GammonLord

Expert in nothing. Slices of gammon.

[chaotic memes @memechaotic]

I would like this.

[UK Defence Journal @UKDefJournal]

The Ministry of Defence still holds 42 SEPECAT Jaguar aircraft almost two decades after the type retired from Royal Air Force service, with nine more having been transferred to the Indian Air Force. Click image for more.
https://t.co/gjEdkSncC0

[Iain Martin @iainmartin1]

What’s the point of the motor car? Who is it for? What’s your plan for dealing with all the people and horses impacted by the introduction of the motor car?

[People's Daily, China @PDChina]

Crisp plums weigh down leafy branches in Xilin County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, delivering a bumper harvest for villagers who gather the profitable fruit to boost their income.

[David Fishman @pretentiouswhat]

My methodology for the CICI was as follows:

Start with a normalized value for their registered hukou population (户籍人口), not current inhabitants (常住人口). That's considering the entire prefecture population, not just the metro downtown, because anyone or any part of a prefecture can contribute to reputation creation.

After that, subtract for anything that gives the prefecture city aura, name-recognition, any kind of notability at all. That includes things like:

- being a provincial capital
- having famous tourist attractions (esp. 5A)
- having a national brand headquarters
- having historical or cultural significance
- famous cuisine/dishes
- any memes associated with the city
- being the site of a major disaster or scandal (negative reputation is still reputation)
- having anything else that people think of when you mention it

The highest scores after subtracting become the leaders on my CICI. This methodology allows me to find not just the small and obscure cities, but specifically *cities that are far less famous than their population suggests they should be.* The data part of this was AI-assisted.

I haven't been to most of the places on this top 15 list - because I'd typically travel to places that have notable economic or touristic activity - which by definition perform worse in the CICI. 🤔

And look, I know almost every city has a bit of *something*, or else there wouldn't be be a city there at all. It's all relative, and subjective, and for fun, so if you want to disagree with the list, just be nice about it.

All that being said, here my top 15:

[steve @bagshaw2112]

#darts was the first sport to introduce #hydrationbreaks 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Tom Sharpe @TomSharpe134]

There is a direct correlation between people who understand heavyweight torpedos and people who don’t think drones have rendered warships obsolete.

[Gabriele Molinelli @Gabriel64869839]

Type 45 never had Cooperative Engagement Capability installed to save money, but we are supposed to believe now 70-90 meters USVs will be plentiful and reliably linked in to crewed CCV on network with anti-missile quality shared target tracking. Somehow at less cost.

Good luck.

[Mark Urban @MarkUrban01]

I shouldn’t be surprised after 40 years reporting defence - but it’s amazing to see how easily the commentariat & Westminster can be diverted into talking about drones when the real Q is whether the nation is ready to accept the peace dividend is over, & scale of spend needed now

[Dr. Dame Katy Denise CH GBE 🏳️‍⚧️🇳🇬🪑 @damekatydenise_]

Fuck.

[Aviation Archive - Tim Farmer @aviationarchive]

Ok, I did not know that the Space Shuttle Columbia used modified Lockheed SR-71 ejection seats for the commander and pilot in its early Approach/Landing Tests and STS-1 to STS-4. They were removed later as they couldn't fit bigger crews and proved useless during most of ascent👀

[Iain Martin @iainmartin1]

Starmer scraps eight Type 83 destroyers and five Type 32 frigates - money for them no longer in the DIP - as he, er, “seeks to shore up his legacy by shaping the future of Britain’s military.” The Starmer premiership really is surreal…

[Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭 @jacobincambodia]

Inside the O'Smach Scam Compound, Where the Crews Played Australian Federal Police

One room in the O'Smach compound was a fake Australian Federal Police office. The crews impersonated AFP officers, talked Australian targets into believing they were being defrauded, and used the story to pull bank details, working off a printed script that told them what to say and what to avoid. Tables were stacked with paper, each sheet a list of names. Batons, handcuffs, blood-testing kits, swabs, and condoms were scattered through the building, with a copy of someone's passport on the floor.

The basement held people who broke the rules or weren't earning enough. No windows, a bad smell, bottles used as toilets. One building was a brothel, and the boss had the largest room, a bong, and Louis Vuitton packaging.

ABC was given access to the site, on the Cambodian side of the Thai border. From the outside it reads as a half-finished housing development, until you notice the bars on every window and the cameras spaced a few meters apart along the walls. Thai forces took it during the December border fighting, when jets struck a building Bangkok called a weapons depot and soldiers found the six-story fraud operation in the rubble. Construction was still going everywhere inside.

[Paweł Wójcik 🦋 @SaladinAlDronni]

Islamic State publishes a video of the storming of Inates base, one of a few battles with the Nigerien military throughout the last week and a half.
Massive amount of weapons, ammo and vehicles captured, aswell as oil tankers/military vehicles burnt as previously claimed. #Niger

[Pieter Cleppe @pietercleppe]

The EU Commission in Brussels has shut off airco, but only for the lower floors, where the lower ranks work:

“It’s like feudalism,” a Commission official working on a lower level of the Berlaymont, granted anonymity to speak freely, told POLITICO on Friday, referring to the fact that upper floors housing commissioners got to keep their AC on. A second official agreed it was a “disgrace.” https://t.co/DWUnu3Wz3C

[Strix @strixperegrinus]

For us. For fairness. Politics isn't working. For far too long. Put big light on. Barm cakes. Putting the heart back into communities. The Smiths. But not Morrissey, obviously. People up and down this country. Decency. Hard working people. Communities. Picky teas. For our city-region. For all city-regions. Everton. Next door but one. Since 2001. Buses. Yellow buses. Hard working buses, up and down this country. Price caps. Price freezes. Giving back. Not taking enough to begin with. People are sick and tired. Wealth tax. Fairness. Tax land, tax money. Tax wealth. Tax growth. Tax growth to make growth. We're all immigrants, aren't we? No more being in hock to the bond markets. Increase borrowing. Increase spending. Doorsteps. What I'm hearing on the doorsteps. Good touch for a big man. We do things differently here. Wherever here might be. Politics of that which we have in common is moreso in common with unity than that which divides us can divide us from us. Chippy tea. Sad smile. Grass. Selfies. Fourteen years of Tory hurt didn't stop me dreaming. Jogging by the motorway. Like my grandad and his grandad before him. Chuckle. Little chuckle. Well, some people might say that. Guitars. Music. Nothing more esoteric than Elbow. I like Oasis, but I don't condone all the fighting and wouldn't like them now. Bricks. Houses. Terraced houses. Council houses. Ordinary people. Ordinary people like you and me, who haven't got embarrassing comments in their past because they've barely said anything of note. Politics, eh, who'd go into that? No, I wouldn't say I'm a saviour exactly. But the Labour Party has to be saved and I'm the only one who can do it. Milquetoast? I'm not really familiar with the term, but I like milk and I love toast, haha. They serve toast in the breakfast clubs, and we should honour Sir Keir's legacy really. Fantastic Prime Minister. Just not for very long. I love this country that I love, I'm very patriotic. But the flag is divisive, and we need to have a debate about that. A debate about whether or not it's divisive, about which I have no opinion. I went to Cambridge, and I'm not afraid to admit that. Ordinary lad done good. I've seen the system from the inside. I've seen the system from the outside. I've seen the system from Merseyside. It's not working. Not for ordinary folk like you and me. I'm a man, and I'm not afraid to admit that. But it is divisive, and we should have a debate about that. The North. People say it's grim up north, hah, maybe that's why we're more realistic up here. We know the problems people are facing, because we're the ones what's facing 'em. Regional inequality is something I'm passionate about. It's not fair that pints are only £7 in Manchester when pub landlords in London are raking in much more. Minimum wage for pints. Get young people earning, so we can tax them. Doe eyes. Glasses. I'm a bit older, a bit wiser, a bit heavier, haha. Ask me mates, they'll tell you. Don't ask them, actually. They're made of cardboard. I've always cared about equality. Sharing is caring, as my kids say. I think my wife taught them that. As PM I will do everything in my power to put every town in this country on the map. Of this country. Manchester feels half the world away. I've been lost, I've been found, but I don't feel down the back of the sofa for loose change. Not a bad idea though, in fairness. Fairness. Barrow-in-Fairness. In fairness, fairness isn't a bad idea to be fair. I'm from Wigan, me. As honest as can be. Uncle Joe's Mint Balls. Change. Believe in change. Believe deeply in unspecified change. And hope. Hope deeply for belief in unspecified change. Keep calm and carry the shopping back from the car in one go. For Andy. For us. Forever.

[The English Oak Project @TheKentAcorn]

When you see a tree in the middle of a road, please be patient as it takes time for them to cross

[UB1UB2 West London (Southall) @UB1UB2]

Fly-tipping in Southall, caught on camera.

This clip shows someone throwing old sofas straight over their garden wall onto the footpath along Uxbridge Road, one of the busiest roads in the area, with cars flying past.

It’s the kind of blatant dumping that’s becoming far too common, and it’s everyone else who ends up paying for it, through their council tax and through streets that deserve better.

🎥 Submitted to UB1UB2
📍Southall, West London
#ub1ub2 #london #southall #ealing #flytipping

[Michael Mathes @MichaelMathes]

“England historically has struggled here in Massachusetts”
— #WorldCup announcer on Fox
👀