ed_pete

Analogue or digital, i.e Freeview ? Analogue is far more forgiving on signal quality.

I'm not an expert but I believe it's common misconception that the proximity of East Dulwich to the Crystal Palace transmitter should guarantee a good digital (Freeview) picture. With digital tv the signal quality is as important as signal strength and that is affected by the quality the aerial, cable and connections. In my case the strength of the signal was too high for my Freeview box decoder, which I cured using an attenuator - a gizmo that lowers the level of the signal. This could be worth a try if you are confident your aerial and cable are OK. Loads of information out there about digital tv and reception issues all over the internet - this site I found reasonable accessible to the layman.

I bought I an iPod iTouch recently and have struggled to get it to talk to my home wireless LAN running WPA/WPA2 encryption. There seems to be an issue with which characters are valid for inclusion in the encyption key. For example "EastDulwichForum" would work fine but "3.5!@^1>i[?+o?/m" won't work at all. Anyone else experienced this kind of problem ? BTW - I was somewhat miffed that one of the attractions of the iTouch was the ability to download applications however this is not possible unless you upgrade to the iPhone version of the operating software - v2.1 - at a cost of ?5.99. You are even prompted to do this the very first time you connect it to iTunes. Surely the version in the shops should already have been upgraded ?

Pebs - take a look at this thread. Another forumite has done just as you are proposing and used their own engineer / broker to reduce premiums.

Blokes who shave their hair off and then grow beards ,let's face, it just looks stupid. And, fat blokes who grow beards in an attempt to hide their fat faces. And, any bloke with a pony tail, especially balding ones.

As I cycled past the Peckham Academy this morning, I spotted (at least) two table football's in the playground. My, how things have move on since my day.

Sean - I get sweaty, especially in the summer and am lucky enough to have an employer that has showers and lockers, albeit slightly inadequate for the number of cycling employees (all men, bar one occasional lady). The logistics do take a bit of getting used to - ensuring the right clothes & shoes are in the right place at the right time etc. Personally I don't claim that cycling is quicker, for me it roughly works out the same as if I went by train. The best bit is not being stuck to a timetable, I know that when I leave in the morning I'll be at the office in 20 - 25 minutes and the same when I go home. As I travelled by train (I believe you're a bus person) I never got to read that much anyway, the journey was too short.

To any ex-NTL Virgin Media broadband customers. NTL/VM used to have a method of setting up additional email boxes and managing the setting/passwords for each one. Recently they have changed this to "Selfcare" (which looks like and ex-Blueyonder system). Although I can log into Selfcare, I can't manage any of the mail boxes anymore. Has any else tried and succeeded with this ? BTW, I called VM support who said I would need another "master" email address created - I don't want a new email address but they did this anyway, needless to say it didn't solve the issue. A week later they called me to ask if it was now fixed - I responded by asking why they were asking me and to call me back when they know it had been fixed - I'm still waiting.

Threads that go over one page - let's face it, life is too short to read through pages and pages of turgid shite.

Forumites signatures, unnecessary exclamation marks and the excessive use of smileys.

Sadly as I am not a Bellenden (or environs) resident, I will not be able to enter my Classic Victoria Sponge either.

Anyone know the background to the Bellenden Bun Fight next weekend ?

Try Tetrapak not Tetrapack. The kind of cartons orange juice comes in.

I think council estates are covered by the clear bag scheme.

What I think is also a bit "un-joined up" is that I imagine most visitors to Sainsburys have the ability for the council collect papers and glass for recycling so why not provide smaller collection points for these and a larger one for the items not collected by the council, i.e. the tetrapaks.

Is it possible to specify wildcards in the message/author searches ? If so how do you do it ? TIA

There was an article in the trade press (Computer Weekly) yesterday on Chip and Pin terminals reporting the fact that "...a programme of carrying out checks and modifications to every terminal in retailers throughout the UK began behind the scenes in July. The massive undertaking will take months to complete, although the dedicated police unit that specialises in detecting ?plastic crime? was unable to give a precise timeframe." The article goes on "Criminals were said to be hiding devices inside terminals to reveal Pins matching credit cards, as well as obtaining data to make cloned magnetic stripe cards. Although these do not work in UK cash machines, criminals can use them to withdraw money in countries that have yet to roll out chip and Pin." In terms of the check on the C&P terminals: "Each terminal must be checked to see whether criminals have already inserted a data-reading device, and to make physical changes to its tampering-detection system." I've noticed that the Tescos close to my place of work has changed its C&P terminals recently, perhaps retailers on LL will be following suit shortly...

I think http://emoticons4u.com/fingers/fing29.gif is what you're looking for, or the slightly less offensive http://emoticons4u.com/fingers/fing06.gif

Re: the lift thing. There was a fatal accident a few years back in gym that was based in the same building in which I used to work. http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/Media/News/NewsArchive/2003/liftaccidentupdate.htm So, perhaps not such an irrational fear after all.

Please, Somerfield not Sommerfield.

Probably the same crew that stung me for ?300 from two ATM's in Norbury last week.

Managed to answer my own question. A new STB or TV will be required with a new tuner as the HD over Freeview will use a different standard. I wonder how many people buy "HD Ready" TV's realise this...

I'm planning to buy a new HD TV. I haven't decided which one yet but have a question that I'm sure someone can help with. When HD is eventually transmitted over Freeview (not currently possible due to bandwith issues) will HD TV's with an integrated digital Freeview tuner be capable of processing this or will a separate box be required ? It seems that the requirements for an "HD Ready" logo only apply to the display and not the TV's tuner. If the tuner is capable of processing the HD signal then the TV may have the "HDTV" logo as well. I can't find any TV's that have HDTV Freeview tuners - presumably because until HD is transmitted over Freeview there is no demand. I am aware that Panasonic have released HDTV's with intregrated FreeSat tuners which enables one to receive HD with no subscription, if you have, or want, a dish.

Mrs ed_pete had a call from First Direct today as someone had attempted a fraudulent transaction with her switch card. She has never used this card in Somerfield but has used the HSBC ATM.

Yet another instance - though not so far afield this time. I had ?300 taken from my First Direct account around 7:30pm last night from two ATM's in Norbury. I too have used this card at the same popular supermarket referred to in above postings.