Polaroid Saint

Is American Football the only sport wherein a professional can wear a bum-bag whilst competing at the highest level? Quite enjoying it. Don't have a clue half the time, to be honest, but yeah enjoying it.

Cracking game, what a team performance second half! Superb play by our England internationals, and future England internationals, our Portuguese, Japanese and Polish internationals and, yes, our Northern Irish international. Our Kenyan international had a bit of a mare. And who knows? I still think 'second half' Morgan should be an international, just a bugger he is French!

Need to get it 'trending'; #WeareSouthamptonwereofftoBrazil

and Rodriquez! Hope Oswaldo or whatever he was called is watching! ;-)

Tru dat.

I count 22 touches, and two dummies, starting with Lambert and ending with Lambert! What a goal!

Awh... ...but that was the one thing I really liked about him.

^this Apparently the Forrest faithful haven't quite taken to Harding as much as we did. Still think we got rid of the wrong Daniel at the time! Good luck to Fox. I did feel for him at times: even when he had an otherwise a cracking game he could still gift a goal away. He just had this uncanny knack of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Although, as been pointed out, probably all down to pace in the Prem. Quality and committed footballer all told, lower half prem/top championship level. And, by all accounts, a bit of a 'geezer'.

IMO, and at the risk of sounding like I'm on the Olympic Deliverance Committee, it's all about sustainability. Global Warming, or Climate Change, concentrated population growth, destruction of flora and forna, pollution, resources and logistics are stretched. These are problems for everyone, everywhere, local, national, global; but the more we can do as an island nation to sustain our own population advancement the better everyone will be. Maybe I'm an optimist, but there is plenty to suggest mankind will manage - somehow. The sooner we recognise and factor in the effects of climate change (whatever its cause) on the way civilisation and societies function, the sooner we can adapt.

Interesting stuff from the academics*, thank you. I was particularly interested in the talk of heuristic modelling, as I rely upon Heuristic approaches in a lot of the stuff I do. I was intrigued to hear that it is not favoured in modelling so much. I guess heuristics, by their very nature, are 'real world' - empirical conclusions and comparable data that can be used in real time - and therefore almost impossible to 'model'. Makes sense then. *Although I did enjoy GM's attempt to translate the dictionary definition of heuristics in order to take a pop at 'academics'. Bless.

Outrageous! My opinion of Charles Miller and 'the olden days' is now taters. I thought it was law for all young Victorian gentlemen to have at least the beginnings of a massive tache by the time they left Public School?

The purpose of science is to question human understanding and by doing so improve upon it. Science is a continual cycle of postulating and disproving, refining knowledge to a point where it becomes useful. All scientists are sceptics by definition. All scientists have specialist areas and all scientists 'needs to gets paid', course they do. Unfortunately this also means many of the associations and sponsorships in modern science are less transparent. If you remember that then it is a lot easier to work out that not all science, or reported 'results' or statistic based science, is worth your time or heartache.

Nice statement. Very cleverly written too. I particularly liked the non-capitalised use of "the Southampton way" at the end there.

Delia Smith

Good stuff. Needs a little proof-reading for repeated words (I'm being a bit picky), but really nicely done.

Oh please no! ? ? ?

This would be an excellent way to end this thread. Nice one Kingsbridge, well said.

It's almost like he wrote the entire thing himself!

Well. I think she is quite cute. I fancy her more than Nicola, and I made no secret of my man-crush on him.

I can't stop smiling. Not because I am happy... ...It is one of those 'WTF! You Couldn't Make It Up. Life's ****ing Riot Ain't it? Pfft! Waaah? Oh well, what's the point, its a ride innit? Gotta love the craziness" kind of smiles. Genuinely gutted the Don has gone, but wide-eyed to see what nonsense/amazement my club will throw at me next! Saints Eh?!?!

I think Rosling only repeats those phrases in an effort to highlight the idiocy of those who coined them? I may be wrong, would need to double check the context. He is certainly not an advocate of such things himself.

Yes I believe this explosion of growth is happening NOW in Africa, but has happened and the rate of growth (not growth itself) is already dropping in the rest of the developing world, as Education and access to Health Care (birth control) spreads across the populations. The introduction of birth control is a cultural and educational as well as medical thing - and you understandably mention Catholicism, although recent progression is being made on that by the Vatican itself and, well, people do ignore such things when education allows: for instance, I believe Europe was also mostly Catholic during the centuries of mass population boom! I must admit I am getting most of my 'knowledge' on this subject from just a couple of lectures and essays by the marvellous Hans Rosling. He puts things in such a clear and positive way it is a bit daft me trying to paraphrase! I done a quick web search and here is a neat article that introduces the man and his work: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10431350/Hans-Rosling-the-man-who-makes-statistics-sing.html And I believe his latest lecture on Population Growth is still available on BBC iPlayer. I cannot recommend higher, it's brilliant and slightly humbling.

This is great. Exactly the sort of intelligent response I was after from GM. And look, Badger has made their point without needing to cut n paste some 'facts' (read opinion piece) from t'internet. It is possible that the 'Third World's' rapid transition to matching, and soon exceeding, 'First World' resource demand, might, eventually, be a benefit to solving global climate issues. In that they may be forced to explore other energy production means, perhaps more suited to their resources. This will promote innovation and drive down costs. Africa will be key and as its population levels out and begins to demand better services and facilities, a 'western' existence if you like, the demand for resources WILL rise. I believe (maybe 'hope' is better) that the technology and resources available to many Africa nations as they 'mature' will allow them to avoid a carbon fuel based economy (okay, I am talking mostly solar, I admit it, damn!). But also communications and welfare and education are improving across the continent. Health care is so so important: As soon it is not necessary to have five children just in case two die and one cannot work, people start only having two children. It happened in Europe, is happening now on the sub-continent and will happen in Africa. Populations DO reach stable points, right up until the next great upheaval of course! Talking of upheavals: I think it is absolutely right to worry about short term population increases (next twenty years or so) as the infrastructure isn't in place (as you say food or even water) and we are still set up, as a society and a species, to devour and consume whatever we can for short term gain. Hence Packham's (and billions of other people's) concern for the other inhabitants and habitats of this planet. Our little island led the Industrial Revolution as we have coal and iron and the right men at the right time, and that's a fact. Who's to say (given probability, not just blind faith) that the next great leap forward isn't coming from a need, a necessity, facing the growing African population? Some of the best solar tech is coming out of China, some of the most innovate electrical storage tech is being developed in India, some for the best medical tech is happening in South America. These are global solutions to common problems. Why can't population boom lead to innovation, after all it always has done in the past!?

Awww, issy wissy GMy Wemmy finding the concepts too hard to grasp? Ooh diddums, does Polaroid need to speak slower? Did poor GMy not get a good education when he was little? Or was it no friends growing up that has made poor GMy Wemmy so antisocial? Does GMy Wemmy need help with understanding conversational English? Has little GMy Wemmy not spoken to an intelligent adult before? Maybe his 'targets' are always 'lesser' than him? Bless him. Is GMy running out of diatribes and resorting to name calling again? Awh, poor little fella needs some TLC maybe? GMy Wemmy got so far out of his depth that he couldn't see the argument Polaroid was making!? Is that better GM, can you understand the above? I tried to use words you might understand and a child-like voice to make it even easier for you.

I wonder what it is you find so strange about my posts? Is it that I don't try to point score and instead have attempted to engage you in the argument? Is that I don't conform to your antiquated and antagonistic view of the world? Is that I have pointed out your mistakes calmly and clearly in a way you find impossible to argue with? What exactly is it? Would you rather I took your method of insulting other posters and trotting out the same biased old non-stories every time (whilst simultaneously chastising others for doing the same)? I have been pretty consistent too - maybe you find it hard to follow posts that don't jump randomly around or clutch at straws like yours do? (For example; you brought up China's One Child Policy - why? It has nothing to do with the OP, and you are clearly unfamiliar with it's history). I have given you plenty of chances to either put down the shovel and climb out of that hole, or else hit me (metaphorically) over the head with the same shovel! Yet you seem, unwillingly, or incapable, of doing either. Shame as the conversation about Climate Change is an important one and we *could* all learn a lot from debating our ideas and challenging each others preconceptions.