The General Discussion Thread

[Publish Date updated to restore to front page]

Okay as an experiment here it is. Discuss your favourite generals here!

Well perhaps… Really this is simply the place to post news-items, fun-items or whatever takes your fancy. In short just post what you want here.

It’s just another wee experiment – comments welcome.

Squonk.

[Image: General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett (Stephen Fry)]

17,285 thoughts on “The General Discussion Thread

  1. Your friends did you right Bri. They may have higher goals than mercenary concerns and it show in their work.

    Good thoughts and meditative states for you.

    If that’s actually where you live let me know for visualization.

  2. I’ve just got a working Standard 8mm projector!

    I may post some stills of me at one year old at some point.

    Kodachrome
    They give us those nice bright colors
    They give us the greens of summers
    Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day

  3. Squonk, you almost certainly already know, but don’t stop the film in the gate to get your still or the heat from the bulb will burn through that frame of the film.

  4. Don’t you love the dispute about Melania Trump plagiarizing part of her speech at the Republican National Convention.

    Reminded me of when one of my students at Columbia, who had plagiarized a paper in one of my classes, received the Nobel Prize in economics a few years ago.

    The plagiarist was also the son of a most distinguished sociologist at Columbia who was thinking of moving to UCLA unless his son progressed at Columbia.

    Of course, the copying upset the father’s plan, and all the big wigs at Columbia came to the boy’s rescue, like Columbia College Dean David Truman contending that it was merely innocent copying, and the chairman of the department for the course took over the administration of his performance by ultimately giving him an A grade for rewriting the paper which I never saw.

    The student had plagiarized a bit of Sidney Hook’s book From Hegel to Marx, and I only discovered it by consulting it for a paper I had assigned the class to write, i. e., how would J. S. Mill react to Das Kapital , a rather difficult assignment.

    And I plagiarized a paper at Exeter, but the teacher didn’t make a fuss about it, just giving me a D- for it.

    Almost everyone does it these days, but I am totally out of all the boxes now.

  5. Heh. Christie intoned that 93% of Melania’s speech was ‘different’

    I’m certain no plagiarist would repeat someone elses words in toto. Anyway I’m sure her speech was handed to her by Republican speech writers which begs the question;

    What were THEY thinking?

  6. Don’t you love The Telegraph’s Con Coughlin stating that given Turkey’s strategic importance to the West, NATO may have no choice but to expel it because of Erdogan’s growing crackdown when, in fact, it has no choice in the matter, and Erdogan knows it all too well.

    The West will allow the extradition of scapegoat Gulen, and will tolerate the execution of a limited number of coup leaders.

    Erdogan has Washington by the short hairs.

  7. Trow

    Yes that coup stinks to High heaven.. Apparently the Russians warned Turkey..Then therewas the Pre arranged list of of Over 2,000 Judges arrested within 24 hours.. All this Purging allowed with Silence from the west.. Assad, aint that a different matter..

    Ben Very Sorry, No, but that was a badly Conceived Dream, It is on the Outer Hebrides Isle of Harris… I have Been to Harris Stunning out there..Same goes for all the Islands… This place is for hire but i see ya gotta wait a couple of years… If i win the Lottery theres a meet for us in that place… Costly as Fk..I but Owe you it for Leading you Astray.. Numpty that i Am..Some more on it –

    ” Imagine …
    …an island on the very edge of Europe, with pure white beaches, azure seas and majestic hills
    ….a 5 star house like no other, combining traditions thousands of years old with the ultimate in modern luxury”

    – See more at: http://www.lhhscotland.com/properties/detail/?id=25672#sthash.fC2kLCQE.dpuf

  8. Ben

    Yes That is Me in the Blue Shirt… We were at a Meeting / Talk For Palestine..And Professor Finkelstein is one of the World’s Leading Writers / Historians on the Subject.

    So Anyhoo I jumped in the car At 00;09 Tonight,and went out Storm Chasin…. Great Electrical Storm on … Went from the Hills Down to the Clyde.. where the last of the Storm was Lighting up the Cowal Alps – Across From Faslane ( nukes)

    Them Hills being Lit like that..At least I got to marvel at Many Flashes..and Not Just One ( the Last one Ever..If ya get my Drift )

    .. It got a bit hairy on the hill mind..But Once a Storm Chaser 🙂

  9. I thought it was you, minus traditional Celtic garb but I’d only seen the one pic 🙂

  10. Ben

    i’ll Chuck over some fotos from time to time

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/132108640@N08/28335752462/in/dateposted-friend/

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/132108640@N08/28335752502/in/dateposted-friend/

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/132108640@N08/28335752512/in/dateposted-friend/

    But I have had a Universe Altering Idea… It gose like this – The Merging of Two Dances –

    This

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxOOaCKLh9A

    With Time Altering

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2eBMuL0C2o

    We could make a Few bucks outa this Idea

  11. Two dancing…

    Indeed Bri. Music is the Bridge. If only we could get people to transcend their differences. I’ve seen it happen at Happenings. Cops with flowers on their funbelts, smiling at the irony.

  12. Can you believe it, the investigators confess now that they may well have been looking in the wrong place all long for the crash of MH370.

    It might well have just gone on in its original direction which would be corroborated by the fire ball that oil rig operator Mike McKay said he saw streaking across the night sky over the South China Sea which I have been claiming all along, and never left this room in my apartment here in New Haven in doing so!

    No explanation, though, for the wild goose chase when they were just following the directions by Anglo-American spooks to keep the crash covered up for American-Iranian relations.

  13. Listened to Trump last night. What ‘facts’ he highlighted were dispatched this am by fact checkers. He’s all bloviation. Hister was a powerful speaker who dealt in the same generalizations and platitudes that reflect the ignorance of his audience and emotional swooning over their tickled ears. If he gets the job we deserve what we get.

    BTW; Hister is not my typo….that belongs to Nostradamus. 🙂

  14. Yo Ben

    Ta for title of the Dub step dance, good choon, i think it’s mostly Techno music for this art, not too much into techno beat, Love Electronica though, Tangerine Dream ect, The dance is amazing though, and as trow says Peacable…Very hard to perform.

    Re Trump Features, Whats Worse me Wonders…your End, or Ours…A Dangerous Shambles.. But The fkers are all Well Connected, Check this…(We All) might find this interesting

    …….
    “The fact that four senior cabinet members appointed by May are affiliated to a think-tank with such brazen anti-Muslim affiliations is extraordinary. That one of those affiliations is Frank Gaffney,THE MAN WHO INSIRED Trump’s call to ban Muslim immigration to America, is especially alarming.

    On Tuesday, The Canary asked the Home Office about Rudd’s affiliations to HJS, and whether she agreed with the remarks made by Murray about Muslim immigration, “white Britons” and the “startling rise of Muslim infants” in Britain.

    A Home Office spokesperson distanced Rudd from HJS and its views:

    The Political Council of the Henry Jackson Society consists of a large number of MPs and peers from across party lines. While Amber Rudd shares a lively interest in openly debating issues of foreign affairs and security, the position was largely nominal.

    On her appointment as Home Secretary, Amber Rudd reviewed her membership of any organisations that can be connected to the work of the department and she is no longer a member of the council of the Henry Jackson Society.
    However, Rudd was still listed as a member of the Henry Jackson Society’s Political Council on the HJS website until Tuesday. Her name was only removed from the website after The Canary’s enquiry with the Home Office.

    The Canary also asked the same questions of Patel and Davis. On Wednesday just minutes before 4pm, Patel’s name was removed from the HJS website listing of Political Council members…..

    http://www.thecanary.co/2016/07/20/theresa-mays-cabinet-scrambles-disassociate-extremist-think-tank-tied-donald-trump/

    Stay Safe All

  15. Build a Barbed Wire Wall…Around them All Esp Trump and Clinton, And the Unelected T. May.

    https://www.rt.com/usa/352539-trump-wall-hollywood-star/

    A Classic Song –

    ” Mother, do you think they’ll drop the bomb?
    Mother, do you think they’ll like this song?
    Mother, do you think they’ll try to break my balls?
    Ooh, aah, mother, should I build the wall?

    Mother, should I run for president?
    Mother, should I trust the government?
    Mother, will they put me in the firing line?
    Ooh, aah, is it just a waste of time?……..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nipsQQdpGoQ

  16. Don’t you love the DNC claiming to reduce the blowback that Putin hacked its campaign e-mails, and released them to help elect The Donald.

    The Russians always come in handy when Americans fuck or set them up.

    Of course, the e-mails could not have been hacked if they had not engaged in such risky communication.

    Of course, better still, not have engaged in such biased behavior at Sanders expense.

  17. FERNANDO; If you happen to read this… a little help.

    I know you are indoor and I am outdoor right now. Average Temps 98 degrees w 15% relative humidity. Six 3×3 holes with custom soil (details available). Clone from robust Mom very healthy in ground since June 2….at that time sized about 10 x 10 inches. Trained branches with minimal twisting and bending using tomato cage and dynamic growth since topping and is now about a square meter.

    Question; I have been seeing new leaves at top that are twisty like they are stressed.
    I did FIM these tops but this hybrid (Bullrider) I am familiar with and have not seen such stress exhibited before (but that was indoor). She always burps after a top or cloning and takes off again. i know leaf twisting sometimes is humidity related as the stomata close up to conserve moisture in the stem reducing transpiration, but I frequently mist the area and hydrometer shows it raises H from 10 to about 30-40 % .

    Still I get the twisty distorted new growth. Thanks in advance. Hope you are well.

  18. Edit; I should mention I have shade cloth (80%) over the plants. They get intense early morning and late afternoon light.

  19. Don’t you love the feds throwing the book at Fox News fraudster Wayne Simmons for claiming that he worked for the CIA for years when he was stating his expertise on counter terrorism on its programs.

    Received thirteen months in prison, and huge fines for so behaving for around 15 years.

    Turns out the Simmons only worked as a doorman, bookie, renter of hot tubs, and the like.

    Of course, Fox News received no punishment for such mishandling coverage of such important matters.

    Guess his claiming that his real employment was just a cover for his covert work. Renting hot-tubes by the hour must have convinced the Fox loons.

  20. The release of John Hinckley, Jr., who almost assassinated President Reagan, from incarceration seems justified after all these years, but still doesn’t deal with other matters.

    Hinckley rushed to kill The Gipper to impress actress Jodi Foster because he couldn’t get to the politician he wanted to kill, Vice President George H. W. Bush.

    Bush was leading the covert war to oust Jimmy Carter from the White House in 1980 by so threatening him that he never left the Rose Garden when he should have been campaigning. It was Hinckley’s stalking him which severely limited where the President went, and led to his being treated for his mental problems when it seemed no longer needed.

    Fears that the Carter administration had beaten the Reagan people in solving the Iranian hostage crisis forced its executive action director Ted Shackley to prepare Mark David Chapman in Hawaii to kill Beatle john Lennon as a Manchurian Candidate in the hope of redressing the crisis, but Chapman couldn’t do it before election day.

    They had him go ahead, and do it anyway for fear that the plot would be otherwise exposed.

    The only person Hinckley really loved was Lennon, and he went on the rampage when he was assassinated, but the Veep made sure that he didn’t get to him.

    In shooting Reagan, though, Hinckley ultimately did assassinate his press secretary Brady which recently has been ruled a homicide.

    Will Hinckley now be prosecuted for it?

    And how do officials know for sure that he is no longer a threat to George H. W. Bush?

  21. Thanks Bri…

    Still fighting the heat. Sand Canyon fire was burning towards us (25 miles away at closest point) Some 30k acres torched. Fortunately homes were spread out and only 18 lost.

    Heat brutal and humidity low. My buddy and I have opposite soil. He’s in clay (adobe) and I’m on a sandy ancient riverbed. We both realized all along we’ve been underwatering. It seems, by our deductions, we both have bone-dry substrates that suck up moisture and distribute away from the roots. My ‘knuckle’ test on soil leaving the top 2-3 inches dry before watering was insuffficient. as I assumed all soil below that point was moist. Apparently not. Root structure as you can imagine is highly important. I have effectively increased watering by quantity and frequency by 200
    % and plants are loving it. It’s even worse for potted plants. I did everything right according to Hoyle and I finally pulled out a plant that was stunted to check the root ball. Even though I watered until 20% runoff and left water in the saucer so it could re-suck it up when needed, the center of the ball was dry. Drip systems are the only way to go in potted soil.

  22. Very Impressive Ben

    Obviously we don’t have your problems Re water here in Scotland…

    Fuck.. they should have cast you as the Martian.. .instead of that hollywood chap.

    Keep it up..and Glad to hear the fires have shifted…Stay Positively charged 🙂

  23. Ben,

    I have seen those twisty leaves before, though I don’t know what causes them. I don’t remember there being a problem with the crop though. I suggest you look on those sites that give pictures of leaf problems and explain the cause. A temperature of 98 is slightly higher than recommended. I believe around 80 is the ideal. Though having said that, I’ve gone as high as 100 with no problems.

    Yes, tardigrades are fascinating. Using a hand-held microscope I once followed spider mites through their life cycle – I think it was six stages: the female’s last stage was to become a fertile six-legger and I’d see males waiting by that egg for it hatch. We’re all eager.

    Brian,

    Re: Henry Jackson Society
    Remember Irwin Steltzer back in the Blair years? He was a member of the Henry Jackson Society; Andrew Neill used to call him ‘Rupert Murdoch’s man on earth’. Like Murdoch, he often made visits to Blair – the devil’s disciple, I guess.

  24. Brian; I’m no botanist but thanks.

    Hey Fernandez. The insect world is a fascinating one but those spider-mites are very scary monsters under magnification. Hoary fluid-sucking beasts. I’m curious about your current grow. Any interesting strains you are courting?

  25. Ben,

    You talked about ‘misting’. I’ve only ever misted clones.

    Nothing on at present (too hot indoors in the summer). My latest was Girl Scout Cookies: OK, but not great. Probably be White Widow next, as recommended by Rick Simpson for oil: good yields too last time I grew it. My all-time favourite is Skunk#1, as I understand it was the original hybrid taken from California to Amsterdam all those years ago. Low-cost seeds, a strong plant, great yield and an excellent high.

    I had a ready-rolled Skunk#1 in an Amsterdam coffeeshop some years ago. I had to put it down halfway through to recapitulate where I was and where I’d got to get to before carrying on.

    The best I ever had though was some I grew outdoors in the early 70s from some seeds that came with a weed purchase. I’ve no idea where the weed originally came from, possibly Africa or the Caribbean. It had red resin on the flowers – not reddish-brown, but red, like I’ve not seen since. I got paranoid about the neighbour seeing it and cut it down before it finished; I put the whole plants on top of the boiler till superdry and then ran them through my hand, palm leaves and all; crushed it, bagged it, and put it in the freezer.

    First time my long-time smoking mate tried it he accused me of spiking it with acid. We had some truly mind-expanding times on that stuff, and nights just tripping out to music; and there was lots of fantastic stoner music coming out then.

    Here’s an album we got off on –
    Manfred Mann’s Earth Band: ‘Solar Fire’ –
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys0cyMdtsIA

  26. Fernandex; Your favorite of all time sounds a lot like Panama Red which was very popular in the 70’s. My buddy grew one in his back yard and i remember how RED it was. I think the genetics probably have been polluted as my favorite Acapulco Gold has been. It’s still really good though.

    Panama Red is not cheap.

    https://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/reeferman-seeds-panama-red/prod_2150.html

    Landrace Kush and Afghani #! are excellent bargains at $1.80 per seed and I plan on buying some in bulk for posterity before they get too scarce.

    If it’s hotter where you are you have my sympathy. 🙂

  27. A question about ‘resistance’ Fernandez. I do not care for ‘stony’ weed but I do like the cerebral turbocharge to my thought process. But the first smoke of the day has to be satisfactory enough to carry me through as later tokes are minimalist. I take breaks for a day or two and the resistance lessens, but it’s getting harder to find strong smoke and I never have anxiety/paranoia anymore from getting a spiked high. The CBD’s are covered as we consume about 3 grams of infused coconut oil daily for arthritis and old injuries. (Funnily enough, I get tingling in old nerves injured like a charge of microvolts quite frequently)

    For your smoking pleasure, how do you handle it?

  28. If you watch the Press conference on their return home they look quite crestfallen rather than jubilant after their return from the Moon.

    http://www.educatinghumanity.com/2012/08/Neil-Armstrong-Dead-Did-He-See-UFOs-Moon.html

    Armstrong: What was it? What the hell was it? That’s all I want to know!

    Mission Control: What’s there? Malfunction (garble).Mission Control calling Apollo 11

    Apollo 11: These babies were huge, sir!…. Enormous!… Oh God! You wouldn’t believe it!….I’m telling you there are other space-craft out there…lined up on the far side of the crater edge!…They’re on the Moon watching us!

    Imagine if it were you and you couldn’t tell anyone back home. I don’t know how they kept quiet. I also think the reasons for secrecy lack any credibility. Humans are very resilient. Society is not going to collapse when they are told the truth. There will be some religious types who have totally invested themselves in their ideology and they have some power and can cause waves but this is a juggernaut whose weight exceeds all that.

  29. I was reading somewhere about the Astronauts reporting of Ufos whilst on the Moon, and that they seen huge crystal like structures, Dubious on that, how lucky to land a long way off but still be able to see such structures.

    Some have been saying the Ufos are the real reason we have not been back

    Fascinating.

    Also Re Panspermia –

    NASA to land on asteroid that could have once seeded life, but may now destroy Earth

    Aged over 4 billion years, Bennu is a contemporary of asteroids that, according to a hypothesis known as Panspermia, could have brought new elements and water to Earth in its early stages, giving it a ready-made foundation from which life may have emerged.

    “Bennu is a carbonaceous asteroid, an ancient relic from the early solar system that is filled with organic molecules,” said Lauretta. “Asteroids like Bennu may have seeded the early Earth with this material, contributing to the primordial soup from which life emerged.”

    https://www.rt.com/news/354093-nasa-asteroid-armageddon-earth/

    P.s Ben…. I got back to you next door Re trump

    Stay well

  30. The Thai military junta really knows how to conduct referenda which suits its aims.

    The referendum calls for the 40 million population to give it more power to keep it down, and the enabling legislation bans campaigns, and threatens punishment of anyone, up to ten years in prison, who disseminates photo, texts, or noises contrary to the truth.

    Guess that explains why when my nephew, who lives there, and is quite outspoken, had two calls to me immediately terminated, and their very existence deleted so I could not call back immediately.

    Am going to call soon to make sure he has not been dragged off to the cooler.

    Westminster should think of doing something similar when it has to deal with another Scottish indepedence referendum.

  31. Glutton for punishment. Yet another project…..Pemmican. Me spouse still struggling with diet and has been Paleo which pretty much means I’m Paleo. Solution; I thought maybe beef jerky for small numerous meals would work, but at $25 per lb? (I like my pasta and rice)

    So I’m going to try making Pemmican. 50% meat/50% suet and a handful of dessicated blueberries and a splash of honey. Stores indefinitely at room temp but I don’t think it will last. Good long-term storage item. Native Americans thrived on it.

  32. Thanks for that, Ben – I’ll look into Panama Red for my next grow, though there seem only to be seeds for hybrids incorporating Panama Red available, rather than the original. These have red pistils, but what I remember from years ago is red resin on the flowers and spilling down onto the leaves, instead of the white ice or snow appearance of most varieties. Nonetheless, the description of the high sounds just the job.

    The summer heat I was talking about only affects an indoor grow – when added to the heat of the lights. It never gets too hot outdoors in the UK.

    You ask about smoking pleasure, but I don’t smoke anymore. I gave up two years ago when my preferred hand-rolling tobacco went out of production. I grew six varieties of tobacco that year to try blending my own, but I later thought I might as well give up all smoking and give my lungs a new life after near 60 years of consumption. Also, I got fed up with the tobacco companies and their deceits (have you seen the additives they use: http://ingredients.jti.com/added/UNITED-KINGDOM/ ). I have, though, promised myself I’ll smoke again next time I go to Amsterdam (and have some lovely Caramello hash), or at a good party.

    I only grow now for my grandkids – so they can have good stuff and don’t have to buy from dealers; also for oil for future medicinal needs. I test each batch of oil on myself for a few weeks and I’ve experienced some heavy stoning this way – difficulty in walking, long nights’ sleep and, for some reason, a higher-pitched voice! But I have the equipment waiting to produce suppositories from the oil should anyone I know have need, as that seems to be the best way to take it as medicine, bypassing the action of liver and kidneys on it and also, they say, reducing the stoning.

    I store the oil in needle-less hypodermic syringes as per Rick Simpson’s method and draw it from them as required. I’ve now found the following dosage does the job for recreational use (with oil made from high-THC weed):
    1/8 inch – good for a pleasant high
    1/4 inch – a strong high
    3/8 inch – stronger still
    1/2 inch – a bit risky
    3/4 inch – I have been a little sick and paranoid (I know, I’m a lightweight)
    Plus, of course, the high from eating oil is many hours long.

    I agree with you that breaks of a day or two improve the experience and help to ensure the ‘cerebral turbocharge’.

    I reckon (hope) my current limited use should be sufficient to keep Parkinsons, Alzheimers and whatever else at bay; if not, then I’ll implement Rick Simpson’s 60-day program.

  33. Hey Fernandez. I have similar reasons for growing/gardening. I know what went into them. I thought you were primarily indoor but when you mentioned how hot it was I assumed you had some outdoor. I’ve got about four varieties in the ground but the weather has been so hinky fruit trees blossomed early but having a hard time getting blooms on other produce even this late in the season. My sativas are whorling bud sites but no flowers. My indicas just now showing sex and preflower but they should go first. It’s weird.

    Yes I know about chemicals in tobacco. I used to work for Marlboro and naturally smoked them. A few years back I switched to American Spirit which is produced by native americans and supposed to be organic. I hardly cough anymore since I switched and only smoke a few a day.

    My kids aren’t the least bit interested in my girls. They roll their eyes when I share what I’ve been growing. I raised them to think independently and they sure exercise those rights. Your kids are lucky to have you looking out for them. Cheers.

  34. Arch nationalist, Indian PM Narendra Modi, hoped for a clean sweep of the Muslims in the country by breaking the back of Kerala’s independent ways when it comes to making money, and reforming the chaotic tax system which impedes economic development.

    The butcher only got tax reform, as the workers from Kerala will still go to the UAE for work since the sabotaged crash of EK521 turned out to be just a fiasco.

  35. Nice calligraphy Bri. But that’s not a good picture cuz I’m not photogenic. 🙂

    If nominated I will not run. If elected I will not serve except as benign dictator.

    You seem fit-as-a-fiddle.

  36. Lol Ben…its all FUGAZI

    i Have been wondering about that too… as your last hello went unanswered next door… and then i think was it me.. i have been thinking a lot about clark the last few days… A wee moment for humanity at DtRH…. And the year before there were many moments for Humane Types

    i shall try to Gatecrash for a few hours before the fest.. to give Clark a Hug

    I was hoping this year i would meet our host…he is very Quiet too. Ach well

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