Interesting discovery yesterday when updating Mantic in VM. Refused to update because of a time mismatch caused by my not closing it down but just, "Saving the machine state." Had to update time in the vm before I could get the updates.

Based on last years usage, that will rise to about £80 in Dec/January. Unless there is a dramatic fall in prices, the new solar will have paid for itself in under 7 years.

Just note that the cap was lowered on 1st July & will be lowered again on 1st October.
Switching the cap from bi-annually to quarterly caught me on the hop.
I used to top up meter to maximum (£250)which gave me 6 months worth approx, the immediately topped up key with the same amount.
So got stung slightly in April.
Thankfully, I did not top up key & when about to do so, found that the next cap announcement was late August where it was lowered for 1st Oct.
The April top up will run out on 1st or 2nd Oct. -:)
Will top up then for 3 months & wait until the next cap due for 1st Jan, if it goes up, top up key fast for the next 3 months ( if it goes down again, top up on 1st Jan).

Quick everyone, join up on the Insider Program of Skinwalker Ranch.

How is this not a commercial advertisement? Violation of MessageBoard Rule #2?

We all should be as daring as her...
Grandma Defies Age And Breaks The World Skydiving Record At 104 With No Fear

“Skydiving is a wonderful experience, and it’s nothing to be afraid of. Just do it!” says Dorothy.

If you think this challenge was the last one on Dorothy’s list, you’d be mistaken. She already has her sights on the future. Dorothy will turn 105 in December and is pondering taking a ride in a hot air balloon next, as she’s never been in one of those.

Downloading Tiny10 so that I can run Windows tasks in a VM rather than using WINE. Be interesting to see how well minimalist version of Windows works. Supposed to run in as little as 2GB but I won't be starving it that much!

Downloading Tiny10 so that I can run Windows tasks in a VM rather than using WINE. Be interesting to see how well minimalist version of Windows works. Supposed to run in as little as 2GB but I won't be starving it that much!

Or possibly not. Just saw "Download failed" Message. Clicked refresh to see if it will complete.

Downloaded, failed to install on VB, now installing after enabling NX mode under CPU in bios.

And now, over 20 years on am refenestrated.

I often use Google Maps on my phone when driving. I am intrigued by a couple of things. At roundabouts, sometimes instead of saying, "Take the second exit to stay on ..." It tells me, "Continue straight to stay on ..."

The other one is being in the UK I am used to it telling me to continue for 6 miles or a quarter of a mile etc. Yet there are a couple of places in Buckinghamshire where it always tells me to continue for two kilometres.

There'dn't've, teaching you some English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkZyZFa5qO0

The General Election bribery campaign is under way. Just got a letter to tell me that my 'Winter Fuel Payment' will be £500 this year - well up from previous years. It "includes extra money ... known as a 'Pensioner Cost of Living Payment'".

Roll on the gravy train.

How long does the letter burn for? Can you last all winter with it?

LOL. The envelope would probably burn for longer, but I'll recycle them both - trying to keep down my carbon emissions.

The General Election bribery campaign is under way. Just got a letter to tell me that my 'Winter Fuel Payment' will be £500 this year - well up from previous years. It "includes extra money ... known as a 'Pensioner Cost of Living Payment'".

Roll on the gravy train.

That will be enough to keep the woodstove going for more than just the rest of this season and that is with a largish (KW stove that with just running it in the evening keeps a 350litre thermal store tank above 75C even after running a bath.

The General Election bribery campaign is under way. Just got a letter to tell me that my 'Winter Fuel Payment' will be £500 this year - well up from previous years. It "includes extra money ... known as a 'Pensioner Cost of Living Payment'".

Roll on the gravy train.

It's the same as last year, £200 normal winter fuel, plus £300 COL.
My eldest, because of his medical disabilities, gets three £300 COL payments this year.

It's the same as last year, £200 normal winter fuel, plus £300 COL.

But last year, everyone with an electricity account - including pensioners - was getting support through their electricity companies. That's been withdrawn, but our extra hasn't. That's why I think it's special treatment for people the Tories think are likely to vote for them.

Completely erroneously in my case, of course.

Completely erroneously in my case, of course.

Mine too!

What a find!
‘Time capsule’ 1981 DeLorean found in Wisconsin barn with original tires and only 977 miles

The original owner, identified only as “Dick,” had stored the classic car in a barn.

The body was covered in dust and rodent droppings, but the car was in otherwise good condition, right down to the original tires and blue oil filter.

“This thing is literally a time capsule,” McElhattan said in a YouTube video about the finding.

couple of minor niggles compiling and installing 7.25.0 on Ubuntu 24.04 daily build. I think the source of the problem may have been my removing a whole bunch of programs I didn't want on the VM installation removing a dependency. Once they were back in starting from scratch after deleting the master folder all worked normally.