Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Roundhouse, a shredder is a useful gardening tool, I have had one for years. Its so powerful that when I attached a plastic bin bag to collect the shreddings it spat them out so fast it ripped the bin bag to shreds so I resorted to a plastic bin. I then placed the shreddings into rubble sacks and after several months turned into a very good mulch.

[southern42]

Just downed a mugadecacoffee so off for my bike ride on the spot.  

No sun but no chilly wind either so a good time to go.

 

Stay safe and keep out of trouble in the meantime.  

_________

Best wishes

Polly

[PhilJ W]

Some Spaniards are bending the lockdown rules to go out.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/24/world/spanish-residents-walking-pets-trnd/index.html

[Shedman5]

Afternoon, dry and cloudy here and the temperature has dropped. Spent the morning in the shed mending a sound fitted loco that decided  not to produce sound. To my delight I have managed to get it working again! Thats my good fortune allocation used up for the next few weeks I think!

 

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Talking of smoking, my dad gave up because of the cost and he said that he never had the urge to start up again. I do believe that the 'government doesn't want to loose the revenue' for not banning it altogether is a falacy, no government would be prepared to take the political fallout. The NHS spends far more on smoking related illnesses than the revenue gained. My personal solution would be to raise the tobacco duty considerably as a way to stop smoking, a £1 or even more on each cigarette. Figures are coming out that smokers are far more likely to contract the corona virus than none-smokers.

 

Not disagreeing with this but why then are trials being conducted in France//Italy and China (who can believe their data) using nicotine patches on patients and front line medical staff? I assume its because the data at the moment  shows smokers 4 times less likely to catch covid19 not that it matters they just die of other things prematurely.

 

At 12.70 a pack of 20 ( just looked it up) I can't believe how people afford it, no offence to anyone who smokes on here by the way but glad I don't partake.

 

Off to read the papers at last

 

Enjoy your day

 

 

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

And welcome to virtual mamber's day - a great effort, and I have to say that some of the layouts being shown are quite amazing - WOT? there's something on this site other than ERs and Wheeltappers?  Well there's a thing.

 

As usual. generic greetings are offered to all my fellow ERs. 

 

Today, I was "encouraged" to do a second coat of paint on the bench in the back garden, using the Cuprinol which was left - with a pint of Westons by my side, it was done, and there is now no more paint (and no more Westons, come to that).  Still the deficiency can be sorted tomorrow, as Lidl do their own brand cider at 7.4%, and £1.15 for a half litre - and as the bottle proudly proclaims, it is "crafted by Westons".  And Lidl is where we must go first thing tomorrow, as a fodder run is needed, and I can't be bothered trying to get a delivery slot for Tess Coes, Sainsbuggs, or Moreasons.  On the other hand, Argos were amazing, ordered the microwave on Friday afternoon, delivered Saturday afternoon, and as I predicted, it came while we were having our dinner of meatball stew.  As it is exactly the same, it was no great issue to get it into place, and working.

 

Back later tomorrow, I'm off to see what other layouts have been posted in virtual members' day.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Gwiwer]

Just popping in to record the purchase of none other than a large bag of Self-Raising Flour from the corner shop   

 

Will wonders never cease?  

[JohnDMJ]

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Greetings All,

 

Finally, I leave you with best wishes for a splendid Sunday afternoon and with the thought “every time you make something idiot proof, the universe builds a better idiot”

 

Cheers

iD

 

Judging by some 'phone calls, this is not untrue!

[jamie92208]

Afternoon all it's cracking the flags here. The tractor mower got mended it turned out to be a jammed starter motor bendix. Grass now all mowed before the rain that is promised for tomorrow.  Beth has started a vegetable bed. I hope that I'm not sent to sleep in it.  A quiet time is being had so I'm off to do some scanning.

 

 

Enjoy the virtual show.

 

Jamie

[AndrewC]

1 hour ago, Shedman5 said:

 

Not disagreeing with this but why then are trials being conducted in France//Italy and China (who can believe their data) using nicotine patches on patients and front line medical staff? I assume its because the data at the moment  shows smokers 4 times less likely to catch covid19 not that it matters they just die of other things prematurely.

 

Interesting, as I’ve seen similar but opposite. High levels of nicotine in the blood appears to slow the virus but the inflammation caused by smoke, weed, vape is being shown as providing a soft entry point for Covid. No doubt this early and with so few longish term studies the science will go back and forth as things progress. 

[Andrew P]

2 hours ago, Shedman5 said:

Afternoon, dry and cloudy here and the temperature has dropped. Spent the morning in the shed mending a sound fitted loco that decided  not to produce sound. To my delight I have managed to get it working again! Thats my good fortune allocation used up for the next few weeks I think!

 

 

Not disagreeing with this but why then are trials being conducted in France//Italy and China (who can believe their data) using nicotine patches on patients and front line medical staff? I assume its because the data at the moment  shows smokers 4 times less likely to catch covid19 not that it matters they just die of other things prematurely.

 

At 12.70 a pack of 20 ( just looked it up) I can't believe how people afford it, no offence to anyone who smokes on here by the way but glad I don't partake.

 

Off to read the papers at last

 

Enjoy your day

 

 

WOW, That's almost a Loco a week in my World. assuming 40 a day.

[TheQ]

Afternoon awl, 

Several layers of lead cut to size and installed in the keel.

 

Two hour and a half hours spent mowing the garden,  some of the grass is in danger of becoming a lawn.  Part of the time till was spent widening the mowed area,  I've found I need to wave the chainsaw around,  down in one corner,  an Ivy covered tree has given up supporting the sky.

 

Ben the hot Collie didn't want the the full long walk,  he lay down part of the way round panting.  Then started his play routine normally carried out at the end of the walk..so we turned round and went home with several stops for him to rest.  

 

Some time was spent in the MhCH , I'm fairly happy with the current board of the layout . So,  decoration in the form of varnish filling deathly hollows,  and very short lengths of green plastic are starting to be applied at the furthest points from the front... Although I do work from the back occasionally, I prefer to work from the front, to see it as viewers would. 

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, Shedman5 said:

 ...snip...

At 12.70 a pack of 20 ( just looked it up) I can't believe how people afford it, no offence to anyone who smokes on here by the way but glad I don't partake.

Wow (a word that I rarely use), that is $15.70 US ; and here I thought that cigarettes were expensive at around $7.50 a pack.

[Gwiwer]

Booked a friend's holiday cottage on her Cornish farm.  Booked the hire car.  

 

I don't care if it's tempting fate.  It's for October.  We need some light in this tunnel and it's our re-arranged silver wedding anniversary event.  We were to have been going to northern Italy ...... 

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.

 

A drive out in the camper today to charge the batteries, but it is rather dull and cool so nothing like as enjoyable as yesterday.  I'm just dull.

 

Showers in the 'midlands' but dry 'down north' at home, Mrs NHN has decided to mow the lawn.  I'm keeping out of the way, as advised.

 

Did some ballasting and rail painting this morning, two jobs I hate but the end results look OK.

 

Oh, smokers cancers....Dad died of one, but he had not ever smoked.  However an apprenticeship in shipyards, and then a working lifetime in the Navy and Merchant Navy exposed him to a lot of smoke.  Daft thing was he had an identified asbestos cancer in the other lung that was stationary for years.

 

 

[Erichill16]

Like Chrisf this weekend should have been one of the highlights of the year for me. I usually go to Intermodelbau in Dortmund and then have a week relaxing somewhere like Winterburg or somewhere on the Rhine. It reminds me of my first chance to go, about ten years ago. I was sat at home, bags packed and waiting to go to the airport when I got a phone call from my mum who said have you seen the news. Volcano eruption in Iceland all flights cancelled. Couldn’t believe it.

Anyway this years event has been rescheduled for August but I’m but holding my breath or booking anything.

Regards

Robert

[Gwiwer]

7 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

smokers cancers....Dad died of one, but he had not ever smoked.

Dad smoked a pipe all his life.  At 89 he passed away from cancer as a contributory cause to old age.  Not a "smoker's" cancer but colonic.  

 

A former partner, who smoked around 10 a day and had BMI which would place her into the at-risk category in 2020, passed away from lung cancer aged 28.  

 

The Big C doesn't play to our rules.  

Edited April 26, 2020 by Gwiwer

[AndrewC]

12 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Dad smoked a pipe all his life.  At 89 he passed away from cancer as a contributory cause to old age.  Not a "smoker's" cancer but colonic.  

 

A former partner, who smoked around 10 a day and had BMI which would place her into the at-risk category in 2020, passed away from lung cancer aged 28.  

 

The Big C doesn't play to our rules.  

In our family smoking does play by the rules. On my dad’s side there are only 4 who escaped a genetic heart defect and lived beyond 40. (I’m 1) Dad died at 69 as a smoker after multiple strokes. His sister that never smoked lasted to 85. Mum couldn’t give up the fags went at 74 to lung cancer after a year of hell. Her sister quit after her husband choked to death with emphysema at 69. She passed at 94. As my parents were older, I lost my dad at 21 and mum at 36. SWMBO still has her non-smoking parents apart from step father who died 14 years ago from lung cancer. He had quit smoking but worked with asbestos. He was a wonderful person. 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Been catching up on Farcebook, nearly there but its like painting the Forth Bridge, you think you've finished but then you start all over again.

[The Stationmaster]

Evening all,

 

Attendance delayed today by a virtual event in Taunton (including a certain RMweb Mod who nicked my picture of Mrs Stationmaster's 'proper job' pasties in order to encourage interest in the catering area - don't blame him, hers are miles ahead of the ones served up at SWAGday).   Anyway tempted by sight of those I had to bung something in the catering kitty.  Attention also diverted by the need to construct something to a suitable height on which a couple of disposable bbqs could be put to use - they should be hot enough to start cooking on within the next 5-10 minues and the lad is the chef.

 

As far as smoking of tobacco is concerned I ceased to partake on 14 December 1998 because I had a bit of a grotty cough.  As a former 'professional' smoker who stopped suddenly from a substantial daily intake I paid the not unv common price of a collapsed lung (which hurt a bit) then getting on for 12 months of feeling generally carp as my system readjusted to loss of smoke and nicotine.  I kept a part smoked packet of cigs as a reminder for several years and if I really felt the urge for a smoke opening that packet and smelling the increasingly stale tobacco put me right off, as did the stink of anybody else smoking.  I don't mind other smoky smells such as bonfires but I'm still not very comfortable with the secondhand smell of other peoples' cigarettes. 

 

Enjoy the rest of the day - however much of it is still to come where you are

[New Haven Neil]

Collapsed lung - been there, hurty!

[Barry O]

My grandad smoked war horse pipe tobacco. It was strong! As a miner he suffered from the "dust" . 

My mother smoked...the Big C did for her and it was not nice.

My Dad smoked (started in the RAF). He ended up smoking a pipe. When he knew he had lung cancer he stopped smoking. He lasted another year.

 

My Sister started to smoke when she joined the WRAF. She survived a close encounter with the big City. 

 

I have never smoked..and I don't intend to.

 

Baz

Edited April 26, 2020 by Barry O

[laurenceb]

5 hours ago, Shedman5 said:

 

At 12.70 a pack of 20 ( just looked it up) I can't believe how people afford it, no offence to anyone who smokes on here by the way but glad I don't partake.

 

 

 

 

Wish I could afford them! Not that I am going to start

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, AndrewC said:

I recently came across something that originated in the 60s around how to quantify stupid. I wish I could find it again. Essentially there are 4 types of people with varying levels. Intelligent, helpless, stupid, and bandits. Graph these with each type in each quadrant of x,y. Think of every action you perform. If it is to your benefit that is a positive X. If it doesn’t hurt others then it y=0. If it benefits others then y>0. Get where I’m going. The intelligent person has most of their points in the x>0 and y>0 quadrant. The helpless person has most of their points in the x<0 & y>0 quadrant as their actions benefit others to their own cost. Bandits (like most politicians, etc) are those who’s actions are X>0 but Y<0. Finally the stupid person has most of their points in the negative quadrant as their actions are to the detriment of themselves and others.

I wonder how many of these "four box models" there are out there? There are many in the "personality" space - including some multidimensional ones (Meyers-Briggs, a 16-box model based on four axes rather than two, etc). 

 

The Amiable/Expressive/Analytical/Expressive/ on axes, sometimes identified as assertiveness and responsiveness or alternatively (ask/tell, versus emotes/controls emotion) is a popular one in business communication styles classes.

 

7 hours ago, AndrewC said:

I suppose it could be argued that Trump would be a bandit or stupid or on the border. Nothing he does benefits anyone other than himself. However, most of that benefit is only in his mind as part of his narcissism and actually not to his actual benefit. 6 bankruptcies seems to tip the balance towards stupid. 

That "stupidity" model has a harder time modelling willful ignorance and the complete absence of intellectual curiosity. You could argue that it is an inaction resulting in negative personal consequences, and, armed with resources ranging from a keyboard to the most powerful job in the free world has negative societal benefits.

 

Cipolla (and is his model) has a Wikipedia page.

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[pH]

I'm sitting here waiting for a phone consultation with my doctor and reading RMWeb while waiting. I  very seldom use the wifi from this room and it is sloooooooow! So I've just ordered a wifi extender.

[Ozexpatriate]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

... conspiracy theories ... When it comes to such things (well, most anything really) we should adopt the ABC policing approach -

• Assume nothing
• Believe nobody
• Check everything 

The essence to me is critical thinking. Societies that do not value critical thinking do not thrive.

 

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

For many, the fact that they haven’t “achieved X” or “Y isn’t happening” is “because of a conspiracy” is psychologically easier to deal with than either “X wasn’t achieved ‘cos I’m useless at X” or “Y isn’t happening because of a large number of factors - many random - that make Y impossible” (I believe that there are some interesting correlations between socioeconomic status, formal education and the belief in conspiracies).

The desire to have a simple/lazy explanation rather than confront your worldview with critical thinking is also a factor.

 

Human ability to embrace cognitive dissonance is a form of a mental survival instinct, but it is the enabler of conspiracy theories.