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31

General Discussion Area / Re: Real Kilometers on Omega B 2.5V6 X25XE

« on: 29 September 2013, 15:14:31 »

You can make a guess by feeling the ridge on the front and rear brake disks assuming they have not been replaced (rear ones should be original at least) and by looking at a lot of things eg the pedal wear, seat wear, faint scratches by the door handle, condition of the steering wheel leather, gear stick, buttons on the dash, wear on the car mats etc etc....  If it's very low mileage you may even have the original exhaust or even tyres (<50,000KM).

32

Omega General Help / Re: Which handbrake side is the longer?

« on: 29 September 2013, 15:04:02 »

On EPC they look identical but both come as one kit - part number 90374841

33

General Car Chat / Re: Ever wondered what's inside your exhaust boxes?

« on: 29 September 2013, 14:53:05 »

Watch out it doesn't block the exhaust I think that's what made my EGR leak and may have blown my cam gasket, all happened at about the same time on my last mig.

34

General Car Chat / Re: Worth repairing?

« on: 29 September 2013, 14:42:15 »

Three new tyres is about £150 or more.  Front brake imbalance - odd for the MOT place to fail this and not  identify the problem - eg corroded disks and/or seized caliper. I wonder if they are being over zealous.  They should give you the brake efficiency figures for each wheel.   The source of a major leak of gases should be obvious especially if near the manifold (i.e. engine). You should be able to hear it.  Never had a spring fracture spotted, it is possible I'm sure but I would have thought the spring would have gone.  3 tyres failed - were they all really that bad (below 1.6mm over the central 3/4 of tread)?  Sounds like it might be worth changing MOT testers.

35

General Discussion Area / Re: Enjoy paying more for your holidays courtesy of the EU

« on: 29 September 2013, 14:22:55 »

And who pays the tax, for the corporations to keep the same profit margin?

According to economics it's not technically possible for a corporation to keep the same profit margin after a tax is applied, other things being equal.  The elasticity of demand would have to be zero. There are no products with zero elasticity.  The closest would be something like petrol or car insurance where people have to buy no matter what the price (however they will cut down a bit hence it's not zero). Holidays would have a high elasticity of demand - as the price rises people buy less. 

Hence when a tax is applied to a good or service the supplier can never pass all the tax on to the consumer.  Same for shoplifting or insurance fraud, suppliers always say that in the end the consumer pays it all but this is not true. If it was they wouldn't keep whining about it.

36

General Discussion Area / Re: Lidl battery chargers

« on: 29 September 2013, 03:08:05 »

Not sure about those chargers but the axle stands look good value - £9.99. 

37

General Discussion Area / Re: Welding, and remember my garage electrics?

« on: 29 September 2013, 02:48:46 »

That's a 135 amp welder (allegedly).  My 160 amp Murex Mig runs OK on 13amp but that is pushing it (official fuse rating is 16amp).

38

General Discussion Area / Re: Petrol Price Surprise

« on: 28 September 2013, 01:44:00 »

Yes you can see the Syria spike here, another reason not to bomb people:


Plus graph is in dollars and pound has gone up lately.

Super still £1.38 round here -www.petrolprices.com

39

General Car Chat / Re: Only in Essex.

« on: 28 September 2013, 01:13:04 »

Smart but are the front tyres fitted the wrong way round looking at the tread

Yes I noticed that too.  Looks like they are Nexens.  Should make for interesting handling. Tyre thread anyone?

40

General Discussion Area / Re: Warning snake oil peddlers at work again!

« on: 28 September 2013, 00:47:27 »

Daily Fail: "UN scientists reveal the world's barely got any hotter in the last 15 years"

By barely hotter they mean 0.6C since 1950.  0.6C on the average is actually a lot meaning a big rise in severe weather events:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Global_temperature_1ka.png

Try looking at this data, where they have discovered bias in climate scientist datasets. Now there's a surprise, why let the facts get in the way of a good scare story and a good draw on hard earned, by us, taxpayers money.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/28/manns-hockey-stick-disappears-and-crus-briffa-helps-make-the-mwp-live-again-by-pointing-out-bias-in-ther-data/

The data for the graphs in your link are for northern Sweden, not global.  Hence the much lower C figures.They don't seem to make that very clear. 

Generally people are biased when money is involved.  This especially applies to intelligent people such as most scientists tend to be.  Guess where the money is?  Of course some people are just biased because they are ignorant and/or read papers favouring big money like the Daily Fail. 

41

General Discussion Area / Re: Enjoy paying more for your holidays courtesy of the EU

« on: 27 September 2013, 14:29:26 »

its not about creating wealth through taxation it's about trying to stop companies avoiding their fair share of tax.  Profits are made by buying something at the lowest price they can and selling it to us at the highest price they can. The difference is not wealth creation, it's a tax on us by corporations.

42

General Discussion Area / Re: Warning snake oil peddlers at work again!

« on: 27 September 2013, 14:21:29 »

Daily Fail: "UN scientists reveal the world's barely got any hotter in the last 15 years"

By barely hotter they mean 0.6C since 1950.  0.6C on the average is actually a lot meaning a big rise in severe weather events:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Global_temperature_1ka.png

43

General Discussion Area / Re: Enjoy paying more for your holidays courtesy of the EU

« on: 27 September 2013, 13:56:25 »

Reminds me of the bedroom tax.  The government describe that as the 'spare room subsidy' and say they only want to remove it.  This EU ruling is technically the removal of a tax exemption ('subsidy' or loophole).  In fact it could be seen as cracking down on corporate tax avoiders.

"Under the current system, wholesalers are able to sell the flight or passenger transport element of an EU package without VAT, under the 'VAT Transport Company Scheme'.
But once the new rules have come into force, EU travel wholesalers will have to account for VAT from the whole profit margin on sales of EU travel in the country in which they are established."http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2008367

I don't see the Daily Fail describing it as the 'holiday subsidy' though. 

Corporate tax avoiders will always squeal when caught at it.  They always say they will just pass the cost on to the consumers but economics doesn't work that way - they will have to bear a significant proportion of it themselves from their profits, the amount depending on how much they've already been screwing us and how much we are willing to bear (supply and demand).

44

General Discussion Area / Re: Haynes in trouble

« on: 27 September 2013, 03:26:25 »

I find the biggest issue with EPCs is they often move parts out of context to fit the page

and with EPC4 having to use Internet Explorer instead of Firefox to get the images to display at all .

45

General Discussion Area / Re: Firemans Strike

« on: 24 September 2013, 23:13:48 »

not worth training hundreds of soldiers for 4 hours of cover.  Better to use people who are already trained for a short period.

Besides, it is a disgrace that soldiers on £19k, who themselves have had their pensions slashed, have to put themselves at risk in a job they have minimal training and experience to perform which is normally done by people who get more than twice that.

"There is a nationally agreed salary structure for firefighters. The starting salary for a trainee firefighter is £21,157. When full competence is achieved, this rises to £28,199. Higher rates apply for overtime."

"Regular Soldier
Regular soldiers receive over £275 a week in Phase 1 training, which rises to at least £17,767 a year depending on which Army job you do. Some roles get specialist pay, which can be worth at least an extra £19 per day. Your salary will increase annually as your career continues, regardless of promotion and extra responsibilities. Within five years you could reach the rank of Sergeant and earn up to £33,702. "