Seasons

I didn't think anyone else thought that all the 'Homeland Security' sounded a bit scary.

Everyone who isn't a Republican lapdog (or brain dead; is there a difference?) realizes that Bush has gone too far. And, what Bev said. We must destroy freedom to fight for our freedom! War is the new peace! We have always never been at war with Eurasia!

if it doesn't effect you much.
A French Canuk aways brought gas on the south side of a border town (cheaper gas). He failed to stop at the gaurd shed, he never had before. 'They' nabbed him put im in jail for several weeks. His family didn't know where he was. I don't think he knew where he was. So never think it doesn't effect everyone. Oh, and have fun crossing the border either way..I didn't know the US and Canada were at war.

I believe I heard recently that a Canadian was arrested, held incommunicado, tortured, and finally released for want of evidence. People from various countries have been held incommunicado, without booking or trial, for years.
Canada has no warlike intentions toward the USA? Well, neither did Iraq.

Bev: Teasing? I was trying to be cutesy-funny, but I didn't intend to tease. I was taking off from your earlier statement that you didn't talk about sports, but talked about books. Of course, cutesy-funny might be worse than teasing...

By all means, tell me about Kafka.

Irina--I know what you meant, and I caught the reference. I didn't mean teasing in a bad way. Is joshing better?

Maybe I'll get to Kafka later. I am going t try to upload Gabibot, and that hasn't worked in a long time. I may be here all night but on the import page.

Well, when you said "Don't tease," I thought I had done something objectionable. But yes, to my ear, teasing is something like insulting: it can be done in an amiable spirit (with an underlying message, "I don't really mean it"), but which when done straightforwardly is mean-spirited and aggressive. Yes, joshing is better, although there is to my ear a tiny but definite trace in it of deception, similar to practical joking. Joking with (as opposed to playing a joke on) is to my ear completely harmless. I do have a tendency to tease, and sometimes I overstep the line and say something I regret.

Good luck with the import page! I tried it earlier today and it was utterly unresponsive.

I suppose it's appropriate to be discussing Kafka while surrounded by bugs.

Whoa, that's way more semantic layers than I can cope with. Damn English. World's biggest lexicon with a different word for all occasions and we can't agree on what any of them mean.

You think I'm splitting the hair too finely?

I just finished reading this in the news and I think the world may be going mad or at least stupid!<-2>
At a laboratory in Germany, volunteers slide into a donut-shaped MRI machine and perform simple tasks, such as deciding whether to add or subtract two numbers, or choosing which of two buttons to press.

They have no inkling that scientists in the next room are trying to read their minds — using a brain scan to figure out their intention before it is turned into action.
<0>Then what I always worried about DNA charting
<-2>Britain is creating a national DNA database that would allow authorities to track people with violent predispositions. In addition, the government has also floated the idea of locking up people with personality disorders that could lead to criminal behavior.

<0>Doesn't that sound like bad scifi?

Ouch! That second one is really scary!

I wouldn't worry about the MRI story. When they say "read your mind" they mean "see which parts of the brain are generally used for the task" and do not, in any way, claim to know th contents of another's thoughts. Part of what sounds scary is the reporter's attempt to make it sound cool.

I like MRI studies. You can have fun results such as one study showing that on average men tend to have pleasure centers of their brain light up when they see a guilty party being punished for breaking the rules, where as most females don't seem to have the same physiological response, even when they report the same conservative values and desire for justice on questioners. I also read one a while back that showed solving difficult mathematical and logic problems caused the brain to show images similar to those of people having an orgasm. Now we know why Irina like physics. Fun stuff.

That second report is a bit scarier. Was it reported in The Sun by any chance? I keep seeing scary stories from The Sun about England online and the English people in forums that mention them tend to laugh.