Early Risers.

[sixoh8sixoh]

Afternoon all from a (now) sunny Scottish HQ for the last time this week. (I may be back tomorrow but it'll be from home or elsewhere not HQ!).

 

A beautiful day in Edinburgh yesterday which happened to be our 37th anniversary. Gabe took me to the Sheraton spa; no special treatments but the workout in the laconium, sauna and steam rooms really scrubbed my brain clean with the deep relaxation. The indoor and outdoor rooftop pools, the latter in bright sunshine, also fab. Then a short walk to George Street where we had a meal outside (yes, outside) in the warm spring sun. Took a 26 to beachside at Portobello and a pint, then home for a curry. Wonderful day.

 

I had no idea the Sheraton had rooftop pools...! I was down on Portobello prom last night too, cycled along from Leith to Fisherrow Harbour and back. 11.3 miles, into a headwind on the way out but it gave me a nice turn of speed on the way back!

 

The parcel from China arrived today. I now have to modify the contents to fit the laser cuts.

I've maybe missed the contents of the parcel from China... do tell!

[BSW01]

A beautiful day in Edinburgh yesterday which happened to be our 37th anniversary.

 

Congratulations Mal and Gabe, it would seem that you are just a few months behind Sheila and I, as it'll be our 38th in October. Edited April 22, 2016 by BSW01

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Greetings from a quite irate 45156, as today, nothing has gone right at all for me.  I had a job of more (yes more) painting this morning, and went out to the garage to get all the stuff out.  Turned the door handle, and nothing happened except that the handle turned.  Yesterday I lubricated the runners and catches.  That had to be the cause, according to 30747, though I can't see how that would be.  A few minutes panic, then applied a bit of thought to this and luckily I had a basic set of tools in the house, as well as a small stepladder.  So with the few items that I had, I removed the top wooden trim, and luckily it revealed the shaft of the top door catch, which was the one which was not unlocking.  A poke with a screwdriver through the gap managed to manipulate the catch downwards, and released the door - the other two catches were, fortunately, still connected and operating.  Relief.  However, a check showed that the cable operating the latch had come out of its guide, and further investigation showed that the cable was secured by a collar with a grub screw, which had come loose, and the cable went out of adjustment and fallen off.  It took ages to sort it out, and to ensure that the cables and catches were all in adjustment and in alignment. 

 

Anyhow - I've now managed to catch up, and to get a post on here. 

 

Other things now need to be done, so back tomorrow.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[newbryford]

No need to send a search party. Safely returned over the hills to the warmer side of The Pennines.

 

The sun shone and the natives were mostly friendly.

 

Catch up later, as it's off to wife's work soon to sample the new steak on the stone menu...

 

Cheers,

Mick

[The Stationmaster]

Congratulations Mal and Gabe, it would seem that you are just a few months behind Sheila and I, as it'll be our 38th in October.

 

Beat you - 39th tomorrow.  Yesterday I duly chose a card for Mrs Stationmaster to give to me and she chose one for me to give to her - but they've both been hidden away so that if we forget what they look like we'll get a nice surprise.

[Tony_S]

Afternoon all.

Back home now. Easy journey home from Southampton. We did have a lovely holiday but a few totally thoughtless passengers began to irritate me. Why senior citizens think it is necessary to push and shove to gain two inches in a queue defeats me. Also not letting people out of lifts before barging in. I think the lack of courtesy demonstrated today would not have set a good example to any of the few younger people on board. So when we got to the motorway services and two senior citizens barged me and Aditi as we were choosing sandwiches, I decided I had had enough and went out and sat quietly. Matthew texted me to say he was being irritated by hordes of Chinese tourists who were also visiting Versailles as they were shouting and taking photos in places they weren't supposed too. I said Matthew was prematurely grumpy. So far he has eaten in Vietnamese and Jewish restaurants. Tonight he is dining on Quebecois cuisine.

He traveled there from Amsterdam on a Thalys train so I will have to ask him about that.

Tony

Edited April 22, 2016 by Tony_S

[roundhouse]

Beat you - 39th tomorrow.  Yesterday I duly chose a card for Mrs Stationmaster to give to me and she chose one for me to give to her - but they've both been hidden away so that if we forget what they look like we'll get a nice surprise.

As long as you don't forget where you have hidden them

[laurenceb]

Happy anniversary to Mal & Gabe and many more of em

Tony thats a point I keep making, too many people who should know better with manners that the average teenager would be ashamed of

[pH]

A former boss of mine banned sitting during team meetings.  He worked on the theory that if everyone sat down with coffee and "made themselves comfortable" then the proceedings would drag on too long.

 

To be perfectly honest, it worked pretty well!

I've seen exactly the opposite advice for computer programmers - "Never debug a program standing up". Being somewhat uncomfortable, you're inclined to settle on the first thing you find wrong as the cause of the problem, and not follow it through to see if there's anything else that needs to be corrected.

[45156]

Oh sorry - happy anniversary to Mal and Gabe - and to Mike tomorrow.

[Ian Abel]

POETS late morning/early afternoon here - recommendation for those "still working" as opposed to "retired", never expect to take a few days off and then think you'll be back to business as usual when you return! Sod me, it's been non-stop since Wednesday, barely had time to READ the posts let alone conjure up my own responses... <sigh>

Congratulations to all the anniversary celebrants (just make sure you remember where you hid the cards/gifts!!) - we'll hit our 34th. at the end of July, so close behind most of you.

 

On Prince - as with many ERs he wasn't my favorite, I liked some of his work but not all, especially liked "Little Red Corvette" (owned a 1964 one), "1999" (being around/excited by the turn of the century for some odd reason - far less excitement in  reality than people fantasized).

However, being in his home town, I can tell you, it's NON-STOP here. Since 10AM yesterday, every radio and TV station channeling anything and everything they can, EVERYONE (I don't just mean people connected with him or the industry, I mean EVERYONE. If you're close to a reporter/mike you'll be asked about him), being interviewed and quoted about the impact he had and endless "can't believe he's gone" and even some folks stating they can't go on with their daily lives right now. Sorry, but that's a little extreme, isn't it??!!

 

Most of the city is now purple, literally, and First Avenue (local club he played at often - google it) had an all night party last night that crammed the streets in downtown Minneapolis.

Certainly deserved recognition for his talents, but here it feels like the second coming (going??), with hundreds of folks weeping in the streets and outside his Paisley Park studios/compound all day yesterday.

 

On business meetings - box ticking personified most of the time in meetings I get dragged into and the current project, since "GoLive" daily one hour meetings forced to last a FULL HOUR, that might as well be farting contests for all the use they are!

 

On computers - I know I've posted on the subject before, but learned on a Ferranti Pegasus (yep, we used both 5 and 8-hole punched paper tape) writing Fortran and assembly. Then on Univac 1108's that took up an entire FLOOR of the Royal Dutch/Shell building at Waterloo, as well as IBM 360's. Wrote in Fortran, Assembler (36-bit words on the Univac, there's a change of pace) and COBOL on both machines. That was the start of a career that I'm still plodding through. I think my smart-phone has probably 100 times more computing power, memory and mass storage than the UNIVAC 1108s had, and Shell paid millions for two of them in the late '60s!

 

Late posting as Mrs had to go in for a procedure on her eyes (10 minute job), laser adjustment to clear up some cloudiness. She's downstairs recovering from the severe dilation...

Later we're going to downtown Minneapolis for dinner with friends we've known for 30+ years. They have a delightful condo on the 11th. floor that overlooks the Minneapolis skyline, and having had MiL down there last year in summer, they wanted to have her back so she can see the night time skyline. There'll be much more purple visible than would normally be see I'm sure.

 

Still recovering from our time in DC (I'm trying to put together a post/pictures but have had barely enough time to catch my breath), we walked about 16 miles in 3 1/2 days as best we can tell from our activity tracking apps on our phones, I'm bloody exhausted just thinking about it

 

Anxious about news from Clacton, as we all are.

 

Weather up and down here, currently 8 and sunny high expected to be 16, cooler still the next few days with lows around 3-5 only.

 

I'll POE to get Mil and head for dinner today - that'll be nice. Make sure you POE if you can.

[Purley Oaks]

 

 

 

 

 I had no idea the Sheraton had rooftop pools...! I was down on Portobello prom last night too, cycled along from Leith to Fisherrow Harbour and back. 11.3 miles, into a headwind on the way out but it gave me a nice turn of speed on the way back!

 

 

 

 

 

You should arrange a visit with GF, just be prepared to spend 4 hours relaxing.

 

Just discovered that the Prince concert at Meadowbank that I thought was a decade or so ago actually took place in July 1993!

 

Mal

 

 

 

[sixoh8sixoh]

 

 

 

 

 

You should arrange a visit with GF, just be prepared to spend 4 hours relaxing.

 

Just discovered that the Prince concert at Meadowbank that I thought was a decade or so ago actually took place in July 1993!

 

Mal

 

 

 

Thanks Mal, will have to try that sometime! Happy anniversary to you and Gabe too. And to Mr and Mrs Stationmaster tomorrow.

 

Feeling like I've been hit by a truck (not done much today really but just pooped). We've got Airbnb guests arriving at Anamaria's sometime about 11pm, delayed flight as they were meant to be here about 10.

 

I have no interesting claims to fame on computers... My history is: Atari 2600, Atari 800XL, Commodore Amiga, Pentium P90, followed by more Windows machines until they introduced Vista and I moved to Intel-based iMac in 2008! We did have a Kray supercomputer (I think) in our computer room in our hall of residence. Two of the compsci students had bought it cheap and nearly broke the lift getting it to the 1st Floor.

[NGT6 1315]

May I just second a happy anniversary for Mal and Gabe!

[New Haven Neil]

Happy anniversaries to those celebrating or about to.  Just gone 32 for us, last month.

 

So, Ian A and I have a Ferranti Pegasus in common - but not the ability to have learned anything from it in my case whereas he made a career of it.  Looking at the production list I presume our was no.22, new to Parsons, as in turbine.  I think it went to a company called Newman's in between Parsons and our school.  Fearsome thing, I'm sure first formers were sacrificed to keep it working.  There was some kind of motor generator set in another room, the whole thing must have used a tremendous amount of current.  All valves, no transistors IIRC.

[JohnDMJ]

 

 

 

 

You should arrange a visit with GF, just be prepared to spend 4 hours relaxing.

 

Just discovered that the Prince concert at Meadowbank that I thought was a decade or so ago actually took place in July 1993!

 

Mal

 

 

 

 

Tis oft said that time flies when you're having fun! Personally, I wouldn't know!

 

G'night all

Edited April 22, 2016 by JohnDMJ

[Barry O]

Happy Anniversary to everyone with Anniversaries today and tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am off to Cleethorpes CC to undertake my first scoring for Sheffield Collegiate CC...

using computer (Total Cricket Scorer) and Linear scoresheet so I need all the positive waves you can spare!

 

Have a good evening.night/morning all!

 

Baz

[Ian Abel]

Happy anniversaries to those celebrating or about to.  Just gone 32 for us, last month.

 

So, Ian A and I have a Ferranti Pegasus in common - but not the ability to have learned anything from it in my case whereas he made a career of it.  Looking at the production list I presume our was no.22, new to Parsons, as in turbine.  I think it went to a company called Newman's in between Parsons and our school.  Fearsome thing, I'm sure first formers were sacrificed to keep it working.  There was some kind of motor generator set in another room, the whole thing must have used a tremendous amount of current.  All valves, no transistors IIRC.

The two (arrghhh!!!) I worked on were donations from the then Vickers (subsequently BAC etc.) that were down the road 1/2 mile form a college I did my computer study at.

The room they were in was delightful in winter and a hell-hole any other time.

For as much as some folks complain about the heat generated by their desktop/laptop machines, especially those over-clocked for games etc., it's nothing compared to the fiery sensation coming from a valve driven beastie in an un-airconditioned room! Indeed you are correct Neil, it was all VALVES, no transistors at all  

Any time I mention delay-line memory or "index registers" to folks that have been in computing 20+ years I get blank stares. Even murmuring "ferrite-core memory" generates similar confused looks, so I generally don't attempt to discuss "early computing" with anyone younger than about 55-60

[New Haven Neil]

Yes Ian, room 2 was always roasting,  but I think they were frightened to open the windows lest the humidity got into the works.  The lights all over South Shields dimmed when it was warming up....

Edited April 22, 2016 by New Haven Neil

[JohnDMJ]

The two (arrghhh!!!) I worked on were donations from the then Vickers (subsequently BAC etc.) that were down the road 1/2 mile form a college I did my computer study at.

The room they were in was delightful in winter and a hell-hole any other time.

For as much as some folks complain about the heat generated by their desktop/laptop machines, especially those over-clocked for games etc., it's nothing compared to the fiery sensation coming from a valve driven beastie in an un-airconditioned room! Indeed you are correct Neil, it was all VALVES, no transistors at all  

Any time I mention delay-line memory or "index registers" to folks that have been in computing 20+ years I get blank stares. Even murmuring "ferrite-core memory" generates similar confused looks, so I generally don't attempt to discuss "early computing" with anyone younger than about 55-60

 

Even my HiFi Power Amps are still valves! (My TVs are LCD, so two less valves in the house!)

 

Ferrite core - now there's a phenomenon! Registers - remember them well and, surprisingly, we still use them; they are now, effectively, CVs on DCC!

[pH]

The room they were in was delightful in winter and a hell-hole any other time. For as much as some folks complain about the heat generated by their desktop/laptop machines, especially those over-clocked for games etc., it's nothing compared to the fiery sensation coming from a valve driven beastie in an un-airconditioned room!

 

When I started in my first IT job, the company had just upgraded their disc storage (the 'washing machine' variety) from 4x8Mb to 4x60Mb (and were wondering how they would ever manage to fill them all!). They hadn't upgraded the A/C for the machine room. On hot summer days, this could result in alarms going off and an operator rushing out into the reception area, grabbing a phone and frantically dialling a number. This was often followed by loud cursing from the operator.

 

The alarm was connected directly to the nearest fire station. If they could call in the false alarm before an engine had left the station, they could avoid the charge. (Un)fortunately, it seemed to be a very efficient station.

 

Any time I mention delay-line memory or "index registers" to folks that have been in computing 20+ years I get blank stares. Even murmuring "ferrite-core memory" generates similar confused looks, so I generally don't attempt to discuss "early computing" with anyone younger than about 55-60

Yep, I recognise all those terms!

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone. It's been a very quiet Friday night for a change. I even managed to get to the pool too. The last couple of weeks I've been too tired to go.

 

So, after yesterday's chat with a world champion swimmer and getting a few tips from her, regarding my stroke technique for breast stroke and free style. She adviced I take one breath per stroke, with a longer time between strokes and for free style she advised I stretch further forward with the forward stroke, this makes you twist at the waste and assists breathing. So with all this info still fresh in my mind I decided to put them into practice. It's very difficult relearning something, but it's started to get easier the more a practiced my stroke styles for both free style and breast stroke. I spent a lot of time doing free style (my weaker stroke) but did a fare bit of breast stroke too. Previously I used to average about 19 - 20 strokes per length (in a 25m pool). At the end of my session, just before I got out I compared my new, breast stroke method, to my old method. New one 14 strokes per length, previous 19 strokes per length, which means a considerable saving of energy. So next I timed myself over a 1/4 mile, managed it in 9 minutes using the new method, as opposed to 11 minutes or so, which is about 2 minutes quicker than previous method. Hopefully I'll get a quicker when I get fitter.

 

We've got our youngest granddaughter stopping here tonight. It'll be the last time she stays for a few weeks as we plan to start our decorating bank holiday weekend. Must crack on with packing all our STUFF away!

 

Whatever you've got planned for the weekend, have a good one.

 

Happy anniversary for tomorrow Mr & Mrs Stationmaster.

 

Goodnight all

[leopardml2341]

Well, been to pub drunk beer and I have to be up by 06:00 to head darn sarf to model train show in Romford tomorrow. I'll report back later - hopefully!

 

G'night all.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

 

(And I even remembered, approximately, where I'd put the card - yes, I got the correct room and from there it was relatively simple.  Must remember to write something in it.)

[andyram]

Andy (leopard) you are not only one to have been out on the beer. Just got in pi$$ed as a f4rt!!!