The White Rabbit

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44230626 may be worth a look - the preview page refers to some reputable authors. I've a few things to do this evening but will create an account and have a look later. https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1968/march/congreve-war-rockets-1800-1825 also looks promising. There are some stats quoted. From a skim-read, the impression I get is the lack of damage to Fort McHenry was more due to strong construction than a weakness in the artillery used against it. Though given the author's background, I could suggest 'he would say/suggest that, wouldn't he'? I've not found a title about the system, though I've seen several about conventional [tube] artillery of the period. Could be an interesting book if someone writes one.

Sorry for the late reply - the last eight or so hours have been a bit hectic. Other words are available... I wonder about that - I accept I have no personal experience but from my knowledge of the system, some of them came with solid heads as well as shells and incendiary heads. If the former were fitted, then I think 24 or 32 pound heads together with whatever weight the stick was would put a dent in most walls. Or ships. Conventional black powder smoothbore muzzle loading artillery had 24 and 32 pound pieces - but I'm not knowledgeable to know or even take a guess as to the comparable kinetic forces imparted to a target. And I know Baz may be our resident rocket scientist but I won't insult him by suggesting he had personal experience of this type!

Colonel Congreve's 'secret' weapon. Both naval weapons (as here) and land-based, as per Battles of Leipzig and Waterloo. The main problem was one of accuracy.

They would (probably?) be even unhappier if they got turfed out of bed one night or spent time nest-building only to find it catapulted onto the lawn. Yes, I know it's not the best time but due to other [things*] which are going on right now, quite a few things of a routine maintenance nature have had to slide. This pyracantha has not had the attention it should have and thanks to the prevailing wind, has grown at quite an angle (think a letter P, with the trunk literally on the edge of the 'blob' of foliage). It put on a growth spurt and was in danger of either uprooting itself in a gale or subsiding so as to actually grow along the ground. A severe haircut was necessary to relieve the pressure. Needs must when the devil drives. * Mainly medical incompetence and NHS malevolence, of which I have grumbled about on ERs before...

Rabbit's Sunday Sarcasm: Wot, no tractor references? 😇 a) LOTUS...? b) Wasn't there a marketing poster about that? 🤔

Evening all, A curate's egg day, it started well enough, with postie being kind enough not to wake us up at silly o'clock for my parcel of shhh, you know whats. Most of the time he comes at 10.15-10.30 but Saturdays are different, maybe he aims to catch the sparrows yawning? Instead, it was left behind a bush, out of sight of casual passers-by. It sort of went downhill after breakfast, the second bathroom's outflow pump appears to be on strike and any waste from the washbasin, toilet and shower accumulates in the shower tray. Rattinfugginturdycurses I think is the phrase... And my sympathies to all those caught up in the Sydney aggression. I know there will always be some who seek to take their frustrations at life out on others but whatever happened to holding those responsible to account rather than inflicting pain on innocent third parties? However, the sun was out for much of the day and quite a bit of progress was made with G-word stuff. As my right shoulder and back will testify. Complaints have been submitted to the O/C... One garden trellis dismantled, a third of the parts will go towards a bird table (Heath Robinson style), another third will form surveying stakes for a garden project of mine involving large unmentionables and the remainder are for the tip. A pyracantha was pruned - it didn't like it and tried to fight back but Wabbit was wise to such tricks. No jumping up and down in the green bin on the cuttings though - 'Old Spikey' would probably have won that one. Time to catch up on other threads and see if anyone's had any good ideas re my conundrums.

Evening all, A fine sunny day for a change. Plenty of G-word 'stuff' done, including some prep for an unmentionable. The field was mowed and the results ploughed into part of the garden which is currently bare earth and a bit claggy. Hopefully the cuttings will help break this up. In worse news, someone I was talking to about taking some unmentionables changed her mind, usual epithets expressed. I was hoping that would clear some space but hey-ho... Various parcels are (allegedly) inbound tomorrow from a few folk, including one of unmentionables. Others are of assorted household 'boring stuff'. An interesting conversation had with a neighbour about Caterhams and a couple of dogs met and greeted. And that's sort of it... Night awl

Afternoon all, A rather chilly and damp day here, various odds and ends done, mainly inside! Though outside, the top of a water butt was recovered from the hedge, it blew off in the last gale, despite attaching it to the butt with heavy duty cord. The cord held but the top split and made a desperate bid for freedom. Not very successfully and probably to its regret - straight into a holly bush. Inside, the seeds were watered and containers turned. Another tray of cress prepared. Various bits of paperwork sighed over. A few messages sent about fixing various bits round the house. And some tidying up done. Another day in the fast lane... Re the comments about AI pictures - I can understand how some may feel it's not for them - the same way some types of post don't interest me - but a reason to stay away from ERs? I confess that did surprise me.

Evening all, Two thoughts for the day (what's left of it...): 1) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/08/the-birthday-effect-why-your-big-day-might-be-your-last 2) If organised crime were no longer able to make money from drugs, what would they turn to? Without getting into how best to deal with the drug problem or wider questions of morality, justice and punishment, I do wonder what would fill the vacuum should drugs suddenly cease to be a money tree. Would that - whatever it was - be better or worse for society?

G 'arternoon awl. Changeable day weatherwise, we're certainly in hoolie land this weekend. A person could look out of the window, put his summer jacket and shoes on and by the time he stepped outside the front door, get a faceful of raindrops. And by the time he had got back inside and changed clothing and stepped out again... that bright hot thing in the sky would be out and raising steam from the driveway. Ask me how I know. Nope, not me but I saw a neighbour do it earlier. I wasn't close enough to hear but I'm sure he wasn't saying anything the vicar would like. When the sun was out and the rain elsewhere, it was a fine day, our wallflowers are getting blown about but are giving some colour to the garden. And from a little while ago, something I've never seen in the garden before:

I have this vision of a food version of chipboard/MDF... though probably in shapes other than 4 x 2 flat sheets. I think I'll stay away from it. Our local butcher does use decent cuts of meat for sausages and pate/potted meat. It means they cost more but I'd sooner pay more for something good rather than 'fat, gristle and sawdust' varieties. The larger commercial organisations may have a different PoV.

One item I acquired (with full consent of the owner) was a vegetable rack/low table on casters - technically not a skip raid or dumpster dive as it never actually got there... It was from when I ran a model shop and one day came out of the door at close of play to see the neighbouring cafe owner walking towards the bins with this in his arms. I made a casual flippant comment and he said it was too tatty and small and he had replaced it. I asked if I could have it and he was only too pleased for me to have it. Half an hour's cleaning up and it's fine. I've had it for over 15 years now and it's been very useful, whether to take with me to store some bits at exhibitions when I've been demonstrating or for my own modelling. At the moment my father's borrowed it for use as a bedside table!

Rabbit is slightly puzzled - yes, easily done these days, I'll admit. I have a few similar towers and all can be adjusted for height/number of trays. Some are a very snug fit and/or have tabs (sometimes on the inside) which need releasing. I take it it's not possible to pull the translucent frame sections apart? If some * has glued them together, VSRTs...

Yes. Someone I know, when clearing father's house, found a Schmeisser and ammunition in the loft, 'courtesy' of Dad's wartime service. Caused quite a stir...

In my experience, that's about it... I signed up ages ago but am very inactive. I have occasionally been approached about jobs, nothing ever came of these. Though I noticed that one approach presumably confused me with another person of the same name as he was later listed as being in the role I was asked about. (Writing about gambling in Gibraltar, as you ask...). So it might have worked for him. I don't use social media much, this is the only one I'm involved in. I won't touch Facebook with a bargepole, it's not for me. I did a bit more social media (including Twitter 🙄) when involved in restoring a self propelled railway carriage but only for that cause, it didn't appeal on a personal level.

Someone I knew at university was a bit of an IT geek and he got himself a top of the range set up for virtually nothing by being lucky enough to pass a skip when an office was having a clear-out/upgrade of their IT. He asked and was told help yourself. I think he had to pay a little for some software but otherwise saved himself what would have been a sizeable four figure sum in today's money. Personally I use Freecycle, both to give away and acquire. The most recent acquisition is a dining room table, it had some very slight damage on one side but was easily repairable, I can barely find the spot now. Very nice condition, had for a couple of pounds' petrol.

I don't know how others feel but for me, one very effective method of making me perk up and pay more attention to my driving was a few bunches of flowers by the roadside. Particularly when combined with obvious accident damage. Cynically, I wondered if the authorities could buy some bunches of plastic flowers and put them at suitable locations as an accident prevention scheme - could be rather cost effective too, probably much cheaper than speed display read-outs or LED message boards on poles...?

My two-pennorth - is it a Stop or a Give Way junction? From how you've described it, if it's not the former then it ought to be. Not that I'm any sort of expert but it sounds like a junction where very slow speed and caution on emerging are called for. Can you save your footage as evidence? As well as a letter to the local authority or Highways Agency, it may be worth contacting the local media, if only to highlight to the relevant authority it's a dangerous situation. And if you can get an article or letter published online, then - should anything bad happen and the family/solicitors start searching for any indication the junction is 'dodgy', they can wave that as evidence it was a known bad junction and nothing was done. That is something the council or HA will know and you may find it easier to get something done before someone gets hurt. Being sneaky, should you be able to get two or three of your friends to write letters to the local paper or interest the local reporter to do an article, you could then write to officialdom and say several of us have spotted this/had near misses and it's been in the press, if someone gets hurt, you're going to get hammered...

My thoughts: Go with the prototype - have a look at all the photos you can find of something close and be guided by those. Have you seen 'foamboard'? This can be a lightweight option for baseboards - but - major caveat/warning - if not braced and reinforced, it can warp on exposure to waterbased [scenery] products/filler. I've bought from https://artdiscount.co.uk/collections/foam-board (other suppliers available). Polystyrene can be bought from DIY places in flat sheets of varying thicknesses - OK, it's much more expensive than re-using packing material but can be worth it for the precision of the cut. I used this for some models I built on a [commercial basis] and 'sandwiched' it between two layers of timber, ply/MDF I think, the top one with multiple bits cut out to allow for below rail/road scenery. Being polystyrene, you can excavate relatively easily. If you are not 100% about the location of things like track, you can glue the top layer on without any holes and use a mini-tool to cut the holes out later - though be aware you may need to guard against dust + fumes etc. when cutting. When thinking about the height of the deck from the water level, allow for winter rainfall and flooding. Below is a photo and sketch plan of an adaptation of the Wills 4mm scale plastic kit, admittedly for a standard gauge line but I have used for a OO9 line too, just I can't find the photos of either one (pah and turdycurses...) which I hope gives you an idea about heights - rail height above baseboard level was about 1.6 inches to the bottom of the rail/top of the [white] cross girders.

Your name vill also go on ze list ...

Wabbit here... I'll see you your wines and painters: 'Up, up and away...' https://bristolha.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/bha097.pdf and raise you '1848 - 1870* - hours and duties of Prussian Railwaymen'. I can't find a link to this one but it's an A5 booklet similar in style/size to the other title. Both were memorable titles in stock - albeit not best sellers - in the historical/archaeology section of a certain bookshop I used to run. Wabbit must dash - a couple of things to do before the rain arrives later, toodle-oo... * Not 100% about the dates, might be a little out.

Ah, that's what spoons are for!

Evenin' awl, A busy day, hopefully I made some progress, from whackin' it to the Kafkaesque filth which infest our lives through to more honest activity making 'stuff' through working with one's hands to turn raw materials into a finished product. There are a few things round home which needed repairing/fixing, all being well I crossed a few off the list today. On the subject of food, particularly carbs, I saw: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/mar/26/forget-roast-mash-and-boiled-alternative-potato-side-dishes-kitchen-aide earlier. Nice to see some variety. Random thought for the day, why does some food taste better when cold and other dishes when hot? There must be a scientific explanation (I hope!) - but it'd be interesting to have a pointer as to why. Just as an example, my quiches are supposedly just as tasty hot or cold - though different - same story with my treacle tart, and I did some venison sausage rolls yesterday and they were tastier hot than cold (lunch today) though still very pleasant cold and my version of Gala pie (very crudely, pork pie with egg) is significantly tastier cold than from the oven. Any thoughts? ION... it's piddlin' down... again... hailstones earlier... pah.... I think I shall emulate Achilles and retire, sulking... G' night all...

... fallen doors not being rehung ...

Afternoon awl, Fine and sunny now but this am, the weather was alternating between grey and chuckitdarn and blue sky and wall to wall sunshine. Rather like one of those old fashioned weather forecast devices with good/bad weather figures which emerge depending on atmospheric pressure on Benny Hill style speeded-up timing. After lunch, the wind dropped and it's now rather pleasant outside. I shall head there shortly. A 'culinary' lunch had, as this am was a write-off for walking or garden pottering, I did a Chicken Parmigiana with triple cooked chips and runner beans. OK, OK, a 'posh' version of chicken and chips... 😉 Turned out just fine though. As others have said, it's the quality of the ingredients that makes the difference. And planning and timing help. It reminded me of a saying my postgrad flatmate of some years ago was fond of, 'I love it when a meal comes together'. Paraphrasing a certain Colonel Smith of a 1980s popular TV show... It could be pizza or cake for tea. I'll go and mark out a landing ground for Bear. ION, not much really... Plus one for the dislike of self-service checkouts, I don't think I've been through one without having to ask for human help - whether to approve an alcohol sale or because the IT has had a wobble, perhaps because I was using the wrong hand to scan the item... 🤔 I'll leave with a closing thought, courtesy Bill Watterson... https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/hpd7e3/these_days_the_junk_mail_comes_through_instagram/