Walsingham

I for one don't want to be part of the Euro, and am very glad the USA is big enough to back us up occasionally. Even if it is always in the lavatory or something for the first couple of years of our fights. Sorry, that's a bit scattershot, isn't it? Bloody brain.

Remember what I said a few weks ago, slugland? You don't live on the mountain. Just enjoy being with her, learn everything you can about her by sharing a few life experiences, go to bed as much as possible, and whenever you aren't doing that, change the rules slightly. Easy to say, harder to do. But I'm sure with your natural quirkiness you'll do splendidly. My back is still wrecked. I'm on ibuprofen properly for the first time in my life. I never usually take painkillers except occasionally if I have to work through a hangover.

AAAARIIIISE! I just watched the film Year One with Jack Black. In it, on the extras on the DVD, they redid this. Vinnie Jones does well.

The NYT already looked into this. In the US the average pay for healthcare was about 2 grand. in the UK, we get roughly comparable care for 800. These figures are obviously going to be a bit rough and ready, but the simplest question is whether US healthcare is twice as good as the UK's and the answer in my experience is NO.

I'm just guessing, but the vocal thing could just be down to teaching styles. Very few people choose to learn classical style, which I assume is the basis for that operatic sound. Similarly the general dumbing down of school education may mean that kids just don't get the formal training to be really creative with their sounds.

I heard from a Norwegian friend that Norway has been the single biggest beneficiary of the post9/11 military activity. They make a lot of subcomponents for other systems. I personally have no probelm with this, but it's interesting, don't you think?

Nah, you are just icing on the cake, and the cake is a lie but the frosting is divine. Icing. Frosting. I just realize that cake descriptors make me feel cold. Well they make me feel hungry. _Cold_? EDIT: Ooooooh.

I'm the exact opposite. I love texting. People don't preamble or waste time because typing is awkward. They simply say where you have to be or what you have to do. Nor do they have space to micromanage. Brilliant.

I probably didn't say it very clearly, but that was kinda my point. Except I was saying that if the host nation has bad labour laws as an endemic feature of their culture then pre-checked factories will swiftly be corrupted.

Good god, i remember Gamma world being advertised in white dwarf 68.

You've only mentioned the mundane components. For a really effective build I suggest you make teh case out of the wooden legs of old sailors, and have a liquid cooling system containing orphans tears.

Not really. Certainly a big world war might drive expenditure, but the big firms do very well out of the simple arms race. Plus an arms race has the advantage of not forcing governments to consider genuine alternatives to the big lads. Or blowing up the arms firms staff and infrastructure.

And the toxicity problems etc? Or have I really got this all wrong?

So i take it you assume my survival was not down to the NHS, but my preternatural skillz?

I agree it's pretty good, although not something I'd normally listen to. But what do you mean dying?

Don't be naive. Given our advances in technology and logistics, do you really think the killing of civilians are truly "accidents" and are really viewed as "collateral" damage by NATO forces? Yes, I do. Have you paid any attention to what is actually happening over in Afghanistan, Visceris? You talk about our advanced logistics, yet our main logistical supply line (75% of supplies) is one of the most dangerous roads in the entire world, freshly mined with IEDs and roadside bombs every day. Our predator drones? They require accurate intelligence to do their job. If our intelligence is wrong (and it will never be right 100% of the time), civilians are going to die. I can't find the original quote, so I'll quote Krez. If you know of a piece of kit, or an intelligence procedure which can infallibly distinguish between an afghan who wants to do us harm and an afghan who doesn't when both are armed, and living cheek by jowl, then for the love of God please tell us what it is. Because I know at least one ex-soldier going through extensive counselling for having unintentionally hit civilians who would be very interested, and would move mountains to get that kit into service. Or, of course, you could be talking total s***, and know nothing about intelligence, airstrikes, Afghanistan, or common sense.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/appl...ild-labour.html Reading this article it strikes me that the real problem is that Apple have comissioned work to be done against a background which has almost inevitably lead to abuse of their workers. By which I mean no matter how hard Apple pushes in retrospect the foundations which they are working with are unsound (by Western employment standards). If this is true it suggests three things to me: 1) Apple's sins are likely to be common to all manufacturers who use Chinese labour 2) The action taken by Apple - which might be effective in Europe - will not stop the problems in China 3) If - and I mean if - one is bothered by this then it is probable that an 'ethical' alternative to Apple may not be possible.

With all this stuf about reckless share trading, does anyone know if VAT is put on share trades? Because I think it ought to be.

I went to Sheffield for the weekend. Best pies ever. Very good ale. However, my back is terrible now, and I have trouble standing for more than a minute or two. I got quite scared about it yesterday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news...-each-year.html Users of blackberry devices end up working on average TEN more days a year. I am feeling even more smug than usual that I refuse to own one.

Good point. Nation building in Japan and Germany took more than ten years, just to get rolling. But by god it stuck. LoF is as usual in lala land about how Japan was an economic collossus rivalling the USA, and Germany was secretly running a first class army, rather than a WW1 army with some WW2 trinkets nailed to it. But that's to be expected from a revisionist.

Erm... EXACTLY! Which would add an element of cool to the process. i.e. if you panic or get angry the insects, which are keyed to your body chemistry react similarly.

That one never gets old.

You do know I was joking, right? Hence the smiley. Except for the taxes part. If a poor person can afford to by a XBox 360 game then he or she can afford an extra 5% sales tax, especially with no taxes being taken out of their paycheck. Sorry. It's LoF's fault for making me believe people can be completely barking mental. I apologise.