Early Risers.

[Barry O]

As it happens I did some work for what was then the DTI. It was all about Synthetic Environments and Simulation. Examples included development of the Challenger 2 weapon system and crew station integration.. seem to have got that right!

 

Simulation was a large part of my Control Engineering degree and in my engineering career. You either get it or.....avoid it!

 

Baz

[polybear]

38 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Many years ago I went on detachment to Italy at a time when that country was mired in political upheaval, corruption and rank incompetence.

 

That'll be last week then....🤣

 

37 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

We then called at a friends to give her some mince pies as a treat..............She is a farmers wife and also the current mayor of Néré,

 

Hmm......bribing a Gov. Official.  Naughty. 🤣

[Winslow Boy]

6 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

That'll be last week then....🤣

 

 

Hmm......bribing a Gov. Official.  Naughty. 🤣

 

Only if you get caught.

[polybear]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63735943

"It is reviving the Soviet-era Moskvich brand although the car’s design has been updated."

 

So they've finally put a radio in it then....S/W, M/W, L/W.....🤣

[Ozexpatriate]

15 hours ago, Barry O said:

I notice another shooting in America. When will the penny drop over there? 

To which shooting do you refer Baz? No need to respond. It's a rhetorical question. There have been 607 "mass shootings" so far this year.

 

It won't get fixed soon.

 

Without getting into politics, voters in Oregon recently (meaning two weeks ago) passed ballot measure 114 (a referendum which amongst other things limits magazine capacity). The lawsuits in opposition have been filed.

 

While the 24-hour news cycle grinds on, the murders of four University of Idaho students (stabbed in their sleep ten days ago while roommates slept downstairs), are almost as much in the news. There is no suspect or weapon identified.

[jamie92208]

9 hours ago, polybear said:

 

That'll be last week then....🤣

 

 

Hmm......bribing a Gov. Official.  Naughty. 🤣

She's not our mayor. Our mayor's brother in law, who us also on our village council, was the recipient of the other batch of mince pies this morning.  Sylvie's husband makes his own rather strong brand of pineau.   I don't know what the abv is but it's a good bit higher than what you get in the shops.

 

As to mince pies we have several more jars of mincemeat so I forsee a whole new fiscal model emerging in the Charente inferieur as we used to be called.

 

Jamie

Edited November 24, 2022 by jamie92208

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Earlier this evening the lights flickered off for less than a second but it was enough to shut the WIFI down and it took all of ten minutes to get it back up and connected to the internet. The TV also runs off the WIFI so I had to set that up again, another ten minutes.

[Winslow Boy]

23 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

She's not our mayor. Our mayor's brother in law, who us also on our village council, was the recipient of the other batch of mince pies this morning.  Sylvie's husband makes his own rather strong brand of pineau.   I don't know what the abv is bit ut's a good bit highervthan what you get in the shops.

 

Ascto mince pies we have several more jars of minemeat so I forsee a whole new fiscal midel emerging in the Charente inferieur as we used to be called.

 

Jamie

 

So it's like that is it. One mince pie for one for the local politician.

 

Corruption in action. It starts with mince pies next it will be claiming subsidiaries for non existent current tree orchards.

 

Where will it all end.

 

Just say no, Jamie before it's too late.

 

Ps can I have one as well. I won't tell.

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

28 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

,,,,,we have several more jars of minemeat........

 

Does that tend to  blow you up after eating it?

 

Dave

[andyram]

Evening all and generic greetings and best wishes. Supportive thoughts towards NHN and nephew, I have only caught part of the story but it must be a hard situation.

 

Today has not been great. College stuff took up a lot of time this morning, dealing jobs that had been passed to me by a colleague who really should have been able to deal with it themselves. 
 

Once the rain had stopped I was out in the garden digging a grave. One of the pet gerbils passed away last night. I should have known then that the omens were not good.

 

The scheduled parcel delivery was late so I was late leaving for my friend's house. I then realised that I had left my supplies of plaster bandage in the back of the shop. This meant a detour via Hobbycraft to pick up some more so that I could finish the scenic work on her son's under the Christmas tree layout. Traffic was slow so I arrived there quite late.

 

The latest on the water issue - her dad has made copies of bills dating back

 to before the second unit was opened to prove the rise in total charges. The aim is to get a second meter fitted somehow so bills are accurate. The landlord is wanting to sell up so i think he is intent on saving money. 

 

Due to my late arrival, we did not get a chance to look over the paperwork. She had also had a bad morning to add to her stresses and i contrived to upset her with an innocent remark. Things were a bit strained when i left. To add insult to injury, her son's Bachmann Thomas which my shop repair man fixed as a favour stopped working after an hour.

 

Ever wish you had just stayed in bed and the day had not happened?

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[PhilJ W]

We were talking about some employer practices but this really takes the biscuit.

[Winslow Boy]

25 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Does that tend to  blow you up after eating it?

 

Dave

 

Depends on whether it reaches critical mass and of course how much dilution with single malt it receives.

 

Perhaps you could put in for a research grant to undertake a five year study on the matter. Fifty K should buy you sufficient research materials and then you could ask for volunteers from ER.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well, compared to yesterday, I haven’t been quite so busy today, but nevertheless, I’ve got done all that what I wanted to get done, with time to spare too. The edges of both sides the new access hole were tidied up and the missing half bricks were fitted. Then, with what remained of the mortar mix, I pointed the rear of brickwork done yesterday when I filled the hole of the old access up. It’s not pretty, but then nobody will be looking at it anyway and it does the job. The next task was cleaning up. I’d already been using a bucket and regularly cleared away some rubble as I was creating it, but inevitably, a thin layer of dust covered the floor. So I gave it a final brush up and then got out the vacuum cleaner and cleared away what the brush missed. I then measured up for the timber beam and cut that ready to be put in place tomorrow, it’s also had the foam edging added. 

 

After dinner it was mostly a case of tiding up, I swept the floor in the large cellar room and removed the bricks that are surplus to requirements, I’d stacked up near the outside cellar door yesterday. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[Darlington_Shed]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Life in Rural France

 

Jamie, if you're not familiar with them I can highly recommend the "Murder in the Dordogne" series of novels by Martin Walker. Everyday police work, often mixed with international terrorism, but nothing gets in the way of a damned good lunch or dinner. I know nothing of rural policing in France, but have enjoyed every one of them so far 👍

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

We were talking about some employer practices but this really takes the biscuit.

Unless the quarterly profits are split amongst the employees - this Gary bloke is going to have an employee turnover problem….

 

There’s much I like about the US, but plenty I do not like and which I am glad I don’t have to endure as I live (and work) in Switzerland. One of these negatives is the way they treat employees. And certainly from what I’ve observed, the less educated and lower down at the totem pole you are the worse you are treated. I certainly wouldn’t want to be someone with only a high school education working for a chain restaurant, a big box retailer or similar.
 

And “vacation” time?  More than once have I flabbergasted my American colleagues by saying that I will be taking a holiday of about 3 weeks - for most Americans it would seem that two weeks is a long vacation… How I managed to get such a 3 weeks off work is simplicity itself: not having sprogs, we didn’t have to holiday at peak times -sSo we could build our holiday to incorporate various public holidays and turn two weeks off into three.

 

All this 24/7 availability nonsense has, it would seem crossed the Atlantic. Early in my career, a colleague of mine observed that if you are regularly staying late because you haven’t finished doing your job during working hours, then you are either incompetent or doing two people’s jobs. Whilst in my profession it was/is sometimes necessary to work outside ours (and, for me, “working outside of hours“ often meant being flown in comfort to a far-flung destination, to stay in a very nice hotel and then go and annoy the locals), generally we kept to office hours. Although those people in teams that were split between Europe and the US, tended to wander in late in the morning (about 10 am or so), so that they could be available later in the day when the US got going.

 

Nowadays, as I set my own hours, I usually start work about 10 am then take a two hour “executive lunch break” at 12 noon, before going back to the office and working through to about 4 to 5pm (somedays I do have a 5 pm teleconference, but on those days I start even later in the day). And finally, my attitude is very much “poor planning on your part, does not constitute an emergency on mine“ 

[jamie92208]

5 hours ago, Darlington_Shed said:

 

Jamie, if you're not familiar with them I can highly recommend the "Murder in the Dordogne" series of novels by Martin Walker. Everyday police work, often mixed with international terrorism, but nothing gets in the way of a damned good lunch or dinner. I know nothing of rural policing in France, but have enjoyed every one of them so far 👍

Thanks for thst, I will look out for them. 

 

Up early this morning and I have the house to myself for a while.  Then after breakfast I will be changing plugs on electrical items.  This is a final push to try and get rid of UK style plugs on various appliances. It will save us having to have adaptors and what I call, gender changing leads. These have 4 blocks of one style with a plug of the other on the end of the lead.  The difficult ones are wall warts and other chargers.  Anyway, after that it will be time to head for Ruffec and a few hours watching trains with my mate Andy.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

Edited November 24, 2022 by jamie92208

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

@Ozexpatriatethanks for the info.. some Americans just can't see the problem.

 

Schedule for today..

 

Doctors appointment  8:20 ish

Load car

Print out labels for display case items

Drive to the NEC

Spend some time checking floor measurements,  writing names and stand numbers on floor

Set out loadsatables

Empty beast

Drive to hotel and check in

Administer medication

Have some tea 

Sleep........

 

Projected early start tomorrow as well..lummy , this volunteering lark is hard work.

 

I look forward to a bit of drivelling with @Dave Huntat some point over the weekend! A quick catch up with an ER was conducted yesterday afternoon.. great!

 

Time for my mugatea!

 

Stay safe and Carpe Diem!

 

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry and dull here although there should be some sunny spells but a band of heavy rain is forecast to move in by the evening.  Now 6°C rising to a maximum of 13°C.

Noisy start with the builders up the road having a delivery at 06.30.  We were awake anyway but I bet that upset one or two of the neighbours.

One bin lorry due and that's late.  Sainsbury's have advised that we'll be 4 items short on today's delivery but we will be getting some eggs.  That means that a visit to either Asda or another Sainsbury's will be necessary as a couple of the items are deemed "essential" by Management.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.  It persisteth down and then some, but 9c seems unseasonably warm.

 

Tired this morning after fitful sleep - proven when I poured my V8 vegetable juice on my cereal.  Pah.  It is not a good combination.

 

No plan for the day as yet, it is windy out and fore-guessed to get a lot more so, so perhaps a lazy one is on the cards.  I still can't decide whether to adorn the unmentionable black thing as a BR or NCB machine.

[polybear]

9 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Earlier this evening the lights flickered off for less than a second but it was enough to shut the WIFI down and it took all of ten minutes to get it back up and connected to the internet. The TV also runs off the WIFI so I had to set that up again, another ten minutes.

 

Bear is careful to ensure that any morning alarm is set on a battery powered device, just in case of a power cut etc.  If it's a very important alarm (such as a flight) then it's two alarm clocks etc.

 

8 hours ago, andyram said:

The latest on the water issue - her dad has made copies of bills dating back

 to before the second unit was opened to prove the rise in total charges. The aim is to get a second meter fitted somehow so bills are accurate. The landlord is wanting to sell up so i think he is intent on saving money. 

 

Now if I was to be thinking of buying such a property then I'd be inclined to ask the current Tenants if there were any issues.....

(I've no idea on what the laws are etc. but I'd be more worried that a new Landlord may wish to hike the rents up).

 

8 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

We were talking about some employer practices but this really takes the biscuit.

 

This is the USA I take it.  Bear's first question - what are the standby payments?  None?  Right, Gary can go F.H.S  Another tactic would be for everyone on his (hopefully very large) Team to phone him at all hours outside of work with really obscure work-related questions  #TerroristBear.

 

Bear here.....

- Who is due a visit from buddy who lives over the road this morning, which will be good.  All very non P.C. I can assure you.

After that it's MIUABGA - which won't include any filling or sanding today.  That can wait.

Bear gone.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

The weather is bright, but there are lots of clouds lurking and it looks like it could chuckinitdarn at any moment in the northwest corner of England. Sheila is now getting herself ready for her Zumba class, so I’ve decamped to the dining room table, as I would only be in the “fecking way” if I was still sat at the kitchen table. After I’ve dropped Sheila off at the church hall, I shall continue working in the in underfloor storage area, the plan for today is to remove the remaining wooden wedges and insert the new timber support beam, then replace the wedges to ensure contact between the support beam and floor beams is even. Once I’m happy with that, I can give all the flooring a wipe down with a mop and bucket to remove any remaining dust, then the walls will be ready for painting. 

 

Back later 

 

Brian

[TheQ]

Mooring awl,

3 hours sleep then... All sorts of bits and pieces of sleep, just couldn'tstay comfortable.

 

Ben The I've had a good nights Sleep Collie was therefore bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning, definitely up and around waiting for his patrol.. He had a good snuffle, but stayed within the house light range which is less than normal, weather permitting, a floodlight need changing.

 

Wetness running down the roads within 100 yards of the house, indicating a recent shower, beyond that, Ice crystals on the road surface..  Very careful driving time..

 

I don't stay longer than normal, they don't pay me nearly enough for that. So the backlog just gets longer. 11.5 days to go, not including today.

Filled in final annual assessments, just went straight down the middle on marks, and just put Completed in the boxes, not the long explanations of what I did that are expected.

In the final box " What are your takeaways for this year" I put "47 years working, 15 for this company goodbye and good night". How I hate the use of the word "takeaways" in this context..

Only put anything in any box, because my manager would get grief if I didn't and he's one of the good guys..

 

I won't be going to the NEC, but hope those exhibiting or visiting enjoy it.

For me:

A, it's a long way,

B, it, when added to travelling and parking is expensive,

C, I hate big crowds and I'm not good at playing rugby trying to get near a stand...

Crowding and parking is a consideration when planning what to attend next year, Public travel is impossible from here, local shows are few , but I'm hoping shows will feature more often....

 

Of planning just been looking at the forecast for the next three days... Rain yet again on a Sunday... with a southerly, which isn't the best direction..

 

Just thought of something SWMBO might like for a certain event next month to help with her Art, Tried Currys, they appear not to have anything in stock these days, all has to be ordered.. May as well use Amazon, then it's the smuggling in problem. 

 

There are a few Items bought in Saudi 20+ years ago, they tended to have American plugs, they mostly still have them, as they got plugged in via an adaptor and got left that way..

 

The Typing of this has take place during the warm ups of 3 current shunts, processing of the results into correction files will take place when this one has finished. Then there is a major system to set off on cross check..

After that there is 1 G ohm Box to test (made up of 10 100 ohm Resistors..)

 

But for now,

Time to wait for 7 more minutes.