Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

Evening all,

 

An earlier bedtime beckons tonight as I am on early morning watch tomorrow.  My first solo watch after qualification.  

 

After a good deal of electronic paper-shuffling this morning including setting up a bank account specifically to manage my pension funds (both inbound and outbound transactions) I felt it was time to get out and about.  The open-top buses are running around the coastal circuit now.  That might sound like a short seaside pleasure trip but it's a four-hour ride all the way around through some stunning scenery and linking our main towns.  

 

So I ventured along the north coast to St. Ives, enjoyed a coffee and a rather good chocolate-covered flapjack (both white and milk chocolates) and then returned home.  That's an hour each way along my all-time favourite road.  Whereupon it's so good to not be driving and to be a little higher than the stone hedges.  The views are amazing in spades even when you go that way fairly regularly anyway.  

 

The sun shone.  The wind was brisk and quite chilly but I did as I always do (so long as seats are available) and rode on the top deck.  Inbound to St. Ives the bus was surprisingly busy for an off-season school Tuesday and was about half full; coming back I was one of just five takers though we did pick up a couple in the middle of nowhere and a few more for local journeys through the mining villages.  It's not just a tourist bus - locals use it too.  

 

St. Ives harbour and distant Porthkidney under as much cloud as the day could muster

 

It's quite startling how tame the St. Ives starlings are.  But don't try to get friendly with the gulls - they steal your food and plop on you and everything else

 

Yes it's a real street though perhaps not an address I'd want to admit to. 

 

Light and shade in The Digey.  With a nice visual pun intended

 

Spring colours and one of St. Ives' numerous churches

 

One of the best views you can get from a bus in the UK.  I used to be paid to enjoy this every day whilst visitors paid a fortune to stay in town for a week or two.

 

Carn Galva Mine at Bosigran with Pendeen Watch lighthouse in the silvery Celtic Sea

[pH]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

The 'rockets red glare' reference is from the US national anthem and refers to the attack on Fort McHenry during the war of independence when the British fired explosive rockets at the fort.

Some of which rockets were fired from HMS Terror of Franklin expedition fame:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Terror_(1813)

 

(The bombardment of Fort McHenry took place in the war of 1812, not the war of independence.)

[Coombe Barton]

... Small and select group turned up today. I still have never seen five students (of 70) in this cohort. We’re in week 11 of 12. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/04/16/age-related-covid-susceptibility-a-possible-explanation-chris-whitty-on-tobacco-and-vapes-bill-absence-of-students/

[iL Dottore]

49 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

ION....

 

At last - a bit of common sense:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68824493

 

Bear gone....

 

I can understand the desire to stop youngsters from taking up smoking, but as with most attempts to prohibit human “vice” the concomitant and peripheral consequences of prohibition are likely to be as bad as, if not worse than, the vice being prohibited.

 

A 16-year-old kid who thinks it is “cool“ to smoke is not going to be deterred by the simple fact that it is no longer legal for he or she to purchase tobacco products; in fact, such prohibition is likely to increase the perceived “cool“ factor by adding the frisson of illegality to the act. And, as a consequence of this, this underage market (and there will be a market for such things) will be served by people who have absolutely no problem in committing illegal acts; i.e. criminals.
 

The best any society can do is to place restrictions, not prohibitions, on “vice“ to protect the majority and to minimise harm to those who indulge in such “vices“. Such restrictions can include limitations on where that behaviour can be indulged in and, a sometimes successful approach, to make restrict use by making that vice incredibly expensive.

 

Ultimately, the only thing that will permanently change how a society practices (or not) a human vice is through the peer pressure of societal acceptance/non-acceptance. And that, I think, it’s best achieved by education, propaganda campaigns and the barest minimum of legislative nudges. But it won’t (and perhaps can’t) be a quick fix

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Still getting grumbles from Arthur Itis. Apparently the weather will change for the better this weekend so Arthur will be back in his box.

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[TheQ]

One wonders if the ban on smoking might eventually cause a situation like the prohibition era in America...

 

A new radio controlled tiktok for BM arrived, I'll start making the mounting for that tomorrow, it needs to be visible from my seat, in a place that won't get demolished by other equipment or me when I do move around the boat.

Just thought of the perfect position!! Now to try to work out a mounting for it there..

 

Evening Awl. 

MRC AGM went well, unfortunately I got reelected as treasurer, just after I noticed a couple of errors in this years printout, the errors don't affect the overall results. I'll correct them tomorrow, before filing that for posterity and then creating the 2024-2025 spreadsheet from this years.

 

Ordered 4x 20mm block from the house of strong ladies. ... 

The order has been split into 4, all are individually coming from different places, two of which are abroad somewhere.. The blocks are listed as £13.20 on the manufacturers website, around a tenner from most places plus delivery, and all 4 cost a total of £27 delivered via a big river.

 

Muggachoccy gone,

goodnight Awl .

 

 

[PupCam]

Evening!

 

 

11 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

I  shouldn't mention that I have two of those, though they are currently stacked up in a back corner to make room for all the 3D printers!

 

 

Which reminds me, I have to go and collect a foam cutter gifted to me that was built by a late, good friend and colleague in the next couple of days.   

 

We first built a fairly substantial foam cutter together for a project about 20 years ago.  Essentially 2 giant XY plotters with a hot wire stretched between them it would cut objects up to just over 2m long by 1m by 1m - it was a bit of a beast!   It used some really cheap (and extremely poor) commercial software to convert the 2D template drawings into sequential cut paths.   We had no knowledge of G Code at the time and persevered with "FlakeySoft" once I'd identified workarounds to its software "features".    It did the job rather well in the end even if we did have to invent some devious cut-paths to produce the required, rather complex 3D objects.      When my friend retired sometime later he used his collection money to buy the necessary components (bearings, leadscrews, stepper motors, drivers etc etc) to build a better albeit more modestly sized one for home use rather than the standard clock.    Why did people always get clocks or watches  when they retired? 🤔

 

Anyway, unfortunately he succumbed to the big C last year and his wife has asked me if I'd like it.     Even though I'm now unlikely to make use of it as a foam cutter (for model aircraft wing cores most likely) the components may well have a number of other potential uses particularly for the astronomy department so, yes I would.

 

56 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Evening all,

 

An earlier bedtime beckons tonight as I am on early morning watch tomorrow.  My first solo watch after qualification.  

 

After a good deal of electronic paper-shuffling this morning including setting up a bank account specifically to manage my pension funds (both inbound and outbound transactions) I felt it was time to get out and about.  The open-top buses are running around the coastal circuit now.  That might sound like a short seaside pleasure trip but it's a four-hour ride all the way around through some stunning scenery and linking our main towns.  

 

So I ventured along the north coast to St. Ives, enjoyed a coffee and a rather good chocolate-covered flapjack (both white and milk chocolates) and then returned home.  That's an hour each way along my all-time favourite road.  Whereupon it's so good to not be driving and to be a little higher than the stone hedges.  The views are amazing in spades even when you go that way fairly regularly anyway.  

 

The sun shone.  The wind was brisk and quite chilly but I did as I always do (so long as seats are available) and rode on the top deck.  Inbound to St. Ives the bus was surprisingly busy for an off-season school Tuesday and was about half full; coming back I was one of just five takers though we did pick up a couple in the middle of nowhere and a few more for local journeys through the mining villages.  It's not just a tourist bus - locals use it too.  

 

St. Ives harbour and distant Porthkidney under as much cloud as the day could muster

 

It's quite startling how tame the St. Ives starlings are.  But don't try to get friendly with the gulls - they steal your food and plop on you and everything else

 

Yes it's a real street though perhaps not an address I'd want to admit to. 

 

Light and shade in The Digey.  With a nice visual pun intended

 

Spring colours and one of St. Ives' numerous churches

 

One of the best views you can get from a bus in the UK.  I used to be paid to enjoy this every day whilst visitors paid a fortune to stay in town for a week or two.

 

Carn Galva Mine at Bosigran with Pendeen Watch lighthouse in the silvery Celtic Sea

 

Great photos Rick!    Although I don't ever recall going to St Ives I feel I know the place fairly well now as I pay a virtual visit using a roving webcam  sometimes when taking my blood pressure (it's a nice scene that distracts the mind).      The second photograph has answered a question I had.   I've often wondered if the arches in the quay were blind.   Apparently not!  Anyway, we really must pay it a proper not virtual visit sometime.

 

ION

 

I've been up and down the scaffold tower a few times this morning tidying up and fine tuning the work I've done up there.    Just got to take it down now and return it to its owner.    I'm definitely getting too old to  be shinning up and down such things and me with a heart condition!

 

This afternoon may have involved an extended eye lid inspection.

 

Other than that. not a lot ....

 

Night All

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Such restrictions can include limitations on where that behaviour can be indulged in and, a sometimes successful approach, to make restrict use by making that vice incredibly expensive.

 

 

 

 

A pack of Benson and Hedges 20's here is around $52 (£27...)

Edited April 16 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

 

Colonel Congreve's 'secret' weapon. Both naval weapons (as here) and land-based, as per Battles of Leipzig and Waterloo. The main problem was one of accuracy. 

And the "bombs bursting in air" were mortar shells fired from specialized warships (bomb ketches) carrying a large mortar amidships.

 

In the Baltimore approaches were the bomb ketches "Volcano, Meteor, Devastation, Aetna, and a new Terror" HMS Erebus was the 'rocket vessel'.

 

The fleet was under the command of Sir Alexander Cochrane - uncle to the Thomas Cochrane who was the inspiration for Horatio Hornblower and Lucky Jack Aubrey.

 

[BR60103]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The 'rockets red glare' reference is from the US national anthem and refers to the attack on Fort McHenry during the war of independence when the British fired explosive rockets at the fort.

The battle of Fort McHenry was in 1814, during the War of 1812.

(I see I was beaten to it)

Edited April 17 by BR60103

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

The main problem was one of accuracy. 

And totally ineffective against masonry.

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, pH said:

Some of which rockets were fired from HMS Terror of Franklin expedition fame:

Mortar shells (bombs) rather than Congreve rockets. Rockets were fired from HMS Erebus.

[pH]

OK, so Terror was responsible (in part) for “the bombs bursting in air”.

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

Carp night.  Poo.

Just went into Booking.com to take another look at my Lisbon booking - and discovered/remembered that I'd also got a booking in Rome that I'd forgotten about.  Oops - could've been an expensive mistake; that one's now cancelled.

 

ION.....

 

Makes even some of their daddies' songs sound good:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68825172

 

- click on the "allow external content" jobbie to hear it; as soon as I heard the guitar bit right at the start I just knew it was going to be painful - and I wasn't disappointed.....

 

BG

[iL Dottore]

13 hours ago, polybear said:

Turdycurses.....

 

However....and in a Bear's defence....

The traffic light score on this:

 

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/quorn-mince-300g

 

- looks rather better than on this:

 

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-beef-mince-20-fat-500g-7715235-p-44

 

...so can't you cut a Bear a little slack?  😢

NOPE!

 

The chemical residue left over on my paint palette from mixing up colours and thinning them down - the dregs then drying out, is DEFINITELY low fat, low carbohydrate and low salt, but I wouldn’t recommend ingesting it.

Whilst the “traffic light” system can be helpful, it’s only one component of a diet. I would suggest that it is healthier to make your pasta sauce with good quality high-animal-welfare meat, eat a little less of it and decrease the amount of fat in other meals consumed that day.

 

Fat has been, I think, unfairly demonised. Whilst I wouldn’t recommend a sandwich of Italian Lardo on bread spread with beef dripping, fat plays an important role in your body (a lot of your brain is fat [myelin]).

 

[Grizz]

Morning All

 

Back to work today. Got to spend yet more time getting our computers upgraded, reupgraded, reintegrated or some load of bo//x that I really don’t have enough life left to be @rsed to want to understand. They have been a week kno& wobbling about with it. And they have spent half that time recovering stuff they accidentally deleted. 
 

…..although I have learnt one important term this week. 
 

When the poxy, useless and totally unco-operative thing doesn't work….’Rebooting’ your computer doesn’t mean stick your size 12, steel toe capped work boot through it a second time…..apparently. 
 

Ha who’d have thought. 
 

Have a great day all. 
 

ATB Grizz

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, TheQ said:

One wonders if the ban on smoking might eventually cause a situation like the prohibition era in America...

Captain Cynical - who is also quite a canny businessman - has been buying up lorry loads of Benson & Hedges and JPS and warehousing them just across the channel in Calais.

 

I wonder why?

 

CC has informed me that this is just a dalliance that will be reasonably profitable, albeit risky - inasmuch as “police interest” may be a significant threat.

 

He added that for solid gold, print-your-own-money, “thank-you-for-looking-the-other-way-constable” profitability, he’s got it all sewn up with his HNWI* “Cuban” Clubs. Located in places like Mayfair, Kensington and opposite the Houses of Parliament, they are refuges where <Gentlemen of Quality> may enjoy a fine Cuban Cigar and a decent vintage brandy, rum or whisky - undisturbed** by the hoi-polloi outside.

 

CC adds that his Cuban Club outside the HoP is his most profitable.

 

I wonder why?

 

*HNWI = High Net Worth Individuals: people with more than £1 million in assets (not including primary residences)

** good afternoon Constable, you’ve come to - as you colourfully put it - “nick you smoking ***** scrotes”? Excellent! May I suggest you start with the Chief Constable in the corner…

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a dull, breezy rock that manages a disappointing 7c currently. Pah.

 

Mrs NHN is off today, this is the start of her working part time, 4 days a week, so she has two Fridays a week now. 

When I left real employment locking up re-guiding young people and went to work with JB at Trackshack I decided not to work Fridays. 

 

This was a mistake, as the day soon merged into the weekend and I felt little benefit from it.  As Trackshack got bigger and I took on more responsibilities (Director, technical manager) the stress built and didn't stop just because I wasn't actually physically in work.  Running a small business (we went from 3 to 8 employees) is no gentle retirement job I soon discovered. 

 

So Mrs NHN has chosen a different route, we'll see how that pans out.  Her boss (She's PA to the head of fleet services) is really supportive and is happy not to have important meetings on Wednesdays!

[Winslow Boy]

14 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Morning, from a dull, breezy rock that manages a disappointing 7c currently. Pah.

 

Mrs NHN is off today, this is the start of her working part time, 4 days a week, so she has two Fridays a week now. 

When I left real employment locking up re-guiding young people and went to work with JB at Trackshack I decided not to work Fridays. 

 

This was a mistake, as the day soon merged into the weekend and I felt little benefit from it.  As Trackshack got bigger and I took on more responsibilities (Director, technical manager) the stress built and didn't stop just because I wasn't actually physically in work.  Running a small business (we went from 3 to 8 employees) is no gentle retirement job I soon discovered. 

 

So Mrs NHN has chosen a different route, we'll see how that pans out.  Her boss (She's PA to the head of fleet services) is really supportive and is happy not to have important meetings on Wednesdays!

Always a good idea to make friends with the bosses PA. Used to surprise quite a few of my contemporarys at one of my places of gainful employment that I was known to her and no it wasn't for my good looks or my charming demeanor either.

Edited April 17 by Winslow Boy

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Late and Never Early has got off to a bad start. 5 minutes late leaving Leeds and now held by a signal check near South Emsall.. frabjoy!

 

Nice pictures @Gwiwer but the Leeds..  York..Scarbados Coastliner route is voted most scenic route regularly.

 

Off to Lourdes (the ECB need a financial miracle or two!).

 

Meeting to be had on line tomorrow when I can get Zoom to cooperate .

 

Have a great day!

 

Baz

 

 

[iL Dottore]

Re. "making friends with the Boss's PA", I was reading a newspaper article about hiring people. The head hunter company expert said the first thing they ask their colleagues about a candidate immediately after the interview is "how did they interact with [treat] the <minor> employees before and after the interview"?

 

A surprising number of otherwise suitable candidates are turned down due to the way they treated the receptionist/secretary/security guard.

[DaveF]

Just a quick check in this morning as for once I have something I really do have to do in about 15 minutes time.  I have to wear a suit and black tie.

 

At least it isn't raining though it is still very cloudy.  My neighbour mowed her lawn yesterday, she said the only problem was that the mower wheels kept sinking it was so wet.

 

David

[jjb1970]

5 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Re. "making friends with the Boss's PA", I was reading a newspaper article about hiring people. The head hunter company expert said the first thing they ask their colleagues about a candidate immediately after the interview is "how did they interact with [treat] the <minor> employees before and after the interview"?

 

A surprising number of otherwise suitable candidates are turned down due to the way they treated the receptionist/secretary/security guard.

 

It's an old trick, one I always used when doing interviews. The weird one I found which threw a surprising number of candidates was the most obvious and pertinent question - why do you want the job, or why do you want to work for xyz? A lot of people really struggle to answer that.