I’m recently married. I believe in marriage.
Those who are against something are always more outspoken and whiny than those who are pro something, that’s all.

Priapism

The Mk2 is the one that’s got me a little curious. I’m not clear whether it behaves like the other two, or whether this one’s dip mode keeps the wide beam on full power and turns the spot off. And if it does do that I’m not really sure whether that would be better or worse… There’s going to come a time where even with the piggyback I’m going to need to ride through the night on dip beam.

Bez, I think I may have been mistaken in my description of how it worked. I haven’t used it for a little while and when I do I don’t make a habit of staring directly at it.
There are several others corroborating that it keeps both beams on but at lower power, I’d go with that consensus.
From a beam pattern perspective – on the lower setting it does look like a dipped headlight.

cheers,
Stu.

Business travel sucks. This post coming to you from a hotel in St Helier, Jersey. On the brightside, I’m not wearing a £100 suit.

I think Strada on the bars on dipped plus a joystick on the bonce would be just about spot on for night time road riding.

I have the Exposure Strada.
It has two LED lamps, one directional dipped beam and one flood type. Each is 300 lumens.

When operating on dipped mode you have just the dipped beam lit, when on full power you have both, giving 600 lumens.

I rode through the night in pitch black rural France on just the dipped beam and it was sufficient.

As for the claim most training can be done with a dumbbell as opposed to a kettlebell, whilst partly true as technically it’s weight, it’s also complete rubbish. The kettlebell doesn’t rest in balanced state and is used for much more dynamic exercises. It will give a better all round strengthening, clubbells are even more unbalanced and work on 3 planes whilst lifting. Due to the dynamic forces being used a 15 lb. clubbell gets the exerciser the equivalent of a workout with a 54 lb. kettlebell or a 75 lb. dumbbell. Therefore, the dynamics of kettlebell swings will generate greater forces than a dumbbell.

LOL, Koolaid much?

The main reason that kettlebell training works like it does is not because of the shape of the weight it is because the exercise selection is for much more dynamic exercise, such as one arm snatches, swings, turkish getups etc.
Do these with a dumbell, and guess what? You get much the same benefit, but using a cheap, adjustable bit of kit.

I like kettlebells, but am just pointing out that they aren’t magic, they are just weights.

+1 for giving it another go.
Road cycling > mountain biking :wink:

What size is it, BTW? I may know someone.

For an indication of how much impact having a current Royal family has on tourism look at the worldwide coverage of the Royal wedding this spring and the amount of visitors, in particular yanks, to that occasion. That is directly due to the existence of the current Royals, not the “buildings and pageantry” of a bygone royal family.

Like it or not the Royal family is still a big noise internationally.

Prince Charles is currently on a diploamtic visit in Saudi Arabia, at short notice, due to the death of their crown prince. It is this sort of international diplomacy that they do. And it means that it is them, not the actual leader of the country who apparently has better things to be doing, that is doing it.

I’m no Royalist, but I can see the positives in what they do. There is a lot of blinkered ill-informed vitriol above.

From the article…

The consultancy said Apple’s growth was hindered by customers waiting for the launch of the new iPhone 4S.

Normal service resumed for Q4 I expect, assuming Apple can make and ship enough units to support demand.

Did you buy it new?
RRP is £849, so I reckon a mint 2nd hand one would be £500 – £600.

And giving up after one 16 mile ride? Shame on you.

keep the 10kg for other things.

Paperweight?
Door knocker?

The problem with kettlebells is that they are not adjustable, and they are expensive per KG compared to dumbells.
They aren’t a magic bullet and most kettlebell exercises can also be done just as effectively with a dumbell.

That said, I quite like them and if I had a garage with a home gym in it (one day!) then I would have a few of different weights in there.

Ebay has some decent value sets.

Me Missus.
I find the wimmins really like this.

But now we’re married, I just call her wife, as in:
“Get me a beer, wife”

Another vote for Spesh S-works. they are ace.

So good in fact that I now have the full set in Road, Mountain Bike and Podium shoes.

You’ve got the podium shoes!?! you total gimp.

The rented flat I just moved out of was not professionally cleaned before we moved in. We moved in only a few hours after the last tenant checking out and they hadn’t had it done like they were supposed to. They also had a pet which was contrary to the tenancy agreement. My missus has severe asthma and allergies, it took weeks of vacuuming daily to stop the pet hair affecting her.
It was not painted before we moved in, 2 years for previous tenants, we were there 3 years, so it hasn’t been done in 5 years. I suspect my landlady is going to try to sting us for re-decorating, despite it being wear and tear.
We refused to pay a professional to clean the carpets and the sofa, as it was not done for us, we did however replace the mattress and pay for a full professional clean of the flat by the agents recommended and guaranteed cleaning company, excluding carpet shampooing and sofa cleaning(again, not done before we moved in).

The inventory says quite clearly that the place was not clean and tidy when we moved in but we have left it so, it seems this isn’t worth the paper it is written on, let alone the exorbitant inventory clerk fees. I’m now expecting a fight with my landlady over it.

The joys of renting.

It was great when they got planning planning permission and stuck it to that NIMBY chairwoman of the Mews housing committee.

“I am suspicious of your motives”
Eh? They just want to build a nice house to live in.

I hated the end result, but if that is what they wanted…

I think it would have been a bloody ball ache living there and having that going on outside your house for 2 years.

Heli skiing is a no-no in France afaik. But from Cham you should be able to head through the tunnel to Courmayer in Italy to go heli boarding I think.

What is your car?

black is OTT

On what planet is a black tie OTT? It is the accepted norm. And it works fine with blue and grey suits too.

Colourful may be appropriate depending on the individual – my most recent funeral was a colouful affair too (navy blue suit, pink shirt, pale blue tie), but it was requested that people add a splash of colour and it was appropriate to the person and the gathering. Otherwise dark suit with a white shirt and black tie is definately the safe option, and a funeral is not the place to be taking sartorial risks.

So according to L’equipe Dusautoir was the best 7 in the tournament, despite being a 6 and the French playing Bonnaire at 7 all tournament.
L’equipe shoe-horning in their main man, whilst accepting that Kaino had a stormer and had to be the top number 6.

Depends on the blue, presumably it is a dark navy blue? If so then that with a white shirt and black tie will be fine.
Black shoes please, not brown.
Charcoal is the obvious choice but if it is knackered and the marks can’t be dry cleaned out then blue will be fine.

No trip booked yet but I will be going on at least one, probably Alps.
Got a K2 Slayblade year before last, which is amazing and has plenty of life left so no new stick for me.
Need a new helmet, probably a get a smith variant brim. And fancy some ski boots (Salomon) as I ventured back onto 2 planks last year and loved it – planning to split my time between skiing and snowboarding this year.
No other new gear for me.

Have we done the French getting fined by the IRB for standing up to the Haka yet?
Apparently there is a 10metre exclusion zone, which they breached.

Ridiculous,imo.

he’s had os upgrades forced on him

Forced how?
My Mac still works fine on Leopard, just cos I haven’t gotten round to buying the latest OS. To date no bailiffs have been round to strongarm me into installing Snow Leopard or Lion.

it’s just a readers’ choice and as we can see here people will vote with their hearts and not with their heads and spout the usual rubbish.

Agreed.

Phillips and Roberts deserve to be there

Can’t argue with that.

Or are there other losers in there too?

Only one… the only non-Welshie or non-New Zealander in that list is Victor Matfield, and he IS a world cup winner.

A brilliant player is not defined by holding the RWC, nice leap you’ve made there. But a team with 7(!) of the 15 best players at the RWC would not have lost 3 times and failed to make the final, and they lost to a team who have no players in that list, and another who have only one.

You’re just picking a fight, but whatever.

What have planet rugby’s readers been smoking? 7 welshmen in their rwc 15, do me a **** favour…

I am not a motorcyclerist, if I were I would get one of these:

Lets face it the business think the techs are green wizards and the techs think the business are morons, so somebody has to translate.

This made me think of the Office Space scene with Tom and the 2 Bobs…

BOB SLYDELL
So what you do is you take the specifications from the customers and
you bring them down to the software engineers?

TOM
That, that’s right.

BOB PORTER
Well, then I gotta ask, then why can’t the customers just take the
specifications directly to the software people, huh?

TOM
Well, uh, uh, uh, because, uh, engineers are not good at dealing with
customers.

BOB SLYDELL
You physically take the specs from the customer?

TOM
Well, no, my, my secretary does that, or, or the fax.

BOB SLYDELL
Ah.

BOB PORTER
Then you must physically bring them to the software people.

TOM
Well…no. Yeah, I mean, sometimes.

BOB SLYDELL
Well, what would you say… you do here?

TOM
Well, look, I already told you. I deal with the goddamn customers so
the engineers don’t have to!! I have people skills!! I am good at
dealing with people!!! Can’t you understand that?!? WHAT THE HELL IS
WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!!!!!!!

Agile Project Management = starting before you know what you want and then making it up as you go along.

I came into it from a grad scheme but that is not necessarily the right, nor even necessarily the best way to do it. I don’t think you’ve missed the boat at all.

+1 for system. My Mrs just puts stuff in random places, she’s forever losing her debit card, house keys, car key, phone, purse… If I need my keys I know they will be in 1 of 3 places.

A regular scene when leaving our gaff:
Her: have you got your keys?
Me: Yes, we’re going out, why would I not have my keys?
Her: Good, I can’t find mine.
Me: FFS.

Another regular scene, she’s had the car for work all week:
Me: Where are the car keys?
Her: You had them last.
Me: No, you’ve had the car all week, I haven’t used it.
Her: Oh.
Me: FFS.

And yet when it comes to dates and planning I’m rubbish. I’ve developed a system though – I ask my wife.
Come to think of it, that sounds like it may be remarkably similar to her system for her keys.

I just use a cafetierre (french press), but I don’t do anything fancy -just strong black coffee.
I like Carluccio’s or Starbuck’s Pike Place Roast beans and grind em up as needed in a Krups burr grinder I got from John Lewis.

No doubt some coffee bore will be along shortly to tell me I should have bought a more expensive grinder or I’m using the wrong beans.

Get help.

Very mature interview from Jamie Roberts, not rising to the bait about the ref.

Well that was an unsatisfactory result.
Naivety from Wales, not taking the drop goal opportunity when it was there.

France are so crap, can’t believe they are in the final.

France are so crap. Wales deserve to win this.

The welsh commentator said it was a really strong perfect tackle, talk about one eyed commentary.
He turned Clerc upside down and dropped him on his head, really dangerous. It’s a minimum yellow, can easily see it being justified as a red.

Uphill battle for the welsh now. Especially with the scrum starting to creak. Hope they can still do it!

You can also get up to £120 cashback via Quidco.

Gah! I’ve just signed up for it.