******* Thread now closed, please see volume 54 ********
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=25594
In this thread you may ask any question for which you need help, advice, suggestions or whatever.
It does not need to be motoring related. In fact, in this thread it should not be.
No Questions About PC\'s. They now go in another Thread.
No politics
No Speeding, speed cameras, traffic calming
No arguments or slanging matches
Nothing which I think is not following the spirit of the thread
Nothing that risks the future of this site (please see the small print for details www.honestjohn.co.uk/credits/index.htm )
Any of the above will be deleted. If the thread becomes difficult to maintain it will simply be removed.
However, as has been said a couple of times, there is a wealth of knowledge in here, much of which is not motoring related, but most of which is useful.
This is Volume 53. Previous Volumes will not be deleted,
A list of previous volumes can be found here:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=18847
PLEASE NOTE:
When posting a NEW question, please \"Reply to\" the first message in this thread, i.e. this one. This keeps each question in it\'s own separate segment and stops each new question from getting mixed up in amongst existing questions. Also please remember to change the subject header.
DD. - BR Moderator
mailto:moderators@honestjohn.co.uk
|
Sharp Fax Machine UX-216
Does anybody have one of these please?
Extensive Googling cannot find this model. It is an old thermal paper fax and is not related to the UX-200 which is a different animal.
All I want is the basic user instructions on how to set up parameters. Maybe it is faulty, but I have tried just about every logical key combination. It works but I wish to change some parmeters
None of the Sharp sites appear to list it.
It is marked as made in france and certified for Irish Approval. All proper Sharp labels on it!
pmh (was peter)
|
I can now get the function list (called sw!) using Func#.
All functions are called with a 2 digit no. 01 02 etc (which is why I initially failed to crack it).
I still cannot set it up as a vanilla fax machine, (by that I mean 1 ring, straight into fax mode, then auto answer). It goes thro the scenario of answering incoming call, listening , generating local ringing for 15 secs for any locally connected extensions to answer before deciding it is maybe a fax call.
Sharp UK have finally admitted it exists (altho not mentioned on any web site) and want £27 for a manual.
Any suggestions?
pmh (was peter)
|
|
|
|
I dont know whether I am alone in this but over the last few months between 6 and 9 every evening my phone rings two or three times with people trying to sell me carp that I dont want and judging by the accents these are all foreign based call-centre sourced calls. I have tried screening my calls through the answerphone but that just makes the problem worse as they keep trying until they get through.
In the total scheme of things I suppose its not that big a deal but it is starting to annoy me. I already have call barring on withheld numbers and short of contacting each 'organisation' and asking them to remove me from their database does anybody know if there is a way of flagging my number so that I dont get these calls (I pay my line rental for my benefit not theirs!).
|
You need to sign up to the Telephone Preference Service. They'll add you to the national database of barred numbers, which marketing companies are legally required to stick to. It'll take about 28 days for all the changes to filter through.
www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/
|
|
|
Here you go Pezzer.
I used this a couple of years ago, and since then have had 3 callers like this, and each of them I've told should not be ringing me, and they've apologised and said they'd take me off their list.
www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/
|
Concur with the other posters, I was skeptical about TPS but got so fed up with cold call selling that I tried it.
Within a month the calls dried up and when I pointed out to the last company that the number was registered with them I got an immediate verbal apology followed up by a written apology (I did ask for their company details and mentioned passing their details back to the TPS system) so it seems that it is having a genuine effect.
StarGazer
|
|
|
|
|
Have you tried registering all your numbers (including mobiles) with the Telephone Preference Service? We did and we haven't had a single telephone canvasser since. It even works for junk texts on mobiles. You can register over the internet - can't remember the website address offhand but a quick Google will find it.
|
|
|
I love this place an answer within minutes ! Will give it a go, thanks folks.
:-) Pezzer
|
|
Have been with TPS for some years and agree it's well worthwhile but AFAIK it does NOT affect such calls originating from outside UK.
|
Do what I do.
When you get a call from someone trying to sell you something, do to them what they do to you.
Ask them to hold the line. Rest the phone down on the arm of your sofa. Go off about your general business, come back about 10 minutes later and hey presto. They have got fed up of waiting and have gone!!
You can do something similar with junk mail. Get all the application forms and put them in different envelopes (dont put your name on) and send them back to different places.
i.e. Send Blank Barclaycard Visa application to British Gas.
Dont forget, they are paying for the postage so it will help our posties stay in business :)
|
Or alternatively just say sorry, not interested.
After all, the person on the other end of the line is just doing their job, doing what you and I are told to do in our jobs.
I also enrolled with the TPS and it has worked wonders.
|
|
A similar TPS system has been introduced in America - where cold calling happened all the time. However telephone surveys were exempt. You now get loads of calls purporting to be carrying out a survey and after a couple of innocent questions - you guessed it.
|
|
Cardew, that is illegal in the UK, it's called selling under the guise of research. If you get a research call simply tell them you work for an advertising agency and they are obliged to end the call there and then (goes for street surveys as well). Of course it won't work for cowboy companies but hanging up is often quite effective in this instance, shame for the person on slave wages at the other end, but....
|
|
|
|
This was sent to me. It is obviously TIC but I suspect there some grains of truth in there....
Follows:
Steve Rubenstein, a writer for the San Francisco
Chronicle, has proposed Three Little Words, based
on his brief experience in a telemarketing operation
that would stop the nuisance for all! time.
The three little words are: Hold On, Please .
Saying this while putting down your phone and
walking off instead of hanging up immediately would
make each telemarketing call so time-consuming
that boiler rooms would grind to a halt. When you
eventually hear the phone company's beep-beep-beep
tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up
your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.
Doing this to bill collectors will make their day too
Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no
one on the other end?
This is a telemarketing technique where a machine
makes phone calls and records the time of day when
a person answers the phone. This technique
is used to determine the best time of day for a real
sales person to call back and get someone at home.
What you can do after answering, if you notice there is
no one there, immediately start hitting your # button
on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible.
This confuses the machine dialed call and it kicks
your number out of their system. Since doing this, our
phone calls have decreased dramatically.=20
When you get ads in your phone or utility bill, include
them with the payment let the companies throw them away.
When you get those pre-approved letters in the
mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages
and junk like that, most of them come with postage paid
return envelopes, right?
Well, why not get rid of some of your other junk
mail and put it in these cool little envelopes.
Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to
American Express. Send the pizza coupon to Citibank.
If you didn't get anything else that day then just
send them their application back! If you want to
remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't
on anything you send them. You can send it back
empty if you want to just to keep them guessing!
Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will
begin getting their junk back in the mail. Let's let them
know what it's like to get junk mail, and the best of it is
that they're paying for it. Twice.
Let's help keep our postal service busy since they
say e-mail is cutting into their business, and that's
why they need to increase postage again
|
|
|
|
To whom it may concern........
This is probably the wrong place to pose this question, but I'll put it here anyway.
To give us Backroomers some idea of the effort expended in providing the HJ website, could we be told how many people are gainfully employed full-time on it and how many part-time?
I won't be upset if the answer is "no".
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
|
"I won't be upset if the answer is "no"."
What if it's "none" ?
|
"I won't be upset if the answer is "no"." What if it's "none" ?
Surprised, perhaps.
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
|
|
|
|
I'd be neither suprised or offended if you didn't get an 'official' answer
I'd also guess the number answer would be less than one. On a day to day basis, the site only needs moderating, and as we know, they do that for the sake of it. HJ will upload his various news items a couple of times a week, and may also change links/upload ads etc, and whilst there is also the time HJ (presumably) spends gathering the info for the articles and chasing the ad business, I'd be suprised if the site generated enough work to fill a working week, and whilst I wouldn't presume to guess what revenue it generates, I don't think it would support a life of luxury, or necessarily support a life without another source of income.
--
Sept 2004 - 'Britain on the Move'
curious ? see www.mikes-walks.co.uk
|
|
|
|
|
Working the grave-yard shift for the next few weeks (good money, tho') - but very knackering - anyone any advice on how to cope, esp getting to sleep in the day !!
|
Arnold2,
At various times I spend a great deal of my time on 'nights' but possibly rather different to a standard night shift. I will include some comments anyway in case there is something useful.
(see my moniker or profile for profession)
My typical 'night' shift starts with me having breakfast at 1pm then turning up at the telescope at about 2pm, checking the instrument through and setting everything up, then off to dinner at 5 or 6pm (depends on daylight saving). Back to the telescope for calibration work at sunset and the early part of twilight (one of the most hectic parts of the night since you cant slow the sunset down). Once into night proper everything settles down to a routine...lots of concentration required for brief periods but also long periods of not much happening. Regular coffee or tea breaks and a snack around 1am. Start finishing up just before morning twilight starts and end the night with a calibration sequnce during morning twilight. Take a look outside for sunrise before toddling off to sleep.
Exact timings depend on the time of year....winter is hard work, sunset is about 6pm and work until sunraise at about 8am. Summer is a doddle by comparison sunset around 9pm and sunrise about 5am.
The worst part of the night is after eating a snack until about 3am...often catch visiting astronomers taking a few Zzzz. I should mention that there are usually 2 or 3 in the control room and we play CDs or the radio while working...but this will be turned off if we are doing something non-routine or trying to fix a problem. About once an hour we take a walk around outside to check the weather and get some fresh air....more often is the weather is dodgy.
I drink plenty of coffee....probably too much. Also eat regular meals and get into a routine. I have never had much of a problem sleeping during the day even when forgetting to close the curtains before sleeping. Some excercise during the late afternoon before dinner I find helps break the routine, we often go for a walk (we are in the mountains) for an hour or so.
Never needed sleeping tablets.
I can spend up to 3 weeks (7 days a week) on a night shift, so not much changing backwards and forwards to day shifts, but on the first day I sleep as long as possible in the morning (usually only 9am) then take the morning off before turning up at 2pm after a good sized lunch. The first night can be hard work if it is quiet, but a hectic night will pass without you realising.
Coming off nights I get up and have breakfast as usual at 1pm, visit the control room and tidy up my stuff (laptop, books, papers and CDs) then go home and stay up until 1 or 2am then try and get some sleep. I find this stage actually worse than being on nights!
Sorry about the long ramble, hope there is something helpful in there
StarGazer
|
Thanks for that - you stare at stars, I worl as a Designer so also stare at computer screens all night !
The exercise but is a good point - noticed I felt much better today after a bit of a work-out !
|
I worked a permanent night shift for several years and am still semi-nocturnal. I found working nights easy for the first few months, but the ill effects of doing so were cumulative so it became harder as time went on. I didn't suffer any specific health consequences but, by the time I stopped working through nights, I felt ill through tiredness at the end of each shift.
Apart from the money, the huge advantage of working nights is that your free time doesn't coincide with the rest of the world's. This makes certain everyday tasks, such as shoppnig and commuting a lot easier. It also makes it hard to have a social life.
I disagree with Stargazer's view that winter is worse than summer. It's very hard to sleep during the day in hot weather and long daylight hours. The only problem with winter is that it can be disorientating when you wake up in darkness and wonder whether the time on the clock is am or pm. Consider blackout linings for your curtains. Place a fan at the foot of your bed if it's too warm to sleep during the day.
Before you start your run of nights, don't try to sleep in in anticipation of being awake all night. You won't be sufficiently tired. You just have to make up for the lost sleep later.
Bear in mind there's lots of research demonstrating that long-term night work shortens your life and reduces your intelligence.
Above all, be aware of the consequences of driving while tired. I didn't drive when I worked nights and found it took some effort even to cross the road safely.
|
Welliesorter,
As I tried to explain, my night working was rather unusual, the winter working was worse because of the length of the night and the shorter daytime to sleep. Also because of the afternoon instrument setup it was usual to stay at the telescope visitors lodge rather than risk driving home.
I agree that in the UK, sleeping in a hot house in summer during the day would be difficult, I was in Australia but staying in a purpose built lodge, so good blackout blinds (not that I needed them) and A/C.
Sometimes I slept at home while on a night shift (I lived 30km from the telescope) and the design of our house helped greatly. The standard single storey brick veneer australian house on a 1/4 arce block had all of the living accomodation on one side of the large hallway and the bedrooms on the other. So my wife and daughter could make almost as much noise as they wanted during the day and not bother me at all (essential with a 1 year old!)
StarGazer
|
|
|
|
I've seen a variety of language courses that advertise as being suitable for use in the car. One in particular includes comments that it works "in the background" so that you absorb it rather than specifically repeating and concentrating on something other than the road.
I really like the idea of improving my French whilst slogging up and down the A34 but am a little sceptical of the idea of learning by osmosis. Anybody have experience of these CDs or have any other suggestions?
|
Take two weeks off, go and do an imersion course, and then buy talking books in the language of your choice.
Osmosis is going to be very slow from scratch.
|
|
|
Apparently, Chandler successfully learnt to be a stronger woman by listening to one while asleep.
HTH.
|
It won\'t be totally from scratch as I already have a grounding in the language. Was thinking intermediate and upwards. Still, the total immersion course has its merits. The downside it two weeks income down the drain.
And thanks for that Bazza. Did you have \"if you go down to the woods today\" on endless loop as a child? ;o)
|
SWMBO has been learning Welsh. By CDin the car, by internet
by talking to bemused locals during our regular visitis to Wales.
She learnt by determination what is one of the most difficult languages (bar Basque) in Europe.
I would recommend immersion as the best way.
|
|
Your beter half has my undying admiration, Pug. I've lived here for three years and I still can't even pronounce the name of my road without risking serious damage to my vocal cords.
|
|
|
"I would recommend immersion as the best way."
You want to drown the welsh? Your wife not Anne Robinson is she?
|
|
|
|
And thanks for that Bazza. Did you have \"if you go down to the woods today\" on endless loop as a child? ;o)
Rupert and the Frog Song actually. Not sure what happened there to be honest...
|
Bom, bom-bom (byee-ah).....
Not sure what happened there to be honest...
Neither is Paul McCartney.
|
Ahhh... I think I had the frog chorus when I was little - on one of those big black CDs that used to spin on the the thing you put the hamster on when you're bored. ;-)
Paul McCartney is rereleasing it apparently. I think it goes with a disney film or something (but I thought it went with rupert, which isn't Disney?)
Back to the topic in hand, I learnt all my physics equations for GCSE while I was asleep by listening to a tape I'd made. Only went to about 6 lessons in two years and managed to get an A so there must be something in it. I think it might have equally have been the action of reading it onto the tape that drummed it into my head though.
The only way this would work for me in the car would be if it was set to music - since I left uni I've developed an amazing knack for remembering song lyrics but nothing actually of use.
|
I'm currently trying to learn thai so I might have to try putting the CD in the car! It's a nightmare language to learn so I'm willing to try anything!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Learning a language generally requires your full concentration so I am not sure that doing it while driving is altogether the best way to go. Better to go to the local college or find one of the Saturday/Sunday morning groups that get together for a chat. I've got a couple of Spanish speaking friends that I write to regularly via email and in the last few weeks I've started attempting to chat with them in Spanish over the phone. It's not easy and it can be very frustrating at times (especially if the previous height of your linguistic skills was a B in GCSE French), but I find that if I just keep plodding away that slowly but surely it starts to become more natural. Now that I have achieved a fairly basic level of fluency I often find myself using boring car journeys to talk to myself in Spanish about the weather or my interests or whatever. This is not that mentally taxing but it does help to increase the depth of the neural pathways in the brain that only the painstaking repetition of words and phrases is able to bring about. Of course at the end of the day I am highly motivated to learn Spanish because I travel there regularly, but only you will know if speaking French is really going to be worth the effort.
|
I find speaking foreign languages, in my case spanish and portuguese, over the phone the *most* taxing thing to do.
Bearing in mind that I am fluent, then I find it surprising how difficult the phone is - I guess its because you neither have the time to think that you have when writing, nor do you have the body language clues when talking face to face.
However, nothing will beat conversation.
When listening, one only needs to understand about 60% of what is said to you in order to be able to understand the whole conversation. Ditto when reading. However, when you are speaking you have to provide pretty well 100% of the sentance and have to think of those words yourself, rather than interpreting what someone else said.
All of my friends who are not naturally spanish speaking, but who are no fluent, all learned the same way - including myself; a seriously hard two week immersion course and then as much conversation as you can with anyone about anything.
In our experience if you put in the effort you can be conversational within 4 weeks, passibly fluent in about 4 months, and completely fluent in a year.
If you do want to learn spanish, and you want to do an immersion course, then do it in Costa Rica; its cheap, its very good, and its fun. Also Costa Rican spanish will be understood by pretty well any spanish speaker whichever country they come from.
|
|
|
|
No Dosh, have you looked at the Michel Thomas system? His CDs specifically tell you not to write anything down or try too hard.
My Dad has been learning French with his CDs and says that sometimes he comes out with phrases in French that he didn't realise he knew. Part of the theory is that you build on what you already know in English e.g. words that end in -ent more often than not in French are the same, but pronounced differently. As he gets you repeating some 'stock phrases' you gradually add to them.
A colleague at work (a definite non-linguist!) has gone through the first 2 CDs of the course and is impressed enough to buy the whole set - which at £50 is less of an investment than many other packages. He has listened when driving to and from work.
They come up on ebay quite a lot and tend to go for just under RRP, so you'd get a lot of your money back if it didn't work out for you.
I don't have any connection with the company by the way - just heard good things about the system. Not quite osmosis, but nearly!
|
|
|
|
|
Planning on going there for the Wife's birthday and November - anyone recommend any GOOD hotels, not mad money ?! Perfereably not too far from Manhattan (don't mind tube a bit), and out of the central busy bit - Upper Manhattan perhaps ?
|
I stayed in the Club Quarters, Midtown, which I was happy with as a functional but cramped spot. Definitely not for a treat, but I just wanted somewhere to sleep.
I found it through an excellent website:
www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g60763-New_York_City_Ne...l
Which gives you pretty accurate guideline prices as well as reviews from people who have stayed at the places mentioned.
One tip, no matter what you do, no matter how brief it might be, don't phone from a NY hotel without checking the rate. I made two calls to say to my wife "please phone back" and found I'd spent $15. Take a triband mobile if you really need to phone home.
V
V
|
|
|
Arnold
don't know what you'd call silly money but I have always looked for Embassy Suites because of all the extra space you get. In downtown Denver you can get a suite for $100 or less which with the current exchange rate isn't to be sniffed at!
Haven't checked the rate for this one but but take a look at
tinyurl.co.uk/8vu3
Have a great time!
--
Terry
|
Ah! This one comes in at 200 bucks best rate. May be a bit hefty but could be negotiable.
--
Terry
|
|
|
|
|
I have a GPS (global positioning system) receiver, which is EGNOS (European geo-stationary navigation overlay system - or something like that)enabled.
Phew! Having got that out of the way. My question is this - does anyone one out there know when EGNOS will actually become operational for the non-professional user?
I have been given a number of approx. start dates i.e. early 2004; by the Summer and the latest - soon!
I have used the www.esa.int web site and emailed, twice, the contact given there, but being effectively a civil service operation, run by the French the answers are not exactly a model of clarity.
Any help would be much appreciated
regards Don drbe
|
|
|
What size cable (sq. mm cross-section wire) is required for connecting an electric cooker to the box on the wall. The cooker is 11 kW max power (which equates to a massive 46 amps), but I think this is probably irrelevant because the trip switch (whatever the correct term is for these) in the consumer unit is rated at 32 amps. I imagine the assumption is made that everything on the cooker won't be on at the same time.
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
|
I think I used 10.0mm last time. 10.0mm seems to be rated at 53Amps and 6.0mm (the next size down) at 40Amps.
But then of course I might have just used what was left over from my shower connection - 10.0mm.
You can't go wrong using the bigger cable.
|
|
|
L'escargot,
If your cooker is 46 amps, it needs (at least) a 46 amp fuse. If the original fuse is only 32 amps, then it's possible the wire from the fuse box to the kitchen is also undersized. For your cooker it looks like you need 10mm2 cable.
--
RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
|
If the original fuse is only 32 amps, then it's possible the wire from the fuse box to the kitchen is also undersized.
In which case it will be essential to keep the 32 amp fuse in place unless the cable is checked and maybe upgraded.
L'escargot suspected that the cooker may in fact need less than 46 amps, which is easy to test once its connected to 10mm2 cable - just turn it all on, surely, and if it needs 46A then they 32A fuse will let him know.
|
|
|
Most Spurs for cookers are now rated at 45 amps. The chances of ALL the elements pulling max current at the same time is remote unless you turned everything on to max at once. But then you dont want to be fused to far above the max the cooker can draw.
I would think 45 amps would be practical and safe.
10mm twin and earth cable required. (working with it is like trying to tame an angry snake out to bite you)
|
|
|
|
|
Lucky me! I have a business trip to Bangkok in December, with plenty of free time for shopping.
I know that you can get good counterfeit goods of all kinds there, but does anyone know if it is theoretically illegal to buy and/or bring them back to the UK?
I'm specifically thinking about games consoles & games (what with Christmas etc) and am aware that UK bought games wouldn't then be compatible.
Anyone know?
|
|
To the best of my knowledge, purchase and possession are not an offence, but offering for sale is.
|
Section 92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994, subs (1):
"A person commits an offence who with a view to gain for himself or another, or with intent to cause loss to another, and without the consent of the proprietor-
(a) applies to goods or their packaging a sign identical to, or likely to be mistaken for, a registered trade mark, or
(b) sells or lets for hire, offers or exposes for sale or hire or distributes goods which bear, or the packaging of which bears, such a sign, or
(c) has in his possession, custody or control in the course of business any such goods with a view to the doing of anything, by himself or another, which would be an offence under paragraph (b)"
Purchase is not an offence, which is lucky as those of us in the IP business often make so-called "trap orders" as a prelude to enforcing the IP right. It would be embarassing if we were to be prosecuted for that....
Possession is an offence, but only if "with a view" to selling (etc). So a warehouse stuffed full of the stuff is evidently illegal. A single item in a bag is probably not. Note that if you ever sold the item - say via the small ads or eBay - then you have a problem.
Please beware, though. Pirated goods are passed off under someone else's trustworthy brand rather than their own brand for a reason. You have absolutely no certainty that the contents bears any relationship to the real thing. Many stories abound as to what is really in the pirated goods, and I've been in the IP business long enough to know that they are not scare stories.
You might think the real thing is a rip-off, but the pirate's mark-up is likely to be eyewatering.
|
|
|
|
depends on the console you intend to buy. Some can be chipped or modded to play out of region games.
In General
Not an offence to bring in out of region games or consoles (provided you pay duty at customs) its not an offence to sell or give out of region games, but it is an offence to sell modified games to work out of region or to sell modied consoles.
Offences are covered in the DMCA (digital millenium copywrite act)
|
Two issues here, RF.
The first is counterfeit goods - i.e. those not made by the brand owner. See my post above.
Second issue is that of parallel importation and "international exhaustion of rights" - i.e. can you import a genuine branded item from one country to another? There, within the EU, there is no restriction - the brand owner's rights are said to be exhausted at sale, when he made the profit. From outside the EU, the position is unclear and can frankly be argued both ways (which I have!). To the extent there is a consensus, it is that parallel imports from outside the EU (or EEA, I should say) are not permitted if "in the course of trade". Again, one in the bag vs a warehouse.
DMCA is US law. Unlikely to be infringed on a trip between here and Bangkok.
|
Re DCMA
The law wont be infringed directly but as its likely to be AGAINST a US company then the DCMA apllies OR a company that trades with the US (one of two major Japanese companies)then the DCMA applies not in law but by default trade sanctions.
Ie you dont abide by the DCMA you get embargoed and cant export to or trade in the US.
|
|
|
|
Oh and forgot to mention, if the games are pirates (ie illegal copies of the real thing) they can be seized at customs.
Consoles are usually not copied or pirated.
From a personal perspective I think that regionalistion of electronic goods and data is an offence against our human rights to buy (as long as the appropriate duty is paid) goods from the cheapest source within the free world.
|
RF, I don;t think Rebecca is a company that trades with the US...?
From a personal perspective I think that regionalistion of electronic goods and data is an offence against our human rights to buy (as long as the appropriate duty is paid) goods from the cheapest source within the free world.
Totally agree. As are many copy-protection mechanisms - the law does in fact specifically permit a range of copying activities that are deemed to be "fair dealing". These activities are being prevented under a pretext of stamping out piracy.
DVDs are subject to a region mechanism explicitly because DVDs are cheaper in the US than the EU. Why?? Because we won't write into our law that exhaustion of rights is international. Why not?? Because this area of the law was written in Brussels, for whom the world ends at the EEA boundary.
|
I work for a company that trades in the US but this shopping question is purely about a couple of gameboys (or maybe a Playstation) for my kids. No trade, no ebay nothing like that.
I have a vague recolleciton of reading about counterfeit handbags bought by individuals similar being seized on return to the UK on the basis of copyright infringement rather than duty etc...so want to know any risks involved.
I'm sure thousands of visitors don't think twice and have no problems, but it would be good to know the letter of the law on the subject.
|
|
|
"RF, I don;t think Rebecca is a company that trades with the US...?"
Yup ok I shall leave it at that - its getting a bit pedantic, just making the point that although the DCMA is US law its kinda universal by defult of abuse of power!
|
Yup ok I shall leave it at that - its getting a bit pedantic, just making the point that although the DCMA is US law its kinda universal by defult of abuse of power!
Oh yes - for many that will be the simplest option. But no need for the rest of us to keep to 55mph on UK roads!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've seen all sorts of questions on this thread over the last couple of years, so here's one we haven't been able to find an answer to elsewhere.
Question asked of my 11 year old niece at school.
100 years is a century
1000 years is a millenium
what is 1,000,000 years?
hope somebody can help as it's driving the entire family nuts.
thanks
|
what is 1,000,000 years?
TIC answer - "a very long time indeed"
Less TIC answer - no-one knows, we haven't had one yet.
|
A mega-something, perhaps?
|
Pologirl is correct. In scientific circles it is called a Megayear, symbol Myr or Ma. In a similar vein a billion years (USA Billion) is a Gigayear (Ga). In fact, geologists have proposed the aeon as the unit for a billion years but this is not an accepted SI unit and is not used much.
|
|
thanks chaps, we'd guessed at mega something but none of us had ever heard of a megayear. Once again I am amazed at the breadth of knowledge in this forum
|
|
In geology, "Ma" (Mega-annum)and "Mya" (Millions of years ago) are the most commonly used abreviations for mulitples of a million years. As Robin states, not technically SI units, so people tend to adapt and make up terminology at will..
|
people tend to adapt and make up terminology at will..
Whilst studying the properties of magnetic materials and struggling with the various units for measuring magnetism, I was told by a Professor that he preferred the newer units to the old and that "Magnetic units are in a state of flux". Cue groans from all present.
|
>. Cue groansfrom all present.
That must be because all present have the runs?
--
Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
|
|
|
|
|
Does anyone know if it is possible to repair the chrome plating, for example on a brass nut? I've just installed a shower and was rather peeved to find that after tightening the nuts up the chrome started coming off in strips... I suspect poor quality parts in the first place - I used a spanner to tighten it as per instructions, nothing daft - but I doubt Wickes would accept it back, not to mention the hassle taking it off again...
|
If the nut stands proud and is not massive check SWMBO's Vanity Case. A lot of her lotions and slap have attractive tops, some in the chrome effect that could be used to cap the manky nut?
DVD
|
That's your excuse for rooting through her make-up bag, then DVD?
;-)
|
Unfortunately P. I am now of an age when hot dinners are now the norm. But memories, oohhhh memories......
DVD
|
|
|
|
|
I'm afraid that wouldn't work - the nut is enclosed between the shower body and a larger plastic plate that covers the hole in the wall... The only other option I can think of if I can't repair it would be to scrape *all* the chrome off the nut and have a sort of gold / chrome mix that seems to work OK.
|
Is it a dome nut? If not would a dome nut be any good?
You could replace it with stainless steel domed nut.
If it is a normal nut (and domed nut is not required) use a normal stainles steel nut.
|
|
Wouldn't a dab of smooth silver hammerite do the job most easily?
|
|
|
|
|
|
This question is a bit late given the season of the year but I have been wondering and finally got round to asking it.
During the summer months when the central heating is off we have been using the immersion heater to heat water for baths etc. Not sure why we do this. Some people say it is cheaper than using the boiler, some say it is not. Given the wealth of informed opinion available in the BR, epsecially in plumbing related matters, I'm sure someone can give a definitve answer. We have oil fired central heating, a standard size hot water tank and have one bath a day (for Junior - me and 'er indoors use the power shower). So which is the most economic way to heat up the bath water?
On a related note: we have a large egg shaped bath - one of those in the corner jobbies. Not our choice, it was in the house when we bought it. The water tank does not appear to hold enough water to allow a decent hot bath. This is when using the immersion heater, we have not tried the CH boiler yet - will it make a difference?
|
Robin,
When you run the boiler, the burner and enclosure gets hot. The pipework and pump in the indirect circuit to your water tank gets hot - and finally, the water and the tank gets hot.
When you run the immersion heater, the element, the water and the tank get hot.
So it would seem that running the boiler heats up more than you are going to use, which might offset any gain by oil being a cheaper fuel.
Having said that, running the boiler a little and frequently will prevent the pump seizing up - which in cost and aggro equals quite an amount of any fuel!
number_cruncher
|
Strange that you raised this question on the day that my boiler has packed up!!!!
Re immersion heater. You may find, as I have, that the installer has put a short length immersion heater in the cylinder.
This means that only the top portion of the cylinder is heated and hence you only get a meagre bath.
There used to be at least two basic lengths of heater.
They used to make twin switchable immersion heaters. A short and a long element for bath or basin.all contained in the normal sized head.
It is always risky swapping immersion heaters as they fur themselves in and the cylinder is quite fragile when attacked by a big plumber. Sorry I meant a heating engineer.
|
Look at your fuel bills and work out the cost of a kW hour in both gas and electric. The cost of the electricity is about 5x the cost of the same amount of heat suppied as gas.
A modern boiler will be working at something like 85% efficiency, but it's still a LOT cheaper than using the immersion heater, at standard rates. I'd only use the immersion if the boiler packed up; in fact it's been there for 7 years and I haven't yet bothered to connect it.
You could ensure that you've got a decent insulated indirect storage cylinder and not a cheap & nasty 'short-coil' one which were often sold as cheap replacements to ignorant householders.
|
Use boiler all the time. Far cheaper and keeps teh system running at tickover so no problems arise in the autumn just as you need it to work properly.
I swithc off the central heating in the summer and just run the boiler for hot water. The water always seems hotter and gets produced faster. Haven't used immersion for years. Far too expensive.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
|
I turn the boiler off for the summer period and use a 18" immersion heater. However this is only on during the night through a white (night tariff) meter and find this by far the most economical.
Certainly once a month it is good practise to run the pump by turning the roomstat on preferably with the boiler turned off simply to prevent the circ pump from seizing up.
|
|
|
|
You may not have recognised me - I was wearing various life-like masks to disguise me as Clarkson, AA Gill, Noddy Holder, Arthur Smith, Jeff Randall and even Anthony Worrell-Thompson - but it was me , honest - at least that's what SWMBO says.
|
|
Odd coincidence, I have just been accused in exactly the same way!
|
A most re-assuring series.
You think you're mad and the rest of the world is sane, then some others just like you appear.
|
|
|
|
|
Why is unrefined sugar twice or three times the price of refined sugar?
|
Because its not unrefined!!
All sugar is refined to white sugar and then treated to make up the other types - its cheaper this way, but we get charged more. Brown sugar can frequently be simply stained white sugar.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
|
|
|
|
The instructions that came with my recently purchased CO detector merely said that it could be free-standing or wall-mounted. What is the best height to have it? I know it shouldn't be wall-mounted at less than about 6" from the ceiling because there is little air circulation in this position.
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
|
What room is it going to be in?
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
|
What room is it going to be in? -- Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
Utility, with oil-fired boiler.
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
|
Head height, near the boiler
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
|
Head height, near the boiler -- Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
Thanks Espada III.
I'll get my drill and Rawlplugs out as soon as I've had my brekkie.
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
|
|
|
|
I visited Swansea University last week on the official open day with my son, who is due to go on to university next year. Both of us were very impressed with the Geography department, and the general "small and friendly" atmosphere of the campus. My son came away very enthusiastic, and is minded to make it his first choice. Our dilemma is that he could achieve the AAB required by Durham, whereas Swansea will only be looking at a BBC offer. The Sunday Times Good University Guide describes Swansea as a hidden gem.
My question is, do any of the backroomers have personal experience of this university and if so, could they pass on their thoughts.
|
Fantastic place - I recommend it most highly.
Compact campus, good atmosphere and in a lovely part of the world. Imagine living in place where you see the sea first thing in the morning as you pull back the curtains.
Must confess though, I graduated from there in the mid-seventies.
|
|
|
No personal experience but try looking at www.push.co.uk which is a student written guide to universities. There\'s also www.qaa.ac.uk which is the standards review.
|
Probably stating the obvious here, but if he would prefer Swansea, and would be happier there, then that's where he should go, regardless of the fact that Durham is the "better" university.
|
Probably stating the obvious here, but if he would prefer Swansea, and would be happier there, then that's where he should go, regardless of the fact that Durham is the "better" university.
Perfectly stated PG. I have no degree, mostly because the University I went to, while being one of the top in the country for my subject, just wasn't right for me.
I was terribly unhappy for most of the first year, and coupled with the fact that I basically couldn't afford to complete the 2nd anyway, it led to me dropping out.
|
|
|
Probably stating the obvious here, but if he would prefer Swansea, and would be happier there, then that's where he should go, regardless of the fact that Durham is the "better" university.
Quite agree, but I'm not clear if that's how employers see it. I've told him to get some advice from his school. To be fair, I have seen nothing negative so far about Swansea - and if that's where he feels happy, great.
|
Quite agree, but I'm not clear if that's how employers see it.
People worry about this far too much. It matters far less than it used to. In some cases it makes a difference in the year or two out of university (fast-track civil service?), but after that it means nothing: either you can do the job (or BS your way through it) or you can't. And the number of cases is relatively small. If he does something directly related to geography then the employer will know which departments are good anyway. For example many medics rate departments at Edinburgh, Newcastle, and Nottingham far more highly than Oxford; this is true in many other areas too. It is far more important that he is happy. If he's unhappy he will not do well and in a worst case scenario he will drop out, which looks terrible on a cv, or become ill, which is no better. Put these thoughts aside. He should ask himself: can I see myself spending three contented, productive years here?
|
|
|
|
|
Probably stating the obvious here, but if he would prefer Swansea, and would be happier there, then that's where he should go, regardless of the fact that Durham is the "better" university.
|
|
I quite agree with you Pologirl. As someone who works some of the time in a large, highly-regarded redbrick university I see plenty of miserable, underperforming students who should have gone where they wanted to go rather then where their parents hoped they would go. Things usually improve for them after the first year (if they last that long), but why waste a year of your life being miserable (and I do mean mental ill-health miserable in some cases)?
|
|
|
|
|
|
