lonetree

One of the reasons I joined this forum is the respectful atmosphere. Noticed it right off. If anything, sometimes the live and let live attitude is a little too much to take. But that's just me.

Not that my opinion matters so much, but I am inwardly cheering this decision on the part of the LDS church. It's about time someone(in this case, an influential institution that does much good in its own way) publicly stood up to a vast immoral but condemnatory trend. I was going to use another more incisive phrase, but... Anyway. There it is.

I am looking forward to this. Thought others might as well. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/pilgrims/player/?flavour=full

Absolutely, and further complicating things, I suspect that there is no longer a consensus about either what Halloween or the family is, as there may have been in North America in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

Thank you. I took it as definitely a triumph of image over substance; but also a playing of that old game of promising the moon... Edit: I do worry about who is going to publicly stand up for Israel now though.

I watched "The Prestige"for the second time(br from the public lib'ary). Enjoyed it.

So not just a majority inThe House of Representatives but also in the Senate must vote to get rid of him? And if they actually do, can the President just say 'no'?

I'm ambivalent about clowns. In recent years 'clowning' seems to have fallen on hard times. Sometimes I wish there were more about on Halloween and other occasions, because if it's done right, they are among the most vivid and memorable of costumes & personalities. This article in 'The Telegraph' sums up my feelings pretty well: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10730700/Tears-of-the-clowns-who-are-out-of-a-job.html

"...if it'll actually go through,..." I'm curious. Could someone enlighten me what will have to happen to make it go through; the steps to actually get rid of this individual? I'm not an American, (just a conservative Canadian) and it seems like you have a very powerful, & dismissive president.

The way 'Property' is excoriated in the Manifesto, I know I could never be a Communist. Now a materialist, that's another matter.

Sort of a degraded Thomas Dolby-Golden Age Of Wireless thing, huh ? :)

Across the road from me, a family has decorated the front of their house with orange and black streamers, a small hanging witch or two, toy spiders, fake web and cornstalks. I like it and contrast it with some front yard 'displays' that have gruesome depictions of severed limbs and heads. Did this all start with John Carpenter? or was it happening before that? I wonder. As for visual arts; (more specifically TV) I was a young person in the seventies, and find the Hallowe'en episode of the series 'Freaks And Geeks' and the 2nd season Hallowe'en one of 'Happy Days'* faithful in some respects to what I remember(hey I watch a lot of tv:)). *of course the series had more than one Hallowe'en episode-the one referred to is notable as well for the last appearance of Linda Purl

For those who like Hallowe'en desktop wallpapers, here's my current: http://iconfactory.com/freeware/preview/therecastle Really can't go wrong with Iconfactory. I've had them bookmarked since the late 90s.

Just curious. Dumb how?

"Mad Max: Fury Road" on Bluray (courtesy of my nephew). Nice panoramas. Has post apocalyptic wasteland ever been so beautiful? The action scenes are satisfying(& surely partially Top Gear inspired)but the brief scenes of regret dogging the main character are just as vivid.

Evan Thomas's biography of Richard Nixon, a man I know almost nothing about. It's certainly keeping my interest. http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/historian-evan-thomas-richard-nixon/557863c6fe34440a370001a6

I did some listening to Steve Earle in the late 80s-Copperhead Road. I don't know if you'd call him alternative, but I still like Dwight. His 'Nothing' is excellent.

'In The Fen Country'

Thank you for this. Good to know.

I am not sure that those old '70s communistic countercultural brainwashing 'cults' even exist anymore, do they? Though I suppose David Koresh is a reminder that things still can turn ugly.

Dickinson's autumnal thoughts welcome. :)

Keats was a favorite of mine when I was a teenager. I remember trying to read the whole of 'Endymion' and make sense of it back then. His 'heavy' classical stuff no longer attracts me, but poems like 'To Autumn' and 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' remain... Thanx to Lord Byron, I have memorised at least two lines of the English Romantics: "She walks in beauty like the night, Of cloudless climes and starry skies,..." :) Actually-now that I recollect, there is one other(poem), "The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold,..." Such a gifted artist...Thank you for calling this to mind.

Yes, the Surface is definitely something that goes beyond a laptop. I haven't sprung for tablet, or laptop or any kind of mobile computer yet. Liking Windows 10 but guess I'm still basically a desktop guy. Are you a Windows phone user yourself? The only place I see them is in the occasional movie-ie the latest Mission Impossible. But I don't get out much :)

I've watched some of the video you've posted and the new Surface does look nice. After looking at the price though, for that I could get a new Chromebook Pixel-if it were available in my country. The Surface -is- very modern and up-to-date, but the Pixel has a more traditional look that's a little more appealing to me. All the best to MS though, hope these products are successful. I used to be an Apple fan-but it now makes me chuckle that I can get the much criticised Vista GUI to perform just as responsively as the OSX Yosemite in the last Mac I bought (a 2008 Mac Pro). And I can play Unreal Tournament GOTY on it too :) As for the new phones, it's hard for me to judge. My little Samsung Evergreen seems to work just fine, and those things seem awful, well, big to me. Perhaps in the future; my choice certainly won't be an iPhone, I know that.

I watched the President's Sunday morning address ( https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/10?lang=eng&vid=4531161854001&cid=4 ) awhile ago. Even as an outsider, I found it very moving.