Early Risers.

[New Haven Neil]

1 minute ago, PupCam said:

 

As Donk is on the green has he just played a shot and the bowl is now out of shot?    

 

I do hope so, I'd hate it if he got into trouble for blatantly disobeying orders!

 

 

 

 

I think he was relieving himself.......

[New Haven Neil]

Was looking (failed) for a photo of the TS and found this one - we were just talking about Allen Millyard, here's Mrs NHN in discussion with him about the Flying Millyard, he was really pleased to chat to a woman who knew about bikes!  Smashing bloke.

 

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

2 hours ago, pH said:

They’ve paid for the course - surely that entitles them to a degree at the end of it?

 

That's what they think, but they are far from correct.

The work ethic seems largely absent from some.

No pain - no gain.  Simples.  

 

I, along with countless thousands of others, put in the hard yards, midnight (and often all-night) oil, blood, sweat and toil to achieve my degree.  The blood is no exaggeration as any geologist would know - you don't spend weeks in the field without at least grazing a body-part on a rock at some time.  The course which took me three years was so intense that it is now typically taught over four years and sometimes five.  I remain the only person in my close family to have completed higher-level studies.  My sister abandoned her degree after 18 months; my father abandoned his Open University studies after a year.  No-one else has made it to university other than those who have joined the family by marriage.  

 

We had drop-outs and failures.  Fifty-something started the first year and around three-dozen entered the second year.  By the third year we were down to around two dozen and two of those failed to gain a degree at the end.  

 

I wasn't aware of any whining, pleading, wangling, dealing or other means by which to obtain the accolade by those who didn't make it.  Some didn't attend enough lectures or failed to show for field work.  Some didn't have the financial means to sustain studies.  Some simply didn't have what it took to study at that level and pass examinations.  None came back with the "entitled" attitude prevalent in life these days suggesting they "needed" or "had to have" a degree.  If you didn't make the grade you didn't qualify.  End of story.  And that, as they say, is also the way of life.  If you cannot or choose not to make the grade you don't get in or get on.  If you are in and can't keep up then the Peter Principle applies;  "Everyone rises to their own level of incompetence".  

 

It is "Adventure Week" at the local school.  We never had such a thing.  School was entirely academic and classroom-based.  Nowadays there is more practical learning with an element of fun (at least for some) involved.  Surfing, orienteering, coasteering, farming and lifesaving are the five days offered locally.  Only two children have not managed to make the required effort* through the year to be offered places on Adventure Week.  They have had parents wailing and claiming both "entitlement" and "exclusion" on the local social media pages ........ and they are still in school wearing uniform while their classmates are in their "own clothing appropriate to the activity" all week.  So it shows.  

 

* Which I am told by neighbours is distinct from unavoidably poor attendance through illness or other reasons but where the effort is sufficient otherwise.  Some will be farm children who might be required to help out at short notice during lambing or similar.  

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

This is interesting.

Interesting indeed.  I just looked at the bottle of Evian water beside me on the desk.  The bar code starts with 06 suggesting it originates from the Norht American continent.  The label clearly states "Produit de France"   Hmmm. 

[Gwiwer]

5 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

6 hours ago, Hroth said:

Corgi used to do a model called "The Election Candidate", consisting of a Mini van with a huge horn speaker on the roof and "Vote For Me!" posters on the side, accompanied by a bloke in a sheepskin coat holding a microphone.

Tri-ang Railways used to do a brick-arch bridge.  I had mine until around 1995 when all the model stuff I then had bar the tin-plate went to my eldest nephew.  It bore the legend "Vote for Tri-ang Trains" for a reason I never understood and - at the time - I had no idea what "vote" even meant.  I think I was given that as a starting-school present to add to my birthday present of the early "Connie" 0-4-0 kettle, assorted goods wagons and a small oval of track which comprised my first powered train set.  It must have been an election year release as the item was in the catalogue for many years (and possibly still is in some form) but never with the wording added.  

Will you look at what's just turned up!  

 

The very same train set - plus a couple of slightly later additions - and the brick bridge in question with the slogan visible if not actually legible.  I think it reads "Vote for Tri-ang Railways" rather than "trains" but that was a memory from 60+ years ago.  

 

Clearly my interest in outdoor modelling also began at a very young age!!! 

 

[Winslow Boy]

26 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Interesting indeed.  I just looked at the bottle of Evian water beside me on the desk.  The bar code starts with 06 suggesting it originates from the Norht American continent.  The label clearly states "Produit de France"   Hmmm. 

That would be like Pepsi trying to convince everybody that filtered tap water was 'special' and worth every pound they convinced the 'public/mugs' to pay some years ago.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

I think I’ve sorted the heating/hot water valve, I replaced the synchronous motor and all now seems fine. This was the valve and motor had been in place for over 20 years so we’ve had our money’s worth out of it. Luckily, I had a spare motor the workshop, so there was no financial outlay there. So that’s a big ✔️ there! 

 

However, I got my car back today, but the cost of a replacement battery, wiper motor and labour was just under £800! But I was expecting it to be over £500 anyway, but it’s still a big ouch. It needed to be repaired, as it wouldn’t have passed the MOT test next month. 

 

Intermittent rain put paid to any outside activities, so I went to the workshop and did some more work done on the chassis. I’ve had a much much better day in there today and some progress has been made. Lots of small detail bits added today, I’ve just got the brake shoes and rods etc to fit and finish of the cab interior. 

 

I posted our voting papers last week. As for canvassers calling, we’ve had none and we’ve only had a few leaflets pushed through the door, a couple of read ones, a green one and a light blue one, but none from the orange party or the current ruling, darker blue party! All have gone into the recycling bag unread. 

Edited July 3 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[Hroth]

5 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Mrs NHN used to work for the Intervention Board, which administrated those butter mountains and wine lakes, back in the EU days - remember the EU?  She worked in dairy, and could decipher bar codes with a glance, and usually tell you country and dairy of origin.  Scary.

 

Great ride by Mark Cavendish in the TdF, who despite being Manx, the BBC could only describe as British, in the 6 news. Pah. 

 

I must say that the BBC North West news did say he was Manx, which showed some attention to detail seeing that Fraggle Rock is in their catchment area.

 

Edited July 3 by Hroth
typo

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

And no, the "iCloud" backup thingummybob" wasn't enabled either.  It is now - though I've no idea how to access anything in it. 

 

 

 

Has  your previous  "I'm not going to stick anything in the  clouds because people will do something or other with it" attitude been modified somewhat now?🤨

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Interesting indeed.  I just looked at the bottle of Evian water beside me on the desk.  The bar code starts with 06 suggesting it originates from the Norht American continent.  The label clearly states "Produit de France"   Hmmm. 

 

 

I have a jar of coffee that starts with 930. ... 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Interesting indeed.  I just looked at the bottle of Evian water beside me on the desk.  The bar code starts with 06 suggesting it originates from the Norht American continent.  The label clearly states "Produit de France"   Hmmm. 

 

I've a 500ml bottle of Aldi own brand fizzy spring water here that doesn't have a bar code at all, though it does say it was bottled at a spring in Staffordshire. 🤔

 

 

[Andy Hayter]

6 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

This is interesting.

 

 

As others have noted, this does not seem to be correct.  I am equally sceptical.

 

1.  Looking at the Global Trade Identification Number sites, they make no mention of country of origin.  (GTIN is the allocated number from which the bar code number is derived.

 

2.  I have not come across products where there is no "made in..." or equivalent statement on packaged goods.

 

3. A search for clayremedies does not come up with a single hit.  I am not going to open www.clayremedies.com as there could be anything behind  the address - or nothing.

 

I rather think this is just junk.  Sorry Phil.

[TheQ]

No mention of a country of origin..

That number system digit is the type of product, 0 or 1, retail, 3 pharmaceuticals, 5 coupons etc

 

Yes I'm.awake at stupid o'clock.

 

Edited July 4 by TheQ

[Coombe Barton]

Top of google - 

 

Many people mistakenly believe that the first few digits of the barcode numbers show the product's country of origin. However, the barcode number says NOTHING accurate about the product's country of origin. The only thing these first few digits show is the country of origin of the barcode number itself.

 

https://internationalbarcodes.net/barcode-country-codes/#

[BR60103]

A puzzle that Ian Abel or someone else may help with.

One of Canada's larger airlines had a strike by mechanics/engineers over the long weekend.  Getting the service restored is taking a while.  Apparently the planes have to be inspected after sitting on the ground for a couple of days.  And there seem to be no crews to fly them out.  Q:  what happened to te crews that flew them in?

 

I went to our cable TV supplier today to ask about Tour de France coverage.  After a bit of research he found that there is coverage on a distant American channel.  A bit of fiddling with our packages and we now have access to that channel, and a better (he says) package for $20 less a month.

But we will only see the race for many hours on Saturday.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

I have officially begun my four day weekend to celebrate an (almost) two hundred and fifty year-old enumeration of grievances that few actually read all the way to the end.

 

Like:

Quote

blah blah "He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither" blah blah "has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices," blah blah.  "abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province" blah blah, "has excited domestic insurrections amongst us" et cetera.

Makes you wonder whether if people read it out of context they might agree with at least some of the alleged policies rather than the grievances. 

 

This one remained a popular idea about twelve years later:

Quote

... transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

 

In any case here we will flirt with 40°C on Saturday if the forecast holds. Hopefully my air conditioning will keep chugging.

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

I rather think this is just junk.  Sorry Phil.

It is an interesting reflection on the 'ease' of internet disinformation.

 

I find misquotes, allegedly by famous people, to be some of the the worst. Happily this might be changing.

 

Formerly you will find all kinds of online references to Einstein saying "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - which of course he never said, and thankfully Google now links first to a refutation.

 

I hope this trend continues.

 

People really like to misquote Churchill - even Her Late Majesty EIIR. This is a useful page. I have a book of Churchill quotations with several of them in it (and seen some of them here in ERs).

 

Edited July 4 by Ozexpatriate

[Hroth]

45 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

It is an interesting reflection on the 'ease' of internet disinformation.

 

I find misquotes, allegedly by famous people, to be some of the the worst. Happily this might be changing.

 

Formerly you will find all kinds of online references to Einstein saying "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - which of course he never said, and thankfully Google now links first to a refutation.

 

I hope this trend continues.

 

People really like to misquote Churchill - even Her Late Majesty EIIR. This is a useful page. I have a book of Churchill quotations with several of them in it (and seen some of them here in ERs).

 

 

Though as Churchill served as Prime Minister to Her Late Majesty early in her reign, it could be that she remembered Churchill misquoting himself!

 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

blah blah "He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither" blah blah "has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices,""abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province" blah blah, "has excited domestic insurrections amongst us"

 

 

I see what you've done there!

Edited July 4 by monkeysarefun

[Hroth]

 

Hurrah!

The polling stations have opened!

 

The BBC are now reduced to publishing photos of dogs waiting outside polling stations and leading politicians entering or leaving polling stations, until 10pm.

 

I hope said politicians remember their photo ids....

 

Edited July 4 by Hroth
a spot of punctuation...

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Looks like today will be email catch up day.. pah!

 

Still chilly here but I got warm cutting the grass yesterday and the Clubrooms are still pleasantly warm.

 

Lots to do so TTFN.

 

Baz

 

 

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a rather wet Charente.  Our Internet outage resolved itself yesterday afternoon.  The main news during the blackout was that we acqe 4 hens, a black, a white and two brown.  They have already gifted us 5 eggs but forgot to bsrcode them with their bird of origin code. 

 

I cut the weed patch and then we went to some friends for a very pleasant BBQ.  This moaning is due to be shopping day and possibly some hedge cutting if it stops raining. 

 

Jamie 

[iL Dottore]

16 hours ago, DaveF said:

 

 

Art Installation in the library at Belsay Hall

 

A view from the study

 

David

There’s something rather pathetic (as in pathos) about an empty, uninhabited and perfectly preserved house. Such lovely buildings should be lived in, not turned into sterile dolls houses.

 

Of course, invidious taxation combined with a rather badly thought through rush to “modernise” in the 50s, 60s and 70s has meant that the UK has lost far too many beautiful public and private buildings - despite the best efforts of people like Sir John Betjeman. And what’s left is at the mercy of the conflicting interests (and conflicting ignorances*) of council planning departments, “heritage” organisations, wide-boy developers and egotistical architects**

 

Perhaps I am being churlish and unkind, but I can imagine that were any of the many UK council planning departments to be in charge of Rome or Venice’s infrastructure, the Colosseum would have been knocked down to make way for a parking deck and canals filled in to “improve access” to St Mark’s Square.

 

Or perhaps I am being overly cynical…..

 

* conflicting ignorances: one organisation that doesn’t know what the **** it’s doing is at odds with another organisation that has a different way of not knowing what the **** it’s doing.

** As in “my concrete and glass box can only improve on this boring old fashioned design by Sir  Christopher Wren. (Much in evidence in London).

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

3 hours sleep and..... Nothing more

 

100% blue Welkin out there.

 

Looking at getting a scaffolding tower, still thinking about it..

 

I've just seen a dog outside a polling station on TV..

 

Breakfast had

Plans for  today,

Pay vets bill,

Dentist,

Shopping.

 

Time to do nothing for a couple of hours.