This keyboard can swap between computers with a key combination https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k2-wireless-mechanical-keyboard?variant=31063869718617 I also use the Logitech MX Master 3 which can swap between computers when you press a button

I went to public school on a similar scholarship. It took me about 5 years of living in a working-class city at uni, working crappy jobs with normal working-class folks to undo my extreme class indoctrination. The distain for normal people that my school culture sewed was ridiculous. My sister went to a different public school although she didn’t board and the bullying she received has completely crippled her confidence. We both came from a wee, friendly school and the change was so much. Even though my sister is doing great, PhD etc, she is still really affected by that time.
I loath that the school I came from unlocks doors.

+1 to used Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon. The most recent generation you can afford on eBay. Big business dump their fleets every 3 or so years and they can be found in as-new condition. Superb laptops and spares are readily available and will be for years.

OP, I would explore an ADHD (with or without hyperactivity) diagnosis. It sounds a lot like it tbh. If you’ve got money then just go private as NHS can be a joke depending here you live. If anyone says “it’s just putting a label on yourself and it doesn’t change anything” they can sack off. Even if you have no interest in medication, it’s so so useful to understand your disorder and once you understand how your brain works then it helps 100% to figure out ways to help yourself. There are some great Facebook groups and online resources to help manage your work and life taking into account the way your brain works.

I’ve just found out (last night) that this has happened to me. This thread helped so much to out it in perspective. Australian girl I fancied the pants off here for uni exchange, the first time I met her I messaged my mate and drunkenly described her as ‘a vision from heaven’, loves to dance, sweetest girl I’ve ever met.

I was leaving to go to Turkey for a month a month ago so her and I and some friends went to a ceilidh on the night I left. We got a little tipsy, came back to mine and confessed our feelings for each other and things got very steamy (but nothing happened). I couldn’t believe it, it was just the most amazing thing to realise she felt the same.

Cue me leaving to cycle for a month in Turkey the next morning. Through the countryside, that night’s scene played over and over and over in my mind driving me crazy. She literally consumed 80% of my thought time some days with no one to talk to and no distractions.

Now I’ve reached the end and she messaged me saying her application to extend another semester fell through and she’s going home at new year.

I know it’s so stupid but I had my first wee cry in a long time last night. Felt like a teenager again! Now got 3 days in this strange Kurdish city to feel heartbroken.

Eugh!!!!! I wish i could find out she had some critical character flaw like being a massive racist or something to make it OK.

/rant

Try buying a month of EarthVPN and connect to one of their UK servers. That will bypass any fiddling the ISP are doing to your traffic and will let you see if it’s that or the physical connection.

I cannot stand labels against my neck! I unpick everything I own pretty much and most stuff is perfectly fine.

The fanbois got all up in arms when the ASA ruled against Russ Andrews. There is a What-HIFI thread full of folk, including the editors coming to the aid of their beloved Russ. http://asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2014/1/Russ-Andrews-Accessories-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_228690.aspx

“Finally getting chance to sit and listen to the Super Fuse and you’ve done it again! Great upgrade. Soundstage is now wide enough to forget the speakers are even there! Moreover, I think the musicians are actually having more fun!!

To some it up…love it!”

Mr J Weston, Bromsgrove”

Can you phone NHS 24 to get someone sectioned?

Sorry to hear that man, that sounds tough as hell especially if she’s aware of what’s going on. I certainly fear the day my parents begin to release their grip on the present.
Much strength. Maybe look up mindfulness if you want a way to get a little bit of perspective on things, some of my very down-to-earth mates have found it a helpful way to distress. Either way don’t forget to look after yourself.

Hope your mate’s alright. Maybe worth sticking a GPS co-ordinates app onto your phones now? I’m trying to find one for Android atm.

Just print-screen and send it to them so they can see the damage.

You’ll never believe this graph of Facebook shares plotted against linkbait devices invented by one British mum. Data analists hate her! http://i.imgur.com/bJW46Ac.png

Sounds cool, Just bear in mind that acrylic is soft so will take on scratches easily then looks a bit crap. I used to have an acrylic PC case ( sad I know) and it was like a scratch and scuff magnet

Many thanks for all the really useful replies. Certainly a lot to consider and more reading to do. I hope this thread can be helpful to someone else in a similar position.

The beep will be built into the Philips’ firmware. You probably won’t be able to change that. Again the Philips, like many consumer electronics, is a bit of a black box so who knows why the audio gain structure is the way it is. Bluetooth 4.0 AptX streams at 352kbit/s. I doubt the DAC in an outdoor portable speaker would be any better than the DAC in an MP3/player.

Midlifecrashes’ suggestion is worth a try.

I worked at BT for almost two years to pay my way through uni. You become so desensitised to the stuff that goes on but dear god there was some proper bad misselling, terrible culture of ‘us’ vs ‘the fing customers’, NO accountability for wrongdoing.

I can assure you that you will never know the real reason your order messed up because it’s easier for the person on the phone to spin you some guff than to explain the wrongdoing

What decade is this??

I’m a big Warmshowers fan, I’ve used it a lot in France and the Balkans, It’s a reciprocal site so I probably wouldn’t use it unless you’re happy with the thought of letting a touring cyclist crash at yours for the night. Unlike Couchsurfing people on WS understand that you’re going to have a big-as bike with you and you’ll be tired etc. (No joke I’ve had Cs hosts whom I’ve told I’m cycling from Berlin to Istanbul who look wild-eyed when they see the bike and realise ‘oh you’re ACTUALLY cycling’).

My only tip would be that almost every village in France has a church, most of which have a graveyard and every graveyard has a tap of cold drinking water in it for the flowers. That may sound obvious but before I knew that I was knocking on doors for water until one day a very grumpy old man came out, clearly annoyed that I’d disturbed his siesta, grunted, led me to the cemetier, pointed to the tap with another grunt and went home. Give a man a fish etc.

I don’t think you’d find better than the free Harvard CS50 course. It’s very well taught through recorded lectures and problem sets to do every week.

I had this but with a minute metal splinter i just dug down with a pin until I could see it poking out the flesh.

This is the best, most palm-moistening thread ever! I’ve just been on an hour long Youtube caving bender.
This was a good one.

Do you feel unhappy with Spotify’s quality? If you want to compare the quality it can be hard because the human brain will happily hear the one it wants to as better. The difference being so slight and some might say inaudible. Without being able to blind test the brain can be very fickle.

I just say this because my flatmate’s been doing lots of double-blind comparative testing between 320 and FLAC as a part of his dissertation and so many people who were staunchly against MP3 were simply unable to tell any difference whatsoever. I couldn’t hear a difference enough times to be statistically significant, I would say the 320kbps MP3 is certainly a very good encoder. YMMV.

Freight forwarding is normally for large amounts of cargo, I’m not sure if they’d help. I know there are mail forwarders who let you buy stuff online, ship it to them and they’ll send it on to you.
https://www.shipito.com

I think the thing is if you take it, you are also an agent, I think part of the marketing ploy is to tell those ‘downstream’ from you to just buy a couple more to sell to their friends and make a bit of profit.

Hi Surfer, yes it was your post that made me look into funds. Do you invest directly through Fundsmiths? And if so is there a ‘user account’ page where you can track your investment? Or do they just post/email a statement?

Also this guide is handy http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-shares-isas

I have a similar amount to invest so am keen to hear more on this one. Any pointers on which ISA will return £10 profit in 3 years?

Pick a fund you like the look of, obviously the higher the percentage the more risk, for example if you were very risk loving and wanted to invest in an emerging markets fund you could pick something like this
http://www.bestinvest.co.uk/investment-research/fund-research/fact-sheet/fsindsb/first-state-indian-subcontinent-b/#Performance which has had a 75% increase in the past year year. Or something conservative like the Fundsmith fund which is roughly 15%. The Telegraph and other papers do frequent fund reviews.

Someone asked a question similar on here recently. One of the replies was to invest up to 15k in a stocks and shares ISA which you can invest into a fund. For example the Fundsmith fund which is roughly 15% over the past few years. I’m about to leave uni and start saving so I’ve been looking into it. You can even invest directly on their website https://www.fundsmith.co.uk/Home.aspx

Also is it normal to get a lift with the man with a van?

OK thanks I’ll ask about, just thought I’d start by consulting the STW hivemind.

I have very little to add to this other than my parents have an AEG Lavamat washing machine which has been going a decade or so. Earlier this year I had to replace the 4-way intake valve which was a 15 min job and it’s like new now.

Haha the digital equivalent of spitting in my food

Following up on this, I got so peed off with this tiny bug I stalked the internet for the email of the Spotify CTO and sent him a long email about it and about their bug reporting protocol. Bearing in mind he’s the CTO of a $6bn company I didn’t expect a reply but he did! And today I got a reply from the programming team who will fix it in the next version!

Yaas, British pushiness prevails!

Knowing BT, they probably signed you up to two contracts :p

+1 True Detective. Only 8 episodes.

Thanks oab and mankylung, I’m actually moving to Edinburgh from Tayside so both very useful! Cheers, sounds like I’ll definitely elect to keep treatment in Tayside.

Many thanks Smudger and thanks to your wife. That’s good to know but a little frustrating. I might be faster saving to have it done privately at this rate :/

I guess it’s something along these lines.

Source http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3567205/ 2013

Yes you can and yes, in Scotland at least, it’s within their remit. I had a similar issue to you, had got grit in my dry eyes while mtbing and rubbed them. Then for days it felt like my eyes were gritty and every blink was like scraping grit. Went to GP. GP told me nothing he could do, the optometrists have the tools for the job. Went to Boots and the guy was very professional about it and spent a long time testing and looking with various dyes and lights. Surprisingly it turns out I hadn’t scratched my cornea but hay fever had caused bumps to form under my eyelids which were rubbing my eye so he told me to buy various eye drops and it totally sorted it.