El Pibe

"sticky wicket" an american term now. http://britishisms.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/sticky-wicket/

"carpet munching"?!!?!? are you sure about that?

I've done a lot of research into this and the number one route to survival is find guns and ammo and find the nice army types not the scary ones that you eventually have to escape from but one of your group won't make it. Then find a spot where you can see 'em coming. I reckon the end of the world will come about via a meteor shower that makes everyone blind then we all fall foul of stinging nettles and brambles. Has that one been done you say?

We do seem to rate death emotively rather than by numbers alone. 11,000 dead is more than the entire aforementioned Troubles, about six months in the Libyan civil war, about a month worth of obesity related deaths in the US and about one in 30 of those killed in the great tsunami. Of course gunning down six year olds is a bit more shocking than a fat bloke with type 2 diabetes. It is however every bit the prognosis for a misogynistic macho gun culture as sure as those heart attacks are from the diet rich in sugar, read meat and processed fats. Something fundamental and structural needs to be done if it's to change, but they don't want to any more than those 100000+ want to change their diet and exercise regimens. So expect this tale in the news a couple of times a year...

I meant MU and MC RD.

Apparently the inn was on the site of the cutlers. And it wasn't silver it was ivory, which makes more sense, memory is a terrible thing. http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ele1.htm

I'm no definitive authority on this, just something I was curious about many moons ago. There's a million theories (ok about 9) and this one was the most plausible. As you say pubs and inns are more likely to take names from the same inspiration than be the source of a name, but there are always exceptions. Swiss Cottage I guess for starters.

Paying more for a premium product, hardly a new concept. Welcome to the double edged swprd of ambition. Disgusting otta, but hardly shocking given the state of the game in many of the former communist states. La Piba and I were going to watch a domestic game there once, but decided to skip it as the snows came and temperature dropped to mi us the. We watched it in a pub where the locals were really cool rather than scary skin headed ultras so probably good mo e all round.

E&C is named after the cutlery industry that existed there. Something to do with the silver hallmarks or some such. I grew up with pubs full of casual violence but that's small town mentality for you.

Any of Shane Meadows films are class. Ted Barnes Underbelly was written for one of them but wasn't used but is worth buying. Bladerunner, a film where everyone was at their career best including, perhaps particularly, Vangelis. Anything by Tangerine Dream ;)

My mate says army dogs make the best cleaners. That's a sweeping general Alsatian! [courtesy of six music's made up jokes]

Can I have a four pack please?

I can't even fathom MM's logic but that's neither here nor there. A pardon is of course meaningless to Turing, but is a way of saying sorry, and I don't think apologies are bad things for wrongs, they help to fix things. It's not about values then and now, what happened then was simply wrong, not to say fucking ungrateful. Few men can claim to have contributed as much to winning the war as he did; what he was was known and a blind eye turned, and then they fucked him up after the job was done. My dad knew a polish lad who killed his wife and was slapped on the wrist because he was a Battle of Britain pilot, but hell, it's not like boffing a bloke is ke murder is it. This isn't a sop to modern norms, everyone knew it was hypocrisy then, Jesus, half of the House of Commons had boffed blokes, it's trying to say sorry for how fucked up things were. Part of me wants no pardon so that such atrocious behaviour remains a fresh thorn, so that anyone who claims they are proud of what Britain stands for is forced to realise that, even after empire and before we were complicit in organised torture collaborating with known human rights abusers, we could still be shitty.

Hungerford was 25 years ago. There have been three more deadly shootings in the US in 2012.

I thought it rather lost focus on its strengths when it went in a foodie direction, and in its last incarnation the shop seemed an afterthought, so it lived and died by the restaurant offering, which sadly didn't seem to take this time round. I'll miss it a lot :(

really? How very very sad.

also this made me chuckle....nervously

you could upload it to another site, say flickr, facebook, google or somesuch and deeplink the photo.

An idiot's guide to islamist groups in Syria. I have no idea if its taking the pee out of real groups or just made up, but good stuff anyhoo. "The Ummah?s Shield Brigade Shields, swords, sabres and other paraphernalia from Islamic history are quite common among these groups, but for some reason not astronomical instruments , medical implements or any of the multitude of devices that Islamic scientists produced in the past. One might argue that it?s the result of a selective and militarised interpretation of Muslim history but one better be at a safe distance before making such argument."

and another

Sailboat Championship on Android and iOS. Like a grown-ups Waveracer. Very nice. In other news already finding corners of the day to plough into the timesink that is Baldurs Gate. By freeing it from the PC and actually allowing you to play it on the toilet I might actually manage to finish it this time. Mind you sorting out the gazillion bugs would be nice of the developers; stabbing at a door entrance or stair case 63 times in a vain attempt to find the random sweet spot is very annoying.

Oh my god, Green Street, what was with that accent?!?!

God, can you imagine what the reaction would have been if they'd made the call from a mobile phone whilst driving a car? *polishes freshly engraved bullet*

God are we here again? Bottom line, those who wish to forgive or turn a blind eye will, those who have demonised him have their reasons. For most of the neutrals it was a moment that took the shine off one of the sport's more cherished representatives. None of it can ever take away from his undoubted talent at his peak. I mean let's face it, Maradona was an arse but the messi/maradona debate doesn't hinge on who was the nicer more sporting more humble player does it.

is the new lumia on windows phone? HAven't seen it in the flesh yet but I suspect it'll be a player as a smart phone os, and the 920 gets excellent reviews. I may be tempted to switch on my next upgrade.