Perhaps I'm being over-cautious but I have the impression that some people are put off by vigorous political discussion. To this end, I wonder if a separate politics section might be a good idea? Then people can simply avoid it. We could even make it an isolated, opt-in section so that members wouldn't see it unless added to the appropriate group. I'm frankly tempted to avoid it myself, and would leave moderation there to someone else probably.

Then (for example) we could have a COVID-19 chat in the usual discussion section for people wishing to discuss the pandemic from a non-political perspective, and a separate one in the politics section where political aspects / considerations can be discussed, if people wish.

Opinions very welcome.

Another of my favourite film genres. Probably my all-time favourite is Ice Station Zebra. I return to it every few years, and read the book twice.

A disaster occurs at a British meteorological station near the North Pole. An American nuclear submarine is ordered to take an enigmatic Englishman named Jones to the scene. To the disquiet of the sub's captain, Jones is carrying orders from the head of the US Navy, effectively placing him in charge.

Even more impressive than the factory are the drone-flying skills apparent in the making of the video.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/astronomers-spot-the-most-distant-individual-star-ever-detected-in-outer-space-180979847/

The Hubble Telescope has resolved a star that is now 28 billion light years away, and dead. But its light has only travelled 12.9 billion years to get to us, because the Universe has expanded quite a bit since it set off (when the star was still shining brightly, and the Universe was only a fraction of its current age).

It was (or is, to us still) millions of times brighter than the Sun, and it's called Earendel.

I love this sort of thing.

Must say the World Cup draw was an entertaining spectacle last night, despite resembling a game of Mornington Crescent with the rules about teams from the same confederation not being drawn against each other, no more than two European teams being in the same group etc.

Brilliant draw for England, in the same group as Iran, USA and the eventual qualifier between Wales/Scotland/Ukraine.

I would fancy Hartlepool United to get out of that group.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60869303

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkt4MjifPtA

Seems like a really nice guy.

Sad news about Bruce Willis; not so much that he's retired from acting but that he's suffering from aphasia, which as I understand it is a form of dementia.

He has a remarkable relationship with his ex-wife Demi Moore, despite being divorced from her for over 20 years. She posted this pic on Instagram for his birthday only about a week ago.

Another street race being added to the calendar, this time Las Vegas:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60932994

I don't really like the idea of a single country having three of the year's races.

Just acquired Secrets by Allan Holdsworth.

According to Rick Beato. I'm watching this for the first time while I'm typing this, and guessing he's going to say Limelight, although I wouldn't agree.

I've been thinking about Caress of Steel recently. It's an album that divides opinion among Rush fans. In my own view, it's the first brilliant Rush album.

I don't think it's aged terribly well and it's not one of the very best records. But it's a big step forward from Fly By Night, which I see as being a sort of sharper, more refined sequel to the first album.

Caress of Steel is where we first see the trademark grace and drama.

https://rollingstones.com/tour

A 60th Anniversary tour, of sorts. Many years ago Keith stated that the Stones could continue without Ronnie if necessary, but not without all of himself, Mick and Charlie. I'm sad that that's come to nothing when put to the test.

Anyway if you fancy going, they're playing Liverpool (Anfield Stadium) on 9th June and Hyde Park on the 25th of June and 3rd of July.

I have the impression that most people are done with the virus now, but a more important question is whether it's done with us - and unfortunately it isn't. There's been a bit of an uptick in cases and patients admitted to hospital in the last week or two, and both are heading in the wrong direction.

Couldn't quite believe it when it came up in my Facebook memories this morning, but I underwent my first jab a year ago today. I remember the drive in to Derby (and, to be honest, the sense of dread - I hate needles) like it was a couple of months ago.

Have a feeling I'll be undergoing a fourth in the autumn. We'll see.

But as always - do not panic!

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare

I think I've got tinnitus. It's subtle, but there's an ever-present faint electronic hissing sound in both ears. I can't even remember when it started; I went to a gig a couple of weeks ago and I think I knew I had it then, but I forgot about it and didn't take ear plugs.

It's very like the slight ringing in your ears that persisted a couple of days after a Motorhead gig.

It's not really distracting, it doesn't prevent me from sleeping, I'm not suffering any hearing loss and I can hear conversations as normal without any trouble. I'm most aware of it in the morning when I wake up. Most of the time I'm not consciously aware of it; it's just there like the sound from my computer fan, or air-conditioning, or the humming of a fridge.

From what my Google research tells me there's a chance it will go away, but I have a feeling it won't. I'll probably never hear complete silence again. But I'll be careful not to listen to music at excess volumes.

8th March, 1982

Sovereignty discussions between Britain and Argentina have taken place irregularly since 1964, when the United Nations passed a resolution calling on the two nations to negotiate a peaceful solution over the disputed islands.

Deputy Foreign Minister Richard Luce met with his Argentine counterpart Ernesto Ros in New York last month. But last week the Argentine Foreign Minister Costa Mendez announced that Argentine reserves the right to "employ other means" if Britain refuses to cede sovereignty.

Two days ago, a Hercules aircraft operated by the Argentine military airline LADE landed at Port Stanley, ostensibly due to a fuel leak. But several senior Argentine military officers were aboard, and the local LADE commandant provided them with a tour of Stanley and the immediate vicinity.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher instructs the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence to prepare contingency plans in case of an Argentine blockade or invasion of the islands.

Prompted by discussion of The Ipcress File, I've been on Amazon and bought a Len Deighton novel for my Kindle, Horse Under Water. I've added the Audible narration for £8 so will listen to it while cycling.

About 20 years ago I read Deighton's XPD, about a coverup of a secret meeting between Churchill and Hitler during the Second World War. Very good and this one seems to be in a similar vein - albeit that one wasn't a Harry Palmer story. Horse Under Water was the sequel to The Ipcress File and does feature Palmer.

I once thought of YouTube as being primarily a way to share fuzzy old VHS and camcorder recordings from the '80s, but there's some really slick, professional content on there now.

One of my favourite creators is Jay Foreman. I like short (less than 15 mins) documentaries. They're a much better match for my attention span than 30 minutes or an hour.


Nice to see the Transporter Bridge get a mention at 4:22.  Used to go over it often as a kid,in my parents' car. In later years I often cycled there and back from my mum's house.

Sad news. Heart attack, apparently. Only 52.

Slim's handy guide for adding an image on your computer to a post.

Go to: https://imgbb.com/

Click the START UPLOADING button.

Select the image file you want to use. If it's very large you may wish to click the edit button and resize it.

When you see the 'Upload complete' message, click on the thumbnail. This will take you to a webpage with your image on it.

Right click the image and do "open image in new tab" (this works in Firefox and Chrome, there should be a way to do it in other browsers as well).

From the new tab, copy the URL from the address bar. Then use it to insert the image in the post editor in 'img' tags, like this:



.. hope this is useful.