What a great comment, from one the the threads on Candlepower:

“That brings back memories of the old country. The English can handle everything from stubbing a toe to the Apocalypse itself providing there’s a cuppa at the end of it.”

LOL! So true!

Bratfud? No trip there would be complete, without a look around the World-Famous Bradford Alhambra; truly one of the Wonders of the Modern World. So good, they tried to copy it in Spain, actually.

Do not go to Ravenscliffe.

And watch out for the Beast of Baildon, although I think Andy’s hangover might have subsided by then.

Be in Awe, of the delights that await you:

It’s only a step from the museum, so you’ve had a right result!

Cinnamon Girl, you’re into rawk, though, aren’t you?

This is a nite club, love, where people dance. Not jump around knocking each other’s beer over.

I’ll see if we can get some Hendrix and Led Zep and that put on in one of the smaller rooms, for those that are too shy to strut their stuff.

Bruneep- I hope your missus keeps you in line tonight. You were a disgrace last night. I’ve had to pay the police off again, because of you.

What are these ‘ads’ of which you all speak? 😉

mogrim- are you using it with a PC? I’ve heard a few peoplewho use iPods with PCs, complain of having problems. Sometimes, it’s because of conflicts with different media player applications on a PC, that can create issues.

I must confess, I actually have an Archos MP3 player, which I hardly use anyway, and my ‘phone, which requires a PC to run the software. A tiny little iPod would be nice, but superfluous to needs.

Some of the ‘other’ MP3 players are much better value for money than some of Apples, and work perfectly well, even on Macs. But a Mac, with an iPod is the nicest and simplest solution. Apple look at something, iron out all the creases, and get it to work just right. That’s the difference, I find.

Bruneep- get out. Have you no dignity?

Thanks all! Hope the hangovers aren’t too bad this morning.

Was that conagokid I saw on the way in, slumped at a bus stop with a half-eaten doner lying next to him?

Speaking of Microsoft:
Why don’t they try to come up with their own ideas, instead of nicking Apple’s, and doing it really badly?

Well, that’s marvelous. A glass has vibrated it’s way off one speaker, and smashed on the ground, and the woofer in the other one has blown.

Proper authentic niteclub atmos!
Time to bring it down…

2008 was actually not bad for me, better than ’07.

Hope 2009 is better for everyone, though.

X

Time for a few gut-churners:

Valley of the Shadows
Pulp Fiction
Helicopter
Cum Dancing
The Sun

Right. Let’s get things going again…

Plastic Dreams
Ressurection
Crying Game
Orgasmico
Here’s Johnny!

Some of you lot are on the wrong website.
Here’s where you want to be.

Marylin Manson? Now look what you’ve gone and done. now the Goths have got in!

These can stay, though…

Who let that miserable bloke in?

Cheer up mate! Have one of these little vitamin tablets, perk you up….

Bloody hell, brant- some of those bring back memories of when I had no short-term memory…

Keep ’em coming, folks…

Don’t you want my love
Yerba Del Diablo
Open Your Mind
Age of Love
Hablando

I feel my teeth chattering, just hearing these tracks again…. 😉

Don’t worry, Knottie; things are just getting warmed up. Get yerself a drink, and roll up a fat one.

Is there anybody out there?
Sweet Dreams
Milkshake
Push It
20 Seconds to comply
Humanoid

Well, I’ve opened a Virtual Niteclub. I hope somebody comes…
Free Entry!

Got the option of going to some do over in Waterloo, but I can’t be bothered, actually. The ones I love are all away, so we’re planning a get together at the weekend instead.

I’m actually in the middle of a project, that I’m finding a lot of fun, so I’ll probably just have a few cans and potter away at it. Rock n’ Roll, eh?

Just can’t get excited about NYE anymore. Must be getting old…

What if you work cash-in-hand, AND claim benefits?

Same as working and fiddling your tax? 😉

Here’s a thought: How many companies/individuals don’t properly fully declare all their earnings, and therefore don’t pay the tax they are legally obliged to? I dare say, there are many, many people/firms that do this. And I bet that the money ‘lost’ to the Treasury is far, far more than the cost of illegally-claimed benefits.

Yet someone defrauding the system in this way, can still appear conscientious, law-abiding and honest, even though they are not.

Let’s face it, almost everyone is just out for the best deal they can get. If you can get away with not declaring a few quid, and saving on that, then ‘where’s the harm’? And most people, if they could get away with it, probably would.

The truth is, there are far more people fiddling tax, than those who get away with illegally claiming benefits.

Is tax ‘evasion’/’avoidance’ morally any better than benefit fraud? Not really- it’s all theft. It’s just that tax dodging is easier to cover up.

No, I hope they bloody don’t! I can’t see as how that would be as profitable as supplying their own hardware, tbh. They tried that in the 90s, and the resulting mess was really bad.

Problem with the PC market is; too many manufacturers competing in an incredibly tough market. So corners are cut, leading to shoddy hardware, and buggy, unreliable software. And such is the demand for new stuff, that even Microsoft rush products out before they’re propperly tested (Vista, anyone??).

I hope to God Apple doesn’t go that way.

question is, why are they still left?

Maybe because they were bloody expensive in the first place? Top-end bikes don’t sell in large volumes, so dealers have to be mindful of the fact that they could be stuck with an expensive bike that they can’t sell easily, when next years stuff comes in. Many shops have a ‘flagship’ bike in, to attract custom, but often end up selling them at a discount, sometimes even at a loss. It’s the £3k+ bikes that draw the customers in, to buy the £300 ones.

I’m all for bargains. I bought a lovely steel (Tange Prestige, I think) Saracen, one of the last decent bikes that company made, a few years ago. LX/XT kit, was about £900 or so originally, I paid £300 for it, after a bit of haggling! It was down to about £500, had pedals missing (they gave me a pair of SPDs for free), and I hummed and hawed with them, over a few small cosmetic scratches, and the ripped saddle. Sadly, it got stolen. Sniff.. 😥

Well said, djglover. A lot of people act in a very sanctimonious way, when the issue of benefit ‘scrounging’ is raised but I wonder how many of them do the odd bit of slightly dubious dealing, to save a few quid? Like, not declaring their bargain bike bits, that they’ve had shipped in from abroad? 😉

With new controls, it’s now actually very difficult to scam benefits. And the government is set to limit further, those that are eligible.

This ‘grass a member of your own family’ kind of mentality worries me more…

Re R2D2 projector thingy and webcam:

OH

MY

GOD.

That, as today’s kids might say, is ‘sick’.

(Runs off to sell a kidney…)

Re Mac V PC: tools for the job. Some tools are better than others. Most of the students I teach, use Mac laptops. The ones with PC lappys quite often have problems. Sadly, they’ve occasionally lost a whole lesson, because their machines just won’t work. None of the Mac users have had any problems. Running the same software. With the PCs, we’ve had driver issues, graphics card issues, and sudden lack of ability of the machine to respond to commands. The PCs seem to need at least twice as much RAM to run as smoothly as the Macs.

This is my experience of working with both platforms.

Re Build Quality: I don’t know what Mac you’ve looked in, but have you seen the inside of a Mac Pro? Find me a PC that is so well thought out, and put together. And quiet, without modification. I’m sitting here, in a quiet room, and all I can hear is avery faint hum. My PC sounded like a hoover on full power, until I installed an expensive, ‘super-quiet’ fan, and it’s still a good bit louder.

Mac Pro: 2 years old; never crashed or had any serious issue.
PC: Younger, had new PSU, Graphics card, CPU cooler fan to replace failed units. Had to have 3 major re-installs. Still get things like USB ports not working intermittently, new devices failing to mount, sudden shut-down for no apparent reason.

None of this is slave allegiance, or ‘fanboi-ism’. It’s just my experience and opinion.

Depends, though, really. If they were really struggling, and fiddling an extra £20 a week or so, then maybe just turn a blind eye. But if they were taking the piss, and being able to afford expensive luxuries, then they deserve to be caught.

Perhaps best to have a word first, especially if it’s a member of your own family. Find out why they are doing it. There might be some messed up reason for it, you don’t know. Best to find out the whole story, I’d reckon.

I fear, in these increasingly tough times, that more and more deserving people will be stigmatised as ‘scroungers’, by people angry at their own downturn.

Real cheats who profit from such scams, should be brought to book, as it’s scum like that, that take it away from those that genuinely need it.

Bargainous! £1900 off??

All products sold as new come with a warranty. Same as if you bought an 09 model.

Companies like Kona will have spares going back a good bit, so you needn’t worry too much. And there’ll always be someone who can modify something to fit, if necessary.

I’ve always bought end-of-season bargains. So what if it doesn’t have the latest shiny bits? It’ll work more or less the same. I can then spend the £X hundred pounds on upgrades!

Ah! here’s one that is actually a Mac! Built in webcam and everything!

Hmm, will any work be done today? Probably not.

I have to use both Mac and PC, and have to say, I much prefer Macs. Built better, the operating system is better, and the software is far more reliable. With my PC, I cross my fingers and pray that it’ll work. PCs require far more knowledge of computers, to keep them running well. I have actually been in tears with my PC, the useless bloody thing. Don’t get me started.

Aleigh, what colour Nano have you got? I told myself, I don’t need one at all, but someone recently showed me their blue one, and I just thought ‘ooh, pretty!’.

Granted, Apple have definitely moved right into the electronic lifestyle arena. But you can’t deny that they do things really well.

Mind you, you can do this, with a PC:

the girls may be cute in Nam but they all have slitty eyes

???? 😯

Chris Hoy’s mum got an honour too? Wow!

Active Duty: This thread was meant as an outlet for people’s anger against useless, incompetent, greedy companies that do very little to actually ensure their customers get a decent, reliable and good value service. I stated in my first post, that I meant no ill toward any employees of any firm, and certainly wouldn’t wish anyone suffered facing unemployment, as has happened to many poor people recently.

In fact, considering the way some of the companies mentioned seem to treat their staff, I think most people would like to see them go under, as long as the staff could gain jobs elsewhere without suffering. I know it’s not that simple.

But, hypothetically, what businesses would people like to see gone?

Oh dear.

My point was, which I thought I’d made clear by putting ‘democratically elected’ in quotes, was that maybe not all ‘democratic’ elections are quite as fair and democratic as they are claimed to be. I have no problem with democracy, just with corruption and lies. And not all people ‘democratically elected’ are necessarily the ‘right’ people for the job.

And the Nazis gained control over Germany. IE, they ‘won’.

And Saddam got 100% of the vote.

Are you getting it, now??

There are of course, many other examples of democratically elected leaders being relatively fair and just, for balance.

You’re picking a needless argument with me. I don’t know why.

“Christians aren’t making territorial claims because of what happened 2000 years ago”

That’s because they’re too busy fighting amongst themselves: When Monks go bad

As for ignoring history, well tell that, to the Zionists…

I think people misunderstand (very good, though, epicyclo!).

The events of hundreds, thousands of years ago have little bearing on events today, granted. But they are part of the culture of people, to the extent that they still have an influence over daily life.

Like, our Calendar, many of our laws, numerical systems, etc…

You simply can’t ignore history.

The Israelis certainly aren’t.

Congrats, djglover!

Cor, double the fun, eh?

Yeah, definitely. I know at least one near me, and there’s a few more off here, that reside in the Smoke.

Was thinking of a NYD jaunt up to Epping. Hopefully it’ll be frozen, and not so muddy, but it will probably be muddy.

Take your new bike! Swinley is all about having fun, whatever bike you’re on.

Sleep tight!

Or Steven Gerrard, by the sounds of things!

Barton’s a thug, but I never had Gerrard down as someone like that. Most surprised.

Have you offended Baby Jesus?

They are fluent claiming benefits, council housing, free training or financial support

Here we go…

Jaffa Cake, anyone?

Yeah, I suppose Westway, then down through Shepherd’s Bush/Chiswick/M4 would be good, too. Although my mate hates that route, as it always seems very busy (tomorrow is NYE; loads flying out from Heathrow).

6″ travel bike? In Swinley? Bit overkill!

Cinnamon Girl; walkers are miserable, because they haven’t got a bike. Pity them , for they need our sympathy, not hate.

Ooh! Another London-based rider?

I live on the edge (of Newham), and sometimes go over to Swinley, Surrey Hills, etc. Wouldn’t mind hooking up with other riders. A mate and I drive there now and then, but be warned, it will take longer than an hour and a half to get to Swinley. More like 2. And I’d suggest getting onto the A12 Blackwall Tunnel, A2 then onto the M25, unless you want to be stuck in South London traffic. Then, M3, come off onto the A322(junct.3?), then left onto the B3430, and you can’t miss it.

Can’t make it tomorrow, but hope to be over that way soon. Was there talk of a ride in a couple of weeks time?