Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

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This is about an hour old - Greek talks check euro, results hit shares

(Reuters) - The euro was underpinned on Tuesday by hopes a way would be found to push through a second bailout deal for Greece, though fresh signs of exposure to Europe's economic troubles among leading banks rekindled investor unease, sending shares lower.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to the unresolved Greek deal weighing on Wall Street at the open, ahead of Senate testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that may grab the spotlight at 1500 GMT after last week's strong jobs data.

The figures are a set of financial records for the entire UK public sector, from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 - under the previous Labour government - based on commercial accounting principles.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16918110

When did the middle finger become offensive?

An American television network has apologised after pop star M.I.A. extended her middle finger during Sunday night's Super Bowl halftime show. What does the gesture mean, and when did it become offensive?

skinny

I thought that was a reply to my post

aldwickk :-)

I think it means either, "Swivel on this!", "Fuck/Screw you!" or "Up yours!"

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I understand that the "Two Finger gesture" is merely to let the opposing side know that you still have the required two fingers left, that would be necessary to hold the arrow in your bow, should you wish "to shoot them up it" - or "Pluck Yew", as it were.

Good old Met. Police http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16922305

Five killer whales from Sea World, being three in San Diego and two more from Sea World in Orlando, have been named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit which argues they deserve the same constitutional protection from slavery as humans.

The lawsuit invokes the 13th Amendment to the constitution, which abolished "slavery or involuntary servitude" in the US.

Jeffrey Kerr, the lawyer representing the five whales, said: "For the first time in our nation's history, a federal court heard arguments as to whether living, breathing, feeling beings have rights and can be enslaved simply because they happen to not have been born human.

There are lots of implications on the outcome, primarily to do with the ownership of dogs and particularly such things as police dogs.

Perhaps a large aquarium will be needed for dogs - or maybe a collar and lead would be required for the killer whales, when in a public place.

Hmmm?

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Hi Mnamreh,

I have read many books about the English archer and I an assure you the V salute is fact not fiction.
The 2 finger gesture does relate to Agincourt as well as many other battles of that era.
When archer were caught by the mainly French armies, they chopped off the 2 fingers that the archers used to draw the bow string back. This was in order that should the archers be freed or escaped, they could no longer draw a bow.
Many archers were also freed in prisoner exchangers.
The English archer was trained from a very early age, often from around 10 years old or even younger.
The French hated the English archer and for several years tried to match them with the Crossbow, problem being was that although the crossbow was more powerful, and the bolt could travel further than an arrow, an English archer could fire about 6 arrows to every 1 from a crossbow.
Imagine a thousand plus archers, firing 6 thousand arrows per minute.
The French tried for many years to train some of their troops to use a long bow but failed as it was estimated to take 10 plus years to fully train an English archer.
This was due to the bow having a draw back pull of 100lbs or over, and being around 6ft long.
Most men even of strong build would have found it difficult to pull the string even half way to the fire position, which was almost to the ear.
For many years I used a longbow with a draw pull of 44lbs, and although I could pull a bow of 60lbs, I could not hold it steadily enough to aim with any accuracy.
Due to this archers had well developed chests, and it could be easily seen if an archer was left or right handed due to the calluses on his draw fingers.
The reason that the archers gave their enemies the V was as a message that they still had their draw fingers, so the enemy had better watch out.
Even those in full armour were vulnerable as one of the 2 types of arrow used, the bodkin heads was capable of penetrating the best armor of the day, even some of the most expensive French armour that only the rich warrior could afford.

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Mnamreh,

As you say, I am convinced.
Also happy to agree to differ. It makes a change from the oft exchanges of yes they did, no they didn't.
Mind you, you will be telling me next that Rambo is a fictitious character and that he did not win several wars single handed.

Regards Greek.

Fight! Fight! (Harry Hill) :-)

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Pension books at dawn then!

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The bows found on the sunk warship the mary Rose had draw weights up to 185 pounds. The muscle power required to keep 3 arrows in the air with draw weights well above 100 pounds was huge. They must have been built like tanks.

Italian cruise ships


How do they serve alcoholic drinks on Italian cruise ships? - On the rocks.

What vegetables do you get with dinner on Italian cruise ships? - Leeks.

What's the fastest way to get off an Italian cruise ship? - Follow the captain.

When the captain of the ill fated Costa Concordia was asked if he knew where he was going he replied "off course."

So the captain of the Costa Concordia will soon be in the dock. That's more than can be said for his ship.

I like my women how I like my Italian Cruises. Wet, wrecked and ready to go down.

The Costa Concordia is probably the most expensive thing to go down in Italy since Berlusconi's last hooker.

What's the difference between the Italian economy and the stricken cruise liner Costa Concordia?

Nothing - The bottom's dropped out of both.

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