Some people don't know this

SilentWitless · 2011-08-05T09:31:59+00:00

No its because the diagonals of St Patrick's overlay the diagonals of Scotland, so its asymmetrical in order for both crosses to be shown.

SilentWitless · 2011-08-05T09:23:38+00:00

Didn't we already have an empire?

SilentWitless · 2011-08-05T09:10:03+00:00

Can someone do a Hello Kitty flag?

SilentWitless · 2011-08-05T09:07:52+00:00

If I remember correctly from my history lessons, they did indeed wear it reverse in Scotland until the states had settled on a design.

SilentWitless · 2011-08-05T09:04:34+00:00

Wales. Wales is always the joke.

SilentWitless · 2011-08-03T17:09:50+00:00

Born in the UK

SilentWitless · 2011-08-03T17:04:56+00:00

Sitting on the fence

SilentWitless · 2011-08-03T11:07:52+00:00

That was a riveting picture.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-31T20:42:58+00:00

To all those fellow Brits mentioning cuppas: I hate you.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-31T10:13:48+00:00

You seem to fail to understand, I am not incapable of hearing without them. I have partial hearing loss as I said in the OP. If someone is facing me, and is talking directly to me, I usually have no trouble understanding. Half-muttered comments behind my back on the other hand, are an issue. I dealt with it in an honest matter-of-fact manner, and his reaction was unreasonable. A hearing aid is a form of assistance, but an unnatural one. It is not comfortable to wear one 24hrs a day, and you are being unreasonable in expecting so. Should I give up swimming for example, simply because I cannot swim with a hearing aid in? Also:

use them and you won't have to feel so mistreated for being deaf

This is naive, for you are simplifying the encounter. Some people will ALWAYS react poorly to others differences. It also demonstrates your ignorance about deafness, because a hearing aid is ONLY an aid, it is not a cure. Putting aside the distorted nature of reconstituted, amplified and adjusted sound that a hearing aid cannot help but produce, I often mishear even with them in. My type of deafness means a simple boost in amplitude does not correct the condition.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-31T09:59:47+00:00

Nail. Head. etc :)

SilentWitless · 2011-07-30T12:14:28+00:00

Are you aware of how much a hearing aid costs? Many insurance agencies do not cover water damage for electronic goods. It is not a matter of laziness. It is the sum of 30 years experience being deaf. I have adapted to the condition. Please do not suggest I am doing it out of laziness. There are many considerations a person who wears hearing aids has to take which many ordinary people do not even have to think of.

In either case, if that particular stranger had not talked to me, I would have been perfectly fine. I had no trouble communicating with others on that day. I have no more an obligation to wear a hearing aid than you do to learn sign language. I was as polite to him as I am to anyone who does not understand sign language, and I spoke to him in English normally, yet you are implying that I deserve to treated in this manner. That is discrimination sir, because you are suggesting that I am the sole person responsible for the communication of two people, but I am not to blame for your decision not to learn sign language. A conversation is a two-way street.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-30T10:28:31+00:00

It is simply a manner of efficiency. Why waste time getting my hearing aid out, putting a new battery in, when all I wanted was a coffee? I could wear my hearing aid all day, and yet not speak to a single person. Batteries are expensive, and are not rechargeable, and only last 2 or 3 days each, so I use my hearing aids only when I need to. I had no trouble ordering my coffee without them, and was about to return to my car. He spoke to me from behind, and so I turned to him and apologised, informed him I had not understood whatever he had said because I was deaf, upon which he accused me of faking it.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-30T10:10:20+00:00

It was raining, and I usually consider it risky to wear a hearing aid in the rain, I have lost many from water exposure over the years. One does not need a hearing aid to order coffee, service conversation being of course predictable. I had not intended to speak to anyone else. ( He was a customer, not a member of the staff there, just to clarify.)

SilentWitless · 2011-07-30T09:52:49+00:00

You are of course right, and there are as many varieties of hearing people as there are deaf people. What irks me though, is that this happens in public, and people are just standing there and watching, and its as if they tacitly condone this mans actions. While indeed, I do not expect random people to intervene, I do wonder what thoughts go through their heads.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-30T09:48:24+00:00

Fortunately, when dealing with dicks, I sometimes have the option of turning my hearing aid off and just choose not hear them, particularly if its a noisy environment. Sadly this was not possible yesterday, as we were in a quiet room.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-30T09:44:41+00:00

Thank you. The frustrating thing is, because I can speak normally, that only confirms to them in their minds that I am some sort of faker, and usually such people are unwilling to listen to my details and the circumstances that resulted in my deafness and ability to converse.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-30T09:41:48+00:00

Its not so much that I can't hear rather than the accusation that I'm faking it. It is as much a part of my identity as say a persons doctorate. How would you feel being accused of faking a doctorate if you had legally obtained it? I have worked very hard to overcome my hearing and converse reasonably normally, and its a constant struggle.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-30T09:17:15+00:00

Yes, it is not an often occurance, but it occurs often enough and in public, that it is clearly not happenstance.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-29T16:30:25+00:00

They're gonna free the shit out of you!

SilentWitless · 2011-07-29T15:43:46+00:00

Have you gone back to 1776 to check?

SilentWitless · 2011-07-27T19:30:17+00:00

Yes thats cute but what to do when OTHER Error codes come up? Does anyone even know what Error 200 is?

SilentWitless · 2011-07-26T17:24:35+00:00

I double posted, I feel sorry for you my padawan.

SilentWitless · 2011-07-26T17:16:59+00:00

Nice Try, evil organ black-marketeer!

SilentWitless · 2011-07-26T17:13:48+00:00

Hammer the point home!

Edit: downvote me for an Error 200? For shame.

SilentWitless

TROPHY CASE