More emergency staff to provide full cover, with breaks.

This, of course.

Surely the demise of bigger shops on the high street is just a continuation of a process which has been on going for years? The larger shops having put almost all the smaller shops out of business many years ago, the even bigger shops are now putting them out of business – it’s not the demise of the high street, it’s capitalism working exactly how it should.

P.S. which tuning system is the violin using? you know that 440hz concert A is only for nazi’s right? 😉

Bokonon, that’s not timbre.
Think of two violins playing exactly the same note at exactly the same volume.
They will sound different.
They each have a different timbre.

Given that notes are only very loosely defined, the comparison is meaningless.

The sound is a collection of different frequencies tones at different amplitudes – yes, each violin will have a different collection of these, but they are still just functions of frequency and aomplitude.

You don’t believe that people are able to differentiate changes in timbre between sounds of identical pitch and loudness?

Given that the timbre of sound could only really reasonably be described as a function of pitch (or more accurately frequency) and loudness (or more accurately amplitude), how can they remain the same and the timbre be different?

If the policy which details the stipulations for the payment isn’t explicitly part of your contract of employment (and unless you are working somewhere with pretty damn good union representation, chances are it’s not), then they can pretty much change it at will, and there is very little you can do about it – I’d suggest that negotiating an extension/grace period to replace the car is the most worthwhile course of action to pursue.

I think it less than that – more like 1db:

http://www.dspguide.com/ch22/1.htm

Actually, it depends on the frequency, duration and intensity of the sound as well as the auditory context – some sounds can be significantly louder in difference than would normally be noticeable, but due to the sounds around them they are almost completely imperceptible.

It can be as low as 0.3dB – e.g. 1khz @ 80dB SPL but 1Khz at 20dB SPL is as high as 1.5dB.

Sound is one of the areas where Weber’s law falls flat on it’s arse.

NHS Direct tend to refer direct to A&E for all small people injuries.

who the hell does that???

Guilty. My returns get filed before the middle of April so that I know i can afford to pay it. (although it’s only a paltry amount of royalties from a book, not an actual job).

Doesn’t stop cock ups though – I had it all sorted and then changed jobs, my new employer underpaid my student loan payments and now i have to pay them through my self assessment tax instead – if I didn’t do SA then I wouldn’t have had to pay it.

Given that the power coming into the unit is eventually going to be, at least in a round about way, the sound that you listen to, then the quality of the power in has the potential to impact on the overall, discernible sound quality.

However, it’s unlikely that anything that can be done in a power cable alone over and above a slightly nicer oxygen free, thick copper cable, ferrite beads etc. which would cost at the outside £15 – if you want to improve the power supply, then there are ways of re-constituting a cleaner sine waveform which are much more worthwhile than investing a grand in a power cable – personally, I’d not bother with either, it’s going to greater lengths than you will see in recording studios, and as such all you will do is make the noise which is inherent in the recording more audible.

isn’t plain old dried pasta using durum wheat or whatever, a good source of energy and excellent for athletes tubby IT managers bimbling round trail centres whereas fresh pasta isn’t very good for you?

Is plain old dried pasta just fresh pasta that has been dried? (thats how I make my dried pasta, with my machine that looks exactly like the machine in the OP – still don’t own an audi though.)

If you want to climb the three highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales, why are you in the Lake District at all?

Or leaving Scotland for that matter – Ben Nevis, Ben Macdui and Braeriach are a pretty good challenge in 24hours, much less driving as well.

All the Scottish 4000’s in 48hours, all the Welsh 3000’s in 24hours, if anything – the lakes doesn’t lend itself to this type of challenge as well (from a numbers perspective) but the Bob Graham round is a good one to aim for…

We left Essex when the eldest was 7 middle one was 5, and they both had (tame) Essex type accents, mum and Dad both RP type accents – we are now in the midlands, and they have been shifting their accents slightly (in the last 6 months!) – so they are pretty malleable at that age.

As above – the main training should be avoiding crapping on the ground and taking your rubbish home with you.

Why not just drive a car for 24hours round the M25, it would at least be original, and there are more places to go for a dump.

Get it – Yes
Do it – Yes

University Lecturer.

I’ll second the vote for slings – we’ve got a bit of a collection of them (we also have 3 pushchairs) and I preferred to use the sling – none of this baby bjorn nonsense though – a decent sling that allows you to wear it and carry on what you are doing. We went from a rockin baby pouch sling for the tiny baby, to a slightly bigger one (a wrap sling or a ring sling) to a mei tai and stopped using that once they got too big to carry. Essential if you want to go anywhere busy (london, festivals, shows etc.)

Phil and teds is also a good option if you can get one second hand. I’ve got one I want to sell, but the missus thinks she wants baby no 4…

Just to update people – it is no longer 12months before you can claim for unfair dismissal, you can’t your employer to an employment tribunal until 2 years as of last April.

I’ve used cheap print house – http://www.cheapprinthouse.co.uk/ and Hillingdon Green Print http://www.hillingdongreenprint.co.uk and circle services http://www.circleleafletprinting.co.uk and they are all pretty good, depends what you want from the printing and how much you want to pay generally (due to quality constraints genuinely cheap printing looks it – e.g. Rizo printing) (although I’ve never had design work done).

I have to disagree with the above post which said that employment law is skewed in favour of the employee – it’s not – it’s totally employercentric and becoming more so every year – we have some of the most lax labour laws in the western world.

None the less – poor performance review doesn’t mean you will be sacked, and I’d expect that you would be given an opportunity to rectify any problems which are outlined at the review, I would also expect that any formal processes would outline the exact nature of the problem *before* the meeting took place, and that any outcomes had clear time basis and that the opportunity for assistance for you to ensure that you can meet them is given (a mentor to help as a minimum).

I’ve represented dozens of people in performance reviews and similar and very few of them were sacked at the first one, and those who were sacked often went because they failed to do what they said they would and could do in the meetings.

Of course, the ‘walkers’* only have their rights thanks to a mass trespass and they’d do well to remember that!

This is important to remember – this isn’t a fight with walkers, the problem is with landowners.

Same place as the OP by the looks of it (round the corner from my gaff) trying out new bars.

If Alan Kimbers place (Calluna, above) is full, then Bank Street Lodge in Ft William itself is close and pretty good, been there many times, as is Aite Cruidicchd…. – http://www.independenthostelguide.co.uk/selected-accommodation.php?hostel=142 and http://www.bankstreetlodge.co.uk/

Feel the need to stick up for Guernsey (off back to the rock on the ferry tomorrow to see the family for Xmas) it’s nicer than Jersey, doesn’t have any Jersey people and generally has a more ‘small island’ feeling than Jersey.

Save the cash, get friendly with the tech staff and book the shit out of the uni edit suites – use the money to buy more booze/bikes/holidays in spain.

Is 5’4″ short then?

It’s certainly not as short as the website makes out – it makes it look as though it’s half the height of the average UK male…

The Power of Maps, Denis Wood.

Tom Waits
Ritchie Hawtin (basically everything until he grew his hair, then he went all shit)
Phil Ochs

Yes and no – there are two types of optical cable connectors used in audio gear, so you might end up with a perfectly good optical cable, which won’t plug in – TOSLINK and miniToslink are the two you are most likely to come across on consumer gear, and many cables come with an adaptor on the end – if you know it’s standard TOSLINK at both ends, then the adaptors are useless flaps of plastic, if you need them, then they are essential.

In terms of quality, there are differences, but they don’t improve or detract from the picture – it’s much more about how durable they are, being semi-rigid means that the better ones are much less likely to snap, the cheaper ones are more likely to snap. If you are plugging in and forgetting it behind your hifi/TV, then it won’t matter, if you are plugging it in and out everyday, then a more rugged one is better.

Yes, have brine a la Nigella a couple of times, ours was put on to brine this morning in a brewing bucket.