Ah ok, so you’re talking about DLSC i presume. I might look into doing that in the future. One step at a time!

TooTall – Are you referring to the same course i’m doing? Or was this pre-employment?

Interested in this point in particular:

Don’t read a dozen books when three will do the same thing. The biggest thing I learned was to streamline my learning.

I gather that i will add more credibility to my work by drawing from a wide range of sources. How far am i expected to go with this? For example; if i was to write:

“We know cycling is great because Smith (2010) tells us [a], and [c].”

Is this a credible statement? Or am i expected to say:

“We know cycling is great because Smith (2010) tells us [a], Jones (2005) tells us , and Williams (2013) tells us [c].”

It feels like i’m scratching around for loads of different authors to re-state something that the first one has already covered…

I have a wife too, if that counts?

Update time:

Chipping away at the first module, and loads of the suggestions on here have been a great help already, so i owe you a debt of gratitude. I’ll buy you all a virtual pint at some point.

I’ve been using OneNote as the portal into all of my study, and i think i’d be a little lost without it. So to those who suggested it (or EverNote, et cetera) i’ll buy you two virtual pints.

[Recommend what you own]

We have an Ibiza FR with the 1.4 tsi 140bhp. Its a brilliant little thing! Great to drive, 20 quid tax and it sounds good too! I think ours was 14k ish. Exactly the same under the skin as the Polo ecoGT something-or-other.

[/recommend what you own]

We looked at the Swift, but it was slightly too small for the family. Otherwise brilliant.

Little extract here from the Surly website:

Multi-speed drivetrains is where the bucks are at, and chains that work on such drivetrains are where the manufacturers of chains showcase their innovations and developments in quality.

Sauce.

In summary, ordinary 8sp / 9sp chains are cheap, well engineered and pretty ubiquitous. Where ever you are, you’ll be able to find a spare.

Peronally, i have used SRAM 9sp chains for years (whichever one is the cheapest at the time i’m looking) and have never had any issues on my singlespeeds.

Personally, i enjoy speccing and building a new bike as much as i enjoy riding them. I’d recommend being conservative with cutting the steerer down, at least to begin with. I cut mine right down during the build, and it’s a little too low really. In hindsight, i should have run it with some spacers for a while.

Also, i like to leave the brake hoses a little longer than most. I saw a chap crash his Five one day; the bars spun around and ripped the hose clean out from one of his Hope brake levers.

Just been to see it. I think we were the youngest people in the cinema, by around 40 years.

Anyway; Cathrine Zeta Jones… mmmmmmm…

Really? they must have moved since I drove to work across them tonight

Alright, north-west to south-east. Seemed a pretty straightforward way to explain it to someone who’s not familiar with the area.

Perhaps you can offer a better explanation?

Spinners are very impressive. However, they have been effectively outlawed in UK competition since the end of Robot Wars. As a result, no one has been developing them to the same extent as the other types.

Given the short timescale, i don’t think there will be time for any decent spinners to be built for this series. Maybe next year.

I have no idea who Angela Scanlon is.

Pleased about Dara O’Braian though! I think this new series is going to focus much more on the science / engineering than the old ones.

I suspect the first series will be dominated by flippers.

The Quantocs are built on an east-west ridgeline. Once you’re on the ridge, you can pick anything with ‘coombe’ in the name (Smiths, Hodders, Holford…), and it’ll be awesome.

If you’re full time that means 37ish hours a week on uni work. Those gaps between lectures/seminars are for doing the reading, working on assignments, looking up those words you didn’t understand.

This package is a distance-learning degree. I’m working full time in a Logistics role and doing the degree on the side (when I’m not looking after the children!).

Thanks for the input! It’s all pretty new at the minute.

What are you going to do with your degree?

I’m not really planning anything with it. It was a great opportunity i took / was given for some personal and professional development. That, and it might open some more doors when it comes to career-change time.

Are you doing this course through Lincoln Uni?

TooTall – i certainly am. You and i work for the same company, so you’ll know the course i mean. Have you done it?

Also you may be eligible to use local universities’ libraries, there’s a scheme you can apply for which will get you access (sconul, possibly?) via whoever you’re studying with.

Yeah, we recieved a handout at the induction day about that scheme. Ironically, the University running my distance learning programme is also the closest to me geographically. I’ll probably be moving to Oxfordshire sometime this year, so it could be something to make use of in the future.

Thank you for the input, all. Especially the points about note taking; i know from experience that I very rarely make note of things, i simply rely on my brain to remember everything. It always lets me down… it’s a habbit i will need to learn.

I’d never heard of EverNote. A little googling tells me it’s broadly similar to OneNote. I’ve been given Office365 for free, which has OneNote included, so i’ll certainly have a play with that. Thanks.

Do engineering. I did Geography

Bit late for that, i’m afraid! I’m on a Logistics BSc, which is what i do for a living anyway.

I seem to remember there were a few machines running internal combustion engines; including Typhoon from up there ^^^.

I think they are quite difficult to impliment reliably, which meant they were never very popular.

Thing is, it puts it out of reach of the norms.

I do agree, to an extent. However, the company that makes it are compelled to provide a good show for the audience. They are less concerned with providing opportunities for Dave and Pete from the pub.

The technological advances over the last 10 years are going to ensure that these machines are amazing. If it runs for a few years there will be plenty of people investing their time and resourses designing new machines too.

STW is much like the stonemasons, in many ways…

Typhoon was the spinning disk with hardox claws on the rim, painted like an RAF roundel

…which broke the arena!

they didn’t like it when Hypnodisc got in behind

*cough* Pussycat *cough* 😉

I agree, i didn’t like them at all. They really drained the fun out of it, in my opinion.

As for the age thing, i was 10 when it all started. I remember going to school and spending the day discussing the battles from the previous night!

No shame here; i was a serious RW nerd. I could have told you the details of each machine, the name of its builders, which other machines it has faced… just like Northwind, i was exactly the right age.

Incidentally they still run the competitions, they’re just not televised any more. I’ll just leave this here:

Ill certainly be getting the book at some point. i throughly enjoyed reading ‘Walking the Nile’. Ditto Ed Stafford’s ‘Walking the Amazon’.

Ok, here it is:

Excuse the awful ‘selfie’; it’s not something I do often.

It certainly looks like the one in CZ’s second picture, just without the belt.

Also, I think I was wrong about it being put away new. I found a receipt for a £28 re-wax. No date though, unfortunately.

It’s a Sportsman, a bike jacket, not a country jacket.

Do you know much about this model in particular? When i google ‘Belstaff Sportsman’ i just get loads of publicity photos of David Beckham (in fact, the fifth entry is a link to this thread!).

I’m not planning on selling it. I did look on Gumtree out of interest and there are various models going for anywhere between £100 and £250ish.

Perhaps it was the wax i could smell. There is no evidence of mould or mildew anyway. It feels as if it was quite heavily waxed before going into storage, so perhaps that’s helped preserve it.

Most of these jackets just look like Buffalos to my eye; they are pretty ubiquitous in non-SF Military circles (along with the new issue Buffalo rip-off).

To clarify; is there anyone on STW who isn’t a doctor? There was me getting all excited about starting my lowly BSc…

Hope the whole process goes smoothly enough OP!

Go on then…

As above, they are both terrier breeds so the dog will need to be reminded who the boss is; i don’t mean that in a harsh way, just little things like making sure the dog eats dinner after the family (as is natural for the lowest ranking member of the pack).

They are intelligent, inquisitive and friendly breeds, but they can sometimes be a little too independent if somehting catches their attention. If you have anything at home that squeaks, flutters or scurries, then make sure it’s secure! Remember, terriers were bred to be tenacious killers, so don’t let their size fool you.

Our 5 month old JRT has responded brilliantly to proper training classes too. Very highly recommended, especially as this is your first dog.

North wind has made the most intelligent comment on this thread. As a bonus it was funny and has shown up the chumps.

Northwind was referring to a Turkish F16 deliberately shooting down a Russian SU24 with Air-to-air munitions. This somehow prooves that RAF Tornados crews using ground-attack munitions will accidentally do likewise.

He has certainly identified some chumps, but they are not the ones you think.

crashtestmonkey – Member
Dude, they claim they’re going to avoid using them on civilians but they can’t even avoid using them on their own planes? That’s jacked up.

I don’t understand that last comment.

go back and re-read it…

It still doesn’t make sense.

So can I use asrandard QR with chain tugs or do I need about up axle?
If I use chai tugs do I not need a tensioner?

All of this is dependant on your frame – horizontal trackends will require chain tugs (if you’re using a QR axle), but will not require a chain tensioner. Vertical dropouts will require the opposite (assuming you’re not using an eccentric BB).

Either way, you’ll need some stupid bars of some kind; you don’t want people to think you’re weird!

Ive never heard of the PiZero… the wife is in town, so i’ve just asked her to buy a copy!

I didn’t realise that. Thank you.

Poultry bones are bad news, shirley?

Did anyone hear that? It sounded like career suicide.