to our American friends. I wonder what the writers of the Federalist Papers would make of Guantamano Bay, the interference in the affairs of foreign states and a society where statistically you have less chance of becoming a Senator than a British born person has of becoming a member of the House of Lords.

I'm looking forward to a "Reverse Independence Day" when they rest of the world is free from the US and it's lackey the UK

On a more positive note....
Happy Birthday to the NHS. 60 years old today.
Thanks and a long healthy life to you.

whenever anyone mentions "independence day" i think of the idea of an alien race, building a colossal battle fleet, crossing the vast expanses of the universe and being taken out by jeff goldblum & a macintosh 3400c....!

you've gotta laff, huh?

it's a bit like that attacking alien fleet in douglas adams, that arrive on earth and, due to a miscalculation of scale, get swallowed by a dog!

DIMITRI

ps: i guess the reason there has been no categorical proof of intelligent alien life is, that if it's that intelligent, it would give this god-forsaken lump of rock a WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE berth!

Up until the end of the 19th century we'd be un-noticeable from space. Any intelligent alien life would have to get very close or land here to know that we were around at all. Since then (and especially in the last 50 years) we've been broadcasting our existence with huge amounts of sound, light and electro-magnetic 'noise'. If there is any intelligent life in the Universe (and statistically you've got to think that there must be) it might be a while before our 'noise' comes to their attention, given the extraordinary distances it would have to travel.
We'll see.
Fucking physics teachers, eh? Never off duty.

GeordieLes wrote:

Fucking physics teachers, eh? Never off duty.

Somebody has to keep your solipsistic universe in working order Les...

long distance to travel ? only for us it s a long distance , maybe it d be shorter for them if this "intelligence" was physically bigger than us...

i wouldn t call someone intelligent if it wanted to come to earth ....

The words I used were 'might' and 'extraordinary'. We could be talking millions of light years away. This would render their size in relation to our size so far apart in scale that the idea of a visit wouldn't be imaginable or the time scale would be difficult to imagine. Space/time continuum, yes?
Unless we are talking 'worm holes' - but then the energy considerations become unimaginable.
I mean this from a scientific point of view, otherwise I have a rather 'lively' imagination.

Jack Sparrow wrote:

to our American friends. I wonder what the writers of the Federalist Papers would make of Guantamano Bay, the interference in the affairs of foreign states and a society where statistically you have less chance of becoming a Senator than a British born person has of becoming a member of the House of Lords.

Thanks, Jack. You might (or might not) be surprised that most americans dont see much of the patriotic end of this holiday, but rather an excuse to eat too much, get pissed, and blow up small chunks of said country. Well, at least that is what I did!

Someday, may it be blowing up part of the capitalist ruling class, but I will settle for blowing up childrens toys and watermelons for now.

This post is a bit late, but I appreciate the thread. I agree, my government's foreign policy (hell, most of their policies) is deplorable, but on the whole, I love my country and I'm proud to have the opportunity to live here.