Thread 15 - TalkLair: “I Can't Lie To You About Your Chances, But... You Have My Sympathies.”

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 14).

Autumn seems to have gone straight into winter. It's cold, wet and windy. In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, the walls covered in dubious artwork, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them). The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics.

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

VictorianBigot · Yesterday 22:44

I like the cold but having to factor in time to de-mist the windscreen or, worse, scrape ice off it, is such a pain.

It's really cold here, 2° and a lot of wind chill. I had a load of errands and by the time I arrived at my first location, the screen wash had gone from an inadequate splurt to sod all. And it's got low temperature liquid!

Kucinghitam · Today 10:17

This is shaping up to be great fun.

You may have noticed that I've already clocked that one!

Here's another! Do I dare expound about being forced to parade round the living room, showing off the orange nylon wool knitted underpants, when I was 5 and a half? From a great aunt who was losing her faculties...

Yes!

I've only read the beginning of the thread so far and this made me wonder about the future of humanity.

Considering most deities were aliens, why wouldn't it be possible some brought dragons with them on occasion

I can't decide whether nylon (sparks) or actual wool.(itchy) would be worse for knitted pants.

It would depend on the wool. Cashmere and your privates would feel as though they were wrapped in soft, warm clouds of happiness. Worsted might feel like your parts were wrapped in barbed wire.

Nylon knitted would be interesting. Quite sparky and a real fire hazard.

None of them would be particularly hygienic in the long term and I am closing my mind to stainage in case I start to feel queasy. Too late.

Wonderful documentary on iPlayer, Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger. It's basically a love letter from Martin Scorsese to them, especially Powell who he came to know and who went on to marry Thelma Schoonmaker, Scorsese's long-time film editor.

It's just a joy to watch and I love how you can see the influence it had on Scorsese, obviously acknowledged by him through clips from his films explainign what he's taken from what film. I love him, I love them. Bliss.

I've got that recorded. Good to know it lives up to its promise.

All wool makes me itch, even cashmere. I'm OK with alpaca and yak, which are technically hair rather than wool - they don't have the little hooky bits.

NoBinturongsHereMate · Yesterday 19:24

I can't decide whether nylon (sparks) or actual wool.(itchy) would be worse for knitted pants.

It was as itchy as Hell and a bit on the small side; I don't recall any sparks.

I've been invited to a "Lunch & Learn"(*) meeting on "Inclusive Language"

Topics to be discussed
Why is inclusive language important?
How to use language to show allyship and how to be aware of and avoid microaggressions (**)

So, any bets on what the content will actually be?

(*) As a remote worker, it's more like "here's what you could have won" as the local attendees fill their faces with free pizza and I give up my lunchtime to be in a teams call for no pizza

(**) I note with some dismay, that this is apparently now a word

On the positive side, you can turn off your camera so they can't see your eyes rolling

(I'd be having "IT/broadband issues" for that part of the day, if it was me).

It's entirely voluntary, I'm interested to see what the zeitgeist is (I think an influx of pronouning grads plus the usual megacorp D&I is jointly responsible)

Kucinghitam · Today 10:09

On the positive side, you can turn off your camera so they can't see your eyes rolling

He'd be like a one armed bandit, no doubt!

It's true, I'm at least a County Level Eye Roller. I'm not saying I'd make the England squad, but I'd get a game in IoW vs Hampshire, on the bench at least.

FOTTFSOFATFOSM would be my favoured response. Would make me fucking angry, actually. Fucking thought-police. How dare you tell me how to think or react.

Mouse> Must get round to watching that docu. I saw AMOLAD at the cinema not so long ago, it was fabulous.

I noticed that Powell and Pressburger documentary on iPlayer last night and made a mental note to watch it. Good to know it’ll be worth paying attention.

I watched half of I know where I'm going the other night - it's one of their films & lovely and on iPlayer

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/oct/19/i-know-where-im-going-review-powell-and-pressburger-classic-is-a-pure-joy

Can I pick the Hive Brain on the subject of iPhones? I know there will be threads about stuff like this, but people here are generally less than 90% insane ...
My only experience with Apple was an early (1980s) Mac with a floppy drive! It served me well for many years until it eventually moved on to new home with a friend's daughter.

Anyway, to the point ... I have absolutely had it with enormo-phones. I rarely use mine except for texts, bus/train apps, calling cabs when stranded and other such outdoor practicalities. I don't go for contracts, just pay GiffGaff £6 a month and that works for me. So I want something smaller than a brick and am looking at the iPhone SE.

Up or down with that sort of thing?

I have one for work. It's fine, though I think you do need to sort out which apps you want on the front page. Apple stuff is reasonably intuitive. I would get a screen protector and a rubbery case for it, though - they seem to be quite brittle.

My phone is at the fancier end of the iPhone scale (but not the biggest size and not new) because for me the camera is really important and I use my phone pretty much constantly (although I’m not keen on actual phone calls) so I don’t know too much detail about the SE but I think it’s generally liked by those for whom it’s the right scale and spec. My experience if iPhones generally is that they’re good (apart from the bendy iPhone 6 but the 6s the following year was awesome) and generally last a few years without a problem. I’m completely in the Apple ecosystem though.

Oh look, before I got round to hitting the post button Squeaky came along with actual knowledge!

I have an Apple iPhone 13 Pro-max, because I wanted the larger screen for my aging eyes and fingers to deal with. I love it, and I use it all the time, every day.

I've had iPhones since about 2009. I currently have an iPhone 11 which I bought 4-5 years ago, the longest any of any of them has lasted, It's so slow and glitchy now though, so I pretty much only use it when I'm out and don't have access to my laptop, or for calls. The camera is shit compared to non-iphones but I think they're better on the newer models.

I wouldn't want any other OS, the security alone is worth it IMO. And they're just really simple and intuitive to use. I've heard the SE is supposed to be very good and I've also heard that the models that came after mine are built to last longer.

I used to be a big fan of Windows but there was no going back for me once I got a Mac. A friend asked me to do something on her Windows laptop recently and it must have been like watching an alien who'd never come across a laptop in their life.