Halfords isnt a bad place, just like every other large business with managing directors and stockholders who are trying to squeeze the pennys. To be honest Ive never heard of tread stopping compound, but I have heard of tyre patches to fix large cuts from the inside to make the tyre usuable again.

As for the Kia incident, he might have been deaf from last nights booze fuelled antics, or just a bit dumb. Again, pay peanuts and get mostly monkeys, with exceptions.

No inner tube in one wheel. Headset bearing races put in the wrong way around. Wrong size bearing races in an open BB so it would never be perfect, just too loose or too tight. Various bolts cross threaded!

I once charged a deaf man £2000 for a sat nav instead of £200 when I worked at Halfords. It was a genuine error and noone realised until the guy came back in saying his bank had just called.

Skidartist, too true. Tescos seems to make their money by selling stuff long before theyve paid for it, and by dragging their heels themselves.

Not all students are lazy. I had a part time job working a minimum of 20 hours a week for the whole of my degree…But I agree that is a stupid move.

she ought to be careful, locking her arms out like that….

Simon, a college mate of mine is charging £400 a pop for a Daguerreotype…pricey stuff!

YamYambiker, any jessops with a lab with put through a roll of normal C41 colour print film or black and white such as Ilford XP2 or Kodak Pro b+w film for £4.00 for a dev only. £4.50 in the hour. In Plymouth, we get swarmed with students as other than their colleges we can often do it quicker than the pro photolab, and it goes through a machine so no guesswork or human intervention….

Basically Photography was my second shot at a degree. I had miserabally and slowly completed 2 years of Business Studies but found out I failed 3 modules. Parent pressure and lack of direction/knowing what I wanted didnt help me at all.

Stoner, I agree with you all too much now Ive done 5 years of the system. Its a shame its like that. As I said, I am not afraid of hard work, and approaching local agency's and photographers down here has definately proved fruitless, even for non paid doing it to look good on the cv work.

Forensic photography and forensics as a whole was something Ive heavily researched, both in uni and out. It appealed to me wholly, but to be told by forensic scientists and a MET forensic specialist in photography that I wont get anywhere in forensics without a related degree, and even then there slim pickings was an eye opener. Even my University were giving me stuff that now, is far outdated. Only big police forces have specialist photographic units now, and forensic works are now generally trained Scene Of Crime Officers. Digital cameras can do it all, so why get a specialist?

I have looked elsewhere, and considered going for uni jobs as technicians, approaching opticians, local studios and photographers, applying for factory work and even becoming a trainee financial advisor. Im rubbish at maths but good with people!

Stumpy, Ill give it a looksie.

Mastiles, Yes and no. Ive never been attracted to the freelance side of it, and that hasent changed. too much competition, and far too little work.

…Or a Boston tea party vid.

All im saying is one of them has a fibre problem.

Gotta wonder if hes on that trainee management scheme….Id personally rather clean toilets.

I find Canon Ixus's also best. Noise control and low light performance on Canon's generally kicks the ass of most Panasonic's but Panasonic have nicer colour control for landscapes like above. Canon are better all rounders I think though.

Model wise, look at the Ixus 100 if she wants something diddy, otherwise the Ixus 95 is a good buy.

Turin Brakes new album is mixed, but theres some very good songs. One of the best albums Ive bought this year had to be Friendly Fires album. Much the same as the single they released, which pleases me. Chase and Status, More than alot is also an album Ive been listening to alot and also Noah and the Whales debut album. Only a few brilliant songs, but worth having for a lazy sunday.

Paulo Nutinis latest is good, lots of summery tracks and much more upbeat than his entry album.

Avoid Inkjet if you are just doing document printing, but as people have said avoid the cheaper ones as you will end up paying through the nose. Better to buy a semi-decent one now and have reasonable sized toners.

jeez. There I was just buying a few odd bits from places like Next, Topman and River Island and it turns out Ive got to start making myself look like Kryton from Red Dwarf to fit in now…

I have to say Sony SLR's have always ft a little industrial however the new bodies feel awful in the hand. I work in a large multinational camera shop and the amount of people that get put off by the feel of it. Ergonomics are always going to be better on Canon as they always have, however the Sony is comparable in image quality I would say, only losing up in the high ISO stakes. It has got an amazing live view, and the built in stabilisation is a brilliant idea.

Oh, and a good film if you can stand Danny Dyer is The Doghouse.

http://www.doghousethemovie.com/

That Dead Snow looks good. The 'dead' in Outpost were not that dead looking. Good film though.

I liked the remake of Dawn of the dead. Also Romero's Land of the dead. To add some comedy to it for a low budget flick Flight of the living dead. Low budget, but a genuinely good low budget zombie flick.

A bit off topic is a film called The Abandoned. IMDB didnt find it that great but I think that it was more original than a lot of horror flicks these days. Its the subtley of it all that freaked me out!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475937/

Is she kinky? Cuff her to the bed for the whole day :D

I winced when he dropped off that rock. I dont know about you but my nuts are saying no. Great and challenging, but hes never going to be going that fast is he? Id like to see what hes like when hes clipped in…

Biggest difference is always rotating weight, so tyres/tubes/rim/spokes. Ti springs are great ideas as they make the suspension suppler at the beginning and ramp up better than steel. maybe save a pound and a half at most?

As people have said if you are skilled in a trade and you sell the product of your services then its no different to being a plumber or a builder. Ive paid for a degree in Photography, worked my ass off for over 3 years to get to a point where I am only just starting to produce photos of a quality that I actually am happy with taken on kit that has also cost me loads. If I take a photo of someone why shouldnt I charge them? Ive put the effort to be there, take the shot, then most probably put it through an editing program to get it spot on.

Some type of tree wasp, theres lots of varieties.

Yeh, I wasent sure if you should put anything in their mouth. She wasent biting otherwise I might have, but even a wooden spoon is going to cause damage if she snapped her mouth shut. Nice one Chewkw!

Ive got enough common sense to know to keep them away from anything sharp, dont hold them down, dont put anything in their mouth, pillow under the head and stop her falling off the bed!

MK3/4 polo, cheap, reliable, easily maintained. Focus's are good calls, always reliable and a good drive. MK3 Renault Clio's are better than similar year Peugots as regards to electrics and only have a few common cheap faults as regards to problems. Ka's arent that bad, but do suffer from rust severly around the bottom of the doors/door sills and boots. Micra's are poor for driving fun, virtually the worst car Ive ever driven as regards to feeling and only just outdone by my ex's Daewoo Matiz but that probably wouldnt matter so much to her.

Numpty. Why cant MP's keep their blooming noses out of the topics they know nothing about and worry about some real issues. There are sooooooooooo many things that could be changed to make an impact to young peoples lifes, especially the multitude of things other than airbrushing that could be done to change the 'confidence crisis' that supposedly exists.

Really do we need any more frigging range?! It just seems like Canon and Nikon are in a power competition to see how many similar camera's they can make.

I work in a well known camera shop (didnt say it was a good one mind) and I cant get over how quickly they move stuff on. It seems just a few months before they are renewing a new camera, yet the top end stuff dosent get changed for a few years. Id barely got my 40D when they released the 50D.

What does the D3000 do that that the D60 dosent? Other than the larger screen and 11 point autofocus system, it dosent appear any different. Even though I am a Canon man they are no better, so Im not just complaining about Nikon.

I was really looking forward to this, but was a bit dissapointed. Its great in theory, and starts very well but there wasent enough ooomph in it for me. I still bought it on dvd as its definately one of the better horror films of the last few years. Im still loving The haunting in Connecticut though!

I agree with Coffeeking in that its pointless putting in an early bid. All it does is encourage others to put in early bids, which is great for the seller but not the buyer. I usually make a note of the auction time, and if Im not doing anything special log on with ten mins to go and refresh it. I dont normally bid til about 40 seconds left, then I put in another slightly higher bid to get past the other bidder/s who think putting in another quid is going to get them past me. For example, an item is at £5.00, I come in with £7.01, then re-bid at 20 seconds with £8.51. I get the item for the price I wanted often, unless of course it is so busy it does go for a stupid price. I dont use software or any websites, I think thats a bit unfair but timing is the way to do it. I also find putting in weird amounts helps, like adding on a penny or 20p as you could very well win it by that.

It is! Teenagers not being able to cope with normal life, let alone working life. Does make you wonder dosent it?!

Invest the money you shouldnt have in a swiss high interest bank account. When and if you need to give it back in a few months, at least you would have made a bit of money on it.

I agree with Jam-bo totally. It seems pointless buying a 5DmkII body to run any cheap lens, even if its a lens to have as an all in one. I wouldnt go for a Sigma lens. If you want to make the most out of the body, you need L series lenses. If you want one of the best full frame portrait bodies on the market it would be wasted on a third party lens. They are ok, but are never as sharp, clear, saturated and you get problems such as fringing, barrel distortion and soft edges.

I would say if you need a 28-80mm get a mega cheap canon own plastic 28-80mm F4.5-5.6 from a 35mm EOS body for the mean time, then upgrade later. It just seems a shame to use such a nice body with a naff lens (your Zuiko lenses are arnt naff, they are brilliant – referring to Sigma and Tamron lenses) I would try and get hold of the 24-105mm F4 L or the 24-70mm F2.8 L as they are both very good.

The other option is to go to prime lenses – 28mm F1.8, 50mm F1.8 and eventually an 85mm F1.8. All are good lenses when used at a couple of stops above their extreme apertures. But, I am recommending these without knowing what you have already in terms or lenses?

Looks nice! Itll grow back but itll take a long time.

Ian, they give us an aim of £1400, though I have talked to the organisers and it can be less. Again, I questioned the 50% of the donation and this is to go towards running costs of the events. Things like bike hire, guide hire, food, insurance and equipment.

ccleaner again. Its better for keeping a freshly installed system running smoother rather than revitalising an old one, but it will be worth having regardless.

I honestly dont think Ive ever seen that many E numbers in an ingrediants list before! And I came from the era of E numbers as a child…

I dont know where you keep your bikes but I would be tempted (if you own the flat) to fit a security ring to the floor or wall to be able to lock your bikes up. Alternatively, lock them together so they have to cut through the lock to get them out. Obviously that will only help if they break in, and wont protect any other possesions.

A better door lock would always help, especially if you have insurance as they would be more likely to pay out if your flat is more protected. Ring them as well because they have a minimum security policy.

D60 is not a bad camera, produces fairly punchy and saturated results. Its performance is as good as any other on the market, but you are limited to AF-S lenses (although this isnt a small selection, its still a limitation) and it is weightier than the Canon. Personally, it dosent feel as good in the hand as the Canon 1000D or 450D but these are small things.

Nothing you buy will be the same mechanical feel to your A1, and quality wont be as good straight off but digital does take a bit or working and learning to get the best out of it.

Doug

I built a rigid single speed bike up for less than £100 just from buying bits off mates! a semi decent frame and forks are undeniably the most expensive bits, wheels next. Hes better off buying cheap machine built wheels than building those hubs you gave him into wheels. If he finds an older frame I have a pair of 98 Bombers in almost immaculate condition he can have for cheap, though as they only have 70mm travel they are quite short and wouldnt feel right on new frames!

Sounds like the water isnt oxygenated enough. Clean the tank out and give him some fresh water if you can.

Its the ‘done’ thing at the moment because as everything its the fashion. Just like tilt and shift, just like the recent revival of Holga’s and naff badly exposed and vignetted images. Yes, some people do see it as an answer to one of the inherant problems of digital photography but most people on here are sensible and know differently.