Early Risers.

[40F]

20 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Schools around here don't finish until the 22nd either.  Teachers and TAs are complaining about insufficient time to do Christmas shopping...

 

 

What are half terms for ???? 

[The Lurker]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

We are going to Iceland in the summer so I imagine Aditi will be planning the packing for any weather possibilities. Not sure what to wear for volcanic fallout though. 

A hard hat

[The Lurker]

2 hours ago, Flanged Wheel said:

Speaking of alternative versions of Christmas carols, my rather wonderful Grandmother recalled (with some glee) singing as a child:

 

“Hark the herald angels sing,

Mrs Simpson’s nicked our king”…

 

I read Andrew Lownie’s biography of Edward VIII earlier this year - most interesting. I seem to have had a spate of reading biographies of English kings as I also worked through Marc Morris’ “A Great and Terrible King” on Edward I, a thoroughly absorbing read and highly recommended.

 

We sang proper versions of all the carols this evening at the Carols by Candlelight service that we went to in Kuala Lumpur. We were at the 7pm service which was the last of the four versions of the service that ran today. All were ticketed (although free) and completely sold out. Beautifully done with an exceptional choir and orchestra. Fully in the festive spirit until we stepped back out into the heat!

I remember as a child in Singapore that the person who dressed up as Father Christmas at the Sunday school party wore sandals. 

[Coombe Barton]

... Work email has been off, in which state it will remain for the rest of the year. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/12/17/sounds-of-the-season-2023-15-covid-waning-immunity-limited-vaccinations/

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

I remember as a child in Singapore that the person who dressed up as Father Christmas at the Sunday school party wore sandals. 

At the Easter Bunny event at nursery, Matthew called out that the bunny was Karen, his favourite nursery nurse. Asked how he knew , he said” she has really big feet” . 

[pgcroc]

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

ran down my alb

RMweb is very educational. For some reason until  today I thought an alb was some sort of hat. I now know better. 

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear might just have an opening in his busy schedule.....for the right offer....

Well, it’s a token salary (1 LDC/year) but it opens all the right doors and provides access to all the right people and provides facilitated access to financial instruments not available to the general public.

 

Oh, and you have to apply with CV and 5 notarised references

6 hours ago, polybear said:

…Oh yes, and definitely white Leather - anything else is just, well, second rate.

 

You’re thinking of Captain Cynical’s Black Helicopters, they have white leather - to lull the unsuspecting into a false sense of security: little knowing that the spotless white interior is due to CC’s special surfactant (“makes cleaning up blood east-peasy”) rather than an absence of malfeasance…

 

The Chopper will have tan leather with burled walnut trim (and possibly an Axminster or Grovesnor-Wilton carpets in the passenger compartment) with tan leather seats for the pilots’ cabin. The flooring for the pilots’s cabin will be utilitarian antislip metal (not sure if the passenger cabin trim will “carry over”) 

Edited December 17, 2023 by iL Dottore

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, DaveF said:

Church went well this morning with the bishop.  I must be getting old as bishops look so young these days.  There only one mishap, after the service as I took the tray back to the sacristy to wash up a jug containing a little wine which didn't go in the chalice fell over and ran down my alb and trousers.  Back home both have now been washed, the stain came out.

 

I may go to the carol service this evening.  I'm a bit unsure as I don't altogether enjoy them any more.  I think it comes from going at least 7 each year when I taught - one for each year group plus one in the church near school.  Then there were also the primary school services we often used to go to as well.  Also in the last week of term we had 2 afternoon parties and 3 evening discos for years 7 -11 plus the annual Staff and sixth form dinner dance.  I wonder if the latter would be allowed nowadays, with all the things that could happen.  To be honest this weekend was always the worst of the year as I, along with everyone else, was exhausted.

 

Locally schools are not finishing until Friday 22nd this year, we never went on so late.  Now and then we went on until the Wednesday of the coming week (20th).

 

This afternoon I've been quietly reading as I wanted to finish a book.  I also spent a little while reflecting on relatives and friends who have died at this time of year.

 

David

How things change at school, 

At the two primary schools and 3 secondary schools I attended.

0 discos,

0 carol services, you just sang a carol at assembly.

1 end of term party (for the whole school) had i stayed my entire time at that school , that would have been 5.

0 Christmas parties.

Edited December 17, 2023 by TheQ

[monkeysarefun]

6 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

"Deck the hall with bits of wattle / throw some gum leaves in a bottle" is one I learned Downunder.

 

Full version, (Caution, mentions sheds)

 

Deck the shed with bits of wattle
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Whack some gum leaves in a bottle
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
All the shops are open Sundies
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la!
Buy your dad some socks and undies
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la


Deck the shed with bits of gum tree
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Stick some tinsel on the plum tree
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Plant some kisses on the missus
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la!
Have a ripper Aussie Christmas
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
(Aw yeah)


Say g'day to friends and rellies
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Wave them off with bulging bellies
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Kids and babies, youngies, oldies
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la!
May your fridge be full of coldies
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Edited December 17, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[pH]

40 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

RMweb is very educational. For some reason until  today I thought an alb was some sort of hat. I now know better. 

Now look up chasuble.

[pH]

17 minutes ago, TheQ said:

How things change at school, 

At the two primary schools and 3 secondary schools I attended.

0 discos,

0 carol services, you just sang a carol at assembly.

1 end of term party (for the whole school) had i stayed my entire time at that school , that would have been 5.

0 Christmas parties.

What - no Cèilidhs?

[TheQ]

Just now, pH said:

What - no Cèilidhs

The school that had the end of school party was actually the one that included Highland dancing.

The following school had Highland dancing as part of PE during December, but had no events to use it.

[monkeysarefun]

6 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The opening sequences of the beach landing in Saving Private Ryan is the most powerful war movie sequence I have seen, remarkable. It really does convey the horror of war.

 

 

Its recreated in 2017's "CAll OF Duty - WW2".  Once you get past the interminable unskippable cut scene set below decks  and the landing craft you arrive at the beach and its all up to you.

 

Set to "difficult" I have never made it past the first line of those spiky metal tank obstacles!

[PhilJ W]

Bad news for @polybear

https://www.mylondon.news/whats-on/food-drink-news/unsafe-eat-warning-baked-beans-28293920?int_source=nba

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, Barry O said:

... try to do anything like tidal generators or river generators.. forget it. Lobbyist (particularly fishing groups) are very vociferous about it "damaging the fish stocks" ie their pastimes.. so fish ladders have to be included

We have lots of experience with 'clean', 'environmentally-friendly' hydroelectricity. There are lots of big dams on the Columbia River watershed and they generate lots of power with no emissions.

 

However. At one time the Columbia system was one of the greatest salmon ecosystems in the world. The canning industry essentially destroyed it at the turn of the 20th century with industrial harvesting. Then came the dams.

 

The dams create two major problems for salmon runs:

1. Fingerlings headed to the ocean are killed in massive numbers by pressure in the turbines. To avoid this there are hatcheries and fingerlings are barged past the dams in large quantities.
2. Fish ladders are of course included for the return spawning trip. They work but sealions have learned that during a spawning run the base of the fish ladder is an all-you-can-kill (quite beyond all you-can-eat) buffet.

There's no question that dams and salmon are incompatible. Many of the small, older dams that produce small amounts of power are being decommissioned and removed.

 

Besides hydropower, the big dams of course also provide navigation for bulk transport and flood mitigation.

 

By discharge, the Columbia has a larger (flow) than any river in Europe, except the Volga.

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, 40F said:

 

What are half terms for ???? 

 

Recuperation, I believe.....

 

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

The biggest problem the world faces is overpopulation (8.1 Billion and counting)

Restated: One of many problems facing the world is feeding and providing fulfilling, healthy livelihoods, free of fear and oppression to >8 billion people.

 

Managing the above in a (mostly) closed global ecosystem with essentially finite resources (perhaps we can exploit off-planet mining) is a big technical and political challenge.

 

We are clever and innovative enough to have a good crack at it - if we have the collective will.

 

"Why can't we all just get along" etc. 😉

 

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Overdosed on rugby yesterday and managed to watch 4 matches.

Is 4 the limit?

 

Four is about the limit of American football - at least 12 hours worth. Three is more manageable. On the west coast, NFL Sundays go from 10:00am to 8:30pm - with a break of around 30 minutes or so around 4:45pm.

[Tony_S]

56 minutes ago, pH said:

Now look up chasuble.

I already have. I wouldn’t want to confuses a hassock with a cassock. I don’t interact with clergy in real life but occasionally come across the terms when reading novels. 
Last time I was spoken to by a bishop in all his finery I was amongst those condemned to some sort of eternal hell. Then it got worse, as a couple of lay readers read something listing lots of things for which death was the verdict demanded. This was at a service welcoming a small child (they do adult baptisms) to the congregation. Tea at the local cricket club afterwards was excellent. 

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Is 4 the limit?

 

Four is about the limit of American football - at least 12 hours worth. Three is more manageable. On the west coast, NFL Sundays go from 10:00am to 8:30pm - with a break of around 30 minutes or so around 4:45pm.

I coped with yesterday’s T20 cricket from Grenada. The four hour time difference doesn’t make it end too late. 
Tony

[pH]

11 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Besides hydropower, the big dams of course also provide navigation for bulk transport and flood mitigation.

The first hydroelectric dams on the US portion of the Columbia river had been built in the 1930s, and some small ones had been built on a Canadian tributary earlier than that. However, the original reason for the negotiation of the Columbia River Treaty between Canada and the US, under which the whole river is operated as a single system, was flood control. Massive floods in 1948 had caused damage all the way from the Kootenays in British Columbia to the mouth of the Columbia at Astoria. This included the complete destruction of the city of  Vanport, at the time the second largest city in Oregon. The first two dams built under the treaty were the Duncan and Keenleyside in Canada, which were (and still are) purely for water retention.

 

Of course, once you’ve got all that water under control you use it, mainly for electricity generation and agricultural irrigation.

[Compound2632]

18 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

It's too easy to blame the orange man

 

Sorry just caught up with this. I did not mean that Trump was responsible for this twaddle, rather that he exemplifies it. I was simply using his name as shorthand for all the really nasty and fundamentally anti-social stuff that gets pumped out attempting to smear anyone who stands up for the facts of the case. (Any case.)

[polybear]

7 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The opening sequences of the beach landing in Saving Private Ryan is the most powerful war movie sequence I have seen, remarkable. It really does convey the horror of war.

 

ISTR that the Director (a certain Mr Spielberg) arranged for a private viewing with D-Day Vets. present in order to see if he'd got it right or not; it was so "good" that some (perhaps all?) couldn't handle it and walked out.  I've no idea if this story is true though - it was 25 years ago......

[Ozexpatriate]

8 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

This wasn’t it but it made me wonder whether any of our sailing / seafaring ERs had ever encountered such a thing

Not infrequent on the west coast of the US - the architecture and flora look like this is where that photograph is from.

 

Sealions can be massive. They also stink. If it floats at sea level anywhere on the US west coast you can find sealions.

 

There is a dubious tourist attraction on the central Oregon coast called Sealion Caves. Visitors are whisked deep into a sea-level cave by lift from a cliff-top visitor centre. At the bottom they are able to experience the sights and smells of sealions in a 'natural' setting.

 

Sadly the Oregon sea otter population was devastated by Russian fur traders. They didn't get further south than the San Francisco bay area and the Big Sur population survived. Nature abhors a vacuum and I wonder if we would have fewer sealions if the otters still occupied their old niche. Otters are much, much cuter than sealions.