Not avids. Loads of my mates are having problems with them, and apparently they're not so easy to bleed (cant confirm that).

Hopes are great – and serviceable.

XTRs are also good, and I hardly needed to touch them once they were fitted. I had them on my other bike.

I use dvddecrypter (free) to make get a DVD onto my hard drive as a file, and then videora (also free) to convert it into a format that you can view and import into itunes. Its quite a slow process… but it works fine.

Try this for info…
clicky

STS

Heathen – oddly, I seem to have pretty much the entire Hawkwind backcatalogue already. I have no idea where the hell it came from though.

PlumzRichard – I've got all the rage against the machine stuff – have done for years, as with SOAD, but I'll have a look at the other suggestions…

Sputnik – The Mars Volta aren't very good really.

Am currently thinking that the new Rammstein album might be worth a go (since I've got all the rest). Or am thinking about some of the old Anvil stuff – classic!

British Sea Power

= boring. Strum strum strum, blah blah blah… god I am bored just thinking about it.

Do you like rock music?

yes – that is why I am NOT going to buy British Sea Power. I'd rather listen to the sound of paint drying.

OK – lets try a different tack – what about classic rock/metal (e.g. old stuff/proper music)?

HeathenWoods – takes one to know one!

Mastodon – hmmm – for me they are a nearly but not quite. Quite like the kind of album that tells a story though. Biffy Clyro – nope (even though they are Scottish).

Blimey – I am difficult to please aren't I?

Right now I'm very unfit.

Dont worry about that – despite being a 'club', we are not race heads. We have a range of fitness levels, so come out on Thursdays (need decent lights) and use that as a way of getting fit… and forgetting about job crap

STS.

I was unemployed for about a year. Key things for me were:

Get up at a decent time (7:30ish).

Keep busy. For example, I wrote papers and went and gave talks etc. as I tried to get a job as an academic, I did some DIY. I Supported my wife by doing cooking and cleaning etc.

Learn something to keep your brain active: e.g. teach yourself how to program computers, how to speak Albanian, how to take nice photos etc. – anything that is interesting to you, but that may be of particular bonus in terms of expanding your skills.

Get some exercise every day – even if it is just a 15 minute walk at lunchtime.

Meet with people: keep up a social life.

Have something to look forward to: E.g. arrange a weekend away for next month, and look forward to it. Then, when you have done that, arrange something else.

Doing all these things helped me, although it didnt stop me getting depressed. Usually, depression coincided with signing on (to get my NI stamp – no actual money for me) as the jobcentre was an appalling place, filled with jobsworths and chavs. Would you believe that when I was invited to go to a conference in Spain to do some networking with a view to promoting my skills and getting a job, they actually saw this as 'being unavailable to look for a job' and therefore forced me to sign off. That really got me down.

So despite me now being in my final month of being unemployed (before I start my new job) I have not signed back on – it was just too depressing to contemplate…

You could try sage software (based just the other side of the A1), or proctor and gamble (all over the shop in Newcastle). I know proctor and gamble have people working on drug and disease modelling in Newcastle – might suit a software engineer.

Also, look at the university of Newcastle, Northumbria University and Durham University – you never know what they might have.

Hmmm – Russian Circles is good – but not sure. None of the others floating my boat yet… keep suggestions coming…

I should also have specified – ABSOLUTELY NO COUNTRY!

I had similar experience – I lived in Edin during the week, then in Newcastle at the weekends – was tough. Decided at the end of my phd to move to Newcastle despite the fact it would have been easier for me to get a job in Edinburgh. Now happily set up in Newcastle with my wife, and would not change it. The job situation came second to personal situation.

By the way – if you're in Newcastle and need to get out on the bike, then a bunch of us meet up on Thursday evenings for night riding. Every week without fail – come along – its free and a great escape from job hunting:
Newcastle MTB Club

I drew our design on a rough template. I used Inkscape (free vector drawing package – google it) to do the drawing and then sent the file to the jersey makers for them to import into their software. Worked well. I used TheCycleJersey and we will probably use them again once we need more shirts…

It does need a bit of skill to use any vector drawing package, but its worth spending time on it…

Stu – will be in Durham. Not a fellow – that'll be the next attempt! I am still a visiting fellow to Edinburgh too… I was up in Edinburgh last week and was disappointed to see that the Hutton Club posters have gone downhill nowadays. Sometimes I think those posters will be my only real legacy…

Ice cream retreat – now that would be a global disaster of immense proportions!

tails – alas – I dont actually get to go to Antarctica. I will simply be sitting in front of a computer simulating ice retreat. All the field work has been done already :(. But still – its quite a cool job, and I still hold out hope of getting there someday…

Hi Stu – yup. I never left – I've effectively been writing research proposals and papers full time for a year for absolutely no pay. But its paid off in the end. Where are you based these days?

the 300D definitely has RAW. I used one for a good few years – I got it when it came out and it had RAW straight out of the box – no hacking. Thats one of the main reasons I got it in the first place. I'd check you have the latest firmware on it. To be honest – the 300D is the ideal biking camera cos its little and light and cheap and 6MP is still decent enough.

But if you want something better then 500D will be great – and you get ability to take video dont you? Or you could get a secondhand 40D body – a bit bigger and more robust and has probably got better high ISO noise reduction. No video though.

There is a free vector drawing package on the web (i.e. equivalent of adobe illustrator or Corel Draw) – it is called Inkscape[/url]. There are some great examples[/url] on flickr.

I find vector drawing programs the best for creating art from scratch. Photoshop and other raster (like GIMP – which is free and can be set up to look like photoshop) packages are better for photo editing but are not great for making nice art from scratch – all IMHO of course!

Loving it. Cant wait to go skiing in March :) I pretty much ski telemark only these days – awsome fun/highly technical – but I dont quite think I'm up to their standard…

Well, what should be waiting on the doormat this evening when I got home but the explanation letter covering how they calculated the compensation. No idea why it would be several days later than the actual cheque. Anyway, ComradeD is correct – it is the full amount plus 8% interest. So that is pretty fair and I'll take the money :)

dmiller – the girl on the phone was simply very friendly and helpful. Unusual I know!

HBOS. I phoned to cancel the insurance and the lady asked me why. I said to them that I didnt actually remember ticking the box on the original application form that said 'I want payment protection insurance'. The lady said, 'Oh – do you want me to look into that?' and I said – OK (expecting nothing). Imagine my surprise, 2 months later after a good set of correspondence ensuring me that they were investigating, that I am told my claim is upheld and that I should wait for them to contact me with how much I will receive. 2 weeks later, a cheque arrives in the post. Actually, come to think of it, I thought they said they would take anything they owed me off my balance – so I wonder if they cleared my balance and sent me a cheque for the remainder. Now that would be a nice Christmas present!

STS.

Yeah – I suppose I could extrapolate. £400 per month sounds high actually, so maybe I am getting a good deal. I think the percentage I was paying changed on the insurance as it suddenly seemed to leap up over the last year in relation to what I was actually charging to the card.

I'll probably take the money now – having no job in the new year will mean I need it.

Alas, it will not mean shiney new bike parts, so I'll still be on the singlespeed after Christmas… – will you be out on Wednesday Jon? I should be able to make it this week…

Cheers all…
STS.

Woody – yeah – well that was kind of what I was thinking because of my forthcoming situation. I cant tell if its a fair offer as I have have had the card for so long (I only keep the last 3 years of statements). So I cant back calculate. It is probably ballpark right but I thought someone on the forum might know how they calculate these things or how I can find out if it was a fair offer. Have they included lost interest etc. etc.

I see payment protection as a complete waste of time for me since I only ever spend what I have and never any more.

Samuri – nope – I dont need payment protection whatsoever. I dont buy stuff if I know I cant pay for it. I'll be unemployed, so I wont buy stuff – I'm not stupid. I clear my card every month and dont spend heavily.

Woody, you mean the irony that bank is bailing me out with my own money?

Or do you just mean that I am being a greedy b*&%£@d?

Problem is – I have no idea how much they took of me over the years. £500 could be about right, but it could be more. Are they taking the piss or not? How do I find out?

Votchy – you asked:

I know jack sh1t about cause and effect of global warming, however, one thing that troubles me is how can the ice caps be melting when the temperature at said ice caps never gets above 0 celcius?

The ice caps and ice sheets are losing mass – this is not the same as melting. Ice flows from the center of Antarctica towards the coast. The speed at which this happens is related to temperature, sea level and numerous other factors. The rate at which mass is being lost is accelerating i.e. the glaciers are speeding up, transporting ice faster from the center to the coast. This means that unless it snows more to compensate, the ice sheet will become smaller (and sea level will rise, and ocean circulation will change which may then cause further acceleration in mass loss). So, the idea of 'melting' ice sheets like Antarctica isn't quite right.

However, the north pole, where there is sea ice (not an ice sheet) is simply being subject to warmer temperatures. At the edges, the air and water temperatures are increasingly above zero for a larger proportion of the year. So unless the winters get colder or longer, the ice cap in the north will shrink.

Does that help explain? Sorry – I'm a glaciologist so I get excited about these things…

Also – the telegraph blog is utter balls. It's getting warmer cos we made too much CO2 – its pretty clear for all intelligent people to see. Hadley center is just one dateset – thousands more lines of evidence to confirm it is real.

I'm a full time researcher – dont do teaching so I can spend my lunch time on STW if I like :) – but that also means I cant be of any further help. Can you ask anyone else?

True – they shouldn't have agreed if they weren't going to deliver – hence why you should just go and knock on their door.

Kit,
I'm an academic. Academics are often (though not always) very busy (probably far busier than you realise – most students seem to think we are solely there to serve them). So a gentle reminder (and give them a short deadline – like 'I need it tomorrow') should work…

Oh and

Why should I have to do the legwork to guarantee even a response?

. Perhaps you should realise that you're not necessarily the only one demanding things from them. If you want a response, chase it up – welcome to the real world!

P.S. I am an academic in the same department you are waiting for a reference from – so you are busted for moaning on the internet!

Yeah – just a tensioner (push up for preference) and perhaps a half-link. You never know, you might luck out and get a perfectly tensioned chain without all that, but its unlikely… Anyway – I have never dropped the chain on my setup, though its getting increasingly creacky cos its worn out…

Crasher, Its probably air trapped behing the piston that is pushing it back out. You may need to detatch the hose from the caliper so that as you push the piston back in, the air trapped behind it can escape. That way the piston should go and stay in. Get the stuck piston moving again at this stage too. Then reattach hose, and bleed.

My 3 yr old lumi battery still gives 5 hours in the coldest of temperatures – shouldnt effect run times too much I wouldnt have thought. Oh – and I dont ride with it down my pants…

I got my hope hoops on ZTR 355 for £250 (discount at local bike shop). I guess you must be having some custom ones done instead to be paying that price – i.e. better hubs and spokes?

Yes – they work fine with tubes – that's how I run mine. I got hope hoops and the rims were supplied with velox tape which is quite thick. It is not the best stuff to use in those rime because the central channel is narrow. So use some cheaper rim tape or the narrow yellow tape from stans that fits into the central channel and it will make life a bit easier.

Anyway – fine with or without tubes…

STS.

Well Greece is pretty tectonically active, so perhaps particular parts of it are sinking. Combine this with sea level rise (google 'sea level change greece') and it will be disappearing more. Then I guess you have tectonically triggered landslides, so lots of sediment will slide into the sea. And lots of Greece is low lying so it is particularly susceptible to sea level rise. And Greece is particularly coastal, so coastal erosion is probably significant.

Oh – and for heaven's sake, DO NOT REFERENCE WIKIPEDIA. By all means use it to give you pointers, but you should read some actual journal papers. Pictures are good, and not too many words – but enough to tell a story. E.g. The aim of the poster is to explain why greece is disappearing, suggest some physical processes (sea level change, tectonics, coastal erosion) and some evidence (measured rates, model predictions) and then show why greece is particularly susceptible (cos it is low lying and coastal). Job done. Big picture in the middle showing a part of greece and then another image showing same part of greece with projected sea level rise plotted over it (I am sure some modelling papers will have something like that). And it never hurts to have some actual data on there – e.g. graph of predicted sea level change according to IPCC.

Oh, I'm an earth scientist in case you were wondering… and now you are going to tell me that you are not studying any form of earth science at all and that I've just wasted my time…

go to charlie the bikemonger and see what he has that might fit.

I think you probably want some chain tugs – towards bottom of page, but ask him if you're not sure.

The first bike I ever bought with my own money – a 1998 stumpjumper. Loving the v-brake action, long stem and crap geometry – oh yeah! 32:16 up here in Northumberland :)

SS is the way to go. Good for winter and for fitness. Sprint to keep up with others, or huff and puff up the hills. All good fun. Gear ratios dont really matter. I ride with Jonb and we each have different ratios for the same ride. We pretty much keep up with each other on the flat or on the up and to be honest, we both still outride other club members who ride geared bikes because you have to really go for it on the climbs. Spinning on the flat to keep up with the geared bikers has much comedy value too. Get a full kit with everything you need from charliethebikemonger – and check out the videos on his site too to see how to put it all together.

The Tescos is at the airport junction. Turn off for airport and immediately follow for Kingston Park on the roundabout – tesco is basically at the far end of kingston park. Google maps will show you.

DO NOT meet at the Metro Center. It is 1) busy, 2) a maze, 3) sh1t, 4) sh1t, 5) sh1t etc. etc.

Alternative is Washington Services – to the south of Newcastle. Cant miss it.

"Don't be dim… be bright at night"

or shorten to:

"Don't be dim… be bright"

Second cutepdf. Install it and it then appears as a printer. So you can simply print any file from any application and it will make a pdf :)

And it is free…