Posts by Rich Lock
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I've got to say I'm severely underwhelmed by this from the Guardian
Well, on the other hand, they compensate for it by making a joke that only readers of 2000AD will understand.
Want! Flesh!
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Why do we need a re-run? Clearly the apocalyptic flooding down south has proved the case beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt.
Although a few stranded tourists and inconvenienced farmers is a small price to pay for an abundance of eye candy.
Actually, now I come to think about it....
Um, yes. The matter is still unproven. An exhaustive and rigorous testing regime should be implemented to investigate this matter as thoroughly as possible. Several lengthy re-runs are required, involving as large a sample size as we can muster. As you were, ladies. It's your patriotic duty.
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Well, when I got close enough to meet a few of them, back in 1972, they were fine, if a little wild and very few of them carried guns.
The Soviets invaded in 1979, and stayed until 1989.
A decade of brutal occupation and the funnelling of thousands of modern weapons into the country may have had something to do with it.
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Tarry rash wonton! Am not I thy lord?
What fools these morsels be.
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I always confuse "brazen" with "brazing", and get odd visions of a scantily-clad woman operating a welding torch.
I think you've watched 'flashdance' one too many times.
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That they both turned into sworn enemies is neither surprising nor proof of shadowy dealings: it's simply how the cold war worked, and the public in the US has always accepted that.
Perhas the 9/11 Truth movement is a pathological reaction to that cynical acquiescence.
In my opinion, the public didn't accept that, because they never had the shades of grey explained to them. The only part of the old saying about my enemies enemy being my friend that they picked up on was 'friend', which was sort of interpreted in a BFF, best buds for life sort of a way.
I doubt more than a small proportion of the population really understood, even in the most general sense, the proxy wars being fought in their name in SE Asia, Africa and S America.
The 9/11 truth movement is simply one among many reactions to the post-9/11 question 'why do they hate us!?'. It's difficult to ignore the fact that you may not be as universally loved and revered as you think you are when it's shoved in your face in a way you can't ignore.
Charlie Wilson's war is not a bad example to make. In real life, Representative Wilson saw the Afghan proxy war in the most simplistic of terms: simple, yet noble tribesmen valiantly battling for their freedom against a powerful monolithic oppressor. When he finally managed to get close enough to meet a few of them (towards the end of the conflict his CIA contacts allowed him to travel there), he was rather taken aback by their lifestyle and beliefs, which were ferocious and savage well beyond his comprehension.
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I don't get what's so scary about boobs (but then I'm no cleric)
Well, you could always ask Woody Allen. Or, indeed, watch his film 'everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraind to ask'.
Anyone who's seen it will know the sequence I mean.
a tight pair of jeans displays a lot more than most miniskirts ever do.
Another misconception to go along with boob size. Generally, what is hidden is as important as what is on show.
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People do say this, don't they? But I don't find any evidence ever offered beyond "this looks like that, therefore this is a copy of that". The same argument is used by people who believe in Atlantis, using pyramids in Mexico and Egypt, so it's a bad type of argument on the face of it.
I don't have a general view on this. I would only plead for caution, and specifics. You will quickly find that actual evidence -- rather than supposed parallels -- is rather hard to come by.
I'm going to surrender on the Mithras stuff, because I am clearly outclassed and outgunned.
However, I will point out that I didn't actually make the 'this, therefore definitely that' argument. In scientific terms: I'm noticing what I think are interesting parallels and coincidences, and hypothesising that there may, somewhere, be a common root or roots. But that's a big step away from saying that there is a common root.
The Swedish vikings sailing down the rivers of Russia is a phenomenon ca. 1000 AD, not 1AD, tho.
We know that they were travelling in large parties along reasonably well established roots, with their own boats ca. 1000AD. But it's not beyond possibility that individuals or smaller groups were travelling, or at least spreading stories, well before that, no? As you point out, a lot more evidence would be needed to prove the case conclusively, but it's interesting picking out the coincidences and common threads without putting on a tinfoil hat and becoming a full-fledged Atlantean.
It's quite interesting how many apparently disparate cultures have a big flood as part of their mythology, for example.
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Are you talking about ANZAC day now?
I had a little bet with myself a few days ago that Tom might turn up and make a point like that. I'm pleased to be able to say I won.
I do think he has a point, though. ANZAC day has turned into something of a sacred cow. The coverage in the week leading up to it seems to get worse every year. There is, it seems to me, a danger that the day will become excessively ritualised, and that 'lest we forget' will turn into just another emptily, thoughtlessly parroted phrase, devoid of meaning.
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Although your points are fair and well-made, atheists aren't known for waking you up on a Sunday morning by knocking on your door with a copy of 'The God Delusion' under their arm which they really, really want to talk to you about...
Probably because they're too busy disrespecting the sabbath or something.