Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. BIN day again today. Also its the first week of food waste bins, the council distributed the bins over the last month. The bins themselves are 'locked' by positioning the carrying handle upright, at least one neighbour has put the handle down and the foxes have had a field day. Not much sleep last night thanks to Arthur Itis and the Nurofen took its time kicking in so after my bath this morning eyelid inspection will take place. Just looked out and the food waste and the pink sacks have been collected, the pink sacks by a brand new smaller bin wagon.  

Your food waste bins sound the same as ours. There was a fox that learned to open them, it was a bit of a nuisance but stopped after a while. It didn’t seem to teach any of its friends. It is amusing to go for a walk with Aditi on food bin day. She can be amusingly judgemental about how grubby some are. When we cancelled the subscription to our daily newspaper, the telephone agent asked what we would miss. I don’t think he expected me to say “a good source of bin liner material”. 

[Erichill16]

On 05/10/2022 at 10:28, iL Dottore said:

 

CCI PharmaCo has very deep pockets.....

 

But rather short arms Ive heard.

[PupCam]

Morning All!

 

12 hours ago, Barry O said:

Mathematics.. or rather Pure Mathematics  is something I have always enjoyed. Applied Mathematics was a chore but I tolerated it. For some reason I decided to become an Engineer which involves a lot of Mathematics.

 

I always preferred applied maths, I wish I could appreciate the beauty that I know to be present in abstract pure maths.  It's just that I could never find it let alone take a good long look at it!

 

It was only when I started engineering and experimentation I a) twigged what the point of a lot of maths was and b) realised how useful it all is!    Now I'm retired, feet-up and poking about in astronomy there's still lots of complicated maths to get my head round 🤣

 

4 hours ago, polybear said:

B H........

Ruff

B G

 

Consequence of the double jabbing?

 

No, I think it's much more likely to be the thought of yet more blxxdy decorating!

 

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The bins themselves are 'locked' by positioning the carrying handle upright, at least one neighbour has put the handle down and the foxes have had a field day.

 

Our bins are more cunning than that;  they are locked when the handle is down (-45 degrees ish) and vertical, the handle has to be somewhere around or just above horizontal to unlock the lid.     That would be one really clever fox ....

 

In Other News

 

Been doing some "Life Admin" this morning that's been hanging around for far too long.   It wasn't that painful in the event and the chap on the telephone help line was, well, very helpful.   Shame about the telephone hold muzak ... 

 

Yesterdays pottering in the garage, assessing the various bits of engine provided very mixed results.  I've got two good mating crankcase halves which provide good main and timing bearings, good cam follower guides, cam followers to go in the guides, possibly a couple of oil pumps to chose from (once fettled), probably  a good crankshaft*  and a reasonable barrel, piston, head and valve gear.  Unfortunately, there's no suitable timing idler gear or anything to put it on.    The one from my original engine is not suitable as the timing gear was substantially altered and the two types are not compatible by a country mile.   Turdycurses then!     Still, two steps forward and one step back and all that.

 

* The good one has a non standard thread on the end which retains the primary drive sprocket.  Why? WTFK!

 

Did I mention that I've got the two shaft encoders working with the astronomy gadget the other day?  At work that would have been referred to as "an integration exercise".   The one on the Right Ascension axis (that's the axis that is driven by a motor so the telescope constantly tracks a heavenly body and no it's not Miss Miggins!) is actually mounted on the telescope.   I left the telescope tracking continuously for ~24 hours and over that period it lagged by about 10 minutes (time not arc) so the 'scope drive is running very slightly slow.  As far as I know there is no adjustment of the (stepper) motor's speed.  Maybe there's another Arduino project lurking then to build a replacement, adjustable motor driver?   That could easily develop into a full blown GoTo mount if I'm not careful.  Will it never end! 🤣

 

TTFNQ!

 

Alan

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by PupCam
Use the correct word Puppers ...

[DaveF]

I've been looking at the comments about Maths, back in the early 60s I was taught traditional Maths.  We managed to finish the then O level syllabus in the middle of the 4th year so we spent 18 months doing the A level syllabus.

 

At the end of the 5th year we did both O level and the AO exams, the latter covered part of the A level syllabus.  That proved very useful when I went into 6th form in a school in another part of the country as one of my A levels was Physics but I didn't do A level maths.  It took my teachers some time to work out how I got on so well with the mathematical bits of Physics.

 

Now for my day on Wednesday.    It was dull and damp so I decided just to have a walk on the beach, which I enjoyed as usual.  I only had one problem, the sea had washed away some of the sand by the breakwaters so it was harder to get over them, I came back along the Links path for the last part of my walk.

 

The rest of the day passed quickly with some greenhouse jobs, a bit of modelmaking and a long phone call with my aunt who is in her 90s.  She misses her chats with Mum so I now keep in touch with her.

 

Then it was time for a simple tea - cheese sandwich - I wasn't too hungry as I'd had salmon etc for lunch.

 

During the day I had a phone call from the firm dealing with Mum's gas and electricity bill.  They were very apologetic when I pointed out that when I had spoken to them on Tuesday they had arranged to ring me next month.

 

David

 

 

[jjb1970]

I had an interesting comment from an oil trader today. He was remarking on crazy resale values for tired and worn out old oil tankers just now. Tankers are getting prices 2-3x what they'd have gotten 6 months ago, he asked the question - what possible reason could there be for that? He was speaking rhetorically, elements of the oil and shipping sectors are making $$$$$$$$$$$$$$'s from the....ahem....unusual conditions.

[DaveF]

Thinking of bins I have three ,all emptied fortnightly:

One for garden waste 

One for recycling

One for everything else.

They are all simple wheelie bins.

 

The concil do not collect glass or food waste separately because it would cost too much as most of the county is very sparsely populated.

 

David

Edited October 6, 2022 by DaveF

[Gwiwer]

OK. Someone here might know. Two external speakers wired to 3.5mm jack plugs which are plugged firmly into the turntable’s “Aux Out” sockets. 
 

Sound still comes from the inbuilt speakers  not the plugged in ones. 
 

Turdycurses. 

[TheQ]

Sounds like the aux skts have failed, or if you've never used them before, have never been properly connected internally.

 

News for my replacement, one guy is starting early to mid November from inside the company, The other guy, the one who left the company, is coming back in January...

I don't know what grades they will be, the same as me or 1 grade down as there will be two of them..

 

I must do an official email to say I'm actually going..

[BoD]

20 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

OK. Someone here might know. Two external speakers wired to 3.5mm jack plugs which are plugged firmly into the turntable’s “Aux Out” sockets. 
 

Sound still comes from the inbuilt speakers  not the plugged in ones. 
 

Turdycurses. 

Aux Out sockets are usually ‘line level’ which needs amplification before going to speakers, although they are not normally 3.5 jacks.  What make/model is your turntable.

[J. S. Bach]

50 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

OK. Someone here might know. Two external speakers wired to 3.5mm jack plugs which are plugged firmly into the turntable’s “Aux Out” sockets. 
 

Sound still comes from the inbuilt speakers  not the plugged in ones. 
 

Turdycurses. 

The AUX OUTs should be plugged into the AUX INs on a receiver/amplifier.

[New Haven Neil]

6 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

One of the serious points wouldn't have anything to do with Basil chasing Nurse Care Bear round the Consultants desk would it.

 

Sounds like a scene from 'Ted'.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

30 minutes ago, BoD said:

Aux Out sockets are usually ‘line level’ which needs amplification before going to speakers, although they are not normally 3.5 jacks.  What make/model is your turntable.

TEAC LP-R550 

 

I was following its own and nerdwork instructions. 
 

If the amp was under-powered for the speakers I would have expected no sound or very little through the externals rather than normal levels through the inbuilt. 
 

3 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

The AUX OUTs should be plugged into the AUX INs on a receiver/amplifier.

Ah. Not what the instructions say. See above. 

[BoD]

19 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

The AUX OUTs should be plugged into the AUX INs on a receiver/amplifier.

 

15 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Ah. Not what the instructions say. See above. 

Given that the sockets are 3.5 jacks and the turntable seems to have its own amp and speakers,  they may not be using the term Aux Out  as normally applied in hi-fi set ups.

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a Sidcup which has blue skies and a breeze. 

 

Busy day of work. Now there are only 2 of us I have discovered the one business unit I have never really dealt with seem to need a lot of handholding. They are based in Switzerland and I wonder if this is a symptom of what iD reported as the Swiss desire to do everything "properly". In this case, they feel they need the sign off of group tax for everything they do, whether it is the case or not. Or maybe they just feel exposed and can say "well group tax thought it was ok" if it goes wrong!

 

I seem to recall Bill Bishop first reporting foxes opening food waste bins in these hallowed pages. At that stage at least one fox in our area had learned the trick but that does not seem to have been passed on. It was probably unlearned in the first six or eight months of lockdown when the Boring Borough council decided that food waste recycling was not something they were going to do. Until they were reminded by central government that they should. Now they're back to boasting their high levels of recycling (relative to other councils).

[Barry O]

had a very busy day. Moreasons shopping done.. lots of empty shelves.. no breakfast (the sign said from 7am .. I asked at 8:25... come back in an hour.. Yeh! Right!) 

Then washing hung out .. and dried by sun and wind. Good. ironing .. done..

 

Lunch .. eaten then 2 hours of incoming phone calls all cricket related.. this volunteering is hard work!

 

A bit of muddling undertaken .. a motor/gearbox set up got a severe talking to .. it now works!

 

Next up.. more cricket related emails as well as making some tea.. or should I treat myself to a Chinese take away??

 

 

Baz

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, BoD said:

Given that the sockets are 3.5 jacks and the turntable seems to have its own amp and speakers,  they may not be using the term Aux Out  as normally applied in hi-fi set ups.

Rick may have a different model but the line out on the back of the unit I found an instruction book had what are commonly called phono sockets. Phono plugs and sockets were once called RCA plug/sockets. The turntable (for the one I looked at) also has a headphone socket and USB out. I can’t imagine Rick has shoved 3.5mm plugs into a phono socket. 
More volume from the Teac unit is going to require either an external amp and speakers or a couple of active speakers (they have built in amplifiers. ). Either of those would get the signal from the Teac unit. 

[Tony_S]

@Gwiwer, Rick, can you post a photo of the panel with the sockets on your record player ?

[BoD]

2 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Rick may have a different model but the line out on the back of the unit I found an instruction book had what are commonly called phono sockets. Phono plugs and sockets were once called RCA plug/sockets. The turntable (for the one I looked at) also has a headphone socket and USB out. I can’t imagine Rick has shoved 3.5mm plugs into a phono socket. 
More volume from the Teac unit is going to require either an external amp and speakers or a couple of active speakers (they have built in amplifiers. ). Either of those would get the signal from the Teac unit. 

I looked at the instructions too and agree.  I have messaged Rick to check that I am looking at the instructions for the right model.

[iL Dottore]

Greetings from a wet and windy and definitely rather boozy Scotland.

I am here in Edinburgh with a chum from the verein I belong to and we have just staggered back from an extremely long and extremely boozy lunch.

 

We found a pub, local to the hotel, that did real ales and had an incredibly impressive whisky collection (about 100 different types). Sadly, my chum and I were only able to sample about 3% of their selection. Having said that, the Tolmore 12-year-old matured in Port casks, cask  strength whisky was definitely amazing. And very inexpensive to boot: the most expensive whisky on the menu was a 21 year old, small distillery, cask bottling which went for £21 a dram.

As enthusiastic and knowledgeable whisky fans, we had a most engaging and enjoyable afternoon – which also resulted in some FREE beer to wash down the whisky.

 

The food was pretty good as well: my haggis, tatties and neeps came with the most drinkable whiskey sauce (which I confessed to drinking out of the serving jug) and my fish and chips were absolutely perfect. The only negative, was my companion’s steak and ale pie - which although incredibly tasty, was nothing more than “a stew with a pastry hat on“

 

A brief pause will be enjoyed before meeting up again at 20:00 and embarking on the search for more whisky!

 

As the sages say “living well is the best revenge”

 

Cheers

A strangely UNinebriated but nonetheless very happy ID

Edited October 6, 2022 by iL Dottore
Corrected a typo: 30:00 to 20:00

[Coombe Barton]

... The cold has really struck, but still testing negative ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/10/06/hospitalisations-continue-rising/

[BoD]

16 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

A brief pause will be enjoyed before meeting up again at 30:00

 

16 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

A strangely UNinebriated but nonetheless very happy ID

UNinebriated? 
Or do you always use the 48h clock?

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Sounds like a scene from 'Ted'.

 

 

 

Me I would have said Benny Hill but then the Thought Police would have been hot on my trail.

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Me I would have said Benny Hill but then the Thought Police would have been hot on my trail.

Have you seen “Ted”? I think rated “15”. Possibly older in some other countries. 

[Ian Abel]

BIN day, two BINs out, two emptied, result 🙂

 

WARNING - SPY ALERT: I'm now convinced that we have a mole/spy in our midst!

After posting about the c*ckwomble power company guy driving past our place instead of performing the smart meter install, LO AND BEHOLD about an hour later, said installer appeared and replaced the meter. Must be a VERY SMART meter as it cycles through numerous info/messages on the LCD display, NONE of which can be discerned as showing any semblance of what power is being used, or rate of usage! The old DUMB meter, had the slew of dials all rotating at various speeds, but actually allowed for reading consumption. Definitely too smart for the likes of me. Bah!

 

Nothing else from yesterday.

 

Late online today as I had an appointment with the ENT doc to sort out my sinus/hearing issue. 

Results of probable infection somewhere along the line, found fluid in one eardrum, minor surgery - if you could call it that - a small cut to the eardrum to drain the fluid, a course of steroids after a fairly extensive hearing test.

The hearing test was a good thing, as it provided the details to confirm I DO NOT have a hearing loss issue, beyond what was expected from the fluid situation. Nasal irrigations prescribed as well as the steroids, and return to see him in 4 weeks.

 

Later, will collect music for the next choir performances. Doc suggested that I not sing tonight given the incision and need to not "annoy" the eardrum for a few days to let it heal. If there IS a gathering pre-rehearsal, I'll definitely do that, not restricted from eating pizza and having a beer 🤣

 

7C at BIN time, sunny and a little cool heading to the ENT. 15C the expected high and down to 3C overnight. Warmer clothes being retrieved from the closet.

 

Carry on.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Just emerged from an extended eyelid inspection. I should have been going out five minutes ago so its be back later.