Early Risers.

[Barry O]

Ey up..

 

A birthday feast today.. 

 

Her indoors was born today a good few years ago (typically regarded as 21 years  ago to provide me with a degree of protection from a weapon of war.)

 

The other one is @grandadbobs good lady. Hope the celebrations do go well Bob.

 

In other news, I am off to do some shopping at moreasons. A bit later I have an appointment with some good friends on zooooooommmmmm. Should be good!

 

Time to...

 

Drink my tea and go shopping.

 

Stay safe!

 

Baz

[BoD]

Morning all

 

Many happy returns to Mrs O and Mrs GDB.

 

An increasingly difficult problem as we age is what to buy Mrs BoD for a gift at birthdays and Xmas.  Especially as when asked she invariably says she wants nothing.  One of these days I might just …

 

Have a good day one and all

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Thankfully the overnight rain has stopped falling from the sky, but once again everywhere is very wet. Today is shaping up to be a busy one! Sheila is at her Zumba class this morning, so my chauffeuring duties will be required. At 19 o’clock I’m at the dentist for a check up. After that things get rather different, instead of going to the butchers and the Trafford Centre tomorrow, they are being visited today. This is so that tomorrow is freed up for a visit to the large Swedish store in Warrington, as apparently we need some more picture frames. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian

[polybear]

8 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

A clip from 8 years ago.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-29302170

 

This was lower - yes, he did get into "quite a lotta trouble" for it:

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-story-of-the-hunter-pilot-who-performed-a-flypast-through-tower-bridge-to-mark-rafs-50th-anniversary/

 

Bear here.....

First Mission?  Ear lowering, followed by yet more MIUABGA - to include more sorting....

 

In other news:

At last - some common sense; just a shame it's somewhat late and not retrospective:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/toppling-edward-colston-s-statue-not-protected-by-human-rights-judges-rule/ar-AA12mlbs?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8f1483cb7d8e446cbec881e1f81f0b20

I still think they should nick 'em for Fly Tipping and the costs of the damage and recovery operation.  Yep, that's a Rant.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

4 hours, 2 hours , 1/2 hour sleep no dozing..

 

Ben the I want out now Collie, didn't move from his comfortable pit until I was ready to go out the door, then he wanted and had a good long patrol...

Chilly 100% clear skies, heavy dew, misty on the drive in..

 

Just finished reading the heafty Memoirs of Sir Basil Liddell Hart.. Interesting reading... Heavy on the "I did this" in the first half of volume  one.. More readable after, as he brings in documents from various sources..

Sadly the memoirs fizzle out during the early 1940's as he was taken seriously ill, he'd been gassed during WW1 and as a result had a several  heart attacks from 1920..

 

Spent a lot of time trying to persuade the army off their horses and into tanks.. but the donkey wallopers were having none of it.. they wanted to go into WW2 on gleaming white chargers waving swords around..  Any officer from the tank regiments was stopped from getting into senior Staff roles right up into WW2.

 

Predicted the Germans would strike through the Ardennes region, and predicted how D Day was to take place...  For which he got investigated by MI5...

 

 The first Major system has been handed back, the second major system is re running a couple of sections due to hiccups in the overnight run..

I'm now measuring a 100M Box, made of ten 10 M Ohm Resistors.. That will take a large part of the day..

 

Time to... Type in the first measurement, 10.000273 MOhms

 

 

[BoD]

38 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Time to... Type in the first measurement, 10.000273 MOhms

 

So what colour tolerance band do you paint on that?

[TheQ]

12 minutes ago, BoD said:

So what colour tolerance band do you paint on that?

There isn't one for +- 6.3 parts in a million.. (our uncertainty)😀

Edited September 29, 2022 by TheQ

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The arthritis had gone this morning except for the odd twinge which didn't go any further fortunately. I will still be seeking an appointment with an osteopath with the view of a replacement. Breakfast has been eaten and muggatee will soon be consumed.

[PhilJ W]

Time lapse footage of the Hurricane Ian storm surge at Fort Myers.

 

[The White Rabbit]

Morning all. Unlike some days, I have a little to say today:

 

Many happy returns to Mrs @Barry O & Mrs @grandadbob.

 

Gifts made on the relevant day itself to commemorate circuits of the sun are a problem here too - I've tended to 'timeshift' gifts and payment and delivery quite a lot. Almost all those who I buy or have bought gifts for have been adults who have enough of their own money to buy themselves what they want, when they want and not have to wait for a particular date and risk something selling out. As an example, some items which run on six round objects apiece were recently delivered and these were nominally a birthday present - about six months late. I usually avoid any sulking or being slapped by wishing the relevant person a Happy Birthday on the day itself but they know I'm good for 'non-birthday presents', so no offence taken. And I can't remember the last time I actually wrapped a present for someone. 

 

I was woken early - a member of the local wildlife had gotten itself into the loft and couldn't get out again. And making one heck of a racket, couldn't sleep through that at the best of times. [Triple Turdycurses]. Evicting that was not something that could be done half-asleep and after the rodeo, Mr Sandman was not just over the horizon but in the next time-zone. Thursday morning is when the groceries come in, so I couldn't give it an hour and then go back. Two matchsticks currently in use... 

 

Could I give readers a head's up on deeds of assignment and tax repayments? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62939663 is the latest story in the news about it. Money and tax are things I know a little about and I recall this being a problem several years ago. It's not changed. There are many things which could be said about these practices. I shall merely quote Father Ted and say, "Careful now", not to mention, "Down with this [sort of thing]"... 

 

[southern42]

2 hours ago, BoD said:

Morning all

 

Many happy returns to Mrs O and Mrs GDB.

 

An increasingly difficult problem as we age is what to buy Mrs BoD for a gift at birthdays and Xmas.  Especially as when asked she invariably says she wants nothing.  One of these days I might just …

 

Have a good day one and all

 

One of these days... 

Might just be now: cost of living - rising prices, rising interest rates, devaluation, scarcity, unavailability, already "robbing Peter to pay Paul," pre-orders of unmentionables due. Reasons abound! A frivolous driveller's comment? Initially intended but...

 

This in the context of talking to people who say they have already decided to cut back on Christmas and birthday presents, luxury items, etc. Reality has a way of making us think a bit more about the things we both cherish and need. Giving to our loved ones is, perhaps, a greater need in us than receiving from them and, consequently, not being able to give is, maybe, the harder to bear.

 

' morning all from red dragon land.

Sun following behind the rain clouds.

Outdoors 11oC.

Indoors still only 17oC. I will most likely get a squawk out of the hawk, then - thinking I will have to order some fingerless gloves in the hope they will keep my hands warm enough to get a sweet toot instead. 

 

Birthday greetings to Mrs @Barry O and Mrs @grandad bob. Hope you all have a great day.

 

Click and Collect this afternoon with a lot of odd-jobbing to do beforehand.

 

Keep warm.

Polly

[PhilJ W]

19 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

Could I give readers a head's up on deeds of assignment and tax repayments? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62939663 is the latest story in the news about it. Money and tax are things I know a little about and I recall this being a problem several years ago. It's not changed. There are many things which could be said about these practices. I shall merely quote Father Ted and say, "Careful now", not to mention, "Down with this [sort of thing]"... 

The answer is to be very careful if presented with a claim form, especially if it is from a company that you have never heard of. When I made my PPI claim I at first went to one of these companies but I didn't fancy handing over 20% of my money to someone doing sweet FA for it. I decided to do it myself so I went on to the banks website where it was all laid out for claimants and I made the claim over the internet. In the end I received almost £4,000. Someone else I know contacted one of these companies and was told there was nothing to come, it makes you wonder if there was and they kept it for themselves.

[petethemole]

3 hours ago, BoD said:

An increasingly difficult problem as we age is what to buy Mrs BoD for a gift at birthdays and Xmas.  Especially as when asked she invariably says she wants nothing.  One of these days I might just …

"To want nothing" in this context has two meanings in this context; first, not lacking, or in need of anything; second not desiring anything specific. In either case a gift is still expected.  Or else....

 

Mrs mole sponsors an okapi at Marwell Zoo, including two free visits a year, which is my birthday present to her, renewed annually.  Which reminds me, it's due in a few days.

[TheQ]

Oh Dear... The outer lab have broken something very very expensive.... It's annual cal (in Germany) is roughly $6000 each time, and that's many years of history lost....

 

Meanwhile I'm getting odd results which points to a master 10 MOhm resister having shifted in value.. I now have a couple of hours work proving which resistor has shifted...

 

SWMBO have long since stopped buying specific presents at certain times for each other.. However if either of us spot something we want or you think the other would like, we get it..

The list is diminishing even for parallel bits of metal..

[PupCam]

Morning All!

 

13 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

A clip from 8 years ago.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-29302170

 

 

Mandatory to have the volume set to 11 to wallow in the beautiful music of 8 Merlins!     

I was fortunate to see the pair of them at Duxford and Old Warden.   

 

Fabulous stuff.

 

4 hours ago, polybear said:

This was lower - yes, he did get into "quite a lotta trouble" for it:

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-story-of-the-hunter-pilot-who-performed-a-flypast-through-tower-bridge-to-mark-rafs-50th-anniversary/

 

Indeed he did but he was making a very important point to those in the "House of those that control us" just up the river, his career was drawing to a close anyway and what a splendid leaving gift 😀

 

4 hours ago, polybear said:

At last - some common sense; just a shame it's somewhat late and not retrospective:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/toppling-edward-colston-s-statue-not-protected-by-human-rights-judges-rule/ar-AA12mlbs?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8f1483cb7d8e446cbec881e1f81f0b20

I still think they should nick 'em for Fly Tipping and the costs of the damage and recovery operation.  Yep, that's a Rant.

 

Definitely with the Bear on this one which reminds me of a vaguely related story.

 

I watched a BBC "Fake or Fortune" programme this morning.  The general gist of it being an old, un-attributed & potential Old Master painting used as an alter piece was given to a  a Glasgow church circa 1850 when it opened.   Most likely given by a wealthy women whose husband got his wealth from his service with the East India Company i.e. via slavery.

 

Philosophical (not political!)  rhetorical question of the day then;   Because it was given to the church  by a philanthropist who it would appear got her money  essentially from slavery does that / should that immediately condemn that painting to be destroyed.    Well, I know what I think ....

 

In Other News

 

Birthday greetings to ER's and spouses of ER's who are celebrating another orbit of our local star.

 

TTFNQ

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by PupCam
Added other news

[monkeysarefun]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[TheQ]

it gets very confusing which thread is which unless the other side is talking about unmentionables..

 so I posted this there instead of here..

[jjb1970]

I have been slightly cross today. I had an e-mail from ANA announcing they had cancelled my flights from Tokyo to Washington DC a couple of weeks ago. Cue a circular process of calling ANA to get an alternative and being told 'we'll call you back within two hours' and then not hearing anything more, but don't worry we will get an alternative for you. My colleague took it up and has been going around the houses and getting nowhere, don't worry, we are looking at alternative flights. I have been caught up in meetings until today so I had another go and when I got the same run around told them to cancel as I'd book with someone else to which I was told there'd be a S$600 cancellation charge as they had not cancelled the flights between Singapore and Tokyo and I was asking to cancel. I fear I may have had a slight attack of the red mist at that point, OK it's not my money but stuff like that, really, really annoys me. I had a real go and laid it on that I'd booked with ANA because they were a high quality airline and I take it for granted Japanese companies deliver what they promise (which is actually true, I wasn't lying) but I was very disappointed. Then I got probably the most stupid reason for such a debacle I've ever had (and that is saying something) - apparentley they had no choice but to cancel because of hurricane Ian. Eh? You knew about hurricane Ian two weeks ago, and expect it to stop flights between Tokyo and Washington DC in November? I think I may have raised my voice at that point.

 

Fortunately I stopped at the local muslim indian food stall on the way home and got a tip top butter chicken, biriyani and naan. Butter chicken is meant to be the dish we ripped off to invent tikka masala in Britain but the butter chicken they do here is really rather fiery, it is tremendous. And they make all their breads fresh to order (I shudder to think how hot their oven is). 

Edited September 29, 2022 by jjb1970

[The Lurker]

Happy Birthday to Mrs GDB and Mrs Baz

 

Greetings from an LBG where half the sky is blue and half is dark cloud blotting out the sun.

 

We've submitted all the UK tax returns, which is a whole 34 hours before the deadline.

 

I'd like to say that I can relax now but there is a whole load of stuff that needs to be done before year end work kicks off in earnest next week. Although the auditors have not yet been in touch, which is interesting. Mind you, they were given a 200+ page document to plough through so maybe that is why.

 

Enjoy what is left of the day.

 

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Visited Berrington Hall this morning - it is an excellent National Trust property, and we have driven past many times, as we visited it once before and were put off by a vast ceramic sculpture made from broken china, and symbolising (I can't remember what, but it was very depressing).  It is long gone, and the house without it is actually very good.

 

Happy birthday Mrs Baz, and Mrs Grandadbob.

 

I too was almost duped into using a PPI company, but found the Barclays website to be very self explanatory, and they actually found more PPI mis-sells than I had imagined - I think there were about 5, and with interest, ISTR that we copped about £20k - and the PPI company would have taken 30% ie £6k for doing exactly what I did myself.

 

Tomorrow, we will have to visit Leominster to go the the bank - thanks Barclays, we really enjoy that additional 12 mile drive each time we need to visit - after being scammed, and the scammers trying to get our online banking details, there is no way that I'll ever be tempted to go down that route.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Apart from the odd grumble Arthur Itis is behaving himself today, Nurofen is at the ready if he misbehaves himself. Looking forward to this weekend, There is an exhibition on in Southend and whats more it is free entry. The Brentwood toy fair is back the Saturday after so I'm going to need to draw a few modelling tokens, I expect the place will be heaving as there will not be another until the new year.

[45156]

And as a ps - here's a cover from the best cover band on the planet

 

 

and yay - the stove is lit, albeit reluctantly on the part of 30747

[Ozexpatriate]

Normal service has been returned after a hiatus of a perhaps a couple of hours for an "update" that seems to have been unplanned. Page rendering performance is uneven.

 

14 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Time lapse footage of the Hurricane Ian storm surge at Fort Myers.

The causeway and roadway berm next to the bridge to Sanibel Island (from the Fort Myers area) has been completely destroyed. Sanibel Island is a barrier island and popular gulf coast resort area.

 

I'm not impressed with the following article (CNN actually had better drone footage on television) but it gives the impression:

 

CNN: Sanibel and Captiva islands cut off from Florida mainland after Ian’s ‘biblical’ storm surge washes away three parts of Sanibel Causeway

 

The hurricane is reforming in the Atlantic and headed for Charleston as a category 1 storm. Hopefully Dave's   ( @J. S. Bach's ) place is well drained - I imagine he can expect a lot of rain tomorrow and is (I believe) under a tropical storm warning.

 

I wonder how many cars were destroyed? New cars are essentially unobtainium (largely due to electronics shortages post-pandemic) and used cars have big affordability and availability issues. Florida will probably take a huge number of vehicles out of the market as people replace destroyed vehicles.

 

Here we had a little rain in the evening. Today is very dark and overcast but there is little more precipitation than a light misting.

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, TheQ said:

"THAT LAST PASS TENDED TO BE A BIT ON THE LOW SIDE"

Reminded me of a naval aviator (son and grandson of admirals and later a US Senator and presidential candidate) with a sketchy early career as an aviator.

Quote

Starting in November 1960, McCain flew Skyraiders with the VA-65 "World Famous Fighting Tigers" squadron on the aircraft carriers USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise. The carriers were based at Naval Station Norfolk and cruised in the Caribbean and in several deployments to the Mediterranean. ...  around December 1961 he collided with power lines while flying recklessly low over southern Spain. The area suffered a power outage, but McCain was able to return his damaged Skyraider to Intrepid.

This caused quite a flap and a bit of an international incident which he wrote about in his book. If I recall correctly, the vertical stabilizer was heavily damaged.

 

Even before deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin, he lost/damaged three aircraft he piloted. (It probably helped to have highly regarded admirals as his dad and grandad.)

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis has disappeared for now and I hope he stays away. Now to catch up on Farcebook.