Walsingham

I'm absolutely sick of British Telecom. this POS Homehub they 'gave' me doesn't work, and has security issues. The service keeps going wrong, and ironically it's impossible to reach them by phone. Has anyone got any good things to say about competitors? I'm bloody switching.

I bought the powered USB hub in the end. I'll let you chaps know how it goes.

I don't think foster care is the solution. If a family can be 'fixed' in toto and in situ then surely that's to the good? I agree with Monte over there about this being a feckless media stunt, but I do think the underpinning logic is sound. Far too often we sweep the toughest cases under the carpet when we should orient on them and not quit until they're resolved. I mean we're talking about families who are as adrift in life as a normal joe would be on a desert island. We need a multi-disciplinary team to head on in there and give them a full life makeover. I may be being swayed by my experiences in the last few years with my mum. Everything is stovepiped, and no single authority takes responsiblity for the problem, and doesn't get to go home until its fixed. This is something General Jack Horner gets pissed about and i agree with him.

Fantastic irony: I was just looking up bible quotes for the apocalypse thread, and was reduced to incoherent, fevered, and obscene language by the unbelievably poor web design of the swivel-eyed loons who record bible quotations. If only they could be told the holy results of their efforts!

When I was at boarding school we had an epidemic of nightmares in the 3rd form boys. Us prefects (the good oens, anyway) got quite concerned. Thought it could be bullying or worse. Long story short it turned out the stupid bastards where reading Revelations to each other in the dorm before going to bed! I tell you man, the Bible knocks Stephen King into slanted hat.

I don't think he's exactly getting political now - he was editor-in-chief of the Telegraph, after all - but he may be becoming more vociferous now. And like a lot of ex-DT journos, of course, he's gone over to the Mail (and vice-versa, leading to the ghastly Mailograph now sold). I'm comparing it with his earlier stuff about the Falklands. I must confess that I read the Telegraph, because it seems to be the only paper that feels it sensible to employ defence correspondents who have actually been in the Forces. Weirdly, i prefer the Guardian for political coverage.

Sentience does not necessarily imply thinking like a human. Kilian here is proof of that. Miserable bugger.

Good thinking. Monsters would be a cool scenario. Would that fall under a kind of Day of the Triffids feel, or The Leviathan Wakes? In the latter the monsters engage in planetary engineering.

I just love the idea that history organises itself along lines of what is right and wrong. The fall of a civilisation, with all its people, thoughts, art and ideals is no more right or wrong than rain fall. It's a consequence of actions and events. Personally I fail to see why one should get more animated about the conquering of the Native Americans than the conquering of the Welsh. Or for that matter, the Celts. Understand it, be saddened, fine. But the fall of a militarily feeble culture is as predictable as a sandcastle getting washed away at high tide. It's just a matter of time.

What, no Fatboy Slim? Right here right now.

I'm not an expert, but I'm just going to put my perspective out there and you can shoot me down as necessary. 1. I agree with the central logic at work in the proposal 2. I have zero confidence in this government being able to implement the solution implied by the logic By point 1 I mean that I've read a lot of reviews behind recent large scale screw ups. I keep tabs on murder cases, multiple rape cases etc etc. A common feature is 'problem families'. Such families are criminal factories, and abuse mills at worst and watery-faced ne'erdowell generators at best. I back that persecptive up by talking to friends who work in psychiatric care and the social services. With such families the one-size-fits-all approach of social support does nothing. It merely funds their failure. I'm engineer-minded, and to my mind it seems logical to do SOMETHING about the problem. Like cleaning out and stitching up an infected wound.* *An engineer with an interest in medicine.

I'm just going to let that comment about Venezuela carry itself, like the glorious final note of a concerto.

The Forum Guidelines are strong with this one.

The Colony? What dat?

Armageddon Max Hastings A big fat book about the fall of the Reich. Rather apposite considering the fuhrer-bunker feel of the house at the moment. Hastings is a good guy all round, and while getting political in his old age it's hard to undermine his scholarship.

A robot that runs like a human? You mean infrequently and wearing bad shorts?

Crappy few days. The parental unit is still alive, but her failing liver means she is literally swelling up with lymphatic fluid. Even my pointing out that with judicious pressure I could leave a smiley face on her arm she wasn't happy. Having expected something like this I had the forethought to order (finally) a DVD boxed set of Star Wars. I'm watching it now, and have been enjoying the childish thrillsw. What do you suppose hapens to a person who hasn't got any of these happy childhood memories? I'm obviously becoming a dirty old man however because at the sequence where Leia got shot by stormtroopers I idly wondered what she was wearing under the white robes. My innocence is gone forever.

I'm no techie, but buying three copies and spending hours on it means you get my support. Come on, boffins!

Cool cartoon, man. I'm showing that to my mum.

Don't mind LoF. He has yet to suggest a single practical step to achieving his notional utopia.

I'm just re-watching Dawn of the Dead (latest remake), and a thought occurs: Left 4 Dead was cool, but it missed some of the best bits of the genre. Survival isn't just about guns and shooting. It's about other stuff. It occurred to me that what we should do is compile a list of all the key aspects of survival post-apocalypse, be it meteorite strike, plague, zombies, nukes you name it. The idea I had for the game, and it could be a board game or a video game, is divided into a few of stages. Basically, looking at it logically, the tougher you make things for yourself in teh short term, the more likely you are to make it the whole distance. - Pre- event Go active too soon and you may fall foul of the law, get arrested for being insane or looting etc. - During event Nature of event is random. Won't be clear immediately. Tactical action. Survival is difficult, but this is going to be crucial to the later game, because this phase is where you accrue assets: other survivors, an immediate bolt hole, weapons, supplies. Go for the richest sources of each and you will come into more competition, and probably have to travel further. - Bolt Almost any event is going to involve an immediate phase of bolting. That means going to ground in a location that will permit basic needs to be maintained, such as sheltering you from volcanic ash, or smallpox victims. The bolt hole will make physical survival a bit easier. However, this is where you enter another tricky stage. A good short term bolt will be small, with plenty of ready food and water, and be occupied by only a couple of people. Your other group members will be a big issue. A disparate group from lots of backgrounds will be difficult to lead and control. They may freak out. they may try to kill you. They may be drunk or lazy or philosophers. You have to maintain yourselves, and somehow forge a working community. - Intermediate existence Survival in the mid-term will involve more than just food and water. Long-term psychological health needs space, and a working group dynamic. You need to decide how you are going to be organised, and make some tough decisions about whether you can cope with the only doctor's bad attitude, or the mechanic's criminal tendencies. If you choose to move locations at this stage the tactical situation could be extremely tricky. Do you encounter more survivors? Are they competitors or do they want to join? Do you want them? - Long-term existence In the long term we're talking about fully sustainable amenities and food. But we're also talking about the next generation. Will they grow up educated? Tribal warriors? Retro-democrats? Will they be able to maintain the loaction you have chosen? Will they try to overthrow your rule? You are also going to earn points based on long-term competition with other survivors. can you recolonise the country? ~~~ Ambitious, but it could perhaps be broken into chunks, with each release taking data from games from the previous stage. Eventually building into a total survival simulator.

ROFL.

I'm perfectly happy for you chaps to 'rpove' Obama was Kenyan. that would make him former commonwealth, and then we could nick him. God knows we need a decent hitter. Brown vs Obama. that really would be a short battle.

If it were me, I'd volunteer for mine disposal. Face first on big IEDs.

I'm not a fething absent minded professor, thank you. Feudal retainer, possibly. Bad news today. My mum's liver failure has accelerated and it turns out (though we weren't told) that cancer is in her stomach. Thanks, chaps. Overall I'm getting pretty pissed off with how the medics seem to see this as a beaureaucratic exercise, and not as a fight for survival. Information isn't being shared, plans aren't being oriented on said information, and there is a total absence of 'can do' spirit. Off tomorrow to the parental abode. In all honesty, probably for the last time.