PhobosAnomaly

Point 3 has always been a great equaliser. I grew up in a household that was tight for money, and I never felt that my school wear defined my “class”, quite the opposite.

Now I’m older and am in a comparatively fortunate position financially, I’m happy to kit out my kids in a uniform. I don’t really want them flashing brand names or in an arms race to look the most fashionable, and I don’t want the less fortunate folk in the class to feel left behind.

If a uniform is plain and inexpensive, I think the positives outweigh the negatives.

Four Lions clip , jump to 1:45.

Once upon a time, that was actual humour… now I’m not so sure.

Classic film either way

The first major story where I thought “oh noes” was the Canary Wharf bombing in 1996ish. It was the first time I’d ever seen a “we interrupt this broadcast…” moment and it was so out of the ordinary that it sticks in my mind.

9/11 was a wild ride too. Getting home from school and my old man - who never watched the news - had Sky News on. At that point, the replays seemed… incredible, in the most literal sense of the word.

many

That line break is unfortunate.

I’ve had many an “ass apocalypse” in slow time after a dodgy kebab. They were anything but boring, however.

doesn’t matter bro, they’re your thoughts and that’s what makes them awesome 😊

have you tried getting someone else to do it?

Figma balls wheeeyyyy

The national speed limit in the UK is 60mph for all roads - town or county - that aren’t subject to a posted speed limit.

Up until recently, most urban environments with pedestrian access generally fell into 30mph zones, with some side streets and housing estates having their own 20mph limits.

Now, a national template for 20mph for urban areas is being introduced - generally where there’s a lot of housing; retail; schools etc or in the middle of villages or town centres etc.

Yes, 20mph zones on a nationwide basis are a fairly new occurrence here. Wales rolled them out a year or two ago, and they’re being rolled out in Scotland now.

Fuckin’ love ULEZ. I know it’s a largely unpopular opinion outside of this comm, but I like how peaceful it is, how quiet it is, and how chill it is. It’s nice driving a low emissions vehicle through it on the rare occasions I have access to it.

Fuckin’ love the new 20 zones being rolled out too. The only folk I’ve heard complain about it are those who generally can’t plan anything beyond a pissup in a brewery. It’s more relaxing to drive at 20, it feels safer going past pedestrians and cyclists, and it feels less hostile to other road users.

By extension, I love the trend towards paving over city centre roads and only letting mass transit vehicles or cyclists along them with pedestrians. It’s much more fun to walk down - or from my niche view - run down iconic city centre locations without being irritating to other pedestrians on pavements or at risk of being struck by a vehicle on the side of the road.

Well jeez, I didn’t expect to find an Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters reference here, especially this late to the party.

Here’s another good source if you’re interested.

The stage one music is a banger too.

Chuck it in the oven for ten minutes, no drama at all.

Then pre-book the following day off work with a dodgy stomach.

Honestly, I didn’t have a scooby about amateur radio until I watched a few videos by Ringway Manchester - he’s a really knowledgeable amateur. He’s a bit of a wanker to people in his comments who dare to offer dissenting opinions, but his videos are generally presented with a classic no-bullshit British vibe.

The point of this is that he pushed me in the direction of the Baofeng UV-5RH, which is a handheld that operates on the VHF bands but is very versatile. The company gets grief for producing hamstrung cheap shit, but honestly being a so-called Baofeng Warrior has provided me with the inexpensive entry point into the world of Ham Radio - and it even has a function for listening to FM radio for the… lesser-legitimate audio broadcaster needs 😊

My advice would be to get a UV-5RH (around £25), get a quarter-wave magmount antenna for the car (around (£15 for a cheap one), and check out Essex Ham’s videos on Foundation-level radio guidance (free with a recommended donation).

If you like it, brilliant - get your chequebook out and go wild. If you don’t, then you’ve invested forty-odd quid and you can get half of that back on various internet auction sites.

Have fun!

edit: but yeah if you want beyond line-of-sight communication then £300 would be well under a lowball estimate 😢

Very little 😂

No I got into it to learn the theory of it more than anything. I’ve been faffing about with a VHF setup to see if I could establish a little station that could be heard anywhere in the town I’m in. That’s inexpensive to do and you can probably knock together a basic station with decent range for £100 and the time and effort needed up a ladder.

The next step is to look further afield and build a station that operates in the 20m band, but I’m yet to be able to convince Chief Girlfriend that an end fed antenna dangling across the back garden, or a fiver metre whip mounted to the roof is a good idea. HF transceivers are exponentially more expensive, and require some support devices too.

Otherwise, I go “hilltopping” and head up elevated positions with a quarter-wave antenna and a cheap handheld radio to listen out on what’s happening. It’s good for the geek in me; it’s good for the mind being at such pretty viewpoints; and it’s good for the body walking or running up hillsides.

Alternatively, I’ll sit in the garden while the kids play around with FlightRadar24 open on a device and a handheld radio tuned to the local airport approach frequency, and talk about what an aircraft is or may be doing while listening to the chatter.

So yeah, I don’t do a lot really. I live quite close to the coast so getting into marine frequencies is something on my list to do; and speaking to folk worldwide would be a laugh!

I’m in that age bracket and I’ve turned to spunking the little amount of disposable income on amateur radio kit and equipment.

I wish I’d picked up a debilitating cocaine habit instead. It’d be cheaper.

In the end, “this” doesn’t even matter

Obviously fuck all on television after Christmas.

“hey look, the news has gotten around, the head of HR and my line manager want to see my elephant impression too!”