the very last humans, 423 trillion years from now, unrecognisable to our current form, watch on with sadness as the multiuniverse ends, only moments before triggering the birth of a new chain reaction to start the whole process over.

Oooh, do you think Chain Reaction would have a ‘10% off your first purchase voucher’ for that?

So a couple who decides that the Mum stays at home to look after the her 4 kids, and the Dad does fall into those affected but only just goes onto have what equates to around a 9% cut to household income.

Maybe should consider that when they had the four kids…

Yet a couple that choose to both go to work and put childcare in the hands of others could earn up to £99k is hardly fair. Sure the only a few families are affected, but those that are it has the potential to hit them hard.

Yes, because they’ll not be paying out £800+ a month on childcare would they…

There are a few edge cases where people are going to be affected. I’m one of them, probably after next months potential payrise. I’ll live.

If I remember one of the magazines did a test on some cranks a while ago in a jig to measure the deflection of the arms. The difference between the real ‘noodle’ cranks and the stiffest was les than 1mm. I doubt many people could tell the difference once fitted onto a bike frame that will flex along with wheels, shoes etc.

It’s been a while since I used Duals but if I remember correctly

a) The reach was a touch more than current Shimano levers
b) braking and changing was tricky, almost impossible to drop into a smaller cog whilst braking (though thats less of an issue than trying to get a lower gear). It is a bit of a skill to keep pulling the lever consistently and moving it down (quite a distance) to click into the next gear
c) Never had any problems, though they did seem to be a bit more plasticky around the shifter pod bit and a bit more bulky so might get clipped more
d) Actually I’m not sure why. They were great on my commuter as could flick up a gear from the bar ends. Think ultimately I fancied a change but I did drop to 1×9 as I was using it for the winter commute and not as flexible for stuff like that with the gears/brakes not being seperate.

I would make the argument that it’s only difficult to fit mudguards around a disc brake if you have an IQ of 3, and lack opposable thumbs.

I’d make the argument that the carbon one doesn’t have mudguard eyelets on the dropouts or any way of attaching the guards to the crown…. 😀

what happens next, god only knows, but the inference is that the plod who wrote the letter to the other MP pretending he was an innocent bystander had either seen the police log, as the wording was so similar, or was the plod responsible for leaking the log to the press.

Wouldn’t be surprised if plod on duty knew the guy who sent the email in. Probably gave him enough details. Doubt it was leaked and went that way to the emailer.

Who did the initial investigation into the email claim? Was it the police?

Either way you look at it, I’d be annoyed if I’d had a barney with someone at work and got, in effect sacked, because his mate backed him up as a witness even though he wasn’t there.

Name and shame the manufacturer.

Cough, Vaude, but to be fair it’s had a good and long life. Basically today (of all organic days) the zip didn’t bind as you zip it up and I didn’t notice. Worked the second time (albeit without the added pressure of the pinta).

Would never have happened on Tofu Tuesday…

Move to Delhi….

I had it a couple of years ago. And the quote from the doctor – “On the bright side, if you were 80 you’d probably be dead now from it by now” 😯

Took me a lot of weeks to recover. Seemed to knock me out for the rest of the year, fitness never recovered for ages.

Charge Juicer? And flog the bits you do’t want?

Would gaffer tape and zip ties be suitable?

Only if you wish to join the qualifying list for this years Darwin Awards

Ah for me it’d be Stephen Roche dragging himself back up to finish the mountain top finish at La Plagne only a couple of seconds behind Pefro Delgado to save the yellow jersey. I think even Phil Liggett excelled himself that day too!

P20 – just a cheapy Time Tutelary one, something like this

if you’re not boycotting Amazon…

Cheaper to get a new wife?

Ha, ha, I should have know a lot earlier after seeing the engagement/wedding rings she picked… 😯

Cheers globalti and Stoner, thats useful information.

I suspected the problems with the fancy window idea would be price and getting them to work on bifold doors.

Give us a bit more detail on this plan then.

And I blame Sarah Beaney on this one – single floor rear extension – basically the kitchen, dining room and utility room all sit side by side at the back of the house. We’re thinking of pushing out the back the full 4m, taking out the old rear walls for those three rooms (but leaving the side walls if that makes sense) so that they all basically merge into this one big area. And bifold doors across the whole of the back feeding into the garden. And pitched roof of course…

So there’s gonna be a massive expanse of glass at the back we’d just like to put a bit of privacy on. Internal blinds seem to be the saner solution at the moment.

I’ve got my old Omega on a watch winder. Works fine. Always useful when I just want to grab it and go out. It’s a very old watch (same ages as me!!) and the date setting is a pain plus it’s supposedly better for the watch.

Some watches don’t work – the Oakley I have too doesn’t seem to like just the gentle turning, need more, erm, vigorous movement.

Shonen Knife

Thank you, I shall investigate further bolstered with my new found ‘knowledge’.

Ah, got you – so that’s just a vent in effect with the noisy fan somewhere else.

Butterfly screws?

The Gore Contest is a bit more fitted IIRC

Well, it’s upstairs bathroom with pretty much direct access to the loft void so I suppose I think I have space for ducting.

So is that extractor thingy on the outside of the house sucking air way, or in the ceiling pushing the air out?

Mrs Seadog says not to get her anything as we have just had nice new shiny kitchen fitted.

Which is normally accompanied on Christmas Day by “I know I said not to buy me anything but I got you a little something because you are so special…..”

Anyone else who was an OCD Lego builder – couldn’t abide those kids who’d build multi-coloured walls with no regard to colours and pattern

Yes, add me to that list too. I often pulled apart the most amazing Lego builds because I couldn’t do the last couple of bricks in the same colour. I do remember knocking on my mates door very late one evening to see if he had a couple of spare bricks in the right colour…

Oh, and I think I remember a strange buglet in Jquery – instead of

$(“.slider#”+count).show(“slide”,{direction:”right”}, 500);

set a variable up first:-

var mySlider = “.slider#” + count;
$(mySlider).show(“slide”,{direction:”right”}, 500);

Not sure if id can be just a numeric – try ‘pic1’ instead of just ‘1’. That might be it.

And the jQuery selector is over the top – each ID is unique (or should be!!!) so instead of ‘.slider#1’ you can just use ‘#1’ (or rather ‘#pic1’).

What about Ruark stuff? Cos now thats been thrown into the equation

I’ve got the Vito version of the Ruark dock. I really like it, DAB and FM radio helps it’s case too in my opinion.

Really enjoying good old Bob at the moment, it’s up there at album of year for me.

Return postage would be >£10 to send recorded (he’d have to pay) plus the time to package it up – I doubt he’ll bother.

Why would he have to pay? Me with the baying STW on my side (after posting about a dangerous lamp I bough on eBay) = I’d be wanting to kick up a fuss and be asking for the cost of return postage plus a refund – it’s faulty goods and all that. 👿

Suppose options:
a) Ignore and get neg feedback.
b) Partial refund. Though still expect negative feedback possibly…
c) Full refund (and don’t forget to cancel the auction, at least you’ll get your fees back)

I was shocked by how much grit I found in the BB shell of my old frame, which could only have got in through the vent holes.

Or down from the seatpost?

I mean, they’re either waterproof and warm, or they’re not. It’s not like we’re discussing wether or not you like the taste of apples…

My t-shirt is warm enough for me to sit around the house in. Apparently my missus needs thermals, jumper and fleece to do the same thing, so ‘warm’ is a different thing to different people. Though, my analogy falls over somewhat on waterproof 🙁

I’ve used them lots for smaller scale stuff (mechs, chainsets, shorts etc.) and they’ve been no problems sending or refunding. Mates just ordered a bike which seems to have a massive lead-in time but assuming thats a reliance on a boat shipping frames in to them directly from Taiwan etc.

I’m not an expert, but I though PoP meant nothing in eyes of eBay?

It doesn’t so you’d have to refund the paypal payment. Though it is acceptable for the Royal Mail and you claim back off them for the amount – typically they might ask for the eBay action details as proof of value.

Kaiser- the scams start when the scammer buys something off you (say a nice Hope wheel). He/she complains that it’s knackered (insert any excuse here) so they send it back (tracked). You sign for the box and find a brick inside – eBay see the tracked delivery back to you, not the content so you end up being obliged to refund (well, eBay take it off you..).

Scams where people say they haven’t got something when they have – either send tracked, or wait the three weeks (or whatever RM stipulate) before claiming back off the Post Office.

Proof of postage is free. But will only cover you up to 10 times (I think) value of stamp (so probably £60 these days is it?).

A C1 or similar will annoy the hell out of you on a mostly motorway commute I would imagine.

Really, don’t listen to the guys who tell you you can’t have a car less than 5.6 litre engine or it’ll be ‘wheezy’ on the commute. If it’s anything like my ‘motorway’ trip you won’t get out of 3rd! It is perfectly possibly to drive with a 1.0 engine in your car.

But I’d still possibly consider 2nd hand unless you can get good finance deals on new.

I used to work with a guy who had a poster up in the office along the lines of

You go pink in the sun
White in the winter
green when you’re sick
red when you’re embarrassed
blue when you’re cold
and you’ve got the nerve to call me coloured…

Probably slightly OT but if you just want some cheap clear Jawbone lenses I picked up some nice VL ones

on eBay from Visionary Lenses

that only tint to 87% or something daft (so basically clear to ever so slightly not clear) for £12 posted. The 7 bucks postage will cover three sets as they’ll combine the p&p.

Oh, they’re brave.

Can’t work out if they are genuinely supportting local shops, or they think they can make more money this way.

Maybe they’re hoping the LBS acts as a safety net for the those warranty returns that the likes of CRC and Wiggle probably just dump back on them.

what are people selling to get such high scores?
do you actually make a reasonable amount of money?

I went through a spate of buying whole bikes if they were a bargain to strip bits just to get, say the chainset. Including fees etc. I often got the part I really wanted for free (or often with a profit) so hence one purchase often led to 15 sales – soon adds up.

Plus for little bits and bobs (like 10 o-rings or something) I’d prefer just to paypal a little shop rather than giving them a credit card number.

Had a lot of success buying things, not liking them and reselling for a profit, but I’d not like to do it as a business

it cant be denied that they attract some xenophobic and or racist types

You can say that about any party though. I’ve worked in some fairly run down North East areas that are Labour strongholds. You really wouldn’t want to be non-white with the attitudes I’ve seen there (and the attacks), and I’m pretty sure most weren’t UKIP members…

Suppose depends how stroppy the buyer gets. Technically he/she could ask for the whole lot back (and would probably get it if they raise a claim on paypal).

But, if he/she has an ‘arrangement’ and couldn’t get to pick it up I’d argue that you’ve done your bit. They must have trouble like this all the time if no vehicle access. I’d personally say, look I’ve done all I could and I’ve tried to do your a favour and I don’t want to be out of pocket for you dodgy arrangement with the PO.

See what you get back in a few weeks when the buyer returns. I always love the people who buy stuff then message you saying “I’m going on holiday/cycling trip tomorrow, can you send it asap?”. Either accept it’s not gonna turn up in time or just go tot he local shop to buy it.