Bad beat/Moan/Venting Thread - BBV Archive 3

[Zod]

Ah, nearly had us. Well-played.

There are certain professions which will never be criticised regardless of the cause of the strike.

Nurses have one of the most actionable unions yet no matter what their grievance will always have popular support.

There's a snobbery to the views of unions which is worth pointing out.

[Keane]

Going to see them in November?

Yeah can't wait!

[Tar.Aldarion]

ahhh back in work, at least I'm paid to post again.

UPC upgrading basic broadband to 120mb, and it'll be 200mb for the top package: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-29657254.html

'is this house in a UPC area?' got to be number one renting / buying question.

I actually ask to see the UPC box.

In practice what is the noticeable difference between 50/100/200mb? Would it really be that high a priority when renting a place? Its not like you are having to choose between 200mb and say 1mb...

You may well be, I know plenty of people with absolutely dire internet, fuck that. For a lot of people it doesn't matter all right.
Depends on what you use your net for, I generally game on mine whilst downloading torrents at the same tome, no slow down whatsoever. I also download 20 gig films because shiny.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

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[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

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[Zod]

Yeah that's it. Because if BK had come on and said he was going on strike as hospital were taking up an extra minute of his day by forcing him to perform basic safety procedures like washing his hands, we'd all be right behind that.

funnily enough BK got pelters when he was against the last Nurses strike.

[KK82]

Is it normal for a letting agent to come out and inspect an apartment every 3-6 months? Have been living in the place for over 5 years, but about 18months ago the landlord changed letting agents and they're always out taking pictures of the place. The previous agent never did this. Can't find my lease to see if the contract states they have to do this, but it's a complete pain.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

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[Silver-Tiger]

Is it normal for a letting agent to come out and inspect an apartment every 3-6 months? Have been living in the place for over 5 years, but about 18months ago the landlord changed letting agents and they're always out taking pictures of the place. The previous agent never did this. Can't find my lease to see if the contract states they have to do this, but it's a complete pain.

Twice a year my letting agent told me he would be around and he was.
No more than a 2 minute knock though.

[Denny Crane]

There are certain professions which will never be criticised regardless of the cause of the strike.

Nurses have one of the most actionable unions yet no matter what their grievance will always have popular support.

There's a snobbery to the views of unions which is worth pointing out.

Do you really think it's about the profession?

[KK82]

Twice a year my letting agent told me he would be around and he was.
No more than a 2 minute knock though.

Ah right, so it's normal enough then. Had just gotten used to the previous letting agent not caring.

[Tar.Aldarion]

My letting agent never comes around, really they should do what they are doing to your place but most don't.

This cinema was pretty badass in amsterdam, the way the surroundings glow dimly when watching a film reminded me of some sci-fi spaceship thing:

[Kayroo]

There's a snobbery to the views of unions which is worth pointing out.

Whether or not this is true there is a significant difference between refusing to make a safety check which inconveniences you not a bit during your day and say the doctors or nurses striking over unsafe working hours, pitiful pay in some cases and unsafe working conditions.

Are you actually now separating trade unions into some form of class structure?

[careca]

^^^^^^

must....not....quote....post

[Zod]

Do you really think it's about the profession?

In this particular instance I think SIPTU's intransigence is ridiculous and will hurt them in the long run.

overall, when it comes to strikes:

It's about strikes that impact upon a persons life.

Any strike in a health related profession, regardless of the cause, gets immediate support "Sure don't they do a powerful job, fair play to them" etc.

Any strike that impacts on your day to day convenience, buses, trains, etc, regardless of the cause, is always heralded as being "workshy union dossers yada yada yada".


Dublin Bus drivers recently had a valid reason for striking but get publicly derided.

the IMO union had a valid reason for striking and get publicly lauded.

[Zod]

Whether or not this is true there is a significant difference between refusing to make a safety check which inconveniences you not a bit during your day and say the doctors or nurses striking over unsafe working hours, pitiful pay in some cases and unsafe working conditions.

As I said, I don't agree with this particular strike.

Are you actually now separating trade unions into some form of class structure?

No. I support each unions right to strike. I'm commenting on public perception and reaction to the strike based on the profession of those striking.

[Keane]

I've seen nurses get rakes of stick over some of their striking and complaints tbh.

[Denny Crane]

In this particular instance I think SIPTU's intransigence is ridiculous and will hurt them in the long run.

overall, when it comes to strikes:

It's about strikes that impact upon a persons life.

Any strike in a health related profession, regardless of the cause, gets immediate support "Sure don't they do a powerful job, fair play to them" etc.

Any strike that impacts on your day to day convenience, buses, trains, etc, regardless of the cause, is always heralded as being "workshy union dossers yada yada yada".


Dublin Bus drivers recently had a valid reason for striking but get publicly derided.

the IMO union had a valid reason for striking and get publicly lauded.

I think it's simpler than that. Dublin Bus workers ignored the labour court recommendation and went on strikes for days over this:

• Reductions in rest day and overtime pay on Sunday to double time from 2.5
• Rest day rate on Monday to Saturday to be paid at a time and a quarter, down from time and a half
• Monday to Saturday overtime to be paid at time and a quarter for the first two hours and time and a half thereafter, rather than time and a half every hour
• Public holidays on a normal day to be paid at time and one quarter plus statutory entitlement
• Public rest day rate and overtime to be paid at time and one quarter plus statutory entitlement

And today the Dart drivers over this:

the check takes “about a minute” as a member of staff goes to the rear of the train to open the door and the driver verifies that a light goes out in the cab

Versus doctors who had a one day strike over:

“dangerously long working hours” which NCHDs “are currently forced to work”

NCHDs are routinely required to work single shifts longer than 24 hours – and routinely up to 36 hours – at a time and up to 100 or more hours a week.

This has led many of them to say they have experienced exhaustion and stress, while expressing fears about risks to patient safety.

There's absolutely no comparison. If doctors were striking over over a one minute safety procedure or double overtime instead of 2.5 people would be telling them to GTFO out too.

[Tar.Aldarion]

How could somebody have a problem with this? Would you want to be seen by somebody that's worked 90 hours and this is their 30th hour on shift? I'm wrecked sitting on a chair for a few hours typing here let alone looking after peoples health.

[brianmc]

Can we get a Q & A on the art of bee keeping?

Hmmm...

How do you get the bees to beehive when you lift up the honey thing?

I keep reading behave/beehive. Eh... I presume you mean how do I get the bees back into the hive after I've lifted a frame of them out?

Bees take on different roles in the hive as they get older. They start out on cleaning duty, then they move on to feeding larvae, then storing/processing nectar and pollen, guard duty and eventually they head out in the field foraging.

When you lift a frame of bees out most of them don't care because it's not their job to care... they carry on cleaning/feeding/whatever. The ones that do care... guards... foragers... often fly up in your face and buzz around a bit but they all know where the entrance of the hive is. You just pop the frame back into the hive with most of the bees still on it. The rest find their way home later.

Thanks

Where do you get the bees?

During the summer the colony will probably try to swarm at some stage which is the natural way for the colonies to reproduce. Beekeepers try to manage this but in different ways... sometimes they'll use it to increase their stocks of bees, sometimes they'll try to avoid it to focus on the honey crop. Sometimes they screw it up and they lose a swarm of bees as they head off across the fields to find a home.

So yeah, you can buy a colony of bees from a beekeeper (I paid for 3 this year @ €165 each... just bees... you supply your own hive). Alternately you can try and lure a stray swarm. People set up bait boxes with old comb and sometimes commercially produced pheromone attractants to attract a swarm into their empty hive.

Is colony collapse disorder having any impact on you?

No.

Colony collapse disorder seems to be (mainly) an American phenomenon. It seems to currently be best explained as an interaction of pesticides, diseases and poor management that results in the colony almost spontaneously collapsing.

The French moaned about it for a while and had the use of neonicotinoid pesticides banned and they haven't made much noise since - it probably worked. In the UK there are plenty of commercial honey producers who have had their bees on crops that they know are treated with neonics but they haven't had significant problems - probably due to better management of the colonies.

The evidence seems to be concluding that neonicotinoids are problematic but with good colony management it might not be as disastrous as suggested.

Much work/maintenance?

One colony... in your garden or on your farm... a lot less than a cat or a dog.

My girlfriend would give a different answer though... She reckons I put a huge amount of time into the bees and she's probably right - for the moment.

I brought two colonies through the winter from 2012 and they are where my crop came from this year. I bought 3 more during 2013 to boost my numbers for next year. I'm unfortunately back down to 4 in the last couple of weeks though.

Anyway, my original 2 were in Donadea in Kildare. I live in Saggart. The next ones were in Rathfarnham. One is temporarily in Dunboyne at the minute. That's a lot of driving every time I have to do some 10 minute job on each hive. Also, I've been spending a lot of time this year on preparing extra equipment and sites - that won't need to be done in the future unless I expand more.

Ultimately, I'd aim to have more colonies on each site (a site can't support an indefinite amount of colonies though... maybe 10) to reduce the overhead per hive on the driving and moving of bees and equipment, putting on the gear... getting the smoker lit, etc.

I spent the weekend building insulated covers for the hives for winter. They'll last for years though.

The hives are almost bedded down for the winter now. One or two more jobs to do over the next week or so and then a 5 minute job around 31st December and nothing else until March. (Maybe February if I plan to try getting an early crop of honey from oil seed rape next year.)

Ultimately for a hive there's not that much work but to do it properly there is a lot to know. The other thing is that you often are forced to work on the bees schedule, so if you spot swarming preparations you have X number of days before you must do Y and so on.

How do you process the honey?

As little as possible.

Basically, you mechanically extract the honey from the combs and then you strain it and bottle it.

There's always details but the pictures I threw up last week explain the simple case. The ripe honey is capped over by the bees so when I lift out the frames, I've to remove the wax cappings (with the yellow fork thingy). Then the frames go into an extractor (basically a centrifuge) to spin the honey out of the honeycomb. After that, you settle and strain the honey to remove bits of wax and the odd wing. Then it's probably ready for jars.

The thing that you don't like to talk about much is heat. The purists hate the idea of heating honey (mainly food purists... not beekeepers). Absolutely, heavy heating of honey can damage the flavours and aromas but on the other hand, the bees keep parts of the hive up to our body temperature so a certain amount of heating can be tolerated with no ill effect. It does require care though.

Large commercial operations will use rapid heating and cooling to improve the efficiency of their processing.

Heating makes honey flow more easily if it is too thick to strain through a sieve. Sometimes, extracting can be difficult unless the frames have been kept in a warm space. All batches of honey are different depending on the flowers the nectar was foraged from. My honey was a little thick because of heather in the area but I managed to extract and strain it without heat.

After I had the honey in jars though I noticed a tiny bit of graininess from crystallisation. All honey eventually crystallises. It's a super-saturated solution of sugars. How quickly it will crystallise depends on the nectars used... Oil seed rape honey will crystallise in days. Something like chestnut is less inclined to crystallise. However, once the first few crystals have formed, the process accelerates.

Crystallisation can be reversed by heating too, so I did heat the jars in an oven with the temperature at 40 degrees (on a digital temperature probe) for 2 hours. Just enough to reverse the crystallisation and hopefully delay it for several months.

Apart from crystallisation, ripe honey will store almost indefinitely. Bacteria can't tolerate the high sugar content.

I got stung by a bee yesterday.

SPOILER

€50 for a jar of honey.

A couple of years ago I was driving over the Wicklow Mountains and I heard a splat on the windscreen. I stopped the car to have a look and there was a honey bee. I picked her up, dusted her off and put her on the verge, on a dandelion. Then to my surprise she said "Thanks mister! most people just wipe me off with the wipers and drive on." I was pretty shocked but she then said if you ever need any help in future just call "honey bee, honey bee help me please" and I'll come flying, and off she went.

Then, that same summer, I was driving across the same stretch when the car sputtered to a halt and I couldn't get it to start. Then I remembered the honey bee and called out, "honey bee, honey bee help me please". She arrived quickly and asked what the problem was, I explained and she told me to open the fuel cap. She gave a loud buzz and suddenly thousands of bees arrived and flew down into the tank. She told me to check the gauge and as I watched the level rose and rose! soon it was full!! I said to her, that's amazing how did you manage to do that. She asked "Have you never heard of BP before?".

[Strewelpeter]

<snip>
No way am I biting, Zod has to be trolling here.

[Zod]

<snip>
No way am I biting, Zod has to be trolling here.

Not really trolling. Just interested in a discussion over work -to-rule/strike action and public perception.

Inconvenience seems to affect attitude.

[digiman]

Took my first dip in the share market since buying Eircom shares all those years ago. They are up 28% in the first week Now I just need to figure out when to sell!!

[RichieM]

The dispute is about safety checks that the drivers have been asked to do, due to their systems reporting false positives regarding the doors not closing on multi-carriage DARTS. Rather than the company actually getting the system repaired they are asking the drivers to test all the doors before every departure from the terminus.

Hence the strike action. No DARTs over 4 carriages running at the moment.

Obviously just me that think making sure the vehicle is in safe working order would have been part of the standard duties of drivers to begin with.
Mad stuff all together.

[Keane]

Not really trolling. Just interested in a discussion over work -to-rule/strike action and public perception.

Inconvenience seems to affect attitude.

You can't make that assertion until we see how people react to them striking for a sensible reason.

[Tar.Aldarion]

Surely even if they are fixed the it should be getting checked anyway? Ofc is should be fixed too.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

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[Zod]

Obviously just me that think making sure the vehicle is in safe working order would have been part of the standard duties of drivers to begin with.
Mad stuff all together.

Standard duties of the company who are responsible for upkeep and maintenance of the fleet through their engineering division.

There's a huge element of "not my job" in the current work-to-rule but if the company are bypassing fixing the error by getting the drivers to do a work around, how long should they do this workaround before it's time for the company to fix the issue?

[RichieM]

Standard duties of the company who are responsible for upkeep and maintenance of the fleet through their engineering division.

There's a huge element of "not my job" in the current work-to-rule but if the company are bypassing fixing the error by getting the drivers to do a work around, how long should they do this workaround before it's time for the company to fix the issue?

It should of course be fixed but I would have thought this would be like preflight checks on a plane. Bus drivers seem to give their bus a look over when they are at the turn around of their routes but I could be wrong on this. Taxi drivers need to ensure their vehicle is up to scratch before letting passengers in. Different as a lot are self employed tho.

In terms of are they responsible for fixing the problem then no they are not engineers. I would consider checking if their is a problem with their vehicle to be different.

Obviously their contract does not require them to do it but it seems like a fairly basic task that would have been provisioned for.

[Flushdraw]

Love/Hate Cop Spoiler

SPOILER

Love/Hate's newest star: an undercover cop playing ... an undercover cop

Well he won't be undercover anymore!

[careca]

Love/Hate Cop Spoiler

SPOILER

Love/Hate's newest star: an undercover cop playing ... an undercover cop

Well he won't be undercover anymore!

SPOILER

Read that this morning. While its not forbidden for Gardai to take up acting roles, I'd imagine its frowned upon by the powers at be? Surely this can't do his career any good (Garda career that is)?

[Zod]

It should of course be fixed but I would have thought this would be like preflight checks on a plane. Bus drivers seem to give their bus a look over when they are at the turn around of their routes but I could be wrong on this. Taxi drivers need to ensure their vehicle is up to scratch before letting passengers in. Different as a lot are self employed tho.

They do have a system to check if the doors are working, this is the system that is at fault and was leading to false flagging while in transit, hence the manual check at the start of the journey.

the drivers were doing this for over a month before today's work to rule.

In and of itself it's a trivial issue to agitate over, I'd guess it's a piece in a larger disagreement between the union and Irish Rail.

[Micknail]

I'd strike too, I fecking hate walking.

[Megatron]

Yesterday Banksy set up a stall in Central Park selling 100% authentic original signed Banksy canvases.

For $60 each.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX54DIpacNE

[SatNav]

LG 42 inch smart led tv. Harvey Norman. 535 euro bargain... Snapped one up :-D some bargains in there for their 10th anniversary.

[6starpool]

DIRT to be raised to 41% it seems. What is the point of trying to save anything in this country?

[Icarus152]

Yesterday Banksy set up a stall in Central Park selling 100% authentic original signed Banksy canvases.

For $60 each.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX54DIpacNE

Do we know who Banksy is? not the lad selling shirley?

[Raoul Duke III]

DIRT to be raised to 41% it seems. What is the point of trying to save anything in this country?

Subtext is 'fuck it, you might as well move house. At least build an extension. Blow the loots anyway!'

It seems to have worked on Mrs Duke anyway, apparently we are turning our old house into a new house.

[shrapnel]

LG 42 inch smart led tv. Harvey Norman. 535 euro bargain... Snapped one up :-D some bargains in there for their 10th anniversary.

standard price Michelle. Harvey Norman don't do bargains...ever

[hotspur]

Banksy

[Lord Sir Banter]

Got drunk with Dice75, Zod popped in for a few too. Pints in Doyles, cocktails in Mint, few blank hours, poker in Sporting. Date set for visit to Gateshead and looks cheap.

9/10

Count me in for the next pints, shout at me or pm me or something.

It's a fairly low end piee of crap s what it is. It's cheap for a reason. Those are the type of Android phones that make people think iphones are superior.

Wouldnt go near it Rigger. have one still (I know) and its just too small. Fat fingers syndrome when typing all the time. Also problem with the battery where phone just powers off and it could be some time before you realise it.

Its a No from me anyway.

She can have my Samsung Europa for 40 with 4Gb sd, sweet charger for shot loads of electricity, naked pix included. Closing deals from a plane like a boss.

I assume your grill friend is a she and not George foreman

lol. Grill got sorted with a Samsung Galaxy Mini.

Anyone know if doing a factory reset will lock an unlocked phone to the original network?

[The Situation]

Our Conor's new owner in a very charitable mood at Limerick

[MegaSin]

Did I see you in town today. Cycling up Frederick Street?

[FeetMagic]

Took my first dip in the share market since buying Eircom shares all those years ago. They are up 28% in the first week Now I just need to figure out when to sell!!

What broker you using? Read a few books on the topic and breezed through two online courses coming to the conclusion that doing so is a waste of time, so many contrasting opinions/theories. Going to dip in myself in the coming weeks.

[Bubbleking]

When I was told about the DART drivers strike I thought it was a patient having a laugh after the IMO last week....

[carlop]

I'm doing a week's teaching in a language school in town and got talking to one of the students today after class. Unfortunately it wasn't any of the hot South Americans, but a Libyan guy inevitably called Mohammed.

The guy had been really enthusiastic in class, asking lots of questions and showing a real desire to learn. It turns out he has an exam in 6 months. If he gets over 6.5 he gets to stay in Ireland, do a Masters and bring his wife and kid over. If he fails, he has to go back to Libya.

I said if he worked hard he could certainly pass (although I actually have no idea how the exam is graded) but he said that grammar wasn't his problem. His problem was that he never had a chance to have an actual conversation in English. The poor guy will ask people the time at bus stops in an attempt to strike up a conversation. He goes to clothes shops asking about sizes because he wants to have a brief exchange in English. But he sadly told me that it never worked, and in the 6 months he has been here so far he hasn't made any friends.

What can we do to make Mohammed feel welcome? Is there any sort of group he could join? Although he obviously can't be too poor if he is in Ireland and paying for language classes, his story kind of affected me. I'm actually considering telling him that I'll meet up with him for a chat for an hour free of charge, but I'm sure I'd end up regretting it.

[Jibzzzz]

Weeee ship the IPO league for €1200 with 7 seats

[ghostface]

Weeee ship the IPO league for €1200 with 7 seats

Nicely done.

MSN miss out on 3rd with same points as 3rd place finisher? how did that work?

[FeetMagic]

What can we do to make Mohammed feel welcome? Is there any sort of group he could join? Although he obviously can't be too poor if he is in Ireland and paying for language classes, his story kind of affected me. I'm actually considering telling him that I'll meet up with him for a chat for an hour free of charge, but I'm sure I'd end up regretting it.

Bring him out on the piss with your friends.

[Flushdraw]

Nicely done.

MSN miss out on 3rd with same points as 3rd place finisher? how did that work?

Novelty entrant

[Lazare]

LG 42 inch smart led tv. Harvey Norman. 535 euro bargain... Snapped one up :-D some bargains in there for their 10th anniversary.

Did you have a big score recently or something?

Beemers and TVs and €300 buy ins, you seem to be blowin money like it's going out of fashion.

[SatNav]

Did you have a big score recently or something?

Beemers and TVs and €300 buy ins, you seem to be blowin money like it's going out of fashion.

didnt get the beemer lol will be changing car next year alright.
300 buy in was from IPO tickets I sold , tv was a steal bought out of MY wages?

anything else??

[MegaSin]

didnt get the beemer lol will be changing car next year alright.
300 buy in was from IPO tickets I sold , tv was a steal bought out of MY wages?

anything else??

Botox, trips to Hawaii, and innocent smoothies?!?

Have to say I had a moment to myself earlier walking about where I thought " Jesus, SatNav has been really been pretty balla lately. Must be all those IPO seats"

[Jibzzzz]

Nicely done.

MSN miss out on 3rd with same points as 3rd place finisher? how did that work?

Whaaat? I thought if it was a tie surely the money would be split?

[SatNav]

Is UPC cable? I cant tune it into tv?? I have a scart from upc box with scart to tv. my options in programme mode are Antenna, Cable or Satellite, hit them all and nothing found

Am I doing something wrong

[SatNav]

Whaaat? I thought if it was a tie surely the money would be split?

The other person played more sats than me seemingly

[davepoke/her]

I would say introduce the Libyan guy to The Rigger but if you did that the guys wife and kid would never hear from him again. He'd enjoy himself a lot more though.

[mocata]

I've a few days to fill this week - basically with my back I have to spend a week on my back or else standing or walking - sitting is to be kept to a minimum. I want to take a few trips to town to see a few things where I can walk around. Anybody with suggestions to add to my list?

National Gallery
National Museum
The Dail

Little museum of dublin

[iSnow]

I've a few days to fill this week - basically with my back I have to spend a week on my back or else standing or walking - sitting is to be kept to a minimum. I want to take a few trips to town to see a few things where I can walk around. Anybody with suggestions to add to my list?

National Gallery
National Museum
The Dail

http://www.rainforestadventuregolf.ie/

[shrapnel]

Is UPC cable? I cant tune it into tv?? I have a scart from upc box with scart to tv. my options in programme mode are Antenna, Cable or Satellite, hit them all and nothing found

Am I doing something wrong

None of those. Find your input button, press it and find your scary connection. You ll then be connected to your UPC.