On The Sofa (8)

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This topic contains 1,002 replies, has 72 voices, and was last updated by  Craig 6 years, 6 months ago.

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  • #51258
    Anonymous @

    As happens occasionally our sofa gets a bit too full and we have to move to a new sofa. This is a place to congregate, somewhere to “hang out”. It’s a topic for general chat about anything you want, and a place for new members to pop in and say “hello” without worrying about making any real contribution (we know that your first post can sometimes feel daunting). We’d love to hear from you all. We’re very friendly.

    Conversations on the previous ‘sofa’ can be found here.

    #51265
    DalekTor @dalektor

    Second post!

    @fatmaninabox

    Nice avatar. Where did you get the still?

    #51272
    Anonymous @

    @dalektor

    It’s from ‘The Wedding of River Song’. It should be the other way around but it was giving me a headache 🙂

    #51273
    Anonymous @

    @fatmaninabox

    the avatar is ’round the wrong way’?

    The picture? Or the moniker?

    Because if the picture is  “round the wrong way” Then, huh?

    Or the moniker, Box-a-fat-man-in? maybe?

    No, not. 🙂

    Anyways, good to see you back. How are the royal botanical plants? I believe the UK has water aplenty whilst Oz has drought and the hottest March on record!

    PuroSolo

    #51279
    Anonymous @

    @puroandson

    Yep, the avatar’s the wrong way round. It’s taken from the part in The Wedding of River Song where The Doctor had inadvertently (or maybe deliberately) put Maldovar’s box upside down on one of the seats in the TARDIS.

    How are the royal botanical plants?

    That’s a bit of a sore point for me. There I was, happily doing voluntary work to gain some experience and the Job Centre forced me to stop doing it or face being sanctioned which seems odd as the unemployed are allowed to do voluntary work.

    The Job Centre argued that they thought I was only doing it to get out of looking for paid employment. Yep, ‘cos I really love getting up early in the morning and doing a hard days graft for no pay!

    Two weeks later they force me, at risk of being sanctioned, to do 6 months unpaid work experience cleaning offices which I have to do it until the end of May.

    Anyways, good to see you back.

    It’s good to be back. Like yourself, I’ve been having a few PC problems.

    It started in December when my PC would unexpectedly power-off. It wasn’t that frequent to begin with but got to the stage where it was switching off pretty much every 10 minutes or so.

    I went online to a few repair/diagnostic sites and they all came to the conclusion it was my Power Supply Unit that was faulty. Over the past 2 months I’ve been saving what few pennies I could and bought a new PSU 2 weeks ago. I installed it and powered up and …

    … my PC still kept switching itself off.

    I checked my PC to make sure the graphics card, memory etc. were all inserted correctly and noticed that the CPU fan and heat-sink were loose. Upon further investigation, it turns out that the layer of Thermal Grease (which improves the transfer of heat emitted by the CPU) between the CPU and the heat-sink had hardened which meant the processor wasn’t cooling properly and was shutting down to protect itself from over heating. So, I replaced the Thermal Grease and now have a fully working PC – yay 😀

     

    #51281
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    @fatmaninabox

    Two weeks later they force me, at risk of being sanctioned, to do 6 months unpaid work experience cleaning offices which I have to do it until the end of May.

    So in order to prevent you doing voluntary work to gain experience in a field you want to be employed in, they’ve stopped someone else getting a paid cleaning job?

    Yup, that sounds like Jobcentres.

    #51308
    ichabod @ichabod

    Somebody over on DWTVuk posted in a chat about changes from SmithDoc to CapDoc and what’s likely for Series 10 and, beyond that, 11 raised an issue that’s been nagging at me.  Poster said that there’s only so much character-change that the Doctor can exhibit *because the series is open-ended* with no specific resolution driving it.  The contention was that only protagonists in limited stories “with a beginning, middle, and end” can grow and change freely, because (I assume) that growth and change is part of the plot, which is a closed story leading intentionally from here to there.  I thought of shows like Star Trek, which had to have a Bible for writers and actors to draw firm parameters around the potentialities of lead characters, making sure that they were always re-set to square one for the next episode, which would also not lead the protags into unfamiliar character territory (without making it explicable by demonic possession, hypnotism, or some other reversible “trick”) for the same reason.  Other examples — did Tony Soprano change, from ep 1 to blackout?  I don’t think so.  Do the superheroes in comics and Action movies” grow and change?  I don’t think they’re allowed to, on the same principle (although a daring leap toward darkness was made with Batman, which I recall as coinciding with the ditching of Robin).

    Thinking about the Doctor specifically: his story is open ended, 50 + years’ worth now, and he seems to conform to this idea.  Fans get upset when he changes “too much” and becomes (for them, anyway) “not The Doctor any more”, as some still say about CapDoc.  So what’s essential to his character, that he can stray from but must always come back to?  [If we’ve already explored this and I missed it, or I’ve forgotten, feel free to disregard.]  What are his defining qualities (that must still be his defining qualities even if he regenerated as a *gasp!* woman, a frog, or a piece of popcorn)?

    I’d start with intellectual brilliance, and the arrogance (and blind spots) that generally go with it; a huge memory so filled with stuff that he forgets things and has to delete some occasionally; disdain for violence; detachment, but also a tendency toward passionate attachment to specific people; persistent curiosity and restlessness; kindness; enormous stores of energy; quick, playful, and sometimes biting wit; generosity (giving the second chances that he doesn’t always get, himself); aristocracy (his natural air of authority, and the fact that he never carries money — like royalty — and his dislike of rules); limitless appreciation of beauty and of wonders; nostalgia for the lost and gone; and I see that this list is getting way too long, and it’s nowhere near exhaustive as it is.

    It’s like listing the attributes of a real, authentically complex human person.  Which is way more than I can say for Batman, or Wolverine, or Wonder Woman, but I’ve never had much exposure to them because they’re, well — boring?  Flat and predictable, by comparison, or, to sum up, life’s too short (well, mine is — as to anyone else’s, it’s not for me to say).

    So how much can an actor play against the core qualities — show them challenged, changing under the pressure of circumstances, show him growing out of them into something else — and still be seen as The Doctor?  Is he multifold but basically static?  “Doctor” is the title for something he aspires — but sometimes fails — to be.  But we see the whole man, each time — being the Doctor, trying but failing, or acting in ways that seem un-Doctorly — so for us “The Doctor” is a role, and each actor is the man (so far) *playing* the man who’s trying to fill that role, so “the Doctor” acquires this illusion of depth made from each actor’s particular emphases layered onto the general outline of “the Doctor”.  Being played by successive actors has made “the Doctor” more real, because those layers keep accruing?

    It’s late; I’m just floofing around here, wine glass at hand.  How is the Doctor as a character different from, say, George Smiley, a character presented as and taken as realistic in Le Carre’s spy fictions (I’m thinking Smiley as performed by Alec Guiness, if I have that right)?  How is he less “real” or “realistic” (well, apart from the magic box and the very long life and the two hearts and superficial stuff like that)?  All right, enough already . . .

     

    #51311
    janetteB @janetteb

    @fatmaninabox Angry after reading your post. That is corrupt. I have read about the dodgy practices of so called Job Centres. I guess it is to be expected when public services are privatised. Private means profit. “Service” is no longer a consideration. I really hope the situation improves soon and you are able to get back into the gardens where you are happy. On a more positive note I am glad you have fixed your PC.

    Cheers

    Janette

     

    #51312
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    I realise I keep posting these Peter Capaldi vids but this one is just awesome…

    #51313
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    Oh and welcome back @fatmaninabox. Sorry to hear of your JobCentre troubles. It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly we’ve allowed twattish and occasionally deadly officialdom in this country to have a free rein…

    #51314
    Anonymous @

    @fatmaninabox

    that’s awful stuff!  I hear of this crap in Oz and see it on various current fluff-airs shows -snotty officialdom indeed Jim  -here’s to better times. A cuppa tea for now?

    @jimthefish wonderful video! I love them.

    PuroS

    #51315
    Anonymous @

    @fatmaninabox

    somewhere around thermal grease I lost you 🙂

    Still, my techie (we give him beer) pulled out the dust accumulated in the Lap top (Stellar) and took a photo of it: of her private parts! I ask you!

    Now it aint switching off and the ‘fan’ thingy didn’t go all woofy. I know. Doesn’t sound all “CPU” (and I know what the means: something processing unit: Computer??) but you know, the same thing. Sort of.

    <wanders off confused>

    #51317
    Anonymous @

    @jimthefish

    what an absolutely mind blowing communicator PC is: an artist, who loves his words and ideas. A gentle man -funny, kind.

    Terrific. Great Sunday morning watch.

    #51318
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    @jimthefish

    Jobcentres have always been like that. At least, I had a very similar experience to @fatmaninabox in another economic downturn, some twenty years back, when the solution to doing fringe theatre for no money (which might have led to paid work) was apparently to put me on six months work experience as a shop assistant for no money. The only bright side was that it was, at least, a charity shop – so I wasn’t taking someone else’s paid job away.

    The most deadly change has been handing the power to sanction to people who are mostly only interested in getting you off the unemployment statistics, and have never been too worried about helping people find a job that matches their experience and qualifications. There are some good people working there – but not enough.

    #51323
    janetteB @janetteb

    In Australia if you aren’t receiving dole money, which a high percentage of youths under 21 are not due to parental income, then you receive no help at all in seeking work and because there is a financial incentive for employers to take someone off the dole the unfunded unemployed have little chance at all. As in the UK as @bluesqueakpip points out, it is all about the keeping the statistics as clean as possible.

    Cheers

    Janette

    #51324
    DoctorDani @doctordani

    @jimthefish I watched that vid earlier today and was blown away by how quickly the time passed by. He is a wonderfully interesting man in his own right. I’m dying for him to do a Bowie documentary. I know how much he loved him as a musician, so he’d be absolutely perfect for it.

    @fatmaninabox I’ve been through the whole job centre malarky in the past and it was honestly one of the most depressing experiences of my life. I think it says it all that the people who work there get bonuses depending on how many people they sanction. The whole thing is a mess. I hope you find something better than the slave labour you’re being forced to do soon.

    #51340
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @doctordani — a Bowie docu with Capaldi would be interesting. He did a very good one a few years back on Scottish artists which is worth seeking out if you haven’t seen it already….

    @bluesqueakpip — I think you were just unlucky to get landed with a total jobsworth before. In the previous times I’ve been involved with the dole-ys I’ve had advisers who guided me on what to apply for, what to put on the forms to make sure I got my money quickly, what jobs and opportunities to go for that best suited me etc. In short, they helped me, not punish me. I never once was sanctioned or shoe-horned into some bollocks that was the worst possible fit for me. But I think you’re right, that the sanction quotas — and worse — that IDS has brought in has had the effect of making that kind of mechanical jobsworthiness mandatory.

    Roll on Universal Basic Income, that’s what I say….

    #51342
    DoctorDani @doctordani

    @jimthefish I vaguely remember watching that doc a long time ago. Might be time to have another look.

    What with our robot overlords starting their ascent with the trial of driverless cars next year, it really is time we started to strongly consider a basic income for everyone. In fact it’s long overdue. There’s a lot of very dense people at the top who don’t seem to realise that people with next to no money can’t afford to spend in their shops or businesses.

    #51343
    DalekTor @dalektor

    @fatmaninabox

    So, let me get this straight:

    In order to stop you from doing volunteer work, they make you do volunteer work.

    I’m so glad that I’m not jobless.

    #51345
    Anonymous @

    @bluesqueakpip @janetteb @doctordani @Puroandson @jimthefish

    It’s my experience so far that different Job Centres interpret the rules differently, as do individual staff members.

    When I was doing Level 1 of the Horticulture course, I was signing on at a different Job Centre and the staff there had no problem with me doing it and actively encouraged me to continue on to the Diploma course (which I’d already decided to do any way) but 2 of my fellow students were pulled off part-way through the course by their respective JCs in order to do Work Experience.

    Likewise some of the students were given traveling expenses and money for their safety boots but I couldn’t get a bean from my JC even though I offered to have £5 per week deducted from my JSA. I ended up doing the course in an old pair of steel toe-capped Doc Martens that I’ve had for 20 odd years and are full of holes. Luckily, we had pretty decent weather so I didn’t get wet feet (unless you count the incident with the pond!).

     

    @dalektor

    In order to stop you from doing volunteer work, they make you do volunteer work.

    Well, no and that’s what’s got me irked. They’ve stopped me doing volunteer work in order to do unpaid work (although some, usually Tories, would argue that by being in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance, I am being paid). There’s nothing voluntary about what I’m doing – it’s forced labour. If I refuse to do it, I won’t get any money for a minimum of 13 weeks.

    Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not the idea of work experience that I have a problem with, it’s just what I’m doing that seems a waste of time. If they’d got me work experience in, for example, Birmingham Council’s Parks & Recreation Dept, I’d happily do it as it’s the area of work I’m looking for and, being a novice gardener, I lack the relevant experience in order to get a full time job.

    All cleaning offices is doing is giving me experience in cleaning.

    My frustration with the Job Centre worsens.

    Last Friday afternoon I learned that a show garden in Birmingham are looking for 5 people to do Work Experience. I spoke to my advisor at the Job Centre today about transferring to it and, after spending half an hour discussing it with her boss, she said no. Apparently, transferring would be classed as refusal to do what’s been assigned to me and they’d have no choice but to sanction me. Bunch of tossers the lot of ’em.

     

     

     

    #51346
    ichabod @ichabod

    @fatmaninabox  Good Lord!  That’s *insane*!

    #51347
    Anonymous @

    @fatmaninabox

    I spoke to my advisor at the Job Centre today about transferring to it and, after spending half an hour discussing it with her boss, she said no. Apparently, transferring would be classed as refusal to do what’s been assigned to me

    It is indeed insane. And you’re quite right – to clean because it’s the job they’ve given you (and enforced) with no thought whatsoever is wholeheartedly nuts. 🙁

    I’m surprised you stay sane; and I agree –had you signed on with the Council who needed 5 people -and you’re experienced – you’d tick all the boxes and be receiving the ‘allowance’ with no ‘sanctions’ necessary.

    I’m turning more socialist every day -although such an appellation means nought and would require more bureaucratic nuttiness anyways and they’re probably all “tossers” too.

    Have another gargle blaster 🙂

    Love from Puro and Son

    #51348
    janetteB @janetteb

    @doctordani Yes. If only those sawdust for brains who run our respective nations could work out that simple little equation. People who have money spend money. The economy keeps on rolling. Take money away from people and they stop spending. Economy shrinks. Economics really is quite simple. It is only complicated for those trying to twist the facts to suit the filling of their own pockets.

    @fatmaninabox Sorry to hear that things are not improving. Many years ago my S/O was told by a Employment consultant that he should drop out of Uni, (he was starting off as a part timer and hence still receiving dole) and look for some underpaid job. There was no encouragement for him to further his education and job prospects. Another time he received a letter requiring a response after the due date to respond and as a result was cut off for over a fortnight. He lived by selling his flatmates empty coke bottles.

    @jimthefish. Three things we need to do to save this planet, cut carbon emissions, plant trees everywhere and introduce a living wage for all. (I will probably be “sanctioned” for writing that.)

    I think I need one of Puro’s gargle blasters.

    Cheers

    Janette

    #51349
    Anonymous @

    @janetteb

    Free gargle Blasters for all!  Gargle Blaster Now!! Gargle Blaster Now!!

     

    #51354
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    @fatmaninabox- I’m so sorry to hear about that. We’ve just received a notice to apply for PIP cos DLA is running out. We only got it reinstated two years ago, and I’ve pretty much felt sick since opening the letter. My contact with the job centre has been minimal (basically: So, your boyfriend. Still disabled? Yup.) and he’s in the ESA support group, but I’ll end up in their clutches soon enough, having been out of the job market for years, and I’m not quite sure how much help an OU degree is going to be, though I can but help…

    We have a friend who loves gardening. He’d he out all day, traveling around, looking for work. And then get sanctioned for not spending enough time applying for jobs on the internet. But he doesn’t really know how to use the internet (he has educational needs) and couldn’t cope with the course they put him on for computer literacy, so they sanctioned him for that as well. Fantastic…

    #51357
    DalekTor @dalektor

    @janetteb

    But what if people choose to save their money? If you somehow made everyone in the world have the same amount of money one day, by that evening it would all be different again because some would have spent and others would have saved.

    You are right, though, that if you have no money in the first place, then you can’t save OR spend.

    @miapatrick

    Don’t they have some sort of regulation about things like educational needs? Or maybe you could try to teach him?

    @puroandson

    What’s a Gargle Blaster?

    #51359
    Anonymous @

    @dalektor

    sorry about that it’s part of the ‘best drink in the universe’ -the ‘Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster’ from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Awesome!

    @miapatrick that’s awful -f*cking awful. Sanctioned? That’s the fascist word they use is it?

    Christ.

    PuroPissed.

    #51363

    @dalektor

    YOU HAVEN’T DISCOVERED THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY?!?!?!?!?! Not the unutterably shit Hollywood movie, which missed the point of every single joke, but the original radio series and spin-off books?

    Oh my. Have you moved here from Betelgeuse?

    Are you in for a treat.

    #51364

    @fatmaninabox @jimthefish @puroandson @doctordani

    It’s not a new story:

    #51365
    Anonymous @

    @pedant

    Damn: that was a ‘blocked in your country as it contains Bafta material’ thingy’

    Some people don’t know HGTTG!

    I know -but @dalektor, you’ll totally love it. I was (cough) about 24 when I read/listened/heard about it and discovered an Aussie mate in his 40s who loved it too

    #51367

    On a different topic: The perils of daylight saving.

    #51368
    Anonymous @

    Hello. I am totally new here and thought this might be an okay thread to begin with as we are are so on the same page.

    @puroandson
    Some people don’t know HGTTG!

    Yes, sadly some people have missed out on the whole HGTTG deal. I first encountered it by accident and took to it at once. I have listened to the original and later audio series over and over and read some but not all of the books. I have never seen the movie and probably won’t.

    As for the whole employment/unemployment, income thing, don’t get me started.

    @janetteb Yes. If only those sawdust for brains who run our respective nations could work out that simple little equation. People who have money spend money. The economy keeps on rolling. Take money away from people and they stop spending. Economy shrinks. Economics really is quite simple. It is only complicated for those trying to twist the facts to suit the filling of their own pockets.

    At last some sense!

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    #51369
    Anonymous @

    If only those sawdust for brains … could work out that simple little equation. People who have money spend money. The economy keeps on rolling…”

    welcome to you @stitchintime.

    I feel -judging by your knowledge of Hitch-hikers (and I was in my tweens when I first heard about it and my friends were shocked that my parentals thought it was “garbage” -but they’re Czech -so what can you say! 🙂 ) and your understanding of the simple economic equation which our own PM in Oz seems to ignore – that you’ll fit right in here! (our current PM has several mansions overlooking the Sydney Harbour and one is worth approximately 36 million dollars).

    Yes, the idea that people who have money can therefore spend money is an essential element of understanding economics. And yet it seems to be lost on people. The recent ‘fight/debate’ was with several conservative teachers (again, those in their mid twenties) who believe that you only deserve to pay for what you ‘need’ -in other words, health and education is something they shouldn’t contribute to for other’s sakes because -they declare -“we don’t benefit”.

    Hmm. I ponder these implications. It’s part of the economic equation you mentioned. I considered their moronic responses and indicated that, at some time, they’d have children (“oh yes”) and at sometime they’d need private health care, for perhaps, relatives, who would not want to lie in some awful public and institutional ‘god’s waiting room.’

    So therefore they ultimately admitted they all might benefit from a rigorous public health service where no-one gets left behind. Where all institutions of that type are as good as or better than any private fee paying elderly peoples’ home. Somewhere, where everyone is treated equally. Where every school is a palace and where higher education is free (as it once was under our old PM Whitlam in 1973) because, let’s face it, all those teachers will need teachers for their own children; educated mid -wives to bring their babies into the world, world -class specialists to treat their brother or sister, or aunt and prospective lecturers to tutor those children into whatever career they choose -preferably one which assists the whole nation into prosperity -not just the independently wealthy or those on CEO/corporate salaries -but each and every person.

    Sadly, the young are turning conservative and lolloping about on too many ecstasy tablets whilst ‘doing the grind’ of a 9 to 5  instead of rebelling hard and/or working within the system to change the systemic problems and utilise institutional wisdom.

    Whoa, Puro, slow down!  That was too much rambling for a welcome! I hope you forgive me, there Mr or Ms Stitchintime and we’re very grateful you’ve located our site. It’s a wonderful place. Do you have a favourite Doctor or companion perhaps (because I really am interested and also because it halts my rambling declarations)?

    Till them over to our Pub on site, for a Gargle Blaster. I feel in the mood for a red one mixed with purple (it being International Women’s Day recently)

    Kindest to you,

    Puro Solo (Son, the hybrid part, is at school writing about the Industrial Revolution and doing a good job of it: I hope!)

    #51371
    Anonymous @

    @puroandson
    Thank you for the warm welcome. 🙂

    Interestingly, I actually have no children, but I do think it is not only to my advantage that they should be well-educated but also a responsibility and a privilege of all adults to contribute one way or the other to the welfare of the community. It’s also a matter of self-interest really because on the whole I prefer the company of well educated, relatively healthy, happy people to that of illiterate, ignorant miserable grunts.

    Favourite doctor: #4 Tom Baker.
    I just happened to be waiting for another show to come on and accidentally tuned into, The Deadly Assassin, and I was hooked! When I found out he was leaving the show I was devastated and quickly lost interest after he left, until more recently.

    Favourite companion: Sarah Jane Smith
    She was just brilliant, brave and fun and I was shocked and saddened by the loss in 2011 of Elisabeth Sladen.

    Just pour me a single malt Scotch, neat. That’ll do nicely. 🙂

    #51372
    Anonymous @

    @stitchintime

    ignorant miserable, grunts

    What an excellent way to describe ‘the’ them. And I agree with the neat single malt. 🙂

    Lately, I’ve had celebratory reasons occasioning decent portions of both Johnny Walker Blue & Macallan.

    Talk about a warm tingle -particularly useful after a long day at work ‘discussing’  history, sociology and theology  with those “miserable grunts.”

    I’ve actually retired from work recently -leading to said celebratory drinks. 🙂

    I loved Dr Four too -but I was introduced to Who via Dr Pertwee which involved buttered cinnamon toast, cold milk and then a small packet of coloured smarties . It was the smarties which did the trick -that and the B&W telly, the corridors, the bleak quality of everything mixed with Pertwee’s aristocratic bearing. When he was in charge, one felt as if everything would be alright with the world. As a little girl of seven, I really needed that assurance. Mum had died n0t long before and the simple routine of watching Who followed by anticipation for the next episode helped me escape just a little into a daring world of escapades and thrill 🙂

    Kindest,

    PuroSolo (Son home from school and annoyed that he missed two questions!)

    #51373
    TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros

    I thought I’d redecorate!

    #51374
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    @dalektor- in theory he ought to be getting more support but its a hard slog to get to that point, and a lot of the support that was available has been cut. He’s 55, illiterate with severe mental problems as well (but a fantastic memory and the one we trust most to look after our dogs).  We tend to take turns helping him out with court appearances (for non payment of council tax, benefit appeals) and meetings with the jobcentre and citizens advice, and money, he’s very proud so we all have lovely gardens. He really needs a qualified support worker, and even supported living, but fat chance of that…

    @puroandson- yup, sanctioned. You really couldn’t make it up. Well, George Orwell could have done…

    #51375
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    @stichintime, @janetteb, @puroandson and rest- re the economy. Another fundamental misunderstanding of the economy is people sharing posts on facebook claiming that if we leave the EU there will be less people coming in, and therefore more jobs. When in fact I believe it has been shown that immigration has no significant effect on employment rates. More people mean more jobs, just as people with more money means more jobs. Another fact that many people miss is the number of people claiming housing benefit and tax credits because of the obscene cost of housing in this country. I am incredibly lucky to own my own house, outright, no mortgage, which means when I do get back to work, I can subsist on a relatively low wage because I don’t have the cost of rent or mortgage.

    I’ve been reading a collection from the Mass Observation archives from the time of the establishment of the NHS and Welfare state, and it is stunning to see the hostility towards it of the time.

    #51378
    Anonymous @

    @thedentistofdavros

    I like it! The fact we have a new member in @stitchintime is a good reason to re-decorate. I love how  the Doctors has various abilities: the recorder, shown above; the Venusian Aikado and more recently our Capaldi’s electric gee-tar. Who-ee, I like it a lot. 🙂

    Dr Troughton was a wonderful Doctor, who, only on re-watches six or seven years ago did I discover properly. I love these extra quirks @stitchintime; there’s a great authenticity to these Doctors which helps the television show flourish. We connect with this ‘alien’ being who has such contrasting ‘human’ qualities causing us to respect him (and be intrigued!) all the more -no matter the incarnation or iteration.

    I always loved Doctors 3 & 4 but I have a soft spot for Eleven: it was a difficult period in my life and filtered through Series 5, one of the best seasons crafted, I saw the generosity of spirit, evident gentleness and compassion of this Doctor (witness Vincent and the Doctor) particularly compelling and even calming.

    At times, I felt restless or apathetic, surrounded by a gloomy Danteseque path on which I loitered without intent or progress: any green foliage shunted away, narrowing the path on all sides until the sunlight disappeared. With this Doctor the light gleamed again and a gradual feeling of hope took the place of helplessness and resolve accompanied it. I learned that fallibility was human and to err a perfect expression of our humanity. A path the Doctor had struggled through himself.

    I think the Doctors and the Tardis heal more of us ordinary people than is perceived. In the gap between the Doctor’s quirks, sardonic humour and understanding sits grace.

    So, to our Doctors: cheers and applause wherever you may be or peacefully rest  🙂

    PuroIntrospective

    #51379
    Anonymous @

    @miapatrick

    our posts crossed and as I was carried away somewhat by nostalgia I didn’t want you to think I hadn’t read your post – it’s interesting isn’t it, just how owning your own home is so important and necessary.

    Many years ago food was the most expensive item with housing a close second- now housing and medical costs are the most important expenses; considering our aging population and other social groupings.

    I would think, looking at conservative Australia, that any ‘welfare’ programmes are sneered at by the petty elites and the elevated working classes, which as plumbers, mechanics or electricians are those who (looking at the statistics of two of the most expensive private schools in Brisbane) constitute the bulk of parents paying $50 000 p/a for each child ages 8 to 18 -now, when I state ‘elevated’ working classes, I’m struggling for a better term – it’s pejorative at best, and nasty at its worst, and I don’t wish to ‘sneer’ either. OK, maybe a bit 😉

    They work hard and always have, but I find, in my discussions with them and in conducting surveys prior to the national curriculum, that these groups were the most radically conservative: maintaining the status quo, speaking against immigration, against a public medical system, even campaigning against state schooling claiming such ‘services’ once corporatized would be more robust “for society”; naturally they supported competitive strategies amongst teachers assuming ‘A’ level students are driven by more competent teachers. Further, they wanted parent groups to decide on hiring and firing even indulging irreverent senior students in decision making presumably based on popularity and “easy” grading.

    Heads of Curriculum who had been in these schools for three decades promptly marched out applying for contracts in the state schools they had so vociferously opposed last century.

    An upside down Orwellian society -although Socrates would be opposed to the misuse of ‘society’ in this construct; although Plato most certainly would not.  If it would be up to him, I’d be washing cars outside of Bendigo.

    Hmm, this is becoming too heavy a discussion for The Sofa and for the newbies possibly scared off by words like “sanctions: and dark Dantesque  (or loony) concepts. Time for the Pub? 🙂

    Kindest to all (comrades!)

    Puro and Son

    #51383
    TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros

    @puroandson

    I find it very amusing when a doctor happens to have a certain quirk and it helps distinguish them (as a doctor)and set them apart from those who have gone before them.  If I were the doctor I’d probably be whistling as it is one of my bad habits!(could become quite annoying after a while!)

    @stitchintime Welcome, I hope you enjoy it here it is very nice and I think you were very lucky to tune in on The Deadly Assassin it’s an absolute classic!

    #51384
    Anonymous @

    @puroandson
    The fact we have a new member in @stitchintime is a good reason to re-decorate.

    Oh, no need to make a fuss on my account, unless of course you really want to… 🙂

    @puroandson
    I was introduced to Who via Dr Pertwee…When he was in charge, one felt as if everything would be alright with the world.

    There is that too and I am a big fan of, Planet of the Spiders, as well.

    @miapatrick
    Another fact that many people miss is the number of people claiming housing benefit and tax credits because of the obscene cost of housing in this country.

    Alas, to true in many places. 🙁

    @thedentistofdavros
    Welcome, I hope you enjoy it here it is very nice and I think you were very lucky to tune in on The Deadly Assassin it’s an absolute classic!

    Thanks for the warm welcome and yes it was and is truly a treat. 🙂

    #51386
    Anonymous @

    @jimthefish @pedant

    listening to the review of Gingerbread, I have one general question and that is was it accepted that all shows (procedurals etc)  generally had 22 episodes? That is, until Buffy where the first season was only 12? Or is it the other way round, effectively, where most shows now have 12 episodes and Buffy straddled that era where 22 episodes were the rule not the exception? House had 22 for instance but now Walking Dead has 12, 13 or even 6 but Fringe still has 24. West Wing had 22 without exception as did ER -and that was all between approximately 1999-2007/8?

    Puroconfus-ed

    So

    #51387
    Alphs @alphs

    Hello people! I’m new here!

    I come in a time of dire need. I don’t know if this is the right place for this kind of request here, and sincerely apologise if this is any inconvenience, but here we go:

    I bought the Series 8 Blu-ray set from amazon.co.uk . I’m from Brazil, the importation fee is astronomical and the conversion rate is astonishing – really, the cost of this thing is just ridiculous. It’s the only thing that I make an exception and just go for it- Doctor Who. But to my surprise, the Blu-ray just doesn’t work on my US Playstation 3. My Ps3 is Region A, but I checked before buying and even on the item title on Amazon it listed this not as Region B but REGION FREE. Right there, on the item TITLE. I thought it would be fine. But as I try to play the discs, all I get is this ungodly screen, and nothing more than it:

     

    I hate it… =(

     

    Has anyone ever experienced this thing before?? Are my disks somehow messed up, I don’t know…

     

    Any help you can have will be hugely appreciated.

     

    Thank you very much! =)

     

    Alphs – the newcomer

    #51392
    Anonymous @

    @alphs

    Hi there and welcome to you: you are definitely in a pickle! Aaand I wish I could help. Barely identifying an HDMI cable ensures that I wouldn’t be able to assist at all but I think some of the good and helpful ppl on this site would/could help you out of this mess!

    If it says ‘region free’ is should be, yes? Unless you can only play it on a PS4, perhaps? Would that be the case? have you googled the problem? I know, sounds truly dumb, but I’ve googled all sorts of weird and wonderful issues and found results! That and facebook!

    Good luck and welcome anyway…hopefully it will be sorted. I feel for you.

    Kindest

    Puro (kind of useless, but still)

     

    #51393
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @puroandson–

    Buffy s1 is only 13 episodes long because it was a last-minute mid-season replacement for the Aaron Spelling show Savannah. A typical US tv show will have a run of 22 episodes — or sometimes longer — seem to remember the X-Files would clock up 25 episodes some seasons. However, there is a thing called ‘sweeps week’ — although I believe these days there are up to four ‘sweeps’ in a year. This is basically when the ratings for various shows are evaluated and progs themselves are assessed in their ability to attract advertisers. The poorer performers are canned, the strong performers will tend to get renewed at around this time. Unless they’re reaching the magic 100-episode mark that allows for syndication then they get to limp along for a bit longer (basically what happened to Angel FWIW).

    This is basically what happened to Buffy. Savannah got canned because it was so awful and Buffy was quickly put together to replace it. And it was (just, I believe) enough of a success to be picked up from there. The rest, as they say, is history….

    (And as an extra aside this is also what happened to Firefly, only in reverse….)

    #51394

    @puroandson

    US network seasons are typically between 22 and 26 episodes, this being the requirement for a show to go into syndication (also why so few series have true arcs – they may be shown out of order in syndication, so need fillers). Buffy was a mid-season replacement that only got a full (multi-)season order soon after S2 started airing – so What’s My Line was a potential series finale, in the event it got cancelled.

    Cable networks have different rules and aren’t concerned with syndication, so seasons lengths vary a lot, although 10 and 13 are typical.

    #51395
    Anonymous @

    @jimthefish @pedant

    Thank you gents.

     

    #51547
    DalekTor @dalektor

    Hellooooooo?

    No one’s been here for almost two weeks! The previous conversation about seasons has seemed to have died off, so I’m going off that topic.

    What’s everybody’s favorite episode? (Can be NuWho, a Classic serial, or overall)

    I don’t know about my favorite overall or in NuWho, but the Remembrance of the Daleks serial is my favorite Classic Who. Even for the people who don’t like Seven all that much…

    *SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN IT*

     

     

     

     

    …Ace with a baseball bat vs Dalek is awesome. Also, Special Weapons Daleks are OP.

     

    *SPOILERS OVER*

     

    So anyway, what do you guys like?

    #51548
    Anonymous @

    Oh, that is always a really difficult question as there are so many choices. I think I will go with, “The Deadly Assassin,” (classic, Doctor #4), as that was the episode that hooked me in the first place. To me it just had some much going for it at the time, in terms of being interesting, strange, stark and dark all at the same time.

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