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Thread: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

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    Default Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back


    The Basement by Freddie
    Political Mudpit by Thanatos
    The Athenaeum by The Fuzz
    Thema Devia by Macky
    Review of Tropic Thunder by Andre Massena
    The Political Academy by Captain Blackadder
    The Ethos, Mores, et Monastica by _Pontifex_
    The Arts by Thanatos
    The Vestigia Vetustatis by rez
    Editorials by the Black Prince, Elrond, Lord Rahl and Sundance (sorta)

    Well, well, well. Welcome to another edition of the publication where we strip ourselves of all of our journalistic integrity, put it in a box and prostitute it on the streets of Sydney for more pageviews!

    I have an announcement, of sorts, to make. Firstly, I'll apologise for the delay on this Helios, as is appropriate. Secondly. This will be the last Helios I will be editing. I've enjoyed it immensely, as both a writer and editor, for the last year and a half. I had big shoes to fill, as an editor, and while I was nowhere near close to filling them, I had fun, and it was a great ride.

    Thanks all the guys that turned in their articles on time. Those that got it in on time every issue get double the thanks. The others just get a single thank. Tardy tossers.

    The new editor will be The Sundance Kid. Feel free to expect nothing to be out on time and an extremely low standard of journalism; that's exactly what the Helios is all about, anyway!

    And thank you to everyone who read this publication over the last year and a half.

    ANYWAY!

    This issue, we have several new additions to the Helios this edition, including Andre Massena, with his review of Tropic Thunder, and Macky, covering the Thema Devia.

    But up first is Freddie, back on the 'roids and back, packing an artificial punch with his Basement report!

    ... artificial ... basement ... computers ... steroids ... see what I did there?
    The Basement
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    I love technology, I like computers and I like the progress that technology brings. As the world tears itself apart there are companies and people out there who work in the field of medicine and science who try to further mankind and improve all of our lives. Right now you do your bit by download Folding at Home which uses your computers spare clock cycles to calculate protein molecules in hope of finding cures to diseases such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers. Click here for more information.





    There has been a spate of threads recently about low Virtual Memory. Virtual memory is work space for your computer, when your low on main ram memory you computer can use spare space on the hard drive to do the work. Whilst virtual memory is a short term solution it also means if you get a warning about it you seriously need to consider getting some more Ram.

    Quote Originally Posted by AlexTheGood View Post
    Somehow bad for Medieval... Better to have a 2GB at least, for large armies etc...
    Good advice. Memory is cheap as chips these days (no pun intended) and there is simply no excuse is to be running low on main system memory.



    Sticking with the memory theme TWC Chief Engineer Simetrical (even his user handle sounds intelligent) has posted a thread covering pretty much all you need to know about choosing the amount of ram for your computer.
    If your building computer in the near future frankly you should be buying anything less then 4gb of ram given how cheap memory is these days even though you can still use a computer with 2gb without any worries.






    Now that brings back some memories, the countless hours and 10 pence pieces I’ve put into playing arcade games over the years I couldn’t help but get excited when I saw this thread.

    Having your own Arcade cabinet in your front living room, loaded with all your favourite games from yester year has to be high up on any video games fan list of wants. Good luck to Mango_55 and if he is successful I hope he posts back with some pictures.


    That’s all from me for this issue, I hope you enjoyed reading it.

    Freddie.


    Now we have Thanatos, taking a step, under great duress (he has the whip-marks to prove it), into the deep, dark bowels of the Political Mudpit.
    The Political Mudpit
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    … and no doubt, they’ll be happy together for a very long time. Yes, you heard it here, folks, a space alien weds a two-headed Elvis clone.
    Onto other news, here we are at the Mudpit! Let’s see what’s going on in this wonderful land of hugs and smiles, shall we?
    First up is the thread stating that US Troops could be out of Iraq by 2011.
    People gave their varying opinions on the matter:
    Quote Originally Posted by Ragabash View Post
    It depends how the situation develops in Iraq but right now I would have to say no, 2011 withdraw seems a bit too soon. You should not leave until it's 100% sure that Iraq won't flame into another catastrophy.

    You owe it to poor Iraqis who are now struggling to get their lives back. You cannot just leave them for the vultures after destroying all order and stability within the region.
    Mithie took another stance:
    Quote Originally Posted by Mithie View Post
    So get ready to dig in for the long haul, eh?

    Truth of the matter is, American military presence is not needed, but American economic and political presence need to be stepped up to compensate. Pull out the ground troops, yes, but step up the projection of economic and political power.
    Others, however, were just plain tired of being in Iraq:
    Quote Originally Posted by BeastG33 View Post
    Argh, I hope so. I don't want to leave Iraq in anarchy, don't get me wrong, but... I don't know. I just want to leave at this point, you know? I'm tired of soldiers dying from IEDs and helicopter crashes and suicide bomb attacks.

    I know we have a responsibility to fix or at least stabilize the infrastructure of a country we tore apart but I'm hoping beyond hope that by 2011, we'll have done that well enough to be able to back out and leave Iraqis to the Iraqis, as it probably always should have been... I guess. Especially if the Iraqis want us to go, then really, we need to go.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kleos View Post
    I dont think the situation in Iraq will justify a withdrawal in such a short period of time. At the least you'd want Afghanistan reaching a similar capability for self rule, which seems far off; and the situation in Iran clarified and things to settle down in Pakistan a bit more. You at least want a stable Iraq to have the benefit of a semi-stable region.

    However, there is little the US can do if the Iraqis themselves want them out. Perhaps this way more resources can be devoted to Afghanistan, a war which should have been finished before the US even thought of invading any other.
    Ragabash countered these opinions with a rebuttal of his own:
    Quote Originally Posted by Ragabash View Post
    This isn't just some childrens play where you can leave when ever you want, go home and eat icecream while watching cartoons.

    We are talking about human lives here; desperate need for stability and future of the people in the whole region. U.S.A invaded Iraq to bring in the democracy and rebuild the country and its governmental system, at least in official level if not in truth.

    And now you want to leave when they need your help the most? Huh...
    At any rate, it’s certainly a very hot topic, and will probably continue on for some time. Let’s continue on to another thread.
    In other news, Sudanese troops battle it out at a Darfur refugee camp.
    Atilavolciak07 gave a quick summary of the area:
    Quote Originally Posted by attilavolciak07 View Post

    39% are Arab, mainly in the north near Khartoum.

    The rest are mostly black, around 52% and 6% Beja, which mainly is the South.

    I think the south is trying to achieve independence.
    Rome kb8 commented on Atila’s statement:
    Quote Originally Posted by ЯoMe kb8 View Post
    No wonders. They should have it considering how the government treats them, it happened in Kosovo,it will happen in Palestine and Tibet, it should happen here. Too bad there is no Oil in Darfur.
    Carach came back with a revelation on the area’s state of affairs:

    Quote Originally Posted by Carach View Post
    funnily enough they do, though most of the country is largely unexplored with regards to oil - in neighbouring egypt theyre apparently finding quite a bit so due to close proximity i guess its kind of logical to assume theres a bit of unexplored oil in sudan.... probably in the area where all the refugees are heh.

    otherwise yea......Arabs are all fine and dandy when its israel, but not when its their brothers down south - they ignore it
    Kiljan Arslan called for drastic measures:

    Quote Originally Posted by Kiljan Arslan View Post
    I say start arming the southerners.
    In the end, however, Rome kb8 summed up everyone’s thoughts on the refugee camp attack:

    Quote Originally Posted by ЯoMe kb8 View Post
    To put it lightly they aren't democratic like us, so an eye for an eye and two wrongs to make a right is accepted in Africa.
    And, to save the best for last, let’s take a trip into a topic even more hotly debated than the Georgian-Russian conflict threads! Even more hotly debated than arming Texan teachers! Even more hotly debated than discussing whether or not Britney Spears should be called certain vulgar terms or not!

    Yes, it’s…. it’s… the state of He Kexing’s Olympic medal, and whether or not she deserves it!

    Sephodwyrm put the news up for all to see:

    The IOC, however, sounded as if it did not expect anything to be found.

    “We believe the matter will be put to rest and there’s no question ... on the eligibility,” Davies said. “The information we have received seems satisfactory in terms of the correct documentation — including birth certificates.”
    The_mango55, however, wasn’t quite so happy about this:

    Quote Originally Posted by the_mango55 View Post
    More like the IOC pussed out.
    Sephodwyrm, however, remained confident in the IOC’s results for Miss Kexing:

    Quote Originally Posted by sephodwyrm View Post
    =)

    I knew nothing would placate the Amerikkkaners besides the stripping of Miss He Kexin of her hard earned medal.

    Btw, speaking of our elite hacker with the name that passes for Harry Next Door, where's my 2 damning documents?
    Btw, I am just posting this for fun. People, you are now clear to tear each other apart. The fight is now officially open.
    Are the IOC a bunch of pussies, or did the IOC do their job?

    Heheheh.

    In response to Sephodwyrm’s rebuttal, people quickly came to voice their own opinions on the matter, a veritable torrent of responses:

    Quote Originally Posted by ЯoMe kb8 View Post
    Come on now Seph, you know full well China cheated. It's so obvious, its facepalm worthy, now i don;t care about Olympics, i believe you should all just shaft yourself with your precious medals whcih obviously you would do anything for, all of you, but the fact is the lying about it.
    Quote Originally Posted by attilavolciak07 View Post
    No, by IOC law they have to rely on the passport, but since the Chinese made her older, they can't get proof.

    Quote Originally Posted by Shaun View Post
    Exactly. Hell, just 9 months ago, He Kexin was only 13 years old according to China's own state media ... now she's 16?

    The fact that she is underage and that China cheated seems obvious to all but the Chinese nationalists.
    Quote Originally Posted by _Pontifex_ View Post
    Even if they aren't penalized we know they cheated.
    Chukada1 came in to respond back to all the naysayers:

    Quote Originally Posted by Chukada1 View Post
    Free Tibet!

    The Beijing olympics has turned out to be the greatest olympics thus far. The best opening ceremony, the largest contingents, the most countries, the greatest media coverage, the most interesting olympics for the youth of the world. I didn't give 2 cents for the olympics, until the Beijing olympics. Now I'll be interested in it forever.

    But alas. A chinese girl lipsinced, two were underaged, and one doped. So China is full of cheates, scumbags and commie child molesters. Not the mention the horable inhumane treatment of that fake fire works scene. What's wrong with the actual fireworks China? Are they not perfect enough for you!? China should rot in hell. Only western people can have cheaters who simply used drugs or were underaged. If the Chinese do it, it must be a nation wide communist conspiracy!
    The_mango55 came back for round two:

    Quote Originally Posted by the_mango55 View Post
    You forgot to mention the people being imprisoned for a year for taking China at their word.

    They told people that they could sign up for a special "protest box" that would allow people to express themselves without disturbing the main Olympic games.

    Turned out anyone who signed up to protest gets arrested and jailed for a year. And people think the treacherous bastards who run that government wouldn't forge a passport (AND a birth cirtificate).
    Boofhead came in, not so much on either side, but mostly stated his boofy wisdom to all within post-shot:

    Quote Originally Posted by boofhead View Post
    I've never understood cheating. In anything really. What does the cheater gain? An undeserved award? Some bit of tin that he shouldn't have? Fake national pride?

    I see many athletes later declared drug-cheats who beam with joy at receiving their award......why? What have they actually achieved? Are they beaming with pride because the medal is actually for 'outsmarting other people and being a two-faced deceptive knob-head?"

    This case here is the same, except for the athlete in question to beam with pride is understandable - she's just a kid. But for everyone else...the Chinese people, the officials, coaches, trainers etc.........what are they smiling for?

    Fake people taking the glory for a fake medal.



    Success in gymnastics? Yeah, for the little girl in question.

    Success in blatantly cheating? Yeah, congrats China. Here's an 'I Can't be Trusted Medal'. Wear it with pride.
    The thread however, continued on for another six pages, and became very heated with posts about some un-TWC behavior. The thread became so heated, that Pontifex had to tell everyone to calm down, and to return to the main topic at hand.

    Next up on our 24/7 news channel, a new movie coming soon to a theater near you: Cannibal Stewardess Vixens Unchained! Should you let your children see this? Stay tuned, to find out more!


    Now it's the Fuzz, with THE ATHENAEVM PRETRONVS EXSPELLIARMVS
    The Athenaeum
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    THE ATHENAEVM PRETRONVS EXSPELLIARMVS

    The Athenaeum has been...wait for it....the same as it has always been. Not much has been going on. So I'll ask you to listen to this whilst reading the article. If that can't keep you pumped for writing/reading an athenaeum report, nothing can.

    So let's begin. First up, just a public service announcement. Many of you are probably unfit. I suggest you work on that. Read Manny's Muscle thread and work on changing your habits. Even if you're fit, you can still learn something new. It has everything for anyone, really. Do work (out), son.

    We have a thread about evolution in the spotlight next. That's nothing new but the thread does give users a reason to bring a certain emoticon out of retirement:

    Quote Originally Posted by SoggyFrog View Post
    What direction has our species always tended towards? To stand taller and stronger than all the former apes, and that is part of what will happen. But our key feature is intellectual superiority, and you will see bigger brains as humans evolve to cope with a more complex lifestyle and the difficulty of learning many languages in a global environment. As we the dexterity of our hands has become necessary, in the next species the sixth digit will emerge as the dominant trait, and...

    No, no, no! That's not happening.


    Stop reading Lamarck and start reading Darwin. Only once you've done that will you have any right to use "if" when you talk about the Theory of Evolution. Survival of the fittest is not something that applies to our species as is and might not apply even in the event of some global cataclysm.
    Quote Originally Posted by SoggyFrog View Post
    I agree that 95% of these forums should be purged.

    But, in an attempt to give this thread life, I'd like to raise the point that sexual selection could be an active force in defining the human gene pool. I don't think it has much of an impact presently though.

    Evolution could only occur if we were reintroduced to similar conditions as our genetic ancestors. Given the state of things, the absolute annihilation of our species is just as likely.
    We could probably add a DisgruntedGoat emote as well.

    The Athenaum has also been filled with pseudo-science shite of late, thanks to those Mayan tossers and their calendar. This thread highlights the pseudo science.

    Another psuedo-scientific thread doesn't really belong here, but it poses a pretty interesting question. Basically, imagine if ghosts were proven to exist. What would that mean for humans? Check it out.

    Quote Originally Posted by Vindicare View Post
    Yet the explanation was proven to be purely scientific that yes "apparitions" of people or even consciousness of that apparition did and could exist, and there was no supernatural or religious explanation to it..

    Would you be any less scared? Would you view the "ghost" as a very real, product of the Earth's energy field on all things composed of matter, would you suddenly feel "comfortable" with them? Even accepting?

    Note, this is not a topic asking if they exist or not. This scenario only applies of ghosts/apparitions were proven beyond shadow of reasonable doubt, through science, to exist.
    Quote Originally Posted by Pivra View Post
    Then please all be ready for "Ghost Pride Parades" or "Ghost Couple Adopting Orphans (their own)" or "Should Ghosts Vote" type of like issues.
    A shining light among the cesspool is the thread border of the universe + blackhole question. Have a read. There's some good discussion on the nature of the 'edge' of the universe that is pretty fascinating.

    I suppose that's it for this round. I close this two universes pwning each other or something, I'm not really sure.


    SEE YA

    Here we have a new addition to the Helios team, with Macky covering the discussion in the TD for this issue. He has bathed in pig's blood, as is the customary ritual for those wishing to join is, and he's here. Play nice.
    Thema Devia
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    Hi guys its Mackios here on my debut for the Helios, reporting on the Total War Center's very own /b/ or more commonly known (and thankfully) as the Thema Devia.

    In the last few weeks or so we have had some pretty interesting threads containing the usual slightly strange and often worrying posts that the Thema Devia tends to attract. So let's start with the issue of race in the TWC, in the thread and poll simply titled as 'Your Race?'

    The choices were simple and you could choose from, White, Black, Asian, Native American & First Nations (whatever that it?), Polynesian, Some other race and Two or more races.

    We learnt that Thanatos is infact turquoise after reffering to a colour coded race map.
    I'm green and blue, so.... I'm....

    Turquoise... just great, my least favorite color...
    Chi'ites apparently have tails. It also begs the question, what the hell is a Chi'ite?
    C-h-double I-tea! That's how you spell Chi'ite! And I'm the only one!
    *bounces around on Chi'ite tail*
    Not all TWCers approved of the poll.
    Seriously, this poll is awefull.
    boofhead tells us the truth about his origins.
    I'm literally a mongrel and a bastard. But I look white. And people treat me like I'm white.
    So I vote kind of a 'pooey-brown colour', but without the tan.
    The thread basicly continues in this fasion untill Scipio Barbatus declares this.
    I am a Klingon.
    The thread pretty much ends there.

    We now move swiftly on to a resurrected thread on accents and more importantly, what accent would you rather have? English, Irish, Scottish and Afrikaans (South African for the linguistically impaired) appear to be the accents that most TWCers would like to have.

    Boeing must live in an area full of girls with fetishes for the Irish. Or just wishful thinking?
    Irish, I'd get laid every night.
    Try this and you can sound like a genuine Scot
    Yi go' that right, jimmy boy, we dinnae tak ony rubbish fe the likes uv you Inglish scum! :wink:

    "Did you know that Scots is actually a language of its own?"

    Aye, we liek tae think tha', bu' aw yi huve tae do is find a wuy uv including the wurds: 'oakster', 'bonnie', 'drookit', 'hoff' an' 'peely-wally' in yur sentences an replace 'gh' wi 'ch' as in 'loch', an' jus' genrally choinge yir voowel soonds, lik thus.
    Does anyone wonder what you could do with a time machine? Well here is the thread to describe your time machine fantasies. The responses were, as one may expect, typically Thema Devian in content.

    I can see the logic behind this.
    join a roman orgy
    Hell yeah!
    I'd like to go back to Imperial-era Britain. Purely so I could get away with one of those handlebar moustaches
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 




    Hot alien chicks and lightsabers anyone? Only on the TWC!
    Err i would got to the future space ships space battles evil aliens wanting to kill humanity hot alien chicks lightsabers and other cool .
    Last but not least let's take a little look at the common problems of addiction. But this time its addiction to the terrible drug simply known as TWC. Lets look at some common addiction symptoms:

    IronBlood's symptoms.
    You ace a test in school and say "Do I get some rep with that A+"?
    You believe everyone in real life is just as intelligent the people on TWC.(that's a compliment gentlemen)
    Your private message box becomes your new email address
    An *cough*anonymous*cough* poster.
    When you stare at the forum list and just click on the refresh button every 5 seconds
    Quote:
    You also know when your addicted when you start writing an article on the Thema Devia for the Helios.
    -Yeh fine it was me.

    The drug isnt all that bad! You can pass social studies with it
    I don' know, I got a perfect Score on my Social Studies Final Exam last year. I like to think that TWC Helped. Atleast that way I can... justify my time spent here.
    Well that just about wraps up the 'interesting' content of the Thema Devia for this time, however I do recommend these threads if you happen to be in this area of the forum.
    Do you have a favorite cuisine?
    Want to know what girls think about guys?
    And much much more!

    Thanks for reading folks! Mackios.

    Now we have a small tangent, here. I was thinking, "Hmm ... what could spice up this spicy publication just a bit more?", and Andre Massena was the answer. Well ... his review of Tropic Thunder was the answer. So ... here it is.
    Review: Tropic Thunder
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



    “Dark Knight? What’s that?” Those are the words that crept through my mind as I left the theater on opening week of what has turned out to be this summers best movie; Tropic Thunder. That’s right, you heard me. Tropic Thunder not only competes with, but ultimately dethrones The Dark Knight as this summer’s top film. Hard to believe isn’t it?

    The basic premise of Tropic Thunder Is that a rookie Director Damien Cockburn, played by Steve Coogan (Night at the Museam, Around the World in 80 Days) is given the task to create the greatest war movie of all time. The script is based on the true story of Four Leaf Tayback, played by Nick Nolte, one of the four survivors of a near suicide mission to free P.O.W.’s in Vietnam. The twist, however, is that Cockburn has a star studded cast that just can’t be reasoned with. Of his cast, Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) is the action man who’s career has stalled. Speedman seems to be modeled after many of the 80’s action stars such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jeff Portnoy is a comedian whose previous work strongly resembles that of Eddie Murphy. He wants to prove he’s more than just a success because of his fart jokes but he’s got some personal problems I’ll not even delve into. Finally, there’s Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.) the serious actor who takes the “art” as seriously as you can, totally immersing himself in his character to the point that he ceases to be himself. Lazarus is so deadly serious about acting, he had his pigment changed from white to black just to play the role of the African-American Platoon Sgt.

    Cockburn finds it impossible to control the cast and after wasting nearly his entire budget he decides to take a drastic new role with the film, by putting his actors in the thick of the jungle and simulating actual warfare to capture the reality of battle on the faces of his actors. Of course, nothing ever goes as planned, and hilarity ensues.

    Tropic Thunder isn’t just a summer comedy. It’s far more than that, it’s a satire on modern Hollywood that pulls no punches. It sets it’s sights on cheap comedy as well as serious acting. There has been grumbling from some, but it’s largely misdirected anger. For instance there is anger about Tug Speedman’s previous roll as “simple jack” a mentally retarded man, and the way he portrays the retarded. This, as I’ve mentioned, is a satire of actors who actually attempt to play retarded people. The other issue that has been raised about this movie has been Kirk Lazarus portraying a black man. This too is satire, with serious actors taking the brunt of the joke.

    The movie is a fun ride, but is that enough to take the heavyweight summer hit title away from The Dark Knight? Of course not. Heath Ledger’s performance was pure Gold, and nothing will ever tarnish that, but Robert Downey Jr.’s role as Kirk Lazarus is right up there next to the Joker, instead of being insanely scary, Downey leaves you in stitches every single time he opens his mouth to talk. It’s almost hard to remember he’s actually a white guy. The only other reason I extol Tropic Thunder as greater than The Dark Knight is the length of the movie. It’s far more reasonable, at 107 minutes as opposed to the extraordinarily long 152 minutes of The Dark Knight. They are, of course, both amazing films, but it is this man’s opinion that Tropic Thunder takes the cake and rules this summer as the best film to date.

    See it, if you haven't! It's an awesome movie. Anyway, next we have Captain Blackadder, a fellow Australian, reporting on the Political Academy!
    The Political Academy
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    Hello this is Captain Blackadder reporting live from the hotbed of intelligent debate on the Total War Centre the Political Academy.

    As I began to write this report I began to wonder what is it that makes the Academy such a great place to be as I looked through the threads I realised just what it was. No threads on Russia,Georgia or the Ossetian independence movement. Unfortunately for me and for all lovers of intellectual debate separated from the rif-raf of current events this unlikely oasis was not to last with Centurion-Lucius-Vorenus thread on British supporters of Georgia

    Quote Originally Posted by Centurion-Lucius-Vorenus View Post
    If you can support the existence of Northern Ireland as an independent country within the Union due to the fact that via referendum the vote to stay within the U.K. won with a majority yet oppose Ossetian an Abkhazian independence after they overwhelmingly voted in support of Independence from Georgia ?
    And with this comment Boofhead comes strolling into the room stating the disdain many members feel for this kind of topic

    Quote Originally Posted by boofhead View Post
    Full respect to your question, but I just have to state something. Upon reading the thread topic I just kind of mentally slumped. All this stuff these days about politics and war and right or wrong....it just drains the soul. It's crap, really. It's groups of powerful people manipulating the common man's view via media. The 'sheeple'. And people are getting killed.

    Sometimes I can almost sympathize with grenade-throwing anarchists from the 1920s.
    Now onto the lighter side of the political academy we have this thread by CodofDuty on on the Principality of Sealand The conversation quickly dissolves into people making fun of various micronations such as

    Quote Originally Posted by orko View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ragabash View Post
    Sealand just as serious as this micronation.
    And my favourite

    Quote Originally Posted by orko View Post
    Then the conversations becomes serious again or as serious as it could get with the discussion moving onto how the British could get Sealand back with various methods suggested ranging from

    Quote Originally Posted by Kiljan Arslan View Post
    One cruise missle and the place is history.
    To

    Quote Originally Posted by ЯoMe kb8 View Post
    Genocide maybe? but i mean we might as well do what we do best. colonisation, send a bunch of guys over.
    After this we move onto the debates that to me at least show why the academy is so great. With a debate on Codified or Uncodified Constitutions which is better?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mackios View Post
    Which form of constitution do you think is better for a country to adopt, a codified constitution or an uncodified constitution?

    An example of a codified constitution would be the US constitution. Being codified means that it is written down and it is usually a clear set of rights etc.

    An example of an uncodified constitution would be the British constitution. It is not written down but it is instead an amalgamation of statute law, common law, convention and (I think) Royal perogative.
    Some banter goes back and forth over this with the general consensus being that a new country should have a codified constitution whilst countries with long histories like Britain can go without.

    Quote Originally Posted by wilting View Post
    Well, uncodified can be more flexible, but that can be both a good and bad thing.

    Codified is a lot simpler and clearer, better for democratic transparency, one would think. (Or at least it should be - the ridiculous Lisbon and Constitutional Treaties spring to mind; they rather missed the point of codification, the former especially. And yes, by this I am implying that EU law is constitutionalised regardless of those documents.)

    As a Federalist, (as oppossed to a Functionalist*) I'd have to say codified.

    *I wonder how many people know what that is?
    See that is what is so great about the academy someone actually using the word Functionalist.

    Also of late in the Political Academy we seem to be facing an onslaught of conspiracy theory threads with the conspiracies disccused ranging from President Kennedy to World Trade Center which was done by the Mongols as seen here

    Quote Originally Posted by Aetius View Post
    Noone ever expects the Mongol attack.

    When the USA is most vulnerable (2012) the Mongol Horde will sweep From the north into Montana, ravaging the countryside, loot Washington DC, and reinstate the Mongol Khanate. Beware.



    IRL mongols.
    However some members disagree with the clearly true Mongol theory and instead point to some quite frankly ridiculous ideas like this

    Quote Originally Posted by boofhead View Post
    It was bin Laden & Al-Qaeda, end of story.
    Which is so far beyond the realm of possibility that it is not funny at least with ideas like this.
    Quote Originally Posted by nemgod View Post
    Oh come on people it's obvious. It was the reverse vampires, in conjunction with the Romulan/Klingon alliance that saw the star wars movie and thought that earth was going to build the death star and decided to start a war that would stop it from occurring fearing for their home planets.
    I can respect them as plausible alternatives to the great Mongol theory.


    Well that is all there is to say about the academy for this issue until next time this is Captain Blackadder signing off.


    Now, we have the hippy-fied, mellowed out Pontifex. He was probably high when he wrote this.
    Ethos, Mores and Monastica
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    Ethos, Mores, et Monatisca


    Greetings once again, faithful readers! I apologize once again for the brevity of my previous article, but stuff happens. So without further delay here is the EMM report! Don't forget to give Mackios a warm welcome as a writer, this will be his first article. After various hazing rituals he is ready to join us!

    Fundamental Christianity became a topic of hot debate. More specifically, Noah was brought into question. Is the story of Noah completely true, or metaphorical?

    Broken Pope takes the road of logic in explaining

    There are around 350000 species of beetles. Just beetles. Another 550000 species of insects other than beetles. There are around 38000 species of spider. 2700 species of snakes. 5000 types of frog. 140 types of salamander ...

    I could go on.

    Anybody who takes this story seriously should question how Noah and his family managed to travel all over the world collecting animal species before Australia or the Americas had even been discovered.

    They may also question how these journeys were undertaken with the technology of the time. No divine assistance is mentioned in the Bible.

    Then think about the logistics of the operation.

    I would say the whole enterprise is impossible. It might even be easier for one man to travel around the world in a single night delivering gifts to every child on the planet by climbing down their chimneys. :wink:
    There are several problems with this story.

    1. Did God kill all the humans except Noah's family? If so, then there (again) would be incest in the bible.

    2. All the animals were rescued? Even if they were they would repopulate with incest.

    3. Food for the animals?

    4. There wouldn't have been enough room for all the animals.

    Conclusion? The story of Noah's Ark must have been metaphorical because it simply is too fantastical.


    In other news a dog died on the way to the vet. A tragic thing that an animal had to die, but surprisingly, the controversial story has sparked some real debate.

    The owner of the dog was pulled over for speeding (going 100 MPH), obviously bringing his choking dog to the vet for treatment. In the process however, the man was pulled over by a policeman and during the process of writing a ticket, the dog died.

    My personal thoughts are that while it is tragic that the dog had to die, it was dangerous and unwarranted for the man to be speeding anyway. The loss of the dog's life is too bad, but the owner endangered himself and others on the road. There is almost no justification for that. If the man had been racing to the hospital because his wife was choking, I could understand. It is immoral to put an animal's life before humans.

    Gambit sums it up nicely:

    Simple and sad story really. The cop was being a dick. "It's a dog, you can get another one." Yeah, and some people can have another baby. That doesnt mean you let it die. Regardless, those laws are there for a reason and they have to stay that way. He could've killed himself, his dog and alot of other people.

    The guy has caught a case of happens.
    What makes this situation controversial is the fact that the policeman that pulled them over was quoted as saying "Relax, it's a dog, you can get another one."

    That's not a very professional thing to say in the least. The officer should be more sympathetic to others' feelings and possible penalized for his conduct.

    Many a time in EMM we see simple threads that promote debate between members of different religions which eventually boil down to which religion is better. This often times makes it hard to choose. Every religion has contributed in huge ways to the development of culture in their respective zones.

    This is not one of those threads. This thread focuses on the men that make and define those faiths. It is instead a look into the man instead of the religion.

    Which prophet was the best?

    There are many influential men to choose from. Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, Jesus, all played vital roles in the major religions of the world.

    The candidate that suppressed violence the most would get my vote, so in this case The Buddha, but let your voice be heard today!

    What is the limit of our physical domain? Our mental Space? Our outer limits? Is our universe indeed boundless as so many e it? Or are we bound by unseen, unknown restrictions?




    Quetzalcoatl, one of the titans of EMM, brings us his unique point of view.

    Q. is it possible then that eternity exists and is equally as real as our universe?
    as i see it this would not initially be like some version of heaven, as due to infinite cardinality it would be empty or without ‘objects’ as such. it could be though that ‘you’ are mirrored as an infinite set of all that you are.

    to this we may add that our universe would seam ‘empty’ in a manner, if we could not see it. the graphics card in our brains produce what we ‘see’ upon information from the senses. it is possible for blind people to see a little bit via hearing, it would appear that the brain just needs info to produce an image and hence see. if our source of info was only from infinity we could produce a vision of the infinite universe and hence ‘see’ eternity. curiously the ancient egyptian had a ceremony in the book of the dead called the opening of the eye’s, perhaps this reflects the act of seeing eternity!
    Our ability to understand the concept of eternity and infinity are minimal at best. Our mortal minds have a rough time comprehending things that are non terminal. It makes sense- most things in a human's life our terminal, even the human life. It's an interesting concept to talk about and attempt to understand.

    Well that's it for this issue. Please stay tuned for more EMM action. Hey, post some cool threads! The EMM has seen a slow down in recent weeks, it must be revived. Get noticed! Get famous! I urge you all to PM suggestions to me! What do you want to see? What do you want me to talk about?

    Until next time, this is the EMM reporter signing out.


    Now, we have Thanatos with his second article of the day, The Arts ... does anyone even know this forum exists?
    The Arts
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    Hello again! Thanatos here for The Arts section of TWC! Let’s get crackin’ right away.
    Right off the bat, we have Pontifex telling everyone that it’s just plain unbearable to have to watch the shortened version of the Lord of the Rings movies after seeing the extended version!
    Quote Originally Posted by _Pontifex_ View Post
    I'm watching Lord of the Rings right now on TNT, just the regular (probably shortened actually) version of it. Now, I usually watch the LOTR extended versions at my house, and I have to say, switching back to the regular version is unbearable! So much was lost! I had forgotten how much they cut out.

    Any one else experienced this?
    Pontifex’s sentiments were echoed by fellow members:
    Quote Originally Posted by Kiljan Arslan View Post
    I did when trying to watch the WB which was cut for TV. Man did it suck ass.
    Quote Originally Posted by Gambit View Post
    Dude I've been watching it all day on TNT too. It does suck.
    I've been tempted to walk to my friends house just to get the extended versions. Too late now, already a bit into Return of the King.
    Quote Originally Posted by Maverick View Post
    Unless you have a wide-screen TV both versions suck, you know how it says "this movie has been formatted..." that means they use a "pan and scan" technique and that eliminates as much as half the image. It's makes a big ing difference, you are not seeing what the director and cinematographer intended.
    Dead*Man*Wilson, however, made one of the funniest posts in the thread:
    Quote Originally Posted by Dead*Man*Wilson View Post
    I feel you Pontifex. Honestly though, I don't give the theatrical versions of LOTR the time of day. Once you go...um...extended...you never go back
    André Masséna also spoke of unbearable things in the LOTR movies, but, in a different light:
    Quote Originally Posted by André Masséna View Post
    In the Two Towers, I almost cried when Eowyn sang.

    She was that dreadfull.
    Pontifex agreed, sadly:
    Quote Originally Posted by _Pontifex_ View Post
    Admittedly that was bad...
    It might have been bad, but not as another Arts thread that was dedicated to pure suckage, the aptly named The Most Horrible Dark Knight Scene.
    People voiced a couple scenes from the movie:
    Quote Originally Posted by zznɟ ǝɥʇ View Post
    The worst scene was when Batman went to the rave and was dancing or fighting or whatever you call it
    Fellow posters readily agreed:
    Quote Originally Posted by Gambit View Post
    It was when Batman went to the club to find the mob guy.

    First off, they could've worked it up a bit. I dont remember what scene was before that but it had nothing to do with Batman going there and all of a sudden Batman jumps down and starts beating the out of people. I like surprises but not when theres no big surprise, that was just confusing.

    Also none of the mobsters (well armed mobsters) decided shooting Batman was effective, so they charged him one by one.

    Silly.
    Quote Originally Posted by VOP2288 View Post
    I just saw the film tonight and loved it. Although I wouldn't pick a specific scene and say that it wasn't on par with anything else if I had to choose one then yes...it was the mobster night club one.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Rahl View Post
    The rave scene was bad as was the whole boat scene at the end. The whole movie was being edgy and then it turned into a predictable and uninteresting final scene with Batman and The Joker. All of the sudden Gotham was good...BORING!
    Quote Originally Posted by Cavalier View Post
    The rave scene was bad.. It was like.. "whow, didn't see that coming."

    And horrible, as in sad was when Rachel died.
    Maverick however, condemned the entire movie to the bargain bin aisle:
    Quote Originally Posted by Maverick View Post
    The Dark Knight is a bad film according to film critics and I think it's intentionally stupid, it's not cinema or anything, it's just another (bad) action flick.
    Disgruntled Goat questioned Maverick’s statement, to which Maverick responded with his rebuttal:
    Quote Originally Posted by DisgruntledGoat View Post
    What film critics? The ones that are so far up their own ass they can't enjoy a good action flick?
    Quote Originally Posted by Maverick View Post
    Yeah, those critics... and the other critics.
    Perhaps it's not the critics who have the problem, maybe you are so uncultured you can enjoy a bad action flick?
    Others came to the Dark Knight’s call for defense:
    Quote Originally Posted by Rapax View Post
    The film critics that put TDK at 94% at Rotten Tomatoes?
    Quote Originally Posted by ajm317 View Post
    I haven't seen a critic give TDK a bad review yet.
    Maverick, however, wasn’t finished with his fight:
    Quote Originally Posted by Maverick View Post
    Yes, I was the red-eyed elitist in the back row who was psyched to see a good old shoot em up.

    You ought to read this review by elitist Harvard Jew David Edelstein for another perspective. Long story short he got flooded with hate mail and this is part of his response:

    "Why — apart from narcissistic injury — do I respond to the abuse? Because there has been a lot of chatter in the last few years that criticism is a dying profession, having been supplanted by the democratic voices of the Web. Not to get all Lee Siegel on you, but the Internet has a mob mentality that can overwhelm serious criticism. There is superb film writing in blogs and discussion groups — as good as anything I do. But there are also thousands of semi-literate tirades that actually reinforce the Hollywood status quo, that say: 'If you do not like The Dark Knight (or The Phantom Menace), you should be fired because you do not speak for the people.'"

    God forbid a cultured, educated and experienced critic reviews a film with a more critical eye than you puerile fan-boys.
    Rapax decided to argue as well:
    Quote Originally Posted by Rapax View Post
    Well, it is an interesting review, certainly very elitist.
    However, it's still one of many and I don't think you can generalize all over 200 positive reviews that have been gathered down to "going with the flow" just because he likes to portray himself as standing against the establishment.
    In any case it does not support the statement that "film critics" generally think it's bad, except when you wanna claim that only "real" film critics would judge TDK negatively, which would be leaning out of the window a little too far.
    After a few more posts and debate, Maverick finished by stating:
    Quote Originally Posted by Maverick View Post

    Aristotle (huge elitist) for one did not believe "it's all relative" and neither do I, good art is good, bad art is bad and The Dark Knight is a film, deal with it.

    Anyways this has been fun but I'm done, I just want to forget this movie.
    Whether you liked the movie or not, make your voice heard! The thread is still on-going, so head on over and let others know what you think!

    Our last thread is which Books you would like to see made into films?

    Sharrow named a few, right off the bat:
    Quote Originally Posted by Sharrow View Post
    So what books would you like to see made into films?

    Can cover any ground, any subject.

    My current list is as follows:

    1. The Religion by Tim Willocks - about the Siege of Malta in 1565, an awesome book that would make an awesome film.

    2. A Booke of Days - The journal of a Minor Lord of the First Crusade. Interesting and moving with a tragic ending, it could make a very good film indeed (Provided that NO Orlando involvement could be guaranteed.

    3. Earth by David Brin - Singularities eating the Earth's core, environmental issues, philosophy and a staggering vision of 2038. However, after The POstman debacle David may have been scared off for life.

    4. Spares by Michael Marshall Smith - just a great sad and funny novel about people grown as spare parts and the guy who rescues them. Brilliant.

    5. The Foundation Trilogy - this might already be being attempted but could be brilliant.

    So, any more ideas out there?
    Others named their own nominations:
    Quote Originally Posted by Broken Pope View Post
    The Algebraist. The world has not seen a good space-opera for 20 years.

    Or any of The Culture novels by the same author (Iain M. Banks). Intelligently handled, they could make a lot of people re-appraise their perception of sci-fi.

    I would love to see The God Delusion made into a docu-film - if only for the carnage that would accompany its release in Bible-belt America.
    Quote Originally Posted by Noble Savage View Post
    Mort by Terry Pratchett
    The Fog by James Herbert (not the John Carpenter version)
    Domain by James Herbert
    Deathtrap Dungeon by Ian Livingstone
    Dad's Alive by Dave Hill
    Quote Originally Posted by zznɟ ǝɥʇ View Post
    His Dark Materials triolgy by Phillip Pullman, except in a way so that it doesn't suck.

    Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen by Garth Nix.--fantasy that doesn't suck--zombies, sarcastic cats, overall a great series of books

    Archangel by some guy.--Stalin had a son? heck yes
    Quote Originally Posted by Gambit View Post
    Princes of Amber. No other fantasy novel has kept me more hooked. Well it was a collection of books actually..

    A Miracle of Rare Design. Excellent book, with interesting worlds and settings. Also dealings of ethics and religion with alien species, along with a man losing his humanity.

    Enders Game. If you've read it you know why. Simply a great book, and I hear there may have been one in the works already *runs off to imdb*
    Quote Originally Posted by Captain Arrrgh! View Post
    Lucifer's Hammer.
    But done true to the book. No bruckheimer rubbish.
    Quote Originally Posted by Łukomski View Post
    This is my list (not in any order):
    1. Jan Grzędowicz - "Master of the Ice Garden"
    2. Andrzej Sapkowski - "Narrenturm" and other parts of the trilogy
    3. Andrzej Sapkowski - Witcher Saga (though it was filmed, the films weren't good and were very much below the level of the books)
    4. Friedrich Nietzsche - "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" This would be crazy one but why not?
    5. Orson Scott Card - "Ender's Game"
    6. Terry Pratchet - All his books Disc World FTW
    7. J.R.R. Tolkien - "Silmarillion"
    8. Janusz Zajdel - Any of his book
    9. Also very long list of other authors and books...
    In the end, it seemed like the lists generally included Tolkien’s “Silmarillion,” as well as Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game.” Here’s hoping for the movie releases for both to be good!
    Thanatos out, until next Helios!

    Next up we have a wizard. A wise, wise wizard. Rez. Doing wizardly things.

    Vestigia Vetustatis
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    Greetings history lovers! Firstly I must apologise for missing the last issue as I was occupied in a land full of history. Thats right folks I've been in Egypt but I'm back with many a tale for those willing to listen to a drunk old sailor harp on about the mysterious Nile. Well to be honest I haven't had a drink in 5 days or so, i'm only 21 and i hate the sea. But I was on the Nile!

    Either way lets get to the business end of the article!

    attilavolciak07 has created quite the stir in the VV this issue by asking a burning question. What was the most defining moment of the middle ages?

    http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=188000

    What would you say were the most defining moments of the Middle Ages, starting right after the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the 15th Century.

    I would choose

    1. The Crusades

    2. Hundred Years War

    3. The Papal States altogether

    4. Reconquista

    and 5. The Islamic Empire

    What do you think?


    By the Papal States chose, I mean Catholic religion altogether.
    However the real humour of the matter is derived from the fury this question has inspired and the resulting thread rivalry! Our very own Thiudareiks Gunthigg has deemed the entire thread impossible to salvage and created the Ying to attilavolciak07's Yang!

    http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=188437

    Since another, similar recent poll only included wars and fanboy stuff and ignored the really significant things that happened in the Middle Ages, here's another try. Which of the following Medieval elements, cultural movements or innovations had the most impact on history?:

    1. The Empire/Papacy Disputes

    2. The Twelfth Century Renaissance and the revival of ancient learning

    3. The widespread harnessing of mechanical power through water and wind mills

    4. The rise of communal governments and parliaments

    5. The birth of the universities

    6. Technical innovations like eye-glasses, mechanical clocks and the printing press

    7. Long distance trade, exploration and diplomacy with China and the Far East

    8. The Black Death pandemic of 1347-51

    9. "Warz and Crusaders and, like, hitting people and stuff dOOd!!! Thatz cool!"

    9. Other (please specify)
    Clearly only one thread can master this essential question. Two have entered the VV! Only one shall leave! Or... Um... Only one will remain on the front page for an unspecified amount of time longer than the other previously mentioned thread!

    if you want to aid your chosen thread then make sure yours has the better debate. or at least the most drama....

    As for me I'm just going to incite as many members to join me in voting for option 9. because without it we never would have got "Kingdom of Heaven" (director's cut of course).


    Secondly we come to an old favourite. Or an old relative that refuses to die and just keeps on getting more and more senile.

    "Who is the greatest general evar!!1!?"

    http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=169397

    Brought to us by Zap Brannigan, my personal choice concerning the thread's question, we have another great set of intellectual clashes. The first page features great essays such as

    Quote Originally Posted by davide.cool
    Hannibal's the greatest
    and

    Quote Originally Posted by Maurice Tiberius
    Suvorov.
    However it culminates in the wise words of St Naffatun who explains in all seriousness that

    Quote Originally Posted by St Naffatun
    Sun Tzu invented fighting and he perfected it so no man could best him in the ring of honour. Then he took two of every animal and herded them on to a boat, then he beat the crap out of every one of them.

    I change my answer to Sun Tzu.
    I don't expect much else can be added to the debate but if you feel brave enough to try I'll be eager to see what new research the thread produces

    Finally, a relative newcomer, or maybe just a lurker, thecobra007 wants to set the record straight.

    Apparently we owe more to Islamic science than we previously thought!

    http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=189150

    To the best of my knowledge the Quran wasn't actually a scientific manual so I'm finding it hard to see why all this science should be classed as Islamic instead of middle eastern or Spanish. But hey, the lines always get blurred when religion enters the fray right?

    Thecobra had put forward quite an OP that looked like it took him a good long time to research and write up. I was however dismayed to find out that it's a copy paste job. I'm certain all that colouring and bolding took a fair amount of time but I'm not sure it's as impressive.

    Ringneck has stepped in to give some sound advice on the thread's topic

    Someone can copy-paste, I see:
    http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/sciencehistory.htm, the original source being Ajram, whose bibliography tends to put him in the apologist camp that tries to link religion and science directly to another. While I do not think religion was detrimental to scientific and technical development, neither do I think that it is suitablet to sobriquet anything "Islamic" or "Christian" or "Buddhist" science...

    Threads like this is always difficult. Some of the points in the list are slight distortions and a few are erronous; Ajram is a medical doctor, not an historian, after all, and steps in soem puddles. Many are quite correct - but the "what is taught" listings is hardly what has been taught in schools and universitites for the last 20-30 years. It is always a good idea to be critical.

    I don't want to launch into any rebuttal of minor points because it is largerly fruitless and, after all, I'm probably the only one on these forums that own a copy (i.e. a facsimile, not an actual copy), mind you) of A-Jazari's Book of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (and several other high medieval mechanical texts, for that matter) - he'll always have a special place in my heart for being the first person in the Europe-mediterranean area to mention sand casting.

    It is also rather important to avoid monocausalities - independent invention with eventual worldwide consequences later doesn't take the "glory" from earlier invention, but it illustrates that application of technique is often more imporant to history than individual brilliance. In western history, the paddle-wheel ship appears during roman times, in the middle ages, the early modern period etc - but it is not until the idea is combined with the steam engine that it has any real impact on the world as large.
    But who wants to leave it at that? Come on down and debate every tiny detail. If you don't there might be someone on the internet who's wrong!

    Until next time, this is your friendly neighborhood Rez and that was the VV.

    So we've come to the now heavily-populated Editorial section of today's issue. We have Elrond, tBP, Lord Rahl and Sundance lined up for today's issue.
    Editorials
    First up is tBP. To say that this article is a little picture heavy is like saying that Hitler may not have been all that fond of Jewish people. Don't ever try saying that, by the way. It's quite the faux pas.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    Queer Concern

    Pride and Party

    A year ago Ozymandias (or whatever he currently calls himself) and myself attended Manchester Pride 07 and did a special edition report for this very magazine. One year on, I return to the greatest and most spectacular of Britain’s pride festivals to report on Manchester Pride 08.

    Last year, pride was about having fun. I stayed with Ozy’s family in Manchester, and we got the bus into town to spend time at the best features and events of pride. This year was all about the party, both of the drinking type and the politics type. My partner Gareth and I rented a room in Manchester’s Student Village, barely 5 minutes walk from the gay village and spent 4 days enjoying all the fun of the fayre.

    We were also there as part of an organisation called LGBTory. For those who don’t know and can’t guess, LGBTory is the official gay organisation of the British Conservative Party. One of our principal aims is to ensure the Conservative’s have representation at all the pride festivals across the country. It was founded at Edinburgh Pride 07 by 3 individuals and now has party support and a nationwide membership base. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Manchester’s Conservative Association has a great many gay members including some in very senior positions, so there was a great deal of local support for our campaign.

    As well as party politics, pride is also about having a fabulous time and a great party as only gay people can. The village is somewhat self contained anyway, with its own gay bars, clubs, pubs, hotels, food outlets, saunas, sex shops etc right in the middle of Manchester (and right across the street from Manchester Crown Court, which I’ve always wondered about…). For pride, the village is closed off except to ticket holders, but it allows for an alcohol and entertainment licence to be granted to the entire village. In other words, you can buy a drink in one bar, and then go wander round the village carrying your drink. Two sound stages are set up in a car park and the Village Gardens and Manchester Pride always attracts some big name acts with intervening sets provided by DJs from Gaydio and Gaydar Radio. The party starts at 12 noon on Friday and its quite possible to keep on going right the way through to the close at 11pm on Monday. Most events on Friday Saturday and Sunday nights last all night, so its quite possible to party on through until dawn, and then go find somewhere serving an early breakfast!

    Unfortunately, not being as young as I used to be, staying up all night drinking 3 nights in a row with no sleep would place quite a burden on me, and especially on my wallet, hence the need for the rented flat. Besides, if I was going to be representing my party, I wanted to be awake to do it!

    Friday night was a chance to meet new people from LGBTory and then we spent the night in some of our favourite clubs and bars around the village, not to mention stopping by the Main Stage to witness Boy George try his hand at DJing. Saturday was the big day though. The Pride parade was as fabulous as ever but the evening was just one massive party, centred around the main stage where the glorious chart topping Sophie Ellis-Bexter was headlining in her first appearance at Pride. Pictures of the parade are at the end of the article, alas too busy enjoying myself (drinking) to think to photograph Sophie.
    Sunday was party day for us. It was the day we were spending on the Tories stand at the Lifestyle Expo and quite a day it was. As a party, we don’t have a good history of involvement in the gay community. Our party’s reputation as the party of hate has in past decades been well deserved, and lets make no mistake, we still have many monsters hiding in the house of Lords. But the modern Conservative party is not the same as the party of 10, or even 20 years ago. As I tried to explain to one labour supporting old lesbian the younger generations of the party, the Conservative Future movement, as well as many of our older members don’t give a damn about sexuality, nor does our party hierarchy. Cameron talks about family and family values, and when he does so, he expressly means that to include gay families. The first MP to enter into a civil partnership whilst in office is a Tory, and a Tory front bencher at that. When the pink paper published its list of the 50 most powerful LGBT people, the Tory party had 12 party members on the list, along with many more right wing lobbyists and journalists who inevitably are party supporters if not activists and members. Many people at pride were surprised to even see a Tory presence there, let alone a stand crewed by a wealth of young Tory talent, as opposed to Labour’s presence at pride, who barely managed to have anyone at their stand half the time, and the Lib Dems, who weren’t represented at all.

    All in all, it was a highly successful event for the party. We even managed to sign up several new members to the party, which is always good news! But better yet was the message that our mere presence was conveying. That the party isn’t just a bunch of gay hating old men in a posh club, but that its also made up of young people just like the rest of you.

    Following our time at the Expo, we spent the evening together in Sackville Gardens, where an orchestra was playing a selection of entertaining music, from film scores and other notable easily familiar pieces, finishing off with a proms at pride style event, and all the traditional music you might find at the Last Night of the Proms. It was quite something to be sitting around in this quiet corner of Manchester listening to an orchestra play and hundreds of gay people all singing too Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory! My kind of night.

    Monday though, was the night we’d really been waiting for. By Monday, we’d pretty much done and seen everything that could be done at pride, other than the acts on stage we were waiting for, so we caught the Metro out to Salford Quays and spent the morning going round the Imperial War Museum there. Of especial interest was the Military Pride exhibition they had on about the history of LGBT people in the military, the long battle to allow gay people to openly serve, and the numbers currently doing so. Well worth a visit, and of course, the Imperial War Museum is worth a trip all by itself.

    Heading back in the afternoon, we set up camp by the main stage ready for an afternoon of top pop acts including Madonna, Cher, Sally Jaxx but most importantly for us, Alphabeat. Anyone who hasn’t heard of this Danish sensation, get on to Youtube and check them out (search Alphabeat – Fascination). They are absolutely fantastic and the real highlight of our time at pride. Their time on stage was shorter than some other acts, but the sheer constant unadulterated energy of their performance was utterly breathtaking. If you ever get a chance to see this group live, I strongly urge you to grab it with both hands.
    Alas, work calls us all, and rather than stay for the closing ceremony, we needed to catch a train back to Chester so we could catch some sleep ready for another week.
    But even before the train had left Oxford Road Station we were already planning our trip for next year. I’ve been to several of the better and bigger pride festivals over the years, and Manchester remains my favourite and IMO is by far the best. Even without pride, Manchester’s gay village is the Lothlorien of gay culture in the UK, and with pride to boot, there’s no better party on earth! Gay or straight alike, there’s something for everyone at pride, and you can also party confident in the knowledge that some of the money you’ve spent has gone to support the work of HIV charity’s as well.

    Its possible to get an impression of pride that its just a weekend long party, which it is. Its possible to get an impression that its all about gay people flinging their sexuality in your face, which its not. I only attended the Big Weekend of Manchester Pride. The festival actually started a week before i turned up, but we just couldn't get the time off work. There's so much that goes on that I couldn't get to, and its no just drinking. There's gay cinema screenings, art exhibitions, Pride Games (mini Olympics) there's special events for gay youth, for trans people, HIV people. There's speeches, lectures, talks, fundraisers. There's all kinds of stuff going on and if I have to describe it, all I can say is that its a celebration of Gay Culture. I know some gay members here will disagree that such a thing even exists, but i think pride is a perfect example that it does. That you don't live the gay lifestyle 100% of your time doesn't mean that we don't have our own culture and cultural elements, our own music, fashion, cinema, art, sport, even language to a certain extent. Pride is a celebration of that. And yes, its sexy, and yes you have men and women of all ages shapes sizes colours and oritentations flaunting themselves. But there's no nudity. No laws are broken. Its nothing you can't take your children too, indeed, I saw many families around the Village. Its a fantastic celebration that's bright colourful and fabulous as the photos below will show. And if there's too many men wearing skimpy clothes and furry boots, so what? The gay community revels in beauty, and there's incredible beauty in the human body. We don't tell you how to dress... (we only try and advise!).


    So now here come the photos, and if you think this is too much, believe me this is just a sample, I took hundreds!


    Leading the parade once again, Gay Police Officers from Cumbria, Lancashire and Cheshire Constabularies along with Merseyside Police and Greater Manchester Police





    Manchester Metropolitan University


    Manchester Evening News


    Oz Promotions


    LGBT Parents Group




    North West Ambulance Service


    The Lesbian and Gay Foundation




    Her Majesty’s Gay Ship Cruz (Cruz 101 a Nightclub in the village)




    Essential (another big club)



    Royal Bank of Scotland


    Umm… Token representative of Europride…


    Out in the City


    Age Concern


    Manchester County Fire Service



    Museum of Science and Industry


    HMS Poptastic





    Environment Agency


    George Harrison Trust




    Village Spartans (Manchester’s Gay Rugby Team)


    Bi-phoria


    Outdoor Lads


    Amy Winehouse (???)


    Barclays Bank


    University of Salford



    Amnesty International


    Bolton LGBT Youth


    HM Prison Service


    Body Positive


    Via


    Royal College of Nursing


    Quakers


    LGBT Youth Manchester


    NHS


    Salford Ladies United Temperance Society (S.L.U.T.S)




    Gareth at the Imperial War Museum


    Madonna


    Sally Jaxx


    Alphabeat



    LGBT Labour – Lifestyle Expo Stall – Saturday lunchtime


    LGBT Labour – Sunday 1pm


    LGBT Labour following a pigeon attack – Sunday Evening



    LGBTory






    and finally - really you gotta check them out!



    This is Aden Lucas, reporting for the Helios from the heart of Manchester’s Gay Village. Till next time folks!


    Next up is Lord Rahl, sharing his thoughts on politics and the world.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    So I've been watching the Democratic and Republican conventions over the last few days, as I am sure many others of you have as well. The Democratic convention looked really nice and snazzy while the Republican's...didn't so much, supposedly out of respect of Hurricane Gustav (oh shame of Katrina!). I really can't watch any speech now and at the same time take them seriously. There are some people out there that, for some odd reason, believe that speeches actually matter and whatever is said is completely relevant. Well, if you believe that then you're mistaken. Speeches are meant for one thing: effecting you emotionally. So, if you follow your political heart from your emotions then dramatic speeches should be for you! But I know that most people here, at least those I know, that are members of TWC are smart enough to not choose our political leaders by how much they can reach us emotionally. It may help you in deciding whether they are a good speaker or not but being a good speaker gives no guarantees to a successful presidency. Big speeches mean little in terms of practicality. Some of us know of elder Bush's, "Read my lips", statement.

    I'm afraid that America is too caught up in the giant that is the mass media. Instead of American citizens, and other educated peoples of this Earth, going out and doing their own investigative research on candidates and their policies, they will watch the major news networks and read the sensationalist blogs on, as younger Bush so eloquently put it, "the Internets". So Kieth Olbermann says this and FOX News says that...who cares? It is a rarity that anyone in the mass media makes an intelligent and unbiased opinion on politics. The mass media has turned politics into a great medium of entertainment and it seems like too many people, sadly, are being entertained by it. You may not agree with what someone says in the mass media about insert political subject but if you start using what the mass media uses as its "reporting" to discuss politics with your friends then I believe you're being led astray to basically talk about garbage.

    With mass media comes the masses, or as the ancient greeks called it, the demos. It is my belief that the majority of any political party or affiliation is too often given a back seat to the loud and sensational minorities within the majorities. Take conservative Republicans for example. They want small government, a strong military, and low taxes. While basically all Republicans strive for those political realities, the loud and sensational minority "Republicans" are constantly in the news more than anything else. These include those who: 1) Are anti-abortion/anti-choice/whatever you call it and 2) Anti-gay marriage. Now, while some would say that these issues are very relevant, to the vast majority of Americans they are not. I went to a bar in downtown Fort Worth, TX a few months ago and while my friends and I were walking to the bar there was a band of people with huge pictures of aborted fetuses hanging around their necks. Is this what people have chosen to focus their energy to? The problem is that the sort of people that parade disgusting images around in full view of the public are what drive politics in America. Even though most people, the majority, don't believe in acting the way that the loud and sensational minority do, once the minority gets its cause splashed across every mass media medium the majority cannot but help to takes sides on the issue.

    So here are three ideas I hope I've planed in readers' minds. I don't care if you don't agree with me, at least I got you thinking about politics from, hopefully, a different perspective. Until next time,



    PS, I should make another skin sometime soon...


    Now is an Editorial virgin, but experienced Helios reporter, Elrond, talking about the importance of history.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    I have only ever done interviews for the Helios and for the big Helios 30 edition I decided was going to interview imb39 – the owner of TWC, it was actually quiet a good idea. I interviewed him last year and it was a success, he Patronised me (nominated me for TWC citizenship) a couple of years ago and I have spoken to him on and off since then so I was sure that he would agree to the interview. There was however one massive flaw in this plan – I hadn’t realised that he went on holiday on August 18th and hasn’t got back yet. There wasn’t time to interview a different person so I decided I must do something else, I considered doing one of the forum update article things that people write about the mud pit or basement etc, then I realised that the only areas of TWC that I could be bothered writing about I am to heavily involved in so the article would reek of bias. This left me with an editorial – I thought if tbp and lord rahl can write about stuff every issue then why can’t I, I mean how hard can it be?

    Some of you might know that I am starting a History Degree this month, while Curia regulars might react to this by hoping that a large dose of alcohol, girls and partying might make me less up tight and less strict and hard-line in the Curia, it’s an important event for me (although I hope they are right because I don’t like people thinking that the stick up my arse has got a stick up its arse). Anyway I chose History because its been my favourite subject since I was 9 and because I don’t have to do much work in order to get good grades (there was one time I decided to do History homework drunk and…), anyway what really pisses me off is the common reactions when you tell someone your going to study History. There are two main responses, the first is something along the lines of ‘that sounds interesting’ and then they change the topic because history bores them, the 2nd common response really pisses me off ‘Studying history is only useful for teaching’.

    The first response annoys me allot simply because in allot cases those who say history is boring have never paid any attention in history lessons in school or read any books or watched any history documentaries. It’s a case of it has a nerdy reputation so it must be boring. I don’t mean to sound stuck up but generally if your intelligent enough to fully understand what your reading then its fairly interesting even if its not as enjoyable as other stuff. A couple of my friends are starting science degrees and although I would never have done a science degree I enjoyed it when studied it until GCSE level and can understand that they enjoy their subjects as much as I enjoy History. For that reason I would never say Physics is boring because it is relative to each person – its one thing saying that you found a particular subject boring its another thing to say it is boring. (Now you can see why Curia regulars think I have a stick up my arse).

    The response that History is only useful for teaching is absolute rubbish because history is above all else an analytical subject – you look at various sources of evidence and you come to an informed conclusion on an issue. This makes it highly useful to a wide range of employers because the same skills that are needed to write about why the Roman Empire fell are also useful when needing to use a wide range of sources to make informed conclusions about completely different topics e.g. why last years sales weren’t as high as they should have been. All in all a History degree is good for most careers that don’t have their own degree. Only 37% of History students at the University I have chosen to go either do post graduate study or become a teacher. That’s enough about History as a degree.

    There is a common phrase which is something along the lines of ‘those who fail to learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them’ and I believe it true. I believe that there are patterns that occur throughout history and that people often fail to see that they are occurring again because they would rather believe that they are not happening again. History has patterns and it can be foolish to ignore them – the Mongols almost crushed medieval Europe, the barbarian tribes destroyed the Western Roman Empire, the Gauls burnt Rome and the Hyksos conquered Ancient Egypt in the 16th Century BC. There are other patterns – one of which is that a defeated country given time and enough resources will try to rebuild its power.

    Perhaps one of the more controversial but most relevant examples of this is the Russian Governments current foreign policy. A few people have said that it echoes Germany's expansion policy in the late 1930s and I agree with them. There are several worrying similarities – Germany felt humiliated after its defeat in World War 1 and wanted to regain some national pride whilst Russia has been humiliated constantly since the end of the cold war and wants to assert itself again. Germany used the excuse that it was protecting its citizens in order to invade the Sudetenland and Austria while Russia has used the same excuse to invade South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The existence of nuclear weapons and NATOs overwhelming military power make it almost certain that history will not repeat itself but other events could be.

    I also think History is important because it shows you that you are more fortunate than most of the people throughout history – I was born to wealthy middle class parents in the UK and have had a good education and will continue to do so, I haven’t worked particularly hard but I haven’t really needed to. I am sure allot of people are in a similar situation – being born into a position of relative privilege. This is in stark contrast to almost everyone who has lived before us – before the rise of the middle class most people throughout the world lived in poverty and have done for the whole of history.

    I find History an incredible useful and enjoyable subject which helps me to see the world in a different way and I think there are many people who agree with me. I am not recommending that people go out and buy all six volumes of Edward Gibbon’s decline and fall of the roman empire or something similar because the great works of History are bloody hard to read but there are plenty of shorter easier to read books out there – Adrain Goldsworthy’s ‘The Punic Wars’ is a good example. History may be a bit nerdy but it can be really enjoyable and if you haven’t bothered to read most of the editorial then remember that.

    Elrond

    Finally, we have the tangential, stream-of-consciousness-type monstrosity of textual brilliance, by Sundance. It needs no other introduction.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    TSK's Ramblo-matic 3000 Gamma Edition (with added funk)

    Yes, somehow, I have secured a permanent position on the Helios again despite leaving my Arts posting to the fantasmical Chi'ite Thanatos, and have signed an open-ended contract to do editorials after last week's travesty. Are you sitting comfortably, children? No? WELL FIND A CUSHION THEN. NO, I DON'T CARE IF HE'S SITTING ON IT. WELL, SHOVE HIM OFF. DON'T GIVE ME THAT ****, HE'S NOT THAT HEAVY. OK, FINE, DON'T LISTEN.

    ...ok. Is everyone else comfy? Ahh, I honestly couldn't care less. Roll film.

    This week's initial topic is Duffy, the welsh new-age jazz singer or whatever she's classified as. Right...Amy Winehouse is kinda quirky and odd, and has some decent songs in between the crap. Gabriella Cilmi is stunning and her songs are catchy. Duffy sucks ass. Her voice is like grating a cat and her face looks permanently sulky; I mean, hell, even her up-tempo song 'Mercy' sounded like she was having a go at someone. Plus, the chorus was rubbish. Rhyming 'Mercy' with 'Me' is the laziest thing since I started writing these rambling, psychotic pieces.

    However, I'm going to move swiftly onto the subject of manly drinks, or more specifically, manly cocktails. What consitutes a manly cocktail or drink? If I'm not in the mood for a beer, I'll happily sup a SoCo, Lime and Lemonade, and no one judges me for it. I have a Mojito, however, and I'll be mocked for weeks. Why do we feel the need to prove our masculinity through the hazy and difficult-to-understand method of what we drink? If I drink paint stripper I'm going to be called an idiot, but my masculinity should in effect go through the roof. As a matter of fact I have once ingested a certain industrial liquid that didn't kill me but I'm pretty sure I wasn't oozing cool afterwards (I very rarely ooze as a personal rule). The same sort of thing happened at work (I work in restaurant bar). A guy came up to me from his table, all sly and shifty, having obviously escaped on a toilet excuse or similar. He then took a deep breath, summoned his last vestige of courage and lent over and whispered, "...can I have a blue WKD, please mate?" in his deepest, manliest voice. I took no pleasure in informing him we did, in fact, not sell blue WKD and that his valour had been entirely misplaced. Defeated and shaken he slunk back to his table where I imagine he tried to drown himself in his Minestrone.

    Another area of manliness is muscle...or is it? I frequently see attractive women with men who have the looks (and personality) of a rake and with hair to match the prong end. Is this what we should strive to achieve -- flesh so sparse that you become airborne in strong winds? On the other hand, however, I got a 'Maximuscle' flyer with my magazine this month, detailing how I (yes, I, folks) could add 4lbs of muscle in 8 weeks. It then went on to promote it's muscle-enhancing products, such as protein shakes, protein bars, protein fruit and vegetables and I can imagine anything else related to that apparently Godlike mineral -- along with gamma rays, of course, though known side effects are going green, huge and ****-off angry.

    I don't actually trust half of these healthy or performance-enhacing foods. I mean, it was years before I tried RedBull, purely because I reckoned it would turn me into a blue blur like sonic while actively destroying my stomach from the inside out. Several Maximuscle products were so luminous I'm sure they were harvested from the sun itself, and have no doubts a single glass of 'Creatamax Extreme' (or as I like to call it 'Lurid Orange Substance 3000') could provide light, heat and a cure to AIDS for an entire African village, unless it actually transmits HIV, which I wouldn't put past Maximuscle, their emblem being a sort of circular saw whiel retaining the colours of the Nazi Swastika. The man on the front of the booklet looks like he's about to gut me and eat my remains while the black guy behind him has the sort of expression that screams "I'm trapped! Just call for help! Anyone!" I imagine he's no longer with us.

    But lo! and the booklet slides gracefully off the pile of clutter that is my desk thanks to the laws of sudden-gravity-for-no-reason-at-all, revealing beneath the October issue of FHM UK. It's no written law but men's magazines are for some reason far worse than women's magazines, and there is a secret order of acceptability. Magazines like Nuts, Zoo, and Playboy are purely smut and even being seen in their vicinity means that any women in a 5-mile radius will suddenly stop talking to you and spitting as you walk by. FHM, however, is roughly equatable with a woman buying a Cosmo, except there's fewer surveys and more blowing stuff up. It means when I buy it in the local newsagents the girl on the front desk I went to school with only mildly scorns me with her gaze and lets me off with a sort of mild neglect. Ecstatic, I leave the shop, having somehow saved face, to realise I've forgotten the binders I went in for. To escape embarrassment, and like any red-blooded Englishman, I trek across town to a different shop where I can buy them without the shame. Oh, the shame.

    Another thing they feature in this particular magazine is men's fashion -- which, while I enjoy perusing, is far out of my price range. Nevertheless, it amuses me that when it is fashionable in Designer shops, no one but the social elite of earth know about it, so even if you ordain to spend your entire savings on that awesome Paul Smith coat that makes you look like Doctor Who, your friends will all still think you look like a ****. They then reach the High Street, though, and with affordability everyone suddenly thinks they're cool and buys them, leaving you standing in your hugely expensive yet identical coat and feeling bitter inside.

    And seeing as this is an article very much for you, the readers, I'm going to be taking suggestions for next issue's rant. Anything you feel I should talk about, drop a post in this thread or PM me.

    See you cats on the flip flop later

    ~ El Sundancio



    And that's it for today, and for me. It has been a pleasure working with and for you all. Enjoy Sundance.
    Last edited by Scorch; September 13, 2008 at 05:06 AM.
    Patronized by Ozymandias, Patron of Artorius Maximus, Scar Face, Ibn Rushd and Thanatos.

    The University of Sydney | Bachelor of Arts III (Majoring in Ancient History and Italian Studies)

    I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and
    billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.
    - Mark Twain

    Godless Musings: A blog about why violent fairytale characters should not have any say in how our society is run.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Thanks for all your hard work Scorch ,getting Sundance to do any work at all deserves credit alone.

    Your Helios editions have been varied and you have got together a decent bunch of "fun" reporters who commentate very well as well as make us laugh.

    Cheers mate
    Under the protection of jimkatalanos
    with further protection from
    Calvin R.I.P mate, Cúchulainn , Erebus26 , Paggers Jean-Jacques Rousseau
    and Future Filmmaker

  3. #3

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    great job as always

  4. #4

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Is The Athenaeum same with Political Academy ? fixed

    great job
    Last edited by Eastern Roman; September 21, 2008 at 07:25 AM.
    A dead enemy always smells good - Alus Vitellus


    formerly known as karakalos10

  5. #5

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Great job!

    I was mentioned in there many times

    Oh, ThuidaReiksGunthigg, that thread is going down! lol

    attilavolciak07 has created quite the stir in the VV
    Good you used the format:

    Attilavolciak07 has created a stir/crusade/revolution/rumble/offensive post on why Macedonia is Macedonia in the insert forum or PM here.
    Last edited by attilavolciak07; September 12, 2008 at 10:21 AM.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    The King is dead, long live the King!

    Don't fret too much, though, folks and folkesses. Scorch may be returning after his current reason for absence has ended to become a new position, which I call "The Helios Centurion", where he grumbles and moans about things that were better in his day. Stay tuned.

    And Paul, I heard that I do plenty of work! Kinda....


  7. #7
    Thanatos's Avatar Now Is Not the Time
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    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Huzzah! Helios 30 is finally out! I'm so glad I could write two reports for this noble episode.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Good job, Hancock!
    Наиболее полное истребитель в мире

  9. #9
    Lord Rahl's Avatar Behold the Beard
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    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Buen trabajado a todos! I don't know if I said that right...

    Patron of: Ó Cathasaigh, Major. Stupidity, Kscott, Major König, Nationalist_Cause, Kleos, Rush Limbaugh, General_Curtis_LeMay, and NIKO_TWOW.RU | Patronized by: MadBurgerMaker
    Opifex, Civitate, ex-CdeC, Ex-Urbanis Legio, Ex-Quaestor, Ex-Helios Editor, Sig God, Skin Creator & Badge Forger
    I may be back... | @BeardedRiker

  10. #10

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    I think you said, 'good working with you all,' but I'm three years removed from my last Spanish lesson.


    Also Blackadder's Academy report seems to have been conquered by mine...that's not right.

    Scorch, you're fired!

    oh wait

  11. #11
    Thanatos's Avatar Now Is Not the Time
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    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Rahl View Post
    Buen trabajado a todos! I don't know if I said that right...
    Quote Originally Posted by zznɟ ǝɥʇ View Post
    I think you said, 'good working with you all,' but I'm three years removed from my last Spanish lesson.


    Also Blackadder's Academy report seems to have been conquered by mine...that's not right.

    Scorch, you're fired!

    oh wait
    No, Lord Rahl should be saying "Good work to all," since the word "with you all" would be "con" and a form of "vosotros" in Spanish.

    EDIT: Hey! Why is there no picture submission for the Helios! I wanted my pic to be on there!
    Last edited by Thanatos; September 12, 2008 at 04:11 PM.

  12. #12
    Father Jack's Avatar expletive intended
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    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    I have fond memories of that bath in pigs blood.

    Well done for all of the good work that you have out into the Helios Scorch. And long live King Sundance Kid I
    Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo.

  13. #13
    Captain Blackadder's Avatar A bastion of sanity
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    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Good job everyone especially you Fuzz for conquering my report.
    Patronised by happyho
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    Member of the Legion of Rahl


  14. #14
    André Masséna's Avatar Vicarius
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    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Great job crew. Especially Scorch. It was a pleasure to work with you, if only briefly.
    America is an Apple pie
    with a few bad apples
    right toward the top.

  15. #15

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Now, we have the hippy-fied, mellowed out Pontifex. He was probably high when he wrote this.
    Guilty.

  16. #16

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    there were loads of pictures in the Helios.... *whistles*

  17. #17

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Another enjoyable read

    **RS Dev Team***Reciprocal Repper!* RIP Calvin- you will be missed

  18. #18

    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Sucks without me.

  19. #19
    Father Jack's Avatar expletive intended
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    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Quote Originally Posted by Shyam Popat View Post
    Sucks without me.
    Do my eyes decieve me or is this Shaym back from the dead?
    Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo.

  20. #20
    André Masséna's Avatar Vicarius
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    Default Re: Helios 30: The Journalist Strikes Back

    Ah, so that's what the Helios was missing that made it so awesome this time. I was wondering about that.
    America is an Apple pie
    with a few bad apples
    right toward the top.

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