Walsingham

I think the point for me is that this was a human crime. People died, including eleven people who got hit by falling ****ing plane. It's a crime which it is very easy to understand in terms of the impact on the families, because they have made many statements on the subject. And above all it's a crime which we could see replicated on almost any day, every day. Yet in spite of all that, we got a pantomime process that would inevitably prove hollow.

Blast.

WoD I'm extremely Pro-US, but you're talking utter balls. The most cursory reading of history in that most fun of all periods (WW2) will show you how strong anti-British tendencies have run in the US> If that fails to grab you, have a look at what the US State department did to back us up during the Falklands war. None of which is really relevant. This was a convicted mass murderer. Raining body parts over Scotland time. I happen to think there is more to being English than where my parents chose to ****. And while the precise definiton of what this means is debatable it ought NOT include releasing smug terrorists into the hands of other smug terrorists for the sake of tawdry oil bastards. And the mention of the IRA merely reinforces the point, since it was Libyan arms - thousands of rifles, and pounds of plastic explosive shipped to the IRA - which killed many more on top of Lockerbie. Simply reinforces my contention that Gordon Brown was gokking insane. And unlike Monte I can't say I never voted for the bastards.

The problem, WoD is that there is no such thing as an auxiliary to government. All controls on teh government are in themselves government, except direct election. Actually, it's just occurred to me - I am a bit thick - that Guard Dog and I agree on something: that links between elected and eletorate should ve direct and personal. It's why I support the British system of MPs. Can't think why I never noticed that before.

Got word that the paperwork for a big contract I've been working towards finally came through. Also had very good day at work today so am celebrating with a tall pale ale. No medication, Nepenthe. I do have a history of mad and very vivid dreams though. Better a massive punch up than a long boring dinner, as did happen once. Joe, I listen to Garrison Keillor every week. Does that make me an honorary Minnesotan?

Happy birthday, Nep. Had fantastic dream consisting of a long drawn out fight sequence, rather like Peter Griffin's fights with the chicken, only in my case with a creepy dude who started out around 40 years old, and got younger as the fight went on, until I felt bad about pummeling him, and gave him an ice cream and explained at length why starting fights with angry stocky men you didn't know was generally not a good plan. All in Walsingham direct real o vision. Great fun.

I can't keep this to myself any more. Have to say: I am deeply ashamed of the behaviour of our last government in conniving in the release of the Lockerbie bomber. It was a grotesque insult to ALL the victims, but to the US in particular who bore the brunt of the casualties. I thought this might give the other Brits on the forum to second, or disagree as they see fit. Makes sod all difference, of course. But I apologise fwiiw.

I have to say I quite liked it too. But it is a trashy movie, really. Sort of a male Thelma and Louise. You Sir, have insulted one of my childhood classics. Pistols at dawn! P.S. My dawn not yours. No problem. I shall stand in Cornwall, and you can stand in New England, and we will exchange pistol shots.

That is why we need bigger and better computers so AI systems can make decisions for us I suspect this was already done in my case. And the bastard was QA'd by Bethesda.

I hate to say it but I think parents have a lot to answer for. I'm not saying they shouldn't screw us up, because that's inebitable. But I do think they change the flavour. <y folks would argue like wildcats, and it's hardly surprising that I go for women who get furious as caged leopards, and wind up in massive blazing rows. (beat) Although it's true what they say about make up sex. (beat) It's better than no sex. Which is what I've been having since I reformed. As I may have mentioned.

If you are interested in the Syria-Lebanon interplay you should listen to From Our Own Correspondent on the BBC World Service. You can find it on podcast. They've been doing stuff on it for a while.

Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence Not sure why it's taken me so long to decide I like Depeche Mode.

I can imagine you getting back with her. But I can't fathom if that's good or bad. On reflection I think that sometimes we do things because they feel right 'for us'. It's just that if we scrape off some of the paint we discover that 'for us' is true for a given value of self; where self = moron.

I thought it was spelled 'exhorbitant'. Shows what I know.

LOL nice.

The alternative perspective is that it's all our fault. Which I'd call clinical depression, or the next best thing... Speaking of which, I feel much better for having got this all off my chest. It's not the kind of thing you want to talk to every day friends about, because you don't want them running around trying to intervene or fix anything.

Depends on teh culture. I was todl by a couple of people that it's a big deal in France.

It's not that bizarre. There's a reason men don't hang out with boys, and it's not just for fear of the cops. Teenage boys are deranged asshats. Their minds run on rails between punching each other and sex. Quality of experience has no traction whatsoever. Nor does quality of storyline/complexity of problem solving, whatever. This puts forward an interesting challenge for us older gamers. The teenage boys are pandered to because they can and do shell out lots of cash for their games. I conclude that in order for out tastes to dominate we have to do two things: 1. Enable mass piracy by teenage boys, of crappy games which we hate 2. Swindle teenage boys out of their money before they can waste it Come on, boffins. Throw in some ideas!

Jay voice: "Gonna get some p**** for killing a dragon... I tell you, if I'd known that **** earlier I'd have been killing dragons since I was, like seven and ****" EDIT: Perhaps the real point here is that with that going on then she can't sing at us.

Certainly is interesting to see the relative rankings by platform. I wouldn't have expected to see numbers though. That sort of data is worth bucks.

I was just wondering if anyone had seen any work on the importance of loan sharking in the criminal economy. It occurred to me that it might be evidence of the power of 'micro-finance'. Thought it might make an interesting topic. No time to chase it up right now. Know we've got some filthy students laying around on the forum who might follow it up. I'm intending to kick the results across to a friend who works in an aid agency type of deal.

Some people just don't focus on teamwork. They're just in it for the flashing lights and the occasional win by random chance. I've seen the most bizarre and aggravating things in both Red Orchestra and Left 4 Dead 2. A lot of which I can only suppose comes from twitch games where the only thing you seem to do is move about in a brownian fashion and shoot at anything which moves. Which is kind of why I play the games I do, because if you try that in Red Orchestra you'll get whacked by the experienced players who work together; and if you try it in Left 4 Dead then you last an even shorter time. I should say that I don't consider myself a good gamer, in the sense that I am slow, and poor at shooting. But I do what I'm told, and I tell my team mates what I'm doing, and I help others. Which I like to think is why I get so many invites every time I log on. Unless it's just because I always say please and thankyou.

I have to say I quite liked it too. But it is a trashy movie, really. Sort of a male Thelma and Louise.

I had a dream the other night that I was hanging out with Prince William et al. They were quite drunk. His fiance was quite attractive in a moderately dull way. Not sure if that constitutes a violation of my oath.

That one's always bothered me. Surely that's the definition of a scientific trial? Repeat until data points (n) n>30. Thought: maybe our trouble is that we're working from too small a sample size to make ANY recommendations on what we should have done.