(pre-emptively, I’ll point out that most god believers do not think atheism is ridiculous)

So, logically, as they don’t think atheism is ridiculous, is it reasonable to conclude they don’t believe in God then?

Or was this another troll?

He bought this place and alegedly reared turkeys in it. I went there in the 80’s to fix their mainframe. You went in the main entrance which was just as you would expect of a country mansion, but the rest of the house had been ripped out and looked like any old office. An act of vandalism! The only clue that you were inside a grand old house were the windows.

Out the back were a couple of sheds; one had a mechanised array of pressure jet wands that would each enter a bird cage in the lorries to wash out all the turkey shxt. The other was a slaughter shed. It had large louvres on one end with huge ventillation fans. The louvres were covered in thick damp moss.

I was in the canteen as a shift got their break. I had to leave as everyone was spattered with blood – their white clothes, arms, even faces – DISGUSTING! This and the obvious filth everywhere was enough to put me off processed food for life!

Sony quality is not what it used to be!

Hasn’t been for a long time!

Panasonic may be a better bet. Samsung and LG are big players now.

Someone said about magnetic interference affecting picture. Hmmm, never heard of this on any flat panel, but CRTs were very susceptible.

I recall leaving a car audio speaker on my colour crt for about 30 mins in the early days before I knew better. The picture was ****. TV’s used to suto de-gause on power up, but this one required full demagnetising.

Once nearly complimented Anneka Rice on delightful backside when I saw her as I came down a spiral stairway in Bayswater shopping centre, but then suddenly noticed I was on live TV! OOPS! 😆

Jimmy Walker (Walsall goalie I think) Have spoken with him, but didn’t then have a clue who he was at the time. Nice bloke.

Seen people out and about:
Clive James on the Tube.
Derek Nimo on Farm Street Matfair.
Jamiroquai in New Barnet.
HRH the Queen and Prince Phillip outside the Tower of London.
Pricess Diana at the London Paladium.
Jesse Wallace in my local Indian.
Phil Lynot at Gatwick airport.
Had a burn up with Todd Carty in Croydon (he won Peugeout 405 v Jaguar XK8 – what was I thinking??).
Bumped into Sid Owen in a petrol station in Wanstead several times – he lived nearby.
Once consulted TV lawyer Gary Jacobs – he lived round the corner then. Is dead now, but used to do the James Whale TV show.
Rod Stewart in my local.
John Sargeant in Petworth House.
Mathew Wright in west London.
Used to regularly see Jools Holland in Frank’s cafe in Woolwich.
Sat next to Tony Hadley on a flight from Brescia, Italy.

What a dull life eh!

Varous others who’s names escape me.

Apart from Royalty, I don’t think seeing celebs is a big deal.

I was once sent to a Harley Street clinic by my then employer, to look at a broken PEME machine. I was a mainframe support engineer then and had no experience of any medical equipment other than what my old man used (he was a GP).

The physician at this clinic, (who seemed quite unlike a physician), said the company who had been maintaining these machines had fallen out with her.

I tactfully asked to see any documentation she had as I had no clue about what a PEME machine was and she produced a leaflet. As she opened the draw to get this, I caught a glimpse of the manual for the machine with “FOR EQUESTRIAN USE ONLY” stamped clearly on the front cover! I got a quick look at it when she went out of the room for a bit – lots of pics of how to use it – ON A HORSE! WTF?

I opened up the machine to see if there was anything easy to rectify, like a fuse blown and discovered a PCB laden with coil inductors. Having worked on manufacturing HF circuits years before, I realised that the tiniest bending of these coils could send the high frequency circuits wildly out of tolerance. I called the office and explained that we couldn’t do anything without schematics. I was then asked to take it back to the office.

Before I left, a woman brought her small child in for treatment with one of the other machines!? I left feeling really concerned, but this physician was supposedly a friend of the MD of the company I worked for, so I had my hands tied.

When I got the thing back to the office, I explained to the engineering director that there were some serious ethical issues – the machine was not approved for use on humans. Aside from this, as we had no schematics etc, the HF circuits could be well out of spec. As the machine was engineered to radiate electomagnetic energy to warm deep tissues to promote healing, an HF circuit being out of adjustment could potentially be very harmful – bit like putting your hand in a microwave!

He sat back in his chair and looked at me for a few seconds and cajoled me in an arrogant tone “You are worrying about nothing, it’s just a little circuit board”. I politely told him he’d have to get someone else to go there in future as I was not going to be a part of it. He was an non-technical sales guy by trade – but a **** arrogant ignoramus! What an oki cokey outfit that was!

We hear much about cowboy builders (an easy target), but who would dare challenge Harley Street physicians? There is a general opinion that Harley Street is where some of the finest medical people in the world reside, so it’s a shocker to find some seedy little back street style clinic there, run by unqualified quacks!

You wouldn’t catch me blindly phoining one of these clinics. I’d insist on recommendation from a senior health expert who works for the NHS.

Scary stuff!!

Stick with it Hora! Perhaps get a doggy shrink in. Most of the behaviour issues with dogs are caused/encouraged by their owners.

You might think you can just move him on, but you’ll find that hard.

What has our chancellor got to do with what is going on in Ireland?

Who’d be stupid enough to dial an 090* number?

I bet some idiot will be blaming Margaret Thatcher next!

I once had to lay off alcohol for a few months. I couldn’t find any substitute i’m afraid.

After the third glass of whatever soft drink, I was so over hydrated that I couldn’t drink anymore.

I can’t believe that small quantities of alcohol would do you any harm after your prescribed period of abstinance.

Is this a permanent thing?

Smoking – highly addictive. Ingesting a cocktail of highly toxic carcinogens seems like madness to me, but addiction sweeps away rational behaviour. SHAME on the purveyos of such poison!

In the early days, this habit was percieved to be a bit posh, thus giving you social status. Perhaps this is why so many lower classes got hooked on it. How sad!

Smoking wrecks others’ lives too, the relatives/dependants, passive smokers.

The smoker also gets treated as a special case in the work place, by being able to wag off several times for a puff, while the rest have to carry on working – totally unfair and bad for team efficency, team morale.

At least smoking is banned in public places now. In the past, I would be in places where the smoke was so thick that my eyes would sting, but every time i’d been in a smoky environment, it was in my clothes, my hair – disgusting and offensive!

Basically, smokers are bunch of selfish feckers coz they couldn’t care a hoot about the harm and inconvenience they cause.

The overall cost is phenominal.

To those who say it’s hard to kick the habit, my message is grow a pair!

How about a…..

Definitely a case of “disenchanted employee syndrome”!

As a rule of thumb, If interest rates here are high, cash from foreign investors flows in, as they are looking for the most lucrative place to make the most of their investment. The net result is that Sterling becomes a more desireable currency, so up goes the price. The by product of this is we get more bang for our buck when travelling abroad.

The downside of a strong currency is we can’t compete on exports. As we don’t make much these days, low interest rates don’t seem to be helping anyone, except those who once borrowed too much to buy their house, but still have a big debt to service.

Does that mean the return of cheap euro hols and cheap beer? If so how can I assist in it’s demise.

Well the introduction of the Euro brought about large price hikes (as much as 30% in some cases). I put this down to opportunism and ignorance.

The Pound is now much weaker against the Euro and i’m a bit perplexed as to why the Eurozone is so overrated.

Norman Lamont blew a fortune of our money trying to peg us too high in his attempt to get us into the ERM. Scandalous costly failure, but perhaps a blessing in disguise!

With UK base rates at 0.5%, don’t expect a strong pound anytime soon.

Brussels is about spending a lot of money on a parliament that is not really accountable to us. As another poster says, much of new British law/directives, come from Brussels – true! Whether it works for us is irrelevant. E.G. Fishing quotas, what a crime that was against the little guy trying to make a living with a small fishing vessel based out of various ports up and down the country. Brussels allowed the floating fish factories to come all the way up from Spain, hoovering up the sea bed and taking vast hauls, whilst paying for our guys to break up their boats. Tell me how that was good for our economy?

We, the British people, have never had the pros and cons of Brussels presented to us with a view to being given a chance to vote on whether we want it or not. I guess this is largely down to the fact that our government doesn’t really have control of the situation. Some might even question that we still have a democracy. The wool has and is being pulled over our eyes!

Brussels says “jump”, the UK governent jumps. It often feels like these directives are determined by our own parliament. It’s laughable.

I’m glad we didn’t join the common currency. Introducing this was a big mistake because one size does not fit all! Look at Greece, Spain and Ireland. Basket cases which musy now be carried by the successful countries in Europe. If these countries had their own currnecy and the ability to set their own interest rates, they probably would never have gotten into this mess.

Europe is a FAIL IMHO. I also think the Euro currency is doomed.

Compaq 311c

They are better than your average netbook as they have an nVidia ION graphics chip. Good battery life, but perhaps a tad too big.

Are you sure you want to take a netbook on an expedition? (The Himalayan trip right?)

What are your experiences?

Sadly, much the same as you. For me it’s not a new phenomenon. This has been my experience pretty much throughout my entire working life! I worked in an industry that was continually being squeezed, so there were continual threats of redundancy as the business contracted.

There are very few decent people managing teams. Out of the 7 or 8 companies i’ve been employed by in 29 yeas and the 250 odd different locations i’ve worked in, i’d say this style of manangement is pretty much par for the course. I’ve met a few good people, but not usually one’s that I have had to report to. WHen you get a good manager, it’s bliss.

They don’t need to be nice to you, you are only there to make them money, end of. What you have to learn is to keep schtum, shut out their bullshit and learn to appear not to respond to it too much.

I hope you don’t get made redundant!

None for the 2 year old. Perhaps a stern telling off for the 4 year old, but they are both too little to comprehend what they have done.

You left two infants with marker pens. Smart move!!!

My daugheter and her friend did a similar thing whenthey were very little. The adult in charge of them felt very silly, but made a joke of it.

And yes, it could be much worse! An old friend of mine had a nightmare scenario when his boys were little. They were visiting some friends one day. The boys went upstairs to play. After a while the boys came downstairs in a panic. The adults rushed upstairs, by which time the room where the boys had been playing was on fire! They got everyone out and called the fire brigade, but by the time the fire engine arrived, the top half of the house was engulfed in flames! There ended the friendship between my mate and his friend. The guy who’s house it was was a solicitor, but you wouldn’t think a solicitor would be stupid enough to leave matches lying around in a house full of very young children would you?

she’s not a doctor. That was a fake qualification too.

Outrageous! TV company should be sued for gross misrepresentation!

So what is she then? Just a bullshitter?

Anyone that sniffs shit in a Tupperware box at the beginning and end of a TV show has to have something mentally wrong with them!

It takes a reality TV show to show what a weak minded individual this woman is. I used to watch her show thinking she was someone who’s opinion was worth taking notice of. Now that I know she is traumatised when coming into contact with one tiny harmless insect, I don’t think I will ever be taking seriously, anything she says in future! What a fraud!

What I can’t work out is how someone who is intelligent enough to become a doctor and who has such high anxiety about creepy crawlies, could be stupid enough to accept an invitation onto a show where they knew they would come into contact with masses of the things.

It has to be a wind up!

I’ve won £10 quite a few times, but the biggest was £60 last year (matched 4 numbers). The euphoria was shortlived as I promptly discovered my bank account was over £100 in the red.

A proper troll if I may say so!

If you want to go and find your god, keep it to yourself, there’s a good chap! 😀

Broadside is always a winner. Shame about the logs. Should have got Tony LOGTASTIC Blackburn in.

Well I lied, I didn’t drink Old Speckled Hen. It was four bottles of Kronnenbourg (or was it 6) followed by a whole bottle of Chateau Neuf Du Pape. Or was that poop? HIC. Well it tasted pretty good! 😆

IT’S A WINE SHED! OF COURSE! 😆

I just worked out what the Kingspan insulation is about on Stoner’s outbuilding.

Either it’s gonna be “special plant growing facility”, or a micro brewery. 😉

Imagine Friday nights without pubs and beer! Those poor Muslims! 😆

Have a bloody good one and don’t overdo it!

Enjoy!!!!!!

WOW! That’s some commute allthegear!

Hahaha. Nonsense! Those programmes stripe a pattrn of data over the whole volume. Running it twice could never restore the volume, just makes the original data even less readable.

I suspect he wasn’t serious

He’s serious about outbuildings though! Who would use Cellotex when building a shed? 😆

Or was it Kingspan?

if you run Autonuke twice it exactly undoes what it did the first time completely restoring the HDD image

Hahaha. Nonsense! Those programmes stripe a pattrn of data over the whole volume. Running it twice could never restore the volume, just makes the original data even less readable.

Run the military standard seven pass option to be sure nobody can ever recover data.

I haven’t read up on the matter, but i would have thought the claim is exaggerated.

It would also depend on whether you had a big head or not! 😆

WOW! Things have moved on since I did my qualification in art and graphic design!

Do any designers know how to use a pen or a brush freehand these days?

What a luddite I am!

Must be some pretty powerful drugs your’e on there dude! 😆

you can never have too many man-caves.

Maybe I should dig a network of caves under my neighbourhood.

Sounds like you might need a pokier graphics card

I bought the misses a Dualit toaster one year. She went nuts! 😆

?? 😕

Basically, they had no right to even come on my door

I feel sick!

“Class” troll BigButSlimmerBloke! 😆 😆

Trades people often let themselves down on communication and in being unreliable.

I would hazard a guess these particular guys are all busy working, but they should have given you a heads up that they weren’t going to show well in advance.

I wouldn’t want to be a jobbing builder as you immediately get tarred with the same brush as all the other wazzocks out there.

There are numerous TV shows that do nothing to help the reputation of proper professional tradesman. It’s a highly skilled challenging role, but which is not held in high esteem by most people. The word “cowboy” is synonymous with anyone who can make a living doing this sort of work. The media do everything to reinforce this. This doesn’t attract good people to the profession!

Our society tends to denigrate the less academic people amongst us. They deem these people good for nothing other than manual work. If only those with this misguided idea understood that manual trades work requires skill, tenacity and a diferent sort of intelligence to that of traditioanl academia.

They are overlooking that after actually doing all this manual work, this self-employed business person has to be salesman, bookeeper, project manager, logistics/procurement etc. No wonder some of these guys are a bit unreliable! They have their plate full and many are not up to running a professional outfit.

I bet most customers just go for the lowest quote, rather than pay a bit extra to get a true professional. So wazzocks proliferate, as do cowboys/conmen.

I can imagine it would be a nightmare dealing with the unrealistic expectations of some customers and the general ignorance about the time a job takes and what it entails. So you’d be expected to do jobs to prefection for peanuts. Any tiny arising issue can/will be blown out of proportion by the customer causing acrimony. Perhaps you would get people who wouldn’t pay until you have done a lot of extra repair work on damage which they falsely claim you caused etc etc. Imagine the damage one misguided or unreasonable person could do to your reputation.

It’s physically hard work as well as requiring skills and talent. Perfoming these trades often eventually mess up your health. It’s an occupation full of pitfalls and not very well paid, given the insecurity of the situation and the extended hours beyond the time you spend on site.

There’s no excuse for guys not keeping you informed, but if there were sizeable companies employing guys, ensuring their work and materials were scheduled, customers kept informed etc, it would all work better. If this was the case, customers would be paying considerably more than they do now. This will never happen becuase people want “cheap”. You get what you pay for!