Don Pearson's Posts

Think Incitatus.

It doesn't need to be too serious or very intelligent. All that is needed is a place to express one's ideas  and absorb other people's ideas without incurring name calling and abuse and without posts aimed simply at winding up other posters. I have simple rules  for myself: never write anything online that I would not say to someone face to face. think before I write and never write in anger. How ...

One of the simplest things that you can do is to clear your browsing history, including cookies, on a frequent basis.. Many sites target advertisements based on that history. Some online purchase sites also increase the prices shown if they know that you have previously visited their site.

It's fair to say that Shakespeare has had some difficulties in his time. Thomas Bowdler produced his 19th Century Family Shakspeare, expurgated to be suitable for women and children.  Thus, his name entered the English language in the word "bowdlerise."

By coincidence, I received an email today purporting to come from HMRC. I have reported it but people do need to be careful. Here is the wording: Dear Taxpayer, *Refund Amount : £1272.50 GBP >>Your *Refund Reference Number is: Ref/18400/2015 ************************* Account ID: 543200129 E-mail ID: 930023531 ************************* NOTE: If you've received an Income Tax 'repayment' it will ...

I can't help feeling that Official Openings of anything are completely pointless, certainly inessential.

I believe that claiming the right to freedom of speech  imposes a corresponding duty  - to listen.

Interesting thread and excellent photographs. Believe me, you can trust completely every scrap of information posted on this website. It has a Triple A rating.

I can't think of any post that Paul has made whose intention is to spark serious discussion. I may be wrong but I think that they are designed solely to wind people up.  The best way to respond is not to reply directly to anything he writes.

see www.poetryteignmouth.com and www.moorpoets.org.uk for other contacts, Don

Whatever is chosen, I would like to see a local artist commissioned. Better than a single piece would be a programme of public art around the town.

I can confirm that the satellite did crash in Paignton.

a "commitment" that "if they can beat that date, they will" Utterly meaningless. Might as well say, "directly."

.... and £10,000 on acting lessons. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/12/ministers-acting-lessons_n_4583751.html

@Mrs C I just saw this on BBC News website and came on to post it - a few minutes too late. I am delighted that we live somewhere where one can express one's opinions so freely. Long may it continue. I was not aware that the Scriptures or Gospels, in the capitalised sense of Old and New Testament, made any specific reference to Christian nations, Armenia being the first to adopt Christianity as a ...

@Carer I thought: E. Two missing inverted commas and one unnecessary, although not incorrect, addition of an 's' after an apostrophe. Is that sad enough for you?

@neil Interesting. The silence of the Conservatives and its media hounds is not surprising, given that the party is only ever electable if it convinces people that it represents their aspirations. In fact,  it represents and serves the elite. @Paul In answer to your original question in the first post, you obviously can not "take it that everyone is in agreement."

@elvis presley I shall pass on your Christmas greetings to those among them whom I know.

However, Khomeini and Genghis Khan are dead. Does this offer Old Fart some hope of a future reconciliation? (possibly in a parallel universe, as you cannot agree what the real world is.)

Some time ago there was a suggestion that there should be a separate section of the forum for politics. Should we perhaps have a section set aside for psychopaths? Allowing entry based on their posting achievements could provide an incentive to candidates. I think the idea would be quite popular and could result in the forum becoming a model for hectoring and irrational posts and for lack of ...

Perhaps supermarkets see small towns as vultures see corpses - something to be fought over and eaten.

Intolerance of other people's views and beliefs has been very evident on this forum recently. Bell (For the deafened) Summoned by bells, I was imprisoned to learn chapters from the Bible by heart. Questioning God’s Word was not on the school curriculum, absence from chapel was noted and punished, atheism was anathema. Otherwise powerless, I repaid despite and rejection in kind, ripping pages from ...

Poppies2 (For all at Brook House and Overbrook, Dawlish.) In Flanders fields that May, watered with chlorine tears, frail red blooms appeared as usual, anticipating nothing but their own brevity. Now they weep themselves for a time when they can parade again simply as flowers, beautiful, unadorned. They pray to the sun that we remember well enough to release them for eternity. 3rd November 2013

@Taylorjack This is a discussion forum. Abuse does not help you to get your ideas across, Don

@neilh Power tends to corrupt ......etc.

Is the Queen's english the same as the Queen's English?

@Andysport , Apologies. My post was off-topic as far as providing you with useful information.

Such harrassment could be a criminal offence and it may be worth contacting the police. From Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Prohibition of harassment. (1) A person must not pursue a course of conduct— (a) which amounts to harassment of another, and (b) which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other. (2) For the purposes of this section, the person whose course of conduct ...

Only Me, All that you say is true. However, the same could be said of maintaining, tuning and repairing your car or of DIY. Most people know very little about their pc and feel quite helpless when something unexpected happens. I don't think that it is a question of them not bothering to do it themselves. Don

@Paul An idea for you to consider from a pompous old git: Absorb what people say on the merits of their case, rather than who they are. I am an atheist but do not dismiss what a religious person says simply because they are religious. As another example, I do not assume that I know better than younger people just because I am older. Don

..and you can always put people up on a settee in the living room. Perhaps they will reclassify those as bedrooms too.

@jools88 fairly clear, I think.

No.

"It is estimated that twenty nine million that's (29) will come to these shores within the next few years." Clearly nonsensical. This is what was said, Coloured highlights are mine: "Twenty nine million Romanians and Bulgarians will gain the right to live and work unrestricted in Britain in 2014 under European “freedom of movement” rules. Last night forecasters said it could lead to a significant ...

Neil, Thanks.  It was the usual Topsy problem where I did not set out for it to be long and I became completely absorbed in thought and action - searching out links, reading, pasting them into the message, etc. (completely missing the rugby I had intended to watch.) Don

@Lynne Thank you for posting this. The myths are the same as they have been for decades. As now, the Daily Malice trumpeted them in the 1970s and probably before then. Being an atheist does not stop me appreciating a great deal of the work done by people of faith.

@Lynne , brazilnut, neilh I am not entering the debate only because I do agree with you.

Many thanks for your contributions.

Almost everybody.

It is a golden rule not to hold a referendum unless you are sure that the outcome will be what you want it to be. @neilh It would be more cunning were it not so transparent. However, as people will continue to believe what they want to be true,............. The new trick to resolve the lips moving problem is to have a ventriloqist's dummy (or a party of them, "sharing power" with you.)