Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from the Charente.  Good luck to Brian.  I hope that it goes well for you.  Simon, continued thoughts and prayers to you.

 

Here, yesterday was, interesting.  Beth got to the pain clinin, an hour away, in good time, and we waited and waited.  It turned out that her 15.00 appointment  had not been diaried by the secretary  who'd made it.  After being a tad asserive, she was eventually  seen at 17.00.  However  I can't fault the way she was then treated.  As a result we are due back today at 11.00 for some sort of patch to be fitted.  No waiting for that.

 We left at about 17.45 and had to get a meal and be at a quiz, by 19.00.  The meal at the Buffalo Grill became a McD meal, but we did get to the quiz before it started. To our great surprise our team won. 3 bottles of fizz for the main quiz and 3 bottles of cider for a subsidiary one. We finally got home about 23.30.  

 

Breakfast time now then some quick phone calls before we set off.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

KISS applies.  And in language too.  I receive due credit at the House of Fun for clear easily understood announcements.  "How do you do it?" has been asked more than once.  The answer is always "words of one syllable where possible, no jargon and speak steadily and clearly".  As in "Please stand back and let others off the train first" rather than "Allow fellow passengers to  alight before attempting to board".  Simples.  Like those little meerkats on the TV adverts  

 

I s'pose an announcement along the lines of "Now if you bunch of dumb sh1ts were to f.off out the way of the doors then the poor b'stards strugglin' to get out might not be so p1ssed off" would perhaps not comply with company policy?

[polybear]

1 hour ago, chrisf said:

Doubtless in common with other purchasers, I received a message from Grace Petrie.  Although I have a physical copy of her new CD, she would like me to download it as well.  This is because downloads count towards the charts and physical copies do not!  Grace, there's a song in there somewhere ...

 

Bear had never heard of GP so googled:

 

 

I do know that's not a great way to treat a guitar though

 

1 hour ago, chrisf said:

On flu jabs, I displayed uncommon initiative and phoned Stalag Surgery to ask for an appointment.  It will take place the Tuesday after next, at the uncommonly precise hour of 9.42 am.

 

 

Bear had his Flu' Jab at the local Boots 3 weeks ago; at the time the local Docs not 250 yards away still didn't know when (or if) they would be getting any vaccines.  Seems like the Boss of Boots should be running the NHS....

Edited October 6, 2021 by polybear

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The high school did have a Xerox photocopier available to students. It was coin operated. AU$0.05 per page, if I'm not mistaken.

 

 

Bear still misses the office photocopier - the amount of personal stuff that got printed on there (by all in the office) was unreal; it was very fast, high quality, A3 and colour.  It was also a very fast scanner - Bear has the first 150 issues of a certain MR magazine scanned and saved on hard drive; it did take a while - and whilst Bear did receive several strange looks from the HoD he never actually bounced me for doing it.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Dr Eldest Herbert is live on LBC... now.. lummy he is more widely known than me!

 

Enjoy the beer festival @Chrisf this explains your non attendance at another meet up today.

 

Computers were available at Leeds Uni in 1975. The KDF 9 was in bits as it was being replaced by a DEC System 10 for the undergrads, an ICL 1904 was a card using computer for post grads.  We were taught Fortran 4 and I also used Algol. We spent some time playing "Moon Lander" and "Star Trek"

 

Later my undergraduate dissertation work involved using a PDP 8 then a PDP 11. 

 

My future wife typed both of my dissertations on her own typewriter.. bless!

 

Now time to listen to Dr Eldest Herbert..

 

Enjoy your day! Stay safe!

 

Baz

 

 

[polybear]

52 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

.........and I am flummoxed by those who use overly complicated language when it is NOT necessary (e.g. “prior to“? Whatever happened to good old-fashioned “before“?).  I suspect this is the phenomenon of the education system of the past 25 years: students are encouraged to use very complicated, unnecessarily complicated, language to prove to others (and probably to themselves) how clever they are. Quite frankly, if you know how BRCA1 interacts with histone deacetylase complexes and can explain it clearly, then you don’t have to use jargon (which I regard as a very different beast to correct terminology) and five words where one would do, to show that you are a clever person.

 

 

 

It's commonly known as "If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance then baffle 'em with bvllshit" syndrome.  Sadly no known cure has yet been found and the disease is spreading.

Bear's Employer would have a "State of the Nation" presentation every year, held at the local Leisure Centre/Theatre; it would always start with a film presentation of the year's highlights complete with backing sound sorry, noise played so loud it'd make your ears bleed.  After that we'd be subjected to a couple of hour's drivel containing so many acronyms & abbreviations that no-one would have a clue what they're on about.

Bear's favourite year was when buddy shouted out to the assembled Very Grown Ups on the stage (i.e. the MD's from UK & France plus assembled Minions):

"Excuse me, but WHO ARE YOU??"

The laughter and subsequent round of applause could be heard several miles away, apparently.  They got the message for the following years.

 

In other news:

Is nothing sacred:

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/02/world/winnie-the-pooh-poohsticks-bridge-for-sale-trnd/index.html

Bear can claim to have played Poohsticks on this very bridge when but a mere Cub.

 

Only in America:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58810977

 

How would Puppers like to be a Postie?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-58792064

Jeez, if that thing can carry 100Kg then it'd carry people

 

Bear has a couple of parcels to pack and post - both sales on the 'bay, one of which I've been trying to sell for some weeks now - it finally got a bid (just under fifty notes) so gets it out of the loft at last.  Result

Apart from that it's finishing line day for the kitchen at long last - been doing that project for something like 13 months

Soon I'll need to start thinking about the lounge refurb - which should hopefully be a lot  bit quicker and easier to do....

 

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, JohnDMJ said:

 

 

That'll be the yeast culture, then!

G R O A N ! 

That’s bad, John - even by your standards.

 

iD

as they might say on Eastenders “think you’re being punny, do you?”

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl Inner Temple hare...

A poor nights sleep, forepaws didn't like the rain, there was wind howling round the  house, woke up in the middle of the night screwed up in a balls.. a painful straightening of the back was required.

 

Ben the desperate Collie, wanted out this morning, but it was just to the nearest bush a long watering then rush back in..

 

Reading a book on Orford Ness, very interesting, as a side comment it mentions the rain at Orford never reached the ground.. but reached knee height and then blew horizontally.. I suppose with the Mackintoshes of the period it would feel like that.. Modern rain reaches waist height and blows horizontally .. Something to do with the bum freezer length coats every one wears today..

 

Driving in you could see waves of rain showing in the heaadlights or street lights it's not nice out there.

 

I had used a computer at school... It arrived in a artic truck was plugged into 3 phase mains, you were allowed one run of a pre made programmme, which normally failed, then after a week the artic disappeared off to another school.

 

I built my own first computer soldering chips onto a board, while training on computers was included in RAF electronics then went out into the world of the RAF and used computers that were all transistor (still in use till the 1990s) connected to valve powered electronic equipment..

I still have my record deck, a semi automatic JVC, but have very few LPs, singles never appeared in school age couldn't afford them.

Mostly I had cassettes, spending so much time on the road, most of my listening was in car.. There's still a box of around 100 cassettes somewhere, though most have been replaced by CD's. I still prefer to have a physical CD, then copy it on to the computer.

I don't trust online holders of software whether it be music or anything else, not to lose it or close down leaving you with nothing..

 

Re running a section of the overnight cross check on one system while awaiting the release of this weeks second system..

 

Time to go check if it's free yet.

 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, a booful sunrise just watched, 10c but a touch breezy.  Bike ride with a pal later, just out for a coffee somewhere.

 

Supportive thoughts once more to Simon and his family, and to Brian.

 

Too many 'appointments' of one sort or another today, its a bit of a jigsaw in the planner, my fault, can't say no to folk.

 

Brian, a chat with Oldudders off thread may be of help to you.....

[New Haven Neil]

Computers - I have shown this before, but this is the Ferranti Pegasus in my old Grammar school. Lad on the right was in the year above me, Tommy Turner.  We had to submit BASIC programmes on 5 hole tape.....seldom worked!  It was crapped after my first year apparently the power consumption was huge, there was another room with a rotary converter in, DC for valve heaters?  The pull-out boards each had three little valves on them, there were....a lot. 

[AndrewC]

Sunny greetings from the boring borough. 

 

Shocking times, our bins were actually collected this morning. Probably the first time they've been done on the right day since late June. I may need to lie down to recover. 

 

Like Neil, I'm getting an increasing number of seemingly random blocked pages on the site. This is even with adblocker running. Malwarebytes this morning decided the main page contained a trojan (and not the cond0m brand either) and refused to let me in at first. Either Warners is going to keep increasing the ad usage to the point where people start to tune out, at which time it becomes counter productive, or it is a fiendishly brilliant marketing strategy to p*ss people off and make it very easy to sell a basic no advert subscription model. An acquaintance of mine works in the adult entertainment industry. (ok she maintains a "free" set of p0rn sites) It has been noticed there, more people are tuning out due to the rampant overkill of adverts. Their solution has been to offer premium subscription services with much reduced or no adverts. When it comes to the www where the p0rn industry leads, the rest soon follow. 

 

I'm with the Q with regards to downloads or streams. I prefer copies of physical media. Apple music seems to be the worst out there. With iTunes you downloaded and kept the files. Now with Apple Music you download but access to the file is via the subscription. You have to keep your own music "hidden" from apple or they replace your copy with theirs. This has led to me randomly finding individual tracks on an album now missing from the library as Apple's license for that particular song expires. Same goes for full albums and artists. So kids, a word of warning, if you use Apple Music, DON'T EVER EVER let it merge your personal library. 

 

coffee calls, more bloody meetings. Last 4 days of my probationary period at work and I'm undecided as to whether I'll continue past next Monday. 

 

Enjoy the day. 

 

 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Thanks for all your positive comments, they are all very much appreciated. 

 

The overnight rain rain has stopped falling and the skies are clear and blue, but it’s cool outside at only 9C. Today will mostly be spent in the cellar, carrying on with the fireplace and also doing some pointing that needs to be done. I have a small package due sometime today, (not the loco kit) so I will have to be ready to answer the door as Sheila is planning on getting the ironing done and the door bell is bound to ring at the most inopportune time possible.

 

Back later.

 

Brian 

 

 

[polybear]

Bear's kitchen is now officially.......

 

FINISHED!!

 

And in the Servant's Quarters it looks like this......

 

 

[PupCam]

6 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear's kitchen is now officially.......

 

And it looks very good too!

 

Now you've got all the practice done perhaps you could come round and do mine?     

 

Only you won't be able to take so blxxdy long doing mine! 

 

Back later ....

 

Alan

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Best wishes to Brian and Simon and family and any other ER who may be unwell. I don't seem to have any problems with ads, not even blank spaces as I have my ad blocker turned on. I did turn it off before RMweb went down but I soon switched it back on again. That was because when I hit the return button it would quite often be slow, sometimes even timing out but as it made no difference I switched it back on again. Nice Kitchen PB and after you've done Alans can you come round and do mine? Muggatee time, be back later.

[polybear]

15 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Now you've got all the practice done perhaps you could come round and do mine?     

 

 

[polybear]

11 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Nice Kitchen PB and after you've done Alans can you come round and do mine?

 

[iL Dottore]

Nice work, Bear. Very nice work indeed!

 

Although the choice of white for the fronts clearly illustrates that you have neither children nor pets

 

I'm quite envious of your cooking space - it's more than I have!

 

As for your (trying to be) misleading first photo: all I can say is that particular kitchen is for people who don't cook, but want to say "look how much we've spent on our kitchen"

 

As a serious Gastronaut, this is the sort of thing I aspire to :

The things I could cook in something like that.

 

One can but dream, one can but dream.....

 

iD

[swampy]

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Computers - I have shown this before, but this is the Ferranti Pegasus in my old Grammar school. Lad on the right was in the year above me, Tommy Turner.  We had to submit BASIC programmes on 5 hole tape.....seldom worked!  It was crapped after my first year apparently the power consumption was huge, there was another room with a rotary converter in, DC for valve heaters?  The pull-out boards each had three little valves on them, there were....a lot. 

Taught by a Mrs. Emslie, ISTR (on the left). We were told she was brought in as a part-time teacher from a firm to teach computer programming. I kept my exercise book with the flow charts and punch tape sellotaped in for decades until a clear-out.  

[simontaylor484]

Afternoon all 

 

All housework jobs done just waiting for the washer to finish.

 

It's a beautiful day here showing 19°on the car temperature reading absolutely horrible wind and rain last night.

Her Ladyship remains in hospital I am struggling to contact her the phone signal is appalling there. She was meant to be having an EEG today. I have made a cheese and tomato pasta bake for tea skinned my knuckles twice on the cheese grater.stung like bu99ery when I used hand sanitizer at Tesco.

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

As for your (trying to be) misleading first photo: all I can say is that particular kitchen is for people who don't cook, but want to say "look how much we've spent on our kitchen"

and would be a bu99er to clean.

But agree - they'd never use it.

I have been watching both Escape to the Chateau and Grand Designs. ETTC has practical working kitchens. GD has kitchens that have never seen a pan of boiling water.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Coombe Barton

[The Lurker]

6 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

 

Computers were available at Leeds Uni in 1975. The KDF 9 was in bits as it was being replaced by a DEC System 10 for the undergrads, an ICL 1904 was a card using computer for post grads.  We were taught Fortran 4 and I also used Algol. We spent some time playing "Moon Lander" and "Star Trek"

 

Later my undergraduate dissertation work involved using a PDP 8 then a PDP 11. 

 

 

 

 

Whereas by the time I got to Leeds Uni in 1985, they were proudly advertising that all undergrads would spend time on the computers during the time of their course. In the case of the History course, this was fulfilled by way of a three hour "course" one morning, which consisted largely of following step by step instructions on the computer. Even with those, my then girlfriend struggled because the instructions neglected "press enter" when you were meant to. I'd done a computer studies O level (badly) in Lower 6th so I was way ahead of her. In fact, it took me a while to realise what it was she hadn't done!

 

My dissertation was typed a lady in Headingly; in those days there were women (probably exclusively) who advertised typing services on the union noticeboard. IIRC she charged me about £30. I didn't spot the typo on the second word, which made the timeframe 1000 years out (19th century instead of 9th!)

 

It's a glorious looking day here at LBG and it feels a shame that I am in here rather than not!

 

I hope that Simon gets good news  about his wife soon and best wishes to Brian

 

Bear's kitchen looks good - and it must be nice to have a view of Venice, even it suggest that part of the kitchen is at flood risk!

 

And finally, petrol was acquired last night. I risk Foot's Cray Tesco (terminus of the 321, Rick) and found a tanker delivering. And a bloke fixing the pumps who was somewhat disgruntled to be asked if he knew whether the tanker had actually delivered or not.

[The Lurker]

4 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

I have been watching both Escape to the Chateau and Grand Designs. ETTC has practical working kittens. GD has kitchens that have never seen a pan of boiling water.

I would never trust a cat to work. Bring in a half dead mouse, yes. Work, no. Cats are far too cool!

Edited October 6, 2021 by The Lurker

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Eating some lemon cake as I type this! I would not want a kitchen that large as one would put on many miles just preparing the meal! My parents' kitchen in the house that they bought on  retirement was quite small but very conveniently laid out. Icebox, dishwasher, and range (hob?) on one side and sink and countertops on the other. Two or three steps and a one-eighty turn and everything was easily accessible. Oh, and the central aisle was not too wide, either.

 

Your FINISHED!! kitchen looks very nice.

Edited October 6, 2021 by J. S. Bach
To do a minor edit.

[simontaylor484]

40 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

and would be a bu99er to clean.

But agree - they'd never use it.

I have been watching both Escape to the Chateau and Grand Designs. ETTC has practical working kitchens. GD has kitchens that have never seen a pan of boiling water.

I seem to think that Dick Strawbridge has 2 kitchens one for the events and a smaller day to day one. 

I think Dick and Angel are great they seem to be down to earth and what they do has a purpose not just a vanity project