Lol! True, true. Although I do use pretty much everything I buy. Because I often realise that I need a particular type of tool, when doing a job where such a tool would be really bloody useful. I then buy said tool (often once I’ve actually completed said job the hard way), where it then lies for a while before being pushed into service. Things do get used though, I’m not a hipster. Side rebate plane; there you go. Such a useful, simple tool. Bloody none in stock at the moment though. :(

This thread stands as a sort of microcosm of the labour left.

No matter what the issue being discussed is, within a couple of posts we’re back on to Palestine and antisemitism yet again.

Actually, the ‘lefties’ on here have discussed a whole range of topics, from anti-Semitism and xenophobia, to nationalisation of essential services and utilities. All you’ve done is attempt to belittle and abuse anyone who disagrees with you.You haven’t actually ‘discussed’ anything. You simply post your (mostly ignorant and blinkered) opinion, then when challenged, resort to abuse and ad hominems. With a few pictures. How very grown up.

These are good for that.

HoseWraps

An old MTB innertube is just as effective, yet much, much cheaper.

Lordy. So many words. So much ignorance.

Anyway…

I ordered an iMac a few weeks ago, but delivery is still not expected until late July/mid August. :( Very high demand, major supply issues globally. So many foolish Mac FanBois who’ve had their pants pulled down, it seems. What a load of idiots we are…

as for mac pricing, yeah it’s undenyable that they rip you of for memory and hdd space. 200 quid for 4gb of ram or 200 quid for 256gb of storage is ridiculous. but ultimately if you are wanting mac, worth the upgrade. ram more than disk space.

For sure. But then, we’re all idiots for wanting Macs instead of vastly superior and far cheaper PCs. It’s all our own fault. So we deserve it. Nobody forced us to drink the Kool Aid.

You do realise don’t you

He doesn’t. He really doesn’t.

The present Israeli government doesn’t give flying **** what anyone thinks. I doubt they know where the UK is.

You know that saying, ‘better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt’?

That. You’d do so much better if you just stuck to stuff you actually have half a clue about. Instead of waffling on about subjects you are woefully ignorant on.

How’s things down the Rose and Crown?

Because there are bigger fish to fry right now than situations thousands of miles away that the labour party can have pretty much zero impact on, whatever it does.

So; in the hypothetical situation where there WAS a Labour government, they’d then be in a position to have some influence over the Israel/Palestine conflict. Given that that conflict is getting increasingly nasty, and mainly driven by the Israeli regime, which the UK supports, do you not think it important to standaginast such fascistic behaviour? I thought you were concerned with fascism?

There’s also the issue of not conforming to stereotypes and voters rolling their eyes while, with the country still in the middle of a pandemic, the ‘lefties’ are banging on about Palestine yet again.

The ‘lefties’ have been ‘banging on’ about protecting the NHS, better pay and conditions for NHS workers, improved access to vaccination services, better protection for key workers, concern at the completely useless way the government has dealt with the pandemic, etc.

As well as Palestine.

Meanwhile, Andy Burnham panders to fascism by dog-whistling about asylum seekers…

I thought you were concerned about the rise in fascism, Binners? Do you not think that a Labour party committed to fighting fascism, as is the Labour tradition, after all, should be challenging fascistic regimes such as Israel, India’s Modi government, Saudi Arabia, etc? Why is it only the (lefty) backbenchers that are making any kind of noise about this?

Palestine is obviously an important issue for a lot of British Muslims. There are nearly 3 million of them, apparently. 3 million is a sizeable number. The kind of number you might need, to win a parliamentary majority. Do you not think it important that Labour try to win voters, rather than losing them?

Yamaha MusicCast uses Apple’s Airplay 2 system, I understand. I’ve used Airplay across various devices and equipment over the years, via things like the 2nd/3rd generation Airport Express, gen.3 and 4k Apple TV units, Homepods and other Airplay compatible speakers. Had the occasional glitch, but nothing too bad really. Sound quality seems to be better overall than say a Chromecast Audio, and Airplay is definitely better than Sonos’ system. If I were looking for a streaming amp (might be soon), I’d only be considering something that is Airplay compatible. Which unfortunately leaves out quite a few otherwise decent amps, such as Audiolab and Quad (they use PlayFi I think).

their hose is ribbed

Fnaar!

“Her”?

Gender’s all fluid now. Get with the program, Grandad. ;)

Some kinds of bigotry are more important than others eh. Imagine if JC had said anything similar to some of Phillips’ statements about Muslims. And yet…

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/06/labour-lifts-trevor-phillips-suspension-for-alleged-islamophobia

Two Muslim Labour MPs have expressed concern over these offensive comments, yet Starmer has remained silent. Which kind of makes a mockery of Labour’s anti-racism pledges.

“Zarah Sultana, the Labour MP for Coventry South, said many of Phillips’ comments “should be unequivocally condemned”. She added: “Before readmittance, the party must at the very least require a full retraction and apology. Anything less makes a mockery of the idea that the party takes Islamophobia seriously and signals contempt for our Muslim supporters.””

I like Zarah. One of the few Labour MPs who do actually seem sincere and genuinely concerned about actual people. But Zarah has been outspoken in support for ordinary Palestinian people, so we can probably expect her to be labelled an ‘anti-Semite’ at some stage. Labour are being played by the divide and rule politics of the right, and seem ignorant/oblivious to this, which is deeply worrying. The less thoughtful will seize on this as an opportunity to ‘prove’ that Jews/Zionists/Israel ‘control’ the Labour party, and this will only help to deepen already chasmic divisions. In north London, people have been arrested over shouting anti-Semitic abuse from cars, in areas with Jewish communities. The polarisation of such politics is something the Labour leader needs to address, alongside the dog-whistle racism of the likes of Hodge and Burnham.

Meanwhile, Diane Abbott writes something meaningful, and it gets ignored:

https://labourlist.org/2021/06/the-government-assault-on-refugee-rights-must-not-go-unchallenged/

Where’s Sir Keith on this? Oh, silent, as usual. Funny, that, for a former Human Rights lawyer…

Criminal damage, possibly, theft, definitely. Even if there’s a notice saying ‘bikes will be removed’, the landowner/agents have to be able to demonstrate the bike was causing a danger/serious issue; I think they also have to take reasonable steps to inform the owner their property will be removed. But either way, it’s **** out of order.

Is there a TL;DR version of this thread? Does speaker cable actually make a difference?

@bridges – I use both, am I only half as superior?

Yes, I’m afraid so. Sorry. :(

Er, no – have you ever had to budget for anything?… Your empathy needs a bit of work I think.

I’ve had to make choices between buying food or paying bills. Have you? I don’t think I need any condescension regarding ‘budgeting’, thanks.

Sent from my expensive and superior Apple device.

It’s nice to have nice things.
It’s nice to have very stupid nice things.
I own a £2500 watch and £250 belt. They are nice.
They don’t function any better than a £2.50 watch or no belt as I don’t need a belt.
It’s nice to have nice things.

The only point of expensive speaker cable is the owners joy of having expensive speaker cable.

…Is pretty much the perfect summary. Everything else is just waffle.

Maple syrup, anyone?

One Day International?

What I have a problem with is people telling people like my parents that they NEED a Mac and Windows simply won’t do. Well, it will, and it does. They would’ve found the grand or so required for a Mac if they’d let their (rich) friends talk them into it, but it would have required significant compromises elsewhere. Then they’d have had a harder time integrating their cheap Android phones to it, and their friends would have gone “oh you simply MUST get an iPhone for £600” and so on. As it happens, the £350 Windows laptop I helped them buy was fine until someone spilled a drink on it some 6 or 7 years after it was bought.

Aren’t they free to make their own decisions though? Nobody is forcing them to buy a Mac.

Again this assumes people have the money. If you are on a budget, a £1000 Mac is absolutely not better than a £400 PC, especially if you are just surfing and writing the odd document etc.

If you only have £400 to spend on a computer you buy a £400 computer. Simple really. If you have a £1000 to spend, you buy whatever suits your needs/you want to. Again, simple.

What I do care about is the spreading of propaganda and misinformation. The fruity fans routinely compare a £2,000 Mac to a £300 PC and go “look, the Mac is so much better!” Of course it is, you could replace the PC five or six times over for what the Mac cost.

Who is saying this? Where have they said it?

A £2,000 PC would grind a Mac into the dirt.

“Non-upgradeable memory” and storage too I believe, on a machine costing north of four figures, you’re having your pants pulled down.

Lol! Triggered, much? ;)

I’ve no idea what point you’re trying to make here? They aren’t products I use but if I did I expect I’d get on with them just fine, thanks.

You were banging on about how your 2008 laptop runs Windows 10 fine. I was making a point about using a 2008 laptop with demanding software such as Premiere Pro and After Effects.

But you obviously missed that.

Gosh, folk have strong feelings about operating systems don’t they?

Some do. But some of use use Macs, so we have happier, more fulfilling, more contended lives. We enjoy better health, are better looking, and are sexually superior. Which is why we flaunt our Apple logos at the üntermensch. :D

If it won’t run it, I’ll have to just keep the old PC with Win10 to run that stuff. Not really a big change to now, that’s really all that I use that machine for anyway

So how is that different to someone running an old Mac to use old hard/software?

Mac fans though can be quite good at persuading people to perhaps spend more money than they can afford on a Mac or iPad because they think they need to.

? As a ‘Mac Fan’, I often advise people to buy a Mac, if they ask for my opinion on a new computer. As long as they don’t want to spend just £300 or so. Sure; some might buy something that is way overkill for their actual needs, I think this is probably true for many people. But then many who have gone on and bought Macs have expressed positive feedback about their decisions. My wife uses a work-supplied PC, but has no desire to own her own computer, her ‘phone is adequate for her needs. Were she to need something a bit bigger, an iPad would fit the bill perfectly. Of course there are cheaper options; there aren’t any better ones though. The Apple products offer better value, ultimately, for many users. Because they tend to suit people’s needs better, are simpler to use, offer a better user experience, and retain their value for longer.Yes; Apple do sell ‘premium’ products, but that’s their business model. And people are free to make their own choices, surely?

I have no idea, but it affects me

In the big scheme of things, how important do you think YOU are, individually, to a company like Apple? I totally get what you’re saying, but you have to agree, Apple writing their OS for such individual use case scenarios, isn’t practical for their particular business model. And what will you do if Windows 11 no longer supports your hard/software requirements?

Android, actually.

It was a jo…. never mind.

Thing is, there aren’t any Windows zealots. There are just anti-Mac-Fanboi-bullshit people. No-one is saying Windows is better, we are just pointing out the stupid rubbish Mac fans spout. Like this:

There’s 2 types of people in this world; those who buy Macs, and those who regret not buying a Mac

That’s what gets my goat. It’s idiotic. Even if the poster wasn’t serious plenty are.

Lol!

Sent from my expensive and superior Apple device.

We did the easier version. 10 year old flat screen monitor. Left it outside with a “take it, it still works” label.

That’s not always effective, as people will usually assume that something is wrong with it, if you’re just giving it away. This method isn’t always successful. One that really is, is a sign that says ‘£XX, please knock/ring’. It’ll be ‘stolen’ in minutes…

But that’s an argument for investment in maintaining existing infrastructure and replacing when necessary. The reason water companies are having to fix old Victorian plumbing etc, is because it should have been done decades ago. Nationalised industries didn’t ‘fail’ because they were nationalised. They failed because of a lack of investment. Because successive governments preferred to spend public money on things like wars and tax breaks for their rich chums instead. If you see public utilities only in economic terms, then you are missing their true value to society. So a bus service is ‘unprofitable’; it’s still of great value to those who rely on it. This is why society needs to have control of such services. This is why nationalisation is crucial.

I’m not talking about cheap consumer stuff. This is expensive professional hardware and software that still functions perfectly well running Win10. No VMs needed.

And what actual percentage of all computer users would that affect? 1? 0.5? 0.1? There are plenty of people using older hardware in say music recording studios etc, who are perfectly happy to use an old Mac that doesn’t need updating. If it ain’t broke… But the reality is, that the vast majority of computer users really don’t need to worry about such things. And people need hardware that can cope with the increasing demands from the other devices they use; you won’t find someone trying to do 4k+ video with a 2008 PC laptop. Likewise, someone who needs to create simulations for medical research, won’t want an ancient, slow old machine, they need the very latest, fastest kit, and that often tends to be pretty exotic proprietary equipment anyway; they wouldn’t want the instability of Windows messing things up. So whatever argument that can be made for backwards compatibility, there’s always a counter argument as to why this isn’t valid anyway. Bottom line is. The vast majority of us don’t need all that anyway, we just want something to work without fuss and bother. Which is one of Apple’s strengths; strip out all you don’t need, and it’s a much sleeker, slicker and more efficient experience.

Try running a printer or scanner or software from 2006 on a brand new Mac, pretty much guaranteed to not work.

I’ve run plenty of older hardware from all sorts of Macs (I have a USB floppy disc drive from around 2000, that still works on any current Mac). But aside from that; a lot of that older hardware is either shit compared to current stuff, or has broken anyway. Why would I want to use a 15 year old printer, when current printing technology is infinitely better? Whilst I agree that built in obsolescence is a bad thing, to try to use backwards compatibility as a way of trying to claim one platform is better, is just silly really. What ancient hardware/software are you trying to use? And anyway; you can always find an older, perfectly working Mac to run it, if you really need to.

Not really

No really.

Nationalised utilities were cheaper and performed better than private ones. always.

Had the nationalised utilities been given the level of investment privatised ones have (often at public expense), then it’s pretty obvious we’d have much better services all round. It’s the neoliberal plan, to run down public services, drive down public satisfaction and trust in them, push loads of propaganda about how much better privatised services are, and then sell everything off at a discount rate. Preferably to your mates. Managed decline. Demonising unions was part of that plan, and as evident here, that propaganda was extremely effective. So we’re now in a situation where the profits from some of our privatised utilities and services, actually help subsidise other nations’ state run counterparts. Yet we still end up paying to subsidise our privatised ones. Great.

Depending on the thickness of your laminations, you might find you don’t need to steam at all to get the radius you need.
Experiments are key.
You should be able to buy Ash constructional veneer which I believe is about 2mm thick.
That should take a bend pretty well

Excellent. I’m going to give this a go at some point, and I think using thin strips of ash is a very good idea. Only problem is, I’ll need a table saw in order to make lots of identical cuts. So I’ll need to buy new tools. Well done Kayak; that’s all your fault. :D

I don’t think you can lay this one on brexit.

Brexit is only part of it. It’s a perfect storm of Brexit, Covid and other global factors. that have come together to create the current situation. Woodworking/carpentry has taken off somewhat in the UK in the last few years, with lots of courses popping up locally, workshop spaces opening up, etc. Seems it’s becoming popular again, as people look for more practical hobbies, or just want to learn to DIY because of rising costs of having work done. But I’m hopeful this will have an ultimately positive effect; most people can’t even put up shelves properly, so any situation where people learn new skills and crafts, is great.

I took the plunge (!) and bought a Festool kit. Expensive (a few years ago, so nowhere near current insane prices!), but it’s such a nice tool to use; smooth, not too noisy, and dust extraction is fantastic. It feels much more solid and stable than other brands I’ve tried. Virtually no splintering, even with melamine faced boards etc, although it’s advisable to use a sacrificial sheet of MDF, underneath, to help alleviate this anyway. There is so little work to be done, following a cut. In terms of value for money, it’s been brilliant, despite the relatively very high initial cost. But because I know what a good tool it is, I end up using it a lot more than if it wasn’t so clean and accurate. So that only adds value. I’m not saying everyone should go out and buy a Festool, just sharing my own experience.

Can you imagine a Mac thread left to its own without the windows zealots?

No chance. There’s 2 types of people in this world; those who buy Macs, and those who regret not buying a Mac,and therefore need to spend their time telling everyone how much better Windows/PCs are in a futile attempt to justify their own existence and pretend their lives are not a complete failure. ;)

Back to the original topic…

A friend has the M1 MBA with 8GB RAM,and says it’s absolutely fine for most things, perhaps a little slower for gaming. He’s not doing stuff like hi res video etc, although he does use Fusion360 and says it runs fine.

My 2008 PC laptop is running the bleeding edge version of Windows.

How are you getting on with Premiere Pro and After Effects?

Ah…

Leadbeater will be a great MP

Based on what evidence? She’s only really there because of who her sister was, let’s face it. She scraped through on a wave of sentiment; had Labour fielded any other faceless candidate, they’d have lost by a big margin.

There was the fact that George Galloway stood here and he took 8,000 votes from traditional Labour voters in the Asian community, which is fairly sizeable in Batley and Spen. (From BBC)

Dog whistling aside (the MSM do seem to be framing this in terms of race/culture, and yes, those were pertinent issues, but still); Labour face losing a significant chunk of voters because of Starmer’s total lack of understanding of certain minority communities, and as mentioned, takes the ‘Asian/Muslim’ vote for granted. Well, he’s seen here, how that can backfire. Being too much like Tony Blair isn’t a great look…

It might stop before we reach outright fascism. It might not. Who knows? There does seem to be a very real appetite for something closely resembling fascism in this country at the moment though.

Binners; when you put your mind to it, you can actually come up with something that is very intelligent, insightful and worthy of discussion. Why not do this more often? I’m 100% in agreement with you on this, and I think anyone who doesn’t see this is naive or in denial. I’ve mentioned earlier in this thread, how we are sliding towards fascism, and this was dismissed by those who simply cannot/don’t want to face the truth.

by hysterically yelling ‘RACIST!!‘ at everyone who even raises these issues, you are far more of the problem than they are.

That’s just the kind of thing Lawrence Fox would come up with though. :D

You sure about that

Yes.

I heard from a couple of forums they were Chinese made

They’re not, they’re made in Germany. The Germans are a bit particular about putting their names to stuff. Aldi may well sell other chisels that are made in China; mine aren’t.

Lie Nielsen chisels are £65 each, Veritas PM-V11 are £80 each. Thats per chisel, not a set of them.

I am more than aware of this, as I am to the lack of current availability of said brands. I have fancied a set of Veritas chisels for a while, but you cannot get them for love not money! Like most US made stuff at the moment. Stocks of Veritas in particular, are almost non existent in many lines.

There’s no need for a guide. They take forever to set up and are a waste of space. You’ll get a feel for it in no time.

I beg to differ. A guide takes a few seconds to set up, and gives far more consistent results than hand guiding. The cheapo Silverline etc guides can be a bit hit or miss, but I now use the Veritas guide system, and it’s superior to any other method I’ve ever tried.

It’s worth bearing in mind that being obsessive about razor sharp edges is largely pointless for most work; the finer you hone an edge, the more brittle it becomes, and it heats up more quickly too. You simply don’t need such sharpness for 99% of woodworking. And if you’re at the level where such sharpness is required, you’ll already know how to sharpen tools. Some of the Japanese work is insanely intricate and perfect, but it’s also incredibly difficult and hideously impractical in real terms, as each joint takes so long to achieve. But for the rest of us, a decent level of sharpness isn’t hard to achieve, with a bit of practice and patience.

As above; bench grinders aren’t for sharpening woodworking tools, things like chisels etc, unless you really need to grind a completely new edge on a badly damaged tool. The kind of grinders used to sharpen say woodturning tools, are a very different animal to the common or garden BnQ type machines. Stuff like Tormek, with water baths, slower speeds, much more stable bearings etc. They are a lot more expensive. I use water and diamond stones to get my tools sharp; slow and steady gives a far better result. Little and often; a quick once over on a fine stone is good practice, to keep edges sharp. And a flattening stone if using waterstones, is essential in keeping the stone perfectly flat, as any cupping just leads to problems.

Quality of the steel being sharpened for one thing. Aldi chisel, or anything can be made extremely sharp, but it wont stay that way for long and the edge will crumble or roll over and be back to blunt pretty quickly.

I have a set of those, bought simply out of curiosity, some years ago. They are German steel, and surprisingly good quality. They hold a very fine edge, well, and don’t need sharpening as often as stuff like Silverline, Stanley, Faithfull etc. In fact, they’ve stopped me spending loads more on fancier chisels, because they do such an excellent job. The only difference I can see between them and the fancy stuff, is the level of finishing on the blades and handles. I only need the very edge and a flat back to do the work, and these have been the best value of any tools I’ve ever owned.

I bought an old set of damaged Sheffield steel chisels from a car boot a few years ago and attempted grinding the chipped edge back to straight/sharpening during lockdown.
I already had several wet stones/jig and an Aldi bench grinder but anything beyond a quick pass over a wet stone and strop was more difficult than I could be bothered with.

Sharpening tools is an art, that needs practice and patience. Takes as long to learn how to properly sharpen stuff, as it does to learn to use the tools well themselves.

Oh cool, whataboutery. Well we have around 2.5 million or more people with asian heritage in the UK, how many Orthodox Jews are there? So yes it’s an issue but on a much lesser scale.

https://www.ft.com/content/c5d29294-fdaf-465e-adc9-d4d27b9cbfa9

“An Orthodox Jewish community in London has one of the world’s highest rates of Covid-19 past infection, according to a study that points to crowded housing and socio-economic deprivation as possible reasons for the increased prevalence.

The rate of past infection, known as seroprevalence, in one Orthodox Jewish community of roughly 15,000 people was found to be 64 per cent, according to researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

By contrast, seroprevalence is believed to be 7 per cent across the UK and 11 per cent in London, the Office for National Statistics has estimated.”

Can you find me an example of a London politician, when asked about the spread of Covid, referring specifically to the Jewish population? In the same way Burnham referred to ‘Asians’? Or, is it that those concerned with dealing with the crisis were much more interested in the socio-economic factors, rather than stuff like ethnicity or culture?

Oh I get it. You’re calling me a racist because I made reference to an organisation renowned for its insistence on moral purity to illustrate a point about the insistence on moral purity

Where did I call you a racist? You’re just imagining stuff now. As well as not understanding things. My question to you was about why you are very keen to ascribe negative characteristics to people you disagree with. As you then went and so brilliantly demonstrated with that comment. A question you, as yet, have failed to answer. Care to give it a go?

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/stamford-hill-highest-covid-infections-world-b920632.html

Can we blame ‘the Jews’?

“Spitz pointed to factors that have blighted other ethnic groups incuding multi-generational households, poverty and a higher incidence of pre-existing health conditions”

Context.

Maybe stick to responding to stuff that people have actually said? Just a thought.

I have. Burnham specifically referred to ‘Asians’ when he was questioned about the spread of Covid in Manchester.

My theoretical office base is in Leicester, which was never out of lockdown last year. Was consistently being mentioned that mixing of multi generational Asian households was a key driver to the consistently high infection rate, and they put a huge targeted effort in on communication and testing in those communities.

No one accused the authorities in Leicester of dog whistle racism.

Burnham referred to Asian people in particular, when he could just as easily have said ‘I mean those people who have to live in high density occupation housing’, and completely avoided mentioning ‘Asians’. So why didn’t he?

Yup, we are in a weird position where even admitting the undeniable factual evidence that non-white households are significantly more likely to be overcrowded

All ‘non-white’ households?

?

Quite. Unsurprising that went right over your head.