Walsingham

I'm cautious about the societal benefits of living a long time. It's been my experience that the longer you live the more likely you are to do really crappy things to people. I don't regard this as being a function of ageing, but just the effect of repeated throws of the dice, so to speak. As people find they've done nasty things their resistance to doing more of them is reduced for a variety of reasons. Therefore I would expect an aged population to be on everage more likely to be ****s than they would be if they'd died younger. Call it the 'dead rockstar' effect. Add to that the my feeling that - engage hippy mode - goodness tends to reside in an awareness that the boundaries between people are frequently illusory, and the good live on in the good that they do rather than the body they use to do it. In other words the good wouldn't really want to live to a massive age. Having said that I don't think there would be a serious problem with us living in very functionally young bodies until we reached a normal age to die.

Perhaps if you cleaned your teeth more regularly it would be less painful?

So if I understand you, Enoch, you're saying that the 'failure' was shared by a cycle of taking on debt and giving debt out cheap? And that the people giving the debt out cheap were the decision makers at the private banks?

I'm a little concerned that the potential energy in the system - or What We Can Do - is outstripping our moral energy and ability to collectively exercise that moral energy - or What We Know Agree We Shouldn't Do.

The Daily Mail is a joke which sadly is lost on the readers of the Daily Mail itself. If I had an employee who read The Sun I'd assume they liked looking at ***s. But if they read the Daily Mail I'd assume they actually were a ***.

May I politely suggest a gift might be easier and demonstrate more thoughtful interest? I suggest you send hookers and blackjack.

Baby, you're MY war elephant.

Frankly it's a relief to hear that the armie of darkness have the same trouble getting organised that the forces of good do. Perhaps we should invest in a copy of guitar hero to keep down the rate of virgin murder in Wellington.

Who is the small skinny fellah on the end?

Figures. Facts. Not words. Yes, the US and UK supplied weapons and materiel to Iraq. But the total amount was a tiny fraction of the total. I do not seek to excuse that, mrely to point out the farcical claim that we were the ones maintaining him in military power. _50%_ Communist Russian. This excludes Soviet bloc designs manufactured in Iraq itself, such as the SCUD variants and some artillery systems not to mention small arms and ammunition. >18% Communist Chinese. ~~ Relevance to me is that I'd like to see these figures more widely quoted so that the pop culture notion can be brought to book, as can the way in which Russia, China and France blocked regime change from a highly suspect standpoint.

Um.. actually what I'm saying is that yet another dictatorship of the proletariat has reached its _inevitable_ transformation into a dictatorship of the bureaucrat. And that a state which regards human rights as irrelevant since all rights derive from the state is simply acting in character. And that expecting them to alter their behaviour to obey the simplest standards because we disapprove is ludicrous. But it's gratifying to see you leap to their defence anyway. Lovely company you communists keep.

Not that it makes any gokking difference to liberal pacifists. But don't worry, I'm sure our pacifist disapproval will bring down this insane regime. tsk tsk tsk

I direct the honourable gentleman to his own testimony. The tart.

Yes, and there is a difference between giving aid to Suharto to help him massacre the left-wing of Indonesia and the people of East Timor and "being a bystander." There is a difference between giving Saddam massive military aid and encouraging him to invade Iran and "being a bystander." As usual your facts are wrong. Saddam's arms were by 1992: from Russia (50%), China (>18%), and France (>13%). Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Which is just common sense if you look at what they were using in the field. Note that Russia and France fronted the 'heroic' stand against US lead intervention. I'd have thought that would fit your notion of capitalist conspiracy far more comfortably.

I dunno? Perhaps SOMEONE WHO WANTS THEIR ENEMIES ACTUALLY DEAD?

I just found out that my assistant was surprised at home when a gang of thieves attempted to smash and grab his possesions from his house. He roared, then chased them up the street barefoot, and over a fence, shouting "Running won't do you any good, punk!" On talking to the police they informed him that his plan to jump on the back of the getaway van, ascend to the roof, and kick the driver through the window was "a good idea". I'm not taking chances with that sort of awesome. We need to get out there and bring the galaxy our awesomeness.

I've had a think, and I can't suggest anything. Sorry.

You know, you REALLY shouldn't have put so much random crap in that list. EDIT: Where do we begin our tale? I need to know whether to pack light or not.

You know how you find quantums lying around the game on shelves and whatnot? Well, as you may recall a mate of mine used to work in film props, including the Harry Potter films. I wondered how much people would pay for a working quantum light? I'd have to talk to him to get costings, but if we could get together enough peopel we could probably have him cast resin moulds, and mock labels. I'd even be prepared to bet he could put the slight patina on the bottle surface. Would people stretch to

I'd remake the Dark Crystal as a short film where the gelflings are destroyed quickly and efficiently by terminators.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't pilot training and the standards therein designed for abonrmal flying conditions rather than normal flying. Particularly since planes became increasingly fly by wire. it may have jsut been pure luck he never ran into trouble and crumpled like a pensioner's face on realising their nephew hadn't come to tea after all.

I can't believe LoF actually believes the official communist party line about Yezhov being the sole author of teh purges. It's actually almost cute.

What is the point of an unmanned mission? The purpose of a manned one is to prove we can colonise other planets. Which is teh ONLY way to ensure the long term survival of our entire species. I considered volunteering for the simulated mission, but got accepted for the Army while I was pondering it. I think it would be an enormous honour to participate, even if the bragging rights are nothing compared to the real thing.

I think you're all oversimplifying a tremendously complex situation. Characterising Thaksin as a bastard misses the central feature of Thai politics. If you are not at least slightly corrupt, and utterly ruthless you will be eaten alive long before you get anywhere close to power. And by 'eaten alive' I mean shot by anonymous assassins. It happened to the communications minister when I was there. That Thaksin even suggests a populist line is extremely risky and comparatively revolutionary. In fact it's WORSE than revolutionary because it is moderate, and harder to use force against. To get a feel for Thailand - I lived there for nearly a year and have family/friends there now - you need to also keep in mind that the Thais themselves are for the most part very a-political, and extremely socially conservative. They regard politics as inherently corrupt, and good conduct as existing entirely apart from it. While at the same time being very feudal in their interpersonal/business lives. They exist in an informal web of obligations which makes party affiliation and causes redundant. What I've seen on TV of the rebels is a mixture of the absolutely lowest in terms of mixed farmers, engineers, and gangsters, alongside a scattering of elite 'nobles' linked to Shinawatra. It's hard to tell, but that must be a very shaky alliance. I don't know what to make of the prospects for the future.

I'd impriison the stupid fethers who let him fly in the first place.