Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

10 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

Any ideas what the proper name for this is? 

Leftovers. 
Seriously though, when we stayed with a friend in Connecticut she made something called a breakfast omelet that seem to be similar to your creation. It may have been some traditional family recipe for all I know. 

Edited January 10 by Tony_S

[grandadbob]

@The White Rabbit  Just asked The Boss for her opinion and she thought it sounded a bit like a Sausage Frittata.

[Coombe Barton]

... The 134 mile stretch of the London to Birmingham HS2 is now estimated to be £66bn. That nearly half a billion a mile! ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/01/10/covid-no-data-or-news-hs2-ow-much/

[The White Rabbit]

27 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Leftovers. 
Seriously though, when we stayed with a friend in Connecticut she made something called a breakfast omelet that seem to be similar to your creation. It may have been some traditional family recipe for all I know. 

 

I think the way I did it, it definitely falls into the 'leftover' category of recipes, if only in general philosophy, but given the split between the eggy filling and sausage, I felt reluctant to claim it was a new variety of omelet. There do seem to be a number of recipes out there for breakfast omelets but they tend to involve more mixing than I did. 

 

18 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

@The White Rabbit  Just asked The Boss for her opinion and she thought it sounded a bit like a Sausage Frittata.

 

It was certainly heading that way but I felt the sausage/filling was a bit too 'apartheid' to really qualify. No spuds either, just some pepper and onion pieces. Perhaps I'll need to concoct another [something] au lapin tag to describe it? 😉 

[zarniwhoop]

9 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

... The 134 mile stretch of the London to Birmingham HS2 is now estimated to be £66bn. That nearly half a billion a mile! ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/01/10/covid-no-data-or-news-hs2-ow-much/

Well, it's all those archaeologists, innit ?

[DaveF]

I've just received a letter from the consultant's secretary by e mail with a copy of the letter which has gone to my GP providing a succinct and accurate account of our meeting.  There was also the bill which I have just paid, once I had gone through a number of hurdles placed by the bank to prove it wasn't a scam.

 

I now await the date for the surgery along with date for the pre op bits.

 

Lastly thinking again about swearing.  I made it a rule never to swear at work (at least not out loud) but I have remembered one incident.

 

It was several years after I retired from teaching and was working in the school as an IT consultant.  I was in the office and the software was being even more awkward and pathetic than usual, I was very cross and muttered something under my breath, as I thought.  Immediately it went very quiet and Kelsey, who acted as my secretary when I was there said: "David just swore.  It's the first time I've ever heard him swear".

 

As it was Newcastle and most of the staff, including the secretaries, being Geordies swearing was not uncommon out of the hearing of the students.  I think I was considered to be unusual in not swearing.

 

David

[The Lurker]

4 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

No. It may be different in a technocratic dictatorship but in our democracy it is the politicians who are responsible for policy. 

The politicians are accountable for the policies- the civil service are responsible for seeing that the policies are implemented and as such can have great influence in how they are implemented- Yes Minister was a comedy but it worked because there were grains of truth in it. Michael Gove is well known for wanting grammar to be taught at school again. Now it is taught to the nth degree at primary schools and in such detail that kids spend so long getting the required grammatical constructs in that they forget to write a good story. Fronted adverbials anyone? I am convinced it is the  education establishment’s attempt to make the teaching of grammar so frustrating that it is quietly dropped from the curriculum and we can go back to 70’s when grammar was not taught (at least not to me)

[Tony_S]

59 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

lapin tag to describe it? 😉 

There is a restaurant in Quebec that has lots of rabbit based menu items. Matthew was taken there as a thank you by a couple of Americans he had helped while visiting. 

[Tony_S]

48 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

Fronted adverbials anyone?

Hopefully soon forgotten?

[Ian Abel]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

The 134 mile stretch of the London to Birmingham HS2 is now estimated to be £66bn. That nearly half a billion a mile! ...

Blimey, that makes the new 14 mile light rail line they're 70% finished with here sound like a REAL BARGAIN at ONLY $2.86 billion!!!

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

... The 134 mile stretch of the London to Birmingham HS2 is now estimated to be £66bn. That nearly half a billion a mile! ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/01/10/covid-no-data-or-news-hs2-ow-much/

 

 

 

The inland rail line, 1700km (1100 miles approx)  long ,  currently under construction from Melbourne to Brisbane has also come in for criticism about cost blow outs. Its latest revised cost is  £16.3 billion equivalent.

[Barry O]

6 hours ago, Flanged Wheel said:

 

When we visited New Zealand in November, we happened to come across* the world’s most southerly railway tunnel, part of the former Catlins River Branch railway. It was very atmospheric and peaceful.

 

*My wife suggests that it was not a coincidence that the lay-by that I picked for lunch just happened to be next to the footpath to the tunnel and that my apparent surprise when I found that we were lunching next to some old railway infrastructure was entirely fake. Such an accusation is, of course, scurrilous, outrageous and completely true.

I have also walked bits of that line.. 

 

Baz

[Chen Melling]

On 08/01/2024 at 13:14, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Does it snow in Israel? That seems to be the common theme for the top few at least.

 

Perhaps  for  New Zealand as well, but they also get   to cater to the international Hobbit Tourism industry so they  all have to dress up,  which is always fun.

 

It certainly snows in Israel sometimes, though mostly in the highest areas. Jerusalem, at c. 700m, gets a dose almost every year.
https://www.now14.co.il/לקראת-השלג-בירושלים-ברכבת-הקלה-ובאגד-מ/

 

 

[Barry O]

A new excuse.. my train home has been delayed by "Congestion" despite a number of cancellations due to an incident then a dewiring on the East Coast Main line.

 

An absolute belter!

 

Been a long day.. more cricket meetings tomorrow.. pah!

 

DaFTmake it up as they see fit.. perhaps when they are forced to travel on the zooomas they will change their tune..although I doubt it. The major coverall is.. "environmental impact.. yep so we need carp seats to save the world...

 

Doesn't matter though..  on a proper train home.. a Class 91 and a set of Mark IV coaches.. with full catering facilities

Edited January 10 by Barry O

[Coombe Barton]

32 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

Blimey, that makes the new 14 mile light rail line they're 70% finished with here sound like a REAL BARGAIN at ONLY $2.86 billion!!!

In France they're on £30million a kilometre for high speed lines

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Just been following an interesting talk on the Old Dalby test track on Zoom, learnt a few things about it. I've now transferred my house insurance to another company so all I've got to do now is cancel the old policy. I will have to take care as my car insurance is with the same company and what communication I've had with them they don't seem to understand that its only the house insurance that I'm referring too. Though I might cancel both and transfer all to the new insurer. Incidentally the new insurance is less than I'm paying now.

[jamie92208]

42 minutes ago, Chen Melling said:

 

It certainly snows in Israel sometimes, though mostly in the highest areas. Jerusalem, at c. 700m, gets a dose almost every year.
https://www.now14.co.il/לקראת-השלג-בירושלים-ברכבת-הקלה-ובאגד-מ/

 

 

Are those ex Danish  multiple units. 

 

It's snowed here this evening it's even still white outside.  The TV is in it's new position and working. That's a plus. 

 

Jamie

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

... The 134 mile stretch of the London to Birmingham HS2 is now estimated to be £66bn. That nearly half a billion a mile! ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/01/10/covid-no-data-or-news-hs2-ow-much/

Compare with the Gotthard Base Tunnel: 57km from portal to portal (with a total of 152 km of all tunnels within the GBT complex), 17 years in construction (from Swiss voter approval [referendum] to regular usage), the longest railway tunnel in the world, built through the unforgiving rock of the Swiss Alps (with a maximum rock cover of 2300m) for a cost of CHF 9.7 billion (cost dating from 1998, excluding increase in VAT and construction interest; with VAT etc. an effective total cost of CHF 12.2 Billion).

 

So that’s about CHF 780 million per kilometre of built-under-a-sodding-mountain-range tunnel.
 

AlpTransit Gotthard AG was responsible for construction. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS).

The GBT is a core element of the Swiss government’s transport policy (part of which is to move goods traffic off the roads and onto trains).

 

So, not only are the Swiss mean, tight-fisted penny pinchers (I mean who spends just 12 billion on a major infrastructure project), but the devious cheese and chocolate making yodellers even have the temerity to have a cunning (and underhand) communist plan for the future of Swiss transport (instead of having a free-market melee at the trough like a proper country).

 

You just can’t trust Johnny Foreigner, can you?

[Winslow Boy]

4 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Compare with the Gotthard Base Tunnel: 57km from portal to portal (with a total of 152 km of all tunnels within the GBT complex), 17 years in construction (from Swiss voter approval [referendum] to regular usage), the longest railway tunnel in the world, built through the unforgiving rock of the Swiss Alps (with a maximum rock cover of 2300m) for a cost of CHF 9.7 billion (cost dating from 1998, excluding increase in VAT and construction interest; with VAT etc. an effective total cost of CHF 12.2 Billion).

 

So that’s about CHF 780 million per kilometre of built-under-a-sodding-mountain-range tunnel.
 

AlpTransit Gotthard AG was responsible for construction. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS).

The GBT is a core element of the Swiss government’s transport policy (part of which is to move goods traffic off the roads and onto trains).

 

So, not only are the Swiss mean, tight-fisted penny pinchers (I mean who spends just 12 billion on a major infrastructure project), but the devious cheese and chocolate making yodellers even have the temerity to have a cunning (and underhand) communist plan for the future of Swiss transport (instead of having a free-market melee at the trough like a proper country).

 

You just can’t trust Johnny Foreigner, can you?

So that's where all the extra Dosh the Post Office had went was it. We're going to need it back I'm afraid.

[PhilJ W]

7 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

So that's where all the extra Dosh the Post Office had went was it. We're going to need it back I'm afraid.

No, it went on CEO's bonuses.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Winslow Boy]

1 minute ago, PhilJ W said:

No, it went on CEO's bonuses.

Then it probably easier getting it compared to asking the Swiss for it. Remember the fuss they kicked up when one of there banks was found to be 'hiding' some money from various businesses.

[monkeysarefun]

7 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I never got the impression Indonesian's were that bothered about Australia, certainly not in terms of any imperialist ambitions or dreams of conquest.

 

 

There has been a history of tensions between Australia and Indonesia stretching back to the 1960's when Britain requested Australian troops to assist in protecting Malaysia from Indonesian expansion plans in 1963-64 following Britain granting independence to Singapore, Sarawak and Nth Borneo.  The Indonesian backing of an attempted coup in Brunei sparked a conflict that lasted three years.

 

At the height of the conflict, British Major General George Lea had 17,000 Commonwealth troops under his command. Most of these were British, including several British army Gurkha regiments from Nepal, along with Australian, New Zealand and Malaysian troops.

Australia sent infantry, artillery, signallers and engineers, as well as squadrons of the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS). Ships of the Royal Australian Navy served in the surrounding waters, and several Royal Australian Air Force squadrons took part during the Confrontation. The Australian SAS  troops were engaged in Operation Claret, secret cross-border raids to harass and intimidate Indonesian troops.

 

Following that there was Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in the early 1970's, which led to mass slaughter of the Timorese populace: "In one incident, a group of fifty men, women, and children – including Australian freelance reporter Roger East – were lined up on a cliff outside of Dili and shot, their bodies falling into the sea. Many such massacres took place in Dili, where onlookers were ordered to observe and count aloud as each person was executed. In addition to FRETILIN supporters, Chinese migrants were also singled out for execution; five hundred were killed in the first day alone. The  subsequent occupation, massacres and genocide  were largely ignored by international community, the Australian government also turned a bit of a blind eye to it due to several treaties involving oil fields in the Timor Sea that we had with Indonesia at the time. One incident known as the Balibo Five, where 5 Australian journalists sheltering in a house were purposefully killed by Indonesian troops remains in the memory here.

 

Through the entire occupation (1975 to 1999) it is estimated that  a third of the Timorese population, between 100,000 to 200,000 died from the Indonesian troops actions or from starvation.

 

In 1999 following a vote for independence pro- Indonesian militias began attacking Timorese civilians. They centred the violence on Dili, but it spread throughout the country. About 1,400 civilians died, and around 500,000 people were displaced from their homes. Entire towns were destroyed. About half of the population left the territory, some by force. Australia took in many Timorese refugees, including Jose Ramas-Horta the exiled leader of the Timorese independence group the Fretilin.

 

Indonesian President BJ Habibie announced on 12 September 1999 that the country would withdraw from East Timor and allow peacekeepers to enter. Even as the troops withdrew, they murdered dozens of unarmed civilians. Australian troops led Operation INTERFET as peacekeepers and rebuilders, Australian  troops were also placed on the western border that Timor shared with Indonesia to prevent further incursions. 

 

So given the fact that Indonesia has historically displayed  a bit of an expansionist bent, and that we share the worlds longest maritime boundary with them, and that they are a smallish country with a big population and we are a biggish country with a small population, we've kept a  wary eye on them!

 

Edited January 10 by monkeysarefun

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PupCam]

Good Evening

 

5 hours ago, PupCam said:

I don't know if I reached the limitations of my current setup or the limitations of the idiot driving the scope and the software or both!

 

Maybe not?  🤔

 

This afternoon I had another go at collimating the telescope (aligning the two mirrors with the eyepiece) and then this evening I ventured outside again  for some more chilly astronomical fun.      I spent sometime (~1.5 hours) doing the Polar alignment, collimating the Red Spot "Finder Scope" and generally faffing about which meant that I was too late to have a crack at Saturn.   No matter, good old Jupiter was in a prime position and after a lot of trouble actually finding it and focusing on it once I'd swapped the eyepiece for the camera and the 3x Barlow lens (just used as a magnifier in my case) I managed to get 6 or 7 two minute videos.    Because the Polar alignment was better than on recent previous  occasions it easily stayed within the Field of View for the full duration of each video so that was a definite plus!     After packing up and transferring the files to the desktop PC I of course had to have a quick go at processing one.    All four Galilean moons were out to play and it appears that the great red spot was in a good position too this evening.     Even though I had to wrestle with the frankly rubbish telescope mount I have to say I'm rather chuffed at how this has come out!  😃   

 

I wonder if any of the other videos will be better still?

 

 

Night All!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 10 by PupCam