St Landrew

Compaq are nowadays a part of Hewlett Packard, and have always been a reputable company, even if their products weren't always the best ones to buy. I think you might get somewhere with this one. Purchased from where though..? PC World..? Good luck if so, and hope you get a Store Manager who doesn't just dig his heels in.

Well of course. You make an excellent and valid point IMO. And what it immediately suggests is a failure to communicate between these institutions. The local charity I do IT work for deals with young people who suffer from poor parentage/family breakups, etc... They are often threatened with violence and meet with bad behaviour on a daily basis. I also get involved in a few other ways too, and so I have heard directly from a Southampton C.C. official that they are a Rolls Royce in a Ford Escort environment. So their budget gets cut back every now and then. They still do a Rolls Royce job though because they go the extra step, when the minimum Ford Escort job is all that is required. Their communication practices are top notch, and show what can easily be achieved. It's not just about budgets, it's about how to go about doing the job.

BTW, who is the manufacturer..?

Considering that standard European guarantees are 3 years, then that could be said to be an average working life of a motherboard. Although of course, M/Bs often go on for year after year, by the same token there will be others that will fail rather quickly. Obviously the fail timer was set rather accurately on your laptop. Even in the UK, if you are within a month or three, I think you have a case for your product not being fit for purpose.

The case of Rupert asking for the inclusion of more youngsters is a very topical point within football, in a wider sense. Read this article. The last few lines are rather interesting in terms of what is happening at Saints: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7725388.stm

You mean there are times when you're not..?

I think you'll find he did.

Just to pick up on alehouseboys point about Maxtor HDDs. You're right about their perceived reliability problems, but I don't think it is confined to them. They may be the worst case though. Years ago, before today's multi gigabyte drives were common, HDDs were quite unburstable, although Connor, Quantum, and Fujitsu drives were seen as the ones to pass over if possible. But even they were OK. Eventually, Connor merged with Seagate, and Fujitsu teamed up with Siemens, and Quantum went to Maxtor, who since, have also been acquired by Seagate. Here's a list if you are curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_hard_disk_manufacturers So we are left with the headline HDD manufacturers of Seagate, WD, etc... with Hitachi, Samsung and a few others taking up the slack. The point I'm making, is that system HDDs are now pushed so hard, that IMO, they inevitably fail just that bit quicker than they used to. Although aside from fans, they are the most important moving part in a computer, and they are still generally incredibly reliable - even Maxtor drives.

Just received my new remote control. That is under 3 days since my telephone call to Targa's technical support to report the problem with the old one. Brilliant service - take note British companies.

Of course it is difficult for social workers to get the decision right. But it seems that once again, through a lack of communication, some innocent infant has slipped through the net. I've noticed over the years, the one common factor in cases where it all goes wrong, indeed almost every situation where things fail, is a lack of communication. It seems like a British disease. Nobody is ready to step in and go beyond what is minimal action. To make the situation more important than themselves. These incidents will keep happening time and again, and we'll never learn the lesson.

I noticed that. I was just about to post a withering, sarcastic put down of your effort, Pancake, and post the correct Google Map, when I screwed it up too. So I gave up..!

When was it put there Seatbelt..? I've visited Taupo a few times, and I don't remember it. I do remember buying a book by NZ bush-whacker, author & legend, Barry Crump, called Hang On A Minute Mate, while I was there. I also bought a sports top. Just checked the book case, Barry's still there, but my sports top wore out a few years ago. I also discovered, in a Taupo restaurant, that Thai Green Chicken Curry was heavenly, as it was the best one I'd ever tasted. But no DC3.

Now if that isn't an argument for planning a road trip, then I don't know what is. At 37 pence a litre, a person could climb aboard a nice 600cc-1000cc motorcycle and cruise the NZ highways from one end of the country to the other. In the summer, of course. It got mighty cold in Gore, NZ. What's the bike hire cost..?

Yes we get quite a skewed perspective in the UK. On the European continent, the biggest motor sports person's name is Rossi, and he happens to ride a MotoGP motorbike. I'm not kidding. People might tell you otherwise, but amongst real fans, this bloke is easily more popular and well known worldwide than David Beckham, and the like. And it's nice that, because he's lived in London for the past few years, only recently moving back to Italy, he still gets involved with UK charity, and promises to remain so. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/7713352.stm

Yes, I think I know the lad Ponty well enough..! Morning, Slipped H.

Sad to say Eric, but isn't that the worst element of the British the world over..? Christ knows why they have to shout and mouth off as they do, but they will do it. I've always put it down to the everlasting class system, which still has a few generations to go before it dies out [and the Monarchy must disappear too, of course] and restrictive drinking hours, where everyone who can't control themselves normally, certainly can't control themselves, once they've been allowed endless beer time. Of course, the Europeans, who've never had this 10.30-11.30pm problem have always just popped out for a drink whenever the fancy took them. While Brits get it down like there's no tomorrow, and the familiar Brits abroad nature results.

I've no doubt Harry is a good manager, and proves it with every club, except Saints, of course. But he is also a self promoter, and his hands were dirty when it came to relegation at SFC. He may not have been completely responsible, maybe not even partially, but he was there, and allowed it to happen. While Harry went back to his spiritual home, [that's a bloody laugh for a start], and everything was nice and dandy, SFC was left to rot, and we've never been the same since. I find that dismissive attitude quite disgusting, and now Saints have more chance of diving further than surfacing.

OK, point taken.

Occasionally you have this streak in you that is determined to not understand, Ponty ol' chum. OK, I shall be clearer. Did I say TMS..? Did I..? If I do not refer to a specific forum, it might just mean that I am referring to the forums as a whole. In that context, I believe there has been an overall drop in twaddle posts. Besides, if I was going to single out TMS for any particular issue it would be that the posts on there are hardly worth counting for anything, anyway.

OK, I'll admit to a slight chortle on that one.

Solid State Drives should mean immediate OS start up. Won't that be fun..? Of course, one could always install old Windows 3.11 on a modern PC and usual HDD and get the same effect. I've read somewhere that boot up time is around 5 seconds..?

You bloody well know it isn't..! Flight Of The Navigator perhaps..?

I think that's bloody amazing. I'm assuming it's an old De Havilland Vampire [or Venom].

Where do I order a copy from..?

I entirely accept that these forums have lost something, but I would suggest that you give it time. There is always the idea that people will return just as they will return to St Marys, when Saints get their act together. I would imagine the popularity of this forum, and of Saints forums in general, go hand-in-hand with the popularity of the club itself. I know many people who are so p!ssed off with the club that they will have nothing to do with it, not even coming onto the forums, until things are sorted out. After all, you can post thread, after thread, after thread, and if you still see nothing being changed, even after there is a whole consensus of fan's opinions being clearly unaccounted for, then you tend to lose interest. Which I think a lot of people have.