Early Risers.

[pH]

29 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

... forced-air heating/air-conditioning generally requires the maintenance of the ducts regularly ...

Maybe I should try that .  Apart from regular changing of the filters and occasional removal of registers and vacuuming out of the ducts immediately below, we’ve never had any duct cleaning done.

[PhilJ W]

About ID's campaign to close down Farcebook. Why not make it easy to use and without the ridiculous rules. That will confuse the users no end and it will implode. 

[Coombe Barton]

My second jab is Friday - and this morning I received both a text and email reminder for it.

 

[Ian Abel]

54 minutes ago, pH said:

Maybe I should try that .  Apart from regular changing of the filters and occasional removal of registers and vacuuming out of the ducts immediately below, we’ve never had any duct cleaning done.

IMHO (as with the smart phones, vax certs etc., given we seem to be on the path of justifying or explaining) it's well worth doing, especially if you have any pets.

The amount of carp taken out from the system is stunning, even with very regular filter changes. It's certainly worth doing every couple of years, and if you have any allergies (both the Mrs and I have seasonal allergies exacerbated by dust and smoke in general) it definitely helps.

Of course, as with anything, it comes at a cost, but we find it is worth it.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Ian Abel

[J. S. Bach]

8 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I assume people who don’t like mobile banking absolutely avoid PayPal too.

I detest mobile banking (and do not have an activated cell phone) but use PayPal frequently, this morning even.

[southern42]

' evening all from red dragon land.

 

Belated Birthday Greetings to AndyP.

 

Quiet day just doing necessities after spending the previous 3 days preparing, painting and repainting a {No.6} lady fan for that 1960s camper van I mentioned a few days ago.

 

So that's it.  Take care all, play safe and I will try and do some catching up on here again.

 

Polly

[JohnDMJ]

Good Evening All,

 

I think I've just caught up on the last 24 hours of ER and have distributed likes, etc. as I felt appropriate.

 

However:

 

19 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

The villain's monorail ("transport system of the future" - always has been and always will be) was in You Only Live Twice where Blofeld was using a space capsule swallowing rocket launched from a hollowed out volcano in Japan to try to start WW3 but I think it also appeared inside the nuclear submarine swallowing  "super-tanker" which villain Stronberg was using to try to start WW3 in The Spy Who Loved Me. Bit of a common theme there I think.

 

I have reason to believe that the self-same monorail also appeared in Carry On Spying! The Carry On films were shot at Pinewood Studios where the 007 Set was (is?) a permanent fixture; given the tight budget the Carry Ons had, borrowing someone else's set was not beyond them!

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I think that we have to consider two things: firstly, today , as with the (first) industrial revolution, you either embrace the current technology of the day or get plowed under. Regardless of what one may think about app driven activities (from using a smartphone app as a boarding card, to online banking and beyond), there will come a time when the overwhelming majority in society will use such technology and catering to those who, for whatever reason choose not to use such technology, will find themselves - at best - ignored by companies and social structures who are only concerned with dealing with the majority. At worse, people who refuse to adopt the current technology of the day will find themselves isolated and marginalised.

 

I feel there is the incredulity from the technophiles to realise that there are still technophobes out there! Three businesses I regularly contact only accept telephone or letter communication. I recall at my Father's funeral, one of his former colleagues proudly stating that 'I have used with computers for most of my working life. I'm not retiring to be a slave to a computer at home; telephone, (FAX), pen and paper will do me fine!'

 

A Darwinian-style evolutionary process might, eventually, make this variant of the species extinct, but, for the moment, I know where my towel is, even though I do possess a digital watch!

 

Somewhere amongst my effects, exist a Commodore PET, a Commodore C64 and an AMSTRAD PPC640 (and about 3 Raspberry Pis!); OK, so I'm tending towards a technophile but I respect the technophobes and the fact that they are not going to disappear overnight!

 

 

[simontaylor484]

This popped up on my Yt account yesterday 

 

[polybear]

4 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

'fraid we're not a tax haven nowadays, Poly, we have full disclosure agreements with most countries - it's a fallacy.  Apparently the best place for tax avoidance in the British Isles is the City of London!

 

Hmmm.....perhaps living in an Amazon Warehouse might be a suitable alternative - they're experts at dodging the tax man....

 

4 hours ago, The Lurker said:

But before that I struggle to remember. I used to despair at people paying by chip and pin for small amounts, but I happily tap to pay, which is quicker than cash (usually).

 

Is "tapping to pay" any quicker than chip & pin?  I've never done the former, so have no idea.

 

In other news:

Bear spent the afternoon wiring up a dual cooker outlet, then reconnecting the bonding leads to the H & C kitchen sink pipework.  A delivery contained the WiFi Extender I ordered - this was set up and then placed in the conservatory in order to boost the signal to the shed; whilst it did boost the signal it still didn't create a "full house" signal on the tablet which was a little disappointing.  More significantly, the shed smart plug is still proving to be less smart than one would hope - it's decidedly temperamental when responding (or rather, not responding) to on/off commands via Alexa.  More experimentation tomorrow - I'll plug the smart plug into an extension cable and see at what point between conservatory and garden the thing starts becoming unreliable.  I'll also try one of the recently purchased in-line wifi switches when positioned in the shed, just to see if they perform any better. 

 

 

[Compound2632]

13 minutes ago, polybear said:

Is "tapping to pay" any quicker than chip & pin?  I've never done the former, so have no idea.

 

Yes. It also has the advantage that you don't touch anything that isn't yours, especially the buttons on the card reader, which have been poked at by innumerable covideous fingers.

[New Haven Neil]

Many moons ago as I was 'leaving home' my parents downsized into a 60's bungalow which had ducted air heating - I hated it! I only lived there a fortnight, but I had a dry throat  and sinuses the entire time.  The parentals moved a couple of years later too....they felt the same.

 

They aren't common in the UK, where some form of heated water or storage heaters (also ugh) are more common.  Yet it appears they are normal in the US, I understand it makes A/C easier to arrange too, for the more extreme climate than we have , but.....ugh.

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

...Postie delivered the news that Bear is to receive a Pension Increase, to the tune of a little over 69 LDC's And then it struck me......Bear will lose a fair wedge of these to......(those of a nervous disposition should look away now)......

>
>
>
>
.....the Tax Man

The thought of some little scrote in the Inland Revenue munchin' on Bear's LDC is enough to change Bear from a cute n' cuddly ball of fur into a mad, axe-wielding nutcase....

Perhaps Bear should consider a tax-haven?  Any room on Fraggle Rock @New Haven Neil?

 

Bear may be interested to learn that Captain Cynical has a quietly profitable sideline in “wealth protection”. Based on a sophisticated variant of матрёшка banking (Russian: матрёшка: Matryoshka Doll) and using the most impeccable Swiss and Liechtenstein private banks, Captain Cynical’s personalised “Under The Mattress” (tm) wealth management scheme will save you a considerable amount of LDC from the predatory claws of the taxman. REST ASSURED this is NOT tax evasion! Using legal arcana, the “Under The Mattress” wealth protection scheme will ensure that your tax burden will be LEGALLY reduced to a MERE farthing or groat on the pound (which will be paid for you directly by your personal “Under The Mattress” wealth management counsellor).

 

Discretion is our byword. Once an “Under The Mattress” client, we won’t have ever met you, wouldn’t recognise you in a line-up and will not have received any sort of communication from you.

 

PM Captain Cynical if you are interested in getting a FREE quote for your very own, personalised, “Under The Mattress” wealth protection scheme.

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by iL Dottore
Typo

[iL Dottore]

45 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

...there is the incredulity from the technophiles to realise that there are still technophobes out there!

No incredulity from my part whatsoever. Anyone even minimally interested in social/economic history will realise that in every age, advancement in both the sciences and technology has been resisted - sometimes violently (e.g the Luddites) by people and for many reasons: fear, ignorance, vested interests, political opportunism, unwillingness to change or even simple incomprehension.

The difference nowadays, I would argue, is that modern technology is so ubiquitous, pervasive (if not invasive) that it becomes increasingly difficult to shun even just a small part of it - such is the interconnectivity of the modern world.
 

I think that you could count the number of people who truly do live “off grid“ can be counted on the fingers of a blind butcher‘s hand!

[Erichill16]

12 hours ago, polybear said:

 - isn't milk and orange juice another....

Urgh, some people have NO taste.

[Ian Abel]

48 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Many moons ago as I was 'leaving home' my parents downsized into a 60's bungalow which had ducted air heating - I hated it! I only lived there a fortnight, but I had a dry throat  and sinuses the entire time.

That is quite possibly due to the relatively unusual circumstances of location (UK) and limited installations coupled with climatic conditions not warranting a "complete" system.

Many, though not ALL, installations in the US, especially where I am, given the large fluctuation in temperature and humidity, include humidifiers as part of the installation, in the ductwork, coupled to the thermostat and a built in humidistat.

Ours, set correctly provides a balanced humidity in the house for the prevailing conditions, alleviating overly dry air.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Ian Abel

[Erichill16]

On the topic of money under the mattress, I have a friend who’s father was a builder and has buried his money in the large garden and not told anyone where it is. 

[Erichill16]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I also have tablets 

 

Bet you don’t have as many as me!

[New Haven Neil]

7 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

That is quite possibly due to the relatively unusual circumstances of location (UK) and limited installations coupled with climatic conditions not warranting a "complete" system.

Many, though not ALL, installations in the US, especially where I am, given the large fluctuation in temperature and humidity, include humidifiers as part of the installation, in the ductwork, coupled to the thermostat and a built in humidistat.

Ours, set correctly provides a balanced humidity in the house for the prevailing conditions, alleviating overly dry air.

 

That would be the answer - typical UK half-arsed job with no humidifier!

[PupCam]

42 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

I feel there is the incredulity from the technophiles to realise that there are still technophobes out there!

I think there's a third category, "technocan'ts" who just plain can't do it.  To elaborate on my earlier example a little if I may, I think it is just plain wrong of companies to expect an independent  90+ year old to have to adopt technology just so they can continue to live.   If that is ultimately the way the world is going then that's fine, younger people who have grown up with the technology and are completely familiar with it will be fine but, as someone mentioned previously, it can't be done instantly.   Those "technocan'ts" won't be around forever or even long in the overall scheme of things but it's totally wrong to penalise them while they are here.

 

Of course, one can sneak technology in to advantage under the technophobes and technocan'ts noses when they aren't looking   

In my case the delivery of a pre-configured mobile based WiFi hotspot and a Facebook Portal (there, I've said it) has absolutely transformed mother's ability to properly interact with family and friends during the lockdowns.   So much so that now her 3 year old great grandson is a real part of her life and perhaps, even more importantly, she is part of his life.   She has no knowledge of how it works, how it's been set up etc and of course she has no need to, the important thing is it has enriched her life particular during this difficult period when physical contact has been impossible.

 

I must fish out my BBC Model B and Commodore 64 for old times sake and get another slack handful of Arduinos.  I feel a bunch of projects coming on!

 

 

[simontaylor484]

@polybear

Try hiring a storage unit and keeping LDC tokens in there it worked on breaking bad

 

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, PupCam said:

... it appeared that this new format "is the way the industry" (not just Apple) will be going and if so, sobeit.  

Apple has long forced proprietary solutions on Apple users to lock them into purely Apple solutions. HEIF is part of ISO/IEC 23008-12, so it is a proper 'standard', even if uptake by providers other than Apple is slow, but I don't know that the whole industry will necessarily move there quickly.

 

HEIF denser than JPEG, resulting in much smaller files for a similarly apparent resolution. 

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Ian Abel]

19 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

That would be the answer - typical UK half-arsed job with no humidifier!

Now then..  the UK doesn't corner the market on half-arsed!

There's a lot of variation in houses here as to whether they have or even use humidifiers in the whole heating/ac system.

 

When looking at houses there are MANY where a humidifier system is non-existent, was there and has been removed (obvious signs), turned off (for YEARS judging by the state of it) or simply never adjusted appropriately.

Those are often the folks whittering on about something being wrong with their heating/ac and the air being...TOO DRY!!!
 

My smart-thermostat (WHOOPS!! Please ignore the "smart" those of a luddite-complexion ) monitors and shows the humidity and can notify me if it's out of range.

Sadly the humidifier on my system is rather age-challenged and can't be directly controlled by the thermostat, so it requires human (ME) intervention a couple of times a year as the season change, to get it at the appropriate level.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Ian Abel

[Ozexpatriate]

15 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

As for the comment about Nuclear Weapons and “Space Lasers”, Captain Cynical finds such things to be totally passé. Viruses (or is that virii?) - both computer and biological - are the way ahead for the ambitious supervillain eager to hold the world to ransom

Bond did viruses as the evil plot too:

 

Pathogenic: Moonraker

Computer: Skyfall

[polybear]

52 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

No incredulity from my part whatsoever. Anyone even minimally interested in social/economic history will realise that in every age, advancement in both the sciences and technology has been resisted - sometimes violently (e.g the Luddites) by people and for many reasons: fear, ignorance, vested interests, political opportunism, unwillingness to change or even simple incomprehension.

 

 

I recall that many seemed convinced that, when railways first hit the scene, people would surely die when they went over a certain speed.  I wonder what they'd make of a ride on the TGV or Bullet Train?

 

27 minutes ago, PupCam said:

I must fish out my BBC Model B and Commodore 64 for old times sake and get another slack handful of Arduinos.  I feel a bunch of projects coming on!

 

 

Puppers might like to take a look at the "sold" prices of such gadgets on a certain auction site first....

[JohnDMJ]

 

31 minutes ago, PupCam said:

I think there's a third category, "technocan'ts" who just plain can't do it.  To elaborate on my earlier example a little if I may, I think it is just plain wrong of companies to expect an independent  90+ year old to have to adopt technology just so they can continue to live.   If that is ultimately the way the world is going then that's fine, younger people who have grown up with the technology and are completely familiar with it will be fine but, as someone mentioned previously, it can't be done instantly.   Those "technocan'ts" won't be around forever or even long in the overall scheme of things but it's totally wrong to penalise them while they are here.

 

I agree with the concept of the "technocan'ts". They will certainly feel the brunt of Darwinian Evolution!

 

The whole Evolutionary process takes time but will reach the result eventually!

 

23 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Apple has long forced proprietary solutions on Apple users to lock them into purely Apple solutions. HEIF is part of ISO/IEC 23008-12, so it is a proper 'standard', even if uptake by providers other than Apple is slow, but I don't know that the whole industry will necessarily move there quickly.

 

IIRC, a certain pairing from Harvard Uni co-founded microsoft - some guy called Gates and another, Steve Jobs?

 

Maybe that's why I use Linux!!