Early Risers.

[brianusa]

 

Did he; this was the 1940s, he had a dog as a pet, it was a Lab and black, so he called it Nibber.  We all call our pets 'cute' names, offensiveness was probably the last thing he thought of but its where we have brought ourselves in this headlong quest for inclusivity and political correctness.  Its got to the point of being ridiculous and doing more harm than good to the offended!

      Brian.

 

12 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

At the very least Gibson had to have known it was highly offensive.

[Dave Hunt]

Happy anniversary to the Wasses.

 

Dave

[Barry O]

16 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Happy anniversary to the Wasses.

 

Dave

 

 

I had to read that twice!... shows my eyes are ready for umpiring... lack of focus, blind patches and of course Iam virtually stone deaf... "WHAT DID YOU SAY DAVE???"

 

 

baz

 

[TheQ]

Evening awl, 

I have a somewhat painful back,  not by its normal cause,  I was about to leave the gentleman's "facilities " at work when someone else arrived.  So I backed off, attempting a social distance from the dogleg entrance, hitting my back on a newly installed sanitiser dispenser on the wall. The shock travelled down my spine causing considerable pain .

It cleared after a while, but it now is reasserting itself even after two glasses of red. 

 

SPQR,  well i was a bit disappointed with the end of the book even Hadrian was hardly touched,  it doesn't cover the last 250years of the empire. Wanders off into the treatment of the lower classes before finishing, sort of unfinished . 

 

IL Dottore  talks of his descendance from Roman's controlling  slavery.  But slavery in Roman times was an odd affair.  Whilst many were unlucky and worked in the fields and quarries . Those working in the cities could often find themselves better off than a poor Roman.

Many slaves were freed, at which point they became a Roman citizen, unlike a free man from elsewhere who mostly did not become a citizen.  At least one ex slave,  worked his way up to being a General in The Roman army. 

Many slaves bought their own freedom which brings the question how does a slave earn and keep the money,  I've not seen that explained and a really odd situation, I've read of elsewhere, was of slaves owning slaves.

 

As for IL Dottore  and almost all of us, we are all descended from slaves, 600 years after the end of the Roman Empire,  the doomsday book records 10% of the population of the UK as slaves and that probably no different from the rest of Europe . With intermediate marriage over the last 1000 years , we are all ex of slavers, slaves, and freemen .. ( the odd woman may have had something to do with it as well.) 

 

The red liquid was consumed whilst affixing short lengths of green plastic using a high voltage device.,  also some painting of a tiny radar was needed, as one side had dried gloss (good)  the other had dried Matt ( bad). 

 

Time for my choccy

 

Good night awl. 

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[Gwiwer]

Evening all.

 

Beer o'clock came and went.  I was seated outside in the sun enjoying a Hicks when the Ocado delivery arrived.  All there bar a single perfectly acceptable substitution.  SWMBO then joined me having completed her WFH week and required a Jinnan Tonic which was duly provided.  

 

We remained outside and thoroughly enjoyed a picnic meal with rather more alcohol than I had bargained for.  I seem to have consumed a bottle of wine quite cheerfully while SWMBO has a couple of inches less gin in her bottle and we need some more tonic.  Meal was delivered appetisingly presented in fully-recyclable containers with everything one might need.  Except a bread knife.  And strictly bring-your-own alcohol and glasses of course.  

 

The Hill of Strawberries was remarkably quiet as Friday evenings go.  All the block kids were around the back at the other end for a birthday and splash-pool party which meant we neither heard nor saw them.  No-one else appeared to be home.  Altogether probably one of the more memorable evenings of the year so far.  

 

And now before I fall over it is time to consider the bed.  We have a 4pm appointment tomorrow meeting friends for a bring-your-own afternoon tea so there should be enough time to sleep between now and then!  

 

Stay well.  

 

 

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[BokStein]

Night Awl!

 

Time for bed, said Zebedee!

Edited July 17, 2020 by BokStein

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

even Hadrian was hardly touched, 

Hadrian - also the guy who changed the rules and banned mixed and naked bathing in Roman baths - and instituted separate male and female facilities.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The leg is getting sore again but if I walk up and down a couple of times it seems to get a little less sore. Now that I have a delivery date for the shed I can prepare a few things for it such as shelves, well the materials anyway as once its up I can get the tape measure out and measure up.

[Dave Hunt]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

 

I had to read that twice!... shows my eyes are ready for umpiring... lack of focus, blind patches and of course Iam virtually stone deaf... "WHAT DID YOU SAY DAVE???"

 

 

baz

 

 

Sounds like you would make a fine Premier League referee Baz.

 

And no, I didn't write what you first thought I did.

 

Happy umpiring and watch out for the offside rule.

 

Dave

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Both of this morning’s shopping trips were successful, in that in each shop I was able to obtain all that was on the list. It was quite pleasant standing in the sun whilst waiting to enter the butchers, makes a change from the recent rain and wind. 

 

After dinner, I set up the old laptop and after a little research started playing with a few designs for LED circuits, the first few didn’t quite go as I wanted but eventually I managed to get one working how I wanted. Basically, the circuit is a single switch driving 2 LEDs, one of which is on, whilst the other is off depending upon which way the switch is set, but the LEDs aren’t driven directly by the switch itself, but by feedback from a micro switch on a servo driven point motor. Tomorrow I’ll build a test circuit on breadboard and test it with my Point-to-Point system.

 

Happy anniversary Mr and Mrs Wass 

 

Goodnight all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening all,
 

 

My first Cornish pasty was consumed this evening. The verdict is that they are satisfactory, but the meat could have used more seasoning. As a result only half was had, the other will be saved for lunch tomorrow. Half a jumbo sausage roll was also eaten, which was excellent. The sausages will be tested tomorrow for breakfast. 
 

Dad’s new tube amp arrived today from the caves of Amazon Prime. It’s made in China, but very good for what it is. Some Tracy Chapman was very briefly played on it this evening, and the sound was very good. It seems to be lacking slightly in “oomph” at least IMO.

 

Stay healthy,

 

Douglas

 

The amp

The Pasty

The Sausage Roll

Edited July 17, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Evening all,

Stay healthy,

Douglas

The amp

So now that you have treated us to the the finals, show us the pre. Also what are the sources? TIA

 

Nice looking, BTW. Give it time to break in as the audiofools say; maybe fifty hours or so.

Edited July 18, 2020 by J. S. Bach
To correct a spelling error.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

2 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

So now that you have treated us to the the finals, show us the pre. Also what are the sources? TIA

 

Nice looking, BTW. Give it time to break in as the audiofools say; maybe fifty hours or so.

It’s an integrated amp, so both are in the same err, box? Next up will be a Bluetooth streaming device added to the current set up. 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Goodnight all, from Greencountry.

 

Douglas

[J. S. Bach]

 

52 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

It’s an integrated amp, so both are in the same err, box? Next up will be a Bluetooth streaming device added to the current set up. 

If it is the Reisong A10 EL34 Amplifier as shown on Amazon,  I see that the source selector is on the rear panel, so yes it is an integrated. It is not obvious from the front view..

 

3 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

 ...snip... It seems to be lacking slightly in “oomph” at least IMO. ...snip...

6 watts per channel is not a lot of "oomph" unless the speakers are quite sensitive. I had (still have but no longer in use at this time) a set of stacked The Advents on top of Advent Legacy 2s that would go to ear-bleeding levels as one approached 10 watts.

 

A quote from the sales listing made me laugh:

"Please pay attention before buying, We received feedback from many buyers, reflecting that Reisong A10 Amp have not enough power. Please confirm that your speaker is a bookshelf speakers with a sensitivity 89db or more. We don't think Reisong A10 work well with a floorstanding Speaker or the low sensitivity speakers."

 

As you can see (read?), one of my passions is audio so I sometimes commit excess bloviation on the subject!

[J. S. Bach]

Speaking of excess bloviation, it is now time to say good night owl from the Piedmont.

[AndyID]

5 hours ago, brianusa said:

 

Did he; this was the 1940s, he had a dog as a pet, it was a Lab and black, so he called it Nibber.  We all call our pets 'cute' names, offensiveness was probably the last thing he thought of but its where we have brought ourselves in this headlong quest for inclusivity and political correctness.  Its got to the point of being ridiculous and doing more harm than good to the offended!

      Brian.

 

 

Hi Brian,

 

We are going to have to agree to disagree. I had an uncle who fought in the war who used that pejorative and I'm sure he had been using it for many years. It was common in the UK long before WW2 and it was as much a racial slur then as it is now.

 

I'm not suggesting Gibson was trying to be vindictive or deliberately racist. He probably thought it was amusing but I'm pretty sure that had there been any black airmen in his squadron, they would not have been in the least bit amused, and I wouldn't blame them. In my opinion the notion that Gibson didn't understand the significance of the name is an attempt to re-write history.

 

Andy

 

(not far from the former premises of Aryan Nations)

 

 

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

6 watts per channel is not a lot of "oomph" unless the speakers are quite sensitive. I had (still have but no longer in use at this time) a set of stacked The Advents on top of Advent Legacy 2s that would go to ear-bleeding levels as one approached 10 watts.

 

 

Good point. It takes some pretty big tubes (valves on the other side of the Atlantic) to produce a lot of power to drive speakers. My "disco" could fill a fair sized hall with a 15 watt tube amp but the speakers were likely much more efficient than modern speakers.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, 

Not to a bad nights sleep about 6 hours so far,  I'll try for more shortly. 

 

Barry O's revision of the rules of cricket,  is what many are now doing with the Racing Rules of Sailing. 

Every 4 years they are revised and they just have, so RRS 2021-2024 takes effect on the 1st of January 2021.  On sailing forums there are pages of discussion on what the odd word change here or there mean to a rules intent.  But until challenged cases reach the top level "court" no one is exactly sure.

 

Some rule changes are simple,  such as,  when crossing the the start / finish line,  it was any part of the boat or crew that counted,  now it's the hull.  That's actually a reversion back to how it was some years ago and makes a big difference on the broads, where there are a high percentage of boats with bowsprits. 

It's obvious why that rule change was made, its a lot harder to spot which bowsprit is which at a distance compared to knowing which hull is in front. 

 

An oddity was when some people tried painting the bow black,  so as to make it difficult to see them over a crowded start line.  Where as on the finishing line it's not normally crowded so they would be seen.  That soon got stopped under the unfair sportsmanship rules. 

 

Plans for today,  barbeque site making,  which unfortunately starts with digging two short holes in the ground for foundations. 

A little sanding trial will probably happen, as new sanding pads ( they are like pan scrubbers)  have arrived.  They are the recommended type for preparing this type of varnish for it's next coat. 

 

Time to roll over and snore.. 

[pH]

7 hours ago, TheQ said:

600 years after the end of the Roman Empire,  the doomsday book records 10% of the population of the UK as slaves and that probably no different from the rest of Europe.

 

Eh - no it didn't. It didn't even record the population of all of modern England:

 

"The Domesday Book was commissioned in December 1085 by William the Conqueror, who invaded England in 1066. The first draft was completed in August 1086 and contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (the border with Scotland at the time)."

 

and

 

"The survey does not cover London (city), Winchester, Northumberland and Durham or much of north-west England; the only parts of Wales included are certain border areas."

 

That said, there definitely was still slavery in the British Isles at that time, and apparently something that looked very like slavery for several hundred years after that:

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

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by pH

[5 C]

Morning awl from a still getting light outside Bedfordshire, so I can't really tell what it's doing.

 

Definitely an ER this morning as I have an early start. Today I will venture over the county border to the delightful town of Hitchin, where my car is going for a service and MoT. The dealer is unable to provide a loan car or collect and deliver due to virus restrictions, so I have anything up to five hours to kill while the work is done. Normally I'd begrudge that but I'll use the time to queue outside various shops and pick up a few bits and pieces it would be unnecessarily expensive to order on line. The weather forecast is good, there are a couple parks, the market square and various independent coffee shops and eateries who I will try to support. It will also help my step count.

 

Tea. My method is to brew in a pot, never a mug. Pot warmed first, boiling water poured over a teabag (sorry) and allowed to brew for five minutes under a tea cosy. Tea poured into 1 pint china mug first, followed by the milk. I'm also a fan of Turkish tea and keep a çaydanlık on the stove and serve it in Turkish tea glasses with saucers.

 

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Wass and support to those who are firing on anything less than all cylinders.

 

Regards to awl.