Martin

Well today is the VERY last day for Maplin in Tamworth (Ventura Park). What little is left is going for peanuts - most cables (mains, signal, data) are fifty pence or a quid, got an aerial signal meter for under four quid, and a 3m BT to RJ11 cable was a mere FOUR NEW PENCE!!!!!!! Sad day though, as despite their usual high prices, at least it was a place to go to get (or browse for) things that you only occasionally needed mb

Well the above mentioned 30m BNC cable was reduced to a mere GBP5-00 yesterday (from an original price of GBP35) - looks like the final days/hours of the sale!

I remember watching him on the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures back in the seventies - one of the few that made science really interesting (and loved the egg races ).

I've not been for a while, but the New Hall Tavern just up the road from you at Samlesbury used to sell excellent homemade burgers (and chips and side and a pint for only a fiver or so)! mb

One thing to bear in mind is that a "combo oven" capacity is usually quite a bit smaller than a traditional oven, so not only can you get less (and smaller) stuff in there, but when you open the door you tend to lose a larger percentage of the heat that has built up. That being said, i have managed with just a combination microwave (currently a Panasonic model) for getting on for twenty years - and haven't starved to dead yet Cheers, mb

Not just any old drone, but one with FLIR fitted! Yup, the Meeja people have taken over what could have been a really interesting series. mb

From https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/map-trade-in.html... ...so unless i have got my maths wrong, you are better off sending multiple maps in bundles of one (with the free postage)? mb

I have a Hanns-G HL231 monitor, and occasionally it goes into this "flashing colours standby mode". I think that it happens when you remove the power suddenly whilst it is in use. Sadly i don't have a blank menu and could not find a "BURN:" option anywhere. However if you pull out the power (in this case, a low voltage feed via a transformer into the back of the monitor), leave it a few seconds, hold the power/standby button in for a few seconds, then replace the power (whilst keeping the button pressed) - it does seem to reset things back to normal (i.e. blank powersave). mb

I hope that you mounted a Scratch Monkey first mb

Howz about a SuperKettle? mb

Good point I still can't read/edit the new .docx and similar Microsoft Office documents on my home PC because i am still running an old version that is perfectly adequate for me to create letters and the like. I am not going to fork out many, many tens of pounds for the privilege either! mb

Some (speculative) discussion here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7812133 mb

The Pedant’s Revolt: In this joyously combative series, SIMON HEFFER goes to war on sloppy English. Be warned: You’ll either cheer or want to punch him mb

Nope, nothing in there about motorways or cars or speed, or emissions or crashes I take it that you have actually read the 36 page Consultation Document? It strikes me as a sneaky attempt to implement more "Managed Motorways" (as per the M42 and M6 near Birmingham) and nothing whatsoever to do with a several year "trial" (FFS!!!) on whether emmissions will reduce (which they will do anyway due to improved car, and hopefully HGV, technology). As an aside, i find it sad that in these times of austerity and cutbacks, the Highways Agency are operating from an office in "The Cube" in the middle of Birmingham - which isn't exactly the cheapest the place to be

...hey, let's take this further, to an extreme even? Make all vehicles travel at 4mph - that'll sort out the emissions and crash energies straight away. Oh, and we can reduce unemployment to zero by giving jobs to all those red flag carriers If only, mb

Chris, i had a similar problem last week, with (IIRC) the checking for updates "progress bar" scanning forever. Did lots of searches which came up with lots of "solutions", but all (most) seemed to be a bit amateurish. Some suggested that IE (whether 6 or 8) had bugs that prevented downloading etc. In the end i downloaded the windows security updates to date (in my case to November 2013) ISO (i.e. DVD image) which is a mere 2.5GB and contains all updates for all OSes. I then ran the four EXEs (that were a few tens of meg in size) related to XP 32-bit, rebooted and tried the online Microsoft Update again and it started working again (with a bunch more updates). I am at home ATM, but i think that Download November 2013 Security Release ISO Image from Official Microsoft Download Centre should take you to the correct download site at Microsoft. It was a huge download, but at least it sorted things without having to manually faff around with individual patches and tweaks. Let us know how you get on. Cheers, mb

I bought a pair of these at Aldi a few weeks ago - prolly none left now though? mb

Exactly! Traffic lights should be configured to display a sufficient amount of "amber" depending on the speed limit - so faster roads will have more time between green and red. Thus you should be able to safely (and legally) pass through lights should they begin to turn to red. If they don't, then the local authority aren't doing their job properly (perish the thought ). mb

According to El Reg "The final object is then heat-treated and polished before use." which i expect needs quite a bit of specialised equipment. Oh, and you can't print bullets, so it would be a very expensive paperweight mb

Exactly! My boiler is 30 years old (and my Dad's is 40 years old) and still running perfectly. No fans to break, circuit boards to replace or thirty pounds a month maintenance contracts to pay for. And whilst these new-fangled condensing/combo boilers might use slightly less gas up front, by the time you factor in the cost of their essential maintenance, servicing and parts replacement (both financially and "Carbon Footprintingly") they aren't such a bright idea! mb

...and even if, and it is a very big "IF", the tree-huggers/eco-warriors/IPCC are right that CO2 makes the planet hotter - it is a double bonus, 'cos the global temperature will rise so we won't need to spend so much on heating mb

Link from Gadget Man says "Audio Spotlight" although they are in Merka and don't appear to have an Internet "shop" (just bespoke sales). mb

...how many hardware engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? None. It's a software problem. mb

Yup, me too - too much of a "coincidence"! mb

Am i right in thinking that that clips starting at 0:44 and 2:14 are two opposing views of the same event? mb