(Thread IKs:
OwlFancier)
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Surprise T Rex posted:On the train to Manchester today for a work thing, feeling like a bit of a scab since the ASLEF stuff is starting from today. Fwiw a while back I saw a RMT guy talking about people travelling on strike days and he was saying they really don't give a poo poo. If anything it's better because it puts more pressure on the system and emphasises the problems. Just be prepared for any disruption, suck it up if it happens, and remember to claim any delay repays to screw over the train companies. If you worked for the railways you'd be a scab, but as a passenger you're not.
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Dec 1, 2023 17:33
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People keep saying stuff like "50k, 80k,100k, whatever, isn't a lot of money" and every time my mind boggles. Maybe in London, sure, but seriously I'm on 36k (for now, thanks short term academic contracts) and as far as I can tell that's a very loving good salary and there are lots of people on significantly less, though I do live in one of the more impoverished and cheaper UK cities. I don't even know how you'd begin to live if you were single with kids on close to minimum wage. I mean yes, I know that in reality it's not a lot of money and that the actual rich rich would probably spend more than that on a weekend break, but if we're just talking relative to the average amongst the general population it is. keep punching joe posted:Breaking bad was good but on rewatching the story meanders a lot and there is tons of filler. I liked a lot of breaking bad. The first season was good. I got insanely bored once they started working for the chicken guy though. Apparently that's when a lot of people think it gets good so 
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Dec 5, 2023 12:19
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Miftan posted:Yeah I don't even know what I'd do with all that money if I was on 36k. I guess get takeout more often? Personally I've been cultivating a gambling addiction and substance abuse problems so that helps
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Dec 5, 2023 12:29
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God I miss the hope of the corbyn years so much. I really don't see a path to anything good in the near future. Keith wins by default next election and fucks around doing tory lite policies for the whole term. Tories take over again in 10 years or so. The cycle repeats. By then I'm getting on for 50. What the gently caress do we even have to look forward to as a country?
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Dec 7, 2023 13:05
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Microplastics posted:Hotter weather Lol can't wait to see the burgeoning English vineyard industry (I can't afford any of the wine) The UK is probably one of the better placed countries to deal with climate change mind while lots of Asia etc becomes borderline uninhabitable. There is zero justice in the world.
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Dec 7, 2023 13:12
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fuctifino posted:Why do you assume he's going to be Tory lite? If anything, he's going to be more authoritarian and fash. I mean yeah, probably, but he'll at least look sad doing it and might throw an extra few quid at the NHS, I guess.
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Dec 7, 2023 13:16
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What really gets me is that I genuinely don't understand why our politicians are so committed to everything being terrible forever. Some of them are just in it for the corruption gravy train, sure, but at least some must actually go into politics because they believe in something and want to make the country a better place. It's so nakedly obvious that there are ways of doing that, but they poo poo the bed at the idea. I'm not even saying full communism now (though that would be nice). We literally have Norway and Iceland etc as our neighbours showing us a system that's not perfect but is exponentially better than ours, and still allows for obscenely rich people to exist. What is the actual argument against that beyond 'a few rich people might have a pay a bit more tax'? How is this not obvious to your average Joe on the street? The current trajectory of the UK benefits literally no one but a handful of already insanely wealthy people. There's so much anger that any competent left wing politician could capitalise on, and they'd go down as a loving hero if they pulled it off. How is that not an attractive proposition? Does no one want to be the 21st C Attlee. I know he was bad on lots of issues but his legacy is just evidence of how low the bar is. Why are they all so content to sit around treating politics like it's nothing more than the chance to be the manager and get a big desk? Idk, I'm feeling it today for some reason.
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Dec 7, 2023 13:33
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The slow ideological death of the Labour Party makes me very sad, but I suppose it's kinda funny that the guy who gets to put the final nail in the coffin is called Keir
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Dec 7, 2023 13:40
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OwlFancier posted:The political system is process that filters out people who want to make things better. If you have that kind of attitude you don't get into positions of actual power, you end up sitting on the back bench making hopeless symbolic motions. I don't think you're wrong, but I feel like something has changed in the neoliberal era. You look back at the twentieth century and you've got actual committed politicians arguing about ideology all over the place. But now it does just seem to be about who gets to sit in the fancy chair. I suppose if I'm being honest with myself I'd tie that all into the collapse of the USSR and the subsequent global hegemony of free market capitalism. As far as I can tell extraparliamentary movements are probably the only option, but the process of toppling established power structures is a huge gamble and generally an awful experience even if you win, so it's hardly something to look forward to. Not that the British public in 2023 even has remotely the level of class consciousness that would be needed for that anyway!
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Dec 7, 2023 13:59
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But there is evidence that things do change - we have weekends and maternity pay and the nhs and whatever. That came because the political will and power was there for it. I certainly can't see how our current politicians would ever meaningfully expand the welfare state for example
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Dec 7, 2023 14:15
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 https://twitter.com/leekern13/status/1734487852749324732?t=vfJoZbu2DWq2MFqALiCdwg&s=19
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Dec 12, 2023 11:43
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I can't even really get myself excited for a GE. Would be nice to see the Tories obliterated but Starmer  I suppose maybe if the Tories collapse completely and we all see how lovely Labour are there might be more scope to exert pressure from the left, but I imagine that's exactly how people felt in 1997 and I can't really see how this ends up as anything better than a bunch of grey suits with no ideas cargo culting Blairism for another few terms. I suppose the big thing will be whether the Tories just get pushed out, or whether they go the way of the lib dems and cease to be a meaningful political force entirely. Probably the former, but the latter would at least make things interesting. Suddenly PR gets on the Conservative manifesto very urgently lol
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Dec 12, 2023 17:56
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Tesseraction posted:Wales is the most chronically underfunded of the four lands of this United K, at least since May had to go hat in hand to the DUP, although I guess Norn Iron is in deep poo poo due to lack of home rule atm Since I started going over there for work I can honestly say NI feels way behind rUK in terms of infrastructure and investment. Not having a functional devolved government obviously doesn't help but you can absolutely see the place is basically forgotten by Westminster and there is barely any money going into vital services. Once you get outside of Belfast the public transport is unreliable and feels like it's from the 70s - even getting the bus to the airport involved the thing breaking down on the middle of the motorway and all the passengers having to shuffle up the hard shoulder to a replacement half an hour later. The driver said this was apparently a common thing because the fleet's engines had been replaced with cheapo ones that can't handle the incline going out of the city. I've also never seen so many people visibly high as a kite in the city centre, one guy just standing motionless staring at a wall blinking for example, and so many fights all the time amongst the homeless people and various addicts. You get that everywhere in the UK ofc but it seemed off the scale. There's obviously some real failures in the support networks that are meant to help these people. Idk if Wales is also like this because I've only really been to the rural bits and through Cardiff once, but I'd be very surprised if it was on the same level. One of the major problems of course is that without Stormont sitting the place is governed by civil servants essentially and no new budgets can be approved, so no matter how much money the DUP blagged it doesn't really matter. I'm not saying any of this to attack NI. There's some cool stuff there and most of the people I've met have been very sound, but they seriously do deserve better. It's shocking how badly run it feels in places.
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Dec 13, 2023 14:43
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Jakabite posted:Anyone got experience with disputes via a deposit protection scheme? Previous landlord trying to pull a fast one and my tactic of ‘verbal abuse down the phone to try and make them cry’ didn’t work. Do it. Take it out of the landlords hands. Pray that they never even bothered putting it in a deposit scheme because if not you can make  One of my proudest and also most regretted experiences was having a landlord try to shaft me on the deposit. Stupid gits hadn't even put it into a deposit scheme (a legal requirement). I tried to play nice and sent lots of letters demanding it back but they stonewalled me. I guess they didn't expect me to take them to small claims court, so the second I sent through the summons they folded immediately and repaid in full plus all my costs and interest. That was very enjoyable but I found out at the time that by pissing about being nice I'd shot myself in the foot. If they don't put the money in a deposit scheme you can take them for 3x the deposit. There's a time limit though and I'd overrun it by a few weeks sending all the increasingly threatening letters. Should have just gone nuclear on the bastards from the off.
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Dec 14, 2023 13:00
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Honestly I'd just not bother contacting the landlord directly any further, except maybe to tell them you plan on settling this via the deposit scheme in case they want to make things easier for everyone and just fold. No point stressing yourself out for the sake of some parasite who isn't going to budge until they're forced to.
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Dec 14, 2023 13:24
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Speaking of landlords I also have a question about maintenance stuff. Our flat is generally fine and the letting agent is refreshingly hands off most of the time, but does generally respond to repair requests quickly. We have one corner of the living room though where the wall is obviously hollow. I'm guessing it's where the pipes etc are. We've clearly got a leaky pipe somewhere because since like a year and a half ago we've noticed damp patches appearing on the wall and ceiling. They aren't getting massively worse but they occasionally do spread a bit. I've now reported this like 3 times, and beyond telling me to ask my upstairs neighbour if he's had any issues in his flat, which he hasn't, the letting agent has pretty much ignored the issue completely. It's not massively urgent, and there's no mould or anything, but I feel like it's almost certainly going to be causing incremental damage. Not really sure how to proceed because on the one hand I don't care, it's not my flat and I've created a pretty solid paper trail so I can't be held accountable, and I worry that fixing it might involve a major job knocking down walls etc, which means we'd probably have to move out for a bit at least. At the same time it's not exactly great having big damp patches just sitting there, and I'm a bit concerned because there are plug sockets on the same wall right next to the damp bits. I'm also picturing the ceiling deciding to fall in at the most inopportune moment, which would be a nightmare. So yeah, not sure. I know I'd be very pissed if I was the owner and the letting agent was just ignoring an issue that might seriously damage the fabric of the building long term.
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Dec 14, 2023 14:01
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It's more we don't know where the leak is coming from and if they're going to sort the pipes it might involve having to go right into the ceiling and up the wall cavity
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Dec 14, 2023 14:07
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What actually is the best case scenario for the GE? As far as I can tell the almost guaranteed outcome is Starmer winning by default, talking heads crowing about how this is bad for Jeremy Corbyn and represents a complete rejection of all but the weakest socdem centre-left stuff, then we're back in 1997 baby and nothing changes for at least another two decades or so. Inspiring stuff! Still, it'll be funny to watch the tories completely poo poo the bed and lose hundreds of seats I guess. I'd also laugh very hard if Corbyn manages to hold onto his seat as an independent. Even better if Abbott etc do too. If they do you'd think it would prompt some reflection. It won't, but it would be funny. I'm in an SNP ultra safe seat so I'm probably just going to throw a vote at the greens or maybe the TUSC or something even if it is just symbolic. Not bothering or spoiling the ballot seems wrong somehow, idk. I've been playing an FMV game called Not For Broadcast recently which I thoroughly recommend for politics flavoured stupidity. It's completely ridiculous and over the top but you get to be a propaganda guy for some momentum-like group as they form a government, which is a nice bit of fantasy indulgence. It really shouldn't work but while the theatre kid energy coming off the whole thing is insane the actors are genuinely extremely good for the most part and parts of it had me belly laughing to an extent I never expected, and they pepper in some actually quite touching + nuanced bits as well. 10/10.
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Jan 17, 2024 05:14
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HopperUK posted:Also the party that takes control of the country at the start is a nasty, authoritarian notionally left-wing party Nah they're cool  Well, for the first few episodes at least lol. I did like that you can get an ending that keeps the spirit of the party while dialling back on some of the more insane stuff
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Jan 17, 2024 05:30
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fuctifino posted:The NHS is in a scary state at the moment. A good online disabled friend of mine recently found herself in ICU after a heart attack. On her last day in ICU she was listed, without her consent, request or knowledge, that she was DNR. She only found afterwards when she was able to access her notes about the visit. Every attempt to find out how she was listed like that and who authorised it has been met with brick walls and disconnected phonelines. Hmm that is pretty shocking. I would advise her to really push on this via formal complaints etc. Might be worth talking to the press etc. Also you can often get a lot out of a freedom of information request - while they can redact certain things and be very awkward they are legally obligated to provide the material, and as far as I can remember the cost isn't super excessive.
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Jan 18, 2024 04:23
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Guavanaut posted:Still around by the looks of it: A new populist left wing party is imho opinion a good idea even if it will be a long haul kind of prospect, but framing it as a regional thing seems very counterproductive. The NIP just fully excludes major potential support bases amongst working class southerners and it's not like 'the north' is really a coherent national identity in the same way Scotland is for example. This is one of the funniest photos I've ever seen lmao
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Jan 18, 2024 16:33
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Skulker posted:If you've got the spare time and spare energy to cycle to and from work then your job is more likely to be pretty cushy, making you more likely to be a moneyed kinda fucker. What sort of a take is this lol. If you live say a 30min-1hr walk from work cycling will take you 10-20mins, keeps you fit, is way less polluting, and is significantly cheaper than running a car. Lots of larger workplaces even have cycle to work schemes that cover a fair bit of the cost of the bike.
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Jan 19, 2024 03:23
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So I used scan as you shop for the first time today using an app and um is there any reason why people aren't robbing the supermarkets blind with this? My local little one (not a Tesco Metro but that kind of scale) barely ever has anyone at the tills or anywhere near the front, much less the door, and I've always felt it would be so easy to steal from in general if people wanted to, but now they're adding in a plausible reason you might just walk out without queueing for the self checkout? Even if you're extremely risk averse and are worried about getting caught and aren't just going to swan out without even going through the motions, I still feel like the system is wide open for abuse and that it would be super easy to scam. I know you occasionally get selected for a random check and have to go see someone, but you could legit check out, then, on the off chance you're picked, take anything that 'mistakenly' fell into your bag back to its shelf before you go over to be approved. It's only going to happen every now and then, and 80% of the time you save a bunch. For the avoidance of doubt, I am absolutely not endorsing or suggesting anyone does any illegal acts. I love supermarkets and think they are mostly admirably moral organisations with strong social consciousnesses. That being said, for their benefit of them if anything I feel like it is worth discussing this oversight in their security strategies to some length so that we can keep our eyes peeled for anyone trying to take advantage.
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Jan 19, 2024 03:46
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Doctor_Fruitbat posted:You don't get picked for bag checking until you're already at the till, at which point it's quite hard to surreptitiously remove anything and going "oh gosh I forgot something" and rushing off won't be fooling anyone, and if the weight of the bag is too far off then that will trigger it as well. You don't go anywhere near a till most of the time though? It's an app on your phone and you just click complete and pay with Google pay and walk out. If it flags you for a check you have to go ask someone but you can do it at your leisure. happyhippy posted:1. They have your name via the app and card you are using. 1. True 2. This may be the case in bigger shops but I would be astounded if it applied to my local tiny store that appears to have a maximum of three staff working at any one time. Plus, unless they had a live feed of exactly what you were logging as you went round and picked stuff up, and they followed you like a hawk, they wouldn't be able to tell you weren't just doing things honestly. I don't think they have the time or resources or inclination to go full CSI. 3. True but they'd have to suspect something for this to happen Ms Adequate posted:Yeah if our store detectives are anything like the ones in some of the US big boxes, you've got a snowball's chance of getting away with it. My local shop doesn't even have anybody on covering the front door or tills most of the time. It can take over 5 mins to get someone to show up to approve booze. I don't think they have Magnum PI back there endlessly scanning for any thieves. ThomasPaine fucked around with this message at 12:42 on Jan 19, 2024 |
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Jan 19, 2024 12:27
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History Comes Inside! posted:“Oh bugger I must have forgotten to scan that, sorry” "I'm losing it I swear, how did I manage to remember to scan the carrots but forgot the fillet steaks and wine? Silly me."
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Jan 19, 2024 12:46
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kecske posted:maybe scuff it up a bit for legitimacy, if the cameras spot it then just claim you were trying to smooth it out as part of your failed scanning attempts I really cannot imagine there is more than one person on the cameras and I don't believe they're focusing on individuals unless you
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Jan 19, 2024 12:58
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One thing I'll never understand is footage I keep seeing on social media of normal members of the public fully going out of their way to apprehend people they've caught shoplifting, informing the staff and calling the police etc. Sometimes even risking their own health by fully tackling people. Just your average people, but completely unaffiliated and maybe out for milk. There's always people cheering them on the comments as well. If I see someone stealing I just laugh to myself and think good on them. Like, thanks lads, Mr Tescos appreciates your hard unpaid work protecting his shareholder profits, nice one. Have a pat on the heat. Mind boggling.
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Jan 19, 2024 13:10
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I'm unashamedly team semi-skimmed
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Jan 19, 2024 14:18
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Mega Comrade posted:It's been a thing in some places for a little while. Why would you ever confront one. You're just ruining someone's sneaky but ultimately victimless crime, and you're risking injury and legal consequences to boot. I wouldn't bother even if I was staff*, and I think quite a few places have a policy of not chasing shoplifters in any case, they just pass the footage on to the police and I imagine claim the difference back from an insurer. *I would be a very poor security guard
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Jan 19, 2024 14:33
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NotJustANumber99 posted:I wouldnt rugby tackle a shoplifter but I've always fancied a cheeky trip on a mugger Oh yeah that's a different thing entirely because you have to victimise and threaten an actual person to do it. I just assume every mugger has a machete under their coat though so I'd probably just hand over my poo poo lol. For some reason this is reminding me of when I came second in a poker tournament a few months back and in my slightly inebriated state decided to walk home with £500 in my back pocket at 3am. I've never had any bother of that kind before here but that would have been a hell of a day to break my lucky streak lmao. I'm surprised shady people don't loiter outside the casino waiting for anyone who looks pleased with themselves and decides to leave alone on foot. ThomasPaine fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Jan 19, 2024 |
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Jan 19, 2024 14:40
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I'm so glad I don't plan on ever having a kid and have a partner who feels the same way. No shade to anyone who's had them and is enjoying it, but it's a no from me. I've never seen a new parent who doesn't look lobotomised from stress and lack of sleep, and I like free time and spending money on myself and doing spontaneous things. And even when they're older you've got all the teenage drama to go through and knowing what I was like as a 15 year old I absolutely do not want that inflicted on anyone, myself least of all.
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Jan 19, 2024 15:44
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Tesseraction posted:"I'm going to temporarily cure the poo poo out of your diabetes." Lol its sometimes a little strange to think I carry around insulin pens at all times, even on planes and in restricted areas, and they are legitimately deadly. If I whacked up a max dose and injected some poor fucker with it it could very well kill them. I wonder if I was ever attacked and did that whether I'd get away with a self defence plea.
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Jan 19, 2024 16:27
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Tesseraction posted:Getting attacked, giving them a max dose but it actually does solve their high blood sugar and they beat you up more efficiently. Cue twilight zone music
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Jan 19, 2024 16:33
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Guavanaut posted:From the maps thread: I was in Sweden recently and it's night and day the way they are able to deal with the cold. Even seeing the trains operating in heavy snow with big snow plows on the front boggled my mind because in the UK everything would have been cancelled if things were half as bad.
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Jan 19, 2024 16:42
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Pablo Bluth posted:In our defence, we don't have enough true winter to invest in an the infrastructure to deal with snow Idk if anyone's familiar with the holiday inn in Edinburgh just next to the zoo, but I was staying there during super icy weather last year. The car park is on a steep hill with the entrance/exit at the top, and the idiots didn't salt or grit it at all. Fun experience being in the car while my partner tried to get out despite it being sheet black ice. We slid down the hill about ten times before eventually getting out by going up the one side that was OK (opposite the exit ofc) then lining it up and just gunning it to try to take advantage of the momentum. Absolutely ridiculous. Thankfully it was mostly empty but if there had been a bunch of cars parked it would have been super dangerous.
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Jan 19, 2024 17:00
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Lt. Danger posted:stealing is wrong. Nah, stealing from big companies is extremely cool and good actually. Everything capitalists sell is nicked from working class people and flogged back to them anyway, it's only fair to enjoy a bit of grassroots wealth redistribution.
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Jan 19, 2024 22:50
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^Tesco finest sea salt and chardonnay vinegar are definitely crisps of the 'strip your tastebuds from your tongue' variety, they're very good NotJustANumber99 posted:Stealing is wrong but some people dont have access to only doing the right thing I guess. Robin hood is still a goodie. Don't tell me about all the racist, misogynist bullshit not even real robin hood did. I wouldn't even go that far, I think it's overtly morally good to rob as much as you can from pretty much any large retail company tbh. ThomasPaine fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Jan 19, 2024 |
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Jan 19, 2024 23:42
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NotJustANumber99 posted:no i dont think so. Like you can convince yourself of anything in any direction to the point of pointlessness. How big does the company have to be? Like if the boss is quite well off but in no way a millionaire? What if you are a high up in the company and steal like millions from it and it can't afford to pay its staffs pensions? Like what about stealing from the government? What about if you're michelle mone stealing from the government? Like I think ultimately we need to be in a society where we don't steal and stealing is bad. Come on, I'm obviously talking about customers stealing items from a shop owned by a large corporation with large profits, not robbing Barnardos or embezzling hundreds of thousands in public money. Basically if stealing involves value being taken from capitalists and going towards workers it is overall a good thing, imho. Obviously stealing from individuals and non-commercial organisations and even small businesses etc is bad, but if we're talking Tescos go nuts and smile doing it.
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Jan 19, 2024 23:59
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NotJustANumber99 posted:Its not a big deal but nah. No, it's not getting rid of anything, it's just morally fine to do.
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Jan 20, 2024 00:15
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Glad I don't drive and have zero intention of starting to anytime soon tbh. So expensive and such a faff with insurance and whatnot. Love a wee train trip. Bit crap if you want to go anywhere rural though I must admit. I get that the old railways were extremely inefficient but I kinda like the idea of being able to get to any bumfuck town or village by rail like in the pre-Beeching days. The lines should be subsidised and ran at a loss by the state as an essential service imho.
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Jan 20, 2024 23:18
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