JackC

Well, one in ten Ducks (quack quack) are gay. They also engage in rape and have been known to go in for a bit of necrophilia. Nature doesn't necessarily behave in ways that folks would call "natural". Dont shoot the messenger! I dont really suscribe to that line of thinking. At all. I just like to remind the nice religious people (no offence Micro! ) that most of them are sodomites too! Hey, I was just happy to use my trivial fact of the day, that Ducks are actually ghey rapist necrophiliacs. What now? Let me tell you "what now?" I'm gonna call a couple a hard, pipe-hittin' chefs to go to work on the Donald here, with a pair of oranges and a blowtorch. Hmmm.. duck....

Well, one in ten Ducks (quack quack) are gay. They also engage in rape and have been known to go in for a bit of necrophilia. Nature doesn't necessarily behave in ways that folks would call "natural".

I wasn't doing anything outrageous. There was no clue it was about to go, the gearbox had been fine up till then. It just let go and forced the gears out through the casing dumping oil all over the rear wheel. It could be a lot worse, usually dumping 2 litres of oil on your rear wheel at 90mph means an appointment with a ditch resulting in a very broken bike and a trip to casualty.

Yeah and I had to tempt fate by saying "what could possibly go wrong".

Yeah, I'm thrilled about it . It's well and truly copulated. I spent all day today ripping the engine out and pulling lumps of gearbox out of the suspension. It's a bit beyond a rebuild. Still, I now have the dubious honour of having blown up a 1000cc sports bike in spectacular fashion without ending up in A&E.

Godamnit. I've not had this thing a month yet, and I blew the engine up. There's a great big hole in the crank case where it spat out it's gear box and puked oil all over the rear wheel. That was no fun I can tell you.

Now there's something that pisses me off. If TB steps down, the PM's job should go to the deputy PM until a general election can be held (6 weeks max). None of this coronation crap.

So your position is that there should be no law if that law can be circunvented in some way. That pretty much leave us with anarchy.

Lapierre nonetheless says the group is now working with longtime ally Rep. John Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, on a bill to ensure that mental-health records are entered into a FBI database that is used for background checks of gun buyers. From the same article.

Our position on this is crystal clear: If you are adjudicated by a court to be mentally defective, suicidal, a danger to yourself or to others, you should be prohibited from buying a firearm ~ Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President, NRA. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18298126/site/newsweek/

Just to put that in context. More than 99.7% of British people didn't have any guns to loose.

Maybe so. This makes interesting reading though. http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2006/cr021506.htm

Many (most) international banks hold dollars as their reserve currency. That money has to come from somewhere. As inflation increases prices, salaries rise in response. That money has to come from somewhere. Usually, this is offset by economic growth which allows a gradual increase in the amount of money in circulation without unduly increasing inflation. If your market for dollars gradually increases beyond your own borders, this has a similar effect to an increase in your economy and you can increase the amount of money in circulation without increasing inflation. The US can happily stand a mild fluctuation in the demand for dollars but it can't handle a massive decrease in demand without paying for it in terms of a devalued dollar. Look, I've constantly said that this probably isn't the major factor in the decision to go to war. I don't even know if it was a factor at all. But the fact remains that Iraq started trading it's oil in Euros and as soon as the invasion was complete, the US changed it back to dollars. Venezuela have started trading for oil in Euros and the US seem quite keen to see the back of Chavez. Iran have started trading their oil in Euros and they're high on the US hit list too. Whether this is a conincidence or not I don't know. If (and I stress the word if) the world suddenly started trading in euros instead of dollars over night, the effect would be a massive devaluation in the dollar and that would not be good for the US economy. All I'm saying is that there is a motive for the US to try to maintain the dollar as the primo currency in world trade.

Only if you do it all at once. Remember the dollar has been the currency of choice for nearly a century. It's had time to adapt and balance out. You lost me. And with it, my interest. Adios.

Iraq did and got changed back after the invasion. Iran have done, Venezuela have done and Russia and OPEC have considered it.

True, economic systems are incredibly complex. However, the price of dollars wouldn't need to be artificially high like you suggest. In essence, all the US needs to do is print more dollars and the supply of dollars increases and the price drops. The reserve/oil currency has been set up for so long that it acts like an extension of the US economy and has come to a kind of balance. However, if the world suddenly stopped using dollars to trade oil and instead used euros, the world would be awash with dollars that would be next to useless because there would be nothing to buy with them. This would put the value of the dollar into freefall and severely affect the US economy. It's not the fact that the world does or does not use dollars as it's currency that matters so much as the upset that would be caused if we all suddenly changed. That's what Iraq did, Iran are threatening and so is Venezuela. What do you think the US would say if OPEC declared their market to be in euros? I doubt they'd be all smiles and happiness. There are plenty of articles on the web about this mechanism because it's just the economics of supply and demand but I can't imagine the US government is actually going to get up and say that the war was all about the currency used for buying oil, they're not that stupid. I don't even know if this was the major factor, but it certainly could have been a factor. Probably the best you can do is get a bit of background on global economics and try to put the peices together yourself. Of course your milage may vary. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,900867,00.html

I don't necessarily think the Euro thing was the major motivating factor but it is likely to be a contributor. Oil is traditionally traded in dollars. In fact, the dollar is the de facto world reserve currency which means that the US economy is artificially inflated by the demand for dollars being paid for in goods and services to the US. If the oil market suddenly went to euros it would have repercussions that wouldn't benefit the US at all. The US would quite obviously try to protect their position.

Nah, I don't think so. I think GWB and his cronies were pissed at Iraq for several reasons. After the US backed SH against Iran he was supposed to be the US's guy in the Middle East but he didn't tow the line. Most notably by invading Kuwait. The assassination attempt on Bush Sr didn't help and threatening to sell oil in euro's instead of dollars generally meant he was being a real pain in the ass. Add to that the unfinished business of Gulf War 1, the oil for food debacle and SH thumbing his nose at the international comunity, and the US decided they needed an excuse to get rid of him. But they couldn't start anything without looking like the bad guys. Along came 9/11 and the US saw an oportunity to lump Iraq and Al Queda together. WMD's were just the final political excuse needed to get rid of SH once and for all. It had nothing to do with democracy in the middle east, that was just a handy sales tactic. They needed to mix up old and new foes and ignore the evidence in order to get the war started which is why they needed to get going before Hans Blix had finished his inspections. It was a simple case that an opportunity arose to fuck SH up and they took it.

Judging by the range of numbers it's probably a substitution cipher of some kind but it's too short to do any meaningful frequency analysis. It's not a simple Caesar Cipher so maybe it has a non-constant shift for each letter in the sequence. It doesn't appear to be a y=mx+c shift either although I've not run through all the permutations of that. The next step would be a Vigenère cipher but that would mean guessing the key word (I tried all the skydiving/grue related words I could think of) or brute force to go any further and I can't be bothered.

I'd love to do the London marathon. If only i was fitter. With functioning knees. Sailing across the atlantic is another thing I'd love to do. Maybe one day.

Look, I agree with you. Wiretapping without just cause is an invasion of privacy and is wrong. Teachers assigning journals as homework and grading them is an invasion of privacy and is wrong. I'm all for fighting this type of intrusion wherever I can. Be it ID cards, CCTV, RFID, the right to protest, all of that. I wont be visiting the US anytime soon because I don't want an FBI file just for daring to set foot in your country. That to me is a much bigger issue than any gun could ever be. But here's the thing: To me, a gun is just a hunk of metal that you use to blow holes in stuff. It has no other significance than that. Although I don't see the attraction, I have no problem with people owning them if they are responsible adults. But to Americans, it seems the gun is much more than just a tool. It's seems to have taken on some kind of mystical image that elevates it to such a level that to take away the guns is the same as taking away your freedom, your sense of identity and the very essence of what it is to be American. They say the sword was the soul of the Samurai, well it seems the soul of the American is pure Colt M1911. To me, getting such a hard-on over a gun is just fucking weird. But don't kid yourself that your own personal Glock is somehow protecting you from an over intrusive government. A gun is totally useless against the Patriot Act and you'll spend the rest of your days on death row if you were stupid enough to try. Guns are just one tiny aspect of a much, much bigger issue that a bullet cannot fix. The issue of civil liberties and personal freedom is of vital importance and worth the effort to defend but I think the gun aspect of it is blown way out of all proportion. Now if guns are your thing then go for your life, I don't much care either way. But be aware that the price you pay for the second amendment is Virginia Tech, Columbine and I'll bet dollars to donuts there will be more to come. It's a heavy price and you have no choice but to pay because the guns are out there already. I hope it's worth it.

That's quite a price you're willing to pay for the right to own a 3lb hunk of metal. I hope it's worth it.

Nor me. If the pads were gone, the rotors will be shot too. But they'd have to be really bad before it would need calipers. I have seen them that bad but only when the car was driven so long, the pads had totally worn through the backing and started chewing away the pistons. If the wheel cylinders were leaking, it would need them and new shoes, but the drums should be ok. It might be right that it needs all that work, but I've only ever done that much work on total rebuilds. Never on a service. I'm really glad I don't have to fix other peoples cars anymore though. Dirty nasty thankless work it is.

So is a law degree, or a plumbing qualification or any other trade. Most mechanics are not out to rip you off. You mean nothing outside the fact that they spent enough time, effort and money to learn their subject?

I was thinking the same thing.