Aashenfox

I'm writing a book for years, I doubt it'll ever be finished, it's like star trek/star wars meets lord of the rings/game of thrones meets shadowrun/deus ex...the vein will not be at all comedic, ala star trek and star wars, it'll be fully serious and brutally realistic, ala game of thrones. Basically, short version.... world gets invaded by aliens in 2190, we are decimated, but of course not without taking a few scalps of our own. Our scientists quickly figure out how to adapt the alien bio implants to use in humans, but 90% of attempts result in death or extreme psychosis (some psychos survive and will play parts in the story ), but some are 'compatible', but with side effects, the effects are also relatively random and throughout the epic, various enhanced characters will discover new advantages (and disadvantages) to their new alien physiology. Anyway, what's left of earth's resistance in 2205 manages to reverse engineer the aliens FTL technology, and manages to build a jump drive just in time before the scientists are wiped out by the aliens who figured out our plot (that episode will be great, honorable scientists racing against time before getting honorably slaughtered for their trouble). The drive is fitted to an experimental colony ship that was never finished, and they pack in the most competent soldiers and most hardcore 'enhanced' along with as many 'smart' people as they can (this will cause interesting social problems in space, everyone being 'smart'), and wink us off to a sector 45k light years nearer to the galactic core, where the star density and types are believed to give the best chances to find an inhabitable world. When they arrive, they find not just one inhabitable world, but a bustling interstellar neighbourhood with at least 8 established high tech spacefaring races, some younger than us, some much more ancient. And there will be a maian connection too overarching with a 'god race' involved (think Q continuum) and we find out that humanity both is and isn't as special as we hoped it would be. The story then deals with how we struggle as black sheep, the 'new boy' in an established neighbourhood, and how we eventually establish ourselves in the galactic core (or not) . Sound like a decent concept to you guys? I already have half the universe in my mind and a few character descriptions and locations documented, as well as a rough timeline (very important if you don't want to make continuity mistakes in complex stories), I think I'll have to wait for retirement to be able to spend real time focused on it, so don't expect anything at Waterstones in the next 25 years!

My 2p - I formulated the opinion this weekend that Vettel is a tosser not worthy of my respect any more. If he can't hold his emotions together any better than my wife with PMS, he's got no business in a Formula 1 car, cos he'll kill someone one day. Hamilton's a spoilt brat with his own narcissism issues but he's right, Vettel crossed the line and I also think he should have been disqualified. Deliberate malicious contact in 200mph open wheel cars should result in an instant SEASON ban, this is not something to pussy foot around with. I used to think Vettel was a hothead in the good way, now I realise he's a bad tempered child. Extremely disappointing.

The nuclear deterrent is why the world is stable (and why the big 8 run it). For the time being. It is 'everything' when it comes to defense, it is the bottom line and the balance that keeps us safe. Saying it doesn't work is to invalidate the only 'good politics' going on behind closed doors, where no sensationalism exists, only level headed strategy to maintain a balance where nobody feels powerless or usurped. It's the single most important mechanism in the world right now, without it, we would see the end of civilisation in short order. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction

Blocko mate, may I suggest an extended effort to getting used to driving in a less laid back position? I'm all legs too, so you can't be that much more of a problem, so I started thinking, how can I have 4 inches behind me and my wheel vertical, yet a dude 5cm taller (even if it was another 5cm just on legs) can't be comfy... There's only one explanation, your seat is too far reclined to go back far enough for your legs to be in a proper position. What if I told you that it's THE most common driving position mistake (too laid back)? Move the seat back more upright, slide the seat further back, bend your arms, you may even find you can make the wheel more vertical after getting more used to it. Just a thought and if I'm totally wrong and you are a living spider, fair do's mate but I'm out of ideas

Smaller wheel will make the steering faster and heavier. How about a modified original with a flat bottom ala (sic: Jack) Royal Steering Wheels? You send him yours he modifies it, gives it a flat bottom, a nice finish and some better grips, then sends it back, all for about 150 to 175 quid if I read the pricelist right. I've been researching before doing mine, still not decided what I want. By the way, I'm 6'2" and sit close to my wheel (I can put my seat back another 4 inches if I want) so that I drive in the racing position with 90*elbows. I also have the wheel set in its absolute lowest (most vertical) position and I have no probs, so yeh, just how tall are you??

Following on from our PM conversation where I wasn't very helpful .... I have these and concur that at low speed on rough ground, the rear is bouncier than I would have wanted, however, at speed, mine feels planted, and I doubt that's purely because I have a larger than stock spoiler, though I guess it might be. It'll be a couple of weeks, but next time I see my guy, I'll ask him for any setup tips for you, and what settings he used for mine. In for others who find the monopros bouncy.

I didn't pick them, but yes, that's a big part of it. I specifically asked my insurance broker who has never steered me wrong before, which company I should go with for total peace of mind. It was the most expensive quote as well. I was so pi**ed off when I realised (long after the theft, of course) the company was 'traditionally' a good insurer, but was having problems. I was a hair away from suing my broker, but again decided it wouldn't be worth it. She should have known though.

A hand will be great in terms of the right things to check and ask them, but at the end of the day, it's not just knowing your rights, it's a matter of how much are you willing to fight for them. I could have taken my insurer to the cleaners, but it would have cost me 3 years of court battle against a company that could have gone down any minute, I know I did the sensible thing and settled for a lot less than I was due. Swings and roundabouts.

I don't know how you guys can be so optimistic. When my BMW was stolen I was like you, I thought "Whew, no probs, at least my car is clearly worth more than the insured value, I won't have any problems', WRONG. They offered me less than half the value and took a year to settle. It was easier for them to try to shaft me in that case as it was an older car and more debatable the value, but the principle doesn't change, they're a business and they are trying to give you as little as possible, and drag it out as long as possible to crush your spirit (and earn interest, the longer they take to pay you, the less the claim has cost them), as would you in their shoes. I lost 10 grand and a year of my life due to that theft (they kept stringing me along with low ball offers, right up until the day before the first court date when they suddenly wanted to discuss it). Eventually, I got an almost acceptable settlement (2/3rd the value, a loss of 10 grand, to get more I would have had to go to court for 3 years plus). Really, I wish you super good luck, but go in expecting PAIN. At least that way, you might end up pleasantly surprised.

They are both valid OEM replacement. The 292mm discs are for base models without brembo calipers (but they are brembo discs, hence your apparent confusion I assume). The correct rear disc spec for brembo caliper equipped cars is 322x22. For the sake of completeness, the front discs are 324x30.

Yes, it's true that many people 'believed' for reasons that must be entirely their own, that we were getting some kind of bad deal from the EU. We weren't.

How much is an HR bonnet from Nissan UK, anyone know?

When I put it down a year ago, I had spent everything I had on a fully decked out vulture (about 25 million credits iirc), major killing machine, but combat is tough, low reward and high risk, so apart from when the occasional assassination mission pops up (joy! A chance to use my vulture), it is currently shelved, it is also still missing stated Type 4 Class A thrusters. Grrrr. Love that ship. Since picking it back up again, I bought the Dolphin (passenger missions are great, they play out very organically) and now I'm making money hand over fist. I'll soon have a Federal Dropship (it's the equivalent of a challenger tank in space) and strike fear into the hearts of the evil slave-trading Empire! EAT LASER, IMPERIAL DOGS! Then an explorer, a space ninja for moving illicit cargo around with a crazy low heat signature, probably going to use a Diamondback Explorer for that. Then just for the F of it, I'll build a trading ship. Something huge. That should give me the ability to accept all the best missions and earn the money and reputation for my Federal Corvette, huge semi capital ship, and then I'll have a personal armada and it'll be time to take some revenge on some sub-factoins that have annoyed me in the past, as well as undermine those imperial dogs wherever I find them.

Just picked up Elite Dangerous again after a year long break. It's so amazing. Now that they've made it even better, it has taken over from GTA5 for me, as my favourite game of all time. I really feel like there's another universe where I exist, with my super cool spaceships (yes, that's plural, I have several ) and am a serious force to be reckoned with. At the moment I am a glorified space taxi, I have outfitted a dolphin passenger ship pretty much as far as it will go and I ferry VIPs (and criminal masterminds and pirate lords occasionally, if the pay is good enough, cos the Police are as much a pain in your arse in Elite, as they are in reality, sorry Zee, no offence mate, lol) around Federation (one of three major factions) space, for extortionate amounts of credits, while I search for a station in a federation system that has Type 4 Class A thrusters in stock (rocking horse poo), while simultaneously helping my arbitrarily chosen Federation aligned sub-faction in my arbitrarily designated 'home' system of Deciat, to expand, so that I can stack even more taxi and data courier missions and make EVEN MORE credits. Making money legally is hard in Elite, lots of time and flying to make very little, making it illegally is faster, but much, much harder and the penalty for being caught doing naughty things is harsh (massive reputation hits and fines, if not instadeath by a station's defences), but there are ways to be quick and quiet. It;s not for everyone. There's ZERO guidance, so the learning curve is steeper than a steep thing trying to be steep, but once you get the hang of flying (there's no autopilot of any kind, for anything) and understand the 'background' simulation, it's very very absorbing watching the effects of your actions and those of other players, play out. There's also no goal, except those you set yourself, survival isn't a bad one at the start! It is MMO, you can fly with your friends, but it is risky, there are always players who just want to kill other players, and are usually well equipped to do so, so until you learn how to escpae people like that 'open play' can be a bit frustrating, but fortunately, you can play in the exact same perisistent universe in solo mode, with no other players to **** you off, just you and a simulated galaxy the size of our own (it really is the same size as our real galaxy, the sense of scale is incredible, it would take the fastest ship over 3 real life months (in unbroken playtime) to cross the galaxy). There are some people that have been in space without docking for over a year (explorers, they choose a direction and just start heading out of known space, scanning every system they stop in, when they get back, the scan data they collected will be worth BILLIONS). I don't think I could do this and enjoy it, but hey, it's a way to play and some people love it. Since the galaxy is the same size as a real one, even if Elite is played for the next 20 years by a million players, it will never be fully explored, which always provides that sense of wonder when you are the first to go somewhere (the game will tell you and record it forever that you discovered this system and any of it's stars and planets that you scanned). As in reality, every star and system (of the countless billions) is different. Some systems are binary stars, some are black holes, some are super dangerous neutron stars. It's a labour of love, the development of this game is going on 15 years now, and anyone who likes space games in any way shape or form should be playing and supporting it. It's truly a 'spiritual' experience with plenty of lasers, space pirates, machiavellian politics and trading monopolies. Good luck commanders, and push the envelope through the mailbox! (if and when you start playing, you'll soon understand that reference )

My braided brakelines are the HEL (yeh, that's a brand, lol) cheapest ones, AND I bought them second hand. Think I paid 30 quid shipped to greece.

Hear hear!

Looking good! Needs Mines style lip!

Which reminds me JP, I hadn't forgotten about your wheel, I just started thinking about my BMW getting stolen in 2015 and thought to myself, if I'm gonna change the wheel, I might as well get a quick release. Still deciding.

What powers do you think he has? He'd be able to defy gravity using electromagnetics, so he can fly up to at least 10 miles above the earth (before the gravitic field is too weak to take advantage of). He is a master of electromagnetism, so he can pull metal objects toward him or repel them, but not to the same degree as Magneto. He can summon and channel lightning like Thor. Does he have super strength? How can we justify that? Amlpified electric signal from the nerves to the muscles? Discuss!

Braided pipe of certain length and diameter is braided pipe of certain length and diameter, get the cheapest you can find and be happy.

Believe it or not, in this respect the majority of the Athens buses are 'dodgems', they are free wheeling (as opposed to tracks) and are a normal bus in every way, except for a huge dodgems metal connection thingy on the top and electric power only, these things are 20 years old most of em. The electric connection fails often and the drivers have a tool they use to re-seat the cable. It works quite well tbh, they aren't down for long. It's not a net like the totally free roam style of dodgems, but the cables criss cross all of athens.

This is valid of course, but it surprises me that nobody has mentioned that the City of London (and therefore the whole UK, like it or not) exports primarily professional services (tax/audit, etc), for which EU territories require their data to stay inside the EU. I work for the people who make these kinds of predictions (in another capacity completely), and they are all certain that making a profit in London is going to be extremely difficult post hard brexit. The strongest companies (Deloitte, PwC, Ernst & Young) are all pooing themselves, and they are the companies that keep the UK economy ticking over. Where currently, they can audit and store data from any EU nation, afterwards, special agreements will need to be in place and risk mitigators, etc, half the EU countries won't bother, they'll go to Lux and Belgium and IF they go outside EU, they'll go to Switzerland. This is going to be a huge deal.

Bit like the 350z then and many many Japanese built cars sold in Western Europe or for that matter all cars sold outside their country of manufacture A 350Z would have higher emissions than an EV wherever it was manufactured. Yes, all cars get shipped to the countries where they're sold, but only EVs claim zero emissions.

I've known that the production techniques for lithium batteries are more environmentally destructive than driving a mid sized car for many years. It's slightly moot though, because as adoption increases, better more efficient methods will be found to produce the batteries, new less harmful substrates, etc. For the Prius, there was a further issue, the problem that they were all made in Japan and then shipped round the world in fossil fuel burning mega container ships, meaning that each car had effectively already produced 30,000 miles of C02 by the time it reached the showroom. Anything that changes the way we do things fundamentally cannot be cost effective in the start, but the capitalist nature of people will make it more efficient over time.

Good stuff, was it a second hand set you bought and one was bad, or was it a new DOA? Just out of curiosity.