St Landrew

Somehow I just knew you'd post something like that. Just waiting for Buzzin' now. It should only be a matter of time.

Oh I understand the sense of wishing no-talent celebs off the media world. I'd go one step further and get rid of the whole celebrity culture. I couldn't be less interested in them. But of the human, I would hope she sticks around for a long time. Same as I would of any reasonable human being.

Ah, never, ever do that..! If you do recover your videos and still want them converted, I'll be happy to do them for you. And as other members will confirm, I don't disappear. As it happens, there's an old TSF member out there called marcsfc, who despite me PM'ing occasionally, still hasn't answered to give me his address details so I can return his copy of Alan Ball's autobiography. If you're out there mate, PM me.

Hopefully it will be a miraculous recovery, eh..? Would you want any other outcome..?

Hardly repentant though is he, Jill..? If I was him I'd never return to the UK. If I was the Law I'd make sure he never left again, if he did return. I suspect he's currently looking at other countries who will give him a visa to enter and stay. If they're sensible, they'll refuse point blank. Although it was miles away fom the stuff I listened to, I always found his music a slightly amusing distraction in the far-off distance. It was all tongue-in-cheek stuff to me. It must be an odd feeling for the people who idolised the character way back then.

Tasha Danvers [400m Hurdles] looks cute.

No, it was Ewan and Jimmy. No wonder he didn't do the bungee jump with Charlie on Long Way Down.

There are a few new very tall buildings going to be put up in the old City district, near to the Cucumber, Marrow, Zukini, Courgette that vegetable named building [someone put me out of my misery here]. Gerkin..!

Was watching a recorded episode of the recently repeated series, Long Way Round. It was during the lads crossing of the USA, and they ended up at an amusement park where there was an extremely high swinging ride. Ewan McGregor sat in a seat along with one of the series cameramen. They had their ride filmed by the stock facility offered by the park. There was no acting here; you could see the barely contained terror in McGregor's body. He was almost stiff with it, but he reached out to hold the cameraman's arm for reassurance. Certainly not the behaviour of a Star Wars hero character, but I couldn't help but sympathise as I giggled. The next day he proclaimed he would never, ever do something so frightening again. And he found comfort in the relative safety of his motorcycle.

I don't want to argue this, but is there nothing that you don't have a cynical opinion about..? The girl has cervical cancer. Can you not find a tiny shred of sympathy for her..? If it's a publicity stunt, then I'm wrong. But I prefer my view of the world.

I was thinking how it would feel sitting in the cabin of the crane doing the lifting work. I know they're fixed on but, imagine getting the load off balance and eventually toppling off the building..? Makes my toes curl.

Well we are just talking about about degree of moral behaviour here, aren't we DSM..? You say the media's moral responsibility was gone years ago, I say it's still disappearing. Either way, I think we probably agree that this sort of thing is wrong. Would we break the news to the Queen on live TV that she has to pay her proper level of taxes, and view her reaction..? No. Then why do a similar thing to an ordinary citizen. People are people whether they are respected or not. This girl is not fair game just because she is in the public eye.

Didn't watch it. But I've always had a cynical opinion of professional owners inbreeding Pedigrees for shows or profit. We all know that mongrels live longer and healthier. There are 1000s of ordinary dogs and cats that are born and die without homes. There is absolutely no need for this Crufts style obsession, or having to pay for a pet. If they love their animals, why do it..? No, ultimately it's for personal recognition and profit, and always has been. The animals are just a means of achieving it.

Having seen the news earlier, I have to say that, although Jade Goody [i don't know of this celebrity very well] apparently craves media attention, couldn't there have been some decent way to break such bad news to the poor girl..? I understand she was informed of her smear test results on an Indian version of Big Brother..? And in front of the TV audience..? If that is true it is appalling behaviour..! Whatever the girl has done, this sort of news is intensely private. What is media coming to..? They seem to be losing the sense of responsibility by the day. All in the act of claiming viewers. There are more important things than that, and ultimately, anyone's innermost privacy is one of those things.

Just thought. Wouldn't it be great if we killed ourselves off like we eventually will*, and the Earth goes through a few major climactic cycles before creating the right conditions for a new dominant species. I suppose Chimpanzees would evolve to be the next top predators. If they stick around, that is. *assuming enough of us go, perhaps in a catastrophe, that the population can't recover.

That's another misconception WSS. We won't actually ruin anything. The Earth will merrily continue for millions of years until the Sun becomes a Red Giant and consumes the Earth entirely. But humans will be long, long gone because we will have changed our required living conditions for the badly worse. And we'll do it within 100 years or so, unless we change our behaviour, or relieve the population pressure on the Earth. I don't see either happening signifcantly enough. There's overwhelming ignorance on this planet, and huge misunderstanding. But as they say... ignorance is bliss.

It's another common misconception that human influences don't affect the Earth environment. Of course they do. Just as a bunch of chimpanzees in an African jungle affect the environment. But we consume far more resources and dump far more pollution than we need to. Those points are separate arguments though. By pumping chemicals, particulents and other pollution into the atmosphere, humans are influencing the natural cycles of the Earth. Whether we think they are significant and could destroy us, is the thing we all argue about. Personally, I think the Earth will do us in eventually anyway, due to us requiring too many resources, being too successful as a species, and the Earth not having enough temperate zones for humans to live in peacefully. That will come either sooner or later. Or we could prolong it, control our behaviour and progress, and live in peace for a lot longer. My advice is, if as a young person you're thinking favourably about one day having grand children... then don't. We aren't changing our ways enough, and I don't think we're unselfish enough too either.

Sorry, WSS. I didn't get that info from Wikipedia. I got it from my degree text books. An ice age is determined by certain temperatures, conditions, amount of ice as a percentage over the Earth's surface, and the advance and retreat of ice. We are not in an ice age.

Err... yes it does.

No, there have been several ice ages since then. The last one finished around 10,000 years ago. EDIT: The natural state of the Earth is surely whatever it actually is at the present time. Depending on whether you factor in our influence as natural or not.

Thinking of selling my Linn Sondek/Ittok/Troika. All are in super condition, as they only got properly used in their first few years. After which I was so much on the go that I lost the time for sitting down and listening to music. And since my tinnitus, it's a bit pointless having one of the best turntables ever made hanging around. I've still got a Thorens TD160 anyway with a decent arm and cartridge combo anyway. I might even sell my Naim NAC62/NAP140 amps too. The NAC62 has Naim manufactured Troika pre-pre amp cards. Then I might as well let my Kef Reference 104/2 monitors go, although they won't tolerate any ordinary amplifiers, and sound dull and lifeless unless driven properly. Back when new the Linn combo cost £1500, the Naim amps cost £800, and the Kefs cost £805. I'd be looking for £2000 for the lot, but they could be separated, I suppose. Remember, I'm just thinking about it though. :confused:

Fine by me. Mine's in New Zealand and you've not got long as we've just signed our divorce papers. Just got to get them witnessed, so I still qualify for a few weeks. Now, where do I pick up yours..?

Yep. I was only being pedantic anyway. I knew what you meant. It's a general misconception that Global Warming means everywhere should be a bit warmer seasonally. One effect of a warming World is that local weather patterns can become more active and extreme. Hence it can be colder and wetter than usual somewhere, whilst elsewhere it is hotter and drier than usual.

Not happy, Wiltshire..?

Don't like to disagree, but yes it does..!