sparks

'They don't like it up 'em'!

The trouble is jamer, as has been pointed out several times, 'common sense' left the building years ago.. One of the biggest crimes nu labour committed was to make people believe that there must be a rule for everything, which is not suprising since they gave us as many 'laws' in 10 years as we had had in the previous 400 ! So rather than run the risk of doing something that was rumoured to be wrong, there was a move towards banning things that weren't. The new lot have started to put a tiny bit of that right (whilst completely f*cking the rest of the country), but what it will take is for people to indeed challenge this non-ban!

When our turn comes to remove the corrupt, let's hope we are up to the task!

I must admit the two schools our kids have attended so far have put "Photography/video at any school event is welcome as long as you don't obstruct the view of other parents" at the bottom of each publicity letter/note ...They also ask if parents are willing to have their kid's photos published in the paper. On this latter point we have said no, as there are often objectionable companies (such as McF*ckingDonalds) 'sponsoring' school events to try and get some good exposure, but we ain't going along with that! And we also have sports days where kids are allowed to lose, and each term they have an award for the best 4 pupils in each class - and no, it doesn't have to be 2 boys and 2 girls! But as to Cobras point, but in a different context we can turn the tables too. If our kids join us on a demo, and if the FIT team are doing their usual intimidatory filming, I make a point of asking for their ID and ask them to stop filming the kids. If asked why, I tell them (quite loudly) that "how I can be sure some perv back at the station won't be viewing it!". Some actually stop!

Join the gang... And you'll get your chance soon

I guess then the saying 'don't let the b*stards grind you down' is a bit out of place here!

Which is where 'swap deals' come in....a deal may be done as you say, but the actual petrol comes from the nearest/most convenient refinery. And the output from those refineries is the same stuff. The only difference is the various additives that are put in by the different companies when the petrol is in the tanker!...And the tankers themselves are not the company's either - they are all sub-contracted out, despite the signs on the side..The reason why Shell isn't involved in a 'swap deal', is that it won't accept petrol that has already been put into the tanker, unlike the other companies who are happy to have deliveries from any source. And the only supermarkets that operate a petrol 'loss leader' are Asda and Morrisons. All the others follow suit within a 2 mile radius, but most areas are not in this criteria, and hence the other supermarkets charge the going rate regardless. And if you make a habit of researching 'who owns who', you'll find for example that Jet (mentioned earlier) is actually owned by Conoco... So the whole premise of 'smaller companies' is in fact a fallacy, as they all lead back to a large cartel ! And for what it's worth, you might as well try and bring the government down as get an oil company to play fair - but then they are part of that same cartel !

Slight flaw I'm afraid... Where do you think the supermarkets get their petrol from? Yep, the same refineries as all the majors with the exception of shell, because they have 'swap agreements'... Petrol stations actually make a loss, hence the reason they sell so much more nowadays. So Esso and BP still get the same, give or take...and what about the biggest beneficiary? Cos it won't do anything to the tax take will it. And even if it did make a difference to BP/Esso, we are a tiny market and there's plenty of other places to sell !

Keys has gone btw.. But if we broaden this whole issue, why is the man hater Harriet Harmon immune? She is one of the most sexist people around, and yet is protected...because of her gender?

Ok, so I stayed with the 'devil I know' and got her an X-fi style. Found it for £49 online, and it arrived today. Not a touchscreen, but so far it's looking and sounding impressive - and the external speaker is surprisingly good! Thanks for all the advice.

And no googling! 1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator? 2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator? 3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend .... Except one.Which animal does not attend? 4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it? Answers later!

I looked at the X-fi2, and that's the reason I'm looking at others!...As many reviews have said, the screen is a bit naff, and weird volume/lockout controls. Havn't seen the X-fi anywhere that I can have a play with it yet.

Unfortunately the ipod is too expensive... I'll look at the other one if I find it anywhere but Toscos!

Our soon to be 9 yr old's birthday is coming up soon, and she wants an MP3 player. Everyone's chipping in, so there is a budget of approx £100 Personally I don't like apple products, and have always been a Creative user...But I havn't bought one for some time, and am looking for advice on the latest gizmos, whatever the make. Preferred additional requirements are: video/photo playback expandable memory touch screen if possible cheers

CD I think the lack of interest says a lot about attitudes to different countries/peoples... Similarly, whilst we're getting major coverage of the australian floods (which have claimed very few lives relatively) over here, there is very little about the far more costly (in terms of human life) disaster in Brazil, and the greater number of those made homeless in sri lanka under similar circumstances... We in the west tend to value 'our' lot whilst often ignoring the plight of the 'others'... Haiti had virtually no chance before the quake, let alone now! The sacrifice of your mates should never be forgotten, but the measure of that should be changed attitudes and actions...however, having been around to see many such disasters over the years, that is a vain hope!

Maybe this time around it'll be the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism as it's more commonly known... :Cool:

Hopefully my decendants will think the same as me.... ! And despite their protestations otherwise (they quote: Data Protection Act 1998, Census Act 1920, Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007), there were provisions put in place in the Identity card act 2006 (which they ignore of course) that allows information to be accessed and shared. Although this act was repealed on Dec 21st, the data sharing clauses were kept in place, hence my muted response to something that should have been a major victory - the champagne is still in the bottle! Our ancestors could not have foreseen a future where the state seeks to have an ever increasing (and easily accessable) amount of data held on an individual, which can be used against that individual when it suits...so the safest option now is to deny the state any useful information wherever possible... You and I won't see the information, but the government can....and will ! The nazi's manipulated their census in 1933 and 1939 (and used previous ones) to include territories they claimed, and to eventually help identify (thank you IBM) certain populations...are you absolutely sure it 'couldn't happen here'? And who formulates the questions?.. 'Jedi' was the 4th most popular religion last time, and yet apparently there will no 'tick box' answer this time, whilst there will be for ones which have less adherants. It may be obvious that it was a joke, but then which religion isn't?

Just to set your mind at ease ALL1, there were only 38 prosecutions for non returns/lies in 2001 ! So go on - have some fun...you know you want to! Last time, the full description of my aforementioned abode was actually an 187 roomed terraced bungalow/house with no toilet available, and the lowest floor level being the fifth or higher. It was council owned, and I lived there rent free... The household members bit was especially good, as I was apparently married to myself in a 'round about way'... I was born at the North pole 800 years ago and have 42 dependants... Oh, and my occupation?....Apprentice Imaginary Being And the Door is still in one piece!..... :Laugh: On a serious note - giving them wrong information is better than giving them no information...!

27.03.11

Unfortunately the version of the e-commerce program I use still doesn't run under this, even though it's supposed to!...

So, what are you going to do with it? Spoil it, burn it, or just ignore it?... I'm wondering if they're still looking for a bungalow in Brighton with 187 bedrooms?....or whether they understood the 'NOYFB' on the front?.... :Winky:

I've set up xp/Win7 dual boots on a couple of machines, and I must say I'm warming to the new look. I've also been a fan of keeping everything in 'classic mode', but Win7 seems to work quite well, and if it weren't for the same reason of some important apps not running I'd probably be thinking of moving to it by default now. Just as an aside, are CCE and DVD-RB that much better than something like DVD Fab?

Therefore they are not facts are they, because as you say they are your personal experience - that is completely different! I prefer to refer to recorded facts when they are available as I've posted! I'm quite happy to consider the opposite view when shown some evidence, but I have found none so far on this issue! In city/town centres, the priorities are wrong! I think you'll find that apart from the main Roman arteries (which were actually built for their armies), 'roads' were formed out of the original tracks used by people on foot!...in fact one of the first was a timber construction in a swamp near glastonbury c4000 bc (see what an ageing hippy knows... :Winky: ) When it came to towns/cities, they were just walkways between structures...horses/carts actually had to give way to 'pedestrians'...and in fact when those new fangled 'horseless vehicles' came about, they had to be preceeded with a bloke equipped with a red flag!... Of course when it was realised how much money could be made from the automobile, the priorities changed... However in a sane world the 'priority' should be changed back when it comes to city/town centres. Worshippers of their metal chariots are still free to use the motorways/carriageways/country roads to their 'heart's content'!