In a real life imitiating bad jokes moment…..

I used to go out with an industrial archeologist, and one day we went to visit a working water driven mill. We went to look at the water wheel itself which was thundering away in full flow. In the corner was quite a lovely sculptural bit of woodwork.

"Oh look" I said "I think thats the wooden former that the hub of the wheel would have been cast from"

And she said "Pattern"

So I shouted "Oh look, I think thats the wooden former that the hub of the wheel would have been cast from"

Hard as nails? – surely you don't mean Ken?

With that Blane trick its same as all his street tricks – he's surrounded by a whole production team – as numbers are being called out someone from the art department is making up the ticket (or placing the watch in the window, or writing something on the side of a bus) All Blane needs to do is keep his banter running long enough for someone to pass the wallet to him. There are cameras and soundmen everywhere, much more distracting than a pickpocket.

Going back to the OP:

Writing and grammar are not higher intellectual functions. Someone can have impeccable grammar and still be a fool. So whether your senior managers are making written mistakes is irrelevant to their ability to operate within their role, so long as those errors don't change your understanding of what they were wanting to communicate. Mixing up 'affect' and 'effect' isn't going to result in their patient receiving a lethal dose, for instance. Its an easy mistake to make and you could easily make it even if you are totally versed in the differences, but I'd imagine your managers have better things to concentrate on than proofing their work with that level of scrutiny.

10 years ago they wouldn't have had to actually write anything, thats what secretaries were for.

Well he always claims his work is missdirection, a lot like David Blane a lot of his work relies on our belief in television. With Blane's street magic the real illusion is the sense that he works alone, even though you've got a whole production team standing behind the camera.

I don't know if you remember a wee stunt Brown did where he had a live camera fixed on a section of a busy shopping street. Lying on the floor was a wallet with a crisp £50 note poking out, for the duration of his show they would check back and noone had picked up the wallet, or even given it a second look.

What the camera couldn't see, but I could, because I was walking down the street that day…. was that there were wallets with notes poking out along the whole length of the street. Like a pound coin glued the the pavement everyone knew if you went pick one up you'd doubtless be the subject of some sort of prank or stunt, so like chuggers everyone avoided making eye contact with them

Sharki's office earlier

I think I saw a scene like that in Close Encounters. Are you sun burnt and sculpting your mash?

The letters have all worn off my GF's keyboard – they wore off several years ago – and thats fine. Aside from stuff like video or music editing with lots of functions assigned to keys (where you can just put stickers on the keys anyway) when does any one actually look at their keyboard? Its too dark to see my keyboard just now.

If I'm travelling then I've buy bottled water as more expensive, marginally more socially acceptable alternative to drinking diesel. But the idea of buying bottles of water and taking them home to drink just seems pretty dumb. Especially as I have a 500ltr tank of kerosene in the garden, delivered in bulk its a fraction of the price!

For all the concern over food miles the idea of packaging water and sending it across continents to an advanced (and frankly very wet) nation is a bit of a shit one. Bottled water is for festivals, earthquakes and famines.

When was Punk Rock not Consumerism? Everyone's got a Ramones album haven't they?

With younger kids it'll be their parents buying them, you can get Ramones baby grows.

Can't seem to drop below 16.5 despite trying!

So try swimming with sharks then.

Have a look at the ingredients for Thermite, then have a think about what airliners and skyscrapers are made of.

No they both survived but they were separated for quite some time.

Have to say, it was all the more gripping for not being narrated. I've no qualms about this or other similar documentaries being screened every year (if only as respite from all the format driven factual entertainment we get these days in the place of documentaries), it was the moment that separated the past from our present, really. Seeing it is a reminder of that weird state confusion and speculation we all experienced as it unfolded, but its also a reminder of a time before everything we've now become familiar with, and even numb to, started.

Channel 4 doesn't edit the show, they'll just be screening it as its presented to them

I saw a cover one of those cheapy 'Chat' type magazines that had the headline "I lost 5lbs after swimming with sharks"

Probably a foot and a chunk of her lower leg I'd imagine. If you are looking for something a bit more 'balanced' you try a tank of piranhas.

A met a guy called Bill Frew when first moved here to Sorn, out for a walk with a Campag cap. Quite a remarkable guy. He mentioned that he'd been on a big round scotland ride recently,

so I looked it up

The news hounds fail to mention that Bill is well into his eighties, they clocked up 3000 miles on that 14 day trip.

There was an article on the news a few years ago with a couple who were approaching their 100th birthdays and celebrating their 80th Wedding Anniversary. The reporter asked the old guy "Whats the secret of such a long and successful marriage?" and the old guy said "Its all down to two little word" and then he said with a resigned tone "Yes Dear"

Lots of good deals on the the outgoing NiCad technolgy – look for a makita or bosch (blue not green) with all the functions you want and you should find a deal that appeals to you and you won't be disappointed. Dewalt stuff is OK but not as good as it used to be. I've always found Dewalt stuff feels more robust than it actually is, and lacks finesse in use.

18v isn't the be all and end all though. My 14v makitas produce more torque than the equivalent 18v dewalts, and 14v is pretty much the range standard for makita stuff.

The new Li Ion stuff is better in all sorts of ways, but unless you use a driver all day every day, or have small hands, then they are not better ways that you'll ever be able to appreciate.

You'll get decent prices from Screwfix, Toolstation, D&M tools online, and B&Q in the physical world.

There are also people who use boxes as proof of purchase for dodgy insurance claims

If you like Cheesy Feet's bark then take a trip into Kipford next time you are doing the 7 Stanes, there's a guy who's garden is full of things with eyes and teeth added to them.

Before the heady days of eBay me and my brother used to buy Adtrader and challenge each other to find the cheapest bit of guff that someone had bothered to advertise. Every week, for the best part of a year someome was advertising "Small Pot. Would suit dumpling – 20p"

A parachute.

Sherriff Rosco P Coltrane

Reason? Well according to Wikipedia:

Rosco's mentality is that of a fun-loving kid. He speaks with a childish vernacular and repeats his favorite catch phrases constantly, one of which was his laugh itself, which was a choppy and excited chuckle that was produced from the back of the throat ("Kew-kew-kew!") and became one of the most recognizable aspects of the character. He is easily excitable and genuinely enjoys law enforcement, especially chasing criminals, which he refers to as "hot pursuit". Rosco's favorite story is "Jack and the Beanstalk".

Someone has shamelessly plagerised my obituary!

I was by the bar in an indian restaurant with my dad, waiting to be seated. Quite a long wait and I was hungry so as we chatted I was shovelling bombay mix into my mouth from a dish on the bar. I as I was gassing on about something or other my dad watched as I reached for the bombay mix, missed, and instead grabbed some fag ends, spent matches and ash from the ashtray, waved it about for a bit, then shoved it all in my mouth.

It means you're probably intolerant to wheat.

To quote someone's Youtube comment for Dead Snow "Nazis+Zombies=About f**king time!"

Outpost got there first though.

However, unlike us Brits, Norwegians actually watch their own home grown cinema.

helly hansen boxers can usually be found fairly cheap online

I bit of thoughtful signage wouldn't go a miss on the A9. It would be useful to have a countdown to the dual carriageway sections. I'm sick of seeing suicidal overtaking moves when then next dual carriageway is only a few moments away. By the same measure it would be useful to know how long the dual carriageways are going to last, some are pretty long but some are over in the blink of an eye, and either way you only get a 400 yard warning that they are about to end, given the trucks can running nose to tail 400 yds isn't much time to find a space amongst them.

On balance though there's no reward for being in a hurry on that road, passing one vehicle just puts you behind another one around the corner going at the same speed and the effect on your total journey time is negligible. Take the time and enjoy the view.

Its one of the few A roads where I see trucks routinely observe their speed limit on single carriageways, thats why the crawl along at 40 then gun it along the dual carriageways. I wonder whether this observance is the result of truck's getting more attention from the fuzz on that stretch

Anyway back to rules you hate:

Pregnant ladies being able to wee in a policeman's helmet on request:

Why only pregnant ladies, why only ladies? Why just policeman's helmets, what about their pockets? And why only wee? When people complain that there aren't enough bobbies on the beat, its not about crime and the perception of crime, its because the council have closed all the public toilets.

Evening all.

you're likely to survive a crash at at least 10mph more than you were back then

Indeed – assuming all the cars on the road are brand new, of course. But 'survive' isn't the same as walk away.

(and that people are incapable of driving safely at 80)

.
Its not the driving, its the accident. I'm sure people are capable of driving, confidently, neatly and happily at 80, or any other speed. But are people capable of having an accident safely, or as safely? Road deaths are common, whether you are holding the steering wheel, or strapped into a child seat. Any speed limit is arbitrary, but increasing it comes with increased accidents and increased severity of accidents. What greater rate of death and injury is an acceptable increase, if we count it in coffins, widows and orphans, disability and dependancy? And for what benefit? What are the tangible benefits to the public or to an individual of a higher limit? More fun? Setting your alarm clock a few minutes later? Being home in time for East Enders?

Yes, but the limits were set based on the cars capabilities, not the humans

Reaction time is much more of a factor than the car. Imagining that you're more attuned than anyone else is folly, even top flight fighter pilots have reactions speeds that are barely above the norn.

And consequence is much more of a factor than the car. The car doesn't have to deal with the consequences

Skidartist- was he a british student who'd never even been to the far east?

Mohammad Rashid Abdulaziz Saeed Alim – known as Nicky Reilly

Seriously, am I, a young white guy, really going to blow up a plane in the name of Allah?

A young white guy blew up a train in Madrid in the name of Allah, and a young white guy tried to blow up a restaraunt in the south west in the name of Allah.

On a serious note, I find it amazing that there's a legal minimum temperature for a working site, but no legal maximum

I think there is, sort of. I think the temperature shouldn't be more than 10 degrees above the ambient temp outdoors.

As for motorway speed limits – the capabilities of modern cars are of no consequence – its the humans, not the cars that do the driving.

ahhhhhh, he didn't say 'Simon says….'

you loose

and glue sniffing – that seems to have gone out of fashion too

Get with it, its all Hairspray and Milk these days.

"……the Aristocrats!"

dismantling it from the top down
Agreed – always the best way I find.

Not everybody totally grasps that concept, I cushioned the fall of a 2 story high scaffolding staircase with my spine after a bright spark decided to start unbolting everything at the bottom then try and work his way up.

.and earwigs make chutney

I thought that was ferrets.