El Pibe

That's focusing on the sundries rather than the substance though. A bit like decrying the millennium tent as somehow representative of the labour government rather than all their fine achievements in office. Hmm, may have to rethink my example.

help help I'm being oppressed miss, he called me a naughty word ;-P

As it goes most of the actual nitty gritty of the Olympics doesn't exactly fizz my bunghole. I'm never going to get excited watching badminton or horse trials or pistol shooting. There are ususally some great moments produced of courage in adversity or glorious failure, emotion or simply outstanding athletic achievement however and its a hard heart that is utterly unstirred by these. Also in this world of shallow celebrity and outrageous remuneration whether it be for banking or kicking a leather ball, it's great to see those dedicated unsung joe schmos have their spotlight moment and a reward for all their personal dedication and financial and emotional commitment for those who have supported them. And it is a moment where the world will focus on our fair city and bring millions to spend and enjoy our hospitality. So the trains might be a bit more of a pain than they already are for a month, look at me and my very small violin, come on cheer up people.

humbug humbug humbug'm humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug**humbug*les humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbugt[sic] humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug. humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug't humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug not humbug humbug humbug't humbug humbug Fhumbugck humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug!

Can we just do a textual replace of all the words in this thread with "humbug" or, more accurately humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug humbug "humbug"?

Do2h!!

A new blog by Mr XKCD, basically a realllllly geeky version of Notes & Queries http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/

I've just looked at your site and have found out that Del Toro was to do an adaption of At The Mountains of Madness and the plug has been pulled. My day is now substantially greyer than it was a moment ago :( I'd be happy to be an occassional contributor but suffer from the same time constraints baby-and-toddler-wise that you do I'm afraid

"for the sort of arbitrage estate agents need" eh? Housing market doesn't really lend itself to arbitrage. Are you suggesting agents buy houses in Camberwell then sell them in Clapham at a profit? Not many victorian terraces will survive being uprooted and moved 5 miles west.

Now if Erin Gray had played tennis.. in silver spandex.. THAT would have been worth watching

I'll admit I was young when I watched them, but I really liked Connors (possible because he looked like Gil Gerrard) and McEnroe may have been brattish (even at 10 I could tell that) but it was interesting.

butter?

WHilst I agree with red devil's point I can't help wondering if this is more a sign that training techniques and fitness/diet regimes are compressing the qualitative range of players in the a reminiscent of the marginal edges needed to win at sprinting or motorsport? Had you plonked Murray as he is now in the court with the past greats as they were then he'd have wiped the floor with them. Not that I can get worked up about tennis these days, those past greats wiped the floor with anyone in the last 15 years or so personailty wise and it's the robotic nature of today's tennis that turns me off however impressive the tennis of Federe, Nadal et al may be. They're just so booooooring, bring back Connors v McEnroe please.

"For a long time before their success, Spanish footballers were regarded as underachievers in relation to their ability." Your point?

We have some pretty good patches in the Rugby too, and the tiddlywinks. Cheeserolling, don't forget that.

ANd can you justify any of your statements? U.S. got what it setout to get in Libya - destabilization Intervention was sought by France and the UK seeking a muscular role and leadership in the area. The US funded and supported the large majority of the effort whilst the european powers got the glory (whilst exposing their operational weaknesses and dependence on the US), for which Obama has been roundly criticised for 'leadership from behind'. The goal was ultimately regime change and this was achieved. There is nothing to gain from destabilisation, the sooner a government with a ruling mandate and centralised power is achieved the quicker the oil flows and the quicker the oil contracts come to the west. U.S. got what it setout to get in Egypt - destabilization So let me see, a nice regime allied to Israel, policing Israel's borders with incredibly close ties between the Egyptian military and US military was undermined by a US/Israeli conspiracy to errrr get a Muslim Brotherhood President installed and tank the economy with the resultant increase in popular demand for an end to the ties with Israel making it a less secure place. CAn you remind me why the CIA and mossad did this? U.S. got what it setout to get in Syria - destabilization No friend of Israel but they certainly felt more comfortable with the devil they knew. Admittedly getting rid of the Assad regime might mean a distancing of the new regime from Russia, but of course it might not. Destablisation achieves what though? U.S. got what it setout to get in Iraq - destabilization I think it set out to topple Saddam then didn't think too deeply about what followed. I know you like to think the SAS and co did black ops to foster a civil war, but I never got an explanation from you as to why this is a good thing, especially as it's in the USs interest to maintain good relations and keep the government strong as a potential bulwark against Iran. U.S. got what it setout to get in Afghanistan ? destabilization, occupation plus a little sideline of drug running. The least stable country on the planet didn't really need destablising did it. It is now a more stable country than it was though god knows everyone is just waiting for the troops to go before all the sides either come to some accomodation or yet another civil war breaks out. If occupation was the goal why are they leaving, and just what makes you think it's the US that is doing the drug running, it's the same old afgahn warlords, their Pakistani allies (and possibly the ISI on the side) who are making the money. None of whom are friends to the US, well apart from the ones in the government. Not that I expect an answer from you. I await your next non sequitur however.

#scotchpeoplecrying is trending is it? ;-P

The soveriegn state of Syria is shelling it's own citizens and cutting the throats of children. Your US-centric conspiracy world view seems to be blinding you to the simple truth of that. The sovereign state of Syria is not victim to some AIPAC manipulation, to think so makes you one of the few to fall for the pathetic propaganda coming out of the Assad regime. Were you equally vociferous about the rights of the soveriegn Rwandan regime to solve its own internal issues? I mean let's face it the government was toppled by foreign backed Tutsis so I guess you think they were right to preempt these external attempts at destabilisation with a little bit of murder?

Russia and China are simply preserving the principle that it's ok to kill your own citizens. Grozny was shelled with an intensity not seen since the second world war with civilian deaths estimated at up to 50,000 mostly ethnic Russians. Homs is a picnic compared to that and we all know about China's penchant for a bit of internal repression backed up by heavy weapons. In effect she's saying that it's no longer acceptable in a more enlightened world where we have things like 'responsibility to protect'. In order to achieve that we need to demolish the post war set-up of the united nations, abolishing permanent member status and vetoes for the big five and having the big military nations prepared to back up the UN to give it real teeth. This of course won't happen any time soon, so it's effectively posturing not threatening, hence why we get lots of talk about wrong side of history and so on. We have slid into civil war in Syria, but if you ask me the signs are that Assad is indeed on the wrong side and won't survive this. The insurgency seems to be getting bolder and better organised, we have an increase in defections both from the grunts and at the top levels of the regime. Of course I could be wrong, the military in Algeria managed to cling on to power using the sorts of tactics we've seen Assad use via his militias, and that rather gives the lie about history being somehow determinist towards the new narrative of the Arab spring. I hope it won't be protracted and bloody but sadly popular insurgencies tend to be both, and Libya certainly shows us that victory against. Terrible regime doesn't suddenly usher in democracy and social justice for all. Poor sods are definitely cursed with living in interesting times!!

The beginning of the end has been going on for 6 years, and yet weirdly it seems to thrive in spite of this; to quote Mark Twain.........

A night's sleep, sometime in September I reckon...

???? :)

This is a much wider issue than a couple of idiots badmouthing businesses, it's more of a pandora's box/lunatics taking over the asylum scenario. Those who shout loudest and most often get heard most as social media and citizen 'journalism' increasingly becomes the primary source of information for m(b?)illions. Your New Nexus types may be this taken to it's absurd logical conclusions, but it has a more insidious effect on the rest of us as it becomes increasingly difficult to tease unsubstantiated information from the real thing. Likewise the knee-jerk trip to wikipedia as the de-facto arbiter of truth is even worse as critical faculties seem to have gone right out the window, especially given how much of that information is dubious at best. Back on topic I must say I sympathise the businesses in question, their representatives clearly aren't as web savvy as they need to be and it must be both exaspertating and intimidating for them. This is where I reiterate that banal point made a spliggion times by others about how positive engagement will pay dividends.....

Higgs Boson mass jokes are doing it for me at the moment.

"unauthorised access to www.freesmileys.org" Way to get me in trouble at work there UDT :-/