Glenn M

I am replacing my inadequate non-brand calipers with Quad QMD5 calipers. The problem is I can see no way to secure the brake line to the caliper.

On the actuator arm (the lever that moves up to bring the pad against the disc) there is an allen key bolt with a washer on it, but no obvious way to secure the brake line to this point.

Anybody with any experience of fitting mechanical disc brakes for a mountain bike, or who has Quads, please help me out. I need to get out on my bike asap!

Thanks and happy riding, Glenn (UK)

I need a mountain bike: mainly for road use, but with regular leisure cycling off road on fairly easy terrain.

I'm going to buy from Argos so I can use my card and spread my payments, so my choice is limited.

I want front suspension only, and would prefer disc brakes. I don't want grip or twist shifts as I prefer EZ Fire style.

My shortlist of bikes is thus

1) CBR Cutlass

2) CBR Sideswipe (jump bike, but could be used for general road/off road?)

3) Muddyfox Country

4) CBR Garrison

The Garrison is the most expensive, but is also light at 14.5kg, with 2 year frame and fork guarantee.

The Sideswipe looks great, but it is a "jump bike", so not sure whether it would be okay for general use. It is only £200 though, down from £450!

CBR Cutlass looks okay, £150 down from £285 with 2 year frame and fork guarantee.

Muddyfox Country has rear suspension, which I don't really want, but looks to have good all round features for £200. I'm just a bit wary of cheaper dual suspension bikes...

Any advice on any of these makes, models, reviews, anything would be MUCH appreciated. An internet search has turned up little in the way of reviews. Many thanks in advance.

I have an in the box DVD R/RW drive.

It will play audio CDs fine.

It will play Grandmaster Chess CD Rom game fine.

It has suddenly stopped playing DVDs and Football Manger 2007 CD Rom.

FM2007: when I click the link the light flashes, it spools a few times, makes a couple of small clicking sounds and then says 'Insert correct CD'.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled drivers, I have done system restore, the disc drawer does eject through My Computer... I am really stuck.

It an't be broken as it still plays some discs, surely then it can't be a laser problem either. I have searched the net for advice for hours and tried everything.

Any help - not just telling me to do what I've already done - appreciated.

Glenn

Hi, I have a 3 year old Packard Bell with Windows XP.

Recently I have encountered problems with the DVD Rom.

Its a CD RW, DVD R/RW and DVD=R unit, dual layer.

It still plays audio CDs fine.

It will load GrandMaster Chess PC CD Rom fine.

It will not play DVD movies, nor will it load Football Manager 2007 CD-Rom.

When I place the disk in and click the icon, it spools for a few seconds, with the green light flashing, then stops spooling and message appears 'Incorrect CD: Insert correct CD, click ok and restart application.'

I have uninstalled drivers, rebooted - it is up to date. Audio CD works as usual but some games and DVDs won't load at all.

Any ideas? I am going to use a CD laser cleaner disc shortly, but surely the laser is not the problem if some discs work? Very stuck indeed, any help greatly appreciated. Thanks

Before any one gets in there with "shouldn't have bought a Ford" jokes, I've already done it!

100 000 miles on the clock. Manual transmission.

Any owners/enthusiasts with any general advice or things to check? I have minimal mechanical knowledge.

I've heard Bosch +4 Spark Plugs are good for this car.

I'm going to get the oil and oil filter changed because I've heard that's important.

Any thing I should check apart from the obvious "service" type parts?

Many thanks, Glenn

Hi, just trying to get in to Facebook. When a profile is in black writing, does that mean the person is no longer using Facebook, or just that they're offline at the moment?

Thanks

I bought a beardie in late October, he's now about 4 or 5 inches long in the body.

I think they are beautiful creatures, he's just shed for the first time and it's cool to see his colours changing.

Day by day, he seems to be getting more vibrant red lines along the sides of his mouth and round his ears. His back is a light peppermint green kinda colour, with light red and dark brown areas.

I know these are pretty standard colours, they're all good! Morphs are great but I love the more natural colours as well.

Anyway, my question: at roughly what age do beardies achieve their final adult colours? Thanks for your answers

I posted a question asking whether the media was responsible for increased suspicion towards Islam. Mostly what I got was a load of crap about the "Marxist" media (have you ever actually read Marx?)

Am I the ONLY person who sees the "War on Terror" (impossible by definition, soundbite to get the uneducated's attention) as a farce, a tool by which the US/UK governemnt can pass untold numbers of bills restricting our freedoms, and seemingly giving them the right to invade oil rich nations. Or help their close friends who have major share-holdings in arms companies.

Please help re-affirm my belief in humanity. Or are we all brain dead thanks to TV, computer games and believing the word of self-interested politicians?

Please, please tell me how you fight a military war against an underground/guerilla organisation...answer is you CAN'T, and Bush/Blair knew this full well. (Sorry to raise the subject but remember Vietnam?)

If I was Muslim (I am not religious) the one thing that would turn me to extremism is to see the militaristic bullies of the modern world (the US and now UK) invade, without any legal/logical sanction, 2 mainly Muslim countries and SLAUGHTER thousands of Muslims.

Thank you for reading this, the amount of ignorance around makes my blood boil. Feel free to post abuse if you want, on such a subject I'm fully prepared for loads of comeback

From my very limited understanding of Islam it seems a religion of peace, charity, love and respect. Very similar in it's core beliefs to Christianity.

I am sure that the vast majority of decent Muslims are horrified by the constant media attention on "Islamic" terrorists/extremists.

The fact is, any religion can be twisted to serve the specific ideologies of fringe groups (Christianity twisted by the Papacy to stir support for The Crusades, a series of crimes against humanity).

One excellent way to increase the likelihood of decent Muslims being drawn to extremist groups is to send military in to Iraq and Afghanistan, leading to the slaughter and suffering of many millions of Muslims.

It seems that peoples' general lack of knowledge regarding Islam, coupled with media coverage of terrorists, is leading to a groundswell of bad feeling towards an entire religion.

How can we redress the balance? Do we need to? More detailed religious education in schools? TV documentaries? An attempt by Muslims themselves to integrate more fully in to society?

Just to be clear, I do NOT support the use of violence by terrorists, nor the occupation of Iraq/Afghanistan. I am not religious.

Just reading through posts on this site, so many people, myself included, seem to feel disillusioned with the current political system.

We feel that we cannot trust the words, or motives, of our own governments.

Time and again leading politicians are exposed as corrupt, liars, self-interested frauds.

Is democracy coming to an end? Could we reach a "critical mass" where people take to the streets and utterly reject capitalism and the governemnts that it spawns? Do we in the west have the desire for change, is this even possible? Is there a system that could replace deomcracy? Can we clean democracy up?

I'm British, and like so many people I know very little about Barack Obama. I had never heard of him before the election campaign.

It seems that many people are questioning whether he even has the right to residency in the USA? That he is Kenyan? I don't know much about US politics, or the man himself, so I thought I'd ask.

Also, that he was connected to "terrorist" organisations?

Some people have commented that he is already going back on policy ideas that helped get him elected.. If so, what?

And on a lighter note, another post concerning this "Obamagram", supposedly taken from a victory car bumper sticker. Its a weird pentagram motif, linked with something called Obey...what is this? Is the sticker real? What is the symbol, is it just meant to be cool and appeal to younger people?

Any opinions or info appreciated. I may be ignorant, but if you don't ask you don't find out. Thank you

I don't pretend to be the most informed person when it comes to politics or world affairs. But I do watch the news (which is itself selective and schewed), I read newspapers, I enjoy reading people's opinions on sites such as this.

And I do think about the myriad issues of politics that ultimately affect every single aspect of our lives.

But I, like many people in the UK, tend to feel apathetic - like the vast majority of politicians are self-serving, corrupt, deceiptful individuals who are more hungry for power and money than serving the people they are supposed to represent.

I HATE the way that whenever you see a politician interviewed they can never answer a straight question with a straight answer.

I also hate the way that these supposedly (you'd hope) mature, responsible individuals jeer at one another like school children in the House of Commons.

I hate the way that people like Tony Blair can take us in to an illegal war and simply squirm his way out of responsibility for the disaster that has followed.

The way that coorupt people like Peter Mandelson (spelling?), can be recycled in to the current cabinet, or occupy less publicised positions in the European Parliament, purely because of the contacts they have within powerful political/economic circles.

Ultimately, like most of us, I feel total apathy towards the political system because it seems politicians are "all the same", that there will never be decent people, like Tony Benn, in power.

So I get disheartened, I go to work like a good little subservient being, then I spend my money and occassionally get roaringly drunk.

What can we do to get decent people with a conscience and a true desire to help the people they should represent (NOT rule) in to power? Will we ever have honest, straight talking politicians who can synthesise ideas between their Parties?

Or is the system inherently one that attracts power-hungry, self-interested people who just want to advance their own causes?

Should we just stick our heads in the sand and get on with our own little lives?

Hi, had the car for about a month, I know its only 90HP (when new) but it feels sluggish. Would a K&N fliter make much difference?

A general bit of TLC - spark plugs.

New exhaust?

Also, the tacho goes to 7000rpm but it feels like I should be changing at about 2500rpm. Any advice on how hard I can safely rev it and any go faster goodies?

Cheers

Hi, new beardie keeper here (had mine about a month).

Currently I am feeding small crickets (dusted and fed good diets themselves), the occasional small locust, and veg (although he's not too keen cos he's so young). Now I am not going to feed him any type of worms/grubs until he is bigger but I thought I'd share what I'd heard regarding mealworms as a possible future food choice.

WARNING: some details may be disturbing. I heard these mealworm horror stories from a guy who owns a reptile shop in my home town.

Okay. The guy reckons he bought 2 intersting morphs from a reptile fair in Hamburg, Germany. He claims he had them for about a month, before one died. He claims he had fed them no mealworms. He said that mealworms can live, undigested, in the stomach, and are able to eat their way out of the beardie. He found that they had remained alive in the beardie's stomach for up to 4 weeks before eating their way out and killing the lizard. Even typing this is giving me the shivers, but this is what I was told. I need to find out if this is true for the sake of my beardie.

I was told by the same guy that crickets - being omnivorous - can attack sleeping dragons. I know this is true because there were some living in the viv in a hollow piece of wood (which I have now removed). I saw it come out after dark and bite my lizard, he flinched but couldn't move as he had cooled down. It creeped me out, I removed everyhting from tha tank and started again. I now remove any crickets that are uneaten straight away.

This same guy told me that he had a friend whose beardie was, as he put it, "turned into a snake" by crickets, which ate the legs off. Another case was when the top of the skull was eaten off.

I know this is disgusting but I need to find out about the possible dangers of mealworms and crickets. I couldn't believe this stuff but I'm still learning and want the best for my beautiful little beardie.

Also, he claimed that locusts are herbivores and therefore pose no threat to the lizard if they remain in the viv. Is this true?

Thanks for your time and knowledge, Glenn

Hi, being relatively new to beardie keeping (had mine about a month), I'm finding that alot of areas in beardie husbandry are pretty controversial. Substrate choice etc.

I am considering getting a 2nd beardie to keep in my 4ft by 2ft by 2ft vivarium. Some people, including reptile shop staff claim that ther is a high possibility that upon reaching sexual maturity 2 male beardies will fight for dominance. This would be heartbreaking.

However, I spoke to a guy who owns a new reptile shop in my town and he claims problems with fighting are rare. He said i could keep up to 9 dragons in my sized viv (I think this is way too many and would never consider more than 2).

I'm just looking for opinions, especially from people who have kept/are keeping bearded dragons together. Have you experienced fighting, or did they get on okay together?

Ultimately, its my choice, as with all these things, but I would like to gather a wide range of your personal experiences to help me sum up whether it is generally successful, or not, to house beardies together.

Thank you very much for your time, Glenn

Dear Yahoo Answerers, I bought my first beardie about a month ago. I took a long time to decide whether or not it was right to keep such an animal as a pet because of the restricted room provided by a viv.

I bought the biggest viv I could find - it is 4ft by 2ft by 2ft. Do you know what this equates to in gallons? I have been told by 2 independent reptile shops that this is sufficient for a fully grown beardie.

However I am a firm believer that the more space the better. When fully grown this viv will still not allow him to get a good range of terrain and exercise.

Which leads me to think that I may try to build my own viv: I was tempted in the first place but heard that getting glass cut for the front doors is difficult.

So I'm just looking to gather opinions. Is my viv okay size-wise? Have any of you built your own viv? What size do you have?

INFO: single dragon, 4ft by 2ft by 2ft. Decorated with rocks, wood bought from reptile shops and fake vines hanging from ceiling (since we added these he spends most of his time climbing up the vine, and he sleeps there!)

Thanks for any advice, info, opinions.

Hi, I am getting temps of up to 100F around the basking spot, temps from 75 to 65F in the cooler half. How can I raise and regulate temps in the cool end to around the 75-80F needed?

Thanks

Hi, so the viv I bought is 2ft, by 2ft, 2ft. I have not bought the dragons yet.

I was supplied with a basking lamp in a cage, I wasn't supplied with the box but i've looked at the bulb: it says Sun Glo 100 watt.

Directly beneath the basking lamp the temp reads 110F. Which is fine.

I have placed the heatmat at the "cool" end. However even with both running the temperature in the middle of the viv never reaches much above 72F.

I've read that ambient should be about 85F for beardies. Is this correct?

If so how do I go about raising this? I don't want to use a more powerful basking lamp bulb for fear of toasting the beardie (when I get it).

I am planning to use those fake rock backgrounds for decor, they are supposed to insulate the viv, will this help?

Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

Just setting up viv and researching before purchase. After opinions please.

Many sources say that beardies do not drink from standing water. So do I mist/spray him, or mist/spray rocks to form little droplets? Couldn't this raise humidity and cause problems?

Also, bathing? Is it necessary, how often should I do it?

Many thanks