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(no subject)
Apr. 19th, 2025 06:27 pmAfter 40 years
One tune
Should
Not be
Capable
Of
Ruining your day.
And yet .. 😆
One tune
Should
Not be
Capable
Of
Ruining your day.
And yet .. 😆
(no subject)
Apr. 12th, 2025 08:26 pmAnd another swift barbecue 🥳
Just for the fun of the thing and the education of the cub, who tends the sacred flames.
Just for the fun of the thing and the education of the cub, who tends the sacred flames.
(no subject)
Apr. 12th, 2025 01:43 pmi would have given a lot, when I was young, to see a robin in our garden.
Inner city living meant sparrows, starlings, pigeons, a neighborhood blackbird and magpies.
There's a robin where I now live.
You can sometimes see it, loitering up a tree or on telephone wires.
How do we know it's there?
The little... Darling never shuts up!
Two in the afternoon or two in the morning, it's there, telling anybody in hearing that THIS IS MY TREE/TELEPHONE WIRE*, SO BUGGER OFF!
Inner city living meant sparrows, starlings, pigeons, a neighborhood blackbird and magpies.
There's a robin where I now live.
You can sometimes see it, loitering up a tree or on telephone wires.
How do we know it's there?
The little... Darling never shuts up!
Two in the afternoon or two in the morning, it's there, telling anybody in hearing that THIS IS MY TREE/TELEPHONE WIRE*, SO BUGGER OFF!
Isn't living somewhere with a bit more wildlife wonderful? Mind you, there aren't so many sparrows now.
*DELETE AS APPLICABLE. THEN BUGGER OFF.
(no subject)
Apr. 10th, 2025 07:34 amI completely forgot to record that two days ago the cub had her braces removed. I can, in fact I have, stopped cutting her sandwiches in to twelfths so she doesn't have to bite pieces off .
Today we're off to get her retainer.
I'm going to have to wait some months though before I can start dropping 'agèd retainer' gags, but I'll be ready!
Today we're off to get her retainer.
I'm going to have to wait some months though before I can start dropping 'agèd retainer' gags, but I'll be ready!
(no subject)
Apr. 6th, 2025 06:15 pmDark Chapel.
They're talking about expanding the housing pool for the county, the smart new councillors with their mandates from Whitehall, about how the area needs to shoulder its portion of the residential burden.
But Dark Chapel doesn't gentrify. It swaggers, a crack-toothed vagabond in a festering frock coat.
The old planners know. They know, but they never tell and the new blood is its own sacrifice, the fresh faces that will become stiff as cheap leather when Dark Chapel Town is on the agenda.
Here's Plough Mary.
She wears a funeral veil and walks the alley behind the vape shop and the glue factory. Long dress, heavier than sin, dragged behind her like a yoke. She mutters as she walks: curses and confessions dribble between her cudding lips. People say if you hear her before you see her, you're safe. Nobody knows what happens if you don't, although the Missing Persons list at the police station has hints.
It’s the hour when the pubs spill their most broken; rain glistens on cobbles like spilled motor oil and a lurching figure in track pants is trying to sweet-talk the carpark ticket machine into leaving its post for a late night fumble. How lucky he is not to get lucky with a slot machine girl: behind the vape shop, the CherryHaze Lounge, shuttered and dark, though the “H” flickers bravely, there’s a service alley, a hazy maze of crates and bins to a door that leads nowhere, except on Thursdays. And the smell: butcher’s rot that never leaves, mingled with the sugary, fake fruit smell that clings like guilt.
Listen.
She’s there.
Plough Mary.
Six feet of shadow-draped sorrow. Her breath is mist and mulch. Her veil trails in puddles that don’t reflect the sky. She walks like the ground owes her something and the hem of her kirtle is wet with time and regret.
They say Ken Beasley, 19 years and full of beer, stepped into that alley in 1998 to lighten the load. The only things of his to leave were his screams and his England football shirt, the one weaving into the dripping night across the gabled roofs, the other, blood crusted in an evidence bag, a heavy hoofprint over the heart.
A little later, bolstered by the success of The Blair Witch Project, Holly Swift, student film producer, received a white jacket with long, long sleeves and laces and 17 seconds of static on her crushed video camera, for her pain bearing efforts.
They're talking about expanding the housing pool for the county, the smart new councillors with their mandates from Whitehall, about how the area needs to shoulder its portion of the residential burden.
But Dark Chapel doesn't gentrify. It swaggers, a crack-toothed vagabond in a festering frock coat.
The old planners know. They know, but they never tell and the new blood is its own sacrifice, the fresh faces that will become stiff as cheap leather when Dark Chapel Town is on the agenda.
Here's Plough Mary.
She wears a funeral veil and walks the alley behind the vape shop and the glue factory. Long dress, heavier than sin, dragged behind her like a yoke. She mutters as she walks: curses and confessions dribble between her cudding lips. People say if you hear her before you see her, you're safe. Nobody knows what happens if you don't, although the Missing Persons list at the police station has hints.
It’s the hour when the pubs spill their most broken; rain glistens on cobbles like spilled motor oil and a lurching figure in track pants is trying to sweet-talk the carpark ticket machine into leaving its post for a late night fumble. How lucky he is not to get lucky with a slot machine girl: behind the vape shop, the CherryHaze Lounge, shuttered and dark, though the “H” flickers bravely, there’s a service alley, a hazy maze of crates and bins to a door that leads nowhere, except on Thursdays. And the smell: butcher’s rot that never leaves, mingled with the sugary, fake fruit smell that clings like guilt.
Listen.
She’s there.
Plough Mary.
Six feet of shadow-draped sorrow. Her breath is mist and mulch. Her veil trails in puddles that don’t reflect the sky. She walks like the ground owes her something and the hem of her kirtle is wet with time and regret.
They say Ken Beasley, 19 years and full of beer, stepped into that alley in 1998 to lighten the load. The only things of his to leave were his screams and his England football shirt, the one weaving into the dripping night across the gabled roofs, the other, blood crusted in an evidence bag, a heavy hoofprint over the heart.
A little later, bolstered by the success of The Blair Witch Project, Holly Swift, student film producer, received a white jacket with long, long sleeves and laces and 17 seconds of static on her crushed video camera, for her pain bearing efforts.
on this day in history...
Mar. 27th, 2025 08:14 am27 Mar 2012
[PCB] has lightning in his trousers.
Just put on pair of mesh-lined tracksuit bottoms in the dark and witnessed the flicker of static electricity about my knees. Neat.
[PCB] has lightning in his trousers.
Just put on pair of mesh-lined tracksuit bottoms in the dark and witnessed the flicker of static electricity about my knees. Neat.
(no subject)
Mar. 4th, 2025 09:07 amHow is it that speech recognising will duplicate melnibone, but miss heels 'recognition'. And 'hears', for that matter?
(no subject)
Jan. 30th, 2025 10:50 amSpeech to text is making it very difficult to Google Search for Sybil Wright. Even when it recognises the name after careful enunciation, something smart in the background decide I meant 'civil rights'.
So. Why am I searching for this person?
I wanted to know if there were any lawyers with this name...
Sometimes I just bring this stuff down on myself don't I?
So. Why am I searching for this person?
I wanted to know if there were any lawyers with this name...
Sometimes I just bring this stuff down on myself don't I?
Coffee. Sunrise In A Cup.
Jan. 25th, 2025 09:17 pmA quick remake of the coffe cup project. The first Blender take took about four days with a great deal of swearing and the original Gimp version was a at least a morning's work; this version took about an hour, and that was mostly because I've not run Blender for a little while and needed to check the manual :D
Then again, Blender is also a lot easier to use now.
HDRI Background by Greg Zaal — polyhaven.com/a/victoria_sunset
Same background, would you believe?
Then again, Blender is also a lot easier to use now.
HDRI Background by Greg Zaal — polyhaven.com/a/victoria_sunset
Same background, would you believe?
(no subject)
Dec. 21st, 2024 08:53 pmi found a couple of old recordings at archive.org last night – a 1967 american rock station , where I recognised most of the artists, even if I didn't specifically know the records, and an Easter Monday 1984 blast of BBC Radio 1 of Steve Wright In The Afternoon. I lived the eighties and taught myself to listen to pop because I was completely out of touch with the kids in my school and even the small addition of current music helped. I didn't recognise the vast majority of the music or the artists 😁
I played some to The Panda, who was an Eighties Girl from perm to pixie boots and she didn't remember them, either.
Timewise, we're now the same as my Dad listening to 1940s tunes in the 1980s – except he didn't do much of that, unless you count German Army marching songs of the era. He was guarding a POW camp for a while (not by himself, you understand) and the German prisoners would belt out some good 'uns, apparently. He was a slightly off-beat gent 😊
Anthropause
Dec. 12th, 2024 11:16 amI was aiming for anthropomorphic, but stumbled verbally over it, and then over 'anthropause' more physically, as I dictated.
Google came up with the term, which I didn't even know it was A Thing.
Wikipedia defines anthropause as:
"a global reduction in modern human activity, especially travel, that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in March and April 2020. It was coined by a team of researchers in June 2020 in an article [published in Nature Ecology and Evolution] discussing the positive impact of the [recent pandemic] lockdown on wildlife and environment."
(no subject)
Dec. 3rd, 2024 08:17 amI keep dreaming I owe work.
Basic story: I'm at some form of office, often but not always a customer, and we're due to migrate a database; I have no software for the job, sometimes I don't even know which system I'm supposed to be working on.
I'm really fed up of it, anyway.
The Panda is also having bad dreams. Last night, it included being in a car towing a dead fish at the end of a rope; a small owl is perched on the fish, which it was eating.
Now THAT'S classy. She doesn't know what it means, either😄
Basic story: I'm at some form of office, often but not always a customer, and we're due to migrate a database; I have no software for the job, sometimes I don't even know which system I'm supposed to be working on.
I'm really fed up of it, anyway.
The Panda is also having bad dreams. Last night, it included being in a car towing a dead fish at the end of a rope; a small owl is perched on the fish, which it was eating.
Now THAT'S classy. She doesn't know what it means, either😄
(no subject)
Dec. 2nd, 2024 10:32 pmHow does one quietly and politely despair of a family member?
Ok, I was a complete and utter divot as a teenager and have never been allowed forget it, but has that got to hold as a THING forever after? (That is, I was a bigger idiot so can make no criticism).
I just want to be able to facepalm and blaspheme for a short while and then get on with trying to fix the problem 😄😄😄😄😄
Ok, I was a complete and utter divot as a teenager and have never been allowed forget it, but has that got to hold as a THING forever after? (That is, I was a bigger idiot so can make no criticism).
I just want to be able to facepalm and blaspheme for a short while and then get on with trying to fix the problem 😄😄😄😄😄
Cub In Duvet meets Pigs In blankets
Nov. 30th, 2024 10:42 amThis year's 'who has the best bacon-wrapped chipolatas on the high street*'results suggest that the biggest supermarket in town has the edge this year. I was out late, last night (21:00 is now late) collecting the Cub from her last section rehearsal for the Gang Show being held at the local theatre and stopped by said biggest supermarket for spare charging cables, fake cheese and calcium tablets when I spotted packets of sausages and bacon treats: Pigs In Blankets**
Two packets were thrust into my shopping basket and I headed off to loiter around the stage door because I was meeting one of the chorus girls after her show.***
Today. Breakfast.
An extended blast of heat and I was in possession of a small heap of PIBs. They are VERY tasty.
Before I did anything else, I dropped some into a bowl, grabbed a fork and headed for the Cub's bedroom. She's a teenager and needs the sleep, but it was time to EXPERIMENT!
Fork. Sausage. Nose... Waft!
There was a pause while the Cub's breathing stayed shallow. Then it became deeper. And deeper. There was a gentle movement of the jaws. Then she rolled before becoming completely still. Eyes opened. And focused.
"Pigs in blankets?" I offered, and the blur of sleep disappeared, replaced by an 'oh WOW!' expression.
I presented the bowl and fork and went to fetch the ketchup.
This has got to be one of the best wakeups ever😊
*for a given value of retail park.
** I think different foods have been known by this term, but round here, it's a small piece of bacon wrapped around a small pork sausage. No arguments will be accepted.
***I'm going to GET that fortune teller :D
Two packets were thrust into my shopping basket and I headed off to loiter around the stage door because I was meeting one of the chorus girls after her show.***
Today. Breakfast.
An extended blast of heat and I was in possession of a small heap of PIBs. They are VERY tasty.
Before I did anything else, I dropped some into a bowl, grabbed a fork and headed for the Cub's bedroom. She's a teenager and needs the sleep, but it was time to EXPERIMENT!
Fork. Sausage. Nose... Waft!
There was a pause while the Cub's breathing stayed shallow. Then it became deeper. And deeper. There was a gentle movement of the jaws. Then she rolled before becoming completely still. Eyes opened. And focused.
"Pigs in blankets?" I offered, and the blur of sleep disappeared, replaced by an 'oh WOW!' expression.
I presented the bowl and fork and went to fetch the ketchup.
This has got to be one of the best wakeups ever😊
*for a given value of retail park.
** I think different foods have been known by this term, but round here, it's a small piece of bacon wrapped around a small pork sausage. No arguments will be accepted.
***I'm going to GET that fortune teller :D
The Dishwasher Widget
Nov. 29th, 2024 06:58 pmTwenty-cough pounds vs between forty and seventy pounds. Plus delivery. The price difference between a Bosch dishwasher dispenser unit and a Neff dishwasher dispenser unit.
Our Neff is older now, but still game – as long as Weston and I can work out what's wearing out, buy a new whatever-it-is and tinker the part into place.
This time, a vast increase in the amount of dishwasher fluid being used drew our attention to a leak in the dispenser unit, but the price for a new part was wheezingly ridiculous, compared to the almost absolutely identical part used in Bosch-badged kit. The difference is very small and comes down to a Bosch Widget at the end of a power cable and a Neff Widget likewise located.
On one there's a cutout on the right, matching a protrusion on the power connector, and on the other the cutout and protrusion are on the left.
But wait.
The widget that makes the power supply cables unique to their badging isn't part of the housing. It too is a removable plug.
heh heh heh!
I ordered the cheaper part in short... ah, order, and, on arrival, broke down the door panel, juggled the dispenser unit out (sprung steel plates on every side, FCOL!) popped and swapped the widgets and did a careful (and successful) test.
Almost everything went back into place apart from the outer door panel, which had finally given up on the one of the screws, but I've dealt with that problem before and had both a 30mm bit and pre-sawn pieces of 30mm dowel to fill the hole. The weight of the outer panel is taken by a couple of sheets of industrial grade Velcro now, replacing the worn out strips of heavy duty Velcro that I had to replace a time or two back, so all the newly-filled section really has to do is stop the panel from flexing when the door opens.
So. The dishwasher is up and running again without either extended and wasteful dribbles of fluid or an awkwardly wobbling outer panel, and we didn't have to find a new repair guy. Our last Appliance Lad was fine until he nadgered something and tried to leave without mentioning the difficulty. He's a very cheerful bloke, but his Missus, who answers the phone for him, is completely businesslike. OK, robotic. She sits in his van while he's on a job, staring out of the window screen with her arms folded (I've seen her a couple of times – it's a VERY distinctive van) and is CREEPY.
Spousal Overview notwithstanding, the guy tried to leave us with damaged kit and that doesn't sit well; it's worth the barked knuckles and the knees sore even with knee pads to know that any problems are my own, and I'm not going to have to sort out a tradesman on top of suspicious puddles, burning wite, fragments of concrete and the like.
Our Neff is older now, but still game – as long as Weston and I can work out what's wearing out, buy a new whatever-it-is and tinker the part into place.
This time, a vast increase in the amount of dishwasher fluid being used drew our attention to a leak in the dispenser unit, but the price for a new part was wheezingly ridiculous, compared to the almost absolutely identical part used in Bosch-badged kit. The difference is very small and comes down to a Bosch Widget at the end of a power cable and a Neff Widget likewise located.
On one there's a cutout on the right, matching a protrusion on the power connector, and on the other the cutout and protrusion are on the left.
But wait.
The widget that makes the power supply cables unique to their badging isn't part of the housing. It too is a removable plug.
heh heh heh!
I ordered the cheaper part in short... ah, order, and, on arrival, broke down the door panel, juggled the dispenser unit out (sprung steel plates on every side, FCOL!) popped and swapped the widgets and did a careful (and successful) test.
Almost everything went back into place apart from the outer door panel, which had finally given up on the one of the screws, but I've dealt with that problem before and had both a 30mm bit and pre-sawn pieces of 30mm dowel to fill the hole. The weight of the outer panel is taken by a couple of sheets of industrial grade Velcro now, replacing the worn out strips of heavy duty Velcro that I had to replace a time or two back, so all the newly-filled section really has to do is stop the panel from flexing when the door opens.
So. The dishwasher is up and running again without either extended and wasteful dribbles of fluid or an awkwardly wobbling outer panel, and we didn't have to find a new repair guy. Our last Appliance Lad was fine until he nadgered something and tried to leave without mentioning the difficulty. He's a very cheerful bloke, but his Missus, who answers the phone for him, is completely businesslike. OK, robotic. She sits in his van while he's on a job, staring out of the window screen with her arms folded (I've seen her a couple of times – it's a VERY distinctive van) and is CREEPY.
Spousal Overview notwithstanding, the guy tried to leave us with damaged kit and that doesn't sit well; it's worth the barked knuckles and the knees sore even with knee pads to know that any problems are my own, and I'm not going to have to sort out a tradesman on top of suspicious puddles, burning wite, fragments of concrete and the like.
(no subject)
Nov. 29th, 2024 03:46 pmApparently the largest onshore gas storage facility in Europe is here: "53.23418520599506, -2.4347367449446033", about 15km away from us. I only found out when Google Streetview decided we should take a circuit around the property on our way to a crematorium. The route isn't at all public, but the whole thing looked so interesting that I had to go on a brief rabbit-hole internet dive to work out what the Secret Site was. I finally found the answer on the background map on a LIDAR display – a discovery that perplexed me even more than the original 'what is that?" moment.
Y'see, the whole place looks slightly derelict, slightly tech, from Google Maps and not like I'd expect a fuel storage facility to look like at all.
The secret is that they store the gas underground. In caves. Caves melted out of the salt strata underlying Cheshire.
Now, I knew that there were salt mines here; I knew that there were document storage businesses set up in old salt mines, where thje dryness suits the paper, but not that somebody had drilled down into the salt layer, pumped water down to make brine, found businesses that needed brine and then swapped the brine for spare gas. There's a page with a video overview off the following link:
https://www.storengy.co.uk/storengy-uk-stublach-site
Cool, eh?
We sat down in the pews at the crem only top be welcomed by a gent with his collar on backwards who cheerfully wished us a warm welcome.
I still don't know if he was on autopilot, didn't think at all or had a devilish twinkle when he said that.
Y'see, the whole place looks slightly derelict, slightly tech, from Google Maps and not like I'd expect a fuel storage facility to look like at all.
The secret is that they store the gas underground. In caves. Caves melted out of the salt strata underlying Cheshire.
Now, I knew that there were salt mines here; I knew that there were document storage businesses set up in old salt mines, where thje dryness suits the paper, but not that somebody had drilled down into the salt layer, pumped water down to make brine, found businesses that needed brine and then swapped the brine for spare gas. There's a page with a video overview off the following link:
https://www.storengy.co.uk/storengy-uk-stublach-site
Cool, eh?
We sat down in the pews at the crem only top be welcomed by a gent with his collar on backwards who cheerfully wished us a warm welcome.
I still don't know if he was on autopilot, didn't think at all or had a devilish twinkle when he said that.
(no subject)
Nov. 24th, 2024 07:41 pmDilbert
Dogbert
Catbert...
And Storm Bert.
Storm Bert came through yesterday while we were hauling up the motorway.
I haven't driven in that much spray for a long while. It was quite boring driving back in simply grey and grotty weather today 😄
Dogbert
Catbert...
And Storm Bert.
Storm Bert came through yesterday while we were hauling up the motorway.
I haven't driven in that much spray for a long while. It was quite boring driving back in simply grey and grotty weather today 😄
