Will

Will put this whole thing in spoilers just in case.

My best one isn’t so much a bargain as I didn’t pay for it. One day at work someone opened up an old store cupboard and found a ton of unsold Dreamcast stuff. It got dealt out to people that wanted it and my haul was the following: Unfortunately I gave it all (apart from the broadband adapter) to a friend when I left the US. Was pretty amazing to get all of that brand new for free. Other than that I don’t think I’ve ever really managed to nab a great bargain. The one I really regret not picking up was a few years ago a ton of new in box Virtual Boys found their way to the stores in Japan and initially went for about $100 each. I was traveling back and forth between Japan and the US at the time and they were just way too big for it to make sense to buy. They gradually went up in price until they were around $500 and then disappeared.

Totally agree, @Mr_Odwin. That’s actually very similar to the type of program I was following for 10k at the start of last year and making good progress with. Will definitely be figuring out something similar for the 5k and see how it goes.

Looks like some interesting moves on the calendar are being talked about: Australia being postponed Portugal replacing China Imola replacing Vietnam It will be a big shame if we don’t get an Australian GP again, if they don’t do it on the proposed slot I really doubt they will do it at all. The other two replacements I think I prefer to the original plans. Given things seem like they’re going to get worse before they get better I can totally see another jumbled up race calendar, at least in the first half of the year. I almost wish F1 could be like this every year.

Will definitely do so! If I fail massively at least it will provide some entertainment.

Decided I wanted to have a go at modding some of my consoles so ordered some tools: iFixit driver kit and... A soldering kit. The soldering kit was fairly cheap and I’ll probably upgrade at some point in the future. Availability of the known kits seemed pretty bad here so thought I’d spend some time sourcing something that will last. I also bought a few easy to get components and plan to do a region switch mod on my GameCube as a first project.

For sure. I’d even go a bit further and say it should be done behind closed doors at this point. Given what’s been happening I really don’t know how they can control it if they hold it as usual.

I’ve only taken part in one or two rounds in the many years that this has been running but I hope it continues for many years to come. I’m in a similar position to @Londragon and it would be far too selfish for me to say the timing is an issue. If the league happened at the weekend I would absolutely try to join but that’s my issue and not something for you to think about. @Glen-i I think you do a fantastic job of running the league and I hope everyone will continue to take part as much as possible. I think it’s great we have this sort of thing running and bringing us all together. I would love to play more with all of you.

I’d say your degree has relevance for the first and maybe second job you have, and probably a limit of five years before the work experience completely outweighs it. Certainly by mid-career it doesn’t really matter, I don’t even look at education stuff on a resume when I’m hiring. Totally agree with this. You need to keep up with advances in your chosen field, if you go to an interview and have no idea what is going on in the industry it will not look good at all. “Computers” is a fair wide subject, it would definitely be a good idea to do as much as you can specifically related to the area you want to be working in.

It’s definitely better in person, and it is growing on me, but I’m still not super keen on it. I reckon the half second I save not needing to plug it in will be eaten up by the half second longer it takes me to get to the charging station. I do want one of these when they become available though, nice to get rid of a loose cable.

Will see how the 20 minute thing goes at the end of the month. Not sure there is enough time in the day for anywhere close to 300. I’d also probably die which I’m not super keen on.

My DualSense is way better than my DS4, not charging it anywhere near as much as I used to. Not sure how fair it is though as the DS4 was a few years old.

Tried the beep test today and my god it was harder than I remember. Really struggled and managed to get to 7.2 almost dead. I’m just hoping that my rough distance measurement was wrong and actually I can do better. Will take a tape measure with me next time to ensure I do it properly.

That sounds like a good one too. Will give it a go once I’ve completed the current challenge.

Decide to start it this morning. Definitely seems like it’s not enough during the ‘training’ part of the challenge. The 20 minutes on the final day is going to be considerably longer than anything that’s gone before it. Will let you know how I get on.

Although the 2020 season finished less than a month ago it’s time to get ready for 2021. Let’s take a look at what’s planned for this year: Will keep the above updated as more is available. I really enjoyed 2020 and hope this season will be another close midfield battle. It would be great if Mercedes can be reigned in a little but given the minimal rule changes this year I think that’s very unlikely. Things I’m looking forward to: Hamilton becoming the (statistically) outright greatest of all time. I’m not a fan but glad he’s the one doing it. The return of Alonso, my all time favourite driver. With the progress of Renault/Alpine I can see him winning a race this year. McLaren continuing their good form and Ricciardo maybe getting back on the top of the podium. More random things happening due to the ongoing pandemic situation. Of course with the avoidance of any harm to people. Schumacher in F1 and hopefully doing well. Mazepan hopefully being gone soon. More great stuff from Russell and the deserved promotion to Mercedes for 2022. I enjoyed doing the predictions for 2020 and want to continue something. Not sure whether we do something similar to last year of just forum predictions or find a fantasy league to take part in? Any suggestions on that one? What are you all looking forward to this year?

Thanks, will give it a go! Maybe start in the middle of the month on that one. Managed to find an app to measure the bleep test, going to set my target as getting to level 15 on that. When I was a kid I used to get to about mid-way through level 12 so I doubt I can make 15 but got to set a tough target. Did my first 5km run of the year tonight to get a starting time to measure from. Managed to do it in 22:06 which is not too bad.

I reckon he’d have to murder someone live on camera, even then I’m not convinced he’d be arrested. He must be really worried about when he leaves office though.

What media do you consume that takes these view points? As far as I can tell, ignoring things like Fox, basically everyone thinks Trump is a joke. Can’t say I’m at all surprised by this, it’s exactly in line with his way of doing things. Only three weeks to go and it will be over. At least his involvement with power will be, I have a feeling the comedy of the man’s actions will continue to entertain us all for a while yet.

A selection of nicer looking Ethernet cables than the mish-mash we’re currently using: Also because I needed a longer one for the study so my work computer can be wired in without a trip wire danger risk. And some Eneloop batteries. We seem to get through way too many regular batteries and I’ve had more leaks in the last couple of years than I’ve ever known. Figured this was a good way to save money and hassle long term.

So my 2020 went quite well, I hit my main target but missed the secondary ones I set for myself, end the year with: Run 1,000km over the course of the year - Actual: 1,168km ✓ Do a 5km run in under 20 minutes - Best: 21:25 X Do a 10km run in under 40 minutes - Best 46:40 X This year I’m going to set the speed targets as my main and the distance as a secondary one. The distance ones are too easy just to slog out. So, this year’s running targets look something like: Do a 5km run in under 20 minutes (H1 Target) Do a 10km run in under 40 minutes (H2 Target) Run more total distance than last year I’m also going to try and build more strength but not really sure how to set a target for that, think it will just be something like looking significantly better than I do now. Finally, I want to try and do the bleep test that came up a while ago, will try and figure out a way to do that and report back with my score. Also maybe some sort of burpee challenge after being inspired by @Ashley.

Nice! I’ve had a Porta-Pi Arcade on my want list for a good few years now, will get round to it at some point. What kits are you thinking of using?

So you wouldn’t consider this shadow MP idea to be a massive change to the current system? It sounds like a pretty huge change to me. You should check out the MMP system they use in New Zealand. I really think it’s one of the best solutions to the problems both FPTP and PR bring about and would love to see it implemented in the UK. I think this is mostly the other way round isn’t it? The current system gives the incumbent parties a hugely skewed amount of power for the share of their support and so removes any motivation to change the system. Most people outside of that just want fair representation that they are not currently able to get.

There are websites that will check for you, I used this one: http://mesdomaines.nu/eendracht/youtube_embedding_check/youtube_embedding_check.html The forum does the same thing though, if copying the link into the reply box doesn’t automatically convert to the embedded video that is probably the reason.

That video in particular has been set to not allow embedding by the owner.