Follow the sheep, go with the flow, cuddle your blanky and repeat after the priest, Baaa! baaa baaa baaa.

Sure I'm in the minority. I don't believe in fairies, UFOs, angels, or the rest of the crap that the deluded cling to. I suppose the sad thing is that so meany people fail to grasp the wonder of things for what they are, rather than explaining them by some ridiculous fantasy.

Perhaps I should go into business selling my magic crystals, each one guaranteed to give a lottery winner every time. They may look like little chips of concrete, but these elvish crystals have been blessed by our special team of guardian angels so that they will not induce envy in other people. Only you, the special people, the chosen ones will be able to appreciate their true value and beauty. Hurry now while stocks last, as the flying saucers can only bring in so many at a time. Attractively priced at 100 euros each, these sumptuous items will be sent to you POST FREE.

Buy, buy, buy them now!

Ah now I've been meaning to ask you about that.
You see my system along with millions of others doesn't seem to work very well.
The fact that I only ever bought two lottery tickets before becoming somewhat disillushioned if not to say disheartened by my repeated failure may possibly have had something to do with it, though I don't really know for sure.
However if in your infinite wisdom you could see fit to assist me with your scientific knowledge and logic exactly how to choose the winning combination, I may well be prepared to reimburse you as suggested.
Now 100 euros does not seem to me to be such an unreasonable amount to pay for such professional guidance, providing of course it comes with a cast-iron guarantee of total success and doesn't necessitate my having to invest in every possible numerical combination in order to pull it off.

P.S. I may even see my way clear to giving you a special added bonus once my boat has come in.

Hey, glad to see such a perceptive buyer. For you we will enclose a feather left behind after the angels clocked off after their last shift.

I will give you my personal word that the feather is real, and that the possession of one of our magic crystals will GUARANTEE a lottery win!

Just rub the crystal on the lottery form, roll dice to generate the number, and just watch the winning numbers get chosen!

Well that looks just fine by me.
I shall send you a cheque right away for the requested amount plus of course your extra bonus.
It will of course be post-dated until after my lottery win has been announced and the proceeds received into my bank account, just in order to put your mind at rest that my cheque will be honoured ok without any problems.
It may be a good idea to P.M. me the winning combination rather than mention it on this forum or dropping it in the post, as I have a nasty feeling that others may be hoping to cash in on our little arrangement including my local postman.

P.S. As another added bonus for my success I will be happy to offer you a free cruise around the Med on my new yacht which I have already ordered, plus a good night out on the tiles in Benidorm.

Your best friend for ever,
D.D.

Ahhh, thanks. Nice to be appreciated. If you are interested, a friend has some gold bricks for sale. Cash only, small notes please.

I read this morning that the Americans now admitted that the armour plated Chinook had not been brought down by a rocket propelled grenade, but by a SAM missile.

Logic had already dictated that the helicopter had not been brought down by an RPG, but we are now expected to believe that the sparsely armed mountain tribesmen have SAM missiles.

I would consider an act of God a more likely explanation.

So you never heard of Occam's razor then?

The Afghans used to shoot down heavily armoured Soviet helicopter gunships using comparatively light machine guns.

My understanding was that in the arms traders of the Khyber pass you could buy any item of ordinance, up to and including any grade of SAMs.

Perhaps the chopper popped a piston, or someone hit the base of a rotor with a lucky shot.

Either way you look at it it's a damn shame to see more soldiers die.

Those Chinooks look dodgy pieces of kit to me at the best of times.
I imagine they just need to lose a single rotor or suffer failure of the interconnecting gears to go down like a sack of sh!t.
Personally I wouldn't step inside one if I was paid in gold nuggets.

I suppose I'm disappointed that my attempt to discuss what I thought (think) was an obvious example of higher powers to try and pull the wool over the eyes of ordinary people turned into a discussion of one man's obsession with flawed logic.

I still enjoyed the debate. I don't believe in the 'grassy knell' kind of theories, but I'm not sure about the experiments in the Colorado desert.

Shakespeare had it right, there are more things between heaven and earth than we will ever understand, And if he was wrong, at least he said it nicely.

Which experiments were those?

So what was the government trying to pull the wool for? What were the alternatives? a mech fault? shot down? What would have been the benefit in saying one when it was the other?

I think if you were making a point, it might have been better if you made it more clearly?

you should know by now the GDY's use different terms to the UK, they even trot out "friendly fire" quite readily
all the Uk can ever say is "Pilot Error"

.

remember the meccano kits as a kid ?
thats a chinook, designed by US committee, engineering by 2 different teams hence originally having separate controls for the 2 engines so 2 pilots
more lost in accidents than any other reason

steer clear steer clear

I usually enjoy HBG's writing style but I'm not understanding much of what he's said in this thread

Damn straight. The government is basically a bully that puts the blame on dead pilots, because they aren't in a position to defend themselves.

It could have been friendly fire. Didn't think of that one.

That was my point exactly. The thread basically drofted away from the OP within a post or two, and it wasn't even me.

Basically it failed to strike interest. It happens. He's a good writer usually, so I'm sure the next time he'll do better.