pap

Enticed as I am with the prospect of travelling into this alternate universe you've created, where freely downloadable media is merely the feverish dream of madmen, I'm going to remain staunchly "this-universe" - there is a free alternative. So, if someone can't afford to buy DVD xyz, and they rip it off instead, it can't really be considered as a lost sale.

Agreed, but if they didn't have the money to buy it anyway, does that really count as lost sales?

Feel free to believe something else, then. From your colourful and entertaining posts, I don't see that as being a stretch. Don't get me wrong, I won't let her swear at people, and she knows better not to do it in front of company, but what's the harm? The fundamental character of desire is wanting what you can't have. There are far bigger battles to win as a parent than stopping a bit of blue language.

Frak - the swear word of the future. Will be banned by SaintsWeb in 2049.

If Verbal doesn't want the job as resident geek, I'll take it. GW is crap anyway. After the success of Dungeons and Dragons, which required pens, paper, a couple of books and your imagination - the GW guys thought that a much better business model would be to do away with the imagination bit and sell figurines instead. To be fair, it was a very good business idea - but their shops all smell of armpit.

As much as I enjoy my digital sojourns in the wilds of SaintsWeb, there is one thing about the site that irks me. The swear filter. Personally, swearing has never really bothered me. I have a fifteen-year old daughter who frequently drops the F-Bomb in the house. Whatever. There are worse things that she could be doing at that age. So, back to swearing on SaintsWeb. Why is it banned? What's the point? I mean, you don't have to be able to do the Times crossword to ascertain what f**k means. There have been cases, particularly during our protracted wrangle to get Nige down here, when the swear filter actually degraded the user experience. Anyone posting a link to anything Scunny-related soon found that out. So, in the immortal words of a Master Eric Cartman, "What's the big ****ing deal, *****?". It's not like this site is ToddlersWeb. We're footy fans, and anyone who's been in a ground will have heard it all before. I'd be particularly interested in the views of those who set the policy, but it'd be equally interesting to determine attitudes to swearing across the board.

The industry still hasn't grasped the nettle on this one, funnily enough, much like HMV when the internet start-ups were emerging. BitTorrent might be a bit of a challenge to monetise, but the Internet offers up limitless opportunities for funding entertainment. Instead, you have the likes of the RIAA and MPAA threatening to burn your dogs for downloading their media - as they assume (incorrectly) that we peons are thieving scumbags who'd pocket a turd if no-one was looking. It's an extremely simplistic viewpoint which demonises their own customers. Just because you can torrent, doesn't mean you will. I could have easily torrented the Expendables the other night, but rented it on Virgin Media instead.

Excellent article. Well worth the 5 minutes.

Tinyurl equivalent to that censored link :- http://tinyurl.com/345cp3b

It is actually gutting to not be in the mix. Long may it continue. I'd like to see a team that hasn't won it get it this year, but United seem to be effortlessly holding their lead.

Try The Feathers on Mount Pleasant. It's central ( 10-15 mins of staggering from bars ), clean and cheap. In a nice part of the city too. The Formule 1 hotel is renowned for being very cheap, but my mate reckons the walls are paper-thin and that a typical stay involves hearing people ****ging, shouting or fighting in the next room.

You idolise Burley? Have you, er, told Nige yet?

Our history teacher took a couple of our kids to play Fun House. Apparently, Pat Sharp was a complete c-nut to the kids whenever the cameras weren't rolling, shouting at them and generally being a bit of a prima donna. Oddly, I hate him more for that than his mullet.

To be fair to them, the likes of Amazon and CD-WOW must have seemed like a gamble when they launched. Amazon didn't turn a profit for years. The Internet used to be the province of bearded geeks and Star Trek fans. Noiw everyone is on it, and it has matured enough so that people are confident about shopping online. HMV probably perceived the internet retailers as upstarts, maybe still does. A lot of companies continue to do things because "that's the way we've done them in the past", and making changes in a big retail firm would have been difficult on both a political and financial level. Ultimately though, you're right. They missed the boat, they're treading water and unless someone has an extremely cunning plan, they're going to drown.

Half the time it was probably a joke. The other half, it was probably the result of their consensual delusion that there literally is only one team in the world. Those dates are not wrong, but to be fair to my adopted brethren, a lot of them did let on that Saints were in the Prem.

Barmy Blackburn have added to Liverpool's woes tonight by comprehensively beating them. Hodgson's got to go now, hasn't he? Or at the very least, early in the transfer window. This is their worst start to a season for over 50 years. As a Sotonian who has spent 15 years living in Liverpool, I've had to put up with smug reds :- "Sou't'ampton? What division are dey in?" ( heard from scousers, 1994-present ). So personally, I'm quite happy about it. The missus is going spare. Could Liverpool get relegated this season? Do their players even know how to handle a relegation battle?

Seems HMV is in some major bother. In one sense, it is a surprise. They have very little competition on the High Street. In another, it's no surprise at all. They're still charging 14quid for CDs that you can buy for 7UKP online. Also, they have too many stores. They've got two shops in Liverpool which are about 400 metres away from each other. In a broader sense, it'll be interesting to see the impact of online shopping on our High Streets. With very few exceptions, notably apparel and food, what can you actually get in a shop that you can't get online?

My take on that is that Allardyce told them to f*ck off when he realised they were clueless.

He was recently on loan to a NB 1 ( Hungary's highest division ) team.

Signed for Gremio tonight, according to the Telegraph. Personally, I would be worried if I were a Blackburn fan. They sacked Big Sam, who would have kept them up year on year. They could have calmed nerves by appointing a big name, but instead, gave the caretaker the full-time job. They also announced that their transfer budget was 5M and their captain wants to leave. Reading between the lines, it seems like the new owners are completely clueless. This Ronaldinho and Beckham nonsense is just part of the lunacy unfolding at Ewood Park. Costs them nothing to talk a big game, but I can't see them attracting many players with the profile they have right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZkhR8suCF4

Just watched them myself. AoC looked amazing again. Personally, I couldn't care less about the potential penno being shown. I'm just glad that I can actually see the highlights at all. Really can't be arsed with the Football League show and the 30 seconds of coverage there. Mind you, we should all breathe a collective sigh of relief that ITV doesn't cover the lower leagues any more.

He'd be scum if he were stealing from people. He's stealing from banks. Big difference.

This would break their 5M transfer budget in one fell swoop. Don't think the new owners have any clue about football. It's a good fit. Their fans don't either.

We'll definitely be watching a lot of space. Empty space. In your empty stadium.