Can’t you shave wedges off the wooden posts so that the posts are vertical even if the spurs aren’t? Or add wedges between the spurs and the posts?

It’s a bit of a greedy piss take. The scale of Zwift should allow it to serve customers cheaper over time, their costs per subscribe must be miniscule. I don’t even see much reinvestment into the platform like how netflix etc are creating new content. Still, I’m sure someone has analysed customer behaviour and decided that this is the best way to maximise profit.

Hopefully it encourages competitors to enter the market, I never liked the Zwift interface. I’d be happy to pay £5 per month for something without the 3D world. 

What I really want is an add-on for netflix where it stops playing if you aren’t riding hard enough.

a pump track pursuit race

Now that would be good

Renewables are great, but we will need something to power us through windless nights and (especially) windless stints in winter. We will also want a whole bunch more power in the future for our EVs and heatpumps. Nuclear is far from perfect but is much better for the planet than fossil fuels.

Thing is, that vehicle must have come to a relatively gradual (albeit rough) stop after ploughing through lots of successive obstacles. Simply hitting an immovable object is less spectacular but unfortunately much less survivable.

Sounds like your new PM is a people person:

Somafunk – obviously this does not pave the way to easy Ukrainian victory, but it keeps them in the game and that is what they need for now. The only gains Russia has been able to make have been small and at enormous cost. If Ukraine can keep those gains small and the costs high (which this package can realistically do) then it puts Putin on the back foot in the long run.

“That’s not socialism, it’s liberal democracy. If you learned what words mean, you wouldn’t be so confused.”

(Where has the block-quote menu gone?)

Alright, sorry for trying to contribute. I’ll piss off then.

In my defence, you edited out my preface of “for me”.

Also I was defining my idea of socialist utopia, not socialism.

Also if you re-read the opening post, I think it was reasonably reply to the spirit of the thread.

But I’ll consider myself schooled. Have a good day.

For me, Socialist Utopia looks like capitalism but with limits to dampen inequality. For example, society agrees on what is an acceptable level of inequality (Gini coefficient, say). Each year, a proportional wealth tax is applied if (and only if) inequality has moved beyond the acceptable bound. The whole concept is accepted by the population as just being the way things work, and nobody gets hysterical about the government taking away their hard earned wealth.

So some inequality still exists, and individuals are still incentivised to prosper, but there will be a rubber band mechanism to pull everyone back together a bit if needed.

It’ll never happen though.

Jivehoneyjive, it would be helpful if you were more precise in who you mean by “Palestinian authorities”. Do you mean Hamas? If so please say so. Palestine is not a state in the way that most countries are (hence why “2 state solution” is a hope rather than reality). So it is hard to know how to respond to your points above.

Either stolen when it was easier to cut the frame than the lock, or it was replaced under warranty and Cannondale didn’t want it back, or seller noticed cracks and cut it so that nobody would try to ride it when unsafe.

Thanks mods.

I have generally been of the opinion that it is reasonable for Israel to persist with the war while Hamas still holds hostages, but yesterday with Netanyahu’s “these things happen in war” I was pretty angry.

Israel is alienating a lot of it’s friends, but doesn’t seem especially bothered.

I had a similar problem (bindweed in a hedge, didnt want to kill the hedge). Had decent sucess with rubber gloves and a sponge. Spray normal liquid roundup on the sponge, only a very small amount, not enough to drench it, dab it on the weeds. You dont need much roundup for it to work, it just takes a while.

Looks like Joe “Big Mac” Mcdonald has been sent over the top. Best of luck to him.

I’ve recently come back to racing (Gorrick) after a decade away from MTB events. What struck me was the seriousness of riders. Even in the open categories, seemingly everyone has an expensive carbon xc race bike and is super fit. That’s off-putting for a newbie just getting started and feeling like they don’t belong.

So I would suggest adding on a category or event with more of a parkrun vibe. Move the tapes to make chicken runs the default line. Avoid an aggressive mass start and set people off at intervals. Allow people to do a second lap if they do a first one and enjoy it and don’t just want to head straight home. Make it more about racing yourself and having fun, maybe people will enter the more serious events when they feel ready. You could add that as a whole separate course in parallel to the main event to get more people through the door. Leaning on stereotypes enormously, but it creates an event for wives and kids to do while husbands race. A lot of what stops me racing more is that it means I disappear from my family for a big chunk of the weekend. If I could bring them along and they had an event which was non technical and not intimidating but gave them a 30 minute ride in the woods and felt like an occasion, they would be all over it.

Its out. Anyone watching yet?

light, shaped like a crescent

Thats the moon that is

Is everyone picking up a (practically) free CRC branded water bottle on the way out? They’ll be a priceless collector’s item one day, a Mint Sauce keyring for the 2030s.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/chain-reaction-cycles-water-bottle

Both 700ml and 700ml sizes available.

dropper posts (1100 in stock)

How on earth are they going to shift all those?

Trump brags that he would stop the war in 24 hours if he won. How? He could stop US funding in 24 hours, but is he thinking that Putin would agree to stop in exchange? Putin knows the funding will stop regardless, he might as well carry on and take all of Ukraine.

Yes, but it is hard to tell what changes were the result of COVID/Brexit/world events and which would have happened anyway.

I’ve lost a lot of drive or ambition to progress at work, and am far more settled in my comfortable job without killing myself to chase a promotion, and looking back I think the might stem from burnout from overwork in 2020 and 2021.

I’m hugely pessimistic about the way the world is going and what sort of life my kids will have. I can’t tell if that is something special about the 2020’s or how every parent has always finds reasons to worry (cold war, millennium bug, etc etc).

I used to take good health for granted, but now having seen various friends and neighbours have struggles (especially with their kids), have far more appreciation that it isn’t a given and we are very lucky.

Edit: after re-reading that, I think the upshot is that I appreciate more the need to enjoy life while things are good, and not waste it away. Very cathartic to think about, thanks.

I’ve just had one of those Prime XC bars turn up. Meh. It’s fine, but 203g which is just as well as the quality doesn’t look great inside.

Genuine question, what are you expecting and what makes it meh? I’ve got one too, I don’t really expect a handlebar to do much except not snap, so long as it does that I’ll be happy. The original alloy bar that came on my bike was over 300g, so £15 for a 100g saving feels like a nice marginal gain.

£15 carbon bars: https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/prime-primaxc-carbon-mtb-handlebar-31-8mm

It’s a bit niche, but not often you see stuff on sale at 99.5% off:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/vitus-dominer-dh-chainstay-2016

What is the scrap metal value?

I think snotrag won this thread

I’m also not finding masses of deals on stuff I actually want. Partly this must be down to the number of people who are keeping an eye on stock like vultures ready to swoop, the website traffic must be enormous now compared to usual.

For me, the best deals were back in early December when presumably there were liquidity pressures or a warehouse which needed emptying pronto. The Lifeline stuff was practically being given away, and the Prime Attaquer wheels were far cheaper than they needed to be.

Nice looking Nukeproof Merino hoodie just dropped to £35, all sizes available

Does anyone know of any good deals on 160mm centre lock rotors, XT/XTR or equivalent pretty please?

Not quite xt, but Ribble has RT70 slx down to £11 each. Can’t link right now but sure you will find it

Drivetrain – choose something that works to ride there and back, you wont be pedalling much when you get there. SS might be best.

Tyres – fat and slick.

Seatpost – most important IMO, get whatever goes the lowest. I’d suggest a simple rigid seatpost with a QR clamp so you can drop it when you get there.

Fork – not sure, but doubt it matters too much.

And a massive tunnel running under the border?

Speaking of tunnels, I gather that tunnels dug under enemy trenches and filled with explosive were a big thing back in WW1. Is there a reason we haven’t seen that in Ukraine? Is no man’s land too wide in the modern version of trench warfare? Nobody expecting positions to remain as static as they have turned out and so it was assumed not worth the effort? Are there no good digging machines? (I’m guessing that Ukraine has better uses for soldiers than tunnelling)

NATO states need to be ready to operate without the USA if Trump wins.

Completely agree with this. I’m currently reading “the end of the world is only the beginning” by Peter Zeihan. One of the key messages is that the USA really could turn it’s back on the world. It is easily self sufficient for food, self sufficient for oil, and doesn’t have the demographic problems of Europe. Trump being elected would be a terrible thing for world peace, stability and prosperity, but giving up it’s role as leader of the free world would not be all that bad at all for the economic prosperity of the USA, while every other major economy would have a disaster.

It’s pretty terrifying here in the UK where we are utterly dependent on the global order being maintained.

If you already have the WiFi hotspot up and running, then something cheap like an Amazon Blink can presumably be set to an off mode whereby they are not looking for movement triggers? But you can still log in for a live view

Cheaper options will definitely exist, but if you are already paying for the upkeep of a boat… An Arlo ‘Go’ plus the solar charger will do the job and be hassle free.

Not interested in the Khaosan Road type side of things.
What are you interested in? Bangkok is a huge Asian city with fascinating history, crazy shopping malls, and horrendous traffic.

Khaosan road and surrounding areas is pretty unique, culturally quite significant in its own way, and easily justifies a visit just for people-watching if nothing else. There are not many streets in the world where you can walk 100m and find such a varied mix of interesting oddities to look at. (I visited 10 years ago, and 10 years before that. Take it with a pinch of salt, but I find it fascinating. I’d love to see how it has changed again).
Agree that getting around by boat is the way to go. And (away from Khaosan road) try something from every street food vendor you walk past.

And yes, as above, use concrete spurs for the permanent fix.

As a quick temporary fix to a small fence, I think they would do a good job. Less so if the fence is solid and catches the wind. We have a small picket fence which uses them, replacing rotten posts has been dead easy.

I’ve “read” the first and the next has been on my list for a while. Actually did an audiobook which worked well given that it has some slow bits.

The three body problem was the first part of my maths degree that I found really, really properly interesting, so the geeky aspects were always going to appeal. I hope they show the mega human computer and don’t skim over those sorts of details to dumb it down.

What is the question you need to answer? Is it not something like “list below all the countries you will visit during your trip”?

Surely you just enter whichever of Malaysia, Indonesia and/or Brunei is being visited.

this is what you need:

https://flux-web.vercel.app/

Thank you, not tried to connect everything yet, but this is precisely the level of blandness I was looking for!