What's on your mind?

[Iwamoto Yuri]

Got most of the clothing in need in Japan at home now... Just want some extra overknees and a few shirts but it should be mostly covered now.

[LadyCider]

Haven't touched my guitars for almost two months now - blame the bass. Before work this morning I picked the black guitar up and noodled on it a bit. It stings my fingertips. I guess my calluses are more used to size of bass strings that tiny little guitar strings cut into them :/

[Henry Gordan]

I just got my new Superlux 330 headphones and the quality of sound is awesome! And I paid only 39€ for these

[Swagnarok]

Well, today the Netherlands votes on a new government, and with it comes the possibility that Geert Wilders could take charge.

[bash7353]

Some polls have his party as the second biggest party, some have them third. But regardless of how well they do, there is virtually no chance they'll be part of the government. Rising support for right-wingers is a disturbing trend you can find all over the world, but this particular election is not as serious an issue as some news reports suggest.

Edit: Now that polls have closed, here's the first exit poll:

Spoiler:

[Iwamoto Yuri]

Wilders would never 'win' because absolutely no one wants to work with him, that's how coalition governments work. Dutch prime ministers are not directly voted for by the citizens either.
We just vote for parties (most vote for ballot leaders, like Wilders, Rutte, Klaver, etc., but you can also vote for other party members and those combined decide the amount of seats a party gets). When those seats are known coalitions are formed, with a coalition needing more than half of the total 150 seats to create a government. From that government a pm is then selected, who is usually from the largest party within the coalition.
As things are now, either four or more parties will be needed to create a government or they will need a countenance coalition in which a government has less than 75 seats but gets support from other opposing parties outside their government. We had that once before with the PVV being part of that and that didn't last two years because Wilders refused to cooperate and it caused friction.

Actually, the biggest winner this election is GroenLinks (the party I personally voted for), who is suggested​ to have won 12 seats making their total 16 (with their previous record being 11 seats).
That said, these are still just exit polls and results can vary with two seats.
Only time will tell. Tomorrow we'll see most of the actual results. Some cities might still take a few days to count everything anyway.

[Stopwatch]

Wilders would never 'win' because absolutely no one wants to work with him, that's how coalition governments work. Dutch prime ministers are not directly voted for by the citizens either.
We just vote for parties (most vote for ballot leaders, like Wilders, Rutte, Klaver, etc., but you can also vote for other party members and those combined decide the amount of seats a party gets). When those seats are known coalitions are formed, with a coalition needing more than half of the total 150 seats to create a government. From that government a pm is then selected, who is usually from the largest party within the coalition.
As things are now, either four or more parties will be needed to create a government or they will need a countenance coalition in which a government has less than 75 seats but gets support from other opposing parties outside their government. We had that once before with the PVV being part of that and that didn't last two years because Wilders refused to cooperate and it caused friction.

Actually, the biggest winner this election is GroenLinks (the party I personally voted for), who is suggested​ to have won 12 seats making their total 16 (with their previous record being 11 seats).
That said, these are still just exit polls and results can vary with two seats.
Only time will tell. Tomorrow we'll see most of the actual results. Some cities might still take a few days to count everything anyway.

Interesting . Hopefully you'll get a fairly stable government this time :V.

Btw, do you know more about the Netherlands-Turkey thing? I want to check I have my facts straight ^^;.

[Raspbryl]

Turkey I haven't heard much about since the coup failed and they started shutting down opposition media and turning the place back into a dictatorship

[Iwamoto Yuri]

Depends on what you want to know.
Basically Turkey was pushing to campaign in the Netherlands, but we wanted to discuss things first. They ended up lying so the Dutch government decided to refuse access to the minister flying over. This ticked off Erdogan who started calling us names but who sneakily tried getting a second minister into the country by sending multiple columns of cars to trick us while getting her past our border. In the end they managed to stop her before she could get the Turkish building in Rotterdam and after a long set of negotiations she was sent home.
This pissed off both the people who had come to see her and Erdogan who has called us Nazis and fascists.

[Raspbryl]

yeah that is more or less what I'd expected.

[bash7353]

This whole thing occurred in the context of an upcoming referendum in Turkey that would change their constitution and give Erdogan further powers. If you have Turkish citizenship - even if it is dual citizenship and you live in another country - you can vote, so Turkish politicians want to campaign for the constitutional change in other European countries where many Turkish citizen live such as the Netherlands and Germany.

That puts countries in a bit of a tough spot because they don't approve of a constitutional change that would give Erdogan even more power, but at the same time stand for freedom of speech and don't want to be seen to be taking sides in another country's political affairs. Plus, not letting government officials in is believed to ultimately help Erdogan in his campaign as he'll be viewed as a victim.

I think when it comes to the Dutch government kicking out the minister, it has to seen within the context of the parliamentary election campaign in the Netherlands drawing to a close. The government felt they had to play the tough guy, so people didn't turn to Geert Wilders as the only one who'll stand up to Turkey. Looking at the election results, it paid off, I guess.

[miakakiri]

Ok, so on Tuesday I'm scheduled to have a consult with a plastic surgeon regarding reduction surgery. I... still haven't filled out the new patient paperwork, because I'm nervous about the whole thing. (Reduction is indicated, as I have back pain and my bust is 32J. My primary doc has been trying to talk me into getting this surgery since I met her.)
On the one hand, this could help quite a bit. Reduce strain on my back. Smaller cup size bras would be easier to find AND less expensive. (As it is I go buy bras once a year, when I get my birthday coupon, at a specific shop in the capital. Nothing in the mall carries my size at all.) It'd be easier to find clothing that fits well, meaning I could wear things that button again. (Haven't had a decently-fitting button-up shirt since perhaps '03.) On the other hand, we're talking surgery. This means anesthetic (which works too well on me, something that's been documented up & down my family line for 3 generations) and recovery time, and possibly more scars. I already have quite a few scars on my chest as it is, from heart surgery when I was very small.
Then there's the question of identity. How much of my identity is wrapped up in my chest? I know I wouldn't banish the scars I already have, even if that were possible. It wouldn't be my chest without those scars. Yeah, sure, we have pictures of me without those scars, but not very many. I was 6 weeks old when I had my first heart surgery. The second one, I was 4, and I have some level of memory surrounding that. Ever since I was small, my chest has been something of a hangup. I've been big-breasted my whole adult life. I was a B cup in my early teens, and might have passed that during high school but since I had bras that stretched and I didn't go buy new ones (why bother if the ones I had were still comfortable?) I didn't notice. I was 19 when I bought my first D-cup bra. I've long since left the D range behind, and I can't remember the last time I spent less than $50 on a bra. It'd be nice not to have to spend so much... but how much of my identity is tied up in being busty?
On the one hand, reduction surgery would probably be VERY good for me. Yet... can I handle it? Not the cost--that's going to have to come out of insurance (if insurance won't cover it I can't get it done, but I know that my PCP will happily go to bat for me with the insurance company. Wouldn't be the first time she's stepped up to argue on my behalf with administration. When she first referred me to my current cardiologist the referral got rejected because it was, administratively, to the wrong hospital. She had to explain that I needed this particular doc because of the specialty.)
I don't even know where I'm going with all this. Just more evidence of how confused and stressed I am about the whole dang thing. T_T

[Henry Gordan]

On skiing trip now, weather was horrible, raining wet snow and just water. Wind blew to face all the time and trousers are wet. In cabin, wood isn't in small enough logs and it's damp. But at least I think I didn't get frost bite

[Iwamoto Yuri]

This whole thing occurred in the context of an upcoming referendum in Turkey that would change their constitution and give Erdogan further powers. If you have Turkish citizenship - even if it is dual citizenship and you live in another country - you can vote, so Turkish politicians want to campaign for the constitutional change in other European countries where many Turkish citizen live such as the Netherlands and Germany.

That puts countries in a bit of a tough spot because they don't approve of a constitutional change that would give Erdogan even more power, but at the same time stand for freedom of speech and don't want to be seen to be taking sides in another country's political affairs. Plus, not letting government officials in is believed to ultimately help Erdogan in his campaign as he'll be viewed as a victim.

I think when it comes to the Dutch government kicking out the minister, it has to seen within the context of the parliamentary election campaign in the Netherlands drawing to a close. The government felt they had to play the tough guy, so people didn't turn to Geert Wilders as the only one who'll stand up to Turkey. Looking at the election results, it paid off, I guess.

Not to mention campaigning in foreign countries is against Turkish and Dutch law <_<

[Raspbryl]

Not to mention campaigning in foreign countries is against Turkish and Dutch law <_<

Pfff According to Erdoğan he IS Turkish law - that's typically how a Dictatorship works. Yeah Wikipedia may still have it down as a republic but it's pretty clear who's in charge.