Date : Sun, 21 Nov 2010 06:01:28 +0100
From : rick@... (Rick Murray)
Subject: [OT] Who'da thought...
On 21/11/2010 03:23, J.G.Harston wrote:
> You can belong to a place without being a citizen.
You might feel a part of the society around, but do you feel a part of
the *country*?
> Of course not, I follow an adapted Roman Empire ethos - if you make this
> your home, I don't care where you were born, you *are* an X-ian.
Its a shame some people aren't able to see it like this.
> and I say: "have you *seen* how many subIndian doctors, accountants,
> dentists, architects... etc. etc. there are?"
Was this before or after the entry qualification requirements?
> Why do you think I learned Japanese at university? ;)
The chicks are cuter? <smile>
>> You *do* know how to do lights'n'levels don't you?
> errr....
Oh my.
Right. You really ought to get a Haynes guide (if your car doesn't have
a handbook) so you can check:
Oil level
Coolant level
Brake fluid
Fanbelt
Tyre pressure
Lights
Tracking
Briefly:
Oil level - MUST BE DONE WITH THE ENGINE COLD
It's a little rod stuck into the engine, often with a red handle. Look
around the actual engine for something that looks pullable.
Once it is out, wipe it clean with a bit of bog roll, shove it back in,
then pull it out. There are usually two notches, or some sort of
marking, to give a "high" and "low" level. Too much oil and you'll be
smoking, too little. Let's say that is Very Bad.
Gearbox oil level
Often damn fiddly. Leave this to the mechanic.
Coolant level - WITH A COLD ENGINE
Dumpy little tank often mounted on the side of the car. Looks like a
plastic thermos with heavy-duty rubber pipes and a big solid chunky lid.
Don't be alarmed if it is half empty. Once your engine is up to
temperature, it'll be mostly full as the water expands. Slimy water,
it's full of antifreeze. Again, there should be markings on the tub to
say what is high and low, but if the car is "old", you might need a
bright torch to see through the gunky staining.
Brake fluid level
Usually mounted fairly high up (so look around the ledge by the top of
the engine under the windscreen). It is a squarish plastic tank with
metal pipes going into it. Brake fluid is pressurised. Again, it'll have
high/low marks.
Fanbelt
If your car is a front wheel drive, the engine will be mounted
"sideways", so your fan will be electric. As you're a bit of a nerd, the
simplest way to find the fanbelt is to look for the alternator. Big (and
I mean family-size ravioli can) thing that might have shiny copper coils
visible. Failing that, look for big-ass red'n'black wires that are NOT
connected to the battery.
Right. The fanbelt drives the alternator off of the engine. It also
drives the water pump. It should feel "springy", not too tight, not too
loose.
The most common cause of fwee-fwee-fwee-fwee sounds from an engine is a
slipping fanbelt.
Tyre pressure
Get a mechanic to set your tyres to the correct pressure, then take
photos of the tyres. Often, correctly inflated tyres look half flat. It
is not always wise to use service station pumps to check as the pump may
be leaky, inaccurate, and the pressure changes depending on tyre
temperature.
Look, also, at the tyre tread. The depth of the grooves. Most modern
tyres have little dimples in the groove. This marks the limit of legal
tread, when the dimple can contact the ground, it is time to change the
tyres. Tyres should always be changed in pairs, and it seems that it is
common to rotate so NEW tyres are put on the back. Dunno why, as I'd
have thought the front tyres would get the most abuse on a front wheel
drive car...
Lights
Sidelights, headlights, main beams, indicators... just switch 'em on and
walk around the car looking. A helpful hint for testing the brake lights
is to use a brick. Also, test the indicators and hazards separately. It
might seem pointless (it's the same yellow lights), but it allows you to
check the contacts.
You should do these checks WEEKLY. But if your car is good and you have
confidence in it, you can probably check the levels once a month and the
lights WEEKLY.
Remember all those annoying cars with one tail light, or a single
headlight? They obviously don't check their lights...
There's one more:
Cambelt
This is probably impossible to see, but is very important. Either a
chain of some sort, or a toothed belt, it is what drives the camshaft
from the crankshaft. In English, the pistons go up and down and turn the
crankshaft which tranmits power to the wheels by way of the clutch and
the gears. There is, however, another rotating rod. The crankshaft. This
is up top and it pushes on little "valves" to let in the petrol mixture
and let out the exhaust gasses. As you can imagine, if the belt breaks
it will be EPIC (as in the engine immediately stops, which if the
stresses didn't wreck the engine, your transmission freezing as you
cruise down the ring road would be extremely unenjoyable).
It is a good idea to get the cambelt checked by a mechanic when you take
ownership of a car, and then at LEAST every 25,000 miles (many will do
twice that easily, but some cheaper-made cars are best changed).
> Have you ever read Starship Troopers?
Saw the film.
> Citizenship is earned by service to the state.
I'll remember that if we're attacked by giant bugs.
> If you want power over the state and have the state to do something
> for you, you have to do something for the state.
Not so different from the infamous "It's not what your country can do
for you... it's what you can do for your country".
I assume, therefore, if the state declines people the right to
citizenship, they will be granted immunity in jury duty and if military
conscription should it ever occur, plus would not have to pay any
non-VAT taxation beyond local taxes for the upkeep of the place they live?
Just because a lot of people are selfish and don't do anything without
thinking of themselves first does not mean the state has no power over them.
> Another of Heinlein's lines was along the line of: never trust a
> government when the only qualification to vote is being able to breath.
My thinking along those matters is to take the first four words and
discard the rest...
> "Something like solving a simple quadratic equation, a high school level test."
I call unfair on that. [dyscalculia]
> Not sure how many UK equivalents of "high schoolers" would pass such a test :)
I would fail if the test was "add up your shopping in under a minute".
The best tests are logic and intelligence puzzles. The WORST tests are
numeric and language questions. This is why I view myself as being
pretty smart, but have never tried an IQ test. I'm a whizz with that
"which of these flat patterns matches the 3D square", but I completely
fail with "what's the number in the sequence?" type questions, except
for obvious ones learned by rote: primes, base2, Fibonacci sequence...
Then again:
Gillian McKeith has performed how many bushtuckers?
Name Cheryl Cole's husband?
Lady Gaga is male or female?
Will there be a Queen Cammie?
Well... it's about as useful to know as how many constituencies there
are in the UK. :-)
Disclaimer: Questions culled from articles on Yahoo! entertainment
news, I neither know nor care about any of that crap....
> Why should a change in the Chief Executive mean a backbencher gets
> chucked out of his seat?
Why should the face of politics change and everything carry on like
nothing happened? This isn't Roseanne...
> Oh good god, no! Do you know how *exhausting* annual elections are?
> 3rd May, the count's finished, everybody knows who's been elected.
> Right, get out there and start campaigning for next year's election.
Might be good, stop people "assuming" their seats are safe. [yo,
Portillo, you hear me? ;-)]
> "I have abdicated my right to think for myself...."
> Surely the best reason to deny them the vote?
Yes.
> locals say "I don't like the guvviment party, so I'm going to keep
> voting against them at every possible opportunity as hard as I can!!!!"
True.
As you said, the people get the government they deserve.
Best wishes,
Rick.
--
Rick Murray, eeePC901 & ADSL WiFI'd into it, all ETLAs!
BBC B: DNFS, 2 x 5.25" floppies, EPROM prog, Acorn TTX
E01S FileStore, A3000/A5000/RiscPC/various PCs/blahblah...