Magere Hein

This may explain your frst observation: It's life, but not as we know it. regards, Hein

Yes, but not UK obit material. regards, Hein

At a first glance their unfortunate position is similar to deathrow inmates. The way DDP rules treat those seems a bit harsh for IS hostages, although survival rate of them is low. A grisly list of casualties who might have been picks: James Foley. Abducted 22 November 2012, beheaded 19 August 2014 Steven Sotloff. Abducted 4 August 2013, beheaded 2 September, 2014 David Haines. Abducted ? March 2013, beheaded 13 September 2014 Hervé Gourdel. Abducted 21 September 2014, beheaded 24 September 2014 Alan Henning. Abducted 26 December 2013, beheaded 3 October 2014 Peter Kassig. Abducted 1 October 2013, beheaded 16 November 2014 Dates may be imprecise. List and data from Wikipedia. I have no list of living people known to be IS captives, so there's a bit of reseach left. regards, Hein

Good marks for intention, but needs more effort for desired result. regards, Hein

Oh, theme team points! ETA: BBC report. regards, Hein

May I humbly suggest Stuart Archer GC OBE ERD for consideration? This bomb disposal officer and oldest living recipient of the George Cross will turn 100 next year. Then again, he may not. regards, Hein

Because they both were showmen fleecing the public with a bunch of lies. regards, Hein

From what I can gather, this guys are hardcore Trotskyists so they disown Stalin as a "reactionary." Weirdly, they do seem to have some kind of soft spot for Putin though, even though he is running an oligarchy. I guess they just despise NATO more than they do capitalist, Mafia-run Russia for some reason. Interestingly, they feel they are the only true left. All other groups, whether they be hardliners like Socialist Alliance or moderates like the Labour Party, Greens and trade unionists, are all the "pseudo-left" to these guys because they are either prepared to work within the system or have been distracted from economic issues by identity politics. Hence, only Trotskyists like themselves are the true inheritors of the mantle of being the Leftist opposition. That's my take on them from the occassional glance at their website, anyway. I've never been good at ideology, although I gladly admit to being a lefty of the anarchist side. When I was at uni I did some subversive stuff with friends of the Dutch CP, but I didn't quite share their religion. When it became clear to me that the Soviet Union wasn't much better under Brezhnev than under Stalin, even if less genocidal, that friendship soon wilted, although I remained a subscriber to De Waarheid well into the eighties. I see commie jargon hasn't changed much, although I miss jewels like the antagonistic struggle in the Western metropoles, so loved by our German comerades. I well remember the ideologic sectarian strife in the left part of politics. There's a nice part in Python's Life of Brian that illustrates it nicely: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb_qHP7VaZE regards, Hein

It's a good job you reported it, no other major news outlet saw fit to take them seriously. So, is Communism fit for the DL 2015? I think it died 20 years ago... Not entirely, I believe, but it has been smelling funny during that time. It appears the news that Russia are no longer the good guys has been completely missed by the people at wsws, if I read their article on some Russian sabre rattling. regards, Hein

I don't know English law well enough to tell. Under Dutch law causing harm to another person, even at the victim's request, can be a crime if the perpetrator knows, or can reasonably be expected to know, that permanent damage is a possible outcome. In a case like this a verdict of dood door schuld (translates roughly to involuntary manslaughter) could well be in the papers. BTW: stupid cunts. regards, Hein

Nothing works... regards, Hein

We're nowhere near creating artificial intelligence, but if we were, having intelligent things on Earth might actually be a Good Thing. regards, Hein

Did watch Münchhausen today. It was a good way to spend a cold and overcast afternoon. It's cleverly made and certainly amusing at times. I particularly liked the Turkish watch. The film shows its age. That made me think: I'm almost two decades younger than it, but film changed quite a bit in that time. Even in the 50s costume productions didn't go out of fashion, but in the 60s they did. Now that we're on the subject of German flicks: Another German director that came to mind is Wim Wenders. I've seen several of his films, and even liked a few of them. At 69 he's still working, so I think he'll be around for a while, but I intend to keep an eye on his health. regards, Hein

I had a short look at the German Wikipedia entry about that film. One cast member, Trude Heess, has no date of death on her page, but I doubt that she lives at 104. The ten or so others I tried are all dead. Perhaps I can be arsed to check.the rest later. Aha, Erich Kästner. I read his Drei Männer im Schnee. Auf Deutsch My knowledge of German film is shallow, mostly Fassbinder and Pedersen and cheesy Heinz Rühmann comedies my parents loved to watch, so I didn't know about Munchausen. I'll see if I can find it. regards, Hein

That stretches the imagination. Oh dear, it's true. Brurray! Havo! regards, Hein

Can Cruise do a passable Scottish accent? Eh, Connery was a Spaniard, and the frenchie was the scot... A Spaniard with a Scottish accent, IIRC. regards, Hein

I don't think it'll get Rainer than today. regards, Hein

And so, rather unexpectedly, we have our 9th hit. Fair chance 2014 will hit double figures. regards, Hein

Can Cruise do a passable Scottish accent? Can Sean Connery? regards, Hein

No winners this round. Topic closed. regards, Hein

I just watched that episode on youtube and enjoyed it. I particularly liked the ammonissionaries and their more modern methods, similar to: regards, Hein

Jeannie Rousseau, a French spy during WW2. The last news I could find about her is from 2008, so I presume is still with us at 95. regards, Hein

Did that ever happen before? At some point, probably but never in our ironic adoption of the Fort have they sat FIFTH from bottom with a comfortable point gap and massively superior goal difference over the poor mob in last place. Great days indeed I'm most impressed with those, in modern usage, back to back victories. I wonder what they put in their tea. regards, Hein

Did that ever happen before? regards, Hein

http://www.hellomaga...ther-argentina/ There are rumours in the Dutch media that he's dead, based on rumours in Argentinian media. regards, Hein