Walsingham

What is not a realistic option on either moral or practical grounds is simply up and leaving. Afghanistan isn't some magical fairy land which we can just leave through some stargate. It's the defining task for the age, and will impact hugely on the future of Pakistan and Iran and Central Asia, and by consequence India's teeming millions, not to mention the balance of all the fossil energy in the world. The great difficulty in tackling the Talibs and Al Qaeda is that they are something like an iceberg or weed. Only the expressions of them are human and material. 99% of them is 'submerged' in the realm of the conceptual and political/psychological.It's in people's words, and thoughts. That doesn't mean that it can't be fought, it just means that we need a plan which doesn't rest solely on the poor bloody infantry and sapper engineers getting shot up and shooting people. Which, as I say, is why we need a coherent and energetic approach to working with the Afghans. Something I have yet to see from HM Gov. Karzai is indeed a bit of a problem. In my opinion it's clear that civil reconstruction is the next operational objective to break from the cycle we're in. I don't really see how that can happen when Karzai is discredited, and a number of his friends, relatives and advisers are implicated in drug dealing and general malfeasance.

I think we're in danger of conflating a couple of things. 1) Abuse with substance abuse Gorgon makes an excellent point that it is posible to form a dependance on many things, and to harm others as a consequence. He also points out that it is instructive to consider how much of this abusive and or reckless behaviour is a consequence of the criminlisation of the substance and the high price of the substance. 2) Marijuana, and ecstasy with heroin and crack Ironically this is precisely what I'm complaining about the government doing. Regarding all drugs as critically dangerous drives law enforcement and countermeasures into a 'broad front' approach which is inefficient, and ineffective. Putting cannabis and ecstasy on too high a footing robs resources from the serious drugs. It also risks discrediting advice on the serious drugs. 3) HM Govt with the US govt I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I am a modest expert <sic> on the history of organised crime and its countermeasures. There is an acre of difference on every level between the two govts. I wouldn't expect the US govt to take scientific advice on threat levels because they've never done so in the past. In the UK this used to be the procedure, but this particular administration is ignoring it.

Oh, well that's ok then.

Getting haunted is very scary and unpleasant you know. I would rather keep my unpleasant scary experiences to a minimum. What a curious attitude you colonials observe.

LOL. Are you SURE you're not English? 'Seemly'? I have to ask if you used a high WIS/CHA character. You need to be pretty switched on to get the most from your companions. You also have to choose the right dialogue, which adds to the awesome.

Natural in the sense that there was not enough food to feed the Ukrainian farmers and the urban workers, and the government chose to prioritize the urban workers. There are many causes for the famine; many Ukrainian farms left large areas untended, for example. For example, the suppression of Communards, or the Tragica Semana. The scale is not quite the same, but Russia is a very big nation and the Bolsheviks were a very big group. It is important to remember that the people purged were not all killed, but the vast majority were imprisoned after a trial. Of course, I'm talking about the political angle here; the officer purge is totally different. I wait... oh... no hang on... it's LoF. Naturally he'd say the famine was down to an unfortunate series of Trotskyite fascist collaborators and wreckers.

Just like Oblivion. If they can't get more voice actors, at least get ones who can alter their voice to sound different. Surely this could be achieved by a fat guy from New Jersey called Walt alternately whacking them in the throat or groin with a length of plank?

How do I find out what I've got now?

Even assuming you were correct, Sando, how would you establish what WAS appropriate? Exactly how punished should I be for stealing a pencil case? Punching a vicar? What if the vicar had really weird teeth and spat when he spoke?

What the hell happens if you DO forget? You get haunted by the ghost of party-poppers past? EDIT: Stayed up late last night, playing Red Orchestra, and listening to the In the Mood for Love soundtrack. I was playing a sniper map, and the ponderous bittersweet melodies made me actually effective as a sniper which I never usually am. Came in second or first most games. Upbetimes, and had a lie in. This may not seem remarkable but I just realised I haven't had an actual lie in in the five years since we found out my mom had cancer. Lay in my remarkably comfy bed, reading a couple of books, and listening to the wind hoovering the autumn leaves.

I think it's damned irresponsible dressing up as zombies. You'll like as not get a fridge dropped on you.

Strangely enough, giggling like a little girl is exactly how I imagined you. Glasses flashing in the light of the fire, and sweating with revolutionary enthusiasm.

Only two bits of advice: 1. Choose something that can be said clearly and intelligibly on the phone. There is nothing more tedious than spending the next ten years enunciating and spelling it all out. 2. Do what I did. Bought a bottle of absinthe, gathered my friends and todl stories and drank teh absinthe until the name emerged naturally. Note that part two bolsters part one.

Hungover today, but still disappointed no children came by. I had turnips to give them as treats. It occured to me that an alternative approach to Halloween would be to go around houses asking people for their scariest stories or facts in exchange for sweets. You could write them down, and sleep very badly afterwards.

The notion that jihad-fascist terrorism only exists because of some wrong were doing to the 'muslim world' is balls. It's just excuse making. On a fundamental level jifascism is a revolutionary doctrine espousing total world domination in a single ummah. The only 'provocation' such a view requires is that we are not yet bowing before it. As for bleating about them having 'no' army, as you so quaintly put it, that is their responsibility not ours. And if I had no means of defending myself I wouldn't have been so provocative. I'd say it was less us bullying them and more 'suicide by superpower'.

My comment was mostly for Flyboy, Alan. I simply consider "rehab" as a slap on the wrist. An insult to the victims of these criminals. I take it you've never done rehab?

Further quote from Prof. Nutt: But don't worry. It's not as if we've got a shortage of government money or anything. It's perfectly sensible to spend that excess money fighting a battle we evidently can't win, for no scientific reason.

Enoch's right, of course. Running strange routes is bad, and you have to make sure the damn thing is full.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8334774.stm Yet another example of this government being incapable of taking tough decisions and hoovering around for the cheap vote. The chief scientific advisor to the government makes a very reasonable case that the drug classifications for cannabis and ecstacy are inconsistent with the observed facts. Yes, there are risks associated with taking them, but they are 'no worse than riding a horse'. I don't take either, but I find it ridiculous to assert that an individual is within their rights to mountain climb, and drink, and smoke, but not to pursue a recreation differentiated solely by the fact it comes in chemical form only. Anyway, as the articles says, rather than tackle the facts the government fires him. In itself a remarkable move from a government which rarely fires anyone for anything. And with all this in mind I deliberately going out to buy some high cholesterol fish and chips, and drink eight pints of real ale. And if I go astray afterwards and wind up in the park I may be having unprotected sex with one of the 750 criminals the government announced they have lost.

But surely the US is anti-regulation of industry? Mind you, come to that, I can't think of any European government which would have the balls to take on FIFA.

Nice and clear. Cheers.

Man has a point, assuming that means what I think it means. And I don't actually know what it means.

I can see on review that I wasn't clear. I'm obviously in favour of big bulk container ships. I mean, they're an example of what I'm talking about. Very Large bulk carriers are simply more efficient than many smaller ones (loading, maintenance, and crises aside). Most of that ship's operations are common sense, and not so different to the trend of the pre-green era. But the concept design they showed later in the report is frighteningly pie-eyed. they want to put a sensitive receptive moving wave harness underneath the main hull? What happens if it breaks? More than likely it will require a trip to a refitting yard, or a specilaist engineering team flying out to fix it in place. Never mind the risk of it disturbing the sea handling of the vessel. Ships aren't smooth just because ship engineers are boring! The large sails I can almost see working... until you consider the fact that existing dock facilities are designed to topload. ... It's so much heartwarming fantasy, and if we really are in line for a serious crisis then we can't afford to **** about.

Odds are, though, that they'd just put Gaunt's Ghosts to the screen. As terrifyingly awesome as Ibram and the First-and-Only are, I'd like to see something new. Whoever they decide to go with as protagonists, though, 'Nids have to be included. ALWAYS. The Ghosts would get my vote. Would have to be Paul Bettany for Gaunt. He's the only actor I can thin of who would carry off the complexity of the character. Of course, I also think they should have it with Earth people instead of Tanith. Fling together a mess of Yanks, Brits, pacifists, the elderly, a big stew of people being forced to cope with Guard discipline and the 40k universe in general.

I hope my lack of comprehension is just the flu... You're saying there's two kinds of HD? And I should put my basic files on the SATA, and have one of these SSD things to run all the programs off? Hrm... I wonder if i should just wait until next year and get a new PC? Surely if I upgrade far enough I'd need new macguffins to keep up with the HD?