this is my first post in your great site, it was really helpful, thanks for your wonderful work

Russia-Georgia conflict created a big headache for Israel which armed and trained Georgians for years - and now suddenly Russians threaten retaliation by supplying S-300 SAM batteries to Syria. Here is what a prominent Israeli analyst says: http://samsonblinded.org/blog/on-russia-georgia-and-israel.htm

What fun...way to go Mike! I'm interested too in whether this will be a custom new build by the boat manuf or a sweat-equity on an existing hull?

the Sh#t house is funny. Here's a typical comment heard just before the residents leave and go on vacation: " Honey did you remember to close the Lid on the Sh#it house" Hehehe.

@mateo soletic said: I agree with Mike that this little girl Yang Peiyi should not have been substituted by Lin Miaoke. This is a big injustice to the little Yang who obviously has the tallent but hasnt got the required looks or at least someone thinks this way. And for the people that think that this is fuss over nothing let me tell You something about these countries like China. I lived most of my life in a socialist/comunist state that was once called Yugoslavia. In those countries being a individual is nothing . The individual only exists to serve bigger cause. So now they took her voice tommorow they will take her kidney . Believe me I have been there. And the worst thing the communists did is with peoples minds. If these people had to choose between democracy and totalitarism The majority would even now choose the latter. It will take generations to change this. And if we keep saying that this is fuss over nothing it will take even longer. Mateo Thanks for saying this, Mateo. I DO think this substitution is a big deal. It shows how desperate the Chinese government is to put on a happy face to the world. I'm not fooled. In fact, things like this just reinforce my sentiments.

@mike lucey said: I just don't feel comfortable especially in the rain and against 4x4 headlights, they are set far too high! @ross macintosh said: Instead just add some more headlights to the sled, light up the night, and enjoy driving after dusk haha! If you cant beat em, join em.

Well..when u want to irrigate your tomatos(plants) and u are waiting for the water at the end of the ditch and the water goes in a hole made by the mole u definitelly don t want to let it alive(if u can catch it). The only good thing that they make is the earth wich they pull out of their tunnels,is verry rich and is good for flowers. And another good thing is that they feed with mole cricket(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/154/430697715_faff1282fa.jpg?v=0)and other harmfull insects. [image: cartita.jpg]

@pbacot said: I'm against the move for city commissions to require proprietary software for submittals, especially if it requires a "service" or the SW is not free. I understand this for larger cities, state school programs etc., but being "different" (Mac-user), it goes against my sense of fair play and free market. Anyway, some of these smaller cities get the idea to require AutoCAD files etc. and they are not really able to utilize the files. On the other hand, the more they require, the more work for us, hopefully billable. Well put and exactly my point. In the interest of fair play I think any city model should be so devised that a model for import can can be made in a bunch of universal formats and then converted easily for import. I also feel strongly that any town or city model should be available in a format useable by the public / designer to determine and test structures to the same level they will be assessed in this environment!!

Chema (Fryrender developer) answered me you can e-mail him when you have questions or issues using the demo. To my question to create a seperate demo section on their forum, he told it is not planned. (unfortunately ). So I suggest filling their e-mail box with questions untill they have enough and do make that section after all.

Mike, here is a true life story. My friend who was studying first year architecture degree with me about 6 years ago was contemplating getting a lappy for his work. At the time he was living on the ground floor of a large 3 storey Victorian house and one night heard a loud thud while cooking in the kitchen, at the time he didn't think much of it. Next morning however glancing into the garden he realised what he heard the previous night was a Macbook Pro 15" landing from the second floor window. Apparently the couple who lived upstairs from him had a huge row over the guy spending too much time on this new lappy and in a moment of jealouse rage she threw it out of the window. Apparently everything except the screen was working fine. A penny for your thought

Being a regular user of a blackberry 8700 I can tell you...yes, the keyboard is small but very easy to get used to. It took me less than a day to get the hang of it and I even have fat fingers and have no issues. Remus, The reason I do not lug around a laptop is because I have my blackberry. It opens pdf, excel, word, etc. So I can get a lot of work done in a small package. While I thought like you did a while back, I now feel naked without it. Yes it can be a pain being TOO connected but it saves a lot of time. I do not want to take an hour answering emails when I get home. That time is for my family and surprisingly my wife would rather me have my blackberry than a laptop open while on the couch. I think it is a thing that she thinks I am always working of I have a laptop open. Scott

Another great 3D communication tool that supports SketchUp very well (including textures) is QuadriSpace. You can get a free Personal Edition here: http://www.quadrispace.com/ref/link.php?id=70819 With this software you can create: 3D PDF documents Animations Complete multiple-page documents Word with images and descriptive text Interactive 3D Web Pages +++

I'm only pulling your leg on the Mondeo thing .... love saying it to Jag fans ..... they often have no answer! Yes, you are right about the Mondeo chassis, it is a good one. However the Karma will have its bats centred low down, should make it an interesting drive. BTW, I emailed them re a RHD, not planned yet

Just like XP and Vista, it comes with the computer but if, as in my case, it came with an older version, OS X 9.x Tiger, and you want to upgrade to OS X 10.x Leopard, you have to install and register it the same as you would and Windows operating system (hence OS by the way). Mike RL

That was very entertaining.

Thanks Tavi, must check that out

hi arroway textures are the best available, they are just VERY heavy ( big quality) to use in SU directly...each file is about 15-70 mb sometimes... for those that are just using SU ( and no render tool) i would not suggest getting them, but for the other lucky ones they rock! Nils

If anything, it definitely would be a collector's toy.. it can only go up in value; not many of them and diamond nd gold keeps going up ($$$) anyway. But maybe I'll spend my money on something a little more usefull like ... food. lol Mike RL