Walsingham

It's an interesting example, Orogun, but one I feel is deeply flawed. The Afghan population isn't the sea in which the fish swim. They're the damn fish. They need to be secured, enabled, and inspired. Not jailed, disabled, and enfuriated.

This will rpobably trigger a natural disaster in itself, but I have to agree with Volo. Mother nature makes species go extinct all the ***ing time. Stripping down to our skids, and running through the long grass laughing won't save our sorry asses (particularly if we wander through hidden thistles). Survival will only ever be sustainable if we can master our environment, and that means - frankly and cruely - that we suck all the support we can out of this dirtball and hike out exploring in search of more.

Tell us more about Weyler's strategy. I was also appalled to hear today how (according to the Gen. Dannat) Brown left SIX MONTHS between meetings with him, in addition to refusing levels of funding agreed in the 1997-1998 defence review. Which leaves me wondering whether the man was properly incompetent, or positively hostile to our own troops. Which you must keep in mind happened over a perid when spending on non governmental organsiations such as arts funding councils and impotent industry watchdogs rose to more than that of the whole Ministry of Defence! ****ing shocking. But on the bright side, perhaps it merely underscores the point that if we have managed to hang on with a total absence of funds or direction, then what will be able to do if we receive some bloody funds and direction!

It gets better with practice, mate.

I agree that we need a far stronger and clearer commitment to a specific goal in Afghan. Without such a strategic clarity we cannot possibly hope to conduct our campaigns correctly, except by accident. As for defeating the Taliban I think it must be true that they are like an iceberg. Only one tenth obtrudes into the physical world. They are an idea, or perhaps a lack of ideas. Yet history is littered with dead ideas and dead movements.

It certainly is messed up. Poor little sods.

i'm so proud Indeed. Sandwiches are awesome.

Or it could be that the damn thing has already cleared up which is what I just heard on the radio.

Steel is great for acoustics. Allowing you to go with your long held dream of summarising each project meeting with a lingering guitar solo.

for those who don't know this is basically that we shouldn't be constantly increasing our population and should work to lower the amount of people per generation. It's usually proposed by those who are seriously worried about overpopulation which I can understand. This debate rages in Australia constantly. Most Australians do not support the idea of a 'big Australia' and want to limit population growth. Personally I think the ideal solution is for the government to cut all welfare funding which encourages people to have kids. If you can't afford kids within the regular welfare programmes of universal healthcare and welfare, don't have them, or work harder till you can afford to! The government should also actively campaign to educate people to only have 0 or 1 children. This should accomplish a negative natural population growth rate. Then, skilled immigration should be used to maintain population growth at a static level - take the excess from other countries. I full acknowledge this will cause economic hardship at first due to the aging population and skills shortage that would occur. But we can work past this through automation - Japan proves that. That might work... if kids you couldn't afford evaporated like smiling pixies, rather than descending into a hell of crime, exploitation, and polishing my shoes.

If it's not a rude question, how did you get the gig in the first place?

It seems strange that we should adopt a kneejerk reaction of guilty/not guilty on this forum according to our politics, when in so many other cases like that Dutch serial killer guy a lot of people wanted to wait for the court case. Just because the guy runs a website you like doesn't make him NOT a rapist. Nor the inverse.

If it irritated you, I apologise unreservedly. I do have some people I enjoy irritating, but you are not one of them. Dodging abjectly your point about problematic users, I do think that the central problem Holland has is that it takes a 'softer' line than those countries which surround it. Users and losers naturally gravitate there. Which is why our shared preference of convincing all Europe to legalise might fix the problem. I suppose the object of my earlier post was to highlight the perception that Holland is not OK among at least some decision makers and law enforcement, not to mention people travelling there. A perception which needs to be addressed if you use Holland as a case study in your argument.

Well, as I'm sure you'd agree. At least it's work.

This story may also be relevant to the discussion. Although I fear it is another example of U.N.involved in Africa. My tendency is to assert that there are some things which are just plain wrong. Exploitation of a presexual human for sexual purposes simply because they have no one else to care for them, is wrong. My hat's in the ring. And my view on this case is that we should encourage a debate in Afghanistan so they themselves can move on the problem. Lord knows the Taliban should be behind the same objective. For while they are quite happy to explode small boys, they (according to legend) were first inspired to act by rapes of juveniles.

I approve of your gutfelt indignation, believe me. But a thought occcurs to me: can any one soldier be sure any one incident is pederasty? Men east of Suez are just generally touchier feelier than we are to one another. I remember spending a full month in Thailand thinking EVERYONE was gay. It would suck to haul off and arrest someone who was actually being 'normal' with their nephew or whatever. You must also keep in mind that something like this would need to be handled by Afghan law. No matter what you hear in the Guardian we're not the Cylons. All the same, I agree that I'd find it hard to walk on by.

If we really want to help him stay awake, surely we should put together a compendium of creepy asylum centred films.

It seems to me that someone who feels humans are all worthless should begin with himself.

I think it's slightly disingenuous to describe the Dutch situation as 'fine' - which is what you imply. Holland is a transhipment point for many drugs syndicates (amongst others see The Dragon Syndicates *), and has significant issues with hard drugs users (anecdotal from colleagues). * The book is awesome, and Martin may well have died investigating the follow up in Thailand.

I always follow the orthodoxy of the Risk board game. Does anyone have a copy so we can settle this?

Sort of electronica gospel.

I've done some night work, but only on a limited basis. However, when I was studying I would sleep maybe a few hours a night. I'd hit up my library for advice, but it's full of boxes I'm holding for a friend. And I mean FULL, so I can't reach any shelves. Speaking from personal experience be wary of late night snacking. When you are tired you get stressed and you want to eat. Drink water, that will help flush toxins. I love coffee, but my understanding is that it doesn't help you stay awake. You decide. My other advice is to keep busy. Night work is tedious, and that's one of the hardships, and one of the things which stops you sleeping at the end of your 'day'. If you can stay active in your work, then stay active. Push the bounds of what you can achieve in a night every night. If you can't be that active, then try learning a new skill, like a language; or burn calories with some simple exercises.

I couldn't confirm it but I've heard similar. Certainly I've heard that prisoner cages frequently flare up into casual gay sex. In fact the practice sounds more similar to the ancient Greek and Spartan habit than anything from the arabian peninsula. Yes, all you fans of 300, the Spartans were not just enthusiastic slave owners but systematic pederasts. Something that probably turns up in the director's cut just before they start kicking people into pits. However, I'd definitely stop short of hating all Afghans if only for the simple reason that Afghanistan is currently just some lines on a map. The attitudes described here are probably local to certain provinces and ethnic groups. Not to say certain ****ing a-holes.

I remember thinking at the time: " Yeah. Or win, like animals. Like in Puma Man."

Am i the only person who thinks that the boardroom they used for Fallout should have been plated up in steel sheeting? Would have only cost a few hundred quid to do.