nacmacfeegle

"Isn't there a Cromarty Firth too, like an inlet from the Moray?" Yes indeed John, there are three types of Firth, best to consider a Firth as similar to a Fjord, or a large sea bay. There are stand alone Firths, like the Firth of Tay, Clyde and Forth. There are Firths that feed larger Firths like the Cromarty Firth which flows in the Moray Firth. Finally there is the example of the Pentland Firth, which is actually a strait between the Orkney Islands and mainland Caithness. Further clouding the waters ( bad pun) is the fact that not all Firths are named after the primary rivers that feed them, EG the Pentland Firth, there is no Pentland River, and the Pentland hills are nowhere near. The term Firth can precede its parent name, or come after, and there's no rhyme or reason apparently. Things get really fun when we start looking at Gaelic place names and pronunciation in next weeks class. Required reading for the next lesson in 'Scottish Geography 101' includes research on.. Milngavie (Mullguy) Strachan (Straan) Finzean (Fingin) and my favourite Aberchirder (pronounced Abbaherder, but known to the locals as 'Fogey'). We will also be examining legacy peculiarities such as Ben More, Ben Mor, Ben Mhor, and Beinn Mhor, which are pronounced the same but are spelled differently, and are in fact different mountains. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"I just wish the entire world would stop shooting at each other, go make a skydive, and sit down and have a beer." Will we go freeflying or RW, hows about some crew or a little style and accuracy? What sort of beer, Shiner, Stella? Sheesh, can't you see the opportunity for dissent, and intolerance of difference, in your simplistic idyll? -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

So I'm curious as to what you consider American culture. You say there is a "very long list of original positive culture". Perhaps you could name 5 or 10 of the ones you are most proud of. Please include a few that are "emulated around the world" Jazz Blues Rock Television Digital Age Hollywood movies America's contribution to popular music culture should not be understated. One might also add technical culture to that list as witnessed in the space programmes, both private and national. The industrial culture helped along the way by the likes of Carnegie, Ford, and organisations such as ASTM, API, NFPA, etc. Architectural culture in the form of skyscrapers, an America invention that is shaping cities across the globe. Native American culture. Its not all bad folks.

"That smugness lasts only until the crime reports keep coming out, showing continuing increases in murder and gun crime. And that's where they are now." Okay guys just to keep things fair and balanced, the above would represent your opinion, which is to be respected. The following represents a fact..... "The number of crimes recorded by the police decreased by 5 per cent between 2002 and 2003" Source....http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00338-03.asp Of course, I can only speak for my own country, crime figures for England and Wales might be different. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

I tried to check that Josh, but couldn't see any pics via Google. Ya gotta appreciate my defence of the 'European option'

"If MM had a personal problem with skydiving, who here would want him to do a "Documentary" on it?" Nice one, definitely an interesting scenario to consider. I might also be tempted to counter an equal scenario (call it 'liberal spin'). If MM didn't have a problem with skydiving, and set out to make a documentary shattering the popular myths that our sport attracts, lets say it slammed the media's approach to incidents, who here would have a problem? -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Best cheap Champagne....Cuvee Nappa is an acceptable cheapo, we (my SO and I) get through quite a lot of it. Medium priced, my option is Veuve Clicquot. Really expensive....your guess is as good as mine. I disagree with thebad hangovers and Champagne thingie. The worst hangover I have ever had was from cheap French beer, and have never had a bad hangover when only drinking champers. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Hey Zee, don't forget Top Gear! -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"Lemme edit that . . ." By all means, please do....

"Compare rates of teen pregnancy between the two countries. " No sooner said than done, although some may question the validity of the source. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/peo_tee_bir_rat -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

http://www.dvspot.com/reviews/sony/hc40-review/index.shtml According to this review, motor noise is not a problem. I can't see an external mic jack though, so if those sounds are really important to you, maybe this isn't the cam to capture them.edit>>> D'oh external mic socket supplied.

"How can someone forget Fandango...." I'd betcha Costner wishes he could. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Consider him hugged Cora. Don't get me wrong Cora, I'm all for making gear 'idiot proof' or using the technical term, inherently safer design. Okay, on typical bridles, the pin is external and attached by a wee bit of webbing, this arrangement is fairly tolerant to a small amount of movement in the bridle without any movement being transferred to the pin. No such flexibility exists in the retractible (grammer? speling?) pin set ups. Try this, take your rig and see how much movement can be tolerated in the bridle without the pin moving, (probably very little) now close your rig with a standard set up and repeat the pin and bridle wiggling exercise. Theres no need to remove the normal bridle, just borrow the pin and bridle from someone else's gear while its open. So if somone bashes into your pack in a funnel or a gnarly exit, or if a wee bit of bridle is vibrating in the wind, your pack may be more prone to opening prior to the PC being deployed. All things being equal, such as no bridle being exposed, well fitting pin cover flap, or using a nice tight closing loop, I don't think its a huge issue, but we all need the wee things to stack up in our favour too.

Additions movies.... Fandango TV.... Taggart, there was a skydiving murder episode. (episode 41 after a google) Hollyoaks (recent) Blue Peter (I recall the John Noakes bits) Drop the Celebrity. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"Not sure who originally started making them." I have quite an old one made by Precision, its called a lifeline or something like that, from around 95/96-ish I'd like to add that I don't really like them. My one seemed less flexible than the traditional kill lines with external pins. My primary fear is that it might be more prone to premature openings, or horseshoe type mals, however your mileage may vary. I keep my old one as a spare though.

Just out of interest, which UK parties advocate reverting back to our previous stance on gun ownership? -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

The versions of the Cormorant (EH-101) that have been undergoing testing up here had tailgates....way better for jumping. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"...and somebody tell me how this serial killer named Harold Shipman managed to murder 172 people without being caught! " Google, laddie, google! He was a doctor, and was using morphine cocktails to kill some of his elderly patients. Scary stuff, but not really a crime that onwership, or otherwise, of a gun could really have changed an awful lot. "He's probably just trying to infiltrate our ranks so that he can bring the pro gun-ownership crowd down from inside, and stop our quest for world domination and control." Dayumm, we've been rumbled. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"I thought that the strength to weight ratio issue still meant that if two pieces of metal -- one titanium, one steel -- are of the same size/volume/shape, that steel would still be stronger because there would still be much more mass (weight) there." A bit of a misconception there. Density of metal has nothing to do with material strength. consider lead and say tungsten, lead is soft, but heavy, tungsten is relatively light but very hard. Or another example, I could make 2 knife blades from the same piece of steel, one would be left in a nutiral state, and the other heat treated to provide good blade properties, essentially the same mass density of metal, but different properties post heat treatment. As has been said, St/St comes in a huge variety of flavours, some of the tougher ones are called Super Duplex (aka Zeron, SMo, 6mo, etc), not the same stuff that the far east make cheap cutlery out of. Strength is a also a bit of a vague term, sometimes you need materials that are hard, eg knife blades, some times you need materials that are more ductile (bendy) eg staples. Its a horses for courses kind of thing. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

From the article... "We were in contact directly by fax and e-mail and phone with Donald Rumsfeld's office." That should be fairly easy to confirm or otherwise..... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"One day while on his pocket bike he got chased around by a really pissed-off Canadian Goose." Obviously the goose hasn't read Aggie's sig line. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Too many conspiracies, not enough time. I hear Ya Have a good weekend folks, its beer time this side of the pond. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Ah sorry, you were looking for confirmation of the Pagan statement, nope can't help you. I'd never fault anyone for upholding their own religious beliefs though, even if they change that belief system later. Whats the poop on Grampa's Nazi dealings story though? Substantial or a storm in a teacup? Or is this more pre-election mud slinging? -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"high and mighty strong moral character of our President." To whom should I send the bill for my new keyboard? -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Humour moment... I just had an image (damn you Dr John Rosalia for teaching me to visualise) of an out of work, down on his luck Bush, with a sign saying.... "Will govern for food" -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson