Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

57 minutes ago, pH said:

And it's probably not valid to consider it as a singlarly cultural country, either. See this:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Nations_of_North_America

There are other names for some of those regions as well separate from the author's thesis - "the rustbelt" (foundry), "the mountain west" (empty quarter) "flyover country" (breadbasket) etc. Even living in the LA area not long after this was written, people often called it the "northernmost city in Mexico". 

 

And movements (not going anywhere) like Cascadia (all but Northern California in ectopia). 

 

There are historical reasons for most of the cultural bindings within regions and cultural differences between regions.

 

[5 C]

Morning awl from a cool and clear Bedfordshire.

 

First of all, thoughts with those on Fraggle Rock.

 

It's been another busy week. Although it's supposedly half term with a good proportion of people on holiday, work has been full on. Current project is the impending return to work. A hugely complicated topic as we're having to practically re-induct people into a socially distanced office and way of working.

 

Bird life here is quite a mix. I do very well with goldfinches and the usual blackbirds, robins, dunnocks, blue, great and coal tits. A rare sighting of a greenfinch a couple of weeks ago but nothing since. I really ought to refill the bird feeders. Young starlings have been roosting noisily in nearby trees since fledging and have annihilated the fat balls. Living on the edge of the Chilterns means red kites are a regular sight. A few years ago to spot even one, high in the sky as a barely visible dot was a source of great excitement. Over the years they have become bolder during their daily patrol and can be seen most days around 1pm as they barely clear the rooftops.

 

The wood pigeons have also become bolder. Twice now I have returned from a brief trip upstairs while the back door was open to find one sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. And not only sitting - add an h.  They also use the TV aerial as a perch and their flightpath takes them directly over my car with the inevitable consequences. I only tolerate them in the garden as they hoover up the mess made by the goldfinches but they are testing the limits of my generosity.

 

On the subject of invading wildlife, the man with the CCTV camera probed the drains on Tuesday and found everything in order. Nothing has been seen or heard since so maybe Roland, Mickey or whoever either took the bait or found their way out. A neighbour did have a loaf of bread attacked at the weekend though.

 

Second muggertea will shortly be embarked upon and then I may just return to bed as I need to bank some sleep.

 

Regards to awl.

[AndyID]

37 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

M: Yes, but I came here for an argument!!

A: OH! Oh! I'm sorry! This is abuse!

M: Oh! Oh I see!

A: Aha! No, you want room 12A, next door.

 

 

I'm sure you are familiar with that Monty Python sketch  

 

The definition of what exactly constitutes a country is highly subjective and any discussion on the subject is likely to descend into futile arguments (like the MP sketch).

 

 

Looks like I replied to myself rather than pH !

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by AndyID
Ooops!

[iL Dottore]

10 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

...Quite a lot of German and Swiss climbers come a cropper on British mountains as they only look at my  at the height....

I am surprised, certainly about the Swiss climbers. Mrs iD is an enthusiastic mountain walker (even having done one or two of the incredibly challenging Klettersteig [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_ferrata]) and has been since young. And one of the things that has been drilled into her, over and over again, was how unpredictable and changeable mountain conditions are and to be prepared for all eventualities. As Mrs iD is a fairly typical Swiss mountain sportsperson, I wonder how experienced the Swiss “climbers” were, getting into trouble that Mrs iD would have spotted a mile away.

7 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I think that the original quote was that Rugby is a game for hooligans played by Gentlemen and soccer is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans.

Jamie

TBH I think that everyone has been misquoting the original phrase, which - apparently - was coined to explain the differences between Rugby and Football matches in terms of public order offences. The phrase being: “Football is a game played by Gentlemen and watched by hooligans, whilst Rugby is a game played by hooligans and watched by Gentlemen”. I can certainly personally attest to accuracy of this statement; I was in Edinburgh the day of the (pre-lockdown) France-Scotland rugby match and the French and the Scots fans were happily intermingling, with nary a hurled invective or a riot van to be seen; whereas whenever there is Basel vs Zurich football match the entire area around the St Jakob stadium in Basel goes into lockdown and the tooled up riot police almost outnumber the fans.... Something which is, I understand, a regular occurrence at soccer matches...

7 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

And golf is a game played by people wound up twice as much as the ball they are trying to hit.

The quote I like about Golf is “Golf is an expensive way of ruining a good walk”

6 hours ago, Simon G said:

...I have seen an awful lot of poorly equipped people in the Lakes, but the most memorable episode was climbing Snowdon, in North Wales.  We overtook a party of people, two of whom were wearing flip-flops, and another one was wearing open toed sandals.  It was a nice warm day, until we reached the ridge near the railway, when a biting cold wind hit us.  We just layered up, but other people had no extra layers, and were just about suffering frostbite in the few hundred metres from there to the top...

Quite frankly, I don’t think that we are doing our species any favours by saving such c**kwombles from the consequences of their stupidity. In fact, one could argue (quite unkindly) that by attempting to rescue such dimwits from the folly of their own actions, we are risking the lives of the non-stupid and the non-foolish.

We forget how unforgiving Mother Nature truly is; in the natural world, animals that make a “stupid mistake” (such as misjudging a leap, the strength and determination of a prey animal, or which way to dart to evade a predator, etc.) don’t get second chances...

It’s interesting to contemplate the dichotomy between the health of the species (H0m0 Sapiens) and the health of the individual (you, me, our family and friends) and how - paradoxically - safeguarding the health of one can mean jeopardising the health of the other. Does saving the individual necessarily come at the expense of lessening the fitness of the species? Awkwardly, I think that there is enough evidence to argue for both “Yes” and “No”.
Anyway, enough Saturday Morning existential philosophy.
Have a great Weekend

iD

[AndyID]

30 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

There are other names for some of those regions as well separate from the author's thesis - "the rustbelt" (foundry), "the mountain west" (empty quarter) "flyover country" (breadbasket) etc. Even living in the LA area not long after this was written, people often called it the "northernmost city in Mexico". 

 

And movements (not going anywhere) like Cascadia (all but Northern California in ectopia). 

 

There are historical reasons for most of the cultural bindings within regions and cultural differences between regions.

 

 

We moved to the Phoenix area almost forty years ago and I was surprised at just how cosmopolitan it was even then. This area was something of a backwater when we came here 25 years ago. There were something like three traffic lights in the town then and most of the cars were old clunkers. Not any more. My little Fiat looks a bit pathetic compared to all the MBs, Porsches and Bayerischer Mist Wagens.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all, with warm thoughts to Neil and his colleagues

 

"Your house is a mess.  I like mess!"  Such is the wisdom of the four year old babe and suckling Leo who lives next door.  He was outside with his parents who were passing the time of day with other neighbours.  My front door was open because I had just put some recycleables into the orange bin.  I know only too well that my house is a mess.  I was going to say that I know where everything is but that would be wishful thinking.  There will be no Damascene conversion in the foreseeable future.  Probably.

 

I realised yesterday morning that there was enough in the laundry basket to do the laundry and thus it was.  This means, of course, that I have generated yet more ironing.  That will get done once I have returned from the relief fodder run.  Like all shopping I intend to get it over and done with quite early.  For much of yesterday I carried on with the doodling that has gone some way to producing a master plan for the trip to Marrakech that will not take place until 2022.  As it happens, there is a trip to Morocco in the latest taster brochure from Ffestiniog Travel.  It entails flying to Marrakech and travelling northwards by rail.  I am not even tempted.  What I do need to do before very much longer is to e-mail the good people in Tremadog - or Tremagog as the brochure has it - about the Swiss trip and how I might have it customised.  If you don't ask, you don't get.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[pH]

43 minutes ago, AndyID said:

Looks like I replied to myself rather than pH !

 

It's OK - I'm a bit less confused now.

[AndyID]

30 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I am surprised, certainly about the Swiss climbers. Mrs iD is an enthusiastic mountain walker (even having done one or two of the incredibly challenging Klettersteig [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_ferrata]) and has been since young. And one of the things that has been drilled into her, over and over again, was how unpredictable and changeable mountain conditions are and to be prepared for all eventualities. As Mrs iD is a fairly typical Swiss mountain sportsperson, I wonder how experienced the Swiss “climbers” were, getting into trouble that Mrs iD would have spotted a mile away.

 

 

They were probably Austrians pretending to be Swiss

 

I think there are a couple of factors here. The mountains in the UK look minuscule compared with the Alps and that might make climbers a bit complacent but the UK has a maritime climate which makes weather prediction highly uncertain. I've been up a lot of mountains in the US both in the West and the East and the conditions are typically fairly stable, much more stable than the conditions I've experienced on Scottish mountains.

[JohnDMJ]

Morning Awl (be it good or not is a matter of personal judgement!)

 

9 hours ago, Chris116 said:

You missed out the two men waving flags and one man with a whistle plus the xxx number of fans who are supposed to sit down but don't know how to! A lot of the patches of grass are no longer even real grass.

 

But you still get the picture!

 

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I think that one of the big problem in paying the Premier League footballers these huge amounts of money is that you are giving a lot of cash to very young men. At that age, probably understandably, a lot of money just means the ability to buy all kinds of self indulgent things; from trinkets like solid gold watches all the way up to expensive houses and - dare I say it – “trophy“ wives.  At that age, few understand (or perhaps even care) that wealth brings power, influence and - most importantly - freedom (A trivial example: if you are not wealthy and want to go to, say, Florida for a holiday you are constrained by having to go when the airlines are prepared to take you and how the airlines want to take you; whereas if you are wealthy you have the freedom to choose when and how you go to Florida).
Perhaps not understanding, or knowing, what wealth actually can do is why so many lottery winners burn through their winnings with a little to show for it at the end.

Or as another pundit put it “played by Gentlemen, watched by hooligans” Although this comment, authored back in the 70s (I think), seriously needs updating. Any suggestions?

 

Generally, I've found Rugby fans to be much calmer and less aggressive than football hooligans

 

9 hours ago, pH said:

 

I recognise that is your opinion, and therefore equally as valid as any other.

 

Can I give another opinion, in no way presenting it as superior to your own, merely as an alternative:

 

A variable number, ranging between 16 and 32, depending on conditions and other commitments, of over-60 (up to 80+), unpaid (in fact paying for the privilege) "gentlemen" getting 3 hours in total of exercise each week kicking an updated version of the pig's bladder around a well-maintained field of grass (or artificial turf field in harsher conditions). Many of these "gentlemen" do not get any other form of serious exercise and are really feeling the effects of the suspension of this activity during this covid shutdown.

 

 

 

I respect that you refer to my generation and some. My remarks were aimed at the subsequent generations who worship the current incarnation of the so-called sport.

 

6 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

Only after a day fielding phonecalls from cockwombling ar$ebadgers.............................

 

Have a good one folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

The gates were obviously far from their hinges at the asylum! I just wish they'd cut off the phone box just outside. (The box on our front grass was recently removed; are 'they' trying to tell us something?)

 

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

M: Yes, but I came here for an argument!!

A: OH! Oh! I'm sorry! This is abuse!

M: Oh! Oh I see!

A: Aha! No, you want room 12A, next door.

 

 

Pythonesque?

 

42 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I am surprised, certainly about the Swiss climbers. Mrs iD is an enthusiastic mountain walker (even having done one or two of the incredibly challenging Klettersteig [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_ferrata]) and has been since young. And one of the things that has been drilled into her, over and over again, was how unpredictable and changeable mountain conditions are and to be prepared for all eventualities. As Mrs iD is a fairly typical Swiss mountain sportsperson, I wonder how experienced the Swiss “climbers” were, getting into trouble that Mrs iD would have spotted a mile away.

TBH I think that everyone has been misquoting the original phrase, which - apparently - was coined to explain the differences between Rugby and Football matches in terms of public order offences. The phrase being: “Football is a game played by Gentlemen and watched by hooligans, whilst Rugby is a game played by hooligans and watched by Gentlemen”. I can certainly personally attest to accuracy of this statement; I was in Edinburgh the day of the (pre-lockdown) France-Scotland rugby match and the French and the Scots fans were happily intermingling, with nary a hurled invective or a riot van to be seen; whereas whenever there is Basel vs Zurich football match the entire area around the St Jakob stadium in Basel goes into lockdown and the tooled up riot police almost outnumber the fans.... Something which is, I understand, a regular occurrence at soccer matches...

The quote I like about Golf is “Golf is an expensive way of ruining a good walk”

Quite frankly, I don’t think that we are doing our species any favours by saving such c**kwombles from the consequences of their stupidity. In fact, one could argue (quite unkindly) that by attempting to rescue such dimwits from the folly of their own actions, we are risking the lives of the non-stupid and the non-foolish.

We forget how unforgiving Mother Nature truly is; in the natural world, animals that make a “stupid mistake” (such as misjudging a leap, the strength and determination of a prey animal, or which way to dart to evade a predator, etc.) don’t get second chances...

It’s interesting to contemplate the dichotomy between the health of the species (H0m0 Sapiens) and the health of the individual (you, me, our family and friends) and how - paradoxically - safeguarding the health of one can mean jeopardising the health of the other. Does saving the individual necessarily come at the expense of lessening the fitness of the species? Awkwardly, I think that there is enough evidence to argue for both “Yes” and “No”.
Anyway, enough Saturday Morning existential philosophy.
Have a great Weekend

iD

 

Sounds a bit Darwinian!

[JohnDMJ]

 

10 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

They were probably Austrians pretending to be Swiss

 

I think there are a couple of factors here. The mountains in the UK look minuscule compared with the Alps and that might make climbers a bit complacent but the UK has a maritime climate which makes weather prediction highly uncertain. I've been up a lot of mountains in the US both in the West and the East and the conditions are typically fairly stable, much more stable than the conditions I've experienced on Scottish mountains.

 

It's all a matter of climate change. In many parts of the UK, the climate can change somewhat rapidly and often catches the unprepared out dramatically! This is not a new phenomenon! (and has nothing to do with the miniscule amounts of CO2 which are blamed for the current cycling of the environment.)

[AndyID]

10 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

 

This is not a new phenomenon! (and has nothing to do with the miniscule amounts of CO2 which are blamed for the current cycling of the environment.)

 

I'm not sure I'd call a 22% increase in 45 years minuscule. Sounds like a helluva lot to me.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning to all, and let's not forget poor sundry.   It's warm here and there is not a cloud in the sky.  This means that if we do see any contrails they are very obvious.  By pure coincidence we saw a coupe the other night when ChrisF was first mentioning his trip to Marrakech.  I looked on Flightradar24 and one of them was a flight from that city to Paris.  That's Spooky.  

 

Also the law about finding lost objects has just been proved in this house.   A few weeks ago I lost a brass casting and searched everywhere for it to no avail.   I thus ordered another from Laurie Griffin.   That arrived on Thursday and yesterday guess what happened.   the original turned up.   Whether I will ever build another 4F with inside valve gear I very much doubt, but if increasing feeble mindlessness takes me down that road, I do have a spare motion bracket.

 

Anyway, the builders departed, having dug out, levelled and shuttered the area for the pool base.   Concreting is to happen Monday morning before it gets too hot.    Various culinary things are being done in the kitchen so it's out of bounds.   Once we have video called Rachel, Laura and of course Emily then the day is mine.   To try and preserve some balance of brownie points I better find something that looks useful to do.   Obviously making parts for a 4F would not be classed as useful by the Domestic Authorities.

 

Thoughts are very much with NHN, it must be a terrible situation in such a small and close knit business.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[roundhouse]

Good morning from a sunny Surrey.  

 

Bbq  last  Ightfield  up it took four attempts  to light it.  I think that I was being a bit stingy on thr lighter fuel as the charcoal just wasn't lighting  and also the USB battery pack wasn't making the fun spin fast enough  so back to the A batteries in the unit. Once lit it was ready to cook in five minutes. 

 

Walkies planned out for today via local brewery Pilgrim then local bakers / brewery Crumbs to pick up a fresh loaf of sourdough. 

 

Latest on the news regarding the unrest Stateside is that a protestor has bern shot dead in a drive by shooting in downtown Detriot. I hope that isn't going to dramatically increase the unrest. We have been watching it live on the Orange ones favourite  (not) news channel.  Just shown the hotel we have stayed in downtown San Jose.  Some good brewpubs around there. 

No mention of unrest so far in any of the cities that we should have been visiting in a few weeks time. 

 

EDIT - yes there is, Portland OR downtown there's been rioting with a bank set on fire.

Edited May 30, 2020 by roundhouse

[JohnDMJ]

 

55 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I'm not sure I'd call a 22% increase in 45 years minuscule. Sounds like a helluva lot to me.

 

Something like 400ppm (parts per million = 0.000004%) particles of CO2 in the atmosphere; 22% increase sounds a lot but is, I submit, in the overall context, Llareggub

Edited May 30, 2020 by JohnDMJ

[AndyID]

4 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

 

 

Something like 400ppm (parts per million = 0.000004%) particles of CO2 in the atmosphere; 22% increase sounds a lot but is, I submit, in the overall context, Llareggub

 

Now I'm confused. Are you saying there is no correlation between atmospheric CO2 and re-radiated Solar energy?

[TheQ]

You could divide the Great Britain  up similarly to the 9 countries. 

 

The country of the south,  Southern  Kent,  Sussex, Hampshire, southern Dorset.  

 

The west country, Cornwall, Devon, Northern Dorset, Southern Wiltshire,  Somerset excluding Bath and Bristol .

 

The Country of " intelligencia" , Bath, Bristol,  Gloscestershire,  Wiltshire north of the M4, Oxfordshire,  West and North Bucks, North Bedfordshire,  west Cambridgeshire.

 

Greater Greater London,  North Kent,  North Sussex,  Surrey, East Bucks,  South Bedfordshire,  Hertfordshire,  South Essex.

 

East Anglia,  North Essex,  Suffolk, Norfolk,  Lincolnshire,  East Cambridgeshire.

 

The country of Midlands, Northamptonshire, ,  Rutland ,  Leicestershire , South Nottinghamshire, South Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire.

 

The West Marches,  Shropshire , Herefordshire,  a bit of Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, East Powys and up to the coast near and including south west Cheshire. 

 

The country of South Wales..  As is, 

 

The country of West and North Wales, , 

 

The country of greater Lancashire and Yorkshire,  with added,  North Cheshire  and the stuff between. Including all south of and including Newcastle. 

 

The North Border Marches,  Cumbria,  Northumberland, Dumfries and Galloway,  Scottish borders. 

 

Central  Scotland,  up as far as Dundee,

 

Country of The Highlands and Islands, all north of Central Scotland.  ( the Shetlands to Norway) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JohnDMJ]

 

2 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Now I'm confused. Are you saying there is no correlation between atmospheric CO2 and re-radiated Solar energy?

 

I did not mention anything other than atmospheric CO2.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Feeling less than 100% this morning but lots to do so...

 

I have decided that listening to the news on ABC Classic FM is far easier on the mind than the stuff we have here. Interesting to hear how other people see the real mess we are in...

 

More painting to do today.. white glossing of windowsills and 2 of the oeiginal external windows (now they look out onto the conservatory)

Have a good day everyone!

 

Baz

[Dave Hunt]

Greetings from a once more dry and sunny North Salopshire. As I type, Jill is outside watering her plants and hoping for some rain, which the seaweed study group seem to think unlikely for the foreseeable future. It seems only a few weeks since a large part of the county was under water and now there are places that are starting to resemble dust bowls.

 

Later on this morning I'll be going to the organic farm shop for some supplies and will more than likely include some of their excellent Eccles cakes in my purchases. In the spirit of friendship and international brotherhood I'll let Jamie know what they're like in due course   (actually I'd send you some if I could Jamie but the likelihood is that courtesy of the various postal services you'd end up with a pile of stale crumbs and currants).

 

In the interest of both my and others' blood pressures I shall refrain from entering the discussions about the seemingly limitless commercialisation of soccer at the expense of true sport and the seemingly limitless idiocy of those who go off into mountains, moorland etc. without a thought for their own welfare or, more importantly, that of those who may have to try to rescue them. Oh, I just did, didn't I?

 

Instead I'll just express condolences to NHN and the Fraggle Rock team and hope that our American correspondents aren't caught up in the current insanity there.

 

TTFN and have a good weekend.

 

Dave

[AndyID]

5 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

 

 

I did not mention anything other than atmospheric CO2.

 

I'm pretty sure you mentioned it in the context of climate change, or did I misunderstand?

[JohnDMJ]

 

Two sorts of climate change are involved here!

 

11 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I'm pretty sure you mentioned it in the context of climate change, or did I misunderstand?

There is what's generally perceived as being climate change, aka global warming

 

1 hour ago, JohnDMJ said:

It's all a matter of climate change. In many parts of the UK, the climate can change somewhat rapidly and often catches the unprepared out dramatically! This is not a new phenomenon! (and has nothing to do with the miniscule amounts of CO2 which are blamed for the current cycling of the environment.)

 

and there's also the way in which the climate (i.e. ambient weather conditions) can change rapidly in various locations.

 

I rest with my use of 'miniscule'!

[TheQ]

Mooring awl,  inner Temple Hare,

As you can see from above I've been awake a while, 

 

For the last couple of days there has been an increase in con trails up to five visible at a time in a North south direction. 

While I was out yesterday, I saw an A400m doing low level passes over RAF Coltishall which is strange because Coltishall has been closed for some years and the airfield is covered in solar panels. 

 

Yesterday as I got the Butler sink in place I was presented with a pile of old tiles , so it's now got a tiled wall behind and one row each side.  The tiles were some I recovered removing them from our first house in Milton Keynes..  25years ago... 

 

Today's plans, 

seal the porch to garage joint.

move the boat trailer,  when that's done,  except for the pile of very heavy slabs still to be moved,  we will have recovered a 30x 30ft area of ground,  which will be mowable. 

After that back to shelving. 

 

Time to.. Drink a Muggacoffee. 

[AndyID]

3 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

 

Two sorts of climate change are involved here!

 

There is what's generally perceived as being climate change, aka global warming

 

 

and there's also the way in which the climate (i.e. ambient weather conditions) can change rapidly in various locations.

 

I rest with my use of 'miniscule'!

 

Yes, one happens in the short term and the other is a long term effect. You brought up CO2. Although it is currently fashionable to pretend that the increase in atmospheric CO2 has no effect on the climate that's equivalent to saying steam locomotives will not work.

 

They are both examples of the most fundamental thermodynamic principles. When you put more energy into something than the energy being lost by that thing it just gets hotter to maintain equilibrium. In that respect the Earth isn't much different from you favorite steam locomotive.

 

CO2 in the atmosphere is a really good thing. It works a bit like a diode and converts the high energy photons from the Sun (that would kill us) into lower energy stuff like infrared energy to keep the Earth warm. But the Earth does have to re-radiate energy into space. If it didn't the Earth would literally melt like some of the planets.

 

The trick is to maintain just the right amount of CO2 in the atmosphere so that the Earth neither cools down or heats up too much. Deliberately allowing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere to fluctuate without control is just bl00dy stupid.

 

(Sorry for being a bit direct by my grandchildren will hate me if I'm not.)

 

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

9 hours ago, newbryford said:

Only after a day fielding phonecalls from cockwombling ar$ebadgers.............................

 

I see that AndrewC's free training courses are paying off.

[Happy Hippo]

12 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I've never forgotten this one.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairngorm_Plateau_disaster

It is funny how the memory can  forget, and then the instance instantly recalled.

 

This tragedy used to be used as a prime example of how matters can get out of hand on the Joint Services Unit Expedition and Mountain Leadership courses.

 

Another example was the Lyme Bay canoe tragedy.

 

The similarity in both cases was inadequate planning.