Yeah, well, He's started to take away the effectiveness of antibiotics. HIV and ebola didn't work out so well so he needed another means of attack.

They really died after Justice for all.

Indeed. That album contained their highest-quality material. I got into Metallica when that was their current album. The subsequent Black Album was an Emperor's New Clothes moment for me. I bought the CD when it came out and sold it about 6 weeks later...

Jason's bass work on that album is magnificent. I was learning bass myself in those days and bought the Cherry Lane ...And Justice for All bass transcription book. I practiced really hard for months and could just about do Blackened, One, the Frayed ends of Sanity and ...And Justice for All. It's a crying shame that Jason's bass is so quiet in the mix.

I'd pay money for another ...And Justice for All CD if it were remixed properly so that Jason's bass could be heard in full.

Jason rules. Mrs Turgid and I and a couple of friends went to see him at the 100 Club in London this summer. I won't pay to see Metallica, even though they've got Rob Trujillo on bass.

When Metallica play live it's always a race between Lars and James to see who can get to the end of the song first and it sucks. Music sounds so much more powerful when it's played in time.

It'll be pink uniforms next, followed by moisturiser rations and manbags. I hope they employ manicurists too.

The tanks will be replaced by Smart Cars and Nissan Figaros.

Having said that, it might make them more fierce in combat, especially if the enemy has better rations e.g. Halal kebabs with chili sauce.

I suppose there's no such thing as bad publicity?

There must be a lot of them about with enough spare cash to want to take a trip into space.

What is Branson thinking?

I haven't met a libertarian candidate

Only in America, where the two major political parties are Very Right-wing and Extremely Right-wing could a potential third challenger be Even More Extremely Barking-Mad Right-wing but Not Quite National Front (But Nearly).

Can any Americans please explain?

It was an indirect factor in that GCC's code is intentionally bad to prevent people from trying to bypass the GPL. We could have added our changes to GCC but it would have been a lot more work and would then become a maintainance issue for GCC updates.

Can you explain? Can you tell us what code in particular is bad and can you show us your patch? I've never looked at GCC internals, but I'd like to know.

Not in this case. my hardcore development has all moved to clang. we dumped GCC like the gpl-infested crap hole that it is.

Was that so that you could add your own proprietary language front-end and charge developers money for it? Or perhaps you had some secret-sauce extras to add to C or C++ to "add value" to monetize your exiting developer base? Please patent your extensions before one of those stinking, long-haired hippy types tried to implement a Free version for gcc.

Oh, you were trolling. Right-oh.

I was lead to believe that crumple zones (which British vehicles have been required to have since about the 1970s) improve safety for the occupants of the vehicle by making collisions last longer, therefore reducing the peak deceleration experienced i.e. the force, making the collision more survivable.

Mass-produced vehicle parts can be replaced relatively cheaply. Dead people can't be resurrected.

It's amazing what you can achieve when you stop restricting the flow of exhaust gasses to the point that the engine has to fight against the backpressure of its own waste products.

Could you dump some of the waste heat in the exhaust into a heat-exchanger to reduce the back pressure? Analagous to condenser on a steam turbine?

At last we have concrete proof that a substantial proportion of the adult population are stupid.

I feel so much better for my own prospects, just as long as I and my family can avoid being killed or injured by these ignorant, selfish imbeciles.

Mind you, if this is in America, I suppose it's OK. The roads there are thousands of miles long, as wide as a football pitch, have no corners and are virtually empty. I believe their cars have suspension and steering systems optimised for traveling in straight lines all day long. They don't even have gears and there's cruise control so you might as well point your car at Amarillo, set the cruise control to 55, put your seat back and get a good night's sleep.

Those that studied their Floyd properly know that pigs could fly. I'm only here to make a buck.