Posts by Rich Lock
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Who needs a gun when you can have a frikkin' knife missile?
Who needs a weapon at all when yer standard culture warship can stand off several light years away and use it's effector to play the entire planet like a giant videogame?
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The problem is that as a first time parent you're a bit nervous, and one way to allay that is to buy all the "proper" equipment. Cue $1600 Bug-A-Boo, etc.
Heh. This one rang the cherries.
Most marketing aimed at parents to be and new parents seems to go something like this:
Salesperson: 'Well, this is our standard mid-range [insert name of product here]. It has most, if not all the features you need, and it's $200 less than the deluxe model'.
Me: 'um, ok, we'll take that one then'.
Salesperson: '....but the deluxe one also has [insert name of useful but probably not necessary feature]'.
Me: 'Um, no thanks'.
Salesperson: 'Really? So you're not worried about [insert statistically unlikely, but nasty-sounding, event], then?'.
Me: 'Uh, should I be?'
Salesperson: 'A good parent would be. Are you a good parent? Or are you a bad parent? Are you? Are you? Are you a bad parent? Negligent? ARE YOU A BAD PARENT? ARE YOU? ANSWER ME!'
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Meanwhile, Lhaws makes the front page of the online version of the UK Guardian.
And I have just been given a horribly distrubing mental image by Linley Boniface in the DomPost.
[Law's website is] a site absolutely awash in self-love.
Thanks for that, Linley. Where shall I send my therapist's bill?
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. . memory retrieval in the trance state . . .
My pseudoscience detector is red hot.
No more so than it should be in the case of, say, 12 Steps patients revisiting their memories with the assistance of their "higher power".
12-step programs such as AA have been quite heavily criticised, though.
So the scepticism is not entirely unwarranted.
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Same reason why everyone shopped at The Warehouse for your CD
Did I miss something? When did Keith release a CD?
I'm imagining cover versions of old classics in the same style as William Shatner covering Elton John's 'Rocket Man'.
Rrrrrrocket. Maan.
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the Osmonds' "Crazy Horses"
That song is a hot mess, but in a wonderful way. I laugh out loud whenever I hear it.
Have you heard the cover version by 'The Mission'?
Turns out old-school '80's Goths have a sense of humour after all. Who knew?
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Also, the police didn't make the by-law. They're just the poor saps that have to enforce it. I wouldn't be surprised if significant numbers of the local plod aren't too happy about that.
Rich: You're right up to a point, but I wish we weren't seeing pulbic statements...
Yes, it is pure speculation on my part, but I don't think it's an unreasonable train of thought.
The local cops probably know most or all of the local gang boys by sight anyway. The gangs are most likely going to switch away from using patches to using colours, or sportwear, or whatever, when they are within the areas covered by the ban. There will be times when they try to push the boundaries of the ban, or flaunt it altogether. It's the guys on the front line who will then be caught between their standing enforcement orders and a bunch of aggro guys up for a fight.
On the other hand, the police might be figuring that it'll keep the gangs from congregating in the town centre, and push them out to places with fewer people, so any incidents that do take place aren't as public and high-profile.
So, being in a gang precludes the ability to undetake critical analysis ? I have a cousin who is a very senior member of Black Power, and some of the stories he has told me about police behaviour leads me to conclude that the concept of a 'big blue gang' is not only apt, but able to be backed up by observed practic.
Like I said earlier, those are your words, not mine.
Gangs are made up of individual people. So is the police force.
So it isn't very surprising that there are a lot of very smart individuals in gangs. And there are also a lot of arseholes.
There are also a lot of arseholes in the police force, and there are also a lot of smart, dedicated, 'good' cops.
Institutions like the police are very, very far from perfect. But this is a democracy, no matter how imperfect, and they are answerable to us.
Who is a gang answerable to? Themselves.
As the TV camera panned around the Council chamber, all I saw were, again, a bunch of males, wearing regulation dark jackets, making a by-law that targets etc etc.
So what's your point? That our democratic institutions are flawed? That they don't do a particularly good job of representing the people they are supposed to represent? That we need to be taking steps to ensure they do represent all of us as best as we can?
If you are arguing that the price of freedom is eternal vigilence, then you'll not be getting much in the way of disgreement from me.
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being in a gang precludes the ability to undetake critical analysis
That puts words in my mouth that I never said.
I'll address the rest of your argument when I get a chance.
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I'm astonished no-one is pointing out the irony of one gang using its muscle to 'bash' another.
From what I can see, there's a bunch of males, wearing regulation dark jackets, making by-law that targets another bunch of males who wear regulation dark jackets with particular embellishments.
Police are public servants and are employed by, and accountable to, various arms of government. And therefore, us.
That's kind of a key difference.
Also, the police didn't make the by-law. They're just the poor saps that have to enforce it. I wouldn't be surprised if significant numbers of the local plod aren't too happy about that.
Also, the gangs themselves are more than happy to refer to police as 'the big blue gang'. I'm therefore quite happy not to buy into that line of argument, myself.
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The mystery of gangs is how the fuck do you stop them forming or how do you reform them.
Can I have a simple 'starter for 10' first to get me warmed up?
The authorities here are having some success however fighting the gangs in what they call Operation Al Capone, where they're nailing them again and again on tax and other violations secondary to their apparently dodgy business models.
I would imagine the authorities in Denmark are not exactly lacking in motivation when it comes to cracking down on bikies, following the piffling and insignificant incidents of minor disorder at the end of last century.
The Magogs spared me a beating one night when I arguably deserved one in New Plymouth
So you were asking for it, right....?
One way to tell whether or not the Magogs have 'gone respectable' is to see if they are flying a "1%er" patch on their colours. If they are, then they still consider themselves to be an 'outlaw' motocycle club. If not, then there may be some merit in the claims of (semi-)respectablility.
also no ones mentioned the “Filthy Few”, a highly descriptive old fashioned gang moniker
The 'Filthy Few' in NZ are a bike gang in their own right. They are still active (there were a bunch of them wandering around in their colours at the Paeroa street races last year). They have chapters in Rotorua, Waihi and Tauranga.
Overseas, the 'Filthy Few' designation applies to Hells Angels who have (alledgedly) killed for the gang. They get to wear an 'SS' patch on their colours. Charming chaps, the lot of them.