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Curufinwe

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Posts posted by Curufinwe

    [LotR] - Chapter 01 - 'A long expected Party'

    in TLA Community Reading Group

    Posted

    (:)

    I have started reading it this morning on the train, and I am quite amazed (reading it carefully and thouroughly) at the amount of information that is included in this chapter. Although it may seem rather unnecessary in the novel, it gives the bases of the whole book.

    We get to know the Ring throughout the chapter ... Not physically, but psychologically. We learn that Bilbo's appearance has not changed. Then, we fell the weight and the power of the Ring upon Blbo ... and of course "My Precious".

    Now, as for the chapter's name, it obviously echoes the first chapter of the Hobbit, which was "An Unexpected Party" ... This is finally shown as Bilbo leaves from Hobbiton with Dwarves who had come to his party ...

    I will have a closer look, with a second reading of the first chapter.

    A 'sequel' of LotR

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    (:)

    Well, Tolkien knew the legends of old better than anybody else, and I am sure he found some inspiration in some legends ... including the Myth of Arthur ... let me remind you that Tolkien translated some Arthurian legends (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) and old Anglo-Saxon tales (Finn and Engest) ...

    so, I disagree with you, Mithrandil

    Voting in Iraq

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    (:)

    Well, very simply, a woman who would be raped in a suburb of Paris (but any other large French/European city would do) would be considered as a less-than-nothing ... and had the woman been to a police station to report the rape, she would be considered as betraying the community ... some wome, who did that were literally harrassed and even attacked at their house ... and sometimes, even raped by a group of young fanatics ...

    The problem is not the people in those areas, but the Imam in the mosques ... most of them come from Algeria or Saudi Arabia and are strongly supporting the creation of an Islamic State in France. So, you can see what kind of problem it raises ...

    Some Muslim preachers have been sent back to their countries after saying that, for instance, a woman deserved being beaten up when she does not obey.

    In those areas, Islamic Law is a fact ... not legally speaking, but socially speaking ...

    That is why so many people see Turkey as a threat to their Christian way of life ... because, although all (nearly) European countries are secular, they are all based upon Christian values ... even the French who claim to be religion-free ...

    Voting in Iraq

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    (B)

    Well, in Europe we see things differently than in America ... in the American Continent I mean ...

    I quite agree with Klaas regarding the Europeans being racist at immigrants (Muslims particularly) ... in Europe, people ask immigrants to be fully integrated in society ... this does not only go through a process of finding a job and having a house of your own ... it involves living according to secular traditions and laws that have been agreed for hundreds of centuries ...

    So, obviously, when immigrants break those rules (social rules that is to say ... not only laws), people feel outraged ...

    In America (continent once again), it seems that immigrants are asked a lot less ... of course, the US and Canada are younger countries and they were countries founded by immigrants ... so, the things at stake are very different ... that's why I think Yiuel sees things so idealistically ...

    For instance, in France, polygamy is forbidden ...yet, you have several immigrating families who live altogether (sometimes 18-20 in the same apartment ... the man, 2 or 3 wives and their children ...). So, when they ask for a bigger apartment, people feel offended and outraged ... it is not in their culture to have 2-3 wives ... so, why should these people receive any money from the government since they are doing something forbidden by law? ... That's just an example among others, which are too common, IMO ...

    It makes the population (all over Europe) become racist ... it's sad ... Europeans are not racist, I think ... but they are imposed a forced immigration ... I can understand ...

    I work in a school in the middle of a zone that is 90% composed of immigrants ... sometimes, at the end of the day, I wonder ... why the hell were those people allowed into France ... I am not a racist, my wife is a foreigner, from Asia, but I feel outraged by their behaviour ... when I ask kids to throw their rubbish in the trashcan instead of throwing their things on the floor, they resent to do it ... so, I raise my voice and they do it ... but then, after school, I walk past the high buildings full of immigrant families and I see the very parents of those kids throwing their grabage bags through the windows instead of placing the bags into rubbish boxes ... it is hopeless ... and of course, people around the area have fled and the zone has become a ghetto ... the police is even absent ... it really is a problem. In Europe at least, immigration is not simple ... not as ideal as it may seem ;)

    Hubble being deserted

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    (B)

    On Hubble ...

    Many New Generation Telescopes on Earth do better than Hubble ... (Very Large Telescope in Chile for instance) ... so, I can well understand why the US want to let it go ...

    There should be a real international plan to build a VERY large space telescope (US, Canada, EU, China, Japan, Russia, etc ...) and not a useless International Space Station that costs billions every year ...

    But again, the US would put 80% of the money because Russia can't afford it anymore ... the EU doesn't give a darn about space (and know nothing about it anyway), etc ... So, I can understand why the US are so sceptical about setting up an international plan ...

    Voting in Iraq

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    (B)

    Well, at the moment, in the world, I know no country that could be fuly in autarcy, economically speaking ... even the US need Saudi oil ... so do the Europeans (to a lesser extent) who also need Chinese steel. The latter need Western high tech prodicts (although they are catching up fast!!!) ...

    At the moment, the world is in a state of money domination ... those who have the money dictate their rules ... not those who have the resources ...

    We're Melting

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    (B)

    it's odd because in France, it is quite the contrary ... my grand-father cannot remember a winter that was as cold, the latest he could remember was in 1956 ...

    But it is true that it has been a long time since I hadn't seen snow over here ... maybe 15-16 years ago ..

    Hubble being deserted

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    (:P

    By the way, Black Hawk Down is a movie ... not a military action, IIRC ...it had another name ...

    As for

    There are indeed leaders out there who would have a lot more people starving if it wasn't for the US military.

    South America (Chile, Argentina, etc ...), Asia (Philippines, Vietnam, etc ...), Africa (very few) are actually better off without than with the Americans ... and the greatest Dictatorships in the world are backed by the US nowadays (China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Canada :wine: j/k, etc ... )

    Capital Punishment

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    (:wine:

    1. I duplicate my body.

    This is to me nothing really different from biological twins. Only the same DNA is carried by two people of different age. So, my clone IS NOT ME. He only carries the DNA I carry, as twins do such. [This is the case described in my story.]

    Well, not really ... if you have a close look at what twins are, it is a bit different. Twins are 1 single egg that divided into 2 parts ... they share the same DNA ... from 2 sexual cells, each having half of the DNA ...

    Now, a clone is different ... a clone has the DNA of a creature that has already been conceived by 2 sexual cells.

    It DOES make an enormous difference ... look at the sheep, Dolly... it grew old so fast that it dies before the cloned sheep reached an old age ... it seems that DNA of the clone has a memory of what the body of the cloned creature has gone through ... Well, I am not saying that a human clone will remember the cloned person's memories, but it may grow older quicker ... it may have DNA memories ...

    Voting in Iraq

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    (:wine:

    exactly on the same line as you, Mithrandil ...

    except maybe on the first part and about dividing countries ... in the past, countries were not divided according to the people's will, but according to the King's or Leaders' will (Germany and Poland, Russia, France to a certain extent, Canada obviously, Iraq, Iran, etc ...) ... now, the peoples want to choose with whom they want to share their country ... and I can understand the Basque or the Kurds who want to have their own government and not be ruled by some tyrant or legaly elected person in Iraq, Syria or Turkey ... same for people in Quebec or Flemish people in Belgium ... it's as if you were told that you have to marry this girl because your parents decided for it. Eventually, it will end up with a divorce and you will look for the person who really want to share your life with.

    I have already told you ...

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    (:)

    Well, after my little photos that I took over here and in England (Rohan shop, Ulmo hotel, Bilbo boat, etc ...) I found something on the French newpaper ...

    You have to be aware that there was once a powerful family in France. They fought the English with Napoleon, etc ... they are the Rohan family.

    No, you heard right ... Rohan, as in the Rohirrim ... There is even a street in Paris named after a general of Rohan ... and there is a castle somewhere in Brittany (how odd ... Brittany, land of Celts ...)

    Anyway, the article can be read here, but I warn you ... it is in French.

    Let me make a little summary of it.

    Castle Troubles for Josselin de Rohan

    The former guard of Mr de Rohan's castle (President of the Conservative Party in the Senate) is accusing his former employer of "modern slavery".

    Pierre Guiguen, a retired army officer, who worked from 1989 to 2004 for Mr de Rohan, asserts that he went to court recently claiming for "modern slavery". The only problem being that the Judge said that no complaint had been filed on Monday.

    Anyway, this is the first stage of this affair. However, Mr de Rohan claimed that this accusation was false. I may sue Mr Guiguen for what he said. This is calomnia.

    Josselin de Rohan, 14th duke of Rohan, is the owner of the Rohan castle which had been built in the 11th century.

    funny, isn't it ? ... long time ago, the Kings and Nobles of Rohan fought Orcs and the armies of Mordor ... now, they are only able to fight in Court :P what a disgrace.

    Capital Punishment

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    (:)

    Klaas wrote:

    But the thing is that no legal system can be totally flawless, that's just impossible. So even if the system is very good, I still wouldn't want to take the risk that an innocent person gets killed.

    So the thing with death penalty is that there's no way back, you can't bring someone back from death

    exactly my point ....

    Curufinwe wrote:

    so, if there is a flaw in the system (and you cannot give life back to somebody who died because of a mistake by the State), why continue having it?

    Capital Punishment

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    (:)

    Conservative indeed ...

    as for the US being the only great democracy to have death penalty, what can you tell us? I support Michael's point about people convicted by mistake ... so, if there is a flaw in the system (and you cannot give life back to somebody who died because of a mistake by the State), why continue having it? isn't the risk worth the moratorium?

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