Search found 3384 matches

by niggle
14 Jan 2022, 8:17pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Extinction Rebellion
Replies: 795
Views: 26190

Re: Extinction Rebellion

In light of the total debacle that was COP26 I think a defence of “necessity” should apply to all non violent climate protests. Clearly nothing short of total rebellion is going to get our politicians to do anything about it in time to limit the damage to anything like survivable.
by niggle
1 Dec 2021, 4:14am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Pedal reflector law fixes
Replies: 256
Views: 83941

Re: Pedal reflector law fixes

mattsccm wrote: 30 Nov 2021, 5:42pm Those cheap plastic clip in relfectors work well. The pedal sits clip side up and if you miss a clip they are fine to pedal in.
You mean Shimano SM-PD22 pedal reflectors?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-SM-P ... 3KEALw_wcB

Sturdy, simple, legal, effective and, as you say, cheap if you already have M520s or similar.
by niggle
2 Jun 2021, 10:56am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: EVs (electric cars)
Replies: 95
Views: 4431

Re: EVs (electric cars)

squeaker wrote: 2 Jun 2021, 10:25am
niggle wrote: 1 Jun 2021, 7:38pm So far the number of failures of the actual drivetrains of EVs appears very low and that side of things requires very little servicing, as said above it is mostly stuff like brakes, steering and suspension and the very occasional change of the reduction/differential gear oil on some models, which is dead easy really, less to it than an engine oil change and much less frequent, though I have head that the special battery cooling fluid on Kias and Hyundais needs changing every 36k and they charge a fair bit for that.
There's always the odd one out though (at 16m50s) :shock:
Yes I watched that previously, a bit worrying at a mere 80000 miles when there is no time or mileage to change the transmission oil on the Nissan official service schedule, which goes up to 120000 miles, though inspection of the fluid level should be done every 15000 miles. BTW the MG 5 EV that is actually being reviewed looks like an excellent value family vehicle, well equipped and spacious, 200 mile range and should work out a lot cheaper than any equivalent ICE over the length of its 7 years 80000 miles warranty as long as you can charge it at home.
by niggle
2 Jun 2021, 10:10am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: EVs (electric cars)
Replies: 95
Views: 4431

Re: EVs (electric cars)

[XAP]Bob wrote: 2 Jun 2021, 8:52am [(there are a handful of Zoe models without DC charging, but not many).
Are you referring to new Zoe’s? The vast majority of used ones with the 40kWh battery (ZE40 models, ignoring earlier ones with the short range 22kwh battery) only have 22kW ac charging, denoted by the model code R, e.g. R110, there are just a few around with rapid ac 43kw charging, denoted by model code Q, e.g. Q90, which is a lot better but still not quite as quick as dc rapid charging. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think CCS DC rapid charging only came with the ZE50 model.
by niggle
1 Jun 2021, 7:38pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: EVs (electric cars)
Replies: 95
Views: 4431

Re: EVs (electric cars)

For many EVs after they have been around a couple of years somebody comes up with an app that can interface with the car using a mobile phone and Bluetooth dongle plugged into the OBDII port, e.g. Leafspy for the Nissan Leaf, CANion for the Mitsubishi iMiev/Peugeot Ion/Citroen C-Zero (same car really).

So far the number of failures of the actual drivetrains of EVs appears very low and that side of things requires very little servicing, as said above it is mostly stuff like brakes, steering and suspension and the very occasional change of the reduction/differential gear oil on some models, which is dead easy really, less to it than an engine oil change and much less frequent, though I have head that the special battery cooling fluid on Kias and Hyundais needs changing every 36k and they charge a fair bit for that.

There are already a few independent specialists springing up willing to look after EVs and even one lot who will swap out the battery on a 24kWh or 30kWh battery Nissan Leaf for a 40kWh or 62kWh battery salvaged from crash damaged later models, at a price of course. Eventually the breakers will have second hand spares to replace the expensive stuff like on board chargers, dc converters and motors, probably already true of the old model Nissan Leaf.
by niggle
1 Jun 2021, 10:31am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: EVs (electric cars)
Replies: 95
Views: 4431

Re: EVs (electric cars)

There is growing evidence that ‘legacy’ car manufacturers were dragging their heels on moving to EV production (notable exceptions being Nissan, Renault and Hyundai/Kia) due to having to totally retool assembly lines etc. plus dealerships have not been keen to sell them due to similar reasons but also because the service and warranty work will be much reduced. One way of dragging their heels has been keeping prices artificially high (now that battery costs are much lower experts are saying that EVs should not be any more expensive than ICE cars). They are also trying to maximise profits from EV sales by only offering them in high specifications/trim levels with all the latest tech and gadgets.

However these mainstream European and Far Eastern manufacturers will have their day of reckoning very soon, the Chinese car manufacturers are poised to flood the market with substantially cheaper and technically advanced EVs having spent several years developing their home market EV vehicles, everything from tiny city runabouts to large luxury SUVs. Of course they are already here to some extent with MG, which is already offering a couple of very good value EV options and is really just a brand of the huge Chinese car manufacturer SAIC, but there are many more well established and new Chinese brands competing in their home market who are no doubt also looking outside to the European and North American markets. Their ability to get on with developing products and bring them to market in months rather than years is astonishing so I see no reason for them not to be arriving in Europe within a year or two.

People who argue that the Chinese manufacturers will have a hard time getting their cars through EU and US safety testing are really somewhat prejudiced, if the Chinese want to sell cars over here I have no doubt they will crack on and get the job done in double quick time, just like they do everything else. The only thing that will help the European manufacturers in particular will be protectionism.
by niggle
6 Mar 2021, 6:03pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!
Replies: 1354
Views: 55936

Re: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!

roubaixtuesday wrote:
Ride-sleep-repeat wrote:'Victims' are created by 'bullies'.


I've not seen any bullying here. I'm sure you can link to it though?

Until we see any actual bullying, we must search for another cause for your attempt to martyr yourself.

I have read back through Ride-sleep-repeat’s posts and to sum up, this person, who says that they will not have the vaccine, has at first attempted to explain their position through misinformation that was thoroughly debunked, then gone all coy saying it is their right to make that decision and they just don’t want to have it.

I agree that people with capacity have the right to make their own decisions, good, bad or indifferent, but there is a caveat to that if a person’s decision has, or potentially has, a negative impact on others, which it does have in this case.

However stating that they ‘just don’t want to have it’ on this forum where the issue is being discussed and then claiming victimhood when challenged on their reasoning (or lack of) is quite odd because they are completely at liberty to just leave the thread and avoid all the challenging. ‘I just don’t want to’ is also suspect because making decisions on that basis is either because they don’t want to lose face by admitting they are wrong (a very normal but unhelpful reaction when someone is beaten in a discussion) or they know that their real reasons are irrational and will not stand up to scrutiny.
by niggle
6 Mar 2021, 4:44pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!
Replies: 1354
Views: 55936

Re: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!

Jdsk wrote:
niggle wrote:I have not read the thread, it being 88 pages long, but “in a nutshell” what are the key reasons stated for not having the vaccine?

Sorry, I don't know a way to answer that sails between the Scylla of misrepresentation and the Charybdis of FUD.

Jonathan

Well that’s all Greek to me :wink:
by niggle
5 Mar 2021, 7:24pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Tyre advice
Replies: 33
Views: 4250

Re: Tyre advice

Cowsham wrote:Ordered a set of these
https://www.vandorm.co.uk/products/vand ... protection

I bought Vandorm 650A tyres for my eldest’s university 3 speed bike some years ago, very cheap but they were dreadful, half as wide as they were supposed to be and very thick walled and heavy, like riding on chewing gum. A year later I relented and put a set of Schwalbe Delta Cruisers on, which were far, far better.
by niggle
5 Mar 2021, 7:13pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!
Replies: 1354
Views: 55936

Re: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!

I have not read the thread, it being 88 pages long, but “in a nutshell” what are the key reasons stated for not having the vaccine?
by niggle
5 Mar 2021, 12:34pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!
Replies: 1354
Views: 55936

Re: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!

Had to vote yes, seeing as I had my first AstraZeneca jab two weeks ago 8) I am type 2 diabetic (mild) and 57 with a history of asthma (not had an attack for donkeys years).
by niggle
10 Jan 2021, 9:16am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Reuse vape bottles make perfect oil dispensers
Replies: 30
Views: 3048

Re: Reuse vape bottles make perfect oil dispensers

djnotts wrote:
Gattonero wrote:Good luck with that, to me is still an addiction that is not necessary.
Soy sauce, aside from sodium, doesn't pose severe health risk, nor addiction :)


An addiction that is not necessary? What does that mean? Like saying diabetes type 1 or suffering from clinical depression is not necessary. Or any illness.

I shall keep a few of the 4-5 10ml vape bottles I get through each week. Yes I am a nicotine addict. I am also an alcoholic - staying totally dry for over 17 years continues to take ALL my willpower, can't kick 2 addictions simultaneously.

You may still be a nicotine addict but if you only vape and no longer smoke tobacco then you are an ex smoker and have reduced your health risks, and therefore your burden on the NHS, by 95% according to the NHS which recognises vaping as having a genuine smoking cessation potential, certainly it has worked the best for me.

The ex smokers who have totally quit nicotine can be particularly obnoxious believing they have more will power, despite there being no way of knowing whether they were as addicted in the first place.

Re repurposing vape liquid bottles for carrying small amounts of chain oil etc., this is obviously more sustainable than buying new plastic bottles for the purpose, and cheaper if you vape yourself or know someone that does. There is no reason to think there is any risk from the vape liquid bottles as the vape liquid is water soluble and easily washed out with soapy water. Rinse them out and dry them on a radiator or windowsill and the small percentage of nicotine will be reduced to a truly tiny amount that likely poses far less risk than some of the mineral oils or additives in the chain oil, e.g. Teflon.
by niggle
8 May 2020, 10:28am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Covid 19 outbreak - arguing about Stats (again)
Replies: 655
Views: 25165

Re: Covid 19 outbreak - arguing about Stats (again)

TUC do you accept there has been a massive spike in the overall UK death rate? If so, to what do you attribute it if it is not Covid-19?

IMO you are a useful idiot for the real conspiracy against science and scientists, trying to discredit the science behind the lock down, the science of climate change and anything else that threatens the interests of powerful multi-nationals.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... nOpinionUK

The newspaper frenzy over Prof Neil Ferguson’s love life is just the latest example of a scientist who has been targeted for confronting parts of Britain’s political-media complex with evidence that it finds too difficult to accept.

There is no doubt that Ferguson, who sat on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) before his resignation, was wrong to ignore the government’s social distancing rules. He has admitted as much, even if he did believe that he was at low risk of spreading the Sars-Cov-2 virus because he had already recovered from Covid-19.

But today’s lurid front-page headlines follow a campaign to discredit him by those ideologically opposed to government interventions, and who have used such tactics against scientists in other fields, particularly climate change.

It is a further sign that some media commentators and politicians favour a version of Britain in which politicians and newspaper editors dictate the public’s understanding of biology and physics.

Ferguson has been under attack ever since his research team’s modelling suggested in mid-March that hundreds of thousands of deaths in the UK from Covid-19 were possible if stronger efforts were not made to curb the growing epidemic.

Within a week, the prime minister announced the current lockdown measures. The move was perceived as a U-turn because the government’s chief scientific adviser had days earlier suggested that allowing widespread infection might be an option to achieve “herd immunity” across the country.
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Ferguson’s contribution was initially praised, but it was not long before his reputation was under assault from parts of the media traditionally sceptical of a so-called “nanny state”.

On 28 March, the Daily Telegraph published an article alleging that “the scientist whose calculations about the potentially devastating impact of the coronavirus directly led to the countrywide lockdown has been criticised in the past for flawed research”.

The story relied on the views of a handful of critics of how Ferguson’s models were used by the then Labour government to tackle the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The article failed to mention that Ferguson received an OBE in recognition for his important role in the crisis, or that he was afterwards elected a fellow of the prestigious Academy of Medical Sciences.

The next day, Peter Hitchens, in the Mail on Sunday, described the lockdown as “mass house arrest” and identified Ferguson as being “one of those largely responsible for the original panic”.

A few days later the Wall Street Journal published an article by two British commentators that argued “the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically demonstrated the limits of scientific modelling to predict the future”. It singled out Ferguson’s work and complained that “reasonable people might wonder whether something made with 13-year-old, undocumented computer code should be used to justify shutting down the economy”.

Bizarrely, this article was written by Benny Peiser and Andrew Montford, the director and deputy director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which was set up by Nigel Lawson in 2009 to lobby against climate change policies. The foundation has a track record of attempting to discredit climate models that show rising greenhouse gas levels risk warming the world to dangerous levels.

The promoters of climate change denial, which include some newspapers, are well used to attacking scientists whose work they do not like. Lawson’s foundation was launched just a few days after the publication in late November 2009 of emails that had been hacked from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. He and other so-called “sceptics” falsely suggested that the emails revealed misconduct by climate scientists.

Within a few hours of his work being misrepresented around the world, the head of the unit, Prof Phil Jones, started to receive threats against his life and the lives of his family. He later admitted that he had even contemplated suicide before numerous inquiries cleared him of any scientific wrongdoing.

It is fortunate that Jones did not succumb after such a concerted assault on his reputation. A similar ordeal apparently caused Dr David Kelly to take his own life after the biological weapons expert was hounded for revealing that the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction had been exaggerated by Tony Blair’s government.

Many other scientists in the UK working on issues that have implications for government policy know what it is like to be vilified, both publicly and privately, for their findings. They are regularly attacked by many of the British media commentators who are currently joining the pile-on to Ferguson.

It is time to put a stop to these media lynch mobs that risk driving Britain back into the Dark Ages. We must continue to base our decisions on the advice of experts such as Ferguson, and reject the irrational arguments of those who want political dogma to trump evidence.
by niggle
4 May 2020, 6:18pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Pollution,The planet,Global warming etc,documentary worth watching.....
Replies: 49
Views: 2398

Re: Pollution,The planet,Global warming etc,documentary worth watching.....

Cugel wrote:The history of medicine is, from one point of view, a major cause of the Malthusian problem now hot on our heels: overpopulation of the human hordes. Naturally, as individuals we all enjoy being cured of any and everything that may cause us ill-health or death. But I've come to realise that this is a dangerous wish, especially when realised.

On the other hand, I yam ever so glad I won't die of The Black Death. (Well, I'm hoping I won't). But then again, I do dread the long slow decline in a gimmery, tended to by Biff the "nurse".

Cugel


But medicine has also brought us contraception and public health education, which are widely recognised to decrease the birth rate, along with the education and emancipation of women. Is the Malthusian problem not a result of excess entry and a deficit in exit?

EDIT: or a delay in exit
by niggle
3 May 2020, 10:18am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Pollution,The planet,Global warming etc,documentary worth watching.....
Replies: 49
Views: 2398

Re: Pollution,The planet,Global warming etc,documentary worth watching.....

Cugel wrote:
niggle wrote:
Mike Sales wrote:I don't want to get into one of those interminable arguments about intermittent renewables, batteries, load varying etc. Please.

Me neither, but I am certainly interested in all constructive ideas on the subject.


Me too .... but the deconstructive ideas seem to have evolved to be rather tougher: top of the idea food-chain, we might say. Or are you hoping WWIII won't happen because sensible men are in charge of the arsenals and international relations? If so, I have some very bad news for you.....

Cugel


Of course I am hoping that WW111 won't happen, and equally hoping that a really deadly pandemic or cataclysmic climate change won't happen, however the realist in me thinks that it is likely that at least one of the three will destroy human civilisation before the end of the century.