Walsingham

I walk almost everywhere so socks and shoes are my biggest extravagance after booze.

I can't get scones any more. Grandmothers and mum are dead. And before anyone says it: I'm not baking my own scones. If I'm going to go gay it'll be done properly, with plenty of drugs and parties.

That Brazilian spider had better be called the 'jumping knob jockey'.

It's called 'phlegm'. You should try some with lime juice. It beats poisonous depression all to hell.

Got to love all the chortling in the comments. This isn't even news. I have books from the _90s_ in my library talking about eavesdropping at these sorts of meetings. In fact there was a woman who whistleblew on GCHQ about five years ago, doing exactly this. We discussed it _on this forum_. People still turn up. It seems the slack jawed mandarins who attend have also learned nothing about security. I'm sure it goes even further than the 90s, and while I agree that this isn't really a smoking gun - possibly due to the stuff Guardian chose not to publish at this time - I think it's only a matter of time before they link Prism to this type of more banal espionage. And then you start having trouble with your moral justification, when all the curtailing of liberties that has taken place during both the past two administrations (I'd like to point out before the hypocritical Republican strike team arrives) has had it's justification in "stopping terror". While both you and I know, I'm sure, that it's at best only a part of the reason for the measures, I assume that it plays a big part in convincing Joe Sixpack of the necessity of these measures, since they keep repeating it ad nauseam. Or maybe it's just how Morpheus posits in Deus Ex, people need to be watched to feel special. Well, there just wasn't the data processing back in the day. Nor of course the widespread of electronic digital communications on which to graze. I feel I have to keep repeating I think this isn't justified already. For the simple reason that we aren't DOING anything useful with the information. There are literally thousands of malevolent bastards who we know full well mean us harm and are guilty of a dozen criminal acts of conspiracy and we have neither the will or the means to tackle them. What's the point of knowing about more? I don't mind being spied on in a good cause, so to speak. But I'm buggered if I'll be happy about it for no goddamn reason.

Welcome to Glasgow. Best headline ever. This should be the strapline for convicing the English to retain Scotland as part of the UK.

Got to love all the chortling in the comments. This isn't even news. I have books from the _90s_ in my library talking about eavesdropping at these sorts of meetings. In fact there was a woman who whistleblew on GCHQ about five years ago, doing exactly this. We discussed it _on this forum_. People still turn up. It seems the slack jawed mandarins who attend have also learned nothing about security.

Gorth makes some interesting points. I think the most likely outcome is: - The USA and UK register profound disquiet, but blame inaction on Russian air defences; get out of domestic jail free, point finger sat Kremlin hurrah - Russia is happy with a naval base and client state in the Med, and Syrian crude selling through Russian companies or not at all. - Iran/Rouhani is happy because he has a live issue to scare Israel with, and look tough - Israel is reassured that they live in a dangerous neighbourhood and can't possibly give ground - The jifs are happy because they have a real live war to play with minus Coalition intelligence and drones - Assad is happy because he has stayed the course The only people I can see being upset by all this are the poor bloody ordinary Syrians.

What I can't be bothered to read are your apocalypse fantasies. I understood quite clearly that you're arguing an economic downturn will cripple the military capability of the US. Your argument is - again - a fantasy. The USA has an immense economy and military. Cuts to US military spending could be absorbed on an enormous scale and it might just reduce their crisis response to only two World crises at once, rather than three. Even if spending cuts reduced the regular US military to the level of China it would be at least one or two generations before anyone else caught up. The US economy can't possibly stay down for that long. The country has a strong economy built into its _geography_. You may be stuck in your attic dreaming of rivers of blood for a wee while yet.

Get a grip on yourself. Leaving aside how WW3 would happen, I'm more interested in why you sound so bloody happy about it.

Well, be fair, they do take shiny throughout the system, not just the box it travels in.

I just hope that Turkey doesn't go into full meltdown.

If you think the US military is on the wane then you're dreaming. The only way they fall down is in the insane disunity in command. Everything else is belt and braces, from doctrine to dogtags. A reduction in spending might actually be good for them.

Those guys are starting to sound less crazy to me and that probably isn't a good sign either. Ultimately I don't believe you're mental, so I wouldn't worry too much. Just remember that if it turns out you were right don't arse about taking potshots, and try to not to target civilians with IEDs. As a favour to me.

You got me, at least. That's true. Thinking about what you've written - which was very lucid - I'd say the point is that we've been given an easy alternate to back. I mean I've used Linux for work and study, but I was never going to use it for the majority of my work - MS Office is hell's standard - nor for gaming. Whereas an easy to use, cheaper, friendlier PS4 is just sitting there begging me to switch.

Damnit, GD. I'm salivating like a returning husky.

Keep em coming. It's like having a vacation by proxy.

Further point: Iran is a complete mess of different religions, ethnicities, and chopped every which way by mountains. I'm pretty convinced their centralising tendencies arise from trying to hold together a country that is basically a wet cake.

Well, I'm sure Agiel would agree that Iran's far from a basket case like North Korea. If only because people genuinely expect to be able to vote. But I agree that there's an element of letting the candidates win. I don't see anything sinister in a move towards moderation. Cynical, certainly. I have a degree of faith that provided reforms happen slowly that Iran could move quietly and slowly towards greater civic freedoms. IMO the real problem isn't the clerics, it's the Revolutionary Guards Council. They have huge power, undiminished by all their proxies and shady deals. Sooner or later a real moderate would be obliged to rein them in, and I just can't see that working.

Obviously, Rouhani has taken up a tough job, but most of the media I read regards him as a moderate, and it seems like good news. I'm pleased for all the smart educated Iranians I've met over the years. They really deserved better than Ahmedinejad.

I'm quite hungover, and a bit drunk, but I have to say, GD: you sound a lot like a militia guy I interviewed in the 1990s. Not a healthy sign.

Got drunk. Chatted to Calax about Hades. Bloody sad. Drank aquavit. Too drunk. Off to bed.

And you weren't raped or murdered? Hm, my sources on RSA are inaccurate! I don't care what you say, I'm not refunding you for the briefing paper.

GB why don't you come live in South Africa? You can bring Tommy and we don't have the money to afford programs like Prism so you won't have your privacy compromised? I have to say I think GD would ****ing love South Africa. He's got trade skills. He could buy a big bit of land. Great food, great wine, decent beer. Plus if you get angry you can walk out, climb a tree, and punch a giraffe.

I think you want to keep that informality and originality in at least some of the forum. But any good thread will need summary and usable outputs. To be usable you will either need some bloody genius bespoke standard output - which would be bragging rights - or you need an industry standard. The sane recommendation would be to check with some of the big games companies you think might take things off you, and ask them what output they'd like. On the second point I mean your forum needs a bit of horizon scanning tech wise and to have discussions specifically around those new techs. Viz this business with immersive movement-linked FPS at E3. That's been on the cards for at least eight years, but how will it shape our expectations of gaming?