Celebrating Positives (offset of the Gripes Thread)

[pmccarthy]

I find it hard to believe that an electric can opener or electric carving knife is no longer a must-have item. Being conservative means you want things to stay the same.

[Marty_d]

Go with the "have I used this in the last 12 months" system.
I've never owned an electric carving knife, my parents did, but I can't see the advantage of having to disconnect and wash two blades when a sharp carving knife is much simpler and does the job just as well.

[pmccarthy]

My wife wants to throw ours out. At Clark Rubber the other day I was told that they are ideal for cutting foam rubber. So I think it is on its way to the workshop.

[facthunter]

You have engineering talent.  Modify it and sell it OR just take it to gatherings and Make Cutting remarks.  Nev

[Marty_d]

4 hours ago, pmccarthy said:

My wife wants to throw ours out. At Clark Rubber the other day I was told that they are ideal for cutting foam rubber. So I think it is on its way to the workshop.

A good bread knife will do that too.  Same shaped cutting edge.

[facthunter]

 Funny making a motor do it. Are we becoming that weak  Physically Must be a Status thing. A must Have .Like the first Land Cruisers were for Lawyers . Yes they were that expensive.. Theiss were the Importers.  Nev

[red750]

Just because they can doesn't mean they should, like the new robo vacumms with a hand to pick up loose socks and drop them in the laundry hamper.

 

 

 

 

 

[facthunter]

Where can I get one of those?  Nev

[nomadpete]

5 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Where can I get one of those?  Nev

I thought that was what a wife did.

 

 

 

 

Then I got married.

[onetrack]

It is immediately obvious, that nomadpete's wife doesn't read this forum!  😄

[red750]

I've seen video of them on TV, but can't find it on YT.

 

 

 

 

 

[old man emu]

Hurrah!!!!!

I have something to celebrate.

 

My car's air bag warning light suddenly came on a couple of months ago, but being well versed in modern automotive technology, I chose to bear with the presence of the illuminated warning rather than find the fault and fix it. Actually I was afraid that mice had dined on the wiring in some hard-to-reach place. More fear came from the thought that the problem was in the computer system of the car.

 

The car is coming up for its annual roadworthiness inspection, and I had a bigger problem in that the handbrake wasn't working. So I figured I would get my mechanic to deal with the handbrake and while he had the car to run a diagnostic check. Fixing the handbrake involved removing the front passenger seat. When that was done, it was discovered that wires had broken off one side of a connector. 

 

I've been putting off rejoining the wires because I don't have a covered work space, and it has either been too sunny (hot) or too windy to work outside. Well, today the weather conditions were suitable for working outside and I got stuck into fixing it. I honestly thought that rejoining the wires would not be the fix, but I was glad to see that it actually was.

 

Now I can present the car for inspection and see what other minor fault can be found to require fixing before it passes. 

[onetrack]

Now, all you need to find, is that your car is part of the Takata Airbag recall, and they contact you, and offer you $20,000 for a buyback!!  😄

 

I knew a bloke who bought an old bomb of a Honda for about $1000, drove around in it for while, and was all set to scrap it, when he found out it was one of the Takata Airbag recall cars!

He contacted Honda, gave them the VIN - and they identified the car as a recall, and bought the car back off him - for $6000!! 

[spacesailor]

My 1998 Mitsubishi Delica.  Has ( after all these years ) been recalled and had replacement

air-bags .

So they tell me . How do you check ! .

spacesailor 

[onetrack]

Have a prang and try them out, to see if they work, Spacey! 😄

 

[spacesailor]

The 'old ' ones would ! .

But they could kill with the uncontrolled explosion. 

spacesailor

PS. : Do they change the sensor.  If that is faulty.  The bags won't bang .

[onetrack]

I don't believe the sensors ever give any trouble, the problem was the explosive material that Takata manufactured for the airbags was faulty, and could explode without warning, and it would shatter the canister that holds the charge, propelling metal shards into the car occupants.

 

The original airbag explosive was sodium azide, which was a relatively slow and weak explosive - but Takata decided to start using Ammonium Nitrate, which is a more powerful explosive, and which chemical is sensitive to moisture and heat buildup - which can make it go off unexpectedly. 

 

As the Ammonium Nitrate and its casings in the Takata airbags aged, it became susceptible to water ingress and corrosion - and more susceptible to heat. So quite a few of the Takata airbags exploded, and killed a fair number of people.

There were lawsuits galore, and Takata and the car manufacturing companies had to replace the airbags, or buy back the affected cars and scrap them, and also pay out to affected owners.

The whole exercise cost Takata dearly, and they went bankrupt in 2018.

[old man emu]

12 hours ago, onetrack said:

Now, all you need to find, is that your car is part of the Takata Airbag recall

Bugger!

Hyundai didn't use them.

[facthunter]

Then you are left Highandrai. BTW Toyota have the "Bugger" thing Patented. Nev

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

BTW Toyota have the "Bugger" thing Patented.

I think you might mean 'trademarked' the word. I wonder if a person could trademark 'f#ck' and its verb and gerundive forms

[facthunter]

It was TIC, anyhow.. nev

[spacesailor]

An English Queen banned it , & possibly had a law passed .

spacesailor 

[spacesailor]

Our first full walk for this year .

I did a little slow jog  at the end loop .

spacesailor & my other-half .

PS.  : that ' Girraween shared cycle path cost the rate-payers $ 5,000,000

pps.  :  map courteously of ' STRAVA '

Edited Saturday at 02:52 AM by spacesailor
PPS added

[facthunter]

Seems a bit wobbly. Try it when you are not FULL.  Look at the Facilities you have, Lucky one.  Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well, the daughter finished her A Levels (HSC/VCE equivalent) last year. She didn't quite do as well as she expected for one of her subjects, which was her best during the year. In fact, she scored a C (we still use the old letter system here). Bitterly disappointed, her school were fantastic.

 

A little background, the examination boards here are.. privatised.. so any questioning of their results has two impacts - additional cost (less profit) and, if they agree (ie.e conceded, or admit they were wrong), reduced reputation with the government that pays them.

 

She scored a C, and needed a high B or a low A with her other subjects to get into her chosen course. Her teacher was adamant she was at least a low A, and the examination board did concede that they were short staffed (aka didn't pay enough) and for my daughter's region, there was an inexperienced examiner.

 

Our initial "review", which cost us £150 was immediately rejected. So we lodged a formal appeal. I aksed the school if there were others in her class, and she said all of them were poorly marked. I suggested a sort oif class appeal, but because they all got into their chosen courses, or went on to work or for their gap year, no one was interested.

 

So we appealed. It takes some time and was something like £300, with a refind if the appeal is upheld. Designed to keep poorer people from appealing, I guess, we went with the appeal. After reading her paper, and the markers comments, they didn't tally, so I was confident it would get through - just by how much though, and would it be enough? My daughter, rather than travelling and taking a lesser course, decided she would sit a 4th subject. It meant doing a two year subject in one year, but because she was only doing the one subject, it was easy. But, it did cost as it was only available in that format at a private college. She has gone to the first term and then started th second. However, we got the results of her appeal, which I was minded to complain about because it only just took her into the B grade.. And her teacher from the original school is fantastic, called us, and asked if we wanted to challenge the appeal. At this stage, it would go to the local educational authoritym which is the government.

 

My daughter decided to lodge her application for the course she wanted - Law at one of the Russel universities (sort of Ivy leagie of the UK and incudes Oxford and Cambridge - but her chosen university is neither of those). She just got the notice that shed has been accepted unconditionally, and is over the moon, as are all of us! BTW, she cose law all be herself. Both my partner and I agreed to not push or otherwise recommend either child into a vocation/profession - we would advise if they asked.

 

And to top it off, she has just scored herself a temporary job at the local nucelar plant as well (security clearance permitting), paying almost average wage...

 

Good on her.