RE: The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are

And there was me hoping for socks, knickers a Boots the Chemist gift voucher, a tube of bath salt cubes, two Jilly Cooper novels and a cuddly toy.

RE: Wind Farms Eyed In Surge Of Dead Whales On NJ, NY Beaches

Oh Tiiiigeeer...!

You know I want the technical stuff on why that works, don't you?

*takes the first train to Huffsville*

giggle

RE: Fancy words just confuse...

I usually do that for my last proof read if I've added square brackets, but forget sometimes.

Unfortunately, because of the type of dyslexia I have neither the comment box, nor the preview are particularly good fonts.

The posted article is in a great font for spotting my errors, though. mumbling laugh

RE: Wind Farms Eyed In Surge Of Dead Whales On NJ, NY Beaches

Did you mean one turbine, or one blade?

Would that work in all situations, that is, with different visual backdrops?

Sometimes the turbines fall still with one blade pointing directly downwards creating the impression of Jesus on the cross. I'm wondering what the aesthetics of one painted blade might create, besides Jesus with a whole sleeve tattoo. laugh

There's a single windmill on an industrial site not far from here that has been painted with yellow blades/hub and a green tower. It looks like our national flower, the daffodil. I wonder if that might reduce wildlife mortality, or how art and practicality could be combined.

I'd love it if all the turbines that I can see from my flat were painted like daffodils, or were visually creative in some other way.

RE: Fancy words just confuse...

Perhaps likewise, you need to live here before labelling UK people as thinking themselves superior. dunno

My intention is always to refine arguments with the aim of improving my own understanding and awareness of issues. Perhaps you mistake that for me thinking myself personally superior, rather than going through a process of making each argument (in the philosophical sense) superior to the last one, whether I proposed it, or someone else did.

Certainly, one cannot learn, nor progress from people who agree with you all the time. Personal progress relies upon being challenged.

My mum, for whom English was her second fluent language, said she preferred English because it was so expressive - so many words have 20 others that mean roughly the same thing, but are all subtly different. If I'm arguing a point, or describing something, I like to get the version which exactly expresses the nuanced meaning I wish to convey.

I regularly use the dictionary, including when I'm reading other people's posts. I put a lot of effort into trying to convey my own and understand others' true meaning. Yes, fancy words can confuse, but so can simple ones: both are open to misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or interpretation from our own value framework.

The reason why the law and legal documents are so confusing to the untrained reader is because each word has a precise a meaning as possible to limit confusion and misinterpretation of the law by those who are trained to read it. That's a good thing, but the downside is the rest of us can fall foul of legal agreements we have undertaken, but not fully understood.

RE: Fancy words just confuse...

\/\/\/\/\/ fixed.

I hope that's easier on the eye. laugh

RE: Fancy words just confuse...

Which SA person would that be? laugh

And even if it were true (rather than me trying to have a reasonable discussion that you interpret as me behaving in a superior manner), does it necessarily mean I have an attitude of superiority over all SA people, or all people?

And the reason I pointed out that we may be doing a little better with respect to equal rights was not competition, but to highlight that SA hasn't exactly got a superiority complex free history, either, nor has she resolved all her colonial issues.

It takes admission of the wrong-doing, a long time, a lot of effort and the will to do it. I'd like to think both our nations are moving forward, but there will always be an ebb and flow of progress because politics and law inherently lag behind the will of the people.

Would you think it fair if I lumped you in with all SA people and said you all thought yourselves superior to everyone else because as a nation you have a history of horribly oppressing most of your citizens? Or would you say that maybe some people are like that, but it's ridiculous to suggest all SA citizens are?

Not only should we ask whether these blanket statements are true, we should ask how our histories of oppression manifest in our every day behaviour in perhaps more subtle and insidious ways. We should ask whether out-dated labelling of entire nations, or cultures is functional with respect to moving beyond our historical and current transgressions.

RE: Fancy words just confuse...

Which SA person would that be? laugh

And even if it were true (rather than me trying to have a reasonable discussion that you interpret as me behaving in a superior manner), does it necessarily mean I have an attitude of superiority over all SA people, or all people?

And the reason I pointed out that we may be doing a little better with respect to equal rights was not competition, but to highlight that SA hasn't exactly got a superiority complex free history, either, nor has she resolved all her colonial issues.

It takes admission of the wrong-doing, a long time, a lot of effort and the will to do it. I'd like to think both our nations are moving forward, but there will always be an ebb and flow of progress because politics and law inherently lag behind the will of the people.

Would you think it fair if I lumped you in with all SA people and said you all thought yourselves superior to everyone else because as a nation you have a history of horribly oppressing most of your citizens? Or would you say that maybe some people are like that, but it's ridiculous to suggest all
SA citizens are?

Not only should we ask whether these blanket statements are true, we should ask how our histories of oppression manifest in our every day behaviour in perhaps more subtle and insidious ways. We should ask whether out-dated labelling of entire nations, or cultures is functional with respect to moving beyond our historical and current transgressions.

RE: Fancy words just confuse...

It's still not exactly a large sample group, nor a typical one given the very act of emigrating to SA skews your sample group. You should know that, given you've not been hit with the stupid stick.

Forty years ago, you say? Perhaps there is a certain mentality that a Brit might feel comfortable moving to SA in the throes of apartheid, if their intention is to take advantage of the available spoils, rather than fight tooth and nail for equality.

A feature of overall British culture is the propensity for us to be self-deprecating, especially with respect to our sense of humour as I've tried to explain. That's somewhat at odds with the idea that we all think ourselves superior, don't you think?

It could just be the British expats you've spent time with. dunno

We have, in many ways moved past our colonial past and so we should given how arrogant, ignorant, rude, greedy and destructive it was. I'd like to think the majority of us favour greater strides in the direction of equal rights and fairness and in that sense, we may be doing a little better than SA.

RE: Fancy words just confuse...

There are lots of different races in the UK and three and a bit countries.

To suggest we all think ourselves superior based upon a sample of one is just a tad prejudiced.

When we act like English English is the only proper English, we're generally being wind-up merchants trying to get other English speakers riled, but we're also making fun of the English.

We have so many dialects crammed into a small space, the only English English we really have is Received Pronunciation, or the Queen's English and the Queen had a German accent. laugh

Cwmraeg was apparently the original Olde English before the Welsh Celts were pushed out of what is now England and like Tiger Moth said above, the Welsh Celts were originally a German tribe.

English is a rich and expressive language, probably because the archipelago has been invaded, or migrated to so many times over thousands of years by so many different peoples. It would be a shame to insist that it's dumbed down and that we're not allowed to use it, or enjoy it fully.

RE: Fancy words just confuse...

Because I'm the only other muppet online at this ridiculous hour? laugh

RE: Fancy words just confuse...

Are you going to tackle grammar and punctuation simultaneously, or leave them for another decade? giggle

RE: Finances

I've just googled and it's legal for employers to pay employees in cash in the UK, but I can't find anything that says employees have the legal right to be paid in cash.

I'd be really interested if anyone can enlighten me.





















i

RE: Finances


Doesn't that require people to have large quantities of cash under the mattress at all times just in case? Surely that's not a good combination with your gun laws?

Not that I'm against cash.

You have reminded me that I really ought to put my money where my mouth is and use cash as much as possible. The thing is, public transport struggles with change and I find myself using shops less and less. I'd like to support real shops, but so few sell environmentally responsible produce/products.

Do I use my small rectangle of plastic online, or buy stuff encased in enough plastic to make goodness knows how many cards? dunno

That's hilarious. laugh

RE: Fancy words just confuse...

The thing is, it's difficult to know what a fancy word is if it's a perfectly normal and exquisitely expressive word to you. dunno

I rather admire people who are specialists in their fields, but can explain it to others in plain English. It's a skill not everyone has.

Is it fair to berate others for their lack of ability in the art of plain English, even if they try to learn?

RE: Finances

I hope cash is here to stay, although I mostly use card for convenience.

A cashless society, or even a cardless society where everything is arranged by mobile phone, will disadvantage the most vulnerable in society. There's not much point in being able to spare a digit for the homeless, or use public transport if they won't accept cash, card, or disability/pensioner pass.

Digital finance already obscures how poorly paid and under-valued most people are in our societies.

RE: Thoughts For The Day

I like the name Pippa. thumbs up laugh

RE: Who lives here, who has an outside life

I never go and do something else whilst forgetting to log out and I'm never off line at the same time as you.

RE: are you kidding

Perhaps food and fuel should be expensive given the alternative is costing the Earth.

Maybe we need to learn to conserve and rocketing prices is our motivation.

I realise the poor are the hardest hit as they always are and that's not acceptable, but we do need to change how we do things.

RE: Are people equal

Lying naked on a mortuary slab is a great leveller.

We can't tell who is nobility and who is lowly and none of matters when we're dead.

If we choose to believe inequality exists, we either rank ourselves above others, or below others, neither of which is emotionally healthy, nor mature.

If we don't recognise equality, the chances are we're going to act like an arsehole towards other people.

RE: Are people equal

Speaking as an ethnic Jewess who has never set foot foot in a Synagogue, I think Judaism has mellowed a little and now largely accepts those who convert. It's in recognition of the discrimination inherent in the orthodoxy of birth right.

In the process of accusing Jewish people of a trait without exception for no other reason than they belong to a perceived group, you are behaving in a discriminatory manner.

RE: Are people equal

That's because you already get special treatment.

You're just too wrapped up in, and besotted with yourself to see it. laugh

RE: organ donation

I'm so messing up the link, but there are papers explaining the use of anaesthesia when removing donor organs.

Brain death from which there is 100% certainty of no recovery doesn't exclude some autonomic function from spinal nerve activity. Anaesthesia and other medications are in part used for physical convenience (reflex muscle movements, blood spurting during surgery) and in part for psychological reasons: surgery just using muscle relaxants is counter-intuitive and uncomfortable for anaesthetists, blood spurting and reflex movements may be distressing for surgical teams and the use of anaesthesia increases confidence in the donor programme for members of the public. Anaesthesia is comforting for the living, but not necessary for the dead.

Having had a near death experience following the failure of anaesthesia, I stopped feeling anything when I saw the death lights, but before my heart stopped, or I had lost 'internal' consciousness. If you're in more pain than you can handle: 1. everything shuts down and you die; 2. you get flooded with endorphins which is very pleasant. In short, being sliced open while you're alive is short-lived even when you're fighting fit and fully conscious, never mind brain stem dead.

And if that's not enough, clearly anaesthetics don't always work anyway. My experience is not unique by any stretch of the imagination.

RE: organ donation

~:text=%E2%80%98Brainstem%20dead%20patients%20do%20not%20require%20analgesia%20or,as%20published%20in%20their%20booklet%20of%20June%201999.

RE: organ donation

Whether death occurs when the heart, or brain activity stops, or for how long after is perhaps a moot point.

If you have reached that stage of no return, it's not like you're going to feel anything physical, or have any angst about your demise.

Vivienne Westwood, dies aged 81

Bod, you're a strumpet. giggle

Vivienne Westwood, dies aged 81

How do you know, Bod...? laugh

wave

RE: Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé ... gone at 82

I thought he was immortal. sigh

Vivienne Westwood, dies aged 81

May the angels wear kilts and corsets...and of course with no knickers.

RE: wth is going on in England — Police in the UK arrest a woman for silently praying.

Did you watch the footage of her arrest in the tweet you cited?

When asked by the police officer whether she was praying she said she might have been praying in her head, but not out loud.

So, she may, or may not have been praying.

Her deliberate presence outside of an aborton clinic (she admitted that prior to arrest as seen in the footage you cited) as the director of March For Life UK and where there was a Public Space Protection Order was illegal and an act of intimidation.

To suggest otherwise is like saying the men in white pointy hats standing around polling stations in the 60's weren't doing anything wrong, or behaving in an intimidating way. It's the kind of thing people say knowng full well it's a lie, knowing full well they're supporting bullying.

In this instance, after her fourth offense, Isabel Vaughn-Spruce was arrested. Throughout US history, when it comes to racial issues as you've previously mentioned, the vast majority of the violence, intimidation, protests, etc. without consequence have been perpetrated by white people, but the American narrative that you need to sustain racal oppression is that it's black people who 'threaten, burn, blow things up usually without being jaled, or prosecuted.

Just as you have tried to push a false narrative that Vaughn-Spruce was arrested for nothing more than silently praying, the false racially discriminatory narrative you try to disseminate is equally obvious to anyone with two eyes in their head and half a brain cell.

The thing about a five year old denying theft with cookie crumbs around their mouth is that the child's lie is cute. Yours isn't.

This is a list of forum posts created by jac_the_gripper.

We use cookies to ensure that you have the best experience possible on our website. Read Our Privacy Policy Here