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Reposted

the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 6h

In 2004, Parisian police were conducting a training exercise in the french catacombs and found, after moving past a desk and a tape playing audio of snarling dogs, a fully functional movie theater and bar. When they returned 3 days later, the equipment was gone, with a note: “Do not try to find us.”

Members of the force's sports squad, responsible
- among other tasks - for policing the 170 miles of tunnels, caves, galleries and catacombs that underlie large parts of Paris, stumbled on the complex while on a training exercise beneath the Palais de Chaillot, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.
After entering the network through a drain next to the Trocadero, the officers came across a tarpaulin marked: Building site, No access.
Behind that, a tunnel held a desk and a closed-circuit TV camera set to automatically record images of anyone passing. The mechanism also triggered a tape of dogs barking, "clearly designed to frighten people off," the spokesman said.
Further along, the tunnel opened into a vast 400 sq metre cave some 18m underground, "like an underground amphitheatre, with terraces cut into the rock and chairs".

There the police found a full-sized cinema screen, projection equipment, and tapes of a wide variety of films, including 1950s film noir classics and more recent thrillers. None of the films were banned or even offensive, the spokesman said.
A smaller cave next door had been turned into an informal restaurant and bar. "There were bottles of whisky and other spirits behind a bar, tables and chairs, a pressure-cooker for making couscous," the spokesman said.
"The whole thing ran off a professionally installed electricity system and there were at least three phone lines down there."
Three days later, when the police returned accompanied by experts from the French electricity board to see where the power was coming from, the phone and electricity lines had been cut and a note was lying in the middle of the floor: "Do not," it said, "try to find us."

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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 3h

Strands #588
“Follow suit”
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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 11h

Morning! I’m reading Bookish by Lucy Mangan - I don’t often read non-fiction, but always enjoy her writing.

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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 11h

Wordle 1,576 5/6

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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 1d

Strands #587
“That's branding”
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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 1d

Wordle 1,575 3/6

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Reposted

Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens @csmfht.bsky.social · 1d

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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 1d

October reading goals:

- The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn
- The Green Man’s War by Juliet E. McKenna
- Bookish by Lucy Mangan
- The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis
- Julia by Sandra Newman

Three from the TBR shelves, a library book, and a book club book 📚

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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 2d

Connections
Puzzle #852
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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 2d

Strands #586
“I'm a ladle hungry”
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Reposted

Maz Jovanovich @mazjovanovich.bsky.social · 2d

They say a picture tells a thousand words - and this one definitely does.

I found it unexpectedly today while in search of another image and it stopped me in my tracks.

Smiling pregnant woman in military uniform being promoted by another woman and a man, who are both putting new rank slides onto her shirt, in front of an aircraft.

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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 2d

Wordle 1,574 4/6

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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 3d

Connections
Puzzle #851
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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 3d

Strands #585
“Just in case”
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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 3d

Wordle 1,573 4/6

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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 4d

Connections
Puzzle #850
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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 4d

Strands #584
“Now, hear this!”
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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 4d

Wordle 1,572 3/6

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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 5d

Connections
Puzzle #849
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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 5d

Strands #583
“Unusual companions”
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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 5d

Wordle 1,571 4/6

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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 6d

Strands #582
“In for the evening”
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elena1701a.bsky.social @elena1701a.bsky.social · 6d

Wordle 1,570 4/6

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Reposted

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 6d

Anyone remember Reform promising to go into their new councils with DOGE-style units to slash “waste” and stop taxes from rising? Yeah, it went exactly as you’d expect if you put people in charge who have no idea how anything works.

Reform poised to raise Kent council tax as Musk-inspired attack on costs falters
ANNA GROSS - KENT
Kent's local authority will probably raise council tax rates next year as Reform UK strugglesto find big savings under an Elon Musk-inspired cost-cutting drive.
Kent was one of 10 councils that Nigel Farage's rightwing populist party seized in a swath of local election victories in May. He vowed to save "a lot of money" by abolishing "wasteful" spending.
But Diane Morton, Reform's cabinet member for adult social care on Kent county council, told the Financial Times that services were already "down to the bare bones".
"We've got more demand than ever before and it's growing." she said, stressing she did not believe access to those services should be limited. "We just want more money." As with many local
authorities in England, the bulk of declined to say whether council tax Kent's budget went on adult and chil-
would be raised but other Reform coun-
dren's social care, as well as on children cillors said they wanted to avoid hitting
with special educational needs, which the full 5 percent.
together accounted for about 50 per
Reform's experience highlights some
cent of its £2.5bn annual expenditure.
of the obstacles it may face in national
All councils have a legal duty to bal-
government if it won the next general
ance their books and will set next year's
election and pursued its pledge to slash
budgets in February or March. Ahead of taxes and spending. "Everyone thought
that, most councils in England are we d come in and there were going to be
expected to increase council tax by 5 per
these huge costs we could cut away but
cent, the maximum allowed.
there just aren't," said a third senior
"I think it's going to be 5 per cent,"
Reform cabinet member in Kent.
Morton said of where Kent would land
Farage has set up a Reform Depart-
on tax rises, adding that every 1 per cent ment of Government Efficiency team -
increase equated to an extra E10mn.
modelled on Musk's "Doge" i…

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Reposted

Chelsea M. Cameron (she/they) @chel-c-cam.bsky.social · 6d

Stop whatever you are doing right now and read this. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Norwegian oats win world porridge championship - BBC News

Sven Seljom from Madnal took the Golden Spurtle trophy at the annual event in the Scottish Highlands.

www.bbc.com

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