Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

24 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Is feeding crocodiles something people in Singapore might be tempted to do otherwise?

From the photographs and videos I can easily imagine city dwellers tossing food down from the relative safety of being more than 5m above the water on a concrete jetty or seawall that even crocodiles can't climb.

 

10 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

The disadvantage of living in such a safe place is people don't have a very well-developed awareness of risk🤣

The issues are mainly the danger of encouraging the crocodile to see humans as food providers - and the health risks to the animal.

[jjb1970]

I wonder if people lose the distinction between monitor lizards, iguanas and crocodiles. Big monitor lizards are common in Singapore and look frightening but are actually very docile unless provoked and tend to ignore humans. I keep my distance when I come across them when out walking but they have always seemed oblivious to my presence (though I suspect they're very aware of movement around them).

[monkeysarefun]

Now I know why I  had a feeling I was being watched as I was typing my last post!

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Now I know why I  had a feeling I was being watched as I was typing my last post!

Speaking of animals seeing humans as food providers!

[monkeysarefun]

18 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

From the photographs and videos I can easily imagine city dwellers tossing food down from the relative safety of being more than 5m above the water on a concrete jetty or seawall that even crocodiles can't climb.

 

When in Darwin supporting an exercise we had a US service guy who was convinced that all the croc warning signs were overkill because crocs were lumbering ground hugging slow things, so we took him  on the "Jumping Croc" tour on the Adelaide River.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

5 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Speaking of animals seeing humans as food providers!

Im teaching him to swear!

[Barry O]

Nice to see Brian  @BSW01 today. Nearly froze to death though as the hall we are in gets a lot of fresh air from the open main door...

 

Excellent pizza for tea. Glad to see that while our Cricketers are doing well our highly paid kickballers have screwed it up.... again....

 

Time for some sleep so.. Night all!

 

Baz

[monkeysarefun]

7 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Excellent pizza for tea. Glad to see that while our Cricketers are doing well our highly paid kickballers have screwed it up.... again....

Was there a penalty shootout?

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, monkeysarefun said:

Was there a penalty shootout?

Technically no, but the outcome was dependent on penalty kicks.

[monkeysarefun]

1 minute ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Technically no, but the outcome was dependent on penalty kicks.

Hmmm, that implies lots of rolling around and around on the ground in complete agony inside the goal box thingy like a blowfly that's been squirted with the Mortein,   (due  to being lightly brushed by an opponents foot)  until the bloke with the whistle points at the spot.

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Not up to date with posting so hope all is well.

Had Sydney for most of the day and walked him and Hovis to Cannon Hall and had a bit to eat at the garden centre there. Did an hour or so on the books whilst eldest nephew was dropped for here for a while,

Been contemplating a trip over to the red rose county all week but wasn’t sure about arrangements for Hovis. Anyway Sil really fancied having  Hovis over for a sleepover so she’s over there now, with Sydney but unfortunately mojo seems to have been left there too. I don’t particularly want to go alone, SWMBO doesn’t really want to go but would take mil for a day out but as mils not bothered I think the outing has been caned. I don’t fancy the journey especially as park and ride seems the best option plus I don’t think I can be bothered to get up early enough to make the day worthwhile. 
Come  back Hovis,  all is forgiven.

Goodnight.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Here we stuck them backwards on a donkey and made them ride out of the country.

I remember some of that.  

 

Starchucks breezed into that city of cafficianados known as Melbourne and started buying up every shop on the block as they do.  The modus operandi was to purchase the competition and / or to swamp an area with the dreaded green signage.  Once they thought they had critical mass some of the places were then closed down to achieve viability rather than excess.

 

Melbourne's coffee-loving population voted with their feet and stuck firmly with their long-time favourites.  The two big chains of Gloria Jeans and Hudsons might have noticed an effect on their trade and a number of popular venues did get bought out or found the opposition opening next door.  But they never cracked the bastion of Lygon Street.  They tried.  The traders and the customers of that renowned strip wouldn't have it and wouldn't have them.  Starchucks found, to their cost, that they had met a greater resistance to the American invasion than anywhere previously.  For a couple of years you could find them everywhere; after that and after some quite damaging publicity regarding their methods and work practices they found their shops were very much less popular than the long-time stalwarts.  

 

They haven't totally left town but you certainly won't see two or three of their shops on every city block.  They are down to around 39 outlets nationwide and of those in the Melbourne area most are now in suburban shopping malls and not the city centre.   

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/20/starbucks-australia-coffee-failure.html

[AndyID]

9 hours ago, TheQ said:

Along came the drive shaft ..

Heavily rusted and waisted where it should go into the cogwheel.

Noted rubber boot that should stop water going down shaft is split.

Pushed back in and left.

 

Went searching for parts, one wiper cog mechanism £25, two mechanisms £35, that'll be two then, they come complete with new screws, and seals.

 

Couldn't you rig up something with a couple of servos? 😀

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

They haven't totally left town but you certainly won't see two or three of their shops on every city block.  They are down to around 39 outlets nationwide and of those in the Melbourne area most are now in suburban shopping malls and not the city centre.   

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/20/starbucks-australia-coffee-failure.html

“When they launched, they launched too rapidly and they didn’t give the Australian consumer the opportunity to really develop an appetite for the Starbucks brand,” said Thomas O’Connor, a principal research analyst specializing in consumer industries at Gartner."

 

So it wasn't up to Starbucks to take a long hard look at their crappy coffee, it was up to Australian consumers to dumb down their tastes and accept it. That'll work.

 

I only see them now in places like Circular Quay and the airport etc where they can survive on the OS tourist trade.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I am seriously thinking about ditching Farcebook. The changes that have been made make it more and more unworkable and if it wasn't for the fact that I manage a few groups and involved with some others I would have chucked it in by now.

[monkeysarefun]

I've been getting this popup ad all morning, can anyone tell me what it is and why I should buy one?

Edited December 10, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Nice seeing and chatting to @Barry O at the Manchester show today. I was very restrained today and didn’t spend a great deal, mainly because there wasn’t much there to tempt me, well, apart from a couple of van kits! 

 

Goodnight all. 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[pH]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The issues are mainly the danger of encouraging the crocodile to see humans as food providers …

I would have thought that a greater danger would be encouraging the crocodile to see humans as food …

[Ozexpatriate]

49 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

... can anyone tell me what it is and why I should buy one?

Hmm, a Chinese "security" camera and 'phone? I'll pass thanks, and stick with my Korean 'phone.

[Ozexpatriate]

12 minutes ago, pH said:

I would have thought that a greater danger would be encouraging the crocodile to see humans as food …

They do that anyway.

 

I'm not familiar with the local geography but all the photos showed very high concrete jetties and seawalls - it would have been like watching crocodiles at an exhibit at a zoo*. Perhaps there are some patches of natural water/land interface like mangroves that weren't obvious in the news article that would present a real threat. The park @jjb1970 references is here.

 

* Not an Australia zoo where sometimes there's not much more than a chain link fence.

 

The US littoral southeast is (literally) crawling with alligators - even the posh golf courses where the PGA tour plays. People routinely get very close to them. They do occasionally go for pets and less frequently humans. They can move really fast if they want to.

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[iL Dottore]

10 hours ago, polybear said:

…sadly most of the Little Thief (Chef) sites now seem to be S/B or Costa Packet (Coffee) outlets.

So, from the inedible to the undrinkable, then.

 

i despair of the younger generation, I truly do:

 

“While the coffee may not be anything to write home about–and don’t even get me started on the frappuccinos–the atmosphere of Starbucks is that laidback, modern cool that will likely draw in the younger Italians, especially those working in the fields of design, communications and marketing. It may be a small niche, but it’s a niche that’s been clamoring for the Starbucks experience in Italy. And it seems that their voices have been heard”. (https://lifeinitaly.com/starbucks-in-italy/)

Nonetheless, the younger Italians still have some semblance of sanity and good taste left: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/10/dominos-retreats-from-italy-having-failed-to-conquer-the-home-of-the-pizza

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

5.5 hours sleep, short awake then a couple of one hour sleeps, waking when the low side became painful.

One constant has been the back playing up, I don't recall doing anything to it but it's not happy.

 

You'd need a pretty big servo to drive a windscreen wiper and I suspect it would be more expensive than the current system. Though in reality a wiper motor is a servo.

 

Bin to MacDonalds once, didn't like it never bin back.

Used Starbucks once , they were the only place open and were serving through the doorway due to semi lockdown, didn't like the product ain't bin back.

 

I'll be looking at heading out on the water later. Luckily no crocs, the most dangerous thing is a drunken tourist.

Of that it's not looking likely, the forecast is a 2 to 5 mph northerly, which is over buildings for much of the course, added to that low tide is about 08:30, so by 10:45 start time it will be almost maximum incoming tide.

Just had a car go past, much sound of crunching ice.

 

Ben the I want out Collie is requesting out. 

Time to move.

 

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

So it wasn't up to Starbucks to take a long hard look at their crappy coffee, it was up to Australian consumers to dumb down their tastes and accept it. That'll work.

I suppose that’s just a continuation of the US business ethos that Henry Ford embraced “you can have any color you want, as long as it’s black”

 

The ironic thing is, these big US chains that spread their tentacles worldwide are pretty mediocre (at best) and are frequently surpassed - domestically (i.e. within the US) - in quality, deliciousness and service by many small chains - few of which (if any) with any sort of ex-US presence. I lived in the “deep south” for a bit and there good “fried chicken” is as sought after and cherished as craft beer is by CAMRA. Near where I went to graduate school there was a KFC and a “local” fried chicken chain - the local chain’s store was always busy, KFC not so much.

 

But what the mediocre international chains do excel at is advertising (frequently targeting the very young and impressionable). Were they to invest as much money into their food products and staff as they do in their advertising, they’d be sought after culinary destinations - as opposed to being just places to refuel at/a refuge for those tourists who can’t handle “local” (i.e. “real”) food.

[TheQ]

Very foggy out there, difficult to see the bottom of the garden from halfway down it. Very frosty too but not as bad as yesterday.

Ben enjoyed a full patrol, following a scent for much of it... He's asleep on SWMBO's chair at the moment.