On 04/05/2022 09:28, Commander Kinsey wrote:
> On Wed, 04 May 2022 09:09:19 +0100, David Brooks <DGB@nomail.afraid.org>
> wrote:
>
>> On 04/05/2022 08:18, Commander Kinsey wrote:
>>> On Wed, 04 May 2022 07:49:59 +0100, David Brooks <DGB@nomail.afraid.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 04/05/2022 03:37, Commander Kinsey wrote:
>>>>> On Tue, 03 May 2022 18:26:55 +0100, David Brooks
>>>>> <DGB@nomail.afraid.org>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 03/05/2022 05:10, Commander Kinsey wrote:
>>>>>>> On Tue, 03 May 2022 01:35:35 +0100, Magani <cdsross@gmail.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Monday, 2 May 2022 at 6:12:41 pm UTC+10, David Brooks wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On 02/05/2022 08:36, David Brooks wrote:
>>>>>>>>> > On 02/05/2022 08:27, Commander Kinsey wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> >> AA is cheaper than RAC.  How much do you pay and for what
>>>>>>>>> package?
>>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>>> > I'll check.
>>>>>>>>> I suspect we didn't challenge last October - probably more
>>>>>>>>> concerned
>>>>>>>>> with Covid infections etc.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> We actually paid £126.99 - for their top-of-the-range package.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I've been with the RAC for over 50 years and have enjoyed
>>>>>>>>> excellent
>>>>>>>>> service throughout.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> A bit pricey?  I pay about AUD$186 (say £105) for RACQ top cover -
>>>>>>>> each state has its own auto association, but no real competition
>>>>>>>> like
>>>>>>>> AA vs RAC.  That is top cover for breakdowns, etc and will also
>>>>>>>> cover
>>>>>>>> the caravan, towing (both car and van if needed) up to $3300/annum,
>>>>>>>> accommodation and free hire car if needed.  Also, it covers any
>>>>>>>> car I
>>>>>>>> drive, as well as anyone driving my nominated vehicle (ie: SWMBO or
>>>>>>>> son).  As a 50+yr member, I also get a decent discount on their
>>>>>>>> annual
>>>>>>>> membership.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I've used it once in the last five years when my LandCruiser went
>>>>>>>> into
>>>>>>>> 'limp' mode in Mt Isa, and was VERY happy with how efficient it all
>>>>>>>> was.  Within half an hour of ringing, I had a tilt-tray winching it
>>>>>>>> up, and a lovely person asking if I needed a motel room (we
>>>>>>>> didn't as
>>>>>>>> we were in a caravan park with our own van), and did I need a hire
>>>>>>>> car
>>>>>>>> (why don't we wait until we find out why The Beast is sullking).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> All in all, very satisfied.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Why not do what I do?  All you need is to get out of the mess you're
>>>>>>> in.  Get your car and you taken to civilisation.  You can rent your
>>>>>>> own
>>>>>>> car and hotel room.  Then your premium is far lower.  I pay less
>>>>>>> than
>>>>>>> half what you do.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Perhaps in 30 years time you'll be doing the same as me and
>>>>>> Magani! ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>> I doubt I have 30 years left unless medicine becomes a real science.
>>>>> I've now got 7 graphics cards running Folding at Home flat out.  They
>>>>> mainly do cancer and Alzheimers, which are the two things I see a
>>>>> lot of
>>>>> around here.  Is it a bad thing when a 13A plug is really warm?  If I
>>>>> get enough stuff I'll see if I can get the incoming 100A cable
>>>>> warm....
>>>>
>>>> It's not for me to tell a Physics graduate that there's a fire-risk in
>>>> 13 Amp plugs melting! Remember that ALL your efforts will be wasted if
>>>> your house burns down around your hardware!
>>>
>>> It has a fuse.  Those wonderful things before the namby pamby circuit
>>> breakers that trip if a fly lands on something.
>>
>> Knowing you, you might have replaced the fuse with a nail!
>
> Funnily enough, I'm pro-fuse.  I'm not bothered about getting a shock,
> but I don't want something catching fire.  It's amazing how many things
> aren't protected properly.  For example did you know a twin UK socket is
> not rated to 26 amps?  Most (apart from MK) are rated to 20 amps.  So if
> you max out both of them, things melt!  I don't remember seeing a
> warning on the front not to use both fully at the same time.

No, I didn't know that ..... but few things one 'plugs in' in a home use
13 Amps!

>> I've got one of those circuit breakers. It trips now and again when my
>> wife is doing the ironing.
>
> The earth leakage type or the overload type?

Sadly, I have no idea. :-(

Can you tell from a picture? https://ibb.co/nckJpXw

> The earth leakage ones
> hate microwave ovens, which leak current to earth on purpose.  I
> disconnected the earth to mine when I saw a parrot trying to chew the
> flex.  I removed the earth so the current couldn't go from the wire in
> her beak through her heart to the earthed microwave chassis under her
> feet [1].  But now when I run the microwave I get a tingle if I touch
> it.  So clearly something is meant to go to earth.  At work, a microwave
> kept tripping an earth leakage breaker, but they'd economised and only
> put in one for the whole corridor of 100 offices.  That caused an
> argument or two.
>
> [1] Earthing things was a very very dangerous idea.  Consider you touch
> a live wire for some reason - damaged flex, whatever.  Normally you'd
> get a slight tingle or not even feel it.  But now imagine your knee is
> touching an earthed washing machine.  240V on your hand, 0V on your
> knee, with the rather vital heart halfway between.  Death.  From a
> safety device.

Oh! Shiver me timbers!

>>> Hey, you're here at 8 in the morning!  I got up at 11:30pm, so I'm not
>>> sure what time this is for me.  I'll be going to bed late afternoon.
>>
>> I was watch-keeping for a large part of my working life. It's no big
>> shakes WHEN one sleeps, but sleep IS necessary!
>
> I've removed myself from the 24 hour religion of life.  I get up when
> ready, and go to sleep when tired, whenever that may be.

A bit like being retired - like me!

>>>> I'd forgotten about the Folding Home project. :-(
>>>
>>> This is getting out of hand.  I've joined the Scottish Boinc Team and am
>>> running "sprints" and "marathons" to help them win.  They usually get in
>>> 1/2/3rd place in most competitions.  This is not good enough, they must
>>> get gold in everything.
>>
>> THAT was the one you showed me before.
>
> I only joined the Scottish Boinc Team last week.  The only thing I told
> you about a long time ago was Rosetta, which doesn't have much work
> available just now, only for Windows on modern processors (they need AVX
> instructions - 5 of my 7 don't have that, and 1 slows down if I use it,
> as it runs on Oracle Virtualpox, sorry, box).

You do make me smile, laddie!

>>>> I've now installed it on my main computer and will put it on my other
>>>> one shortly. I've also publicised the programme on my Facebook timeline
>>>> and the group which I run.
>>>
>>> Excellent, thank you.  People aren't flocking to it so much now covid
>>> research has declined.  People don't seem to care about cancer, which
>>> kills far more.
>>>
>>> Pay close attention to when you complete the tasks and the "timeout" -
>>> it has a habit of giving slower computers stuff it can't do in time.  If
>>> it passes the timeout it's not the end of the world, but if it gets to
>>> the expiration date the task has been a waste of time.
>>
>> Thanks for the warning. I didn't like the way it started to trigger my
>> cooling fans so have 'turned it down' now.
>
> I doubt you'll complete much in time if it's not maxed out.  Fans are
> meant to spin.  Most of my fans run at 75% speed.

Understood. Thanks.

>>>>>>>> Really OT: I can recall when we were driving around the UK on
>>>>>>>> holidays
>>>>>>>> in the '50s and the RAC/AA (can't remember as I was <10) man on
>>>>>>>> their
>>>>>>>> bike/sidecar combo used to salute after seeing the badge on the
>>>>>>>> front
>>>>>>>> of our hire car.  I really don't think I'd swap that for no
>>>>>>>> internet,
>>>>>>>> no decent roads, no mobile phones, etc though. :-)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Are you sure that was a salute?  The AA started as a warning for
>>>>>>> speed
>>>>>>> cameras.  If you had the badge and there was a cop ahead, the AA
>>>>>>> would
>>>>>>> warn you.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There's substantiating evidence too!
>>>>>> https://www.theaa.com/about-us/aa-history/timeline
>>>>>
>>>>> 1865: 4mph limit
>>>>> 1897: 14mph
>>>>> 1903: 20mph
>>>>> 1966: 70mph
>>>>> Isn't it about time they increased it again?
>>>>
>>>> I once would have agreed with you.
>>>
>>> Why do you no longer agree?
>>
>> Far too much traffic on the roads I've travelled in recent times.
>
> The congestion is *because* we're driving slowly!

That may well be true at times. At other times, there are too many
vehicles on the road.

> I was once chased to my house by a neighbour who objected to me
> overtaking his wife.  She was going 20 in a 30 zone because of roadworks
> signs.  For another road.  He claimed it was because of the detour and
> more people using our road that our road had a limit.  What a crazy idea
> - if you have more things to do, you have to do them faster!

Of course. The real answer is to do LESS things! ;-)

>>>> Competent drivers ignore the limit anyway.
>>>
>>> Indeed.  It's the slow ones you need to look out for.  They drive slow
>>> because they find driving difficult.
>>
>> Many of them are OLD too! ;-)
>
> Plenty middle aged people driving far too slowly too.

You do realise that YOU are now middle aged too?

>>> Would you be alarmed if while giving you a lift I performed a J-turn?
>>
>> I would if you were going forwards!
>
> I would be afterwards, that's what a J-turn tends to do.

I thought it unlikely that you would attempt such a manoeuvre when
underway - travelling forwards!

>>> It's the most efficient method to get travelling in the opposite
>>> direction.  The first time I did this I was a teenager and was giving my
>>> friend a lift to see his girlfriend.  I don't know if it was on that
>>> occasion, but he got her pregnant then left the country!
>>
>> Did you look after her and the baby yourself?
>
> I had nothing to do with it.  His dad arranged for him to disappear for
> a bit to a relative elsewhere.

No doubt he was Scottish too. Bad blood. (in jest!

>>>>> Seems a newspaper boy was prosecuted for claiming he couldn't go over
>>>>> 16mph on his bicycle!
>>>>
>>>> Haha! :-D
>>>
>>> I've done 39mph on my mountain bike, but this was using God's force,
>>> gravity.
>
> OY!  I saw that!  You capitalised god!  You edited MY sentence!

Just checking to see if you are paying attention to detail! :-D

>> I know I've been travelling as fast as cars when going downhill on a
>> bike!
>> There were no GPS measuring devices in my cycling days!
>
> Mine was digital but counted the number of times a magnet passed the
> sensor on the edge of the wheel.

I can't recall my children having such things.

>>> If something had been in the way, I would not have been able
>>> to stop.  The brakes were rubbish on that bike and still are.  I've had
>>> it for 26 years.  Giant Box Two dual suspension aluminium frame.
>>
>> That warrants a photograph!
>
> It is under many things in the shed.

Isn't that just typical?!!! You made it sound as if you STILL ride a
bike! ;-)