nigel99

Thanks I looked first thing and searched under "torture" on bbc news and nothing came up. Firstly this appears to me to be public admission that the US carries out torture to quote from the independant link you posted. Secondly as per my first post - accepting that torture is not "nice" - if it saves lives and protects us - after all the current terrorists are deemed to be suicidal and a prison term would be no deterent - surely it is right to admit the evidence in court? If the courts don't do that then I would expect that these suspects would begin to suffer "accidental deaths" while in military custody... Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I can't find a news article covering what you've posted - but one of the biggest problems that the US has in releasing people from Guantanamo Bay to the UK is that the evidence from Guantanamo is largely obtained "under duress". Lawyers here are pushing the fact that the US has crossed the line into torture as well. This means that the evidence is not admissable in court and the guys go free EVEN if they are guilty. Personally I don't condon torture by anyone, BUT ALL government's do it as part of military operations just that some cleverly dress it up as "psychological operations" and play legal word games to avoid admitting it. It is probably justified in war circumstances as it MIGHT save lives. The problem then comes related to fanatical terrorists - if we feel we have to torture them to save lives - should the legal system allow them to be released? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I swear it looks like there is a child sitting 3rd along in the rubber dingy... Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Does anyone on here know much about embedded OS's? I am doing work for a client and it seems to me that Windows CE is the worst possible implementation of an Embedded OS possible. I am not keen on these desktop OS's shrunk down (WinCE & Linux) but as it is not my field I am reluctant to push something like VXWorks without knowing some background. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I believe only one person has ever been convicted for 9/11 (and that was in Germany) - however his conviction has since been quashed. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Our kids are praised as being the best behaved in their schools (despite the youngest being twins) and they are brought up ALOT more firmly and consitantly than most. So I think lack of discipline/inconsistant discipline and lack of love/attention are the biggest contributers. My wife is amazing with the kids and I don't know how she manages though - I work it's easier Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

well if you like your average man - who spends time burping, farting and drinking beer- then Fatb will make you feel at home... Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Some of these are quite amusing. FatB does quite a bit. http://www.oska.com/combo.php Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I have been researching the background to the Iraq war and what the possible motive's were. I have come up with the following information. 1) The USA & Allies funded an organisation (MAK) which was a terrorist organisation run by bin Laden and an Associate (bin Laden was not the prime contact but 2nd in command) to counter the Russian invasion of Afganistan - they funded this organisation to the value of US$200 million. MAK became Al Quada after the Russians pulled out. (early 80's) 2) The US had long held the view (prior to 9/11) that Islamic terrorists/extremists who were citizens of the USA but who were only supporting/commiting acts of terror that did not harm US interests should not be put under survellience or arrested. 3) Al Quada declared their intention to create Islamic middle eastern states with nuclear capabilities and that these states should then challenge/declare war on the US. (1994/1996) The point of all that - I believe in hindsight that Bush wanted to create a middle eastern democracy and prevent the creation of middle eastern theocracies with Nuclear ambitions. What he and his team seem to have mis-judged is that most nations are proud of their herritage and would prefer rule by a dictator to foreign intervention. It appears that the US is not going to achieve a "democracy" in the manner they intended and there is a significant chance of an extreme Islamic state being created. What would be extremely worrying is if it turns out the intelligence was manipulated by Islamic or Iranian interests to facilitate the downfall of Saddam (remember he ran a secular not islamic state). Summary Bush has either aided Al Quada in their aims of Islamic middle eastern states or he has pre-empted their moves and possibly averted a serious problem in 10 to 20 years time - unfortunately only time will tell. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

ok - I agree with the point about people creationists trying to disprove evolution. They should be focusing on trying to develop their theories further. I am not advocating creationism just open mindedness - to me both theories could be wrong. Shifting it slightly though why are SOME evolutionists so scared of people who disagree with them? I have heard at least 2 occassions on the radio over the past year when senior acedemics have gone bezerk because a school (private not state based) dares to emphasize the fact that there MIGHT be alternatives to darwenism? I mean trying to get a school shut down level of hatred/feeling about the subject. Admittedly the UK is more secular than the states - in fact the same radio station (BBC4) actively mocks Bush for his prayer meetings - when the subject comes up. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

The USA believes in them. On the visa application forms there are exemptions for "Aliens with exeptional abilities". Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Yes the differentiation I am making is between mutation which is accepted fact and undisputable. I am treating seperately the issue of one lower lifeform evolving into a higher life-form. The absense of partially evolved creatures that gradually go from one state to another is I believe in many cases explained away as a radical transition between life-forms. For example the explaination that scales transitioned to either fur or feathers - there are no mid-points to link the 2. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

point taken So in your opinion is it possible for science to disprove creationism aka Genesis? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I agree that we can't prove it wrong - however we can't prove it right either. Secondly while it may fit ALL the evidence we have - it has significant flaws in terms of "missing links" or partially evolved debri that the theory requires. It therefore lacks significant amounts of evidence before it should reach the phase of being un-disputable. Just because virus's and animals adapt to their environment does not imply that they can morph into entirely new beings. I can't categorically state this as fact but I do not believe that there is a single piece of evidence to support the macro-evolution jumps. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Bill - maybe I wasn't clear in what I mean't. To me alot of what you have described as evolution I attributed to mutation. i.e. if you buy into evolution theory then I guess you can call it micro-evolution and when the fruit fly is made longer/drug resistant etc, but when the fruit fly evolves to be a golden eagle then thats macro-evolution... As to theories alot of the theories in science that are currently used have got to be supplemented by "fudge factors", and hence acedemics are actively paid and pursue alternative explainations. While it appears to me that people who search for alternative explainations to evolution (a theory that everyone has to admit has its holes) are described as religous wackos (of which many are - but not all). It is part of my point about the religous devotion to evolution that many people have. Why are non-religous people so eager to defend and argue that a theory is undisputable? Until a theory pass's the criteria to become scientific law I believe that people are free to explore alternatives. As an example - we as humans engage in bio-engineering, design engineering covering robotics etc, it is POSSIBLE that a higher species CREATED us as a form of design engineering - now that can quickly form the basis of a religion where we do not understand the higher beings and therefore gods are created to explain the higher beings status. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

definition of a theory is "a tentative theory about the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena; "a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory"" As evolution is a THEORY I believe that people should be aware of that and not treat it is as a scientific LAW. It amazes me how much "religous" belief people place in evolution. Scientists are happy to research gravity,electromagnetics and try and prove the current theories wrong (because they have holes in them - hence string theory etc) - however they only try and prove evolution right - that is not scientific method as it is meant to be applied. I personally don't buy into evolution and believe that we should be looking for alternative explainations. Beyond mutation - evolution has not been proven. I don't take the bible Genesis explaination at face value either so I am not coming from a religous angle here. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

or 1.2 billion people? Does that mean the US has the right to "reduce" their population through a war and thereby eliminate that "threat"? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

There is no simple answer. I have wondered for a long time about it. However I am currently reading a book that explains the background and makes alot of sense. I will try and post a summary when I am finished reading but it takes the historical differences and logic back to the 2nd world war as a starting point. "Allies at War" http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071441204/qid=1089039581/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-3135618-9415003 The book appears to be neutral in its bias and not pro or anti-war so far. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I am about to jump on a plane to Dallas from Atlanta and will be there for this evening and tommorrow morning (Sunday) - I am told the weather is awful does anyone have suggestions on where to go/what to do? Thanks Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

the reason I dislike Microsoft is their policy of swamping products with features that I do not want and then have to pay for. For example MS Office is more powerfull than ANY of us will ever have use for - the featureset within it justifies the high price - MS Works is more in line with what we all use BUT MS does not make the two products compatible. The same goes for Windows they bloat the OS with Video editing software/MSN messenger/email & internet apps etc - the featureset justifies the price IF you use them - some of us would prefer the choice of having a barebones windows OS cheaply and buying 3rd party better tools to fulfill our needs. Thankfully in Europe it looks like MS will be forced to do just that. Linux - I've tried it but unless you use a PC just for surfing the net you get severely hit on software for business use. The Linux user interface on software is generally fragmented and not "designed" it has evolved and does not benefit from the money the MS have put into UI studies. Another problem for Linux is the lack of a business face to it - generally we like to have someone we can phone and kick when it goes wrong. It makes a great & cheap server for a small business though (use it for that ourselves) Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

thanks for the link - nice product. Maybe next time I should use engineering units instead of ambiguous "long distance" terms. GPS = global coverage, however a 1 mile radius line of sight (this will degrade in built up areas) To work effectively in the situation suggested I believe you would ideally want to uplink to a satelite for national /or regional coverage. I suppose a 1 mile radius could work if you have aircraft doing the searching as you would get some element of enhanced coverage (don't know the figures of improvement though) Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

GPS is and can be very small - the problem is that GPS is a RECEIVER and not a transmitter and therefore the GPS knows where it is and nobody else does. Making an effective long range transmitter that is small is is extremely difficult/impractical Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I don't know but flying the London/Washington route circa once a month - it is probably the safest flight in the world - the last few times people have been given a thorough going over especially when leaving Washington (seperate secure area AFTER the departure gate where everyone is "scanned" using the magic wand and they freak out about the rivets that are built into your jeans...) It is also the most likely flight to be delayed/cancelled leaving the UK. The escort only joins the airline for the final stage of the flight (I believe) and is the result of an airborne development and therefore not known in advance. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

There's lots of planes that are currently "escorted" by fighters because of the threat of terrorism - the main users of this philosophy being the USA and France. The clear understanding is that these flights are high risk (e.g. the flight between Washington DC & London has had escorts a few times now) and should a hi-jacking take place the fighters would be authorised to shoot the plane down... Would this be a declaration of war on the host country? Would the USA accept France downing an American airliner? I would expect a full court trial in public (not the usual for security reasons the evidence can't be released...) if the USA did it to a British flight... Lastly in such a situation does anybody know whether your typical Warsaw convention /life insurance covers you? I fly to Washington alot from London and it is a genuine concern since this flight appears to be one of the highest profile targets? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Can you name freedom's that you have that we do not enjoy across France/Germany/UK? In fact if liberal attitudes towards nudity carry any weight with regards to freedom then I would say Europe has more freedom than you Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.