Early Risers.

[Ian Abel]

Time for a quick rant?

 

Last night I saw the news reports from Las Vegas regarding the evacuation of the BA plane.

Amazed to see people walking away from the aircraft rolling carry-one luggage. Seriously?  

I genuinely believe that many people have become so cosetted,  (?) that they just don't perceive risk when it is staring them in the face. 

 

I always keep my passport and wallet in my trouser pockets, rather than in my carry on luggage. A side benefit (hitherto not appreciated) being that if you have to get off in a hurry then at least you'll not have a nightmare over documents and credit cards etc. 

 

<rant over>

I'll second that rant - I for one don't want to die because some idiot needs to leave WITH their bag, in an emergency! Also, anything like a roller bag has a very good chance of damaging the slide, that's why they even want many folks to remove their shoes (ladies high/mid-heels). Frankly, if I'm on a flight having an emergency evacuation, whilst I'd try not to be "panicing" I'd for damned sure push anyone out of the way who is blocking the aisle fumbling for their $!^@$^@!$ overhead belongings  

The second "stupid activity" observed on many recent plane evacuations is dumb-asses videoing everything on their cell phones (and even posting RIGHT THEN, to Facebook), instead of evacuating/getting to safe distance from the plane. Good grief, let's see if we can't summon up some common sense folks, please?? Oh, I forgot, that particular trait went out the window LONG AGO <sigh>

 

Good morning ER

New York area experiencing some pretty heavy rain/thunderstorms yesterday evening, last night and into today. Managed to get into the basement office between the downpours.

 

Nothing much else to report - such is the life on the road, quite pedestrian - no groupies fawning over an aging software specialist  (I'm sure Pete has stories  )

 

23 at present heading for 27.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Ian Abel

[Ian Abel]

Ian

 

As you are overseas you may not have seen all the fuss about a dispute between a Solicitor (mature and married) and a Barrister (young and attractive) when he commented on her appearance in a photo . . . . .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34206080/linkedin-sexism-row-charlotte-proudman-says-lawyer-used-site-like-tinder

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11852887/Lawyer-accused-of-sexism-after-complimenting-barrister-on-stunning-LinkedIn-picture.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3228221/Men-job-offers-propositions-says-female-barrister-centre-LinkedIn-sexism-scandal-describes-professional-networking-site-white-collar-Tinder.html

 

.

Hah! How about a dumb-ass wanna-be US presidential candidate casting aspersions on the looks of one of the other candidates. From a Rolling Stone interview...

 

"Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?" Trump said to Solotaroff. "Can you imagine that, the face of our next president."

Trump added, "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?"

 

Funny, hasn't he looked in the mirror recently?!?!?!?

[roundhouse]

I'll second that rant - I for one don't want to die because some idiot needs to leave WITH their bag, in an emergency! Also, anything like a roller bag has a very good chance of damaging the slide, that's why they even want many folks to remove their shoes (ladies high/mid-heels). Frankly, if I'm on a flight having an emergency evacuation, whilst I'd try not to be "panicing" I'd for damned sure push anyone out of the way who is blocking the aisle fumbling for their $!^@$^@!$ overhead belongings  

The second "stupid activity" observed on many recent plane evacuations is dumb-asses videoing everything on their cell phones (and even posting RIGHT THEN, to Facebook), instead of evacuating/getting to safe distance from the plane. Good grief, let's see if we can't summon up some common sense folks, please?? Oh, I forgot, that particular trait went out the window LONG AGO <sigh>

 

Good morning ER

New York area experiencing some pretty heavy rain/thunderstorms yesterday evening, last night and into today. Managed to get into the basement office between the downpours.

 

Nothing much else to report - such is the life on the road, quite pedestrian - no groupies fawning over an aging software specialist  (I'm sure Pete has stories  )

 

23 at present heading for 27.

Ian

 

There was a report that I read somewhere last year that said  around150 people a year fall of / injure themselves on station platforms whilst looking at their mobile phones!

 

Plenty of people after Darwin awards by getting that improtant video before saving themsleves or others.

 

 

As you are a frequent flyer on internal flights have you any knowledge of Jet Blue or Virgin America as looking at internal flights over xmas from Florida to California with a stop over enroute. SOuthwest is naother option whihc we have flown with - much like Easyjet IMHO.

[Judge Dread]

Morning all.

Nice morning here.

A silly dream last night ended with me falling out of bed and banging my head. No bedside furniture was damaged.

Not much happening here today.

Tony

Not wishing to one up on you but......several years ago now, on getting out of bed at about 6 am, I didn't realise my right leg was somewhat numb and on trying to put weight on it, I fell and narrowly avoided hitting my head on a radiator. That wasn't the real problem. As I sat back on the bed, I realised my right little toe was at right angles to my foot. I reported this observation to the other side of the bed and received the instruction  "Don't get blood on the carpet!". That carpet was the cause on my downfall as I had hooked my toe nail in it.

My wife took me to A & E and left me in a wheel chair whilst she parked the car. As it was now 6.45am, there was no-one in sight and I went inside and hammered on the counter calling out, "Shop".

I was transferred to a plastic surgery unit and went down for surgery some time after midnight. On coming round about 2 am, the first question I was asked was "Would you like a sandwich and a cup of tea?"

I had been transferred to the hospital where my wife was working in but not in that unit. To gain revenge for the "Don't get blood on the carpet" remark, I told the staff I had resisted my wife's advances and been kicked out of bed as a punishment.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Judge Dread

[bluebottle]

Ian

 

As you are overseas you may not have seen all the fuss about a dispute between a Solicitor (mature and married) and a Barrister (young and attractive) when he commented on her appearance in a photo . . . . .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34206080/linkedin-sexism-row-charlotte-proudman-says-lawyer-used-site-like-tinder

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11852887/Lawyer-accused-of-sexism-after-complimenting-barrister-on-stunning-LinkedIn-picture.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3228221/Men-job-offers-propositions-says-female-barrister-centre-LinkedIn-sexism-scandal-describes-professional-networking-site-white-collar-Tinder.html

 

.

 

Somehow, Mike, I can't see the Mail or the Telegraph scanning RMweb for juicy stories to feed to Middle Englanders.

[NGT6 1315]

Afternoon all! Want to see some snapshots?

 

 

 

1216 "Kiew" prepped for the ride on Turn 1621 at Angerbrücke. Smooth ride all along! I departed as an "E" service to Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz where I entered the route to the Exhibition Centre, which means, northbound.

 

 

 

Here I was stood on the left track at Lößnig, next to 1124 "Marianne von Ziegler" on Line 10. Funnily, I would later return to Lößnig on Line 10 myself…

 

 

 

…on 1155 "Anton Philipp Reclam". Shifts involving the first half on Line 16 are frequently "cut" such that the second half will be on Line 10.

 

 

 

And a look at the next Line 10 and 16 services ahead prior to getting under way to the end of my shift. Track allocations at double-tracked termini served by one line only are swapped periodically so that both tracks are used roughly equally.

[The Stationmaster]

Completely agree about people going into the overhead lockers. That really slows down loading a plane let alone trying ot get off one  in an emergency!

 

We took our small rucksacks on a 5 week tour of the USA / Canada and then a 6 week tour of Europe some years ago. Mind you we wash clothes when we have a 2 night or longer stay in one location. Its a great way to control what you take with you or buy out there and makes life so much easier on public transport.

 

Very rare for us to check anyhting into the hold these days.

And some folk even think that those small hand-held machines which you find in many hotels rooms nowadays are meant for drying their hair - no accounting for lack of ingenuity.

[roundhouse]

And some folk even think that those small hand-held machines which you find in many hotels rooms nowadays are meant for drying their hair - no accounting for lack of ingenuity.

Always wondered why they put those paint dryers in the rooms

 

My other half was using the venering tool to flatten our clothes when they had dried.

Edited September 10, 2015 by roundhouse

[Ian Abel]

Ian

 

There was a report that I read somewhere last year that said  around150 people a year fall of / injure themselves on station platforms whilst looking at their mobile phones!

 

Plenty of people after Darwin awards by getting that improtant video before saving themsleves or others.

 

 

As you are a frequent flyer on internal flights have you any knowledge of Jet Blue or Virgin America as looking at internal flights over xmas from Florida to California with a stop over enroute. SOuthwest is naother option whihc we have flown with - much like Easyjet IMHO.

Ian,

  No direct experience with Jet Blue or Virgin as they don't service Minneapolis. Being home based in Minneapolis I generally only fly Delta. Secondhand reports on both are pretty good especially Jet Blue. I've been on their aircraft at the Oshkosh show and they have what appears to be a great seating plan i.e. NOT too tight/small, with decent facilities and supposedly cater very well to the actual passengers! Heard many folks who do fly them wish they would come to MSP. 

Edited September 10, 2015 by Ian Abel

[Shedman5]

 

As you are a frequent flyer on internal flights have you any knowledge of Jet Blue or Virgin America as looking at internal flights over xmas from Florida to California with a stop over enroute. SOuthwest is naother option whihc we have flown with - much like Easyjet IMHO.

 

Hi Ive flown Jet Blue a couple of times to  JFK and Boston from Fort Myers, no issues on time etc.Leg room was ok in standard, more in what they call Mint section akin to business class.

[roundhouse]

Hi Ive flown Jet Blue a couple of times to  JFK and Boston from Fort Myers, no issues on time etc.Leg room was ok in standard, more in what they call Mint section akin to business class.

Thanks

 

One option is  to fly out of Fort Myers but really depends where we end up when our friends head back North East. Jet Blues website shows aircraft interiors and they look fine but no doubt its their newest plane.

 

 

Ian - This trip we were very impressed with Delta. I do like 767's with their 2-3-2 seating (partly why we booked delta this trip) and on our flight on the relatively new 767-800 after meeting up with you at MSP was good with at seat power sockets seat back screens.

 

We had a similar plane (767-800) with Alaskan Airlines from PDX to DC - very generous leg room in ordinary economy seats

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

 I am in a feisty mood today, something to do with this week's annual wrestling match with scaredy-cat insurers who feel that a little subsidence risk is not something they want to take on. Joy unbounded, got an outcome with Towergate Insurance, halved my premium after too long stuck with one insurer following my nearest neighbour succeeding in an eventual £60,000 claim for subsidence some years ago. (The real thing, corner of the house fell off with a bang. We had the 19 y.o. daughter of the family on our doorstep at ten in the evening looking really pale, and the first thing she said was 'I didn't do anything'. She had been in the corner of the house affected when the falling off event happened.)

 

 

...I agree wholeheartedly with AndyB regarding the idiots in that BA777 - apparently they were even blocking aisles while they got bags out of the overhead lockers, maybe they should be banned from ever flying again just to give others a chance should anything untoward happen

From previous reports, usually treatment is for friction burns to the bottom, and backs of thighs, caused by wearing nylon undies, stockings and tights, when going down the slides. Not a good idea to wear them when travelling in aircraft apparently - Not sure how the male passengers explain those away - but I'm sure hospital staff get some strange excuses!

Since I have actually left aircraft via a slide - twice - with people generally behaving well, I offer these thoughts as the fruit of experience.

 

Denim jeans are also not a good plan as air travel wear. People wearing these felt the frictional heat. Wool mix trousers on my derriere performed admirably.

 

There was considerable reluctance to remove shoes and jump onto the 'bouncy castle' chute among many passengers. One guy who didn't remove his Cuban heels achieved a compound fracture of the ankle, about the worst injury on that occasion.

 

Now I have also been on cruises, and a statutory requirement which is observed is the practising of the wearing of the bouyancy aid and assembling adjacent the lifeboats. Should be the same with air travel. Easily achieved with no loss of time: make the boarding of the aircraft by the same type of  inflated slide as used for evacuations. That'll sort out the evacuation capable survivors from the also rans. I offer this idea with no thought for reward or recognition, but solely for humanitarian benefit.

 

As you are overseas you may not have seen all the fuss about a dispute between a Solicitor (mature and married) and a Barrister (young and attractive) when he commented on her appearance in a photo ...

 You might imagine that she would realise this is the downside of the easier path through life that good looks typically confer. But that needs a sense of humour among other attributes.

 

... I didn't realise my right leg was somewhat numb and on trying to put weight on it, I fell ...

Got the full T-shirt on this one. My leg was so fully numbed that in my half awake state I couldn't work out what was amiss, kept trying to stand up and falling over again. My dearly beloved still has near hysterical laughter when the event is recalled. I took no injury at all from the falling about, but the ensuing 'pins and needles' as the circulation and sensation returned were like nothing else I have ever experienced. But still not allowed to be anything near as awful as childbirth nature's way of course.

[roundhouse]

Since I have actually left aircraft via a slide - twice

 

 I am not flying with you

 

I presume you were doing a rehersal rather an actual emergency, twice!

[Smiffy2]

Hello all, sorry for being AWOL, it's all been a bit rushed.

 

Best wishes to Jock, Jock's Grandson, Sherry, Is and Deb. 

 

Been out today and bought the last of the GBL - I'll be sorry to see that go, but I didn't manage any Humbrol spray paint. The woman in Annett's (Sutton) looked at me like I'd asked for the dirty books. Given that in order to get to the 'artist's materials' (for sale at half the price along the High Street) you have to walk through a massively cluttered gallery of the worst possible taste cheap china, tat and stomach churning prints I thought that was a bit rich. Who buys that stuff? As Julie asked...

 

So off to a proper model shop tomorrow. Meanwhile I need to try out the cheap leaf vacuum I bought at Lidl. The last two I got from Screwfix and they were useless carp, dying after one use. If this is no better then my name's mud. But I did get permission to buy a loco from ebay. Due to Julie doing very well this month. Long may she succeed.

 

So good wishes all, and if you see a whelkman rub his head and send him home.

[BoD]

Afternoon all.

 

Without mentioning anyone by name (because I'm bound to forget at least one) here's hoping that all ailments, sufferings and procedures are going as well as can be expected and hoped for. My thoughts are with all of you.

 

For some reason, which I have yet to fathom out, I have bought an electronics experiment kit/lab.

If you hear any unexpected pops or bangs, see any flashes and smoke, or notice any strange smells coming from this direction you know the cause.

Edited September 10, 2015 by BoD

[Tony_S]

...

For some reason, which I have yet to fathom out, I have bought an electronics experiment kit/lab.

If you hear any unexpected pops or bangs, see any flashes and smoke, or notice any strange smells coming from this direction you know the cause.

What is the first project? Edited September 10, 2015 by Tony_S

[BoD]

I think if I could get a bulb to light I would be quite happy.

 

The only electronics I have ever done was that included in 'O' and 'A' Level Physics. Quite some time ago too. After that I concentrated on maths and programming. So I will be very much starting from scratch and taking it step by step.

 

I have constructed the odd kit before but only in a solder this here and that there basis. It is something I always fancied getting into a bit deeper but never quite found the time.

Edited September 10, 2015 by BoD

[Tony_S]

I think if I could get a bulb to light I would be quite happy.

The only electronics I have ever done was that included in 'O' and 'A' Level Physics. Quite some time ago too. After that I concentrated on maths and programming. So I will be very much starting from scratch and taking it step by step.

I have constructed the odd kit before but only in a solder this here and that there basis. It is something I always fancied getting into a bit deeper but never quite found the time.

Electronics in my school days was mainly about thermionic emission devices. In the sixth form we had a very enthusiastic teacher who was very keen on measuring pentode characteristics. My younger brother was given an electronics kit when he was about 11. It sparked (literally sometimes) an interest in amateur radio, then a career in telecommunications before transferring to computer systems.

[Debs.]

I think if I could get a bulb to light I would be quite happy.

 

The only electronics I have ever done was that included in 'O' and 'A' Level Physics. Quite some time ago too. After that I concentrated on maths and programming. So I will be very much starting from scratch and taking it step by step.

 

I have constructed the odd kit before but only in a solder this here and that there basis. It is something I always fancied getting into a bit deeper but never quite found the time.

 

  Circuit suggestion for Project 1

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

 I am not flying with you

 

I presume you were doing a rehersal rather an actual emergency, twice!

No, both for real. I have flown an awful lot, some in very dodgy parts of the world. It's very safe to fly with me, I've had my lifetime allowance of plane crashes. The helicopter, we just stumbled away from. They don't come with bouncy castles.

[roundhouse]

No, both for real. I have flown an awful lot, some in very dodgy parts of the world. It's very safe to fly with me, I've had my lifetime allowance of plane crashes. The helicopter, we just stumbled away from. They don't come with bouncy castles.

Well I Suppose that you are still here!!

 

Not had an emergency evacuations hoping I don't!

[BoD]

My younger brother was given an electronics kit when he was about 11.

I remember having a chemistry set.

Or at least I did have one until I stained the dining room table purple.

[Ian Hargrave]

Completely agree about people going into the overhead lockers. That really slows down loading a plane let alone trying ot get off one  in an emergency!

 

We took our small rucksacks on a 5 week tour of the USA / Canada and then a 6 week tour of Europe some years ago. Mind you we wash clothes when we have a 2 night or longer stay in one location. Its a great way to control what you take with you or buy out there and makes life so much easier on public transport.

 

Very rare for us to check anyhting into the hold these days.

Then you haven't experienced the delights of flying Ryanair during the midsummer holiday period when all the world and his wife and kids have but one aim in mind.....shove it in the overhead locker...and the friendly lady patrols the check in marathon queue with tabs indicating that your modest offering is to be handed to ground crew on boarding for stowing in the aircraft hold.

[bluebottle]

...

Not had an emergency evacuation hoping I don't!

 

Always carry toilet paper and spare underpants, just in case.

[roundhouse]

 

 

I

Then you haven't experienced the delights of flying Ryanair during the midsummer holiday period when all the world and his wife and kids have but one aim in mind.....shove it in the overhead locker...and the friendly lady patrols the check in marathon queue with tabs indicating that your modest offering is to be handed to ground crew on boarding for stowing in the aircraft hold.

I once did a charter to and from Florida. I do recall the one bag allowance on board completely abused with blow up toys going into the overhead lockers!

 

That's the last time I flew charter long haul.

Edited September 10, 2015 by roundhouse