Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Hello again from Estuary-Land. I felt very tired this afternoon so went for some eyelid inspection and only just surfaced an hour and a half ago. Might be after effects of the jab, hopefully thats all.

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Rectifier fried - AC getting to rails?

 

OF's run out was a bit wet, but 'breakfast' was good if a little pricey.  Sunny on the way back which helped, 60 miles or so, all my hip can stand nowadays.

 

Puppers, I'll have the actual motorcycle, not the Hardley Ableson please! Sheesh, those things....I have a pal with a FatWideGitGlide or something, bit of a handful over here.  Leaves nice grooves in the tarmac after gentle cornering.

 

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

That was very similar to what I was going to post. My advice would be to use the original Hornby Dublo power unit as a display item and buy something more recent. I don’t think Dublo need sophisticated electronic feedback controllers but I suspect they draw more current than some of the tiny plug in power supplies from modern train sets can supply. Just to check it isn’t the trains at fault I would try any other 12 volt  DC supply like a car battery charger just to quickly see if the trains move. 

 

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

A duette will work HD 3 rail stuff.

Baz

I found a H-D 3-rail forum, apparently they are very power hungry and require at least one amp. The original controllers might be a bit dodgy due to age and a Duette is recommended. My friend said he has a Duette and will try that.

[Ashcombe]

3 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

And Baker Days..........

Also known as B-days....... (bidets) ..... many of us have them but nobody knows what to do with them!! 

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

Shouldn’t there be a button for ‘I don’t know what he’s on about’?

I was going to comment that it looked like English, but .............................

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, TheQ said:

You bin standing too close to Mount St Helens  again..?

Mount Baker would be the closest big volcano to @pH from the Cascades. (And it's the second-most thermally active crater after St. Helens. It's taller than St. Helens was pre-1980 eruption too. It's namesake is  Joseph Baker, RN who voyaged with George Vancouver as his third Lieutenant.)

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Whoever wrote that article was a teacher with school-age children!

"Citation needed".

[Oldddudders]

4 hours ago, leopardml2341 said:

POOTTS hasn't worked either.........

 

Isn't he in the running to lead the DUP?

[Mike Bellamy]

7 hours ago, JohnDMJ said:

I believe some unis south of the border offer the opportunity to stay on for another year for a Masters, but not quite the same as you describe.

 

Correct - known as 'Integrated Masters'. I have copied the info below from the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) who inspect Higher Education - similar to Ofsted for schools.

 

Quote

Integrated master's degrees are common in science, mathematics and engineering but are also used in other subjects and delivered through a course that combines study at the level of a bachelor's degree with honours with study at master's level during the latter stages of the course. As such, a student usually graduates with a master's degree after a continuous four-year (or five-year in Scotland) course of study. If a work placement is included, the time taken to complete the course may be extended. Course and award titles of integrated master’s degrees commonly reflect the subject area: examples include MEng and MChem. Integrated master's degree courses typically include study equivalent to at least one full-time academic year at level 7 of The Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ) and level 11 in Scotland (for example, at master's level). Thus, study at bachelor's level is integrated with study at master's level.

 

I was never involved with Student Fees and Finance but I think that there were financial advantages in enrolling on a four year course rather than completing a standard three year degree and then enrolling onto a separate master's programme.

 

 

6 hours ago, jonny777 said:

Have been reading Mike Bellamy's care home difficulties. Don't forget that with a close relative in a care home, it is possible to claim attendance allowance if they need regular care or checking up on. The forms are a nightmare; about 30 pages or so, but the money helps to offset care home costs (I get about £350 extra a month for my Dad), and they did backdate it to the point at which he came out of hospital. 

 

Thanks Jonny - FiL was already getting the lower rate Attendance Allowance as he was having carers visit him at home and we have the paperwork to 'upgrade' this to include the additional allowance for night time care but you have to advise them of the number of times he needs any help during the night - questions are 'I have difficulty with' xxx 7 different categories followed by 'I need help with' the same seven categories as well as 'I have difficulty concentrating or motivating myself' for another two categories. What they are trying to assess is the number of times he needs help - I think I read somewhere that more than three calls in the night or a single call lasting more than 20 minutes may be sufficient to trigger the higher level of payment. we are trying to get some information from the home as my wife doesn't know enough about his current care needs to complete that section.

 

 

35 minutes ago, Ashcombe said:

Also known as B-days....... (bidets) ..... many of us have them but nobody knows what to do with them!! 

 

We had a use for a Bidet (just before it was removed as a waste of space) - our two year old grandson was staying with us whilst we were in the middle of a bathroom refurbishment. The bath had gone and he hated the separate shower cubicle so in the bidet he went and loved splashing the water all over the floor. I have photos but would probably get arrested if I posted them here !!

 

It was also useful for washing muddy boots when the house looked like a building site.

.

.

[New Haven Neil]

3 hours ago, PupCam said:

The Tornado's Blue Circle radar didn't need such accurate alignment

 

The radar worked on cement?  Wow, who knew?

 

Simon, a Buell uses a tuned Harley engine - odd things, but characterful.  A brick wrapped in gold leaf sort of approach to motorcycling.

[simontaylor484]

That reminds me of a scene in Crocodile Dundee

[polybear]

7 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

BTW Poly I  happen to have a decent stockholding of tapered spacers of various depths should such an idea appeal as a potential assistant in levelling things? 

 

Many thanks SM - I'm currently using Space Plugs to secure the units to the wall, and I also have many hundreds of plastic shims (1mm & 2mm thicknesses) so beloved of window fitters in the loft for smaller gaps:

http://space-plug.com/

 

6 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Day of Attendance for Teachers Without Small Persons Present.  

 

 

Ah, Gotcha - a ceasefire.....

 

6 hours ago, PupCam said:

As if! 

 

Bitch....

 

5 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Puppers, I'll have the actual motorcycle, not the Hardley Ableson please! Sheesh, those things....I have a pal with a FatWideGitGlide or something, bit of a handful over here.  Leaves nice grooves in the tarmac after gentle cornering.

 

Bear does rather like Harley XR750's, though the later XR 1100 road-going model is a tad more practical - and a lot, lot cheaper:

https://classic-motorbikes.net/harley-davidson-xr1200-road-test/

 

 

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

Got an email back from BA, confirming my stroppy email and saying they will make a note on the account..

Meanwhile I've been to the boat yard, they had a problem...the boat almost sank... Some sort of fitting hidden below the toilet has failed, they've bodged it for the moment, but the toilet need to come out and the boat lifted out to fix the problem.. it's probably the old fittings from the days when toilets were pumped overboard.. They have had to have holding tanks for 30 years plus.. should get the boat back next month. I suspect many unmentionables amount of money will be spent...

 

And kids today reckon they have a hard time at school, WE didn't get all these days off, and WE were in school 09:00 till 16:00 none of this knocking off at 15:00..

 

When Bear was but a mere Cub the only days we got off school were when the School Boiler broke down.  As for knocking off at 3pm - the only time that happened was for the Dentist 

 

Bear received the following email today from the Neighbourhood Watch Team:

Dear Watch Member,

Police in Broxbourne assisted the Canal & River Trust in seizing two narrow boats from the River Lee.

 

Both boats were removed at the end of April as their owners breached the terms and conditions of the licences for the vessels to be on the waterway.

 

One of the boats had been adapted to host illegal raves, it had been stopped on New Year’s Eve by officers and the organiser issued a £10,000 fine for breaching coronavirus restrictions. The boat’s interior had been stripped out of anything houseboat-related and officers discovered four old church pews, three large generators and two bars aboard as well as signs of drug use.

 

Sergeant Chris Fisher, of the Broxbourne Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: “The main concerns from police were that one of the boats had been used in clear breaches of alcohol licensing laws, regular reports of ASB had been received due to events held on the barge, as well as the safety concerns around having a large number of intoxicated people on board in the dark with no safety measures in place, particularly when they then try and leave the boat.

 

Q - consider yourself rumbled....

 

2 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

An arduino is a small circuit board computer programmed by a sketch which is in a similar language used in C.

 

 

 

Huh?

 

In other news:

Bear has cracked the Broom Cupboard installation - hopefully; a little bit of finishing off in the morning.  Then it'll be fitting the decorative end panel between the broom cupboard and the 300mm base unit.  Not looking forward to that bit, cos (a) they're bl00dy expensive if things go wrong, (b) they're very big - and very heavy, (c) they're pre-painted so all handling and work has to be carried out with great care, and (d) it has to be cut to fit - reducing it in both height and width - it has to be scribed to the wall in the process.  No pressure there then.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Teas made, biscuits ready and watching the New Zealand railway program on Channel 5.

[PupCam]

2 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

An arduino is a small circuit board computer programmed by a sketch which is in a similar language used in C.

Indeed and IMHO they are wonderous things; flexible, powerful and most of all cheap (~£5 - £15 for a clone).   With lots of cheap accessory boards you can do almost anything with them. I use them for all sorts of little projects.  So much so that often the answer is an Arduino, now what's the question?  

 

As examples; I've built a little GPS tracker that I use for logging my bike rides (yes I know you can do that with your Smart phone), a telecine machine for converting old cine films to DVD & YouTube videos, a working faux "Smiths Chronometric" Speedo (the ubiquitous speedo for old British motorcycles and cars from the 1920s to the 1960s) and countless other gadgets.

 

The Telecine machine came about when mother was just about chuck out all the family cine films from the 60's which, along with the old projector, had been kicking around in the loft for 40+ years.   Fortunately Puppers interrupted the disposal process (it would have been criminal to chuck all those memories out).  Research on the interweb on how to get them transferred revealed a number of homebrew telecine machines based on an old projector and  I like a challenge!   Fundamentally you replace the very bright projector light with a white LED and the big screen with a the innards from a webcam.     There's some other cunning tricks to play of course to get a working system.  In my case I use some free software used for taking astronomical photographs as the means of catching the thousands of images that make up the cine.  The machine uses an old R/C model aircraft electric motor and speed controller to drive the projector and a couple of Arduinos to drive the speed controller and to trigger the software to capture each frame.   You can see the two Arduinos mounted on the piece of Vero board on the righthand side of the "insides" photograph.   Results are variable but then, many of the films are in a very old and generally in a poor condition.   The duck video isn't bad quality though considering how it's been transferred.  Unfortunately some cracking shots of Deltics, Brush 2s, Brush 4s etc racing through New Barnet in the mid 60's were ruined by a faulty camera - each frame being semi superimposed on the previous one. Blast and double blast!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The speedo uses an Arduino, bits of an old R/C servo and the astute railway modeller will recognise a Portescap motor and gearbox.   It's a tight fit in a modern replacement Chrono housing and uses an original dial blagged from a friend.

 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I have seen them combined with a Rasberry Pi running a program called JMRI to make a cheap DCC control

 

Yes the "DCC++" system is a very cunning and cheap way of using an Arduino and a simple plug-in DC motor driver board to build a fully operational, capable and flexible DCC control system.   I've built the original and it works brilliantly with the original (free) software but now some new chaps have decided a completely new, (allegedly) even better version and that's what I've been amusing myself with these last couple of days.   I did in fact have some success today and managed to get the "Noddy" installation version working on my original unit.   The O Gauge Dapol 08 was running up and down  a length of Peco Streamline rather nicely in the end

 

You may have spotted, I rather like Arduinos!

 

 

 

 

 

[leopardml2341]

@PupCam you may live to regret that declaration, I'm about to enter the world of Arduino and I know how helpful ERs are

[leopardml2341]

Goodnight folks.

[New Haven Neil]

More radar fuel....as folk don't seem to be getting it.....

 

[PupCam]

18 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

I'm about to enter the world of Arduino and I know how helpful ERs are

 

More than wiling to help you  if I can 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Mike Bellamy said:

to advise them of the number of times he needs any help during the night -

This explains something. MiL had been looking at the record sheets produced by her overnight carer. MiL said she doesn’t get up that often. Aditi spoke to her Mum and it seems both MiL and the carer were right.  However MiL wasn’t counting the time she got out of bed before going to sleep and the time when she goes to the bathroom when waking in the morning. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Tony_S
Comma removal

[Erichill16]

Puppers,

What’s with the duck video?

All clever stuff.

Robert

Edited May 14, 2021 by Erichill16

[Coombe Barton]

... maybe buying a few rules and finding out how to use them ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/05/14/rule-four/

[TheSignalEngineer]

13 hours ago, The Lurker said:

Jimmy Young was a radio 2 fixture by the time I noticed. "What's the recipe today, Jim?"

My landlady when I lodged ay Kenton had her recipies used on the show and published in the Jimmy Young Cookbook. She used to try them out on the lodgers. Breakfast was a Full English every morning with cereal or porridge to start and she would always have two main courses at the evening meal, enough of each to go round the table and she expected the lot to go. I put on two stone while I was there. She was on her fourth husband at the time, we did speculate what happened to the other three. 

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, Ashcombe said:

(bidets) ..... many of us have them but nobody knows what to do with them!! 

The grammar school did.  They were installed as drinking fountains!  Clearly not for their intended purpose unless one wished to make use of them in that manner outside in full view .....  

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

I was supposed to spend the whole day catching up on paperwork but that was blown out of the water by a request by bil to SWMBO for us to go and help  him in getting ready for his and sils new business venture. Complete waste of time, energy and money. Time would have been better spent on the business that does bring money into the family. Our presence is required tomorrow too. As I said earlier, life’s complicated.

Got Sydney for sleepover.

Apparently another early start so goodnight,

Robert

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz