@ thestabiliser – It’s not random chaos. It’s really, really, really well ordered chaos.
Hope that helps.

Devout Atheist – in case you missed my earlier post!

Awww! Shucks! 😳

Yep, great album. Heard about it on Kermit O’Dreary show on a drive back from the PD. Hoped to book tickets in Brum – All sold out by the time I got back / showered etc. Gutted.

Sputnik – Love it ’til the ‘off chords’ at the end.
Gagarin – Funky.
EVA – Ace
The Other Side – Pure Brilliance
Valentina – Eeerily beautiful.
Fire in the Cockpit – Sad.
Go! – The standout track on the album – So positive…

Agree – War Room is cracking stuff too.

Which of your children do you love the most?

Dude, pop round here. The wife has just finished watching Strictly and is off to bed. I’ve got effing sh!t loads to have a go at!

OK, you started it. Let’s agree to end it.

Three months??!!! Not sure whether or not to start a Creationism thread.

Three months??!!! I’m going to end it.

<sound of muffled shotgun blast heard off-stage>

Surely religion started as a means of trying to understand the world in which we live? Why does the rain fall? Why does the Sun shine? Why do the crops fail? Why are we here?
Some of the bits of Abrahamic tradition make sense – Kosher / Trefeirah, Halal / Haram make sense in that part of the world in pre-refrigeration days. These are pretty good food hygiene ideas for the day. I’m sure there’s something in there about washing fish and / or hands under running water – specifically running water.

The rest is fairy stories.

Nowadays we have a better understanding of the world and the universe in which it is located. We understand a lot about the fundamental forces and particles which create and shape that universe. We know why the rain falls, the Sun shines, and why crops fail.

We know what the structure of the atom is, we know the structure and the forces within that atom. What we do not know we have been able to postulate, and then prove.

We have the Standard Model. It is right*. As an example, which received a fair amount of media attention. Higgs, Brout, Englert, et. al. proposed a theory of how gauge bosons could acquire mass through interaction in a quantum type field that permeates everything. There was no proof for this other than the need to explain mass in a way that Goldstone’s Theorem didn’t, their ideas and a whole bunch of calculations. The theoretical explanation seemed right. It fit everything else we knew about particle physics at that time. This was 1964. In 2012 both the CMS and ATLAS at CERN, in independent experiments detected a previously unknown boson with mass that was expected as predicted by the Higgs Theory.

Not a fairy story. A real explanation of the world around us.

*Is the Standard Model correct. Yes, for now, with our current understanding. I look forward to the day when we prove it isn’t. Sure as spit beats the idea of believing in something that people debated about as being correct 2000 years ago and saying that’s how we should all live our lives today and if you don’t you’re all gonna burn.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics – Yeah, that one is right, bet the house on that one. Ain’t gonna change.

Wine fuelled rant about religion over for now. Do not start me on Creationism! My laptop would experience something akin to an SCM quench with the pith, piss and bile with which I would have to respond. Don’t, don’t do it.

Yeah, my Dad was early in computers. We had a teleprinter with an acoustic coupler to connect to a variety of mainframes.

Plug an old dog and bone into rubber cups, enjoy 2400 bits per second delivered to a golf ball printed sheet. Kids these days don’t know jack!

Burn the Cardigan nay-sayer!

Bike bivvying experience limited. Bivvying in general much experience.
Drink? Yep Whisky here too. Don’t miss out on the recent rum thread on here tho. I’ve recently got into rum as a result. Either way take a large capacity hip flask. Not a bottle.
Food. Depends on how long you’re out for. Daytime, whatever you normally take on a day ride. For me that means homemade flapjacks as they’re very energy dense. Pepperami likewise. Nighttime depends on who you are with. If alone, pepperami whilst waiting for water to boil, then a noodle soup pot. Currently into Shin Black Beef version. Rather like a Pho Bo – very nice! Very light, moderate packability when unopened, packs to nothing when empty. No washing up. If with friends then the load gets shared and it tends to be a fancier pasta based meal – someone carries pasta, someone carries sauce, someone carries protein to add to. Washing up required. Only take one pan or mug. Your stove should fit into it, ideally so should the gas cylinder you will be using. You should not need anything else. If you are thinking bacon or sos for breakfast, think again. Totally wrong mindset for a bivvy. “How long will those sausages be Turkish” springs to mind. Pepperami, flapjack or noodles for me every time.
Water! Very important. Chlorine tablets are your friend. Yes there are fancy UV systems and pointless pumpy RO filters and we’ll have a round of F#€$ about the yays and nays of all things outdoors water systems. Use chlorine. The tablets weigh next to nothing and pack to nothing and they work. Some folks don’t like the taste, if you are one of them use a neutraliser. They weigh next to nothing too. Don’t be tempted to drink any untreated water below the human habitation / farming line. It ain’t worth it. Check at least 30m above where you take water from. Look for dead animals or faeces. I have never had dodgy guts in xx years of wild camping.
If winter bike bivvying alone have some entertainment. iPod, crossword, ebook, your choice. Them long nights linger. If with mates, enjoy the company – great nights wild camping carry very fond memories for me. Lengthen your whisky with hot water (Uh oh – expecting flak for that one). Even better, mulled whisky (climbs into concrete shelter for that suggestion. INCOMING!!!) the spices weigh next to nothing, pack to nothing and a warmly spiced hot whisky raises the spirits and body temperature like nothing I know. You ain’t taking a fancy single malt for this one.
Down jacket is a must. Decathlon do a fairly good lightweight one really cheap. Good for 3 season. If winter bivvying, take a ‘mothership’ down jacket. Down sleeping bags are very good weight and packability wise. Don’t get it damp, have a separate dry bag for it.
Bikes make ace tarp setups. Front wheel out and guylined out at one end. Frame upside down and guyed off boltthru hole at t’other.
Lavatory. Needs thinking about if you are new to this. If the STW hive mind is o.k. with this (prolly will be!) I’ll share thoughts in another post.
Pitch late, strike early, leave no trace. Definitely light no fires!
Have fun!!!

Darn it! You have a hole in your favourite cardy.

Darn it! No more hole.

Kidulthood! I’m ‘avin’ that one!

Bob Holness was the soloist on Maggot Brain.

No vote for the Sharp MZ80K yet.

‘Orb of Zot’ anybody?

Lots of folks are advocating great experiences over material possessions.

Trip to Hong Kong. Go to Wan-Chai. Enjoy

I’ve been using a Satmap Active 10 for a few years and I love it! (Yes it has been superseded by the Active 12) It has a simple but sturdy bike mount, an easy, clear to read display, even in sunlight. The ‘trail up’ mode has the option to place your position towards the bottom of the screen which gives more of a view and makes more sense when engaged in higher speed activities like Mountain biking. Ruggedised cases are available if needed.
I have the full UK 1:25000 HD map because I am a keen walker, climber and caver so the extra detail is useful to me. When I just had the 1:50000 I found it perfect for biking.
One tip I can offer – set your waypoint before your planned turn, that way, after the screen goes into power save/off, and when the device beeps to let you know you are approaching a waypoint you simply wake the screen and you can see what is coming up instead of what you have just overshot.

FFS! Not another wheel standard! Anyone know if these things can run tubeless?

Would probably turn heads at C-y-B or BPW.

Damn! Get well soon!

Oh the hours ‘wasted’ playing Elite.

Whiskey and hot lemonade. I nuke one of the sharp cloudy ones in the microwave. Strangely enough it still remains fizzy. Add as much scotch as necessary.
Begin sweating your cold out. Fall asleep shortly afterwards.

mame.net will be your friend here.
Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.

Download and install then grab yourself a handful of classic game ROMs. It’s not like playing the old games. It IS playing the old games.
Prepare to lose several hours / days / weeks.

Kashmir – Led Zeppelin.
Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin.

I use Clementine in Linux. I am certain there is a windoze version.

Had my Trout Lumen Liberator fixed by Smudge. Top fella.
Have bought a Nightfire BT70 for underground filming. Won’t risk the Trout light again.

Cracking stuff. Well done.

White – Genius! Well done lad.
Black – Where d’yu steal that from boy?
Beige – See above.

God bless America.

I have a Vaude Hogan 2-man. It’s very sturdy, the venting is very good so it stays condensation free. I’ve used it year round for about 5 years. Setup time is ridiculously quick, taking maybe 2 mins in a leisurely fashion. They do a 3 man version but I don’t know what it is called.

Vaude is my go to campsite tent and used when winter camping. Walking and bike-packing will mean the tarp gets an outing.

I hate those Russian dolls. They’re so full of themselves.

You can burn up to 150 calories during a prolonged bout of masturbation.

Still got kicked out of Weight Watchers for it though.

A bit niche, but a remark about Mott insulators and attractive condensates elicited
“Phmpf! Like you’d have a chance.”

I think she really doesn’t get it. When I mentioned looking for Bose-Einstein Condensates she said “Yes Dear, but make sure you put it back where you found it”

The OH is funny. A bit off topic but once in Egypt we were staying in a hotel where the was a council of imams taking lace. Very senior clerics in fine robes. “Ah!”, says SWMBO, they look all fine and devout now, but I bet they’ll all be Mullahed later. Still makes me laugh today.

BT70 ordered from Gearbest on 5th September arrived yesterday.
Initial thoughts. Woah! That’s bright!
Not used it in anger yet.

@Gelert.
Done. Bostin’ idea. Well done.

Looking for somewhere to ride this weekend…. Possibly sorted now.
Ta STW.

How could he have not bothered with a ramp at the bottom of that? 3/10 for effort. 10/10 for sheer lunacy to even attempt it.

Will be nicking said neoprene idea Sir. Well done.

Boots! You know you want them. You want them for the reason Brakes gave above. Overshoes wear out. I was just about to by my 4th set when I thought spend yer money wisely on something that will last.

Northwave Celsius. Warm, dry, comfy. I shudder to think of going back to summer shoes with overshoes. They leak and your feet get cold. Then you feel miserable and your ride is ruined. NWCs are going strong after a couple of years. I do look after them well (as I do with walking / climbing / winter mountaineering boots.) I hope to get plenty more years out of all my boots.

Buy boots! Try them with mini-gaiters when it’s really gash. In the past I’ve had leakage into the boots down the legs of tights. I have Endura trousers over gaiters then gaiters over boots. Bone dry in pretty much everything Winter has thrown at me.

Leave it to the experts right?

as long as they’re not expert homeopaths I’ll go with that.

Splendid!!!

Woah There! I wonder how many folks got the DoTT reference. (No googling it you lot at the back.)

BT70 ordered. Will report in when it arrives.

It’s a car. It’s there to be driven. Drive the damn thing. Mileage on modern cars doesn’t affect the resale value as much as it used to on old cars.

The idea of having three cars when one will be sitting on the drive because you don’t want to add mileage seems a little bit bonkers to me.

If it is the insurance cost you are worried about surely that’ll be offset against purchasing a third car even if it’s a nag. (Which could prove speedy to maintain btw.)

Tend to measure in Kgs theses days not lbs.

If this is your idea of a rant you are probably a seaweed-sandal wearing yogurt-weaver. 0/10