Category Archives: Ramblings

Tesco Model Village via Air Rights Sale

Tesco Store in UK

Tesco Store in UK

What do you know, twice is quick succession I post about Tesco, first they complete their Sugar Tax Fix and now they are tackling the housing crisis by way of selling their “Air Rights”. The whole concept of air rights is a complex one, but basically you own the air above your property to build up. Pre-21st Century geo-dependant anyone who owned land had unlimited air rights to build straight up. There were some limitations about blocking adjacent property and other issues. In principle though, you own the rights to the air above your property. It does seem complicated in non-freehold leases but this post isn’t about air rights, so I’ve skimmed it. 

Tesco own around 5,000,000 sq meters of land in the UK, it maybe even more than this as the data I could find is years out of date so I have rounded it up. At one point (2014), the empty undeveloped land Tesco owned could hold 15,000 new build homes in 310 locations. Which is all well and good but much of this land is outside town centres in semi-industrial areas, who wants a house at ground level next to a motorway or industrial estate of highly commercial areas.

Beetham Tower Apartments – Hilton Hotel

Beetham Tower at Christmas

Beetham Tower at Christmas

I can only use Manchester as an example. We have the Beetham Tower, regardless of your opinion eyesore or marvel, its 47 floors, well 48 as the top floor is Duplex. The first 24 floors are a Hilton Hotel including the Cloud bar the 23rd Floor. Floors 24 up are various sizes of apartments and flats with residents such as footballer Mario Balotelli, all the way up to Floor 47 which were Ian Simpsoms immense Duplex Penthouse. Up the road in Piccadilly Gardens there are rows of shops at street level, and over the top Offices, Hotels and Different Shops. 

Its not a new idea to put accommodation over the top of retail locations, what is interesting, once you rise up, the geographic issues fade in to the background. I have stayed on floors 9, 15, 21 as a  hotel guest and spent a day in an apartment on floor 37 for a photoshoot. The higher up you go, the less you notice the city, and there is literally no external noise.

Pre-Fabricated Apartments

In recent times the whole process of putting flats or apartments on top of existing developments involves the actual flats being built off site and transported and crane lifted in to place. Almost like flat pack homes, which is why they generally go up like a missile in no time.

One of the advantages is that this type of building is dirt cheap, quick to build and its essentially free money for the actual ground owner selling their air rights. 

Tesco seems to want to earn both a position of saviour of the UK people and save its own skin. Assuming it keeps the prices of these properties low, Tesco may just have found its golden goose. 

I just hope Tesco maintains some control and actually produces cheap housing. 

Tesco image Courtesy of Tesco. 

Stocking Filler Lynx Oud Wood and Dark Vanilla Gift Pack

Lynx Gift Pack

Lynx Gift Pack

This Oud Wood and Dark Vanilla Gift Pack is an excellent stocking filler. The Lynx Signature Fragrances are all borderline expensive aftershave scents and work as top ups through a day/night out. 

I love tobacco based scents, some of the best combination scents with tobacco are Vanilla, Amber, Tonka and some spices. Spicebomb Extreme and Tobacco Vanille are my go to night out and special occasion scents, my day to day scent is Tabac which has a nice sandalwood undertone which makes it smell fresh. My beard oil is often Tobacco, Bourbon, Vanilla, Lime and Mango based, you get the idea by now.  

I recently discovered Lynx Signature fragrances, Tobacco and Amber as well as Oud Wood and Dark Vanilla, both of these work amazingly well with my favourite scents. The above links are £4 from Amazon Pantry, which is a good price. I paid £5 from Sainsburys on offer, they are normally £6 each.

In this gift pack you get 150ml Antiperspirant Spray and 100ml Precsion Pump Spray for £5, buying these separate would be about £9-10 depending on where you buy them.

I’ll be posting stocking fillers as and when I see them over xmas.  

Homeless Shoebox Appeal

Homeless Shoeboxes

Homeless Shoeboxes

Winter is not a fun time for the homeless and less fortunate. This is made even worse by Christmas, a time traditionally spent with family or enjoying yourself. If your homeless or the less fortunate, you maybe watching everyone else enjoy themselves while you seem invisible.

It isn’t wrong of you to enjoy yourself at all, but you should spare a moment to think of the less fortunate. You really do never know when the tables maybe turned, and it kinda makes you a good human if nothing else. 

Homeless Shoebox Initiative

The Homeless Shoebox initiative is a rock solid idea, and shouldn’t really cost much at all. If you haven’t heard of this idea, let me fill you in.

Basically you take an shoebox or a box of a similar size, a bigger box is fine too, and prepare it with items which will make a homeless persons life a little easier in the cold winter and hopefully add a little joy over the Christmas period. 

This is a fun task to do with your children, as many many schools already do this as a class / school project. Its also a good time to help teach your children to be compassionate and good humans. Not to mention a good excuse to spend time with family.  

Every year I think about what to put in the box, and in the end the imaginary balance I come up with, is 75% essential items and 25% Useful Items, for me this is the ideal mixture. Essential Items to me are things to keep warm and dry, sanitary products, personal care items (brushes, toothpaste etc), a wind up torch, dry and long shelf life foods. Useful Items is a misnomer really, more useful but not essential items, I’m talking about books, a wind up radio, magazines, pens, notepads, things like that. 

Forbidden Items
There are various items which are forbidden, the primary items being…

Sharp Objects – Knives, Forks, Scissors, Blades, Plastic and Reusable Cutlery is ok. 

Alcohol – Just No, its best to even avoid alcohol flavoured foods and drinks. 

Money – Nope.

Suggested Items

I have made a quick list of items which I think are worth considering, and including, there isn’t really an order I added them nor is the list exhaustive, but should give you a starting point.

 

Essential Items
Hats Chocolate
Gloves Books
Scarves Toothpaste
Sanitary Products Toothbrush
Blankets Mouthwash
Ponchos Magazines
Windup Torch Biscuits
Towels Sweets
Hair Brush Windup Radio
Combs Shampoo
Deodorant Conditioner
Shower Gel Baby Wipes
Hand Sanitiser Lip Balm
Lightweight Flasks Bars of Soap
Canned Drinks Protein Bars 
Packet Soups Energy Bars
Packet Drinks Pens
Sealed Foods Notepad
Sewing Kits Bottle Openers
Dry Foods Puzzle Books
Tinned Foods
(ringpull only)
Zip Lock
Sealable Bags

I’m not sure about the following items, but figure they maybe useful for those with family. Postcards and Stamps, Phonecards, it may make it easier for them to contact said family. Its worth checking if any of these are prohibited. 

AA Batteries for any items they have which need them, I always think this is a good thing to add. 

What About The Dogs

You should also consider that many homeless people have pets, usually dogs, but I have heard of one occasion where the homeless lady had a cat, but its rare, so best to stick to dogs focussed. Please don’t include human foods, they maybe bad for the dog, and where possible stick to dry foods which can be stored and keep for a long time. 

Essential Items 
Tinned Food Toys
Sachet Food Balls
Bowls Treats 
Fleeces Dog Jackets
Blanket Dog Covers
Collars Towels
Leads  
Poo Bags  
   

Final Check List

Please don’t include prohibited items, which are essentially money, alcohol and sharp things.

When you put your box together, don’t seal it shut, as often the organisers will add extra items, or needed items which you either didn’t think of, or may have missed. 

If possible, wrap both the lid and the box separate, and perhaps use a bow to hold it closed. 

You should also mark who you’re intended recipient is, as in young male, general female, dog, etc, so it can be handed to the right recipient.

You can also include wrapping paper if you’re not good at wrapping and/or a Christmas Card as a nice touch as they may not get one this year. 

Shoebox Appeal Links

Shoebox Appeal Manchester.
Shoebox Appeal Sheffield.
Shoebox Appeal Leeds.
Shoebox Appeal Chesterfield.
Shoebox Appeal Mansfield.
Shoebox Appeal Belfast.
Shoebox Appeal Rotherham.
Shoebox Appeal Doncaster.
Shoebox Appeal Barnsley.
Shoebox Appeal Liverpool.
Shoebox Appeal Swansea.

There are loads more, search for your area on facebook, or check your local newspaper for more information. 

Photo Borrowed from Crisis Centre

Driving Theory Test

A week ago I finally got around to sorting my Theory and Hazard Perception Test, this may shock some since I own cars and number plates with plans to buy more, yet I don’t actually drive. I always joke, why drive when you can be driven ;).

DVLA Trainng Apps

DVLA Trainng Apps

In the middle of August around my birthday, there were an argument or “debate” on Facebook about some minor highway code rule. The original poster said “those who break it shouldn’t have a license”. I checked the highway code before I said anything, and they were wrong. They decided they have been driving since Moses partied with the Hebrews in Gomorrah and they were right, I were wrong. Their reasoning “Because out there in the jungle, I mean on the road its different”. Who shouldn’t have the license really?, perhaps those who think the rules no longer apply to them.

A day or two after that, the 22nd August to be exact, I download the highway code app and various driving apps. I read the highway code, played the different types of quiz and apps. I decided, this is easy, I know this stuff.

On 27th August I booked my Theory and Hazard Perception test for first thing in the morning in just over 2 weeks time. I started to read a dozen different road acts and laws, the official highway code website and anything else that I could find. The day before the test started watching The Strain, I ended up awake until 4am, and had to wake up at 7am to get showered and ready for the test. Powered by Grenade Hydra-6 Chocolate Charge and Gatorade Orange I headed out just before 9am for the test at 10:30am.

The Test Centre

You should arrive around 30 minutes early, this is to allow for queues, check in, and you have some stuff you have to read before hand. As soon as you enter the test centre, even in the waiting area, you must turn your phone off. Not on silent, not aeroplane mode, OFF! failure to do, is a refusal to allow you to do your test.

You queue up, and its important you stand behind the Queue Here stand, otherwise you are told to step back and look a tool which I witnessed several times. Once you have queued up, they ask you for your drivers license, to confirm some details and book you in.

If you have any special requirements, you have to let them know here and they can make provisions. Such as voice overs, larger print, medications, etc.

Lockers

After booking in, they give you a locker key with essentially a brick attached (looks more like an Anne Summers Special) and some information you have to read and agree too. In the locker you have to lock hats, coats, drinks, food, phones, wallets, jackets, fleeces, keys, pens, paper, pretty much anything. This is all on the stuff they give you to read along with other rules and guidelines, 3 pages in total.

The only things you are permitted to take on to the “killing floor” or test booths are suitable clothing, your drivers license and the locker key and brick.

The Test Booths

Theory Test Booths

Theory Test Booths

The room at my test centre were a small is room, with squared semi-circle like a [ shape, with 8 or 9 wooden office dividers, making small booths. There were an observation area behind where the inspector guy sits where he can see all the booths. He explains if there are any problems, raise your hand he’ll come over to you.

Inside each booth were a computer case, a mouse, a keyboard and a white square the size of a mouse mat which says “place your belongings here”. This is where the locker key with the huge stick attached to it, and your drivers license are to be placed. Over head is a CCTV Camera on each booth to watch you’re not cheating and such, and to the left a pair of headphones hung on the divider.

Adjust the seat, and the screen make sure you have a good view, as moving it during the test makes them suspicious. I also suggest adjusting the headphones to fit as you’ll need them later on. You have been logged in by the inspector guy who is behind you, so you just need to click start.

The Actual Test

The test is broken up into various parts, each part has a set time limit, and various controls and options. You are given some choices as well, some you don’t have to do, some you do have to do.

Learning Mode

Initially you are given a system run through over how the system works. Where it asks you to select, and deselect things, change options and such like. I guess this is mostly to test everything works and make sure you can use it.

This is timed at 5:00 minutes.

Practice Mode

You are then given the option of doing a “practice session” which is really just a more in-depth version of the above. In this you are asked to select options, flag options for later review if you are unsure. Explained exactly how it all works, what each option on the menus do, etc.

This works exactly like the real test only it only has about a dozen pages / questions. Its well worth doing this, so you know how to flag and review, I used this feature myself.

This is timed at 15:00 minutes.

Break Time

You are given a short period of time to prepare and relax before you perform the on screen instructions to start the test. You cannot move from your booth at this time and should remain looking forward.

This is timed at 2:00 minutes.

Multiple Choice Theory Test

This is 50 questions, and 43 questions are required to be correct in order to pass. Approx 44 of my questions were general highway code questions. Stopping distances, road signs, vehicle marks, first aid, traffic lights etc, mostly basics.

Towards the end were a “case study”, it gives you approx 6-7 sentences about a fictional journey, for example it may say…

You are moving house, so you get a roof rack fitted to your car and load it up with your belongings. 

You travel down a 3 lane motorway for most of the journey. On this journey you notice a sign with “40” on it over the hard shoulder.

The motorway is quite congested so you move from the left lane to the right lane to overtake slow moving vehicles before moving back to the left lane. 

You notice a warning sign saying “Fog Ahead”, shortly after you find yourself in the fog, but it clears up in a few miles. 

Some of your belongings fall off the roof rack in the left hand lane. After dealing with this incident, you leave the motorway. 

You want to go ahead and take the 3nd exit of 5 on the round about.

Theory Test Results Screen

Theory Test Results Screen

It then asked a series of multiple choice questions based on the above description, one of them were like, “while you were overtaking, what colour were the reflective studs on your right”, “What did you do when you saw the fog sign”, stuff like that.

One question answer troubled me, which is related to the left hand lane. Its not clear if round about is on the slip road, nor how many lanes the round about has. It then asks you “which lane would you go in”, with the answers “left, right, middle or most appropriate“, there are other questions like this which are in my opinion are tricky.

This kind of threw me off guard as I hadn’t seen this before in any of the apps or literature I read.

At the end you are told how many incomplete, flagged and answers questions there are on the review screen. You have the option to review the unanswered, the flagged, the answered or indeed the entire test before you hit end test and confirm it.

This is timed at 57:00 minutes.

Break Time Part Deux

You are given anther short break after the Multiple Choice Test, to relax a little bit and prepare for the theory test. You cannot move from your booth during this break.

This is timed at 3:00 mintues.

Hazard Perception Test

Much like the multiple choice section, this is broken into 2 parts. A demo or introduction mode, which talks you through it and shows you step by step how it works.

Followed by the actual test being administered.

Introduction Mode

At the start of the test you are advised to put your headphones on, to listen to the introduction. The introduction shows you a demo video and explains how the clicking works. It explains you should click on developing hazards as soon as you see them develop, and as they are happening. It explains about clicking too fast or too many times, or in any sort of pattern, and you’ll score 0 for that clip.

What I din’t know is, you don’t have to click the mouse where the hazard as is happening, just as soon as you see it developing. You can’t actually see the mouse cursor on the screen unlike in the multiple choice where you can.

After this, it shows the same video click again, and explains the various potential hazards, and shows you how the scoring of 5-1 points would work on that clip when the actual hazard develops and explains the whole clip.

It also tells you, if you click the hazard on 5, then again on 3 and again too late, the computer counts your first click, so you will still score a full 5 for that hazard.

You can watch this twice if you are unsure or the volume were low etc. You don’t need the headphones after this.

This is timed at 5:00 minutes.

The Actual Test

The test is 14 Computer Generated Videos, each lasting 60 seconds (ish) with a 10 second break between each one. Do NOT click the mouse during the 10 second countdown as it can register those clicks and result in a 0 score penalty.

One of the videos has 2 hazards, the other 13 have only 1 hazard.

Each hazard you spot, depending on how early you catch it developing is worth up to 5 points. You need a minimum of 44 points to pass, this is out of a possible 75 points.

What I did is click each potential hazard as soon as I saw it, then clicked again if and when it developed. This didn’t trigger any penalties, and seemed acceptable.

This is timed at 15:00 minutes.

Potential Questions

At the end it may or may not ask you about some potential future questions, you were asked before the test started if you were interested in these. These don’t affect your test score at all. These are questions which they are considering adding to the multiple choice or hazard tests in future.

For me this were about 5 multiple choice questions, which seemed to be more like “word play” on existing questions. For example in the theory test, I were asked:

What is the stopping distance when travelling at 50mph ?

in the potential future questions I were asked:

What is the stopping distance on a clear, dry road while travelling at 50mph?

This may mean there is also a “What is the stopping distance on a wet road at 50mph?” question in the bank, somewhere or maybe its just wordplay to make you question it.

Customer Satisfaction

Lastly you are asked about a dozen questions, everything from how long did it take to get your provisional license, if you booked online how happy are you with the service, were you happy with the way the system worked etc.

One question threw me a little “What is your ethnicity, this is so we can ensure the test is administered fairly”, how exactly is knowing if I’m black, white or polkadot going to change how the test is administered ?

My Test Results

I scored 49 correct multiple choice out of 50  (98%), and 67 hazard points out of 75 (90%), giving me 94% total score. So I got a pretty good pass, a very good pass for some ones first test, and apparently astonishing for someone who has never had a professional driving lesson in their life.

Synology DS716+ RAM

Corsair Vengeance Ram

Corsair Vengeance Ram

Since I bought myself a DS716+ for my birthday last week, I started looking into the 2gb of RAM it ships with and to be honest 2gb RAM to transcode full 4k video to multiple outputs while having video inputs from security cams as well is poor. I have long known the DS7xx series has upgradable ram as well as access to the DX213 (2 Bay) / DX513 (5 Bay) Disk eXpansion units to take it from 2 Bay all the way up to 7 bay. The latter isn’t something I’d do as its putting data through a bottle neck (eSATA I believe) but RAM Upgrades is one of the first things I do with everything.

The RAM Upgrade is on my list once I get around to buying hard drives for it, but more on that later. I seems as best I can tell, the chipset/processor can handle up to 8gb of ram. There is 1 removable ram slot, and Synology charge the earth for a Synology RAM Module, along the lines of Apple memory.

Crucial Memory Compatible

Upon further reading, it seems Crucial do a compatible memory module with the part number CT102464BF160B.

I happen to have 16gb of 2133mhz Corsair Vengeance and 16gb of 1866mhz Corsair Vengeance Modules (32gb in total, 4x 8gb sticks) which I pulled from one of my Alienware 18″ Laptops when the graphics cards died and I upgraded.

As far as I can tell the Crucial modules match up with the Corsair module, so before I go spending £36 on the 8gb Crucial module, I’m going to see if I can use the Corsair Module. I’ll also document the process in a little more detail as well when I get around to it and confirm if it works.

Fan Upgrades

The Synology units don’t have the best fans or fan profiles, and get quite noisy, so an 80mm low noise fan is high on the list as I expect this particular unit will be loud as hell with the extra transcoding load.

Noiseblockers do an 80mm fan, 16db noise and 2200rpm for £10.

Arctic so an 80mm, 19db and 1900rpm for £8.

Noctua do an 80mm, 11db at 1600rpm for £13.

Be Quiet do an 80mm, 15db at 2000rpm for £9.

So a few choices of fan, more about airflow, noise and then speed in the end. I’m not sure the case would hold a bigger fan or even an additional external fan, but then I maybe totally wrong and the original fan won’t be akin to a diesel engine.

I’ll also check into some rubber mounts and sound buffering if vibrations an issue too.

NAS Hard Drives

I have a few “archive” HGST 2tb Deskstar drives which were from my back server and set to Synology Hybrid Raid. They had nearly 4 years hard usage but no faults or anything. I normally keep 1 generation of old backup disk as a “archive” disaster recovery thing but for the sake of testing the RAM upgrade and also if I need better fans I may drag them out of retirement.

I was planning on trying Western Digital 8tb RED NAS Drives, I haven’t used a WD 3.5″ disk in god knows how long, and I think the last 320gb Scorpio Black I bought would be 5-6yrs ago for a laptop, and a 500gb Scorpio Blue for an external caddy would be maybe even longer. Although I did buy a Buffalo branded caddy when Netto closed down for £20 which had a Scorpio blue in it.

I’ll post a more detailed photo blog when I actually get around to installing the device, as well as detailed measurements for the fans and such.

Happy Birthday to Me

Nas Layout

Nas Layout

You know its your birthday when you pick up a Synology DS716+ NAS Server for under £200, well £188 from Amazon in the Lightening Sale.

I own a few Synology units (current set up to the right) and have owned various others dating back to 2010/2011 and for the most part they are spectacularly good. I re-purpose the older units within my network, the oldest is a DS211+ currently the Media NAS. The newest is the External Hitachi Touro HDD which does a weekly image of the Main NAS. I did want to buy an 8 Bay NAS to Raid 6 it, but this were a killer deal.

This particular model (DS716+) has been replaced with the Synology DS716+II, so it were EOL (End of Lined) or Discontinued hence the price.

Speculation of Change

There has been a little speculation as why they updated the model to the Mk2 (II) given the lack of serious updates. Some have speculated that Synology maybe taking their lead from other NAS players in the market who release multiple versions of the same NAS with different specs. They currently already do this, but I don’t buy that as reason here, lets look at the DS216 which does have various flavours.

DS216 SE Marvel Single Core 800mhz, 256mb DDR3 (Buy Here £103.04).
DS216 J Marvel Dual Core 1.0ghz, 512mb DDR3 (Buy Here for £129.44).
DS216 Play STM Dual Core 1.5ghz, 1gb DDR3, +HW Encoder, +Transcoder (Buy Here for £191.99).
DS216 Marvel Dual Core 1.3ghz, 512mb DDR3, Hot Swappable, USB Clone, Upgradable Ram, Released Feb 2015 (Buy Here for £213.99).
DS216+II Intel Dual Core 1.6ghz, Burstable 2.48ghz, 1gb DDR3, +HW Encoder, +Hot Swappable, +USB Clone, +eSATA Port, Upgradable Ram, Released June 2016, (Buy Here for £259.94).

Synology Diskstation DS716

Synology Diskstation DS716

You can see the spec changes and price point between flavours is quite dramatic, just looking the DS216 and DS216+II and the change is huge, now lets look at the DS716+I and DS716+II.

Synology DS716+I: Intel Celeron N3150 Quad-Core (Released Jan 2015), clocked at 1.6ghz and burstable to 2.08ghz, Released Jun 2015. (Buy Here for £357.84)
Synology DS716+II: Intel Celeron N3160 Quad-Core (Released Jan 2016), clocked at 1.6ghz and burstable to 2.24ghz, Released Apr 2016. (Buy Here for £378.56)

Everything else is nigh on identical, as best I can tell it is identical apart from the little print (shown on the right). In all likelihood that’s the same chip just modified a touch by Intel.

I tend to agree with the few who say due to the stellar success of this model (and the chip), it exhausted the chips availability thus Intel discontinued the chip and brought forward the next iteration and thus opening a new stockpile of chips.

Hard Drives for NAS Servers

Retired Deskstars

Retired Deskstars

I always choose hard drives carefully, after having been burned quite badly simply by choosing the cheapest big brand (begins with S). So for the last 6yrs maybe 7 yrs with spinning drives I have always run HGST Deskstars (I briefly used Samsung F4’s too) and not had a single disk failure.

Its quite ironic that back in the day around the late 1990s and early 2000s, I were around when IBM Deathstars were vaporising into dust. IBM Deskstars and Travelstars (along with its HDD business) were sold to Hitachi in 2003 who turned it around quite dramatically. This is an interesting post, showing a tear down of a deathstar. Hitachi were then bought out by Western Digital (WD) who appear to have used Hitachi Magic to improve their WD Red NAS Drives, rather than degrade Hitachi’s Legacy.

The above image is one of my retired Hitachi Deskstars (before the HGST rebrand), this batch ran continuously in a 2 Bay NAS then into a 4 bay Synology NAS before being retired. This were the final disk to be replaced on my replacement cycle hence its a few months overdue a refresh. After 3 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 3 days continuous operation not a single error or bad sector. All the others are similar, no errors, no bad sectors, nothing but perfect service.