The City of Your Final Destination

[waalkwriter]

Why? You always forgive me for making fun of your precious Louisiana, .

South Louisiana is truly the only place in the continental United States I could probably be satisfied living in. Heh.

[Liam]

First of all, look above. ^^^

South Louisiana is truly the only place in the continental United States I could probably be satisfied living in.

What?

NOT Bumblefuck?

[waalkwriter]

NOT Bumblefuck?

Huh? (Blank Face)

[Liam]

It's an imaginary destination (under copyright by ME, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's already online) that I'm trying to popularize around here. Tony's already said he's booking the tickets tomorrow, . Come on, Jake. Bumblefuck beckons...

[Liam]

Take a tour around Bumblefuck, y'all!

Take home a lovely keepsake, hang it on your door and see how the neighbors react:

Seriously, Jake. You sure you don't want to... ahem... indulge?

[Liam]

If you boys don't behave then Stewart will be forced to close this thread, and then Liam will be hugely upset, because it is his thread, .

[Liam]

Sorry for upsetting you, Liam.

You haven't upset me, Paul. It would take dinosaur balls to upset me, . But Jake will be upset. Who's going to engage in arguments with him now?

By the way, it's pretty amazing that you never seem to get into trouble with all the provocative gay stuff.

Well, WLF is an extremely liberal place. Gay, straight, bi, Thai, all are welcome. Unless I start posting outright pornography, there's really no reason why I should get into trouble.

It makes one wonder whether Stewart and/or Bjorn are gay too.

Not since they got on Wellbutrin, . LOL.

[waalkwriter]

The communication options are difficult with someone who apparently is unable to differentiate between a bigot and anyone who views the world differently from him. I wonder whether you are capable of understanding different cultures at all.

Your hero du jour, Yukio Mishima sounds like a wonderful person for you to emulate:

On November 25, 1970, Mishima and four members of the Tatenokai, under pretext, visited the commandant of the Ichigaya Camp — the Tokyo headquarters of the Eastern Command of Japan's Self-Defense Forces.[10] Inside, they barricaded the office and tied the commandant to his chair. With a prepared manifesto and banner listing their demands, Mishima stepped onto the balcony to address the soldiers gathered below. His speech was intended to inspire a coup d'état restoring the powers of the emperor. He succeeded only in irritating them, however, and was mocked and jeered. He finished his planned speech after a few minutes, returned to the commandant's office and committed seppuku. The customary kaishakunin duty at the end of this ritual had been assigned to Tatenokai member Masakatsu Morita, but Morita was unable to properly perform the task. After several failed attempts, he allowed another Tatenokai member, Hiroyasu Koga, to behead Mishima. Morita himself attempted to commit seppuku that day as well. When he failed, Koga once again performed the kaishakunin duty.

Indeed. In fact, I wrote about what I think of Mishima as a person in my threads on both Confessions of a Mask and The Sound of Waves. I wrote plenty about it in both of those.

Secondly, I never called you a bigot. Never have the words come of my mouth. A bigot implies irresponsible or negative beliefs. I only said you were narrow-minded, and that you seem a little too content with listening to yourself sometimes. Still a negative statement, but one that was more than appropriate for your statements. It has nothing to do with the fact that you view the world differently, it has to do with the derision you pour on everything, and the lack of any effort to actually communicate yourself; you never seem very interested in backing up your very broad and often unfair statements, rife with generalizations.

[waalkwriter]

You haven't upset me, Paul. It would take dinosaur balls to upset me, . But Jake will be upset. Who's going to engage in arguments with him now?
Well, WLF is an extremely liberal place. Gay, straight, bi, Thai, all are welcome. Unless I start posting outright pornography, there's really no reason why I should get into trouble.
Not since they got on Wellbutrin, . LOL.

I'd be quite annoyed if Dorell sat and ignored me. But it's not like he actually engages in arguments with me. I point out he's making ridiculous and vague generalizations, that he's obsessed with agism, and that his assertions are grossly narrow-minded and unfair. He either insults me, or says that at his age its okay for him to believe whatever he wants and not challenge his own beliefs. Or both. After all, you've seen the pm he sent not long ago, which started off with two straight sentences of epithets, and ranted onwards for 4 paragraphs. And even now he continues his strain of homophobia. He doesn't seem to get the innocent teasing nature, or, in certain threads, the open discussion of sexuality, that is a part of what is so good about this site; it's not narrow and it's not constricting.

Those two things are actually a big part of finding a good place to live, for me.

But yeah, it's good to tie up this. I doubt stewart would be bother by such a brief diversion. I understand that threads go off topic and generally return to topic before too long. There's a sort of curve they follow if left to their own devices.

So tell me, do you really have no interest in settling down in Western Ireland, or Northern Wales? Low cost of living, local culture that holds interest for you, and possible education jobs available. You could write, jog on the beaches, find the celtic dude of your dreams, etc?

[Liam]

you've seen the pm he sent not long ago

OK, but let's keep private messages private, .

So tell me, do you really have no interest in settling down in Western Ireland, or Northern Wales? Low cost of living, local culture that holds interest for you. You could write, jog on the beaches, find the celtic dude of your dreams, etc?

I would, but the climate alone would kill me, . Perhaps I could import that Celtic dude of my dreams over here??? Irish-Scotch would be a perfect combo (Harry, d'you know any eligible singles? ).

[waalkwriter]

OK, but let's keep private messages private, .
I would, but the climate alone would kill me, . Perhaps I could import that Celtic dude of my dreams over here??? Irish-Scotch would be a perfect combo (Harry, d'you know any eligible singles? ).

How would the climate kill you? It's not that cold. No colder than NYC.

[Liam]

For those of you that like NYC and want to visit it or even move here one day:

Somebody had a really nice, if slightly unusual idea, to turn an old, out-of-use, aboveground train-track into a narrow promenade with grass and bushes, etc. It is now called The High Line park and has been open to the public, free of charge, for some time.

Before:






After:








I'm ashamed to say that I haven't been to this place yet, not even once, .

[hdw]

Irish-Scotch would be a perfect combo (Harry, d'you know any eligible singles? ).

Just seen this, which was posted when I was in la bella Italia. Sorry, I don't move in the right circles to identify eligible singles for you. To be honest, I don't move in any circles, being a bit of a misanthrope.

By Irish-Scottish do you mean what most Americans call Scotch-Irish, i.e. Northern Irish Presbyterians of Scottish origins? Ulster rednecks, like those causing the current unrest? That community is most unlikely to produce anybody you would regard as remotely eligible. They believe people like Liam are going straight to Hell in a handbasket. You might get on better among the Scotch-Scotch in relatively gay-friendly Edinburgh where the Broughton area just to the north of Princes Street is famous for its boys' bars.

Incidentally, this city of just under half a million permanent residents and a large floating population (especially during Festival time) is just about the right size, I would claim, with a rich cultural life and plenty of good eating and drinking establishments, not to mention an .. ahem .. vibrant night life (which I only know about by repute, of course).

Harry

[waalkwriter]

Just seen this, which was posted when I was in la bella Italia. Sorry, I don't move in the right circles to identify eligible singles for you. To be honest, I don't move in any circles, being a bit of a misanthrope.

By Irish-Scottish do you mean what most Americans call Scotch-Irish, i.e. Northern Irish Presbyterians of Scottish origins? Ulster rednecks, like those causing the current unrest? That community is most unlikely to produce anybody you would regard as remotely eligible. They believe people like Liam are going straight to Hell in a handbasket. You might get on better among the Scotch-Scotch in relatively gay-friendly Edinburgh where the Broughton area just to the north of Princes Street is famous for its boys' bars.

Incidentally, this city of just under half a million permanent residents and a large floating population (especially during Festival time) is just about the right size, I would claim, with a rich cultural life and plenty of good eating and drinking establishments, not to mention an .. ahem .. vibrant night life (which I only know about by repute, of course).

Harry

An odd question, hdw, did Scotland just have a referendum for Independence? What kind of changes would that lead to for residents? I'm wondering if some people would stick around or find new locations to settle down.

[Loki]

Somebody had a really nice, if slightly unusual idea, to turn an old, out-of-use, aboveground train-track into a narrow promenade with grass and bushes, etc. It is now called The High Line park and has been open to the public, free of charge, for some time.

It's something like walking on the Medieval walls of Lucca (Tuscany), although these walls are more fascinating to me than this old train-track. Anyway, it's not a bad idea Liam. If I had known about it I would've told my brother to have a walk there (he went to NYC a couple of months ago).

I bet Harry remembers the walls of Lucca.

[hdw]

It's something like walking on the Medieval walls of Lucca (Tuscany), although these walls are more fascinating to me than this old train-track. Anyway, it's not a bad idea Liam. If I had known about it I would've told my brother to have a walk there (he went to NYC a couple of months ago).

I bet Harry remembers the walls of Lucca.

Yes, and our elder son is in the vicinity at the moment with his girlfriend.

Harry

[Eric]

I'm afraid that #82 (first picture) reminds me of the Berlin Wall. It might be nice to fill vacant lots with trees but this reminds me of that absurdity running through Berlin until 1991. It looks like a lost bit of border Berlin, where they've now planted trees in what was once the raked sand where they shot people who tried to cross.

[hdw]

An odd question, hdw, did Scotland just have a referendum for Independence? What kind of changes would that lead to for residents? I'm wondering if some people would stick around or find new locations to settle down.

The independence referendum is provisionally scheduled for 2014 or 2015. Our First Minister Alex Salmond is a wily politician and an unashamed populist who showers goodies on the people of Scotland like free bus travel and free health care for the over-60s, abolition of tolls on the Forth Road Bridge (major north-south artery) etc. in hopes of ingratiating himself and achieving his aim of independence. But just how independent we can afford to be, given that he is always waving the begging bowl at the London government to fund his policies, is debatable. There are nasty aspects to his anti-Englishness, like the fact that students from other EU countries - like homegrown Scottish students - don't pay tuition fees in our universities, but English students have to pay the full whack. This is to plug the funding gap, for another of his populist policies is to boast that higher education is free in Scotland for our young people, but somebody has to pay the bill, and at the moment it's the many English students who come to Scotland to study.

The drive for independence has a strong streak of old-fashioned anti-Englishness in it. There are thousands of couples like my wife and myself who have one foot in England and one in Scotland, and English-based firms have branches and personnel in Scotland .. total independence is a non-starter. We might end up a bit like the Republic of Ireland, whom nobody in Britain (except Protestant Loyalists in Northern Ireland) regards as a foreign country. Irish people regularly come to England or Scotland to work and I think they can even vote in our elections.

One interesting thing - the British government is currently cutting down on its armed forces as part of a wide-ranging defence review (although that doesn't stop us getting involved in foreign adventures like Afghanistan and Iraq) and it's noticeable that Scotland is being hit extra hard, with two out of three major RAF airbases scheduled for closure, also the army base of Fort George near Inverness - which has been there since the Jacobite rebellions in the 1700s - and even the HQ of the 2nd Division of the British Army at Craigiehall just outside Edinburgh - about fifteen minutes' drive from where I'm sitting - is threatened with closure. That is the nearest thing we have to a "Scottish" army. Is it just coincidence that the British government is closing down the Scottish-based defence capacity of the nation in advance of a referendum that might lead to Scottish independence? Of course, the same Scottish Nationalist politicians who are always ranting about breaking away from England are now going ballistic (pun intended) about losing these bases and the thousands of jobs they currently provide. How they think they can break away from Britain yet retain British military bases full of English personnel is beyond me.

Harry

[waalkwriter]

The independence referendum is provisionally scheduled for 2014 or 2015. Our First Minister Alex Salmond is a wily politician and an unashamed populist who showers goodies on the people of Scotland like free bus travel and free health care for the over-60s, abolition of tolls on the Forth Road Bridge (major north-south artery) etc. in hopes of ingratiating himself and achieving his aim of independence. But just how independent we can afford to be, given that he is always waving the begging bowl at the London government to fund his policies, is debatable. There are nasty aspects to his anti-Englishness, like the fact that students from other EU countries - like homegrown Scottish students - don't pay tuition fees in our universities, but English students have to pay the full whack. This is to plug the funding gap, for another of his populist policies is to boast that higher education is free in Scotland for our young people, but somebody has to pay the bill, and at the moment it's the many English students who come to Scotland to study.

The drive for independence has a strong streak of old-fashioned anti-Englishness in it. There are thousands of couples like my wife and myself who have one foot in England and one in Scotland, and English-based firms have branches and personnel in Scotland .. total independence is a non-starter. We might end up a bit like the Republic of Ireland, whom nobody in Britain (except Protestant Loyalists in Northern Ireland) regards as a foreign country. Irish people regularly come to England or Scotland to work and I think they can even vote in our elections.

One interesting thing - the British government is currently cutting down on its armed forces as part of a wide-ranging defence review (although that doesn't stop us getting involved in foreign adventures like Afghanistan and Iraq) and it's noticeable that Scotland is being hit extra hard, with two out of three major RAF airbases scheduled for closure, also the army base of Fort George near Inverness - which has been there since the Jacobite rebellions in the 1700s - and even the HQ of the 2nd Division of the British Army at Craigiehall just outside Edinburgh - about fifteen minutes' drive from where I'm sitting - is threatened with closure. That is the nearest thing we have to a "Scottish" army. Is it just coincidence that the British government is closing down the Scottish-based defence capacity of the nation in advance of a referendum that might lead to Scottish independence? Of course, the same Scottish Nationalist politicians who are always ranting about breaking away from England are now going ballistic (pun intended) about losing these bases and the thousands of jobs they currently provide. How they think they can break away from Britain yet retain British military bases full of English personnel is beyond me.

Harry

Inverness...my knowledge of Scottish geography comes primarily from Macbeth. I forget where that pops up there though.

[Eric]

If the Slippery Salmon gets his way and Scotland becomes independent, then I think the anti-Englishness of Scottish people will rapidly disappear. After a few weeks of tearing the white diagonal cross out of Union Jacks, they will sober up and realise that England is still next door, speaks the same language, and finds the barbed wire entanglements on the Scottish-English border a bit of a joke.

Maybe if the oil revenues situation is handled skilfully Scotland can go it alone economically, but the time will come very soon when Scotland realises it needs England. As Harry points out, many English firms have branches in Scotland, and will be none too pleased if anti-Englishness is stoked up to mock them. Kauf nicht bei Engländern, and all that.

And, again as Harry points out, the military aspect is another conundrum. Scotland would never be able to afford on national defence force of its own, and would have to cooperate with England to stave off threats by the Russians and other unruly or national-chauvinistic countries. An independent Scotland would either have to continue to have what would then soon be termed an "English occupiers' force", and start Northern Ireland scenarios of "Out with the English!", or cooperate with England for a joint defence of the British Isles. And obviously, the jobs aspect is paramount as well as the strategic aspect of having submarines and other military things as far away from Europe as possible. Just in case. Scotland was rather handy during WWII, as it was relatively remote from Germany.

So while I think all this flag-waving is nice theatre, like having a British Royal Family (which also owns a Scottish castle or two), to actually go it completely alone, with the Alex the Führer in charge, may begin to upset Scottish people soon after independence was declared.