Great photo.

Real cool photo. I did the same thing down there, and I will say that it was akin to having the space shuttle launching off your wing (the Sparrow that is).

I assume missile launches can be heard from the cockpit? I remember reading an unconfirmed (?) account from an F-15 guy about the AIM-120 making a pretty loud swoosh during launch.

Taking care not to generalise a bunch of different people is key, I think. It is often unfair and inaccurate. It is however fully possible and necessary to discuss immigration in a civilised manner.

A huge part of the problem is people are behaving badly because no one expects/requires them to act properly.
In a welfare state no one has to take too much responsibility. If you mess up, don’t worry….you’ll always have your needs met.
Don’t work, have children you can’t or won’t support/do drugs/vandalism? …don’t worry, the government will fix everything for you.
You’ll also have a choirs of enablers telling you “it’s not your fault….”.

In short, a distressingly large part of society relies on the rest of society not because it HAS to (because of disability or genuine need) but because it’s easier to have society take care of you than for you to take care of yourself.

The way I see it, your arguments might be valid for some people who don’t understand what a welfare state is about (or who couldn’t care less), but I think it’s unfair to say so about every country trying to make it work. A functioning and sustainable welfare state requires work, discipline and a good tax culture, to mention a few things. The government will /should not fix everything for you. It must present clear work incentives to those who are able to work and who ask for welfare, depending on the context.

I don’t know how things are in the UK right now, though. I’ll admit that even a wealthy welfare state has to cope with a number of challenges to make things work over time, but I believe it’s possible. People, societies, countries across the world are different. Perhaps some countries are be better suited to run a welfare state than others, depending on this and that.

(Does any of what I just said make sense?)

Yes. I haven’t seen a trace of racism in any of your posts which I’ve read. Criticism of a single person’s language skills has nothing to do with it. The way I see it right now, F-18Growler should learn to receive and accept constructive feedback. He should also think things through more thoroughly before posting. As long as the content / message gets through properly, lacking grammar doesn’t bother me much, though.

I could be very wrong, but I’m slightly worried that there might be something about him which can be hard to see for sure on a forum. There’s plenty of room for different people and opinions etc. in here (as it should be), but a persisting pattern of relatively irrational behaviour isn’t good. Could be trolling..

I expect the mods to bring the loving mallet if I’m out of line here.

I don’t think so. If I was a woman shop assistant, I wouldn’t want to handle them.

It isn’t the nudity (or near-nudity) that is the problem but the message that women are simply lumps of meat who exist only for the purposes of male sexual gratification.

I can in some ways understand what you’re saying, but I generally disagree with it. I think it largely depends on the eye of the beholder.

I certainly don’t consider erotic models or porn performers as simple “lumps of meat.” Depending on the context, I actually have quite a bit of respect for some of them. I think some of these jobs require a fair amount of work, talent and courage.

I also get the impression that quite a few women enjoy pornography. It seems to be a very broad industry with many sides to it. Some are good, some are crap. I won’t blame every company out there because of some bad apples.

Sad to hear about this.

All terrorists are Muslims

Pardon me, but you might want to rethink this one.

JUST A NICE GLIDER

ASK-13?

An old lady, floats like a cork when the weather is right. Memories. :love-struck:

Nevertheless, there seem to be quite a lot (?) of privately funded CPL(A)s being issued despite the state and prospects of the job market for low-timers.