[Richard]

From Wikipedia

Watford Gap /ˈwɒtfərd ɡæp/ is a low-lying point between two hills, close to the village of Watford, Northamptonshire, England. Engineers from Roman times onwards have found it to be an ideal route for connecting the Midlands with South East England. In a width of 400 metres (1,300 ft) the A5 road, the West Coast Main Line railway, the M1 motorway and a branch of the Grand Union Canal traverse the gap in parallel. Any population is included in the civil parish of Watford, Northamptonshire.

I have now done the steps to capture a map so cartographically it is the Watford gap, just another, different Watford;

There is a Watford shown on the maps to plug it down as a real location with a real gap, between real hills.

[Richard]

Jason, that is the wrong Watford apparently there is another Watford and a gap between two hills that makes for an excellent pass-through between north and south. The village is just to the north of the Watford Gap services. See Google maps, I could not directly paste a snipping tool image.

I wondered for years why the gap service were way up there, now I know.

 

[Richard]

PlaneMan wrote:

On my way home today and heard a funny noise at the back of the bike.  That’s a tear in the tyre, the bead is still in place. Had to do the last 6 or 7 miles with about 3 psi in the tyre and go slow and careful. Seemed to take all day.

I have never seen a bike tyre go like that unless it was thumped or mistreated in some other way. It looks quite new from the bit of treat I could see. Any clue as to why or how the failure happened as it could have been dangerous.I have seen both bicycle tyres and car tyres develop bulges but usually when the tyres were old and probably past their use by dates. Apparently by do age and with increasing age come the risk of failure. Some come pre-aged before they are even sold. There was a bit of a drains up two to maybe five years ago, it could be more, when tyres on sale were found to be up to about 10 years old, yet still being sold as ‘new’.

I shared a flat with someone who had an almost new tyre fail on his car when on a motorway. It turned out to be one from a faulty batch but that was back in the 1960s. He was lucky to avoid any harm at the time, the tyre was less lucky. I think he did get a replacement as the maker knew of the issue by then.

[Richard]

It does not affect me either, though Cisco users do also need to be aware. Since I do not use any of the equipment involved I only passed on the message. I would rather people check and find they are safe, than hit the wall through an unknown issue. Elusive faults can be a real pain; a garage have been investigating one for nearly a month, it may have been bypassed at least. Next issue and the car gets the chop.

[Richard]

Synology users might like to read this link, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/06/cisco_intel_decline_to_link_product_warning_to_faulty_chip/

It appears that Intel have produced some chips with a built in life limitation. I was not sure how to start a new thread.

[Richard]

Jason wrote:

I remember when it was £100 for 4 MB. That is not a typo.

That must have been about right, I did spend over £400 on the children’s machine years back, though the shock of finding the old pack a little while ago made me forget just how much there was. It might have been a whole rip roaring 16MB.

Times change and sometime for the better, these days getting memory from Kingston, or Crucial is much easier on the wallet.

[Richard]

Wow, times have changed. I was abroad for a long time, part of which I used the same insurance co as I had used in the UK. Latterly in Japan the system was very different for a whole range of reasons. When I reactivated the car back here my note from Japan was accepted as evidence that I had not had any claims and neither had my wife. Since then much water has flowed under many bridges. I wonder why, apart from money grubbing, that the insurance industry has been so difficult. I do know of one case where the insurance co did allow a so called introductory discount. A bit like calling a sheep a dog in my mind, but hey ho any discount is better than no discount.

It is not just rural ‘services’ that appear to have been designed by a sadist who wants to close them down. Try getting to somewhere useful like a train station from a point outside the town. First go to the bus station and then hope for a bus to the station that does not go everywhere round the town first, probably taking longer than the desired train journey. It is a mad, mad world.

[Richard]

Richard wrote:

Sorry I did not respond, I did download and read the article, it was a useful refresher, though I am not sure how I would use its information these days. While I was once used to the joys(?) of ISA cards, including those that drove early hard disks – only slightly smaller than the motherboard itself, those horrors, (joys?) have dropped into the back ground of my memory along with MHM(?) and RLL(?) and starting off a disk format by going into debug mode. It was a timely reminder of how progress was made and how the problems of yesterday become the almost forgotten parents of the easy solutions we enjoy today.

Oops that should have been MFM, not MHM, my keyboard typing got the better of me, well something did, not hard these days.

[Richard]

Sorry I did not respond, I did download and read the article, it was a useful refresher, though I am not sure how I would use its information these days. While I was once used to the joys(?) of ISA cards, including those that drove early hard disks – only slightly smaller than the motherboard itself, those horrors, (joys?) have dropped into the back ground of my memory along with MHM(?) and RLL(?) and starting off a disk format by going into debug mode.

It was a timely reminder of how progress was made and how the problems of yesterday become the almost forgotten parents of the easy solutions we enjoy today.

[Richard]

I originally put my HP server and WHS setup in place because of a perceived need for a batter back up system for several computers, one of which was seen as key. After a short while that original imperative evaporated as the key ‘subject’ could no longer study any more. However, the backing up of machines has continued along with the storage of a small amount of data in the traditional server role.

Would your set up still support the automated daily back up role which the WHS has automated for 5 Windows 10 machines?

When Win10 first came out it was terrible with the connector software, however it does now appear to deal with it far more successfully.

[Richard]

JayCeeDee wrote:

The Duke wrote:

I seen the mentioned plugs, but them racks are heavy, I personally wouldn’t trust my £x hundred pounds kit to plaster board fixings.

There was mention of a “Z” bracket at the back on one of the articles about the table, I’d have used them in conjunction with that. The ironing board wasn’t as expensive or delicate.:D

The plaster board type are one of several however they all rely on the board , plastic leg, or whatever having enough strength to take the leverage of the shelf, or whatever, that is where I  join with your doubts. A rear support would make me much happier with anything expensive.

[Richard]

Unfortunately many of the sops who make the calls have a script printed out and can only suggest Windows, many not even realising that there have been different versions. Throw in a few oddball computer systems, Cray, PDP 11 or anything else and they keeps saying ‘your windows computer’. They would assume that UNIX, LINUX, UBUNTU, etc. was another version of MS Windows.

[Richard]

The Duke wrote:

Never heard of the table before. It’s amazing the most random things that have such a community behind them. Just think of a niche, and there is a community dedicated to it somewhere on the web. This is a prime example of why forums will never die, no matter how good and large the like of Facebook gets. Forums serve dedicated communities better. Some cools stuff around that table if you click some links. Apparently idea made a change on the later models, and only the top 3″ are solid plastic, so if you want Marple racks you have to trim the bottom of the leg off and insert a piece of wood in. Also they do a double one called the coffee table Lack, that is just long enough to put to sets in, for the ultimate geek lounge set up. I’d image in it would work well as a hearer in the winter months Joking aside, some clever cheapo, my favourite kind, sussed this out, and I love ikea ran with it. It seems to have a cult following. Random stuff I look at when the misses is asleep. Suppose it’s better than porn! But pretty sad when my birthday falls on a Friday night and I’m sat in looking at plastic chairs.

It mentioned the hollow leg issue in one link, but you do not need a wooden filler, you can use one of the special wall plugs that goes through and pulls the end back when you screw in the screw and the thing clamps hard onto the leg.

[Richard]

Ah, that picture explains things it is currently just about 11 degrees C and I was out in the garden a little while back trying to rake up some leaves and find a missing small ring. I thought as I did it that wearing a pullover and not a windcheater was daft as would raking up leaves on a windy day. Since I did not freeze and the leaves went where they were propelled clearly the wind was missing in action. The same cannot be said about the small ring so I shall have to make another one, drat. I am not one to complain, we even have some sunshine so the day is not looking bad here at all. Hopefully it will tame itself down before damage is caused to anything too much.

[Richard]

Them: usual spiel about being from Microsoft and it being about my computer.

Me: Which one

Them: Your Windows computer.

Me: Yes but which one.

Them: You have more than one?

Yes: There are, let me see 10 or so, do you want me to go round and count them all.

Them: you have ten computers?

Me: yes I think so but I might have forgotten one or two.

At this point they appeared to go into mental melt down so I hung up. At least four are not currently in use, darn it I miscounted there is another not in use in a corner.

SWMBO hates it when I wind these bozos (or are they just crooks?) up.

Richard

[Richard]

It is worth reading a bit about her rap sheet, or should that be her rap book apparently she already had a suspended sentence for something.

Years ago the police used to say that any car with a fault was worth a pull. The rule was that a minor issue was a sociable thing, it always came along the road with a bunch of mates. It might have been a dodgy sidelight a the start but in the days of no data comms and no database to check for such things in the 1960s all too often it came with no insurance, no MOT, no licence and probably no brakes either.

[Richard]

Unlicensed vehicle, drove like a total fool and then compounded her stupidity by her actions, crushing the car is fully justified as the law mandates that action. As for the stupid woman; publicly displaying her for a while might help her to understand she is not the only one on the road, perhaps a 25 mile naked cycle ride round London on a cold wet day would help her to understand?

I am not even a cyclist these days, though I am a road user and could well do without fools like her and no, I would prefer not to see film or still of the naked ride thank you!

[Richard]

Several good new points have arisen above. New ‘condensing’ boilers do need a direct access to a ‘suitable’ drain and you need to be careful about the suitable bit. The condensate from the boiler can be very corrosive and will attack a number of substances. I am not aware of the current thinking but PVC is I believe OK, many metals were not considered suitable in the recent past.

The condensate pipe has to be of suitable size and ideally routed with enough fall to ensure rapid drainage, of big enough section and not be likely to freeze in cold weather. If you have a preferred maker you can go to them and look at the installation guide. You cannot do the work yourself unless you are gas safe registered but they used to, a year or so back tell you what they considered acceptable for their kit. Long vertical flues were not acceptable for some makers as the wet portion of the exhaust may condense on its way out and drain back into the boiler. This was not apparently the case with the older types of boiler which ran hotter flue gases. In any case, following a number of high profile carbon monoxide poisonings long internal flues are very strictly ruled items, generally strict rules equals costly installs.

If you want to box in a boiler then the maker’s specifications will tell you all about the clearances needed and the materials that can be used. Sometimes specific clearance is needed for servicing the device.

Installs are now regulated by building regulations and the fitter must be able to self certify the installation and MUST provide a certificate of compliance. This might appear a pain but to be honest it is for the good of the house occupier. You would not be able to sell the house without the correct paperwork. It is usual for a qualified Gas Safe installer to fully understand these rules and should be able to explain anything that you are uncertain about.

Worcester Bosch do have their gold star installers and usually work out about half the cost of Brutish Gas and can give you a usefully extended guarantee, other installers are listed but usually only give lower levels of warranty.

Always get several quotes before you agree anything and ask for a full explanation of all items.

[Richard]

Wishing you all the best, you will be busy for the next few months. Start making ‘to do lists’ ASAP with all the little details, for address changes, not forgetting driving license, vehicle address and all the other wonderful(?) items.

[Richard]

RSB wrote:

To be honest I think this as been livelier than mm was in the past few months of its days. MM was bound to be lively in its last few weeks. I compare it to a crime scene or road accident, rubber neckers stopping to get a glimpse. Once I get the whole site complete I will start thinking about getting new users. How ever I’ll be keeping an eye out for the fanatics. I aint going to put up with cranks, not here! I dont want it turning into some of the flaming grounds found else were on the net.

Yes, discussion did get a bit too lively over e.g. Trump and the EU, but avoiding politics and religion is a wise course for us all. Stepping away from something that annoys is better than firing back, though I admit that I have been too quick to fire back in the past. I now want to avoid that for the future, it is not good for me and no one else wants that sort of flack either.

Lively discussion is all about good exchange of information and perhaps some informed views, though sticking to what helped one form one’s viewpoint rather than pushing that conclusion is a ‘best approach’. Everyone else will not have had the same life experiences as the rest of the group, so ‘group think’ should never be expected of anyone.

[Author]

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