Sunday, 22 March 2009

Yer bones.


Did you know that your skeleton is continually rebuilding itself ? Turns out that as you do work, exertion et cetera, your muscles put stress on your bones, and they react by getting bigger. Honestly, seriously, FACT. See a builder with HUGE hands ? They didn't start out like that, he (or she) had average-sized hands to begin with, and after years of lifting stuff, holding stuff and generally shifting (often heavy) stuff around, his (or her) bones responded by becoming bigger, thicker, tougher. The point is, you build more muscle through excercise, and if your bones stayed the same dimensions after all that, they would not be up to the job in hand. Sadly, someone who laments at being overweight and adds "but I'm big-boned" has got it the wrong way round. The excess weight came first, and caused the bones to become big in order to cope with the extra weight. Point is, being 'big boned' is not the end of the story - eat sensibly, excercise sensibly, consult your health professional SENSIBLY. Weight loss WILL take a while, and always bear in mind that excess weight 'cures' which sound 'too good to be true', ALWAYS are. DO NOT, under ANY circumstance, take what I say as the real truth about anything, unless I say it is ( I am usually correct). DON'T consult people who claim to "channel". They are lying fucking bastards. Rearrange that sentence till you feel comfortable with it.

The Savage Nitro tale moves on . . .


Got the Savage 25 beastie back from Sussex Model Centre (SMC), and today is a nice sunny Sunday. So off to the Industrial Estate, where all is quiet. Fuel-up and 'Drivers, start your engines !' GO ! And it took off like its bottom was on fire, brilliant ! A couple of minutes tuning the radio control set, trim this, reverse that channel, and now for some serious play-time. Great fun and I would have videod (how do you spell that ?) the performance, had some scumbag not nicked my camcorder 2 weeks back. Bolleaux, and my fault for not locking the side door. Kicks own bottom and oddly, doesn't feel better.
The Savage is really performing like we were expecting it to from day 1, even changing gear ! We never had that before Colin @ SMC got his hands on it, thank you so much - 15 quids well spent ! Unfortunately, I smacked the car into a wall, and the front right wheel was hanging off. Seems I am crap at running a radio-controlled car. Luckily I had a replacement part in the kit - (I did the same thing before, and thought I really should carry a spare - turns out, I was right !) Did I mention I am crap at running a radio-controlled car ? Half an hour replacing the busted bit, also straightening a thing which somehow became bent, I felt I'd had enough, ready for a pint.
I called Yann to say the car was running REALLY WELL and (didn't see this coming), he came over with Small Yann to have a play as well. AND THE ELECTRIC STARTER CRAPPED OUT. WOULDN'T TURN THE ENGINE. IT HAD STRIPPED ITS *@#&$"^ GEARS. Horrible, cheap and nasty piece of crap sodsodsoddit. . .
Yann and small boy were understanding; "At least the car's running well" (Thank you) "Although it now won't expletive deleted START" and we agreed to source parts to fix the sodding starter tomorrow. SMC open at 9am.
expletive deletedexpletive deletedexpletive deleted. However, next week is another day, or something.
Shine on !

Tuesday, 17 March 2009

Hpi racing (great toy - if it works)


Took the Savage 25 radio-controlled car to The Model Centre last week, get it overhauled. We've had this for nearly three years, have run it for probably 20 hours, tops. I took it to the industrial estate up the road on a Sunday a few weeks ago, it was dog-slow ! It should have a top speed of 45 mph, (at 1/8th scale, does that really mean 360mph ? Sounds unlikely. Anyway.) and it could barely get away from me, walking. So The Model Centre charged £15 for a service & tune-up, well-worthwhile. And I wanted to get some genuine advice. Like, the fuel recommended by Nameless last year was 16% Nitro-methane. Guess the first word out of The Model Centre ? "20%, we don't use anything less."
And guess what else ? Nitro-Methane fuel is hygroscopic (or
hydroscopic - you choose). IT ABSORBS ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE. THE CONTAINER IT IS IN IS NOT MOISTURE PROOF. IT COSTS £15 FOR A HALF-GALLON. AAAGGGHHH ! ! !
Still, I'm felling much better now, we're just charging up the batteries for the radio controller, the batteries in the receiver, the battery for the electric start, and the battery for the plug heater. So, fingers crossed, this Sunday should see at least an attempt at taking the Savage for a spin.

Saturday, 14 March 2009

Mike 'The Bike' Hailwood

The subject of Mike Hailwood came up today, so I Googled him, just to refresh my memory. Here is the entry on h2g2 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A9405119 . For those who are unaware, it's a BBC website which takes its name from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy, and if you are unaware of that, well, Google is probably your only hope.

The Trevor has landed




For all things technological just google it for a different take on technology check me out, welcome comments and feedback.


In my daytime job (http://www.abcom.co.uk/) I work with computers, sometimes to their advantage...we are an IT support company with lots to offer, never a dull moment.




"Yann my arch nemesis ...wait till he tries to get back through the airlock!" LOL