Tactical Pith Helmet

Nope. We've still not settled whether it's better to be a satisfied swine or a frustrated Socrates. Thus we often live as frustrated swine, say some.

The motivator of every dictator in history. Human beings were murdered in industrial quantities in the last century for 'the greater good'. The next centuries information age was ushered in by the death of around four million Congolese, largely over the power to mine/exploit corton reserves. Of course, 100s of millions were digitally empowered as a result. It's always the greater good...

I've been listening to some old NYHC lately. And also from the Earache studio...

I used to go out with a foot fetishist. She really loved me; said I had a 'beautiful sole.'

A guy goes into a café near the Arctic Circle and asks a waiter what's on the menu. The waiter says: 'we have whale meat, whale meat and whale meat. And today's special is the Vera Lynn.' 'What's that?' asks the guy. 'Whale meat again,' says the waiter.

Dig the door kicking SWAT loadout and SMLE. Lad has a sense of humour and fun.

Edward Snowden is celebrating being granted Russian citizenship today. He won't be when his call up papers arrive.

Cheers mate, but the watery eyes are down to me irritating my eyes putting the things in. I think its holding my eyes open with my fingers as I make the umpteenth attempt. As I always camp at games, handwashing is via hand gel, and despite rinsing with bottled water, I usually still have some somewhere on my hands too. I did get shown how to put the bastards in at the opticians, but I'm still useless.

When I was just 16 my parents died and left me an orphan. It was devastating. I'd rather have had the house.

Worth a look just for the photography...

I gave up and went on to contacts. I hate them. I ONLY wear them for airsoft and it's a major trauma getting the bastard things in. My eyes water for 20 mins or so. I have seriously never worn them anywhere else, but cheap disposables plus goggles is far better than pissing about with multiple lenses. I found that prescription insert specs only worked with minimal physical movement. OK for snipers perhaps. Fancy helmet/mask set-ups are do-able but not for the themed games that I play, so you may find some decent suggestions for skirmishes.

We'll miss the NHS here too before too long. It's neither been truly national nor a service focused purely on health since 2012, and the latest health and social care act has completely torpedoed any pretence.

Yep. Markets, once worshipped as 'free and fair,' have introduced a logic that impedes the independent decision making which they were trusted to ensure. Imagine an insurance industry overseen by 17th century liberal today. 'To hell with your claim sir, you took the risk as a free and rational man.'

I've got some glove puppets going if anyone's interested. I don't want much for them. I just want them off my hands.

I realise the difference in liability issues re: natural features and man made structures. What amused me was that we 'stop' people climbing by telling them or putting up signs and a tape. The old example from Mill is that we should for example put up a warning sign on a weak bridge, but not impede its use, as this would impinge on peoples liberty and agency. Some idiot will manage to injure themselves whatever we do or say; but surely some may argue that we have a duty to protect those less capable of making decisions, or a moral duty to risk minimization full stop e.g. Sweden's Vision Zero concept. It's an issue that people have grappled with for centuries, and I expect still will do. How we deal with it can be as ritualistic as the 'tell them the rules and then don't enforce them' safety brief. The quality of construction won't be altered by a few feet of tape. Quite how anyone was supposed to infer all that from the brief sentence I don't know!

Remember that the UK is several nations with different but interconnecting histories/legal systems etc on several small islands. I live in the (highly rural) area with the highest gun ownership and a rich working class shooting tradition even with driven bird shooting. Roger lives in the hilly bit somewhere with a tradition that I wouldn't know any more than he mine. One of the reasons for arguments is the difference in local experienced cultures I imagine. In the village I grew up in, everyone's dad shot. It won't be the same in a city, or an area with less rough shooting, local syndicate shoots etc.

A man walks into a bar and asks the barman, "Can I have a pint please, but not Stella. I had ten pints of it last night and ended up fucking skint. The barman says, "But it's only £3 a pint." The man replies, "I know. Skint's my dog!"

Spot on. Who has the deeper pockets to argue the thing out in court may well prevail rather than 'rights' or 'wrongs.' And all the time the structure/feature/play equipment is out of bounds because someone has put some flimsy tape on it. And it all stands in amongst a whole load of climbable trees.

The right to bear arms is enshrined in the 1689 Bill of Rights, and is the legislation that the second amendment is based on. This bill was passed after a series of, revolutions, civil wars, and a regicide, by one would guess a pretty militant citizenry... Whilst the right exists, how it is applied and administered has changed. In the early 20's licenses were introduced for firearms. These maintained the right but restricted (further) those who could access that right. Until 1968(ish) you could buy a shotgun license from a post office, just like a TV or dog license. Both licenses are administered now by the police. If your grant of a license is withheld, you can argue that your rights have been infringed in court, and ask the infringement overturned. For numerous items in case law have a read of Bill Harriman's work. Most of what I found online on the subject is bilge tbh. If you want a really fascinating look at English rural working class firearms and weapons culture have a look at The Long Affray by Harry Hopkins that covers the 400 year long civil unrest/civil war/rebellion that enclosure brought. You'll learn that nunchucks are not just from Bruce Lee flicks for one. For modern UK gun stuff look up Fieldsports TV online.

You don't know how deep the bottom of this barrel is... Mwahahaha!

I'll second Evilmonkee. I do one game per month and enjoy them far more than a regular skirmish. This month is Namsoft with post-apocalypse type silliness next. By far the most memorable games that I have played.

Saw two peanuts walking down the street today. One was a salted.

I wear the cheapest hard knuckle airsoft gloves on evil bay. They last a few years (or get lost) and for around £8 are fine. Plenty of feel as the inside of the index finger always goes. I do have some similar priced German army thin leather gloves for themed games. These have lasted a couple of years with no wear that I can find.

We don't know how the present generation will present our age in years to come as history. We can be pretty certain that it will have appalling spelling though.

I never wanted a beard. But then it grew on me.