Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

GDB2222

LydiaJ wrote: »

Don't remind me!
(Why isn't there a smiley with its fingers in its ears?)

zagubov

While I was the US visiting we noticed fatal house fires routinely covered on the news.

Locals commented the high house fire rate was because so many houses were built of wood, heating systems used to the max in cold winters and also drug-dealers settling scores by arson.

This reminds me how disturbingly parochial the TV news was over there. A TV reporter talking about the war in the gulf had to tell the cameraman to point at the middle east on his map and away from the Gulf of Mexico!

Also, when they were discussing the collapse of communism in Romania, the news image wasn't a map/flag/photo from the country but the photo of a local woman who had relatives there and an interview with her telling us her relatives were upset.

lostinrates

GDB2222 wrote: »

Oh, I seem to be in challenging mode this morning. I suspect that's because I am feeling guilty, as I should be getting on with my work and this is a displacement activity. Not fair to take it out on the nice people, sorry.

I hope your day gets better gdb2222

zagubov

lostinrates wrote: »

speaking of electricity, a man and I gave each other an electric shock the other day on the Brussels metro....dh saw the spark. Thankfully he was confident that its the type of sparks only the two people involved feel that you have to worry about. I think the man thought I'd tazered him actually. I was wearing a jacket with some synthetic fabric in it, I guess that was it.

Reminds me of a news report about a country in the Far East (possibly Japan), where businesspeople trade electronic business cards electrically across their skin when they shake hands and download them into a chip in their clothing.

GDB2222

LydiaJ wrote: »

American electricity supplies are not at lower power than ours. They are at lower voltage, and therefore their appliances draw higher current to get the power needed.

The real problem is that as little as 60mA can cause the heart to fibrillate, whilst even the lowest power devices are protected by 3 amp fuses. So, you'll expire long before the fuse goes bang. RCDs are set to trip at (IIRC) around 20mA.

lostinrates

zagubov wrote: »

Reminds me of a news report about a country in the Far East (possibly Japan), where businesspeople trade electronic business cards electrically across their skin when they shake hands and download them into a chip in their clothing.

why in their clothing? I want my microchip under my own skin...imagine, everything done electrobically...tax return filled in automatically electronbically with spends...just a puch buton at the time...business or personal, and the occasional revision of tax code.

I was trying to find out more about why the cashless system in Brussels is undergoing loss in popularity....anybody know?

zagubov

lostinrates wrote: »

why in their clothing? I want my microchip under my own skin...imagine, everything done electrobically...tax return filled in automatically electronbically with spends...just a puch buton at the time...business or personal, and the occasional revision of tax code.

I was trying to find out more about why the cashless system in Brussels is undergoing loss in popularity....anybody know?

There was a cashless system here called mondex, used in Swindon for a while then abandoned (it's a popular testbed, Swindon- I think they got satellite or was it cable TV before the rest of us too).

It's described here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondex
but the article doesn't say if it's still being used anywhere

Wheezy_2

lostinrates wrote: »

I was trying to find out more about why the cashless system in Brussels is undergoing loss in popularity....anybody know?

It's called 'Proton' and it's not a big success for three reasons:
- Safety. The Proton bit of your debit card is not PIN protected, you insert it at the vendor's terminal and simply press 'OK' when the amount is displayed. Why take the risk if the same shop would accept a PIN card with no extra transaction costs.
- Many shops don't have a Proton terminal.
- And I guess the idea of paying for your paper or smoothie with coins isn't that bad after all.

I never used it when I was still living there.

Wheezy_2

michaels wrote: »

DD1 in particular (but also DD2 now) sometime get a single line from a song in their head which they feel the need to sing repeatedly at high volume for ever - that can get a little bit annoying...

That's what I do after an advert break.
"To dream the impossible dream! lalalaa" (Honda)
"Maybe tomorrow I'll want to settle down! lalalaaa (Dulux)
"Go compare! Go compare!"

Somehow Mrs Wheezy still loves me

silvercar

lostinrates wrote: »

why in their clothing? I want my microchip under my own skin...imagine, everything done electrobically...tax return filled in automatically electronbically with spends...just a puch buton at the time...business or personal, and the occasional revision of tax code.

I was trying to find out more about why the cashless system in Brussels is undergoing loss in popularity....anybody know?

Son has a friend who is chipped for diabetes. Constantly monitors his sugar levels and lets him know if it hits danger levels.