nigel99

I have scanned through the thread and firstly I think it is a great idea to clean up a little. dz.com is the only forum that I have hung out at for more than a month or 2. Someone suggested putting bonfire at the bottom of the list HH tried that and it didn't work so he put it back. I do think some of the problem with the bonfire is that gradually over time the "meaningful" threads have had forums created for them (rightly so). So while previously goodbye threads were intermingled they now have the blueskies forum, similarly speakers corner and the womens forum. This leaves the bonfire as the general talk zone with no soul of its own. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I seriously struggle with the right and wrong's of this. I grew up climbing tree's riding a bike without a helmet, motorcycling in shorts and tee-shirt etc. Most of us had broken an arm or leg at some point (or both), the worst "accident" that I knew of was a boy in my brothers class who killed himself falling backwards off a school chair (his head caught the desk behind him). I now as a parent have to reconcile my children either being "wimps" who are terrified to ride around the backgarden without a helmet on (all neighbours without exception do NOT ride in their gardens without helmets). The alternative is encouraging a sense of risk taking and having to live with the consequences. It is not easy and I hope that we are striking the right balance. An unfortunate side-effect of a risk-averse nation is that not only do sports such as skydiving, moto-cross etc start to die out, business risk taking also gets impacted. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

While I can't imagine riding my bike without a helmet, I do find the general UK mindset towards full protective clothing a little more extreme than I was used to (still do it though). However I can't justify wearing a helmet on a bicycle - even for my kids, I just can't relate a cycle helmet to increased safety (despite having a 12 year old killed 1/2 a mile from our home on his bike). It seems that lack of cycle tracks is a far higher risk for people on bicycles? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I don't know the details and as someone mentioned maybe it was when he was a kid? Anyway for all my concerns about UK surveilance society I really think that US criminal law sucks bigtime - the fact that information like that is given out and published on the web with such little regard to the criminals privacy. I am NOT defending this guy - but perhaps you remember the arrest warrent of the cute blond that surfaced here a while ago after a skydiver was arrested -that had her name age and address? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Going on the no-pull theory would there not be a significant chance that the money that was found would be contaminated with blood. I don't mean soaked in it possibly just speckles? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Isn't that because most people see Iraq as at the very least an unjust war and quite probably illegal and so there is more focus on it. I know I am hijacking Skyrad's Afgan thread but it really does irk me that we are so immune to the damage we cause that the "news" only reports deaths in Iraq if there are more than about 20 people killed simultaneously - anything less is not newsworthy. We are constantly barraged with the terrorism "threat" and yet in the name of defence we do so much more damage. Imagine for a second that in this so called "war on terror" there were 10 deaths a day in the US or UK. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

If going in June remember that is the middle of winter in Aus. You could ask Squak or Bigway? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

During the course of the past week the following PC trash has really irritated me. 1) School hot-dog day was cancelled because none of the mums had food hygene certificates and therefore were not allowed to "make" and hand-out hot-dogs. 2) I am going on a business trip to Scotland and decided since the snow is good the kids can skip 1 day of school so we can have the weekend there. It turns out you have to fill in forms to the Council (not the school as we thought - they are not allowed to say yes or no). 3) Neighbours son's school has just opened an after school club - for blacks only! How the hell do they justify that? 4) And no this - 3 little pigs is now "offensive" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7204635.stm Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

George Bush met The Queen, and he turns round and says: "As I'm the President, I'm thinking of changing how the country is referred to, and I'm thinking that it should be a Kingdom." The Queen replies "I'm sorry Mr. Bush, but to be a Kingdom, you have to have a King in charge - and you're not a King." George Bush thought a while and then said: "How about a Principality then?" To which the Queen replied "Again, to be a Principality you have to be a Prince - and you're not a Prince, Mr. Bush". Bush thought long and hard and came up with "How about an Empire then?" The Queen, getting a little annoyed by now, replies "Sorry again, Mr. Bush, but to be an Empire you must have an Emperor in charge - and you are not an Emperor." Before George Bush could utter another word, the Queen said: "I think you're doing quite nicely as a Country." Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Isn't this happening slowly over time anyway? The Euro is growing stronger, the US is more and more nervous of the Chindia alliance? As you imply economic power is probably greater than military might, the danger for the rest of us, is that as the US loses its dominance it might resort to military means. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

How can jumping during the day when the streets below are busy with pedestrians and traffic not be a potential endangerment? Nobody can guarantee that they will not have a malfunction and unless you clear the area below then surely you are being reckless? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7194086.stm Well as it is close to home its not very good news, however nobody was seriously injured. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

But isn't there lots of terrorism in that little country Iraq that sits on the border with Scotland and France Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I think the core issues are: As Jackc pointed out & I like the 100% inherentance tax example. When the government starts programs such as this where you have to opt-out it moves the onus onto us as individuals. I can easily imagine this government proposing taxes and the like where you have to opt-out of them. They will manipulate the system to their ends. Secondly a number of people whose beliefs or preferences want them to be "whole" after death are likely to be violated in an automatic system as the inevitable loss of their opt-out will render them donors. A mixup of this nature would be very traumatic for the living relatives of such people. I also think that as Nerdgirl brought up artificial sources will become a "better" replacement in the medium term and would personally prefer to see development and effort put in that direction. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Reading an article on BBC regarding the CIA, this paragraph caught my eye I have always assummed that if a country signed up to the Geneva convention it applied to the nation, whereas this reads like only the US Army applies the rules (is that why the USAF doesn't mind friendly fire). http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7185648.stm BTW I don't have a problem necessarily if the US wants to use torture, however it must then never complain when its citizens are tortured (and yes I mean citizens not soldiers as the US does not distinguish the two for others). Personally I don't think torture is effective or right but that is a separate issue. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

http://xkcd.com/250/ This one is really great for all the snopes quoters! Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

As someone mentioned the biggest problem with peer review is that all of us filter based on our own belief or learning structures. Therefore peer review tends to build on consensus and radical idea's are sometimes discarded wrongly. I fully accept that in excess of 99% of material that is debunked/dismissed is genuinely flawed however. There was a BBC radio discussion on this and it was mentioned that if Einsteins work had been subjected to modern peer review much of it would have been rejected. We already have the alternative option though, as science/engineering operates in 2 spheres (academic & commercial). You can entirely aviod peer review and go for venture funding and build an enterprise out of a concept or idea. I think this is a viable alternative model that is proven to work. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

"Hang T-Ten i'd rather be Square" "Grab Grass" Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Gerry Adams and Osama can happily not tick the terrorist boxes after all they are "freedom fighters" On a serious note BBC had an article about a guy entering Australia with Cocaine - he ticked the box that said "Are your a drug dealer" or the Aussie equivalent It is probably quite a good method actually in a high stress moment (which I assume immigration or customs is for a criminal) you may well slip up. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

ok thanks for clearing that up. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I am way out of my depth here and repeating something from the dim and distant past. But don't the military use for example 7.62mm rounds which are relatively small that tend to "tumble" on impact causing lots of damage, whereas there are rounds that fragment on impact instantly killing you? Also a larger calibre would tend to be "more" lethal. The point being that in a military operation you can overwhelm the enemy system with caring for their wounded? Regardless I don't want to come across as nitpicking of guns being designed for killing - as a general rule it is a safe generalisation. People having guns in a safe don't benefit from self-defence and I recall hearing that often people who have guns intended for self-defence end up being victim to their own weapon. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

It is wrong to equate guns solely with killing humans, as it is as dishonest as those who say that guns do not pose a problem. On a finer point aren't most military munitions designed to maim and injure rather than kill as it is supposed to be more of a problem for the enemy? I am no gun expert but I am sure that someone like JR could list a few sport rifles that have been designed from the ground up for specific types of target practice. Outside of the military most guns are probably used for target shooting, a lesser percent for hunting and a tiny percent for criminal activity. I don't believe many people who own guns for self defence could or would actually use them -but rather hope that producing a gun will de-escalate the situation thereby saving lives. As others have said it is the user that determines the outcome. What bothers me is not the presence or absence of guns but the greater lack of civil society that is causes people to disregard the life of other humans - and how that can be addressed. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

However due to the long waiting times and poor service... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7045263.stm However I have never seen a mouth like that in the photo Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Or Billy for making it? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Sorry don't quite follow you. I don't see the point in stopping people from owning guns (and I said I don't support banning guns). I personally don't see the value in reversing an existing law that deprives a small sector of the population of a hobby. No doubt a selfish viewpoint that I accept that. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.