The Night Mail

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I've often thought that the common perception that when Caligula appointed his horse a senator it was the act of a madman, it was, in fact, given the track records of some Roman senators, one of the more sensible things he did.

 

Dave

 

The Air Chief Marshall of the Thai Royal Air Force was (until 2015) a dog named Fufu (or Foo Foo)....

Pretty good in a dog fight by all accounts....🤣

[jjb1970]

I think back to my time at South Tyneside College as a merchant navy cadet, I started there in 1989 which wasn't that long ago and almost all of the lecturers I remember would be fired within the first lecture today and probably worse. They were almost all cantankerous old boys who could start a fight in an empty room and weren't afraid to share.....ahem ...... robust opinions of many things. The weird thing is that despite the bluster and.....ahem........ questionable political positions they were genuinely committed to their students and were willing to go beyond the call of duty to push them through the course successfully. 

I went to university later then again to do an MSc and in most respects consider the rigor and quality of my HND education at South Tyneside above the BEng and MSc I did later. I know that sounds like a typical youth of today, world gone to hell in a handcart whinging about the modern world, but in this case I could point to parts of the math and analytical parts of the courses for which my original HND were higher. However, I don't want to turn into my old man.

[jjb1970]

I remember in the mid-90's on being promoted from 4th to 3rd engineer in P&OCL (or from 3OE to 2OE in P&OCL speak) I asked for the job specification that was meant to go with each position. The fleet personnel manager apologised profusely that he'd forgot to send it to me and promised to get it to me, next time I met him he gave me an envelope with my job specification - a hand scribbled note which said 'do as you're effing well told'. No doubt it'd be frowned on now but it's the most accurate job specification I've ever had.

[Compound2632]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Hippos are only employed short term at a senior management level so they can walk in, crap over everyone who gets in their way and then move on. 

 

Management hippocrisy.

 

5 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I've often thought that the common perception that when Caligula appointed his horse a senator it was the act of a madman, it was, in fact, given the track records of some Roman senators, one of the more sensible things he did.

 

It has also been suggested that it was comment on the intelligence of senators. Hippocritical, some might say.

[AndyID]

7 hours ago, polybear said:

 

DH aiding and abetting Big H to commit a War Crime.  This is getting nasty.

 

 

 

WB shares Bear's thoughts exactly.....

 

Joking aside I always thought "personnel" was a far better term than "human resources". It dehumanizes people by implying they are merely another commodity.

 

I mentioned that a few times in staff meetings with various employers here. It didn't go well.😄

 

(And don't get me started on " performance reviews" and "bell curves"!!)

[SM42]

"Human resources" serves as a clue to the one of the great lies of management *

" Staff are our most important asset"

 

Seems odd how easily it is decided that your most important asset is to be got rid of for the good of the business 

 

Andy

 

*credit to Scott Adams. Creator of Diibert.

Edited July 30, 2022 by SM42

[simontaylor484]

Thst junction of the M40 I always used to avoid heading North from Abingdon on a Friday. I used to come off the A34 at Family Farm services and go through Weston on the Green and over the top of the M40 on to the A43.

[New Haven Neil]

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I think back to my time at South Tyneside College snip<

 

Pah!  You mean South Shields Marine and Technical College! 😉 😆

 

Living a stone's throw from it, they sent me to Riversdale!  🙄

[Happy Hippo]

We had a quick amble around Kenilworth earlier this evening.  Now we are watching the Commonwealth Games coverage on BBC1 and getting in the mood for the Rugby Sevens finals tomorrow.

[SM42]

Ti's a terrible disaster.

 

Polish TV has gone through a retune.

 

Now we only have 6 channels 

 

Still struggle to understand them, but worst of all no Disco Polo. ( needs to be seen and heard  for full cultural effect)

 

I've got a choice of drama, history, obscure sports events and three versions of the news 

 

Luckily I have a supply of books, a selection of 1/35 military vehicle kits and a reasonable supply of beer. 

 

Or I could talk to Mrs SM42 

 

Andy

[PhilJ W]

11 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Huh. In Cockington, the bijou village where Sherry and I were married, they've just elected a new mayor - Patrick the Pony really is a Shetland! Local MP Kevin Foster attended a ceremony earlier this week, and I believe Zoe Ball is scheduled to be interviewing for Radio 2......

 

11 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I'm sure that Patrick will do a much better job than some of the other elected mayors we have been inflicted with over the years.

Could even make Prime Minister as one former mayor has done.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

Ti's a terrible disaster.

 

Polish TV has gone through a retune.

 

Now we only have 6 channels 

 

Still struggle to understand them, but worst of all no Disco Polo. ( needs to be seen and heard  for full cultural effect)

 

I've got a choice of drama, history, obscure sports events and three versions of the news 

 

Luckily I have a supply of books, a selection of 1/35 military vehicle kits and a reasonable supply of beer. 

 

Or I could talk to Mrs SM42 

 

Andy

 

That's being very cruel. Stick to what your good at reading and modelling. 

[Dave Hunt]

I've once again spent most of today sorting out, selling, giving away and trashing the contents of Mum & Dad's home. It was all going OK until I came across a large box full of photographs and letters going back  many, many years and I'm afraid that going through it had a bit of an emotional effect. Hence I'm feeling a bit black dog tonight so I'm hoping I can get it back in the kennel by morning.

 

Dave   

[figworthy]

6 hours ago, SM42 said:

"Human resources" serves as a clue to the one of the great lies of management *

" Staff are our most important asset"

 

Seems odd how easily it is decided that your most important asset is to be got rid of for the good of the business 

 

Andy

 

*credit to Scott Adams. Creator of Diibert.

Although after further consideration, it was discovered that staff came in after paper clips and carbon paper in the importance stakes.

 

Adrian

[BoD]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

I've once again spent most of today sorting out, selling, giving away and trashing the contents of Mum & Dad's home. It was all going OK until I came across a large box full of photographs and letters going back  many, many years and I'm afraid that going through it had a bit of an emotional effect. Hence I'm feeling a bit black dog tonight so I'm hoping I can get it back in the kennel by morning.

 

Dave   

 

Put them to one side and come back to them when you are  further down the grieving road.  You will enjoy them so much more and they will bring memories, mostly good and probably some less good ,  but you will be in a much better position to appreciate and enjoy them. 

 

I have  couple of boxes of such stuff waiting for the right time.

[PhilJ W]

A little bit of unknown history. Don't read this however if you are about to eat anything.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_latrine_disaster

[SM42]

2 hours ago, figworthy said:

Although after further consideration, it was discovered that staff came in after paper clips and carbon paper in the importance stakes.

 

Adrian

 

10th place I believe. 

 

This evening, in the absence of any reasonable TV,  having read a bit and dabbled at gluing bits of plastic together, I have rediscovered one of life's simple pleasures that i haven't partaken of since I was at least 18

( no sniggering at the back) 

 

Laying in the dark listening to a good radio station.  In  this case Radio Zlote Przeboje. 

 

Heaven.

 

 A shame to turn off and turn in.

 

Andy

Edited July 30, 2022 by SM42

[newbryford]

On 29/07/2022 at 15:05, Happy Hippo said:

 

 

Note to self:  The recycling of the timber includes cutting it up with various power tools.

 

 

 

 

Not always. Power tools are cheating, what's wrong with a good old fashioned handsaw?

[newbryford]

16 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

You’d probably need a Hell of a lot of JATO/RATO to get HH airborne….

 

Surely baked beans are cheaper.......

[newbryford]

15 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

 

Travelling south on the M40 Thursday we got as far as junction 9 which was very busy as it's the turn off for the A34 to Oxford, Cotswolds etc. Crawling along at about 5mph and we were rear-ended by white van man causing considerable damage to the back of the caravan and front of his Transit. .

 

 

If you were doing 5mph, how fast was the tranny , sorry Transit doing?

[Darlington_Shed]

6 minutes ago, newbryford said:

Power tools are cheating

I wouldn't go that far, but you can do almost everything with a handsaw, a handplane, and a couple of chisels. I do have a couple of power tools in the workshop - a small bandsaw and a pillar drill - but after I was bitten by the woodworking bug I discovered that hand tools had a lot to commend them. They're quieter, less stressful, and produce much less unhealthy dust. And they're an order of magnitude cheaper. They're also safer... yes, you can do yourself a lot of mischief with hand tools but - as a friend once observed - even the dumbest child will stop cutting when they hit bone.

[newbryford]

13 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

They get worse when they are normally car drivers who hire a van for the weekend☹️

 

Not just van man for the weekend.....

Whenever I hired a car in Portugal, you had to drive like the locals otherwise you had no chance.

[AndyID]

Drove into town this afternoon. The car's toastometer was reading 106F !

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, newbryford said:

 

Not just van man for the weekend.....

Whenever I hired a car in Portugal, you had to drive like the locals otherwise you had no chance.

 

In Rome you have to drive with your right hand on the wheel and your left arm hanging out the window to permit sudden gesticulation.😀

[AndyID]

Although I suppose "human resources" does have some logic. On the other hand, "animal husbandry".....??