1984 or is it worse already for those in UK?

[workshopmanualman]

This post has really ramped up hasn't it? At least here we are safe; the 300 is next to the Allegro or TR7 in terms of geek appeal, so as soon as anybody finds out we post here, we'll be put in the "mostly harmless" file and be left alone to do as we see fit. Anyway, I'm off to wrap my house in tin foil and sever all communications with the outside world. Those mafia dons knew this years ago - just communicate face-to-face by word of mouth.

[Ronnie]

Sweet mother of $£"% what has moving to the North done to you? Are you actually wearing a tin foil hat atm?

Granted, I don't have a lot of faith in them either

No, I'm the same guy I've always been - just express myself more frankly these days. If you don't believe my assertions then do a little research then come back to me. I suggest you start with Fylingdales.

They've been using voice recognition software for the last 20 years at least to monitor all UK telephone calls. Key word recognition would alert an operator, and there used to be an audible click when they came on the line. I've experienced this a number of times when discussing subjects such as the IRA - as a younger man I spent an inordinate amount of time earnestly discussing current affairs. These days the networks are digital, so no click. Voice recognition is now much better and it's relatively easy for intelligence agencies to store vast amounts of data. They are now doing the same thing with email and web based stuff too. There have been court cases in the US where 10 year old emails were produced by the prosecution. You can bet they have some pretty sophisticated algorithms to mine all this data, and they can do it retrospectively. So, if they get a piece of intelligence the NSA and its partners can plug in search terms and cross reference it with a virtual sea of old data.

Think about it, it makes sense. In fact why wouldn't they do it?

As for NSA back doors - again Google it. Again, it makes perfect sense. Microsoft is an immensely powerful corporation and with a virtual global monopoly on computer operating systems. It makes perfect sense for the NSA to cut a deal with them.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/5/5263/1.html

[MJ]

Those mafia dons knew this years ago - just communicate face-to-face by word of mouth.

And do so between car windows in a multi story car park

Not sure whether being 300 fans would give a good or bad impression - they may think that we have mild psychiatric issues (which may be true for some of us )

[jtbo]

What do you mean by saying that "green orange should be peeled before eating"?

Hopefully they don't evaluate posts/project progress ratio as crazyness level indicator Really my project is progressing, you just need 5 year calendar to see the progress

Good thing I got this extra large roll of tinfoil, I can make whole suit from this as latest research has revealed goverment spy signals can now enter your body trough your skin and travel up to your brains trough veins

Happy silly day, we call this Vappu, celebration of working class or something like that, majority of finns are today drunk and make fools of themselfs, it is safer inside at this time of year, so nobody will take my precious

[volvosneverdie]

Happy silly day, we call this Vappu, celebration of working class or something like that, majority of finns are today drunk and make fools of themselfs, it is safer inside at this time

Sounds like every Fri, Sat, Sunday night in Newcastle.
And bank holidays.

[workshopmanualman]

Vappu probably is similar to Newcastle on a Friday night; I've kind of done both. However the difference is that with the Nordic countries they are unbelievably straight laced 99% of the time but go bonkers for about 3 or 4 hours every Friday night. It is a bit like the difference between being at a teenagers party, or being in the pub with your old man. Both drink the same quantity of ale, in the same time period, but the results are wildly different.

Oh and when I was in Norway 4 years ago a pint was £9 in a bar. Bottle of wine in a cheap restaurant started at £45. We paid £30 for two burgers and fries, and £60 for two pizzas. Needless to say we only did these things once.

Norway is vastly overrated as a holiday destination by the way. Fjords are pleasant to look at, but when you've just paid £300 to go on a car ferry through one of them [don't be fooled by the pictures of cruise ships - we have better boats plying the Channel every day], it kind of hurts and you expect more. Scotland is way better, possibly infinitely better, and far more friendly.

[jtbo]

I just don't get wisdom behind that activity

[volvosneverdie]

They certainly dont look like theyre having much fun.

[workshopmanualman]

Looks like midnight and £90's worth of alcohol in your country. Also looks like, well, here in the UK at any time of day! At least they are not setting fire to anything or stabbing each other. They are just cutting lose is all. As the song says: "Time isn't wasted when you are getting wasted!"

The one thing I would say about the Nordic people and their mad Friday is that they didn't really appear to be enjoying themselves, and were getting drunk purely for the sake of it with no real social interactions taking place. There seemed to be an underlying agression to it all. I'm all for the chaos of being in a town when those out and about are on session - generally being a part of it - but I avoided being out in Norway and Iceland on Fridays. Most UK towns you can have a really good time if you blend in to the pub crowd - some of my best nights out have been alone in a strange town. People just seem to adopt the lone drinker, especially the further North you get. I always had a better time in the Northern towns [Edinburgh and up] going out on my own than when I met friends for a drink. Mad Friday over with our Nordic friends just seems to be an excuse to get blind drunk and vomit it all up as quickly as possible. I agree; that is not fun!