Profile for X
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | X |
| Member number | 496 |
| Title | Shaper |
| Postcount | 2333 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
Recent posts
Pages
| Author | Recent posts |
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| The FCC in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 08:52
Profile
Agreed, this 'safety first' thing really stinks. Two cases that particularly galled me recently: 1) Local authorities were banning kids from playgrounds in case they fell off the swings, slide, roundabout, etc and their parents sued. What next? They cut down all the trees so kids potentially don't fall out of them too? Learning about how to take risks is an important part of gaining confidence and growing up. I'd prefer the next generation not to be a bunch of under-exercised, agrophobic, litigious wimps. (And I bet nothing's going to be done about traffic hazards, which is a real killer....) 2) Making landowners liable for people swimming on their land (or in their rivers and lakes, to be more accurate), which basically means a ban on simple, free fun, especially in the current hot weather. If someone wants to chuck themselves in a river and drown--esp. if the landowner doesn't even know they're there--that should be their responsibility alone. It's not like we're talking about a licensed swimming bath here. Keeping people out will turn the countryside into a worse maze of barbed wire and 'no trespassing' signs than it is already, with riverbanks being replaced by 'Berlin Wall' style barriers, no doubt with private security firms doing fine out of yet another new CCTV outlet. I'm with Hect-etc on the excessive hygiene thing too. Hope all this isn't too irrelevant... Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Ask everyone anything. in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 08:34
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I knew someone who used to go round Wiltshire making crop circles. He was typically more into fraud than hoaxes though - a thoroughly disreputable character. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Evil Companies in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 08:28
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FYI, IBM supplied computer punchcards that made Nazi administration of the Holocaust possible. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Iraqi aftermath in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Tuesday, August 5 2003 04:03
Profile
On the "females" question, aren't you confusing Iraq with Afghanistan? As a self-styled secular socialist state, Iraq wasn't particular about oppressing women, particularly compared ito its neighbours (e.g. Saudi Arabia). If you'd read prevuious posts more closely, you'd also appreciate that Ba'athists are still running Iraq, albeit not calling themselves that so as to save the US occupiers' face. 'Everything changes, everything remains the same'. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Where Are All The Mods? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Tuesday, August 5 2003 03:56
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Ho, ho - that certainly looks like a bug being exploited! :D I'm with Herod on the small children question, BTW. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| The FCC in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Tuesday, August 5 2003 03:47
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The question was evidently rhetorical. Why PM though, when we all live in the same 'room' (except possibly re. bandwidth, a technicality)? Back in the days prior to the printing press and mass literacy, the power of private citizens (esp. masses of them) was great compared to the state ('King Mob' etc), certainly not the case today. Privacy means we're at least less dependant on the state's goodwill to preserve our basic liberties. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Evil Companies in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, August 4 2003 07:35
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At least Stateside, Walmart pay staff peanuts (no surprise there!) but also have a minimalist training programme encouraging mindless conformity and zero initiative in junior staff, turning them into monkeys (actually 'Walmartians'). The point about GM in the US is that it has never been tested as Monsanto had enough (election funding) sway with the Clinton administration to get it classified as indistinguishable from non-GM food. Consequently, no one knows the long-term consequences of this new food they're eating. Where negative evidence has come up--e.g. Dr. Puztai's discovery at the Rowett Institute that pasrticular GM potatoes were toxic to rats--such research is typically quickly de-funded and dismissed as 'flawed', 'anti-science', etc with minimal analysis of what's actually been found. More generally on GM, there are more than adequate non-GM crop strains to feed the world already. Famine occurs because food is produced and distributed on the basis of who can afford it rather than who actually needs it, and the GM crop market will only further concentrate food production / distribution in the hands of the likes of Monsanto. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| The FCC in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, August 4 2003 07:21
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I suspect Thuryl is not entirely serious! However, I'd add that the US Constitution is written on the assumption that excess concentrations of power lead to its abuse, and even makes provision for a government excessively abusing its power to be dissolved by force of arms. Sort of curious those arguing hardest for increased censorship and state surveillance will also argue strongest against gun control. Irresponsible use of guns is potentially a lot more immediately damaging than irresponsible use of language! On the issue of swearing particularly, it may be ill-mannered or ignorant to swear excessively or, conversely, it may enrich and increasse the range of our language. Regardless, it is not appropriate to limit such expression by force of law when informal enforcement mechanisms (i.e. expressions of social disapproval) are adequate. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Exile games you don't want to play in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Sunday, August 3 2003 04:42
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I'm surprised no one's mentioned 'The Grinch' yet. Or is this the wrong forum? Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Evil Companies in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Sunday, August 3 2003 04:33
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There was no 'none of the above' box, so I didn't vote. I'd have thought companies like Cargill and Monsanto were pretty evil, pushing GM crops on famine victims as a PR exercise, though food politics are pretty indefensible anyway, worse than pharmaceuticals as the need is even more basic. Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) and subsiduaries is seen as especially reprehensible here (UK), pretty much indifferent to the literally genocidal consequences of its mineral extraction projects (e.g. in Bougainville, until the natives kicked them out), and lodged deeply enough in the Establishment to set MI6 or its proxies (Sandline, etc) on anyone objecting. It's still hard to forgive or forget Union Carbide's killing and blinding of a major Indian city, Bhopal, not least because they're currently suing their victims for protesting this rather than compensating them. Well, the list is endless. These are just a few of my pet peeves in terms of corporate evilness. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| tourism in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Saturday, August 2 2003 00:54
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I wouldn't take Irvine Welsh too seriously - Leith has its own modern art gallery, the vanguard of any determined gentrification project. As a foreigner (English), I guess I should say I've never attended the festival, though any event where the street fills with student mimes in ginger wigs with integral tartan headgear (i.e. the Fringe) isn't going to appeal to me anyway. Edinburgh is a good place to visit as a tourist though, with both the classical New Town and gothic Old town leading up to the Castle declared world heritage sites thanks to their uniqueness and rich history. Of course, if you're American, you won't understand the mildest of Scots accents, even though I find English dialects like Geordie a lot more unintelligible myself. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Spiderweb mention in MSNBC article in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Saturday, August 2 2003 00:45
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Well, Jeff does offer some of the best scenarios most generous shareware demos around - how could they not mention SW? Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| My Reputation in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Saturday, August 2 2003 00:40
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I think OM got a lot of flak on joining these boards for spamming, largely justified. You need to get over that trauma, OM - your posts are basically OK now, this topic aside. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Iraqi aftermath in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Friday, August 1 2003 02:46
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A few points: Water is more of an issue in Iraq than food, not least because all the pumping stations were classified as 'military' targets by the US, contrary to the UN Convention, during both Gulf wars. On declining non-immigrant demographics, I'd have thought immigrants outnumber the original north American populatioon 250:1 or more. Sorry, you meant White Americans, not native Americans, didn't you? 'Amerika' was spelt that way way before the Nazis, not least by one Franz Kafka, and is usually taken as slightly critical or indicative of alienation because of the disillusioned way he described immigrant experience in his novel of the same title. There's also 'Amerikkka', a more 1960s counter-culture version, pointing to the US's racist / imperialist heritage, but most don't use this as its excessively crass. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| The FCC in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Friday, August 1 2003 02:32
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quote:So what's the point of it, then? BTW, I agree that the Official Secrets Act should be repealed in UK, not least because the threat of its use against mainstream media--the so-called D Notice system--has a chilling effect that turns journalists (typically never a brave, dedicated or commited bunch in the first place) into official briefing fodder. Conveniently titled 'anti-terrorist' legislation augments this, making it even easier for politicians to evade responsibility for gross corruption and scientists for murderous 'defence'-related research. For those that do want to earn their pay, the US FOIA is often an invaluable 'back door'. I agree about cable, but still think the bar is set too high in terms of mainstream US broadcasting. In Europe, it's regarded as laughably puritanical. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| United States Conflict Avatars (Cont.) in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, July 28 2003 09:40
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Racism is more about differences of culture and power than of phenotypical appearence in my opinion. Just ask anyone Irish or look at the problems between French- and English-speakers in Quebec. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| United States Conflict Avatars (Cont.) in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, July 28 2003 05:41
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Pretty amused JF thinks stripey pantaloons are cool. :D But if he's talking about Spain now, rather than at the height of its power half a millenium ago, I'd say the Spanish army's uniform is pretty nondescript. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Pointlessly Curious in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, July 28 2003 05:30
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William Wordsworth was postmaster general for a while, though not on SW. ;) Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| The FCC in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, July 28 2003 05:27
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I always found US TV ridiculously prissy about nudity as well as swearing, and understand this is mainly down to the advertisers still living in the 1950s or whatever. Still, I didn't vote in the poll because although I generally oppose censorship, I think cultural remedies are more effective than legal ones in the long term. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Looking for a shoulder to cry on... in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Sunday, July 27 2003 05:37
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Lemur Industries is behaving in a disgraceful, inhuman manner, regardless of CoC. I apologise in advance for introducing an inappropriate post to this thread, but LI did so from its outset. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Iraqi aftermath in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Sunday, July 27 2003 05:29
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:rolleyes: Volourn, aside from actually using WMD, every one of the reasons you gave for invading Iraq applies equally to Israel - which has (by regional standards) large, unchallenged CW stockpiles and is the only nuclear power in the Middle East (if we except US and the UK, who shouldn't really be there). It even has an aparthied-style system of movement control and widespread, judicially-sanctioned use of torture, something Tom Ridge is keen on introducing to the USA "against terrorists" too. Human rights was hardly an issue when Bush was looking to restart his daddy's war. (And I'll add that it was the US that principly encouraged and supplied Saddam's war against Iran, inc. supplying top secret satellite intelligence at key times, in revenge for the overthrow of the Shah and the hostage crisis; this in turn created the conditions that led to the invasion of Kuwait, which senior US diplomats on the ground also encouraged.) For someone who says they don't support Bush, you're surprisingly keen to parrot his in-credible post facto self-justifications. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Iraqi aftermath in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Saturday, July 26 2003 12:36
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It's your best argument as the other don't hold water. As said above, most of the post-invasion ministries are run by someone surnamed al-Tekriti, so there's going to be no difference when it comes to human rights in Iraq. Aside from the very top echelons and slightly changed rhetoric, it's going to be exactly the same people running Iraq exactly the same way - the same secret police, the same torture chambers, the same mass graves, the same disaffected minorities. If anything, a US counter-insurgency campaign will only make things worse. To 'restore order' (though it is not restored), one of the US's first at was to give Saddam's police their jobs back rather than prosecuting them (which at least they did in Germany after they took that over). About the second thing they did (as Saddam once did) was shoot down Shias demanding a representative government, and wave a bogus 2nd 'dodgy dossier' at their sponsors in Iran. This, as much as Ba'athist attempts to retain power, is the seedbed of permanent insurgency. EDIT: The bottom line is that it's an abuse for influential oil magnates like Bush to use 'human rights' as a figleaf for lining their own pockets at everyone else's expense. There is also the small matter of the value of Western democracy when an unpopular war can be imposed by deception and dictat, an ongoing question given continuing casualties in Iraq and a publicly unchanged US foreign policy. [ Saturday, July 26, 2003 12:43: Message edited by: X ] Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Iraqi aftermath in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Saturday, July 26 2003 10:50
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Thanks to Volourn for the Ministry of Truth version. Almost as funny as Dick Cheynne turning around NOW and saying he has more 'secret evidence' we aren't allowed to see that Iraq was building nuclear weapons. After the faked yellow cake stuff and other such 'intelligence', we can only marvel at his chutzpah. If Saddam giving money to Palestinian widows and orphans counts as 'financing terrorism', when is it the US starts bombing Saudi Arabia and every other Middle Eastern country - or Boston if we count Irish ones? This is Volourn's BEST argument - desperate stuff indeed. On reconstruction, Bush is resistant as it'll be less swill to parcel out to all his sponsors - Cheynne, Haliburton, etc. 'Conventient' they were presenting the UN as some 'anti-American one-worlder conspiracy' for not accepting pro-war arguments that shown now to be faked up or absurd now Iraq is under occupation. And the US has a pretty dim idea of reconstruction anyway if Kuwait '91 is anything to go by. With all basic utilities down and the air almost unbreathable due to burning oil wells, their first action of reconstruction was to replace gold taps looted from the emir's palace - and him not back from his London casino yet... In terms of resistance to US (and UK) occupation, of course some Ba'athists will fight as it's the history of their party. The cleverer ones will jut change their rhetoric slightly and be awarded a ministy and a compliment of their own secret policemen and torture to put down the Kurds and Shias that want to balkanise the conuntry. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Looking for a shoulder to cry on... in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Saturday, July 26 2003 10:20
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My condolences, Izzannore - not exactly what you went on holiday for. 77 was a good run though and there are a lot more protracted and unpleasant ways to go (cancer, etc). How well did you know your relative and is it the first you knew who died? If you didn't know her well, you won't miss her much and if you did, you will find yourself thinking less and less + mourning less and less over the next year or two. If this is the first time someone you knew died, try not to take it too hard. Death is a part of life, eventually our own. We should accept it like everything else, a fitting (and inevitable) end to lives well lived. BTW, I think it's good people turn to these boards for emotional support, implying its some sort of community in a full sense, though Izzannore had best talk to his family and (to a lesser extent) RL friends too, who know the situation better and will probably be more help. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Happy Fourth of July! in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Wednesday, July 23 2003 13:58
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Alorael - the Normans may have ended up in Normandy (hence the name) but they came from somewhere else first. They weren't called 'North men' (hence the name) for nothing. I know the Icelanders converted to Christianity in 1000 (an early date to remember!) so they weren't that isolated. The large number of Irish thralls amongst them also demonstrate they used their longboats to get about a bit.... Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |