nigel99

Its not really a matter of which side is superior. Being less brutal and immoral than terrorists certainly does not equal moral and non-brutal. Don't forget that while the whole Western world has no time for terrorists, the vast majority also see the USA as proponents of an illegal war. I find the whole article sickening in that it is written as a propaganda mouthpiece of how wonderful the troops are. I would have preferred an article that just bashed the terrorists - not interleaved with self praise. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Of course if Bush had waited 6 months then the UN would have either discredited the WMD stories (unlikely) or more likely approved a LEGAL war. By having the UN involved the cost of the war to the US and UK would be lower as the burden would be shared across a broader platform. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I don't understand the charges were dropped - doesn't that make him innocent in the eyes of the law? I actually find it distateful that a military judge dismisses a case (not sure if its this person or the other chap) and yet he is STILL not released. And then the old Fart GWB wonders why huge parts of the world don't like the USA's double standards and seriously question the whole "land of the free" propaganda. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

You can try Ezurio a UK company I have used them in projects. There are others but I can't comment on quality as I haven't used them. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Number 4 is already here. http://www.plasticlogic.com/products.php I recently met on of their executives and they are in the process of building a factory for mass production. Interestingly for the plastic content they can (or possibly do) use recycled plastics. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I don't think that people in the UK notice CCTV. It is so prevalent that you just couldn't keep track and there are more important things to rant about (like speed camera's) that are hated with a passion. I don't really mind the CCTV as it does serve a purpose, and I really don't see it as a high profile "big brother" activity. Video images of me somewhere do not worry me. I am far more concerned with issues such as the airlines passing substantial personal information over to the US, when I fly there and knowing that the US data protection laws are nowhere near as tough as ours. I would object more to things like the arrest warrants being "online" with full contact details - e.g look at the "laughs" people had here with regards to a DZ related event recently. There are a number of articles interesting events linked to CCT such as http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5000720.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6654971.stm (I thought this was a pretty good idea, and an ideal way to protest against CCTV if you wanted). Can you imagine organising a group of say 100 people to constantly request their personal CCTV footage under the DPA? I guess the CCTV wouldn't last to long at that location. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Image show the google ad above speakers corner - appropriate for a place commonly known for people getting into p*ssing contests... Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Corruption is not "caused" by their inability to stand up and be reject the politicians - it is the ineviteble result, how does the saying go "power corrupts..." I also didn't say that they didn't understand what an election is - I said that an election is culturally unfamiliar territory. Jeez I grew up in the place and try and get some one to manage an older person and it doesn't work. Hell often a degree qualified person will not oversee a manual worker effectively because of hierachy and culture. It is a culture that resists change and places respect for elders and chiefs above knowledge and capability. Of course being in the UK these are totally unfamiliar concepts as it is reversed and kids and yobs rule Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

You are absolutely right on with this - but it is more than just liberals. In Africa they take great pride in sticking it to the west regarding corruption/democracy and yet come begging for handouts. The handouts are "skimmed" so that corrupt a*holes still reap the rewards of OUR taxes. The answer to Africa is that it can only be dealt with in 2 ways effectively: 1) Stop ALL aid and let nature take its course - when people starve to death and politicians run out of things to steal they will wake up and do things properly. 2) Reinstate colonial rule. For example the british went to Zimbabwe (Rhodesia in 1890) and by the early 1930's it had a thriving economy, which continued to grow until 1970(ish) and the start of the "liberation" struggle. It took 30 years to destroy things to take the country back to pre 1900 levels And South Africa WILL be no different the signs are on the wall and Mbeki is just as twisted. A final rant is that you can't "introduce" democracy in the way that it has been tried, bloody hell has nobody learn't - how many "democracies" have been born out of granting colonies majority rule? Exluding the USA and Australia who basically used ethnic cleansing to remove the local population (not in recent history of course) I can't think of any? Telling people who for the past 1000 years have obeyed the "chief" or risked death, that they have the right to oust him in an election doesn't work - culturally they can't comprehend what it means. Hell 1/2 those people will never challenge someone who is older than them due to "respect". Qualified majority voting is a good option - probably even for the west where we can tip the scales against the uneducated masses living off state handouts. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

http://www.travbuddy.com/widget_map_confirm.php?id=388583 Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I had a play last night consciously doing it more and more aggressively. It raises an interesting aspect of safety training. I have been riding for years and while not knowing this I have "safely" gone around corners/avoided cars etc, it has clearly restricted my ability to "turn" hard. As it is counter intuitive initially it would make sense for the principle to be discussed - bearing in mind that as mentioned in an earlier post of mine, most road deaths on big bikes are people screwing up on corners. By actively using the bars to "flick" the bike over quicker and more precisely I was able to increase my average cornering speed considerably. It really makes me think of BillVon and his banging on about flat turns - how many things do we do without realising/understanding and it bites us later? Well thanks for the input everyones comments are much appreciated

its precisely because of emergency avoidance that I want to master this. One of the biggest killers on bikes here is people scrubbing corners and going into oncomming traffic/off the verge - hence the instructor bringing it up. I have been doing it naturally for years (but without "knowing" it is the honing of the skill and pushing the limits that is my concern. I will have a look at the book and I really like the idea of experimenting on a bicycle to get a feel for the responce on something that isn't 3 times my weight etc. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

there is something about doing it consciously to "force" a quicker turn that really freaks me out. I guess I will try it in a car park a bit later at night so that I don't have to worry about obsticles. Saw a youtube video where the guy was demoing the turns and actually seemed to be putting a fair amount of "turn" into his inputs. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I was wondering whether anybody here has practiced counter-steer as a conscious method of turning a bike? I realise that it is used unconsciously all the time, but at an advanced riding course a few weeks ago my instructor mentioned it briefly and I misunderstood what we was saying so lost the opportunity to learn from him? Recent reading implies that like flat turns in skydiving it is a good skill to master and find the limits for an emergency, however I don't fancy dropping 200 kilos of bike and busting something exploring the turning performance? I also am terrified of actually turning the handlebars in the opposite direction that I want to go to find out! Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I think the point of the elections in Iraq not being "free & fair" is that first and foremost the US does NOT want an Islamic fundamentalist state, which they fear the Iraqis want and therefore the political landscape was deliberately tilted against the religous community - through the Iraq constitution and military endevours. While separation of religion and politics is standard in the West it is not in other parts of the world and I think it is less than honest not to admit that we generally "manipulated" the situation so that a Iran friendly Shia fundamentalist regime was not elected in Iraq. It does not mean that the elections were not free and fair - but rather that the candidates and political landscape had been established in accordance with the wishes of the US. As the US has such a large military presence people who see the US as the enemy and an occuping force are unlikely to be co-operating in elections but rather out laying road side bombs, sniping and generally trying to use whatever military/freedom fighting/terrorist means to obtain "freedom" from what they see as unwelcome guests. I would imagine that in a war torn country emotions run high and the mentality of "for us or against us" runs deep - look how easily these traits come out in SC Inevitably the presense of the US had an effect on the elections - even if there was no intent... Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Actually you can legally "undertake" in the UK so long as you "notify" the plonker in the middle/fast lane of your intention (providing of course that you are not exceeding the speed limit)... Weaving through lanes is illegal as it is dangerous driving. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I totally agree about the cell phone thing. Although it is just a symptom of people not paying attention. People chatting, smoking, eating, shaving, putting makeup on, performing sexual acts while driving - I have come across all of the above and it ticks me off (although the one incident was very entertaining!). People not paying attention are lethal. Our local police and council run a safety day for people on sports bikes - police and advanced instructors passing on knowledge, which I went to last week. The topic of people not paying attention came up and the most vivide example was a woman putting makeup on AND talking on the phone. She cut the guy up and he kicked her door 3 or 4 times and she didn't notice him!! Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

The US military in general has an extremely poor image abroad. Personally I fell in with the US are a bunch of arrogant & incompetants, until I had the opportunity to work with members of the US Army & Airforce (commercially). The people I met were very different to the image presented (in general although there was a guy who typified the image of the inbred redneck!). The UK seems to love the term "institution ..." to describe things (e.g. institutional racism") and I think this sums up the US military as it is the entity of the US military that is perceived as bad. I don't think that the image is driven by jealousy/or as a few people have suggested in past discussions that everyone else in the world lacks "freedom". I have found that the UK military (especially the SAS) are held in very high regard, and I have never heard the Canadians and Aussies knocked. I am sure that you are right that it is a tiny minority that are actually bad, but the US deals with them terribly (e.g the friendly fire incident where the US lied about evidence), Canadians bombed etc. At the very least the US military should co-operate with allies when they kill them - hell its not like Canada & the UK are some 3rd world dictatorships that have it in for the US. As long as the chain of command is complicit in these "coverups"/protections whatever you want to call them then an enormous part of the world will continue to hold Chuteless's view. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I don't think it was a mistake. I think that Bush had made up his mind to go to war and to hell with the rest of the world. While I was & am completely against the war, I think that Blair had a choice - the chaos caused by the USA joining the ranks of "Rogue Nations" and going to war alone - or stepping in alongside them and DESPITE political opinion at home (remembering that the war option was VERY un popular here - all along). I think that despite being a socialist tosser Blair did the right thing and prevented a greater world catastrophy. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Please understand that a formal inquest found the pilot made mistakes - not some internet chat room verdict. Also regarding peoples opinions of US soldiers - I personally find it very interesting that the UK including some parts of its military find the US military attitude lacking in their general respect for human life. Remembering that good intentions and "nice people" does not equal being perfect or having an attitude that is out of step with the rest of the world. Here are 2 links with comments from UK sources on GENERAL US military attitudes regarding human life. I don't have the time to filter through all the stuff that has been written regarding Matty Hull to find some of the UK military comments on previous incidents and the attitude towards it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4574983.stm http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2004%2F04%2F11%2Fwtact11.xml In short the US should be above the "spray and pray" mentality that they appear to display. I would really like to know if there are statistics out there to show if the US really is out of step in terms of the ratio of deaths that they produce, or if it simply is a volume issue. And also in case you think that I am implying that the US is purely careless about its allies - about 25% of all US casualties are from friendly fire from what I have found. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Much like skydiving I think that the risk is heavily biased towards how YOU act. I ride a bike everyday and have found that it is tempting to use the bike to its limit. Things like riding between lanes get you there quicker but up the risk immeasureably. My wife was undercut at 80+ Mph on the motorway - she very nearly pulled over to the slow lane to give the guy right of way because he was flying along. Lucky for him because I ride she knows that bikers do that stuff and checked first. So long as you remember that NOBODY can see you EVER then you are pretty much alright. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

The news report on BBC radio at lunch time was IMMEDIATELY followed by a report that the US "accidentaly" killed some Afgan policemen. In the report is was also stated 1st Gulf war - some 9 out of 24 UK deaths were caused by the US In the 1st Gulf war 25% of all US deaths were caused by the US! I don't care how many wars I have or haven't been in the figures point to the fact that the US military appears to have a severe problem in this area. I am tempted to say that they have a disproportionate rate compared to everyone else in percentage terms but while I feel that this is the case, I can't back it up as a "fact". Perhaps instead of being defensive the US should start to look at what they do wrong? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

It was explained to me when I first started jumping: 1) Most skydivers get a rush/fear otherwise it would not be worth the money. 2) Our fear of heights is because we want to "jump" from the height. I have always been scared of heights above 10 foot, and what I was told makes sense. I often find that if I look down a stairwell, building related height I find myself wondering how long it would take to fall. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

There is a Holiday Inn and a "Premier Travel Inn" both close. I have stayed in the Holiday Inn and it was fine. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

New Friendly fire incident http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6346901.stm seems that they mistook Iraqi Soldiers for an al-Queda Cell. Regarding the discrepancy between the 24 and 47 I found this list - maybe the one figure does not include "accidents" of which there are quite a few - road and air. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/03/british_casualties/html/default.stm Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.