Stuart B

When I was in primary school, the school had some little devices that were about the size of a pencil, but with a round wheel at one end. The circumference of the wheel was 1cm (I think) and it would click every time it turned, so if you ran the wheel along a map, you could count the clicks (centimetres) to work out the distance between 2 points on a map.

Now that I m middle aged and a hill walker, I d quite like to have one of those little devices, but looking on the internet, I can t find out what they were called, or where to buy one.

Can anyone suggest what they were called, or even better, some links for where to buy one (ideally in the UK)?

For the last week or so, the main switch in the fusebox in our flat has been tripping, on average twice a day.

We haven't spotted any pattern to it. It hasn't seemed to be connected to any single device being on or off, it doesn't seem to be at a particular time of day. The other flats in the block haven't reported a problem.

Any suggestions as to what might be causing this would be very welcome.

We're travelling from the United Kingdom to Ukraine soon.

What's the best way to take currency and pay for things in Ukraine?

Should I take cash, or get traveller's cheques?

Are cards like Visa and Mastercard generally accepted in Ukrainian restaurants and shops?

Somebody has recommended that we get a lot of US dollars here, then get them converted over there- is this a good idea? Seems long-winded to me but would it be cheaper?

Local or traveller's advice would be very welcome.

I'm going to see the Olympic football at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Is it true that McDonalds have a monopoly over the food served inside the venue? Or will I be able to buy some non-McDonalds food inside the ground?

I know the general complaints are that McDonalds have a ridiculous monopoly, but is this an exaggerated urban myth or actually true?

In the UK we're hearing new evidence being given to the Leveson Enquiry every day about how corrupt and immoral the British press have been over the last few years.

It's good to see these abominable practices exposed for the sleaze that they are, but I'm wondering- what will the Leveson enquiry actually accomplish? What powers do this enquiry or the Government actually have to make the British press better and more accountable, without crossing the line into the prevention of free speech? What will actually be changed? Anything?

What do you think would happen if you got two teams of professional footballers (soccer players) and got them to play a 90-minute match in which there was no offside rule?

How would the strategy and the play be changed by not having to worry about being offside? What do you think?

I've got a MySQL database with user-entered text in it, and I'm using PHP to display it in a HTML web page.

There are a handful of 'unusual' text characters which appear in Word, but appear as little black diamond shapes with question marks in when shown in a web browser- things like triple dots or slanted quotation marks.

Is there a built-in PHP routine which can translate (or just remove) these characters?

Please can I have any recommendations for where to start learning to program in Python. A potential employer wants me to learn it quite quickly...

I'm looking for the best books, web sites and possibly courses. I've got a small-to-medium level of prior programming experience (Visual Basic, PHP, JavaScript, and other Basics) so I need to migrate rather than learn from scratch.

Any recommendations or thoughts would be very welcome.

In our flat we have a couple of all-in-one mini hi-fis, and whenever they're turned on they give off a faint buzzing sound which is always there and doesn't relate to the volume the device is set to.

Our other audio stuff doesn't have this problem, just the 'mini' all-in-one stuff. They're different brands and models, and we've tried replacing the unit, and even tried different brands, but we always seem to have the problem no matter which device we choose.

What might cause it? And how might I be able to fix it?

I've read it might (or might not) be to do with mains 'hum' or not being properly grounded, but I'm no electrician so am not keen to take these things apart or anything like that.

Three friends and I are travelling from Cardiff to London next week for a day.

Getting the train for the whole journey is too expensive so we're thinking of driving down the M4, parking somewhere outside London, then getting the train into London from there.

Where's a good place to park up and get the train from, without it costing too much? Preferably outside the M25 if possible.

A friend told me that here in the UK, if your job involves working full-time at a computer, your employer is obliged to provide you with free eye tests. However my employer doesn't do this.

Can anyone tell me whether it's true my employer is legally obliged to do that, and if so, could you point me to an official online web site that proves it?

According to Wikipedia, Apple haven't released a properly new version of the classic iPod- for almost three years they've been selling the sixth generation.

Are there any facts or rumours about a new 7th generation edition, and when it might be available (preferably in the UK)? And what might be included? Or have Apple been too busy concentrating on the iPhone and iPad to make a nice new iPod?

I'm buying a new TV and have narrowed down my options to 2. Can somebody who knows about TVs tell me whether one of them is better than the other for any reason?

It's this Sony series W one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-KDL37W5500U-Widescree...

versus this Samsung series 6 one (or one very similar):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-LE37B650T2-37-inch...

A friend of mine's got this tattoo:

http://www.atomiser.demon.co.uk/misc/birdtattoo.jp...

and what he says it's meant to look like is different to what we think it looks like.

Could somebody who knows about different kinds of birds please suggest whether this tattoo looks like any species of bird in particular?

Somebody told me once that somewhere in the North of England- possibly somewhere near Carlisle- there's a motorway service station which actually has a *good* reputation. Apparently the food is good quality, reasonably priced, and it's renowned for actually being a nice place to stop.

Is this true? If so can anyone telll me which one it is? I might be driving past it next week and wanted to make sure I didn't stop at the wrong one.

On my walk to work I have to walk down a road where there's a seagull nest on top of one of the buildings. Whenever you walk past the seagull thinks you're too close and swoops down and attacks you. So twice a day I get smacked on the head by an angry seagull.

Can I warn it off by swiping at it? Can I actually attack it? What's the law if I injure or kill it?

Alternatively is there anything else I can do?

I can't really go a different direction to work and I'm getting very sick of the flying white rat with a sharp beak.

I think it's been a year or so since there was a new generation of iPod 'classics'. I'm thinking of buying a new one- are there likely to be any changes in the range any time soon, or will they all be staying the same for a while?

My iTunes has managed to forget my recent listening. I've got a playlist with hundreds of songs in it and I want to increase all their playcounts by 1. Apart from playing them all again, is there an easy way to do this?

After the Icelandic banking system collapsed last year, I read that Iceland might become a cheaper place for tourists to visit.

I loved Iceland last time, and I'm wondering whether it really is a more economical holiday destination now, or whether it hasn't really made a difference. Anyone know?