Walsingham

Benylin night time. Knocked me spark out yesterday. Hoping it will do the same again.

Still processing events from earlier. After a great deal of bluster I calmly said that unless they quit arsing around then I'd make it my business to build a case and hand it over to the police. Received message effectively saying "Righto guv'nor, it's a fair cop. No hard feelings?" The world really does have some bloodless bastards in it.

Nope, but please go Louis Theroux and post us some pics and interviews.

Speaking of cons I just finally tumbled to an attempted fraud against yours truly. Complex job with multiple accounts and phone numbers. Use of social media accounts to flesh out each 'identity'. Been ongoing for some time (over two years) building cover as a lonely hearts. Someone I actually did know. Except the contact wasn't them. They were using their social media to generate plausible exchanges. Instinct was what got set off to start with, but built up by asking very specific questions inside inoccuous exchanges. No answers ever came back with information I hadn't already given. When you'd normally share a story or a feeling the tendency was always to distract and escalate. Vastly extravagant nonsense, all primary colours, no detail. Digging a bit I found no substance to some of the 'supporting' actors. Classic fraudster. Called them on it last night. No legal recourse at present (which is the best bit about attempted fraud), but mentioned the cops. I'm a bit embarrassed obviously. But I thought I'd share it so hopefully you fellahs will learn something. Always be wary, always try to avoid giving out any personal ID such as address, and don't use your financial information for people you haven't met in a serious context such as where they work or live, for any reason no matter how seemingly harmless. And if someone seems a bit off-key, don't ignore your instincts. Most of all don't assume that a willingness to invest time and effort on chatter means a fraudster is legit.

Mia Sollis, old boy.

Highly interesting. So it's a breakdown of the perceptual filter? By that rationale I wonder if you could dose yourself with low levels of ketamine to counteract it? And does this explain the utility of ketamine in fighting depression?

The tragedy was not her getting stabbed. Lots of people get stabbed. The tragedy was no-one preventing her dying after she got stabbed.

It's a bit early to draw any conclusions about what Russia will actually do for Crimea, as opposed to promises. But personally I take your point about Western lack of follow through in Iraq and Afghan.

It's precisely this sort of thing that explains why you colonial chaps shouldn't have been allowed to run off starting superpowers, landing on the moon and so forth.

New cough linctus. The pharmacist swears this will knock me flat and I can sleep.

Indeed. My best friend, and many of my very close friends have struggled with depression. Attempting to understand them, in order to help them, and not look down on them I developed the opinion that depression is actually chronic sanity. To look at a decaying, angry ape, in a lonely universe, on a hostile planet... that is sane confrontation of facts on a normal day. But we are given the mad miracle of imagination, and choice. We can choose to see not what we are, but what we might be. I do not mind that my life is a frantic noise of miniscule weight any more than I mind that my ancestors lived in caves and ate fleas. Alexander the Great's ancestors ate fleas. Einstein's ancestors burned bison dung. We are, as a species, utterly magnificent; not in our actuality but in our potential.

The key differences are that a) the referendum in Crimea was unconstitutional as per the (admittedly depreciated) law of Ukraine and b) the result was a given. Indeed, the very act of organizing the referendum was grounded on the certainty of the outcome—as is usually the case when the people are asked direct questions about governance. "Worse", though, I don't know about that. I guess that depends on who wins the Presidential election in Afghanistan, and even then, you'd have to specify worse for whom. Not sure it can get much worse than Karzai, though there's always the possibility of a new government being willing to accomodate the Taliban. I think that would certainly be worse by any standards. I acknowledge that the legal authorities I defer to judged it unconstitutional. However, my impression is that the overall trend of Crimean opinion is pro-Putin. Plus was the point not made here that Crimea has tried to leave before? I am committed to continued British association for the Falkland islands; and that means adherence to the principle of self-determination. I am also proud of what I regard as free elections in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet these countries have elections with a huge military presence. Personally I think the real issue in Crimea is that you cannot have a vote on an issue without meaningful debate and time for deliberation. But I thought it would be interesting to discuss it.

Minding your own business is what killed Kitty Genovese. **** minding your own business. **** it right in the ear.

I'm going to be all cynical and suggest it's because it is cheaper and more 'efficient' to build a revolver with the foresight on the barrel at the top. Because Gods forbid we should do something just because it was better. Alternatively I could rant about how most engineers don't pay the slightly goddamn attention to the fact that a human has to operate a device.

True facts about the tarsier is awesome.

You will recall that I have a lung infection? I just nearly died laughing - quite literally - while learning True Facts about the Octopus

So... when do they get out? EDIT: purely for giggles I'm going to try and guess the offences. 1) Larceny; theft of items or a vehicle 2) Violence of some kind 3) First stage drug user, arrested for possession

Then there is no problem. To pervert a great man's words: I hate to advocate a helping hand, empathy, warm beer, and thoughtless generosity; but they've always worked for me. ~ When I took a tumble, even over a long period, these last few years, I had more offers of help and kindness than I could count. On behalf of myself, my friends, comrades, passersby, and everyone I've ever assisted: **** your selfish bull****. Right in the sunshine.

The warning indicator is that they pay half. Not all. It's a scam. "Dude, that basketball shot you just took was awesome. I'd like to train you up and take you pro. Just sign up to my gym classes for 39.99 a month... Pro athletes make, like, tens of thousands of dollars a year."

◾troll everyone on forums, people must suffer Hohohohooo. Indeed. OP can always congratulate himself that he's never been so completely pointless that the only way he could spark feeling was to troll people online.

As useful as it is to underscore that actual Russians aren't like oby, I have to point out that oby is as Russian as my fruitbasket.

As TrueNeutral has already said it is a HUGE mistake to think that depression is sadness or that you have to feel sad to be depressed. I guess I'd take a little of column A and column B on this one. Getting laid and having a drink and some good food and sunshine may not fix the problem but they shouldn't be dismissed. However, I'd say it's a bit like having a soothing lemon drink and some paracetamol when you have a cold - like I am now. They make you feel better. They don't cure you. Finding someone who is qualified to talk you through a fix is the official line I have to say. Unofficially I'd add that achieving measurable goals - even sculpting or walking or helping other people - is what will really fix things.

Incidentally, while looking these up I came across these rather interesting revolvers from Chiappa firearms. http://www.chiappafirearms.com/product/727 Barrel is in line with the lowest point on the cylinder rather than the upper. I'd love to try it. Sounds like genius human factors engineering to me.

Reminded me to post about sanity loss in Call of Cthulhu. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/65984-hp-lovecraft-was-an-arse-everyone-roll-for-san-loss/