Luke Rainbird

Yeah, even at relatively slow speeds that sort of mass is a HUGE amount of momentum. Bear in mind that structures like bridges are, to a point, built to be as light as possible for a given purpose. Yeah ok, there are safety factors involved that increase the bulk somewhat, but generally speaking they're not going to be using more material than legislation requires them to. As such, you have a structure built to do the job for normal use, but external factors like A MASSIVE LADEN SHIP DRIVING STRAIGHT INTO IT tend to be outside of the design parameters. It's hard to imagine quite how much force there was from what is a seemingly slow crash, but that mass is the critical part. I've seen a figure of approx 8kts impact speed, which is around 15kph. Using the 120,000,000kg you mention, Mike, that's like a fully laden artic lorry crashing into the support at something like 38,000kph. That's faster than the escape velocity of the Space Shuttle, and about twice the orbit velocity of the ISS for some context.

Because it's a f**king huge ship at pace and that support structure, oddly enough, supports the structure so when it's compromised the bridge fails.

From a pretty outside view these days (I haven't ridden in years, but TF is still usually the first tab I open on Chrome out of habit/spite!) it's not dead, it's just really fragmented. Social media has moved folk away from a forum like this and into smaller groups on FB/similar. Big group rides seem fewer and further between, but are still out there (recent Barcelona trip is a prime example). That all makes it harder for people to discover than before, which won't help. But then you get the top end (Danny, Ali, Carthy etc) out there for the world to find online which has to be inspiring someone, surely. People's attention spans certainly seem to have dropped, and perhaps new riders are losing interest sooner than we used to. Could be completely wrong in that, and the fragmentation means I just don't see newer riders so much as when it was all on TF/OTN etc. In a world where it's SO easy to upload footage/clips, perhaps it's now so easy that people are making less effort to deliberately share beginner riding for fear of being shot down now the top end is such a high level and is so accessible to everybody.

Oh FFS, what absolute c**ts. Sorry you're having such a shit time of it man.

Whaaaaaaaaa?!

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For whatever reason I've only ever gone direct to Hope with issues I've had (they've been few and far between!) and they've always been great, even when something has been my own doing rather than manufacturing issues. Be decent with Hope and they'll look after you - doesn't sound like your retailer is.

Useful to know, thanks. Without being a bit more clued up it's hard to know how much value to put on internet comments around wifi networks getting cluttered, Zwave being more reliable than Zigbee etc. I suspect there's an element of theoretical in there and if you're pushing a heavy system hard it might be a factor, but for a few bulbs and sensors to try and automate a couple of bits I don't suspect I need to go that deep into it all really. Will probably dig out one of my old RPis though 😂

Ordered a pair of these. Despite the ad being very clear, they sent me an old model which doesn't have SpaceSense or Matter compatibility. FFS

Nice, thanks gents. I'm still very much in the research phase trying to get my head around it all. I was considering starting with a handful of bulbs for convenience of stuff like having hallway lights on a motion sensor after dark etc. Wiz SpaceSense stuff looks handy and it reasonably priced, and although I've seen mixed reviews they mostly seem to be where wifi signal is poor - mine will be within 2m of the router so should be ok! Local control is pretty key IMO - as much as I see the appeal of being able to view/control from elsewhere, I want automation over remote control and being able to do things if the internet goes down (shiny new near-Gigabit line installation imminent though, yum yum) is pretty key IMO. Home Assistant seems to get talked about a lot and from a glance seems pretty powerful if you want to go down the rabbithole. Are you running a dedicated smart hub, Rowan?

Well, checking in here after a bit of a hiatus and it's quite interesting skimming back through some older posts in here. How's everyone doing now? How's this holding up now, Ads? Another mad 12 months since but a mix of opportunities along the way, and given last October's dip hopefully moving in the right direction for you? Still enjoying being where you are, and has the slowing down actually happened or just a myth you've told yourself?! Did you ever get round to watching the Coronation Street VHS special? A few months down the line, and we're getting pretty close now. May even be in this side of Christmas. Been a mental year with sale of the business, succession planning and integration, new baby etc so I'm looking forward to not pulling triple duty every day. At the minute it's a case of wake up, sort kids, work all day, house all evening, home and kids again, eat about 8/9, try to claim an hour or two to myself to wind down, go to bed too late, wake up tired and start again I'll stick some pics up at some point, hose has changed a reasonable amount since we got the keys (thanks feck...) Still seems to be in the black on this one, but f**k me this renovation has made a dent. Our place in Ivybridge is now on the market. Just sayin... Anybody gone full smart home recently? I don't want to go balls deep, but some lighting/routines/general integration appeals so in research mode at the moment.

Yaaaaaaaaay, plumbing (and a bit of fixing previous plumber's destruction for good measure)

Despite the best efforts of myself and the pub, Rich finished his degree years ago. Begone, spambot!

In other Rampage news, not like Gee to f**k himself up in Utah 🙄