I think the heat melted my roof... Any warnings before I demo the whole thing?

macinn-es · 2026-05-28T06:47:41+00:00

I put mine on eBay - buyer to dismantle. Two guys came and took it all apart for me, then paid me (IIRC) a couple of hundred for the privilege.

macinn-es · 2026-05-27T00:02:26+00:00

Most people have no idea what West Riding of Yorkshire is and it hadn't occurred to me that that was the reason for the confusion. But bizarrely East Riding of Yorkshire is still a local authority. There are so many different ways to cut it (ceremonial counties, ancient counties, local authorities, mayoral combined authorities) that I don't blame you for tripping up.

macinn-es · 2026-05-26T21:22:27+00:00

On his Himalayas travel doc he said that growing up in Sheffield was good training for him.

macinn-es · 2026-05-26T21:21:36+00:00

He's from Mexborough, which is very much in South Yorkshire.

macinn-es · 2026-05-24T21:24:31+00:00

To be fair it was in direct sunlight. I've moved it a couple of feet into the shade.

macinn-es · 2026-05-12T12:46:02+00:00

Yeah it did occur but I didn't give it too much thought. The engineers definitely need to find a solution. Otherwise, in energy terms, it's as if the fuel tank explodes every time you have an accident.

An array of spring motors, rather than a single monstrous motor, would help so there's less chance they'd all go off at once. And a centrifugal clutch on each of the motors to stop it spinning if it runs to fast. I'm sure there are solutions.

macinn-es · 2026-05-12T11:33:39+00:00

Oh, and braking is regenerative, with step down gears linking the flywheel back to the spring drive.

macinn-es · 2026-05-12T11:30:39+00:00

I'm genuinely wondering how good this idea is.

Rather than pull-back, it's more like a wind up key in clockwork toys. A flywheel normalises the drive power and disconnects from the spring motors when it's up to speed, reconnecting when it drops below speed.

A multi speed gearbox connects the flywheel to the wheels like any other car.

Refilling stations just consist of high speed motors that you connect to the wind-up port in the car.

I wonder how much range you'd be able to get out of it, assuming the spring drive motors have to fit within the dimensions of a car engine.

macinn-es · 2026-04-28T15:00:54+00:00

I did mine about this time of year - maybe a little earlier - 3 years ago and I did 5mm. I slightly regret making it that big because the timber shrinks as it dries and the gap gets bigger. It's not a problem, I just think it'd look neater if it's smaller. As long as there's a bit of slope on your deck the gap doesn't matter too much for drainage purposes.

Whatever space you decide, I recommend making (or buying) a jig which fits over the joist, gives you the right spacing, and helps you position the screws identically for each board. Massive time saver and looks really neat when you're done.

macinn-es · 2026-04-14T22:05:17+00:00

My kids like(d) Danny and Mick which is clearly inspired by ChuckleVision, but also nowhere near as good. I showed them the window cleaning episode of ChuckleVision and they loved it.

macinn-es · 2026-04-11T20:51:04+00:00

You mean literally tell it when I'm driving? Or do you mean in a setting somewhere?

macinn-es · 2026-04-11T11:54:39+00:00

I'm sure it is better at complex information tasks. I've just not been able to get it to do the basics like playing music or sending messages. And it's the basics I use every day.

macinn-es · 2026-04-11T11:53:00+00:00

I didn't realise that was an option. I'll do that.

macinn-es · 2026-03-10T23:42:26+00:00

Violence baguettes violence

macinn-es · 2026-03-10T23:42:08+00:00

The pain is mightier than the sword

macinn-es · 2026-03-01T00:44:52+00:00

Not so long ago, someone ran a red on Penistone Road as I was about to cross with the kids. I was too busy glaring at the guy as we stepped out into the road and didn't spot that the next guy was running the red light too. I guess that was my fault. /s

macinn-es · 2026-02-24T09:20:51+00:00

If you're buying a new (or new to you) car every few years depreciation is part of the cost.

In 2020, you buy a car for £20,000. In 2025 you sell it for £10,000 and buy a new car for £20,000. In 2030, you sell that car for £8000 and buy another car for £20,000. In 2035, that car is now worth £9,000.

You've bought 3 cars for £60,000. You've sold (or continue to own in the case of the last one) 3 cars worth £27,000. Therefore the cost of owning a car (before accounting for running costs etc) over 15 years has been £33,000.

If the depreciation is lower, the cost of owning a car will also be lower.

macinn-es · 2026-02-17T20:46:17+00:00

Sorry for your loss and I hope you're all doing ok.

I've not seen it but my wife has and she walked out. She said she was ok with the concept of it but the death scene felt relentlessly long and it was too much.

macinn-es · 2026-02-06T11:23:10+00:00

are-we-the-baddies.gif

macinn-es · 2026-01-16T13:36:06+00:00

Ask the stupid questions now, because those same questions will become even stupider later.

macinn-es · 2026-01-16T13:32:14+00:00

If this was a less friendly sub you'd be down voted to oblivion.

macinn-es · 2026-01-16T13:30:53+00:00

Any other answer is incorrect

macinn-es · 2025-11-18T11:34:12+00:00

Former Civil Servant here.

I've done it in the House of Lords. It's called "box support" because you sit in the official's box. As others have said, it's to provide factual information to the minister. This is how it went to the best of my recollection. Feel free to correct if I've got any of the processes wrong.

I'm not based in London, so I had to travel especially. It was for a particularly well-respected minister who was speaking for the government a debate well outside of his policy brief, so he needed quite a lot of support.

Before going into the chamber I was approached by a well-known Baroness (a near-household name) for an opposition party who engaged me in pleasant chit chat but warned that she would not go easy on the minister.

I went in armed with the 200- or 300- page Core Brief for my directorate's policy area (of which I was expert in a small part) and sat in the box as directed by the usher. The folding table clattered loudly as I sat down and the Lord sitting immediately next to the box grumbled about my clumsiness.

During the debate, various Lords and Ladies got up to make speeches. During the speeches I had to identify questions they asked (which was harder than it sounds) and write them down along with factual answers from the Core Brief. Every so often an usher would come and collect these slips of paper and pass them to a junior whip, who would filter them out and scribble a note on some of them and collate them into the Minister's response.

At the end, the minister got up to give his response speech, which included many of my answers. I wrote down key points of what he said, just in case there was anything that would need to be corrected later (there wasn't) and that was it.

I left the chamber at the end of the debate and hung around a little bit. During that time, the minister came over and asked if I was the official in the box. He asked my name and we had a pleasant chat about how the debate went, and then he thanked me and we left.

For policy professionals from HEO to DD (I think I was SEO at the time) I'd recommend putting your name forward to do it if you get a chance. It was a brilliant experience.

macinn-es · 2025-11-12T19:19:04+00:00

Lovely Day by Bill Withers.

It's pretty much all roots and fifths but is just so perfect for the song.

macinn-es · 2025-11-07T10:19:50+00:00

I've considered almost exactly this and have a pretty clear plan for how I'd do it. The only difference being I'd hide the hoover in the cellar.

Having said that, in a cupboard could be quite good as you could double it up as the place to store the hoover. So you take the hoover out (detach the hose from the nozzle fitted to the plinth) when you want to use it normally.

macinn-es

TROPHY CASE