St Landrew

Very satisfied with that result. A feeling that has actually been all too rare these last few seasons. Almost better than the 6-0 drubbing of Wolves [odd, you may think], because I feel a proper corner, may have at last been turned, in Saints fortunes.

Thankfully, one isn't now.

You bloody fidget. BTW, I did note your prediction of 3-4, earlier in the thread. Worryingly, you are still on track. C'mon Saints, make this team the first one we put to the sword, in a long while.

Just to let you know that there is other racing going on this weekend. Yes, I know there is a small chance that Jenson could be World Champion, and I'll tune into the highlights to see how he went [i'm definitely not waking up early only to be sent back to sleep]. Valentino has a chance to put the first letters of his name on the World Championship trophy this weekend too. I'll definitely be watching that one LIVE. Question: Anyone one heard of Chicken Strips, when referred to a motorcycle..? I finally lost mine through Dorset, on the way back from a break in Cornwall, this week.

A locomotive called Thomas.

Correct.

I think it's a bloody shame to destroy what looks like a perfectly good car from the 1950's. I can only hope it was in a very poor mechanical state and was sprayed up to look good again. Obviously, with computer-aided design, stress points and strengths in structures can be finely tuned for safety. No doubt, in 20 years time, we'll all look back and chuckle at this era.

The place where you went wrong was choosing a Lexmark inkjet printer in the first place.

+ another 1

Just back from the match. Bit dull, I have to say, although I'd overdressed, had a couple of pints, and it was quite humid and warm. Hence my ever-so-slightly drooping eyelids. Plus points were that the defence were hardly ever troubled, and I mean ever. Even though the Yeovil attack tried to put themselves about, the Saints defence coped very well. We all got a wee bit anxious in the Kingland/Northam corner, for about 15 minutes, as we saw Thomas hobbling around, trying to shake off an injury, and still trying to play. But Yeovil didn't take advantage. And that was about it. Marek did a beautiful collapse right in front of us, in the first half, which completely took the referee in, and we somehow got a second penalty on 59 minutes. 2-0 looks good, and I'll certainly take it, but it was nothing special. Saga chased a lot, but didn't look like scoring. Ricky Lambert took his penalties well, and Papa came on and actually took people on, which cheered the crowd no end. When Saints attack, the midfield is very slow to back up, and nobody tries for the byline anyway, which would give them time. On this peformance, Saints look a difficult team to beat, but they'll also find it hard to win. The crowd were loud though, so good for them.

Apologies if it has already been posted: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2009/09/charlton.html The main area of interest to Saints fans will undoubtedly be the invitation to post questions to Markus Liebherr and Co, when Paul Fletcher inteviews them in a week or two from now.

Excellent.

What if. You can't keep on with that kind of mindset. Let it go.

Don't be sad for him. The man lived his life to the utmost. In a sense, he's a lesson to us all not to be afraid to live. Sure he died at 65, when many of us would like to consider that 80 or more is on the cards. But he lived with good friends, bad enemies, great food, great wine, great and bad experiences. In a lifetime, you couldn't ask for too much more. I'll never forget him desperately finding his feet, on a bucking boat, in a huge sea, and throwing that tin of John West tuna overboard, after declaring it awful stuff. It was his tone of presentation and quality in a moment. I'd always thought in a similar way, and hence I admired him even more than I had before. And John West have never been quite the same since..!

I think it comes to something when the off-track news within F1 involves more interest than the racing.

Ah yes, well that's the point isn't it..? Sunseeker and Princess. Two words which define hulls with engines. - not sailing boats. Might as well be called cars for the water. In my worst mood they're a bloody pest, but if I think back hard, some of the owners know the basic rudiments of the water.

Seeing as you were being picky in a lighthearted thread, I'll be ultra picky. The Earth isn't an ellipsoid exactly. It's a Geoid. How about those apples..? :butthead:

The funniest at the moment..? Reginald D Hunter.

One bloke who I always find surprisingly funnier than I think he'll be is Hugh Dennis. When he does his Duke of Edinburgh voice-overs on Mock The Week, I nearly sprain my cheekbones.

Just watched the 125 and 250cc races. Yep, they were excellent. Sometimes it's better watching those than it is the main event. Brilliant riding from everybody, except Gadea in the 125s and Simoncelli in the 250s. Gadea's crash, where his bike spat him over the top, was a bit staggering. How he or his bike didn't get hit by his fellow riders, I'll never know. Apparently, he wasn't injured, even though it looked bad. Simoncelli just lost it putting the power on. Apparently, his traction control was playing up. That last corner gasper between Espargaro and Iannone was brilliant. It was easy to see that Iannone would have real trouble making the corner, and then he ended up losing the front end, and taking out Espargaro as well. How those guys didn't get injured amazed me. Both popped up and faced each other off, and then the headbutt from Iannone. Apparently, it was because Espargaro had dared to touch his bike..! And Espargaro easily deserved to win the race, after charging through from way back in 9th or 10th. I really don't know whether there is something in the Italian Adriatic air, because even Nicky Hayden, in the main event, was just about ready to flatten Alex De Angelis, only for a race marshal to get between them. You can't say you don't get your money's worth, in this sport. EDIT: Just found this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/8240731.stm

The way they're planning, if he can last another 3 seasons, it'll be Premiership.

Yeah go on then, you start the thread. I reckon Diana was murdered. I haven't a shred of evidence to prove it, but I like the feel of it, and I'm not keen on the Monarchy either, so there's my pitch.

OK, I'll admit it - I haven't watched the 125 or the 250cc races yet. Both of which had extremely dramatic ends to them... apparently. Had a really late night and just about had the wherewithall to program the HDD recorder before staggering up the wooden hill. Just got back down in time to push the record button again for the main event, and then slumped in the armchair to watch it. I always watch them again a few hours/days later to get a look at the details. Besides, I'm trying to get more confidence in the front end of my bike. All the handling facts say I can, but in my heart I'm a scaredy cat. And I know in my head that being a coward actually makes me more dangerous. Stupid eh..? Apparently though, none other than James Toseland has the same problem with his Yamaha M1, so I'm in good company, I suppose. Today's race was a good one, made better by the importance, but it wasn't great. There was some excellent action in the earlier laps, especially a second corner pile up, which nearly resulted in fisticuffs. Must be the Italian air or something. But by just over halfway, Valentino had got past Pedrosa, and then so did Lorenzo. There was an element of... please don't fall off guys... in the watching of the race, because it's rotten way to decide championhips. I like to see someone outride the opposition, not benefit from someone else falling off, even if it is dramatic. Highlights were the crash between the minor placers on the second corner, and nobody got hurt, except the causer Alex De Angelis, who got a bump on his little finger, and some sore pride. Tony Elias did his cause for a ride next season no harm at all, by being very fast early on, but eventually coming in 6th. Old warhorse Capirossi came in 5th. JT came in 10th. Yes, he beat his teammate, Colin Edwards when he got taken out, but that's little compensation. He should be beating guys who are out of work next season, but they outdid him. His only plus is that he is British, and MotoGP really needs a British representative. But I now honestly don't think it will be with Tech3 Yamaha. Perhaps Pramac Ducati..? Mind you, Nicky Hayden has just signed an extension to Factory Ducati for next season, and he's behind JT in the Championship, so anything can happen. It's an unpredictable motorsport is this one. San Marino MotoGP result: 1 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 44mins 32.882secs 2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 44:35.298 3 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 44:45.282 4 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 44:59.212 5 Loris Capirossi (Italy) Suzuki 44:59.421 6 Toni Elias (Spain) Honda 45:01.168 7 Mika Kallio (Finland) Ducati 45:03.066 8 Marco Melandri (Italy) Kawasaki 45:04.639 9 Chris Vermeulen (Australia) Suzuki 45:04.791 10 James Toseland (Britain) Yamaha 45:11.229 Championship standings: 1 V Rossi 237 points 2 J Lorenzo 207 3 D Pedrosa 157 4 C Stoner 150 5 A Dovizioso 133 6 C Edwards 123 7 L Capirossi 97 8 A de Angelis 88 9 R de Puniet 88 10 M Melandri 87 13 J Toseland 78 125cc race result: 1 Julian Simon (Spain) Aprilia 40mins 15.301 secs 2 Nicolas Terol (Spain) Aprilia 40:15.874 3 Bradley Smith (Britain) Aprilia 40:20.775 Championship standings: 1 J Simon (Spn) Aprilia 210.0 points 2 N Terol (Spn) Aprilia 152.5 3 B Smith (GB) Aprilia 147.5 250cc race result: 1 Hector Barbera (Spain) Aprilia 43 mins 23.353 secs 2 Mattia Pasini (Italy) Aprilia 43:23.393 3 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Aprilia 43:25.044 4 Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) Honda 43:25.050 5 Mike Di Meglio (France) Aprilia 43:25.274 Championship standings: 1 H Aoyama 205 2 A Bautista 192 3 M Simoncelli 165 4 H Barbera 158 5 M Pasini 120 Estoril in one month's time. Jeez, I might get some sailing in, and I might even get to a Saints match..!

I don't know why this subject gets brought up time and again. There is no need to believe whether NASA put a man on the moon or not, because there is plenty of evidence to back it up. Incidentally, there are only picky little bits of hearsay; interpretation of photos, etc... to suggest they didn't. To my mind, a person is lacking a little imagination or scope upstairs if they don't get by now. Rocketry itself isn't blindingly complicated, and that got a huge shove in the right direction, technology wise by the designers and developers of the German V2 missiles. It's true, certain materials weren't upto the job when JFK made his announcement, and so new or improved ones had to be developed. Small transistorised computer hardware was also in its infancy, and so that required extremely efficient programming and human intervention. It's always true that necessity is the mother of invention, and I don't know of a time when one country was so focussed on a goal. There were hugely influential people at the time in the USA who thought the whole idea was crazy and incredibly wasteful of money, and it certainly was a money pit. But it brought USA technology to the forefront, a lead which, in certain quarters they have never relinquished. It's what happens when a country can throw so much money at a a problem. Incidental benefits will certainly come out of it. The staggering bit for me was getting all the technologies together. The planning of the details must have been incredible. Remember also, that the actual design envelope of getting there hadn't been even thought about seriously back in 1960 odd. Even today, we still think of a big spaceship that lands everywhere and takes off again. Great if you solved the problem of power to weight ratios, but seriously science-fiction. So it comes as no surprise at all that the new missions announced for the forth coming years, where NASA will go back to the moon, are very much the same as when they did it before, because the initial design was almost perfect. The technological advances have been there, but not significant enough to make a mission to the Moon a cheap walk in the park. Yes it was staggering for them to have done it before, but it will still be staggering when they do it again. It's just that this time, most people will believe it because they think it'll be easy. And why haven't we been back in the intervening years..? Well, there has been little appetite for it in the USA, and NASA have been doing other things. No President has been willing to make the USA poorer, in the short term, by spending mega bucks on a Moonshot, when it has already been done 6 times, and no other single country can afford it anyway. Let's face it, the Shuttle was supposed to be a cost saving exercise in itself. But missions to Mars are going to make going to the Moon a necessity again, or so they say. It's easier to make a hop to the moon, and then take a tiny ship to Mars. But it'll still cost huge amounts of money. And as the old astronauts used to say... No Bucks, no Buck Rogers.