Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

1 minute ago, polybear said:

like the idea of live wotsits as it simplifies the pickups needed. 

I used to think that too and have a number of locos I built from kits like that but now I use DCC I prefer the locos not to have live bodies or chassis. 

[Ian Abel]

23 hours ago, roundhouse said:

Prince caught a train from Los Angeles Union station to Minneapolis - its in the long intro to his song Cream🙂

 

So check this out, I've probably mentioned it before, but one of the founding members of the New Power Generation was Tommy Barbarella keyboard/producer for Prince and New Power Generation

Freeze frame at 5:56 and                                                                                    recently (well about a year or so old picture), as one of our music directors for the choir I sing in 

     

 

In other news...

Yesterday was an interesting excursion to Costco with the Mrs and Jemma, we avoided buying so many things!!!! It can be hard to keep a focus on exactly what you're going for 😀

Very nice dinner followed and I reprised my "Old Fashioned" cocktail for Jemma and got a nod of approval... on my way to becoming a mixologist I think 🤣

 

Today, nothing much happening, and heat/air quality too miserable to take Whitney for a walk. She'll have to make do with chasing squirrels and chipmunks around the back yard. Jemma off to Madrid on a trip.

 

Was 20c overcast/hazy with miserable air quality first thing, rising to 33c later and a chance of thunderstorms to add to the mix.

 

Onward...

 

 

Edited July 30 by Ian Abel

[New Haven Neil]

A glorious day was had dans le rock, 23c at one point, lots of trayne enthusiasts here for transport week - trains rammed on the MER, all specials and tours fully booked too. 

 

Good to see, as our politicians were wondering if it was worth keeping last year, as they wanted to spend the money on some vanity project or other. B'sterds as the bear says.  An independent report returned the view it earns the island a lot of money!

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

Distinctly unpleasant around lunchtime very hot and sweaty it was,many people retired out of the sunshine under the Awning .

 

Race1, 2p,Xp, 2p. Not a lot of wind but it did increase a small amount.

Today's wind direction means a running start.

Not much point going to be first in the most favoured place as little BM would get blanketed by the big boats. so I i chose to hang back slightly, then choose the best wind.

 This paid off as BM was very close behind at the end of the first straight, at the bend, I choose to sweep from right to left of the river, edges paid off as the tide was going out. BM managed to over take a couple of boats, at two there was a gaggle of boats at the bouy, BM swept inside as they left a gap. Another boat was passed there, there then were multiple tacking duels Going on with a fleet of 23ftLoa boat tacking back down a 100ft wide  river, a fleet of different 23ft boats plus dinghies coming the other way.

 

Little BM made the best of it overtaking several boats until she was up to third. Once round the bend it was long tack short tack, one boat got past, by buoy X, then a couple more by the end of the first straight.

Held the position the rest of the way to 2, then got a position back during the tacking.

Lost another position on the way to the line. But close to all but the first place boat probably 2nd on handicap.

 

Race 2, same course, but Buoy 2 had moved  further away, it was well beyond the broad entrance,as the wind had increased.

With this bigger fleet of even faster boats, (10% faster than BM) the same tactic was carried out, which worked, still with the majority of the fleet at buoy 2. I was expecting BM to loose out on the way upwind, as most of this fleet are renowned for going well up wind... It didn't happen, BM over took two boats one point, that went down one later.

Didn't get past any more, but stayed close to the majority of the fleet, so on handicap in the upper half of the fleet.

 

Race 3, wind started nice but was gradually dying. Tide now strongly coming in..

Started extremely well as several boats miss timed the start.

But at the end of the first straight they had swept past.

BM then held position to number 2, at the mass rounding of the buoy BM grabbed a couple of places. Then held that, with a few swaps and back up to the bend, lost one on they way to X, held position back to 2.

One rounding this time one boat completely messed up with the incoming increasing tide BM grabbed a position and held it getting further and further ahead of them.

Finished I think in 3rd, but probably 2nd overall as the lead boat had really got away.

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Cold dinner tonight, quiche and salad with some raspberries for dessert. Still showing 20C. outside so another hot and sticky night.

[monkeysarefun]

The  good old USA.....  Not only did they capture the Enigma Machine but they are also  apparently currently   topping the medal tally.

 

How the rest of the world counts Olympic Medals:

 

 

 

 

How The New York Times etc counts Olympic Medals:

 

 

 

 

No doubt by the end of the week they will be topping the first method too and The Star Spangled Banner will be ringing out every 30 seconds but you'd think they could just give the rest of us a bit of credit for a couple of  days!

[BoD]

Evening all.

 

I’m becoming rather irritated.  I have a new, to me, car.  It's a 22 reg so not quite a vintage car yet. I decided to upgrade the maps.

 

I have to download the maps to a memory card. No problem, but other ways might be more efficient.

I have to use that memory card. It can take up to an hour. You what?

I have to leave the engine running.  You have got to be joking!!

I am advised not to drive during that time whilst leaving the engine running. 

 

Please tell me that it’s a joke and someone is having a laugh at my expense. This is wrong on so many levels.

[Tony_S]

14 minutes ago, BoD said:

Evening all.

 

I’m becoming rather irritated.  I have a new, to me, car.  It's a 22 reg so not quite a vintage car yet. I decided to upgrade the maps.

 

I have to download the maps to a memory card. No problem, but other ways might be more efficient.

I have to use that memory card. It can take up to an hour. You what?

I have to leave the engine running.  You have got to be joking!!

I am advised not to drive during that time whilst leaving the engine running. 

 

Please tell me that it’s a joke and someone is having a laugh at my expense. This is wrong on so many levels.

 My navigation system has monthly updates. They are about 33Gb so I wouldn’t want that over mobile data. The download is really slow, but it is saved to a usb stick on my computer. To install the update the usb stick has to be inserted in the car and the ignition on. I have the engine running as I don’t want it go into standby and mess up the update. It says it can be thirty minutes but usually 20.  I usually try to insert the update while I am driving somewhere rather than have it sitting going nowhere  for,20 minutes. My system dates from 2018. Jaguar Landrover now have a newer system but I don’t know how that updates but map files are really big. The car operating system updates using the  mobile phone network  rather than the computer usb stick method but the files are small. 

Edited July 30 by Tony_S

[Sidecar Racer]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

 

"If you poke me with that fuggin' just stick one more time I'll shove it right up your...."

 

'' and turn you into a popsicle '' , is the end of the sentence .  Line taken from the

1979 film The Warriors when confronted with baseball bat wielding gang member .

[PeterBB]

Updating in-car stuff is just not worth the hassle  and the updates also cost so things like T**T** are much better but even thy are getting too big and with mobile telephones being able to update very quickly ...   as a non-computer buff who definitely prefers reading books and magazines rather than online I no longer update in-car but rely on one of the new-fangled mobile 'phones when necessary.  I also carry a map book at all times although with what's going on they too date quickly.

 

Reference to Crich - was well worth a visit when last we went although a while back now.  The lasting momento is a lead paper weight cast with the word 'Crich' - a very useful object.  Jamie's reply was the perfect response.

 

Problems accessing ... yes but a certain telephone company has made a change today ...

 

I still skim through when time permits viz ... when side tracked.   Must admit, rather liked Bears camoflage sergeant joke.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Not a great deal to report today but we’ve had Syd as sil wasn’t feeling very well. Been informed by bil that they are going away to Spain on the 7th of August and Syd will be coming for a ten day sleepover. Nice.

ION

On the way to my club this evening caught a bit of the Olympics on the radio. FYI gymnastics doesn’t come over too well on radio.

On the way back swimming and tennis, much better.

Going down to Newark tomorrow to see Mum. Weather not conducive to a pleasant day but as sister is away on vacation in Canada we really need to go down.

Goodnight.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Both mine and (eventually) Sheila’s packages arrived safely today. However, mine arrived AFTER I’d gotten changed out of my working clothes, so I didn’t get to play with it today. But I did have a good look at it and very nice it is too! Unfortunately, play time will have to wait until Thursday, as we have Ava round for the day and we’ve got a cake to bake! 

 

Whilst I was waiting, I worked on some ladders for my micro layout. 2 sets of vertical wall ladders were constructed and fitted to 2 separate buildings. These still need weathering, but some has already been done. They’ve certainly made a difference to the buildings. I’ll fit the handrails that came today on Thursday, after I’ve had a play with my new loco. 

 

This evening, we were quite decadent and opened a bottle of Shiraz! We don’t usually drink mid week, but tonight we thought why not! 

[BSW01]

Goodnight everyone 

[PupCam]

Evening

 

7 hours ago, petethemole said:

That wasn't a walking stick, it was probably a Pokey Stick.  Every home should have one, useful for many purposes.  I don't take ours out though.

 

Let's hope it wasn't a Bulgarian umbrella!

 

5 hours ago, polybear said:

Then a visit to get the Beary Lug 'oles lowered - at least the place is air-conditioned, it's warm out there.  I even scared myself by going for a Number 3 😱 - for only the second time ever (the first being right before the start of the first lockdown).  It seems to work ok.

 

Beginner!       #1 every time.     

 

Well, apart from the time Mrs P went for it before checking the #whatever-it-was  was actually in-place and not still in the bag. Unfortunately she noticed too late.  The price you pay for free haircuts I suppose.    Oh well, it's only (no) hair.

 

ION

 

A good if hot day amusing two small boys whilst their parents earnt a crust.   Part of the amusement was building a light dependent tone generator circuit with eldest Junior Junior Puppers (6).     The box says "For ages eight years and upwards" but he got on well with it.    Each component is held on a carrier and has stackable "Popper" connections.   Straight interconnecting carriers of varying lengths and a plastic baseboard with a matrix of support pins to clip the components and interconnections to produce a form of "Electronic Lego".    Fully illustrated instructions allow you to make the thing look "just like the picture" and get the thing working.   I didn't think it appropriate or necessary to explain the difference between the PNP transistor and the NPN transistor at this point.   Or in fact  even what a transistor is 🤣   Still, "You've got to get them hooked on technical stuff early" is my motto.

 

We also had a visit from our roofing chap.    The house roof sprung a leak during the rainy season so he came round to clear out the broken  mortar and other debris between the slipped tiles and the gable wall, check the battens and felt under the tiles and re-seat and fix the tiles as necessary to make it water tight.  He's coming back in a few days to lift the tiles back up and then reinstate the mortar bed underneath the end ones.    Scary how these people shin up ladders and climb up rooves.  A job not for me!    Mind you I'm not wanting a job of any description these days.

 

I was saddened to note the passing of Trevor Nunn and Brian Pearce recorded on the obituaries board.   Mr Nunn's modelling was superb and Mr Pearce's contribution to the S4 society immense.

 

Some months ago you may recall I got some new Varifocal spectacles.  They weren't cheap.    I've not been getting on with them and went back about 3 weeks ago to complain.  Adjustments were made and they seemed better but they are nowhere near as comfortable as the old ones and more importantly I've come to the conclusion they are fundamentally flawed as I have great difficulty reading with them and other optical faults.   This evening I thought Blow It!* I'm going to try my old specs.      Whilst not right because my prescription has changed slightly they are miles better and do at least work.     Looks like a battle is about to be entered to get them replaced or perhaps better still my money back and then I'll engage Plan B**.      I can't remember if I've mentioned before that I was shocked to be told on a previous occasion that if wanted to re-glaze my existing frames with the new prescription it would cost an additional £150-£200 more than buying new frames!     I think on the Polybear to il Dottore  legitimacy and VFM of this particular business model spectrum I'm probably closer to Brian's end than Flavio's.   Anyway, we'll see.  I think I've run them in for long enough now.

 

*      Other expletives are available

**   Not that I have a Plan B at the moment

 

Time for bed said Zeebedee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

4 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Evening

 

 

Let's hope it wasn't a Bulgarian umbrella!

 

 

Beginner!       #1 every time.     

 

Well, apart from the time Mrs P went for it before checking the #whatever-it-was  was actually in-place and not still in the bag. Unfortunately she noticed too late.  The price you pay for free haircuts I suppose.    Oh well, it's only (no) hair.

 

ION

 

A good if hot day amusing two small boys whilst their parents earnt a crust.   Part of the amusement was building a light dependent tone generator circuit with eldest Junior Junior Puppers (6).     The box says "For ages eight years and upwards" but he got on well with it.    Each component is held on a carrier and has stackable "Popper" connections.   Straight interconnecting carriers of varying lengths and a plastic baseboard with a matrix of support pins to clip the components and interconnections to produce a form of "Electronic Lego".    Fully illustrated instructions allow you to make the thing look "just like the picture" and get the thing working.   I didn't think it appropriate or necessary to explain the difference between the PNP transistor and the NPN transistor at this point.   Or in fact  even what a transistor is 🤣   Still, "You've got to get them hooked on technical stuff early" is my motto.

 

We also had a visit from our roofing chap.    The house roof sprung a leak during the rainy season so he came round to clear out the broken  mortar and other debris between the slipped tiles and the gable wall, check the battens and felt under the tiles and re-seat and fix the tiles as necessary to make it water tight.  He's coming back in a few days to lift the tiles back up and then reinstate the mortar bed underneath the end ones.    Scary how these people shin up ladders and climb up rooves.  A job not for me!    Mind you I'm not wanting a job of any description these days.

 

I was saddened to note the passing of Trevor Nunn and Brian Pearce recorded on the obituaries board.   Mr Nunn's modelling was superb and Mr Pearce's contribution to the S4 society immense.

 

Some months ago you may recall I got some new Varifocal spectacles.  They weren't cheap.    I've not been getting on with them and went back about 3 weeks ago to complain.  Adjustments were made and they seemed better but they are nowhere near as comfortable as the old ones and more importantly I've come to the conclusion they are fundamentally flawed as I have great difficulty reading with them and other optical faults.   This evening I thought Blow It!* I'm going to try my old specs.      Whilst not right because my prescription has changed slightly they are miles better and do at least work.     Looks like a battle is about to be entered to get them replaced or perhaps better still my money back and then I'll engage Plan B**.      I can't remember if I've mentioned before that I was shocked to be told on a previous occasion that if wanted to re-glaze my existing frames with the new prescription it would cost an additional £150-£200 more than buying new frames!     I think on the Polybear to il Dottore  legitimacy and VFM of this particular business model spectrum I'm probably closer to Brian's end than Flavio's.   Anyway, we'll see.  I think I've run them in for long enough now.

 

*      Other expletives are available

**   Not that I have a Plan B at the moment

 

Time for bed said Zeebedee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm going to go out on a limb, yes I know not my first time I know but you know me, anyway you got them from Specsavers didn't you. Yes I know they advertise but it's because they are 'not the best'. There business model is based on you buying new frames each time your prescription changes. I now go direct to a chap who makes the lenses. You take your prescription in and he will fit them to your existing frames. As a result I've saved quite a few Deltics I can tell you.

 

Plus the look on the Specsavers minions when you tell them your not going to buy a new set of frames is worth a few Deltics as well.

[Gwiwer]

I don’t update my in-car navigation system. It is a 1957 model and has assimilated the many changes to the road network across its lifetime. Its original memory has never reached capacity yet is continuously updating in real-time. 
 

I don’t use maps in most cases. I may check the exact detail on a phone app if heading to an address I have not previously visited but maps are never in the car. 
 

I seem to know where I am going even in an area I have never been to before. I once (correctly) directed someone from A to B in a town I had never visited. 
 

I don’t know what this ability is called but I’m sure it has a name. Eidetic memory would cover it had I been to places before but this also works for places I have never set foot in. 
 

It was already a standing joke in school that if someone told me to get lost my reply was that “I don’t think I can”. 

[Coombe Barton]

... St Just and around that area today ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/07/31/postcards-from-the-periphery-2024-03/

[pH]

6 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

... St Just and around that area today ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/07/31/postcards-from-the-periphery-2024-03/

Before I opened it, I wondered if it was that St Just or St Just in Roseland.

[Coombe Barton]

5 minutes ago, pH said:

Before I opened it, I wondered if it was that St Just or St Just in Roseland.

If it were Roseland I would have specified.

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

The  good old USA ... are ... currently topping the "medal tally".

Indeed they are.

 

They are behind in the "gold medal tally". 

 

Words are important. Choose them appropriately.

 

Are you tired of winning yet? 😉 I remember someone saying:

Quote

we will have so much winning ... that you may get bored with winning

 

This nationalistic count of medals is counterproductive in my opinion. It is meaningless. There are many countries who specifically invest in athletes in what I would call more 'obscure' (perhaps more accurately, less commercial) sports - with the specific objective of bringing home medals. I find it all very silly.

 

It is now essentially defunct, but the NCAA PAC12 athletic conference (now down to two universities) used to publish their own "medal tally" with the PAC12 listed like a country - they were usually close to the top as many of the best athletes have scholarships at big US universities.

 

Examples are the French gold medal swimmer Léon Marchand. He is a student at Arizona State University - formerly a PAC12 school. The current top UK men's tennis player* attend(ed) an NCAA tennis school - like Johnny Mac(Enroe) did years ago at Stanford.

 

* Cameron Norrie - Texas Christian University

 

Edited July 31 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, PupCam said:

Each component is held on a carrier and has stackable "Popper" connections.   Straight interconnecting carriers of varying lengths and a plastic baseboard with a matrix of support pins to clip the components and interconnections to produce a form of "Electronic Lego".  

There is "electronic LEGO". A company in Israel markets conducting LEGO-compatible bricks under the brand BRIXO.  They can be placed on a standard LEGO plate - though they provide their own in their sets.

 

There are rules about adjacency and conductivity - they have little surface ridges that make contact and only some orientations will conduct. Their starter sets have motors and magnetic and optical switches. A couple of their 'sets' can be used to motorize LEGO vehicles.

[monkeysarefun]

 

I feel that there is a difference between reporting on the number of medals - which I dont think is necessarily nationalistic, (after all winning stuff is what competitive sport is about) and  "re-interpreting"  the figures to put yourself on top - which I would say possibly IS.

 

 

Its not the first time its been done  -  for instance MSNBC at  the world swimming championships in 2023 in a cheeky attempt to keep the US swim team as champions:

 

 

 

Under this theory every medal is worth the same value, so a country that came say  3rd in  15 events  would be ranked higher than one that came first in all but one of those same events , and 4th in the other.

 

Every team member in basketball, rugby 7's. relay  events and so on  gets a medal if they are placed in the top 3,  so a country could in theory  count them all up individually to boost their figures!

Edited July 31 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

4 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

I feel that there is a difference between reporting on the number of medals - which I dont think is necessarily nationalistic

I differ on that point. 

 

Any time you list nations and some metric - with a whole bunch of flag waving and national anthem playing it is is by definition nationalistic.

 

A "medal tally" is a count of medals of whatever stripe. The words and the maths are simple. A "gold medal tally" is a different metric with a different result.

 

If I recall correctly (and I might be wrong) I think I remember some Australian press in the way back, (1980s?) creating some sort of weighted scoring system (gold = 3, silver = 2, bronze = 1) to make the Australian medal score look good. Or some sort of pro-rated medals per capita etc.

 

Don't get me wrong I'm happy to see athletes from Australia do well, and the US too.

 

I just don't care about "medal tallies".

 

For too long (before the fall of the Soviet Union) it was a cold war proxy battle - the US had to have more medals than the Soviet Union. Now that was "nationalistic".  (Remember the female East German weightlifters?)

[Ozexpatriate]

While commentators were blah blah blah about the 'rivalry in the pool' live video displayed Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky sitting next to each other in the ready room, chatting away happily. No drama. No intimidation. No trash talk.

 

Minutes later they would both medal. Good on them.