Plastic People

You only get to ellect a politician once every four years or so, so it is not unreasonable to expect them to be consistant over at least that time frame. If, for instance, they say at election time they are not going to raise taxes, and then, at some point later they change their mind and raise taxes, this can be a touch galling for those who chose to vote for them because of the tax thing. On the whole I agree however, if people realise they got something wrong we shouldn't lambast them for holding their hand up and saying so. One th other hand, if the slimy bastards try and weasel out of it by claiming their views are entirely consistant with what they said before, then I'm all for John Humphreys giving them a hard time on the Today program.

"Also Camus made the point yesterday that I didn’t have to give an opinion about something in every single thread.." if you would like to voice an opinion over anything then go ahead. Who is Camel to advise you when and when not to keep your mouth shut? Silly arse! Politicians immediately fail their electors because they HAVE to place the economy over the masses...for the sake of the masses. In fact, the masses are merely a spoke in the wheel of the economy and nothing more. Apart from when the people spit the dummy and need comforting BEFORE it starts to cost money!

HAHAHAH...Camel, fucking hell your wit is astounding Yan. Now just to clarify, I have absolutely no problem with anyone having any opinion on any topic, what is REALLY annoying is when people pop onto threads where others are debating and post insignificant nonsense in an attempt to 'lighten' the mood. Much like you pop on now and then simply to stir the shit, twat!

HAHAHAH...lighten up, camus. Here's a joke. Q: What do camels wear to protect themselves? A: Camel-flage! As you were.

We already knew you to be a flexible person, how else were you to get your head up your arse? As to whether your replies are intelligent, the jury is still out, though I agree they are lengthy. I also agree you are you, so I ain't expecting change any time soon. (I'm also me, ditto)

"Why do we generally believe we are being lied to by our leaders and decision makers?" That's easy. Because we always are. "“Politicians Lie”… Why is this?" Easy too. because they're a bunch of sick, evil. ego-driven, self-serving, money grubbing toadying little tossers. And I wish they WERE all made of plastic. They'd burn better.

I'd rather they were wood, less harm on the ozone, I'd hate to imagine the consequences to the aforementioned layer if both Bush and Blair suffered a combustion of any kind.

Especialy if it happened on the spur of the moment.

Wood could be better. Not quite so toxic, unlike the politicians. You'd be able to make quite a nice bonfire out of them; and toast your crumpets around it and so on. Then at least they'd be fulfilling a useful purpose at last. Politicians as household fuel. That just seems so right.

In full pedantic geek mode. Burning plastic does not harm the ozone layer. If not burnt sufficiently hot (which for most plastics is very hot indeed) it will release a bunch of unpleasant dioxins which are poisonous/carconegenic right down here on earth, but won't harm the ozone layer. Burning either wood or plastic will release CO2 and thus contribute to the greenhouse effect. Quantities would vary depending on your choice of plastic/wood. Since plastic has a better strength to weight ratio than wood, and were you to build a hollow politician (somehow appropiate), you could use a lot less plastic than wood and so the burning would have less environmental impact. That fails to take into account the bigger picture, because wood is generally part of a quick carbon cycle, it would most likely decay or be burned in the next few hundred years anyway, meaning your choice to burn it has little overall effect. Plastic on the other hand is generally made from oil, part of a much longer carbon cycle and the carbon may have remained unreleased for millions of years. Even if your plastic politician was pre-built, most plastics decompose over the order of millenia, although not burning him leaves him around to photo-degrade, which causes other problems. Of course, assuming you do fully incinerate your plastic politician then that becomes a far less energy efficient immolation than wood, and you have to take into account the carbon footprint of the energy required to fuel your incinerator. So wood is still best, but not because of the ozone layer. Sorry. I'll shut up now.

How can a glass, 'or any container', hold more water than its total volume? i.e. A glass of water fulled to the rime, left to stand un touched or changed in any way. Water will spill over the rime by itself? Thought I would add to the discussion on politics.

Are you asking us to lie on your behalf Pepsoid?

No. Just left to stand Pepsoid.

> How can a glass, 'or any container', hold more water than its total volume? if the water was ice? or surface tension?

Spot on maddan. This may not be the case if evaporation occurs more rapidly than expansion of the A's. So much for an expanding Univers... Sighs...