h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes, I can confirm that is me. I can also confirm that I am legitimately flying in that photo, albeit with a Gin Bobcat 18 speedwing, rather than how it appears.

slightly disappointed you haven't built yourself a rocket-man outfit

Who needs a rocket? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftCRMw33kjM&list=UUrV_DO-3_2pxabVUT1rYh_Q&index=14&feature=plcp

wow, that does look better than rockets.

Watched some of your videos Hoo!
Nice stuff. Looks like a lot of fun.
My hat is off to you for your spirit.

Sharing the air with gliders must be a real hoot!


~jwf~

On the slavery thing - has anyone posted this link yet?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19831913

I think he's optimistic but he is right - if enough momentum gets into it, rather than it being reduced tad by tad, then i think it will shrink to a very small number

I saw a "sexy schoolgirl" outfit for sale in the high street this morning, which looked very inappropriate in light of the Savile revelations. In the past, such things have been criticised only by a minority of the population, but perhaps in the future more of us will find the underlying message of sexualised childhood unacceptable.

did you go into the shop to complain? people should...

Was it a 'sexy schoolgirl' outfit in, ahem, an accessories shop for adults? Or was it a 'sexy schoolgirl' outfit for actual schoolgirls to buy?

Mol

Good point there

If the former then you get to go into the bit of British law (as in general concept for law) that actions which do no harm should be legal - arguments over whether it does harm or not then abound

It was very interesting reading the arguments that raged in the house of lords over the legalisation of homosexuality over whether actions which did no harm should be legal or did the government have a role in enforce morality*


*For the fundamentally blind, that's a comment on the argument, not on my thinking that homosexuality is immoral

Are not internships slavery?

Spitting in some cultures is preferred to retaining bad stuff (i.e. germs) within the body.

Whilst Savile's behaviour was seriously weird and way way beyond the pale, the assumption that under 16s are always innocent doesn't ring true.

Please could the following be unacceptable in 50 years time:-

The aristocracy (incl. the Windsors)
Bankers mega bonuses
Rucksacks
Jumping to conclusions (Opinion without thought)
Page 3


P

Well, not in the sense that you can up and leave an internship whenever you feel like it...

Rucksacks?

>>Whilst Savile's behaviour was seriously weird and way way beyond the pale, the assumption that under 16s are always innocent doesn't ring true.<<

that's a bit too close to blaming the victim. If they are under 16 and they are in the UK that is a very clear boundary for the Adults to observe.

>>Was it a 'sexy schoolgirl' outfit in, ahem, an accessories shop for adults? Or was it a 'sexy schoolgirl' outfit for actual schoolgirls to buy?

Mol, it was an outfit for adults.
Sho, no I didn't complain, because regardless of what I might feel, I'm not aware of any evidence that such outfits actually lead to harm. It's rather like the notion that violent video games lead to violent behaviour. For all I know, banning sexy schoolgirl outfits might counter-intuitively exacerbate the problem.

I really don't think a card-carrying paeodophile is going to be that interested in a middle-aged woman wearing a sexy schoolgirl outfit. Her husband, however ...

Mol

Mol, the main concern would be over the appropriateness of sexualising schoolgirl imagery.

It's been sexualised for decades, it's hardly a new thing.

Mol

Until the recent past most girls wore a school uniform until the age of 18. Well past puberty and even past the age of consent. I expect there are a whole generation of men whose first sexual and romantic experience was with a girl who they met in her school uniform. Also if 16, 17 and 18 year olds where a uniform the association between schoolgirl and under age is not present.

Various men's publications are full of obviously adult women in school uniform.

But now only under 16s wear a uniform it creeps me out.

Can't think of many schools where girls would be in uniform much past sixteen. One of the perks of sixth form at my school was release from uniform. That said, many men's first kiss and first crush will have been with a girl in school uniform, that's why it's such a powerful image - nostalgia. I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all, assuming the person wearing it is an adult doing so voluntarily.