Early Risers.

[TheQ]

34 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

If you're inbound to LHR then wave as you come over ... depending upon the wind of course because if it's in the western half of the compass you'll land over Windsor Castle not over the Hill of Strawberries.  

 

People ARE talking about aircraft emissions and sometimes they fly around the world to do so.  Some influential folk are well aware of the net carbon deficit per passenger air-kilometre.  Meetings are also held via electronic means but sometimes you have to do things in person.  Steps are being taken on two counts that I am aware of namely to reduce the air-kilometres being flown (which has an impact upon the viability of that industry and the employment of tens of thousands worldwide) and to reduce the carbon-footprint of aircraft by seeking alternative or more efficient fuels (which acknowledges that aviation will remain with us but seeks to benefit as many people as possible through reduced emissions).  

 

Much the same is true on a localised scale for any form of transport.  Rail is preferred over road and bus over car because they are mass-transit systems generating lower carbon footprints per user-kilometre.  Terrestrial transport can be electrified or hydrogen powered neither of which is 100% carbon-neutral and "clean" but both of which are better than burning fossil fuel at point of travel.  Aircraft cannot, yet, be powered by anything much other than aviation spirit - AvGas - unless we rely on the wind.  Which is neither safe nor reliable enough for commercial use.  

 

Alternatives are coming.  Who, twenty years ago, would have given serious credence to the idea of petrol and diesel-powered road vehicles being no longer sold (by law) and potentially phased out entirely within the lifetime of some of us here.  At least we don't dig up rocks and set fire to them for power any more.  Well not very much and not very often.  

Me thinks jet engines require AVTUR, AVGAS is for piston engines...

[The Lurker]

32 minutes ago, 45156 said:

There was another ER who lived in Africa and who just disappeared - I can't recall his user name now.

 

Travellin' Trev, IIRC.  Life seemed to be getting quite tricky for him before he disappeared.

[pH]

Fuel prices at gas stations here have been doing unusual things recently. Gas itself (petrol) has been falling in price, while diesel has stayed high. Diesel had been maybe 5 cents a litre more than gas. Yesterday, gas was $1.61 per litre and diesel was $2.19 - 36% more! 

[bbishop]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

A bit of a sombre iD today.

 

I was looking something up that I had posted almost a decade ago on ER - as I wanted to repost something relevant to another thread. The search function the iPad (not as good as when using a PC and browser) got me more or less in the right place, as I scrolled down I sadly noted the fallen and missing in action:

• Ohmisterporter
• trisonic
• Adams442T
• Simon G
• Don Bradley
• Jock97B
• skipepsi
• DDolfelin
• beast66606
• smiffy2
• and (too) many more.

Some current “no shows” I know have decamped to greener pastures on RMWeb - including @Oldddudders @The Stationmaster @Happy Hippo @bbishop (was it something that we said?)

 

Jock97B is particularly missed.

 

iD

I was chased off ER by someone who reported every post I made.  I then had to justify said posts to AY.  Whilst said person was later kicked off RMWeb, it left a sour taste and I decamped to The Night Mail.  Bill

[pH]

A real ‘headslap’ moment yesterday. The small electric baseboard heater in the downstairs bathroom wasn’t working, so possible replacements were looked at yesterday, during visits to a couple of DIY stores for other things. I was going to go back to buy the chosen one today.
 

Then there was a sudden thought last night - had the breaker tripped for some reason? There was no obvious reason, looking at the heater, that it would have, and it had been working fine during last winter. 

 

Anyway, I opened the breaker box and the appropriate breaker was in the ‘off’ position. So I switched it on and the heater came on and stayed on. I have obviously switched the breaker off at some point earlier this year, but why? - I have no idea and no memory of doing so.

 

At least the bank balance stays healthier than it would have been.

[PupCam]

3 minutes ago, bbishop said:

I was chased off ER by someone who reported every post I made.  I then had to justify said posts to AY.  Whilst said person was later kicked off RMWeb, it left a sour taste and I decamped to The Night Mail.  Bill

 

That's a shame BIll.   Whoever it was has gone now so Come back!    Although I do visit TNM and WW sometimes I'm afraid I just can't keep up with three very busy threads!

 

And such a shame we won't be catching up at St Evenage yet again in a few weeks time 😢

 

Alan

[polybear]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Does that mean that the mountain has overflowed the Shelves of Shame and now fills the Shed of Shame.

 

 

The shelves of shame take the form of kitchen cupboards of shame (but are actually located in the muddlin' room) and are groaning already; the shed of shame is already full of other guff but hopefully that'll get sorted in the Spring - it's the next job after the H/S/L...... 

 

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

Off to London for two weeks, just waiting for take off, be good y'all. I have two weeks at IMO on GHG negotiations, oh joy. I should probably take it more seriously but I just find it hard not to laugh at hundreds of people flying around the world to talk about reducing emissions on a regular basis. 

 

Just lie back and think of England sorry, the Air Miles. They'll come in dead handy when you're retired....

 

[New Haven Neil]

I deeply miss several of the above mentioned, although one less so who called me out on a misunderstanding some time ago - apparently we aren't allowed to make a mistake or misunderstand something.  But Oh do I miss Jock - we got on so well, with common interests outside of this forum, and even having met his rather notorious father many years ago.

 

No 'funny' ratings for my premier nude appearance tale this morning - surprising!

 

I'm sorry to hear that someone previously on here behaved so badly towards Bill Bishop - disgraceful. While I fully understand not everyone is going to get on with everyone else, the old saying of 'if you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything' should apply.

[New Haven Neil]

1 minute ago, polybear said:

the shed of shame is already full of other guff

 

There's a nice warm garage here where that 750 can live, if you'd care to donate it to a good cause......😅

[iL Dottore]

FINALLY IT'S HERE FOR CHRISTMAS!

Edited December 2, 2022 by iL Dottore
Photo Error

[The Lurker]

Someone has a lot of time on their hands…!

[iL Dottore]

40 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

Someone has a lot of time on their hands…!

Well, when you have to sit through a 60 minute teleconference and the only relevant thing comes 5 minutes before the end (and only requires a few words of summary), then yes you have time to fill. So i can sit in the teleconference, keeping my ears open for any last minute agenda changes (it happens) and think creatively as I wait for my moment in the spotlight. Assembling what I’ve come up with is then fast and straightforward. 

[Tony_S]

50 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

Someone has a lot of time on their hands…!

I do have a lot of time on my hands but I would have even more if I didn’t have to get interrogated by the bank Aditi uses. I am a joint account holder. As mentioned previously we have been interrogated for hours about our money, source of current income, origin of money accounts were opened with etc. Guess what, they rang up this evening asking to speak to me about exactly what we had clarified recently. I can not think what it is about our finances that keeps them badgering us. We have been assured tonight we won’t be again. Though that is what we were told a couple of weeks ago. Aditi’s Mum has an account with the same bank. She couldn’t cope with such questions. Aditi’s sister has a financial LPA for her Mum and the bank won’t deal her either. When I hear about how much money found its way to political cronies over the last few years it makes me cross that they seem to get away with it. Banks should spend more time checking them instead of payments from state pensions and Teachers Pension Scheme. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Tony_S

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, pH said:

Fuel prices at gas stations here have been doing unusual things recently. Gas itself (petrol) has been falling in price, while diesel has stayed high. Diesel had been maybe 5 cents a litre more than gas. Yesterday, gas was $1.61 per litre and diesel was $2.19 - 36% more! 

 

Similar effect here. Gas around $3.75 a gallon. Diesel $5.

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, TheQ said:

That Camembert president cheese 250g is on sale in the UK for £1.99 at occado at the moment..

A similar Président Camembert (packaged as 8oz / 226g) is US$7.99 in a local online supermarket (discounted from US$8.99).

 

Equivalent to £7.20 / 250g.

 

Using the same currency exchange*, S$11.95 is £7.21 - so pretty consistent pricing between Singapore and the western US.

 

* Google default.

 

The prize winning Oregon blue cheese I mentioned the other day was served at the State Dinner for the President of France at the White House last night.

[Ozexpatriate]

Another dreary (but dry) December day here under a heavy but not threatening overcast.

 

We had freezing temperatures overnight and there was some light frost, but temperatures were above freezing when I went out for a mid-morning walk. It looks like we'll have consistent weather for a few days - lows around freezing and highs around 6°C. Little to lift the spirits in that.

 

This weekend sees the end of most of the college football season with conference final games - excepting the annual Army/Navy game next weekend and "Bowl' games, the biggest of which take place around New Year's. 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Alex came round and gave the weed patch lawn a shave this lunchtime. After a bit of shopping at Tess Coes I felt cream crackered so I spent the rest of the afternoon inspecting eyelids.

 

[Coombe Barton]

... Student today, analytics module which requires a lot of work, turned up to the 2-4pm session. About half past three he came up to me and said, “I haven’t started yet, what do I do?” This is week eleven of twelve. This a second year module. Second year marks contribute 40% to their final degree grade. I resisted (just) the temptation to say “Do you have a time machine handy?” ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/12/02/sounds-of-the-season-2022-23-06-increasing-in-some-age-groups/

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The prize winning Oregon blue cheese I mentioned the other day was served at the State Dinner for the President of France at the White House last night.

 

I wonder if they put out the Kirkland (COSTCO) brie too?

 

It's actually this stuff https://www.isigny-ste-mere.com/en/our-cheeses/our-brie/  😀

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, pH said:

A real ‘headslap’ moment yesterday. The small electric baseboard heater in the downstairs bathroom wasn’t working, so possible replacements were looked at yesterday, during visits to a couple of DIY stores for other things. I was going to go back to buy the chosen one today.
 

Then there was a sudden thought last night - had the breaker tripped for some reason? There was no obvious reason, looking at the heater, that it would have, and it had been working fine during last winter. 

 

Anyway, I opened the breaker box and the appropriate breaker was in the ‘off’ position. So I switched it on and the heater came on and stayed on. I have obviously switched the breaker off at some point earlier this year, but why? - I have no idea and no memory of doing so.

 

At least the bank balance stays healthier than it would have been.

 

Did you take a look to make sure it's not plugged up with lint or something? We had one in a bathroom that was. I was thinking I'd have to replace it but I took it to bits and cleaned all the crepe out out. Works fine now.

 

(Although if that's the problem I think the thermal cut-out would trip rather than the circuit breaker.)

[Ozexpatriate]

3 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I wonder if they put out the Kirkland (COSTCO) brie too?

I see (or used to see) a lot of 'clickbait' stories on who makes a number of Kirkland branded products - their whiskey comes to mind as one. (I don't click on them.)  (I actually don't know if COSTCO is legally able to sell spirits in Oregon.)

 

I get the impression that despite COSTCO's low prices, the Kirkland branded products are often a good quality. I had a COSTCO membership many years ago but haven't bothered in a long time. The local one is always busy.

[BoD]

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

I'm sorry to hear that someone previously on here behaved so badly towards Bill Bishop

I’m surprised that Andy Y didn’t spot the pattern and that Bill had to ‘justify’ all of his posts.

[AndyID]

9 hours ago, PupCam said:

In Other News

 

All three mounting holes drilled & tapped and the a trial assemble undertaken.    Looking good 😀

 

Now, onto the next bit!

 

 

Looks great! I'm guessing this is connection to astrophotography. Will you have to shift the position of the main mirror to get the focal length right for your camera? I had to do that and I (eventually) got it just about right. But it's a pain when I want to switch back to viewing through the lenses.

[BoD]

22 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I'll settle for a Mutley** Medal.  And a big wedge of cake.....

(** when was Dastardly & Mutley, Whacky Races etc. last shown on the telly?  No doubt some t0sser has decided they're not p.c. anymore 🤬).

I remember at secondary school we used to run a sweepstake on the result.  10p entry.  Quite a lot of dinner money was lost that way.  If you drew Dastardly’s Mean Machine it wasn’t worth watching.

[AndyID]

6 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I see (or used to see) a lot of 'clickbait' stories on who makes a number of Kirkland branded products - their whiskey comes to mind as one. (I don't click on them.)  (I actually don't know if COSTCO is legally able to sell spirits in Oregon.)

 

I get the impression that despite COSTCO's low prices, the Kirkland branded products are often a good quality. I had a COSTCO membership many years ago but haven't bothered in a long time. The local one is always busy.

 

I'm pretty sure the Kirkland brie is the good stuff. The only problem is it's a rather large amount and it gets a bit too mature before I finish it. Recently I did buy some US brie in a store because it was a smaller quantity but it was nothing like as good as the Kirkland.