It amazes me how paranoid people are in this country about data and how ill informed they are. Do you not think that your bank, or mobile phone operator don’t use and sell your data. Your bank and insurance details are widely passed around between firms and government to control the financial world. How do you think credit scoring works or the rules around the number of ISA’s you can open. I used to work in IT for a large bank and every night data would be sent to the government and credit scoring agencies all about the activity that went on that day. Its completely normal and how the system works.

Is it not brilliant that a huge data source is going to be used to help develop better medical products. All this data is in paper format at the moment and can be viewed by anyone in the NHS so by putting it on a computer makes no difference.

For one as mountain biker (therefore with an increased risk on injury) I hope to god my medical records are online so if I ever have a serious accident A&E can get the details asap without having to first find out where I live, then which NHS trust I come under, then fax a request for my details, then for someone to go into a large warehouse and find my file and then fax back my details. It’s just so bloody archaic.

The amount of money that is wasted by tests having to be repeated and duplicate appointments because data is not shared. My dad has a genetic condition that is looked after by a London hospital and each 6 months they do a vast array of test on him. But when he goes to the heart and kidney doctors in Bristol they do all the same test again, sometimes even just a couple of days later as they can’t see the records from London. Bloody madness and a complete waste of money. We are not talking a few blood test but full MRI’s and ultrasounds. In Bristol there are 2 NHS trusts and my dads doctor is under 1 and the dialysis unit is under the other. Every other day he has blood taken and tested. But the NHS trusts don’t share data so when the doctor wants a blood test, instead of him having to have another appointment he just asks the dialysis nurse to take 2 vials of blood and then he walks across the road and drops the second vial off for the doctor to test. This happens every couple of months. 2 tests for exactly the same thing, its a bloody joke.

It get around the problem they should just offer free Club Card or Nectar points to anyone that allows their date to be sold. I bet the issues and public concern would vanish overnight!!!

Can anyone explain how the railways work as there was a piece no the One Show last night about train overcrowding and they said that operators could not just go out and buy extra carriages, They said they would need to get permission and funding from government and that it was really complicated. I understand that Network Rail is government owned but don’t the train operators own the roiling stock. If not why not they are the ones making the profit and providing the service. All just seems bloody complicated.

Would have said a Peugeot, but we then went and bought one a few years back as it ticked all the right boxes. Have to say the 307 estate we have is very good and just does things really well. Does feel like selling your soul a bit though. I would struggle to buy a Ford or Vauxhall as you might as well then more to the suburbs and hide behind the net curtains ;-) Yes I know that they are generally very good cars!

Granted to have a full federal system there would need to be a nation wide vote but can’t really see the NI, Welsh, Scottish apposing it as they would get more powers and we wouldn’t get the current situation where all that parliament bangs on about is english issues. The other nations must get sick to death of watching the news about some new NHS or education story when at the end they say this only effect england. It would also mean that an english parliament would have the time to debate english issues. We just seem to have a bonkers setup at the moment but as we are british we can never change anything as that would be “unprecedented” and a change to this so called constitution that we have, but that we don’t actually have written down.

It’s not should the English have a vote, it should be everyone in Britain has a vote as it is breaking up of the Union. Granted as many have said it is like a divorce but at least the rest of the country should be able to express their opinion especially as it is such a massive historical change. On a slightly different subject, how come there is no english parliament. Should there not be 4 countries, 4 parliaments and one parliament for GB. Maybe a change to the so called constitution to balance the powers of the county as a whole would stop it breaking up. Personally I don’t think Scottish independence will be voted for as like the AV vote people in the UK don’t like change

Reception is fine but terrible customer service. Classics Indian call centre where they are very polite but don’t have a clue and you have to explain the problem 20 times. If your getting an iPhone, 3 don’t do visual voicemail which is a pain. When my contract runs out will I stick with them ? Probably not unless they are loads cheaper. Don’t want to give my money to a company that’s so difficult to deal with.

Probably because they are bloody expensive and don’t appear on many off the shelf bikes

We use

http://www.interparcel.com
https://www.transglobal.org.uk

Pharos are good for UK deliveries but you can’t put multiple boxes into a single pickup so can work out expensive

Try 99 Designs http://99designs.co.uk

Worked well for us as you get loads of design ideas and options. Probably not the best way to get the ultimate logo where you work closely with the designer.

I used ClikPic for quite a few years and was always very pleased.

Try Price Glass on Ashley Down road. Did an excellent job for us a few years ago and just gives one price not like many that offer you lots of offers that work out loads more expensive. We had 6 windows replaced, made up of 2 bays and it cost just over £2k.

We would certainly use again as good price and not dodgy like so any

The IP details that Google and the like use is far more detailed than just where your ISP is based. If you look at Google analytics for your site you will be able to drill down to city and in some case IP can even go down to street level. Do you ever see ads for online dating that say “meet people in Bristol”. This is using the IP of your computer to know where you are.

The best thing is to have Chester in your keywords, Chester in the meta data of your webpages and Chester in H1 and H2 tags of your webpages. If Google ads are then setup for a specific location then you should be alright. Testing adwords is always slightly hard as then never show to everyone unless you have some massive campaign that is buying all the ad save or you are very very niche.

What you could do to prove things are working is let the ads run for a week or so and then use Google analytics to see where people are looking at your website from. If they are not motley clustered around Chester then I guess you have a problem.

It is all a bit of minefield that I am not 100% sure about, not sure anyone is.

Thule 591’s are great and have had them for years but they don’t work great on bikes that have cables running down the top or underside of the downtube or have funny shaped tubes. I have a carbon Scott Genius and the cables run down the top of the down tube which means the clamp bites into the cables. Not the best way to secure your bike but it does work but never feel totally secure and confident in it. If you can find a carrier that clamps the sides then I think this would be better and more versatile as tube shapes change.

There is no way I could ever keep my bikes in the house. The wife would never allow it and to be fair I wouldn’t blame her, I wouldn’t want mud and grease kicking around the house. I think it is just a risk you have to take if you are into biking. Yes have bloody goods locks, insurance and make your shed as strong as possible, but if someone wants your bike then they will have it sooner or later. We have been burgled a couple of times over the years and we do all the sensible things to deter people as much as possible but one thing I try never to do is to become paranoid about it and for it to change how/what I do. At the end of the day we live in a world with scummers and we have to just get on with things and enjoy life and our bikes and not worry constantly that they will be nicked and that we are being watched.

It also doesn’t help the bike industry profits from all the crime so has no incentive to improve things. With every bike and frame having a serial number it really wouldn’t be difficult to register every sale centrally/. There is just no incentive to do anything and it seems a very large majority of bikers don’t register there bikes either. We had a bike recovered by the police a couple of years back and when I went to the copshop to pick it up I was amazed by the number of bikes they had and amazed at the number of decent/ classic/ custom built bikes they had they they couldn’t trace the owners. It was a crying shame to see some lovely bikes just rusting away.

Make sure you are logged out of adwords before you try to look for your ad. Change your location in Google to Chester and it might help as well. Log out of google do your search as then change the location setting on the left hand side.

Couple of things that might work

Try
http://www.silverfish-uk.com
http://www.mosquito-bikes.co.uk

What a gutter, I will keep an eye out, work down in Easton and amazing how many dodgy bikes you see around the place.

So did they destroy the frame? What dicks

Have a look at http://www.stolenbristolbikes.com as their’s a copper based at Trinity Road who deals bike bike crime. Helpful chap and might be worth getting in contact as if it is like most crime they know who’s doing it. The guy who runs http://www.stolenbristolbikes.com might know his name.

To be honest this seems normal in the bike industry. About 2 years ago around August time I had a cycle to work voucher for a MTB. I had up to £2.5k to spend and needed a large frame, so quite a few options I thought. Not one bike shop in Bristol or the surrounding area could get me a bike of any model out of Trek, Specialized, Cannondale, Giant, etc. Basically everyone was sold out of everything, and had no idea when new stock was coming in. I left it for a couple of months and the situation was still the same but they at least new stock wasn’t coming in until November to Feb. I then decide to gets road bike instead and wait for the new MTB’s to come in, however it was exactly the same situation with road bikes. Basically I couldn’t spend £2.5K on a bike. In the end I just bought a separate frame and built it up. It basically ruined what should have been a great bike buying session. I to was really pissed off by the whole things. It seems the bike industry has a 6 month window when they don’t have stock. Seems madness to me.

At one point I spoke to a Trek rep and he checked and they didn’t have any large framed full suspension bikes in the whole or europe and this was August!!

You shouldn’t get a delay, we use Paypal all the time through our website and most transactions come through straight away. Sometimes there is delay in the notification email but not if you check the account you should see payment instantly. Personally I wouldn’t send the money first unless the guys sounds cool and you are happy to trust him.

If money is refunded by the seller within 30 days then their should be no fees to pay

Cheers all I will check these out as I was all over the place on the ride in today

Oh and if anyone is around Bath/Bristol go to Malllory’s in Bath. Amazing customer service to a level I have never experienced before and all the staff know so much about watches. When I was there to buy my Panerai the staff were on rotation to the annual watch fair in Zurich. They put other jewellers to shame.

How about a Panerai. I have a Radiomir and it is beautiful, rare and a great balance between a dress watch and a more rugged look.

The sounds like the game that lots of shops are now playing where they push the responsibility onto the manufacturer or say that you have to deal direct with the distributor. They seem to have forgotten that the sales contract is with them and the manufacturer is completely irrelevant with regard your contract in law. Had a similar issue recently with a faulty iPad after 2 weeks and Comet said I had to deal with Apple direct and pick up all the postage costs. No you sold it to me so its your problem!

Have a word with Trading Standards as especially is your bought by mail order as there are additional rules in place. Products have to be fit for purpose irrespective of manufacturing defects.

HI it didn’t reinstate the lock on my wires 3G if that helps. All the networks removed the locking of iPhones I think 1 year after they were released. YOu could go online to say the O2 website and request an unlock. Not sure if the situation has changed. Unlocking is really easy anyway, just Google it, took me seconds when I did it a few years back

That house will never be completed as the guy was more interested in building stone walls than actually building the house. I bet when they class it as finished the outside will still be a building site and it will have taken so long that he will then have to start fixing and rebuilding it. Basically they will never live in a completed house. I know a few people that have built there owns homes or done major DIY where they insist on doing it all. The one lessons I have learnt that it takes them so long that once they have finished they then need to start again. It’s just a constant cycle and they never actually enjoy a finished home . I goes if you enjoy it and its your hobby then fine but the other half and the kids never seem to be completed pleased with the situation.

Granted these guys didn’t have much money to spend but I do sometimes wonder how much time and money people spend / waste on getting so called free materials. Might be better and even cheaper to get materials delivered and you spend the time actually building.

Personally I don’t think you should let the thieving ba*tards win by change you mind on what bike to ride. Any bike that you ride a lot should be a decent one in my eyes as you then get far more enjoyment. If you have a relatively safe place to lock the bike then I say decent bike, decent lock and lots of enjoyment.

Granted if you had to lock your bike just in the street then I would probably go for something more modest but I could never ride a piece of ugly crap. Then again it doesn’t seem to mater what bike you have as it always amazes me the crap that thieves nick.

Best advice, get a really decent lock. They cost a bomb but do the job.

POC – expensive but bloody comfortable.

Uwe-r

Yes you can move files between Mac’s and PC’s with out any issue or problems using a memory stick. You can also connect them to the same network wirelessly to share files or use dropbox as wwaswas suggests. Its free and great to ensure you have hassle free backup

Use dropbox all the time to keep all my work and home computers in sync.

Used these guys when in France so I could watch ITV coverage of Tour De France. iPlayer worked as well

http://www.ukproxyserver.co.uk/

You should have to pay the Italian VAT equivalent but there will be no import duties

I would complain as in the first instance you shouldn’t have needed that amount of work on a computer that is just over 12 months old. Look up European law regarding guarantees and fit for purpose, thats probably why they did the work. If it was dented by them then complain as they are trained technicians and damage by their staff will be a calculated business risk. Also remember that repairs that cost £1000 will have only cost them a fraction of that. It might cost £100 -£200 for a new case but to them it will be only a few quid.

The Amazon Tablet is going to be announced today, hold fire as this could be a game changer. Apple and Amazon are the only people that can offer an ecosystem behind the tablet making them proper consumer devices. They also make money each time you use it (buy content, apps, etc) so can afford to invest more in the product. All the other android tablets are just sell and forget by the manufacturers so they can never afford to offer ongoing support, functionality and upgradeability (is that a word)

Its the simplicity of the ecosystem that has made the iPad and Kindle so popular and especially with non geeks

For someone that has Avid Elixer’s that rub constantly as the pads have to be so close to the disc to work I would be certainly interested. Even the Avid race tech’s couldn’t make the brakes work without rubbing. Like most things the technology is out there and it is the bringing together of ideas and actually getting them to work. Good on the fella, competition is always good as too many of the big firms hold back improvements so they can slowly trickle them out over the years, bolt through hubs a fine example.

Is is all subjective, its not for suspension forks and shocks as the manufacturers go to great lengths to make it easy to setup the right sag and pressures. Should it not be the same to tyres?

Granted a lot of people adjust suspension setting away from what is recommended. If a tyres is designed for a certain purpose, mud, hard pack, etc should there not be a recommended pressure or sag. What did the designer use when testing and perfecting the design.

See I knew you guys would know the reasons.

Using Nobby Nic’s at the moment and they are a bitch to get the pressure right. When the pressure is spot on they are great but all others times they are crap and either love to slide of the rims or just don’t grip. As I was pumping them up I thought why don’t they publish the correct tyre pressures or have sag indicators like suspension forks/shocks

I saw this as well and thought it was a great idea. Price seemed a bit high though and did wonder if it was overly complicated. Looking forward to seeing how this develops

Personally I think they should add up the cost of all the damage to buildings and stock and increased premiums for the shop owners then divide that amount by the people convicted of looting and rioting. They can then pay their share back even if it takes them the rest of their lives. Granted many will never be able to pay it back but it will be a weight around their neck. Why as a shop owner should I have to claim on my insurance and face the increased premiums for years to come because of this scum. Why are they not forced to pay back what they have stolen, damaged. Sounds like a guy that nicks £1000 TV will get the same sentence as someone that nicks a £3.50 case of water. Yes it is all the same crime but none of the sentencing helps the shop owner to rebuild his business.

On a slightly lighter note might be worth keeping an eye out on the police auctions in London, sounds like they will be full of computers and TV’s ;-)

All this who should we blame, who should we blame. Simple the people rioting.

For some reason in this country from the student riots to these riots we also ways try to blame others, police, government, society, and not the people actually doing the rioting. Yes there are social problems that need looking at but at the end of the day if you break the law you should feel the full force of the law.

I love how stupid these kids are as well that they post pictures of themselves with their loot on Facebook. They cant even do a good job at being a criminal. I liked what one policeman once said “The majority of criminals are STUPID, if not they wouldn’t get caught”

I’ve had Eggbeathers from when they first came out and love them. Yes they are not the toughest things on the market but bike bits wear out and they work great.

Cool thanks for the update guys

Not thinking of necessarily suing, made a complaint at the time but it has taken them 6 months to reply. Just want some legal advice as to what, if anything we should do next.

TJ your right we are not sure what a consultant could do now, that’s the point of seeing an expert. Person sly I know nothing about burns and how they heal or not.