[Alien]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Put loads of weight on since xmas feel like im starting from scratch but obviously im not just got a belly to lose again

I know the feeling, managed to get a load of outstanding stuff from my to-do list done, but as it mostly consisted of catching up on reading, unwatched DVDs [B5 Universe boxed set, all 5 seasons of Alias, the Lethal Weapon boxed set, etc] and a load of stuff on my V+, I've managed to gain half a stone.

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

they are all crappy refurbs last night they offered me a new box for 69 quid I told them to shove it I have v+ so I only have sky for sky one and I could live without it. Ive given them one more chance with a crappy refurb coming saturday afternoon if this one fails in a couple of months then ill ditch them. This one and the last one were both dead hdds

Why not bung in a HDD you know is alright? I think there's a bunch of sites out there with the necessary info [max HDD capacity, etc]. I'd upgrade my V+ if VM would allow it, but sadly they don't, but AFAIK with Sky's Ts & Cs the Sky+ box actually belongs to you.

Speaking of VM & the V+, I wish VM would let us use 1 of these:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=334
especially as it's specifically intended for use with DVRs, & has been tested with the 8300 series. The only downside is that if a V+ failed & had to be replaced, you would lose a lot more than just the 80hrs SD/20hrs HD that the V+ holds on its own, as that external drive gets encrypted in the same way the V+ internal drive is; change the V+ & you'd have to reformat once the external drive is reconnected.

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Bah! I want a bread bin..one that takes 2 standard loaves.Surprise,surprise all the ones I can afford don't take 2 loaves.I may be lucky to get one loaf or one and a half loaves to fit and it's surprising how many retailers and manufacturers fail to even give any measurements either.

Why not just keep it in the fridge?

Originally Posted by greencreeper

Nah. It's like cement. Leave a bowl for a week or so, and the stuff's night on impossible to get off. I was scrubbing away and caught a sharp bit - probably a husk or something. Blood. Pain

Next time save yourself the risk of injury & just leave it to soak for a while.

Originally Posted by greencreeper

I'm not a slob! It's my desk - the centre of operations. Is a bit of a mess. Just overlooked a bowl. Generally the house is fairly tidy. There is only me - I'm easy pleased.

It's like magic. When you live by yourself, all your annoying habits are gone!
-- Merrill Markoe

Originally Posted by Jefferson T

In fact, I don't believe I'll ever trust anyone in a relationship with me.

I must admit I have my doubts as to whether I'll ever be able to fully trust someone in that way again as well.

Originally Posted by Gavin

Paul can't put every single combination of every swear word in the filter. You know damn well this is a family-friendly forum. If you really can't post without swearing then don't post at all.

Can the swear filter make use of regular expressions?

Originally Posted by Cobbydaler

My lower back has gone into spasm for the first time in over a year...

The wisdom of the CSM/MHRA means that I can't get Co-proxamol from my GP anymore. That was the only painkiller that worked.

Will have to resort to copious quantities of muscle relaxant...

Chilean Chardonnay

I've got 1 of those variable speed massagers, which I find works quite well when the same sort of thing happens to me.

For anyone who's wondering, no I don't mean that as a euphamism, I really do mean a massager, it was about £20 from Argos, IIRC.

Originally Posted by Mr_love_monkey

Yeah, I'm always searching for that elusive 'free porn' too

If you're still interested, ask & ye shall receive [links].

Originally Posted by TraxData

Also developed visual snow which i believe was a mix of huge anxiety stress and head pains (see http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ualsnow-80.jpg to understand what i now see)....had that for just over 2 months

Don't get the "snow", but the "floaters" I've had as long as I can remember. I don't know about other people, but in my case I reckon it's just dust/impurities in the thin layer of liquid covering the eyeball, combined with my better than average [according to an optician] ability to focus on things, especially things very close to my eyes. That's why I go through so many lense wipes for my glasses, as the tinyest smudge/smear/piece of dust can drive me nuts.

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

I don't know if this has been mentioned before; apologies if it has. In the last couple of years, TV advertisers' policies have shifted towards the American model, but have gotten it wrong. For instance, with ER - easily the worst hit by this - we get the teaser, opening credits, then the bloody ads; that, I'm told, is what happens in the States. But then we get ad breaks seemingly at random throughout the episode - even though the show is structured around ad breaks, as is virtually all American TV. Why, why, why can't they at least put the damn ads where they're supposed to be, instead of destroying the flow of the episode?

Maybe they seem random to you because you don't watch much TV? The only channel I've ever seen that had more than the typical number of ad breaks is ABC1, all the others typically have 1 between progs, 1 about 10-15 mins past the hour [assuming a 1 hour slot that starts on the hour], 1 at roughly half past the hour, & another between quarter-to/ten-to the hour. It doesn't really bother me, as I don't watch anything live, & it doesn't take more than 10 seconds to skip through an ad break with my V+.

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Had my lie-in disturbed by the blasted Gas meter reader this morning.

My husband says they are on flexi time but the number of times I've been disturbed by them on a weekend I reckon that's crap.I reckon they get overtime for weekends otherwise why don't they come more often in the week...when I'm up and about.

Originally Posted by Angua

They get a bonus based on how much of their patch they actually read.

I'm lucky with the gas meter, as it's outside. I used to have the same prob you describe with the electricity meter though, even though I'm on a pre-pay meter, incase the guy needed to change the charge rate [not answering the door a few times when they needed to update it resulted in me ending up with a debt on my meter]. Fortunately I now have 1 of those key meters, & they can send out charge rate changes via the paypoint terminals to the key so I don't need to bother to answer the door to the meter reader anymore, & can just phone the reading in.

Originally Posted by Incognitas

I'm seriously contemplating some Paracetamol.

Ooohhh, the hard stuff! I'm only teasing, I envy the fact that something as simple as Paracetamol will suffice for you; it's never had any affect on pain for me at all.

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter

I'd go with the blowtorch option Zing. Spray of WD40 into a zippo flame does the trick too

Neutradol air freshener [the aerosol can, not the non-aerosol 1 they used to do]. Trust me, it's how I deal with flying bugs that invade my flat. I got a wasp the other day that must have been at least 4 feet away [can usually get about a 3 foot flame]. Also, IIRC, WD40 makes a not-very-impressive crackly hiss when used in this manner, compared to the more imposing roar of Neutradol. I'd think that would make for a better scrote-scarer. [plus it's cheaper than WD40]

Originally Posted by Jefferson T

I fell down the stairs last night I wasn't even drunk either.

Haven't you got a hand-rail? Or did someone leave something on the stairs?

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

Something I really, really hate: all that anti-piracy crap on DVDs, 'you wouldn't steal a movie' and all that.

Haven't they realised yet that the only people who actually see these things are the people who've bought legit copies?! In other words, the ones who aren't the bloody pirates? The people to whom the entire issue is irrelevant?

Exactly! The thing that really does my head in is when they not only have those warnings, but make it so that you can't skip them either.

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

If I were a pirate I wouldn't copy all that stuff, I'd just copy the movie and extras. It's so irritating it almost makes you sympathise with the pirates; when I watch a DVD, the first thing I want to see is the menu screen - no ads, no trailers and definitely no anti-piracy nonsense. I am not a pirate. Stop assuming by default that I am. I've never even played a ripped-off DVD, let alone bought one. You have to wonder what else might be on there - spyware, for example. With a retail copy you know it's clean.

LOL, I take it you've never heard of the Sony rootkit scandal then? I'm not sure if that was just music CDs, or DVDs as well, but the point is still the same: as someone who has used stuff that I haven't paid for [though I have a sizeable legitimate DVD collection], if you know what you're looking for & where to look, you're actually less likely to end up getting something you don't want bundled with what you do want [e.g. Sony's rootkit, copyright systems on software that could damage the optical drive, or just warnings that you can't skip past].

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

However, if your DVD player software supports bookmarks (as PowerQuest's PowerDVD does), there is a workaround: play the DVD from the beginning once, then set a bookmark as soon as you get to the menu screen. Once set, the bookmark allows you to skip all the blurb the next time you play the DVD.

I did actually see a kit available to mod/chip my DVD player that would have removed the restriction that prevents me from skipping warnings, etc, but it would have required me to send my player off to a place in Scotland [which I wasn't willing to do], or do it myself [which would entail surface-mount soldering, which is a bit more fiddly & tricky than I'd like to risk doing myself].

Originally Posted by iglu

you know the matriarchical system in Italy, even Capello at his 60's has to listen to his mama....whenever I become friendly, she become bossy....

In my experience that's not a trait exlusive to Italian women, more like all those lacking a Y chromosome.

Originally Posted by greencreeper

Too hot - absolutely baking up here in the attic

Unfortunately I'm in a similar situation, the bearings on the fan that cools the heat exchanger [or radiator, or whatever it's called] in my AC are borderline FUBAR. I can put it into cooling mode for a few minutes at a time, but have to switch it back to just fan mode [for which it has a seperate fan] as soon as I hear the bearings start to make noise. I've ended up not bothering. I'm currently waiting to hear back from the technical support people about it.

Originally Posted by Gavin

full air conditioning units don't cost the earth these days. Worth their weigh in gold on hot days. Especially if you have a lot of heat-producing computers in your room.

1 computer is bad enough, especially when I get the sun on 3 sides of my flat.

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Well I can say that this fan does actually keep me lovely and cool all night.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...text%3EFAN.htm

Trust me, you'd notice the difference if you tried a proper air conditioner.

Originally Posted by Druchii

I guess now is the time for home RAID 5 if possible?

Originally Posted by TraxData

Raid scares me

These are supposed to be pretty good. The only downsides being that it doesn't come with any drives, & it only uses USB instead of eSATA or ethernet [you can get a network add-on unit, but it still connects to the main unit via USB, so there's no speed benefit in doing so]. The upside is that it is [apparently] incredibly simple to use. More info here.