Cloud

Cheers for your help, I get it now (to the bookies I go...)

Can someone explain decimal odds to me? The bookies here all operate with them - and no matter how much I try, I still can't get to grips with how they convert to UK ones...

Yep, Torp is definitely the one that's located a ridiculous distance outside of Oslo - 110km according to their site, so a good 70 miles. I think the main Oslo airport is around 30 miles outside?

Jesus, no, no, no. Don't bother with that - the thing I linked to makes it much, much easier. You can set individual preferences from within Windows (it's a front end, no need to mess about with command line options) and...well, it makes life much easier.

Surely, surely not... I would be utterly disturbed if people were so bothered by me that they voted in person. Anyway, second in the poll despite not having lived (full time) in Aberdeen since 2006...get in!

I think it was a bigger than expected loss, causing the fall. And yeah, the Lloyds TSB side made a profit, just not enough to cover the extra loss.

So an almost guaranteed 'no' vote then. I'm surprised the SNP and Tories haven't found some common ground on a way of abolishing the council tax (perhaps under the pretence on the part of the Tories that Labour have abused the Council Tax system), to be honest.

Best bet then is to give that D-Fend Reloaded a shot, it makes life much, much, much easier. (mind you, I have no idea if it'll solve your problem...) Could you not just find a crack for the game to stop it from looking for the CD?

Doing the maths. For: SNP + Liberal Democrats + Margo McDonald = 64 votes. Against: Labour + Conservative = 62 votes. Given the Greens can't be trusted to back the Government in crucial bills, and the fact that they would demand significant, unaffordable concessions to back the bill to the point where they could be relied to vote 'yes' or at least abstain, then it's no surprise that it's been dropped. I suspect the Green fiasco with the budget had a lot to do with this - before, it could be assumed that they could be relied on to do the right thing for Scotland, but now, it seems not. And with the tied vote, the casting vote is always 'no' - so there really is no way that the SNP can get this through the Parliament. Freezing council tax is a savvy move though - if it's frozen for 4 years, I imagine Labour will be forced into either continuing the policy or replacing it with something else, which is a SNP/Lib Dem aim anyway.

What version are you using? I'm using this - D-Fend Reloaded: Overview and it works nicely, though I've never tried to mount drives.

How much did they pay for the pleasure of winning two years in a row, I wonder?

Good, he's a fucking arsehole. I had a girl on my course who had just moved back to Scotland after four years living in Australia with her parents. She was Scottish through and through - no-one would have considered her different. But of course, the funding arrangements meant that she got landed with a bill that she couldn't hope to pay (and her parents wouldn't contribute). She took it all the way to Rae Angus, only to be told by him 'tough, you either pay or leave' - with absolutely no compassion for her situation. He gave her about two minutes of his time, and wouldn't even consider her request to be allowed to pay the fees as and when she could afford to. Utter wanker, and they lost a very intelligent student in the process. I remeber him walking around the place as if he was some sort of demi-God.

Don't do it. We tested it (with a full run up) and ended up going flying into the bushes as the wheels locked Mythbusters has a lot to answer for...

Fuck, I apologise. I was going to go in past One-Up on Thursday and buy it and completely forgot

I've never tried there, out of rage that they took over the chipper there years upon years ago. I'm still annoyed at them

Grr, the problems I'm having is finding someone willing to insure you if you're a resident of a non-UK country. I went round the travel agents here and none of them had even heard of such a policy - though they were quick to offer insurance to cover cancellation on your part. But the sticking point is the residency clause - and as I've been here for more than 185 days, they now consider me to be resident here rather than the UK. I know I could lie and say that I'm UK resident, but I'd rather not. Oh I know, this is why I wanted the policy in the first place. Incidentally, I just had my 9th/10th flight with Ryanair without a problem. They're strictly enforcing the 1 bag limit however - and both Poznan and Edinburgh were checking bags to see if they could fit into the...whatever it's called, the frame? Aberdeen on Thursday was no fun

I know exactly what you mean. I was passing it on Thursday, and looking at the 'now closed' signs was really sad. I must've spent so much money on stuff in there and in the small games shop over the years, and to see it now shut is sad.

Don't waste your time buying travel guides, they rarely offer anything that you can't find out yourself. The 'In Your Pocket' guides are rather brilliant though, and cover quite a few major cities in Europe. Their guides are also available online for free, so they are 'for the win' as some people might say. They're also usually available free in major hotels, and they're all in English. But the most major piece of advice - buy an interrail pass. Train prices in Western Europe are hideous for any sort of walkup fare - even Hoek van Holland to Rotterdam (maybe 30km?) is about 5 euro single. But be careful with the pass - sometimes you need to buy reservations before getting on the train, particularly with 'EuroCity' international trains and domestic InterCity trains. The reservations are usually quite cheap, but you absolutely must have one before boarding if it's required, otherwise you'll get a rather horrible fine. The other piece of advice is to use hostelworld.com comprehensively - the reviews on there can usually be relied on if it has many ratings. But...why Western Europe? You can do Eastern Europe for half the price - unless of course, you don't like the idea of no-one speaking English

Canton House in Woodside is the only chinese takeaway worthy of your business.

Fucking snow. I have a flight from Poznan at 2pm to Edinburgh, and seeing as it's with Ryanair, I'm finding myself desperately hoping that the flight gets out of Edinburgh allright. Ryanair tend to be quite good about getting the plane back to base - so I'm not too bothered about delays, but I'm absolutely worried sick that the Edinburgh-Poznan flight will get cancelled. The outwards flight is at 10:20, so I'm hoping that the snow won't fall in Edinburgh until later in the day - a delayed flight is no issue, but we need a plane to take us there. I've spent most of today checking the weather forecast and the flight schedules, hoping desperately that Ryanair don't get too messed up today. It seems fine...touch wood. Incidentally, does anyone know if it's possible to get travel insurance that covers you in the event of the airline cancelling the flight? Poland appears not to have heard of such a thing.

Fucks sake, I've been playing for ages and still haven't hit a 180. I'm sick to death with the amount of 140's I've had, though. Having said this, I've been relegated to the unbelievably shitty electronic boards that they have in pubs here. Highlight of my week was once hitting a treble 20 despite the dart being very firmly in the treble 1. And don't get me started on it registering despite bouncing clean out.

At current exchange rates, you can get a rather decent haircut here for 2 pounds 50.

Completely pointless in the case of HMV/Waterstones. They will want an application form completed - as they'll use some sort of automated screening on the application before it even gets considered.

Were they all completely ruined at the cricket club? An aunt of mine seems to spend her retired life doing nothing but getting drunk there.

Ewan, just shut up, you're actually embarrasing yourself.