I second what Geforce Junky suggests; my wife and I did similar on our honey moon to get to Lake Garda, fantastic driving – take a car that’s a fun to drive.

Good luck – I recommend a copy of “Pro SQL Server Relational Database Design and Implementation” by Louis Davidson. The example project he steps through in the book is a database system for a chain of dental clinics 😉

Budget and certain business requirements will probably decide things for you. As mentioned SQL Server C# .Net etc can be done on a shoestring with the Express editions but can get expensive on licensing if you need to scale past the limits. Having said that I’ve seen well written stuff on that cope with lots of concurrent users no problem and your needs don’t sound too large.

As far as an open source DB engine I prefer Postgres over MySQL. If you are familiar with Oracle and PL/SQL it is not such a big leap and its default handling of concurrency, NULL’s, constraints etc. is far superior to MySQL IMHO.

If you are not really all that familiar with any kind of SQL and have a limited timeframe I would personally seek the budget to get someone in who lives and breaths relational database design, Set theory and SQL development. They will write efficient code far faster than you and it will work as opposed to the some of the nightmarish stuff I’ve seen when your average applications developer hacks a database together.

It’s either two new bikes or stick with the stumpy evo really. If sticking with one bike having two sets of wheels and a couple of stems you can switch between depending on what you’re riding might be a sensible compromise.

The handlebars look fine, I think it is the rest of the bike…

That must have taken ages to do, very impressed. All done on a mobile phone too!

If part exchanging, no. If trying to sell privately then yes. A clean washed and polished car gives the impression it has been well looked after.

Mel ,what are you doing posting on STW ?

Now you mention it I think it was painted black rather than the usual olive green 😯

And there are lots of christians who borrow or lend, covet their neighbour’s wives, etc etc. But what’s your point exactly? Some people who claim to be religious suck at it, therefore…

Pah, that’s Old Testament stuff. Christians don’t really have to worry about it, that’s why we can eat pork, seafood, and arguably play backdoor games without worrying about not getting into heaven. The only real sin is denying the Trinity which is why Jehovah’s Witnesses will all burn for eternity.

The poor Muslims and Jews take the OT rules a lot more seriously; The Jews just denied the NT and the Muslims re-wrote the whole lot.

😀

what amazes me jivehoney is that this information is out there, yet the governments intelligence is just MI6 saying- we think Assad did it, with no sources or details provided

It’s more about what the French are saying their ‘dossier’ states that the weapons used were too complex to have been used by untrained militia or for them to have been able to build it.

Given the number of fatalities (if those figures are to be believed) I would be inclined to believe this. Chemical weapons are notoriously difficult to administer and control; they might work well in controlled environments but generally High Explosives are far better method of killing people – chemical weapons are more effective for propaganda/terror use and are not really the weapons of mass destruction the media would have you believe. Actual use on a ‘traditional’ battlefield is more about inconveniencing the enemy forces than killing them – there are good reasons why their use in WW1 was limited and barely registers in WW2 (extermination camps aside).

Other than we have international laws banning the use of chemical weapons I am still confused as to why we ignore the use of HE and cluster munitions on densely populated areas but then think we ought to act when chemical weapons are used?

Isreal have already dropped bombs on Syria quite a few times in recent history. There was a possible nuclear power plant that disappeared a couple of years back and more recently a new shipment of Russian missiles were destroyed. They are unlikely to try and start WW3 with a full scale attack because Assad has gassed some of his own people.

At the moment Obama is only talking of punitive strikes so not even like the actions that took place in Lybia recently. For all their bluster the Russians won’t do much if that’s all that happens and China has only voted no after abstaining from the vote on Lybia and being disappointed with the results of the UN backed NATO action there.

I think there is quite a bit of hype going on in the media at the moment to say the least – they do love a good bombing campaign though 🙄

You should be fine. I’ll give Carbon Copy Cloner another vote though – excellent bit of software.

[/quote]My view is that it is pointless to question their religion/view as you have no rights to do so and you can’t change their rules or way of life.

It is for their women to fight back or to stand up to them rather than letting outsiders intervene in their way of life/community/world.

Utter Piffle; we should rightly question any abuse of power or influence, regardless of how that power or influence is gained e.g. a husband over his wife or a priest over his flock.

However, I will concede that it is correct that people should be able to dress how they want and it is also true as alluded to that some women say they choose to wear a face veil. My argument is that whilst I can choose to wear an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, why would I dress in a way that usually signifies some of my rights have been taken away from me – there really is nothing in the Koran that says they have to cover their faces.

With regards to your second point that if the women are oppressed they should be left to fight back themselves without support, I strongly disagree. You only need to do a bit of reading on forced marriages, acid attacks, and FGM to realise that there are severe problems with women’s rights in several UK communities that do need outside help and support to banish. Whilst perhaps on its own the full face veil isn’t quite the same as those examples it is a form of misogynistic oppression/control all the same.

The face veil/covering to me is a symbol of oppression and I don’t believe there isn’t really a place for it in a modern secular country.
I have seen plenty of Muslim ladies (and a few from other religions)wearing just a head scarf. This I don’t see as a problem; it is merely a symbolic gesture in a similar sense that wearing a cross or a turban is.

Whilst we can show our distaste for items of clothing (like the face veil) banning it would achieve little and probably prompt some people to wear it that wouldn’t have done so. In a modern country it should just be reduced to occasions – like dressing for a wedding or a judges regalia and maybe one day it will; I’d like to think that British born girls would strongly object to such demeaning treatment.

Having said all that comparing it to a balaclava is just moronic.

Wow that infowars site is impressive; its now on my favourites list above AboveTopSecret.com but below davidicke.com 😉

To my 20 month old son that would be a “SPYDDRRR” along with anything else that crawls, flys, hops, or looks like a speck of dirt on his hand – unless it is man-made in which case it is a “HELICOP-TOP-TOP”.

I’ve received stuff via them; the bike was OK but the PC that I purchased from someone off here had taken a battering. I had to strip it down and rebuild it to ensure all connections and the heat-sink were seated properly; Luckily it had solid state drives!

I just purchased You Need A Budget[/url] yesterday off steam for £8 for my household budget. It looks powerful enough for a small business but lacks things you could do automatically in a well setup Excel spreadsheet. Might be worth a look?

I started doing this and the realised; when will I actually watch any of these? There are a few films I will watch again and again, and the kids stuff is obvious, but the rest of it? Nah, sell the DVD’s and get a Netflix subscription.

Tom, I like the cartoon; it rings true.

The real weapons of mass killing are really just the simple Assault Rifle i.e. the AK47. Very cheap to buy or mass produce copies of, you just need to recruit the boys to carry them to your cause.

Damn… we better find an excuse use them up before the warranty expires…

Looks good considering it is on PS3/XBOX 360 architecture. I wonder if an enhanced version will be released with the new consoles?

Ernie cheated, approximate costs are on wikipedia (where else). A Storm Shadow (as used by the RAF) costs £790,000 and we ordered 900 of them!

Still if you think that we bombed a city flat with 1000 4 engine heavies but still usually missed the main targets in WW2 I suppose that is cheap if the 97% success rate is to be believed.

Complete stab in the dark, £65,000.

I would argue the linguistic definitions as well as the political definitions are important. Often these form part of the national or cultural memes about how we define ourselves.

Also the definitions add legitimacy to ‘legal’ as to ‘illegal’ armed conflict – for example no one would try to legally argue that crew of a Sherman tank killed when it was hit in Normandy in 1944 were murdered compared to those RMP lads who were killed in that Iraqi police station a few years back.

Please note that I am not saying what is ‘right’ in the moral sense but it is important that these definitions are understood else (legally, politically, linguistically) else the next time you argue over your parking space with your neighbour… you get my drift.

You can do either.

If you go to the skydrive web-page and upload them from there they won’t be stored anywhere on the local computer apart from where you uploaded them from.

If you download the skydrive application it will create a local skydrive folder under your user directory. You can then copy the photos here and it will sync them in batches.

I prefer the second method as you get more control on folder structure etc. However if you do it this way it is best not to keep the originals in your local skydrive folder incase you cock something up when online e.g. delete a folder and then the delete gets synced down to your PC.

Well, it’s definitely a war and has been for some time – just have a look on youtube and other sites for news fottage of Syria and you’ll see that plenty of the towns and cities have been subjected to heavy shelling.

The thing that strikes me is most of the footage of the FSA or other combatants taking on the government resemble – in dress, speech, tactics the guys we were fighting against for the most part in Iraq. That coupled with the the fact that they are mostly a collection of different groups with different agendas helps explain why we are only now looking to get more actively involved.

I’d hazard a guess that if the FSA and co were more integrated and representative of the Syrian population as a whole and, Assad didn’t have Putins backing we probably would already be involved to a greater degree.

However I am not sure what some of you want – on the one hand you rightly condemn all killing but then describe our politicos as war mongers when they start putting the pressure on the Syrian government. Granted the UN is rarely able to act due to differences of opinion of the Security Council members but does that mean US/UK/France/Germany shouldn’t act if policies of ethnic cleansing and mass slaughter are being carried out?

Personally I’d like to see more effort put into arms embargoes before we start bombing campaigns – TBH this may well be happening but the press are less likely to give it coverage than the prospect of cruise missile attacks.

I’m not really sure what to make of that to be honest. It’s one thing for special police units to rehearse certain hostage scenarios but seems strange that teachers and school administrators feel the need to be part of it. I suppose its all part of America’s culture of fear which is constantly reinforced by Hollywood and, of course, the all-too-frequent loony going ape with an AR-15.

This kind of thread reminds me why I like living in Spain: kids can act as kids, rather than trying to force them to behave as adults. Yeah, they make noise and run up and down, but so what? They’re kids, it’s normal.

Agreed, it’s a totally different culture; if my two were running around the local square and under peoples chairs and tables in this country at 11pm at night I think we would get some dirty looks. In some small towns in Andalucia we’d only get stared at because the kids are mixed race. 😐

I think the problem here as mentioned is the methods used to discipline (or not) the kids when the high jinks go too far or the kids are going to seriously hurt themselves. Mind you, I think the Tarquins who have wet lettuce parents are worse; one day they will probably have jobs running the country…

The 306 and 406 non-turbo diesels are very reliable, my old R plate 306 fell apart but the engine and gearbox were sound. 407’s are a more complicated car – the 1.6 HDI is reputed for problems if not well looked after but I like mine and having had the DPF removed, EGR bypassed and an engine remap done it drives better and will hopefully last for a few more years. I believe the 307 was reputed as one of Peugeot’s worst cars but I have never driven one.

I’d also recommend a diesel Rover 75 or MG ZT if you can find one in budget without astronomical miles. Definitely the best car Rover ever built and uses a BMW engine – plenty out there with 170,000+ on the clock.

You’re right I think; I checked the website and compared the geometry of the 2013 Sirrus SL4 to the Roubaix SL4 and barring the odd mm difference for wheelbase on the smaller sizes the geometry was identical.

I’d definitely consider one of these if I needed to replace my 2008 Madone. I very rarely ride the drops and generally prefer flat-bars & bar-ends.

I say go for it and let us know what you think 🙂

I don’t think there are any barriers to an independent Scotland joining the EU. IF there are then they would in effect apply to rump UK as well.

Scottish independence is about repealing the 1707 act of union which forms the UK which is the EU member. If the act is repealed the UK which joined the EU no longer exists and there are two successor states both of which automatically qualify for EU membership.

If Westminster somehow made it that Scotland was seceding from the Union and was internationally recognised as a new country and not a successor state then the EU membership argument might hold water – I for one could not see this happening for the simple reason that the rump UK would be left with Scotland’s share of the existing national debt where as a successor state would have to take their share and honour it.

I quite like that and used to have an ’08 Alu/Carbon Sirrus until it was stolen. I would imagine that geometry will be a lot more upright than on the Roubaix, I know mine was compared to my ‘relaxed’ Madone 4.7 which is a good thing when you are riding in traffic for 10-15 miles but probably not so much on a long distance sportive.

A straight loan from a bank would probably be your best bet. I have used a loan organised by a car dealer before but I re-payed it as quickly as possible and so dodged the higher rates of interest that they often incur.

I’d also recommend looking around and perhaps finding a private sale of a car that has been well looked after. In my experience £8k at a dealer does not necessarily mean that you won’t be forking out for new brakes & disks or a new clutch within 12 months. IME if the car is sold with an aftermarket warranty you need to read carefully into what they will/won’t pay for.

I also like the fact that almost every single one of the pro union english camp are anti the european union.

That seems the way of it for the most part. An independent Scotland probably would help some people face the facts that England can still play a major part in leading European and World affairs but more as a partner with other large European countries. I’d see Scotland looking more to partner with the Scandinavian countries (who let’s face it clearly demonstrate what an independent Scotland would look like).

The problem of course is always the French – London will always be closer to Paris than Edinburgh in more than just distance 😉

Good answers; from what I seen of the better together campaigns much of it often sounds like speculation at best and doom mongering at worst.

Most popular boys name in London last year? Mohammed.

That statistic reflects nothing more than a lack of imagination amongst our Islamic brothers.

This interesting website suggest you are obliged to give the police your details under the Road Traffic Act if stopped on a push bike. Some other interesting nuggets on there too;

Do you have to give your details?[/url]

I got pulled over today by the police for speeding on my bike. They clocked me on a speed gun. No fine or anything, but took my details and apparently I’ll get a written warning.

For arguments sake are you actually obliged to give a Police Officer your details under the Road Traffic Act if stopped when on a bike? I seem to remember some youtube video of some tit a law student talking circles around the copper who stopped him.

If you’re really worried about aviation safety, you’d be far better off objecting to the changes to flight time limitations, which allow for a 14 hour shift following 4 hours sleep.

You’ll have no more excuses for skipping the night ride or not coming down the pub then 😯