LPT: Be a parent and teach your kids not to throw stuff

I don't know anyone who uses either.

For those worried about this, consider what you can do to prepare now. Hopefully you'll never need it, but is there anything to make your life easier in case it does?

In the UK the weather is still relatively mild, so heating for a lot of people isn't necessary just yet. But that makes it a sensible time to prepare.

If you have no heating, what else can you do to keep warm? Hot water bottles? Can be kept topped up with hot water from a Thermos or similar. Rechargeable handwarmers (the kind you boil briefly to reset). Warm blankets from a thrift shop.

What about cooking? Camping stoves? Or have plans for cold meals which aren't just sandwiches. Perhaps put something tinned to one side now so you don't end up panic buying.

Lighting? Not just candles, but battery powered lamps, camp lights etc?

Battery packs for emergencies to keep your phones charged?

Entertainment? Without a TV, the internet etc. do you have anything else on hand?

None of this is necessarily free, and it's only common sense, and with any luck you'll never need it anyway, but it's worth considering.

Try this one: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/63214475

The Star Trek TNG episode Conspiracy.

Low budget, obviously, but still...

https://youtu.be/-dx79xLJu_Q

I have Tupperware lids with no pots.

Why not use existing infrastructure rather than build from scratch? Seems like it's better for everyone involved.

I didn't think there was this much green in the whole galaxy.

Ullswater?

Blue Peter?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(film)

Rubber

Knowing my parents...

That's a pile of shit... I don't know why I kept that... I left that in the attic years ago, forgot it was there...

Oh hey! That's your year three exercise books. You should have all of those. And this random jacket!

Get a crock pot. Make perpetual stew.

Start off simple, you're making a basic stew, lots of hard veggies and some meat. Not poultry. Sausage, beef, pork etc is fine. Chop it up. Add some extra flavourings if you want - herbs, tinned tomatoes whatever. A bit of water to just cover everything.

Do that first thing in the morning day one. By evening you will have a delicious stew.

Do not turn your Crockpot off. Add some more ingredients. Whatever you have to hand (more meat if you want, but no poultry, no fish). More veggies? Potatoes? Beans? Go right ahead.

Tomorrow you'll have a new, different are for lunch with near zero effort. And for dinner too. You can buy really cheap veggies, cuts off meat etc, and they'll come out great.

Each day, just chuck a bit more in. However if that Crockpot ever turns off for more than a few minutes, start again. You can keep what you've already made (freeze it) but start again for the next batch.

Yes it has the potential to be.

Prepare now.

Now is the time to think about backup heating, lighting, cooking, making sure you have warm clothes, battery packs etc etc.

Still a while to prepare, and hopefully it won't be needed, but there's no harm in doing so or as much as you can.

Did your friend do any kind of preparation for this at all?

I'm not sure I understand.

People are moving away from China, but by doing so are allowing China to dominate the industry?

Get him to do it. If it doesn't solve the problem then it's his issue to fix, not yours.

Make sure you're very clear in your communications that it's to solve your issue.

It very much varies by jurisdiction as well.

In the UK it is technically illegal to transfer media between formats, so you technically can't to CDs, DVDs, or Blu Rays.

That's exactly what I do however. I buy my movies as physical media, and rip them to my NAS. That way I've always got a physical copy, but the convenience of a digital one as well. And I've paid for it.

In two hundred years Dimorphos has circled round and is now on a direct collision course with Earth. After the cataclysm human kind no longer has the means to defend itself and Dimorphos will mean our complete destruction. Somewhere in New California an historian discovers records that show an ancestor fired a fridge at the rock, knocking it off its perfectly safe course but ultimately leading it back towards us.

He has just enough time to say "What the actual f..."

The Mentalist.

It started off great, with some neat little clever tricks to keep the plot moving.

Then it just became repetitive, veered into the traditional detective format, and a bit of a soap opera.

Reading the article, I don't think that's what the judge was suggesting. I think it's a little more complicated than that, and although I'm not certain I fully agree, I think I understand where they are approaching this from.

I think it was more of a "buck your ideas up, sort yourself out, and you can still have a normal life" type speech, especially since he pointed out how the defendant is still young.

It reads to me like "you're a fuck up, you know you're a fuck up, stop drinking, sort your shit out, but in the meantime you're on the sex offenders register. This is your opportunity. Go."

A lot of kids grow up thinking that you can cut a worm in half and end up with two worms.

Instead what you end up with is half a worm in a great deal of pain.