I lived in Tacoma, WA in the 70s, at the time when smaller, cheaper Japanese cars were just beginning to make serious inroads into the American market. As you'd expect, this offended our boomer pride. These cars arrived on freighters and were driven a quarter of a mile from the dock to a rail marshalling yard for shipment onwards. At the time it was gospel that you had to treat new cars gently as they were run in - don't go over 50mph for the first 500 miles or you'll damage the engine. The docks employed local teenagers to do these transfer drives, and you could hear these kids from a couple of miles away. In every single one they hopped in, turned the key and floored it like a drag racer. Every 30 seconds for 8 hours a day for the 3 or 4 days it took to unload each ship - RRRRROARRRR!!!!! Toyota - prefucked in Tacoma. 

I'm a current one. A couple of weeks ago my dentist was in a boat on a section of river that hosts a clothing optional swimming club, of which I am a member. I had a check up yesterday, and she confirmed that I am the only patient she has seen skinnydipping. 

At the time our witty repartee was something like 'Hi!' 'Hi! Never seen you here before!' How we laughed.

You can also flip this. The Manhattan project fails so we invade the home islands, us from the south, the Russians from the north. The survivors of the Japanese population are shown films of Japanese atrocities in China, major war crimes trials are held in Kyoto, meticulously recording the camps and the massacres of civilians. The Japanese people become rabidly anti-nationalistic, the rising sun flag, war crime denial, and expressions like Banzai & bushido are outlawed. The Japanese government becomes a fervent supporter of the Chinese government, moved to Formosa. By the year 2000 nut cases in various countries are denying that the Japanese atrocities took place at all. 

That'd work too.

I'm sure this was an old Hollywood film. Manipulative woman convinces patsy to help her con her parents.  Parents change their will in her favour. She kills parents and makes it look like gold digging BF had conned her and was planning on knocking her off once she inherited. Sounds like a Bette Davis film to me.

Well then you don't need the butt plug.

Don't waste your money on Failed State NK. Go to Ragebaitia instead! The rumors of death camps & people being beaten to death for minor crimes are all massively exaggerated and hardly ever happen only a little.

Book a holiday in Ragebaitia today and get a free asbestos button plug!

A wise man once said to me: trust people, until you have a good reason not to.

In the case of rumors: they are definitely not good reasons by themselved, so they need to be investigated. Tell your school authorities the rumor and name the people repeating them. Give it some daylight.

I'm sorry, but people who have a go at teachers are a big part of the reason they have trouble recruiting good people.

Parents who abuse teachers are part of the reason why the quality of public education is dropping, why our countries perform badly, and why future generations will go back to being ignorant peasants. 

That doesn't mean you can't complain, but marching down the school when you're angry and using a public servant as a punching bag will just make that servant quit. When the next generation in your community has a problem getting decent jobs because they don't have the right qualifications, remember that you helped make that happen. 

That's fine. I think we should also: 

• put speed governors on all cars so they can't be driven above the speed limit. This limit to be set to 75% of the speed limit for male drivers under the age of 28
• restrict the size & design of all vehicles to minimise damage to pedestrians. It will still be possible to buy monster trucks, but only if your employer is willing to purchase a permit for you and pay the fines based on global turnover for abuse of them system
• fit an automated drug test to all steering wheels to prevent impaired driving
• fit all cars with weight limits to prevent overloading
• fit all cars with incab cams monitored by the traffic police, who will have the power to shutdown the vehicle if they see anyone behaving in an unsafe manner.
• limit sound systems on all vehicles to 20 Watts, with a mandatory traffic alerts option
• ration fuel to cars so that they can only be used for daily commutes.

I wouldn't mess around with taking licenses - pointless given the state of public transport. Instead the penalty for attempting to evade any of these rules should be death, including of all passengers. The sentence given on the spot, which is why all traffic cops & traffic wardens will be issued with elephant guns and car-seeking explosive drones.

Good idea OP! Let's do some good out there!!!

Beardy McBeard Face. 

Pack all of them if you're staying for more than a couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I fell asleep naked in a hammock in the backyard, last night I needed layers including a water proof.

I'd definitely look at the Met Office forecasts for the areas you will visit. 

First you get the money, then you get the power, and finally you get the 00011010111100010001100101111000111.

Ahahah-hem.

Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Gershwin, Morcone, Piazola, Sinatra, Yma Sumac, Buddy Holly, Bob Marley, the Stranglers, Queen, The Specials, Sinead O'Connor, Amy Winehouse, Abdul TJ, Orchestra Baobab and many, many others would like a word with you...

I think it also depends on how you define love. Certainly, there are other species do mate for life. There are also examples of animals forming bonds with with members of other species that are strong enough that it overrides other survival instincts.

I agree with the other poster who pointed out that not all traits have to have a specific advantage. However... When young we imprint on family members, and we can transfer this onto all sorts of weird things. Our having the capacity to love doesn't have to confer an advantage, but being surrounded by beings who would die or go hungry to protect you does make it more likely you will survive and help your descendants survive. A naked ape who is protected by her grandpatents, parents, uncles, siblings, cousins, children, grandchildren, family dogs  & cats stands a  far better chance of passing her genes down than some rugged individualist. And the same applies to her dogs & cats.

A bit further than some, but... Cairo in Egypt. In places there are street & streets of art-deco gems. Talaat Harb is a central square & main shopping street that, in places, looks like a 1930s dream of the future.

I want to get a hypnotherapist to give me a serious sexual attraction to clouds. Living in the UK, every day would be an erotic tsunami.

Oh - and having a clitoris implanted on the tip of each finger. Then I'd feel pornographic books in braille.

Yeah you tell her first, in fact getting her to handle the messages on your phone is a good idea. 

Three letter word, beginning with D, ending with H with a U in the middle...

Exactly the right thing to do - in fact I'd suggest talking to his girl friend in confidence and offering to do a sting to create undeniable proof that can be shown to others.

This "friend" needs a good slap in the face or formal intervention to make him realise how fucked up he is.

I have no idea what's going in that pointy little skull of yours, but you getting angry at strangers showing affection tells me it's not anywhere I want to be.

I love the way people are marching back to the victorian era.

I think you being uncomfortable about how other people show affection to their kids says more about your repressed desires than anything about them. 

In the UK the firework night in November 5. It's a similar kind of vibe for the firework displays themselves, but for the rest of it - it's not a public holiday so people kind of ignore it until the evening. Except for the town of Lewis in Sussex. They turn it into a cross between Mardi Gras & an Auto da Fe.

Thinking about it: America looks like it pissed some Bene Gesserit about 10 years ago and they've spent the time getting warmed up.

Don't get me wrong: the muscovite government is manned by lying murderers who are as evil as tyranny in history. 

That said: "nato never gonna attacking russia first" (!) C'mon man, get real. Look at Russian history - for the last 400 years every time they've been attacked it's been by better equipped modern armies swooping in across their western or southern border. The only thing that saved them every time was the huge distances those armies have to cover and their willingness to let their people die defending every inch.

Ukraine in NATO means potentially hostile troops 1000 miles closer to their heartland, particularly the pipelines that supply their oil.

Maybe NATO today wouldn't invade. What about 1 year from now? 10 years? 50?

They're still murdering scum, and their invasion is still a war crime. However you can't blame them for wanting to put a stop to any possibility of NATO troops in Stalingrad.

Ah! Different bubbles I guess. I think this might also be an age thing. We're all old farts, so we tend to ignore a lot of innovations, since they'll only be around for a few years.

I think they did do a graphic novel version of Paradise Lost. Actually two - one included Wonder Woman - which I think sounds better. :)