My Panasonic smart tele plays MKV files natively, straight off the USB stick

You can get polycotton inflatable tents, I was looking at an outwell one last week. Spendy though

Yes I’m aware, however given the choice between one or the other. it’s polycotton for me, with the inflatable you might save 30 minutes to an hour on pitching and packing, not exactly a big deal if you’re somewhere for a week.

Given the choice between polycotton and inflatable I’d go for polycotton every time, they’re just a much nicer place in which to spend time. I’d caveat that by saying if you go for lots of weekend/short stay camps then I’d probably go for inflatable.

Dell Outlet. Don’t dismiss the business machines either, the Latitudes, although not sure how many will have a discrete video card.

Alienware 15 – R3 £1055

Another one, £1119

If anyone is worried about having an asbestos garage/shed whatever the costs to remove aren’t too bad.

Our double garage was built from white asbestos (chrysotile) in concrete had this tested for £25, not just the roof either the whole damn double garage (steel frame, concrete/asbestos sheets) this was a low level worry for me for years, it recently got taken down as part of house refurb.

We bought the next level safety gear (ie a bit better than strictly needed for health and safety reasons) bags (double bagged) and “asbestos hazard” tape to tape up the bags – can’t exactly remember the cost for this say about £150.

Say a days labour for two workers (won’t take a day, our labourer did it on his own in a a morning, but he was an absolute beast) £300.

Got a company to pick the asbestos up for £400 or £500.

Years of low level stress solved for about £1k. Obviously replacing the garage will cost a bit more.

£260 sounds ok.

Got a Sonos Play 1 on the “100 days return for any reason” thingy which just finished, it’s going back, it’s crap. Looking for something to replace it with.

Leema Accoustics Xero

Ooh used to have their antecedents the Xens in a 5.1 setup, fabulous, but could never really afford an amp that did them justice. Binned off 5.1 but kept the sub (couldn’t sell it) and paired them with some Focal Aria 906s – they’re great but I’ve got a hankering for something else. Possibly active. Possibly PMC. Dunno.

Before the Xens I had some Celestion Ditton 25’s which were lovely but I blew them up.

Just bought a Sonos Play 1 for the kitchen – absolutely bobbins – can’t believe the amazing reviews they get. I hear they’re meant to be pretty good for classical, folk etc but they fail hard with the Metal \m/ Looking for something to replace it with.

In person the most joyous moment was

on the tele

Honourable mention LeMond vs Fignon in 1989 (cor 89 was a good year)

What was the thinking of the organisers over the course this year? Give me a long time trial or team time trial over another one of these cookie cutter stages.

:pray for the breakaway:

Washing machine – a greater impact on humanity than the internet according to some/many

Yup used it.

Do you have to wait for the owner of the parking space to okay it.

No or at least not ime

Don’t be scared of making a concrete base, it really is a piece of err wee to make, surprisingly so. You can hire all the stuff you need for a few quid a day. Be a shame to spend hundreds on a shed and then half arse it.

Bobiverse is a good romp as is Expeditionary Force. Fun, brainless sci-fi. Definitely read the Culture novels.

Electric cars reach record 42% of Norway’s total new car sales with boost from Tesla Model X[/url]

It’s very possible that very few people will own cars, with big car parks filled with autonomous vehicles which you’ll just summon via an ap

Check out Dell Outlet and don’t dismiss the business machines, My Dell Latitude 7something or other is absolutely brilliant

Having redeveloped my house I have learnt that local plumbers merchants are probably the best bet, don’t ever pay list price for anything. These prices only exist so plumbers can make a cut on the hardware when they do work for you, plumbers don’t pay these prices. Expect to pay 40%-60% of list price.

Either them or plumbnation.

Have we seen this intriguing German pumped storage “battery”, any of UK’s old mining infrastructure up to this? Or were they closed too long ago?

Whatever you call it, it’ll be “bloody dog”, half the time.

Have to +x the Dyson Cordless (we have a v6 total clean), run time is relatively short – but haven’t run it down yet, dirt container is small and fiddly to empty (again meant to be improved on the v8) but it’s always ready to go and the Total Clean has all the bits we need.

We also have a Sebo K something or other and a Henry (which I borrowed from my office for the duration of building work) and the Dyson can’t be beaten in terms of its covenience.

Athletes’ Microbiomes Differ from Nonathletes

Researchers are beginning to uncover a link between activity level and the microbial makeup of one’s gut.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, not just a hybrid, a plug in hybrid. Dunno if it qualifies as half decent.

G.L.O.W. is coming soon on Netflix, looks pretty good.

Which half of American Gods makes your teeth hurt?

Also, if super heroes are your bag

Daredevil
Jessica Jones
Luke Cage
Iron Fist

Probably in that order too

Use Spotify family, recently had a free trial with Deezer, it’s absolutely as good as Spotify at least for my use case. Stuck with Spotify due to pressure from the kids.

If you’re going in August I second the Eweleaze recommendations. Possibly my favourite campsite although not that many flat, flat pitches. They have some other sites now too.

Everything in an iPad will be betterer than in a Yoga, the SOC in particular will wipe the floor with anything budget android (infact anything android) the screen will be better, the memory better and faster and the screen much, much better (not compared to Samsung obvs). Plus the apps are usually much nicer than Android apps

However iOS is an absolute steaming pile of turds, structurally has barely moved on since Apple created the iPhone, file system, nope, SIRI is a joke, zero (well not quite, but almost) customisation, the lack of a back button, the abomination that are notifications. What seemed so wow 10 years ago now seems a bit Fisher Price. But a Fisher Price which will get updates for many years and will work better for more years than Android equivalents.

Oh and proprietary dongles, Apple produced their 30 pin connectors for years after the introduction of Micro USB, then swerved Micro USB for the “better” proprietary lightning connector for no other reason than cash. Interesting to see if the IPhone 10 will get USB C

If you’ve got wifi in the kitchen then I’d eschew the bog standard bluetooth speakers and get one of the Sonos-alike speakers such as the Yamaha WX010 you get a much better more flexible speaker (Bluetooth, Airplay, DLNA, the MusicCast gubbins etc) but lose out on the portability.

Just taken delivery of our DIY kitchens errr kitchen, it’s all still boxed so too early to give an assessment of the actual kitchen but the ordering, while a bit complicated is easy enough. My only piece of salient advice is go for the “Gold” (?) delivery, those mofos are bloody heavy, the kitchen was delivered last Thursday and my forearms are still a bit hurty.

How does the pyrolitic cleaning work?

What does pyrolitic mean and how does it work?

Pyrolytic cleaning uses high temperatures of 500 degrees centigrade or more combined with the absence of oxygen to burn off the accumulated grease and spills from baking and roasting food in your oven, reducing it to a pile of ash that can be wiped up with a moist cloth.
How often should you clean your oven?

Wiping up spills after cooking each time will keep your deep cleaning to a minimum. To avoid greasy build up that takes longer to sort, put aside a couple of hours a month to turn your oven on the self clean setting and you will keep both yourself and your cooker happy!
What’s the best way to use this feature?

Choose a day when you won’t need the oven for at least 3 hours start to finish. Make sure to take out any pans and the racks which can be soaked and hand cleaned. Generally, the racks should not be left in during this high heat clean.

Brush out any lingering loose crumbs before shutting and locking the oven door to avoid unnecessary smoke. For safety’s sake, once the heat cleaning process begins you won’t be able to open the oven door until it cools down to a reasonable temperature. When the oven is cool, you can wipe the ash inside out with a damp cloth and replace the racks.

Crack the kitchen window open if it’s a nice day outside or turn your extractor fan on to help clear smells, depending on how dirty your oven is inside.
How safe is this type of self cleaning?

All pyrolitic self cleaning ovens are designed with a lock that prevents you from opening the door while it is in cleaning mode. For children’s safety and your own, the oven door will automatically lock at a certain temperature. Or, depending on the model, some may have a manual lock to stop it from being opened until the oven has cooled down.
Doesn’t it cost more than conventional cleaning?

An added benefit of self-cleaning ovens is that the insulation required for the high temperature cleaning process also makes them more energy efficient for your daily baking. The energy cost for a couple of hours on high heat is still far less than a can of standard oven cleaner. To save extra energy, try cleaning your oven directly after you’ve finished cooking, while it is still hot.

Formerly a feature associated with high end ovens, many more economical models now also carry this timesaving technology, making the pyrolytic timesaving feature attractive over other self-cleaning catalytic or easy-clean enamel options. Make light work of your oven cleaning chores and put your elbow grease into doing the things you love to do instead!

Well worth having imo.

Just bought a whole new kitchen. Neff are premium priced but seem to be well regarded by customers, particularly the slide and hide ovens, but the price does mount up when you start to add features, pyrolytic cleaning, loads of different modes, steam baking, meat thermometer, full TFT touch screen (!) etc. If you’re just going to be using the oven in the “stick it on 180c and it’ll be done in 20 minutes” then get something cheaper than a Neff. Cheap Neff ovens are fugly imo.

You’ve just missed a cash back promotion where all Neff stuff had a cash back on all products with a higher cash back for multiple products.

Wh1ch Be$t buy ovens in order are

John Lewis JLBIOS617 – good price at mo

Samsung NV70F7584DS

Samsung BQ1VD6T131

Samsung NV73J9770RS – over £1k

Zanussi ZOP38903XD

Zanussi ZOP37902XK

Bosch Serie 8 HBG6764B1B

AEG BP5014321M

Neff B14M42N3GB – £400 but basic

Bang for buck it’s hard to look beyond the Zanussi’s very well reviewed and chock full of features ovens.

It’s obviously worth shopping around (duh!) but some online Retailers will give you a better price if you buy all your appliances from them, could probably try that with JL too.

Separate grill? – Is there such a thing?

Neighbour has some, looks awful, not sure why either his lawn is (was?) only about 4mx4m and looked really nice before, certainly better than my dandelion/moss and dog piss brown patched affair.

Best answer to this question was posted on here the last time (?) this question was posted, it has to be

Finished it last night. I enjoyed it, despite Danny Rand being a pretty unsympathetic character and the fight scenes being pretty (very!) sub-par. Looked a bit budget too, at least compared to Daredevil. Looking forward to the Defenders.

I might read an episode summary online and watch the final episode, so the Defenders makes sense

Watch the last two, it covers everything going forward.

Going to (try and) get Italian dual nationality, not for me so much but my eldest daughter is expressing a desire to go to university in yurp

Like, sometimes love his prose, hate his narration – hire an actor ya cheap bar steward

Interesting. Not having ever used an induction hob I thought they wouldn’t be so effective as gas for stir frying as the heat is only really from the bottom, whereas stir frying needs heat from all around the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Hmm yeah maybe I don’t need a wok burner.

Just bought a kitchen window and utility room window for my extension

Kitchen window is 1590mm*1230mm £425+vat

Utility is 1185mm*1250mm £355+vat

Supplied and fitted.

Millies Wolfheart[/url]

I’d say don’t do it. I put a set of Big Apple 2.5s on my 19mm rims and it felt super squirmy, even when pumped up to 40 psi+

I went to the Nabru[/url] showroom a few weeks ago, overall I like then, pretty ingenious kit based thing with slot together wood bits for the frame, good quality foam for the backs and seats and removable covers. Pretty comfortable too, the really modular nature means you can have any design you want but all are a bit “blocky” and not really that different from each other. The removable covers also mean that even the showroom sofas looked a bit rucked up with seams not fitting tightly etc. Had the air of bachelor pad about them. Missus didn’t like them.

Later on I went to Delux Deco[/url] in Windsor, great range of Sofa’s – all from China, mainly they’re built for export to high end (apparently) department stores around the world.

Lately I’ve been lusting for Loaf[/url] sofas.

The search for the perfect Sofa continues

I think the Calcs are right – but unless its a new build I’d question your U values.. I’d also query the temp gradient assumption to the floor – whats the ambient soil temp? won’t be the same as the air.

I’d also question the areas – you have twice as much floor as ceiling. This seems unlikely unless its partly outside?

Roof is basically 150mm of celotex and 36mm (2*18mm) of plywood

walls are thermalite blocks (surprisingly hard to get hold of) and 100mm of celotex.

Floor is suspended wooden floor with 100mm of celotex (I think, have to check on that one)

Extension is L shaped going out 3m at back and 3 metres at side in. So yes partly outside and partly “inside”. The outside walls are all new build.

The room is 8mx8m roughly with 6m2 utility room, which will be heated separately.

Window U Value I took from manufacturers blah-di blah. Windows made up of 6.7*2.6 bifolds, 3*1.2m*1.2m roof lights and a kitchen window.

Pleased to be critiqued, don’t want to spend 10k on a new heating system and the damn place ending up cold, nor do I want the boiler short cycling all the time.