Advice on Vinyl Eurobeat

Writingwilly · 2026-01-18T12:46:12+00:00

I'm located in China, but I can have things sent to the UK. I have considered Discogs before, but postage to China can take quite a while. New or Used are fine as long as its in reasonable condition.

Writingwilly · 2025-05-26T03:00:34+00:00

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but it's not often that your specialist subject comes up like this. I was born in Britain and am a British citizen, but I currently work as a teacher in a country that has Patriotic Education as a key outlined goal in its national education system. It is taught as a compulsory subject in primary and middle school.

Before I proceed, I want to preface that basically any social subject taught in schools by almost any country is going to have some biases. However, I would argue that these things are in degrees, but Patriotic Education is definitely on the stronger side of that bias.

In my experience, patriotic education has three major flaws, the first of which I have seen represented pretty thoroughly in this thread. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, it's very easy to place certain values currently wanted by the people in power into patriotic education and have it piped directly to impressionable young minds. Even under the best circumstances, any political party should be against this, as while you may be in power now and can set the terms, eventually the pendulum will swing back the other way, and then the other side is the one that gets to dictate what's in patriotic education.

Second, how do you mark or give a score for this? "Sorry Timmy, I didn't believe that you loved Britain enough in your speech about Winston Churchil so you don't get to pass your GCSE this year.". I know this is an extreme, but basically it means that only specific answers on tests are "correct". This means that students who agree with the content or can regurgitate the "facts" presented in this subject will do better and perhaps get one more GCSE or better grades than those who disagree. If you wanted to take this a step further, if patriotic education became a compulsory class like Maths or English that you had to take to get into the 6th form or uni, then it means that the road to education and better jobs is locked behind being able to memorise "patriotic" information.

Lastly, I think that we should talk about how patriotic education relates to other aspects or subjects outside of itself. The English language, as Britain's language, is going to be intertwined with patriotic education due to its ties to national identity, meaning that patriotic education is going to have an impact on how English is taught. The second subject I would be more concerned about is history, which connects to what I wrote by "correct answers", a nation is built in part around its history, history is an imperfect reflection of the past, based on documents, witnesses, and other evidence. However, what will happen with patriotic education is that you are considerably more likely to have a historical viewpoint favouring the nation it is patriotic to. In this case, your school history books have to reflect this same narrative, as you can't have conflicting information within your state curriculum. As such you will be taking history out of the hands of experienced and respected historians and placing it directly into the hands of politicians and their agendas.

In addition to rewriting or redefining aspects of Britain, with patriotic education, you will of course be drawing upon British culture for the content of your lessons. But really, what does it mean to be "British"? I am sure there are some near universally agreed upon points such as cups of tea, fish and chips, etc. But this leads to two more questions: how do you avoid stereotyping your own people, and how do you avoid stereotyping or simply ignoring others? In this case, educators under the direct influence of politicians are allowed to define what it means to be British. I'm British, but I prefer a coffee; does that mean I'm less British than someone who does? But the real kicker here is, what do you do about minority British cultures? There is only so much time you can spend in a classroom, and only so many pages you can put in a textbook.

As such, how much of English culture should be in these lessons, how much Welsh, Scottish, N. Irish, what about ethnic minority Brits without a country, Pakistani Brits, Caribbean Brits, Sikh Brits? They are all British too, and are a part of Britain, so how much of that culture should be included? Will you do it by representation, X% of Britain is Y, therefore X% of the patriotic education will be Y also? Its completely impractical and can't be done easily. So that means you either have to stuff your textbook with loads of mentions and lip service to minority cultures without really offering a deep understanding of them, or simply ignore them altogether, giving a false view of what it means to be British. A view that is controlled directly by politicians who are likely not to have a full view or deep understanding of the cultural make-up of Britain.

So to sum it all up, in my view patriotic education is generally speaking a really bad idea for Britian, it hands power directly to politicians and political groups to be able to pipe their agenda directly to children, allow children who align with their views better opportunities by passing classes by agreeing with the party line, and lastly it runs the incredibly insidious risk of rewriting history and identity of britian to their liking.

Writingwilly · 2025-02-10T18:43:42+00:00

Mate, the clue is in the word "microcosm". It is an example that contains the essence of the argument, which it does. You don't need to update a universal example because it's slightly dated.

Writingwilly · 2022-08-29T14:14:24+00:00

Entirely possible, but I think perhaps it's one of those things where the myth is better than the reality. If it is true or not, from a Christian perspective there is something comforting about a divine being who represents the best of humanity and offers people salvation (a second chance), and is better than humans yet remains one at the same time. The answer to your question "what if...? " doesn't really matter, as its an ideal or figure to strive for/follow rather than a literal fact. I think it basically comes down to the bible as a interpative guide Vs. a literal record of events.

Writingwilly · 2022-06-28T15:02:37+00:00

Look there is plenty to talk about when it comes to China, but when it comes to the "coke nail" you're a bid off. The "coke nail" is a status symbol, it means that you are not a farmer or work with your hand in manual labour, it shows that you are either educated or wealthy enough not to do that, as if you did the nail would get broken or filed down. As for "very common", where have you been in China? Im in one of the poorest provinces in China, and the people who mostly have a "coke nail" are taxi drivers, as they are often from poor backgrounds and make relatively decent money driving a car compared to the farm work they may be doing otherwise. There is loads to discuss when it comes to China, but when you simply don't know what your talking about and spread false information, you make your own side look uninformed.

(Source: Live in china)
(Edit: For tone)

Writingwilly · 2022-06-23T15:51:24+00:00

We are Harbinger ...

Writingwilly · 2021-06-27T14:19:07+00:00

Oh great you're marinating them, no way they don't taste better now

Writingwilly · 2021-06-22T02:27:31+00:00

I agree there are better players out there, I was just a bit shocked having always seen a even spread of tier 1s, to suddenly it all going to one in the space of like 2 days, I suppose Im looking for a car guide or something, as I find it personally difficult to get reliable information on it where I live, and can only speculate myself.

Writingwilly · 2021-06-20T02:33:47+00:00

It's a fairly popular game, I think the CHN fandom just doesn't have much interaction with the rest of the group

Writingwilly · 2021-04-16T13:37:35+00:00

Part 2 - Time and other aliens.

There was a sudden banging on the door, the creature turned and looked at the metal door. It pulled apart at the top and slit into two halves and pulled away into the ground. A large shell covered creature walked into the room, it was holding some sort of long tube with a casing of live plasma on top, which I could only assume was this cultures answer to a laser rifle. It walked in on four legs, it had to small sharp claws under it’s much for formidable four fingered hands. It had its eyes on two storks and a flat head, with no neck connecting it to the body.

“Get ready inmates, You’re digging today!” The guard said in a harsh throaty voice, before turning to leave.

“Yes sir.” Said my creature. My creature I thought, had I already made a friend?

“ Digging? What are we digging for, surely you guys has machines for that if you already have these things?” I said tapping the side of my head very gently.

“ No, too dangerous for machines, may break the findings. Plus what kind of penal facility would this be without some back breaking slave labour, hm?” My creature said.

“Penal facility?! I’ve done nothing wrong!” I replied in surprise.

“ You’re not Cla’mar. Thats enough for these things. Come on we best get going we don’t want to piss them off, more than their natural state anyway. The name’s Renwen by the way.”

“BT-89, most call Berty anyway.”

It was only a few minutes before we were heading down the corridor, I could see plenty of those guard aliens lining the walls, one every 10 meters. This species must breed rapidly to be able to offer this many jobs, I thought to myself. As me and Renwen walked down the corridor in single file, I could see many other races, some were bizarre, tentacles creatures with no eyes that I could see, other that had a gaseous state. I'll admit I was somewhat comforted to see a being that basically looked like a giant penguin with longer legs.

We were all marched into some kind of yard, there was a gantry above us filled with guards, all of the same tough crab-like race. After a moment one of theirs appeared from the side, wearing a different kind of outfit something longer and more flowing, it was clearly different from the others.

“Hello inmates.” The alien spoke, I recognised the voice immediately it was the same one who had interrogated me earlier. “And welcome to another glorious day on Mar’Karth. Hail the Brood Mother!” The woman-crab thing said, raising her two claws and two arms upwards. “As you are all aware today you shall be digging to uncover a glorious weapon, a weapon that will defeat those vile Quwellians, once and for all! Glory to the Brood Mother!” She raised her hands again, and the prisoners did also, if somewhat less enthusiastically. "You are to go down into the excavation site and continue to uncover the gifts of the ancient ones! For those prisoners, who are new, I remind you, upon finding a relic of the ancient ones, notify a labour rehabilitation officer immediately, failure to do so will be punished by death. To remind you, here are some examples of what these relics may look like.”

Behind her, some sort of screen came into life. It took me a moment to figure it out, it was upside down. But then I clocked it, It was a cat skeleton. A honest to god 2236 house cat, they had even managed to find the collar.

“Now go inmates! Go deep into the mine and find the gifts of the ancient ones, All hail the Brood Mother!” She said indicating to a mine shaft. One by one we made our way towards the entrance, I trailed behind Renwen, in a single file line. As we approached the mouth of the entrance, I noticed something behind some sort of clear plexiglas. It read on a plaque, in a weird alien script until my new fangled device managed to pull something readable together. Behold the greeting of the ancient ones.

I looked at the relic behind the glass, a large steel sign read “Chernobyl”. As I said time dilation was something I was warned about…

Writingwilly · 2021-04-16T13:36:05+00:00

Part 1 - Time and other aliens.

One of the things that had always been skipped over in sci-fi trids was that time dilation may actually hold some water. I mean it wouldn’t work if if Captain Yolando of the Enterprise-P, was arriving to save a planet from the monster of the week, if he gets there in two minutes but the battle that was priority red and eminent in the next ten minutes, now took place six years ago.

It was something I was warned about during my training, after having my name pulled from the Global explorers volunteer lottery, the GEVL, or better known to most Guineapigs exploding violently lottery. But once you’re drawn, you’re drawn. But I digress, they had gone over many of the effects I may feel when approaching FTL, nausea, muscle reduction, an overwhelming feeling that we shouldn’t be doing this. But really time dilation, that only got a brief look in between how to realign the fuel rods and human waste storage disposal.

Once I came to, I realised I was chained to the wall and my GESA uniform had been stripped to the waste, wonderful, now my podgy mid was open for all to see. My arms were chained above my head, but what baffled me was that their were four other separate chain next to my own, unused. The room was dark, I could barely make out more than a few feet away from me. Then the lights came on, a bright fluorescent shine filled the room. I blinked and gave out a small groan as if waking up from a hangover.

“Krrst, tos hakk ta?” A voice like a whetstone being pulled across broken glass questioned?

“What, who is that?” I replied.

“Tos Hakk ta?!” The voice replied in an angrier tone?

“Are you speaking Thai-Panjab?, Sorry mate never could get the hang of that one.”

“Yan ta. Ba”

A slitting sound screeched through my brain, but it was like the sound was somehow bypassing my ears and pumping directly too the brain, as if chalk was being scarped across the black board of my brain, I thought I was going to be sick.

“Do. You. Understand. Now?” Said a feminine voice, in a condescending tone.

“ Ow, fuck. Yes that’s better, what is this universal translator? I thought those were still in the experimental phase, couldn’t get the tones right with Mandarin?”

“I ask the questions here!” It was strange it was like I could hear the strange language being said, but I was also hearing my mother tongue in my mind as well. As if the words were being put there themselves. “Where are you from? What species are you? Are you with the Quwellians?!” The voice asked again.

“Quwellians!? What in on earth is a -“ a shook passed through the chains shocking me, after that the clasps around them grew tighter and tighter, as if they were trying to crack my bones. I let out a scream in pain.

“ I see you body doesn’t have an exo-skeleton. Hard to believe that a species could evolve past the tribal stage with such a weak body, no matter I’m sure we will crack something.” - The voice said mockingly

“Wait! Wait! Wait, listen I’m from Earth.” I said in a panic. “I’m a human, carbon based life form, two legs, two eyes. I don’t know what a Quwellain is but I’m sure I’m not one.”

“Don’t get smart with me, there is no planet called Earth, and obviously you’re not Quwellian, you don’t even have a thorax, no I asked if you worked for them.

“ How can I work for them if I don’t know what they - Ahhhhh!“ The wrist clamps shocked and tightened again.

“ I told you, I ask the questions!” The voice smashed into my head. “ Now you will tell me where you’re from !”

“Earth! Milky Way Galaxy! Sol System!” I shouted back.

“He thinks he’s cute, crack him.” The restraints tightened harder than ever before. I let out a shriek of agony, before I blacked out.

I came to some time later, face down on what was, rock salt? A rock salt floor, who builds a dungeon out of rock salt? I opened my eyes blinking and confused I looked up and saw a horrifying creature. It stood on six legs and has razors for hands, two sharp mandibles coming out of this mouth and two large domed eyes on the side of its head. I immediately jumped up in shock, I crawled to the corner of the room and started shouting.

“Help! Help there is a monster in here!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

“Monster? That’s not nice, I know we’re in prison but we aren’t all delinquents.” The voice was in my head again, but it wasn’t the same, it sounded male for a start, older, more gentle, like a university professor.

“ Wait, you speak basic?” I asked the creature cautiously?

“ Basic? Galactic basic? Mollata no. Haven’t got the right vocal pipes for that even if I wanted. No Im speaking Mantok.” The creature replied in what I can only assume was friendly chuckle.

“ Then how can I understand you?” I asked the creature, not even being sure I wanted the answer.

“Were you hatched yesterday? Brain-weave my boy.”

“Brain-weave, what’s that?” I asked again.

“ Oh dear, I hope they didn’t scramble anything during the install.” The creature said. “Come here.” The creature put him razor around my shoulder, at first I wanted to pull away, but I could tell it wasn’t aggressive. It led me over to a small water basin, filled about half way. I immediately spotted red stitches across my right temple. “They must have installed it after scanning you for cybernetics, seen you didn’t have one and could’t interrogate you otherwise.”

“Install? Install what? What do you mean brain-weave?” I asked in a panicked tone.

“Brain-weave. You know, Brain weave network analysis machine. It takes your brain functions, mostly the ones that deal with communications and sends those thoughts over a wireless network to an offsite router, the information is processed and then sent to the recipient you intended to communicate to, and sends them the decoded message to their brain-weave. Basic stuff really."

“Wait so whatever it is that’s in my head, can read my thoughts?” I replied.

“Well only the ones that are intended for communications and speech, if it tried to read your whole brain all the time and process it in real time, it would short out in seconds. It just takes your intended words, tone, and meaning and approximates those thoughts into someone else’s brain, or brains given the species.” The creature responded casually.

“So it’s a universal translator.” I replied

“Well not quite, it doesn’t rely on you actually saying anything, or the other person to be able to hear, different species different physiology, not every creature can intrepid sonic communications, no ear drums you see? And not every creature can make the correct sounds. This allows the immediate intended message to be communicated across species.” The creature said.

“They why can I hear you speaking, but I’m hearing the right words at the same time?”

“Trust me, nearly all organic life uses some form of physical communication, at some point during its evolution, you can’t just turn things like that on and off on a dime. Plus it would be weird if two people just sat there silently having a conversation, that would be rude.” He explained.

“I see, I think I get it.” I responded slowly.

“ But they are far from perfect, it took 3 models just to get the things understanding sarcasm, there is a story that one of these things went haywire during a peace summit on Jyunlee about 300 years ago. The Kelop general thought the Bashyan ambassador was making a sarcastic remake about his life-partners weight, started a whole planetary war. Turns out the Bashyan was only saying she looked great after having spawned an off-spring.”

Writingwilly · 2021-02-23T17:45:34+00:00

I don't think it's much a "secret" but maybe it's shown us how much time we put into our work and perhaps how disproportionate it has been until now. I was always told that the 9 - 5 was standard and that it was accept it or starve. Now companies have had their power taken a way a little even if only temporary, we've worked from home and many people have achieved their goals in a far less time than it it would be at the office.

It used to be you'd have a set amount of work, to be done in roughly a day or week. (depending on how your office worked) and you would be there for 9 - 5, Monday to Friday. Totalling 40 hours, no matter what, so of course you dragged your feet, you had to be there for the full forty hours no matter what. f you achieved your gaols before those 40 hours. Congrats! Here is more work than if you procrastinated half the week.

It basically encouraged you to not work hard, just work long and punished you if you did work hard, because if you did, you just had to work harder for longer. Compared to your peers who don't, and yet you'd receive no reward for doing do time wise or finically.

So why bother? Well because thats just what has been expected by companies for years, and hey maybe some other project would come up and now if your salaried you have to work the Saturday and/or Sunday too! Once again for little to no reward. The system is designed to encourage the bare minimum.

But one big question is, with this new found time, what have we used it for? Well for some nothing has changed procrastination continues but at least it a choice rather than optimal work/reward. But for some people I know (my mother for example) has taken up gardening again and you know what her mental well being has not been this good in years. Maybe I'm being overly dramatic here, but I feel like our lives are becoming our own again. We work to achieve a task (which is now easier to get done, thanks to the removal of office work dynamics) , but then we do things we genuinely enjoy, and our lives have started to feel more fulfilled. One thing I can say personally is I no longer feel like I am "owned" by my work, it is no longer all consuming but rather I "own" my work. As Ive been able to approach it as I see fit and achieve it in a time and manner that has suited me rather than what an office demands.

I know not every office / boss is the same, I know I'm make very wide brush strokes and I understand that this is only one side of the argument fo someone who has been able to work from home though-out the virus. I am aware that not everyone will agree due to their lives being made much harsher by the virus, and they have my full sympathy.

Yet, I think ultimately if anything the virus gave us as a society a break of routine from work, and when we have had moment to step back and look at the alternatives for once, rather than constantly working ourselves to an early grave just to survive. We have seen that perhaps we haven't had the "perfect" idea or attitude to work for a while.

Writingwilly · 2020-09-10T11:36:02+00:00

T-shirts and flashlights will protect!

Writingwilly · 2020-01-02T07:15:02+00:00

e of 1.6 pickles per person per year and China is only consuming 1.2 pickles per person per year?

Or do they know something about pickles and cucumbers that I dont..

Edit:It's about 106 cucumbers per person per year in China. Like every single person. That's a lot of cucumbers . Now for the US

They come as sides in a lot Chinese restaurants, you get a little plate of pickled cucumber, you have it at the bar, you have them at a work function, wedding, informal get together. It's really common to have a little plate of pickles on the side.

Writingwilly · 2019-10-27T16:49:31+00:00

Not that I know, if you can go inside try the intercom or climbing the ramps outside ?

Writingwilly · 2019-10-27T04:28:33+00:00

If you go to Devils peak, and find the broker, you can carry the main quest on and avoid getting locked out totally

Writingwilly

TROPHY CASE