Early Risers.

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Heres a conundrum. Why do men have nipples? 

 

Not quite nipples.

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

21 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Just been announced that the post office is to temporarily cease Saturday deliveries.

 

That'll make a whole lot of difference here.  I wasn't aware we still had them.  We have a regular "postie" though he isn't on the round every day.  In conversation some time ago he mentioned that they are running a single shift which can be covered by one person five days a week.  What won't go in the trolley may have to wait for another day.  

[Ian Abel]

7 hours ago, roundhouse said:

Latest news - 'I have decided not to wear a face mask so I can look people in the eye' - I think someone might have the wrong idea how they are worn.

Don't get me started!!!!

<HUGE RANT>

Having come to one of the states doing our level best to flatten the curve (thanks MN governor) the assistant arsewipe-in-chief manages to go to one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country and forgo every sane/stated control. These d!ckheads need taking out back behind the woodshed and having some sense beaten into them

He also stated he "gets tested regularly", how the FORK is he managing that when there's a shortage of testing kits. Apparently, the biggest flustercuck - if we DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW THAT - is with the federal government itself  

<END RANT> (for now!!!)

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where it is now raining but wasn't when I went for my daily exercise walk earlier. I have given up an attempt to catch up on ERs as I had pesky work to do.

 

Mrs Lurker has completed her turns on the rota at school for the next week or two - although tehy are not exactly up front with advising the rota for the next week - Sunday lunchtime until we found out. The level of work for Younger Lurker has ramped up which is good as it gives him a structure. Having gone through his work over the last couple of days, I ca see he seems to have grasped angles in a triangle and vertically opposite angles, adaptive traits,and how to write a Howler think Harry Potter). He and Mrs Lurker are still doing the Joe Wciks PE thing; I was banned!

 

Elder Lurker has done nothing much this week apart from FIFA. When he has to get up and do something with his life it is going to be  a huge shock!

[Barry O]

3 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

There's still a Nimrod at Kinloss, when my son was based there last year(he's a Royal Engineer) we had a drive over for a look at it, sadly no one had left us the keys, so we couldn't get in it(not that either of us could fly it lol).

There is one at Manchester Airport in the View Park. I believe they also have one of the later ones (MR4) parked there. It was a much, much bigger airplane than the original Nimrod.

The new Poseidons (Boing 737 airframes) are kitted out with exactly the same electronics kit as went in the MR4. we could have had the kit years ago.. instead we get a 2 engined Boing which has less loiter range than the 4 engined MR2. Only teh UK MoD and Ministers could redefine the meaning of eeediioooots!

 

Baz

[Ian Abel]

HUMP day all...

 

Nothing happening, EXCEPT, I think I need to go get some armaments - our order of bog roll is arriving today. I suggested to the Mrs we need to be armed-to-the-teeth and on patrol in the front of the house until it shows up  

 

Other than that, we managed a very nice salmon dinner last night with some excellent pasta with pesto, sadly we've only ONE portion pf pesto left, the Mrs didn't make any last autumn like she usually does.

Tonight may be a take-out, to again support the local restaurants.

 

5 and cloudy first thing, however expected to reach a whopping 17 later!

 

Stay safe and distant from each other (expect spouses/significant others of course  )

 

Minnesota out...

[The Lurker]

4 hours ago, AndrewC said:

 

 

. Their large building in Footscray (just down the hill from Mr Lurker) was sold off years ago.

Now used by a housing association if I have identified it right.

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Heres a conundrum. Why do men have nipples? I've heard two reasons, one is that from conception for six or seven weeks every foetus is female and the other is that the developement of a foetus is from the top down (the organs developing in order of importance, brain, heart and lungs first). A friends 8 year old grand daughter has asked the question, hopefully Flavio might have the right answer. Now to get to grips with Farcebook which is getting manic.

Without breaking out my developmental biology books for a full, in-depth, review (with pictures), I can say that the default human condition is female. A fully functioning Y chromosome is needed to become male; humans with the XY chromosome pair where the Y chromosome doesn’t work properly are to all intents and purposes physiologically female (I simplify); XO females exist (“Turner’s Syndrome”) albeit infertile with developmental problems and a shortened lifespan; YO (only Y) is not viable (we need them genes on that pesky X chromosome to survive); XX is a normal female (and as Terry Pratchett might have said “for a given value of ‘normal’”); XXX females (Triple X or Trisomy X syndrome) are also outwardly normal females, but again with developmental problems. There are also XXY males (Klinefelter’s syndrome and the even rarer XXXXY syndrome). - all with various developmental problems and finally - as if to remind us males of the fragility of our existence - there are XYY males. Unfortunately, whilst the extra Y chromosome results in extra stature (height), developmental and other problems also occur.

Genetically, the dice are loaded in the female’s favour.

4 hours ago, Barry O said:

...Il Dotore.....can I suggest you check facts before you shout.. remove foot from mouth.. I have checked them. No added artificial sweetners (they don't taste sweet at all) , not "loaded" with fats.. they do have some but not even as much as those in a "normal" biscuit. ...

I stand corrected (and chastised). However, in mitigation M’lud, I did say “tend to...” and was speaking in generalities and back when I was working in Diabetology (1980s), the <no sugar> stuff of the time was pretty ghastly (and loaded with chemicals).

3 hours ago, AndrewC said:

....... How much do the airlines rely on the business traveller? ....There will always be the need for some physical business air travel, but my prediction is this will be a small fraction of what it was in the recent past...

To answer your first question - a lot! I once had a chat with a retired BA Concorde Captain, who told me their premium services produced the bulk of BA’s revenue at the time he was piloting Concorde, I doubt that it has changed that radically, certainly the competition between airlines for premium passengers is incredibly fierce. As to your second comment, I think business travel will decrease, but not as much as dirt-cheap budget flying. Apart from the environmental aspects of cheap short-haul travel, I somehow doubt that, nowadays, formerly popular destinations like Barcelona or Prague will be too keen on welcoming planeloads of potentially COVID-19 carrying hen or stag parties (or the like). Long-haul will probably focus on business travel (less passengers per cabin with costly recycling/purifying air systems reflected in the ticket price). We may even see airline travel return to the style of the thirties: expensive but luxurious and not for the few. 

 

Europe and much of Asia are well placed for a railway renaissance with a focus on long-distance travel, less so the UK and the US. I can also foresee the return of compartment stock (masks ON at the station and when boarding, masks OFF when in the carriage compartment with the door closed).

 

The drop in short-haul flights, which is likely occur notwithstanding what Mr O’Leary may think, could give rise to a resurgence to rigid airships (aka Zeppelins) with the freeing up of air traffic slots. Probably a much more environmentally friendly way of shipping non urgent, non-perishable goods around.

 

Cheers 

iD

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Not much happening the Farcebook group has more members but not quite hit the 3000 yet. 

5 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

Yahoo won the lottery again, 2 draws on the trot...………………..£8.20 total, so do I invest it or spend it on wine, women and song?

The song is free, you can get a half decent bottle of wine for £8.20 but what sort of woman would you get for that amount? 

[tigerburnie]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Could also have been one of these (or one of it's clones):

 

 

 

 

  An S&W M&P 15-22 which is a semi auto .22 rifle, and is legal in the UK providing you have a FAC.

 

There is a company up Mick's (NB) neck of the woods, that converts them into .22 WMR (Winchester Magnum Rimfire).

I suspect the person carrying it was from Hereford as I was inside the Balmoral estate at the time...…………...

[Barry O]

1 hour ago, Ian Abel said:

HUMP day all...

 

Nothing happening, EXCEPT, I think I need to go get some armaments - our order of bog roll is arriving today. I suggested to the Mrs we need to be armed-to-the-teeth and on patrol in the front of the house until it shows up  

 

Other than that, we managed a very nice salmon dinner last night with some excellent pasta with pesto, sadly we've only ONE portion pf pesto left, the Mrs didn't make any last autumn like she usually does.

Tonight may be a take-out, to again support the local restaurants.

 

5 and cloudy first thing, however expected to reach a whopping 17 later!

 

Stay safe and distant from each other (expect spouses/significant others of course  )

 

Minnesota out...

Ian

does the salmon you get taste of anything? The stuff we get in supermarkets here tastes of...not a lot! Mu sister reckons tinned red salmon tastes of salmon... 

 

Baz

[petethemole]

22 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

I suspect the person carrying it was from Hereford as I was inside the Balmoral estate at the time...…………...

 

The one to worry about is the one you didn't see....

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

Don't get me started!!!!

<HUGE RANT>

Having come to one of the states doing our level best to flatten the curve (thanks MN governor) the assistant arsewipe-in-chief manages to go to one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country and forgo every sane/stated control. These d!ckheads need taking out back behind the woodshed and having some sense beaten into them

He also stated he "gets tested regularly", how the FORK is he managing that when there's a shortage of testing kits. Apparently, the biggest flustercuck - if we DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW THAT - is with the federal government itself  

<END RANT> (for now!!!)

 

Video of this was shown on the lunchtime TV news today, here in the UK.

Not only does the assistant Arsewipe-in-Chief need a good kicking, but the Hospital bosses too.  I'd suggest they require a complete medical, starting at the genital area - it's obvious they were born without any balls cos' if they had any at all they would have said to Mr. Arsewipe: "you're wearing a mask or you ain't comin' in".

[AndyB]

44 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

I suspect the person carrying it was from Hereford as I was inside the Balmoral estate at the time...…………...

Or the Victoria barracks in Ballater, perhaps. 

[Happy Hippo]

44 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

I suspect the person carrying it was from Hereford as I was inside the Balmoral estate at the time...…………...

Not much difference in size for the calibre of the round, but a little more poke from the centre fire cartridge.

[AndrewC]

38 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Ian

does the salmon you get taste of anything? The stuff we get in supermarkets here tastes of...not a lot! Mu sister reckons tinned red salmon tastes of salmon... 

 

Baz

I find Scottish salmon unless smoked is pretty tasteless compared to most types of Pacific salmon. Sainsbury’s frequently has Keta or Sockeye fillets. Not cheap but worth it. 

[AndyB]

Evening all. 

A night off from terra-forming activities to concentrate on drinking beer and reading about a layout entitled Appledore in RM. 

Nice work. 

 

 

[AndyID]

11 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I have a precise use of language question for the ER grammarians.

 

In the following hypothetical situation:

Car A is a performance vehicle with a top speed of 300mph.

Car B is a high efficiency commuter vehicle with a top speed of 60mph.

 

Statement 1. The top speed of Car A is five times (5X) the top speed of Car B.

 

Restated:

Statement 2. Car A is five times as fast as Car B.

 

I have seen people try to state this as:

Statement 3. Car A is five times faster than Car B.

 

Do you interpret statement 2 to be precisely the same as statement 3?

 

Answers on a postcard. Replies will only be sent with a stamped, self-addressed envelope. (I do have an opinion but am looking for your opinion.) Thanks!

 

Answers from the back of the class with non-sequiturs will get a "ha ha ha".

 

Don't get me started. The one that always frosts my horns, frequently used by the US polis and news readers is:

 

"The vehicle was travelling at a great rate of speed."

[Joseph_Pestell]

12 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

I find Scottish salmon unless smoked is pretty tasteless compared to most types of Pacific salmon. Sainsbury’s frequently has Keta or Sockeye fillets. Not cheap but worth it. 

 

If you mean farmed salmon, I agree, fairly tasteless. Not even that good smoked.

[Ozexpatriate]

13 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

In the following hypothetical situation:

Car A is a performance vehicle with a top speed of 300mph.

Car B is a high efficiency commuter vehicle with a top speed of 60mph.

 

Statement 1. The top speed of Car A is five times (5X) the top speed of Car B.

 

Restated:

Statement 2. Car A is five times as fast as Car B.

 

I have seen people try to state this as:

Statement 3. Car A is five times faster than Car B.

 

Do you interpret statement 2 to be precisely the same as statement 3?

 

12 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Although generally used as having the same meaning, I think that B and C are different linguistically. B means that the top speed of the faster car is five times that of the slower car, I.e., 300 mph in the example. C means that the difference between the slower car's top speed and that of the faster car is five times the former, which is 300 mph over the slower car's top speed of 60 mph, giving a total of 360 mph.

 

11 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

My resident lexicographer says the two are equivalent; at times (n) the dictionary gives:

• three times as long
• three times longer
• three times the length

as equivalent. The dictionary records usage, not the rule according to some theorist.

 

For my part, 3 sounds more natural. 

 

11 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Hmm, that’s an interesting conundrum! I would argue that, for many people, Statement 2 = Statement 3. However I would argue that neither Statement 2 or Statement 3 truly reflect Statement 1. If I would say “A Lamborghini travelling at 30 mph is 5 times as fast/faster than a Reliant Robin travelling at 6mph” then that statement is both true (and is reflected in your Statement 2 and Statement 3) and also false (compared to your Statement 1) as only the ratio is present in the statement made with no reference to top speed. I think that the qualifier (Top Speed) is the key here, without it you could argue S2 and S3 do not = S1

However, grammatically, I think that “five times as fast” is probably the correct ‘formal’ usage, whereas “five times faster” is, I think, the more widely used and understood version. Personally, I would use “faster than” because to me, it implies a consistent across-the-ratio difference, whereas, again to just to me, “as fast as” implies a single time point/comparison.

 

9 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

As to grammatical questions emerging from the top left hand corner of the USA I am in agreement with Dave Hunt but would in any case use Statement 1 which offers proper clarity of language. 

Thank you gentlemen. The "faster than" is the key to potential confusion. Introducing "than" implies the difference between the two speeds, not merely the ratio.

 

Let me introduce Car C which has a top speed of 90mph.

 

Statement 4: Car C has a top speed 1.5 times (1.5X) Car B.

 

The analogy of Statement 3 for Statement 4 is:

 

Statement 5: Car C is 1.5 times faster than Car B. 

 

However, one could also say (accurately):

 

Statement 6: Car C has a top speed 30 mph faster than Car B's top speed of 60 mph.

 

Statement 7: Car C is 50 percent faster than Car B. 

 

Statement 5 and Statement 7 are mathematically incongruent and cannot both be accurate. While we generally interpret the intent correctly there are times when it is ambiguous.

Why do I bring this up? Years ago this distinction was the cause of a heated telephone conversation between a VP and a junior person who got very flustered. It was complicated by measurements of speed being done with time. If the cars travelled for 10 miles, Car A would take 2 minutes, Car B would take 10 minutes and Car C would take 6 minutes, 40 seconds.

 

Based on the time data, how much faster is Car C than Car B? It is faster by 3 minutes, 20 seconds. Is Car C therefore 33% faster than Car B, 50% faster than Car B, or 1.5X faster than Car B?

 

Precisely, mathematically, Statement 3, should be Car A is four times faster than Car B but this makes no sense the way we read it in English. As in Car A has a top speed 240 mph faster than Car B's top speed of 60 mph.

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Joseph_Pestell]

24 minutes ago, AndyB said:

Or the Victoria barracks in Ballater, perhaps. 

 

Would it be the army or the police?

[Ian Abel]

55 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Ian

does the salmon you get taste of anything? The stuff we get in supermarkets here tastes of...not a lot! Mu sister reckons tinned red salmon tastes of salmon... 

 

Baz

Varies depending on what the store has, the last item was, yes quite tasty.

[AndyID]

9 hours ago, Kingzance said:

Il Dottore is clearly, like KZ, not too pressured at this moment (and no, I won’t use that detestable phrase “at this moment in time”), being able to read and eruditely respond to so many earlier posts. 

 

 Perhaps "at this tincture" would be more appropriate ?

[AndyB]

2 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Would it be the army or the police?

So at the barracks it's the Royal Regiment of Scotland. 

'fraid my past career in defence didn't touch on this kind of hardware, so would be loathe to comment.  

[Joseph_Pestell]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

Ian

does the salmon you get taste of anything? The stuff we get in supermarkets here tastes of...not a lot! Mu sister reckons tinned red salmon tastes of salmon... 

 

Baz

 

I'm not sure why, but no canned fish tastes anything like the real thing. Not to say that I don't like tinned sardines, tuna and mackerel because I do. But completely different from the real thing. I am a massive fan of and barbecued fresh sardines, tuna or mackerel.