The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

I've just received two parcels from Amazon.

 

The first was a set on long picks, which I needed since my other set went to my son and has not yet been returned.

 

The second package was supposed to be a set of circlip pliers:  Again my originals went to the same place.

 

Imagine my surprise when I opened the package to find a single box of Buscopan for the treatment of IBS.

 

Obviously a mix up in the system but I pity the poor sod who was expecting the Buscopan, and who now has to work everything out with various circlip removal pliers.

 

In other news, this morning was spent cleaning and this afternoon was spent modifying a cassette table for Pantmawr North.

 

PN will fit in the new(er) car, but not with the L shaped cassette table as when it is stacked to travel, there is insufficient height to allow this to happen.

 

Rather than having to borrow suitable transport, I have removed a set of legs off the 'L' of the cassette table and added them to the section of the cassette table that abuts the scenic section.  This was easier than trying to make the 'L' which had four legs line up with the fixing bolt holes in the scenic section.

 

This reduces the train length by one wagon length, although I suppose I could make a short bolt on extension that would fit on the end of the cassette table.

 

I know that Jamie did similar with his traverser to allow a loco release to be fitted.

 

I've certainly got enough timber to make one up, and it would stow quite easily in one of the footwells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2023 by Happy Hippo

[Happy Hippo]

7 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

At least it wasn’t a sheep.

Are you casting long range aspersions on us Welsh folk?

[jamie92208]

13 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

At least it wasn’t a sheep.

Nearly though Telfland is rather near the border with Wales. 

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Thanks for the mention @Happy Hippo, yes I did do something similar.   Here are a couple of pictures from 2013.   Board D1 is the traverser/fiddle yard for the Castle Branch.  The traverser has to be the length of a 3 car EMU which is 150 scale feet which works out at 1050mm.   The board needed a run in from the board nearest (C1) which took it up to the standard 5' length.  Thus to get a loco run round I needed the fold over flap. 

I did put a couple of extra track pieces on the flap  to give some loco and brake van storage.   The added but unplanned bonus is that by the addition of a couple of pieces of plywood the flap locked the traverser in position when folded.

 

Just out of interest I built the traverser deck first then added the runners then built the rest of the board round it.

The Castle Branch control panel is also attached to that board.

 

Jamie  

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by jamie92208

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

PN will fit in the new(er) car, but now with the L shaped cassette table as when it is stacked to travel, there is insufficient height to allow this to happen.

I obtained some HO modules from AndrewC when he stopped going to our US railroad themed club. They were designed to fit in his Freelander. I thought there would be no problem getting them in to my Freelander. However my Mark 2 Freelander was about an inch narrower inside which meant they didn’t fit nicely as before. 

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

A quick calculation of the numbers of parents required as we go back through the generations - powers of 2- will discover that there cannot be sufficient ancestors to prevent cousin marriage by the time we go back about 30 generations (circa 1300). You need more ancestors than the population!

 

We are all rather closely related in short, and the genetic evidence confirms this.  There's much, much less variation in the human gene pool than would be expected, clearly so when compared to our nearest ape cousins. An uncle who held a chair of biochemistry at Leiden was fond of telling people that a typical whoop of chimpanzees - roughly 40 individuals - had more genetic diversity than that of entire global humanity. The story behind this is that the human population had at least one serious bottleneck, and the suspicion is that there were at least two: when you are down to a population of a few dozen the choice of breeding partners is 'limited'...

 

I believe there is a theory that the human genome was quite diverse like other mammals but the entire population was almost wiped out at some point except for a very small group.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

21 minutes ago, AndyID said:

...the entire population was almost wiped out at some point except for a very small group.

I am far from up to speed on this, but the thinking was not just once, but twice. The primary evidence was from the mitochondria which are transmitted by females only. The variation from natural mutation of the mitochondria suggests that before modern humans left Africa the population at one point was so small that the only surviving women whose reproductive efforts subsequently survived were all descended from one woman. There's apparently similar evidence of 'not many people'. from some male chromosome evidence, at a different point in time.

Edited November 7, 2023 by 34theletterbetweenB&D
clarification

[Dave Hunt]

On 06/11/2023 at 18:09, Winslow Boy said:

Dear All re the proposed merger of Telfland and Manutopea. I've had a most disturbing thought. Due to the increase in the gene pool with such a merger there's a rather high probability that a Telf might emerge with a somewhat higher than normal I.Q. This 'evolved' Telf 2 might then propagate leading to a even 'higher level' Telf 3.

 

On no accounts must this be allowed. I would therefore. like to propose that Hipposhire be declared a buffer zone in order to protect the gene pool. I know it will be a great sacrifice for those inhabitants of Hipposhire but there bravery in the face of such overwhelming odds will be rewarded in the knowledge that the rest of us will able to enjoy the sunlight uplands without fear of such terror.

 

Message ends.

 

Fear not, both Hunt Towers and The Hippodrome have secret subterranean access to the outside world. Those at the Hippodrome are, unsurprisingly, considerably the larger.

 

Dave 

[Dave Hunt]

19 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

I am far from up to speed on this, but the thinking was not just once, but twice. The primary evidence was from the mitochondria which are transmitted by females only. The variation from natural mutation of the mitochondria suggests that before modern humans left Africa the population at one point was so small that the only surviving women whose reproductive efforts subsequently survived were all descended from one woman. There's apparently similar evidence of 'not many people'. from some male chromosome evidence, at a different point in time.

 

There was a similar bottleneck in Telfland in about 1950 when the total population was limited to one woman and her brother.

 

Dave

[Hroth]

30 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

I am far from up to speed on this, but the thinking was not just once, but twice. The primary evidence was from the mitochondria which are transmitted by females only. The variation from natural mutation of the mitochondria suggests that before modern humans left Africa the population at one point was so small that the only surviving women whose reproductive efforts subsequently survived were all descended from one woman. There's apparently similar evidence of 'not many people'. from some male chromosome evidence, at a different point in time.

 

Mitochondrial Eve. She sounds like a plucky gel!

 

[Hroth]

11 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

There was a similar bottleneck in Telfland in about 1950 when the total population was limited to one woman and her brother.

 

Dave

 

And they turned into feral creatures seeking new blood from the hinterlands....

 

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Thanks for the mention @Happy Hippo, yes I did do something similar.   Here are a couple of pictures from 2013.   Board D1 is the traverser/fiddle yard for the Castle Branch.  The traverser has to be the length of a 3 car EMU which is 150 scale feet which works out at 1050mm.   The board needed a run in from the board nearest (C1) which took it up to the standard 5' length.  Thus to get a loco run round I needed the fold over flap. 

I did put a couple of extra track pieces on the flap  to give some loco and brake van storage.   The added but unplanned bonus is that by the addition of a couple of pieces of plywood the flap locked the traverser in position when folded.

 

Just out of interest I built the traverser deck first then added the runners then built the rest of the board round it.

The Castle Branch control panel is also attached to that board.

 

Jamie  

 

You weren't by any chance a pin ball wizard Jamie.

[SM42]

A bonus of Mrs SM42's trip to the motherland is that  November 11th is not only Independence Day, it is also Swiety Marcin ( St Marcin)  day too. 

 

As the patron Saint of Poznan, he is celebrated by Rogale Marcinski, croissants made with white poppy seeds, covered in icing sugar paste and peanuts. 

 

Naturally these are on sale everywhere around Poznan  in large volumes and some have made it back to SM42 Towers 

 

 

Very nice ( better warm) and pushing toward 1000 calories each. 

 

Andy

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

And they turned into feral creatures seeking new blood from the hinterlands....

 

Now you see that's what worries me.

[SM42]

23 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

One assumes, yes I know that can be fatal but you know you only live once so make the best of it is what I say, that you a). got to the correct station and b) got there in time. Answers on a postcard to be received by two weeks ago this Friday*

 

* entries received after this date with still be counted but brownie points may not be awarded. Entrants do so in the full knowledge that answers may be used against them in a court of law at any point in the future, past or present time.

 

I can confirm the correct station  was arrived at with around 10 minutes to spare. 

 

Andy

[Winslow Boy]

2 minutes ago, SM42 said:

A bonus of Mrs SM42's trip to the motherland is that  November 11th is not only Independence Day, it is also Swiety Marcin ( St Marcin)  day too. 

 

As the patron Saint of Poznan, he is celebrated by Rogale Marcinski, croissants made with white poppy seeds, covered in icing sugar paste and peanuts. 

 

Naturally these are on sale everywhere around Poznan  in large volumes and some have made it back to SM42 Towers 

 

 

Very nice ( better warm) and pushing toward 1000 calories each. 

 

Andy

I believe that it's illegal for such food stuffs to be imported due to the high sugar content. Take them straight away to your nearest, open police station as they are contraband.

[Winslow Boy]

2 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

I can confirm the correct station  was arrived at with around 10 minutes to spare. 

 

Andy

I'm sorry but your answers weren't received prior to the closing date. So Null points have been awarded. Try again next time.

[SM42]

35 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I'm sorry but your answers weren't received prior to the closing date. So Null points have been awarded. Try again next time.

 

No points were expected 

 

All purely for information  purposes. 

 

37 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I believe that it's illegal for such food stuffs to be imported due to the high sugar content. Take them straight away to your nearest, open police station as they are contraband.

 

Could be tricky as they are mostly no longer in existence.

The last two  will be breakfast tomorrow and the nearest police station  doesn't open till after then 

 

Andy

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[PhilJ W]

43 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I believe that it's illegal for such food stuffs to be imported due to the high sugar content. Take them straight away to your nearest, open police station as they are contraband.

If you can find a police station.

[AndyID]

We must have a very smart mouse in the garage. The peanut butter bait had been removed from two traps without tripping the release. However it is not all that clever because it has been taking the rodenticide. There is a rather unpleasant pong in the garage so it's possible it has expired in there somewhere. Finding it will require serious effort. And possible barf bag (aka boak poke) deployment.

 

A slinky has been obtained to deter the squirrels from raiding the bird feeder. I don't want to pull up the beautifully crafted stand I welded (must have spent almost five minutes on it) so I will have to wind the slinky on to the pole.

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2023 by AndyID
Moinfo

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

No points were expected 

 

All purely for information  purposes. 

 

 

Could be tricky as they are mostly no longer in existence.

The last two  will be breakfast tomorrow and the nearest police station  doesn't open till after then 

 

Andy

Just be careful, some police stations have special toilets for recovering illegal substances that have been ingested.    T

 

Jamie

[iL Dottore]

10 hours ago, AndyID said:

I believe there is a theory that the human genome was quite diverse like other mammals but the entire population was almost wiped out at some point except for a very small group.

One of my many interests is human evolution (although I’m no expert) and there have been quite a few interesting written-for-the-layman books on the subject and (before the anti-evolution nutters had to be appeased). there were a number of equally informative television documentaries n the topic.
 

During the evolution of the hominid species that eventually became H0mo sapiens, there were many other hominid species - competing in the same ecological niche - with which our ancestors could interbreed with; as well as other hominid species competing in the same ecological niche, with which our ancestors could not interbreed with (although they probably tried). 
 

Why our ancestors eventually dominated this particular ecological niche and other hominid species didn’t  remains (and possibly will always remain) open to speculation. Many possibilities have been postulated: such as our ancestors were healthier than other hominids, less specialised (and thus better suited to tolerate environmental changes), more fecund, or just plain nastier*.  Although, as AndyID points out, even once our ancestors had been able to totally dominate this ecological niche of ours, it was still touch and go for our species over the millennia. 

9 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

I am far from up to speed on this, but the thinking was not just once, but twice. The primary evidence was from the mitochondria which are transmitted by females only. The variation from natural mutation of the mitochondria suggests that before modern humans left Africa the population at one point was so small that the only surviving women whose reproductive efforts subsequently survived were all descended from one woman. There's apparently similar evidence of 'not many people'. from some male chromosome evidence, at a different point in time.

Mitochondrial DNA (aka mDNA) is an interesting little bit of the  genome 

usually inherited from the mother, it determines hereditary traits in Eukaryotes.

 

Wiki nicely summarises that as “animal mtDNA evolves faster than nuclear genetic markers,[5][6][7] it represents a mainstay of phylogenetics and evolutionary biology. It also permits tracing the relationships of populations, and so has become important in anthropologyand biogeography”

9 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Mitochondrial Eve. She sounds like a plucky gel!

 

Hmmm. At least one mum many dads makes biological sense. Research shows that: Females typically mate with more than one male in a reproductive cycle and in a wide range of organisms, females that have mated with multiple males enjoy higher reproductive success and/or produce higher quality young. (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0006347#:~:text=Females typically mate with more,3]%2C [4]).

Of course in the context of Telfland (and many other places around the world) “higher quality young” merely refers to biological fitness (i.e. the ability to survive and reproduce). Ironically, it is this biological fitness - coupled with the lower and later age reproductive rate of higher IQ humans - that has allowed this human sub-species to proliferate.

 

From diverse posters on TNM, it is clear that in regards to Telfland (and elsewhere) the movie  Idiocracy is a documentary and not just a dystopian sci-fi comedy…

 

* my money is on “nastier”

[Hroth]

26 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Females typically mate with more than one male in a reproductive cycle and in a wide range of organisms, females that have mated with multiple males enjoy higher reproductive success and/or produce higher quality young.

 

As I said.

 

Plucky....

 

As for Telfland, a high, electrified fence encircling the district may be the only solution.

 

[iL Dottore]

@Happy Hippo realises that the brakes on his new layout transport vehicle are perhaps a touch too sensitive...