Early Risers.

[TheQ]

9 hours ago, brianusa said:

 

I left in 1963, pre decimal currency, temps and measurements and while money was an easy adjustment, we still have the same old feet and inches, ozs and lbs, pts, qts and galls, while neighbouring countries are metric centric.  It is doubtful whether the US will ever change; its been tried but got nowhere yet metric is extensively used in government and business but I doubt the average Joe will ever be ready to make the change.

      Brian.

Though the USA is officially a metric country, it was one of the first to sign up to the metrification convention in 1875. All your "imperial" measurements are actually defined in metric SI measurements..

[Robert]

50 minutes ago, chrisf said:

My mobile does not appear to like BT Mail

 

Don't get me started on this one!  My Mum has the same problem.

 

I spent quite a bit of time trying to sort it out the other evening.  BT's e-mail server just rejects the connections, despite all the parameters being correct.  However, as far as BT are concerned, if the Web mail is working correctly then the problem is with the customers phone/tablet.

 

I ended up setting up an alternative e-mail account, and forwarding all of the e-mails to the BT address to the new one.

[AndyID]

But enough of this frivolity

Just now, Robert said:

 

Don't get me started on this one!  My Mum has the same problem.

 

I spent quite a bit of time trying to sort it out the other evening.  BT's e-mail server just rejects the connections, despite all the parameters being correct.  However, as far as BT are concerned, if the Web mail is working correctly then the problem is with the customers phone/tablet.

 

I ended up setting up an alternative e-mail account, and forwarding all of the e-mails to the BT address to the new one.

 

Why anyone use BT's email server? It's just a trap to keep you tied to their Internet Service. I've been using Yahoo email and Gmail since they came into existence. I've switched ISPs (Internet Service Providers) about five times since then. I can access all my email from any Internet connected computer, tablet or smart phone on the Planet and I've never had a problem.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Let us not forget the Dyne, a favourite of mine!

 

I have survived another circuit of the sun so we are off out tonight for a meal. Youngest Herbert is coming along as free food is attractive to a new house owner!

 

Ian, sounds like Oregon is still full of aging hippies. Or is it just full of people with a wicked sense of humour!

 

Despite it being my birthday I must away to do the shopping at Moreasons. 

TTFN

Baz

 

[Robert]

I agree Andy.  However, my Dad worked for BT for the whole of his working life and was fiercely loyal to them.

 

My Mum hates computers and would rather not use them - but somethings have to be done online these days.  Before he died Dad showed her how to do the essentials, and it all worked reasonably well until BTs service crapped out.

[AndyID]

But enough of this frivolity. I must to bed, perchance to snore.

 

As they have it sur le Continent, "bone sawyer" and may you all stay continent.

 

(Based on the doc's assessment if I see any bone sawyers I'll be running a mile a minute.)

[Barry O]

7 minutes ago, AndyID said:

But enough of this frivolity

 

Why anyone use BT's email server? It's just a trap to keep you tied to their Internet Service. I've been using Yahoo email and Gmail since they came into existence. I've switched ISPs (Internet Service Providers) about five times since then. I can access all my email from any Internet connected computer, tablet or smart phone on the Planet and I've never had a problem.

Because, in our case, over the years we started with compuserve, followed by a number of other companies who are not as available as they used to be. We can pick up mails using btinterner across the world using mobiles, tablets and laptops. 

Biggest problem BT has is the origins of its software.

 

I do use outlook for  one of my other accounts and that is getting too big for it's own boots.

 

Baz

 

[BoD]

Many happy returns, Baz

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare,

 

A mediumly bad nights sleep last night, not helped By Ben the Border Collie having a bad night and wandering around a lot including going up and down stairs..

 

Forecast rainand wind  .. Actually at the moment sunny, dry, scattered, clouds and windless.

 

I'm sat here measuring a temperature instrument.

It can be supplied with power of Alternating 100 Voltaires to 240 Voltaires, and it consumes 60 Watts. it has a 2 Ampaire fuse.

It can measure in Resistance measured in Ohms and kilo Ohms

It can measure Temperature, in degrees: Celcius (Centigrade), Kelvin and Fahrenheit to an accuracy of 0.06 ppm (0.000015 °Celcius).

It can supply the Time and date..in Years, Months, Days, Seconds.

I am currently measuring it's current source, which can supply 0.01 milli Ampaires to 10 Milli Ampaires on it's 4 main channels.

This is done by passing the output current through the relevant known resistor which is kept in an oil bath at 23 degrees Celcius+- 0.125 degrees Celcius.

The resistors are all the decade values between 1 Ohm and 100 kilo Ohms with the addition of a 25 Ohms and 40 kilo Ohms dry resistors not in the Oil bath, so they are at 23 degrees Celcius+-0.5 degrees Celcius free air temperature.

 

While typing this I have taken 10 measurements in the 32 second intervals while each reading settles, measured in milli Voltaires, on a Instrument, which displays up to 8 digits.

This instrument can measure many things, Voltaires, Ampaires, Ohms, Hertz. I will not type in the specifications as that runs to many , many pages..

The replacement for this instrument can also measure Capacitance, measured in Farads,

 

When this instrument is finished I shall measure two resistors of approximately 1 Giga Ohm value to an uncertainty of 18 parts in a million.

 

Later today I shall be playing with things for supporting  something 2mm to the foot ish, on bits of metal 9mm ish apart, but the measurements will be approximately at 1 foot to 304.8millimetres. I like to work accurately when muddling..

 

A further 6 measurements later...

 

Time to.. take another measurement..

 

 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all and Happy Birthday to Baz.

Commiserations to TB and Dave.

It's been staining readily here for about half an hour and according to my phone app will continue to do so for another 64 minutes! 

Timber merchant visited so some wood purchased but they didn't have the bolts I wanted so a visit to Wickes  was made as well. A bit more done in the shed late yesterday afternoon and more of the same will follow today. This is where it gets a tad more difficult as I want to fit an access flap to avoid ducking under/GDB headbanging incidents in the future.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

P.S. I was brought up on Imperial units but worked in the building trade all my life so used those and metric and a combination of both. .....and I still do.

Edited July 19, 2019 by grandadbob

[BoD]

Are you sure it’s your Birthday, Baz?

It doesn’t appear in The Times’s birthdays today column.

[AndrewC]

 

Greetings from the boring borough. Breaking my off the grid break just to check on things here. I've decided that trying to wade through 2 1/2 weeks of postings is the shortest route to madness. 

Belated happy birthdays and anniversaries. Congratulations and commiserations as appropriate. 

 

Metric: never learned the imperial system at all. As Canada started their road to SI in the late 60s I was in the first age group to be taught metric exclusively. Canada's change over was gradual and in some cases never finished. You can still go to the lumber yard and get a 2 by 4. (which isn't 2 or 4 as they measure the unfinished wood. In reality it is more like 1 3/4 by 3 3/4) However, a 4 by 8 sheet of ply really is 4 by 8) 

When I learned to drive we were still in miles. 2 weeks after I got my full license it switched to km. Today I think in km and not miles. The new Disco has the ability to be set to either. Apart from the analogue speedo everything else in the car is set to metric. I'm getting around 6.9l / 100km combined. 

 

This leads me to a boring story around how the US started to change over in the 70s under the Carter administration. By 78 most federal government departments had switched. The result was national parks had their signage changed to km. Driving from Calgary to Spokane, was km to the US border, 20 miles of miles on Montana 89, then back to km through Glacier National park for the 86km to US 2, and back to miles again. Ronny Raygun had it changed back in the early 80s. 

 

One strange anomaly of SI is that natural gas is bought and sold by the mmbtu and not by volume, but sold to the end consumer in kwh but measured at the meter in m³. The reason for this is not all gas is equal. Up to 25% of the heating value of gas can be extracted as ngl or natural gas liquids. (propane, butane, iso butane, natural gasoline) Normally in a storage tank this averages out, but there are variations. Lower prices and demand for liquids will see higher heating value gas in the stream. Differences in pressure will also cause variance. 1m³ of gas at your meter can vary in heating value by a few percent. Just look at the ugly conversion factor on your gas bill. 

 

As for me, the knee is still buggered, managed to overcompensate last Friday night and turned my ankle over on a dodgy paving stone in Borough Market. As a result I've spent the last 7 days on naproxen, codeine, tramadol, and frozen peas. I have managed to do some modelling though. Yes, i said the M word. Do your worst awl. I've got a cache of old Slaters and Parkside O scale kits that I'm making a start on. 

 

Enough verbal excrement from me. Enjoy you weekend. Signing off again for a few weeks. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Happy birthday Baz and many more of 'em. Theres actually three different gallons in use and to further cause confusion Canada uses or used to use Imperial gallons.

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Except that somewhere along the way it seems the UK switched to the the larger gallon. IIRC the current US gallon was originally the UK gallon. I thought it was the other way around, but it is a complicated subject.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallon

Off now to get the car serviced and tested.

[jamie92208]

39 minutes ago, BoD said:

Are you sure it’s your Birthday, Baz?

It doesn’t appear in The Times’s birthdays today column.

Try looking in the court circular.

 

Jamie

[TheQ]

19 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

 

Greetings from the boring borough. Breaking my off the grid break just to check on things here. I've decided that trying to wade through 2 1/2 weeks of postings is the shortest route to madness. 

Belated happy birthdays and anniversaries. Congratulations and commiserations as appropriate. 

 

Metric: never learned the imperial system at all. As Canada started their road to SI in the late 60s I was in the first age group to be taught metric exclusively. Canada's change over was gradual and in some cases never finished. You can still go to the lumber yard and get a 2 by 4. (which isn't 2 or 4 as they measure the unfinished wood. In reality it is more like 1 3/4 by 3 3/4) However, a 4 by 8 sheet of ply really is 4 by 8) 

When I learned to drive we were still in miles. 2 weeks after I got my full license it switched to km. Today I think in km and not miles. The new Disco has the ability to be set to either. Apart from the analogue speedo everything else in the car is set to metric. I'm getting around 6.9l / 100km combined. 

 

In the UK I recently came across a metric 4ft by 8ft sheet of ply, I.E. 2400  X 1200, they are saving themselves the 40mm in length and the 20 mm in width. Certainly all the 8ft long pieces of Timber in the big orange shed have gone to 2400mm length, meaning if you have a genuine  8ft length of ply you need to frame up, you need to buy the 3M length of timber.. More profits to them..

And yes our 4X2 are before finishing sizes..but the Orange shed shows them all in mm now..

[lightengine]

Today rain is falling in sunny Teignmouth. We are only 16 metres above sea level. Please pray for us and send money.

[TheQ]

17 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Try looking in the court circular.

 

Jamie

Magistrates, High, or  Supreme ?

[tigerburnie]

Morning, Happy Birthday Baz, hope you have the glorious sunshine we are having just now, not a lot planned for the day, will just wait and see if any orders appear from SWMBO, have a nice daaaaaaaayyyyyy.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It’s raining, the good news is I won’t need to water the plants tonight. We’ll shortly be setting off to the Trafford Centre (yes I’m being accompanied again), not a lot else to report. 

 

Baz. Happy birthday. 

 

Back later. 

[Barry O]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

Are you sure it’s your Birthday, Baz?

It doesn’t appear in The Times’s birthdays today column.

I keep it quiet, only a few Royals know!

[Kingzance]

Happy birthday Baz and many more to be enjoyed we hope.

 

I put an astronomical telescope up for sale earlier this week (I have acquired its bigger, better sibling) and the buyer wants it delivered too! Still, as the optics are all carefully aligned, I don't wish to have him suggest that the device isn't collimated so I will be driving to Hemel Hempstead whilst others attend morning devotions at the weekend - and it is not in the direction of Essex (south, east, west or north) from me .

 

Rain, scaffolding, bricks, blocks and enough expletives to make this old sailor blush all in the sky near here today. So much for a peaceful life but I am fortunate enough not troubled by the recent losses of friends, relatives and colleagues. BP monitoring concluded, could be better and could be worse. Appt with Dr needed but next slot is next month. I will try the age-old method of writing to him!

 

Be good.

 

[TheQ]

During the week, the metal framework partion between the old lab and the old boiler room was installed, plaster boarded, the skimmed over with particular attention  to nice square edges to the doorway..

Today day the door men have arrived....

 

 

They've just taken an angle grinder to the doorway....

[chrisf]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

Despite it being my birthday I must away to do the shopping at Moreasons. 

TTFN

Baz

 

 

Bon anniversaire!

 

Chris

[newbryford]

HB Baz.

 

Concerning the Railway Modeller and measurements.

 

I haven't bought RM for a good number of years, but it always p*ssed me off that it wasn't printed in a standard A4 size, like the other mags of the time. Therefore, it wouldn't stack easily in my magazine store of choice - an A4 printer paper box.

 

Is it A4 now?

 

In the middle of 2 days off. Hence the lie-in.

Weds evening was a club Senior Singles loss to a player with a higher handicap than me. We both played about the same, but his extra shots made the difference - good luck in the next round to my conqueror. 

 

Yesterday was NW Seniors League. Our match was exceedingly close all the way round and our opponents had a chance to halve the match on the last hole, but their putt lipped out. It wasn't quite as tense as the cricket Works cup - but not far off! A great match played in the right spirit. Commiserations to our opposing pair.

Team score was 3-3, so not an ideal result at home.

No league game next week, but there is the small matter of the club singles to play one evening.

 

After a good number of days of sunshine - yesterday wa touch and go - it's now persisting down.

What does that signal?

 

The Royal Lancashire Show is now on for 3 days...

Held on a few very flat fields near the river, about 3 miles from where I live. There were plans to visit, but I need to find out if they have tractor rescue for the car park.........

 

There will be some mudelling done.

 

Have the rest of a good Friday folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, grandadbob said:

This is where it gets a tad more difficult as I want to fit an access flap to avoid ducking under/GDB headbanging incidents in the future.

 

 

Sorry couldn't resist.

 

If it is a baseboard flap, will it be a rising flap or falling flap?