Yaffa Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Cans and packets of food that tell you, to the minute, when in 2018 they're suddenly going to stop being safe to eat. I always wondered how they knew... Especially on tubs of honey which explain how honey from Ancient Egypt has retained all its benefits and is still perfectly safe to eat... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 There's a brand of bottled water (I think it's Volvic) which the label claims is "filtered through mountain rock for millions of years" and then has "best before March 2016" or similar. Daft!. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Shop assistants who try to protect you by insisting on binning the 1-day-out-of-date fresh (whoops, now poisonous) oranges. And kudos to those who look the other way when you try to rescue the fruit... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 My local Co-op was once unable to sell me a (perfectly acceptable) bunch of flowers because it was past its sell-by date. The system actually wouldn't process it, so I guess those barcodes must have sell-by dates programmed in as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 There's a brand of bottled water (I think it's Volvic) which the label claims is "filtered through mountain rock for millions of years" and then has "best before March 2016" or similar. Daft!. Anne, I think this is more down to the ?benzenes in the plastic bottle rather than the water itself. There are some nasty chemicals in the plastic which start to leach into the water after a while. At least, I think that's what happens. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Yes Alison, I think there was a lot of publicity about this issue 6 or 7 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Anne, I think this is more down to the ?benzenes in the plastic bottle rather than the water itself. There are some nasty chemicals in the plastic which start to leach into the water after a while. At least, I think that's what happens. I'm sure you're right, Alison and it's yet another reason for choosing tap water. But it was a silly juxtaposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 My local Co-op was once unable to sell me a (perfectly acceptable) bunch of flowers because it was past its sell-by date. The system actually wouldn't process it, so I guess those barcodes must have sell-by dates programmed in as well. Yes I've often encountered that problem with barcodes including those on the yellow reduced stickers. Oh, and if the sticker has fallen off, then (even with a bag of potatoes) the veggies can only go to animals... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porthesia Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Saw an article this week on line regarding perfectly edible parsnips being thrown away because they're not the right shape and we the shopper won't buy them!! The phrase about lunatics running the asylum springs to mind 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Formula one...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Saw an article this week on line regarding perfectly edible parsnips being thrown away because they're not the right shape and we the shopper won't buy them!! The phrase about lunatics running the asylum springs to mind Then you process them into soup or something! Mind you, I have seen a lot of parsnips recently which have a very long and totally unusable "tail"/root and not much above them. There's a TV programme coming up about the subject, so I guess that's what your article related to. Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall, or however you spell his name, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 %$^£&*£$*£$%& Windows 8.1! And laptops running %$^£&*£$*£$%& Windows 8.1! I have just spent the last 3.5 hours trying to apply some 170 vital updates to my backup laptop. Not that I hadn't already applied a lot of them since I bought the thing back over the summer, you understand, but in one of its previous tizzies the laptop had obviously dumped them all again. It's also managed to swallow the three - perfectly working, of course - Restore Points which I had carefully set as backups in case for when it started playing games again. Upshot: the only alternative I had left was to allow the stupid OS to Refresh itself, which means dumping all my carefully installed programs and setting itself back to factory settings except for leaving all my data files intact. I'm no idiot, so after the first couple of times this happened I made sure to save a backup copy of the .exe files for each program on the data portion of the disk so at least I can reinstall more quickly, but this is a totally ludicrous piece of garbage. And please don't even suggest I upgrade to Windows 10. I can't imagine anyone who's ever had the misfortune to use a Chromebook wanting to allow a software giant to take control of what's installed on your computer ever again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Automated bill paying or any automated voice that is done in a 'friendly' voice, saying things like 'okay then, now we're going to go through some simple steps' or 'right, now on to some really easy stuff' and so on. I don't know if it is possible to feel patronised by an automated voice but somehow I am. Is it all part of the general dumbing down? Bad enough when a real person talks to you as though as though you are some sort of halfwit but at least you can answer back. The best of it is when you get to the end of the process and the 'voice' decides it suddenly can't understand what you are saying and it advises you to ring again and speak to customer services. I pay my water rates monthly and usually the process works. Once or twice though I have had to speak to an actual person. All the automated person asks for is your account number and your postcode before proceeding to payment. The real person wants to know that plus how long you have lived there and what you do for a living and a load of other stuff. Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porthesia Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 The little man in Sainsbury's car park who stalked me from the moment I drove in. No I don't want you to wash my car, I'm not going to be that long. 15 minutes he said hoping to persuade me- no I'm not going to be even that long (and I wasn't). Does it every time I go in there. If I want you to wash my car I will ask you, leave me alone waaah. Rant over 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessandtheFrog Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 People my age (teenager) who are phone obsessed and define you by your phone and when you are with people but instead of talking to you they just have their head in their phones snap chatting or texting someone else and you think to yourself that they could do that any other time but they can't spend time with real life people all the time. Makes me feel lonely..... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Not just teenagers, PrincessandtheFrog, I've got a sister like that - and she's drawing her pension! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huddsballetmum Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 People who run red lights and crash into your car, writing off your vehicle and giving you whiplash!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2dancersmum Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 oh no Huddsballetmum - wishing you a speedy recovery and a fast replacement for your vehicle. Horrific at any time but especially inconvenient in this busy run up to Christmas 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 Sorry to hear this Hudds. I hope your whiplash isn't too severe and that you get a replacement vehicle soon. Some years ago my sister had just dropped my niece and I off at the cinema. She was turning right out of the junction and a car running the lights went straight into my car (which she was using to take my Mum somewhere). She had witnesses to say that the other car had gone through the lights on red but they were too young to be able to give statements (8 and 10 yo brothers). My insurance company accepted liability because my sister was turning right. She was in first gear and the estimated speed of the vehicle that hit her was 23 miles an hour. Fortunately my sister and Mum were only shaken up but my car was written off. The insurance outcome was added insult to injury. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted December 5, 2015 Author Share Posted December 5, 2015 You'd think that Great Northern Trains would know that on a day when Arsenal are playing at home, there will be rather a lot of extra passengers on the train due to arrive at Finsbury Park at a quarter to one wouldn't you? I wonder why they decided to cut the number of carriages fro 8 to 4. Grrrr. Have to say though, the supporters were all extremely courteous as we all played Sardines on the train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 (edited) Microsoft!!!! I upgraded my computer to Windows 10 last night. Bad move. First, I was getting weird error messages on every page of this forum, as well as some other annoying glitches. Then the internet kept dropping out although other computers were fine, so it wasn't the modem or the wifi. So I did some research online (in between crashes) and found that this is a fairly common problem, Microsoft appears to be ignoring it, the suggested fixes don't work, or at least not for long, and the only solution that actually worked for anyone was to revert to the previous browser (assuming Windows 10 had been installed less than a month ago and was an upgrade from a previous operating system). Which doesn't help people who have this problem on brand-new computers. Fortunately I was able to go back to Windows 7 without any problems (so far), but I do wonder what people can do who've spent significant money on a new computer that does this constantly and for which there isn't a permanent fix. Microsoft doesn't seem to have learned its lesson about releasing major upgrades with major bugs; no wonder Macs and Chromebooks are getting so popular. Anyway, if anyone is thinking about upgrading to Windows 10 - erm, good luck... Edited December 12, 2015 by Melody 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Ugh, you poor thing. Did I mention that I bought a new laptop a few months ago? Decided to bite the bullet and upgrade to Win 8.1 from XP. BAD MOVE. Every now and then, for no particular reason that I can see, when I boot it up it goes into Automatic Repair Mode. The options you have there include doing a System Restore (if it will work), doing various Advanced Repair things (which hardly ever work), Refreshing the computer (i.e. dumping every single program you have personally installed, but keeping everything else from the Windows Store - and retaining all your documents), or a complete Factory Reset. If I can get away with a Refresh I think I've been lucky, but it's a completely pain in the backside having reinstall everything. I've taken an image of the computer using Acronis, so will see next time if the system will allow me to restore using an image. I bet it won't. Oh, and last time I did the Refresh I needed to reinstall some 177 (I think) Update files. On a really sloooooooooooooooooow connection ... So, I do feel your pain, as they say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Newcombe Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 An Apple a day ! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 I can't use a Mac: my software's incompatible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 I can't use a Mac: my software's incompatible. You can run PC software on a Mac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 (edited) An Apple a day ! Tenuous link alert!! Talking of apples and healthy eating, there was an item on yesterday's BBC news about a group of pupils at a school in Blackpool, challenged to forego fizzy drinks for a specified period. The idea being to educate on the perils of a sugar heavy diet. Most of them managed to complete the challenge without cracking and all in all, it seemed a good idea. The assistant head teacher commented on parental involvement in healthy eating but added this could sometimes be difficult as "many parents have been brought up in a similar way to what their children have". Never mind the sugar laden beverages, feel the quality of the grammar. Then again, I suppose it is no longer fashionable to speak properly but I would have hoped for better from an assistant head. Perhaps I am just picky. Edited December 18, 2015 by Jacqueline 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonrothbart Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 An Apple a day ! I have both, but overall I prefer MS. I too upgraded to Windows 10, but soon went back to 7, as there's no way to control updates, or at least there wasn't then. Most seem to think it's a very good OS, all the best bits of 7 and 8 apparantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 You can run PC software on a Mac. Not this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 (edited) I have both, but overall I prefer MS. I too upgraded to Windows 10, but soon went back to 7, as there's no way to control updates, or at least there wasn't then. Most seem to think it's a very good OS, all the best bits of 7 and 8 apparantly. ...apart from the little problem of losing the internet every couple of hours (still feeling aggrieved about that, and very glad there was a simple way to go back to Windows 7). Edited December 18, 2015 by Melody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 ...apart from the little problem of losing the internet every couple of hours (still feeling aggrieved about that, and very glad there was a simple way to go back to Windows 7). I meant to comment when I saw your original post Melody. When I needed a new lap top last year, I had no choice but to buy a Windows 8 one (as that is all they were selling in Currys). I wasn't bothered because I had a Windows phone which I loved. Of course the laptop operating system was different and drove me round the bend!!! I had some of the problems you are now experiencing with Windows 10. I kept losing my internet connection but I know it wasn't a problem with my provider as my phone, kindle and tablet all stayed connected. Sometimes I would have to reboot three or four times to get it to recognise my internet connection. I upgraded to Windows 10 and have not had any problems since. Unfortunately I had decided to give up on Windows and had ordered a Macbook!! I probably wouldn't have done if Windows 10 had come out earlier! I still use my old laptop from time to time and have not had any problems at all with W10. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted December 18, 2015 Author Share Posted December 18, 2015 (edited) Neither Windows 8 or 10 are all that great for business use - we've had no end of problems with accessing old pdf files, documents and spreadsheets, and it is horrible for storing the hundreds of emails I get on my work pc as well (all of which need to be kept in umpteen different folders). We also had to upgrade the accounting software as well, and that cost a fortune. Needless to say the new version of that isn't all that great either. Thank heavens we pay somebody to do all the 'techy' stuff edited for spelling Edited December 18, 2015 by taxi4ballet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) I meant to comment when I saw your original post Melody. When I needed a new lap top last year, I had no choice but to buy a Windows 8 one (as that is all they were selling in Currys). I wasn't bothered because I had a Windows phone which I loved. Of course the laptop operating system was different and drove me round the bend!!! I had some of the problems you are now experiencing with Windows 10. I kept losing my internet connection but I know it wasn't a problem with my provider as my phone, kindle and tablet all stayed connected. Sometimes I would have to reboot three or four times to get it to recognise my internet connection. I upgraded to Windows 10 and have not had any problems since. Unfortunately I had decided to give up on Windows and had ordered a Macbook!! I probably wouldn't have done if Windows 10 had come out earlier! I still use my old laptop from time to time and have not had any problems at all with W10. According to a forum I was reading where people were complaining about this problem with Windows 10, it also happened with Windows 8 (as you found out!) and took Microsoft over a year to fix. It's hard to believe that after that experience with Windows 8, they went ahead and released Windows 10 with the exact same problem and seem to be taking every bit as long to fix it. The annoying thing will be if it isn't fixed before the offer of the free upgrade expires. But I'm not holding my breath at this point. I know it's a problem that doesn't affect everyone, so they probably see it as less important. Edited December 19, 2015 by Melody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Neither Windows 8 or 10 are all that great for business use - we've had no end of problems with accessing old pdf files, documents and spreadsheets, and it is horrible for storing the hundreds of emails I get on my work pc as well (all of which need to be kept in umpteen different folders). We also had to upgrade the accounting software as well, and that cost a fortune. Needless to say the new version of that isn't all that great either. Thank heavens we pay somebody to do all the 'techy' stuff Thanks, taxi, for that information. I now know why, on our "techie" mailing-list, a lot of my peers are doing things like going back to Windows 7. (This is partly why I've stayed on Win XP for so long). I'm seriously considering ordering my next laptop from Dell, in the hope that I can get a Win 7 Pro still. Do Windows 8 and 10 even *have* a Pro version? I've not been aware of it. I get the impression that Microsoft - and others - are concentrating predominantly on the leisure side of computing these days, rather than the business side of it. After all, why do you need a widescreen for business work? All that happens is that I get 2 pages of a PDF side by side and then loads of wasted space - it doesn't look as though Adobe have cottoned on yet to the fact that you could have 3 pages side by side if they'd only allow it - or a Word document with probably 50% white space to the right of it. Why do you need a glossy screen? A high-definition screen suitable for watching all sorts of fancy films on? You can't get much else these days, and not much in the way of screens which are just the right dimensions to allow a couple of "sheets" of "paper" next to one another and nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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