Messages

England isn't my adoptive country. I was born here.  I'm English.

I don't know what's worse, irish chavs or english chavs. I went to a really good school in Ireland, but then my mum moved and so I had to go to college at a really chavvy place. It was pretty dire. I had no friends for those two years because they were all such really rubbish and pointless people. Their idea of fun was to go "knacker drinking" (buying cheap booze and hiding somewhere such as a ditch to consume it), or car racing along the quay. 'Cos I didn't like doing these things, I was considered snobby and was therefore not accepted by them. Which is fine 'cos I am very snobby and they were right - I would have spent all my time mocking their pointless lives, rubbish accents and cheap slaggy clothes.

But at least most Irish chavs still go to uni and sort themselves out a bit, and by the time they emerge they're not quite so bad... have probably developed a slight sense of style, stopped buying their shoes in Primark, stopped drinking Fat Frog etc. All the horribly pointless individuals I went to college with ended up going to university, even if it was to study something like childcare or hairdressing (though most did fairly good courses...)

But most english chavs, even if they manage to finish school, generally just hang around on streets causing trouble thereafter. Then they have babies and knives and drugs and stuff.

My original post isn't very well constructed or written, but I hope you all know what I'm talking about... I'm too tired and sad to put an awful lot of effort into it

I just wish that we could sort ourselves out over here in the UK and make something more of what we have... and also do something about all these awful loud obnoxious teenagers/chavs that isn't just putting mosquito devices everywhere to make them go cause trouble elsewhere.

And not a single chav or obnoxious teenage bastard did I encounter there!

I live in Brighton, which is similar to Nice in terms of layout and atmosphere. They're both seaside towns with shingle beaches, popular tourist destinations due to their good weather and restaurants and shopping areas.

But what a difference.

Nice is clean, for a start. It is full of trees and plants; in fact the entire seafront is lined with gorgeous trees. The amazing weather probably helps a great deal too. I didn't encounter a single obnoxious teenage brat or chav. Several gorgeous parks with beautiful playgrounds, lots of fresh food, fish markets etc... It was awesome.

Brighton on the other hand, oh dear. It's dirty, so so dirty. No trees or plants except for the occasional failed little park that is so dirty that you'd never sit in there unless you were a tramp. We're a seaside town - so where are OUR fresh fish markets? There's one hidden away in some back alleys that is open on Sunday mornings, that's all that I'm aware of. The moment I stepped off the plane I was hit by a wave of screaming chavs... a huge difference from the peaceful nature of the teenagers in Nice.

And despite all this, it's still more expensive to live in/buy a house in Brighton than in Nice.

Why can't we sort ourselves out a bit?

Damnit, no quake for me. I feel cheated Stupid lovely Brighton.

yeah, colossal and limpingfish... I tried what you both suggested, but after testing the files myself (by opening them in different orders) it made absolutely no difference to the order in which they were displayed.

Also checking when they were last accessed gives you the current date and time, as it considers you checking them to be the "last time" you accessed them.

At this point I'm more just kind of curious if Windows is really that retarded.

right click and pressing Properties seems to not work... it shows you the time that it was last accessed as being the time when you checked the properties. Clever. ¬¬

The first million years were the worst. And the second million. And the third million were the worst too...

What annoys me most however, is that the charges originated from nothing. Rent was attempted to be taken out of my account, it wasn't taken out because I didn't have enough money, but then I got charged for going overdrawn for about 1 second. Since the money was never taken out of my account, whydid they do this? Furthermore, banks then can charge you on the debt that they have created themselves.

That is pretty astonishingly cunty of them.

Hi all,

Never ever bank with Alliance & Leicester. They just tried to charge me £400 (apparently not including admin fees, even though that entire sum was one huge admin fee) for a 98p overdraft I had outstanding on my account which, at the time it was made, was allowed on my account. I have never used my account since signing up for it because I was provided with a 9 digit long bank account number that none of my employers were able to pay me into; A&L said that I should have known that they're "9 digits long because you take the first digit off to use it". This was never explained to me, ever, while I was signing up, and it's clearly not as obvious as they seem to believe as none of my employers knew how to use it either.

They also claimed that they sent me letters informing me of my overdraft and also their policy change on charging for overdrafts. I never received these, and then discovered that they'd put a "no longer lives at this address" flag on my account (even though I've lived here for three years now, far longer than I've ever had an account with A&L, and I've never had a problem getting mail from anybody else).

Though I got my money back, I was furious at how they had attempted to scare me into paying this ridiculous sum of money all for the want of 98p. Further investigation shows that Alliance and Leicester charge £5 A DAY for every day that a customer is overdrawn, with no limit as to how far they extend that charge! They also only send letters informing you of this every couple of months apparently, instead of every day when they apply the charge, so by the time I realised what they were doing to my account they had charged me over £400.

I advise anyone who banks with this particularly corrupt and money-grabbing bank to close their accounts. Try First Direct or even Barclays. I really can't believe how corrupt their overdraft policy is - I know that banks are in hot water over this at the moment and no bank is ideal, but £5 a day without limits is atrocious and is going to put so many people in the red that do not deserve to be...


Additionally, they only refunded the money back to the 98p that was originally outstanding, which meant that unless they froze my account, I'd get charged £5 a day for the five days it took for the money to get cleared into the account, or that I'd have to go into a bank to pay in 98p by the end of the day. The woman speaking to me said quite calmly that it "probably won't matter if I freeze your account, you'll get a mark 3 on your credit rating but that probably will never matter". I can't believe she actually breezily advised me to get a mark against my credit rating instead of dropping £1 into my account that day, which is of course what I did.

I'm not really opposed to (or protesting) protests in general.  But this "protest" (at least what I've seen of it) came across as juvenile and intentionally inflammatory.  It's like they're picking a fight, all the while claiming that they aren't picking a fight.  And Anonymous?  You want to protest something, fine, man-up and do it publicly and don't hide behind anonymity.  To me that's cowardly and removes me from taking it seriously.

Darth, while I agree that they did come across as juvenile to me with their original video released on youtube etc., there is a very valid reason for them wearing masks and remaining anonymous. This is because of the risk of Scientologists identifying them and harrassing them. At some of the Anonymous protests, Scientologists took pictures and filmed protesters not wearing masks. It's widely known that Scientologists use harrassment and violence to intimidate people into silence, hence the masks.

Just thought I'd point that out 

[threatened]

Scientologists starved a woman and had bugs bite her...

Atheists shot up a school in Colorado. YOU PEOPLE MAKE ME SICK! ALL ATHEISTS MUST DIE FOR THEIR SINS!

or what purpose would they be propagandizing?

People are like that. Remember all the bullshit propaganda that PS3-fanboys put out about the Xbox 360? They don't personally benefit from that. It's human nature - if someone thinks something is good, and someone else thinks it's bad, those two people will fling all sorts of crap at each other...

Hi Emerald,

I think you need to research the Church of Scientology a little more before you comment any more in this thread. It's fine to have your own opinions about things obviously, but yours are very obviously under researched.

There are very clear known facts about the Church of Scientology which show it to be a very corrupt and dangerous organisation. There is plenty of reading material available on the web, and would be more if the CoS hadn't shut down many of these pages through either threats (both violent and legal threats), hacking, etc.

The fact that Scientology does not allow its "secrets" to be shared publicly, and that you must pay for the privilage of knowing their 'secrets'; that they guard themselves so closely, is in itself a clear indication towards the fact that the upper members of the church certainly understand and condone the corruption within and try to hide it as best they can.

Members who drop out of the church are shunned and often threatened, by legal means (threatening to sue if they reveal anything they know about the church) but also violent threats if that person is considered to be a danger to their reputation, such as if it was a high ranking church member.

Members of the church of have family that are not members are encouraged and often forced to cut off their family entirely, particularly if the family members are actively against the church.  Children of church members are encouraged in Scientology schools (according to official Scientology guidelines) to spy on other children and tell on them if they misbehave or say bad things about the church. The early stages of indoctrination, both for children born into the church and also for adults who have just joined, are known techniques for brainwashing people, such as in the schools, where they make children repeat simple, hypnotic and repetitive tasks such as following the movement of a finger for a very long time, before being instructed about church guidelines and ideals... such as spying on your friends and family. This is an extraordinarily abusive way of treating children, as it destroys their ability to create trusting relationships and effectively turns them into brainwashed scientology slaves.

People who speak out against the church are harrassed. Scientologists (again, in line with Official Scientology Guidelines) do such petty things as handing out fliers or putting up posters around that person's home town, filled with what are usually fabrications such as "this person is a whore" "this person has aids" "this person is gay" etc. This is actually in line with Scientology guidelines and is just something they are obliged to do as church members. They also phone employers and pose as customers complaining about that person, or spread derogatory rumours at their workplace. They use intimidation tactics such as following that person for months, breaking into their houses, repeatedly phoning and then hanging up, or phoning and threatening to kill them. This is not just an occasional occurance that is performed by individual crazy scientologists, this is instructed in their guidelines. To quote what L Ron Hubbard himself wrong, "that person must be destroyed at all costs".

Scientologists are asked many intimate questions while attached to lie detectors, including details on their sex life, their family, scandals they've been involved in, etc. This information in collected and stored, and is used against them if they speak out against the church.

L Ron Hubbard's son himself said that he believed his father was insane and that Scientology was a money-grabbing farce. If L Ron Hubbard is insane, is it any wonder that he is so against psychiatry? It could also be quite possibly due to the fact that any psychiatrist or psychologist can see quite clearly the effects of scientology on the minds of it's victims...

Again I stress that all of the above is not just rumour spread by anti-scientologists. This is what L Ron Hubbard himself wrote and instructed other Scientologists to do, and it is frequently carried out to the best of their ability.

Documents were found during a raid on a church that showed plans to kill an ex-member in a particularly cruel way. They had previously harrassed her, broken into her house and held her at gunpoint, constantly called her and hung up or threatened her. They tipped off the FBI to a crime she hadn't committed and she was investigated for months. It all eventually came to light when a Scientology church was raided and documents were found regarding her, with details about how they had framed her, and how they planned to send a Scientology member, posing as a non-scientologist, to seduce her, become her boyfriend and then spy on her and play on her suicidal tendencies to encourage her to kill herself. They knew about her suicidal tendencies as it was documented during one of her lie detector tests at the church.

There are also numerous incidents of people who have left Scientology after reporting that they were ordered to kill someone. One man claims that he was asked to kill his psychologist, who he had confided to about scientology, and then kill himself. Another person was ordered to run over a prominent anti-scientologist activist. Not to mention horrific child abuse such as children being locked in cupboards for days on end on L Ron Hubbards orders. You can try to argue that these cases are just disgruntled ex-scientologists that are lying, but even so, there is evidence to support many of these claims and well as there being a huge amount of them.

Scientology is not a religion, it is a very dangerous and unfortunately fairly established cult. It is not the same as a self-help club, because self help clubs to not encourage abuse, murder, harrassment.

Fortunately for most people, the internet has greatly helped to spread word about scientology, which until then was a greatly guarded secret. This is most likely why they now put such emphasis on the "famous" members of the church, who they believe will likely influence people into joining.

So before anybody tries to suggest that Scientology is harmless, that the occurances of threats and violence are far and few between and performed only by the occasional nutcase: I suggest you do just a little research.

I think after reading the above you will agree that it is certainly not harmless.

I believe it would be very risky to be a citizen getting involved in crimes, as you'd probably have to break into crime scenes etc to investigate, therefore people would be very suspicious of you and probably think you were involved in the crime...

Doesn't something called Citizens Arrest exist in the UK though?

Rediscovering Georgette Heyer. She's fantastic!

I don't recall individual chatup lines as they're usually all so terrible. But I remember once, when I was texting my new boyfriend nicely, he suddenly cracked and told me I was "shit at flirting". Further investigation determined that I was so "shit at flirting" because I was being nice to him and not playing hard to get.

I thought that was kind of weird and stupid because I totally do not get off on people being an asshole to me. So it seemed like an alien concept to me - be a dick to people to make them want you more. Apparently though, it's a widely used tactic in the dating world...

Actually my current boyfriend, before we were dating, said "hubba hubba" to me once, and I found that really quite endearing because it was so crap. So that is the worst best chatup line I've ever heard. But I believe it happened during a conversation about bad chatup lines, so maybe it doesn't count...

Estonian education system sounds like the one in Turkey. We had to 'learn' (actually memorize, to forget all after one or two years) many things that we would never use (or we could easily look up an encyclopedia).

That really annoys me about most education systems. In Ireland, your entire Art result for your leaving cert exam depends on how well you can paint a picture from start to finish in two hours, on a subject matter that you cannot choose freely, and how well you can answer random art history questions. Ridiculous. I usually got A's for art, but one the day of the exam I spilled paint onto my canvas (as the student next to me had nudged me!) and had to start over, 40 minutes into the exam! What a ridiculous way of examining art students!

Subjects like English and History rely almost entirely on how well you can answer sets of questions in an exam, instead of encouraging students to research and write essays etc (the history exam does this a little, but I believe only 20% of your marks are awarded to your research topic, which is utterly stupid. As if you're ever going to be expected to write a history essay based entirely on facts recalled from your own memory, at any point in your career in the future!).

Exams in Ireland really only stress the importance of being able to remember facts you have been told for long enough to write them down in your exam, instead of focusing on students learning how to use and appreciate knowledge that they have gained.

I remember once failing a test in English because I had argued that Sylvia Plath was an overrated poet. I researched my answer, I gave supporting evidence, I structured it well and the opinions were entirely my own (as opposed to every other student who had changed the wording of the 'sample answer' the teacher had given them the week before). When I asked why I'd been failed, the teacher responded that while she had thought the work was essentially good, she didn't think that my answer was what the examiners wanted to hear, and they wouldn't appreciate the opinion of a young schoolgirl on work that was widely regarded as being excellent. Ridiculous! Actually encouraging students not to think for themselves!

Also Sylvia Plath is fucking terrible... does anybody disagree? The only thing I like about her is her husband, but only because he created the Iron Giant...

Anyway sorry for that rant ¬¬ er do go on...

Hey guys, here's my predicament:

I've been interviewing for jobs recently. Tomorrow I'm due to hear back about a job that pays very well at Company A, with great prospects etc. I've been told that they have to decide between me and one other guy, so I have a good chance of being offered this job. That's great. I am excited.

However, another company (company B) is so interested in hiring me that they're in the process of hastily putting together a position for me. They're doing this very quickly because they know I'm interviewing for other jobs, and on Thursday I'm going in to talk to them about what I could do for them.

As you can see, both roles are exciting and awesome, and I am excited.

But, I can't make my mind up about which to take before I've spoken to the people at Company B. So in the meantime, when company A calls up (IF they call up to tell me I have the job), how do I politely hold off from accepting the position until thursday? I don't want to seem rude or ungrateful, or as though I'm not excited about their position that they're offering. What is the polite and socially winsome way of doing this, or isn't there one?

Hey dude,

I'm pretty sure that you can ask to miss this. You have a good reason: exams to study for, and you've already done it once before anyway. It's worth a try at least...

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a C++ programmer to create a small DS homebrew demo. I have a brief and you'll get more details if you are interested in the position, but the important thing is this: It's about 5 - 7 days work, and you'll get paid handsomely. If you are interested, send me a PM! Preferably include details of previous work that you've done, too. Then we will discuss things like how much money you want, and how in love we are with each other!

Thanks!

I'm not a carpet fitter, but I live in Sussex... where abouts do you hark from?

Brighton

Seriously? Because I'm not kidding. Here's what happened:

My family are coming over to visit me on Monday. You know how it is with family right? You want them to think your house is cleaner than it really is. So, in preparation for my family's visit, we replaced all the carpets in our house.

That is, all except for one. The hallway carpet. This is because in preparation for my family's visit, we also replaced the entire kitchen. So we had to wait for the kitchen to be completed before we replaced the hallway carpet.

By the time we were ready to replace it, it was near Christmas. Unfortunately, everyone wants a new carpet at Christmas, so it seems, and we could only find one guy who could fit it. We booked him, but earlier today he called me to tell me he couldn't make it as he'd been beaten up last night. "I broke me jaw, didn't I?" he said, "so I can't do nuffink."

He didn't actually sound much like someone who had just had his jaw broken, but that's besides the point. We've already ripped up the hallway carpet, cleaned the floorboards underneath, disposed of the old carpet and had the new carpet and underlay delivered. Our hallway looks like a wreck (even though it's actually a very expensive work in progress). I can't let my mum see it like this. We can't fit the new carpet, and we can't find anybody who can. Can someone out there help us?