Fishd

I've used Keepvid successfully in the past. There is also this site but I've not tried it yet. Basically, browse to the video you want, copy the URL and paste it into the space on the webpage, it'll give you a download link.

IIRC, MPS4x4 had the Engel MT35 for 350 squid at the LRO show... I camped next to a guy who had the 40 litre version, it was freezing the (vast quantity of) beer all night... he was running it off the standard battery in his 90 as well.

I use a Treo 650 running Tomtom Navigator along with a bluetooth GPS unit. Works really well. I've not tried any OS mapping software yet... Memory-map continue to fail on their promise of bringing their software to PalmOS and I've not managed to get my hands on any other software.

I've just bought a Garmin Nuvi for the missus... not sure it can run other software, I know you can load pictures, mp3s and audiobooks but I've not seen anyway of installing software. I'll take a better look when she gets back off her trip. But, it's another vote for the PDA & Tomtom/Memory-map combo. I'd probably get something like a windows mobile PDA with built in GPS (there's one for less than 200 squid at Expansys.com for example) and then see if I could ... get hold of the software. Upsides are: It actually does mapping for on and off-road It's fairly small compared to a full on Tomtom (510 etc) You can play games on it while waiting to be recovered Downsides: Not as straightforward to use as a dedicated unit, underlying OS issues. Screens usually are'nt as readable in direct sunlight, depends on the unit. Expense if you decide to buy the software.

Actually, you can do something even better with Thunderbird... if you have a USB memory stick you can use a modified version called PortableThunderbird to take your whole program, settings, accounts and mail with you wherever you go! Simply plug in the USB stick and run the app. Check www.portableapps.com for more info. Another way is to make Thunderbird look in a specific location for it's profile. We can then copy that profile from one machine to another. First install Thunderbird on your home PC. Setup your accounts and download any mail. Then click 'Start', 'Run' and type '%appdata%' (without the quotes), this should open an explorer window to a directory in your Windows profile. Open the 'Mozilla Thunderbird' directory (working from memory here, might be slightly different) and look for a directory that ends with '.default'. Copy the contents of this to a new directory, something like 'c:\mail' and to the same location on any pc you want to use Thunderbird on. Install Thunderbird on the other PC's you want to use but don't run it yet. Then, the easiest thing to do is alter the shortcut that starts thunderbird and add the following to the end of the command line: ' -profile c:\mail" so it should read something like 'c:\program files\mozilla thunderbird\thunderbird.exe -profile C:\mail'. All you need to do then is keep the directory up to date like I assume you do now. This was rushed slightly, I'd recommend using the PortableThunderbird version if you can but if you'd like any more help with the modified profile directory trick then drop me a PM... if not, I'll just stop rambling

As someone has already pointed out, this isn't ideal and, like most things environmental, scientific data isn't clear on either side but I believe it's better than nothing. I've gone with a company called 'Carbon Neutral'* (www.carbonneutral.com) to "offset" the carbon emissions produced by my *cough*Jeep*cough*. This company have planted trees in small forest on the isle of sky on my behalf. You get a little certificate, a window sticker proclaiming your driving as Carbon-Neutral... and a feeling that at least you're trying Besides this, I'm stuck with the rest of the gods-own-fuel people waiting for 100% bio-diesel! *Usual disclaimer: I've no association with this company other than I've given them some cash and they've promised to do something on my behalf. I'll readily admit I could be being taken for a ride but I'd be in good company, seemingly this site is also supported by KT Tunstall, Iron Maiden, Foo Fighters etc... I'm sure also that other organisations are available.

I know these types of suggestions are rarely seen as helpful but... I'd ditch Outlook Express and run Thunderbird. Outlook Express is bug-ridden and a security risk. By contrast Thunderbird is fast, feature filled, expandable and cross-platform to boot!

Just like to re-iterate this... although I've never actually been a customer! I was having cooling problems with the V8 series one... so I rang them asking for a quote for an ally rad. I believe I spoke with Andy (it was a few years ago) and he asked what vehicle it was to go in, I described it and he told me that a good properly reconditioned standard radiator should be more than sufficient for my cooling needs and one of his ally rads would be overkill! Inspires a hell of a lot of trust when a company tell you to keep your money and you don't need their product.

Completely agree... I live in a fairly rural area and would now never return to a large town/city environment. If anything, I intend to go much further north later in life... as it seems the further from "the city" (like it's the only one!!) you go, the nicer I find our country is! Let the lying-scumbag*ahem* right-honourable politicians keep London and its various foibles to themselves; they're frankly quite welcome to it.

Not abandoned... I had heard from a friend if you buy certain brands of German cars then you get a nice little certificate telling you that you can just ignore all those silly rules. Strange, you get something expensive like that... but indicators are optional extras.

Joining this one a bit late, but I've now equipped my daily driver with a fire extinguisher. Back in November I drove round a corner to see a pair of cars at strange angles in the middle of the road, one a new Mini (I'd sold mine two months earlier), the other a Pug 206, both with mangled front ends. The few of us that actually stopped to help (several cars left the scene, one even beeped to get us to move out of its way!) quickly assessed the situation, got the engines switched off and began to check the vehicle occupants. I was helping the woman in the Mini, the car was totalled, the front was gone and the dashboard was pushed into the passenger space badly, the steering wheel was crammed between her legs and the drivers door was bent with the window blown out. We were trying to work out how badly injured she was when she suddenly went hysterical. She could see a small fire had started under the bonnet. After only a few seconds it had grown substantially as we were trying to extract the woman from the car. Luckily she was only small so she slipped out fairly easily and we were able to carry her away to safety. Within two or three minutes the whole car was a fireball. All I could find out about the woman was she was taken to hospital with back injuries but released a few days later, I hate to think we might have caused her any more pain or damage by dragging her from the car but we obviously had little choice... while the fire crew were tackling the fire (took over 20 mins to put out) those that had helped talked about what happened... out of 11 people who stopped... no one carried a fire extinguisher. It seems we, and the woman, were lucky this time... but we could have lessened the risk if one of us had been able to stop the fire before it took hold. Obviously I wouldn't tackle a blazing car with 1litre of foam... but it could stop small fires from becoming larger ones. Also makes me think about attending some formal fire training... I did a little as a Race Track Marshall several years ago, but a refresher wouldn't hurt. So, now I carry a 1litre extinguisher, some welding gloves, rope and a warm blanket... I'd encourage everyone else to do the same.

I can understand... get onto the motorway and no matter what speed you set your CC to, there will always be someone travelling slightly slower than you... meaning you have to override it all the time to slow down or speed up to overtake. Or, you'll pull in behind someone who obviously doesn't have speed control and find their speed fluctuates by 5mph+/- ... meaning you're either catching them, or not travelling quite fast enough to overtake. And if you boot it to pass them, when you settle at your speed again they will overtake you.. and then back to 5mph+/-

IIRC, the Delicia is Shogun mechanicals/chassis... with an MPV body. There's one near Northwich on the A49... looks funny. Still, takes all sorts... I was in a filling station yesterday and two pumps down was a Toyota Hi-Lux Surf that you needed step ladders to get into...

Hmm, you can try mucking about with the BIOS settings. This is not possible with a USB hard drive cage, but if you have an adapter to attach the hard drive to the internal IDE cable of a desktop it should work. With the hard drive in the original laptop, open the BIOS and check the hard drive settings. It should tell you how many heads/sectors/etc it is using. Make a note of these. Powerdown the laptop and pop the drive into the powered off desktop. Fire up the desktop and go into the BIOS. In the hard drive section choose the "Manual" setting rather than "Auto" and enter the settings you copied down from the laptop. You should then be able to partition and format the drive and still have the laptop recognise it. This is all because IDE harddrive controllers actually ignore the actual number of heads/sectors/etc of the drive and make something up. As long as both machines are looking at the same set of made-up numbers everything should be ok. If you need a suitable 2.5inch -> 3.5inch IDE adapter then Maplin is your friend. Oh, and a FAT32 partition should be able to go to a reasonable size... FAT16 is limited to 2Gb but even that should fit a Win9x setup disc set on it without trouble.

Stuck in a tenner.... hope it helps. Should the thieves be found they should string the miserable scrotes up and flay them!

Try finding links on the Dell website for the "Dell Outlet" ... they flog off lightly used / ex-demo laptops cheaply, I'm getting pestered to death at the moment as they're offering free delivery on systems bought from the outlet. I bought one from there and it was great, still working now around three years later. Had to have the motherboard replaced under warranty once though. All-in-all, big thumbs up for Dell. Watch out for Acer, I recently bought a top-of-the-line Acer Travelmate 8204... 2ghz Core-Duo, 2Gb RAM, 120Gb HDD... the dogs danglies... until it died 5 hours after delivery... it then spent 5 days away under warranty repair... came back and bluetooth doesn't work... Acer UK support tried to tell me that this model doesn't come with bluetooth (despite the Acer website spec saying it does) and then they tried to tell me they "forgot" to re-install the bluetooth module and could I send it back to them for another 5 days! After paying £1,700 for this laptop I expected support better than this! I'm now using a Toshiba... anyone wanna buy a top-of-the-line Acer ??

Well, first I'll add a disclaimer as I own a 2004 Jeep Cherokee. I've had it six months and apart from my clumsy driving (not used to a large car anymore, I keep reversing into posts ) it's been fine. But, the Tiscali page shows a picture of a Jeep KJ (Cherokee/Liberty depending on market) yet the details below the picture, list model year 93 - 01.. which was the XJ (Cherokee). A bit like me showing a picture of a 2005 defender and claiming the 2.25 litre diesel is underpowered. Anyhoo... perhaps in the current climate of hostility to any vehicle bigger than a fiesta and capable of functioning on something other than tarmac we should be looking at burying badge-snobbery?

You might find they get cheaper once these hit the shops... http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/01/tomtom-...screen-display/ EDIT: Sorry, didn't realise it was the 700 unit you got... that's 200 quid off retail. Nice price.

All I've ever found for a laptop is a product called Infomap Navigator. Must stress, never used it or seen it in action but the price is very reasonable.

Nothing "wrong" with it per-se... but when the new European legislation comes out the current Defender will not meet the passenger/pedestrian safety requirements. Ergo, the model becomes unsellable in Europe just as it is currently unsellable in the USA.

Not sure if it helps but I found this software quite useful for managing my eTrex. Failing that, here is a good source of information/reviews on GPS units.

Me too, though an 04 2.5CRD Ltd here. Both excellent to hear, I need something reliable as no-car = no-work = no=pay I've got the heated leather seats also and they're quite comfy I find, although that could be the extra "padding" I'm carrying these days. Overall, it's a nice place to be... interior looks ok in black (the plastics are horribly cheap and look their worst in that minging beige that the 4x4 manufacturers seem to think that people like), build quality seems ok (no rattles or squeeks, unlike my mates 55 Freelander Sport which, at three months old, was driving him crazy - dealer, as usual, was uninterested and offered to "take it off your hands" for 5 grand less than he'd paid for it! ) and the ride is comfy enough. My 2.5 manual seems to be returning about 28mpg at the mo on the work run which is half stop'n'go, half expressway... although for the extra lazy-factor I'm wishing I'd gone for an auto

There is an option 1b... you say you're not keen on making the chassis yourself, you could buy one. A good many companies have set up to support the LoCost 7 car and their makers. http://www.mkengineering.co.uk and http://www.stuart-taylor.co.uk are a couple of links I remember looking at when I was thinking of getting a 7. EDIT: Another link I've dug up from days of old: http://locostbuilders.co.uk/

Jez, do you have a site detailing the build of that yellow beastie? I'm not sure why... but I'm mesmerized! This is meant as a compliment, it's one of the most beautiful ugly things I've ever seen!

On a serious note (sorry... SORRY!) ... has anyone tried http://www.bio-power.co.uk/ ? Claims on the website that if you order 1,000 litres that it's £650 ... with duty fully paid to the revenue, m'lud.