Rant thread

[hindle xiii]

I needed to resurrect this thread.

Food Network from November 1st. 

I don't have Sky, not that there are other food channels anyway.

But yet again, those gits are showing wall to wall Christmas cookery shows from Tuesday. Too many old shows, too many repeats and every year it does my head in.

I don't watch much TV these days but this was an unpleasant reminder.

[Futtocks]

10 hours ago, hindle xiii said:

I needed to resurrect this thread.

Food Network from November 1st. 

I don't have Sky, not that there are other food channels anyway.

But yet again, those gits are showing wall to wall Christmas cookery shows from Tuesday. Too many old shows, too many repeats and every year it does my head in.

I don't watch much TV these days but this was an unpleasant reminder.

 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

I've been laid in bed for over an hour now and outside somewhere there is a dog. Every 10-15 seconds or so said dog does a single, sharp woof. It is the slowest, most irritating barking the world has ever known!

[Farmduck]

There's an old and not very good joke about Microsoft. Two guys are in a helicopter flying over Seattle but the fog is so thick they can't work out where they are. They see an office block through the fog and fly up to a window. They hold up a sign asking, "Where are we?"

A guy inside the office holds up a sign, "You're in a helicopter."

So the pilot, without even having to think, turns the chopper around, flies for 5 minutes and lands through the fog exactly at the correct slot at the heliport. The passenger says, "How the hell did you do that?"

The pilot replied, "Well the sign, although technically correct, was otherwise completely useless so I knew we must be at the Microsoft building."

Which leads me to ... today, after at least 4 years of being a happy, mostly contented Linux user, I finally decided that there were a couple of Windows programmes that I was very adept at using and I have been unable to find satisfactory Linux replacements for. I check the Microsoft official community support forums, state clearly that it's a Linux PC and ask whether I will be able to purchase Windows and download it - as in, does it have an installation tool which will recognise my Linux system then offer to format a partition into which it will install Windows. I am assured that, yes, it has an idiot-proof installation tool that will install Windows, polish my car, feed the dog and change the strings on my guitar.

It doesn't.

As I discovered after I had paid the $200. It gives me a screen telling me it can't and saying I would need a Media Creation Tool, giving me a link, The link leads to the page that tells me it can't and saying I would need a Media Creation Tool, giving me a link, The link leads to the page that tells me it can't and saying I would need a Media Creation Tool, giving me a link, The link leads to the page that tells me it can't and saying I would need a Media Creation Tool, giving me a link, The link leads to the page that tells me it.....

The worst part: it didn't even change my guitar strings. (I don't have a dog or a car but, after today's experience I wouldn't be too optimistic about those either.)

 

[graveyard johnny]

can I just find one stretch of road that's not been dug up or just simply backlogged and choked up with traffic?

[The Masked Poster]

1 hour ago, graveyard johnny said:

can I just find one stretch of road that's not been dug up or just simply backlogged and choked up with traffic?

No way. They love their roadworks and the councils must have shares in temporary traffic lights. 

To add to your post, they are currently digging up a stretch of road on my drive to work that they were digging up just before the summer. This entails big tailbacks and lots more pollution but don't worry - another one will be along in a few weeks. 

[graveyard johnny]

3 hours ago, The Masked Poster said:

No way. They love their roadworks and the councils must have shares in temporary traffic lights. 

To add to your post, they are currently digging up a stretch of road on my drive to work that they were digging up just before the summer. This entails big tailbacks and lots more pollution but don't worry - another one will be along in a few weeks. 

someone's making a lot of money out of hiring out all the lights and barriers etc etc

[Bearman]

4 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

can I just find one stretch of road that's not been dug up or just simply backlogged and choked up with traffic?

Tell me about it.

A mile away from me Highways England have been constructing a flyover on the A46. They have been at it for 3 years. It was due to be completeted in the spring. Every night for years now the road is closed and the traffic has been diverted passed my house.

I should point out that my house is on the same road as the main hospital in the city and Warwickshire. The A& E department you will understand gets pretty busy with Ambulances on emergency calls.

The customer relations manager ( Bob) for the builders and I have been in regular contact. He assured me that all the work would be fully completed by 15 November. I asked him if that was this year or when. He scoffed and said it would definitely be completed this month. I told him I didn't believe it.

Immediately the work does finish the plan is to move to the next roundabout on the A46 this one is a quarter if a mile from me. Highways England tell me not to worry as because the roundabout is 30 yards away from a SSSI no birds will be disturbed in the nesting season. So from March to August no work can be contemplated. This is a two to 3 year undertaking depending on when they can start birds permitting. I asked my mate Bob does that mean they will just leave out the cones whilst they are being delayed.mhe told me " No Way" as they are short of cones. Once again I scoffed and he said " it's true, would you belive I had 10 stolen last week?"

I told him " No, I don't believe you. Not that they are not being stolen ( I know they are as there is a guy around here that walks around here with one on his head!). But because there is no way that they could audit them they have so many.

Bob has stopped answering my calls since his deadline has come and gone.

MEANWHILE,

Coventry Council (CC) are planning to have a cycle lane down my street. It is fully funded by West Midlands Council ( WMC)

CC have approved it but WMC are in complete control. My local Councillor tells me that it us now over to them. She tells me that the CC engineers are supervising the work on behalf of WMC but she is powerless to intervene and has some concerns and is not getting any answers. 

It seems as they have to knock down 6 trees further up the road and they have to replace them somewhere else. 4 of them will be in another location but 2 of them will be on either side of my drive. I have asked what variety of trees will be planted and as the location is less than 3 yards from my block paved drive what will be the impact of the roots on my property.

5 times I have asked those questions and someone ( no clue who is answering as they never tell me despite me specifically asking with whom I am dealing) has answered) "still TBA will let you ASAP.

MEANWHILE

CC have given Talk Talk a contract to supply Fibre BroadBand across the City. Now they are digging up my street along with the diversion and the cycletrack.

MEANWHILE

The BroadBand and Cyclepath is also being worked on in the streets around here and across the city. I drive around the city as part of my domiciliary practice and every single day I encounter road closures, temporary traffic lights that spring up without warning.

I have told my local Councillor that the party that she represents and that I have always voted for  will never get my vote again. They are completely incompetent. 

[ivans82]

Apparently the "experts" have decided the sound of Flo is the sound of 2023 . Described as a breath of fresh air............only trouble is  it`s the same old auto tuned garbage we have had to suffer for the last 20 years !

[JohnM]

On 05/01/2023 at 16:17, ivans82 said:

Apparently the "experts" have decided the sound of Flo is the sound of 2023 . Described as a breath of fresh air............only trouble is  it`s the same old auto tuned garbage we have had to suffer for the last 20 years !

I've certainly not had to suffer anything like that. I don't listen to it. I use Spotify , YouTube, BBC Sounds plus my own extensive collection to listen to what I want and like. In addition, YouTube is pretty good at suggesting new artists, bands etc, plus searching for the stuff used as intros to TV progs and in adverts broadens my choices and keeps me aware of current "trends". Jools Holland show ditto. 

But NOT Radio 1, nor local radio stuff: music for playing in hairdressers.

But staying with the rant theme, PULEEZE can someone get the BBC to get rid of Charlie Stayt? He's a bigger waste of space than the biggest waste of space anyone can think of. AND he's got a stupid hair cut, too.

Edited January 8, 2023 by JohnM

[Moose]

Why do certain posters finish their post with ‘just saying’?

 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

7 minutes ago, Moose said:

Why do certain posters finish their post with ‘just saying’?

 

You just finished your post with 'just saying', just saying. 

 

 

 

[graveyard johnny]

why can't a music album be released anymore ? why did it have to have "dropped" last friday or be due to "drop" on thursday 

[Midlands hobo]

1 hour ago, graveyard johnny said:

why can't a music album be released anymore ? why did it have to have "dropped" last friday or be due to "drop" on thursday 

78s shatter if you drop them. 'just saying' 

Two for one.

 

[DI Keith Fowler]

16 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

why can't a music album be released anymore ? why did it have to have "dropped" last friday or be due to "drop" on thursday 

Hotly tipped, highly anticipated, and slated for release. 

[gingerjon]

17 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

why can't a music album be released anymore ? why did it have to have "dropped" last friday or be due to "drop" on thursday 

A music what now, grandad?

[graveyard johnny]

5 hours ago, gingerjon said:

A music what now, grandad?

LP

[Bearman]

I left school when I was 15. Kids today have to stay at school until they are 18.

If I had had to study maths for those 5 years it wouldn't have made a bit of  difference to me.

 

( Well it made me laugh)

Edited January 11, 2023 by Bearman

[Stirlin]

2 hours ago, Bearman said:

I left school when I was 15. Kids today have to stay at school until they are 18.

If I had had to study maths for those 5 years it wouldn't have made a bit of  difference to me.

 

( Well it made me laugh)

Similar , thick as mince when it comes to 'rithmetic.

[JohnM]

2 hours ago, Bearman said:

I left school when I was 15. Kids today have to stay at school until they are 18.

If I had had to study maths for those 5 years it wouldn't have made a bit of  difference to me.

 

( Well it made me laugh)

 

15 minutes ago, Stirlin said:

Similar , thick as mince when it comes to 'rithmetic.

Hence the need not to study maths but to learn the basics. Five years should cover that.  I think you'll find it all adds up.

[Stirlin]

3 hours ago, JohnM said:

 

Hence the need not to study maths but to learn the basics. Five years should cover that.  I think you'll find it all adds up.

Possibly maybe , probably no.

[tonyXIII]

6 hours ago, JohnM said:

 

Hence the need not to study maths but to learn the basics. Five years should cover that.  I think you'll find it all adds up.

Is that your "5 years", or bearman's?

As a teacher of many subjects, including Secondary School Maths, I do not mind people who claim to be unable to do Maths. It is skill, like any other skill. I can't play the guitar, for example. What really annoys me, though, is teachers who claim to be unable to do Maths. Anyone who cannot do Maths should not be allowed anywhere near a classroom, even a nursery classroom. It is a basic skill and, if you cannot help your pupils with Maths, you have no right to even train to be a teacher. The same goes for literacy skills. Rant over.

[JohnM]

Understood, Tony.  Given a decent teacher, I bet you could learn to play the guitar to at least a basic level. Would that be a good thing though?

As someone who had to struggle taking extra maths lectures just to cope with the complexities of physical electronics, I know the pain.

I'm thinking more about a syllabus for mathsphobes  that covers fewer topics over a longer period of time, and with direct and obvious practical application.

You know the sort of thing. If it takes four people two weeks to dig a hole, how old is the supplier of the shovels. ‍

[tonyXIII]

1 hour ago, JohnM said:

Understood, Tony.  Given a decent teacher, I bet you could learn to play the guitar to at least a basic level. Would that be a good thing though?

As someone who had to struggle taking extra maths lectures just to cope with the complexities of physical electronics, I know the pain.

I'm thinking more about a syllabus for mathsphobes  that covers fewer topics over a longer period of time, and with direct and obvious practical application.

You know the sort of thing. If it takes four people two weeks to dig a hole, how old is the supplier of the shovels. ‍

The shovel supplier is 42.

The thing about a syllabus is that it must be relevant to the students' experiences, offer a tangible benefit to the students and be interesting. If you can do that, you can give the students some motivation. To my mind, we've lost the motivation factor.

When I was at school, the prospect of a better-paid and more secure job was the motivation. That's gone. Teachers now have to be more inventive to provide their students with the incentive to study, ie motivation. Ah, I miss the good old days.*

*I don't really!

[The Hallucinating Goose]

I've always been rather skilled when it's comes to mental maths but that wasn't necessarily school that taught me that skill but my undying love of snooker which I've religiously followed since I was about 10. I can just look at a number of random balls on a snooker table and calculate the total in seconds. Always a useful skill to have. I'm also rather adept at converting minutes into hours because of my lifelong obsession with film and thus the working out of running times. 

Edited January 12, 2023 by The Hallucinating Goose