DamnSaxon

Katharine Whitehorn's 'Point of View' on Friday was interesting, too. Maybe the evil days of greed are finally numbered, even if it is about thirty years late in coming.

Best suggestion was the one made on the Armando Iannucci show on Friday. All the locals should dress up as zombies, so when the scientists come back up to the surface after switching on ...

^^^ But will it make any difference against irrational bigotry? Seems you don't really need drugs to destroy yourself, anyhow. What passes for fresh air these days will do a pretty good job. Now, about unbanning smoking ...

Apparently it's potentially vulnerable too. Windows PCs don't need any help in the vulnerabilities department! Autoexec.bat? ... My XP one is hidden, zero bytes and has never been used AFAIK. I share your puzzlement.

Is anyone genned up enough to confirm that this is the bit of the new AVG that's been driving me mad since I gave in to 7.5's nagging and "upgraded"? I'm a heavy start menu user, rather than a clutterer of the screen with icons. Since the upgrade to AVG8, every time I go to open a submenu (or even if I accidentally hover over one for more than about a millisecond), the damn thing seems to scan every shortcut in the menu - it locks the machine up for 10 ... 20 ... 30 seconds, over and over. Certainly sounds like overenthusiastic watchdoggery. Which bits of AVG's protection go missing if the watchdog is stopped? Been considering that too - them or Kaspersky. I'd consider "downgrading" like Fifi but for the nagging.

I'm generally in favour of wind energy, but big windmills are not without problems.

... And what they think of the human race if their main exposure to us has been dealing with the US military ...

Another worrying development the doggie can't sniff out: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/sep/03/drugsandalcohol.drugstrade Thought this stuff was more-or-less history, but no. Wake up, government.

Very true. Not only social housing, but every part of our once proud (once working) public sector has been ground down by thirty years of barking mad right wing lunatics who believe "public sector bad, private sector good" in the face of all the evidence to the contrary. It's a bl**dy miracle any of it still works at all. I really admire the people who try to make it work, whatever other posters might say. FWIW, I'm a soothmoother on the SIC list (for five years? six years?) - maybe I should have developed a drug habit and got on the boat. However, I did turn down the opportunity to join the Hjaltland list as well, since I want to leave a little extra space for local people. If round here is anything to go by, the Association homes will be "nicer" than the Council ones - carpets on the stairs, entryphones, that sort of thing. A tale of what the barking mad fraternity are about, taken from a flat in my own (council owned, but now controlled by an "Arms Length Management Organisation") house (lived here 29 years): A few years ago, our ground floor tenant died. We were amazed how quickly the ALMO found a new tenant - about a month, rather than the usual year or so. Then it turned out that the new tenant was an employee of the ALMO. Then, that he was buying it, not renting it. Then that he wasn't even going to be living there, but was "buying to let". Then I looked it up on the net, and found out that the new rent is over three and a half times what it was making for the Council. Wow. You couldn't make it up. With people like that in charge, it's not surprising that so many people have complaints about (the remains of) the public sector. Maybe one day we'll have a party in government which actually believes in the public sector, like they all did in the "good old days" of concensus politics. But while councils up and down the land are forced to flog off assets at bargain basement prices to "Buy To Letters" - and forbidden to spend the paltry proceeds on replacing their housing stock (school playing fields, etc.) - the idiot belief that "the public sector doesn't work" is made into a self-fulfilling prophesy. Of course there should be homes in Shetland for Shetlanders - or indeed for anyone who loves the place enough not to worry overmuch about the winter weather (!), but it isn't going to happen anywhere in the UK until the public sector is extensively repaired. And that's not a matter of voting for different Councillors, who are pretty much powerless these days to resist the centralist lunatics in Westminster. It's a matter of throwing out the simple-minded belief that "the Free Market will provide" and electing national politicians who'll run things pro bono publico again by introducing policies that devolve power back to local people. I'd love to say that at least Orkney & Shetland's Liberal MP is a start. But there have been some worrying bits of free market claptrap even from the Liberal party of late ...

Not directly about Shetland (or even the UK) but an interesting take from a Native American - http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9757 All part of the conspiracy? Maybe. But then, why do so many conspiracy theories seem to fly a lot closer to the truth than the "official line"? There's no denying that kids on the street today are being heavily damaged by the "drug phenomenon" and are not very politically active. Can it really be that they just don't care? And hasn't this "problem" largely been created since the 60s? As the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers reminded us so long ago, True revolutionaries shun drugs. Not much danger of revolution now, then. The governments running this insane system appear safe ... which is a lot more than they deserve.

Don't want to worry you, Fjool, but I heard somewhere that hedgehogs die if separated from their fleas. Plus, I remember from my own schoolboy experience that these tend to be a little on the numerous side of comfortable. But a week on, I'm sure you know all that.

Chimney sweeping can be a messy job, even for the professionals, and few people are rash enough to undertake the operation themselves.

"Reclaim your privacy in an intrusive world" with - http://xerobank.com/ - the xB Browser is Firefox, locked down by experts so *don't* play with the settings unless you know more about security than they do (unlikely). It does its surfing through Tor, or (if you pay them) through their own network of anonymisers which are a bit faster, and either way it'll work very nicely off a USB stick. They also do xB Mail, for encrypted/anonymous emailing, xB VPN, and the xB Machine, a "hardened" Linux Live CD. For those old enough to remember, they used to be "Torpark". And - they're the only privacy enforcers I've found who have their own Ethics Advisor (!) - I like their attitude. Wouldn't visit my favourite pr0n sites with anything else.

According to my calculations, tonight's full moon is a Blue Moon. First one since 2005, therefore Shetlink's first. To work them out, first divide the year into its natural quarters - between solstices and equinoxes. Ordinarily, there will be three full moons per quarter, each of them having its own traditional name. When there are four, the third one is the Blue Moon. For this quarter: Spring Equinox: March 20, 05:48 Full moon: March 21, 18:40 (the "Egg Moon") Full moon: April 20, 10:25 (the "Milk Moon") Full moon: May 20, 02:12 * * Blue Moon * * Full moon: June 18, 17:31 (the "Flower Moon") Summer Solstice: June 21, 0:21 (All times are in GMT) So, if you're going to do something unusual, tonight's the night for it. The Blue Moon is also, of course, an old Saxon tradition, but you can't get the woad nowadays

^^^ The best thing about his demos is his innocent smile as he does it Nobody seems to have mentioned Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page If you can read, go and take a look. A truly wonderful project, and it's all FREE to download!

^^^ Thanks for the tip, JM, I shall try harassing the Ethical Bank again!

Well, I can remember the Hippies saying "never trust anyone over 30". And that was well over 30 years ago So, can I trust my memory?

Malcolm, the answer to your question is Yes. Continually. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/14/law.humanrights And why do they do it? Why do dogs lick their b*ll*cks? BECAUSE THEY CAN.

A friend of mine came across his own card number in a list whilst trawling around some of the more disreputable areas of the net, a few years ago. The card had been used online, so the information must have come from some dishonest person who had handled it. When the shock had worn off, he went straight down to the bank, got a new card and cancelled the old one. It's hard to see how you can prevent "Card Not Present" frauds when the banks are so keen for us all to buy, buy, buy online and keep their business going. The situation isn't helped by the fact that they don't let you specify that "this account must NOT be allowed to go below zero" (I've tried, and that was with the ethical Co-Op bank) - at least that way you could keep a basically empty account and only put money in it when you were going to spend it online yourself. Best solution (though not particularly cheap) is probably to get yourself something like a 3V card, where you buy spending power with real money over a local counter and use the (temporary) Visa number they send you for online purchases. I've not got myself one yet, but they look promising.

It's the fresh air attacking your blootered system - I had a very similar experience whilst mis-spending my youth. It can't have been the, oh, couple or three dozen, shorts I'd had, or surely I'd not have got as far as the door! A great alternative title for this thread!

Re. Para's point about food, I remember reading many years ago (in the 1970s, I think) about one of Russia's more eccentric scientists. He had formulated a theory that eating food was just a social convention, and not actually necessary to human survival at all: accordingly, he stopped eating in order to test his theory. Not too surprisingly, we heard, some months later, that he had died of starvation. I guess that on the plus side you have to admire him for sticking to his principles no matter what. But he rather proves that we humans can be pretty damn weird without any drugs at all ...

Frances, try the Reciva Radio Portal at https://www.reciva.com/ - they have feeds from more radio stations (including Classic FM) than you can shake a stick at (thousands). They handle Windows Media, Real Audio and MP3 feeds, though as I generally just click and listen I'm never sure what actual format it's in. You can log in and create your own ID, save lists of favourite stations, etc. Of course, this assumes your PC can produce sound you can stand listening to - I feed mine through my audio system Or, in Aldi recently they had an "internet radio" which links in with the Reciva system directly from a Wi Fi router, so you can use your Reciva ID lists on it. You have to program it to talk to your network, after that it just works like any other radio (unless you wander too far from your router!). But the Reciva site is a good place to start, via the PC - recommended.

This is very true - I spent my teens growing up in Lewes, Sussex, where, on Bonfire Night, there are torchlit processions through the streets to mark both the Gunpowder Plot and the earlier burning of 17 Protestant martyrs half a century before. Local 'Bonfire Societies', and others from around Sussex, congregate on Lewes, the street lighting is turned off and roads closed, and there is considerable merriment as the burning tar barrel is thrown into the river, etc. After the processions, the societies march off to several large bonfires on the Downs around the town for large firework displays. The processions are fancy dress - each society having its own traditions - and include Tudor nobles, Red Indians (who, yes, are proceeding through the November evening wearing almost nothing, warmed only by their blazing torches) and many others. And with a generous dollop of big banners reading "No Popery!" and so on, you can't forget what the Fifth of November is all about in the UK. Think of a sort of Up Helly Aa with a Bonfire Night theme and you're getting the flavour of it. It really is not to be missed if you ever find yourself near Lewes at that time of year, though the Bonfire Council discourages people from just trying to come for the night - with the streets closed and everything shut down, it's not easy to get to or from. Oh, and FYI: modern day Catholics join in the processions and celebrations alongside their Protestant neighbours. No Popery, but No Hard Feelings either. Very "British", but that's another thread!

I can't find a reference, either, but it must have been when coffee was a new and dangerous excitement - presumably a little before J. S. Bach's time, as he wrote the "Coffee Cantata", a delightful piece in which a father tries to persuade his daughter out of her coffee drinking by promising her a husband. She doesn't mind, as she will only marry a man who will let her continue to indulge her 'habit' ... The only thing that changes is that nowadays it's all hair-raising synthetic stuff like the awful meth. And yes, remember you heard about drug licencing here on Shetlink first!

My local Co-op used to be staffed by people like the lady Gem mentioned - very friendly service if you don't mind paying a few % extra for the social conscience. Unfortunately, they recently 'refurbished' it, and the other day I stood there for several minutes while a couple of young blokes behind the counter nattered among themselves, apparently untroubled by mere customers. Mind you, lots of bottles of plonk in there now for the student population ... in fact, it's hard to find much else