Give your wife the ipod back? 🙂

Not in front of a fire but doing what he loves best…
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David.

Here’s mine, hes half working half show. Great with all the kids in the street and other dogs. Hes very clever and needs mental as well as physical exercise.


Cockers are great dogs!

I dont get it…

Find out what households similar to yours pay in tax and what they get back in the form of benefits and services by entering your details into the form below. Enter all the people you live with, including children.

Households from the 7th decile and above, on average, pay more in tax than they receive in benefits and services.

It says I pay more than I get back in services but I have access to the police, fire brigade, NHS, schools, NHS again because its so good, bin collections, libraries, and about a million other things I cant think of right now.

I think I get far more back out than the £1900 “extra” the BBC thinks I am putting in…

Although I would be happy with voting not to spend any of my taxes on politicians and send that % of my taxes to the homeless and unemployed – they need it more 😉

David.

(Edit – this in an interesting spreadsheet though and good on the BBC for at least making it available! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/business/11/net_income_download/xls/pwc_gross_to_net.xlsx).

The hardest thing I have ever watched on tv. First time I have cried in a long time.

Hmmm – I got the same email as Bream did and havent heard anything else…

Think I might need to settle in for a long wait then. 🙁

Ilovemygears
I want to hear that he ended it all after losing every thing he has ever worked for.

FFS that’s a bit far! I would rather wish he saw the error of his ways and decided to sort out everyone’s school diners and make them healthy or something!

Jeremy Clarkson has an injunction preventing the publication or mention of intimate photographs of him and Jemima Khan.

Frankly the thought of clarksons hairy arse is enough is probably enough to stop them getting published without a super injunction…

Mike – yeah thats the one. Its a total pain in the hole as I stay in Banton and its handy to be able to nip to Asda and B&Q that way… I think there is a serious problem with subsidence. It used to have a pretty big dip in it just after the first corner – I could bottom out the corsa on it if I went much above 20 so it was a pretty big dip. They dealt with it in usual council fashion but putting a sign up for the dip in the road and it stayed like that for a bit then about two months later a big sink hole opened in the field next to the road!

I cycled up that way on Saturday to see what the deal was and they have concrete blocking the road on either side of the dip and the sink hole in the field has a very deep look to it so I think they worried about the road doing the same.I’m pretty certain there might be mine works in the area (my Grandad used to be a miner in the area) and thats causing the problem. Apart from the concrete there doesnt seem to be much going on so I dont know if the councils either out of cash and cant afford to do anything with it or if North Lanarkshire are hoping Falkirk council might pick up so of the bill as its close to the boundary… Or if all the local road workers are making a killing on the M80 and the council just cant get anyone to do any work. Its clearly pissing off a lot of people as I got a puncture just short of the concrete and while I faffed around sorting it loads of people kept driving up to see if they could sneak through.

As for the paint-ball I would never have the money to do anything about it… although if someone does let them know I wouldn’t mind a shot at managing the place!

Seriously though a climbing wall in there would do really well – just off the M80 etc. I would go! And it couldnt need much work to adapt it for that surely?

MikeT-23 – I stay not far from there… Recently while a little bit tipsy I tried to talk a mate into starting an indoor paint-ball company in that site!

Also its really annoying having the road next to that site closed – and its meant to be closed to late 2012 at least ffs!

Wow – one of these I can actually join!

huge picture of practically naked lady.

There is nothing pratical in the way she is naked. Taking those pants off will be a mood killer.

I would rather stick with Gnome 3 – Unity seems to be re-inventing the wheel…

As an aside my boot time (after POST complete to login screen) is now just over 3 seconds… SSD’s make a superb difference!

I would drill from the inside out with a small diameter masonry bit at a slight downwards angle. Go slow when your nearly through so you cut the UPVC slowly and dont push the drill to hard. Even have someone on the outside who can tell you when you start to hit the UPVC. If you use a smaller drill then any breakout on the outside wall should be hidden when you use the bigger drill from the outside in.

Once you have the small hole use a bigger wood / metal drill outside to drill the UPVC to the right size for neatness, then use your correct size masonry bit from the outside in.

If you dont have tools and hiring get an SDS drill if its not much more – hot knife through butter for that size of hole!

I found that those clamp on valves from the kits that cut into the pipe are not great, in the end I put a proper t piece in place then a stop cock after that on the inside.

Also you should have a non-return tap on the outside – I dont know if its the law but its safer.

Once its done you’ll wonder how you lived without an tap!

Oh and other top plumbing tip I got from this site – pour a pint of water outside – see how much mess that made? That should stop your worrying when a bit of water escapes inside!

Edit – for filling round the pipe – I dont usually bother filing the hole – I might dress the inside with a bit of plaster to make it neater but if you ever want to replace the pipe it will be a pain in the hoop if you filled in around it!

big_scot_nanny – Try Neal Asher. Prador Moon or The Voyage of Sable Keech. Not eaxcatly high brow sci-fi but so much superb action so well done! Also Richard Morgan as well actually – Broken Angels, proper hard sci-fi but some good action as well!

The culture ones (with the exception of player of games) are pretty space shippy – although thats not a bad thing. His books tend to focus on the characters, although these may well be AI rather than human.

I would start with Against a Dark Background – its one of the best books I have ever read. Its just got that something that grabs me, something about the depth of the main character and the desperation shes put through, I dont quite have the words for it but it will stick in your memory. After that Surface Detail is superb. Then I would suggest Use of Weapons, then you might as well dive into the full blown culture books, Excession is the best example there.

I dont really like State of the Art, he doesnt seem to do the short stories as well in my mind. I much prefer Zima Blue, a book of short stories by Alasdair Reynolds, and would suggest thats where to go in sci-fi to begin with for your short story fix.

I doubt you will regret reading any Iain M Banks – perhaps the real place to start is whatever your local charity shop has for 50p?

I had a set and ran them locked out for commuting (20 miles a day) and did a bit of MTB on them, not much though. I was very happy with them and they lasted 2 and a bit years. Then I decided to service them and that was the end of them! 🙂

I moved house back in August and set up my line with BT – I got free connection and when the engineer came out to “connect” me (the line was already working) noticed that the master socket was tatty looking, although it worked fine, and replaced it for free. Which was nice of him as previously the house was painted bright yellow and the previous owners had painted light switches etc yellow. Manky but it did save me a few k of the asking price!

They did want £150 if I wanted it moved however (fair enough as thats running cabling etc) and I was very tempted as the previous owner had it halfway up a window frame in the hall. Dunno why 🙄 The BT engineer said he had to note the location of the master socket in case it got moved, however I made him a coffee and gave him some biscuits so the noted location was “Downstairs”.

So two points:
1. If your going to mess with it do it before BT / Openreach see it in case your engineer isnt as good as mine.
2. It might not cost you anything anyway as they are not mega evil… Also if its a fault on thier cable between thier network and the master socket I think they fix it for free anyway as its thier line?

Checked the condition of the brushes?

They tend to be sprung brushes, if ones had a wee great escape moment then normally reseating them sorts it.

Be very careful and dont have it plugged in when you open it.

Anychance someone could email me with some hints and tips? I have never really explored up there…

A bit cheeky I know!

David.

Is the Mondeo drums or disk at the back? My corsa is drums at the back and does this from time to time when the handbrake cable gets covered in crap and jams in the guide on the rear trailing arm.

Usual fix for me is to jack the car up and pop off both wheels (easier access) and work the cable manually a few times while adding grease so it cleans out the guides, wipe it clean with a rag to get the now gritty grease off and add a light coat of clean grease. Usually sorts it for 6 months or so.

You might need new shoes if they have been worn being jammed on.

Also a quick dirty fix if I dont have time to fix it or I am stuck at work is to reverse and then jam the brakes on while putting gentle pressue on the handbrake – that usually frees the cable until I put it the handbrake on again.

If its disks on the back then I dont know!

angry birds?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Birds

Its like digital crack.

I have a ready nas NVX Pro (4x1TB disks, currently 3 in a raid 5 with a hotspare) and its data transfer rate is superb, easy to set up, runs linux so you can add media servers to stream to the 360, bit torrent clients etc, remote access over the internet as needed. Its perfect for me in all but one area, the fans are too noisy. I can hear it anywhere in the house, even when its on power save. Its louder than my old poweredge 2950.

I would be careful of the netgear ready nas boxes as that does seem to be the must grumped about thing on the support forum, noise!

David.

If you actually want a phone for work emails, calls and texts then the blackberrys are superb. Thats what they do, and they do it well. If you want a phone that will install apps, play angry birds, do maps, etc etc then something from HTC or Apple might be better.

My work blackberry is superb for work (a 9700) but I much prefer my HTC desire as a gadget…

if I lived 10-15 miles away in Cumbernauld, I would be insanely depressed (more so than normal anyhow!), have substantially more rainfall and would doubtlessly become an internet stalker.

You got me… 🙂

And here lies the lunacy of commuting by car. There are lots of people in this sort of situation. Add to the cost the time of commuting – see how much that brings your hourly rate down.

Its a crazy mixed up world where this is a lifestyle choice.

Yeah, I cycled to work for 5 years (10 miles each way) and really miss it after changing job, however I dont miss the stress of my old job at all!

I work in IT – there isnt much work about and I badly needed to leave my last job before the stress was too much and I had some sort of break down or lost my wife.

I had to take a job thats 30 miles away from my house, but its a very good job. OK pay, superb people to work with (both the guys in IT and the end users) and the job is interesting and stress free. For that I can compromise and spend some more time in the car.

I dont think I have been happier for a long time. If ever. But I do spend a lot of time in the car!

A bit more maths tells me that its costing me £4000 a year to run my car, about 20% of my wages.

3/4 of my mileage is done getting to work and back and its costing me £12 a day to commute (60 miles a day). A staggering £60 a week!

For every 10p that petrol goes up I end up spending a penny more per mile. Or £3 per week.

**** this no more maths for me today, thats depressing.

I was wondering how much extra I would need to pay to replace my car with a 4×4…

Corsa-b, cost £1.5k and I plan to run it to its dead with a milage of 20k per year.

Petrol, I get just over 450miles out of 45 litres, so 10 miles a litre or 12p per mile at current prices.

Car was bought at £1500 and I have done 50k miles (its got about 90k on it) so if it dies tomorrow the depreciation is £0.03 per mile. Ideally I hope to get another 50k out of it at least.

Repairs, it gets about £300 of work a year on average, including tyres. I do the servicing myself and thats covered in the £300 so thats £0.015 per mile.

Insurance is about £330 a year – £0.0165 per mile.

Road tax is £125 – £0.00625 per mile.

MOT is £35 – £0.00175 per mile.

Addon an extra £100 for screenwash, blubs, air freshners, etc etc – £0.005 per mile.

My cost per mile is: £0.1945. Or 20p.

Interestingly it looks like my 1 litre 2000 plate corsa-b has a similar cost per mile as Graham works out for his Landy… Only 10p difference, which at 20,000 miles work out to be £2000 per year. Wow thats a big difference actually – I cant afford a 4×4!

(edit to fix bad maths).

Replied in the wrong thread…

a) Try using one of the 3 ‘value’ sticky tape rolls*
b) Go and buy some proper sellotape
c) Just give the pressie today, unwrapped, as a sign of spontaneous love?

d) Tinfoil. 😈

woffle – Fegusson Coal – http://www.fergussoncoal.co.uk/

They are cheap, customer service on the phone can be iffy. The drivers are really sound tho.

Our house has a solid fuel back boiler as our only form of heating / hotwater and we now use smokeless coal exclusively.

Intially we had a 50/50 mix of smokeless and house coal as thats what the people that moved out left us. We have tried the following:

House Coal / Cheap Coal / B and Q / Petrol Station Coal on its own:
Cheaper for coal with a like for like quantity than smokeless (direct from the coal merchant), burns colder and quicker so overall more expensive. Generates a lot of dust in the house, generates a lot of ash, leaves deposits all over the boiler. Can be trouble to keep it lit overnight. Can be lit directly and easily with fire lighters.

50 / 50 mix of smokeless and house coal.
All the down sides of house coal on its own with the exception that it stays lit longer. Slightly warmer fire but not as much as you would expect.

Smokeless coal on its own:
Costs me £15.50 for 50kg delivered, gives out a fierce heat and will stay lit for a good 12 hours. Less ash as it burns “cleaner” and overall less mess in the house. Very hard to light, you need to make a fire with kindling to get the fire and chimney warm and then slowly add the coal. (Also you can use whatever sprays you have in the shed for the bikes and cars if your desperate. Clutch cleaner is v.good). Overall cheaper. Ash pan needs emptied twice a day, sometimes three times if your going mad with the burning of the coal.

If its a decorative little fire then I would burn the cheap stuff, its not important really how much heat you get as it will heat the room anyway. If its to do proper heating or hotwater then its worth sticking with the smokeless coal, once you get used to lighting it the difference is night and day.

Virtual version of hiv. Class!

A cheeky request but whats a good source of free / cheap firewood?

We have a backboiler in our house that does all our heating / hot water. Coals not cheap and we cant steal any more of the neighbours tree before they notice…

Cheers,

David.

What donks said is what happens in my house. Get her a watch or something… 🙂

“We’re going to have a system where the middle classes are discouraged from breeding because it’s jolly expensive.

“But for those on benefits, there is every incentive. Well, that’s not very sensible.”

Its not a really bad thing to say, if he took out the word breed with its negative imagery of pests and replaced it with having children it would have probably gone un-noticed…

Just unscrew the filter, empty it, and replace. Voila, 0.5 litres of oil quickly and easily removed from the engine.

Thats actually a really good idea and far less faff than bits of pipe down the dipsitck etc! Nice one!

My corsa currently has a bit to much oil in it, as the last time I changed the oil it was cold outside so I was in a hurry and I didnt pay as much attention as I should have – that was 2.5k miles ago…

It seems happy enough, no bad noises or worrys etc. I change the oil every 5k anyway (its an old car, 85k + miles) so I was just going to leave it to then to sort.

My main worry was the bottom of the crankshaft or other engine bits dropping into the oil in the sump and foaming it up but it seems ok to me.

If your worried I would suck it back up the filler pipe as suggested above with some plastic tube, far less faff than opening the sump nut.

Looking at this pic from the BBC site (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11818005) I can see why the north might be a bit worried about the south doing military excercises on that island… I have played enough RTS games to know that island would have a fair bit of strategic value.

And on Saturday, North Korea showed off what it claimed was a new uranium enrichment facility – potentially giving it a second route to a nuclear weapon.

The move prompted the US special representative for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, to rule out the resumption of six-party talks on resolving the nuclear issue.

I dont get that though… I would have thought sitting down and discussing things is even more important when nations start to get to a bit shovy with each other? Looking at it the North has made thier point about the excercise *and* as a side bonus got the Americans to stop moaning at them?

Listening to Radio 4 this morning and it appears that South Korea was doing a military excercise on / around the island that the north shelled. The north had been saying for a few days that if the south didnt stop being quite so provactive they would have to do something…

Although something in my mind shelling a town is a bit extreme.

Its interesting to note that its not unprovoked action by the north though.