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Princeps

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Posts posted by Princeps

  1. I just watched the final episode and I enjoyed this season more then the last. I thought that the historical accuracy was suspect (as with the first season) and the sexual elements too graphic and frequent, but the drama was more interesting and the cinematography was also better this time.

  2. In other words I see rather too many political strifes coming here, and it is getting rather cliche. Fascism? Fascism is when you stick a gun to someone's head and tell them what to do. Is this Fascim, hardly.

     

    Thank you Ramses!

     

    Okay Bacon is chemically altered. Pickles and Saurkraut are too! but Nitrates aren't the point.

    The point is Trans Fats. Mcdonalds can definitely switch too natural saturated fats with an increase in cost.

     

    Similar to how properly FDA inspected meat costs more!

     

    I think you are missing "the point". The point is not trans fats, or nitrates, or tobacco, it is oppressive, dictatorial, government control (a less emotive and more accurate definition of fascism than "someone sticking a gun to your head", which is entirely inadequate).

     

    I'm still in favour of a ban on smoking.

  3. I had a discussion about smoking in public on another forum a few days ago. I think it's a tad hypocritical to ban smoking in public but still allow all of the other nasty stuff that adversely affects the health of others (driving being a major thing).

     

    As an ex-smoker that occasionally relapses, I am all in favour of this ban. It is usually on a night of drinking that my willpower crumbles and I buy a packet. Doesn't happen too often these days, but hopefully it won't happen again after July.

  4. I guess this is a poll of American music fans or something right? (Hank Williams! Never heard his stuff, but I'd put money on it not being the best album ever). I'm glad to see 'Kid A' in the top tier though. That's the actual best album ever, there's really no room for objectivity either, it's the best (actually, ok computer or the bends could also take that title).

     

    Hmm, looking again, it seems there's no actual order of greatness, which is a bit of a cop out to say the least. Ignore my cynicism about Hank Williams, I guessh he has a claim to be on the list.

     

    No Morrissey/Smiths, no Damon Albarn, Paul Weller, absolutely no House music at all, and I'm also quite fond of The Killers too. That list is garbage. I've just wasted 2 minutes of my life.

  5. What do you think of the death penalty? I think it's kind of barbaric myself. Anyway, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to hang to death. I wonder what the consequences will be.

     

    Frankly after personally seeing some of the savagery that animal and his cohorts commited in Iraq and Kuwait in '91 and '03/04 drawing and quartering the SOB over a series of hours would be humane.

     

    When you're tending to thousands of Kurdish refugees in shock about losing many in their family and their homes in gas attacks because they couldn't run from their villages fast enough or seeing people dig up bones in a graveyard of 10,000 Shia to identify loved ones killed by Saddam's security forces you tend to lose that glossy idealism about the sanctity of every human life.

     

    I would never dream of suggesting that Saddam's life is sacred. My objection to capital punishment has nothing to do with the subject, I'd agree that a lot of people do deserve to die. My objection has more to do with the state of a society that is willing to carry out the execution. But my objections aren't really very strong, I wouldn't be annoyed with anyone that has a different view.

  6. Isn't barbarism precisely the point of the death penalty? Either murder criminals publically and violently to send a message, or don't kill them at all. Humane execution is a ludicrous concept.

     

    What is the message though? It's either "There's a chance you could end up like this" or "We're animals, this is what we do, it's ok for you to do this too", I think it's the second message.

  7. I read about a fairly sadistic one in a book about the arena last week. On condemned criminal would be given a sword and put into the arena with an unarmed criminal, it would be his job to pass sentence. The unarmed man would obviously flee until he was run down and stabbed to death. The executioner would then be force to relinquish his weapon, and another condemned man would take the weapon, at which point the process would begin again.

     

    This was obviously more entertaining some standard executions. I thought it seemed quite sadistic for some reason, even compared to other rather more grizzly methods of execution.

  8. I agree. The leftist view (by which I mean more liberal than myself, i.e very liberal) is that this chep labour is good for an economy because the workers are willing to work in poorly paid jobs. imo it is in fact bad for the economy and subverts the principals of the free market. Instead of raising the money or quality of working conditions, employers are free to take advantage of a different section of society. This aspect of globalisation is bad for affluent societies.

     

    EDIT - PRINCIPLES

  9. What about Mohenjo-Daro (?) a city in todays Pakistan. I have very vague memories of archeaologist's going on about this being the oldest 'city' yet found anywhere.

     

    Did I dream this or have others also heard of it?

     

    Yes, saw a documentary on that a few years back and was very impressed indeed (I can't remember much about the people, just that I was impressed!). The programme did make a number of impressive claims about the sofistication and advanced nature of this culture.

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