EddieB

On 20/04/2023 at 15:27, jjb1970 said:

A sad reminder of what Britain once was, and as the plaque indicates it's not just ancient history, the Singapore MRT used rails made in Workington for many years. This crane is just outside the Dyson headquarters. The gauge looks very broad.

Seven foot gauge (give or take a quarter inch!) and built in 1907.   Named after Sir John Jackson, who were the contractors for building Singapore's dockyards in the 1930s.

St Pancras for scrums, Kings Cross for hookers?

On 24/05/2023 at 16:24, Wickham Green too said:

According to Rowledge, 1892 to 1941  were built by NBL at Hyde Park ; works Nos.21819-68 ........1918 became LNWR No.2873 & LMS 9664, 1919 became GWR No.3071 later 3037.

As LMS 9664, NBL 21895 (ROD 1918) ended its working life at the end of 1930, which might explain its absence from BR lists.

Simply the best.

19 minutes ago, Reorte said:

I note that the OP has a business account rather than a personal one, there may well be a difference there.

The difference is that you don't spend ages in a queue listening to music when you call the "help" desk.

Ok, after having wasted half my day (no thanks to BT!), I think I have a solution!

Remove and reinstall the email client in Thunderbird (as it won't let you change the server type, i.e. from POP to something else).  From the available configs, choose Exchange/Office365 cloud services.  It then prompts a secondary Microsoft web log in (email account and password) and the purchase of an interface application - OWL was recommended, at an annual subscription of €10.  (Though it seems it requires one purchase for all accounts on one machine).

My Thunderbird mail folders are now a bit of a mess, but emails are coming through again. 

Thank you for all who responded.  No idea how sound/future-proof the fix turns out to be, but maybe of help to others here.

Thanks, Andrue.  Here's the message/warning from BT (emphasis added):

Hello,

In the past, as part of a BT Business service you’ve subscribed to, we’ve provided you with Business Email Lite powered by Microsoft® Office 365 mailboxes free of charge, xxxxxxx@btconnect.com. Depending on the service you subscribed to, you may have had multiple mailboxes.

These mailboxes use the POP protocol that was designed and created in the 1980s – and like many things, email has moved on since then, especially in terms of security.

‍
What’s going to happen?
From xx/xx/2023, the security of your email service will be improved, meaning that you’ll only be able to access your mailbox by logging into Microsoft via a web browser at outlook.office.com, or by using the mobile Outlook app from a mobile phone or tablet. If you login to your mailbox through your BT manage services page, this will still be available as it directs to outlook.office.com.

Any other ways you use to access and send your BT email, including email clients, may stop working as Microsoft won’t be supporting them anymore.

Why the need for change?

The POP method of sending and receiving email is being wound down across the industry, as there are more secure ways of sending and receiving email.

A UK business is successfully hacked every 19 seconds. We take your online security, and your customers’, very seriously - and with that in mind, we’re removing POP email from our services, as there’s more secure ways of sending and receiving email now. Your service will become Outlook Web Access.

So, what should you do?
 

If you are impacted by it, or want to look at the options available visit bt.com/business/btconnectemail for more information.

For more information on the changes from Microsoft, please visit their website link.

Microsoft will be further improving the security of your btconnect.com mailboxes, with the introduction of Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) set to follow later this year. We will write to you again (from this email address) to remind you that its coming.

Thanks
Your BT Team 

My "loyalty" with BT is purely because of the multiple email accounts.  If I have to set up new accounts because of the inconvenience and lack of support with our existing accounts, then it will be time to find a new Broadband provider.

I have a business account with BT, which covers broadband and includes multiple mailboxes that I've set up (different usernames of the form xxx.xxx@btconnect.com).  Until now, these email accounts are generally accessed through Thunderbird, which has the advantage that multiple accounts can be accessed and managed simultaneously on the same device (along with various other features).  The accounts were configured within Thunderbird using POP/SMTP protocols.

I gather that Microsoft has decided to stop supporting "basic" authentication (i.e. POP, IMAP, SMTP) and consequently BT are now migrating to "modern" authentication.  Such that email accounts appear to be accessible only via a web browser (such as outlook.office.com).  Aside from losing the some of the management functions of Thunderbird, it seems that such browsers will only allow one account to be logged in from a single device at any time.  BT give no help or support for third-party email programs such as Thunderbird.

In trying to find if there's a fix to configure Thunderbird to work with the new protocols, I soon get swamped in a sea of acronyms and jargon - and I thought I had reasonable technical ability up till now.

Please - is there a work around (simple, hopefully), as I'm quite attached to Thunderbird? 

In other news, a secret trial of a new US street circuit was a near "catastrophic" failure, after an unnamed driver spent over two hours making laps of the possible route in Manhattan.  Drivers of cars following said they were intending to overtake, but lack of DRS zones prevented their doing so, causing distress to the occupants of the lead car.

Well that should please those who think the racing is boring - but still find plenty to talk about without the distraction of the race!

A spot of Google trainspotting - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@47.7262301,18.2604803,3a,75y,256.22h,79.96t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shuVCS40BjChdDLNlRoLLNw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Nice to see one of the V-Hid (former Floyd/former class 86s) at Almásfüzitö. 

Oddly enough, Max was probably helped by starting ninth, given that he was able to benefit from DRS for a greater portion of his race.  With DRS estimated to be worth 0.9 seconds per lap, and no other teams able to defend their greatly inferior straight-line speed or impede his progress, perhaps there’s little surprise that Max was able to catch and pass Checo..

13 hours ago, PhilH said:

Just when you think this so-called sport cannot get any more boring it does. At least that’s one thing it excels at.

Disagree.  There’s always races within races.  I’ve not always been a fern of Fanando, but I have to admire his race-craft and what an overtake he pulled on Sainz.

The concept of a sprint race as a self-contained event is marginally better than as a race to establish grid positions, but the whole thing remains flawed.

- For teams unlikely to finish in the top eight it’s a hiding to nothing, an exercise in futility.  Why risk compromising their chance of scoring points in the actual race when they have nothing to gain?

- How are the circuits designated for sprint races decided?  Over a season the tracks provide a mix of challenges, some providing more high speed circuits, others lower speeds where cornering and braking and optimal car balance is favoured, some where DRS provides more advantage than others.  Holding a second sub-race at chosen venues can slew an advantage towards certain constructors - is that fair?

I don't need to remind folks that that Hungarian team of the 'fifties had one of the greatest and most prolific strikers of all time.  Erling Haaland eat your hearty out!

England had a short sharp shock coming into international football, after deigning to grace the first three World Cup finals.  Beaten by USA, knocked out by beaten again Spain in the Group Stages.

On 19/02/2019 at 14:09, EddieB said:

Well I'm excited by the news that the early run of the Locomotive Magazine (up to 1923) will shortly be available (mid March) as digital scans from the Great Eastern Railway Society.  The scans are searchable PDF files, and will be available through the society's e-shop.  The content is on two DVDs and is to be priced at £10 (members), £15 (non members), plus postage - in other words less than you'd expect to pay for a single bound volume without the overheads of storage).  There will also be a free downloadable index on the same site.

Important news update

The Great Eastern Railway Society has recently released Part 2 covering the Locomotive Magazine 1924-1953.  Content is available as a DVD, with prices held at £10 (members), £15 (non members), plus postage or the same prices (without postage) as a digital download.

https://www.gersociety.org.uk/index.php/files-emporium-home/p-1500-lcm2-dvd-the-locomotive-magazine-part-2-1924-1953

Part 1 is still available (DVD or download).

"Ghent docks no. 3" appears to be Sea-Invest-CBM*, Gent.  Their no. 3 (same for all their nos. 1 - 5) being a Renault type 5240 locotracteur, ex-Houillères du bassin du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais (HBNPC) no. 53, built in 1961.

(*CBM = Compagnie Belge de Manutention)

1 hour ago, Pete the Elaner said:

Max didn't complain about Lewis. His comment was aimed at the stewards being inconsistent between what they said they would allow & what they actually allowed.

I’d say he made more of it because it was Lewis that pushed him wide.

I was interested to see how Lewis and Fernando would get on sharing the podium.  Fernando was all smiles - but that might be because he was trying to spray champagne down the back of Lewis’s collar!

On 01/04/2023 at 07:32, eastwestdivide said:

Steam-hauled double decker coaches! Who’d have thought it?

Surprisingly common, and quite useful for station photography in the days when things were "iffy".  Sitting on the upper deck give an elevated vantage point above people on the platform, but as people seldom look up, tended to shield you from the attention of would-be informants.

Certainly won’t begrudge Piastri his first points in his home GP.

What a farce.  Why bother with racing - just let the stewards decide positions and points?

If you’re going to reset the grid for a single processional lap behind the safety car, such that favoured drivers (Perez, Alonso, Stroll) keep the places they lost on red flag restart #2, why not also reinstate the Alpines and undo the unjust penalty given to Sainz?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65128593

So they’ll just have to sponsor their country’s GP instead?

On 27/03/2023 at 14:17, Andrew P said:

F1 chief reveals desire to MAJORLY shake up Grand Prix weekends.

 

https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/104346/stefano-domenicali-cancel-formula-1-free-practice/?fbclid=IwAR1Zea4A-Y9Rj5tTYLwGOTwJk-FKLFffCbMner_61xf-LrdUKg2U_XXreo8

Oh dear, if it ain't broke, etc.

Free practice gives opportunity for teams - engineers and drivers - to develop the best trim for the race, understand the circuit and make mistakes.  Unless I've misunderstood the proposal, it gives more time on track for the spectators who are there for the entire race weekend, who also have more freedom of movement than on race day itself.

I don't want a whole programme of lesser races.  Each venue should focus on the main race itself (stop the Saturday sprints!).  I want that one race to be between the cars and drivers set for optimum performance, having tested and found the limits in free practice, so that hopefully there is a full grid and fewer retirements.

So was Max's driveshaft issue of his own making?  Not that he ever cuts corners or breaks cars driving over kerbs.

I'd say that the only good thing from last weekend is that modifications have improved the circuit - despite Lando clipping the corner in Q1 and Hulk kissing the wall in the race, no major impacts.  (Could also be that with the removal of Baby Shumacher and Queen Latifi, the grid is now composed of better drivers?)

Despite it being the longest and fastest street circuit, it's still a street circuit and remains a poor spectator event, let alone able to host a decent race.

3 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

...and this former E44 converted to a substation was passed on the way into Dresden Hbf......

 

Even better, that looks to be a former E04.