The Usual Suspects

With strong winds forecast I've made sure none of my bins try to escape this time:

Four bins tied to a fence

Update: With some new Velcro straps the bins are now attached separately:

Four bins individually strapped to a fence
[Euros Cherrueix 2012]

A few weeks ago I was in Cherrueix, France to watch the Scottish team compete. I took plenty of photos and video of the event (with multiple cameras). The top 10 looks different from usual with France not even in the top three countries.

I took most of the photos from along the pit/technical area but went north towards the sea on the last race:
[My GPS track at Cherrueix]

Broken plates

I had a set of 4 square plates and 2 large round ones until I washed the dishes this morning and managed to drop one of them onto another and hit the tap at the same time:

Broken plates

Unlike the last time I broke a plate, they won't sell these any more so now I'm stuck with two odd sets.

VDSL2

At last... an internet connection running at almost the maximum line speed.

Max:   Upstream rate = 26390 Kbps, Downstream rate = 82608 Kbps
Path:  0, Upstream rate = 20000 Kbps, Downstream rate = 79999 Kbps

Speed test: 73.31Mb/s down, 15.21Mb/s up, 30ms ping Ping test: 28ms ±1ms

Cistern block hack

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I'm supposed to just drop the block into the toilet cistern but then it interferes with the flushing mechanism... hanging it from the overflow pipe is working quite well so far:

Toilet cistern with blue block

Visible power button

My new server case doesn't have a very visible power button and I don't want the reset button being pressed instead... some careful application of white correction fluid makes it easier to see:

Before (indented black power symbol) After (indented white power symbol)

Working in Paris

I was working in Neuilly-sur-Seine the previous two weeks and I found some time before I left to visit the Eiffel Tower (which I could actually see out of the office window). There was a long (1 hour 40 minutes) queue but then the actual ascent didn't take more than a few of minutes and it didn't feel as high up as I thought it would be.

Amongst my photos I also took a video of a flashing "pedestrians crossing!" sign above the road. They have a similar system to the United States where some pedestrian crossings have no red light on the driver's side (only a flashing warning triangle) so they can still drive over it as long as they don't hit anyone.

My French is quite poor despite having learned it at school for 5 years. Bonsoir.
[Euros Hoylake 2011]

A week ago I was in Hoylake, England to watch the Scottish team compete. I took plenty of photos and video of the event (with multiple cameras). As usual France, The Netherlands and Germany had most of the top 10 pilots. Maggie did very well against many of the German pilots. Fortunately at least one Scottish pilot (#38) did manage to beat Kevin (#42) who moved to the England team last year.

I don't have any GPS track logs from a pilot this time as I needed it myself to track the time of all the video cameras. The large blob of red and orange in the bottom right is the caravan area where I took all the race photos:
[My GPS track at Hoylake]

Simple Pure Soap is awful

My local ASDA has stopped selling their Smart Price soap and the next cheapest alternative is Simple Pure Soap. There's no "Value" soap in Tesco either so I had to try the "Simple" soap. It costs four times as much and smells awful.

Comparison of both soaps
ASDA soapSimple soap
Size125g125g
ColourWhiteEggshell
ShapeRounded (reasonably smooth edges)Rounded (too thick with hard edges)
Price9.3p per 100g40p per 100g
SmellLightly scentedAwful

3D printed replacement parts

My freezer compartment doors now open and close instead of lifting out thanks to Adrian's 3D printer:

Base layer of printed plastic insert Finished printed plastic insert Comparison of printed and original parts

I've had to glue all but one of them in place as some of the plastic to hold them in has actually broken off the door itself, but they work quite well:

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Content authored by myself is just my honest opinion.

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