Ginger_Warrior

Developing elite athletes has never been an issue for the UK. Our amateur participation rates are far too low, however. I'd go as far to say pathetic, given our relative economic strength, vast sports tradition and our near total faith in socialised medicine. That's why it's so vital that these Games really do get more people involved.

How often do you usually shower? My house doesn't have a shower, so it's a bath every other day. Having one every single day would be excessive unless I've done something to make myself very sweaty. What sort of personal care products do you use? I buy the own brand bath cream from my local supermarket. All soaps have generally done the same thing since Victoria was on the throne, so I don't really see the point in shelling out money for fancy, yet ultimately basic, stuff. My shampoo is Head & Shoulders for Men. I don't use conditioner because it makes my hair too light and therefore "frizzy" rather than curled. To moisturise, I use E45 creme daily. Deodorant is usually Lynx, Excite at the moment. I don't use shaving cream or aftershave, just an electric shaver after splashing the skin with hot water. Do you exercise regularly? If so, how long/often? I don't particularly exercise, and although my job involves lifting heavy things (elderly people) a lot, generally my job is quite sedentary. It's something I should do more of but, like everything else, it's about finding time. Do you work out (whether at a gym or at home)? No. I've got this thing about throwing tennis balls against the wall and catching it over and over again when I'm waiting for something. I started doing it when I played Halo: Reach between matches to keep my hand-eye coordination fresh/take my mind off the last game, but it's obviously not a workout and barely expends any energy, much less cause me to be short of breath. The fact I'm doing that while playing video games probably sums it up.

Wiggins wasn't an underdog. He's the best time trialist in the world and one of the best cyclists in the world full stop. There's little-to-no debate about that; he's proven it twice already this year in the TdF on a far more difficult stage. It's a shame he broke his collarbone last year because the result of that TdF would probably have told us the pecking order between the Schlecks, Contador, Evans and Wiggins. From what I understand of the two rowers, they've dominated that event for the past four years, so there was little doubt about that either. I think what Wiggins hasn't had, unlike Daley, is a media circus following his every move through some voyeuristic obsession with his "life story" since he was aged nine. I can't imagine what ungodly amount of pressure he must have felt on top of that diving board.

I've nothing against competition. I love sport. I just fail to see how hosting the games has any relevance to winning the most medals. Isn't the medal itself, and the honour of calling yourself Olympic champion good enough? Day Three. Britain were odds on to have at least two golds by now; they have none. Indeed, in some of the events they were expected to win, they've not even got a medal. British sportsmen and women choking in the face of massive media attention? Surely not...

Sadly, a lot of athletic dominance does come down to the cold hard fact that one country spends more on a sport than another, or has more territory and therefore more people to pick from. If the Olympics went to whoever won most medals (which the Olympic movement would never endorse anyway--they cringe even at the concept of a medals table), it would become yet another medium for one country to say "We're more powerful than you." In other words, it would cease to be about sport and celebrating unity, really.

What would you have preferred? Strippers? Fireworks? Just about anything except something that was relevant to the host country? The Chinese ceremony was spectacular, though some of it was faked, and there was no possible way in the middle of a double-dip recession which has been hanging over our heads since before the last Summer Games, with public sector cuts left, right and centre, that any country in the world would have matched their budget.

I don't mind there being negative opinions about the NHS thing. It isn't for everyone, we've established that over numerous OT threads over a number of years. That's what I liked about the ceremony though; it was as confident a statement about British identity (whatever that is) as you'll ever hope to see, without reverting to extremist far-right ideology. The NHS is fundamentally a British institution, it enjoys massive popularity amongst British people, even if other countries like the US have major political movements which despise even the idea of public-funded healthcare or welfare reform. I thought it was very bold, and very right, to say, "Well, we don't really care if you don't like the ideas behind the NHS--we do, and it embodies one of the most fundamental principles of our society." Watched the road race. From a non-biased point of view, I'm glad neither Cavendish or Griepels won. I think cycling fans love to see aggressive, ambitious tactics winning, and that's what happened today with the breakaway group ultimately coming out on top of the peloton. It might have been effective, but Team Sky's tactics in the TdF were tedious to watch outside of the time trials, which obviously wasn't a factor today. Shame for Cancellara though.

I think there'll always be the question 'Made no reference to slavery', which whether we like to accept it or not formed a large part of the Kingdom's success over the course of around 300 years, but it was never going to be included, since the opening ceremony of an Olympic Games is never the time to present yourself 'warts and all'. Apart from that it mentioned all that Britain has exported to the world; industrial revolution (until the US and Germany took over that role in the 1880s), socialised healthcare, modern sport itself. The cauldron was very touching; it put substance of the modern Olympic movement over the grandiose, almost obnoxious style of Beijing. I can think of a million and one people I'd rather listen to than Paul McCartney, but I cannot deny the cultural significance The Beatles have in British history, on the global stage. I'm working in Manchester for a few of the days, so I'm really proud to be a part of it, since it probably won't happen again in my lifetime, especially not my working life anyway. I'll keep my Olympic validation pass as a memento for life, I think.

On the plus side for those of us in the Labour Party... at least someone's eventually recognised him as a leader. He really did show a lot of characteristics British people like to hate about America, arrogance being the most obvious, but there is an element of opportunism from our own politicians. It distracts attention away from the ban on Taxi strikes and security issues quite nicely. As an aside, I worked at Old Trafford yesterday for the Men's Football and I was slightly concerned about security, though of course my substantiation of Mitt's concerns 1) don't mean a lot--I'm a medic, not a security expert; and 2) don't really excuse the way he handled those comments.

You want to dream of being executed... wut?

It's an Xbox server so mods aren't happening any time in the next twelve months. TBH I just showed him the benefits of cooperating by helping him mine a shit load of resources. Hopefully, I've lead this horse to water... Oh btw, Mojang are being patent troll'd.

I stopped watching 24/7 news about two years ago when I ceased to have access to the UK's news channels. I still go on the BBC website several times a day to keep up to speed on current affairs. Honestly, I've not lost anything for making that transition. I really wish 24hr news would go and die a very quick and painful death. If there was honestly enough news in the day to sustain it, then I'd understand, but I think it's made journalism desperate, voyeuristic and too analysis-centric, and journos themselves too sloppy and rushed for time to properly establish facts from speculation, rather than bombard the viewer with as much information as possible.* On many news websites these days, I see pages dedicated to reactions to events, quite often drawing comment from people with no direct or indirect relevance to that event, as if an opinion is newsworthy itself. You can probably also place partial blame on social media for this, given the way Facebook/Twitter and the like essentially encourage people to broadcast 'news' about their lives, and their feelings about it. Sadly these days, and probably as is the case for the company Serp works for, I think you have to be seen to be doing something just to ward off this kind of media storm, even if you know full well that the actions you're taking make no difference, or even have the potential to cause further harm. *: (As an aside: Any British people remember Rebecca Leighton? How quickly the media all but labelled her a murderer, stalked her Facebook page and broadcast all sorts of images of her drinking in a nightclub, as if going on a piss-up every now and then has any relevance whatsoever to murdering someone? She was completely and utterly innocent, but is still living through the effects of their lazy and scandalous work.)

My reaction was distress and sadness, but not shock. Anyone who claims that everyone would find this type of thing "shocking" in a country which has a homicide rate as high as the US's isn't actually speaking for myself. Given healthcare systems around the world, whether public-paid or not, already do a really crap job at picking up people who are suffering from mental health problems (some less conservative estimates say about only about a half of all sufferers ever receive any kind of professional intervention) I'm not sure if the mental healthcare system is really where you need to be looking on this one. End of the day, psychiatrists are doctors and symptoms of MHPs are often not necessarily 'worn on the sleeve' like other illnesses; they're not telepathic.

How did you guys deal with sharing 'possessions'? Diamond stacks/tools/weapons, for example. My friend takes the attitude that because it's "his" world he can basically raid everyone else's house, generally help himself to whatever he wants and then burn our houses down with lava for teh lulz. Understandably, this has not been conducive to developing local projects, and I'm trying to come up with an alternative way of doing things...

...so would a piece of clean cloth tied over the wound. :mellow: I'm interested to know how you would apply this Vaseline without directly inserting your fingers into the wound as well. I suppose said Special Forces team might carry a set of Nitrile gloves just in case too. Whatever... I don't want to derail what's actually quite an interesting thread.

"Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;" — Rudyard Kipling, If—

Realising that the job you're currently doing is below your skill level, and feeling bored rigid as a result.

Except it doesn't apply pressure to the wound, and it can't miraculously stitch a broken blood vessel back together. So, basically, instead of the blood being outside of the body, inducing shock, you now have the blood inside the body inducing shock and also causing a haematoma. Brilliant advice. How about, if you're anywhere near a restaurant or a big public building, it's almost certainly a legal requirement on their part to have a first aid kit with a large dressing? Or 999? What you meant to say is that petroleum jelly has (some minor) wound healing properties, but it's not a substitute for basic emergency wound care.

I've also been receiving these emails. They're phishing scams. The part where it says, "The majority of these cases can be appealed if you click on this totally not suspicious-looking URL" or something like that kinda gave it away really.

You can always, just, overvalue your stadium by ridiculous amounts and have your own company buy a sponsorship deal for it. That, apparently, counts as revenue. :-w *cough* City *cough*

How long have you been on this internet sir? I've heard of it, just never cared or even known what it's for.

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." Probably belongs in the Quotes thread, except it isn't one of my favourites.

What even is reddit?

Looks incredible. Honestly, it does. Or did, at least.

"Hsssssssss *BOOM*" is probably the scariest sound I have ever heard on a video game. It's the sound of almost inevitable death. It's not even like we really need gunpowder anyway so Mojang, Y U No Take Out Creepers?