The Hall of Fire

I have seen arguments for the "horseshoe effect", but I find them simplistic and self-serving, specifically for opponents of the left. I suggest that any ideology is susceptible to totalitarian imposition, and can be commandeered. However, left ideology is at root uncomplicated. It may be ...

If sex is indeterminate, how much milk is achieved by milking a bull? Or are cattle somehow excluded from sex indeterminism? I confess to finding this argument as peculiar as the debate on how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. There is, to my mind, no difficulty in accepting both Rowling's...

And yet there is no substantial evidence of Russian responsibility for the Skripal "poisonings" or the Czech bombings. How much reliance can be made on the outpourings of the US and UK state funded Bellingcat, the supposed "independent" source that has already been found guilty o...

I've watched with growing astonishment the vilification of Russia the pasty decade, predicated it seems on a Russian refusal to lie down and play dead as assurances regarding the extension of Nato post German reunification have been broken. I have watched as a coup in Ukraine, utilising extreme righ...

I would like the superpower of not responding to stupidity...

Frelga wrote:Land for the peasants
Factories for the workers
Peace for the people

That was one successful slogan. Don't think America will go for it, though.

More fool America?

1. Compared to Trump, and especially on the eastern shores of the Herring Pond, Biden is accorded kid gloves. I can only relate what I see.

2. Chomsky indicated a preference for Biden over Trump. His support is qualified.

I must confess, I am puzzled by what is determined, and accepted as, "left". It appears that "socially liberal" has usurped and replaced "left". As an anarchist syndicalist with Trotskyist leanings (perpetual revolution is fundamental to eradicating corruption), I find ...

A waste of good oregano...

Of course, this would be better in the right forum...

I think all the houses are on fire, but the choice of which to fight, and when, is determined by "fashion".

до свидани

I believe it is a symptom of aging to find art so overpowering it brings you to tears, whether that art is writing, painting, sculpture or music. I believe I am old, now, because I find myself affected in ways the younger me would laugh at. Anyway, the point of this topic is to discover what music b...

My pipeweed brand is between me and my supplier, thank you very much!

Am I alone in viewing the 46th President as "President Not-Trump", meaning much of his championing is predicated simply on the fact he isn't Trump? I see very little from Biden that is either inspiring or radical. My gut feeling is that Biden is being accorded kid gloves not because of his...

I am troubled by race. Not personally. I am content to describe myself as a lifelong anti-racist (I fought the right on the streets of my home town in the 80s when I was active in the ANL (Anti-Nazi League) and I have maintained my commitments). However, I find BLM difficult. Too many advocates over...

My apologies, Voronwë. I had not seen your comment regarding fate and free will. I feel it is a dangerous venture, embracing precognition in tales, as it undermines protagonist volition. Tolkien gave glimpses of possible futures, via the Mirror of Galadriel, but perhaps the visions of Sam transcend ...

As I think I intimated, but will state definitively, my playing with media is purely for my own interest. Though I would love to share my produce, I am aware, as stated, of legal implications.

You can rest easy, Voronwë.

"Educational purposes". I do believe that was the tactic used by publishers of naturist material... As an aside, I edited a 4 hour Hobbit from Peter Jackson's fare, and considering a major criticism of the trilogy was the bloating of the story, I was surprised how little of the book made i...

@Jude

I hadn't considered anybody else being interested, but of course I would love to share my Frankenstein monster!

A major stumbling block is copyright. I wonder just how much latitude I would have, plundering the BBC, Peter Jackson and Ralph Bakshi...

A stalled project, but I have been marrying the BBC Radio adaptation with both the Bakshi and Jackson films and I have discovered pluses and minuses for both iterations. For example, Bilbo's party is a better fit from the Jackson film, but the Flight to the Ford is superior in Bakshi's offering (I n...