Walsingham

I think part of the problem is a disagreement about how we want the world to look. We can't objectively discuss the merits of anyone's policies independent of context. I'll probably be found too be hypocritical, but for starters I'd like to see a universal respect for the key human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness _across a broad timescale_. That is I can accept things getting worse before they get better. But in the end that's what I'm after for all folks, white, brown, Christian, atheist, Muslim etc.

I still say he's a corrupt hole, but he's also the only presidentto do anything concrete about the Taliban. The Taliban, in case you've somehow forgotten, are the same guys who just issued a 'warning' that they will kill any girl who goes to school. But that's fine. I'm sure it's just me and Volo who feel it's immoral to stand by idle.

But you're a freaking hyper-individualist. You'd let your neighbour's house burn even if you knew that if you didn't your own might go next, just to prove the point that he should've put in better fireproofing. Thanks for clarifying, Aristes. Your argument hangs together internally much better now. However, I would suggest that Iraq is in fact evidence of what happens when ther IS a well established underground. You had resistance movements, who, while supine were experienced and determined. You had all the paramilitary Baath organisations who'd been trained for covert resistance. Saddam had aimed to fight a guerrilla war until the Coalition pulled out, and he could rise again. Then Al Qaeda and Iran shouldered into the mix, and fun has been had by all. Which is another point you don't seem to address. You seem to imply that everything is down to use great white fathers and the 'natives' have no say in anything. They do, and the current improvments prove how great a say they have. They're sick of the violence, and have been acting to assist efforts against it. Good to have you back Dark Helmet.

No. What you 'proved' is that SAS operators, working in disguise* got picked up, by the police _while investigating police corruption_. These same police then held them hostage. I actually know a guy who was in on the raid, and it was well known that elements of the Basra police had been infiltrated by Shia militias. But I guess only fine upstanding westerners are mentally capable of being corrupt. Who are you? Miriam Makeba? *Or 'under cover' in technical parlance.

If a small elephant touched me in the wrong place I'd kill it, too.

I was on the point of ordering Red Alert 3, until I remembered the DRM thing. Wankers.

*puts hand up* That was me being a snob. Sorry. I just think the James Clavell translation is the best for explaining the concepts with clear concise examples. I quite enjoy getting second hand stuff and stuff from charity shops. It's often of excellent, if dented quality. I suppose it comes of years of looting corpses in RPGs.

I have just forcibly restrained myself from launching my laptop out the window like a frisbee. I'm doing a presentation, and for some reason I can only change the highlighting colour for some of the boxes in my flow chart. No explanation, no keyphrases to help me search. Just "Nope. Ahuh. some autoformat feature is preventing you from changing that." Give me back control over my bloody programs you sons of ****es! I do not require my food pre-chewed, my nose blown, or my **** wiped. Leave me the **** alone to get on with my work!

Which translation?

Indeed it is. Aside from for entertainment, I'd recommend it to any ex-servicemen looking to go into private military (of which I suspect we are about to have many, on an unrelated note). When I was a young lad I had a mentor who was ex-merc. Very good guy. But he advised me against it. Ditto several senior NCOs of my acquaintance. Full of nutloops, and always on guard against getting ripped off.

Sad, but true.

Ditto. I could easily go with that. *thinks* Maybe if our guy had something wrong with his left hand. Like it was a fake, or a hook? If it won't be in this version,make sure you shoot his hand off at the end so we can have it in the next one. Actually having only one hand would be pretty cool. I spent about three years unable to use my left hand until a kindly neurosurgeon fixed it. You learn to do lots of stuff one handed, and that can look cool.

Congratulations. Now start trying to book for Valentine's day.

Yup. It doesn't mean he's wrong. A whole bunch of guys just want to serve their time and get out. But equally without wanting to be harsh I'd also point out that this could be why he didn't get a great deal of his time in the service. It's like becoming a beet farmer when you're allergic to beets. I should give most of the credit for that insight to my company sergeant major, when he was explaining why we should care about the Rules of Engagement. I just remembered and rephrased it slightly.

I was thinking about this faster than light business. The statement that you can never accelerate beyond the speed of light seems fundamentally bogus, as a naive science cretin. This statement implies that speed is solely correlated with acceleration, but I can't think of any example of a pure 1 to 1 correlation. This in turn implies that other factors have to be at work. if that is the case, what is to stop us leveraging those other factors to produce superior speed? Or have i simply filled my synapses with christmas pudding?

I spent boxing day with my girlfriend's family. I was terrified to discover that two of the guys from The Office were there. Really very down to earth. Apparently, Steven Merchant is hung like a mule.

I just shudder to think what this guy and Onur the Courageous could have come up with together.

I haven't played it single player. I would suggest that it is designed for multi-player, since that is quite cool.

I am indeed an incomplete waste of space.

Is that a starwars quote?

Huh!

Hugh Hefner has nothing on Shryke. In similar vein I have a complaint. I spend the last 12 months on short rations, and finally decide to go for one woman (who is fantastic, to be perfectly clear). Then in the last four days I've been asked out twice by women ten years younger than me, and approached by two ex-girlfriends with the waggling eyebrows etc. On behalf of all men everywhere can I PLEASE ask you females to... FORM AN ORDERLY QUEUE? Is that really so much to ask?

What the hell is that for?

Semisonic - Closing Time

Made me laugh. You're saying that amongst the handful of troops we've ever had in Iraq they managed to hide and conspire to carry out demolitions on a massive scale. Yeah. Clearly that was down to British Army officers and not the trained insurgents of the Mehdi army and their IRGC backers. Once again, your speculations fall over because you have zero first hand knowledge of anything except the internet. The British Army is like family. It's tiny. There's absolutely no ****ing way you could reliably use anyone who'd been through any of the training establishments without them bumping into folks who knew them. Hence my contention that the entire structure would have to be rotten. It clearly isn't rotten, so your theory fails. And I speak as someone who knows and has employed/worked with Army intelligence and SAS types. As for your scientific errors, actually you DO have the burden of proof, as taks has said repeatedly. We both have engineering training, I have mentioned my friend who is a specialist in damaged buildings, and it all looks kosher. You have 600 experts who disagree? We have the rest of the entire ****ing world. Not only is the burden of proof on you as the divergent source, but taks and I have a record on the fora to fall back on. We don't lie, and if we get something wrong I think we generally admit it. So ante up.