Emperor Ming

My lad has just blown up his Corsa though through sheer neglect and if it was a little closer I would treat him. I just know he would not initially appreciate it but after 6 months of faultless driving he would love it!! Ming the mischevious

4 day weekend for me. Thursday to Sunday Just spent two days detailing a mates Shogun - thread to follow - and got sun burnt in the bargain. (Only on my head mind you!!) tomorrow I am going out for breakfast to a nice little cafe in a nearby village then off to a poker game for 10:30. Mrs ming is playing to so lots of family harmony - unless we both make the final table then lots of domestics LOL - and with 40 players a decent pot (£800). That finishes at about 4:30 then home scrubbed up and showered and out for a 50th birthday bash at 7:30.. (You seem to go to lots of those at my age) Sunday i am examining at a karate grading and then going house hunting so quite a busy weekend all told. Ming the Ever so slightly tired

Crikey didnt know any of those were still about. i remember there being a turbo 2 litre version which in its day was quite a car. LOL As a first car for a studenty type it would make perfect sense or as a little family run around. It looks to be in top condition and has had a proper valet as well. A good buy for someone i guess!! Ming the considered

Agreed. Strangely though I was using all the wrong stuff. You will collapse whern I tell you. I had a new pressure washer with a basic snow atachment so as I intended to clab bar the car - I didn't in the end as time got in the way - I used a small amount of washing up liquid to see how it frothed up I know it removes polish but I had initially intended to re do it over the weekend. Any was after having a play with that I pressure washed it off and used a mitt with Meguirs gold wash to properly clean it. Blasted it off again and dried it. Then I put a coat of Autoglym standard polish on it by hand and spent a while buffing it up. Then dropped back on to my favourite P21 Carnuba wax to finish and got a top result much to my amazement. To be fair the car already had loads of layers of polish on it but none the less the above should in no way have provided the results it did. Oh well. Ming the flabergasted

Hi Nixy I loiter a fair bit but have so much on at present that it is usually a flying visit to catch up and then off. Mrs Ming is working a few evenings now so I should be around a bit. The car is running great othe than the axle is clicking so gonna fix that soon. gonna have to make a Zed meet one day soon so that I can say hi to all you guys. Ming the muddled.

Spent a few quid on a pressure washer today so thought I would give it a go. All went well so I though 'I know I will polish and wax her as well' - as you do. Several hours later and she is looking top dollar again. Its odd. I have in times gone by spent much longer on her with worse results and today was not a lot more than a lick over and she seems to have really come up great! Just thought I would share the pics. Ming the Pleased

Agreed. Get the proper tool and it is an easy job. There are two sizes of spark plug socket, the smaller one is NORMALLY for motorcycles but not always. they are a couple of quid each from halfords (they make very good tools and their own brand are lifetime guaranteed.) Not sure which one goes with the Zed but get both of 'em and the job will be easy. My old guide is on here somewhere if its of any use. Ming the Toolman

Agreed. I used to be on the GTO site. It was a great site most of the time but for exactly what we have here they charged £30 to join and £20 a year thereafter.??? I am not on as much as I used to but still drop in for a read. Lets keep it up. Ming the happy (I've got a car to clean!! )

Couldn't agree more. Why spend all that money on FI and then sell it?? Probably because either:- a. Its not producing what the owner expected it to. b. Its got issues. c. There is a lot more money to spend before it is right. (Sounds like my ex wife - not producing and has issues!! ) If it came with a dyno sheet and a decent installation and fault finding history then potentially it could be a great buy. On a personal note I like the bonnet bulge. To the unsuspecting it means nothing and to other Zed owners it say's 'Mines faster than yours' (Said in an infantile childish voice of course.) Ming the Considered

I have just re read my post and had a thought. I am sure it makes me look hypocritical but if anyone ever carried out actions like have been described against a member of my family then I would by necessity step outside the law and take my own retribution knowing full well the punishment I faced. My morality and the 'man' inside me would eat me up until I had done what I felt needed doing. Had the offender been hung then maybe I would not feel like it so I think I have just argued against myself. Thats why these threads are so good because they allow you to look at certain things from different angles and often REALLY see and arguement. Ming the greatful

Hi Guys It might surprise you considering some of the threads I have posted re the criminal justice system, but i am not in favour of capital punishment. Our system is good but it is far from perfect and i would rather keep many murderers alive, albeit serving a life of penal servitude, than hang one innocent person. Many of my colleagues are of the polar view and feel that for the greater good murderers should receive the death penalty even if or a very rare occasion an innocent person suffers. Unfortunately this then brings in degree's of murder and degree's of punishment. Is it the death penalty of multiple murders, single murders with exceptional cruelty. What about assisted suicide? You see where i am coming from? I am not, however, that against the arguement that if it was brought back, and by the way I do not think it ever will, I would campaign against it but just do not feel it is the answer. Some might say that it is the easy answer and a life behind bars is worse than a quick death? I do agree that certain persons are just evil and as such should never see the light of day as a free person. I also agree that certain crimes, including the ones mentioned in this thread, are so abhorrent that the only viable punishment is LIFE incarcerated. Ming the Thinker

I was discussing this with some colleagues today, in the gym of all places, and one of them followed on with the suggestion that similar to the customs 'Declare/Nothing to Declare' lanes there could be two lines at the hospital along the lines of 'Contributor/Non contributor'. Obviously life threatening injuries would always take priority but other than that, his - and I stress here that it was HIS - reasoning would be that we need to keep the contributors (workers) fit to contribute and as such that makes them a priority. I can see both sides of the arguement that it would make for a two tier system but do we not already have that outside of the hospital system as already discussed?? I have oftentimes been to hospital with someone only to have them continually put to the back of the queue as endless chav's and chavette's come in with minor injuries but major attitudes. Since they have spent the previous 12 months 'waiting around' surely another hour or two won't affect them too much. I am aware that there are always exceptions to the rule and there are always folk who are unemployed other than by choice but this is an idea not a fine tuned policy and I do agree that in practice it could work? Ming the Thought provoker

Hi mateglad they called you back. I dont know what you do but unless you are either very skilled or very good it would have been tempting for them to look for a cheaper option!! this is a quote from my previous entry. As for numbers I would not like to guess but from what I see it is quite a large percentage that wont work as opposed to cant find work. I think it should be a time scale thing and should cut in after a certain time unemployed. even those unfortunately made redundant should be placed on the scheme but having contributed to the state system themselves should be on a higher rate of payment than those previously described. [/color] As you can see i whole heartedly agree with the time scale thing. People often want to try and get thier own employment and as such they should be given a grace period. I also think they should get a substantially higher rate for a period of time in line with their length of contribution to the system. EVERYONE should be actively encouraged to work. Ming the Considered.

No probs mate. I fully understand how you must have felt. On another site that I was a member of for 5 years I put up, early doors, that I was a police officer and the thread exploded. you would have thought that I was claiming to be a bestial peadophile from the tone of some of the threads. Now I love an arguement and am fortunate enough to be quite good with words so just decided that I was going to stand my ground and argue my point of view and in the end it went to 30 plus pages. i must have written over 30% of all the entries and was often up until 2 in the morning replying/discussing/explaining/arguing my point. this went on for days and often got deeply side tracked. If I am honest i enjoyed the experience and made many good friend both on line and in person because of it. The one thing that I learnt through it was NEVER to make the thread personal. direct your answer TO a person yes but never AT the person. Many folk end up saying things in threads that they would never say to a persons face and often said in a manner they would never use in person. I do not think that this is for any reason than they are typing away in their little rooms and dont read the finished item and consider how it might sound to others. (I am doing this now - or was LOL) I am fortunate enough to write for a national magazine and I proof read my articles, and often completely re write them, many times before I send them to be published. What you think when you type is not always what comes over in the text. Unless someone says 'You are a tw*t' then my advice would be to not take it too personal. If i am right Prescience has been on the site ages? Ming the Soother.

firstly i'm not a university lecturer, i'm a secondary school teacher, my subject background is technology specifically resistant materials, i teach kids carpentry, metal work, electronics, graphics, CAD and CAM. i have 10 years experience in industry and can rebuild you anything from a house to a car, i used to make furniture and fit aicon systems. i have 10 gcse's 4 B's 3 C's and 3 D's i got 3 a levels and a 2:1 BSc in engineering Design and Technology Blimey. Makes my 5 'O' levels look a bit weak!! LOL Can you fix my, central heating system, leaky guttering, broken bit in my motor cycle engine, dodgy external hard drive, awkward daughter. In a similar vein my younger brother left school with a single GCSE. A grade 'C' in art. He is now a fully trained motor cycle mechanic, a professional woodsman, he is 'hot hands' trained for 37,000 volt live work on the power system, he is an HGV driver and runs a junior drag bike team. (Guess who builds the engines LOL) I have never EVER met a man better with engines. Oh and he runs his own business. Like you if he cant fix it it cant be fixed. Ask him to write a letter or even a birthday card and he struggles but does it bother him. Nope. does it bother his very satisfied customers. Nope again. Ming the impressed.

If you put it that way, we are all "biggots" in one way or the other. All shapes and sizes my friend... I'm just shocked and not only by the illiteracy of a university lecturer. Still, if it's just me... Well, I don't intend to sound offensive, but by saying that you are disappointed, aren't you profiling him? I.e. you have a certain expectation of what a university lecturer should be, but is that just your perception or is that the perception of everybody? Yes, anybody can spend their money as they see fit, as long as it stays in the same economy that it was earned in. Think of it this way, what about you have two buckets of water. The two buckets represent the countries and the water within represents the money in that country. Now one country has less water than the other, say the fuller bucket is the UK and say the half filled one is an eastern european country. If you you were to syphon some water from the fuller bucket to the less full bucket, what will eventually happen? btw, don't take everything I say seriously, I do like to mess about from time to time I was about to reply to this entry but I think BulletMagnet did it very well for me. In times of affluence it is easy to be generous and let a little money slide out of the country. However we are not in those times and as such we need to tighten out belts. An analogy might be that I work lots of overtime so allow my good lady lots of money to spend on shoes and handbags. Its Ok because I can pay all my bills and have plenty of excess. This money is leaving MY economy and going to hers. then I lose all my overtime and i can only just cover my bills so i keep all the money in MY economy and the handbags and shoes go by the way side. The money leaving the country is hand bags and shoes my friend. I understand you comments on being told what to spend your money on - I am no fan of ANY type of censorship - however it is not what you can spend it on, more WHERE you can spend it that I think would help OUR economy. As for rtbiscuit being a biggot. I am sorry but i fail to see how someone expressing how he physically saw something as being biggotted. i also think that there is a substantial amount of truth in what he say. Paragraphs 1 to 4 are fact. Paragraph 5 is a balanced 'arguement'. Paragraph 6 is a personal experience/opinion. Paragraph 7 is a joke based on the author of this thread - ME. Paragraph 8 is also an opinion based on personal knowledge and circumstance (Part australian makes the author 2nd generation immigrant. Lastly bare in mind we are all sons and daughters of immigrants. Blame the picts/scots/vikings/irish/romans for that.!! I have nothing against immigration and in times of plenty it is very beneficial to this country of ours. however at ceetain times restrictions do need to be imposed. we are in my humble opinion in those such times. I know these sorts of threads often cause polarised opinion but please be aware of how your thread could sound to the person you direct it at. I am sure it was not meant as an insult but it could easily have seemed that way. reasoned arguement is always better and MUCH more FUN Ming the Placator PS grammar and spelling are much better with a spell checker but in the absence of this you would have to type in word, check it, and then cut and paste into the thread. Personally i do not think it is that important. its the content and feeling that matter.

For when you pass him. 'Audi do dat?' (Sheffield accent) For when you fly past him on the autobahn Whats the matter? You yellow?' 'Please drop back - we clash!' 'Where's your top coat?' Or simply.... 'Yellow!!! Ha ha ha!!'

And its got a tow bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good spot. Ming the impressed.

Hi Stan I agree whole heartedly that we should not generalise. A good friend of mine is an immigrant who has been in England about 5 years. He has worked flat out since he arrived and has trained and qualified as a mechanic when English is his THIRD language. (He is half Iranian and half Egyptian) He works extremely hard and always provides an excellent service. He has been victimised and racially abused at work and always miles through it all. He is at present working for a national based firm as a mechanic. The firm has just been the subject of a take over and all the ground floor employeee's were told that there would be substantial redundancies. These places were then filled with cheap polish workers saving the company substantial amounts of money INITIALLY. I say initially as the new mechanics are poorly trained and will over time cost the firm in claims for poor workmanship. Ironically my friend was one of the loudest complainers. the problem i think lies in that my friend puts all his earnings back into the british economy. the new workers send 50% of their earnings back home. This is a constant bleed of gargantuan proportions. it benefits the home country of the sender as it is new money to the economy. if this ability was stopped or substantially curtailed, and many countries have now done so, then we would be much less attractive to those persons coming here for work and home grown labour would slowly refill the market. As i said at the beginning I have no complaint at all with anyone coming to our fair country but at present it is struggling to sustain those already here and until that changes there is a definate need to stop, or radically slow down, the influx. If a British person went to Poland or Romania and asked for benefits I wonder what the reply would be? I agree with the selfish comment to a degree as well. When our leaders are shown to behave the way many of them have recently is it any wonder the populace often seems to follow suit. Anyway. I'm all right so stuff everyone else!!!! Ming the considered.

I remember a lad, an RAF lad, who got locked up in Northern Ireland for a military offence. nothing major but it got him 14 days or so in the guard house. He was told he would have to do certain things as part of his punishment but stated he had a medical problem of some sort (he did actually walk with a limp) and as such could not do the tasks. He was put straight in front of the MO (medical officer) who pronounced him fully fit and he was 'MADE' to do the tasks. I have a fond memory of him in his PT kit being chased by a huge angry Instructor with big boots on kicking him up the ar*e for two hours whilst he dids the task. This only happened on the first day because for the next 13 days he did EXACTLY what he was told, when he was told and HOW he was told. It only needs a very small amount of that sort of enforcement to get things back on the right track. If anyone wants to see how things really can change go and view the stuff MY hero does. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio I am not saying this guy gets everything right but hell HE TRIES!! He really is worth a read and I would work for him for FUN!! Ming the volunteer

Just to make you guys and gals laugh or shake your head in desparation I took this pic yesterday at a drug dealers, sorry alleged drug dealers, house. You will see that there are two sets of hand writing. Irrespective of any sentiments printed its the proudness of the nick name that gets me The lad who's room it is calls himself ASBO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I give up!! Well actually i don't but i do retire in 18 months and then I might. LOL Ming the Exasperated

As for numbers I would not like to guess but from what I see it is quite a large percentage that wont work as opposed to cant find work. I thikn it should be a time scale thing and should cut in after a certain time unemployed. even those unfortunately made redundant should be placed on the scheme but having contributed to the state system themselves should be on a higher rate of payment than those previously described. As for running for government office. What a ball that would be. You do not want to hear my ideas on imigration and law and order let alone EUROPE and the euro. Infact why not. Immigration. Simple. It stops NOW. we are full. No one else comes in other than tourists. Any immigrant already in who commits an offence goes home. Law and order. Prisons to be made tougher, sentences given to be served in full and a little respect put back into the law. Short term. No spaces?? Build more prisons. People will soon get fed up of the tougher regime and will try and stay out of prison. Europe and the Euro. Dump them and run. They only bleed us dry and re write our rules. its all take and no give in my opinion. Any half decent party that used those ideas in their manifesto would in my opinion get a large chunk of public opinion on their side. See. I am on my high horse already. LOL Ming the mad

I come into contact with some of lifes less favourable people on an almost daily basis. you all know the type. Third generation unemployed, some might say unemployable, who swan around their local estates like a 'gansta' with their cheap bling chains and tatty cars or bodged together scooters. they all have attitude and all think that life owes them a living. Believe it or believe it not i often TRY to speak to these folk and get inside their head. (If successful I find my self in a dark empty place i can tell you) They all talk about 'pay day' and when quizzed a little it transpires that this is 'GIRO DAY'. Now this is the one thing that successfully winds me up. The dictionary describes pay as 'Give a person what is due for services done'. that being so how dare they call it pay!!! I spoke to one of these 'people' today and he told me, sorry complained to me, that it took 15 minutes of his time every week to go and sign on and get his £100. That puts him on £400 per hour for that little exercise. The rest of the week is his to do with as he pleases. When asked why he did not get a job he said a copule of things. 1. He wouldn't work for peanuts. (I thought thats what monkeys did) 2. Whats the point of getting a job and doing 40 hrs for another £30. Now i have been doing a minimum of 40 hrs a week and often many many more for the last 33 years (Yes Thirty Three) so why should this guy get all that money - some might say MY money - for doing nothing. the answer in my humble opinion is easy. Make dole a 'job'. You turn up at 9 am every day and carry out work for the state and society. This could be as simple as cleaning up public places. (Next time you go out look at the scope for public cleaning) If they had to put in 40 hours like the rest of us and got their 22 paid leave days a year they would be far more willing to take the job that offers an extra £30 if they were already doing 40 hrs a week. Any failure to attend would result in deductions from their money. time off could be granted for job interviews etc but generally they would WORK for their money likje the rest of us. Even if they attended compulsory training courses it would be a start. Rant over Ming the grumpy

Hi mate Had lots on and the Zed took a bit if a back seat. Its good to be back!! Ming the Busy

Why polish when you can powder coat. The finish is just as good, easier to clean and you can have loads of colours. I did mine 2 1/2 years ago and its as good now as it was the day i put it on the car. All i have ever had to do is wipe it with a damp cloth and occasionally put a little bit of polish on it. All the rubbish about it affecting the ally and weakening it is just that. Rubbish. i have seen wheels of serious sports cars coated as well as brake callipers and other stressed or heated stuff. Cadburys purple anyone!! Ming the powder coat mad. PS From someone who used to polish the ally on his motorcycles, polishing a plenum with all its little holes will be a nightmare job I can promise you that and will take many many hours to do properly. Good luck