PupCam

Clockwork! Eh, I'm lucky! I've got one of those new-fangled electric motors things. And it's not one of those cheap dc efforts, it's a right proper stepper-motor job. Eh, I was lucky but tell that to the kids of today and they'll not believe you. Anyway, all jokes aside, it's carp. The whole thing is very cheap, built down to a very low price albeit actually a remarkably comprehensive beginners kit. The trouble is that very cheapness means you've really, really got to persist in order to get any real results at all. That probably explains why there are so many "Unused" beginners telescopes on Ebay, Marketplace etc etc because the majority try using them once get nowhere, get frustrated and take up puddle jumping instead. Maybe it's designed to sort the men from the boys (can we still say that?) and I'm fortunate that I can, to an extent, build my way out of its limitations where as some other would just have to buy their way out. One day I'll have a bigger, better telescope. I'll draw the line at home build before it gets to trying to make DIY 12" parabolic mirrors though 🤣 Here's the elevation bearing, spot the slop ..... The elevation position is set by a crude, coarse thread screw acting against a stop which doesn't work with the best mechanical advantage due to its design. It's true that once set for the evening the whole thing is clamped up tight and shouldn't be moved again but as one clamps it up tight it moves thus undoing the careful elevation alignment with the pole star*. Not by much but a miss is as good as a mile so to speak and you have to try and guess how much its going to move as you tighten it up and compensate for it. It normally takes many attempts. Get it wrong or not bother and the telescope won't track objects accurately and they will very quickly wander out of the Field of View. Annoying for visual observations but a disaster for astrophotography with long exposures. Additional benefits of DIY telescope upgrades is that it gives you something to do whilst waiting for the clouds to be off and gives you the knowledge to know what to look for when you finally do lash out a 4 (or 5) figure sum when you finally do a retail upgrade. * To be more precise "Over from the pole star a tiny smidgen" as the pole star lies very close to true north but not quite on it. Of course, poor Chimpy doesn't even have the luxury of a convenient star on his pole to point his telescope at in the first place. TTFNQ

Pre-Munch All! Google translated for me (I don't do Dutch, some would say I barely do English); "We have worked with heart and soul in and on our beautiful company for twenty years, but now the time has come for us to retire. We will stop our activities on June 29, 2024. What started as a hobby with buying and selling N-Spoor trains via Marktplaats and eBay, quickly became a house-filling activity. We were quickly found as Freebit.nl and our range of used N-Spoor grew and grew. At that time we were one of the few providers with only N-Spoor. What followed was the organization of the first N-Spoor fair. Together with all our children we set up the event at Bousema. We thought this was fantastic! After this, many more fairs followed at Bousema and for 6 years in the large church in Lochem. People still talk about this in nice words. We enjoyed organizing these fairs and it was good to see all those enthusiastic N-Spoorders together. The idea of Freebit.nl was to form a platform of and for the N-Spoorder. In addition to supply, purchasing and sales and the organization of trade fairs, we have also set up the N-Spoorforum, which has brought many of you into contact with each other to share the hobby. In 2008 we took the step and converted our garage into a small store, N-Spoorstore-Freebit.nl. But before long this space was too small. We never thought that the range and demand would grow so quickly. Less than two years later, in 2010, we moved to the store next to the Avia Gas Station in Lochem. An important element in the store was to bring the N-Spoorders together. The coffee was always ready. This space also quickly turned out to be too small. More than 7 years ago we moved to our current location on Eekmolenweg in Lochem. And yes, this space has also been too small for a while. But no, unfortunately we are not going to move again to a larger space (although the plans have certainly been there). All these years we have traveled across town and country in the Netherlands and Germany to visit trade fairs, from very local to major events. From Zelhem to Stuttgart, from Houten to Dortmund, from Dordrecht to Leipzig. In the early years we mainly had the help of our children; Peter, Marieke and Ilse. Over the years, they spent more time building their families, which meant their help at the store became less and less. This was followed up with the help of many (N-) track enthusiasts. We are very grateful for this. We would particularly like to mention Ilse's help; We are proud that Ilse has accompanied us to trade fairs all these years. In addition, she has often contributed to the ins and outs of our company in the background. We wouldn't have gotten this far without Ilse and we are very grateful to her for that. We are very proud that we have built such a great company in 20 years! In recent years we have tried to sell our company, but unfortunately this was not successful for various reasons. We regret that we were unable to find someone who wanted to continue N-Spoorstore-Freebit.nl. If anyone is interested, this is of course still possible. Please do not hesitate to contact us. Ineke's illness has further increased the realization that there is more to life than work. We have both reached retirement age and would like to enjoy and go out in the coming years. More enjoyment and time for our children and grandchildren, as long as it is given to us. We thank you for your business and all the wonderful years! Hans, Ineke, children and the team." ION Re-arranged plans yesterday courtesy of engineering work on Thameslink & Great Northern led to a walk being walked and now a thrash has been thrashed on the RD. I'm sure the weather on both days here has not been as forecast last Friday. This afternoon it appears I have to become "The Repair Shop" and repair an ornament that apparently and accidentally leapt out of an upstairs bedroom window on to the ground outside (paving slab / soil combo). After that I might amuse myself looking at the telescope's equatorial mount and try and figure out a way of improving the elevation pivot which has more slack and wobble in it than the proverbial in a bucket. Once again I see the solution as a separation of the bearing and clamping functions in the yoke which appears to be made of something akin to cheese wrt its mechanical properties. Lunch time now. TTFN

Evening Each! Oh yes please, I seem to remember porting it to the Fluke 1720 Instrument Controller we used to use. It was mighty fine bit of kit in its day. Well, I had to do something when I was bored. Happy days. ION Most importantly; I spoke to Bear again today. He's hanging on in there but not really making much progress 😢 I will check-up on him again in a few days and maybe even give him a gentle cajole for us to go out somewhere even if it's only for coffee. I spent a happy hour on the phone to HMRC this morning sorting out a significant tax issue brought about by one of the providers (I know not which one is truly to blame) who manage my primary source of income. It was a Curate's Egg of a call; I had to suffer (as we all do) the ridiculous waffle about irrelevant topics, finding help online and all the other typical ballcocks that go on and then when I finally managed to get to the "OK hold the line for the next available advisor by the way we're very busy" I then had to suffer (again, as we all do) the carp Muzak and constant interruptions (Your call is important, have you been online ......) meaning you can't actually concentrate on anything while you are waiting. BUT! When I finally spoke to "James" he was the very model of politeness, efficiency, knowledge & ability to understand the issue, re-compute the computations, come up with the same answer that I did (that's pleasing as I'm not an accountant) and finally take the necessary remedial actions. I thanked him profusely for his assistance. I'd been asked to take part in the standard satisfaction survey afterwards so it was suitable brickbats for them and particularly large bouquets for James. I do wish they'd ditch all of that preliminary tosh and annoyance so the waiting time isn't entirely wasted! IOON I've had another go at processing my Saturn imagery from the other day. It will never be very good but I've found some extra functions in the processing software - they were there all along, I just didn't think of using them. Anyway, it's looking a little better now than it did. This is the video that software processed to produce the image. You'll notice I was having particular difficulties with the mount on Tuesday 🤣 Night Awl

Good Evening 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!

Afternoon! I don't recall my grandparents ever swearing although to be honest, 50% of them were gone before I was very old. I do remember that my paternal grandmother, born in the 1880s, used to use a couple of phrases which to this day the remaining family members that remember find quite amusing. The following was said with some vigour when agitated; e.g. "Who the Policeman has got my bucket?" e.g "What the Hanover was that!" Where the Policeman came from or what the relevance of Hanover was in this context we never did find out! But we still chuckle and she's been gone ~ 50 years. I think that might be a rather gross simplification of the subject of military motorcycles Phil! A larger, higher res version of "the poor picture" might help. In truth I don't actually know for certain, but it looks like a side valve engine (witness the steep angle the exhaust pipe makes with the head) and it clearly has girder forks and a rigid back-end as did most pre-war bikes (just like my little Beeza in fact). After a bit of scratching around I'm warming to the idea a Royal Enfield with some similar looking candidates here particularly the last two images at the bottom of the page. I can't make up my mind if the front mudguard is deeply valanced and includes a fixed mudflap or not! Such mudguards were once quite common although they are not present in the linked images. I'll try and have another look should time be spared by those that pull the strings 😉🤣 In Other News Yet another "Little red driving machine"© Gwiwer was deposited at the local garage in the next village for it's annual service & MOT followed by a nice but very chilly walk across the field back home. Interesting to see the water level in the local streams and (very) small river are returning to normal. Also interesting to note was the high water mark on the reeds and rushes just downstream of the local water treatment works as indicated by the paper & cloth based detritus stuck to them. Nice ..... I had two shocks yesterday; the first getting an appointment at the GP' has already been reported, the second was that very, very rare commodity in the last two months or so - a clear sky! Whoop-de-doo time to whip the scope out. Early evening had first Saturn and then Jupiter in a convenient position for back garden astronomy. Perhaps I'm out of practice or more likely perhaps, "What the Hanover is THAT telescope mount doing now!". I may have mentioned before (several times) how quickly one realises just how cheaply made "Beginners" or domestic (any type of) equipment is once you actually start to understand their use and more importantly their limitations. I refer you to @iL Dottore first principle of buying "stuff". I did manage to grab one short video of Saturn before it dipped down too low behind next doors fence and a few of Jupiter (which currently reaches a much higher altitude). The best that can be said for the Saturn image is probably "at least you can take a reasonable guess at what planet it is". Other than that it has little to commend it. A quick process of one of the Jupiter videos produced something fairly similar to my previous attempts. 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! Anyway, a look out the window reveals another clear evening so it would be foolish to waste it. TTFN

Morning All! "We'll pop to Sainsburys to pick-up a few bits". £99 later 🙄 Now listen very carefully I vill say zis only wunce .... With the help of Mr Google I found the new appointment booking triage website for my GP this morning . I completed the online form, responded to text prompts/codes sent to my phone and selected the first appointment offered. I now have an appointment (presumably with a doctor, it doesn't actually say) early one morning next week! My flabber is well and truly ghasted, I need to go and lie down for a while. TTFN

Yes, they are (dummy) le Prieur Incendiary Rockets on the Pup. I still wouldn't want to fire them though!

Evening All, I enjoyed a pleasant morning mooching around the (icy cold) hangars of the Shuttleworth Collection with my mate Dave. It seems I was spotted loitering in front of the Tripehound As you know, that's an aeroplane that I'm quite fond of and I have perhaps a rather too detailed knowledge of its structure/construction than is healthy for a normal human 🤣 I really ought to finish my 1/3 scale beast. I know this because Dave keeps telling me I must ..... In the Engineering Hangar being "worked on" were the Lysander and the Gladiator. The latter had quite a lot of the side panels/covering removed from the fuselage providing an interesting view of some of its internals. Hopefully you can take a closer look as I've left the image at its original size/resolution. I never did think having rockets in such close proximity to doped fabric was the smartest move but needs must and all that. There's a dodgy character ..... In Other Far More Important News I managed to have a nice long chat with the Bear this afternoon. The canine situation is unchanged at the moment but he asked me to pass on his thanks for the concern and best wishes shown by ERs. I'm sure it means a lot to him, so thanks from me too. I'm hoping that I might visit him (or he visit me) in the next week or so 🤞 Night All Alan

Morning All Just a quick comment on CB and related therapies. Suffice to say I have two close relatives (with completely different problems in each case) that have both benefited greatly from CBT once the need was spotted, which was very tricky in one case, and the individuals comfortable with both the idea and the therapists great strides were made in their respective well-being. As we were told; CBT doesn't cure a condition/situation but it gives you the tools to recognise and deal with it. Yes, I'm a great believer and thoroughly recommend it. Must dash, I'm off to Old Warden with my model flying mate from the next village for coffee and maybe a wander round those chilly hanhars. TTFN

Faster than a bus ...... 🤣

That was close! I was just about to say ... 🤣 ION A nice walk along the Grand Union Canal has been walked with Mrs P. At the furthest point along the tow path there just so happened to be a pub (The Globe Inn, discovered the other day when I was out on a chug) and it would have been rude not to go in and partake in refreshment. I thought this particular narrow boat has a vague relevance to RMWeb. That's the LMS mainline in the background. Alan

Morning All Indeed, I have spoken to him a few times recently and unfortunately the dog is being particularly boisterous at the moment. A very large dose of TCs is appropriate I think. Many thanks to all who have publicly or privately expressed their concern for his well-being. ION Not a lot ...... Alan

The developers of every single bit of software I've ever seen didn't need to deliberately include any bugs (or "features" as we preferred to call them), there were always enough naturally and not helped by "moving goal post" requirements. I believe from my training many years ago that at one point someone proved that anything more complex than 10 lines of code could not be formerly proven to be correct in every circumstance. I think the actual number is open to discussion because it depends on so many factors e.g. were they talking about high level code, assembler or machine code, what were the target processor(s), what resources, were they shared, stand-alone or multi-processors, asynchronous or synchronous, compiler / linker errors, memory (mis) management, what operating systems (how's your Windows 11 working right now then?), coding errors, operational errors, incorrect exception handling etc etc almost ad infinitum but the underlying principle of the original statement is clear. And anyone that says " I guarantee that this huge, highly complicated, networked , multi-user, real-time, software is PERFECT (i.e. 100.0% correct with no errors)" is, as I said, IMVHO an idiot! I note on the BBC TV news this evening that the screening of the series has provoked more victims of this scandal to come forward. Let us hope that all of the victims (that are still with us) get a fair chunk of recompense* although whatever they get it will never be enough to eradicate the heartache, distress and hardship. In addition, let's hope that every innocent person's good name (alive or dead) is cleared* and I suppose it's way too much to hope for that those culpable pay a suitable price* and find out just how hard life can be. I must watch Part 4 (before anyone decides that the programme should be removed from public view ..... ) * Now I'm being a naive, stupidly optimistic idiot! UPDATE I note that various petitions have been started to at least have the CBE stripped from the ex-CEO of the PO. I couldn't possibly comment on this forum as to whether I feel that would be a valid thing to do or post a link to any of them (you decide).

No, a very delicate process of cleaning extremely fragile telescope mirrors. I've got the final part still to watch. How some of the (real) characters sleep at night (and I'm most definitely not referring to the innocent, hard working and extremely hard done by sub-postmasters) I haven't got a clue! I'd like to add a further comment relating to the "automatic goodness" of certain people just because they do a) xxxx, b) yyyy or c) zzzz but I would fall foul of forum rules so I won't. Having spent a good deal of time developing software systems in my career, albeit on a smaller scale, anyone who claims a system of software (especially one of such magnitude) is perfect and infallible is IMVHO either an idiot or a liar. I'll look on the sub-postmasters with a new light in future and think who on earth would want to put themselves in such a position! They have my greatest respect. Alan

No, I relented and went to the big river* ....... I'll just have to be patient and wait for it to turn up. * As a supplier of the water not the source of the water 🤣

Morning All! I'm off on a quest; who knew purchasing distilled water could be so difficult .....

Evening All I went for a Mid-week chug on the Beeza this morning with a bunch of mates. Well, it was time it had an airing. It appears that it travelled 45.5 miles and the furthest point reached from Pupper Towers was The Globe pub, situated by the Grand Union Canal just to the north of Leighton Buzzard. Well, it would have been rude not to go in and have a coffee and some (but not Puppers) had a slice of LDC. While we were waiting for the pub to open at 11:00 a bunch of walkers came past. One of them turned out to be one of my former work colleagues. We started training together back in the early '70s and then spent the next 12 years working together in the same department. After that our paths crossed every now and then (usually when Puppers was on the scrounge for materials, equipment and/or facilities for various projects). He retired from the GE a couple of years ago and strangely enough doesn't miss the place at all. Funny that 😉. Anyway, nice looking pub, it looks like I might have to go and investigate further with Mrs Puppers at some point although I fancy that travel will be by Mondog on that occasion. We had an eclectic mix of motorcycles for the run, the Beeza being the oldest by a country mile and it looks surprisingly shiny ............ in photographs 🤣. It doesn't look bad for a well-used 85 year old does it! Other than that and the fact that it is now rather damp in Puppershire there's not a lot to report. TTFN Alan

Evening All! Happy New Year to one and all with special best wishes to all those ERs who are feeling "Below Par" for whatever reason. A quiet NYE was had apart from some of the local muppets re-enacting the Somme on and off from about 10:00pm onwards. New Years Day morning saw Mr & Mrs P venture over to Stony Stratford to visit friends. The intention being Puppers and Mr Friend would then go and visit the traditional Stony Classic Vehicle Meet which is in fact precisely what we did. This event seems to get bigger and bigger each time and there were some very nice 4 wheel & 2 wheel vehicles on display. There was even a Bond Bug on display which of course falls into neither category 🤣 . My neighbour and other Sunday Morning ride out friends went over "Sur leurs motos" but Mrs P's pillion days are far behind us so, we went in the car and I bumped into my mates whilst staggering round. One thing that we've noticed at this gathering is how starting at ~12:30 a trickle of exhibitors leaving quickly becomes a torrent and quite soon there's hardly anything left!* It's so big now that because of that you don't get to see half the stuff that turned up unless you just sweep round without stopping to study and admire. * To be entirely fair; it's a free show so visitors aren't actually being fleeced, it's just annoying that in all probability you'll miss quite a few really interesting vehicles As I say, it's a bit annoying it reminds me of my involvement with the CMRA exhibition over all those years (other exhibitions are available and I suspect no different) when, on the Sunday, some exhibitors and traders would start packing up half way through the afternoon whilst paying customers were still arriving at the door! Whilst for large exhibits it was perfectly acceptable and understandable for some of the surplus and scene setting stock to be surreptitiously removed and packed away in readiness for the off having a denuded layout with but one DMU left shuffling about or a trade stand (no names, no pact drill and all that) with just a trail of debris at ~3:00pm certainly wasn't. Still, no longer a concern and therefore a pet hate for me now. Nothing further to report so far this year but then, it's early days yet! Night All

Afternoon! (still pre-munch but then there won't be a lunch munch 'cos of the earlier big breakfast although there might be the odd choccy biscuit to tide me over to dinner - blimey, isn't it complicated!) The weather forecast predicted a 67% chance of rain at 13:00 but that's alright we'd be back from the thrash well before that. But they didn't mention the rain scout ahead of the main show though. We must be losing our touch as it started raining just as we left the Mill. Fortunately we didn't get really soaking wet just slightly moist which was OK because, as you know, I don't do "WET" 🤣. Bike given a bit of a wipe down and a dry off, now what to do this afternoon? Maybe further playing with WinJupos?🤔 It's a bit of software designed to both remove and make use of the effects of planetary rotation from a sequence or series of images when they are stacked. It should enable finer detail of the features to be seen and also extend the depth of field around the circumference of the planet in the final image. It's a very powerful, complicated tool being driven by an idiot ...... but at least I did manage to actually get it to process a video and produce an output for the first time yesterday. The result looked a bit like Jupiter so that's good. What's not so good is that it was no better than the normal result of stacking I get when it hasn't the used! Still, small steps and all that. TTFN

Morning All It's not raining, it's not blowing a gale, the sun is out and the sky is blue! Time for a thrash on the RD over to Jordans Mill then 😃 Back later TTFNQ

Sounds like a very good plan as long as the length, depth and position of "lumpy bit" transitions (technical term, if applicable) match reasonably well. Otherwise major surgery or replacement parts from the manufacturer (if they are clearly faulty and that's an option) will be required. Still, what do I know about modelling? I haven't done any in 10+ years and the last was at 1/3 scale. Perhaps it's time to dust off one of those 1/32 Hunter kits languishing in Beamland and see if I can remember what to do? Good luck!

Morning! We dispatched Ms Junior Puppers an hour or so ago and have all available digits crossed for a smooth and safe journey for her "back home". We await the first progress report and/or the "I'm home" message. A fully grown, independent women but still "my little baby". One can't help but worry 😟. ION D U L L & D A M P ! I stumbled across a link to the Apollo mission image archives this morning (thanks Faceache), I could be gone some time! There are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of images from all sorts of cameras on all of the missions. I remember when father used to have a Hasselblad camera and used to tell me "The Apollo astronauts use Hasselblads". Well, it used to impress this young school boy 🤣 Here's one of my first "Lucky Dip" photos and here is the link to archive. Enjoy if you are that way inclined, as I said, I could be some time! UPDATE: This stunning image on Faceache is the one that alerted my attention. It's from Apollo 9 (which never left earth orbit as it was a systems/procedure testing mission). TTFN

There's nothing wrong with bricking it when all of a sudden there is some doubt on one's longevity. Ask me how I know! Anyway, that's great news and you can relax a bit now 😀 But far, far better than the alternative. As Mother says; "You're a long time dead" so it's best to dodge it for as long as possible. She's having a jolly good stab at getting to her Century 🤞. We'll be writing to KC III very soon. I learnt the same rules of life from Billy Connolly 🤣 I also have to commend that part of the NHS that has been (mostly) dealing with me this past 12 months; specialists, very efficient, extremely joined up, very caring and all round very good service and care and as I have a vested interest I don't mind the bother or expense of getting up the smoke from Puppershire (although the £10+ parking fee at Hitchin station rankles). And I must also once again thank the more local Specialist Cardio Nursing team who have done the donkey work over the last couple of years. The NHS is certainly the largest and greatest example of the Curate's Egg. ION I've been extolling the virtues of and demonstrating looking at objects such as Jupiter through a telescope to Ms Junior Puppers this evening. She was quite impressed! I have to say, I'll be a sad old Pupper's tomorrow when we wave goodbye as she set's off for the almost Distant (Signal) West after a lovely week of her company. Right, it's bedtime. It's been a long day! Night All

I always find the photographs i take of rainbows most disappointing (no doubt due to not having a camera with a good long lens on it these days). That is brilliant; literally and metaphorically!

Afternoon! I'm reminded of one of our software subbies about 25 years ago rattling on about snow chains and how useful they were. Funny enough, he had a brand new set, unused that he was trying to flog. He'd had them for a considerable period of time, still new, still unused, really good ....... ... he lived in that well known mountain region of Harpenden. He never did understand why we always laughed when he mentioned they were unused and in really good condition! When I visited Cosford earlier in the year I was shocked to find the SR53 and Prone Pilot Meteor parked outside! I presume it was only a temporary resting place. Equally or indeed perhaps even more shocking was to see the Hunting H126 (IIRC) research aircraft permanently parked outside, paint weathered complete with a faded information board set in the ground. Shocking, yes that's the word for it! I know many ERs share my view on the "modern way for museums" and it certainly isn't positive! No, we don't want a load of interactive screens for Tarquin or Jemima to bang seven bells out of explore (and we can do that at home on a PC anyway) we want to see REAL, interesting, historic objects cared for and looked after, displayed in a sensible and accessible manner. It's OK, you may consider that as a rant. All those that agree say aye. ION A successful and smooth trip up the smoke for an echocardiogram. They threw in an unexpected ECG as well while I was there. Luckily we managed to dodge any train delays/cancellations (with the aid of prior research) and the very heavy down pours that we subsequently saw the evidence of afterwards. St Pauls looked good against the bright blue sky in the sun shine while we searched for lunch. Other than that, not a lot to report. TTFN