Anthony
-
Posts
47 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Posts posted by Anthony
-
-
And tomorrow is my 51st wedding anniversary! Sylvia thought the coincidence was amusing.
-
I havent ever felt the need to use a deodorant. I've never bought any. I suppose my friends are too polite to complain! When I was young people thought daily bathing was enough. I don't find I'm often bothered by other peoples smell. What really puts me off is the excessive scent people wear (people often call it after shave but really its cheap scent).
-
Interesting, Colin. I was a late developer in every sense, but when I was trying for university entrance I certainly knew why I wanted to go: to find out what I thought about the world.
So I wanted to read philosophy. In those days it was not a subject available at school. And I had specialised in history and English and to read philosophy one needed to have latin and greek. The only way I could do some philosphy was to read PPE which included it and I managed to spend more than half my degree on philosophical topics. And I did and thought (and think) that I have thought everything out - at least the main important things. And I'd be glad to discuss it - but probably I shouldn't occupy Awesomedude with it.
-
Oh Mihangel, the story works all right. it's so true it's painful. It's emotionally without a false note. But so are all your other stories (I don't include the frivolous whims and oddities - they are joyful but not serious).
Love,
Anthony
-
Yes, Cole, Lugnutz, Des, Colin et al. are all old whereas I'm really 18, just born 1934.
I've already got new corneas (by Bausch & Lomb) and see better than ever and tomorrow I get a new right knee and will be able to walk down to the shops to buy my morning paper again.
Does anyone know if Ryan Miller is all right?
Love,
Anthony
-
a good story is well worth re-reading; often you get more out of it the second time than the first. You get even more the third time you read it.
Quite so, Nigel. I've read it several times too. I find that when I begin it again to remind myself what's there I get drawn in and find, some time later, that I'm engrossed and ought to stop and do somthing to justify my existence.
But re-reading something by a really good author (such as Mihangel) is often more rewarding than trying something new; the trouble with the best stories is that I remember them better which means the repeat readings have to be at longer intervals.
Love,
Anthony
-
I think a lot of the discussion here was because many of us liked the book, found it really terrific, and then were trying to make sense of the man who wrote it and the book itself.
Yes, Cole, I think you are right and I'm another who was really taken with the book (I read it in a single sitting in an aeroplane between London and HongKong on Christmas eve 1989). Then I enjoyed 'Speaker for the Dead'. But when I tried 'The Worthing Saga' I was repelled by the man's monstrous imagination; how, I thought, could a nice person dream up such horrible situations? I was unable to finish it. I've been unwilling to read anything of his since. And at the time I had no knowledge of his unacceptable opinions about homosexuality. (Aubrey said that my opinion I go about to persuade others to think as I do; but as for my taste I look only to pleasing myself. I think Aubrey was right.)
Love,
Anthony
-
When Vassar college took delivery of their first computer, IBM as a demo programmed it to calculate a series of approximations converging on pi by calculating the circumference of a polygon inscribed in a circle and then doubling the number of sides and calculating again. Of course it didn't work because when the length of a side of the polygon was too small to be held in the same register as the sum of all the sides the series of calculations stopped converging on pi. There were many red faces because at the time they had no idea what had gone wrong.
I believe there are many mistakes being made by spreadsheets and other calculations which make no allowance for the limitations of 'IBM double precision arithmetic'; in fact the only computer language I know that explicitly allows for this is J (which is an improvement on APL).
Love,
Anthony
-
I agree with you all. I was delighted to see it arrive at awesomedude and I read it again and I really enjoyed it as much as I had before.
Anthony
-
Yes, Camy, I have read anything of Mihangel's that I didn't enjoy. He has a wonderfully sly way of engaging you with a metaphorical wink when he wants to tease. But his serious stories can tug the heartstrings too.
-
If electricity is no longer available for 15 years, the majority of people in the industrialized countries will die during that period. Without electricity you can't kill for oil or extract it, you can't manufacture gasoline, you can't grow food in sufficient quantities, what can be grown using horses and mules and bison can't be shipped in sufficient quantities, you can't drill for natural gas or extract and distribute it, you can't distribute water, you can't run sewage treatment plants, all transportation will revert to walking and horses but there aren't enough horses... and on and on and on. The people who don't starve or freeze to death in the winter or contract illness or injuries that have no recovery possible, will be killed by other people seeking what they have: clothing, canned food, bottled water, blankets, batteries... and cities will be taken over by gangs who will recruit members among the kids whose parents the gangs have killed, and the gangs will fight each other. There will be no government, no army, no police, no firemen, no doctors, no nurses... the only good thing is that there won't be any politicians or lawyers. What will be left are religious wingnuts preaching salvation if you follow their way and escape the trials sent to earth by a vengeful God who wants all adulterers and fornicators and abortionists and homosexuals, especially homosexuals, and the followers of these religious wingnuts. Farms will be taken over by people escaping the cities and they will lay in ruin because those people will kill the farmers and won't have a clue what to do after they eat the vegetables growing in the fields they ravished.
Cool, 'eh?
Colin
And Thomas Hoobes in 1651 published Leviathan in which he wrote:
In such condition, there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
Love,
Anthony
-
Yes, that's true, and it's also true for Gee Whillikers. Yesterday I read everything he's written that's shown on Awesomedude.One of the best things about Cory Doctorow's wonderful books is that many of them are made available completely free, in various formats, for download on his site.
"Little Brother" is a great read.
I am entertained, impressed, delighted and want to thank him (again - I did it once after I read The Wish) and AD.
Love,
Anthony
PS T H White was a wonderful man too and anyone who hasn't read "Mistress Masham's Repose" should at once do so.
-
I do have Wisferon [2648] and Dionis [1777} as .pdf files but I have no idea how to send them. You can email me acam@blueyonder.co.uk
Love,
Anthony
The cronnex website is offline since a while, it does not look like it will be coming back anytime soon.
Does anyone still have parts 3 and 4 of the book available and could send it to me? It would be much appreciated since they are nowhere to be found.
-
Dear Blue,
It was completely OTT and surely you shouldn't treat it as serious.
But in general religion is serious and in my opinion most of most religions is evil and what they try to do is take control of your life and teach you things that aren't true and teach you that it is good to believe what isn't true and teach you that it is a virtue to believe more strongly when there is no evidence. I find the attitude that says all religions have to be treated with respect unacceptable. When a religion has an unacceptable attitude to women or homosexuals or people that break a particular law or commandment then I want to be allowed to say so. But I do it politely. Having a dear sweet old lady doing a complete foul-mouth at mormons is funny because it's so improbable.
And the thought that a mormon might be president of the USA appalls me and I hope it has the effect of persuading sensible republicans not to vote.
And I'd be just as worried if it was a Roman Catholic or believer in islam or plymouth brother and .. .. .. many othes. Perhaps a Quaker might be OK. I'm not really horrible - just opinionated and arrogant.
Love,
Anthony
-
You could try me, Wanderer. I've mostly done proof-reading, but just recently I've had a go at criticising more than the spelling. Could we try each other out? I think my email is public.
Love,
Anthony
-
I thought the idiom was "Shame on these people".
I thought 'verbal' meant 'in words' - it ought to, don't you agree. There's a perfectlygood word 'oral' for spoken words. I looked up Sam Goldwyn's joke that an oral contract wasn't worth the paper it was written on and I find there is no agreement between the sources about whether he said 'verbal' or 'oral'.
I'm obviously too old-fashioned for this world. Obviously verbal is getting to mean oral.
-
I discovered it by chance on my own in bed. I've never fantasised about anyone. Watching videos or looking at pictures does nothing for me. The only time I've done the equivalent of fantasise - and then only on two occasions - I've had a wet dream in which the guy I loved was touching me.
I'm 74 and the least frequent masturbation you allow is weekly: I do it less often than that but a lot more than never - honest.
-
Many months later I read all this and think: "Damn! Why wasn't I there when Steven Keiths wanted an editor? What a chance I missed!"
I mean it.
Love,
Anthony
-
Not just Lagavulin but also Talisker, Bowmore, Highland Park, Laphroaig, and even Bunnahabain, so anyone in Bristol wants a wee dram just let me know (no obligation!)
Love,
Anthony
-
Thank you all very much. The preceding discussion was very helpful and I think I will be able to be more forceful with my authors than I have been,
The thought is immensely satisfying! Who wants to be the first person I let fly at?
Love,
Anthony
-
Yes, you made me buy it and read it and it's just as you say. Sweet and funny and a good read.
Anthony
-
1934 Eh? That was a good year. I was both conceived and born - so, far from being imprisoned - I was let out!
And my first car was made in 1934 too! I bought it in 1959 when we were both 24.
And I don't think the song needs to be sad; it all depends on how it's sung and whether the complaints are to be taken seriously or as a tease.
-
I don't think that could be broadcast in the UK though Blair and Brown are just as culpable as Bush. For British ears I think it is too ott and might cause people (like Nikolas James) to react against it.
There is little doubt that the war was wrong;
that Bush and Blair manipulated the intelligence to secure the go-ahead; that before the war there were no terrorists in Iraq (Saddam Hussein was himself at war with the religious Al Quaeda);
that the war was carried on with little attempt to avoid harming the civilian population;
that neither government has ever been brought to admit these true statements.
In the UK this government, which was elected as 'the left' and is supported by the unions, has pursued the most right wing social policies, putting more people in prison and doing less to rehabilitate them; has taken away the laws that used to protect our freedom; has increased taxes on the poor and reduced taxes on the rich so that the gap between rich and poor is greater than it was fifty years ago; is now targeting to reduce the proportion of children brought up in poverty by 2012 (NB they have been in power for eleven years so does anyone think this is their top priority).
I could go on but what's the point. During Thatcher's rule I despaired but she was a true Tory. During Blair and Brown's rule I felt and feel betrayed because they continue to act like Thatcher.
How can the government of a prosperous country like ours tolerate 30% of children being brought up in poverty - by the government's own standards of poverty?
Love,
Anthony
-
This is one way that the USA is streets better than the UK. The separation of religion from the state means that they don't have state run and taxpayer paid for 'faith schools' where you only feel at home if your religion is that of the faith that runs the school.
In the UK one consequence is that many politicians (eg Tony Blair) are very hypocritical and do not follow the tenets of their religion. In a way I welcome that because when society as a whole is tolerant the government does not make intolerant laws - well mostly not. And so we can still do some medical research here that you can't do in the USA (except secretly).
So I welcome the guy's resignation because I think his religion ought to disqualify him from teaching in a state school. I just wish the same rule applied here!
Love,
Anthony
Scan to donate
Donald Trump, The Liar
in News & Views
Posted
In the UK the people in favour of leaving the EU lied like that about it and, supported by Murdoch newspapers persuaded enough people to believe them so they won the referendum.
I doubt whether americans are less gullible than the Brits. Expect a republican president come January.