If you are happy to stick in a ram stick and a hard rive then have a look at an Intel Nuc
https://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=nuc
I got one of the Bean Canyon i5 NUC with a Samsung EVO 970 m2 ssd, much faster than the ageing desktop it replaced, Windows 10 installed from a USB stick in about 3 minutes though this spec would be closer to £500 than £300
Smaller than a Mac Mini and just as powerful.

Short commute is 5 miles, winter longer route home is between 7 and 10, summer longer route home could be up to 30 miles maybe once or twice a week.

I’m sure I had something similar when I only had 1 scart socket and a load of consoles to connect to it. It will work but the one I had didn’t autoswitch, if you had 2 consoles running at the same time then it displayed both pictures at once.

Bluetooth HRM it is then, cheers.

From memory previous laptop changes were far easier with XP and Win 7 using microsoft easy transfer which is not part of Win 10.

If you have a computer with Windows 7 on it available to you you can copy Microsoft Easy Transfer to a usb stick/drive and it will work on Windows 10.
I’ve used it recently to move some users from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Think of it as a long term investment, I bought a set of winter tyres about 8 years ago for my mtb and they probably get put on for about 3-4 weeks a year but have come in handy when the snow has remained on the ground for some time asit meant I could carry on commuting by bike.
The tyres still look in great condition after 8 years.

It’s also a hyped and unreleased Spectrum game from 80s

An opportunity for me to post a picture of our forest cat – Coco

I upgraded from an old LG 37″ which had quite a big bezel around the screen to a 49″ 4K Sony, it didn’t look that much bigger in the room due to the Sony having a small bezel. Wish we had gone up to 55″ now.

I went for these in the end as they looked the closest to the Aldi lights.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B076SS1RXY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I’ve been pretty pleased with them so far,40 minutes a day for the past week and they are still going on their first charge. They light up the towpath pretty well and are supposedly meet the STVZO standard.

Cheers,  Leuven or Gent both look like suitable options.

It probably is too good to be true, likely to be OEM licenses. I doubt if Microsoft care if your a home user but I doubt they would allow a business to be correctly licensed.

WTO would be interesting… imagine when New Zealand, the US or perhaps Brazil veto subsidies for British farmers to help boost sales of their meat. Or India says no to our steel products unless we remove visa requirements… you are entering a negotiation where you are not among People with a mostly shared value system and we can’t even execute that properly.

Of course that depends on us being able to join WTO.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-17/how-tiny-moldova-s-brexit-grudge-could-cost-u-k-1-7-trillion

“Why the hold-up? Corina Cojocaru, Moldova’s economic counselor to the WTO, and her team were denied entry to the U.K. last year when they wanted to discuss their future relationship with Britain after it leaves the European Union.”

Storyville:Last Days of Saigon is on iplayer for another 2 days.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b062mbng

My Leyzene does route mapping, connects to hrm/cadence, texts and emails pop up on screen. Cost £50

What Leyzene model is this? I’m thinking of getting a Garmin for following routes but they are a bit pricey.

This was a interesting read on the demise of Maplin, I was suprised how profitable they were but were undone by debts loaded by management buyouts.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/09/26/a_story_of_m_a_failed_retailer/

An updated Pompino with disc mounts and the space for wider tyres would be an ideal choice for me.

I rode a fixed Pompino for a few years, eventually went over to just singlespeed as weekend rides started getting longer and its nice to give your legs a break on a downhill.

2001 Cannondale HT

Lefty

26″

3×9

Ergons

It did have a thudbuster and Gripshift at one point.

Something like a Korg Volca would be ideal, I’d probably go for the Volca Keys as  it’s a proper mini synth and pretty cheap, can be used with midi keyboards

What problems are you having with the iPhone?

Well done on managing to break a pompino, though – not easy to do

It’s the second one I’ve broke! The first one I crumpled the down tube after riding into a wooden bollard. At least this one isn’t my fault.

I’m still after the disc brake version.

Yep I’d love an updated Pompino with discs and better tyre clearance.

I’d be after a medium frame based on the Pompino, thanks for the offer though.

one of my wife’s bullshit TV shows is only on Sky

It’s worth having a look at NowTV to see if the bullshit tv show is offered on there.

I gave Sky up last year as I was only watching John Oliver, Game of Thrones and the odd footy match – I do miss the Sky Plus recording though.

Harrison Reed from Southampton’s bench unless he goes out on loan again. By the by, I saw Jack Colback playing on telly last night – my word that’s a pureblood ginge!

Looks as if he’s out on loan :(

I’ll have to consider strawberry blondes / blondes or might do a welsh ginger combo team.

Its up on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqayDnQ2wmw

Can anyone point out some ginger premiership players for me?

I normally enter a team of ginger players who are guaranteed to come last in the fantasy footy leagues I enter but I’m really struggling at the moment to put out even half a squad of pure bloods.

Robert Elliot Newcastle GK, De Bruyne and Henderson are the only players I have so far.

On the way out – it doesn’t look like it as yet

https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/07/30/the-tesla-model-3-blew-away-the-competition-in-july-infographic/#5e6a2abd1c90

There could be a new album on the way!

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jul/30/aphex-twin-elephant-and-castle-mystery-logos

I’ve been commuting in some of their MTB shoes for the past 3 years ( 5 days a week, most of the year round, about 1-1.5hrs a day ) and they are still going, though the velcro strap is quite worn on them.

Start with Selected Ambient works Vol1 and work through the albums. also check out the stuff he dumped on Soundcloud a few years ago – I’m amazed he didn’t release this track when he recorded it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPF7r-Mr3aI

And throw a bit of Autechre in there to.

I’ve tried to get Autechre – their earlier stuff is good but recently they sound like sound engineers having a circle jerk, it’s all very clever but lacking in things I like – melody or a hint of a rhythm.

Does Strava not sync to Garmin and vice versa?

This site does it I think but never used it

https://tapiriik.com

I use tapiriikk to sync up Endomondo with Strava, it works pretty well though it can take a while ( normally up to 20 minutes ) for the sync to happen so just leave the browser open while it happens.

Just come across this piece on the GOP, Nixon, and his collusion with South Vietnam

The recent Ken Burns documentary on the Vietnam war is well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it, it’s a bit of an eye opener on US foreign policy and what a mess they made of it.

I had a metal one but I’ve gone back to paper, the grounds tended to stick to the metal, easier just to pop the paper and grounds into the compost bin.

That Charge Plug Ginduro looks like the ideal replacement for my sadly retired Pompino ( crack in the chainstay ) though a quick Google it seems as if they are no longer made :(

Have a read on this thread it may help you out.

https://www.tenforums.com/windows-updates-activation/109012-1803-issue-hybrid-laptop-discrete-gpu-connected-display-2.html

You should be able to fit in all of that into something like a Carradice Nelson and the SQR mount ( bit of plastic that attaches to the seat post ) so you wouldn’t need the rucksack at all.

It’s a fairly solid bit of kit and doesn’t flap around too much, though this would depend very much on the weight of laptop.

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas?

I must have seen Tango & Ratty a fair few times at Atomic Jam back in the day, sad times :(

Reykjavik, an amazing place! Geysirs, waterfalls, volcanoes, expensive alcohol :D

1 at home, 4 in work which is on Hagley Rd in Edgbaston, Birmingham so not really a suprise there.