the village idiot

This is great Hairychest! You are still thinking in extremes but there's some really good important thoughts in there. Regarding humans going 'back a ways', this is only true when viewed in human timescales. If you compress the time that life has existed on our planet into a single hour (let's say an hour ago till now) then homo sapiens appeared around two seconds ago. In the last few milliseconds of these two seconds we have managed to bugger up the planet for most of it's larger inhabitants. You could well argue that if the planet belongs to anyone, it belongs to bacteria. They have been around for a whopping 45 minutes. Admittedly bacteria are probably not sentient and this is an important distinction. I believe that ultimately we should care about the wellbeing of all concious creatures. Being concious means it is 'like something' to be that thing and makes suffering a real option. The higher the level of conciousness, the greater the capacity to suffer and the more we should care. So yes, we should arguably care most about human wellbeing but we have no special right to inflict avoidable suffering on other organisms. Also, humans do not own the surface of our planet, despite our desperate propensity to stick flags everywhere and claim space as 'ours'. Difficult decisions arise constantly when the perceived wellbeing of humans conflicts with that of other concious creatures, including other humans. We need to pick our way thoughtfully through these issues, constantly aiming to make increasingly intelligent and morally defensible decisions.

Done some digging around Silky. Turns out Arzgarth has indeed married to your shifty, genderly challenged chum Gary Baldy AKA Mary Baldy AKA Megabitch Slayer of Serenity. Sad times, but many thanks for the tip off. I'll break the unfortunate news to poor Arzgarth when he gets back. He is currently in the big city, visiting Londinium dungeon with his Dad Keith.

Ignored. Fraud. No hoard, wooden sword.

Well I'll be damned! When did you last see this Gary Baldy Silky? Was it over about a year ago? Arzgarth first met Megabitch Slayer of Serenity at a 'Singles and Pringles' night down at the Duck and Badger almost exactly a year ago. She/He/Zer went by the name of Mary Baldy before we ordained her into the Church of Eternal Dimness* Could it be we have this imposter in our midst? If so he is now Arzgarth's wife! Does this picture look familiar? This was Megabitch on their special day. *I would have greatly preferred 'Darkness'. Much more fitting. But Arzgarth is afraid of the dark and we always have to keep an oil lamp on low.

Just wrote the longest reply in forum history Hairychest then deleted it as I realised you are right. We see the World differently. I see a marvelous ball of rock and water carrying 8 million species (one of which is particularly complex) hurtling through space, and is best understood through objective science in all it's forms. You see a marvelous world owned by humans to be divided up and used as each group of humans sees fit. You value good science, but don't necessarily accept a broad scientific concensus as the best option available as way forward. Or something relatively close to that? Who has the best viewing platform? Not sure. I don't think I am capable, or willing to zoom in to your particular depth of focus in order to offer up anything mind changing, so I'll revert back to annoying people with silly stories on other threads. I hope I have not misrepresented you too badly. Please correct me if I have ballsed up. Sweet dreams, or hope you're enjoying your toast. TVI

That's the spirit Khriss old boy. Many more biscuits in the barrel. Here's hoping for a good old Custard Creme next time, anything but a Ginger nut or Jaffa cake. You know where you are with a Custard Creme what what!

Good point. Bhutan has a dark past, as do most nations. What really matters is their motives now and into the future. Done a bit of research on the corruption thing. Bhutan ranks 27th out of 176 countries in the corruption index (1 being the least corrupt-Denmark, 176 being the most corrupt-Somalia) 27th is extremely good compared to other countries in the region. They rank better than Israel and only 4 places below France. I think 'massively corrupt' is a bit of an overstatement. Don't know about the lying thing. Looks like Bhutan is not the pristine example of a country doing all the right things. They are certainly saying the right things (in my view) hopefully they can contine to back this up with action. Worth keeping an eye on.

Sorry for your loss Khriss, but I must say it is probably a blessing in disguise. This ginger was young. They don't develop full blown gingervitus until the age of 37. Then all hell breaks loose. The hair folicles of an adult ginger generate a strong negative charge, the positively charged brain is repelled creating a sub cranial void. The void invariably becomes filled with cortexial pus. The pus contains microscopic particles of heavy metals which short circuit the brain's electrical processes. Commonly the reasoning areas of the frontal cortex are permanently inhibited. The motor regions become fused to the lower animal hind brain explaining many of the bizzare behavioural patterns exhibited by gingers. Bright light phobia, nocturnal preference, suspicion of other humans, inappropriate social conduct and territorial pissings. Once in the grip of gingervitus a ginger becomes a liability and should be, at the very least, shunned. An adult ginger is like a rabbit with mixy. You may well feel sorry for the little blighter, but the best thing all round is to align your vehicle for a direct hit.

You have to look at the whole picture though Hairychest. Trump has recently revealed plans to allow offshore oil drilling in almost all of America's coastal waters, overturning a ban on offshore drilling put in place by Obama. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/climate/trump-offshore-drilling.html His rationale for overturning the ban is that it "deprives our country of potentially thousands and thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in wealth" This type of rhetoric makes me very sad. America is already a fabulously wealthy country, but this isn't enough. Trump is willing to put the viability of our planet at very real risk in order to accumulate even more wealth. We all know where the large proportion of this extra profit will end up. This is hideously amoral and stupifyingly selfish. Not least because he has other options, the benefits of which could massively outweigh the financial gains he so craves, if only he would consider them. If America had the will and the necessary direction from the top they could easily become the dominant world power in sustainable energy production, creating 'thousands and thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in wealth' without putting the rest of the world's home at risk. The World is changing, people are changing, but Trump is clinging on to some delusional vision of past national glory, sucking up the selfish into his tornado of misguided chaos. Growth and national identity are not the be all and end all. They don't make people lastingly happy past a certain low level. Experiences, social connectedness and understanding one's self make us lastingly happy, extra stuff and insular thinking appears to make us happy but beyond the extreme short term it really doesn't. Trump doesn't understand this, or chooses not to. I don't think it's overblown to say that he is holding the world back. He needs to get over himself, bugger off, and let us continue to work towards a truly sustainable future. Obviously it's not just Trump, but his position of immense power means we need to give him particular focus. Peace. Out.

Yup. It doesn't have to be this way though, there are a few with a very different message. I have posted this before but it may be new to recently joined members. Here is Trump's polar opposite, the prime minister of Bhutan. Interesting to compare it to a Trump press conference. https://www.ted.com/talks/tshering_tobgay_this_country_isn_t_just_carbon_neutral_it_s_carbon_negative#t-276884

Don't read too much into the fact that he passed the test Gary. The questions on these mental capacity tests are laughably easy. You can find lots of examples online. They test for certain types of cognitive function but not psychiatric fitness. Trump is not demented in my view, but he is without question ethically short sighted, deluded and dangerously egotistical.

Peterson is definitely a very interesting chap, I find it impossible to fully work him out. I have watched loads of interviews with him over the last few months and although I agree with the majority of what he says there is some strange stuff lurking underneath. Sometimes he gets so incredibly intense I genuinely wonder if his is a borderline sociopath. He is also a Christian, not necessarily anything wrong with that in his case as he doesn't seem to adhere to damaging dogma, but his faith does seem to underpin a certain amount of his thinking about issues, and he readily admits himself that he is confused about why he believes what he does. I've also heard a couple of podcasts where he completely ties himself up in knots. My personal jury is still out on Peterson. Just putting it out there. No harm intended to anybody.

We'd planned to have a quiet night in. Megabitch had gone to pilates class so we settled down infront of Hoppin' Mad Wolfie McTavish for an evening of decomposition therapy. Unfortunately no interesting bits were showing any inclination to drop off so we cut our losses and headed down to the Duck and Badger for the pub quiz. I was still brooding over Arzgarth's ridiculous purchase of a non existant piano, but my mood brightened significantly when I spotted Blind Devil Demonseed at a corner table sipping on a cinzano and lemonade. Blind Devil Demonseed was a regular at the Duck and Badger, infact I couldn't ever remember an occasion when he had not been there. He was short in stature and his eye sockets were completely hollow due to an ironic and unfortunate mishap some years back. He'd accidently scooped out both his eyeballs trying on a new pair of spectacles at the local opticians. He was also peculiar in the fact that he had two horny protrusions growing out of his forehead and a mysterious triangular bulge in the seat of his pants. His feet were vaguely hoof like which he put down to a virulent strain of trench foot, and his skin was bright crimson. Demonseed explained this away by claiming to be a ginger and fond of the outdoors. This seemed plausible, although his angry complexion didn't appear to change with the passing seasons. Blind Devil Demonseed was not an easy fellow to categorize, but what he was, at least tonight, was an easy target! As Arzgarth worked out which end of the pencil the writing comes out of, I sidled over to Demonseed and challenged him to a game of darts. Blind Devil Demonseed was not used to company and he readily agreed to a game. 501 with 2000 groats going to the winner. I could win back the non existant piano money. This would be like taking candy from a baby. Or so I thought. I felt so confident that I couldn't possibly lose a game of darts to a blind red midget that I sportingly let Demonseed throw first. After I had turned him around to face the board he threw three treble 6's. I took my place at the oche and completely missed the board with all three darts! One of them ricocheted off a nail in the wall and implanted itself in the centre of Arzgarth's forehead. Needless to say, he was completely unaware of this event. It dawned on me that I was still concussed after my altercation with the daring ginger back at the wood the day before, and not on peak form. Blind Devil Demonseed threw next. Again, three treble 6's! I was beginning to suspect some dark forces were at play. I kept my cool however and unleashed my next three arrows. Two thudded soundly into the gents toilet door, and one flew out of the tavern window skewering a passing pidgeon. This was not going well. The pattern repeated itself until Demonseed was down to 18. He nonchalantly threw 6, double 6 and the game was his. I tersely congratulated Demonseed on his win and sorely guided him back to the wrong table where he fumbled about for his glass and took a hearty swig from a vase of wilting daffodils. This was mortifying, we were now down 4000 groats for the day with absolutely nothing to show for it. I slunk back to our table to see if Arzgarth had fared any better. He had not. The main quiz had finished and Arzgarth had amassed the staggering total of 0 points. The only other competitor in the quiz was a half eaten bowl of fruit salad left on a table by the bar. The fruit salad had scored 1 point but had had this docked for illegal use of a blackberry. This meant we were in a tie-break situation and I had arrived back just in time. I couldn't beat a blind demon at darts, but I sure as hell wasn't going to be intellectually bettered by a bowl of fruit! As fate would have it the tie break question concerned the decomposition rate of celtic flesh in a pure vinegar solution. Result! I glanced over at the fruit salad, it was looking worried. Arzgarth and I got the answer spot on, the pesky pudding was WAY out. The first prize in the quiz was 4000 groats. We had broken even after all! Arzgarth finished up his Um bongo and we headed back to the yurt. What a splendid end to a real up and down day. I sat back in my favourite rocking throne, Arzgarth curled up in his basket and we drifted off into peaceful, satisfied slumber.

Good work Detective Dempsey. Nice to know we've got our best man on the job!

That's very sweet Spud. I worry about you too.

Arzgarth plays in a local band. They like to do death metal covers of 60's rock and roll hits. They call themselves the Rolling Groans. Arzgarth is usually at the keyboards. He can't play for toffee. This doesn't generally cause a problem, the rest of the band are tone deaf also and Arzgarth's manic tinklings are totally lost in the maelstrom of ear bleeding feedback, random twangs and cymbal thuds. I say thuds as the Rolling Groans' drummer Septic Sven lost both arms in a freak sausage making accident and plays his instrument with his head. Here they are after a gruelling set at the Duck and Badger. Sven is pictured at the back left, he insisted on a 10 minute drum solo that night, hence the bleeding. You can see Arzgarth back right engaged in his usual activity of trying to remember who he is. As you may have gathered over the course of these posts, Arzgarth is not mensa material and this afternoon he got in a spot of bother over a new instrument. He got it into his head that he wanted to make his band presence more theatrical. He donated his keyboard to Hoppin' Mad Wolfie McTavish (Odin only knows what he's going to do with it!) and responded to an add in the Daily Idiot for a full size grand piano complete with gothic candelabra and side mounted flame motif. This all seems fine and dandy on the surface, but unfortunately the add was posted by none other than known local con man Dodgy Duncan 'Dark Deceiver' Dungflap. You've probably seen him about. He preys on old ladies at the library, stealing murry mints out of their handbags whilst they peruse the erotic fiction section. Dodgy Duncan 'Dark Deceiver' Dungflap. Dungflap had purposefully targeted Arzgarth with the add, knowing full well that the grand piano didn't actually exist, but also knowing full well that Arzgarth would almost certainly fail to notice. So here we are, Arzgarth labouring under his latest purchase. 2000 groats in exchange for a non existant grand piano with a non existant gothic candelabra and non existant side mounted flame motif. Arzgarth insisted on carrying it all the way back to the yurt. He seems genuinely overjoyed with it and can't wait to show the rest of the Rolling Groans. If nothing else, I suppose it should significantly improve their sound, simply by producing less of it! More riveting updates tomorrow. TVI.

Hmmm, that's a thought provoking image Bob. What's the general concencus on this, excluding conspiracy hysteria?

Ah, that makes a lot more sense. What a difference an 'i' makes! Without wanting to descend back into the quagmire on this thread, which is purely devoted to being as silly as possible. Do I believe this sillyness is emerging from one identifiable brain and body? Ultimately Yes Do I believe exactly the same sillyness could have been written at a different point in time? Almost certainly not. Do I believe there actually exists an 'I' inside this head that freely chooses what sillyness to write and when? No. This causes an awful lot of perfectly understandable confusion for most people, myself included. As wise man once say: "It's all fun and games until someone loses an i"

Said Eggs, swiftly removing his Neil Kinnock duvet cover.

Tory government proposes a 50% cut for those claiming half ginger benefits.

Note of caution to all my fellow gingers. Bullying hurts, but please resist the urge to over compensate! This doesn't apply to you se7enthdevil. You look awesome!

Are you refering to my stunning self portrait?

Presumably the ear flaps muffled much of the taunting lazurus?

Brilliant! 'Only a ginger can call another ginger ginger' Speaking as TVI's less medieval alter ego I'm on very firm ground here! Not 20ft concrete footings a la Se7enthdevil, but firm ground none the less.

From your personal collection Spud?