The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

9 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I wonder if our redident pachyderm has seen the news item about Coulumbias hippo population. It has grown alarmingly from a few that were imported by former drug cartel boss Pablo Escabar. The authorities want to get rid of them but don't want to shoot them. They are now trying to sterilise them all.  

 

HH guard your nuts like a squirrel.

 

Jamie

 

Too late, the phone has already been disconnected from the exchange

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

g I was from Scotland he asked, quite seriously, if I had a rough crossing coming over on the ferry

I have mentioned before that on a flight from Southend to Dublin the women sitting behind us thought that the coast (approaching Dublin)  they could see was America as “Ireland is joined to England”. 

[PhilJ W]

Just came across this, a good stocking filler for the little ones.

https://www.appledogs.co.uk/products/educational-creative-pen-inductive-toy?variant=40935542390934

[jamie92208]

9 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

Too late, the phone has already been disconnected from the exchange

I must admit I was wondering how they go about the procedure, a rubber ring like they use on lambs would be difficult to apply.

 

I did once visit a rather rural police station at Wetherby. In the telephone book a call had been logged from a farmer in a nearby village. It said that a bull had escaped whilst being castrated, it is rather angry.  Some wag had written in the remarks column,  "Wouldn't you be."

Jamie

Edited October 23, 2021 by jamie92208

[J. S. Bach]

14 hours ago, polybear said:

 ...snip... Is the US expecting problems in 2024?  I see The Orange One is releasing his own social media platform "that will rival Facebook and Twitter"..... ...snip...

Wouldn't take much!

[J. S. Bach]

14 hours ago, polybear said:

 ...snip... For Pilots who take off and land such things on a pitching, rolling deck that's so short it needs a catapult and arrester gear.  In the dark, with waves breaking over the deck.....

Now if that doesn't get a bite......

 

  That is something I would ask a hotshot USAF fighter pilot just to get the reaction.  Oh, and don't forget the 20Kn crosswind!

[simontaylor484]

30 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Just came across this, a good stocking filler for the little ones.

https://www.appledogs.co.uk/products/educational-creative-pen-inductive-toy?variant=40935542390934

My youngest had something similar a few years ago it was Thomas the Tank engine you got a roller that made a track pattern on a screen like etch a scetch and Thomas duly followed

[polybear]

40 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I have mentioned before that on a flight from Southend to Dublin the women sitting behind us thought that the coast (approaching Dublin)  they could see was America as “Ireland is joined to England”. 

 

Bear recalls Jeremy Clarkson doing a wind-up in London - he was a tour guide on top of an open deck tour bus; he told those on the tour (a group from the US) that the South Bank of the Thames was the coast of France.  And yes, they swallowed it....

[AndyID]

36 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

And yes, they swallowed it.

 

I think we should probably leave that one right there.

 

(There's a sort of connection here with dad's chemist shop that I ..........)

[Happy Hippo]

8 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I think we should probably leave that one right there.

 

(There's a sort of connection here with dad's chemist shop that I ..........)

Obviously the occupants of the bus where definitely not top drawer. 

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

My youngest had something similar a few years ago it was Thomas the Tank engine you got a roller that made a track pattern on a screen like etch a scetch and Thomas duly followed

It's an intriguing idea but somehow, something that involves giving my grand-daughter a marker pen is probably not going to get my hand in my pocket....

[SM42]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Bear recalls Jeremy Clarkson doing a wind-up in London - he was a tour guide on top of an open deck tour bus; he told those on the tour (a group from the US) that the South Bank of the Thames was the coast of France.  And yes, they swallowed it....

 

Sounds like  a Mind the Gappe type wind up

 

Andy

[AndyID]

8 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Wouldn't take much!

 

I suspect all social-media channels (apart from RMweb of course) are ultimately doomed. The noise-to-signal ratio is just far too great. They try to compartmentalize traffic using a load of highly suspect algorithms and ultimately the whole thing turns into a house of cards.

[Happy Hippo]

The rest of the family have gone toy shopping. I was spared this horror until I found out they were driving over to Leckwith, where the Cardiff emporium of Lord and Butler also hang out.

 

Unfortunately I had to remain at my mother's as I had to speak to the computer repair man who had called by.

 

The computer has now been taken away for an upgrade to the RAM and to have a replacement hard drive fitted.

 

I learned quite a bit about diagnostics that previously I had been ignorant of, so the morning was not wasted.

 

[Dave Hunt]

20 hours ago, laurenceb said:

In the early days of the Red Arrows someone worked out that if a certain fuse was removed the plane would spin faster. Higher authority ordered the refitting of said fuse, but nobody said that it had to be a serviceable fuse.

 

Not quite. When the Gnat was tested at Boscombe Down prior to entering service as an advanced trainer, the test report stated that the roll rate achievable was in excess of that deemed sensible for trainees as it could both be disorientating and if not checked after IIRC 540 degrees could also lead to roll yaw coupling and loss of control. Therefore a limiter was fitted to slow down the roll rate, although it was still very fast. When the first aerobatic team to be equipped with the Gnat, the Yellowjacks, got the aircraft they asked permission to disconnect the limiters and after trials Head Office agreed providing that should the aircraft ever be used as advanced trainers they had to be enabled. The principle was carried over to the Red arrows, whose spare aircraft were very occasionally used by the FTS. Even with the limiters the roll rate was quite eyeopening and I well remember trying it out for the first time.

 

Dave

 

[Dave Hunt]

18 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I was in a taxi in Oxford about 45 years ago and the driver asked me where I was from. On hearing I was from Scotland he asked, quite seriously, if I had a rough crossing coming over on the ferry

 

My Dad was asked by a New York taxi driver where he was from and he replied, "Britain." The driver responded, "Well, considering you ain't American, you speak pretty good Engish."

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

15 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

  That is something I would ask a hotshot USAF fighter pilot just to get the reaction.  Oh, and don't forget the 20Kn crosswind!

 

If there's a crosswind the ship driver isn't doing his job. Carriers turn into wind before launching or landing on to reduce the groundspeed of the aircraft for a given airspeed as well as dispensing with crosswind problems - it's a difficult enough job without having to kick off any drift at exactly the right time before hitting the deck.

 

Dave

[laurenceb]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Not quite. When the Gnat was tested at Boscombe Down prior to entering service as an advanced trainer, the test report stated that the roll rate achievable was in excess of that deemed sensible for trainees as it could both be disorientating and if not checked after IIRC 540 degrees could also lead to roll yaw coupling and loss of control. Therefore a limiter was fitted to slow down the roll rate, although it was still very fast. When the first aerobatic team to be equipped with the Gnat, the Yellowjacks, got the aircraft they asked permission to disconnect the limiters and after trials Head Office agreed providing that should the aircraft ever be used as advanced trainers they had to be enabled. The principle was carried over to the Red arrows, whose spare aircraft were very occasionally used by the FTS. Even with the limiters the roll rate was quite eyeopening and I well remember trying it out for the first time.

 

Dave

 

From memory, Ray Hanna on a programme about the Red Arrows at least 26 years ago.

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

If there's a crosswind the ship driver isn't doing his job. Carriers turn into wind before launching or landing on to reduce the groundspeed of the aircraft for a given airspeed as well as dispensing with crosswind problems - it's a difficult enough job without having to kick off any drift at exactly the right time before hitting the deck.

 

Dave

You are 100% right, I was thing of the stack gas/island structure burble. 

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

My Dad was asked by a New York taxi driver where he was from and he replied, "Britain." The driver responded, "Well, considering you ain't American, you speak pretty good Engish."

 

Dave

 

I've had that one a few times in the US too. There's little point in trying to explain to I just say thank you.

[Tony_S]

40 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I've had that one a few times in the US too. There's little point in trying to explain to I just say thank you.

I have mentioned before but possibly not in this thread that my son had his application to study for a Masters (MRes) degree in Sweden declined as his English Language qualification was inadequate. At that time he had a BA from Leicester and an MSc from the LSE so presumably had some grasp of his native tongue, in spite of a less than impressive GCSE pass. 

[SM42]

A friend of ours had to take an English language test to get her British passport 

Apparently she had not studied the right degree in the UK  to be exempt, despite the fact that she taught A Level standard Maths and Physics at an English FE college.

 

I am a little in awe of people who can do such things in a second  language.

 

Andy

[Stubby47]

Many years ago I was a contract programmer at Astra Zeneca in Macclesfield. In order to get a deal on a piece of software (on an IBM mainframe) the dept manager arranged for a sales pitch and some training for another product from the same firm.

 

So two suits turned up for sales pitch,  and then the trainer walked in. Jeans, cowboy boots, waistcoat and pony tail.

 

Not what we expected.

 

However, the guy knew his stuff it turned out he'd only just returned from Germany, where he'd been giving the same training, in German. 

[Happy Hippo]

5 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

If there's a crosswind the ship driver isn't doing his job. Carriers turn into wind before launching or landing on to reduce the groundspeed of the aircraft for a given airspeed as well as dispensing with crosswind problems - it's a difficult enough job without having to kick off any drift at exactly the right time before hitting the deck.

 

Dave

The same principle applies when you are using a helicopter for personnel transfer/ casevac from ships and boats. It can be quite fun when the (then) Sea King has been tasked to lift folk from a RIB doing just over 30 knots.

 

Going the other way we just jumped into the water and got the RIB to pick us up!

[Tony_S]

A friend recently got married. His wife was from Singapore and was a graduate/qualified teacher.  I was I am sure many people know various people like to compare the UK system with that of Singapore.  After her residence here was approved she looked for a teaching job. She was told her qualifications were not recognised as being equivalent. Eventually she applied for a job in an independent school. There the admin said while her Singaporean qualifications were not automatically recognised she could apply for them to be recognised. No problem as it turned out.