There’s a chap on YouTube that uses a microwave as a high temperature furnace. If you use a graphite crucible (I think it is graphite) you can get to some pretty amazing temperatures.

Microwaves: For more than just re-heating leftovers.

Kippers. Never EVER put kippers in the microwave.

Unless you really hate your co-workers and it is your last day.

Just watched it… Ok, maybe not.

But now I _do_ want an Aeropress.

Wait, what??? Makita does a damn coffee maker??? That alone might get me to buy into that ecosystem; I could just have that in the van and not have to worry about making espresso ever again.

Edited to add that I was looking at the Milwaukee dual brushless drill package to replace the one my ex took with her, but the coffee maker might be a deal breaker, despite the offer I saw on the package. Will have to see if the coffee thign is available here somewhere, otherwise I will just drop the cash on a straight replacement.

The 14,4v AEG drill/screwdriver I have is currently on charge to see if the batteries have survived. It seems sluggish, but that could be becauase I am used to the Milwaukee stuff now.

Dear gods, I had no idea this would a) open such a can o’ worms and b) this had been discussed (at length) before. I’ll have to look at more than the first page of search results in future. Damn you Google!

Yes. My ex has just moved out and I am recovering stuff from storage to try and fill out what is essentially a shell of a house. I brought back a van-load and a lot of it is garbage. I’ll recycle or skip it. I do still need some things to make it a livable place, but I’ll try and avoid much of the random crap I/we gathered.

More or less agree with TINAS above. I use both a Hero4Black and a Hero11Mini when I am filming jumping (two different setups, one with 1080p/60fps and 4k/60fps for competition and the other for stills and 4k/60fps for tandems) and the only things that are really different between the two are stabilisation (GP11 is buttery smooth, 4Black is quite jittery) and colour depth (4Black is what I would call more natural, 11Mini is richer). 8s, 9s and 10s are all decent choices second hand though as they have Hypersmooth and decent resolutions.

Other than that, DJi Osmo are decent and Sony do one that is pretty good for 1080p and 4k. Not many of those on the second hand market though.

The GoPro suction mount is pretty solid but, as said above, as soon as you tack arms and stuff to the side, _any_ vibration will shake the picture. I used to film country road MC journeys with the 4Black and it got quite blurry. Have not tried it with the 11 yet, but I think it would be much better.

I don’t think so. He’s doing some really good work _for_ Putin right now (i.e. stoking racial hate, division, etc) and boosting Trump, so it’s a stretch to think that he’d be on Putin’s bad side.

Short of Tesla stock plummeting and the shareholders suing him for not earning enough money for them (and winning), I can’t see him being anything other than the same he is now, or progressively worse, for the future.

The UK’s shit-filled rivers would make a great moat to prevent/hinder escapees.

If he was Int, please do talk to the regiment (or at least the Regimental Museum) first. Information on what people got up to during wartime (even if it was ordinary stuff) can help build up a picture of the Corps and might fit into things that they either display or record.

https://www.militaryintelligencemuseum.org/contact-us

I can’t help with the other stuff, but maybe the IWM (as mentioned above) might be interested.

NV200 are not too bad (neighbour has the ev version and seems to like it), but could be a bit pricey for the age. I’d be tempted by the Partner/Citroen equivalent, or maybe a Dispatch/Expert. I have a Jumpy/Dispatch and it’s decent to drive and has more space than the Partner/Berlingo. Economy is good as well.

Today is her moving day. I have a list of things I will need from Ikea, a list of things I may need from Ikea and a list of things I will need from storage. Priority #1 tonight will be to vacuum the house (assuming that the vacuum has stayed) and then get the bed out of my van and into the house so that I have a place to sleep tonight. That is assuming the bolts that put it together are still wrapped up with it.

After that, I have exciting evenings ahead of me making trips to Ikea to go through their “Freshly Single” line of goods and see what I need to buy. For those of you that want to see the choice, look up “Nyligen ogift” on their website…

I’ll probably be hitting up the second hand stores as well if I can get to them when they are open. Some things (large rugs for the loune and bedroom) are better there and the Craigslist equivalent may well be my go to for a new sofabed. That i tomorrow’s problem though. Today is vacuuming and getting a place to sleep.

I think I may still have a toaster, but I need to buy a kettle

They did and it’s a bit shocking.

I glibly thought “China and Russia” when I read the OP, but I think it is more nuanced than that.

Oh, I am so not handling this well. I’ve been away for the last tow weeks just avoiding shit like this and am now drinking a beer so hipster it has it’s own line in flannel shirts.

Skydiving makes me focus on one thing over all others and _knowing_ I have this waiting for me at home intrudes on that. Thinking about what I will be left with on the way up to height when I have to be fully into my A-game with twenty other people is not good. I have no idea if the meds are helping with this, but just seeing her is enough to **** me up. I almost resent how well she seems to be coping. She told me that she loved our perfect life together and then, like two weeks later, broke up with me.

No, I am far from handling this well. And I have to go back to work Monday.

Another week passed, another update.

Nationals have been and gone. The team finished third, or last if you fully count teams, and there was much stress and coaching and stress. And then there was bigway and weather and people with limited skill and experience trying to kill me by not tracking correctly.

ANYWAY…

I came home today knowing that she would be at home packing  for her move date of Monday. She gets the keys to her new place then and has booked the movers for the same day. The house already feeling empty and my list of things I need is huge. I have dragged my old bed out of storage and that is sitting in the van waiting for Monday night, and have been to Ikea to buy the “newly single” box of plates and bowls that they do. I went big and got the one that had six of each and was not just plain circles. I also got two pillows because i only have one and a friend will be visiting in a week.

I do need to buy a new sofa/sofabed though because Korpen’s going to need a place to sleep. Maybe I need a duvet for him as well. Do I even have a duvet after Monday? I don’t know. Is Ikea open late?

I also have a bunch of papers to sign. I need to transfer a lot of bills to my own account and then empty our house account. She’s been paying for the car, her car, out of the joint account but has changed that. I seem to recall I bought our original car and she used that for the deposit for the new one, but that’s something for another day.

I don’t even have kitchen chairs

The Alien/Aliens/Alien^3 universe did produce some books that fit the bill for corporate involvement in the bringing of the bugs to earth. Spoiler, it does not go well. I used to have them at one point, but I donated them when I moved. They are not terrible and, if done well, could be a good way to continue the series.

On the new film, if it is like Alien: Isolation, it could be good. It will be scary as hell.

Sweden does not really use cash. Bank/card payments are the most usual thing for normal purchases and peer to peer cashless with Swish is really popular. There is just about no need to use cash and a lot of people don’t take it (especially since you can send ‘cash’ directly to a person or a small business with Swish).

I use my local bank when I need to physically sign something (e-signature here is also a thing, even for big things) or when they invite me to a social thing to try and get me to invest more.

Thanks for the offer @mert, I appreciate it. I’m Uppsala-way, but going to be hopping between Västerås and Tierp for the next couple of weeks. After that I need to have a chat with my boss.

I also need to find a sports physio here. I’m getting injured now.

She took my dreams and my future away. I asked her about why, if she loved me, she hurt me so much and she said it was because she felt she was in such a small place. I caused that. She wants couples’ counselling so that she can explain/communicate it to me.

Well… Got home last night with a plan to either go back to the DZ tonight or tomorrow morning after a rest day. Decided to stay at home and do some chores, have a beer and watch bad films. She turned up unexpectedly about 45 minutes ago to collect some stuff (clothes, post) and caught me completely by surprise.

She’s now just left and I am a bit in tatters. Once again I have been just looking around the house wondering what will be here in a few weeks, what I will be left with, what I will need to replace. I’m glad I have the anxiety meds now, I’ll have one tonight so that I can sleep, then head back to the DZ tomorrow and get back to jumping.

She’s going to be at the nationals though. I hope I don’t have to have that much to do with her. I can’t take the meds all the time, I don’t want to.

Just looked through the list of the available cars on that site and I think my family has owned about 20% of them. I remember most of them being terrible. Sadly, no Austin Princess/Diplomat or Morris Marina. At least the Rover Vitesse had that wonderful engine.

Just seen that I owned at least one of those: The MG Montego. A car of two halves. Good engine, terrible suspension and a flawed head gasket. Mine rotted away just after the suspension bushes failed.

Bacon. I can add it to things and make them taste better.

Oh, and bread.

The weekend here is almost done and I have two weeks of holiday left before I have to go back to work. I should really put quotes around holiday, because the first week was anything but that. I also do need to talk to the doctor and my boss about how to claim that back, but not now.

The last couple of days have been tough. Team training has kept me out of trouble, but the cycle of jumping, packing and de-briefing jumps with both random jumpers and, yesterday, the team, has been tough. The trapped nerve I have in my shoulder/neck is meaning I eat painkillers to remain functional and I am going to have to take a few days off them soon. I did get to fly my wingsuit yesterday twice (first time) and I finally got some feeling back. Mostly nerves before the first jump, then the sense of calm that I had been missing. The second jump was less so (because I knew what to expect) but it was still a nice jump. I did think both times that this was not my day to die, so I think something is still wrong there. The team is also jumping well for their skill level and time together and that gives me hope for the nationals next week. We’re still making up the numbers, but at least we’ll be fighting for it.

My friends here have helped. There’s a shared bond/experience that we have here and this is helping me day after day. That is part of the reason I have not wanted to leave, despite knowing I _have_ to go home at some point (probably today) and see the cat and do stuff at the house. I’m really not looking forward to moving to another DZ after nationals and even less looking forward to starting work again. That is very much a problem for Future Me though. He’s going to have another couple of weeks of anti-depressants in him to help with things, so maybe he’ll be able to cope better with four weeks of mail and alerts.

Have been kicked in the nuts many times recently, this was just one more boot in the plumbs, so I will take the easy fix that allows me to (literally) keep on rolling.

BUT… I did check the valve that the dogbone link controls and it seems to be free-moving. Limited/no carbon/oil build-up and actually in good shape. The gasket that seal the unit to the top of the engine was alose both in good shape and not covered in oily garbage.

Van is due a service and some love at some part, but I will organise that for when I need the nw winter tyres and get a lot of things done at the same time.

Damn! Reqlly sorry to hear that, but very glad that you got seen so quickly (after the pub) and are now in the care pipeline. holding my thumbs for you and a good & complete recovery.

Nah, just poor design I think. There is no locking mechanism to it, so it just comes off. Will cross fingers that the bodge lasts

@kittyr I’m just the camera, but went to the tunnel today and sacrificed the time to get my team’s outside center on the ball. He’s an AFF instructor, but has not jumped much FS, so needs the time. We’re basically making up the numbers, but I want people to feel like they are competing. I did OC last year and Tail the four years before, so can give some tips, but…

@avdave2 One day this will have happened to me. Right now though, it is still hitting me daily. So many people ask how she is and what happened and the stigma (real or perceived) is a really heavy thing in my life.

Here at the DZ it does not matter. People are here for _me_ and care about _me_ and that helps so much. Despite hitting my goddam shin this morning and making a blood blister the size of a plum.

Agree. Mine was one that does a lot of VW/Audi-specific stuff, but has the generic ODB2 stuff too. Love it. It now lives in the van.

Time for another update.

I met/spoke to the GP yesterday to see how I was doing and to discuss plans. She’s happy that things appear to be levelling off and that the meds appear to be helping, despite not really working at peak capability yet. She is. however, keen for me to keep contact with her/the team in case I start slipping back and is looking to get me a dedicated person for this. She is also trying to sort out a referral for my AF and some tests, including a max effort tst to try and trigger the AF to see what causes it. When she said this I smiled and she said it was the first time I had done that since I had met her, not realising that it was not a happy smile. She’s never been DC cardioverted, so knows not the pain that it gives you… She does acknowledge the risk of stroke now that I am over 50, so it looking for solutions that involve betablockers (Flecainide is a specialist only prescription) and blood thinners.

Other than that, life goes on. I’m at the DZ waiting for the weather to clear so that I can jump and will be here for effectively three weeks now. That isolates me from a lot of things and puts me in a social group that is generally good for my mental health, most of the time at least. I’ve brought the road bike with me and I am seriously tempted to use the shit weather to go out for a bike ride, but it really is filthy out there and I should be using the time to prep A group block moves with the people that need to learn them (including me).

Next update? I don’t know. We’ll see what happens. Hopefully I will continue to improve, but small things do give me knocks. Ex was at home when I was here last week and that was tough. She’s got a new house now so I know, totally and 100% that there is no hope she will come back. It is intensly upsetting but, right now, it’s just a blurred mess of emotions.

Ok, time for an update…

Garage were booked solid and so had no time to look at it for a few days. I, on the other hand, had a whole four hours to scour the internet for a soltion. Most likely tsolution (according to YouTube and a host of other sites) was the EGR control valve arm detatching from the EGR control valve. Confused? yes, same here, but it seems that the part is so poorly designed that it can come off.

I took the loan car back and asked the garage if I could have a look myself. They were fine with it and, sure enough, the actuator arm from the vacuum side had come off. Popped it on, reset the fault codes and… Works fine.Said thanks, asked how much they wanted (nothing, the legends) and then drove home only for the same thing to happen about 19km into the 20km drive home. Same problem.

Out came the drill with the smallest bit I could find to make a safety clip hole in the valve arm. One homemade clip later and the arm can move and not come off. Drove 100-ish km later that evening and all is fine. I did, however, pack the ODB2 reader and some tools in the van just in case.

Just got back from town (doctor) and popped in to the place to see if they had been able to look atr it. Turns out they had plugged in a reader and got the following:

Before clearing:

• P11AB
• P0488
• P1498
• P2566

After clearing:

• P0488 https://partsavatar.ca/p0488-obd-ii-trouble-code-exhaust-gas-recirculation-throttle-position-control-range-performance-egr-valve
• P1498

My mechanic-Swedish is really poor (laddningsspjäll och reglarspjäll fel), but one of the hits is a link on YouTube for a problem with an armature that controls a wastegate thing (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/z0DOg_2PIoI) and, given that I heard something that sounded like a bolt pinging off the underside of the van, this could be the cause. Either that or the DPF.

They have the van in the queue, but no idea when it will get looked at. I am now preparing to commute to the DZ on my bike after I have taken the loaner back and caught the buys home.

So, that looks like it could be the culprit. It can be fixed, but might take time and they may just want to switch out the part.

Well, let us hope that it is something simple and, more importantly, cheap/fast. Even though I have a loan car for the day (until the codes get read), the van is my only sensible mode of transport/storage and contains my sleeping arrangements for the next three weeks. Without it I am a bit fscked.

136k km on a 2015 2.0TDi. It’s classed as Euro5, but I have never seen an AdBlue filler and, if I am honest, I have not really looked for one. It has had no countdown for AdBlue either, unlike the Audi the garage lent me this evening.

I don’t think I have a model that takes/needs AdBlue, it is _just_ too old for that. Internet is pointing me at everything from injector fail to turbo fail and the only reader I have is set up for VAG vehicles.

Hmmmm, maybe I can still read the codes, but not get the extended info. ANYWAY, will wait and see what the car gods have dealt me.

@crewlie I will do, I promise. I hope/know/feel that it is just temporary, but life just seems joyless right now.

I should maybe have explained samboskap before i posted that, sorry if it caused anxiety. It is essentially a legal co-habitation and has a lot of the same legal protections as marriage, but not quite. For a country like Sweden, it makes a lot of sense and, unless kids are involved and you have a dangerous job, there’s really little advantage to being married. I’m not sure it is relevant or related, but the word for marriage and poison is the same: ‘gift’.

The care I have received has been excellent at every stage. My local primary care (vårdcentral) is closed for summer and the person doing the bookings was very apologetic that today was the earliest they could see me. I arrived today at what looked to be a hospital that had shrunk in the wash and my appointment turned into a 60 minute chat with the doctor, followed by EKG (normal), BP (120/70) and pulse (56) and a bunch of bloods taken. I got a new prescription for both the anti-anxiety meds I was given at Akuten and the anti-depressants and they have asked if I can come back next week for a check-in and a longer chat. This cost me 200kr. The doctor is really nice and is looking at more than just the immediate situation. She’s looking at new meds for the AF I have once in a while (after being shocked I was still using the tablets I had from 2016, which are not used in Sweden) and that was the reason for the EKG. She also questioned why I feel that skydiving is fine for me, but I refuse to get on my motorbike.

It is still difficult being in the house. Meeting neighbours and explaining that it’s just me here now is difficult. I still wonder if that is wise, but this truly is the only place I feel is home even if the house, garden and village is full of memories. At some point I will replace them, or they will just not be so strong, vivid or urgent. Now though, it’s just very difficult.

Just a small update today.

The last few days have been the new normal for me. Working through the list of jobs I have for the next few months, eating when I feel hungry, forgetting to drink enough water. I finally finished one project my sambo had started, as the neighbour had ordered the roofing material (plåt) I needed for the car port and had judged the job I did of the woodwork up to holding it. So, one job done, with a follow-up task of walls to be added to the list.

Sleep is better, mostly due to the combination of the meds, possibly also due to slowly accepting things and starting to process them in a more ordered way. The PsykAkuten team have been calling me every day since my admission, checking on how I feel and just talking to me. Last night was the last time they had planned for doing that as today I am going to be handed over to the local vårdcentral team. I was actually quite sad to say goodbye to the team. They were a small constant in a really tough time and I don’t think I can thank them enough for just being there and talking to me.

Anyway, GP is soon and the day’s biggest struggle will be telling my mother that it is over, something that I have been putting off until after she got back from holiday. We don’t really get on that well, but I know she likes my sambo, so I suspect that she will not be entirely happy that I messed things up. We shall see. Right now though, doctor.

The only answer I can think of to this question is “It is complicated”.

Dugs have both the actual and potential capability for so much harm to individuals and society all the way through their supply chain from that I think it is next to impossible to create a legal ecosystem without accepting some harm along the way. In the worst case, that could be harming people on the streets and their families, or destroying communities where the drugs or precursors are produced/harvested. Even the question about legalising cannabis is tough to answer. If you legalise it, will people buy from a government controlled source (which may require ID) or continue buying from a dealer to avoid this? Will a dealer be cheaper? Will they have a better quality product? You could say that _this_ government may not record/retain user information, but what would another one do? Would the info be sold to a third party for further use?

Manufactured chemicals… Well, it would be easier for a large company to buy, manufacture and distribute a synthetic chemical to the end-user with a known quality and purity, so a drug like MDMA _could_ be made available as a safer product, but could also be copied illegally and distributed as the ‘legal’ version with a higher level of risk to the end user. Again, who do you trust to make and distribute the drugs? How do you guarantee that the data from the purchase and use is not misused? How do you keep people safe?

I keep thinking of the supply chain for heroin and cocaine and the way that this has destroyed nations and their populations. Could this be reversed if drugs were legalised? I don’t think so. Money will always be something people will want more of, either because they have none and just want t little bit more to feed their families (Opium in Afg) or because they have a shit-tonne and want to control it all (Cocaine in South America). Drug companies would probably fall into the latter category here… If they managed to secure the contract for producing legal MDMA, they’d want to optimise their profits.

The only way I see the war on drugs being won is by education and help. Show people the harms the drugs cause, educate them on what they can do in a way that works with them, help them effectively if they do have a problem. If the dealers are dealing because tit’s the only way they can get money, give _them_ opportunities, allow them to learn new skills, get real jobs, break that cycle too.

Honestly, the only thing I can see being remotely working as legalisation is small scale, self-grown cannabis and, even then, I do not think that will happen in the UK.

I’ve just got back from a day with other people and, well, it was difficult. I know I have friends though, some that just gave me a hug, some that put me in a choke-hold. I also managed to get three skydives in, something that I had worried about, something that i know the professionals were also concerned about.

It used to be a means of escape, a glorious sixty seconds of pure “in the moment” feelings, but now? It’s different. It feels different. There’s a lot less joy in it right now, I am still there, in the moment, but even my friends said that I looked too serious. I guess I will see what the next couple of weeks bring, whether I can get back that feeling. I am still alive though, and I am taking life one breath at a time.

My support network is kind of limited. Mother is currently on holiday with older sister and I really don’t want to mess that up for them. That drops stuff on the other sister and the limited number of good friends I have here. They really are good friends though; I have received so much support from them in the last week and I cannot begin to thank them for that.

Today has been better. I had a lot of things to keep me occupied, DIY mostly and the high winds have meant the drive to the various DIY places to buy wood (two trips) have been entertaining and not really time to think too much. I have crossed two jobs off my list though, nearly three and, if I empty the dishwasher tonight, that will mean nearly four!

The psych team at the hospital called me mid-afternoon for a follow-up. It brought up a lot of the feelings again, but it is getting easier to talk about it. As much as I hate talking about it, me, everything, it is helping. maybe that’s just having more sleep. Maybe it is the drugs starting their job.

She has moved out, currently living at a house that a friend of hers has inherited (but is being sold soon), so she has been house-hunting nearer her work. She still has all of her stuff here though and, at some point, she’ll have to move. That is the future though. She has work next week, I do not. I’ll DIY for a week and then take all my jumping gear to the DZ and spend the rest of the holiday time skydiving with the team.

I’m also going to try and get signed off work. This should count and I may need the time away from the job.