Comments by Laurie Fraser

Comment #250027 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 10:13 pm

Fanusi - I, for one, have never called you a fascist.
You're plenty of other things, but you're not a fascist. :)

952. Eoin Colfer to write sixth Hitchhiker's Guide book

Comment #250018 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 9:23 pm

I've read all of the Artemis Fowl books (don't ask), and although Colfer is an imaginative and often amusing author, he hasn't got a tenth of the sense of the absurd that DA had. Could be interesting.

953. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #250013 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 9:14 pm

As to the promotion of sexuality. Religion has always been, first and foremost, a control mechanism. All religion. What better way to control someone than through sexuality? Religion has evolved from tribal, familial and clan taboos (see Totem and Taboo, for instance), wherein it was necessary to control sexual selection. Religion has taken on this mantle, and has (necessarily) hitched the "god" thing to these very primal strictures. It would be entirely inconsistent for a religion to advocate unbridled sexual activity. Some religions, in particular the Abrahamic ones, are more sensitive about control. Which makes them, as well, the most fucked-up religions. It constantly amuses me to see christians, jews and muslims at each other's throats, when the precepts of these religions, especially in regard to sexuality, are essentially identical.

954. Turkey bans biologist Richard Dawkins' website

Comment #249991 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 8:43 pm

Goldy, my man! A voice of Antipodean reason. Would they be the kind of rules that teachers use to make the football captains pick the really crappy players for the team so their feelings don't get hurt?

955. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #249990 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 8:40 pm

I've just read through this thread, and I must say I agree with Titania. It does none of us any good to attack the person; the thread reads like a schoolyard stoush between people who have been studying a dictionary, but nothing more. I think that what is happening is that there are two camps with quite different and antagonistic philosophies, and the frustration of both sides with the other has meant a devolution into name-calling. Unfortunately that happens, and perhaps a remedy is to discontinue the thread altogether, and pick up on other threads where the issues can be discussed more amicably.

How are you, wp? How are the injuries? Guess what - I've written yet another story. :)

956. Turkey bans biologist Richard Dawkins' website

Comment #249436 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 5:56 am

Don't put your email up, CFL - unscrupulous people could use it. I'm thinking of the wooters of the world. Must be a problem with the administration - have you tried re-configuring your set-up on the dashboard type thingy?

edit: what happens when you click on your own name? Do you get a user profile screen up?

957. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #249435 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 5:53 am

Titania, thanks. No video? Shit, girl - we were lucky to have Super 8 film in those days. I had a kerosene record player back then.

P.S. Like Quetz says -leave a comment; I even enjoy things like "You are an idiot."

958. Turkey bans biologist Richard Dawkins' website

Comment #249424 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 5:41 am

CFL PM for you

Edit: CFL I get a message that you don't exist, so I can't PM you.

959. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #249421 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 5:39 am

Vaal - Kenneth Cook's a hoot! Thanks for the link.

Titania - I thought I'd shamelessly promoted my blog enough - everyone should know about it now. I'm going to run a poll to see what people think is the best story, soon. (Or, alternatively, which is the least idiotic.)

960. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #249401 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 4:55 am

I don't care if Richard Morgan's a neo god-botherer. What's more pathetic is that his music absolutely sucks!

Edit: new blog story up, boys. (I think you'll like it:) )

961. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #249349 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 2:46 am

Sorry, Jesus 86 - I misquoted you. Marx's labour theory of value is correct. Nevertheless, I do not resile from the rest of my comment. Marx's theory of surplus value stands as unshakably as when he invented it. Capitalism, lauded as the great economic miracle, is undoubtedly a house of cards. Events over the last few days demonstrate that. There is no "value" in fucking up people's lives over an abstract concept like profit.

962. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #249327 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 1:43 am

"discredited labour market theory", Jesus 86? I don't think so - even if you've mistaken what Marx actually had to say about it. I like it when defenders of capitalism start to go on about things like this as capitalism goes through another of its great purges, wherein ordinary people lose their entire assets because of an economic system which values profit over substance in an economy.

Titania - elections a mixed bag. The right-wing won a bunch of seats, but we may yet get two Greens on.

963. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #249287 by Laurie Fraser on September 18, 2008 at 12:19 am

Hi Titania - how's that wonderful VP nominee of yours going?

*snigger, snigger*

964. Turkey bans biologist Richard Dawkins' website

Comment #249270 by Laurie Fraser on September 17, 2008 at 11:11 pm

We win.

965. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #249269 by Laurie Fraser on September 17, 2008 at 11:09 pm

Heavy duty Brian! Been munching on those steroid sandwiches, again, mate?

966. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #249259 by Laurie Fraser on September 17, 2008 at 10:50 pm

Brian - people under glass tables shouldn't throw stones!

967. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #249256 by Laurie Fraser on September 17, 2008 at 10:41 pm

It's all this scatology, Brian - I was brought up in a Christian household where even the word "poo" was verboten. No wonder my language now borders on the tourettean.

968. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #249253 by Laurie Fraser on September 17, 2008 at 10:32 pm

Shit!

969. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Clive James

Comment #248880 by Laurie Fraser on September 17, 2008 at 5:19 am

Well, Vaal, you've gotta admit - it was the only scene in the entire Star Wars saga that was worth watching.

*Goes on the lam in case MPhil's lurking*

970. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Clive James

Comment #248878 by Laurie Fraser on September 17, 2008 at 5:15 am

Geehigh - ironing one's hands because of a little mistake seems a bit...er...fundamentalist to me.

Signed
Laurie Fisher
Author of Vaal's Guide to Slow-Motion Replays of the Bit in the Film Where Princess Leia Wears a Bikini

971. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Clive James

Comment #248848 by Laurie Fraser on September 17, 2008 at 4:17 am

Comment #248846 by geehigh

You know what's infuriating, geehigh? Being called Laurie "Fisher" :)

972. E.O. Wilson & James Watson on Charles Darwin

Comment #248808 by Laurie Fraser on September 17, 2008 at 2:13 am

I regard E. O. Wilson and James Watson as two of the most important scientists in history. What Cold Spring Harbor did to Wilson was an outrage. I don't think Watson is a racist; he was responding to general questions about race and intelligence, and in my opinion his comments were just wrong, but not maliciously so. He should have been given the benefit of explaining himself, or at least admitting he had made a mistake - an unscientific assumption.

973. E.O. Wilson & James Watson on Charles Darwin

Comment #248806 by Laurie Fraser on September 17, 2008 at 2:07 am

I withdrew my comment in order to add some addendums, which I'll post back up in a little while, Fanusi.

974. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Clive James

Comment #248764 by Laurie Fraser on September 16, 2008 at 8:29 pm

The Kogarah Kid can be delightful or infuriating. Fortunately, this time, he was delightful.

975. Royal Society's Michael Reiss resigns over creationism row

Comment #248744 by Laurie Fraser on September 16, 2008 at 6:50 pm

Grist for the mill for morons like Ben Stein, of course - and, no doubt, the right-wing press will take up the refrain. Fuck 'em. Reiss should have kept his mouth shut.

976. Sharia courts operating in Britain

Comment #248341 by Laurie Fraser on September 16, 2008 at 4:41 am

Comment #248328 by Vaal

I would hate to think what Laurie would have done with him, if it had been his gran-daughter.

Simple, Vaal: One blowtorch, start at the toes, and work your way upwards!

I had occasion to teach a young woman (about 15) who came to class one day with a few bruises on her face. I went over to her and said "What's happened?" Her friend encouraged her to lift up her shirt, revealing ugly black bruises across her back. When I asked her again, she replied "It's my step-father. He just wants to fuck me all the time, and I finally told him no, so this is what he did." I immediately took her out of the class, and down to the college director's office. Along the way I said to her "This is never going to happen to you again, Sue" (not her real name). The cunt got eight years in gaol - not long enough, in my book.

977. Sharia courts operating in Britain

Comment #248317 by Laurie Fraser on September 16, 2008 at 3:56 am

Rachel, start with this simple exercise:

Put your left foot in
Put your left foot out
Put your left foot in and you
Shake it all about

(Repeat 10,000 times and make a booking with your analyst. Oh, did you know that we do psychoanalysis on RDnet as well?)

978. Sharia courts operating in Britain

Comment #248311 by Laurie Fraser on September 16, 2008 at 3:50 am

I've got news for you, Rachel; nobody worries about consecutive fifths and doubled thirds any more. Which means that you now have absolutely no knowledge of music, and are ready to enrol in an RDnet course. :)

*yells* Josh! Look at the commercial opportunities we're setting up here!

979. YouTube Removes Viral Video on Palin's Churches For Inappropriate Content

Comment #248305 by Laurie Fraser on September 16, 2008 at 3:44 am

This is crazy. I mean, stupidly, dangerously crazy. These fuckwits are advocating xtian jihad. They are on the same level as the pricks in England's mosques. Exactly the same level - and Palin may have her hand on the trigger, very shortly. These people should be deported from America, eh Fanusi? If not, they should be executed for treason, no?

980. Sharia courts operating in Britain

Comment #248302 by Laurie Fraser on September 16, 2008 at 3:38 am

Peacebeuponme - you forget the artistic fraternity!

Problems with harmony, arrangements, time-signatures? We can help.

Pointillism troubling you? No problem.

Crime and Punishment or The Trial? Let our resident literature experts give you the drum!

etc. etc. (We should be able to make a buck out of this, Josh - Answers in Genesis certainly does.)

981. YouTube Removes Viral Video on Palin's Churches For Inappropriate Content

Comment #248289 by Laurie Fraser on September 16, 2008 at 3:25 am

Hahaha. And Fanusi has the hide to say that muslims are crazy!

(Well, they are, of course, but what about these nut-jobs. "You must destroy them utterly." Hmmm.... what's the difference?)

982. Natural selection

Comment #247822 by Laurie Fraser on September 15, 2008 at 6:37 am

His best performance, IMHO Carto, is his Igor in the house-minding episode. (You know, when he gets the wines mixed up.) Genius!

983. Pope condemns 'pagan' love of money, power

Comment #247798 by Laurie Fraser on September 15, 2008 at 5:45 am

Personally, Vaal, I much prefer the vision of Ratzi walking around the Vatican with bits of newspaper sticking out of his shoes!

984. Pope condemns 'pagan' love of money, power

Comment #247749 by Laurie Fraser on September 15, 2008 at 2:18 am

Vaal, when the popeliness starts this kind of rant, you know the church is feeling fragile.

News update: big paedophile ring discovered at exclusive catholic boarding school in Bathurst, NSW, going back 35 years. 4 brothers (so far) on charges.

985. Sharia courts operating in Britain

Comment #247736 by Laurie Fraser on September 15, 2008 at 1:41 am

Perfect sense, Philip; it's called "tolerance", a word our Fanusi seems to have expunged from his lexicon.

986. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247735 by Laurie Fraser on September 15, 2008 at 1:38 am

An old joke in my neck of the woods goes like this:
Kylie is at her hotel in Sydney before she has to do a gig at the Entertainment Centre. She hails a cab, jumps in, and orders the driver on his way. They get to the Ent Cent, and Kylie rummages in her purse, producing a one hundred dollar note. "Geez, love, I can't change that," complains the driver. Kylie thinks for a moment, then spreads her legs apart. The driver looks down, and says "Bloody hell; haven't you got anything smaller?"

987. Natural selection

Comment #247733 by Laurie Fraser on September 15, 2008 at 1:33 am

Bill Bailey qualifies as a god.

988. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247729 by Laurie Fraser on September 15, 2008 at 1:27 am

Comment #247713 by Fanusi Khiyal

*groans, sighs, smacks head and other favourite Fanusi body language*

Well, there you go again, Fanusi - putting words in people's mouths. "Certain People", having been tirelessly accused of the very same thing, could quite reasonably raise an eyebrow or two.

989. Sharia courts operating in Britain

Comment #247708 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 11:40 pm

Treason's only treason when you don't agree with it. When you do, it's freedom-fighting, like those good 'ol freedom fighters in Niceragua that Reagan was always applauding. But they were committing treason, officially. So they should have been put to death on your logic, Fanusi.

Or, as Kris Kristoffeson used to say:

Treason's just another word for
Things that don't sound true...

990. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247679 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 7:16 pm

Steve - *pulls head out of bucket long enough to type* - please don't mention the singing budgie. That pipsqueak has put me off ostrich feathers for life. I know she's a gay icon, and all of that, but PLLEEEEEEAAASE!

991. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247673 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 7:08 pm

Steve - on behalf of all Australia, sorry about the "Neighbours" thing. An aberration based on a particular American meme-type dealing with delusional interpretations of the expression "wholesome entertainment".

992. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247599 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 3:46 pm

Brandy - the Steve Irwin/Crocodile Dundee mythos is a pure reflection of the infestation of American cultural ideology. I take that bullshit with a grain of salt.

993. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247594 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 3:40 pm

Goldy - good point. It's not just "culture" which is foisted on the rest of the world. Fanusi's ideological imperialism is an even worse idea. Sorry, Fanusi, I don't want to live by U.S. ideology - I'm happy enough for my country to make its own. I'd prefer, of course, to export some Australian ideology to your shores: mateship; the fair go; solidarity. But it would be impossible for a huge number of you to understand these concepts.

994. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247584 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 3:33 pm

All very well, Fanusi - now address the way in which you prevent the U.S. making itself an enemy in the eyes of much of the world. You going to close down Macdonalds?

995. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247575 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 3:27 pm

Fanusi - the most interesting of your proposals is "a campaign of cultural imperialism." Didn't you realise the the U.S. has already been conducting that very thing right around the world for a long time now. In Australia we call it "coca-colonisation." It's Macdonalds, TV sitcoms, Hollywood, KFC, and Shania Twain. It's the z-grade culture of a fat, bloated economy that must, for its own survival, export its excrescence all over the world. I prefer to *chooose* what aspects of US culture I consume - Tom Waits and Joseph Heller, for instance - not have my country railroaded by the power of mega-capital. Think about it; ever wondered why the U.S. is so hated? Because, largely, its corporate vandalism has for too long used the rest of the world a profitable rubbish tip. THAT'S cultural imperialism, and it stinks like the dead horse it is.

Steve - you lucky, lucky bastard!

996. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247277 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 8:19 am

The Australian Aboriginies lived in a "state of nature" (whatever that means) for thousands of years. They had civilisation, language, art, music, ritual, trade etc. There is no evidence to suggest that they were *constantly* at war; in fact, all available evidence suggests that, for the most part, they lived in relative harmony with other groups, with quite complex territorial arrangements that were modified, by mutual consent, for seasonal purposes. Continual nightmarish conflict? Evidence, please, Fanusi. I know you're big on that.

997. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247258 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 7:50 am

Comment #247252 by decius

Baroque? Well, SHARE, boy! (And I might send back something you'll enjoy:)

P.S. Agree with your reply to gb - our "states of mind" - Weltanschung - are conditioned by the times in which we live.

998. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247238 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 7:01 am

Comment #247230 by Vaal

Vaal, you old bastard! Don't look a day over - er, er....

Titania - I agree with your comment about we of slightly "advanced" years. I've seen enough hideous violence to turn me off it forever. I'm teaching a section on the massacre of communists in Indonesia in 1965. Half a million murders by the Indonesian regime, thoroughly supported by Australia and the U.S. And hardly anyone at the time knew about it. Mind-boggling.

Edit: I trumps ya all! I share my birthday with Buddha!

999. Our scientists must nail the creationists

Comment #247232 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 6:52 am

Well, Ap - you could put some sand in a container, put water in and pressurise at about 1000 atmospheres for forty days, and see if you get sedimentary rock at the end of it. That's science, isn't it? ;)

1000. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #247226 by Laurie Fraser on September 14, 2008 at 6:48 am

Comment #247225 by decius

45 - pull the other one, decius ;)