Lateralus

I think that if anything is truly sentient and sapient then the means by which it gained or was given the attributes are unimportant.

I don't think you'll need a stack or half stack. If you go down the tube amp route, a 60 watt combo would be plenty loud. I haven't kept up with the amp market for a while, but you could look into getting an Ashdown Fallen Angel combo. It's all valve and it sounds amazing. I remember them being pretty cheap too. And yeah, avoid MGs at all costs. The only Marshalls I really like are JCM 800s. DSLs are alright too.

I like some songs off Images and Words, but that's about it. Surrounded is one of the only songs by them I really like.

Just curious, what would you consider the "right reasons" to start smoking? To look cool, of course.

[bleep]. I really hate when people pull Latin out of their [wagon] when they can't even read the language. It's pretentious as heck, especially in the 60% of the cases where the translation doesn't even make any sense. [/pet peeve] I think it's fine in cases like that. Latin terms for logical fallacies have almost become idioms.

I've been smoking for 4 or 5 years (I think? Time flies when you're having fun). I really do love it. However, there's never a time when I'd recommend picking up the habit. Generally, the people who find smoking relaxing are smokers. There's better, healthier and cheaper ways to relieve stress. If you can accept the health risks and monetary losses (not to mention being a social outcast in some cases) then smoke away, just don't complain when cancer or the banker come a-knockin'.

I don't know if there's any need to exile yourself. I've enjoyed our back and forths in religious threads when they've happened. It seems a shame that you'd exclude yourself when you're one of the people I look forward to reading from.

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I think the reliability varies from page to page, but for most academic purposes I think it's more than adequate. When it comes to science and history and almost anything else scholastic, Wikipedia is pretty comprehensive. It should be instinctual for people to check the sources anyway, especially on the internet where I always find a higher level of incredulity is required.

Your post has been addressed several times. You're linking marriage with having kids, which is not a necessary part of it. Why should being attracted to your own sex exclude you from the benefits of marriage? I can see why it might exclude you from a religious ceremony, and I can't understand why any gay person would want to be married by a religion that condemns them; so a secular or state alternative to allow the same benefits seems only fair.

You try to be 45 and write this stuff after nearly breaking up. That still doesn't make this a good album. What do you consider good? St. Anger? First of all, they went back to the standard tuning instead of Drop D they used for previous 3 albums. Secondly, they are using a lot more faster rhythms and riffs. They tried their best to go back to the idea of Master of Puppets and kudos to them for doing best they can. I don't think the tuning should be used as an example of what makes a good album. St. Anger was in drop C and drop A# mostly (I *think*) and Load and ReLoad are mostly in Eb standard, with the exception of a few songs.

I forgot to mention; if I ever need to relax, I quite like looking at the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. If that doesn't set your mind wandering, I don't know what will. Makes you realise just how small we really are. There are estimates of around 10,000 galaxies in the picture.

The nature and definition of crime is something I've been thinking about lately. I met my dad for lunch a week or two ago, and we had quite a good discussion about it. He's doing a law course through the Open University (I swear he's addicted to it, must be his 3rd or 4th course through OU alone) and one of the thinking points was how you can accurately define crime, and how accurate crime statistics can actually be. Crime figures depend on the police force as much as they do on criminals. For example, trends have been observed where recorded arrests go up when the police receive an influx of personnel (seems obvious), and go down when they want an influx of personnel. If they need more assault arrests, then they become less picky about what actually constitutes an assault. It's interesting that policemen are subject to the same kind of pressures and habits that are seen in any other workplace, when the nature of their work is so different. I also think it's interesting how many people have referenced solipsism. Of course you have to recognise that ultimately you can't know anything but your own mind, but I don't spend much time pondering on it.

There's the obvious things like loud breathing, people eating with their mouths open or talking with their mouths full, compliment fishing and the like, but I think they annoy most people. The only one I can think of that is idiosyncratic is that it really bothers me when someone takes the plastic wrapping off the bottom of my cigarette packet. I never do, and I've just become accustomed to the way the packet feels with it on.

I've gotta agree with you, Daan. I think they took a wrong turn on the production. Nothing seems to sound quite right. I do quite enjoy The Day That Never Comes and the instrumental track, though.

Yeah they are, but it's a two way street I think. I'm constantly surprised at how easy it would be to kill someone, but also at how much damage a human body can take.

I don't have any problem with it. The slogan seems stupid though.

I don't encounter it very often, so I actually found your friend's reply quite funny. As long as it's used appropriately and sparingly I can have a good chuckle at a "so's your face!" or a "that's what your mum said!".

Let's just hope there's no "Great Gig In The Sky" epitaphs. Rest in peace.

My opinion is that long hair rarely looks good on a guy, but I don't really care if someone has it.

I don't think there should be any urgency to forget what happened, especially not when it's wake is still part of our every day lives. 9/11 was not just a terrorist attack; it was the culmination of years of tension which was going largely unaddressed and it's important that people think about what can happen if you let that kind of ideology run amok. I also think it's interesting that people mention things like WW2 and Africa as reasons not to dwell on this as if they made it any less terrible. Surely the problem is that people aren't thinking about the people who died in WW2 and the tsunami and whatever else, not that they are thinking about 9/11. EDIT: I should say I wouldn't have it become a media circus like we had in the years and years and years following Princess Diana's death.

You don't have Remembrance Day in Singapore?

I meant when you said you "love watching the 9/11 videos". I don't see what superiority has to do with masochism.

That's a little masochistic don't you think?

How could anyone forget with the constant reminders of the war on terrorism?