Walsingham

It's probably where he's hiding out. You should ring the State Department

Accidentally opened some post for the previous owner of my house to discover they were about to lose their pension plan due to some technical issue. Would have been child's play to redirect the cash to on of my own accounts. Luckily for him I'm not a larcenous bastard. Spent three hours trying to track the bugger down. No joy.

This one is just for Lady Crimson

Come on, man. You're seriously trying to tell me that the Arab man in the street isn't dubious about the analysis of the US and UK governments?

Looking at regulators in engineering. Listening to this. Because, you know, I'm a simpleton.

Working on the assumption that the circumstances of one's last words might not be conducive to creative composition, I thought we might work on our last words in advance. ~ Given that I am no-longer likely to be killed for a cause or country, I'm currently planning on: "Insert coin to continue?"

I said earlier that the _threat_ of a western strike would serve to disrupt Assad's command, control, and logistics. This just in from Stratfor.com

I'm not sure what your point is. I don't have any problem with finding something useful at low levels, and less useful at high levels. It's not as if it's illogical, even. Bows store energy to a fixed value that is then released to do damage. Ditto crossbows. Assuming your character can exert more force than the available materials can store - which makes sense given they can punch dragons to death - then the bow is going to seem correspondingly weaker.

This made me have some unkind thoughts about certain exes of mine. ~~ Much of this morning spent trying to untangle my pension plans.

+BREAK+

So he has a plea date in late September? I guess he's obviously guilty, but that means he's going straight to lockup for at least a month, doesn't it?

I remember my father buying pigs feet cheap at the butchers and the whole family feasting on them. A lot of common cuts were only considered dog food back in the day. Including spare ribs! Always keep that in mind if you're on a budget, although the problem nowadays is that the gas or electric for cooking also costs a lot. So stewing cuts can be a problem, unless you're renting all inclusive.

Well, I'm happy to argue that point. i was more interested in how that affected the lense through which this is viewed.

Out of interest, who else is old enough to remember Rwanda?

Naturally I understand the problem with sources. But that means their intelligence is HUMINT. The case (as written) for WMD in Iraq was based finally on HUMINT, and that turned out to be balls. If the US does go to war over this, do you think we could have some kind of whipround from all the Obama supporters who hated Bush for invading Iraq?

Walsie do you cook all these meals yourself ? You seem to be quite the little aspiring Jamie Oliver I do indeed. Principles are pretty straightforward: don't be afraid of fat, or of flavour; if it looks good raw, it will eat good cooked; layer flavours so there are no 'gaps'; respect the grain and the vine, in cooking and on the table. ;p

Lamb chump chops. Coating for same made of cornflour, allspice, salt, pepper, coriander seed. Coat chops, shallow fry until golden brown on both sides. Added a quarter bottle of red wine, and a teaspoon of smoked paprika. Covered and steamed/seethed for 30 minutes. Came out with a rich red wine gravy, meat soft and tender. Ate with oatcakes, because that's what I had handy.

Bruce, I just don't buy the 'we know best' argument on this one. We may have sources in the right area, but I know what is involved in CBRNE recconnaissance, and I doubt we've got the enough of the right kit to tell exactly what was used. Even if we did, I doubt we know exactly who made it or used it. You're talking about an incident that would involve hundreds of police officers for weeks _if it had occurred in the mainland UK_. I certainly don't believe we have sufficient grounds for an open-ended commitment to military action. And I think if I'm not willing to fall in line, there's not many who will.

I wonder if it wouldn't make more sense to describe the employee (yourself) in terms of a mechanical system. Inputs, outputs, standards, interfaces etc. Would make it logically easier to test whether a person would fit into the team.

Interesting view, Hilde. I know you track very different news sources, so it's good to have you on topic (although I know we don't often agree). So I won't be boring and argue your point about pragmatism. For once. ~ It occurs to me that a good reason for publicly blaming Syria and threatening action - even if we do nothing - is to placate public opinion. Not in our own countries but across the 'Arab spring' nations. Regardless of what we have available, we have to beat the drum, or be labelled as complicit in the crime.

That's a fair question. I will need to compose my thoughts more fully and come back on that. However, to immediately clarify. I said he was a aweak President. Not that America was weak.

homin ahomina homina

If I ever decide to quit being an amateur and go full 'walt', I'm getting an eberlestock.

I agree with Malc that if intelligence is to play a part in policy, and I think it really rather ought to, then it needs to be pretty ****ing sure of its facts in this case. If that WERE the case I'd expect a president like Obama, who is more comfortable with the media than with the military, to make the facts known. As gambit says, this isn't about guilt any more. It's about what is being done next. In this instance I believe the West is using the opportunity to put pressure on Assad to come to the table. That's probably the best outcome we can hope for, on behalf of the Syrian refugees, anyway. My concern is that Obama's team don't inspire me with confidence that they can apply pressure in a reasonable way to secure cooperation from Assad. Not that it's easy with a half-informed, half-asleep electorate giving top cover.

I don't have much experience of the alternatives, but the 'short' bergen I was issued with by the Army was the most comfortable backpack I could have imagined, given the weight. And tough as all hell. I'd look for one of those online. I've just checked and the short pattern is around £30.