zarniwhoop

On mailing lists (computer-related) I subscribe with a text-based mail client, and take the opportunity to rotate my .signature files a couple of times a month.  Some while ago I was using:

The right of the people to keep and arm Bears, shall not be infringed.
 

I got some grief about that from a Dutch guy - it turned out he had read what he thought I'd written and assumed I was one of the looney right as I think I can safely call them on this list, whereas I'm proudly woke 🙄 (for at least some definitions of woke).

37 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

If I understand you correctly, this is mind boggling to me.  This cheque cannot be deposited in a bank branch?

 

(I sort of comprehend issues with a mobile telephone app.)

What are these bank branches of which you speak ?

Here, the banks are doing their best to close down almost all branches.

If I may, I'd like to ask a  question of anyone here who uses Ocado (I searched for fresh white asparagus - tess'co sometimes have it, but in very thin pieces which are hard to peel - and I see Ocado have it, with prices for that and blood oranges which make the purveyor of custard tarts look cheap ) - Are they reliable in providing what you ordered ?

TIA. ĸen

12 hours ago, GrumpyPenguin said:

By that time EV's will be obsolete themselves as other technology is perfected.

 

IMHO anyone who converts Series Land Rovers to electric should be tortured, then electrocuted........

Whilst I understand the sentiment, from time to time on one of the Discovery channels (Quest?)  there is a series about a Welshman ('Moggy') converting old cars etc to plug-in - mainly usingTesla parts, and lots of bespoke made to order fixings. Quite an old series, for some reason many of the vehicles were Irish. I dread to think what an insurer would make of them (e.g. old VW camper van with a large battery in it, "classic" BMWs and similar with what I would regard as a short range before needing to charge - bear in mind that even now charging - both availability and time - sems to be a problem in many areas.

Anyway, the one which did impress me was some sort of Land Rover - according to that episode, the off-road performance was much enhanced.

41 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

39% salt? What does that even mean? Can't be 39% by mass surely?

Probably 39% of your recommended daily intake. But the measurement is per-serving for however many portions the package claims to serve.

37 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

And for some roles being able to blag your way through a difficult situation is actually an essential skill, so someone who can nail an interview through their soft skills and blagging is demonstrating the right skills for the job. 

You've dealt with Public Relations people and Project Managers!

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 

I arrived home yesterday to find a package left outside on the doorstep.  That's a fairly secure location here as it's not in line-of-sight from anywhere other than for someone approaching the door.  And inside- having been thoughtfully popped through the letterbox - was a "Sorry We Missed You" card.  Which identified the location of the package not as "returned to depot" nor "with a neighbour" but "On doorstep in grey plastic bag".  Which was absolutely correct.  I just wonder why they even left the card but hey.  That's life. 

If you had been inside, and not heard them, you would not have known the package was on the doorstep. Someone delivering won't know if you were in, but incommunicado, or out.

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Millook Haven is as steep at 1:3 with a couple of hairpins which are pretty close to a 45-degree angle on the insides.  I cycled up and down those a good many times in my younger days and when I had a suitable touring bike with 18 gears.  I specified the ratios myself; bottom gear was the lowest commercially available with its combination of huge rear and tiny front sprockets and got me up anything and everything.  16" I think it was.

Colour me impressed. My memory (I'm talking about maybe 30 or 35 years ago) is that riding anything below 30" on roads could be interesting (doing a wheely on a bike with luggage in rear paneers is not recommended). Off-road, of course, lower gears could be very useful.

Just catching up - I think spring is here! Some weeks ago I read in a weekly paper that the English asparagus season was early this year, and the Marky Sparky would have it in stock. Maybe in some hallowed part of London town, but not here guv. Today I went to Tess' and at last it's here.

mmm, griddled asparagus.

Sizing of bricks in the 19th century can be a bit of a plunge down a rabbit hole. From your picture I make the following guesses:

1. The lengthwise bricks at the right are facing the camera (so top and bottom are out of view). For new bricks it is not possible to tell if they are facing, internal (lower quality) or specialist.

2. I think that the end-on bricks at the right are each slightly more that a quarter of the length (gaps between the face-on bricks.

3. The bricks at the left might be different, they are stacked with much more air between them.

I can't make out enough detail to see the main "wall" part of the bricks at the back, beyond noticing

 occasional gaps.

A guide to a little about imperial brick sizes in the past https://www.imperialbricks.co.uk/guidance/everything-you-need-to-know-about-imperial-brick-sizes :  note the modern (20th century) 'Imperial' bricks shown as 228mm by 108mm were variously 50 to 80mm tall.

For a deeper dive, try https://jaharrison.me.uk/Brickwork/Sizes.html (from the first page, heights of 42mm to 90mm).

A random search produced other sites suggesting special purpose bricks such as engineering bricks would be at the taller end of the variations.

In the absence of example bricks, all we can really say is that for the 19th century the likely length was 9 inches. So I suggest you work from that. For me, a more interesting question is what colours the bricks appear in the period you are interested in (i.e. after probably decades of weathering and smoke). Some of the bricks in the photo seem quite pale, others a deeper (red?) colour. In my own case, railway stations built in the 1860s and viewed in the 1960s tended to have very mixed colours of locally made brick - built down to a price, with added facings (pebbledash, I suppose) on the side facing the prevailing wind/rain. Better quality bricks used for facings on higher quality buildings were probably much more consistent.

Research the sort of building, and location, you intend to model. Then make your decisions, and when you are happy with them go for it!

A few hours ago I was watching the 6pm local ITV news. In the middle of that was something about what would be on the national news. I think you can guess what it was. Starts to sound like a conspiracy. And yes, the Hogwarts word was mentioned.

Those who read TNM may have already seen this because I posted on the wrong topic. Nothing to do with parallel strips of metal, this is where I intended to post it. <sigh/>

When I was idly killing time looking at so-called news on my phone earlier this week I saw a lot of posts saying that iplayer apps were closing down, with a comment from the BBC that it was too expensive to continue. When I can be bothered, I've been using get_iplayer (on linux) to download things - quality often not brilliant, but good enough to watch on a computer monitor.

Having closed down all the other things I was doing, I thought I ought to stop installing the perl modules get_iplayer needs. But before that I gave it a try - working perfectly, including local news from Thursday evening.

Just now, zarniwhoop said:

When I was idly killing time looking at so-called news on my phone earlier this week I saw a lot of posts saying that iplayer apps were closing down, with a comment from the BBC that it was too expensive to continue. When I can be bothered, I've been using get_iplayer (on linux) to download things - quality often not brilliant, but good enough to watch on a computer monitor.

 

Having closed down all the other things I was doing, I thought I ought to stop installing the perl modules get_iplayer needs. But before that I gave it a try - working perfectly, including local news from Thursday evening.

Doh, I've done a @polybear and mixed up ERs and TNM!

When I was idly killing time looking at so-called news on my phone earlier this week I saw a lot of posts saying that iplayer apps were closing down, with a comment from the BBC that it was too expensive to continue. When I can be bothered, I've been using get_iplayer (on linux) to download things - quality often not brilliant, but good enough to watch on a computer monitor.

Having closed down all the other things I was doing, I thought I ought to stop installing the perl modules get_iplayer needs. But before that I gave it a try - working perfectly, including local news from Thursday evening.

16 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I am glad to read that Mrs br2975 was seen with speed and efficiency.
 

However, I would like to comment that given a choice between a doctor with a curt and abrupt bedside manner with outstanding clinical skills and expertise and a doctor with a smooth and reassuring bedside manner and so-so clinical skills and expertise, I’d take Dr Grumpy any day.

 

Many decades ago, when I was working in the hospital, I noted that some of the very best clinicians were those with the poorest bedside manners. One neurosurgeon in particular had a hair trigger temper in the operating theatre (things had to be “just so” and he did NOT tolerate any sloppiness in technique) and was brutally blunt with the patients (along the lines of “I’ll remove the tumour but you’ll be permanently impaired”j and yet he was the neurosurgeon of choice for incredibly complex procedures.

 

Thinking about the above, I wonder how much was an act?

I think that acceptable bedside manner may have depended on where/when a doctor was trained. For several years I 'worked' online with someone who had started out studying a science (i forget which, possibly physics or astronomy), switched to medicine, but at the end was unable to become a doctor because of his bedside manner (lack of empathy, or telling it to them straight). Dealing with him online, he was a fun guy and spent a lot of his time gaming - I think he was unemployable.

Neurodiversity is no doubt over-diagnosed, but for those playing with software it is a feature even more than for those playing with toy trains.

In the end, it seems to have got too much for him. I still miss him.

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I've read about that too.

 

Now where was it where I read it????

 

Ahh, Yes.... "Conspiracy Theory Nutters Monthly"

 

Anyone who is properly qualified to pronounce on such matters will be able to tell you that GWR Green (aka Brunswick Green) is one of the colours prescribed by The Buddha for aligning the chakras and achieving inner balance and harmony.

 

Any deleterious effect experienced is purely psychosomatic, Dave, purely psychosomatic.

I think that must be the Buddha from Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, otherwise the Buddha you meet on the road.

More commonly, the Chakras can be aligned using Malachite, the various shades of BR(S) coach / EMU / DEMU green, and Improved Engine Green.

16 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Don’t really understand your post but obviously it’s causing you some grief but hopefully it will get sorted.

Good luck.

Thanks. It caused me some grief for a long while, I'm just persuading myself to let it go.

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

I'm feeling a bit left out because I am having no issues. Is it the time zone difference that means I am  active in the UK nocturnal hours like a possum or a fruitbat  when you are all asleep  - except when nature calls?

I tend to keep very irregular hours, often reading here between 11pm and 4am or "later" , and I see the slowdowns from time to time even at 3 a.m. In particular, ERs is often very slow to go to the next page, other topics are only rarely very slow.  But late afternoon (I suppose from about now for maybe the next 6 hours)  is also a busy time and I think the worst delays or 'content unavailable' happen in the evening.

I'm sure that the whole site being busy (several people clicking on different topics at the same time) plays a part.

I'll mention that on the machine I mainly use I try to keep ERs, TNM, and the main page open long term, and look at another page or another site if ERs is slow.  But I've got 100+ tabs open in this browser (I had to close a few last week, it was getting slow).

Somebody suggested starting an ERs v2 the other week, I think doing that and making ERs v1 read-only might be the answer.

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

You mixing me up with Sheepbloke?

I think he was avoiding the site nanny. https://www.fatbastard.com/ Let's see if this gets through (age check to click on, then picture of a hippo acting as a parachute or balloon to carry a bottle,

Best Wishes to Dave Hunt.

On 30/03/2024 at 18:48, The White Rabbit said:

When thinking about the height of the deck from the water level, allow for winter rainfall and flooding.

Thanks for the suggestions about expanded polystyrene sandwiches.  I'm very dubious about foam boards - I know some people use them successfully, but I'm clumsy enough to be wary.

But on re-reading I could not let that quoted sentence pass in silence - the Ybbstalbahn was closed after large parts of the track were washed away (in the summer, if my memory is correct). And I think it had happened before.  So not too much allowance for winter ran in a model ;-)

55 minutes ago, BR60103 said:

I classify songs by the mode of transportation

 

Cars means it's rocky roll.

Trucks are country.

Horses are western.

Trains are folk.

 

 

Trains are also Blues or Blues-Rock or Rock or maybe even Rock'n'Roll oh, and Jazz, Reggae, ...

I was going to quote a few titles from searching my index of the flac files I've got, but there are just too many!

As far as my music goes, horses are probably Heavy Rock or Progressive although I've got one track on a live outdoor recording of Bach's Brandenburgs, 'Driving in the Horse-Drawn Carriage to Coethen' which I did not assign a genre to (it's just an intro before the music, which apart from the fireworks is Baroque Orchestral).

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Residents near some contentious nocturnal motorway upgrades or construction sites around Sydney  have in the past been offered various noise-abatement measures such as free double-glazing, noise-cancelling headphones or hotel accommodation.

My parents got double glazing when the Hangleton Link Road went down Benfield Valley (i.e. the road which passes the superstore and joins the A270) because of expected noise.  Now (maybe 30 years later), the Link Road is surrounded by lots of trees which probably reduce the noise.

But that was a long-term build.

Trying your search in google only gave me the current 'one lane closed. last updated 2 days ago', and a lot of totally irrelevant links mentioning roadworks or gas somewhere but not the A270, although some did mention the A27 which is a looong road and at this point is the Brighton bypass. Of course, A270 matches the A27 substring. Please send some search-fu 🙄

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Because the good folk of Hove like their beauty sleep and don't want to be kept awake by the sound of jack-hammers, excavators and other heavy equipment associated with major road works. 

I'll have you know we are the good folk of Portslade, not Hove! The boundary on the South side of the road is some way to the East (the Station Road I mentioned a few pages ago), and the first house in Hangleton ((which is part of Hove) is opposite that.