Things you often Wonder

[sidcow]

12 hours ago, mjmooney said:

With NASA initiating a new era of manned moon missions, will the conspiracy theorists insist these are actually the first moon landings, or will they claim that these new ones are faked as well? 

Depends on how many electric power sockets NASA leave exposed in the background.

[PussEKatt]

Im sure that Qanon will have something intelligent to pass on about thar ?!

[Mandy Lifeboats]

19 hours ago, mjmooney said:

With NASA initiating a new era of manned moon missions, will the conspiracy theorists insist these are actually the first moon landings, or will they claim that these new ones are faked as well? 

Its ironic that the moon landings are considered real by more Russians than Americans. 

It shows 2 things about those populations. 

One has a large % of people who believe everything the government tells them 

One has a large % of people who believe nothing the government tells them.  

[TheAuthority]

What the f**k does anyone see or hear in Elton John.

I mean, it's just absolute shite. Nothing interesting about anything he ever wrote.

[villa4europe]

2 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

What the f**k does anyone see or hear in Elton John.

I mean, it's just absolute shite. Nothing interesting about anything he ever wrote.

I listened to the rolling stones top 500 albums a few years back I'd say there's a couple of Elton albums on there that were my biggest surprises of the whole thing, tumbleweed connection and honky chateaux are both very good

He is another singer* that's been around for so long that his discography is huge and for every decent album / song there's seemingly 5 or 6 shit onesbut I reckon i could put together a list of 15 good EJ songs 

* see also -  David Bowie 

[mjmooney]

24 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

I listened to the rolling stones top 500 albums a few years back I'd say there's a couple of Elton albums on there that were my biggest surprises of the whole thing, tumbleweed connection and honky chateaux are both very good

He is another singer* that's been around for so long that his discography is huge and for every decent album / song there's seemingly 5 or 6 shit onesbut I reckon i could put together a list of 15 good EJ songs 

* see also -  David Bowie 

Exactly this. Both artists had a brief golden age followed by a hell of a lot of mediocre stuff. 

[Designer1]

3 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

What the f**k does anyone see or hear in Elton John.

I mean, it's just absolute shite. Nothing interesting about anything he ever wrote.

I really like some of his early albums.

Some well crafted songs and none of the over produced boring stuff he's been churning out since.

I kinda like him as a person too. He's an absolute diva but I get the feeling his hearts in the right place.

[Wainy316]

3 hours ago, Designer1 said:

I kinda like him as a person too. He's an absolute diva but I get the feeling his hearts in the right place.

[bickster]

3 hours ago, Designer1 said:

I kinda like him as a person too. He's an absolute diva but I get the feeling his hearts in the right place.

Shame his hair is in completely the wrong place

[mjmooney]

Is advertising in phone apps not covered by trading standards laws? 

Because some of the stuff you see ("This one simple trick...") is hilarious and outrageous in equal measure, worthy of Victorian snake oil ads. Put toothpaste in your tank to improve fuel efficiency. Lose 15 stone in a month with one pill, no diet or exercise required. And so on. 

You'd hope that nobody would be so stupid as to fall for it, but the fact that somebody finds it worth paying for the ads suggests otherwise. 

If this form of advertising is somehow exempt from the law, it's a loophole that should be plugged, sharpish. 

Edited August 29, 2022 by mjmooney

[Stevo985]

On 22/08/2022 at 22:30, mjmooney said:

With NASA initiating a new era of manned moon missions, will the conspiracy theorists insist these are actually the first moon landings, or will they claim that these new ones are faked as well? 

It'll be the latter

[limpid]

58 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Is advertising in phone apps not covered by trading standards laws? 

Because some of the stuff you see ("This one simple trick...") is hilarious and outrageous in equal measure, worthy of Victorian snake oil ads. Put toothpaste in your tank to improve fuel efficiency. Lose 15 stone in a month with one pill, no diet or exercise required. And so on. 

You'd hope that nobody would be so stupid as to fall for it, but the fact that somebody finds it worth paying for the ads suggests otherwise. 

If this form of advertising is somehow exempt from the law, it's a loophole that should be plugged, sharpish. 

They spin up an advertising account with the social media site, buy some ads, bilk as many people as possible before the account is shut down. Rinse and repeat.

Same with the scam call centres in India or Farage / Trump's grifts. Or people lying about the benefits of Brexit for personal gain.

I'm not really sure that there is a legal solution. Civil law is simply too slow and it's so easy to act from a jurisdiction where it is allowed. The companies offering the advert can show they acted promptly once made aware and that's sufficient defence.

Unfortunately it's caveat emptor.

[chrisp65]

Tell me about it.

I responded to an advert in an actual phone box (and if you can’t trust BT, who the hell can you trust?).

Anyway, long story short, there is no way she was a real headmistress.

 

[mjmooney]

45 minutes ago, limpid said:

They spin up an advertising account with the social media site, buy some ads, bilk as many people as possible before the account is shut down. Rinse and repeat.

Same with the scam call centres in India or Farage / Trump's grifts. Or people lying about the benefits of Brexit for personal gain.

I'm not really sure that there is a legal solution. Civil law is simply too slow and it's so easy to act from a jurisdiction where it is allowed. The companies offering the advert can show they acted promptly once made aware and that's sufficient defence.

Unfortunately it's caveat emptor.

I see. And yet you don't see those ads on TV, or in newspapers, or on billboards. Presumably "We acted promptly once made aware" would NOT be sufficient defence for them. What's different? 

[limpid]

11 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

I see. And yet you don't see those ads on TV, or in newspapers, or on billboards. Presumably "We acted promptly once made aware" would NOT be sufficient defence for them. What's different? 

Price

[KentVillan]

On 25/08/2022 at 04:32, TheAuthority said:

What the f**k does anyone see or hear in Elton John.

I mean, it's just absolute shite. Nothing interesting about anything he ever wrote.

He’s made a lot of shite, but there are a few gems. I always thought his problem was Bernie Taupin, so all his lyrics sounded a bit insincere and like someone trying to shoehorn a story into a song for a west end musical. He’s a very good pianist, who fills his songs with interesting chord changes and musical ideas, and had a great voice when he was younger.

At some point he just drifted into the ageing Transatlantic superstar persona who still tries to hang around with all the cool kids.

Now he’s just cashing in with these terrible reworks. He was better as a poor man’s Van Morrison.

[TheAuthority]

1 hour ago, KentVillan said:

He’s made a lot of shite, but there are a few gems. I always thought his problem was Bernie Taupin, so all his lyrics sounded a bit insincere and like someone trying to shoehorn a story into a song for a west end musical. He’s a very good pianist, who fills his songs with interesting chord changes and musical ideas, and had a great voice when he was younger.

At some point he just drifted into the ageing Transatlantic superstar persona who still tries to hang around with all the cool kids.

Now he’s just cashing in with these terrible reworks. He was better as a poor man’s Van Morrison.

Hmmmmm,  highly debatable. But I don't care enough 

Quote

He was better as a poor man’s Van Morrison.

I can see that

[mjmooney]

23 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

Hmmmmm,  highly debatable. But I don't care enough 

You're coming at it from the point of view of a professional musician. 

He may have technical limitations, but the average punter neither knows nor cares. He has a distinctive style (both instrumentally and vocally) that appeals to a lot of people. Including me, at least as far as his early albums are concerned. 

Same goes for Rod Stewart, incidentally. 

[TheAuthority]

9 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Same goes for Rod Stewart, incidentally. 

I don't think I've ever seen him play piano?

I hope I'm not coming off snobby, I certainly don't mean to if it is. Just because I'm a "professional" doesn't mean I look down on anyone who hasn't had any training who is successful (apart from Paul McCartney who is a lucky charlatan IMO ) Don't tell anyone on VT that I actually like Queen when I was a kid..... what does that say about my musicianship?!

I've worked with so called "untrained" musicians who are really successful and it's obvious that they have great musical instincts and good luck to them.

I just don't think any of even Elton's popular hits have anything redeeming about them, to me at least.

[KentVillan]

7 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

I don't think I've ever seen him play piano?

I hope I'm not coming off snobby, I certainly don't mean to if it is. Just because I'm a "professional" doesn't mean I look down on anyone who hasn't had any training who is successful (apart from Paul McCartney who is a lucky charlatan IMO ) Don't tell anyone on VT that I actually like Queen when I was a kid..... what does that say about my musicianship?!

I've worked with so called "untrained" musicians who are really successful and it's obvious that they have great musical instincts and good luck to them.

I just don't think any of even Elton's popular hits have anything redeeming about them, to me at least.

FWIW I think Elton John did have some professional training as a kid at the Royal Academy of Music. And he is way ahead of the typical pop / rock pianist. I didn’t say he was a virtuoso!