TIMON

I was going to get a SJ but noticed the lever is prone to getting knocked in a working situation potentially resulting in a sudden drop. (I know the mk111 has a lockout function now) Because of this I opted for the ZZ. Once my mk11 suffered from the all too common cracks on the upper links I did a free swap for a mk111 and I’ve had no problems with it. I do a bit of LOLER work and haven’t come across or even heard of any cracking issues on the mk111. Looks like Petzl have finally nailed it. [emoji106]

Same here. Really love everything about the 560 but with two pot and piston fails I got a new 562 which is brilliant (so far)

That’s really impressive. Will it darken over time or is there a way of keeping it light? Nice work. [emoji106]

Quoting a conny hedge reduction without having a good look in the hedge first.

Lemmings with Lee Enfields..... like it, no wonder the magazines were so tiny. No sense in wasting good rounds before the inevitable. [emoji106]

It was said kind of tongue in cheek [emoji57] The scary thing is.... I actually learned to shoot with a 303.

You’ve obviously come up against this suggestion before, then?! Or more to the point, you were the poor so n so that was expected to lick them into shape! I can sympathise [emoji41]

Bring back National Service!!! Works for Sweden (and Israel)

Really excellent post, made my night that did... loved watching that old guy climb 750m like it was nothing and see his little church. Thanks for sharing [emoji106]

Did loads of really stupid drug related things that should of killed me when I was younger, I thought they were exciting at the time. Did 173mph in my old Mitzi GTO on the M4 past Stormy Down late one night and the front spoiler tore off its mounting bolts, jamming itself under the car. Never seen so many sparks. Really thought I was about to die in what felt like slow motion. Managed to gently guide it on to the hard shoulder without further damage I was ok once I’d washed the adrenaline out of my boxers.

That pic would look good in a nice big frame Paul. [emoji106]

Fred Dibnah’s house and collection to go under the hammer. A good opportunity to acquire some interesting artifacts but a shame to see it split up. Apparently the current owner couldn’t find a buyer for the whole lot.

In a nutshell...The ability to keep the drop zone moving quickly and safely. That means: Good anticipation of what is happening and is about to happen. Good rope skills. Good saw skills. Good work ethic.

Brass eye and Alan Partridge. The fast show was good. Onion News is a good American one along the lines of Brass Eye. Black Books was very funny.

My sincerest apologies. I think I’ll revert back to personal insults... [emoji35]

Thank you for your very well thought out and well written post. You bring some very challenging questions. Before I try to answer, I will say that it seems to me that you talk about science as though it has already answered all of the big questions and has totally disproved the possibility of a creator when in actual fact it hasn’t. To make those claims for it is overreaching a bit far, I think, Graham. Just because science tells us about the way things work, it doesn’t paint the complete picture. There are still massive gaps in scientific knowledge and to imply that science has irrefutably and completely disproven Christianity is simply not true. I can understand your objections and questions about the perceived difference between God in the New and Old Testaments. I’ve asked the same hard questions of the texts myself to arrive at a place of faith in a loving and merciful, yet righteous and holy God. Firstly, I don’t believe that God is different in either parts of the Bible. I believe that The Bible is the progressive revelation of God to his people through history. I think that a lot of Christians have been guilty of trying to push the love and grace aspects of God’s character above his holiness and righteousness to try and apologise on his behalf to people who would prefer a more ‘manageable’ kind of God. If your hoping that I am going to make an attempt do that then I’m sorry to disappoint you. Let’s be clear, the Bible teaches right the way through that the ‘fear of the Lord’ is the beginning of wisdom, or in other words the place from where you should start from. In our post modern, enlightened, snowflake society, fear is seen only as a bad thing when in actual fact it serves a purpose. Healthy fear can keep us alive, it brings perspective and sharpens our focus. When I’m in the tree at work with my saw going I experience a healthy level of fear at times. The time when it stops and complacency takes over is the time that I’m in big danger. I believe it is the same with God, a correct perspective of God has to start with a healthy level of fear before we can experience his love and mercy. The Bible is also very clear that God will judge and punish wickedness, let’s be honest, look at the evil and depravity that can be cultivated in the human heart. If God exists and didn’t judge and punish wickedness he wouldn’t be very just. Say for instance, if someone killed your children and in court the judge let the killer off what would that say about the judge? It wouldn’t be justice and the judge wouldn’t be just. In the times in the OT when God floods the Earth, only preserving a handful of people you will notice that it records that mankind has degenerated to unprecedented levels of depravity and God steps in. Likewise, in the case of Saul when he orders his people to kill others it was to execute his judgement on a culture that was heavily steeped in evil, including child sacrifice. God didn’t want that culture further contaminating his already troublesome children. This isn’t a complete list of these examples of difficult passages but hopefully it will serve to bring a bit of context to the accusations brought by atheists who have decided to bring their own moral judgement. God punishes wickedness, he pours out his wrath in judgement. BUT..... he shows mercy when people repent. You can read the book of Jonah to see that principle illustrated, in the Old Testament. Which brings us to Jesus... The NT gospels give four different accounts of God clothing himself in human flesh and blood, making claims of his divinity, and then teaching the true heart and spirit behind Gods laws and commandments, performing supernatural miracles. The Bible teaches that he took upon himself the punishment for all of mankind’s sin and wickedness so that we could receive God’s forgiveness, which we accept by faith in Christ, his death and resurrection. I’ll stop there and apologise for a very long winded retort to VI’s post but I wanted to honour the time and effort he had taken in writing it by way of a reply. I also wanted to represent my own beliefs and faith community as I know that I am in a minority. It isn’t my intention to come on here and try and use this forum to push my beliefs or any agenda on anyone, but I will try and stand my ground in debate. Just as an afterthought, back on the subject of charities, The Czech Republic is statistically the most atheist country in Europe buts has absolutely no charity culture to speak of. I know this because Betel has a centre there. Contrast that with Britain which has a rich culture of charitable work and organisations. I don’t think it is any coincidence that Britain also has a long heritage of the Christian social gospel at work. Similarly, you don’t find any secular drug rehab programmes that achieve any significant results. Thanks [emoji106]

This app won’t let me quote the previous paragraphs of your post and it’s these that I refer to. Ok I’m going to get to the point that you fail to see or are unwilling to accept. I’m not sure what you mean by baggage....... but The truth of the Gospel, IS about helping people, showing love, healing the sick, caring for the elderly, visiting those in prison, feeding the hungry. Caring for the orphan and the widow. Loving mercy, walking humbly etc.. Why do you (or Sam Harris) have a problem with that ? The organisation I work with is Christian but we partner with many organisations that aren’t to get the job done. I think that the so called New Atheism is one of the least tolerant of all the belief systems in the world today because they actively and very aggressively seek the eradication of all other beliefs. (With respect as always) [emoji106]

Would Sam Harris be comfortable working in partnership with a Christian (for example) organisation if it really helped people, I wonder? Here’s a really interesting book on why a lot of ‘charity aid’ is ineffective. Warning.... it is Christian in its ethos but it does confront some uncomfortable truths.

No worries mate. Hope they were helpful.

Of course. [emoji106]

It’s no big secret , Garry. The Vos Hestia is a ship chartered by Save the Children, it has been filmed picking up cargos of people In Libya supplied by known people traffickers. They are on watch lists now.

There is a lot of bad stuff going on in Haiti, first the earthquake, then the Clintons, now Oxfam. Meanwhile people have only just moved out of their tents and still no significant infrastructure has been built since the earthquake. It seems to me that a lot, (but not all) of big organisations that are meant to help are busy pushing their own political and ideological agendas rather than really getting down to the business in hand. The Clinton foundation are a notoriously self serving institution, no surprise that they had little impact on the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti. Quite a few people made a couple of quid along the way no doubt. Then came OXFAM. Who were highly critical of the Clinton Foundation’s corruption. Oxfam push a very left wing anti capitalism message (although they do have a very bloated and costly executive board.) They always push the “victim stereotype” on the people they are meant help because that’s what suits their political narrative. The downside of that is that the ‘victims’ never become ‘victors’ over their circumstances because Oxfam policies foster an aid dependency culture. Now it is starting to come out that Save the Children (Heavily bankrolled by none other than George Soros) are coming onto certain people’s radar amid allegations of human trafficking. Soros is a big advocate of the wholesale movement of people across borders after all. Given his ideologies and agendas, should we really be surprised that this is the kind of ‘help’ that gets dished out. It’s like a pattern starts to emerge. It will interesting to see how this unfolds in the coming weeks.

Hope you’re on the mend Mark. Stay away from the daytime tv mate, it’s a killer, [emoji106][emoji856]