The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: irishenglish
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 07:24 AM

Bollocks WAV. You once again twisted your answer to avoid really answering the question. "Tennis is a very masculine game" Really? Except for a history of the sport being played long ago by both men and women. You are complaining about the modern conditioning of all atheletes, both men and women. Does this end with tennis players only or does it include women atheletes in other sports who are in fabulous condition? Track and field? Gymnastics? Figure Skaters? How chivalrous of you to make a determination that a woman can't lift something heavy and therefore needs your help. Here's the reality as I see it. Not only do you have questionable views on music, immigration, and race, you have a verifiable bias towards women's equality. While most of us view the awesome athleticism of top women's athelete's in a variety of sports, you scorn them. While most of us recognize that women are immensely capable of any type of work, you seek to subvert them and 'lift that heavy box for them.' But I guess women working out, or doing physical work is a turn off for you what with all the 'bulging muscles.' You never cease to amaze me in your backward ways. I'm almost speechless at times with your views, that someone in 2008 could hold them.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 07:52 AM

Admit it, people...you're all just arguing with WAV because it gives you some'at to do.

That's why I post here. It's better than staring at the walls and wondering when Winona will call. ;-)

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: irishenglish
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 08:06 AM

NO LH. I'm arguing with a guy who shares his backward views in life and how he thinks life should be on a public forum. SOmething tells me you probably don't agree with him much LH. Do YOU think women are better suited to table tennis to use one of WAV's beliefs? Probably not. Is it such a fucking problem for me to say WAV-you're wrong. Here's why I think you're wrong. Is it wrong for me to ask him to elaborate on why he thinks that way? Think whatever you want LH. I see myself arguing with someone who still wishes it was 1877, and wants life to revert back to that state. Enough said.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 12:32 PM

IE - I thought I gave a frank answer...and is the facet of my belief that I'd be genuinely happy for the next Archbishop of Canterbury to be a female really that "backward"? Perhaps you do know that a lot are STILL against the idea and only chose to ignore that bit because you couldn't bare to agree on anything..? On average, men are naturally physically stronger, yes?...so what's wrong with SOME divisions?

And will LH finally win Winona we wonder..?

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 01:39 PM

I am NOT C. of E., so could care less about a female archbishop, but shouldn't the important matter be finding out God's will, rather than feminism?

The Archbishop of Canterbury doesn't have much heavy lifting to do, not does he engage in much sports, so of course Wav doesn't mind a woman in the role.

Wav, what in a woman's life takes the most toll of her femininity (as defined by you)?

Ready for the answer? Childbirth. Should none become mothers because they might balloon up and develop strong arms?

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 03:44 PM

"...so what's wrong with SOME divisions?"

And just who's going to determine what those divisions should be, David? And who is going to administer them?

I certainly wouldn't want the job. I am sure as hell not going to try to tell women what they can and cannot do! The sweet, delicate little darlings are perfectly capable of deciding that for themselves!

The two best, most conscientious doctors I've ever had were women. My first fencing teacher was a woman. The pastor of the church I often attend is a woman.

####

True. Maria Sharapova's right shoulder was bothering her a bit, but she continued to play for some three months before her trainer then pulled her from competition. This made it necessary for her to miss several tennis tournaments, including the Beijing Olympics. An MRI showed that she had two small tears in her rotator-cuff, but they did not require surgery. She is taking the time for the injury to heal and feels she should be ready to play again in a few months.

An injury of this sort is certainly not an indictment of women's tennis. Rotator-cuff injuries are far more common among male baseball pitchers than they are among women tennis players. And there are far more elbow injuries among pitchers than among women tennis players.

Anyone—anyone—who takes part in a sport has to expect the possibility of the occasional injury. Take, for example, the incidence of repeated concussions among football players (male), including high school kids, that sometimes result in decrease cognitive ability.

In fact, one cannot engage in any activity, including the arts, without the possibility of some kind of injury. Take ballet for example. A not uncommon injury among ballerinas are stress-fractures in their lower legs caused by the unnatural act of dancing en pointe (on their toes). Would you suggest that women not be allowed to become ballet dancers?

And by the way, Maria Sharapova's rotator cuff injury may not have been a result of her playing tennis. I suffered a small rotator cuff tear some years ago merely by inadvertently sleeping on my shoulder in an awkward position. It healed up within a fairly short time.

Naturally you should not be recklessly foolhardy, but if you allow fear of possible injury to rule your life, you would never get out of bed.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 03:58 PM

Not a bad idea, if it spares us the life's work.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: s&r
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 06:07 PM

My wife cheerfully and ably lifts PA equipment when we gig. She is probably not as strong as I am but she's a damn sight fitter. We work together as equal in all respects. I would rather lift objects - amps etc - with her than with most men I know


Stu

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 06:57 PM

Judging from some of the things he's said, I tend to suspect that David doesn't know very many women.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 07:00 PM

Volgadon - You asked, " shouldn't the important matter be finding out God's will"

Well, here's the way I see it. I think God's will is simply that every sentient being in the Universe should have his or her own free will in full measure and should get the chance to make use of it, and experiment with it, and find out where it takes them....and they will thereby gain much wisdom (although gradually, in most cases). ;-)

I think God gives free will to everyone without strings attacked. I do not think God takes free will away from anyone. Law enforcement agencies, governments, courts, dictators, bullies, parents, bosses, teachers, military officers, and individual people of all kinds take free will away from many other people around them...God doesn't).

Our problem is not with God at all. Our problem is in dealing with each other.

To put it another way: Hell is other people. Heaven can be other people also, fortunately, but that takes quite a bit more work and finesse. It's very easy to destroy something valuable (like a car or a house or a relationship), but quite difficult to build or create it. Check out this forum daily for proof of what I have just said.

irishenglish - I'm beginning to think my peculiar sense of humour about the human race just doesn't click with you for some reason....

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 07:07 PM

without strings "attached", I mean...

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 07:19 AM

"And just who's going to determine what those divisions should be, David? And who is going to administer them?" (Don)...to save a search, do you remember off-hand who administered the rule/law that women could not run a marathon? Me - I'd say, as ever, each nation and the UN.

Although she may be much more on your side than mine on this matter, Sue Barker has said on the BBC that she played a lot of her matches with pain-killers injected into her wrist - tennis DOES indeed put a lot more strain on the arm than table tennis.

"In fact, one cannot engage in any activity, including the arts, without the possibility of some kind of injury. Take ballet for example. A not uncommon injury among ballerinas are stress-fractures in their lower legs caused by the unnatural act of dancing en pointe (on their toes). Would you suggest that women not be allowed to become ballet dancers?" (Don)...I've looked at this, also - Poem # 192...I'd do away with en pointe.

Volgadon - I have a spare tennis racket but no lap-top.

LH - hearing you, I think the best way is to accept that humans are competitive, and have good regulations to make things as fair as possible..."Liberty, as surfeit, is the father of much fast" (William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure).

Now for something completely different...

THE WEEKLY WALKABOUT, E.G.

Poem 163 of 230: ON A CLEAR DAY - SUMMER 2001

Far - the Lakelands behind Blackpool Tower;
    Well-ebbed - the ocean and estuary;
Odd - a sand-digger and wagons that cross;
    Tonal - the flats left by tidal power;
Patched - the grasses surviving the big tides;
    Plonked - the driftwood sprouted in other lands;
Clinging - the coastal flora to the dunes;
    Busy - the bees and folks on Southport rides.

From walkaboutsverse.741.com

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 10:50 AM

Volgadon - You asked, " shouldn't the important matter be finding out God's will"

Well, here's the way I see it.

Ah, but that's not what I asked. Frankly, I don't care about the way you see it, LH, or even the way I myself see it.

For what it's worth though, I absolutely agree with you on free will, and of what you said about relationships with people.

Volgadon - I have a spare tennis racket but no lap-top.

I have neither. What does that have to do with any of my points, which you have ignored.

LH - hearing you, I think the best way is to accept that humans are competitive, and have good regulations to make things as fair as possible..."Liberty, as surfeit, is the father of much fast" (William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure).

I see your William Shakespeare and raise you a Patrick Henry.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 02:51 PM

So, David, you consider yourself qualified to tell people the world over what cultural practices they may be allowed to follow (including what songs they can sing and how they must sing them), along with where they may live and work. In addition, you would restrict the activities of women even further, mandating specific sports and art forms they not be allowed to participate in, since they are intellectually incapable of making such determinations themselves. And this is for their own good, of course.

While trying to support your point by focusing on Sue Barker's taking pain-killer shots, did it ever occur to you to check on any male athletes who do the same thing? Of course not! And as far as women running the Marathon are concerned, you might take a moment or two to educate yourself on the subject: CLICKY. And I fail to see how writing a semi-impressionistic but generally incomprehensible quatrain about having seen Swan Lake and The Nutcracker makes you an authority on ballet technique.

I'm sure that women the world over will show your concern for their welfare with all of the appreciation it deserves.

There may be a reason that you don't know very many women.

Who, precisely, anointed you Grand Poohbah of the Cosmos?

God save us from the megalomaniacs of the world!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 05:59 PM

He has to secure the approval and blessing of William Shatner in order to aspire to become Grand Poohbah of the Cosmos, and it would require the issuance of a Shatneric Bull to achieve this. I don't foresee that happening, but who can say? Shatner moves in mysterious ways.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 07:31 PM

ON A CLEAR DAY - SUMMER 2001

You did Blackpool and Southport in the same day?

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 07:33 PM

Lemme see . . . wasn't William Shatner "The Big Head" on Third Rock from the Sun?

Looks like there's a lot of that going around.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Stu s c
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 05:46 AM

Blackpool and Southport on the same day is easy if you can walk on water

Stu

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Stu
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 11:16 AM

"Plonked - the driftwood sprouted in other lands;"

In-fucking-credible.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 12:15 PM

Yes, I was particularly struck by that line too. It takes an unusual grasp of poetic form and function to come up with that, doesn't it?

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 01:13 PM

Re: ON A CLEAR DAY - SUMMER 2001, above.

"You did Blackpool and Southport in the same day?" IB - in that poem I'm trying to describe what I saw from the promenade that runs along the Southport coast...are you with me now? And, yes Stu, it included some F-ing driftwood that, I deduced, "sprouted in other lands". Plus, thanks clumps, LH.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 01:58 PM

Driftwood that "sprouted in other lands" and found its way to English shores?

OUT! OUT!   Get it out of here before it corrupts our "good English culture!"

Foreign driftwood, indeed!! Harrumph!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Stu s c
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 03:16 PM

No WAV the driftwood post is Stigweard's, not mine. Read for comprehension...

Stu

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 04:06 PM

Strangely in that 'poem' WAV I think one of your spare punctuation marks would have helped.

'...bees, and folks on Southport rides'

usually you have a few too many for intelligibility

Stu

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 05:36 AM

In that poem I'm trying to describe what I saw from the promenade that runs along the Southport coast...are you with me now?

I think that should have been made clear from the start, maybe even in the title, but the opening line unseats the entire thing even to one with the most casual acquaintance with the landscape in question. Far - the Lakelands behind Blackpool Tower implies that it's the Lakelands that are far, as indeed they are when seen from Blackpool Tower on a clear day. So right from the start we're up Blackpool Tower, looking out, up and down the coast which you go on to describe for the next six lines. It's the seventh, and last, line that threw me of course, about the busy bees on the Southport rides, but not enough to put myself through it again. Once was enough: as it was written, so it was read!

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 10:54 AM

You puzzle me, Insane Beard. Here you are obsessing about WAV's poetry when you could be abducted and subjected to embarrassing probes at any moment! ;-)

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 12:52 PM

You puzzle me, Insane Beard. Here you are obsessing about WAV's poetry when you could be abducted and subjected to embarrassing probes at any moment! ;-)

Okay - I might as well come clean here. Having been a regular abductee since the 7th of March 1975 c/o a particularly pernicious hive of Greys one of the only ways I might counter the trauma is by obsessing over Wavy's poetry. Though they're not from Venus, they do have a base there, albeit several hundred miles underground in the deep subvenusian cool; they also have a crystal residence on the surface of Neptune which is much preferable. How I love those blue monochrome sunsets - anal probes notwithstanding of course - especially if they forget to warm them up first. But hey, its a small price to pay for a front-seat blast down the proximal worm-hole to the star we humans know as Megrez. I won't attempt to render it in their language, which is almost indecipherable on account of their telempathical communication, which has rendered their capacity for actual speech vestigial to say the least.

The main thrust of the Grey mission to our planet these past 50 years or so has been the collecting of folk songs, their own traditions in this respect having died out completely on account of the aforementioned telempathical communication. Essentially, this is a non-linguistic form of interaction based on the direct transferral of intellectual images, concepts and meta-theorems in non-symbolic form. Consequently, they are, as you might imagine, hungry for both symbolism and emotional experience, having rationalised the fun out of life several millennia back when they evolved to the stage where such base animal functions as fucking, eating, drinking, pissing, shitting, disease, ageing and death became a thing of the past. The more folky Greys however, are eager to revive their lost traditions by somehow reversing certain aspects of their physical evolution thus enabling them to experience, albeit vicariously, the pleasures we humans take for granted. Hence the anal and rectal probes, which they employ in a stimulation of the male G-spot in an effort to synthesise the experience and intensity of the venereal spasm with none of the consequent mess and discomfort. As you might imagine, not all Greys see it this way, regarding the entire mission as backward and reactionary, hence the covert nature of their operations in our solar system.

Thus co-opted, however so reluctantly, my interest in folk song is entirely the result of an implant in my brain which engenders a prospective urge with respect to the learning and the singing of traditional balladry and songs of ceremony & ritual that my particular implant is finely tuned to. All my experiences in this respect are recorded for later up-loading into the Grey Hive Central Cultural Processor (my own term I might add) whereby they might access both them and the attendant emotional pleasure which is entirely forbidden on account of their intolerance to alcohol. Indeed, the events of July 7, 1947 are crucial not only to our understanding of Ufology, but also the Folk Revival as a whole. This, in many respects, is Ground Zero, quite literally as one of the early Grey folk song collecting missions went seriously awry on account of their intolerance to the hooch they'd collected along with the songs from certain traditional singers the Ozark mountains. Innocent of its effects on their delicate nervous systems, they ended up downing their craft in Roswell, New Mexico on that fateful day. There was but one survivor, and though his physical body was entirely destroyed by both the effects of the moonshine and the trauma of the crash, they were able (by means of Grey Technology) to upload his essence into the mind of a 6-year-old boy - 6-year-old boys being particularly receptive in this respect. The name of this boy is recorded as Robert Allen Zimmerman, born May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota. Thus did they learn from their mistakes and found other ways of engineering and, indeed, influencing The Revival thereafter...

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 01:05 PM

That is F-ing BRILLIANT, Insane Beard! LOL! Look, man, you have a lucrative career ahead as follows:

- the talk show circuit - contact Art Bell at once!!! Then get booked on all the radio and TV talk shows you can and flog this thing!

- publishing - Your revelations would resound through the New Age and Ufologist communities and would, I am sure, result in the sale of at least 600,000 copies in the first year! In the longer run, I'm thinking you might outstrip Carlos Castaneda in total book sales and become so famous that you will have to get plastic surgery and a sex change and then move to an undisclosed location in Patagonia in order to escape the attentions of your most fanatical fans and readers.

- movie rights - I'm thinking BIG here. Tom Cruise material for sure. Tom plays you. We'll get Angelina Jolie into it somehow too. Work on building that angle, okay?

- I will serve as your agent for a small reward. Really quite small. Only maybe in 7 figures annually, more or less.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 01:22 PM

WOW! That clears up a lot!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 01:24 PM

It really deserves a thread all of its own, in my opinion. It's the best thing I've read around here in quite some time.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 02:04 PM

"Strangely in that 'poem' WAV I think one of your spare punctuation marks would have helped.'...bees, and folks on Southport rides' usually you have a few too many for intelligibility" (Stu)...no, I'm happy with that bit of poetic licence, thanks Stu - the bees, at that bit of Southport, were flying about on "rides" of sorts.

And IB - from where I was standing on that clear day, the Lakelands were indeed seen behind Blackpool Tower.

P.S: speaking of Neptune, Venus, etc. - I got 4 stars, from someone, for that particular piece, on a rival forum!

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 02:11 PM

David, Neptune, Venus, etc., are planets, not stars.

Who's giving out these planets, anyway, and how did they get the deeds to them?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 02:34 PM

And I would really think twice before accepting them. Neither of them is what you could call "prime real estate." Neptune is a gas giant and it's colder than a well-digger's knee out there. Venus is relatively nearby, but it's hotter than a pizza oven. Not particularly nice places to visit, and I certainly wouldn't want to live there!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 02:57 PM

Rival forum? Mudcat doesn't have any rival forums.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Insane Beard
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 02:58 PM

And IB - from where I was standing on that clear day, the Lakelands were indeed seen behind Blackpool Tower

I don't doubt it, Wavy - but clear is the last think it is in your poem.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 03:02 PM

Nah, LH, I think folky aliens would be uncool too.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 04:20 PM

And think of it! The Greys might take to telepathing English folk songs! And if that weren't bad enough, they might do it with the wrong accent!

Ghastly!! Simply unacceptable!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 05:24 PM

Bah! Humbug! You're probably still bitching about Dylan going electric too, aren't you?   ;-)

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 06:46 PM

I found that downright shocking!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 05:30 AM

...where would he be without Joan Baez, and then heaps of hype?

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 07:46 AM

Judas.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Paul Burke
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 08:35 AM

Tell you summat WAV, if YOU'd had Joan Baez rooting for you, and loads of hype, Bob Dylan would still be the better poet. So would I, and so would Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 09:42 AM

Without Joan Baez and the heaps of hype Bob Dylan would have taken, I estimate, about 1 year longer to have achieved much the same level of success that he did achieve. The man was simply unstoppable, and he was stunningly talented (and unique) as both a lyricist and a musical performer...which is exactly what attracted Joan to him in the first place and caused her to give him so much help with his career. She rendered him a great service in so doing, but he would have made it in any case.

Just read Joan's excellent autobiography "A Voice To Sing With" for confirmation of what I have said. She regards Dylan as the finest songwriter of her generation (or any since). She had heard a lot of buzz about him before she met him, and she said that upon searching him out in the New York coffeehouses and seeing him perform she immediately realized that the buzz was more than justified. She said something to this effect (I paraphrase) that "Some people get jealous in the presence of genius. I don't. I get excited."

The clearest indication of how impressed she was is that she has covered more of Dylan's songs in her own discography than of any other writer, and she went so far as to do a double album entirely of his songs.

Thanks, Joan! ;-) It's one of my favourites.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 10:14 AM

I must confess I find Dylan actually painful to listen to; maybe it's my Traddy Folk Implant (see below) which goes haywire when faced with singer-songwriters, or (God forbid) protest singers, but I do enjoy his Theme Time Radio Hour shows as much for the music as the sound of his voice which is like a cross between Zappa's Central Scrutiniser and Vic Reeves' Kinky John / Inspector Fowler. A high point of our cultural lives was when Vic used one of our paper tissues to stuff up his cheeks so he could do the Fowler Voice at his reading as part of the Durham Literature festival a few years back.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 12:45 PM

Heh! Well, it's a matter of personal taste, right? He has sung in so many different voices by this late date that one would wonder which one of them bothers you more...or less....

Now, if protest songs bother you, then does Buffy Sainte-Marie get on your nerves too? What about Joan Baez? They have both done plenty of protest material in their time. Judy Collins did too. All a protest songs is....it's a political or social comment on something that is going on in our lives, suggesting that there is need of a change.

Given the fact that we all discuss such things amongst one another on a reasonably frequent basis, I don't see why we can't write songs about them too. A song can be about anything.

It is undoubtedly true that many protest songs have been poorly written, make their point in a strident and clumsy fashion, and therefore are not very good songs. That can be irritating to listen to. Some, however, have been exceedingly well written and are very good songs.

If you look back through the catalog of trad songs of Scotland, England, Ireland, and America you will find a simply vast number of songs in which things are protested....because people then were very concerned about the political and social issues of their day, just as they are now. You will find protests against the rich, protests against English colonialism, protests against war, protests against the cutting down of old forests, protests against both petty and great tyrants of all sorts during those times. Those are trad songs, Insane Beard, and those are among the songs you apparently like, correct?

Why then does it become a problem for you when the protest song is moved into the present era?

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Stu sans cookie
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 01:19 PM

Four Stars. Wow!

Next will be an OBE for your political efforts. Did you notice I don't swear at you?

I repeat: people will say kind untruths that won't help you to improve, but may encourage you to continue.

Many people here will say unkind truths in the hope that you won't continue unless you improve.

Stu

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 01:32 PM

On the matter of being awarded planets:   none of them are what one could call a real prize.

Mercury is not much nicer than the moon, really. Same general landscape, no atmosphere. Warmer climate perhaps. The mean temperature on Mercury would melt lead. Venus, I have mentioned above. Earth is already inhabited by an odd species that is constantly fighting over its land and resources, which it is about to run out of because they use them up as if there is no tomorrow, and they breed like bloody rabbits. Mars may have a few things going for it, but atmosphere and climate aren't quite them. Jupiter has a fierce gravity and its atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen and methane. Cattle and people produce more than enough methane right here on Earth, and I think that as much methane as Jupiter has in its atmosphere would have quite a bit of "hang-time," don't you?

Now, working inward, Pluto has recently been demoted. It appears to be more or less similar to Mercury, but smaller. Pluto is as cold as Mercury is hot. And Nepture, I have also dealt with above.

And as to the one remaining planet, if you were to say to people, "I like Uranus," I think they'd probably give you some pretty funny looks as they quickly backed away.

That's today's astronomy lesson.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Stu sans cookie
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 01:37 PM

I'm sure there's a poem somewhere that would cure the ills of the Solar System Don

Stu

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 01:45 PM

Don - we get a mostly-classical channel here called "oMusic TV," for some reason, and on it are featured a group called "The Planets"...I think they could be you and your party's cup of tea; meanwhile, I'm into town for some poetry readings...

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 01:49 PM

1000