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Useless Thread

Didn't know where to post this and I don't want to be a spam especially since I never post here, but I made a Matthews wallpaper the other day and thought you guys might like it. Enjoy! :)

http://orig06.deviantart.net/e01c/f/2016/292/8/1/auston_matthews_wallpaper_by_bjens-daljqwq.jpg
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Anyone been to the Halloween Haunt at Wonderland? Are all of the standard rides open throughout the night as well?
Click to expand...

I believe all the more popular rides are open, but, don't quote me on that.
 
I know everyone is focused on America and the clownshow there but what's going on with Brexit right now is a really fun glimpse into a sort of bizarre alternate universe mirroring what Canada might have gone through if the '95 Quebec referendum had broken the other way.

Basically it's a slim majority of the country deciding to undergo a massive change but only on the basis that they receive incredibly favourable terms in post-decision negotiations with a group they'd just essentially told to go screw themselves.

I really don't think people get the extent to which the catastrophic failures of judgment by the British and American electorate are going to compound each other.
 
Bullfrog said:
Would that logic extend to Scotland breaking from the UK?
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I'm not quite as well versed on the ins and outs of Scottish issues but the way I understood the Scottish referendum was that they would be leaving the UK but would be remaining in the EU so a great deal of their trade/legal agreements would effectively remain the same with the rest of the UK as they(the UK) were still in the EU at the time. The things that would largely change would be autonomy on taxation and things like defense policy.

So someone from there might correct me but because both countries shared EU membership at the time there was no implied negotiation of terms with the UK as Scotland would probably have taken on the Euro and things like the free movement of peoples would have still existed.

Unless you're asking me about a hypothetical future referendum in which case I imagine the ability to bypass negotiations with the UK and apply to rejoin the EU would be a major, if not the main, selling point for the pro-independence side.
 
The Brexit vote is a disgrace. It also has huge implications for Ireland/Northern Ireland. This is the only area that has a land border between the UK and Europe anywhere. At the minute that border is open, you can travel freely across it at any time. Last week I flew from Dublin airport to New York rather than Belfast as the flights were cheaper and it is roughly the same distance from my house to either airport.

The UK want to control their borders. They won't leave that open the way it is. People could then fly to Dublin, get a bus to Belfast, ferry to Scotland and be in London within a day.

The open border was a part of the Good Friday agreement that led to the end of the civil war/The Troubles. There's full integration. People live on one side and work on the other and travel across day by day.

Add to that that the people of NI voted 56/44 in favour of remain while the main political party in the local parliament campaigned for Leave and are pushing for a full Brexit (while the parliament is suspended due to a different scandal so NI has no representation on the Brexit talks).

A lot of talk about the reunification of the island of Ireland has switched from where a lot of people who would have been happy with the status quo would now consider a change.
 
There's also the added irony that the biggest political party in Northern Ireland, the DUP, is a Unionist party that wants NI to remain part of the UK and is anti-all Ireland reunification and by taking this stance has actually made the break up of the UK and creation of an all Ireland more likely.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38650350
 
Nik the Trik said:
Bullfrog said:
Would that logic extend to Scotland breaking from the UK?
Click to expand...

I'm not quite as well versed on the ins and outs of Scottish issues but the way I understood the Scottish referendum was that they would be leaving the UK but would be remaining in the EU so a great deal of their trade/legal agreements would effectively remain the same with the rest of the UK as they(the UK) were still in the EU at the time. The things that would largely change would be autonomy on taxation and things like defense policy.

So someone from there might correct me but because both countries shared EU membership at the time there was no implied negotiation of terms with the UK as Scotland would probably have taken on the Euro and things like the free movement of peoples would have still existed.

Unless you're asking me about a hypothetical future referendum in which case I imagine the ability to bypass negotiations with the UK and apply to rejoin the EU would be a major, if not the main, selling point for the pro-independence side.
Click to expand...

A few of the details you imply such as remaining in the EU, currency decisions and continued participation in the common market while definitely the desired outcome had not been set in stone prior to the last indy referendum. The SNP actually said they would like to continue on with the Scottish Pound as is currently the case. The Bank of England did a bit of sabre rattling about not allowing them to continue to use Sterling, but this was largely seen as an empty threat.

Since the Brexit result Nicola Sturgeon the Scottish First Minister has spent a lot of time in Brussels meeting with Merkel and all the major EU players to reassure them that Scotland is 100% behind the EU and would like a "soft brexit" which would allow the Scottish people to continue to benefit from free travel and working rights within the EU.

The Scottish people voted to remain in the EU by a large margin at the polling booths in the Brexit referendum, so Sturgeon has presented two realities to Theresa May and the leaders of the EU. Either there is a soft brexit or the Scottish government will have a clear mandate from the Scottish people to call for another independence referendum.  This time she will have the full backing of the major European leaders and will have gone a long way to shift the tide in favour of Yes as there will much more economic certainty which was something that was used as a scare tactic by the No campaign last time around.

The voting breakdown by age was remarkable last time, overwhelmingly the young wanted independence and if there is a vote in 2018 that is buoyed by more young voters and a better economic outlook it's hard for me to imagine Yes not bridging the 400,000 vote gap.

Scotland is a lot more like Canada than England or America, I hope she's brave enough to do what's right next time around.
 
Arn said:
There's also the added irony that the biggest political party in Northern Ireland, the DUP, is a Unionist party that wants NI to remain part of the UK and is anti-all Ireland reunification and by taking this stance has actually made the break up of the UK and creation of an all Ireland more likely.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38650350
Click to expand...

The corruption going on over there has been remarkable, I've no doubt both sides had fingers in the cash register.

As someone in favor of a united Ireland I hope there is a smooth mutually beneficial solution without the return to any of the old methods.
 
I visited Ireland and Northern Ireland this fall and found the whole experience to be quite interesting. Pounds and miles in one and Euros and kilometres in the other. Overheard some crazy Americans who were terrified driving the M6, thought the speed limit was 100 miles an hour!
Took the train up to Belfast and honestly if it weren't for the Union Jack painted on the rock it would be hard to tell where one country ended and the other began.

I went on one of the Black Taxi tours and found that whole experience to be a bit intense! Sorry, but glass shards on tops of walls, razor wire, those cages on the backs of the homes to deflect explosives, locking down streets at night with neighbourhood gates, etc. is no way to live IMHO.

The Titanic Museum is top notch, really enjoyed it. Would have liked to take in a Giants game, but timeframe didn't quite line up.

Have ancestors from Belfast, but prior to the creation of Northern Ireland, so also in favour of a united Ireland once more. Admittedly, I don't know a whole lot about Brexit and all the implications, but hope things turn out for the best.
 
Nik the Trik said:
Unless you're asking me about a hypothetical future referendum in which case I imagine the ability to bypass negotiations with the UK and apply to rejoin the EU would be a major, if not the main, selling point for the pro-independence side.
Click to expand...

that was actually what i was referencing, thanks. Our Irish/Scottish friends have done a good job of discussing it though. Economics/trade policies are not my areas of expertise by a long shot.
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
...
Scotland is a lot more like Canada than England or America, I hope she's brave enough to do what's right next time around.
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I did a four month UK/western Europe trip about 10 years ago. Scotland is the only place that I yearn to return to. I felt such an affinity with the people and the place. Things haven't been good financially lately, but once I save up enough, I'm heading back for an extended visit; I only got to spend about 10 days there.

Friggin' love Glasgow.
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
Since the Brexit result Nicola Sturgeon the Scottish First Minister has spent a lot of time in Brussels meeting with Merkel and all the major EU players to reassure them that Scotland is 100% behind the EU and would like a "soft brexit" which would allow the Scottish people to continue to benefit from free travel and working rights within the EU.

The Scottish people voted to remain in the EU by a large margin at the polling booths in the Brexit referendum, so Sturgeon has presented two realities to Theresa May and the leaders of the EU. Either there is a soft brexit or the Scottish government will have a clear mandate from the Scottish people to call for another independence referendum. 
Click to expand...

Yeah, but I think May's speech today highlighted that the idea of a soft brexit was never overly realistic. I understand why someone who voted remain would want it, or even insist on it, but so long as one of the key tenets of the Brexit movement was a disentanglement from European laws and strict control of immigration then Europe was never going to negotiate on the basis that the UK could sort of have an a la carte membership of the EU, taking what they like and leaving what they don't.

So long as the UK is negotiating between the mandate for leaving Europe on one side and an EU that wants to make things as tough as possible on the other it seems unlikely that any kind of favourable deal can be struck.
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
Arn said:
There's also the added irony that the biggest political party in Northern Ireland, the DUP, is a Unionist party that wants NI to remain part of the UK and is anti-all Ireland reunification and by taking this stance has actually made the break up of the UK and creation of an all Ireland more likely.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38650350
Click to expand...

The corruption going on over there has been remarkable, I've no doubt both sides had fingers in the cash register.

As someone in favor of a united Ireland I hope there is a smooth mutually beneficial solution without the return to any of the old methods.
Click to expand...

The corruption (or giving them the benefit of any doubt, absolute and utter incompetence) of the government in NI is incredible.

Having no government in place during these Brexit negotiations is worrying as Northern Ireland will probably be the most negatively impacted region. Not only do we have the border issue and the united Ireland issue, along with enough morons stuck in the past who will take any excuse to kick off trouble when they see an opportunity, but NI has also been massively reliant on EU money to help rebuild it coming out of the conflict.

The Titanic building which was the number 1 ranked tourist attraction in Europe last year, for example was funded by EU money. A lot of our road infrastructure has been built by EU funding. There is a specific EU fund - PEACE funding - that has been used to develop all sorts of cross community projects and build all sorts of buildings. Something like ?2.2 BILLION pounds of funding has been spent through this in NI alone.
 
Captain Canuck said:
I visited Ireland and Northern Ireland this fall and found the whole experience to be quite interesting. Pounds and miles in one and Euros and kilometres in the other. Overheard some crazy Americans who were terrified driving the M6, thought the speed limit was 100 miles an hour!
Took the train up to Belfast and honestly if it weren't for the Union Jack painted on the rock it would be hard to tell where one country ended and the other began.

I went on one of the Black Taxi tours and found that whole experience to be a bit intense! Sorry, but glass shards on tops of walls, razor wire, those cages on the backs of the homes to deflect explosives, locking down streets at night with neighbourhood gates, etc. is no way to live IMHO.

The Titanic Museum is top notch, really enjoyed it. Would have liked to take in a Giants game, but timeframe didn't quite line up.

Have ancestors from Belfast, but prior to the creation of Northern Ireland, so also in favour of a united Ireland once more. Admittedly, I don't know a whole lot about Brexit and all the implications, but hope things turn out for the best.
Click to expand...

That's a really interesting view from someone from the outside - interesting to read, so thanks for sharing it. You're right about the fact it's only little things that denote that you've crossed a border - your mobile phone switching networks, or the lines along the edge of the road switching from dashed to solid and the road signs changing from MPH to KPH.

Re the neighbourhoods visited on the black taxi tours. I guess you got a sense of the geography of these areas during the tour. You literally have pockets (or ghettos for want of a better word) where one side of the community is surrounded by the other, and vice versa. These areas are also massively socially deprived, high levels of unemployment, low levels of education. Massive levels of mistrust of "themmuns" as in the other side of the community that still exists from the conflict. It IS no way to live, but sadly it's the only way to stop certain things happening. Indeed since the troubles/war ended there have been more walls built around these communities than were built during the war.

But outside of these areas the country has come a massively long way. NI has actually in my opinion developed an identity as it's own country. A lot of people from the less socially deprived areas, the better educated areas etc from both protestant and catholic background now identify as "Northern Irish" over British or Irish, and having the ability to freely move around between Britain and Ireland certainly helps with that inclusivity. Taking that away and putting a border back up across the middle of the island threatens to reopen a lot of old wounds.
 
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