Mike

Although the term "****" is similar in form to "Aussie", it's history of usage makes it an offensive term. Look at the definitions: aussie **** Spot the difference? And you might find this case pertinent: http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4692700-103690,00.html

Just listened in for about 1/2 hours worth - quality music

What do you look like? I'll give you a shout if I recognise you... I don't think I'd better go round all the women in the lesson asking are you BarbieGyal or I'll probably get some very odd looks

I never know how to answer that question! 5'10", close cropped brown hair, 36, errm, wear blue Muay Thai shorts.....dunno what else to say really.... Which classes do you go to? I'm going to start going to the 6:30 class mon/wed next week with my mate so if you go to those I might see you there?

Thanks BarbieGyal - I passed with 75% I'm well knackered now though! Glad that's out of the way so now I can move out of the beginner's classes at last. ...

So just how many immigrants come here just to exploit the NHS? Anyone got a real figure, and not the rubbish spouted by the tabloids?

Oh come on!! That's rubbish - just because you kick-box you can't say all other Martial Arts "blow" Why are there so many Martial Artists who can't see the good things in other styles apart from their own?

Kickboxing and Muay Thai are pretty different. Ok, so both use kicks, but you can't use elbows and knees in kickboxing (or grappling?), so that's half the MT armoury gone already. Anyway, got my first grading tomorrow - it's gonna hurt!

I don't quite get: Accident records of more than 10,000 drivers were related statistically to their observed speeding behaviour So, who exactly was observing the speeding behaviour of these 10,000 drivers immediately before they crashed? And I find it very hard to believe that on a motorway, going 110mph can make me 6 times more likely to have a crash than if I was going 85mph. I just don't believe that at all. Is there a link to the full report?

Her previous "joke" was pretty racist - something along the lines of "Pakistani's being ten a penny..." or something like that, but I don't think this one is at all. It's not being derogatory towards Chinese people as a whole or even poking fun of them because of their race, it's just a bit of wordplay on a phrase that thousands come out with every day. It's a bit inappropriate for a politician to be coming out with such stuff though, especially so close to the incident so I can see how feathers have been ruffled. Ah well, is she any great loss?

- Ju-Jitsu for coming up to a year. - Muay Thai for about 4 months. Why? I like the technical nature of JJ and the way that you use an opponent's force to disarm them. Also a good way of restraining people without having to strike them, and for learning how to fall and roll properly. I like MT because it's the opposite - relatively simple but very brutal moves. I can imagine MT being effective quite quickly whereas I can see JJ only being effective in a real situation after many years of training.

(Apologies if this has ever been posted before) Can you escape from the crimson room? http://www.datacraft.co.jp/takagism/index_e.html Flash required.

According to the radio last night, Jordan is dead.... ...and just wants to be plain ole Kate Price from now on. And all this becuase Peter Andre fell in love with the "real her" - awwwwwww! I like the Guardian (surprise )

I used to work with a bloke who used to spot trains, but had got to a position where he reckoned he'd spotted them all - so instead of spotting trains, he now spots train stations instead

Jordan was made famous by tabloid "page 3" shoots, so I hope none of you who complain about here don't buy the tabloids - coz if you do you've only got yourself to blame

Wow - all this talk of "Chavs" - what a lot of snobs there are on this board. Jordan is a successful model - she's done pretty well for herself I'd say. If people are stupid enough to buy into the whole celebrity worship thing, then you can hardly blame people for cashing in, can you?

I missed that grading too coz my Ju-Jitsu gradings fall on the same day....but am doing a private grading soon, it's only something like a fiver more expensive and you don't have to stick to the scheduled dates. You need to have a private lesson before you can do a private grading though.

Yeah, in all the classes I've been to there's been about 1/4 women to men - watching the intermediate classes that are on before, there's only about 5 women doing it. Still, in my JuJitsu classes there's only one woman, and she's often not there. Favourite weapon? Not been doing it long enough to really know yet, but I'd say leg-kicks and straight-knees are probably going to be the most effective for somebody of my skill to pull off. I imagine that most people who don't know it's coming will be going floorwards after a big leg-kick! I reckon the best instructor I've had so far is Trix.

I've been told the steepest road is Kent Road - I used to cycle up it when I was feeling particularly masochistic

Religion is a comfort mechanism for the needy who can't handle the idea that their life is basically insignificant on the grand scale of things and are too wrapped up in themselves to accept the idea of their mortality. We live. We die. We rot. End of story. But that said, it's *mostly* harmless, but tends to get hijacked by those who desire power in order to use for their own dubious ends.

I think your mates are wrong about Bulgarian women !

I do - was going loads up 'til xmas, but not been down there yet this year. I've got a private lesson with Darren next week, and then going to do my first grading after that - then I can go into the intermediate classes....

Barcelona is a great place, and pretty cheap flights as well.

It may happen eventually, but it's political suicide for any government that tries to introduce it, so I wouldn't hold your breath. As soon as it happens, a whole market of devices that disable the speed limit enforcers will spring up, rather like the laser jammers that are available now.

Well, you have to ask yourself why they are enforcing the speeding laws. If they are trying to reduce road deaths due to speeding, which is what they say they are trying to do, then they are going about it in an extremely stupid way. If they are just trying to raise money, then it's also a stupid way of doing it - the best way would be like in Holland, etc, where you don't get points, you just get fined. That way, much more money would be earned from repeat offenders. How effective are speed cameras anyway? Most of them don't actually have cameras in anyway, and a gatso detector will tell you which ones do and which ones don't. Most people who habitually speed have a detector, so the value of cameras is instantly greatly reduced.