While Britain participated in the slave trade, they went out of their way to not do so in Britain; the slaveholders kept their slaves abroad and out of sight, in places where the laws of civilisation which rule such institutions to be obscene are waived. (Sugarcane plantations in the Caribbean were one such place.) And it was impolite to inquire too hard about the sources of fortunes that built stately homes.

The difference being that when the N-word was uttered in Britain, it was belittling and condescending in an exoticising way, like a colonial-era picture book of funny foreigners in their traditional costumes. In America, however, it had a more immediate edge of aggression and violence, implying an other that’s here rather than far away, and firmly below the speaker in the established racial hierarchy, and who must be kept there using tools including designating them as a (N-word).

Step 1. Feed coin into slot machine

Step 2. Pull lever

Step 3. Congratulations! You are now an open-source developer

The word carried somewhat less of a charge in the UK at the time, where black people were relatively uncommon until waves of labour migration from the Caribbean in the 1950s, than in the US, where it was freighted with the weight of slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow laws and such. Agatha Christie could call a book “10 Little N_s”, alluding to a children’s rhyme. This was an age in which the children who casually sang that rhyme probably had golliwog dolls.

Not only a serial killer but also a cat burglar, pickpocket, arsonist and numerous other crimes. A regular Doktorin Mabuse.

Well, women want fish (and me fear me)

That’ll only work until the Mormons retroactively baptise it to have been LDS all along.

Nude models from the 1890s when someone’s gaze lingers on their daguerreotypes slightly too long in an antiquarian shop.

I’m surprised Nokia never made a sauna-proof phone

A few counties like the UK and Netherlands got in on the canal game early. Nowadays, the remaining canal networks there are mostly used for leisure (there are a lot of houseboats in Amsterdam, London, the English Midlands and such), though occasionally they hold their own for specific freight (the spoil from tunnelling for high-speed rail lines in England was often moved by barge rather than convoys of lorries).

Until, some time within the first two weeks, the novelty wears off, and commuting on a boat becomes subjectively indistinguishable from commuting on a particularly slow bus.

French literature: “I will die for love”

American literature: “I will die for freedom”

Russian literature: “I will die”

It’s only a matter of time until some ultra-conservative politician or hate-preacher is caught in flagrante delicto, only not this time helping a rentboy “pray the gay away” but living a double life as a sexually adventurous cheetah or something.

I thought the USAF was mostly Christian Dominionist.

No, you’re thinking of the orca

That doesn’t look like a plausible transliteration of a German or Yiddish word of the sort that ended up as Ashkenazi Jewish surnames. Chances are it’s a troll having their fun.

Who came second-last this year, suggesting that standards of competitive tramsmanship are higher in Europe.

Given that Australia has a number of cities with (new or rebuilt) tramways, perhaps they should have a national competition between them to hone their talent and be better able to hold their own against the Europeans.

Also, Heavenly Creatures

In the EU, buying online from Germany (or occasionally Poland) is generally the best value option.

If it’s Christmas, my cat gets reindeer.

That wouldn’t have been as useful as a distraction from the Epstein files and/or various looting and power grabs going on.