dieseltaylor

I was mulling over the fence, the width of the road/square in the village shot, and the idea that a railroad would run through a village. It strikes me that as most people are not familiar with Normandy, or indeed Western Europe in 1930's-40's then it might be handy to have a thread where useful linkies to photographs could be posted. So I will start it! BTW in 1930 the French had 2.9million horses, the UK 1.2million, and the US 14 million in 1940. So France for its population was highl in horsepower.

The idea of embedding journalists with combatants started where? My big issue is that if you want to have a public war then go ahead but when you start suppressing some bits and releasing other bits you seem to be on a slippery slope of covering tracks. Then later your behaviour bites your bum and people see you have been engaged in manipulation. Trust goes out the window and also the notion that democracies are in some way better than other governments. Incidentally calling people terrorists when they are resisting invaders does seem a bit rich, especially coming from the land of the Minutemen. As it happens Wikileaks may have done the US Army a favour in allowing it to be misrepresented initially. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCxWvYw1gZ4&feature=related have a look at the birth defects in Iraq from the use of depleted ammo = now THAT really is a crime.

Wooden fences? In bocage country! As I am sure tens will design scenarios perhaps some time spent looking at available bocage and village detail pictures would help get a truer flavour. Of course flat featureless terrian existed in Normandy also .... but get the feel right

So if it is plausible that they were Iraqi fighters and an ambush was planned, AND I can believe that it was, then why did the military score an own goal by suppressing it? 1. So they would not release the film because ? 2. They lied about not knowing how the children were injured 3. They said it was within terms of engagement but did not provide the terms. Covering up so Reuters operational practices were not blown seems unlikely to me. PS Do they do siestas or knock of work in the afternoon in Iraq. And in any event where to go to if life is a bit iffy on the streets. As for coloured vans surely the range would have been very very restricted in Iraq given its wealth and sanctions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warrior_%281860%29 Probably the oldest floating British ship and in actual service for a long time - as a coal bunker for 50 years!!

Very funny - and I have fired none of them

1. So they would not release the film because ? 2. They lied about not knowing how the children were injured 3. They said it was within terms of engagement but did not provide the terms. Most people would suggest cover-up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu%C3%A1scar_%28ship%29

I can understand that approach but if I believed the only hope was a hospital then I would act as fast as possible. I am not qualified to decide what is dangerous or not and taking the guess that in the ride to the hospital there may be a chance for the passengers to stem the highly probable bleeding wounds then I get the best of both worlds. To take the view that they were baddies is a presumption of guilt, and in any event wounded fighters might be worth interrogating and retrieving from whereever they are taken to! As a baddie I would remove evidence and given they appeared not interested in retreiving removing the "smoking guns" I guess I would have gone with tracking the injured to hospital or a enemy base. Either way it seems I would end up with a guy to interrogate at the hospital or an enemy hideout. Now of course I am smart-arse after the event and depending how I was trained and peer pressure I may have done as the crew did. My point is that this was a learning incident and burying it did no good whatsoever.

Wow - I will have to remember that first aid from me, an untrained person, is better than moving the injured to a hospital. However regardless of that is there ANY benefit to the Army in covering up mistakes. Surely the being up-front - yes it was an error , no it was justified would have cleared the air. And been a learning tool for Army and the Press. I have seen it now: BTW no one seems to mention the recovered arms and RPG - which given the positive ID should have been still around. The crouching camerman is the best evidence the US has but anyone who has used a camers crouches , and if with a telephoto braces themselves against a solid object. I any event I think anyone would be cautious sticking your head around a corner in trigger happy country. I am curious how far away the Apache is - anyone any idea.

There is stupider! ? Do tell : ) Conceptually the puzzle challenges us to ignore what we know about dehydration in 24 hours and also what condition berries must be in to be saleable at $4. So your mindset is already framed when they ask a stupid question! The berries would be virtually unsaleable.

Its the cover-up that rankles. Saying they had made a mistake and sorting it early - one way or the other - would have solved [partially or completely] whther they were out of control or deluded for a moment. Laughing as vehicles drive over corpses seems ghoulish and one wonders what a huge bonus to US prestige might have accrued if they had speeedily been brought to book.

Sites appear to be down but hear is the basic I am quoting from another site I don't doubt that Wikileaks has the genuine article.

Understanding statistics ... The drug maker would make 500000$ per patient if the lifetime regime was adopted. http://www.newswithviews.com/Ellison/shane144.htm

I wonder if one should include the Norwegian, French, Danes etc who served in HM forces. Even Americans. However I doubt that is ethnic : ) There were certainly Fijians, and Maori's. Added detail on Indian Army " Czechs, and quite possibly Slovaks : ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Independent_Carpathian_Rifle_Brigade Off to bed now - please a complete list by tomorrow!

The Indian forces could be split on ethnic lines quite easily with Gurkha, Rajput, Sikh but lets use a list : ) http://www.docstoc.com/docs/27327644/Infantry-Regiments-of-the-Indian-Army-1939-1945

Following Affy's tribulations I thought this was quite funny: and then Th reason I was looking at Leakey was because a Leakey cousin was a long serving tank officer who had nine tanks shot from under him and his diary/life have been edited into a book by George Forty. "Leakey's Luck" from Sutton Publishing originally £7.99 but now £3.99 at my local garden centre. Another cousin won the VC fighting the Italians in East Africa. Quite a family, and quite a life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Leakey

: ) She chose it. I prefer functional like an estate - or Kangoo etc.

The ratio thing is the ballocks part. If the weight is 99% water and 1% matter than each per cent is 1lb. I agree with Grunt. The ratio is the distractor here as it is establishing a false relationship. Somehwere there must be a proof on how not to use ratios!!.

Nope. Have a sports car yes but that was on the basis it pleased my wife when she commuted and the model change rate was low. As it happens in London its a pain in the butt - one is better off with a LandRover type vehicle to account for the pot-holes, sleeping policemen, and the inadequate snow clearance. However the average driving in a week for us is now probably under 30 miles. I suspect you, and most other readers do more : )

Interesting Affy. Do you expect children to have the capacity to see downsides? That IS the area of the brain that develops last and though I have no doubt your children are exceptional .... As for your wife is it possible that the initial reaction is the same as mine was, and it is only after the event I started examining what I had seen. Furthermore is it concievable that as you had taken the trouble to get them to watch it then you were implicitly recommending it. Your wife being smart knows what the correct reaction. As a matter of course a lot of women enthuse at the correct time regardless of their personal opinion. After all they often have bigger fish to fry and having you onside before a shopping trip is easy : ) However the feeling was that doing whatever activity it is in the correct environment is a good thing. Getting children/teenagers to get off their arses is a good thing. Just to revert back to the video a moment can you imagine the feelings of the people who rushed to the edge when he flipped off the parapet onto ground below. My impression was that they were concerned/shocked/worried that he had had an accident. How droll that he was not. And if they were of extremely nervous disposition and suffered palpitations well its not his problem. Now I have only watched it once so possibly I misremembered it - but actually I think not - so it is interesting to think what other people remember from a single viewing.

Just read a nice article helping to make medicine cheaper:

http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/pdf/BRAIN.pdf As you are so young Nox { : )} then the explanations of why young men are bad at judging risk and outcomes so will be of interest to you!!! [and I forgive you for currently winning our game] I am all in favour of the young doing things and having fun. I can vaguely remember being young myself but then in those days money was a consideration. Whether there is an argument that the media steers teen interest to photogenic and lucrative sports rather than other fun activities is another discussion probably worth exploring. I remember the huls-hoop craze ... from movies. : ). To be rather boring if an elderly person is knocked over and suffers a fractured pelvis then there life span is reduced. As I was looking it up I was surprised that the general death rate is quite high. However any youngster hurtling around a corner on their bike or whatever will probably be padded up and aware of the possibility of falling wheras the victim will not. And yes I have read of a case as outlined AND I have seen a young lad routinely ride at speed around a blind bend on the pavement/sidewalk. So lets agree that doing these things is fine but upsetting a few people ain't , so it better be in an appropriate area. BTW you were probably not a member of the forum when we had the huge thread on whether it was right that a girl was excluded from school for doing gymnastics in the corridor. Interesting thread as it generated a lot of heat on individual freedom.

A] Paper is cheaper than ink b] Softwoods for pulp make good carcon sinks And I like your thoroughness : )

: ) I agree that I do have a big quandary as fully supporting the principles of the Darwin Award. However if I can finesse it slightly by saying that cleaning up the gene pool should be as unobtrusive and clean as possible leaving as little mark upon the earth.