The Night Mail

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I had something of an epiphany in the early 90's. I had previously worked on ships built in Germany which had faults years and decades after delivery because of poor design or construction. I was then sent to Japan to stand by some ships building in Japan. The first ones were not fault free but it was notable that whenever a fault was identified they did a full analysis of what the fault was and why it had occurred and fed that back into the design and build processes. By hull three or four they were being floated out (on time), doing sea trials and going straight into service with no problems. The idea that you can't build something big and complicated like a ship without having teething problems is alien to Japanese and Korean people, if anything the Korean's took it up a step from Japan.

This sounds like downstream benefits of Deming's pronounced influence on post-war Japanese industry. Quality above quantity was less attractive in the West. 

[bbishop]

I drive an elderly petrol Yeti.  Someone needs to explain what DPF means.

[Oldddudders]

16 minutes ago, bbishop said:

 Someone needs to explain what DPF means.

Apparently it's a Diesel Particulate Filter. I'm petrol too. 

[bbishop]

And back to Bruckner.  I would recommend the Seventh as a starting point, then the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth.  The Fourth is three beautiful movements but then he lost his way in the last movement.  Some conductors can drive the orchestra through to the coda but others just get bogged down.  The Fifth has an extraordinary final movement when Bruckner combines sonata form, fugue and chorale coherently.  Only he could have done that.  

 

So to the Eighth.  It is naturally a long work (80 - 90 minutes) with at least half an hour for the third movement.  I think the conductor should take the finale at a steady pace because in the best performances she/he has slowed down a fraction into the coda.  Jochum belted it to get his recording onto one CD and blitzed the coda - CD in bin.  I have an awful feeling Celibidache might go in the opposite direction.  With this work, if you can't get the final two minutes correct, there is no point in starting.  To explain, Bruckner collects all the themes from the previous 80 minutes and the orchestra plays them together.  To re-iterate, only he could have done that.

[Happy Hippo]

Is it true that you cannot enjoy Bruckner and Pannier tanks?

 

It's one or the other.

[Happy Hippo]

1 minute ago, bbishop said:

And back to Bruckner.  I would recommend the Seventh as a starting point, then the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth.  The Fourth is three beautiful movements but then he lost his way in the last movement.

There is a film of me losing it in the last movement!

[Tony_S]

7 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Apparently it's a Diesel Particulate Filter. I'm petrol too. 

Once upon a time it was particulates from combusting diesel fuel that were considered to be a problem so DPF units were fitted. The particulates get burned off when the filter gets hot. This doesn’t happen when diesels are used for short stop start journeys. If the DPF gets full, a light comes on requiring you to have a highish speed trip to get the DPF hot enough to empty and regenerate. More recent diesel cars have an AD-Blue system which injects a chemical into the exhaust to reduce Nitrogen oxides (NOx) being emitted. Ad-Blue is urea and water. 

[PhilJ W]

10 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

My understanding, from someone who makes them, was that the battery part of a hybrid was the cause. 

 

Andy

Only a few days ago there was the final report on the fire it stated clearly that the fire started in the DPF. The fact that the vehicle was a hybrid and the fire spreading to the batteries almost certainly added to conflagration does not alter the fact that the fire started in the DPF.

Edited 4 hours ago by PhilJ W

[jamie92208]

5 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Is it true that you cannot enjoy Bruckner and Pannier tanks?

 

It's one or the other.

If you put the two together do you get a Compound. 

 

Jamie

 

[Tony_S]

42 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

This sounds like downstream benefits of Deming's pronounced influence on post-war Japanese industry. Quality above quantity was less attractive in the West. 

My father said when he was young (he was born in 1923) “Made in Japan” was considered to mean something was cheap,and nasty. 

[bbishop]

8 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Is it true that you cannot enjoy Bruckner and Pannier tanks?

 

It's one or the other.

I love Pannier tanks - but only Belgian Pannier tanks.

[Hroth]

19 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

There is a film of me losing it in the last movement!

 

That'll be when the tail starts twirling? 🤔

 

Irresponsible people need to know.... 

 

[jjb1970]

30 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

My father said when he was young (he was born in 1923) “Made in Japan” was considered to mean something was cheap,and nasty. 

 

I am old enough to remember the expression  'jap cr*p', which was followed by similar ideas about the inferiority of products made in the Republic of Korea and China and will no doubt be followed by others in the future. 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

The Fifth has an extraordinary final movement when Bruckner combines sonata form, fugue and chorale coherently. 

 

The last few minutes of the final movement of the Fifth always reminds me of the episode of "The World at War" about the final collapse of Nazi Germany.  

From about here:

It was used as mood music...

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Hroth
more info

[PupCam]

On 14/10/2024 at 21:53, Hroth said:

Thought it was Dapols R&D dept, creating their new 14xx. They said it was for OO, but it looks like they're looking at larger scales than O now.....

 

That's one heck of a 3D printer

 

13 hours ago, Tony_S said:

If sat nav updates make diesels misbehave I am glad I have a petrol engined car now. My neighbours had a terrible time with the dpf and excessive ad blue consumption. The garage tried to say it was how they drove. Turned out to be a faulty metering valve and sensor. The two diesels I had had dpf but not ad blue. Never had a DPF warning. 

 

Presumably the only way a SatNav  upgrade can have any influence on fuel economy is if it persistently takes you via the longest, slowest routes .....

 

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have come to the conclusion that cars are too clever for their own good.

 

The other thing that bothers me is the ever increasing technology in 'driver assist'.

 

Better to call it an enhancing driver complacency system, as I'm sure it actually erodes your driving skills.

 

Now that Hippo is the very best and most sensible post seen on the internet in a long time!

 

I'm a firm believer that car drivers should DRIVE their cars and more importantly ACT like they are responsible for its safe passage at all times.   I realise that legally they are but any aids that gives the idiots more of an excuse to get their phones out and start texting, checking Emails etc etc is a step backward.       This could easily morph into a rant so I'll stop .....

 

5 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

On diesel engine DPFs, I found switching to Shell V Power Plus did wonders for the DPF regeneration performance of a VW-Audi 2.0TDi engine. At the time it was a gas-to-liquid fuel, the claimed engine performance improvement might be charitably described as 'optimistic' in my experience (any fuel use reduction I got was far outweighed by the higher cost of fuel to start with) but it did eliminate an issue we had that my wife's use case meant she was having regular issues with DPF warning lights as it wasn't going through its recycle along with short start/stop journeys. The local Audi centre said there wasn't much they could do as it was her use case after moving home and a couple of other things that was the problem but that V Power Plus was worth a go as it was much cleaner burning and in fairness they were right.

 

I've found the exact opposite with Monty the petrol Mondog.  He's of an age when it's debatable if E10 is suitable.    However I did give it a go a few times and the reduction in the "not very good fuel economy anyway" was quite marked so it's premium E5 for him all the time and Esso Premium (or whatever it's called) for the old bikes as that doesn't (didn't?) have any ethanol in it round these parts even though the spec says words to the effect of  "Up to 5% Ethanol in E5 fuel".    In the case of the bikes, the low total mileage more than justifies any additional expense to remove the risk of ethanol induced potential damage.

 

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

I am old enough to remember the expression  'jap cr*p', which was followed by similar ideas about the inferiority of products made in the Republic of Korea and China and will no doubt be followed by others in the future. 

 

A phrase used extensively in the '60s and '70s to describe those foreign bikes that were doing away with the British Motorcycle industry.   In reality perhaps it was something to do with the fact that at the time the were producing modern, high performance, high reliability, good motorcycles and the British motorcycle industry was still resting on its 20+ year old laurels and , errr, wasn't?

 

[Willie Whizz]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I am old enough to remember the expression  'jap cr*p', which was followed by similar ideas about the inferiority of products made in the Republic of Korea and China and will no doubt be followed by others in the future. 

As a young lad I remember playing with metal toys that were stamped “Empire Made”. I think we were meant to regard that as a Good Thing, next only to “Made in England” (never “Britain” back then, curiously) but a truer description would almost certainly have been “Made in Hong Kong”. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Willie Whizz

[SM42]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Only a few days ago there was the final report on the fire it stated clearly that the fire started in the DPF. The fact that the vehicle was a hybrid and the fire spreading to the batteries almost certainly added to conflagration does not alter the fact that the fire started in the DPF.

 

I've just quickly read the Bedfordhire FS report, published  on 14 October, ( I didn't realise it had been released)  and that said something different

 

Quote

"As a result of the investigation, all evidence points to the most probable cause being an electrical fault or component failure, which began in the engine bay of the vehicle while it was in motion. "

 

My insider was, it seems, going by the sudden cloud of white smoke from under the vehicle in CCTV footage.

Obviously more detail has emerged since their assessment.

 

It seems that whatever failed, had already done so when the car arrived and was issuing light smoke from the nearside. 

 

If it had only developed a few minutes earlier, it would be one of those brief lines on the travel news.

 

 

Andy  

[jjb1970]

I know the owners manuals of DPF fitted cars we have had highlighted very high temperatures during regeneration cycles and recommended care where parking, to avoid off road parking on grass.

[SM42]

Here at SM42 Towers we have certainly noticed around a 10% improvement in fuel economy using super rather than normal petrol in Mrs SM42's ride

 

In the diesel the difference is negligible  

 

A friend did start to use V power type diesel recently and now has an engine management light glowing away.

 

Andy

Edited 59 minutes ago by SM42

[SM42]

1 minute ago, jjb1970 said:

I know the owners manuals of DPF fitted cars we have had highlighted very high temperatures during regeneration cycles and recommended care where parking, to avoid off road parking on grass.

 

I think there was a similar issue with Catalytic convertors. 

 

In the manual for Mrs SM42's current petrol powered car, there is also a section on PPF, petrol particulate filters. 

 

Andy

[jjb1970]

15 minutes ago, PupCam said:

A phrase used extensively in the '60s and '70s to describe those foreign bikes that were doing away with the British Motorcycle industry.   In reality perhaps it was something to do with the fact that at the time the were producing modern, high performance, high reliability, good motorcycles and the British motorcycle industry was still resting on its 20+ year old laurels and , errr, wasn't?

 

 

The story of so much British industry, sadly. A lot of it would probably have gone anyway as competitors muscled in. Look at Japan for example, many of their great companies were hammered by Korean companies despite offering very well made high quality goods and now the Korean's are struggling in the face of Chinese competition in many segments. However the way British industry was managed probably made the carnage worse than it might have been.

[jjb1970]

3 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

I think there was a similar issue with Catalytic convertors. 

 

In the manual for Mrs SM42's current petrol powered car, there is also a section on PPF, petrol particulate filters. 

 

Andy

 

Gasoline direct injection engines can have quite high PM emissions in the smallest particle sizes, which tend to be the most hazardous for public health.

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

One of our regular TNM posters got a loan car and complained most bitterly about how complicated the latest technology was.

 

I have now found, in Tokyo, something more appropriate for our fellow TNM

 

 

Although you do need a Smartphone App

 

We have them. Only ours are called Lime. We were 'selected/drew the short straw' when they were put out for testing.

 

They are a f@*king nuisance as they get dumped/left everywhere and the Herbert's that use them need using for shark bait. Other than that absolutely brilliant idea.

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

There is a film of me losing it in the last movement!

Just don't ask what happens in the Sixth.

[iL Dottore]

9 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

We have them. Only ours are called Lime. We were 'selected/drew the short straw' when they were put out for testing.

 

They are a f@*king nuisance as they get dumped/left everywhere and the Herbert's that use them need using for shark bait. Other than that absolutely brilliant idea.

Well, that’s the UK for you. You can’t provide anything to the British public without a whole bunch of scrotes messing it up for everybody else. In Japan, the scooters (and the bicycles) are returned to the charging stations as requested and instructed.

 

Unfortunately, most foreigners coming to Japan have absolutely no idea how to behave – so now you have posters throughout Tokyo on the Metro and the local train lines in multiple languages (generally English, Korean and Chinese) instructing people what to do and – more importantly – what not to do? 

 

This evening, coming back from the Mariakan museum of modern technology and innovation, I had the misfortune of a group of Chinese tourists boarded the train I was on. They crude and boorish behaviour made it very clear why, for many Japanese (and especially the guides I had in Hokkaido last week) – they are particularly loathed and have replaced the “ugly American“ as being of the least desirable tourist types to let into the country.

 

The Mariakan museum is a superb, state of the art, museum dedicated to all matters technological and scientific. Of the many impressive exhibits was this globe made up of about 10,000 small OLED display screens demonstrating various global phenomena:

 

There was a fair amount on robotics as well, although not as much as I had hoped. Presumably because the rate at which robotics is changing is far faster than any museum can realistically hope to keep up to with. They were able to demonstrate a couple of current generation robots including the rather endearing Aibo - a robotic dog (which you could interact with) 

 

It is very much the museum that the Science Museum in London should be and isn’t. Nothing is dumbed down, although some displays are relatively simplistic with information available for those wanting to learn more and in more detail (such as the display on iPS: Induced pluripotent stem cells).  As you would imagine, there are many very high-tech interactive displays – all of which work and are in spotless, “as new “condition.

 

A lot of this I suspect is down to how the Japanese behave and act in public spaces and a lot, I would venture, is down to the fact that the curators have no agenda to push (like “decolonisation”)