So who's paying for this bit of ecobollox ... ?

[geoff]

I like the way they have brought out the preview of the 2010 catalogue

Which begs the question - how many prices will be obsolete before the catalogue is actually issued ?

[ericp]

Lets have a think.

Oil price goes through the roof. Gas/electric price goes through the roof.

Government mutters about Windfall Tax.

Suddenly goes silent. (The old and hard up can freeze)

The utilities start becoming very benevolent and doing all kinds of free crap for us.

Or perhaps I am just being mean.

[Bill Wright]

No, it's immigration. There's too many foreigners in this country.

Mind you, the other thing is that the current system encourages the workshy and the stupid to breed like rabbits. When these lasses get pregnant just to get a council flat they should be send back to mum and dad with a flea in their ear. Child benefit should be abolished.

Bill

[T i m]

Oooh, I was looking at those with the though of being able to rig a couple on a stand as a field work lamp to go with my little genny (or inverter if it came to it and assuming it worked). Summat like this maybe:

Originally they were all daylight. one

Oooerr. Without a doubt if you only exposure to CFL's was this natural light jobby I've got here you wouldn't like them. You wouldn't think you could have a light that was too 'white' but you can [1].

Ok.

(f*ck!)

;-)

And didn't need any heating on either I suspect.

No, the last thing any of us need is a choice (too confusing / frustrating / expensive).

Cheers, T i m

[1] It's part of my gripe about HID headlights. Whilst they may be great for the rider / driver IMHO they are just_too_bright to be comfortable when you get a face full of them on a roundabout or country lane (as will happen no matter how well adjusted they are). As humans we have a range of comfort. How hot or cold we can be, how much weight we can lift, how much 'G' force we can take, how much noise we can stand and how bright a light we can look at without making us wince. For me, HID headlamps are outside that range.

[T i m]

I'm not arguing with your facts but just that I think they should bring back 'discretion? I guess you mention the "there's obviously an increased chance of being nicked" because you accept they will be doing some form of entrapment (that potentially will mostly trap those who regularly travel that route). I would be much happier to hear "there's obviously an increased chance of being advised to be careful as the limit had recently changed ...", in just the same way I expected (and got) a parking ticked cancelled because they had recently change the local parking rules and I was caught out by them. I understand the authorities have no knowledge of our intent but this 'we are always guilty because the computer says no' thing isn't what it was supposed to be all about (well, not since we were burning witches because_we_thought_they were witches anyway). ;-(

I would consider myself a reasonably attentive driver (I don't want a GPS with a camera database because it wouldn't spot the mobile cameras so I don't want to rely on it doing so etc) but there are times when I have found myself doing as Arfa's mate did with an accompanying 'wtf' while I work out what's going on. The point is that this 'lapse' wouldn't be dangerous as I wouldn't be driving into something faster than I judged safe in the first place and as Arfa states, the actual 'limit' on any section of road is generally an arbitrary one, often with no bearing on the actual 'safe' limit on that road as such (and as mentioned, often just traffic management in any case). ie, Take the signs away completely and I would be no more dangerous as I drive to what I can see in any case. [1]

I feel there really is too much emphasis (and tolerance by us) on knicking 'drivers' for such things. I mean, how difficult would it be for them to consider circumstances, check the driver database (to see (say) the driver had an unblemished 20 year driving record) and let him go with a 'drive safely sir' and a smile? That wouldn't raise any cash though would it (not that most people would have an issue with a small fine, it's the points (when issued in such circumstances) that most people object to).

Out of interest, would the copper be sat in the same place doing people for going at 25 mph in the thick fog?

Cheers, T i m

[1] There are many many roads where if you were to drive at the posted limit you would probably die within minutes. Now I know some people do just that (Darwin rules Ok ) but there are many more of us who seem to cope and have been able to cope before much of what we have now existed.

[Arfa Daily]

They're not actually *that* much better from behind the wheel. Good halogen lamps are perfectly adequate on the roads in this country. There used to be very robust legislation about how the lighting on cars was designed. As I recall, there were laid down specifications on how high lamps could be, and how far apart, and visibility angles and all sorts of things. Now, it seems that car designers are perfectly ok to decide on the overall shape of the car to make it look pretty, and then just fit the lights in where they can so as to not spoil that prettiness any more than they have to. Some of the rear lighting on cars now is, IMHO, totally inadequate in all but the most ideal of conditions, whilst others' rear lighting is so ludicrously bright, that it dazzles you even in daylight. I often wonder how many of those inexplicable traffic stops that occur on motorways nowadays, are caused by drivers over-reacting on their brake pedals, to the red searchlights coming on in front of them, when that driver just touches his brake pedal for whatever reason ...

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

Thank you for that reasoned and honest reply. At least you are *one* person on here who understands *exactly* what I am saying ...

Arfa

[Andrew Gabriel]

The reason they aren't much better is they are the wrong colour for the night time lighting level at which they're used. Manufacturers well know this and did produce some the same colour as halogens (which turns out to be about the ideal lighting colour for night time use). However, car designers weren't interested in using lighting which cost £1000 extra (at the time) unless other people could see you spent £1000 extra on your car, which is the only reason they are manufacturered to be different colour from halogens.

Europe sort of rolled over on the HID lighting standards - it was a case of bolting horses and stable doors.

The only extra rule they put in place was that drivers were not allowed manual control over the dip beam angle of HID lights; it could automatically adjust though. (I don't know if that's still in place -- it was an interim ruling at the time.)

Having said that, the EU vehicle lighting rules are much better than the US rules, so much so that the US has allowed the use of the EU rules in the US for many years now. However, US vehicle manufacturers won't allow the US to upgrade their own poor standards, because it would mean spending money fixing their poor designs, an additional cost which imported vehicles wouldn't have to bear because they already meet the better standards.

I don't believe any of that has gone.

[Man at B&Q]

*potential* maybe, but actual cause for concern?

Just what proportion of the CO2 that was captured and laid down during the carboniferous period are we ever likely to be able to get at and release?

MBQ

[Andy Dingley]

It depends on which engine you're talking about and when: Charcoal (the models), coke or coal. When the high-pressure engine was fixed in place as a stationary engine it switched to burning coal, but it also gained a far taller chimney that was sufficient to create the draught it needed.

Trevithick was also using a centre flue boiler with a fairly large grate area, which will burn coal tolerably well (although inefficiently). The smaller-grate locomotives were those that had particular trouble using coal, without forced draught.

[Andy Dingley]

"Coal" in that period was commonly used to refer to any of the black, lumpy fuels. You have to check carefully as to which was used. Even charcoal is sometimes described as "coals" in the 16th century. "Pit coal" or "sea coal" is the sort that we commonly know as coal.

Much of Trevithick's work took place in the Welsh valleys at Pen-y- darren, but although this was a coal-mining area it was also an ironmaking town and he had ready access to the coke that was being used in the furnaces.

[Clot]

As a person that got caught speeding in exactly the same situation, I have a great deal of sympathy with your mate. In my instance, I had been diligently keeping to a 40 mph limit (despite a queue of cars up my tail) and was slowing down as I came into the 30mph zone. They had just been moved (which I had forgotten). Low and behold there was a camera van parked just within the 30mph zone. I swear my rear bumper was still in the 40mph when they got me!

[Mark]

Bollocks. The stupid are likely to "breed like rabbits" no matter what the system is. The current benefits system does not encourage having children. It costs far more to raise a child than you can get from the state.

Child benefit is a godsend for many hardworking parents.

[Mark]

Where can I get free CFLs? I could do with some.

[T i m]

I didn't even know I could do reasoned. ;-)

I'm sure there are more.

I still think much of the stuff we suffer wouldn't exist if the bean counters weren't accepted as the last word. It's obvious to most good managers that *sometimes* trying to fund things by persecuting the average Joe is going to generate a backlash at some point or another.

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

So you were (effectively) fined for a lapse of memory, not concentration or attention or because you were driving familar ground but not driving dangerously?

Prior to this apparent change in tack of some of the authorities, I imagine most of us would put our hands up and pay the fine. It now appears many people are utilising loop-holes to confuse / evade the system. Not because they aren't guilty in a technical sense but because they feel they aren't guilty in a realistic one.

Driving issues IMHO *should* be down to actual dangerous driving or inconsiderate attitude. Those who you see jump *every* set of lights on a particular journey, or persistently undertake and / or then cut people up to force their way back in. Or overtake down a line of cars at a lane closure and try to do the same [1]. They (or those they bully) are the ones who will inevitably cause a smash / or road-rage incident somewhere down the line, further inconveniencing many many more people.

Cheers, T i m

[1] I wonder if they would have the guts to try the same trick at a cinema or football match queue?

[Clive George]

Two lasses crashed into a canal near Skipton in the past couple of years. Went straight on at a tightish bend in NSL. Both dead, and I think one of the passengers too.

Their mates said "But she was a safe driver, and the speed limit is 60 there".

No concept of taking responsibility for their actions.

[The Natural Philosopher]

But it does not cost far more to feed them junk and let them run wild.

And a godsend for the terminally useless. you tot up what you get paid as an unmarried mother with 5 kids..

[The Natural Philosopher]

more than enough. Probably about 15% at a guess.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Rubbish.

Coal doesn't need a forced draught. Coke does.