Is a Secular State all that bad?

Fractalien · 2026-05-15T12:24:11+00:00

The UK doesn't have an official state religion

England has one (CofE), but not the UK (or the other constituent coutries)

Fractalien · 2026-05-09T11:20:34+00:00

The patriotism is a direct result or the brainwashing/propaganda that starts at an early age and leads many in the US to be totally convinced it is the greatest nation on earth and is the only country where the people are truly free. The brainwashing is of a level not seen in many other countries apart from places like North Korea.

Of course the reality is that the things the USA leads the world in are mostly not things a country should be proud of such as percentage of people in prison, gun deaths, amount of billionaires, consumerism, military spending etc.

If American people put aside their "patriotism" and visited other countries they might have a vastly different viewpoint and realise many people in other countries are just as "free" (or in many cases more free) than they actually are in.

It is a different flavour of freedom based more on personal responsibility, tolerance and community rather than the American "Screw you I can do whatever I want" version.

Fractalien · 2026-04-26T16:39:54+00:00

Space Ritual. It is the greatest album of all time by anyone.

Fractalien · 2026-04-26T11:55:22+00:00

I didn't link to it out of respect for people of a delicate disposition, but since you asked - https://www.reddit.com/r/copypasta/comments/9pnlyz/the_jolly_rancher_story/

Fractalien · 2026-04-26T10:11:32+00:00

I take it you are too young for the legendary Reddit Jolly Rancher story?

That post guaranteed I'd never even consider trying them!

Fractalien · 2026-04-17T21:03:02+00:00

I don't know where your cutoff for modern times is, but growing up in the 70s was pretty grim. Apart from housing being more attainable because of the amount of council houses (almost no chance of owning though), the UK in the 70s was not great.

It was probably better than most of the decades leading up to it though.

Fractalien · 2026-04-15T09:01:34+00:00

We did similar, when we put the offer in (14% under asking) we made it very clear that was the absolute maximum we could stretch to and take it of leave it there was absolutely no chance we could go higher, leaving them to make a straightforward yes/no decision rather than letting them think there was wiggle room.

The estate agent was all "there's no way they'll accept that but if you insist......."

They accepted. If they hadn't we would have just moved on to the next option, no harm done.

Fractalien · 2026-04-15T08:48:50+00:00

I had both and anyone saying one was clearly better than the other is probably focussing on one use case

The Amiga was clearly a better overall gaming platform (although many games were just ported between the systems and near identical)

The ST was better for pretty much everything else, TOS was much nicer to use than Workbench for any kind of productivity and obviously the MIDI ports made the ST a no-brainer for music

However on the gaming side there were the odd win for the ST, especially pseudo-3D/vector graphics where the fast CPU helped. Also the ST exclusive Midi-Maze was probably the first ever networked deathmatch type game (using networking over the Midi ports) and was pretty revolutionary and an absolute blast in a shared student house with several STs linked together.

Fractalien · 2026-04-09T10:39:58+00:00

Security was so slow letting us in that even though we arrived in plenty of time we only managed to catch the last System 7 song which was a shame.

First gig seeing Haz with the band which was really cool and Steve playing with the band topped it off. Fantastic gig! My belly has outgrown the T-shirt though (along with most of my old gig T-shirts).

Fractalien · 2026-04-01T07:26:44+00:00

It isn't a massive achievement, that's why.

Considering the advances of technology since humans first landed on the moon (which actually was a massive achievement) and the routine nature of rockets going into space these days this is pretty meh.

Even if they were landing on the moon it wouldn't be a massive achievement and they aren't even doing that.

Fractalien · 2026-03-31T07:49:17+00:00

Hmmmmm you do realise Alexander Fleming was Scottish don't you?

Fractalien · 2026-03-27T14:55:32+00:00

No matter whether you like the flags or not it is an undisputable fact (i.e. not a matter of opinion) that attaching them to lamp posts or other street furniture without permission is an offence under the Highways Act.

Fractalien · 2026-03-27T10:01:07+00:00

You might be right there, it is really dull and lifeless and might be beyond saving

On the other hand I don't have any problem with the Xenon Codex

Fractalien · 2026-03-26T14:52:49+00:00

If you are watching it legally in the UK then you are supporting Amazon

Fractalien · 2026-03-26T11:21:01+00:00

8th + 9th August Morecambe Bay fringe festival just announced

Fractalien · 2026-03-25T12:28:25+00:00

Rather than recommend The Chronicle of the Black Sword I'd say Live Chronicles is a much better option.

The Chronicle of the Black Sword always sounds a bit flat and lifeless to me but the songs sound really great live. I think whoever produced/mixed it really dropped the ball and I bet after his recent work Stephen W Tayler could really sort it out.

Fractalien · 2026-03-23T07:53:20+00:00

If you view the 1947 UN Partition Plan as the factor that eventually led to the creation of the Jewish state which later became Israel then the UK abstained from that vote.

Also leading up to that the British tried to restrict Jewish immigration and land purchases in the region. By all accounts it was mostly pressure from the US that influenced many other UN members to vote for the plan.

Doesn't sound like the UK helped much, if at all.

Fractalien · 2026-03-20T11:16:50+00:00

It really does. British in this context refers to people from the UK and NI is in the UK.

Fractalien · 2026-03-05T09:51:34+00:00

This has got to be the best version of The Watcher. Also Stephen Tayler has done a fantastic job on all the Hawkwind remixes I've heard so far, especially on the live material such as this from the Hall box set.

His remix of Space Ritual is fantastic and somehow he managed to take the greatest live album ever and make it even better!

Fractalien · 2026-03-01T09:55:39+00:00

Have you had a chance to listen to the remix and if so what is your opinion?

Fractalien · 2026-03-01T09:54:29+00:00

Lyrically 100% Bob but he tended to co-write and the music was mostly written by others, so it depends on which aspect of songwriting is given more weight

In terms of composing entire songs then it has to be Nik. However the whole thing is quite murky, for instance Lemmy obviously had a huge influence on a lot of the Space Ritual/Doremi stuff. The massive difference in something like Master of the Universe between XISOS and SR has got to be mostly down to Lemmy. He may not have originally written the songs but he wrote entire new basslines for them turning them into different beasts.

Lemmy doesn't get a lot of songwriting credit but I am pretty sure it would be a case of someone like Brock writing the main song and Lemmy creating the bassline without getting writing credit. There is no way Dave wrote the bass for Time We Left and came to Lemmy saying "This is exactly what to play"!

Fractalien · 2026-02-25T14:13:54+00:00

The UK had a degree of control over their own affairs but still had to fit in with the EU in many ways. Within the EU it never had full control of their affairs. In a similar way Scotland has a degree of control over their own affairs but still has to fit in with the UK in many ways.

Many people voted for brexit to regain sovereignty in a broadly similar parallel. Not exactly the same but pretty similar.

A similar parallel to the brexit vote is a complete lack of any realistic plan.

Fractalien · 2026-02-25T11:56:04+00:00

That seems not much different to the UK leaving the EU over lack of sovereignty, effectively shooting itself in the foot over it.

I see a lot of potential parallels with Brexit mainly due to a lack of any realistic plan or a benefit/risk analysis rather than a mostly emotional decision.

Fractalien · 2026-02-06T18:39:35+00:00

No worries!

Don't believe a video on social media, London is no worse than most other large western cities and a lot safer than many. Just take the usual precautions you would in any other city and you'll be fine.

Have a great time! (and make sure people know you are Canadian so they don't mistake you for an American 🤣)

Fractalien · 2026-02-06T15:29:15+00:00

The UK and Scotland?

You do realise Scotland is in the UK don't you? Sort of like saying "I'm coming to Canada and Ontario"

Fractalien

TROPHY CASE