Early Risers.

[Darlington_Shed]

21 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

they hide in caves with the wild Haggis

 

On our first trip to Scotland, when I was a teenager, my Dad got me good... "keep an eye out for the trossachs," he said. "Hairy beasts they are."

[Andy Hayter]

A cool day today.  Thunderstorms over the weekend have resulted in temperatures some 20C (36F) cooler today than Friday.

[Ian Abel]

RANT MODE

Dear worthless web designer Exact Editions help,

 

Looking for help related to digital subscriptions to "Railway Modeler" with Exact Editions.

I've had a sub for years, but today my bank decided that my renewal of my 20 years and counting Debit/Credit Card gets a NEW NUMBER - barstewards. Apparently, the new one I was awaiting NOW comes with a lovely note that they've changed the card code to "reduce the risk of fraud...".

 

I've managed to sort most everything I need to, having spent a rather ungodly amount of time tracking down where payments are handled with the old number, however, Exact Editions, have NOWHERE on their web site, that I can find, either scouring it, or searching in the Help section, any details of how to change the subscription payment method. I can CANCEL it, and/or subscribe to myriad new mags, EVEN RM, but can't find anywhere to tell them they ain't getting paid next time it's up until I can tell 'em what to charge it to!!!

 

Yours,

Frustrated in MN...

 

END RANT

 

Anyone have any ideas or run into the same thing?

Edited August 28, 2023 by Ian Abel

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Had to shop for bread and milk today, not a good day for shopping for bread as the bakery doesn't operate on Sundays and not today as its a bank holiday so most of the bread was sold out. Fortunately I have enough bread to last until Wednesday but I bought a couple of packs of rolls just in case.

[BoD]

35 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

Anyone have any ideas or run into the same thing?

Not Exact Editions but I had a similar experience with my Ordnance Survey subscription.

When my card changed they couldn’t take out my subscription and informed me so.  I went to their website to change the card details but couldn’t find anywhere to do this.  I contacted them and was told the only way to do this was to cancel and take out a new subscription - at the current price which was, predictably, higher than that which I was paying.  I really felt like telling them to stuff their maps where no one could read them, but I find them so useful that, whilst telling them what I thought of their methods, I bit the bullet and re-subscribed.

 

Gosh, that was almost a rant from me too. 
I try not to do rants.
Need to go and have a lie down.

Edited August 28, 2023 by BoD

[Ian Abel]

31 minutes ago, BoD said:

Not Exact Editions but I had a similar experience with my Ordnance Survey subscription.

When my card changed they couldn’t take out my subscription and informed me so.  I went to their website to change the card details but couldn’t find anywhere to do this.  I contacted them and was told the only way to do this was to cancel and take out a new subscription - at the current price which was, predictably, higher than that which I was paying.  I really felt like telling them to stuff their maps where no one could read them, but I find them so useful that, whilst telling them what I thought of their methods, I bit the bullet and re-subscribed.

 

Gosh, that was almost a rant from me too. 
I try not to do rants.
Need to go and have a lie down.

Yeah, I'm somehow expecting that's what'll happen to me.

All I'm going to do is wait until they try and get the next payment (about 4 weeks) and see what sort of notice I get regarding the fact the card doesn't work!

[Tony_S]

23 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

Yeah, I'm somehow expecting that's what'll happen to me.

All I'm going to do is wait until they try and get the next payment (about 4 weeks) and see what sort of notice I get regarding the fact the card doesn't work!

My RM subscription is through Pocketmags. From their website (not the app) the payment card is easily changeable. Perhaps an easier option when renewing. 

[Ian Abel]

6 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

My RM subscription is through Pocketmags. From their website (not the app) the payment card is easily changeable. Perhaps an easier option when renewing. 

Yeah, my BRM was easy too, Pocketmags seem to "have a clue", already changed to new card 👍

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

Headliners are "The Turtles", I recall "Happy Together" but not much else, the Mrs knows a lot of their stuff.

 

Are Mark Volman and Howard Koylan in the line-up?!   They were founding members of The Turtles. After they broke up they appeared on several Frank Zappa albums, particularly "Live at Fillmore East", before releasing a few albums as Flo and Eddie, most of which are on my Spotify Liked playlist.

 

My Flo and Eddie highlight would be Marmendy  Mill - what an opus!  The start builds up and up into  a bombastic orchestral "The Who circa Quadrophenia" style before settling down to  a  wistful song about childhood.

 

If I was ever on a desert island and could only take 5 songs downloaded onto my media player app, ("Desert Island Downloads"!)  this would be one of them.  6 stars!

 

Rock on.

 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[PupCam]

Evening All!

 

2 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

RANT MODE

Dear worthless web designer Exact Editions help,

 

Looking for help related to digital subscriptions to "Railway Modeler" with Exact Editions.

I've had a sub for years, but today my bank decided that my renewal of my 20 years and counting Debit/Credit Card gets a NEW NUMBER - barstewards. Apparently, the new one I was awaiting NOW comes with a lovely note that they've changed the card code to "reduce the risk of fraud...".

 

I've managed to sort most everything I need to, having spent a rather ungodly amount of time tracking down where payments are handled with the old number, however, Exact Editions, have NOWHERE on their web site, that I can find, either scouring it, or searching in the Help section, any details of how to change the subscription payment method. I can CANCEL it, and/or subscribe to myriad new mags, EVEN RM, but can't find anywhere to tell them they ain't getting paid next time it's up until I can tell 'em what to charge it to!!!

 

I couldn't find any direct instruction either (on your behalf) but I did find this Email address:

 

support@exacteditions.com

 

Maybe an Email outlining the problem might bring some results?     🤞

 

 

1 hour ago, BoD said:

When my card changed they couldn’t take out my subscription and informed me so.  I went to their website to change the card details but couldn’t find anywhere to do this.  I contacted them and was told the only way to do this was to cancel and take out a new subscription - at the current price which was, predictably, higher than that which I was paying.  I really felt like telling them to stuff their maps where no one could read them, but I find them so useful that, whilst telling them what I thought of their methods, I bit the bullet and re-subscribed.

 

I have to say I don't normally do "Subscription Services" but a good few years ago I thought the "Special Price for  you Mr Puppers"  (£19.99/Yr) was too good to miss to have the full range of OS Maps at my finger tips.    I have to say the way at one time it used to keep offloading downloaded maps a right PIA; "What do you mean Mr Puppers?  There's no 4G signal here to download the map where you actually need it, surely there must be an internet connection everywhere"  and kept logging me out.   They seem to have ironed those particular wrinkles out now.   I had a lot of trouble synching the phone account with my PC account (read that as I couldn't ever do it again after a software upgrade some years ago)   and ended up recording data and trying to diagnose what was going on with their "Tech Team" at one point  but in the end I just thought Fxxx It and haven't bothered to try and use that facility again.

 

If they try the "Well Mr Puppers it's time to wave goodbye to your Special Price"*   and crank-up the fee then it will be auf Wiedersehen because I use it so infrequently.

 

*  I don't actually know how special my special price is or whether it is actually just the standard price.    ICBA to investigate.

 

In Other News

 

Mr & Mrs P had a very pleasant trip to Harrold Country Park and a walk around Grebe Lake today.   We've not been there before (that we can recall) and very nice it was too.    Has the benefit that as the footpath around the lake is very close to the water's edge and the land is flat the total height gained during the ~3(?) mile walk was about 1.5".   Suits Puppers nicely!

 

On the way back we did a detour to a nearby village church to have a prowl around the church yard to see if we could find the resting places of some Puppers' ancestors from ~200 years ago who allegedly reside there.   No luck I'm afraid but as most of the stones are in very poor condition we couldn't read the inscriptions on most of them and the pristine but very old black marble stones would have been way above Ancestor Puppers pay grade! 

 

Early night as I'm exhausted.

 

Night ALl!

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by PupCam

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Just finished bidding on E-bay for some items hauled on parallel strips of metal. Five items in all. I missed out on a couple more items but that meant that I had more to spend on the items I did win. One or two of those went for silly money, more than I was willing to pay anyway.

[tigerburnie]

For a few dollars more.................................perfect evening viewing.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Winslow Boy]

Well that was sixty minutes I won't get back. To what are you referring to WB? I am referring to a television programme on Britain's attempt to launch a rocket from Cornwall. Whilst I knew the end result, I had hoped it would be a bit more 'Intelligent' but guess what it wasn't. Hence my previous statement. One thing I did learn was that apart from a couple of token Brits it appeared, to me at least, to be Yank led attempt. Whether that was due to editing? Apart from the chap flying the launch aircraft and another who was already in post at the airport that was it. One other telling thing was that the company Virgin Orbit had ceased operation. The cynic in me wonders whether that was down to just the failure or  whether there were no more tax pounds on offer?

 

On a completely different topic. I happened to read in a newspaper article that the number of people volunteering has dropped significantly. Now I'm not surprised by that. Firstly because people can no longer afford to do it, but also due I think to lack of any support. I've noticed this myself. Organisers seem to think that because you volunteer that's it. They don't seem to realise that unless you keep the motivation up interest will disappear. Or at least that's what it seems to be to me. Could it be that they don't see why they should have to 'work' as they are getting paid no matter what.

Anyway  on that cheery note I'm off to bed, but I'd be interested to learn whether fellow ER's have different thoughts/experiences on the matter.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Despite the the rain, I’ve had quite a productive day all told. I started by removing the 2 inspection pits I’d glued up yesterday and built the last one and clamped that up. Each inspection pit is just under 24in long, they are made up of 2 kits, each making 2 short pits, or 1 long pit. They come complete with 4 - 6 in lengths of code 75 rail. I already had 2 lengths of code 75 flexi track, which would be enough for 2 pits, but I was 4 short. So, I could either buy 4 more lengths of flexi track or, as I hate to see all those short lengths of track go to waste and there was 40 of them, sitting there doing nowt! I could see if it would be possible to join them together. Now the space between the moulded on rail chairs isn’t wide enough to use standard rail joiners and cutting one in half was also out of the question. So I thought I’ll try to see if I could solder 2 lengths of rail end to end as it were. However, there’s not much surface area at the end of a piece of code 75 rail, so I thought about chamfering them instead. To keep the joined sections of rail perfectly straight, I needed to ensure that all the ‘joints’ were all the same angle, so I made a jig, that the rail sits in securely enough for it not to move, but free enough to be able to put the rail in. I then set the angle on my mini table disc sander and chamfered 2 lengths, then inserted them into a second jig, that holds 2 lengths in a straight line. Flux paste was then applied to the solder faces and the the two were solder together. The finished result was much better than I’d hoped for, a short section of 2 soldered rails slid on to the inspection pit with great ease. 

 

I didn’t have time to take any photos today, but I’ll try to take some photos tomorrow of both jigs and a joined up section of rail. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[jjb1970]

On volunteering, I've noticed a recurring comment (complaint) among people I know that they no longer enjoy volunteering at various museums and heritage sites because they're increasingly being burdened with procedures and managed in a way which feels like they're neither appreciated or especially wanted. As a result quite a few of those who once volunteered have moved on. The big complaint seems to be that they don't particularly like odious management when they're being paid to put up with it but they're not going to volunteer to endure it.

[jjb1970]

Our next public holiday is Friday, for the presidential election. I am a disinterested observer as I don't get a vote but it's striking how normal the news is. In Britain TV and newspapers would be wall to wall talking heads spewing nonsense, providing comforting confirmation bias while feeding the tribalism which is tearing society apart and telling us all it will be the most momentous decision in human history. And the candidates would be trying to persuade us that voting for them would mean we'd be taking wheel barrows full of £50 notes to the bank every week, have more free stuff than we would be able to shake a stick at and waking up next to a super model having done the equivalent of a marathon. The the media and politicians wonder why so many have little but contempt for them.

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, polybear said:

I figured I'd send Amazon a Snottogram to ask "Don't your Couriers EVER ring the bluddy doorbell any more?" but it seems that Amazon is wise to such things and actually sending an email isn't an option any more.

Never had them ring the bell here. They do photograph the parcel sitting on the porch and send an email confirming delivery, with the photograph, asking you to 'rate the delivery'. This email is almost instantaneous.

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Ozexpatriate
Spelling

[Ozexpatriate]

Am watching the tennis in NY. Unless someone has some serious insomnia, I doubt any of you are watching in BST at 3:00am.

 

There was a lot of histrionics and mind games / games(wo)manship in a big evening first round match. Very entertaining (not in the usual way) with an umpire who was not fully in command of the match and may have overcompensated on a subjective call.

 

Some good tennis too.

 

At least we don't have to worry about coaching being against the rules any more. That mitigates some of the unnecessary drama.

 

They plan to commemorate 50 years of equal prize money at the US open at the end of the match.

[Ozexpatriate]

What a difference a day makes. After a hot somewhat smoky weekend, today saw a fine mist in the morning and overcast all day. I don't think we were even close to the forecast high of 26°C.

 

From being fairly consistently above average temperatures for some time, the forecast suggests below average temperatures for the week. I'm not ready to say Autumn is here but the weather pattern is changing. Some proper rain would be nice.

[Ozexpatriate]

19 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

So would it be the university where someone called Andy was messing with his chemistry set at the turn of the century and managed to get it to 'chain react' thereby helping the Yanks to win the second world war?

You've stumped me there.

 

I can think of a Kiwi (Lord Rutherford of Nelson) who made some tremendous leaps forward in atomic physics around the turn of the 20th century, particularly related to radioactive decay, at the University of Manchester but his name was Ernest. There he collaborated with Danes (Niels Bohr*), someone who would later be a Kiwi named Ernest (Marsden), Germans (like Hans Geiger) and many others.

 

* Adapting the theories of German, Max Plank to a new model of the atom.

 

In his department, a Nobel prize (in 1951) was awarded for "splitting the atom" in 1930, to John Cockcroft and Irishman and yet another Ernest, (Walton) with a particle accelerator, but the father of the nuclear chain reaction** was Hungarian Leó Szilárd whose vision, the Italian Enrico Fermi made happen with the first self-sustaining chain reaction in Chicago in 1942.

 

** Actually first suggested by a German, Max Bodenstein in 1913.

 

Perhaps Isaac Newton put such scientific 'discovery' best:

Quote

If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Grizz]

Morning All.

 

Shhh! It’s a secret….Grizz and number one cub are currently on manoeuvres….. 

 

….I’ll give you a clue.

 

 

Yes that’s right….we are at the Roco factory and this is part of their 1/1 layout. It’s massive and stretches at least as far as Hamburg. 😆
 

Unfortunately got a bit UV battered yesterday, had to sleep with a wet towel over my eyes and forehead. Weirdly it wasn’t that hot but it was windy. So today it is factor 50 every hour or so. 
 

Have a great day all.

 

ATB Grizz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

On volunteering, I've noticed a recurring comment (complaint) among people I know that they no longer enjoy volunteering at various museums and heritage sites because they're increasingly being burdened with procedures and managed in a way which feels like they're neither appreciated or especially wanted. As a result quite a few of those who once volunteered have moved on. The big complaint seems to be that they don't particularly like odious management when they're being paid to put up with it but they're not going to volunteer to endure it.

It appears to me that, at least in the UK and probably elsewhere, the paid so-called “professionals” that run museums and heritage sites come from a small - definitely incestuous - circle of (upper?) middle class individuals who went to the same universities, took the same sort of degree and are very much in thrall to a rather pernicious “group think”.
 

This group think has definitely two significant components: (1) jumping on every “trendy political bandwagon” going - whether relevant or not; and (2) having disdain, if not outright contempt, for “the little people” - whether visitors (talk down to them/fleece them) or volunteers (make volunteers jump through hoops to volunteer/subject them to inane, pointless and frequently inappropriate “awareness” training).
 

A good example of this group think in action is the “decolonisation” of museum collections: no opportunity is missed to stress any and all links - no matter how flimsy or tenuous - to slavery; and doing so in the most simplistic, reductionistic and myopic*, immensely condescending way possible. 

Y’know, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they’ve even gone as far as to “decolonise” collections of Anglo-Saxon artefacts with plaques stating things like “the great, great, great, great grandson of this Anglo-Saxon chief was a slave trader”

As least that’s the way it appears to this old cynic…

 

* i.e, only giving a biased <W Europe Bad, W Africa good> narrative - conveniently obscuring or glossing over ALL the historical facts. By all means reveal the grubby underside of history, but don’t cherry pick what you present to fit your modern narrative.

[polybear]

6 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

On a completely different topic. I happened to read in a newspaper article that the number of people volunteering has dropped significantly. Now I'm not surprised by that. Firstly because people can no longer afford to do it, but also due I think to lack of any support. I've noticed this myself. Organisers seem to think that because you volunteer that's it. They don't seem to realise that unless you keep the motivation up interest will disappear. Or at least that's what it seems to be to me. Could it be that they don't see why they should have to 'work' as they are getting paid no matter what.

 

A Buddy has been a volunteer at a rather large Air Museum for a lot of years - he was telling me just a few weeks ago that the number of volunteers has dropped to a tiny fraction of what it used to be; what's worse is that many of the volunteers treat the place more like a social club than anything else and stand around talking to each other rather than doing anything useful.  There are also those that cause more harm than good when supposedly restoring or repairing items as they just don't have the necessary skills to do so.

Add that to management that don't have a clue and are rather good at making dumb decisions and it'll not end well.

 

5 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The big complaint seems to be that they don't particularly like odious management when they're being paid to put up with it but they're not going to volunteer to endure it.

 

It's worse than that - in many (all?) cases the volunteers actually have to pay to be there, not only by becoming a museum volunteer member but also travel costs - which can be significant if you're travelling quite a few miles.  Bearing in mind many volunteers are retired and so on limited income it's not surprising that numbers are dropping.

 

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Never had them ring the bell here. They do photograph the parcel sitting on the porch and send an email confirming delivery, with the photograph, asking you to 'rate the delivery'. This email is almost instantaneous.

 

 

I'm waiting for the day when something of value goes walkies from Bear's doorstep - it'll be interesting to see how Amazon respond when I want it replaced**.  I'm fortunate in that Bear's doorstep is pretty discrete; the view of NNN's front door is 100% wide open (as in very open plan); purely by chance I noticed some kids playing in the street a couple of weeks ago and one of them looked at her door step - I looked over the hedge and saw a parcel dumped on the door step (it practically had a sign on it saying "Nick Me!!") so I rescued it quick (she was either at work or possibly on hols).

 

** Any arguments and I'll try the Section 75 Credit Card route first, and if that doesn't work I'll use the small claims court.