angelman

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2009/April/23040902.asp The ration of carbon-14 to carbon-12 is about 1 in a trillion. Anyway, too late to write anything, but here is an interesting watch if you can find the time

You are incorrect. Maybe you should do a bit of googling....

but what about methane's isotopic value and it turning into nitrogen?

Interesting story http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/04/26/ice-at-the-north-pole-in-1958-not-so-thick/ EDIT - LOL check out the name of the sub!

I agree with you when you say that people look out the window and take the here and now. But GG emissions.....at the moment the science bods are all excited about methane hydrates, which is something like 20 times worse than CO2, being released. I did ask one whether that was really a concern because methane hydrates' carbon isotope is 14 (as opposed 12 or 13) and this is radioactive. It has a half life which is 5730 years. When it depletes it turns to nitrogen. As it has been locked away for thousands of years, is this really going to cause any global warming? No one ever answered me, as it seemed to go against the scare stories. And then it appears that trees and plants are big producers of methane, although the bods have yet to decide. Seems that there is a lot to be decided!

I would point out that when you talk about Global Warming, the clue in all this is the word Global. Global Warming/Cooling always happens. Always has. Always will. The debate is whether it is anthropogenic or not. PS - this cold winter is really the weather rather than climate.

it's raining damn hard here

Boxing Day is not a bank holiday, therefore they should get normal pay for a Sunday. No doubt they will be getting extra on 27th December which is a bank holiday. As an aside, I wonder how many of the tube drivers who are working over Christmas are Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, etc etc? They of course will be exploiting the situation. As for £44k as a starting salary - not bad! EDIT - reading the link there is no special pay for bank holidays.

^ http://citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/local-council-pension-deficit-hits-100-billion/a457990 And here you go......I hope that you are all happy to be paying for this? EDIT - and here was the socialist take on it back in Jan 2010. Burying heads up each other's backsides as long as they look after themselves. http://www.gmb.org.uk/default.aspx?page=709

I think that this tax evasion also includes paying people "cash" so that they don't charge you VAT. I have never done that but believe that it is quite common!!!

to be honest, all councils **** away money (as it isn't theirs). I am sure that we could all save quite a bit of money from the budget. BUT The area you want to look into is the councils pension schemes. You can see it all in here http://www.southampton.gov.uk/Images/Statement%20of%20Accounts%202009_10_tcm46-264864.pdf

As far as I understand, although the vote was passed, the nitty gritty still has to be worked out in parliament, so the questions of repaying early and at what interest rate can be "changed"

very good link

and how much is this all going to cost to administer?

TIme for you to go back to school sir. Try 20x not 200x

You seem to have gone off on one. Maybe you can point out where I said I wanted to turn back the clock? Nowhere did I intimate denying access to a further education. What I said was that there was absolutely no point what so ever getting some useless degree in some useless "subject" just for the sake of having a degree (and a large student loan to pay off). For what it's worth, I don't have a university degree. Of my friends, the one who earns by far and away the most, didn't have any higher education.

I actually think that those who promote a University education, knowing full well that there will be far too many Mickey Mouse courses, are doing those students who take those courses a HUGE disservice. As an employer, I would rather give a job to someone who has worked from 18-21 (whatever the job) than to someone who has been at Uni and got a degree in Media Studies. I think that there are many employers who think the same as me (any on here who would disagree?). So these young kids have trotted off for 3 years, run up lots of debt while having a jolly for 3 years, and come out the other end with a piece of paper that is useless. How on earth has that benefited anyone?

And why do we all have to have degrees? This was written on a BBC website 10 years ago in response to Chris Woodhead saying that some unis were offering "quasi-academic degrees"

I doubt many students actually know what the proposals are. To me they seem entirely just, but in it's typical manner, the Tories are introducing it in a dreadful manner. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11483638 gives some info about it. Why should I, as a tax payer, pay for someone to undertake a course at a "university" such as David Beckham studies as offered by Staffordshire Uni? Maybe the raising of tuition fees will get rid of these ridiculous mickey mouse vocational degrees. People would be far better off getting a job/apprenticeships than having a 3 year p**s up.

I like to sit down at half time to take the weight off my feet. But....standing can be safe. It is all about limiting the numbers standing to acceptable levels rather than packing in so no one can move at all. Not that I was there, but I imagine that the 31000 at the Dell was a wee bit OTT.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) The Killing Fields (1984) Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

And what rate of interest do you think that they'll be getting at the moment?

ah-ha. For some reason I thought that you were doing this above and beyond an ISA.

So you're into short term holdings. basing everything on book values and happy to take a CGT hit? I guess AIM is of no interest then or is it? It is also worth remembering that all is not lost if a share bombs, as you can off-set your losses. Do you find the self-assessment forms a bit of a pain?

Dune, what divvy are your shares paying you?