“The Open Rights Group is a grassroots technology organisation which exists to protect civil liberties wherever they are threatened by the poor implementation and regulation of digital technology. We call these rights our “digital rights”.”

I haven’t because I haven’t done any. I did bugger about with the choke and the carbs because it was having some problems from cold but I decided the problem was the knob inbetween the chock knob and the seat.

My other car, the ‘reliable’ daily runner however has had a worse few months. The morning it was due to go into the garage to have the engine management codes read (the engine warning light was on) it wouldn’t start. So with some sense of irony I jump started it using the Spitfire.

So, I hear you cry, what is the problem with workshop manuals. Well, they assume that you have good access to the car and a decent place to work. I have the road outside my house, this makes finding some of the drain plugs a bit of a pain, the sump plug should be easy but I couldn’t find the coolant drain plug when it came to drain the engine (I actually did get round to replacing the rubber hoses).

The manual rather helpfully has a picture of a drain plug but that’s it, it’s a plug in a block of metal, where you find said plug is left as an exercise for the reader.

“ESFP - The Performers

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves. “

Interesting (possibly stretching the word) because previous Myers Brigg profiling told me I was a ….well can’t actually remember but it told me I was something else. Another online test told me I was a ISTJ.

The methods of assesment differ, maybe the difference between ‘what I think I am/how I think I behave’ and ‘how I actually think/behave’ would tell more about me than either result.

A few more photos

I can’t quite pin down when classic cars started appealing to me but it was sometime near the end of University. I’ve been toying with the idea of buying a classic for a few years but always got scared for various reasons; not having a garage, not having any experience of fixing engines etc.

So to cut a long drawn out story….I decided just to buy one or I never would. What’s the worst that could happen? (don’t answer that!). So with a bit of research and a few viewings I bought a 1979 Triumph Spitfire 1500 (with overdrive).

So far so good, we went camping last weekend (hence the tents in the photos) and it made the 80 odd mile journey with very few hitches. I’m still getting used to having a manual choke and there was a bit of a rumbling on the near side front corner which turned out to be some loose wheel nuts (which was both scary and a relief at the same time).

As for why a Spitfire. Good question, I guess if you’re going to have second car it might as well be a soft top, being British was obviously nice too. I quite like MG B (GT)s but there are quite a few of those around. Spitfires are slightly rarer and arguably more stylish.

I’ve now got an ever growing list of things to fix on it. The first is very probably going to be fixing the heaters, they’re currently stuck on hot!

One of the bane’s of my life was punctures (sorry, p********s). I was getting one a week on my bike a one point and I regularly carry two innertubes on the basis that trying to repair road bike tires is like trying to hold back the tide. I’m getting a hybrid bike on works newly set-up cycle2work scheme (probably a GT Transeo). My theory is that the wider wheels will enable me to get puncture resistant tyres that actually work.

So anyway…  Monday and Tuesday this week I cycled in and it was painful but uneventful. I decided to have a rest day today and drive in. So I get to the car, reverse out of my parking space and something feels wrong, and bugger me, my car had a flat tyre. Now that’s ironic, Alanis.

Looking at this road in Beckermet Google maps, and the post office seem to think it’s called “Lowrey Close”. I was quite careful to check the spelling when I recorded it as I got it wrong on my first try.

I’m certain it’s actually Lowry Close,  after non other than L.S. Lowry  whose sole link to the area appears to be “regularly visiting friends in Cleator Moor”, but I suspect is the closest West Cumbria has ever got to a famous artist.

Of course, I could have got the spelling wrong and whoever supplied the data to Google may indeed be correct. But at least if that is the case someone can correct it.

Here we have Beckermet before

and now after

I do have one confession. I appear to have missed Kirkbeck Drive, oops, I’ll have to do it next time I’m back. I’m also missing some road names, largely because they don’t have signs on them anywhere. I’ll have to look to see if they’re on out of copyright maps.

Care for a look? - Take Me There

Plans for next time include taking my bike to do some of the roads leading away from the village and some of the national cycle routes obviously.

This appeared on our companies newsletter (they send out a summary of storage related news each week - gripping). I’d already seen the story before because it’s the kind of thing that the news sites I read like to get irritated about.

I do have a few questions that I would like WD to answer though

1. Why are they surprised? (”Here’s your new car, now you can only drive it at 20mph in case you break any speed limits”)
2. Why did they think it was their job to stop people illegally file-sharing? (do Ford feel responsible for all the ram-raids performed in Transits?)
3. What exactly did they think people would use it for?

Now the third point is interesting. Documents on the whole don’t take up much space and can be carried round on a USB stick quite easily (and cheaper). It’s only really video and music collections that are so large that they need an HDD (ignoring CAD files, databases etc. which are likely to be a company who shouldn’t really be using this product, the should probably be using this). So WD produce something that is only really going to be used for sharing video and music…..and then stop people sharing video and music. Nice one guys.

On a side note it’s interesting that nobody supports .ogg files as a rule but WD even stop you sharing those.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone. I’ve not got out and seen people as much as I should have next year so I shall endeavour to do so more next year.

I’ve got a large pile of things I need to do before Christmas so I’ll let you know I’m still not dead after.

I personally hate the idea of a DNA database as, I believe, it would lead to more false convictions. Look at the McCanns at the moment (I’m not saying anything about their guilt or otherwise) but people get the slightest sniff of DNA evidence and are ready to convict, when it isn’t necessarily the case.

The liquid ban itself it merely annoying. I feel it symbolises the kind of knee-jerk, everyone’s a terrorist culture that appears to be going on at the moment (at least in the media).