Early Risers.

[pH]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

At 8:32am PDT (16:32 BST), 40 years ago on the morning of May 18, 1980, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake and landslide, triggered the explosive eruption of the Mt. Saint Helens stratovolcano about 100km from here (if the crow flew in a roughly NNE direction). 

 

 

We hadn't moved to Canada at that time. However, a neighbour here said he heard it go off, and we are about 215 miles north in a straight line. He thought someone had fired a gun in the woods behind our houses.

[Dave Hunt]

Haven't visited ERs since yesterday morning and it's taken most of this evening just to read quickly through the new posts. Must be a lot of folk stuck at home for some reason.......

 

A belated happy birthday Rick - just snuck in while it's still applicable!

 

A mixed day of catching up with friends and family via various telephonic and internet technologies, some administrative and financial niffnaff and trivia, catering (my day to do the cooking) and last but by no means least some modelling!

 

Lots of interesting posts on matters mathematical bringing back long forgotten memories of guessing sticks and little red books of mathematical tables. Possibly not as efficient as thumbing a small electronic gismo but somehow much more satisfying. 

 

As for musical tastes, I couldn't even begin to draw up a top ten but maybe it is worth noting that at various times today I have listened to and enjoyed Dire Straits, a Rodrigo concerto, Barbra Streisand, John Denver and Vaugh Williams. I think eclectic may be the word.

 

Ah, well, and so to bed with the start of another week in purdah beckoning. Maybe I'll be forced to spend some more time in the workshop....

 

Night night all.

 

Dave

[Tony_S]

This is what I have been playing with. No trains were displaced.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Tony_S

[AndyID]

31 minutes ago, MichaelE said:

These are not ve recent, but her and I look pretty much the same today.

 

 

I think she's even better looking than her namesake. The puppy pic is brilliant. She reminds me of our Heidi.

[AndyID]

34 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

and Vaughan Williams.

 

Me too. I also like Dixie Chicks rendition of Landslide.

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[J. S. Bach]

17 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

  On 16/05/2020 at 16:33, J. S. Bach said:

Call me (probably accurately) if you will, an ignorant, know nothing Philistine, but all the various U.S.-made locomotives all look the same to me: basically a series of different sized boxes bolted together. I wonder why the US locomotive manufacturers moved away from the elegant diesel locomotives they had designed in the 30s, 40s and 50s to these, frankly, unappealing boxes?  Could it be pragmatic practicality taking precedence over aesthetics?  Or is it because these locomotives are so powerful that they don’t have to worry about aerodynamics, drag and air resistance like lesser locomotives? (“We don’t need no steenking aerodynamics”)

Part of the elegance was in the expensive-to-make compound curves. I suspect that the aerodynamic effects were somewhat negligible at the low speeds the trains operated. Anyway, with the current crop of locomotives even I can not tell the difference between the two major builders!

 

Quote

On 16/05/2020 at 19:13, J. S. Bach said:

Speaking of Nelson Riddle & Linda Ronstadt, the only album the I have is Lush Life and only because of the Connie on the cover:

Given a choice between Connie and Linda, I’d much rather take Linda up for a spin, maybe do a quick “circuit and bumps” (Fnarr, fnarr!).

I had quite a “thing” for Ms Ronstadt as a callow youth, not that I ever was “in her league” 

I suspect that Connie would be, in the long run, cheaper to operate and maintain!

 

Quote

3 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

...I find hard it believe that you have not heard of Pink Floyd! ...

I would be very surprised if, given the air play certain of their songs have received, Brian hasn’t heard PF, but having “not heard of them” is very likely - given that songs can be broadcast in a stream without individual songs being identified (well, that’s a clumsy way of putting it, but I can’t think of a better way).

BTW, I do have a copy of DSOTM; I started to listen to it by spinning "MONEY", ten or fifteen seconds into the song, it came of off the turntable. That, however, was not the shortest time a record spent on the platter, a Muddy Waters one holds the lead with about five seconds!

 

As for classical, Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 has to head the list, E. Power. Biggs at the keyboard. I have one Biggs album where he plays the Toccata sixteen times on sixteen different pipe organs; the last track on side two he plays the whole piece.

 

iD please note that it is always a pleasure (and sometimes a learning experience) to read your posts.

Edited May 18, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

[TheQ]

Mooring awl inner Temple Hare, 

 6 hours solid sleep so far,  yesterday I achieved 3 more hours in two pieces post posting. 

 

I won't be wearing my kilt around the lanes here,  walking through the lanes surrounded by hedges buzzing with insect life,  is bad enough wearing full overalls, batting off the attackers to face and hands. 

 

It's normally assumed that as a citizen of the UK you are part of Her Majesties Clan,  and therefore entitled to wear the Royal Stewart Tartan.  There is one tartan you will almost certainly never get to wear,  that's Balmoral. Designed by Prince Albert,  it is only within the gift of HM the Queen,  to be given permission to wear it. There are tartans that are restricted,  RAF,  Walmart,  etc where you must show a connection. 

 

Many tartans are similar to each other,  the Stewart tartan has at least 32 variations,  Government Tartan, is very similar to Campbell tartan,  and also there are many variations available. 

 

Anyway,  today I'm planning to start putting up the tin shed,  one side attached to the garage,  the roof converted from double pitch to lean to single. 

 

First however, 

Time to,  try for sleep part two. 

 

 

 

 

[AndyID]

5 hours ago, Tony_S said:

This is what I have been playing with. No trains were displaced.

 

It could be interesting if we could operate one of the controllers via the Internet to set up a race. I suspect the latency could be a bit of a problem unless you had a similar handicap.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all, with apologies to Rick for once again overlooking his birthday.  I had not heard “Camborne Hill” for upwards of 30 years.  It always reminds me of the late great Brenda Wootton.

 

Yesterday was quite relaxing.  Lunch was a lovely tender piece of ribeye steak and the afternoon was spent quietly.  I should not do that too often: there is still plenty for me to do and I really must learn to motivate myself to do it – easier said than done, of course, unless you know otherwise.  Before I am too much older I need to fish out the mower and tackle the lawn, which at the moment is more dandelions than grass.  William next door has a garden which puts mine to shame and that owned by Mrs Electric-Chair on the other side is nothing short of magnificent.  Is not envy one of the seven deadly sins?  I do not buy bedding plants, chiefly because to put them in my jungle is not fair on the plants.

 

As I lay in the bath yesterday morning I thought of two more albums for my Top 10 list.  “Kicking Up The Sawdust” by Ashley Hutchings is a collection of infectious dance tunes.  Its title is derived from the Sawmills Studios in Cornwall where it was recorded.  “Feeling The Squeeze” is an album of accordion music by Chris Harvey, the alter ego of Chris Pollington who played keyboards in Strawhead.  The version of Simon Jeffes’s “Music for a found harmonium” is arguably the best available.  It will be interesting to see as time goes on what others have chosen and how many of the choices are familiar.

 

Today will see another purposeful stride into town.  I need to buy another donation to charity, for which read two lotto tickets, and pay two remittances from Ernie into the bank.  The opportunity to spend some of the unusually high bank balance would be nice, though some of it has already been committed to a book recommended by 88C.  I am pleased to report that the Christmas and New Year trip to Switzerland has appeared on the travel company website: good job I looked.  For all the notice they took of my opinions last year I do wonder why I bothered to submit feedback but then I’m only a customer.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Do I detect a kind of animal theme?

You do, although I notice that bears, leopards, rats and hippos are conspicuous by their absence.

 

Lucky there's no camel:  Whom might have taken the hump....  

[jamie92208]

Bonjour to you all or bon nuit/ soir/apres midi.  It's sunnyvagain and today was designated as a gardening day yesterday.  I better comply with this edict, life will be easier if I do. I suspect that grass cutting will be the main task along with some pruning.  

 

We had a very pleasant time with some friends yesterday and roast lamb was enjoyed.  The fruit malt loaf that I madeca few days ago is now ready to be eaten so some was had for supper.

 

On maths, I'm familiar with SOHCAHTOA and the rule about the squaws in the hippopotamus hide but BODMAS has passed me by.

 

As to music, getting the list down to 10 is difficult, however here goes, in no particularvorder as they say.

 

Revolver, the Beatles

Harvest, Neil Young,

The Messiah, the Huddersfield Choral Society.

Mozarts Horn Concertos with Alan Civil.

The Man Who,, Travis.

Tommy, The Who

High Tide Green Grass, The Strolling Bones

Four Way Street, Crosby Stills Nash and Young.

Supertrouper, ABBA

Ommadawn Mike Oldfield.

 

There are many more but that's the first 10 that have come to mind.

 

Jamie

 

 

 

[leopardml2341]

Mornin' folks.

 

Nowt else, just Mornin'

Edited May 18, 2020 by leopardml2341

[Barry O]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

You do, although I notice that bears, leopards, rats and hippos are conspicuous by their absence.

 

Lucky there's no camel:  Whom might have taken the hump....  

Camel..covered by Flanders ans Swann.."In the desert". They also cover Gnus and, of course Hippopotamii.

Baz

Edited May 18, 2020 by Barry O

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Has anyone else been able to detect high flying airplanes in Lockdown?

Two yestersay, one at 32000ft, then, last evening one at 35,000ft. Amazing.

 

Cricket umpires have had a present. Details of what you can and can't do when recreational cricket restarts...over 70..no umpiring  diabetic..no umpiring, heart condition...no umpiring.

 

Don't touch the ball (plenty of opportunity for bowlers there then!), change on your own..most umpire changing rooms aren't big enough for two people to get changed in anyway..methinks the ECB needs to move out of Lords and into grass roots cricket!!

 

Today should be parcel delivery day. If that parcel arrives grass cutting will be resumed.

 

If gardening can't take place then..more  muddling!

 

Notice that the UK fishermen may be realising that, having sold their quotas to other countries ' fleets they won't be getting them back soon...

 

Baz

[TheQ]

11 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Camel..covered by Flanders ans Swann.."In the desert". They also cober Gnus and, of course Hippopotamii.

Baz

Gnu gnus,  there are Aussie Gnus. 

[Barry O]

1 minute ago, TheQ said:

Gnu gnus,  there are Aussie Gnus. 

Fixed the spellung mistake as I didn't see any Gnus in Oz..snakes, roos, koalas, wombats, but no gnus..

 

Baz

[iL Dottore]

13 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

....And I get fed up with hearing people say, without evidence "it's an outlier, we can ignore it."...

I agree, that’s dangerous thinking. In my line of work, we pay close attention to the outliers as they may represent a finding that will replicate when the drug under study is approved and used in large populations. Fortunately, most of the time outliers can be discounted after careful investigation. But to ignore on a whim? Rather foolish I would say.

13 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

...Fully dressed for dinner. Warning - some may find white socks offensive! 

 

12 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

My first album on the list would be MY FAIR LADY, original Broadway cast in glorious mono. The rest of the list would vary according to my taste on the day that I compose the list.

Firstly, a belated happy birthday to you Rick; secondly, surely your lower leg coverings should be called “hose” and not “socks”? A fiercely Hibernian Scotsman of my acquaintance is adamant that only the ill-informed and “sassenachs” refer to “hose” as “socks” (sic). He also has strong opinions on what colour hose (Lovat Green, Black or Ecru) should be worn with a kilt on formal occasions (apparently, Lovat Green).
 

Some my earliest records, before I became twisted and tainted by that new-fangled jive music, were recordings of stage and screen musicals. Perhaps it’s the result of the hardening and furring of my cranial vasculature, but I find most post-1960s “Musicals” pretty “bleh” For what it’s worth, I think few can match Rodgers and Hammerstein.

11 hours ago, brianusa said:

Maybe I should explain I'm really a Classic FM type,  Most pop music ended for me in about 1955 when rock 'n roll came on the scene, hence my affinity to adult popular music of today including musicals, movie themes, etc.

    Brian.

I thought that pop music started with the advent of rock ‘n’ roll. 

My tastes in music are pretty eclectic and I can find enjoyable listening in practically any genre, although (says he, sticking his neck out) I find most “modern classical”,  most rap music and most current “pop” music much like most modern art - the promotion of the minimally talented by the maximally unscrupulous in order to make maximal amount of money (dons tin helmet and retires to a safe distance)

9 hours ago, Barry O said:

...Favourite Bands seen live - Genesis, Lindesfarne, Mark Knopfler (well Dire Strates) , Fleetwood Mac...

...I do listen to Classic FM a lot.. her indoors doesn't like the adverts and retreats into her lair with Radio 3..

For various reasons, mostly involving my travelling a lot for work, I haven’t seen as many bands as I wanted to. I did, however, managed to see Pink Floyd on the PULSE tour (absolutely amazing) and as a spotty teenager managed to get to see Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull, B.B. King, Miles Davis and a host of other blues and jazz classics. I also got to see Steeleye Span in the mid 80s and they were a bit disappointing (perhaps Maddy Prior was having an off day)

I find Classic FM (which I can get through one of the streaming apps on my smart phone) enjoyable although I do agree that the frequent and constant ads are both distracting and annoying.  Radio Three is, for me, very much the proverbial Curate’s Egg: parts of it are excellent. I do enjoy listening to Radio 3’s Through The Night on the BBC iPlayer catch up, however I have found that the “listenability” seems to be dependent on which of the three regular presenters are hosting the show (this is assuming that the presenters have the choice of the music to be played and not some central BBC planning committee).  I don’t mind obscure, innovative or modern, but it has to be “listenable“.

8 hours ago, MichaelE said:

These are not ve recent, but her and I look pretty much the same today.

 

 

What a splendid beast (and the dog is absolutely beautiful) 

She is a lovely looking dog. Is her character as sweet as she looks?

My biggest regret with Lucy is that I didn’t get her as a puppy (we got her from a shelter when she was about 3 - 4), so I missed the opportunity to deeply bond with her. Lucy currently shares many traits with Mrs iD, inasmuch as both tolerate me with affectionate bemusement (amongst other things).

6 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Part of the elegance was in the expensive-to-make compound curves. I suspect that the aerodynamic effects were somewhat negligible at the low speeds the trains operated. Anyway, with the current crop of locomotives even I can not tell the difference between the two major builders!.....
 

....BTW, I do have a copy of DSOTM; I started to listen to it by spinning "MONEY", ten or fifteen seconds into the song, it came of off the turntable. ...

(Too) “expensive to make” seems to be curse of modern business, it’s almost as if there is race to the bottom to provide the cheapest selling item that makes the biggest possible profit by cutting quality in production (forgive me, that’s my alter-ego, Captain Cynical, talking). Almost paradoxically, the high end luxury market which (presumably) spares no expense in regards to materials, workmanship and build quality is doing quite nicely, thank you very much. I read somewhere that, in times of want, people will forego necessities for luxury (hence the increase in alcohol and tobacco sales in difficult times) 
 

DSOTM really IS worth persevering with. First, pour yourself a large glass of your favourite tipple, drink it, refill and repeat the process, refill a third time and start DSOTM on track 1, side 1. Sipping a single malt with DSOTM is heartily recommended.

5 hours ago, TheQ said:

...There are tartans that are restricted,  RAF,  Walmart,  etc where you must show a connection...

You’re having a giraffe, aren’t you? Walmart tartan? As Private Eye would put it “shurely shome mishtake”

I belong to a Verein and, for our formal meetings, we are required to wear full Highland Dress (although trews can be worn instead of the kilt). Our resident Hibernian (see above) recommends either Royal Stuart or Black Watch for those of us who cannot claim a link (tenuous or otherwise) with a clan. Apparently, anyone can wear Black Watch as the regiment was raised from all the clans, unlike - say - The Seaforth Highlanders who were raised from Clan McKenzie (or so I am told). At the Verein I wear McKenzie tartan as a very close and dear friend is a McKenzie (a tenuous link, I know, but it’s there).

 

Have A Splendid Day
iD

Edited May 18, 2020 by iL Dottore

[TheQ]

Mooring awl part 2,

Ben the alarm clock Collie, was on time for patrol,  he got an extended one, while more branches were moved to the bonfire. He didn't agree he said I should be playing ball. 

 

Idiot reporter on TV standing next to ( +6ft) a builder reckons it takes two men to install a door,  and they can't carry one because they would be too close.. 

The builder didn't correct him.. But I bet he'd sack any chippy that needed routine assistance to install a door. As for not carrying doors 6ft 6inches is close enough to 6ft 6.74inches, so that's another set of cobblers.  I've removed and replaced 5 doors in this house,  all solid doors, all on my own.. It's not difficult ( except some of my door frames are on the huh (tilt) .

 

Muggacoffee to consume before shed building .

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Sunny here and a fine dry and warm day forecast for the twin hamlets of Much Binding in The Back and Much Aching All Over. 

All I did was wash the car and do a little bit of weeding but I seem to have seized up again and also got a slightly sunburnt head.

The Boss has prescribed a walk shortly but I'm still thinking about that. At the moment it would be more of a hobble.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

 

 

[grandadbob]

Q,  I've stopped watching the news because of idiot reporters asking stupid questions and making stupid statements.  I've lost count of the number of doors I've removed by myself (without using my head) and replaced over the years.  It's not difficult or rocket science.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Yet again another dull start to the day, but at least it isn’t raining so I shouldn’t get wet during my extended walks around The Christie. Breakfast has now been consumed and I’ll be setting off shortly to ensure I get there in plenty of time, but I expect they’ll be an awful lot of queueing and waiting around before I’m actually seen. 

 

After that there isn't much planned for the rest of the day, a little bit of pottering my be the order of the day. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

[Dave Hunt]

31 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

My tastes in music are pretty eclectic and I can find enjoyable listening in practically any genre, although (says he, sticking his neck out) I find most “modern classical”,  most rap music and most current “pop” music much like most modern art - the promotion of the minimally talented by the maximally unscrupulous in order to make maximal amount of money (dons tin helmet and retires to a safe distance)

 

I couldn't agree more. Harrison Birtwhistle, John Cage, Tracey Emin, etc. etc. blechhh......

 

I'll get my tin hat and come and join you in the bunker.

 

Dave