Colin

They will be clipping sheep soon. They've got curly hair...

Totally disagree. The logistics of getting a squad of players from here to mainland Scotland is the same for all. You can apply the same claims to Rugby, Darts, Pool (a fine example of committed fundraisers if one was needed), Baton Twirling and just about any other organisation that claims to "represent" Shetland. Exactly.. Which is why I suggested that fundraising should involve a little more effort than sitting down writing letters. Nothing wrong with asking for help but, as I suggested in an earlier post, if the SFA had a higher fundraising profile and could offer something in return then, they might get a little more support. You want International status for Shetland?

Not what I meant and you know it. My point was that the players themselves should be supporting the SFA. There's more to fundraising than sitting down to write 'begging letters'. You have to ask; "would local businesses be more willing to help finance an organisation that can be seen to be doing something for itself" As for providing football of a higher standard. It's only a short time ago that Shetland won the Island Games tournament. (Proof, if any were needed, that local football is of a pretty good standard anyway.) Why didn't the SFA grab the nettle then? Why didn't they defend their title at the last games? I might be wrong here but, I can only assume that they could not find enough willing bodies to raise the necessary funds. If this were the case, why should the local business community be asked to stump up? Waiting this long has only undermined their case.

The junction and mini roundabout opposite Scalloway School is a nightmare. I have lost count of the number of times vehicles exiting Castle Street without stopping have almost caused collisions there.

I'm probably going to get some 'flak' for this but, to me, it's just another take on the old "we're representing Shetland" line. Lets face it, football is played by people who, in the main, are in full time employment. Asking someone else to pay for their 'hobby' is just cheek. I saw some wives, girlfriends and kids packing at the Co-op once. No footballers though. As for running dances, that's happened at Scalloway and Whiteness and, most likely, at other places as well. Agreed. They might also want to contact Shetland Rugby Club and find out how they do it instead of standing around looking for handouts. Trying to equate local football with Up Helly AA was a nonsense argument. At least visitors come to Shetland to see Up Helly AA and local businesses get some spin off benefit. I'm not aware of any that come here just to watch a football match.

Thought some of you might want to see this. http://www.glyncorrwgaction.org.uk/index.html Pity about the poor photos though. Much better ones available with a quick Google. ps; I used to live there.

I think this has hit the nail on the head. Seems to me that the board has reacted to so many frivolous applications with a knee jerk that's going to hit everybody. Is it to much trouble for the board to consider applications on an individual basis? eg; If an applicant has no direct connection with an event then they have no reason to apply for an extension and should be refused. As for setting the house on fire. Did that in 1997 (well, the kitchen anyway) but it was 7pm NOT 3am..

Just supposition but; Shetland Wool Brokers web site might be a good place to start to establish the lower level. They claim to purchase more than 90% of the local wool clip and, according to their web site, they purchased 230,000Kg during 2006 and appear to be around the same level for 2007. At roughly 2Kg per fleece this would equate to 115,000 sheep. Correcting this figure from 90 to 100% gives roughly 127,800 sheep. However, as 'Auld Rasmie' pointed out, there has been a recent cull that will have had some bearing on these numbers. Additionally, there will soon be a lot of lambs to add back in. Anyone's guess really...

I believe that the current figure may be less than 200,000

http://www.cleantag.com/

Tonight (22nd Dec) sees the peak of the Ursid shower. Peak will be between 9 - 10pm with a bit of activity for a couple of hours either side. Ursids originate from close to the pole star and can be a bit faint but there should be some good ones as well. PS: In can anyone has forgotten, today is the shortest day/longest night of the year. Hope for clear skies.

I wonder what would have happened if the class had voted to name the bear Jesus, Buddha or something similar? They've probably got a 'law' against that as well! Why do we bother with these people?

Speed tests here (Scalloway) seem to suggest that I connect at a very healthy 1.9 - 2.4Mb on my 2Mb connection. As a 'heads up', I read somewhere that most ISP's will 'throttle back' heavy users under their Fair Usage Policies. If this is true then subscribers who continually download music and videos are likely to run foul of them. I'm with Tiscali and my monthly 'allowance' is 30Gb (although I don't get anywhere close to this). Other ISP's offer as little as 3Gb. Worth checking to see what you signed for.

From MANY (more than 30) years ago and, except for The Who, in no particular order; The Who at Swansea's Vetch Field Fleetwood Mac (the original) at Reading Free Festival Hendrix, Dylan & others at the Isle of Wight. Pink Floyd at Birmingham's Bullring Stone The Crows

Just about every 'turkey' I've ever seen has been pretty dumb. Go figure. Wait for the 'spin' What is almost certain to happen is that they will try to use the loss of the cd's as a reason to 'tighten up' procedures and 'protect' our personal data by introducing ID cards as a method of protecting against identity theft/fraud. I wonder how many ID cards will go missing in the post

Would a Turkey vote fro Christmas?

Someone once told me that the only safe way to keep information on a computer was don't. What bothers me is not so much that TNT managed to lose a couple of cd's (I bet they lose stuff all the time) it's that now that they are 'in the wild' certain interested(?) parties might take in upon themselves to actively try and procure copies for themselves. Presumably, said parties would not be above blackmail/bribery or any other course necessary to obtain them or additional copies direct from the source. Extra security will be of no help as a couple of cd's worth of data can be easily accommodated on a modern pen drive and they can be (ahem) secreted just about anywhere. I think that the whole thing has frightening potential

Interesting comments from PB with respect to acoustics. Country Halls, by their very nature, need to be somewhat 'boxy' as they are multi function buildings. It's not just rock 'n' roll, there's weddings, carpet bowls, meetings, boot sales and a load of other stuff going on as well. Finding a compromise that suits everyone means having a building that offers maximum available floor space and you can't really do that without having a large parallel walled structure. BBC Radio Scotland came to Scalloway a little while back to record Take The Floor (Robbie Shepherd) and, while they were there, I took the opportunity to have a chat with the sound engineer. Gained some very useful information. One thing that he mentioned was that the 'echo' was not nearly as pronounced as he expected from that type of building and that it was probably due to the damping effect of the fibre boards we had fastened around the walls. Now, these boards were cheap... Total cost of materials to line the walls was less than £300 and that included the paint to match the general colour scheme!! It's not perfect but, for something that we just 'knocked up', it's pretty good. I would expect that a 'pro' to do a much better job with better materials for a not unrealistic sum of money. We also thought about hanging large 'approved' (fire proof etc.) curtains around the walls but, the cost of these was WAY to high. (Keeping them clean would also have been a nightmare) Bottom line: Every hall in Shetland could probably be sound dampened to an acceptable standard for a small fraction of the £8m or so proposed cost of a music venue and, as a bonus, there would be little or no ongoing running costs at public expense, no need to import expensive experienced(?) and qualified(?) managers and, no need to add to the SIC's £40m(?) pa wages bill..

Just got back from Orkney. Haddock supper with a large portion of chips (not asked for, it's the way it came), 2 bread rolls & a small bottle of juice. Enough for two for £4.65 Pretty decent quality AND the staff were pleasant and quite 'chatty'.. By contrast, I find the local chippies offer a very indifferent 'couldn't care less' type of service, are overpriced (given the size of portion) and the quality of the food on offer varies wildly. As an aside.. Has anyone else noticed that the Fort chippie has a label on the salt and vinegar dispensers telling customers not to handle them as they spread bacteria I find it quite amusing as the staff seem quite happy handling your fish etc. with their bare hands.. The batter is kept in an open bowl and just about everything fried in batter is dunked in it first. The chips are kept in a large open plastic bucket. The staff do not wear any hair covering. I am NOT saying that the Fort chippie is unhygenic. (Quite the opposite is true, I ALWAYS find it is clean and well kept). Just pointing out a pretty dumb restriction on using what is, effectively, a sealed container.

It's been YEARS since I last went into a shop with my wife.. Life just isn't long enough to waste that kind of time. I go into a shop thinking 'what do I want' and, if they haven't got it, feel quite happy about walking out again. XYL goes in thinking 'what can I buy' and, if they haven't got it, buys something else whether she needs it or not. Then, if she gets really desperate, she buys something for somebody else..? It's a different mindset!! I am convinced that it's another one of those 'women's genetic things'. Probably the same masochistic little piece of DNA that drives them to body piercing and bikini line waxing.

Cabbie picks up a Nun. She gets into the cab, and notices that the VERY handsome cab driver won't stop staring at her. She asks him why he is staring. He replies: "I have a question to ask, but I don't want to offend you" She answers, "My son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I'm sure that there's nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive." "Well, I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me." She responds, "Well, let's see what we can do about that: #1, you have to be single and #2, you must be Catholic." The cab driver is very excited and says, "Yes, I'm single and Catholic! "OK" the nun says. "Pull into the next alley." The nun fulfills his fantasy with a kiss that would make a hooker blush. But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying. "My dear child," said the nun, "Why are you crying?" "Forgive me but, I've sinned. I lied and I must confess; I'm married and I'm Jewish." The nun says, "That's OK. My name is Kevin and I'm going to a Halloween party."

Medieval Tech Support [mod]Thread merged[/mod]

And with oil passing $97 per barrel today there's a bit more pain to come.

Overcharging ?

I've got one of those little keyring things with a £1 sized disk at one end. Didn't take me long to figure out that a quick tug extracts it no problem. Leaves a "free" barrow for someone.