“Why is sex on a cliff edge so much more enjoyable?”

“The sheep pushes back on you!”

–Told to me by a Welshman

Pretty much.

The English landlords were horrified, and wanted nothing to do with such acts. Meanwhile the Welsh would laugh at the stupid English for falling for it, while buying the local priest a pint or 2.

It originally comes from interactions between Welsh peasants and English landowners.

A lot of sheep were raised in Wales, on farms owned by the English. Stealing sheep was also a capital offence. Landlords would often just hang the thief from the nearest tree. Even if they didn’t, the judges were all English appointees.

There was a loophole however. Having “canal knowledge” with an animal was dealt with by the local priest. That priest was generally a local Welshman, and would deal with the sin FAR less harshly than theft. The English landlords were quite disgusted by the spate of incidents they were catching red handed.

The joke about Welshmen fucking sheep has lingered into modern times, and even been transferred to other groups who keep a lot of sheep.

I work in live TV. The podcast mike’s are tiny compared to the ones used in most TV work. A shotgun mic, with a windshield can be bigger than your forearm.

E.g. the Sannheiser MKE 600 is 20mm diameter and 256mm long (10"), without its windshield.

The lapel mics are both expensive as hell, and far lower quality. They are only used when a better mic can’t be.

The mics used by many podcasts are similar to those used by radio stations and music recording. They trade directionality for compactness, without dropping quality.

The Qatar royal family couldn’t sell the thing beforehand. They gave trump a white elephant to deal with. Even disposing of it properly would be expensive.

The uncanny valley of likely a disease detection and avoidance system. In those pictures, he looks like he has significant brain damage. You’re supposed to feel some revulsion, to keep you safe.

It’s a cost-benefit balance. You want to have a minimum amount of collateral damage to achieve the goal. The goal also needs to be worth the damage. Finally, you need to have exhausted non military options.

America effectively achieved nothing, for a lot of damage. Trump also ripped up the carefully negotiated, internationally backed, treaty that was working to bring Iran back into the fold. They didn’t even competently argue that Iran was in breach.

The end result, a large loss of life, a lot of money wasted, and peace set back decades. It will also have knock on effects for years (fertilizer being a big issue).

My guess is that enough people were buying routers and using them as access points. They all tend to be on 192.168.0.1 .254 means you don’t get as bad collisions when that happens. It would cut down on technical support calls.

I don’t think we are to blame for the beans thing (we prefer our beans as baked beans).

As a rule of thumb though, we can be blamed for far too much stuff. You need to include the french too however. They got up to almost as much “shenanigans”.

It’s basically a statement to prepare for any issues now, while supply infrastructure is not under stress.

It’s good sense generally. However, the predictions for this winter mean some areas could have issues. The cyber attack on France also lit a fire that supply chains could be disrupted for days.

UK based here.

I was in scouts, and my little minion is now also in the lower levels.

I personally think it fills a critical need for a lot of kids. Schools are locked hard into the national curriculum, and don’t have time for the more character and skill building events. Scouts cover this nicely.

Regarding my local group. So far, my experience has been excellent. The kids adore it and they are doing a lot of fun learning. E.g. recently they did fire lighting. Learning to use matches, and basic fire safety around candles etc is an important skill. Learning as a group also means they learn from each other’s (minor) mistakes.

The group is also mixed gender. While it’s mostly boys, there are enough girls that it’s not intimidating for either gender. Its activities are “boy focused”, so most of the girls are of the tomboy mindset.

There are a few religious aspects attached to it. The pledge/promise mentions God. In practice it’s mostly non religious. What religious elements there are, are quite inoffensive. I’ve also noted that the older groups have a choice of pledge, including a non-religious/atheistic option.

Also, regarding some of the scandals, the UK government now has quite rigorous procedures in place to protect children. Enhanced DBS checks are required for adults in a supervisor roll. While not perfect, these checks stop someone jumping from area to area to avoid their past acts. Parents, teachers and other helpers are also a lot hotter on spotting minor discrepancies before they can escalate. It’s just done calmly and quietly, to avoid accidental witch hunts.

Basically, my minion loves scouts, and I am completely comfortable with them attending.

One of the biggest problems is that, outside of early school, there’s no real way to practice social interactions in a safe setting. The only real option is jumping straight in. If you’re already slightly socially stunted, it can be very easy to mess it up. It only takes a couple of negative reactions to put someone off for a long time.

I almost fell into the same hole when I was younger. Thankfully I realised what was likely happening and worked on it. I’m still not good at cold approach social interactions, but I can at least now do it without screwing up catastrophically.

Depending on how I measure it, either becoming a dad, or founding a community group that has changed quite a few people’s lives for the better.