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What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
It’s fairly common for legislators in developed countries to call out what they see as sham elections elsewhere. Should Twitter tag a tweet from a member of the Canadian Parliament when she says that Egypt or Syria didn’t run a free and fair election? Those countries are not known for free and fair elections, even though the governments there likely deny that.
Whatever action you think should be taken against that Canadian MP, It’s not clear why it should be different if it’s a senator from Philippines who is tweeting that Donald Trump won re-election in 2020.
Particularly in the first days after an election, the hard evidence either way is not very firm, and relying purely on historic reputation isn’t a good heuristic for the moderators.
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I had a friend who was a stewardess on the Concorde for several years, until British Airways stopped flying them, after the Air France crash in Paris.
ISTR, that it was reserved for experienced stewardesses, you had to have a certain amount of seniority, before you would be considered for the Concorde routes and had to pass a test.
As to Athleisure, the UK ruined that for me. Sweats and jogging gear was the reserve for gangs of unemployed youth, so it always has that association, someone out in public in athleisure gear, who isn’t actually running and sweating, is a social outcast.
It is the same with leopard print. It has been “in” again for the last couple of years, at least in Germany. But when I grew up, it was the reserve for prostitutes and comedies with older women who were trying to maintain their youth and catch young men.
Once you have seen those trends, that style is ruined for life. And everything seems to go in circles, a lot of summer dresses and shoes in the last couple of years, I’ve looked at them and said, “oh, my grandmother had that same dress, when I was a kid!”
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AI voice actors
This is certainly where both Google and Amazon are heading with their audiobooks. Since Audiobooks do not include the eBook, at this stage I won’t purchase Audiobooks.
But I do have numerous Google Play eBooks which allow the use of the ‘Read aloud’ feature. Yes, it still sounds robotic, but I can now listen to my book while on the move, or read when I am seated and relaxed.
The big question is whether they will improve their AI voice acting as a premium service as an Audiobook, or use it as a valued inclusion on the eBook? Particularly as they move to more on-device processing.
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Cockney actors: Jason Statham was born in Derbyshire (the Midlands), that is a little bit (over a hundred miles) beyond the peel of Bow Bells. Terrance Stamp was born in Shoreditch, which is within the catchment area generally applied to Cockneys.
A Cockney is an East Londoner born within hearing distance of the church of St-Mary-le-Bow’s bells, traditionally.
It generally means an East Londoner these days.
Using the Bow Bells definition, after the Great Fire of 1666 there were no Cockneys until after the church was rebuilt. The bells were also stopped in 1940 and destroyed during the Blitz, they were eventually replaced in 1961, so between 1940 and 1961, there were no Cockneys according to that definition of the term.
Is Statham’s accent authentic then? To my foreign ears he sounds a bit cockney. I’m guessing the cockney accent is the equivalent of the Boston accent - often imitated never duplicated.
Is Statham’s accent authentic then? To my foreign ears he sounds a bit cockney. I’m guessing the cockney accent is the equivalent of the Boston accent - often imitated never duplicated.
I assume that’s how he speaks - have you heard him do US accents in films? 
It’s also part of ‘lad’ culture IME. Have a few (non-Londoner) mates with cockney accents 
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What were the movie recommendations in this episode?
Particularly one, I think, with a British actor. Not Jason Statham.
Thanks
No, it can’t be authentic, because he was born in a different area of the country. It is like asking if someone born in LA has an authentic New York accent. 
That is why actors have speech coaches to teach them accents and colloquialisms.
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His accent actual sound pretty neutral in interviews he’s done for Wrath of Man.
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You certainly don’t notice the Derbyshire accent, when he is speaking.
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The Limey with Terrance Stamp - highly recommended.
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Thanks Leo.
I visited the studio back in Aug 2013.
Global Warming —
I just finished watching JFK (again), and thought about the President’s current fight on global warming, and how JFK was killed by the government and military to keep the war machine running. I feel the corporate giants with their energy demands, and petroleum industry, et al will keep us from ever being able to defeat global warming. Everyone will simply need to live underground like we did in The Matrix. We will be pale blind mole people.
Troglodytes, as per The Time Machine.
How soon before we see subterranean starter kits?