Early Risers.

[Barry O]

Ey up! Again!

 

Off for my eye checkups at 09:30. Herself is driving me there and back as the eye drops they use: a) sting, b) leave your eye sight blurry and c) leave you with "orange eyes".

 

Been chuckinitdarn all night. Snow all gone.. pond reappeared in garden.. buggggrrrrrittt!

 

@iL Dottore AK47 is not a good hunting gun. It fires bullets which topple inflight leaving a  nasty entry wound followed by a very large exitwound with lots of damage en route. Typically Russian.. cheap to make , nasty in use.

 

Time to finish my mugatea and get ready for the Eye Clinic.

 

Stay safe, 

 

Baz

Edited February 20, 2022 by Barry O

[BoD]

May there be many more healthy and enjoyable complete orbits in store, Chris.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, BSW01 said:

However, as I predicted earlier, I’ve not done a great deal today, just sat on my @rse on the sofa surfing the tinternet. All this talk of power tools, both full size and mini, etc had me surfing the net to see what was available. There’s quite a bit of interesting bits of kit out there and I was very tempted, but so far, I’ve not just before I made this post, I succumbed and pressed the ‘buy it now button and got this for £19.99 + £4P&P. Should be here by the end of next week!

 

 

 

Bear is suitably intrigued - how did you manage to find one for that price - do you have a link please?

 

2 hours ago, chrisf said:

Today is my 74th birthday.  Later this morning I shall be at Cambridge Crematorium, reflecting and remembering my parents.  My mother died on my 37th birthday - not the best present I could have had.  Had she been spared, the day after tomorrow would have been her 100th birthday.  The rest of the day will be spent quietly as the next journey round the sun gets under way.

 

Chris

 

Very best - though a little subdued Beary Wishes to Chris for a Happy Birthday....

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I think that it would not be unreasonable to assume that, if humans really do want to breed better humans, it will be done in the laboratory by editing fertilised ova’s genomes using CRISPR gene editing and the like. Whilst this sort of approach will certainly not engender the suffering and criminal acts associated with eugenics taken to the extreme, it nonetheless does raise its own set of ethical and moral dilemmas.

 

I wonder if there's an identifiable Gene that identifies someone as being a GW Muddler? 

Too late - gone....

 

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

I will attempt to be ruthless with all the bits of wood stored in the garage too.

Tony

 

NOOOOOOOOOO.......

 

16 minutes ago, Barry O said:

@iL Dottore AK47 is not a good hunting gun. It fires bullets which topple inflight leaving a  nasty entry wound followed by a very large exit wound with louts of damage en route. Typically Russian.. cheap to make , nasty in use.

 

 

And by the sounds of it, very, very effective at doing what it's designed to do.  Spiteful.

 

In other news.....

Bear has some filler to apply to coving and doorframes to measure up for.  Then it's a MIUABGA day....

I did read a tip about soaking those nasty little fibreglass cleaning brush refills in a 50/50 mix of PVA and water to make them last longer (they need to - someone must be making a LOT of profit on those things ) and make them a lot less prone to shedding those nasty little invisible bitties everywhere.  So I feel an experiment is called for.  A Bear with a glassfibre splinter in the paw is NOT A HAPPY BEAR, and should be avoided at all costs....

[grandadbob]

Good morning all and Happy Birthday to Chris.

Dull, dismal and draughty here with dampness expected directly.  Depending on which forecast you believe it will very wet today or maybe not so much.  They both agree that it will be windy.

Usual Sunday breakfast has been offered and will be accepted and enjoyed. 

Not sure what else I'll do this morning.  Steve is popping in for a flying visit after lunch and hopefully I'll have a rugby match to watch.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

 

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

 

@iL Dottore AK47 is not a good hunting gun. It fires bullets which topple inflight leaving a  nasty entry wound followedby a very large exitwound with louts of damage en route. Typically Russian.. cheap to make , nasty in use.

Indeed! A very appropriate reminder and clarification Baz - which underscores my question - what is the need for an AK-47?

 

Furthermore, if the purpose of being armed is to protect yourself from “the enemy” surely a high quality rifle and scope is better than an AK-47 as you can snipe from a distance, well camouflaged, take out a few enemy officers and then disappear before they can triangulate.

 

But if “Mr Freedom Fighter” and his mates start waving AK-47s around - I would have thought a suitably ruthless enemy would just back off and call in an air strike…

Edited February 20, 2022 by iL Dottore

[iL Dottore]

Returning, briefly, to the topic of animal husbandry. I’ve just had a horrible thought: what would you get if you crossed a @polybear with a @Happy Hippo?
 

A Polyppo?

A Hapbear?

 

Whatever the outcome, I’m sure it’d “frighten the horses”! 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

9 hours ago, BSW01 said:

…just before I made this post, I succumbed and pressed the ‘buy it now button and got this for £19.99 + £4P&P. Should be here by the end of next week!

 

photo via eBay. . 

I forgot to ask, Brian. Once it has arrived and you have had a chance to try it out, could you post a brief report? I, and others I think, would find it very useful.

Many Thanks

iD

p.s. BTW, what’s the make and model number of this particular item? I ask because there are so many almost identical items out there

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.

 

The  11c rock windy once again, with a lot more to come later tonight.

 

HB to Chris, with a thought to the more maudlin side of the day for you.  We also had a bitter-sweet happenstance, the day we got the key to this (new build, 6 months late) house my mum died.  16th May, indelible in our minds.  Have the best day you can, Chris.

 

After a wood cutting session yesterday we are both broken, so a lazy day is in store I feel.  I'm off the the eye clinic tomorrow, much the same scenario as Baz!  Mrs H has the day  off for taxi duties - Uber do not function here, the business model is not allowed on the rock.  Local taxis charge the earth of course.  Sods law being what it is, Tuesday is my annual eye test at the opticians!  I will be asking her not to do a dilation, the previous one being 24 hours old at that point.  I have an issue she likes to keep an eye on, (oof) but the previous days diabetic inspection will have checked it out.

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

It seems like the inhabitants of Darwin have not forgotten a fundamental premise of being human: survival is dependent on always remembering that nature is definitely out to kill you, one way or another, at any time and in any place possible (especially in Australia).

 

I suppose the biggest concern that the Darwinians may have, is that will they get the tourists’ money before the tourists’ untimely demise at the hands of nature.

 

I see a great business opportunity here: one-way ticket to Australia, five days of wilderness adventure (self-guided) and a traditional Aussie funeral to finish! 

 

I could see that being quite popular with certain type. Might have to be creative with the advertising though.

[laurenceb]

Birthday greetings Chris

[tigerburnie]

12 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Read about controversy re a western shootout style  ad by a politician intended  to run during the superbowl.  The gist was that three bad hombres (ie those  from the other political side) come into  town - ad starts with them standing high noon style in main street while the good townsfolk yell at them about all the trouble they've caused  etc.  The  Politician appears sheriff style and tells them to go away. Shootout ensures whereby the three bad people from the other side are outgunned and run away.

 

I'm mentioning this only because I love the response in defence of the ad  from the spokesman for the politician when called out about its  inappropriateness. Paraphrased they said something like 

 

"If you watch it again you'll clearly see that they drew first!" 

We need a shaking of the head in disbelief emoji

[tigerburnie]

10 hours ago, BSW01 said:

Good evening everyone 

 

Well, by the time I got to Vickie’s to pick up Ava, the rain had turned into sleet and it was really coming down quite hard. After that, the rest of the day was mostly wet, although the sun did shine later and the afternoon turned out rather nice. 

 

However, as I predicted earlier, I’ve not done a great deal today, just sat on my @rse on the sofa surfing the tinternet. All this talk of power tools, both full size and mini, etc had me surfing the net to see what was available. There’s quite a bit of interesting bits of kit out there and I was very tempted, but so far, I’ve not just before I made this post, I succumbed and pressed the ‘buy it now button and got this for £19.99 + £4P&P. Should be here by the end of next week!

 

photo via eBay. 

 

This afternoon, after Ava had packed up we all sat and watched ‘Chicken Run’ for the umpteenth time, it always makes us laugh. 

 

Tonight was spent watching a French thriller was a nice bottle of merlot. 

Blimey, I've heard of folk matching their drink with their food, but not with their tv choices.................................(I take it the Merlot was french)

[tigerburnie]

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Morning all. Birthday greetings to Chris .

Now the loft jobs are are finished I will spend a few days putting all my tools back. I will attempt to be ruthless with all the bits of wood stored in the garage too.

Tony

I woodn't(did you see what I did there) be too ruthless as wood is very expensive these days and you might need it...............................................

[Barry O]

@iL Dottore  the AK47 is designed to be cheap  very reliable and to be used by someone who only knows hknows pull the trigger. Spray it in the general direction and cause lots of casualties. It causes chaos.

 

Baz

[Barry O]

In other news..

 

More eye lasering is due in the next 4 to 6 weeks. Buggggggggrrrrrriiiitttttt!

 

Only took 50 minutes for all tests and consultation..

 

Now for a mugadecaff..and a bit of blurry cricket

 

Baz

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, Barry O said:

causes chaos.

My brother was working in Pakistan and was advised to keep down in his hotel room to avoid being hit by bullets hitting the building. There was a disagreement between two local factions, one originating from people who moved from India in partition and other one from Afghanistan. One lot had American weapons the other had Russian. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Many happy returns to @chrisf and many more of them. I don't have any problem with gene editing as I know of someone who died of cystic fibrosis at seventeen, one of the reasons I am now an atheist. Tony, I would not dispose of any timber at the moment considering the price of timber at the moment (I'm looking for some 2" X 1" at least four feet long which at the moment only comes from the unobtanium tree). 

Edited February 20, 2022 by PhilJ W

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a dry and breezy Sidcup. Happy Birthday to Chrisf.

Sunday breakfast is normally bacon, egg, bagels and fresh tomatoes. Today it was enhanced by sausages and black pudding- they’d been in the freezer a while so needed using. I am still full despite a 4k walk. It’s a small price to pay.

back to work tomorrow after a week off. Can’t say I am particularly looking forward to it.

hoovering will commence soon, once the coffee has been drunk. I ordered a replacement for our dyson but it is not yet in store so the rickety dyson gets another spin!

[chrisf]

I have now been to the crematorium and paid my respects.  Many thanks for all the birthday greetings and kind thoughts, which are much appreciated!

 

Birthday boy Chris

[polybear]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Returning, briefly, to the topic of animal husbandry. I’ve just had a horrible thought: what would you get if you crossed a @polybear with a @Happy Hippo?
 

A Polyppo?

A Hapbear?

 

 

The ultimate cake scoffing machine.....

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I forgot to ask, Brian. Once it has arrived and you have had a chance to try it out, could you post a brief report? I, and others I think, would find it very useful.

Many Thanks

iD

p.s. BTW, what’s the make and model number of this particular item? I ask because there are so many almost identical items out there

 

There seems to be numerous videos on the 'tube - some are reviews, whilst some show useful modifications.  One showed a stripdown - I noted that the motor is a simple installation with a belt pully on the shaft, so readily replaceable if the original died.

[PupCam]

Morning All!

 

Birthday greetings to @chrisf  and condolences on the sad anniversary, particularly this year as 2 x 37 =74 which makes it an even more poignant occasion of course.     It's strange how life throws up some of these unfortunate coincidences although personally I consider them to be based more on probability theory  than Divine Intervention but I know others have different beliefs.

 

Wood!  Never throw it away if its of any age because you simply can't replace it these days from the usual commercial sources.  Frankly I think "the sheds" should be taken to task by Trading Standards.  Scraping loads of short offcuts together off of the floor, machining comb joints on the end and gluing them into long sticks does not constitute "timber" in Puppers' eyes.   As Phil says, all the proper timber from yesteryear apparently came from the rare Unobtainium tree which now appears to be completely extinct!

 

This morning I've been studying the telescope.   It seems the easiest solution to my camera focusing problem is to put two marks (with a permanent marker) on the focus barrel  to show the relative positions of the eyepiece and camera focus points.   The next observing session will show just how close something a couple of hundred feet away is to infinity when looking at stars light years away!   Anyway, it's a start and from little acorns and all that.   

 

I've also been trying to understand and use the two "Pointing scales" on the telescope used to locate objects.   These are called Right Ascension and Declination for reasons too complex to go into here (said the astronomer who hasn't quite yet got a complete 100% grip on the theory ...).    Having very crudely polar aligned the telescope, an essential pre-requisite, I thought I'd try and point the telescope at Uranus which was at the time due east and just above the horizon.    I couldn't see it of course as; it's daylight, it's very cloudy and my house was in the way!   However I knew it was there because the the very handy little "Sky Safari" App on my phone told me so.   The App also told me its RA & D and so I expected to set the scope to those figures and stand back and admire it pointing due(ish) east and just above the horizon.    Well, nothing like it!   

 

"Puppers see me after class, you need to do extra astronomy homework and if you don't buck your ideas up you'll be off to see the Head!"

 

Every day's a school day ....

 

TTFNQ

 

Alan

[iL Dottore]

A belated happy birthday to @chrisf - a bittersweet anniversary no doubt.

[iL Dottore]

46 minutes ago, polybear said:

…There seems to be numerous videos on the 'tube - some are reviews, whilst some show useful modifications.  One showed a stripdown - I noted that the motor is a simple installation with a belt pully on the shaft, so readily replaceable if the original died.

Very true but the question always remains how reliable such reviews are. So it would be good to have one of our own provide a review.

I finished another four hours renovating, refurbishing, upgrading and generally cleaning & tidying up of the workshop. All pieces of surplus wood have been put into storage. The place is looking much better now and is much much cleaner, although I can’t say the same for myself. So, after having had a quick shower, I decided that I couldn’t be bothered to cook a lunch (reserving my culinary efforts for this evening), so I slummed it and had some smoked salmon on Ryebread with a glass of champagne.

 

Ghis afternoon might be spent in the company of a good book and a glass of single malt whiskey or a glass of well aged brandy.

 

It’s a tough life.

Edited February 20, 2022 by iL Dottore

[TheQ]

I see the current windyness has been upgraded to storm Franklin, expect men with kites getting electrocuted.

 

Wiring the light board was interesting, opened packet of LED tail lights, ( brake, running, fog, reversing, number plate illuminating, indicating, in each of two units. Problem, no colour chart for wires.  does colours match UK trailer cable colours.. of course not. Went online, can't find that model of light any more..?

 

After much faffing about, I now have working indicators on the light board which means the earth is good too. This was only after fixing a broken connection in the back of the Landrover..

Who ever originally put the trailer socket in used those horrible clip on blue connectors , I suspect many have failed.

 

 Next week that's first task checking that out, today no, I don't want Franklin shutting the door on me as I work on the back corner of the Landrover legs outside....

 

Many brownie points scored, as I delivered the artist's travelling easel / box complete and working to SWMBO. She's now filling it.

 

Ben the meteorologist Collie took me for his long walk, which he cut short and headed for home. As we arrived at the house it started raining.

 

Now going to research those lights again.

PS just found the lights this time downloaded colour onto this gadget..

And the Landrover diagram too.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by TheQ

[monkeysarefun]

25 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

51 minutes ago, polybear said:

original died.

Very true but the question always remains how reliable such reviews are. So it would be good to have one of our own provide a review.

Ok, Basically the vice is a bit how do you do, angled mitre cuts are really only possible on the ends of material because too long a length fouls the saw body, it's essential to bolt it down to prevent the risk of it flipping over due to its light weight and watch your fingers because the blade is very close to the right hand side and it's possible to be inattentive and reach in to grab the material without bothering to turn it off and the fine width blade produces the mother of all paper cut style injuries. It's noise when running  is also a bit annoyingly piercing rather than  a solid blokey sounding tool.

 

On the other hand for cutting dozens of strips to a uniform length using an end stop it has been invaluable, all cuts are smooth and precise without the tearing and splitting a razor saw or hobby knife usually causes, it's simple as can be, I've used mine for literally hundreds of cuts for deck planks and planking for model ships all with the original blade  and I now wouldn't be without it.

 

Many reviews expect Proxxon level build quality and for the price you definitely won't get that but if mine died I'd get another one tomorrow.

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by monkeysarefun