I’m genuinely quite impressed with that whole idea… good on them. Thanks for letting me know.

This is impossible to answer. In one small city (pop c. quarter million) accommodation ranges from about 65k to a couple of million. Ostentatious opulence walks past homeless beggars. Some places have a choice of fibre optic networks whilst others are still using copper wire. (I pay approximately $13 a month for 100gb untethered 5g access, reasonably unlimited fixed access is probably c.$40 p.m.) There’s a choice of food at all qualities and prices. A choice of free public hospitals as well as a private fee-paying one too. There are areas where you can leave your bag on the table as you go to the bar and there are places that not even locals willingly choose to go. A massively mixed bag. The only major difference between Europe and the US (in cities) is that we can walk across ours, in any direction, crossing roads wherever and whenever we want to.

Yeah - between you and me - the real reason is like the castles, fortresses, monasteries and cathedrals of the past a stadium is built as a statement building. Uniquely identifiable as the cultural home of that tribe. I don’t think there’s ever been a trainee architect who wants to design parking garages when they grow up. Some stadiums are a triumph of form over function. Also the large empty surrounding flat areas enforce the impact of the architectural qualities by removing any outside context or reference… but you didn’t hear any of that from me.

MCG was the first stadium I thought of. Fantastic planning.

No. Just cans of beer. Lots of cans of beer.

If the stadium is anywhere near an urban setting only bad design warrants the building of (massive) car parks - and everybody using cars to get there. Shopping centres warrant large car parks because people load up with items. Sports grounds need to get people in and out in tight windows - there’s no contest in car v rail in this respect.

Nice to meet a fellow non-blocker in the wild 👋

Yeah, I’m Welsh myself. I just wondered how somebody who struggled with Wmffre / Humphrey would do with the whole Wrwgwai thing. Some English speakers get it immediately others get a headache thinking about it.

Having read your comment I’d like your views on “Wrwgwai” - the South American country of Uruguay.

Absolutely. The optics of the past don’t match-up with the optics of the present.

Delaware is whack, but historically age 12-15 was a reasonable (for the time) age for girls to marry. Most biblical scholars say that Mary (JC’s mother) was about 15/16 when she popped him out (assuming there is some historical fact in the story) so those ages in your country weren’t completely crazy outliers. People grew up quicker back then because people died sooner back then. Just getting to the age of 12 was an accomplishment in its self. The past was a different place. If humanity makes it a few more generations then some of the things we accept and do now will be seen as unacceptable. We are all products, to a greater or lesser degree, of the time we live in and that shapes how we see the world as it is and as it has been.

Uh… no. Baby raping has always been frowned upon as far as I’m concerned. 14 year old consensual (to the extent a 14 year old can be) groupies were a thing, in the not too distant past, but social mores have changed since then. Which is good. There’s an enormous difference between the two though.

He is not wrong about the stick.

It is. Let me help you with your comprehension. The only real issues are that “all” and “he” are missing their vowels in two places and none of the names are capitalised. If that makes it illegible then that is on you. Sure, it helps if you already know (Fred) Degerberg and what PBS, Shuriken and Arnis means but we do have search engines.

The fact that both me and you are questioning whether this is satire or not worries me greatly.

Unless the law has changed very recently cakes are not taxed but biscuits are, in the UK. Jaffa Cakes baked a giant Jaffa cake when they went to court to prove they aren’t biscuits.

Selfishness, ignorance, lack of empathy, inability to see more than one perspective, misogyny, the “Well, I’m alright, Jack.” mentality, and the ability to ignore all the evidence in order to maintain my own personal view are just some of the tactics I’m employing right now to openly disbelieve what you tell me is your own personal lived experience. Glad I could mansplain explain that for you. s/

When someone stops working due to seniority of years and begins claiming pension money - either private or state. “Pensioner” then becomes informal shorthand for any old retired person up until they die. Old people = funny. (Apparently)

The key word here might be “nutjob”. Mental illness manifests itself in a myriad of ways… perhaps that’s all it was. A very sick man doing very sick things.

I feel so sorry for 667. They’d obviously had a brilliant day with their hobby and wanted the world to know. Sensibly they’d decided not to broadcast their face because now the internet is what it is… and as a result at least two random people have momentarily jumped to the worst possible conclusion. I just hope they continue to have fun. I’m glad they could see the funny side though.