If you were eligible to get an ESTA, then you were eligible for VWP - without the ESTA existing you wouldnt be going to an consulate, you would just be flying/driving/sailing/walking/whatever to the US. And you still have the same likelihood of being granted entry.

My point is, the VWP is pointless because it was supposed to be a "you dont need to apply for permission before travelling" privilege for some countries citizens, and now it very much is a "theres no way to go to the US without applying for permission before travelling".

Effectively, you now need prior permission to travel to the US. Either its with an ESTA or its with an actual traditional visa.

Also, the ranking is flawed because most western nations these days require a pre-travel electronic authorisation of some sort, which basically is the equivalent to a visa (you cant travel to the country without one).

For example, the US has a Visa Waiver Program with many countries, which technically means you can travel to the US without applying for a visa.

But, since 2007 you have needed either an ESTA or an actual issued visa before you can travel to the US by sea or air.

And the ESTA requirement was expanded to travel by land in 2022, basically meaning there is no way to arrive at the US without prior approval - so in actuality, the ESTA is now a visa for the US, but not one which allows actual entry, just the possibility of entry.

...as Peter Gabriel naming his first three solo albums "Peter Gabriel."

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

James 2:18b, NIV.

Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.

Romans 1:5, NIV, my emphasis.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 7:19-21, NIV.

I doubt AI is going to do much for divorce law. Divorces generally go relatively smoothly or are a battle. People in easy divorces are already using template forms from the internet. Difficult cases are the definition of a "people business", a chatbot is not going to be satisfying to people who want someone to fight for what they want.

Oh piss off.

Several of the manufacturers involved here either are, have been or will shortly be, involved in motor sports - where they will collectively spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year eeking out another 1% performance gain or efficiency gain out of an engine which is already vastly more performant or efficient than the engines we use as consumers.

These manufacturers can meet the regulations, they choose not to.

Sora 2 "seems to be overrun with teenage boys."

New low entry cost entertainment technology adopted first by teenagers. Next up: ursine defecates under trees, leader of Roman Catholic church discovered to be Roman Catholic.

I'm not sure I completely understand you.

I would really like to see the catalog operators be held responsible for the new products that are sold through their publications, even if those are third-party sellers.

Yes, I am aware that this would cause a lot of headache for a whole lot of people. Frankly at this point I don't really care. These catalogs are not performing due diligence on what they're offering, and while it costs money to actually perform testing to ensure good products and it limits the number of function-alike competing products or badge-engineered products, what we're seeing now is an illusion of choice coupled to a race to the bottom quality-wise. If the catalogs for new products are held to account for what they sell then they may sell less crap and actually comparing between products would be easier for the consumer.

And that might be the crux of the problem. Bad enough to shill for Tesla given Musk, worse with the recent situation with ABC bowing to pressure on Jimmy Kimmel. Remember, that suspension was literally only three weeks ago. Those who canceled subscriptions are unlikely to go see it, it would come as no surprise if even those who weren't prepared to cancel subscriptions would simply shrug off purposely going to it, and given the extremely long time between movies it's not like they're particularly fresh in the minds of the audience anyway.

I have fond memories of the 1982 movie, even though as a child I was too young to have seen it in the theater and had to wait for it to be out on home video. I had low expectations for the 2010 sequel and frankly those low expectations were disappointingly met. I had no specific plans to ever see another sequel, and to top it off I'm not enamored with Disney at all right now as a final nail in the coffin.

Perhaps I am projecting here, but if the bulk of the potential audience doesn't care about the franchise and the company behind it has made itself undesirable then it's no surprise if it's not getting the sort of box office returns that they predicted.

grok? old enough to remember when grok was just a chess program.

Anyone remember tub girl?

I'm not aware of any way of making coconut cream other than from shredded coconut meat. "Ice coconut cream" fits the schema of your earlier post, but I wasn't sure whether you'd admit "coconut cream" as a noun phrase. When I made a frozen emulsion from coconut cream, lemongrass, ginger, and palm sugar I called it "coconut, lemongrass and ginger ice-cream" but explained to my friends that it was dairy-free so the lactose-intolerant could eat it. (I also served it as a starter, with prawn crackers, rather than a dessert, but that was for practical reasons: we were having a picnic at the beach and I wanted to serve it before it melted).

She really does seem to be trying to speed run a redemption arc - hopefully no one actually falls for it.

To answer the direct question, I think my grandparents got them from a local butcher in Ulverston. But note

The combinations of permitted herbs and spices may vary from butcher to butcher, but the prominent taste of Traditional Cumberland Sausage is quite spicy due to the generous amount of pepper added which is accompanied by a strong taste of herbs.

I must admit that I don't remember the "strong taste of herbs", but I do remember the pepper being the dominant flavour, sufficiently so that you would need quite a refined palate to precisely identify the source of umami.