Amsterdam_Neil_D

I think they'd do well with a "can you speak?" thread to be honest. They are funny though, like when you see small heaths walking around outside there compound or if they manage to get to a shopping area unsupervised, you can see them looking at all the shapes and colours and trying desperately to formulate this into some sort of environmental awareness. They will be talking next i suppose, early small heaths are trying to apply the concept that some sounds have a meaning attached to the them. On a brighter note, I hear the trial of their owner could be a re-trial. Shame.

Watched a couple of films this week:- 1. Man of Steel : Awesome Awesome film, I was so surprised at how good it was. I am not really one for the super human films but I totally enjoyed this film from start to finish. 10/10 2. Gravity: Went to the Cinema to see this. Impressive, Sandra Bullock (My mrs is the same age and looks very much the same face wise, I kid you not) is amazing in it and for a film that really only has 2 people in it I thought it superb. 9/10 (The 3D in this was brilliant as the obvious things such as water in a weightless environment are exactly suited to 3D. A few kids in the cinema (small) were trying to grab some of the water drops it was that good).

As much as the start of the universe is interesting, the end could help us work it all out also IMO. The universe is dying, at a slow rate but still dying. As it expands the interaction of objects reduces and in billions of years the fire's that shone so bright will be blacker than a shark's eye. The end result is black, if it expands infinitely and there is only X amount of "Stuff" in it then at some point there will be a time where F**k all is going on and the closest objects are millions of light years away from each other. Not that great a party after all. No stars, suns, or asteroids. Basically nothing. Which is why the end could be the beginning, at this point a black hole or similar could be all consuming and swallow the whole universe and pop it out from another point, a birth of a universe so to speak.....which is the big bang and round and round we go. Just a guess

Read a few lately. 1. Under the dome (S.King) Small town USA, The Town Chester's Mill has a giant clear Dome dropped on it. Nothing in or out. Really enjoyed it and finished it in a week. A brilliant story and the characters and town in question were painted perfectly by a writer who is back to his best. Its about 700 + pages but felt really short. 8/10 (The TV show while enjoyable is a pale reflection of the book and the inner workings of the story as a whole. 5/10) 2. 77 Days in September Describes the aftermath of a EMP strike on the US, One man's journey to get home to family and kids. 1500 miles by foot. Started brilliantly with a right nice accident which was really well written. Goes downhill after that, it's just all to nice, and the guy in question is unbelievable in his actions and if you are traveling and there are no cars but the region is flat you don't walk do you ? (Bike, in line skates or pogo stick.....but walking ?) 4/10 (I am not 100% it's a adult book now, thinking about it) edit....Halfway through "The Shining" at the moment. Can't believe I missed this book. Utterly brilliant so far, WTF was the film all about ?

I know what you mean but the Netherlands is so small that I just personally call the whole place Holland, they do as well more and more (See flags at World Cup etc).

Someone in my family is the same (Dutch). Not sure but if there is a mental problem with small country syndrome then they have it. So far he has had 10 + interviews for jobs in Holland, all of them without fail are "the biggest companies in the world" and 200k - 300k a year and it's not that he wants the job, they want him more apparently. I had the joy of of driving a new audi A7 for 2 months as the CEO is a very nice (English) bloke, suprise suprise....his mate had just ordered a R8 and phoned him up to ask his advice. (He knows nothing about cars). Other gems, Holland has the best roads in the World apparently (They are actually clueless in road design and a child could design and implement the roads a lot better). It has the biggest and best music festivals in the world. He has driven around Zandvoort race track and did over 200 mph on the straight.

Ha Ha, I will think about it but its expensive but Villa fans will get a discount

Thanks guys, really nice comments. I don't really have that many people I can call on for feedback so I really appreciate it. More in the pipe line, Mercedes next (The gull wing one, cant remember the name at the moment) Costs are really low for this and the total parts for the Audi was 100 pound maximum so dunn, there might be a business in there somewhere. Cheers i feel a lot better now as one never knows with a project such as this.

In a good way ?

Just finished "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. Quite a long book but I really enjoyed it. I would give it 9 out of 10. It's about a experiment that goes very wrong and the earth pays a heavy price for this. 1 girl holds the key to it all and what starts out as a description of her and her mothers early life turns into a story spanning a 100 years give or take. There is a point in the book where I was speechless and had to put the book down for 10 minutes to contemplate what just happened, absolutely brilliant. I could not put this book down and there is a follow up book to this also.

Please see the "Any Audi Drivers?" Thread, I have added some Audi R8 pics that I would really appreciate some feedback on from the car peoples. Thanks. very much.

Ok, bit of a delay but here we go. I don't want to start a new thread so I will throw this in here as it's kind of linked (ish) This is a prototype of an idea I had. I used the R8 as am example. I will meet a guy who owns an AUDI dealership in Amsterdam and the idea is that if someone buys an R8 then they can get an exact copy of it (Paint / seat colours / carpet etc) from me in a box like this one. LEDS for the headlights and the main beam and interior lights are all on separate circuits / switches. This took a long time and this one is a bit wrecked as i was trying things (EG drilling the LED holes in the headlight cluster was an afterthought so i had to take it apart again. As far as I can find on the internet this has not been done before to a little 1:24 scale model. All electrics are in the hidden bit of the box but the car is full of approx 100 fibre optics, mainly in the bonnet on this car through to in the bottom of the box. As an idea what do you guys think ? I can do other cars as well quite easily now i have a method. Lights present for window buttons + 2 on the actual Wheel + all other sat nav and dashboard lights, One fibre dropped out the glass but for the prototype you get the idea. These LEDS work on there own and are not in the main headlight circuit. One spare switch. Please delete post if I have really annoyed anyone by placing it here :-)

OK, I know this is stupid but it wont let me post pictures via a link. If I paste the link in the browser picture is there fine. If I post on VT no matter what I do it says the extension is not allowed ? it was a .jpg ? Edit I am sure this is my fault but I don't know why, If I link from Drop box, then no good but from picasa it works. Apologies as I am sure it has been said before, my bad.

Its not what you think but I will post anyway as its a quiet on here today.

As we are talking small fast cars...I have a nice Audi R8 that I have modifed. I know its not directly anything to do with the original post but could I sneak a few pics in for feedback as to the idea and how it looks and stuff as I don't think it needs a thread of it's own ? Any violent objections ? (Only 2 or 3 pics)

Pretty good reply Mr Pie :-) It does not explain the Dutch example though, it's not the drug it's the people and environment I have decided since this morning. It must be as your experience is the polar opposite of mine and millions in Holland. I don't even drink alcohol at all either for the same reasons as you listed. In my experience people who drink are more dangerous than virtually anyone else and they tend to turn into pricks so I don't touch the stuff, It just don't make sense (Not your post) but the fact that a whole country has it legal, is happier, and most things about general life all OK. If it was made legal in the UK I think the place would grind to a halt.

Sorry but nearly everything written in this thread is wrong. There is nothing wrong with it and alcohol is a lot more dangerous. Unless you have lived in both countries (Legal / non legal) and know how it actually works in the real world then it just sounds like people saying something is bad without having a clue. Its not the drugs that are the problem. Holland is number 1 place to bring up kids in Europe yet weed is sold or grown everywhere. I have smoked it since the early 90's and if all the above is 1 % true I would not have been given a job or managed to crawl out of bed to emigrate and live here for going on 13 years. I am not an exception to the rule. the country runs fine. Next time you or one of your mates gets glassed in a pub and you are on the way to hospital and I am sitting in a coffee shop full of tourists and locals all having a laugh and getting on fine....tell me again again about the paranoid thing. Sorry but 90 % of the stuff in this thread is just made up BS IMO based on the Daily Mail.

Thanks.....a unforgettable day for me.

I am a grandad at age 41 :-) One of my Step kids had a baby girl a few days ago, 3 weeks early but all is well. (Been her step dad for 12 years + so I qualify i think) Having never had the opportunity to have my own kids I am so happy it's untrue. Last weekend went like this :- Villa do really well 1st half , feeling confident. I had 3 pound each way on the winner in the Grand National (80-1 as I put it on in the morning) Villa go on to be outstanding and kill the inbreds 1-3 I then became a grandad later that evening and the baby was OK, Labour was 3 hours spot on. Receive picture of little one on the ipad at 10.00pm Watch MOTD. So 1 of these days every 41 years will do me.

Long list then, what was it on a roll of wallpaper

I took a look at this site yesterday and think its great, it throws up some really good recommendations (far better than amazon) and it's also just a good way to keep a record of what you have read or what you want to read so far I've marked 128 books as read You are correct the recommendations are spot on. I am marking books read as I come across them now, I am only up to about 50. I am reading 2 books at the same time, both from good reads. Also try the clubs, really good as well. If you add a book to (to read) you will sometimes get a personnel message from the actual author as a lot of authors seem to be on there (eg S king etc) Top top site and on a tablet or similar, highly addictive.

I do that as well, it amuses me no end. I just tell them I am going to get whatever they need and put the phone down so they can just hear the TV. I might take a clip from a film though and just play that, some scene where it starts normal and ends in disaster ? (Thinking about it, Allan Partridge could be more than ideal for this "Back of the net". English is the 2nd language for the idiots that cold call me so even better. Do you want a loan ? "Back of the net"

Once altered and doctored to suit needs then yes it is it seems. It's one of them paradox things, Police always lie / Tories always lie. If they are not careful they will tear time and we will all be gone.

I watched Hangover part 2 as well yesterday and was highly disappointed. It was never going to reach the heights of the 1st film. 4/10

If you are into books and stuff, goodreads.com is worth a look. Really impressed with it.