In Australian media they are referred to as Ukraine and the Ukraine. You certainly missed that I used both conventions. Try not to assume that the language used denotes a position.

As for Trump, I certainly hope he is not elected again, but the election needs to happen first.

I feel it’s a seismic shift in the position of the USA as a world power. Netanyahu has stopped listening and has faced no repercussions, so naturally Zelenskyy is doing the same. Completely withdrawing support for both Israel and Ukraine doesn’t appear to be in the USA’s best interests.

This could be a stretch but maybe it has to do with Trump and the likelihood he’s going to turn around and tell both sides to quit prolonging these wars and either finish off their opponents or get to signing a peace treaty.

For Israel it means escalating (as evidenced by how they’re poking the other bear - Iran - in the region) and for the Ukraine doing as much damage as possible to weaken the Russians so a peace treaty appears the better option over continuing to fight against an opponent who won’t lay down.

I could also be talking out of my exhaust pipe. I’ve been paying less and less attention to these conflicts the longer they’ve gone on.

Thanks for replying. I’m looking at it from the perspective of proximity to critical infrastructure, but your reply makes plenty of sense. It does make incidents like this more a case of when and not if.

I’m not from the region (let alone the same country) but I would think this is going to have a significant impact on the port operations, assuming it can continue to operate.

Why no tug boats to assist the vessel? I find it odd that the ship was allowed to depart on its own.

You mean the basket. The portafilter holds the basket and is inserted into the group head. They can be bottomless (naked) or have spouts.

On to baskets. You can buy single/double/triple shot sizes (typically 7/14/21 grams) but you can also buy 18/20/22/24/25g baskets. You’ll find most serious cafes use 18/20/22g baskets. Barista’s almost always love to chat so don’t be afraid to ask questions. Just be nice and they’ll tell you just about anything you want to know about pulling espresso shots.

Yep. My favourite is Hulu who is owned by NBC who in turn is owned by NBCUniversal who in turn is owned by Comcast Corporation. It’s enough to make your head spin.

Advance Publications, which owns Ars Technica parent Condé Nast, is the largest shareholder in Reddit.

Strange way of spelling buyer’s remorse.

On Thursday, Twitter announced content creators would be able to get a slice of the site’s ad revenue, seemingly to encourage more creators to join the site. To be eligible, the creators must have Twitter Blue and have at least 5 million impressions on their posts in each of the last three months.

Among the creators who now get monetized off Twitter: Andrew Tate, the self-proclaimed “misogynist” online influencer, who was indicted in Romania on charges of human trafficking, rape and setting up a criminal gang.

Why do that when you can structure the platform to do it instead? It was already a cesspool but this is next level.