Walsingham

I once had the same problem, and found myself sitting atop a cheese throne ruling an empire of rats. Of course it wasn't simple to just abdicate. Revolution ensued. War, famine, purges. I believe the empire split into a number of fiefdoms ruled by a motley collection of cats, dogs, and simplistic computerised entities.

I don't think shooting a handful of officials is actually cleaning house. I mean, take Enron as an applied example. Whacking the guys responsible might prove a point, but without systematic review of the legislation concerned, what does it matter? I note that China has refused to allow imports from four US firms in what must be retaliation for the bad coverage.

The X series got me when I discovered, like you, that I could build my own empire. There really is nothing like starting essentially as one of those dubious minicab drivers, and winding up in charge of an entire fleet, trading empire, and all round badass. Your business acumen and fighting skills _save the human race_. Incidentally, the update lets you respray your ships. This is a serious thing for me. No use having your ships look the same as everyone else's.

I don't know if anyone cares, but the atest update to this game looks fantastic. Finally we have a spaceship factory. Although sadly no 'evil mad scientist weapons factory.'

Baby Are Yeng - Nancy Jacobs and her sisters 1960s township soul motownish?

You are more than welcome, old bean.

I agree it does look revolting. If I wanted to absorb the same calories I'd have sour cream, ham, and plum jam pampushki. Or banja caulda. Oh man... I've never really liked Chinese food. I don't mean any disrespect to the cuisine. I just think it's a bit bland.

I'm confused. This piece doesn't reallys et out the different cases very well. The witnesses are confused about what happened, which is fine. Because some cases are like that. Particularly where you've got anything out of the ordinary happening. It's not clear to me who if anyone is alleged to have even been present at the shooting. Nor is there any indication of who was beating the unfortunate homeless man. Were both Dunn and Troy Davis there? What motive had they for shooting a bystander anyway? It makes no sense to me whatsoever. In particular I don't understand how the judge can rule witnesses hearing Coles confess as hearsay when witnesses testifying to Davis confession were allowed to stand in the original trial. We might also give some thought to Coles, who must be pretty miffed about getting dragged into a case he would have thought closed many years ago.

Romanitas. You know, the one saying 'The Roman Empire NOW!' on the cover. Utter karfblarg. There are a couple of interesting bits, and the writer is capable of getting inside multiple perspectives, but - the characterisation is pretty trivial. The men are all either brutes or broken reeds. The women are either sily little things or warriors. - There is absolutely no justification for how the Empire has held together for 2000 years, nor has anything really changed from classical Rome. - I got confused once or twice, and that makes me feel stupid. Stupid and cantankerous.

What exactly do you do Walsh? Sounds crazy. Pretty much everything except make decent ice-cream.

I set out to relax today and failed totally. Half LIfe 1 arrived, and I've been fuming at it in between reading a textbook, my novel, reports, and business calls. Sudden flurry of activity as Estonia announced they're seeking approval to shift almost all power production to oil shale deposits. This is going to seriously put the wind up the Russians and put a lot of pressure on the EU's balance between security and global warming.

You don't think this that, given the way we keep having these stories of a sudden that this could be part of certain elements in the media/government taking it upon themselves to hurt Chinese exports as punishment for their supporting Iran and Sudan? EDIT: 231%? I thought that said 23.1%!

I'd have thought America had the least of all Western countries any interest in a burden the way Kipling meant it. "Take up the White Man's burden-- The savage wars of peace-- Fill full the mouth of Famine, And bid the sickness cease; And when your goal is nearest (The end for others sought) Watch sloth and heathen folly Bring all your hope to nought." I have to say it's very tempting to see situations of total chaos that a handful of metropolitan coppers could straighten out cripple a nation. I don't say it's a white thing though. It's a civilisation sort of civic mindedness versus tribalism and brutality. Sicily could use a little, to be honest. East Glasgow could use a little. EDIT: This may have sounded worse than it is. I am being self-effacing by owning up to a greater tendency than I actually possess.

It's basically marketing trying to make itself more effective. Puzzles, clues, make you think, keep you interested.

I was annoyed no-one mentioned which APC it was.

I'd like to clarify these points. Unless you have solid answers for each of them then an impeachment will be a collossal waste of time and money. You said: It's time for the American people and Congress to act. With so much at stake, we have a president whose administration stands out in its criminality and disdain for the rule of law. The Case for Impeachment explains the legal history and grounds for impeaching George W. Bush and brings forth more than a half dozen articles of impeachment the likes of: *Lying and inducing Congress and the American people into an unjust war. - I ask you flatly, in what way is any piece of military/clandestine intelligence a lie? You can't impeach every president who gets told what he wants to hear. I would guarantee that EVERY president has done this. *Allowing his friends and business cronies to profiteer off the war in Iraq. - Possibly. Although based on my experioence investigating a corruption case on a land deal in the US at state level I'd say you'd be in for a hard time. *Authorizing torture and rendition of prisoners of war and suspected terrorists--a complete violation of the Geneva Conventions, a treaty the U.S. has signed and is therefore part of our law. - The Geneva convention only applies to signatories. We've discussed this before. In any event, enemy combatants captured out of uniform are to be shot under the Geneva convention. It's not an international fluffiness pact. *Stripping American citizens of their Constitutional rights--holding people with no charge, wiretapping them illegally, offering them no trial, and never allowing them to face their accusers. - Guard Dog already answered this. *Failing in almost every way possible to defend the homeland and our borders. - In what way exactly? There hasn't been a single orchestrated assault on US soil since September 11th. Personally I don't cerdit this to George but to the immense hard work and new resources of the various Federal Agencies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6898667.stm A man in Oz decides to run his privately owned APC (not a tank) into mobile phone masts. This is cool enough. But I also note that the BBC has a suggested ink bottom right "HOw to drive a tank", suggesting they like this behaviour and want others to learn how.

I wouldn't be much of an Englishman if it did.

Good point, and one I think Azarkon was making earlier (is it just me or was he also digging at me when he mentioned the white man's burden?). It's the empowered classes who actually pose the greatest large scale threat to immigrants, homosexuals and what have you. It's also the empowered classes, particularly the enfamilied powered classes who get conspiratorial when faced with the realisation that the real world may not be so keen on them as mumsy and dadsy. However, the empowered classes aren't what you have to worried about on a Friday evening out for a meal.

mmm, yummy. Just as bad as the Hungry-Man breakfast. 1000 calories may be high if you're on a diet, but an adult mae is supposed to consume roughly 2500 calories daily if he's active. Eating over a third at breakfast is fine, if you have a moderate lunch. The worst thing is the fat, but one thing to be sure of is that high fat keeps you feeling full longer. Nutritionally I don't see anything very wrong with this meal. Certainly nothing worth shrieking about.

I'd like to see more of that in snickers ads. "The chairman of Mars foods today announced he "Had no ****ing clue where that ad with the guitar guy came from. It totally sucked." "

You're just describing Laozi. Oh, burnsauce!!! Oh wait, that was hurtful There there, old man. Here, have a sanity point.

Samm, I wanted to interview them initially because I found them hilarious. For many years I was in the habit of interviewing anyone I pleased. With or without a reason beyond curiosity. This largely stopped after one of my interviewees tried to stab me. I am pleased to report he was very bad at it. Lest I be guilty of misrepresentation I must say he was not a militia member or neofascist. I am sure they would stab me properly. I once attempted to interview the AWB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaner_Weerstandsbeweging) in South Africa. But while approaching them I suddenly realised how perfectly stupid they were and burst out laughing. I had to hide behind a car. I am quite certain that they could hear someone laughing, but they'd have had to admit how silly they looked in order to do anything about it. I do not recommend this style of research to anyone. Unless it works.

The spoon question has nothing to do with small numbers. It's because you've restricted your measurement to integers. If you had a less abstract definition of how large/heavy/tasty a spoon had to be to qualify as a whole spoon, then error would come back in. But you've said that your spoon is near enough to one spoon to be a spoon. Note that you are basically looking on the spoon as a valid spoon, not because of how big it is, but because it performs a certain job using certain characteristics. This is no bad thing, and why engineers are cooler than scientists.

It's basically a one-headed brahmin.