Walsingham

All good so far. I already know If. I _am_ English after all, in old fashioned style.

I saw this article on the Beeb http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7002732.stm and keeping in mind the sometimes strident bemoaning of religion I thought it most apposite. I am not a religious man, but I see far too many religious men drawing extraordinary courage and goodness from religion to write it off. I am not for a moment religion is always good, but neither is it always bad. To put it another way I've seen men being hospitalised over supporting the wrong sports team. I've never seen anyone go to the third world and help people for their sports team.

Right, as some of you know already I decided a while back to put my money where my mouth was and take the Queen's shilling as a lazy fat reservist. I've been through all the selection hurdles so far and am off this weekend for the final tests. This time next week I shall either be in uniform or gorging myself on pizza while not moving an inch and revelling in a new pair of slippers, content to be an old fart. I need your help by way of you suggesting poetry for me to memorise and recite (silently) while on my test. I have always found poetry very settling, and focussing. All things are welcome, and I will be running through them in my head as I get beasted about.

Aw. That cracked me up.

I've been watching a lot of Mystery Science Theatre. It's awesomeness knows no bounds.

Are we finished talking The Onion, btw?

That's just my cologne.

Er... like I say, The Onion is very funny. My favourite point-counterpoint: Point: Blowing wheelchair bound old men up with helicopter launched missiles is OK as long as they're terrorists. Counterpoint: Blowing wheelchair bound old men up with helicopter launched missiles is awesome. Well, the truth always comes out eventually - sometimes as a joke. Could it be that you guys really like killing? Maybe all you want are good excuses and socially acceptable targets for the show? I know what the warrior culture take is on these types of issues. Murder is justified by it's success. Peace through victory. Etc. What is the Christian take? We were talking about joking, and the PURELY satirical newspaper The Onion. www.theonion.com

Language, gentlemen, please. If you continue to raise the bar in fury then how are my addled tirades at Sand supposed to stand out?

you mean what if you propelled about 1.5 metric tonnes out of your schnozzle every time you sneezed? Your flat would be a mess, let me tell you.

Accept: I don't think you propel enough physical material out in a sneeze to do that.

George Martin is sick? AGH! I love his work. George Alec Effinger dying set me off. He was a truly unrecognised genius. His Budayeen novels were awesometastic.

Er... like I say, The Onion is very funny. My favourite point-counterpoint: Point: Blowing wheelchair bound old men up with helicopter launched missiles is OK as long as they're terrorists. Counterpoint: Blowing wheelchair bound old men up with helicopter launched missiles is awesome.

Don't get me wrong, Dr Dre is a genius. But not everyone in his stable is his calibre.

I only read one Robert Jordan. I can't recall why i didn't carry on the series. But I do remember it having that odd quality marking a classic.

Really? I figured your mucus membranes would be all moth-eaten.

You won't even slow him down. He's like a gleeful bee.

What does that even mean? Where are you getting your facts from, anyway? We can trade reading lists and first hand sources if you like. I even organised and hosted a mini conference on the region for press and military a couple of years ago. I'm more than happy about comparing notes.

Even though you are being challenged on this very point in another topic you're still pirouetting about sounding off on it! Al Qaeda links are debateable, but there's freaking video footage of Saddam handing out cash prizes to the families of 'Palestinaian' terrorists prior to the invasion!

The Story of the Man who Went out Shooting by the Tigerlillies.

Not always, it depends on as sub-type -the mortality rate ranges from ~40%-~95%-. If you say so. Even 40% is extreme for most diseases. Plus I can't imagine you'd ever be very well again.

I love the Onion.

Don't be ridiculous. Al Qaeda were a powerful legion in the Talib war machine, and a useful source of authority "Look at us, we're part of a global Islamic revolution". But Al Qaeda were not the whole government. Saying so betrays a complete misunderstanding of Afghan power politics. As usual you are painting everything with your 'I've read about this on Wikipedia and in the papers' brush. On the subject of Al Qaeda in Iraq, since their involvement is a legitimate casus belli, http://www.regimeofterror.com/ Goes into quite some detail about Saddam's links to Al Qaeda. I've said efore that I didn't think there were any links, but this site has made me think again.

How the hell am I going to do that? My spectrum 128k caught fire in 1993.