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I get that. My mum rides a helmet that she attaches ears/mohawks to, like these. My SIL covers her helmet in one of these things. Or, find a graphic you like. There’s options to make a boring helmet what you want.

Currently, I draw as little police’s attention to myself, I have the stock quiet pipe, the stock tail and plate, I wear hi-vis, I look as boring as possible so I can ride less boringly. Part of that is havjng a plain white helmet, doesn’t hurt that no graphics are cheaper.

In general I look any helmet I intend to buy on

https://sharp.dft.gov.uk/helmets/

Then make a decision on acceptable risk. For me: pillions are only allowed in 5* helmets, my family have a collection of HJC IS17s for the purpose. My daily, a Shoei NXR, is 4* but light af. Helmets are for when things go wrong, even though they’re worn every ride, I want them for the crash.

Specific to that helmet, they don’t have a sharp rating so that’s an immediate no for me, that aside I’d worry about what those ears do in a crash also a no. I wear a cardo which can react negatively in a crash but it provides some utility as compensation. It’s your head, your risk, your decision.

In general I look any helmet I intend to buy on

https://sharp.dft.gov.uk/helmets/

Then make a decision on acceptable risk. For me: pillions are only allowed in 5* helmets. My daily, a Shoei NXR, is 4* but light af. Helmets are for when things go wrong, even though they’re worn every ride, I want them for the crash.

Specific to that helmet, they don’t have a sharp rating so that’s an immediate no for me, that aside I’d worry about what those ears do in a crash also a no. I wear a cardo which can react negatively in a crash but it provides some utility as compensation. It’s your head, your risk, your decision.

Here’s hoping, I find it fun even when it’s scary. Bombing too hot into corners or cars merging into where you are intense situations.

I do hope you get the book, I wish it came with exercises but it’s intention is to be used along side the practical police instruction. Learning to E brake without ABS, trail break through corners, etc are useful skills not just to go fast, but to stay alive when things don’t go as planned. But, helping make accurate plans are what the book excels at.

Oh, I forgot about independent mobility… Going where ever and whenever you want is AWESOME. Probably the best bit if I’m honest, though I like riding for riding’s sake.

A fellow all weather rider, welcome to the club, we had snacks but they’re soggy now.

Gosh, I am so excited for you, my first year was so fun. Particularly riding the tits off a 125, fully pinned throwing the thing around like it’s nothing, genuine “happy place” stuff.

Twisties out beeline home is how I do fun days, also how I commute too. Do you have a car license or is this going to be your main form of transport?

It’s a bit far, maybe you’ll get pulled into the Iotn Butt UK stuff and start ranging farther afield

Not so much advise as finding good roads and solid stops. I prefer solo rides but it depends on who you are and why you’re out. Come to Yorkshire, we have wonderful roads and beautiful scenery and a 125 won’t run you to afoul of our notorious police.

Good choice, my first bike was a 125 CBR and my current cb600f doesn’t bias my opinion at all. Do you have friends/family to toddle along with?

Do you know what kind of bike you’re wanting? Adventure, sports, cruiser etc? No more unasked advise I promise, I just like talking bike.

“Motorcycle Roadcraft: The Police Rider’s Handbook” is an excellent read. Get it early and you won’t have to unlearn anything.

A good general suggestion. The WAF I follow are ‘reasonable’ expense, reasonable form factor, and a physical investment. I floated the idea of a VPS and that’s when I learned of the third criteria. It is what it is.

I just started on this 8tb HDD so it isn’t very full right now, I could raise the ratio limits. But, I worry about filling the HDD and part of me worries about 100s of torrents on an n100 doing other things. So I’m keeping the habit from my pi4+1TB days of deleting media behind us and keeping the torrent count low.

I justify it as self managing though: popular Isos are on then off my harddrive fairly quickly, but the ones that need me will sit and wait until they hit the ratio of 3 however long that is. I would like to do “3 + (get that last seeder to 100%)” but I don’t know how/if it’s possible to automate through prowlarr.

I should probably keep sharing Linux Isos longer than I do, but data hording has a low WAF. Instead I have prowlarr set the ratio to 3 (one for me, one for a leecher, and one to add to the pool) to keep the data churning.

Hehe, I see what you did there.

MLK on climate change (probably):

[…]that [humanities] great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the [oil company] or the [billionaire] but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises [climate aware] to wait for a ‘more convenient season.’

The firestick is what I chose as my TV’s, a 10yo LG, jellyfin client. Works as intended, better really. One day I’ll block the stick’s internet connection, and it’ll be the almost perfect device, in that it plays almost anything natively. My server is a rpi4 so anything I can do to stop transcoding, I do.

Aoostar n100 2 Bay nas is what I’m currently thinking about. Or the same device but rebadged.

Pros: n100 for quicksync. 2 bays of HDD for media storage. Low power at idle. Cheap for a box with all relevant codecs + sata storage. High WAF compared to other HTPCs

Cons: Unknown brand for build quality and bios updates. General Chinese security anxieties. Idle power, while low, is higher than other n100 options. Fan isn’t pwm. Personally don’t like the aesthetics.

Favourite game - 1, it was the first one I played and the one I’m most familiar with.

Least is 3, it was the first game I encountered with day 1 dlc, so didn’t get any. Last ME game I bought too, Jokes on me I guess because I got the remaster instead.

I enjoyed KOTOR/II before it and I was hoping for more of the same, more HK-47 really. No HK but the play is familiar: go to a planet do some quests, X person wants to talk and on to the next.

Femshep is the only shep for me.

I guessed it was a “once bitten twice shy” kind of thing. This is all a hobby to me so the cost-benefit, I think, is vastly different, nothing on my setup is critical. Keeping all those records and up to date on what version everything is on, and when updates are available and what those updates do and… sound like a whole lot of effort when currently my efforts can be better spent in other areas.

In my arrogance I just installed Watchtower, and accepted it can all come crashing down. When that happens I’ll probably realise it’s not so much effort after all.

That said I’m currently learning, so if something is going to be breaking my stuff, it’s probably going to be me and not an update. Not to discredit your comment, it was informative and useful.