Threadjacking!

[Bolt-01]

One thing to notice there is that 4 of those fine folk no longer post here and in a couple of cases haven't for several years.

However I bet many, many former boarders lurk so this is a hello to all of you.

[Funt Solo]

Brainiac declares that stage 01 of his chip-implanting, humanity-enslaving project going well, but he is worried about managing stage 02: converting earth's atmosphere to house his Sirian overlords.

[Colin YNWA]

Wow that interview taking place there, in that way is pretty surreal. I kinda assume Bill Gates has made it quite clear that of the interviewer upsets him he will make the skeletal remains of his aquatic minion ATTACK with his mind powers.

[TordelBack]

Look,  I know Barney is an incredible resource, but even so I think this is is taking it a bit too far.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

If this upcoming census finally confirms Jedi as an official religion, will that mean Star Wars fans will be protected by religious hate speech laws?

[von Boom]

Not from the Church of Trek.

[The Legendary Shark]

Or the Born Again Sithtians. (Although there are only two of us, er, them.)

[TordelBack]

If this upcoming census finally confirms Jedi as an official religion, will that mean Star Wars fans will be protected by religious hate speech laws?

More importantly will my SW figure habit be tax deductible.

[Funt Solo]

What would a truly wild Ireland look like?*

*Story sponsored and funded by a Mr. Rees-Mogg of Somerset.

[JayzusB.Christ]

What would a truly wild Ireland look like?*

*Story sponsored and funded by a Mr. Rees-Mogg of Somerset.

I get the feeling that the J-Dogg would prefer an unforested Ireland, where the barbarians can't hide and attack civilised folks.

[TordelBack]

What would a truly wild Ireland look like?*

I'm all for rewilding, even the tiny efforts that have been made around decommercialising forestry in Dublin have been magical, but I'd be happier if it wasn't presented as some sort of return to an edenic past state.

From archaeological evidence post-glacial Ireland appears to have had very few mammal species, for example deer and probably pig were human introductions, and the first settlers would have faced almost unbroken forests with none of the familiar trails and glades that those animals createdo in the rest of Europe. Irish elk may have been extinct in Ireland before humans arrived, lynx probably went extinct in the Mesolithic, and bears didn't outlast the Bronze Age. We're not mainland Europe, or even GB, and we never were.

The aim should be for a *new* and rich biodiversity, not a hankering after an imagined past one, or one that has never co-existed with humans.

[JayzusB.Christ]

We're not mainland Europe, or even GB, and we never were.

Yet more pre-Horned God retconning.

Interesting stuff though; I'd always thought the elk had been hunted to extinction.

[TordelBack]

Interesting stuff though; I'd always thought the elk had been hunted to extinction.

Take it with a pinch of salt (mmmm, seasoned giant venison), because experience strongly suggests I'll shortly be proved wrong, but this is going from the absence of megaloceros (or indeed red deer) bone from excavated Irish Mesolithic sites, which argues against it still being around at the time (so by 11000 BC,  give or take). In mainland Europe yes, they last longer and hunting is definitely a contributing cause, but in Ireland it's most likely the unhappy interaction of Those! Antlers! and the growth of post-glacial forests, together with the absence of other large mammals to help create clearings for browse etc.

[JayzusB.Christ]

, but in Ireland it's most likely the unhappy interaction of Those! Antlers! and the growth of post-glacial forests.

Well, that makes sense - though I do feel sorry for them, it's quite a cartoonish reason to die out.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Holy sweet fuckin' Jesus bright blue Christ there's an Ulster Scots version of the census