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The Glass Box.

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Eddie Mair | 13:59 UK time, Monday, 6 October 2008

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Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in the Glass Box you see above. Add your comment here.

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  • 1. At 2:26pm on 06 Oct 2008, mittfh wrote:

    As a diversion from the financial stories that will inevitably take up over 75% of PM (yawn!):

    Whoever devised the rule-of-thumb that teachers shouldn't accept gifts from pupils probably didn't have this scenario in mind...

    Have you ever heard of an "olor"? You have now!

    And here's a novel way to save up for your honeymoon...

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  • 2. At 2:28pm on 06 Oct 2008, Big Sister wrote:

    mittfh: Great stuff! and a good diversion from the doom and gloom.

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  • 3. At 3:08pm on 06 Oct 2008, Big Sister wrote:

    Looking at the Leslie Howard story (see newsletter and elsewhere) I can't help thinking what a great pity it is that his influence through Ms Montenegro didn't extend to preventing some of the atrocities committed by the Falangists during the Spanish Civil War.

    It is, for all that, an interesting take on an actor who has always struck me as rather colourless.

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  • 4. At 3:25pm on 06 Oct 2008, U11204129 wrote:

    2. But there is a spectre haunting America and it is the spectre of bankruptcy. And walking alongside is the lack of socialist history in the USA.

    But a solution is staring us in the face, for our 'problems', more like opportunities, here in Europe, which is to take the banks, finance houses and huge private fortunes into public ownership.

    Don't 'buy in', that's a sell-out.

    We are not trying to reassure markets, you know, but working out ways to replace them with better (more efficient and equitable) systems.

    Our capital is ours, not theirs.



    Don't worry about the Tories. They accepted the crisis public ownership programme, brought in during '45 to '51.
    (Indeed they (eg MacMillan), supported it in the 1930s too)

    Only an Oxford University chemist, with solid research behind her in the elasticity of ice cream, (so that it would look good on TV whilst some film star licked it, and the sure family backgound in an overpriced corner shop, could believe that markets are better than sensible equitable administration and planning.

    Don't worry about real losers as a result of 'no compensation' public ownership (as opposed to those who have 'lost out'), they'll all be helped under THe new redistributive tax system YOU SHOULD BRING IN, TOO!!!!!!

    Go on, Ms. Quinn, get your aides to phone every CEO of banks and finance houses they can get hold of, and demand of them why they shouldn't be taken over without compensation.

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  • 5. At 4:29pm on 06 Oct 2008, UptheTrossachs wrote:

    mittfh. Whoops! I don't think this lot would approve!

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  • 6. At 4:52pm on 06 Oct 2008, Thunderbird wrote:

    Mittfh (1) I don't know if it is a coincidence but the was a story on Today this morning about teachers giving presents to pupils, or was it the other way round?

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  • 7. At 5:06pm on 06 Oct 2008, Nigel_N wrote:

    pmLeader, How's the Austin Allegro doing?

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  • 8. At 5:06pm on 06 Oct 2008, Dr_Hackenbush wrote:

    Carolyn - don't do that, please.

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  • 9. At 5:16pm on 06 Oct 2008, mittfh wrote:

    Tbird (6) - the story on Today was Chris Keats (head of the NASUWT teaching union) up in arms about the fact that if a teacher has an affair with a 6th former at their school, not only are they dismissed and debarred from teaching (which the NASUWT agrees with), but they also end up on the sex offenders register (which the NASUWT doesn't agree with).

    So, although you could interpret it as teachers giving presents to pupils...

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  • 10. At 5:35pm on 06 Oct 2008, Lady Sue wrote:

    Driving Tests: get rid of reversing around a corner. How dangerous is that? After the test, does anyone ever do it? Far better to have reverse parking, which is a much more useful skill.

    Spare a thought for those of us living in Ireland - surely the only country in the world where you can drive yourself (on your own) to your driving test, FAIL it and drive yourself home.

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  • 11. At 5:43pm on 06 Oct 2008, Thunderbird wrote:

    Lady-Sue. ha ha ha, it's the way you tell'm.....

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  • 12. At 5:47pm on 06 Oct 2008, Compton_Leofric wrote:

    The driving test should be just that, a test of driving capability.

    I suppose the driving test Tsar is getting a roasting for not having enough A* passes at the first attempt ?

    Soft issues such as "travel planning" and "hazard awareness" are all very well, but don't put the cart before the horse. You need to have the skill to drive from A to B without hitting a hazard first. Then and only then should you proceed to the finer points of tapping in a postcode to a sat nav while holding a multi-national conference call on your blue tooth gizmo, sat in the outside lane of the M6 doing 90 MPH.


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  • 13. At 5:50pm on 06 Oct 2008, Lady Sue wrote:

    Sequin: thrilled to be quoted! Hand on my heart, it's true! My son has done it three times (God love him).

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  • 14. At 5:55pm on 06 Oct 2008, David_McNickle wrote:

    L_S 10, Is that Fianna Fail?

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  • 15. At 5:56pm on 06 Oct 2008, Big Sister wrote:

    Your point puts me in mind of driving off the Cork ferry at around six in the morning.

    Now I understand, Lady Sue, why we found some of the driving a little, well, eccentric? ;o)

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  • 16. At 5:56pm on 06 Oct 2008, mittfh wrote:

    Just leaving work (I'm a nutter!) - I'll have to listen again when I get home (except I won't be listening *again*, I'll be listening for the first time!)

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  • 17. At 6:10pm on 06 Oct 2008, Big Sister wrote:

    David McN: On another thread (where I have promised not to return) you have accused me of being a bully sometimes.

    Sorry, but that isn't funny.

    However, if anything I've ever said on this Blog has ever given anyone cause to think that, I am sorry.

    This Blog is not what it used to be - a lovely place, with lovely people. There are still some of the latter around, but the atmosphere has become poisonous since certain people came on board. I think it may be time to abandon ship.

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  • 18. At 6:11pm on 06 Oct 2008, glachlan wrote:

    Re insulating houses - why do you never ask about those of us in rented accommodation? We live in a rented house with no double glazing and minimal loft insulation. We asked our landlord about insulation and this new scheme and he flat-out refused to consider doing anything. In fact his comment was "this is quite a cosy house when you turn the heating on." The only way I can see of encouraging landlords to insulate their properties is to mandate it. Why not ask the next govt official what they intend to do about the rented sector?

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  • 19. At 6:14pm on 06 Oct 2008, Lady Sue wrote:

    (14) David: very good!

    (15) Big Sis: it is a serious worry. I believe Ireland has the highest incidents of road deaths/accidents in Europe. There are still thousands of people here driving on a 'Provisional Licence' - in other words, they have passed the paper test but not the practical. I personally know one chap whose been driving on this paper test for over 30 years. It's such a scandal. The excuse is something to do with the lack of driving testers. It's a terrible problem and seems to be largely ignored.

    I'm glad it came across as amusing because... "many a true word said in jest".

    I hope my comment may bring attention to the issue.



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  • 20. At 6:21pm on 06 Oct 2008, Lady Sue wrote:

    (17) Big Sis: This most disconcerting. As you know, I find you such a calm voice of reason. I've seen where you have been "accused" of feminism (I'm not a feminist but that's neither here nor there) from time to time but you have handled these "accusations" in a tactful and circumspect manner. As for being a "bully" - that's so improbable. You keep things on an even keel and should be applauded for it.

    I am such a newcomer to this but have found the blog a fun, energetic place (not to mention the escapism of the beach).

    It would be a tragedy (melodramatic here, must be something to do with the colourless - couldn't agree more - Leslie Howard piece) if you departed. It is definitely people/bloggers such as your good self that keep this a happy place.

    Don't desert us! Please.

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  • 21. At 6:42pm on 06 Oct 2008, newiwonder wrote:

    I hear that we have a black police assosiation and a muslim police assosiation-- when are we going to hear from the white police assosiation and the christian police assosiation??? after all, all sections of society SHOULD be represented. come on,fair play all the way!!!

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  • 22. At 7:16pm on 06 Oct 2008, justfloating wrote:

    (17) Sis - Stay Please. I fopr one want to hear your views on the PM subjects.

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  • 23. At 7:30pm on 06 Oct 2008, Chris_Ghoti wrote:

    Big Sister @ 17, please don't go away.

    What I want to say is in Latin and the mods won't allow a nasty furrin language like that, but it translates as 'don't let the [feminists used as a replacement for a swear-word that the mods also won't allow] grind you down'...

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  • 24. At 8:51pm on 06 Oct 2008, Humph wrote:

    I was interested in the Tory idea that driving-test examiners would be able to spot a lack of competence, in a test-candidate, based on a lack of evidence. If you remove all the "reverse-gear" parts of the test, how is the examiner supposed to assess the ability of the candidate? If the candidate was taught by a friend, or a member of the family (eg a father, as I was), should the teacher's assessment really count? Or is this "cost saving" idea for the testing system going to lead to a cost raising scheme for the candidates, who find that they have to pay for professional lessons to get a qualified assessment of their ability?

    H.

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  • 25. At 9:01pm on 06 Oct 2008, nikki noodle wrote:

    the very thought, Humph, occured to me, as I was driving home.

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  • 26. At 9:43pm on 06 Oct 2008, U11204129 wrote:

    Too late to be included, but the Dow made a very bad recovery late in the day, today.

    At one point it was over 7 percent down on the day.

    That might have made market advocates there stop and think.

    Sadly the index recovered so it was only just under 4 percent down, at the close.

    Market oligarchies are like any other hierarchical set up. The only people who can't see what's wrong with it are the dogs at the top of the pile.

    And the only way to convince THEM it's a lousy system is to ensure they find it no fun at all being kings of the castle.

    7 percent falls are more persuasive than 3.5 percent falls.

    Enjoy!

    It's only once or twice in a lifetime that you get a chance to see a rotten system like Western finance capitalism burn itself out.

    To edit Yeats and Wordsworth,

    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

    All is changed, changed utterly:
    A terrible beauty is born

    Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
    But to be young was very heaven!
    Oh! what times are these!

    Come ON you revolutionaries of the spirit, your time is now!

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  • 27. At 9:58pm on 06 Oct 2008, justfloating wrote:

    Piracy does not need high power boats.

    The sequence for Somalia is to have your contact in Suez ring through the AIS data for each ship and its destination. The stupidity of ships is that they transmit this information to everyone with a receiver. If you don't believe me google "AIS Liverpool"

    Then have a spotter at the bottom of the Rea Sea confirming the ship transit time. From that you can predict its time around the horn.

    Then have a few fishing boats with SSB and Radar, signal through its position.

    Take 2 small boats out. Tie a long floating line between the boats and wait for the ship lights to appear. You have about 15 minutes to position the boats so they are either side of the ships track. Ships have 2 mast lights that easily aid this manoeuvre.

    The ship goes past and the rope catches on the bulb at the bow. The two little boats are then sucked into the sides of the ship and up go the grappling hooks. Not a sound is made.

    Ships also have to report in at certain points like Gibraltar and while passing any coalition warships. Full details are demanded on open radio channels. I have even heard them demanding passport numbers over an open radio.

    What I am trying to say is that the shipping industry and navies have tried their best to make it easy for piracy of both big and small ships. Wake up call!

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  • 28. At 11:31pm on 06 Oct 2008, Big Sister wrote:

    Lady Sue (20) - Thank you. It will be a wrench to leave the Blog and lovely folk like you (and Chris - Thanks for that thought, I do know what you mean!)

    I'll sleep on it and hope that tomorrow finds me in stronger spirits, but just now I'm a little weary of it all. But you are both lovely, and I'm truly grateful to read your kind posts.

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  • 29. At 01:35am on 07 Oct 2008, U11204129 wrote:

    This is a competition between capital and democracy, between money and the majority.

    Those who are against across the board public ownership ,without compensation, think on this.

    You can see all this market shenanigans as a profit maximising strategy by marketeers.
    They bid down their own assets, hit world governments for a few trillion dollars and then bid their own assets back up again.
    Easy peasy profit.

    As governments become aware of THAT danger, so we're assured that the global economic turn down is on our doorstep.
    Nonsense. Plenty of time, yet, to take the system into public ownership, and lots of time to tell the finance houses they don't get a penny.

    Look, the more we 'back' markets, the WEAKER governments become, the more vulnerable we come to being told we're spending too much on hospitals, schools etc, because of the extent to which we're exposed in markets.

    To quote Galbraith we shall be forced into public squalor and private markets will thrive on affluent luxury.

    Take the whole finance sector into public ownership. Let an egalitarian tax-benefit system adjust the welfare of the 'losers'.

    Let capitalism TRY to bludgeon miscreants (India, China etc) into submission by global contraction. By taking the finance houses into public ownership, we will have set our own agenda. That is, to take into public ownership each firm, each industry as it claims to have failed.

    If they're wise, the contractionists**** will change their strategies. Meanwhile, for the first time in European socialist history every finance house in England will be owned by us, the people.





    **** The contractionists: those capitalist theorists who see financial crises and economic downturns as useful pieces of policy. Didn't they do for Opec, Japan, the Asian Tiger economies, Germany in the thirties and ordinary hard working people, here, when Thatcher was in power, because they were each, in their ways, seen as getting too powerful vis-a-vis Western capital(ism).

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  • 30. At 08:16am on 07 Oct 2008, Sid wrote:

    Big Sister - just ask yourself: who would cheer if you left and didn't come back?


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  • 31. At 09:25am on 07 Oct 2008, Big Sister wrote:

    30: My husband ;o)

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  • 32. At 10:17am on 07 Oct 2008, Sid wrote:

    31 - thanks for that, coffee all over the keyboard!


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  • 33. At 10:22am on 07 Oct 2008, UptheTrossachs wrote:

    justfloating (27 - fascinating.. not that I would want to give piracy a go.
    It seems to me that we have become very thoughtless about all forms of communication with regard to security. Few, if any, forms of communication are totally secure. Demanding passport numbers over an open radio channel is just plain barmy - they'll be asking for credit card or bank details next!

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  • 34. At 10:27am on 07 Oct 2008, Lady Sue wrote:

    Good morning everyone.

    Big Sis: are you there?

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  • 35. At 10:29am on 07 Oct 2008, Big Sister wrote:

    Well, Lady Sue, I may not be 'all' there, but I'm certainly here ;o)

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  • 36. At 10:31am on 07 Oct 2008, Lady Sue wrote:

    Big Sis: delighted you are still with us, as I'm sure everyone else will be. Just ignore the horrid comments - a lack of response can be the most powerful put-down.

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  • 37. At 10:37am on 07 Oct 2008, Big Sister wrote:

    Lady Sue, as ever you are so right. We mustn't let this Blog sink under the weight of nastiness.

    Must we?

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  • 38. At 10:44am on 07 Oct 2008, Lady Sue wrote:

    Absolutely not!

    I so enjoy your observations and the witty and wry comments of you and other bloggers. I skim over the lengthy 'soap box' tomes but am frequently amused by the one-liners bloggers come up with.

    Very glad you have decided to carry on!

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  • 39. At 10:45am on 07 Oct 2008, Lady Sue wrote:

    Also - think of how upset Eddie would have been to return from holiday only to find you had "jumped ship".

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  • 40. At 10:50am on 07 Oct 2008, David_McNickle wrote:

    BS 17, I have never seen blogs or forums as lovely places with lovely people. They represent all parts of society from you to me to C_G to L_S to MAII to pmL to Sid to JG to etc. The Beach is the only nice place here if you want speedos, sprouts, and made up meals and that sort of thing.

    I am currently using a forum associated with Timewatch/BBC/OU and you find all sorts there from people who are 'serious' about archaeology to people who believe that aliens from UFOs built Stonehenge.

    Nastiness and niceyness is everywhere.

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  • 41. At 10:52am on 07 Oct 2008, RachelG wrote:

    No, indeed, Big Sis. I've not been paying enough attention lately to notice who's been pulling your hair, but if you leave the playground I will be most put out.

    Please stick around.

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  • 42. At 10:52am on 07 Oct 2008, Big Sister wrote:

    David, if only you'd been here two years ago you would have discovered the Promised Land!

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  • 43. At 10:53am on 07 Oct 2008, Big Sister wrote:

    RachelG: I love the analogy! Cheers!

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  • 44. At 11:27am on 07 Oct 2008, justfloating wrote:

    (33) UT - I forgot one of the other nutty parts of Ocean life.

    You are approached by a black dingy with full of black clothed men. They are 1/2 a mile away and aiming at you.

    Do you run like mad thinking they are pirates or do you stop and allow the Navy/customs to aboard!

    The implications of getting it wrong is severe both ways.

    When the professionals out there, act like professional, the seas will be safer.

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  • 45. At 12:01pm on 07 Oct 2008, imperialreddrummer wrote:

    Perhaps if it wasn't the same old few names that seem to dominate this blog more people would have persisted with it.

    I find it most amusing how BS threatens to stop contributing therefore attracting so much positive attention.

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  • 46. At 12:10pm on 07 Oct 2008, ladylookingglass wrote:

    Who would cheer Sid?

    me for one.

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  • 47. At 12:18pm on 07 Oct 2008, Chris_Ghoti wrote:

    Big Sister -- phew!

    DMcN, you mean aliens from UFOs *didn't* build Stonehenge?

    Eeeeek!

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  • 48. At 1:22pm on 07 Oct 2008, mittfh wrote:

    Just to echo previous comments:

    This is one of the most courteous corners of the blogosphere. Yes, there is a core of regular bloggers, but newcomers are generally welcomed into the community with open arms. We try not to get bogged down in flamewars, although when the occasional troll does show up, it sometimes takes us a while to remember to abstain from "feeding" them. Hopefully they'll either get bored and move on, or get modded so often they eventually realise no-one's going to hear them...

    And of course, we have our weekly off-topic area, where we can relax and unwind. It was initiated and evolved by many, but effectively "Christened" by Big Sis.

    Then if that wasn't enough, we've also created several off-site branches of the community:
    * A 'live' chatroom attached to a webcam
    * A companion website, used as an emergency backup facility during the blog's early teething problems
    * A discussion group on a social networking site
    * Jargon (Frog / Froggers / Beach / FaceBeach / Furrowed Brow / Glass Box)

    And if you think that's scary, how about:

    * A song
    * Several videos on a well-known website

    And, even scarier:
    * Real life weekend meet-ups (3 so far), sponsored by liberal quantities of CH3CH2OH...

    So, to misquote a well-known TV series:
    * Froggers love each other very much
    * BIG HUG!

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  • 49. At 1:25pm on 07 Oct 2008, Sid wrote:

    ladylooking glass - just out of curiosity, why would you cheer me?


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  • 50. At 2:01pm on 07 Oct 2008, The Stainless Steel Cat wrote:

    Big Sis:

    Eek! Glad you decided to stay. I've been on discussion groups (newsgroups) where people left en masse for the same reasons; those groups were never the same. newsgroups and latterly blogs will always change and evolve, but when they suddenly change character because the regulars leave, they all seem to lose, well... soul. Let's stick it out and see where it goes.

    Chris (47):

    Of course aliens from UFOs didn't build Stonehenge.

    Aliens from UFOs built the *Pyramids*. Stonehenge was built by giant Welsh gnomes.

    obligatory Glass Box comment:
    PM team, feel free to run stories about sports, celebrity TV or interview Des Browne for the rest of the week. I won't hear them due to having to walk home/work late thanks to Bob Crow and his striking railway signallers.

    (Sounds like a Big Band... "And now ladies and gentlemen, It's Bob Crowe and His Striking Swingin' Signallers with that Duke Ellington classic, "Take the 'A' Bus Cos the Train's Not Runnin'")

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  • 51. At 2:45pm on 07 Oct 2008, Chris_Ghoti wrote:

    SSC @ 50, well, I'm glad *that* is cleared up then. And those gnomes sang far too loud, far too often, and flat, of course.

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  • 52. At 4:09pm on 07 Oct 2008, Gillianian wrote:

    The Blog is what we make it - regulars, intermittents and newbies - for good or ill. Those of us who take pleasure from this blog should rise above the taunts, ignore the trolls and carry on regardless, addressing those whom we choose and chucking in lots of random comments for good measure. The nice folk outnumber the nasties - it would be a pity to allow the nasties to call all the shots.
    David McNickle - there's nothing nasty about voicing an opinion or even expresssing a difference in opinion. As has been said elsewhwere, ''It's the way you tell 'em''

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  • 53. At 4:31pm on 07 Oct 2008, U10783173 wrote:

    Gillian - spot on! And it nice that you acknowlege my intermittent status as a distinct category. :o)

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  • 54. At 4:36pm on 07 Oct 2008, David_McNickle wrote:

    impdrum 45, I threatened to leave another forum last February and did.

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  • 55. At 5:17pm on 07 Oct 2008, David_McNickle wrote:

    mittfh 48, The forum I left in Feb welcomed newbies with open arms and had meet-ups that all could attend. I went to two. It could be a lot nastier than this blog, with words allowed that aren't even known of here.

    Who are the 'we' that you refer to with off-site branches of the 'community'? I've never heard of them.

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  • 56. At 6:00pm on 07 Oct 2008, U10783173 wrote:

    DMcN (55) - Well, I'm one of mittfh's 'we' - I think I partake in every one of the off-site branches.

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  • 57. At 6:17pm on 07 Oct 2008, Chris_Ghoti wrote:

    TIH @ 56, DMcN @ 55, whereas I clearly am not, because I don't because I can't -- I have the wrong sort of computer, and can't easily dap about to flesh-type as opposed to virtual meetings either.

    I'm never sure whether this is a case of 'all bloggers are equal, but some bloggers are more equal than others', though I occasionally allow a genteel cuss-word to pass my lips when Eric suggests we click 'here' and when I do I get nothing because it was for a moving picture with sound-track.

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  • 58. At 7:05pm on 07 Oct 2008, U10783173 wrote:

    CG (57) - There's no closed shop. The original off-blog is still available to anyone via the Froggers' Refuge link on the upper right (3rd link down). Originally set up to cater for those times when the PM blog was technically "knackered" it is not used much now.

    The Cransleychat again is open to anyone, blogger, frogger and those with no connection to the blog at all. The link has been given many times on the Beach.

    The social networking site limits the numbers that converse within a group - so that one is restricted but not by decision of the current participants.

    Real meet-ups are by their very definition by invitation only and restricted to those that the organiser deems sociable and potentially interesting I would guess.

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  • 59. At 7:17pm on 07 Oct 2008, Gillianian wrote:

    I'd enjoy going to an open meet-up, free from the restrictions of invitations or private addresses.
    Would anyone else welcome one, and if so, can anyone suggest how/where/when?

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  • 60. At 8:38pm on 07 Oct 2008, Chris_Ghoti wrote:

    TIH @ 38, oh, I wasn't thinking that I was being 'excluded', except by the shortcomings of my computer system! I've gone and looked sometimes at the Froggers' refuge, but as you say, it doesn't get much traffic. The thing is that I don't have a machine that is set up for sound or moving pictures, so I tend not to try to go to places where I suppose those may be happening, since what I will get is a message coming up that tells me I have to enable things that in my case I have not got.

    Gillianian @ 59, somebody names a time and place, and goes and sits there wearing a tabard that says 'blog on, blog ever!', and sees whether anyone turns up?

    In the church hall if wet... :-)

    The trouble of course is that we are spread all over the country. Doing it in London might not be the best thing for the most people. Them of us as avoids the Great Wen would be unlikely to appear. And anywhere else is for some reason regarded as being not central enough by most people.

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  • 61. At 9:18pm on 07 Oct 2008, U10783173 wrote:

    CG (60) - Sorry, I've re-read what I posted and it does come across as a bit pointed. It wasn't meant to be.

    I can see why some might think that "some bloggers are more equal than others". A lot of bloggers have been here for a long time, have got to know how others think, what interests them, their outlook on life and what makes them laugh. They can sometimes be annoyed when someone by chance or by intent upsets the civil debate that exists here.

    This was written nearly two years on the blog by a regular contributor and I think it is still the best description of the blog, when it works well.
    "It's like having a bunch of inteligent, friendly, opinionated but (usually) gentle colleagues and friends around - one moves from the serious to the random to the important to the trivial and around again. The pleasure's in the mixture."
    I think that is how it should be.

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  • 62. At 10:13pm on 07 Oct 2008, Fifi wrote:

    Thought I'd catch up on my Glass Box homework and then found a them-vs-us knucklefight going on!

    Mittfh and the Horse have it spot-on. If you are for civil and educated debate, or a bit of whimsy, this is the blog for you. If not...

    Gillian, wasn't that how the first get-together started? There was a longrunning chat here about whether to have it in London, and everyone just turn up... or the Midlands somewhere, and everyone just turn up... and in the end someone just took the initiative and said: 'My house then, but there isn't room for everybody'?

    Back in those days you could make your website or email address available on the blog, which is how several of us got in contact. That's impossible now - and I'm sorry if that excludes newer froggers but we just worked with what we had.

    I used to use the band's web-based email to facilitate contact between froggers (strictly following Privacy Rules) and could arrange to do that again - if there's any call for it.

    Newer froggers ... this means YOU!

    But if all you want is to try and spoil the off-blog fun as well as the on-blog ... I suspect that when unconfined by the strictures of DNA, froggers will be found to be rather less gentlemanly than they tend to be here!

    Genuine offer, the emailable contact gateway. Anyone up for it???

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  • 63. At 10:13pm on 07 Oct 2008, nikki noodle wrote:

    Firstly, this is a public space, an open street, a bustling market-square. It isnt a neat and tidy quiet park or garden. And nearly anyone can say nearly anything!! If I don't like it, I just move on!!!


    Yet, it is incredibly easy to feel more or less different or equal than everybody else. I know. Some bloggers are visually impaired, some use hearing aids; some bloggers use a wheelchair and some blog because their voice isnt being heard elsewhere.


    There is no heirarchy - longevity has never been much of an indication of merit - nor is there any ownership, apart, of course from Dr Mair and the Team. It belongs to all of us who post, send pictures, or skim read and pass on. And tomorrow it will be used to warp chips. [(c) mr noodle].


    There *is* an issue of too many posts from too few people; but this is preferable to not enough posts from anybody!!!! And, as virtually noone agrees with Everyone over Everything, there will always be some debate.





    Anyway, every once in a while, there is a really juicy topic that gets over 100 comments or even more, from people who actually know stuff....

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  • 64. At 10:15pm on 07 Oct 2008, nikki noodle wrote:

    59. Gillian, how about London Bridge, on, say, an April Saturday - aparently there'd be 50,000 people cantering past....surely some must be PM bloggers????!!!

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  • 65. At 10:21pm on 07 Oct 2008, nikki noodle wrote:

    40 DMcN (and following) - people who thought that aliens built Stonehenge - luvaduck, I'm met some of them, why do they hone in on an archeology blog??

    Why dont they just go straight to astro-chronology blog, or somesuch.

    Or possibly, a theology one.

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  • 66. At 11:00pm on 07 Oct 2008, Fifi wrote:

    "used to warp chips"???

    I'd pay good money to see that!

    Waste of good chips though, if you ask me.

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  • 67. At 11:04pm on 07 Oct 2008, Chris_Ghoti wrote:

    TIH @ 61, I've just gone back and read my post @ 57, and I think the fault is with the phrasing I used. If instead of "I'm never sure _whether_ this is a case of 'all bloggers are equal, but some bloggers are more equal than others'," it read "I'm never sure _that_ this is a case of 'all bloggers are equal, but some bloggers are more equal than others'," it would be a lot closer to what I really meant, and a lot less open to the interpretation "this crot is whingeing", which when I look at it now I can see I might easily have been thought to have been doing.

    After all, if I really cared I could probably find somebody who was prepared to help me set up a windoze box with bells and whistles that let me listen to movies as well as just type. It just doesn't seem worth it from where I sit indolently using a very ancient Mac instead... :-)

    About the meets: I've gone to meets for a place I posted at regularly, and found everyone there perfectly pleasant for a couple of years -- but I stopped going to the annual get-together precisely because one of the regulars decided for some reason [a] to have a dead set at three or four people of whom I was one and [b] to turn up at these events and be all *over* them. I didn't want to bash him over the head with a hot barbeque, so I didn't turn up one year, and then never got round to going again. I'm not saying that there is any frog whose lights I particularly want to darken at the moment, but I can see it as a risk for regulars: they might not like each other, and they might prefer not to find this out 'in the flesh' and have any sort of confrontation. It's safer by pixel, or something.

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  • 68. At 6:06pm on 08 Oct 2008, David_McNickle wrote:

    TIH 61, Well la de dah! I'd hate to be accused of being intelligent and gentle.

    If I click on the Froggers Refuge, I get nothing. I guess I haven't been around long enough (more than a year, I think) to be one of the select few. Maybe it's because I'm an American.

    As I said, I went to two meet-ups of posters from a Delphi forum and enjoyed them, but people who said they would come didn't leaving only four of us. I didn't go again.

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  • 69. At 7:44pm on 08 Oct 2008, Chris_Ghoti wrote:

    DMcN @ 68, OK, I promise I won't ever say you are intelligent and gentle. How about 'or' instead of 'and'?

    When I go to the Froggers' Refuge I get a page that is mostly Dr. Hackenbush and dating from Junem as the most recent thing there.

    I am not American, though.

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  • 70. At 7:44pm on 08 Oct 2008, Chris_Ghoti wrote:

    Junem? June!

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  • 71. At 09:15am on 09 Oct 2008, David_McNickle wrote:

    C_G 69, OK, I lied. The stuff I saw was mostly from Junem as well.

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  • 72. At 11:07am on 09 Oct 2008, Chris_Ghoti wrote:

    DMcN @ 71, yeah, I know. Oh that Junem, he just does get everywhere.

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