The Kraken

Having lived and skied in France for the past 3 seasons I'd kind of given up on most black runs there, as they're mostly just a bit steep and mogulled. And I like going fast, moguls just get in the way. Done some really nice off-piste, north face of Bellecote at La Plagne probably the favourite. On piste, probably Harakiri in Mayrhofen, which is supposedly Eurpoe's steepest pisted run (pretty short though, and tons of d*ckheads who get sucked in by the "steepest" title getting in the way and having a yard sale left right and centre).

Beaches are for summer holidays; skiing is for winters. Perfect symmetry. Skiing holidays really are great. Get up; big breakfast in the chalet; morning blast about on the slopes, ski off the hangover; lunch and beers in a mountain restaurant, best views in the world; afternoon blast about on the slopes; 4pm, hit the bars for some apres ski beers and/or gluhwein (and in Austria typically some dancing on tables to cheesy German singalongs); dinner, beers and wine at the chalet in the evening; collapse in bed exhausted and drunk; next day, repeat all over again.

If you're travelling with any boarders, its best to tell them about the drag lift over to La Thuile beforehand. Its really long (in fact so long it consists of two separate parts, each about a ten minute or so uplift). And if you come off; good luck with that. The only rescue option is to ski back down the lift path avoiding the drag poles and other skiers; there's huge gulleys by the side which make it impossible to get back to the piste. Going up on skis, it's fine. On a board, I wouldn't fancy it.

And if you're even considering wearing a tinsel wig; don't do it. Just don't do it.

That can't be true. Everyone knows that those fackin' scummahs never did nuffink when their club went into administration. Apart from the SOS campaign, apart from the bucket rattling before every game that raised thousands, apart from Leon Crouch paying hundreds of thousands to supplement the staff wages, and apart from listening to the administrator who stated that there were numerous offers to take over the club including one from a benevolent Swiss billionaire. Apart from all that, of course, the facking scummahs did fack all.

Seems a bit funny for Nagoya to get so upset about this; she cared enough about SFC a few weeks back to start throwing a few accusations around about SFC being completely up the spout financially due to our £30M loan we'd just taken out. But then proper maths and football club debt never really went hand in hand with the Pompey "faithful", so its understandable enough I guess. And the notion that we plan to actually pay our debt back must be a confusing idea to them. Bless.

Also: How will my money be used? All the money raised will be used by PST to buy shares in Portsmouth Community Football Club Limited to provide working capital for the club to operate on a daily basis.

From the PDT prospectus: "Another source of investment which has enabled a route for supporters to take control of the club has come from a Hampshire property development company. The company will be investing £2.65m, which was a key component of the finance that was required to secure the bid for the club. In return the company will buy Fratton Park and it is being leased back to the club at an affordable long-term deal, with a secure option allowing the club to buy-back the stadium in the next five years."

Very important thing for those planning a holiday in the French Alps. French half-term. Unlike UK half-term, which is just one week of the calendar, the French decide to split their half-term by region, and over 4 weeks. typically from early february into early March. And its a bit of a nightmare for the first 3 of those weeks, calming down a little for the fourth. Having lived in 3 French ski resorts for 3 winters, you certainly learn to limit your skiing during these times as its just not as enjoyable (yet more expensive). Here goes for a list of mine: France: lived in Tignes, Les Arcs, Meribel, visted/stayed in Val d'Isere, Ste Foy, La Rosiere, La Plagne, Courchevel, La Tania, Val Thorens, Chamonix, Les Gets, Morzine, Les Deux Alpes. Austria: Mayrhofen, Hinterglemm, Soelden. Italy: La Thuile. Switzerland: Laax. North America: Steamboat Springs (USA), Whistler (Canada).

"I imagine that this might be one of those "badly argued" things he refers to." Tick.

Yuletide greetings says you're only half right.

Its a decent size ski area but I just much prefer other resorts in the local area. Les Arcs (which LP is sistered with) is brilliant, Val d'Isere and Tignes both absolutely amazing, and all resorts in the 3 Valleys are very good indeed. If going for a super resort in the Savoie, La Plagne would be my last choice of the main ones. La Plagne is a bit all too spread out for me, too many little villages and no real resort centre. I also find the pistes a bit boring; but if you're into (very) challenging off-piste then the north face of Bellecote is, to be fair, an absolute must.

Urgh. Can't stand that place.

1 week booked this season. 1 lousy week. After 3 winter seasons spent in the French Alps, it comes back to this. I'm appalled with myself.

It does have a place; whether it deserves one at all is debatable, and I'd say it doesn't as religion (or at least Christanity) is a premise based on virtually no factual proof. If mankind needs to create such a falsehood for itself just to feel a little more comfortable, or to create its own set of life rules, then we have no business calling ourselves an intelligent being. Religion is a faith-based notion with little empirical evidence and, given the scientific breakthroughs of the last few centuries, a backwards step. Wow, that was deep. This thread used to be about Christmas!

Am I the only one who refuses to entertain the idea of sprouts on the Christmas menu? Can't stand the things, traditional or not. Cabbage, absolutely, get in there. Sprouts, good lord no.

Indeed, and this has been discussed in this post already (in fact twice, I believe) so I'll let you catch up on that if you wish rather than repeat it all ad finitum.

So those differences made no difference whatsoever in the previous games? None, none at all?

As I said if you'd have followed on through the whole post; I don't think there's much value in going back which is why I'm not surprised no-one has. But to not have a look where we've been; to not have a really good look (when it is technologically possible to do so), I find that a bit surprising.

If you're asking me why the scientific community don't find it that interesting, I have no idea why. I'm not one of them. The general public; well that's perhaps different, isn't it? Lets face it the public are pretty ambivalent to the billions spent on space exploration; hell, it took Apollo 13 to reinvigorate the US public who, after two moon landings, then found they really weren't that bothered to watch a third set of fellas doing exactly the same thing. So perhaps that interest needs to be piqued every now and then. I'd love to see some HD shots of the moon sites; not to prove it happened, I don't need that, I'd just find it genuinely interesting. I think from a commercial view it could even make a huge amount of money; if a TV or publishing company got hold of it and made a documentary about a "return" to the moon; that would be really interesting. Wouldn't it? I'm genuinely surprised its not been done in years. That we haven't been back to the moon, well I can kind of understand that. But to not have a look where we've been? Yep, I do find that surprising, and personally a little disappointing from a self-interest point of view.

I do agree with you. I'm just amazed the defence of it has gone so badly.

Just a bit of a suggestion, Chaz. How about you stick to your own opinion rather than speak for the rest of the forum? Probably for the best, considering the way you're somehow fouling up a defence to what is surely one of the most entrenched and practically incontrovertible facts going.

Is the only way of getting close up images of the moon to send up a rocket with a probe attached to orbit and take pictures from there? As trousers rightly says; presenting images that look like were taken on a 1970s polaroid is hardly "hi-res", however you're looking to adapt the definition. And given that we have the technology to take photos of the deep space field, showing galaxies trillions of miles away and billions of years ago, I am a little surprised that mankind hasn't yet been able to point some telescopes in the right direction and capture a decent image that the whole planet would surely have interest in.

Hi-res photos To be fair it was pretty foggy on the moon at the time those images were taken.

That that probe had been orbitting the moon and taking pictures for a year was just about to send them back before it crashed into a lunar mountain. Such rotten luck.