What did you get for Xmas?

[STEVIE]

Carl,
and in an instant, you summed it up so well. For me, the best was the humour of the pork pies and rhubarb tart, financially non existant yet so expressive and thoughtful, never to be forgotten, at least in my life time.
The gift is never about the spend, it really is the thought which lies behind it that really gives meaning.
Equally, I received a gorgeous, burgundy pullover from my daughter, who I am sure chose deliberately to coordinate some of my skirts, how lucky can I get in this respect?
Steve.

[Since1982]

I went to a Christmas party with friends who had, like me, just proceeded into the FREE part of their lives. Supposedly we are all promised "Three Score and Ten" years of life. Having turned 70 last Nov. 1, I'm in the free part now.

[Kieran]

I got lots of money, chocolate and a amazon kindle

[Departed Member]

Really! What is the kindle like? I love reading & "poo pooh" e-readers usually, but am mildly riveted as to how they are, as my bookcases are overflowing & nobody seems to want even current secondhand books in print any more.
I think I like paper books, really.
Can you sensibly read a kindle at bedtime? That's when I read most.

[Uncle Al]

My wife has the 'Nook' and she loves it

Uncle Al

[Kieran]

Really! What is the kindle like? I love reading & "poo pooh" e-readers usually, but am mildly riveted as to how they are, as my bookcases are overflowing & nobody seems to want even current books in print any more.
I think I like paper books, really.
Can you sensibly read a kindle at bedtime? That's when I read most.

The kindle is great. Lots of books available for low prices and the e ink screen makes you feel that you are reading paper.
It's quite light making it great for use at bedime. Cases with reading lights are also available which are useful when reading in low light conditions.

[Milfmog]

Kindles are great for travel and keeping down the number of physical books in the house. They are not good for reading in the bath as they do not particularly like the steamy atmosphere and certainly don't like being dunked if the reader dozes off... (Beaches are not kind to e-readers either; salty, sandy and potentially damp.)

Have fun,


Ian.

[skirtyscot]

(Beaches are not kind to e-readers either; salty, sandy and potentially damp.)

That comment reminds me of the time we were on holiday in Italy and I took one of the kids to the beach on our last evening there. I indulged him by driving a couple of miles to the nicest beach in town instead of walking to the nearest one. I was wearing my swimming shorts already, and when I parked I put the key in my pocket and forgot about it. And of course a few minutes later I waded into the sea! We were 200 miles from the airport and a pretty long way from the nearest office of the car hire company. I was utterly astounded when the key worked as normal! These electronic gizmos are sometimes better made than you give the Chinese credit for.

But don't try it with your Kindle!

[Milfmog]

(Beaches are not kind to e-readers either; salty, sandy and potentially damp.)

That comment reminds me of the time we were on holiday in Italy and I took one of the kids to the beach on our last evening there. I indulged him by driving a couple of miles to the nicest beach in town instead of walking to the nearest one. I was wearing my swimming shorts already, and when I parked I put the key in my pocket and forgot about it. And of course a few minutes later I waded into the sea! We were 200 miles from the airport and a pretty long way from the nearest office of the car hire company. I was utterly astounded when the key worked as normal! These electronic gizmos are sometimes better made than you give the Chinese credit for.

But don't try it with your Kindle!

The other side of that comment is that I recall spending two hours in my parked car drying out a friend's key after he took it scuba diving, inside his drysuit, in a waterproof box. No signs of drysuit leakage, but the key got damp enough from moisture that condensed out of the air that it required a lot of drying to get him back into his Renault and the key died completely a few days later.

Sometimes these things are tough, but the cost of failure, should it happen, can be high.

Have fun,


Ian.

[crfriend]

Sometimes these things are tough, but the cost of failure, should it happen, can be high.

Most of the folks around me, especially the younger set, frequently refer to me as a throwback, but there are valid reasons as to why I prefer low-tech solutions to many things -- there's simply less to go wrong. Brass key, meet matching brass-cylinder lock. Somebody's been wet recently? No problem!

As the character "Scotty" pointed up in Star Trek III -- The Search for Spock, "The more complex they make the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.!.

Have fun,

In a low-tech sort of way, almost always!

[Kirbstone]

A close friend has recently purchased a shiny new Renault....a 'Fluence'. Within days she had difficulty with the keyless remote card entry system.

I reckon you'd need to be an 'Electronic Engineer' to own a Renault.

Tom K.

[crfriend]

I reckon you'd need to be an 'Electronic Engineer' to own a Renault.

Stupid question time: If the battery on a completely electronic-access car goes flat, how does one get into it? (Short of using a crowbar, that is.)

There pretty much has to be a jack someplace on the things that'd be accessible without having to pop either the bonnet or boot (those being unlocked electrically from inside) that'd allow one to get into a completely dead vehicle -- which, if discovered, pretty much makes all the added "security" that all those electronics give pretty lame.

[Milfmog]

There pretty much has to be a jack someplace on the things that'd be accessible without having to pop either the bonnet or boot (those being unlocked electrically from inside) that'd allow one to get into a completely dead vehicle -- which, if discovered, pretty much makes all the added "security" that all those electronics give pretty lame.

I had the problem recently of getting into a Nissan Primera which had been standing unused for several months and no longer had sufficient life in the battery to operate the door locking solenoids. The solution was simple (although finding it was not) all I had to do was remove a piece of trim by the near side door handle and there was a good old fashioned mechanical lock which allowed me to open the door and set off the alarm, which sounded like it was being strangled due to the very limited battery voltage.

Have fun,


Ian.

PS Just replaced a discharge bulb in a headlight this morning; £84? Cool, glad my car uses the cheaper type (seriously). What was wrong with acetylene lamps?

[crfriend]

The solution was simple (although finding it was not) all I had to do was remove a piece of trim by the near side door handle and there was a good old fashioned mechanical lock which allowed me to open the door and set off the alarm, which sounded like it was being strangled due to the very limited battery voltage.

Hopefully the catch to release the bonnet was a manually-operated cable-release one.... At least you were in a spot where the stakes weren't really that high. The last time I had a battery go flat on me (that wasn't in my own driveway) was during the 1980s on the top floor of a parking-garage in Boston. Thank heavens for 12-volt video-camera batteries and manual transmissions! (Wire the camera battery into the car and push start the car in reverse; remove the camera battery once the engine lights. Push-starting a minivan single-handedly was a bit of a chore; at least the floor was level.)

Just replaced a discharge bulb in a headlight this morning; £84?

The last time I personally replaced a headlamp I got out from under the ordeal for less than ten bucks (incandescent, albeit halogen, headlamps -- good enough); the worst bit was dealing with the rusted-in screws. The last headlamp that went was also seriously rusted in, and I sent that to my mechanic; that one cost me about seventy-five bucks in labour (and less than a tenner for parts).

What was wrong with acetylene lamps?

When was the last time you tried to locate carbide in an urban area? Without winding up on a government "watch-list"?

When do we get to see pictures of the results from the end of Movember?

[Kirbstone]

Try pee-ing on the carbide in the dark on the roadside to make your acetylene lamp work. You'll get it all over your hands!

Tom K.