Sadly, no, but then again, yesterday it occurred to me that I should have followed-up on the Covid shitshow comment enquiring how come he downplays these shenanigans that were brought to him by the same people who are now propagating the Putis-is-Sauron absurdity. Apparently, these conteadictory believes coexist in his (and many others') minds...
Yeah - Russophrenia, the simultaneously held beliefs both that Russia is unable to beat Ukraine yet poses an existential threat to Europe.
Of course if the sabre-rattling morphs into direct provocation, such as deployment of German troops to frontline positions in the Baltics or sequestering Russian assets on the high seas, they’ll eventually be proven correct on one of the two beliefs.
>Then I merely mentioned that the last Austrian to speak like this was, well, Adolf Hitler.
Genuinely laughed out loud oh my God. Please tell me you were yelling in German at each other to complete the mental image.
In any case, as to our 'reader homework.' Both Australia and Africa have had facial biometrics at airports for a very, very long time. Re. Africa - specifically Ghana which has biometric eGates - started in 2018 or thereabouts. Australia for much longer - around 2012. They trialled iris scanning but not sure if it was implemented.
I hardly ever yell in these contexts, if only doing so in public (we were having a chat in a bar) would probably be quite a thing.
As to the biometric stuff, well, I didn't know about either example you cite; I do recall quite a bruahahaha about the introduction of passports, in the late 1990s or early 2000s, that contained a microchip with such biometric data. These days, no-one cares.
You know when you are in a crowded place like a bar and you have to yell, but then it suddenly goes quiet for some reason? Imagine if you were saying "THE LAST AUSTRIAN WHO SAID THAT WAS HITLER!"
Thank you I like your travel insights, like a good measure of society. Although your covid era ones were particularly disturbing.
My two pennies, traveled earlier in the year:
- Stockholm, arlanda, couldn’t see too much high tech facial recognition or push away from actual staff thankfully. My only sadness came as the gate side shop refused cash :( but then Sweden were early adopters of cashless. Seeing teeny tiny signs it might shift but I fear too little too late…
- Amsterdam, Schiphol, oh yes they love high tech, both passport control and security control, yuk.
- England, regional airport, small is best, no money to upgrade so how it used to be 20 years ago, phew, feels much better.
The Covid travels were wild, no two ways about that. I would have avoided them, if I could, and I did them mainly to signal to my vaxxed'n'boosted co-workers that I could travel, too.
Surreally, another (unvaxxed due to cancer) acquaintance stopped any kind of exchange once she learned, via a seemingly innocuous comment my wife made (about me having to take a test in Czechia in autumn 2021)--which her interlocutor interpreted as me being, you know, a pariah. We haven't heard from them ever since, so, there is that.
As to Stockholm, I was there (layover) last summer: much cleaner than Frankfurt.
Amsterdam is the go-to place for layovers from my neck of the woods: it's about as sane as Frankfurt, a bit cleaner, and a huge construction site (haven't exited a plane in a regular gate for years). Incidentally, on that 2022 trip linked above, no-one was interested in passports, boarding passes, or Covid vaxx certificates; they only cared whether I had a face diaper on me (which wasn't mandatory to wear aboard the plane to Dublin, but I was among the very few who didn't don it).
Thanks for the insights into England: I haven't been since 2017 (and then I took the Eurostar to get to London from Switzerland via Paris).
Sorry to hear about the brother. Sounds both distressing and depressing. Did you seek his opinion on how Islam treats his LGBTQ etc. friends?
Sadly, no, but then again, yesterday it occurred to me that I should have followed-up on the Covid shitshow comment enquiring how come he downplays these shenanigans that were brought to him by the same people who are now propagating the Putis-is-Sauron absurdity. Apparently, these conteadictory believes coexist in his (and many others') minds...
Yeah - Russophrenia, the simultaneously held beliefs both that Russia is unable to beat Ukraine yet poses an existential threat to Europe.
Of course if the sabre-rattling morphs into direct provocation, such as deployment of German troops to frontline positions in the Baltics or sequestering Russian assets on the high seas, they’ll eventually be proven correct on one of the two beliefs.
Exactly.
It's always astounding to observe these mutually exclusionary lines of reasoning.
good article. sent to my relatives I Norge
Thanks for reading and taking the time to send it on. Cheers!
>Then I merely mentioned that the last Austrian to speak like this was, well, Adolf Hitler.
Genuinely laughed out loud oh my God. Please tell me you were yelling in German at each other to complete the mental image.
In any case, as to our 'reader homework.' Both Australia and Africa have had facial biometrics at airports for a very, very long time. Re. Africa - specifically Ghana which has biometric eGates - started in 2018 or thereabouts. Australia for much longer - around 2012. They trialled iris scanning but not sure if it was implemented.
I hardly ever yell in these contexts, if only doing so in public (we were having a chat in a bar) would probably be quite a thing.
As to the biometric stuff, well, I didn't know about either example you cite; I do recall quite a bruahahaha about the introduction of passports, in the late 1990s or early 2000s, that contained a microchip with such biometric data. These days, no-one cares.
You know when you are in a crowded place like a bar and you have to yell, but then it suddenly goes quiet for some reason? Imagine if you were saying "THE LAST AUSTRIAN WHO SAID THAT WAS HITLER!"
And the whole bar just looks at you.
You, my dear sir, have a salient point here.
ps I can still borrow his car when I visit? xx
Your brother would grab his pride flag and flounce away, muttering something about slava Ukraine. All the patrons in the bar would clap!
Thank you I like your travel insights, like a good measure of society. Although your covid era ones were particularly disturbing.
My two pennies, traveled earlier in the year:
- Stockholm, arlanda, couldn’t see too much high tech facial recognition or push away from actual staff thankfully. My only sadness came as the gate side shop refused cash :( but then Sweden were early adopters of cashless. Seeing teeny tiny signs it might shift but I fear too little too late…
- Amsterdam, Schiphol, oh yes they love high tech, both passport control and security control, yuk.
- England, regional airport, small is best, no money to upgrade so how it used to be 20 years ago, phew, feels much better.
The Covid travels were wild, no two ways about that. I would have avoided them, if I could, and I did them mainly to signal to my vaxxed'n'boosted co-workers that I could travel, too.
Surreally, another (unvaxxed due to cancer) acquaintance stopped any kind of exchange once she learned, via a seemingly innocuous comment my wife made (about me having to take a test in Czechia in autumn 2021)--which her interlocutor interpreted as me being, you know, a pariah. We haven't heard from them ever since, so, there is that.
As to Stockholm, I was there (layover) last summer: much cleaner than Frankfurt.
Amsterdam is the go-to place for layovers from my neck of the woods: it's about as sane as Frankfurt, a bit cleaner, and a huge construction site (haven't exited a plane in a regular gate for years). Incidentally, on that 2022 trip linked above, no-one was interested in passports, boarding passes, or Covid vaxx certificates; they only cared whether I had a face diaper on me (which wasn't mandatory to wear aboard the plane to Dublin, but I was among the very few who didn't don it).
Thanks for the insights into England: I haven't been since 2017 (and then I took the Eurostar to get to London from Switzerland via Paris).
Those facial biometrics thingies have been in Lisbon aiport for at least a year and they were also covered in plastic last time I checked