Walsingham

Quick! My crucifix! My holy water! Back off, Brussels!

The only things I know about Belgium without having to look them up are 1. Various uncomplimentary things about their military history/defence policy 2. The EU has its evil HQ there 3. Bruges is a town in Belgium, and it's quite a civilised and relaxing place to visit. 4. The chain of restaurants known as Belgo are very very good fun.

Yes, it is odd but we are fascinated with experiences we are unlikely to ever have. I know two men who have served as snipers - one in the Falklands in 1982 and one in Iraq. Neither will talk about it, politely pointing out that killing is a personal, unpleasant experience and not to be boasted about. That, to me, makes them impressive individuals. True. Or at least I agree. The only person I've ever spoken to who had actually killed anyone and was proud of it was a hit man. And I've spoken to soldiers, terrorists, police, you name it... OK, not dinosaurs.

Because the broken section is at sea and underwater? In water full of oil? I'm mainly guessing here. Anyway, according to this TV interview, BP had a plan on file and in place, and are using it.

I obviously should have read the story closer. But to be fair this is surely just 'incestuous weirdoes adopt fruit of male partner's scientifically assisted infidelity'? OK, that does lack snappiness.

It's a fair question, I suppose. Looking at it from first principles you've got a bunch of problems: 1. Large volumes of the noxious material 2. Disrupting the noxious qualities of the material is difficult because crude oil (even light sweet which I believe this was) is actually pretty impervious to most things besides intense heat. 3. Removing the material is difficult because it is toxic, oily (natch, but think about trying to do anything in a frictionless environment), and involves assuming legal liability for something which can destroy your firm or even land you in jail. 4. Disrupting the provision of the material involves operating underwater and out at sea, in a pretty turbulent part of the sea. And dealing with very high pressures in every sense. I'm damned if i can even imagine how they are going to fix this, beyond flailing at it in ways which look good for the cameras and basically letting nature do the dirty work.

Great, so I can help Greece, and offload my spongeing school chums at the same time. I _am_ a genius.

I haven't time to read the piece right now, but the preferred density of troops in WW2 was something like a division to a few miles of front. That's what? 20,000 men to choose from? Yeah, it just sounds so fantastical. He averages killing 7.5 people per day, but how? He was using WWII technology so what was his effective range, maybe 500 yards? So now your a Soviet grunt standing there and your buddy next to you gets the right side of his head blown off. It doesnt seem like too much of a stretch to determine that the sniper is within 1500 feet to your left, lets send the other 19,999 men swarming over there to kill him. Im sure he was awesome, Im just not sure he was that awesome. WW2 rifle technology was actually pretty much aimed at long range fire, because most rifles were pre WW1 vintage designs. Picking one I know a little about, the SMLE was considered effective to a few hundred yards, but had a far greater killing range, out to 1,000 plus. Besides, while I agree that inflation of those figures seems plausible for propaganda, picking off terrified conscripts in high densities seems equally plausible. I'm just saying I wouldn't like to slander a prolific sniper like that just because Stalin was thughtfull enough to throw badly trained, disastrously motivated, and ignorantly lead cannon fodder at him.

I think this is a golden opportunity for Britain which will certainly be missed by anyone as unimaginative as Brown. We should make a deliberate and unilateral move to assist, even if it isn't a huge amount, in direct small scale loans to small businesses. Call it a 'Byron' initiative. Greece's political and upper classes may be feckless, but I'm prepared to bet that ordinary Greeks would remember the kindness. But of course that would only raise questions as to why British businesses are still failing to get loans from British banks.

Which one is Waukeen, again?

Right-of-centre chicks are hotter. Fact. Look at the newsreaders on NewsCorp media outlets. I'm short, fat, and by most accounts pretty crazy. One has to know one's limits. Hot newsreader chicks are out. @Amentep: If only! Hubba hubba. Rowwrrrrr etc.

What app?

I haven't time to read the piece right now, but the preferred density of troops in WW2 was something like a division to a few miles of front. That's what? 20,000 men to choose from?

That reminds me I need to return the copy I borrowed. Well worth a read, although I think you need to read between the lines to get the true story.

If he was LoF he'd probably know already that I can't 'combine weight lifting with running'. I can barely carry a hardback book from the library. Busomjack - I busted my spine a couple of months ago. Not crippled, but seriously impaired. FWIIW I believe he wasn't being deliberately racist. I believe it's a key descriptive feature to picture her voice. A person can be shrill and obnoxious and crazy even if they are black. Although actually by the sound of things she's on welfare so her self-esteem and willpower are probably running on fumes, by contrast to her flesh.

Please. The day I can't trace someone who makes no effort to conceal themselves is the day I get a life. Waitaminute.

Who the hell wants to go badly into debt?

The Talibs really REALLY brick it over our snipers. Although according to many accounts they don't give a **** about any machinegun fire below 7.62.

Actually when I was a small kid we had so little food my mother got gout from eating fruit she would scavenge. True story. I remember the reason I loved the Hobbit so much was that it was a way of 'eating' food that wasn't actually there. Needless to say, times changed with Dickensian fortuitousness. But I adore good rib sticking food. Stews, curries, pasta with meatballs, pies etc. I do like healthy food, but I don't really know how to cook it nearly so well as I can make a killer spread of pampushckii or koeksisters. However, inspired by Killian's recent efforts I have just this minute rung around my friends and found someone who is going to help me get my diet to a healthy 2000 calories. Not dieting, just managing the intake.

*sigh* Since I can no-longer move around I should probably start making changes to my own dite. And like your subject, I don't like eating anything that don't taste good.

They should put cuttings in first aid kits.

But Tigs, my impression of the Koreans is that they are basically the only people who consider the German work ethic to be too frivolous. Ramza, I thank you for taking the trouble to list counters to the public misconceptions. I'm quite prepared to take you at your workd on all points, if you can confirm you stand by them. I did after all say I wasn't sure I understood the story. But I still maintain the rioting is blatantly the best opportunity I've seen in ages for LoF to get his leg over.

After the disastrous introduction at my door, I realised in retrospect that the young lady who canvassed me was rather sexy, so I've decided to make a point of asking her out, and to that end have sent various emails. Who says politics is boring?

I got stuck on Sunday, trying to invent a storyline at short notice. I found that having a randomly selected group of people/organisations who would be involved, plus some objects, and some verbs gave me enough anchors and seeds to work with. I haven't numbered the verbs yet. They will be part three.

It's her fething eggs, though surely? Isn't that what surrogate means?