RE: Pornography! ! ! !

Absolutely agree Mixtec. Porn gives indeed a distorted view on sexuality, but that is simply what the entertainment industry does. Any liquor commercial will give you a distorted view on alcoholism, any episode of the A team will give you a distorted view on violence, any show of Oprah gives a distorted view on human psychology, any issue of Quote will give you a distorted view on economy, etcetera etcetera etcetera. Porn, from the consumer’s side, is (sexual) entertainment and nothing more or less vile or depraved than that.

I always find it disturbing when people think they should take the moral high ground on issues concerning sex, but disregard other facets of human life in which similar (yet not so focused on primary desires) sociological phenomena occur.

RE: Pornography! ! ! !

Controversial? What’s controversial about porn? Anything which is done volountarily by concenting adults is fine, and if you like to get some inspiration from watching that – just go ahead.

Is that enough to clear your conscience?
}>

RE: BOND… a big smash!

Ad0nis, haven’t you noticed that they are finally going to merge the James Bond and Star Trek series?

Just think of it, thinkin about DAD…
[li]Q (as in any Bond film),
[li]cloaking device (no matter if you use it for an Aston Martin or for a Klingon bird of prey,
[li]Holodeck (not just for Worf or Monneypenney’s sexual fantasies),
[li]A bad guy in the end looking more than just a little bit like a Borg,

In a few years we’ll definately see commander James T. Bond of the USS Merchand… euh, Enterprise 🙂

RE: VASS Laarbruch

Combining Laarbruch sentiments with Wildenrath nostalgia… Keithmac, you make me feel like an old man with my best years long gone…

Yet somehow i don’t mind at all. Great stuff!

RE: National Anthems

Ah, the Canadian anthem. Can’t hear it without seeing the image of Terrance, Phillip, Saddam Hussein and Celine Dion – all in South Park style, of course. 😀

The Dutch anthem is good, it pledges allegiance to the Spanish king, it still refers to the Dutch as ‘van Duytschen bloed’ (the name Netherlands actually refers to Nether-Germany, Upper Germany is what has become the country we know today under that name), and both the melody and lyrics are old enough to give it some historical importance. It’s our anthem only since the 1930s though, before that we had two semi-official ones. The other one was “Wien Neerlands bloed door d’aadren vloeit” (Whom has Netherlands blood flowing through yer vessels”) which is thankfully not played anymore except in certain fascist circles.

The most beautiful one? Definately the Soviet Hymn!

Soyuz nerushimi,
respublik svobodnikh…

RE: BOND… a big smash!

Just saw it last night, and i enjoyed myself thoroughly. Haille Barri and Rosamund Pike are tough to choose between, the gadgets were completely over the top as they should be (with a holodeck and cloacking device it’s becoming a bit like Star Trek), and finally there are commie bad guys again.

Just a few complaints though…
[li]An-124s don’t have glazed noses.
[li]If you want to show sattelite pics of an An-124 on a North Korean airbase, better make sure the aircraft isn’t parked between P-3 Orions.
[li]How many cabriolets would be driving around in Iceland?

RE: Left or Right handed ?

I have a very hyroglyphical (Grolsch for me tonight) right-slanting left-handed script which has often been called some kind of unbreakable code. Neverheless, there are some vague reminders of an actual alphabet hidden which reveals it’s actually normal script. But in a highly evolved manner, of course 😉

Fun thing i have with being left-handed is that i can write backwards without any problems. Actually, my mirror-writing is easier to read than my everyday scribbling.

RE: The Washington Sniper —- Death???

I know I would rather see the money we waste on
keeping murderers in luxury diverted to the people who need
it most. I know it’s emotive Arthur, but have you ever had
to watch someone die because there are no intensive care
beds available?

Yes, i’ve seen such things happen unfortunately. On the other side of the Channel – and i’ve seen mentally ill patients tied to their beds for weeks since that was the best way to keep them from harm with too few people available, and i can go on for a while.

But keeping murderers in luxury? I’m not familiar with the prisons in the UK, but the same argument is brought up here in the Netherlands over and over again. Yet you can believe me, that luxury exists mostly in the imagination of people bringing it up. And add to that the fact that imprisonment means imprisonment. Being locked up. Unable to leave. Knowing that when you get out, you’ll be there empty-handed. If you’ve ever spent one night in a cell you might understand what i’m talking about. Even if your sheets are clean or if you’ve worked for months to get a TV privilege, prisons are not ‘luxurious’ (although, i agree, conditions in certain hospitals aren’t much better).

Also (and this was mentioned above already), i think it’s quite a cheap argument to advocate a cut on this-or-that sector of government spending because some other sector is in your eyes getting too much. I think the British healthcare system can do better with better spreading of the resources. Same as here.

(Australia) Surely it’s not full already?

Nah, they mutate into sheep 😀