Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

The weather seems to be very unpredictable today, sunny, dull, sunny, then dull again, there’s also quite a breeze too. Today, I shall be looking at 3 of the solar lights that I repaired last week, they seem to be very dull at night, so I don’t think the solar panel/charger circuit is working correctly. The plan is to clean and polish each solar panel, then give them a coat of varnish to protect them and keep them nice and shiny! After that it’s just a case of pottering about. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian

[monkeysarefun]

Had my eye out for the price of the LG rollup TV since they started teasing videos of it a couple of years ago. I was thinking 15 to 20k. 

 

 Now has a price, announced a month or so back, turns out its 100k US.  If I paid that much I'd want it on display all the time, not rolled up out of sight, which defeats the purpose of getting it I guess.

 

How do they magically work without power and coax leads draped across the patio for  me to trip on , drag it with me as I  fall into  the pool and electocute myself?

 

 

hmmm:

Screen images simulated. TV needs to be plugged into the appropriate power source to operate. Cables may be visible depending on installation environment.

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[grandadbob]

So far it's been quite a good morning.

Just had a lengthy telephone call from a very pleasant lady at the hospital regarding my upcoming hand operation.

I've now got 4 appointments, telephone assessment followed by face to face pre-op assessment, Covid swab test and surgery date over the next few weeks starting on Friday and hopefully surgery on June 24th.  Fingers crossed that everything happens as planned.  What could possibly go wrong?    🤔   Please don't bother to tell me because I've probably already covered every option.

 

P.E.S. Simist

 

[PhilJ W]

37 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

How do they magically work without power and coax leads draped across the patio for  me to trip on , drag it with me as I  fall into  the pool and electrocute myself?

Underfloor sockets perhaps? Coax leads are not necessary as it almost certainly works on Wi-Fi. No doubt a supervillain such as Captain Cynical would have induction loops hidden in the walls and floor. 

[simontaylor484]

I would have thought Captain Cynical would have a multiscreen room for online briefing of minions think Bond villain lair with handy shark tank below

 

 

Its raining again although its showing 20° on the car temperature gauge.

 

I now have to try and print a document from my phone out on Lucas' printer. This will be fun without him at home 

 

The carpet people have been to measure up, the bedroom I had done a rough measurement they came to confirm and to measure both flights of stairs

 

I did like the look of the Samsung tv that has like a picture frame surround and can display artwork when not used as a tv.

 

[zarniwhoop]

ier

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Weather forecast is dry, we could do with some rain, at least it will keep the pollen down.

Thats exactly how my old TV set started acting before it gave up the ghost. Apparently its caused by the TV getting too much bright sunlight. I thought mine was OK, well it was during the summer but the lower winter sun penetrated more into the room. I bought the replacement from Tess Coes on special offer, about £130 IIRC. A 32 inch screen with a built in CD player made by labelled Technika.

Back in 2016 my lounge TV expired.  I forget the size (it might have been an early analogue flat-screen).  Rushed out to Sainsburys, got a 32"Celcus (not HD). When I eventually removed the old TV from the wall I discovered the Celcus didn't have fixings for a standard wall bracket. Eventually got a 32" JVC from Currys. Moved the Celcus to the bedroom to replace a tiny set, it still mostly works ok.

 

The JVC lasted until September last year - one evening I was watching the Tour of Britain crossing the pennines when the picture went very dull - maximising the backlight helped. The next day it was dead.

 

Got a 32" Technika from Tess'Co - adequate, but the hdmi input I used turns out to be No.2 (of 3) and fairly often when I turn it on it fails to lock on to my TiVo cable box until I change to a different input and back. Hope it lasts more than 3 years, but with these things built down to a price it's really pot luck.

 

On another thread (or maybe it was earlier here) I remember reading that 42" is really the smallest size to go for (for quality) - in my case I don't think I could get a 42" up the stairs to my lounge, and it would need a new wall bracket and probably some redecoration, so I'm hoping this one lasts. OTOH, 42" or bigger would suit my fading eyesight better.

 

Summary: get 42" or bigger, check the quality of picture and sound (hah! - but at least check it isn't too quiet for you) and hope it lasts more than a year or two.

[Sidecar Racer]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

 

 

 

Apologies for the carp photo - it was with the iphone and thru' the door glass, and at night.  I need to find an alternative cover for his (or her? - Harry could in fact be Harriet) din dins bowl cos' the piece of wood currently used is a bit hefty to shift.  I need to find something he can move but pidgeons can't........

 

 Something like this .

 

[Gwiwer]

Does anyone have a spare 10m ethernet cable we could borrow this evening?  

 

Asking for a friend ..... 😇

[AndrewC]

24 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Does anyone have a spare 10m ethernet cable we could borrow this evening?  

 

Asking for a friend ..... 😇

B*gger. I just used up most of the last of the cable roll I had. Could have done one for you. <grrr>

 

Back from the tulips. Knackered. Need another holiday to recover from this last weekend. Received an appointment finally for my elbow. It has only taken 9 months, 2 GP visits, multiple X-ray & Ultrasound appts, 1 physio, bloodwork, 1 rheumatologist drilling a hole to extract a sample, before they've finally allowed me to see a surgeon. But wait there's more...... Dated 2 days later is a letter for a phone consultation appt with a different rheumatologist for the same issue. (Are they like busses and can I expect a third appointment?) 

 

On that note, time for a break. Enjoy what's left of the day. 

[New Haven Neil]

28 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Does anyone have a spare 10m ethernet cable we could borrow this evening?  

 

Asking for a friend ..... 😇

 

Yes - but you'll have to come and get it!

 

The 42" TV had a different bolt pattern for the wall bracket thing we already had - no standardisation I suppose, like couplings!  I had to make an adapter as I didn't really want to buy another bracket at huge cost, my pension is small!

 

18c now and sunny as you like, but blowing an absolute hoolie.  Shame as it would be really nice otherwise.  Think I'll slope off and get the train to the Big City  and meet Mrs NHN from work.  Her new manager, as predicted, can't be found for most of the day and doesn't answer e mail queries.  Mrs NHN instituting a work to rule on levels of responsibility, as these are clearly laid out in the Civil Service Regulations, so she isn't going to sign off on anything over her pay grade.  The rumour he is a grade 1 t*sser is confirmed.

[Gwiwer]

40 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

B*gger. I just used up most of the last of the cable roll I had

 

37 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Yes - but you'll have to come and get it!

 

Kind thoughts both.  Thank you.  The local branch of S****f*x has the necessary and I am to collect it later.  Dr. SWMBO requires the closest possible to uninterruptible service for two hours tonight.  She has her home office linked to the World Wide Wait by ethernet installed by Yours Truly fitting the cable around skirtings, under carpets and beneath door strips (so it ain't moving!!!) but on this occasion she needs to be in the lounge for a live Q&A during and following her presentation.  We normally rely on wifi in there but apparently that's not good enough on this occasion.  

[polybear]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

For @polybear’s next “Pizza Evening” (https://wealthygorilla.com/most-expensive-pizzas/)

 

Quite frankly, most of them sound most unappetising….

 

Any food that includes Gold as an ingredient should be banned in this Bear's opinion; there will come a time when such materials are soooooooo scarce we'll look back and think "what the f. were they playing at??"

Incidentally, Bear had a frozen Garlic Bread (actually a Pizza) in the freezer - it came as a part of a Co-op "deal" - five items for a fiver (the true value being over twelve quid).  So bung some Tomato Puree on top, then chopped tinned Tommy's (sorry iD), grated Mozzarella, a few slices of onion, chili oil and an egg.  Result of today's din dins experiment?  Pure yumminess -  and all for a couple of quid or so.  Works for this Bear.

 

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

And one for @New Haven Neil and @PupCam https://wealthygorilla.com/most-expensive-motorbikes/

 

Number 16, please.....

 

5 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

One of the troubles with 'uber expensive' bikes is that rank and file motorcyclists have no interest in them - we're a conservative lot, and some of the ugly monstrosities (usually designed by 'car people' casting around for something to do) do not float our collective boat.  Things like the Hailwood bike, H2 and the RC213 are OK, and classics, but many of the others don't really look like bikes - and as such leave most of us cold.  They're for 'collectors' and people looking to show how much money they have - you won't see one on the road TT week, whereas you WILL see all kinds of other exotica, including some very trick race bikes that suddenly sprout a numberplate for a week.  Next door but one has a Paton, hand built Italian exotica race bike that is road registered...sort of legally (blind eye turned to some legalities  - like silencing - when he registered it, 'daytime use only').....and insured.  No MOT here  ;-)

 

And how many could be fixed if you slung it down the road in five years' time?

 

Bear here....

Painting finished.......until........

Bear spotted I'd "crossed the line" between the lower and upper colour in one small area.  Damn Piggin' Turdycurses 😡

- so out with the upper colour and first touch-up applied; it'll probably need two more goes before the lower colour disappears (it's darker).

The Owatrol has arrived, as have Bear's Mirror Screws and Caps; the Courier used the door knocker and the doorbell - so we'll let that one pass.

 

Had an email from a friend - EDF have put her monthly direct debit up to £647 A MONTH.....

But when Bear analysed the latest bill it suggests a total yearly bill of £2667 (bluddy hell) - so how EDF manage to arrive at a yearly bill of £7764 is beyond this Bear.

(The £2667 is based on April's usage - so the new higher prices; Winter will bung the cost up a bit more, but nowhere near what EDF predict).

[Gwiwer]

2 minutes ago, polybear said:

Any food that includes Gold as an ingredient should be banned in this Bear's opinion; there will come a time when such materials are soooooooo scarce we'll look back and think "what the f. were they playing at??"

Gold is inert and passes harmlessly through the digestive system.  If we are that short of it in times to come it could be recovered at the other end of its journey 💩 although it would be a sh1t job 🥺

[AndrewC]

 

9 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Any food that includes Gold as an ingredient should be banned in this Bear's opinion; there will come a time when such materials are soooooooo scarce we'll look back and think "what the f. were they playing at??"

Incidentally,

 

4 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Gold is inert and passes harmlessly through the digestive system.  If we are that short of it in times to come it could be recovered at the other end of its journey 💩 although it would be a sh1t job 🥺

I have visions of 1800's style prospectors sitting downstream from the sewage works panning for gold nuggets. <blech>

[PeterBB]

9 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Our TV expired fairly recently in a cloud of DCC-like magic smoke, replacement was 'interesting' as all the 'smaller' (by todays standards) TVs were of distinctly lower picture quality to the now 'standard' sizes.  So we ended up with a 43" (small by many standards) which only just fitted in the relevant corner of the lounge.  Prices ranged widely in this size from 250 ish to a grand.  Ours was about 400 IIRC, does all we need (that is, no Alexa or other sort of crepe we would never use) but the best picture quality we could observe given that.

Yes, the picture quality of 'small' TVs is not so good as the latest type but we had to replace with a 43" because anything bigger no longer had the facility to play DVDs.  The other snag is that modern computers do not do so either so what happened to 'store this on a DVD and you will have unlimited storage to access at any time. promised some years back?  This thing called cloud is a pain.  I'll leave it there.

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by PeterBB
typo

[J. S. Bach]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

For @polybear’s next “Pizza Evening” (https://wealthygorilla.com/most-expensive-pizzas/)

 

Quite frankly, most of them sound most unappetising….

Most of those look like Pizza Hut rejects.

[Ian Abel]

Chewsday...

 

Yesterday, lemme see;

Mrs ever forward has now driven herself and run errands/shopped first time solo since the surgery.

All went as expected, though she did say she was more tired than expected following the foray.

 

Long Island client called with some major issue regarding reports - a March and April report showed the "same numbers... what happened!?!?!?!? HELP".

A swift review and a few questions later it was revealed they'd not run the posting programs REQUIRED, so a ton of ledger entries hadn't been actually been processed <sigh>

 

I managed to hit 100 "workouts" on the bike/iFit program, which nets me a free tee- <woo hoo> 😀

Pity I didn't ALSO make 600 miles, falling 7 tenths short turdycurses  😛

 

 

The evening saw the Mrs off to her book club and my mate over for wine and cheese and to solve the current dilemmas

 

First thing 13 and partly sunny, supposed to clear later with a high of 24 and no rain.

 

Onward...

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Ian Abel

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

...Incidentally, Bear had a frozen Garlic Bread (actually a Pizza) in the freezer - it came as a part of a Co-op "deal" - five items for a fiver (the true value being over twelve quid).  So bung some Tomato Puree on top, then chopped tinned Tommy's (sorry iD), grated Mozzarella, a few slices of onion, chili oil and an egg.  Result of today's din dins experiment?  Pure yumminess -  and all for a couple of quid or so.  Works for this Bear.

Captain Cynical has long attained a serene zen-like acceptance of @polybear's culinary foibles. Content in the knowledge that whilst The Bear is depleting the world's stocks of petrochemicals, Captain Cynical will be enjoying the finer culinary things in life (nearly always without chips!)

 

Of course, Captain Cynical (and iD) loves to cook for guests and who could be a simpler soul to satisfy than @polybear. A generous portion of deep fried LDC with a gigantic side order of oven chips and we'll have a very happy ursine indeed.

[polybear]

42 minutes ago, PeterBB said:

Yes, the picture quality of 'small' TVs is not so good as the latest type but we had to replace with a 43" because anything bigger no longer had the facility to play DVDs.  The other snag is that modern computers do not do so either so what happened to 'store this on a DVD and you will have unlimited storage to access at any time. promised some years back?  This thing called cloud is a pain.  I'll leave it there.

 

 

It also seems that finding new TV's equipped with a SCART socket is getting harder - and more than one SCART getting even more difficult.

 

28 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Most of those look like Pizza Hut rejects.

 

Anything that's a reject from Pizza Hut has really gotta be dog rough....

[polybear]

3 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

A generous portion of deep fried LDC with a gigantic side order of oven chips and we'll have a very happy ursine indeed.

 

Hmmm, sounds promising.....

[iL Dottore]

28 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Most of those look like Pizza Hut rejects.

I couldn't agree more.

 

Some of the ingredients involved are very fine indeed, but to pile them on to a pizza displays a cynical intent on behalf of the restaurateur to remove as much money as possible from those who have more money than taste or good sense.

 

Having revisited the ingredients list, I reckon Greggs would be on to a real money maker if it would make a "Billionaire's Pasty" (a shortcrust pastry shell stuffed with kobe beef, truffles, caviar, lobster tails, covered in gold leaf)

[Erichill16]

3 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Gold is inert and passes harmlessly through the digestive system.  If we are that short of it in times to come it could be recovered at the other end of its journey 💩 although it would be a sh1t job 🥺

‘Sh1t job’ my dad had a similar job when he first qualified as a pharmacist in the early 50s.

Penicillins are excreted by the kidneys and a large proportion is  unchanged. At the time the penicillin was so valuable it was worth extracting it from the patients urine. 
Im not taking the p1ss, but my dad was!

Edited May 10, 2022 by Erichill16
Grammar

[simontaylor484]

We have strong winds now but lovely sunshine after a couple of showers of rain earlier.

 

 

[simontaylor484]

I have heard of sh1tting bricks but sh1tting a gold bar would be new

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, PeterBB said:

3" because anything bigger no longer had the facility to play DVDs.  The other snag is that modern computers do not do so either so what happened to 'store this on a DVD

I can view DVDs on my TV which is bigger than 43”. It is only a couple of years old. If you have an old DVD player it might not connect to a modern tv as they generally don’t have the old scart interface. DVD/Blu ray players with hdmi connections like modern tvs aren’t too expensive and there are also scart to hdmi converters. 
My one year old pc like many others doesn’t have a built in optical drive but I added an external one which reads everything from cd rom up to Blu ray including all kinds of DVD. It will write/create them too. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Tony_S