ryyannon

Consider yourself lucky: Mine are all horny guys...

Didn't they give you the RWG Hotline number when you upgraded?

On a much grander scale, I send messages to God about changing the world to suit me all the time. The only answer I've gotten so far is STFU. Maybe there's a lesson there for Admin....

I never eat, plaifender. I'll eat when I'm 250 years old. haha.

Great avatar, though.

Burp.

Yes, frankly I find that avatar offensive.

That's ok, TT...I'm getting sooo used it.

Whaddamean by WTF, TT? We've been told that there are dozens - if not hundreds - and who knows, maybe even thousands - of members who prefer to pay their dues without receiving VIP status. Against their religion, or something. It has been suggested that no one should be taken to task for not contributing, since it's possible that they already have. I mean, as long as the forum is actually up, we shouldn't hurt anyone's feelings. Or something like that... As for me, no more member upgrades - I'll send you all my love, and the hopes that that will be sufficient to keep the forum online. WTF indeed.

I guess we're not supposed to say anything about the complaints on how this site is being financed by non-paying members, so I won't.

Riiight. With that, I'm out of this thread. Before it sinks any lower.

Other than the fact that I have too much affection for anything that has feathers and can fly, this is like shooting ducks in a barrel: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1099272003 from one of many sources on Google, but I'm sure certain members of our Scottish contingent who were on active duty at the time will appreciate the part about the French Exocets used against British troops in the Falklands - as much as we were tickled pink by the news that "... U.S. Army and Australian special forces teams discovered advanced versions of a French-made surface-to-air missile system in Iraq. U.S. Air Force officials are certain that Iraqi French-made Roland missiles downed at least one A-10 "Warthog" attack jet and may have killed two USAF pilots in an F-15E Strike Eagle." http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articl...29/162810.shtml I'm also glad that you mentioned the "hommage to 'the forgotten' American firemen who died this day" by French television, since I myself chose not to mention this. Perhaps we weren't watching the same channel, but what I saw was another 'documentary' on the total indifferance of the American government to the very serious health problems of the firemen and other emergency workers who inhaled toxic substances on Ground Zero in the days and weeks after the attacks. As I say, I chose not to mention this - and have mentally blocked out still more that I could have mentioned from my memory. Interestingly enough, there was a reminder this evening in the form of a rapid visual summary of selected images from yesterday's offering from all French channels in the nightly "Zapping" on Canal Plus.* I can assure you that both the intention and the effect were to portray the American government - and through guilt by association, Americans themselves - in the worst possible light. Anniversary of 9/11 or not, this is typically what is seen here: the usual fare. If you do happen to have a list of all the hommages and respectful evocations of 9/11 that you say appeared on French television, please do post them here: I'm sincerely interested in seeing what I missed. *Here's the link to what the French saw concerning 9/11 - a selection from all French channels: see 'Zapping' of 12/09, which is a roundup of images appearing the day before. For still more on the callousness of Condi Rice, the stupidity of Americans, and Hurricane Katrina as a metaphore for Bush's presidency, see the Zapping of 11/09. <a href="http://www.canalplus.fr/c-infos-documentai...-c-zapping.html" target="_blank">http://www.canalplus.fr/c-infos-documentai...-c-zapping.html</a>? Another major French cable channel - Plan

Don't get discouraged, Cranium - 'Off-Topic' is sort of the RWG Mosh Pit....

That's one mother of a bomb...er....father?

You're really developing the ability to formulate luminous ideas as time goes by: the climate of Scotland must be particularly invigorating for you. But as to the above, don't you worry - believe it or not, reminding people of 9/11 every year is among the least of my concerns. So try and let it not be yours as well, ok?

I reiterate that it's not a question of disparity in feelings or far greater historical losses endured by the rest of the world - that's a given. What I do maintain is that the images of the event in and of themselves - given mankind's fascination with destruction - remain (with no disrespect implied) fascinating, which is to say newsworthy - even if the news is old. It's the disparity between the intrinsic newsworthyness of these images and the exposure that they actually received in the media here that seems odd to me. Somehow, it just doesn't add up: unless one is using a system of mathematics which I apparently have problems understanding. Once again, no negative insinuations as to your own point of view implied - I myself am trying to sort this out as we go along, and it may well turn out that your vision of how things actually are concerning this, is much clearer than my own.

Aside from any consideration of nationality, patriotism, politics or what-have-you, I have to disagree with you on this point. The event in and of itself counted (and will count) as among the most dramatic series of images ever seen: relayed live and globally - and then repeated again and again for weeks - those scenes are permanently etched into the collective consciousness of the planet. A bit like the first moon landing, but infinitely more dramatic: a supposedly invulnurable nation - which had never been attacked on its own soil (at least since the Brits were last here) being struck by enormous commercial passenger jets aimed at it's financial and political/military centers. Even a five year-old child somewhere in Southeast Asia, seeing those images on the collective television of his village - and ignorning the who, what and where of what they represented - would be astounded by what he saw: something which had never been seen by anyone, anywhere - up to the very moment the planes hit the towers. Whether this constitutes unusual or lasting news is a red herring: the images are amonst the most incredible ever filmed and will remain so - until the Second Coming of Elvis, or similar. That they represent a very real tragedy - and should be commemorated as such - even fleetingly - is another question. What's for sure, is that humanity never tires of seeing stuff getting blown up - that the stuff in question consisted of thousands of human beings, two (out of the four that were hijacked) jet airliners and two of the most marvellous modern architectural achievements of the late 20th century, only makes the event that much more compelling. Given all of this - and aside from any laborious questions concerning commemoration - the absence of a generalized replay of those images strikes me as somewhat strange: the tenth anniversary of Lady Diana's death got endless air-time and press exposure all across the EU. Tragedy sells. What I can't quite understand - or perhaps don't want to think about - is why the EU media - as far as I can see - so thoroughly ignored this particular money-shot.

I thought one was supposed to get 72 virgins - not one 72 year-old virgin!

Quite an enterprising old coot. Are you sure you want me to answer that one?

Well ok, but even without pics of her hoot..er...scooters? Actually, I think that Magagne would be a great name for her....yes, for me she'll always be 'Magagne'.

I for one would love to see more of - her name is Magagne, you say? - yes, more of Magagne's very interesting scooter collection...

My second car is a bike. As is my first.

I voted 'other' but now I've changed my mind. Something other than 'other' but I haven't quite decided yet. Some nice pics, though.

It's always a pleasure....you really bring a new and fascinating perspective to the rather mundane world of straps - describing them like the semi-precious items that some of the best of them really are. Great work, lovely photos!

This wasn't presented as news, Pug - it was tricked out as a fact-filled documentary. As for comparisons with Bastille Day, I'm too bummed out to even go into it....