[Sussex] Definetly No Linux Thread here

[Steve Dobson]

Geoff

On Sat, Jan 11, 2003 at 02:10:58PM +0000, The ol' tealeg wrote:
> Morning... er afternoon alll... been catching up on some much needed
> sleephopefully that way I won't do somethig silly and trash my
> filesystem.. given my posts yesterday :)  ).

I'd stay away from doing any major work if I were you, unless you want
to find out how good your backups are.  :-)

> On Sat, 11 Jan 2003 13:02:20 +0000
> Steve Dobson <steve.dobson at krasnegar.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> > Why don't you just switch of your television set and go and do
> > something less boring instead? - That sounds like a good title for a
> > kids show to me?  What do you younger members on this list think?
> 
> Sounds familiar... WDY?  

You must only have seen the last few years of it.  WDY, when it started, 
had a much longer title.

> > There are so many people who don't get Blue Meanie references, it nice
> > to see someone else on this list who is as
> > pervert^H^H^H^H^H^Hknowledgable as me.
> 
> Not even a teeny weeny meanie, as some bloke doing an impersonation of a
> liverpudlian named Ringo for the voicetrack of a weird animated world
> from the 60's. 

Wasn't that because Mr. Starr and the rest of the band didn't sound 
liverpudlian enough?

>                 BTW did anyone here know that the song Nowhere Man was
> written about Bob Dylan (and deliberately apes his style) and that the
> character who appears in the sea of holes (along with that tune) is
> supposed to represent Bob's character.... Man! Those guys were on some
> good drugs ;)

I do now!

> As for a blue meany in the advert - well that advert is aimed 50% to
> grab a kids imagination and 50% to make a parent think of the
> "innocence" of their childhood and refelect that thought onto their
> child in association to the product.  This is science, not art...

But any weird character would have done, having watched documentaries on
the best animators they do put in references and tributes to classic
cartoons and movies from the past.  Look at Shrek as a good example of
this.

Now not all animators get to work on independent productions.  Good money
is spent to have the ads made, and I agree with you that they have a very
well planned and crafted agenda.  But the animator then has some freedom
in interpreting the script.  The script called for some wacky land with
colourful creatures indicative of an active imagination.  The artist saw
an opportunity to pay homage to the cartoons of his childhood.
 
> Nike, oops I mean Nik wrote:
> ----------------------------
> > > My point is if I did not no better, and I usually dont, im sure
> > > thats a advert for the covert awareness of the benefits and
> > > opportunities of drug taking.... 
> > > 
> > > or am I wrong.

void Steve::snip() {
> rant *Geoff::get_opinion(){
> .
> .
> .
> } // End of Geoff::get_opinion();
}

Much of what you said there I agree with, but I think you see the world
far more cynically than it is.  Yes there are some very exploitive people
out there, but not every one is.

It is not by intension to turn this into a political rant, but...
I still believe that most politicians go into politics because they really
do want to change the world.  To effect a change they need to get into
Government, and that requires that their party wins an election. Spin
doctors and their like can help in this.  But underlying all the spin 
and mud slinging most (if not all) politicians want to help people and
make the world a better place.  I just do agree with what is/the route to
a better world.  Now that is "real" politics.

> Fortunately some members of society have become so aware of marketing as
> to become decerning  - we have lost our innocence, but then so have out
> children.

Only the over cynical have lost all innocence, or maybe see a world where
innocence is lost.  Sitting here in my sister's home, with my god-daughter
bouncing up and down on a chair as a write, I see someone who hasn't lost
her innocence.  That will start to happen when she starts to be educated
in our over-crowded schools.  With all the test and standards that are
required of our children today where is the room for individuality and
creative expression?  It is my job, with her parents, to show here how
to be a non-confirming member of society - now there is an oxymoron.

Geoff, check your cynic chip, I think you've been feeding it 12V when
it should only be connected to a 5V rail :-)

> The lesson of history is this - we will change our society to be that of
> our grandparents.. this will appaul our children and they will change it
> back to the society our parents built.  I look to America right now and
> I see Lyndon B Johnston in a cowboy hat calling himself George W Bush...
> Kennedy was Clinton (or at least Clinton aspired to an image of Kennedy
> we built in retrospect).

Only to a small extent.  True, one generation rebells against the previous.
But society has a whole is solving problems.

The break down of social standards (like the increase of crime) has come
about because the country people of England 150 - 200 years ago grouped
together in towns and citys.  In communities to large to know everyone
everyone becomes a stranger; and you don't look out for a stranger.
In smaller villages you know everyone and everyone there effects you; so
helping them is part of protecting yourself.

If you don't believe me look at the large virtual communities that are
now around.  The list is a prime example, we look out for our own.  It
doesn't matter how a group defines itself, but you look out each other
in whatever group your in.  Be that sussex at mailman.lug.org.uk or a gang
in Birmingham.

So why did people move into towns and cities?  Wealth!  The Industrial
Revolution provided a better standard of living on a farm.  Crime may
have risen, but so did the health of the town community, so on the whole
an average individual was better off.  Industrialisation made this country
rich.  It was pointed out the other day that at its height Britain had
more power in the world than America does today.  This country (and the
rest of the world that followed our model) became so rich that the advantages
of the industrialised towns are now everywhere in the western world.

And here we come full circle.  The rich are moving back to the country,
getting away from the crime and dirty towns.  But because they commute
back to the towns to work the villages have lost there heart.  The 
problems of village life is different than before.

Maybe the Internet will change that.  If you travel into work then you
will use the ammenities of the town.  If the Internet allows you to 
work at home then you have access to the town ammenities as much and
will use the local shop more.  Maybe the village community sprit will
return.  I hope so.

			* * * * 

Nik, see what you started here.  Only little comment about a Blue Meanie
in an ad and Geoff and I go off the deep end.

Steve