5am was the ‘cool’ time to wake up for the productivity types a few years ago, but I’m seeing more videos on social media of people waking up as early as 3am (which is the middle of the night as far as I’m concerned).
Social media is obviously not representative of wider society, so what time do you wake up?
I was on the M25 this evening. I joined with no signed variable limit, so pootled along at 70. Eventually reached a gantry with a 60 in a red circle, so slowed down, then subsequently 50 and 40. I remained in the outside lane in obvious congestion as prior to the speed change I’d been going faster than the traffic to my left.
Suddenly, with no visible gantry, everyone around me starts speeding up. I am not aware that I’ve seen a NSL sign, but trying to pull left is impossible as I’m being undertaken by people suddenly doing 50-60mph. So I speed up slightly, to mid-40s, feeling like a tool as I try and get left until I’m sure I’m actually permitted to speed up as I’m aware there are lots of speed cameras on that stretch.
We then pass another gantry that is blank. The gantry after that has a NSL and I return to 70.
My understanding of the rules of VSL is that a blank gantry means continue at the previously signed speed, not that it’s NSL? If so, I especially with no gantry in eyeline, why did everyone feel comfortable to start accelerating? Or should I have taken the blank gantry as an indication to return to normal speed?
I’m in the process of creating a shortcut to prompt my smart devices when I get home.
When CarPlay disconnects, I want it to see if I connect to my home WiFi. If I connect to my home WiFi (ie I’ve arrived home and not another location), I want it to trigger my smart devices if it’s dark. I can’t seem to set a time as after sunset on this process, so I’m using the manual time input. However, if I set it for 9pm, does it only go to midnight before it no longer applies? ie if I arrive home at 00:01, will the automation not trigger as it’s not ‘after’ 9pm in that day? Do I need to duplicate it to do one before, say, 6am?
Hi! I’m a bridesmaid for a friend next year, and due to storage limitations I’ve offered to store her dress until her wedding. How do we go about insuring it? Her wedding insurance only covers it in the possession of “close family” and only for three months before the wedding. She can’t store it there as they live hours away and it’ll need alterations. I’m pretty sure my house insurance only covers my possessions. Any ideas?
ETA: my home insurance, Lemonade, has said: “Your Lemonade Contents policy covers your own personal possessions, and there isn’t specific cover for visitors’ belongings. Because the wedding dress belongs to your friend, it can’t be added to your policy as one of your contents, even though you’ll be storing it at your home temporarily. Your friend would therefore need to arrange suitable cover for the dress in her own name while it’s being stored with you.”
Where can such insurance be found?!
Not sure that's the right flair, but apologies.
I just read a thread asking if the UK government's doctoral loan was worth it for self-funded PhDs. Of course, the prevailing advice is that you shouldn't do an unfunded PhD, and I prescribe to that for a number of individual and systemic reasons, not least because it favours a very narrow group of already privileged researchers, but I acknowledged that the funding landscape is very different in the UK than the US. I'll disclose I'm ESRC funded.
However, a point has to be acknowledged... some PhDs just aren't societally valuable. Some cigarette packet maths says that, using this data from 2022 and removing the UKRI/RE/IUK funding, only 3.4% of the UKRI's budget goes to the AHRC, and 5.7% to the ESRC. In comparison, the EPSRC gets almost 30%. I am not saying the Arts and Humanities are not societally valuable, not at all – they teach critical thinking and analysis better than most subjects. However, there are projects that exist within particularly those disciplines that will never have a tangible impact on Joe Blogs' life. I'm sure that's a case for some ESRC projects too.
There has to be a case made for a public benefit of using public money, and unfortunately the AHRC takes the brunt of that because, sometimes, it's hard to see the wider benefit of some projects. If you're doing a project on the motif of rabbits in Chaucer's early works, it's hard to see how that's going to benefit Bob down the road. And then the question becomes – how much are you personally willing to pay to do that research?
So, while I do fundamentally believe that PhDs should never be self-funded, there are going to be cases where individuals see the value in doing that research more than their institution, because they want to satiate their intellectual curiosity etc etc. Obviously, the UK government doctoral loan isn't enough to cover this. At what point would people draw the line? What is too much to pay to do something for the love of it? If the doctoral loan wasn't available, and the only option was a bank loan, would as many people still do self-funded PhDs?
Having read Streetsblog's series on the speeding cop, I came across a curious point in the body of text that said that Americans cannot get points on their driving licence from a fixed speed camera, only fines. This puts speeding – even at double the limit – as a civil matter and if you pay the fine it's not an issue, if you're not caught by a human. The supposed reason is because speeding cameras cannot identify the person driving and thus are not able to give them due process of the law.
Surely that is preposterous?! In the UK, if you get caught speeding, you get sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution and are legally required to identify the driver. What is it about American speed cameras that don't allow this? It's also contradictory with other crimes – the article above points out that the issue is that NYPD won't admit the cop is driving because nobody (else) can prove that he was driving, but if he'd been involved in a murder then his car's movements would likely contribute to at least circumstantial evidence.
It seems insane that the 5th Amendment is being bastardised in such a way that there isn't a consistent application and/or that your cameras are so inadequate that they can't take a photo of the driver's face. How on Earth is speeding, unless caught in that moment by a human being, equivalent to parking in front of a fire hydrant?!
This has happened twice in the last couple of weeks. I showed a friend a photo of my dog in my camera roll, and when they handed my phone back they’d swiped through several photos, hurtling catastrophically towards some… R rated photos I’d taken earlier that week.
Then, I was showing my cousin a photo of the guy I’m dating on his Instagram. She took the phone, to look a bit more closely I thought, but when she handed it back she’d scrolled up through several (perfectly acceptable) photos.
What happened to look, don’t touch?!
I’ve deduced that my SPF (Body Shop Skin Defence) is what’s causing the mild perioral dermatitis flares around my mouth. It’s a shame because I love the product – it goes on smoothly, blends easily and is really glowy. But I currently resemble Homer Simpson so it’s gotta go.
I’ve tried the La Roche Posay Anthelios and HATED it – it was so gritty and horrible.
I don’t usually react to skincare products in this way, so not sure if it’s actually a chemical sunscreen issue or whether I should stick to mineral ones. Grateful for suggestions for both! Unscented too please.
I’ve got a microfibre/leather interior in my car. Where my long-haired dog has been leaning against it has now become oily and covered in what I can only describe as a film. Although I now use a full-width seat cover, how I can clean this?
The M40 gets a bit of a rep as the Wild West of motorways – anything goes because it’s largely unmonitored. But there’s definitely been an uptick in the last couple of years of TVP and Warwickshire Police using mobile speed vans. Is it no longer living up to its rep?
I’ve recently tried hair removal cream (WooWoo Tame It) and I like it. It’s not perfect – I still get small bumps and irritation, but it’s a lot better than the equivalent when using razors. It works best for my labia majora and my butt crack, where it’s very effective. However, I find it grows back soooo quickly on my mons pubis and my thigh creases. Within a couple of days I’m out of stubble territory and back to very short hair. It’s not a particularly cheap method, at £10 a tube. Does anyone have any tips to make it more effective?
IT HAPPENED. I’ve been playing religiously since it was launched and many times have bemoaned what felt like an impossible hard time limit.
BUT I DID IT.
Best day of my life!!!
Pips #269 Easy 🟢
0:13 🍪
Pips #269 Medium 🟡
0:28 🍪
Pips #269 Hard 🔴
0:50 🍪
I’m in the UK and use a washer/dryer combo.
I’ve always been complimented on my laundry. It normally smells delightful. But in the last few weeks, I’ve had two sets of bedding that just never smell clean. There’s almost like an oily smell to them? They’re both white cotton sets. I also have a green cotton set that’s washed almost identically, except without whitening powder. I tried omitting this but the smell still stands. Line drying outside versus inside makes no odds, as does forgoing a tumble.
Have cleaned the drum with soda crystals, tried adding extra rinses and spins… nada. The machine is less than two years old and I clean it well regularly. I’d have thought if it was a maintenance issue then all my laundry would smell?!
All my other washing smells absolutely delightful despite the fact I’m not using anything different to the sheets, minus the fabric softener for my towels. It’s driving demented. Do I just give up and buy two new bedding sets?!
I use the Surf Passion Bloom liquid detergent, occasionally the vanish whitening powder, comfort passion bloom fabric conditioner and a splash of dettol laundry sanitiser.
I see a lot of IG posts advertising ‘45 minute!’ weight routines, usually comprised of 4 or so exercises, with 3 sets of 8 or so reps. How on earth is that taking 45 minutes?! I did a 5 exercise leg day today, mostly 3 sets but one with 4, all 8 reps til failure, and that still only took me 25 minutes including waiting for a couple for the last machine. I rested until I felt ready between sets – my heart rate dropped slightly and breathing evened. I don’t understand why I’d need to rest any longer between sets, nor do I get people sat on a machine doing nothing but scrolling on their phone for 10 minutes.
Can someone please explain how a 4-exercise workout could possibly take so long?