Posts by James Butler

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  • Hard News: Swine flu and swearing,

    It's a GT hybrid

    Try not to do what I did the first weekend I got my new MTB Russell

    I've tried one of those GTs with the locking suspension, and that one was a good tarmac bike, but it would last about 10m at Woodhill before gracefully folding up into a little pile of tubes and spokes. I'm gathering that's not what it's for.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Hard News: Totally Local,

    California has recently made some silly choices

    Note that Prop. 13 has been in place for over 30 years, resulting in a gradual stranglehold on state funding, which even Democratic legislatures have been powerless to address.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Hard News: .... and the Rock 'n' Roll,

    ATI HDMI audio driver

    Ah, well, of course a computer is a tool, and if you want to go turning it into a glorified jukebox, then that's your lookout.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Hard News: .... and the Rock 'n' Roll,

    tried flavors of Linux but driver availability sux

    Which drivers didn't you have exactly?

    ---
    Linux fanboys - free tech support whether you want it or not, since 1991

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Hard News: Drugs and Sex,

    My point was that 100% of you cocaine dollar funds murderous criminal gangs, whereas the same can not be said of oil.

    Devils advocate - maybe <1% goes to poor subsistance farmers in Afghanistan; which might be similar to the proportion of oil money going to the friendly service station owner-operator down the street, the rest going to "murderous criminal gangs" with names like Exxon, Shell etc.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Hard News: Drugs and Sex,

    Perhaps we need a "Buy Kiwi Made Drugs" campaign? I guess we're allowed weed and, um... P.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Island Life: Bye, bye, you peculiar guy.,

    This conversation has helped me calibrate the average age of PASers

    Heh, I actually postdate Close To The Edge by 10 years. For me and a friend of mine, listening to his Dad's Yes and Pink Floyd records was our own little rebellion against the vapidity of Hansen, Spice Girls etc... of course we were too young to notice the vapidity of Tales from Topographic Oceans or Atom Heart Mother.

    OTOH, it was Yes that (indirectly) started my appreciation for newer rock - the first time I heard of Radiohead was when the review of OK Computer in the Listener compared Thom Yorke's voice (favourably) with Jon Anderson's.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Island Life: Bye, bye, you peculiar guy.,

    But anyone who shares a op-ed stable with the routinely vile Michael Laws might want to be cautious about pointing the bone of "small-minded smugness" at others

    Finlay MacDonald is a diamond in the rough, but I thought anyone who shares a web forum stable with this routinely liberal, thoughtful and well-educated bunch would know that.

    Fact is, there are only a handful of large-circulation print publications in this country, and they all suck more-or-less - thems the breaks.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Island Life: Bye, bye, you peculiar guy.,

    Ah, Yes. Nothing wrong with a bit of prog rock.

    Ah prog rock, concept albums - yes, they were/are great

    [...]

    Also: do not underestimate the power of three good musical minutes. Get in, get out, don't faff about.

    Again, less is more.

    OMG, PA just recapitulated the entire 70's in microcosm.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Island Life: Bye, bye, you peculiar guy.,

    That's the problem with prog. The whimsy.

    You're missing the point - prog IS whimsy (this is also what makes it a quintessentially English genre). For the exception that proves the rule, see Owner of a Lonely Heart - mortified at having recorded a straightforward rock anthem, they had the video stop dead in the middle for an extended "band morphs into wild animals" sequence.

    I have listened to Rick Wakeman's concept album about the Six Wives of Henry VIII. Beat *that*.

    I see your Six Wives of Henry VIII and raise you a Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

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