Today I acquired...........

[sako243]

Being that one half of the family is Scots, I have debated a kilt and bonny prince charlie/doublet over the years...

But am very conscious of coming across like a prick on account of how terribly English I sound (and never more than when I am speaking Scots or Doric).

Hey - I've got a Welsh accent but at least that's Celtic.

Ironically never had a bad or leery comment, most just ask whether I'm a "true" Scot . Depends on who's asking but the responses are either I ignore them or say "it's for a me to know and you to find out".

 

[MetalMonkey]

A bespoke suit straight from the tailor in Vietnam who made me some inexpensive shirts overnight when china southern lost my baggage last year.

I've still got the card for a custom tailors in Hong Kong - needed a suit while I was out there and they measured me up and knocked three of them out with a selection of shirts in a couple of days.
It was a long time ago, but it wasn't expensive either - comparable to off the shelf over here.

I still have them, optimistically in hope that one day I'll be able to fit back in them.

 

[MetalMonkey]

What I understand you call a breaker bar is what I know as a swingle to be used for running up free moving nuts .

Notice there is a small pin holding the shaft to pivot the square drive , the pins have a nasty habit of shearing or wrenching free as the jaws of the handle come apart when you put a bit of pressure on them .

I'd rather use a simple hex impact socket and 1/2 or 3/4" short tee and decent Tommy bar to crack off such nuts when ever possible .

I've always known them as a breaker bar, and they are designed to break things loose.
There are a couple of head types - the ones with the forked handle and the ones with the forked knuckle (they usually sell replacement knuckle/pins if you break this style).
Quality varies, I know the koken ones have an oval profile in the direction of the force for added strength.

Can't say I've ever broken one (yet), but if it starts getting sketchy I swap to a different tool, as you can really damage yourself if they let go.
Tommy bars I've bent many times, but I think the steel is much softer on those, especially the cheaper ones.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

My dad was from Wick, Caithness (site of the first industrial estate). He would not be seen dead in a kilt, nor would any of his family.

My family are split, some use a kilt (or trews) as their only formal wear, some absolutely hate it and wouldn't be seen dead in highland dress.

As for tartans and clans, all a fiction.

I always thought they were part of the fine Scots tradition of being just that bit better at profiteering from the colonies than anyone else...

How else do you explain all the tartan "traditions" being perfectly designed to funnel gullible Americans desperate for a sense of history and place, to artisanal weavers and tailors that are only available in Scotland?

Clever fellows those ancient chieftains, foreseeing their kinfolk +600 years in the future would need a catchy marketing gimmick.

 

[cheb]

Kilts: Worn by Scots in America and Americans in Scotland.

 

[Jaeger_S2k]

Kilts: Worn by Scots in America and Americans in Scotland.

... and Scots in Italy

 

[OJCar]

"Ach Aye, The gadgie will be at being a member o' the Professional Highlanders".

 

[Turbo]

I would qualify to wear a kilt as I am of Scottish descent but wearing a kilt in August would be torture!

 

[DAPPH]

I've always known them as a breaker bar, and they are designed to break things loose.
There are a couple of head types - the ones with the forked handle and the ones with the forked knuckle (they usually sell replacement knuckle/pins if you break this style).
Quality varies, I know the koken ones have an oval profile in the direction of the force for added strength.

Can't say I've ever broken one (yet), but if it starts getting sketchy I swap to a different tool, as you can really damage yourself if they let go.
Tommy bars I've bent many times, but I think the steel is much softer on those, especially the cheaper ones.

I've still got some Hazet spanners , sockets & bars etc. from a Crimbo raffle prize win back in 1975 ( that weren't stolen from me ) . The 1/2 inch Harzet bar has has some serious effort applied to it , enough to split /shatter several 1/2 square drive old style Britool & Japanese Elora sockets & sheer a Britool short Tee. at the square drive

Here is a 3/4 " square drive broken breaker bar ( it's in the name ).

 

[DAPPH]

My family are split, some use a kilt (or trews) as their only formal wear, some absolutely hate it and wouldn't be seen dead in highland dress.


I always thought they were part of the fine Scots tradition of being just that bit better at profiteering from the colonies than anyone else...

How else do you explain all the tartan "traditions" being perfectly designed to funnel gullible Americans desperate for a sense of history and place, to artisanal weavers and tailors that are only available in Scotland?

Clever fellows those ancient chieftains, foreseeing their kinfolk +600 years in the future would need a catchy marketing gimmick.

Prior to Victoria arriving on the scene wasn't the belted plaid the normal attire of the majority of Scots ?

Blame Queen Victoria , she caused the government raise the Jock regiments and got them wearing kilts .
Poor wee sods , WW1 saw them wearing them either perpetually sopping wet or caked in thick mud full of rotting flesh etc whilst fighting at the front in France .Rough woven woolen kilts which rubbed the skin off the back of the wee Jocks knees & calf's causing many to get gangrene & die as a result . Even worst if they didn't have clean dry jock straps to wear as well for they todgers & balls got rubbed raw by their kilts as well

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=864d26166cfd3be7494e90a6efcb3f59f054b67765046193ab65355691694864JmltdHM9MTc0MzU1MjAwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=2d64f7ff-ea41-6c3c-33eb-e243eb196d0e&psq=when+did+wearing+a+plaid++become+common+in+Scotland+%3f&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9jbGFuLmNvbS9ibG9nL3BsYWlkLXRyYWRpdGlvbmFsLXNjb3R0aXNoLWNsb2FrLXdyYXA&ntb=1

 

[Farside]

As for tartans and clans, all a fiction.

Yep, it's all billhooks, a Walter Scott piece of nonsense.
Sure, there were clans, but the dress they wore was nothing like as varied in patterns as you would be led to believe now.
Anyhow, most of them were just poor sods working the land for chieftans until some thievin' Norman came along and killed the chieftan, saying "It's all mine, now."
This was how most of the silly sods were suckered into fighting the internecine Norman Wars, thinking it was for Scotland.

 

[Farside]

most just ask whether I'm a "true" Scot

Options for qualifying...
One or both parents are.
and...
You live there.

 

[cheb]

If I had to wear my transitional ancestral clothing it would be either a peasant's smock or a **** sack tied up in the middle.

Elegance? I've heard of it.

 

[indykid]

Tyre valve replacement kit. Had a few valves start leaking on the trailers, age? 20mins to the nearest garage was getting old. Works like a charm, 3 done so far in the last few weeks.


View attachment 490028

I wasn't aware there were any branded kits available, but having seen the chinese ones, I'd thought about making my own. Found this place on ebay was the cheapest selling the laser 5540 at just over £15 posted, but was out of stock. I watched the listing then got sent an offer for 5% off, so £14.70. Not sure if more stock came in or they found an odd set kicking about, but on the back of your post, I've bought one too. You should get in touch with Laser and ask for commission.

I abhor giving money to tyre monkeys but don't have access to a tyre changer and balancer anymore. The last time I had tyres fitted, they put 130g of balancing weight on one wheel. I would have told them to rotate the tyre, but she'd already been ****ty about me taking my own locking wheel nuts off with the breaker bar and asking her to use the jacking points on the subframes, not the sills. Bridge Tyres in horbury - just don't bother.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Options for qualifying...
One or both parents are.
and...
You live there.

I have long got the impression that:
"has a credible association with Scotland, gets that it has it's own distinct culture, and values that culture"
is acceptable for most Scots.

So long as you don't try to over-egg it like the yanks do.

 

[Craig-SM]

Acquired a Mac Mini M4 last week but only just got chance to set it up today, I know it's a computer but it's my everyday tool. Unbelievable processing power from a 5"x 5" x 1.5" box and silent too. Already had a Mac Mini M1 which looks huge compared to this and the difference in speed is evident already. Just need to get the Mini M1 ready for resale now so time to consult YouTube on how to do that.

 

[Craig-SM]

I wasn't aware there were any branded kits available, but having seen the chinese ones, I'd thought about making my own. Found this place on ebay was the cheapest selling the laser 5540 at just over £15 posted, but was out of stock. I watched the listing then got sent an offer for 5% off, so £14.70. Not sure if more stock came in or they found an odd set kicking about, but on the back of your post, I've bought one too. You should get in touch with Laser and ask for commission.

I abhor giving money to tyre monkeys but don't have access to a tyre changer and balancer anymore. The last time I had tyres fitted, they put 130g of balancing weight on one wheel. I would have told them to rotate the tyre, but she'd already been ****ty about me taking my own locking wheel nuts off with the breaker bar and asking her to use the jacking points on the subframes, not the sills. Bridge Tyres in horbury - just don't bother.

Just realised you're in my neck of the woods. If you need to use a tyre fitter again then I recommend Morley Tyres & Exhaust near ASDA at Morley

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Acquired a Mac Mini M4 last week but only just got chance to set it up today, I know it's a computer but it's my everyday tool. Unbelievable processing power from a 5"x 5" x 1.5" box and silent too. Already had a Mac Mini M1 which looks huge compared to this and the difference in speed is evident already. Just need to get the Mini M1 ready for resale now so time to consult YouTube on how to do that.

In principle, the M4 looks like an amazing deal, I googled the spec and was seriously impressed.

But then I realised Mac pulled Bootcamp and native support for Windows (and thus a huge range of professional software packages) and Linux/BSB distros when they switched to the M series chips...

And as far as I can tell that's entirely a deliberate choice by Apple to prevent drivers being written that would allow other Boot OS's as you can natively run the ARM64 version of Windows 11 and myriad unix-like OS's on Qualcomm Snapdragon and other chipsets using the ARM architecture.

Which basically writes them off again for my use cases, I guess I will stick to Lenovo and HP.

I assume that your day-job is in the creative sector if a MacOS locked device is suitable as a work machine?

 

[sako243]

Options for qualifying...
One or both parents are.
and...
You live there.

I think you missed the quotes around the "true"

 

[Craig-SM]

In principle, the M4 looks like an amazing deal, I googled the spec and was seriously impressed.

But then I realised Mac pulled Bootcamp and native support for Windows (and thus a huge range of professional software packages) and Linux/BSB distros when they switched to the M series chips...

And as far as I can tell that's entirely a deliberate choice by Apple to prevent drivers being written that would allow other Boot OS's as you can natively run the ARM64 version of Windows 11 and myriad unix-like OS's on Qualcomm Snapdragon and other chipsets using the ARM architecture.

Which basically writes them off again for my use cases, I guess I will stick to Lenovo and HP.

I assume that your day-job is in the creative sector if a MacOS locked device is suitable as a work machine?

When I first started using Mac's I had bootcamp and later Parallels but found I used them less and less so not an issue for me. I still have a desktop PC and laptop just in case I need to use something that is historical but not needed to do soon over 2 years.

I'm an accountant but all my software is changed to Mac based or online years ago. I can see the issue for people who use old software for programming machines etc but not an issue for me. Parallels still runs Windows on M series chips and you can do that within a Windows window or just open the program whilst in Mac OS.