2012

2011 nearly over, 2012 soon to start.
I make a prediction; the same, incompetent, self serving politicians will continue to lie and line their pockets at our expense. Bankers will, of course, continue to be at the forefront of society. Filling their pockets even ahead of the politicians.
The police will have their numbers reduced to match prison sentences. Obviously the real criminals never even go to court. Bankers, politicians etc..

Of course, we will pay more for transport, it's the green tax thing. I mean to say, all that greenhouse gas we don't produce by using trains and buses. There is a problem with public transport though. You can only use it if there is some available. In rural Flatshire, we don't have any trains, Mr Beeching saw to that. Buses are rarer than fruit bats. Of course we mustn't pooh on our own doorstep, we only have one habitable planet, and  we are currently residing on it. However using the excuse of being 'green' to raise more in tax is wrong. Especially as so much of it is frittered away on none green things.
Eyjafjallajokull, of course, produced tonnes of CO2 and other gases. (Though, apparently the grounding of aircraft reduced the global CO2 output) However, Eyjafjallajokull is only one volcano, others are available, erupting nearly continuously, producing tonnes of CO2 and useless hot air. Politicians again.

We look at places like N Korea. And we despair at the poverty of the man on the street, and yet I feel that our moral poverty is worse. They have nothing and need many things, and have lots to gain by rebelling. We have lots and wont rebel because we have lots. Not things that we really need. If we were in poverty, we have charities, and government departments to look after us. Until we have nothing will we actually do something, by then it will be too late. We will be assimilated by the New German Empire.

I see that lots of fireworks are being let off all over the world to celebrate the new year. Lots more greenhouse gases, lots more money up in smoke. Pity they have the day wrong. The real new year was on the 22nd December.



On that happy note, I wish you all a wonderful 2012.

Events, seasonal and otherwise.

As the North Koreans are finding out, the death of their 'beloved' leader is not to be the end of their woes. The leeches at the top are ensuring that. Funny to think, the 'haves' of NK are so much better off than the have nots. But even they actually have less than most of us. By keeping their own people down, they are actually keeping themselves down too. Of course, if the people realise that they could overthrow them with little or no opposition from the military, they will. The whole country is on a knife edge, a glass knife at that, one that will shatter in all directions, killing the wielders as well as the victims What will happen if it does implode? Will there be a blood bath of monstrous proportions, as all those repressed people take revenge for all their suffering? Will there be a surge of refugees fleeing over the border into South Korea? How will the South cope with them all? It will be many times worse than the re-unification of Germany. What will fill the vacuum? And what will happen to all the nuclear stuff?
Of course, it's easy for me, a comfortable, well fed, westerner to sit here and type about a place I have never been to, nor do I have any desire to go to there. I even wonder if there will be a place to go to soon.

On a happier note. Xmas is over.

NORAD

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/

Show the kids this, then send them to bed, knowing he is on his way.

Solstice!

Happy New Year! Solar year anyway. The winter solstice occurred at 05:30 ish. So contrary to many meeja outlets assertions, today is the shortest day, not yesterday. It bothers me that a national 'news' service cannot get a simple fact like the solstice right. I mean FFS, it's not even actually news. It does make you wonder what other 'facts' are reported inaccurately. The solstices are predictable for thousands of years, and are not affected by human affairs. However, human affairs are affected by them. More so in the past, as of course, the seasons are marked by them so planting and harvesting are timed from the equinoxes ( For the first day of winter its warm, currently 9.9C ).

So, for the meeja:-
The Solstice and Equinox times to 2017. (From Wikipedia)

year	Equinox Mar		Solstice June		Equinox Sept		Solstice Dec
	day	time	day	time	day	time	day	time

2011	20	23:21	21	17:16	23	09:04	22	05:30
2012	20	05:14	20	23:09	22	14:49	21	11:11
2013	20	11:02	21	05:04	22	20:44	21	17:11
2014	20	16:57	21	10:51	23	02:29	21	23:03
2015	20	22:45	21	16:38	23	08:20	22	04:48
2016	20	04:30	20	22:34	22	14:21	21	10:44
2017	20	10:28	21	04:24	22	20:02	21	16:28

Don't get it wrong again. I would hate to think that you are as reliable as a religious text. Ie; full of lies, bigotry and misogamy.

A fetid pile of pooh (not the bear)

Don't buy a Peugeot Expert van. Ever. Especially one on an 08 plate. (unless you want to be on first name terms with the local RAC crews, as I now am). To date, it has had the flywheel fall off (at only 2000 miles). It has had four thoroughly pointless fuel cooling radiators torn off in puddles. Puddles, I mean, it never rains in the UK does it? I know, I know, you can easily avoid puddles, except when a skip wagon is coming the other way, or, as tonight, the puddle covered the single track road.
The damned vehicle keeps coming up with 'anti pollution fail' and goes into limp home mode. This usually occurs when overtaking a large wagon,or tractor and trailer, or snail, and can be extremely thought provoking. The fault can be cured buy turning the ignition off, and then back on again, whilst swearing (swearing optional)( No it isn't). Because the French don't know how to assemble things without cross threading bolts, the driver's side sliding door has fallen off twice, (I have a nice scar on my back to prove it) . Other bits have fallen off, trim mainly.  FFS, it's supposed to be a working van, not a pimp mobile. Why stick on bits of pointless plastic, that you have to pay for in fuel carting around, when they could be left off? It is also extremely uncomfortable, the gear lever cover assembly gets in the way of your left knee. The seat is not fit for purpose, unless it's purpose is some form of torture device.
We have a fleet of these toxic things, one of which has spent more time in the garage than on the road.
Oh, and don't get me started on 'Economy mode*'. The moron came up with that idea needs to be flayed alive, and left to be eaten by magpies. And why, oh why, does the thing tell you when you have left the keys in the ignition? I am sure you are aware that you have just driven the damned thing without it reminding you. All in all a complete pile of pooh. And not the bear.

* For those with proper vehicles, 'economy mode' turns off various functions when the engine is off. So there you are, eating your lunch, listening to your favourite midday radio programme, and then *bing!* "Economy Mode". The radio is turned off. The only way to turn it on again is to run the engine for a minimum of five minutes. Unless, of course, you want *bing!* "Economy Mode" a few seconds later. Oddly, the hazards stay on until the battery is flat, which takes many hours.

Oh, and guess where the battery is? Yes,  if you are the driver, the lethal, toxic sulphuric acid filled weight is... Under your feet! So if you have double misfortune of being in a Peukerot Inexpert and upside down, well, enjoy the plastic surgery.

Annoyed

We're stuffed. We have 'leaders' that cannot find their arses with both hands and a map. We need to get away from the toxic Euro Zone as fast as fast can be, we have been their financial milk cow for so long now. Germany has to hang on, they have put more in than us and cannot afford to let go. The French have gained more than any other state and cannot afford to let go. Greece and the like lied to get in, and have been so burnt, they have only one option, Get out now. Print Drachma, and sell, sell, sell. Cheap holidays, cheap anything. They will win doing that. Italy will be sure to follow. Eastern Europe (Poland and the like) don't want us to get out, who else will take their Scrotes free of charge? Most of our local criminals are from Poland. We would be best telling Europe to do their own thing, and create better ties with India and possibly Pakistan (where else are we going to get good doctors from?) and perhaps ever further into Indonesia. 

We have a society where ball kicking scum are treated better than the people we expect, nay demand, to care about us when we tear a fingernail. Than the real Heroes who protect us, and ours . Those that sacrifice themselves and their rights to protect those that take and take, even the people who sent them to war are not averse to sticking their noses further in the trough. 

We have a society where doing wrong is celebrated, ( and not in a Robin Hood style) and doing right doing is brushed aside. Criminals have 'rights' that trump all others. Even those that put themselves in danger arresting these scrotes are censured if they cause harm to the criminal, even though the criminal has just caused grievous harm to someone else.

We have a society where responsibility is shed, not shared. (If I do something, it is not because I came from a broken home, it is not because I was abused as a child, it isn't the states fault. It is because I made the decision. Me. No excuses. Nor will I suddenly find sky pixies as a mitigation. Or suddenly decide to be a good father to the kids, whose equally feckless mothers let me inseminate).

We live in a society where anyone can breed willy nilly (as it were) and yet to adopt a child, you have to jump through so many hoops, the wee one is nearly fully grown. Local case: Scum have child. Child is fostered. Four years later, foster parents try to adopt child. Original mother has only seen child twice. Now one would think that it is in the best interest of the child to stay with it's foster parents. The people who love it and have loved it for four years. 'No' says a judge, let us ruin this child's life by giving it back to the feckless scum that spawned it. 

We are screwed.

Odd webs

    Imagine: You receive a report that an expensive push bike has been stolen from the bike compound. The fence around the compound is of the steel paling type, with the spiky, fleur-de-lis type tops. You are too busy with other happenings to do an imediate review of CCTV, but will be able to do it, perhaps, tomorrow. As it is, you are dealing with a couple of shoplifters and what appears to be a stabbing. A cyclist has, he claims, been stabbed by a female on Charge St, he has fallen off his bike, due to loss of blood. A couple of good Samaritans have called for an ambulance, but you cannot assist as unfortunately there are no cameras covering Charge St. The female has left the scene with the victims bike, so you start an area search with the cameras, looking for the female, as obviously, this could be an attempted murder, and she is the prime suspect.

    Meanwhile, the on site engineer, after messing about with a reluctant work station (all damn day), admits defeat, and offers to check the recording for the stolen bicycle. This will test the workstation realistically, and relieve you of a probable nothing to report. And make him feel useful. With some success. He actually sees the suspect, he is with a woman with a push chair She wanders off, and the suspect is seen to climb over the fence into the bike compound, and about 5 minutes later, sees the suspect throw the bike over the fence then climb out.

There is lots of radio traffic referring to the stabbing. Police are being mobilised, descriptions passed...

   Your shift relief has come in, been another loooong day single manned, with only a very sweary engineer for company. You have to carry on what you are doing, whilst you brief the relief. Your handover includes what the engineer is doing because, well, it may be relevant. At this moment, a description of the victim of the stabbing is passed over the radio... You look at your relief, the engineer looks at you, your relief looks at him. Realisation dawns. The 'victim', and the 'thief' are one and the same thing!

Further quick study of the CCTV, shows as the thief climbs back over the fence, he slips and impales himself on it! Why he tells his good Samaritans that the female has stabbed him we do not know, but now we can understand why she ran off. After all, theft is much worse than attempted murder isn't it? The thief is carted off to hospital, (at our, the taxpayer's, expense) the female has absconded with the stolen bike. The child in the push chair? Sadly we do not know. 

    Much later: In hospital, the female arrives to find out how her partner (it turns out) is. She is arrested for receiving stolen goods. The bike is recovered too.

Listen and learn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h39vBsiR68

For those that serve.

Promises

Banks. All I want from my bank is for me to lend them my money, and them to give me money as payment.Ok, I am happy for them to keep some of my interest to pay staff, and the like. I do not want 'Points' for things. I will never, ever cash them in, and I suspect most wont. Air miles..FFS I cant afford to fly anywhere, nor (unless I am actually piloting the ac) will I ever want to. I wonder how many other people have loyalty points and will take them to their graves? And, I wonder, how much the givers of points rely on the points never being claimed? It really bugs me that my bank is giving these extra 'services' that I do not want, and yet, I cannot have an upgraded account without these fripperies. You may wonder why I take issue with this. Lets say I have had a deposit account with this bank for 30+ years. Now, if they really want to reward my loyalty, how about keeping the percentage interest on the account the same for all that time? No, I have had to 'upgrade' it periodically for little, because they have introduced better 'products'. Excuse me? Products? They are a bank, not British Steel.(ok, Tata). It's a bit like buying a Ferrari, and have them come around every so often, and take a couple of cylinders away from the engine. But it's that's all right, 'cos it looks the same...Then they offer them back to you, but you have to have Boots vouchers too (other High Street chains and/or footwear are available) which you will never use, and you get the feeling that the cylinders you are getting back are from an Allegro... Its all tinsel an no substance. But when it come to Bonuses.

Oh, the strawberry? Tasty it was too.

Down the tubes.

I was going to have a rant.
   Lackwits dropping objects from bridges onto passing vehicles. What the hell do they think they are doing? Sooner or later someone is going to die. In the meantime, the culprits, even if caught, will not get any meaningful punishment. The hand wringers and appeasers will blame everyone other than themselves for the weakening moral standards of this country. No one takes responsibility for their actions. Nanny state forbids it, and yet Nanny state cannot enforce old sensible laws. No leadership, no leaders.
  But I am not going to rant about that.
  The euro is going down the tubes. Well, now that is a surprise. After all, the sole reason for keeping the euro is for Germany to finally win a war in Europe. Angela Merkel is determined to make France, again, capitulate to Germany's wishes. And this time, the likelihood is that she will. And again Europe will need to be rescued by someone on the outside. Only this time there isn't anyone. We have enough problems of out own, and need to be embroiled less than we are. I would like to tell Brussels to sod off and stick their stupid regulations where the sun don't shine. I would rescind the 'Human' rights act with immediate effect. I would introduce a Citizens rights act in its place. Those that pay into our society would have rights. Those that do not, well, best they keep their noses very clean.
   Ok, I ranted. Sorry.

Friday! Wheee... Again

 

  Well, it has been a busy week. Well, I am sure someone has been busy. We managed to make something work after many weeks of faffing about. Well, I say work, OUR bit works, but due to multiple small faults, half the system doesn't work. This is now out of our hands, so now we have to await a third parties input. Which could be a long time. Meanwhile the customer has umpteen hundreds of pounds of kit that is virtually useless. 

Another customer has had to have a building demolished. We were going to recover as much of the equipment from the building as we could, as the bulk of it was reusable as spares or to be re fitted into other sites. However, as the building was deemed unsafe (annoying, as I had only been in it a couple of days before and nothing had changed) only structural engineers were allowed in. The customer gave the person in charge of the demolition a list of things that had to be saved (a total cost in excess of £50k.) Imagine my horror seeing the building being torn apart. As far as we can ascertain, none of the kit has been recovered. (though I suspect  someone has trousered it)

  The strike was, as they say, a bit of a none event. Now for once, I do sympathise with many of the public sector workers who went out on strike. I work very closely with some of them, and they were sorely torn between  striking or duty to the public. Unfortunately, as those of us in the private sector know, the strike will not make a jot of difference, and the workers at the bottom of the heap will have their conditions changed to their detriment. Those at the top will not be affected, and of course, the union leaders will get their 'earnings' no matter what the outcome is. So all in all, a waste of time and money for all workers concerned. Disruption for all those dependent on the said workers doing their job. Not so for the union leaders and the government. Perhaps Jeremy is wanting to shoot the wrong people. I can hear the lawyers rubbing their hands together from here.

Cildren in Need

 Now I support CIN whole heartedly. Mainly for the kids that have no choices in life. Those with MS or Autism etc.. Anything to make their lives a life is worth the effort, and their parents and guardians need help too. But some, well.

It's a funny thing poverty. There seems to be a sliding scale. Now poverty in my mind is; darkest Africa, the slums of India or South America. They have absolutely nothing. The idea that they can own anything is beyond their understanding.

I grew up on a smallholding. We didn't have electricity. We didn't (and still don't) have mains water. No mains anything at that time. No TV, and the radio only picked up long wave. My Dad worked as a panel beater ad a garage 30 miles from home, my Mum ran the farm. To be honest, sometimes the animals had more to eat than we did. But that wasn't poverty. We were better off than some of my friends. Their water supply would pack up if there was no rain for a couple of weeks. They didn't live in poverty either. We had roofs over our heads and beds and clothing that wasn't made of lice...

Oh, and we were not living on state handouts either.

There's another thing, have you noticed, the 'poorer' a family is, the bigger the TV and the dog? The more they smoke and drink? (er, not the dog, well, other than secondary smoking) And I bet they have Sky Sports too. And broad band, which out in the sticks is more elastic band..

I think many  parents are lazy, leaving education to the schools, who cannot educate their unruly offspring because the parents leave education to the schools.. Mine encouraged me to read, then complained that I always had my nose in a book, when there was work to be done... ;-)

The end?

I hate religions. All religions. Without favour. For example; what happens to you when you die? Well, the really honest answer is: Nobody knows. Not a priest or shaman, not a medium or necromancer. No one.
I admit I like the idea of reincarnation, but I am sure it doesn't happen. I suspect, as far as the mind goes, at death, you just stop. Whether you are aware of it or not is irrelevant, because you will not remember it. Some people may say "What about the people who report 'near death' experiences." Well, I have. And to be honest I have had better and, bar far, more realistic dreams too. Anything to do with the human mind is fraught with miss-interpretation, or deliberate manipulation to suit someone's current theory.
In the past anyone could claim to have singular access to a supreme being. All they needed to do was to spout some incomprehensible gobbledygook, convince the gullible and uneducated ( and made to stay gullible and uneducated ) masses, and they gain control. For millennia. Feudal lords loved this, they may not have been the strongest, but hand in hand with their 'church' they stayed on top, and allowed the their clerics all the choirboys they wanted. Their justification;- It is written in a book. Well blow me down, anyone with half a brain cell wouldn't believe what is written in the 'Sun' (other tabloid pap is, unfortunately, available) yesterday. Let alone something that was passed down by word of mouth, mistranslated (accidentally, but mostly, deliberately to suit the 'author's' belief), over many hundred years.

Pot of gold

Another week passes. Not necessarily a bad one from my perspective. I mean, though thoroughly bunged up with a cold I soldiered on. If it wasn't for promises made, I would cheerfully have stayed in bed. Well, not cheerfully, obviously. I am a Bloke. I would have whinged at every opportunity. As it is, I have been all over the place, sharing my bugs. Am I not considerate? Do I not care for my public? It's a funny thing, but it does make me wonder if, by possibly spreading my cold about, I have been a bit selfish. After all, if I have made others ill, I may have ruined the country's chance of financial recovery, but if I had stayed in bed, I may have spoiled my boss's accounts. He pays me to fix things, not to make our customers poorly. But on the other hand, if I don't attempt to fix things, our customers may go elsewhere. So all in all, it's a lose lose situation. On the plus side I have nearly got rid of my cold, so, to those I may have infected: Enjoy next week!

Sunset

Sunset in autumn. Soon be winter. The girls were having a discussion the other day about what animal super powers they would like to have. You know, to be able to turn into a tiger, or change colour like a chameleon ( I did point out that cuttlefish do it better, but was treated with girly scorn). They asked me what super power I would have. I said that I would choose the power of a dormouse.
"Dormouse?" They cried, 
"that's not very powerful."
"It is, it can sleep for months, wake me up in spring...."

Sick in a bucket

One has to wonder what the all powerful, omniscient creator is doing this week? A bunch of layabout wasters, most of whom rely on the tax paying workers have prevented access to His house. Now doesn't it strike you as odd, either the protesters are correct, or the god botherers are. So either; He doesn't give a stuff for the botherers, or he couldn't care about the protesters. Or more likely, he doesn't exist. And never did.
Still and all, I suppose those of us who work can have the warm glow knowing, that not only do we pay for our politicians, we pay for the protester's benefits too.
Now for one, I am absolutely pig sick of spongers. Ok, there are many that have no choice but to live on benefits. The genuinely disabled for a start. However, there are many that are more able bodied than me, and probably more mentally stable too. They know more about the welfare system than they know about working. In a conversation today, we realised that none of us knew how to claim anything. We have all worked and paid taxes all our lives, and we have no idea how to make a basic claim if we suddenly found ourselves jobless. It makes me wonder how many OAPs don't get things they deserve because they don't know what they are entitled to. And yet people, who's first language isn't English, come here with a deep knowledge of what they can claim!Then they wander around the town pissed swearing (probably, I don't speak Polish, and they know it (other scum, including home grown, are available)) And when I say pissed, I mean urinating wherever they like. I would like to see benefits paid in non transferable scrip, only valid for; food, accommodation, power and the like. Not beer or fags.

Bridges, I have a fascination for them. I like the metaphors they generate, the idea of two sides meeting in a sort of 'set in stone' harmony.  Harmony ( The term harmony derives from the Greek ἁρμονία (harmonía), meaning "joint, agreement, concord") (Pinched from Wikipedia), seems to have many facets, and is very subjective. Concorde from the outside was not very harmonic, unless the sound of four RR Olympus 593s in full reheat, floats your boat. Anyway, back to the lack of thread. Time. Yup, that common or garden commodity that everyone can use, or fritter away, to their heart's content. In good old Blighty, we have set our clocks to Zulu, or GMT, if you prefer, or even UTC. I for one would like to see the damned clocks left alone form now on. If you don't like it, get up earlier, or later, whatever. Not much in the way of bridge building, but it does mean that Midday is actually Midday! The sun is at it's local highest point. Above the thick cloud cover. So I suppose really it doesn't matter.
There are at least 3 bridges in the photo. One a road over water, one a Railway over the road. The last one a disused railway over a disused road. Well, both are now tracks and footpaths.

We was looking for that new fangled public transport thing that our esteemed leaders are trying to foist upon us poor pheasants in rural Flatshire. As you can see, with the aid of modern digital technology, and a time machine, we went back to the future in rural Hillyshire to see how it was done. Pre Beeching that is. We did have a major rail junction in our village. Now we have roads that are barely two way, and in places barely single track. No fault of the council though, bad weather, lack of funds and so much heavy traffic and I mean Heavy, in weight. Sugar beet and other crops that were once carried by rail, are now transported on roads designed for much lighter traffic. As for public transport. There isn't any.

PS, a full tank of fuel for the car (Simple and effective) yesterday was: £60 + !!! Still and all, does what it says on the tin, and with a full load of 5 plus luggage, 29mpg isn't bad for an old girl.

Technology for technologys sake

 

   I hate technology for technologys' sake. One of the things I really hate are mobile 'phones (or portable telephonic apparatus) that do so much more, and yet fail in their basic function. To be telephones. All I wnt from a mobile phone is to be able to: A; call someone and be able to hear them. B; have someone call me etc. Our company have been given these blackcurrant thingies. They are all singing and all dancing, and huge, and fragile. Now, I have broken quite a few 'phones so giving me one of these is a waste of time and money. It would not survive 10 min. I use my own fairly robust handset, and with it's bluetooth ear piece, I can work/drive and converse relatively easily. Sound is usually fine except in Flatshire, where the current provider's signal is not good. The pointless blackcurrant thingy will stay in it's box. 

   GPS is another of the things I hate. Well, not GPS as such, but  SatNav. I can read maps, I actually like the Ordinance Survey maps, and with 'Google Earth' (other mapping products are available, I am sure) I can pre plan a journey long before setting out. Including 'cut and runs'. (Alternate routs, just in case). The photograph at the top of this page is of my Mother's Sextant (Ooer missus). Yes, she could navigate, and use up to date technology, admittedly old technology. If the Spams ever put GPS into crypto mode, the sextant will still work. You'll be stuck under a bridge, or in a river.

Car

 

Simple and effective.

Gaddafi is dead. It's a shame that he will not stand trial. I suspect we will never now find  who ordered the bombing of flight  103and other atrocities. With him alive, there was always the bargaining point.
I was supposed to go to the clean up at Lockerbie, to pick up pieces of humanity scattered across Scotland. Unfortunately, or more the point, fortunately, I was stuck in the Station Medical Centre with a nasty virus. Many of my colleagues went, and didn't have much fun scouring the countryside for body parts. I suspect it was even worse for the poor sods that then had to identify and then 'assemble' those parts into individuals. I always feel guilty about that. There I was, in a warm bed ( admittedly drugged into a stupor ) and my mates were picking up small pieces of  Human Being, in the cold.

People in public

It's a mystery to me as to why anyone would want to be a politician. From observation of our 'leaders' it appears that the more someone wants to be a politician, the less suitable they are. In the past, before TV, no one really knew what their MPs looked like or really sounded like. The meeja was more interested in reporting facts than muck raking in an increasing circulation war. Now all politicians seem to want to be are celebrities, kowtowing to the meeja. They want to be popular and respected and be politicians. There is much more to being a leader than winning a popular vote. They don't seem to realise they are not on a TV game show. And although they can not loose, we, the tax payer do loose.

Willful neglect

Amy Winehouse. Now there is a name to conjure with. Died at a young age, all that talent lost (apparently). Well to be honest, watching the implosion that was Amy, my first thoughts were 'serves you right'. To be honest, so were my second and third ones too. But really and truthfully, like many others that have gone in a similar way, one wonders about her  'friends'. The ones that parasited her limelight. Who told her that it was her right to 'live it up' and then ride on the wave of her success. Not caring that they were not helping her to self destruct. I reckon M Jackson was in a similar boat. All the sycophants taking his money and his life but not telling him 'No'.

The youngest had a 'sleep' over last night. They were still making noises at 0130.They were up at 0700... I was somewhat outnumbered, at one point there were 14 females in the house. I hid in my workshop.

 

Of Dragons and Moths

Well, Autumn has finally decided to play. The Dragonflies have been making the most of the warm evenings, catching smaller insects for their tea. Fascinating creatures and so nimble in the air. I tried to capture them flying but failed miserably. Well I have some blurs. On the other hand I did catch a Moth that is probably covered with squished insects.

 

Whilst thinking about insects, there is a chap who writes a good yarn. His characters  have attributes of insects, eg, Beetle Kinden are stoic and have abilities in some degree of some kinds of beetle for instance, flight. Or better yet, read the books :-)  http://shadowsoftheapt.com/  will explain better than I.

Objects in the fog

 

 A bit of a rant. Why do so many drivers fail to look over the front when they get into their cars? If it's misty, put your lights on! DIPPED beam, not parking lights. It is an offence to actually be on the move with parking lights on. In certain lighting conditions, parking lights can make a vehicle harder to see. Even manufacturers are realising that many of their customers are so thick that modern cars are fitted with 'lackwit lights' to avoid them being driven with their side lights only. How many drivers have ever looked in their mirrors and wondered if their vehicle is as visible (or not) as the one behind? And how many realise that it is an offence to use fog lights at night? And how many don't use their indicators? Are they so busy driving that operating a small lever is beyond them? Lackwits, the lot of them.

Memories

 

I have some odd recollections. When I was young, in the days when everything was in black and white. We had a family tradition. Pinky and Perky (Ok, greyey and greyer ) on the TV, the sound of the ice cream van, Dad nipping out to get the Sunday treat. One disastrous evening, just before 'TinTin' (Hergés Adventures Of) the TV refused to form a picture. Sound, ok, after the valves had warmed up, but no picture. Mum didn't know what was wrong, but thought the tube had blown, and Dad who worked late (well, late to a 5 year old) would know what to do when he got home. Dr Who was even more frightening without pictures.

Now, do you remember the old plastic hose pipe? The green stuff with sharpish ribs along it? The stuff that went brittle, and burst so easily? Well I thought that Dad would get a bit of that and a couple of those shiny things (jubilee clips, as it turns out) and fix the telly. You know, replace the tube.  

A year later, we didn't have to worry about a  telly that wouldn't work, because we had bought a farm in the wilds of North Yorkshire. No electricity for the next 13 years, and no time to watch the thing anyway.

Swimming

One of us in this picture can swim.

Monday, our littlest goes swimming. She is doing quite well, back stroke is coming on nicely. Now I cannot  swim well, being mostly self taught. Mainly by falling in the beck fully clothed, in the middle of winter, wearing  school uniform. I found that a form of doggy paddle with added flounder seemed to be reasonably successful in the prevention of drowning or taking in water. Actually, the beck wasn't very deep. Only a few feet. It also wasn't very clean, what with the odd sheep widdling in it, then falling in and drowning.

All in all, the weekly trip to the local pool is quite a civilised way of learning to swim.

Spice

It's a funny world. Who would have thought? Saudia giving women the vote, you'd think the oil, and therefore the money, is running out and the kingdom is expecting it's own 'Arab spring' in the near future? Having more of your population 'on board' as were, may divert some of the bitterness heading their way. 

NASA manages to loose a satellite, variously measured as being the size of a bus, 6 tons/tonnes, or something. Now would that be a Leyland double decker, a Bendybus or one of those little things that are not much bigger than a Minibus? Not that I would want any one of them to fall on my head, though I suspect a bendybus would fall to pieces long before it got to ground. Thinking about that, I suspect it would have fallen to pieces before launch.

It has always bugged me when the meeja make comparisons; it's the size of a football pitch they say. Well, all I know about football is; that a bunch of cretins that are given way much too money for their worth kick a ball about, or if its American football throw about. Neither pitch size do I have a clue about. One other thing. How can anything be 10 times smaller? Or 1000 times smaller? Surely it would be one tenth or one thousandth the size?

And finally did CERN break the ' light barrier' ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/life-and-physics/2011/sep/24/1?newsfeed=true ) with neutrinos? Actually, two things come out of this, one is the obvious one; things that shouldn't travel in excess of 'C' can, but more importantly, if the timing part of the experiment had worked as expected, would it have been scrutinised so much. I wonder how many other experiments ought to have shown anomalous results but haven't?

Going nowhere

 

A busy street scene in rural Flatshire.

I have the great fortune to work in two large conurbations. One is the County City the other an ex industrial town. Both have a rich history. Both have connections pre-Roman, both played huge roles during the world wars. One as a manufacturer,  the other as a supplier of the raw materials. And yet, between them is the farm land, the bread basket of England, (well potatoes and beet basket, but that doesn't sound right) Peaceful, colourful and has a hidden past. One that it should be proud of, and in a quiet way, it is. Thousands of people defended this "Perfidious Albion" from here. 55,000 of those lost their lives. The Cold War was fought from here. Lightnings to protect our airspace, Project Emily for retaliation, and the superb Valiant, Victor and Vulcan for deterrence. Fortunately none ever were used in anger in their intended role, although the 'Black Buck' operations did use the Victors as tankers and the Vulcan as a conventional bomber. Memorials dot the landscape, places of peace now, the signs of war buried, runways dug up, the hangars used for storage of crops, given back to the potatoes and beets.

Piston Broke..

Well, here's a pretty pass. Driving over the bleak North Yorkshire moors: Engine fires normally. Engine makes loud rasping noise. Cock, hook, and look under the bonnet. Engine still present. In fact everything looks normal. Engine ticking over Ok. Noise only becomes appalling at anything above tick-over. Only option to proceed with the few remaining horses. It was all down hill from there. It was a 1 in 4 hill. Visit to aged parent slightly spoiled by replacing above gasket (with one with fewer holes), instead of sipping tea, and gassing.
Still and all, no harm done and the car is running fine.

Things seen in the sky

 

I have always been fascinated by aeroplanes. There is something wonderful about being able to fly on silent wings, to look down at the patchwork of fields and hedges, and wonder where the hell you are going to land due to a lack of a; thermals and b; planning. The field you had chosen to lob into now has a herd of cattle in it, let out after milking. Now, cows are quite placid beasts. Well usually. However, landing a glider amongst them is not usually going to end well. Even if you avoid the perambulating milk bars, and pull off a good landing (Definition: A good landing is one you walk away from. A really good landing; the a/c is reusable) there are additional problems. Cows are nosy. Fact. Hence the expression. A fully grown cow weighs a lot, (moos a lot too. Ok, I am being polite here) and having one walking on your wing does tend to scratch the gel-coat. Unless your a/c is wood and fabric. Then  she will not only put her hoofs through the wing, but she will probably eat it. They love the taste of the dope. All the fabric is doped, so if you can imagine a 'Keil Kraft' model being unmade by a herd of cows, you have just about grasped the enormity of the problem. Running out of height and ideas, I landed in the adjacent ploughed field.

Friday! Wheee...

Ok, it's the end of the week. Sort of. Well, if I don't get called out over the weekend, though to be honest, it's sometimes better to be called out than to be dragged around Tesco. (Other purveyors of  shopping stuffs are available)

I like Autumn, the colours are amazing. Yesterday, with the sky being so blue, contrasting with the grey of today. My youngest found a Sycamore leaf which has most of the colours of the rainbow plus brown. I know it's just chemical changes in the leaf, but it's still pretty.

Wednesday.

Been having a bit of a Puzzle. Imagine a computer network. There are 6 computes running through a gateway to the interwebs. For some reason totally unknown, last week, accessing certain web sites caused the gateway to crash with the following BSOD STOP:- 0x00000007F (0x00000000D.... it didn't matter which computer was tried, the instant the page began to load, BSOD! ( no, not one of 'those' sites either, Inspector Gadget to be precise). Now today, someone suggested using a different browser. I usually use 'Firefox', but I tried connecting through my laptop using ' *cough* 'ie  *cough* and it worked. So I tried 'Firefox' again, and that worked too. Bizarre.  

Computers, who'd have them? 

Friday

It's funny, I have always been a bit ambivalent about Fridays. Though to be honest, I prefer them to Sundays. At least when you get up on Friday, the weekend is 'just around the corner'. Now that sort of statement always bothers me. It's a like; 'In the long run', 'at the end of the day', etc. Place holders that waste time and mean nothing. For those that haven't worked it out, this is the long run. The only one you'll get. (that you will be aware of).
 Back to Friday. I prefer the anticipation of the weekend more than the actuality. I mean, who wants to go to Tesco every Saturday? Sunday is usually filled with all the things that need to be fixed for Monday ('cos on Friday, I couldn't be bothered) plus anything else that has come up, ie: The things that break on a Saturday. Last week, the Toilet decided not to be one. A trip to Wikes (other DIY emporia are available) and some English Pounds later and a LOT of swearing, we now have a loo that flushes at the push of a button. Unfortunately, in the mean time the living room ceiling got a tad soggy,. Still and all, no one died. And the loo carpet is spotless. (Having spent a whole week outside (in the rain)).