brianagain

[quote user="Christine Animal"]Crapaud dans son trou. (recette de sorcière).     [/quote] Reminds me of a humourous etching by Graham Clarke "Crapaud en trou" (I have a copy at home). Lovely to spot all the extra details in the picture. http://www.studio18.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=513 Brian (again)

For anyone interested in this (fastmoving) saga, this Australian documentary provides a pretty good summing up of the whole sorry story. http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/10/11/3608613.htm

As far as I'm concerned he is someone determined to win at all costs regardless of what it might take and is prepared to bully his way around, threatening anyone who tries to cross him. He is famously litigious. An example of the many examples of how he was so successful (from Velonews in May 2011) "...countered Armstrong’s claim of having never failed a drug test, saying that Armstrong told him in a relaxed, “off the cuff” manner that Armstrong had failed a test at the 2001 Tour of Switzerland. “People took care of it,” Hamilton said. “I don’t know all the exact details but Lance’s people and people from the other side, people I believe from the governing body of the sport, figured out a way for it to go away. I was told this (by) Lance.” The “60 Minutes” report offered no hard evidence that UCI officials helped Armstrong evade a doping suspension, but cited a Swiss lab director’s statement to the FBI that said a UCI official wanted the matter of a “suspicious” test to go no further and set up a meeting with Armstrong and team officials. The report also noted Armstrong donated $25,000 and $100,000 to the UCI, which Armstrong said was for anti-doping work." If it looks like a bribe, etc... Armstrong’s racing license was with US Cycling who in turn authorise USADA to implement an anti-doping programme. By virtue of this license Armstrong agreed to such jurisdiction and rules. Following his refusal to go to arbitration, USADA will recommend a ban to US Cycling and the UCI (international cycling union) who, by virtue of the internationally agreed WADA (world anti doping authority) rules, would have no choice but to agree, (much as they might not really want to !)

Armstrong was tested 238 times (not 500 as he claims) during his career and never "officially" failed any. However, later retrospective testing of earlier samples and a mysterious positive at the Tour de Suisse plus backdated exemptions suggest that there is a cover-up. He knows there is evidence that would condemn him but is scared of this being made public if he had gone to arbitration so he would rather play the martyr and shout witch hunt.

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/help/fix-it-yourself/ovens-hobs-a-cookers/2831-door-glass-replacement.html Not as unusual as you might think.

http://www.linternaute.com/restaurant/home/6/6255/caussade/

... and Bradley Wiggins won the Paris-Nice cycle race this weekend Brian (again)

Given that Sky's goal was to win the Tour within 5 years, I guess that Brailsford will have to make a hard decision about team composition and who to support. However it's not so many years ago since Deutsche Telecom picked a team to support Ullrich for the win leaving Eric Zabel on his own in the sprints; he then went to win the Green jersey on his own anyway, and I'm sure Cavendish could still win without a train to lead him out. Currently watching Tirreno-Adriatico on RAI S2 waiting for P-N to start on FR3. Brian (again)

Having lost two ceanothi (?) in the past two years I was surprised to find that they only have a life expectancy of 10 years or so. This may well be the reason. Brian (again)

[quote user="Mr Ice-ni"] Go, Paul Weller, go (and the rest of the Sky team of course). John [/quote] Looking forward to watching this afternoon on FR3 - Bradley will hopefully finish well enough to be the final winner after tomorrow's time trial - one of the best of his career and maybe looking good for the Tour in July. Brian (again)

Seems like the Spanish Tennis Federation are going to sue Canal+ over the cartoon. http://www.france24.com/en/20120208-spanish-tennis-federation-sue-french-tv-over-nadal-skit Brian (again)

No holds barred in this comment (at about 3m37s) for the 6th Feb edition, on Contador and another well known Spanish sportsman. Brian (again) http://www.canalplus.fr/c-divertissement/pid1784-c-les-guignols.html?vid=430872

[quote user="Chiefluvvie" So well done British taxpayers and press - your envy and jealousy is pulling RBS back down just as it was becoming more secure/quote] I guess everyone will now be pleased to see a 4.21% rise yesterday and a further 2.17% today.  The taxpayers investment has risen 2.39% this week so far. Brian (again)

[quote user="breizh"]US Govn anti-discrimation policy which forced lenders to treat all ethnic groups equally. Thereby forcing them to lend to Hispanic/Afro-Americans equally as to Caucasians, even though these groups disproportionatly rest in lower income groups. Hence, Sub-Prime. A laudable policy, but due to the Law of Unindended Cosequences had an effect elsewhere! [/quote] This is the same line used by right wing politicians (Gingrich and Romney) in the US seeking to shift blame away from the banks. If this were true it fails to explain a similar scenario in many other countries around the world. House price inflation, reckless mortagage lending and the subsequent crash at Northern Rock or Bradford & Bingley can hardly be lblamed on US Govt policy. Similar problems were experienced in places such as Ireland, Australia and to a lesser extent, France and Spain. Brian (again)

So as I understand it here, the financial crisis was not the fault of the banks and the financial services, they were just the innocent victims of the policies of Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling. All that irresponsible lending, complicated derivitives (credit default swaps anyone?), excessive bonus packages, the mortgage crisis were encouraged by government policy. No wonder these people need incentivising[:D]

However learning German means that it should be a lot easier to move on to learning Dutch. I found that recognising German nouns using the Michel Thomas idea of substituting d for t, t for s, etc, very useful in reading German and being able to get by on holiday there. Brian (again)

[quote user="Keni"]our neighbour (French) says don't do it, exchange it for a European Driving Licence, which you can do apparently![/quote] Maybe they were referring to something like this. http://www.licencetoday.com/ I'm sure it's a loophole that needs to be closed (if only some members of the legal profession put their minds to other useful purposes) Brian (again0

[quote user="Val_2"]Still,they havn't got round to willy implants/enlargements yet.[/quote] Not quite, but does make the mind boggle.[:)] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/05/breast-implant-firm-made-testicles-report Brian (again)

I'm amazed at how much the population has grown since I was born (almost trebled) - what about you? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15391515 Brian (again)

Interesting analysis of the current eurozone problems - but what should the answer be? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16290598 Brian (again)

Looking at the website link, I wish it was really possible to get €153 for £100  but not so good at $116 for the same amount of sterling - I think the website needs updating. Brian (again)

[quote user="Quillan"]The UK exported much of it's cotton to India and at one point in the early thirties Mahatma Gandhi instigated a peaceful, and highly successful protest, by getting Indians to spin their own tread at home (most people would have seen the famous picture of him doing this) this just about crippled the cotton industry in the UK forcing many cotton mills to close.[/quote] But...The indigeneous cotton industry was well developed before Britain's colonisation of India from the late 18th century onwards. Britain's policies enacted mainly through the East India Company gradually undermined local production of finished goods and India was forced instead by law to supply raw cotton to Britain and then had to purchase finished textiles from Britain - so I guess what goes around, comes around. Brian (again)

[quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"] Yes. I went on a boat trip down the Loire with four murkins [/quote] How many wigs were you wearing??[:D] Brian (again)

[quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"]I spent a fortnight with some septics recently [/quote] The US is very much a technological backwater as far as chip & pin are concerned - only now are US banks starting to consider this type of card - probably because US tourists are finding it increasingly difficult to use their cards abroad, especially in Europe. Brian (again) At the ticket office where I worked till a few years ago, we still had an old style carbon paper 'ironing board' card machine available just in case.

Is it euroscepticism, or has the twinning of towns become anachronistic and irrelevant?That's the question posed in a recent article in France24  http://www.france24.com/en/20111202-english-town-severs-links-with-its-french-german-twins-council