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13186

General Discussion Area / Re: Jobless.had to read this twice.

« on: 26 August 2009, 19:46:31 »

The official unemployment figures in Spain are 18%. There is little in the way of social security in comparison with the UK. Certainly single mothers get precious little - the parents are expected to help out.

One good thing here is that the unemployed do a lot of community work in return for some taxable dosh. The men(and some women) do ditch clearing, concreting gulleys, painting the town hall and probably best of all helping old people get around to do their shopping, go to the doc's and so on. Sadly I really can't see that working in Britain though as there isn't the community Id or spirit.

13187

General Discussion Area / Re: Pasties

« on: 21 August 2009, 16:29:02 »

Mechanically recovered meat, mmm lovely.

Have even seen Pukka pies for sale in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol!

El carne Varche

13188

General Discussion Area / Re: Help wanted with OOF/IE8/Firefox3.5.2

« on: 20 August 2009, 18:58:33 »

Now that I have "opened up" these extra things on my dial up it takes yonks longer to open an OOF page -= as I type still 19 items to download. Lets face it the Internet is designed for broadband. We have had Iberbanda WiFi out twice but no signal unless I erect a 20 metre high mast on the roof (at my expense) don't think so. The joy of living in the sticks in a third world country! Incidentally my dial up is via an analogue mobile sim card Erikkson 251M for rural users

Am browsing this company as I typehttp://www.citrusred.es/internet_satellite_9000.asp . Ah it is all good stuff.

El dial up varche

13189

General Discussion Area / Re: Help wanted with OOF/IE8/Firefox3.5.2

« on: 20 August 2009, 14:53:09 »

Well good news and other news. The good news is that doing that brought the avatars back and bold, italic,underline etc features when replying.

Other news . Still no photos in IE8 !

"Show image download placeholders" is now the only unchecked box in multimedia>

Any more suggestions please?

13190

General Discussion Area / Help wanted with OOF/IE8/Firefox3.5.2

« on: 20 August 2009, 13:37:07 »

I have some interesting/irritating variations between these two  browsers that I just live with. However yesterday I tried to help someone  http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1250691226 and asked them to post some photos. There are two photos on Firefox none on IE. On IE there aren't any "hidden" things that if you hover over you can double click and open. Equally there are no boxes with a red cross that you can right click and "open picture". Why might that be please?

Also when I log in on Firefox there are no quote, PM,alert moderator, view profile type buttons, or even a reply button hence why I only ever log on in IE8 despite its lack of photos.

Why might that be please?  I have both browsers bang up to date with fixes etc.

One other difference is no avatars on IE8 but they are there on Firefox!

I don't think it has any bearing but I am on dial up (yes there is one member of the forum on 44k remember that!)

Varche

13191

General Discussion Area / Re: This cannot be fair...

« on: 18 August 2009, 14:54:57 »

The Spanish police have had the power (and use it) to dole out on the spot fines for motoring infringements.

They have even recently taken to stopping ALL traffic in one direction on a motorway and checking selected vehicles and waiving the rest through. They have a guy equipped with a stinger at the end of the cone funnel in case anyone tries to make a run for it. It takes an hour to clear the queue. Can't see that happening in Britain just yet. Maybe it will stop here when they have the first multiple pile up when traffic piles into the tail end.

El Coche Varche

13192

General Discussion Area / Food shortages programme last night on TV

« on: 18 August 2009, 15:46:43 »

Surprised no comments on this programme. Maybe people fall into two camps. 1. Plenty of food in our supermarket so I'm not bothered
2. Another climate change/green/hippy bit of nonsense. I'll be alright @cos I will have the money to pay more for my food if and when shortages hit.

There were several things in the programme I found very interesting.

Something like nearly a half of all potato products in Britain are actually manufactured with added stuff i.e. not just potato. There was a "poor British family" that ate potato waffles, bought lasgane and baked beans but had the biggest TV I have ever seen.  Do people really eat so much processed food when it is as cheap to prepare your own? Here is what Burger King says are in its "chips" on top of potatoes!
Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Potato Starch, Rice Flour, Potato Dextrin, Salt, Leavening (Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Sunflower Oil, Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate added to preserve natural color, Natural† and Artificial Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Smoke Flavor. †Natural flavors from plant sources. Uggh.


The fact that the price of oil has a big impact on the cost of food. I know from first hand experience that fertiliser here has gone up from 41 to 57 cents a kilo in a year.

The lowering of water tables. Around here in Spain it has gone down a lot these last few years. Many wells have run dry and new ones are ever deeper. Our local company drilled their deepest ever last month at 510 metres (over 1580 feet!) before they hit water. Some neighbours here not on mains water live on 1000 litres of water trucked in per week for a family and two horses. Of course this all matters as the tomatoes., lettuce etc grown here that you buy from your supermarkets contain "our" water. Southern Spain is looking at having desalination plants to try and cope. They are very expensive to run. 

I would have liked some more in depth figures to support info like the earths population is growing but then I guess it would have been of less interest to people with short attention spans. Interestingly Boots in the Uk have reported a step reduction in condom sales so expect an increase in the birth rate next year!

El Comestible Varche 

13193

General Discussion Area / Re: I love Vodafone. Not.

« on: 18 August 2009, 11:10:11 »

Another service enhancement. You read the hype, it all sounds good and part with your hard earned money but then it doesn't deliver.

I was talking to someone the other day who is lucky enough to have Broadband here in Spain. His service is via Telefonica (the giant company here) and he upgraded from 3 meg to 10 Meg and found the service disappears most days from 11a.m. to 11 p.m. Turns out it is a common problem for customers near the limit from the exchange. Despite the obvious inconvenience he soldiers on as he uses mostly early morning! meanwhile telefonica continue to pat themselves on the back for doing a great job. Sound familiar?

13194

General Discussion Area / Re: More wind farms = less wildlife

« on: 15 August 2009, 19:42:09 »

When we have all these nuclear power stations NGO's can send their waste products round to L Zooms recycling presumably or we could just bury it in deep holes and pretend it was never created and hope nothing untoward happens before man(or woman) figures out how to neutralise it?

Also what is the difference between an ugly windfarm and an ugly new housing development, nuclear power station, overhead lines, new airport or a space research telescope? Lets just clutter the planet up with cr*p, after all it is ours to do what we like with.

13195

General Discussion Area / Re: More wind farms = less wildlife

« on: 15 August 2009, 19:31:00 »

This makes me sad. We do not need wind farms, yet so much money and greenwash is tied up in them that all we can do is to sit back and watch the deaths mount. 

http://www.examiner.com/x-13344-Wildlife-Conservation-Examiner~y2009m8d7-Deadly-blades-wind-farm-death-toll-mounts-as-birds-of-prey-are-massacred

besides, how many birds die flying into windows and cars?

I would have thought that the location of these potential monstrosities is based more on the economics of the development in terms of cost to the investors rather than any great concern for the overall efficiency of the installation :-/

Of course with the saturation development envisaged, the casualty rate is bound to soar :-/

I must disagree with that statement Zulu.  No business invests millions - building the wind farm - without a profit - from electrical generation - becoming quickly apparent.  The siting of these wind farms is based on where it is considered the maximum amount of output will be generated from the wind, on average, available.  It just so happens that these sites are so often areas of "special natural interest".

As I touched on in my previous post mankind cannot rule its progress and developed on the fear we "may hurt something".  When has man ever worried about that when eating our Sunday lunches!!   No, we should make decisions based on efficiency, and for that reason wind farms are a waste of space in the numbers being built, and it will require hundred of thousands more to give us the power generation required for now and in the future.  They are a pure political sop to the 'environmentalists'! Therefore they are a nosense, not for the number of birds they may or may kill, but the ineffiecency of them.

The only efficent mass generating system that is viable as I stated before, is nuclear power.  If we are to abandon fossil fuel driven electrical generation, which in turn is harmfull to ALL life, then this is the answer.   Even the greens are starting to recognise this. 

So lets stop the 'dangle berries' and start making political decisions based on common sense and business effiecency!

No business invests millions - building the wind farm - without a profit - from electrical generation - becoming quickly apparent.



The investment strategy of the utility concerned will always have a weather eye on the profit return against investment made. 

These utilities are investing in this technology because, in my view, this useless administration is making it financially attractive for them to do so - the green levy applied to bills - and the freedom to site these highly concentrated installations at will.

It would be foolish to suggest that the location is chosen purely on the minimum investment required but I'm suggesting that it plays not an inconsiderable part in such decisions.  With a pliant administration the utility providers can have the freedom to develop at will and where private enterprise is concerned, the bottom line is the driving force.

As the development of this technology is aimed at providing a service which will have an instant and on-going demand without the need to market the product, the utility can place cost savings against efficiency quite easily, after all it's a captive market.

 
So lets stop the 'dangle berries' and start making political decisions based on common sense and business efficiency!

  there's more decision making potential in my left testicle - forgive my freedom - than there is in the relevant Departments within this failed administration  

That's why we have yet another knee-jerk reaction to tackling a problem the skewed and highly selected details of which are being spoon-fed to this useless lot.

I don't think building windfarms off-shore, or in very remote parts of the country is a cheap option Zulu.  As stated before they are built where they can generate the most electricity for the owning company.

As for the Government, well yes they are very incompetent, but at least they have acknowledged the need for more modern nuclear power with contracts now signed. 
Once more I did state that windfarms and all nature harnessing devises are a sop to the environmentalists, although ironically it is a section of them that are now objecting to them on the basis of damage to wildlife and the 'country scene'!!

 

lets hope that the companies signing the contracts for the "more nuclear power" are British. Oops too late. In twenty years time Britain will be held to energy ransom by some foreign company. Still at least no birds were killed during the process. I am afraid Brits are very short sighted. they have already let control of a large % of the banks pass to the Spanish, wait till they harmonise the charges.

Incidentally I go walking under the wind farms that we have an abundance of around here, one is near a large Chough colony. I have yet to see one dead bird of any variety. They would be easy enough to see on the large expanses of white gravel under each one. Still it must be true if an expert has said it. If I do find one I will post it on to an Admin.

13196

General Discussion Area / Re: More wind farms = less wildlife

« on: 15 August 2009, 12:03:58 »

Yet another red herring I am afraid. Far more animals,birds and other wildlife are killed/wiped out by man across the globe than a few thousand wind farms can ever do.

For what it is worth, I believe that the Uk ought to get cracking with nuclear before it is held to ransom by  foreign power companies. Wait a minute too late - you are already paying for the capped by government energy prices in other sane EU countries because Britain fully embraces the "free market"!

v

13197

General Discussion Area / Re: Peak Food....!!

« on: 14 August 2009, 18:44:16 »

Welcome back Mr Nickbat. Hope you had a good holiday! I have to say you are wrong on this one.

What is the maximum population that the earth can support using current farming and feeding practices and prices? 7, 8 billion, 9 billion, 20 billion. 

Something will have to change with one billion people starving and one billion obese. I did a posting a few days ago on the subject of meat production.

" So a farmer cuts down some forest in South America and plants a grain crop. He sells it and gets a good price from some English farmers who need grain feed for their beef herds.

The farmers sell the beef at rock bottom price barely covering their costs to a national supermarket chain (like Tesco) who package it and they put it on their shelves at a price that will make them a handsome profit.

Sadly it fails to get sold before its sell by date so gets sent back to the distribution centre on a returning lorry. There it is amalgamated with other returned meat and wait for it sent to an incinerator where they proudly declare that it produced electricity rather than going to a landfill site".

As far as the birth rate falling that is a red herring. Somebody is giving birth otherwise how come the population of the earth has tripled in David Attenboroughs lifetime and continues to increase. People are also living a lot longer in case you hadn't noticed. Those are FACTS not suppositions or sound bites.

So you read it here first . Want to make a fortune? Devise a nutritional bar of something flavoured with meat but made of grains/pulses etc. Flog it in poor countries and in rich countries like Britain that way there will be enough land available to produce slabs of meat which may or may not get eaten before their sell by date for the fortunate wealthy of tomorrow.

Now what about potable water or the lack of it!

El Gordo Varche

13198

General Discussion Area / Re: Meteor shower tonight

« on: 13 August 2009, 15:43:30 »

Good visibility here in rural Spain, low light pollution.

Once saw the space station and "transport ship" separate. There are tons of satellites and wierd things to see in the night skies.

El cielo Varche

13199

General Discussion Area / Re: FAO Varche

« on: 10 August 2009, 19:11:22 »

Well, we have a spacious self contained apartment that friends and family use, sleeps two adults. We are slowly renovating the rest of the house which we live in. All set apart in olive groves with excellent views and a large pool. Peaceful and quiet but there is a bar/small shop a short walk away and more bars and restaurants a couple of miles away. 

We would consider letting it to forum members on a self catering basis, at a rate to reflect the fact that we are still working (quietly) on the place for e.g. There is no external landscaping but the apartment itself is fully furnished and consists of a bedroom, ensuite shower room, kitchen, pantry and large lounge/diner. Not available 12th Sept to 21st Sept and one week mid Oct. PM for more details.    

Varche

13200

General Discussion Area / Re: FAO Varche

« on: 10 August 2009, 18:40:20 »

Isla Christina. That is near the Portuguese border nearest big place is Huelva. Is that the place?

Are you flying in? Driving (MV6), hiring a car? How long for? Do you mind a bit of driving?

I live near Granada -about in the very centre of Andalucia. Seville is a nice place, you can park your car and hire bikes to get around. The Alhambra Palace at Granada is a world heritage site. The Donana nature reserve isn't far from Huelva. You have also got sherry tasting...................

El Viajes Varche