the most telling bit was with the stone cladding and Kev suggested that the communications hadn’t been all that from him to his wife. The chap muttered something about the send and receive not working properly. That’s two weeks of off-camera barnstormers right there.

Another vote for Borne by Vandermeer, Annihilation is good too but the second book of that trilogy is probably the most boring thing I have ever had the displeasure to read. Didn’t bother with the third book.

Anything by Cordwainer Smith is my top pick. Quite out-there space-y mid 20th century sci-fi (aka the best kind). Start with The Rediscovery of Man.

Mine was creaking like **** when I got it, thought it was the bb but I tried tightening the rear wheel skewer and it disappeared. Creaking a bit again now though, need to investigate this weekend. Great bike otherwise!

Survivorship bias is a good argument against all the ‘wow isn’t it amazing how this thing is designed’ hooha. All the crap / poorly functioning things that evolved aren’t here any more.

Some nice stuff here on how cicadas evolved a prime number based life cycle – without even knowing about prime numbers!!!111

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-cicadas-love-affair-with-prime-numbers

Tesla batteries have an infinite mile / 8 year warranty on them. I’m not sure about the other manufacturers. The actual usable battery life is probably a lot longer, but Nissan (I think) is trialling a system where they take car batteries and repurpose them for home use once their performance drops below a certain output.

Anyway, bangernomics aside I don’t think the useable life of the battery is a constraint on the overall life of EVs.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/tesla

here you go

Disappointed the Edinburgh start won’t take it along Porty prom but that would probably drive the local dog walkers to insanity. Think I’ll watch it go through Musselburgh or maybe a bit further out if I get up early enough.

Exactly. It’s all about niches.

Climate change, disease, migration one way with no way back, competition from other species… so many variables. Honestly, the best thing here is to do some proper reading or sign up for a course.

The comment about evolution between species is just nonsense. Humans and fish have a common ancestor… humans and plants have a common ancestor. It was a very long time ago but thats facts. Populations undergo genetic drift when they are separated from one another over significant enough timescales. The example of Darwin’s finches is well known and was enough to convince the great man of his theory. Speciation occurs when those changes are large enough such that the offspring of a mating is either not viable or sterile.

Short necks will die out pretty damn quick if there is nothing to eat.

Sign up for an evening class in biology!

I did it, and I didn’t die! Came very low down the pack and really struggled with stages 1 & 2 but the rest were good. The traquair two were wicked. Stoked to have made it round despite patently unsuitable tyres and a distinct lack of skill for and distaste of the really tech stuff. Give me fast and open every time? Now, what bike for more enduros??

I’m entered too, my first enduro also. Reckon I’ll practice the golfie side tomorrow and not knacker myself too much for Sunday.

So tempted by one of these. Hoping to get a minute on one at the Tweedlove enduro this weekend.

Very pleased with my DHB ASV ones I got recently. I’ve not worn them under baggies but I’ve done lots of road miles in them and they are really very good.

3rd on the 2.4 Rubber Queen, it’s massive!

It’s fun to ride ‘brakeless’ and is one of the reasons I like to commute on a fixed – because it adds a bit more interest to what is otherwise a pretty monotonous routine. Actually riding a bike without any brakes attached to it is a whole different ballgame. Tried it for a while but it can get sketchy and it’s not worth it!

On a hill like that I would control it from the top. Especially in the wet. You’ll find your ability to keep the bike under control using your legs only will improve rapidly, though I will often drag the brake a bit too (I ride front only) if it’s a really steep section. It’s not much fun trying to slow the bike in an emergency once your legs are doing 10,000 rpm.

If this guy is on strava or something similar shouldn’t he be easily identifiable given the time log on the CCTV screen? Looks totally deliberate to me.

Great race, totally insane riding at that speed in those conditions. May have been asked elsewhere on the thread – but does Rob Warner dye his beard or what?

I searched for ‘blacktop’ on itunes and netflix yesterday but no joy. RAD neither 🙁

@Rusty Spanner what’s the bottom one of the two?

Think I’m going to watch RAD tonight if I can find a decent version somewhere. And I will watch Tokyo Drift again with an open mind!

Our car in France this year also had a clause about cleaning, they specifically said they would charge if it came back dirty. Seems to be a new thing. The car went back spotless, and with a couple of new scratches they didn’t see cos it was so clean. Suckers!

North Shore – yes! that’s the one with Laird Hamilton in, right? Not sure GoG fits the bill… Tokyo Drift does but is surely the worst of the FF movies.

There’s got to be one about skateboarding too.

I have the 505s on my road bike and I was a bit worried about the weird bump some have complained about, but they have been completely fine in actual use. The fact they are tall doesn’t bother me at all.

thanks. We are moving house later this month to a place which needs a new kitchen – wife has already mentioned induction hobs.

can you get induction hobs that work with a wok?

My son (now 12) was the same about Match Attax football cards. Totally obsessed. He’s grown out of it now but it took a while and we still have (at a guess) 2 or 3 thousand cards in the house – his pals dumped all their old cards on us as they went off it and he kept the torch lit.

I started crow squeezing my legs with my arms but I can now do it as shown above. The key thing for me was back flexibility – once I had that I could get my knees on my elbows pretty easily. The balance is easier for me if I look between my legs, I tend to tip backwards if I look up. Hold for 5 breaths then pop straight to plank!

crow pose is great! when I started last year I could only do it by squeezing my arms with my legs. Now I can get my knees onto the backs of my upper arms and balance that way. All progress is fun!

as above, find the right class. Some are more hippyish than others for sure. But I’ve generally found that any mungbeaniness is offset by my jealousy admiration of the teacher’s ability to do stuff with her body that eludes me. One year into doing it weekly and my only regret is I didn’t start doing it 15 years ago.

I did this for a brake hose but it might work for a cable… I pulled the hose taut where it enters the downtube, then put a small cable tie on tight to stop the hose slipping back down inside. Then put a tiny drop of superglue on the cable tie to stop that slipping on the hose. Works perfectly.

why not? David has already explained about his genetic engineering experiments, maybe he knocked up a new generation of spore quickly in the lab while the covenant was coming to pick them up.

he was infected when David replaced the dressing on the acid burn. that patch was impregnated with the spores i thought.

I thought the I’d post some spoilers but the mods spotted it.

The trick is timing the tail smack and the pop. lots of kids (mine included) whack the tail and lift the front foot but don’t let the back foot come up too. snap the tail down and as you do jump up, levelling the board out by dragging your front foot up the tape. But as you do that you also need to give the tail room to get off the ground. took me AGEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS to learn when I was a teen, but I’m 42 now and I can still pop pretty high. In your face, kids!

This shows it in slow mo, although his style is bit off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jig3uiYsb4w

75% sure it’s going to be a disappointing reboot. The android cocks everything up AGAIN.

I found Hush Hush and Mud and Roots yesterday. Mud and Roots was pretty ok, Hush Hush was a bit of a challenge in parts. I guess it would be even more hectic in the wet. At least I know what I am up against now!

Went to Sopot just next door a couple of years ago for a wedding. I think Sopot, Gdansk and some other place are considered all part of the same conurbation. Nice beach vibe, cheap to eat etc. Think Polish Riviera. Would have liked to explore Gdansk but we didn’t have time.

Just want to chuck in my 10p’s worth on Ski Famille. Went twice with them in Les Gets and yes it’s pricey but it was totally worth it. 2nd year we were there, 2013 I think, it puked all day and night for a week. Kids were out of our hands by 8.45 and it was straight on first lifts. Is Mont Chery that little separate section off the back of the resort? We were up there lapping that black run and the surrounds at high speed all morning before nipping back to check on them at lunch. Totally brilliant week.