Posts by Rich Lock
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'extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy' sounds rather like a prog track to me.... -
I still put ISDN on late at night to encourage people to leave parties
Would've thought 'Dead Cities' would have been more effective.
I'll see your 'Orb', and raise you a 'Banco de Gaia', for your 'prog rock of the '90's' argument.
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Well, I would, but....
Everyday is like Sunday
Everyday is silent and greyTrudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon - come Armageddon!
Come, Armageddon! Come! -
Great. Now we're all singing to each other again.
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... and then my general feeling of wellbeing will end when some sort of fucking *whimsy* will occur.
There is a sure-fire cure for that. Turn this one up to 11 and sing along:
In ancient times...
Hundreds of years before the dawn of history
Lived a strange race of people... the DruidsNo one knows who they were or what they were doing
But their legacy remains
Hewn into the living rock... Of StonehengeStonehenge! Where the demons dwell
Where the banshees live and they do live well
Stonehenge! Where a man's a man
And the children dance to the Pipes of PanHey!
Stonehenge! 'Tis a magic place
Where the moon doth rise with a dragon's face
Stonehenge! Where the virgins lie
And the prayers of devils fill the midnight skyAnd you my love, won't you take my hand?
We'll go back in time to that mystic land
Where the dew drops cry and the cats meow
I will take you there, I will show you howOh!
And oh how they danced
The little children of Stonehenge
Beneath the haunted moon
For fear that daybreak might come too soonAnd where are they now?
The little people of Stonehenge
And what would they say to us?
If we were here... tonight -
Like I said Mark, I'm over it and in my opinon we should politely agree to disagree.
But I'm quite happy for you to keep posting. Please expose as many people as possible to what you really think.
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I heard "the tour's not cancelled, but he'll just be playing Thriller" which I thought was pretty funny.
I shall refrain from posting up the one or two fouler (but effin' funny) ones I've already heard, out of respect.
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I recall an interview where Gérard Depardieu was asked why so many of his films -- and he does a lot -- are utter crap, and the answer was rather endearing. He likes to eat and drink, and not from the cheap end of the menu either. He just can't afford to turn down anything he's offered.
My respect for Mr Depardieu rose to an almost infinite amount when I read about one of his heart attacks (brought on by the lifestyle you describe).
Having suffered this heart attack, which turned out to be bad enough to eventually necessitate a quadruple bypass, he hopped on his motorbike, and rode himself to the hospital.
Respec'.
The man has sold 750 million albums. Anybody want to bet how many he's going to sell in the next twelve months? I have a feeling the estate will pull through somehow.
They'll have to rename 'HIStory: past, present and future' though.
Best just call it 'past', now, eh?
Too soon?
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Mark, I suspect the gulf between us on this matter is utterly unbridgeable, and so, in a gentlemanly fashion, we should agree to disagree.
You, in all apparent seriousness, appear to have put forward the proposition that it is acceptable to give up fundamental democratic freedoms, in order to stimulate a national economy.
I find this idea so utterly, ridiculously preposterous that I am having the greatest difficulty understanding that yes, you are serious.
Never, ever, not even for one nanosecond, would I consider that a good idea. For me, and I suspect the majority of people on this site, that idea is anathema.
You can't seem to even begin to understand why (in the same way as I can't begin to understand why you would suggest it) which is why I think the gulf of understanding between us is unbridgeable.
So this is where I'll leave this particular argument.
I would however like to clear up a small misunderstanding.
You have said that I 'hate the Chinese'.
No.
I hate the ruling Communist party of China. There is a difference - a big difference - between a people and those who rule them. I am quite able to make that distinction.
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Sure, this creature of Westminster democracy was actually talking about something else...
Weak comeback, Mikaere.
Yes. Yes, he was.
That particular quote is from a 1947 speech he made. Two years after the end of WW2, and one year after his 'iron curtain' speech.
The full quote is:
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
Given the context, I think it's quite clear that he is contrasting democracy (any form thereof) with totalitarianism.
As far as I have been able to ascertain, several countries that were occupied by the nazis in mainland Europe had governments that used a system that was closer to proportional representation than the westminster FPP system. Denmark, Holland and Norway and possibly others. France, UK, and the US didn't and don't.
Given the context, it's quite clear that he is talking about all of those forms of free democratic government, plus all the the wider concepts of democracy - freedom of speech, association, press, etc, etc, and contrasting all of it with things that are a lot more unpleasant.
As it happens, I do tend towards agreeing with you when you say:
No, representative democracy is NOT the best system. Consensus democracy, such as is practiced by the Greens, is much better at getting good decisions.
However, I take exception to the way you set that particular straw man up in order to deliver your sales pitch.
People died in large numbers in order to gain any sort of democratic freedom in Europe, both before and after WW2. Until they got it, they didn't really care whether it was vanilla or chocolate, consensual or representative. They worried about those trivial details afterwards. I use the word 'trivial' deliberately, because when you're being beaten by the Stasti in a police cell, the particular flavour of representation you're fighting for tends to be of secondary importance.
In light of that, I found the way you made your point a little distasteful.