Sagitar

I have heard it said that we Brits stick to the left as a leftover from more violent times when many carried a sword and wanted to keep the right arm closest to passing danger. I am a bit sceptical, because earlier, fully armed warriors would have carried a shield in the left hand and I would have thought they wanted the shield arm closest to passing danger. If you look at pictures of jousting knights, they always pass left side to left side i.e. they would have been driving on the right. It's true that most of the countries that drive on the left (in my experience) have connections with the old British empire, but not all. The Japanese drive on the left, and I have heard that ascribed to the need for Samurai to keep their right hand free (that sword thing again). Japanese railways run on the left too, but I think that is because British engineers were more successful than the yanks and others at selling British rolling stock to the Japanese in the early days of their railways. At least some of the Scandinavians drove on the left until fairly recently. I think the Swedes were the last to change (in the 1960s) and I can remember the superb way in which they organised the changeover day when they shifted from left to right to comply with the rest of mainland Europe. Bearing in mind the extent to which England was conquered by the Danes and other Norsemen, pehaps we picked up the habit from them? I am sure I read somewhere, that the Romans kept to the left, so they too might have had something to do with it. I doubt if there is any simple answer.

Did you check whether the number you were asked to call was a premium rate number? If it was and you talked to them, you may be about to get a bill. Leaving a "you were out when we called" card and asking you to call a premium rate number to re-arrange delivery is a common scam.

It depends what you mean by "lasered". Laser treatment is used for a variety of conditions. I believe the right way to go is to determine what the problem is before jumping into consideration of treatment. If you have a serious eye condition, get your GP to refer you to a specialist eye clinic. There is almost certain to be one at your local hospital. They will set out for you the range of available options for the treatment of your condition. If your problem is "normal" sight correction, I would start with a qualified optometrist. Again, your GP should be able to give you a list. I had laser treatment to burn away an opaque film that formed behind the lens of my left eye after a plastics implant to cure cataracts, but I somehow doubt whether that is what you want?

Driving in the middle lane when the inside lane is clear is nearly as bad as driving nose to tail at high speed and making it impossible for those courteous enough to move into the inside lane to get out again . . .

I had a couple of PETS and an Acorn (we did some of the education oriented development work with the BBC), but my first serious PC was an Apricot. It was small enough to carry around (with the monitor in a separate bag) but it was never used for gaming. It ran programs such as WordPerfect and a spreadsheet that preceded Lotus 123. I can't remember how much RAM but it had two 3.5 inch floppies and a 10 Mb hard drive (wow!)

OK, Michelin link www.michelin.co.uk/uk/auto/auto_cons_http://www.michelin.co.uk/michelinuk/en/car-van-4x4/inflating-tyres-winter/20070319171414.htmlbib_gof_pne_hvr.jsp They are not saying "run your tyres at a higher pressure in the winter". They are saying - Be aware that tyres inflated at summer temperatures, will appear to lose pressure as the ambient temperature gets lower and will need to be re-inflated to account for this. For normal road use, if you check your tyre pressures weekly - as you should - with the tyres cold - i.e. at the current ambient temperature, you should use exactly the same gauge pressure as you always do.

I don't disagree with any of that, but it isn't what the discussion was about. I was seeking clarification in regard to what appeared to be a claim that the IS has some kind of "dead reckoning" navigation system that takes over when the GPS signal is not available. I was making the point that GPS software places the car on a convenient mapped road rather than at the actual position indicated by the GPS and uses predictive algorithms to make judgements about distance travelled when the signal is lost. I was quoting the behaviour of the GPS in my own car - leaping about between two roads when it is not on either of them, as an indication that it does indeed use it's software to place the car on the nearest mapped road. I have not, in any of the Lexus literature that I have read, found any reference to the kind of additional technology that is being claimed in this thread and I was hoping that someone could have pointed me at such a reference. During my working life I actually played a part in designing ships inertial navigation systems and I would be really very interested to know how Lexus do it, if they do? On the other hand, if someone is assuming that because the screen indicator goes on following a sharply curving road in the absence of a GPS signal there must be some alternative navigation device present, that could be a totally false assumption.

Forgive me if I remain sceptical. The software in all modern GPS road following devices overides the actual indicated position to place the car on the "nearest" mapped road and includes predictive algorithms to cope with temporary loss of signal. The road that gives access to the M1 near my home has been altered recently and it is great fun to watch the Lexus GPS leaping about between the position of the old road and the position of the M1 when it is not on either of them, but is actually travelling on a road between them that is not yet included in its mapping data.

I too would be interested in the answer to this one. At Christmas I parked squarely behind my daughter's BMW. I got to within 3 centimetres of the rear of her car without any indication whatsoever from the parking sensors on my car.

I'm fascinated to know how it does that. Can you explain further, or do you have a reference that I can consult?

I'm fascinated to know how it does that. Can you explain further, or do you have a reference that I can consult?

it is seated on three locating pins,just tug it upwards and it will pop off. But be careful putting it back, the locating sockets are easy to break if you don't align them perfectly before pushing them down onto the fixing pegs.

Fascinating idea, but it appears to be fraught with practical difficulties. It is many years since I last work with piezo electric crystals. We used them in telemetry applications. The ones that we used were capable of generating a considerable e.m.f. i.e. voltage, but not much current. The output went to a high impedence load and they were excellent for measuring pressure change etc. They were brittle and needed to be supported very carefully, but their nature could have changed. However, a road surface is a pretty inhospitable place, so keeping them intact, maintaining connections etc must present some major problems even if there are now devices that generate significant current. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has more recent knowledge of the development of these devices. I must admit to checking the date when I first read the item . . . . .

Unless the more recent ones have changed, you cannot do a full post code search. You can enter the first part of the post code but then you have to enter at least the street number. And if there isn't a street number, you are up a gum tree. I keep a Tom Tom stored in the car to deal with the more difficult addresses that the Lexus can't find . . . . .

I have a range of Canon equipment, but I wouldn't push it just because I use it. I think any of the established stuff is capable of giving excellent results and it is really a question deciding what suits you personally and learning to use it properly. If there is a camera club near you, it might help to make contact, to talk to members about their kit and maybe get your hands on it. The AP site has a lot of basic stuff that will help you to decide what you really want and need. My advice is to make haste slowly - it is expensive stuff so you don't want to be back tracking. Good luck.

You might find a wider range of views here Amateur Photographer Forum

I lived in Peel (in the Central Hotel in Castle Street) as a small boy and went to Peel Clothworkers School. We had a holiday on the island recently - driving a hired Nissan Micra . . . . . Welcome to the forum.

The dish is installed and the Humax PVR worked straight out of the box - excellent reception - good pictures, but as someone remarked earlier, not much in HD. First impression is that some aspects of its operation (recording, replaying and deleting programmes) are a good deal more complicated that with our Freeview PVR - whether this is necessary to deal with High Definition or satellite reception or is just them trying to be clever I don't know, but it really is much less intuitive than with the Freeview box and I have yet to get comfortable with it. One of the silly disadvantages that I had not anticipated is that the channel numbers start from 100 upwards which means that to change the standard channels you have to enter three digits on the remote rather than one or two i.e. BBC One is 101; BBC Two is 102; ITV is 103 etc. Finally, I cannot find the UK History channel and that's a pain because I like it a lot.

We have Freeview but our terrestrial reception is not too good (we are in the "shadow" of a hill). We bought an HD ready TV some time ago but have put off buying a freesat box until one is available with twin channels and recording facilities. We have just taken delivery of a Humax Foxsat - HDR box with twin channels and a 320Gb hard drive and are literally waiting for the installation guy to come along this morning to put up the dish etc. I hope I haven't jumped the gun. Will let you know how we get on . . . . . . .

Had to be pushed off a field the other day - firmish surface but the grass was wet - tried the snow button and rocking it on the gearbox but the nearside rear wheel just spun. I am concluding that the IS 250 auto is not very good on a slippery surface.

'fraid I don't understand why we are all getting so excited about it. Lots of comparative information is based upon tests carried out under standardised conditions. It provides a useful basis for comparison, but it does not guarantee that the product will always behave in the way that it does in the laboratory. Petrol consumption figures - engine power output figures - cabin noise levels - crash impact resistance etc. all vary with the environment and the mode of use. It doesn't mean that the figures are useless. It just means that you have to understand the conditions under which the data were produced and relate them sensibly to your conditions and your mode of use. I doubt if the production of standardised noise level (and traction?) figures for all tyres will stop arguments about "which is the quietest" any more than the existing standardised fuel consumption data stops the arguments about fuel consumption levels. But they should at least have the effect of causing manufacturers to pay attention to reducing noise levels overall. Of course the road builders also need to be doing the same thing, while balancing issues of traction and noise and I think the Department for Transport and the Transport Research Laboratory (or whatever they call it these days) will say that they are.

Did you ever see a more stupid goal?

Nice story - good luck in Hong Kong . . . . . :)

Unless the law has changed very recently Mike, the situation is a good deal more complex than that - Oftel offers detailed guidance on the recording of telephone calls and there is a wide range of circumstances in which the recording of telephone calls without notice to the other party is allowed. If I remember aright, there is no requirement to obtain consent if the recording is purely for your own use, but you must inform the other party if it is your intention to pass on the recording to some third party. In the case of companies, there is quite a list of circumstances in which "covert" recordings may be made. I do however wholeheartedly agree that if a private individual is going to record a telephone conversation with the intention of using it as evidence, they would be wise to inform the other party.