Because it goes against every piece of advice I’ve heard 🙂

You can create a setup prone to either huge oversteer (FWD – winters on front) or massive under steer (RWD – winters on rear). not what u want when the weather is at its worst.

If you think about it, you’ll grip with one end and slide with the other. It’s startling just how much additional grip winter tyres give, and will easily out drive the summers level of grip.

If something did go wrong, I’d guess your insurers would be less than understanding. I put four winters on mine, and still had to argue against a charge for non standard equipment.

I came the opposite direction NZ > AUS > UK due to marriage, and family. To sum up with HUGE generalisations, nz is still pretty innocent, huge diversity of nature, strong family values unbeatable lifestyle.

Australia, I like them / it, they have the confidence of the yanks, without the annoyance, very patriotic and rightly so. On the whole they love life, and have the environment to enjoy it. Cost of living is high, but wages tend to reflect. Good salary for a young family circa $100k, higher in Sydney lower in the likes of Adelaide.

Things like cars are expensive, $20k will get you a 5-8 year old with mid mileage. European marques dont feature. Tax’s are also quiet significant so don’t forget to factor in, plus healthcare top ups and insurance.

Like anywhere there are yobs (boguns) who are not the voice of the nation. I found the poms can struggle with things, the in your face nature of Aussies doesn’t always sit well, plus the locals just tend to get on with things … And complain less 🙂 (I warned about the generalisations).

They seem to be reasonably clear of the economic issues hitting the rest of the globe. If / when commitments here end, will be back there in a heartbeat so I’d say go for it. Learn to love Skype, and plan an annual / bi-annual trip home to stay in touch.

To clarify … Are u putting two winter tyres on each car ? Wouldn’t be recommending that from the outset ???

Purchased a set of snow socks for staff members last year (they finish work at 9pm … Thought it the responsible thing) and they got used a few times. Definately more of a get me home as opposed to drive around, and only before the gritters / graders come out else they’ll wear thru very fast. They do rely on snow sticking to them to work at their best.

I had a set of maggi traks on a jaguar XF while waiting for tyres to arrive and they are sensational. Made the undrivable drivable. Make sure you set up and practice fitting before first snow, but once sorted it’s one bolt, drape over wheel and drive off. Only hassle I had was wheel spin before they settled on the tyre. Very quiet to drive on and rated (I think) to 50mph.

FWD cars will benefit even further with the chains.

Loads and loads of Vegemite … eaten not smeared in the weeks preceding the trip (or any other brewers yeast source really). It needs to be literally oozing out of your pores. Vitamin E supplements are also supposed to help.

Asides from that the only thing I’ve found that works is good old Deet. Spent 8 weeks working at the Inti Wara Yassi refuge in the Bolivian bush and believe me … tried EVERYTHING.

Also remember the more dangerous buggars (i.e. malaria’s) come out mainly at dusk / evening so thats when you need to be covered and doused up. Burning the mozzie spirals will also help lessen the population, but make sure you don’t burn the place down.

Also avoid wearing perfumed products as much as possible, that can attract the little beggars (along with breathing … but harder to cut down on that)

I was having a quiet chuckle watching this on the news … with a group of protesters in the background busily drinking from their starbucks buckets.

Be careful of draping it over radiators, to much heat could affect some water repellant agents.

I always tended to pitch in up in the kitchen and leave it overnight to dry … assuming its a self supporting design? Just warm the wife first … nothing like the sound of an unsuspecting SO clattering into a pitched tent at 3am in the morning.

Packing, leave it loose (i.e. don’t stuff it back in the bag. Some camping stores have loose sacks for sleeping bags (basically heavy net sacks) which are ideal. Then somewhere warm and dry.

if you do go down the route of the ebay replacement screen its a much MUCH easier job if you purchase the replacements with all the gubbins, i.e. button, digitiser, sticky bits etc already assembled.

If you want an even easier time … just send it to

lovephone

They did an old 3gs for £50 and was as good as a new one.

Just back tracking a bit to the spear tackle argument (sorry) I understand the whole premise of wether it is red or not comes down to what strikes the ground first, which seems a bit questionable as the recipients athleticism could potentially save the tackler.

If the players head and / or upper body come into contact with the ground while the feet are still elevated, then its a red. All the teams, along with the refs were warned of a zero tolerance policy prior to the competition starting.

As far as i am aware the ref is not permitted to use video footage for such instances, which could be addressed ????

That said I’d say we will be without SBW next week for his return to the league hit up style, and rightly so, that was a blatant shoulder drop.

Ive got both a Squat rack, plus bench (decathlon models) in addition to approx 140kg in weights, non olympic but again the plastic coated (easier on the house floor) ranging from 20’s through to 2.5’s. Range of bars from curl, dumbbells with spin on ends, and 6ft narrow bar.

They’ve helping to clog up a yellow store shed in Sheffield at the minute, and have returned to the gym instead.

Yours for a couple of bottles of JD if interested. email t.armstrong@me.com if interested.

Pauls also do a BB mount version, used on a carbon stumpjumper and simply brilliant. Endless chain line adjustment, everything is alloy, and it’s just so damn pretty.

There’s a company on eBay that do the new for £34 plus I think £15 postage from US of A, arrive within a week.

As per petrieboy have a set of the 5.1 Jamos on stands running through a Sony processor / amp. Been very impressed with their range. Recently added a NAD amp with two Artcoustic panel speakers and crikey , really opened up a whole new level of richness (to my ignorant ears at least).

Only downside is u quickly realise how poor the sound quality can be from compressed media sources, so in answer I doubt the speaker choice will have much influence if this is your main signal source ?

What about one of these

Laid back post

Not sure about the comfort though ?

I think the whole idea of having to be tied to a computer to sync etc will disappear with the onset of IOS5.

To be honest the biggest use mine gets is to watch movies and podcasts when I am traveling (which do need to be synced). Sky sports and movies (if you have an existing subscription) and TVcatchup as an extra tv box when Im laid in bed and don’t want to wake up the SO.

Its also an excellent approach to showing people images (if thats your thing) as well as FaceTime when you are missing your … people.

Also notetaking (evernote) is brilliant, and syncs across multiple devices.

As to google, I used MobileMe for a couple of years, but now with google+ have no need for it (thankfully they no longer use the subscription service for mobileme) Everything from google (contacts, calendars, mail etc) syncs perfectly.

keep it somewhere safe … so you can patch in the bit you drop your wine / coffee / chain / lit candle on.

Harrisons on Sheffield are doing the 60d at £699 this weekend (according to their twitter feed). Not sure how this compares to other online offers ?

Good site when you want to compare two models

600d vs 60d

Shows little difference in image quality, but some in other areas (i.e. battery life / pentaprism finder) so depends wether that figures into the equation.

Also would pay to test your sigma lens on your choice of body, have been caught out in the past with cannon “blocking” some third party items with new products releases.

I was always under the impression that one of the big breakthroughs in the popularity of the home / work PC was the advent of the Mouse, and the GUI.

OK so Xerox had the workings tucked away somewhere, but Apple wandered along, got the thing working at a reasonable price point and wallah, no more gosub commands required.

That was a bit of a game changer …

I use them purely for convenience, and have always gone with the maxi-muscle range as the chocolate is the least foul tasting in a water mix. Not the cleanest protein on the planet … but its not the most expensive either … and I’ve never had “wind issues” on it.

Mornings, makes a nice addition to a blend (frozen fruit, muesli, yogurt, half a banana, spoon of peanut butter and milk) in which case Vanilla is the least offensive.

The gym has recently installed a vending machine with a range of supplement drinks, and hence have actually started grabbing one of them post instead, less hassle.

I partake as I have always struggled to get weight on, hard gainer personified so its a calorie boost more than anything else.

Rubbish in your case (and mine) you are dealing with an illness. Taking ashma drugs isn’t a performance enchancer if you have ashma they don’t even allowe you to compete an even footing as in most cases they are only partialy efective.

Its actually on the banned list – or at least Salbutamol is – which an All Black prop got pinged for when he failed a drugs test 🙂

If they are not a performance enchancer nobody should be banned for taking recreational drugs

Except David Buck, the Wheelchair tennis player who was banned for testing positive to … cannabis !!!

Millar and Chambers knowingly and deliberately took performance enhancing substances they knew were banned under the rules of their sports. They are cheats

So does it come down to intent (ala manslaughter vs murder) ?

But then those same drugs (as in Nielsons case) are used to enhance (or in his case mask). Would this then provide a means of cover / excuse.

Sets up the ideal that as long as you have a handy excuse … you’ll avoid the life time ban.

Conundrum.

I think there is provision within the anti doping guidance to account for intent (i.e. lower levels of punishment. Should these be removed under the “life time ban for all drug users” ideal ?

Remember a while back a Tennis play from NZ Mark Nielson receiving a 2 year ban for failing a drugs test … due to his anti-balding treatment.

Guess he was stupid for not having all his meds checked (which seems to be a common occurrence) but should he also receive a life time ban ?

Not everything is black and white.

Done the summer on Continental x-kings and never missed a beat, PITA to seal if you are going tubeless though – even the RR versions.

First winter coming up so can’t vouch for the really claggy stuff but handled wet spells to date.

Last year used Panaracer fire XC tubeless, did find them a bit leary on slippery roots etc (with a broken collar bone to vouch for it) Not sure if the tyre can be blamed or user error … but I blamed it anyway. They are pretty weighty though but very very tough.

You can ASK the bike shop whether they have a means of resolving it but they are under no obligation to do so.

I’d disagree with this, if the forks have been serviced to schedule then they would be expected to be fit for purpose, and to last an acceptable amount of time (they grey areas of the argument). It is the retailers responsibility to suck it up when things to go wrong (hence the sale of goods act).

Theres also the section of not being unduly inconvenienced in having the issue resolved (by the retailer) which 6 weeks would push in a normals persons opinion (what the act is judged by).

How you actually go about it is a different matter, rushing the shop waiving acts in the air and screaming for instant satisfaction would get anyones back up. Politely pointing out that you have spent a considerable amount with them, and as such they have a responsibility to ensure you are satisfied would be appreciated, and no doubt result in a happy / repeat customer.

Start with the latter and see what they suggest, start hinting towards the former if they start screaming their responses …

I ranted previously about a sky install we had booked, first technician turned up, battered white van with no markings, fag in hand, complete with dirty clothing and traipsed dirty boots throughout the house as he assessed were the cabling needed to go. Typical to appearance after much sucking of breath through teeth informed me it was a two man job and he’d have to rebook it. Spent 20 minutes flicking fag ends on the drive and left.

Week later, two liveried Sky vans (discovery channel) arrive, both technicians wearing clean polo shirts and trade pants (the ones with the external pockets), on entering house both pulled out plastic shoe covers without blinking an eyelid, sussed everything out and had the job complete in 30 minutes.

They both got a cup of tea and some of the SO chocolate cake, while the first one got a rant on STW.

People judge by appearance, if you take pride in that then chances are you’re work will reflect with the same level of attention to detail.

As to sign writing, I’ve booked a few trades after being stuck behind them at lights, I’ve also cancelled a contract after getting cut up by one of them on an onramp so its a double edge sword.

Its argued marketing / branding is the key to business longevity, and given the low outlay of some vinyl graphics I’d say its money well spent for a mobile billboard, if not just to tell the neighbours of the next job they’d best get their chequebooks out if they want to keep up with the jones’s.

Leave them with a pen with your name on it, and a fridge magnet that they can pass to said neighbours.

google / youtube the 300 workout. Found it a great benefit to motivate as your competing against your own will power / stamina / the clock each time.

Works both your core as well as extremities and with some basic equipment (chin bar / kettles / box) can be done at home.

It will hurt …

They don’t normally cover accidental damage do they (ie if I dropped it while biking, or into sand, or whatever)?

No, they will cover against any mechanical faults, hence the only thing you’d need to insure against is the accidental damage.

Bear in mind would you keep and use the same camera for three years?

Just having a quick look at the site, looks like for up to £1000 the policy cost stays at £31 per annum so other option is to get cover for all your electronics / camera gear as part of the same policy.

get a quote from photoguard

Photoguard[/url]

Not restricted to your photographic equipment either, can list associated laptops etc.

I have used them for several years, with one claim when a Lens was pilfered in South America and paid out with no hassle. I’d rather a replace like for like no matter what policy than a repair one.

Remembering as well that the majority of “spontaneous” faults would be covered under warranty / sale of goods act anyway.

Pauls chain keeper, simple, robust and easy enough to set up. Would be surprised if anyone could break one? Pretty much endless range of chain line adjustment as well.

Initial set up can be a bit tight, took the first ride of mine to take the edge off the guide when in the top ring before it went completely silent throughout.

Have used both the BB and tube mount versions, and both are excellent.

Singapore actually has a whole leisure centre and pool you can use in transit – hence i fly that way by choice as it is quite nice having a 4-5hr layover with a bit of a trot, a swim and then some nice nosh. Also a transit hotel.

Same here, along with a hotel you can check into by the hour to catch a quick sleep / shower (and not as dodgy as it sounds)

I don’t fly through Dubai as its a shed, and will now choose singapore for any long haul to Australiasia to break up the flight. Someone in the marketing department should get a head pat.

Just watch the older models of the revelations, I was one of a few it seems who had the ’10 model “clunk and droop”.

Basically took a hit, forks clunked and sagged to the bottom of their travel. Fixed under warranty with upgrade parts (according to Tftuned)

Ever since, outstanding set of forks, have them on an 09 stumpy and regularly adjust the travel to suit the riding.

I personally cant tell little difference between them and a set of reba race on a HT stumpy (at least nothing that suggests it’s the forks causing the difference). There is some weight difference obviously.

I personally wouldn’t think the swap warrants any cost outlay, unless it’s the travel that’s required.

depending on the fork they usually range from 80 – 150 quid.

Really ? I resorted to that for a set of Reba’s and cost just over £220 ???

Daycocks carry a good range or replacement CSU’s.

Other option is selling what you have and picking up a new set, in hindsight that’s what I should have done in the first place (after doing the spank spike / CB headset and CSU)

Hunt out a spank spike, lowest stack height current available but only 50mm length.

Is well built and bit easier on the eye than the one above.

And CB would be a last resort, mine lasted a month before it started grinding itself to death, you will need to regularly strip, clean and grease it to stop it rusting.

For truly compact, the canon S95 is hard to beat.

And if you want it to last in less that favourable environments then some form of protective water jacket (posh lunch bag), or pelicase for when ur boarding etc.

You can now lease the Adobe suite products which works out reasonably cost effective, especially if you tend to upgrade regularly, or change platforms.

Adobe Leasing

We’ve become repeat customers for the Mexico all inclusive, playa del carmen area mainly. Food is always superb, and drinks plentiful and staff attentive. As above user reviews on Tripadvisor are a very good indication of actual service levels. We’ve always looked for good fitness centres, spa for the SO and good pool / beach facilities.

If contemplating mexico just ensure you are missing the nearby Cancun busy periods, can be populated with over zealous americans at times.

By contrast stopped off in Bali on the way home last year, absolutely stunning destination but the bill at the end was pretty high compared to what an all inclusive can offer. Hence benefit, you never have to think about the cost factor once on site.

Fuji X100 would have captured that nicely 🙂

that is, red on the left, green in the middle and blue on the right

Majority actually use a bayer array, alternative being the Foveon sensors. The advantages of the Foveon were the ability to record a higher dynamic range but seemed to lack favour due to its lack of marketable sensor density. Shame really because they produced stunning results and very popular for a while with wedding photographers.

How can a piece of glass ‘not perform’?

By not resolving sufficient detail for the higher density sensors, suffering from sensor reflection, chromatic aberration, and flare to name just a few.

Not to mention the ailments that time alone can cause …

Mols, have a look at the Dx0 film pack (either standalone or plug in) Think there is a 30 day trial option as well. its a quick way to test film effects on images,

I’ve always advised to rotate the image 180 degrees when deciding on final composition / colour balance / choice. If the eye is still drawn to interest (contrast being more important for B&W) then correct choice. Like anything its subjective.

The snapseed app is also fun to play around with for similar results.