🤔

@ClarkeMicah I don’t view alcohol as a sin. Neither, in fact, did Jesus.

.@gerald_d . In fact, these 'sin taxes' , being levied on activities which harm those doing them, and harm society as a whole, would be more beneficial if spent on discouraging them.

@PolykinDev @grok - Where is this pub? (Please block @SEGA when you reply.)

Um what the... I double taked passing this pub sign today and confirmed it is literally Ecco the Dolphin box art. HELLO @SEGA ???

“Taxes on cars and fuel etc do not ‘pay for roads’ any more than taxes on alcohol ‘ pay for pubs’” The error is “any more than”. No taxes on alcohol “pay for pubs”, because virtually no taxes on anything pay for pubs, in the way that a proportion of taxes on everything (including on cars and fuel) pay for roads. I can demonstrate with numbers should you so wish? Rounded for simplicity. Total tax revenue - £1T. Raised from cars and fuel - £35B Raised from pubs - £15B Spent on roads - £15B Spent on pubs - of the order of £10M. I’m not arguing with your assertion that taxes should be spent on the area they are taken from. That’s common sense. I’m simply stating that your analogy was flawed at the most fundamental level.

.@gerald_d. 1/2 What slip? Governments tax cars and motorists because it is easy to do so. Same with booze and cigarettes. There is no reason why the money raised should be spent on the sector where it was raised, whether private or public.

@ClarkeMicah You know exactly what I was getting at. A rare slip from you.

@grok @Modeydm @matthewdmarsden @archer_rs Oh don’t be so bloody ridiculous. Truly you are an utter fool at times. The colour red was not available in the 1980’s? BLACK wasn’t available in the 1980’s? Clown.

@grok @Modeydm @matthewdmarsden @archer_rs “Tech upgrades” 🤣🤣🤣

The color palettes on weather maps have changed over time due to tech upgrades—from limited 1980s CRT graphics and simpler hues to today's high-contrast designs that highlight extremes for quick readability. The actual recorded temperatures (like these 30-38°C readings) are measured the same way; Europe's hot spells aren't invented by the palette. Historical data shows warming trends and more frequent heat extremes, but individual events have always occurred.

Apparently climate change is a myth.

@cjsnowdon @mattwridley It’s almost as if…

Another heat record for Heathrow, but you have the wonder why we built an airport in the hottest part of the country.

@ClarkeMicah @mentorthedragon The government own and run many pubs, Mr Hitchens?

.@mentorthedragon. Cyclists and pedestrians pay taxes, and so pay for the roads. Taxes on cars and fuel etc do not ‘pay for roads’ any more than taxes on alcohol ‘ pay for pubs’ . Many cyclists own cars.

@grok @Modeydm @matthewdmarsden @archer_rs @grok wee never saw these dark red colours in the 1980's for the same temperatures. What happened?

@Modeydm @matthewdmarsden @archer_rs Ask Grok is currently available to Premium and Premium+ subscribers only. Subscribe to unlock this feature: x.com/i/premium_sign…

@WingsScotland @archer_rs RS Archer. Literally someone who shoots up buttholes. Christ his parents must have hated the very sight of him at birth.

@archer_rs Yep, it's never been hot before.

@archer_rs @ronin21btc As for your gullibility…

@ronin21btc Your ignorance is not something for which you should be proud.

@aakashgupta A coin 2.5cm thick? 🤣

That water clarity is an engineering decision, and the math behind it is wilder than the video. Roman aqueducts ran on gravity alone. No pumps, no pressure systems. Engineers carved channels with a gradient so shallow it borders on absurd. The Pont du Gard in southern France drops 2.5 centimeters over 275 meters. That's roughly the thickness of a coin over the length of three football fields. They surveyed that accuracy with plumb lines and wooden leveling instruments. The clarity you're seeing is a direct product of flow velocity. Too steep and the water erodes the channel walls, picks up sediment, turns brown. Too flat and it stagnates. Roman engineers targeted a slope of about 20 centimeters per kilometer, which kept the water moving fast enough to stay fresh but slow enough to stay clear. Before the water reached the city, it passed through multi-chamber settling tanks where velocity dropped near zero. Suspended particles sank. Clean water flowed out the top into the next chamber. Repeat three or four times. Pliny specified the minimum slope in writing. Vitruvius published the exact mortar ratio for hydraulic cement: one part lime to two parts volcanic ash for underwater work. The pozzolana from Pozzuoli reacted with water to form a calcium-aluminum-silicate compound that actually gets stronger the longer it sits submerged. Modern concrete degrades in water. Roman concrete bonds with it. Scale the whole system and it gets harder to process. Eleven aqueducts fed Rome at its peak. Combined output: roughly 1 million cubic meters of water per day. That works out to about 250 gallons per person for a city of one million. Modern New York delivers about 125 gallons per person per day. Ancient Rome had access to double the per capita water supply of the largest city in the United States, running entirely on slope and stone. The Trevi Fountain in Rome is still fed by one of them. Two thousand years, same source, same gravity, same water.

@BurnsideWasTosh And where are they now, I wonder? 🤔

More "British" Muslims fought for ISIS than currently serve in the British Army.

@RogerHelmerMEP That’s exactly what the UK needs.

Does Musk realise that he may well have facilitated a Burnham win in Makerfield, and maybe a second Labour term? telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/2…

@grok @Adisa_Alaago @pmamtraveller Compared to Victorian London?

Nigeria faces notable safety challenges for women on the streets. Numbeo’s 2026 Crime Index ranks it high at 66.2 (Safety Index 33.8), with urban areas like Lagos seeing frequent robbery, snatch thefts, and harassment. Homicide rates have been elevated (historically 20+ per 100k overall), and gender-based violence—including sexual assault and femicide—is a documented issue, though much occurs domestically and is underreported. Risks vary sharply by region (higher in north due to banditry/terrorism; relatively lower in some southern cities during day). Objective data points to higher risks than in low-crime nations like the UK.

Women’s self-defense gloves from the 1850’s, London

@grok @Adisa_Alaago @pmamtraveller @grok - how safe are women on the streets of Nigeria?

**Yes, women are significantly safer on London streets today than in the 1850s.** Victorian London had poorly lit streets, limited policing early on, rampant petty crime, and higher risks of violence like garrotting. Homicide rates hovered around 1-2 per 100,000, with many assaults unreported—hence those spiked self-defense gloves. Modern London has CCTV, better lighting, professional policing, and overall violent crime rates that have declined long-term. London's homicide rate is now ~1.2 per 100,000, with female victims a minority of cases. Perceptions of unsafety remain high (many women still feel wary at night), but the objective data shows clear progress. The gloves are a cool historical artifact of a rougher time.

@PezeshkiCharles @HandyGingerGal I read that as “your next wedding project”. You can imagine my confusion.

I think I just found your next welding project, @HandyGingerGal .

@catturd2 How to do breakfast.

@catturd2 Eating pork is pretty much the only way to ensure you’re not consuming halal food these days.

Nope.

@Benstl3 @catturd2 It’s shit.

@catturd2 I love beef bacon and I've been buying it for going on 15 years at a local market These people are absolutely retarded