What made you UNHAPPY today!

[bogle]

God, you must be so infuriated!  Our world is now so authentication driven.  Almost need a Siim card surgically implanted.  I have an Inspire sleep apnea device.  Maybe I can add a Siim card port to it in case I lose my phone?  We are too dependent on our phones unfortunately. 

[Escape]

Yes, we risk becoming too dependent, not just on (smart)phones, but on technology in general. I'm deliberately sticking to a dumb phone, because I don't want to be online all the time (and because I'm a stubborn barsteward). This way I can disconnect whenever I want, just not open the laptop.

Also, we want everything to be perfectly secure, but we don't want the hassle of 2-step verification etc. It's a thin line. At the last music festival I did, you had to upload credit to a chip on your wristband to pay for food and drinks. Pretty useful, avoids carrying cash and the risk of losing the dedicated coins as previous years. And we got a refund for unused credits. I found it pretty handy and contemplated it would be nice if you could pay that way everywhere, instead of looking for a card or cash. Next step would be the implant that chip, as the wirstband doesn't last that long. And before you know it, you have a chip that tracks your every movement, refuses payment at the bar because you've already had too much to drink etc. 1984, in a very bad way.

A very thin line indeed!   

[exeterjeep]

12 hours ago, bogle said:

We are too dependent on our phones unfortunately. 

Wife could not open a new ISA with Nationwide without a mobile phone number, she has been a customer for over 20 years, she complained - she just has an old mobile which she takes out with her, and it's never on.

[C8RKH]

So what's the point in her taking it out if it's never on? 😜🤪😜🤪

[exeterjeep]

19 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

So what's the point in her taking it out if it's never on? 😜🤪😜🤪

She does know how to turn it on, in case her new car breaks down.

 

[C8RKH]

Good to know @exeterjeep. My wife has a smart phone. It's usually on. But she never seems capable of answering it when I call. Can't say i blame her though....

[bogle]

My wife has an issue with electronics overall. Particularly, any devices that requires charging.  If I could develop "AIR" charging...any device within 4 to 6 feet of a chair or bed in the house which can recharge within proximity to an air-based charger.  Imagine eliminating power cords on laptops and phones.  Maybe I'll get abducted by aliens, and as payback for my probing they will provide me with this magic electronic elixir equation for humanity.  I can't tell you how many times she really needs her phone charged for important business calls and then she needs to use my phone.  I remind her, "how many times has my phone or laptop been uncharged?"  The answer is once or twice in 20 years.  

[100th_Idiot]

2FA via SMS is not so secure anyway. Use an authenticator if you can such as Google Authenticator then there is an online route.

[C8RKH]

Sitting in the queue to get on the IoM ferry after a 6 day road trip of three figure speeds (legally) on the island and a 2 day journey through the back roads of the Borders, Northumberland, Teeside and the Trough of Bowland on roads forged by Valkyries and empty of traffic.

Now? Ferry crossing and 300 mike borefest on M60, M74 and M90.

And the view in the queue...

[bogle]

At least you had happy times before the queue!  The queue is the reminder of a big slap of reality coming your way.

[Chillidoggy]

Anyone looking for a world-class queue rather than that pathetic namby-pamby IOM effort above, would be well advised to give our very own U.K. immigration border control a go, at either Dover, or Calais.

It took longer to get through their booths than the ferry crossing itself.

[Escape]

That only seems to apply to you natives. Last couple of years, queues were noticeably shorter for me traveling from or back to France.

@Chillidoggy heading into Europe now are referencing an earlier trip?

[Chillidoggy]

3 hours ago, Escape said:

That only seems to apply to you natives. Last couple of years, queues were noticeably shorter for me traveling from or back to France.

@Chillidoggy heading into Europe now are referencing an earlier trip?

 

The Classic Le Mans trip 4 weeks ago. It was ALL cars, irrespective of nationality.

French immigration? Not a problem. UK both in and out, dreadful. Outbound, we sat in a queue in Dover for 45 minutes and that was early morning, with not much traffic. Return thorugh Calais, sat in a queue for nearly an hour and a half. That was late afternoon, also with not much traffic. 6 booths open, taking from maybe 1 or 2 minutes, up to a full 15 minutes to let a car through.

One bloke had got out of his car, my son asked him what he thought the problem was. "See that flag up there?" he said, pointing to the UK flag above the booths. "That means there's no organisation."

[C8RKH]

The UK had some of the best organisation in the world.

However successive Governments have run this country into the ground with cuts to services and importantly no consequences for piss poor service delivery from Government, and local authority, organisations.

The level of apathy and piss poor management is disgraceful, compounded by an over stuffed exec management layer who seem to revel in taking incompetence to ever new high levels.

Call it wokeism, snowflakery, or any other "ism" but it's time Government agencies got a huge kick up the ass and heads rolled for piss poor performance.

Stop the excuses re COVID etc, I mean, HMRC has shut down its help line for the summer. WTF! Why is this acceptable?

[Geoffers]

2 hours ago, Chillidoggy said:

 

The Classic Le Mans trip 4 weeks ago. It was ALL cars, irrespective of nationality.

French immigration? Not a problem. UK both in and out, dreadful. Outbound, we sat in a queue in Dover for 45 minutes and that was early morning, with not much traffic. Return thorugh Calais, sat in a queue for nearly an hour and a half. That was late afternoon, also with not much traffic. 6 booths open, taking from maybe 1 or 2 minutes, up to a full 15 minutes to let a car through.

One bloke had got out of his car, my son asked him what he thought the problem was. "See that flag up there?" he said, pointing to the UK flag above the booths. "That means there's no organisation."

On our trip to LMC (Portsmouth-Caen) we had no problem outbound, very little wait time at customs at both ports. However coming back at Caen one of the French customs sniffer dogs took a serious dislike to the Evora, barking madly at it. This led to the French customs twice having us empty out the car & searching it, finding nothing untoward. Don't know what the dog was sniffing for but think it may have been stow away immigrants as the French customs seemed as puzzled as we were about the dog's reaction. We expected to get stopped again on arrival at Portsmouth, but other than a short queue for passport checks, nothing.

[bogle]

My Nova OZ rims are now acid washed no thanks to a local hand car wash business in my city.  I showed the owner of the car wash, and he will call me in a few days.  In the meantime, the tires need to be dismounted and the rims will need to go to restoration shop.  Does anyone know what I should look for and what process needs to be used for the restoration.  Also, what's a real lead time on the time to fix and potentially the cost (labor hours/rates) for ALL 4 rims.

This is happening right before LOG 42 and LotusPalooza in the states which sucks immensely.  Appears there's 2 coats of paint: Black then Silver following by a clear coat.

Lotus Esprit – OZ Nova Wheel
The painting is from AKZO nobel and the code is::
- 7E85305 for painting silver
- 6880302 for black first painting
- 5K20023 for transparent

Does anyone know of a set of 4 OZ Nova for sale possibly?  I realize that's a very long shot for these unobtanium rims.

Thanks,

Bill

 

[Bibs]

Ouch. Are they badly damaged? The should be able to survive some acid as they would be lacquered but if there were small chips, the acid may have made its way to the paint below and lifted the lacquer. 

I've not seen any for sale for a long time but they're very pricey. I remember the paint is an ultra-bright which reflects UV as visible to make them super silver, I think it was called high-power silver.

Any refurb place worth their salt should be able to do a decent job with them, it'll be much cheaper than getting new ones which I'd say will be in excess of £5k a set nowadays. 

[bogle]

Here's a picture of the passenger side front rim.  You'll need to zoom in to see how the acid scorched it. 

[ChrisJ]

This should probably go in the happy thread, but it is a follow-up to my unhappy post above about losing my phone in Zambia on day 2 of my holiday.

Firstly, I tried to logon to my google account on my laptop while still in Zambia to look at my timeline (was reminded about this feature in an email that was linked to the google account my tablet was signed into - phone was on a different email). Hit the 2FA issue above, google insisted on sending me an SMS with the verification number - no option for an email. So was unable to look at the phone's timeline.

Got home yesterday, while setting up my new SIM in an old phone, thought I'll try to check the timeline from my home PC.

Day I "lost" the phone.

I parked in front of reception at around 7pm (1 hour ahead) - where the WiFi is. Phone connected.

And the next day.

Parked at reception while we checked out.

Before breakfast I'd instructed my security software to wipe the phone if/when it came back on line - and on checking today (UK times), glad to say that it looked like this worked as it said on the tin. (I checked this screen first today, and heaved a sigh of relief that the phone had been wiped)

This is a product from ESET - if you don't have this feature in your mobile security product. Buy this.

I had checked the car twice, and my kids had been over the car as well. If f**king google had let me into the timeline while we were in Zambia we'd have torn the car apart to find the phone. I used the same laptop here in the UK this evening - no 2FA requirement. Don't they ever think, the phone is in Zambia, the login is from Zambia, maybe the owner of the phone/account is in Zambia, so if the account/password is correct, maybe we don't need the 2FA. This really does piss me off. I have never liked Google (had a Windows Phone), but dislike them less than Apple. They also seem to be a bit racist with the requirement for 2FA from Africa, but not from the UK.

Anyway - sent an email to the car hire company asking if they had found a phone - included the above screenshots to "prove" the phone was in the car. Reply came back quickly, "yes, we were wondering who it belonged to". You'd have thought that they might well have known who had the vehicle in question and therefore asked me - as after we returned that vehicle, we flew to another location in Zambia for 3 nights, and returned to Lusaka, where we hired another vehicle for a day before flying out. However, I'm not annoyed at this as I am well aware that 2 + 2 does not necessarily equal 4 in Africa, and they could well have said no.

Tomorrow will try to arrange shipment back to the UK - saves the Insurance claim for the phone - still have one for the Ray Bans my daughter left at a hotel - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

This claim was also going to include my glasses I left on the aircraft. I bought some reading glasses in Lusaka on day 1. However, I was looking for where I'd put these replacements this afternoon, when I noticed the ones I'd "lost" sitting on top of my computer - I'd taken an empty case

[C8RKH]

@ChrisJ - you and your family seem to be developing a habit of losing things from that post. These may help:

[oneshot]

Don't know if anyone has seen this https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-66459842

I have been there many times - it was a truly unique pub. It is all very suspicious and there is currently a police investigation as to what has gone on.

[Escape]

I had read an article about it. Sounds very fishy! I wasn't allowed to do anything when the Workshop burned down, they bulldosed the lot in 2 days 😲 Did they hire the bulldozers in advance?

[100th_Idiot]

2 minutes ago, Escape said:

I had read an article about it. Sounds very fishy! I wasn't allowed to do anything when the Workshop burned down, they bulldosed the lot in 2 days 😲 Did they hire the bulldozers in advance?

Yes

[exeterjeep]

They also managed to have a tipped load of earth to block the approach road to stop the fire engine getting through. It was sold recently.

[C8RKH]

I hope they make the new owners re build it, brick by brick, at huge bloody expense. This feels really dodgy.