Jeremy

The main problem is that they take a few minutes to get warmed up. But once they have, they give off plenty of light. As Huguenot says, you have to check the "equivalent wattage". Given the reduced energy consumption and the (much) longer life, I'm happy to use energy saving bulbs.

Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The consumption of foods that attract disapproval > (regardless of whether it's political or social > disapproval) is a demonstration of individuality. > The expense of the consumption is a public > demonstration of empowered individuality, and the > lengths that people are willing to go to cock a > snook at the system. I'm not sure about that. Hong Kong (also 'new' China, Singapore, and Japan to some extent) has become a deeply materialistic society, gratuitous displays of wealth are by no means limited to food. It's more about keeping up with the joneses than sticking your fingers up at authority.

I agree that if the animal has been killed for it's meat, then using the skin for clothing and upholstery is just making efficient use of the animal. I don't like the idea of slaughtering animals specifically for their fur, but if it's a second hand coat anyway... it may as well get used, it's rather too late for the rabbits.

I would suggest finding a nice pub with a private room, book it, and bring your own games... skittles, quoits, etc. If they already have darts and pool/billiards, then you're sorted.

Ridgley... you mean you don't think that a ?3 slice of cake is good value??

It's a popular myth that investment banks and hedge funds provide no value to society. What happens when a company wants to raise cash by selling stock or bonds? Or if that's too far removed from everyday life - who do you think is responsible for looking after your pension fund? I'm obviously not suggesting that it's a selfless task, or that widespread 7-figure salaries are justified... but the companies exist for a reason, i.e. people want to use their services. Not to mention the huge number of people employed in the sector, most of whom are just regular wage-slaves on relatively normal salaries. Those people suggesting that we need to compete with China and India in manufacturing are missing the point entirely - unless they want to volunteer to work in a factory soldering circuit boards for ?10 a day.

In response to Chris' comments about flat roof vs pitched... the illustrations I have include an "alternative" design with a pitched roof, which does look slightly better. I would stop some way short of agreeing that they are "great", but certainly not the worst building I've seen.

DJKQ - yes, I agree that attaching another drive with a clean OS would be a good solution, but I don't have a spare drive. And I don't want to spend another penny on a 5yr old PC which has already had more replacement parts than I care to remember! HAL - It seems as though several XP installations can co-exist in a multiple-boot configuration. No new partition was needed. However - Microsoft don't recommend it, and it doesn't quite seem to work properly. But I'm hoping it works well enough to copy off my data. After that... I think I'll probably trash the thing.

HAL - good call, but the HDD seems to be OK. It responds under recovery mode, and my second windows installation currently seems to be ticking along. It seems that the XP files just became corrupted somehow.

Well, I realised that you can actually install another windows installation on the same drive, without overwriting the first one (i.e. dual boot). So this is what I'm trying at the moment. If this works, then I'll copy the data I need onto DVDs, and then reformat the drive. Also, a very kind forumite has offered me the use of an IDE/SATA to USB adapter, so I can copy the data onto my laptop. So that could be another good option for copying off the data. I'm not sure if there's any point disinfecting the drive, as what's left of the OS will probably be useless. And i don't actually know that it was a virus which caused the issue!

It may well have been an interesting show, but surely he's preaching to the wrong people? The people who need persuading are the Chinese/HK consumers who insist on eating this stuff. As long as there's a market for it, sharks will continue to be killed for their fins. Unfortunately displays of wealth and affluence have become ingrained into the culture, so it's going to be pretty difficult.

My windows installation has broken... possibly a virus. At first windows just kept crashing, and then it refused to start up at all. Anyway, I have the windows XP install/boot CD. I ran the procedure for repairing the installation, but this didn't work. Now, I get the windows startup "splash screen", but after that, just an empty black screen with a mouse pointer (and no subsequent HD activity). So, it looks like a complete re-installation is in order. BUT - I don't want to re-format the drive, as I need to keep the data (obviously I'm far, far too lazy to backup). Any suggestions? I thought of creating a new partition and creating a fresh XP install on that, but the install procedure won't let me do that. Using a second hard-drive would be another option, but I don't have a spare, and don't fancy buying a new one unless I absolutely have to. Any ideas??

Apparently.... The photo seems like a reasonable method of guaranteeing that the correct person presents their license at the station. If the perpetrator is not prepared to comply with this, then taking them into the station does not seem disproportionate (not sure about the handcuffs though). What do you fear the police will do with a grainy blackberry photo of your son? It would seem like a hugely infefficient method for investigating a speeding offence, compared with looking up the vehicle registration.

It seems so, if they feel strongly enough to celebrate their wedding!

Don't worry, quidsy will be back. It will probably take more than a '100' though, I expect he'll wait for a '1000'.

@redinjun - very good!!

Try searching here: http://planningonline.southwarksites.com/planningonline2/

Narnia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Shame on you Jeremy. Quids ain't posting at the moment. Someone had to do it.

100

The problem with holding a public street party is that it looks as though you are speaking on behalf of the community... when in fact the relevance of the royal family is a divisive issue. By all means celebrate if you want, but do it in your home, or hire a hall. From my point of view - best of luck to them, but I've no intention of celebrating the wedding of two people I don't know.

Really sorry to hear about the robbery, but if there's one positive which can come out of this, perhaps people will realise that walking around talking on your phone really isn't a good idea. You wouldn't walk down a quiet road, on your own, in the dark, waving ?400 around! And you should be alert and aware of your surroundings, which is impossible to do while talking on the phone. Whether the problem is getting worse is irrelevant IMO - it's always been a problem, and always will be. Don't make yourself a target.

rubsley Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I quietly walk with my beliefs, and live my life, and if anybody > wants to challenge them then the burden of proof is on them. You don't > think God exists? Well that's all fine by me - and if you can prove it, > I'll happily change my mind too. That's fair enough. I was just wondering what you meant by your original point about there being pretty good evidence for reincarnation... that's all.

Hard to disprove... even harder to prove!

What. Loz. Said.

david_carnell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Comic genius - and that's before Mr Bean. Mr Bean cancels out Blackadder. Johnny English cancels out Not the Nine O'Clock News. I fear the net result is firmly in the red.