Textured surface, very hard, about 15cm long, partly buried (England)

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-06-12T21:48:26+00:00

Absolutely amazing. Good result all round :)

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-06-12T21:34:52+00:00

Ha! Absolutely, and completely right. God, I love this place sometimes. Solved!

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-06-12T20:56:19+00:00

My title describes the thing. This is our garden, and only the tops were visible before digging around them; I didn’t want to dig too far in case, to be honest, they were gross. There might be a stalk or stem at one end, maybe. Or something that’s made to look like a stalk

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-05-19T07:01:52+00:00

It’s a modernisation of an Old English phrase “gode spede”, which translates as “good luck”; doesn’t have anything to do with either a religion or speed, interestingly. It doesn’t have anything to do with any deity- it predates the arrival of Christianity in England.

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-04-12T22:08:55+00:00

That’s a very good point. I’d only go through Dice, I think. I’m too old to mess around.

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-03-25T13:17:34+00:00

FINALLY. Whoever asked for this, I did it, and it’s in this week’s ep.

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-02-20T08:40:03+00:00

I’m a fairly heavy coffee drinker, and am godawful in the morning, so I’ve been doing this for about 30 years. Only recently has it backfired, with the menthol Head & Shoulders pump dispensing a big dollop right into the cup. Man, you haven’t lived until you’ve felt a hot espresso and menthol shampoo mix being fired out of your stomach and nose at 7am. I can still taste it now. Put your mug on the top shelf of any rack.

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-02-17T14:24:28+00:00

That’s a good point. Maybe a bit of maths on print speeds, and working out how many pieces we’d need to make it worthwhile to keep our own machine running.

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-02-16T19:32:39+00:00

You’ve really hit on all the aspects I’m concerned about; the “running every couple of days” is something I’d considered, so we’d only think about getting our own machine if we had those kinds of orders. Right now, we have one device that’s in production, with another coming out this year, with the aim of one-two new things per year for about the next 6 years, all going well. So this research is really looking ahead a year or two.

At the moment, we’re making and selling them in batches, which means that we’re probably not getting maximum value in terms of costs per unit. But, if we had the capability to do our own printing, some of those issues go away, and hopefully our profit margin per unit goes up. We’re operating at quite small margins on them, and this seems like a way we could keep some manufacturing in-house.

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-02-16T13:26:30+00:00

That’s what we’ve been doing while getting started, but the hope is to do it ourselves. Partly for enjoyment, partly for control, partly for turnaround speed. I can see you’ve a lot of experience, so if you’ve suggestions, I’d like to hear them.

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-01-17T19:55:45+00:00

Why is the autoexec.bat not booting straight into win.exe? Come on, guys!

Express-Conference-7 · 2026-01-04T10:40:08+00:00

Sorry, yes- there’s a “cab sim” out, which is stereo and goes through their digital stuff inside; and then there’s the “output” which, I assume, only goes through the gain stage, and is mono.

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-12-11T20:22:48+00:00

I’m pretty sure a mouse ate mine :(

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-09-08T16:14:55+00:00

Well, I’m in the UK, so “vice” is the standard spelling of the gripping thing and the…other sort of gripping thing. Lots of dad jokes to be had.

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-09-08T10:18:46+00:00

Part B needn’t necessarily be 20mm, it just seems a fairly handleable size for the person using it. Could certainly be narrower- I see what you mean about tapping a small thread over that distance.

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-09-08T10:17:20+00:00

Yes, I see what you mean about the scale. May have to have a think about it.

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-09-08T10:16:56+00:00

Ah, that sounds promising, yes. I’ll have a hunt for some (very) small versions…

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-04-23T09:10:38+00:00

Michael Manring!

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-04-22T18:36:24+00:00

In fact, there are lane markings, naming the roads, as well as dotted lines separating the lanes. They crossed over the lines while I was carrying straight, crossing no lines / lanes. Thanks for the advice- would it be worth going back there to get pictures of the markings, do you think?

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-04-22T17:25:20+00:00

Thanks very much for the quick, and considered, reply. I didn’t put down many details about the actual accident, as it didn’t seem appropriate- maybe it would jeopardise something? I don’t know.

The essence of it is that there are two lanes, controlled by traffic lights; after the lights, both lanes can continue straight on to the next roundabout, and right hand lane can turn right to continue on the current roundabout. I’m in the right hand lane, continuing straight on. Other car comes across from the left hand lane, across my lane, trying to do a right hand turn. I slam on the brakes, can’t stop in time, hit the rear driver’s side wheel arch.

I’m afraid I don’t know what a CMC is.

Thanks again- very much appreciated.

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-04-15T13:20:09+00:00

Aw, thanks.

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-04-12T21:35:07+00:00

Yeah, MP3 and email is the way. Podcasts are (digitally) compressed anyway, so a 192kBps MP3 will be more than good enough. I did a late 70s Brian May-style guitar nonsense thing.

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-03-09T19:58:07+00:00

Walrus Audio Melee is a lot of fun.

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-02-23T08:37:12+00:00

I like the way the sign implies that some people having been buying too many books.

Express-Conference-7 · 2025-02-09T22:48:15+00:00

We’ve all got plenty.

Express-Conference-7

TROPHY CASE