@bullstuff2
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BL there is an increasing amount of technology creeping into athletics. Going back in history, it was the Greeks of Athens and other city states, who really created athletics and their track and field may not have always been completely fair: there were instances of city states taking dubious measures to ensure their athletes won. However, apart from disguised ‘short cuts’ the athletes all performed in the same or very similar gear to race, jump, and throw the same distances. But unfair competition was severely punished, sometimes other city states cooperated to attack the proven offender. Substance enhancement (hello Vladimir) was also evident then, but not on a large scale.
It should all be about enjoying the activity, which is why I took to it. All 3 of us brothers inherited genetic problems and two of us dealt with it in our own ways: my big bro (RIP our ‘Ecker’) became a gymnast and put me on my first bike, dad gave me a pair of “Davies double roller-bearing” roller skates, which weighed about a hundredweight on each foot.😣😙 This strengthened our legs, which were affected by Ricketts inherited from dad. Both myself and big bro wore leg irons, middle bro would not and would not exercise at all. He is now suffering severe dementia, but all his life he was severely bow legged.
When I went to Technical school at 11, the school had an extensive sports curriculum and a large number of sports pitches. (Most of which were heavily sloped.) There was a huge reservoir across from the school and we were always tasked with running around it, leaping a ditch after about a mile. I began to like running and then loved it. I discovered something that I excelled at which also made me feel good and made me healthy. By the time I was around 14, I could outrun older boys over distance. I would enter a state of floating over the ground, no pain and just concentrate on the run. And I ran in simple plimsolls, baggy shorts and oversize House shirt. Eventually the Maths teacher/Football/Athletics coach found me some spikes, which I discovered later he had bought himself. That was typical of Mr Crofts. RIP Sir, you were The Man. I can still feel that blackboard eraser on my head!
I don’t think many schools have extensive pitches any more, but the current reliance on technology is dangerous and really typical of sport and other activities today. There has to be an ‘advantage’ in order to win and of course it is guided by hugely wealthy, multinational companies such as Nike. Sportsmanship and fair competition, in which the sportsperson achieves success by simply physical effort, is dying.
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I'm out.Belated Happy Birthday you guys!
I note that Richard has been absent for a while: are you OK Richard?
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I'm out.I know Dave rates this company for good refurbished stuff:
And there are quite a few there that fit those requirements, although if using it with a TV via HDMI, she may want full HD (1920x 1280) and an IPS screen to get the best out of that, and that is outside the Max price you quote. What size screen would best suit her needs?
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I'm out.You’re welcome BL. I left Sky over a year ago now, don’t miss it but am becoming a bit fed up with Freesat, for many of the same reasons I left Sky: too many useless channels and far too many repeats. I am going to Fire TV very soon and may go Licence free altogether eventually. Dealing with Humax emails atm, trying to get them to understand that their cure for losing one tuner (factory reset) means losing saved HD programmes, which cannot be saved. If they find a way for me to record these saved prog’s to an external source, I will pass it on. I don’t think they will do that though.
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I'm out.Very interesting Ed, keeping my eye on that.
Here’s a thought to help get EV into the mainstream: there are 200,000 Motability vehicles leased by customers every year. Right now in 2019, around 684,000 on the road. If the price of E Vs were to be reduced to the point of the DLA/PIP allowance, how many Motability customers would ask for an EV? My guess is a lot, including myself. Atm, there are just a very few E Vs on Motability. Two examples:
*Hyundai Ioniq 100KW Premium 38KWH auto, £1795 advance payment.
*Renault Zoe 80KW 40 KWH. £2,499 AP.
There are a LOT of Toyota hybrids, a few from others, and all carry an AP. Would it not advance the EV cause, and consequently the environment, to have some repeat volume sales from a ‘captive’ market?
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I'm out.+1 to Steve’s E comment, I hate their site and intend to switch soon. Both me and Mrs Bob are SIM only, no contract. My Gert does not use any data, doesn’t use emails or anything online with her phone.
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I'm out.All it proved to me was that the people who don’t wan’t to leave under any circumstance still think the same. To be fair that also applies to the Leavers.
“ … that also applies to the Leavers, who don’t want to remain under any circumstances. ” Fixed that for you, Alan!😎😋
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I'm out.Would like to have seen that!
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I'm out.What I really don’t get Bob is that there were people in Ireland who battled long and hard to separate themselves from UK rule but then signed up to the EU empire. Honestly I don’t get it.
You failed to draw the obvious conclusions from your comments The EU is neither British or an Empire (not ruled by an Emperor) it is therefore a fine body to join.
Thanks Ed you said it all for me!👍
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I'm out.Mate of mine joined the RAF a year before I joined the Army and made it into the AAC. He always said that he wanted to work on V-bombers, particularly the Vulcan. Became an avionics Tech, started on Victors, wound up on Vulcans. He said that they were fiendishly complicated systems and he had to concentrate on the work: decided that booze was not good so stopped drinking. Paid off and he rose through the ranks, but when they gradually started phasing out the V-bomber force he took redundancy.
Being an aircraft nutter, I loved the Vulcan, but the really impressive RAF aircraft for me was the Canberra. First RAF jet bomber, so good that the USAF bought it and it was built there under licence by Martin. It was built in so many variants and fitted for so many different roles. Its maiden flight was actually 70 years ago this year and the last 2 flying examples were either scrapped or stored after serving with High Altitude Mapping Missions of Spokane, Washington, until around 2000 or 2001. The 2 aircraft had long exceeded their working life by then, so the company must have wrung out as much life as they could from them.
The Canberra saw service all over the world as a bomber and reconnaissance type. Many other air forces bought the Canberra, including Argentina. At the end of its active service, the Canberra was used to test radar systems, engines, missiles and bombs that were to be used in later aircraft. It was such a stable platform that it was even used to test a rocket motor in its bomb bay, that was meant to be used in the English Electric Lightning. That was never used in the Lightning, as the Avon engine eventually developed so much power that it became unnecessary.
Truly, a great servant to the RAF and the country, one of the longest-serving aircraft for the UK.
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I'm out.I’ll get your coat!😆
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I'm out.Many features of New York start to make sense when you consider how easy it is to build increasingly taller skyscrapers there, in comparison to many other world cities. The geology consists of very hard, deep bedrock: hard to tunnel through, but hard enough to mean may tunnels can be unsupported, once finished. Compare London, built on clay and softer bedrock, with the ever-expanding cost and delays of the Crossrail project. In New York, the hard bedrock laid down 500 million years ago and scraped by the glaciers of succeeding Ice Ages, is a stable base for the tallest buildings. In London, supporting infrastructure has to be intensively engineered.
Can’t recall where I heard or read this, but apparently a nuclear explosion at Ground Zero in New York would make the hard bedrock ring like a bell.
The Death Knell. (Sorry!)
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I'm out.Similar applies to my Motability iX20: many different models on the scheme, with varying power outputs, are all covered by RSA Insurance, Motability’s insurer. The current situation regarding the number of unsold cars in the UK is reflected in the much larger number of cars available from Motability with nil Advance Payment. Including my iX20, dammit!
The lowest priced car is the Dacia Sandero 1.0 hatch at £46.50, which is below the DLA/PIP Total Allowance, meaning some allowance is refunded every month as a Benefit. Highest Advance Payments are all mini buses, but as a couple of car examples:
Alfa Romeo Giulia 2.0TB Super Auto (197 BHP) £3,745 Advance Payment.
Audi Q2 Estate 40 TFSi Quattro Black edition 5 door S Tronic – name almost as long as the car! (187 BHP) £3,749 Advance Payment.
There are some really tasty Merc’s further down the range at (slightly) lower AP’s. What you think of those who can afford to pay that much and take the rest as a Benefit, is your business. I just think, well even wealthy people become disabled.
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I'm out.Decided upon an additional post instead of adding to my previous windbaggery. 😊😋
The Leeds Heat Network linked by JayCeeDee had a smaller precedent many decades ago in my old pit village of Blidworth and its companion village of Newstead, both owned by Lord Newstead.
During the 1920’s, both pits were sunk and opened for production by Lord Newstead, who was something of a philanthropist. He had colliery boilers built which were very much oversize and over capacity. The waste heat was piped through the colliery estates in both villages, into each home. Later in the 30’s, he had electricity supplied to each house as well. He also had pithead baths in both pits, workers could shower off the coal dust and muck at a time when other pit workers in the UK were bathing in the big tin baths at home. Bathrooms were built into each home. My dad said that the Lord was revered by his workers and jobs at both pits were in big demand. Until nationalisation, miners at both pits paid 3d. (Three Old Pence) out of their wages each week, for electricity and hot water supply. Of course, the first thing Attlee’s nationalised NCB did, was to stop the supply. How very Socialist – everything and everyone down to the lowest common denominator!
There is very little new under the sun!
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I'm out.All metal is either in road builds, (very small quantities) but the majority is recycled. 99.9% of the stuff coming out of the chimney stack is pure water, the facility test that before it exhausts. Waste heat is locally redirected to the Lincoln suburb of North Hykeham*. Emissions are closely monitored:
Check out the types released under “Other Emissions.” This is the latest state of the art technology, I contend that it is above EU directives. I intend to take some family members and go for a tour.
Many years ago I worked with a foreman whose brother was grounds and security manager at the (then) huge Drax power station. He had taken it upon himself to pipe waste heat from a part of the station into a large, ramshackle greenhouse complex that he built, growing salad veg in big numbers. This bloke was making more money out of that, the rabbits he caught, the chickens he kept and the other – (cough!) – vegetation that he grew in a particularly secluded part of the wooded areas. He gave up the job and retired early, before passing on the entrepreneurial spirit to his successor, who was not as careful with his personal security and was caught selling samples of ‘other vegetation’ in Leeds.
*Nimbys in very small numbers protested before it was built (smell, trucks, noise, pollution, etc.) The air around the plant is cleaner than it is in the nearest streets and there is no noise or smell detected locally, with ruck deliveries staged at intervals and driven along a dedicated road, all loads covered and sealed. Why do these barmpots always protest about stuff, before checking facts?
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I'm out.Today whilst upgrading my brothers laptop I fitted a one of these to his Hyundai I30 blue something or other I wasn’t expecting anything much to be fair “you hear about these miracle things for your car” but bloody hell both of us were impressed. Don’t know if it will improve fuel consumption like the claims but from 1700ish rpm its like a different car
All Hyundais have sensor & chip options built in, petrol and diesel, that recognise fuel with a higher rating. When I had the Tucson Diesel, I got slightly lower MPG, but smoother running and much improved acceleration, using Shell V-Power fuel. Now I have a petrol iX20, I was amazed by the difference, using V-Power petrol fuel. The car has 125 BHP, 16 valves and twin cams, but a 6 speed auto gearbox. Apparently the higher octane fuel is picked up by the sensor and boots the chip, taking full advantage of that power. All I know is that my little Korean motor goes like the clappers when I boot it, but has a severe drink problem if I maintain constant speeds over 80. So I drive sedately until I need to accelerate, then watch the dropped jaws in my mirror. First time I did that, I was gobsmacked. I have driven many much faster motors, but I expected that with cars like the Capri RS 3.1 I once had. The iX20 was totally unexpected. I love it. I have to stop myself frightening my SWMBO sometimes.😊
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I'm out.They still have not learned in the UK car industry. I took my high end Vauxhall Vectra for its first service at a main dealer. They drained the oil and replaced the filter but did not put any new oil in it !
So what was the result Graham? Did they drive it and seize it, or did you? Even if the engine ran for only a very short time, there would have been wear, and the removal of the “varnish” that oil leaves on bearing surfaces on its path around the engine. Thus creating metal-to-metal contact, with no lubricant between bearing surfaces. That was a very basic, mindless error. I always taught every apprentice I had, to check engine oil level after everything else, before taking the car out of the workshop. “Never close the bonnet before a visual check and dip the oil last!” (I can still hear “Yeah Yeah, I know!”)
If the engine ran at all with no oil, you need to keep an eye on it.
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I'm out.” It struck me that people over 50 doing a marathon need to get their brains checked! ”
Absolutely Ed, those people are beyond ludicrous. Although I sincerely wish that I had been able to retain the physical capability to continue running into my 70’s, I would never have contemplated such a distance long before then. At most I would have made perhaps 6 miles a day, 3 miles in the morning and 3 later, possibly evenings. As I am now in poorer health and physical abilities, I can still walk (at a reduced pace!) and much of the stamina I always possessed remains. Which means I may take off at any time I feel well enough and cover a great deal of ground, but in much longer times. Hence the wifely criticism!
There is staying fit to live longer and then there is over-exertion that shortens life.
Those older people you witnessed are doing themselves no favours. Quite apart from the damage to their ageing bodies by over exertion, there is the joint, spinal and muscle damage caused by the repeated shock of elderly feet hitting tarmac and concrete. This transfers shock into joints and muscles which no longer have the elasticity to resist the physical effects.
My quote ‘a man has to know his own limitations’ is very relevant there!
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I'm out.Very interesting reading Graham, thanks for that.
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I'm out.As an ex-distance runner myself, I think that is a fantastic achievement. I tried one Marathon when I was really, really fit and I trained for about 6 months of solid endurance and stamina work. The actual marathon race nearly killed me, so I went back to cross-country and ’roundy-roundy’ track races, over 5- and 10,000 metres*. My problem (then and now) is that I cannot give up what I begin. It’s just that what I begin now, is of a different nature. Example: a few days ago my SWMBO was not able to join my walk. I went down to the Lincolnshire Coast Path at Sutton on Sea and started walking south. About 3 hours later she phoned me in distress: Where the ***** !!! *** are you? It’s getting dark!” It took me a bit more than 3 hours to walk back. By the time I reached the car I just wanted to curl up on the back seat. That has not been forgiven yet…😙🙄
*Can’t recall who said this: ‘a man has to know his own limitations’. I found mine! But I did love running, reaching that sweet spot when you are floating above the ground. hearing and seeing nothing but the noise of your feet on the ground and the route you have to take.
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