ok - if we are going to look at it from a genetic point of view rather than a culinary one i say that the egg came first. Creatures were laying eggs way past before the chicken evolved from another bird like creature.

And if we are specifically meaning chicken and chicken eggs, then from an evolutionary point of view something that was 'not quite a chicken' laid the first freak aberration that was a chicken egg, so it's still the egg.

but is a 'chicken egg' defined by what laid it or what hatches from it.  I would say that, in order for there to be a 'chicken egg' there must have been a chicken to lay it, in which case the chicken came first.

A chicken egg would be the egg that hatches a chicken.

The egg that was laid by the first chicken would be a chicken's egg - which would be the first chicken egg which was also a chicken's egg - but not the first chicken egg.

ok - if we are going to look at it from a genetic point of view rather than a culinary one i say that the egg came first. Creatures were laying eggs way past before the chicken evolved from another bird like creature.

And if we are specifically meaning chicken and chicken eggs, then from an evolutionary point of view something that was 'not quite a chicken' laid the first freak aberration that was a chicken egg, so it's still the egg.

This clearly doesn't fit the criteria for this challenge - it's a fruit.   

A courgette is also a fruit...

That confused me, I looked up courgette and was told it's a marrow. Looked up marrow

marrow 2 (also vegetable marrow) a an annual plant with large prickly leaves, native to tropical America but cultivated worldwide for its large, oblong, edible fruit; b the fruit of this plant which has a thick, green or striped skin, and soft white flesh, and is cooked as a vegetable.

That would explain why it's so confusing then.

I wasn't here when this thread first started, so:

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Reason i come here: To start with because I was watching the football in the Vic when the The Grosvenor World Masters was on and I wanted to see if I was in the background for any photo's in the live update - I wasn't. And now - because I can't escape.

No, you haven't.  I defy anyone to post a picture of themselves with a more impressive vegetable.

Your pathetic courgette is nothing compared to my giant lemon!


...

This clearly doesn't fit the criteria for this challenge - it's a fruit.   

[deliberately]

In a bizarre way I find it quite exhilarating to watch sporting chaos unfold before my eyes...I'm thinking the Indy Formula 1 Gp for example

today was another...an over officious umpire spots ball tampering and give England 5 runs and orders a ball change. No warning to the offenders

The Pakistanis are offended, protest innocence and then it all kicks off with boycotts, the umpires awarding the match to England from a losing position and now recriminations all round

Corking stuff! Nothing like a good sporting drama

hardly over officious, cheating is cheating.

But upto now there has been no proof and by accepting the umpires decision to have 5 runs deducted from their score the Pakistani team would be admitting to cheating.

If they are innocent then maybe its the rules that need looking into - i have watched many reports this morning and none of them actually mention how the umpires thought the ball had been tampered with.

The captain should have verbally registered a protest of innocence, and at the end of the match they should have lodged a complaint.

In football if a player gets sent off for handball in the first half, the ref awards the opposing team a penalty which they convert and nobody else scores until half time -- would you see the team refusing to come out for the second half?

Of course you wouldn't, they know they've still got a chance of salvaging something, they know they can't dictate to the referee how the game should be run during the game (although they may try) and they know they can complain afterwards.

If Pakistan wanted to make a dramatic gesture they should have walked off immediately and left the grounds, instead they decided to try a disruptive protest which left people in doubt with Pakistan still wanting to win the test. If they had deliberately chosen to forfeit the game and show that the accusation of cheating was more important than winning the game then this would have achieved a much better public relations exercise than what they did and they would have got more supporters and sympathisers for taking a stand.

In a bizarre way I find it quite exhilarating to watch sporting chaos unfold before my eyes...I'm thinking the Indy Formula 1 Gp for example

today was another...an over officious umpire spots ball tampering and give England 5 runs and orders a ball change. No warning to the offenders

The Pakistanis are offended, protest innocence and then it all kicks off with boycotts, the umpires awarding the match to England from a losing position and now recriminations all round

Corking stuff! Nothing like a good sporting drama

hardly over officious, cheating is cheating.

True, the Umpires told Pakistan that if they didn't come out they'd forfiet the game - they told the Umpires that they would play but would come out in their own time. You can't have players dictating to referees or umpires what the rules should be.

not if you had £10 on England at 150/1......................

Wonder if the umpires did? 

I liked the idea posted previously about expressing a preference for a particular event by being able to choose to have more entries 'in the hat' for one of the events, but I don't know how wise giving too much of a preference for locals would be. I agree with the arguments, but the first event is for the English title - not the West Midlands title (and similarly for the rest obviously).

Ian, we have forumlated our policy on signing up for Event 1...it is just being finalised and will be posted here in the next 48 hours

We beleive we have established the most equitable way possible to cope with te massive excess of demand for seats over supply

48 hours from when?

I was extremely disappointed with this anecdote.

When I saw the title I thought it was going to be about the film. 

In Firefox, in the Bookmarks menu there is a Manage Bookmarks option which makes it a lot easier. It's easy on IE as well but it's so long since I used it that I can't remember, somebody else will have to fill that blank in.

[too]

I have already suggested my preference for the oven,

.... but if I've got the time you can't beat the oven.

but I don't like the skin to go too crispy so I just bung it in without the palaver of olive oil or salt flakes.

When I first heard about 'snakes on a Plane' I nearly choked on me black puddin', yer see I think them swanky Hollywood gits have stolen the idea from me rejected screenplay ' snakes ont' last tram t' Fleetwood'.
 do yer think i could sue 'em?

Definitely, although I think you should settle out of court for a writing credit on the film - that way you'll have the glamour of being able to pick up the 'Best Original Screenplay' oscar next year.   

She was funny, good way to win the investors over - suggest that because they're rich they don't look after their kids and they just get a nanny to do it for them. 

She was almost as good as the bloke who tried to give the multi-millionaire successful entrepeneurs business lessons at every opportunity