Clever s*ds - help required please!!

[giraffe]

Yes it's possible, our internet provider did it to fix a problem for us. It was creepy to see the mousey pointer thing moving on it's own and words appearing on the screen that I hadn't put there.

We've been ex-directory for years and that stops the dodgy calls.* I just ask them where they got our number from and tell them to remove it from their list if they say they've got it legitimately. My brother-in-law was sick of double glazing salesmen phoning him up and had great fun with one, saying he would love to have them quote him for a conservatory. Only after a long conversation did he ask how they attach them to 2nd floor flats like his!

* Anyone who I want to have the number is given it, so I can't see the point in being in the phone book.

What annoys me is how many people ask for the phone number that don't need it. (and email addresses) For example I phoned the council to tell them that the bin men had snapped the handle on my bin and could I have a new one. They then wanted all sorts of details from me, including the phone number (After having told me to leave the old bin out and they would leave the new one on the front drive) . I asked if it was necessary to give the phone number and they said yes, so I asked if they only gave bins to people who were on the phone. At that point they ageeed that the phone number was totally unnecessary. The more people you give it to, the more computers it is stored on and we all know how careless they are with who gets acess to the data. I never give out my mobile number as it only ever rings when I'm in the car and can't answer, the only exception being if I'm leaving the children somewhere. But it really annoys me if the children's schools phone me on something non urgent on my mobile. I ended up having an argument with F's horn teacher in Matalan because they rang me. Hardly appropriate.

Rant over!

[Bunnylump]

I had brilliant fun with a double glazing salesman who kept knocking at my door. I actually DISLIKE double glazing and hate plastic windows. I can HONESTLY say that I prefer a draughty old house!! (Yes I know I am odd). The problem is that we are one of the few 1930s houses in the area with original wooden windows and door. So we get all the pains ringing at the door with their brochures. Anyway, one of them went a step too far. He stood there, eyeing up my cobweb filled open porch (which has some rotten wood in it, I will admit) and telling me that I really needed was a nice new plastic one. I looked him directly in the eye and said
"What you don't understand is that I am currently doing an ecological study of my porch to see what the biodiversity of flora and fauna is. If you're interested I could send you my results and you can read my thesis."

He didn't have an answer to that, and left hastily. He's never come back.

[giraffe]

We have plastic windows, but it is in keeping with our modern house. I do however have a complete horror of plastic doors. Last time someone knocked on our door with their "I see you've had your windows done, just the door to do..." we told them they could pay us large sums of money and we still wouldn't want a plastic door. They beat a hasty, baffled retreat!

[Laura]

Ok, this is not a desperate plea for help, more an enquiry as to whether anyone has any good ideas. I'm taking my Brownies away for a weekend in June. We're staying in a little cottage, and the theme is going to be 'Under the Sea'. So I'm looking for craft and activitiy ideas suitable for 7-10yr old girls, fairly cheap, related to this theme. I have lots of ideas already, but I'm always on the look-out for something new and inventive.

Thinking caps on people!!!

[clvrlad]

well not so much thinking cap for me but does googling count

http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/under_the_sea.html
looked interesting
even if i think they might be too young for your lot

[giraffe]

I love the sock fish and whale. They look about the right level for brownies to me as some would only be age 7 presumably. Lally's 10 and I'm sure she'd still love to do that sort of thing. She gave up on brownies because it was difficult for us to get her there for 5 as she only gets in from school at 4.45 and her pack was very dull. They repeatedly did a craft activity that involved crossing two wooden sticks / twigs and winding coloured wool round to make a pattern. It was boring the first time, but they did it a couple of times a term! Apart from that the most exciting thing they did was to decorate biscuits. She also was the only one who didn't go to the primary school where it was held, so felt a bit left out. (Brown owl did her best, but the school wouldn't let her use the same toilet as the others, as she wasn't one of their pupils, so she had to use the disabled one after getting told off by the head!!!!!!!) All in all she gave up as it wasn't worth the hassle. Guides wasn't much better and K quickly grew out of it, not helped by the fact that there were only about 9 in the pack (and that was after they merged two groups)

[Laura]

Our Brownies did the mexican eye craft (the one with 2 crossed sticks and wool) and they loved it. But then, different groups are very different. I have a leader who is at uni, and does our Brownies when she's home and a different one when she's away, and she says they are totally different from each other. Also, both my sisters have run Brownie packs in different parts of the country, and things that have worked really well with one group are hopeless with another.

Also, I think a lot of the age ranges given on internet crafts are aimed at 1 or 2 children with an adult helping. Ours have to be a bit simpler, because they'll have 1 or 2 adults between 12 of them, and so we can't help everyone with every stage or they'll get bored. I've spent a couple of days already googling to find fun activities, and I've got a couple of good ones, in addition to what we'd already thought of, but I had a feeling you lot could probably come up with a few other ideas!

[giraffe]

It was the frequency of the same activity that was the worst part, I'm sure they enjoyed it the first time, but they just seemed to completely lack imagination.

I tried to set up a Rainbows group round here (younger than brownies 5 - 7 yrs for those that haven't heard of it) as the group Kingsley went to closed. I couldn't find anywhere to hold it. The same school refused to have us on the premises, despite the fact that almost all the children would be their pupils. Local church hall said they wouldn't have us as they already had a group, which was full and I had a waiting list of 12 children given to me from the group that had closed. I went to a meeting of the leaders of the other guide groups in the district and they were really unhelpful and unfriendly. In the end I gave up, there's only so much discouragement I can take.

It sounds like they are much more encouraging up your way Laura.

[Bunnylump]

I'd suggest
Simple origami fish

Ocean themed sun catchers made either from flexi acrylic sheets and glass paints or just transluscent tissue paper in card frames.

CD fish mobile (the old cd makes the body, attach fins tail etc in coloured paper, suspend with thread round the middle.

Ocean themed biscuits or cup cakes.

Picture frames made with card, shells, seahorse shapes attached to the frame and painted.

OR get them to do pictures / project about humpbacked whales, then make whale related sweets / gifts to sell to their families when they get home to raise money to sponsor a whale for a year? My kids did that and absolutely loved it. They get back pictures and activity booklets from the charity, and information on any sightings. The money goes towards conservation and monitoring projects which help the whales. I don't know how much it is these days but back then it was about £25 for the year.

[MBH]

I love the sock fish and whale.

Yes - but does anyone think that a Sock Octopus should just be a Socktopus?

I'm sure you could get a very interesting and exciting themed event for them with the minimal requirements of:

One Brown Owl
A Straight-jacket
A selection of chains and padlocks
A time-limited air supply
A .....

..... I'm not helping here - am I?

[giraffe]

More suitable for venture scouts perhaps?

[Laura]

Apparently, the guide leaders once tied up all the guides at the house we're going to, and gave them one phone-call to get someone to rescue them, so they rang "Auntie Audrey", who is they leader who looks after the cottage. So she had to come to rescue them! They all thought it was fantastic!

[Bunnylump]

That's just the kind of thing which kids absolutely LOVE but could potentially be the cause of parental complaints!! Trouble is that group leaders who are responsible for children stop doing fun things because of all the potential fallout. The health and safety hoops we have to jump through to do ANYTHING or go ANYWHERE with the kids is ridiculous. Consequently...no trips.

[SparkOut]

Miles of blue, turquoise and green crepe paper torn/cut into long strips and draped around in wavy lines. Or stuck to paper to make collage pictures.
Cut out flatfish shapes and put on the ground, with a paperclip on each of their mouths. Use a piece of string on a cane, with a magnet on the end as a hook to "fish" for the fish. See who catches the most in a time limit, and/or if the fish are identical enough, mark the underside of one of the fish and see who can find it among the shoal. May be a game on the low end of the age range?

[Bunnylump]

Good suggestions SO but Laura, be aware that if crepe paper gets wet, the colour comes out and then WON'T come out of the carpet!!

[Biscuit]

Can i have some help - on a recent holiday where i relied on my laptop (17" hp pavillion - vista) to contact work, facebook, puzzlebrains when the wifi was working) the screen went temperamental - it stayed blank even though the computer was working - this was double checked at work by linking it to another monitor and then eventually the screen worked again unitl it was switched off then back to square one. have ordered a part on ebay to see if we can get it back working but...

Anyway to cut a long story short my oh was really fed up carrying such a big laptop and has suggested i buy a netbook - i have been doing some research but am having problems

I need windows 7 32 bit for my sage forecasting software to work
I need at least 2 gb hard dirve and 250 mb
i need a camera, wifi and the ability to use excel and word
i have been advised that the small netbooks 10 in will be no good for my needs and i will need the 11.6

My biggest problem is the 32 bit software as they all seem to be loaded with windows 7 64 bit or windows starter 32 bit which some people have told me is not the full version and will not be any good.

Has anyone any knowledge of these computers

Dell has told me that they sell a 1gb but it is no point having a 2gb as the 1.66 processer will mean this isnt used anyway (someone else told me this was a load of tosh)
Toshiba has said that i could replace their preloaded 64 bit with a different system but this could affect their warrenty (someone else told me this was tosh as their warrenty doesn't cover the software anyway) - it would however mean locating all new drivers and someone else said that lots of printers etc do not have 64 bit drivers so could cause more problems.
Asus - they just kept sending me to their website - but they do get a good writeup
Acers - we had these before and they kept breaking
HP - not too excited due to my previous problems and subsequent v v bad customer service but they have one in pc world and the man said it was 32 bit plus 3gb hd and 500mb - but not sure he was right about the 32 bit as can't get this confirmed on the web.

Sorry for rambling but i have got myself in a complete jumble here and thought you guys might know more. I would value your opinions.

Biscuit

[tricia]

help required -currently my pb time is 1 hour different from my computer clock. My computer clock is 1 hour ahead - how to I change the time on the PB site

Tricia

[giraffe]

I think you go into user control panel ( at top of screen)and put summertime on.

[tricia]

cheers
tricia

[eirian]

Ok, not a computer related question.
I've a friend who's sister has just died, leaving her with a garage full of sci-fi related stuff to get rid of. I think it's mainly Dr Who, but there's some Gerry Anderson stuff as well as other similar types of things. They are all in immaculate condition (toys in original boxes etc) and includes some pretty unique stuff as well.
She obviously needs to get in touch with a specialist - either a collector willing to take them all off her hands, or a specialist auction house. Can anyone recommend where she would get started looking for one of these?

From what I gather, her brother-in-law had been well known in fandom circles, meaning that the unique stuff includes previews of the artwork the BBC planned to use in video releases (sent for his opinion before they released them), so I reckon they must be worth a bit!