Walsingham

Korgan+tome of body puts his constitution to 20. This means he regenerates like a troll. (Nice touch, actually implementing that, BTW. Class) heavy armour, shield, other buffs, rings etc. Just trundle him into traps, set them off, let him heal. I can still picture the little fellah grumbling like a tank engine, with tiny flames dancing on the horns on his hat.

From Stratfor.com This comes on the back of a mobilisation to the border with Syria. Not to mention all the recent kerflap about Turkey and Israel. Looks like they're really trying to set themselves forward as a regional power. This strikes me as hardly surprising, with Syria and Iran moving into alignment, and Lebanon going completely Iran-tastic. Which is worrying in itself. Iran would reap huge strategic rewards if it could bring Syria onside, both in terms of Iraq and in terms of 'controlling' Hezbollah. Happy days.

We've got a on here, so I thought it was worth pitching some ideas in. See what we get. ~ It occurrred to me this morning that the central problem we have is that we're only exploring two options: we either pump money into the system, or we let it crash. My take on why neither option has been taken is that both are bollocks. We can't pump in capital without fixing the structural problems. And we can't crash because the cost is too high. It further occurred to me that what is in fact needed is a method for allowing defunct portions of the economy to crash without the impact of those crashes being communicated onwards. Controlled demolitions, if you like. Now, I'm not remotely financially astute enough to suggest how such controlled demolitions might work. but I thought it was an interesting idea. What think you, boffins?

If it was possible to push bees into a person's tearducts over the internet that's what I'd be doing to you right now.

Cutlock's got a point. New rad animals would be nice. What about Asia? No-one's going to have nuked anywhere like Borneo. Dead rainforests would be pretty goddamn creepy. Think about skeletal triple canopy. Huge centipedes. Rad-apes. Maybe a tech-savvy New Hong Kong with a British Imperial Faction. Card playing in a member's club while a mutie that only has a leg works punkah-wallah. Head hunters in canoes. Communist guerrillas in volcano bases. Yeah, baby!

Had my hair cut yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me how good it feels to get hair off one's ears.

1) I am going to charitably assume that the Frech are attacking soda so that more people drink wine. 2) Funnily enough I'd already given some though to the dividing line and reached the same conclusion as GD. Or at least very similar. The key point is a combination of a prolonged period of affect, combined with multiple sources of affect. Obesity, heart disease, depression. These are all things which take time and its hard to lay blame at a single source. Indeed removing a single source is likely to be completely ineffective. Although I'd also give some thought to the feasibility of prohibition (obviously, given my OP). Having sex is a major factor in STIs. But try banning it!

Should just add: I don't give a **** about Steve Jobs. How's Tarna?

There's a lady I'd have my eye on if we didn't have such polarised political views. She's got integrity, and spirit, and that's more than half a romance right there. But I get the same feeling you do, that left wingers are purists. It's as much about how you get there a where you get to. Me, I want folks to be happy, have a decent crack at life, and know they lived. I'm not dogmatic about how that happens (I probably am) . Actually, in general I much prefer being with someone who isn't like me. Fights ensue, but it's ten times more interesting, and you learn a lot in the process. Anyway, good day today. Plenty got done.

One of the strangest websites I've seen ever has at least one person who wants to legalise drugs and free nonviolent offenders http://ifwerantheworld.com/action_platforms/2039 EDIT: Had a proper laugh at the guy who wants "everyone to go to Walt Disney World at least once" Clearly a Disney exec.

You getting enough exercise? Your energy levels sound appalling.

You mean that the both guys who hate the west are fighting each other? I know its wrong of me, but somehow this doesn't feel like completely bad news. I'm no expert on Somalia, but quite a lot of Somalis like the West. After all, bongzillions keep coming here. Free food beats no food. Then ship money home to fund the struggle. Maybe. I still doubt it, tho.

Got to agree with Malc. I come from a shouty-throwy-smashy family. Does you good. In fact, weirdly enough, I was just thinking this morning that apart from a couple of weekends ago in teh pub I haven't had so much as a raised voice in years.

well, obviously they have to be put to the test. But the value of theories of any kind is not just in their paplication. They can force one to think about factors and regiment the rational process. Not to mention acting as a paradigm for book-keeping.

Hardly. The reason people eat what they do is a combination of social and economic factors. For example, in the USA, Detroit was the fattest city in the USA in 2004. It also has some of the largest food deserts in the states. In the average urban neighborhood, you'd have to walk an hour to two hours to get to the grocery store, and there's little in the way of public transport. Unless you have a car, your ability to get fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and milk is quite low. The average apartment doesn't have a pantry, so even if you have a car, you're unlikely to buy things like rice and beans in bulk. Alternatively, you're surrounded by fast food places and convenience stores. I didn't know any of that, but yes. That's the sort of thing I'm really talking about. Functional drivers to the behaviour. If they stay the same then a 'fat' tax is just a tax on folks with no cars who live in badly designed neighbourhoods. Volo, do you take special memory altering drugs? *waves* I'm hardly a communist.

You mean that the both guys who hate the west are fighting each other? I know its wrong of me, but somehow this doesn't feel like completely bad news. I'm no expert on Somalia, but quite a lot of Somalis like the West. After all, bongzillions keep coming here.

Obviously catching up on sleep last night. Slept through my alarm and got 12 hours. Cough almost gone. No goop. Looks like I'm back on fighting form! *coughs* Bugger. Nearly back.

Al Qaeda still pretty real for Somalians: 65 dead, 50 injured. Lovely AlQ inspired shift from trying to run the country to simply refusing to let anyone else run it.

I could see Miami. Something like JG Ballards The Drowned World. Althoug hit's worth noting that Ballard's book works precisely because it's all tropical heat and lizards in central London.

Sorry, Gortho. Never occurred to me that it wouldn't be clear. To explain, a lot of economists and other more human sciences utilise complex numerical models and simulations to help predict an outcome without actually implementing it in the real world. It's how everything from road networks to production lines, and emergency call centres are built. not to mention all the eocnomic forecasting national treasuries do. Of course all these models are dependent on data and how it's interpreted, so there is a margin for error. Plus the occasional "looks great on paper fails on implementation" plans, although I can churn those to lack of foresight. Which when we dealing with drugs counts for a lot since there is a great deal of human factor involved. All very true. But still cheaper than just bashing something into practice. The biggest advantage is in forcing people to think about third order complications. You tax x, x consumption goes down, tax goes down. That sort of thing. Case in point, and I'm just winging it here ... You tax saturated fats, people stop spending money on rubbish saturated fats. Saturated fats as a group turn up in better products, more desirable products, it becomes a badge of quality, eating them becomes aspirational, more people insist on getting some every day. Overall consumption actually increases thanks to middle and upper classes changing behaviour.

Fair point, but really a low tax is just an additional business tax. A high tax will put businesses out of business. The real reason people eat unhealthily is because they like the taste. But in actual fact 'healthy' is a product of much more than just what I stuff in my pie-hole. So far as I'm concerned this is just an attempt to exploit the demonisation of food as 'evil' in order to scour people for taxable revenue. It's badly conceived, and will hit poor people disproportionately. I'm not remotely against improving nutrition. But I would guess that it's got far more to do with the culture and lifestyle we support. Long days, not many people cook at home, people don't eat as families. That sort of thing.

Sorry, Gortho. Never occurred to me that it wouldn't be clear. To explain, a lot of economists and other more human sciences utilise complex numerical models and simulations to help predict an outcome without actually implementing it in the real world. It's how everything from road networks to production lines, and emergency call centres are built. not to mention all the eocnomic forecasting national treasuries do.

OK, I really sounded like a prick there. Sorry Zor. No worries, I wasn't in the least bit offended anyway. I don't think I'll add anything further at this point since this is a fairly well trod argument other than to say that the main bone of contention is probably where the line is drawn at what constitutes AlQ as opposed to regional players like the Taliban. I have read plenty on AlQ though, but have little interest in a citation war. A kind apology and a valid point. I'd also suggest that IF we got into it in more detail it would be as much about the fragility of what we term our interests. If there's one lesson I take from history it's that civilisations feel most unassailable just before they gutter and die.

Well you're about to see whether or not a fat tax works, because in a couple of years Denmark will have solid figures to show you. That's part of how evidence-based policy works. Try things, then a few years later, evaluate their performance. It beats banging to the drum of some blind ideal like "TAXATION IS ALWAYS BAD, AVOID ANY POLICY THAT INVOLVES TAX!!!11" There is such a thing as thinking policy through before applying it. 1. Real world 'trials' have huge costs associated with them in terms of little things like people's lives and businesses. 2. Real world 'trials' by their nature don't tell us what makes them succeed or fail. We may try something and fails due to freak circumstances, or succeed in the same way.

All a sin tax does is make sin something for rich folks. I personally object to treating the poor as if they are children. I have experience of both rich and poor and it's the rich who most often need their noses wiping! Increasingly I am of the opinion that 'health' is the new religion. Sin and virtue measured in high fibre cereal bars...