See! Good luck, but keep posting on here anyway!

25%+ is obese…

Wouldnt say I was obese though, so I’d say 25% being obese was wrong!

My scales tell me I am 31% fat, and I’m 6cm taller and 2 stone heavier than yourself. But I can believe it, I am fairly toned in the arms and legs (I cant really pinch any fat on them, I look a decent shape but I have a fair size waist.
Me Currently, certainly looking larger than you in your photo!:

Doctor pointed out that a large percentage of your fat goes on internally, around your organs making you generally larger, before any goes on the outside showing up as a spare tyre. He estimated my scales were right. I’m now trying to work it off!

My other half doesnt mind the look but hates the feel too.

Most of your post makes sense – but comparing a dog to your parents is humanising it.

Regardless of it being a pet, it is still a dog. You deal with dogs differently to humans and you have to be consistent with that. I’m not saying you should treat the life with disregard, but you need to apply different rules to those of your parents.

I’m not comparing it to my parents, I’m simply setting out criteria by which its life should end and pointing out that those criteria dont need to change just because it is an animal. Assuming you have a relationship with it, it isnt food, you should want to keep it alive as long as it isnt suffering. Getting old isnt suffering. Even being blind and deaf isnt suffering, unless it is causng anxiety and distress (which it probably isnt from my experience) to the animal. I dont see why the criteria are different for an animal? Naturally it doesnt have dependants to worry about, or responsibilities to other people as humans do, but in every other respect it should have the same basic rights.

Treating it too much like its a human (with respect to this, ignoring handling problems)is only a problem if the animal is suffering. I have two pets, both diagnosed with the same problem. One died very early from the problem, in an abrupt, totally unpredictable, and painful manner. The second is still alive and perfectly happy. It may too die in a painful manner, but it has so far had twice the fun lifespan that the other had. Where do you draw the line in this case?

Don’t humanise the dog. It is a dog. More problems are caused through humanising dogs than most anything.

I dont believe dogs have any less of a right to old age than people do. If “animals arent worth as much as people” is your attitude then thats your opinion, not mine, but its not “humanising”. Once you accept a pet into your home as a pet, its crossed the line from being “just an animal”, yes there are ways they need to be treated to be controlled correctly but you can no longer just say “its just a dog, its a bit old, kill it”.

I’d hasten to add more (and more unpleasant) problems arise from people treating animals badly because they’re “just animals”.

Hmm she does look a little on the young side to be out without her parents! Not sure stocky is a negative thing, plump maybe, but a well built, well toned girly girl can be attractive!

Merlin used to be my staple source of parts, they went a bit pricey and a bit awol for a while IMO but have dragged it back – I too have noticed they’re damn fast and cheaper than CRC on some items too. They also used to build spectacular quality wheels, no idea if they still do.

I’m not one for putting animals down just because they have gotten old and a bit infirm, its not fair, just as you wouldnt put your parents down because they’d gone deaf and have leg problems and dont have the life they did when they were 18. Our usual tipping point is when they a) start to suffer from some illness that they’re clearly never going to come out of or b) if they seem in pain all the time or finally c) if they are clearly going downhill and lose their appetite. Just because its deaf, has arthur itis, gets tired easily and barks causing annoyance isnt a good enough reason IMO. Unless the barking is due to him being in pain. Obviously not an easy choice to make though, and only the owner can do it in the end. I just know of a few animals who’ve been put down that really had plenty of go left in them, but it was too much effort for the owner – thats tainted my views a bit! Only you know, only you have to live with it. I’m sure if you love him so much then you’ll make the right choice and not regret it, whatever it is.

Just bringing this back to life (robbed its wheels a while ago)…

Yes I’ve cut the steerer down since.

I’d have thought this was the sort of thing the STW oracle would know/tell me in a heartbeat!

I quite like the airbrushed look and the seriously retro all-one-colour-powdercoated-neon type, but I think you have to co-ordinate colours very carefully and I dont have that skill :)

Oh and I’ve been stricken by a recent urge to go bivvying, which can only be the product of too much exposure to Singletrack.

Me too, which is why I bought a tiny 1.5 man tent (couldn’t quite face bivvying and it’s the same size when packed up!) so I now just have to find some trails up north of Glasgow!

Like that?

I’ve got an early one, love it to bits (though the mech hanger was naff, im sure its different now!). Very rigid feel, XC oriented I think, unless they tweaked the geometry a lot since mine.

Nowt. The only time I buy mags is if I want to buy something or if I want a route plan thats in them. Otherwise I find them a bit dull and repetitive. Used to buy MBUK religiously before it became an ad-fest (pre what….95?).

I know how you feel! The ST mods took my first username, in payment for an image I posted.

cp – for reference the friends TV I was just on about was a sony bravia top of the range version, more likely to happen on cheap ones though of course :(

Don’t know if it helps at all, but when our Sony CRT TV went wrong a couple of months out of its 1 year warranty, Sony paid for the repair as a goodwill gesture. I am talking almost 10 years ago, so things may have changed in the more ruthless world of today, but worth bearing in mind when considering the value of paying for an extended warranty for Sony kit.

Very rare. I had a £200 car stereo that died, was 1 month outside warranty. Was sent the option of a bill of £384 or they would dispose of it for me.

Muke – LCDs, yes, they do tend to suffer dead pixels. These can be in the form of “hot” or “cold” – i.e. they can be red green or blue and can fail to either full on or full off. They just look like a tiny pinprick of colour or darkness. Not a massive problem if you a) arent observant b) dont see it and find it incredibly frustrating and magnetic like a rock in the trail that you’re GOING to crash into c) if they arent in the middle of the screen.

Someone I know just bought a TV and hasnt noticed it yet but theres a hot green pixel on the right hand side of the screen, could be seen in any dark frames – drove me nuts, I had to stop watching the TV.

The STS was pretty, shame it was known for exploding.

I have a high resting heart rate of around 65 – 70. always have.

My missus has always had an RHR of 80-82?! I think she’s a hamster!

You can take your own pulse accurately, if you dont use your thumbs to do so! I can even see my pulse in my wrists :-)!

if i was spending £400 on a laptop i would wait a bit and spend £500. the build quality on those cheaper laptops is appalling

Never had a problem?

Sony’s are rediculously overpriced, you get a 12 month old low power processor for twice the cost.

I know someone with a carina who went through 5 bottles of radweld, 2 eggs and 4 litres of oil in 6 months before deciding to scrap it. Radiator and heater matrix still wasnt blocked amazingly – the thing about radweld is that it should remain liquid until its in contact with air (i.e. at the leak) – hence I’ve never seen it block anything unless the leak wasnt cured (and so air continued to be present in the system.

Ebuyer?

To be honest I’d find a little old man in an engineering shop.

We used to have people who could make things ….

Amen, the number of small machining shops is falling rapidly – soon we’ll have no-one with the ability to make things from scratch if we dont support them.

I’m a serial tagger, I tag ones I’ve not even replied to. Not sure why, but I enjoy it in a small way.

Nice looking soup, did you scoup any up for later re-heating?

you’re a climber and you dont like adrenalin?!

Look for the easy stuff like split hoses etc first

I’d eliminate the mayo in the oil/water first, save checking hoses :)

how small is stoneys tinbred!

Not as small as my custom, 9″ C-C….

Apologies for the mugshot, its the only pic I have of it here at the mo :)

grynch – Member
I was going to say I had one but sorry.. thats a downloader TO flickr

That’d be the uploadr then :)

No, I just got a free pro account with BT but their prices are too high to justify keeping the ISP service.

If I eat breakfast I end up ravenous by 10am and having to snack between meals. Cant see how that would be good. Readybrek is nice though, is that “proper” porridge?

It is leeking oil from somewhere too very slowly and has less acceleration

Sounds more like a head gasket problem to me. Losing water, oil and down on power, very symptomatic of a HG leak. Any mayo in the water/oil filling areas?

Pint a month? Has this happened recently in the cold weather? Cars use alot more coolant in winter/cold weather (thats if its disapearing). If its dripping out then Radweld and bin later on.

Cars shouldnt use ANY coolant, its not a consumable, its a sealed system. If you are losing ANY water at all on a modern (85+) car you have either a leak or worse. The level in the expansion tank may fluctuate, but should never need topping up.

I would have thought in evolutionary terms such a fragile creature could not survive…

I was once warned by a person in the US not to exercise within 2 weeks of a cold ending, as they had (at a high level, triathlon person) and ended up with a pacemaker due to some sort of damage caused. No idea how, im not a medical doctor.

You don’t pick up colds from being sneezed on you pick them up from being sneezed on then touching your mouth and nose.

Not sure thats entirely true. If someone sneezes on you it’s highly likely to end up in your nose and mouth. Just as much as if someone sneezes on your hand and you touch your mouth/nose. However you could pick up non-sneezy bugs from doing those things, so its still good advice! Being ill is good anyway, builds up your immune system for later life.

Definitely fit people notice being ill more than unfit. If you’re normally hovering around a 10 on the fitness scale, and the illness takes you down to 2, its like being hit with a brick. If you only ever float around 3 normally, 2 doesnt seem so bad!

piedi :) I hope never to have to oblige!

Seriously though, I’ve seen (and read in official reports) of some stupid wastes of emergency services time – mountain rescue teams called out for someone who was tired, air ambulance dispatched because someone sprained their ankle and found it too painful to limp/hop the mile back to the road – MTFU and leave them to attend people who’re drowning/fell off a cliff/had a heart attack!

Not suggesting this happened here, hope the person is OK, but also hope they deserved the attention :)

I wanted this too, after realising I am going to have to close my flickr account, but couldnt find one.

Anyone seen the Phatlight LEDs? 1750 lumens. At 13.5A LOL.

What I meant was I’d hope people wouldnt call an air ambulance out for something as small as a minor broken leg or a deep cut – I’d drag myself down a hill with my mouth before calling an ambulance, there are people with more pressing needs – not whether or not the ambulance crew should/would call for air support when they got there. It may sound a bit macho and “im a hero” but I genuinely believe the emergency services should be used only in serious cases and if you are physically capable of getting yourself to hospital, despite pain, you should. Obviously there comes a question of how do you know how serious something is etc, but I think the majority of the time people massively over-estimate the damage they’ve done and the danger they’re in anyway, so the risk is small.

Yes I’ve stretchered people a few times, though not down MTB trails, certainly around fields and woods in various forms of outdoor/first aid/team building training.