Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Lunch was a brace of fried egg butties, I had a couple of large eggs and a couple of baps so why not? No chance of getting anything done in the garden now, it's too wet so shortly I will be taking a dip in the bath.

[jjb1970]

Do people think it'd be evil of me to string people along over the Baltimore bridge unpleasantness?

 

People here and friends in blighty have been bombarding me with demands to tell them what happened. I keep telling them 'how would I know, I sit at a desk in an office on the opposite side of the world from Baltimore, it could be anything. Sit, wait and the NTSB will tell the world what happened when they have figured it all out'. However, apparently this is deeply suspicious, consider the evidence - I work in the container shipping segment, and the ship was owned by a Singaporean company and flying the flag of Singapore (well done to the BBC for not claiming it was US registered Singapore flag or something), it is incontrovertible that I am on first name terms with the Captain and know everything about the ship. 

 

So, I am thinking of telling them - keep this under your hat and don't tell anyone else, the inside scoop is that the ship was hacked and steered into the bridge, the Singaporean intelligence services know it is a hacking group based in Pyong Yang, but remember, nobody is supposed to know!!!!' and then counting down how long it takes for something to feed it back to me having heard it from authoritative sources who know the real story the government is suppressing. 

Edited April 1 by jjb1970

[PupCam]

 

Afternoon!

 

4 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Girding my loins, as the saying goes, for tomorrow when I am due at the hospital by 0730 for my spinal decompression operation. If all goes well I should be pretty much pain free and fairly mobile again after a few weeks’ recovery time. If it doesn’t ….. well, that’s not to be dwelt on. Luckily I am going to about the best orthopaedic hospital in the country and being operated on by one of the best spinal surgeons so I have high hopes. Wish me luck.

 

Dave

 

Best of luck Dave for tomorrow and for a successful & speedy recovery.   Do what the Doc says ......

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Good luck for tomorrow, Dave.

 

Some pointers:

1. Ambulate as soon as permitted - the initial ambulations won’t be fun, but a DVT is even less fun.
2. Don’t “tough out” the pain, demand analgesia as soon as the pain starts to manifest itself - taken early you’ll have a better response to the medication and overall you’ll have less pain, be more comfortable and use less analgesia in the long run.
3. Work with your patient management team towards an early as is feasible discharge. By their very nature Hospitals are full of nasty bugs and the less time spent there the better.

And finally ENJOY THE DRUGS! Nowadays, everyone is so hyper sensitive about the possibility of addiction that use of narcotics is heavily monitored, so there is no need to worry about taking them – just lie back (literally) and enjoy the buzz 🤣😁😄

 

When I had my electronics fitted I needed some additional analgesia and morphine was administered.    At first I had a shooting pain down the arm as it went in.   I thought (being complete ignorant of such things at the time) that hurts, who on earth would do drugs for the fun of it ...........  a few moments later and Ahhhhhhhhhhh I drifted off to a warm, cozy land, without a care in the world (despite the need to be plugged into a load of machines that go "Beep" repeatedly) 😁   Mind you, given the choice, I'd rather not have been there in the first place and denied myself the opportunity to try it out.

 

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

If the amount of certain chemicals naturally occurring in broccoli and other cabbagey veg were found in a manufactured product they probably be classed as not allowed for humans. Cooking methods reduce such toxins. 

 

I knew there was a reason why I'm not that fond of broccoli.

 

14 minutes ago, polybear said:

The rear brakes are drums with a proper manual handbrake (not those silly switch jobbies) though it does have “hill hold” - no idea how that’s done though.  In my experience rear shoes seem to last forever.

 

Monty has a "Hill Hold" feature.  It's called the driver who knows how to use the handbrake and clutch properly.    Monty has done over 197K miles now; original clutch & original exhaust still giving sterling service.

 

ION

 

Not-a-lot!      

 

Repositioned one of the bird boxes in the garden.  Let's see if the new location is more favourable to them.    These homeless birds can be so fussy don't you know.   

 

Most importantly, I finally got round to sweeping the Myford down after my most recent turning activities some days ago.   Don't tell Robbie @polybear he would have had my guts for garters had a let the sun go down on a grubby machine!

 

I was reminded  on Faceache this morning that  it is 30 years to the day since the last flight from that once mighty airfield at Hatfield.  Dick Bishop the son of the legendary R.E. Bishop, the designer of the Mosquito and the Comet, was the chap doing the honours when he took off,  quite fittingly, in a Tiger Moth.   IIRC Sir Geoffrey de Havilland's grand-daughter Anne was in the second cockpit for the final flight.    

 

WARNING to Bear!    You may catch the occasional glimpse of the Bear cage in this video.   There's also a glimpse of the torture test tank, the night shift premium from which may have assisted a certain Puppers in paying his first mortgage 😀

 

 

 

What a waste of a wonderful airfield and a historic company.       Even though de Havilland had morphed into / been absorbed by Hawker Siddeley a few years before I turned up I still consider myself to be "DH stock" and I'm proud to have been associated (along with thousands of others!) with that hallowed place.

 

Oh yes, and please can we refrain from any Smart Alec comments regarding windows .....

 

I'll hop off my soap box now, it's too late to do anything about it and the world has moved on. 

 

TTFN

 

 

 

 

 

[Hroth]

8 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Do people think it'd be evil of me to string people along over the Baltimore bridge unpleasantness?

 

People here and friends in blighty have been bombarding me with demands to tell them what happened. I keep telling them 'how would I know, I sit at a desk in an office on the opposite side of the world from Baltimore, it could be anything. Sit, wait and the NTSB will tell the world what happened when they have figured it all out'. However, apparently this is deeply suspicious, consider the evidence - I work in the container shipping segment, and the ship was owned by a Singaporean company and flying the flag of Singapore (well done to the BBC for not claiming it was US registered Singapore flag or something), it is incontrovertible that I am on first name terms with the Captain and know everything about the ship. 

 

So, I am thinking of telling them - keep this under your hat and don't tell anyone else, the inside scoop is that the ship was hacked and steered into the bridge, the Singaporean intelligence services know it is a hacking group based in Pyong Yang, but remember, nobody is supposed to know!!!!' and then counting down how long it takes for something to feed it back to me having heard it from authoritative sources who know the real story the government is suppressing. 

 

Hmmmm...

 

If you suddenly disappear from RMweb, we'll know that Kim Jong Badun dunnit...

 

[polybear]

7 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Repositioned one of the bird boxes in the garden.  Let's see if the new location is more favourable to them.    These homeless birds can be so fussy don't you know.   

 

 

They're probably illegal migrant birdies - if it's not 5* then it's a clear-cut case of race discrimination.....

 

(Keen-eyed ER'ers may detect a slight Rant there......)

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

And are  insanely water-intensive

Posted this before:

 

 

The almond-growing region in California is the San Joaquin River valley. Due to pumping water from aquifers for decades to irrigate things like almonds the land has sunk by 8.5m in places.

Quote

Since the 1920s, excessive pumping of groundwater at thousands of wells has caused land to subside, or sink, by as much as 8.5 meters (28 feet) in sections of California’s San Joaquin Valley. 

 

'Industrial' production of many so-called "superfoods" like nuts and olive oil is environmentally devastating (from a sustainability standpoint) when artificial irrigation is considered. (Agriculture depending solely on natural rain exempted of course.)

 

Since the linked article was written, with heavy rains in the 2022/2023 winter Tulare Lake (drained by agriculture in the San Joaquin watershed) has reappeared. Ultimately this is helpful in terms of recharging the watershed by a little bit. Some quick searching suggests that a year later, the "lake" is gone again.

 

 

[PhilJ W]

37 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Do people think it'd be evil of me to string people along over the Baltimore bridge unpleasantness?

 

People here and friends in blighty have been bombarding me with demands to tell them what happened. I keep telling them 'how would I know, I sit at a desk in an office on the opposite side of the world from Baltimore, it could be anything. Sit, wait and the NTSB will tell the world what happened when they have figured it all out'. However, apparently this is deeply suspicious, consider the evidence - I work in the container shipping segment, and the ship was owned by a Singaporean company and flying the flag of Singapore (well done to the BBC for not claiming it was US registered Singapore flag or something), it is incontrovertible that I am on first name terms with the Captain and know everything about the ship. 

 

So, I am thinking of telling them - keep this under your hat and don't tell anyone else, the inside scoop is that the ship was hacked and steered into the bridge, the Singaporean intelligence services know it is a hacking group based in Pyong Yang, but remember, nobody is supposed to know!!!!' and then counting down how long it takes for something to feed it back to me having heard it from authoritative sources who know the real story the government is suppressing. 

Go on, I dare you. 

[DaveF]

Best wishes to Dave Hunt for his operation, I hope all goes well.

 

The forecast was about right for once, it is still raining and misty as well as cold, staying at 6°C.  During the afternoon I could hear a low frequency rumble, I eventually realised it was a ship's engines in the harbour.

 

The day has so far passed pleasantly, the house is nice and clean.  I have spent some time putting things away now I can move about almost properly so can get things in and out of cupboards in the kitchen.  I also went through a pile of papers which had accumulated on my desk, most ended up in the bin.  I have found a couple of things which I will deal with tomorrow, both simple - at least I hope so.

 

I finished reading a crime novel which I feel ended less than well with one of the main characters being taken to hospital badly injured after a car crash on the last couple of pages.  I suspect it is the author's way of getting rid of a character she is not going to need in the next book in her series.

 

Much of the day has been spent with one ear listening to the radio to hear the final part of Classic FM's top 300.  I think I must like very different "classical" music from many other people.

 

The evening will simply be music and book.  So far today I've managed not to fall asleep.

 

David

Edited April 1 by DaveF

[jamie92208]

Best wishes to DH for tomorrow. 

 

46 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Posted this before:

 

 

The almond-growing region in California is the San Joaquin River valley. Due to pumping water from aquifers for decades to irrigate things like almonds the land has sunk by 8.5m in places.

 

'Industrial' production of many so-called "superfoods" like nuts and olive oil is environmentally devastating (from a sustainability standpoint) when artificial irrigation is considered. (Agriculture depending solely on natural rain exempted of course.)

 

Since the linked article was written, with heavy rains in the 2022/2023 winter Tulare Lake (drained by agriculture in the San Joaquin watershed) has reappeared. Ultimately this is helpful in terms of recharging the watershed by a little bit. Some quick searching suggests that a year later, the "lake" is gone again.

 

 

There is also a severe environmentaldisaster caused by the monoculture  with so many almonds.there isn't enough variety to suppirt many bird and insect species Inc, uding the bees that are needed for pollination. 

 

Jamie

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Best wishes to @Dave Hunt

[pH]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

We didn't go near the brambles one year after an adder was spotted under them.

We have large patches of brambles around here. When picking them, we have to watch out for bears doing the same.

[Ian Abel]

On 29/03/2024 at 20:52, Ozexpatriate said:

Ian does your employer offer "diversity days"?  These are a employee-designated holiday they can take at any time, (separate from vacation time) in lieu of Federal Holidays that most employers consider work days - like MLK, Presidents' Day, Juneteenth, etc.

 

I understand these are quite common now. You could choose Good Friday and Easter Monday as "diversity days".

 

Personally I thoroughly support the idea that people should use their own personal time off for religious holidays. Otherwise its a bun fight over Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Eid Al Fitr, etc etc.

I actually get "unlimited PTO", provided the project manager (currently ME 😀) and client approve/agree.

Not really bothered about getting it off per se, just recognizing that many other countries do have one or the other, or both as public holidays.

My first year here in the US I arrived in early March, looking forward - was uninformed then - to a 4-day weekend shortly after my arrival. Imagine my surprise/disappointment to discover I was not getting ANY time off on the company 🤪

 

Morning all, from the NON-HOLIDAY Easter Monday.

Weekend was busy enough, especially since the Sunday services both ran long resulting in the choir putting in about 4.5 hours of mostly standing on the risers. <yawn>

Had a brief respite after that, a leisurely meal and then Trevor and Meagan arrived for dessert and a game or two of Mexican Train.

 

Busily working again today, much report changing to be done!

Was also just informed by our property manager that we've a tenant moving in to our rental on May 1st. Yay!!

 

Weather moderates, snow almost entirely gone now, just a few patches on the ground where it had been piled up by the plows.

1c and partly cloudy first thing, 7c the expected high. Warming trend expected all week.

 

Tally ho.

[pH]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

The Evoque front and back needed replacing at the same time, last service which was about 28000 miles. 

That’s about 45000 km. We had a Chrysler minivan that got through front pads at about that rate. Then, a couple of cars later, we had a Mazda 3. The front pads were first changed at 107,000 km and the shop said there was still some life in them (they were doing other work and just changed the pads at the same time). We sold that car with over 180,000 km on it, and still on that second set of pads.

[TheQ]

Me thinks that graph must be for American factory beef. Here in the UK most of our beef cattle live in grass fields, and while they have access to troughs, a lot of their food is grass that except in extreme conditions is unwatered..

[The Lurker]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

One of the reasons “The Church” (aka The Catholic Church) was so successful is that it is basically press-ganged local deities into its structure.

 

There you are, a happy little heathen worshipping Banba – goddess of the land, agriculture, and fertility, then along come the Christian missionaries, up goes the ecclesiastical scaffolding and a short while later Banba has a new name - say St Barbara,  a shiny new place of worship and a new PR firm, but otherwise same old, same old.

 

One of Western Europe’s favourite religious holidays is Christmas - which started out (more or less) as a co-opting Saturnalia before moving over the centuries to a (mostly) Christian religious festival. However, nowadays with the sky-high commercialisation and commoditisation of what was once a religious festival, surely it’s time to return Christmas to its religious roots and resurrect Saturnalia for the fun and games?

 

Not only would we be able to enjoy self-indulgent behaviour (eating, drinking and spending too much) without the niggles of conscience about misusing a holy festival, but the food would be better too.

 

An authentic Saturnalia celebration would feature roasted pig and sausages, winter root vegetables fried in oil, fresh fruits, nuts and all sorts of booze and plenty of it. Hmmm, roast pig, sausages and parsnip chips or tired, dry turkey and Brussel Sprouts - no contest really.

Not just Christianity either- the Romans did it too, and some strands of Islam too. And I am sure there are other examples too.

 

 

[pH]

14 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

 

My first year here in the US I arrived in early March, looking forward - was uninformed then - to a 4-day weekend shortly after my arrival. Imagine my surprise/disappointment to discover I was not getting ANY time off on the company 🤪

 

In my first year in Canada, I got the “statutory” holidays as paid time off - Christmas, New Year etc. - but no annual leave. Annual leave was ‘earned’ a year in advance.

Edited April 1 by pH
Predictive text - mutter, mutter!

[Hroth]

3 hours ago, DaveF said:

Best wishes to Dave Hunt for his operation, I hope all goes well.

 

The forecast was about right for once, it is still raining and misty as well as cold, staying at 6°C.  During the afternoon I could hear a low frequency rumble, I eventually realised it was a ship's engines in the harbour.

 

The day has so far passed pleasantly, the house is nice and clean.  I have spent some time putting things away now I can move about almost properly so can get things in and out of cupboards in the kitchen.  I also went through a pile of papers which had accumulated on my desk, most ended up in the bin.  I have found a couple of things which I will deal with tomorrow, both simple - at least I hope so.

 

I finished reading a crime novel which I feel ended less than well with one of the main characters being taken to hospital badly injured after a car crash on the last couple of pages.  I suspect it is the author's way of getting rid of a character she is not going to need in the next book in her series.

 

Much of the day has been spent with one ear listening to the radio to hear the final part of Classic FM's top 300.  I think I must like very different "classical" music from many other people.

 

The evening will simply be music and book.  So far today I've managed not to fall asleep.

 

David

 

One of my choices has already turned up in the top 30.

 

24: Cello concerto. Elgar ✔️

 

Waiting for the other two, they'll be in the top 15...

 

Into the top 10 and they still haven't shown up.

 

Top 3 must be the same, with no shuffling.

 

3: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. RVW ✔️

2: The Lark Ascending. RVW ✔️

So that means

1: Piano concerto no. 2. Rachmaninov. Boo!

 

Edited April 1 by Hroth
Final Update

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

Do people think it'd be evil of me to string people along over the Baltimore bridge unpleasantness?

 

The son of an acquaintance of mine drafted the contract for reinsurance of the MV Dali...

[Erichill16]

20 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 

I guess there are some "clever" plates there given the MAN suffix to some marks.  I recall when wer were teeny tiny critters that there were two bikes - don't ask me what sort because to barely school-age me they were just "Mobikes" - parked as a pair with plates HE 151 and RU 12.  He is one; are you one too?  

Saw an interesting plate on the way to the match on Saturday. ( no b.s.) 

 

FE1’1 DOM

 

Wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of the owner. 

 

Edited April 1 by Erichill16

[Sidecar Racer]

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

So, I am thinking of telling them - keep this under your hat and don't tell anyone else, the inside scoop is that the ship was hacked and steered into the bridge, the Singaporean intelligence services know it is a hacking group based in Pyong Yang, but remember, nobody is supposed to know!!!!' and then counting down how long it takes for something to feed it back to me having heard it from authoritative sources who know the real story the government is suppressing. 

 

 You are to late to start that game , it's already being played .

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/francis-scott-key-bridge-collapse-conspiracy-theories-online-rcna145105

 

And also a certain D Trump jnr joined in the game . even managing to call Biden as being behind it .

 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/watch-donald-trump-jr-strain-131252347.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIBLph3Vt-iAvwbWntcSpLWmqi7YDXnMXKUQxcg51EYDa3ujvLxkOj6smGHEYdnB3d8wgiXuBkrcx3HFH7Dcfh7wxeiDmTZrfSl9lQxDpiZ1wRDxvUEaXfZce5ZkyFvYPbhw9FvqNhka9gf3Yq4p4LsE0LCVVttJIZKzubfXm6oe

 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

Almonds have been cultivated in the middle east, specifically in Iran (where it is native) for thousands of years. That part of the world is not noted for its superabundant rainfall, so I wonder how they traditionally manage almond irrigation

 

The first domesticated almonds appeared about 3000 BC. I know very little about almonds as a food stuff, as I rarely use them except as decoration for a Dundee  Cake*
 

I wondered who is considered to produce the finest almonds. A quick Google turned up this: https://www.kashmironlinestore.com/blogs/almonds/mamra-almonds-badam-worlds-most-healthiest-costest-almonds so Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir.

Directly importing them from that shop in Kashmir would set you back £23/kg.

 

*Now that I think about, I’ll make a Dundee Cake for Mrs iD’s return from the Holiday Hovel…

Edited April 1 by iL Dottore
Spelling

[Erichill16]

2 hours ago, DaveF said:

  I think I must like very different "classical" music from many other people.

 

David

I like classical music too.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hdSfNzvLScI&pp=ygURdG95IGRvbGxzIHRvY2NhdGE%3D

 

[zarniwhoop]

Best Wishes to Dave Hunt.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, pH said:

We have large patches of brambles around here. When picking them, we have to watch out for bears doing the same.

 

Shame Shame, know your name.....

 

Stealin' poor Yogi's din dins - you can nip down Tesco's.  Yogi can't (ok, he can - but they get the right 'ump when he does....)

 

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

The son of an acquaintance of mine drafted the contract for reinsurance of the MV Dali...

 

Oops - bang goes his yearly bonus.....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68688856

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

VSBW's to AVM Hunt @Dave Hunt on his forthcoming antics down the Docs - hope all goes well and there's decent scoff......