Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Tsundoku, is a Japanese word for buying books which you are unlikely to ever read because you are unlikely to have the time. Guilty as charged M'lord.

[Hroth]

36 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Tsundoku, is a Japanese word for buying books which you are unlikely to ever read because you are unlikely to have the time. Guilty as charged M'lord.

 

Sometimes it feels like that, but I tend to get around to them in the end....

 

A meeting at RA (Readers Anonymous)

"Hello, I'm Hroth.  I like reading books a lot..."

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Hroth
A bit extra...

[TheQ]

Hmm spam fritters. Another pet hate from school days, a lump of rubber surrounded by congealed grease... That school being just 12 miles from Hungerford.

 

Afternoon Awl,

After a long eyelid inspection, recovering some of the last two days lack of sleep.

 

Notes started in BM's book, much more to be added.

Ben took me for a longer than normal walk, he's snoring on the floor by the side of me.

Started reading that book, not enough to give it a thumbs up or down yet.

I often buy a stack of books in one go and then gradually work through them.

 

Storing 25kg bags of salt that just happen to be leaking, will kill off leylandii , kills everything else off too...

 

 

 

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

 All the managers have since resigned.

 

Not nearly enough...by a long, long way.

 

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

And hopefully she won't be able to appeal on the grounds that the jury found her guilty in unseemly haste.  A long, long sentence without parole would be acceptable.

 

If "Long" = forever then that would be acceptable.  Just.

 

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

According to the BBC, she refused to enter the dock to hear the verdicts. I wonder if she'll be allowed to do the same for the sentencing?

 

 

They ought to drag her in by her ears.

[iL Dottore]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

There's just been quite a long report on the case on the lunchtime telly news - the Docs. & staff knew all was not right but whenever they reported it to Management & NHS Trust they were told that there was nothing wrong and to wind their necks in**; what went on defies belief.  I do hope they bring criminal charges against Management etc. as well, but somehow I'm not hopeful.

Am I being utterly cynical in observing that whenever any sort of major scandal hits a NHS hospital or NHS trust it’s never management’s fault?

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by iL Dottore
Missing word: hospital

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.  Mad wet n windy here - because bike racing.

 

Letby - IMHO the management who didn't deal with this after being alerted to unusual goings on, are as guilty as her and should be tried - Corporate Manslaughter?  And yes, I'm an ex-NHS HR then departmental manager person.

 

I'm a Spam fritter fan, but posts above had me reflecting upon the fritters served in our local chippy to me as a boy - they were round.  Spam is rectangular. I wonder what it was......hmm.  Sausage dog slice?

[BoD]

4 hours ago, southern42 said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

They do say that if the Rowan berries are heavy and early then a hard winter is on its way.

[Tim Dubya]

Fussy eater now but loved me spam fritters at school, so a minority of one probably.  I think they were usually served with mash and beans... food of the gods!

 

As for Letby, she'll be on a wing for the female versions of nonces but that won't stop the determined from exercising their version of justice.  I agree those managers need to be put in the dock and sent down (for a long time) too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hroth]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

They ought to drag her in by her ears.

 

Letby has indicated - via her legal team - that she does not want to attend her sentencing hearing or follow proceedings via a videolink from prison.  This sort of behaviour should not be an option.

 

She should be compelled to hear the victim statements and to be sentenced, in person, in public.

 

Sentencing will apparently commence at 10am this coming Monday morning.

Its a pity that Judges aren't allowed to wear a black cap for cases like these.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

On a more cheerful note.

 

Nice pic from southern42

 

 

4 hours ago, BoD said:

They do say that if the Rowan berries are heavy and early then a hard winter is on its way.

 

Might be useful to get a Holly berry corroboration.....

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Hroth
Extra, and a toning down of my initial thoughts

[Ian Abel]

POETS...sure...

 

Yesterday was quiet and I avoided "outside" given the air quality situation.

 

Today, likely to be similar. The air quality is referenced to be pretty unacceptable until late evening, so remaining inside is preferred. I think we do have a requirement to procure some comestibles though, so that'll e an outing.

 

This weekend has nothing specific planned, YET! I'm sure that'll change as the day progresses, already been informed "WE" are giving Whitney a bath later. 🤪

 

Aside from the lousy air quality, which is supposed to improve markedly late evening, a cool 13c first thing and sunny. High forecast 30c no precip in sight.

Tomorrow the high is expected to be 36c - pah.

 

Tally ho.

 

 

[45156]

56 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

they were round.  Spam is rectangular. I wonder what it was......hmm.  Sausage dog slice?

Usually luncheon meat rather than proper Spam - but no less tasty for that - the Hungerford chippy's are round - but Angel Lane chippy in Penrith used to do the real thing - rectangular.  They may still, but I haven't been there since we moved

 

I may or may not be here tomorrow, as I'm having intermittent broadband outages which appear to be related to the rainfall.

Edited August 18, 2023 by 45156

[PupCam]

Afternoon All

 

10 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

How to Open A Door.

 

As (not) appearing on "How to Do It". But first, here's Jacquie, to tell you all how to rid the world of all known diseases (for @iL Dottore ) followed by "how to play the flute" (for @southern42 ).

 

 

Humour doesn't always travel the decades well, but this bit of MP sure has on couple of levels.     One of which is how eerily it predicted the patronising style and dumbing down of television in the 21st century.

 

9 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear here....

Today?  Dunno as yet - the weather around midday threatens to be a bit pooey so that'll complicate any thoughts of doing outside playing that's for sure. 

So it looks like another MIUABGAD.....

 

How about allocating today as a design a model railway day in eager anticipation now the Great H/S/L Refurb is history?   Go on, you know it makes sense.     The longer you put it off the harder it is to start.   Just ask a certain Tripehound builder how hard it is to start-up again after a long lay-off a project.

 

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I can’t tell from internet pictures how close to Battleship Grey is BMW’s Nardo Grey. According to the RAL chart Nardo Grey is number 7004 which is also the RAL number for Signal Grey. I found this useful website that lists all possible RAL colours ( https://www.ralcolorchart.com/)  but a very quick search didn’t turn up a “Battleship” Grey.
 

I wonder what the MoD specs are for the paint for their warships? Is there a RAL number for such battleship paint, or do the yards just slap on whatever grey paint they happen to have lying around?

 

Anyway, back to Nardo Grey - all very well and good, but it’s gloss not matte (And Ian Fleming made it very clear in his books that the Bentley James Bond drives was painted in a matte battleship grey).

 

A technical question for the membership: without stripping a car back to bare metal and re-spraying, is there any way to easily convert a gloss finish to a matte finish? And if there is, as you are making no changes to the structure, integrity or running qualities of the car, would a toning down of the paint from gloss to matte invalidate the warranty?

 

I seem to recall (but can't find any specific evidence at the moment) that the British used the term Admiralty Grey, pre-fixed with light or dark as appropriate rather than Battleship grey and here is one of many examples.    Ideally a link back to the correct DTD or BS spec would be the best starting place

 

https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/Colourcoats+Royal+Navy+Light+Admiralty+Grey+BS381C697+NARN51/25572/

 

Having said that, I know there has been a lot of discussion on the colour of Gresley's Hush Hush over the years which was said to have been painted Battleship grey when in its original form.    Of course, trying to guess the shade / tone from contemporary photographs is just peeing in the wind unless you happen to know the film used to take the photograph and know its response to the spectrum.  Anyway, here's one offering I'm sure there are many others (all different) for BS grey.

 

https://www.colorxs.com/color/battleship-grey

 

As Chimpy has stated, the easiest and (I think) most non-destructive method of changing the coloure would be to wrap it.   I presume (but don't know) that wrapping is a reversible process just so long as you can find the end and have a "hair drier" to hand!

 

Having worked in an industry that closely specifies all sorts of things (I've used BS standard Sea Water for some trials relating to an item of  Naval equipment that used to move at a phenomenal rate and a colleague once had to use BS standard vomit when testing some oxygen masks but you'll be pleased to know I don't know now the Spec numbers all these years later 🤣) it always used to amaze me just how different sub-systems / components from different manufacturers ostensibly painted the same colour (as-in to the same spec) appeared in tone and sheen.     I shouldn't have been I suppose because an early example of how different things could be were the two colours used by the RFC, RNAS and after their merger the RAF for the upper flying surfaces and fuselage of aircraft namely PC10 and PC12.  These paints / dopes did not really have a specification they had a recipe from which the paint was made.    Variations in the quality and quantities of the various ingredients led to some significant differences.

 

For example:

 

The PC10 Recipe for 100 gallons (Imperial btw) of PC10 dope (from the authoritative aviation author the late Bruce Robertson's "WW1 British aeroplane colours and markings")
    260 pounds nitro Cellulose syrup
    74 pounds of pigments in the following proportions:
         40 pounds yellow ochre
         30 pounds umber
           2 pounds 8 ounces Red Ochre
          1 pound 8 ounces Chinese Blue.

 

Once mixed add
     20 gallons Acetone or Methyl ethyl ketone
     15 gallons Amyl Acetate
     15 Gallons benzol
     15 gallons Methylated spirit

 

I could do with some PC10 for the Tripehound but 100 gallons might just be too much!

 

Anyway, enough of this diving down the black hole of paint specification from which there is no escape.

 

 

4 hours ago, DaveF said:

Having had a quick look there are a number of magazines I may sometimes read and a good selection of books I can borrow by downloading, reading and returning.  So that is yet another thing to find time to do.

 

I'm not certain how you "return" a download if indeed it's necessary.    Maybe as it is legally a "borrowed" item perhaps you are technically obliged to delete it at the end of the period?    

 

In Other News

 

I'd like to comment on the main breaking news of the day but here is not the place I suppose and the wrath of the forum mods would perhaps be the least of my worries if I did.  No, I'll just accept Bear's description and move on.

 

A trip to Sainsburys has been endured although as Mrs P pointed out it never seems very busy in there these days.   The usual fight with the "(Not so ) Smart Shop"  checkout as it refused to accept the £15 off of your shopping voucher requiring the assistant to come over and struggle with it.   (said with a Michael Caine accent) 

 

  "Now don't anybody move,  I've got an idea.   Sainsbury's how about employing some till staff and not making your customers work for XXXXXX nothing!"  

 

We went earlyish to avoid the torrential rain that apparently necessitated a yellow weather warning earlier.      Puppershire was subjected to an absolute onslaught of fine drizzle.  How we survived I haven't a clue.    The sun is shinning and it's quite warm.   Perhaps a bimble* is in order ..........

 

* No wet weather gear or Air Sea Rescue helicopters  will be required.

 

As the chance of any astronomy seems to be at an all-time low at the  moment I thought I would disassemble the telescope mount with a view to providing some decent ball race bearings for the two axes of movement (RA & DEC for the technically minded as it's a GEM) instead of the "Steel shaft in Soft Cheese" bearings it came with.   I know, I know, it was a budget telescope and Puppers as a complete beginner didn't have a clue.    The two key chunks are off and it looks like it should be quite easy to machine the most important RA housing to accept some suitable ball races. It is this axis (when the whole mount is accurately aligned with the celestial pole that enables the telescope to track an object as it (apparently) moves across the sky by the simple expedient of turning the telescope about the RA axis at the same rate as the earth rotates.

 

As I'm about it, I'll also look at properly mounting the optical encoders that drive the Astronomy Gadget I built sometime ago as an aid to finding objects in the sky.  I might also look at adding a stepper motor drive to the DEC axis and then the Astronomy Gadget code could be uplifted to provide proper guiding.    Of course, I could just shell out 20 or more noisy Deltics and go and buy a half decent set-up but where is the fun in that?

 

Anyway, must batten down the hatches as there are some sunbeams streaming through the windows in this horrendous weather we're having.

 

TTFNQ

 

[Ozexpatriate]

Just now, PupCam said:

One of which is how eerily it predicted the patronising style and dumbing down of television in the 21st century.

I suspect they were parodying the patronizing style of already dumbed down television in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

[Ozexpatriate]

15 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

Tomorrow the high is expected to be 36c

I know where that came from - it is the same high pressure system we here are only too glad to be rid of. This morning was substantially cooler - at least 7°C cooler than at the same time yesterday. The forecast high should be around 8°C less than yesterday - the coolest afternoon in about two weeks. It will go up again tomorrow but not like we saw earlier this week.

[BoD]

34 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Might be useful to get a Holly berry corroboration.....

 

I did ask her but I think she must be busy on another X-men film.

[BoD]

15 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Sainsbury's how about employing some till staff and not making your customers work for XXXXXX nothing!"  

 

Next time just go to their staff room and help yourself to a cup of coffee.

 

Let me know how you get on.

[PupCam]

23 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I suspect they were parodying the patronizing style of already dumbed down television in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Yes but Blue Peter was for kids,  the dumbing down is universal now. 

[Erichill16]

59 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

I'm a Spam fritter fan, but posts above had me reflecting upon the fritters served in our local chippy to me as a boy - they were round.  Spam is rectangular. I wonder what it was......hmm.  Sausage dog slice?

Pek?

https://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/pek-chopped-pork-400g-325086

[DaveF]

Another quiet day.  As usual while I was dealing with e mails and reading bits of RMWeb this morning I had a look at marine traffic.com to see what was in the harbour and the local bit of the North Sea.  It turned out that there was a tall ship, Tenacious moored at the Quayside so I decided that would be my short trip out today.  The light wasn't perfect, she was not moored in the best place and the tide was a bit low but it was still a very enjoyable slow walk alonng the Quayside.  The sun came out for a few minutes but I was glad I was wearing a fleece.

 

As usual I parked on the Quayside, there was ample space with room to walk arouind.  There was also a support ship, Rem Supporter coming down from the north end of the harbour so I was also able to watch it glide quietly by.  It is a "multi purpose offshore support ship", now used mainly for supplies and tug duties.   

 

Photos are below.

 

Leaving the Quayside I drove home via the park and had a very short stroll.  The geraniums in the beds are growing but when loked at closely they are suffering from the surfeit of rain.  I was back home for coffee, then sorted out this morning's phoptos.  After lunch I sat for a while then decided to pick the tomatoes and see if anything needed much water.  While I did that the rain came, a very fine heavy wetting drizzle,  Back in the house I had  quick nap, when I woke the rain had stopped so I did some garden tidying followed by a cup of tea.  

 

This evening will once again be book/TV/music.

 

Rem Supporter

 

Tenacious

 

Tenacious and Rem Supporter

 

Rem Supporter, alumina terminal behind

 

In the park

 

Gazania in the park.

 

David

Edited August 18, 2023 by DaveF

[Barry O]

Catering SPAM comes in very large round tins.. opened enough of them at a North East coast "Cafeteria" in my time! Corned beef was in the "Rounded off rectangle" shaped tins (a real so and so to open!) Our local chippy does make and sell, round, battered SPAM.. I miss them terribly but my current  "jab" rules eating them out!  PAH!!

 

Spent ages rebooting the dongle for my "GiveEnergy battery pack.. told their Technical Support guy that there instructions and FAQs are incorrect as are the guys working on their help desk ( 3 calls, 3 people, 3 different answers .. none of which work") PAH!!

 

Off to reboot my Blood Pressure...

 

Baz

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Early breakfast followed by an early lunch.

2 hours ago, 45156 said:

Nice to meet a fellow Spam lover - though I prefer it done in batter - there are only a handful of chip shops sell them now - one of the best is in Hungerford, and another is in Cirencester.  On the 1970s supermarket, they made it seem as though Spam was a thing of the past - but Rusty Lee did a recipe for the fritters - seemed a bit off, just flour and water, then fried in some sort of posh oil - but we know better and it's still easily obtained - which reminds me, I must buy a tin when next in Tesco or Morrison's

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Hmm spam fritters. Another pet hate from school days, a lump of rubber surrounded by congealed grease... That school being just 12 miles from Hungerford.

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

I'm a Spam fritter fan, but posts above had me reflecting upon the fritters served in our local chippy to me as a boy - they were round.  Spam is rectangular. I wonder what it was......hmm.  Sausage dog slice?

36 minutes ago, 45156 said:

Usually luncheon meat rather than proper Spam - but no less tasty for that - the Hungerford chippy's are round - but Angel Lane chippy in Penrith used to do the real thing - rectangular.

On this spam, spam, spam conversation, what is meant by "Spam fritters"?

 

I ask because the top illustration is fried Spam (or equivalent) slices. To me fritters are a flour batter with chopped up things in it (meats, onions, etc) which is then poured into hot oil in a pan forming little lumpy pancakes. They were quite a treat in my younger days whether or not Spam was involved.

 

Spam is allegedly an industrial version of scrapple - popular in the Mid-Atlantic states and presumed to be an import from the Pennsylvania Dutch/Deutshe. It is beloved in Hawai'i, being imported to feed troops during the war.

 

Fried Spam is integral to the Hawai'ian plate lunch and is also popular as "Sushi" - really musabi, served on a pillow of rice with wasabi and a band of nori.

 

Relatedly:
CNN: Spam donates 5 truckloads of beloved canned meat in response to Maui fire

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Ozexpatriate
link

[TheQ]

16 minutes ago, BoD said:

 

Next time just go to their staff room and help yourself to a cup of coffee.

 

Let me know how you get on.

It's probably the same as Tesco's they have to pay for their coffee..

[TheQ]

Spam fritters at school were spam dipped in batter and fried, then left to congeal in a " hot" box dripping with fat as it had nowhere to drain as it cooled.

 

[zarniwhoop]

Social Media considered harmful, #94

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-66523341

[Hroth]

Spam lovers might appreciate this...