Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@qoto.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
On the banks of the Mekong river in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, there is a park planted with nothing but Plumeria trees. It's a very beautiful place! All the ones I smelt there there were of the sweet smelling variety.
It's strange - Plumeria is the national flower of Laos and is omnipresent in that country but in reality, Plumeria is not a native of Asia at all. It originates in Mexico & central America!
@cloudguy@vivaldi.net
I'm always amazed by the range of potatoes in supermarkets where I live in Luxembourg. Every supermarket keeps at least 8 or 9 varieties and some as many as 20 different varieties. Each variety named and labelled with its characteristics and intended purpose.
Years ago in the early 70s, I worked in the retail fruit and veg trade, we used to keep reds and whites and occasionally a few specials like Jersey mids or other new potatoes.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Neologism alert:
Just spotted this in the FT...
Fauxcession = a recession reported (or seen in financial market pricing) but not appearing in the 'real economy'.
Perhaps it might be used for over-zealous short sellers' activities?
anyhow, I'd never seen the word before...
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
WOW. tomorrow is 21 years since Israel assassinated Rachel Corrie.
#SayHerName
McD's and all the other burger chains are things that our society could easily have done without!
Vaguely beef flavoured cardboard that kills you - very slowly - is not a positive contribution to human society!
I'm not a vegan nor even a vegetarian but I do try to eat reasonably healthily and sanely and American burger joints definitely don't meet those criteria!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
You think the perfect job doesn't exist.
But Samuel L. Jackson has made over $300,000,000 from his 150+ movies.
He says around 2000 words per movie, that comes to about $1000 per word.
"Motherfucker" was 1116 of those words.
Therefore Samuel L. Jackson has made over 1 million dollars for saying "Motherfucker".
That's the kind of job we would all aspire to.
Sounds like a wonderful idea!
Ahhhh the beautiful Frangipani tree or Plumeria to give it its proper name.
It always used to surprise me how divers the scent of the flowers could be with the flowers of one tree spelling unbelievably sweet and, at the other extreme those of another tree smelling positively repellent!
This one is the rose pink variety and smelled pleasant
This rather typical of the cavalier attitude of the brash young things involved in crypto.
Personally, I would like to see crypto banned throughout the world - China has done that I believe - now the rest of the world needs to follow suit!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
It is as if we’re in this massive simulation: what if he crossed this red line? What if he actually didn’t just talk about grabbing women by the pussy, what if he actually raped a woman? Is that too far? What if he actually tried to overthrow the government? What if he actually incited violence? And the Republican Party is in the process of just shrugging and saying, “Yeah, four more years. We want four more years of that.”
https://t.co/XqS3lNLENh via @politico
In the Buddhist, Jain and Hindu faiths, the Swastika is a symbol representing peace and harmony. It was only hijacked by the Nazi party in Germany in the 1930s
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
If you want to see racism in action in politics then you need look no further than Speaker Lindsay Hoyle failing to ‘notice’ Diane Abbott and call her to speak in a debate where people were discussing whether her experience of racism was racism.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
How much do you need to donate to the Conservative Party to get away with being racist to Rishi Sunak? I ask as a tariff structure seems to have emerged.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Two horses die on the first day of #CheltenhamFestival
Highland Hunter, 11, died after being injured in the final stages of Tuesday's third race. Ose Partir, four, was injured in a fall three races later and so, because of insurance purposes, was destroyed.
How much longer are we going to tolerate this?
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
@PhilipCJames The way things appear to be going down the toilet in England and I mean England, not Britain, I can see English people looking at Rwanda as an attractive alternative.
In the USA, they may also choose a job that offers life/work balance so that they actually get to see their family, rather than working the utterly ludicrous hours that I believe some companies in the US expect their employees to work!
There was a major American company with a subsidiary in Luxembourg where I live. The company had a rush-job on as they had made promises they couldn't keep to a client but then they expected everyone on their payroll to work crazy hours to cover their oversell. Europeans don't buy that, so someone made a complaint to the 'Inspectorate de Travail' who duly raided the company's premises and demanded to see everyones entry and exit hours (there was a secure access system so all such info was logged) along with the signed form that you have to have for every employee if you ask them to work more than 48 hours a week.
The entry exit data showed many employees working more than the normally permitted 48 hours/week - up to 70 hours a week in fact - and the company was told in no uncertain terms that they were breaking the law and that further unannounced inspections would be made to ensure future compliance and that if there were further breaches of the 'working hours directive' the regulator might very well take action to suspend the company's license to do business in Luxembourg!
Personally, I think AirBnB should be banned throughout the world as they have been an appalling influence in many big cities (like Barcelona, for example)
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
