The book on which the film was based dates from 1977, so the idea's been in popular culture (I'd describe Craig Thomas as an exponent of the popular novel) since at least then.
You're right, though - a good film and the parallels between Soviet Russia and modern US/UK are striking.
The professors and pontiff are focused on different pictures.
No - they're asking two sorts of questions that are categorically different, only one of which is tractable.
The professors look at questions that have an answer in reality - the pontiff looks at questions that have no place in reality or in rational discussion.
Yes, I know the PIRA did all those things - sectarian and organised crime related violence and murder were their stock in trade, along with their Loyalist counterparts.
Bombings of military targets were never accompanied by warnings - the view of PIRA was that they were at war with the British state, but not with the British people.
Omagh is a special case - that was the 'Real IRA' splinter group, made up of the most recalcitrant and unbending psychopaths who rejected the Good Friday peace process.
Now that the political process appears to be working, I have high hopes that the cycle of violence won't break out again in Northern Ireland, and even that a united Ireland might be possible once the Unionists see that it's in their long term interests.
Groups like the IRA and ETA are generally composed of local people fighting on what is basically a local issue.
We understand the causes of their frustration, and their targets were / are generally predictable.
The PIRA in particular rarely bombed without telephone warnings, usually accurate enough to allow an evacuation to take place.
Bin Laden, on the other hand, holds beliefs that are alien to our culture, and unbelievers sit next to dogs on his scale of values.
Islamic extremist bombers are unlikely ever to give adequate telephone warnings, since they value human life far less than the Catholics of the PIRA and ETA.
Having said that (and probably being of an age with you, having grown up in the late 60s and early 70s), the current rage for intrusive and unwarranted legislation is, I believe, more of a product of the CYA culture and the 'preventative approach' mentality than it is a reflection of any real threat.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies have empires to build and budgets to inflate, and politicians have no spine in the face of public (read Daily Mail) opinion, so I see little hope of this trend ending soon.
Ripper: Mandrake?
Mandrake: Yes, Jack?
Ripper: Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water?
Mandrake: Well, I can't say I have.
Ripper: Vodka, that's what they drink, isn't it? Never water?
Mandrake: Well, I-I believe that's what they drink, Jack, yes.
Ripper: On no account will a Commie ever drink water, and not without good reason.
Mandrake: Oh, eh, yes. I, uhm, can't quite see what you're getting at, Jack.
Ripper: Water, that's what I'm getting at, water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven-tenths of this earth's surface is water. Why, do you realize that seventy percent of you is water?
Mandrake: Uh, uh, Good Lord!
Ripper: And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
Mandrake: Yes. (he begins to chuckle nervously)
Ripper: Are you beginning to understand?
Mandrake: Yes. (more laughter)
Ripper: Mandrake. Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure-grain alcohol?
Mandrake: Well, it did occur to me, Jack, yes.
Ripper: Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation. Fluoridation of water?
Mandrake: Uh? Yes, I-I have heard of that, Jack, yes. Yes.
Ripper: Well, do you know what it is?
Mandrake: No, no I don't know what it is, no.
Ripper: Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?
Here in the UK, the cops aren't generally armed - they've got a flick stick (scary... not!) and pepper spray (had it - it slows you down a bit, but not enough to stop the arsehole who used it getting a slap), so I think you're mistaken.
They usually send a van and two cars (at least 6 PCs) if they know I'm involved.
When that burden of proof argument goes to the Lords on appeal, expect it to get slapped down very, very hard.
The analogy of a combination safe is simple - the state cannot compel you to give up the combination to your safe, but they can (if the evidence warrants it) use any means at their disposal to open the safe without the combination.
I can't see the RIPA powers surviving past the first appeal, as they are:
1. contrary to natural justice, and
2. conflicting with the EU human rights directive, especially regarding privacy.
They'll have to use brute force to decrypt any of my stuff - I'm quite prepared to fight the buggers all the way on this.
Never wish that, mate - my stepson is spastic, quadraplegic, autistic and has severe learning disabilities, but he takes pleasure from whatever he can do, and gives hope and inspiration to all who encounter him with an open mind.
Personally, if a cop threatened to break his fingers, that cop had better run and hide with his whole family - if I caught up with him, he'd be in pain for eternity.
Give me a break - it's 29 years since I learnt Latin at school:P
I did consider using the gerund form, but decided that 'which was to be given' played better than 'which was given', considering that the original QED is best translated as 'which was to be shown'.
Your 500 bhp car will still run like a 500 bhp car, up to the agreed 156 mph limit.
It'll still accelerate like shit off a chrome shovel, and if you really want the 200 mph or so that 500 bhp will give you, it's possible to remap the ECU to remove the limit.
The best use for disabling cylinders is when driving in traffic - to be able to run on half the normal number of cylinders at idle saves a hell of a lot of fuel, especially in a 500 hp behemoth.
Disclaimer - I drive a slightly tweaked Scorpio Cossie that knocks out around 240 bhp - 150 mph (ish - never trust the speedo at that speed) , and am insanely jealous of BMW M5 drivers:P
(unless they mounted it really high up on the wall)
Considering that one of our most entertaining pastimes at primary school used to be pissing contests over the toilet partitions, even a ceiling mounted display would likely be vulnerable, even though I'm now in my dotage and the bladder muscles aren't what they used to be:P
For schools, probably not. Lots of companies are using Office 2007 though.
Yes, and as a victim of Office 2007, let me tell you it's not pleasant. I'm using an almost brand new laptop, XP, Centrino dual core, 2GB RAM, and all components of Office 2007 except Excel slow the machine to a crawl.
I groan whenever I receive a document to review with.docx as the extension - I have taken to saving them as.rtf and using Wordpad to make any changes.
Yes, Erris / Twitter can be annoying, but sometimes he's right - even a stopped clock's right twice a day:P
Slashdot Mirror
Arabic: "OK, OK - I'll give you my homeland to settle your indigent psycopaths on"
You're right, though - a good film and the parallels between Soviet Russia and modern US/UK are striking.
Ah, but it was one of those new-fangled Maglev robots :P
(mods duck as one of the more obscure Python references this week makes a fly-by)
Nice one!
1. Ratzenberger was in the Hitler Youth - fact.
2. One of the main points of Vatican II was that Catholics shouldn't blame the Jews for Christ's death.
Try moderating on stuff you know about next time :P
Ex Hitler Youth Pope disagrees with the exoneration of the Jews!
In other news, bears shit in the woods, and the Pope wears a dress!
No - they're asking two sorts of questions that are categorically different, only one of which is tractable.
The professors look at questions that have an answer in reality - the pontiff looks at questions that have no place in reality or in rational discussion.
Bombings of military targets were never accompanied by warnings - the view of PIRA was that they were at war with the British state, but not with the British people.
Omagh is a special case - that was the 'Real IRA' splinter group, made up of the most recalcitrant and unbending psychopaths who rejected the Good Friday peace process.
Now that the political process appears to be working, I have high hopes that the cycle of violence won't break out again in Northern Ireland, and even that a united Ireland might be possible once the Unionists see that it's in their long term interests.
We understand the causes of their frustration, and their targets were / are generally predictable.
The PIRA in particular rarely bombed without telephone warnings, usually accurate enough to allow an evacuation to take place.
Bin Laden, on the other hand, holds beliefs that are alien to our culture, and unbelievers sit next to dogs on his scale of values.
Islamic extremist bombers are unlikely ever to give adequate telephone warnings, since they value human life far less than the Catholics of the PIRA and ETA.
Having said that (and probably being of an age with you, having grown up in the late 60s and early 70s), the current rage for intrusive and unwarranted legislation is, I believe, more of a product of the CYA culture and the 'preventative approach' mentality than it is a reflection of any real threat.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies have empires to build and budgets to inflate, and politicians have no spine in the face of public (read Daily Mail) opinion, so I see little hope of this trend ending soon.
I've only been working with various computers since 1979, and it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to save a document using the Word 2007 interface.
Talk about frustration!
At least most of the old keyboard shortcuts still work, though - I touch that poisonous GUI as little as possible, and have learnt to tolerate it.
As I said to the guy who mandated it in our company - if I want a gay interface I'll use a Mac, thankyou.
Mandrake: Yes, Jack?
Ripper: Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water?
Mandrake: Well, I can't say I have.
Ripper: Vodka, that's what they drink, isn't it? Never water?
Mandrake: Well, I-I believe that's what they drink, Jack, yes.
Ripper: On no account will a Commie ever drink water, and not without good reason.
Mandrake: Oh, eh, yes. I, uhm, can't quite see what you're getting at, Jack.
Ripper: Water, that's what I'm getting at, water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven-tenths of this earth's surface is water. Why, do you realize that seventy percent of you is water?
Mandrake: Uh, uh, Good Lord!
Ripper: And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
Mandrake: Yes. (he begins to chuckle nervously)
Ripper: Are you beginning to understand?
Mandrake: Yes. (more laughter)
Ripper: Mandrake. Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure-grain alcohol?
Mandrake: Well, it did occur to me, Jack, yes.
Ripper: Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation. Fluoridation of water?
Mandrake: Uh? Yes, I-I have heard of that, Jack, yes. Yes.
Ripper: Well, do you know what it is?
Mandrake: No, no I don't know what it is, no.
Ripper: Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?
Sorry, just had to quote Dr Strangelove...
With time on his hands left to kill
Perverted the process
Of standards, with success
And earned a big blowjob from Bill
Oh - haiku? I thought you meant limerick!
:P
They usually send a van and two cars (at least 6 PCs) if they know I'm involved.
And yes, I am a vindictive bastard.
The analogy of a combination safe is simple - the state cannot compel you to give up the combination to your safe, but they can (if the evidence warrants it) use any means at their disposal to open the safe without the combination.
I can't see the RIPA powers surviving past the first appeal, as they are:
1. contrary to natural justice, and
2. conflicting with the EU human rights directive, especially regarding privacy.
They'll have to use brute force to decrypt any of my stuff - I'm quite prepared to fight the buggers all the way on this.
Personally, if a cop threatened to break his fingers, that cop had better run and hide with his whole family - if I caught up with him, he'd be in pain for eternity.
is IBM Jazz released on the Big Blue Note label?
His real name was Shirley Crabtree, and he invented the belly splash in around 1977.
With a 62" chest and a 70+" belly, this normally caused a huge cheer, and almost always finished the bout.
He retired in 1987, when one of his belly splashes resulted in the death of an opponent.
Ah - the days of World of Sport and Kent Walton...
Kids - get off my lawn!
I did consider using the gerund form, but decided that 'which was to be given' played better than 'which was given', considering that the original QED is best translated as 'which was to be shown'.
It'll still accelerate like shit off a chrome shovel, and if you really want the 200 mph or so that 500 bhp will give you, it's possible to remap the ECU to remove the limit.
The best use for disabling cylinders is when driving in traffic - to be able to run on half the normal number of cylinders at idle saves a hell of a lot of fuel, especially in a 500 hp behemoth.
Disclaimer - I drive a slightly tweaked Scorpio Cossie that knocks out around 240 bhp - 150 mph (ish - never trust the speedo at that speed) , and am insanely jealous of BMW M5 drivers :P
Considering that one of our most entertaining pastimes at primary school used to be pissing contests over the toilet partitions, even a ceiling mounted display would likely be vulnerable, even though I'm now in my dotage and the bladder muscles aren't what they used to be :P
Get off my lawn, kids.
QED?
Quod Erat Donatum?
Also known as a 'Glasgow kiss', of which my wife is a fine exponent.
Yes, and as a victim of Office 2007, let me tell you it's not pleasant. I'm using an almost brand new laptop, XP, Centrino dual core, 2GB RAM, and all components of Office 2007 except Excel slow the machine to a crawl.
I groan whenever I receive a document to review with .docx as the extension - I have taken to saving them as .rtf and using Wordpad to make any changes.
Yes, Erris / Twitter can be annoying, but sometimes he's right - even a stopped clock's right twice a day :P