Great article by Peter Obourne in today's Torygraph. Will seem all too familiar to us DC aficionados. Particularly liked this bit:
"Senior bankers, private equity moguls and hedge fund managers appear cut off from the rest of us. They often pay little or no tax, increasingly live in heavily guarded enclaves, and some have little or no real allegiance to Britain. The sources of their wealth are often mysterious, and appear unrelated to merit. These feral rich pose, in their way, every bit as much of a danger to society as the rioters who stole and pillaged London streets last August."
March of the Gnomes
March of the Gnomes
"There's a lot of dignity in that, isn't there? Going out like a raspberry ripple."
Re: March of the Gnomes
Clever gnomes marry other clever gnomes, and have super clever gnome offspring.
Not really convinced by his examples from the UK's political class.
Not really convinced by his examples from the UK's political class.
"There's a lot of dignity in that, isn't there? Going out like a raspberry ripple."
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Re: March of the Gnomes
On a related note, I am still chuckling about the first time I saw Boris Johnson's father on telly a while ago. Boris is not his offspring, it's a clone!
Lee Williams.
"Superstition is the name the ignorant give to their ignorance"
"Superstition is the name the ignorant give to their ignorance"
Re: March of the Gnomes
He's a chip off the old block all right.
Possibly the Gnome class might turn to the Dark-Tek cloning device to perpetuate themselves rather than having children. Of course such clones would be subject to Darkling influence. Could have implications if the Gnomes are heads of corporations and the like.
Possibly the Gnome class might turn to the Dark-Tek cloning device to perpetuate themselves rather than having children. Of course such clones would be subject to Darkling influence. Could have implications if the Gnomes are heads of corporations and the like.
"There's a lot of dignity in that, isn't there? Going out like a raspberry ripple."
Re: March of the Gnomes
Another real-life gnome, who I've had the displeasure of meeting in real life : former Governor Jon Corzine
This is exactly the sort of character template you'd want for a desperate senior 'Igor' lacky - he'd do *anything* to regain his former status...
The Issue: The latest report on Jon Corzine’s role in MF Global’s collapse and the missing $1.6 billion.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/le ... z1xUVPyD84
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/le ... nt=Letters
As a DC3 character, he'd even come with his own catch-phrase :
"vaporize"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... rkets_mainNearly three months after MF Global Holdings Ltd. collapsed, officials hunting for an estimated $1.2 billion in missing customer money increasingly believe that much of it might never be recovered, according to people familiar with the investigation.
As the sprawling probe that includes regulators, criminal and congressional investigators, and court-appointed trustees grinds on, the findings so far suggest that a "significant amount" of the money could have "vaporized" as a result of chaotic trading at MF Global during the week before the company's Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing, said a person close to the investigation.
This is exactly the sort of character template you'd want for a desperate senior 'Igor' lacky - he'd do *anything* to regain his former status...
The Issue: The latest report on Jon Corzine’s role in MF Global’s collapse and the missing $1.6 billion.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/le ... z1xUVPyD84
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/le ... nt=Letters
As a DC3 character, he'd even come with his own catch-phrase :
"vaporize"
Re: March of the Gnomes
Any citizen would have had brought up on charges, tout de suite.
Bryson was driving a Lexus in the 400 block of South San Gabriel Boulevard shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday, when he allegedly rear-ended a Buick as it was waiting for a train to pass, according to a statement released by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and the San Gabriel Police Department.
After briefly stopping to talk to the three men inside the Buick, Bryson left the location in the Lexus and then struck the Buick a second time, authorities said. The men followed Bryson's car and called 911 to ask for police assistance.
Bryson continued to drive his Lexus into Rosemead, which is patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. There, he allegedly crashed into a second vehicle near the intersection of San Gabriel Boulevard and Hellman Avenue.
There authorities found him alone and unconscious behind the wheel of his car.
Bryson was treated at the scene by Los Angeles County firefighters. Authorities said drugs or alcohol do not appear to have played a role in the crash. They said Bryson was cooperative. He was cited for felony hit and run but was not booked into jail because he had been admitted to the hospital. His condition was not known.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... cious.html
This will be declared a 'medical abnormality' in a press statement released late on a Friday afternoon...
Bryson was driving a Lexus in the 400 block of South San Gabriel Boulevard shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday, when he allegedly rear-ended a Buick as it was waiting for a train to pass, according to a statement released by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and the San Gabriel Police Department.
After briefly stopping to talk to the three men inside the Buick, Bryson left the location in the Lexus and then struck the Buick a second time, authorities said. The men followed Bryson's car and called 911 to ask for police assistance.
Bryson continued to drive his Lexus into Rosemead, which is patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. There, he allegedly crashed into a second vehicle near the intersection of San Gabriel Boulevard and Hellman Avenue.
There authorities found him alone and unconscious behind the wheel of his car.
Bryson was treated at the scene by Los Angeles County firefighters. Authorities said drugs or alcohol do not appear to have played a role in the crash. They said Bryson was cooperative. He was cited for felony hit and run but was not booked into jail because he had been admitted to the hospital. His condition was not known.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... cious.html
This will be declared a 'medical abnormality' in a press statement released late on a Friday afternoon...
Re: March of the Gnomes
Another article on the extinction of the middle classes and the rise of the plutocratic Gnomes.
Given the comments on the NASA thread about DC foretelling real world socio-econmic developments I was tempted to put it on there but I think it's a bit more OT here.
Given the comments on the NASA thread about DC foretelling real world socio-econmic developments I was tempted to put it on there but I think it's a bit more OT here.
"There's a lot of dignity in that, isn't there? Going out like a raspberry ripple."
- ReHerakhte
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Re: March of the Gnomes
An interesting read.
I think I've mentioned before that it strikes me that the cyberpunk fiction I was reading in the early 1990s was a little too late in some of its dystopian depictions.
Rather than the world being composed of the super rich and the poor sometime after 2020, it seems to be happening a decade or more earlier in the real world. The only thing lacking are the cybernetic devices.
I think I've mentioned before that it strikes me that the cyberpunk fiction I was reading in the early 1990s was a little too late in some of its dystopian depictions.
Rather than the world being composed of the super rich and the poor sometime after 2020, it seems to be happening a decade or more earlier in the real world. The only thing lacking are the cybernetic devices.
It's not whether you win or lose,
It's whether I win...
It's whether I win...
Re: March of the Gnomes
ReHerakhte wrote:An interesting read.
I think I've mentioned before that it strikes me that the cyberpunk fiction I was reading in the early 1990s was a little too late in some of its dystopian depictions.
Rather than the world being composed of the super rich and the poor sometime after 2020, it seems to be happening a decade or more earlier in the real world. The only thing lacking are the cybernetic devices.
The future never seems to unfold in quite the way it's predicted, even by those who are genuinely ahead of the game e.g. HG Wells on mass aerial combat and armoured warfare - he got the concepts right but not necessarily the details.
"There's a lot of dignity in that, isn't there? Going out like a raspberry ripple."