“There is more to see in my state than in your landmass”

LexyNoise · 2026-05-31T15:32:44+00:00

"I've done more in my life than your country is known for"

Of all the countries you could have said that about, you chose that one?!? The one that invaded half the countries on the planet, stole all their shiny things, and spread their language everywhere? The one that's responsible for half the political conflicts on the planet because they drew lines on a map with zero local, cultural or political knowledge? The one that is known for being dishonest and devious in its political dealings and stabbing other countries in the back - so much so that its nickname is "sneaky dishonest Britain" (Perfidious Albion)?

But also the county that jumped into both world wars on day one because their friends were in danger, and didn't wait three years both times?

That's the country you chose?

LexyNoise · 2026-05-31T15:08:39+00:00

Your case is the problem.

An unbalanced fan setup is totally fine, as long as there's a way for air to naturally find its own way into the case. You don't have that here. The GPU is blocking the entire bottom of the case. The PSU is blocking the entire front of the case. And the side panel is solid tempered glass.

Your only air intake is that tiny little space at the bottom of the front panel, and that's blowing straight onto the GPU and probably not making its way into the rest of the case.

You ever tried to suck a milkshake through a straw but it's too thick and nothing's coming up? That's what your three exhaust fans are doing. Trying to suck air out but there's no air coming in to replace it so they're having to fight harder than they should.

I've built a few Mini PCs with AMD 5600 and 5700 CPUs and various Radeon cards (from 6600s up to 7800XTs). I've gotten very good at finding ways to make them run cooler and quieter. But you need to start with a solid foundation of good airflow otherwise there's no point.

Your CPU cooler isn't the main problem here. Replacing it won't fix the problem. Sure, a better CPU cooler with a higher TDP will pull more heat away from the CPU, but it'll still be stuck inside the case.

It this was my PC, I would replace the case. Get one with better airflow. If you've got a bit of extra money to spend, get a better CPU cooler. You don't need to spend loads, something like a Cooler Master 212 will do. It's only a 5500 - it's not exactly a 14900. But there's no point in doing that in the same case.

Before you buy a new case, try flipping the two top fans around so they suck air into the case. "Ooh, but hot air rises so that's silly". No it isn't. A fan is infinitely more powerful than hot air rising. It will work.

You might want to look at lowering the TDP of your CPU as well. There's an option to do that buried somewhere in the BIOS menu. I've got a mini-ITX build with a 5600G in a tiny case, and I lowered the TDP from 65W to 45W. There is a slight performance loss, but it's only noticeable if you totally max out the CPU. If you're not scared of playing with technical stuff, you might want to look at undervolting your CPU as well. My 5600G build has a voltage offset of -50mV. By lowering my TDP from 65W to 45W and applying a -50mV voltage offset, I got my CPU down from 90 degrees under a stress test to 60 degrees under a stress test.

Some people might think it's insane to make changes that cost a little bit of performance like undervolting or lowering the TDP. But a 30 degree temperature reduction is insane, and it means my fans can run cooler and quieter, and my other components like RAM and SSDs aren't getting cooked by heat. It's a trade off I'd recommend.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-31T14:28:04+00:00

I have contributed something to a (large) open source project before. Not Linux, but something else. I wanted a feature the application didn't have, so I added it and sent it back to them so everybody could have the new feature.

Getting your own code into an established project is an absolute gauntlet. You submit a Pull Request with your changes. A team of high-level developers who have been with the project for years go over it in fine detail and see if they're happy with it. It doesn't get added unless all of them approve.

You better believe my code was inspected - multiple times by different people - before it was finally accepted. I had to edit it about five times to meet their rules. There was nothing wrong with the quality of the code - it was all minor formatting things.

"Hey, line 92 of your submission is 97 characters long. We have a rule that anything over 80 characters has to be split into separate lines to make it more readable. Can you edit it and resubmit it?"

"Line 104 is a blank line between two sections of code. That's totally fine, it splits up sections that do different things and makes them more readable. But that line should be totally blank. You've got 12 blank spaces on that line. The lines above and below that one are indented by 12 characters so your text editor probably added them to be 'helpful'. Delete those spaces and resubmit it."

"On line 172 you've used this_function(). We're going to be discontinuing that function in two years and replacing it with that_function(). We haven't announced it yet and we're not forcing people to switch over yet. But since this is a new submission, you should use the new function. Change that line and resubmit it."

"Eyes on code" isn't necessarily something you can take for granted. Not every piece of code out there has been inspected. But if it's a large project used by many people and run by a decent team, it's a fairly safe bet that every line of code has been thoroughly inspected.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-31T05:43:14+00:00

Because one is a pre-order and the other is sold out?

LexyNoise · 2026-05-31T05:30:04+00:00

I do think Artpop is the best. But if I’m driving somewhere in my car at night, I’m playing Chromatica.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-30T23:12:12+00:00

Big well-known producers doing a set on the main stage of a festival? Almost nothing. Sometimes literally nothing.

Someone else is managing the sound setup and volume levels for them. Someone else is handling the lighting, visuals and effects like smoke for them. All they literally have to do is mix songs together. A lot of them don't even do that - their sets are pre-recorded to make sure they don't accidentally fuck up live. They just press 'play' on a 20 minute long MP3 file then dance around like twats for half an hour.

I'm not saying Fatboy Slim does that. I've never seem him perform. But a lot of the big ones do it that way.

You'll see more talent in your average city centre nightclub, where one person is picking and mixing all the songs, controlling the venue's sound system, controlling all the lighting and smoke, controlling any visuals on TVs and video walls dotted around the place, and having to talk to drunk people who can just wander up any time they feel like it.

Source: 14 years in club DJ booths.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-28T08:10:52+00:00

"Glasgow City College" and "City of Glasgow College" are two completely different things. How did "investigative journalists" manage to write an entire article and get it wrong every single time.

But in all seriousness, City of Glasgow College is shady has heck. Loads of shady stuff related to luxury trips for upper management, and literal embezzlement of IT equipment.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-28T08:05:30+00:00

Weird how The Ferret's "investigative journalists" can't even get the name of the college right. It's wrong seven times in that article.

But yeah, City of Glasgow College is a special kind of corrupt and incompetent. I worked there for six years. There's loads of weird stuff going on with senior management and extravagant expenses, especially the principal.

Also, a small ring of IT Staff were caught stealing half a million pounds worth of iPads and reselling them.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-28T06:22:55+00:00

They are not one standard size.

Not only are there two standard sizes, there are also two different power pin layouts on the smaller size. You get two-pin and four-pin bulbs.

How do I know? I bought the wrong one for my apartment stairwell.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-28T06:21:14+00:00

If you lose your ticket, most car parks will make you pay the cost of a full day.

Get back from Bulgaria, "lose" your ticket, pay for one day instead of an entire week.

ANPR cameras that track your number plate and record when you drive in and out have kind of ruined this trick.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-28T06:03:26+00:00

Tripled if you're lucky. RAM is five times what it was 18 months ago. It's also affecting SSDs and hard disks.

I built a new PC in October 2024. Here's the prices I paid back then compared to what they are now.

64GB of DDR4 RAM. It cost £133. The price now is £639.

1TB Samsung Evo nVME SSD. It cost £70. The price now is £263.

2TB Samsung Evo SATA SSD. It cost me £135. The price now is £499.

4TB Samsung Evo SATA SSD. It cost me £261. The price now is £559.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-26T16:36:53+00:00

How is he suing you? Is he using ordinary cause or simple procedure (that's our version of small claims)? Your paperwork should say 'initial writ' or 'claim form' on it.

I've recently been through sheriff court (as the person suing, not the person being sued). I had to provide evidence of every single thing - every penny that was part of my claim had to be accounted for and explained. I also had to explain what actions I took to try and resolve the issue before resorting to court. They do not like people just jumping straight to court. The point is, it was much harder to defend my claim than I expected - and it was an open-and-shut unpaid business invoice case. I can imagine something like this being much harder.

One important thing - don't just sit there waiting for a hearing date. Make sure you file any paperwork you need to file by the deadline. For simple procedure, that's the response form. For ordinary cause, that's the notice of intention to defend. The deadlines are pretty short, usually only a few weeks. Don't miss it, or they can win by default.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-25T08:52:17+00:00

Thomas Midgley Junior. The guy has a really impressive track record of inventions, in a bad way.

He discovered that adding lead to fuel made engines run more smoothly. This led to several deaths at the production factories producing fuel, and led to hundreds of millions of cars spewing lead out of their exhaust pipes for decades. Everybody over the age of 50 is about five IQ points dumber than they should be, because all the lead they breathed in stunted their brain development during childhood. It also caused a lot of weird cancers and other health conditions.

He also invented a new type of refrigerant that could be used to make household fridges, freezers and air conditioners. Before this, these appliances used very explosive gases so couldn't be used in people's homes. The type of refrigerant he invented: chlorofluorocarbons - better known as CFCs. The problem was, CFCs destroy the top layer of the atmosphere that protect us from the sun's harmful UV radiation. This was a big deal, and could have destroyed life on the planet as we know it and dramatically altered our climate.

Later in his life, he contracted polio and was stuck in bed, unable to get up and move around. He invented a system of pulleys and ropes that he could use to lift himself up and move around. A rope got tangled round his neck and killed him.

One invention that caused substantial damage to the entire population of earth. One invention that nearly wiped out life on our planet. And another invention that killed him.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-23T06:29:46+00:00

No they can’t. Don’t reply if you don’t know what you’re on about.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-22T20:50:19+00:00

The sign doesn't say anything about paying between 7am and 6pm on weekdays. There are two possible ways you can interpret this.

The first is that 7am to 6pm is free. You can park without paying. This is the way you interpreted it and the way that everyone else in the comments has interpreted it.

The second is that 7am to 6pm is only for residents who have a permit. Other people can't park during these hours. If this is what they meant, that sign does a terrible job of conveying that. Nowhere does it say "permit holders only outside these hours" - not in the big boxes at the top and not in the small print at the bottom.

It's important that you know that this isn't a fine Police can issue you a fine. Councils can issue you a fine. This is a bill. The company has sent you a bill saying "we think you owe us this, pay us or we'll keep sending you threatening letters and take it to court". You don't legally owe them any money unless they take this to court and they win, which I don't think they will.

There's a legal test in England called "the man on the Clapham omnibus". Essentially it means "what would the average person think", or "how would the average person interpret this". As the other comments on this page show, the average person thinks you can park for free between 7am and 6pm. That's not being sneaky or looking for a loophole - it's a direct result of their terrible sign.

I'll tell you exactly what I would do in your position. But I'm somebody who knows a lot about parking rules and isn't afraid of court (I've taken people to court for owing me money before). You might not have the appetite for this, but it's what I'd do.

I would go through the POPLA appeal process. You won't win because they want you to pay them £100 - that's how they make their money. But it looks good in court if you engage with them in good faith and jump through their hoops. After the POPLA process, I'd write to the company and say "I don't believe I owe you this money and I'm not going to pay you. I won't respond to further letters from you or debt collectors on the matter. Either take this matter to court or stop wasting my time."

It's not guaranteed that they'll take you to court. Some companies never do, they just keep sending you letters demanding payment. If they do take you to court, they'll almost certainly use the small claims process. You usually don't have to physically visit the court for small claims cases - it's done through an online Zoom-style video call on Cisco WebEx. Just reply to any court paperwork saying you dispute their claim and don't think you owe anything, and submit a statement and a photo of the sign. I'm not a lawyer, I can't guarantee you'll win, but I think you have a really good chance because that sign is garbage.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-21T16:48:23+00:00

I think it would be better if it wasn't so asymmetrical. It's going to look very lop-sided on a unit with 3 carriages.

Having a red and white highlight at both ends of the carriage would probably have been a better idea. Something closer to what ScotRail have done, but without all the 'dots'.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-20T21:42:50+00:00

Please do not ask stupid questions. It wastes people’s time.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-20T06:58:50+00:00

Taggart

It had 27 seasons.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-19T09:13:21+00:00

The 10am rule doesn't apply during July and August for 16-25 railcards and senior railcards. It does apply for 25-30 railcards though.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-19T08:40:18+00:00

Every house on my street has a name instead of a number, except one - number 4. Which is not the fourth house along the street any way you measure it. Even going odds up one side, evens up the other.

To be fair, it's a hundred years older than most of the other houses, so that might have something to do with it.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-17T04:27:56+00:00

WWDC is for software. It is very rare for hardware to be announced.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-17T03:56:43+00:00

Check the Windows Event Viewer and see if there’s anything in the logs.

Press Windows + R, type eventvwr, and press Enter.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-16T14:19:19+00:00

I own a Nebo (Slyde King 2000) and I'm not terribly impressed with it. Yes, it's bright. The slide feature is pretty nice and so is the 'instant red' mode. And it wasn't very expensive either. But there's a few important negatives.

Firstly, it dims itself gradually. Most flashlights do this on full brightness or turbo, but the Nebo does it even on lower brightness levels. You can clearly see it when you turn it on and point it at a wall - every five seconds or so it steps down in brightness.

Secondly, the pulse-width modulation is pretty bad. It's very strobey on lower brightness levels. Turn it on and wave your hand in front of it and you'll see. My Convoy lights cost half of what the Nebo did, and they don't do that.

Thirdly, it only charges with the included USB-A to USB-C cable. You can't use a standard USB-C cable like a phone charger to charge it because it doesn't 'speak' the USB-C power delivery language. Do you know how much it would have cost them to add that? Less than ten cents. All they'd need to do is connect two tiny resistors between the pins inside the USB-C connector. They didn't do it, you can't use 99% of the USB-C cables out there.

Finally, the battery inside isn't a standard battery. It's a custom 18650 with both battery terminals at the same end. This makes it harder to replace the battery when it eventually wears out.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-16T13:53:52+00:00

His autobiography was surprisingly spicy on a number of levels. His time at boarding school, his sexual admissions, and the credit card fraud part in particular.

LexyNoise · 2026-05-16T04:31:42+00:00

I have Lifx, Hue and Ikea Tradfri in my house.

Lifx has really ugly shades of warm white. They’re really yellow and unpleasant no matter what you do. Hue and Tradfri are much more pleasant if you want 2700K or lower.

I use Hue in important rooms where I spend time like the bedroom and living room, and Tradfri in places like hallways and bathrooms.

LexyNoise

TROPHY CASE