Fossil

20 days to go Yayyyy Cant wait to get away from this heat and hit the slopes (generally face first). Hakuba here we go.

Just finished Phaic Tan by the mob who wrote Molvania (a land untouched by modern dentistry). Its' good but not quite as funny as the latter book. Blurb; For too long now Phaic Tan has been closed off from the outside world, a country visited each year by just a handful of hardy travellers, aid agency workers and hostage negotiators. But now, thanks to this fully up-dated Jetlag guide, everything you need to know about planning a trip to Phaic Tan, birthplace of the trouser press and irritable bowel syndrome, is here.

Im heading for Hakuba as it is only a couple of hours away by train and Im told that the range of facilities and slopes are bigger in Hakuba. Opinions anyone????

Pay a backpacker to carry it as luggage for you

The disposable society is truly with us. I thought it was bad in the 70s and 80s as more and more unrepairable items came onto the market, but it has become an epidemic of waste. As an aside, the toaster (pic) is an excellent product. A mate has one and it has worked flawlessly for donkey's years. Cooks toast evenly too.

Ive had Macs for 6 years now and never once got a virus or worm or spyware. Anti-virus program? whats that? However I really miss not having an easy to read bar at the bottom of the screen that tells me which applications I have open. I also wish that Apple would give us an easy to use filing system. What I dont miss is the unreliability of Windows and its lack of security.

Ice cold chocolate, sh*&s me to tears. Why in Gods name would anyone want to eat chilled chocolate. It has no more taste than a brown crayon.

We put our boy on skis when he was 3yrs old. That was in Kopanik The old Yugoslavia. He broke our hearts as he ended up a snowboarder. We dont speak of it much, too painful.

Dambusters sounds good, I saw the original yonks ago. I only hope they dont screw with history and have an american win the day for us poor allies, like they did with that travesty of a film U-571

Cheese of the week has gotta be my favorite diversion on this site. I was like a kid in a sweetshop on our 2006 trip to Normandy. We tried as many cheeses and local smallgoods as time allowed. Im curious, have you heard of casu marzu? I read about it on a blog site recently and thought they were BS##$ing me. I cannot imagine anyone willingly putting something so definitively gross near their lips. Let alone paying 3 times as much as normal pecorino.

The Sydney pub band Walrus. Their song "War" is a stab at the Iraq war but Ive no idea what "Corn coloured vomit" is about.

Hey all it needs is sleeves and its a jumpsuit, a la the 1980s

Hum...so, Japan is one of rare places where anyone can buy some fireworks anytime to enjoy? ------------------------------------------------ We bought a pile of fireworks in Switzerland last year from a souvenir shop. Good quality too. We let them off while in France to celebrate my daughters birthday.

What do you mean "non-substantiated propaganda"? Have you stood waiting for a man crazed with amphetamines to stop swinging punches at the staff before suturing his self-inflicted wounds? Have you had to explain to a father that his 18 year old son is dead because walked in front of a train while he was off his head on LSD? Have you seen the old lady with multiple fractures after a teenager raped her while high on speed? This is not non-substantiated it is a daily reality. There are a great many evils that we could declare war on but fair suck of the sauce bottle where should we start?

Hey do they have 'gaper' days in Japan?? Ive got a very lairy "Romper suit" from the eighties that could do with an airing. Be kinda cool looking really deliberately uncool. I just dont think I could do it alone.

Milk bottles!? Luxury! All we had were our hands to hold water wit hapenny banger. Then dad would beat us t sleep wi stick from rocket.

The problem that governments have is that durgs cost the taxpayer (who employ the polititians) an absolute fortune. I work in a profession with daily contact with people who exercise their 'right' to use 'recreational' durgs. They represent the majority of peopkle presenting to the ED and are a good proportion of those presenting to mental health units with acute psychosis needing admission. Let me say this S L O W L Y so you get the message D R U G S A R E B A D !!!!!

I work 6-6 for 8 days (On call 24hrs a day) then have 6 days off.

I read every Bond story Flemming wrote before I saw my first Bond movie and just could not and still cannot see any connection. Fleming's Bond was a trained assassin who used a gun a knife or his hands and could improvise. Sean, Roger et al all rely on technology which reflects America's obsession with toys before people.

Our rifle club captain has a staffie called Moper who wanders aroud with earmuffs on while we shoot. You gotta be considerate of the creatures under your care.

I go to ski not listen to music although Ive tried it a few times. I love the sound of the snow under my skis and Id lose that with headphones blaring.

Slightly to the right of Genghis Khan. Thats good isnt it?

French Swedish Welsh (language, not english with welsh accent)

Plucky Its so nice to hear a balanced argument from an american gun owner. No Im not being funny, Im a gun owner a hunter here in Oz who hates the "gun culture" too. They are tools not expressions of our manhood and we dont have a "right" to own and bear arms it is a privilege that if we abuse should be withdrawn. Furthermore if guns where portrayed as tools just like spanners and hammers perhaps fewer youth would aspire to shooting someone. So I do agree that the irresponsible portrayal of gun use/abuse is detrimental. That goes triple for Hollywood.

Sounds like normal young bloke type behaviour to me. Im mean to say which one of us hasnt blown up his best friend with a poorly designed zinc dust and sulphur bomb?.......I know i have. How many of us hasnt thrown a 20 litre jerrycan of petrol and a handfull of .22 magnum rounds on the campfire at a bucks party? I know I have and who amongst us hasnt set fire to a public building as a child and had the police visit their home I know I have. Fortunately all involved survived these and other mind bogglingly stupid pranks, eventually grew a brain and learned the meaning of the words inten