Quote from SamH :

Aye, if you have the hours in the day available to you (and I do, technically, since I'm home-based) then using time management you can circumvent the capping policy.

I'm going to stop calling it a fair usage policy, though, because that description implies that they consider the conflict between network usage and network capacity to be a matter of unfair customer behaviour.

The truth is that Virgin (and others, PlusNet being one of the worst examples) oversell their own product and fail to invest sufficiently in their network to provide the thing they sell to all the people they sell it to. In every other aspect of commerce, selling something you know you can't deliver is against trading laws. The common term for this is "fraud". Courtesy of OFCOM's duplicity, ISPs in the UK are effectively above the law. Disgusting, but what ya gonna do, eh?

I don't know what the NTL run part of the network was like before Virgin took over but the Blueyonder/Telewest part was very well run. I was with them for several years before VM took over and they were forever upgrading the network. Also, their technical support was usually pretty good, (if you allowed for the fact you were guarenteed to have to wait at least 20mins to talk to someone), as in they knew pretty much what they were talking about and were willing to pass things to the real engineers if you asked for it. These days all you get is fobbed off by some numpty that clearly is just reading from a process document and has no clue about anything other than ticking boxes. Plus the point blank refuse to accept the issue is with their network unless the 1 test they carry out shows a problem !!

As for the FUP, well BY/Telewest had one but they certaintly didn't have a traffic shaping policy. That was a new change by VM. Although I have to say I've yet to fall foul of it.

VM have also been instructed by the ASA to change their ads claiming to be providing "fibre optic broadband". Personally, I'm amazed it took so long
See here: http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adju ... s/Public/TF_ADJ_45720.htm

BTW - in case anyone is interested BT have finished initial trials and are looking to expand the trial of FTTC, which in combination with VDSL2 for the last leg will enable them, (and therefore any current ADSL provider) to offer products at significantly faster speeds, than currently available to non cable customers.

See here for basic explanation of the technology:

http://www.internetstreams.co. ... erfast_broadband_2012.php

Quote from whitey6272 :

Well im not sure, i kno when i subscribed to it i had to wait for a BT technician to do... what ever it is they do at the exchange to connect me up....

BT Engineers do ALL the customer installations. BT still owns the final mile, (ie copper twisted pair network between your house and the exchange), and so all work carried out on it will be by them. The network was only unbundled as far as access to exchanges by other carriers is concerned. In other words BT had to open access to their local exchanges to allow competitors to put their equipment and back haul connectivity in situ. From that point on all ADSL connections use the BT network in to the customer premisis.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/mofaq/telecoms/bb_faq/

Quote from SamH :

One man's science is another man's religion. Anything that you believe, without seeking personal/individual proof, is expressly religious. We're all religious, to some extent or another.

What tickles me most is how so many people that think they're rejecting religion and choosing science instead, are placing exactly as much faith in unproven science as any religious person places in their faith. Everybody takes the majority of the things we're told to be true as truth.

The only major difference is that the religious believe the words of the preacher and the scientific take the word of the "scientist". Neither requires any less leap of faith.. we don't HAVE time in our lives to seek proof for everything scientific we believe in.

I love how the contemporary "scientific" thinkers scoff at religion. Arrogance much.

You have a point, at least to an extent. Whilst it is true that many laymen may well have put as much faith in science as they might have in religion there is at least, (to my mind at least), greater justification for doing so because of one irrefuteable difference between Science and Religion.

Science is inherently self critical, it is built in to the very foundation of Scientific principles to be self judgmental and to seek "truth" by way of observation, confirmation and peer review. Religion on the other hand is never anything but self justifying and is incapable of being self-critical and only ever seeks to strengthen it's own fundamental dogmas.

Of course there is much misunderstanding of what Science actually provides in terms of answers, (not to mention just plain bad Science), and so it's true that many people are guilty of effectively just transfering their "Faith" from Religion to Science. But that's hardly the fault of Science itself, more a failing of the proponents of Science to fully explain exactly how Science works.

Quote from The Moose :

Having blind faith in something that there is absolutely no evidence for is not "understanding" anything.

Very true, but many people find it "comforting".

For me it comes down to the argument as to whether religion, (and therefore belief in some "god"), is necessary to provide such comfort and/or moral guidelines etc. Some people obviously believe it is. I on the other hand, most certainly don't.

Quote from Becky Rose :

I'm usually mistaken for atheist, but i'm not. I'm agnostic.

Worse however, I have a strong urge to destroy this thread on the grounds that it might be seen by young and impressionable children.

I dont smoke infront of kids, why should I let them breath in religion?

Sorry, but that really IS my belief.

umm.. sorry but im confused. How is it possible for you to be Agnostic yet so fervently anti religion? is it belief iteslf that you have a problem with or the institutions of religion ie the church etc?

I ask because to my mind having such an anti-religious stance, (which I've seen you take in other threads also), would lead me to believe you should consider yourself an Atheist rather than Agnostic.

No critisism intended, just curiosity.

As for me, subscibing to the general Humanist philosophy as I do, I am most certainly an Atheist.

Unsurprisingly immature responses. I didn't expect anything less, but nevermind.

I must admit I hadn't thought about it like that. I guess it makes sense if you live in a country where it's easier and cheaper just to build new than to renew. A little short sighted in my opinion though. These run down areas are often a refuge for criminality as well as places where the homeless and destitute can just disappear and therefore be forgotten. Neither scenario is good for a society in general.

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Has a movie ever predicted the future of an American city more accurately than Robocop?

TIME Magazine photo tour

More from the same photographers

Another stunning image + story

It never ceases to amaze me to see just how run down and poor some parts of America are. We have our localised problems here in the UK, but very few are anywhere near that bad and as I said they are on the whole very localised. Not whole districts of cities as exist in the US, from what I've seen reported.

I sometimes wonder how anyone can justifiably call the USA a first world country. It's really sad.

Bad plan. The most likely outcomes are:

a) The country will collapse completely under Mugabe

or

b) There will be some kind of revolution and a new dictator will be put in to power

I don't see any hope for a democratic solution in the country, unless Mugabe dies, which doesn't seem likely unless he's killed in scenario b).

Both of these scenarios are bad for exchange rates, and may even lead to a complete change in currency being used in Zimbabwe. Thus leaving you holding either continuously depreciating currency or one that doesn't exist any more.

Quote from mythdat :

Hmm so it only took the FIA a few hours to surrender.. thank god they're french!

Stop spouting regurgitated crap that your grand/parents came out with. For you information, the French GOVERNMENT capitulated to an occupying force, (not actually uncommon in wartime in case you didn't realise). The vast MAJORITY of the French people went on fighting and opposing the German occupation as much as they were able and thus saved the lives of thousands of Allied forces during the war. I doubt that you're even aware that there were plenty of voices in the British Government and Aristorcracy that were of the opinion to just let Hitler do what he wanted, he even had sympathisers amongst people in power here. So please don't try taking the moral high ground on this when there is a very good chance that the British Government would have done exactly the same thing if the Germans had actually managed to get their land army on British soil.

Some good choices for drummers so far..

That kid is pretty damn amazing really.. Pretty good drumming for someone of any age and yet hes so young.

There's no doubting that speed is a skill just in itself.. I can't even work out what the hell Roddy is doing with his left foot.. looks like he's got a remote pedal, bd pedal and high hat pedal down there.. all a bit wierd.

Vinnie Appice (solo from 4:00) - Single bass drum player - but still fast!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMlRhP6Pm6Q


Another of the old guard. Ian Paice, he was tight and solid when guys like Bonham were still swinging and playing loose. Very influential drummer of his time, helped to push rock drumming out of the jazz era.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeGs7gFHCQ4

So where are the Bass guitar clips ?? C'mon there must be some bass heads out there

Inspired by the Best Rock Guitar Solo I thought of expanding the idea:

So as the title says...

Best Drum or Bass (no not Drum n Bass :really Solo - any musical style you like. As per the other thread, please provide a link to the video.

Here are a couple to kick things off:


Dave Weckl: Amazing accenting and syncopation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuAkfEqZz9U

Neil Pert .. Amazing just for the stamina.. never mind some of the technical ability: (from about 3:20 on)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa0C5Uxpd3c


Now for some Bass greats:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... ynext_from=PL&index=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKI8pFqWm0s

....

finish off with three of the greatest drummers.. just listen.. they're all playing at the same time.. yet sound like a single drummer.. that is timing !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln6b_nBM-V8

Quote from batteryy :

well, this than. 2.37
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q96pdhy5bdg
btw: this isnt him, this is the other guitarist of the band

Sorry another fail.. Don't get me wrong I like that genre of music (though I don't think COB are actually any good) it's just it's guitar solos are very often just all about speed and distortion and not a lot else. Music relying on power chords n riffs should pretty much stick to playing power chords n riffs and forget trying to solo IMHO.

Quote from Joe_Keaveney :

My nomination -

Surfing with the Alien by Joe Satriani

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjNAeELQ_Z8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9_JnUugi8

Here's another JS great...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7qD4acDu68

Quote from kingfag :

A guitar solo topic isnt complete without these two:

Comfortably numb (skip to 4:26)

Still Gives me goosebumps

Quote from RossUK :

Some of my favs:

Gary Moore - Parisienne Walkways (live)

Another good choice

Quote from batteryy :

roope latvala ftw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3pjS4S32nY (skip to 0.50)

Hmmmm.. sorry that's a fail.. just some guy doing fast scales with a load of distortion no creativity in that that at all IMO.

Some of my faves:

Another brick in the wall pt 2 (4:25 on)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l1-QbsU5gA

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (4:55 on)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2YICwlDVfg

Not Rock but...

Albert Collins - Conversation with Collins (whole song but especially from 5:00 on)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32y94-tJbhQ

The late great Stevie Ray Vaughan - only guy who could do Hendrix justice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... FSr2o&feature=related

Quote from Becky Rose :

Every single person in the world has the capacity for violence and to kill, the question is what it takes to push you beyond your boundaries to do that.

I would go even further. I firmly believe that every living human being is capable of Murder under the right set of circumstances. Being specific so that my post isn't misinterpreted, by murder I mean the planned and premeditated killing of another human being, not a reactionary violent outburst that ends in someones death.

This guy did exactly that, and I believe anyone is capable of doing what he did if subjected to the right combination of psychological pressues. Because these things truely are the acts of a malfunctioning mind.

I will say however, that as a society we have to take responsibility for these incidents. We must ask ourselves how we, as humans, allowed someone in our midst to get to such a point that they saw such an act as a solution.

Quote from JohnUK89 :

Wrong. Oh so wrong.Those 650 or so MPs don't actually have to listen to what the people think. They're MEANT to, but due to the way party politics works over here it is rare to see it. More often than not it's the ruling party's stance on the issue that eventually gets put into Law, not that of (even the majority of) the people. And of course, since the Police etc are upholders of said law there's very little you can do to stop it, I'm afraid. (Short of electing someone else, but that won't happen for a while yet)

Therein lies the princple difference between true democracy and the reprasentative democracy that we have here.

In a true democracy every decision would be put to the public vote and the majority opinion upheld no matter what the outcome. It is of course, completely impracticable so we rely on a form of democracy where our polititians stand up and say "this is what I pledge to do, and what principles I stand for. Past that point, voting for me is a case of putting faith in me to do what you would choose to do on your behalf". All well and good for as long as they do what they said they would and honour the contract of our voting for them. However, that is very often not the case in practice.

Quote from Bean0 :

It only applies to sites hosted in Oz, so this will be the nail in the coffin of their hosting companies/datacentres as people move to servers hosted elsewhere.

Exactly, a great way to kill off an Industry.

But in relation to the point. The danger with Censorship is clearly laid out with this case. Who decides what should or should not be censored. How do they go about justifying it to society as a whole and most importantly who polices the police?

Thin end of the wedge of Authoritarianism, (as also demonstrated by our own government for ever expanding reasons).

A Scotsman, Irishman and Englishman all worked on a building site.
On the Monday they all thought the other was a great guy so decided to eat lunch together every day that week, so they went and sat on a girder 20 stories off the ground to eat their lunch.

The Scotsman opened his lunchbox and said "hmm hagis n brusel sprouts, lovely" and started munching away with joy.
The Englishman opened his lunchbox and said "hmm roast beef n yorshire pudding, lovely" and started muching away with joy.
The Irishman opened his lunchbox and said "oh blast cheese n pickle sandwhiches, I hate cheese" but grudgingly started to eat.

The next day they all met up on the same girder

The Scotsman opened his lunchbox and said "hmm poached Salmon n new potatoes, lovely" and started munching away with joy.
The Englishman opened his lunchbox and said "hmm Grouse and Safron Rice, lovely" and started muching away with joy.
The Irishman opened his lunchbox and said "oh blast cheese n pickle sandwhiches again, I hate cheese. IF I get cheese one more time I'm going to throw myself off this girder" but grudgingly started to eat.

The next day back they went to the same girder:

The Scotsman opened his lunchbox and said "hmm Rabbit Casserole n Mashed potatoes, lovely" and started munching away with joy.
The Englishman opened his lunchbox and said "hmm Roast Lamb n mint sauce with roast potatoes, lovely" and started muching away with joy.
The Irishman opened his lunchbox and said "oh bejeezus blooody cheese n pickle sandwhiches again !!. That's it I've had enough" and so saying threw himself off the girder and plunged to his death.

An hour later as the ambulance was taking the poor guys body away the three wives were standing together the Scotish & Englishmans wives desperately trying to console the Irishmans wife.. when all of a sudden the Irishmans wife said....














"I just don't understand why he did it, he packs his own lunch every morning!!"

Quote from mrodgers :

A young guy from Louisiana moves to Florida and goes to a big
"everything under one roof" department store looking for a job.

........


The kid said "No, the guy came in here to buy Tampons for his wife", and I said, "Dude, your weekend's shot - you should go fishing..."

Heard it before but it's still a good'un

Quote from Riders Motion :

Just to wash the bad mood, here's a new joke. What do you get when you give a German teen a gun?

An American Teen??

Quote from Lateralus :

Semantics... the two words are synonyms.

PMSL.. only if you rely on MS Word for your education in the use of English. The two words have subtly different meanings. A reward is not always an incentive. The whole point of vocabulary is exactly to make distinctions on the basis of semantics. One words meaning is subtly different from another and there be the glory of the English Language.

Reward

Incentive

See quite distinctly different.

Given that you've completely missed the point Intrepid was making between the comparison of F1 and MotoGP with respect to driver/rider motivation to race maybe I should't be surprised you make such comments.

I must say your posts in this thread so far really have been quite stereotypical of the cliche of European perspectives of our North American cousins. But personally I prefer to reserve making judgements of, or commenting on, someones perspective/attitude on the basis of cultural differences. Think we'll just let the viewers make up their own minds.

Quote from Intrepid :

I don't believe you could sit and watch this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfPM77TsGaA (I get f*cking goosebumps watching that sh1t) - and suggest for one moment that either of those two riders would have been happy to be placed second.

Well, no form of car racing is ever going to be as amazing as motorcycle racing when it comes to pure adrenaline pumping racing action IMO. It's not just about the ease of overtaking in bike racing, that could be solved for cars by making the tracks wider. It's also about the true physical risks taken by motorcycle racers which car racing just can't measure up to. Sure ALL motorsport is dangerous but you have to have been on a bike, (especially on a track and with no wing mirrors), to truely appreciate the bravery of motorcycle racers.

I got a much better idea:

Remove pitting. One fuel load. One set of tyres. Let's see how the drivers get on out there on their own, with only themselves to pretty much determine the race outcome.

Then, give points on the basis of where you finish relative to where you started on the grid only with points only given for every 2 places made not every one ie:

Places made/points scored

+20/10 points
+19/9 points
+18/9 points
+17/8 points
+16/8 points

so on until

-20/-20 points
-19/-19 points
-18/-18 points

then a BONUS for finishing top 3 of:

1st Place: +10 points
2nd Place: +6 points
3rd Place: +3 points

All the incentive for making up places and not dropping them plus bonuses for making the podium.

WDC decided by final points total.

Quote from lap traffic nz :

Nice car, pity the only sounds are from the tyres and nature

Yeah well, it's all well and good to have a loud rip snorting car when it's just you behind the wheel. The reality is everyone else around you has to put up with the aggravation. If you really think about it, it's actually rather selfish to have a loud vehicle for road use.

Also, just imagine all the extra land that would become available to house builders if they weren't restricted by noise pollution from roads and motorways which currently means they can't build in places where no one would want to live.

If it came down to the choice, I'd rather have more, (and therefore cheaper), housing than allowing noisy vehicles on the road. It's only because we're conditioned by engine noise that we expect it in our cars, (especially performance ones). Ultimately, people will adjust to quieter vehicles. Later generations will wonder how we ever put up with the noise.

Also, it's all well and good trawing the net for youtube clips of "sweet" sounding engines. The reality is 99% of us would loath to drive any of those cars in practice. I think most people dont have any real idea of just how loud they are. Having been in the presence of race prepped 125cc 2-strokes I can tell you in all honesty I wouldn't want to ride/drive any vehicle with a race prepped engine for more than 10 minutes. What's the point of having an engine so loud you are forced to wear ear plugs to save yourself from permanent hearing damage anyway?

Last edited by gezmoor, Wed 18 Mar 2009, 15:26.

Quote from Gil07 :

I didn't

And LOL at Tiago Monteiro pronouncing his name with a complete English accent...

Yeah Adam Kahn too (from north london pakistan ! lol)

Monterroh .. should be Monteyroo (or there abouts)

As expected the Chineese guys names are completely different from how you would expect.

Last edited by gezmoor, Tue 17 Mar 2009, 13:14.