Early Risers.

[PupCam]

On 08/06/2023 at 22:52, polybear said:

(*A task drummed into Bear by my former Machine Shop Training Instructor, Mr. Stancombe** - who was an absolute Master at goin' Ape Sh1t if you dared leave a machine covered in cr@p after use).

 

(**A top guy - and much missed; he could name his own price nowadays cos' guys like him are rarer than Rockin' Horse Poo on Mars).

 

Robbie Stancombe - He was indeed a top a guy.    Whatever machining skills and talents I may have are mostly down to him.    He was taken far too young although I don't recall the cause of his demise.

 

See, Faceache does have it's uses ....     I recall seeing a post sometime ago by his son on a Hawker Siddeley / BAe page.      A quick message and these were returned so, with credits to Jamie Stancombe and the Company photographer, here he is especially for Bear.   Can't quite remember who the other bloke is they are speaking to.

 

 

 

On 09/06/2023 at 18:19, DaveF said:

Yes they do charge for DIY waste.   

From Northumberland County Council web site:

"What are the charges?

Bag*/Sheet**/ Equivalent £2.75

A fully loaded vehicle of loose material will be charged a maximum as follows:

Standard car / hatchback £16.50

Trailer less than 5 ft £27.50

Estate/ Small van/ 4x4/Pickup £27.50

Trailer longer than 5ft £55 plus £11 per foot and less than 9ft 10in foot over 5ft to a max £110 for 9ft - 9ft 10 trailer

Transit van £110

If your vehicle is not mentioned here, the equivalent category will be chosen. • Please don’t empty your vehicle until payment has been made. • Charges are non-negotiable and the decision of the Site Manager will be final. • On arrival the site attendant will inspect the items you want to tip, and advise you of the charge and take the payment. • Charges will be based on a bag*, sheet**, bag equivalent, fully loaded vehicle or 1/4 , ½, or ¾ loaded vehicle. • There are bag equivalents for loose materials, which will be determined by the Site Attendant."

 

On 09/06/2023 at 19:14, polybear said:

Ouch.  Is there much of a problem with fly tipping in the area?

 

If not I will be very surprised.   I've always been of the opinion that Council Tidy Tips should bend over backwards to make the tip the first port of call for waste disposal not the last!    Not for altruistic purposes at all, simply to minimise the temptation for the lower forms of life to Fly-tip with the attendant eye-sore, danger and expense that creates.

 

23 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Sounds like a Cray.  The Cray X-MP was configured that way - with a circular padded bench around a circular cluster of processing units. SGI might have done that too.

 

SGI acquired Cray in 1996. I met a bunch of guys from SGI in the 1980s at software users' group meetings. A big application for them back then was military aircraft simulators for the US DoD - very graphics intensive (obviously).

 

EDIT:

Composing this overlapped with Dave's reply:

These systems were SGI's primary business at the time.

 

 

We were (well they still are) big users of simulation at the GE but don't run off with the idea that it was cutting edge technology particularly in the graphics department!    I remember the days when the early PC racing sims my young son was playing (albeit with high end contemporary graphics hardware) where the graphics were orders of magnitude better than our "cutting edge" (I think they were using flints at the time) military offerings.

 

17 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I don’t mind what you’ve done to me, but poor Lucy!

She doesn’t deserve to be caricatured as a demented Chihuahua.

 

Looked more like a certain punk rocker to me but then what do I know about dogs!

 

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

On my way:

 

Have a good one Flavio!

 

In Other News

 

Ventured into deepest Norfolk yesterday.   Well, not deepest, @The Q country but ex RAF Shipdham west of Norwich to catch up with some of my old toy aeroplane mates who I haven't seen since well before Covid.    Unfortunately the cross wind was too strong to enable much model flying to be undertaken but it was a fun day and we were invited to have a prowl around the hangar.    There aren't many Fokker DR1s in Norfolk but this was a particularly nice one.  A faithful replica up-to the firewall where a modern radial engine had been substituted for a proper rotary.   The substitution was made on the grounds of cost, availability and reliability but apparently the performance of the aircraft quite closely follows that of the original despite the trade of more power but less torque.    The consequence of which is a reduction in size of the prop (a significant chunk of which is blanked by the cross section of the fuselage) and an increase in engine speed.   The aircraft and owner are participants in the The Great War display team.

 

There was also a very pretty little Auster , a Pitts S1A and a Midget Mustang amongst more mundane machines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe a chug to Old Warden and then around the lanes is on the cards tomorrow.     A run out for the AJ I do believe.

 

TTFNQ

 

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by PupCam
The DR1's cockpit appeared to be upside down!

[polybear]

Bear here......

1st coat of primer on hallway architraves done - Tick.

Then pruning a couple of climbing roses in the bag garden (yeah yeah, far too late I know) - they never got pruned in Feb cos' of the cr@p weather and Bear was busy with the H/S/L (Bears are not great at multi-tasking); I chopped off some bits that were liable to break off anyway just as soon as it got windy, rescuing some rose flowers in the process and they're now in a vase in the Lounge.

I also had the opportunity to talk over the back fence to NNND (who's rather nice 😃) for quite a while too.  That's definitely a Tick....

BG

[monkeysarefun]

15 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

How do I access this software? Do you need to have an account?

https://firefly.adobe.com/

 

I logged in through my  google account in the create account option screen.

 

It looks all harmless fun at the moment but it is being added to photoshop. Check out this for what it can do. 

 

https://www.adobe.com/au/products/photoshop/generative-fill.html#watch-video

 

 

Sold here as an amazing tool that cleans  up  your photos or adds elements to "enhance" them  but for every time someone types  "put a koala into the tree" into a photo for fun purposes  there will be someone who types in "add Joe Biden stealing a childs ice-cream " into another for sinister ones.  In its most basic form this kind of editing  can be a positive - my  phone is capable of removing people and features that I don't want by just touching on them on-screen  but it cannot add things or manipulate them in the way that this can. And it'll only get better. 

 

 

 

"Photoshopping" has always been a thing but its abilities to transform images has been limited to those who can actually use photoshop or similar software. This add on means that almost anyone can manipulate a photo in no matter what way they like. Who'll be able to trust photos any more?  ALthough the resulting images will be identified as manipulated by those who can analyse the meta data and so on, many people will see the image if its up on Facebook etc long before it is fact checked in this way

 

Imagine - now someone only has to take a picture of a park and type in "add Prince Harry and Meaghan drop-kicking  puppies  into the lake" or whatever  and post it on Facebook - to harm reputations, upset political campaigns and so on and so on. Even after it is shown to be a fraud, many people will still choose to believe the image before their eyes just because it matches their opinion of the person in it.  Scary stuff really!

 

 

 

(5 seconds work!)

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[PupCam]

Talking of Photoshop.    This classic image always generates plenty of "It's Photoshopped" calls despite the fact it wasn't and the original image dates to the 60's

 

 

Again I found this one on Faceache.  I'm not 100% sure that this one wasn't Photoshopped though 🤣

 

 

Night All!

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

The downside of Gravel is Cats like to cr@p in it.

 

Read  the label on the bag next time.

 

If it says "Kitty LItter" it isnt actually  gravel.

[PupCam]

49 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

(5 seconds work!)

 

 

 

 

So iD is a secret baked bean eater after all!    Shame those chips aren't curly though.  That's letting the side down a bit 🤣

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

1 minute ago, PupCam said:

 

So iD is a secret baked bean eater after all!    Shame those chips aren't curly though.  That's letting the side down a bit 🤣

 

 

 Like they say in the old movies - The camera never lies!

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

We were (well they still are) big users of simulation at the GE but don't run off with the idea that it was cutting edge technology particularly in the graphics department!    I remember the days when the early PC racing sims my young son was playing (albeit with high end contemporary graphics hardware) where the graphics were orders of magnitude better than our "cutting edge" (I think they were using flints at the time) military offerings.

The fact that every piece of military software I encountered when I  began  defence contracting  seemed to be written in ADA at the time put a limit on things too!

Edited June 10, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

 

 

If the republic rolls in here but we still want  to retain this long weekend holiday, here is a worthy alternative whos birthday we can celebrate.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-05/cassius-worlds-largest-crocodile-120th-birthday-green-island/102435256

[iL Dottore]

Onboard nosh!

A far cry from the “coffee tea or me” days

I love the photoshopped imageof me with chips and beanz - of course, it would never stand up on court. EVERYONE knows about my antipathy to baked beanz (but not chips, definitely not chips - just love those little crunch twice.cooked/triple-cooked little devils [oven chips need not apply]).

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Spent the afternoon doing an impromptu eyelid inspection. After having a bath this morning the humidity was such that I had to air dry. So I placed two or tree layers of old towels on the bed and laid on them. I woke up four hours later completely dry but things that would have been done weren't. At least we haven't had any thunderstorms yet and if the forecast is right they will be well to the west of us tomorrow.

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[PhilJ W]

Here's a little poser. The Liverpool & Manchester Railway was the worlds first 'Inter city' line. In which country was the second one to be built and connecting which cities? A clue, it was fully opened in 1856.

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

On my way:

A travel tip for dining in Tokyo:

 

"don't lick the soy sauce bottles"

 

CNN: Sushi chain sues high school student who licked soy sauce bottle for $480,000

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Who'll be able to trust photos any more?

The reality is that this has been a problem for several years now - along with so-called, deep fake videos that 'put words' in people's mouths that they did not say.

 

Because it is so easily pervasive (little expertise required) graphical generative AI will aggravate the existing situation.

[AndyID]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Here's a little poser.

 

Now now. We don't need any of that political stuff here. 😄

 

(Reminds me of one of my mum's favorite misquotations which was "I'm a little stiff from rugby.")

[TheQ]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The reality is that this has been a problem for several years now - along with so-called, deep fake videos that 'put words' in people's mouths that they did not say.

 

Because it is so easily pervasive (little expertise required) graphical generative AI will aggravate the existing situation.

It's some years since the UK police lost a traffic case in court because they had " enhanced" the photograph of the number plate.

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The reality is that this has been a problem for several years now - along with so-called, deep fake videos that 'put words' in people's mouths that they did not say.

 

Because it is so easily pervasive (little expertise required) graphical generative AI will aggravate the existing situation.

 

The game changer is that previously if you wanted to fake up a picture of Meaghan Markel drop kicking a puppy into a lake you'd have to find an image of someone doing a suitable drop kicking action, and superimpose Megan Markles head onto it in a realistic way, then find a suitable puppy to replace the ball with.

 

AI will learn enough to create all that realistically from nothing in  seconds. It will learn  what  a Meghan Markle looks like and what a drop kick looks like and just create it.

 

I've been dabbling with some AI software that takes a 2D image  of someone and turns it into a printable full  3D figure by extrapolating what the back and sides would look like. Initially there were sparse areas around the figures rears  and a fair bit of guessing on it's part but even in the few months since I last checked it out, as more people have been using it and it's been learning more, the improvement is remarkable, they would  now rival commercially available figures.

Edited June 11, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[AndyID]

18 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

The game changer is that previously if you wanted to fake up a picture of Meaghan Markel drop kicking a puppy into a lake you'd have to find an image of someone doing a suitable drop kicking action, and superimpose Megan Markels head onto it in a realistic way, then find a suitable puppy to replace the ball with. AI will learn enough to create all that realistically from nothing in  seconds.

 

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/computing/aboutus/60years/scotlandsfirstcomputer/

 

Prof Dennis Gilles was in charge of the department when I was the technician there fifty years ago. Amazing how quickly things can change.

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by AndyID

[Barry O]

13 hours ago, DaveF said:

After a few minutes thought I decided to go out today as there is a Steam and Vintage Rally at Corbridge this weekend.  I had a pleasant drive there with the usual Saturday traffic.  At Corbridge there was a short hold up as the bridge across the River Tyne is single track with traffic lights.  The steam roller in front started off as soon as the lights went green, but it took a very long time to get across and round the roundabout.  The lights went through several cycles before it had gone.  By now there was a big queue of waiting traffic from the south as I finally crossed the bridge from the north.  

 

I followed the roller along with several other cars to the showground just by the station.  Parking was easy and for once the field was dry.  As I was paying cash I got in quickly, the mobile signal for cards was not too good.  There was plenty to see - over a dozen steam vehicles, lots of tractors from small to giant, old cars, motor bikes, lorries along with stone breaking and timber cutting demonstrations together with the usual sales stands.  I ended up buying a hat as the sun was very hot - a lot of people seemed to have the same idea.

 

Some of the traction engines were moving about and various vehicles paraded in the ring so there were things of interest going on.  Sadly the days of traction engine steering races, musical chairs and tug of wars between two engines are long gone - I can understand why but I do miss them.  Part of it is that over 50 years ago I knew a number of engine owners in the East MIdlands where I come from so could usually have a go at steering or driving when at rallies in the area, both Mum and Dad did too.  I am not quite sure whether at nearly 74 I'd really want to any more!

 

I had my usual day out lunch while I was there - large hamburger, can of Coke and cup of tea - really healthy food.  Then I decided my back was starting to hurt so came home in time for a cuppa and have sorted out the photos I took, a few are below.  I'm now ready to water the plants and settle down in a comfy chair for the evening.

 

I was about to press "Submit Reply" when something came to mind.  I suppose that I am part of the last generation who saw steam rollers in everyday use.  Now and then I saw traction engines working both hauling loads and on farms and at the Goose Fair in Nottingham and the fair in Loughborough there were still a few rides using fairground organs and Showman's engines when I was young.  I also remember gas lamps on the road outside our house.  I even saw steam lorries working from time to time - there was one which quite often used to pass me when I was cycling to and from school.  It's like the tractors - I once lived near a farm which I often visited when I was at primary school - the little grey Fergusons looked big then.  I first had a go at driving one when I was about 9 years old.

 

 

Preserved tractors

 

 

Unloading Aveling and Porter roller "Ayesha"  of 1925

 

 

Clayton and Shuttleworth Steam Tractor of 1920

 

 

Morris 10/4 of 1937.  Mum and Dad's first car was like this in black and dark blue - I remember it well. (My first car was a Saab 96 V4, many years later)

 

 

Jaguar XK150 of 1958

 

 

Fowler Showman's engine of 1927

 

 

Fowler Showman's engine of 1928 and Heesbeen 52 key organ, quite a new one, built in 1990.

 

David

My dad had a very old open top jag. A cow sat on it... no more jag!

 

Baz

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The reality is that this has been a problem for several years now - along with so-called, deep fake videos that 'put words' in people's mouths that they did not say.

 

Because it is so easily pervasive (little expertise required) graphical generative AI will aggravate the existing situation.

 

Perhaps "that photo" of a certain Prince with a young lady really is a fake after all......

 

Bear here......

Up at very, very, very silly o'clock - I was woken up at 01.45 with a distinct feeling that cramp on the inner thigh (= absolute bluddy agony++, for those that've never had that fun) was "imminent" - it was hovering at the 2/10 mark, threatening to go the full 500/10 at any moment.  So Bear went a wanderin' around Bear Castle (unheard of at the time of night) in the hope that may stave off the attack - yesterday's paint work inspected, No.1 had, a couple of kitchen drawers inspected/tidied/redundant paperwork trashed....all those things you normally do at 2am.....

Anyway, it had the desired effect so Bear was only up for around 20 minutes, so a very Big Tick.

 

Today?  Primer coat No.2, meaning Bear will be a danglin' again.  I also need to start planning the skirting for the hallway - there's a large offcut in the loft (left over from The Great Lounge Refurb) that needs rescuing sooner rather than later (jeez, it gets HOT up there), the use of which will tick numerous boxes:

• It's free (always nice)
• It gets something out of the loft.  Permanently.  That's nice too.
• I don't have to go shoppin' for skrting.  Yep, so's that.

There's also some small-ish pieces of plasterboard in the loft (well, they went thru' the loft hatch) that'll be rescued and go on Freecycle for a few days - if no one wants them they'll be trashed.

 

In other news:

It seems a certain London Mayor is proposing to scrap Day Travelcards.  T0sser.

 

And finally...

Some may find this interesting:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/history-was-made-in-these-places-now-they-lay-abandoned/ss-AA1ckBiS?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=4e1c435d28174e31bdc05166e6d2f738&ei=42#image=2

 

BG

[DaveF]

 

Cloud again this morning drifitng in off the sea but it is not cold.  The forecast suggests sunny intervals and 16C for the Northumberland Coast.  

 

Once again there isn't much on the agenda for today but there are some seedlings could do with being potted up properly and a bit more garden tidying could be done.  Then there will be the usual e mails and phone calls.  I hope it will be a relaxing day.

 

David

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Game was enjoyable to umpire yesterday with 600+ runs scored in very warm weather. Korean pulled pork sandwich for tea as well.. excellent!

 

@PupCam.. my first simulation work at St Evenage used an analogue computer held in a windowless room. Moved onto CSMP ob the IBM 360 before writing my own simulator package for T3Gat flight profiles using... Fortran.   I see to repair the skua actuator system used on the Flight simulator which was a great system!

 

Later at Vickers we used a commanders and gunners crew station simulator ulator to help to develop Challenger 2, thenran the team who developed and delivered the Precision Gunnery Training Equipment still in use today.i did act as chair of the Synthetic Environments and Simulation Technology Foresight group so you could say I have been involved in simulation systems for a lot of my engineering career..

 

After cooling down from the heat yesterday it will be slightly cooler here today. Time to sit in the garden and chill?

 

Stay safe!!

 

Baz

[Winslow Boy]

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Onboard nosh!

A far cry from the “coffee tea or me” days

I love the photoshopped imageof me with chips and beanz - of course, it would never stand up on court. EVERYONE knows about my antipathy to baked beanz (but not chips, definitely not chips - just love those little crunch twice.cooked/triple-cooked little devils [oven chips need not apply]).

 

Herr Doktarre I'd get rid of those maggots if I were you. Yd have thought they'd check for that sort of thing but I suppose yours got through.