Agree with everything you’ve said. They only thing is China has been contesting a North Eestern border with India for some time so they might take the opportunity for some shenanigans.
Still don’t see it escalating beyond regional though as you said.
On one hand I think you’re right but on the other, if they’re correct, I’d say they want India to know they’re in their systems or have spies.
That kind of an opsec failure is going to be disconcerting at a minimum.
Relevant interview on the national broadcaster with their manager. He gets a decent grilling (the interviewer is famous here for grilling politicians to get past their BS) but it’s an interesting exchange.
Mars Guy video on Sunday had me worried after it was stuck for days then of course the big reveal in the last 30 seconds that Perseverance can just drop the drill bit and that it has lots more. C’mon man!
Glad to hear it’s all worked out though.
India RN:
An I remember that one. It’s good. I’ll see your solid paddywhackery and raise you this (which I honestly pissed myself laughing at the first time I saw it).
She married an Englishman and raised her kids there because Ireland in 1980 was not exactly thriving. She was around 20 when she left so definitely old enough to feel thoroughly Irish for a lifetime. She still has her accent and all.
She does talk about moving back here occasionally.
You don’t have to but I wouldn’t naturalise in her situation either. Under no circumstances would I pledge allegiance to a country that I felt wasn’t mine and if I had a green card I wouldn’t bother.
That’s not to say I might not feel that way about another country in the future but as I said my sister has been living in the UK for over two thirds of her life and would never consider getting a British passport. Even her adult daughter chooses an Irish one.
If you don’t mind me asking why bother with the dual citizenship? And did you feel any weirdness pledging yourself to the second country?
Regardless, 40 years here and hasn’t naturalized yet? Odd.
Nothing odd about it. An Irish passport is measurably better than an American one.
Edit: You can live in a different country for the vast majority of your life and still feel like it’s not your home country. My sister has lived in the UK for over forty years and is very much Irish.
The old bigot who lived next door to me growing up called me a tater tot
Prick. I heard two young American girls refer to the Irish as potatoes, in Dublin. They thought nobody could hear them then were properly embarrassed when they saw me.
I’ve been reading bedtime stories nightly for 23 years now and I’ve a good six or so left before I’m out.
If you want to try again in the future I would gently suggest listening to a few audio books from really good narrators. It upped my game quite a bit.
Also, even for an adult, Charlotte’s Web. Incredible story. Easily my favourite of all time to read to others and gripping from page one. Think I’ve done it seven times now. God damn I love that book so much.
Went for a swim with the kids today. Predictably fucking freezing. Still was fun.
Wild. Our house has six and I’d feed us all for the week for about 180 euro / 200 USD. We cook all our meals though, with some exceptions like occasional frozen pizza or chicken nuggets for convenience.
I spent a summer in the US in the late 90s and I remember basically everything being cheaper there at the time but we have lots of discount supermarkets here now that we didn’t then.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph and all his carpenter friends what the fuck did you spend 700 dollars on? Is that US?
Like I know you said groceries and various toiletries but the curiosity is tickling me.
It depends on the funeral tbh. Where I’m from anyway suits would generally only be family and close friends.
Pope’s funeral though? Black I’d consider appropriate.
You wear your dark blue suit son. It’s obviously respectful. That’s all that matters.
Where I’m from only close friends and family would wear a suit and dark blue would be absolutely fine. Black jeans and a nice jacket would be spot on here too in nearly all circumstances.
I’ll tell you what though if you got an invite to the pope’s funeral I’d bet you money you’d pony up for black. That’s all folks are saying here.
Look, I know you’ve been given enough downvotes so I won’t add to them but this is just not true.
I have what most people would consider a metric fuck tonne of kids and I love the ever loving shit out of every one of them but never once have we celebrated their 8th month of existence.
None of my friends or family have ever done anything so utterly weird either.
It’s just weird. So weird that I question the validity of the original post.
How do you give up territory “temporarily,”
A long time ago Ireland did it. We’re still living with that partition today and as part of the good Friday agreement we gave up our constitutional claim on the North. There was a referendum on it (all constitutional changes here require one) and I, along with the vast majority of the Republic, voted in favour with some caveats which would allow reunification.
If they concede now that land is gone though. Gone. There will be no caveats given to Ukraine.
No worries :)
I know we’ve had that label for a long time and I felt like it was reasonable but to give some context, the Ireland I grew up in was poor as fuck. Like there was literally zero kilometres of motorway when I was a kid. To get from Dublin to Belfast you had to drive through every poxy little town on the way.
So the government went all out on using our English speaking, well educated people to bring in multinationals to bring in revenue and stop what was an enormous brain drain in the 80s. The EU funded the shit out of infrastructure and we’re now a net contributor to the coffers.
I think we’ve reached the point that they won’t leave now (the companies or the talent) so the extra taxation is very welcome.
Enjoy it and really, congratulations!!
I’ve been the young dad at school and now I’m the old dad. There are 21 years between our youngest and oldest. I wasn’t quite your age when we had our happy little accident but I’m so happy to have him and it sounds like you are too.
I’ll offer one piece of advice and that is to start looking after your health if you’re not already. You’re going to want the extra, high quality years with your kid that good diet and exercise bring and being fit really does help with the parenting adventure (in my experience anyway).
Enjoy the ride! It’s so much fun. I’m really happy for you.