29 January 2010

29/01/10

Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven was published in 1845.  Karl Benz patented the first successful gasoline-powered automobile in 1886.  And in 1979, sixteen year-old Brenda Ann Spencer barricaded herself into a room in her house overlooking Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California.  Using the .22 calibre semi-automatic rifle that her father had given her for Christmas, she began shooting at children and staff.  Eight students and one police officer were injured, the school's principal and a custodian were killed.  When asked why she had done it, she replied, "I just did it for the fun of it.  I don't like Mondays.  This livens up the day."

Born today:  Thomas Paine (1737-1809), Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), Frederick Delius (1862-1934), Sacha Distel (1933-2004), Germaine Greer (1939), Andrew Loog Oldham (1944), Tommy Ramone (1952) and Oprah Winfrey (1954).

It is Constitution Day in Gibraltar.

107 comments:

  1. On Today - David Blunkett sticking up for Blair as a charismatic PM who has been dragged down by the war on Iraq and then saying he, Blunkett, couldn't take the public hatred whereas Blair doesn't care. Mmm.

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  2. Just read last night's thread - am off to find the trouser thread!

    Morning, MsChin!

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  3. Morning MsChin, Thauma,

    Cracking post from His Grice on the Martin Kettle thread. Glad he's not abandoned Ciffing altogether.

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  4. Cnut has just taken his seat.

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  5. Hope they have the electrodes installed properly.

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  6. Such a slimey little toad... he lies with such ease... so earnest...

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  7. Following this from work.

    Am I right in reading that he's just said he 'can understand the certain framework the IRA worked to'???

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  8. Something along those lines yeah. He also said "there was no specific discussion of the options paper with the cabinet".

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  9. Is also trying to backtrack on his interview comment about changing regime regardless of WMD.

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  10. Oh, that was a mistake - just switched to the radio coverage.

    Realised I haven't actually heard the bastard's voice for ages. Eeeewwwwwww.

    almost unbelievable rationalisation going on there...

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  11. I think its too mild a word for him, to be honest, he doesnt appear to have any shred of morality or humanity whatsoever.

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  12. Hang on - he felt sorry for America?

    He didn't want them to have to go on their own?

    Is he talking about international military action or going along on a blind double date with a spoddy mate?

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  13. Alisdair,

    I find that comparison offensive...........

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  14. Although it's tempting, am rather oppposed to the c-bomb meself - wretched feminist principles - so find myself rather reaching for condemnatory language of a biblical bent.

    a vapid, venal, amoral hypocrite, for whom there is not just a circle of hell, but a whole new extension that's been built.

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  15. grrrrrrr.

    now it's all about "WMD ambitions"?

    presumably if we had been pro- the regime, these would have been "WMD aspirations"...

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  16. Am I watching a formal inquiry on the live broadcast or does TB think he's in an episode of law & order?

    Pigs .. now.

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  17. Watching it positively sick making. he is so plausibly implausable (if you know what I mean).

    talking about I/P now, Israel loosing 'a lot of people'" no mention of the Palestinian losses!

    Not sure if I can take six hours of this!

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  18. Philippa,

    if you want to insult Blair using his religious faith, may I interest you in the The Biblical insult generator?

    I just tried it. And to Mr Blair I can only shout:

    Harken, O thou plaything of Beelzebub, for you will be plagued with gnats, flies and locusts!

    Can anyone beat that?

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  19. I'm sorry, dott. I don't actually mean it in the literal sense,using the word not in any way sense or form to denigrate 50% of the population, but simply because it's the strongest word in the English language.Apologies for unintended connotations or offense caused.Let's put it another way: Blair is more offensive even than the c-word, which can offend on almost every level (propriety/decency/liberal sensibility etc etc).

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  20. Sorry Alisdair, it was a joke, as in: that's offensive to c*n^s........

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  21. at this point, I think only Revelation can really cut the mustard.

    And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beat rise up out of the sea...
    and he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell upon the earth...


    BTW - anyone with an ounce of compassion, head for the MR Hall thread and give the soi-disant 'religious' spokesperson (and novelist) a good kicking. Truly vile reasoning going on there. The usual suspects are in full force but the weight of the thread is with the compassionate, thank God.

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  22. I liked a beat rising out of the sea...

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  23. Yea, and twas like unto shooting fish in a barrel, or peasants in a desert...

    Proverbs 17:4
    
A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.

    
Revelation 21:8
    
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. 


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  24. Where do bad folks go when they die?
    They don't go to heaven where the angels fly
    They go to a lake of fire and fry...


    From these noted theologians

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  25. Take heed, O ye sad Pharisee, for you will be trampled by a herd of stampeding pigs!

    Thanks duke! Brilliant!

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  26. Careful, I want no talk of Bliar going to hell: as a card carrying eternally damned unbeliever we don't want his sort in spank you very much!

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  27. Bitterweed's pigs they were a starving,
    Someone special they were going to be having,
    Blair's just been found out, the law he did flout,
    ''Just throw him in, he doesnt need carving.''

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  28. Pigs ? I have my Special Forces, Black Ops Swine Unit on standby. They haven't eaten for six days and really f@cking hate anti-democratic, centralising, privatisating warmongers. (Something to do with re-branding after Orwell).

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  29. "I have my Special Forces, Black Ops Swine Unit on standby."

    I like this, a mobile band of hogs that can strike anywhere, they dont need the scum to be brought to their pen, they are dynamic - they strike anywhere.

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  30. The shadowy world of international politics is their pen.

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  31. This made me chuckle...

    Don't worry, Dot - similar to the idea that there is more than one heaven, I'm pretty certain there's at least two hells. There's the one with all the best tunes, the gay people, the pro-choicers and the socialists, where we're all going, and then there's the other one...

    Kind of like an inverse VIP room.

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  32. annetan, princess - beautiful posts on the MR Hall thread.

    annetan
    "Life is more wonderful more miraculous and more marvelous than all the words in all the religious books ever written."
    Now, we may come from different doctrinal standpoints (as a nun once said to me - !) but that hit the nail on the head for me. Maybe MR Hall is so focussed on suffering because he's one of those people who, as they say, 'suffers from his faith rather than celebrates it' - the bible, for me, is guidance, it is not everything - everything includes us, and what we do, what, and who, we are.

    princess
    "I believe that if we say everyone deserves the best life they can get and that everyone absolutely deserves dignity - both in living and dying - then we elevate the human condition"
    Absolutely bang on.

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  33. Lots of fun in the comments to Galloway's piece today - the tone is set from the second one:

    davidabsalom
    29 Jan 2010, 11:37AM

    Shouldn't you be arguing this sort of thing in parliament? It's that gothic building on the Thames with the big clock if you've forgotten where it is.

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  34. thanks for the tip, PeterJ, had missed that one - need some light relief what with chilcott and 'life is sacred' thread...

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  35. I'd actually clean forgotten that Galloway was an MP.

    Now, is that my fail or his?

    Hmmm

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  36. Just watching it now - heard bits of it and the analysis on World at One on my way home. Three cheers for Menzies Campbell. But Blair is making my stomach turn. Vile creature.

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  37. Compliments on that thread, too, for Miskatonic:


    MiskatonicUniversity
    29 Jan 2010, 11:39AM

    "My party, Respect, will be standing in carefully targeted seats in opposition to that"

    George, does this mean your party's appeal is becoming increasingly selective?

    I'd accept that "shrill cries of racism, bigotry and Islamophobia" must be part of that, but then you should stop making them. That boat has sailed.

    In fact, I think you'd have to consider how your own endorsement of extreme right-wing, socially conservative and politically authoritarian regimes - namely Hamas in Gaza and the Mullahs in Iran (you are STILL on Press TV, aren't you?) - have helped diminish the appeal of Respect to the point where Davide Icke could give you a run for your money.

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  38. I've just turned it off and switched to Randall and Hopkirk Deceased instead. I need a bit more reality in my life.

    Seriously, though, I really cannot stomach it.

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  39. Phillipa - this comment of yours made me laugh out loud. ''Hang on - he felt sorry for America?

    He didn't want them to have to go on their own?

    Is he talking about international military action or going along on a blind double date with a spoddy mate?''

    Peter that David Absolom comment was good.

    Philippa - this from Vertical on the Osbourne thread should cheer you up - it made me chuckle.
    ''nice to see Osborne's still living off his Corfu holiday reading. Next week: the Dan Brown approach to constitutional reform. He owns the Zeitgeist, don't question it.

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  40. I've been listening to Chilcott all day and I am, seriously, losing the will to live.

    Ah, we thought there'd be a functioning system in Iraq after we'd blown the shit out of it.

    Ah, we didn't realise that the insurgents would take advantage of the breakdown in the Iraqi state.

    Just didn't see it coming.

    Why not? asks polite chappy.

    Ooh, well, it's all Iran's fault. And Iraq would have ended up as a terrorist training camp anyway.

    I mean, I know they're vicious, hypocritical, power-hungry war-mongers, but were they really that straignt-dow-the-line dumb? Ok, Bush, yes, but Cheney/Rumsfeld were always devious little shits, rather than clinically stupid.

    Hometime for the pals - am off to the pub to recover. This may take some time.

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  41. As I cant drink at the moment I cant actually listen to Blair Philippa. It would send me over the edge. Seeing that smug shits face - no thank you. I will just keep up via the untrusted I think!

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  42. Trsut arch-toady Kettle to write a simpering little sop on CIF...

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  43. Someone's reading out the monthly death figures from violence in the 'reconstruction' period. Genuinely one of the most chilling things I've heard in a while...

    What would he say to the Iraqi people?
    **************
    We'll carry on with the political process - elections, constitution...

    We'll be with you and help you defeat this
    Most important - with the bodycount over 100000 in this period - the coalition forces weren't doing the killing. It was the insurgents... They were doing it quite deliberately to stop us making progress.

    Our responsibility was to stick in there and see it through...
    ***************

    No matter the cost, eh? No matter who took the decision to put their lives on the table? No matter how stupidly you had misunderstood what would happen in the post-saddam vaccuum?

    Just ... rowr. Rowr.

    Pub.

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  44. I'm trying hard and flicking through my numerous History books to find another ex PM so utterly detested and reviled by EVERYBODY as Blair.

    Obviously for me, Thatcher is no1 but of course she is venerated as St Margaret by large (deluded) swathes of the population, however Blair is a different matter altogether, he is detested universally.

    I cannot come across another example in PM history to match the almost total vitriol for Blair.

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  45. Duke - i took great pleasure when i heard he had said recently "Its not true that nobody likes me". Obviously he has heard that said enough times for him to feel it worth refuting.

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  46. Jay,

    the only saving grace is the importance Tony has alway put on his legacy.

    You just know that no matter how many foundations he sets up, how many non exec posts he takes up, how many middle east 'peace' talks he gives, how many millions he makes on his speaking tours, how many fucking handbags he whores off to businessmen, he lies awake at night futilely wrestling with the gaping, nihilst existentialist void of his own making slowly destroying his heart and soul.



    Aaah, that felt better. Time for a beer.

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  47. Speaking of beer - my beloved has bought me a couple of bottles of Bishop's Finger. Glug..

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  48. Did anyone hear Blunkett on the radio this morning, btw, declaring that Blair would be remembered for being one of the best PM's we'd ever had and everyone would forget about Iraq.

    Uhuh...

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  50. Evening all - first a large drink....

    Was at work - so could only follow the proceedings on the BBC news blog. The Steve Bell eyes did appear towards the end though I think he led them by the nose for most of the day.

    What can you do with someone who has such a messianic view of their own absolute rightness (apart from crucify them). There are times for polite restraint but this wasn't one of them.

    I think you're right Yr Grace - Iraq will sit on his shoulders like a stinking imp whatever he does and where ever he goes and will always poison any legacy he hopes to create.

    And - we are all apparently, much safer and better off now, although he appeared to be softening us up for future trouble with Iran. Thanks Tone.

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  51. BB

    I did hear Blunkett this morning - what a disappointment that man turned out to be. when he was leader of the Sheffield council he was quite radical.

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  52. Hi sheff

    I was bloody disappointed with him too. Mind you, I was disappointed with him at the time he was Home Sec. I would give anything to have him back as Home Sec now, given the lunatics that followed him...

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  53. I mentioned Blunkett on R4 at the start of the thread, it pissed me off so much to hear him dribble over TB, then say he preferred to be loved by the populace rather than reviled like TB.

    And he was never that radical, sheff, he was one of a women-free group we used to call 'the men in beards' who engineered their own careers whilst simultaneously running Sheffield into the ground.

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  54. Men In Beards - hehehe. I see a pastiche on Men In Black running through my mind now, MsChin. :o)

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  55. No regrets from Tony. No mention of loss of life, whether British or Iraqi. Although there was a tear-jerking recital of statistics about child mortality rates under Saddam's regime and how much 'better' they are now. Oh, and apparently electricity and per capita income is much better too. What a despicable fucker.

    You can see the whole thing here

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  56. Cheers sherf

    Someone on the steam radio this morning was saying that, while infant mortality rates were better now than during Saddam's days, the child-under-five mortality rates were worse!

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  57. Evening all,

    I know it is a bit much to ask after all we have been through today, but some Untrusted support would be welcome on Chilcot hamstrung by secrecy.

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  58. Randomly catching up....

    Duke

    I cannot come across another example in PM history to match the almost total vitriol for Blair.

    What seems strange to me is that a lot of people have a LOT more animosity toward Brown. Don't get me wrong, I don't like the bloke, but compared to Blair (whose policies he is following neatly, it must be said), he is an angel.

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  59. 'What seems strange to me is that a lot of people have a LOT more animosity toward Brown.'

    I've thought that as well thauma. My feeling is that just as liberal Americans resent Blair for not being a brake on Bush, so we resent Brown not being a brake on Blair. Goodness he didn't even have a crush on Blair (as Blair did on Bush), so physical desire isn't even a factor.

    As for me, I hate Blair much more; he reminds me of the scene in James Blish's The Day After Judgement when a cardinal appears with the ring of Satan on his finger - I do, I do hate him.

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  60. BB: thanks for your posts!

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  61. Not very erudite I'm afraid, but I've had a hard week and am now sipping beer and shifting the brain into "idle". :o)

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  62. Edwin - tbh, I don't think most Americans took any notice whatsoever of what Blair (or Brown) thought of the war. The vast majority of them had no idea who was PM. That particular little power play was for international relations, not internal US ones.

    The Americans were in the Fuck yeah! mode and willing to attack any Ay-rabs regardless of whether they'd had anything to do with 9/11. I know, I was living there at the time.

    Completely agree with the rest of your post though: Blair has obviously (to me, anyway) had a crush on *ugh* Bush, and is so far more a figure of hate than Brown, who is flawed but human. Blair isn't human: he's evil incarnate.

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  63. Good for you. Although i am a beer person really, i have a nice Italian cranberry liqueur to fortify me.

    by the bye, that obnoxious MikeSmith5 has come out with



    BeautifulBurnout,

    Dr Kelly saw the raw intelligence and very much believed Iraq had WMD. He supported the war. Dr Kelly is not a liar and a war criminal.

    Hans Blix said from his private dealings with Tony Blair that he was totally convinced from the intelligence. Dr Blix did not lie. Robin Cook said this as well.

    Come on, time to pack it in.


    i propose countering that with

    Dr Kelly and Robin Cook are dead. Robin Cook was certainly NOT in favour of the war. What makes you say that Dr. Kelly was?

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  64. BB: thanks, you've done it better than that already.

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  65. Medve - just curious, like: your avatar would appear to be a teddy-bear dressed up as the Fonz and being hanged ... is there any meaning in this?

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  66. Hmmm... mikesmith5 is another MrJohnWhite - someone who has signed up uniquely to comment on the Blair threads.

    If he is not a paid astroturfer, I am the queen of sheba

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  67. Thauma: Medve does mean bear in Hungarian and is one the nicknames given to me by the mother of our children. The avatar is a picture of a ceramic figurine leaning against a open box-like brick structure suitable for the storage of pens and pencils. So it is not a noose, but a pencil. I like the avatar because of his gormless expression.

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  68. I've probably posted this before, but it seems like the ultimate New Labour Anthem.

    If you want it, boys,
    Get it here thing:
    'Cos hope, boys,
    Is a cheap thing, cheap thing


    Don't miss the half-pigs in the background of the album art.

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  69. Thauma: On CiF you can just about see that it is a pencil.

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  70. Medve - thanks for that! Still looks like a noose to me, though, so I shall persist in my delusion....

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  71. BB: and was that GIYUS on there as well.

    All: His Grice on a fresh Marina Hyde thread.

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  72. Medve - no, it looks even more like a hangman's deadly tool in the larger pic!

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  73. Thauma: I'll hang in there then (boom boom).

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  74. Ach - I'm getting a bit tired of all the Blair threads now. I wish the Graun would just do one or two instead of ninety-twelve of the things.

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  75. BB: time to rest the cases and lift the glasses. cheers!

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  76. Medve - ha ha - you do that!

    Andy, if you're about: while I'm on the subject, here's one for you, Orwell fan that you are.

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  77. BB - you drinking Bishop's Finger? It's known as Nun's Delight here in the town where it's brewed...
    Utterly too pissed off with the Chilcot stuff, been a bloody long week so am ignoring it and drinking red. Assume Blair wriggled out of everything as expected...

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  78. Hiya shaz - you've inspired me to lower the tone even more....

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  79. Good night all, off to the pub, may not be coherent when i come back.

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  80. H'm thauma... reminds me of the snow sculpture my son made on the school field... subsequently apparently demolished in the name of decency... I don't think 7ft high is really excessive?

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  81. thauma, that's definitely one for bru and the craaaazy never-ending social whirl of Brussels. (Gosh, after some of those big balls I often don't get to bed till at least midnight!)

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  82. Indeed, scherf and shaz - I think I've had so many big balls to attend to this week that I shall have to retire early this evening, Friday or no.

    Balls can be so fatiguing.

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  83. Night thauma.

    And goodnight to the hound, sweet dreams about Hunt Balls.

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  84. Ta MsChin ... ooh, *hunting* balls: now there's a subject for sweet dreams....

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  85. Yh, night guys - sleep well, balls or no balls...

    - what's the difference between snow men and snow women?
    - snow balls...

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  86. Evenin'all.

    Getting ready for work I took a shower, had something to eat, watched the news. That was the wrong order to do things in.

    Just when I thought I couldn't be more sickened and made feel any dirtier by someone I voted for...

    Oh well, here's a song for our Tony.

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  87. Any happier songs out there tonight?

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  88. Hi heyhabib: great song, takes me back a bit ;)

    back from the pub, slightly worse for wear.

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  89. Ahh the pogues from the mid eighties if my memory serves .. when i was still a young idiot. I'll drink your health heyhabib cheers!

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  90. Hi UTs--Just checking in after a little pubbing meself. Medve, the the public house can be therapeutic no? Any and all opinions come to the fore.

    Habib--Were you named for the famous Indian politician? Just wondering, I'm reading a book about the Nehru/Gandhi dynasty by Tariq Ali. Very enlightening and informative to me.

    And yes, the Pogues had their moments.

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  91. Heavens above!

    (by the way hello Boudican)

    MoveAnyMountain has had a go at me. To which i have replied this.

    Just got up by the way.

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  92. Good morning Medve. You do know that MaM pulls his info from 'sources' unknown to most of us. Good retort and links from you though.

    Been following the MR Hall thread myself, and it has my blood boiling. Another religionist who wants to guide my life through his moral parameters. No thanks, I'll take reality.

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  93. Thanks Boudican, i suspect you must be resposible for the sole single solitary recommend i have garnered with that retort.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly we seem to have similar sentiments on MR Hall. I put something quite nasty on there, but that was before the cranberry liqueurs and the wheat beer, so my memory is a little fuzzy. Time for coffee.

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  95. Boudican: Having read your post again, let me rephrase that: respect.

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  96. Thank you Medve, but I think I did what most of us would do. No ideal answers here so I did the best I could.

    My wife is interested in the cranberry liqueur. My little flower happens to be the manager of the local liquor store (government job, I must disclose) and can request foreign delights. She will be on the case tommorrow.


    As for me, I quite like the hefeweizen.

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  97. Boudican: My better half is currently snow bound in an aircraft trying to get to Frankfurt and on to Barcelona. They won't take off until it stops snowing. She brought the cranberry liqueur from Padua last week: Zedda Piras: Mirto di Sardegna. My favourite beer is Hoegaarden Belgian white beer.

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  98. Medve, thanks for the info on the cranberry liqueur. My better two thirds is on a cranberry health kick at the moment. Quite prevalent all over north america. I, however, am loyal to good single malt, good tequila, and beers too numerous to mention.--Never had the pleasure of the Hoegaarden Belgian white, but will strive for diversity in hops

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  99. Boudican: still thinking about You do know that MaM pulls his info from 'sources' unknown to most of us. Seems to me that it could be a group or an organisation. Just don't know.

    Very weird that we seem to have very similar tastes: from Tuchman to tequila, through books and beer, to wood and whiskey.

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  100. Wow, talking of Tuchman, Montana has sneakily put up today's / tomorrow's post without butting into our conversation (Hi Montana) and it includes Barbara Tuchman's birthday!

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  101. Medve, haha, we shall not let the time zones restrict or inhibit kindred spirits. (bottled or other)

    Really enjoyed your 'Folly' thread. Partly because of Tuchman, but also made me think outside the box.

    As for MaM, a lot of words, not much to be learned.

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  102. Well then Medve, I'm pouring myself a 'Patron'( Fine tequila company, owned by Dan Akroyd) and I'll meet you on the other side.

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