Early Risers.

[Horsetan]

There seem to be some remarkably dense headed people on various parts of this forum ranging from some who don't seem to understand how electricity works (like it goes along wires and wires can be joined to other wires) ...

 

I don't understand how to achieve perpetual motion

[newbryford]

I don't understand how to achieve perpetual motion

 

I prefer this version of perpetual motion.

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

[BSW01]

Evening everyone

 

As today was a Saturday, we had breakfast in bed. Once that was consumed I set off to pick up several click and collect parcels from various shops, some of which were in the Trafford Centre, whilst Sheila stayed at home and did some domestic chores. Given the location of some of the shops, I’m not sure who had the better deal! However, luck was on my side, the roads and shops were fairly empty, there’s something to be said about getting out early, I was out and back in just over an hour, so I think I got the better deal after all. The weather has been quite mild, very little wind and no rain, so I think that also helped with my trip earlier.

 

After dinner a spot of modelling was in order, but I only managed a couple of hours, but it’s better than none at all!

 

This evening Mike and Sarah came round for tea and as is usual, afterwards we all sat around and enjoyed some good conversation and a couple of bottles of red, all very enjoyable.

 

Goodnight all.

[emt_911]

New airbrush set up and played with tested.

 

Mountain of ironing turned into a small hill.

 

Hopefully a bit of work on the layout tomorrow today.

 

Night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Smiffy2]

I prefer this version of perpetual motion.

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

This was something we used in thought experiments when working with Gifted and Talented kids. Eventually there was a competition for improving the idea and a team from Imperial came up with the idea of spreading Chicken Tikka Masala on the cat's back and attempting to drop it onto a white ###### pile carpet. They had explanatory calculations and everything...

 

Hmm. That should, of course, be s.h.a.g. pile carpet...

Edited December 31, 2017 by Smiffy2

[newbryford]

This was something we used in thought experiments when working with Gifted and Talented kids. Eventually there was a competition for improving the idea and a team from Imperial came up with the idea of spreading Chicken Tikka Masala on the cat's back and attempting to drop it onto a white ###### pile carpet. They had explanatory calculations and everything...

 

Hmm. That should, of course, be s.h.a.g. pile carpet...

 

The buttered cat paradox even has it's own Wikipedia page.

 

 

• "Would it still work if you used margarine?",
• "Would it still work if you used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter?"

 

I really should go to bed......

 

G'night.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Smiffy2]

We also used to tell this story to encourage lateral thinking.

 

When Nils Bohr was a student at the University of Copenhagen he was rather terse in his answers in his written finals. Didn't really show his working. His answer to one question was a little unconventional.

 

"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper using a barometer."

 

Bohr wrote  "Tie a long piece of string to the barometer, lower it from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building."

This answer so incensed the examiner that Bohr was failed immediately. However, he appealed on the grounds that the answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide.

 

The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but that it did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics. To resolve the problem, it was decided to call the student and allow six minutes for him to provide an oral answer. For five minutes the student sat in silence, his forehead creased in thought. When the arbiter pointed out that time was running out, the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers but could not decide which to use.

 

"Firstly, you could take a barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge and measure the time it takes to reach the ground, but too bad for the barometer.

 

"If the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic.

 

"If you wanted to be highly scientific, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it as a pendulum, first at ground level, then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height of the building can be calculated from the difference in the pendulum's period.

 

"If the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easy to walk up it and mark off the height in barometer lengths. "If you wanted to be boring and orthodox, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference into a height of air.

 

"But since we are continually being urged to seek new ways of doing things, probably the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say: "If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this building."

 

That's probably apocryphal, but a true Bohr story is that, when the Germans invaded, his fellow Nobel prize winners James Franck and Max von Laue feared (rightly) that their gold medals would be confiscated. Bohr collected the medals and dissolved them in separate jars of aqua regia (mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acid). These were kept until after the Nazis left, when the gold was recovered and the Nobel institute used it to strike new medals for the scientists in 1950.

 

Bohr didn't dissolve his own medal. He auctioned it, the proceeds going to Finnish relief in 1940. The anonymous purchaser later donated it to the Danish Historical Museum.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It is quite warm here. It wasn't raining when I encouraged Robbie to go outside but I think it must have done so during the night.

 

Thought for the day. Why do thought experiments often seem to involve cats?

[Barry O]

Morning, still feeling carp but hey ho.

 

More rain means our flood plain (aka the front garden) has even more water in it. May have to get the pump out and drain some off.

 

Mike, I think you are wasting your time on that thread. As my grandma used to say "They shouldn't be let out on their own."

 

Typical of a real engineer to do something which other people can't work out how it works. The idea of perpetual motion is a good one..as was Newtons' bridge. I tried to design that most sought after device..the skyhook but failed miserably.

 

Enjoy your day and, for our friends on the other side of the world have a great New Year!

 

Baz

[AndyB]

Morning all and it's an overcast one here.

 

Two walks have been scheduled today. The first involves a NT property and the 2nd a walk along an old train line - I'm told it's disused. 

Interestingly the local NT property gets about £2 each time a member visits it, the money is taken from the ~£100 pa subs. The MiL and her other half do an almost daily constitutional around the grounds of her local, meaning that she is very popular with the on-site staff! I guess the cash difference is made up by the vast number of folk that subscribe and perhaps visit one or two places a year; gym membership springs to mind. 

 

I've had some experience of perpetual motion.....but enough of the time I found out I had a food allergy to sea urchins. 

 

Have a nice day everyone. 

[lightengine]

I don't understand how to achieve perpetual motion

I understand fully perpetual motion. I have used it many times and have debated it Worldwide, I understand the meaning of life and am a fully qualified rocket scientist but I don't understand why my wife buys more fabric when she already has several cupboards full.

[emt_911]

Morning all. A lousy nights sleep thanks to a neighbour leaving a heavy back gate unlocked. I lost count of the number of times the sound of it closing reverberated around the house.

 

A wet and windy day but there aren't any plans to venture out into it.

 

A day of not doing a lot is planned.

 

Time for another coffee.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[lightengine]

Why doesnt the forum like shagpile carpets?

[jamie92208]

I remember seeing Caerphilly Castle at the Science Museum, myself.  Wow! What an impression that made!  Imagine my disappointment, some years later, when I took my class of 7-8 year olds to the museum only to find it had GONE!

 

And, for those, like me, who did not get to see it delivered to the museum, here is the video.

That's a fabulous bit of film. The clothes that people wore, the technology of the low loader plus trolleybus wires in London. And I wonder whose budget the new track in the Science Museum came out of. Thanks for posting.

 

 

We also used to tell this story to encourage lateral thinking.

 

When Nils Bohr was a student at the University of Copenhagen he was rather terse in his answers in his written finals. Didn't really show his working. His answer to one question was a little unconventional.

 

"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper using a barometer."

 

Bohr wrote  "Tie a long piece of string to the barometer, lower it from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building."

This answer so incensed the examiner that Bohr was failed immediately. However, he appealed on the grounds that the answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide.

 

The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but that it did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics. To resolve the problem, it was decided to call the student and allow six minutes for him to provide an oral answer. For five minutes the student sat in silence, his forehead creased in thought. When the arbiter pointed out that time was running out, the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers but could not decide which to use.

 

"Firstly, you could take a barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge and measure the time it takes to reach the ground, but too bad for the barometer.

 

"If the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic.

 

"If you wanted to be highly scientific, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it as a pendulum, first at ground level, then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height of the building can be calculated from the difference in the pendulum's period.

 

"If the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easy to walk up it and mark off the height in barometer lengths. "If you wanted to be boring and orthodox, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference into a height of air.

 

"But since we are continually being urged to seek new ways of doing things, probably the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say: "If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this building."

 

That's probably apocryphal, but a true Bohr story is that, when the Germans invaded, his fellow Nobel prize winners James Franck and Max von Laue feared (rightly) that their gold medals would be confiscated. Bohr collected the medals and dissolved them in separate jars of aqua regia (mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acid). These were kept until after the Nazis left, when the gold was recovered and the Nobel institute used it to strike new medals for the scientists in 1950.

 

Bohr didn't dissolve his own medal. He auctioned it, the proceeds going to Finnish relief in 1940. The anonymous purchaser later donated it to the Danish Historical Museum.

I believe that Bohr was smuggled back to the UK in one of the Mosquito's that were operated by BOAC between the UK and Sweden, he occupied a coffin shaped space in the bomb bay.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Morning all from somewhere south of Baz. Fortunately we've not got any flooded playing fields near us. If we get flooded, Leeds will have the population living in moored cruise liners.

 

Ironing completed in good time yesterday. Various other tasks performed and the control panel got finished.

 

The day looks bright but windy. Church duties beckon then the house will be readied for some friends who are coming round this evening. Also Rachel and Laura are due so it should be a good night. Beth has tidied out the drinks cupboard to work out what needs to go to France. Several assorted bottles were discovered with not much in them. It's going to be hard work to empty them but someone's got to do it.

 

Regards to all and a Happy New year.

 

Jamie

[Coombe Barton]

I understand fully perpetual motion. I have used it many times and have debated it Worldwide, I understand the meaning of life and am a fully qualified rocket scientist but I don't understand why my wife buys more fabric when she already has several cupboards full.

 

Fabric to the quilter is like kits to the modeller.

[BoD]

Thought for the day. Why do thought experiments often seem to involve cats?

Did you ever manage to tie that piece of buttered toast to Robbie's back?

[Barry O]

Morning all from somewhere south of Baz. Fortunately we've not got any flooded playing fields near us. If we get flooded, Leeds will have the population living in moored cruise liners.

 

 

Jamie

Jamie

 

just to get you slightly concerned we live at (almost) the highest point in Leeds...and its all downhill from our house....

 

 

Pump in action, water levels like QE2 propshaft seal leak..minimal...

 

Baz

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Doesn't look too bad outside but rain will appear at some time although the incoming depression named after a rabbit is supposed to be well north of us so our rain won't be yellow.  Use of the vacuum cleaner has been decreed so yet again part of my day will be devoted to cleaning nothing - strange how things get such names isn't it.

 

Have a good day one and all.

[shortliner]

Having seen a post by Tim Warris on Farcebook I discovered that the item he had bought for a reasonable price on Amazon.com was about 3X the price from Amazon.co.uk - went hunting on Amazon.co.uk, and found what appears to be a re-badged version of the same thing for around an equivalent price - so I have treated myself to a late Christmas present. I have attached the details in case anyone else fancies one. Chinese of course, but he is impressed, ane as the maker of Fast Tracks jigs and modeller of the Eire 149thE Street Bronx Layout - if it is good enough for him, it will be good enough for me.

 

 

EDIT This is Tim's layout for those who haven't seen it

 

Edited December 31, 2017 by shortliner

[andyram]

Morning all. It is dark, wet and blowing a gale outside. I offer generic greetings to all. Thoughts remain with those who need it.

 

The weather is going to limit our plans today. We had hoped to visit Twycross Zoo during this holiday because they were doing a free entry for teachers offer. However that will not be possible in this weather. I had thought about popping over to the Great Central, but it looks like the day will be spent trying to reclaim the front room from Amber's toys. Tonight will be spent quietly at home with a few drinks in front of the television. We don't tend to have a big New Year.

 

On a personal note, I will be glad to see the back of 2017. With all the work issues and the effect it has had on me it has made this a very unpleasant 12 months. I still feel like I have not totally recovered my confidence and mood that were wrecked by the previous boss. I cannot say that I am looking forward to going back to work next week. I am still not sure the new job is the right one for me. I have seen a couple of new vacancies so I may consider starting 2018 with a new round of applications.

I am hoping the new year will be a happier one for our family. I also hope that 2018 will bring positive news for those ER's who have health issues.

 

Happy New Year to you all.

 

Best wishes

 

Andy

Edited December 31, 2017 by andyram

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Rather dull here but the rain has stopped for now with more due later.

Had a hectic couple of days including a smashing evening next door on Friday.

Watched Quins v Saints on TV yesterday, a great game and result at Twickenham with a 70k plus crowd. Abbie went to the game with boyfriend Jack and his family.  Jack's cousin is George Merrick, Quins 2nd row so I suspect he helped with tickets as they were in a box. All the years I've been going there and never managed that! I'll have to have a word.

Baz , I didn't see the Doncaster game, who was the naughty flanker?

Today will be quiet here, we don't bother much with New Year's Eve celebrations any more. I think we've done enough of that over the past umpteen years.

At long last played with the new Birdcage coaches and they are beauties, just one more SR one to wait for. Had a bit of disaster with my Hornby TTS Tornado though. It's always run beautifully but suddenly decided not to, just made a slight whirring noise although the TTS sound still functioned when I switched that on.Took it apart to see if I could fix anything with no success but then when I put it back on the track it kept shorting out. Removing the decoder stopped that but when I tried another spare decoder that ignited! Have now put it back on the shelf for now to consider my options. (Out of the window is one possibility)

This afternoon more rugby with Exeter v Leicester on the menu.

Have a good one and a Very Happy New Year to one and all.

Bob.

Edited December 31, 2017 by grandadbob

[Dick Turpin]

Brilliant sunshine and bright blue sky in North Yorkshire.

 

While we are on the subject of model engineering, or the home hobbyist with a workshop, in case you haven't come across them, RDG Tools, and Arc Euro Trade are both amazing sources of model engineering supplies with decent quality stuff at a very good price.

Edited December 31, 2017 by Dick Turpin

[Barry O]

 

Baz , I didn't see the Doncaster game, who was the naughty flanker?

Today will be quiet here, we don't bother much with New Year's Eve celebrations any more. I think we've done enough of that over the past umpteen years.

 

ex Flanker Sanderson by name now employed as a pitch side analyst...