Got a second one due in July too. The Missus is a great Mum, but really bad at being pregnant. First time around it was 24 hour vomiting for pretty much the whole nine months, very limited foodstuffs that could be kept down, that kind of thing. There’s only so many things you can cook with potatoes before you start dreaming of other carbs! What I wouldn’t do for some rice or pasta!

Second time around, since October/November the Morning Sickness has been back. Not much I can do to ease the sickness, so I content myself with doing what’s suggested above, listen, empathise and sympathise (with tea/cakes/toast whatever works). That’s pretty much it. Oh yes, and if it all gets a bit much for you, take yourself off and do the ironing, hoovering or other housework type activity. It’s mundane but it takes your mind off things and lets you calm down, and when it’s done there’s one less chore for you to do!

Err…no.Maybe we should all stop doing Duke of Edinburgh,running after school clubs,etc just because YOU seem to think we are a hotbed of child molesters, who obviously only do these things to provide us with opps to groom.

I’m not sure Moorman was saying that all teachers and people who work with children are potential child molesters. I can see why it would be attractive to these kind of people though.

I suppose that’s the problem with these kind of discussions, because they are so sensitive and emotional a lot can be read into a comment when it wasn’t necessarily meant that way.

Unfortunately there is a lot of suspicion around teachers and people who work with children. As a male working indirectly with childrens, and vulnerable adults services, (in LA) I’ve been quite surprised at the amount of prejudice/suspicion levelled at teachers, nursery workers and childminders, particularly male ones (not by my colleagues I hasten to add! Well, not most of them anyway). If this is the kind of society attitude that we’re dealing with it’s not really any wonder that Duckman jumps to the defense so quickly…

Posters with dodgy teachers: state school or public school?

I went to both, but only encountered dodgy teachers in the public schools. That’s not to say they weren’t there of course.

Fair point Harry.

<assumes position>

BlobOnAStick – Member

…teaching english?

A stringer is a beam isn’t it?

Oi! Cut me some slack, “stringer” should’ve been “stronger”. “o” and “i” are next to each other on the keyboard!

<grumble> Bl**dy STW pedants, picking up on the slightest mistake, not like they’re always perfect, mutter, mutter…</grumble>

:wink:

I believe at least five of my teachers were convicted of various dodgy offences after I left school. I think two have since committed suicide the others have moved far away and are keeping a low profile.

Bound to happen really, any job that involves contact with kids is going to attract people like this. Hopefully the safeguards that are in place now are stringer than they were back then…

TuckerUK does have a point, albeit mixed up with an interesting way of phrasing it. Adolescents that have reached the point where they can reproduce have long been pointed out as being more attractive by anthropologists. However, and this is the biggie, we as humans have control over all our actions and IMHO teaching staff should be able to maintain sufficient professional standards such that they do not become involved with their students, even if it is technically legal.

RE: The “peadophile” thing – I always thought there was a dictionary definition i.e. sexual attraction to prepubscents. As well as a legal definition, sexual attraction to children under the age of consent. I may well be wrong with this though.

Make a Ouija board out of post-it notes?

Have we invented fire yet?

Oh, okay, good…. Burn him!!

That reminds me, Witchcraft and Paganism was a pretty good invention, shame it all went a bit wrong when the monotheisms started to get a big following.

the sinle biggest achievement was learning to cook food with fire.

FACT

without that the human brain would not have developed inthe way it has.

Not really questioning this, more a comment on the way it’s written! I could easily accept that the human brain wouldn’t have developed without using cooked food (at least from a physiological point of view). However, when someone puts “FACT” into a post (or says it out loud when talking) I immediately become suspicious and my level of trust in that opinion drops markedly.

Just needed to let someone out there know.

Anyway, beer and bread have both been mentioned. I reckon therefore that the exploitation of yeast has got to be quite a good achievement, closely followed by distillation!

Recognised our own capacity for creation and destruction.

Hopefully this will soon be eclipsed by controlling the above.

Yeah but they are not obvious. If you have a big company, having a few home workers means a saving of a few PCs and that’s it. You already have an office and car parking, IT staff etc etc. Overall, if a big effort were made then you could save significantly, but it’s not obvious to most.

Yes, this is kind of true. Although I find the larger companies are more accepting though. Finance Directors should have this kind of thing flagged up to them regulalry so when a relocation/reorganisation is taking place, suitable changes in policy and IT can happen at the same time. It’s really not rocket science and any Fin. Dir. worth their salt (in the blue chips) at least should know this.

No company needs a tax break for this, they just need to be informed. A decent targeted marketing campaign would be cheaper than across the board tax-breaks.

A tax break would simply focus people’s minds, I feel.

You could be right, but is it really enough to justify such a measure? I’m not convinced.

My first policy when elected PM would be to give companies tax breaks based on the proportion of employees working from home. And probably employees too. And I’d put in place programmes to help companies implement the infrastructure required with maybe free IT help and courses etc, maybe free consultations. I reckon that woudl have a massive impact on people’s quality of life since a great many people would instantly be spending more time with their families, have more free time to do what they want and enjoy themselves. Most people would go to one car, saving money in the process.

I know this crops up everytime these threads arise, but I really don’t understand why companies don’t do this already. There are massive financial savings to be made by implementing flexible and home working. There is no need for tax breaks because the savings made from the reduction in office space and parking on site would easily provide a good enough business case.

The issue isn’t financial, it’s behavourial. It hasn’t happened yet because people don’t want it to happen because it involves a different way of living. The only way it’ll change is if people (and employers) recognise that doing things “traditionally” isn’t cost effective or efficient. At the moment that isn’t happening despite the technology being available and cheap enough to make flexible working a reality.

It’s always the case that carrots need to be backed up by sticks. The carrots are already there, The sticks need to be bigger and harder.

Sensible environmentalsts would recognise this.

Last bit of research I heard about suggested it’d be £4/litre before most people started to think about other forms of transport.

I’m looking forward to a time when our society is built around people, not cars. Trouble is, most people won’t like the transition and won’t accept it’s necessary until the markets decide. Then it’ll be too late to take the transition stage slow and steady, actually it probably already is too late!

there is no such thing as the bermuda triangle in that context as there are no more shipping accidents there than anywhere else in the world.

Another of my childhood myths is destroyed, I spent hours poring over books/magazines/articles about stories of Kraken, aliens, firestorms, secret military experiments and the ilk swallowing liners and jumbojets.

Oh well. Everything goes the way of Santa in the end.

There is a spring somewhere in South America or Indonesia which spews out carbonated water.

Cool, a natural soda stream!

It was one of the theories as to why ships kept disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle too. Not sure if it was carbon dioxide, but it worked on the principle (or is -al?, always get those two mixed up) that gas bubbles lower the density of water and allow stuff to sink.

Not sure how it caused planes to dissappear either. Probably why I never found out if had any evidence to back it up.

Sand grains can be as small as you like.

Really? I was under the impression that sand became progressively finer until it became silt, then eventually clay. Whereas the other end of the spectrum it becomes larger and turns into grit, then maybe gravel.

Any geologists on STW confirm this?

Surely a grain of sand IS sand, but once it’s smaller than a grain it ceases to become sand and then becomes whatever silica is referred to when it’s smaller than a sand grain size?!!

(I’m learning new levels of pedantry at STW!)

Having said that, colloquial references to “water molecules” exist and are referred to on a regular basis. So on tha aspect I reckon you can describe an H2O molecule as water.

that there is an afterlife, and in it I’ll be forced to relive the most shameful experiences of my life.

that I’m not a very nice person.

other people.

the truth.

Great idea! Not sure I’d buy one myself, but I bet there’s a sizeable market for them.

Also, it could be worth approaching other companies. I know the big bike brands do them (Specialized, Kona and that), but could be worth contacting the smaller companies? Are there any Ragley or On-One chainstay protectors yet…

Edit – Looks like my thoughts have already been posted!

Berm – Junkyard I think explained my thinking with this:

not sure why you failed to get their point
Zimbabwe was Rhodeshia before [80 iirc) you know and has a few electoral issues that are ongoing.
S Africa had apartheid before being a democracy and Sudan is still in state of civil war and holding a referendum to split in half.
This is what you call stable then?

Also, wasn’t there a bit of a to-do in Somalia and the Ivory Coast recently? Anyways, my point was that power seems to change hands quite regularly and many nations/countries are often in a state of flux.

ernie – As you may have guessed, my knowledge of China, Chinese politics and history is pretty limited! I was thinking along the lines of large countries that have a tradition and history of ethnic differences/tribalism, currently being run from a centralised leadership. My (limited) knowledge of global politics and history suggests this isn’t a particularly stable, long term arrangement.

However, as I’ve learnt from my time here at STW there are people more learned than me and I’m happy to accept your suggestions as more accurate than my thoughts!

Last time I remember this sort of stuff happening all over the place was in the 60’s.

Oh I don’t know, regime change seems to crop up quite regularly. It wasn’t that long ago when the USSR collapsed and half a dozen new(ish) Eastern European countries popped up. Then there’s a few of the African states which chop and change quite regularly too, Zimbabwe, south Africa and Sudan seem to have gone through similar stages ove the past decade or so.

I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar happened in India or China over the next decade or so. Unless power decentralisation can be carried out in a managed way. We’ll see.

Hell is other people.

Say what you like about the Nazis, they were always smartly turned out!

I heard that they were designed by Hugo Boss, but never found out whether this was an urban myth or not!

As an aside, how do these kind of threads on forums work alongside Godwin’s Law? Who do you compare the Nazi’s to, to invoke it?!

English national costume – Morris Dancers? Beefeaters?
English national anthem – Always thought it should be “Jerusalem”.

There is a lot of cynicism and self deprecation from the English, the Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Celtic (and I fully appreciate we’re mixing lots of cultures here) all seem to have a lot of pride. Indeed even many local English folk have pride in their hometowns/villages/locales, just look at Yorkshiremen, Geordies, Scousers, Brummies even the Cockneys have pride in their origins. The English as a whole though seem to be lacking in national pride though, maybe it’s because England is just too big?

Nobody needs a car, everyone needs bikes!

Buy the Ibis!

Same as Dibbs, in my experience it takes a while for the blood to congeal enough to prevent pressure relief.

I caught a fingr in between a door and frame a few years back. A night of pain and no sleep and a quick phone call to a friendly Quack who recommend the paperclip trick. I was reassured that it wouldn’t hurt because the paperclip would be cooled quickly by the nail/blood underneath before it got a chance to damage any nerves. Ten minutes later and I was holding a safety pin over the gas ring waiting for it to go red hot. MTFU and I pierced the nail. The relief was immense and there was no pain either, the nail and blood did cool it enough!

A couple of tips though, don’t use a needle or safety pin. Go for the paperclip. The larger diameter metal means that there’s a bigger hole for the pressure to be relieved out of. Also, you really don’t need to put much pressure on your nail.It’s like a hot knife through butter when the clip is red hot.

all the best Chap!

Poor people have to get to work too peyote.

I agree. I’ve yet to find an example where they didn’t have a choice of mode and/or origin though. Not going to pretend it’s an easy choice, but whenever people say they “need” a car. They often (not always, before the usual replies ensue!) only need it because they perceive it to be the better choice to maintain their current standard of living.

If you can afford to buy, use and maintain are car, do you really fall into the definition of poor?

Personally, somewhere to live, food, heating, electricity etc… get a higher priority than the luxury of running a car for me. But I concede I may be in the minority.

Either way though, running a car doesn’t appear to be cheap.

It’s supposed to be a “green” tax isn’t it?

Isn’t that VED? Fuel tax is just a ‘normal’ tax, like income tax or VAT. The original reasons why they were all introduced have been lost in the mists of time.

On the plus side, as the cost of transport increases, the cost of goods imported long distances increases and the locally produced stuff becomes more competitive: Jobs and businesses are created and the local economy improves!

Everyones a winner, except those who winge about long commutes, imported goods, the “freedom” and “right” to drive, having to move closer to work etc… But, that’ll only be a relatively short transition period.

Another one in agreement with the OP here. My missus can’t slice bread for toffee. Sometimes I’ll get one of htem posh Tiger loafs, nice a crusty outside, soft inside. Within five minutes it’s been squashed and turned into some wierd naan bread/poppadom hybrid!

Interestingly, my Mum could produce perfect slices, however she was a surgeon so maybe falls into the 5% category mentioned earlier…

My talents are wasted round here :-)

It was a good un, subtle kind of.

Bit surprised/disappointed at the lack of geek jokes around here recently. STW’s going downhill!

Wife works for NHS I work in the manufacturing sector. I’m not being flippant either. I think these people are blinkered that’s the point. There are some highly talented people and some incompetent people in both sectors but I think the whole transferable skills thing is just tosh. I hope I’m wrong but I just don’t think it’s going to happen.

Fair enough, I hope you’re wrong too, otherwise I could be on the dole for the foreseeable coming from a public sector post that isn’t likely to be around in the future.

I’m not too concerned about finding work again in the private/public or third sectors, but it does worry me that there are folk that don’t think these perceived gaps can be bridged by motivated, skilled people from all backgrounds. Oh well, I guess time will tell…

Just to stoke the fires a bit more, how many managers of private companies are rubbing their hands with glee that they will soon be able to pick up cheaply, some highly trained, highly motivated ex public sector staff to drive their businesses forward during this period of economic recovery?
Thought not. Not one person I know in the private sector would consider employing ex public sector staff. So it looks like unemployment will remain high for quite a while. It’s like trying to mix oil and water. It’s ideological, it is just not going to happen.

Really? you must know some very blinkered people then! Unless you’re just stoking fires, in which case ignore the rest of this contribution!

Many of the people I know and work with (in the public sector) come from both backgrounds, and when I did private sector work I experienced something similar.

I thought everyone loved the whole “tranferable skills” thing, particularly managers, in pretty much all the industries I’ve worked in this has been the case for the past decade at least.

He’s done remarkably well at deflecting much of the flack that should’ve landed on him at the Lib Dems. Ole Vince and Nick have really got covered in it, whereas he’s still held up by the Tory-boys as a shining example of what we should all worship.

I really don’t like him, I really don’t trust him and I disagree with his and his party’s ideaology. That Cameron chap seems a bit dodgy too.

Hopefully soon someone* will realise that we all need to rethink how this country’s going to operate longterm, and not just worry about screwing over another bunch of people/countries for a quick buck (yep, buck, not quid). “Commercial vision” is an oxymoron.

Doubt he’ll go without a struggle.

Just another sympton of the Lib Dems political self destruction. Seems we really are heading back to a two party state. Shame really, I was looking ofrward to some interesting AV or ideally PR.

It’s interesting that this debate has focused on the cost aspect of mass personal transport. If a new alternative, clean fuel is developed that is as useful as the current liquid hydrocarbons we’ll still have the problems with congestion. Somethings got to give, no amount of technology, rephasing of traffic lights or similar will enable the road network to cope with every single occupant of UK having their own vehicle and having the “freedom” to use it as they want.

We’re all going to have some interesting choices to make…

Depends on the incentive. You could give the incentives to employers – they are often pretty switched on about their bottom line, and they HATE paying corporation tax. Corporation tax linked to proportion of permanent office workers perhaps?

The incentives are already there. The money can be saved if employers trusted their workforce and took the time to look into the savings to be made. 40p a mile is a lot of money when the meeting could’ve been done via a conference call (to pick a rather trite example), multiply that by the millions of business miles being carried out and that’s significant savings. Govt. interventive and tax breaks aren’t even necessary!

Not sure it has to be honest. In many cases people still smoke so the high cost of fags just takes up money that could be spend on their kids or good food etc etc.

The exception that proves the rule! (always loved that oxymoron, assuming it is one!)

Seriously though, I think on a population level it is accurate.

Sorry folks, incentives aren’t enough to win the battle against congestion. Any Social Marketer will tell you that behaviour change using incentives will only hit about 10 – 15% of the population. You can see this with the current anti-obesity campaigns, people are still getting fat… …people are still driving silly distances despite the benefits to business of flexi and home working being tangible and the cost/benefit analysis being relatively simple to work out.

Nope, the only way you’ll get folk out of their cages is by using financial penalties, either through higher fuel prices, higher parking prices or higher VED/insurance. History has taught us this with smoking, it’s ridiculously expensive to by a pack of 20 fags now, so people have started to quit in more significant numbers.

Social Marketing does work, but you need sticks ‘cos the carrots alone won’t work in the kind of quantities we need them to.