Walsingham

Hippie? He is on record as saying simulated murder gives him a hard on and he cares nothing for any casualties on the victorious road to socialist heaven. I know hippies. My parents were hippies. Mr Meshugger, LoF is no hippie.

I rather have him dead. If someone points a gun at me then I am going to react to it like he or she is going to kill me, and if someone is going to kill me I want to kill them first. Anyway, the stupid idiot got himself caught 30 minutes later because his getaway car had a busted tail light. With respect for your typical Charles Bronson reasoning, I suspect you've never seen anyone killed. I have and I'd gladly pay 20-40 quid (the most I carry in my wallet) to avoid seeing it again. Moreover ANY time you take a snap decision like shooting somebody you're taking a chance that you're completely wrong. So long as theft is all it is I would cheerfully hand over the cash. None of this is to say that in situations/countries where theft is typically accompanied with murder I'd have any hesitation in carrying a gun and using it. I don't have any less respect fior my own life than some random halfwit's.

I wholeheartedly agree with the first one, and suggest you try The Napoleon of Notting Hill if you haven't already. Neil Gaiman fans might be interested to hear that yesterday he cited Chesterton as one of his favourite childhood authors. I've been meaning to read Finnegan's Wake ever since I went to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company and they made me get up on stage and discuss it while wearing a wig.

The Devil Walks - Roma di Luna Not sure how best to describe them. Like Norah Jones after a two day drunk, maybe?

If the milk is in a jug what happens to the missing kid on the side?

Finished Hammer of the Abyss which was so-so and could be avoided, frankly. no major shocks, although it's interesting to hear about some of the latterly traitor legions before they er... trait. Also finished Adeptus Titanicus which is an absolute snorter. Buy it, read it. Nearly done with Nemesis by Max Hastings, which describes the war against Japan with his typical magisterial grace.

And then he'd be dead. Instead of both of you being alive. Good thing you didn't have a gun, otherwise you'd be a murderer. I agree with Oerwinde here. A clean conscience is worth the price of a drycleaned suit, don't you think? Not to mention the cost of actually getting your suit cleaned.

Kaftan has a point. But it sound to me like she's confused as to why you haven't made a move yet.. if you are just talking and she wants to go back to your place.. no wonder she feels bored! Like Rosbjerg I have no wish to be crude, but young ladies sometimes just want to have fun.

Despite quite a lot of experience I can't pretend to know how to fix the awkwardnesss aspect. There are all sorts of reasons. GD mentions one. Maybe she's also keen on someone else and is wondering which to go for. Or it could be that she enjoys different sorts of dates. Exploration can be fun, as in walking or art galleries, new towns or neighbourhoods. That gives you a chance to compare and contrast how you look at stuff. If GD's right and she's awkward then you can go for more practical task centred dates like canoeing, or shooting the president.

Maybe. but I think he's more sort of that guy from Heroes.

If Queen Victoria had been assassinated early in her reign who would have taken the throne?

Vineyard? If you've abandoned ideas of buying at 14k you could set out precisely why you chose to offer 4.5. Comparisons, issues, etc. Let him see why, he may shift.

I did some benching of very light weights just to keep the muscles in shape - haven't had a chance to discuss matters with a PTI - and noticed that I am actually beginning to look a proper man shape, rather than outsized hobbit shape. Anyway, off to bed now. See how I feel tomorrow when I have to wake up at 0800.

Tried to have a discussion about this in teh pub last night. Turned into a discussion about how to entice a gigantic baby penguin to the antarctic

It's a slighty screwy way of looking at it, but yes I guess that without the environment having a best fit then organisms cannot evolve to suit it. My next line of thinking centres on how finely tuned an organism is to that environment (x). As x changes it may become harder and harder for organism z to fit in. The question then becomes how fast the organism evolves, vs how fast teh environment changes, vs how finely tuned z has to be to the 'value' of x. Subsidiary: DODOS. They existed in an environment without predator pressures.

This. However, if the SU had not recieved any monetary or material aid from the allies and Hitler had prepared for winter warfare, things might have looked different. I think a more relevant question might be why Hitler backed Mussolini. Without the diversion of resources represented by North Africa the wehrmacht would have had use of a couple of divisions, plus one of their best operational generals.

If you get a good one they are invaluable and a excellent tool. That's what they said about women. I say easier said than done. Damn straight.

Misread as: "Massive-head cold."

Not many people around here are looking for exorcisms unfortunately. And if they were they'd probably go to Church or something. I think it's just easier to gather up our volunteers and scare people. Er... excuse me but your name says otherwise. I reckon you could do exorcisms. Atheist exorcisms. With a softball bat and some lemon fresh wipes.

Actually I do know what you mean. I hate hurting people, and yeah fights sometimes hurt. I think I just like the honesty that often comes with anger. You don't know how much someone likes you until you've made them really really mad at you and they forgive you. *ahem* Continuing the theme I couldn't sleep last night, thinking about romance and true love etc. If you've seen the film Chasing Amy and know what I mean... you'll know what I mean. Woke up too late to do a proper day's work, so pottered around, doing admin and making New Year business calls to various people. Tried to play some Dragon Age, but it keeps crashing. Maybe I need a new PC? Roads are too icy to run on, so I'm going to do some circuits around the house.

Whereas you seem to be saying that because something isn't nice it ISN'T real. As Blank says I'm just saying don't discount a force which can move people in ways nothing else can. I've met some insanely tough guys and one they all agree on is that however irreligious they are normally, when the **** hits the fan you start hunting for your dredel.

I see what you mean about pushing on the Italian front, but then if the Germans HAD gone on the offensive this would have suited us far far better than the defensive warfare they resorted to. Had they been required to push over mountains like we were I suspect they'd have been carved up royally. However, without the Allies in France I don't think it would have halted the advance of the Red Army. We'd have just had a Red Europe, and we'd all be speaking LoF.

I just got the game. That is all.

No, because faith has never provided any observable, measurable results. Science has. Faith moves men. End of. That could help justify its usefulness but not its correctness. If Faith can give a man the courage to face death unflinchingly, as it has done on numerous occasions then that makes it pretty damn powerful. I accept that may make it useful, but I do not think it can be discounted, is all I am trying to say. It is real in as much as all our thoughts, dreams, and aspirations become reality through our actions. I suspect that the urge to eliminate the spiritual aspect is as unhealthy as the alternative urge to eliminate the sexual which predated it. Man is more than the big head or the little head, the heart, or the hand.

Only a handful of the world's 200+ countries have nuclear weapons or are seeking to acquire them, most of those do their best to stop other countries from acquiring them, a number of countries have given up nuclear weapons or weapons programmes. Iran doesn't make all that meaningless - and I was careful to say that there were problems and exceptions, but the overall effort has been quite successful, don't you think? I put it to you that if nuclear non-proliferation had been a failure, we would be living in a very different kind of world than the one we have. The same for diseases. Great progress against polio and Guinea worm - held back because some local populations fear vaccines are harmful, but nevertheless a qualified success and tremendous achievement for humanity. I accept your point that non-proliferation has had some success, and so have attempts to eliminate certain diseases. I should also add that I'm not in favour of just quitting without trying on anything involving cooperation. But at the same time your examples illustrate when cooperation will only go so far. When that far isn't far enough our only option is to take an alternative route.