Randomness

[Distracted]

Yummy. I'd be willing to try all of it except maybe the fermented fish from Sweden. Alligator tastes much better fresh than canned, though, all crispy fried with ketchup, and I've seen the "road tenderized" canned armadillo at various truck stops between Louisiana and Texas. I don't think it's really armadillo meat in the can. Might be beef jerky.

I've eaten armadillo, btw. Tastes like suckling pig.

[JadziaKathryn]

Yech. Canned scorpion??? That's like Fear Factor, which is not what I want associated with anything I ingest.

I did have regular, non-canned haggis in Scotland. One bite. Then I just ate the mashed potato off the top. It's sheep entrails, for crying out loud. And yet, canned scorpion is much worse...

[Alelou]

Canned scorpion sounds awful, but if you could catch a fresh scorpion about the size of a lobster, I'd definitely be willing to try it with some nice butter...

[JadziaKathryn]

Watch out for the poisonous bits.

[Bether6074]

Eating the Thailand dish that JT made us was about as adventurous as I'll get.

Scorpion? Well, meerkats like them.

Ewww....

[Alelou]

So are you up for seconds, Bether? After all, JustTrip'n DID teach us how to do it! Poor Jaime is trying to figure out how we could make it Atkins-friendly, but it's a noodle dish, for goodness' sake. He said, "Can you make it with Splenda?"

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

So we had elections to the European Parliament here (and across Europe) today.

The big news is that the Pirate Party was successful - from nowhere to 7 per cent. We've had a lot of debates about downloading and personal integrity on the Internet here in Sweden, which has benefited them.

And no, I didn't vote for them.

[panyasan]

So we had elections to the European Parliament here (and across Europe) today.

The big news is that the Pirate Party was successful - from nowhere to 7 per cent. We've had a lot of debates about downloading and personal integrity on the Internet here in Sweden, which has benefited them.

And no, I didn't vote for them.

European elections! We voted on Thursday. Strange day, mostly we vote on Wednesday. I think in my country they will never vote on a Sunday, because some people don't like to work or vote on Sunday, the day of rest and that group is very faithful in voting etc. I can understand, but any way, we voted on Thursday. We didn't have a Pirate Party, but in a way it sounds better then that xenophobic party in my country that won some votes, with their simple answers to complex problems.

[JadziaKathryn]

Generally speaking, I'm wary of one-issue parties. Now I'm sort of adapting the idea of a Pirate Party to the US here...

Q: What is your stance on the economy?
A: We support illegal downloading!

Q: How do you propose to create new jobs?
A: Legalize illegal downloading!

Q: What about the environment?
A: We support downloading!

Q: What is your response to troubling reports about the nations' schools?
A: Downloading!

Q: Turmoil in the Middle East?
A: Illegal downloading!

And on another note, I kind of think that the resurgence of piracy on the high seas (with machine guns, not Johnny Depp) might be bad word association for a Pirate Party, but maybe that's just me.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Q: What is your stance on the economy?
A: We support illegal downloading!

Q: How do you propose to create new jobs?
A: Legalize illegal downloading!

Q: What about the environment?
A: We support downloading!

Q: What is your response to troubling reports about the nations' schools?
A: Downloading!

Q: Turmoil in the Middle East?
A: Illegal downloading!

It's scary how accurate that is from how the Pirate Party actually answered questions in the media during the campaign.

And on another note, I kind of think that the resurgence of piracy on the high seas (with machine guns, not Johnny Depp) might be bad word association for a Pirate Party, but maybe that's just me.

Yeah, I thought so too. But that didn't stop them. I think the Johnny Depp-isation (or should that be romanticisation) of pirates has contributed to that, and recent Somali piracy hasn't changed that.

[JadziaKathryn]

It's scary how accurate that is from how the Pirate Party actually answered questions in the media during the campaign.

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that.

Because the RCAA targets college campuses, every now and then at school there'll be an article in the college newspaper about how a couple of people were found out for illegal downloading. What always gets me is that they act all innocent when everyone knows it's not legal. One person actually whined about how her fine doubled because she didn't pay it for two or three months. (She was sitting around trying to decide how to pay it or something.) I always think, good grief. You can argue about how you want it to be legal if you want, but it isn't, so don't act all innocent and wronged when you get slapped with the settlement fine.

[CX]

What gets me are the exorbitant amounts they fine.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

What gets me are the exorbitant amounts they fine.

I have to agree with that. It's the lack of proportion in comparison with other felonies that irks me. Personally I see illegal downloading as akin to jaywalking. Yeah, it's illegal but c'mon, it's not bloody murder or bank robbery.

[CX]

I'd just charge them for the cost of the music they stole. If they stole a lot, that can be a lot by itself, but it's ridiculous to fine them millions of dollars or even thousands. Hundreds maybe.

[Alelou]

They're not trying to recover costs -- they're trying to scare off other downloaders.

But it's doomed to failure. They need a new business model.