Posts by ImaGnuber

@Stu

"But hey ho, it was the Uk's superior firepower that won that battle...Oh hold on, no it was a bunch of tree hugging civillians, who deicided enough was enough and sat down and talked it through"

Well, no. The IRA was thoroughly infiltrated and it became apparent that attempts at aggression were being effectively countered by not so gentle men with nasty weapons, not to mention the quiet assassinations etc.

Effective talks were not possible until the aggressive ability of one side was neutralised by the other - by less than gentle means.

"To call people who oppose war tree huggers, is a very sad reflection on society."

Actually it's a reflection of the often human-hating, often unrealistic, and frequently violent behaviour of the 'tree huggers' themselves. They managed to turn their own 'movement' into an insult.

"It's not the weapons that kill, it's the assholes that start the wars."

Agreed. And until the world is free of assholes we had better keep working on our ability to defend ourselves.

Oh get over it

Oh dear, end of a long day...

It would be nice to see all the bleeding-heart think-of-the-children BS artists live up to their ideals and refuse to participate in or use the products of the military death-tech industry... in other words - Get Off The Internet! That's right - remember Arpanet? Or as it would be known today - Darpanet? The (successful) effort to create a military network capable of surviving all out war? Now known as the Internet?

I used to be one of you - until I woke up one day and realised that all the pretty, heart-felt yapping had absolutely nothing to do with the real world. Nothing. The arms race has been the way of the world since some monkey threw the first rock. Get over it.

Can't we just live in peace? No, apparently not (see other comment section regarding the acceptability of assaulting someone over lost luggage for a nice example of crap behaviour on a micro-scale).

Be prepared.

And let's send our soldiers out there with the most deadly weapons we can invent.

Don't want to see or hear about it? Close your eyes, cover your ears, and dance around singing 'Give Peace a Chance' etc.

Oh wait a minute... for all practical purposes you're already doing that.

@dodge et al

Right - 'death machines'. We'll send you into battle with an eco-friendly stick then? Oh no, wait... that might involve cutting down or maiming a tree.

It's the world we live in and as much as I would like to see that aspect of it change it isn't going to.

Don't like the stories? Don't read them. Why did you read this one... do you sit and watch television programs on subjects you don't like or approve of and then complain about them? Oh, judging by your actions here, I suspect you do.

To paraphrase: Dodge, you may get a hard-on from disapproving, but please do remember that it's used to BORE PEOPLE.

Like it or not, the tech is often ingenious and interesting.

Hint

I can't believe the number of people who think there is any justification whatsoever for getting violent with someone who is NOT an immediate threat to your life. It's people like you who make life miserable for everyone else... not that you'd care.

Hint: I've worked in a couple of places where we occasionally had to deal with people like you. I can assure you that we would make enough of a fuss to make you think you were getting the treatment you 'deserve' and have 'paid for' and then do nothing. There were plenty of other more pleasant people we would rather be helping.

If I'd had to deal with your ravings over lost luggage (things go wrong - complain to management) I would make you feel as 'special' as you think you are and then ship your luggage to Paraguay.

Don't like the service? Go someplace else - please.

@Sarah Bee

Well, Sarah, if she has poor impulse control I don't want her on any plane I'm on.

"I think you're probably sub-human if you've never had the urge to have a go..."

Of course most of us will have had the urge but it's the sub-humans who won't control it - we humans manage to restrain ourselves (civil society and all that).

Now Sarah, put down that cell phone! Sarah! Sarah no!

Ouch! Good throw.

@Seán

Liverpool celebration:

'Around the city in 80 Pints'

The MTV Music Awards

And for those who require a more elevated tone there is always, and I quote, "Gustav Klimt will be bringing the bling..."

That last one would have had me choking on my 'greaseburger'* if it was a bit later in the day.

*actually it would have been a Tim Horton's Doughnut as I'm in Canada.

Poor Britain. Where have the glory days gone?

Liverpool?

"2008 European Capital of Culture"

I hope all those who criticise American culture are blushing.

Silly People

"six airliners approaching Sydney were compelled to alter their landing plans"

Too bad the Reg experts weren't there to assure them that there was no problem. Silly pilots and ground controllers don't know what they're doing - isn't that right, experts?

Check your brains - you'll probably find a little label saying something along the lines of 'should not operate heavy machinery'.

if it had been an American police vehicle

@Elfoad Regfoad

"Yeah, because Britain is the only place with street CCTV... where do you live that's so surveillance-free?"

Canada.

And I said "*relatively* surveillance-free streets". Compared to Britain which is now known as the most surveilled country in the world. How many cameras did they want just for the Olympics according to the Reg - 500,000 or something like that - and that's in addition to the millions they now have? Is there any other country in the world which is putting so much into surveilling its own population?

Of course Britain is so tiny you could drop it into a section of the province I live in (which is to Canada what Britain is to my province) so it's considerably easier over there.

Still, Britain does seem to be the west's lab for total surveillance experiments.

I repeat: "Think it through, sheeple. If the gov/police were doing this you would be livid." I think we can easily imagine what kind of comments would be showing up here if it had been an American police vehicle driving around taking photos of everyone's property. But it's google so lets just giggle and suggest anyone who objects is just silly.

Interesting/Creepy

Looked at google streetview for the first time today and I must admit I find it both interesting and a bit creepy . I can't imagine what it's like to live in Britain where government streetview is live all the time (even if only available to authorities).

I don't like anyone reading over my shoulder - don't know how I would react to someone living over my shoulder. I'm strong on law and order etc. but that might exceed my limit.

I'm off onto our relatively surveillance-free streets. My sympathies to all of you over there.

What next?

Nanny State.

It's a slippery slope - next thing you know you won't be allowed to use a phone while walking and we won't get to watch idiots walking into poles, slipping on doggy-doo...

Speed of light

Several references have been made regarding the difficulty of hitting a plane moving at several hundred mph. Aircraft speed is irrelevant. It's not as if you have to try to calculate the lead time necessary because of the length of time it takes the projectile - in this case light- to reach the target.

As to distance - I don't know about the situation there but where I am aircraft frequently make long low approaches. It's not as if they are little dots in the sky one minute and directly off the end of the runway the next.

A friend lives in an area where landing aircraft regularly bring conversations to a halt. You can practically count the rivets on the things.

This is an entirely plausible concern.

Wow!

""The in coming angle was very low (six degrees) and means the asteroid clipped a mountain called Gamskogel above the town of Längenfeld, 11 kilometres from Köfels, and this caused the asteroid to explode before it reached its final impact point."

Wow! Spectacular! What an image!

Various

"Oh wait, you're implying that the only drugs that can destroy families are the ones that our guardians have deemed illegal, "

No. We are talking about the illegal drugs so that is what I commented on. Stay in focus.

"If adults of normal intelligence CHOOSE to take cocaine, and then get addicted, and ruin their lives, I could care less."

No comment required.

"actually gnuber, contrary to what gmtv

What's gmtv?

seems to have taught you NOT everyone who tries "drugs" instantly becomes hooked and dies, THAT is utter nonsense, why would anyone try it?!?

Yeah kids are so good at making those decisions. From the look of some streets near me I'd must say I'm not optimistic about adult abilities either.

"It takes a bit of effort to develop a dependancy on anything other than the truly addictive (and nasty) stuff like heroin or crack"

Right and Coca fields will still be there, and spreading, to produce crack. Poppy fields for heroin. Drug cartels and distribution networks won't vanish. Carpet bomb'em.

"Hold the phone there sunshine. I'm an avid cocaine user and I'm not a mess."

Wow. Someone who got away without serious consequences (I'm happy to take your word on that. Seriously). So I guess it's ok to legalise so everyone can start 'hoovering it up' without personal or legal consequences. Maybe when they start advertising their products you can start another career as product spokesperson. You know, the cool guy in the ad!

And there was that comment about the environmental impact of the Abrams Tank? Typical & WTF.

Pointless discussion really. Those who have dealt with the consequences will feel one way, those who want to party will go the other way... and never the twain shall meet.

I'm outa here.