XmisterIS

See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4-r-nE4VQQ Each and every one of those fine machines is completely bonkers and will leave many bikes standing - I'm thinking that a decent sports or supernaked could possibly keep up to about 100mph, then just run out of power. But how long do they last? E.g. what service interval is required to keep them at that level of performance? And how many miles before they require a complete overhaul, or a new engine, etc?

Price paid: £89. Material: Goretex and leather, waterproof. These are fantastic winter gloves, I've worm mine a few times and had to take them off and put my thinner ones on a couple of times because they were too warm! I've been absolutely soaked in them a couple of times, and hands stayed bone dry. They are just as good as the big-label brands, only without the big price tag. They are generously sized, so I recommend going a size down from what you normally wear, if you're ordering them online.

Well, I tried all the suggestions in this thread (thank you for trying to help), but no dice! So I didn't fix it ... but I have hacked it! I've stuck an asynchronous curl request (effectively, a ping) into the windows startup sequence. It cures the problem.

I would imagine that the system has been changed, and they have decided that information like that is too useful to tell the general public!

I just tried to tax my car online and it came up with a message saying (approximately): "A valid MOT certificate could not be found for this vehicle. It has not been possible to tax this vehicle at this time. You may tax your vehicle in person at a post office." So I used the automated phone service ... and got spat out with the same message. So I checked the DVLA vehicle database ... Yup, it shows that my car is definitely MOTed. So I had a rummage in my filed documents ... Yup, there's the MOT certificate, correctly issued, showing that my car really does have a valid MOT certificate. So I phoned up the real-person service and asked the real person what the flinkin' blip is going on. (I believe the words I used at the end of the call were, "I'm looking at the valid MOT certificate right now, with ... my ... own ... eyes!") The condescending nincompoop responded to me in a tone normally reserved for small children and idiots, by saying that I couldn't tax my vehicle at this time because although the vehicle is currently MOTed, the MOT expires before the tax is due ... (the day before, in fact). This makes sense, but at no point during the whole process was any indication given that this was, in fact, the problem. So be warned - if you're in my situation (which many, many people probably are) then: 1. You won't be able to tax your car or bike online until you get a new MOT certificate for the year. 2. The system will give you no indication whatsoever that this is the problem. 3. The system will cheerfully recommend that you make a completely futile trip to the post office. 4. Anyone you speak to about it will treat you like a f**king moron for not having DVLA rules at your fingertips for immediate recall.

Quite regularly, Google chrome tells me "Your Internet Access Is Blocked" and refuses to connect to the internet, no matter how many times I refresh the page. The solution I've found is to open a command prompt and ping a known URL or I.P. address (typically I just ping Google). The first ping request ALWAYS times out, the subsequent ones get a response, and then I am able to connect to the net via Chrome. My other browsers (Opera, Firefox, Internet Explorer) seem unaffected. Any ideas?!

I want incredibly attractive blonde amazonesque women to give me money for sex. I'm not interested unless they pay me. I'm not sure about surveys though.

NOTD goes to the jackass in a jaguar who pulled out RIGHT in front of me as I was going to overtake him. No wave of apology, nothing, despite furious beeping and flashing of lights by me.

... do a Google search for "Mr tumbles car" (without an apostrophe). Just don't ...

Don't worry about it! I binned my 125 by grabbing a handful of front brake on wet leaves. Then when I'd only just passed my test and got an SV650N, I tried to do a u turn on it and dropped it. The Z is the only bike I haven't dropped ... although I almost did on the ride home from the dealer! It has much better brakes than the SV; I was approaching a red light, braked, did a stoppie and almost binned the bike!

When I'm not riding the Z, sometimes I'm a C-word .... (Cyclist ... I'll get me coat ...)

It's because although time is linear, your brain does not store it linearly. The temporal component of memory is encoded in the hippocampus, while the affective component is encoded in the amygdala, both of which are connected to the medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortical areas via the anterior cingulate gyrus. When we recall a subjectively significant event, the amygdala mobilises the cingulate gyrus to stimulate the entire brain and autonomic nervous system via the corpus callosum, nucleus accumbens and parietal, occipital and frontal lobes of the cortex, with the effect that you "re-live" the experience in a literal sense.

When it's 1 degree celcius and sleeting, I agree, I'd rather be in the car with the heater on! But in weather like this ...

Here's an unbiased poll to reflect the opinions of the biking community.

I just go past on the inside asap. I don't gesticulate/beep/etc, just get past as quick as possible! Usually they don't even notice and just stay in the outside lane even then. I used to wonder how the hell anyone could be quite that unobservant. I attributed it to sheer stupidity and/or bloody mindedness, which is true in some cases, although mostly I think it's just that some people have a breathtaking lack of spatial awareness. I learnt this when I got a lift from one of my friends who has a degree in classics, can fluently read, write and speak Latin and classical Greek, yet fails to assemble ikea furniture. His driving is astonishingly bad and he doesn't even realise it. He took his test 5 times and only just passed. He drives a Citroën C1 and he can't afford the insurance on anything bigger because he has had so many crashes and all of them his fault. He had to switch insurance companies because the one he was with refused to insure him any more!

NOTD: Summer holiday drivers on the South Coast. E.g. dozy fuckfaces in camper vans who live in the middle of bumfuck nowhere and aren't used to driving their stupid tents-on-wheels in densely populated areas. Also, those knob heads who suddenly turn into rally drivers the moment a bit of sun comes out, all because they've got alloys and lowered suspension.

NOTD goes to the geriatric old cock who deliberately pulled out into the outside lane of an empty national speed limit dual carriageway to block me and make me ride at 50mph. I know he was blocking me because when we pulled up at the lights in the next village, I asked him what his f**king problem was he said, "You bikers, you all ride too fast, I'm teaching you a lesson", to which I replied, "If you do that again, I'll teach you a f**king lesson!" (I often ride with camera - I didn't have it that day. That would have been an excellent "lesson" - give the footage to the police!). Damn, what a w**ker.

The replies to this thread have given me a truly evil idea. One of my colleagues sometimes works a late shift from 7pm to 10pm and occasionally she does this as a lone worker (only person in the building). She is also very much into the paranormal (she attends seances, for example). If I can figure out a way to sneak into the top floor via the fire escape one dark winter evening while she's lone working, drag some furniture around and make crazy noises, then sneak back out again ...

You could try getting it welded, if it's not too rusted.

Now that could genuinely be a hallucination. As a small child I used to hallucinate in the awake/asleep state (I still do sometimes). It's very common in children.

Now, before you brand me a raving twit, just humour me ... My daughter is not yet old enough to speak properly, although she does have a few simple words (hi, bye, mama, daddy, ball, dog, etc) The other day I was looking after her while my wife was out and suddenly she stopped playing, stared at the living room door (which was open) and started waving and saying "hi", which she only ever does when she sees someone she knows, or whomever she decides she likes the look of. There was nothing there. Then she seemed to be watching something that I couldn't see and it seemed as if she was watching it move towards her. She then started smiling and waving and "talking" (babbling) to something that seemed like it was right beside her - only there was nothing there. Then she said, "bye" and waved at it/them a few times and then carried on playing as if whatever just happened was completely normal! All I can say is that it shat the life out of me. It's left me genuinely wondering who or what the hell she was communicating with. I'm not normally one to believe in the paranormal, but this was very very real. I don't believe she was hallucinating either. Has anyone here with kids ever had a freaky experience like that?

A young man walked into me today, head buried in mobile phone. I asked if he was yet another one playing sodding pokemon, he said he was, I said, "How about I poke that phone up your arse with a straight finger!"

Happy birthday!

I don't think you were dreaming. Maybe it was the 'medication' your on? Just don't eat the blue smarties. I learned the hard way ...

No bad weather down south! I had a cracking ride yesterday, warm and dry as a bone!