Not that I ever will again, but....

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

You may not know this, but Olivia Newton-John is actually English by birth. As a child, she was kidnapped by Swedish gypsies who took her north, where they forced her to work as an au pair / hedgehog gelder. Cunningly disguised as Frank Lloyd Wright’s conjoined twin, she effected her escape and eked out a marginal living on the streets of Stockholm, juggling live pigeons and singing show tunes. Spotted by an agent, she auditioned for ABBA, but was rejected for refusing to change her name to Flingenglaaben Ragnarsdottir.

Boru

HUMOR,, IS ABOUT FUCKING TIME. WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? 

The problem with both ONJ, AND ABBA, is that they BOTH have country influences. Don't ask  HillBilly Atheist what he knows about them. He is the same guy who found BOTH on banjo.

---

What is truly sicking now i that I am going to google the meaning of "gelder"

But know that I know what "gelder" means, no, I have no desire to taste Rocky Mountain Oysters, much less hedgehog nuts. AND YES, I know "Au Pair" means nanny or babysitter for a upper class family.

---

HUMOR,, IS ABOUT FUCKING TIME. WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? 

The problem with both ONJ, AND ABBA, is that they BOTH have country influences. Don't ask  HillBilly Atheist what he knows about them. He is the same guy who found BOTH on banjo.

---

What is truly sicking now i that I am going to google the meaning of "gelder"

But know that I know what "gelder" means, no, I have no desire to taste Rocky Mountain Oysters, much less hedgehog nuts.

And I never understood the title "Au pair"......  I was in awe of her talent, but I never had a pair of balls to tell her.

What do you mean humour? It’s all in her bio.

Boru

[SometimesFactsAreUnpopular]

Flying would bother me too if I did it.

[notimportant1234]

I'd recommend a container ship trip summer time, but not winter. That Pacific crossing can be a killer.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I'd recommend a container ship trip summer time, but not winter. That Pacific crossing can be a killer.

I've done the Bering Sea in a Leahy-class cruiser. I would have been very happy on a big fat container ship.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Don't fly, and feel fucking AWESOME about not flying. To explain:

I have been concerned for many years about global warming and unnecessary air-travel's contribution to that in particular. I have come to the conclusion that this COVID-19 pandemic has taken this devastating global form due to the explosion in the volume of air-travel this planet has seen over the last 20 years or so. I'll spell out my reasoning for this as concisely as I can so please bear with me. Briefly put: I was very disapproving of air travel before COVID-19, due to global warming. Well, now....I absolutely loath it. 


The COVID-19 virus is virtually identical to the SARS virus of the 2003 epidemic (NOT pandemic). It is fair in my opinion to call this outbreak "SARS2." The COVID-19 virus' official name is, after all: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as opposed to "SARS" which was called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Both also originated in China, likely through wet markets, bats and civets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS_(disambiguation)


The 2003 SARS outbreak was reported to have a mortality rate of 10% and COVID-19 is widely reported as having a mortality rate of around 1%. However, if the figures for the UK at time of writing (51618 cases; 5373 deaths) and/or Netherlands (18803 cases; 1867 deaths), for example, were taken as they stand, then this SARS2/COVID-19 outbreak would be recorded as ALSO having a 10% mortality rate. If the figure for Italy were taken, that would return a 12.5% mortality rate – higher than SARS. It all depends on how widely testing for COVID-19 is carried out. It seems more than fair to deduce there'd be less widespread testing in Chine 17 years ago, which would explain to a large extent the 2003 SARS figures of 8,98 cases and 774 deaths.

If the two virus' (SARS and SARS2) are virtually identical then why has this 2019/20 outbreak been so very very much worse than the 2003 SARS epidemic? A massive increase in air-travel. According to the linked graph there's been a 10 fold increase in air travel out of China since the time of the 2003 SARS epidemic. There has also been a similar increase in air-travel between the various regions of China, and a huge increase in air travel globally in general too over that period. One reason Italy has it so bad is due to skiing season, it has been suggested, for example, and for a time Switzerland had the highest per capita infection rate in the world too – ski season. A single coughing SARS2 patient in a packed airport could infect carriers to a dozen different countries at least, by reason.


Graph of increase in China's outbound flights: https://fm-static.cnbc.com/awsmedia/char...183660.PNG


As if global warming weren't enough of a reason to stop doing an impression of the demise of Icarus, now we have SARS2/3/n. We cannot afford to sleepwalk into a "SARS3" pandemic by continuing to globe trot at a whim like there's no tomorrow, I conclude.


I hope this information will help with your/our objective to drastically cut air travel and do keep up the good work. As with many things perhaps, the darker the dark cloud (COVID-19) the brighter the silver lining.

*books a flight to Pago Pago, purely out of spite*

Boru

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Papeete is nicer. And diving the Palaus is amazing. You can swim completely under some islands.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

psst…I'm not actually going anywhere.

Boru

[Gawdzilla Sama]

psst…I'm not actually going anywhere.

Boru

Free advice is very inexpensive.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

And a bargain at twice the price.

Boru

[Brian37]

Flying commercial is as boring as riding a bus.


I'd rather get stick time.

It is. But is also worse when you fear turbulence. I love destinations, I simply hate getting there, no matter if it is by plane, bus, train, or auto. 

Again, the only thing about flying I hate the most, isn't the delays. When you are on the ground, you have shops and bars and restaurants to go to. 

I love Australia, but just like being cooped up in a jet for 12/13 hours, I also hated being cooped up in the back seat of a car for 5 days traveling across Australia, because our host wanted to give us a tour. I loved the topography, I simply hated the confinement. I hate road trips.  I like being where ever and staying in one place. 

When we were out in the flats of Australia, I seriously had never seen horizons that went on forever. It was nothing but bush and flatlands, I actually enjoyed the nature of it. I simply didn't like being stuck in the back seat of a car for 9 to 12 hours per day.

Whenever you see a movie shot where the highway seems to go on forever. THAT is parts of Australia. 

But there was for me, a payoff in putting up with all that. Like every nation, there are parts you love, and parts you'd rather skip. 

It took us seemingly forever to get from Brisbane, WHICH I LOVE, to Yeppoon billions of miles north driving. But our host Debrah, who was doing the driving, knew I would love the seaside and ocean views of Yeppoon. And she was spot on. It sucked taking days to get there, but John and I ended up taking a sea taxi to a remote tropical island and had pina coladas, and took a glass bottom boat to look at corals and feed ocean fish. And we spotted the cutest kidna while on the island.

I hated the road trip, as much as I hate flying. But when on the ground and having the ability to stretch my legs, outside of my fear of heights, I am fine with any topography.