I have life insurance through work and it's with a company that give you points for walking, exercising or meditating. I'm not really sure how profitable it is for them, presumably if they nudge people to be more active they're less likely to die, but I'm averaging enough points to get a fiver a month in Amazon vouchers.

Anyway, I've almost ran out of books to read so what should I spend them on? The past few years of the /lit/ thread would give you a general idea of what I tend to read. I might pick up Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky, but what else?

I bet the postman fails to bring my drugs, and I'll be forced to re-plan around not having any drugs.

>>458719

In my day, we had to wait in a car park for a bloke who has been "ten minutes away" for the past two hours.

>>458719
Have Telegram bots grown to credibly compete with the markets or are they still a niche medium?

What's a marbled polecat doing here? It's quite welcome, as long as it doesn't pull a grey squirrel.

>>458722
That's a pine marten.

>>458723

Can they do anything exciting?

Anyone got a link to those couple of radar weather websites that were thrown about a few years ago? The ones where you can follow wind channels, clould cover, etc, with numerous overlays of detailed information.

>>458725
They're helping with red squirrel numbers in Northern Ireland because greys are more vulnerable to them.

https://www.qub.ac.uk/News/Allnews/2020/Researchshowssignificanceofnativepredatorstonaturallyrestoreecosystem.html

>>458727

Well that's good then.

Their cousin, the beech marten, is the scourge of mainland Europe as it likes to chew on car wiring and hoses. We spent a holiday in northern France once and one morning, another hotel guest's car wouldn't start, and the damage in the engine bay was apparently characteristic of "une fouine" - a beech marten, as they told us. They're a very common species from Spain to the Black Sea, but somehow absent in the British Isles, if you believe wikipedia.

Facebook were the good guys. Clickbait websites all turned on Facebook during the Adpocalypse in 2017, where online advertising revenue collapsed and loads of websites went out of business, but surely it's good that society is free of those shitty websites. The fact that Facebook falsified market research data to boost Facebook's advertising revenue, falsely claiming that users were really eager to watch videos and everyone needed to pivot to video content, had lots of excellent consequences that make me forgive their crime of fraud.

The reason I am suddenly remembering this is because everyone I speak to who could replace my fucked boiler asks me what my favourite boiler is and if I want a specific one, so I just looked online for boiler reviews. Every website is a fake bullshit website set up to shill for some random boiler company you've never heard of. In the end I just clicked on page 4 of Google's results, assuming that the SEO vampires would have stopped trying by that point, and indeed I got some great reviews, from 2021, before a new law was passed that demands higher efficiency from all new boilers. None of these boilers would pass the new efficiency tests, but a company called Viessmann appear to be closest. Their boilers are extremely expensive, however.

>>458729
Facebook seems to think I'm really interested in shitty African webcomics.

>>458723
Oops. Must remember: marbled at the back martin at the front.

It feels like the Uighurs were in the news all the time and then nobody could be arsed reporting on them after covid.

>>458720

Naturally I was there too, and I know the arseache. I've only recently worked out how to safely order drugs off the Internet and it's truly a revelation. Waiting a few days for it to turn up is a small price to pay when you're getting so much better value and quality to begin with.

>>458721

I wouldn't know, I've never trusted any of that lot. For a while apparently it was all the rage to buy drugs off instagram snapchat, but that seems far too easily traced for my liking.

I took last week off work because I really need to get a new job with a promotion in my career. I've spent the entire time playing 6 Ages.

>>458718
Dogs of War and its sequel are indeed tits.

>>458729
You've either got to put rudgwicksteamshow.co.uk at the end of your search term or use an AI. Google search is broken.

>>458733
What are you doing it with these days?

>>458735
Are you me? I hope not because you've used up more leave than I wanted to waste but I also have done something similar. Took some days off, meant to get my job hunting gear on and not really sure what I've done. Regret.

Jennifer Lawrence looks fucking weird.

>>458726
windy.net
absolutely everything in a very swanky animated interface

netweather.tv
bit more traditional and you get all the data in .jpgs that are updated every few hours, but the benefit of some forecasting and blogs from people who understand what it all means.

>>458737
Yeah it is pretty weird seeing her with clothes on

>>458737
She's always been a bit funny looking. Her career allegedly has a lot to do with banging Weinstein.

>>458730
I get that too, come to think of it. And Indian shit too. I can't explain it.

>>458741
I followed a shitty Indian meme page, like an Indian 9Gag equivalent, and it was always amusing the way the sentences mix English words in with whatever other language used. Trying to decipher the meaning based on what English there is and what's in the image.

Lots of anti-laplanderstani and pro-Israel content too.

>>458730
I'd call it ChatGPT if it wasn't so piss poor. The drawing is alright to good, but it's utterly lacking in humour.

Would you buy a display model mattress? Went mattress shopping today and the one we bought was ~£950 although we could have got the one on display for ~£350, but my girlfriend didn't like the idea of buying one that people had been laying on for months to test it out.

>>458847
>people had been laying on for months
Most of those people would surely have been clothed? Besides, what's another $150 to get it steam cleaned? You're still saving money, might even do it yourself with a wallpaper stripper.

>>458847

You do put sheets over your mattess, don't you.

£350 over £950 is a sizeable discount that I'd feel tempted to accept.

How does your girlfriend handle sleeping in hotel beds on holiday? Where people have done all manner of things beyond just laying in it.

>>458849
The problem here is that you're trying to apply rational thought to a woman's mind.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS37SNYjg8w

>>458850

True; well as long as she's pitched in for the 950.

If you were going to get a campervan would you go for a proper one or a van conversion?

>>458855
A proper one, but they are very expensive, particularly when you think how often you're going to use them.

>>458855

I'd crudely convert a knackered Luton van or a minibus, but I've always had a soft spot for New Age Travellers.

>>458856
They are more luxurious, but it seems like they're more for pensioners.

>>458855

My brother once bought a converted VW minibus campervan. The guy who sold it was actually a professional carpenter and had built a custom made interior for it with very good quality cabinets and fixtures. It was a real bargain as it was 15 years old at the time with about 130K miles.

A converted campervan can be a good alternative, and you can get good value for money, if the previous owner put a decent amount of effort into the conversion.

I spent all afternoon until 8pm trying to figure out why the air conditioning in my car isn't working. Got it back from the shop at noon today, had them service it this morning because I thought the refrigerant needed topping up, but they told me it was fine and they didn't have to top up anything. They still happily took my £100 for the service and for reading out fault codes, which turned up nothing besides some engine issues that are probably unrelated.

I didn't want to spend hundreds having them find the problem, so I had a crack at it, and it turns out my clutch coil on the compressor has burned out. It's supposed to measure around 3-4 Ω resistance, but mine has no continuity at all. Costs around £25 to get a new one.

I'm not saying I threw those £100 away today, but it goes to show that it literally pays to do some fault finding of your own before you have a garage look at something.

A few weeks ago I requested a free Book Of Mormon, and some missionaries were going to come round my house to give it to me and talk to me about their church. I chickened out and said I had an illness flare up, as I was scared of having to interact with them.

I have decided to practice Celtic paganism, but today I got a WhatsApp message from the Mormons asking when they can come round. Do I explain I am now a heathen, or just ghost them?

>>458909
Ask them round and explain the situation to them. I'd be interested to hear why they believe Mormonism is a superior belief to Celtic paganism. If nothing else you get a free bible out of it.

>>458909
Woad paint and a big stick, that's what you do. Get those Seppos out of our swamp. You also have to be bollock naked I think, except for the paint.

>>458910
The Book of Mormom isn't a bible, it's more like Bible fanfiction.

>>458911
I was going to make a brilliant joke about something to wipe your arse with after the apocalypse but then I got to thinking if the Christian god is real and you believe in him and all that jazz would he smite you for using the bible to wipe your arse with if you had nothing else to use, then I started thinking about the Mormon god, whoever that is. Then I started thinking the way bible pages are all paper thin (heh) must be a conspiracy by Big Apocalypse to make people stockpile toilet paper. I should go to bed.

>>458909
Ask if they'll send the fit American Mormons to recruit you.

>>458909

Invite them round and ask them what they reckon to this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46PXaJxzuDE

>>458914
Last time I had Mormons round I brought up the South Park episode. They laughed and said it was funny. They'll be overly nice about it.

>>458909
It doesn't matter, they're not going to leave you alone now.

>I have decided to practice Celtic paganism

What's really going on, lad. You first do such an obviously self-destructive act and then you pick up the beliefs of people who spent too long in the shed huffing white spirit.

Michael MacIntyre's The Wheel is unbearably shit.

>>458917
As someone who does not even own a TV I haven't seen The Wheel.

>>458917
Decent Saturday evening TV died with Barrymore's career.

>>458917
I watched one a while back, one of the "experts" was Joel Dommett the charisma vacuum, and his speciality was heavy metal. The question was about nu-metal, something like "Rollin was a song by which American metal band" (it wasn't Rollin but something very similar and well known), and Joel Dommett the charisma vacuum hadn't even heard of it. And he gave the wrong answer.

Ikea in Sheffield is really weird. It somehow makes the one in Leeds feel classy.

I've eaten three magnums and it feels like I'm having a minor heart attack. Worth it though.

If Bibi dies you're all invited round for massive party.

.. well, atleast now I have something to watch when feeling especially lonely. This NPC trend is strangely alluring.

Oh, God, one of them lot that says "NPC" is here. Get the nurse.

>>458931
What? The trend is actually called 'NPC streaming'. Pictured is 'Cherry Crush', check it out on Youtube.

A pigeon shat through my open sunroof at a red light today. WTF.

>>458930

Spends all her time saying NOT SPICY when semt a chilli pepper but she's spicy in her videos iykwim

tl;dr tiktok pron sket

>>458939
How awful. How would one go about finding this terrible woman's videos? Just so I can make sure I don't accidentally come across them of course.

She looks like your typical Belle Delphine clone. No idea why you lot are being so thirsty.

>>458940

Be a sperg

I don't understand anything any more. I knew that one day this would happen, but that knowledge doesn't make it any easier.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9LaDH1ojpMA

>>458947

I feel strangely violated having watched it.

>>458947
And now youtube will forever try to recommend me related content. Nice one lad, cheers.

The BlackRock juice is everywhere

If I don't get this eBay item I've been watching all week I'll be so, so sad and I will cry. I haven't even pressed "Watch this item", because maybe someone else will see it. I've just had the tab open the whole time. I'm not even mentioning what it is in case one of the mortgage-trier lads decides he'll never afford one so "why should anyone else get what they want?" and buys it out of spite.

>>458953
Can't you use one of those sniper things?

I'm still annoyed with myself because a few months ago someone listed The Books of South trilogy (The Black Company) and I made a mental note to bid on it but forgot. It went for about £3 or £4 when every other option I've seen this year has been to buy it now for about £20.

>>458949

Clear your browser history and you'll be golden.

If you're on Chrome, also delete the User Data folder under c:\users\<user>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data.

Maybe try to change your IP address as well.

That way, Youtube will see you as a first-time visitor again.

>>458949
Open it in a private browser window next time.

Also why were you all pretending you'd never heard of Cherry Crush before. Don't lie to me, I know what you are.

I saw Neil Morrissey on Sunday Brunch and now I feel very old.

>>458949
Just delete all non-music history and keep it paused until you find music you like. It might take a few days where you're clicking the 'not interested/don't like' buttons but once you're done the recommendations page is at worst just giving you music videos you've watched before. You have your subscriptions for channels to watch on the left bar and if you want more you follow the recommendations on their videos. 99% of Youtube is complete shit made by idiots commenting on content so you're losing nothing.

>But I don't want to do that

Then use clickbait remover which changes the custom title shot for every youtube video with a random screenshot:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clickbait-remover-for-you/omoinegiohhgbikclijaniebjpkeopip/related?hl=en

>I want to remove shorts entirely including the shelf, search etc.

ezpz - stick this into uBlock:
https://letsblock.it/filters/youtube-shorts

>>458950
I want to talk about BlackRock as part of a wider conversation of the illusion of shareholder democracy and the institutions that ensure that never changes. But I'm too lazy and haven't quite arrived on what should be done to fix that_* or then how to counter the inevitable counter-revolutionary forces that use the populism bogeyman.

_{*Beyond delivering beatings to brokers until they simplify the process of exercising voting rights for shareholders.}

I won the eBay auction. I won, but at what cost? £30 for a white mock turtleneck with a RRP of almost two-hundred, that's what cost, get in.

>>458959
I struggle to believe browser history has anything to do with it at all. Unless you're talking about browser UIs that conflate cookies with browser history.

Well I'm awake now. The way I see it I don't have to brush my teeth until 7 because that's when I'd usually brush them anyway.

>>459068
You brush your teeth after eating breakfast. That's the rule.

I've been doing some research, i.e. going on Wikipedia.

Henry VI is the son of Henry V, who was the son of Henry IV, who was the grandson of Edward III, who was the son of Edward II, who was the son of Edward I, who was the son of Henry III, who was the son of King John, who was the son of Henry II, who was the grandson of Henry I, who was the son of William the Conqueror.

I didn't realise they were all directly related. I thought there were wars and shit where the throne changed hands.

>>459071
The state of modern education. It's always been in breeding, It's never been the kings or queens who were more than functionaries.

>>459072
Yeah, but all one bloody family for a thousand years?

>>459073
There are a couple of weird ones when a monarch didn't have any children and they had to trace the family tree, but yes, they're all a bit related. This is when the "House" changes, so for example the last Tudor didn't have any Tudor kids and the next in line was actually a Stuart, and that's how the Stuarts took over. James Stuart (James I of England, James VI of Scotland) was Elizabeth Tudor's cousin, based on what I have just read.

The royal families of other countries were all related too. Here is a photo of King George V of here and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Look how obviously related they are.

I thought I'd give fasting a go to lose some weight and was recommended that I start on a 16:8 schedule. I scoffed at that as 'intermittent fasting' is therefore just eating meals like a normal person and I don't understand why it's become such a fad.

Today I'm starting a 1 meal* schedule of I'm eating between 1800-2000. Exceptions will be a snack after the gym and a banana in the morning on work days (I may cut this). It's not been hard so far but tonight could be tough.

>>459069
>You brush your teeth after eating breakfast. That's the rule.

No, you brush your teeth when you wake up to kill off all the bacteria and then wait half hour before having a coffee as you aimlessly browse BBC News from your WFH set-up for an hour breakfast.

>>459071
Now notice how all the lines popup in 800AD as warlords consolidated power in Western Europe and how the upper class is still made up of victors of 1066.

LadBaby's wife looking fine at about 2:45 in.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKjYFctoe5s

>>459084
>I thought I'd give fasting a go to lose some weight and was recommended that I start on a 16:8 schedule

If you're just starting fasting and wanting to lose weight, I recommend 5:2 over a week and 800 calorie days rather than the daily 16:8 - it sounds tougher, but it isn't. I think more people struggle to lose weight on 16:8 days as it's too easy to over-eat.

Most of the time when you think you're hungry, you're actually just thirsty.

>>459085

LadBaby is such a fucking idiot, rubbing himself up against some bony-arsed bird in a nightclub when he's got that prime specimen at home.

>>459085

Some delightful yoga pants action in the first 30 seconds of this one.

>>459088

Is there anything that doesn't get you lads going?

>>459089

>>459089

I'm not saying they have to get rid of Sunday trading laws, but they could make it so shops are open from 9 until 5/6 instead of 10 until 4.

>>459089

Bony arses.

>>459095
They should make the rule that shops have to be open for four hours, but they can choose the four hours. So one shop will be open in the morning and one will be open in the evening. That's the way forward.

>>459097
Large shops already have an eight hour window in which they can open.

>>459098
My local Lidl and Asda are only open 10am until 4pm.

>>459095
>I'm not saying they have to get rid of Sunday trading laws

I am. Corner shops are shite.

>>459099
Okay? They could open at 12 and close at six if they wanted.

>>459101
Yeah but realistically none of them do. Pointless pedantry.

You've got six-and-a-half day to go to the shops.

>>459103
Seven days in the week, though.

>>459102
Yeah that was the implication back in >>459098, genius.

>>459105
Cool.

>>459100
Used to live next to a Co-Op that was open 7AM-10PM or something on a Sunday, very handy. Could get actual proper food even in the evening.

Have since moved where the only shops open after 4PM are a Londis and two shitty corner shops. Can't really rustle up a meal from the stuff at these places, but I can get a can of Dragon Soop and a packet of Nik Naks so you win some you lose some.

I know you're not to admit this sort of thing, but today I'll be picking up my kids after they've had a week with their grandparents. I haven't missed them at all and I've enjoyed them not being here.

Moved out of a house in November due to the landlords selling it. We were paying £650 a month, 2 bed semi, it wasn't the nicest place.

It's just been listed online. They've renovated it, admittedly to a high standard. It's now £2350 a month. Fucking ridiculous.

>>459207
It's totally fucked. The whole thing's fucked. Landlordism is fucked. Were you at least living inside King Charles' arsehole? Or is the rot spreading?

>>459208
Beeston, Nottingham. Area is getting more and more students as the adjacent University of Nottingham expands, with many family homes becoming HMOs, and many new build developments being student halls. The city tram runs through Beeston so good transport links. The town has become gentrified and become more of a destination.

All this together means a lot of people who've lived in Beeston for years are getting priced out.

>>459207
>>459209
That's more than I'm paying for a spacious Zone 2 flat in London with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It sounds like the landlords are chancing it.

Some people say the bubble is about to pop. Or at least it'll slow below wage growth but I don't see it when the housing shortage is as bad as it is and try as Gove might the NIMBYs are having none of any new housebuilding.

>>459210
From what I've read, the interest rate rises haven't properly fed through yet because a lot more people are on fixed rate mortgage deals compared with previous crashes in property prices. I've got 1.59% fixed for another 28 months or so, by which point I'll have paid off my student loan (plan one) and had a few other outgoings stop which should offset the rise in interest rates so I'm not overly worried.

>>459211
The majority of people on those fixed rate mortgages are first-home buyers who won't even mind being underwater for the roof over their head. They will cope with the rise in interest rate like you will because it's where they live and they won't represent toxic loans.

Like always it's the people who borrowed to invest in a property portfolio who are getting the busy end of the interest rate rises. They're the one's who thought the parabolic rise in home values could be divorced from reality and who will get ...marginally less guaranteed profit than they expected. Same with those running a pension fund or trying to withdraw from it over the next 20 years. Less-than-you-though-you-would-gets for everybody!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CiHY845YZs

>>459214

The Yanks should have finished the job.

>>459214
Well that's that taken care of.

>>459214
And just like many large dog breeds his lower back and knees will be shot all too soon.

Pleased to report my kill count is up to four house spiders this year so far. Less pleased this possibly indicates a significant increase in their numbers in the coming weeks and months. The one I took out in the kitchen might have been a giant but, akin the pilots and tank crews of the Second World War, I'm just going to tell people it was to bump up my numbers. Not that I talk to anyone.

Also is it animal torture if it's a horrible spider? The one I got just now ended up in a small jar, so small I could hold the card over one end with my thumb with the jar itself being held with the rest of my fingers. This meant I could shake it like a little bottle of juice and it turns out if you shake them enough a house spider will curl up into the dead spider pose we all know and love. Was it actually dead? I don't know, but I dumped shampoo on it and flushed it down the toilet to be sure.

>>459218
This seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through. Why wouldn't you just throw it outside? No mess, no clean up, just saves time in general.

>>459218
Hoover them up, you bastard. Then do more hoovering to make sure they die from dust inhalation or whatever. I am extremely scared of spiders. It's them or me.

>>459218
>>459220
They're just lad spiders looking for a wife. I thought you of all people would sympathise with their hopeless journey off the web that ends with them getting squashed for being icky.

How about when you find the nest of a lady spider that absolutely does live in your home all year round you leave her alone and learn to appreciate her company? I've got a massive house spider that lives in my flats intercom and she's a lovely sight to see when I get back from work - I'll be genuinely upset when she goes.

>>459221
Spider-wife, Spider-wife. Does whatever a a spider-wife can. Spinning webs, making eggs, spider-wife.

>>459219
Because I want the spider dead.

>>459221
I'm well aware of the habits and needs of house spiders and I take issue with your insinuation that I leave the house. Moreover if while I'm trying to get a date you catch me skittering across your PC monitor or hiding on the back of your loo roll when you go for a piss before bed, consider me at your mercy. Until then you and David Sedaris can take your spider wives and do one.

Flushed my car's AC system yesterday using Magneti Marelli AC Flush. Which is a mixture of 65% n-heptane and 35% isopropyl alcohol. Unbelievable how much gunk the flush removed from the system. Most of it aluminium shavings, which I expected because the compressor was no longer working. The system is now ready to install a new compressor and accumulator cartridge. Maybe there'll still be a few days above 25°C this year where my newly working AC will actually be needed.

I think supermarket eggs have been downsized. Tried to buy large eggs from Tesco, put them back when I found they were half the size as usual. Similar in CoOp.
Have also noticed the sale of 'extra large' eggs recently which, unless I've simply missed sight of them usually, seem to be a new marketing phenomenon.
Coincides with that egg-pocalypse we experienced earlier in the year, maybe.

>>459227
The last time I got a box of mixed weight eggs they were all tiny.

>>459227

It's just Big Egg having its way with us.

>>459229
The whole thing is a yolk.

I just hope they start making bread smaller so I can still fit my toast soldiers in the runny egg.

It wasn't until adulthood that I learnt you're meant to cook stuffing mix. My parents would always mix some Paxo with boiling water in a mug and serve that alongside Sunday dinner.

Just had a look at meetup.com for the first time in ages, it's all spammy bullshit, has the platform died?

>>459233
Was the platform ever alive?

>>459221
>>459222
It's the lady spiders you want to be careful of. Think of those poor spiderlads getting their end away only for their date to eat them. Bloody women, eh?

>>459227
The egg shortage is definitely getting serious. Wilko haven't had any of these for at least a month now.

>>459233
Good groups are a flash in the pan. They've upped the fees to run a group and if they don't gain traction within the first month or two then they typically fizzle out.

What sort of 'hing are you looking for on there?

>>459236
People must acually buy those supermarket pick n' mix? I assumed they'd be overpriced.

>>459237
I'm likely to be relocating soon, I was trying to use it to gauge the social (and tech) scenes in various cities.

>>459214
>Chinese zoo denies its sun bears are humans dressed in costumes
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/31/chinese-zoo-denies-sun-bears-humans-costumes

Is every animal I see a nothing but a pervert in a costume these days? Is this what the fursecutors were warning us about?

>>459252
Keeps midgets in gainful employment.

Got a job offer, but they need references. In my current job I've been off sick 75% of the last year, due to disability. The reference will be from the HR department, and will likely be "Anon worked here from [date] to present, and had [x] periods of sickness totalling [y] days." My excuse would be that my current job takes a massive psychological toll upon me, with factors that won't be present in my new role. When HR asks for references do I pre-empt them with the explanation, or wait for them to receive reference and hope they come to me for explanation instead of just canning me there and then?

>>459331

>When HR asks for references do I pre-empt them with the explanation

It is rarely advisable to disclose any details about the reasons for your previous sickness record.

When explaining a CV gap due to illness, the correct answer is usually "I was seriously unwell, but I have fully recovered and it will not affect my ability to work". Occasionally the right answer is "I was seriously unwell and although I have not fully recovered, my illness is well-controlled and it will not affect my ability to work provided that x, y and z accommodations are made for me".

There's an important subtlety with references, in that you should generally try to avoid disclosing anything unless and until you've got a conditional job offer. Legally, it's much more straightforward to not offer someone a job than to offer it and then later withdraw it.

https://www.thehrdirector.com/legal-updates/legal-updates-2016/withdrawal-of-job-offer-because-of-absences-in-previous-role-arose-from-disability/

>>459331

References are usually just a formality really, it's more to check you weren't telling fibs on the application than to dig the skeletons out of your employment history closet.

Wouldn't worry about it too much m8- If they have it in their mind not to hire you because of sickness, no explanation will change their minds.

>>459335

Anti-discrimination laws being what they are today, few companies will be completely honest and tell you the reason they aren't hiring you. You are probably too old, or you're a woman who hasn't had children, or both, or you're too young, or someody has reservations about your ethnicity or thinks your illness or disability will keep you from doing the job well. Most of these are things that could see them slapped with huge discrimination fines in court if they told you to your face, so they'll avoid telling you altogether.

My dad once applied for a position as chief engineer at a civil engineering company, which was a reasonable job for him to apply for as he was 46 with a civil engineering degree and over 25 years of experience in the field, and they flat out told him that he was too old. This was a few decades ago, long before the Equality Act. They weren't mincing words and said their ideal candidate would have been somebody in his early to mid-30s, and without a wife and kids so they could more easily have sent him around the country to job sites. People accepted that kind of thing back then, and being too old and too settled down was a reasonable explanation why somebody was turning you down.

They'll probably do the same thing today, those will still be reasons why they won't hire you, but crucially, they won't tell you. On the one hand it's good that you are protected against all kinds of discrimination in the job world nowadays, and I don't think we should change it back, but it also means that companies often aren't much help. There isn't much you can draw from the faux answer they'll give you that somebody else fits their profile even better than you or is better qualified.

>>459252

>a spokesperson for the zoo said the animal was real and that such deception would not happen at a state-run facility

Not in a country like China, no doubt.

Just ate a whole calzone and a portion of chips. Dying now. Good bie/

>>459347

Having a packaged salad from Asda right now.

Will later be eating ham and cheese sandwiches with beans and a cinnamon pastry.

Life is good less shit than usual.

The new neighbours downstairs did the decent thing and let me know they're having a house-warming party earlier, said I could come down and have a beer if I wanted and that if they got too loud to go down and tell them. They actually seemed genuinely worried we'd get off on the wrong foot.

I didn't feel like saying hello at their party but later on I realised that it would be awkward to walk by them on the way to the gym. They might worry that they've upset me. So irrationally I've been trapped in my home all night.

>>459347
>>459348
I made myself a load of chili for dinner with half going in the fridge for a breakfast tomorrow. Big Bacon & Eggs can do one, eating chili out of a tupperware container in the morning is the life we all deserve.

Or at least that is what I would be saying if only I didn't just eat the rest.

I'm going to invent a beer that is acceptable to the eskimo faith, and I shall call it Halalcohol. If this gets word-filtered, trust me that it was originally a brilliant idea.

Already made my ace in spider kills.

>>459352
You should have given them some chili as a peace offering. Too late now I supose.

>>459352
They've made it clear that they're open to chat lad. Honestly I think they sound like the kind of people who you could knock on the door and say "I was just passing by on my way to the gym and thought I'd knock to say I really appreciate you being friendly earlier, if there's anything I can help you with, you know like what day the bins go out or anything let me know." It might sound cheesy but that's a problem created by Hollywood, you have to get past it. Good relations with your neighbours are going to be really important over the next few years.

Test the waters. See if they're into cuckoldry.

>>459359
Testing is a waste of time, jump right in to it, whip your knob out at their next family gathering.

>>459360
I was thinking more wearing very tight gym shorts, but that might work too.

I switched my tinder from 'show me women' to 'show me everyone'. The bumder likes came flooding in immediately, I knew they would, but I didn't realise I'd get so many.

Why does dating women have to be such a ballache?

Are 3D printers still a thing or were they just a fad? I can't remember the last time I saw them brought up.

>>459362
Shag a few guys if you really want to. You don't have to do it under the pretence of it being too difficult to get a woman.

>>459363
>Shag a few guys if you really want to.

I don't want to, that's the problem. I'd be too busy shagging to post here if I did.

>>459364
Well if you want to meet a woman the absolute worst place is on a dating app.

>>459365
Are you my dating coach now? Where should I be meeting women?

>>459366

>>459367
You're not making your point well here lad.

Yes, I can get some hobbies, meet people organically, and maybe six months later I'll meet a girl who'll let me touch her hand. Or do you want me to try chatting them up in the local club?

Do you not see how much less convenient, and less likely to work, that is than the bumder alternative of just asking some of my hundreds of tinder matches if they want to bang next weekend?

>>459368
Men are such sluts.

>>459369
>>459370
I'm bad at life, don't judge me.

>>459363
3D printers seem pretty popular amongst cosplayers and gaming hobbyists, if YouTube is any indication. IRL I know a few people who 3D print custom Dungeons & Dragons models, and wargaming models. Think you can essentially pirate Warhammer.

>>459363

>Are 3D printers still a thing or were they just a fad?

A bit of both. A lot of people with no real need for a 3D printer bought a cheap machine because of the hype and most of those printers are now gathering dust. On the other hand, printing technology is sufficiently fast and reliable that a printer has become a standard bit of kit in many fields.

I work in manufacturing and I use a 3D printer pretty much every day. I've never shipped a printed part to a customer, but 3D printing is invaluable for making the stuff we need to make customer parts - jigs, fixtures, moulds, grippers for robot arms, that sort of thing. Milling a pair of aluminium soft jaws to hold an irregular part in a vise can be a full day of work, but with 3D printing it can take as little as 15 minutes of work and a couple of hours on the printer. On a number of occasions, we've used 3D printed parts to keep a machine running while we wait for a spare part to be delivered. If you've got half a million quid's worth of machine sitting idle because a bracket has snapped and the nearest spare is in Stuttgart, that's kind of a big deal.

It's not really my area, but I understand that dentists have gone absolutely fucking mental for 3D printing. The ability to take a 3D scan of your gob and quickly produce a crown or denture has completely changed the way they work.

>>459358
>>459359
I said I didn't feel like it. Stop trying to force me to do things I don't want to do.

>Good relations with your neighbours are going to be really important over the next few years.

Do you know something we don't? Is Labour going to get in?

>>459362
>Why does dating women have to be such a ballache?

The first part is hard, with blokes it's the opposite for a range of reasons. Now let a bottom into your life and see just how annoying a human can be.

>>459375
>Is Labour going to get in?
Do you somehow think they're not?

My girlfriend's worn high feels for the first time in at least ten years. It's made me realise I'd find her a lot more attractive if she was naturally taller. I think the ideal woman would be about 5'7".

I'd like to congratulate Susan Wokoma on her decision to appear on The Last Leg wearing a white t-shirt and no bra. 10/10, would ogle again.

I've been trying to not be depressed all day and I've failed completely. The only two things I want are a beautiful wife with a degree or higher level education and/or enough sugar filled snacks to kill me. For obvious reasons I haven't actually laid my hands on either solution.

It's amazing how much progress I made at the gym when I took a week off work and went everyday. I could theoretically do it after work but that's very difficult.

>>459391
I know exactly what you mean. Most women seem to be on the shallow end of 5ft which is frankly annoying if you're a bloke over 6. I'm not saying it's a dealbreaker as arse goes inverse to height but for a gender that talks a lot of shit about short men you'd think we'd be dealing with giraffes.

You have no idea how much I suffer as a bloke into tall Asian women.

>>459393
Man, I've known some very questionable women with doctorates. You'll be surprised.

I lass I thought I was really good friends with has almost entirely stopped talking to me after I asked her for advice about another woman last week.

I did not think she was romantically interested in me at all, but I'm not sure I can draw any other conclusion.

>>459395
Talk to her about it.

Will fixed rate savers go up now that the base rate has increased? I've got £3k from my Help to Save account maturing next week and I'd like to stick it in a fixed rate saver for a year or two before I pay off a chunk of my mortgage but I don't know if I should hold off for a bit if they're going up.

I've got 7 quid on the leccy until tuesday and no clean clothes. Might chance putting a wash load on so I can't physically feel the grime on my pyjamas while I'm sat in the house.

All this rain could mean one of the best mushroom foraging seasons in years this autumn. There are already some mushrooms coming up on the patch of grass next to the bins, but I'm not sure what they are.

>>459431
look at this magnificent bastard. Dunno if it's food, but it bodes well

>>459431>>459432
Could you take them home so mushrooms grow in your garden or is that only possible with plants? Could you create whatever the equivalent is of a greenhouse for mushrooms?

>>459433
That is at home,I swiped that tree stump last year, but don't really have a plan for it, although I'm starting to assemble a stumpery, maybe that could go there.
As for deliberately growing - I suspect you need quite a lot of space if you're not growing on culture medium?

The mad weather has also given me frankenfigs. I have quite big hands (and a watch with a load of health bollocks on it hence the censoring to avoid derailing)

>>459433

Mushroom species often need very specific conditions to grow. They're usually found in a particular spot in the wild because that's where they have all those conditions. A lot of the very sought after edible mushroom species are difficult if not impossible to grow in your garden. You can't just put bits of a cap somewhere in your undergrowth and hope you'll have mushrooms the following year. Especially if they're in a symbiotic relationship with a particular tree species. Even knowing this, I've tried many times but it never worked.

>>459435

Please explain figs to me like I'm thick, they seem like a combination of Arthurian Magic and stuff from The Bibble, and Wikipedia doesn't help at all, making the Wasp involvement sound like the explanation for that Indie film, "Primer". I think the problem I have relates to trying to reconcile the fate of the Wasps.

>>459437
Have you never eaten fig rolls?

>>459435
Wouldn't mind trying whole figs - there's a tree near my house but I doubt it's fruit, they always look a bit off.

Why'd you cover your watch, by the way? It's surely not so limited edition to reveal your identity?

>>459438

Fig rolls are things that exist in my Grandmother's biscuit cupboard; what the fuck does that have to do with the germination process of the thing that they are filled with.

>>459440
Everything.

>>459441

Looks like purple made a new wordfilter for being a cunt

What exactly is a wonderwall?

>>459443


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTfZshkNZRw

>>459444
Reached the same chart position as Oasis did. MFP were kept off top spot by Michael Jackson whereas Oasis were bested by Robson & Jerome.

>>459445
That's that bloke off Game of Thrones, that is.

Is there anything in particular I'm meant to do when I'm close to paying off my student loan? My remaining balance is c. £2,300 and this is being paid off at the rate of £175 per month, but I used to be self-employed so I reckon I'll have to pay a lump sum of about £1,700 due in January.

>>459593
Joke's on you. I think my balance is higher than when I left education.

>>459594
It's plan one, otherwise I'd be utterly fucked.

>>459595
Mine too. :)

Anyway, you're supposed to ring up SLC and get yourself on a direct debit plan. That way you can opt out of PAYE and SA repayment. They're liable to fuck it up and take more than you owe even if you're solely on PAYE because they share data with HMRC so infrequently.

Ever noticed how your brian falsely auto-corrects experiences as you meet them? It's most noticable in text - Most recently I've mistook 'Barber' for 'Barbie', completely changing the context of the meme I was viewing.
IT also happens sometimes when I see black people. After the frequency of casual dolphin rape scrolled past on 9gag and elsewhere, it get into your brain a bit.

What's really interesting is those moments between wakefulness and sleep where you catch yourself mid thought or muttering a phrase. Whatever that shit is, sometimes sinister, going through your head.

What's the etiquette when someone else is paying your way for a holiday? I don't have a lot of money due to being off work with sickness, and even if I wasn't off sick I don't earn a lot. My dad invited me and my brothers (one works for him in his business, the other two are wholly dependent on him financially), and he said he'd pay for everything. But last time he invited me on a holiday and said he'd pay for everything (with three weeks notice), he had a go at me for not giving him a chunk of cash to pay my way. I couldn't say no as he would take no excuses, but I'm really not in a financial position to go on holiday.

God, just now I was so polite about my mum paying a woman to do reiki on her horse that I should get a fucking medal. Probably a parade and a free holiday too.

>>459600
We have such sights to show you
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_syndrome

I repeat certain phrases to myself at times too. Usually aggressive or outright weird - at the moment it's 'I'll never speak to [X] again' but a few years back it was 'he killed himself last year'. Normally this happens when I haven't been socialising irl much. I try not to worry about it, maybe it's just your brain firing random phrases because we're not supposed to be socially isolated or it's a variant of intrusive thoughts and the worst possible thing you can do is to think about it.

>IT also happens sometimes when I see black people. After the frequency of casual dolphin rape scrolled past on 9gag and elsewhere, it get into your brain a bit.

It seems everyone hates black people, I actually feel sorry for them being unwelcome basically anywhere. It's not just an internet thing, people are hardwired to pick up on who to hate far more than who to care about. I don't follow the thinking on unconscious bias because results vary but being mindful that everyone around you is a person is important.

>>459601
You don't go on holiday with them. YMMV but honestly they don't sound like people I'd want to spend any extended amount of time with anyway.

>>459603
FWIW I've encountered several hwites who seemingly like black people but openly disdain brown Asians.

>>459604
I'd say I know very few white people who are genuinely racist against black people, but I know plenty who are prejudiced at least some extent against Asians. The Asians I know tend to be extremely racist themselves, especially towards black and Chinese people, plus they're generally very homophobic.

>>459604
>hwites

Why are you doing this?

I read this article in The Guardian this morning, by a woman talking about her father's hearing loss. It's the usual pretentious Guardian bollocks, but it did hit me quite hard.

Both of my grandparents had dementia exacerbated by hearing loss in their later years. The two problems seemed to feed each other - they were confused because they couldn't remember things, but they were also confused because they were filling in the blanks of all the things they couldn't hear. They were slow to accept the fact that they were going deaf and were very reluctant to wear the hearing aids that they had.

Over the years, they withdrew into their own little worlds and became increasingly cantankerous and difficult. I didn't see them as much as I probably should have, because it was just so frustrating and depressing. They were shadows of themselves, stuck on a loop, stuck in the past, endlessly repeating the same stories, dredging up the same grievances. To them, the present was just an indistinct fog of the half-heard, the half-understood and the half-remembered. We take it for granted, but there's so much we lose when we can no longer just have a chat.

I hope my mum is sensible enough to accept it if the day comes that I have to tell her "you're going deaf, go and get your hearing tested". If she ever needs hearing aids, I hope she's sensible enough to actually use them.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/12/life-with-my-hearing-impaired-father

>>459606
It's Hank Hill.

>>459605
Known lots of Indians and laplanderstanis hating each other, though they both hate Bangladeshis who seem to be the lowest South Asian people. Then Middle Eastern Arabs hating laplanderstanis, Indians, and Bangladeshis.

Also Caribbean blacks hating African black and vice versa. Knew a black girl of Jamaican descent who loathed West Africans, saying they're all thick fraudsters.

Where I grew up the biggest minority was South Asians, about 30%, so I don't really have much fear of that group. Not many blacks though, so when I moved to the Midlands it was quite an eye opener to see so many. To out myself as a racist, if I were walking down a path and a large group of South Asians or Chinese were walking my way, I would carry on. If they were white or black, I would cross over.

Is it humid or something? I have been so sweaty today and yesterday.

What if the Silurian hypothesis is actually real.

I'd do a murder to get a weekly column in a national newspaper. Easiest job on the planet.

>>459612
I looked into it and it's definitely not so don't worry about it.

>>459614

An actual murder would at least get you mentioned in the national news a few times.


Not saying that's a good idea, mind.

>>459616
Only if you get caught.

One of the problems with having a large girlfriend is that, in the eight years we've lived in this house, we're now on our third broken toilet seat.

>>459618

Serves you right for using nylon locknuts.

Me and the missus wanted to watch Sin City last night, so I looked on the torrents as you do. Turns out the only version available on most trackers is the "recut extended unrated" one, which is without a word of hyperbole, complete and utter fucking shite. Literally ruins the movie, not even slightly exaggerating.

It essentially chops each of the little stories into their own individual self contained story, which ruins the book-ending of the Bruce Willis onefor start, but even worse, they somehow thought it'd be a good idea to have the fucking credits roll- The entire fucking credits- in between every one. I mean just... Who the fuck's idea was that.

I'm looking at £600 in parts to get my car MOT ready. I've got until the end of October. I'll be able to do all of it myself, but still. Fuck.

Either of you two ever done fencing - the one that involves poking people?

I was looking into it today because there's a cheap beginners lesson running one evening this month. They've got gear to lend but you'll be expected to buy your own kit - did the math and it works out to £670.74 which feels like a bit much just to tick the 'sport' box. Not even including the lessons.

Anyway I'm trying to enrich my life a little. Might take some classes too.

>>459622
This gives me pause for thought sometimes about one day moving out of the city and getting a car. It seems like everyone who has one is being slowly made bankrupt just keeping them on the road.

What will you do if your assailed by armed vagabonds on your travels?

>>459624
I did at school, never really got good enough to be anything other than reactive.
Surely you don't buy all-new stuff for your first outfit? loads of people must swap stuff out.
If I'm assailed by vagabonds, my disguise of a muttering unkempt sturdily built chap will have failed, so I'd resort to reason, then violence. Possibly with no gap inbetween.

How do I book a holiday abroad? I haven't left the country since 2016 and I was considering taking my family away somewhere warmer during October half-term.

>>459624
Fencing's good fun. I haven't done it since I was a teen, but if you're the same size I was at 14 I can do you a deal on some second hand kit. If not the only thing I can say is it's not exactly the kind of stuff you have to replace often, if at all.

WFH til I die, of course, but my professional reputation has suffered a slight knock after the ice cream van pulled up outside while I was on the phone with a customer.

Can you think of any reasonable ways to get paid face time with women in a non-relationship seeking sense?
All I can imagine is getting a manicure every couple of months.
Hair dressing is probably too intimate, what with the head massage and all.

>>459629

Counselling.

>>459629
Learn ballet.

>>459633
Local Weirdo Arrested For Sporting Erect Penis While Wearing Tutu

>>459634

Good night out for some people.

When you get the cheese melted just right on your sandwich? There's nothing quite like it. Not that you numb skulls would have a clue about such things.

>>459633

Salsa or tango classes are genuinely excellent options if you're looking to pull a divorcee. The gender balance is always miles out of whack, so even if you look like a toad they'll be fighting over you like the last flatscreen telly on Black Friday.