Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[Tony_S]

Unlike Manchester it didn’t rain here today. I did some modelling, not trains but cars. I had a Revell Corvette kit I wanted to motorise so I had to make body mounts for the chassis (a 3D print from the Wirral). I shall crash test it tomorrow before painting the car. Not sure what colour to paint it, Google images has plenty of examples. I have blue, green , yellow and red aerosols. 
Tony

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

[Barry O]

I felt less than 100% so went to bed early.. Mr Indi Gestion has now revealed itself. A "chewit" should work (indigestion tablet from Oz which is...chewy!)

Baz

Edited August 6, 2020 by Barry O

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Goodnight all, from Greencountry.

 

Douglas

[TheQ]

Mooring awl,  inner Temple Hare, 

5 hours + 1.5  sleep, not to bad for me,  I was summoned from the sofa by Ben the I want out Collie just after dawn. Over land it is entirely cloud covered,  over the sea about 50% cover., leading to a very red orange yellow sky to the east. 

 

Plans for today more MhRC roof repairing, the final section,  once that's done then the next task is waterproofing, then trim... 

 

Time to,  lay back and think of breakfast.. 

 

 

 

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

I felt a little wobbly on the fodder run yesterday, silently giving thanks for the dual purpose trolley and zimmer frame that I was pushing round Tesco at the time.  An hour or so on the bed brought about recovery and I devoted half an hour or so to the G word.  The green bin awaits its four-weekly emptying but is hardly brim full.  There is at least as much surplus jungle awaiting its fate but yesterday was not its time.

 

When clever people start talking about what their phones can do I suspect an element of “because I can”.  It will take me a while to get to grips with the kind advice proffered yesterday.  AndyB, I’m not sure whether it is good news or not that there is a print app on my phone.  I did have a sneaky peek when I read your post but whether it was the bank’s app or the phone itself which has the technology I can’t be certain.  Tony S, I did not mention how my printer, an Epson, is connected to the laptop.  It is by usb connection and I have no idea if it is wireless capable.  Peter BB, your point about loads of paper is extremely valid!  Simon, what you say sounds fine but I’m afraid that I am beginning to glaze over as I am only capable of absorbing so much technology in one sitting.  I don’t mind visiting the bank branch at all, not least because by getting me out of the house for up to an hour it gives me another place to go apart from a certain supermarket where familiarity is beginning to breed contempt!  It has taken me over a year and a half to get to grips with what my phone can do.  After four months I had to take it back to Currys to get them to show me how to answer it when it rings.  That’s how useless I am with technology!  For the time being, all things considered, I think that I shall persist with the self-service tills in the bank when I want a statement.  Their most common fault is that they run out of paper, though how often they will prove ungrateful when offered my debit card remains to be seen.

 

Today should be relatively simple.  It’s time to renew my car insurance.  I would have done it yesterday but the AA’s system was down.  The human to whom I spoke will call me back this morning.  The renewal premium offered, while as reasonable as car insurance can be, looked to me to offer scope for reduction.  Sure enough, one was offered.  If you don’t ask, you don’t get.  Gentle reader, you and I know that insurance covers everything except what happens.  It is a necessary evil.

  

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Debs. said:

I fear the carpet bombing of Dresden etc., doesn't feature on our National Curriculum.....all perhaps with good reason; that these are lessons beyond those about apportionment of blame; rather to learn the whole concept of avoiding the cause of such conflict ever again. 

 

A good point - it (seems) just a few months ago that a TV News feature mentioned the large percentage of UK Schoolchildren who didn't know who we were at war with in WW2.

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

The chewit seems to have worked s Mr Indi Gestion has gone off in the huff!

I only print out the bits of statement I need.. on the clean side of already used paper..ooh eck! I'm befinning to turn into a Yorkie!

Herself is off shopping in moreasons first thing. I may get veriois bits of cork cut and glued to some ply in my roomtoday. Almost got tothe point of having parallel bits of metal fitted...

 

Right, fin8sh my mugertea then stand back Thursday we have things to do!

 

Positive thoughtsto al ERs!

Baz

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a warm and sunny place.  I managed to make a new hinge for Beth's second pair of glasses yesterday, they just need a couple of minor adjustments today.  Today is apparently  going to be rather warm so it's up to the loft whilst still cool to try and get the hall lights working.  Apart from that not a lot else is on the agenda.

Many countries seem to teach history rather selectively.  There is not much reference in France to certsin British efforts.  

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[AndyB]

Morning all, we'll I'll be fascinated to if Chrisf gets his printer to work. As mentioned, my solution is low tech and involves 100% outsourcing  

 

Meanwhile I've started to see if it is possible to get a Google map to appear on my car's "infotainment" system. Middle age must be mellowing me as it now provokes a mere eye roll rather not than a Fawltyesque "damn good thrashing".

 

I've found the various wheezes reading to pre-retirement planning most interesting as I now just need to count off the years on my fingers rather than take my socks off as well.

I'm rather hoping that my current contract is morphed into a permanent role (who can tell these days) as the work is interesting, achievable, the holidays are very generous, as is the pension.  I've a lot to be grateful for.  

[Tony_S]

 Morning all.

It is rather overcast, forecast,to be warm and sunny later. 
Thursday seems to be shopping day. We are still having Waitrose deliveries. Though I may generate an order for another company who seem to have plenty of the few items Waitrose consistently fail to have (at least from the branch that our stuff comes from). 
Have a good day. 
Tony 
 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Yet another day when we’ve had overnight rain, thankfully that seems to have stopped a few hours ago and the patio is almost, but not quite dry. Today I’m on door answering service as Sheila will be wrestling with ironing the bedding today, but as it’s part of an outstanding delivery for me, I don’t really mind. So I’ll be spending the greater part of the day in the cellar, mainly cutting the underfloor insulation to size, once the delivery has arrived, I’ll make a start on fitting the stuff. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Another application of the Voltarol gel last night before bed kept Arthur Itis quiet and he hasn't woken up yet. Better get on with the things I intended to do yesterday, and last week/month/year. I need some more round tuit's.

[The Lurker]

On 05/08/2020 at 08:13, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

 

 

I think that at most levels of cricket, it is not satisfactory for umpires to be officiating their "own team". In this cynical age, people do not think that they will umpire neutrally (I recall encountering this nearly 20 years ago). Each club should nominate umpires to the league and those umpires should then umpire other clubs' matches. A club that can not supply an umpire should have points deducted. This is how it is done in some rugby competitions (note how I avoided the word "league" there). Not perfect but works reasonably well.

In the leagues I used to play in, each side was supposed to provide one umpire. Generally people wanted to play so we used to take it in turns. I remember we used to play one team each year and their umpire was the captain/opening bowler's Dad. "How's that, Dad?" "Out, son" was a common call and refrain when playing Whyte Melville. He was a good bowler at that level but not as good as his figures would suggest. The first year I captained the seconds, we played them at their home pitch and we knew which end the captain would prefer to bowl from, so I told our umpire two things before the match.

1 he was to be scrupulous honest.

2. to make sure he got out there before their umpire and stood at the favoured end.

this was achieved and the captain duly didn't take a wicket in the first 8 overs of his spell. He finally decided he would switch ends, and in his 9th over achieved an LBW; yours truly! I guess there is a kind of poetic justice there...!

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where the clouds are showing little sign of dispersing as forecast. We even had a brief shower of rain yesterday evening.

I am back at work again after a week off and am trying to catch up - it seems the world went very busy while I was off but I successfully ignored most of the noise...

 

there is not a lot to report from here but seeing posts about insurance renewal reminds me i need to take issue with the very kind quote i received from Direct Line - thanks for your 14 years with no claim, we're putting your premium up by nearly £200. I don't think so.

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

A good point - it (seems) just a few months ago that a TV News feature mentioned the large percentage of UK Schoolchildren who didn't know who we were at war with in WW2.

 

That's both appalling and frightening, The philospher George Santayana said "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" which has become the truism "Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Doomed To Repeat It"

 

In regards to both Dresden and Hiroshima/Nagasaki there was more than an element of "because we can" rather than any real military need (the atomic bombings were heavily criticised at the time at the highest level of the US military) and in both cases the axis power was on the ropes and ready to collapse militarily. All three attacks were designed to send a message - not to the axis powers, but to the Soviet Union (incidentally, many historians believe that it was the Soviet Union declaring war on Japan and then invading Manchuria that was the impetus for the Japanese to surrender to the Allies, not the A-Bombings).

 

As for acknowledging what had been done in Japan's name during the war, cold-war realpolitik swept an awful lot under the rug (and this was true, to a similar extent, with the Nazi regime). Whilst those at the top were executed for war crimes, as were many of the footsoldiers responsible for (or even just peripherally involved in) the atrocities, a large number of middle ranking responsible either were co-opted to work for the West (e.g. Operation Paperclip) or faded away into postwar anonimity.

 

Ironically, the two belligerent countries in WWII that were - quite literally - bombed flat, Germany and Japan have proven to be - by so many yardsticks- the real victors of that conflict.

 

What price victory, eh?

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Thirst-day greetings from a warm and humid Hill of Strawberries. 
 

It has been lunchtime. Afternoon snooze may follow. 
 

 

[PhilJ W]

When I was at school history lessons ignored the previous 50 years. I left school at the end of July 1964 so anything concerning history after July 1914 I had to find out from my parents, grandparents, books and TV programs. My grandparents were understandably reticent about the Great War, my parents only a little less reticent about WW2. I gained much more from TV programs such as 'All Our Yesterdays' and 'The World at War'. Since those programs were produced attitudes and opinions have changed about many aspects. Appeasement is one such aspect, Baldwin and Daladier were roundly criticised over appeasement but now it is realised that Hitler played on their fears of another war and WMD's such as mustard gas being used on civilian populations. 

[AndrewC]

Good day from a hot and humid boring borough. 28c at present and for Canadians that is working out to a 35c Humidex. 

 

@lurker Direct Line have a reputation for screwing over long time customers. I had 10 years before they tried to double my premium. The Meerkat found me one that was £30 a year cheaper than what I had been paying as well as a lower excess. Now if my premium goes up even by £10 I'll shop around. 

 

Little else. Preparing a pork belly for slow smoking tomorrow. Salad & smoked Pacific Salmon tonight I think. Can't be ar5ed to cook. 

 

Enjoy the day, what's left of it. 

[simontaylor484]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

That's both appalling and frightening, The philospher George Santayana said "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" which has become the truism "Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Doomed To Repeat It"

 

In regards to both Dresden and Hiroshima/Nagasaki there was more than an element of "because we can" rather than any real military need (the atomic bombings were heavily criticised at the time at the highest level of the US military) and in both cases the axis power was on the ropes and ready to collapse militarily. All three attacks were designed to send a message - not to the axis powers, but to the Soviet Union (incidentally, many historians believe that it was the Soviet Union declaring war on Japan and then invading Manchuria that was the impetus for the Japanese to surrender to the Allies, not the A-Bombings).

 

As for acknowledging what had been done in Japan's name during the war, cold-war realpolitik swept an awful lot under the rug (and this was true, to a similar extent, with the Nazi regime). Whilst those at the top were executed for war crimes, as were many of the footsoldiers responsible for (or even just peripherally involved in) the atrocities, a large number of middle ranking responsible either were co-opted to work for the West (e.g. Operation Paperclip) or faded away into postwar anonimity.

 

Ironically, the two belligerent countries in WWII that were - quite literally - bombed flat, Germany and Japan have proven to be - by so many yardsticks- the real victors of that conflict.

 

What price victory, eh?

 

 

There was an interesting documentary series on Radio 4 called ratlines maybe its available on the Bbc  Sounds app as to what happened to various Nazis. 

There was a plan called Operation Unthinkable which envisioned the re arming of the Whermacht and turning on the Red Army if Stalin had not stopped his tanks at Berlin helped if course by the a bombs used on Japan 

 

There was a doc on you tube yesterday Search for Mark Felton that they very nearly had to use Lancaster Bombers to drop the bombs because they wouldn't fit in th B29 

 

I have no connection with these channels just a satisfied viewer 

[simontaylor484]

Most of the history i did at school (i dropped it at gcse) was the Renaissance after the great plagues

 

Scarily not to dissimilar to today

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.

 

My history at school was the Dictators - at least after a bit of Disraeli and Gladstone, then the General Strike, but the Dictator bit didn't really have much about the war in it, more the politics of dictatorship.

 

The 'World at War'  TV series I found interesting as a young man, and have recently enjoyed it once again on a satellite channel.  Mrs NHN, who grew up in Cornwall and Guernsey, really got a lot from it, knowing lots about the Channel Island's occupation but little else about the war.

 

[Gwiwer]

39 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Most of the history i did at school (i dropped it at gcse) was the Renaissance after the great plagues

 

 

17 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

My history at school was the Dictators

 

There is a gap in my history education between 66 million years ago and 1957.

 

I never did well at school history which might in part have been down to the then teaching method of learning (or not) and reciting kings, queens and major battles by date and by rote.  There was no attempt made at gaining interest or engagement.  Nor any of what might to day be called interpretation.  The "why" and "wherefore" of history and historical events.  

 

Cue the university years and having made good progress at school with geology, having had the good fortune to attend a school where it was enthusiastically taught, I proceeded to graduate in the subject.  Hence the gap in my memory.  From the end of the Cretaceous Period which is when much of the undergraduate teaching stops until 1957 and my arrival in person on the planet.