I’ll stick with BT with netgear routers as they’ve been reliable, quick and highly customisable. There may be cheaper routes but as I w**k from home, I can’t afford reliability, latency or packet loss issues

Do sky provide credentials to allow you to use non isp provided modems?

My BT HH5 is in use only as a modem plugged into my netgear as it suffered packet loss. I’ll order a new netgear that supports vdsl at some point as at least BT don’t tie you to their shit router. Trouble is there are some cracking deals on sky at the moment…

I’ve got the Bosch li ion one and think it’s awesome. It will struggle with long wet grass but if it’s that long do it in two cuts. Any mower will struggle if the grass is too long so it’s just being sensible about using the right mower for the job.
Today I also used it to shred hedge cuttings for my compost. In a couple of months the leaves will be raked into a line and it’ll be used as a hoover for bagging leaf mold.

I think mines in it’s 4th season. I’ll buy the same again once it’s kaput. It’s very convenient.

I own a variety of other mowers as well. This one is still used weekly to do the front and the tricky bits on the back before hopping on the ride on. Gets about 20-30 mins use. Battery still ok unless wet or long grass.

I’ve installed it on 1/3 so far, the iMac. It’s pretty good. Not sure about Siri but will give it a go as it’s the future. I use it occasionally on iPhone.
I’ve got a 2011 mbp and 2015 mbpr to do but will leave those a few days as I cba. I’ve never had an issue being an early adopter. May even treat myself to the watch when I do the mbpr because at the moment I’m using macid for auto unlock.

I recently bought a refurb iMac 27″ and am very happy with it. Its got the M395 gfx, 2 TB fusion, 8GB mem with the 3.3Ghz i5. I bought with the idea of putting another 16GB in it but haven’t got that far.

Fusion – if you go for the bigger fusion drive you get a larger SSD than if you get the 1TB fusion. You do not want a HDD and 512 SSD is too probably small if its going to be your central PC.

Expensive but very very nice. Really like the new keyboards and mouse compared to the old ones.

Edit – info on fusion – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_Drive

It does – thanks dickster :)

Talk to neighbour and explain you would like to trim bush.

You offer the prunings back but unless told yes, you dispose of them.

Simple. I’m sure she won’t mind you handling her bush and as she’s on her own, would probably appreciate a full bush trim rather than just tickiling the bit you fancy.

I bought some QC35s as recommended in here. While the Bose flavour does contain a little more low end than I would usually go for, they are truly astonishing. Tested on The train yesterday and I couldn’t believe the reduction in noise. Absolutely love not having to turn the volume up to drown out the noise

Will check out the Boris bike idea and have a look on openstreetmap

N+1 is appealing and I could use the Brompton at the home end, but a Boris bike does sound convenient. Will grab one next time I’m in – thanks all

Thanks folks. It needs to be battery powered as it will be about 75m from the nearest socket.

I’ve got a set behind my compost area which is close to my chicken coop and I’m curious whether it’s badger or fox. I have signs of both in the garden and am intrigued as to what else goes bump in the night here :)

With a decent green wood saw, 10cm is no bother. If working at height (above chest height) I’d use a green saw. I’ve got a £10 draper jobbie that I use for that and for ground work where you wouldn’t want to ruin your chainsaw.

If you’re after a laney 15 watter I have an irt studio I could be persuaded to part with.

if you want a guitar that will hold its value well, buy a vintage Gibson. I quite like the idea of an explorer..
Make sure you know what you are buying though. If you buy right, you’ll have a great guitar that should appreciate in value.

PRS make great guitars. I’ve only tried the SE line though but based on that experience, I’d quite happily go for a US guitar as the SE I tried I bought. It is fantastic (note how I’ve not said for its price – it really is that good). A PRS won’t hold its value as well as a Gibson, neither will a custom luthier job.

Have you considered maybe splitting the budget and upgrading your amp as well if it need it or getting some cork sniffing pedals?

I’ve just bought the 27″, here’s why

Screen size/resolution
Memory is user upgradeable in 27″ and not in 21″ (mine came with 8, plan on getting 16gb in addition)
27″ has dedicated gfx

Also, get a 2tb fusion as that comes with 128gb flash. If you go for the 1tb fusion that come with 32gb flash

Hth

P-Jay – get at least a couple of laser sessions on the old one 6 months apart. It’ll open up a ton of options for new work.

OP – go to an experienced artist whose been doing it a long time (or younger talent being mentored). A tattoo can look great leaving the shop and look shit 5-10 years later If not done right.

Euro – combination of ink, how it’s applied and whether the canvas is looked after. Wear sunscreen

Thanks Mcm and epic.

I’m on clay and its relatively level but have a design in mind with a large over hang on three sides for wood storage, tools n wot not. The non overhang side will still over hang about a foot but back on to hedge.

I like the idea of posts as it reduces cost and is a little more Eco.

How do you insulate the floor (or don’t you)?

Another fine thread mcmoonter, thanks for sharing

I’ve always wondered on your builds, why you build up on stilts rather than piles (oo er) or a concrete base? How long do you expect your stilted buildings to last?*

*apologies have to ask as I’m planning my summer house/office.

Metal is such massive genre these days so I’ll suggest a few for variety

For Djent
Periphery
Tesseract

More Rock then I’d look at Alter Bridge, tending to metal look at Tremonti

Devil Driver are well worth look if groove metal’s your thing

Fear factory for a bit of industrial metal

Bit of melodic death metal checkout Amon Amarth – they’re the full on swords, sandals and full on viking horn

Scott – I’ll second Bears recommendation. Come of at ashford and do hamstreet, don’t be tempted by the a20 as I think it’s war and peace weekend

What fat, salt, sugar and yeast do you use?

I bake 3-4 times a week on average. I don’t get bored by varying white to granary ratio. I’m thinking about adding some ground flaxseed to see what that does.

If I want to change flavour more I may use butter instead of my usual favourite olive oil.

Sometimes for a complete change, I do a savoury bread very similar to this – http://devour-blog.com/2014/04/25/prosciutto-cheese-bread/

Good grief – I don’t think I’ll be putting 64gb ram in after all

http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/imac-%28retina-5k%2C-27-inch%2C-late-2015%29-imac17%2C1/CT8017545

Perhaps just an additional 16 bringing it to 24gb total.

Is AppleCare worth buying?

I’ve ordered the Mac but am holding off AppleCare to see if the first 360days of ownership give me a reason to think it’s worth it. I’ve not bothered in the past…

Just to make sure it’s quick and if I spin up a VM really.

I’ve no need for it really. The 8gb in my mbp is plenty. The 16gb in my mbpr only gets ticked when I’ve got a VM running too.

I wondered whether 64gb ram with the rather hopeless 1tb fusion would compensate for the 32gb ssd part of it.

agree it’s nuts (even for Apple) given how cheap ssd’s are. Can’t believe they still spec hdd’s

I bought my Mbp with the intention of immediately upgrading from a 500gb HD to a ssd and adding more mem. Trouble is, with the newer iMacs, you can only add mem and the drives are not as accessible. IA’s right – the 1tb fusion is only 32gb ssd so I’m now looking for a refurbished 2tb as that has a 128ssd.

In the refurb shop it’s an extra couple of hundred more but you get 2tb fusion drive, slightly better gfx card and a slightly quicker processor. Still saving £280 over buying new so not sure why I’d buy new at the mo.

I’d be buying it with the intention of sticking either 32 or 64gb ram in it.

It looks like they may skip the next gen processor and instead offer upgraded gfx if they were to update this year. Based on past form I’d be suprised if iMac is updated this year. I think it’ll be the pro and mini.

It’s £1350 at the moment. I liked the idea of the mac mini but the new ones are not upgradeable anymore so fancied going for an iMac (never had one before). a Comparable mini is just under £900 in the spec I want.

I’ve got iPads n wot not and this is to replace a 2011 mbp that I want to give to my eldest as she starts secondary this year.

I was going for the 27inch because I like big screen. I also use guitar pro on it and the extra screen size over the current 22″ monitor that’s plugged into the mbp will be welcome.
I’d also be using it to backup everything in photo/icloud to give me a local backup and then everything is backed up to a drive in TM as a further good measure.

The problem with talking to the folks at the gym is that there are some good, some bad. You may not know the difference at this stage.

Try and avoid a routine using machines and find a gym with free weights and follow something like stronglifts 5×5. It focuses on good form and compound lifts. It doesn’t take long and offers great value in terms of time invested and results.

You mention upper body strength above but pls don’t forget to do squat and dl. Just because you cycle doesn’t mean you are strong below the waist. Squat and dl does your posterior chain, back, core and pretty close to everything (in varying degrees) in one hit. It’ll ensure your development is balanced.

StrongLifts: Strength Training, Lifting Weights, 5×5 Workouts

jambalaya – Member
wouldn’t do it personally, but that is mainly because we have small children
Even if you don’t have small kids there are others that do. Dried food is much better wrt “dog eggs” and disease, lots of very nasty stuff in fresh/canned food diet “dog eggs” including that which can lead to blindness in children.

Are you referring to Toxocariasis? If so, it’s spread by roundworm. Most folks worm their meat eaters which should all but negate this as it’s rare in the first instance.
The theory I’d heard on dog eggs from raw was that there’s less of it as there’s no bulking agent.

Where do you folks get your raw meat from them? I’ve seen semi local place that delivers and you get an option of either carcass based meats or you can get it minced (probably more convenient).

I’d prob be tempted by the more convenient option as ours gets plenty of bones from the butcher and I’d be tempted to order in a few raw meaty bones as a dinner treat

He’s currently on royal canin maxi adult (a great dry food ime) and in very good condition so am not sure what the benefits would be but am willing to try it.

Watching this thread with interest – I’ve heard from raw diet owners that it results in fewer, smaller dog eggs.

I’ve got valve amps that sound great at lower volumes and have features like reverb, headphones, line out, USB out, low power mode and midi etc. What they won’t do is sound like 10 or more different amps.
I’ve also got a Kemper profiling amp and have owned a few lower end modellers.

What sounds are you after?
What’s your budget?

Slight hijack – watching this with interest as I need a second car

What’s better, lease or PCP? (in general)?

I don’t think I want to buy a new car outright and want something reasonably new/safe/reliable and low hassle. It won’t be the main car so was thinking 8 or 10K 24month lease

Read the perfect puppy by gwen whatsername.

Jumping up – no attention whatsoever if jumping up. Dogs don’t worry about good or bad attention so getting none shows it’s not worth doing.
Reward when good
Other things more interesting than you we out walking – be more interesting. Get ahead of the curve, anticipate. Carry pups favourite toy and get that out.
Practice. Lots of reward and practice little and often. 3 5 min sessions a day is better than one big one every few days.

That’s what worked for ours – yours maybe different.

For your rewards – vary them. Ours is 18 months now and today I had a couple of gravy bones and in another bag leftover meat. The meat is for coming back when called. The biccies are for sit/stay etc while out walking.
Tomorrow he’ll have cocktail saussies. Another day it’ll be cheese etc

Dogs are hard work but ace :)

One of the best things about working from home is being able to fart with reckless abandon.

It is worth remembering two things
1. When farting in a call, use the mute button
2. When going to the office, do up your flies and don’t fart with reckless abandon

Dobes are fantastic with kids and people. People you meet out, people who enter your home through the front door.

Probably not so good with people climbing through the window uninvited but that’s thankfully untested :)

Will get some samples

Looks good siwhite

Thanks all

So if I go kardean I won’t need to remove the skirting boards (I hate scotia beads too)

Engineered wood – I’ll need to take the skirting boards off

Is that about right?

It’s a concrete floor (newish build)

Dez – we play and we do play games where his teeth will be on me but were not play fighting as such and I’m very careful about what is acceptable. I’ve got young kids and am conscious that I don’t want him thinking it’s acceptable. Usually what I will do is substitute human for toy.

That’s just my approach to it, I’m no expert. He’s well socialised and trained well – an absolute joy to walk.

Groovy. Try and have fun – like kids the more you put in, the more you get back :)

OP – pls do not blast the dog with a soaker. Do not bite the dog. Definitely (before someone else suggests it), don’t hit the dog.

Yelp and substitute human for toy. The dog doesnt want to hurt you, he wants to play/attention.

You do not want a powerful strange dog to associate you/people with something unpleasant.

Engineered oak Wrighty?

Will wood be warmer?

I plan on having a few rugs as well to level things up for the mutt. He will be like bambi on ice and I’ll be tripping over the rugs ;)

I have a Doberman so can probably help.

first, you need to understand the breed a little. They are very affectionate and bond very strongly with their owners. They are not aggressive by nature but do have some natural guard instinct. Very alert and VERY intelligent and gentle.

This makes them **** hard work. Not just because of the breed but becuase of others Disney perception of them so you have to be mindful of that when meeting other **** with poorly trained mutts.

You need to speak to the owner but my guess without seeing it is that it’s attention, play driven. I would suggest trying the following options:
1. divert the mouth from the human to a toy and play and reward
2. Yelp and turn your back arms folded
3. Be consistent

I doubt its dominance – at 18months he’s barely getting his first pubes adolescent wise. Reward good behaviour, exercise and stimulate mentally.

Whatever you do, do not hit or get angry. Ignore the bad reward the good. Make sure you have treats on you. Biting a dog that size is a stupid suggestion, please don’t do it.

I can’t offer more than that without knowing what the base dog is like in its own environment. We’ve invested heavily in ours in terms of socialising and training. He’s the same age and awesome :)

There’s nothing more irritating than a Dobe in need of stimulation. They like to be with you and in the thick of it with the family.

Where are you based?

Edit – I cannot stress enough to divert to desirable behaviour and reward with lots of positivity and praise. Be kind. Be consistent. You should get the benefit quickly.

If you haven’t guessed, I’m a huge fan of the breed ;)

How much protection do you want and what are your expectations on price?

I wanted full lining so went with hatchbag. 2 years on i remain pleased with the choice.

http://www.hatchbag.co.uk/boot-liners