Anthony

FTFY

I always loved everything about the wipeout games, and wanted to love the game itself, but I found it so boring. I was puzzled why all this effort had been put into what was basically a shit game. As an aside the Designers Republic did the Pop Will Eat Itself branding and the resulting merchandise was fantastic. There's an online shop these days called Shop Will Eat Itself recreating (with permission) really good quality tshirts, hoodies etc.

Not expecting solutions (I found a workaround) but thought I'd share as it was **** maddening. In Word you can do a record/transcribe thing, where the audio file is uploaded to Onedrive, and the transcribed text goes into the Word document. So far, so good. I was working on such a document and editing, as the transcription wasn't quite right (obvs - they'll always need editing to some extent). I then came across a problem that I couldn't solve; whenever I pressed return, it opened the audio file in my browser. Wherever the cursor was, it opened the **** audio file in the **** browser. WTAF? I googled around for a bit but found nothing, and eventually gave up. Managed to finish the edit without using carriage return. But why? WHY?!? Why did it do this? WHY?!?

FWIW I have a printer that sidesteps both your issues. 1) laser, so no dried out ink cartridges. I use it maybe once a year, so important for me. 2) has a network socket, so I connect with a cable rather than wifi - much easier to set up and much less flaky. It's only black and white, but has a scanner and a sheet feeder. HP. About £60 I seem to remember, but that was maybe 5 or so years ago.

Especially when you lose the little bastards. And nothing else will fit, so you have to buy more for 3p + £10 p&p.

GB News. The absolute lowest of the low. I very much hope you just randomly saw a clip, rather than you sat and chose to watch that bilge.

Well, there are bonds, bonds and bonds. You might not get instant doubling of your money, but you do get a reliable, guaranteed return, over, or after, a certain period of time. It's all about having the money available when you need it. So you if you want the cash in two years, a bond might give you the best return without being tied in to something else, or the volatility of a stocks and shares investment. I'm a hit at parties.

Get married, cheat, then get divorced. Sorry, wrong way round.

Become an influencer. You don't have to be influential, just shallow, entitled and have botox and lip filler. Only real ongoing cost is 1kg of makeup daily.

I used to be a financial advisor. I don't know any more about what limits are on this and that, but I could certainly help with general principles. Feel free to ask on here or PM.

I think the stats for WWII aircraft loses were pretty horrific. More lost due to accidents (training, mechanical failure, extreme weather) than enemy action. You'd think people would've learned and would devote more resource to reducing non combat losses, but it seems the Russian military simply haven't. Their greatest weakness is their inability to adapt / sluggish speed of adaption. Combine this with sanctions, attacks on logistics, and corruption, and it's not a great surprise.

Have read good things about it. It's that Carlos Acosta fellow. A dancer who knows his shit. I look forward to your report.

Fair.

After I misread the 'Celebrity Scandals' thread title, I thought maybe I'd start a sub thread in here, so... Celebrity Sandals. This is Colton Haynes sporting some sandals, I think. I found him by googling 'Z list celebrities'. I have no idea who he is, but he is almost certainly wearing sandals. Over to you. Have you seen a celebrity wearing sandals? If you have a picture, do post it here. Mods, if you feel this should go elsewhere, do please move it.

Couple of points to make, one on sanctions and the other on infrastructure for a post fossil fuel world. 1) Sanctions They're in existence for several reasons, firstly to prevent the sanctioned party (in this case Russia) having access to... stuff, particularly tech that can be used for weppins, and tech that helps them extract/refine oil, and, more crudely, reducing the money available for the above. Secondly it is to signal our disapproval, domestically and internationally i.e. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE. Thirdly, often unspoken, it acknowledges that effect #1 above isn't watertight, but it increases the cost, reliability and timescales, of acquiring the sanctioned goods, and also decreases the choice. So yeah, Russia is getting stuff that we don't want them to have, but how much more are they paying for it? Double? Triple? How long does it take to arrive? And so on. Add in the fact that the Rouble has crashed due to sanctions, it's a bit of a shit show for Russia. It all leads to reason four, the overarching reason, which is to make Russia's war less and less viable as time drags on. So, if you encounter anyone suggesting "sanctions don't work", remember reason 3. 2) Infrastructure investment in developing countries Government energy infrastructure investment (particularly in the poorer posts of Africa) is/has been generally nil anyway. The big dam in Ethiopia was funded 80% by micro investment and 20% by China. There is almost no electricity grid, save in big cities. Mobile phone use is high as there were hardly any landlines to begin with, so most internet connections are mobile/wireless. There are no gas pipelines to houses. Fuel distribution is private (or publicly listed) companies. I wonder how the infrastructure will come about? Local solar/wind generation is cheap ish to set up, but storage (big batteries) and to a lesser extent distribution (charging points) would require much more investment. I wonder who will stump up the finance or guarantee the loans? Tesla? Governments? China? Who knows?

Nailed it. I mean, why wouldn't you want an iPhone or a Mac? Do you have no aspirations?

Apple products are kind of OK, but I do find iPhones a bit 'my first smartphone' The company on the other hand, if it was a person they'd be the most malignant gaslighting narcissist in the world. A disgusting, abusive company.

Best use for one as far as I'm concerned.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but noise cancelling earbuds are a bit crap. They deaden some frequencies a little. That's it.

Only the one for sale? You must be disappointed.

I remember it like it was yesterday. Still can't stand the bloke. Not talking about Dion. He's ace.

Nose cancelling earbuds are a bit crap. They deaden some frequencies a little. That's it.

It's the hot weather making bacteria etc work more. That's science, that is. Ages ago my mum made me a maize filled beanbag to heat up in the microwave and use like a hot water bottle. I remember being really puzzled by a snap, crackle pop nose in my flat and eventually found that the bean bag had got wet and it was germinating. Like I said, that's scientific proof, that is. Innit.

Gotye's "Somebody I used to know" sounds an awful lot like XTC's "Senses working overtime" I'd link the songs, but I'm on a mobile and frankly can't be arsed.

I'm a pale person and I live in Hackney. I am also full of it. Am I doing this right?