The Banter Thread / Banter Topic / Sean Bean

[JP]

Some people are going to consider me immature but hell, what do I care as I laughed out loud when I read this in work.


Freed Irish priest clears MILF rebels

[Spatial]

When I was at uni, living in student digs, I encountered a smell like the one you describe. My friend described it as "the smell of a dead unicorn".

That's slightly worrying - I've got a couple of dead Griffin and Hydra heads lying about but no Unicorns. Unless that's a euphemism for drug taking:-

"Where's Dave man?"

"He's in the kitchen, smelling the dead Unicorn!"


It wasn't the lamp shade by the way. Since I last posted the smell hasn't been back. It will though - it's just a matter of time

[chopemon]

My OCD and neurosis are killing me.

I went downstairs this morning and found my desktop computer on despite turning it off last night and it just seemed to be hanging and not outputting anything to the monitor.

I turned it off and there was a faint burning smell which went away and so I unplugged it and went to work and now I'm sat here convinced it is about to catch fire and burn my house down.

It generally takes me about 10-15 minutes to leave the house or go to bed as I have to repeatedly check that my oven and hobs are off, that the doors are locked and that computers are off. It is slowly driving me insane and to make matters worse I forgot to check my laptop was off after using it this morning (I was all excited as my iphone suddenly got activated) and I am completely on edge as I'm sure its about to overheat (it has been known to do that) and catch fire.

The time before going to bed and leaving the house are crushingly depressing.

Anyone dealt with this and got any tips?

[kernow]

I check the gas and doors before going to bed also (mainly because I have a housemate who leaves the gas on after making tea). Just think to your self if your pc is unplugged, and therefore off, how is it going to catch fire?

Theres a little OCD in all of us though.

[charlesr]

I don't think worrying about your laptop setting fire to the house is a problem dude!

Easiest way to deal would be to get a new laptop that doesn't overheat though.

Turn off wake on LAN in your PC's bios?

[TommyG]

I need some help please.

I'm going snowboarding/skiing at Christmas for the first time but have no idea where to buy my gear from. I know that you snowboard charlesr so was wondering if you or anyone else could recommend anywhere to buy some gear, like jacket, pants, gloves and goggles. Also what brands are good and anything i should be looking out for?

Please and thank you

[Adam Stone]

Charles is the man to ask!

[Number45]

When you say you shut the PC down, did you see it switch off or did you just shut down and walk away? It's not uncommon for Windows to hang for whatever reason during a shut down.

We recently isolated all devices that can be switched off when we're out or overnight so that they're all grouped together at wall sockets, that way we just switch off those sockets when we leave/go to bed and it's all good.

[chopemon]

I'm sure I remember seeing it shut down.

It did the same thing when I dug it out of a cupboard a couple of weeks ago. The first time I booted it there was nothing being outputted to the monitor and the USB devices weren't turning on. Shut it down and then tried again and it was fine.

I'm wondering if there was a power cut or something last night and when it came back on the PC started up and then hung. Seems odd.

I'm aware that I am being completely irrational in my above post but have got myself into this habit of worrying about crazy stuff.

[charlesr]

I need some help please.

I'm going snowboarding/skiing at Christmas for the first time but have no idea where to buy my gear from. I know that you snowboard charlesr so was wondering if you or anyone else could recommend anywhere to buy some gear, like jacket, pants, gloves and goggles. Also what brands are good and anything i should be looking out for?

Please and thank you

I'll get on to actually answering your question in a second.

If this is your first time:
wrist guards.
Helmet. I always use one. I'm not paid to snowboard and need to work when I come home.....
optional bum/cocyx-protector - I never used one but wish I had often.

Once you are better, you don't need the wrist guards cos you will know how to fall over better.

If you have big feet (11+) then I recommend buying your own wide board, bindings and boots - hired boards can be too narrow in this size range. It'll save you money in the long run too. Make sure the boots are tight enough around the shin if you have big feet but thin legs. I have to wear "fame" style leg warmers to pad it out

Cut your toenails. You steer the board by tipping your ankles/toes down and up (why don't instructors tell you this????? Mine all just said "look where you want to go" yeah right.). Your toes can take a battering if your shoes aren't a perfect fit.

Gloves - buy the most expensive ones you can afford. Cold hands spoil the holiday. The rest of you is easy to keep warm with layers. Some gloves have a pouch on the back for your lift pass (great if your resort has magnetic passes).

Gogggles: Try on kids goggles! Half the price! As long as they cover your eyes and have a nice yellow or orange filter then great.

Where to shop:
Anywhere that has the gear will be fine.

What brands:
Bonfire
Dakine
K2
Burton
But these are all tech gear - the first time I went, I wore a £30 jacket and some motorbike pants. I got decent gloves though. The tech gear keeps you less sweaty and more dry on the outside (remember you spend a good deal of time learning to board sitting on the ground).

[kernow]

Sounds like the power supply is playing up. easy and cheap enough to fix.

[charlesr]

Are you fairly fit? If not, time to start doing some exercise? If you are fit then do some simple balancing exercises at the gym without weights as often as possible e.g. stand on a BOSU and do squats on two or one leg. Do a gentle twist while moving up and down. Also do lots of dips on a chair or bench/other tricep stuff, because while learning, you'll spend a lot of time pushing yourself up off the slope from a seated position with your board out in front of you and if the slope is shallow this is hard work after a while. It gest easier as the slope gets steeper!

[TommyG]

Awesome post charles thanks mate. Could you possibly recommend me some gloves as they seem pretty important

EDIT: Yeah i'm pretty fit and used to skateboard a whole lot so my balance is good.

[charlesr]

LOL. You say that now....

Dakine, Gordini, Salomon
Anywhere around the £40-50 mark should be good. You don't have to get snowboard specific - I ended up with some skiing ones because they just fitted better. Snowboard ones tend to come further up the sleeve.

[kernow]

Is snowboarding any easier if you're a skateboarder? I always imagined I'd get into it pretty quick because of that, but maybe its totally different. I'd love to give it a try sometime.