Hegs

>I think that has been true of all types, but a fact denied by supporters of legalisation. There have also been research >findings that cannabis is, in susceptible people, quite intensely carcinogenic, even more so than tobacco. This is too simplistic. I support legalization, I also believe even soft drugs are far from harmless and in fact are quite dangerous. I do not see why the fact they are harmful should necessarily cause their banning. >I just cannot see how anyones life can be enhanced by any of these practices and to attempt to justify it by legalising >any of it is just tosh. If you cannot understand why people do it then how can you ever believe you have any kind of answer to the problem? The problem is kids are young adults are very good at detecting hypocracy and inconsistent thinking, which current policy exhibits in bucketloads. Prohibition is causing more problems than the drugs themselves, is completely ineffective anyway in stopping the drugs getting through, and has resulted in a loss of authority for the police and the law. It is my firm opinion that drugs can be controlled much more effectively in a legalized environment via tax or prescription where appropriate. What exactly is it you fear would happen if drugs were legalized? Do you believe they would be handed out on the street for free?

I hate to say it but I think you will probably have problems, it is not as simple as the UK with more catch alls. Have a look at http://riviera.angloinfo.com/information/1/intax.asp for a first look, then you probably need to get some professional advice.

[quote]Priority from the right in car parks? There was an incident in the parking at Carrefour just before christmas and by chance there were gendarmes just inside the door at Carrefour and they said that...[/quote] 'fraid so. What my driving instructor told me above seems to correct (I asked him if I could practise in a parking on a Sunday by myself, he said no you still need a license etc), your gendarmes were probably being lazy. It does seem all the rules of the road apply to supermarket parkings - priority to the right included - and so you can be done there by the gendarmes. Straight from the horses mouth: http://www.defense.gouv.fr/sites/gendarmerie/faq/copy2_of_copy_of_securite_routiere Les gendarmes ont-ils compétence sur un parking privé ? Une jurisprudence constante (Arrêt Cour de Cassation, chambre criminelle du 27 avril 1981 – arrêt Cour de cassation, deuxième chambre civile du 14 décembre 2000 ) énonce que « le code de la route s’applique sur toutes les voies ouvertes à la circulation publique et notamment les parkings situés dans les centres commerciaux ou à proximité des supermarchés ». La réglementation existante autorise donc un gendarme à verbaliser sur un parking privé, à la condition que celui-ci soit ouvert au public.

My French driving instructor told me 2 seconds is the minimum, with the car at absolute standstill. The other thing that springs to mind while we're on the subject, is that this rule and other rules of the road (priority to the right, etc) apply just as much in car parks and you can be done for breaking them there as well. That includes supermarket car parks etc.

>Serial Modems are limited to 56 kbps ; give or take a bit. You can't get 300kb out of one. Here are some real life test Winmodem results showing more than 300kb/s (newgroup updates), and 170kb/s for a very, very ordinary web page. http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.dcom.modems/browse_frm/thread/c0767c4dc4bffc22/9f8d8a8603a2f0e6#9f8d8a8603a2f0e6

>Serial Modems are limited to 56 kbps ; give or take a bit. You can't get 300kb out of one. I'm not sure I understand you. Only the line speed is limited to 56kbs with a 56K modem. With compression the data throughput rate from one end of a modem to the modem on the other end can theoretically reach 300kbs for text files - a compression ration of 6:1 for text or HTML files is very achievable, after accounting for stop and parity bits. The DCE rate (between modem and computer) is generally limited to 115 kbs maximum as I described above and would in that case be a bottleneck.

>>And last time I looked your default PC serial port was throttled at 115kbs, even the UART (serial chip) capability to >go faster. > >I'm sorry but I don't understand this sentence. Most serial ports, even on brand new motherboards with the latest processors are controlled by 16550 compatible serial chips, which don't go above 115kbs. There are 16550-like chips that can go faster but as far as I'm aware are only found on specialized serial cards and require specialized drivers or setting a registry key to up the speed. Apparently the maximum theoretical speed of a new (i.e. V92/V44 modem) is about 300kb/s (sounds reasonable, 56.6x6x8/10), so using an external serial modem will throttle the maximum speed to 40% of that. >I doubt that the actual speed increase in real life is as high as that. That is something that would need to be put to the test properly, but I certainly noticed a big performance boost in general surfing speed with a V92 USB modem over a V90 serial modem on the same ISP (yes I have one) before I switched to ISDN. As part of my job I have to review random lists of web pages. Don't get me wrong I understand your concerns about winmodems and I have always kept a serial modem as a backup. I think the benefits in cost and performance outweigh the drawbacks.

>rather special circumstances involving particular modems, particular ISPs and particular compression systems That would be pretty much any modem sold in the last two years (V92 standard), any ISP worth its salt, and the compression scheme used by default. i.e. if you have a new or less than 2 year old computer, just plug it and and connect to most ISPs (not Wanadoo interestingly, which is where I found out about this), and browse the web you will probably be suffering if you have an external serial modem as compared to an internal modem. >The assumption being that an internal modem will be on a PCI slot or better and that most serial ports on PCs are throttled at 115kbs. Practically all internal modems are PCI these days, right? Also do not dismiss external USB modems which do not suffer from the problem. And last time I looked your default PC serial port was throttled at 115kbs, even the UART (serial chip) capability to go faster. > I don't think that the issue of getting slightly better speed on some types of file transfer is of much interest to most people 50-100% faster on web pages. I am quite surprised you can dismiss that so easily.

>The whole point of an external serial modem is that they need no drivers as such, just an inf file to tell Windows what >they can do. This is why I recommend them over any USB or internal modem. Mazan, you might want to read this and rethink your recommendations. "If your V.92/V.44 modem connects via a 'real' serial port you're in trouble: ". Your advice for an external serial modem on an average PC may throttle performance by over 50% compared to a cheap internal one. http://www.modemsite.com/56k/v92v44v42.asp

The thing that amazes me is how quickly the climate can change in a short distance, only a few kms, depending on altitude, closeness to the sea and mountains, which side of a the valley, prevailing winds etc. To be a little more sure it's useful to look pretty closely at the vegetation, farming and the shape of the landscape to see what you can expect all year round. Mind you in the 18 months since we moved here we have had the hottest summer, the wettest spring and right now the coldest winter in at least 40 years or so, according to the locals, so who knows what to expect.

I'm finding the same thing. I am starting to wonder if the best thing to do is to install the in-house heating pipes etc when renovations are done but leave the heat pump and (?)field until the technology has bedded down a little. Hopefully the costs will go down as well! I'm also confused about how much land area is needed for each option, and how good the interior insulation should be in a renovation. Also, and I know I should go find out for myself, but how do the tax refunds work, lets say a 40% income tax rebate on an install of EUR 20000, does that mean I pay EUR 8000 less tax, or that my declared income is reduced by 8000? Any clues?

A few years ago I bought a small handheld computer (a PocketPC PDA). It has a secure password protected program called CodeWallet into which I have entered passport details, credit card, web site passwords, frequent flier cards etc. This synchronizes with my desktop computer at home, so I have two copies of all such details, with me and at home. I have never had anything stolen yet, but even so this thing has saved my bacon in a whole lot of circumstances where I have forgotten reference numbers etc. In addition it synchronizes all my contact details, has a Collins English-French dictionary, can take notes, and plays music files and games.

Surely with aerospace experience you should be looking at Airbus in Toulouse? Also the language would not be so much of a barrier there.

You're lucky, I pay 36 eur and generally lose it ALL - I live in a dead zone, and only use it when travelling abroad where the free minutes don't count. When my contract is up I will be trying www.debitel.fr 10 euros per month including 30 minutes, no long term contract.

I'm all for legalizing them - the problem is the question has gone way beyond a legalize or prohibit question. For years now the commonly used drugs are accepted or ignored by the police unless an accident or death occurs, or some plonker starts winding them up. Fair play. Drugs are in themselves morally neutral and the restrictions cause more problems than the drugs - but I don't know how you cope with the social consequences of regular usage which are just plain sad. I think its essential that somehow legalization doesn't send a signal that these things are in any way safe, or to be played around with, or to be used day-to-day. >and it is known to alter the brain in a permanent way with only a few doses and the changes are cumulative I wonder what sort of early dementia this is going to cause, I am sure it is likely. >It does kill a few people but the amount used every week It is my understanding that most immediate ecstacy deaths are actually due to drinking too much water causing brain swelling, an overreaction to dehydration occuring in hot sweaty club environments.

http://www.dabs.fr/fr/channels/ukproducts/clavier_querty/ I claim my five pounds....

>I would have thought British parents would be quite surprised, if not shocked. I think you would be quite surprised at just how widespread it is in the UK, despite the lack of honesty and discussion there is a reason why possession has been semi-decriminalized in the UK. That is because the parents (including ministerial parents) are fed up with their sons and daughters having their futures endangered with a criminal record.... I think most parents in the UK are fairly aware of the score here. http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,7369,1068657,00.html

Do not assume the stuff the kids are smoking these days is the harmless stuff you knew in the 60s 70s and 80s. The new "skunk" strains available are typically 5-10 times stronger in terms of the active ingredient (THC) and I can believe they could cause (or trigger if you like) mental illness in the same way as LSD. Aside from that, smoking any kind of dope in quantity has a tendancy to turn you into a boring hippy who talks about skinning and bong construction techniques :-)

As with all of these things, you should really take professional advice. Having said that, IMHO the companies that advertise for this sort of thing are not really interested in you unless you are a millionaire or similar. So here is my unprofessional advice. You will only pay tax for the part of the UK tax year you have spent earning in the UK. Thus if you leave one month before the tax year you will pay as if you had earnt only 11 months wages in the year, and thus if you were on PAYE you would get a rebate all things being equal. If you delay till say May and only earn 1 months wages in the new UK tax year, you would likely get all tax on that months wages rebated. French tax actually don't have any interest in what you earnt in the UK before your permanent move. So, in summary you will end up with more money in your pocket the longer you continue to work in the UK regardless of the tax year.

>apparently, it works better when smoked Easy... just ask any smoker or ex-smoker who has tried nicotine gum, patches, lozenges etc. A good old drag gives an instant "hit" of the active ingredient to the bloodstream which peaks then drops off; other methods provide a slow steady trickle. The effect is quite different. (18 months since given up and still craving the "hit")...

Try this one, with maps of coverage. http://www.tvnt.net/

People in the UK spend tens of thousands of pounds moving just a few miles so then can be in the catchment area for "good" schools and others spend the same amount a year to get out of the state education system altogether. How can you even start to compare the quality of UK and French education sensibly when there are such variations from one area to the next?

Urrrk... I've just ordered 'phonétique progressive du français'. My teacher uses the book and I find that useful, but she doesn't have the tapes. Maybe the tape quality was awful because it had been borrowed so often from the library, rewound back and forth a lot etc? Let's hope...

James, It is important to mention this initiative is supported by more than just Google, Yahoo!, MSN also. Yahoo!'s take on this is here: http://www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000069.html This is in the webmaster's interests as well; aside from messing up the forum, or guestbook with junk links, some decisions are made by search engines on the basis of links. For example, if lots of links on your page are to porn sites, a search engine may well think you are porn.

Check out www.periodproperty.co.uk "Agony Uncle" section. Usually the advice goes along the lines of: - Obviously check for rainwater infiltration first as Ron has suggested - Otherwise the problem is usually due to later changes to the property stopping the walls from breathing - Remove any earth buildup around house, any concrete paths around the house, dig drainage channels to allow moisture to drain away from house etc - Remove anything stopping the walls from breathing at a low height (concrete render etc) - Ensure house is properly ventilated Apparently things like chemical DPC and sealants shouldn't be used without great thought as they stop the walls from breathing and can make the problem worse in the long run.