All good things……..
I’ll get you Butler – Stephen Lewis, On the Buses’ ‘Blakey’, dies aged 88
..Come To An End….
R.I.P – Blakey
Author Archive
I’ll get you Butler – Stephen Lewis, On the Buses’ ‘Blakey’, dies aged 88
Friday, August 14th, 2015PAC-MAN Rebooted by NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.
Thursday, August 13th, 2015Are you a fan of PAC-MAN, well let me introduce you to PAC-MAN Championship Editon DX+ by NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.
Lets just say it’s PAC-MAN on acid and steroids….for 2015, it’s brilliant…
Pay what you want, and Support Charity, over at Humble Bundle, time is running out, you’ve only got 5 hours before the deal runs out….
Windows 10 – What does Andysworld! think!?
Thursday, August 13th, 2015A bit late to the party, played and tested many of the earlier Beta, Previews, and RTMs, but this is the first time, I’ve got to install the Enterprise version, yes virtually, because that’s all I do these days, Virtual, Cloud etc So here are some pretty pictures, and the first thing you’ll notice, is this is highly optimized, and uses much less resources on previous Microsoft OS, it’s actually quite nippy compared to other OS hogs, this test was conducted with a single vCPU and 2GB RAM – WOW, only 2GB of RAM, when most laptops, these days, have 8 and 16GB….
So, what does Andy, really think…… well personally I still like Windows 2000 Professional, Vista was okay, and this is the Desktop of Choice for my Office, but I resist to move to Windows 8, and I have Windows 7 on my Admin Workstations, Windows XP, 2000 on most of the laptops, Sony DUO has Windows 8.1…, and my gaming rig has Windows 8.1 Pro.
will I be upgrading, not at present…
A Beekeepers Gold!
Monday, August 10th, 2015and it’s not honey….it takes 7kg of honey to produce 1kg of bees wax! Bees wax burns clean with no soot, so that’s why it was favored in Churches and Monasteries, because it does not stain the ceilings! and many say that’s why Monks kept bees! Wax candles are usually made from paraffin!
You can see Sheldon’s support of beeswax candles here:-
As the season, winds down, I’ve started to tidy up and render this years bees wax down for wax exchange. This is from bees wax, I’ve been collecting all year, after inspections, e.g. removed from hives, queen excluders, and other bits of brace comb. Later in the year, I’ll take this wax and exchange it for foundation at Thorne. Foundation is the starter strips we use for bees to use as a template to draw out their comb. Thorne just add this and blend this with their other sources to create the foundation, so no waste, and completely recycled!
Here are some fantastic pictures of the process at Thorne, when I was lucky enough to visit, and have a tour around the factory by Gill Smith (Director and Owner of Thorne), in their Centenary year (2013).
Don’t forget Thorne Rand Open and Sale Day – Saturday 17th October, 10am.
CHILDLIKE, WITH MY EYES AND MIND WIDE OPEN
Wednesday, July 29th, 2015
I returned to my childhood whilst watching the Punakha Tsechu. Watching stories unfold before my eyes, I started to believe in magic again, in demons and monsters, in angels and saints, casting away my cynical view on life. Bhutan is like that … it opens up the mind and soul!
by Lindsey
(PS Help Lindsey win her Holiday to Jordon, click here to vote: – http://www.onthegotours.com/feelgood/entry/Childlike-with-my-eyes-and-mind-wide-op)
Out with the Dyson, and in with the Gtech AirRAM K9 and Gtech Multi
Tuesday, July 21st, 2015Over five years ago, I purchased my first Dyson, and blogged here – I Thought My Carpets Were Clean Until I purchased a Dyson.
The big problem with the Dyson DC20, cylinder vacuum cleaner, it has a cord, and it’s very heavy, awkward to clean stairs, and very heavy to carry upstairs to clean the bedrooms, and landing….nothing wrong with it, and it’s just gone out of guarantee.
Honey sales have been good, so time for a new gadget, to help me (my new contract is to do the vacuum-ing around the house!).
After watching the TV Adverts, and reading all the reviews, I’ve decided to purchase a Gtech AirRAM K9 and Gtech Multi.
Gtech AirRAM K9 Cordless vacuum cleaner and Gtech Multi handheld
Gtech AirRAM K9 Cordless vacuum cleaner and Gtech Multi handheld
I placed the order with Gtech’s website on Sunday 19th July, and I was surprised it was not as automated as some websites, what I mean is, the email confirming your order, I never got one, one was never sent…and the Order Online, when I track it, is still sitting in Processing…..my other niggle, Gtech charge Credit Card holders 2% – this is a bit old fashioned! but they do not charge anything for Paypal, after a recent discussion by Martin Lewis about Paypal, Credit Cards and Losing your Section 75 Rights – this here Warning! Don’t use PayPal to pay on a credit card – I thought stuff Paypal on this one! But hey come on Gtech 2%, are you not making enough cash, to re-negotiate with the credit card companies!
yesterday, I was surprised to get an email from Interlink (sister company of DPD – I didn’t know this until today!) advising me I would get a delivery today from Gtech, and early this morning, as was advised Interlink would deliver between 13:57 – 14:57, and at 14:05 I was the proud owner of a Gtech AirRAM K9 and Gtech Multi.
So logistics and 2% CC charge aside –
Gtech AirRAM K9
Gtech Multi
WOW – these are fantastic – cordless, light, powerful, Dyson move over, there is a New Hoover King – Gtech! I’ve been vacuuming everywhere, until the charge they come with ran out, so both are on charge for four hours!
and they’ve got a fantastic new advert featuring music by Queen. (Freddie Mercury).
Andy’s Chillis
Friday, July 10th, 2015Here are some before and after pictures of my chili plants in the porch, where temperatures in the sun, get up to 58 degrees C!
June 14th
July 9th - Almost 4 weeks later
Collared dove from above
Tuesday, July 7th, 2015This is a picture of one of our tame Collared doves in the garden!
Collared Dove on bee hive
Not quite feeding out of my hand, but I’m sure it will soon. This was without zoom, I was that close, when I took the picture.
Andy’s new gadget for testing car batteries! – A Solar BA7 Battery and System Tester for 12 volt batteries
Wednesday, July 1st, 2015Yes, I have been experiencing car troubles again, well to be honest, the issue has never really gone away, and I’ve done nothing about it, other than keep charging my car battery!
The Problem
The issue has been, if I do not use my car for 24 hours, when starting the car, it does not turn over. So I have to ensure, I start and run my car 7 days a week. Lately, however this period of time, has been decreasing to less than 10 hours, so if I park up overnight, the car will not start the next morning.
The Temporary Solution
If I connect the battery to a battery charger, and charge for less than 5 minutes, it allows me to start the car. This is odd, because the battery is not going to charge much in 5 minutes.
This temporary solution to the issue, was becoming problematic, and delaying me getting off to work in the morning, unrolling the 50m extension lead, plugging in the battery charger, charging the battery, driving to work, and the car was always able to start after parking up in the car park, until Tuesday, when it refused to start, requiring me to get a jump start, with my special jump leads from my Boss! (I think Lindsey was probably getting p***** off as well, because my car is parked behind hers, on the drive!)
Discuss with “The Specialist”
I spoke to Paul from JLB Electronics, pop by their website, and purchase some electronics bits and bobs… about the issue with my car, I took some voltage readings with a voltmeter, before and after charging, and current draw from the battery at idle. The voltage of the battery was 12.4/12.5 volts, and current draw was 0.77A at idle (which could be high!), but not really enough to flatten a car battery overnight.
The Fix
So I decided to purchase a Solar BA7 Battery and System Tester for 12 volt batteries from Amazon.co.uk, this is not just a voltmeter, which can test starting minimum and maximum voltages, battery under load, battery at idle, to check your alternator is working correctly, but also checks the car battery conductance, and compares with the stated value on the battery e.g. the CCA (cold cranking amperes – this is the current which can be delivered for 30 seconds), the value is stamped on the battery!
Amazon parcel
Solar BA7 Battery & System Tester for 12v batteries
Solar BA7 Battery & System Tester for 12v batteries
As I had suspected the battery was at fault, I also purchased a new battery from Halfords – a Yuasa YBX5096, this brand in the UK, commonly associated with batteries in alarms, but very common in Japan and Japanese cars!
Old Car battery CCA 300 - FAIL
After connecting the tester, the CCA value tested is 300, the battery has a stated CCA of 680, so therefore it’s a fail, you cannot make out the numbers on the LED, but the fail light is lit! So it was nice to technically know, after testing the battery is duff!
New Yuasa Silver HSB096, 80Ah 760A (CCA) - PASS
Checking the new Yuasa Silver HSB096, 80Ah 760A (CCA) – it passes with a CCA value of 900, and 860. So good to know, my new battery is perfect!
So, before I removed the old battery, I tested, starting minimum and maximum voltages, and charging at idle and load and both these tests pass, so clearly it points to a duff battery, so it was quickly removed and changed.
New Yuasa Silver HSB096, 80Ah 760A (CCA) - PASS
New battery installed and connected…..sorry about the fuzzy photograph, excited!!!)
New battery installed....
Andy’s Honey Stall
Monday, June 22nd, 2015Last Saturday, I did my first honey stall, at a Local Produce Market at the local village hall, to support the local community. Lets just say it was a great success, and I will be ordering my new honey extractor in due course, with the proceeds! I also sold eggs, and plants from the Allotments.
Honey Stall at Yapham Village Hall
Honey Stall at Yapham Village Hall
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