ‘means to an end’ type of maker, so powertools where appropriate, get the job finished rather than take seven years to make a small table. Do love doing a dovetail by hand though. So satisfying. But very often, just grabbing a hand tool like a plane, chisel, saw etc, is much quicker than setting up powertools.

Whereas what actually happened was a bottom bracket from the returns pile was accidently sent out as new.

Inexcusable. Salt their fields.

No I know. I favour Veritas stuff, because I find their designs just a little more ‘thoughtful’ than other premium brands, yet just the same excellent quality. Got a whole bunch of powertools; Festool, Bosch (Green and Blue), DeWalt, etc. Some proper dirt cheap LiDL/ALDI stuff too. It is true that ‘you get what you pay for’, largely; if you want consistency of results, then you learn that that generally comes more easily the more you spend. But one of my favourite tools is a little Japanese ‘Dozuki’ saw, which is so versatile and useful, and I think only about £25. It gets used a lot more often than the £1200+ router and table set up. But then; when you need that quality result, having the good stuff is such a bonus. My Festool TS55 gives perfect results, every single time. That bit better in the bearings, that bit better fit all round. Just makes for a better tool.

In the meantime I’m watching more Peter Millard, which is bad for my bank balance I think.

Don’t, whatever you do, get into ‘fine woodworking’, You think it’s bad now? It could well be a whole new world of pain. What did you spend on your plunge saw? I could buy a chisel for that…

That’s one chisel. Not a set. One.

Scoroutes; it’s you who is claiming they are ‘conmen, cheats and liars’, so why not elucidate?

Please; I’m very bored today.

Maybe this is just a stealth ‘i want a new spark’

Me too, however even my lbs owner says I can’t have one!!!

The unavailability of very expensive bikes is proving to be a bit of a blessing in disguise right now. Aside from not being able to spend large amounts of cash on what is effectively a bit of a ‘toy’, I’m also spared the agonising over X, Y or Z, plus the inevitable Buyer’s Remorse after; ‘should I have bought Y instead of X?’

Spark and Epic are the frontrunners still, though.

Cheats, con-merchants and liars.

That about covers it for me.

I’ve got some drinks and snacks ready, and a very comfy chair. And I’m a bit bored. Anyone care to elaborate on this? :D

Got the 12 some time ago. Love it. Considered the mini, but then decided the larger screen of the 12 is just a bit easier to read maps, view photos, etc.

TBH don’t use it much for voice calls

I probably make / take less than one phone call a week!

Thing is; in the past, when we only had voice calls via landlines, and each call cost something, we’d not use it quite so much, and probably didn’t communicate so much with friends and family etc. But people live further apart, and can now just send an IM for those quick questions/check how someone is, and it’s just much simpler, quicker and easier now. I wonder how human relationships have developed because of this?

Quite odd how mobile phones have become everything but phones now….

Isn’t that fantastic though? I think it is.

Also worth waiting for the new one later this year?

There’s always something newer, shinier, better just around the corner. iPhone 13 rumoured to be announced around Octoberish, but given the delays in global supply systems at the moment, it could easily be November or even December before you actually can buy one. Not sure the 13 will have any significant real world improvements over the 12, and some rumours suggest no Lightning port, and wireless only charging and connection, which for me is significant; I like to use headphones with a lead, to avoid faffing with Bluetooth (even though it’s pretty easy) and save on battery life, and just use a simple Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapter. Plus I use an adapter which allows a USB stick or my cameras to be connected to the iPhone. No port would make this impossible. Plus so many places have ‘phone chargers, and Lightning cables, but ubiquitous wireless charging might still be a while off yet. If I get stuck somewhere, even a little local corner shop will probably have a suitable charger for a fiver or something, but probably not a MagSafe charger. Quite an important feature for me at least. Whether or not this rumour is true, remains to be seen. But I’m glad I went for the 12 anyway.

Still haven’t seen anything that backs that up either way. You might loose some response reaction to frame flex if you’re a big power pedal mashing sprinter, or you might gain some sort of biomechanic efficiency or comfort if you’re a smooth, fluid-pedaling distance rider. I don’t believe there’s inherent power loss in normal ranges of frame flex though, and I think the bike media who go on about power delivery when they mean response to power could go and test how very stiff frames might actually be working against many of us. I’d certainly rather have some flex rather than no flex, for a hill climb bike or any other.

A valid point. That sprinters/track riders tend to favour Aluminium and Carbon Fibre frames over Steel, and certainly Titanium, tells you something. Maximum power output overrides all other considerations. Yes, I know you can get Steel and Titanium track frames, but the Olympic level riders are all on Alu or CF frames, depending on discipline. But for the rest of us, Titanium might be preferable because a frame can be designed to take advantage of that flex. I think it might have been a Moots frame that used the inherent flexiness of Ti, to provide a little ‘softtail’ suspension/cushioning. And the Ibis Bow Ti used a long flat section to produce a similar effect. Titanium is a wonderful material, But as others have pointed out, if not designed and executed carefully, the bike just feels wrong.

Japanese baseball was benignly ‘imposed’ on them by the US. It had no ‘back story’ and has a more ‘franchise’ model.

Soccer evolved along tribal lines in many ways in many countries. Along sectarian, class and political lines. More than any other sport.

When I see soccer violence I see conformism. A disordered and often drunken conformism, but conformist nonetheless.

Really interesting ideas. I think investigating along those sort of lines, is far more helpful in helping tackle such attitudes, than the ‘othering’ that so often happens (as exemplified here, with the ‘rugby/cricket are better’; ‘it’s only a football problem” type comments).