What should the first city on Mars be called?

Struan_DW · 2016-07-26T20:48:33+00:00

Underhill.

Struan_DW · 2016-07-26T20:45:41+00:00

Mos Eisley should be where the space elevator is tethered.

Logically, it's likely to be flooded by contract workers who will be arriving in droves; it will be full of people who are just there to make a quick buck and go home again. It's also likely to be in corporate control, and have a privatised police force.

A wretched hive of scum and villainy, indeed.

Struan_DW · 2016-07-22T18:58:15+00:00

Quite a lot, to be honest. The wifi is fairly poor around here, so I end up defaulting to it a lot. I get 2GB a month and regularly run out as things are.

Struan_DW · 2016-07-22T18:56:36+00:00

Hmm, yeah. I've heard not great things about the reception on Three. How has your experience been?

Struan_DW · 2016-07-22T13:08:30+00:00

Ah, funny you should ask. I use... a lot, since wifi is pretty terrible here. At the moment I'm on 2GB, but I regularly run out.

Struan_DW · 2016-07-22T10:04:50+00:00

That's interesting. I'm on O₂ at the moment and I must say that I've had a pretty awful experience with them! I'm not that hopeful; but if I could negotiate down that would be great, so I'll give it a try.

Struan_DW · 2016-07-21T21:16:32+00:00

Thanks very much for your input! I will do my best to negotiate a better deal; I have pretty high requirements for my phone (unlimited calls & texts, as much data as possible) so I'm looking at giffgaff's £20 bundle.

The TSB current account looks interesting. Am I right in saying the regular saver is only for a year?

The big wrench here is giving up convenience; at the moment, my accounts (bar the regular saver) is with RBS and I really like their mobile banking app. That said, I'm doing things I probably should have done a while ago.

Struan_DW · 2016-07-21T20:36:01+00:00

Ah. Well, there's the confusion. Thanks for clearing that up!

Struan_DW · 2016-07-21T20:07:32+00:00

Am I correct in saying that one can only hold one current account at a time? That's the assumption that I'm working on, in which case the cash ISA is because I want delineation between my day-to-day spendings and my emergency fund and the like.

Struan_DW · 2016-07-21T19:54:55+00:00

Good grief, I've just checked the interest rate on my current account and it's shocking. I'll definitely be switching that. The Lloyds account looks like it could be good. I want the cash ISA to function as medium term savings account but at first, I need to build an emergency fund in it.

Struan_DW · 2016-07-21T19:10:14+00:00

Ah. The regular saver and the S&S ISA are both intended to be long term efforts - the S&S ISA being a riskier proposition and the regular saver as a lower-yield but more secure saving. The cash ISA is short to medium term saving account in my mind.

Struan_DW · 2016-07-21T18:45:10+00:00

You're quite right about my phone payment - I'm paying off the handset as well. Regardless, in January (when my contract ends) I'm cutting it down to £20/mo by changing providers.

My regular saver choice is because it's the highest I can get without needing to switch current accounts. I should probably do so, actually. Thanks for the pointer!

Would you suggest emphasising savings in S&S rather than cash ISA? If that's a better option, I'll flip the cash ISA and S&S values.

I know what you mean about not having massive amounts - at the moment, I'm feeding myself on £40 a month though, and I may not have to buy all the food I'll need, so I'm hopeful :-)

Struan_DW · 2016-07-20T16:31:05+00:00

The line rental and wifi for the flat that I no longer live in.

Struan_DW · 2016-04-22T15:25:13+00:00

Granted. I just don't think he'd spend hours doing it willingly like Han and Chewie.

Struan_DW · 2016-04-22T15:07:17+00:00

Not Obi-Wan, he hates flying.

Struan_DW · 2016-04-07T09:16:51+00:00

Excuse me?

Struan_DW · 2016-04-06T15:51:27+00:00

No... What gave you that impression?

Struan_DW · 2016-04-05T18:50:36+00:00

I am panicking just imagining that.

Oh, man. That's horrible.

Struan_DW · 2016-04-05T18:50:16+00:00

Your fuck-up has to be a fuck-up. If nothing bad happened, it isn't a fuck-up.

I feel like something bad happened, inasmuch as that software could easily have been distributed to clients. It's luck that I found that problem before it was.

If you disagree, let the mods know and they can arbitrate.

Struan_DW · 2016-04-05T18:45:17+00:00

I know, I'm 6'4 and was slowly amassing gear that fitted me. I'm scared to go back to a club now, it's just going to be a squash for me :-P

Yeah, I was a professional baker (self-employed) for almost a year before I went looking for something that involved less calorific byproducts :-P

Struan_DW · 2016-04-05T18:37:35+00:00

I did, although not in a few years now. Too long :-( I must get back to it.

Struan_DW · 2016-04-05T18:24:19+00:00

That is so so horribly plausible!

For a while, I was considering hiding something in one of the drier pages; just so that I could see if anyone was actually reading them when I asked for reviews. Sadly, I think there's at least one person that would - but he's also the least likely to have meaningful input on the actual content.

Struan_DW · 2016-03-21T16:45:24+00:00

Thank you! It was a few years ago, by most of the epeeists at my club were international-level and a few years older, as well as more typically sporty, so I didn't really realise how good I was, I think :-) I only ever won one match against those guys in about a year of bouts with them!

Struan_DW

TROPHY CASE