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Do you prefer the extended summer thread format? This poll is closed. |
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| I'm Scottish |
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120 | 42.11% |
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Another one here who spent summer holidays being told to hand out CVs or phone up HR departments because it 'showed initiative'. The same relatives also advised me not to ever declare my student loans on any mortgage application, because that amount of debt might put the banks off. Apparently providing bank statements and credit history was not a requirement to get a mortgage back when houses were 75p. The same relative was also very surprised when I said the reliance on volunteering and internships to get into my career was unfair. Apparently everyone has the same opportunity to just do months of unpaid work. Oh, but you shouldn't claim benefits if you do, because if you choose to do unpaid work, the taxpayer shouldn't be expected to pay for it. You need to support yourself or have family to support you. But everyone has the same opportunity.
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Jun 1, 2021 19:58
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The vaccine rollout has been fantastic, but if you're one of the people who has a problem, there is no way to rectify it. I know someone who had their first dose back in January and has not been able to book a second. It's now been so long she's probably going to have to start again. The vax centre where I work had problems over the weekend with people turning up for their second appointments to discover that only the 'wrong' vaccine was available. Because the system thinks they've had their second appointment, they have to rebook through 119, and the people on the phone don't know which centre stocks what.
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Jun 3, 2021 00:00
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My oldest childhood friend lost her father today after a long, non-Covid related illness. This last year she has hardly seen him. And Twitter is full of people who are double vaccinated whining that they are still not allowed to travel to see their vaccinated families. My friend was double vaccinated and so were her parents. They still stuck to the rules. And she won't be able to see her dad in a few months when all this is over.
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Jun 4, 2021 19:28
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The former police officer has pled guilty to rape and kidnap of Sarah Everard. Technically he's still only accused of murder but unless police are allowed to serve on juries you're not going to find 12 people who believe he didn't kill her.
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Jun 8, 2021 14:50
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There is an emergency/out of hours social work team (ie one person). If it's mental health issue they phone for an ambulance anyway, because people react less badly to being asked to get in one of them than a police car. And to section someone you need medical professionals to sign the paperwork.
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Jun 8, 2021 16:15
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Julio Cruz posted:you can get rid of the "almost" there tbh She died of stangulation. I mean it's possible she tripped and he simply caught her round the neck to steady her and whoops! she died. Do we know how he kidnapped her? There's been nothing to suggest he knew her and women do not get in cars with random men. Somehow it's even more horrifying to think that he may have used his police ID to get her into the car. Lady Demelza fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Jun 8, 2021 |
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Jun 8, 2021 20:11
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That nukemap thing is terrifying because I have been using the wrong definition of 'moderate' my entire life. 'Moderate' damage apparently means 'not vapourised', but the buildings are instead piles of flaming rubble. Lucky people die quickly when a building falls on them and unlucky people will die slowly from the 3rd degree burns they will sustain. This is moderate damage.
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Jun 10, 2021 23:55
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kingturnip posted:My employer is recording a minor uptick in the number of inpatients with a positive Covid test, but the number of patients with Covid needing enhanced care is increasing (albeit still in single digits). Yeah, apart from a stronger immune system, one of the reasons that younger people weren't so badly affected earlier is that many were furloughed or working from home. Now that places are opening up and workplaces are adopting a hybrid pattern, the numbers of very ill patients will rise. I am noticing a lot of chin-hammocks going on, and the few brave souls persevering with the track and trace app aren't bothering to quarantine for the full fortnight if they get a negative test result after being told they were exposed. If there is to be an extension, then the PM better announce it soon so that people have time digest that information, otherwise there will be mass non-compliance.
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Jun 11, 2021 22:32
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You will all be delighted to know that a number of universities are receiving FoI requests about pictures of the Queen and the displaying thereof.
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Jun 13, 2021 19:02
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Long Covid seems to share symptoms with CFS/ME, and given that there are still people who don't believe that exists, I can believe people are skeptical. On the other hand, people I know who had mild Covid at the start of last year were reporting symptoms for months afterwards - sense of taste/smell not fully back, not having enough breath to talk whilst walking - none of these have happened with flu. Those symptoms indicate long-term damage so yeah, why not something like ME in some people? Does it matter that Long Covid is exacerbated by lockdown stress? Stress and emotional state affect lots of physical illnesses (or the patients' perceptions of them) but it doesn't change the fact that the underlying condition exists. Death is a rare side outcome for Covid, and we've got a toll of 150k, so even if some kind of prolongued after-affect is twice as rare, that's still potentially 70k people with it.
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Jun 14, 2021 19:56
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Back in spring 2020 I lightly joked that the 1918 pandemic had lasted two years and got a lot of "haha, don't say that!" responses from people. Even the swine flu pandemic lasted 18 months. Three weeks always felt too short, but I would never have imagined lockdown would still be happening 16 months in. Some of our managers are somehow getting even worse for micromanaging. Junior grades are expected to be in the office the bulk of the week, but senior management are still almost completely WFH. I think they're worried because we're clearly not falling apart without their benevolent and wise presence. And yet still a senior manager rolled in for the first time in three months, wearing a Hawaiin shirt, sandals, and the sort of tan normally reserved for reality TV stars, without realising how that would come across to staff.
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Jun 14, 2021 23:32
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Sanford posted:On a somewhat related note at my new job I'm about to get fired for calling out a director, the head of service delivery, and the head of the dev team for repeatedly cracking 'jokes' about another member of staff being pregnant - because she'd been to the doctors. She is an apprentice in her first job, at least 40 years younger than the youngest of them, and he just had the loving gall to tell me if she didn't like it she could say so herself and didn't need me to step in. I said I don't like it and I will call it out if it happens again and he said "I don't like people who disagree with me" and hung up. Proper old-school bollocks and I'm mad as hell. I called it out in the softest loving fashion as well. Stupid old bastards. That doesn't sound legal in any way, shape or form. It's good that you're standing up for her. What's the betting that if she did say something, Mr I Don't Like Disagreement would find terminate her apprenticeship? In related Bad Boss news, one was complaining about the lockdown because 60% efficacy (i.e. with AZ) against the Delta variant was enough to achieve herd immunity. Which might be true, if 100% of the total population had been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, over 200 people missed their appointments at the local vaccine centre this weekend because they were watching football.
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Jun 15, 2021 19:52
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The only person I know IRL who invested in BitCoin is a cluelessly bumbling sort who once mused that Jordan Peterson had some good ideas and if you ask them to take a group photo on your phone, will almost certainly cut off the top of everyone's head in order to capture the vast expanse of ground in front of the group.
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Jun 15, 2021 22:59
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jaete posted:Got a text from NHS about coronavirus vaccine bookings. Went to official website, clicked on "view my bookings" or whatever, logged in... instantly got a text and an email saying "you have cancelled your second vaccination". W... what? Do you still have the original confirmation text/email and your little card? If you do then turn up at your original appointment time. The system is super glitchy and some people have gone to walk-in clinics for their 2nd but not cancelled their appointment. There will be enough vaccine for you. Unless your problem was that you were trying to bring the appointment forward.
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Jun 17, 2021 00:16
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ThomasPaine posted:NHS Scotland didn't give me any paperwork at all at either vaccine appointment, so christ knows how I'm going to prove I've had it when you start needing certificates and stuff to travel The vaccine card isn't proof because you could borrow someone else's to get round the restrictions. You either need the NHS app (not the track and trace one) or phone 119 to get a paper certificate. If someone gave me any money at all, even a tiny amount, I would be overjoyed and probably do very boring stuff with it like buy a new sofa.
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Jun 17, 2021 12:47
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My gas boiler is OK but it's old enough that it will need to be replaced in a few years' time, probably just as the ban on gas boilers in new builds comes into effect. It seems like it will be a good opportunity to switch to an environementally-friendlier electric system, but the thought of having electric heating depresses me. Everywhere I ever rented had electric heating and it is miserable.
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Jun 18, 2021 10:51
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I got rid of smart meter callers by saying I was with Look After My Bills and switched my supplier regularly. This whole thing about ripping out radiators and underfloor heating in order to get a less efficient heating system is exactly what I was afraid of. As much as my cat would love underfloor heating, until he starts bringing me gold instead of dead birds, we're not getting it.
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Jun 18, 2021 13:29
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goddamnedtwisto posted:There is a perfectly sensible way to do it - massively improve wages, reinstate (and raise) the bursary for nursing students so they're not being forced to pay to get their job, and just generally stop treating the NHS like poo poo so the pool of available candidates is large enough we don't have to poach talent from less-developed nations. Not just nursing students. The waiting times in the NHS are increasingly caused by a lack of physiotherapists, counsellors, cardiac physiologists, respiratory therapists, play therapists, pharmacists, hospital social workers and 101 other health carejobs that people forget about. If people can't get the preventative or follow-up treatment they need, they end up back at the GP or in hospital and the whole cycle starts again.
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Jun 20, 2021 14:49
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Flu jabs have been a thing for years, it's not a new word. And if you hate that it, wait until you find out about vax/unvaxxed! The NHS did a whole review of the language they used a few years ago and opted to choose the words everyone knew, even if they sounded childish, because they don't care if you're annoyed, they care that you understand. Everyone knows what 'poo' is, but there will be loads of people who think 'stool' only refers to a piece of furniture. Everyone knows what 'wee' is, but it may not be immediately obvious if someone is relying on a screenreader, and 'provide a wee sample' in Scotland can be interpreted two ways. And, like someone else said, medical and colloquial meanings of words like 'stomach' can confuse matters. Actually, medical and medical meanings of words can confuse matters. You don't get cervical cancer in your cervical spine.
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Jun 22, 2021 20:35
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The noisy neighbour problem was solved on my street when one evening the noisemaker was ambushed outside his house, pushed to the ground and given a black eye and bruised ribs, by a car full of young men in nondescript dark hoodies who were absolutely not hired by one of the other residents. This crime was never solved.
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Jun 27, 2021 01:26
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Credit cards were a godsend when I needed to pay a month's rent in advance plus the equivalent of a month's rent as a deposit. For a while I was very close to paying it off and was getting annoyed letters from the bank tellign me they'd reduced the amount I could borrow. Then Life happened and I ended up with a grand on it. Which is paltry compared to some people's credit card debt, but it's more than I feel happy about.
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Jul 1, 2021 22:24
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His Divine Shadow posted:I just wanted to say it's time for ice cream. Holy hell I'm sweating. This makes me sad because there is nowhere near me selling ice creams like this. There's ice cream vans with their Mr Whippy fake ice cream and the shops with the freezer burnt offerings, but nowhere can sells a proper, pick-your-own-flavour massive scoop of ice cream in a cone.
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Jul 2, 2021 19:36
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Tarnop posted:This is a very kind offer Echoing this. Babby's First DIY Disaster was when I snapped the stopcock lever off and created a leak that could not be stopped. Fortunately the plumber was already there to do something else, hence me trying to turn the water off. Once Severn Trent had confirmed that it would be three days before anyone could come and show me where the street stopock was, he managed to work something out. If the stopcock had snapped at any other time I have no idea what I would have done. As we're on the subject of Big Projects: I never got my patio done last year because my boiler failed its inspection and now I'm struggling to get anyone to come out and quote. In the meantime, yet more sealant has peeled itself off my windows, so they're becoming less watertight in bad weather, yet they only open 4 inches so provide no cooling breeze in hot weather. Would I have more luck finding a tradesman for windows? How long would it take and how messy would it be? I have no idea where to begin.
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Jul 5, 2021 23:49
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Few pages back, but that dolls house is gorgeous. Was it in this thread that someone posted the Youtube link to someone who had recreated the Addam's Family house? If not, do have a look. The dedication and attention to detail was mind-boggling. I have no idea who most of these philosophers are or what their ideas are. My only aim (philosophy?) is to leave the world a better place than I found it, in whatever way I can. Nothing I do will matter or be remembered in 100 years time, which is either depressing or freeing depending on my mood at the time. That 'nothing is more important than family' meme reminds me: last year I read a lot of biographies and listened to podcasts about people overcoming things. A lot of them talked about what gave their life meaning and purpose, and finding beauty in life when everything was going wrong. They all managed it, so either nihilists did not overcome the thing, or they're not the type to share their experiences. Some of them mentioned religion, some dedicated themselves to a cause, but almost everyone mentioned family. What was meant to be uplifting was actually pretty depressing, because they all gave the impression that the meaning and worth of a life was measured in love.
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Jul 7, 2021 00:25
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Please don't suddenly stop drinking if you are drinking a lot and have been for years. Alcohol is a physical addiction and withdrawl can be serious - hallucinations and seizures type serious. Taper down if you need to. Josef Bugman, I kind of get where you're coming from with needing to do good, because there are times when I judge my own worth based on how useful I am to other people. There are plenty of people who are content with their mundane routine of work/TV/sleep, but I absolutely believe their lives are of value and have meaning. And yet I hold myself to a different standard. I'm also a vaccination clinic volunteer, doing both the crowd control and vaccinations depending on what's needed. The people coming through have been out and about, so the concept of being around other people isn't too scary, but there are a lot of people who are either worried because they hate needles or excited it will mean they can see their families, and both need that human touch. I actually got told by a doctor that it wasn't necessary to talk to them as much as I did, then he proceeded to greet the next person by asking them their date of birth, never asked their name or told them his, and didn't explain what the potential side effects were because 'it is in the leaflet'. People have waited months for their opportunity to book an appointment and then stood for an hour in a queue, they deserve a Hello.
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Jul 7, 2021 22:43
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Has Seven Nation Army completely replaced Chelsea Dagger as the stadium song of choice?
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Jul 8, 2021 00:32
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Pistol_Pete posted:I miss Ruffle bars: coconut concentrate stained pink and covered in a thin layer of chocolate. I've not seen them on sale anywhere for a few years now; last time was before Covid started. Perhaps the coronavirus finished off the Ruffle bar? Either Home Bargains or B&M sells them, I can't remember which. But they are definitely still available, possibly because there's a warehouse full of stock they're still trying to get rid of (along with the prosecco and peppercorn pringles from a few years ago that were surprisingly nice).
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Jul 11, 2021 22:05
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Jollity Farm posted:Waiting for "this proves that wokeism is ruining football" from some shithead. I've already seen the "of course they're crap at penalties with all that kneeling" hot takes.
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Jul 11, 2021 23:39
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fuctifino posted:These once in a hundred year weather events seem to be happening every few weeks now... A relative in Canada was hospitalised recently with severe dehydration, during their 45+C weather, and still believes climate change is nonsense.
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Jul 12, 2021 23:44
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Best cure for hiccups is orgasm. No seriously, it sounds like a #crafywank excuse, but it is. Unless you've got a tumour, in which case probably get some surgery once you've finished.
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Jul 14, 2021 19:56
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OwlFancier posted:Unless you have found a way to make boris live for hundreds of years however it is probably a very good goal for boris. If you say his name three times at midnight during a full moon, he appears in your marital bed and impregnates your wife.
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Jul 14, 2021 22:21
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Jaeluni Asjil posted:Hedges and kids. Hedges can be pretty high-maintenance. Is it the sort of wall you could put a little fence on top of? One of my nighbours has some climbing plants through their fence-trellis so they're not looking at plain brick/fence.
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Jul 14, 2021 23:34
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Hivemind, please tell me if I'm being reasonable or if the heat is making me a stroppy grump. I posted a few months back about how everyone (except me) in my workplace was fully vaccinated, thanks to a local vaccination clinic having spares at the end of the day. I wasn't in work that day so I missed out. The good news is that my turn came and I have my second dose Monday. The less good news is that work has decided there will also be no more Covid restrictions as of Monday - not for staff, not for customers. The two reasons given for why I have still been doing my customer service shifts are because work insisted the Covid precautions meant I was no more at risk than anyone else, and because we must all do our bit. Honestly I'm not that worried about getting Covid, but this whole situation just annoys me enough to want to make a fuss. Especially the 'doing our bit' lecture coming from senior management who have been permanently working from home for a year. The trouble is that they will immediately point out that come Monday I will be fully vaccinated, conveniently ignoring the fact that it's not instantaneous, and that there is no requirement under law to do any of this. There doesn't seem to be anything to do other than appeal to the better nature of senior management. Actually this is giving off very stroppy grumpy vibes, but there's an unpleasant underlying resentment that my precautions seems so pointless when everyone around me is merrily nipping off on city breaks and pub meals and to the cinema. It feels like I wasted the opportunity to go when the restrictions were still in force and it was less risky, vaccinated or not.
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Jul 16, 2021 23:54
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Marmaduke! posted:I love the beeb take that it's okay that Saj visited a care home t'other day because everyone there is double vaccinated. You know, like the guy they're talking about who has caught and likely spread the plague. That struck me, too. For their sakes I'm glad, and in a visit like that they should have been keeping socially distanced, but who knows if any of the MPs stuck to the rules in their private meetings. It's already been announced that from the 16 August double vaccinated people won't need to self isolate, so what are they 'trialling'? Under what circumstances would they change this requirement?
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Jul 18, 2021 10:09
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The pilot scheme to compare isolation vs daily testing for fully vaccinated people is a real thing, but it's supposed to be random which group you are allocated to. If it's not random, then it's not a proper scientific study. The odds that all the government ministers who joined the pilot this weekend were randomly assigned to the daily testing group are incredibly small. Obviously if the daily test comes back positive, then they immediately have to isolate. Without having seen much written about it, it seems the pilot scheme is to see whether asymptomatic/pre-symptomatic transmission in vaccinated people is low enough that self-isolation is unecessary. I'm interested in the ethics of it, especially as the mask and socia distancing requirements are being scrapped tomorrow. How many unvaccinated people would be happy that the maskless person standing very close to them had been in contact with a Covid patient, and was part of an experiment to see how contagious they were?
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Jul 18, 2021 11:35
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learnincurve posted:50% chance of 10 days of being tested? Being tested where because that’s top 10 of the most ableist poo poo I’ve ever seen if it’s mandatory. They send you a batch of test kits if you're in the not-isolating group. They'll be the rapid-result ones because you aren't allowed to leave the house each morning until you get a negative result. If you can't take that type of test then you don't get to participate in the trial, and you must self-isolate like everyone else.
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Jul 18, 2021 14:32
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Pistol_Pete posted:It's basically just that you don't have to wear masks any more (although you probably should still) and pubs and restaurants go back to normal. I don't see that making the infection rate hugely worse than it is now, tbh. It's not just masks, venues can open up to full capacity now with no social distancing requirements. Those were still in place last summer and Eat Out to Help Out still created a spike in cases. Many people are vaccinated this time, but a lot of hospitality and retail staff aren't by virtue of their age. There are cases on board navy ships and in the Olympic village, and everyone there is fully vaccinated and has a fully functioning immune system. Cases are already rising - which may not result in a dramatic increase in deaths because of vaccination - and I don't see how opening up won't make this situation worse. Pistol_Pete posted:If we actually want to cut infections, we'd need to go back into lockdown again, with all but essential shops shut and people barred from leaving their homes except for essential activities and funnily enough, very few of the people huffing and groaning over things being relaxed are advocating for that. "Funnily enough"? Are you suggesting that keeping restrictions until early September, when the vast majority of people will have had their second jab + 2 weeks, is unreasonable? Nobody is advocating for full lockdown because we've gone beyond that, and actually there is a way to keep businesses open, hospitals running, and infections down, and that's by strictly enforcing masks, social distancing, and proper contact tracing. But we're stopping all of that in six hours' time.
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Jul 18, 2021 17:48
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Vaccine uptake might be dropping because it's clearly not as effective against Delta - I can see why younger people would look at news that the double-vaxxed Health Secretary caught it and decide they can't be bothered because it doesn't work and they've been told they're not at risk of severe disease anyway. The vaccine passports for clubs will be interesting in September because there are plenty of first year uni students who won't be vaccinated by then because they aren't 18 yet. Back to litigation chat, the reason that the juries award high amount of damages is that they aren't told about the $300k cap. They choose an amount they think reflects the situation in the belief that it will be paid out, which frankly is incredibly disrespectful. It's a waste of their time and implies that every jury will fall for any old sob story from gold-diggers. The other one that's been twisted is the Twinkie Defence. It's presented as 'sugar made me do a crime', but the defence never even mentioned Twinkies, that was the media. The defendant was a former health freak who stopped taking care of himself, stopped exercising, and ate junk food that required minimal preparation. This is a classic symptom of depression, but he hadn't been to a doctor so there was no official diagnosis. The defence was trying to argue for leniency because the dramatic change in diet, lifestyle and behaviour were all consequences of a declining mental health.
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Jul 19, 2021 20:10
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learnincurve posted:I read a lot of novels from the 1920s, which is a interesting period because it’s a gentler time, but they are also breaking away from Victorian values and a big trope is the belligerent old Victorian uncle who’s lost his mind. White man/non-white woman was more acceptable than the other way around, at which point the racism came to the fore. As the man was the head of the household, then it was OK for him to marry someone inferior by race as well as by gender. It was very different when white women/non-white men married, or tried to. There was also the expectation that the woman was expected to move to where her husband was from and assimilate, which meant Britain would lose a good white woman, and any children, to the uncivilised colonies.
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Jul 19, 2021 23:06
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 15:40 |
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winegums posted:I'm sure everyone knows, but to be clear - a "bed" isn't just a mattress, bedframe and some monitoring. It reflects having enough staffing (particularly nursing) to monitor patients, administer treatment etc. People make the same mistake about evacuation zones for things like natural disasters. It's not necessarily the area that will suffer devastation, it's the area likely to be inaccessible and/or without basic supplies (water, electric). If you fall over and break a leg, you better hope where you're laying is comfy, because it might take a couple of days for help to reach you.
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Jul 21, 2021 23:59
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