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I’d decided that I wanted to try living to a 28 hour day but I am currently living a 24 hour routine. A little bit of planning is required to make the transition from 24 to 28 hours. Day zero is that transition day.
Continue reading “28-Hour Day – Day 0”
We are living in unprecedented times and everyone, certainly in the UK has been affected to some degree by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve just entered a 14 day period of isolation which is bound to be very challenging. I also see it as an opportunity to try things I wouldn’t normally have time for and In the absence of a set routine or work pattern I began to think about non-standard day lengths.
I consider myself a bit of a night owl: when it’s time for bed I don’t want to go. The problem then is that my sleep is compressed and when it comes to bed time I haven’t had enough and don’t want to get up. The next night, I still want to stay up. It’s not sustainable and it’s not good for you. If only the day was longer: i’d be able to stay up and do all the things I want to and then still have room for a full night’s sleep. Now that I don’t have to follow a set routine I decided to give it a go.
Continue reading “28-Hour Day”
I’ve had a clunking noise in my Audi A4 that only appeared in certain circumstances and was very difficult to narrow down. For about 2 years it’s bugged me and despite visits to various mechanics and having been put through a couple of MOTs in the meantime, no one has been able to identify the problem or what the solution might be. The problem turned out to be very different from what I expected and very cheap to fix.
Continue reading “Finally solved mysterious clunking noise from my Audi”
There is a growing community of amateur weather observers using personal weather stations to measure conditions in their own homes and gardens. A lot of these stations can also send the data online to share with others, or to allow analysis of historical trends. I decided to get in on the action and set up my own weather station so I can see what the current conditions are, see the recent trend and maybe even have a go at producing my own local forecast. Read on to see which personal weather station I chose, what it can do and how I set it up including getting it online.
Continue reading “Setting up a personal weather station”
Huel, if you didn’t know, is a nutritionally complete powered food that you add to water in order to make a “meal”. It is supposed to contain all the body’s nutritional requirements in a balanced blend of fats, carbohydrates and proteins as well as vitamins, minerals and fibre. It has been around for a few years now and it seems like more and more people are involving it in their diet. Perhaps you have seen it advertised or noticed a shaker of the stuff in the hands of a friend or colleague and are wondering what it’s all about? Why would anyone want to include powered food as part of their diet instead of just eating a proper meal?
I recently installed the latest version of Debian on my laptop. I always do this when a new version comes out rather than upgrade, I prefer a fresh install which gives a sort of spring clean to my system. Unfortunately one of the final steps, installing the bootloader, failed. The error message was:
Unable to install GRUB in dummy. Executing 'grub-install dummy' failed. This is a fatal error.
You can’t exactly have a productive system if it won’t boot so how do we get around this little conundrum?
Continue reading “Debian installer fails to install GRUB: solved”
Any exercise guide will emphasise the important of a good warm up before starting a workout. It will prevent injury as well as preparing your body for the workout. A good warm up will involve the entire body going through a good range of motion at a low intensity. My favourite warm up is done using a rowing machine. It involves the entire body, working arms, legs and core as well as cardio. The intensity starts low and gradually builds up preparing the body for whatever exercise I’ll be doing afterwards, whether rowing or not. This is how I do it, the exact pace and distance can be adjusted to the individual depending on experience and fitness level.
Continue reading “My favourite warm up before exercise”
Anyone who cares about their car wants to know that it is running efficiently and performing as it should. This can’t last forever though. Time will eventually take it’s toll: the engine parts will wear down the turbo will lose efficiency, fuel lines will clog up, air intakes become choked and even electric parts can deteriorate over time, all causing losses of precious horse power as well as fuel economy and emissions. Figures such as 1 BHP loss per year have been claimed. It’s now August 2019; my Audi A4 was first registered in Sep 2006 and has done almost 200,000 miles. Surely by now it will have experienced a considerable drop compared to when it was new. How much has it lost and what can I do about it?
Continue reading “How much performance has my Audi lost after 200,000 miles?”
I recently bought a Porsche Boxster. Porsche has a reputation as one of the world’s most respected Sports cars manufacturers, but the Boxster is it’s entry level model. Can it really compare with the likes of the well respected 911, or is it just the poor man’s Porsche. I had done a fair bit of research before I went for the test drive, but was this all biased hype from enthusiastic owners or is it the well balanced nippy sports car that people make it out to be? It was hard to know exactly what to expect and the only way to find out was to take one for a test drive. So what is it like behind the wheel and how does it compare to other cars I’ve driven?
Continue reading “First impressions driving the Porsche Boxster 986”
Recently I’ve had it in my head that I wanted a fun car. All my previous cars have been primarily for the purpose of getting from A to B rather than for the fun of driving. I also wanted a marque with a reputation, and yeah, to show off a bit! I looked at various options online and decided that Porsche Boxsters are an attractive option. The prices for 986 Boxsters have come down quite a bit, their popularity has meant you get quite a lot of car for not a lot of cash.
Continue reading “I bought a Porsche Boxster!”