Posts by Stewart

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  • Hard News: Another entry in the Public…,

    Evolution doesn't care about the population, nor about long term surviva of the species, it cares about the single organism's ability to reproduce one more time.

    Evolution is actually a process without a care in the world. It is not a directed process so it has no over-riding direction; it tends to be reflected in the survival of individuals with traits that better suit them to the environment in which they find themselves.

    It annoys me that some people see humans as 'the pinnacle of evolution' rather than just a side-effect of cumulative selective pressures. We are just not that special*

    *PAS readers & posters excepted, natch

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

  • Up Front: I Love it When a Plan Comes Together,

    Extraneous 'r'?

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

  • Hard News: Another entry in the Public…,

    There is an article on kidney stones in the on-line version of the guardian here

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

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

    I've got Beethoven in the player in the car,
    Wishbone Ash on vinyl in the garage
    And a Lady Gaga riff as an earworm...

    I've got tickets to The Specials,
    Hallelujah Picassos on casette
    Lucinda Williams plucks my strings
    And I'm a near-obsessive Stones fan.

    The Trojan 3-disk ska sets,
    Sit beside my Bally Sagoo collection
    So they can blow smoke rings at Billy Bragg
    Who is co-habiting with Bob Seger in the bottom drawer.

    [ I, personally, cannot play a musical instrument, cannot sing or whistle or hold a tune at all, but I have a somewhat eclectic taste in choons. ]

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

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

    Normal people... (etc)

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

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

    Being "of a certain age" I have listened to quite a bit of prog stuff over the years; quite a lot of Tull (went to a gig in Ch'ch in 1976, I think, at the newish Town Hall); a bit of Genesis (Selling England...), Tangerine Dream, etc.

    And out in the garage I have a copy of Wishbone Ash's "Targus" that I still hadn't got round to copying to digital when the turntable/amp crapped out. If anyone out there wants to copy it to CD for me & keep the vinyl or a copy of it...

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

  • Hard News: Another entry in the Public…,

    Russell, a lovely post, well-realised and very evocative. Made me wonder about my seemingly endlessly recurrent lower-back pain (despite knowing the recent episodes of muscular trauma that set it off) so thanks for that ;-)

    Hospitals are dodgy for most of us - not generally a sign of things being right in life and so an underlying worry, even if one is only visiting.

    Get well soon, y'hear?

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Just a Glitch,

    <sick bastard>

    A generation of children heave a sigh of relief...

    He's gone from Blowing Bubbles to Pushing Up Daisies...

    </sick bastard>

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

  • Hard News: Footnotes,

    Re the supposed obscenity of the Big Wednesday prize, this is what it is meant to be.

    Your standard saturday lotto is there to represent a 'reasonable' spread of the income generated from the tickets (minus operating costs, grants, etc) across a number of prizes, but the Big Wednesday is, as its name suggests, the 'big one' where a much greater proportion of the pool is available to a single level of winning.

    And as for the 'stupidity' of those buying tickets - they are investing in a few days (hours, in some cases) of hope - a commodity recently a bit thin on the ground in Aotearoa for a large proportion of the peeps.

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

  • Hard News: Footnotes,

    Normal people wouldn't think of such perverted shit...

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

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