h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Motor tax: In my continuing efforts to provide you with information: I give you:
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'You will eventually be billed by mail for the car tax, which amounts to about 10 Euro for every 100cc of the engine.'
http://domino.mpi-inf.mpg.de/internet/news.nsf/ae7c033323c27725c1256a9700392784/3d00a58f4af4c2bec1256aa2004262e6!OpenDocument

I know this is for cars but if the same rate applies to burners we are looking at 120 Euros for a R 1200 RT

and hot from the presses

http://www.economy-point.org/m/motor-vehicle-tax-germany.html

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Although I'm replying to your post from the previous page I have already had a sneaky look to see burner tax postings here. Thank you in advance. As for whether there could be a migration event lets just say there is a dim chance. A number of ducks would have to get in a row though I can see a real possibility sooner or later.

A cousin of mine once said if her son had the skills to work with his hands she'd never worry about him getting qualifications. Your cabinet making skills are another string to your bow that may become invaluable in post boom times.

I agree England would benefit from the extinguishing of the UK. I don't understand why people are so wedded to the idea of the UK when the EU could bring similar benefits in spades. It occurs to me that the problem with the EU today (and especially the UK relationship) is that membership feels like being half pregnant. It's neither one thing nor another. We aren't seeing the full article yet (no pun intended). Cerberus's ridicule of the EU parliament, by implying that winning the UK election to it wasn't worth the candle, brought this home to me.

The "NUCleggies" say they are "the real opposition" and set themselves up for target practice. UKIP will never win a seat in the national parliament for they will always be seen as a protest group. Visor down policy was a complete failure, will try steely resolve today. You are right 0745 was supposed to be 0645 and the freezer became a fridge whereas it really is a freezer. Got the picture on the Bx4 fleet though you must remember you are going to end up with the newest vehicle. Do Apple computers operate using a form of Linux? I'll catch up with the burner tax posts later.

MDT

VW: A cabriolet no less. I have definitely been out-manouevred. It looks like I am going to be here till the end of April.

Running the numbers this means that the pds will just about the cost of the Beetle and the quad.

I am not down and out yet though I have found a cost benefit study that shows, given that the their have been few technical improvements in the recent models, the rational choice is to buy an approved second hand one.

The SO also being a scientist (albeit of the 'soft' sort) must accept the logic of the numbers. I have told her I will not be moved and my recent Greco lookalike campaign seems to have had a positive effect.

Images: The action of your ISP seem a bit strange unless the image was copyrighted.

I am having some problems with the iconic Faithfull 'biker' image. I have in my mind an image which definitely involves a 'Easy Rider' style chopper but the standard iconic image does not:

http://modculture.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/06/motorcycle.jpg

I can only conclude that my iconic image did not in fact involve Ms. Faithfull in any way.

btw, under no circumstances should you watch 'Girl on a Motorcycle' it is a truly bad movie.

Since your ISP has denied you the joys of Ms. Greco. I give you one of the few where she 'glammed up'

http://www.rfimusique.com/imagesMusique/imagesFr/upload/greco1.jpg

I offer this and the previous image in the hope that it will divert your attention from LT3 help you maintain a more robust visor down position.

The return of the SO has been put off till Saturday since the shipper who was supposed to transport boxes of unopened ancient books and records from there has been delayed.

The visitors still arrive tomorrow.

A less busy day today but I think I will keep my involvement on LTR3 to a minimum.

Have no fear, even the BBC server is helping with steely resolve by breaking down every few minutes. I shall chew on pictures of Ms Greco and the contents of your earlier posts later. I'm set for a long day in the mill.

servers: I am glad it's happening to you too. I thought it might be something to do with my being 'furrin' at the moment. Servers no doubt cheap Amstrads to get sir AS to do 'The Apprentice' or perhaps Greenwich has flooded again.

Anyhow while I have a fairly relaxed schedule today I have decided that this machine needs a serious tidy-up. It wasn't intended to be a media toaster but seems to be turning into so I am going off-line.

Resist the lure of LTR3. If we mostly stay off it it will become moribund more quickly.

bs

LT3: Cerberus has just responded to one of your posts btw. A test of the 'steely resolve'. I have fait in your ability to resist.

Do not disappoint me

Really bs

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Cerberus Post: Worry not I saw it, from memory something about UKIP not offering a LTR and what the referendum decision was about and what it should be based on. I'm sorry I can't be bothered.

Of greater concern I was prevented from seeing Ms. Greco's photograph because the site "contained streaming media". In order to avoid these messages and the wrath of the administrator I plan to wait with photo links till can I use my own ISP in the evening.

I did manage to follow the links (thank you again) to the English language pages about the German way of taxing cars and bikes. As the second site hints the day will not be far off that bikes will be taxed on their emissions and not just engine size. I'm guessing this will be for the UK too. I'm therefore playing a waiting game and plan to stick with Rice Burner and its tax band limbo dancing 599cc engine for now.

A cabriolet! Coincidentally I know a lady with a yellow rag top and she is very pleased with hers. I once had a loaned Vitara soft top for a day and enjoyed it even though it was raining. I liked being able to hear more of what was going on around me thus benefiting from improved Situation Awareness (or SA in pilot jargon). Can you tell I've been watching Discovery again?

Good luck with the visitors, I'm sure you'll have everything under control before Bx4 SO arrives.

MDT

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Of interest?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7303606.stm
Vote fraud 'undermines democracy'

Posting now lest "Greenwich has flooded again"

Cerberus: I think he is making a HOTNA a bid for the HOTNA. I see I am in receipt of a reply from EOO. I am resisting being sucked in for the moment. I may fall this evening. I know I shouldn't but is post are a kind of chocolate.

Certainly seems quiet today.

Greco denial. Might it be your network manager rather than your ISP? I cant see why a jpeg file would stream

motor tax: I think that puts you into the sixty euro bracket. I'll see if I can find out about pollution surcharges for bikes
lunch break.

cabriolet: I am not sure about this since Hamburg tends to get a bit chilly in winter. I think this may a touch of nostalgia. She had some sort of open sports car when we first met. I am not minded to object but it will *not* be yellow. It really is the priority. HVV good but not for weekly shop.

Visitors no problem. They are not clingy noobs and everything is ready.

Clean up going well. Directory purge, general junk cleared, virus scan done and free space cleaned. That leaves defrag which I am going to do now I'll reply to outstanding posts tonight.

Maintain steely resolve.

bs

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HOTNA I'm sot sure what this is though I find Cerberus style aggressive and presumptive. The trouble with this was it then started to feed back into my posts. As I recall EOO didn't seem keen on answering the question about personal harm and the EU.

The MB does seem quiet today, then again there hasn't been a new topic for a day or two and Tibet was given two goes after the first stuttered. Yes I'm sure you are right about the Network Manager, the JPEG file didn't stream data though perhaps there was other material on the page that did.

The cabriolet would have an insulated roof so not a worry in the Baltic winter. For the weekly shop is there an equivalent to an internet delivery service from a supermarket chain? Perhaps this is the moment to push for a motorcycle and sidecar combination so as to cart the shopping home? Once I saw a biker with a coffin replacing the sidecar body. Think how many shopping bags it could hold? Good air resistance too.

Good luck with the Defrag, modern hard disks are huge and the r/w head can only move so fast.

MDT

Afternoon/Evening rg

HOTNA: Holder of The Nitpick of the Award.

EOO:

quiet: LTR3 seems to have stuttered to a halt. Our steely resolve not to gets sucked in may a contributed. I will have to see whether I can hold on when the evening shift of 'phobes arrives.

I am getting near an unsubscribe event.

Never mind come April 1 we will have LTR4 and then LTR5 when the Irish vote.

Dalai Lama: I had a look at those threads much talk about how Skippy would not have the bottle to meet the DL. Apparently he will.

I think we are about due for another immigration thread, that'll get the gegners going.


btw, did you know that that --IP don't believe in anthropogenic global warming?

JPEG. link I gave you only had the image on that page nothing to stream


defrag: large drive size not a problem: Partitioned into several logical drives so I can defrag them separately:


cabriolet> I am somewhat reassured. The SO's old soft-top was canvas with that bendy plastic that went yellow and not heated

Combo option: Don't think that's a viable strategy the SO is not a sidecar person nor am I till decrepitude threatens.

I suspect the Luftwaffe R75 combo is destined not to be boxer 2

I heard that the superfat ex Tory minister Nicholas Soames is in trouble for doing something reprehensible with a quad. Of interest because it must be a very robust quad.

Internet shopping. The SO is too hands on for that to be an option.

Are servers still misbehaving?

Off to catch ferry.
bs

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'Evening Bx4 just stopping by, thank you for solving the HOTNA riddle. It's amazing how LTR3 was stopped with an ounce of steely resolve. I think the "shift of phobes" won't pitch up. What's there to bite into? I doubt there will be much coverage of the HoL debate. One of the Tibet threads does have an immigration sub thread, so no need to start another one. I did manage to look at a glitzy eye shadow adorned Ms Greco later by dialling in. Though the network had said stream I agree there was no evidence of it on screen. I do worry though about what is unseen by the eye.

I like your idea of partitioning drives leaving defrag to speed along nicely. Whilst the weather is coldish would it be worth trying to get a rag top road test arranged so you can satisfy yourself that the roof is up to the job? I hear what you say about sidecars. I'll confess to being interested enough to look at MZs (I think that's what they were) around the time of the last of the LHD UK legal imports. I didn't look a second time and now they are all gone?

Wasn't there news lately that an MP got the taxpayer to buy his quad? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6673989.stm The quad appears to be the preferred transport of rural Tory MPs. There is a saying that power corrupts. Our representatives are hell bent on proving it. Still HOTNA will always be there to defend them against the evil that is the referendum. I think the servers were OK from about midday.

MDT

Evening rg thought I would do a bit of a catchup

Migration: Given your particular skill set I would have thought that a move into the EU might be fairly easy. Always a demand for skills in the knowledge based industries.

Post boom times: As I say its pretty much a hobby and my skill level is at the Welsh pine dresser level (though I go for a more minimalist style). Mostly, I give it away though its quite useful for barter in the local black economy.

England: I agree. It's not that I have anything against the other nations in the UK, its more the UK superstate itself that the problem. I am not sure its fit for purpose and I think it's a bit of a psychological albatross.
U
What is odd in the attachment to UK sovereignty is that it was itself created by the constituent nations giving up their sovereignty to form an economic and political bloc. There is a certain irony in the 'phobes attachment to UK sovereignty.

Cereberus/UK parliament. I am pretty sure that he said he was once a MEP.

NuCleggies: I must confess I am having difficulty with the NuCleggies strategy at the moment. This latest notion of not forming coalitions with other parties does not seem very pragmatic.

KIP. I agree a protest party. I don't think there antics in the Parliament do us any credit.

Mac/Linux Mac OS and OSX are proprietary operating systems but a there is a version of Linux that will run on apple hardware.

I thought Macs always came with the OS bundled so I am a bit unclear why you would want Linux.

You can of course partition your hard disk to support multiple operating systems I got a couple set up like that though not with McOS.

You also find that there is a lot of development by the open systems people of free multi-platform applications.

The most useful of thes is OpenOffice which has the same functionality as MS Office but does cost £300-£400. I use it on most of my systems

LTR3: You appear to be correct nobody has posted since this morning. I think I might unsubscribe but book mark it as a LTR1 backup.

I don't have time to for these hurly burly threads at the moment. So i'll probably concentrate in LTR1 and sharia. I prefer the slow threads.

HoL: No doubt your right but then nobody seemed to be that engaged over the HoC debate. I still think the TET will use it as the basis for a thread.

Greco: Glad you saw it. I really prefer her more natural ones. The earlier one with the beret (?) was most reminiscent of the young SO.

Partition/defrag: is more of a spin off. I use drive partitioning for a number of different, not necessarily mutually exclusive reasons:

Multiple OS on a single machine
System save and restore
Separate OS/Application sofware/data partitions

cabriolet: Turns out one of the girls at work has one so I am having a test ride.

MZ sidecar:s turned up this

'there are only a few companies that still specialize in manufacturing the motorcycle sidecar. MZ in Germany, Harley-Davidson in the United States, Dnepr in the Ukraine, IMZ-Ural in Russia, Izhmash in Russian, Chang Jiang in China, and Watsonian/Squire in Gloucestershire still produce the motorcycle sidecar. Watsonian/Squire is the longest running manufacturer of the motorcycle sidecar, having been in business since 1912.'

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-motorcycle-sidecar.htm

The latter must be quite near you.

I think I am going to give up on the R75. So a two wheel or three wheel boxer. I suspect it will be the former though the latter would do well when decrepitude looms.

Quads: yes I definitely the vehicle of choice for rural Tories. The saga of the early day motion to exempt MP's expenses from FOIA was running when I joined the Today board that confirmed my contempt for the bulk of our representatives. There were a few honorourable exceptions who wanted nothing to do with it.

I didn't know about the quad link though. Even more ironicallly he's on the Speaker's group who are looking at the current raft of expenses scandals. Does not bode well.

In the Scottish Parliament full disclosure of expenses is standard.

The Soames quad saga:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2008/03/19/nsoames119.xml

http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=7846572

The picture of Soames in the second should clarify why I thought his quad had to be robust

Fraud: I had heard about this on a feed. It only confirms that politicians a have lost touch with reality.

What I find annoying is the way and the chattering classes keep droning on about the need to re-engage the electorate w and seem completely oblivious to the fact that its their corrupt and sleazy behaviour that has made us disengage in the first place.

LTR3: Looks like you were right not a single post from the evening 'phobes. My only regret is that I will never find out the basis of he curious fixation that I am a socialist.

I'm not and never said I was.

Got to do some catching up on iplayer


bs

Morning rg

just to let you know. AFK for most if not all of today. Cells, cabriolet road test and visitors.

Suggest that steely resolve is maintained wrt LT3.

bs

'Morning Bx4

Is it OK for me to add you as a reference on my CV after your encouraging words? I leave SO to do the fancy scrollwork, my approach to woodworking is entirely utilitarian. I think this why I like motorcycles so much, there is very little built into one that doesn't have a purpose. By the way have you noticed how the quality of modern day composite boarding has diminished? Also how are digital speedometers better than analogue ones? Is my attitude to these things a sign of old age?

People are mostly resistant to change therefore cling to the UK because it is what they are used to. They resist the EU because it still seems foreign (in more than one sense). Who would vote for Cerberus if all his writings were presented in the style of his posts? Perhaps he or she is the ultimate argument against the list system.

I think we disagree on the notion that not wanting to form coalitions is a bad thing. I'd personally like to be able to vote (in a referendum) for and against proposals regardless of who is providing the lead. Thus by staying out of coalitions the Lib Dems can enjoy a similar freedom of action. As a bonus they can steer clear of the "Labour's little helpers" label they acquired in the early devolution days. In practice I expect the Clegg and his merry men and women to vote with Labour on many issues. I certainly don't see them wanting to side with the Tories. I wish the LDs would get real and stop calling themselves "the real opposition" this really riles me.

I don't want Linux on my Mac (rapidly becoming out of date), though I also have a PC so am curious about Linux and the "OpenOffice" you referred to which appears like an alternative to my XP set up. I've heard some worrying things about Vista not driving printers, cameras and the like.

There was something about the HoL this morning on Today: Jack Straw wanting to achieve consensus with the other parties over reform. As it's our country not the political parties' so I hope we are allowed to approve the changes. If they result in a fully elected house he'll have my vote. You'll gather I don't like cross party stitch ups.

I see you are still working on Bx4 SO to move Boxer 2 up the fleet purchase list? I'm pleased you have found someone with a rag top to try out. Do it soon whilst the mornings are still cold.

I got quite excited by finding out that there was a sidecar manufacturer close by. Alas in my present circumstances there would be no room for one here though as you may have suggested previously dotage may change this for me. I certainly hope they'll still be manufactured in Gloucestershire in 2012 and I hope to visit the site regardless. I think you are wise to stick with a modern bike as regular transport for practicalities sake. I've started to half look at the CBF600S as a possible medium term replacement. It doesn't however stir my blood in any way just yet. It does however appeal to my head.

Back to parliament and it occurred to me that all the dishonesty that has recently been in evidence was playing into my pro referendum hands (pencil poised to mark an "x"). The opponents say parliament is best placed to decide though I don't want a bunch of head in the trough deceitful, out of touch so called representatives deciding for me. I had heard that the "quad bike on expenses" MP was looking into the matter of public discontent with parliamentary expenses in general. What were Harmen and her freinds thinking about when they chose to add him to the committee? I'm pleased to read that the Scottish Parliament has more respect for the public. Soames; he is the living proof that common sense is not a bar to parliamentary success though this is a consequence of the party label system. If someone is paid with salary and perks like an MP is it any wonder they lose touch with reality? I agree these people are seemingly oblivious to the fact that their behaviour has alienated the electorate. As for LTR3 I'm sure there will be other opportunities to engage with EOO and all the other regulars.

MDT

PS Steely resolve it is.

A quick reply to the non-pol bits.

Visitors: Arrived safely. Out on town. Too knackered to join them.

reference: Feel free. I can be contacted c/o h2g2. There is a real demand for query language database people here.

scrollwork: Not my style I restrict it decoration to welsh dresser type products which though popular are not things I would give house room to.

I'm more into messing about with jointing and routing and the odd bit of turning.

Composites: Hardly use them. Wood's the thing.

Digital: intrinsically less accurate than analog since both acceleration an time are not digital processes.

Old age: possibly the first signs of a future as a grumpy old man.

Linux. I thought you had plans to replace you Mac. You can get versions Linux for free. Others at fairly low cost. It will coexist quite happily with other OS on a multi-boot system though reasonably sized drives are a good idea.

vista: Got it on one machine but haven't had much occasion to use it. We are pretty much Linux/Unix here with Novell

Openoffice: Runs on XP as well as Linux. I have a link which I'll dig out and post.

cabriolet: Had test. OK. Not really my cup of tea.

Transportation list. Boxer 2 still last though SO has agreed to approved secondhand ragtop. So B2 less distant.

CBF600S: as in

http://www.asl-testsite.co.uk/motors/new/Honda-CBF600S-2004.jpg

must dash
bs

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'morning Bx4 a day set aside for some serious rust hunting prior to family commitments

Thank you for finding the CBF photo link (no trouble with ISP for viewing). This is the sort of thing though I'm considering the (so called) '08 model with an alloy frame and fuel injection. I think the '04s still had tubular steel frames with carburettors like my rice burner. The more I think about it the more I don't want to change because like having lots of levers and knobs to twiddle with. In contrast (for example) modern bikes have low fuel lights whereas I have a tap to access a reserve tank when power starts to drop.

VW: There is a lot to be said for nearly new, still lots of warranty left and lots off the new price. Computers: I'm hesitating on Mac replacement because of the lack of broadband. Apple puts updates out on mega files far beyond the capability of dial up. Any new machine would therefore be trapped in a computing Sargasso Sea. (An alternative would be to take it to the Mac shop every year for a £100 update). Good PCs start at £400 these days. A reason for changing the machine is my SO's aversion to OS. The newer machines are dual boot. Thank you for your thoughts on Linux/Unix etc.

I agree with you on wood and analogue and thank you for permission to cite as reference (non professional - don't worry) though disagree on future grumpy – I'm there already.

Good luck with the visitors and the return of Bx4 SO, I'm away with the Kurust so steely resolve not required.

MDT

Any Questions with Toynbee could make for some discomfort for a prospective Tory MP co panellist?