Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

19 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

Ah, but we did! 

Are you sure?

 

[Ian Abel]

17 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

But when you look at something like the internet the timeframe is down to about a decade after its invention but its presence is universal. It is this combination that scares people. As it doesn't allow for people to integrate the technology into their lives at an easy pace and since then it has got even quicker.

Understand and appreciate the attempt to show the time scale, however you're off by a factor of about 3, conservatively (not taking into account ARPANET where the "internet" started - prototyped back in the late '60s).

I was on/using the internet as a personal email tool and discussion forums by 1985 and AOL/Compuserve services and web browsers were in existence already, by late '80s PCs/Macs were relatively common, although not "for everyone" certainly.

There's been at least 20-30 years of significant ramp up of technology for the masses and whilst it's been faster than the railway analogy, it's still been with us for a very long time. My kids (now early 30s) don't remember a time when a PC/Mac wasn't available to them and I was carrying a cell phone - admittedly for work - shortly after they arrived on the scene, and it's been at least 10-15 years or more since PCs and cell phones were common place.

For anyone wanting to, there's been plenty of time to adjust to whatever level of technology acceptance they feel inclined to at a fairly relaxed pace.

It is, of course, a personal choice as is anything one wants to move forward with, but it's certainly not a recent surprise to anyone.

 

BIN day, all taken care of. Trucks still roaming the streets still in search of their particular clients' BINs.

 

Quiet yesterday and will be today by all accounts. Ductwork all suitably cleaned by the "men" so we are all set for another year or so.

Weather improving so we were able to sit outside late afternoon and enjoy the birds, a pair having decided to nest in a small bird house we have hanging from the eaves.

 

May attempt to bike ride briefly later, having fixed the Mrs brakes - she took a quick spin solo yesterday.

 

5 at BIN time, sunny and 17 the expected high.

 

Carry on.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Ian Abel

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Looks like RMweb is the only It problem in a certain place because Warners' email went on the blink yesterday afternoon with a polite message saying that it couldn't deliver emails.  Chilly-ish start but not too bad out this afternoon and wheile Mrs Stationmaster was inside securing domestic essentials I managed just ver 1 mile's worth of circui some ts round part of Tesco's car park by which yi,e my knee had had enough.  That car park is also a great place for spotting thh be-gloved getting into their cars and touching everything, including driving off, before removing their. gloves and of course the masked drivers can also be seen there.  No supercars in residence today unless you count a Tesla * (which I don't).

 

The great advantage of the shopping trip was the replenishment of the mushroom supply so it was a normal (for me) slightly delayed lunch today with some very enjoyable mushrooms with decent stalks (unlike the ones that came from Waitrose the other day).   No other new be it good, bad, or indifferent, apart from the excellent news his ladship has been given a date (in a couple of weeks time) for his second shot of Pfizer juice.  Even more interesting was that he had called the surgery to ask when he'd be getting his second jab and they immediately offered him a date and time.

 

Enjoy the rest of your day and stay safe.

 

PS seeing Ian Abel's comments about timseescales etc reminds me that I was using the excellent BR internal electronic mail and file transfer system back in 1985 - it could transfer files measured in gigabytes with no problems even that.   It had about 11,000 users by c.1986/7 and was without any doubt the best such system I have ever encountered as it had a complete directory of all users which could be searched by surname. or location/dept, or their BR internal ETD 'phone number.   When my then employer ditched membership of it it in 1994/95 it could still handle far larger files than internet email could manage and stuff that had been dealt with by file transfer had to be transferredt physically using a DAT tape.

Edited April 29, 2021 by The Stationmaster

[iL Dottore]

I see that the general theme of discussions on ER today is very much a heading towards “4 Yorkshireman sketch“ territory (a famous sketch, performed by many including Monty Python, in which 4 rich Yorkshireman try to out do each other with tales of how desperate, deprived and poverty stricken their childhoods were).

Having said that, I certainly recall that, in comparison with how homes are heated nowadays, the houses I lived in as a child were generally mostly oceans of cold with little islands of warmth during the winter. My great aunt lived in a bungalow and there were two little islands of warmth: the living room and the kitchen - connected by a rather chilly corridor. My great aunt, being comfortably off, indulged in herself by having a two bar electric radiator in her bedroom. This was in the early to mid 60s  and “proper“ heating had yet to catch on in Britain (In fact a foreign character in one of Len Deighton’s early books - I think it was a Funeral in Berlin, remarked that Britain was as far north as Labrador but central heating was practically unknown)

 

The British habit (and I think it is a British habit) of heating the minimal amount of space seems to live on: given the number of people saying how they turn their central heating off as they leave for work and on when they come back in the evening. so it was quite an eye-opener moving to Italy in 1969 to find that our apartment had radiators in every room (including the bathroom) and the heating came on in Autumn when the temperature dropped below a certain level (I think it was 18°C outside) and stayed on until outside temperature went back up again when winter was over (TBH, I think you use more energy by heating up the house every day and then letting it cool down, then by heating it up once and keeping the heating on, just replacing the amount of energy that is lost as the day progresses).

 

After living in Italy, and then in the US, where even the most Spartan of apartments had central heating, I returned to the UK and started working in research. One of the first properties I rented, was a shared cottage which had a coal fire, plus an Aga in the kitchen - which was kept alight and fed from September to late April -  and two storage heaters that charged up during the day and kept the place tolerably above freezing during the night.  However, the heating-such as it was-was only found downstairs. Upstairs the bedrooms were completely unheated. It was then I understood the saying that went along the lines of “the Europeans have sex, the British have hot water bottles“  This was not the drab and austerity plagued immediate postwar Britain, but mid 1980s UK.

 

Still, it was fun at the time...

Edited April 29, 2021 by iL Dottore
Typo

[Tony_S]

21 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Immediately  offered him a date and time

Aditi got a text from GP today inviting her to choose a date and time for her second vaccine dose. Those offered are earlier than the centrally booked one she has and it is very local, just round the corner at the end of our road. 
Aditi thought it would be nice to clean the cars, this was it would be nice for me to clean the cars. The combination of bird and spider poo, moss and what I think is sand from the Sahara has been removed. We now have a white car and a black car. Birds seem to love targeting the roof of my car. Fortunately it is mainly glass rather than painted metal. 
I collected my spectacles from the optician who had been repairing them. Bits of titanium seem to be rather expensive.

In another outburst of usefulness I assisted in the garden. Aditi had been attempting to remove a dead hibiscus for nearly 2 hours but it wasn’t budging. I did succeed without doing myself any harm. Afterwards we stood about watching a robin and some sparrows feast on whatever was in the loose soil. 
Tony
 

[The Stationmaster]

6 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I see that the general theme of discussions on ER today is very much a heading towards “4 Yorkshireman sketch“ territory (a famous sketch, performed by many including Monty Python, in which 4 rich Yorkshireman try to out do each other with tales of how desperate, deprived and poverty stricken their childhoods were).

 

Thanks for reminding me Flavio   We lived in a bungalow and had uninsulated concrete floors although some rooms had parquet flooring and some had cork tiles.  My bedroom, in the north corner, had lino on painted concrete with occasional visits from an electric fire although in my teens it acquired an oil filled heater which managed to keep the temperature reasonable although not warm enough to prevent frost forming inside my bedroom window.  The latter didn't worry me as I thought that was what happened everywhere else, it definitely happened at my maternal grandparents where we usually went at Christmas and not even teh heat from the bedroom candle helped and when they installed electrickery that didn't offer any heat at all.

 

And it probably happened at my paternal grandparents, in Yorkshire, where the only heat was either the kitchen range or a paraffin heater in. a house with walls only a single brick course thick and the floor bricks or concrete laid directly on earth.   We never went there in the depths of winter so I never knew if the windows did frost over but I'd be amazed if they didn't.   One of the more interesting features was the kitchen window blind which was actually a blackout blind which had been put in during the war in order to stop light leaking out to help the Zeppelin pilots (yes - that war).

[TheSignalEngineer]

Evening Awl Owl. Spotted this chap near to the railway bridge in Brabyns Park, Marple. Has been around quite a lot in this tree during the spring but disappeared for a while before returning a few days ago, so I took the 300mm lens on Grandad duty this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

[polybear]

3 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Either some D-bag trying it on after seeing the news about house prices, or they've got an under the table offer of around £40k more and are trying to start a bidding war. Either way, I'd be telling them to go forth and multiply.

 

 

Even better, agree to the demand then take it right up to the wire (just before you're legally comitted) and then withdraw the 50K - if they say no then pull out.  See how they like it.....

 

57 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Even more interesting was that he had called the surgery to ask when he'd be getting his second jab and they immediately offered him a date and time.

 

Worth knowing - Bear might just phone the docs tomorrow to ask about a date for the second jab....

 

I had a call from buddy over the road (not the next door buddy); he's suffering with blocked lug 'oles - the doc has told him that (unless there are specific circumstances) the NHS now no longer syringe ears - you have to go private.  It's started...

 

A brief chat with next door buddy over the fence - the estate agent was back again to take pictures.  It seems "they" are still undecided what to do (not to be confused with "she" being undecided, you understand...) - buddy admitted he didn't really want to move, but....  You get the picture.

It seems that SWMBO has found a deal where they can change their current mortgage to interest only, 0% for 3 years and paying two hundred quid a month.  There's a catch with such deals - it's £7.2K down the drain....

 

Bear expects a different brand of smart plug to be delivered tomorrow - this will go in the shed and hopefully will sort the issues with the current unit.  We'll see.  Expect a report later.

 

Now I'm all for a bit of home improvements, but this Bear is getting SERIOUSLY p.off with the current bitching and whinging currently being reported by certain household electronics devices regarding who paid for a roll of wallpaper.  No more to report on that subject, however - the Awl is already twitching and the HAS doors are opening....

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Aditi’s friend is buying a house near Everything was progressing smoothly until yesterday when the vendor said she wanted another £50000. 

Can't happen in France, both parties sign an enforceable  contract, the compromis de vent, a few days after the offer is made. A 10% deposit is lodged with the notaire and if either party puls out the other gets the 10%. I presume that if the vendor is the guilty party they have to pay.

 

As to remote showers, when we builtban accessible en suite Beth insisted that the controls be on the wall at the entrance to the shower area to stop the problem of initial cold supply. She'd learned that in hospital where the controls are situated where the nurse can operate them.

 

Jamie

 

 

 

[JohnDMJ]

Good Evening Awl,

 

Another mixed day both at work and personally!

 

As a result of an eye problem earlier in the week, the local hospital rang to ask if I could present today! Being at work and one hour before the suggested time, I declined and was offered an alternative appointment tomorrow! Let me check; eye'll get back to you. Having agreed this was OK, then spent 10 minutes wrestling with the hospital's phone network to confirm this was OK. All this before 09:30!

 

In other parts:

 

10 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

That is a built in security measure in case your card had been lost or stolen as it could then be used numerous times up to the £45 limit until the card is blocked.

 

I understand that these security measures differ between providers - some have a limit on the number of times a contactless card can be used before you have to enter the PIN to prove you are the authorised account holder - others have a financial limit - say after spending £200 in a day then you need to use the PIN to reset the clock and start again.

 

There have been proposals to increase the transaction limit and so if that happens, I guess the card providers will have to review their security limits.

.

 

This is one aspect in which the UK seems to be left behind! Certainly, every time I have used contactless payment in Switzerland, for example, regardless of the amount, I have not (yet) had a transaction declined or been asked to 'insert my card into the reader'. It simply asks me to enter my PIN and is happy!

 

Rhetorical question: why does the UK insist on being out on a limb; post brexit HMRC, Schengen, et alia?

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

The British habit (and I think it is a British habit) of heating the minimal amount of space seems to live on: given the number of people saying how they turn their central heating off as they leave for work and on when they come back in the evening. so it was quite an eye-opener moving to Italy in 1969 to find that our apartment had radiators in every room (including the bathroom) and the heating came on in Autumn when the temperature dropped below a certain level (I think it was 18°C outside) and stayed on until outside temperature went back up again when winter was over (TBH, I think you use more energy by heating up the house every day and then letting it cool down, then by heating it up once and keeping the heating on, just replacing the amount of energy that is lost as the day progresses).

 

Such 'digital' control (on or off) certainly uses more energy than maintaining a minimum level. In my current abode, I only have a thermostat with several programmable settings for each day of the week; I have no time switch on my boiler. In my previous domicile, I had a 'twice per day' timer on the boiler and a bi-metallic strip thermostat. It was possible to have the central heating on but with the water heating off, thus pumping cold water to the radiators! My gas bills are much lower here because I never let the temperature fall below 17 Celsius.

 

Today's thermostats also allow period settings such as 'holiday' mode (maintain this minimum temperature for X days, X being set so that during the return day from holiday, the temperature is being restored to the normal cycle ) or 'at home' mode (maintain this cycle, usually Sunday's, for X days)

 

Technology may have some benefits!

[simontaylor484]

In my first childhood home we didnt have a radiator in the bathroom we had a heater mounted on the lightfitting . Dad eventually had a radiator fitted in there and in the kitchen

[New Haven Neil]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Snip<

 

As to remote showers, when we builtban accessible en suite Beth insisted that the controls be on the wall at the entrance to the shower area to stop the problem of initial cold supply. She'd learned that in hospital where the controls are situated where the nurse can operate them.

 

Jamie

 

 

 

 

Snap - we did that after foot-gate!  

[leopardml2341]

Goodnight folks.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, JohnDMJ said:

Such 'digital' control (on or off) certainly uses more energy than maintaining a minimum level.

Are you describing a system with no thermostat here?

 

I have experienced many different approaches.

 

I rented a house (early 20th century perhaps) in the Chicago suburbs. It had cast iron steam/hot water radiant heat on the lower floor with electric baseboard radiators on the upper floor. The oil burning boiler had been replaced at some point with a gas furnace. There was no ducting or (of course) AC. I did like the hot water radiators.

 

The house I purchased had ducted forced air heat with a gas furnace and air conditioning. I don't remember whether we had a humidifier. I think so. It was effective.

 

Here in Oregon I rented an upper floor apartment. It had electric baseboard radiators in the bedrooms and a fan assisted electric radiator in the kitchen / living area. These are nasty. The apartment was well insulated and they weren't often really needed. It could be miserable in summer. The kitchen / living area had a vaulted ceiling which acted as a heat trap. In the evening I would set up fans in the hall and windows to try to induce a venturi effect to draw air in from the rear windows and out the sliding door to the front patio.

 

My homes in Oregon both had ducted forced air heat with a gas furnace and air conditioning. My current home is very well insulated and very airtight. There are constant (low) velocity fans on both floors to expel air. It has a big thermal mass and retains its temperature well. The thermostat has many programmable functions like routine set points for home/away, weekday/weekend, vacation mode, heat/cooling/auto etc.

 

Edited April 29, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

In the antipodes my childhood home (where my parents live still) has no ducting, cooling or heating. The walls are not even insulated and the glazing is single pane. Dad at one point did install some insulation in the ceiling.

 

It can occasionally be cold in what passes for winter in the subtropics. My mind boggles to think of the kerosene space heater my dad would use. Thankfully it is not very air tight or we'd all be dead from CO poisoning. More typically it can be miserably uncomfortable in hot humid days. There is a daily ritual of making sure all the windows are open in the afternoon to catch the sea breeze and quickly close them again if a thunderstorm threatens.

[JohnDMJ]

 

11 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Are you describing a system with no thermostat here?

 

Not specifically, more a system which only allows the boiler to only be on at certain times of day so, regardless of the thermostat setting, temperature may fall significantly (the thermostat demands but does not get!).

 

My current system has no such time switch so the thermostat is in total control knowing that when it demands, it gets!

Edited April 29, 2021 by JohnDMJ

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Been sorting out some old magazines, some titles I'll be keeping but the majority are going to be binned. Oddly the heap of magazines seems to have grown rather than diminished, probably because I'm placing them in neat piles rather than a heap.

[PhilJ W]

The house that I'm currently living in is the first house that had full central heating when I moved in. Mind you I've lived here for more than 32 years. My previous home, the cottage at Burnham was so small and with the two downstairs rooms opened out into one that the one fireplace virtually heated the whole house. Upstairs the main bedroom was warmed by the chimney breast passing through the room and the smaller bedroom by leaving the door open was warmed by heat rising up the stairs. The only room that needed heating was the bathroom but that had a wall mounted electric fire with a cord switch. The fireplace was open burning coal but when left damped down overnight the fire could still be revived in the morning. Being a mid terrace it didn't require a lot of insulation, only the roof space.

[Coombe Barton]

... can we call to account? ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/04/29/marking-own-homework/

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[Barry O]

I have used my cards in the UK, the EU, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand in the last 2 years.

 

Up to the maximum amount allowed (which was higher in Oz and New Zealand) i only have to enter a pin when I get a new card, or it is over the limit.. which seems to have moved up to £49.99 and is shortly to go up again. Anywhere in Europe has asked for me to enter a PIN.. for any amount.. perhaps they are still in the dark ages?

 

While the Internet we use today is relatively new a sort of internet was used for the Battle of Britain.. technology has moved on apace...in some ways this is a positive thing.

 

Baz

 

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by Barry O

[Barry O]

33 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

... can we call to account? ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/04/29/marking-own-homework/

John

The report on the shenanigans in Liverpool makes interesting reading.. they didn't  even bother to mark their homework.....

 

Baz

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[monkeysarefun]

Here it is advances in cooling that allowed  civilisation to progress.

 

When growing up domestic aircon was unknown and shops would advertise "Air conditioned for your comfort" as an enticement to going there. I don't remember ceiling fans being in common usage at least domestically, everyone relied on small pedestal oscillating fans which were inevitably set up in front of the telly to arc back and forth so everyone sitting in front would get their 3 second whiff of moving air in between about 10 seconds of sweatiness. A discovery every kid learned was that  if you got close enough and talked through the fan you sounded like a dalek,

 

We at least had a brick home with insulation in the ceiling. One of my mate lived in a "houso" house  (Australias version of  social housing provided by the Government Housing department) which was fibro (asbestos sheeting) with a corrugated iron roof and tiny windows. It would measure 40+ inside on hot days, it was cooler to go outside and sit under a tree.

 

Getting into an antiquated  Sydney 'red rattler' train carriage (some were 50 or more years old by the '80s)  after work in the middle of summer was an experience, all senses told you it was a furnace as you got on. They had large metal framed windows that slid up and to see a train pass by with everyone sticking their heads out like dogs in cars in an attempt to catch the moving air was an amusing sight.

 

Air conditioning in cars was still an expensive option even in the '80's and you could tell the rich knobs cos they'd drive around with their windows up. I had a mate who's dad didn't have aircon in their car but made the family keep the windows shut on the hottest days so the neighbours would think how successful he must be.

 

A cool change when it came was always from the south and the excitement when one  popped up on the forecast after several days of heat was like christmas was coming, and "looking forward to that southerly!" was the standard response to  people like shopkeepers etc who asked you how you were going.

 

Strangely though we tolerated it more back before aircon, and everything still seemed to go on despite the heat. I guess if its 43 outside but 35 in your house you'd still go out and mow the lawn because you got used to the heat. Now you stick your head out of your 22 degree house and think "bu99er going out in that!" and go put the cricket on.