Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

To be honest the NH one was on top of Mt Washington (advertised as world’s worst weather)

I'm impressed that you actually had rain on Mt. Washington! I was there in Autumn. Lots of snow. The frozen accumulations (tending horizontal rather than vertical because of the extreme wind) are fascinating shapes.

 

Texas "frog chokers" are impressive. You can't cross the street without being completely drenched. They are similar to the rains I remember in Australia. The individual rain drops can be very large.

[TheQ]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

According to a report in this morning’s paper there are 20 pregnancies on Barra.  This is two and a half times the UK rate. Perhaps they do need the chance to get out more.

Arggghhh more Vikings!!!  The MacNeill clan, the main clan of Barra was always though to be of Irish /Gaelic descent,  but when many were DNA tested they were be mostly of Viking origin... 

[Tony_S]

29 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I'm impressed that you actually had rain on Mt. Washington! I was there in Autumn. Lots of snow. The frozen accumulations (tending horizontal rather than vertical because of the extreme wind) are fascinating shapes.

 

Texas "frog chokers" are impressive. You can't cross the street without being completely drenched. They are similar to the rains I remember in Australia. The individual rain drops can be very large.

The Mt Washington visit was during the month of July about 10 years ago. It was  really sunny when we started to drive up the mountain. It was a bit cloudy at the top but then the rain started while we were in the restaurant. We had plastic ponchos in our packs but the walk back to the carpark was quite difficult. We got back to the car and found Aditi was missing (I remember Matthew saying “where’s Mum?”. She had turned off too soon and had gone into the first car park. We drove up to the first carpark and found her standing by the sign having assumed we would come back. Driving back when the rain eased it just suddenly turned nice again. For the Texas storm,  (Feb 2012 ) Matthew and I were in the car heading for the USS Texas.  
Not wet but also interesting was the warm gale we experienced in Galveston. Also our white car went brown during that experience. Didn’t need a car wash as the next rain cleaned it. 
 

Edited January 13, 2020 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

26 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Arggghhh more Vikings!!!  The MacNeill clan, the main clan of Barra was always though to be of Irish /Gaelic descent,  but when many were DNA tested they were be mostly of Viking origin... 

When Mitochondrial DNA on Iceland was tested there was a significant Scottish contribution. 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Went through the battered boxes at Tess Coes today and found a packet of pencils with one missing at less than half price. pencils are allways useful. Not a lot else to report, be back later.

[AndyID]

23 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

When Mitochondrial DNA on Iceland was tested there was a significant Scottish contribution. 

 

We have bicycles.

[5 C]

Good evening from a very blustery Belfast.

 

First day in the new contract and I'm straight into a conference for three days. Currently sitting in the foyer of the hotel waiting to find out how they are going to accommodate me due to the last minute booking of my place.

 

The flight over was a little bumpy but I've had worse. A sudden gust on landing caused the aircraft to yaw but it quickly regained the centre line and we were all good. It's on days like these the boys and girls at the pointy end really earn their money. The flight landed 30 minutes ahead of schedule as we'd managed to depart Luton early. Unfortunately, due to the amount of diversions from Belfast City, there was a shortage of stairs so we were trapped on a gently swaying aircraft for the next half an hour until we could finally disembark.

 

Regards to awl.

[Gwiwer]

11 hours ago, TheQ said:

They are also getting excited about joining the hebridiean Islands by tunnel. Even from this distance small populations and a granite rock formation do not equal the building of tunnels

 

Have they exhausted the possibilities of in-breeding?  

[Tony_S]

14 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

We have bicycles.

For the mitochondrial DNA they would have been ladies bicycles. 

[JohnDMJ]

 

 

10 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Presently, all of them have transformers connected to the plug, So the DC won't work!

 

I was trying to think of a single appliance that benefits from an AC supply. The only one I could think of was fluorescent tubes and they're obsolete (and environmentally nasty) anyway. I doubt there are any induction motors on modern appliances - even the washers and dryers. I don't know about the motor connected to the pump on the refrigerator. I'm not planning to take mine apart to find out!  I expect any variable speed or small form factor motor is already a DC motor.

 

I recall hearing the submarines used to be powered by batteries (DC) and, as a result, all the contacts on switchgear needed to be cleaned regularly as the DC was electrolysing the air (why does your network of parallel metal guidance devices need cleaning so much!) By converting to AC, this problem was solved. (Remember Relco?)

 

2 hours ago, Two_sugars said:

Possibly, although i was really referencing   James Lovelock.

 

Wind Turbines. . We have lots of them in County Durham . . but then . . we grew up with things spinning in the air . . . 

 

They just replaced the pit-heads.

 

 

John

 

I often ponder the effects of a power surge from the National Grid on all these wind turbines; will Britain become an airborne turbo-prop flying object?

 

 

[petrovich]

19 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

DC does make sense for long distance lines. They lose a lot less energy in the form of heat and you only need two wires instead of four. It also means you don't need to synchronize the generating systems at both ends. That would be a PITA between France and the UK. Presumably the IOM now runs synchronous with the UK. (Which also means the UK is synchronized to the IOM.)

 

Another reason is that for very long lines (Russia for example) the wavelength at 50Hz becomes a significant percentage of the actual distance. I think it's a bit unlikely but conceivably you could get into a situation where there is a standing wave in the line in which case there will be places that don't receive any power at all, at all

 

 

I was about to type something very similar but was trying too hard to simplify, but totally agree although as stated a standing wave is unlikely and even if it started to show signs of happening there is a chance it will unravel due to the two nodes and two antinodes using the outer body of the containment will shift enough to get back to a standard sinusoidal pattern

 

Apologies if I have got this wrong its been a few years since I worked on this.

 

Regards

[Shedman5]

Evening, a productive if at times frustrating day in the shed, decided to fit crew to drive you know what, some locos easy others a nightmare!

 

At least the wind has died down until  tomorrow  when it's expected to re visit. 

 

Wood burner lit so its time for a couple of glasses of vino callapso as they say!

 

Alan

[Tony_S]

The power cable from Wales to Ireland is DC as will be the one from France to Ireland.  

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

When Mitochondrial DNA on Iceland was tested there was a significant Scottish contribution. 

When the Vikings got to Iceland they found "irish" monks already living there, of course in those days it was before the thing, the popes are arguing about at the moment. it was common for priests and monks to have wives. Also the "Irish monks wouldn't have got there directly, with or with out wives. they would have been gaels who could have come from Scotland or Ireland..

 

Was just taking my bp first measurement when Ben the your ignoring me Collie wanted to play.... the second measurement went down 20 points on the first measurement. 135 to 115,,,,

Edited January 13, 2020 by TheQ

[New Haven Neil]

Evening.  Wow, that was a wind, full hippo stylee.  Really odd as it just suddenly died off to nothing and the sun came out at 3,30, after a horrendous afternoon of deluge and trees passing by horizontally.  Lot of damage out and about, the anchor has probably dragged too.

 

I don't like looking at the windmills either as I think they are a blot on the landscape, but they are easily removed when their usefulness has passed.  Unlike a nuke - but they have their place too, until we work something better out.  The shipping company I used to work for now has a couple of very fancy vessels involved in building/maintenance of offshore farms, a pal is Superintendent to them.  LOT of money tied up in that industry, but John CB's link really opened my eyes - spent an hour reading it - about the need to have 100% back-up power capability for still OR very windy times, when the windmills rather narrow performance envelope is found wanting.  And we need to charge all those EVs until Andy's nitrogen model gets made practical.

 

Me, I'll stick with my diesel that at least doesn't burn much fuel.

[brianusa]

12 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

The gauge issue should not be used to discourage the construction of a rail link.

 

Yes, it might involve having some sort of transhipment facility in Northern Ireland but it would still enable large numbers of lorry journeys to be avoided, important given that the A75 is not a great road as well as for carbon emissions.

 

A similar position pertains on the French-Spanish border. Some goods traffic comes via Port-Bou with axles changed on wagons. But most (cars) gets over the border by road and then put on train in France.

 

Why not change the Irish gauge to standard gauge and be done with it.  Probably cheaper than a bridge and its not like there is an extensive rail system there any more

      Brian.

 

[Gwiwer]

Evening all.

 

Someone called Brendan has arrived bringing with him great wind and some wetness.  Did anyone have a curry mid-Atlantic?  

 

This thing is hammering in with a fury.  A quick check of the intertubes shows that trains due to pass through Dawlish are being delayed or not passing through at all.  I expect there will be some free firewood at various points alongside the railways by the morning.  

 

SWMBO surprised me with an early appearance home.  Luckily I had already packed away the inflatable duck and glossy magazines was ready with a hot kettle and the coffee already opened.  In due course she also presented us with chicken tagine though with green lentils rather than the customary chick peas as the tin she thought contained the latter contained the former.  

 

It is now time to start writing the magazine article required by Friday while SWMBO starts the conclusion of her thesis.  

 

Best wishes to all.  Heads down and stay safe in this wind.  Don't attempt the ascent of any offshore windmills! 

[Coombe Barton]

22 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

but John CB's link really opened my eyes - spent an hour reading it - about the need to have 100% back-up power capability for still OR very windy times, when the windmills rather narrow performance envelope is found wanting.

I'm waiting for some of my more enlightened students to go "Oh Sh1t".

Members of staff, too.

[Kingzance]

Following from the cautionary notes by our Waddlemarsh correspondent, I have defied SWMBO and said that I will get up first thing to put out the recycling dustbins to limit the length of time they could be exposed to Brendan as I understand he has a habit of not believing in recycling but will throw any such carefully harvested materials to the four corners. Brendan is also causing the Quixotic Towers to spin rather fast - see this link for details:

 

http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

[brianusa]

9 hours ago, polybear said:

This week is my day out with Czech the girlfriend she wants to go to Portsmouth, OK by me I've not been up the Spinnaker Tower yet still it's her choice for a 

day out any-one know of a decent restaurant down that way.

 

I'm a fairly regular traveller to Portsmouth.  If going to the Spinnaker Tower then Gunwharf  Quays has a fair choice. 

(Caution: Gunwharf Quays is full of shops - many upmarket.  It could get expensive....)

 

Why does she want to go there, then?

    Brian.

[Kingzance]

8 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

I'm waiting for some of my more enlightened students to go "Oh Sh1t".

Members of staff, too.

Don't they go "Oh Sh1T Sir"?  

[Coombe Barton]

2 minutes ago, Kingzance said:

Don't they go "Oh Sh1T Sir"?  

I forbid them from calling me anything except John. I just don't answer to anything else. In doing this I'm trying to persuade them that they're here as an equal learner rather than a pupil where they're taught. They have to learn, and want to. It's my job to enable them to do that.

[Kingzance]

4 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

I forbid them from calling me anything except John. I just don't answer to anything else. In doing this I'm trying to persuade them that they're here as an equal learner rather than a pupil where they're taught. They have to learn, and want to. It's my job to enable them to do that.

I'm all for following a joint path to educate ourselves however in a former life, rank certainly was pulled by some to effect the award of privilege. And let's face it, we should never stop learning but it is difficult to convert the minds of some who see learning as an obstacle to doing something else at the time.

[Dave Hunt]

Jill is feeling more than a bit fed up at the moment. She went to see the GP this morning about her BP issue fully expecting to get the OK for her operation but although the reading was OK he wasn't happy about the fluctuations in the week's results so she is now on statins and has had to buy a BP machine with which she has to take readings four times a day. She has to go back to see the GP next week and her op has been cancelled so that once the BP issue is resolved the lead-in process will have to start again. Despite an afternoon playing bridge with some of her pals she is still in the bear with a sore head category and I am creeping about trying to stay off the radar. I also went to the GP surgery but in my case it was to take my Dad for a series of tests and such and since I knew it would mean me doing a fair amount of low grade hanging about I took my Kindle. When the battery ran out five minutes into the proceedings I was less than really pleased.....

 

Just to make the day complete, as I finished the first draft of this post and pressed 'send' the screen went blank and I got an E522 message. When I got back onto the site there was no sign of the message anywhere so I had to start again. Still, tomorrow, as they say, is another day

 

Oh, there was a bright spot - I got nearly an hour in the workshop working on the control panels for my la*out.

 

Have a good night everyone.

 

Dave (with hopes that this time the post will go)    

[New Haven Neil]

It's deffo windy here....

 

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/bin-wagon-blown-over-into-glen/?fbclid=IwAR2CfDZBElhOuWy-9yTqJS7nU-5ZktJQiOrh5j01cwnlV0-Y23JZ-vQ0HSQ

 

John, at least you know we read your links!  I found that site very interesting and hadn't realised the limitations were....so limiting. I then ended up reading about that Aussie blackout, windmill assisted.