Vapymid

I agree with the above except this: I hope you mean "economically". I just can't see anybody even thinking about invading another country the size of the US, amphibiously, across an ocean, even if the target can only defend itself with muskets and 24 pounder muzzle loaders... It's just out of the question militarily (unless you live in COD5). Regards

Strawbs - The Battle QUOTE: In the early dawn the Bishops' men Shivered in the damp But the shiver came not from the cold And spread throughout the camp The trembling horses sensed the fear Of silent thoughtful men Who prayed that wives and families Might see them once again. The bishops sent a dawn patrol To investigate the weight Of forces at the King's command Ensconced behind the gate The ground mist hid the patrol's approach As they drew close enough to show The sentries on the battlements And an archer drew his bow. From the topmost tower a sentry fell As an arrow pierced his skull And his headlong flight into the moat Seemed that of a gull The patrol reported little There was nothing much to see But the strong and silent castle A symbol of the free. The King's men took communion As the first rays of the sun Lit up the castle's gloomy walls The fatal day begun From the castle green the rooks took flight To the high trees in the east To their carrion minds the battlefield Set a table for a feast. A tide of black, the Bishops' men, Equality their right Swarmed like ants across the hill Their aim at last in sight The King's men dressed in purest white Were driven back by force And the fighting grew more violent As the battle took its course. The Bishops gave the order No mercy to be shown The sacrifice will reap rewards When the King is overthrown The sight of children lying dead Made hardened soldiers weep The outer walls began to fall They moved towards the keep. The rooks surveyed the battlefield Their hungry beady eyes Revelled in the sight of death Showing no surprise The pressure mounted steadily As the Bishops neared the gate And the desperate King called to his knights "It's your lives or the State". When the anxious King began to fail As many thought he might The Queen ran screaming round the walls And urged the men to fight The Bishops' men were tiring As the afternoon drew late And the King's men lowered the drawbridge And poured out through the gate. They fought their way across the bridge The men like falling leaves Or ears of corn that fall in swathes The vicious sickle cleaves The tide receded up the hill The waste of reclaimed land Once decaying swamp became A shore of pure white sand. A blinded priest was seen to bless Both dying and the dead As he stumbled around the battlefield His cassock running red If uniform were black or white His eyes could never see And death made no distinction Whatever man he be. As darkness fell both camps withdrew Their soldiers slain like cattle Leaving the rooks to feast alone The victors of the battle At evensong both camps reviewed Their sad depleted ranks As survivors of the battle Gave God their grateful thanks. UNQUOTE: If you read thus far - that was a song about a game of chess... Regards

Amon Duul II - not very heavy but undeniably German and, although somewhat different from other Krautrock bands like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, are considered one of the stalwarts of the genre. rumuIud0Oo0 Full album version here This one is of a completely different character -v89BlndVKI And another... ZCo5PoJexvI And one more... KKlgAP2vneU Regards

w6-AefmNUgQ 4bGjFPZvImY Regards

Rejoice forward out this feeling (whatever that means ) M06rsoMYW8A Regards

I am not into this type of music. Your last one made me think of B-52's, like this piece, for instance ymmqisvThhk Presumably, you this one already? tR_i0sKWKEA Regards

A dose of Krautrock never hurt anybody... m-BVJYo28ks Regards

MIt3uO8aziw Regards

Also, check that your boiler (if there is one) is not leaking carbon monoxide... Regards

Why not? The basic principles would be the same. In fact, human brain apparently is just a myriad of computers interconnected in a certain way. There are differences between digital and analogue computing but they are methodological - one is dealing with discrete values, the other with continuous signal. The logic of information processing, however, is the same throughout. I would hesitate, though, before saying that modern computers can think. They can do certain steps of information processing which are needed for thinking, but I don't think it can be called "thinking" (which involves consciousness) just yet. Regards

Oh, that brings up some memories! Also from the same era: P7Dh4Hy3VBY Regards

Republic means that the head of state and/or the government is elected, directly or indirectly. And in the US the President and the representative organs are elected by popular choice - which means democracy. The popular choice may be filtered or distorted in the process of its expression by people but on the whole it is traceable from ballot box to the office. So the US is a democracy and stop imagining otherwise. Now, there are many forms of democracy and the one most people are hung up about is the "direct democracy", where each decision is supposed to be made by popular vote. I am not aware of any country which operates purely that way. The closest is, probably, Switzerland and they are doing OK last time I checked. Regards

This is a wrong analogy (albeit much exploited). Copyright infringement is not theft. Consider this According to the media industry position the preson who ripped the CD and uploaded the stuff to Youtube committed copyright infringements at least twice. Youtube has committed a copyright infringement by providing access to an infringing copy. I have committed infringements first by clicking on the link and second by posting a link to it here. Ross Scott infringes the copyright by maintaining a web site which now shows the link (there are few guys who were jailed in Sweden for not more than that). If you click on the link you will also commit a copyright infringement. But where in all that is an equivalent to shoplifting? And what gives anyone moral right to claim that their copyright must automatically extend to all of those processes? Last but not least, who can prove to me that the owner of copyright has suffered any economic loss due to all these infringements as opposed to a net gain as the result of vastly increased coverage? So you have the lords-copyright holders creating fiefdoms, which are maintained solely through their grasp over the legislature rather than superiority of their economic model or the quality of their product. And you have the vassals-authors and vassals-users who are forced to accept any unreasonable terms imposed by the lords because there are no other alternatives (except the illegal ones). Sounds as anti-capitalist to me as any classic feudal society... Here is a little case in point: The fate of ideas and innovations in IP is decided by courts and not by markets. To the extent that people are resorting to making redundant hardware just to strengthen their legal defence against the rights-holders. This is very idealistic view. Especially the suggestion that the Congressmen have somehow made more effort than they were paid for. LOL. And who do you think wrote the bills? Congressmen, whose qualification rarely extends beyond scmoozing around and making public speeches and whose staff is mostly adept at sorting mail, recording appointments and making calls for campaign contributions? No, I am quite confident that all the legal drafting was done by lawyers employed by the industry in question and every last word of it was meant to be there from the beginning. Regards

This is not strictly correct. Accepting a supposedly-proven scientific fact is not a matter of faith but a matter of trust. You trust the scientific process to weed out the false-positives and to apply certain standards of proof before declaring discovery. In theory, you can dispense with the trust and build or buy the necessary equipment and do the experiments yourself. However, your knowledge of the level scrutiny to which previous experiments were supposed to be subjected allows you to reasonably assume that your results would be no different. Therefore, repeating the experiment would be a waste of time and resources, so you don't do it. With faith, either there is no evidence one way or another or you make a conscious decision to disregard the existing evidence or logical reasoning in favour of your pre-existing opinion. Regards

Genesis - The Fountain Of Salmacis Lyrics QUOTE: The child Hermaphroditus was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, the result of a secret love affair. For this reason he was entrusted to the nymphs of the isolated Mount Ida, who allowed him to grow up as a wild creature of the woods. After his encounter with the water-nymph Salmacis, he laid a curse upon the water. According to fable, all persons who bathed in the water became hermaphrodites. From a dense forest of tall dark pinewood, Mount Ida rises like an island. Within a hidden cave, nymphs had kept a child; Hermaphroditus, son of gods, so afraid of their love. As the dawn creeps up the sky The hunter caught sight of a doe. In desire for conquest, He found himself within a glade he'd not beheld before. Hermaphroditus: Narrator: "Where are you, my father? "Then he could go no farther Give wisdom to your son" Now lost, the boy was guided by the sun" And as his strength began to fail He saw a shimmering lake. A shadow in the dark green depths Disturbed the strange tranquility. Salmacis: Narrator: "The waters are disturbed "The waters are disturbed Some creature has been stirred" Naiad queen Salmacis has been stirred" As he rushed to quench his thirst, A fountain spring appeared before him And as his heated breath brushed through the cool mist, A liquid voice called, "Son of gods, drink from my spring". The water tasted strangely sweet. Behind him the voice called again. He turned and saw her, in a cloak of mist alone And as he gazed, her eyes were filled with the darkness of the lake. Salmacis: Narrator: "We shall be one "She wanted them as one We shall be joined as one" Yet he had no desire to be one" Hermaphroditus: "Away from me cold-blooded woman Your thirst is not mine" Salmacis: "Nothing will cause us to part Hear me, O Gods" Unearthly calm descended from the sky And then their flesh and bones were strangely merged Forever to be joined as one. The creature crawled into the lake. A fading voice was heard: "And I beg, yes I beg that all who touch this spring May share my fate" Salmacis: Narrator: "We are the one "The two are now made one, We are the one" Demi-god and nymph are now made one" Both had given everything they had. A lover's dream had been fulfilled at last, Forever still beneath the lake. UNQUOTE:

Did anybody see this little gem? What Barney's life likely was at the Black Mesa before Gordon came along... Regards

9pjgxANCuDc Regards

Gethsemane (I only want to say): Quote: I only want to say, If there is a way, Take this cup away from me For I don't want to taste its poison. Feel it burn me, I have changed. I'm not as sure, as when we started. Then, I was inspired. Now, I'm sad and tired. Listen, surely I've exceeded expectations, Tried for three years, seems like thirty. Could you ask as much from any other man? But if I die, See the saga through and do the things you ask of me, Let them hate me, hit me, hurt me, nail me to their tree. I'd want to know, I'd want to know, My God, I'd want to know, I'd want to know, My God, Want to see, I'd want to see, My God, Want to see, I'd want to see, My God, Why I should die. Would I be more noticed than I ever was before? Would the things I've said and done matter any more? I'd have to know, I'd have to know, my Lord, Have to know, I'd have to know, my Lord, Have to see, I'd have to see, my Lord, Have to see, I'd have to see, my Lord, If I die what will be my reward? If I die what will be my reward? Have to know, I'd have to know, my Lord, I'd have to know, I'd have to know, my Lord, Why should I die? Oh why should I die? Can you show me now that I would not be killed in vain? Show me just a little of your omnipresent brain. Show me there's a reason for your wanting me to die. You're far to keen and where and how, but not so hot on why. Alright, I'll die! Just watch me die! See how I die! Then I was inspired. Now, I'm sad and tired. After all, I've tried for three years, seems like ninety. Why then am I scared to finish what I started, What you started - I didn't start it. God, thy will is hard, But you hold every card. I will drink your cup of poison. Nail me to your cross and break me, Bleed me, beat me, Kill me. Take me, now! Before I change my mind. Unquote:

glWGN5mTWuM Regards

Talk of the devil, as they say... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/02/asteroid_impact_2040/ On the subject of space travel or lack of it - somehow, people's (mine included) attention span, when it comes to the ISS, is very short. Yes, it's going 'round in circles; yes, there is space for only a few people. But, every now and again, as I come across a recent photo of it, I can't help but notice - it's a bloody marvelous piece of engineering and quite an achievement to have put *that* into orbit. In fact, some years ago few people would have believed such pictures showed a real object and not some kind of illustration to a sci-fi novel. Regards

I believe "observant" would be a better term. Lots of people (the majority, I would think) subscribe to the general idea and some common customs of a particular religion but don't go too deep into every tradition and prescription. Which is just as well, because most of these rules are there not because they are instrumental to the core message of the underlying religion but for mass behaviour modification and for consolidation of the clergy's authority. I would not pay too much attention to that. When you are biased and *want* to find something, you can find it even if it's not there at all. You can take just about any ancient book and find phrases or sentences which can be interpreted as wonderful prophecies. In 200 years you can take any 20th century sci-fi book and find that many predictions made by the authors came true (but even more proved to be completely false). This is a classic mistake of trying to rearrange the facts to fit the theory, rather than the other way round... But you forget that atheism is also a religion and can only be based on faith. Modern science cannot provide objective answer to the fundamental question of God's existence and many scientists were and are religious. I think there is a combination of factors, such as our need to provide explanation to what we observe and the social organisation, which needs authority, hierarchy, discipline and moral rules. A "higher authority" explains hitherto unexplainable and also is an ideal tool to extend authority of the social leader because he can claim that he speaks for the ultimate boss and therefor he has the final say on all matters. That is, clearly, just too much power concentrated in one point and that's why strict segregation of the secular and ideological authorities is so important for a healthy society. I agree with that. But I also think that such person would be a tail case. The majority of people would know basic good from evil on their own, without having to be taught or forced to behave morally. I think that basic morality is objective and fundamental and is a product of evolution of species. There is more and more evidence that apes, for example, have notion of fair play, cetaceans are caring for their old and injured and so on... But I doubt he will be (see my point above). It's just a bad argument. In fact, usually, the more fundamentally religious a person is, the more brutality he is capable of. One can say that fundamentalists, while being totally convinced that they are serving their god, are in fact acting on behalf of their devil (or whatever equivalent of it existing in their type of religion). Regards

Roxy while at their peak W73AVb7u_9Q And a recent take on it 04domJ7F0oY A great little video, a recommended watch on its own (there is a clean copy on Vimeo too), but musically the original is still better IMHO... Regards

I don't know about gold but He-3, ultra-pure aluminium, magnesium, titanium are all potential exports. With solar furnaces smelting metals in near vacuum, then shooting the loaded containers to Earth with electromagnetic mass driver... Regards

How did you lose your virginity, May Long? YvviInCUW8o Regards

I did play all HL games on hard but to me it reduces immersion quite a bit. How many bullets can a real Combine take in the head before he is knocked out, c'mon please... In addition, in the Opposing Force I found that the alien weapons would not aim properly on hard (they will just shoot in one particular compass direction regardless of how you twist and turn). Regards