ULEZ London

[tggzzz]

I thought of the Pinhoe bash down in Exeter, but it seems a bit far and rather too cold and I have in mind it might be a Newport type event. To be honest I also have other things I ought to attend to.

If you make it down there, be sure to give a report.

I made it.

A few Telequipment class scopes, Advance signal generators, Thurlby PSU. I'm pleased I managed to avoid buying an "RS232 LCD" display in a wall-mounting box,

I did get a rod of ertalon/nylon, an rj11/rj45 crimper and cable tester, and a strange calibration box. The cal box might be for strain gauges, but it will be dismembered for 16 4mm binding posts and a 10turn pot.

The most interesting thing is that it looks like one of the regular traders with lots of components in partitioned wooden trays is trying to sell the lot for £2200. Can't say I blame him' fleabay is better.

The Westonzoyland Pumping Station may be worth visiting again when it is in steam. Nowhere near as big/good as the Blagdon beam engine, but that seems to be unvisitable

The area is very reminiscent of the Fens, not too surprisingly. Pleasing old homes/farms along the banks of the River Parrett, and below river level. Lots of sky, no trees (except willow), no contours.

[mnementh]

mnem

[Zenith]

I thought of the Pinhoe bash down in Exeter, but it seems a bit far and rather too cold and I have in mind it might be a Newport type event. To be honest I also have other things I ought to attend to.

If you make it down there, be sure to give a report.

I made it.

A few Telequipment class scopes, Advance signal generators, Thurlby PSU. I'm pleased I managed to avoid buying an "RS232 LCD" display in a wall-mounting box,

I did get a rod of ertalon/nylon, an rj11/rj45 crimper and cable tester, and a strange calibration box. The cal box might be for strain gauges, but it will be dismembered for 16 4mm binding posts and a 10turn pot.

No Tek or HP scopes for £20 spares or repairs? No HP/Marconi/Philips/Wavetek/Wiltron sig gens? No HP/Marconi/etc meters? No spectrum analysers?

Then on balance, I'm glad I didn't make it.

The most interesting thing is that it looks like one of the regular traders with lots of components in partitioned wooden trays is trying to sell the lot for £2200. Can't say I blame him' fleabay is better.

If it's the one I'm thinking of, I was chatting to him at Newbury. He spent the lockdown bagging up a load of components he'd got from somewhere and he was selling them off fairly cheap - a quid a bag, 6 bags for a fiver - because he had a plan to retire to Thailand. I didn't think it would be diplomatic to enquire too closely into such a scheme. Maybe he's approaching the now or never date?

If those goods are sold at rallies you have the van to shell out for, among other costs. I'm not sure how many he would sell at a rally, 300 maybe. If you sell them on ebay, you have their charges and packing and posting and all the rest to cope with.

It might appeal to one of the other regular traders.

The Westonzoyland Pumping Station may be worth visiting again when it is in steam. Nowhere near as big/good as the Blagdon beam engine, but that seems to be unvisitable

The area is very reminiscent of the Fens, not too surprisingly. Pleasing old homes/farms along the banks of the River Parrett, and below river level. Lots of sky, no trees (except willow), no contours.

There used to be an industrial museum in Cardiff docks and they had a steam day once a month. I think it's been closed or moved. These things are much better on a steam day, but in particular not when the only steam on view is your breath condensing.

[tggzzz]

I thought of the Pinhoe bash down in Exeter, but it seems a bit far and rather too cold and I have in mind it might be a Newport type event. To be honest I also have other things I ought to attend to.

If you make it down there, be sure to give a report.

I made it.

A few Telequipment class scopes, Advance signal generators, Thurlby PSU. I'm pleased I managed to avoid buying an "RS232 LCD" display in a wall-mounting box,

I did get a rod of ertalon/nylon, an rj11/rj45 crimper and cable tester, and a strange calibration box. The cal box might be for strain gauges, but it will be dismembered for 16 4mm binding posts and a 10turn pot.

No Tek or HP scopes for £20 spares or repairs? No HP/Marconi/Philips/Wavetek/Wiltron sig gens? No HP/Marconi/etc meters? No spectrum analysers?

Then on balance, I'm glad I didn't make it.

Nope. It is too small for that, as are most hamfests.

I did pick up a working 465 there a few years ago.

The most interesting thing is that it looks like one of the regular traders with lots of components in partitioned wooden trays is trying to sell the lot for £2200. Can't say I blame him' fleabay is better.

If it's the one I'm thinking of, I was chatting to him at Newbury. He spent the lockdown bagging up a load of components he'd got from somewhere and he was selling them off fairly cheap - a quid a bag, 6 bags for a fiver - because he had a plan to retire to Thailand. I didn't think it would be diplomatic to enquire too closely into such a scheme. Maybe he's approaching the now or never date?

No, not that trader. IIRc this one was G0ZZZ or similar. A long term typical hamfester that probably did a roaring trade before fleabay.

It is curious to hear of "your" trader's plan. I know an acquaintance of my parents who decamped to Cambodia, and a friend of 60 years that decamped to be near her daughter in Tamil Nadu. I've occasionally wondered about Costa Rica, which seems to be popular with leftpondians, but t'aint gonna happen unless things get really bad here.

If those goods are sold at rallies you have the van to shell out for, among other costs. I'm not sure how many he would sell at a rally, 300 maybe. If you sell them on ebay, you have their charges and packing and posting and all the rest to cope with.

If I wanted something of his I'd just go to fleabay. The appeal of hamfests is either good stuff cheap or weird "that night come in useful" crap that nobody would put on fleabay,

The Westonzoyland Pumping Station may be worth visiting again when it is in steam. Nowhere near as big/good as the Blagdon beam engine, but that seems to be unvisitable

The area is very reminiscent of the Fens, not too surprisingly. Pleasing old homes/farms along the banks of the River Parrett, and below river level. Lots of sky, no trees (except willow), no contours.

There used to be an industrial museum in Cardiff docks and they had a steam day once a month. I think it's been closed or moved. These things are much better on a steam day, but in particular not when the only steam on view is your breath condensing.

There's a Techniquest there, which I suspect is like At Bristol / We The Curious. Personally I preferred the Exploratorium by Temple Meads, since it was less "curated" and more hands on with interesting exhibits such as "rotate the specimens and hear the geiger counter screech when presented with Lo Salt and orange 1950s saucepans".

[tggzzz]

The appeal of hamfests is either good stuff cheap or weird "that night come in useful" crap that nobody would put on fleabay,

Next ones are Mendips in June, Newbury the week after, Wilts in July (and November).

Not sure about Yeovil QRP in April, and FRARS Wimbourne in August.

Shame no Frome and no Harwell.

[Zenith]

I don't mind the drive to FRARS because it's a good 'un.

Dunstable Downs hasn't been announced yet and I have a sinking feeling it might not be.

There's Yelverton and Holsworthy, both a long haul for what's probably a minor rally. I won't be here for Yelverton anyway.

Mendips in June looks about the nearest in time which is a reasonable drive.

Rally withdrawal effects will probably be so serious by April 2nd that I'll do Hack Green (Secret Nuclear Bunker) as I haven't done it before.

Yeovil isn't that far but it's a windy drive and it's probably a minor rally. It's possible as I haven't done it before.

Yes, it's a shame about Harwell and Frome. Frome might possibly be on as there's time to announce it. I've never liked it much.

Not much serious rally action until June.

[Zenith]

No, not that trader. IIRc this one was G0ZZZ or similar. A long term typical hamfester that probably did a roaring trade before fleabay.

It is curious to hear of "your" trader's plan. I know an acquaintance of my parents who decamped to Cambodia, and a friend of 60 years that decamped to be near her daughter in Tamil Nadu. I've occasionally wondered about Costa Rica, which seems to be popular with leftpondians, but t'aint gonna happen unless things get really bad here.

I've always had the impression that Costa Rica is a very decent little country. Very stable but surrounded by banana republics with revolutions every few years.

[tggzzz]

I don't mind the drive to FRARS because it's a good 'un.

There's Yelverton and Holsworthy, both a long haul for what's probably a minor rally. I won't be here for Yelverton anyway.

Agreed. I'd only consider Yelverton/Holsworthy if I was in the area.

Mendips is near, but that's its only virtue. You can, of course, go a little further and get Pb/Cd poisioning while having a walk in the Mendips.

Rally withdrawal effects will probably be so serious by April 2nd that I'll do Hack Green (Secret Nuclear Bunker) as I haven't done it before.

That was interesting last year, and the bunker is worth seeing once. If you're going then I'll get brownie points by not competing with you this year and not mention I can't be fagged to flog all the way up there.

[mnementh]

Well, fuck-a-doodle... speaking of HAMfests, I just realized I completely spaced out on the one in December at the Radio Museum up the road here; I remember folks saying it was usually the best of the season cuz Christmas and indoors.

Next one is April 15... I better kick my calendar in the 'nads to remember that one for me...

mnem
*tzzzzt*

[Zenith]

That was interesting last year, and the bunker is worth seeing once. If you're going then I'll get brownie points by not competing with you this year.....

I couldn't read the rest because my specs aren't to hand.

I have always found you to be most courteous, gentlemanly and generous, within very obvious limits.

Have a thousand brownie points and don't spend them rashly.

[Specmaster]

This video gives more info on the proposed extension and how it seems to be a done deal regardless, so much for democracy then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMlqVjyzKKY

He also provides links to the official websites and documents on them to the various reports he mentions and shows during the video, it does certainly seem that these events are part of a planned grand scheme and my post called Net Zero also makes references to these same websites and organisations, see what you guys think about this.

[tggzzz]

This video gives more info on the proposed extension and how it seems to be a done deal regardless, so much for democracy then.

We don't live in a democracy. We live in a representative democracy; very different. Don't like the decisions: change the individual representing you.

Even Athens wasn't really a democracy, since the lower orders weren't citizens and couldn't vote.

[Specmaster]

The other day I posted links to a few videos about ULEZ, Digital ID, Road Charging and Digital ££, did anyone follow these up? Such videos have already been described as heavily slanted You Tube Videos giving misleading and slanted facts.
In one of those video, the presenter provided the following links to Government Consultations,
Digital ID https://bit.ly/DigitaliDConsultation
Road User Charging https://bit.ly/RoadUserChargingConsultation
Digital Pound https://bit.ly/DigitaliDconsultation
The consultations are closed.

Today I received an email from YouGov giving the result of poll they conducted about forcing businesses to accept cash as payments and I attach the chart of the results below and I quote from the email the Governments statement :-
"The government said last week it has “no plans to mandate cash acceptance” following calls for all businesses and public services to be required to accept cash payments"

The fact that YouGov did the poll is a very strong suggestion that there are plans to do away with cash and close the Mints.

So it would seem after all that these You Tubers aren't all feeding us with slanted facts but are doing a public service by highlighting and discussing what the established news media will not tell us

Another link https://www.c40.org/
Interesting fun facts about C40 cities who are behind the ULEZ schemes and Road Use Charging is that out of 269 people across the world involved in this, 120 are from the UK, the Chair of this group is none other than Mayor Sadiq Khan and there are I think 96 cities worldwide involved in it.

I don't recall any of this being mentioned anywhere other than on You Tube

cash v card.jpg

[tggzzz]

Today I received an email from YouGov giving the result of poll they conducted about forcing businesses to accept cash as payments and I attach the chart of the results below and I quote from the email the Governments statement :-
"The government said last week it has “no plans to mandate cash acceptance” following calls for all businesses and public services to be required to accept cash payments"

The fact that YouGov did the poll is a very strong suggestion that there are plans to do away with cash and close the Mints.

It is worth noting that YouGov has nothing to do with the government.
It is not clear how much notice a government takes of its polls.

Having said that, the founders are heavily biased towards the hard right.

• Stephan Shakespeare (born Stephan Kukowski) previously owned websites ConservativeHome and PoliticsHome
• Nadhim Zahawi is a name that many spit on, for very good reasons

I strongly suspect that any allegation of poll rigging would be met a response from m'learned Carter-Fuck or their brethren.

Hence I don't think there is a "very strong" suggestion about planning to do away with cash. Having said that, no doubt doing that would have strong support in various quarters. And then there's the PoMoLitCrit deconstruction of that government statement as per the sentence about JFK in http://www.fudco.com/chip/deconstr.html (worth reading; I remember first reading it 30 years ago)

[Specmaster]

Yes, I accept and fully understand that YouGov is nothing to do with the government, but the point I was making is that the government are seriously looking at the digital currency over hard cash and that YouGov are attempting to fire a shot across their bow, so to speak, by demonstrating via these polls that the public are against the idea in principal.

It is because the government have said that they have no plans to force shops and business to accept cash as a payment option indicates that to do so would also prevent their digital currency dream from seeing the light of day.

[tggzzz]

They have also been "looking at" cryptocurrencies. And they have decided not to proceed.

Various parties in government would be negligent if they were not looking at cryptocurrencies and "digital currencies" (whatever they might be).

Having said that, I would protest loud and long if cash disappears. Just as I did when there were serious plans to abandon cheques.

[Specmaster]

I think I'd be there with you on that one. There are many people who don't have a credit card, or even a debit card just as there are those that don't have a PayPal account. I often make purchases online using PayPal as it saves giving my card details out with the increased chances of fraud that exposes you to.

[mansaxel]

They have also been "looking at" cryptocurrencies. And they have decided not to proceed.

Various parties in government would be negligent if they were not looking at cryptocurrencies and "digital currencies" (whatever they might be).

Having said that, I would protest loud and long if cash disappears. Just as I did when there were serious plans to abandon cheques.

Having been paid by cheque, I am very happy this is an abandoned method. Every employer after that one have paid by direct deposit, which makes the money available in my account the 25th of every month, or earlier if the 25th is in a weekend or otherwise special day.

I do not think I've seen one since then, and that was 30 years ago now. Progress is good.

[Specmaster]

Having been paid by cheque, I am very happy this is an abandoned method. Every employer after that one have paid by direct deposit, which makes the money available in my account the 25th of every month, or earlier if the 25th is in a weekend or otherwise special day.

I do not think I've seen one since then, and that was 30 years ago now. Progress is good.

I agree when it comes to your wages, direct deposit is good, but on the other hand when it comes to buying things, cheques can be a godsend at times, I'm always careful about giving my account details to anyone and a cheque can allow you to purchase something before your pay hits the bank, especially if its mail order as by the time the cheque is received and presented the money will be in your account. They also useful for sending money as a present to someone securely.

A cheque does last me a couple of years though, but as I said, they are handy at times.

[tggzzz]

They have also been "looking at" cryptocurrencies. And they have decided not to proceed.

Various parties in government would be negligent if they were not looking at cryptocurrencies and "digital currencies" (whatever they might be).

Having said that, I would protest loud and long if cash disappears. Just as I did when there were serious plans to abandon cheques.

Having been paid by cheque, I am very happy this is an abandoned method. Every employer after that one have paid by direct deposit, which makes the money available in my account the 25th of every month, or earlier if the 25th is in a weekend or otherwise special day.

I do not think I've seen one since then, and that was 30 years ago now. Progress is good.

I have always been paid by direct deposits into my bank, starting in the late 70s. That became popular a few years earlier, because it reduced the number of "wages vans" that were attacked and robbed

It is true that there are far fewer use-cases for cheques than previously. Nonetheless, there are very good use-cases, e.g.:

• people that cannot practically use online banking. The elderly are the obvious examples, but there are other significant minorities
• giving presents. Saying "look at your bank balance" doesn't have the same, um, emotional feel as giving and receiving a cheque
• I don't want to give random strangers my bank details. That unnecessarily exposes an attack surface.

Basically the banks wanted to stop cheques since it was inconvenient for the banks. "Customers? They shouldn't need to care, and must conform to our wishes". Reminded me of the old joke "Here at AT&T we deal with all sorts of people, from kings and queens to the scum of the earth".

Fortunately a public outcry forced the banks to retain their cheque service. Naturally the usage is reducing, and it will naturally die out. "Naturally" being the operative word.

[Specmaster]

I'll just leave this link here if you want to find out a bit more about this scheme and the protests etc against it. In other words, all the news that the official news channels, radio, TV and newspapers seem reluctant to discuss this for some reason, like so many other things going on today.

https://browncarguy.com/2023/03/30/ulez ... d-to-know/ This also includes the pay per mile scheme as well.

[Cerebus]

I'm always careful about giving my account details to anyone and a cheque can allow you to purchase something before your pay hits the bank,

It is true that there are far fewer use-cases for cheques than previously. Nonetheless, there are very good use-cases, e.g.:

• people that cannot practically use online banking. The elderly are the obvious examples, but there are other significant minorities
• giving presents. Saying "look at your bank balance" doesn't have the same, um, emotional feel as giving and receiving a cheque
• I don't want to give random strangers my bank details. That unnecessarily exposes an attack surface.

You both seem to be implying that using a cheque won't expose your bank details. A cheque contains the name and address of your bank, the bank sort code, your account number, and your name. If you've given someone a cheque, you've given them your bank details.

[tggzzz]

I'm always careful about giving my account details to anyone and a cheque can allow you to purchase something before your pay hits the bank,

It is true that there are far fewer use-cases for cheques than previously. Nonetheless, there are very good use-cases, e.g.:

• people that cannot practically use online banking. The elderly are the obvious examples, but there are other significant minorities
• giving presents. Saying "look at your bank balance" doesn't have the same, um, emotional feel as giving and receiving a cheque
• I don't want to give random strangers my bank details. That unnecessarily exposes an attack surface.

You both seem to be implying that using a cheque won't expose your bank details. A cheque contains the name and address of your bank, the bank sort code, your account number, and your name. If you've given someone a cheque, you've given them your bank details.

That is an annoyingly accurate comment! I should have inserted the phrase "via electronic comms".

IMHO there is, subjectively, less of a risk using paper-based mechanisms, simply because they are more difficult to intercept, copy and and misuse than electronic mechanisms.

Naturally there is little defence against a real thief or inside fraud. The John Munden cause celebre alerted me to that http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/18.25.html#subj5

I recently had to receive a small refund from a solicitor, via electronic transfer. They asked me not to send the bank details via email. Their contract also had a clause to the effect that "if we get caught out by a Friday afternoon fraud and transfer your (large amounts of) money to the wrong account, it is your bad luck". I hope I never have to find out that holds up in court!

[Cerebus]

I recently had to receive a small refund from a solicitor, via electronic transfer. They asked me not to send the bank details via email. Their contract also had a clause to the effect that "if we get caught out by a Friday afternoon fraud and transfer your (large amounts of) money to the wrong account, it is your bad luck". I hope I never have to find out that holds up in court!

Almost certainly not something they should have even considered putting in a contract - Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 et seq, assuming you were dealing as a consumer.

[Specmaster]

The High Court are looking into ULEZ expansion and it may be deemed illegal and thus not go ahead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h09QDgrFHTY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEXWzfSgT7M