Early Risers.

[iL Dottore]

@jjb1970 I think another universal truism is that individuals can be absolutely splendid fellows (or lasses), but people en masse are pretty ghastly (no matter where you are).
 

One of the biggest problems with what some people call “identity politics“ is that it lumps together a wildly disparate group of individuals and attributes to all of them a certain set of characteristics (good, bad, indifferent). And in this (dare I say it?) rather warped view of the world, woe betide anyone who steps outside of/does not conform to what is expected of their assigned group. 
 

As many researchers have noted, it’s all about creating “in-groups” and “out-groups”; where an “in-group” (e.g. us handsome, talented, baked-bean-hating GWR modellers) has a credo to coalesce around and unite against an “out-group” (e.g. those ugly, weird, turkey twizzler eating LMS modellers).
 

During our evolution (and history) being in an “in-group” conveyed survival advantages - a behaviour, I would venture, that is now pretty much hardwired into our monkey brains. Which is probably why that, until recently, those countries with minimal natural resources and a hostile natural environment were monocultural with going outside the norm being very much frowned upon.

 

Perhaps it is just as well that few, if any, politicians are behavioural psychologists – as behavioural psychologists know exactly which buttons to push to get certain responses out of our monkey brains. Unfortunately, some of the more savvy politicians are now employing SPADS who do know what buttons to push….

[iL Dottore]

11 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

…Generalities and sweeping assertions are rarely accurate and their inaccuracy can be grating.

What you say, is true, but I think the reason that both stereotypes and clichés are so universally pervasive is because they are a convenient shorthand for describing groups/individuals/situations. A shorthand that contains - to a greater or lesser degree - a kernel of truth or describes something succinctly in few words. 
 

Of course, like in most human endeavours, stereotypes and cliches can be both positive and negative. 

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Biggest problem with Americans on this holiday?  In the Kiwihouse (a special nature reserve) the  briefing explained why the area with kiwis in was fairly dark.. they are nocturnal one American visitor said loudly " well that is just stupid.. without the lights being on.. you can't see the Kiwi!!"  I pointed one out to her while trying not to laugh.

 

We (as in the rest of the world) travel widely and do see a lot of news about the USA. Americans travel less (numbers wise) and seem very insular about things even outside their own state.

 

I always remember seeing a headline in an American paper "Joe Blogs breaks World record for home runs in a season".  Tucked away on page 3 was a picture of a Royal Marine 105mm light howitzer firing in Kosovo...

 

Lots of cruise line passengers in Kiwiland are American. Nice people but clueless about the world. Cruise 12 day's and cover Oz and NZ. One lady told her indoors "my 16 hour flight yesterday was terrible"  her indoors explained our flight wads 23 hours in total...she was flabbergasted and went off to check Google for how far the uk is from the Antipodes.

 

Any road up.. shark wielding is required before a getting together with some friends later.

 

Stay safe

 

Baz

 

 

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

First job of the day will be to remove various leccy bits from walls to make the last bits of hall wallpapering a lot easier and neater; ideally I'll be able to do the leccy bits without any sparks, smoke or tingly paws.  Then it'll be wallpapering yet again.  Yippee.

I also need to check the tyre pressure on what was the Bearmobile's dodgy wheel - hopefully it's unchanged; if I get a chance I'd like to do a couple of miles in it just to make sure as well.

 

In other news.....

Apparently Paul O'Grady died unexpectedly last night, aged just 67; I suspect that @iL Dottore will agree he did much to highlight doggie issues and the work of organisations such as Battersea Dogs Home.  A sad day.

 

Bear gone.

[jamie92208]

Good morning from a order pit village.  Last morning here so going out for breakfast with Em and Rachel.  Then I'm off to Wakefield to the office of the legal database system that I set up for the police. 25 years old now and going strongly. It will be interesting.  Then back here for lunch before setting off for a Premier Inn for the next 6 nights

Ttfn.

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Good morning all, 

A grey start to the day here and a breezy but mild and showery day is forecast.   10°C now, 14°C possible.

Usual early morning complaints from The Back so I'm hobbling about again.  We've got to go back to M & S today to return the stuff "we" bought yesterday and now don't like.  This means that "we" may well buy some more stuff that will also need returning at a later date.  Where's that headbanging emoji when you need it?  My offer of taking us out to lunch has been turned down as "we" have lots to do and nottalot of time to do it in.  My almost made comment about maybe if "we" didn't go on pointless shopping trips "we" would have more time has gone unsaid as I'd like a bit of peace and quiet for the rest of the day  week month my life!

Anyway, not to worry as I'm "Zooming" with friends later.

Time to gettamoveon.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by grandadbob

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

4.5 hours sleep, 2 hours sleep,

Ben the lazy Collie came to see me at 06:00, got a pat on his head, then he went back to bed, he was still there at 07:30 when I got up.

 

Cool but not as bad as yesterday, ground a bit squelchy. Dark grey clouds around.

 

Plans for today,

More work on the under stairs.

Making a new rope horse for BM, I made the previous one a little short.

 

 

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

9 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Gotta say, we get a LOT of US personnel through here on exercise support, application installation and training. I have never met one I didnt like, and as a bonus they are easy legpulls when it comes to telling them what  wildlife they should look out for, and they always call me sir.

 

You're only saying that because they called you Sir.

 

Of course you have to factor in that Good Old US of A has a decent population and therefore will have more than its fair share of 'oddballs'.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

...In other news.....

Apparently Paul O'Grady died unexpectedly last night, aged just 67; I suspect that @iL Dottore will agree he did much to highlight doggie issues and the work of organisations such as Battersea Dogs Home.  A sad day.

 

Bear gone.

I was a bit shocked at Paul O'Grady's death (he was my age). He will be missed - he was great ambassador for animal welfare - especially for dogs. I always enjoyed his Battersea Dog's Home programmes and his love of animals always shone through. Although he was far too media savvy to say so outright, it was clear from some of his comments made after/when interacting with an abused dog that had he had his way a suitable @polybear approved punishment would have been meted out to the animal abuser.

 

Another sad thing about his demise is who will now speak up for and champion the dogs at Battersea? I can't think of anyone else who could step into his shoes and present For The Love Of Dogs. It was uniquely, and now sadly, his show.

 

[iL Dottore]

5 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

You're only saying that because they called you Sir.

 

Of course you have to factor in that Good Old US of A has a decent population and therefore will have more than its fair share of 'oddballs'.

Having lived for a decade in the US and having worked both in the ER and as a front-line paramedic there, I can safely say that your last sentence is a bit of an understatement, like the statement "the Italians occasionally like a little pasta..."

Edited March 29, 2023 by iL Dottore
Typo

[Winslow Boy]

11 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Having lived for a decade in the US and having worked both in the ER and as a front-line paramedic there, I can safely say that your last sentence is a bit of an understatement, like the statement "the Italians occasionally like a little pasta..."

 

Now Now don't get all bitter and twisted on us. There are some Americans who are level headed, open minded, intelligent, funny and generally all round good eggs il Dottore. Its just that there out numbered that's all.

[New Haven Neil]

9 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

There's a very nice shed up the road with a Lima GS-4, 4-8-8-4 (SP 4449) which is semi-streamlined. It's a magnificent beast. If I'm not mistaken, the trailing bogie is a separate steam engine - for reversing in the yard.

 

The trailing truck booster is to provide extra starting tractive effort when moving a heavy train from rest - they usually are not even capable of reversing, having fixed valve gear.  They disengage from gearing after reaching a certain speed, IIRO 10-15 mph.  There were a couple of tries at using them in the UK, the LNER did for sure, an NER Atlantic and Gresley P1 for instance, but really trains here were never heavy enough to make it worthwhile.

 

Good morning peoples of ER, from a country where hardly anyone ever criticises our political arrangements, because folk think we're part of the UK (wrong) so it will be the same as the UK (wrong again), and no one really cares, outside of our 80k population (correct).  We have our fair share of nutters too, especially around 'spending our (taxpayers) money' or CV inoculation.

 

Drizzly and windy, 11c, have to go out - bah.  Mrs NHN working from home today as she does every Wednesday, an arrangement that will thankfully (for her!) remain as her role changes.  For me, it means I have to look like I'm doing something.....

[jjb1970]

I think some stereotypes derive from societal norms. I know we shouldn't generalize and people are people wherever they are but I do find their are behavioural norms which differ between countries.

 

For example, in many Middle Eastern societies hospitality to guests and visitors is taken very seriously, and whatever people might think of those guests they will generally display impeccable courtesy and extend hospitality. To do otherwise is a bit of a taboo. Similarly, business meetings invariably have to observe a period of social small talk before getting near the subject of the meeting, a few times I've kicked colleagues under the table for trying to ignore that, which tends to be received as ill manners.

 

Here in Singapore people tend to be rather direct in conversation to the point they can seem rather blunt, but poor behaviour in public is a big no no and people are conditioned to follow the rules (and if they don't they'll probably find out pretty quickly that it's not a good idea).

 

From such characteristics do stereotypes develop. 

 

 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

After yesterday’s and last night’s rain, we have a dull and cloudy, but currently dry start to the day here in the northwest corner of England. So, the plan is to plant out the dozen or so plants we bought yesterday. After that, well I’m due to have my hair cut later this afternoon, so an early pack up is required. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian

[southern42]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

 

Biggest problem with Americans on this holiday?  In the Kiwihouse (a special nature reserve) the  briefing explained why the area with kiwis in was fairly dark.. they are nocturnal one American visitor said loudly " well that is just stupid.. without the lights being on.. you can't see the Kiwi!!"  I pointed one out to her while trying not to laugh.

 

We (as in the rest of the world) travel widely and do see a lot of news about the USA. Americans travel less (numbers wise) and seem very insular about things even outside their own state.

 

I always remember seeing a headline in an American paper "Joe Blogs breaks World record for home runs in a season".  Tucked away on page 3 was a picture of a Royal Marine 105mm light howitzer firing in Kosovo...

 

Lots of cruise line passengers in Kiwiland are American. Nice people but clueless about the world. Cruise 12 day's and cover Oz and NZ. One lady told her indoors "my 16 hour flight yesterday was terrible"  her indoors explained our flight wads 23 hours in total...she was flabbergasted and went off to check Google for how far the uk is from the Antipodes.

 

Any road up.. shark wielding is required before a getting together with some friends later.

 

Stay safe

 

Baz

 

 

 

Geography "O" level, back in the day, a whole series of lessons on the North and South Americas (including Canada). With the high number of great American singers and musicians in the media back in the 60s, who would not be interested in that part of the world - geographically speaking, of course? After months of revision mainly on the North, I remember just one relevant to the area question on the "O" level exam paper - a comparison of fishing off Newfoundland and Japanese waters (the latter not being covered in class, so a bit of (poor in places) guess work on that score. Leading me to wonder if fishing in British waters was ever a public exam question topic on the other side of the world? Yes, it was on the syllabus, here. Another red herring?

 

[jjb1970]

I wonder if American people may get a bit of a break soon. I suspect one of the reasons everyone in the world has an opinion about America is that for decades the international movie, TV and entertainment industries were dominated by US output. People have their own local culture, but American culture has tended to be added as an overlay. Movies, TV, books etc tend to represent at best an exaggerated vision of society, and in many cases complete fantasy (not a criticism, it's entertainment and I suspect a movie showing two hours in the life of a typical person would be very dull) but it does colour what people think about places. Now we have the growth of a much more international media scene people may start thinking they know much more about other places than they really do. For example in Singapore and much of SE and East Asia Korean entertainment (movies, TV and music) is huge and has replaced US output as top cat so I do hear people discussing Korea much more and holding opinions on the country. Maybe people from the RoK might start scratching their heads at what the world thinks of their country as a result.

[PhilH]

Morning from the bottom, cold and damp again. I made up my mind to have a good read through the preceding few pages but decided against it as can’t be a*sed with anything anywhere bordering on politics these days. Things should be nearly back to normal after the clear out with retained stuff in its new rightful places….which I still have to memorise of course.

 

Not much planned for today, a trip to Aldi after morning coffee. I’m one of those rare males who doesn’t mind a trip to the supermarket, especially to the likes of Aldi and Lidl where you never know what will turn up next to the baked beans. Then it’s a resin printer clean out after an overnight failed print. When they go well they are fantastic, when a print fails it’s a vat drain and Fep film clean. This can be messy but I have evolved a system that makes it as not messy as I can. Luckily these days after dialling the printers in  failures are fairly uncommon.

 

As they seemed to go down well a few more photos from my time on engines…including one where I seem to be asking my mate for more than one copy 😎. No more after these, promise.

Edited March 29, 2023 by PhilH

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. No sign of the predicted rain yet this morning, only high cloud. Arthur Itis is not predicting anything either though he is not that always reliable. Will have to venture out to Tess Coes later as the cupboards are bare.

[monkeysarefun]

26 minutes ago, PhilH said:

When they go well they are fantastic, when a print fails it’s a vat drain and Fep film clean

The solution  you need is  get 2 vats!

 

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Tony_S]

30 minutes ago, southern42 said:

geographically speaking, of course? After months of revision mainly on the North, I remember just one relevant to the area question on the "O"

On my paper the N America question was about cattle ranching. I think I answered based on years of watching TV cowboy films. I remember also in the pre O level year studying farming and fishing in NW Europe. In those days Norway was a fairly poor country and there was much emphasis on how they got two hay crops a year and how they preserved fish. Oil has since made a significant change to their economy. 

[polybear]

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Gotta say, we get a LOT of US personnel through here on exercise support, application installation and training. I have never met one I didnt like, and as a bonus they are easy legpulls when it comes to telling them what  wildlife they should look out for, and they always call me sir.

 

Whilst working in Kuwait a Certain Bear was addressed as "Sir" by various US Serviceman doing Guard Duty at the Base.  I could get used to it, but sadly it seemed to disappear just as soon as I returned to The Great Empire.  Poo.

 

In other news.....

Postie delivered an item purchased off the 'bay - and it's slightly bent.  Turdycurses.  As to whether or not it was bent prior to posting or courtesy of RM is unknown, though I suspect being wrapped in brown paper and a bin bag did little to protect it.  I'll be initiating a return shortly.

Postie told me that after rather a lot of years she's to become "a spare" - her round is to combined with another, meaning the number of houses will be increased by over 50%.  The RM want rid of letter deliveries as they make a loss on them but are required to do it; at one point recently some customers weren't getting deliveries for other 2 weeks - some customers missed deadlines for paying parking fines (meaning the cost went up) and others missed medical letters (Hospital Appointments etc.).  She predicts they are heading for a strike very shortly - apparently the Bosses are threatening to put RM into Administration and declaring it insolvent.  Not good.

 

Bear has completed messing with the leccies - no smoke, sparks or fried paws.  Tick

Bear gone.

 

[Gwiwer]

12 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I noticed that the clock in the car hadn't gone forward over the weekend when I got into the car this morning. But after the funeral I noticed that it had reset to the correct time. I suspect that not using the car since Saturday may have something to do with it.

Mine requires manual intervention. 
 

But as Dr SWMBO has been the only driver since Saturday it hasn’t been done yet. 
 

She doesn’t do womanual intervention. 

[Tony_S]

@PhilH Have you just left Annie and Clarabel at the station?

[monkeysarefun]

7 minutes ago, polybear said:

Postie delivered an item purchased off the 'bay - and it's slightly bent.  Turdycurses.  As to whether or not it was bent prior to posting or courtesy of RM is unknown,

I did it.

 

Knock our trains, pay the price.

 

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

I did it.

 

Knock our trains, pay the price.

 

I rather liked your loco.