The grumpy thread

[Negative Creep]

THe only thing I regularly watch on tv is Match of the Day. Other than that 90% of the time it's for films or gaming. THere can be some good stuff on Dave, Yesterday or Quest though

[M'coli]

Aye, true: but no news or weather. It pains me that a piece of equipment that outperforms modern equipment for its ability to do what it was designed to do - receive and display television signals - and is over 30 years old is now redundant, not because it no longer works, but because it is no longer compatible with the modern world. I know I can get modulators, I know I could buy a digibox, but for each of those I also have to buy and install an external aerial to get them to work, too. More buying, more cost, more waste - it sickens me that we are so consumerist.

[trigger]

Anybody up north suffering because of the heavy rain?, Sky have posted photos of this Rover 45 claiming it must be Britains most flood damaged car.

 

 

[willswitchengage]

^Yep, my parents' house in Norf yorkshire had its annual flood. The irony/grump element is that if the builders currently floodproofing it hadn't fucked off after laying down a few slabs of concrete to do another job for a couple of months, the house would have been fine. But no! I get a call at 7am this morning from a distressed mother asking me how the immersion pump works.

 

This is the garage down the road that I used to work in, you can probably work out what happens when the river gets a bit high:

 

 

Grump #2 is that I emailed the parents a link to a BBC news item showing our area being flooded, but of course for petty and vindictive reasons Apple doesn't allow flash, and therefore embedded videos, to be watched on their iPad

 

The telly thing irritates me also as my massive hand-me-down CRT tv is now redundant. If you're into trees and Prii and things then you'll be delighted to know that digital broadcast uses a hell of a lot more energy than analogue, too.

[cobblers]

Aye, true: but no news or weather. It pains me that a piece of equipment that outperforms modern equipment for its ability to do what it was designed to do - receive and display television signals - and is over 30 years old is now redundant, not because it no longer works, but because it is no longer compatible with the modern world. I know I can get modulators, I know I could buy a digibox, but for each of those I also have to buy and install an external aerial to get them to work, too. More buying, more cost, more waste - it sickens me that we are so consumerist.

 

In all fairness, the reason that the analogue signals were switched off is cos the small minority of people still tuning in that way were really disadvantaging the majority of people who want digital.

 

Each transmitter can only transmit at a certain overall power (for dozens of reasons I won't go into). Losing the 5 channels of analogue allows 200+ digital channels to be transmitted at double or triple the power they were meaning that thousands of people in marginal signal areas or people with poor aerials (on houses and in portable devices, cars, caravans, campervans, boats etc) who previously were stuck with analogue/nothing, can now get a usable digital signal.

 

I too stand by the fact that its 98% complete bollocks and haven't had a TV aerial hooked up to my telly since about 2007. Everything comes down the intertubes, costs nothing and is available to be watched at my leisure without adverts. If I want to watch anything live there's dozens of websites (tvcatchup.com for example) where I can watch any freeview channel without having to scale the house and fit a new aerial.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

If you do buy a digibox don't make the mistake of buying the cheapest one available. I had the cheapest one from Argos or whatever and it was appalling. Loads of lag on the guide, terrible remote control. Worst of all, I set my VCR (it was a while ago) to tape a film overnight, and about half an hour in a message appeared taking up the whole screen saying it was searching for new software. After five minutes of this it didn't find any and then the box went into standby. The VCR recorded another hour of static.

 

but of course for petty and vindictive reasons Apple doesn't allow flash, and therefore embedded videos, to be watched on their iPad

Adobe couldn't come up with a version of Flash that didn't reduce battery life to minutes and introduce all sorts of security and stability issues.

[willswitchengage]

but of course for petty and vindictive reasons Apple doesn't allow flash, and therefore embedded videos, to be watched on their iPad

Adobe couldn't come up with a version of Flash that didn't reduce battery life to minutes and introduce all sorts of security and stability issues.

 

Both true, but that doesn't explain why 98% of non-Apple devices run Flash - there's more than meets the eye. Flash allows embedded content - ie allowing you to watch media and use interactive programmes through a browser - thus making the appstore, its paywall, control and monopoly redundant. It's all a conspiracy, like supermarket petrol.

[ashmicro]

Apple and Adobe had a row. If you're interested, there's stuff on the 'net. Regarding digiboxes: if you don't want a recording one (I've had 3 and they're gash, all behaved randomly), the cheap ones are pretty much all that's available, in my area at any rate. All I've seen on eBay is "what? from where?" stuff too.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

but of course for petty and vindictive reasons Apple doesn't allow flash, and therefore embedded videos, to be watched on their iPad

Adobe couldn't come up with a version of Flash that didn't reduce battery life to minutes and introduce all sorts of security and stability issues.

 

Both true, but that doesn't explain why 98% of non-Apple devices run Flash - there's more than meets the eye. Flash allows embedded content - ie allowing you to watch media and use interactive programmes through a browser - thus making the appstore, its paywall, control and monopoly redundant. It's all a conspiracy, like supermarket petrol.

 

Yes, that's almost certainly true as well. I don't care for the walled garden web with content penned into little apps, especially when there's only one authority approving or disapproving those apps. Unfortunately flash is terrible on Macs (couldn't watch YouTube without headphones on my old Macbook because the fans ran at maximum, had to install an ad blocker because a flash ad could max out both cpu cores) so it's no surprise they got an easy ride excluding it from the iPhone.

[cort16]

I bought a 72 tooth ratchet from ebay a couple of months ago. It wasn't that cheap and it looked like decent enough quality when it arrived. I've used it a couple of times for reasonably light jobs but today I was leaning on it to get a caliper bolt out and the fugger just gave way smashing my hand into the wheel arch. My hands okay it just hurts a bit but I'm properly pissed off it's burst.

 

Damn you EBAY!

 

[RoadworkUK]

Grand Designs.

 

Great programme and all that, but surely Gandalph and Lobsterina's Eco house would be considerably more Eco if it wasn't enormous and didn't have components that had to be trucked overland from distant corners of Europe.

 

And get some fucking furniture.

[meshking]

Couldn't agree more. I was looking at the concrete and rsjs thinking "yeah, they just pull those out the ground with no energy usage whatsoever".

 

Twats.

[Rocket88]

Now that it's been broadcast, how long before someone nips round there with a catapult and some ball bearings?

[Guest]

3rd Highview Parking letter arrived today. I must say, my car looks smashing from a high angle.

That's £300 you owe me now, lads. A little tip. When you're trying to intimidate someone, don't send badly worded legal threats from an inkjet printer. You can see the toner run-off.

 

Next, eBay.

 

Put rubbish old M42 telephoto lens on sale. State that it's for UK bidders only. Russian bidder ignores me, wins auction, goes ape shit when I explain I'm not selling it to him because I CANNOT BE ARSED POSTING SOMETHING TO RUSSIA ON THE OFF CHANCE IT MIGHT NOT GET STOLEN. Also, I said I'd post to the UK only. Yes, I've bid on stuff stating 'domestic post only' but only after I contacted the bidder first asking whether or not they'd post to the UK before I bid - like I did with my Vega wheels for the 460. The bloke said he would, and I won the auction. Germans eBayers tend to be alright about sending stuff abroad - but their Paypal opt out does make things difficult, sometimes.............

 

Finally, eBay.

 

Bloke wins three models from my auctions. Materials to send are £2. Weighing them first class to send in a small packet costs £3.80. Am I not able to make 20p on the postage, because matey won them for fuck-all? Seemingly not. Whinge whinge whinge. He wants them sending first class recorded for that money and refuses to pay.

 

Guess I'm keeping them, then. Twunt.

[Richard]

I bought a 72 tooth ratchet from ebay a couple of months ago. It wasn't that cheap and it looked like decent enough quality when it arrived. I've used it a couple of times for reasonably light jobs but today I was leaning on it to get a caliper bolt out and the fugger just gave way smashing my hand into the wheel arch. My hands okay it just hurts a bit but I'm properly pissed off it's burst.

 

Damn you EBAY!

 

I can recommend this ratchet http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165469

 

72 teeth and very nicely weighted. My colleague broke mine but I know what he was doing with it and I can confirm it must be super-strong to stand up as well as it did.

[Cavcraft]

Orange. Again. If anyone has a 'phone number for someone high up in that company please feel free to pm it to me.

[HillmanImp]

Orange. Again. If anyone has a 'phone number for someone high up in that company please feel free to pm it to me.

 

I do, but every time I try ringing my call 'cannot be connected'.

[Cavcraft]

Don't mention that please chief, it's a VERY sore subject. Strangely* their incoming e-mail/complaint system is down at the moment too, what are the chances of that?

[scaryoldcortina]

I bought a 72 tooth ratchet from ebay a couple of months ago. It wasn't that cheap and it looked like decent enough quality when it arrived. I've used it a couple of times for reasonably light jobs but today I was leaning on it to get a caliper bolt out and the fugger just gave way smashing my hand into the wheel arch. My hands okay it just hurts a bit but I'm properly pissed off it's burst.

 

Damn you EBAY!

 

I can recommend this ratchet http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165469

 

72 teeth and very nicely weighted. My colleague broke mine but I know what he was doing with it and I can confirm it must be super-strong to stand up as well as it did.

 

I recommend not using a ratchet to crack off tight bolts! That's what a breaker bar is for.

[Guest]

Family are doing my head in, for three reasons.

 

1. University Timetable.

 

This is a massive problem affecting all of Salford. It's been in the MEN and everything. Long story short - they tried to implement a timetable system that was brand new and completely untested. They release into the wider world and it shits itself, sending 50,000 odd students blank timetables. They can't give out generic timetables for all of the units available on a given course 'because Facilities won't tell us what buildings we can use'. Follow that up with an email outage, and then a campus wide systems fuck up, and the result is crippling : no timetable.

 

We were supposed to start this week. Except we couldn't. Because we have no timetable. It's Friday and I still have no timetable. If teaching gets pushed back another week we're two weeks late finishing. And I assure you, if Christmas this year is worst than last year, there will be murders. Everywhere. What really boils my piss is the fact that UoS's spokespeople have lied their arses off constantly from the word go about the problem, saying that:

 

1. It has only affected 200 students (horseshit, it's affected everyone)

2. No schools have rescheduled teaching because of the problem (complete bollocks, I have the emails to prove it)

3. Everyone will have working timetables by [pick a date] (utter lies, no-one's timetable works properly)

 

I've had to cancel two placements and turn down weekday cover at work because I don't know when I'm in. My folks are having a new kitchen put in (fuck knows why, there was nothing wrong with it other than the appliances were knackered) which is causing weapons grades amount of friction because I now 'have to be in' when the builders are and I can't commit to anything. Cue repeated arguments along the lines of 'What do you mean you don't know when you're in, you must know by now, this is a piss take, you're taking the piss.' etc etc. Comes to a head when I tell both to fuck off because there's very little I can do about it.

 

2. New kitchen

 

Pointless and stressful for the reasons outlined above. Plus my mum isn't very well at the moment. More arguments. Also, we have no kitchen.

The builders keep leaving the garage door open, showing the entire road inside the garage, which is full of stuff. Cue scrap metal gyppos coming round on an hourly basis. Resist the urge to tell them to fuck off lest our windows get put in. I'll weigh it in lads, I'll have the money, do one - tar very much. It may be a posh area but I don't give a shit about putting stuff in my car, scrapping it and getting a few quid. You have me down very, very wrong indeed.

 

3. Highview Parking.

 

I am not paying them. I have told my folks I am not paying them. I have told my folks their claim has no basis in law, and that they're thieving cunts with no morals or dignity. Also, I'm not paying them. But their letters keep coming through the door. According to MSE I have 4 more yet, threatening baliffs and court cases, all of it complete bunkum.

 

Cue massive argument about me 'ending up in court' and 'having CCJs'. Cue response from me about this being exactly Highview want, and that they're thieving cunts and were they closer, their office would have no windows. Cue door slamming contest.

 

Get frog marched to a solicitor this morning, who 'couldn't comment either way.' Cue a massive, embarrassing argument.

 

Furthermore, another argument in the car. Nearly crash.

 

Addendum.

 

4. HM Customs And Excise

 

I won a Yashica Lynx 14 on American eBay. HMRC have now had it for 13 days according to the tracking logs. Listen lads, it's not your camera. IT'S MY CAMERA. IT'S THIRTY YEARS OLD, YOU CAN'T CHARGE ME VAT ON IT, SO FUCK OFF STALLING AND GIVE ME MY FUCKING CAMERA ELSE YOUR OFFICES WILL HAVE NO FUCKING WINDOWS LEFT.

 

I have a deep, deep hatred for HMRC after they tried to charge me import tax and VAT on 20 new USA only music CDs I bought from the States. They wanted THREE TIMES what the CDs were worth, so I told them to poke it and sent the CDs back. Later FATHA_WATANABE brought them back for me on a business trip.

 

I am going out for the rest of the day because I cannot be arsed being mithered with any more of this shit. You know where I am if I am needed.

[Rocket88]

According to that paragon of journalistic accuracy [Daily Express] TVR are still building cars in Blackpool. Every time the popular press report on motoring matters, they fuck it up.

[warren t claim]

According to that paragon of journalistic accuracy [Daily Express] TVR are still building cars in Blackpool. Every time the popular press report on motoring matters, they fuck it up.

 

 

Well they're certainly building muscles in the gym and making great lunches in the cafe at the Bristol Ave site.

[warren t claim]

Fantasy

 

Reality

 

You can't blame me for stopping can you?

[Pillock]

 

Yes, that's almost certainly true as well. I don't care for the walled garden web with content penned into little apps, especially when there's only one authority approving or disapproving those apps. Unfortunately flash is terrible on Macs (couldn't watch YouTube without headphones on my old Macbook because the fans ran at maximum, had to install an ad blocker because a flash ad could max out both cpu cores) so it's no surprise they got an easy ride excluding it from the iPhone.

 

It's going to get worse. Windows 8, due out in 4 weeks time, does not include Flash support in the native browser - only if you use the legacy one.

Flash is old and shit and doesn't need supporting any more. HTML5 is the future.

[Pillock]

My grump.

 

I sold a car in 2010 to a trader. He took the V5 and promised to sort it - I believed him, he's a mate.

He's shifted the car on to another trader, I've just had an £80 fine and threat of court action for not taxing it two years later.

 

Yes it's my fault for not sending the yellow slip off, but it is annoying they've only responded after two years and gone straight in to legal action. I phoned DVLA, they couldn't help as it had gone to "enforcement" so they gave me the address of my "local" DVLA office (which is about as local as the moon). I went up there, queued in the rain, got in first as they opened - and they couldn't help me either! The guy there made me sit and write a letter to Swansea (you remember Swansea, they're the people I spoke to first) right there and then, and promised to send it through for me. So I've had to pay the £80 to get the private debt firm off my back (who clearly use all sorts of legal threats to get you to pay - but sorry, that worked, I just do not have time to deal with firms like that) but I STILL have the car registered to me.

 

GAH!!!!

 

My only saving grace is that I have tracked the trader down who has the car, and he's a sound bloke, so I can get him to send the yellow slip off if the DVLA don't action my letter.

Annoyingly, he has the car listed for £1500 - I sold it for £250.

[Negative Creep]

My grump.

 

I sold a car in 2010 to a trader. He took the V5 and promised to sort it - I believed him, he's a mate.

He's shifted the car on to another trader, I've just had an £80 fine and threat of court action for not taxing it two years later.

 

Yes it's my fault for not sending the yellow slip off, but it is annoying they've only responded after two years and gone straight in to legal action. I phoned DVLA, they couldn't help as it had gone to "enforcement" so they gave me the address of my "local" DVLA office (which is about as local as the moon). I went up there, queued in the rain, got in first as they opened - and they couldn't help me either! The guy there made me sit and write a letter to Swansea (you remember Swansea, they're the people I spoke to first) right there and then, and promised to send it through for me. So I've had to pay the £80 to get the private debt firm off my back (who clearly use all sorts of legal threats to get you to pay - but sorry, that worked, I just do not have time to deal with firms like that) but I STILL have the car registered to me.

 

GAH!!!!

 

My only saving grace is that I have tracked the trader down who has the car, and he's a sound bloke, so I can get him to send the yellow slip off if the DVLA don't action my letter.

Annoyingly, he has the car listed for £1500 - I sold it for £250.

 

 

not that t helps, but I had a similar thing and wrote back to the debt collectors telling them to GET TO BOLLOCKS and refer it back to the DVLA. Never heard a thing after that

[cobblers]

 

not that t helps, but I had a similar thing and wrote back to the debt collectors telling them to GET TO BOLLOCKS and refer it back to the DVLA. Never heard a thing after that

 

Yup, the DVLA aren't really any more powerful than the private parking companies trying to get £9383737 off watanabe for parking in a free carpark for 10 minutes too long. They'd have to take you to court and win, and you not pay them before you ended up with a CCJ. Private debt recovery firms have no more power than anyone else who can put a letter with red "warning" written on it in an envelope, they can't send bailiffs or anything of the like.

 

In court it's pretty much accepted that all you'd have to do would have been to claim you sent it and it would be up to the DVLA to prove you didn't, which they can't.

[Cavcraft]

Orange, surprisingly

Oh well, I got their sort of 'executive' complaints department today, had a chat, gave them the Offcom case number and (if they're not as full of shit in this department as the others) things may well be rolling on towards a conclusion. But we'll see.

Offcom were ace, they were amazed at what some of Orange's tosspost team had told me and are keen to know the outcome.

 

In other grumpy news: it's women in 'Never shutting the fuck up' shocker. Do they just go to work, save up all the bullshit they've heard in 12 hours then fire it all off in a ten minute car journey without stopping for air?

[RedSparrow]

Are we seriously still replying to spambot posts? We do realise they are created by a piece of software and therefore doesn't read English don't we?

 

[Cavcraft]

Are we seriously still replying to spambot posts? We do realise they are created by a piece of software and therefore doesn't read English don't we?

 

 

+1, just coming to post the same sort of message.