MalayanScout

Thinking of revisiting the South of France. A place I went as a kid in the 80's, but horrified to read that Marseilles is allegedly one of the most dangerous cities in Europe. Are there any cities that have not had much immigration in the south of France. I want to experience French Culture and not interested in any Multi Culture zones. Thanks in advance

I see life as stages. You play with toys at age 5. You enjoy that. You start going out with girls at age 16. You enjoy that. You have a serious relationships in your 20's trying to find the right one. 30's You find the right one and start building the home. You have kids, you raise kids, and in your 60's, you give up work and sit back and fade out. I believe at every stage, the struggle makes us happy when we achieve what we want at that stage. But at each stage, we would not want to go back to another stage. My granddad would not have wanted to do it all over again when he was happily watching his grandkids. He was tired and happy to fade out. I would not want to play with toys again like I did at age 5, or kiss girls outside clubs. My sex drive is decreasing, and I get a kick from my daughter being top of her class. So why on earth would anyone just want to exist forever? With no struggle. Doesn't anyone realise that that would be worse than any torture imaginable? Just to exist with no challenges. Its the most natural thing to fade out forever safe in the knowledge our DNA goes on. Just like every living thing including insects and flowers. Any thoughts?

I used to think martial arts was 90 percent rubbish, and 10 percent effective. The reason for this was that every day in the 90's, this Karate guy used to come into work trying out new moves. He would try and choke me, take my arm and spin me, and all kinds, but he'd give up and say I was too big. I remember him getting me in some kind of arm lock and I just lifted him completely off the floor. I could have just slammed him on the floor. My question - There is no doubt now that MMA is the way to go. A bit like the Bruce Lee idea that you take what is effective. I don't actually do MMA, as I am scared of my 4 yr old punching me, but I do watch it. Could a light guy do a flying arm bar on me? What's to stop me crashing him into the ground even with my arm breaking? In any choke from behind, what's to stop me standing up and jumping back with my whole weight on him onto a concrete floor? I know the old days of bodybuilding and martial arts are over. Now its an athletic physique and MMA that wins, but is it within reason? I mean can a 5 foot 150 pound guy fight a 220 guy who is strong as an ox?

I'd like some advice. The park that I take my child to sometimes has owners who let their dogs off the leads. We are supposed to all have areas, but for to get to the safe area, you have to walk through the area with dogs. No I don't want to pick on any breed of dog and say its more likely, but maybe through the media, my irrational fear of those crossbreed pitbull / 'Staffordshire terrier types scare me more than they should. Pit bulls are illegal in UK, but the owners get around that by crossbreeding. In the UK its usually the thug type that keep them, and they don't have muzzles on them. Now what do I do if one got my little girls leg in their jaws? I'd like to know a safe way and an emergency way. The more expertise someone has the better.

Background

In Oct 1984, I was lucky enough to be one of the errand boys who would get £5 an hour to run around doing odd jobs, such as passing on messages, picking up litter at the rehearsals for Live Aid at Wembley stadium. I remember one day, I was asked to wait around and remove drinks cups that Sting (who was singing) was leaving around the stage. I remember during a break, me opening my ham and mustard sandwiches and eating them. Sting seemed to be watching me, and I thought he might like one. So I shouted, 'Do you want a bite?' He just looked at me and said, 'No!'

Not 'no thank-you', or maybe a few polite words to explain that he had already eaten with a smile. He just said, 'No!' Nothing else and continued to stare into space.

Ever since then, I have never liked Sting and generally have a dislike for pop stars in general. I just thought the guy might be hungry, and remember I was only a kid. Does anyone think experiences as a kid shape our thoughts as an adult and we tend to put pop stars on pedestals when we shouldn't. Sting maybe able to sing, but he was rude that day.

There are legends and stories of eagles carrying off kids, but in general eagles know better than to attack humans. But what if they did? I think maybe I would get a little cut up, but I work out, and I am 5 foot 10, so I assume I would beat it, but I don't really know, as I am not a bird expert. What if it attacked a 5 foot 3 woman? How strong are they?

1) Scenario one - Lets say they told you nothing about him

2) Scenario two - Lets say he was a spy

3) Scenario three - Lets say he was a dangerous paedophile.

4) Scenario four- Lets say he was a dangerous paedophile and it was only £3000

There will be no police investigation and you must shoot them in the head.

I could in all 4 situations, yet I believe I am a nice guy.

It seems trashy newspapers like the Daily Star manage to find the most over weight, chain smoking, illiterate mother of 10, and then pay her to make inflammatory remarks making out that she spends all her money on alcohol and lives a life of luxury big four bedroom house. Even GMTV are doing it now. But why get worked up? What they leave out is that the 4 bedroom house is most likely in an area that you could get stabbed walking to the shop. These people are also not intellectually capable of doing most jobs. Would you want them cooking you food? Would you want them cleaning your house, looking after your kids or taxiing them to school? Would you even want then in the Tesco's checkout? I don't. If you cut their benefits, their kids suffer. The parents usually do not cut their alcohol and cigarette intake. Then we pay more through our taxes in social services and crime goes up as pressure is placed upon the family. Its not as simple as cutting their benefits beyond what is reasonable, and anyone who says that probably doesn't understand the bigger economic picture. With money pressure comes domestic issues that cost us the tax payer millions. Violence and burglaries would increase. We are the lucky ones to have an exciting jobs and be paid. So why get worked up? Any opinions?

I sold a top on eBay for £16 + 4.50 postage and packing. The guy was unhappy and started to say it was fake. It simply wasn't, and it more than likely did not fit him. Anyway he starts wanting his postage to return it, which I am not obliged to do. Rather than get bad feedback, I told him to keep the jumper and forfeited £6.50 in postage.

So eBay took £165 final fee and 10 insertion fee. Paypal too 98p = £2.63

I refunded the guy the money, but now have lost £2.63 + £6.50 postage.

On top of this Paypal charge me 79p to refund. Can anyone tell me why paypal would charge again to refund someone and is this correct?

Note : - Are there any alternatives to eBay? Its worse than minimum wage, even if you get the item for free. Surely there is something we can do with clothes that are too good to throw out without lining ebay greedy pockets.

What font does an 'a' in a handwriting font for small children. I notice in reading books, they have the small 'a' shaped like we would write it. I am compiling a list of words for her to read, but just wondered if its possible to download this font for easy reading.

Many Thanks in advance

Hi there, I have worked with PC's since 1999 and have built several Microsoft Access databases and have quite a good understanding of Excel and Word. Everything I know has been self taught from CD's or Google. Unfortunately last year I chose to take voluntary redundancy, and I am now looking at jobs that require the ECDL. The trouble is, I have not got a year to take a course. Its also most likely I could sit up one night and study a 'Word CD' and pass the next day as I took a mock ICDL test for Excel and got 99 per cent. Does anyone know how I would just take the exams? Google Internet searches only bring up companies trying to sell courses, but I cannot find how to just take an exam. My location is Merseyside Liverpool.

Thanks in advance

I have recently been trying to do a review of a the Weld Blundell in Formby. I gave it 2 stars and wrote from the heart, as we had had a bad experience there. The filter on yelp filtered it saying that they have an automatic program that screens reviews, and filters suspect ones out. However under a different name, I left my review but gave it 3 stars which was rated good. Some how the filter let this through. I have had the same experience on Amazon.co.uk. I wrote a bad review for a piece of software. It had 20 people who found it helpful, yet it was removed without any reason. Do these review sites like Amazon and Yelp need to keep a business or Item at a certain rating? If so what are the point of ratings?

My 4 yr old has just had her 1st school photo, but when we were 4, we had a group photo of the class done and a separate one. Why don't schools do whole class photo's anymore in the UK?

My Grandad said to me 25 years ago - 'Never let the left hand see what the right is doing' meaningdon'tt tell everyone your business.

Did anyone else ever get some wise advice from an old person?

I had an arm wrestle with my brother back in May. Afterwards I suffered from this pain,kind of inside my joint. It only hurt when I did the same movement as the arm wrestle. After about 4 months of it niggling me,It finally went away. That is until boot camp when I had to push my brother backwards and used my arm.

thx in advance

My question

Is there anything i can take to speed up recovery?

Any exercises i can do?

What is it, that it takes so long to heal and is fragilr?

We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.

- Well why do some of us ask for evidence? Is it possible that religious people’s brain chemistries are different than ours? Then if that is true, it’s not so unbelievable that evolution may have given an advantage to the religious, and therefore that’s why so many people have the ability to believe in something without any evidence and against logic.

In bygone times were atheists ever killed off, or were they less likely to fight to the death in a battle? An example would be the Vikings. Would religious human beings wipe out non-religious people in very primitive man, thereby passing on the ability to believe in a god?

To cut a long story short - What is the reason millions of people can believe in a God, when I wouldn’t be able to, no matter what my upbringing or environment? :)

My brother is doing our loft, and wants to keep the old fibre glass insulation that is already down, and put new insulation over this. The reason for this is that because its flattened, he will not fit in 2 lots of new insulation, as it will be above the joists. It also would be dearer to rip the old stuff up. Now this has started an argument between my Mum and Dad.

My questions : -

1) Is it any more hazardous to rip the old stuff up, than just lay new stuff over it.

2)Would ripping up old stuff put his health in jeopardy?

2) Does the old stuff have a shelf life?

3) Would it be better to rip up old stuff, and lay just 1 layer of new stuff?

Many Thanks in advance to anyone experienced in this

Just watching Touching the Void, and I just wondered when you descend down a mountain on a rope, how do you get your rope down when you reach the end of it? Do you have a double rope and pull it through the peg, in which case you lose the peg? Also going up, when you knock a peg in the rock, is that peg lost, or does the person below pull it out? I am talking about Alpine style climbing. Many Thx

Just had a pepsi max and it was disgusting. Far too sweet. I would take the pepsi challenge anytime. I even think the value colas taste nicer than pepsi.

Anyone else taste the difference?

or any diet advice????

What it is, I am struggling to stick to a 2000 calorie a day diet, and I am looking for foods to keep me fuller longer. Meat works, but I don't like eating too much meat. Raw porridge oats (1000 calories each morning) are working, but yesterday I ate 1000 calories of avocado and nuts + I felt ridiculously hungry much too early. I try to last until tea time and have another 1000 calories.

I am thinking porridge and eggs today to make 1000 calories, but would like to eat the eggs the way they will fill me for longer. Many Thx in advance

NOTE - Small meals do not work 4 me, as I am permantly hungry & salmonella doesnt bother me. I am fit and healthy.