Early Risers.

[AndyID]

21 hours ago, pH said:

I’ve long tried to think of a way to capture the energy released by the dynamic brakes on diesels, instead of just burning it off in resistor grids. Something like 15000 tons falling (slowly!) through several hundred feet would generate the equivalent of quite a few old mineshafts.

 

One way it almost works is to use the braking energy to liquefy air or nitrogen on the way down then use that to recover the waste heat from the diesels in a turbine on the way up.

 

It does actually work (on paper) but I couldn't get it to make economic sense. The amount of energy recovered does not seem to justify the cost of all the additional hardware.

 

[TheQ]

Hmm did we mention slow drivers ... Well that'll be me then...

Drove out of work...... What's that noise?

 

Pull into first available space not blocking the road..

Quick stroll around the car.. 

Flat rear left.....

Did I say quick.... Yep it was chuckinitdarn.. and quite windy..

Am I going to use inflator can or change wheel.. have a guess.

 

Connect can,

 Sit back in car in rear passenger seat...

Wait till cans done it's stuff..

Check tyre.. down a bit but not too low....

Proceed with caution...

Hence low speed, it was helped by following a 25mph car in 30 and 40 limits for some miles .

Will check car properly tomorrow, when hopefully it's not raining and it's daylight.

 

[Barry O]

Strangely enough the "Beast" has regenerative breaking and it does top up the batteries!  Good old Mitsubishi!

 

Yes @jamie92208 the A65 attracts Bikers with no fear, people who drive very, very slowly but speed up at the major passing place on the Settle Bypass..4 years of driving from Leeds to Barrow and back means I got used to the fact it was about 90 miles and the journey would be about 2 hours and 15 minutes.. Worst one was almost running into a horse and van one early morning (on their way to Appleby).. that was scary!

 

Baz

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Not if you are a geriatric snail using a Zimmer frame 😂

 

In other news I had my double-dose of NHS care this afternoon and can report accordingly.  

 

Chest X-ray booked for 1.45 at Teddington was completed slightly early and in a matter of minutes with no fuss, a polite if perfunctory welcome and introduction and advice of where and when the result will be known; via my GP in no more than seven days.  

 

Move forward to Kingston Hospital for a 4pm with their respiratory department which session I was assured would be the required spirometry and lung-function tests.  

 

I arrived at 3.10pm simply because it was not far from Teddington; I did stop for a flat white on the way to lose a little time but no matter.  Having navigated the maze which is Kingston Hospital with the help of two very helpful and welcoming staff I took my seat in the waiting area facing a screen which showed the words "Delay : 1 hour 15 minutes".  It was clear from some others that this was indeed the case.  However my name was called at 4.05 from an area not affected by the delays elsewhere.  

 

A very warm welcoming woman introduced herself as "One of the respiratory doctors here" and we went through the background to the referral.  It was clear from the outset that this was only going to be "Another day another doctor" and not what I had been led to believe.  So we went through the questions, history and current management.  "Another day another doctor" decided that I required a different inhaler to that only prescribed a week ago (fair go - she is a respiratory doctor not a GP and might have more specialist knowledge) also asking me to have another chest X-ray "on the way out" because Kingston Hospital cannot access Teddington Hospital's data.  She also mentioned that there is a very long waiting list for spirometry and lung function testing with the next date (which was assigned to me on the spot) being in April next year.  OK so the NHS is under a great deal of pressure, we know, but in some cases of which I am hopefully not one there will no longer be any lung function six months hence. 

 

The result?  We parted as warmly as we met with thanks all round for coming in and for her time.  I have a prescription for the new new inhaler and a date in April for the testing which I thought was to be today.  I didn't stop off for another x-ray; I already had one and the GP will get that result.  If anything is shown he'll be in touch.  

 

I won't be cashing in the new prescription just yet either.  I'll stick with the one I was given a few days ago by the GP at least for now.  

 

The NHS is wonderful.  Or it could be if its disparate parts could actually see what they were all doing.  I totally get privacy and confidentiality but why can one patient record system not exist allowing anyone who sees me to access the full record?  Instead I now have three separate and disconnected sets of notes from the past few days alone.  

 

And they say it needs to save money and be less bureaucratic .....  

 

 

 

I believe they tried that and when the price tag reached a billion pounds or some similar high figure and nothing yet had been created but more money was still required the politicians stepped in and said 'go take a running jump' or words to that effect and it got cancelled.

[monkeysarefun]

3 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

I believe they tried that and when the price tag reached a billion pounds or some similar high figure and nothing yet had been created but more money was still required the politicians stepped in and said 'go take a running jump' or words to that effect and it got cancelled.

Jeez if Australians can do it...!

 

https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

In other news:

Just when you thought it was safe:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63660032

 

 

You cannot kill what is already dead..

 

[Ian Abel]

BIN day, all sorted.

 

Yesterday, nothing to see here, move along... except it DID continue snowing, light but continual <yawn>

 

Woke early with a sore throat, seems related to the bedroom being cooler than expected, cold air seeming to be the culprit, I hope.

 

Later, choir rehearsal, preceded by happy hour pizza and beer, hopefully.

Will be a late one as we have a secondary rehearsal for the schola following the main rehearsal. With luck will be done by 9:30PM <yawn>

 

More snow and -6C at BIN time, high of -1C expected and onward with the snow, light mostly.

 

Later.

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

One way it almost works is to use the braking energy to liquefy air or nitrogen on the way down then use that to recover the waste heat from the diesels in a turbine on the way up.

 

It does actually work (on paper) but I couldn't get it to make economic sense. The amount of energy recovered does not seem to justify the cost of all the additional hardware.

 

 

Just a bit more info:

 

The business of compressing the air produces a fair amount of heat and that's energy that is lost back to the atmosphere. Then converting liquid air/nitrogen back into gas takes in a lot of heat without doing any useful work!

 

The laws of thermodynamics are definitely not in our favor 😀

 

[New Haven Neil]

Those 40 mph everywhere drivers are endemic here, which causes the loony drivers to do kamikaze overtakes on their way to work on the faster roads.  Faster roads are difficult to quantify here, there are no dual carriageways....and no national speed limit.  No MOT's either, if you want to add further jeopardy into the equation!

[PupCam]

3 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

The NHS is wonderful.  Or it could be if its disparate parts could actually see what they were all doing.  I totally get privacy and confidentiality but why can one patient record system not exist allowing anyone who sees me to access the full record?  Instead I now have three separate and disconnected sets of notes from the past few days alone.  

 

And they say it needs to save money and be less bureaucratic .....  

 

 

Sorry to hear that Rick - welcome to my world.

 

Completely beats me too!

 

Alan

[Coombe Barton]

... Today is the day that the rest of us pay for the reckless stupidity and selfishness of the few. ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/11/17/fluctuating-still/

[pH]

11 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The RSAF don't seem to have the same issues with noise abatement as the RAF.

I don’t about now, but in the late 1960s/early 1970s there didn’t seem to be much noise abatement going on in the Scottish highlands! A pair of F4s at low level in a narrow glen is not quiet.

[AndyID]

2 minutes ago, pH said:

I don’t about now, but in the late 1960s/early 1970s there didn’t seem to be much noise abatement going on in the Scottish highlands! A pair of F4s at low level in a narrow glen is not quiet.

 

We were hiking in the Cairngorms in the 60's  when a couple of them scared the pants off us (although we might have been wearing kilts - can't remember).

[pH]

3 hours ago, AndyID said:

One way it almost works is to use the braking energy to liquefy air or nitrogen on the way down then use that to recover the waste heat from the diesels in a turbine on the way up.

I’ve thought of a ‘battery car’ coupled to the locomotives, acting like the batteries in an EV. Some US railroads have fuel tenders semi-permanently coupled in locomotive consists, so the idea isn’t too far-fetched. The problem, with the current (ha, ha) state of batteries would probably be the weight of such a car.

[andyram]

Evening all. I hope you are all well. Things have been a bit busy recently especially with college work so I have had little chance to post. I have also been recovering from a bout of Covid a few weeks ago. Things have quietened down in the shop and I took time to run my layout. Warning! Train pictures although there is a festive flavour to them.

 

The first photo was taken on my layout as a publicity for the shop's social media pages.

 

 

The second photo was taken last night. An enjoyable evening at a friend's house. There was food, wine, good company all in exchange for helping with the construction of parts of her son's under the tree layout. Please note, I did not build the tunnel!

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Avery busy day here, we set off at about 10.00am and got back at about 9.00pm.

I don’t know having a pet could be so tiring or complicated.

The soft toy needs to match the basket and in turn basket needs to match the  bedroom carpet. And of course the collar needs to match the lead and that must match the waterproof coat and of course they all need to be purple. 
Been down to Lincoln and Newark today shopping for said items and met sis and mum for coffee part way through the day. 
Called off act a certain shop in Lincoln that sells miniaturised items and spent quite a few modelling tokens on a few bits to parallel strips of metal and something that in real time runs on steam. All very nice. 
As for tomorrow, out again for some doggy essentials.

For now, goodnight.

[jamie92208]

11 hours ago, Barry O said:

Strangely enough the "Beast" has regenerative breaking and it does top up the batteries!  Good old Mitsubishi!

 

Yes @jamie92208 the A65 attracts Bikers with no fear, people who drive very, very slowly but speed up at the major passing place on the Settle Bypass..4 years of driving from Leeds to Barrow and back means I got used to the fact it was about 90 miles and the journey would be about 2 hours and 15 minutes.. Worst one was almost running into a horse and van one early morning (on their way to Appleby).. that was scary!

 

Baz

Yes the A65.  My escape route from Giggleswick then for 10 years to drive up to Grange over Sands to visit ageing parents and finally 4 months of driving to Kendal to visit my Dad in Hospital.  However despite the 40 mph ers etc I love it. The first sight of Ingleborough from just before Skipton, and the first sight of the Lake District Fells from not far  past Kirkby Lonsdale.   I know it so well and there are plenty of fabulous memories. I'll draw a discreet veil over the barn near Cowan Bridge.

 

Jamie

Edited November 18, 2022 by jamie92208

[Barry O]

My trip to the floor last week may have caused a bit of back damage.. pink pills have been taken! Then bad knee and lump on sh8n have chipped in.. Pah!

 

Baz

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis has been in and out all day. At the moment he is out and I hope he stays out but pills will be taken at bedtime. Not much else to report so its back to Farcebook. 

[Ozexpatriate]

Feeling a little rattled today.

 

I had my weekly web-conference conversation with my cousin. Perhaps 20 minutes in there was a weird pop up message / security alert* and somewhere between that popup and me clicking on it my video disappeared on my cousin's end (though I was still on the call).

 

* Not Windows, but by Samsung the PC manufacturer.

 

Much thrashing ensued with useless Microsoft help webpages and troubleshooting 'wizard' type things, driver updates and reboots, all of them resulting in messages that my (built-in) webcam was "disconnected". 

 

Later out of the corner of my eye, while going back to the Windows "settings" 'app' I noticed a Samsung settings option. Sure enough this was set to the highest security, blocking the camera. The camera now appears to work, but the Samsung settings menu is now unresponsive.

 

Meanwhile I remain cranky and all the RMweb 'click to close' video players* don't help.

 

* Worse are the occasional ones that don't offer a "close player" option. A few of them get interspersed too.

[polybear]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Just at the start of lockdown I went into town  to do a bit of business. I parked in one of the car parks, went to the pay machine to find that it wasn't working. I got a letter claiming £160 excess/none payment fee so I informed them that I was unable to pay because the machine wasn't working. I got a letter this morning from a debt collection company demanding payment. I will be sending them a snottogram.

 

Bear has never been presented with such a scenario (and I'm in no hurry to change that record).  If I ever am - and there's no second machine to use - then I'd take a photo of the machine (useful if the display indicates the machine is fubarred), maybe call them on the phone to report it busted (if there's a number displayed to call) and if anyone else has the same issue then swap contact numbers in case of a fine, as there's a good chance they'll have the same.  At least then it's two person's words against the Parking Company's.

And if that company still won't see sense (very common it seems) I'd use the Small Claims Court - it'll certainly cost them more to defend than the fine is worth.

Hope it works out for you without too much aggro.  Have some Cake.

 

5 hours ago, chrisf said:

When the M1 is clear and free-flowing I can get from Bedford to Harpenden comfortably in 45 minutes.

 

There is a rumour that a certain Bear once got from BAe Warton to Hatfield in 3h 10m.  Allegedly.

 

Bear here....

A bit of a slow day really - a bit achieved on the H/S/L refurb but not nearly enough.  Oh well.

This afternoon & evening was taken up with a visit to the M.E. Group; four brass spacers turned up - not exactly high tech stuff but needed doing; they'll be used on a home-made stand to stop small jars of flux etc. from being knocked over.  Today saw a grand total of 6 people turning up, which is not nearly enough and I suspect that if the grown-ups were aware then they'd think hard about continuing with the "course".

[PhilJ W]

This dropped into my in-box the other day. Are people stupid enough to fall for it?

 

Attn:Beneficiary,

 

I am Mrs.Kristalina Georgieva,Managing Director(MD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).I am delighted to inform you that the contract/Inheritance Lottery panel of the UN/COVID19 Awarded Payment has been approved.All Governmental and Non-Governmental,NGO's,Finance Companies,Banks,Security Companies and Diplomat(s) which have been in contact with you of late have been instructed to back off from your transaction and you have been advised NOT to respond to them anymore since  the  International Monetary Fund(IMF) Head Office is now directly in  charge of your Covid-19/Contract/Lottery/Inheritance payment US$15,500,000.00(Fifteen Million, five  hundred thousand United State Dollars)

 

You are hereby advised NOT to remit further payment to any institution(s) with respect to your transaction as your fund will be transferred to you directly from our source.I hope this is clear.Any action contrary to this instruction is at your own risk.

 

In order for us to proceed you must get back to me with:

Your Full Name:

Your Address:

Your Age:

Your Direct Phone Numbers:

Your Profession:

 

Detailed information would be given to you immediately you respond.

Mrs Georgieva.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The rain continued all day down into the evening, although it stopped a few hours ago. Needless to say, I didn’t do any work outside today. This morning, I earned a few more brownie points by framing another 5 prints that Sheila wanted doing. I then removed the old pictures from the wall and hung up the new ones! After that, I made a start on a couple more, but as these are 3D images, I need to alter the frames a bit, as the mounts will not be needed and I had to paint the inside of the frame backing black to highlight the new contents, I’ll take photos when they are complete. 

 

After dinner Charlie called, well actually I went to pick him up as it was chuckinitdarn and he’d have got soaked otherwise and he and I spent the rest of the afternoon in the workshop. He’s now almost finished his latest figure, in the meantime I built 2 MERG kits. Next week I really must do a bit more on the DH Tiger Moth as I’ve not done any work on that for a couple of months now and it’s not far off being finished. 

Edited November 17, 2022 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight all