Posts by Russell Brown
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__dramatic reduction in diary consumption__
... because of all those bloggers, obviously.
Heh. But seriously, I've noticed that the Signature Range pizza cheese mix has become unusable (ie: it burns when you cook the pizza). It seems that to try and hold the price they've started using some very nasty mozzarella.
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Parenti is a far left ideologue who has always preferred left wing authoritarian regimes over democracies. He would not be my first port of call for dispassionate historical analysis.
I went looking in the first place because I recalled being shocked by the brief descriptions of punishment in Seven Years in Tibet when I read it years ago. I realised I was hardly likely to agree with Parenti on much, but there are many sources (including those cited by Parenti) that back up the idea that into the 1950s, Tibet was controlled by a religious feudal elite who practiced great cruelty on ordinary people.
As for Barbara Ehrenreich, her piece is a pack of lies loosely based on the more accurate Mother Jones piece. She's a Clinton hater and her piece was a hatchet job.
Which is why I went and found the Mother Jones story and the Harpers one. Steve's contention was that she had no religious associations beyond the mainline Methodist church. It's clear that she does. And I think I'm entitled to feel uncomfortable with The Family.
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well I thought I was reasonably tech literate until I went out to find an Easter bargain on a widescreen. Couldn't even find an assistant at Noel Leeming
Naturally ...
and Lance at Harvey Norman led me a merry dance re: plasma vs lcd - I really don't want to know what he "has at home". Looking at 37" I just need a nudge one way or the other. Consumer was no use - they test merely half a dozen models in a flooded field.
There's really little to choose between LCD and plasma these days. Physically speaking, LCDs are a lot lighter and don't run nearly as hot. We did internet research decided on the best Bravia available at 32" (the D Series -- at 37" you get the choice to shell out for the X Series) and found the best price on that (by miles) at the Appliance Shed outlet store, where, amid the clutter, the service was swift and attentive.
I'm hardly an expert, but review summaries like this seem to mention Samsung and Sony most often for LCD screens.
Whatever you get, you'll have to fiddlewith the picture setting and turn down the garish colours. These sets are all tweaked to look good in the showroom, which isn't the same as looking good in your lounge.
My real question is freeview - terrestial or satellite? The freeview site is no help. With cost (of a dish) not a question, which is better? I know I'll get a consistent signal from Satellite? is this enough? Am I missing out? In this, the year of Freeview, HD and a crisp image, it is remarkable how little information is available to the hungry consumer...
If you can get it, terrestrial, absolutely. You'll miss out on HD otherwise.
Picture quality from our media rack is as follows:
1. Freeview HD (even when it's not in HD)
2. Freeview Satellite
3. Sky DigitalThere are more transmitters for the digital service than for the existing analog one, so even in Wellington, there's a reasonable chance you'll get it. The small indoor aerials work well too.
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I'd believe Hitchens' opinions on Obama right after I started believing that the Rolling Stones were better than the Beatles. (That's never, Stones fans.)
But Macs are still better than PCs, right?
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According to Barbara Ehrenreich. Who I wouldn't trust.
You keep saying that, Neil. You said it about Parenti on Tibet, whose essay is full of citations and borne out by most, if not all accounts of the period. Why trust when you can verify?
Ehrenreich's column is really based on the 2007 Mother Jones story story. Harpers also had a story in 2003. As fictional as it sound, The Family really exists. It even has a Wikipedia page.
Perhaps it's all wholesome, but it seems to be as much about backroom politics as it is about Bibles.
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Obama has basically very little religious beliefs and attends church to advance his political career.
That seems an odd contention, given what he's said and written. I suspect he's sincere, but I'm open to evidence that says otherwise.
At least Bush doesnt attend church regularly for his shallow brand of Christianity
As for the dodgy pastor for Hillary. What nonsense.
She has allways followed a liberal Methodist line ...Ya rly. Apart from that slightly creepy (to me, anyway) conservative Bible-study group she's been involved with for the last 15 years. Gimme a Sunday morning in Obama's church over tea with those people.
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I still haven't found the answer,(even on geekzone). So far I haven't spent the money I was very happy to part with over the weekend.I thought Customer service was bad but on last try ,I got a nice camera:-)Still would appreciate an answer if anyone does know."Should work" isn't convincing enough.
Try won't work. An MPEG2 tuner won't decode MPEG4 broadcasts, and there aren't equivalent MPEG4 solutions yet.
I think.
I still wasn't sure after I read this.
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Actually, I think there's a decent chance that all hell will break loose on withdrawal, and that good people will be slaughtered on their doorsteps.
But that's happened already and it's going to happen when the surge troops are withdrawn (and they have to be, for the sake of the armed forces continued ability to function) later in the year.
Given that the US strategy consists of funding (and arming) both sides, it may even be that the longer it's left, the bigger the mess.
Oh, and if the Mehdi Army ends its ceasefire, which is looking likely, all bets are off.
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Maybe I'm a communist or something, but I don't think Jeremiah Wright's preaching inhabited Crazyville. It was on Slightly Unbalanced Highway to Dodgytown with the HIV stuff (although: Tuskeegee, people)
Tuskegee was awful, although it didn't, as is often thought, involve the US government infecting black men with syphillis -- just leaving them untreated for years, when there were effective treatments available.
It's still a bit of a jump from there to the US government creating the HIV virus "as a means of genocide against people of color".
I'm squeamish about preachers, i guess. But it should be pointed out that McCain has the plumb-crazy hate-preacher Rev Hagee on his side, and Hilary has consorted with some freaky religious types too.
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um actually yes it is as bad
and that's what we know aboutSue, even on the worst estimates there is no comparison between what's going on in China today and the Cultural Revolution, Stalin's purges, or the Holocaust. Or even the American Civil War, which claimed 620,000 lives.
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