Free Republic

In 1660 the King came back, and there was massive rejoicing...

...And we've had no truck with religious extremism ever since, thank God. Since then, however, every monarch has ruled with the knowledge that if they did something against the will of Parliament there was a fair chance their head would end up on a pike on Tower Bridge. Keeps them on their toes. I'm a supporter of the monarchy too, but I think it's disingenuous to refer to us as a "monarchy" in the same way as we were a monarchy before Cromwell. This Princess Michael thing just proves that the royals should keep their mouths shut unless they are reading speeches prepared by wiser heads.

"Passion" also opened in three Middle Eastern countries -- Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar -- and tallied $377,000 from 7,000 admissions.

That's $54 per ticket, blimey, I thought the prices had got bad round here :)

This whole situation seems to contribute more to the problem of global idiocy.

Hehe you're right there. "Eternal Flame of Peace extinguished in row over gas bill" sounds like a headline from The Onion to me, or a subject for a "Yes Minister" episode. I'm sure there's something witty and deeply profound to say about it, reflecting human nature or something but I can't think of anything offhand.

Having seen every episode of Sex and the City in order as a partner of a big fan, I don't think Sex and the City is supposed to be that serious. The people in it (the women anyway) are all fairly unpleasant and disturbed caricatures, they are certainly not role models for anyone and I don't think they are supposed to be taken as such. I think that much of the pleasure is gained from vicarious thrill of watching these people continuously make the wrong choices in men etc and how they are the victims or their own neuroses. I don't think women watch it because they want to be like the women in it (although many might fantasise about the lifestyle). I think it is watched to make women feel better about themselves by reassuring themselves that although the lifestyle might be a fantasy, they are really much better off where they are. This is a common thread amongst much entertainment targeted at females (please don't kill me, I'm sure not all women like this stuff).

That said, I don't think it is suitable for children as they might not pick up on this subtlty and tend to ape what they see, rather than analyse the behaviour and its results on screen.

The government estimates that alcohol abuse costs the country $36 billion every year in related crime and illness.

I always get the feeling that if one added up the "costs" that the government estimates for activities (drink, drugs, smoking, eating McDonalds etc) they'd add up to about twenty times our GDP.

...If the trend is ever to be reversed, society must become more open about bastard children being an embarassment, divorce a matter of shame, single motherhood (other than widowhood) a cause for public humiliation, and "shacking up" a cause for scandal.

I don't think our society wants to go there. But until these "non-marriage" choices are openly criticized, we will just see more and more extreme examples of them.

I had a thought on this. Back in the day, having children out of wedlock would result in financial penury - the workhouse or worse for those with no family to support them or an intolerable strain on family finances for those who did. Perhaps this is partly what caused the taboo about the things you mention. Now those pressures are not there, or at least greatly reduced, the taboo had gone. I don't have a solution to it, but it's a possible cause.

Depends what you fall on.

Mind your step.

That made my day, thanks :)

Umm... I thought the "decision" was made by the individual spermatozoa.

That's a damn good point, maybe male embryos are less likely to implant in thinner women for some reason? I must admit, it makes sense as an adaption (not the same as saying that it actually happens of course). A single male can impregnate many females so having lots of males around is a luxury which in times of starvation can be dispensed with.

Further investigation reveals that they have a population of 800,000. That's £3.75 million in damages each. That's pretty brass necked by anyones standards. They must have been fabulously wealthy and prosperous before the British came.

Hehe, 3 trillion quid indeed.

The kingdom has a website.

It all looks good, some very worthwile projects planned, a technical college to teach people useful skills, laws planned to stop early marriages etc.

Then I got to this bit - the section about Electronic Communication.

The kingdom is making strides in imparting modern telecommunication and digital information technology skills to our youth. The first of these efforts is at the Bunyoro-Kitara Community Tele Centre, where basic computing skills are taught. There is a shortage of work stations, as there is a total of five computers. Donations of computing equipment will be gratefully accepted.

Another constraint is poor connectivity. We lack a portal to the Internet. Currently, there is a total of six ordinary telephone lines that link the town of Hoima to the rest of the world. The centre has to compete for space on these congested lines. We are fundraising for satelitte connectivity. When realized, the user community will offset the cost by paying for connectivity time.

Six phone lines in their major town!!! What in the name of god are they going to do with three trillion pounds? There must be some mistake with the figures here :)

...but it is my contention that these statements essentially speak for the vast majority of American conservatives.

Conservatives over here too (UK) - I couldn't disagree with a single one of them.

Well, a martyr by definition is someone who dies for his/her faith.

It certainly is in the Christian tradition, and hence the English word "Martyr" has come to mean that. Not only that, but in the Christian tradition it also implies some kind of a choice - people choose to be martyrs for their faith. For example - someone who is offered the opportunity to recant their faith, but chooses to be faithful to their concience and is put to death as a result is a Martyr.

I had a look into it and apparently the word in Arabic (Shahid) which we translate as "Martyr" in the Islamic tradition allows someone who falls in battle against agressors to be one. It also carries no implication of choice - you can be a "martyr" by accident. Damn confusing, the same word in English used to describe two completely different things. In my opinion the difference is significant enough to be a mistranslation, and that we should use the word "Shahid" when referring to Islamic "martyrs".

Have you seen the next generation of mines? There was a thread a while back about it. They can move themselves great distances, and even conceal their own tracks.

No, I think I missed that one - I'll have a search for it, sounds interesting, thanks.

This thing Bush signed is still bogus though, because it's taking the claymores away from our grunts on the line. He should have told the rest of the world to kiss our asses.

I guess he must have something in mind, he doesn't seem to have done much in the way of kow-towing to international demands that the USA work against it's own interests so far (and no bad thing may I add - I wish our PM would stand up for us like your pres stands up for you). Maybe if the US leads the world in developing these "smart mines" they'll be able to persuade those countries who have banned anti-personnel mines to buy shiny next-generation American ones instead :) Having said that, I expect the US military picks up most of it's mines, smart or othewise, after itself anyway?

I agree about the pollution standards by the way, I'm pretty sure that your industry is cleaner than the places all our industry went to when our govenment killed it with regulations.

What deranges them the most is that many of these people speak only Urdu or Arab, and no English at all.

I'll go along with that, the lack of English drives me spare, I don't mind the veils so much.

Dude, George just agreed to do nothing. The US had been using smart landmines for years.

Sorry, I didn't know that, I was just reacting to the article. If the US uses only smart land mines then what is this article about?

I always thought of the USA as being the "good guys" who will bend over backwards to avoid killing anyone they don't have to providing it doesn't leave their own troops vulnarable. Looks like GW does too, thank god, even if you don't. I don't think GW is the sort of chap to leave his troops without the weapons they need just to satisfy peaceniks though as demonstrated by his rejection of the original landmine treaty so I think you may be overreacting.

Good for George. Like many in the UK I was suspicious of him when he started out (the rhetoric of his administration is a little alien to us this side of the pond) but as time has gone on I have come to like the fella more and more. Humanitarian but sensible at the same time, let's hope he gets another term.

In my case I didn't get a pertusis (whooping cough) vaccination as a child as the vaccination was causing concern. I caught it as part of the epidemic that followed this and have a weak chest to this date. I think every vaccination has to be considered in isolation with regard to risk and benefit.

Alcohol should be consumed in moderation.

Hehe, the Methodist father of a girl I used to see used to say "everything in moderation, including moderation". My grandmother used to say "A bit of what you fancy does you good". I use these two sayings to justify my wanton excess on Saturday night :D

Actually, the "short name" is the USA PATRIOT Act. That's an acronym for the full name, which is the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001.

Aha, an acronym! That explains it, thanks :)