Nigel Bridgman-Elliot

It would be interesting to know if Trump International and Donald had communicated this fact, or whether he was kept in the dark about these little points.. Though, I'm pretty sure he would be like all the developers I know, who are only after making money and don't really care about anything else. As such, the authorities should have held out and insisted on an improved design which would have seen the SSSI protected and yet allowed the golf course to go ahead. But of course, you do risk then the developer taking their ball and going someplace else.. But if you don't, your just going to get walked over the next time and before you know it, it will be like it is here, surrounded by golf courses for the lucky few to enjoy and the rest of us make do with our concrete jungle..

My Pace PV3 box at least has a fair bit of space around the HD and even a little fan, which is a big improvement on the previous SKY boxes where you had to retrofit your own fan to stop them getting so hot! HD's in the unit get an awful lot of use (You can turn off various settings to slow the aging process so to speak, like the instant rewind.) so I'm not suprised they might on average only last say 3 years. But its pretty easy to replace the HD yourself as I found out when I had to do it, much cheaper than buying a new box. I do wish SKY would sort out their firmware/software bugs. I have heard of hacked versions of SKY firmware out there, so maybe we'll see an open source effort one day.. Its a shame we are limited to only SKY boxes for our service, I'd love to see a box which removes the logo's from the screen, thats about my number one gripe, besides the all too common today firmware bugs..

Trouble shooting SKY+ boxes is a bit of a black art I'm finding myself.. Just replaced the HD in mine and its much better now. Mind you, I also needed to get up the ladder and tweak the LNB a bit after it got knocked and signal quality took a nose dive such that E4/etc. picture started to break up. Your best bet for advice would be this forum: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=35 Could be your box on its way out, could be bad rain, heavy wind, nearby lightning, planner rebuild in order, maybe a full system reset might fix it, water in the cabling, or software bug

Did you use the same power lead for the new PSU as the old one ? Its just once I saw a PC whose power lead was rather cheap and tacky, and instead of spring type contacts in the kettle plug end it had solid ones, and the connection wasn't always perfect, if you banged anything nearby the PC would occasionally lose power for a moment. Just replaced my own PSU as it turns out, after my old one died with a very loud bang and room lighting sparks out of the back of it. (Antec nearly 3 years old model..) Replaced with a cheap Maplins 480w Xpower GTX light PSU at £25, seems ok though the leads on it are really short!

The reasons why there was problems with this project in particular interest me, my efforts to try and find out proved difficult mind you.. I asked some of the local politicans and associated parties in the council and they quickly didn't want to talk about it at all, nor did they want to talk about any other possible developments what so ever.. But before they stopped talking, they did mention that the whole situation grew from an apparent lack of communication! Donald started the ball rolling by asking if they thought a development was a good idea, they said yes in principle, then Donald went away and did some plans. So far so good.. Then Donald presented those plans, and they didn't like them. Now, I would have thought your or I might then have chatted with Donald and sorted out our differences, engaged in dialogue, communication, back and forth and all that like so that the things they didn't like could be changed, offers made/etc/etc. But no, they didn't like them, they objected, and they refused to discuss it.. Shouldn't the solution be for local councils and politicans to engage in more active communication so that plans can be altered and changed to make the majority of people happy, rather than everyone take sides and suddenly battle it out to the final victory. Now if we could just get Donald to come here and post and give us his side of things..

From the picture it appears as if the foundation of concrete wasn't either heavy enough, or the wrong shape to hold up against the winds. When I last did anything like that myself, I went for a stepped inverted pyramid shape with a large diameter top piece with the idea that it wouldn't easily topple over. Whats anyone elses thoughts on their poor design and what could have been done better ? Are the really big turbines going to be anchored to the rock underneath ?

Similar design here: http://www.diginfo.tv/2007/03/16/070316-bs-nextstage-dome-don.php http://www.dome-house.jp Which has a fairly nice movie (Even though its in Japanese, you don't really need to know whats being said, you can watch the pretty pictures ) which shows the panels, inside and also multi-dome homes, not to mention how they are put together in a day! http://www.dome-house.jp/movie.html I wonder how they solve the cracking issue with the final coat ?

Incidently, how much does the advertising add to the budget if I can ask that! I was just wondering, what it might cost in the way of donations/etc. to get rid of the adverts!

There isn't a company at the moment, products still in development stage, but soon there will be! I've heard of large concrete structures being kept at a constant tempreature during the curing stage by having water sprayed on them, I assumed this was to prevent uneven cooling and cracking ? I wonder, does the cracking only occur if there is a tempreature difference between areas of the concrete ?

You never know, I might win the lottery too Then there is always Eternity II.. Working on the Large Hadron Collider at this stage wouldn't be particularly useful to my long term plans at all, plus I reckon I can do more good elsewhere.

FX [ smiles ] I do wish to try and address all issues though, and do the best I can to fit in.

I'll get my webcam back up and running, then you can see I'm real and not Mr Hill. I'd be interested to know your objections Infilrator, is there something in particular about my plan that you want changed, or that I missed out ?

Thanks for that MaxFusion, I'll have a looksie. I have found over the years that using my real name and not hiding who I am has helped me establish credibility and trust with people. Though at first I may well come across as eccentric, somewhat loud and egotistical. I do make friends and end up helping people, plus I come with entertainment value

Not just a radical new home for myself, thats the start yes, but the intention is to not just stop there but to continue with the plan of creating the brave new world by building more homes, at the very least cheap rented homes would help out the local economy, hopefully slow or reverse the drop in population levels and provide an example of something which looks nicer on the landscape as well as practically a better house design. I quite agree that spending time here is important, and its quite common for me to spend a long time doing my homework, as its easier to make a decision in theory than inpractice. I also realise that the challanges/environment is going to be harder and I'm under no illusion that its all going to be rosy, but instead the most difficult challange of my life to make happen and to end up wearing slippers by the fire I'm a great one for hording supplies me, so I'll probably get my first load or two of shopping delivered by artic truck to make sure I don't run short unexpectedly (During the Y2K thing I had a years supply of food/water onhand just in case.) Its still unclear to me on the cracking aspect with concrete, as I've heard of large structures made which haven't cracked. At the moment I'm looking at a dome size of 50ft across. Oh yes, I'd be employing structural engineers to go over my figures with a fine tooth comb, and I do realise I have much to learn before I get to that stage. But having seen other people have such domes built, it encourages me that its possible, I just need to understand more on how. Is there any update on what happened to the Gentec Venturi guy ? (Also, why did he decide not to choose Shetlands for his idea ?)

Is linked on my website (But as I need to rebuild the Silverlight front end its not necessarly easy to get into at the moment, and before that rebuild my workstation..) Well, you can look at my previous one which didn't do anything: (R&D take so long.) http://www.signal100.com I really must setup another soon as we are approaching the days of actually making money instead of just spending it (Though the website will remain until we come up with a more catchy name, thats not already taken/etc/etc.)

CIX rarely tells anyone off for saying anything (I've been a member myself for is it 13 years now...), its only lately that acceptable use policies have began to be used by people afraid of others speaking about them in public and causing embarressment when speaking the truth. Previously, if someone said something that was a lie, you could defend yourself in debate and show your evidence to everyone, often then the lier would be shown up as that. Nowdays, no one dare say anything in most quarters for fear of the finger of doom being pointed and told to shut up or be sued. Ebay sadly went really down hill when it stopped people talking about their experiences, and now we have: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5009293.ece > eBay buyer faces libel action after leaving negative feedback Even asking councillors on forums nowdays will get you thrown off when you ask such awkward questions as how much is the budget for collecting rubbish.. Now what happens is people speak behind closed doors, or closed forums.. so its now eaiser for people to make up lies as there is no one there to defend against them.

Oh I have serious plans, otherwise I wouldn't be here talking. (And using my real name!) If you mean, serious plans and with millions in my back pocket, then no I do not have plenty of money at the moment. But even with a small amount we could still build our own home, and having looked around the rest of the UK, Shetland is looking most promising. Unless you know somewhere else you can buy cheap land and doesn't have much crime..

But doesn't spin reduce the effect of gravity by centrifugal force ? I see I'm now not alone in this thought: http://www.oneoffpublishing.com/prnov04.html http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dinosaurs-Expanding-Earth-Explanation-Pre-historic/dp/0952260301 And an interesting, but long (I just skimmed it myself, not read it yet.) thread about the subject here it appears: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?s=a4e0de5c1104a20ebff0daddb99ac6a4&showtopic=53775

Ironically, if North Korea had internet access and the service was hosted there, you might get more freedom of speach to talk I too remember the old days when you could say anything. (I'm suprised there isn't a usenet/newsgroup shetland group..) And nowdays you have to watch every word, which rather makes it hard at times to fight the man so to speak.

I pop out to pick up some shopping and your all chattering away Alas I'm not NJT Computing Ltd, but quite happy for anyone to dig around about me, some ever helpful clues to aid that: Search web for Nanos (I've also started using Zanos lately, as nanos brings up far too many nano this and nano that, its not like the old days..) Also, if you search google groups for oh say 'Nigel Jarman' your also spot me here or there, I tended to use a cix.co.uk or complink.co.uk email addresses there. Pictures of me here: http://www.nanos.org.uk/me/pictures/pictures.htm Not to be confused with this Nanos http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2005/509/1 (Oh you should have seen the fuss the last time people thought I was someone else!) This is also me: ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/magazines/TheGamesMachine/Issue12/Pages/TheGamesMachine1200092.jpg (Incidently, being in 2,000 forums, I sometimes take a while to revisit ones, a PBM one for example, I think I took 10 years between comments once, so I don't respond within an hour or two here, its because I really am busy elsewhere, but I haven't vanished!) As for expansion joints, I do hear they are a good idea, and I wonder about them in domes. I wonder that if the tempreature is kept constant, then you won't get any cracks. (I've heard of domes which have cracked when the sun hit them, and others built under cover to maybe try and avoid this issue.) So I'm all ears to hear whether joints are a good or bad thing and why, as the design is in the early stages its better to change things now than later on half way through building! So far my look at Fetlar shows that it might support an additional 20 people based on figures about the sewage system there, not that I might necessarly use it, I'd have a go with my own system. But its probably best to start off not being afraid to use local services (eg. ADSL.) and to think later on in the next building group/phase (Not necessarly on Fetlar, but its a nice starting point with its ultra low crime.) to push the envelope a little more each time. Mr Hills efforts are interesting to watch, but I wouldn't want to risk building there at this time, I am after all, looking to find a spot with the least amount of problems Whilst I don't have a million in my back pocket as we speak, the plan is to one day, or at the very least, enough to build our own home. Castles in the sky, maybe, but I'm going to try hard to make them a reality and welcome any asistance in that area. Yes we haven't visited Fetlar yet, but its on the todo list, this is after all the beginning I find myself at.

Stuart Hill is a possibility but his island is rather small, and lacking in existing services, where as Fetlar fares much better in this regard.. Plus he currently restricts his citizenship to existing Shetland residents or those with with certain types of links, none of which catagories I appear to be in at the moment. Plus, you'd have to add a large slice of ones budget to defending the island from invasion, as I'm sure once you built a few things you'd come to the attention of the authorities who would be keen to administor the full planning laws and then you'd find yourself at war.. Again, much easier to just build someplace you can get permission to without creating an international conflict zone. FX [ listens to EM and makes notes ] Which part of a dome do you call the roof for the purposes of insulation You'd also I imagine need to insulate the floor part too. Mr Hill might be a possibility as a good location to build a geothermal plant though, as the spoil could help increase the size of the island and all that cheap electric could be sold to his neighbours..

I haven't personally encountered issues with rebar and concrete, as I've only built things with it a few times. But I've visited, poked prodded, asked owners of thousands of concrete buildings where such problems have occured. (I have seen that if the rebar is too close to the surface this can cause the problem, or if that point in the structure is under a lot of repeated stress, eg. wind blowing it from side to side.) It would be nice to build in stone, but I'm not too sure about if one could make all those joints actually water tight. (Though I could understand if you shaped the blocks the right way so that they interlocked that might help provide a tight seal.) As they appear to solve the issues with lighthouses, but there might be a difference there between a structure above ground and getting wet and one underground and under pressure from water to get in. (It would certainly be interesting to hear from lighthouse designers/owners..) I'd be interested to hear more about how practical stone might be, though you'd still need an insulation layer on the outside. Again I've seen and heard of many waterproof membrane failures, such that using them gives me great concern. (The clay one appears good mind you.) You also have the issue of quality control when building in that if someone misses a spot.. (And that is the main reason why I want to do all the building work myself, as I've heard just too many horror stories of getting someone else to do the work and skipping on quality control. Though obviously when I come to build them on a large scale, I'll have to have hard working inspectors keeping an eye on the labour force.) Its hard to know which experts really know their stuff when it comes to concrete buildings, as so many of the experts was behind the poor buildings we see nowdays, especially those towerblocks.. As a kid I grew up surrounded by experts in this and that, and during my life have met many more experts, but often they disagree and its really hard to tell them apart. Often the only good way of doing that is to publically debate a particular solution so that shortcomings in a design can be spotted by someone and pointed out as in error. I really don't want to build another 1970's towerblock design and then tell people 20 years later I did my best, I really want to make sure I pushed the envelope and took the cautious route which might well be more difficult and costly, but in the end could see a product with a greater chance of success in years to come.

I did come across a lost-formwork approach a while ago (Looks around at notes, notices OS is in state of reinstall and makes note to look again after everything is put back..) though I seem to recall it used steel panels. One could use concrete instead I imagine, but the concern of steel rebar failure so often seen in concrete structures concerns me, especially as no one is really sure why they fail. Hence the thought that having removable panels would allow replacement in the future if/when they degrade. There is additional concerns I have with concrete meeting concrete, that of outgasing which might be an issue, as I've seen that with concrete that has something on its surface, tarmac for example where it bubbles up. So the panels may need to have channels to allow the gases to escape. Then there is the issue of joints between pours, again this area appears not to be fully understood and is another area of concern to me. I got interested in the idea after looking at lighthouse and tunnel construction approaches.

Wood also has issues with getting it from sustainable forests, and often glues used being less than than human friendly. (Yes I know they have passed tests, but most now have health concerns, and I really don't want to fill new homes with a slow acting poision.) Modern compressed wooden beams made like chipboard are again a concern as I've heard of them failing due to glue failure and wood rotting, not to mention how people like to make holes in them for plumbing/electric and then wondering why they fail I'd be interested to hear of the arguments for wood V concrete when it comes to fires. I'd also be interested to hear why the thought of replacable internal blocks isn't a good design approach.

I'll build something when I have enough money, so I won't be investigating forever, just whatever is the best I can find and afford at the time. Listening to some of the experts about concrete/rebar and why it sometimes fails, its still a bit of a black art. I've seen old concrete buildings with no apparent failings, and also ones that you can litterly push over I do like stone built, but its not very waterproof (Not unless you include lighthouses..) Whilst concrete could be said to be not very environmentally friendly in the short term, in the long term with a structure that doesn't need knocking down and rebuilding every few decades, your save material in the long term which could well offset the unfriendly nature of doing it with concrete in the first place. I like to over engineer design to allow for future issues, rather than planning on the once in a hundred years design. I've also an interest in archaeological stuff (Went on a dig when I was younger and doing a course on the subject.) and the Scottish castles with fused stone walls I find intriguing, are they by design or accident..