nigel99

Please try and not throw out "trolling" lines. A good argument where we thrash out points is cool - but calling names justs detracts from the thread. I don't woship the US military - but I do find some of this distasteful - especially when your profile has occupation of "dissident" and references to bombing trains/burning flags etc. I think that there are a large body of us that question the moral authority of the US to "illegally invade" another sovereign nation and I also think that most accept that there are "bad apples" in the US military that break the law. I don't think that anybody can honestly call all US soldiers bad/scum. We can question the percentages and whether we feel that the US military has a higher rate of perpetration than other nations et. We can also question whether the US military tends to "cover up" incidents rather than outing the bad apples. Sorry for the long rant but you struck a nerve. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

In the interests of balance I wanted to post this link... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6295460.stm I find it interesting that another person responsible for a friendly fire incident was promoted - however this time it was a member of the Black Watch (UK). Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I know New Zealand is anti-nuke as kiwi friends love bragging how NZ pissed off the US by not letting its navy into its waters - I didn't realise Aussie was the same. My point was however that IF countries like this wanted nukes I am sure the US would object given the argument that I responded to about "dilution of power". What I am not certain about is that Iran is any more likely to be irresponsible with Nukes than old GWB. I know that they posture and such, but so does your glorious leader. From an objective point of view what is the difference between "Allah told us that Israel is bad" and "God told me to take out Saddam"? Both sound pretty much like religous fundamentalism setting foreign policy. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Not everyone thinks that is a bad thing. Much of the world sees the US as abusing its power and diluting it would probably be beneficial. I sit somewhere in the middle here. I don't trust US politicians and I don't trust Iranians. I feel that the US has more potential to "harm" and probably more will to do so in the interests of protecting it status as world super-power. I would not like to see Iran have nukes - but I do have a problem with the US screaming about nuclear proliferation when they have the largest arsenel. What is wrong with other moderate countries having nukes (most of the EU, Australia and New Zealand for example) - they are all so called friendly democracies? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I gave up jumping when I got married as my wife didn't like the crowd at my dz. After about 6 or 7 years I convinced her that as we were in a different country etc I would like to start jumping again. First visit to the dz there was a tragic accident (chance in a million) with 2 fatalities (person hit glider in free-fall). This didn't bother me as a personal risk. Second visit a few weeks later a person screwed up a low turn and died. This made me re-evaluate my position as firstly a person ended their life less than 10meters from my children. A major consideration was whether I wanted to spend weekend time without my family (no) or expose them to death at close quarters in an environment where statistically it is quite likely to occur (again answer was no). As I final consideration I had to acknowledge that while I personally have always been extremely conservative I can't assume that someone or something else won't mess up my life. As a result I chose to start tunnel flying which while it doesn't have the same thrills - certainly allows me to experience "flight" in a low risk environment. Perhaps when the kids are teenagers I will take it up again as I really loved the sport (hence my lurking here). Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

what you mean that it is not a "fact" that because men are taller than women they are polygomous? You got to be kidding me - polygamy is the root cause of all good and evil in that article Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Is it only me, but does the fact that the recipient of a stupid doctors presciption was a muslim, make this extra funny http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/6284688.stm Joking aside a pretty lousy thing to do to a patient. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/after_5_years_in_u_s_terrorist Best way to deal with terrorists in the west... Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

To be honest yes I can - however I don't see that an atrocity article should be laced with what I see as propaganda. Remembering that the task of a soldier is to protect civilians while meeting the needs of its country, I think you will find that much "praise" is given by ardent supporters where a simple they were just doing their job is more appropriate. Specific areas that I can say I see praise being due - 1) Supporting civilians above and beyond the call of duty. 2) "Heroic" action to save life either of fellow troops or civilians. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

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.