r/Glasgow Tools

zellisgoatbond

Reddit URLhttps://www.reddit.com/user/zellisgoatbond
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  • At least from my experience, being an X bus doesn't really mean it goes non-stop from beginning to end, rather that at certain parts it'll make different routes from other busses that make it quicker. For instance, the McGill's 23 and X23 both go from Erskine to Glasgow, and they're mostly pretty similar, except the 23 goes to a few more places (e.g the QEUH, Govan Cross and so on), whereas the X23 skips them and takes a more direct route to the bus station. That being said, nowadays at least I don't see too many cases where the X bus and the "original" route it's based on are both running - I think the X indicator is branding more than anything else. But I believe a general indication is, if it's an "X" bus, it'll usually have a fair period of time (say, around 20 minutes?) where it doesn't make any stops. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 7th Jan 2019 3:54pm)
  • FWIW, I've heard they're bringing the 906/907 into Renfrew and the like. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 29th Jan 2019 6:54am)
  • Trial by Facebook is no trial at all. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 2nd Feb 2019 6:34pm)
  • The issue with that is, looking at the sentencing guidelines, it's a very nuanced case - there are lots of factors to consider that change the nature of the investigation (e.g the complainer's family mainly wanted him to admit what he did, as opposed to wanting some form of punishment). It's also a very emotional case, for obvious reasons. But being emotional is no reason to not look at these nuances very carefully - indeed, in cases like this looking at those nuances is rather important. And, quite frankly, I wouldn't trust most people to do that. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 3rd Feb 2019 10:47am)
  • Have you read the [sentencing guidelines?](http://www.scotland-judiciary.org.uk/8/2121/PF-v-Christopher-Daniel) by zellisgoatbond (Thu 7th Feb 2019 11:52pm)
  • Regardless of whether you agreed with it or not - the sentencing guidelines essentially said "he's already been publicly shamed as a result of the conviction, he was suspended from uni while it was ongoing, and he's been affected medically as a result of it - coupled with the family of the complainant not really wanting 'retribution', we believe that what's happened so far is punishment enough and would not provide any rehabilitiative benefit". (Also, here are the [Sentencing guidelines](http://www.scotland-judiciary.org.uk/8/2121/PF-v-Christopher-Daniel) of the case in question - I don't know whether they made the right decision, and I don't think I'm informed enough to know, but this shows that seemingly clear cases can be rather more complicated than they appear). by zellisgoatbond (Thu 7th Feb 2019 11:51pm)
  • It was released a few days after the news broke (as it does for every case) - but my general concern is that a lot of the law is quite nuanced, and (intentionally or not) that's not really conveyed in most reporting on legal issues. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 8th Feb 2019 9:14am)
  • Not anymore, games centre closed down a few months ago unfortunately. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 25th Feb 2019 6:36pm)
  • Aye, that place was lovely - it was a nice place to get some more niche stuff, the staff there were great, and the thing where you got a free dvd when you bought something was a nice touch. It was the whole chain that shut down - I'd imagine the location and the CeX coming into Paisley didn't do it any favours though. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 25th Feb 2019 7:12pm)
  • If it's based on the London ones, it looks to be a rather small incendiary device - for context, of the one that went off in London, it barely burned the plastic the envelope was in. Of course any such package is a concern, but as suspicious packages go that wouldn't be the most dangerous you get. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 6th Mar 2019 10:28pm)
  • Take a look at some of the previous threads on Scotland about it, there's some real bampots there. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 12th Mar 2019 11:33am)
  • I'd be interested to hear the legality of that... by zellisgoatbond (Thu 14th Mar 2019 10:25am)
  • As far as I could find out, this generally isn't the case - unless stated otherwise, if you do coursework at any uni you generally own the copyright to that piece of work, with some limited exceptions (e.g they may need the rights to distribute it in a limited context - say, so you can upload a piece of work to an online page and they can send that to whoever's marking it - or potentially for a project sponsored by a company). In any case, it's certainly pretty dodgy. ​ by zellisgoatbond (Thu 14th Mar 2019 11:36am)
  • I'm not sure if it differs for Glasgow, but I'm fairly sure you can put in a placing request to go to another school. They prioritise certain factors first, though (e.g if they have other siblings there first and foremost, then things like religious reasons, medical reasons, being at the associated primary school, availability of subjects and then other requests). The statistics for placing requests based on school are publicly available, I believe. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 2nd Apr 2019 1:23pm)
  • >Geek Retreat not meeting hygiene standards The jokes write themselves sometimes ​ by zellisgoatbond (Thu 4th Apr 2019 4:40pm)
  • The [list of bus services](https://www.glasgowfort.com/glasgow-fort-bus-services) seems to suggest the 19, 38, 46 or 60 go there - I don't know the routes too well, but try looking into some of those? by zellisgoatbond (Mon 8th Apr 2019 5:55pm)
  • Yeah, I've noticed quite a bit that they're willing to "bend the rules" (particularly on Scotland-related posts and editorialisation) on posts they agree with... by zellisgoatbond (Wed 17th Apr 2019 10:43pm)
  • The issue with that idea is that exam time (especially the day before exams starting, on a bank holiday where most other buildings are closed) is the epitome of peak time - it's not necessarily practical to make more space for those moments, because they occur relatively rarely and the cost itself can be quite high. What I would say is that, right now, what space there is can be used more efficiently, and there's a couple of ways that could be done: * For the most part, lecture theatres aren't being used during the day - opening some of them up would help quite a bit with space. (For instance, one of the big lecture theatres in the Boyd Orr can hold around 250-300 people at once). * Within the library itself, signposting available space could be improved (since, of course, people tend to cluster around particular sections). At a basic level, knowing how many people are in the library at a given time would be a start (and a relatively feasible one since people need to scan *in and out* to use the library), but more granular information could be provided (e.g how many PCs are available? what floors are they on? Could they be mapped to show people where space is available? PC availability is already tracked, and this would be a matter of displaying said information differently). I know the CS department is experimenting with sensors to detect how many people are in a room - would such a thing be feasible for the entire library, to cover people not using PCs and whatnot? by zellisgoatbond (Mon 22nd Apr 2019 2:30pm)
  • I think I know what you're talking about, but annoyingly enough the website for them doesn't currently seem to work (at least on firefox). And I don't think they mind if people work in empty lecture theatres, but advertising it as an option a bit more might be worth doing. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 22nd Apr 2019 2:55pm)
  • McGills seems to do something similar here (not an old codger - although I've had many a journey from Glasgow to Braehead, that actually says it's to Greenock...) but also something else - on most routes, singles are considerably more expensive than returns! This seems unusual to say the least, until you notice that they're paid for concessions based on the proportion of the *single fare*... IMO there's a few potential ways to deal with this: * Make the money they receive a proportion of the single or the return fare, whichever is lower - so if they want to try and pull this trick, they need to increase those fares as well, and annoy quite a few more people (though with longer-term tickets becoming more common, another way may be needed in the future). * Calculate fares in such a way that's irrespective of the company's fares - it seems unusual to say the least that, if a bus company raises prices, the government just has to go along with it. * More regular inspections, perhaps done externally (maybe a "secret shopper"-style system?), to check that companies are giving tickets to the right places. The system right now seems quite self-reported to say the least. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 28th Apr 2019 5:25pm)
  • McGills have a few options: * Puchasing with cash on the bus - change is given, and contactless is available along with Google/Apple Pay. But you can't get tickets longer than a week. * Using a "GoSmart" card - this lets you buy tickets online (from a day to 10 weeks), load them onto the card, and tap the card. The card is available for free, but you need to apply to it in advance. * Using the mobile app - this does everything the GoSmart card does, but you can also access student all day tickets (note that you need to verify your account beforehand for this, by sending them an image of your student ID). by zellisgoatbond (Sun 19th May 2019 5:35pm)
  • AFAIK Jeremy Hunt visited the uni the next day (I believe something to do with cybersecurity?), so it may be related to that (however I stress this is just speculation). by zellisgoatbond (Thu 30th May 2019 12:42pm)
  • I'm studying CS at Glasgow - I didn't end up going for the Faster Route but I know a few people who did. \[If you have any further questions, feel free to ask\]. The faster route degree is the same as a normal 4-year degree - you're essentially skipping the first year because you already meet the requirements of that year, not losing the more advanced topics later on as in some other shorter degrees. In the computer science courses, for the first semester you take courses in: * Object Oriented Programming in Java * Algorithmic Fundamentals (essentially the foundational mathematics for CS, so things like propositional logic, proof by induction, graphs, modular arithmetic and things like that. * Networking and Operating Systems (it was really screwed up this year - in essence they ran it for the first time last year, and in effect combined two 3rd year courses into a single 2nd year course - so it should be much easier next year) * Databases and HCI (this is a 1st year course, but if you're on the faster route you have to take it this year instead - it's pretty easy though). * A course in study skills (this is for Faster Route students only - there's no exam, but it's a weekly lecture on things like study skills) For the 2nd semester, there's courses in: * Software engineering (e.g various design patterns for software) * Web Application Development (using Django) * Algorithms and Data Structures * Computer Systems (e.g circuits and assembly programming - again, this is a 1st year course) * A course in study skills (cont. from 1st semester, though I believe it's less structured here) It's also worth keeping in mind that, for you, this'll be 80 credits (10 credits per course, but the study skills is a 0-credit course), so you'll also take 40 credits in other stuff. You can take 2nd year stuff if you qualify for it - for instance, if you've taken first year mathematics courses you could take some 2nd year maths courses - but 1st year courses are also an option, and timetable permitting they're pretty flexible in what you can take. ​ For CS, most courses have 2 hours of lectures a week and 1 hour of lab work a week, and some also have a 1-hour tutorial once every two weeks (essentially a lecture, but focused on giving more examples of previous topics rather than learning something new). The 2nd year courses are mostly assessed with 20% coursework (often done as two "assessed exercises", worth 10% each), and 80% exam work, though some courses change this about (e.g Web App Development is 60% coursework based, including a team project worth 40% of your overall grade). ​ With regards to connections with employers, there's quite a few financial firms in Glasgow - in particular Barclays, J.P Morgan and Morgan Stanley - and they recruit pretty heavily for CS here. In particular there's often "spring weeks" in April-ish - essentially a week where you learn about what's involved in the company - and these are often considered when getting internships next year (i.e you can still get internships with them without going to their spring week, but they rate it quite highly). ​ Along with this, I would also note one thing: **learn Python if you don't already know it.** The department mainly uses Python in 1st year, and assumes it for some courses this year (e.g the networking/OS coursework is done in Python, and Django is a framework for web apps based on Python), and also courses next year (e.g the intro course in data science). You don't need to know it to an especially high level, but being comfortable with the basics will help considerably. As a rule of thumb, if you can handle up to (but not including) Section 6 on [this page](https://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/python3/), you'll be fine. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 1st Jun 2019 10:44am)
  • Hiya, happy to help. I'm away from home at the moment, but I can send you a screenshot of a typical week in a few hours. Generally speaking, for stuff outside of your degree there's quite a bit of flexiblity - for instance, there are courses mainly aimed at people in a subject who aren't taking it as part of their degree, but there's nothing stopping you from taking the "regular" courses instead of you meet the requirements. I'm a little unclear with what you mean by "research opportunities", but there's quite a few active societies where you can work on projects with others. AFAIK credit transfer isn't really a thing they take into consideration - at most they'll be used for considering which extra courses you're able to take, and that's pretty dependent on the department. I'm not too familiar with the internship scene - I'm a little early for that - but I'm definitely seen a number of part time internships being advertised here and there. Unfortunately I can't help you too much with the accommodation - I live at home nearby - but if you're choosing one of the university provided ones I've heard murano is a fair bit louder/more party-focused than the rest so you might want to consider whether that's what you're looking for. I would say that they're both good universities, but glasgow has more in the way of prestige, and IMO glasgow is a better city than Edinburgh (plus Edinburgh can be quite expensive). If it's only a pretty small difference, I would say go for Glasgow. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 1st Jun 2019 1:35pm)
  • What you're supposed to do * Move to a different place at least 50m away every hour (so businesses and homes nearby don't have to put up with your music all day if they don't like it) * Stay 50m away from another busker * If you use an amp, put it at a level that doesn't disturb other people (the general rule if you shouldn't be able to hear it from 30m away) * Not sell merch (this one's broken a fair bit...) * Not block the pavements, or entrances to shops * Use silence in certain areas (e.g don't busk close to the likes of cash machines) by zellisgoatbond (Sat 1st Jun 2019 9:44pm)
  • Weren't these the buses which got brought in just last month? by zellisgoatbond (Sun 2nd Jun 2019 8:18am)
  • I mean, IMO it's inclusive in the same way that women-only chess tournaments are inclusive - they're not meant to keep people out of chess (the vast majority of chess events are open to everyone), but they bring people in who may be more comfortable with playing with other women in a game that's mostly male-dominated despite there being no real physical reason why that's the case. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 3rd Jun 2019 3:50pm)
  • > why there's 6 bus companies in one city, each with their own labyrinthine ticketing systems, and no joint single/day ticket available I get your general point, but [I believe a joint ticket already exists](https://glasgowtripper.co.uk/). It's not terribly well publicised, but AFAIK it's there. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 4th Jun 2019 7:22pm)
  • At least for me it's been a wee bit inconsistent - most of the people there are pretty standard as retail staff go, one or two of them (I think including the owner?) have been absolutely lovely, and one or two of them have been pretty sour. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 10th Jun 2019 7:57pm)
  • That's a shame - price-wise they couldn't really compete with bigger chains and CeX, but for niche stuff and imports I had some great finds there. There's some absolutely lovely people working there - all the best to them. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 10th Jun 2019 8:00pm)
  • Fuck sake, that's ridiculous. I'm in a pretty similar situation, and the closest I've had to "trouble" is people on the subway asking someone else if it's valid (I think they originally see it as a Young Scot card rather than a concession card?) - I've never had any bother on the buses (normally McGill's, and First on occasion). It's already bad enough feeling like you're being judged by some other people on the bus (although I think that's mostly anxiety), but it must be a fair bit worse being treated like that from someone who really should know better. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 25th Jun 2019 4:28pm)
  • > If you're journalists - and you're not, not really - you should know what words mean. Perhaps [you should learn first?](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/smuggle) >**smuggle:** to take things or people to or from a place secretly and often illegally: By the dictionary definition, it's smuggling. It's illegal. Whether it's moral is a separate issue (I would say it probably is), but smuggling certainly isn't just for personal profit (for instance, the Underground Railroad was a form of smugglin). by zellisgoatbond (Tue 25th Jun 2019 8:18pm)
  • >And in the entire Wikipedia page on the Underground Railroad, the words 'smuggle' or 'smuggling' don't appear even once. Beyond the potential concerns of saying something isn't the case because Wikipedia doesn't use a specific phrase - I came up with this particular example partially from the Wikipedia page on smuggling, which refers to multiple types of people smuggling - including rescuing people from oppression, of which the Underground Railroad is given as an example. Indeed, the [Guardian style guide](https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-s) gives three points of distinction between people smuggling and trafficking, namely exploitation, consent and border crossing. > It was about helping slaves escape bondage. That's nothing to do with anything - you're presenting a red herring. My point is that smuggling need not be immoral by presenting a counterexample in which something would be considered smuggling, but still be considered moral. The significance of the two situations is irrelevant for this point. > Smuggling - we all know - is an illegal term with personal financial implications. This woman wasn't smuggling shit. Saying "as we all know" doesn't justify anything, especially when I've provided a counterexample to the idea. > You guys sure seem fishy to me. I think you're reading far too much into what I'm saying - I felt that you misused the phrase "smuggling" and sought to clarify - I wasn't trying to argue that what she did was right or wrong or whatever else, because quite frankly I both don't know and don't have enough information to make a decision I would be comfortable in espousing. But by the sounds of it, you seem frustrated because the BBC isn't spinning the story in the way you agree with. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 25th Jun 2019 9:47pm)
  • McGill's has a similar policy - one dug on a bus at a time, at the driver's discretion, but they're not allowed on motorway services (I believe for insurance reasons?), and service animals are exempt from these rules. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 26th Jun 2019 12:37pm)
  • I believe Paisley is piloting a scheme for free parking, through the week, with a 3 hour time limit? The idea being to encourage people to visit local businesses, while discouraging people parking there and commuting elsewhere. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 29th Jun 2019 12:26pm)
  • Aye, it was dreadful. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 12th Jul 2019 1:42pm)
  • Extinction Rebellion, while nonviolent, generally aim to disrupt, and they're doing this illegally. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 15th Jul 2019 12:47pm)
  • Both are good - IMO the main difference will be the area. Try and visit both - there's a sort of intangible feeling of which one is better suited to you that can't really be described in text. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 29th Jul 2019 11:45pm)
  • I believe they're starting to do some stuff with that? IIRC, sometime in the next year, they're planning to make it so that you can use a concession card as a smartcard, and load money onto it while getting a concessionary fare - previously you had to go to the ticket office for it. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 2nd Aug 2019 9:50am)
  • The most reputable website will probably be the [official NBA store](https://www.nbastore.eu/stores/nba/en) \- they'll probably be best in terms of variety. You might get some in person, but I'd expect the stock would be limited to a pretty small selection (e.g Lakers/Warriors/Bulls/maybe Celtics). by zellisgoatbond (Tue 6th Aug 2019 5:04pm)
  • Bit of a stupid question, but what's the deal with Pride tomorrow? I'm planning to meet a few friends in Glasgow tomorrow (mainly around the centre around Buchanan/Sauchiehall street), but they're autistic and struggle a lot with big crowds/sounds. I know they've scaled back compared to previous years, but is there still a parade on or something like that? by zellisgoatbond (Thu 15th Aug 2019 12:05pm)
  • Ah, I meant to say Saturday - I think I'm thinking too close to the weekend! Thanks for that - I think if it's slightly smaller I'll at least take my chances. by zellisgoatbond (Thu 15th Aug 2019 2:08pm)
  • As someone with an invisible disability, cunts who go all judgemental when I use the bus pass I'm entitled to. Yes, I don't "look disabled". Yes, I am actually disabled. Yes, I have ran into incoming traffic due to panic attacks. Yes, I would probably cope worse than you would without a pass. Most cunts aren't outwardly cuntish about it - though I've have someone tell me I'm not disabled (??). But it's a snide comment spoken just loud enough so I can hear, or a tut there. If you're going to be a cunt, at least have the decency to let other people know you're a cunt as well. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 20th Aug 2019 10:52pm)
  • Can't speak for Caley specifically, but in general for uni libraries it's normally fine most of the year (they're big buildings and there is a lot of space), but around exam times (remember unis often have December exams as well!) it gets a lot busier. After your first exam season, you generally get a feel for the busiest spots. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 20th Aug 2019 10:59pm)
  • It's moreso that the money they get from concessionary tickets is based on a proportion of the single price. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 25th Aug 2019 8:58am)
  • It sounds unusual at first - until you realise that McGills gets money for concessions based on a percentage of the single price... by zellisgoatbond (Sun 25th Aug 2019 8:56am)
  • I believe it was stepped up a bit after the packages a few years ago (as in she has two officers with her instead of one, and an officer driver instead of a civillian), though it's probably not as high as it was then. Even in pretty high stakes situations, they usually don't have loads and loads of security on them - for instance, with the Westminster attack a while back Theresa May had something like 5-6 officers with her while she was being evacuated. If I had to guess, a lot of security is more about controlling situations more discretely so people don't panic (e.g rather than trying to control risky situations , it's usually best to keep them away from risky situations where possible). by zellisgoatbond (Sun 8th Sep 2019 6:13pm)
  • Probably, yeah - the main thing is to go for a reputable brand. Other differences aren't terribly important. If you only need a small amount of storage (say, less than 500GB), you might want to spring for an SSD instead - they're a little more expensive per gigabyte (e.g for around 50 quid, you can get a 2TB hard drive or a 480GB SSD), but they're very, very quick, which is especially helpful for running Windows. They're also generally quieter, since they have no moving parts. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 11th Sep 2019 11:24pm)
  • \[Note: I'm looking at this from an undergraduate perspective - the situation regarding postgraduate funding differs quite a bit\]. In Scottish universities, there are broadly speaking 3 different fee categories: * Scottish/EU * Rest of the UK * Non-EU Scottish/EU students still have tuition fees, but at a relatively low amount (about £1,800 a year). However students pay no direct part in these fees - instead, the Scottish government pays these fees to the university itself. On the other hand, students from the rest of the UK, and outside the EU, pay higher fees (around £6,000 a year for the rest of the UK, and around £18,000-20,000 a year for Non-EU students). In most cases, students take out loans in order to pay these fees. However, access to these will depend on the country in question (e.g it's not too difficult to get them if you're from the US, but if you're from China you will probably pay for it upfront). Spaces for Scottish/EU students are capped by the Scottish government, while spaces for other students are uncapped. It's sometimes said that universities reject Scottish students to 'replace them' with students paying higher fees, but this is broadly speaking inaccurate - in many cases, universities reach the cap set by the Scottish government, so they quite simply can't accept any more Scottish/EU students. These places either go to a Scottish/EU student, or go unfilled. ​ TL;DR the government allocates a certain number of spaces specifically for Scottish/EU students. Universities can add as many spaces for other types of students as they wish. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 18th Sep 2019 4:41pm)
  • I think one thing which makes Glasgow particularly attractive is a relatively high concentration of universities to pull from the local area (within Glasgow themselves there's Glasgow, Strathclyde and Caley, plus UWS in the slightly wider area). The likes of Barclays, and JPMorgan in particular, cultivate these relationships quite early and often - for instance, the companies often go and do stuff at extracurricular events that various societies hold. If they run a hackathon, then those companies will probably sponsor one of the challenges, because it's a relatively cheap way of recruiting people who are really engaged and interested in technology. Their influence can even extend to the courses themselves. JP Morgan, for instance, provide textbooks to third year students for their software engineering courses at Glasgow uni. They've designed a course with the university for software engineering. And, at universities with more of a software engineering/vocational focus, their influence is even larger. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 18th Sep 2019 6:29pm)
  • Yep, this is a big one. For instance, if you do an integrated masters, then it's covered under the exact same arrangements as any other undergraduate degree - your fees are paid by the Scottish government, you get up to between £4,750 and £7,750 in living cost loans and/or bursaries, depending on household income, and you can still repeat a year and receive funding. You can do it all at the same institution, so generally speaking there's more continuity between 4th and 5th year, and it's logistically a lot easier. If you go for a postgraduate master's, you'll receive a loan for £4,500 of living costs (regardless of your household income), and a loan for £5,500 for tuition fees (tuition fees for UK students are a little over £9,000, so you'll need to make that other £3,500 some other way). They also generally assume less for background, so you can end up wasting time (indeed, a number of universities won't let you go bachelor's -> master's in the same subject, since they have overlapping required courses), and then there's a hassle of moving somewhere new for a year. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 18th Sep 2019 9:58pm)
  • That being said, I think there's been a fair few issues with things becoming more up to date - I'm not sure if there's specific research on this (I would be very interested to find out!), but my experience is that, for everyone I know who did CS at school in Scotland, from all different types of school, their primary programming language was Visual Basic. Visual Basic isn't an especially egregious choice as a first language, and it does some things quite well (having a WYSIWYG GUI designer built in can be quite useful) but there's considerably better choices that have cropped up especially in the past few years - Python or Java would probably be my preferred options. I think a lot of the challenges of teaching programming at school level is that, especially with the likes of Visual Basic, there's a lot of extra verbose gubbins that bloats programs and shifts the focus away from problem solving. For instance, I dug out my copy of my Advanced Higher project a few years back. The project itself wasn't terribly complicated - the core of a project is taking an input and checking whether it's in a given list - and I could probably implement the majority of it in a day now, but while the code is properly commented, there's just a lot of mess and faff that has very little to do with the problem itself (e.g a big mess of spaghetti to deal with relative file paths). I also think a fair issue is that, on the whole, people using Visual Basic are not especially accomplished programmers. So advice online tends to be poor. by zellisgoatbond (Thu 19th Sep 2019 4:22pm)
  • The short-ish answer is that ATMs are usually operated by a specific bank, but they're (almost) all connected to the same network - the Link network. Whenever you use an ATM that isn't operated by the bank your account is with, your bank pays an 'interchange fee' to the other bank, for each service that the ATM performs. (This is why, incidentally, if you try and withdraw cash without checking your balance, the ATM will usually prompt you to check your balance - they get more interchange fees as a result). This is how most ATMs make money - the other main method is via fees when withdrawing money with foreign cards, but this isn't too common outside of tourist hotspots. Across the Link network, this fee was set at 25p. However, in January 2018, Link announced plans to lower the fee from 25p to 20p over the next three years. The fee is currently around 22.5p, although the planned reductions have been paused pending review. by zellisgoatbond (Thu 19th Sep 2019 6:33pm)
  • In essence, it's usually more - the fees don't just cover those machines, but subsidise the network as a whole. For instance, in the likes of pubs, ATMs generally have lower footfall, since access to it is more limited than something just on the street, and oftentimes the owner of the pub doesn't own the machine itself (rather, another company comes in and maintains the ATM, in return for a cut of the machine's revenue), so they'll raise fees here in order to not introduce fees in more competitive locations. by zellisgoatbond (Thu 19th Sep 2019 7:09pm)
  • It's usually moreso for people using the wrong type of ticket, as opposed to not having a ticket at all, which could mean: * People using student/child tickets without a student card/being children * Someone using someone else's pass or ticket * Someone paying for a ticket with a limited number of stops, but staying on beyond that * Someone being given a companion concession ticket when they should really have gotten a single concession ticket instead (this is usually on the drivers) That being said, I've seen inspectors maybe twice on McGill's buses in the last few years - once to actually check tickets, and once when they introduced mTickets and they had inspectors help people to set it up. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 25th Sep 2019 9:13am)
  • AFAIK ESA is in the process of moving to Universal Credit, so it depends on where you are. PIP isn't part of universal credit, and it doesn't count as income for the purposes of ESA/Universal Credit either. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 30th Sep 2019 7:36am)
  • AFAIK, not many places do midnight releases nowadays - if people want it ASAP, they'll generally download it instead. Plus there's the cost and hassle of keeping a store open at midnight, getting staff in, getting staff out, and generally it's not really worth it. That being said, try Game at the Fort - they do some midnight releases (they're doing one for CoD I think). by zellisgoatbond (Fri 11th Oct 2019 8:34pm)
  • "glasgow lawyer" sounds a lot better than "person elected to represent students that doesn't really do anything" by zellisgoatbond (Sat 16th Nov 2019 8:34pm)
  • In essence, there were a series of sexual assaults in the West End area, including nearby the campus. They occurred on the 17th and 31st of October, but the SRC and the University are unhappy because they believe that, given the proximity to the university campus, the police should have notified them earlier so they could implement more security measures. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 20th Nov 2019 9:23pm)
  • Here's a [link to the account](https://twitter.com/buses_mcgills?lang=en) currently - note that the oldest tweet is on the 27th. And here's a WayBack machine [archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20190809202847/https://twitter.com/buses_mcgills) from the 9th of August - note the description mentions answering enquiries. All in all, it's very disappointing to see. In particular, part of the appeal of Twitter for customer services is that the majority of posts and replies are public - if someone else is having an issue, that issue, and its response, can be seen by others having similar issues, eliminating redundancy. And, unfortunately, while they have had experience with abusive tweets (at least based on [this account](https://twitter.com/inquisitor111/status/1199736000819453953)), ultimately this isn't unique to Twitter, and while I sympathise with whoever runs the account and has to deal with this sort of thing, I don't think shutting it down entirely is a way to handle it. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 29th Nov 2019 2:10pm)
  • Yeah, I don't really get the point either. A lot of people are unhappy with the current rector because he's not doing very much - I really hope they don't think Greta would be any different in that regard. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 7th Dec 2019 1:25pm)
  • It's kind of complicated - looking at the previous rector election, I wouldn't say most of the candidates are 'celebrities'. Aamer Anwar and Lady Hazel Cosgrove are rather distinguished lawyers, for instance, but I don't think most people would recognise them. I suppose part of the logic of it is, if you want someone who's not really well-known to represent students, you already have the student unions. But what makes the position of Rector unique is that there is this tradition of having more notable people (although student rectors aren't unheard of, such as Gordon Brown), who can use their general position to represent students in a way that other students couldn't. Charles Kennedy, for instance, was very active and popular amongst students, and I don't think it would be unreasonable to say that he was able to bring about change in part due to his status as a well liked and respected politician. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 7th Dec 2019 1:41pm)
  • Fair - I don't mean to say that he's been completely absent or anything like that. Although, at least from a student's point of view, the general perception seems to be that he doesn't really do anything if the media attention isn't there. To maybe try and back that up a bit, in the 2 and a half years I've been at uni, with him as rector, the list of emails I've got from him: * Two emails regarding the strikes in early 2018, one before they started and another after meeting students who had occupied the Senate Room. Fair enough, though one of them devolved into a pretty overdramatic rant. * Some emails about a few roundtable events between November 2017 and March 2018 - all well and good, but he promised to do them every two weeks, and there's been no news outside of that pretty short time period. For the most part, I haven't really minded him - I think he focuses a bit too much on saying things rather than doing things, though I fully accept that quite a bit of what he will have done won't be very public. But I think what's worse is the expectations he set. In his campaign he was very public about being a working rector, and being very involved with students. But he hasn't lived up to those expectations, and in a role where your goals are set almost entirely by expectation, that's very damaging. And the thing I'm most concerned about is that I think having a working rector is rather important, and an active rector can make quite the difference. But I think he's set that back substantially, making the likelihood of an absentee rector considerably higher. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 7th Dec 2019 3:57pm)
  • Essentially how it works is you go to the ticket machines, and then you can put your card in, just like one of the regular orange smartcards. Then you can load money onto it (I think a maximum of £50 at a time?), and then scan at at the turnstiles. It's not free, but the price is £1 single and £1.50 for a return, and there's a daily cap of £1.50 (so anything after your second journey is free). You can also go to the ticket offices and get a paper ticket if you'd prefer - there, just show your card and say what type of ticket you want. You can't get an all day that way, though. Also, if you have credit on your card, if your card is lost or it's due to be replaced, make sure you let them know there's credit on it so it can be transferred onto your new card. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 10th Dec 2019 11:44am)
  • It's changed now, you can still go to the ticket office but you can also now use it as a smartcard instead. And if you use it more than twice in a day, it's capped at £1.50 (i.e you get an all day ticket for the same price as a return). by zellisgoatbond (Tue 10th Dec 2019 11:40am)
  • And to clarify both of those points - this only applies for people using a concession due to old age. Disability concessions apply at all times. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 11th Dec 2019 6:25pm)
  • Lib Dems (via a postal vote). I'm in a relatively safe SNP seat, though Labour have a slight chance to take the seat. I would say it's really down to a few things: * On the whole the Lib Dem's policies are probably the closest to my personal views - in particular I especially like their focus on rehabilitative justice, a willingness to legalise the recreational drug market, the introduction of proportional representation and their support for civil liberties. I suppose in that sense I'm sympathetic towards the Greens and the SNP's policies as well, and Labour a bit less so, but economically I'm closer to the Lib Dems, the Greens aren't running here, and the transphobia issue within the SNP is personally quite important to me. * I don't think Jo Swinson is an amazing leader or anything like that, but I get the impression that she's not willing to shy away from a topic just because it might be unpopular. And that's something I respect quite a bit. * I think the SNP incumbent isn't especially good. It's not that they've been actively bad or anything, but it feels a lot like that wave of MPs where they got elected mainly because of the colour ribbon they're wearing, if that makes sense? (There's also an issue of siding with a big employer in the area against the views of the constituency and their party, but I don't intend to go into details since it might give a bit too much away). * I generally oppose independence but I'm not totally against supporting pro-independence candidates. I haven't done so in this case, but I respect that the Lib Dem candidate here isn't completely ignoring the issue (that would be naive IMO), but also mentioning that being pro/anti-independence is a very, very coarse way to describe Scotland's political landscape. * Ultimately I think the "main" campaigns haven't been especially inspiring - a lot of "vote for me because it stops X", and not very much actual policy. I think the Lib Dem candidate here still has some weaknesses (namely focusing on devolved policies a bit too much, although at least acknowledging they're devolved), but I respect that they're willing to take policy while also deviating from the party's general views. I'm somewhat "lucky" in that I'm in a relatively safe seat, I'm not especially fussed about the "outside" chance winner, and I can vote how I want, but I have several friends who would also vote Lib Dem had they not been in very, very marginal constituencies. I would also say as well - one of the most useful things you can do is stay engaged well after the election. That doesn't mean reading the news on Twitter or whatever, but keeping up to date with what your MP is doing, and in particular intangible things like how they get involved in local issues - do they remain aware and willing to help out? Do they get involved in the "easy" stuff and not worry about the hard stuff? Do they realise when they should stay out of the limelight? These local issues are, in a sense, considerably more important than national issues, where in the majority of issues there will be a lot of agreement between your 1st/2nd choices anyway. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 11th Dec 2019 7:08pm)
  • How so? If you go to a corner shop, it's generally the case that things are more expensive than if you went to a big supermarket - but the corner shop is generally much closer to home, and it's normally open longer, so there's a reason you'd go to it compared to going elsewhere. Similarly, you can withdraw money for free at your bank, or the Post Office, but ATMs are generally more widespread and open longer. And ATMs have significant costs with regards to being connected to the network, being maintained and filled with money, being powered and being kept secure. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 19th Jan 2020 7:53pm)
  • In general, there's two main types of machines: * Machines operated by a bank - these usually don't charge fees, even to the customers of other banks. * Machines operated by independent operators - these are more likely to charge fees. Virtually all of the ATMs in the UK are connected via the LINK network, as are almost all banks in the UK. Whenever you perform a transaction on an ATM, if that ATM isn't operated by your bank, the ATM operator pays the bank what's called an *interchange fee*. (On a side note, ever noticed how an ATM sometimes prompts you to check your balance or get an advice slip? That's because it counts as a separate transaction for the purpose of interchange fees). These fees have been reduced as of late - the plan was to reduce from 25p to 20p, though for now it's been stopped at 23p. This sounds like very little overall, but when you consider that across billions of transactions a year, that's a substantial amount. But the odd thing about ATMs is that a small number of machines make a lot of the transactions, but these machines normally have a lot of competition, so it makes more sense on the operator's end to introduce fees on the machines where there isn't much competition (though IIRC, LINK have said they'll freeze fees on free ATMs where the nearest free ATM is more than a kilometre away). by zellisgoatbond (Sun 19th Jan 2020 10:02pm)
  • Probably the worst one for the bus was a guy with his pal that was pretending to be a Pokémon - as in going by the pokemon's name, making weird panting noises and the like. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 21st Jan 2020 9:00pm)
  • The requirements are fairly high to get in, but if you meet those requirements, provided your personal statement/reference are both decent, you'll probably get an offer. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 26th Jan 2020 5:13pm)
  • A friend of mine received a message from their lecturer saying face to face teaching stops on Monday, and the same lecturer told them in advance that exams wouldn't be happening on campus. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 14th Mar 2020 8:36am)
  • Not sure if this is the right place for it - but if I go into an RBS branch on Monday, would I be able to get a bank statement printed off there and then? I'm going through the onboarding stuff for a new job, and annoyingly they don't accept statements downloaded from digital banking, and I wouldn't want to go out if I don't need to. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 25th Apr 2020 2:49pm)
  • It's a proof of residency thing (they don't specifically require bank statements, but it's the only form I can reasonably get at short notice). by zellisgoatbond (Sat 25th Apr 2020 4:26pm)
  • It's not about that - it's about the other people they come into contact with who are more vulnerable, and are more likely to die or develop serious complications by zellisgoatbond (Fri 26th Jun 2020 8:02am)
  • Just because someone is vulnerable doesn't mean that someone is so vulnerable that they should shield. After all, shielding is an especially challenging thing, with very restrictive guidelines on leaving home. And besides, why should some people be stuck inside for months on end just so a few bams can have a pissup in the park, when we can all tone things down a bit and all have a reasonable quality of life? by zellisgoatbond (Fri 26th Jun 2020 10:35am)
  • The law doesn't mention specific disabilities or conditions: rather, it says that you may have a reasonable excuse not to wear a mask if: > you have a health condition or you are disabled and **a face covering would be inappropriate because it would cause difficulty, pain or severe distress or anxiety** or because you cannot apply a covering and wear it in the proper manner safely and consistently. Individual discretion should be applied in considering the use of face coverings for other children including, for example, children with breathing difficulties and disabled children who would struggle to wear a face covering The best thing your mother can do is to try wearing a face covering in a safe environment, such as being indoors or close to home (such as in a garden). Ultimately, some asthmatic people will be able to wear a mask perfectly fine, while others will have difficulty - this isn't something a comments section can really judge (even people who are asthmatic since things can vary quite a bit). If your mother can't wear a mask, look into [Thistle Assistance](https://www.thistleassistance.com/) \- it's available as a card and an app, and it provides a simple way to explain disabilities for things like this, including to transport providers and staff where required. This will suffice - a letter from a GP would also work, but is probably overkill. (In practice, nobody's going to go after someone for this if they're being reasonable about it - much like lockdown, it's only really going to be heavily enforced if people are taking the piss/refusing to listen to people. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 10th Jul 2020 11:11pm)
  • This thread's been quite interesting to read - I started an internship working from home a week or so ago, and I'm quite conflicted on whether I'd want to do it full time: * On one hand, skipping the commute is really nice - I'm able to both wake up a wee bit earlier and make some more time for just relaxing in the morning. (My commute isn't too too bad though - about 40 minutes each way, which I get for free due to a disability) * But I'm also someone who really values having a barrier between work and home - during uni, I would specifically make a point of staying longer at uni, but refusing to do any work at home (except when it was absolutely necessary, around exam times/big pieces of coursework and so on) - and right now I'm really tempted to check emails and the like well outside of working hours. And I don't think I'm really in the habit of taking "proper" breaks yet (i.e I might go and get a biscuit or something, but I'd still come back to my desk right after). * I feel like working from home works better when you've already met your colleagues in person and just need to continue that relationship, but it's a lot harder to come into a completely new team and build those relationships from scratch. * That being said, for longer breaks (e.g lunch) things can be generally better, since I have a place that's truly "mine" to go to (e.g the garden or the living room). Given it's my first experience of a "proper" job, and it's still very early days, it may just be that some of these things aren't intrinsic to working from home. But at least personally, I definitely see the merits of introducing it as a choice (maybe having one day a week where as many people as possible/everyone in a particular team goes in?). by zellisgoatbond (Wed 15th Jul 2020 7:27am)
  • >What a silly comment. That's a great description of your contribution to this thread, you tinpot wankstain cunt. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 6th Jan 2021 11:18am)
  • Yup, it's been allowed from the 12th of April if I recall correctly. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 1st May 2021 10:57am)
  • Oh for real, the posts along the lines of "<EU country here> wishing you all the best for independence" really fuck me off as well - it comes across as incredibly condescending and patronising, and people just lap it up because it's saying something they agree with. But the main frustration is a number of folks there build up these mental strawmen of what they think unionists are, rip the shit out of them, then wonder why anti-independence folks don't get involved more often - so then they rely on the strawmen and the cycle continues... by zellisgoatbond (Sun 9th May 2021 4:08pm)
  • Fundamentally, it's just fun - I never really got it before, but on a whim I decided to watch it with a bunch of friends of mine and I had a blast. It's quite fun seeing the big variety of things going on, having things that are a bit out there, and generally not taking things too seriously. I don't *care* about it, in the sense that some other Scotland-based subreddits see it as an allegory for the UK being shit or anything like that, but it's a good laugh and certainly something a bit different. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 23rd May 2021 2:06pm)
  • Just announced, Sturgeon's doing a briefing in the Scottish Parliament. It starts from midnight friday into Saturday (i.e Saturday is the first full day of it). At the same time, the islands are going into level 0, and some of Scotland's moving to level 1. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 1st Jun 2021 2:30pm)
  • Really happy to hear it :) I don't live in Glasgow but a lot of my friends are here. After spending a few weeks without them, I'm genuinely thrilled to see them again. As rough as the situation's been in Glasgow, and as poor as the communication's been surrounding this, it should be well worth the wait by zellisgoatbond (Tue 1st Jun 2021 2:37pm)
  • For hospitality the main differences are that you can have alcohol indoors, closing time's half 10 rather than 8, and slightly larger group size limits (6 people from 3 households indoors, and 8 from 8 outdoors) by zellisgoatbond (Tue 1st Jun 2021 3:06pm)
  • The main differences: * Indoor visits are allowed now, 6 from 3 households and you don't need to distance in houses/private gardens * An increase to 8 from 8 households outdoors (still need to distance) * Travel's permitted to any area in level 0-2 (so everywhere in Scotland atm) * You can have alcohol indoor, closing time is half 10 rather than 8, you still need to book 2 hour slots but it's 6 from 3 households indoors or 8 from 8 outdoors) * A few more types of businesses can open (cinemas, music venues, comedy clubs, pool halls, bowling alleys, that sort of thing) * Stadiums and events can open now (100 people indoors, 500 outdoors sitting and 250 outdoors standing, subject to distancing). Level 3 to 2 is the pretty big difference, the differences from 2 to 1 are fairly modest (mainly slightly larger groups for socialising). by zellisgoatbond (Tue 1st Jun 2021 3:09pm)
  • I've been pretty fine on the McGill's buses so far, though I haven't used them too often and I've avoided most of the busiest times - people are generally pretty good about distancing themselves properly (e.g alternating which pair of seats they sit in if there's space), most people keep their masks on the whole time, and the ventilation's quite good. I've also noticed that most drivers don't wear masks while they're driving (but they have screens so it's alright), but they'll put them on if they need to lower the ramp to let on someone with a wheelchair/pram, which is good news. The subway's a little bit worse in both regards, but I'm still happy with both forms of transport in terms of Covid safety. But hearing the stories of First Bus here, I wonder if it's down to different bus operators doing things differently, or whether it's down to the routes/times I travel... by zellisgoatbond (Wed 21st Jul 2021 4:34pm)
  • The stuff in newspapers is essentially a list of graduates from a particular university/course - it's more of a celebratory thing than an official record (there's the degree certificate/transcript for that). by zellisgoatbond (Wed 28th Jul 2021 11:53pm)
  • I can't speak to your specific subject/department, but at least in my subject it was always fairly clear that things would be 100% online. I also do some GTA work in the subject and they asked us about the possibility of doing some in-person teaching, but it was always made clear to us that this wasn't guaranteed by any means, and if it did exist it would be totally optional for students and staff alike. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 13th Aug 2021 2:57pm)
  • What happened with their landlord? I recall them not being able to have a physical presence for now, but nothing specific. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 22nd Aug 2021 7:50pm)
  • Second this - it's a bit further out (though it's also right outside Paisley Gilmour Street, so really easy to access), but the venue's really spacious, they've got a good mix of events and open space, and their cafe stuff's quite nice and reasonably priced. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 22nd Aug 2021 8:19pm)
  • Depends on the societies, and unis sometimes have very broad rules as well (e.g at Glasgow, at most 20% of members can be non-students). Though most of the societies I've been part of are cool with it (most of our non-student members are pretty recent graduates, but there's been a few students from other unis too) by zellisgoatbond (Tue 28th Sep 2021 10:54pm)
  • >However, I think it has gotten better in recent years, so this may be a very outdated impression of it. I've heard it's gotten a *lot* better in the last few years with new management - it's moreso that Geek Retreat's franchised so it can vary a bunch from store to store. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 8th Oct 2021 9:54am)
  • To be precise, the law is that vaccine passports are required for: * Nightclubs (or more formally, "late night premises with music, which serve alcohol at any time between midnight and 5am and have a designated place for dancing for customers") * Unseated indoor events with at least 500 people * Unseated outdoor events with at least 4000 people * Any event, seated or otherwise, with more than 10,000 people So if a Hydro event meets any of these requirements (either a full capacity show for more than 10k, or a show with a standing area), they have to use vaccine passports, but for other shows it's up to the production themselves. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 24th Nov 2021 4:25pm)
  • No worries at all, I didn't know that productions could choose to use vaccine passports even if they weren't legally required for that event - good to know :) by zellisgoatbond (Thu 25th Nov 2021 11:55am)
  • I think it's just a bit more fine-grained than that: at least on public transport, I've anecdotally found that on longer journeys people tend to be a lot better about wearing masks; I've mostly seen people not wearing masks on the local buses later in the evening, though I'm not sure if that's the whole story (if I'm going on a bus out of Glasgow it's usually earlier in the morning when there's more older people on the bus who wear masks more often). Also it can be quite dependent on area as well: I do some teaching at a university and I've never had to tell someone to wear a mask yet, and they're all really good about testing/letting me know if they can't make it in and getting alternatives sorted. It's a bit worse in a few places (e.g people taking their masks off in the library once they're sat down - not the biggest deal in the world, but still a lot of people pretty close together), but still decent. Overall I'd say things are starting to wane, but it's mainly concentrated in a few areas rather than being massively widespread. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 7th Feb 2022 12:00pm)
  • "short term" usually means things like holiday homes, serviced accommodation, short lets (say a few weeks for a conference), things like that. By the sounds of it, you'd generally be looking for long term accommodation. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 15th Feb 2022 9:48pm)
  • At least for the last points: * If you're using a debit card, it'll say on the card reader what the price is beforehand (it's the little blue screen, quite small but it's lit up). * Waving down a bus - this really depends on the stop. If it's a "major" stop (say at the bus station, no need to). If there aren't many other buses that stop there, or they all go roughly to the same place, you probably don't need to. And most bus drivers tend to be able to tell when people are waiting for them as they get used to a route. But as a rule of thumb, if you're not sure, you're better off always sticking your hand out until it looks like they're stopping. * The app really helps with this (it'll show all the bus stops for you, and if you're at a stop it'll show you the buses that are due there). What I normally find helpful is to find a landmark (say a noticeable shop) that's a little bit before your step, then press the stop button when you see that. If it's any solace - the buses are confusing for lots of other people as well. You're certainly not alone in that, unfortunately :( by zellisgoatbond (Wed 2nd Mar 2022 10:11pm)
  • At least according to their [website](https://www.thequayglasgow.com/news-offers/car-parking-news-547), it only applies between 6am and 1pm (presumably to try and catch out commuters?), and from what I recall jury duty starts around 10, so you probably won't get flagged up by that unless you're getting parked at around 9. But I'd do what the other comments have suggested and ask the court staff beforehand (and maybe contact the Quay directly). by zellisgoatbond (Mon 4th Apr 2022 12:58pm)
  • Don't just not show up - that'll cause you way more hassle than it's worth. There should be contact details on your citation - use those and explain that you have an exam that day. They are usually really understanding, and they'll either move it to a later date, or excuse you from doing it entirely. (I just asked if it could be deferred because I was starting my final year of uni, and they excused me outright) But just to clear up a few things for the future: * At the moment, you don't actually need to go to the Odeon/jury centre, unless you're specifically called for a case. How it works is, each day you're cited, you call a number, and they'll let you know if/when you need to travel in. It's entirely possible to go through your jury duty without actually sitting on a jury. * If you have to travel for jury duty, you'll get travel expenses covered for you, along with potentially some loss of earnings if you're missing work because of it. * All going well with your degree, you'll soon be ineligible to serve on a jury anyway :) by zellisgoatbond (Mon 4th Apr 2022 2:06pm)
  • It doesn't really matter all that much, *but* local employers tend to spend a bit more time recruiting students from nearby universities (e.g I studied CS at Glasgow, and we had some folks from Morgan Stanley come in to advertise their internships, give us more info on the hiring process, things like that). In that sense it can make a very very slight difference, but I also know a lot of people who got hired there that weren't local, so it's not all that substantial. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 13th Apr 2022 8:05pm)
  • Of course I knew I _could_ report it to the police - what I was moreso asking was how I should do it (thanks for the form!), what sort of evidence I should give beforehand, how likely they are to take it seriously... I don't particularly want to get a bunch of evidence sorted out and go through the hassle if nothing more's gonna be done about it. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 22nd Apr 2022 8:12am)
  • The Lib Dems are getting my first preference - locally I know their candidate and they've got their priorities straight, and on a more national level I think the party properly values local government, whereas I feel the larger parties in particular use it as a proxy for national elections while simultaneously taking away autonomy from councils, particularly with council tax still being an absolute mess. I know their candidate probably won't get in, but I'm happy to support them. Then the Greens - I think it would take quite a big shift for me to support them nationally, but their local candidate is active and is focusing on local issues. Then some combination of the Tories/SNP/Labour - frankly it'll make pretty much no difference either way given the seat's history, but all I really heard from them are very general platitudes that have nothing to do with the area itself. Complacency is something I have little patience for by zellisgoatbond (Mon 2nd May 2022 10:53pm)
  • In Scotland, by law almost all private residential tenancies (purpose-built student accommodation is an exception to this) are open-ended. This means that all you need to do is give 28 days notice when you're planning on moving out - you don't need to commit to a year long lease. Now a landlord/letting agency might not be too happy if you rock up and say you'll just be staying there for 3/4 months, but legally all you have to give is one month's notice... There's also sites like spareroom for people that are looking for flatmates within an existing property. This might be a slightly easier solution, since it means you won't have to deal with the hassle of setting up utilities/wifi/other bills, especially if you're coming from outside the UK(?) by zellisgoatbond (Mon 9th May 2022 5:46pm)
  • At least personally I've had decent luck with [zoopla](https://www.zoopla.co.uk) and [rightmove](https://www.rightmove.co.uk) \- most letting agencies will put their properties on both though, so it shouldn't really matter what you use. (I like rightmove since you get a map of properties and you can define a specific area to look in). There are also sites like Gumtree that are more popular with private landlords (without a letting agency), but I think this path is a bit fiddlier if you're not in the UK. That being said I'm not sure how much it changes with people who aren't from the UK/won't be near Glasgow when they're looking for apartments - you might want to look for groups of international students or the like, who might be able to give you more specific advice. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 9th May 2022 6:44pm)
  • Probably worth adding as well: Being a train driver is a rather difficult job. In particular, the job itself can be very monotonous, *but* unlike most other monotonous jobs you need to be on the ball at all times - because most of the time it's relatively routine, but you also have to deal with a lot of rules and procedures, and when things go wrong it's critical to stay focused and handle it properly. That's not even mentioning things like people jumping onto the tracks which can be really traumatising, along with the general challenges of shift work at unsociable hours, the limitations on your private life outside of work, and the difficulty of getting such a job in the first place. The job doesn't require many specific qualifications, but it's definitely far from unskilled. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 25th May 2022 7:00pm)
  • Usually this isn't a major concern, particularly if the flat has a letting agent. Typically this means that an application for landlord registration has been submitted but it hasn't officially been approved yet - this is fairly typical with landlords who are letting out a property for the first time, or potentially landlords who are just about to renew their registration. It's good to check this of course, but the vast majority of the time it's completely fine. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 11th Jun 2022 6:07pm)
  • I was there a few days ago and there were definitely some broken things, but nothing major by any means (i.e there were maybe about 1 or 2 broken things per floor, and nothing that was really massive). Though if you're only in Glasgow for one day I wouldn't prioritise it especially for kids of that age by zellisgoatbond (Tue 14th Jun 2022 9:15am)
  • On a complete tangent - when you're up in Edinburgh, I'd definitely recommend the National Museum of Scotland if it's not on your list already. They have a big variety of stuff, a good amount of interactive things as well/things that young kids would like, and it's split into wings with different themes (e.g science/nature/history) so you can pick and choose which things to go for. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 14th Jun 2022 9:27am)
  • So AFAIK, that only applies to the *concourse* (the wee building with the shops and the like). The station itself is open 24 hours and buses do run between midnight and 6am, it's just that you have to use one of the side entrances to the stances if the concourse isn't open. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 15th Jun 2022 2:15pm)
  • So there's quite a few reasons: * Landlords and letting agents aren't stupid by any means - they can usually tell pretty clearly if a group of people are pretending to not be an HMO. Even if you think they're bastards who would overlook it just to get tenants in, demand is high enough at the moment that they don't need to take that risk. * Especially before HMO licensing was brought in, the condition of a lot of HMOs was absolutely shocking, and really dangerous. While the regulations can be a bit onerous, they also serve really important purposes when it comes to things like fire safety. IIRC around the mid 80s when HMOs were first defined in law in the UK, around 2% of people lived in HMOs, but HMOs made up around 15% of all deaths from house fires. * A side effect of these regulations is that the "barrier to entry" of setting up an HMO is a fair bit higher than most properties. This can cause issues with supply, but this also means that you tend to deal with more experienced landlords/letting agents. There are still unscrupulous HMO landlords, certainly, but the consequences of fucking up are much more severe (you're talking £50,000 fines, paying back 12 months rent to each tenant, that sort of thing). * Another reality is that, especially in "studenty" areas, tenants in HMOs are frequently quite transient, in that they're moving pretty regularly, and if you have too many HMOs in an area that can have a pretty big impact on the rest of the community. To take a similar example, a lot of communities up in the Highlands have really struggled in the last few years with an increase in short term accommodation/airbnbs, since people in those places don't stay there very long and don't end up contributing much to the overall community. HMO regulations can be frustrating, certainly, but they exist for very, very good reasons. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 18th Jun 2022 9:48am)
  • Since the 1st of December 2017, all new tenancies in Scotland (with a very small number of exceptions, such as purpose built student accommodation, lodgers and so on) are known as private residential tenancies (or PRTs). In particular, these tenancies include a few provisions. Among others: * If you want to leave the property, all you need to do is give 28 days notice to your landlord. Longer notice periods can technically be agreed, but only when you've actually started living in the property, and you can't be forced to accept them either. This means that tenancies are "open-ended", so they don't end on a specific date or anything like that. * If the landlord wants to stop renting the property to you, they need to give a ground for eviction, with an associated amount of notice depending on the reason (e.g if you've broken the tenancy agreement, that requires less notice than if the landlord wants to sell the property). And if you've been living in the property for more than 6 months, notice periods are generally longer on top of this. * Rent can only be increased once every 12 months, you have to be given 3 months notice of any increase, and if you think it's unfair it can be referred to a rent officer, who will look at other similar properties in the area and decide whether it's in line with those. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 15th Jul 2022 9:03am)
  • It's not really that hard a concept to follow? OP has had issues with the pub in the past but otherwise likes it/is fine living next to it. But the pub wants to **expand** their operations in a way that will have a negative impact on OP's quality of life. They're not asking the pub to close down completely or anything like that, and with a pub some level of noise/activity is pretty unavoidable, but they're wanting to expand without really addressing the issues that are already there and it's very reasonable to object to that by zellisgoatbond (Thu 21st Jul 2022 10:55am)
  • Just finished renting a property with Cairn - for most of the tenancy they were pretty fine, good about staying on top of things like repairs/tests without being particularly onerous. When it comes to getting the deposit back they've been taking the piss with a few things \[Make sure you take pictures of everything as soon as you move in!!!\], but realistically we're not talking massive amounts. That being said the members of staff I've been with have generally been pretty friendly/understanding. I wouldn't love renting with them again but I could tolerate it at least. But generally speaking: letting agents are arseholes, but usually more incompetent than malicious, and if you know your rights and you're willing to be firm but polite when need be, you'll be fine with any of them. Except DJ Alexander by zellisgoatbond (Thu 4th Aug 2022 10:59pm)
  • Drilling/power tools at 9 is a wee bit much, I can see why somebody might chap though I probably wouldn't do it myself. If it's for a bed/something essential that's understandable, though ofc they wouldn't know what you're doing. Personally I think you would have been well within your right to say something like "sorry, but I've just moved in and I'm putting a bed together, I won't be much longer", but if you were fine stopping then fair dos. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 6th Aug 2022 8:46pm)
  • Nope, it's £5 for an adult day ticket on the bus and £9 for a family ticket (you just can't use it before 9 on weekdays) by zellisgoatbond (Sun 7th Aug 2022 7:04pm)
  • I get where you're coming from, but at the same time I know a bunch of university staff and they're very regularly frustrated about the university expecting them to take on a bunch of extra students (e.g the university has an associated "international college" - think a foundation-year style thing for international students. And in general students from there who transfer into the uni aren't well prepared, so they take up a lot of staff time/resources, and fundamentally that's bad for students from that college, staff, and other students too). Issues with universities increasing student numbers unsustainably goes far beyond housing by zellisgoatbond (Thu 11th Aug 2022 11:16am)
  • >There might be less flats available, but all 3 Glasgow Unis are taking on more students every year, especially international students that pay a premium To give a bit of context for this: From 2012 up to about 2019, the growth of students at Glasgow Uni was pretty consistent, going from about 23k students to 30k (or about a 1k increase a year). Then from 2020-2021 it increased by 3k, and last year it increased by about 6k. In other words, the number of students at Glasgow Uni has pretty much doubled in 10 years (and to clarify, this number doesn't include students who are studying distance learning courses, on language years abroad or anything like that). Looking a bit closer at those numbers: In 2019-20, the uni had around 8,000 international students, while in 2021-22 this increased to around 14,000, noting that the uni charges the same rates for EU and international students but counts them separately (so the way international students are counted didn't change in 2020-21). In particular, looking at nationality data, the vast majority of that growth comes from China (from 3,800 students in 2019-20 to 9,100 students now)and India (from 350 students to 1,000). Over that same period, students from the UK have increased but much more modestly (from about 17,000 students to 19,000), and students from the EU have decreased very slightly (from about 3,300 students to 2,600). by zellisgoatbond (Sun 14th Aug 2022 6:38pm)
  • Fairly sure you can't do that with concession tickets IIRC by zellisgoatbond (Thu 25th Aug 2022 8:31pm)
  • The very short answer is: They've given you more than enough notice legally speaking (3 months is the minimum), they can only legally increase rent once every 12 months, and as far as increases go £25 is much lower than most other places at the moment. I wouldn't bother fighting it in this case. If you did want to contest it though, it's not a massively difficult process - you fill in a short form, usually have a visit from the Rent Officer, and within 40 days they make a judgement. What they do is they look at comparable properties in the area, and use that to decide what the rent should be. That being said, this could mean increasing the rent above the proposed increase, so this isn't "risk-free", and to be frank a £25 difference isn't worth it for potentially straining the relationship with your letting agent, especially if it seems good at the moment. And as I mentioned above, because the frequency of increases is limited, a £25 increase now means you'll have that rent fixed for at least a year which is pretty nice. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 28th Aug 2022 12:19am)
  • A £100 per month increase might not be a million miles off depending on where/how you park - if you're talking on-street parking on an "outer" street for 5 days a week 8 hours a day, that works out at an increase of about £70 a month. Though at that point there's almost certainly cheaper options available depending on where you are (e.g I think the subway park and ride is notably cheaper if you're going somewhere near a subway station, that's £5.70 a day). by zellisgoatbond (Tue 30th Aug 2022 3:36pm)
  • > Considering that there is supposed to be way less students than before Brexit It's quite the opposite, really - 2019-20 was the last year that EU students were classed as Home students rather than international students, and Glasgow Uni had around 30,000 students then. As of last year, it's about 38,000. There's been a slight reduction of EU students in that timeframe (from about 3,300 to 2,600), and a slight increase in UK students (from about 18,000 to 20,000), but the number of international students has increased substantially from around 8,000 to a little over 14,000. Whether this holds for this year is a bit uncertain - most of the increase for international students was down to postgraduate taught courses (e.g 1 year masters degrees), and these primarily being online for the past two years could make them more attractive, but even pre-Covid international students have been the primary growth area of universities, especially for PGT courses. Now obviously this isn't really the whole story (because of things like purpose-built student accommodation, and students being more likely to live in HMOs/larger properties in general, they don't necessarily have the same impact on different parts of the market) by zellisgoatbond (Thu 1st Sep 2022 5:42pm)
  • Yeah I probably wouldn't do something like this for practical reasons (I could only really see it being useful if you live \~2-3 minutes from a station), moreso just as a wee side project. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't make that feed public anyway by zellisgoatbond (Thu 1st Sep 2022 6:31pm)
  • You shouldn't ignore it, you can be fined if you do. In terms of excuses, if you have certain criminal convictions/certain jobs you're not allowed to serve on a jury, and there's a few other reasons where you can automatically get excused if you want (e.g you've done jury service recently or health conditions would make it difficult). Apart from that you can ask for other reasons (e.g you have a holiday booked, it's an especially busy time at work, you're a student and it would disrupt the semester), and usually they're sympathetic, but this isn't guaranteed, and you might only get it delayed rather than cancelled. Bit of advice - if possible it's worth doing, especially right now it's a pretty easy system (iirc all you do is you phone in each night to see if you're required to come in the next day, and you keep doing that until you get picked or until your jury duty's done. Plus a lot of trials are still taking place in the cinemas/remote jury centres rather than the courts), and once you've done it once you won't have to do it again for another few years, even if you don't get picked. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 9th Sep 2022 1:41pm)
  • Especially if you're new to Scotland, make sure you apply for a bus pass if you haven't already - if you're under 22 and you'll be living in Scotland for at least 6 months of the year, you can get it [here](https://www.mygov.scot/under-22s-bus-pass). It's completely free, and you'll get free bus travel all over Scotland (this includes long-distance coaches, so e.g you can visit Edinburgh for free). You can also use this as a smartcard for the Subway, so you can load credit onto that card rather than carrying a separate smartcard. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 14th Sep 2022 8:28am)
  • There's kitchens with microwaves at the James McCune Smith building iirc by zellisgoatbond (Mon 24th Oct 2022 10:12am)
  • Broadly yes - I think the impact on the rental market is mostly overrated in most places, but the impact on things like noise and general disruption, especially with tenements, is pretty noticeable. I think Airbnb's original intent is quite fair, but when you're getting into buying entire properties solely for the purpose of short-term lets it's a bit far. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 31st Oct 2022 7:36pm)
  • General convention I've gone by - gifts should be going down the pecking order, not up it. It's a bit different if it's some environment where everyone's treated equally (e.g a secret santa with a fixed budget where you've drawn the boss), but sending gifts with any sort of value up the chain is more of a no-no, as far as I'm concerned. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 22nd Nov 2022 8:18pm)
  • A bit of general advice I'd give as someone in the field... * There's a lot of programming languages out there, but when you're getting started out it's better to just pick a language and stick with it. There's little point in learning a bunch of languages at surface level, because a lot of the basics transfer over easily, so you're not learning anything "new" doing that - if you're going to pick up something new, have a good reason for it. So for instance, you could get started with Python, then move to Java when you want to know more about object-oriented programming, then C/C++ if you want some lower-level systems stuff, and so on. If you understand the underlying concepts really well, then picking up new things becomes far less daunting. * On top of that, once you've got the very basics of a language figured out, I'd recommend picking a project that's personally interesting to you - it shouldn't be anything massive, but something you want to make even if you don't know how - and then learn what you need as you go throughout that project. So for instance I worked on a project a few years back which would scrape football scores from BBC sport, then give you some graphs over how different teams would fare throughout the progression of a game (e.g who plays the best in the first 45 minutes?). And as part of that I learned a fair bit about web scraping, particularly "interactive" web scraping (where you need to press buttons on a page to get more information). Learning as you go is a really key skill if you're going into industry, and it can help motivate your learning if you're doing something you really enjoy. Plus it helps you understand the "infrastructure" of that language (where do you find new libraries? how are those libraries documented? where's a good place to ask for help?), and that sort of thing doesn't come up much in introductory courses. * Don't neglect the theory - most roles in software development don't require any particularly heavy maths, but especially if you'd like to specialise in something a bit more niche in the future, learning the basics will help make that transition easier, and it's a good way to polish some of the logical reasoning skills you'll need for more general programming as well. If you look for "discrete maths for computer science", there's a lot of introductory courses out there that give you a good overview. * As other folk have said, it's a field where you're continually learning and picking up new things, but you're not going in from scratch especially with previous work experience. A lot of software development is about communication - within a team, with documentation, with clients just to give some examples - and a lot of aspiring developers are shockingly bad at that, so if you can show you have those skills that can definitely give you a leg up by zellisgoatbond (Fri 2nd Dec 2022 8:27am)
  • Our last day is technically today, but the vast majority of people in the department (myself included) use a bit of leave and finished up last Friday. by zellisgoatbond (Thu 22nd Dec 2022 2:52pm)
  • Are you looking for a place on your own for around £600 a month? That will probably be a struggle to be honest - it's a doable budget, but you'd be looking a bit further afield (say on the southside near the subway line). If you're able to get a flatmate that will broaden your options considerably - for example I looked for 2 bedroom flats at £1200 a month and there's a fairly good selection at the moment, but 1 bedroom for £600 a month is a lot, sparser. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 31st Dec 2022 12:09pm)
  • I get concession tickets and I often need an attendant to open the gate for them - most of them just open it no problem, but you get a few difficult ones who insist on seeing the NEC as well which delays things. by zellisgoatbond (Fri 27th Jan 2023 8:00pm)
  • Usually these advanced payment requirements are specifically mentioned in the tenancy agreement (and are completely legal up to six months in advance, but if you leave before the advanced payment's finished you get what's left of it back). by zellisgoatbond (Fri 17th Feb 2023 11:45pm)
  • What I mean is you wouldn't get past the tenancy agreement in the first place, so you wouldn't get access to the property anyway by zellisgoatbond (Sat 18th Feb 2023 10:56am)
  • Yup, and another big issue is central government will say they're giving more money to councils... but a lot of that is ring-fenced to specific (new!) objectives, so that money doesn't actually impact the rest of what councils do. It's the fiscal policy equivalent of your mum sending you down to the shop to get a loaf and a bottle of milk and letting you keep the change. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 19th Feb 2023 6:40pm)
  • Indeed, the reality of council tax is that it makes up a relatively small proportion of their overall budget, but central government loves to make it seem like a much larger portion so they can pass the blame for underfunding down to councils. Never mind that council tax is the least progressive system in the whole of the UK, and councils **have** to use the same band multipliers/thresholds, so any change councils make to council tax will inherently hurt the poorest the most. by zellisgoatbond (Mon 20th Feb 2023 7:01am)
  • The main thing I recall was a bit of a furore surrounding clubs - a few teachers wanted to set up a pro-life group in the school, which several of the art teachers were rather unhappy with. In the end I think nobody was really interested in the club and it was aborted soon after it was conceived. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 11th Mar 2023 10:28am)
  • A few things I'd recommend, as a university tutor: * If it's applicable, your son may wish to look into the university's disability services. It's tempting to think that they can't really do anything, but they can offer quite a wide variety of accommodations that can help with a wide variety of issues (for instance, I know a few people who receive a note taker during lectures). * It's definitely an issue that's more pronounced in earlier years, but later on things get better in that regard. At least temporarily, things like sitting nearer the front will help significantly. * In terms of speaking to people - if individual lecturers are unhelpful, the subject will probably have a year head, who's in charge of course-related concerns for the entire year. They can hopefully help more widely (e.g making announcements to everyone), and things like reminding lecturers to use the AV equipment that's available (microphones are a big example - they're not just there to help make voices louder, but to connect to hearing loops and the like). There's also probably a system of class representatives, who take on student concerns if students don't feel comfortable doing this themselves. * As another comment mentions, online learning can definitely have played a part in that (for a lot of students this is the first time they've had in-person lectures like this in several years), but it's also something that's happened to some extent since time immemorial. * By any chance, does your son's university require lecture attendance? At least at my institution we generally don't require attendance (except for some labs/tutorials, and these are mainly for Tier 4 visa requirements), though some lecturers use in-class quizzes and the like to incentivise engagement. * Ultimately, if some people are distracted then that's on them, but where it becomes unacceptable is when they disrupt other people and stop them from actively engaging in the course. For example you definitely can't stop people browsing on phones/laptops/etc during lectures, but continually talking over people isn't on. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 18th Mar 2023 8:58pm)
  • Slight adjustment to this - if there's plenty of double seats available or you're between stops (this is more common for buses going on the motorway), it's generally okay to use some of that space especially if you have big bags. The issue isn't really using that space, it's stopping other people from using it especially when it's busy. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 11th Apr 2023 7:04am)
  • It works in the same way for buses (but you'll need to say roughly where you're going, since there's no flat fares here). It can be used on the subway and for trains in Strathclyde, but unfortunately I think those schemes only apply if you live in Strathclyde (if your card has a wee 'S' along the top row). by zellisgoatbond (Mon 5th Jun 2023 9:15pm)
  • It's essentially a wee garden that's watered by runoff rain from roofs and the like by zellisgoatbond (Tue 6th Jun 2023 12:28pm)
  • I knew one of the people who was quite involved with it (not massively closely) - I definitely got the feeling that while they're a nice enough person, they definitely didn't really acknowledge that they were very well off to be able to dedicate most of their time to the cafe without any particular form of uncle. And especially at university they definitely fit the profile of the stereotypical person in student politics, i.e doing a lot of campaigning on things that weren't particularly relevant to students as a whole. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 7th Jun 2023 8:13am)
  • I'm a PhD student, making about £25k overall (About £17k as a stipend, around £3k a year from some part-time tutoring and about £5k from disability money). I could have definitely made more going straight into an industry (I do something pretty tech-adjacent), but at the moment it's more than enough for me to live decently on my one, put money towards hobbies and also build up savings, so I'm happy doing that and having a job with quite a lot of flexibility/variety. Not sure if I'll want to stick in academia yet (I'm quite enjoying teaching and I might stick with something that lets me do teaching of some variety), but my PhD's decently practical too so I have a bit of flexibility in that regard. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 26th Jul 2023 10:09pm)
  • If they're in Strathclyde they also get access to concessionary fares on the Subway and on trains in strathclyde as well - for the subway they can go to the ticket office or load credit directly onto their card, and for trains they go to the ticket office or buy tickets on board. For other trains they can get a Disabled Persons Railcard - this is £20 a year or £54 for 3 years, but they get 1/3rd off trains for themselves and a companion, and unlike most other railcards there's no peak time restrictions on this. They're also entitled to a CEA card for the cinema - this costs £6 a year, but it means they'll get a free carers ticket when they buy a ticket for the vast majority of cinemas in the UK. (If they have some sort of unlimited membership it includes that as well). by zellisgoatbond (Sat 29th Jul 2023 11:10am)
  • Yeah that's illegal - your employer has to give you the time off for jury service, but I believe there is a process where they can seek to have it deferred if it would have a massive impact on the business (though they'll need to go do it eventually...) by zellisgoatbond (Mon 21st Aug 2023 4:33pm)
  • Imagine you're a kid, and you're getting a fiver a week in pocket money. Then, your mum says you'll now be getting £7 a week, but you have to buy a loaf and a bottle of milk once a week. You're probably not getting any more of your "own" money (indeed you're probably getting less than a fiver now), but you still have to take the time to actually go and get the loaf and the milk. That is what the Scottish Government is doing to councils - they're saying that they're giving councils a lot more money, but they're also ringfencing a lot of that money and making them spend it on a lot of extra things they wouldn't normally do. Another issue is that council tax is a relatively small proportion of what councils actually earn (I think it's something like 15% of their budget, but I might be mistaken on that). The mechanisms of council tax are deeply regressive (i.e. poorer households pay a bigger proportion of their income on council tax than richer ones), and councils effectively have no control on those mechanisms - if they want to raise or lower council tax, the Scottish government sets the multiplier for how that impacts different bands, so any increase must apply to **all** households and vice versa. Hence, things like brown bin permits are quite important for councils, in part because it tends to be richer households that are more likely to have gardens and need garden waste removal. Basically, councils now have to do a lot more, the money they're getting isn't meaningfully increasing, and they have very few avenues for getting any more money that don't fuck over even more people. by zellisgoatbond (Sat 23rd Sep 2023 4:15pm)
  • I haven't looked at their site too closely, but I believe they're mainly mentioning things which are already charitable in nature anyways? e.g when I went there I got a scholarship that was funded by a charity, and the University's role there was really to select people for those scholarships and potentially top up those scholarships in some circumstances (e.g if students need to repeat a year, or do an integrated masters or something like that). Whether this should be the case is another question, but it's nothing terribly new especially when it comes to alumni-focused donations. (Sometimes it's the sort of thing that *could* be funded by other sources, research grants and so on, but the processes for that can be particularly burdensome so things like that are more efficient - I vaguely recall the RNLI working pretty similarly for one example) by zellisgoatbond (Thu 28th Sep 2023 12:19pm)
  • Within Strathclyde: Yes - you can only get tickets at ticket offices (or on the train), but they're £1.50 return for short journeys and half the regular price for any longer journeys. For the subway, you get £1 singles and £1.50 all day. With these you can load your NEC up with credit at a ticket machine, then tap in as usual. Outside of Strathclyde, you don't automatically get anything, but you can get a Disabled Persons Railcard. This works pretty similarly to other railcards, except it's cheaper, it also applies to one other person travelling with you, and there's no peak minimum fares. by zellisgoatbond (Thu 5th Oct 2023 10:31am)
  • That's a hard requirement - you have to do Higher Maths, and if you don't do it in 5th year and get an A you need to do Higher Computing as well. As for the course itself - in your second year you'll do a module that focuses on the foundational mathematics you'll need in most of computing science (focusing on things like logic, discrete maths, methods of proof, probability - there's nothing on calculus for example). In your third year one of your modules is about the foundations of data science, and you'll learn some more calculus and linear algebra as part of that (but the focus there is generally quite computational/focusing on intuition, rather than doing many calculations by hand). After that, it really depends on the elective courses you choose - for example if you do a lot of courses in data science you'll be expected to be pretty comfortable with maths (especially probability), whereas if you go for more theoretical courses you'll be expected to be comfortable with discrete maths. More generally, there's a lot of abstract skills that transfer over really well too. I'd also add two more things: * In your first two years you'll be taking modules outside of computing science as well, and you can do some maths as part of this - there's a set of maths courses aimed at people who'll use maths in their degrees, but aren't necessarily mathematicians, and that can be good to spend a bit more time on the foundations. * Maths, much like anything else, is something that you can practice and get better at - it's not something that you're innately good or bad at. I've taught quite a few people in similar situations, and a lot of the time I find that having a specific *reason* to study maths can really help people stay motivated and stick with it, so if you're not a fan of maths at school that's not necessarily a sign that a CS degree isn't right for you. by zellisgoatbond (Sun 15th Oct 2023 11:53am)
  • It was probably the Andersonian Library you found? That's the Strathclyde Uni library, essentially all university libraries are limited to students/staff. The [Glasgow Life libraries](https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/venue-finder?channel=Libraries) are the public ones that anyone can access. by zellisgoatbond (Wed 18th Oct 2023 9:30am)
  • easyHotel's cheap, but it's also *really* budget and you get what you pay for there - in particular the rooms are really small, including the bathrooms. If you have a bunch of other plans and you'll literally just be sleeping at the hotel it's not too bad, but otherwise I'd justify paying a bit more there. by zellisgoatbond (Tue 28th Nov 2023 8:15pm)