xaphod

Possibly if she exchanged 10% of her talent for self-promotion for mere talent ????? Xa

When I set up my first email account (long since dead), I wanted to use Zaphod (as in Zaphod Beeblebrox, Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy), but hit x instead of z.

Before I realised, I had hit the return key and immortalised xaphod forever.

Dammit the hoopiest heely frood in the Universe named by a typo !

Xa

Sway contacted me by PM to tell me of this.

I bet the new incarnation of Western Ranch will not honour my old order.

Based on Western Ranch's track record, the question now arises how long it will be before this new lot default.

Xa

PS

It seems that the 5" heeled side zip boots are a departure from the old Western Ranch pull-ons. If I remember rightly, WR did not offer side zip boots on their website, so I might suppose that this lot are completely different.

The only problem with this is that I asked WR boots to make me a few pairs of side zip variants which, surprise surprise, look just like the one in Bootmaster's pic. http://www.bootmaster.com/69069highheel.html

Good idea, It's just the right time now, before New Year's Eve and with the sales, for that ruse to work. I wish I had thought of that one a few million years ago, while I was in shy mode. Xa

As I said, the Yanks did good by finding Saddam "hauling his ass out of a hole" etc ....

BUT instead of taking a moment to think how best to play the 'good hand' they had been dealt, they seemed to get on the big bullhorn and start shouting how smart they were .... not cool.

As regards my knowledge of Moslem people, admitedly mostly Pakistani engineers .... I have known a few of these in my time and, although not a student of Islam, I have got to know a little of how their minds work. I am sure that the 'lack of respect' shown to the body of a Moslem on the world-wide media would not go down at all well.

As regards the desecration of the statue of Saddam, there is one fundamental difference between that and the 'desecration' of Saddam by a man poking around in his mouth. The latter was done by an infidel ..... HUGE difference.

Maybe I'm wrong on all this, but I suspect that there's a whole load of 'bad stuff' still to come our way. Time will tell.

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About the idea of the best thing being a bullet .... I just wonder if Saddam hadn't been thinking about fighting it out. I suspect he's canny enough to know that he's more value as a living martyr than a dead one. For how many years were people chanting 'free Nelson Mandela' ?

If he had 'stepped in the way of a bullet', I wonder how the media would have displayed the corpse. The image that springs to mind is the one of Mussolini, his girlfriend and a henchman, suspended upside-down after such an 'accident'. That image has lasted 60 years, about the longevity I give for the Saddam DNA swab in Islamic minds.

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Just been thinking about my dealings with some Moslem engineers in my time. There have been a few occasions where it has been expedient for me to offer a 'way out' of a technical confrontation (are you right or am I ?) without the other guy 'losing face'. Some of the arguments that were used were techicnically debatable, but I didn't mind so long as he got to a working solution.

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I'm still waiting to see how the USA will treat Saddam. The words 'Guantanamo Bay' and 'habeas corpus' are still in the back of my mind.

Xa

I was at the 'Age of Enlightenment' exhibition at the British Museum yesterday. I was amused by this note on an exhibit, a stick about 50cm long and 2cm square with notches carved across it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From 1100 to 1826, tally sticks were used to record payments of taxes and other money into the Royal Treasury. Wooden sticks were notched with a record of payment and then split in half lengthways, one half given to the collector and the other kept as a receipt for payment. In 1834 there were so many in the store at Westminster, that they were largely responsible for feeding the fire that burnt down the previous Houses of Parlaiment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .... hey guys, it's Tax Return time again in the UK. I wonder what would happen if we all sent back our returns on the most inflammable stuff we could find? .... heh heh. Xa

point 1 .... well done the Yanks. point 2 .... Yanks go galumphing in with a totally unsubtle media splash ! Have the Yanks not learnt a thing about mentality and values of the people of Islam? Despite the fact there is overwhelming evidence for Saddam being a pretty gross abuser of Human Rights, Islamics will be totally offended with the image of a Yank poking around for a DNA swab in the mouth of a member of the faith. Over everything else, this image will crystalise anti-western feeling for tens of years .... and the Yanks were stupid enough to allow it to be broadcast ! Does not anyone there understand the middle and far-eastern concept of 'saving face'? ..... you f*****g stupid idiots. To coin a Yank phrase "that's another fine mess you've gotten us into" Xa

Look under the 'shops' heading (top of the main page on the forum) and add your comment and rating. I have really hammered 'Western Ranch' for doing the same thing. The more people on this board who make use of this facility will help give these internet rip-off merchants a difficult time. Xa

Do I see lots of 'Fuss' labels .... a woman with taste ! Xa

Sorry, guys, Chunky 4" heels went 'out' about two to three years ago. They were everywhere then. Yours truly stocked up and now has 5 pairs which should hopefully keep me going until the fashion comes around again. I've been thinking along these lines for a while. It's actually easier for guys to wear heels which are 'out of date' by a few years, because there's no established 'norm' for people to compare with. The number of times women ask me where I got my heels from and I have to disappoint them by saying I bought them 3 years ago must say something; it could be the fact that today's styles aren't quite so exciting. Xa

Daz, I believe the expression is 'let's share .... what's yours is ours and what's mine is mine'. Xa

This subject has been covered before by Nata on 26th Mar 02 in the 'For Everybody' forum.

I find the extra space and more upright position in my 4wd allows me to wear 5" heels without scuffing the back of heels.

http://65.160.96.70/hhplace/images/1052226566

Ask Calv how my control of the vehicle is, but don't ask him to comment about sticking to the correct lane markings which I regard as suggested guidance to one's trajectory.

Xa

Just bounced this back to the top for Heelman

Xa

" .... snip.... "You know, engineering wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all this technical stuff."

I can't remember who said this ....

Lord of the Rings .... a book read by engineering students called Dave.

Xa

Been there, done that. As a TV, I could scare traffic wardens, so I tried to co-ordinate heels with a guy's style. OK, I get laughed at because it's different, but when people go out of their way to say it's cool, that really makes my day and compensates for the negativity. A while back, a couple of guys in a small truck honked, I looked round expecting to get abuse, but was surprised to see the passenger with a smile from ear to ear giving me the 'thumbs up'. Xa

.... yes I agree about the Spice Girls I used to think they had one brain cell shared between the lot of them. Actually I was impressed by one of your exports, to whit Gwynneth Paltrow. She used the word 'didactic' on a chat show here. It aint often I have to dive for a dictionary, but she had me stumped ! Xa

.... attributed to Noel Coward I like long walks .... especially when they are taken by people who annoy me ! Xa

Some Hell's Angels were raided by agents from ...

the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives !

holy sh**

Xa

From a satirical TV programme:- By train, Paris is about 2 1/2 hours from London .... Birmingham about 9 Xa

Have a look at this !

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_843978.html?menu=news.surveys

Don't blame me for what it says, but I thought it might provoke discussion.

Xa

As, certain people, including lawyers acting on behalf of paranoid parents, delight in misconstruing things so they can earn lots of legal fees while persecuting innocent people.

Yes, 'no win no fee' has a lot to answer for. Regretably, for those under 18, I will avoid you like the plague, just in case some clever-a**e lawyer tries to get into my wallet !

Xa

Goebbels said that lies repeated often enough become truth

Now we are bombarded with various chunks of 'information' where organisations would like us to perceive things in a way than we otherwise might, ie they are trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

Now, you can't fool all the people all the time, but when you try to fool me, I just get very pissed, and start writing something like this piece.

Here's a couple of examples from the last few days.

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Global warming has put more pressure on sea defences to prevent the flooding of low-lying land.

Our Government can't afford to spend anything reinforcing our defences (I suppose it is hiring too many politically correct do-gooders like 'outreach diversity facilitators'), so it is proposing to let some sea defences fall into disrepair and allow flooding.

This was called managed retreat

Due to this having unacceptable semantic overtones, the official phrase is now

managed re-alignment

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South-West trains decided to remove 72 seats from their 4 carriage trains to 'boost train comfort'

This is actually horse****t for the fact that the trains are so overcrowded, that to squeeze extra passengers in, they are taking a lot of seats out .... one person standing takes less floorspace than one person sitting !

Xa

HI, HF, The other point I will make is that my shirt matched the boots ! Xa

Welcome, both. When we have the London meets, I suppose the major problem for someone new is meeting us lot for the first time. It's easy enough to be a little cautious .... just hang around near our meeting point and scope us out for a while. OK, we might be dressed a bit weird, for example be wearing heels, but I hope we don't look like a coven of axe-murderers ! Xa

It's a doddle, isn't it? As I always say to people just starting out, makes sure everything else is elegant to match those elegant boots, otherwise you look like a perv in high heels, a dirty mac and a pair of scruffy jeans. Xa

Lies win sprints.

The truth wins marathons.

Michael Jackson (or his spin doctor)

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From a UK 'reality TV show'

Mother in Law .......... Hitler with boobies !

Xa