Walsingham

4 years before she becomes trouble. Then another ten before you'll sleep easy.

In my experience prosecutions for anything other than misdemeanours is a totally politicised process in Thailand. Still more so in Bangkok. It's nothing at all like what you might imagine police life is like. One writer quite neatly summarised a Thai policeman as a 'profit centre'. but I think it comes as much down to 'face'. Crimes that are not paid for properly in cash are an insult and will get targetted with extreme prejudice.

I don't think it's at all strange. Look at engineering. A vehicle like the MOWAG piranha is positively intended to be adapted, and that is one of its main selling points.

Must... resist... urge... to... play... Baldur's Gate... again!

I can't remember my solution to that problem. I think it comes down to having large things the players can't really slide out of. That and permiting them to murder their own if things get stupid. We had to gaffer tape (duct tape) a solo to the wall of the getaway van during a Cyberpunk 2020 bank heist. He had tried to drive it away to go shopping, swearing he'd be back in time for the escape.

Intriguing story. But no-one is going to find out the truth of it now. If the cops have it in lockdown, that's the end of the matter. Not a very healthy city, Bangkok. And I don't mean the air pollution.

One of the saddest days of my life was when I spent the morning flouncing about in the highest of spirits as I was in love. People noticed this, and it was only after great self-inquiry that I remembered that the person I'd fallen in love with had been in a lucid dream the previous night and was not in fact real. So be warned: be careful what you choose to dream about.

I'm going to be very pompous and British and suggest that the 'crime' of the post-colonial period was to assume that the natives were perfectly capable of running themselves as effectively as we were able to.

So, having said that, does anyone think respect - assuming it is lost - can be regained by knifing the person who displayed the loss? Isn't that rather like knifing someone to make them love you?

The BG version of All Around the Watchtower.

Deomcracy is an enabler, not an effect in itself. Think of it as taking the handcuffs off the bodies and minds of a people.

The moral of the story is that you may choose to wish upon a star, but do not stand under it.

Surely basic logic dictates that you ought to know where they are and where they are going and how fast? This you can predict using the psychology. The article also mixes in some real psychological information about people.

http://io9.com/5286145/a-harvard-psychiatr...e-neurobiology/

I'm intrigued by the notion that Britain's curious political culture is a hybrid of Saxon bolshie-ness combined with Indian caste stability.

A) The queen is German B) What's wrong with how I spell 'ersatz'?

Pandemic obviously not what we thought it was.

Interesting about it being looking up to. I had a further think about this while strolling through the graveyard yesterday. I didn't have any coherent thoughts but: - I used to 'respect' some of my relatives and want to be like them. - I did obey people I respected because I respected them. - I do exert authority at work through respect. The only fear that exists is a withdrawal of my respect from people who respect me. So I guess I can see why someone might think an ersatz respect could be manifested as fear and subservience. But by the same token, it's ersatz and almost worthless. Or at least that is how it seems to me.

I could accept that fear is very similar to repsect. The next band along in the emotional spectrum, so to speak. But it is very different. Like comparing infra red with visible light.

Immanent? I confess I'm fascinated by this. Thinking about it more I wonder if it ties into my issues with status. Were these guys killing for the purpose of status? And if so, is that any different to killing for money, if the money simply goes into fast cars and expensive suits?

There's a lot of talk about respect, and always has been. I was made acutely aware of it when reading about the murder of Ben Kinsella. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8091215.stm It made me wonder what is respect? Is it fear? Because I'd say I respected my godfather enormously and I never feared him once. I offer what I think of as respect to others, even people I don't understand, as an underpinning of good treatment. I have self-respect. I ask because I wonder what kind of respect can be diminished by a kid you hardly know? A show of respect? I'm baffled.

Great song. I can't believe I haven't heard it in ages.

You spurned my patented never fail lasagne? Last night I tried a ventisquiero brand carmenere. Very strong flavour, of a strength equivalent to a pensioner's pocket fluff. But excellent overall effect.

No, but can I entice you with a wooden keyboard perhaps? http://www.swedx.se/index.php?cPath=26_63&...4e6065ee1edf962 Those look good. Not bad prices too.