In which Lun corrupts the wide-eyed innocent youth of America.

And I practiced dialogue heavy stuff.

---
"Look ma'am, I don't want to be dealing with a murder so late in my shift. For your own safety, I suggest you give it a rest for the night."

The officer made his point clear in a polite and respectful manner. Lun couldn't help but notice that his right hand was held comfortably close to his pistol holster, while his left had was open, offering her the chance to move on.

"Thank you for your concern, officer,"

Lun, offered him the same measured politeness he'd offered her. Arguing with the police was a good way to get a beating, in anyone's country.

"Have a good night, ma'am."

"And yourself."

After hours preparing her finest dress, polishing her brass until it shone like a golden constallation against the rusted brick cityscape, then a single hour on that street corner, she made her way back through the city on foot - having forgotten to bring enough money for a cab. There where only so many times one could take being called a Commie Bitch in one night, anyway. Time to head back to the ship. Tomorrow was mission day, and while the other ship-AI's scoffed, Lun would swear blind a few hours sleep every night made a difference for her.

Detroit in October was desolate city, filled with the rusting hulks of decades-past dreams and the faded glamour of industry. In a way, it felt like home. Even with the supposed economic rejuvenation, the dockside warehouses were still mostly empty, the few unbroken windows turned opaque by age and rain. Some of them were being used as squats. Most lay derelict.

Lun hurried to her berth. While she could handle herself in a fight if it came to it, it was still better not to get into a fight in the first place.

She turned a corner, finding a boy in a red jacket crying on the kerb. She considered just walking past him, but this wasn't exactly a safe place for a child.

"Are you lost?"

"Stranger! Danger!" The boy yelled. "Stranger! Danger!" His voice was like a siren, wailing for attention.

The few people around were starting to watch. Lun stepped back, keenly aware of how it might look to an outsider. She crouched on one knee, offering an open hand and a kind smile.

"I am Lieutanant Navigator Lun Alexeeva of the Navy of the Soviet Union"

The boy went quiet, studying her for a moment after wiping his yes.

"Andrew. Andrew Freeman ma'am."

"Well. Now that we are not strangers, where are your parents?"

She tried to sound kind, even if the boy had been raised on generations of propeganda to hear her accent.

"My mom's at work. Daddy's gone."

"I don't think she'd be pleased to know you were in a part of town like this."

The boy frowned "She lied to me. Said she had the afternoon off so we could see a movie, but then got a phonecall in the morning and she had to go to Walmart and they said they'd fire her if she didn't show. So I ran away..." "But now I don't know the way home."

"I can call the police.."

"No cops. Mom says cops are bad for kids like me... they'll take me away."

Lun sighed. "Alright. You can come to my ship. We will call your mother from there. She can pick you up."

The boy hesistated. "I shouldn't go with strangers.."

"I am not a stranger. I am an officer of the Soviet Navy."

"Are you a Communist?"

"Yes."

His brow furrowed. "You don't look the same as everyone?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's what they told me in school.... that Communism was all the same."

"That's the simple explanation. But I can tell you're a smart boy, would you like to know more?"

"Yes," he said, after a moment.

"We can talk as we walk," Lun answered.

The boy nodded, following her after a moment.

"So, what have you been told of communism."

"They said it was bad because the people weren't free."

"That's not entirely true. Have they taught you what the Soviet Union was in school yet?"

"Uhuh," the boy nodded. "They were our friends in a war, and then they became our enemies because they were communist."

"America and the Soviet Union both began with a revolution. In your America, you overthrew the English king. In the Soviet Union, we overthrew the Tsar of Russia. And like your America, we created a democracy where every body would be equal. Do you know what that means? To be equal"

"Everybody is the same," the kid smiled

"More than that?"

"Um.... we don't have any Slaves. Mom said we used to be..."

She nodded. "That's important. You have no slaves."

"Everybody can vote once."

She nodded a game. "Yes."

"Nobody is above the law."

"You are a smart boy. There is one more place people are equal in America."

"In America, anybody can um...." he churned his mind. "Everycone can be rich?"

"Yes. that's it. Everybody has the small chance to make a success of themselves and to be Noah Scott. You know who this is?"

"That fat old dude in a Space station?"

"Yes, that's him!" she grinned, allowing a small chuckle to escape. "But the American idea of equal, and the Soviet idea of equal are different"

"But if everybody's the same, how can they be different?"

A good question.

"Think of America as your classroom. How do you sit in your classroom?"

"At a desk, duh?"

"How is your class arranged. How are the desks in the classroom laid out."

"They're all in rows," said the boy, looking up at her.

"So some people sit at the front of the class, closer to teacher, and some sit at the back. Now where is the rubbish bin.... the wastebasket you call it."

"At the top of the class, beside the door."

"Now imagine one day that your teacher comes into class and hands each student a small rubber ball. And she tells the entire class, that all they have to do to get an A for the year, is to throw the rubber ball into the bin while sitting at their desk. To make everyone equal, everyone has one chance at making the shot. And only one chance. Would you say this is fair?"

"Well if everyone gets one shot, then yeah. It's fair," answered the boy,

"Do you think the people sitting at the back would think so? What if you were sitting at the very back of the class, what would you think?"

"That it's harder for me to make the shot?"

"Exactly?"

"Would that be fair for you, for the people up front to make an easier shot than you?"

"Of course not?" He looked to her to confirm.

She answered with a smile. "That is American equality. Everyone gets the same shot. Everyone can still succeed But some people have an easier shot than others. Now, does that seem fair to you?"

"Not really?"

"So how would you make it fairer?"

"You could give the people at the back an extra shot?"

"You could," she agreed. "But then the people at the front would complain about it being unfair, because the other people have two chances, compared to their one." "

"Damn," sighed the boy.

"But, there is one way for everyone to have an equal shot at the bin. What do you think it is?"

"If everyone was the same distance away from the bin."

"Exactly! You re-arrange the seats in the classroom, so that everyone sits in a circle around the bin. Everyone gets their one shot, and everyone gets the same shot. And that was the dream of the Soviet Union. That was real Communism."

Her eyes sparked with zeal.

"So what happened in Russia?"

Lun sighed. "A man named Stalin ruined it all. And Instead of re-arranging the classroom like we'd hoped, what he did was just move the students at the front to the back, and if any of them complained, shot them and their parents for speaking out."

"So, they ddn't have the second amendment?"

"First," Lun corrected. "They did. But since anyone had to be mad for speaking out against the government, so anyone who spoke out against the government was sent to an insane asylum,"

"That's not very free, then...."

"No," Lun shook her head. "Stalin murdered his comrades who had once supported him. Kruschev, who came after him, sent those who disagreed with him to an asylum. Brezhnev, who came after Kruschev, grew fat on prestige while the state crumbled...They ran the country for their own benefit, rather than the people's."

"But...." the boy's thoughts trailed off. "You couldn't vote against them?"

"They wouldn't let us." She offered him a wan smile. "I think you can see that the problem was not communism, but something else."

"The people in charge?" asked the boy.

"You are a smart child," said Lun, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

---

"Hello, yes. Ms Freeman. My name is Lun. I have your son. I can tell you he is safe and unharmed...." A loud clatter from behind sent a shudder through her body. "....For the time being."

The scream on the phone nearly burst her eardrum.

Oops.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

Freeman's Mind 2 begins. On April 1st. Honest.

http://www.accursedfarms.com/freemans-mind-2-episode-1/

Just back from seeing the GiTS film.

It's well titled.

A ghost of a film with a shell of a plot, assembled from a mosaic of previous GiTS setpieces and sort of bodged together. Yep, that's from the movie. That's from SAC. More movie. More movie. GiTS soundtracks It has very few, if any, original ideas and those few it does manage to touch on it just sort of flags them up like doing the stations of the canon at mass without actually getting really to deep into them. It's like they squished the previous stuff through a meat machine, piked out the bones that held it up and turn it into sausage. It's very much generic GiTS product wrapped up in a shiny and stylish veneer.

The visuals in a lot of ways dither between overwrought and busy, to being spectacularly well realised. Especially in IMAX. It looks brilliant.

ScaJo manages maybe 2-3 good 'Major' moments, but it's Pilou Asbek and Beat Takeshi that get the best of it.

The most I can say is that it was innoffensive and forgettable. It existed and passed without pain and didn't really make a mess anywhere.

And left me with the lingering idea of taking Jet and A.C. from Fenspace to see it.... and record the resulting commentary.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

This one's fucking Gonzo.

We've a semi-public bus company in this country called Bus Eireann. It's currently running at a loss, and being given a subvention by the government to keep rural routes open. Most of these are loss-making routes, but necessary for students and elderly. There are private bus companies, but most of them run direct, city to city without stopping at any of the towns. There's a lot feeding that - most anyone living in rural communities have more or less fucked off either to Canada or Dublin - so it's all in decline. It's not unusual to see either entire main streets left empty - or filled with pubs and takeaways. Neither are good. Everyone either commutes away, or is too old to do much else but sit in the house and watch the clock tick.

Naturally, the people left behind like the last rats on the Titanic are quick to protest their buses being taken away.

The Company meanwhile is doing everything it can to stay alive. First and foremost, buy cutting people, pay and overtime. Naturally, the Union is getting in a snit about this. I'd imagine most people would. Here's the rub - it's been clear for the last year that the company was having a minor problem, quickly festering into a major one, but management sort of fiddled, sat back and decided to rack up the pressure by holding off on the changes up until the sword of damacles was dangling in the hope that they'd shock the Union into acting - the Union called their bluff and now the company is loosing 500k a day in a dispute, with 7-9 million in reserve.

So far, the company has 7 days to live.

Now, enter the transport minister, Shane Ross, who is about as effect as effective as Transport Minister as your average Kamikaze was as a Pilot. It's pretty much a certain thing that he's deliberately crashing the company by cutting the subvention to below what's sustaineable. And despite the entire country calling on him to get involved in a way that'll end the dispute or at least try fucking mediate (Which is his job as fucking Transport Minister) has just sort of sat there on his hands and watched, saying it has nothing at all to do with him...

So, we've a government that's determined to crash the company and privatise everything. Usually for their friends. The Union of course, has just realised this. So sprung up surprise pickets at railroad stations and city bus depots - which the drivers won't pass. (Because seriously, passing a picket is worse than pissing on a kitten socially.... you don't fucking do it.) Which meant that the entire goddamned country ground to a halt this morning.

Anyone who had a car, took to the road.
Those who didn't, took the day off.

Oh, and here's a doozy. Car ownership just isn't viable for many people these days. With insurance spiralling out of control and talk of motoring taxes increasing again.....

We're all on this plane, and the trio who're supposed to be flying it are doing everything the can to stick it in the ground. No matter which one wins, we're all going to lose.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

And also the first thing I've ever actually done in GIMP.   So?  What do people think?

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

An all-puppet band, this "Fab(ric) Four" doesn't play children's music

Their very first radio interview: http://soundcloud.com/cbcottawa1/puppe ... wa-morning

Their music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuphxLo_ysc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdf6G8-rWT4
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

I never even dreamed I'd have cause to use that as a topic.
Apparently, it recently came out that Bush II, immediately following Trump's inauguration, summed up the proceedings in a few superbly — albeit scatologically — pithy words.

(The article's writer slips up noticeably by at one point using "Trump's" to refer to Bush's comment.)
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

The relevant article

Quote:In a moment that stunned the hearing room, Watts flatly stated that
the president himself has become a cog in such Russian measures. When
asked by Oklahoma Republican James Lankford, who appeared visibly
dismayed, why, if Russians have long used these methods, they finally
worked in this election cycle, Watts’ answer was extraordinary.
“I
think this answer is very simple and is one no one is really saying in
this room,” he said. Part of the reason, he went on, “is the commander
in chief has used Russian active measures at times against his
opponents.”
To buttress the claim that Trump (unwittingly or not)
aided Russian disinformation efforts, Watts cited several
instances. Among them: Trump’s citation of an apparently false Sputnik
story at an October 2016 campaign appearance; his ongoing denial before
and after the campaign of U.S. intelligence of Russian interference in
the election; his claims of voter fraud and election rigging, which
Watts said was pushed by RT and Sputnik; and Trump’s questioning of the
citizenship of former President Barack Obama and even his primary rival
Ted Cruz.
Watts added that one of the reasons such tactics are
working is that Trump and/or his surrogates have repeated some of the
claims, further spreading them through social media accounts that are
owned both by real people and bots. Thus, the disinformation is kept
alive and gradually becomes more real and plausible. “Part of the reason
active measures work is because they parrot the same lines,” Watts
said.

Timeline of Nunes-White House actions before during and after the House Intelligence comittee meeting
Let's be clear on this: Any pretense of impartiality went out the window. If there is a Watergate moment, this may be it. If the leader of the House intelligence committee is collaborating with the White House, what happens next?
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

Formal notice to leave
So what happens now?
And will there be a UK left when it is said and done?
I can see Northern Ireland and Scotland deciding to secede from Britain. What happens next to Northern Ireland would be interesting next. Would it be union with Ireland afterwards?
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell