Walsingham

I'm going to use the word 'gak' to replace it. From now on.

I'm genuinely puzzled by you pointing out that China gets the bulk of its energy overall from coal. I don't think anyone is surprised by that. It's been a key factor in the climate change debate for years. But they use coal for making electricity, not moving goods and people. Cutting oil is far more serious. As kgambit says, we aren't getting anywhere fast on this. So if I can summarise the trenchlines: - We feel that China is vulnerable to a blockade or restrictions on key raw materials such as oil and food - You feel China can adapt to lower usage and acquire repalcements from elsewhere - I think you are _massively_ underestimating the difficulties, costs, and time involved in shifting the emphasis of an entire nation. I also feel (aren't these discussions wonderfully freeform?) that the strain of any shift would throw China's inequalities and inefficiencies into stark relief. Hungry crowds would show that they were also angry.

Seriously ashamed at Cameron taking a selfie http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/10/obama_cameron_snaps_inappropriate_selfie_at_nelson_mandelas_funeral/

I'm not really sure what looking at someone achieves. They might be wearing an inappropriate dinner jacket. But they could still be a good person.

Just in case anyone reading this is genuinely confused, Gorgon's right. You really shouldn't rely on 'withdrawal'. ~~ kgambit, you make an interesting point about the custody taker having to bear significant costs. But this rather assumes a fair apportionment of custody. I know a LOT of dads who fight tooth and nail for contact after courts awarded custody to - and admittedly I'm biased since I know that dads - nutloop mothers. On a practical note, given that depositions are usually given by representatives, how hard would it be to anonymise the two parties? No reference to mum or dad, just 'individual X'?

I like the look of it.

TFT, Dru. If there's one rule I've (almost) consistently applied it's that the head with teeth gives the orders.

It could also be his wife. Overall though I'd suspect that it's because his team want him to look different from the other World leaders at a time when none remotely approach his popularity, and many Yanks feel the Pres is too chummy with foreigners. I should reiterate that I can't express my contempt for the habit of wearing US flag pins. We all know what ****ing country you're from. Have the confidence in your actions to not need a sodding badge. You don't work in a drive-thru.

What baffles me is that no matter how much washing up I do, it's never all gone.

Heh, did you know Michael Biehn refuses to watch Alien 3, because he felt that Hicks deserved a much better death sequence? Something along the lines that for all the effort he put into shaping the character in Aliens, there shouldn't have been some glossed over "panning shot of Hicks with chest exploded" as the end of that character. Well he was sodding well right. Biehn/Hicks would have been a very interesting person to throw into the mix of the prison colony.

I'd be in favour of giving elite drivers some sort of visible ranking system on the license plate. Would obviate the necessity of anyone pretending to be an elite driver. Either you are or you aren't.

I've never owned a dinner jacket first hand in my life! The trick is knowing the right charity shops. I approve of dinner jackets because it's effectively a uniform, and any right thinking man appreciates not having to worry about what to wear. I hadn't really understood there was any etiquette to it. You wear it. Don't wear novelty anything. Job done. A code for evening dress sounds like the kind of thing Esquire would write alongside some bird with massive cheekbones draping herself over a table. Ghastly.

Human reaction times, even basic reaction time, is quite slow. Speed equals a smaller reaction window, even before you get the speed effects Hurlshot mentioned. I'd not be opposed on principle to some sort of 'elite' drivers license. But until that happens I take the view that there are far far more people who think they have mad skills than actually do.

I agree that the courts have a frankly bizarre bias in favour of women in disputes. It was needed when women had no resources to match male earners in terms of legal support, but... However, i don't see the solution as being men getting the option of enforced abortion privileges. The courts just need to improve.

The internet informs me that he persistently wears a notched lapel jacket, and flap pockets. He also periodically wears a white bow tie for reasons I can't fathom. Since he keeps doing it, and since he has his clothes picked out for him by some sort of hellish team of professionals I think it probably is intended to give him a businesslike and less polished air. I don't see how it reflects poorly on his dress sense.

Is it any good?

I simply cannot respect a man that either cannot or will not wear a simple dinner jacket correctly. I don't understand. i just googled images of him, and leaving aside the ****ing stupid american flag badge I don't see a problem.

Actually this reminds me of a point made by a comedian I heard on the radio. He pointed out that if you want to adopt people ask you all kinds of questions. If you want to just have your own kids then you can just get on with it. I guess the point is that humans go doollali about sex, and sex makes babies. Ergo making babies is never going to be entirely logical or optimal.

It's an interesting question for debate. In principle I can see your point about the man needing equal rights to parenthood. However, as you yourself observe, there are physical and mental issues associated with actually carrying or actually experiencing an abortion. This is an inescapable function of how humans work. So, if we were dealing with abstract beings with an equal commitment to the issue I'd say, that boy parties had equal rights. In the case of humans I'd say men don't have that right.

If you're interested I believe he'll be looking for a job soon. Perhaps you could convince him to stay?

Greatest _so far_. Not perfect. Otherwise how could it get better?

For such a large block of text, that was actually quite readable, Rosti. However, you seem to be saying three somewhat contradictory things: 1) The terrorists arise from personal misfits meeting a sympathetic but pathological ideology 2) You can't stop people coming into contact with these ideologies provided they have access to the internet. 3) Personal misfits need to be tackled by random acts of kindness My responses are: 1) They become radicalised by contact with the ideology. They become weaponised by specific conditioning. Imagine your 'iceberg' as being flour, eggs, sugar, and butter below the waterline, and cake above the waterline. Same materials, important difference. 2) I agree and would go further. Pathological ideologies will always exist. They're part of the psychological ecosystem. We're not going to ever solve the problem. Just tone it down in certain areas until some other ideology waltzes in. 3) I agree that sometimes random acts of kindness can have surprising impact. However, the nature of that impact has to be considered carefully. In your example, if the bloke had been given an engineering degree I suspect he would have just been a more effective terrorist. ~ We're not going to stop pathological ideologies, we're not going to stop young men from being misfits or having a sub-optimal life. What we can stop is them being baked into cakes. OK that got out of hand.

Ahh... ouch, that really sucks, my friend managed something similar with his pinkie two midsummers ago while chopping up meat for our grilling. We did not find the top part, so someone got some long pig... What did you do? s This happened at work. During lunch, a kid asked me if I could cut his apple. So I did, only problem was that the top of my finger decided it wanted to part ways with me. As soon as I felt the pain, I knew what had happened and calmly walked away, covering the blood with my other hand. I then bandaged the wound after making it stop bleeding for 15 minutes. Stayed at work, went home and took some painkillers and that was that. Feels a bit better now. Doesn't constantly hurt. Scared the crap out of the children with a completely different story. Hobbits attacked you?

*Thinks* Wow. Maybe this will make sense of all my weird death dreams. *sees it's on the Daily Mail website* AAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHH!

Pretty much this. Also, never understood the fascination with Asimov. Oh thank God. I thought I was the only one!