Magere Hein

Not exactly a peer reviewed study though, does such a thing exist? I don't know if the Diaconis, Holmes, and Montgomery paper, refered (and linked) to in the web page linked to above, is peer reviewed. It is online and is full of jargon, formulae and pretty pictures. BTW, that coin tossing machine is awesome. It puts all tossers out of work. regards, Hein

According to the Wikipedia article I linked to, those were in the first limo. Ilyin attacked the second one, killing the driver, that further contained cosmonauts Alexey Leonov, Valentina Tereshkova, Georgy Beregovoy and Andrian Nikolayev, who all survived with at most some glass cuts. Of these Leonov (80) and Tereshkova (77) are still with us. I'll soon move these posts to the "Astronauts" topic. ETA: I found a picture of Tereshkova from 2013: (Look, hero of the Soviet Union!) I also found one of Leonov, unfortunately undated: regards, Hein

When they start asking questions about burglar alarms and office hours you do. regards, Hein

It's entirely possible that most soviet leaders have had attempts made on their lives, but the news wouldn't have reached the West as that would signify instability within the Kremlin. Of course. There was a reason why there were Kremlin watchers at all. Interestingly, the attacker, Viktor Ilyin (b. Leningrad 1948), is according to this article from 14 May 2014: DDP material? regards, Hein

Can somebody explain that concept to Zsa Zsa? regards, Hein

I remember his death mainly for the flurry of speculation it caused among Kremlin watchers about his succession. The result, even older fossil Chernenko, surprised nearly everyone. I just read Andropov's Wikipedia entry. From that I learned about an episode in Soviet history I never heard about, an assassination attempt on Brezhnev. regards, Hein

Or worse, necrophiliacs? regards, Hein

The for us most disturbing sentence in that piece is this: Since Harper is a mere 88, her membership of our list may be premature. regards, Hein

Ourch. regards, Hein

Oh I dunno; Pratt's Bottom springs to my mind. As do Bum, Fucking and Hell. Of these places, I've only been in Hell. Not remarkable for English speakers, but on my list of places to go are Kut, Lul and Neuquén, the last two also because they're palindromes. regards, Hein

Thutch a thame. regards, Hein

I understand this happened when both were young, but I only know (and have therefore only a mental image of) Reagan as prez. That makes the above sentence a rather disturbing idea. regards, Hein

No it isn't. The stabilisers survived the crash partly: regards, Hein

Ok. How about this chain of handshakes: Adolf Hitler -> Anton Mussert -> MH's granddad -> MH's dad -> Magere Hein -> Every DL member I met IRL regards, Hein

Tim Farriss -> Kevin Bacon -> Pharrell Williams -> Peaches Geldof. Orri Vigfússon -> Prince Charles -> Michelle Mone -> Peaches Geldof Adolf Hitler -> Mother Theresa -> Kevin Bacon -> Peaches Geldof -> Mornington Crescent I understand the need to get Kevin Bacon in, but I fail to see the link between him and the Witch of Calcutta. regards, Hein

Tim Farriss -> Kevin Bacon -> Pharrell Williams -> Peaches Geldof. Orri Vigfússon -> Prince Charles -> Michelle Mone -> Peaches Geldof I like this game. regards, Hein

Those are the beads and mirrors offered to placate the natives during state visits. Why do Australia need that? regards, Hein

I just read in the news that King Albert and Queen Paola must resend 150 cards in which they express gratitude for condolences at Queen Fabiola's death. The original card stated Queen Paola's death as the occasion. regards, Hein

It's done, through some SQL magic. If you read this, Sir Creep, please pay attention to the fact that you'll need to use your new name when you log in.I see that since the software upgrade it's gotten more picky when chosing member names. The same is true for registration. What I did was change it directly in the database. It's not particularly difficult, but you need to know what you're doing and a good dose of SQL.I removed the old 'Sir Creep' account two weeks ago, to avoid a name clash when the change request would come.regards,Hein Excellent and thank you. Though I guess all previous statistics and links to old posts are lost? Sacrifices had to be made I suppose. SC The old account 'Sir Creep' was never used for posts when I removed it, so no stats were lost. The current account 'Sir Creep' is the one formerly known as 'Sir-Creep' and has all posts and statistics it had before I renamed it, and all statistics of what you did after. regards, Hein

A friend of a friend of mine was a train driver who quit his job after several occasions in which the train he was driving killed a suicidal. As they say, he couldn't take it anymore and it affected his skills. I don't remember him mentioning becoming suicidal himself, but I can't imagine a lorry being cheered up by the prospect of a collision with a footballer. He may not have been its first. I understand the delight with which the rags report this unfortunate vehicle's plight, but they could be more considerate with its emotional condition. Why not bother the footballer who started all this? regards, Hein

As I understand it, this situation can be resolved by finding a physician willing to the deed. I know euthanasia is a touchy subject in Roman Catholic circles, and the church still has some oomph in Belgium, but I don't quite see the problem. regards, Hein

From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60VAf_Nu4DM I cropped the following: It's the last still frame I could get before impact. I see no damage to the stabilisers. regards, Hein

It's a matter of perspective. We look at the plane from a weird angle. The wings are almost perpendicular to our liine of sight, but we look at its front at an angle of some 20 degrees forward. Its roll angle is such that the starboard wing is closer to us than the port one, some 70 degrees from horizontal. We see the (from our point of view) right part of the stabiliser. If you imagine the complete horizontal stabiliser through the fuselage, the middle should meet slightly left (up in our pov) of the center of the fuselage. Determine the center line by joining the gap between the landing gear and the tail. Here's a similar plane at a more conventional angle: That one's not missing it's starboard engine, it's just hidden from view. regards, Hein

Yup, in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. Quite a hero, then. That one doesn't take much imagination. I never studied funding of the troubles much. As fas as I remember the IRA didn't go on a limb to argue that their funding didn't come from the Republic and the US. Don't know about the loyalist side. Don't bother explaining, I'll look it up myself. If you count the many CIA-sponsored bandits, rebels and resistance groups, or the US-sponsored repression thereof, or sometimes both. regards, Hein

We still have a few large office supply stores, but they're suffering heavy competition from internet mail-to-customer suppliers. I think they'll sink soon. FWIW, stationers have long disappeared from Dutch high streets. There's one left in Rotterdam. I can't say I shop a lot there, but every now and again I need some particular piece of writing equipment that the normal (wossname, sell tobacco, pencils & pens, note pads, a few books, magazines, lottery tickets and since the post offices have closed they often do some mail and bank services) don't sell. ETA: News agent! regards, Hein