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Captain Sidecar

@captainsidecar.bsky.social
749 followers 1K following 9.8K posts

Mostly unfunded retiree. Collector of cats, dogs, and non-functional workshop equipment. Likes toy trains, motorbikes, fried food, and sniffing nitromethane. Broadly left. Intolerant of wankers of any stripe. Holds grudges for decades. Blocks for AI use

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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 1h
Actually, the trick with ally is to smear it with soap and heat until the soap goes black. That way you don't melt it accidentally. Heat source? Doesn't need much. The flame on the kitchen gas stove used to be the standard.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 1h
Most common reason is applying more and more torque to achieve a seal on a previously used crush washer. Always use a new one or, in an emergency, you can usually get away with an old one *if* you anneal it by heating to red (copper) or as hot as you dare (ally), then cooling in water.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 6h
Is it called Winceby as a result of the Earl's reaction when he received the news?
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 6h
Would match nicely with those Commer (later Dodge) vans that used to be everywhere...
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 6h
One of the main reasons I gave up D&D 40+ years ago was that I couldn't find anyone outside the group I'd always played with who didn't take it waaaay too seriously.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 7h
The recruitment industry are a bunch of parasitic cunts, so this comes as no surprise.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10h
Went to a wedding yesterday. So that was several hours of being socially awkward in expensive, uncomfortable clothes, in the near presence of people who'd been on planes recently enough to probably be contagious. So that was nice.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10h
Personally, I'd be cautious about putting Russian diesel into any fuel system designed since ~1970, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10h
Holding a second referendum on the matter does, I feel, place far too much emphasis on the opinions of people who, at this stage, are clearly deeply stupid.
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Reposted by Captain Sidecar
🇨🇦Tadhg Dalaigh @tadhgdalaigh.bsky.social · 22h
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 21h
Dimly, but I *was* a reader of Alternative Cars magazine at the time, and they tended to mention stuff like that.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
"Oi!! Come back with my belt ya little bastards!"
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
There are a few, and, during Covid, there were times when it was hard not to concede that the less batshit ones, at least, might have a point*. However, secession really isn't a major topic of public debate here. *Based on how determined the Eastern States seemed to be to infect us with Covid.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Heading for Exeter I suspect.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Corner of Glendora Ave and Foothill Blvd? It would make sense that it was shot outside City Hall. If so, the street trees have come on nicely.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Also yes, but that's up to you lot, not the Iranians, to sort out.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Yes, but you *want* the Trump administration to stop destroying America. The Iranians, not so much.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Another example of academic research designed to cloak the researcher's personal prejudices in a veneer of intellectual respectability. In short, a load of utter bollocks.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
I will never not be grimly amused that conspiracy theorists are entirely correct that "they" are conspiring to subjugate everyone else, but hilariously wrong about who "they" are, in spite of it having been out in plain sight for quite some time now. Also, is it a "conspiracy" when it's so obvious?
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Yeah, but tyres used to do that back then.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Why bother? Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake, and all that.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
If card transaction fees are the difference between going broke and not, your business is *already* royally fucked.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Renewed my driving licence last week, and now the new one's turned up I think they've sent me someone else's by mistake, as the photo seems to be of some miserable old git.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I'm surprised the Australian requirement is so high, given that Aussie cops are, on average, a bit ordinary. Mind you, in spite of being routinely armed, they manage to shoot few enough people that it's newsworthy when it happens, rather than just being Tuesday.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Sting's a bit of a dickhead, but some of the music's OK.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Having been constantly told by naysayers that EVs won't tow stuff, I was very pleased to see, as I was filling up with diesel at $2-stupid a litre, a VW Id Buzz pull up at the next bowser, with a (non-EV) dirt bike on a trailer behind it. Bloke driving didn't seem stressed about it at all.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Probably not a coincidence.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This from an administration full of people who think people need to be prevented from watching consenting adults bumping uglies online.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The stance is really weird. Proper zombie/bodysnatcher shit.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
WTF is going on with the woman in the red?
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
TIL that parts of the Bluesky hivemind believe that my occasional tendency to yell "Sing you bastard!" at my motorcycle when thrashing it to the point of possible mechanical damage suggests that I am more likely to be cruel to real living things. Parts of the Bluesky hivemind are fucking stupid.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
It was still mechanically fine 30,000 miles later, when keeping up with the rust ceased to be a viable proposition, so it didn't seem to take any harm.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Of all the opinions of non-French people that the French do not give a shit about, I strongly suspect that the opinion of Elon Fucking Musk is the one they don't give a shit about the most.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Looks more cartoonishly good natured to me.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
All our girl cats have loved their humans. Specifically *their* humans though, as each of their affections have largely been reserved for one individual, whether that be me, Mrs Sidecar, or Sidecar Junior. They've not generally got on terribly well with other cats, however.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Worst ventriloquism act ever...
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
It's almost as if a self selected group of wealthy landowners/slave holders, living on the edge of the known world, and seeking to avoid paying taxes, might *not* have come up with the perfect system of government after all.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
It requires quite a degree of coordination when the engine fires, to avoid running up the back of the tow vehicle, whilst knocking the 'box into neutral, and dancing on the throttle to keep it running. Like I said, high risk.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
On a different, but related, note, I've also successfully tow started automatics. Not all auto boxes will let you do it (quite possibly no moderns), and I would classify it as quite high risk, but it *can* sometimes be done, contrary to popular belief.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Nice to know someone else can do it. I've had to with both bikes and cars, and it does make me wince to do that to a starter motor, but they've survived.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Not only stick, but non-synchro, although it's been a few years since I needed to double declutch so I'm probably out of practice. Also able to clutchless shift all motorcycles and *some* car boxes. The subtext here is not that I'm good, but that I've spent a lifetime driving worn out rubbish.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Having recently imported a motorcycle from the UK to Australia, can confirm.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
m.youtube.com/watch?v=qfYr...
m.youtube.com
Vive La Difference Engine
YouTube video by The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing - Topic
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I happened upon an excellent cold remedy 35 years ago, but, as it involved at least 2 banned substances I'd probably best not share it in public.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Deleted my X account ages ago. Don't miss it. I don't use FB generally, and find it largely unuseable anyway. I will confess to keeping an eye on FB Marketplace because I'm interested in buying certain things that are mainly being sold by, shall we say, an older demographic who still use FB.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I remain of the opinion that having a hedgehog as the lollipop person was a somewhat questionable choice. Harry Hare, OTOH, was an excellent example of the children of the wealthy expecting no consequences for their actions.
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Reposted by Captain Sidecar
Glennyrodge @glennyrodge.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Okay, one last time. 'THERE' refers to a place, 'THEY'RE' means 'they are' and 'THEIR' is a possessive adjective. It’s not difficult, for crying out load.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
TBH it would be far better if he wete detained by ICE and then "lost" in the system indefinitely.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Dad had a Z, bought new in 1972. Absolutely brilliant little car.
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Captain Sidecar @captainsidecar.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Yeah, because breathing the fumes from an ICE vehicle fire is so healthy by comparison.
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