Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Tony_S]

I had a fun evening.  We had a nice meal and were sitting down ready to watch more fictional crime set in Montana when Aditi mentioned she had noticed water flowing across the garden path coming from a drain. So, of course I go and look and it was blocked. A flexible drain cleaner wouldn’t shift it but I demolished the fatberg by poking it with a piece of hose which was just rigid enough to,do the job. I got covered in nasty overflow and gently suggested to Aditi that that sort of job is better in daylight than when holding a torch. It isn’t possible to rod from the manhole as the pipes have rat flaps. Hopefully it is clear now and leaving drain cleaner overnight should make sure. If it isn’t I can stick the Karcher drain cleaner attachment down and clean it either side of the flap thing. I am getting what is some respiratory virus thing so would have preferred not to be sitting outside with my arm down a drain tonight. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[jjb1970]

On pronunciation, the most difficult I have found is Vietnamese. Mandarin is difficult  because tone is critical as well as some of the sounds being difficult but Vietnamese is Mandarin x10. A reason the dumb attempts at humour mocking Chinese speaking English don't bother me that much is that I am aware of the inverse humour at foreigners butchering the languages in Asia.

[jjb1970]

This was a sight which made my day on Sunday, if there's a better sight in civil aviation than the mighty 747 it is two 747s. At one time seeing multiple 747s was normal in any of the world's major international airports, now passenger 747s are an endangered species. Beijing Capital is probably the world's best airport for seeing 747s now, as well as plenty of Air China passenger 747 movements there are lots of 747 freighters from multiple airlines.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

8 hours ago, pH said:

I can’t see why there’s any confusion - “Wales” and “whales” are pronounced differently.

¿¡Que!?

 

Like this?

 

5 hours ago, zarniwhoop said:

More background on this at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_〈wh〉

 

As with all changes in how things are pronounced, I find it fascinating and could easily waste hours following all the links.

Part of the joke here is that Stewie (the literal enfant terrible) is from the fictional Quahog in Rhode Island - and there are a lot of New England accent references in the show. (Much more obvious in the movie "Ted" by the same creator.)

 

 

Edited March 26 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

For all you Royal Mail fans. I have an email today from the Royal Mail:

Quote

Hi Mr [redacted]

You have received your parcel [redacted] from [redacted].

And indeed there on the doorstep, deposited by the US Postal Service, was a cardboard box, waiting for me to return home.

 

Miniature, putty coloured transports for tropical fruits (with red lettering) if anyone is curious. Nice they are too.

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, Rich_F said:

Passed by the old Betchworth & Brockham quarries & limeworks. 

What in all the dark Satanic Mills is this thing:

It doesn't look like a headstock or winding house. But I'm no expert in such things.

 

[skipepsi]

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What in all the dark Satanic Mills is this thing:

It doesn't look like a headstock or winding house. But I'm no expert in such things.

 

A chimney I would suggest.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, skipepsi said:

A chimney I would suggest.

Ah - I see the furnacy arch bit on the side. I presume it has been reduced in height?

[skipepsi]

4 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Ah - I see the furnacy arch bit on the side. I presume it has been reduced in height?

I am not sure a lot depends on how much draft was needed to pull the fumes clear.

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, pH said:

Well, possibly, but ‘Mary’, ‘marry’ and ‘merry’ are not exactly exotic words. The thought that the pronunciation of those three words could be confused had not even begun to start to cross my mind till that conversation.

In Oz'tralian, Mary and merry are pretty close. Marry is distinct.

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, polybear said:

And Bear's challenge to our resident Chef @iL Dottore....serves 16 people - or one Bear.....

 

Ombré Easter Cake

In a similar vein, but more diminutive:

 

CNN: 15 Easter cupcakes that are almost too cute to eat

 

Which makes me wonder, are Peeps a thing in the UK? (Flavio would disapprove - bigly.)

 

Fun to microwave - in someone else's microwave.

Quote

SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, GELATIN, CONTAINS LESS THAN 0.5% OF THE FOLLOWING: YELLOW #5 (TARTRAZINE), POTASSIUM SORBATE (A PRESERVATIVE), NATURAL FLAVORS, CARNAUBA WAX.

 

Edited March 26 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

34 minutes ago, skipepsi said:

I am not sure a lot depends on how much draft was needed to pull the fumes clear.

Reminds me a bit lot of this:

But that might not be coincidental.

 

Though the Grauniad suggests Farringdon Folly.

 

Edited March 26 by Ozexpatriate

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Which makes me wonder, are Peeps a thing in the UK? (Flavio would disapprove - bigly.)

It would seem not. At one time the nearby big Tesco had half an aisle dedicated to American foods. It disappeared long before I stopped visiting that supermarket. 
Reading American literature or watching television shows up lots of stuff we don’t know about, like food (especially snacks) and weaponry. Last night we had to find out what s’mores were. The scene was on a campsite.

Tony

[iL Dottore]

9 hours ago, polybear said:

And Bear's challenge to our resident Chef @iL Dottore....serves 16 people - or one Bear.....

 

https://www.aldi.co.uk/ombré-easter-cake/p/000000149874900?utm_source=Aldi&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=EasterCakeRecipe&utm_campaign=TWAA25032024&utm_cid=DM538808&utm_hid=%40Mgi93plxTw4hNOYur5OsR%2BeaOey2bM0u%2BauAIPCOcZmfMpgfFojinPsBrFmjr2fZ&cid=DM538808&bid=1692058127

Easy enough to do, but there’s too much buttercream - even for a cake that size (which is only 3 x 18cm cake tins - so not that much cake in total). Let’s face 1.5kg is a HELL of a lot of buttercream. Plus with a total of 1.5 kg of sugar in the one cake, you’d be lucky not to become hyperglycaemic after just one, thin, slice.
 

With the ingredients listed the cake is also likely to be sickly sweet: it’s basically 3 kg of sugar and butterfat - just the sort of thing to give to hyperactive children when you are really p’off at their parents!

[Ozexpatriate]

33 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Last night we had to find out what s’mores were.

S'mores Peeps? Tony! 😀 (The intersection of both.)

 

S'mores are very much a campfire thing and fun. The "Graham Cracker"* they are based on is an American thing too.  I had never heard of it until I moved here. Crushed "Graham Cracker" is very common as a cheesecake / tart crust.

 

* A very plain biscuit.

 

The S'mores flavour combination is very popular (or at least heavily marketed) in other things.

 

Edited March 26 by Ozexpatriate

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Which makes me wonder, are Peeps a thing in the UK? (Flavio would disapprove - bigly.)

Hugely, in fact!

 

Given that the listed ingredients are: SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, GELATIN, CONTAINS LESS THAN 0.5% OF THE FOLLOWING: ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MALTODEXTRIN, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, RED #40 LAKE, BLUE #1 LAKE, POTASSIUM SORBATE (A PRESERVATIVE), CARNAUBA WAX, it’s UPF at its purest.

 

Carnauba wax? Really? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnauba_wax

The disturbing thing is that with just some minor tweaks to the formula you could use it as an industrial lubricant…

 

[Tony_S]

22 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

an industrial lubricant…

One of the other food references in last nights tv programme was when the sheriffs were eating some bready snack  that contained beef tallow. I had always assumed tallow, was something used for lubrication or illumination. However it seems to be what would be beef dripping here (Wikipedia again). 
Tony

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What in all the dark Satanic Mills is this thing:

It doesn't look like a headstock or winding house. But I'm no expert in such things.

 

Is it the flue/ chimney for a line kiln as it looks like a limestone quarry.  The kiln may be a short distance away with a ground level F, ue to the actual chimney.  That was quite common. 

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from the Charente.  Much to do today.  Beth is currently waiting for the good county's daughter to appear and extract red fluid. I'theoffnmto take her car in for service. A good friend is going to bri g me back.  Then I need to take her to a podiatrist  and after that the same friend is taking her to the hairdressers. A busy da ahead.

 

Jamie

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

It would seem not. At one time the nearby big Tesco had half an aisle dedicated to American foods. It disappeared long before I stopped visiting that supermarket. 

A lot (most) of the ready-made US food stuffs are definitely very UPF. And unless you’ve grown up with them, many are unpalatable (too sweet/salty/fatty) for European tastes. (e.g. even though I lived in the US for 10 years, I have never, ever, found Hershey’s chocolate to be even remotely edible). The best US food is (surprise, surprise) regional dishes made from fresh ingredients, There is some fantastic food available in the US but with the proliferation of restaurant chains that rely on PF and UPF ingredients, this is hard to find (you definitely need an insider’s knowledge).

 

One thing I have noticed about food in the US is that a huge number of Americans are extremely timid in what they eat. Venison, Wild Boar, Quail, Offal (and many more besides) are rarely seen on restaurant menus. And as for more “esoteric” foods (Haggis, Sea Urchin, Fugu, unpasteurised cheese, etc) a lot are actually banned in the US and many (most?) would rather have a triple-fat greaseburger with HFCS sauce than - say - haggis, tatties and neeps.

 

I think that there’s a strong correlation in the US between the amount of UPFs eaten and the vaulting rates of morbid obesity. Now I’m definitely more Brian Blessed than David Tennant in girth, but every time I go to the US (especially Florida and the Southern States) I feel skeletal and undernourished!

 

What I find problematic in the US as it something that has started to spread to the UK) (less so Europe) is the so-called “body-positive” movement. Initially a good thing (basically saying that even you aren’t built like a supermodel or a Mr Atlas, you can still be attractive), in the hands of the movement’s most extreme activists (which they all seem to be nowadays) “body positivity” is being used to “normalise” pathological morbid obesity.
 

Some activists are even claiming that a doctor telling a morbidly obese patient “to loose weight or you’ll die” is hate speech! (and pointing out that being morbidly obese places limits on your life is “fat shaming”). Even the clinical term “morbidly obese” comes under fire - activists wanting morbid to be replaced with severe (morbid has a very specific medical meaning).
 

Oh, and I forgot - you can’t use the term obese any longer (plus size is just about acceptable). 
 

An interesting (and for some, provocative) article about the above: https://www.acsh.org/news/2022/03/30/woke-science-denial-social-justice-comes-obesity-and-other-harmful-language-16213

 

p.s. Apparently by calling myself “a disgusting fatbody” I’m using discriminatory, racist and oppressive “hate speech” against myself…

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, the rock is dank and damp today and a mere 7c.  The day is saved by mate H coming around for a couple of hours chat about those unmentionable things, and to catch up after our respective holidays, he was on a northern lights cruise (not the same one as Dave H).

 

Then who knows what excitement the afternoon will deliver, I can't wait.

 

iD's post above puts in mind the book I mentioned a little while ago, the 'Obesity Code', where the doctor writing it is almost incredulous at the antics of US health departments in approving things that are so unhealthy, and ignoring clear evidence they are not.  He's Canadian.....and talks a lot of sense.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Didn't have a great day yesterday due to many factors but.. hey ho today is another day.

 

Bit dampish outside.. but its not chuckinitdarn. Great!

 

I have a day of sorting out Internet based things then working out why a transformer is no longer working (at a guess it's a broken lead.. pah!)

 

I think I am ready for my trip to York (I hope!)

 

Time to get myself going!

 

We are missing a goodly few ERs. I hope that are in good health!

 

Baz

Edited March 26 by Barry O

[jjb1970]

I fear the body positive movement will have a lot to answer for. As I'll Dottore says the genesis of the idea was the entirely commendable position that people should not face discrimination or bullying because they are overweight. Unfortunately it has evolved to become almost a celebration of obesity and equates suggestions that people should consider lifestyle changes with hate speech. A few years ago fashion magazines and advertisers were put under pressure over unnaturally skinny models because it might encourage unhealthy lifestyles and eating disorders yet now including obese models with the same potential to encourage unhealthy lifestyles is encouraged. And I say this as someone who is no slim Jim. Encouraging people to smoke, inject heroin or self harm would rightly be condemned yet obesity is associated with all sorts of morbidities and reduced life expectancy.