Stuff You've Just Bought

[Kondoru]

My uncle regards getting a ticket as a sign of being young.

(I have no idea how old he is; must be at least 80).

 

[Trevp666]

In practice, repeat in practice, the custom is to allow the motorist 10% over the limit, plus 2 mph, before issuing a summons. De jure, if you're over the limit, you're "in play".

Indeed, which shows why most people that do a lot of motorway driving are fairly well aware of this.
Hence (as per your calc) the 70 + 10% (77) + 2mph =79 (or 80 ish, depending on what your speedo is telling you, and most vehicles I have ever driven, and I've driven a lot of different vehicles, have speedos that over-state your speed - car manufacturers do not want to be held responsible for selling you a vehicle which tells you that you're doing 70mph when in fact you're doing 80mph!)

My ex-traffic police friend also told me that they much preferred to just sit on a motorway bridge with a radar gun. You catch many more speeding drivers, and from much further away than people realise (about a mile on a good day!), than what you would do whilst 'patrolling the motorway network, plus (warning - cop stereotype approaching) they got to sit and eat doughnuts and drink coffee.

 

[Trevp666]

Surprised I haven't been stopped then as I never drive to the speed limit on the motorway or anywhere else.

You're probably driving along quite safely though, and unless you're on the M25 sitting in lane 3 where it is 4 lanes wide, doing 50mph, and lanes 1 & 2 are empty, the rozzers are unlikely to pull you over.
(Remember, it is against the law to drive in such a manner to cause a hazard to other road users (going too slowly) and it is also against the law to drive in any lane other than lane one unless overtaking slower vehicles or avoiding a hazard. After completing an overtake you should always move back over to the left hand lane, if it is safe to do so.)

I was on a 40mph limit road locally a couple of years ago, driving along behind a car (i think it was a honda) which at most was doing 22mph.
There was no opportunity to overtake, and there was a significant queue of vehicles building up behind.
When we did reach a point at which I could have gone past, I was beaten to it by 'jam sandwich' volvo estate which leapt from the queue of vehicles behind, with it lights and sirens on, only to pull in front of the slow car and stop it.

I came back that way about 10 minutes later and could see that they were questioning some little old lady who must have been older than god and was all of about 4 foot nothing, so was probably having difficulty even seeing over the dashboard.
Bless her.

 

[maximus otter]

Indeed, which shows why most people that do a lot of motorway driving are fairly well aware of this.
Hence (as per your calc) the 70 + 10% (77) + 2mph =79 (or 80 ish, depending on what your speedo is telling you, and most vehicles I have ever driven, and I've driven a lot of different vehicles, have speedos that over-state your speed - car manufacturers do not want to be held responsible for selling you a vehicle which tells you that you're doing 70mph when in fact you're doing 80mph!)

My ex-traffic police friend also told me that they much preferred to just sit on a motorway bridge with a radar gun. You catch many more speeding drivers, and from much further away than people realise (about a mile on a good day!), than what you would do whilst 'patrolling the motorway network, plus (warning - cop stereotype approaching) they got to sit and eat doughnuts and drink coffee.

UK law says that your car speedo can not under-report your speed, e.g. indicate that you are doing 30 mph when you are in fact doing 35 mph.

“A speedo must never show less than the actual speed, and must never show more than 110% of actual speed + 6.25mph.

So if your true speed is 40mph, your speedo could legally be reading up to 50.25mph but never less than 40mph.

Or to put it another way, if your speedo is reading 50mph, you won’t be doing more than 50mph but it’s possible you might actually only be travelling at 40mph.”

Item 19 here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/25/schedule/3/made

maximus otter

 

[Frideswide]

I bought a boxed set of Hasui Kawase cards from Daunt Books in London several years ago. I still have most of them, as I'm very choosy about who they go to.

 

[Frideswide]

Touch wood - between us Mr Frideswide and I have over 60 years riding and driving.

Between us we have no tickets, warnings or being pulled over. We've both ridden/driven in competition and are mad keen on the sensation of speed - myself being the one that enjoys the risk more.

I lie, Mr Frideswide did get stopped when he was about 20 and on a Bonnie. He was leaving an accident he'd come across and not been involved in. Having done first aid he went to the next village where a pub let him ring the police and ambulance and had then returned to the accident. The officer wanted to praise his actions but Mr F assumed he was about to be bolloxed for something.

We've both been stopped when the police were looking for info, or to be told a road was closed, usually the Rest And Be Thankful east of us in Glen Croe. I'm not counting that sort of thing as "stops"

I don't see gaming the system as praiseworthy. I don't have anything to prove.

 

[Yithian]

I bought a boxed set of Hasui Kawase cards from Daunt Books in London several years ago. I still have most of them, as I'm very choosy about who they go to.

I can't recommend this collection enough. 100 prints, titles and captions in Japanese and English.

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/the-bibliophilia-thread.63247/page-2#post-1723445

Of course, I'd love a copy of the 'Full Woodblock Prints' book, but was expensive when first published and now runs to several hundred dollars.

I'm quite eager to see the few prints of Korea in the new collection I've ordered.

 

[hunck]

UK law says that your car speedo can not under-report your speed, e.g. indicate that you are doing 30 mph when you are in fact doing 35 mph.

“A speedo must never show less than the actual speed, and must never show more than 110% of actual speed + 6.25mph.

6.25 seems a very precise number yet random number. Why not 3.75? - or is there a sound reason for arriving at it?

 

[gordonrutter]

6.25 seems a very precise number yet random number. Why not 3.75? - or is there a sound reason for arriving at it?

Perhaps it’s some sort of melding of U.K. and European law as 6.25 mph is essentially 10 km per hour.

 

[hunck]

Perhaps it’s some sort of melding of U.K. and European law as 6.25 mph is essentially 10 km per hour.

Right. We can now change it to 3.75 thanks to Brexit.

 

[Dinobot]

Bought today - Fred And Rose: The Full Story Of Fred And Rose West And The Gloucester House Of Horrors by Howard Sounes and
Hunting Hitler's Nukes - The Secret Race To Stop The Nazi Bomb by Damien Lewis.

 

[Trevp666]

Sounds like some jolly bedtime reading!

 

[escargot]

Sounds like some jolly bedtime reading!

I have the Sounes book on the Cromwell Street murders. @Dinobot will spend a certain amount of time placing it face-down, shaking his head and exhaling loudly.

 

[escargot]

You're probably driving along quite safely though

I certainly am!

 

[Dinobot]

I have the Sounes book on the Cromwell Street murders. @Dinobot will spend a certain amount of time placing it face-down, shaking his head and exhaling loudly.

I often do that in regards to several aspects of human nature...

 

[Tempest63]

Between us we have no tickets, warnings or being pulled over. We've both ridden/driven in competition and are mad keen on the sensation of speed - myself being the one that enjoys the risk more.

I nearly got arrested in Oman in 1986 for driving one of the site pool cars on the road with dirty tyres/wheels. I’d only arrived on a flight the night before and was off to Muscat to change travellers cheques (how old fashioned) so the officers were lenient and gave me a telling off instead.
They also shook my hands at the beginning of the exchange and again at the end, very civilised way to get nicked!

 

[Tigerhawk]

The following movies -
Warning From Space.
The H Man.
Battle In Outer Space.

All quality movies from Japan.

 

[GNC]

The H-Man and Battle in Outer Space are out in a Blu-ray double bill at the moment, all jolly good fun. The H-Man is similar to The Blob, but they were made simultaneously in opposite parts of the world. Nice little coincidence.

 

[Kondoru]

I got a new microwave bacon cooker for Dad.

He was annoyed I used his for meat a lot of brown stuff came off of, and decided it was buckling. I said this was probably because it was old, rather than my (non bacon) meat.

But I got a new one anyway.

Also a new rear wiper blade for my car. he says mine needs replacing, and I am not sure. I am hoping it will fit, seems to be a silly amount of options for such a simple part.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

Playstation 5

 

[Megadeth1977]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...ort-receiving-toys-kitchen-appliances-instead

ORIGINAL STORY 2.30pm: Imagine securing a PlayStation 5 for launch day, anxiously waiting for your console to arrive, then opening its box to find... a kitchen appliance instead. Or cat food. Or nothing ever being delivered at all, despite your order being marked as completed.

That's what has happened to a number of Amazon UK customers over the past 24 hours, in a situation which has left people trying to get a refund, and with PS5 stock severely limited, the task of finding a console all over again.

The first sporadic reports of the wrong items being delivered initially seemed too unlikely to be true - but they kept on appearing, late into last night, before the issue started to blow up more widely today. Additionally, within Eurogamer, we've now heard from friends and colleagues personally affected.

The wrong items included in each box are different, but the accounts are similar: a delayed delivery, then an Amazon box with clear tape rather than the company's usual branded seal.

Push Square managing director Anthony Dickens was one of those affected, alongside MTV journalist and presenter Bex April May.

 

[Analogue Boy]

Playstation 5

 

[Cochise]

Thats the $1000000 question. Truthfully I very much doubt it, and some of the difference is undoubtedly the "WTF did I just spend?" effect. But the black magic says l hear a difference I do I do, and it is good. Im sure 57 year old ex-rock concert ears are not the most exquisite of instruments though, still Ken Kessler still has a job!

Trying to think of a reason, could it be that a really poor cable (or connector) causes retries and/or error recovery sampling due to missed bits or failed checksums that as a result degrades the quality?

 

[Cochise]

UK law says that your car speedo can not under-report your speed, e.g. indicate that you are doing 30 mph when you are in fact doing 35 mph.

“A speedo must never show less than the actual speed, and must never show more than 110% of actual speed + 6.25mph.

So if your true speed is 40mph, your speedo could legally be reading up to 50.25mph but never less than 40mph.

Or to put it another way, if your speedo is reading 50mph, you won’t be doing more than 50mph but it’s possible you might actually only be travelling at 40mph.”

Item 19 here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/25/schedule/3/made

maximus otter

my phone gives a speed readout from it's satnav software which is interesting to compare with the actual speedo. it's also interesting that although i have two mechanically identical cars, the speedo on one reads noticeably faster than the speedo on the other.

 

[escargot]

Hahaha, car speedos. My first Fiesta had a fault that developed entertainingly over time.

For a while it stuck so I was only doing 10mph everywhere, then it started randomly showing 70-80-90-100mph. Eventually it took to spinning round like a propellor.

I was at the time giving colleagues lifts to and from night shifts. We'd all find it particularly hilarious in the mornings when we were tired.

It suddenly went right on its own, with no attention. Mysterious.

 

[TangletwigsDeux]

Hahaha, car speedos. My first Fiesta had a fault that developed entertainingly over time.

For a while it stuck so I was only doing 10mph everywhere, then it started randomly showing 70-80-90-100mph. Eventually it took to spinning round like a propellor.

I was at the time giving colleagues lifts to and from night shifts. We'd all find it particularly hilarious in the mornings when we were tired.

It suddenly went right on its own, with no attention. Mysterious.

Maybe it just wanted to be a helicopter and fly?

 

[Megadeth1977]

I had to cancel my total recall 4K boxset because Amazon had nun in stock even though I pre ordered it so I got a copy from an eBay seller for £66 not that I liked having to more than rrp.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

When I say I've bought a PS5.... I haven't actually got it yet. But it's been ordered.

GODDAMN DELIVER THE DAMNED THING GODDAMMIT

 

[Naughty_Felid]

When I say I've bought a PS5.... I haven't actually got it yet. But it's been ordered.

GODDAMN DELIVER THE DAMNED THING GODDAMMIT

Let us know what you think of it. The money isn't a real issue - I don't play my PS4 enough to justify it really. Not until other games come out. When diablo 4 comes out and it's PS5 I will deffo get one.

Feel free to try and convince me though as I like shiny things!

 

[Yithian]

We've just got back from one of our evening walks and, by subtly turning the subject of conversation to Christmas, I've managed to obtain a good number of clues for what Miss Yith might like to receive.

Accordingly, I've just ordered plush toys of two of her favourite animated characters:



Plus a bundle of books.

Gushing about your children can get old very fast, but I will just say that I am quite relieved that Miss Yith's tastes skew--like mine--towards the more traditional.

Speaking to some kids her age and hearing the snark and arrogance from the media they consume reflected back just makes me shudder.

It's like the world decided to skip childhood and start the new generations off as proto-teens.