padawanbeck84

45, 576 - Getting back to the counting. I borrowed all those library books and have only read 3 and a half Hopefully I can get through at least one more over the weekend.

That was some sad news to wake up to Here's the full BBC article/obituary: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55117704 He also played a key role in educating us about road safety as the Green Cross Code man.

Rest in peace Mr Maradona. That was certainly a shock to hear while I was having dinner. I know a lot of English football fans will label him a cheat over the whole "Hand of God" thing, but there's no denying he was one of the most talented players the game has ever seen. There's a very good documentary about him, directed by Asif Kapadia, which delves into his life: the poverty that he grew up with and the fact he struggled to cope with the fame and pressures that came with being a footballer. Back in the 80s, attitudes weren't as progressive as they are now about mental health etc, and

I've heard that theory being floated - and I wouldn't put it past him. Also, if Pence was technically president, even if only for a few days, would that also count as him being the 46th instead of Biden? It would mess up the numbers and be just the sort of petty thing you'd expect from Dump's camp. Given how much Dump has tried to deny involvement in any crimes (when we *all* know he's up to his neck in financial and other offences), it would be rather annoying - and set a rather dangerous precedent - if he misuses the presidential pardon to allow himself to effectively get away with eve

In other words @peterferris8 Dump is still bitter about the fact that, although he won the electoral college in 2016, he lost the popular vote by 3 million... He *really* needs to let that go. Also, people are right to question his victory in 2016 anyway. He had previously been a reality TV personality and (so far as I know) had nothing to do with politics. It was a very sudden jump from TV to deciding he wanted to be president, without having been a senator, congressperson or doing anything to gain the sort of experience that most politicians do - and that makes us, rightly, question why

This is from yesterday, but I wrapped and posted some early Christmas presents. That felt good, to be spreading a bit of cheerfulness at the end of a turbulent year. One is on the way to a U2 friend, the other is for a Star Wars trading card group friend as part of that group's Secret Santa. I'm relieved (and impressed) that I managed to get out and find suitable gifts before second lockdown started. Then, on the way back from the post office, I bought 5 packs of F1 trading cards and pulled the silver Limited Edition of my favourite driver That means I've nearly completed the set of the

I hope so too. Prison doesn't help address the issues of why someone feels the need to take drugs - if anything, it can lead to them getting hold of more/different drugs while in prison and making it worse. I hope Oregon will take the approach of supporting people with addictions, helping them get treatment and help to resolve whatever problems have led to them doing drugs in the first place. And educating people on the dangers so that they hopefully don't start in the first place. I live in an area where cannabis use is very common and it seems that, no matter how much our local p

We've often referred to him over here as "the racist old fart" - especially during the protests when he visited. Although it has ruined baked beans for me. My neighbour's son, when he was little, used to call beans "beans what trump" because they made him fart. Come to think of it, baked beans are also a similar shade of orange

You make a good point about the evidence (or lack of it). While reporting on the election, Dump's claims, the BBC and other British news outlets - including our newspapers - have been very clear in stating that there is no evidence for his claims of fraud. They have made it clear that his claims have no factual basis at all - which helps to emphasise that this is just the ranting of a bad loser who had convinced himself he was going to win because his party tried to rig and suppress the vote (e.g. trying to delay postal service deliveries, reducing the number of polling places etc). If he

And the rest of the Zoo (and the rest of the world) would like to thank you, @dmway and all the other American Zootops who helped to fire him It's going to be nice to have actual grown-ups in the White House who know what they're doing. It's felt weird these last 4 years watching your country go from Obama's dignity and compassion to being turned into a laughing-stock by a guy so blatantly not fit for office, to fearing that you were slipping into dictatorship. Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief that you've avoided that for the foreseeable future and once again have knowledgeab

@dmway - If you look at the small print, it says right there that a portion of the money raised will go to paying off debts Dump ran up during his election campaign. Even on the way out, he's still trying to fleece money from his supporters He is utterly shameless - and not even trying to hide his scams any more. I hope he gets arrested soon as he steps out of the White House door. Not only does he deserve to go to jail, but he *needs* to go to jail in order to deter anyone else from so much as thinking about trying the same stuff in future. And even over here in England, some clo

45, 573 - Counting while America keeps on counting. Maybe we should take over their counting for them and show them how to do it? I managed to buy the Secret Santa gift before the shops all shut, so that's something good. And my writing is going well. Although only one of our library customers was able to come in and pick up their reservation before we closed. One lady has been waiting for her books since February - at this rate, she's going to have caved in and bought a copy before she can collect it I have 18 library books to last me through this latest lockdown. I think that sho

I tell you what Dump reminds me of: being ten years old and you'd go and play out with your friends and whatever game you were playing, whether it was football, hide-and-seek or whatever, there would *always* be that one kid who could never accept losing. That one kid who would pick up the football (even when it wasn't actually their ball) and would accuse everyone else of cheating, throw a tantrum and run off home threatening "I'm telling Mum, you're being mean..." and so on. That's what he looks like at the moment with all of his threatening to sue everyone just because he's losing an

I saw a post on Twitter from a friend, highlighting that Kanye West apparently stayed up until 4am watching results come in - and the poor guy seemed to genuinely think he had a chance. I actually feel sorry for him. As I understand it, he's got mental health issues and it seems quite clear that the people around him are exploiting that by encouraging him to do outlandish things (like launching a hopeless run for the presidency) and basically exploiting his manic phases for their own purposes. He obviously needs help and instead he's got people (like his wife) encouraging ideas that he comes u

I had the radio interview today, sharing my story along with several other listeners and an expert analyst, who gave advice on how to spot fake news and how to also try and educate friends and family who might be sucked in to believing these things. Hopefully it's done some good for people listening. As for politics, we Brits won't get to try and fire our current lot until 2024 or so I voted to fire them last year, but sadly not many other people did.

Not going to lie, I'm nervous over here too. I honestly don't want to think of another 4 years of Dump given that the previous 4 have involved so many horrifying (and illegal) things. As @Manohlive said, it is literally a choice between repairing America under Biden and 4 more years of white surpremacist dictatorship under Dump. I like to think that Dump's non-handling of Covid will also have made people realise he's not good for their country. He goes off to his golf course and spews conspiracy theories on Twitter while people have died in horrendous numbers that could have been avoided

45, 572 - I'm just hoping I can get my Secret Santa present (and presents in general) bought before the "non-essential" shops shut again. And get it posted out by the November deadline. And we've only *just* got our local library deliveries going again after the first lockdown We had a delivery on Thursday, so the books come out of quarantine this week and I'll be ringing round to tell people they can come and collect them. Hopefully at least some people can pick theirs up, but our opening hours are limited at the moment, so it's going to be a pickle. At least I've got NaNoWriMo t

Aww, this one hurts a lot We've lost an iconic actor, Sir Sean Connery. He was 90. Possibly the best Bond there's ever been and so many other iconic roles. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54761824 It probably won't mean much to those of you outside the UK, but it was also announced yesterday that Nobby Stiles has died, aged 78. He helped England to win the World Cup in 1966 and was also very successful at club level with Manchester United. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36963874

I really enjoyed watching that. And it worked fine for me, apart from a couple of very brief stoppages early on. For "Streets", I took my headphones out and blasted it full-blast on the speakers. Apologies to my neighbours if they heard my bad singing

@illumination70 *hugs* Condolences on your loss. 18 is a very good age for a cat. Clearly you gave her a lovely happy life. I've just had an email from a presenter on my local BBC radio station - he's organising a radio programme dedicated to the issue of fake news/debunking virus conspiracy theories, educating people on the dangers of them etc - and has asked me to take part. Hopefully, this will help stop people falling down the same rabbit-hole that my sister's got herself into. It also shows why I really appreciate the local BBC stations. I can't imagine the commercial st

@CorkVegan That is a brilliant thing, to get to see a live band in the current climate. I also like their sign. "Turn off your phones and dance". More people should follow that advice

It started off as a bad thing, but I'm turning it into a good thing and doing my bit to fight fake news My sister (who is admittedly annoyingly gullible about these things) posted some nonsense on FB overnight, a copied and pasted rant about Covid rules and how it's all nonsense (to put it politely - the actual post used a ruder word). It has several false claims in it, dressed up as "YOLO good vibes" fluffiness and written by people who do not understand the fact that stopping transmission of the virus is the best way to get back to the normal life they're on about. So I've repor

45, 570 - Small round number. No-one has counted in here for ages

I was able to go to my favourite coffee shop for the first time since lockdown started. They take safety measures as much as possible with the food, wrapping up the giant cookies to minimise the amount of people who have to handle them directly between baking and being eaten by the customer. The staff are always really nice in there and they do gluten-free muffins that my Dad can eat too Then I bought 5 packs of F1 trading cards and pulled the gold Limited Edition card of my favourite driver

I got to be on local radio - for being a U2 fan Each day, the lunchtime host does a section on "Shropshire's Most Wanted" where he tries to find people who fit three categories or criteria. One of today's criteria was trying to find "Someone who has seen U2 live". I wasn't actually listening to the radio at the time, but I saw the post on their social media and rang up. I was put through and got to talk live on air about the 3 concerts I've been to - one of which, London 1 in 2015 involved me taking the radio station's knitted gnome mascot along with me - and he still has the badge. One