Walsingham

Wikipedia is like being at a particularly drunk party at a convention centre. Loads of people, some mental, some experts, trying to tell you stuff.

My favs so far; "custe" and "copaste" for functionality Any more flowery words? Copaste should be the technical term. but how about the action of copasting smugly, or ineptly?

I think I've managed to derail us. Gitmo detainees. Some innocents, but mostly highly dubious characters? If so, why on Earth would anyone want them?

kirottu is simply referring to the practice of most international bodies, of only counting sex with him. Because after you've had kirottu, nothing else comes close. The language Afrikaans was invented by the South african government in the 1950s. The original form of Afrikaans, spoken for over 100 years was outlawed.

I'm back at work, and am so far fulfilling my new year's resolution to give less of a **** on presentations. It's making work a lot faster.

The name of my first pet was Darth Vader. Iran's fourth largest export is textiles, the majority of which are carpets.

I see where you're going, but I don't think it works. Some things just aren't safe until they actually work. It's like saying that its ok to drive your car with faulty brakes because you can't afford to fix them. The health things are a good example, but of a different issue. They are good, well defined, slow issues that don't move quicker than the bureaucracy that is managing them. Unlike military-political situations.

My favourite so far. i was thinking something like "hufflug"

Does this remind anyone else of a game of Illuminati? i love that game. What they need is an online version.

I'm in the middle of writing presentation, and it has occured to me that we need a new word for the phrase "cut and paste". The inclusion of the "and" in the middle messes with grammar something fierce. Recalling our recent heated discussions on the English language it seems to me that we should be able to concoct a new single word which elegantly or crudely sums up the action of cutting and pasting. Once options are presented we will vote in the second round, and then try to spread the meme as far as possible.

Rise of the Argonauts damages Greek mythology? Wow, I didn't realise a mediocre game was so powerful. But I would say it does. But I mean in the total sense of a product. It's like someone badly reproducing my arguments on something. If they butcher it enough then they discredit me by association. It's like Michael Moore giving anti-Bush people a bad name.

Oh, it's a beautiful and fun game I had quite a high temperature today and yesterday, yet needed to learn for an examn on monday - this was a partially surreal experience, always on the brink of a fever dream about semaphores and monitors, scheduling with stupid multilevel feedback queues... Ah fever, the impoverished or aristocratic Englishman's drug of choice.

Any insights, anyone. I wanted to have some sort of epiphany, but I drank the wrong beer.

I can't think of one example where the UN has handled anything remotely successfully. Commitments are patchy, command structures bloated and sluggish, attention spans butterfly thin. And that's before you factor in the inherently creaky mechanisms of UN mandates. So, help me out, here. Back more on topic, in theory the UN should handle resettlement of such people. In fact it ought to be capable of interning such people, where no-one is willing to take them. It won't because it's fundamentally flawed as it stands. N.B I'm basing my opinion of the UN on 1. The news 2. A friend of the family who works for the UN and has just won an OBE for his work 3. The books 'Shake Hands with the Devil', 'World's most Dangerous Places' and 'Emergency Sex'

I've got to stick up for Kaft on this. Lazy copying is like poor quality knock offs of any variety. They don't do the purchaser and favours, and damage the original product. I can't imagine taking a bad adaptation of anything I liked very well. *thinks* I suppose that also, just like a fake rolex it undermines the cachet of 'possessing' an original. i.e. when everyone THINKS they know about the mythos x then really knowing about it becomes almost tacky.

Pets would be the perfect disguise. Youknow the CIA tried to bug cats during the Cold War?

Porter's can be awesome, but they give me one hell of a hangover.

What I wanted was the total and elimination of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, have the bulk of US forces leave and then have a joint UN effort to rebuild Afghanistan. Well that's fine then. Because clearly the Talibs and Al Qaeda wear badges identifying them as such, and you know, the UN is so GOOD at dealing with complex long term commitments.

Kind of on our last life, with Mom's cancer. I stayed on longer at the old ranch, but immediately got a cold. Am now actually lying in bed with said cold. thanks to genius laptop. Watching/listening to BBC comedy FOR FREE on their iplayer, and playing old DOS games.

I can't wait to see the Hollywood version of these forums. I'll be evil, of course.

I never said I had a problem with invading Afghanistan, just Iraq. The invasion of Afghanistan was justifiable, Iraq wasn't. If I recall, you wanted to go in, shoot a bunch of people and then leave. Or did I misapprehend you?

I like the fact that Mexico has overtaken Iraq in violent deaths, but no-one in the media seems terribly fussed,

Oh so now your an esquire eh wals? I don't suppose you also do crab fishing in the alaskan seas and nail hot chicks in adult film on the weekends as well. What the hell is it you actually do becuase I'm confused. For high-end litigation, all manner of consultants are often retained to help make the client's case. I recall Wals' summary of his vocation as a kind of freelance scientist. When the object of the suit is overtly technical, it is not uncommon for experts in the field to be involved in litigation strategy discussions and the like. Anyhow, best of luck with the family issues, Walsy. (And with the likely hangover to come.) It's been really cool how many people have been contacting me to offer support. Actually, i was being non-technical on the job, and was more being used to model the respective cases. Hence we got bored for a while and had a crack at the the Arab-Israeli conflict.

We had a crack at this a couple of nights ago using game theory. Basically, neither side can actually agree to peace long-term because it would mean self-destruction at the state and personal political levels. It can't realistically end. I don't like it, but that's just the way it is.

Had good New Year by virtue of key points to my plan with my mates: 1. Began with huge roast lamb tea at 1600 hrs 2. Drinks had in chain of pubs, separated by walking 3. More eating throughout evening, and cups of coffee 4. Stopped drinking after midnight 5. Ate more food before sleep two hours later. All the food and non-booze fluids really helped.