Zombie

:lmao: :rofl:

We wouldn't want to be without the Moon, Bill, it's our friend - stabilizes the Earth's axis tilt, deflects asteroids, provides free tidal power ... and gives us something nice to look at

Look out for the Moon this weekend when it rises above the horizon on 22/23 June. It will appear unusually large for two reasons - it's proximity to landmarks / features near the horizon increases its apparent size due to an optical illusion but it will also in fact be bigger than a normal full moon because it will be at perigee, the closest it comes to the Earth in its orbit, and it will also be the moon’s closest encounter with Earth during 2013. These things happening together mean the Moon should be well worth looking at. Unless you're clouded in - which it will be in the UK, guaranteed Here's what the 2012 supermoon looked like from Rio *OK, OK - it was taken with a long lens * http://www.euronews.com/2013/06/19/next-supermoon-to-appear-on-june-23/

Does that include the accessories?

Shame the designer and model couldn't make the bulge more explicit ...

Make way for The Stylemeister - oh yeah, baby, lookin' cool ... *previously posted in Questions, Questions - too good not to post again *

out of the mouths of babes and sucklings ...

Hahah, reminds me when my Dad used to record TV shows on VHS *history lesson for the young: it was a tape recorder for TV *. I ALWAYS checked the end first - to make sure it was there! - having had many nights ruined watching a 2 hour movie only to find the last 5 minutes missing Just remembered another sad movie Running On Empty with River Phoenix, whose family are continually on the run to avoid the Feds who are after his Dad for doing something bad as a student, so River can never make proper friends because he knows they'll be off again somewhere else - and he just wants to have a normal life. So many crap films are repeated again and again but this never seems to get shown on TV. Worth checking it out on Netflix even though it will probably make you cry http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096018/

You've been absorbed by the Borg

Interesting overview of how we got to where we are. But what it means for us now and into the future is unclear. How do you make the unaccountable accountable? How do you square the need to spy on the enemy [and when an atrocity happens we always hear the inevitable cry "why didn't they know about it and stop it?"] when today's reality is it's "the enemy within" that poses some of our greatest threats - our own citizenry, often young impressionable males who have been allowed to be radicalised - without compromising the freedoms that we claim make our countries so special? Because those freedoms - so hated by many of our enemies and which we believe distinguish us from them - have already been compromised. And once you've crossed a line where do you re-draw it and at what point does it become not worth defending? So the challenge is how do we defend ourselves from external and internal attack - which the public expects and demands - and at the same time preserve meaningful "freedoms" when our enemies will always seek to exploit them against us?

You sappy sentimental old croc, you

Is there a treatment program? Or maybe we could set up a self-help group ... on GA

Yeah have a good one And Dennis says to be good ...

Now we know what he looks like

And it's neatly offset by Wirth's Law: Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirth%27s_law

Sorry, Graeme 1. as a moderator it's unfair to make loaded posts like this that we mere mortals are not allowed to respond to 2. the concept of "normal", to describe the conditions on Earth that have prevailed during the very brief spell of human existence compared with the extremes of conditions that have comprised so much of the 4.5 billion years the Earth has existed, is both unscientific and absurd 3. likewise "beneficial for the planet" has no meaning - the planet simply doesn't care, it has no "plans for self-improvement" or "personal management strategy", it's just a ball of rock whizzing around an insignificant sun located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy

Question makes no sense. There's no such thing as "normal". Never has been, never will be. The thing that's not "normal" is the existence of human beings on this planet. We've been around for a mere spec of time and we only exist because current planetary conditions allow us to exist. If we cease to exist, planet Earth will continue doing its thing very nicely without us. We need Earth, but Earth does not need us

Moore's Law of 1965 predicting the logarithmic increase in computing power every two years or so has proved uncannily accurate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law

Monitoring over the last 50 years shows sea ice retreating at both poles. As more sea is exposed so it absorbs more solar energy [ice reflects it] and gets warmer. There are detailed records of sea levels going back more than 100 years. These show sea levels have risen about 8" since 1870, and at an increasing rate more recently. The main reason for sea level rise is thermal expansion due to increased sea temperature. There's nothing political here, it is fact. It's why Russia has been able to increase shipping along the Siberian coast this century and why there is serious planning by commercial shippers, like Nordic Bulk Carriers, to be able to use the fabled "North West Passage" every summer within 50 years as sea ice retreats further. Commercial businesses don't waste their money on fanciful schemes - they expect this to be reality soon. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/05/arctic-shipping-trade-routes

“Every man is a mystery to himself. And then we die, unsolved.”

Sounds much too sensible A guilty pleasure is where you know something is bad for you - like this ... or is shameful / embarrassing to enjoy - like this ... but you go ahead anyway

I hoped I'd made clear I was making a distinction between fictional and real life - by using the words "fictional" and "real" I was simply expressing puzzlement how watching extreme misery and pain of innocent people can be entertaining and enjoyable. And I made no "leap to extrapolate" - I merely posited the question where that line could be if you like watching stuff like this. Because, as you say yourself, you are "interested in frontiers".So wherever you happen to draw the line now, that means there will always be a "frontier" at / beyond wherever you might say your line is currently drawn that you will be "interested in" - and therefore presumably will wish to explore.

Sorry to be a party pooper but I find it difficult to understand wanting to watch the fictional horrific suffering of innocent people - for entertainment. And you want to see it in graphic detail? I'm puzzled what is it that gets people off on this kind of stuff. Just like I'm puzzled Roman citizens flocked to see slaves being hacked to death by gladiators for the fun of it - good family entertainment. And where do you draw the line? Presumably if you have an appetite for watching human misery and pain then there is no line. Nothing is too inhuman, too sickening, too horrific. Personally I get to see real horrific human suffering on our news every day. Like tonight's BBC news about Syria - where children are being forced to watch their Mum and Dad being murdered by government forces, - and other children are being forced to behead captured prisoners. And I only watch because I have to - because I need to be informed about real human suffering. That's more than enough for me. So why would I want to watch fictionalised human suffering for pleasure?

So you've read all the books and seen all the movies then