A surprisingly irrelevant one.

Bad pay, expected overtime and an irrelevant industry….games developer? :P

We were recently told by one of our superiors that they didn't give a shit about whether we had families or not, unless we needed to "shit, shower or shave" we should be at our desks. This is after a year of nearly the entire team doing massive overtime. Although on the plus side, we do get time-in-lieu if we do three hours or more, so many companies give nothing.

I’m becoming increasingly disillusioned with politicians of all flavours.

I don’t think I could ever convince myself to vote Tory though – I remember one saying that public transport should be abolished, as it was only used by school children and the elderly, everyone else could drive, and another arguing against the introduction of the minimum wage, because it was “pointless as no-one earns less than £5 an hour anyway”. I was working my way through uni at the time, on £3.21 an hour…

I was tempted when I hit 18 to vote for the Monster Raving Loony Party, purely because their manifesto included funding for high-visibility waistcoats for the deer of Cannock Chase, and because they had a cat as one of their leading figures. If you can’t trust politicians to spend money sensibly, you might as well vote for someone who will spend it entertainingly!

I'm waiting for Brutal Legend and Left 4 Dead 2.

If I had a daughter, I'd let her have the injection in a heartbeat. If I was a teenager again, I'd have it myself.

A lot of the hysteria is coming from the Daily Mail, who have a slightly creepy anti-women agenda in addition to thinking that everything causes/cures cancer (similar to bent_udder's link, there's also Daily Mail Kill or Cure[/url].

They'll have a huge front page headline of "OMG GIRL DIES AFTER HAVING CANCER JAB!", but no front page, "OH NEVER MIND, SHE ALREADY HAD A LIFE-THREATENING TUMOUR SHE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT".

Same way as they'll run frequent articles against the contraceptive pill, or how career women who choose not to have kids will end up bitter and regretting their choice, or how working mothers are damaging their kids – all based on tiny studies, shoddy science and anecdotal evidence, and ignoring anything that contradicts their viewpoint.

For example: dodgy Mail article on the Pill.

"With Dianette, the risk [of DVT] increases by a staggering seven times." Sounds scary, but you're still more likely to have a blood clot during pregnancy than on any of the pills, and when you look at the numbers…it's still pretty low.

"My mother had heard about the dangers of Dianette early on and began to complain about my using it.

I smoked and was to take several long distance flights during my gap year, both of which contribute to the risk of a DVT, and she was worried." I would have thought her mother would have been more concerned about her smoking, what with it being more likely to cause blood clots, heart disease AND cancer.

So yeah, I take hysteria whipped up by the Mail with a grain of salt. I think that they're stupid and irresponsible, and have agendas when it comes to women, immigrants and whatever scaremongering is flavour of the month.

I'm sure that there's people who have adverse reactions to vaccinations – my mate had her arm swell up and go manky after her TB jab. I'm sure that she'd agree that a few weeks of discomfort is preferable to a life threatening disease where you have to spend months in isolation, getting jabbed in the arse with streptomycin, then having a few years on a course of antibiotic drugs*. People should be aware of the risks of any medication, and choose whether they think its worth it – hopefully most people will realise that a tabloid is not the best source of this information.

* Admittedly my knowledge of TB treatment is based on stories from my dad, who had TB in the 70s – let's just say, when the time came for my brother and I to have our TB jabs, we weren't given the option!

And that's my rant for the day! :P

"i think it is his girlfriend being the one who is causing it, he has not got a bad bone in his body.."

Ton, look at it from her point of view – you essentially accused her of being unfaithful, then told her to abort her child. You say that the atmosphere is terrible when she does come round, and that at work you shout at your son, and that you know you're being a cock.

If he's telling her that, then that, on top of what's gone before, would probably make her think, "Do I really want this man to be a part of my child's life?". She's not necessarily being vindictive towards you, she might just want what she sees as best for her child.

You've apologised, but it might seem a bit hollow if she still sees you as being overly confrontational, and women can be an unforgiving breed, especially when it comes to their kids!

Follow the Dog will be fully open (as far as I'm aware), the Big Build Day is to get the new red route (the snazzily named 'Phase 2') built.

Same as Sugar here, it's very hit and miss what you get. I don't think we received many of the requests that we'd set to high priority, but lots of the low and mid-priority stuff.

Could you not build a massive jack in the box?
That would be ace.

^ I think that's my favourite idea so far!

I don’t understand all the handwringing – he was in his 40s when he plied a child with drink and drugs, then sodomised her. He admitted to it, was convicted, then fled the country and avoided serving his time for the past 30 years. Yet for some reason, he’s been treated like a victim – I genuinely don’t get it.

Even if she was a willing participant (which she said she wasn’t), she was 13 – I’m sure that society’s values haven’t shifted so much that a middle-aged man providing a child with intoxicating substances then nobbing them isn’t still seen as being a wee bit taboo…

The victim said that she wants the matter dropped, but only because she finds it traumatic and fairly pointless to keep going over.

This thread reminds me of my childhood house rabbit, Thumper. She was originally going to be named Terminator, Predator or Commando (my brother was going through his Arnie action phase). She was also a he, but we only found that out when she hit about 7 years old.

She had a big run outside where she stayed during the day (and some summer evenings, but came in the house and was given free reign in the evenings. She loved toilet rolls and the theme tune to The Bill, and hated Phil Collins. We half trained her to fetch, she'd run off and retrieve thrown things, but didn't like giving them back, preferring to run around your feet in circles.

I miss that bun-bun. :(

We got a tow bar mounted rack – we were thinking about roof racks, but being that I'm only 5ft 2 we realised they'd be completely impractical!

Rammstein are utterly fantastic live. Even if you don't like the music…they strap flame throwers to their heads. Really, what's not to like?

Over the past two days I’ve found out that Machine Head, Alice in Chains, Rammstein, Killswitch Engage and In Flames, Lamb of God and now Slayer are all playing Birmingham over the next couple of months. Need to save up the pennies and start sweet talking the better half, methinks!

Most PS3 games are region free, although I think some of the bigger titles are locked to specific regions. You won't be able to play most US Blu-Ray or standard DVDs on a UK PS3 though.

I'm 5ft 2, but have a relatively long torso – I tried a lot of both women specific and standard bikes. Most of the women's ones were too short in the top tube for me, most of the blokes' ones were either not available in a small enough size, or had a too-high top tube.

I found the 2009 Juliana, Orange Diva Short and Specialized Safire had quite short top tubes, so I'd say they were worth a try.

Actually, I'm marvelling at how that picture of Tammy Thomas looks remarkably like Blackadder-era Tony Robinson…

Actually there's a lot of variation in intersex people, and some people don't find out until they're well into adulthood. I remember reading about one bloke who, with his wife, went for fertility tests to try and figure out why they couldn't concieve.

Turned out that, despite his normal looking and functioning man tackle, he actually had a couple of extra lady chromosomes and a set of shrivelled ovaries in addition to his blank shooting testes. Poor sod, in addition to having to cope with infertility and his gender questioned, he had the experience reduced to the 'Quirkies' section of a newspaper.

I can type ‘correctly’ and fairly quickly. Not quite sure when I gained the ability to type without looking at the keyboard, I’ve never done any courses or owt. I make the odd typo here and there, with the most disturbing being typing ‘busty’ instead of ‘busy’!

Trolls need feeding too! For just five minutes a day, you can make sure that they don't go hungry!

Now then the problem with that is that honest men have two categories of women, those we've slept with, and those we've yet to get around to. Dishonest men apparently have a third, which is "those we're trying to bed by pretending that we don't have the first two categories"

So all men want to (or already have) slept with their mother/sisters/daughters/Hazel Blears? And there are no gays? You're obviously from an odd part of town….:P

OK, I’ll bite. ;)

When women spend ages trying to look good, it is very, very rarely for the benefit of men. They do it because that’s what’s expected of them, and that’s a fact that’s drilled into them from a very early age, and because you get pretty much crucified if you don’t.

Look at fairy tales – all the princesses are good and beautiful, all of the witches and step-sisters are ugly. Look at girl’s toys – makeup sets, hairdressing sets, fashion dolls like the Bratz. You’re pretty much taught from before primary school that make-up, fashion, and looking good is just a normal part of being female – absolutely nothing to with being a sex object. Even when you become an adult, it’s not about pleasing men, but about keeping up with other women. Men can be harsh about women’s appearances, but other women are brutal.

As for the clothes themselves, a lot of women just go by what the magazines and shops say is ‘on-trend’. They wear miniskirts because Kate Moss has designed some for Topshop. They wear tight low slung jeans because that’s what Cosmopolitan says looks good with bright knits. It doesn’t matter if it suits (or even fits) them, they just want to be in fashion.

It’s kind of depressing that wanting to look presentable is seen as the same as asking to be seen as ‘a sex object’ and inviting comment, and that women are still so judged on their appearance, by both men (“Would?”) and women (“OMG celebrity cellulite special!”)

Explain yourself Mrs. Toast!

Did you write it?

I am shocked and offended at that insinuation!

*cough* was on design team *cough*

Quite a few nice little games on ze iPod, plus if you get the Scumm emulator you can play a lot of the classic LucasArts point and click adventures, like Monkey Island, Sam and Max, and Full Throttle.

I'd recommend Droplitz. I'm possibly slightly biased though…

Wouldn’t you be better off just copying the text from the word doc, and pasting it into Photoshop’s own text tool as another layer?

I use antkiller powder stuff – as it doesn't kill them straight away, the ants take it down into the nest and it seems to kill them off. You're still left with a lumpy lawn though, plus it looks like a coke dealer has had a seizure.

Bleurgh – someone mentioned mooncup.

I've got a slightly hippyish friend who ever so often sends emails out to all of her female friends saying that we should use mooncups. :|

I don’t know, a lot of photos in magazines now are veering dangerously into the uncanny valley – models are starting to look more like CG videogame characters. :/ It’s amazing (albeit slightly creepy) what they can do with Photoshop nowadays. Always found the Dove video against it interesting –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

A lthough Dove aren’t really in a position to comment, given that they’re also in the business of selling products on the basis of people’s insecurities and stupid made-up science words.

I think it’s particularly bad when actresses/models/singers get ‘shopped against their wishes – Kylie, Keira Knightly and Kate Winslet (must be something about names beginning with K) have all complained/taken legal against against it.

When I was a kid, a friend's greyhound had a litter. I remember that none of the kids were allowed to go in the room or make too much noise near the mother until the puppies were a couple of weeks old, because we were told that if the mother gets disturbed too soon after birth, or if the pups ended up with a human scent on them, she might eat them! No idea how true that is though.

Did read this though:

"Some bitches have even been known to eat their young out of fear and panic, any bitch that resorts to this behavior should never be bred again ( even if it is a top prize winner ) as this tendency can be passed on to the young. "

Could be that she's inherited the compulsion?

"ALLTHO I WOULDNT RECOMEND TAKEN IT OFF ROAD..BECAUSE YOU WOULDNT WANT TO DAMAGE THOSE HAND CRAFTED WHEELS"

Sure wouldn't!

I love thrash, death, black and industrial metal.

And showtunes. I find that "When You're Good to Mama" is a surprisingly good biking tune…

Chaos AD and Arise were definitely the highlights of Sepultura's career, was never that fond of Roots. Also really appreciated Biohazard's stuff from that era, before Evan got really fat and started doing porn.

To be fair, anyone who fancies Andy Murray needs a good talking t

Aye, he reminds me of Sid the Sloth from the Ice Age films, only with less personality and charisma.

I’ve had the odd grumble about the AA, but I wouldn’t be without them – I’ve had to call them out three times over the past four weeks! The first guy was a bit ‘Don’t give a toss’, and ‘the system’ didn’t show that we had the full level of cover, so he kind of left us to sort everything ourselves.

The other two guys were great though, really friendly and professional, with the last one suggesting a possible reason why my five-year old Micra has burnt through three starter motors (two in the last month – Micras are a bit shit). He also sorted a hire car for me, which technically I wasn’t entitled to – I have the ‘Stay Mobile’ cover, but if your car can be bump-started, apparently you’re not covered. :/). I think it was the crying that did it…

So basically, I pay just over £200 a year for the AA, but over the past four weeks they’ve been called out three times, sorted me a hire car, and paid for over £300 worth of repairs!

However, if you’re really against the AA…when I first got my car it came with RAC cover. The first time the engine electics/starter motor kicked the bucket (just before the 3-year warranty ran out…did I mention Micras are a bit shit?) I had to call them out. They were really good – despite the fact the car could be bump started, they arranged to tow it back to our house, then arranged for another tow to the garage the next day (as it had broken down on a Sunday). From that one experience, they seemed to go a bit further than the AA – the only reason I went with the AA is because they have more patrols and a faster response time, and assumed they’d be fairly similar.

I do a roast dinner pretty much every Sunday after a couple of hours over the Chase. Normally chicken, as it’s Mr Toast’s favourite, but occasionally lamb or beef. I only every do Yorkshire puds with beef, and stuffing with chicken. Roast parsnips and taters with everything!

Get a humane mouse trap – a fairly roomy one if the hamster in question is a Syrian one, they’re quite a bit bigger than mice. Pop some hamster bedding in it and some treats, and wait. Hopefully one morning you’ll wake up to find the hamster curled up in it.

Back in my uni days, I used to work at Tesco. I remember a particularly awkward car park confrontation where an old chap had reversed out of his parking space, straight into the side of a brand new Fiat Punto – literally brand new, it was the first day of the new registrations, and the woman had just picked it up from the dealership that morning. Old bloke had a right go at her, calling her a stupid woman, a bad driver, and that she should have seen he was reversing, etc.

Unfortunately for him, there were a lot of witnesses (and CCTV footage). The woman was in a queue to get out of the carpark, and had actually been completely stationary for nearly two minutes. The chap had gotten into his car, and decided to reverse out, despite the fact there was nowhere for him to go. Worst thing was, after had the first impact with her car, he tried to carry on reversing – the dent to the side of her car was huge, practically both doors on the passenger side caved in.

He still insisted he was in the right, while this poor woman, battling between incandescent rage and utter despair, was trying to get his insurance details. She was remarkably civil.

I’m disappointed in the lack of meat cleavers in this thread, btw.

I’d really recommend Glede Knowe – really lovely B&B, bike friendly, fantastic owners, and great views of the downhill course from the bedrooms! :P

Gledeknowe Guest House in the Scottish Borders

We’re going back there in a couple of weeks for our anniversary, can’t wait.

I demoed a Brompton at Bike Radar Live, I was surprised at how solid it felt –I was expecting it to feel a bit more flimsy. Although I might be looking on it overly fondly as it was highly entertaining trying to chase roadies around Donington race track on a folding bike. Possibly one of the most surreal moments I had over the weekend…

I’d like one, mainly so I could commute to work without worrying about my bike being nicked.

It cost me £240 to get a towbar and electrics fitted to my 04 Nissan Micra – I booked it all through the Witter website.