The Night Mail

[SM42]

Further to a previous answer about atmospheric chemistry, what is the difference between lightning produced and burning fossil fuel produced oxides of nitrogen?

 

Other than of course quantities, would both still be washed out of the air by rain and act as a fertiliser and hence the algae blooms seen in swimming pools?

 

Andy

[Northmoor]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

It's the same here, although the Royal Shrewsbury does not have any  convenient free car parking outside the grounds due to it's remote location and parking restrictions  outside the grounds.  

 

The charges are graded into time units so the first 2 hours is £3.50, with further increments the longer you stay.  That's why I wanted to be inside the 'allowance'. i.e. not paying more than the standing charge of £3.50.

One of the great demonstrations of the inability of government to perform joined up thinking.  A strategy to avoid creating large new traffic flows, undone by the insistence on the NHS building a new hospital in some fields four miles from the nearest town.

 

Our local hospital is just over two miles away - I have actually walked back from appointments there in the past - and served by two of the highest frequency bus services, in an area not blessed with public transport.  However, it's car park, which was double-decked a few years ago, is always rammed because to a lot of people in this area, being seen using public transport would be like being spotted using a food bank.

[Tony_S]

7 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Further to a previous answer about atmospheric chemistry, what is the difference between lightning produced and burning fossil fuel produced oxides of nitrogen?

 

Other than of course quantities, would both still be washed out of the air by rain and act as a fertiliser and hence the algae blooms seen in swimming pools?

 

Andy

I suppose plant life has evolved to cope with the nitrogen products washed out of the sky following lightning storms. Continual exposure to oxidising fallout from human production is likely to harm them. Probably bad enough to harm humans sensitive bits like eyes too. Collecting nitrogen compounds from industry is profitable, many fertilisers start from nitrogen products. Years ago stuff just got vented. At one time when driving towards London there was a chimney vented brown fumes. This was from a margarine factory!

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

That explains why our Hosta collection does so well.

 

Grown just under the spoil pipe I take it then.

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

The cow and Chinook

Great name for a pub!

[bbishop]

News from Lord's- the Monkey will be happy,  meanwhile I had three Little Sicks. One day to go, certainly for me,  probably for the game.  Bill 

[Winslow Boy]

45 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I suppose plant life has evolved to cope with the nitrogen products washed out of the sky following lightning storms. Continual exposure to oxidising fallout from human production is likely to harm them. Probably bad enough to harm humans sensitive bits like eyes too. Collecting nitrogen compounds from industry is profitable, many fertilisers start from nitrogen products. Years ago stuff just got vented. At one time when driving towards London there was a chimney vented brown fumes. This was from a margarine factory!

 

As with most things its the size and the quantity that are the problem. In the good old days aka the factory belching brown fumes it was a relatively ' small' e amount confined to a ' limited' area. With nitrates produced from water run off the sheer quantities and the area are absolutely staggering.  We could of course not bother farming animals and go back to eating nuts and berries but of course then there be a shortage of them. Quioa milkshake anyone.

[SM42]

Many deltics have been allocated today to a couple of projects at SM42 Towers, that hopefully will be completed over the next three weeks. 

 

Carpet fitting up first next week followed by the garden refurb 10 days later. 

 

Both the room and garden need  tidying in preparation so that there is room for our contractors to do their stuff.

 

In amongst all this an MOT is due . 

 

At some point I need to dig out the bicycles, so we can get some practice in ready for another big bike ride in the motherland in mid August. 

 

It is also our last day dog sitting today. 

 

Can't say I'm sad to see our guest leave and Mrs SM42 is going off the idea of pets

 

She's realising they take a lot of time and commitment and she has enough on her plate being the adult at SM42 Towers. 

 

Andy

[Tony_S]

16 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Mrs SM42 is going off the idea of pets

What about small rodents? We had hamsters and rats. They can be very entertaining and are easy to care for.  

[Northmoor]

58 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

As with most things its the size and the quantity that are the problem. In the good old days aka the factory belching brown fumes it was a relatively ' small' e amount confined to a ' limited' area. With nitrates produced from water run off the sheer quantities and the area are absolutely staggering.  We could of course not bother farming animals and go back to eating nuts and berries but of course then there be a shortage of them. Quioa milkshake anyone.

Not so many years ago I think it was the World Health Organisation who calculated that there was sufficient land to feed the world on a largely vegetarian diet, about three times over.  I'm not vegan or even veggie so no axe to grind, but the world is only short of food because it increasingly tries to mimic the Western diet.  Rearing animals for food is actually quite an inefficient use of land.

 

Obviously you can't substitute useful food crops on pastoral land overnight, perhaps never, but then a lot of our uplands used to be wooded until we cut them down and decided to rear sheep on them instead.  Unfortunately sheep farming in the UK only really exists because of very high subsidies, it is hopelessly uneconomic at the price for lamb that most of us are prepared to pay.

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Great name for a pub!

 

And both about wind.

[Dave Hunt]

I would imagine that the cow was farting both from fright and due to having a big strop under its belly but as I only saw it from a distance I couldn't be sure.

 

Dave

Edited June 30, 2023 by Dave Hunt

[Dave Hunt]

25 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

..... a lot of our uplands used to be wooded until we cut them down and decided to rear sheep on them instead.  

 

And there are vast swathes of South American rain forest that are being slashed and burned daily to allow more cattle to be accommodated just so they can fart constantly and add to atmospheric pollution before being turned into burgers.

 

Dave

[AndyID]

Of course I picked the hottest day I could to weld this contraption. (I like to think of my welding technique as "crude but effective")

 

The square tube clamped to it is a bottom rail of the deck railings I'm supposed to be making. The legs thing raises it to a height that I can weld the verticals to the rail without bending over all the time. There's also a jig to hold the verticals in position while I weld them. All this would be overkill if I didn't have so much railing to make.

 

[Dave Hunt]

The plumber came today and sorted the leaks out so Hunt Towers is now entering the last phase of the great kitchen debacle refurbishment, i.e., decorating. Starting tomorrow I'll be doing all the preparation, which will involve a lot of sanding down rough bits of wall where tiles have been removed, filling gaps and holes, fixing sections of skirting etc. I've got a day off on Sunday to go to the Warley Club's open day but will be back to it on Monday so that painting can commence and be finished a week today. I wonder if Polish Andy is available?

 

Dave   

[polybear]

8 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

The plumber came today and sorted the leaks out

 

Bear has "several" of these (or similar) scattered about Bear Towers (including beneath - or within certain strategic kitchen cabinets) in order to provide some advance warning in the event of a leak:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BDFX2LR9?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

- there's one to detect leaks from the dishwasher, another inside the sink cabinet and a third for the washing machine.

[Canal Digger]

Meanwhile here in Chippenham Heights, work continues with the floor tiles in the multiple Deltic costing Conservatory. To be followed by a new patio, my summer planned out.  

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I once saw a flying cow. Admittedly it was slung underneath a Chinook but it still counts. The reason it was slung under a Chinook was that some naughty pilot had passed a bit too close to the poor animal, which had then panicked and blindly galloped over the edge of a cliff but had only dropped about ten feet or so when it landed on a ledge where it was marooned. Since the RAF was to blame it was agreed that the farmer had a reasonable claim for assistance (the cow was miraculously unhurt by the fall) so the Chinook was despatched to effect the recovery. It was quite a complex process involving a vet and some members of a mountain rescue team as well but was ultimately successful. The pilot was deep in the stuff the cow had emitted in its panic.

And no, it wasn't me.

 

Dave

 

4 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

That, I would like to see photos of. The cow and Chinook, that is.

Just as well it wasn't a pig.

[AndyID]

20 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Bear has "several" of these (or similar) scattered about Bear Towers (including beneath - or within certain strategic kitchen cabinets) in order to provide some advance warning in the event of a leak:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BDFX2LR9?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

- there's one to detect leaks from the dishwasher, another inside the sink cabinet and a third for the washing machine.

 

But then you might need to get a beep detector so you can find the source of the expletive beep 😄

 

And if that's not enough beeping you can always get one of these,

 

https://www.amazon.com/AnnoyingPCB-Ultimate-Productivity-Destroyer-Assembled/dp/B08KG6XHN1/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1W5Y1OB7YVIWQ&keywords=prank+beeper&qid=1688158642&sprefix=prank+beeper%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

[SM42]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 I wonder if Polish Andy is available?

 

Dave   

 

Unfortunately I'm on nights for some of next week and I have some prep and painting to do before the carpet fitter arrives on Friday. 

 

I also have quite a lot of painting still to do here too. 

 

Andy

[Dave Hunt]

From all the posts recently it would appear that home 'improvements' are endemic among TNMers and that between us we could build, alter, extend or refurbish any property.....

....just leaving Polish Andy to paint it.

 

Dave

[AndyID]

18 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

From all the posts recently it would appear that home 'improvements' are endemic among TNMers and that between us we could build, alter, extend or refurbish any property.....

....just leaving Polish Andy to paint it.

 

Dave

 

Indeed. Those deck railings are not going to paint themselves. I wonder he's up for a bit of powder coating?

[SM42]

1 minute ago, AndyID said:

 

Indeed. Those deck railings are not going to paint themselves. I wonder he's up for a bit of powder coating?

 

The last time I powder coated something was when I knocked the jar of  weathering powder over

 

Andy

[newbryford]

4 hours ago, SM42 said:

Many deltics have been allocated today to a couple of projects at SM42 Towers, that hopefully will be completed over the next three weeks. 

 

Carpet fitting up first next week followed by the garden refurb 10 days later. 

 

 

 

 

I hope you've painted the skirting boards ahead of the carpet arrival.

[newbryford]

4 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

 

It is also our last day dog sitting today. 

 

Can't say I'm sad to see our guest leave and Mrs SM42 is going off the idea of pets

 

 

Junior NB is currently looking after a kitten pending re-homing.

She - like the NB household - is a cat lover but is rapidly going off the idea of taking this one on. 

(Where she currently lives is not conducive to letting them roam freely outdoors)

 

The caption that accompanied this pic was:

 

"Harness training isn’t going to well. I now have a clean floor"