The vinyl illusion ?

[Marco]

Now on that we agree! Landlords should have the option to have a smoking room, with ventilation, if their customers want it.

That's what I said previously, but you were too incensed with your aggressive behaviour being rightly criticised that you completely missed that bit and just went off on one of your rants!

Marco.

[Arkless Electronics]

I'm afraid none of that condones the inflammatory, aggressive and violent behaviour you claimed you'd commit if someone dared (legitimately) complain at having to inhale your cigarette smoke. Nor does it befit the type of person, or trader, I wish to have here as a member of this forum.

Behave like a "filthy creature" (not my words, btw) and you'll be treated like one.

You came across as a mindless lout, especially with the 'fight on pal' comment. Is that a professional way to conduct yourself, and do you think it's liable to enhance your business? That's rhetorical, btw!

So unless you apologise for that disgraceful remark, promise you'll never write anything like that here again, then I'll have no option but to ban you, as I'm simply unwilling to share the same webspace as someone like that, and in the process damage the reputation of AoS.

Therefore, think *very carefully* what your next move is, if any.

Marco.

May I remind you that it was in response to someone who said that if he had a problem with me smoking OUTSIDE (I seem to keep having to repeat the all important outside bit) and complained to me, and I blew smoke at him, he would punch me. That was ok?

I'll not say such a thing again then for the sake of peace and harmony. Sorry.

[Marco]

May I remind you that it was in response to someone who said that if he had a problem with me smoking OUTSIDE (I seem to keep having to repeat the all important outside bit) and complained to me, and I blew smoke at him, he would punch me. That was ok?

No, but there's a BIG difference between simply telling someone that they have a problem with inhaling their cigarette smoke, and the person that's being directed at then rudely blowing smoke in their face, which of course is automatically going to cause an adverse reaction!

*YOUR* inflammatory behaviour would've been responsible for escalating the situation into a potential one of violence, not what they did!! Like someone else said, what if you complained about the behaviour of someone there who was drunk, and they responded by pissing all over you, how would you have reacted to that??

I'll not say such a thing again then for the sake of peace and harmony. Sorry.

Ok, that's fine. But in future please remember that when posting here you are not only representing yourself as Jez, but Arkless Electronics, and also as an AoS trader, so in future you need to learn to curb some of your 'strong views', as I don't want to be having this conversation again. Cheers!

Marco.

[montesquieu]

There's the recent case of the woman who was killed by a cyclist in London.
If she hadn't had her attention on the smartphone she was using, there's a high probability that she would still be around today.

Missed a lot of the drama here today but not letting this go unchallenged: the woman was NOT on her mobile, that was bollocks thrown up by the cyclist in posts online to try and shift the blame and it was CLEARLY established in court that she was not on the phone at the time she crossed the street.

The idiot cyclist who was out there on a track bike doing 20mph on a busy street at lunchtime with no brakes was 100% to blame let's be in no doubt about that.

Yes there are a few Darwin award winners out there who killed taking selfies or crossing streets glued to whatsapp but this woman was not amongst them.

On the smoking front - I gave up smoking cigarettes (rollups mainly) when my son was born 19 years ago, though I have a pipe (tobaccoo, in case anyone is wondering) that I smoke about once a month when I'm feeling in the mood maybe more often when I'm on holiday. I think it's utter nonsense that we have made pariahs out of smokers.

If you go to Germany pubs have the choice of either being smoking pubs, or non-smoking pubs. The smoking ones (a small minority now less than one in 10) are not allowed to serve food, have a fairly mature staff and clientele, don't have muzak (bliss) and are generally far better/more adult to be in than many non-smoking ones.(There are no brats running around for starters, a curse in these parts). The non-smoking ones are much like pubs in the UK.

The point is people are treated like grown-ups and have CHOICE. Something health fascists are desperate to stamp out (look at those ridiculous packs FFS with their garish photographs).

I was in one of these German smoking pubs, smoking my pipe and enjoying a glass of rotwein, last Christmas day on my way to Bach's Christmas Oratorio at the Michael in Hamburg. And it's a long time since I enjoyed a pub so much.

[magiccarpetride]

Indeed, Alex, and why do you think that has happened; why has convenience triumphed so spectacularly over quality, to the gross detriment of society...?

Quite simply, because the pressures of modern life mean that few people have TIME to indulge in the simple pleasures that make life worth living. And so why is that...??

Because, and this is a major problem in the UK, poor work/life balances essentially rob people of their freedom, as they have to work all the hours under the sun to pay for 'stuff' they've been told that they must have, in order to be considered a 'success', indicated by the amount of superfluous material possessions they own.

Gross consumerism and a misplaced sense of self-entitlement has eroded our core human values, to the extent that we 'connect' with (feel and sense) the REAL world around us less and less every day, pretty soon with the result that that world will no longer exist.

Anyway, I digress....

Marco.

I am as alarmed as you are, Marco. So I don't think you digress; quite the reverse.

I was shocked when I recently read a study that revealed how our ancestors (say, people who lived more than hundred years or so ago), actually worked much, much less than we do today. It was the invention of steam engine, the light bulb and so on that enabled overlords to harness the unwashed masses and make them work even more than before. Suddenly, thanks to the invention of electricity and the light bulb, we see the emergence of shifts in the workplace.

Today, the electronic leash is the most insidious application of technology ever hoisted upon the population. I've worked with different kinds of teams (meaning, coming from different cultural backgrounds). I've been on projects with mostly European team members, then on projects with mostly Americans, then Asians etc. To me, the most atrocious victims of the 'being busy, staying out of trouble' brainwashing are Americans. They for some reason feel huge rush of imminent panic if they feel, even for a minute, that they're not busy. That's just terrible.

So given that state of affairs in the world today, it's a small wonder that barely anyone has any ability to carve out a few hours of the day to sit in front of the turntable, carefully and lovingly clean their LPs, then lovingly listen to the amazing music pouring out of well positioned speakers.

Funnily, it is always the digital crowds that gets very offended by us, vinyl lovers; rarely it goes the other way around. If someone tries to convince me that digital sound format is superior, I am prone to give them the benefit of a doubt and to sit down and listen to their amazing digital front end. But it doesn't seem to work the other way around -- whenever I claim that some LP sounds better than its digital version, the digital lovers get all tied into a knot. I'm not sure why is that?

[Barry]

This thread has certainly drifted somewhat - in fact I think it could hold the record for maximum thread drift.

I have been a way and have had to do some catching up.

Apropos photography, well most of mine is/has been travel photography. The taking of the photograph was the creative bit: choice of lens; aperture/shutter speed; choice of filmstock; viewpoint; composition. That was it. But the film still had to be developed and beacause my favourite choice of film was Kodachrome 64 (because IMO it had the best colour rendition/accuracy (oops that word again)), it had to be sent to Kodak for processing. The only choice I had in the subsequent 'replay' was to choose a projector with a good lens, free from aberations, using a light source with the correct colour temperature to simulate daylight, and a screen. When I project my slides I feel I can walk into the picture and am immediately reminded of being exactly there when I took the photo.

I do believe the ban on smoking in pubs has greatly increased the demise of the local pub (at least one closes a week), but I also think the increase in the cost of beer has much to answer for (over £5 a pint in London). IMO landlords should have been given the right to choose whether to make their pubs non-smoking family friendly 'gastropubs', to remain an establishment where both the staff were smokers and where smoking clients would be welcome.

I don't know if Shaun's original question/observation has been answered - but it's certainly been an interesting ride!

Barry (a non-smoker, hates digital photography and is comfortable with both analogue and digital music reproduction)

[narabdela]

Missed a lot of the drama here today but not letting this go unchallenged: the woman was NOT on her mobile, that was bollocks thrown up by the cyclist in posts online to try and shift the blame and it was CLEARLY established in court that she was not on the phone at the time she crossed the street.

The idiot cyclist who was out there on a track bike doing 20mph on a busy street at lunchtime with no brakes was 100% to blame let's be in no doubt about that.

Yes there are a few Darwin award winners out there who killed taking selfies or crossing streets glued to whatsapp but this woman was not amongst them.

It's genuinely worrying how fake news like this gets so easily accepted and quoted as fact. I keep reading the "but she was on her phone" nonsense on internet forums.

We really need to be more critical of what we read these days.

[Stratmangler]

Missed a lot of the drama here today but not letting this go unchallenged: the woman was NOT on her mobile, that was bollocks thrown up by the cyclist in posts online to try and shift the blame and it was CLEARLY established in court that she was not on the phone at the time she crossed the street.

From what I can find online the case looks to have hinged entirely on the cyclist being on an illegal machine.
Have you got any links to the evidence given in court?
One thing I would disregard is testimony from witnesses - they're notoriously unreliable.
I would expect Oxford Street to have an extremely high density of CCTV cameras, so the incident should have been picked up by one of them.

And don't get me wrong, the cyclist in question got off lightly in my opinion.

[Oddball]

I can never think why it was not allowed to have a single smoking room in a pub ,with extractor fans and labelled as such !!
Also ,my pet hate is folks with ear plugs in walking the dog or cycling whilst listening to some loud music ,or whatever . Not using their ears to hear whats coming along the road . You hit them and its you in the cart unless there are witnesses!

Vinyl , yes - its an illusion with the tat that I listen to it , with

[montesquieu]

From what I can find online the case looks to have hinged entirely on the cyclist being on an illegal machine.
Have you got any links to the evidence given in court?
One thing I would disregard is testimony from witnesses - they're notoriously unreliable.
I would expect Oxford Street to have an extremely high density of CCTV cameras, so the incident should have been picked up by one of them.

And don't get me wrong, the cyclist in question got off lightly in my opinion.

Sorry to use the Daily Mail but they had their own reporter at the trial whereas nearly everyone else was using Press Association copy which was very badly written some days. (Speaking as an ex-journalist who used to cover court cases, in shorthand) - it's the only one I could find with the reference to the phone at short notice.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...slaughter.html

'The former courier and scaffolder also said she had been on her phone - but it was proved in court she wasn't.'