The Night Mail

[WessexEclectic]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 
Even the Vatican puts unnecessary smoke up chimney when a flag would do the same job with no pollution

Thought the smoke was originally from the burning of the voting slips - thereby ensuring the final ballot's secrecy?

Edited August 8 by WessexEclectic

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I don't follow why you don't follow my logic, meaning there's not much point continuing this one.

It's very simple. The Subcontinent has a huge population packed into its landmass. Its agriculture and economy are strained to the limits, supporting them in poverty. If it could reduce its population by 50%, it would still be farming every acre and its industry would still be polluting hideously, because they do not regard it as a priority. 

 

 

[Tony_S]

54 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

It's very simple. The Subcontinent has a huge population packed into its landmass. Its agriculture and economy are strained to the limits, supporting them in poverty. If it could reduce its population by 50%, it would still be farming every acre and its industry would still be polluting hideously, because they do not regard it as a priority. 

 

 

I’ll forward your advice to my wife’s cousin and he can pass it on when he next has a meeting with Mr Modi.

[jjb1970]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Would that be the equivalent of sanding the flues on an oil burning steam loco. That can produce quite spectacular effects. 

 

Jamie 

 

Pretty much. 

 

In marine and power plant boilers it is a series of lances which blow steam through the tube banks. They're normally kept retracted and are inserted into the boiler flue path when cleaning tubes. There's normally multiple lances which operate in a sequence, on big boilers with lots of superheated, interstage reheat and economizers there can be loads of them. 

 

On diesel engine waste heat recovery units it depends on the heat balance. Some installations with large waste heat steam generators and superheated for steam turbine generators can be pretty much as big as main boilers with multiple steam lances. If the heat is tapped off in other ways and the economizers are just for process steam they might have compressed air soot blower lances.

 

When I was at sea the soot just went up the stack to atmosphere and dropped into the sea after a while, depending on speed. Power plants have large filters to catch the soot, which is then handled as hazardous waste. A nice thing about natural gas fuelled combined cycle plants is it isn't necessary as soot and PM are extremely low.

[SM42]

2 hours ago, WessexEclectic said:

Thought the smoke was originally from the burning of the voting slips - thereby ensuring the final ballot's secrecy?

 

Surely the use a black slip to vote against and a white for, so not very secret as they pop it in the box and then they only burn the one colour. 

 

😁

 

 

ION, I've had my Polish head massage, or is that head polish. 

 

Hair has been cut and railway club was not open today

 

I'm just waiting a call from Mrs SM42 to pick her up and I'm contemplating trying to find another model shop, that is ocal, but that I have not been to before. 

 

Andy

Edited August 8 by SM42

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

 

Surely the use a black slip to vote against and a white for, so not very secret as they pop it in the box and then they only burn the one colour. 

 

😁

 

 

ION, I've had my Polish head massage, or is that head polish. 

 

Hair has been cut and railway club was not open today

 

I'm just waiting a call from Mrs SM42 to pick her up and I'm contemplating trying to find another model shop, that is ocal, but that I have not been to before. 

 

Andy

So what was it like?

 

Did they rub aromatic oils in or was it a case of a buff and polish aka shoe shine.

We need to know.

[Willie Whizz]

Per capita measures may be useful to keep matters under control once the problems have been solved, but they are meaningless unless and until the volume of pollution is reduced, whoever is producing it. Those little low-lying island groups in the Indian Ocean produce negligible emissions, but unless India cuts its output they will be the ones to be submerged. 
 

And I won’t accept blame for what Britain was doing 100+ years ago as a meaningful cause of today’s problems. We barely do it any more, we have little heavy industry left by comparison; and we know now it’s wrong, it wasn’t nearly so apparent

back then. China, India, USA and the other big offenders know full well what is happening today and yet continue. Just because we were first doesn’t give them an excuse to do the same. 

[SM42]

14 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

So what was it like?

 

Did they rub aromatic oils in or was it a case of a buff and polish aka shoe shine.

We need to know.

 

A bit of everything really.

Aromatic oily stuff, various points had pressure applied and a general massaging of the lumps and bumps on my head, neck and shoulders, all to a soothing music soundtrack and a wierd, rotaring moon,stars, galaxies and comets montage being projected onto the ceiling.

 

Very relaxing. 

 

I even nodded off part way through despite being pummelled about the cheek bones.

 

It was a bit ticklish at times too. 

 

Andy

Edited August 8 by SM42

[SM42]

It's official, I'm old. 

 

A nice young blonde, lady smiled at me on the tram today. 

 

 

 

And then offered,

 

 

 

me her seat. 

 

Pah!

 

Andy

Edited August 8 by SM42

[PhilJ W]

2 minutes ago, SM42 said:

It's official, I'm old. 

 

A nice young blonde, lady smiled at me on the tram today. 

 

 

 

And then offered me her seat. 

 

Pah!

 

Andy

And did you check that your flies were done up?

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

It's official, I'm old. 

 

A nice young blonde, lady smiled at me on the tram today. 

 

 

 

And then offered,

 

 

 

me her seat. 

 

Pah!

 

Andy

I realised that 9 years ago when I was given the pensioners discount on the Mersey Ferry without asking for it or even realising.  It was only when I checked the price paid with a friend thatvI worked out what had had happened. 

 

Jamie

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

It's official, I'm old. 

 

A nice young blonde, lady smiled at me on the tram today. 

 

 

 

And then offered,

 

 

 

me her seat. 

 

Pah!

 

Andy

 

Its equally galling when you realise the smile wasn't because she liked you....

 

You should grab all that wrinklyhood offers with both hands, because we deserve it!

 

22 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I realised that 9 years ago when I was given the pensioners discount on the Mersey Ferry without asking for it or even realising.  It was only when I checked the price paid with a friend thatvI worked out what had had happened. 

 

Jamie

 

From 60 I had a Merseytravel bus pass, valid on not just buses in the Merseytravel region but the ferries (but not "river cruises") and the trains, even as far as Chester...  After arriving at 66, the bus component also extended nationally, which was handy for my holiday in York last week!

 

[Hroth]

 

And tomorrow I might be trotting off to Chester to view Pete Watermans latest effort at the Cathedral.

 

[Willie Whizz]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

I realised that 9 years ago when I was given the pensioners discount on the Mersey Ferry without asking for it or even realising.  It was only when I checked the price paid with a friend thatvI worked out what had had happened. 

 

Jamie

It could have been worse. When I was still only in my late 50s a nice young lady on the turnstiles at Notts County FC offered me the “Senior Citizens Discount”. I was so deeply offended, I insisted on paying full price instead of saving myself several quid. 

[SM42]

4 minutes ago, Willie Whizz said:

It could have been worse. When I was still only in my late 50s a nice young lady on the turnstiles at Notts County FC offered me the “Senior Citizens Discount”. I was so deeply offended, I insisted on paying full price instead of saving myself several quid. 

 

I'm not in my late 50s yet.  

 

I do get discount at the barber's, but I'm not sure if it's because they think I'm a pensioner or because I  dont have anything to cut on top, just the sides.

 

Andy

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, SM42 said:

It's official, I'm old. 

 

A nice young blonde, lady smiled at me on the tram today. 

 

 

 

And then offered, me her seat. 

 

Pah!

 

Andy

But, did you accept the offer?

[Hroth]

39 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

I'm not in my late 50s yet.  

 

I do get discount at the barber's, but I'm not sure if it's because they think I'm a pensioner or because I  dont have anything to cut on top, just the sides.

 

Andy

 

You've obviously got a "lived-in" head!

 

[Tony_S]

39 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

I'm not in my late 50s yet.  

 

I do get discount at the barber's, but I'm not sure if it's because they think I'm a pensioner or because I  dont have anything to cut on top, just the sides.

 

Andy

Is that the Polish or the English barbers. 

[Timboh]

I was in Asda a while ago at self service checkout. The alarm sounded when I put a bottle of vodka through it. A staff wandered up, looked at the bottle, looked at me, laughed and walked away. That made me feel old.

[SM42]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

But, did you accept the offer?

 

Of course. 

 

To say no would cause offence. 

 

 

 

 

Andy

Edited August 8 by SM42

[SM42]

55 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Is that the Polish or the English barbers. 

 

English. 

 

It's a flat rate here

 

Or they charge a search fee

 

Andy

Edited August 8 by SM42

[Northmoor]

11 hours ago, rockershovel said:

I really don't follow your logic. If I were to live on the street, huddling under a piece of polythene when it rained and died at 35 of the assorted diseases that come from having no access to fresh water or sewage disposal; went everywhere on foot or by bicycle, think how low my emissions would be!

 

Hundreds of millions live much like that in the Subcontinent, yet their cumulative emissions are vast because of their sheer numbers.

 

We are a small island with a population in the tens of millions. We could live like Franciscan friars, begging at the roadside and the difference wouldn't be detectable globally 

I highly recommend the work of the late Hans Rosling in explaining the inequalities in this subject:

https://www.gapminder.org/tools/#$chart-type=bubbles&url=v2

 

Some of his work on how population growth is not going to overwhelm the world is well worth reading.

 

If only totals matter and not per capita, consider the analogy from @jjb1970.  Ten households live in one street which is awash with litter.  90% of it comes from one household.  Do you address the problem by asking everyone to pick up 10% of their own litter?

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

English. 

 

It's a flat rate here

 

Or they charge a search fee

 

Andy

For you or the hair?

[SM42]

2 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

For you or the hair?

 

The hairs of course. 

No need to search for me, I arrived in a blaze of glory, handsomeness and apparently old age. 

 

My phone now seems to get finding additional storage space without me actually deleting anything. 

 

I've gained 0.5 kb since yesterday. 

 

Anyhow, sun  rise is at 0524hrs tomorrow and I've got painting to do, so it's getting time for SM42 night night. 

 

If only the marauding teenagers outside would go home.

 

Andy

[Winslow Boy]

7 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

The hairs of course. 

No need to search for me, I arrived in a blaze of glory, handsomeness and apparently old age. 

 

My phone now seems to get finding additional storage space without me actually deleting anything. 

 

I've gained 0.5 kb since yesterday. 

 

Anyhow, sun  rise is at 0524hrs tomorrow and I've got painting to do, so it's getting time for SM42 night night. 

 

If only the marauding teenagers outside would go home.

 

Andy

Well that's a relief. Haven forbid that they had to find you.

 

Re marauding teenagers you can keep them we don't want them back- postage would be too much.