Grumpy Old Men

Good afternoon everyone
I love the new forum
Here goes for the very first grump
Have you noticed that more and more sites want you to sign up to facebook?
I sometimes post comments on the Manchester Evening News web site
However I have just received an e mail saying that from Friday only users with a facebook account will be able to comment
I have also noticed that Dominos pizza co say Tell your friends on facebook you've just ordered a pizza
Perhaps it's just me being an old fuddy duddy but I have no intention of signing up to social media sites
End of grump.......Hooray!
Kind regards Stephen

Stephen,

"What is this 'book of faces' witch craft that you speak of?" (spoken in thick Russian accent).

It may come as a shock to some but I don't have half the 'social media' accounts that most people have.
I just have the 2 that matter: here and UKTS forums .

To me 'twitter' is something a canary does.
I honestly think in a short period of time people will no longer know how to communicate face to face.

I have a news paper article that you folks may enjoy, I will scan it and upload it tomorrow.
Need to try and catch up on some sleep.

Justin

Hi Stephen,

Most people are shock when I say I have no intrest in social media, I just say I have better ways to waist my time.
I have actually been congratulated by people for 'takeing the high road' and avoiding all this.

Now as promised, a newspaper artical that should get everyone laughing:



The biggest thing that hits me from this artical, they actually paid people to do research into this.
No offence, but if you work in a retail environment like I do (for 8 years), you can actually see the people getting worse.

At my last job we had EFTPOS machine which the customers had to use.

Surprisingly, one time I had an 87 year old lady do her bit on the machine before I could say 'insert your card'.
I thanked her and complimented her on her ability to use the machine, and she said that "to survive today you need to know how to use the technology."

After she had left my next customer was about 32, he didn't know which way up the card had to go.
I politely tried to help him with it, to which he swore at me and told me "you f*****g do it. I don't know how to use this s***.
You a******s shold do it for us so we don't have to f*****g think. You b*******s keep changing these machines around. Why don't all f*****g shops have the same f*****g machines. It's f*****g stupid." my reaction: .

Second customer in line looked at me and blinked.

Belive me I have kept a little note book of the 'best of the worst' in dealing with people.
I am not saying that all customers are bad, nor am I saying all staff are good. I myself am in no way a saint in how I work.

But the worst thing to consider is that these people are the future of our world.

Justin

Hello Justin
I suppose not having one standard card reader doesn't help
There is nowt as strange as folk
Kind regards Stephen

Good evening everyone
Does anyone else think this is stark staring bonkers and downright dangerous?

Controversial research into making bird flu easier to spread in people is to resume after a year-long pause.

Some argue the research is essential for understanding how viruses spread and could be used to prevent deadly pandemics killing millions of people.

Research was stopped amid fierce debate including concerns about modified viruses escaping the laboratory or being used for terrorism.

The moratorium gave authorities time to fully assess the safety of the studies.

A type of bird flu known as H5N1 is deadly and has killed about half the people who have been infected.

It has not caused millions of deaths around the world because it lacks the ability to spread from one person to another. Cases tend to come from close contact with infected birds.

Scientists at the Erasmus University in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US discovered it would take between five and nine mutations in the virus' genetic code to allow it to start a deadly pandemic.
Dangerous science?

Their research was the beginning of a long-running furore involving scientists, governments and publishers of scientific research.
The US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity asked academic journals not to publish key parts of the findings. It was concerned terrorists would use the details to develop a biological weapon.

It provoked outcry among some scientists who said their academic freedom was being restricted. Other scientists said the risk of the virus spreading was too great for such research to take place and described it as a folly.

The details were eventually published in the journals Nature and Science.

However, the academics involved agreed to a voluntary 60-day moratorium on research - which was later extended to more than a year.

It was to give governments time to review safety standards needed in laboratories to conduct research with enhanced viruses and whether they wanted to fund such research.
Back on

A letter signed by 40 virus researchers around the world, published in the journals Science and Nature, said the moratorium was being lifted.

It said appropriate conditions had been set in most of the world and their studies were "essential for pandemic preparedness".

One of the leading proponents of the research Prof Ron Fouchier, from the Erasmus Medical Centre, told the BBC it had been "frustrating" to shut down research for the year.

"This research is urgent, while we are having this pause bird flu virus continues to evolve in nature and we need to continue this research.

"We cannot wait for another year or two years."

He expects to restart his laboratory's work within the next couple of weeks.

However, it is a different case for many of the other research groups involved. The US has not decided on the conditions that it will allow the experiments to take place and the same applies to US-funded research taking place in other countries.

The decision has continued debate on whether the research should take place at all.

Prof Robert May, from the University of Oxford and a former president of The Royal Society, said: "These are not bad people, they are good people with good intentions, but they look through rose-coloured glasses at the security of the laboratories."

He said past history suggests "it will get out" as there had been more than a thousand cases of people being infected in labs with the highest standards and the 1977 outbreak of flu may have been connected to a Russian facility.

"That's why I feel the world is a safer place if we maintain this moratorium."

Kind regards Stephen

GOG! Yep that's me I did get a facebook account to see what Cascade Games Foundry were up to ....which turned out to be THE most inactive part of the awfulness that is "F******k" (come on keep up and get counting it's not a four letter word ) although using it usually draws a few?!

Trouble is us GOG's are a tads more robust than some of the "preciousness" out there nowadays AND we can judge a joke or sarcasm from a statement? So can a lot of younger folk but the great PC machine tries hard to make us all sound like bigots and even nastier things?

Good to see the "cast so far"? So many folk were so helpful with MEP that I sometimes wonder what goes on behind the scenes at UKTS because the stuff they post and impose bears no reality to the folk I've contacted?

I'm afraid I don't like the idea of STEAM so I'll lay those cards on the table right away. I know some love it (?) but it caused issues on my machine, which all went away once I'd uninstalled it. I'm afraid that whilst waiting for MSTS2 I wandered off to look at how autogen worked in FS. FS9 and FSX later and I'm afraid that's where my money went rather than anything RS (Trainsimulator 2013 is the latest I believe?) so I'm still 100% MSTS fan and any payware I buy goes on that.

Hope UKTS's "interest" in RW doesn't kill of the MSTS section but the nonsense on there at the moment is intolerable? I'll post more about that if appropriate but not sure I'm in the right thread for that?

Anyway thanks for the forum

Geoff Brown

Geoff

Personally speaking I would prefer that we don't talk about Steam or RW or TS2013, as they are perfectly capable of setting up their own forum(s) or using UKTS or Trainsim or . . . . .! It had a small bearing on my decision to come here.

Again speaking personally I would prefer that we limit our "train simming" comments and experiences to MSTS.

I am only too happy to be grumpy on most other subjects!

Alec

On the Facebook front; it can be a right royal waste of time for the most part; however I do find it useful for keeping in touch with those people that I might otherwise only send an "annual christmas card" to

How about making 2013, RW2-4 and Steam words that trigger moderation approval, or is that something that has been tried before?

Making Steam a trigger word would be an extremely bad idea I'd have thought - what about discussions about BR Steam????

Personally I have no issue with RW users popping over & posting their thoughts on RW etc.

This quite clearly suggests that any Train Simmers should be welcome - remember that some people use multiple sims day in day out.

Well it would appear that I have put my foot in it, which doesn't show me up in too good a light as a moderator.

If I have caused offence then I apologise, and obviously need to step back and be more neutral. Perhaps my first lesson as a moderator, although I would prefer that if the other" sims" are mentioned then it is in a positive mode.

Alec

My post was supposed to be ironic, hence the use of Smilies which it took me a good five minutes to work out how to apply for the very first time!!

All this 'social media' nonsense is just getting too much for an old 'B....r' like me. I did, for a while, join FarceBook so I could see what Cascade Foundry were doing, but after no movement for more than six months, and the growing amount of garbage that 'others' dropped on my Wall, it was the stream of 'lonely Russian ladies' wanting to be my friend that caused me to shutdown my account. I've not been tempted to use any similar media (FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and Fango) ever again.

Recently, during the Australian Open tennis, the main sponsors, Kia ran a competition to win three Kia cars - I thought, that's worth entering ........ Yeh, right .... To enter you have to have an iPhone or iPad or an Android device and log in via Fango (Nah, I don't have any of them) ..... Then on the competition page it says 'If you don't have an iWhatever or an Android, you can enter via Windows' .... Yippee .... so I click on that link ... and it says ... enter your Facebook log-in.

So, if you don't have a 'smart device' or use Farcebook, you can't enter to win - I reckon that's blatant discrimination ... that is !!!

I heard a rumor that U-Tube, Twitter and Facebook are merging ... the new name will be U-TwitFace

That's my take on 'social media'

Regards, Brian

U-TwitFace

I like it

I would rather have my finger nails extracted than join the likes of bookface etc.

OK Boys settle Down.

Whislt I do not whish to use my ban-hammer on this as it is a first instance of a squable, lets all just step back a second and take a breath.

Lateagain was merely stating that he has issues with the "other sim" (whatever it is called this week) and prefers to us MSTS as he has had very few major problems with it.

Now to prevent any futher squables I think that refering to Rail Simulator/Railworks and its other versions as "the Other Sim" is a polite way of making comparisons and prevents bickering about how many versions it has had.

Now the slogan line is actually my fault, I take the bullet for not saying in it that this site is MSTS specific, although I did mention this in my invites.
I was trying to be polite, politically correct and not offened people who happen to use both sims. I will fix the slogan shortly.

mendes, please do not disrespect UKTS. unfortunatly problem users on that site within the "other sims" section has caused UKTS to put in place the filters that it has. This is understandable as there are a large amount of users and only a few moderators on that site. This forum at the moment has a benifit of having a ratio of 11 users per 1 moderator and the site is capable of being watched 24/7. The other benifit is that all of us get along so well (usually) that the moderators are able to be more friendly and can interact easily with everyone.

Now on to my personal post:

Brian:

U-TwitFace

Me likes this one .

(rant)
The current way of society is boardering on idiotic in may ways.
As I am currently trying to find work I have tried the old 'go around to the shops and hand in resumes' trick.
Most places say "you need to go online to do that". Some places actually advertise their jobs on facebook!
When you are applying for jobs online they ask you for your website/facebook id/twitter id etc so that they can check up on you.
The best bit is you are told to seek help from the government, who want you to sell everything that you own to keep you off benifits.
(Them: "Do you own a computer?" Me: "Yes, it has an internet connection and I am using it to hunt for jobs." Them: "You need to sell your computer as it is an asset." Me: "So how do I look for any jobs online?" Them: "We have job search computers (which only link to their site which is 3 months out of date) or you can go to a local library and use their computers." Me: "Ok what if I get a job where I need my own computer?" Them:"Well you just have to save up for one. Do you own a car?" Me:"Yes. I have been using it to go out and try and get work where there is no public transport." Them:"You need to sell your car as you can get money for it." Me: "but what if I get a job where I need a car to get to it because there is no pulic transport in that area?" Them: "Well you'll just have to save up and by a car." Me: "Goodbye" under breath "idiots." )

My last job held a staff meeting and wanted us to hand over our social media ids and passwords to check to see if we were discussing the company online.
They got an answer the weren't especting from a friend of mine: "why would we talk about this place when we have set up these accounts to talk about ourseleves? Besides this company isn't worth talking about. And what you are asking is a breach of personal privacy laws."
The idea was dropped there and then.

Personally, being one of the younger generation, I don't run out and buy the latest and greatest every few days to keep up with technology.
My computer is now 5 years old (a custom ordered unit to handle the 3d modeling) and is still considered a 'top end' machine.
My phone is around 6 years old and is a Nokia and is second hand from my mothers boyfreind.
(hey, a 2 year old phone, still available in shops for AU$200 for free who'd argue).
My car is only 2.5 years old, but I got it for half it's original price because the dealer didn't really know what they were selling.
(I may play the devil latter on and brag about this machine in another section.)
My calculator which I do all my conversion maths on is the one I had in my first year in high school (1997) (16years old)
I still have cassets, records and cds. And I read books.
And I still have my first teddy bear from when I was born. (My mum was given it by her mother the christmas before I was born [December 1984 I was born Febuary 1985 so infact my teddy is older than me!!!]

As you can probably tell I am not a 'tech' kinda guy, if something keeps working why change it.
But that doesn't mean I use wood sticks to cook with. I like a balance of old and new tech because if either one fails you can use the other.

(/end rant)

Justin

Good morning everyone
With regard to Peter directing MSTS members to the friendly forum
I cannot help wonder if they want the bandwidth currently being occupied by the MSTS section?
Perhaps I'm thinking too much
Kind regards Stephen

stephenholmes wrote:Good morning everyone
With regard to Peter directing MSTS members to the friendly forum
I cannot help wonder if they want the bandwidth currently being occupied by the MSTS section?
Perhaps I'm thinking too much
Kind regards Stephen

I would imagine it more likely that he is happy to see the MSTS forum hive off as it's less grief for the few remaining mods and himself. In fact I think he is probably somewhat sympathetic given that the problems all arose from a spat on the RailFails forums.

I have gained the impression (and that's all it is) that he finds the forums a right pain in the proverbial!

Hi Stephen,

That thought has been floating around since that comment went up.

As I do not know exactly what is going on, I could only suggest the following.

I would like to show every one the following message from Peter after I let him know about the forum to ensure that there was no bad feelings between the two forums:

Hi Justin,

I will wish you the best of luck in your venture. May it go from strength to strength.
I did ask back in 2003 about our Forum being "Invitation only" and was told that it is "A private forum, with open membership to all involved in Train Simulation".
What you see today is the folly of that attitude.
In the early days there were many MSTS hotheads, but they were dealt with for the most part. Some have returned with RailWorks/TS2013 but not many.

Regards
Pete

The two things that strike me about this message is that Peter was wanting UKTS to be invite only, something that this forum is.
So Peter would possibly be happy with the fact that his original idea has finally been used. (I did not know of his ideas when I started this site.)

The other is "What you see today is the folly of that attitude." To me this suggest that he is not happy with the way UKTS has developed over the years,
and whishes that that UKTS forums colud get a start over. Again something that this forum enables.

Taking those two comments into consideration you then think about the business side of UKTS: the subscription service.
If they were to drop the MSTS side, consider the amount of people that would leave the site and the loss of revenue that would bring.
This would potentially drive up the costs for the remaning users, thus potentailly pushing them away, creating an unrecoverable cycle.

Then consider that Peter can not outright support the new forum without compromising his position as the head of UKTS.

So looking at it unbiasedly, the only way he can show his support for this site is the polite try here that he used.

And no, I am not saying these things to make myself look good.

I would like to say to everyone, please do not abandon the UKTS forums, as it is the public face that everyone is presented with.
New users of MSTS and old ones coming back still need our help on those forums.

So please, even if you choose to priamrily be on this forum, pop over to the UKTS forums to make sure people are getting the help that they need.

Justin

Hello Justin
Thank you for sharing Peters message to you
I think your assessment of the current situation is a fair one
I agree that this forum is not in competition with UKTS nor indeed a replacement
Kind regards Stephen

Like Stephen I find Peter's response positive, and hopefully we can now move forward.

At this moment in time newcomers seeking help for MSTS will almost certainly come across UKTS first when "googling" or similar. Hence Justin's reference to providing MSTS help on both site forums is also positive. We should also remember that we are still essentially dependent on UKTS for uploads/downloads. I certainly want DVD copies of Mid East Plus, DC6 and NWEv3 should they be released in that format through UKTS.

On the "GOG" side of this thread, one of my pet hates is the constant advertising of future TV programmes and by the BBC in particular.

Alec

Alec,

That's why I have stopped watching TV, all that is on is mostly fecal matter (if you don't know what that means guys look it up).
I have only two shows that I watch regularly, one I found out about whilst living with a friend, to which I got hooked on the show and brought the DVD's of it.
The other show I had seen ads for when my parents watched the news, but the ads always made the show look bad. I had brought the latest season of the first show and it came with a promo DVD which contained the first episode of the other series. I watched it because I was board but curious but now I'm hooked on it. (Most of you may groan but the shows are [for reference purposes only] The Big Bang Theory and 2 Broke Girls. [No questions or comments are to be made about these shows on this forum. I just listed them for those who were curious].)

As I cannot record from a TV in my house I have found a way to download and watch these shows at a later date.
I just transfer them to my tablet computer and I can watch them in bed whenever I want.

I do like Topgear though but it is shown sparodically here, and I usually just like the challenges that they do. So I just by the challenges DVDs.
It is just good, clean, stuffing around.
And to those who say Jeremey Clarkson is a bad infulence on people I will qoute what he has said on more than one occasion:
"Who really pays attention to what I say. Most people think I am a middle aged idiot and ignore me. Simple as that."

Justin

Good evening Gent's
I am at the moment trying to lose weight and I fine the constant food adverts on the tv most frustrating
Thats why I record the shows that I wan't to watch on sky as then I can fast forward them!!!

Now I'm going to stick my neek out by saying that I use both TS2013 and MSTS!!
And I have to admit that I like both of them, MSTS : becouse it's easy to edit eng/way & sms files to make them how you wan't.
And I like TS2013 for the rain on the windows!!!

Dave:)

Well, I'm in "Smug Mode"
After years of telling my Daughter (who's now 22) that posting your personal details on Facebook et al, even if only to (so-called) freinds is not only foolish, but also potentially dangerous, she came around this evening (in her standard 'bringing dirty washing and raiding fridge' mode) and actually said those four amazing words that rarely crop up during parenthood "Dad, you were right!"
I'm not totally sure what happened, but the gist was (I think ) there had been a girly fall out, and a couple of confidential personal snippets of information managed to get leaked.
I did resist from uttering those words "I told you so" , but it was hard work not to do so

Oh, whilst I'm having a rant, and whilst the subject has already been mentioned here, I was given a copy of TS2013 for Christmas. However, with all the horror stories I hear about Steam, (I've never been comfortable with the concept, and I've no qualms about being tagged a Luddite about this), and how that piece of simulation software appears to have divided the community into an almost tribal warfare status, it's remaining firmly in the box for the time being.

Gentlemen

I would be grateful if we could also leave reference to TS2013, etc. in a box. Whilst it may seem pedantic to refer to it as "the other sim", we are trying to avoid any unnecessary acrimony.

As I have often said in UKTS threads what one does in the privacy of one's computer is between you and your mouse!

Alec

PLEASE READ: Matters regarding the other sim.

Ok folks, it seems I have to step in again.
As Alec has politely pointed out 3 times, the other sim needs to be referenced as such.
I do not know how many of you who are posting in ths particular thread have read the House Rules section, or if you have are you aware that they have been updated?

I would like to refer for to this rule in particular:

9) Rail Simulator/Railworks/Railworks 2/Railworks 2012/Train Simulator 2013 and any other names that they can come up with should always be referred to simply as “the other sim.” This is to prevent users who are at odds with this sim from being offended. Anyone deliberatly refering to these sims by name in order to provoke an argument will be removed from this forum.

Now Terry, I understand that you were simply stating you are cautious about the other sim, and this is understandable. You have cause no offence with this remark, just the reference to its actual name has caused issues.
I hope that you can understand this and I mean you no disrespect by pointing this out. It was a simple mistake.

Please let us all try to keep things peacefull, we all seem to get along except over this one issue.
Whilst I do not want to ban any mentioning of the above sims I would appreciate if everyone could please work with me on this one.

Justin

End Moderation

Do you know what I'm fed up with all this bickering between the MSTS and "The Other Sim " and their for have decided to tend my resignation from this foram!
At the end of the day they are only games ! So what if you enjoy MSTS and "The Other Sim "

I'm sorry Dave:(

Hi

It looks like the old saying you can please some people some of the time,most people most of the time,but not all people all of the time
Seems again the old problem has arisen so soon here between Railworks\TS 2013 and MSTS,which has caused some body to resign already.
Maybe with hindsight we should keep this site just for MSTS matters

Mike

Good morning Mike
This forum and website is exclusively for those who enjoy MSTS
The other sim has caused more than enough upset in one way or another
That is why Train Sim Safe House exists and why we wish to avoid any arguments
All members here can continue to enjoy and share their experience of MSTS
Kind regards Stephen

Hi Stephen,
I have no intention of leaving this site like Dave has decided to do,over the Railworks TS2013vs MSTS,it seems such a shame the 2 sims can't live side by side,with out causing squabbles.
I have tried Railworks, but as I have a simple computer Railworks will not work on it where as MSTS and OR do,also I like the simplisity of MSTS.
The other thing is MSTS I can affored, I can get a new route and activities+stock for under £5.00,being disabled after a stroke that is within my budget +. I can get loco's and stock free from the liberary,if I need to down load a lot of items then I buy for 3.00 a months membership.
Unfortunatly Railworks\TS 2013 is out side the amount I can afford as so much is dependant on some thing else,usualy a commercial product.
Mike

Hello again Mike
I'm glad that you don't intend resigning over what really is a silly issue
I cannot understand the animosity that has arisen from our hobby
Here on the friendly forum it is best that we stick with all matters MSTS
Kind regards Stephen

mendes wrote:My post was supposed to be ironic

And, PLEASE let us keep it that way.

David

Ok bringing this back to the topic,

I thought I'd have a YBG (Young Bloke Grumble).

As you guys may or may not know today the 26 of January is Australia Day, celebrating the landing of the first fleet in Sydeny Harbour back in 1788.

Today my mother and I had to do grocery shopping and due to events at the bgining of this month, my car needed to be taken for a long run to charge its battery as it really hasn't been driven since thw 30th of December, so we headed out to a long local road without major traffic to get the car to streatch out, keeping it under the speed limits, before doing the shopping.

Now as its Australia day and a lot of young Aussies tend to get plastered (drunk) and cause strife, the police have been out in force keeping an eye on things.

Whilst driving down to the raod that leads out to the 80kph "sprint" section, I was 4 cars behind a police car.
This did not worry me as I do not drink and as there was a fair bit of traffic, I was well under the speed limit.
The police car pulled into a driveway, I thought no big deal. As traffic shuffeled forward the police car was waiting to back out, and they almost reversed into my car whilst I was stopped behind them due to traffic. (see photo at bottom for why I find this whole thing annoying.)

Now once I was passed, I kept going keeping the car under the limit and the police car was 3 cars back.
The other 3 cars turned off, and low and behold the police car starts following me.
I kept an eye on it in my mirrors, and when I got to the lefthand turnoff for the "sprint" section, the police car made to go right, then put the indicator on and got in behind me. My mother said to me, "you know they are following you to see if you push it out here don't you." "Yep".

Anyway we got going and I stayed 4k's below the limit (I have a well tuned digital speedo in my car so I know to the 'k' how fast I am going) and the police car just sits on my tail, the whole way through to the 60'k' section where they "decided" to turn around.

Now I will admit that my car is what is known as "a performance vehical", and the factory certainly designed it to look like a street legal race car, but te really annoying thing was that there were cars speeding past me in the other direction, but the police decided to follow my car, which was doing the right thing.

Not that I didn't enjoy the drive, every time I take it out I love it, but the fact that the police ignored speeding cars an drunken idiots behaving badly to follow me around, it's just frustating.

Fortunatly the police car wasn't there when we came back, that's there other fun trick that they do.
They follow you out, turn off and go hide, the when they see you coming back, they get in behind you and follow you back.

Here's my "Pride and Joy":



Justin
(I was going to bable on a bit about the car and my reasons for owning it but I'll save that for another time.)

Hi Justin,
That's nothing unusual they do the same over here as well it's easier to nick motorists than it is to catch criminals.

Well !!! - this morning I decided that I'd have a bit of a break from MSTS and have a run on Railworks, seeing that I hadn't done that for about nine months or so.

To cut a long story short, after nearly an hour I still didn't have RW up and running - the upgrades ran first then Steam started playing up saying it couldn't find RW - anyway after checking everything, over and over again, running the 'repair software' commands, and jumping through all the hoops, no matter what I did just couldn't get it running. Now, I'm not a dummy with PC's, I worked professionally as a Windows PC consultant for 16 years - but this stupid program totally defeated me and my very extensive trouble-shooting logic. As Jeremy Clarkson would say "How hard can it be!!!"

And, Yes !! Now I'm a VERY GRUMPY OLD MAN !!!

Answer - enough is enough - I had GREAT pleasure in eradicating every vestige of RW and Steam off my system. Never again will I waste hard-earned money on any software from Steam or its partners. Goodbye Steam and Railworks forever !

After all this, I was up and running on my favourite MSTS route in less than 1 minute ! LONG LIVE MSTS and it's successors (OR).

Regards, Brian

Justin,

It's obvious why they tailed you - you've got a spoiler on the bootlid and foglights - that immediately brands you as a 'hoon' - notwithstanding that a great proportion of cars being sold have spoilers and foglights as standard equipment !

Brian

Hi Justin,

............and I had got you down for driving a Holden as well.

................cough cough splutter splutter.

I believe this in Australia is the equivelant of poking a pig with a sharp stick.

nice set of wheels you have there.

Mick

Hi Guys,

Brian, don't blame me for its accessories . That’s how the factory built 'em. Did I mention that it has leather seats with cloth middles? (Leather where you need it, cloth where you don't). Besides I am not a hoon or boy racer, I am a car enthusiast.

Mick, you can poke and prod me but I won’t bite; unlike most Aussie men my age who are highly evolved, mature and intelligent (read moronic Neanderthals), I don't begrudge anyone’s choice.

The fact that someone may like the latest Holden Commoder even though cost AU$1 billion to design and develop back in 2007, (and for that money they only produced the basic sedans not the high performance models, the ute or station wagon [which they now call the sports wagon]) has been privately tested and found to be aerodynamically crippled due to its bulky design and oversized wheel flares (they put those on because the wheel track was too wide for the body, great work there design team) and so has had millions spent on engine redesigns that have failed to produce any major improvements, has suffered many design problems resulting mostly form its cheap plastic interior and severely inefficient small V6's and large capacity V8 engines (lifted from Chevy Corvettes and bolted in without much work being done [the current 6L Chevy V8 under the bonnet produces less power than the basic 5L Coyote engine that Ford developed in the US for the Mustang and the Chevy motor is considerably more thirsty), and Holden cannot afford to replace the model with a new one, doesn't bother me one little bit.

All I do is look at theirs, look at mine and smile.

Speaking of wheels, most people who change theirs go up in size (17” to 18”) but I went the other way, when I went to buy it it had on ugly 18” “special edition” rims. As I was trading in my old car which had 4 new wheels on I decided to go with them, they are 16” rims. Surprisingly the car actually handles better with the new wheel combos than the factory set. I suspect that the main difference comes from switching from Dunlop tyres (known for their lack of grip under Falcons) to set of Pirelli’s, now she goes like it is on rails. Even the Ford dealer couldn’t believe the change in the cars behaviour with just a wheel swap. (I got the dealer to switch the wheels for me before I brought it.)

For those of you who may be interested it full model designation is a 2010 Ford FG Falcon Mk1 upgrade 50th anniversary XR6 with a 6 speed sequential automatic gearbox with a 4L naturally aspirated inline 6 cylinder engine in Nitro blue. Or as all the labels on the car identify it as = XR50.

She seats 5, cruises at 100kph revving at just on 1000rpm in 6th gear, with a red line at 5500rpm.
The best way to describe driving it, besides heaven? Effortless, the car actually works with you, helping you along.

Stuck in heavy traffic at traffic lights, getting bored, have just got a clear run ahead of you?
Gently give the car a light push on the accelerator (not even half an inch), the exhaust opens up and it growls away, below the speed limit without wheel spin.
Driving through the middle of a quiet country town?
No problems, we’ll just quietly roll along without making a sound.
The best way to refer to my car is watch the Topgear review of the 2005 Ford GT supercar below.
Everything that Clarkson says about it (except for fuel economy, mine runs better than a Toyota Corolla and price) is basically what I would say about mine.




Justin

Here is my grump.........

As some of you may know, I suffer from a particularly nasty form of rheumatoid arthritis which has severely affected my mobility, despite this the DWP has declared me fit for work and I attend a work programme run by a private company called A4E, I had an appointment with them today

I went towards the front door to go to A4E, the arthritis caused my foot to give way under me (that is a common occurrence) and I fell forward and hit my head on the (sharp) security chain thingy on the door and cut a nasty gash in my head, it bled profusely for a few minutes, I bathed it in cold water till it stopped bleeding, then I went down to A4E for the appointment on the bus, they were worried about me at A4E and sent for an ambulance, I have had the gash glued together again with some sort of medical superglue in A&E, (it's better than having stitches) just got back home again with a splitting headache

The last time I had an accident and was in no fit state to go out job searching, (ended up incapacitated in hospital with an ankle injury) A4E informed the DWP (as they are required to do) and the DWP cut me down to £40pw, this time they will stop the money all-together as it is the second time this has happened, (second offence as the DWP describe it) I have worked hard and contributed all my life until the arthritis got too bad, (I used to come home from work in tears with pain, so giving up work was a last resort and only then because I was made redundant and no other employer would employ me in my state of health) but now me (and many others in the same predicament) are branded as scroungers by the likes of Cameron, whilst drug addicts and alcoholics continue to be mollycoddled by the state despite their problems being self inflicted.

Grump over

Markh5682 wrote:Here is my grump.........

As some of you may know, I suffer from a particularly nasty form of rheumatoid arthritis which has severely affected my mobility, despite this the DWP has declared me fit for work and I attend a work programme run by a private company called A4E, I had an appointment with them today

I went towards the front door to go to A4E, the arthritis caused my foot to give way under me (that is a common occurrence) and I fell forward and hit my head on the (sharp) security chain thingy on the door and cut a nasty gash in my head, it bled profusely for a few minutes, I bathed it in cold water till it stopped bleeding, then I went down to A4E for the appointment on the bus, they were worried about me at A4E and sent for an ambulance, I have had the gash glued together again with some sort of medical superglue in A&E, (it's better than having stitches) just got back home again with a splitting headache

The last time I had an accident and was in no fit state to go out job searching, (ended up incapacitated in hospital with an ankle injury) A4E informed the DWP (as they are required to do) and the DWP cut me down to £40pw, this time they will stop the money all-together as it is the second time this has happened, (second offence as the DWP describe it) I have worked hard and contributed all my life until the arthritis got too bad, (I used to come home from work in tears with pain, so giving up work was a last resort and only then because I was made redundant and no other employer would employ me in my state of health) but now me (and many others in the same predicament) are branded as scroungers by the likes of Cameron, whilst drug addicts and alcoholics continue to be mollycoddled by the state despite their problems being self inflicted.

Grump over

Mark,

This subject makes my blood boil, I'm Disabled aswell but I'm not even going to get started with the DWP or a certian Prime minister , but I justify your grump.

I feel your pain,
I for one am only 34 and have always been in work (Up till 3 years ago) I was made redundant and have been finding hard to find work ever since. I had an interview last Monday and was told I would have a reply by the end of last week. It was as an IT Hardware Field Engineer working on Printers, Laptops etc for BT Engage (Yes, BT have branched off)
Anyway I was told that they were only Interviewing from the agency on the Monday and Tuesday and that they would make a decision by the end of the week. However I chased on Friday and the agency told me they were Interviewing again on Monday so to get a good benchmark of candidates. I was told they had told people they Interviewed that they weren't successful. (I'm not one of them currently)
I chased on Monday and guess what they are Interviewing the rest of the week and I am still in the running. I just feel they are going to forget me by the time/if/when they do make their decision/s.
Very Frustrating!!!
All the best
Andy

Don't give up Andy, the fact that you are still in the running after so many interviews is a good sign

Good luck with the job.

To tell you the truth I lothe this Government,I'm at the stage of giving up it's alright for Ducan Smith, Gorge Osborne they should try living on what we get on disability benefits, they have now juggled the amount I get which means my pension credit is going down.
The annoying thing for me and a lot of others around my age is we have got over 30 years of paying into the system,and now when we need help they are denying us getting it.
I never thought I would say this but am I glad I'm going to be 65 in July,Mark and Andy I wish you all the best for the future

mikehendle wrote:To tell you the truth I lothe this Government,I'm at the stage of giving up it's alright for Ducan Smith, Gorge Osborne they should try living on what we get on disability benefits, they have now juggled the amount I get which means my pension credit is going down.
The annoying thing for me and a lot of others around my age is we have got over 30 years of paying into the system,and now when we need help they are denying us getting it.
I never thought I would say this but am I glad I'm going to be 65 in July,Mark and Andy I wish you all the best for the future

Thanks mate and thanks both for the best wishes.... I hope I get this job. I have a child and Wife to support.
I have loathed this Government for a long time now... It doesn't matter whom is in power, they all somehow manage to make us suffer! I'm fed up with it/them.
As for your pension. I so feel for you after all the hard work you have put in... A Pension means retirement and time to relax after your hard work! Things need to change before everybody in this god forsaken country suffers! Forget the rest of the world and concentrate on your fellow countrymen! I could go on!! Am I sounding like an old man yet!!
All the best to you all your families all!!
Best Wishes
Andy

Hi Andy
You are not getting to be a Old Man your Just telling the B----Y truth,instead of spending money on a War in Afgahn which we won't win,if the Russians couldn't do it how the hell are we,building 2 Aircraft Carriers one of which will probably mothballed and the other 1 has no aircraft yet
Still giving Aid to India and China and Russia non of these countries need aid,I could go on more but I will then have another stroke,the last one the doctor said it was caused by stress.
Mike

Mmm . . . like many others I will have to make significant adjustments at the end of this year. I will retire early November and will have to provide for my wife and I on the pension - both state and private - that is available at the time.
However this a difficult subject because of course it is very emotive and for which there is no easy answer.
I would therefore ask that we avoid getting too "grumpy" on this particular topic, and take advantage of a gentle drive in MSTS to alleviate some of the stress.
Alec

Hi Guys,

I have been reading these posts in regards to retirement and payouts from the government.
Whilst I sympathise with everyone’s predicaments and I mean no disrespect to anyone when I say this, but things aren't as bleak for you all as they could be.

It was revealed back in 2001 (I think), that my generation in Australia would never be able to retire.
According to "forecasts and investigations", anyone who is currently (2013) under the age of 35 will never be able to get government funded retirement payouts due to a "lack" of income for the government.

So basically when I get to "retirement age" (which the Australian government is beginning to increase) there will be no government payouts, we will all have to rely on our superannuation funds, which isn't that large.
Combine that with the ever increasing costs of living, retirement or stopping paid work is not an option for thousands of people in Australia.

Justin