NK likely have no intention of suing for peace.
They have started talks to stop an attack from USA – after all how could the USA attack NK when they are in peace talks !?
starting peace talks buys NK more time.
By not including USA in their talks they have shunned them and made them look foolish.
K-J-U has run rings around Trump – once again showing Trumps complete lack of political competence.
IF this does turn out to be the start of legitimate peace talks with the ultimate denuclearization of NK then I will concede that this could be attributed to Trumps hard line on them and happily admit that I might have been wrong, however, based upon previous encounters with NK and a very similar thing happening in Iran a few years ago I’m willing to put money on this being NK stalling for time.

Just joined the group – been running for about 18 months, but only seriously for the last year.
finished my 1st 1/2 marathon in September in 1:53:42.
goals this year-
sub 20 5k
1:45 1/2 marathon
Olympic distance Triathlon (50min for the running section)
getting the wifey to do C25K !

I hate fancy dress parties, so this is purely hypothetical, but would it be acceptable for me and my friends to go to fancy dress as one of those South American pan pipe groups?
How about going as Mexicans ?
Chinese ?
Indians ?

How about Ben Kinsglsey’s portrayal of Ghandi ?
Or the fast show’s portrayal of said Inca bands ?

I’m just interested to see where the line between OK and unacceptable is.

Some great songs in Tangled

My fav is this one

Has the Chekbot got a performance review coming up ?
He seems to have sprung into action after a period of inactivity.
I just hope his review is based upon number of words rather than content as his last few posts have been incoherent, rambling and painful to read (even by his standards)

Ninfan’s arguments of moral equivalence seems to run like this.

you are liberal.
(some) liberals oppose the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
ergo you must be pro Palestine
Palestinians carry out indiscriminate rocket attacks.
Therefor the logical conclusion is that if you are a liberal, then you would carry out indiscriminate rocket attacks.

Reminds me of the joke about the logical scientist.

Two builders are seated either side of a table in a rough pub when a well-dressed man enters, orders a beer and sits on a stool at the bar.
The two builders start to speculate about the occupation of the suit.
Chris: ‘I reckon he’s an accountant. ‘
James: ‘No way – he’s a stockbroker. ‘
Chris: ‘He’s no stockbroker. A stockbroker wouldn’t come in here. ‘
The argument repeats itself for some time until the volume of beer gets the better of Chris and he makes for the toilet. On entering the toilet, he sees that the suit is standing at a urinal. Curiosity and the several beers get the better of the builder.
Chris: ‘ ‘Scuse me… no offence meant, but me and my mate were wondering what you do for a living.’
Suit: ‘No offence taken. I’m a logical scientist by profession. ‘
Chris: ‘Yeah, so what’s that then. ‘
Suit: ‘I’ll try to explain by example. Do you have a goldfish at home?’
Chris: ‘Er… mmm… well yeah, I do as it happens. ‘
Suit: ‘Well, it’s logical to assume that you keep it in a bowl or in a pond. Which is it?’
Chris: ‘It’s in a pond’
Suit: ‘Well then, it’s logical to suppose that you have a large garden then?’
Chris: ‘As it happens, yes I have got a big garden.’
Suit: ‘Well then, it’s logical to assume that in this town if you have a large garden then you have a large house?’
Chris: ‘As it happens I’ve got a five-bedroom house… built it myself.’
Suit: ‘well, given that you’ve built a five-bedroom house it is logical to assume that you haven’t built it just for yourself and that you’re probably married.’
Chris: ‘Yes, I am married. I live with my wife and three children.’
Suit: ‘Well then, it’s logical to assume that you are sexually active with your wife on a regular basis.’
Chris: ‘Yep! Four nights a week. ‘
Suit: ‘Well then, it is logical to suggest that you do not masturbate very often?’
Chris: ‘Me? Never!’
Suit: ‘Well, there you are, that’s logical science at work.’
Chris: ‘How’s that then?’
Suit: ‘From finding out that you had a goldfish. I’ve told you about the size of the garden you have, the size of house, your family and your sex life. ‘
Chris: ‘I, see. That’s pretty impressive… thanks mate.’
Both leave the toilet and Chris returns to his mate.
James: ‘I see the suit was in there. Did you ask him what he does?’
Chris: ‘Yep! He’s a logical scientist.’
James: ‘What’s that then?’
Chris: ‘I’ll try to explain. Do you have a goldfish?’
James: ‘Nope. ‘
Chris: ‘Well then, you’re a ****.’

IMHO for beginners, a good pairs of bins is the way to go.
explore the sky as much as you can with them and if you still want more, then go for a telescope.
The problem is that if you get the bug you always want more and before you know it you’ll be splashing out £3k on a telescope just so you can get a slightly better view of Neptune or a slightly sharper view of Andromeda…. then you’ll upgrade the eyepieces, then the tripod, then convert the shed into an observatory etc etc.

I’d recommend these as a good starting point…
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-71009-Skymaster-Porro-Binoculars/dp/B003AM87Q4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1513333769&sr=8-3&keywords=celestron%2Bbinoculars&th=1

you’ll easily be able to see Jupiter and it’s moons, loads of features on the moon, the pleiades and even the Orion Nebula. In fact I find that looking at some sights through the bins is more satisfying than the scope.

A scope comes into it’s own if you want to try Astro photography, but then you start needing motorized mounts and stuff which end up adding to the cost or detracting from the optics, plus bins are an essential part of any astronomers tool box so wont become obsolete if you then decide to buy a scope in the future.

I find it amazing that their response is not to go to the police

clearly you’ve learnt nothing from the Harvey Weinstein expose, or the #metoo campaign.

If high profile confident women are unable to speak out about sexual abuse, what chance do you think a 14YO girl would have against a judge?

You really are an odious little man.

‘I can’t be a Fascist as I only support 13 of the 14 components…’

Ninfan. your argument that because a word has been used incorrectly in the past means that it can no longer be used is utter bollocks.
Ironic has been misapplied countless times, but that doesn’t mean that things are no longer ironic.
If it looks like shit, smells like shit and tastes like shit – the chances are it’s shit.
Similarly if you support authoritarian nationalism (check), forcible suppression of opposition (check),and oppose liberalism (check) – You’re a Fascist.
Now I know you’re going to try and come out and say, you don’t support these things, and Trump doesn’t want to do these things, and it’s the MSM corrupting his noble plan, yadda yadda yadda, but this is how it starts – small power grabs, slow erosion of democracy, undermining confidence in the system, until tiny step by tiny step, you find yourself in a full blown authoritarian fascist dictatorship.

I can forgive the uneducated for their mistakes – they don’t know any better and mostly lack the foresight to see the big picture. You however, are clearly clever, and use your intelligence to enable and normalize this stuff, well aware of what the end will be. what I cannot for the life of me figure out is what YOU get from this.
How do YOU benefit from increased conflict & racial division ?

I got fed up of shonky GPS readings on my iphone when running, so decided to go for a forerunner 230.
reasons…
1) already had a garmin edge 1000, therefore had the garmin connect app and auto synch to Strava set up already, and didn’t really fancy another interface.
2) didn’t need the heart rate monitor everyday, as I have a chest strap for when I want to do a bit of HR training.
3) decent price for a smart watch.
I love it and wear it all the time now, although I do still run with my phone in an armband as it provides my music / pace notifications and metronome.
Its also a useful backup for when the Edge 1000 goes into sulk.
Only problem is I have a very nice dress watch sitting at home gathering dust 🙁

Strava

We have an ion road blocker
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B006ZZU7XE/ref=mp_s_a_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1509868541&sr=8-10&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=ion+speaker&dpPl=1&dpID=51rFt3S5JAL&ref=plSrch
Which we find pretty useful and might fit the bill.
It has a 3.5mm line in, Bluetooth compatible, it’s mains powered, but can run on internal battery for ages, packs a decent sound and isn’t stupidly expensive.
We use it for kids parties / bbqs etc although the girls also use it in their rooms

Downsides. It doesn’t have a remote, and looks a tad ugly / cheap and I’m sure the audiophiles will turn their noses up at the sound quality.

I notice there is an upgraded version that is splashproof and doesn’t look as cheap

I’m with poly here, although very shonky, I don’t actually think it’s as bad as it looks.
It will be protected from the worst of the elements inside the pole, and if a bit of moisture does get in, it will just trip the circuit breakers back at the distribution board.
As for causing a short if it’s trapped in the door, that’s more to do with it not being properly fixed in place rather than due to it being an extension lead, plus I don’t think you should have too much concerns over the post not being earthed properly, as it’s a great big metal pole bolted to the ground.
IMHO of course

I did my first parkrun a couple of weeks ago.
I’d been avoiding them as I thought I needed to be a certain level not to make a tit out of myself
I needn’t have worried.
I found it really fun.
I normally run solo or in a small group, so running with 300 odd other people was a bit weird, but it helped me get a new PB without too much extra effort (peloton effect ?)
Not sure I would do it every week, but definitely worth it every now and then