Viewing profile — lb1lf

This. When in Japan for work, I always buy a couple of boxes of Hi-Unis (mostly 2H for me, HB for the kids) I started using them a couple of decades ago, but things escalated once …

Haha, we need to talk. (Current garage: Land Cruisers BJ42 and HZJ78, SI 80" Land Rover (full grille, thank you very much), 1972 RRC, a 1966 MGB V8 (retrofit, not original).) Oh, a…

close04 pretty much nailed it with his comment below. There is nothing wrong with the Submariner - quite the contrary, it is an iconic design and exceedingly well made. The 'proble…

...and don't even get me started on people who buy a Rolex Submariner - the quintessential tool watch (and luxury symbol, by all means - but it wasn't always so) and then ask wheth…

Oh yes. I used to have a VW van (a T4) which had had a V6 transplant and an aftermarket turbo retrofitted (not by me - I am a quite capable mechanic, but not THAT capable.) It was …

Secret-ish. One of the links terminated in a seeming boathouse at Andøya in Norway. It was a landmark. As in, if you were going fishing with a colleague and asked him which boathou…

To stress how prolific tunnels are - if I drive from my home near Aalesund on the northwestern coast to the family seat at Voss (a bit inland from Bergen), some 360km/220mi or so, …

Not relevant at all, but would you happen to be a descendant of Heinz/Henry Ries, the photographer? (Reading Joseph Pearson's book on the Berlin airlift, in which he features promi…

Of course, they do serve a purpose, in that there's more often than not airbags in them, plus they provide structural integrity often lacking in older cars - so making the car safe…

It never ceases to amaze me how many drivers appear to not register blindingly obvious objects in their path. Ranging from the understandable, but unacceptable (Say, CBDR/Constant …

It's called living, which has become insanely safe compared to what it used to be only a generation or two ago. Looking at the statistics here in my native Norway, children killed …

Look at it from the bright side; not many people get to read their own obituaries.

Of course; I will jump through just about any hoop in order to keep buying their products precisely as I know that will buy both me and the end customer long term peace of mind.

Where Siemens really shines, is in their fanatical devotion to after sales. I rely on Siemens automation products at work. They give me end-of-life warnings a couple of years ahead…

This. Also, Higginbotham's "Midnight in Chernobyl" is brilliant prose about the disaster, from the run-up through to the aftermath. At times, it reads more like a thriller (and a f…

In a very similar vein, Ars Technica did a very interesting story on the electromechanical targeting computers on WW2 battle ships a few years ago; the instructional videos embedde…

Haha, I can relate. Dabbled both with live recording (using a Sony PCM-M1 and a pair of very unobtrusive capsule mikes if the venue and band didn't have an enlightened recording po…

I don't think you need to be very biased to consider this a war of aggression. Which, incidentally, is itself considered an international crime. So, these children would be alive a…

Incidentally, $26B is a sum in the same ballpark as the cost of eradicating homelessness in the US, ending large-scale hunger worldwide or making significant progress towards safe …

I guess that's the definition of 'iconic' - many a time I have approached someone wearing a Ramones or Motörhead T-shirt trying to chat a bit, only to be told 'Sorry, don't know th…

Presumably, yes. IANAL, and I have only heard about a couple of cases where people have been taxed under this statute - typically carpenters having built or renovated their own hom…

Sorry, not VAT - but the value of the benefit you gain from working on your own property (presumably also if you're, say, a car mechanic and work on your own car, etc.) is subject …

-Besides, in some jurisdictions, the taxman thought of that. If a Norwegian tradesman works on his own home, he's supposed to pay VAT on the value of the work he's done - not only …

Time for a classic, Soviet-era joke: A Soviet engineer needs some plumbing done in his apartment, and calls for a plumber. The plumber arrives, does his thing, and hands over the b…