Craig Sawyers

That is truly shocking, even in a world of shocking things. I hope prison in Turkey is one unremitting horror story for the monstrous bastard. Regular prisoners usually have a way of dealing with child rapists and killers.

Haven't got a photo, but on Sunday we walked the first 12 miles of the Oxfordshire Way - a long distance footpath that goes from Bourton-on-the-Water to Henley on Thames. Anyhow the main point was the heat. In the UK we are currently stuck with high pressure after high pressure, blue skies and sun. For three weeks so far, and forecast for much of July. So on Sunday we were treated to a temperature of 33C (92F) in the shade. Totally insane conditions for the UK. Who would have thought that only 16 weeks ago we had -6C (21F) with driving snow for a week or more. Something is deeply fucked with the weather.

Well, this is a fun thread in an odd sort of way. Who would have thought?

Is there football going on somewhere?

This is the brainchild of Bob Stuart, co-founder of Meridian. It really needs the - er - Meridian MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) decoder. The UltraDAC, which is $23k. But you don't need the physical media - you can stream it from Tidal HiFi, and go via Meridian's cheapo decoder that connects to your PC for a couple of hundred - assuming Tidal comes from there. If you go through a network connection, you need the UltraDAC. But it is downward compatible - you can play the MQA discs on a regular CD player.

Happy birthday Justin - have a great day!

That is one fine looking dog

The blower I posted pics of is definitely a replica - there are only two of the 40 originals in existence. But it produces 182hp using 10lbs per square inch of boost from the supercharger and a top speed of up to 120mph. Engine was a 4.4 litre straight four with twin carbs. Physically it was pretty imposing. 14 foot 4 inches long. There is a good write up here https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/classiccars/10068232/Bentley-4-Litre-Blower-review.html Particularly that there are reputedly 100 replicas out there

That is truly awful Brent. RIP Michael - far, far too young.

Spotted on a walk this weekend. Bentley Blower. Probably a replica, but still at least $1.5m worth.

RIP KoKo - quite a higher primate.

I think that sort of thing ought to come with a health warning ⛔

Confused? Or even worse https://giphy.com/gifs/emoji-smileys-rE4Nl0NhfY9Qk/tile

I think it needs some new kind of "like". Something that both appreciates the piss take on DT, despair at the weird shit the guy says, worry about what might happen under his administration, and anger. Kind of this, I guess https://media3.giphy.com/media/rE4Nl0NhfY9Qk/200w.webp

I don't remotely know what sort of emoticon to leave for that spooky and frighting vocoded Trump. Like, sad, confused, ha ha. It could be either of those. But not congratulations Mr T, definitely not.

It starts with a slight fever and dryness of the throat. When the virus penetrates the red blood cells, the victim becomes dizzy, begins to experience an itchy rash, then the poison goes to work on the central nervous system, severe muscle spasms followed by the inevitable drooling. At this point, the entire digestive system collapses accompanied by uncontrollable flatulence. Until finally, the poor bastard is reduced to a quivering wasted piece of jelly.

Happy birthday!

Sounds like you needed steak and wine therapy quite badly

This is a POV by a guy who knows Nevis exceptionally well - all the routes. This is long, but utterly mesmeric. He goes from the head of the East Gulley (itself a challenging grind) to the top of Nevis via the Great Tower. A technically challenging scramble. The scariest bit is at about 1h5m, on the way back down from the Tower along a knife edge with lethal drops, and then Tower Gap - a vertical slab with certain death if you make a mistake. I don't have any wish to scramble at anything like that level.

Ben Nevis in perfect Winter conditions. Very rare, and with a guy who knows what he is doing, going up one of the more challenging routes.

Oh I totally understand the challenge of books like this. I'm definitely going to buy it.

I'm with you there. Urethane varnishes (a) lose the appearance of the wood - you see the varnish, and not the wood (b) it seals the wood and stops it from moving. But it does move and the eurethane cracks (and/or yellows) (c) the only way to recover this is to strip and sand back - then apply an exterior grade Danish or Teak oil. Apply an extra coat every 6 months to a year.

You might want to looks at building regs for loading of upper floors, because I think you're exceeding them. That said, it will probably be just fine - but it might give you a problem with property insurance if you need to make a claim - which could be for anything - but insurance companies will find a way of weaseling out of paying if they can find some wriggle room.

That beast is on ground floor, on concrete? I guess if it isn't, it will be, soon!

The double ribbon tweeters at the top of those speakers seem to be way off-axis at the listening position. Just sayin'