EL_Loco

It's done to renovate or create grazing land too.

How dangerous is scuba diving in shallow waters, say less than 15ft/5meters? I'm planning on learning basic scuba with my wife and kids, and my feeling (born out of ignorance, masked as common sense, I know) was that it was very safe if you don't go deep, however some comments here are making me question that. So how safe is it, in general lines, if you don't go more than a couple of meters? And how much better/more fun is it than snorkeling? Thanks in advance for any answers!

Tell me then (really, no sarcasm), what would you consider to be a 'cheap' fine in Brazil?

You're right, the majority of Petistas approve of the Lava-Jato operation. Only the rare one will condemn it as a farce. Again, whatever...

> it's not up to you to decide they aren't the "real" left

Sorry, but sometimes it is. When Bolsonaro's crowd started caliming that the Nazi Party was a leftist party because it had "Socialit" in its name, I can comfortably decide that no, the National Socialist Party was not socialist. When my friends tell me that they are against socialized medical care and that people should also pay for their children's education, yet he says that he's a "leftist", I can comfortably decide that no, he's not.

C'mon, you're just pushing your agenda now. "No fine is cheap" is BS. How about a 2 cent fine? Not cheap? Whatever.

Supporters of the PT party number in the tens of millions. What percentage of them would you say have the opinion that the Lava-Jato operation was a farce? 9 out of 10 PT supporters make this claim, that it was a farce. The majority of 'the left' claims this. The people you're referring to is not 'the left'. You said that it's a rare person who says this, which is very, very wrong.

I just checked, it's USD 0.66 (sixty-six cents), or 3.5 Brazilian Reais. That's a cheap fine even by brazilian poverty levels. The most annoying thing about not voting is not the cheap fine, it's the things you can't do if you don't get it sorted out (either by paying the fine or by presenting a valid reason for not voting): you can't work in the public sector, you can't get a passport, etc.

What are you talking about? I live here, I know dozens of people who say openly that Lula is innocent and that the whole Lava Jato operation was a farce. This is pretty common thought in the more radical left here.

Lula technically won at this time, the news is just out.

I want Lula to win, but only because I want Bolsonaro out. To call Lula Innocent like the left does here is absurd. You had huge corporations returning billions of stolen Reais to the government, some even took out whole page ads in the big newspapers to apologize and admit their guilt, and yet the left still maintains that the whole operation to go after them (these corporations were in bed with Lula's party) a farse. Completely ridiculous. The left here acts just as dishonestly as the right.

Yes, it is. Bear in mind that voting is mandatory in Brazil (for anyone over 18 up to 65 I thinkg. 16 and older can vote but is not mandatory). Also, most people don't know, even brazilians, but if you don't vote and don't have a valid justification for not voting, the fine you pay is very, very, cheap. Like less than 1 USD.

Yes, there's a "Blank" option when voting, and there's also a "null" vote, which happens if you vote for a number that's not in the running (each candidate has a number. For example, in this running Lula is 13 and Bolsonaro is 22). Only valid votes are counted, so whoever gets anything over 50% of the valid votes win.

Sure you can, but then you can't call it 'analog' anymore. But you can reproduce the distort...I mean, the "warmth" with digital filters or whatever and it will pass any blind test.

What? Smoking indoors is illegal in Germany, yet germans do it outright? This is a blow to the stereotype of the 100%-law-abiding-germans that I grew up with here in only-12%-law-abiding-south-america. I'm actually being serious. I never thought that germans would smoke indoors if it became illegal. I mean, here in Brazil it's illegal (I think it became illegal in the early 2000's) and nobody does it.

I've read the same thing a few times. Coffee cognoscenti gets jaded after a while in a world where it's not as hip and interesting anymore to be a coffe cognoscenti. Goes back to basic coffee, usually whatever blue-collar workers drink.

Cynical, I know, but like I said, I read the same thing a few times. This also happens with many other interests/hobbies/obsessions.

>Let's have Germans make cars

Sorry, but this was true fifty years ago. German cars haven't been as realiable as, say, Japanese cars for quite some time now. The myth still persists, though.

Of course, reliability is not the only thing that matters in a car. German brands excell in technological innovation, I think. I still prefer a reliable car over a higher-tech one.

But since you're talking about German cars and about Britain, I have to say that, somehow, as the years and decades go by, I find the the most timelessly beautiful cars ever made were the British ones. (Jaguar e-type, Aston Martin DB4gt, McLaren F1, etc).

So far, this vaccine's done pretty good. There was a lyme disease vaccine realeased in 2000-2001 called Lymerix, and it was also pretty good, however it was removed from the market because of various, and in my opinion idiotic reasons. I'll put a link at the end if you want to read about it. The funny thing is, your dog can get a lyme vaccine, today, yet you can't. I'm eager for this vaccine to arrive. The mechanism is similar, but it works for six different strains of the bacteria (don't know if strain is the correct term here, I think not).

https://time.com/6073576/lyme-disease-vaccine/

And how about the bumblebee's impossibility of flight myth? I've also hear it regarding generic 'beetle', and with specific beetles. I always thought it was pretty obvious that we just didn't understand the aerodynamics, or aerodynamics per se, enough. I mean, there's a special kind of insect that gets to bend the laws of physics? Really?

The best way I heard it phrased was "AI is whatever computers can't do yet".

The person I mentioned actually meant just digital maps installed on the gps/smartphone. He completely agreed with you on how important it was to have paper maps, but he said most people either didn't see the point, or thought he was recommending them (paper maps and compasses) because he was old.

I have a collection of antibiotic prescriptions that were routinely given to my kids at the public clinic (South American country here) at the smallest sign of a sore throat or some other infection. I didn't give them the antibiotics and my kids got well after a few days (they did take antibiotics whenever it was more serious). At the other end of the aisle, I have friends who will switch doctors if they don't prescribe their kids an antibiotic whenever there's a simple sore throat. A lot of doctors here will prescribe them right and left, just to be safe from any later criticism of not giving their patients enough medication. Oh, and I never had a doctor here ask for a test to see wether a throat infection was viral or bacterial.

If anyone is thinking about buying a two-way radio and you see something like "35-mile range!" on the package, know that this is pure marketing. Yes, if you have a clear, as in unobstructed, as in "I can see you from my binoculars" view of the other person you want to talk to, then yes, you can do it. If there are trees, hills or anything else, forget about it. Invest the time to learn basic ham radio operation, learn to use repeaters, and with a handheld you can reach longer distances than that.

I used my friend's FT-3D a few times. Very good radio feature-wise, but I also shared your views on the UI and the touch screen. My HT is still the FT-60r and I just love the physical buttons.

If you hike, camp, backpack, this is from a very experienced Search and Rescue leader who I took course from:

-First, have a Personal Locator Beacon. If funds allow, have one with two-way messaging (there's a monthly subscription fee). Needless to say, be mindful of battery condition.

-Second, have a GPS with maps from your area, or the equivalent smartphone app. Learn basic map reading, a good Youtube video about it will do.

-Third, take 3 hours to study for a ham license. Pass the easy exam and get a reliable, easy to use HT (Amateur radio's name for walkie talkie). Learn to use the repeaters in your area.

You're good to go.

P.S. this is concerning a getting lost scenario. He also recommended taking a First-Aid course.

edit: My recommendation for an HT is still, after 10 years, the Yaesu FT-60r. Pros: Very solid build, easy to learn and operate (compared to others), reliable. Cons: Bigger and heavier than newer models, battery not as good but can be upgraded. Also, analog only, but to me this is a plus as I want simple, reliable comms and don't want to invest time in zillion other features.

Spot on. I don't know why we can't have an HT with a Blackberry-like hardware keyboard to send text. Or maybe something Psion-like (90's micro laptop thing made by Sony). I'd be very satisfied with Blackberry dimensions, as Psion would add bulk.

"Fantastic Fungi documentary" and "Fantastic Fungi" documentary mean quite different things. The correct one here is the latter, or 'Fantastic "Fantastic Fungi" documentary'. Yes, I'm in a pedantic mood, and I'm glad I caught my 'fungy' spelling mistake before I hit 'reply'.

I would have quit 10 years ago.

I lived in my country's capital for almost ten years, and since a huge part of the population there are in public service (you get in through a selection exam and once you get in you pretty much can't get fired, and the pay is pretty good). While I lived there, some of my friends would do this at work: Use most of their work hours to study for a higher paying public service exam. Play online multiplayer games. Everyday. (don't know if only within their department or connected to the outside) Do nothing 60% of the time. Work half the hours they were supposed to, because the whole department decided that they had enough people to turn an 8 hour shift into 4 hours and get everything done. When a new boss decided to end this and made everybody work their 8 hours, they rebelled and the department couldn't get anything done. And no one could be fired. *etc

Not everybody did this, of course. I had some friends who worked their hours, and put their effort to it, but the culture was definitely messed up.

I'll agree with anyone saying that this NFT craze is idiotic, and that most cryptocurrencies don't have any utility, but to say that crypto isn't fast, cheap or secure is like saying 90's internet couldn't have webpages with pictures because gopher couldn't have pictures. I send money to my sister from my algorand wallet to hers in one second (literally), any amount for something like $0.0001. I'm not well versed enough in security to make any claim about safety, but if I have to trust someone regarding the security of some software, it might as well be this company's founder. Right now it's by far the best method to send money accross the globe.

edit: forgot to add that it's also very energy efficient