Posts by kiwimuso

Obama: What will solve America's gun problem? What could it be? *snaps fingers* Technology!

Re: Stats for comparison

@ Fraggle850

"....increased gun availability increases the chance of being shot......"

I think you will find that Canada and Switzerland (off the top of mu head) would belie your statistics.

I don't have a citation, but I have read somewhere that Canada has a greater number of guns per head of population that the U.S. but has nowhere near the same amount of gun crime or deaths.

I don't know if it still true, but in Switzerland, every male of military age has a military weapon at home with ammunition. Switzerland is hardly a hot-bed of mass shootings. I think I heard of 1 happening a year or two back.

IT bloke: Crooks stole my bikes after cycling app blabbed my address

Re: Common sense

Why the hell would anyone possibly need an app to go for a bike ride, fer fuck's sake!!!!

Deserves all he got.

Poor security despite my remark.

Hollywood given two months to get real about the price of piracy

Re: Out on a limb here

@ eldakka

Then of course, there is the case of I go around to a mates place and watch a movie with him. I haven't downloaded a movie but I have managed to watch it without paying for it.

I could also have borrowed the DVD from him and watched it. Or even borrowed it from my local library. Or watched it on my local TV station.

Now the latter of course has been paid for by the TV station in some form or another, but that also doesn't stop me from recording it to watch later, as I usually do so that I can skip through the ads. Just how many times must I endure the same shouty ads being repeated for the duration of the movie? Watching one of them is payment enough!!!

Does any of this make me a criminal? If not, how is that different from downloading a movie to watch?

I may even have ripped it but it is unlikely in my particular case, as most of the stuff out there I wouldn't have paid to go and see, but sometimes curiosity occasionally overcomes one's sensible choices.

Normally I pay at a cinema if there is a movie I wish to see, but if I miss it for whatever reason then I shall not hesitate to obtain it by whatever means if I really want to see it. Well, I won;t kill for it, be sensible, but I am quite prepared to download it if it is no longer available by conventional means.

In my case, I am at a loss to decide what the studios may have lost by my watching it. $8? $20. megamillions?

P.S. Having said all that, the studios will not find any downloaded movies at my place.

US gourmets sizzle in bacon-scented underwear

Re: @NomNomNom (was:Pig)

Jeez Nom, stop prattling on like a complete prat.

As was pointed out, I'm sure the 'victims' of the big cats and other predators, haven't 'consented to being killed and eaten either. And tell me when you consent when a shark takes a bite out of you.

Did you ever go to school? Did you not learn about what eats what in the greater scheme of things? Or do you live in some fairytale, rainbow coloured world only visible in your own tiny mind, where every 'sentient' being holds hands and never, ever thinks of eating one another.

Or are you proposing that we should train the worlds predators to go easy on eating their prey, and maybe all turn vegetarian or something? Grow up, FFS.

Bacon as deadly as cigarettes and asbestos

Re: Wouldn't be worth it...

@ Allan George Dyer

You obviously haven't been around after a Friday or Saturday night binge session have you!

Drunk driver live-streams her slow journey home

Re: I'll give you my steering wheel...

@ tnovelli

Nah, we need to ban PEOPLE! Down with people! They are the cause of all our problems.

I will be first to volunteer - in about, ummmm, 10 years or so, which will be about when I'm due to shuffle anyway.

Icon shows the direction I am most probably headed!!!! ----->

Volkswagen used software to CHEAT on AIR POLLUTION tests, alleges US gov

Re: OK - I'll bite, now reel me in.....

@ Barely registers

Ahh! You can always have too much of a good thing - which is what tends to cause obesity - or so I am told.

Off topic I know but couldn't resist. And maybe it's not a joke anyway.

The ONE WEIRD TRICK which could END OBESITY

Re: Personal anti-favourite-

@ hplasm

Yeah, but it means that us normal folks then can eat all of a portion without feeling stuffed, or have more than one course.

I've never understood the rationale of a restaurant which has starters, mains (or entrees if you are American) and desserts of making portions so huge that people are put off having 3 courses.

Which reminds me of the first meal I had in Texas the day I arrived to work for an airline based around DFW. I was taken to a Bennigans Bar & Grill. First night living in the U.S. I've gotta have something typically American I thought - other than burgers. Cajun Chicken for $8. Just the thing I thought. It arrived with TWO whole chicken breasts mounded on it plus, I counted (and this is VERY rare for an American restaurant) 8 different vegetable. Vegetables! What were they thinking!! 2 different sorts of potatoes though. The ubiquitous fries and mashed (whipped) I seem to remember.

Having also come from a background where you don't waste food, I ate the lot. I soon learned about portion control in the U.S. - or seemingly lack of it.

Also reminds me of another Texas tale. We subscribed to Texas Highways magazine which purported to show Texas' apparent beauty. I was struck by an advert for a steak restaurant up in the Texas panhandle (near Lubbock I believe). The big attraction of their menu was a steak dish which if the customer managed to completely eat together with all the trimmings, would get it free. The size of the steak was - wait for it - 72 oz. That is to say, 4 1/2 lbs or just over 2 kilos of meat - in ONE serving.

As I said at the time when I read it, in most other countries that's a fucking family roast!!!

Re: craft it smaller

@ disgustedoftunbridgewells

It's a vine, actually.

And you from Kent!! You should be AshamedofTunbridgeWells. Mind you they don't grow quite so many in Kent these days, which is a shame, so if you're a young feller you may not have known that.

But have a pint on me, anyway!

The remote control from HELL: Driverless cars slam on brakes for LASER POINTER

Re: Not so different from a conventional car then

"The bad news is that a busload of orphans carrying one-eyed puppies is directly behind it.

Worse, you're driving the bus."

Will this mean a dramatic rise in car jackings? What an easy way of stopping a car.

And they call it "security". Hah!

SPACE WHISKY: Astro malt pongs of 'rubber and smoked fish'

"adding the shavings to the liquid is the next best thing to having it in contact with the inside of a barrel"

Well, judging by the report, obviously not!

Huge SUPERHENGE erection found near Blighty's Stonehenge

Re: The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological what?

"Is 'prospection' really a word?"

Prospecticating - shirley! Or alternatively prospectication.

Prospectinization.....pros....

Wanders off muttering under breath.

Re: Meanwhile, on a continent far, far away...

@ Mahatma Coat

But, but........

Everyone knows the pyramids were built by aliens - don't they?

Ex top judge admits he's incapable of reading email, doesn't own a PC

Re: Parties and judges

Oi! Enough of the 'in her 70's mother' crap.

I'm in my 70s and was writing assembler code in the 60's up until a few years ago. Also COBOL, PL/I and later on a bit of SQL for good measure.

Why would you assume that someone in their 70's, or for that matter even in their 80's was incapable of using a computer and email.

Having said that, I worked with a guy, also a programmer who did not own a pc until after he retired.

Mind you, he still knew how to use email at work.

The most tragic thing about the Ashley Madison hack? It was really 1% actual women

Re: So the crackers were correct - it was a scam

@Peter Simpson 1

Seems it turned out to be more like a wet dream!!!

Donald Trump dumps on Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg

Re: "...details a plan to build a wall between the United States and Mexico."

That's Ok. The USAians will probably outsource the building and maintenance of said wall to the cheapest bidder - Mexicans?

Monster Scalextric Formula 1 circuit to go under the hammer

Re: Cornering

@werdsmith

Ha! I could do that, no trouble, without the washing up liquid! Just don't ease off for the corners!!

Let kids delete their online rants, demand campaigners

@ Synonymous Howard Re: Kids these days ...

"And an upper limit of 60 as well."

In which case, I suspect you won't get many voting at all!!!

Ford's parallel PARCing: Motor giant tries to craft new tech just like Xerox

Re: "Cars already decide when to change gear for you"

"Progress requires death to proceed."

Really? In this day and age of Health & Safety not to mention litigation?

50 or more years ago I would totally agree. My argument is that if we had the Health & Safety regimes that are in place today back in the day, America would never have been visited (I won't say discovered, as it was already occupied). Ditto for all the 'new' countries such as Oz, NZ, South Africa to name 3. Of course the Romans were there way before the Europeans, eh!!

By the time the planners had written out a 'risk assessment form" the potential crew of the ship (which undoubtedly was the cheapest they could find) would have been press-ganged into the navy or died of boredom.

The bottom line for all these regulations seems to be that 'no-one should die - ever!!" Strange that so many do in the course of living - and comparatively few of them on the roads as opposed to, oh, let me see, illness, old age, had enough of this over-regulated world of ours.

Meh!

Mega fatcat Kim Dotcom in deportation drama over SPEEDING ticket

Re: Perfectly safe != speed

What utter crap!

Jeez, I get utterly sick of people in New Zealand, including the government and Police making this kind of statement when it is just not true.

Exceeding the limit is NOT an accident waiting to happen - provided it is done judiciously. Travelling at the speed limit under all circumstances can be much more dangerous.

I have driven in most of Europe, a lot of North America and a fair few other countries as well, and our roads are up there with most of the others, and sometimes exceeding some of those countries you mention. (proviso .. some roads excepted - same as most countries as well)

Having returned in the last 3 years from an extended stay in the UK, I can tell you that what causes accidents is not speed, but crap driving and stupid police enforcement which is having the reverse effect to what they want. A tolerance of 4 kph over the holidays, which incidentally did not do anything for the road toll, as compared to last year. All the low tolerance does is cause drivers to spend more time watching their speedometer rather than the road as they should be doing. Not only that, it is dangerous as they have instilled the concept that you must NEVER under any circumstances exceed the speed limit, which is rather mixed messages, as if people attempt to overtake a slower driver while following the rule, they finish up taking an absolute age to complete the manoeuvre. When I was taught to drive the idea was that when overtaking you spent as little time as possible on the wrong side of the road, so you put your foot down to get past, then slowed back down.

When they are producing television adverts which show someone driving on a straight road with no other traffic on the road (apparently) doing 105 kph (just 5 kph over the legal limit - that is 3, yes just 3 mph) and then someone pulling out of a side road, causing an accident and then making out the guy doing 5 k over was in the wrong, (he states "I was over the limit, it's my fault!") I'm sorry that is just absolute rubbish. The cause of the accident was the idiot pulling out of the side road. The advert pulls in a lot of emotion as well, as the idiot pulling out says that he has his kid in the car (this discussion is held in a time paused moment just before the cars collide) and "I made a mistake". Yup, YOU made the mistake - not the guy on the road doing a mere 5 kph over. I defy ANYONE to be able to tell whether a car coming towards them is doing 5 kph over or under the limit.

Ditto the ridiculous ad showing a woman exceeding the urban speed limit by a small amount and then having her hit someone who (according to the ad) ran out in the road literally a cars length in front, without looking. With the scenario they show, even someone doing just under the speed limit would not have had a chance of stopping either.

How are they allowed to produce and show such blatant propaganda which doesn't even have the dubious merit of showing something accurately.

BTW we had some visitors from the UK over Christmas who travelled around a bit and were thoroughly impressed with our roads. Most of ours are far wider than B roads (and even some A roads) in the UK. They weren't that impressed with the general driving standards however.

Segway bought by former patent spat adversary Ninebot

Re: The segway always was a solution looking for a problem

They are also used in New Zealand for steadicam platforms for sports events - especially Rugby.

They troll up and down the sidelines with the operator just using weight transfer to control the Segway. Faster moving than trying to run with a steadicam mounted on you as well, so can follow the action pretty closely.

Ford: Our latest car gizmo will CHOKE OFF your FUEL if you're speeding

Re: Another nail in the coffin...

@Dogged

"three years ago a car full of teenagers doing about 90mph on a blind bend smashed through the trees and killed all occupants just outside Devizes. The council, in their "wisdom" have responded by making the whole 3 mile stretch a 30mph zone"

Which reminds me of the road just outside Farnborough towards Fleet in Hampshire which had a 40 mph limit. A guy on a motorcycle got himself killed, so the local LibDem goody-goody made a big fuss until the limit was reduced to 30mph.

Now just so we're all completely clear on how this will reduce the road toll, the motorcyclist was apparently doing in excess of 60mph, overtaking 1 or more cars, on the other side of a pedestrian safety island in the middle of the road, and just to cap things off, it was also adjacent to a junction with a side road on the opposite side of the road. Quite what he did to kill himself, I know not, but I'll leave you to guess at the number of different possibilities available to him. If he was a gambling man he certainly knew how to increase his odds!!

Now I don't know about you, but I am little unclear as to how reducing the speed limit to 30mph would have prevented the accident. Oh, he says, the speed limit has been reduced so I'll overtake the cars at just 50, eh!

As I keep saying repeatedly, you can't legislate for idiots.

The bottom line is you can put all of these clever bits in a car, reduce speed limits to where you might as well have a man walking in front carrying a red flag, and STILL, there would be idiots who would manage to kill themselves or other people.

Re: My wife's car has automatic headlights.

AC and Yugguy

Bullshit yourself. Under 'normal' circumstances I might agree with you, but abnormal circumstances where events happen very quickly despite you being aware of road conditions can still happen.

It doesn't happen very often, but it can happen, in which case, I would not want some stupid car deciding on my behalf to limit what I can do.

Re: My wife's car has automatic headlights.

@ Lee D

"I'm heavily of the opinion that it's BILLIONS-TO-ONE against the human NEEDING to accelerate in an emergency situation unless they'd be an ABSOLUTE pillock of a driver just seconds before anyway"

Well there I have to disagree with you.

I had an occasion driving late at night on one of Melbournes 'freeways' which are 2 or 3 lanes in either direction. It was about 1 a.m. with very little traffic but raining with a wet road. About 100 or so metres in front of me was a Porsche, the only other vehicle on my side of the road. Both of us were inside the speed limit (it was raining after all) when suddenly the Porsche turned right and slammed head on into the central barrier, and stopped dead hard up against it. I start to slow down, with every intention of stopping to see if the driver is OK. As I am slowing down and within 30 to 50 metres, the Porsche suddenly starts slowly rolling backwards towards the near side lane. The road was slightly banked to the outside. It was too late to brake hard, (I am not sure of the exact distance now, as it happened a while ago, but I do know that it was too close to initiate braking) as I was very likely to just lock up and slide into it, which would have T-boned the driver's door. I dropped it 2 gears and floored it, aiming left. I reckon I cleared both the car and the near side barrier with about inch to spare. If this so-called 'smart car' had initiated a slow down, or enforced braking I would undoubtedly have T-boned the Porsche.

Admittedly, that's the only time I have ever had the need to accelerate to get out of danger, although I could probably put my mind to other situations, but in this one case the last thing I wanted was some idiot car deciding what I should be doing.

As far as I am concerned based on that single incident, that is the end of the argument. I want to be in total control of what the car does, and when it does it

Everything else you state, I am in full agreement with. I don't mind the aids, such as ABS (which might have helped if the car had it, but I'm still not sure I would have entirely trusted it under those circumstances), engine efficiency aids, and even traction control, but forcing actions upon the drive is just plain unsafe.

Amazon fires rocket up FAA for dithering on drone approval

Re: Amazon can go pound salt

@AC

In most countries, my observation is that courier drivers themselves are a safety issue!!!!!

Not sure whether the icon is apropos or not!!

Watchdog slaps American Apparel's youthful naked arse

Re: "Must not appear again in its current form"

And there I was thinking of the children. Apparently that's not permitted any longer - even if they are over age!!

Osbo: Choose a IoT fridge. Choose spirit-crushing driverless cars

Re: two fridges

@ Tom 7

I really don't feel I actually need a fridge to tell me what I already know by a) looking at milk in fridge, note that it's getting a little low (or otherwise) and b) take a sniff of the milk. If it smells fine, I use it.

Same goes for all other food items in said fridge, and nary a Use By date do I need to look at either.

Ergo, no use for such a fridge.

Australia's PM says data retention laws think of the children

@dan1980

"Let's put cameras inside every room of every home! Let's issue mandatory ID cards that have to be scanned any time you get on a train or bus (close . . .) or enter a building or purchase anything. We could all wear GPS-trackable bracelets if they like."

Nah! Don't need all that rubbish.

Everyone is micro-chipped when they are born, and hey presto, you can track everybody!!!

If you don't have, or 'volunteer' to have a chip implanted then you are automatically guilty.

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear and all that crap as well.

'Giving geo-engineering to this US govt is like giving a child a loaded gun'

Re: What I don't get is why people in Florida still vote Republican...

Do you think that 5 metres will be enough?

Swap your keyless key for keyless key-less key. You'll need: a Tesla S and Apple Watch

Re: Crazy and worrying

"convenience"????

I have often wondered what the benefit was of a keyless car, and what's NOT convenient about carrying a physical key?

I have never had a mechanical key fail. I've misplaced them, yes, but while it's in my possession it just works.

UK boffins DOUBLE distance of fiber data: London to New York WITHOUT a repeater

Re: Kerr

Like dissecting a live (but anaesthetized) frog?

Doomsday Clock says 3 minutes to midnight. Again

Re: to places where Climate change is real.

@ Sorry that handle is already taken.

I think what he meant to say, was that, in the past, they didn't have people who were supposedly intelligent beings, running around over-analysing anything that moved, then claiming that disaster was imminent.

They waited until the problem actually started to manifest itself, i.e. their prime waterfront property got inundated with the rising tide (possibly) so they moved inland a bit further.

Of course, also back then, then was no government to whom they could turn and claim that 'they ought to do something about it", like tax someone else to pay for their stupidity/cupidity/arrogance/etc to actually build an expensive house in an area which just might be affected by water/erosion/etc.

Or not actually building on a cliff-top because of the views and then complain when an earthquake drops several megatons of rock-face from their chosen building site.

Of course, that didn't prevent the soothsayers and other (sometimes religious) doom merchants from predicting the worst, especially if the stars were not in alignment or something.

I was going to add the Joke Alert icon, but I'm not entirely sure whether I am joking or not!!!

Windows XP beats 8.1 in December market share stats

Re: Support is impossible

@ Dave Horn

Sod off with the "70 year old" bit.

Some of us have been playing with computers longer than you have so don't be so fucking patronising.

There are some pretty pathetic 20 year-old out there as well, you know.

Erik Meijer: AGILE must be destroyed, once and for all

Re: the mantra...

@ phil dude

Shit mate, I don't know where you worked but when we were writing Assembler on an IBM mainframe for an airline back in the day before "organised" management came into play, we ALWAYS got all 3 right on target.

It's when the "professional managers" were involved and they brought in all the meetings to report 'progress' and multi-level management of a project that it all got fucked up.

We spent more time on so-called project management which in my experience, simply added more time and expense to the overheads.

I can quote, without mentioning any names, that I was involved in a project involving international companies, which we managed to complete in 6 months for a cost of around a quarter of a mill, while our opposite numbers spent several million and took well over 12 months to complete.

Bullshit costs money!!

Just my humble opinion but then I am now safely retired, and so obviously old-fashioned and 'out of touch' so I MUST be wrong!!!!

Back then Agile wasn't a concept, it was the normal way of working.

New Zealand Supreme Court says Kim Dotcom search warrants were legal

Re: I don't get it

@ gnasher729

Your first paragraph may well be true but has little relevance to this case.

Your second paragraph is pure supposition on your part - and the U.S. Government's as well.

Unless you have some proof of course. Citation perhaps? But not one of the spurious U.S. Government allegations which remain just that, allegations.

Anyone can throw dirt around and some of it will stick. It seems you have bought the dirt big time.

Your analogy is a bit skewed. Possessing stolen goods is indeed a crime, but owning an open system which is used by OTHER people to store things, does not mean that any alleged IP content is in his possession. Google Drive, Dropbox, any other cloudy storage facilities perhaps?

Personally I am getting the impression that the Americans didn't like the competition, so this is their way of ridding themselves of a system to which their law enforcement agencies don't have access.

Forget Google's robot cars, now it's on to ANDROID cars

Re: The EU will love this one...

@ Lost all faith...

Or even worse. they'll do a Microsoft on you.

I'm sorry, we are no longer supporting your operating system as we have a much newer 'better' one. You will need to upgrade your vehicle to the next model.

This will make your car unusable or at risk of hacker attacks.

Cheers.

Samsung turns off lights on LEDs worldwide – except in South Korea

Re: Hey Vic

Good for you.

I can't remember now what I paid for a Panasonic 42 incher OLED HD not long ago here in NZ, but whatever I paid, was probably over-priced for what can be got now, as they can now be bought for NZ$599, around £300. I notice a Samsung 40 incher is dearer at NZ$649 (£325).

I don't know what your Sammie is like for blacks but the Panasonic is very good.

Obviously I don't know your circumstances but personally I think that those sorts of prices are bloody cheap for OLED.

Hey Vic

You should really have another look at the latest TVs. They used to a have a problem with blacks, especially compared with plasma, but they've come a long way since then.

And they're a hell of a lot lighter to move!!! Even versus the old plasma screens.

With OLED black IS the new black.

Re: much better light quality?

@ Richard 12

Well, guys, all I can say is you are looking in the wrong direction.

I have no idea of the technicalities of LED lights with phosphors, colour shifts or whatever.

I had started replacing bulbs with lower wattage types, including halogen, and had just started using LED bulbs. Expensive yes, but if they last as long as they claim, then that will be fine by me.

All I can say is that I wouldn't have a crap CFL in the house and have just recently replaced 26 down lights, some of which were MR16 halogen (in the kitchen) and the remainder were R80 type.

They have all been replaced by a 10W dimmable sealed LED unit designed by a company here in NZ, and manufactured in China (of course) Not only are they as MUCH better light output than the MR16, they have a better spread, with not so much of a spotlight effect. They are that bright with a good colour that I have had dimmers installed so that I can get some mood lighting going. No problem with colour - they're just a warm white - about 3500 K I believe.

They are warrantied for 40,000 hours which my calculations lead me to believe that if I had them on 5 hours every night they should last me 21 years or so.

SO I guess the reason that Sammy and Philips are no longer interested is that once installed they are unlikely to sell any more bulbs for a great number of years. Diminishing returns with no built in obsolescence. Not a good business model these days.

'Cowardly, venomous trolls' threatened with two-year sentences for menacing posts

Re: the war on rudeness

@ Trevor_Pott

Sorry Trev, 'guilt' is NOT a verb.

Windows 7 settles as Windows XP use finally starts to slip … a bit

Re: @ sabroni@ Ken Hagan Why is Win 8 and Win 8.1 seperated?

"The search in 8.1 is shit compared to 8"

I find the search in Win 7 is shit compared to the two alternative methods in XP.

Either the search fror the Start menu which I rarely use, or, for me, preferably, the Search obtained from right-clicking on Start. Much more flexible, and it allows me to shorten the search time by starting in a specific level in the path.

Win 7 doesn't distinguish between programs or files, so give me a pile of crap which may or may not include what I really want to search for.

I reluctantly went to Win 7 as that was all that was available other than Win 8, but I still prefer using my XP machine. At least I can still find what I am after in the XP machine.

Finding the program I want is also a hell of a lot simpler in XP, as far as I am concerned.

Virgin Media blocks 'wankers' from permissible passwords

Re: Bollocks won't be allowed on many systems

@Arnaut the less

"the German high command put too much trust in their machines"

You mean there are still people around who do not learn form history!!!

Nothing has changed, has it.

Drunkards warned: If you can't walk in a straight line, don't shop online, you fool!

@ Sanctimonious Prick Re: Oh, OK - Odd, But OK.

"Oh, OK - Odd, But OK. "

Shit, I do that when I'm completely sober!!!!!

Occasionally my fingers turn all dyslexic. It's the only explanation, as the brain still knows what it wants to say! Mostly.

Or maybe it's just age, and I'm just losing it - in more ways than one!

Oh well, the sun is well and truly over the yard-arm so it's wine time, when I promise I won't make any further comments.

Beer, because there isn't a wine icon, but it's still alcohol.

Oh, and have an up-vote you Sanctimonious Prick. Great Name!!

This'll end well: US govt says car-to-car jibber-jabber will SAVE lives

Braking?

"I'm braking, why aren't you braking?"

Because, you fuckwit, I have no need to brake because I saw people braking several millenia in front of you, and I have just taken my foot off the accelerator, thus already slowing down and allowing ample room between your vehicle and mine!

If I need to, I will brake, but until then get outta my face.

And also as a consequence, not putting the shits up people following behind causing them to apply their brakes, and so on and so on, thus bringing a whole line of cars to an eventual standstill, simply because everyone reacted to (horrors) brakelights in front of them, and because they were travelling too closely, and/or they were distracted by their phone/stereo/kids/passengers etc, rather paying attention to what they were doing, and watching what the traffic was doing several cars in front of theirs. Admittedly not helped by large vehicles in front like trucks, SUVs, vans etc but if you allow enough space you get better vision ahead and also give yourself time to react if the vehicle in front slows down.

It often amazes me the faith that some drivers have in other driver's attention and reaction time, as they seem to think nothing of just changing lanes in front of other drivers - especially so in wet weather.

Also a great reliance on the braking efficiency/ability of the other driver's vehicles.

@ Ralph B Re: Roundabouts

"Visit Swindon or Hemel Hempstead."

Or Colchester's Magic Roundabout (Google it)!!! Where you can go either way around the roundabout. One of my worst and scariest ever driving experiences in the U.K. - especially when it's your first time to the area, it's on a winter's night, and it's pissing down with rain and you can't see the road markings!

I couldn't tell who the hell I should be giving way to, so in the end waited for a suitable gap and just went, only to have a car come from my right with horn blaring.

Sorry chum, if that oxymoron known as a "road designer" had built a normal roundabout I wouldn't have had a problem. Likewise all those thousands of motorists who travel through it every day but have now got used to it.

Spawn of Satan icon because this roundabout is, and was probably designed by same.

World's only flyable WWII Lancaster bombers meet in Lincs

Re: de Havilland Mosquito

@ nematoad

"AM was woefully short of imagination in respect to the Mossie, they didn't believe that a wooden aircraft had any chance in an era of all-metal airframes"

Which is all the more remarkable as I saw that the ME 110 had a wooden frame, at least the rear half of it was which I saw on the remains of one at Hawkinge museum.

I don't know about the ME109's construction, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it didn't have a similar construction. Does anyone know for sure?

Internet of Things fridges? Pfft. So how does my milk carton know when it's empty?

Re: Devil's advocate says...

@Steven Roper

And how is it going to handle stuff which is so past it's 'Use By' date (assuming it even had one) that the contents have now turned to a nasty shade of grey/green. Milk still weighs much the same despite having turned mostly solid!

Joke Alert, as the whole idea is a joke.

I have a far better solution to the problem. I use my eyes and brain - what's left of it after reading this drivel.

Sounds like a techos wet dream - except as an ex-techo, it doesn't even begin to register on my radar as a must have!

Unregistered car drivers rejoice! Cops kill buggy auto plate recognition

Re: WA behind the eastern states again ?

"After midnight on the day the rego is due, if not paid the car may only be driven to and from your residence to get your green slip (CTP insurance) ,pink slip (roadworthy) and the motor registry. "

I think the various Australian governments are missing a trick here. They should follow the UKs lead. If you haven't re-licensed/registered by the due date an automatic fine is issued. No grace and possibly no exceptions either.

I'm sorry sir, I was abroad for 3 months, so didn't get the reminder notice - or - well actually |I was in hospital having suffered a serious heart attack. My car got written off but the notification has not made it to the DVLA yet. (or whatever)

I don't know if these are valid 'get out of jail' reasons, or whether you are stuck with it.

Don't know whether anyone who has suffered any of the above can confirm or otherwise.

It always struck me as slightly bizarre, that other 'crimes' such as not paying your TV license fee had to be actually proved (sighting an actual TV on the premises) before you could be fined, and you usually had a grace period to pay up before any penalties applied.