The Night Mail

[pH]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

Glad to report that the welding heat shunt thingy does seem to work. But I'm suspending operations in the meantime. It is now 90F in my shed and still climbing. That's too hot for doing much of anything and definitely far too hot to put on the protective gear required for welding.

We have near enough 90F (32C) outside in the shade just now.

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

Glad to report that the welding heat shunt thingy does seem to work. But I'm suspending operations in the meantime. It is now 90F in my shed and still climbing. That's too hot for doing much of anything and definitely far too hot to put on the protective gear required for welding.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[AndyID]

16 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

Oh, that's easy with the wimpy oxyacetylene flame stuff. I usually do it completely starkers except for a pair of goggles. The neighbors do seem to love it. I mean, what's not to like?

 

This is the arcy-sparcy stuff that will tan your eye balls and other bits in a few microseconds if you are not paying attention. Mr Q will be able to clue us in regarding the radiated spectrum but I understand it's pretty ugly.

 

 

[AndyID]

52 minutes ago, pH said:

We have near enough 90F (32C) outside in the shade just now.

 

The good news is when it's this hot the sky is usually clear and at this altitude (2,300 feet ASL) the temperatures drop fairly quickly as soon as the Sun goes down. We also benefit from a lot of large spruce and pine trees to our West. We don't have AC in the house and we don't need or want it. (Living in AZ for seven years made us come to hate it 🙂)

[SM42]

I remember the  full page add that BMW took out in the late 80s / early 90s and possibly in The Telegraph advising of counterfeit BMWs

 

There were various tests  (10 IIRC) to carry out to see if yours was genuine. 

 

Two I remember are:

 

1. The blue and white sections of the badge were the wrong way round on the counterfeit and of course the illustration showed the correct one as the counterfeit

 

2. Tie some ribbon to the wing mirrors, start the engine, put it in neutral and get it up to something like 2000rpm. If the ribbons didn't flutter backwards, your car was a fake. 

 

Andy

[AndyID]

AI - Artificial Intelligence seems to be all the rage.

 

But surely that means there must also be AS - Artificial Stupidity.

[pH]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

AI - Artificial Intelligence seems to be all the rage.

 

But surely that means there must also be AS - Artificial Stupidity.

I’d say most stupidity is genuine.

[BR60103]

I remember a couple of articles in (IIRC) Soldier magazine that my father had.

One was that the Guards' bearskin hats kept growing and there was a photo of their annual visit to the barber.

Then they announced that the fractional regiments, say the 25/19, were going to be decimalised to the 1.315789.*

 

Model Railroader had a video announcing the Digital 5 control system.  In this, you took your 5 digits, wrapped them around the locomotive, and pushed.  Sounds were available through the Lips 2 module.

 

* sorry, I don't remember actual numbers.

[jamie92208]

I think it was The Times that carried a front page story that Belgium was going to split into two countries with an imp, cementation date of 1st April the following year. 

 

Jamir

[Flying Fox 34F]

All this talk of April 1st articles and jokes in general has brought back some memories.  
Thirty odd years ago, myself and friends were attending a Model Railway show in Derbyshire exhibiting two very different layouts, over Easter Weekend.  Bank holiday Monday was the 1st of April!

One was a BR Eastern Region dockside station set firmly in the 1950’s, the other current BR, complete with overhead line for the then new class 91’s.

We were also the overnight security for the venue??????

Anyway, Monday, all the other exhibitors arrive to find various tiny adjustments made to each display, nothing, just altered positions of road vehicles etc.  As for the two layouts mentioned, we had swapped the entire rolling stock of each.  We ran the trains in this state for the first two hours of the show.  The visitors were puzzled initially, until we pointed to the calendar on display on the wall behind us.

The most important bit was everyone saw the funny side.  Not sure it would so well received these days?

 

Paul

[polybear]

15 minutes ago, Flying Fox 34F said:

Anyway, Monday, all the other exhibitors arrive to find various tiny adjustments made to each display, nothing, just altered positions of road vehicles etc.  As for the two layouts mentioned, we had swapped the entire rolling stock of each.  We ran the trains in this state for the first two hours of the show.  The visitors were puzzled initially, until we pointed to the calendar on display on the wall behind us.

The most important bit was everyone saw the funny side.  Not sure it would so well received these days?

 

Paul

 

You'd get at least one Tw@t demanding their money back - after they'd looked at everything else in the show of course.

[polybear]

7 hours ago, Northmoor said:

In the world of railways though, Steam Railway showing City of Truro painted in BR Black in 1985, still makes me smile.  

 

I'd put good money on their being several die-hards who blew a few gaskets when they saw that.

 

IIRC (I don't remember the details - anyone?) that when Flying Scotsman was painted in the "wrong" colour (whatever that was) the owner received death threats.

[rockershovel]

15 hours ago, Willie Whizz said:

Surely the object of having “a” National Health Service is - or should be - to provide the best quality of healthcare that is affordable to the nation and its taxpayers, delivered “free at point of use” to all citizens. 
 

In that context, provided these key points are maintained, does it matter to the citizen who is providing that healthcare?

 

I recently read an article by Nigella Lawson, reminding us of her father Nigel’s observation that the NHS has become in effect a “religion”. That is well known, but she added that he went on to say that the senior people in the organisation and the medical unions have become its High Priests - and like all priests in all religions they are adamantly opposed to change, and adamantly resistant to any suggestion ‘they’ might not be right all of the time. 
 

Until those vested interests change, or are changed, sadly I cannot see things getting better. I don’t say that as a ‘political’ point in any way, but as a practical one. What we need is an independent Royal Commission into the provison of healthcare and social care. 

Ah, the NHS. My late mother summed it up as "we were told we had won, and we wanted a prize".

 

Politicians were so much more eloquent in those days. Read the Beveridge Report, with its reference to the "Five Giants": what a masterful use of language. Listen to Bevans' speech about seeing constituents gazing about them in hospital admissions, or his utter disdain for the medical profession ("stuffing their mouths with gold") - an orator second only to Churchill at his zenith. 

 

Like all truly good ideas, it was simple - anyone could understand it, and see its attractions. However it contained various limitations which are now, serious problems. 

 

Firstly it envisaged a world in which public health would improve through better health care, not one in which ever-expanding definitions would consume resources. 

 

Secondly, it was the product of a time when the life expectancy was about 73 years, and nursing homes a minority aspect. 

 

Thirdly, it certainly didnt envisage mass immigration. 

 

Fourthly it didn't envisage a chronically unemployed, or underemployed population consuming staggering quantities of palliative medication (particularly anti-depressants)  

 

Fairness, though... the British, and especially the English have (or possibly had, because it is less evident now, I fear) a highly developed sense of "fair play" which bears little or no relation to the current usage of the term. The American concept of "Land of Opportunity" and the Australian "fair go" are essentially derivstives of the same root. The post-War settlement was essentially one of equality of opportunity, not of outcome and no-one saw anything wrong with that. 

 

The English (cf Orwell) were "lacking definite religious belief, and had been so for centuries". All truly successful religions offer a way of life and a definite belief, and the NHS falls exactly into the lives of these people; communitarian, but not ideologically socialist; egalitarian, but if you can afford to pay, go ahead; offering a clearly defined benefit (free health care) without commitment beyond the passive one of general taxation. 

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I'm guessing journalism, particularly investigative journalism, perhaps political science, history, etc.

 

Anything that might shine a light in dark palaces* places

 

* Like the one that starts with "West"

 

 

I'm guessing that Art and Music may well feature as well.

 

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Just how flimsy are they?

 

I have had one can fail in the last few years. It was still in the little thin cardboard 'box'. It must have been a manufacturing defect.

 

When Bear was a Cub I went with a Buddy down to the local Offy to buy a can of drink each - his was a Tizer; we then ran all the way home again.  When we got there his older sister said to us "do you want to come to X with me ?" so off we went in her 2 door Vauxhall Viva.  When Buddy leaned forwards to get out of the back seat of the car the can of Tizer fell out of his pocket, landed on the seat belt bracket on the floor and punctured - the nicely shaken Tizer came out in a wide spray as the can rotated from left to right, coating the entire interior of the car.

To say she wasn't happy was an understatement.

At least in those days a car's interior was pretty much all pvc so easy to clean - which we got the job of doing ☹️

[AndyID]

10 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I'm guessing that Art and Music may well feature as well.

 

 

When Bear was a Cub I went with a Buddy down to the local Offy to buy a can of drink each - his was a Tizer; we then ran all the way home again.  When we got there his older sister said to us "do you want to come to X with me ?" so off we went in her 2 door Vauxhall Viva.  When Buddy leaned forwards to get out of the back seat of the car the can of Tizer fell out of his pocket, landed on the seat belt bracket on the floor and punctured - the nicely shaken Tizer came out in a wide spray as the can rotated from left to right, coating the entire interior of the car.

To say she wasn't happy was an understatement.

At least in those days a car's interior was pretty much all pvc so easy to clean - which we got the job of doing ☹️

 

Bit of "thread crossing" possibly? 😁

[Happy Hippo]

The Black City of Truro inspired me.

 

Back in the 90's, Roundhouse Engineering had announced they would be unveiling a new loco at the Garden Railway show at Llanfair Caereinion.

 

Not to be outdone, Richard Longley and I decided that Brandbright also ought to announce a new loco as well.

 

Roger Loxley produced the 'Argyll'.

 

We produced 'Clan MacLoxley' which was an old Merlin Maestro, tastefully and carefully covered in Tartan Fablon.

 

I think a picture did appear in Sixteen Millimetre Today.

 

Christine Loxley and Roger's business partner Barry Vaughan saw the funny side of it:  Roger less so.

[Dave Hunt]

9 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Well here's one: it ought to be subdivision in to ten decigrees.

 

Sorry, my mistake; you are quite correct Stephen- old age and carelessness strike again.

 

Dave

[Compound2632]

5 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Sorry, my mistake; you are quite correct Stephen- old age and carelessness strike again.

 

Was done more for the feeble pun on "disagrees".

[Dave Hunt]

7 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Was done more for the feeble pun on "disagrees".

Which I did get and nearly choked on my morning coffee 😂

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

Jill’s eye seems to be doing really well. The primary evidence is that this morning she has more important things to concern her - “My hair’s a mess, I must get it seen to,” for instance along with deep thoughts on which pictures should go where in the kitchen. Pretty much back to normal really.

 

Dave

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

Jill’s eye seems to be doing really well. The primary evidence is that this morning she has more important things to concern her - “My hair’s a mess, I must get it seen to,” for instance along with deep thoughts on which pictures should go where in the kitchen. Pretty much back to normal really.

 

Dave

That sentence sounds like a cue for your wallet tbe emptied.  Hide it quickly.

 

Jamieo

[Happy Hippo]

7 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

That sentence sounds like a cue for your wallet tbe emptied.  Hide it quickly.

 

Jamieo

I think you are probably around half a century too late with that warning.

 

Talk about hindsight!

[polybear]

3 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Bit of "thread crossing" possibly? 😁

 

Oh Bvgger, not again.

It's all Hippo's fault for starting ER'ers Mk.2.  What chance does a Bear stand?

 

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Jill’s eye seems to be doing really well. The primary evidence is that this morning she has more important things to concern her - “My hair’s a mess, I must get it seen to,” for instance along with deep thoughts on which pictures should go where in the kitchen. Pretty much back to normal really.

 

Dave

 

Give it another day or so and Mrs. H will be spotting dust everywhere - and you know what that'll mean.....

[PhilJ W]