And now I've seen it all ...

[dennis]

Balls, I watched them install one. You can even see the connection to the junction box on the wall.

[Tim Watts]

Very interesting.

[Jules Richardson]

Having one of the remote controls could be amusing. :-)

[Jules Richardson]

:-)

Sign at local playing fields says "walking dogs prohibited", so we just make 'em run.

[SteveW]

No I'm saying that people with disabilities should wait for a disabled bay to come free rather than take over scarce parent and child spaces, when parents cannot do the reverse. I'm also saying that some conditions mean that people will be unable to wait for a disabled space to come free and that I think it is fine under such circumstances to use the parent a child bays instead.

SteveW

[SteveW]

No. Possibly because some non-standard arrangements may already have been in use.

I would have thought so.

No. There was no requirement to even have a speedometer!

SteveW

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Same on the back roads around here and it's not helped by idiots wearing all black and dark green. One time I nearly ran one over as there was just nothing to pick him out from the hedge.

[dennis]

You are lucky, some around here wear camouflage.

[Dave Liquorice]

Ah, er, make the manhole covers out of stainless or ali. Simples. B-)

[Frank Erskine]

But they're not, are they?

:-)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Oh, that too, but luckily the odd one with an ex-army cammo jacket or trews usually has something lighter on them.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Pikies will love that - increased value - super.

[John Williamson]

Cast iron for vehicle routes and occasionally fibreglass for pedestrian routes round here usually.

[The Other Mike]

In certain locations in Europe they are made of bronze...and don't get nicked!

[Frank Erskine]

Occasionally chequerplate for smaller ones.

[Jules Richardson]

Sometimes bamboo covered in reeds.

[geoff]

Talking of which, CPC are selling a keyring dongle (about a fiver) which switches off most TVs in their latest flier

This has been a public service announcement for those who like to sit in a pub and enjoy the gentle art of peaceful conversation

[Huge]

I also find a Leatherman (other pocket tools are available) useful for cutting the wires to loudspeakers.

[Andrew Gabriel]

indictors don;t fail because of flashing but then again they are underrated as their prime job isn't illumination.

A common misconception is that because lamps have a tendancy to fail at switch-on, switching them on and off shortens their life. Generally, this isn't true.

There is a point just before the end of life (a few hours) where a filament can continue running but won't survive another switch-on, and so if it's switched during this period, the failure will be at switch-on. However, this doesn't mean that frequent switching significantly shortens filament life.

In a 12V car, I suspect the headlamp wiring limits the switch-on surge current to significantly less than if it was directly connected to a zero impedance 13.5V source, i.e. the wiring resistance is probably significant compared with cold filament resistance.

Switching these does shorten life, probably more so in cars where they are initially overrun when cold to achieve near instant light output than is the case with HID lamps in general (where switch-on is still a high wear case, but usually isn't expected to happen more than once per day).

[Chris J Dixon]

I remember testing runs on a prototype train, about 35 years ago, where we used a pretty substantial storage scope. One of its popular features, as we huddled in the chilly vehicle, was that it threw out 1 kW of heat when we ran it.

Chris