Walsingham

I was just reviewing the battle of Maiwand - as you do - to refresh my memory. I found an account, during the general retreat, of the 66th foot after the battle. Their end was recorded by the Afghans themselves, for there were no survivors. Having taken many casualties they first assumed residence in a fortified compound, and unfurling both Colours beat off charge after charge of the enemy. The commanding Major, a lieutenant of Bombay Sappers & Miners, a Lieutenant of the 66th, and a number of sergeants and corporals held the colours while all around khaki figures, parched with black powder, wounds, and a hard day's fighting struggled with the enemy. Flame, bloodshed, and the roar of attacking artillery were all pervasive. To quote from an Afghan officer: "Surrounded by the whole of the Afghan army, they fought on until only eleven men were left, inflicting enormous losses on the enemy. ...These men charged out of the garden and died with their faces to the foe, fighting to the death. Such was the nature of their charge, and the grandeur of their bearing that although the whole of the ghazis were assembled round them, no on dared approach to cut them down. Thus, standing in the open, back to back, firing steadily and truly, every shot telling, surrounded by thousands, these officers and men died; and it was not until the last man was shot down that the ghazis dared advance upon them. The conduct of these men was the admiration of all who witnessed it..."

Er... I meant lightning. Mountain vs mountain would be truly awesome.

*rolls his eyes, like a flirtatious goldfish*

Like ~Di said, congrats! Now then: 1. You are not betraying any confidences by going to Norway to explore the other option. Always seek to fully understand your options. 2. If you think you can say so politely and not seeming like a jerk, then let company A know you're getting solid offers elsewhere. Say that you are extremely interested in them, but in all possible fairnesss you are having to listen to alternatives. 3. Try to work with A to understand their difficulties in setting up a position, and demonstrate you want to help resolve any issues. The peopel backing you may be having to overcome a lack of faith in your abilities, for example, or willingness to move house. Address these issues. 4. I am no programmer, but a specialist in the mechanics of the game engine is going to get more professional respect than an graphics expert. Lots of people love graphics. I would therefore speculate that career safety is better in mechanics. I.e option A. 5. Working in Norway could be fun. It could be good for your career. See if you can convince option B to spice up their offer as a means of getting you. Can they offer you holdiays, training, conference visits?

"People who hate people! Come together!" "No!"

I no lawyer, either civil or military but I think it works like this: 1. Grenade is thrown at patrol. It explodes, injuring but not fatally wounding the patrol. They do not see him throw the grenade. 2. In the aftermath, a number of suspects are picked up. One of them, with grenade splinters in his chest, turns out to be a young foreigner who claims he is visiting relatives in Pakistan. He has chemical traces of explosive on his person and no convincing reason to be in Afghanistan. 3. This is frankly beyond reasonable doubt proof of his involvement, and certainly grounds for detaining him. However, no civil court coudl convict on this because the evidence is circumstantial. 4. The argument given for accepting circumstantial evidence in such cases is that due to resource constraints, and the degree of conflict, military law applies, and that does not insist cicrcumstantial evidence is irrelevant. "Who, me? No, I'm simply in a warzone holding an assault rifle dressed in the uniform of te enemy. I am not a combatant, and you can't take me prisoner." "Who, me? I wasn't deserting. I was simply lost in the trenches, tok a wrong turn, and wound up working as a waiter in a Paris cafe."

Then it becomes murderball, played next to a wall.

Everyone knows Xard's MY alt.

[please note the zombie related newsflash in the zombie survival sticky]

I've had mountain strike a mountainside about 100 yards away from me. Most enlivening! Worst electricity incidents have all been badly wired third world bloody light switches. Nothing is guaranteed to make you less sympathetic to the silly bastards. I quite fancy getting struck by lightning if I could survive with the burned capillary effect I saw on another survivor a few years back (on telly). It was like he'd been tattooed with this amazing fern pattern.

++++ZOMCON 3++++++++++++ News flash: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...don/7513416.stm Officers ask girl to pick up litter, attacked by crowd which gripped and bit them!

I have to back Sand up to a point. There's a massive difference between knowing and appreciating what a grenade will do. At fifteen I could tell you precisely what a grenade, knife, or axe would do to the human body. Many years later I've seen it, and it makes a big difference. However, at fifteen you're still criminally liable in this country, even if you don't have full liability. The law accepts a gradation of awareness. Why can't we?

We both know that even if pancreatic cancer hadn't killed him, Bill would have died trying to singlehandedly storm the whitehouse after the election rigging business.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7510204.stm Made me fall about laughing with evil posh glee.

I may have to use the Catlevania thing to get Station/Complex names. "Ladies and Gentleman, I'll be your guide while aboard the powerplant Rondo of Testicular Cancer and I hope your safety inspection goes well." EDIT: I'm so totally going to name my next crafted sword Fortnight of getting stung by bees.

Look, we should probably have a morality thread if we're going to dicuss it. For my money I don't see why the collective should not define good nad bad in terms of what benefits it, and try to enforec that behaviour. The World is replete with failed states where that doesn't happen. I can't say it looks terribly appealing. The relevance here, I suppose is the rightness or wrongness of what was done to this suspect. To which my response would be to ask what definition of bad would be required to define this as bad?

Judging by that video, I don't think Gitmo would be much of a punishment.

I see someone running, and, clutching my hand, move to join them. but just as I do a cold wet hand grabs my ear and tears it off. The pain is immense, burt I push through it and chase after the other fleeing people in the direction of the harbour.

I don't agree moral absolutes are an abstract. We are designed to have empathy. Pain to oursleves is typically viewed as bad, and pain in others is often viewed as bad. We can dance around it, or ignore it, or try to rationalise the pain away, but beneath the flummery the pain continues. In this case, the guy is having an unpleasant time, but I believe he is being treated in a way which minimises his discomfort. Which is a damn sight more than he did to the poor blokes he threw a grenade at.

True.

Mmmm... sugar frosted greasy knoll.

If he smokes a pipe nonchalantly whilst doing this then I'm all for it to be honest. Would be the epitome of awesome. We got taught how to shoulder roll in training a few weeks ago, but they refused to teach me becaus eof my broken rib, which still fething hurts.

Kicking a footabll through a window is 15 year old hijinx. Throwing hand grenades at a patrol of soldiers is volunteering for adult status. In any event, the point of my question is how harshly do you think he's being treated?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7507216.stm Secretly filmed (presumably by the man's lawyer) I was a bit confused by this. Certainly the man is upset, but as far as the interviewer goes I've given people a harder time during a job interview than the Canadian officer does. Mention is made of his wounds, and that's serious, but a) we can't actually see them b) anyone who tosses grenades about is likely to catch some shrapnel, particularly if they are unskilled c) you are unlikely to treat a suspect's wounds, since they might die, rather cancelling out the advantage of having caught him d) far from illustrating an interview process that is aggressive, the interviewer tells the guy he's obviously too upset, and he's going to come back when he's calmed down! Given the incident was clearly filmed as a showboating exercise by the suspect, I find the whole thing a non-starter. But I was very interested to see what everyone else thought.

I am shocked and appalled. I grew up near farm land. The farmer used to give them away for free. I'm not condoning eating people's pets, however. I'm saving up for a pet pig, and would be distressed if anyone ate him. How would you like it if I commented on devouring men who smoke pipes? You mean like in a zombie thread?