In "HaHaHa America"

So lets apply your same discussion to America within the last few hundred years, Wars with foreign powers - check, bloody civil war - check, religous fanatacism - check. When is the US imploding? You're right though stable society was probably not the best description. Stable identity is perhaps more apt. Across mainland china they all feel chinese, I dont believe it to be akin to the Balkans for example. Also I am not aware of any religious fanatacism within china, would you perhaps be referring to the muslim population. i believe they account for something like 2% of the pop probably comparable to the American population.

Berek, i'm not sure why you are convinced China will "implode". My understanding is that they have been a stable society since the warring states period finished (2200 yrs ago) and ushered in the Han dynasty. To me there appears to be no rift between different regions of China with most mainland Chinese people referring to themselves as "people of Han". If you know different enlighten me.

In "Curious George and his Bad Jokes."

How do you kill a circus? Go for the juggler

In "Malarious George...Are Humans Total Pussies?"

I think its our sterilised living that makes us susceptible to diseases. I have some anecdotal evidence to back this up. Im a water engineer and was working on the isle of Arran off Scotland. We were laying a new water main near a little community. And they were concerned that our pipelaying would disrupt their "wonderful" natural spring. Sure enough it did. When we tried to find the spring to recapture it we discovered that their spring was in fact a field drain in a field full of cows. A quick sample proved that it was chock full of e-coli yet they'd been drinking it for years with no ill effects. Oh yeah their tomatoes were excellent too, must have been all that natural fertiliser in the water.

In "Scaredy Cat George:"

Not a ghost story as such but involving what I think may have been a visitation from the other side. Once I had a very vivid dream about my grandparents (who unfortunately all died in my teens). I'm not the sort to remember my dreams but I had detailed long lasting recall of this one, which was odd. The dream was quite bizarre and involved a cycling trip with the grandparents. The strange thing was that I was on an oversized childs trike. A month or so later I discovered the good lady was expecting our first. Through circumstances I also happen to know the dream occurred on the night of conception. I'm convinced they came to me in my dreams to celebrate. No amount of rational will dissuade me of that either.

In "Curious Poop Monkeys:"

one more thing. He may have a dislike of potties. You can buy seats that fit on your regular toilet that may not have the same stigma. I would suggest hes big enough to use one. Plus you get the added bonus of not having the clean the potty out.

My experience is that it just takes a whole lot of time and perseverance. Getting them to remain on the potty for a sufficient length of time can be difficult. Try to get a book to read to them whilst they sit there. We actually got a book specifically about going to the toilet. (Scatology for the very young) Obviously lots of encouragement / reward if they deposit. One good way to reward behaviour is sticker charts, kids love stickers, one star for a number one, two for a .... you get the picture. Once they get 10/20 stars buy them a chocolate or treat. Peer pressure, the kids in the nursery were all toilet trained so the wee man wanted to be the same. we had him trained early as possible as nappies were way too expensive for us to continue to buy in bulk. It will be a big load off your shopping budget.

In "bicycle problems"

thanks all, Your comments will be invaluable when i take it into the shop and ramble on at length in an attempt to sound knowledgeable.

Thanks for the help. lagged that sounds feasible. I did get the rear cassette (thanks for the correction, i did say I was a novice)and the chain replaced. That leaves the chainring as the only suspect. Can you explain in laymans terms what you mean by the bottom bracket? Is it a support to the chainring? Did your chainring leave the vertical and becoming skewed?

replaced the chain and the rear cartridge / sprockets? so shouldnt be that. got to nip out for a couple of hours. Praying there will be an answer waiting.

In "181 drugs"

If I can offer anyone some advice it is do not take Lariam. I lost a friend to that fucking shit. I dont want to share the details but please believe me and refuse it if offered.

In "Curious George:"

Cabingirl beat me to defenestration. So i am left with pith.

In "No street signs. No crosswalks. No accidents. Surprise: Making driving seem more dangerous could make it safer."

Maybe related loosely rodgerd, but this is a change in conventional thought whereby warnign signs makes things safer. I like the idea of pedestrians and cars given equal priority in certain areas. For example when he had the confidence to walk backwards off the pavement/sidewalk without looking. Can you do that on any of the roads nearby?

In "And the angel Gabriel Kylie said unto Mary Posh:"

Having looked at the pics in more detail. I can say however that i'm digging Kylie.

I'm not religious but this strikes me as so wrong that I do believe it is blasphemous. C'mon Posh as mary, c'mon. I couldn't care whether this was also the rage in ancient times. It still jars.

In "A little alpha male, in-your-face, shamelessly good, toxic marketing. "

insidious marketing to children should not be tolerated. Leave advertsising out of schools and spring camps. Unfortunately we in the UK are starting to see big business become more and more involved in schools especially with the latest PFI schemes. To give but one small example a PFI school recently wanted to remove a vending machine as they wanted to provide only healthy food. However they were contractually obliged to keep it and threatened with legal implications should they remove it. Why should we put up with that? The UK is one of the most unhealthy nations in the EU. Finland used to be the worst but they turned it around by amongst other things encouraging healthy eating in schools. Also, our enlightened European neighbours Sweden and Norway are on the ball though, they dont permit any advertising aimed at kids under 12. Excuse the rant.

In "Drainspotting"

They're only neat until you lift the cover. You will have to trust me on that one, as I dont want go into the details of what you see down there.

In "De-romancing the stone."

Nice Slithy. I thought we should all be shunning the diamond trade for its hand in Sierra Leone. I just can't keep up with consumer boycotts anymore. I'm also interested in the artificially made stones they are starting to churn out now. That coupled with Blue Nile's approach could indeed mean a shake up.

In "<b>Delerious George</b>...songs that make it summer "

Roy Ayers "everybody loves the sunshine" - nice and mellow. "listen to the title track"

In "The Dwell Home "

I think youre right Nal, but its growing in popularity. Selling points for me are, the factory tolerances that you just cant achieve on site, minimal construction periods, recycling, and as you alluded to the fact that youre not in some repetitive suburban row.

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