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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: The Commonwealth Games
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shamwari
Shipmate
# 15556
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Posted
With apologies to Shipmates in America and Europe and half the world.
But the only thing of interest to Brits and their former Empire subjects is the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
An extravaganza in BBC hyperbole and nauseating upbeat cheerleading of a Division 2 event.
It cost ££millions to stage.
And the world will be saturated with over the top adjectives to describe performances which, in world terms, wouldn't rate.
Ahh well.
Posts: 1914 | From: from the abyss of misunderstanding | Registered: Mar 2010
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I see you are your usual cheerful self - go wash someone's feet with chanel No 5
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Anglican't
Shipmate
# 15292
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Posted
Other channels (even BBC channels) are available.
Posts: 3613 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2009
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
I probably wouldn't have ever known these games were being held if shamwari hadn't given them this free publicity.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Tulfes
Shipmate
# 18000
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by shamwari:
With apologies to Shipmates in America and Europe and half the world.
But the only thing of interest to Brits and their former Empire subjects is the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
An extravaganza in BBC hyperbole and nauseating upbeat cheerleading of a Division 2 event.
It cost ££millions to stage.
And the world will be saturated with over the top adjectives to describe performances which, in world terms, wouldn't rate.
Ahh well.
You're a mean spirited fucking bitch.
Posts: 175 | Registered: Feb 2014
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Pyx_e
Quixotic Tilter
# 57
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Posted
Every now and then someone hits a pure vein of Hell. It is Eldorado and Cibola rolled into one.
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It is better to be Kind than right.
Posts: 9778 | From: The Dark Tower | Registered: May 2001
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
So there is something that will dominate some of the TV channels that you don't want to watch? Like the World Cup did recently?
Watch something else.
Or go and strand yourself in a boat without oars in the middle of the Pacific, then it won't bother you.
And we can all be happy.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Ah, that elusive yet familiar whiff in the air - acrid tang of bile, overlaid with greasy notes of envy, on a sulphurous base of joylessness - that tells us another celebratory sporting spectacle is upon us!
Athletes who've trained hard will have their hour, the crowds will cheer, there will ambition and effort and grace and strength and endurance and Victory! And shamwari will be miserable - even more miserable than his shrivel-hearted, rancid, vinegary miserabilist norm - because somewhere people are being pointlessly happy because somebody else has run or jumped or smacked a table-tennis ball really hard. Don't they know how much he hates hates HATES fun? How it falls like daggers of sunlight on his mean, grey, dismal world.
Well, tough.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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John Holding
Coffee and Cognac
# 158
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Posted
Well, if it's any comfort in your agonies -- or possibly to add coals to the fire on your head -- the CBC here in this former colony is marketing the Glasgow Games practically non-stop --- as a stop on the "Road to Rio 2016".
John
Posts: 5929 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: May 2001
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
Oh, is there some kind of sporting contest taking place in Glasgow this month? I hadn't really noticed...
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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shamwari
Shipmate
# 15556
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Posted
Surprise surprise. Firenze, posting from Edinburgh, begs to differ.
We Scots must stick together! Strangely my Dad was born in Glasgow but he got out during the Depression and made a life in Rhodesia.
Fact is that millions of £££s have been spent on a 2nd Division contest and that justifies the hyberbole
On with the games.
Posts: 1914 | From: from the abyss of misunderstanding | Registered: Mar 2010
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
Miseryguts
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by shamwari:
Surprise surprise. Firenze, posting from Edinburgh, begs to differ.
We Scots must stick together! Strangely my Dad was born in Glasgow but he got out during the Depression and made a life in Rhodesia.
Fact is that millions of £££s have been spent on a 2nd Division contest and that justifies the hyberbole
On with the games.
shamwari, it is quite exceptional for someone from Embra to take Glasgow's part on anything (I can claim just as much Scottishness as you, as my father was born in Edinburgh. So there).
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Oscar the Grouch
Adopted Cascadian
# 1916
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Posted
Of all the sporting extravaganzas, the Commonwealth Games has to be the most innocuous and least offensive. How can anyone have a problem with it?
Unlike the Olympics or the World Cup, hosting it does not involve millions of pounds disappearing in shady payments and the buying up of votes. It is a chance for athletes from across the globe to come together in a relaxed, yet still competitive, atmosphere to do their stuff in a spirit of unity rarely seen elsewhere. The fact that no-one really takes the performances seriously is half of the pleasure. We all know a Commonwealth medal isn't really worth that much. But if you're from a small nation that is never going to win an Olympic medal, it can feel like a real achievement. And it gives Brits a chance to win something once in a while.
Lamest Hell call for some time.....
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Faradiu, dundeibáwa weyu lárigi weyu
Posts: 3871 | From: Gamma Quadrant, just to the left of Galifrey | Registered: Dec 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Irish, as it happens...
Though if your Da was a Weegee it could explain how you inherited the lemon-sucking parsimony and croaking pessimism.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
Shamwari hating a large sporting event is as predictable as the tides.
NEXT!
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
Sounds like envy.
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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by quetzalcoatl:
Sounds like envy.
Shamwari's promising career as a discus thrower was cut tragically short by an accident involving a food processor and a pet gerbil.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Dark Knight
Super Zero
# 9415
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
So there is something that will dominate some of the TV channels that you don't want to watch? Like the World Cup did recently?
Watch something else.
Or go and strand yourself in a boat without oars in the middle of the Pacific, then it won't bother you.
And we can all be happy.
Seconded.
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So don't ever call me lucky
You don't know what I done, what it was, who I lost, or what it cost me - A B Original: I C U
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Love is as strong as death (Song of Solomon 8:6).
Posts: 2958 | From: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road | Registered: Apr 2005
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
If shamwari had started this thread to complain about the ugliness of the Scottish team's outfits, I'd have been right there with him. I clicked on the link in the Circus thread, and I can't unsee the horror!
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Ad Orientem
Shipmate
# 17574
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
If shamwari had started this thread to complain about the ugliness of the Scottish team's outfits, I'd have been right there with him. I clicked on the link in the Circus thread, and I can't unsee the horror!
Just had a look. Stone me! The designer was surely having a bubble bath.
Posts: 2606 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2013
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
But shamwari is Scottish. He has to watch every minute of BBC output so's to get his money's worth out of the license fee.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Hasn't much of the £473.2million been spent on regenerating the East End of Glasgow? If they do as good a job as in London that's going to be worth doing.
The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford has been open to the public for a few months now. It's now an amazing outside space in a what was a rough area of London, with banks of wild flowers, a climbing wall open to the public, play areas (several of them), winding paths through greenery, cycling and running tracks, fountains to run through, quiet marsh areas. The swimming pool, basketball/badminton courts, velodrome and BMX tracks are all open now, the stadium is still having work done. The last time I walked through it was full of families and children enjoying the facilities, outside, getting exercise.
The combination of the Olympic Park and the events held there¹², Westfield shopping centre and the transport links has made Stratford a much, much nicer place than it was. Roll on that happening to the East End of Glasgow.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
Look, I'm not particularly interested in which genetic outlier has the particular makeup that makes him 0.00005 picoseconds faster than another genetic outlier, but you don't know you're born, you whippersnappers. When there were only three channels, sporting events dominated all of them and were indeed a Hell-worthy right royal pain in the arse. Now there are so many channels (most of them wall to wall shite, but that's the case outside of sporting events), DVDs, streaming on demand, digital radio... you can just avoid it. I, for example, am pleased to be able to report that I have no idea if Wimbledon's over or who won anything, was surprised to discover the other week that the World Cup was still dragging on, and will be able to be equally ignorant of what's going on in Glasgow. Which wouldn't have been the case twenty years ago.
[ 23. July 2014, 08:38: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
Personally, I hate it when something in which I have no personal interest dominates one or two of the few hundred TV and radio channels to which I have access. It's why I get so absoultely batshit spitting mad and post Hell threads ranting against the crap they're constantly shoving down my throat on Pop Girl, BabyTV and MTV Base.
Oh wait, no I don't. I just watch the channels that are showing something I'm interested in. What a ludicrously easy solution to the problem. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
Heck, why restrict yourself to TV channels? These days the internet has endless hours of stuff to watch. You can probably find every single episode of Antiques Roadshow on Youtube or some other site.
Or failing that, just watch some porn. *shrug*
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Erroneous Monk
Shipmate
# 10858
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
Heck, why restrict yourself to TV channels? These days the internet has endless hours of stuff to watch. You can probably find every single episode of Antiques Roadshow on Youtube or some other site.
Or failing that, just watch some porn. *shrug*
How about a porn/Antiques Roadshow mash-up? Punter presents body part to the expert to be valued.
"Oh my. It's a long time since I've seen one of *these*. How long have you had it?"
.....
"Did you know if you reach underneath and you just [fiddles]... twiddle with that bit... Oh yes. A lovely piece, isn't it?"
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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jbohn
Shipmate
# 8753
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Erroneous Monk:
"Did you know if you reach underneath and you just [fiddles]... twiddle with that bit... Oh yes. A lovely piece, isn't it?"
Thanks for that visual... ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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We are punished by our sins, not for them.
--Elbert Hubbard
Posts: 989 | From: East of Eden, west of St. Paul | Registered: Nov 2004
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Jon in the Nati
Shipmate
# 15849
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Posted
I'm surprised this sort of things rustles Shamwari's jimmies so. He/she seems like the kind of pretentious motherfucker you meet at the bar, who takes such pleasure in telling you, with glee barely covered by condescension, "Oh, I don't own a television."
And anyway, if you don't own a television, what are you going to sit and look at all day?
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Homer: Aww, this isn't about Jesus, is it?
Lovejoy: All things are about Jesus, Homer. Except this.
Posts: 773 | From: Region formerly known as the Biretta Belt | Registered: Aug 2010
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shamwari
Shipmate
# 15556
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Posted
My beef is two-fold.
One is the vast amount of money being spent on a 2nd rate competition. 2nd rate? Evidence? The world's greatest sprinter Usain Bolt has condescended to run the relay: in the Olympics he ran 100m; 200m; and relay. One of the world's greatest cyclists, Bradley Wiggins, has done much the same thing. A token appearance. And The Americans and Russians and Europeans who between them hold the most Olympic and World Gold Medals will not be there.
2nd beef; The sycophantic nonsense, especially from the BBC which provides coverage. Its as though all the commentators have been handed a list of superlatives which they are required to use even when describing a below par performance.
Posts: 1914 | From: from the abyss of misunderstanding | Registered: Mar 2010
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by shamwari:
One is the vast amount of money being spent on a 2nd rate competition. 2nd rate? Evidence? The world's greatest sprinter Usain Bolt has condescended to run the relay: in the Olympics he ran 100m; 200m; and relay. One of the world's greatest cyclists, Bradley Wiggins, has done much the same thing. A token appearance. And The Americans and Russians and Europeans who between them hold the most Olympic and World Gold Medals will not be there.
This is bullshit. You bitched about the money and the hype for Olympics, so don't even try to tell us your objection to the Commonwealth Games is that they're second-rate. That you have not yet figured out how to change the channel on your TV or, better yet, go outside and play, shows that you are getting something out of being annoyed and having things to complain about.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Shamwari wrote:
quote:
With apologies to Shipmates in America and Europe and half the world.
But the only thing of interest to Brits and their former Empire subjects is the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Mmm, no.
I got caught up in the excitement when my city hosted the games in 1978(I was nine), but since then, I haven't paid a lick of attention to the Commonwealth Games. If it weren't for this thread, in fact, I probably wouldn't even know they were going on.
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
^ But that said, I do share the disdain for large-scale sporting events, and if the CGs were in my city, I'd probably be pretty ticked off about it.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
A lot of people enjoy them though. During the Olympics, the cycle races went past our house, and many people came out to cheer them on, and it was a brilliant spectacle. Well, the whole Olympics was a big buzz in London.
The OP sounds a bit like, 'someone somewhere is enjoying themselves, and I'm not'. Tough tittyfellatio.
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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Some of the sports included are of limited interest to a Canadian. Never heard of netball. Real hockey is played on ice. Rugby is vanity sport in Canada. And I have trouble finding lawn bowling and shooting particularly athletic. I'd like to see paddling sports. But more particularly, about the most interesting and exciting field sport to consider might be Aussie Rules Football. Which appears to be made for spectators and rather crazy.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I have been watching the opening ceremony - shamelessly rocking the cliches ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Sober Preacher's Kid
Presbymethegationalist
# 12699
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Posted
No, the Commonwealth Games are decent mix of sport, entertainment and fun which can be managed on a budget. You know, everything the Olympics doesn't have.
I mean come on, who can't but cheer for the Falkland Islands Team?
If you want to watch the Yanks be their usual annoying selves, watch the Pan-Am Games.
Besides, if you want to watch a truly dreadful event, watch the Francophonie Games. Just the like Francophonie is to the Commonwealth, they're a second-rate wannabe to the Commonwealth Games.
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NDP Federal Convention Ottawa 2018: A random assortment of Prots and Trots.
Posts: 7646 | From: Peterborough, Upper Canada | Registered: Jun 2007
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Tulfes
Shipmate
# 18000
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Posted
Great to see the gay kiss in the opening ceremony.
Posts: 175 | Registered: Feb 2014
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I rather liked the dancing teacakes.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Erroneous Monk
Shipmate
# 10858
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sober Preacher's Kid:
I mean come on, who can't but cheer for the Falkland Islands Team?
From watching the opening ceremony, they looked like their best chance for a medal was in Watching Golf On Telly.
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
The tea-cakes were brilliant; also the blue kilt was very desirable.
I think the flavour of the parochial is quite delightful, e.g. an Isle of Man team, go, Man, go!
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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
Have we won yet?
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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luvanddaisies
the'fun'in'fundie'™
# 5761
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Posted
Yes, dear. Now go back to sleep.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)
Posts: 3711 | From: all at sea. | Registered: Apr 2004
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Wet, semi-naked people are pedalling madly through dappled sunlight. What's not to like here?
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
John Barrowman was born near Glasgow - who knew?
Didn't go for the singing female comedian but what the heck, she was still miles better than Emeli Sande hyperventilating her way through Abide with me at the 2012 olympics.
And I loved the struggle with the queen's baton - HM's shoulders were shaking nicely!
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
Well, we've just had a fortnight with soccer all over the paper and various net sites, and now it's the Games. All the time there's the Tour de France, which has turned into the Tour de almost everywhere under the sun where we can try to get higher advertising fees.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
Interested to note that according to Commonwealth Games medal ceremonies, Jerusalem is the English national anthem.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Anglican't
Shipmate
# 15292
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doublethink:
Interested to note that according to Commonwealth Games medal ceremonies, Jerusalem is the English national anthem.
I think they tried Land of Hope and Glory. It never sounded right to me (difficult to jump straight into the chorus with the build up). I think this is probably a better choice.
Posts: 3613 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2009
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
I don't have television
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by shamwari:
... The Americans and Russians and Europeans who between them hold the most Olympic and World Gold Medals will not be there ...
I wonder why that is? Oh yes, of course, they're not members of the Commonwealth!.
Honestly, Shamwari, change channels and go and suck a few more lemons.
FWIW (not much), I'm a Scot married to an Englishman, used to live in Northern Ireland and now live in Canada, so with any luck I'll have quite a lot to cheer about.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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