Early Risers.

[jjb1970]

Something I am noticing more is governments explicitly lying.

 

Governments and other organisations and individuals have always emphasised information which supports their views and spun things in self-serving ways and used omission in a way which amounts to dishonesty but until recently I found it very rare to identify deliberate actual lying in official fora. Now it no longer especially surprises me, which saddens me.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

2.5 hours sleep then SWMBO kept from the bed on hearing some noise in case it was Ben in trouble.

I couldn't get to sleep again and went down to bed to find Ben asleep in his pit.

 

He was quite comfortable in his bed till I got up. He then came across to see me, Ben the happy Collie had a good wander round the garden, but didn't notice the sheep that are now penned in a portion of the field that's around us. The other portion has been planted with some sort of corn , that's the other two sides of the garden.

Ben is now getting excited and charging around, as SWMBO is preparing his breakfast , complete with gabapentin and a inflammation reducing pill.

 

Dull and damp, blue Welkin in all directions , except directly above where it's dark grey and drizzling.

 

Plans for today 

More form filling in.

Lots more pages to do.

 

But first 

Time to wind up the fire...

 

[jjb1970]

On the Turner prize, I am probably the minority view but I like this year's winner and find it really rather powerful.

 

I find modern art very marmite. I  share the derisory views of much of it but every now and again I  see stuff I really like. 

 

A few years ago there was a Doris Salcedo exhibit called Shibboleth,  it was a giant crack on the turbine hall floor. The media went into over drive over that one, I went to see it to scoff and found it really rather compelling, invoking some rather deep thought within me.

[Mike Bellamy]

9 hours ago, TheQ said:

Also cashed the tea bar tin for the last month. Various receipts for tea and milk to be added to the records, plus the tea bar spreadsheet to be updated.

 

I had that for many years until lockdown. All the remaining biscuits, crisps and cans of fizz were donated to a local food bank and the tea, coffee and sugar went home with me. After we eventually reopened we decided to just continue with free drinks. We have to buy tea and coffee for the quarterly swapmeets we run and so the costs are absorbed into those events (anything remaining goes back to the clubroom) and a couple of members buy milk when needed and pay out of their own pocket as a 'donation' to the club so the treasurer (me) doesn't have to bother with a refreshments account.

.

[TheQ]

Our tea bar is just biscuits, tea and coffee. But we have a couple of members who don't drink at the club. What they would think of increasing the fees to cover free tea and coffee I don't know.

 

Also our club is available 24 hours a day , with the actual club nights being Tuesday and Friday.

We have some members who come 2 or 3 times a week, sometimes most of the day, whereas some its just 1 evening.

Some might complain of the fairness of others having multiple cups of coffee and biscuits for free, against 30p for each muggacoffee and a biscuit.

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

at the Armouries in Leeds

 

...known forever to us as the 'Royal Ovaries' - due to the brown tourist signs.  It is some form of helmet from Henry VIII IIRC, but.....

 

 

Morning, from a damp but not raining, windy rock, a soaring 5c and NHN keeping a low profile due to Mrs NHN working at home on Wetkneesdays.  Next year she's going 4 days PW and won't be working Wetkneesdays at all, this may well interrupt my plans for the day forever!

 

Hope to meet a pal for lunch today, and show him a couple of places he's not yet been to, he's fairly new to the rock.

[DaveF]

Sunny and frosty this morning, when I go out the car will need deicing first - it's just a thin layer of quite hard ice which doesn't seem to move with a fingernail.

 

The overseas Christmas cards will be written and posted next, then the bare root raspberry canes need a soak, they will have to be planted this afternoon cold day or not as it is going to rain yet again tomorrow.

 

I might go out for a ride in the car but not on narrow lanes, a friend has told me just how soft the verges are when you meet a car going the other way - he nearly got stuck twice the other day.

 

I might get other cards written, there are a few gifts to buy, fortunately they are best done online and delivered direct to the recipient - I don't like to post bottles of whisky or gin!  Then there could be modelmaking.  I also have last night's French version of Maigret to watch as I went round to a neighbour's last night as they are going away and were showing me which house plants do and do not need watering etc.

 

Of course I could just sit at home and do nothing which is very tempting.  When I retired I imagined I would be going out most days, the reality slowly dawned that retired life is taking it a bit easier, having walks, reading and (usually) going out when the weather is good.

 

David

 

 

[The Lurker]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

On the Turner prize, I am probably the minority view but I like this year's winner and find it really rather powerful.

 

I find modern art very marmite. I  share the derisory views of much of it but every now and again I  see stuff I really like. 

 

A few years ago there was a Doris Salcedo exhibit called Shibboleth,  it was a giant crack on the turbine hall floor. The media went into over drive over that one, I went to see it to scoff and found it really rather compelling, invoking some rather deep thought within me.

Not seen this year's winner but a number of years ago (well before the Lurker boys), Mrs Lurker was working at Channel 4 who were sponsors. They ran staff competitions with various attendance prizes. We were there the night Tracey Emin's Bed won (or at least was displayed). The following year, it was not opening night but stull before the hoi polloi were let in. One of the exhibits was a blob of blu-tac stuck on the wall with some comment on the permanence or lack of it in art. I couldn't restrain open laughter. We left shortly afterwards and we've not been back.

[Gwiwer]

Good moaning all.  

 

Wetness-day not yet living up to its name but it is, as usual, windy and the big yellow heater has yet to make an appearance aloft.  

 

Tasks today include packing and mailing something Dr. SWMBO has sold through Vinted, cleaning the kitchen and showering the Gwiwer.  None of which is unduly onerous although some may be relished more than others.  

 

Work is currently progressing on the book.  I am advised by a friend who has made a living as a printer, or "reprographics technician" as he styles himself, that 14pt not 16pt headings and 10pt rather than 11pt body would be better so the morning's burden is to adjust the text chunk by chunk without losing the formatting.  I am also swapping from my preferred Trebuchet to Helvetica again on the advice that it can be an easier font to read.  

 

Next month I have to learn the rudiments of Affinity Publisher 2 in order to convert electronic files into hard copy with a £-sign on the cover.  

 

Muggercoffy-the-First has been enjoyed.  His Furship is curled on the office chair from which he has a good view of the world outside.  Most things seem right with the world even though we know there is much that is wrong beyond the purview of the Distant (Signal) West.  

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It was dark and rather chilly when I went out to put the bin bag and food caddy out. It is sunny now but not particularly warm. No news about my car but my phone app has informed me that it is located inside a building with its doors open and bonnet up so that suggests something is happening. As nothing seemed to happen yesterday apart from being moved about I am not sure if it will be ready for the planned midday collection. I did say I wasn’t particularly bothered about times though, especially if it meant not having to take it back next week. 
Tony

[New Haven Neil]

22 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

that 14pt not 16pt headings and 10pt rather than 11pt body would be better

 

Back when I was working in Government still, there was a strict 'Corporate Image', 14 point bold tiles, 12 point text, in Ariel, no underlining (makes it harder to read) so and and so forth.  We were told (departmental managers) that this would be policed strictly, and to ensure we did stay exactly to the destructions there would be 'action taken' to transgressors.  

 

There was a nice leaflet sent out shortly afterwards from Corporate Services.....that had underlined titles, tiny text, and in some other font. No sign of any heads rolling, I think mine was the only department that took any notice.  This was not a surprise.....🤔

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A great day weatherwise with wall to wall blue sky, pity it's not going to last. A good night last night with only one call-out from bladder control and seven hours sleep in all. Plans for today are to remove the old rollalong from the car and see how the new one can be fitted in. Then there is the problem as to where to put the old one before it is disposed of.

[tigerburnie]

There has been a change in our house, I was the family comedian, but SWMBO has just taken over the role, having just got out of the shower, I was told I was not going out to get the coal from the bunker with wet hair as it's -5 degrees "You've been told, I'm in charge, so just sit and do as you're told".................................Apparently me laughing so hard I was almost crying was not the required response, did make I laugh.......me doing as I'm told.........................

[Gwiwer]

28 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

not going out to get the coal from the bunker with wet hair as it's -5 degrees

Having suffered from frozen hair in -8C may I suggest this is good advice?  

 

I arrived at work one evening many moons ago now in wet snow which managed to find its way into my hair despite the wearing of the uniform-issue woolly "beanie".  

 

During the course of the night I was required to make security "sweeps" of the station in question.  One one of these I went out from the vaguely-warm office fully rugged up but, being under the station's overall roof, without a hat.  The temperature had dropped somewhat since my previous sortie and I soon felt a crackling sensation on my head.  

 

I wasn't aware that my hair was still damp as I was overall warm enough on a cold night.  But I put my hand to my head to feel what was amiss and it came away with snapped-off icicles containing chunks of hair!!! 

 

Not something I can recommend.  Apart from the cold the need to then re-grow the snapped-off hair (which was styled rather longer than it is these days) required some creative comb-work!  

[Tim Dubya]

My favourite Christmas tree on campus, so far, lives in Mechanical Engineering.

 

 

 

[PupCam]

Morning (pre-munch) All

 

On 04/12/2023 at 09:15, Gwiwer said:

A very risky strategy ….. 

 

 

My My Rick!     If that's you modelling  on track, you seem to have changed somewhat since moving to the Distant Signal (West)!    

 

On 04/12/2023 at 12:18, monkeysarefun said:

I have a son and heir so I am committed to passing my earthly stuff to him, ( and he'll most likely just take the house, my superannuation and my ute and send the rest to Lifeline )  but if I had no one, I could either be all down about it which is self-destructive, or I could think up fun ways to get people to demean themselves in order  to get at it.

 

May I proffer this scene from the 1970 film "The Magic Christian" starring Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers as one way that may tempt @polybear as a method of getting  rid of his estate once he drops off of the twig??

 

 

 

Where there's muck .....

 

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

Something I am noticing more is governments explicitly lying.

 

Governments and other organisations and individuals have always emphasised information which supports their views and spun things in self-serving ways and used omission in a way which amounts to dishonesty but until recently I found it very rare to identify deliberate actual lying in official fora. Now it no longer especially surprises me, which saddens me.

 

It's more than sad.  I would venture to suggest that it is criminal and those doing it should be immediately dismissed from office and banned from holding office again.    I suspect that if my suggestion was implemented though that there might be an empty "Big House"* up Westminster way up for let.

 

* Other Big Houses are also available

 

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Back when I was working in Government still, there was a strict 'Corporate Image', 14 point bold tiles, 12 point text, in Ariel, no underlining (makes it harder to read) so and and so forth.  We were told (departmental managers) that this would be policed strictly, and to ensure we did stay exactly to the destructions there would be 'action taken' to transgressors.  

 

There was a nice leaflet sent out shortly afterwards from Corporate Services.....that had underlined titles, tiny text, and in some other font. No sign of any heads rolling, I think mine was the only department that took any notice.  This was not a surprise.....🤔

 

I know a GE that was like that and then whenever a new project started up they decided to ignore that and then come up with their own version.   Which users than ignored as well ...       Oh how I used to enjoy doing design reviews where much time was wasted spent pointing out non-compliance with the required "Scratch & Sniff" and wasting precious time that could more usefully be spent actually "exploring technical".    And I thought word processor templates were meant to make such waste redundant.   Still, I don't give a tinker's cuss now 😀

 

ION

 

Had a relatively inactive day yesterday but felt very tired.   The evening BP check revealed very low BP.   Although I'm on BP meds I suspect that the main reason is the fact that the pump is knackered ......

 

And thinking about that, thanks to a certain @polybear I thought I'd start the Life Book.    It could take some time.  When it got to the Pacemaker bit I thought I'd Google the fitted device and download the technical stuff.   I don't think I'll try interfacing it to an Arduino and a WiFi or Bluetooth module.   Anyway, I've been meaning to do something like the book for ages so a very worthwhile kick up the donkey.  I really must get round to updating (and making rather more comprehensive) my will as well.

 

A very nice walk (~3 miles) was walked this morning with Mrs Puppers.     As it is such a beautiful day I had thought before we went out I might go for short ride on the RD this afternoon.     The sheets of black ice around the lanes where the weak, winter sunshine has yet to (and thus won't) penetrate would tend to suggest what a foolhardy idea that was (particularly as there's a will that needs updating) so that won't be happening.   

I never tire of this view from the church on the hill at Pupper Magna.    And to think we nearly bought a flat in the middle of Milton Keynes when first married but fortunately a friend suggested taking a look for a place in Puppershire which halved the potential 50+ mile each way commute at the time before we signed the contracts.    I am eternally grateful to him!

 

 

It must be Munch Time.

 

TTFN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[southern42]

21 hours ago, Hroth said:

It'll probably then explode, showering the district with charred and urecognisable fragments!

 

As for the tiny fencing, how about suggesting it's there with a 2mm strip* of thin transparent plastic with the uprights inked in with a very fine fineliner?

 

* Only a little bigger than 1.3mm and slightly easier to cut without it turning into a curly thing....

 

 

You can bury and glue the bottom 0.7mm in/below the grass.

Edited December 6, 2023 by southern42

[polybear]

5 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

A few years ago there was a Doris Salcedo exhibit called Shibboleth,  it was a giant crack on the turbine hall floor. The media went into over drive over that one, I went to see it to scoff and found it really rather compelling, invoking some rather deep thought within me.

 

 

If a Certain Bear were ever to discover a giant crack across the newly tiled kitchen floor at Bear Towers then I'm pretty sure that would invoke deep thought - none of which would be good, however...

 

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Back when I was working in Government still, there was a strict 'Corporate Image', 14 point bold tiles, 12 point text, in Ariel, no underlining (makes it harder to read) so and and so forth.  We were told (departmental managers) that this would be policed strictly, and to ensure we did stay exactly to the destructions there would be 'action taken' to transgressors.  

 

There was a nice leaflet sent out shortly afterwards from Corporate Services.....that had underlined titles, tiny text, and in some other font. No sign of any heads rolling, I think mine was the only department that took any notice.  This was not a surprise.....🤔

 

HMG have been known for being rather fussy when it comes to accepting documents - usually as a means to delay paying stage payments....

 

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Plans for today are to remove the old rollalong from the car and see how the new one can be fitted in. Then there is the problem as to where to put the old one before it is disposed of.

 

You need a shed....have a word with WB......

[jjb1970]

55 minutes ago, PupCam said:

It's more than sad.  I would venture to suggest that it is criminal and those doing it should be immediately dismissed from office and banned from holding office again.    I suspect that if my suggestion was implemented though that there might be an empty "Big House"* up Westminster way up for let.

 

* Other Big Houses are also available

 

 

Unfortunately some of the examples I see aren't from mendacious politicians lying on the hoof to try and save their skin but quite calculated and clearly have official sanction, coming from civil servants in official fora.

 

One example was an official statement in a forum within which quite a few people knew a few simple tricks to check the statement. About 2 minutes not only told me the statement was untrue but provided multiple sources of information demonstrating it (and I'm no genius). The statement was repeated by multiple government delegations even after a neutral delegation who had the bizarre idea of checking whether what they'd been told was true pointed out it would seem difficult for the statement to be true when there was tracking and photographic evidence demonstrating exactly the opposite and shared the necessary information to verify its status. I asked our fearless fellow about it directly in private after the meeting and asked why he hadn't withdrawn or corrected his statement and was met with silence, nothing. There's no way they didn't know the true situation (whatever their faults, they're not stupid) and those briefs are prepared in advance and go through multiple layers of clearance.

 

This is bad in ethical terms alone, but an even bigger issue is that to a large part of the world (what the news now calls 'the global south') it just makes our lot seem untrustworthy, dishonest scheming (insert naughty word of choice) and makes it much more difficult to reach agreement. People may say 'what's changed?' as such discussions have always stretched the truth, which is fair to a point but at a certain level negotiation and international agreements can only happen if there is at least a certain degree of mutual confidence in what is said. Once people start lying, as opposed to spinning information it destroys that confidence. To alter a famous statement, it was worse than wrong, it was stupid.

Edited December 6, 2023 by jjb1970

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Drove over to Salisbury; very foggy but quite a few drivers don't seem put their lights on at all, never mind the rear fog lamp.

When nearly home, stopped to take some photos of the River Stour in full flood at Wimborne.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

My My Rick!     If that's you modelling  on track, you seem to have changed somewhat since moving to the Distant Signal (West)!    

Not me, Sir!  I wear a hi-viz when on or about the tracks.  Not necessarily much else, mind, just the hi-viz 🤣

[Gwiwer]

13 minutes ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

the River Stour in full flood at Wimborne.

And with another yellow warning of heavy rain tomorrow that isn't going to go downstream any time soon.  There's nowhere for tomorrow's rain to go except over fields, along roads and (with fingers firmly crossed that it doesn't) into homes. 

 

Moderate concern currently for Dr. SWMBO and for Friend (Australian) both travelling from London to here on Friday and both potentially facing flood-related disruption.

[New Haven Neil]

Seething.

 

We tried to open a new savings account, with a bank we already bank with and have done so for years, in branch.  Can't do it in branch, only on line. #sigh 1#

 

Tried to do it on line this afternoon - we have to authenticate ourselves (to a bank we already bank with, and have for years).  No problem, log on to 'Hoowe' (sounds rather like a mobile phone manufacturer I don't trust) or something, it'll only take 5 minutes or so. #sigh 2#

 

Two and a half hours later...... #really big sigh 3#

 

We have accomplished the deed. Eventually, having almost lost the will to live. 

[Compound2632]

6 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

...known forever to us as the 'Royal Ovaries'

 

Now that would be an interesting museum. Was Elizabeth I a virgin?

[Andy Hayter]

4 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

There has been a change in our house, I was the family comedian, but SWMBO has just taken over the role, having just got out of the shower, I was told I was not going out to get the coal from the bunker with wet hair as it's -5 degrees "You've been told, I'm in charge, so just sit and do as you're told".................................Apparently me laughing so hard I was almost crying was not the required response, did make I laugh.......me doing as I'm told.........................

 

 

I agree with @Gwiwer.  My own experience was returning across the Yorkshire Moors at the end of a successful potholing trip.  Kitbag with ropes in it and a couple of ladders were slung across my shoulder as we plodded across the frozen moor, in the dark, and with a strong wind encouraging the snow to be horizontal.  On arrival back at the road and our parked cars, I found that the ladders had frozen to my wet hair.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Andy Hayter