The good morning, good night thread

[Ed]

Happy birthday, Geoff. I hope you have a pleasant day

[SharonBell]

Geoff--This one's for you (ahem!)

<Drunken, Off Key Karaoke Singer>

Happy Birday to YOU!
Happy BIRDAY TO YOU!
Happppppy BIRDAY, DEER GEOOOOOOOFFFFFF!!
HAPPPPPPY BIRDAY TO YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!

(Okay, where's the friggin' kissing emoticon when I need it?)

Cyber hugs and kisses, me friend!

[SamLeeFreak]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
 

[sylvrilyn]

Happy birthday!

[Geoff_N]

Gee, thanks folks.

Erm, I'll save those congrats and re-read 'em on my birthday!  hah. Today is the celebratory hike in the hills with my family, but the date of my birthday is Guy Fawkes day. (for non UK, that's Nov 5th. It's traditional for big polluting bonfires to be made and for local kids to chase me, tie me up and throw me on top of the pyre.)

[starktheground]

I guess that would make more sense if I knew who Guy Fawkes was. 

[Sallyq]

Here you go, Stark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes

Basically he's the only man to ever go into the Houses of Parliament with good intentions.

[Ed]

Ain't that the truth

I've never understood why terrorists didn't emulate the gunpowder plot and blow up all the twats we hate in one sitting. Can't see the public objecting to the government getting wiped out I wouldn't rush to condemn.

[starktheground]

Ah, thanks Sally. That clears things up a bit. 

[neilmarr]

Happy birthday, Geoff. Happy Bofire Night to other Brits. Neil

[Ed]

Well, I've put up a bit of scaffolding, and now I'm waiting for the solar panels to be delivered. Haven't quite figured out how I'm going to integrate them into my heating system, yet. The plumbing aspect isn't complicated - I'll just put the liquid from the panels through a stainless steel heat exchanger (like the ones used on swimming pools) which I'll connect into my existing primaries. It's just the control system that's marginally complicated, but only because I haven't got my head around how to do it, yet. Once I've figured it out, I think it'll be easy enough. Trouble is, there aren't any wiring diagrams for what I'm trying to do. If I can pull it off, it'll save me the best part of a grand, so it's worth trying.

When you think about it, although the startup cost is quite high, the principle is very cool. I only realised it when I was explaining what I was doing to my kids. You know the old "What're you doing, Dad?" question. Then it was, "What's a solar panel, Dad?" So I tried to explain it in terms they would understand, and told them it's like a boiler you put up on the roof which gives you free hot water whenever the sun shines... forever... and doesn't cost anything to run... and why the hell didn't I do this before?

[Ed]

I was looking at plasma screen TVs today. I've always fancied getting a really HUGE one, but the picture quality is crap on them. The bigger they get, the fuzzier the picture, even with the high definition thing turned on. Plus, not many of the TVchannels have HD programmes on them, anyway. So I don't see the point of stumping up £1200 for one.

Funny, too - I was looking at one TV that was discounted by £200, which took it down to £999 (double it for dollars). On the price tag it said it was 'imperfect', and had 'slight damage' to the bottom left hand corner. Slight? It was mashed - somebody had obviously dropped it and it had landed with all its weight on the corner. The thing was absolutely knackered, and they still wanted a grand for it I can't believe anybody would be mug enough to pay that, especially seeing how it was ex-display as well, so it's probably been switched on for 16 hours a day for months on end

Then I wandered into Maplins, where they had these remote control helicopters on special offer. My kids would have loved one, but I had a good look at the thing and found it would fly for 12 minutes on one charge. Trouble was, the charge takes four hours. What use is that?

[delboy]

Then I wandered into Maplins, where they had these remote control helicopters on special offer. My kids would have loved one, but I had a good look at the thing and found it would fly for 12 minutes on one charge. Trouble was, the charge takes four hours.

Ed, surely a man of your capabilities could knock up a little dynamo-based system that fixes to the main rotor shaft and thus charges the helicopter as it flies, thereby giving it unlimited flying time, inventing perpetual motion, achieving massive fame and fortune, and probably a Nobel prize, too. It seems like a no-brainer to me especially as the choppers were on special offer... 

Del

[PaulH]

Or you could replace the regular rotor blades with tiny solar panels so it recharges as it flies! 

[Walker]

I was looking at plasma screen TVs today. I've always fancied getting a really HUGE one, but the picture quality is crap on them. The bigger they get, the fuzzier the picture, even with the high definition thing turned on. Plus, not many of the TV channels have HD programmes on them, anyway. So I don't see the point of stumping up £1200 for one.

Plasma's are a little more high maintenance than LCD's for sure. There's a good chance you'll have to get a plasma recharged every few years and it's also much more susceptible to image burn. When we went looking we checked out a few plasma's but decided on a 42" Toshiba LCD hi-def. An adjustable picture size makes the image a lot more cleaner on regular-def channels, but the hi-def is stunning. I love nature documentaries and the picture from the LCD is mesmerizing, to say the least. Put in a good James Bond movie and crank the surround sound and it's like being in a theatre.