ArabiaTerra

^^^^ ^^^^ I remember once going through the 10 items or less with 9 cases of Miller and a case of Grouse (1st squad meeting of the year).

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?lang=&product=GAD5002&session=d04d31e15e1b4a58e367814943c0362c Cool...!

Osla's is in the premises that used to be Jeemie Mansons shop on the street, accross from The Grand, next door to Rae's jeweler.

The Holocaust was legal according to the laws pertaining in Germany at the time. The Nazi's were democratically elected according to the laws pertaining in Germany at the time. It's a minefield isn't it? The "Just following orders" defence was thrown out at the Nurnberg trials, and while I don't want to suggest for a moment that the UK today is in any way comparable to the nightmare of Germany in the thirties, it is surely the duty of any officer of the law to question each and every law that they are asked to uphold. Surely the "public interest" must come before the wishes of any government, however democratic. After all, while you are not swayed by religion, politics or personality, the government you serve may very well be swayed by exactly those things! I absolutely agree with the above. It is our current democratically elected government which is causing so much concern with it's obsession with ID cards, it's DNA database and now the proposal to install satellite tracking devices into all off our cars (for road pricing, apparently), not to mention the sea of new laws which they have introduced with what seems like very little regard for public opinion or civil liberties, let alone human rights. And now, rant over, to address the subject of this thread and quote an earlier post from Sherlock :- This is surely the most reasoned and eloquent arguement I have ever read in support of the legalisation of cannabis.

Just a little historical note, - Iran, one of todays extremist bugbears (according to Bush and Blair anyway) actually was a secular democracy in the 50's until that government was overthrown in a plot hatched by the CIA and MI6 and the Shah was installed, presumably because the secular democracy was a little wishy-washy in their attitude towards the Soviets. He who sows the wind, shall reap the whirlwind...

I've been listening to 'Bits between the Bits' by Ozric Tentacles. Grungy instrumental rave music from before rave was invented.....Cool.

I think it's just a piss-take, and not a very good one at that (I only got about halfway through it, booooring)

I have noticed that some of the bus stops in the country have street lights with solar panels. Are these lights on all night? If so then why aren't all street lights being fitted with these systems?

^^^^ Now thats one for the Human Rights Act lawyers ^^^^

Switching to an energy efficient low-wattage lightbulb will definately make a difference to your leccy bill and help to save the planet. An 11 watt energy efficient bulb is equivelant to a 60 watt conventional bulb. Another way to put it is: A 60 watt convetional bulb gives out about 9 watts of light and about 51 watts of heat, while an energy efficient one of 11 watts gives out 9 watts of light and only 2 watts of heat. The energy efficient bulbs last up ten times as long as well.

Superflous messages from electronic equipment. My digibox flashes up the following message every now and then: 'Your signal is poor, press i for more info' The thing is, if my tv picture is breaking up then I know the signal is poor, and if my picture is not breaking up (half the time the message appears) then my signal is fine! Another one is the bubble that appears on my computer sometimes when I connect to the net: 'TalkTalk broadband is now connected' I f*cking know it's connected, I just told it to connect! (and why does this one only appear sometimes?) Grrrrrr...

Something which has not been mentioned in this thread yet. What happens if the person you have beaten/castrated/mutilated/executed turns out to be innocent? If you can prove that your criminal justice system is perfect, then some of these more extreme punishments might be justified, but it is well known that our system is far from perfect. And as for Sharia law, that is simply barbarism which should be consigned to the middle ages where it originated.

I have signed. My uncle, who served in the RAF, also has this disease. It is very distressing to see the devastating effect it is having on an otherwise perfectly healthy human being. It is a truly terrifying illness. You have my heartfelt sympathy.

The Afghan hi-jackers were tried in the British courts for the hi-jacking. Someone, somewhere along the line, screwed up the prosecution so they were found not guilty. As they had committed no crime (innocent until proven guilty) they were treated as refugees with the same rights as any other refugees. It had nothing to do with the HR act. If you must slag someone fo that one, slag the Crown Prosecution Service not the Human Rights Act. The HR Act protects a basic level of human dignity and I am amazed to read so much condemnation of it on this thread. If it is being used to sue the State successfully then that only shows how far out of line the State has drifted under Tory Liar (sorry, Tony Blair). I believe it was using the HR Act that Britain's answer to Guantanamo Bay was shut down (Belmarsh prison). If it acheived that then that is worth any amount of silly, nit-picking headlines in the Sun or the Mirror. Slopping out should have ended decades ago. If the Government is being sued because it still goes on, that is the Gov's fault, not the fault of the HR Act. If it takes a Power higher than our Government to prevent our Government from locking people up, indefinatly, without charge, trial or appeal using evidence obtained by torture, then I, for one, applaud that and I will sleep more soundly at night knowing that the excesses of Tony Blair etc are subject to at least a modicum of outside scrutiny and control. Look at Guantanamo Bay if you want to see the results of not having the Human Rights act

I think I've figured out why none of the councillors responsible for this fiasco show any sign of resigning. Most of them have signed up for the 'Golden Handshake' come election time. If they go beforehand they stand to lose thier pay-off. Maybe we need to start a petition demanding that they either go now, or donate thier pay-off to charity. One things for sure, they certainly don't deserve it.

^^^ This really annoys me too ^^^ They dropped the charts when they changed to the new style graphics. I've e-mailed them about a dozen times about it and they did start showing them again on the scottish weather bulletin at around 6.50pm, but I don't always catch that one. The only other proper forecast on the telly is the Landward one on Sunday mornings. According to the reply they sent me from one of my many complaints, we are now too stupid to understand a proper weather chart! I don't remember being asked!

Cup Noodles? I seem to remember Clive James showing some hilarious Japanese adverts for those. 8O

Both the US and the USSR tested ASAT weapons in the 80's. The US weapon was a 2-stage missile launched from an F-15 while the Soviet one was a satellite with a bomb aboard which was maneuvered into the vicinity of the target and then detonated. Both countries 'proved' their weapons then mothballed them due to the resulting cloud of debris which would pose a risk to other spacecraft. This Chinese shot seems to be a similar 'proof of concept' test or demonstration. I think it does mark the start of the new arms race. It is amusing how the US gets so hot under the collar about this but refuses even to consider a treaty which might put limitations on their own use of Space. It's not as if they own it. India has also successfully tested a new space capsule this week: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6286663.stm so it looks like a whole new space-race as well. Maybe some good will come of it after all.

It's looking like the rainforests are history anyway. Half the Amazon dried up last year and it's only luck that the whole lot didn't go up in flames. We are changing the Planet. From a self-regulating natural system to a system whose primary purpose is to support the six billion human beings now living on it. There is very little room left for the 'Natural World'. Unfortunately this is not a planned change, we are making it up as we go and nobody knows the end result. The one thing we do know is that we must end our use of fossil fuels, preferably within the next 30 years. The proposed windfarm is a very small step, but it's one we need to take, if only to get the interconnecter installed. Then we can develop the offshore windfarms and the wave and tidal generators that will really crack the problem. The onshore windfarm will probably turn out to be a (relatively) temporary thing in the grand scheme (20 or 30 years). The natural world is taking a hammering and will continue to do so as the man-made mass extinction we're in the middle off runs it's course, but it will recover. The trick will be minimizing the Human cost of this disaster. It's damage limitation time now, not prevention. It's too late to prevent it.

Must have been a busy weekend http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/6289925.stm 8O

Naw... New York doctor lost in Alaska.

Dunno about twenty, but I just finished watching the first two series of Northern Exposure. Fantastic! I'd totally forgotten just how good this was. Oh yes, and Edge of Darkness, classic 80's cold war paranoia, with a dash of environmental terror thrown in. One of the Beeb's best.

So whats the alternative? Business as usual is untenable. Are you advocating a bunch of new nuclear power stations? (We may need a few anyway). I hate to say it, but a lot of these posts are sounding like the worst kind of nimbyism. The Burradale 'mills have proven that Shetland is the best place in the world to build wind generators. So why shouldn't we do our bit to beat global warming? It must be beaten. The alternative will be catastrophic.

Me too.

About once a year I get the craving for a Chicken and Mushroom Pot Noodle, but I can't stand any of the other flavours. Fray Bentos Pies anyone?