Random Rants

[Buleste]

I'm haveing a bit of a mare at the moment so i wanted to start a Thread where anyone can just post a rant about life, the universe and everything. The rules are:-
1) No names
2) No rants about fellow members

Being as it's my thread i'll start.

:rant:
Why the hell did i not pay more attention when i did my ebay listings. I've had one item listed for the past couple of weeks when it looks like i've already accidentally sent it out to someone by mistake so i've lost money. Then when i did my listings i didn't pay attention to my P&P costings and have cocked up on most of them (usually overcharging people) which fortunately i've managed to correct in the invoices but still it's a pain. I know that this is nobodies fault but my own but i just wanted to vent.

:rant:

Thats better. I feel cleansed.

[v85rawdeal]

OOOh this looks like fun!!!

I hate my landlord... well, I hate the sh177y plumber they used... A pipe birst and soaked a load of my collectibles.

Not so bothered about the Star Wars CCG stuff, as that was mostly worthless, but the Big Box Daggerfall and Frontier on the Amiga... now that was a reall p1553r!!!

Ahh, f**k the old plumber.... where the bleedin' 'ell is the fixture to repair it all.

What was worse was that it was hot water, and that steam got into all my stuff.

I will be glad when this year is over!

[Buleste]

That's a pretty sh1t day. I feel for your frontier.

How long before someone has a Rant about people having Rants?

I forgot to mention that today i was supposed to be having a power shower connected up by an electrician. *:30 he should have come. 10:00 he said he would be there at 11:30 at latest. 13:00 hours he turned up. Said it was because he went to Spain yesterday, came back in early hours of morning then his washing machine busted and he spent all morning trying to fix that. When he did turn up all he did was connect some wiring to the fuse box and said he'll come back Saturday. He stayed for 1 and a half hours. If he'd have turned up when he said he would he'd have had the damn thing done today and still have had time to do his washing machine.
Tradesmen. Shoot the bloody lot!!!!!!!!!!!! (unless they are members of this site, then they have good taste and are obviousely good at their job and worth every penny.)

[Harrison]

Then when i did my listings i didn't pay attention to my P&P costings and have cocked up on most of them (usually overcharging people) which fortunately i've managed to correct in the invoices but still it's a pain.

If someone has already bid on the item and you clearly had the post and packing price listed on the auction, then they would have agreed to the price and you don't have to correct or refund anything.

Many ebayers over charge on the postage to cover what they really want for the item they are selling, as a lower price on the actual item invites more people into the bidding.

[Buleste]

Unfortunatly i'm honest about my P&P charges and have been known to give a refund of difference when i get the prices wrong without the customer asking for one. I'm proud of my 100% feedback and want to keep it. I allways put the starting price at the moinimum i want for my items, If they go for more then bonus. Either way i'm not ranting so this is inappropriate for this thread.

[Stephen Coates]

They do agree to the prices, but sometimes, the seller is just generous. I had someone refund me £5 on the postage once due to him not being sure of the exact cost. Nothing wrong with refunding and making your buyers happy if you want to.

My rant for today is why to my teachers at college keep getting ill? Pat was ill last week so we ended up getting friday afternoon off, Keith was off yesterday so we got to go early, and John is off today so we got the entire day off, except for the hour that it took to get to college and back (It's end of term now, and college closes at 12:30, so there is no friday afternoon).

[Harrison]

Welcome to the joys of further education Steve! It has been like that ever since I was first at college.

Unlike in a school where they have a duty to teach you, so they have to provide a stand in teacher, in college and other further education the philosophy is that you are now an adult and the tutors are only there to guide you, not to enforce what you are doing. If you don't get on with the work, then you are the only one you are hurting. Therefore when a tutor is off ill they won't normally provide cover as they expect you to just continue your studies on your own.

The only thing that they bother taking into account is the end of term/semester scores. Don't hit the required level and you have to retake to continue. Other than that life as a student is good. It can however take some time to adjust to that way of thinking and working after the restrictive way schools work. But they have to as I can't imagine most teens left to their own devices would get on and do any work.

[Submeg]

here is one: fem_ _ _ _

:unsure: :lol:

[Buleste]

Ah, Christmas the time for breaking up. Usually on Boxing day, that way shes had her present off you.

[Submeg]

Lol, oh the jolly season! Na we didnt break up, just had a bit of a fight. Fun either way :blink:

[Buleste]

Lol, oh the jolly season! Na we didnt break up, just had a bit of a fight. Fun either way :blink:

Make up sex. That's the only time men and women can get along.;)

[TiredOfLife]

They do agree to the prices, but sometimes, the seller is just generous. I had someone refund me £5 on the postage once due to him not being sure of the exact cost. Nothing wrong with refunding and making your buyers happy if you want to.

My rant for today is why to my teachers at college keep getting ill? Pat was ill last week so we ended up getting friday afternoon off, Keith was off yesterday so we got to go early, and John is off today so we got the entire day off, except for the hour that it took to get to college and back (It's end of term now, and college closes at 12:30, so there is no friday afternoon).

Xmas shopping and boozing?

What's with all these weak snivelling gits wishing us "Happy Holdiays"?
Spineless twits (Misspelt that last word)

It's Happy Christmas or nothing you bar stewards.

What are we on holiday for?
XMAS, you politically correct toadying scum.

(Thanks Buleste)

[Buleste]

What's with all these weak snivelling gits wishing us "Happy Holdiays"?
Spineless twits (Misspelt that last word)

It's Happy Christmas or nothing you bar stewards.

What are we on holiday for?
XMAS, you toadying scum.

Politically correct toadying scum would be more appropriate but hear, hear.

[Buleste]

Is there anyone else sick of companies sticking "i" at the start of their products. Obviously it started whith the iMac which is fine and you can understand why Apple use it for their products but now you have the "iSnake" which is a surgical robot, the iPlayer from the BBC and shitloads more. I'm sure there'll be the iCondom or iVibrator, then the iHatealltechnologyandonlybuildinwood or the iThinkyouareastupidgit. It's just gone too far and shows that there is a lack of creativity when it comes to naming products.

[v85rawdeal]

iHate to say it, but iThink it will be around for a while. until the next fad comes along and companies all say "Why didn't we do that?"

It happened in the 70's, when ALL adult movies were rated as XXX, no matter how lame they were. Not that iWould know anything about adult moves. iDon't do that kind of stuff!!!

[Stephen Coates]

iFind the iProducts annoying.

OK for a few apple things, and maybe a few more, but then it just gets boring.

Didn't iMention this in another topic just recently?

[Buleste]

iCan't remember. Wonder if theres an iToilet? Theres certainly some spoofs on it. Goto iToilet (http://www.electric-chicken.co.uk/itoilet.html).

[Stephen Coates]

lol

iKnow there is (was) an iWipe, which was a Macintosh SE or similar, which dispensed toilet roll through the floppy drive hole, and iThink there was a similar one which used an iMac.

There are toilets which flush automatically, and do other strange stuff, so it proably won't be long before someone does make one called an iToilet.

[Harrison]

That iToilet is great. The sad thing is that I could actually see the iFanatics buying one and defending it's design flaws is features!

[Buleste]

Whoever said i products should be practicle?

[Harrison]

True. I've not yet seen anything from Apple that could be considered practical.

This is the rants thread so I do need to rant a bit about the iPod for a moment.

All the clueless youth of today are buying into the iPod like it is the greatest thing since sliced bread and the "must have" device of the moment. These people are just dicks in my view. Buying something to look like they are in with everyone else. Pointless and completely pretentious!

People are also raving about the iPod and comparing it to the Sony Walkman, and how it changed the way we listened to music in the 80's.

Except... Sony designed something that revolutionised and did change the way we listen to music. Sony invented the universal control icon system now used worldwide. And Sony invented the portable tape player.

In contrast Apple didn't invent the mp3 format or the first portable mp3 player! They just jumped on the idea and repackaged it. Just as they have for everything they have ever produced. The Mac OS was stolen from Xerox and repackaged, then Apple had the audacity to start suing any other OS maker who tried to use a WIMP like system. And as the Mac progressed, it's unique hardware designs slowly evolved to use more and more PC hardware, until today we now just have a PC running Mac OSX and locked into the hard to expand or upgrade nature of the Apple product design.

And the iPod has huge flaws. Fixed rechargeable battery, so when the battery goes wrong in an iPod you have to junk it or pay a lot for it to be sent back for a new one. And another big flaw is called iTunes. Why should people have to access a device through a proprietary piece of software? Every other manufacturer of mp3 players is, or has, moved to plug and play, drag and drop file management. You connect the device and it appears as a drive, you drag the files to it and can then access and play them on the player. What is wrong with that way of working?

And has anyone actually tried to use iTunes??? It has to be one of the least intuitive pieces of software I've ever tried to use. Simple tasks like renaming a song or album are impossible to work out. Moving or changing song/album ID tags is a mystery, and maintaining a music library is made as difficult as possible. And this coming from Apple, a company that it's iFanatics rave about how usability and intuitiveness are key factors. All I have to say to that is CRAP!

[Buleste]

Goes to show what is popular is not necessarily the best and good design is subjective. Something may look good but be totally useless. Many exaples can be found under the WAG catagory (although most of them don't look good).

[Stephen Coates]

So there is nothing wrong with me continuing to use my tape Walkman then? Excelent. :)

I do by the way, have a Sony CD Walkman now as well. My mum gave it to me after she got her iPod nano.

There isn't really anything wrong with having these odd ways of doing things, like MacOS and iTunes. They are just different and some people prefer them. Alternatives exist for those that don't like it.

I know Apple weren't the first ones to make MP3s, but as far as I'm aware, it was one of the first popular MP3 players.

I have used iTunes version 1, and have also used versions 3, and also some newer ones. I can't say I like the latest one much.

Fo organising all my music and photos which are on the computer, I just seperate them into folders in Windows Explorer (and Finder, for files which are on the Macintosh).

It is quite possible that some people arn't all that bothered about how the device that they have works, as long as it does what they want it to do, which several devices might do.

Now to change the topic slightly, my rant for today is music.

Why do some idiots have to play music out of their mobiles telephone/MP3 player's loudspeaker on the back of the bus? I got on the 287 to go to Meadowhall the other day and on the top deck where I sat there were some poeple at the back playing loud music. (Meadowhall shopping centre was very busy BTW. I must never go there again at this time of year). I then went on the Supertram going to Sheffield from Meadowhall, which was quiet, excpet that someone sat opposite me was talking on his mobile phone in a foriegn language.

I then got on the 287 to come home. The journey from Sheffield to Meadowhall was nice and peaceful, until it got to meadowhall. Some people got on and started playing loud music. I then had a noisy journey all the way home.

This isn't the first time I have had problems with loud music. It tends to happen quite a lot on the bus, and sometimes in the corridor at college/school, and in the street. These people really should get headphones. They can have it even louder then, but without it annoying the rest of us.

And people really need to stop using music tracks as their telephone's ringtone.

[Harrison]

A good argument to learn to drive!

[Stephen Coates]

It is, but I still don't want to.

BTW, regarding walkmans, I do have a really old one from the 1980s/ early 90s. It is big and a goldy colour. Still works fine.

[Harrison]

I've still got a Sanyo one from 1985, which I remember getting for Christmas and that also still works perfectly, although I don't use it. Very big and chunky and heavy. And also minimal controls. Play, Stop, Rewind, Fast Forward and volume control. It's when they start adding lots of functions to such things that they break easily.

[Buleste]

I use the Imperial March from Star Wars as my ringtone for Family.

What winds me up is that all th ein ear headphones that many people have are supposed to be quieter to everyone else as the volume doesn't need to be high for someone too hear the sound as they're in ear yet people still have them at full volume.

[Harrison]

Oh well. It will end up with you winning as they will all go deaf, then you can live in peace, while they all live in silence.

[TiredOfLife]

I use the Imperial March from Star Wars as my ringtone for Family.

What winds me up is that all th ein ear headphones that many people have are supposed to be quieter to everyone else as the volume doesn't need to be high for someone too hear the sound as they're in ear yet people still have them at full volume.

That's to drown out the noise of all the gits Ste was talking about.
Why do these people always have no taste in music?

It's either that or empty headed school girls talking at top note into their mobile phone to someone on the same bloody bus.

If they absolutely have to do it, could they at least use their brains when speaking to each other.
Might have something interesting to say then.

[Submeg]

"We interrupt your regular program with a news bulletin. In southern England, a group of 15 year old girls with brains have been discovered. It is the biggest breakthough since the invention of the wheel. Who knows what kind of useful information they may have to share with us."

Somehow, I think not :dry:

[Stephen Coates]

It does seem impossible to go out for just one day and NOT see at least one person using a mobile phone. I think it's quite annoying when you are sat near someone who is talking on a mobile phone on the bus.

It is also surprising, the amount of new phones that you see. I rarely see anyone talking on an old mobile phone.

[Buleste]

Today my local council have posted the news that in the last 6 months recycling rates in the Staffordshire moorlands have rocketed and that fornightly collections are a resounding sucess. This is the biggest load of bollocks ever.
The reason recycling rates have gone up in our area is purely due to the fact that in September we were allowed to recycle plastics and cardboard (most of modern food packaging) so the numbers were bound to increase. As for fortnightly collections being a sucess it's only because the weather has been so crap there's been no heat to make the bins reach full ripeness even though when it's getting close to collection time they do pen a bit. The worst part is because hosehold waste gets collected one week and recycling the next the bastards tried to claim that this wasn't fortnightly collections as the binmen come round every week. This is just another piece of Spin. Whats worse is the policy of fortnightly collections was started by a Labour controlled council and opposed by the Tories but then implimented by a Tory controlled council and spun in such a way you'd think that it was there own bright idea.
I hate all politicians. Someone needs to create a vaccination programme to irradicate the disease of politicians and spin doctors.
Come the day when i rule the world the first thing i'll do is build a very long wall with a lot of stakes in front and order some extra ammunition for the bastards.
I'm going to lie down for a bit now.

[Harrison]

It annoyed me when this collection scheme was introduced down here too. We sometimes struggle to find room for the rubbish by the second week, and you still can't recycle a lot of things that I would like to see going into the recycle bin, as opposed to having to put it into the normal black bin, which I know ends up in a land fill.

And that is another thing that really annoys me. Land Fills. We don't and shouldn't need them. Pretty much all rubbish thrown away should be recyclable and government set targets years into the future is out of order in my view. We should be forcing packaging companies to use completely recyclable packaging, and for most food stuffs we should be going back to the old way of loose food that is put into brown paper bags, thus eliminating the need for packaging altogether.

Also fast food companies are responsible for a lot of this packaging, although they are now getting better with a lot of it being cardboard.

[Stephen Coates]

We never have a problem with not enough space in the wheelie bin. It is never full.

Anything recyclable stuff which the council don't collect, we take to the tip.

[Buleste]

We have 3 bins. One for garden waste, cardboard and food waste. One for metal,glass and plastics and then theres the Non recyclable waste. On top of that we then have a Non recyclable bag for paper and one one for clothing. A lot of the plastics go abroad (mostly to China) for recycling.
What annoys me is that if my council for instance had some brains they could build a large recycling centre and an incinerator and whilst recycling or incinerating our waste they could sell their services to other councils and make money but also generate electricity from the incinerators and sell that to the national grid and make more money and then invest that money into improving the area. But of course that would meen councilors going without their "fact finding" trips to hot and sunny climes for a few years so that could never happen.

[Harrison]

That is exactly the solution we need. The amount of rubbish we produce as a nation would surely provide enough fuel for electrical production, unless it actually takes more energy to destroy compared to the amount it produces, in which case it would be a bit pointless.

But if it did work, with the air scrubbers now in existence to remove pollutants from the smoke/gases released it would surely be cleaner than building more coal based power stations.

[Buleste]

Plus when the NIMBY rebellion starts you just tell them that if they allow this then council tax will fall, services will improve and house prices will rise due to the improved services. Then if i had my way take the scrubbers off and let them choke when it's all gone through.:lol:

[Buleste]

Brand new rant today.
Yesterday i decided to update my driver for my graphics card. I always do this with great trepedation as in the past ATI graphics drivers have tended to kill my computer. This time rather than killing my computer it killed NAV a very neat trick if you want to be a hacker especially as if you unistall, you can't reinstall. If you use the Norton Remover programme you still can't reinstall. After several hours of trying i found that all the problems were due to the ATI install installing a version of Visual C++ 2005 redistributable. After uninstalling this and the using the M$ uninstall tool as well as the thing just wouldn't go away i was eventually able to install NAV again. Unfortunatly whilst the driver appears to work fine it didn't fix an annoying system error and in fact added another. So my rant is why are AMD/ATI so crap at software???? They have billions of dollars so you'd have thought they could afford to hire some good programmers. When i upgrade my PC i am not going anywhere near any AMD/ATI products at all.

[Harrison]

I've used ATI cards for a long time in some of my systems and have never had any problems with their graphics drivers. At the moment I have two systems running 9800 Pro's and another with a 9600. All of these systems have been reinstalled over time, drivers updated etc... and never any issues.

I would recommend using the free Driver Cleaner tool however to completely clean the system of existing graphics drivers before installing a newer version just to make sure there is nothing on the system HD that might confuse things.

However my current main system has been running an nVidia 7800 GT for about 2 years now and it has been a great card without any real issues. Plus the graphics drivers do seem easier to install and setup compared to ATI offerings. And it has made me want to upgrade to another nVidia card instead of ATI when the time comes.

[Teho]

Damn kids and their idiot driving! The dead-end street where I live has a really narrow part. Two cars can pass eachother there if they both drive near the edge, but normally the car that gets to it last waits until the first passes. Getting home from work just now, I start on this narrow section. Some car is busy turning in the middle of the street further down where the road widens, wasn't a car I know and by the hurried manner it does this I guess this is some guy who took a wrong turn. This happens. But when he has turned, he floors it into this narrow section that I'm in the middle of, and does not edge over to the side to give us both enough space. So, in order to let him pass I literally have to take my car halfway off the road, where of course I hit a rock and the tire blows! And I see the kid as he passes and just keeps speeding on, having this typical stressed out look on his face, completely oblivious to what he just did!

So now my car is standing outside with a ruined tire, and most likely the rim is bent as well! And that wheel was less than a year old! I'm so pissed off right now, that kid should really be glad he didn't stop! Right now I feel like I could've killed him! :mad:

[Buleste]

I've used ATI cards for a long time in some of my systems and have never had any problems with their graphics drivers. At the moment I have two systems running 9800 Pro's and another with a 9600. All of these systems have been reinstalled over time, drivers updated etc... and never any issues.

I would recommend using the free Driver Cleaner tool however to completely clean the system of existing graphics drivers before installing a newer version just to make sure there is nothing on the system HD that might confuse things.

However my current main system has been running an nVidia 7800 GT for about 2 years now and it has been a great card without any real issues. Plus the graphics drivers do seem easier to install and setup compared to ATI offerings. And it has made me want to upgrade to another nVidia card instead of ATI when the time comes.

The issues i've had with the drivers are well known. Several time after uninstalling old drivers and installing new drivers i kept getting BSODS until eventually ATI came up with a stable driver which then continually brings up a ati2mtag error in the event log to which ATI's response is it is a known problem and if you don't want the error go back and try 6.10 version of the driver. The other annoying thing is I cannot use the full resolution that my monitor is capable of because of ATI's drivers. The general response on the net is that ATI are crap at writing drivers and as software is easier than building hardware i don't hold out much hope for them.

[Harrison]

Maybe you shouldn't have swerved, then he would have your car and his to pay repair bills for! Although I know I personally would rather wreck a wheel than my actual car so I would have done the same as you.

[Stephen Coates]

Always seems easy to find rants about public transport despite the fact that it is often good.

Last thrusday morning at 8:20, on the number 4 bus, it broke down in Dalton, with loads of smoke/steam coming out of the back. So we all ended up walking to the end of the road to get the X78 into town. Good job it was early in the morning and (should it have been later) on the day of the teachers strike. Meaning yet another day off.

This morning, the 4 bus took the wrong exit at the roundabout and went up the wrong road. Luckily he realised immediately and went onto the correct road using another route, missing out one bus stop. This wasn't a problem, but I thought, what if he didn't realise, or he thought he was driving the number 15, and went all the way up the wrong road?

And on the way back today on the 4, I sat at the back next to some people who were going home from school and they started wacking each other with bits of screwed up metro newspaper. Really not sure I understand that. These do make me wonder what will happen in the future.

And when will people stop coming round to my house and putting leaflets through my letterbox?! I have thought about putting a big sign over the letterbox saying 'Do not post leaflets through this letterbox if you wish to remain alive', but I havn't got round to it yet.

[TiredOfLife]

There seems to be a lot of censorship around these days.
Am I talking about the internet in China or perhaps who is allowed to vote in Zimbabwe?
No, I am talking about power mad Admins on miggy sites.

There seems to be far too much ego around to fit comfortably onto sites these days.

For instance, I had a posting on a well known Amiga site today.
After posting, I read it again just to make sure I hadn't made too many typos.
(Didn't find any but that doesn't mean much.)
All looked correct.

Imagine my surprise later on when the posting just magically vanished.
Now some of the more cynically minded of you may think this was because the main admin on the site had mad a mistake, and I had kindly out of the goodness of my heart pointed this out.
(I might have taken the micky just a tiny, tiny, tiny amount:D)

Surely that can't be the reason?

Anyone any ideas what action I should take?

[Stephen Coates]

The post box on Markfield Drive which I posted my letter in the other day appears to have been severly damaged.

I went past it on the bus earlier and it was at an angle to the ground and was burnt and had tape round it saying out of servies. I assumed someone might have tried to blow it up, but according to the Sheffield Telegraph:

Crash blaze
A CAR burst into flames after running out of control and smashing into a post box. The Fiat Panda was being driven along Markfield Drive, Wickersley, when the accident occurred. The driver escaped unhurt before the car began burning.

Not sure when it was as I didn't go out yesterday, but my letter should have gone with the first collection yesterday. I hope it did.

I would expect that the durability of these post boxes would mean that the contents of it wouldn't have caught fire, since it was the car burning and that just caused the side of the post box to burn.

[Buleste]

What the hell was someone doing driving a Fiat PAnda??? They're James May mobiles. Inconsiderate bastards.;)

[Harrison]

It often amazes where people manage to crash a car. I mean, look at the size of a Fiat Panda, and then the size of a post box. The likelihood of hitting it is very small. Disgruntled ex-postman maybe? :lol:

Regarding stupid places for accidents. A guy in his 20s was killed in a car crash last year in Chichester. If you look at the piece of road where it occurred you just can't work out how. It is a 40 mile an hour quiet road that slightly curves to the right. It's also a very wide road where you could easily overtake something with enough room if a car were coming the other way. He apparently crashed on a nearly straight section of road and died from his injuries, and no other cars were involved. How? Is a mystery to me!

[v85rawdeal]

What is the cuase of all the sh1t that is happening in society today?

Early last year, in March, my daughter's great aunt was murdered in Southampton, and Monday night, somebody decided it would be a 'lark' to set fire to the block of flats I live in.

NOw, I always imagined that I would be real sensible in a situation like that, but, you can never be certain until it happens. Fortunately the fire service were able rescue me and my daughter (who stays with me on a Monday night) without too much trouble, but the whole event, I fear, has had a bad effect on me.

We, myself and the other tennants, have got so used to the fire alarm getting set off by drunks and youngsters who think it is a laugh that we tend to ignore it. However, this Monday there was a noticable difference, namely the people shouting.

My first thought was to grab my little girl and head down the stairs and get out as soon as possible. The stairway was relatively clkear of smoke, but sudfdently it just filled with black acrid fiumes, and all visbility was gone.

I managed to make it to one of the landings, and closed the fire door, but that meant that myself, my daughter and three others were trapped on the landing. The worst part was the fire service could not get ladders to the windows because of all the scaffolding. I managed to pass my girl out and was able to make good my escape about five minutes later, after they had smashed a glass canopy to position a ladder.

Now, my daughter has been given the all-clear, and seems to be free of any after effects, but it, for the moment, has messed up my head.

I guess that is why I am writing this is so that it's good therapy for me, and that it can be a interesting point of discussion on how to deal with these sudden shocks.

Stupid thing is, and the problem with today's nanny state, is that whoever did it will claim it's because 'they're bored'. Sure, with all the modern forms of intertainment (computers, consoles, movies, internet, sports) kids get more enjoyment hanging around corners, doing nothing?!?

GIve me a break. My suggestion is that whoever gets caught for this, gets automatically volunteered into assisting the Fire Service with their drills (with real fire and smoke) and see just how BORED they get then.

What is it with the generation of parents who bring these kids up, so when they reach 11 upwards, aboslutely nothing seems to interest them. Whatever happened to 'family'? My guess is that the mums are halfway into a bottle of Newcastle Brown and the men are fiddling with their cars. At least, in POrtsmouth anyway.

There ya go, rant over.

Do I feel better? NO, BUt either way, I will smile for my daughter, at least.

ON a lighter note, she was very brave and showed a trace of her mum's personality, she seemed to enjoy all the attention of lots of big men in uniforms!!!

[Buleste]

Glad to hear both you and your daughter are both physically unharmed.

I'm surpised mothers around Pompy are drinking Dog. Around my way it's Wife Beater (Stella) all the way.

I agree with the sending of arsonists to one of the training courses with the Fire Service. The Firemen/women wearing breathing apperatus and the arse-onist without. It might just scare them into some sense.

[Teho]

:o Holy.. I'm glad you both made it out ok. Things like that can go real nasty. Can only offer my sympathies at this point as I'm allready a little pissed at the darker side of society and the fact that people seem to be doing very little about it.

[Harrison]

I saw the news about the fire at your flats. All of the residence were up in arms stating that this incident proves the flats need a fire escape, but that the council stated that the current flats confirm to safely standards.

Someone set the fire at the bottom of the only stairs in the flats, meaning no one could use them to escape, so how can that be up to standard?

Was there much smoke and fire damage done? Were you able to get back into your flat quickly?

Glad you are both OK.

[v85rawdeal]

The smoke was the real problem. I, foollishly it seems, tried to get out early, whilst the stairwell was fairly clear of smoke but it got so bad I was forced to take sheleter on one of the landings.

The addition of two new floors to the building should provide an ample opportunity for the landlord to fix a fire escape to the building, but he appears to be very slow to react to the needs of the tenants.

I guess it might soon be time to look for somewhere else to stay... This place is doing my head in!

Thanks to all for the messages, my daughter certainly seems ok, whereas I... well, time will tell... It was hard to put on a brave face in front of my daughter when I was cacking myself, but it had to be done, just to keep her calm.

At least now I know better next time... but then, I'd rather there wasn't a next time!

[Demon Cleaner]

At least now I know better next time... but then, I'd rather there wasn't a next time!Yeah, that's true, you can say that next time you'll know better, but who wants to relive such a scenario again, probably no one. Glad to hear that your daughter and you are Ok. The whole thing really makes me think about what happened to the youth nowadays?

[TiredOfLife]

The little bastards should be dumped on an island somewhere and left to fend for themselves.
They won't have the time, energy or inclination to be setting fires then.

[Sharingan]

For that reason alone, one would consider not living anywhere higher than the 2nd floor. At least a jump from the 2nd floor wouldn't be fatal (at least not for an adult). Being trapped in a building with fire blazing all around just seems terrifying.

Glad to hear you and your kid are okay.

[Buleste]

Keith Vaz MP is a stupid tosser. Last week he came out with this:-

The BBFC should realise there are scenes of gratuitous violence in The Dark Knight to which I certainly would not take my 11-year-old daughter. It should be a 15 certificate.
For a start you shouldn 't be taking your 11 year old daughter to it anyway as it's a 12 (fcuking prick). And also if you find it offensive then rather than dictating your views onto all of us try doing what most of us do if we find something offensive. AVOID IT!!! mind you this is the same muppet who wants to basically censor everything and wants the BBFC to rate video games (probably so he can disagree with them over that as well so he can create the KVFC). If you live in this persons constituancy please, please, please, do not vote for him. A vote for the Monster Raving Loony Party would be more sane.

[Stephen Coates]

Yesterday evening I went for a walk through the park and had some girls shout at me. One of them grabbed hold of me and the other hit me (not very hard). I continued to walk for a while and they (and some boys) started following whilst continuing to shout.

I stopped and asked them if they were messing about or if they wanted something. Two boys walked past me and asked where i was from. Anyone know why someone might want to know where I'm from? Maybe these people were from Clifton which is were the park is located and didn't want us nice people from Wickersley invading.

I ran away (very fast) but I tripped up, grazed my elbow and both knees which caused my expensive jeans to rip. Whilst I was on the floor I had my head and back kicked several times. Then after they finished, one of the guys there picked my glasses up off the floor and handed them back to me.

Some people are very odd. The police are coming to see me tommorow morning.

That's todays rant.

[Buleste]

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. The one who handed you your glasses was probably the follower with a conscience and the others were just knobs. TBH after the case where a woman was killed by kids because she dressed like a Emo nothing in the world would surprise me anymore especially in the summertime. Unfortunately parks and other open spaces are the domains of feral kids at night and are to be avoided. Hope the police catch the little thugs but i doubt it.

[Sharingan]

Some people are very odd. The police are coming to see me tommorow morning.

That's todays rant.


Eh ... they just started beating up on you for no reason whatsoever?

What a strange world we live in.

[v85rawdeal]

In the words of Norris McWhirter...



String 'em up. It's the only language they understand!

[Harrison]

Sorry to hear about this Steve. I can imagine you were quite scared at the time, I know I would be if a group of youths, or even kids, attacked me. I doesn't matter how old, big or strong you are, if a large enough group of kids attack you there is little you can do to fully defend yourself.

I also hope that can catch them, although I very much doubt the Police would be able to do that much if they did catch them. Most are let off with cautions, or bailed to appear at the magistrates and then never turn up so break their bail agreement and nothing much is done about it.

Personally I thing the eye for an eye philosophy should be used for such people. They should be chased and pushed to the ground and then kicked and punched a few time. Although I would love to see stocks reintroduced, and possibly bring back public stonings for the really worthless wastes of space!

[Stephen Coates]

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. The one who handed you your glasses was probably the follower with a conscience and the others were just knobs.

Could be, although it was a girl who told him to get my glasses.


Eh ... they just started beating up on you for no reason whatsoever?

Seems like it. The girls were shouting 'excuse me' to me at first though, so i don't know if they wanted something. And one of the guys didn't seem to happy about me running away from him.

[v85rawdeal]

The 'handing back your glasses after attacking you' has happened to me too. A long time ago. I was walking along a path when I got attacked. One of the guys knocked my glasses off and when I bent to pick them up he kicked me square in the face. Then the others bundled in.

I get the feeling that once they had had their fun, they try to sort of get you to realise it was a just a 'bit of fun' and that there are 'no hard feelings'. And they think that if they show a bit of consideration that you may feel better toward them.

Afterwards they walked off, with apologetic looks on their faces and hands raised, as though saying 'hey, it wasn't meant to hurt, we were just playing.'

So was I, right up until I signed my statement to the police!

The scary part is that when that happened, I wasn't anywhere as near afraid as I would be nowadays.

Without saying too much, at least you didn't become another 'statistic'.

[Stephen Coates]

Without saying too much, at least you didn't become another 'statistic'.

What do you mean by statistic? I doubt the police will be able to do anything as I didn't get chance to ask them for their names and addresses. At least they will know that something happened in the park and they may pay it a visit some time to prevent it from happening to anyone else.


Afterwards they walked off, with apologetic looks on their faces and hands raised, as though saying 'hey, it wasn't meant to hurt, we were just playing.'

They must either think that they would be invincible if the same were to happen to them, or there must be something seriously wrong with them to think it wasn't ment to hurt.

[Harrison]

By statistic I think v85 is referring to the many recent stabbing murders that keep happening in the UK. Something that I think is caused by the media sensationalising it too much in the news.

[Stephen Coates]

You may have heard on the news about EMA being delayed due to computer problems. Well, my notice of entitlement arrived in reasonable time, but the bank account details are wrong. I wrote to the and after 2 weeks recieved no reply, so I telephoned them. The 10th time I called I finally got put on hold. Waited 15 minutes, and then I was told to send a letter. I explained I had done this so they said to wait longer as it may have taken extra time to get to the right department.

On that day I wrote to them again. Today a new Notice of Entitlement arrived with the correct details. No apology though.

Will the government ever get anything right?

[Buleste]

Will the government ever get anything right?

Thats one of those questions that has puzzled philosophers since the earliest days of Athenian democracy. The common concensus is no.

[Harrison]

Well, they won't get anything right whilst they all contracting the work to US companies! ;)

As for EMA. I don't personally agree with it. Why should kids get paid to stay on in further education? I never did! I had to work both days of the weekend to earn money to continue through further education! No hand outs other than a free bus pass. It's just a way to keep 16 year olds in education for longer to keep the unemployment figures low and so they don't have to pay them more in job seekers allowance.

[Stephen Coates]

EMA has been extremely useful for me. How else would I have been able to afford a Mediator?

It has also helped me alot with things like paying bus fare and buying sandwiches and coffees etc. I have also used it to help pay for stuff which has been useful (and educational) to me so I don't spend it all on clothes and getting drunk like (according to some websites) some people do.

I do think it could be improved though. For example, £30 is very useful to me because my parents don't give me any money, and they can't really afford to. It is already going to be difficult to pay the gas and electricity bills this winter. However it isn't really fair to those who arn't entitled to it but also don't get any money off their parents (parents are under no obligation to provide money, even if they are rich).

I think if you want to help people to stay in education, it would probably be better to give everyone £15/week rather than have the amount depend on household income.

My teachers did actually recomend that we do not get any work while we are at college. Having mondays and tuesdays off has been useful for getting work done and going to the library. But the course could have taken up most of the week if they wanted it to and I expect some courses do take longer. I think the point of education is that you go to college to gain the skills that you need to get a job, and not to try and get a job to fund your time in college.

[Harrison]

Umm... there is this thing called a JOB! I used to work both days at the weekend to earn money when I was in college! Why can't that still be the case? Rather than hand outs from the government that is taken from the tax we pay from the earnings we make!

[Stephen Coates]

Umm... there is this thing called a JOB! I used to work both days at the weekend to earn money when I was in college! Why can't that still be the case? Rather than hand outs from the government that is taken from the tax we pay from the earnings we make!

*points towards the last paragraph in his previous post*

[Harrison]

Yes Steve. The government are enticing kids to stay on longer in education by paying them, so they don't increase the unemployment figures. But the majority of those are not staying to get a better education. They are staying for the free handouts, and so they don't need to get a job. This is draining our economy and just breading more brain dead teenagers who are good for nothing (not even sticking in the army!).

And I bet more boys are staying on to get the money. Girls are just getting pregnant instead. That way they get handed their free house with all bills paid for them plus some cash each week for booze.

[Buleste]

The other day i won a book on ebay at a good price with not unreasonable P&P charges of £2.50. Yesterday i received this email from the seller.


ebay items despatched & new ebay Feedback system

This email informs you that your ebay items have been despatched. I have been accuse of lengthy emails in the past so if I have over shorted this my apologies.

Once your items arrive, if your happy and want to leave +Feedback & 5/5 DSR stars across the board, thanks you and you have no need to read any more (unless you want to).

If you get your items (or if they don’t turn up ) please read all the following, before contacting me, as most of the questions I get asked daily are already answered, here, on the item descriptions, in my ebay about me page, on the invoice and on permission to bid emails.

Ebay don’t seem to make it clear anywhere or to anyone how important the FB & DSR stars are. Perhaps because they only have to offer discounts on fees to those who are 95%+ in ALL DSR. While most people would think a 4/5 is good, Ebay don’t. in fact 4/5 would mean a loss of most seller privileges. While it would be good enough to pass most exams etc, ebay require 4.6/5 so unless all the good buyers give 5/5 it will not wipe out the bad buyers who only bid to leave -FB, nFB, and 1/5 DSR and yes there are those out there. Please leave 5/5 DSR in all groups to balance these nasty people, you can see who they are form my -FB/nFB and block them for yourselves. don’t suffer the same fate as me.

Communication? well I am on line 24/7 virtually, the PC goes on when I wake up, and only goes off when i go to bed. i answer all emails daily, usually within a few hours even the other side of the world. so I cannot see how comm.‘s can be low starred? I have noticed that the ebay usetheyellowbutton reply system don’t work well, and that most people don’t check or know that their ISP’s have spam filters on their web pages. Please check these before complaining about no contact, the chances are I have replied, you just not got it, AFTER ALL its in my best interest to ?

Despatch time? I am a sole trader, i do everything, buying, opening, tracking, searching, grading, scanning, listing, pc, selling, picking, packing, addressing, stamping, accounts. etc. I can only do one thing at a time, and if a payment comes as the weekly PO vans leaving I can do nothing about it until next week what ever there’s still only a week max between payment clearing and despatch, All despatch items are noted under view item details. REMEMBER, do not grade ME on PO DELIVERY TIME, that’s NOT despatch time , not under my control, any more than it is yours? This is despatch time, from when your payment clears to when I load it on the van. The rest is up to the PO.

Packaging? i recycle everything where possible, if its not possible, (too big, too many, not enough boxes) i will use new but I spread the cost out evenly, its not fair that one person should pay the full price of a new box just because I packed it after another and used the last recycled box. REMEMBER that the second letters in the S&H/P&P stands for HANDLING & PACKAGING, Some see the stamps add them up and as they are less than the P&P/S&H charges they think its wrong. The packaging costs, even recycled items (I have to source them, bring them back), tape is not free, the PO now charge £10 per collection, and it takes me a day to just pack the parcels, so what ever is left after the stamps, tape, envelopes, cardboard, is my time paid for. Please also remember that combining items often requires more handling, and while the postage is cheaper the handling may go up. I have a lot of overheads to cover offering free P&P simply wont do it.

Item description, I have limited time doing everything, my ebay turbo lister has been running slow, and the details occasionally miss something, i am always ready to refund if anything wrong, upon return, as per my terms,.

Thus I hope you are now happy to give me 5/5 DSR? In all honesty it would be better just to give +FB and IGNORE the DSR stars if you were only going to give 4/5 or less, as this will only bring my average down. Anything but 5/5 DSR will bring down my average. Ebay only deals with perfection, I wish they practiced what they preached.

It has never been so important to either leave 5 stars & +FB, or contact me if something is wrong please.

I have noted that in the last 12 months I have sold over 11,000 items, but only received 9,000 Feedbacks, and only 2,500 star ratings, not all of them 5’s. Which means of those who bother (and 2,000 did not at all ) only 1 in 4 approx bothered with star ratings. Again I realise it s pain, and time consuming, but please complain to eBay, and help us sellers be able to stay on eBay by giving +FB and 5 stars across the board, or contact me why you feel you cannot ~further I now hear that pay pal will hold any payments for 21 days or until FB has been left, making it almost ridiculously necessary to leave FB, thanks.

I now have my business seller dashboard, which only take into account the last 30 days, I only actually need 0.1 on the rating to qualify, so your 5 stars WILL make all the difference,

Ebay have just announced that as from August neutral feedback will no longer count as negative FB, just one of their silly changes that they now have ti admit never worked.

As an example, I just received two bad Feedbacks. One that the PO damaged, I offered to make a claim, and refund, all ignored, the other I did refund, and still got bad feedbacks, Seems I waste my time refund, offering refunds and not owning/ controlling the worlds postal services. Please remember I do what I can. S&H is listed, why bid/ buy if not happy? don’t wreck my FB, rep and business.

I have noticed a few buyers actually saying that they have left 5 DSR stars in their +FB comments, this great and proves that they have nothing to hide. I have noticed others have left +FB and not 5/5 DSR stars OR contacted me first. Saying what you have left is a good way of proving honesty of what you have left. This would be appreciated, to see who’s not playing fair?

DELIVERY TIMES? I constantly get asked this, even though its clearly written several times. Basically UK deliveries take a few days, Europe take a week or so and rest of the world a few weeks.

NOTE UK PO will not process any claim, or even reply unless 20 WORKING days are ;passed. And that’s from day of despatch not when you paid. There is no point me digging through 1,000’s of PO receipts to then be told its just arrived (as per what is usually the case). Once the item is 20 WORKING days in the Po system and you have PAID for insurance I’ll make the claim, not before. Its just a waste of your time, my time and the PO time. (they have this rule for miss routed miss directed , and returned parcel s to give them time to be returned to sender, me.

Listing fees, pay pal, P&P, ~ Ebay would like sellers to give free P&P. I’ll tell you why that wont work, and why the people who complain about P&P are actually pushing up the overall prices for the rest of us. Eaby don’t get a % fee of the P&P. so they are trying to make buyers anon. give bad P&P DSR to force sellers to give free P&P, This will only mean that the item have to be listed at a higher base bid. that’s more fees and more FVF, for ebay, the items will then get more expensive to cover these extra fees, the “free P&P” and even more to cover the re-listing fee, again higher cos the items wont sell as often as they are more expensive, not just with the P&P added, but also with the extra fees in. So please before ebay totally ruin this for everyone, please view the overall transaction as a whole. Not separate as items costs and P&P. I have to calculate the P&P as party of the whole sum bidders need to do the same. Else soon there will b no choice, the min / starting prices will all be P&P inclusive, with extra fees to cover it and all thanks to buyers who think stamps = P&P. THEY DO NOT.

Please leave +FB & 5/5 DSR stars. I find myself week in week out chasing NPB, and feedback dodgers, its just not fair, after all the work I do, for it to be ignored or require even more work chasing something that ebay should either make mandatory or not place so much importance on.

I hope that you can now feel confident giving 5/5 DSR stars, if not please contact me.

PLEASE EMAIL ME BEFORE EBAY/ PAY PAL IF ANYTHING EVER WRONG

Thank you,

********

***********

************

IMPORTANT- PLEASE READ, THIS IS A HELPFUL SUMMARY FOR BUYERS

COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE

1 This is my job, I do this full time-

2 I do not know each item inside out, so if you have a question then please email me

3 Communication is key- any questions then please ask

4 My email address may get caught in your spam filter, so please check spam if you are waiting for a response from me- I may have already sent it!

5 I recycle packaging wherever possible, but I spread the costs of new packaging across all buyers

6 My P+P charges include handling costs, like I said- this is my job!

7 I use interlink, and Royal Mail only collect from me once each week- so please allow 20 working days for UK delivery

8 Feedback is important, please leave me positive feedback after you get your goods

9 Feedback stars are important too, if I am not hitting 5/5 then contact me before you leave feedback

10 Any problems then please let me know- I want to get 100% customer satisfaction every time.

11 if you want me to be able to carry on offering the items for the low prices I do I have to have 5/5 DSR nothing else will do, and I am already feeling the effects of those who say they are giving 5/5 DSR but are not. Thanks for your support.


Now this is the "shorted" version of his email but lets face it is a begging letter asking for only positive feedback and 5 stars. Unfortunatly for him by sending this email he demoted his communication stars down to 4 as how can anyone be very satisfied whith someone panhandling like that. Then today i received my book only to find that i had been charged £2.50 for 1x1st class, 1x2nd class and 3p in stamps on a large envelope with "please do not bend printed paper books" stamped on the outside. Now i sell books on ebay and my minimum packaging would be a carded envelope to prevent the book being damaged but this guy didn't even do that so the book has been damaged which could have happened before or during posting and being as he advertised a mint condition book it's annoying.

I am now considering asking for a refund on the P&P as whilst I don't mind a small overcharge in P&P this is a 60% overcharge with no measures to prevent damage to the book. I certainly will not be leaving 5 stars and i'm not even sure if i'm going to leave positive feedback either and will never ever do business with the guy again (I've ommitted the guys name so i cannot be accused of attacking him).

[Harrison]

Without reading his "short" email, I did notice near the very bottom that he says to please contact him prior to leaving feedback as 5 stars are important to him. So I would email the guy and complain about the postage overcharge and the condition of the "mint" book. If he doesn't give you a partial refund then stick some negative feedback and low star rating on his account!

[Buleste]

Way ahead of you. I've sent him the following email


Thank you for your begging email asking me to give you positive feedback and 5 stars across the board. However I've a slight problem. I received my item today and you have charged me £2.50 for P&P when all it constituted was a large envelope and 78p in stamps. I understand you add a handling fee but 60% of the P&P is too much. I'm afraid that at the moment the best i can do is neutral feedback with 3 stars for item description as it's not in mint condition as advertised (probably due to the crap packaging), 4 stars for communication (nobody likes a long begging letter with poor spelling), 4 stars for despatch time (5 stars is reserved for sent within one working day of payment as that is exceptional service) and 2 to 3 stars for postage and packing charges. The only one you can improve upon for me is the P&P charges however if you wish 5 stars for everything i suggest you improve your service and do not send begging emails when you post something.

Probably will not get any form of civil reply but what the hell. As this person is a power seller you can't leave neutral or negative feedback within 7 days anyway so I have a couple of days before i can leave the feedback anyway.

It's a shame because the guy has another book i would like, but i'm not going to buy due to the hidden costs and poor packaging.

[Buleste]

Given jasybee2000's current although hopefully resolved problems i want to clarify why i'm being, what some may perceiveas being, harsh on the seller.
Normally i give my DSR ratings fairly and accurately 5 if i'm very happy, 4 if i'm happy. In this case if i hadn't received the email and the book had been in a carded envelope he would have probably reveived a 5, 4, 5, 4 star rating even if the book had been in the same condition. If he'd sent a short and precise email saying "Your items been posted today. Please don't forget to leave feedback." then it would have been a 5, 5, 5, 4 rating. If the P&P had been 50p less as well then it would've been 5 stars all the way.
However because he sent the email basically saying give me "5 stars or nothing" and "If you don't like anything about your purchase it's either the Post Offices fault or eBays" he automatically lost a star for communication. Because he used a ordinary envelope and didn't provide any form of protection for the book to prevent it from getting bent or folded which proves he doesn't care about condition he lost a star from both condition and P&P charges. Then because he charged just a little too much for handling he lost another star and brought his DSR for P&P charges to 3 stars which is "neither reasonable nor unreasonable". I thought the intrduction of the DSR was a good thing as it allows the seller to see if he/she could improve their service without ruining their feedback rating. What is the point if sellers demand that you give 5 star ratings for everything whether you're happy or not and shows no desire to improve their service. Mind you this seller automatically blocks anyone who leaves neutral feedback and attacks them in the reply.

[Submeg]

Seriously, if someone sent me that email, I would have been like....NEGATIVE. What a loser, he obviously has no idea...he's going round and round in circles.......

[Buleste]

After several emails and the seller insisting that he would give a partial refund if i gave him positive feedback and 5 star DSR, something that i couldn't do because even with a full refund he wouldn't deserve a 5 star rating, I have for the first time ever left negative feedback. I wrote "60% of P&P is "Handling Fee". No packaging so item damaged. Begs for 5 star DSR." and a 2, 1, 4, 1 DSR. The guy just could not see that overcharging the P&P by that much was wrong, Not packing things properly is wrong and that trying to influence peoples DSR is not only wrong but against eBay rules. If thats how he thinks a business should be run then he'll be going bump before too long.

I'll be fair on the seller and still not mention his name but I've just found a 84 page thread about this seller and one of his tactics is that he has 3 ebay accounts under different names and uses them to up bids on auctions that he feels are too low. In fact i've found several web sites attacking the seller so i don't feel tooo bad now in saying his ebal id is cougarrinard. Avoid him at all costs.

[Cortona]

Thanks for the tip Buleste. Just from his 'shorted' email I'd have given him less than 5 stars. I think your feedback was fully justified, especially in light of his eBay account abuse. If there's proof of him bidding on his own auctions to increase the price, if I understand correctly, then he should be nailed to the floor by his gonads and sodomised by a pack of wild dogs... er, I mean banned from eBay (although I've no idea how they would enforce that).

I think eBay needs an additional category in the feedback along the lines of, "How much of a wa**er was this person in terms of this transaction only?" I guess a star rating would be inadequate: you'd need options from Top Banana down to Total Wa**er, with Idle Tosser somewhere in-between.

[Buleste]

Total W*nker just doesn't seem to cut it for me but still. Below are the links to some of his fan pages.

http://www.acaeum.com/forum/about5067.html

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.games.frp.marketplace/2006-01/msg00006.html

http://xyqe.com/fantasy-role-playing/75-981-anyone-here-buy-stuff-from-cougarrinard-on-ebay-read.shtml

[v85rawdeal]

Thanks for the tip Buleste. Just from his 'shorted' email I'd have given him less than 5 stars. I think your feedback was fully justified, especially in light of his eBay account abuse. If there's proof of him bidding on his own auctions to increase the price, if I understand correctly, then he should be nailed to the floor by his gonads and sodomised by a pack of wild dogs... er, I mean banned from eBay (although I've no idea how they would enforce that).

I think eBay needs an additional category in the feedback along the lines of, "How much of a wa**er was this person in terms of this transaction only?" I guess a star rating would be inadequate: you'd need options from Top Banana down to Total Wa**er, with Idle Tosser somewhere in-between.

That would have to work on a star-rating. Based on the number of asterisks in the word that eBay decides is too rude to view...

Tw*t = 1 star (lowest, mildest negative rating)
Wa**er = 2 star (could do better)
F***er = 3 star (not good at all, could do worse)
**** = 4 star (Utterly despicable)
*****bag = 5 Star (Well, you WERE warned...)

[Stephen Coates]

I would think that £2.50 is quite reasonable for postage cost on a book. Alot of the time when I have ordered light items from non ebay suppliers, they have often charged a fixed price of about £4. I wouldn't be very happy if it wasn't packed very well though.

I think the email situation could have been dealt with better by him just sending a short (by short I mean short) email explaining the situation without sounding like he was begging.

[Buleste]

£2.50 is quite reasonable for a book if you use a carded envelope to protect the book and send it recorded. However he just used a large envelope and 70p worth of stamps.Thats a P&P cost of £1.00 maximum. Had it been £2.50 in carded envelope then i probably would have given him a DSR of 4 stars. I'm sorry but to me Postage and packing means postage and packing. If you have any Shipping/Handling fee then it should be included in the start price. How would you like it if you went in a shop bought something for £10.00 but when you got to the till it was £16.00 because of a handling fee? You'd be livid which is why you shouldn't accept such over charges.

Under normal circumstances i would've complained to him about the lack of packaging and asked for a refund due to the book being delivered in a condition different than advertised due to lack of protection. However with his email basically saying only to leave feedback if you think he runs a 5 star service, which he clearly does not, I decided to explain that i couldn't leave 5 star feedback for a poor service. He didn't like that but would only give me a refund if i gave him 5 stars. I couldn't do that because if i have to complain then it's not a 5 star service. After a few more emails I felt perfectly justified to give him negative feedback.

[Buleste]

I've just received an email from cougarrinard saying that because I've left negative feedback he's reported me for "FB extortion and Blackmail". Apparently if you think you've been overcharged and ask for a refund else you'll leave negative feedback due to the poor service it counts as extortion and/or blackmail. Due to the total muppet nature of this email I just bounced it back to him.

[Harrison]

Mad! We should all definitely avoid this guy. How do these people survive online and continue to trade for so long? If I tried such practices I'm sure the websites I was trading though would kick my account pretty quickly.

I hope the site sees it from your point of view.

[Buleste]

I don't see why not. I thought the whole feedback system was if you're not happy with something you complain to the seller, the dispute is either resolved or not. If it's resolved then you leave positive feedback. If it's not resolved then you leave either neutral or negative feedback. although I don't have as much feedback as him (my 182 to his 18,000) my feedback rating is 100% with DSR's of 4.9, 4.8, 4.8, 4.8 so i do know what I'm doing. I suppose because he's a Power Seller that might work in his favour but I've kept a record of all emails sent and all emails received. I've also kept the packaging for what it is. What I find strange is that he replied to my feedback fairly quickly yet he didn't email me his supposed outrage until 3 days later. Still we'll see.

[Stephen Coates]

I have a feeling this is going to turn nasty.

Anyway, my rant for today. I went swimming this morning at Maltby Sports Centre. It cost £3.35! I have hardly been swimming at all since 2002, but I checked the prices in about 2003/2004 and it cost £1.35 then.

I'm quite happy to pay £3.35 but that is a big £2 increase in just 4/5 years.

My main concern here though is that all the sports centres and swimming pools in Rotherham are being replaced by a few large sports centres. This has had quite a lot of controversy as currently there are (or were) quite a lot of small swimming pools, and a few big sport/leisure centres, but now, all these are being knocked down to be replaced by about 4 large sports centres. This means that the users of the small local pools will have to travel a lot further to use facilities which if you only want a swimming pool, probably won't be any better. This doesn't make any difference to me as Maltby is being replaced by one right at the side of the current one, and Maltby is still a good 10 minutes on the bus.

Also, these new venues are going to be run by a private company for the next 30 years or so. That suggests to me that the prices may go up quite a lot more. (The current facilities are run by the council). I expect these new facilites I expect might end up a little busy, since the whole town will have 4 large facilites to share between everyone rather than 9 small ones. I can only see this detering people from using them.

[Harrison]

The main reason I can think for them doing this is to save money. By combining all of the different sports activities and facilities under one roof they can quickly save on maintenance and employment costs.

[Buleste]

Just received this email from cougarrinard

JUSTICE, LOL.

your blackmailling / FB extortion -FB has been removed by ebay as i knew it would be, LOL. hows it feel?

I would like to point out that you know nothing about ebay, my business or packaging, and when I want advice I DONT take it form someone who has sold less items i ntheior 4 years on ebay than i do in a few days.

so as not to bore you with overly long emails, I'll stop here, but know that i won, LOL. dont bother replying your email address has been classed as spam, LOL. its a great day today isnt it? well better for me than you I guess? and would imagine that any more FB blackmail / extortion will result in suspention or ban, it just gets better.

I can definitely say it has been a pleasure doing business with you.


Nothing from eBay though which is annoying.

[Sharingan]

Anyone has an eBay account they can use to spam this moron with awful scores?

[Cortona]

Buleste, if eBay haven't contacted you then I suspect that this moron is just bullshi++ing you. I hope that is the case.

You don't need this kind of crap, do you.

I am still waiting for my 3.5" internal floppy drive I bought on eBay. Maybe tomorrow...

[Buleste]

eBay have removed the negative feedback which goes to show that if you pay them enough (in fees of course) they'll do anything for you.

[Buleste]

Anyone has an eBay account they can use to spam this moron with awful scores?

I could not possibly condone this action. However if someone wishes to do it I cannot stop them.;)

[Teho]

So what is wrong with people these days? Last night me and some friends enjoyed a couple of beers at a local bar. Ok, more than a couple. Had a great a night out, was delightfully dizzy and stupid as we stumbled home in the early hours. Great night for us. Turns out, as we were having a great time inside earlier that night, some poor bastard got beaten to death right outside.

Beaten to death. A guy in his late thirties, father of two. As far as I know I don't know the guy, but damn. It was happening right outside where I was enjoying some beers, while I was there. And I never even knew before I saw it in the news earlier today. How sick is that?

But what the hell is going on with people these days? I mean, fights break out all the time in the weekends, they always did before too. But it used to be small scuffles. Could get violent, sure, but people would walk away from it with bruises, perhaps needing a few stitches. Sometimes some unfortunate guy broke something. These days it seems it's not about just hurting the other guy till he quits anymore, now it seems it's only about causing serious injury, the more the better. I've always tried to avoid fights, but the few times I've ended up in trouble with someone I've never feared for my life. Worst case scenario I'd have to take a beating, but that was it. But nowadays? I've seen fights break out now and seen how people go at it, and it's definitely a lot more violent than it used to be. Before it used to be just about teaching the other guy a lesson, but now? They're actually trying to do permanent damage now. What's that about? I mean what's the point? It's usually over trivial matters too.

I don't get it. I think I'm glad I don't go out as often as I used to anymore.

[Harrison]

It is quite scary how often we are now hearing about such crimes. In the UK someone seems to be stabbed to death for no reason nearly every week. It's getting really bad.

But what is the cause? I don't like to sound racist, but looking at each stabbing in the UK the majority are young black guys of an African origin. Why? And many stabbings turn out to be gang related, or someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got stabbed by someone in a gang.

But equally there are the completely pointless random stabbings. In Southampton recently someone was stabbed to death walking through a park. They were not doing anything, just walking, and someone jumped them and stabbed them to death.

I just don't know what is happening to people any more! :unsure:

[Cortona]

I feel crap about living in a sick society where it seems there's nothing you can do about it.

Who knows what the cause is? I'm sure our elders would say that every generation is less respectful than the last. I'd be inclined to agree. Maybe the more we are exposed to crime or certain types of behaviour the more imune and accepting we are of it until kids end up stabbing each other to death because they've seen it a million times on the news and glamourised in movies.

Personally I'd also blame the creeping Americanisation of European cultures, especially in the UK. It's nothing short of disgusting, really, but that is just my personal opinion. No offence to any Yanks who might read this.

[Harrison]

I definitely think a large part of it is down to the lack of discipline and in turn respect for elders.

The only solution to sort out the youth of today who are causing most of the problems is to reintroduce national service, so they all have to spend two years in the army once they leave school. However I expect it would now be too expensive for the government to implement, as it would impact too much on their expenses funds.

[Buleste]

I don't think National Service would make that much of a difference. I didn't do national service and I would never go out and pick fights in fact I'm proud of the fact I've not hit anyone in anger since 1985. The problem at least two fold. Lack of discipline at home (and by discipline I don't mean hitting or smacking) and certainly in the U.K. there is no local policing. When kids get grounded is it really a punishment sending a kid to their room when they have mobiles, playstations, TV's, DVD's etc? Take all the fun stuff out of their room, tell them to stay their and think about what they've done. As for the policing, they spend more time in cars than they do on the street. Sure we have PCSO's but everyone knows they can't do anything. If you see a police officer in the area you will be less likely to do anything illegal. The biggest thing is though to reform the Human Rights act. Once you break the law you lose all but the basic of human rights (food, drink, shelter, medical care and the right not to be tortured) because you violated other peoples human rights. That way when people are punished for committing a crime they are punished, offer them a chance to reform if they want one but make sure they know they've done something wrong.
I could go on about this for hours but TBH it's one of those kind of problems we've all solved down the pub with our mates having a drink (making sure we don't get stabbed on the way home of course) and I've not got a beer in my hand so my bloods not quite boiling enough.

[Harrison]

Another big issue that you just touched on is the powers that the police don't have. If you watch the police documentaries, or the car chasing ones, you see these kids and teenagers being chased and stopped in cars. Most of the time they have no license, tax, mot, insurance etc... or the car is dodgy or stolen, and they normally have warrants out for their arrest for skipping a court hearing or some similar thing, or they are found with drugs in the car. Often the police know them by name or remember picking them up previously.

And what happens to all these people? Often at the end of it the voice over states something like the courts couldn't prove anything so they were never charged, or they were given a 3 month suspended sentence, or they never turned up for their court hearing. And even when they do get sentenced it is ridiculously short. For example stealing a car, driving through a load of red lights down the wrong side of a series of roads chased by police cars and helicopters, and what do they get? 3 months with a 2 year driving ban! Yeah, that's really going to teach them :no:

[Sharingan]

Law in western countries generally is far too lenient. I wouldn't even call the sentences we see nowadays 'punishment' - more like, free lodging, TV and meals. Hardly a deterrent for the crooks out there.

Bring back the death sentence for murderers. Cut off the hands of thieves. Castrate rapists. Voila ... dramatically reduced crime rates.

[Harrison]

:yesyes: Totally agree! :thumbs:

Also, revert prisons to those as seen in the 18th and 19th centuries. Stone walls, bars for windows and dirt for a floor. Why do they deserve furniture? Let along radios, TVs, computers???

[Buleste]

I dont' ****ing believe it. That piece of shit bastard Cougarrinard has done it to me again. A few months ago he bought a comic from me in good condition and unlike him I charged the exact postage and packing price. I treated him like I do every customer and as I had 100% feedback and a star rating of at least 4.8 then I treat everyone well. Then today on what was probably the last day for him to leave feedback he leaves a negative with "cannot recommend a single thigs about seller or ID, best avoided, bad P&P, comms". What an utter a total piece of shit!!!!!! I was naive to have let him buy off me and think that he would've either forgotten or have been more mature about things so that's my own fault but at the moment I'm ready to kill the bastard. I've raised a dispute with ebay and if they remove the feedback then I'll be happy. If they don't then can anyone recommend another auction site?

[Buleste]

And ebay replies that they don't remove negative feedback on these occasions. In other words they side with the person who earns them more money. I will follow ebay's recommendations to see if this matter can be resolved. If I get no joy then it's either set up a new account or leave ebay altogether. The other thing I can do is look on the Jolly Rogers Cookbook under letter bombs;).

[rayzorblue]

So Steam offered Unreal tournament 3 Black Edition (or something like that) FREE! to try for last weekend only, I noticed on Friday so I tried to download it but no joy, to early I think so I'll try again tomorrow. Saturday afternoon 3pm I get home from work and think yeah I'll get that game downloaded and try it out, only to be greeted by the message "Steam servers are too busy please try again in a couple of minutes", OK I think maybe just a glitch I will wait the couple of minutes and try again, and again and again and again and again and again and then it was Sunday. So I am up about 8:30am on Sunday (fell asleep watching a film, I feel so old), figure I will start THAT download before breakfast by lunchtime I will be testing out a cool looking game with a vision to buy it and kick some multiplayer arse. No "Steam servers are too busy please try again in a couple of minutes" OK I think maybe just a glitch I will wait the couple of minutes and try again, and again and again and again and again and again and then it was Today and the "FREE" Weekend is over and the game is on offer at £9 but I haven't played it so I am not buying it and now after one Steam purchase I think I don't like them anymore. I did manage to download the new Watchmen game demo which incidentally I won't be buying either because it sucks, probably worse than the film I haven't seen yet but will be going to see this week sometime purely out of curiosity because I loved the graphic novel and feel sorry for Alan Moore who doesn't want any of his novels made into motion pictures. Understandable after all the ones they have ruined "V for Vendetta," "From Hell," "Constantine" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and now "Watchmen".:mad::mad::wall::wall::mad::mad:
End Rant.

[thirtywinter]

Law in western countries generally is far too lenient. I wouldn't even call the sentences we see nowadays 'punishment' - more like, free lodging, TV and meals. Hardly a deterrent for the crooks out there.

Bring back the death sentence for murderers. Cut off the hands of thieves. Castrate rapists. Voila ... dramatically reduced crime rates.

In that case, let's hope you don't get wrongfully convicted for rape and theft...... That would suck.
;)

Which reminds me off a funny story... Back when I was in college I used to do summerjobs as a correctional officer at Ila (A maximum security penitentiary back in Norway) Anyhoo... there was this one inmate that had lost all his fingers in several..erm.. accidents.. anyways.. he threatened a buddy of mine that he was gonna literally kick his ass once he got out in 10 years. My colleague just looks at him for a couple of seconds then responds quite sardonically..
"Yep... that's pretty much ALL you can do."

FNARR FNARR!

Don't worry people.. plenty more funny stories were that came from.. :p

[Buleste]

Today I sent an email to a ebay customer advising him that his parcel has been posted today. The reply I've gotten back is
ok m8 np via email. Now, English is my first language and like most British people, people for whom English is a second language have a better idea about the structure etc of the language. However I have to say that text speak is the most vile thing to happen. The thing is now that phones can send bigger messages there isn't any need for it anyway and why the **** use it in an email when size doesn't count!!!!!!!! M8 is a grid reference in battleships not a ****ing word. The English language is a beautifully versatile language don't pollute it by using text speak.

[Harrison]

Txt speak does annoy me too. Especially in emails. I sometimes let people off if I know they are sending an email reply from their phone though because mobiles are still very slow to type full words on unless you have something like the N97 with a qwerty keyboard.

[Submeg]

Don't worry, the coming generation will be illiterate anyway so they will ALL be flipping burgers.

[Buleste]

I'm a mod on a DS forum and one guy has illegibly been posting every single day for an infinite lives cheat (or never die cheat as he put it) for an old DS game Call of Duty: World at War that he has seen on another site but has not been put into the cheat codes for the R4. After several days of him begging for this cheat code I told him stop posting everyday and wait patiently. Several times. In bold. In large fonts. With him asking for me to be nice as he is 17 you know. I thought the only way to shut this "person" up (I'm still trying to be polite but I can feel the vein on my temple ready to explode) I'll have to see if I can add the cheat myself. So I download the EU ROM and find that it all ready has an infinite lives cheat. I download the US ROM and that doesn't. So I look on the website where the cheat is and it's for the US version. So I get a cheat editor and add the cheat to the database and create a usable version for the R4. I then load up the game with the cheat enabled but to get to a part to test the new cheat I have to waste my time with basic training. Finally I get to a part to test the cheat and it doesn't work. So I post on the forum for people not to waste their time editing the cheat codes as it doesn't work and I suggested that he uses the EU version and just renames his .sav file. Today, the numpty, brain dead moron of a yank (who can't do the cheat editing because he has no PC and is posting from his Wii) says that the cheat does work as a friend has tried it for him and then double posted saying "yes but EU HAVE NO NEVER DIE CHEAT[[[[[" even though it has. I know because I've tried it. And the fecker is getting mad at me for trying to help him!!!!! So I've ended up just leaving it with
"Yes it does and believe me the cheat for infinite lives does not work on the US rom that is downloadable from the main site I know I wasted my time downloading the US and EU ROM and programmed the cheat for the US ROM and waded through basic training only for it not to work.

If you're not happy with all the effort I've put into this for you then you can always go out, buy a PC and try it for yourself."

If that muppet is an example of the produce from the American education system then the world is doomed.

[Stephen Coates]

Are the quality of ebay auction pages getting worse?

I'm sure these days, descriptions are often far more brief than they used to be, and pictures are much worse.

If you click on the picture, it will open one which is only a tiny bit bigger than the one in the listing. Some auctions do have larger images but I expect the seller has to pay for this. Obviously this does not apply if someone hosts the images themselves (like I do) and inserts them using HTML. But most auctions tend to use ebay image hosting.

A lot of auctions also just seem to have a copied-and-pasted description/spec list from the manufacturers/suppliers website with no original writing. Or just one of those boxes where ebay fills in the specs for you. When I tried to sell my Newton Messagepad, it tried to automatically make me include some detailed information, but I don't think it had any luck in finding anything. In fact, I didn't even include specs, as the kind of person who would want to buy a Newton would probably know what (s)he was looking for. It was bought by someone who appears to be a bit of an Apple collector.

Perhaps now we are well into the 21st Century and every tom dick or harry has internet access, loads of people who don't have a clue how to use a computer want to get rid of their old technology which they know nothing about so use ebay which is the biggest site and tries to do it all for you.

[Jay]

M8 is a grid reference in battleships not a ****ing word.

This particularly tickled me, can't beat a good rant!

[Harrison]

I do hate auctions with brief or no descriptions. You see them with just the part saying its a used item filled in, and nothing else at all in the actual item's page. They are hoping it will sell purely on the title and an image. Mad. I always go to a lot of trouble to list things on ebay, and put effort into a details description, giving as much information as I can along with images, and normally they sell fairly quickly.

And you still find the same idiots on there as always.

I contacted one seller recently to ask about postage costs, but I got no reply back. I did bid on and win the item anyway, then he sent me the invoice with a message saying he wouldn't be posting it for a week as he would be away, so I didn't rush to pay for the item, sending payment a couple of days later, 4 days before he said he would post it.

The item finally arrived ok about 2 weeks later, so it was much longer than he said he was going to post it. I left him positive feedback anyway as the item was in good condition, but the packaging it arrived in was open so it could have easily fallen out had it not been for the postman taking care. So I said in the feedback "Item as described. But postage a bit slow, poor packing and limited comms." He sent me positive feedback back in return, but wrote "Paid eventually, Needs to be less anal. Hassled me endlessly prior to bidding."

If being anal is asking a question about an item you are selling, and paying for an item 2 days after winning an auction because the seller said they won't bother posting it for at least a week, then I sure hope they never get a job in sales of any kind. Idiot!

[Stephen Coates]

I bought a 5 pin DIN lead off ebay in November. It didn't turn up when I expected it to, but I gave it a bit longer as some of the post was delayed due to the recent snow. I notified the seller and he said to wait a bit longer so I did, and in the mean time, I ordered another cable from CPC, as I was ordering some other stuff from them at the same time.

The one from ebay still hadn't come and Royal Mail seemed to have delivered all the post that had been waiting for me in Rotherham. I notified the seller the other day and he posted me another one.

Today, both the replacement which was posted the other day, and one with a post mark of 29th November turned up on my door mat. So now I have three 5 pin DIN cables. I suppose I will offer to pay the seller for the additional cable and keep both as spares.


Also, I bought some Specialized Sub-Zero gloves from a cycling shop. They had the 2009 model on half price for 20 quid (normally 40 quid). They have a very good reputation for keeping hand warm in very cold weather. And we have certainly had sub-zero temperatures recently, so what better way to test them than to go out for a ride.

Well, my hands were freezing for most of the journey, just as they were when I used them the other week. Fortunately though, my fingers didn't go numb. Normally with thinner gloves my fingers will go numb. However, on my way back from the shops today, when I was going up hill (and putting more effort in), and the sun was shining, my hands were a bit warmer.

I highly doubt that this is down to the gloves being unsatisfactory. I have worn many pairs of gloves in the cold over the years and I have never worn a pair which have actually kept my fingers warm. But at least they didn't go numb, which is a good start as I hate it when they go numb.

I also bought some neoprene overshoes to wear over my cycling shoes. Apparently these are supposed to keep your feet nice and warm. Well, they didn't keep them warm as such, but again, they stopped my toes from going numb, and did block out the wind.

[Stephen Coates]

I updated Opera to its latest version, 11, on my Windows XP system.

Whoever designed the new address bar wants shooting.

It removes the HTTP bit and any query strings. How am I suppose to know where I am if that is removed?

Fortunately, that is an easily turn offable 'feature'.

But, now it is trying to rip off Chrome and IE by introducing the pointless and annoying feature of graying out everything but the domain. Why? It doesn't do anything about make the address harder to read. Even if it is all the same colour, it is still obvious that I am currently on classicamiga.com because it says so, regardless of the colour.

I'm not sure whether it does this graying out thing in Linux, as I am still using version 9 on Linux, and the Linux version doesn't try and make me update, it just recommends updating using the system's own updater, and, there are no newer versions in the repository.

[Harrison]

My copy of Opera updated itself to 11 last week, but I only had a quick look before closing it again. Hasn't spotted the removal of the prefix to URLs. I suppose it does make URLs a lot more user friendly for general internet home users. Browsers tend to automatically add the http:// or https:// part anyway. Not sure about the greying out of the URL though. I suppose it emphasises the domain more, which a lot of people will like.

The thing I do like about Opera is how fast it is, and also that they are continuing to do things their own way. It gives you a lot more screen real estate than most other browsers.

[Stephen Coates]

My main experience with Opera is that it does everything on its own, that you can do in Firefox but need addons for.

Apparently the new address bar is for 'the majority of internet users who may not understand query string'. Pointless for me though.

Does anyone here use IE these days? I still occaisionally use IE5 and IE6 on older systems just because it is there, but have only used IE7 briefly at school and college.

Todays rants
My place at Doncaster College is still not on UCAS' system. I called Doncaster College and they say they cannot put the place on the system because it says that I haven't paid my UCAS fee.

The cheque cleared on the 20th January so they certainly have been paid.

Also, the Jobcentre still haven't sorted the claim which I made on the 17th January.

Also, my ex-employer appears to not have paid me all that they owe me. I will have to write to them to query this.

[Stephen Coates]

Not sure if I have mentioned it, but the grant I got for my tuition fee on my failed HNC course (which started in 2009) was recovered by the Student Loans Company.

Therefore I received an invoice from the college for a revised tuition fee (much lower than the original as it only covers the time I was there).

The Student Loans Company would not confirm to me that they recovered the grant until recently. (I had to confirm this before considering paying the college as the college *could* just be making this up).

However, I don't think the SLC were right to recover the grant in the first place. Unfortunately, they have ignored my letters and not returned my telephone calls despite requesting a callback from an assessor several times.

In the mean time, college remains with no money and now the matter has been passed onto a company called ACT Credit Management Ltd [read: Debt Collectors]:blink:.

Of course, had the SLC given me correct information when I asked for it, and replied to my enquiries, this whole issue could have been dealt with back in February.:yesyes:

Don't get me started on Jobcentre Plus.

[Stephen Coates]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Switch-Ethernet-ports-Removal/dp/B005C6AAAW/ref=sr_1_139?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1311989721&sr=1-139

I'm curious to know why you would buy a switch with a can of dust removal spray, wet wipe dispenser, and foam cleaner.

[Stephen Coates]

Anyone know what a tinterworldwidewebnetthing is?:tumbleweed:

[DonAmiga]

No idea, have you tried looking on the tinterworldwidewebnetthing ;)

[Stephen Coates]

I Googled it, but I only get links to this page.

[Harrison]

Anyone know what a tinterworldwidewebnetthing is?:tumbleweed:

That's what those from up tut north in Yorkshire call the Internet. You should know that r Steve.

[demusse]

484 days after the election and still we have no government here in belgium.
those politicians don't mind, they get payed anyway.

i'm ashamed to be belgian !

[Tiago]

484 days after the election and still we have no government here in belgium.
those politicians don't mind, they get payed anyway.

i'm ashamed to be belgian !


I am from Portugal, can you imagine that? We just can't think like that man, must keep a positve mind that someday it will get better.

[demusse]

hard to keep a positive mind when you have to scrape the bottom of your wallet just to pay the bills mate.
i saddens me that i even consider selling my amiga stuff after receiving a tax bill of 1300€.
meanwhile members of government who decide to quit their job in office receive sickening high farewell bonusses, just to start an even higher paid job on a lower level. :no::no::no:

and the belgians just swallow this injustice, only ranting in the local pub !

[Tiago]

Quite similar here... govement did a lot of sh** in the last 20 years, allways with that "the next goverment will close the door", till then, lets spend money...
we saw a lot of strange decitions, like for example building a TGV train from Lisbon to Porto (300km line)... if they want to connenct lisbon to Europe in high speed line, that's ok, connect Lisbon to Madrid, but, between 2 cities in Portugal is spending a lot of money, special when we allready have a train capable of going to 230Km/h !!!!! but our train rails were done for a maximum of 150km/h or something ike that, so why have a train that can go to 230 km/h when most of the trip cannot go far then 120 km /h ????? and now they want TGV !!!!! shi** build only the train rails....
the list would go on and on... of never ending shi** :mad:

[Demon Cleaner]

My girlfriend failed the driver's license test today, she went to the highway, got scared about a passing car, didn't know how to react, so the instructor had to grab the steering wheel. Cost her 30 points, which is immediate fail.

It's not that it's sooo bad, as she can probably take the test in 1-2 months again, but as I have to pay for the whole stuff, and she will need now to take again 8 lessons of an hour, which cost 68€/hour, so make the calculation for yourselves :dry:

[Harrison]

Sounds like she wasn't ready to take the test... above all you have to be confident on the road or you will at some point have a crash... and it is better she is safe.

€68 per hour for lessons is quite expensive, although I have no idea what they cost here in the UK any more. When I past my test about 17 years ago i think I was paying £13 for 1.5 hour lessons.

Do you have to take written tests as well as a practical in Luxembourg? Here in the UK they have to take a written multiple choice test before they can then learn to drive and take the practical test to get the license. And I think the written test results are valid for some time so once passed they don't need to take it again until it expires. When i did my test we just had the practical test and nothing else. I'm actually not sure I would want to learn to drive these days as the volume of traffic has really increased in the last 15+ years and the cost of driving too. A guy I worked with was 20 years old and past his test. He bought an old Vauxhall (Opel) Astra 1.4 that was about 15 years old and he had to pay £1400 for the insurance! Mad.

[Demon Cleaner]

You also have to take a practical test before, only if you pass, you can start with the driving lessons.

[Stephen Coates]

I was reading PC Pro's website the other day, and I got this advert for IE9:

http://stevecoates.net/stuff/ie9.jpg

The reason it appears that I am not using Internet Explorer is probably because I'm on Linux.

[Demon Cleaner]

Actually I asked her again, and one hour costs 58€, and not 68€. But that's still a lot.

[Stephen Coates]

I am fed up of giving everyone my neatly stacked and stapled documents to people to photocopy (usually for their own use), just to get it returned to me with the staple removed, or removed and replaced with one which is not as neat.

The only reason I can see for this is so that they can put the document into a photocopier's sheet feeder.

Is it really necessary to remove the staple and use a sheet feeder? How hard can it be to lift the lid up and put the paper on the glass?:mad:

[Harrison]

Many places will accept a Photocopy you make yourself if you show them the original alongside the photocopy. Saves them the time to copy it, and your original remains in your possession at all times.

[Stephen Coates]

I'm referring more to other people whom you simply give a document to when they ask, e.g. office staff (amongst others).

[Harrison]

That's exactly what I meant Steve. If they ever ask me at work to bring documents in for their records I just provide them with a photocopy I've made myself and they always accept them.

[Demon Cleaner]

Right now, at this exact moment, is my girlfriend's second try for the driving license. She started 9:40, and probably will have to drive for about 30 minutes.

Let's hope she will make it this time :thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

EDIT: Got the message now, she failed again :(

---------- Post added at 11:30 ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 ----------

She crossed a solid line when driving up to a highway, and apparently that's a fatal mistake which costs you 20 points, and you can lose a maximum of 15.

The examiner and instructor said that she drove really well, and that she didn't make ANY other mistake, but rules are rules.

I just thought that they could have turned a blind eye to it, and tell her that she really should pay attention to that stuff next time, and given her the license. I mean, what's the point, it's not that fatal. If you cross a solid line on a country road f.ex. to double someone, that would be dangerous, but this, I don't know.

I only know that now it will be again 522€ more to pay, f**cking bullshit :mad:

[Harrison]

Sorry to hear that. She must be quite upset.

When you say solid line, do you mean up the middle of the road? Like we have 2 solid lines in the UK up the middle meaning no overtaking?

€522? Is that the cost of taking the test?

[Demon Cleaner]

It's the solid line when you come up to the highway, I show you on a picture, that's easier to explain. It's like in the formula one when you come out of the boxstop, you're not allowed to drive over the solid line.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/cioprgr/classicamiga/12660797.jpg

You have to wait until the line is "dashed", before you can cross it.

She has now to drive 8 hours again, 58€/hour, and the exam itself is also 58€, thus 522€. That will be then already together 2400€ I have to pay, and she still has to pass, otherwise you can always add another 522€.

[Stephen Coates]

That will be then already together 2400€ I have to pay,

Why are you paying for it though? Why doesn't she pay for it?

[Harrison]

Oh, OK that image explains it. We don't have solid lines on entry sliproads in the UK, just dashed lines. Your way sounds safer. Although we do have hatched areas you are not meant to cross, so similar I suppose.

And in the UK tests they don't include our motorways. Learners are not allowed on them either.

[Demon Cleaner]

We were driving the way she had to drive on Saturday, and I saw now what the problem was. You're coming on the highway from a 270 degree turn, and the solid line goes for 200m, because this acts like a speeding lane, otherwise you would come to the highway with 40km/h, which would be dangerous, and that's why you have to accelerate on that lane, and after 200m, the line becomes dashed and you can cross it.

@Stephen: My girlfriend only works 19 hours a week, she only makes little money, that of course she also needs for herself.

[Harrison]

It would be good if they used that system in the UK. Car's joining from a sliproad here just have the dotted line with no required distance to speed up first, so often we do get slow cars joining in front and causing cars on the road to brake. Although common sense is to speed up to the speed to match the traffic, not all drivers do this, especially older or new drivers.

And it will get worse if they decide to introduce the speed increase on our motorways, which will then be 80 MPH (129 KPH)

[Demon Cleaner]

Guess what guys?

This morning was the next effort of my girlfriend trying to pass the driver's license exam. And you know what, she failed again!! Apparently she missed one or two priorities from the right, as there were no signs, and she couldn't see the road coming. Too bad.

The whole thing now starts to get me angry, and I start to doubt now if she's even able to drive around with a car? Perhaps it would be better for her not to drive, as probably she would have an accident driving like she does at the moment.

[Tiago]

3rd time she fails?
why don't you pick a nice, calm place, far from traffic, isolated, and practise a bit with her?

[Harrison]

Sometimes taking some time away from trying to drive is a good idea, then come back to it in a couple of months. Might allow her time to relax and refocus? Might also allow her time to consider if she actually needs to be able to drive.

A friend of mine took 6 attempts to pass and whilst he isn't the best driver in the world, he is far from the worst. Often it can just be nerves or it just takes a lot of time to build the confidence, or the observation skills needed to drive.

[Demon Cleaner]

When I spoke to her, she explained me. After the exam, she spoke to her instructor, who thought that she would pass, as again she drove quite well he said. But the examiner decided to let her fail, as she missed one priority, and apparently she was driving a bit too much on the right side!!! How stupid is that? I guess that another, less fussy examiner would have let her pass.

She told me that she doesn't have problems with the driving itself, she only panics to fast and is afraid of making mistakes, especially during the exams.

@Tiago
I cannot drive with her, as my car is automatic, and she must drive with a manual car.

[Tiago]

When if driving is not the major problem, and attention and relaxition is the problem, she has to me calm.
didnt she take any kind of medical stuff to calm her down? There are some light pills that calm you down without taking off you reflextions.
Just to be not so nervous.

[Demon Cleaner]

She went to the doctor last week exactly for that, and he gave her some pills. She takes them now since one week, and they also help, but didn't help to pass the exam unfortunately. But she said that she didn't cry this time after failing, she was just emotionless, and that's probably because of the pills, she feels a lot calmer she says.

[Stephen Coates]

Why do some f****** people have to use f****** swear word so many f****** times in a f****** sentence?

Not only is it f****** annoying, but its also gets f****** boring.

The f****** part time second year students at college are particularly f****** good at it.

[Demon Cleaner]

Finally!!!

She made it on her 4th effort. Yesterday morning she called me at 11:15, and told me that she passed. I told her not to tell me when the exam would take place, as I didn't want to know and to be worried and waiting again. She told me that that morning she would have a lesson, and even the next day, today, she would also have a lesson. Cheeky baby.

I'm as happy as her, and finally we can pick her car up from the guy who still has it in his garage, for now already 2 months.

And btw, she passed without one single mistake, so I guess she's not that bad ;) Let's hope so.

[Harrison]

Congratualations! You must be so happy for her, and she must be very excited to finally be able to drive. :thumbs:

[Kin Hell]

3rd time she fails?
why don't you pick a nice, calm place, far from traffic, isolated, and practise a bit with her?

Ahhhh! - Steamy windows..... :shades: :D

[Tiago]

Finally !!!! I bet she is more then happy !

[Demon Cleaner]

Some days ago we had a huge thunderstorm here in my area, and the lightning struck one block away from my house into an electrical box, and all of the houses in my residential estate had stuff that got damaged.

For me, it was so far my modem, no internet working, my Mede8er (media player) is booting up but I get no image, my new Onkyo receiver, which seems to have given up passing image and sound via HDMI, and of course, how else could it be, my new beamer, which has a blinking warning light that flashes, but doesn't do anything, cannot boot it up :mad:

I was now 1 week in Budapest, and coming back on Saturday evening, this was surely no pleasant surprise at all, I'm quite mad.

Will have to call the guy now who sold me the stuff, if he knows what the problems could be, and if there's some kind of magical reset button trick, then I'll call my internet provider, and of course my insurance guy, as I have insurance for electrical devices in my house, that was a plus on the house insurance, and now I'm really glad I took it.

[Harrison]

If it was a power surge that caused a sudden electrical spike from lightening, then all the electronics could be damaged and the only way would be to replace it. Does your house have trip switches? If not do you connect everything to the mains sockets with surge protectors? I have all my equipment connected using Belkin surge protectors, which come with a lifetime $50,000 insurance against surge protection.

If they are protected, then a sudden power lose and cause PSUs to internally trip with a poly switch to protect themselves. Unplugging each item from the mains by disconnecting the actual plug from the socket, and waiting at least 30 seconds, then plugging back in can often reset the poly switch and allow it to work again.

[Demon Cleaner]

My house has trip switches, one for every room in the house. One was off when I came home, which is always the same one when there's some electrical issues, it's the one from my PC room, as there's a lot of connections.

I use surge protectors with overvoltage protection from APC, where all my devices pass.

Unplugging the beamer from power for 24h didn't help.

The devices also all still work, they switch on perfectly, like I mentioned in my post.


For me, it was so far my modem, no internet working, my Mede8er (media player) is booting up but I get no image, my new Onkyo receiver, which seems to have given up passing image and sound via HDMI, and of course, how else could it be, my new beamer, which has a blinking warning light that flashes, but doesn't do anything, cannot boot it up.

I called the internet provider, and they're gonna call me back to fix an appointment.

I called the guy which I bought beamer and receiver from, and he also tries to pass this week, to check on the things, but he already mentioned that the blinking warning light from the beamer is not a "good" sign.

The insurance send me papers to fill out for all the damage I have, and then I have to send it back to them.

With the Mede8er I don't know what to do as I bought it online, and sending it back for repair could take an eternity.

[Harrison]

Do you have proof of the electrical strike from the local authorities or electric company? If you can get that it would speed up any insurance claims as it would prove to them the cause from the outset. Also insurance companies will only pay out if they authorise someone to test the equipment. Otherwise they will refuse to pay.

Also remember you will need to replace all the surge protectors the damaged equipment was plugged into, because once they have protected from one surge, but a power spike as still damaged the connected equipment, it means they won't protect against any further surges.

I've been going thought this process at the moment with my house and it can take months. So far after a couple of months we are still waiting for any authorisation to get money from the insurance company to replace items. Our electrical kitchen appliances failed the PAT tests and so are authorised to be replaced. Those tests were now done over a month ago.

If you have all the receipts for the damaged equipment that will also be great as it will prove the value to the insurance company when making a claim. However if it is like the UK insurance system then they will ask you to find 3 similar products with varying prices, and will normally give you the middle price, so play it in your favour. We are doing this at the moment with our sofas. They were not damaged in the floods, but because they were still in the house when the house drying company install industrial drying equipment that has now damaged the leather and we have authorisation to have them replaced.

[Demon Cleaner]

There's one big proof, in the region I live, they have to replace stuff in over 50% of the households :-)

The internet provider guy came this morning, he replaced my old Thomson with a brand new Fritzbox 7390, the one I wanted to buy anyway, so that's already great, and internet is also working again. He wrote my a paper for the insurance that it had to be replaced as the old one is damaged, thus not repairable at all. He said it will be no problem at all to get the money back, as at the moment, the only thing he does, is replacing modems in a region of 25km wide.

The guy also told me, that they have boxes with distributors that withstand 10.000 volts, and even those blew, so you can imagine the impact it had here in the whole south.

As for the beamer and receiver, I have of course still the receipts, as I bought them not even 6 weeks ago, so that will be no problem. They will give you the exact value of a new one, or if it has to be repaired, they will pay that.

[Harrison]

Nice result on the new router. The Thomson routers are definitely not good. My ISP gave me a free one when I joined and it was rubbish. When replacing it I considered the Fritzbox, but in the end bought a Billion 7800n as it had slightly more features and better Wi-Fi speed, but other than that the Fritzbox is nice. Definitely looks nicer than the Billion too.

That was some lightening strike then to do that much damage in the are. Should have no problems claiming. Just so annoying having to wait for claims to be processed before you can get everything. Especially just after buying all your new setup too.

[Demon Cleaner]

Just so annoying having to wait for claims to be processed before you can get everything. Especially just after buying all your new setup too.
Exactly!!

Here's some of our news, in English:

http://www.wort.lu/en/view/tornado-in-north-luxembourg-filmed-by-resident-50162508e4b0c058fb267b58

http://www.wort.lu/en/view/emergency-services-called-into-action-in-extreme-weather-50138ab4e4b0c058fb26783a

[Harrison]

Wow! A tornado. Looks like the weather we have been experiencing moved over to Luxembourg. It really annoys me when the news never reports such events in other countries. With 24 hour news channels you would think they could cover more international news.

Were there many floods in your area?

Have you seen the current floods in the UK? Scotland, Wales and parts of Western England had some really bad flooding at the weekend. Seems to be getting bad everywhere.

[Demon Cleaner]

I have seen the floods everywhere lately, it's really horrible. I can also watch now the english news, as I mounted a new satellite dish covering from 13.0 to 28.2, so I get now all the free channels that they have at freesat.co.uk, good for my girlfriend, as german/french TV tend to dub their programs, like 95%.

In my area there was no flooding, there's not much water around, and the rain only comes to certain houses, which have big cellars, and they have then to pump it out, but that is quite rare.

And as I already mentioned, I live a bit uphill, so there's no possibility of any flooding ever happening.

[Harrison]

That's cool that you can pickup Freesat. Can you get all the BBC channels? I know they try to block them outside of the UK because of licensing (In the UK every household has to pay a yearly TV license fee of currently £145.50).

Also, if you can pickup Freesat then you are accessing the Astra 2 satellites, which are the Sky TV Satellites (as they utilise them to aks broadcast Freesat). I've read it is possible to unofficially use a Sky TV box outside of the UK and pick up Sky channels. Not sure if this still works or not.


as german/french TV tend to dub their programs

Yes, I've seen some and it can be quite funny how they are dubbed. On analogue Sky (before it switched over to digital years ago) we used to also get all of the other channels broadcast on the Astra satellites, so could pick up the RTL channels and many others. It was funny seeing things like the X-Files dubbed into German. They never tried to match the voices to the original actors, so one that originally had a soft voice would suddenly have a deep aggressive voice.

[Demon Cleaner]

Here's all the channels that you get: http://www.freesat.co.uk/what-you-get/our-channels

Yesterday I almost feared the worst when I booted up my NAS. I booted it up on Sunday, to check the network on the PC, and it booted up fine. I couldn't reach it though, as my router was not working, but as you know that's fixed now.

So yesterday evening I wanted to configure the new Fritzbox, then I also fired up the NAS again. Strangely it was stuck for over 30 minutes with the message "BOOTING UP" on the LCD. So I googled the problem, and as it was, it does this when there's a problem with the PSU. And there's a whole procedure to take if you wanna try getting it to work again, without any guarantee that it will actually help.

I just thought WTF!!! Now also my NAS has given up working!!! Tried to stay calm and switched it off again by holding down the power button. Switched off fine. So I unplugged it once from the power, waited 1 minute, and plugged it back in. Then I was praying (literally) for it to boot normally, and then it also did, leaving me with extraordinary happiness.

But this is the second device which had problems now when switching it on for the second time? Remember, my beamer was working fine when I tried it after the lightning strike, then when I came back from holidays, I switched it on the second time, and it wouldn't work anymore. Strange.

Hopefully I will not witness the same with some other devices. Still didn't boot up PS3, X360 and my new Oppo BD player for a second time. The beamer guy also didn't come yet to me, and also still didn't write me back. Hopefully he does soon.

EDIT: After this struggle, I bought an UPS yesterday, the APC Power-Saving Back-UPS Pro 550.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/cioprgr/classicamiga/APC_Back_UPS_Pro_550_VA.jpg

This one is 330W, I looked yesterday, and my Qnap 659 Pro II with 6 disks uses 46W. With full usage, the APC would run 10 minutes on batteries, but with only having 50W, it will last for approximately 1 hour.

It was test winner on several sites, and only costs 115€, I thought that this stuff was still a lot more expensive.

[Demon Cleaner]

Beamer and receiver got picked up today, there's nothing to do, they will go to repair.

The beamer's lamp is still intact, he guesses that it's some circuit board that has given up working.

Same for the Onkyo, did a firmware update, didn't help, also resetting it didn't help. Guess is that the HDMI circuit board is damaged.

Mede8er is also dead, tried analog video, updating firmware, removing HDD, nothing helped.

[Harrison]

A UPS definitely is the best solution for protection against power cuts and surges. Can your Qnap communicate with a UPS to power down when power failure occurs?

I've considered getting a UPS for some time to use with my home server that is on all the time so it will control it and power down the computer if a power cut happens.

[Demon Cleaner]

Can your Qnap communicate with a UPS to power down when power failure occurs?

Don't know yet, would be nice, as I cannot hook the PC to the UPS, which could then power down the NAS, but perhaps there's an option or application on the NAS itself that can do so.

[Demon Cleaner]

Today they finally picked up the receiver and the beamer, hopefully it's not taking too long (which honestly I doubt :dry:).

[Harrison]

Are they being repaired locally? Or sent back to the manufacturer to be tested? If they are going back to the manufacturer it could take months before you get a repaired or replaced return.

The bad thing is that normally the manufacturers will give you a refurbished item as a warranty replacement, rather than another brand new item. This happened with me when I had to do a warranty return for my HP B9180 professional A3+ printer. HP were very good, sending the replacement printer before I had to return the faulty one, so that the packaging from the replacement could be used to return the faulty one. They even paid all the shipping costs and pre-arranged the courier collections. The annoying thing was that my new printer was manufactured in 2011 when i purchased it, but the replacement I received was a refurbished one made in 2007! It had however worked perfectly to date so I can't really complain. It is just annoying to know you have purchased something nice and new and ended up with something years old.

[Demon Cleaner]

They are sent back to the manufacturer.

But don't they just repair them then? I didn't get any replacement. And honestly, I don't want older stuff. Although they are quite new in their range, both of them.

[Harrison]

It depends on the company.

In my experience with electronics they will test your returned items, and make a report. If they agree it is a fault covered by the warranty, if it is a straight forward repair,such as swapping out a part, they might repair your original equipment. But more often they will either give you another new replacement (which I would always prefer they did rather than even repairing the faulty one), or they will send you a refurbished replacement and then put your faulty items to be repaired ready to be used as another warranty refurbished unit.

[Demon Cleaner]

I had also to send in the Mede8er for repair yesterday, as my insurance company doesn't want to replace it, they want me to get it repaired.

Mede8er told me to send it back in the original box and in a anti-static foil, which unfortunately I didn't have anymore, so I just hope that they accept the package.

No news yet for my other stuff.

[Harrison]

That is annoying, but I expected your insurance would try to do that.

[Demon Cleaner]

I got the Mede8er already back today, and it got repaired, the HDMI output was defective, and they replaced the motherboard. Everything went on the guarantee. Work fine again now, and I have to say, everything went without flaws, I have to admit that their support is awesome.

The mediaplayer arrived on Wednesday at Mede8er, and they already send it back yesterday, and I got it today.

[Harrison]

That is brilliant service.

[Tiago]

My car (Seat Ibiza 1.6 tdi) just gave me a "small problem", he were going to the beach, and then a sound came out and the alert light "refrigerator water device" or something like this came out from the dashboard. I stopped and checked the refrigerator liquid container, and it was empty, not even a single drop of liquid. The car (like all cars today) has a device that warns when it goes below the minimum limit, and it's not so low. Some tube broke and all the liquid went away very fast. It didn't have me time to put more liquid. :(
It went to the garage (Seat) and the result... 275 euros.... fxxx !!! the bill has so many shxxs that it looks like a supermarket list. Even shixx like "environment measures - 5 euros " .... 275 euros here is a lot of many.:mad:

[Harrison]

I never go to a main car dealer any more. Better to find a recommended local independent garage. Better service and cheaper.

A couple of months ago a couple of the tire valve stems on my Peugeot 407 snapped off while I was trying to check the air pressures. The car has pressure sensors. I rang Peugeot and they said you could only buy a whole new sensor unit and it would cost £275, plus £75 to fit, plus £65 to recode the car into the new sensors. I did some internet research and found I could buy replacement pressure stems from eBay for about £11 each and ringing a local garage I trust they fitted them for £10 each wheel. Result!

[Demon Cleaner]

The garages tend to be very expensive, and also often change things that don't need to be changed. That's always difficult to see for myself, when there's like 10 items that got changed, and they tell you that they really needed to do it, because I'm a total car noob :)

[Harrison]

I sometimes wonder how much the large garages do tell the truth. I used to use main dealers, but ine year I booked my car in for a yearly service and mot and they kept ringing me saying they had found more things that needed doing. They quoted a total over £1500. I told them just to do what was needed to get it through the mot. Cost £240. Just shows! Got a friend who is a mechanic to look at the list and only a couple of the items needed doing. The rest were just slightly worn, but had years left in them.

[Stephen Coates]

Why do the main dealers charge so much?

My mother bought a Vauxhall car about 4 years ago, and had to get a regular service at the dealer in order for the warranty to remain valid. This was expensive. Now she goes to a reputable, much cheaper garage. But we still get 'courtesy calls' from the dealer advising that it is due a routine service.

[Teho]

This isn't country-specific obviously, as I've had similar experiences here. My old Citroen, the first time I had it in for a periodical I used the garage of the local "official" citroen dealer. It returned with a good long list of flaws that needed fixing. It was also way more expensive than I expected (close to £2.000!!). So I took the car to a different garage that someone at work recommended. The guy there took a look at the list and the prices the first place had noted in the margins, and he just shook his head. Said he found it amazing that they had customers at all with prices like that, and guaranteed they'd do it "a lot cheaper". So I delivered the car there on the morning of the agreed upon date and later that day I get a phonecall from them. One of the things on the list that required fixing to have the car approved was the brake lines, due to heavy rust damage. This is a serious flaw that many older cars usually needs to deal with, and mine was ten years old so no surprise there. Well, the guy that called me said he'd now had all five guys there studying those lines and none of them could find anything wrong with them! In fact, it turns out that the brake lines on Citroens are part of their particular hydraulics system, it's not a separate system at all. And Citroen has made their cars with rust-free lines for their hydraulics since.. oh well before mine was made! You'd think the official garage would know this, right?

Anyway, they fixed the rest of the flaws at the other garage (which were genuine flaws) and it all ended up well under £1.000, less than half the original asking price. This was without the changing of brake lines though, which was one of the more expensive items on the list, but still.

For the next periodical two years later I decided to send it to that same official garage first, just for the hell of it. The periodical itself costs about the same everywhere, so no worries there. This time, oddly, there was no mention of the brake lines allthough nothing had been done with them since last time of course. I confronted the garage chief with this, and all he could do was mumble some half-hearted excuse that maybe his guys had confused the brake lines with the fuel line, which wasn't as serious a flaw.

I did the same thing, had the car fixed at the other place, and to the official place's credit the flaws they'd found were all genuine. And again the other place fixed it for half the cost the official place had estimated. So I've continued and will continue to do this with my current Peugeot and all future cars I will own; have the periodical at the official place since they after all know the car best and know what to look for, and then having the flaws corrected somewhere else. And it has always been a lot cheaper for me.

[Harrison]

You say the official dealers should know their cars the best, but that definitely wasn't the case with VW.

My wife's last car, an 04 Beetle convertible TDi had the airbag light permanently on. We took it to the local main dealer VW garage and they wrote us a quote. They said it was the airbag sensor and to replace it would involve removing the left-hand front wing and the whole front bumper and grill assembly to get to it, and once replaced it would need the to be recoded to the car. Quote was £700!

So we went away and I found a mobile airbag repair company that come out to your house. He took a look at the car and read the VW report. Looked very confused, and looking at the engineering schematics for the car, because the sensor was actually located under the passenger seat door seal and very easy to get to. It actually just needed an ECU reset of the sensor and then worked ok again. Cost... £45 total including the call out. Mad!

[Tiago]

My first car, a Ford Fiesta, when i took him to Official ford Garage for a repair, they gave me the bad parts so i could see that it was not a false repair. Of course they could brake something that was working... and say it was not...

[Stephen Coates]

*sigh*

I sold a perfectly good, hardly used modem on ebay and the buyer has decided that she can't get the ADSL light to light up, and is complaining.

I think I'll send a message just to check that she did turn it on with the power button on the back.

[Harrison]

It is reset back to factory settings? If the power light comes on and they can log into the hardware's configuration page via the browser, then it is proved to be working and it's their settings not working with their connection/ISP. They need to contact their ISP.

[Stephen Coates]

Well, she just said about the DSL light, not the power light. Even if the settings are wrong, I would at least expect the DSL light to flash.

I did do a factory reset.

[Demon Cleaner]

Still no news about my stuff, F*CKING ANNOYING me :fury:

[Harrison]

They do take their time for any insurance or warranty claims. We finally got confirmation that the Insurance has agreed to replace our shed. That has taken over 3 months to get agreed!

[Kin Hell]

No input for current dilema's, but a rant of my own........

But where to start....... :mad:

Bought a couple of GTX580's back along, 4GB versions & boy, were those things damn hot! I was facing a £500+ bill to upgrade my water cooled 1366 i7 rig to deal with these infernal Blast Furnaces so decided to eGay the gits & made a few bucks in the process. Picked up a couple of Gigabyte GTX670's & it was all Disco RE much cooler temps for another £130 outlay. No need for a massive 1200W+ PSU or water blocks as these cards are infinitely cooler & draw much less power than the GTX580's.

Having done this & seeing what Z77 & Ivybridge was capable of, I ended up with an Asus P8Z77-V Premium board, a 3770K CPU and decided to upgrade hard drive storage from a 2TB Segate Barracuda to a 3TB Seagate Barracuda.

Having installed the Asus boards 32GB mSATA SSD device, I added my 3 x Barracuda 500GB 7200.12's in RAID0 stripe & then added the 3TB drive which has all my backup files on it. During a reboot hanging session, mr bloody 3TB Segate shite decides to corrupt itself to the point, it takes nearly 14 days of continuous of chkdsk @ a DOS prompt on the desktop to try & recover ALL my 1.4TB backup partition to it's former glory. Unfortunately, it totally cocked itself up, meaning I lost everything on the partition. GRRRR you Mother :censored: B**TARD!!

230GB of Amiga Files:
120GB of pictures of my house restoration:
Shit loads of pr0n:
My entire picture collection:

Well, pretty much an entire lifetime of experiences......

I have recovered some of the files through chkdsk, & despite chkdsk actually completing twice during this 14 day period, most pictures were un-readable. The only pics I have recovered of the house renovations are ones sent via Email to a few friends, & they are only like post card sized files of around 100k from their original 4Mb JPEG sizes.....

I've moved on since the fateful day on Saturday last week, where I formatted the entire partition & licked my wounds. Holidays and some other precious moments are on DVD but ffs @ Win7 64bit being such a f'kin BS OS @ trying to recover from crap like this & the worst bit is......

I still don't know why it f'kd itself in this manner? - Seagate Tools for DOS passes every test possible on this 3TB HD, so I have to sit here feeling like...... W T F ? ? ?

The only solice I have is that chkdsk was sat running continuously & 4.9Ghz on this rig for 13.5 days uptime with at least a 12% CPU loading at any time & could still play CS:GO or BF3 or rip DVD's whilst it tried to un-F'k itself. :dry:

What a complete & utter Mofo Ball Ache ffs.......

[Harrison]

Sorry to hear you lost all your data. Not good. You know the saying. Make a backup, then backup the backup, then backup again! Relying on a single copy of files you can't replace is never a good idea.

Regarding the HDD. As you know, to use a 3TB HDD you have to use GPT and not MBR. However I understand that if a GPT HD is in a mixed system with other HDDs using MBR, then the GPT disk will drop down to MBR legacy mode (GPT HDDs have legacy MBR first sectors). I wonder if this might have caused any of your issues.

[Demon Cleaner]

Losing your data is always the worst that can happen, and backups are really your friend here, although a bit costly, it makes life easier and you happier.

I already wanted to buy a second NAS to mirror with the first one, but that will cost me around 2000€, and I prefer to trust my single Raid5 NAS setup, hopefully it will not die!!

[Harrison]

The only issue with a NAS in RAID5 would be if more than one disk failed at the same time. Or if the NAS hardware failed you would need to buy an identical NAS to get the dataset working again. Quite secure other than that.

But I think even then, if you have data that could never be recovered (downloaded) again, such as personal photographs, videos and anything else made yourself, then an offline backup is a very good idea, such as to BD-R or DVD-R.

[Demon Cleaner]

That's why I also have a back up of my photos/videos/music and that stuff on a local HDD. The only things that are on the NAS without backup are my movies, and my ROM collections, as you mentioned, they could be downloaded again, although VERY time consuming.

I think that the risk of 2 HDDs failing is less probable than the NAS hardware itself, which wouldn't be funny at all.

[Demon Cleaner]

I wrote my reseller again today, and he replied that apparently he already got my beamer back, but is still waiting for the amp, which was sent with the belgium post, but unfortunately that isn't the fastest one.

Anyway I would need both, I cannot connect the beamer alone without the amp. So I really hope that he will get it soon, and that it actually also works fine again.

[Harrison]

That's good that one of the items is back. Did he says what needed repairing?

[Demon Cleaner]

Did he says what needed repairing?
I just asked him now :) Because I also want to know, if now the beamer is still calibrated, or if they reset it, and it will need calibration again.

[Demon Cleaner]

Ok, apparently he will get the amp back today. He said that it was sent to him from Lille (France) on September 18th already, and when he called, as it didn't arrive, it got lost in their stock.

For the calibration, he said that it should still be fine, but he's gonna verify together with me when he brings the stuff, we made an appointment for Friday at 14:00. Hopefully he will come.

[Harrison]

That's some good news. So hopefully you should have everything up and running again this weekend? Is there anything else you sent for repair? Or will that be everything back?

We have had some good news. Our house is now officially dry and the builders are just waiting on a certificate of drying, then they can begin work to restore the house. So we could be back in sometime in November, or early December. :)

[Demon Cleaner]

That will be everything back, I'm so happy, then it will run again for this weekend. Just hoping he will get the beamer back today or tomorrow, so that he doesn't have to cancel our appointment.

Some friends of us come on Saturday, and they didn't see it yet, would be a good opportunity for a demonstration. Funny thing is also, that the guy loved the C64 when he was young, and especially the International Soccer from Andrew Spencer. And as I have C64 emulation on the PS3, I once tried to play International Soccer (which I love too) on the beamer, and that was absolutely fantastic, I just had to laugh because of the huge pixels, that's quite funny. So hopefully I can surprise him with that :)

Glad to hear that your house is finally dry, and it would really be great if you can "already" move back again next month or even in December. Are they redoing floors and wallpapers and all that stuff? You had wooden floor, no tiles if I'm right?

[Harrison]

Yes, we had wooden flooring throughout the downstairs, with tiles in the kitchen. They will be redecorating nearly the whole house including floors, wallpaper and kitchen.

They had to take out all the floors including the kitchen tiles, and cut out all the plaster boards from the walls from the ground up about 60cm in all rooms to stop the damp rising. A lot of the woodwork in the house also needs attention as the drying has caused the wood to shrink causing the door frames to crack and plaster in the ceilings also needs attention. All interior doors need replacing too. Also the whole of the ground floor concrete floor has a lot of holes drilled all over it to allow the moisture to escape, and also for their injection drying equipment. They also have to take out the kitchen units as the base units were also damaged by the water.

So the builders have to first remove the kitchen and test our built in appliances. Then seal the holes in the floors. Put new plasterboard up and then re-plaster the walls and any cracks in the ceilings and also fix any movement in the walls upstairs too. They can then start laying the floors and tiles, skirting boards, install the new kitchen and appliances. The front door also has some water damage. So quite a lot of work to do.

We are also still trying to sort out replacing the shed. We are also currently looking at sofas to buy replacements. And have just ordered a replacement washing machine.

I never thought we would get flooded, and never even considered how much damage just a small amount of water could do to a house.

When I get time I will post some of the pictures of the house right from the flood, through the drying process, its current state, and then as work is being done to restore it.

[Stephen Coates]

Good to know you are making progress with the house harrison :).

Important but not very nice question... Is there much chance of getting flooded again?

[Demon Cleaner]

Good question, also here in Luxembourg it's raining like hell again since 24 hours, it's really horrible outside at the moment. What's the situation in the UK?

[Stephen Coates]

Not sure about other places, but here in South Yorkshire its fine. The rain is probably giving us some time off floods, after the disaster 5 years ago.

[Harrison]

Is there much chance of getting flooded again?

Chichester and the surrounding areas such as Bognar Regis and Littlehampton have always been at flood risk. However after a really bad flood in the '90s, that cut Bognor Regis off and residents were stranded, there was a lot of flood prevention work carried out to redirect rivers causing the issues and also additional sea defences.

The recent floods were however different because it was caused by the volume of water that fell in one night. They say we had 1-3 months worth of rain in the one day. Our drains couldn't cope with the volume of water and when the tide rose the drains then had nowhere to drain to (as Chichester is very low lying) so the watch just sat in the drains and it built up.

It could happen again if we get the same amount of water fall, but it hasn't ever happened where I live in the village of Fishbourne before.


Good question, also here in Luxembourg it's raining like hell again since 24 hours, it's really horrible outside at the moment. What's the situation in the UK?

We have had a lot of rain this week. Last weekend and Monday was really bad and rained all day, but so far the rest of this week has just seen a few showers. And today has been sunny and quite warm. I managed to get a lot of the garden tidied up at our own house on Tuesday and Dad came down with his pickup to take all the garden rubbish to the local tip. I also managed to do a bit more in the garden today and Thomas even laid out in the sun on his rug and enjoyed watching the trees blowing in the wind.

[Stephen Coates]

Quick change of subject since this is the rants topic.

Anyone find that when they have (NHS) hospital appointments, they tend to end up canceling them?

I waited ages for my ear/nose/throat appointment, and a week after the letter finally came, they canceled it, and the replacement appointment was in a months time. TBH I'd almost forgotten what the problem was in that time!

Fortunately the appointment was successful and I didn't have to wait too long in the waiting room. Still have no idea why they need 5 different reception desks though.

The consultant decided it would be beneficial to have septoplasty to correct my deviated septum and they booked me in for next Wednesday! I'm surprised they managed it so quick :). Unfortunately my pre admission assessment (last Friday) also got canceled and I had to rearrange it for yesterday.

Who's betting they'll find something better to do next Wednesday? Or maybe that they'll find I have MRSA and can't come into hospital?

[Harrison]

I have to say that we have had brilliant service from the NHS with Chichester's St Richard's Hospital. Throughout all of my wife's miscarriages and then with the many complications during her final successful pregnancy, and during labour and the after care for both her and Thomas were very good. We got appointments quickly (most of the time we would leave a consultation, go to the main desk and book directly for the next).

I suppose Mother and Baby related health care has to take a priority over other treatment in the hospital though, so that is probably why, but we still received excellent care. Even things like being sent to get a blood test was immediate, only having to wait 5-10 minutes directly walking from the consultant to the path. lab.

[Stephen Coates]

I generally pretty happy with the NHS. Its just the long wait for appointments and cancellations that are really annoying.

I had physiotherapy earlier this year for my hypermobile shoulder and that was very good. One of the therapists wanted me to have a blood test and that was done promptly by a practice nurse. Bit of a contrast to my mother who virtually always reports negative experiences with physiotherapy.


Rant 2:

The bus was 30 minutes late in getting me home today due to the roadworks in Balby. I hope the roadworks will cause an improvement. Not really sure what they are doing though:unsure:

[Kin Hell]

Meh @ the Rantage but just to conclude my episode of severe DATA loss as earlier, I now have an answer.....

IRST drivers ffs.....

I was of the opinion my re-install had the lastest drivers, but 10.1.0 ish was required for drives over 2TB to function correctly & I had version 8.x.x.x installed ffs. (default Win7 64 Bit-pre SP1 install)

Put the IRST 11.x.x.x drivers on & the drive jumps from 746.52GB to 2.794.52TB......

It's about bloody time Micro-SHAFT had an SP2 for Win7 X64 Bit.....

I mean...have you seen the sh!t?.....

Install Net Framework 4 from the official download & another nearly 200Mb wants to download as updates......creating more Update Folders on the boot drive causing more DATA management and fragmentation, aka...f'kin BLOATWARE!!!!!

Anyways, at least I now know WHY!!

Grrrrr...... :nuts:

[Harrison]

I thought your problem was a 2TB limit issue. Glad you managed to work out the cause and fix it.

Regarding Win 7 SP1. I actually think M$ did a pretty good job with SP1. If you install a default Win 7, with no service pack, the number of updates, .net installs, and other stuff is quite mad. It can take hours to download it all and bring a system up to date. Install SP1 and the number of updates is dramatically reduced to a manageable number. Yes there are still quite a few large ones, such as IE9 or especially the .net framework updates but things have to continue being developed, so updates will appear.

OK M$ are far from perfect and need to fix a lot of bugs and security risks in their OSs often, but it really annoys me when people moan about new updates. M$ are actively supporting their users and the OS by doing this. Better than releasing an OS and leaving users to fend for themselves, bugs and security issues galore. Or the Apple method of making users buy the OS again every year but releasing a point release under a new name with a couple of shiny new features.. exactly what M$'s free service packs have been doing for years.

[Kin Hell]

I also get peeeved with folk moaning about M$ updates. One Business client I have always turns off the automatic updates on her comuter. Then when she gets an infection, the attitude is: - Why didn't Sophos stop it for all the money I paid??

"Because your Installation isn't up to date madam. The Server & all the other clients are up to date & are not infected, but you are out of date with lack of updates & infected. Here's my bill to put it right for you". :lol:

[Demon Cleaner]

I finally got my stuff back on Friday, beamer is working fine, but the amp still has issues. It has 2 HDMI outputs, and one is still not working, it only shows the ONKYO logo, and gets stuck with that image. Also it doesn't display any menu, on neither output. I called the guy again, and I dunno what's happening now, I was asking him for a replacement. The HDMI output that is working is fine though, at least I get to watch stuff on the beamer. Firmware update doesn't work either, it always asks for an update, but ends up with an error, over network or USB, the same sh*t happens.

[Stephen Coates]

Today I tried to use a self-service till in WHSmith to purchase 4 magazines.

After the 3rd item, it said 'Please wait for assistance'. The display said it required "authorisation to skip bagging". No one came after a moment, so I went to the regular till and paid there, and by the time I left, it was still sitting there saying 'Please wait for assistance'.

:)

[Harrison]

Some self service tills are annoying. Asda's have been the most annoying, not accepting items have been placed in the "bagging" area and needing assistance every 5 seconds to clear a message. Tesco's ones can be just as annoying. Sainsbury's have been the best ones for us so far, allowing most things to scan correctly the first time and no baggage issues.

@DC. Sorry to hear you are still having problems. I would be really annoyed too if I got a repaired unit back to find it still wasn't working correctly. Have you tried resetting it to factory defaults? In case the repairs have just confused it. Worth a short if it is possible.

[Demon Cleaner]

I did a reset many times, as it got stuck quite often. Doesn't have an impact.

[Stephen Coates]

Some self service tills are annoying. Asda's have been the most annoying, not accepting items have been placed in the "bagging" area and needing assistance every 5 seconds to clear a message. Tesco's ones can be just as annoying. Sainsbury's have been the best ones for us so far, allowing most things to scan correctly the first time and no baggage issues.


As a general rule, I don't bother with them, but I have a go with them occasionally. Once, in Morrisons, the staff member said I had to use it so I tried, and I almost missed my £5 change because I didn't know where it came out. But because I was so busy trying to scan everything and put things in the correct place I forgot I was due change anyway!

[Demon Cleaner]

Damn flu!!! I was feeling bad during the night from Monday to Tuesday, had fever and my nose was completely blocked. In the morning I then went to the doctor, and he prescribed me antibiotics. But the same day, it started to get even worse, I also had very bad coughing, still my nose blocked, so I eventually got also headaches because everything was blocked. During the nights I always had 39 degrees fever, and so I decided to go back to the doctor Thursday morning, telling him, that it got only worse.

He then prescribed me other, stronger antibiotics, and told me to stop with the old ones. These I will now have to take for 10 days. So I did that. Fever was still coming, plus I have so much pain in my chest now, because of the relentless coughing, and due to that, I think that I have abdominals like a bodybuilder, sounds funny, but isn't really.

So with the new antibiotics I was hoping to get better soon, and on Thursday afternoon, it seemed to be a bit better, nose was not running anymore all the time, coughing is still existant, painful, but happening less often, only that sometimes for 30 minutes I get like a little coughing "crisis", where I can't stop coughing, and that's painful and annoying.

So last night was better, nose almost not blocked anymore, coughing got better, and my night was more calm than the others before, as also the fever dropped a bit. But when I woke up this morning, I really felt bad, this is at the moment the worst day this week, I have nightmares, hallucinations and body is twitching all the time. And already I didn't eat very much (a bit soup every day) this week, my stomach is now also bad, and I feel kind of puky.

I have no idea when this will get better, but I hope it will happen soon, don't want to go back to the doctor again on Monday, or even have to call one home during the weekend.

And also my plans for tomorrow are all ruined, as tomorrow is my birthday, and I'm quite sure, it will be one of my worst ones, staying home in bed and being sick.

[Harrison]

Oh dear. Sorry to hear you have been so ill. I hope you feel a bit better for the weekend. And Happy Birthday. I hope you can enjoy it in some way.

I've had a sore throat for a couple of days but it hasn't yet developed into anything more. Hopefully it won't. Seems to be the beginning of the cold and flu season.

[Stephen Coates]

Hope you are better soon :).

My Mum said there is some cold type stuff going round at work, so everyone here will probably get something in the near future.

I had nasal surgery in hospital the other day. That went well and although my nose feels like I am suffering from a cold as well as feeling like someone has been cutting it open, I'm pleased to say that it is not blocked and I can breathe quite well :).

[Tiago]

Poor Demon, hope you get better.

I will write one good recipe, that worked well with me, a bit strong to stomach, only for strong man :-)
People laugh at this, but it works. It's old knowledge...

1/2 liter of milk
1 onion bark
2 big spoons of honey
1 glass of whiskey

the milk must be hot, the hotest you can drink, put the onion bark inside, just the bark, (doesn't have big flavor)
put the honey and then the whisky also hot, shake it, drink it fast, and then go to bed.
Or you die, or you will be better... :-) not kiding, it worked for me. but this is for when you start to feel bad, before medicines.
If you are with antibiotics i would not do it....

[Demon Cleaner]

Yesterday was the first day I didn't have fever anymore, today I'm back to work. Although I'm still coughing and sneezing. Must still take antibiotics until Saturday.

[Demon Cleaner]

Some news about my Onkyo 616. It's still not working, the old problem still exists. So I decided to get another one, but as I read that the 414, 515 and 616 series (new models) all seem to have serious problems with HDMI, there's even a thread in the AVS forum only about that, I decided to get the bigger model, the 717, which apparently is not affected by that problem.

He will take the old one back, he told me that Onkyo would take it back, and it will be possible to make a change. Will only have to see how much I will have to pay, as the 717 is almost double the price, like almost 1.000€.

Only problem at the moment is, that Onkyo wants the complete receiver returned, including accessories, which is not the problem, but they want it in the original box, which I don't have anymore, and my reseller also doesn't have a spare 616 box left. But he told me that he's gonna manage it somehow.

[Harrison]

That is quite bad that their receivers have such a problem with hdmi. We're they not any other masks of receiver you could have changed it for?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Demon Cleaner]

The Onkyo receivers are quite good, all the others like Denon or Marantz f.ex, had only 1 HDMI output, whereas I really need 2, for the TV and for the beamer. Also the Onkyo has 7 HDMI inputs, I need already 5 of them.

The Onkyo (616) has also 160W output/channel (Onkyo 717 has 170W), all the others only come with 100W or such.

I also have this nice remote called oRemote (http://oremote.oriole.net/oRemote/Welcome.html) on my iPad, which works really good and looks very nice.

And I know how the Onkyo works, and how to set it up without checking manuals anymore, which is time consuming. I have to mention that as long as it was working, it was really nice, has superb sound, loads of options and a lot of inputs.

The processing via Qdeo works like a charm, plus the 717 has also 4k upscaling.

I mainly bought the 616 because it got so many positive reviews and awards, and like I said, as long as it worked (before the lightning struck), everything was just fine, and I was enjoying my music on it like I never did before. Only when the HDMI board broke it started to make this problems. One of the guys from the reseller also uses the 616, and he doesn't have problems at all. Btw, it's him who gave me the box to send it back to Onkyo, as he kept it.

Probably he's coming this afternoon to give me the 717. Let's hope so, because then everything should be fine again.

[Harrison]

They definitely look like very nice receivers. I would personally be put off by the common HDMI problem across the range, although as you say it has all the inputs and options you could need.

Not sure what other makes could match the spec either. My Sony has everything I need, but would be no good for you as only has 4 HDMI in.

[Demon Cleaner]

I would personally be put off by the common HDMI problem across the range
But as I mentioned, the 717 doesn't seem to have that problem.

Here's the "The *Official* Onkyo TX-NR414/515/616 Problems Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/t/1415258/the-official-onkyo-tx-nr414-515-616-problems-thread)", you might have a look.

However, they need to fix this problem as fast as possible, I think it got already better, if not perfect with the latest firmware update, but unfortunately mine cannot even write to the flash anymore, thus the update fails.

[Demon Cleaner]

I got the 717 yesterday, and it works like a charm, everything is fine now. Hopefully I won't have any problems with this one. I'm happy again :)

But I had to go back to the doctor yesterday, as Im still coughing and sneezing, despite of taking antibiotics for 12 days. I have to do a bloodtest on Monday, and he also prescribed me different antibiotics again for 10 days. I hope that I will get soon better, as this starts to be annoying. And tomorrow we go to one of the nicest restaurants here in Luxembourg, and we're gonna have a 10 course menu, everything based on mushrooms, and I really hope that I will feel better tomorrow than today, otherwise I won't even taste the food. It's for my birthday, which was on the 13th, but I was sick, and anyway by parents were on holiday. And like this, they pay for the meal :)

[Harrison]

10 courses? Wow. I love mushrooms but can't imagine eating all those courses based on them. Let me know what you have?

And happy belated birthday too. Shame you couldn't enjoy it, and I hope you get better soon.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Stephen Coates]

I assume the courses will be small if there are 10 of them?

Personally, I'm not too keen on mushrooms.

[Demon Cleaner]

Of course they are quite small, but very fancy. It was really amazing, and I enjoyed every course there was. I will write down what I had, but obviously the menu is in french, and I guess you won't understand everything.

1st. Amuse-bouche, petit cocktail
2nd. Crème de cèpes, poitrine de porc confite, foie gras, migas
3rd. Coquilles St Jacques, pâte maison torsadée, trompettes de la mort, sauce pesto
4th. Sorbet Ã* la pomme verte, cardamome
5th. Filet de bar rôti, jambon <pata negra>, girolles, purée de patates douces
6th. Caille en deux services, roussillous, oignons fanes, ail confit
7th. Fromage <Tou dels tillers>, gélatine de vin moelleux, kaki
8th. Granité au citron vert, pomme grenade, meringue au fruit de la passion
9th. Gâteau aux myrtilles, glace aux amandes
10th. Mignardises

The 6th course came in 2 services, so you got one plate first, after you finished, you got a second different one. And if you notice, in the end there was 4 desserts :) (if you count the cheese as dessert)

[Harrison]

So did they all really contain mushrooms?

I understood quite a lot of it as French is retained in a lot of food names. Definitely has made me hungry reading it. :lol:

[Demon Cleaner]

Besides obviously the desserts, they all had mushrooms.

1st was appetisers, canapés

2nd. Cèpes = Porcini (strange english name)
3rd. Trompettes de la mort = Horn of plenty

4th was ice cream.

5th. Girolles = Chanterelle (that's also another french word, but apparently it's called like that in english too)
6th. Roussillou = (no idea what this one is called, my father knew yesterday what it's called in german, but I cannot remember)

The rest were desserts.

[Harrison]

A lot of English food names, especially for things like Mushrooms, come from Latin. A lot of English has a mixture of Latin and French, which is why many things are similar. We were invaded a lot over the centuries and added bits of different languages as we went along.

[Stephen Coates]

Not a rant, but I thought I'd mention my 5 minutes of fame on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx-VYetzpzU&feature=g-u

I won a multimeter :)

[Harrison]

Congrats. Was it a good Multimeter?

[Stephen Coates]

Judging by what Martin said in his video review, it looks like it is a pretty good multimeter, but far too expensive for what it is. But certainly will be good for free :).

[Demon Cleaner]

Congrats lucky guy :)

[Stephen Coates]

BBC Three's continuity announcers are dumb :slap:.

[Stephen Coates]

Why do so many people type web addresses into Google?
:lolup:

[Harrison]

I'm guessing because a lot of people don't understand the differences between various ways of inputting into a browser. My parents get confused between the address bar and the search bar in browsers f.ex.

[Stephen Coates]

This forum has been very quiet recently.:ninja:

[Harrison]

Now that I have my son and look after him full time in the daytime I don't get as much time as I would like to devote to adding new threads to the forum to help create some new interest and get everyone posting.

It would be great if others could help with this and think up some interesting retro threads, and to post some threads about new things in both the retro world and the current gaming one.

[Tiago]

well, i have a magazine here in Portugal that takes my free time. After my main work, i have to review games, set press releases, organize work, deliver work to other, i don't have much time, i came here in some free minutes during main work

[Stephen Coates]

I'm guessing because a lot of people don't understand the differences between various ways of inputting into a browser. My parents get confused between the address bar and the search bar in browsers f.ex.

I recently had someone do a Bing search for Google, then perform a search for a fairly obvious site in Google :lol::lol::lol:

Anyway, todays rant:

I was in Marks and Spencers the other day. Since I had a handful of items, I decided I would go to the manned till, since I find the self service tills awkward for anything more than a couple of items. Problem is, the manned tills and the self service tills share the same queue.

There were about 4 old ladies who tried to get me to go to the self service tills just so they could push in front! :huh:

[Harrison]

The old people are the worst in supermarkets. Getting in your way around the store, and the clogging up all the checkouts with their "all the time in the world" slowness. Drives me mad. Why do they stop in completely stupid places that make it nearly impossible to get around them?

[Demon Cleaner]

The old people are the worst in supermarkets.
That's totally true, but always blaming the younger ones!!

I ordered a new battery for my PSP slim, and I had to chose between 3rd party brands, or an original. Eventually I decided the 5x more expensive original, got it, tested it, and after charging for 3 hours, it still doesn't work. Booted up the PSP with the cable, battery information, it doesn't even show the battery. So I guess the battery is so old, that you cannot even charge it anymore, although it came wrapped in the original SONY package. Just wonder how long it has been lying around in the shop?

[Harrison]

Does the battery have a manufactured date in it? Many do. But I've never had an issue with older batteries not charging, only batteries failing due to the amount of use. Might just be a faulty one. At least being new you can take it back.

And are you sure it's the battery, and the console can charge it ok?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

[Demon Cleaner]

I already send it back, they said they're gonna replace it.

The console charges my other battery just fine. Btw, I noticed that the battery was quite "bloated", so I guess it was due to age.

[Harrison]

Are the PSP slim batteries completely different design to the original phat PSP? I'm still using the original battery that came with my US 1.5 phat PSP which must be pretty old now.

[Demon Cleaner]

Yep, they're also slimmer.

[Kin Hell]

The old people are the worst in supermarkets. Getting in your way around the store, and the clogging up all the checkouts with their "all the time in the world" slowness. Drives me mad. Why do they stop in completely stupid places that make it nearly impossible to get around them?



The old people are the worst in supermarkets.
That's totally true, but always blaming the younger ones!!

<snip>

I use to think the same, especially on Pension day in the Post Office. Swinging shopping bags & ranting "Move over, I'm a pensioner you know!"
Still, just remember that one day if the pair of you are lucky enough to be that old, (& I sincerely hope both of you do) you got it coming too. :lol:
The real shitter here is, ....I ain't far off already.... :eyebrow: