When you say "done for us", do you mean "us – the masses" or "us – some people"?

I know (or rather I'm aware of) lots of people who made lots of money during the last conservative reign . . .

From the link "Nothing like a secular humanist to shine some light on the darkest recesses of middle class British bigotry"

Which leads to http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8360/ and an article called "Why humanists shouldn’t join in this Catholic-bashing"

Comes this little gem . . .

"When considering the problem of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, it is important to distinguish between the incidents themselves, some of which were of course horrific . . . "

???? WTF??

So "some" of the indicent were horrific? And the others? They were just a bit of a laugh were they?

I think the whole issue is disgusting, and I think there's more to come out yet 🙁

I left school and served a 5 year apprenticeship. Then I studied (while I worked full time) for 4 years – evenings and weekends (while my workmates were out partying) in order to obtain better qualifications. I didn't do it to impress anyone, in fact I'm sure no one was watching me. I did it because I belived that it would allow me to provide a more comfortable life for myself and my family. Which it has.

When the guys (and girls) who spent their 20's partying moan about how "lucky" I am to have a good job, I remind them that where I am now is a direct result of personal choices I made 20 years ago, and that they also made choices back then.

(Of course some people do not have the luxury of even making choices, so maybe in that respect I am "lucky" to have been born where and when I was)

My original point was simply that people like me shouldn't be penalised for being careful with their money and putting it into the best house I could afford, rather than pissing it up the wall and then whining about how I have nothing to show for it.

Sadly it seems that in this day and age hard work and careful living are actually faults – not virtues. We are taught to buy on credit things that we can't afford, rather than saving for what we want. We are encouraged to buy the latest this and that, when what we already have will do perfectly well. And then when it all goes belly up we are even taught to look for someone else to blame . . . those banks and credit card companies who forced their money into our accounts to spend, taking no responsibility ourselves.

I have 2 bikes, 1 road and 1 MTB. The road bike is 10 years old the MTB is 7 years old, but my house gets a new coat of paint every 2 years 🙂

I'd rather we weren't indoctrinated to believe that we must constantly strive to obtain nicer things and that this will somehow make us happy.

OK you clearly have your own issues going on here. Good luck with that.

"Nice big houses, nice cars, nice bikes etc are luxury items; you don't 'need' them, so don't moan if you get taxed."

Why would you want to quash peoples drive to succeed? Would you rather people didn't strive to obtain nicer things through personal sacrifice?

Are you in favour of everyone who turns up getting a "just for turning up medal" as well? Not just the people that train hard, make sacrifices and succeed at whatever they're trying to achieve?

I do think it's wrong that if you work hard, save hard, generally make sacrifices in life so that you can afford a more expensive house, then you're hammered because "if you can afford a house like that, you can afford to pay more in rates and taxes"

Same seems to apply if you save up and put your money into a more expensive bike or car – it's assumed that you must have "load of money".

Do people not realise that sometimes to buy these things people make personal sacrifices and do NOT go out drinking, smoking, eating out, even going to the movies?

Same here. I thought she was totally gorgeous – then she lifted her arms above her head to clap and my world fell apart . . . flippin' europeans

you'd think there were worse crimes requiring police attention than "deliberatly spinning your rear wheels". If they've got their country to the point where this crime is top of the list then hats off to them. If they haven't, then I guess "dickhead" can still be used to describe the situation

😉

It could be pictures on the website where I do my charidy work you know!

that just takes me to the Adobe site (via google) and then to the download manager . . . which WON'T WORK . . . .

🙂

Well I have one and I love it 🙂

Looks like you have some damage to the actual tailgate body as well though? Bummer.

I rode into a tip once to drop off some garden rubbish and forgot I had a roofrack on top. Ripped it off and dragged it along and then down the roof and back of the car (which wasn't even mine) – too much cosmetic damage to fix on that age of car.

I knew what it was the second I heard it but it was loud.

Is that a Tucson?

People with double pushcahirs really annoy me. Ok so you've got TWO kids. Whoopdidoo. Get over it and stop showing off

😉

Looks like he's practising to be a teenager – "I'm can't hear you, I'm not listening . . ."

Well done to both of you though.

🙂

I think you need 2 knowns in a three value equation . . ?

You have entered the Twilight Zone . . . . .

I wonder how many people are gonna get busted for being in the wrong place at the wrong time (well their cars anyway!)

Years ago a workmate asked for a day off work to watch a golf final. They said no – we were too busy, so he phoned in sick. That night he was on the evening news, front row of the crowd around the 18th hole. Muppet.

🙂

Am I the only sane one here?
What about people who carry out an intermediate wipe during the procedure?

Maybe the inside of his lift looks exactly like the inside of a lift shaft? In which case it is a major decor fail.

I'm just trying to set up the front mech and I'm finding that the adjuster seems to turn and turn without "adjusting" shit anything.

I'll check the outers and have another go. I just rode a 28km ride without granny or big ring. (which are actually the two you can best do without I suppose!) )

does your colourblindness hide the link leading to the story about the unexploded bomb . . . .?

🙂

could have been worse eh?

(no idea who they are btw)

That's exactly the problem, it's not the actual "height" of the wave that matters, it's the fact that whatever the wave height is, it was millions of tons of water at the same height behind it. Effectivly raising the sea level until it runs out of steam, which can be when the wave has trundled a mile inland.

Please refrain from making any negative comments about Israel, or anything connected with Israel. Israel is, as all educated people know very well, above the law.

😉

the pool & a cold beer is there for when I get back 🙂

or 3 – I'm in south africa on holiday, its 30+ degrees and I'm dying on the bike every afternoon. I can use tap water, water cooler water, or ice cubes in my bottles, but it seems whichever way I go, after the first 20km the drink is warm . . . . .

my question refers to drink bottles on a bike. I'm in a hot country and I want to know if chilling my drinks before I ride is worth doing or not. It doesn't seem to help much!

You guys are just not seeing "The Big Picture . . . ."

(ie the one where I "shaft everyone and then retire somewhere sunny to write a book about what a bunch of gulable halfwits you all were")

🙂

keep taking on the extra work until you're the only person there doing anything, then take a week off sick. When you come back, negotiate a huge pay rise so you don't "get sick" again

🙂

John Travoltas house including airplane "carports" is at:
29 16 35.41N 82 07 00.35W

is it ok to discriminate against people who don't "work hard" then?
Surely not.

excellent! – I'm looking forward to it 🙂

I guess they must think the road needs it. As long as it slows people down then it doesn't matter how many cameras it takes.

I've had a few mails lately from friends with hotmail accounts. They have all started with "Hey . . . . " then it's something along the lines of "I just bought a phone/cd player/whatever at an incredible low price. I got it from http://www.somecrapsite.com etc"

then it ends with "Regards . . ." which none of my frinds EVER say. Usually it's more like "see you later"

oh yeah – the "nutter in the garden" thread 🙂

Oh! I've just realised that you guys may have meant "frozen" as in "below 0 deg C", I thought you meant mechanically frozen LOL

It's 35 degrees here when I ride – nothing much freezes here except the ice cream I keep in the freezer for my after ride cool down.

Sorry guys 🙂

I will still try stripping it down clubber – and bear in mind what you say about losing all the grease. Maybe I can keep it going till I can afford a new one!

Ha – ok clubber – point taken. 🙂

It says Shimano FH M525 VIA N on the hub, which according to google makes it a Deore, although it doesn't say Deore on the hub itself. The bike is a Specialized Epic with Deore disk brakes, LX shifters and an XTR rear mech – so anything is possible.

How do you free up a frozen freehub/wheel?

I found this http://steveukmtb.wordpress.com/shimano-hub-overhaul-cup-and-cone/

cheers.

"Bad weather in December shock horror"

🙂

I know a photo of me was once taken out on a ride and I got a copy of the low res version no problem but decided to get and pay for a copy of the high res one and it now sits on my desk at work.

You have a picture of YOURSELF on your desk???? Strewth