quote:

---

Hope this is okay here as it doesn't seem worth starting a whole new thread in Eccles.

Coming from a Presy tradition where at Communion we take a piece of bread from a plate handed round, I went on 1 January to a Union church with a more mixed background, and the minister handed each communicant their piece of bread. Before he commenced the rite, during a music voluntary, he rubbed his hands throughly but not ostentatiously, I assume using a sanitising liquid.

So what does a priest administering the eucharist in the form of wafers do, as far as hygiene is concerned?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by PeteC:

If you saw a minister or priest rubbing his hands together outside of this rite it was almost certainly a hand sanitizer. Most parishes in my diocese have one installed on the wall of the sanctuary (or a hand bottle on the side table) and both lay ministers of communion and clergy use it.
[/QB]

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
Coming from a Presy tradition where at Communion we take a piece of bread from a plate handed round...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Martha:
I bought a pair of pyjamas for my little boy, and the label said, "These clothes are designed to be close fitting to reduce the risk of catching fire." (or words to that effect.) Why?

I can see that having dangly clothing is more of a risk if you're around naked flames or hot plates, but surely you keep a 1-yr-old well away from those things anyway, and they are less likely to get close to them in bed than during the daytime. Is it something to do with airflow?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Padre Joshua:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
Coming from a Presy tradition where at Communion we take a piece of bread from a plate handed round...

---

This gives me the cold shudders. I won't receive the bread if that's going on, because it's way too germy. I would much rather have the celebrant tear me off a piece and place it into my hand, because I know he or she has cleansed his or her hands before beginning. My pew mate, however, has just spent the entire service coughing into her/his hands and rubbing her/his nose with her/his fingers and is now rooting around in the tray trying to grab a piece of wonderbread.

No thank you. Absolutely not.

---

That's quite funny as I have always attended Church of Christ or Baptist Churches where we take a piece of bread or cracker each from a plate and even my germophobe Mum has never worried. However we drink the Communion grape juice out of tiny glass cups and my Mum has always had a horror of churches where they shared a communal goblet - even if it was wiped between uses.

I'd be more worried about inhaling germs from a person coughing or sneezing and that's pretty impossible to avoid unless everyone who has a cold or cough stays home from church. Most people try to take bread from the top and only touch the piece they take for themselves. I guess you could get gastro if someone was sick and hadn't washed their hands after going to the toilet but I've never heard of anyone getting food poisoning from bread. (That didn't make your fears better did it )
 

---

Posted by Hennah (# 9541) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chive:
If you saw a minister or priest rubbing his hands together outside of this rite it was almost certainly a hand sanitizer. Most parishes in my diocese have one installed on the wall of the sanctuary

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zacchaeus:
When I was a younger and many people had open fires, there was a serious of children hurt when they went too near the open fires in their pyjamas.

I have always thought this labeling of most children's PJ's with some sort of warning against fire came from those days.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zacchaeus:
When I was a younger and many people had open fires, there was a serious of children hurt when they went too near the open fires in their pyjamas.

I have always thought this labeling of most children's PJ's with some sort of warning against fire came from those days.

---

In the US the most common scenario for kids' pjs catching on fire was when they accidentally turned on the stove and then climbed up on it to reach the candy stored in the cabinet above the stove.

I made a point of never storing anything in that cabinet that my children might want.

Moo

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Silver Faux:
American senior citzens can get annual or lifetime passes at discounted rates to national parks; does anyone know whether Canadian seniors can get an annual or lifetime pass to American national parks?
I found websites with the passes listed, but can't find a link for feriners to use.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zacchaeus:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Martha:
I bought a pair of pyjamas for my little boy, and the label said, "These clothes are designed to be close fitting to reduce the risk of catching fire." (or words to that effect.) Why?

---

When I was a younger and many people had open fires, there was a serious of children hurt when they went too near the open fires in their pyjamas.

I have always thought this labeling of most children's PJ's with some sort of warning against fire came from those days.

---

I probably shouldn't even admit this, but I once lit myself on fire in my PJs by climbing ON to the woodstove to speed up the warming process. burned through my mother's quilt, my jammies, and burned my ass. not my brightest moment.
 

---

Posted by mertide (# 4500) on :
 
Comet: It's the philtrum , but snot runnel works too.
 

---

Posted by comet (# 10353) on :
 
aha! thank you!
 

---

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
That may not work because:

1. The tube may be so old that they don't make them in that fitting anymore (the tube size should be printed on the glass near one end) - I have this problem;

2. It may be the starter that is at fault (this is a small cylindrical object on the fitment, either on its side or underneath the tube when you remove it). It comes out with a little push and a twist - worth replacing anyway as they're cheap.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
It's not linked to the individual institution is it? I see my membership of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh gives me privileges in a number of similar Gardens worldwide.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by comet:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Silver Faux:
American senior citzens can get annual or lifetime passes at discounted rates to national parks; does anyone know whether Canadian seniors can get an annual or lifetime pass to American national parks?
I found websites with the passes listed, but can't find a link for furriners to use.

---

no idea, but I have a handy-dandy park headquarters nearby, and I can call and ask in the morning if you like.

---

Thanks, comet, I would like that very much.
I am planning a six-week excursion that will take me through five or six American national parks and even a national grasslands, and it would be wonderful to just flash a prepaid card at each entrance and drive right in.
As for Firenze, I hope some day you get to wander through the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington/Hamilton Ontario; just watch out for the chipmunk-eating coyotes among the rose gardens.
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
It would appear the answer is no, SF. Hopefully comet's friend can contradict this.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
I'm moving flat soon to a place with a glass-ceramics hop. I've had a gas cooker for a few years, and before that the tradional electric cooker.

Can I continue to use my pans on the glass-ceramics surface? Most are fairly recent, and I don't have a wok.

As I don't want to be a hob knob, I'd be grateful for any comments. Thanks muchly.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
In addition to the above: What's the general approach to using a glass-ceramics thingy? Cooking times, intensity, handling? Is it more energy-efficient than the traditional electric ones? Any experienced users out there?

Thanks.

[ 15. January 2012, 07:52: Message edited by: Wesley J ]
 

---

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
You can use the same pans. The thing to be aware of is that you can't control the heat as immediately as you can with gas. With gas, turn the dial up or down and the heat level changes pretty much instantly. With electric, there's quite a lag time. So, this'll mean that it takes a little while to heat up when you first turn it on (increasing cooking time a tad). More importantly, if something is boiling over, don't just turn the heat down, but move the pot off the heat as the heat won't cool down instantly.
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
And,keep the cook top clean, as well as the bottoms of your pots and pans. The ceramic top cleaner does a nice job, but it does take some elbow grease.

I've had mine for about eight years, and love cooking on it!
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
I tried one once at a friend's house and couldn't get on with it. It's personal preference, but I like to be able to see whether the rings are on or not - it's easier to burn yourself accidentally.

Meanwhile - I'm guessing that Freeview digital TV requires "software updates" of some kind? I've found that if I use the TV daily I don't generally have problems getting programmes, but leave it for a few days and reception is awful and needs a "warm-up" time of at least 20 minutes before it stops being pixellated and staccato. Is this normal?

[ 15. January 2012, 20:16: Message edited by: Ariel ]
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
I tried one once at a friend's house and couldn't get on with it. It's personal preference, but I like to be able to see whether the rings are on or not - it's easier to burn yourself accidentally. [...]

---

Thanks all! - Encouraging. I may PM you peeps and/or certainly get in touch with the manufacturer: they will have more details on cooking prodecures, beyond the cleaning and the technical details. Will have get used to it in any case, as it comes with the new flat...
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
You need to make sure that the bottoms of your pans are flat. If they're warped, they won't work so well.

Moo
 

---

Posted by The Kat in the Hat (# 2557) on :
 
My mother had one - she thought it was great, unless you spilled anything on it. If you didn't clean it up straight away it tended to stick like super-glue. She used a razor to clean really stubborn marks. It did seem to be more work that I'd like.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
... I don't want to be a hob knob ...

---

I've been used to ceramic hobs for ages - my parents still have the one they got about 25 years ago and my last house had a built-in one. When we replaced the stove in our present house we got one with a ceramic hob and I love it.

As for cleaning - the cream cleaner seems to work pretty well, especially if used in conjunction with a thing called a Scrunge - I find that their claim not to need chemical cleaners is bollocks, but together they work (and ceramic hobs are much easier to clean than radiant rings - there's nowhere for bits of food to fall).
 

---

Posted by Wet Kipper (# 1654) on :
 
Has anyone with an Android phone tried to put the "digital copy" of a triple-play or Double play DVD onto their phone?

I know that if you use iTunes then the "e-copy" code is essentially a voucher to download the film from the iTunes store for free, but how does it work for Android phones ?
 

---

Posted by Wet Kipper (# 1654) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel about glass-ceramic hobs:
but I like to be able to see whether the rings are on or not

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Balaam:
The percussion, my fishy friend, is someone playing the bones, two sets - one for each hand - tuned to different pitches. Here's how you play them.

---

quote:

---

I'm the happiest (saddest?) man in all the nation
When my train pulls into (out of?) Victoria Station

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dormouse:
I love you Drifting star! How on earth did you find it so quickly?

---

The name rang a bell, but I couldn't quite remember it. I got as far as Skallarig, and let Google correct my spelling. Google's tendency to correct the spelling for any unusual word generally drives me mad, because it's more likely to be mis-correcting - but this time it came up with the goods!
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Albertus:
There's a poem about a commuter that I heard when I was a kid in the 70s- the only lines I can remember are:

quote:

---

I'm the happiest (saddest?) man in all the nation
When my train pulls into (out of?) Victoria Station

---

They've stuck in my head ever since but I've never been able to find where they're from. Does it ring any bells for anyone?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hart:
I ordered a new book from Amazon which arrived missing pages 33-64. I used to have a library copy of the book, so I know those pages exist (and the table of contents references them). I know this is probably the publisher's fault, not Amazon's (they don't seem to have been ripped out), but do you think there's something I can do about it?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Drifting Star:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Albertus:
There's a poem about a commuter that I heard when I was a kid in the 70s- the only lines I can remember are:

quote:

---

I'm the happiest (saddest?) man in all the nation
When my train pulls into (out of?) Victoria Station

---

They've stuck in my head ever since but I've never been able to find where they're from. Does it ring any bells for anyone?

---

I'm on a roll!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hart:
I ordered a new book from Amazon which arrived missing pages 33-64. I used to have a library copy of the book, so I know those pages exist (and the table of contents references them). I know this is probably the publisher's fault, not Amazon's (they don't seem to have been ripped out), but do you think there's something I can do about it?

---

If you still have the packing slip that should give return instructions. If not, find the "contact us" on Amazon's website. They tend to reply within a few hours, and I've found them to be very helpful.

---

Indeed, they're sending me a new book now, and they email contained a packing slip I can print out.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
I've bought a couple of trousers in the sales that may be of jeans cut, but aren't jeans. I've just noticed they should go in max. 30C laundry (cold). Most of my jeans can be done at 40C, which I guess would be 'warm'.

Does it matter if I chuck the new ones in with the 40C lot, at least occasionally? I imagine they're designed for 30C, and should get reasonably clean at that lower temperature? Or still a regular 40C?

Thanks!
 

---

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :
 
Unless you have a hot water system as I used to have, where the temperature could be set by a gauge in the bathroom and kitchen, just how do you manage these temperatures accurately?

I always wash everything in the machine in cold water and probably a large number down here do too. Cold straight from the tap. It's usually recommended by energy supply companies as a money saving method. I have no problem getting things clean and can't remember any time even with grubby small children's clothing where cold water was ineffective.

BTW, our instant gas system with variable temperature control was wonderful. Great for safety with children.37-42° C for aths and showers, depending on weather and person and 50-55 ° C in kitchen. This higher range was limited by law to avoid accidental burns.

[ 31. January 2012, 18:01: Message edited by: Lothlorien ]
 

---

Posted by Hgjules (# 16796) on :
 
Hi Wesley,
My jeams come from the USA and say 'cold wash' and given the price I haven't dared try them at 40'! I think it may affect the stretchiness (at a minimum)?
Jules
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Do they have any elastane-type stuff in them Wesley? If they do they may well shrink at 40° - even if it's just the once.

[ 31. January 2012, 20:52: Message edited by: Drifting Star ]
 

---

Posted by Polly Plummer (# 13354) on :
 
And the colour might run, bad news if you wash them with light-coloured stuff.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
Yay! Lotsa good points! Thanks muchly!

The trousers are 100% or 98% cotton, in the latter case apparently with 2% elasthan or something of the sort.

I know that the colours might run out, wash similar colours together, wash them inside out, have done so for many a moon. That some elasticity might be lost makes sense, so I guess I'll really do them at 30C then. Can always complain to the shop or the manufacturer (it's a reasonably well-known brand) if there's a problem.

What you all are suggesting, is probably best: if it says cold, do them cold. It was news to me that you can get even dirty stuff clean at that temperature, haven't really given it a thought. I normally do 60C for sheets and towels (kills the bacteria, I hear), 40C for by far most of my laundry, and 30C for the few remaining things.

Now, if you do cold, you'll take particular care to choose some appropriate washing powder (or liquid)? I guess I could also experiment with that, and with the amount of it. Lower temps = more detergent? Is that the equation?

Lothlorien: I'm on the Continent currently. They appear to have set temps, 90/60/40/30/handwash in most machines, as far as I can tell.

Food for thought. Ta!
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
Oh - and: is it important how much you actually fill the machine? I read that some say only use 75% of space or the like for low temps. Is that correct, or advisable?
 

---

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :
 
I am in Australia but have a Bosch front loader. I can adjust the temperatures on it on pretty well every setting. As I've always used cold water for all washing, I just keep using cold as I've done for over 40 years. I had three grubby boys and clothes always came clean. I have never used more detergent because of the cold water.

When I had a top loader as most still are down here, I would just measure from instructions on detergent packet or container of liquid detergent. I'm now using individual sachets which dissolve. Obtainable for front and top loading machines. One per load.

The only things I would ever wash warm would be anything done by hand. eg jumpers and other woolies. Then I would ensure the same temperature for wash and rinse water, usually lukewarm.

However, cold water machine washing is perfectly effective and cheaper for electricity use.

[ 01. February 2012, 03:59: Message edited by: Lothlorien ]
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
Can anyone identify these birds that have appeared on my garden feeder since the snow?

http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa413/HollysMum1/birds.jpg

[Board software does not allow images. URL converted to a link]

[ 06. February 2012, 11:36: Message edited by: Marvin the Martian ]
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Goldfinches - lovely. I have them on mine too - see my picture from Saturday.

They really love niger seed, so if your seed mix contains any they'll probably be around a lot - then again, they all love black sunflower seeds, so you can't lose there either!
 

---

Posted by Evensong (# 14696) on :
 
Can someone tell me what it means to a shareholder in a company if that company goes into receivership?

I have just taken over control of my mother's superannuation fund and there is a company that she put about $40,000 into.

If the company is in receivership, is there any chance of getting any of that back?
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Biggest stakeholders are first in line. Not always anything left when it gets down to the small fry.
 

---

Posted by Evensong (# 14696) on :
 
Thanks lilbuddha.

I've done some reading around the topic but can't figure out if a shareholder is a "secured creditor" (whose interests the receivership is supposed to protect) or an "unsecured creditor" (that has bugger all chance of ever getting paid).
 

---

Posted by Morlader (# 16040) on :
 
I think a shareholder is only 'secured' to the degree that is specified in the Articles of Association, in the UK at least. Unless a shareholder has preference shares he/she will prob get, as you put it, bugger all.

Most secured creditor is the tax authority: and they probably put in the receiver to get what they are owed in the first place Trade creditors come way down the pecking order, too. Not as far down as shareholders, though.

Sorry, but that's the swings and roundabouts (carousels?) of capitalism. and respectively.
 

---

Posted by Evensong (# 14696) on :
 
Thanks Morlader. Sounds about right.

Mum lost fifty percent of her Superannuation in the GFC.

I read yesterday that the Dow Jones was only ten percent below pre GFC levels but our Australian share market is still 38% below pre GFC levels.

Lord only knows how that works.......seeing as how our economy coped best with the GFC......
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
Can anyone identify these birds that have appeared on my garden feeder since the snow?

http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa413/HollysMum1/birds.jpg

[Board software does not allow images. URL converted to a link]

---

Re. my goldfinches: at the weekend there were two of them. Now I have nine!



 

---

Posted by Hawk (# 14289) on :
 
I remember reading and loving a book from when I was young but have never been able to remember the title since. It was about a boy who could talk to animals telepathically, but only in pictures (since animals don't speak English). He was bullied at school since no one believes him and they think he's weird but they all go on a field trip to a moor and there's a beast on the moor that kills sheep and everyone's scared but he can talk to it and it turns out it's a jaguar(or something like that) and he proves to everyone that he can speak to the jaguar.

Does anyone remember the book? Please help!
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hawk:
I remember reading and loving a book from when I was young but have never been able to remember the title since. It was about a boy who could talk to animals telepathically, but only in pictures (since animals don't speak English). He was bullied at school since no one believes him and they think he's weird but they all go on a field trip to a moor and there's a beast on the moor that kills sheep and everyone's scared but he can talk to it and it turns out it's a jaguar(or something like that) and he proves to everyone that he can speak to the jaguar.

Does anyone remember the book? Please help!

---

Try here: http://forums.abebooks.co.uk/abesleuthuk

You can post the details here and if anyone remembers it they can help.
 

---

Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on :
 
I've seen this book - it's by an author who is better known for thrillers than children's books (though this is more of a Young Adult), someone like Victor Canning?
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
A question to blow jobs from me here:

This is about compressed air generators. I'd like to use a smallish one for a few things such as replacing compressed-air cans to clean keyboards and other stuff (cheaper than the cans!), perhaps pumping up of bicycle tyres (got a good handpump though), and general blowing-stuff-away purposes.

However, at some point I might also want to use it for minor spray painting, or perhaps as a nail/stapler gun etc. This is just for fixing and doing things around the house, and not for huge professional jobs.

There's two reasonably-priced ones I've been looking at. One's got a 2-litre-tank (air tank I guess), and apparently this is needed for things like spray-painting. This one is heavier than the one without a tank. Both have roughly the same power and specs.

Any suggestions, especially about the use of additional tools, and whether you need the built-in tank, or not?

Ta.
 

---

Posted by Miffy (# 1438) on :
 
Right then ladies! I've just been ranting on about my problems with my crowning glory. Any advice on how to go grey gracefully.

Or should I simply Get A Life?
 

---

Posted by Mili (# 3254) on :
 
Apparently grey hair is fashionable now so maybe you could go grey gracefully. I have a twenty-one year old friend who dyes her hair grey. Although I also have another friend in her twenties who dyes her hair brunette as her hair went grey at an early age, which I totolly understand.
 

---

Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :
 
When did dentists in the UK go from being "Mr" (like surgeons) to "Dr" (like GPs)? And if, as I presume, it was because of the increasing numbers of female dentists, what do female surgeons call themselves these days?
 

---

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Robert Armin:
When did dentists in the UK go from being "Mr" (like surgeons) to "Dr" (like GPs)? And if, as I presume, it was because of the increasing numbers of female dentists, what do female surgeons call themselves these days?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Miffy:
Right then ladies! I've just been ranting on about my problems with my crowning glory. Any advice on how to go grey gracefully.

Or should I simply Get A Life?

---

I'm currently moving from dyed black to grey. I considered using semi-permanent dye, but as my hair is very porous it never seems to fade properly.
I started by growing out my roots to about 1.5" then getting the back and sides cut to this length, with the top a bit longer. It looks OK, as the top is still growing in fairly dark brown, disguising the roots along my parting, and the fringe covers the very white bits along the front hairline. The next cut will look fairly strange, I think, as I will have to either go very short on top, or have some areas with just an inch or less of black at the ends. Still, that adds up to about a month of real pain, which isn't bad.
I'm very glad to hear that grey is in fashion!
 

---

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :
 
Apologies for the triple post. Just re-reading the last one, I'd like to explain that I do know the difference between 'real pain' and stripey hair!
 

---

Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
When driving in icy weather, if the car goes into a skid/slide, the advice always seems to be to "drive into the skid". What does this actually mean? And how do you do this?

[ETA practical 2nd question]

[ 11. February 2012, 14:32: Message edited by: Jack the Lass ]
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
JtL,

The advice is for when the boot and the bonnet are attempting to change places.
If you car is beginning to turn clockwise, turn anti-clockwise. And vise versa. It can be a bit of back and forth until the car straightens out.
It is best to practice this. A broad, flat muddy patch free of obstacles is a good place to do so. If you cannot do so physically, do so mentally.
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
JtL,

Advice.
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by lilBuddha:
If you car is beginning to turn clockwise, turn anti-clockwise. And vise versa. It can be a bit of back and forth until the car straightens out.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lothlorien:
I am in Australia but have a Bosch front loader. I can adjust the temperatures on it on pretty well every setting. As I've always used cold water for all washing, I just keep using cold as I've done for over 40 years. I had three grubby boys and clothes always came clean. I have never used more detergent because of the cold water.

When I had a top loader as most still are down here, I would just measure from instructions on detergent packet or container of liquid detergent. I'm now using individual sachets which dissolve. Obtainable for front and top loading machines. One per load.

The only things I would ever wash warm would be anything done by hand. eg jumpers and other woolies. Then I would ensure the same temperature for wash and rinse water, usually lukewarm.

However, cold water machine washing is perfectly effective and cheaper for electricity use.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Drifting Star:

quote:

---

Originally posted by lilBuddha:
If you car is beginning to turn clockwise, turn anti-clockwise. And vise versa. It can be a bit of back and forth until the car straightens out.

---

Isn't this the wrong way around? The advice you linked to says "turn the steering wheel in the same direction that you're sliding". So, if you're skidding in a clockwise direction, you turn the steering wheel clockwise.

It's very hard to do, because it is a counter-intuitive reaction, but it does usually allow you to regain control more quickly.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by mrs whibley:
My understanding is that this depends on whether your car is rear-wheel drive or front-wheel drive. If the former, then the rear end can try to overtake the front, and you should steer into the skid, so that the car is going roughly in a straight line when traction is regained. In a front-wheel drive car you can try to 'correct', by steering where you actually were meaning to go, as the rear wheels are just following the front, not driving it.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by lilBuddha:

quote:

---

Originally posted by mrs whibley:
My understanding is that this depends on whether your car is rear-wheel drive or front-wheel drive. If the former, then the rear end can try to overtake the front, and you should steer into the skid, so that the car is going roughly in a straight line when traction is regained. In a front-wheel drive car you can try to 'correct', by steering where you actually were meaning to go, as the rear wheels are just following the front, not driving it.

---

Which is essentially the same advice for both types of vehicle, no?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by lilBuddha:
The article says the same thing I said, in different words.
When you are sliding, there are two different " directions occurring. One is the direction your car is rotating. The other is the direction your car is moving regardless of rotation.
Example: you are traveling north. Your car loses traction and the car begins an anti-clockwise spin. You are still traveling in a northward direction. You would turn your wheels towards the north, clockwise. Turning to the direction of travel, opposite the direction of rotation.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Masha:
Miffy - don't do henna!

Not unless you want to be stuck with it for the rest of your life (more or less)!

I colour mine using henna and it's a nice colour but I'd like to go back to my original...but I can't.

You can't use other dye over it and nothing works to strip it out - so basically, unless I want to grow it out and have it look that awful faded colour, and have to have it cut very short, I'll have to keep doing it...pretty much forever.

Yay.

Unless...does anyone know how to remove two years of henna applications from hair?

---

Thanks Masha - and don't worry, I certainly won't, not after hearing horror stories about what can happen!

Perhaps a hairdresser might have the answer to your problem. Worth trying maybe ?
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I'm surprised to hear about henna issues - I never noticed a problem. The only time I got a weird result was entirely my own fault: my hair was quite bleached and I henna'ed over it. The result was, frankly, orange - plus my favourite wear at the time was a shocking pink boiler suit (I wasn't always as retiring as I am now).
 

---

Posted by Masha (# 10098) on :
 
Firenze I salute you.

That sounds like a truly awesome ensemble!

And yep Miffy, that's what I'm going to have to do I think.

Expensive.

[ 12. February 2012, 22:49: Message edited by: Masha ]
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
mrs whibley, Drifting star.
I am not trying to be argumentative and would let this go if it were not serious.

There are three types of skids, over-steer, under-steer and straight ahead. I was addressing over-steer. I am obviously not doing a good job communicating, please read the links below for definitions and methods of coping. Note that there are slight differences in approach between them.

Mrs whibley, On further reading, it seems neither one of us is entirely correct.

Edmonds.
Ehow.
Ford.
Ezinearticles
 

---

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :
 
Thanks lilbuddha - serious food for thought there, not least a description of the difference between understeer and oversteer, which I've always found confusing.
 

---

Posted by Spike (# 36) on :
 
Coming late to the party here, but I agree with jsut about everything that's been said about skidding, especially lilBuddha's explanation. As I'm sure most of you know, I'm a driving instructor. When explaining skids, I never talk about "steering into the skid" as this term is extremely confusing, instead I use diagrams and/or models to demonstrate over and under steering. I also explain how ABS works and why. I wish more people would do so as so many people (including som driving instructors, unfortunately) don't really understand how to use it properly
 

---

Posted by Emma Louise (# 3571) on :
 
A friend has linked to a fab "recipe" for finger paints (sugar, salt, corn starch, water). However googling tells me that corn starch and corn flour (what we have in the UK) are quite different products. Friend suggested potato starch instead but I haven't even heard of that...

Any ideas what I should use? Thanks

(putting on recipe thread too!)
 

---

Posted by Talitha (# 5085) on :
 
I thought cornstarch was just American for cornflour (the fine white stuff with weird non-Newtonian properties), but that if an American says "corn flour" they mean the coarse yellow stuff ground from corn/maize, used for polenta.
 

---

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
They are the same if you are in the UK and not if you are in America. Their corn flour is different from ours.

Jengie
 

---

Posted by Emma Louise (# 3571) on :
 
Recipe was american wanting corn starch and I am in the UK. I don't think they are equivalent from google - do different things and in different quantities I believe?
 

---

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
What American's call corn-starch we call corn-flour but they call something else corn flour (maize flour?).

So I would assume the same quantities.

Jengie
 

---

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
Small thesis/work query, anyone know of any software that allows you to produce sensible timeline diagrams. The Gantt stuff seems to all be too detailed. I am basically dealing with months rather than days

Jengie
 

---

Posted by Aelred of Riveaux (# 12833) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Small thesis/work query, anyone know of any software that allows you to produce sensible timeline diagrams. The Gantt stuff seems to all be too detailed. I am basically dealing with months rather than days

Jengie

---

• the ability to mark specific points in a strand that are important and to comment on them below
• the ability to draw arrows between one stream and another when appropriate.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
So far because the stuff I have found does not do what I want SPSS (thesis) and Excel (work), when I asked what other proposals had used I was told Excel (it is the spread sheet that is used not the graphing capabilities).

I have start and end dates for each strand, sometimes several for a particular strand.

Other details that would be useful

• the ability to mark specific points in a strand that are important and to comment on them below
• the ability to draw arrows between one stream and another when appropriate.

But these are added niceties.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by monkeylizard:
Dishwashers may be different across the pond, but in the US, I have never seen one you just unplug.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Emma Louise:
Recipe was american wanting corn starch and I am in the UK. I don't think they are equivalent from google - do different things and in different quantities I believe?

---

quote:

---

DCP

---

It's unusual to see inexplicable acronyms whilst wending your way amongst the cones. What was I supposed to (not) do on seeing this sign, please?
 

---

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :
 
I suspect, but am not sure, that it stands for Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (see here (search the document for "DCP") and here for some explanations and even a diagram).

So you should be watching out for people dropping 8kg weights down a hole to see what sort of state the road foundations are in.

Now, would you or anyone else like to identify the artwork on that bootleg cover from a few posts ago?
 

---

Posted by Clarence (# 9491) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Emma Louise:
Recipe was american wanting corn starch and I am in the UK. I don't think they are equivalent from google - do different things and in different quantities I believe?

---

Emma Louise, it is corn flour as you know it. I have made fantastic fingerprint with a glue-like base of cooked cornflour and water mixed with some bright non toxic acrylic paint.
 

---

Posted by Dafyd (# 5549) on :
 
I have a pancake recipe calling for two large eggs and all I have are medium. I'm going to assume that it will be ok with two medium if a bit more likely to fall apart; am I right?

Actually, there are only two of us so cutting down the recipe a bit would work - any advice?
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
I'd be inclined to use one medium in place of 1 large egg.

With the potential difference in yolk sizes not being accounted for in egg sizing, it's a very inexact science.

A large egg is supposed to weight 63-73g, so if you have very accurate scales you could beat two medium eggs and then weight out a large egg-worth. Medium eggs should be between 53 and 63g, so you might even be lucky enough to find that one of your medium eggs is very nearly a large one!
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
PS I've just made my usual pancake mix for two of us, and I used one large egg and 4 oz flour - a two egg mix might be a bit overwhelming for two people.
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
I've never had a problem using large eggs instead of medium in any recipe. My favourite pancake / yorkshire pudding mix is made with 1,3,5 (easy to remember, they are in alphabetical order: 1 Egg, 3oz Flour, 5 fl oz Milk). Unless you have a tiny appetite, this is enough for 1 person, so double it for two.

I lovety love traditional sugar and lemon pancakes, but for a special treat drizzle maple syrup over bacon pancakes (or if no bacon, then a dollop of vanilla icecream). Yummity Yum!
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Maple syrup with bacon (thin and crispy) and a dollop of creme fraiche. Mmmmmmmmm.
 

---

Posted by Dafyd (# 5549) on :
 
Thank you everyone. The pancakes all turned out tasting very nice, and some turned out in one piece.
 

---

Posted by BalddudeCrompond (# 12152) on :
 
RE the leather dying, Mark. Before you attempt anything, visit a shoemaker. I know that they do dye leather shoes for weddings etc and may be able to help you.
 

---

Posted by Qoheleth. (# 9265) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Eutychus:
I suspect, but am not sure, that it stands for Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (see here (search the document for "DCP") and here for some explanations and even a diagram).

So you should be watching out for people dropping 8kg weights down a hole to see what sort of state the road foundations are in.

Now, would you or anyone else like to identify the artwork on that bootleg cover from a few posts ago?

---

Thanks Euty; had a geotechnical translation job?

Can't help with the artwork, though.
 

---

Posted by Mili (# 3254) on :
 
I am interested in family history and history in general and have found a lot of interesting information on the Trove website , where you can access digitial copies of Australian newspaper archives. The best thing is it's totally free to use.

I have tried searching the web but am yet to find a similar website for British newspapers. Does anyone know of a site like this? I would prefer a free website but would be happy to pay a small fee if free websites do not exist.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mili:


I have tried searching the web but am yet to find a similar website for British newspapers. Does anyone know of a site like this? I would prefer a free website but would be happy to pay a small fee if free websites do not exist.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bernard Mahler:
I'm busy reading Trollope. "Livings" are mentioned, some rich, some poor. Does this concept still exist? How were they funded?

---

quote:

---

livings
A living was a clergyman's post in a parish providing him with his income and somewhere to live. These posts were usually in the gift of the local landowner. A 'good living' was one which paid well. Mr Morland has two such posts, so he has done very well.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
Would wrapping it in newspaper have the same effect? (which I take to be absorbing the moisture).

---

I'm not sure. The paper bag was something suggested to we students way back in ye-olde days of grade school woodshop. It came up because another student who was a much more capable wood worker than I will ever be wanted to work with some kind of exotic wood* from a tree he and his father had cut down. It worked. After some time (I don't recall how long) he was able to use it to make a chess/checker board.

I think the paper bag works as a way to not only absorb the moisture from the wood and disperse it into the air, but to do it slowly enough that the wood won't crack/split/bow while drying. I don't know if the multiple layers of newspaper would inhibit that slow "wicking" effect or not.

* exotic wood in this case means not the commercial grade pine provided by the school.

[ 16. March 2012, 19:08: Message edited by: monkeylizard ]
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
From what I could find on the web, it is about controlling the evaporation. A paper bag works well because it is easily sealed. The reference I found which mentioned using newspaper suggests taping the edges so there is no gap.
Here is a link which describes the paper bag method. He mentions a couple of other materials near the end. I imagine whatever material you use should have similar properties.
 

---

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
I've done a quick search of the web and found a wabsite that gave me some information, but can anyone tell me how influential (or otherwise) the British Electoral Reform Society is please?

This isn't homework (I'm a bit beyond that ) but came up in a converstion with a friend.

Thanks,
Huia
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
I'm in the process of moving flat, and don't quite remember what the best way for packing crockery (tablewear) is.

The journey is only 20 miles or so, not a big deal in terms of travel and on decent roads, and I'm using these. I have plenty of bubblewrap and if necessary old newspapers.

Any suggestions how to put plates and cups and similar into these? Do you wrap them individually, or like, every other plate?

Thanks.
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Make sure that there is a layer of bubblewrap or newspaper between all china surfaces - so between plates and around cups etc. Set plates flat whenever you can, and fill in any gaps in the boxes with screwed up newspaper or bubblewrap so that things can't move around.

If you have things like vases or tall glasses, make sure that they are lying flat and not at an angle where something might press down on an unsupported middle bit.
 

---

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
I have always used towels and bedding (blankets, pillowcases and sheets) to pack around crockery. Basically anything that can fill space and has a bit of give will do. Stuff something inside glasses, cups and bowls as well as wrapping around the edge.

Jengie
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
I moved seven hundred miles with my dishes packed with bubble wrap and in very large plastic containers.

The only advice I can add to what has already been said is to make sure that the containers are packed so tightly that nothing can move. Stuff newspaper in the odd corners.

Moo
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
Brilliant! Thanks ever so much!
 

---

Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
so, does THIS explain it? Really?
 

---

Posted by St Everild (# 3626) on :
 
Well, I still don't get the offside rule..
 

---

Posted by Tom Paine's Bones (# 17027) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Huia:
I've done a quick search of the web and found a wabsite that gave me some information, but can anyone tell me how influential (or otherwise) the British Electoral Reform Society is please?

---

I'm not sure how you'd measure 'influence'. It has been around for a long time (100 years plus) and has a solid reputation. Its leader, Katie Ghose, is a frequent contributor to public debate at a high level - a panelist on major political talk shows etc. If the Electoral Reform Society publishes a report, it is likely to get press coverage. So, on that basis, it is 'influential'. In fact, you could say that it has almost become part of the 'establishment'.

However, it hasn't had much success at advancing its main aim - getting rid of our lame electoral system and replacing it with Single Transferable Vote. We are no closer to Single Transferable Vote in the UK now than we were a century ago (in fact, probably further away). A form of proportional system (MMP) was adopted for Scottish and Welsh elections, and elections to the London Assembly, and STV was adopted for local Council election in Scotland, but the Electoral Reform Society cannot claim much direct credit for these changes. In 2011, the UK had an referendum on changing the electoral system from first past the post to the Australian style AV (preferential majority) system. The Electoral Reform Society backed the change (as a 'step in the right direction'), but they were beaten 2:1 in the referendum. So, on that level, not very effective.

One could almost argue that the Electoral Reform Society have become one of the 'dignified' parts of the British system: august, worthy and respected, but without actually getting much done.

The ERS is currently trying to broaden out its role, from championing electoral reform specifically to championing constitutional change and good governance more generally - again, whether it has yet had any direct success in that area seems doubtful (although it does keep up a certain constant, nagging pressure) that keeps these things from disappearing from the agenda.

Incidentally, Electoral Reform Services Ltd, a company owned by the Electoral Reform Society, is widely relied upon as a provider of 'electoral services' (i.e. organising and holding elections) for office-bearers of non-public or semi-public institutions, such as trade unions, professional associations, political parties etc.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
I'm IKEA-logically challenged.

I've got an assortment of IVAR bookshelves, which I'm about to put together again in my new apartment. I've done this before, so it can't be that tricky really.

The question now is regarding the cross-braces I need to add for stability: a mathematical mystery to me, I'm afraid. They are 102cm long, and the shelves are 80cm (plus a few mm) apart. If I fix the two top ends of the cross-brace at a height of let's say 150cm (the shelves will be 226cm tall), and if the boards are approx. 80cm long, at what height will the lower ends of the cross-brace need to be fixed so that the shelf stands really upright?

Thanks for your mathematical and/or practical hints.
 

---

Posted by Balaam (# 4543) on :
 
Pythagoras is your friend, Wesley.

Height squared plus width squared is the square of the diagonal.

Failing that, if the diagonals are hidden, string.

A strong string diagonal top left to bottom right will stop it leaning to the left. The opposite diagonal will stop it leaning right, but beware, string stretches so you will need to be able to get in to redo it from time to time.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Balaam:
Pythagoras is your friend, Wesley.

Height squared plus width squared is the square of the diagonal. [...]

---

Ok, that's what I was looking for, I guess. Riiiight: if the diagonal is 102, its square root is 10.099505. The width is given, thus square root of 80 = 8.9442719. How do I get to the height now?

Sincere apologies for bothering you - I never quite 'got' maths, although I know it is fantastic. My maths teachers were a bit lacking creative skills, I hate to say...

Ok - what's the formula for the height if width and diagonal are given? Thanks.
 

---

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 

quote:

---

Wesley J: Ok - what's the formula for the height if width and diagonal are given? Thanks.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
I don't know anything about the English public school system. If someone's son, born in 1885, was educated at Cottesmore Prep school, followed by Charterhouse, then Sandhurst, does that imply that the family had money, or might it have been funded by scholarships? The father was a clergyman, and the son was an only son.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
Anyone know how to treat green wood?

A friend is sawing up our tree, felled by a winter gale. I wanted a slice to turn into a memorial breadboard - but the piece he cut, after a week sitting around the house, has dried and split. If I get another section, how can I prevent this?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
I'm IKEA-logically challenged.

I've got an assortment of IVAR bookshelves, which I'm about to put together again in my new apartment. I've done this before, so it can't be that tricky really.

The question now is regarding the cross-braces I need to add for stability: a mathematical mystery to me, I'm afraid. They are 102cm long, and the shelves are 80cm (plus a few mm) apart. If I fix the two top ends of the cross-brace at a height of let's say 150cm (the shelves will be 226cm tall), and if the boards are approx. 80cm long, at what height will the lower ends of the cross-brace need to be fixed so that the shelf stands really upright?

Thanks for your mathematical and/or practical hints.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
[qb] I'm IKEA-logically challenged.

I've got an assortment of IVAR bookshelves, which I'm about to put together again in my new apartment. I've done this before, so it can't be that tricky really.

The question now is regarding the cross-braces I need to add for stability: a mathematical mystery to me, I'm afraid. They are 102cm long, and the shelves are 80cm (plus a few mm) apart. If I fix the two top ends of the cross-brace at a height of let's say 150cm (the shelves will be 226cm tall), and if the boards are approx. 80cm long, at what height will the lower ends of the cross-brace need to be fixed so that the shelf stands really upright?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
Anyone know how to treat green wood?

A friend is sawing up our tree, felled by a winter gale. I wanted a slice to turn into a memorial breadboard - but the piece he cut, after a week sitting around the house, has dried and split. If I get another section, how can I prevent this?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Eutychus:
Can you spell out what you think is happening? I'm curious as much as anything else.

Although I guess this also means it's time for a new freezer...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Palimpsest:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
I'm IKEA-logically challenged.

I've got an assortment of IVAR bookshelves, which I'm about to put together again in my new apartment. I've done this before, so it can't be that tricky really.

The question now is regarding the cross-braces I need to add for stability: a mathematical mystery to me, I'm afraid. They are 102cm long, and the shelves are 80cm (plus a few mm) apart. If I fix the two top ends of the cross-brace at a height of let's say 150cm (the shelves will be 226cm tall), and if the boards are approx. 80cm long, at what height will the lower ends of the cross-brace need to be fixed so that the shelf stands really upright?

Thanks for your mathematical and/or practical hints.

---

If this is the usual Ikea shelving, the bracing is a pair of wire rods riveted together like a scissors.

The simple way to do this is.. assemble the shelving on a hard floor, face down. Using a shelf or a try square, set the sides at right angles to the bottoms. They'll behave nicely lying on the floor. If any of the shelves are fixed and not on pegs, they can be put in now.

Open the brace so it's wide enough to reach the middle of the back of both sides and put it on the back and screw it on top and bottom. It will automatically be the right width on the bottom if it's the right width on the top. This will keep the shelf from diagnolizing. Lift the shelf carefully to upright and put it against the wall.
Don't forget to attach the strap to the back of one of the fixed shelves and attach it to the wall so it won't fall down on you.

Hope this helps.

---

Thanks muchly for your suggestions. I've been pretty busy around other parts of the flat, such as putting up curtains, so have only just ventured now again into The IKEA Shelf Quest. As I still couldn't get my mind round to actually calculating the right measurements, I tried the manual method once more, laying the shelf down etc. - and have once more spectacularly failed! The top is narrower than the bottom, and thus the shelf boards don't fit... - grrr!!

I'll go back to Wikipedia and Google, and shall look for detailed explanations to the maths formula given above by you peeps. Maths for Dummies, innit.

I shall not be vanquished. Onwards and upwards!
 

---

Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mamacita:
I have a writer friend who is editing/Americanizing a British book. She has asked me if I know what "Holy Spillikins" means. Can anyone help?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
Does this sound unusual to you, JH - a boy born in 1885 at Cottesmore / Charterhouse / Sandhurst, with mill-worker relatives?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mamacita:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mamacita:
I have a writer friend who is editing/Americanizing a British book. She has asked me if I know what "Holy Spillikins" means. Can anyone help?

---

Sorry, just wanted to run this by you one last time. Anyone familiar with it?

---

quote:

---

Do you know if the son was in the army? If born in 1885 he'd have been just the right age to be a captain or perhaps even a major in the regular Army in the Great War.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
His parents' home address at the time of his death was Camden Square, London.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mamacita:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mamacita:
I have a writer friend who is editing/Americanizing a British book. She has asked me if I know what "Holy Spillikins" means. Can anyone help?

---

Sorry, just wanted to run this by you one last time. Anyone familiar with it?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mamacita:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mamacita:
I have a writer friend who is editing/Americanizing a British book. She has asked me if I know what "Holy Spillikins" means. Can anyone help?

---

Sorry, just wanted to run this by you one last time. Anyone familiar with it?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
I'm IKEA-logically challenged.

I've got an assortment of IVAR bookshelves, which I'm about to put together again in my new apartment. I've done this before, so it can't be that tricky really.

The question now is regarding the cross-braces I need to add for stability: a mathematical mystery to me, I'm afraid. They are 102cm long, and the shelves are 80cm (plus a few mm) apart. If I fix the two top ends of the cross-brace at a height of let's say 150cm (the shelves will be 226cm tall), and if the boards are approx. 80cm long, at what height will the lower ends of the cross-brace need to be fixed so that the shelf stands really upright?

Thanks for your mathematical and/or practical hints.

---

All's well that ends well. I've measured the crossbraces again, and from hole for the screw to hole the distance was 104.5cm, and the boards are in fact 85cm long, fixation included. Could have done that before, instead of blindly trusting IKEA. Silly me!

I then put the correct data in this right triangle calculator, which gave me 60.8cm as the vertical distance between the arms of the crossbrace - and using these measurements, the shelves were finally ok. Phew!

Thanks for the maths hints: this was just what I wanted - a theoretical model, instead of just fumbling around with the shelves on the floor. A few more boards to get now, and I'm set up for my very own library room.

Thanks again to the many who chipped in!
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
Ok, me again. Another query to housework:

I've got my own washing machine now in my new apartment, a 6-7kg frontloader.

How long can you leave washed laundry in the machine without it going bad? This would be for when I'm not home to take out the wet washing immediately, like within a few hours.

Thank you.
 

---

Posted by lily pad (# 11456) on :
 
Wesley, you do not run the washing machine when you are not there. It just isn't smart.

My maximum time for leaving laundry in the washer before drying is 8 hours. If somehow laundry gets left in the washer longer than that, I run it through the rinse again. YMMV, but if it smells at all, wash it again and smack yourself so you don't do that again.

Front load washers are notorious for growing mold. Always leave the door open after use so that it gets a chance to dry a bit in there, especially if you are just doing laundry for one and so could be many days between loads.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by lily pad:
Wesley, you do not run the washing machine when you are not there. It just isn't smart.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by lily pad:
Hoses can and do break, let go, spring a leak, etc.

---

Yes. They do.

I had rubber hoses on my washer, and even thought my mother told me to close the water valve after doing my wash, I didn't do it all the time. I remember waking up to a sound like a toilet running. When I got out of bed, my feet went 'squish'. Very bad sign. The rubber hoses were replaced with metal wrapped ones. So far, no more floods.

But I do have to many times throw wash in to run, then hurry off to work. When I get home, they're still fresh, and after a spin in the dryer, you'd never know they were wet all day.
 

---

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 
Our washing machine has a handy "Delay" setting, so we can put the dirty stuff in before going to work and tell it not to start washing them until just before we get back that evening. Then the clothes are freshly cleaned and waiting to be hung up when we get in
 

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Posted by birdie (# 2173) on :
 
That is clever!
 

---

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Mine has a setting whereby the load is washed but not spun. When I get home I spin it and peg it on the line to dry.

If I've left spun-but-still-wet stuff in the washing machine I rinse it again with some white vinegar in the water, then dry it in the sun.

My mother always left the lid of the machins open to air after she had used it.
 

---

Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by jedijudy:
The rubber hoses were replaced with metal wrapped ones. So far, no more floods.

---

Every water line in your house from a cutoff valve to a device should be a metal braided line. This includes the toilet tanks and sink faucets. Don't forget the water line to the fridge. Many of those are copper and they're good to go, no braided needed. It's one of the simplest and cheapest DIY jobs and can save you a lot of money and headache.
 

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Posted by The Kat in the Hat (# 2557) on :
 
You have a waterline to the fridge?
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Kat in the Hat:
You have a waterline to the fridge?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by mertide:
Comet: It's the philtrum , but snot runnel works too.

---

And a woman's cleavage is the inter-mammary sulcus.
 

---

Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
A question about television aerials.

I have never had good television reception at Smudgie Towers, despite having two new aerials, and eventually plumped for cable TV - following the example of my neighbours.

Now my tenant has reverted to using the aerial and has had someone to look at it who says that the aerial itself needs replacing as it "has water in it".

Does anyone know - is this a viable problem with an on-roof aerial? Is £120 plus vat reasonable to replace it? Or are they having a go at conning me because the real reason the television hasn't got a good picture because the location does not get a good signal? Is there any way to find out?
 

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Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 
It's possible that water could be getting in to the cable coming down from the aerial because it's split somewhere. It's also possible, if the seal where it goes through the wall isn't tight, that the water could be running down the outside of the cable and pooling near the TV set itself. I wouldn't have thought it would be a problem with the aerial itself though, unless it's actually rusted.

Small Print: I am not an engineer. Accept this advice at your own risk. Your mileage may vary.
 

---

Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
I wouldn't have thought it would be a problem with the aerial itself though, unless it's actually rusted.

Small Print: I am not an engineer. Accept this advice at your own risk. Your mileage may vary.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
How are they managing to bring the Olympic flame across to Britain by plane? [...]

---

quote:

---

In transit, the flame sometimes travels by air. A version of the miner's safety lamp is used, kept alight in the air. These lamps are also used during the relay, as a back-up in case the primary torch goes out. This has happened before several Games, but the torch is simply re-lit and carries on.

---

quote:

---

Transporting the torch throughout the world has presented organisers with some interesting problems. International air safety regulations do not allow naked flame aboard aircraft, so the flame is stored in miner's (Davis) Lanterns in flight and when the torch procession breaks for the night. A custom designed cradle allows the lanterns to be strapped into any aircraft seat.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
I'm in the process of moving flat, and don't quite remember what the best way for packing crockery (tablewear) is.

The journey is only 20 miles or so, not a big deal in terms of travel and on decent roads, and I'm using these. I have plenty of bubblewrap and if necessary old newspapers.

Any suggestions how to put plates and cups and similar into these? Do you wrap them individually, or like, every other plate?

Thanks.

---

Thank you all! Wrapping each and everything worked perfectly well, and all arrived safe and sound!

Still unpacking and washing up the last few items, now eagerly waiting for an IKEA Värde kitchen island, which I got at a very good price, and which will solve some storage problems in the new, huge kitchen.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
How are they managing to bring the Olympic flame across to Britain by plane? [...]

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by pimple:
Could some kind polyglot please tell me the Aramaic for "my beloved" - with a phonetic transcription in English?

I've tried Google but all the "free" translators want to take over your pooter and sell you stuff and lots of other fings mentioned in their twenty-five pages of terms and conditions.

---

Dodi, i believe, pronounced doe dee. But get someone to check up on me, as i may very well have handed you the Hebrew instead, and hit one of the cases where things are wildly divergent!
 

---

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 
Um...is there any sane reason for the BBC and/or "Masterpiece Theater" to ration the episodes of "Sherlock" and create only 3 per year????


Thanks!
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Golden Key:
Um...is there any sane reason for the BBC and/or "Masterpiece Theater" to ration the episodes of "Sherlock" and create only 3 per year????


Thanks!

---

quote:

---

The Machine Elf: Anyone recommend a book as a convincing introduction to 20C physics - quantum mechanics and relativity - for a sceptical engineer with some knowledge of maths and radio waves.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
Checking, The Specials were formed in 1977.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Machine Elf:
Anyone recommend a book as a convincing introduction to 20C physics - quantum mechanics and relativity - for a sceptical engineer with some knowledge of maths and radio waves. I started reading Dunninghamm and Vedral's book yesterday, but it started with a minus sign appearing with no explanation in its discussion of Mach-Zehnder interferometer. I looked it up in the index and skipped to its treatment later, where they claimed that the a reflected phase of a wave is π/2, whereas it is either π or 0 depending on the reflector, so I now have no idea how much of the rest of it to take seriously.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Golden Key:
Um...is there any sane reason for the BBC and/or "Masterpiece Theater" to ration the episodes of "Sherlock" and create only 3 per year????


Thanks!

---

My own guess is that the principals involved - Moffat, Freeman, Cumberbatch - are all busy, busy people (variously, Dr Who, The Hobbit and just about everything). The episodes are majorly long by TV standards, and the scripts intricate. I imagine output is proportionate to the amount of effort and resource needed to produce them.

---

A much-delayed thanks, Firenze! It's just really frustrating. In the US, shows usually aren't done with 3 episodes a year. I hate having to wait so long!

 

---

Posted by pimple (# 10635) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:

quote:

---

Originally posted by pimple:
Could some kind polyglot please tell me the Aramaic for "my beloved" - with a phonetic transcription in English?

I've tried Google but all the "free" translators want to take over your pooter and sell you stuff and lots of other fings mentioned in their twenty-five pages of terms and conditions.

---

Dodi, i believe, pronounced doe dee. But get someone to check up on me, as i may very well have handed you the Hebrew instead, and hit one of the cases where things are wildly divergent!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Huia:
Towards the end of the war Rudolf Hess travelled to Britain. Is information surrounding this visit still a state secret? If not can anyone point me to any books on the subject please?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
Can one of you scientific folk tell me what the whitish bloom is that my silicon cookware acquires in the cupboard? I wipe or wash it off and it doesn't worry me; I just wonder why it happens.

GG

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
I would be astonished if Jesus did anything so likely to cause discord and jealousy, actually. I mean, there's some sense in privileging three guys over the other nine on specific occasions. But one, in daily discourse?

I thinkit more likely that the ever theologically minded John was trying to make one of his trademark deep points by callimg himself by this term (you see that he never puts the phrase into Jesus' own mouth). I think he was saying that for him the most important part of his identity, more even than his own name, indeed replacing it, was the fact that Jesus loved him--"Having loved his own in the world, he loved them to the end." Jn 13 And as that verse and others make clear, John is more an example, a representative of the many beloved disciples, than a contrast as so many take it--as if he were somehow more or differently beloved than the rest, or indeed, than us. Dodi applies to you personally as much as to John. I think that is what John was trying to get at, anyway.

Sorry to go all Kerygmaniacal on you here!

---

It wouldn't need any help from Jesus to make the disciples jealous. Didn't they routinely squabble over who among them was the greatest?

See, I can get Kerygmanic, too!
 

---

Posted by Fr Raphael (# 17131) on :
 
Not sure if this is the right place to post this question, and I guess it has been discussed somewhere else too but some kind person please help!

Is it possible to get the Bible in a good modern translation free for Kindle?

Your prompt answer would be much appreciated.
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fr Raphael:
Is it possible to get the Bible in a good modern translation free for Kindle?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by jedijudy:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fr Raphael:
Is it possible to get the Bible in a good modern translation free for Kindle?

---

If you act like *now* this Bible is available for free. I just downloaded it for my Nook. There's a Kindle version, too.

Not sure where you live Fr Raphael, but hopefully this is available to you!

---

Fr Raphael, thank you for asking, and Jedi Judy thanks for answering. I was about to ask this as I have a new kindle Now it's a new kindle plus Bible including Apocrypha.

It's the helpful Shipmates that make the Ship the place it is.
 

---

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :
 

quote:

---

It's the helpful Shipmates that make the Ship the place it is.

---

Yes, definitely, Huia. I saw this earlier on but forgot to come back and do anything about it. All downloaded now.
 

---

Posted by Fr Raphael (# 17131) on :
 
Oh dear. That Kindle Bible cannot be got in UK.

Glad my question helped others though
 

---

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fr Raphael:
Oh dear. That Kindle Bible cannot be got in UK.

Glad my question helped others though

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fr Raphael:
We are looking to develop our church website.

To help we thought it would be good to have a look at a selection of 'good' websites, and some bad ones too.

Our context is Church of England parish church.

Any recommendations for good or even bad sites for us to look at, please.?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fr Raphael:
Any recommendations for good or even bad sites for us to look at, please.?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fr Raphael:

Does anyone use a paid designer or rather is it DIY?

---

It is worth doing a little tendering exercise to say 5 or 6 web designers ( whom you've identified either from online searching, or because they have worked on sites you like the look of, or word of mouth). Think what you want the site to do - form follows function. Prioritise currency and ease of update - get a simple, robust CMS (Content Management System). Pay attention to Accessibility issues. Avoid Flash (unless you want iPad users to curse you).

This is all ye know on earth and all you need to know...
 

---

Posted by Fr Raphael (# 17131) on :
 
Thanks Firenze. That's clearly helpful and good advice.

Do you have an example of a good well designed church website? Maybe your own - given your knowledge of all this.

 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
One important point about church websites is that they need to be kept up-to-date. It doesn't look good when the 'Upcoming Events' section lists things that happened months ago.

Moo
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
The other nightmare with church websites is coding for different browsers - I can get pages working on Firefox and Chrome, and safari and all the phone browsers, but Internet Explorer is a law unto itself.

As a Church of England parish, are you using A Church Near You? as something free and OK (although I hate keeping that one up-to-date)
 

---

Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
One important point about church websites is that they need to be kept up-to-date. It doesn't look good when the 'Upcoming Events' section lists things that happened months ago.

Moo

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fr Raphael:

Do you have an example of a good well designed church website? Maybe your own - given your knowledge of all this.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
One important point about church websites is that they need to be kept up-to-date. It doesn't look good when the 'Upcoming Events' section lists things that happened months ago.

Moo

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Grits:

We are a small congregation -- 300 or so on Sunday mornings

---

 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
Google is my friend!

It appears that a vessel named Egypt was carrying cargo including over a £1,000,000 in gold when she was sunk by collision with a French vessel to the south-west of Ushant (an island at the far tip of Brittany) on 20th May 1922.

I can't find details of an Alabama sunk off Normandy in 1964 but that may well have the same basis.
 

---

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
Google is my friend!

It appears that a vessel named Egypt was carrying cargo including over a £1,000,000 in gold when she was sunk by collision with a French vessel to the south-west of Ushant (an island at the far tip of Brittany) on 20th May 1922.

---

I bow to your superior Google-fu. I wondered if they were wrecks but couldn't find anything. I'll have to look for Alabama now. Why those ones I wonder? And why on earth on a flight map?

I have also learned that "Ushant" is English for Ouessant. I never knew that.

[ETA: and armed with that I found the Alabama before the edit time ran out. Thanks, Sioni!]

[ 09. June 2012, 21:18: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Eutychus:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
Google is my friend!

It appears that a vessel named Egypt was carrying cargo including over a £1,000,000 in gold when she was sunk by collision with a French vessel to the south-west of Ushant (an island at the far tip of Brittany) on 20th May 1922.

---

I bow to your superior Google-fu. I wondered if they were wrecks but couldn't find anything. I'll have to look for Alabama now. Why those ones I wonder? And why on earth on a flight map? lconfused:

I have also learned that "Ushant" is English for Ouessant. I never knew that.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
[eta: no wonder I couldn't find Alabama. I was looking for one in 1964!]

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Carex:
If the ring tone selection is in the door portion, then it would transmit the sound you chose. But if other nearby houses use transmitters on the same frequency you could hear their doorbells transmitting different tones.

So the question becomes, are there other neighbours close enough who also have wireless doorbells? You could take a tour of the area ringing all the bells and see which ones you hear.

Depending on the frequency of operation, there could be transmitters for other purposes that you can hear also. But the sounds you describe do sound as though they would come from a doorbell.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by birdie:
How long is it since mumps was seen commonly in children in the UK?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Blame the vile anti-science propaganda of the Daily Mail and their cronies.

---

I do, I do. In fact I did, in the conversation, much to the Doctor's amusement.

What made me wonder was that he was quite... tentative... when he was saying it wasn't mumps. It just made me wonder how often he might see it.

(I am pretty sure it's not what Groover's got - mainly because he's pretty perky. I remember having mumps and it was frigging miserable.)
 

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Posted by The Kat in the Hat (# 2557) on :
 
My son had mumps after his MMR - I was the one saying it can't be. The doctor said the MMR didn't necessarily prevent people catching the disease, but it would only be in a milder form. (My sister's 2 children both had rubella after their MMR).
One of the TAs at school was complaining about her glands being swollen - probably mumps I said. I was right
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
I had mumps in the 2005/06 outbreak and my doctor couldn't confirm I had it, but could confirm by a blood test afterwards that I had had it. My impression was that the doctor hadn't much experience of mumps.

However he told me that I MUST NOT eat fruit or anything that might stimulate my salivary glands, but MUST instead survive by allowing chocolate to melt in my mouth, which was clearly excellent advice.

My son had rubella aged 2 1/2, having had his first MMR, and our GP said that it was quite common.
 

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Posted by Janine (# 3337) on :
 
Given that so many of my online friends and acquaintances are known to me by two names, some of which I sometimes forget -- and given that I have little patience for a lot of fiddly detail work with my address lists -- I tend to accept a new person as an email contact unless/until they make it obvious they should be deleted.

One can look through my MSN/Hotmail Messenger contact list and find it littered with the addresses of people who must be considered spammers. Unless they're 'bots or something.

Haven't looked at Messenger for months -- maybe years -- 'cause I have to swat away clouds of those bad contacts to hold an actual conversation. Spent some idle time today cleaning some of those addresses out of my account, because that Messenger does perform the best for me.

That's what my question is: Are those spammers (they're for the porn sites, I believe) real people with a strict script, or are they some kind of 'bot or other bothersome program?
 

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Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Probably bots and probably not "legitimate" porn sites. That is to say their goal is not likely to sell you porn, but to infect your computer or steal your money.
 

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Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
@birdie - I wouldn't say Groover didn't have mumps if he's fine. I was dancing around driving everyone nuts. My next sister down was extremely ill in a darkened room, and the youngest, who was a toddler at the time, was really not happy either. The only thing that hurt was jumping up and down.
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
If he's had his MMR, and if it is mumps, he's not likely to feel very ill. My son was extremely spotty but otherwise perky when he had rubella. Our GP said that if he hadn't had his MMR he'd have been really ill, but because he'd had his MMR he had rubella in a milder form. I think "attenuated rubella" is what is in his notes.
 

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Posted by Polly Plummer (# 13354) on :
 
Master Plummer had mumps many years ago (before the days of MMR) and seemed too ill to go to the surgery, so I called the G.P. for a home visit. By the time he arrived the pesky boy had started to feel better and we had to chase him up the stairs so the doc could examine him.

One of my more embarrassing moments as a parent.
 

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Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :
 
The severity of mumps also depends on how many of your glands you have it in. Most children get it in just a couple.

The reason I know this is that at the age of three I got it in all six (the maximum possible number). On Christmas Day. I was GRUMPY.
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
I had bad mumps on Christmas Day too, la vie en rouge, I was about 6 I think. I remember my parents wrapping cotton wool round my neck as it was so swollen, and then my dad spending the rest of the day calling me 'Father Christmas' and I got really upset. He still laughs about that.

I have a question which may be more suited to the Geek thread but I don't think I'll understand the answer if they answer in geektalk

I subscribe to several podcasts via iTunes, my mp3 player is a Creative Zen and usually when I hook up the mp3 player to the laptop it does the synch of any new downloads via Windows Media Player. However sometimes (like now) there will be a glitch and WMP doesn't seem to recognise that iTunes has downloaded several new podcasts. This has happened a couple of times before since I got Windows 7 (it never used to happen in XP), and it will suddenly right itself as if nothing had happened, although the not recognising new downloads thing does seem to last a few weeks which is really frustrating (my most up-to-date ones that did make it through are from mid-May, alhtough I download new ones each week). So my question: is there anything I can do to make Windows Media Player talk to iTunes, or is there any other media player which would be better? WMP is able to read the mp3 player OK and tell me what is on it, but it is still showing the podcasts from a month ago but not recognising or acknowledging any of the new ones, despite them all sitting in iTunes like all the others.

Thanks for any help!
 

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Posted by Janine (# 3337) on :
 
I had mumps -- and was told to stay in bed since they figured it would help limit the spread to other glands. Novel experience. Relatives brought a a little black & white TV, set it up atop the chest of drawers. That's how long ago it was, B&W TV was normal, and having two in the house or a little one for your bedroom was high livin' indeed.

Now that there's a shot for varicella (chicken pox), kids sometimes still get it, but so much milder you can't always tell it's chixpox.

So yeah, one can have all sorts of these diseases and have a mild case.

Mostly I remember what it did to my sense of smell. Everything was different. I myself began to smell like a duck. Except for my hair, which smelled like a rabbit.
 

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Posted by birdie (# 2173) on :
 
Me again. (Thanks for the mumps info.)

We currently have our house on the market to let. I had a phone call from the agent today, saying that they had a lady interested in viewing the house with a view to renting, but that she would like to know whether it would be okay for her to change the taps in the bathroom and downstairs loo to mixer taps. (The kitchen tap is already a mixer.) All at her expense and she would arrange it, but she had to know whether it would be okay because this is absolutely non-negotiable and she wouldn't consider a house without mixer taps.

When asked she said this was for 'cultural reasons'. Has anyone got any ideas what these cultural reasons might be?!
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
It might be something to do with Muslim, wudu washing before prayer, which should be done under running water. I don't know why it would require a mixer tap, though, rather than just a running cold tap. A hot tap alone would be too hot.
 

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Posted by Gracious rebel (# 3523) on :
 
Cultural reasons? Well I expect if she is from anywhere else than Britain, she probably feels she has a point.
 

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Posted by birdie (# 2173) on :
 
Yes, the absence of mixer taps in Britain has been discussed on the Ship before, and I did think of it. For me though, that comes under 'I HATE seperate taps' rather than 'cultural reasons'.

I wondered about some sort of ritual washing thing too, but couldn't work out what the objection to just cold water would be.
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
My flat has mixer taps in bathroom and kitchen. I wish it didn't, more trouble than they are worth. I would change them except that that is so far down the list of vital things to do to fix the flat that I'm unlikely to get roudn to it in my lifetime.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Can anyone shed any light on the origin of "a concerto for three beer glasses and a bassoon"? I can't remember where this comes from, and Google isn't helping.
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Can anyone shed any light on the origin of "a concerto for three beer glasses and a bassoon"? I can't remember where this comes from, and Google isn't helping.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Can anyone shed any light on the origin of "a concerto for three beer glasses and a bassoon"? I can't remember where this comes from, and Google isn't helping.

---

I've never heard of it, but it sounds like something P. D. Q. Bach might have come up with.

Moo

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
@Ariel that quotation comes from The Moonspinners - Mary Stewart - Google worked for me, and I knew it was familiar - Wozzeck was the composer suggested.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
Eighth time lucky - I now have travel insurance.

Anybody know why it was so hard? Why don't companies regard two parents with two teens as a "family"?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
They did suggest a trifocal, but that sounds like hell to adjust to.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
...somebody tell me why it's so impossible to get bifocals made with the top section adjusted to your computer range and the bottom section adjusted to reading print?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
somebody tell me why it's so impossible to get bifocals made with the top section adjusted to your computer range and the bottom section adjusted to reading print?

---

They do - mine are varifocals, specifically adjusted. Reading, computer and distance. I have very difficult and complicated eyes, including Irlen syndrome - so my specs cost £600 but they do they job very well indeed.
 

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Posted by SusanDoris (# 12618) on :
 
Three times this week, I have had to log in - not a problem, but I'm almost entirely certain that I didn't log offand I'm normally logged in all the time. Can anyone tell me what to do, please?
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by SusanDoris:
Three times this week, I have had to log in - not a problem, but I'm almost entirely certain that I didn't log offand I'm normally logged in all the time. Can anyone tell me what to do, please?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by SusanDoris:
Do you think I should add this to a topic already on Styx, or put it as a new one?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
somebody tell me why it's so impossible to get bifocals made with the top section adjusted to your computer range and the bottom section adjusted to reading print?

---

They do - mine are varifocals, specifically adjusted. Reading, computer and distance. I have very difficult and complicated eyes, including Irlen syndrome - so my specs cost £600 but they do they job very well indeed.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
...
It's also worth asking whether you're eligible for NHS vouchers with a complex prescription, and also whether, if you're employed, the company you work for offers any kind of assistance with glasses or lenses and sight tests.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Okay, since I am Clearly Clueless (as the woman in the eyeshop made clear with her pitying tone), somebody tell me why it's so impossible to get bifocals made with the top section adjusted to your computer range and the bottom section adjusted to reading print?

...

Why can't this be done?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Eutychus:
In slightly similar vein, calling experts on UK birth records.

Does anybody know if, by travelling to a physical location such as a registry office (or indeed anywhere else), it's possible to consult (and perhaps obtain a copy of) a summary list of births for a given date in a given locality? I'm thinking of births in the late 60s-early 70s.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
I guess you're looking for The Investigator, Robert Armin

---

Brilliant! Thank you very much.
 

---

Posted by Janine (# 3337) on :
 
Surely somebody is into dream interpretation.

I recently dreamed I was forced -- my hands were restrained in some way, neither painfully nor frighteningly restrained, unknown just how (and no, I haven't read 50 Shades of Gray ) --

I was compelled to play the piano with my elbows.

I do not play. For me, a piano is only a giant tuning fork, for use in pitching or learning an a capella song.

There I was, unable to use my hands, forced to play by banging away at the keyboard with my elbows... and it sounded pretty darn good. A sort of ragtime honky-tonk thing rippled out of that piano, better music than any (shadowy, unidentified) person around me in that dream could do with free hands.

I don't remember much about my dreams, usually, but the feel-good ones that seem to paint me in a positive light, those stick with me.

Any idea what it might mean/symbolize?
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Sounds like a lovely metaphor for most of our lives. Doing the best we can with the awkward situations forced on us--and doing a pretty good job in spite of it.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Janine:
Surely somebody is into dream interpretation.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
Eutychus, having googled a bit you might be able to look at the General Record Office books - you need a date and a district - more here and scroll down the page to find sites that let you do this.

Registers end up in the archive offices, but I don't think you're allowed access to recent books. From practical knowledge all the local church records pre-1980 are in the archives, requests are made regularly for copy certificates for baptism or weddings (or burials) but all that comes back is a copy certificate, I am sure that you don't get to look through them yourself. And there are fees to get a copy certificate - birth or whatever.

---

Sorry to be a pain, but GRO registers don't end up in archives offices. Even the early ones stay with the registrars.
 

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Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
That link if you scroll down, gives you links to find places where you can access the General Record Offices indices on-line, sorry if I conflated church records with GRO records in my phrasing.
 

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Posted by Qoheleth. (# 9265) on :
 
Any locksmiths out there, please?

Our lovely old Edwardian Church still has its original Chubb mortice locks on key (sic) doors. I know they don't meet the latest insurance spec, but that's another topic . Meanwhile, as they are heavily used and somewhat worn, I get periodic worried calls from keyholders because the brass "curtain" has rotated to blind the keyhole. This then needs to be re-aligned with a handy bit of wire, occasioning comments from passers-by.

Apart from expensive locksmiths and internet-based restorers, any simple suggestions to maintain the alignment of the curtain with the hole, please?

Thanks
 

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Posted by A.Pilgrim (# 15044) on :
 
Eutychus – Just to get my understanding right, you’re after a list of names of people born on a specified date at a particular locality from registration data? I regret that TTBOMK there is no way at all that this can be obtained, neither in person or on-line. This is because the GRO is only allowed by law to give registration information in the form of formal certificates. There is no other way until an Act of Parliament is passed to change this. (Though there might be a way to find the information if you had a limitless budget.)

Even if this obstacle was removed, the date of birth was entered in the register but not indexed, so you can’t search by it. In theory you’d have to get hold of the original register and look through every entry from the date you’re interested in for the following 6 weeks of entries (since birth registration can be done up to 6 weeks after the birth) picking out the entries with the date you want. (Even then you couldn’t guarantee finding all the births, as the parents could have registered late and paid the appropriate fine.) If by ‘for a given date’ you mean date of registration, then you’d only need to look through the register for that date, but then you’d get births from any date in the previous six weeks. But this is all hypothetical because you can’t do it.

With a limitless budget you could order all the birth certificates for a registration district for the quarter(-year) containing the date you want (and the following quarter if the date is within six weeks of the change of quarter) and look through them for the information you want. Cost? Well, **sucks teeth loudly** say about 2000 certificates (figure varies depending on which reg. district) at £9.25 a pop, best part of 20 grand. Mind you, given that the GRO are picky about birth certificates for births less than 50 years ago because of their possible fraudulent use, you’d probably get referred for investigation, or just refused... (Sorry, went into rambling brain-dump mode... )

A fully-digitised, publicly-searchable database of all information recorded on birth, marriage, and death registers is the holy grail of family historians. I doubt that I will see it in my lifetime, and it wouldn’t include information less than 100 years old anyway.
Angus
 

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Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by A.Pilgrim:
Eutychus – Just to get my understanding right, you’re after a list of names of people born on a specified date at a particular locality from registration data?

---

Yes, that's right.

I think the nearest one can get is to look at the quarterly GRO indexes - which, according to CK's link above, can still be consulted in hardcopy form in some locations - for likely candidates and then start using the information supplied in the indexes (such as the parents' names) to narrow down the search before ordering a full birth certificate.

Thanks for your helpful answer, anyway!
 

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Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :
 
How do you pronounce 'Balaam'? I say it rhymes with 'alarm' (or 'salaam'), mr whibley makes it rhyme with 'Salem'. We both think it would be rather cool if pronounced 'Bal-ay-am'.
 

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Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :
 
I say bay-lam, rhymes with nail am.

Probably a potayto potarto thing though.
 

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Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
In Hebrew, it's actually pronounced bil`am, (Stress on the second syllable), which may or may not effect how you want to pronounce it in English. The second syllable is like the one in "alarm" (if you're non-rhotic).
 

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Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :
 
Thanks folks!
 

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Posted by pimple (# 10635) on :
 
These boards and my emails are currently peppered with fake links - highlighted words not linked by any bona fide correspondents. I've clicked on one or two and stopped there - they seem to be part of a fyshing expedition, asking me to take part in a survey.

If I disable cookies and all add-ons will they disappear? Why hasn't my security system picked it up?
 

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Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by pimple:
These boards and my emails are currently peppered with fake links

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
I don't mean to junior host

---

...
 

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Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
pimple, it's not a Ship technical issue - you've got a virus. I've heard of this on other boards where people are complaining of these links. I can't remember what the virus is or how it works
 

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Posted by pimple (# 10635) on :
 
Thanks CK, I'll buy some stronger security.
 

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Posted by Balaam (# 4543) on :
 
@Pimple

It sounds like Buzzdock. Especially if you are using Chrome. It won't show up on a virus scan or a malware scan.

On a PC running Windows XP go to Start/Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs.

Scroll down.

If you have a program listed called Yontoo remove it.
 

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Posted by snowgoose (# 4394) on :
 
I have read about all the bells in the UK ringing out for the Olympics, including Big Ben ringing for 3 minutes straight. This led me to wonder how they do the actual ringing. Is there still a human bell ringer ringing Big Ben or have they automated it somehow? I have googled it, but have not found the answer on any site so far.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by snowgoose:
I have read about all the bells in the UK ringing out for the Olympics, including Big Ben ringing for 3 minutes straight. This led me to wonder how they do the actual ringing. Is there still a human bell ringer ringing Big Ben or have they automated it somehow?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by snowgoose:
And they use old pennies (are they the kind with wrens on them?)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evensong:
Anyone know how to remove sweat stains from white business shirts??

TIA

(Evensong - domestically challenged)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evensong:
Anyone know how to remove sweat stains from white business shirts??

TIA

(Evensong - domestically challenged)

---

Wear black instead.
 

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Posted by Janine (# 3337) on :
 
Dunno 'bout you, but industrial strength Louisiana sweat would just eat the black dye, leaving a gray spot instead of a stain.

Question, preceded by explanation:

My little daughter-in-law likes cop and doctor drama type TV shows. House has been a favorite.

I'd like to introduce her to some videos of Hugh Laurie in other settings. I do know of some good links to him dealing with his beloved Jazz music.

Can y'all suggest some of the best YouTube or similar videos of him in Jeeves & Wooster mode, for example, or any other things you liked of his?
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
Janine, some time ago the Daily Telegraph newspaper gave away free Jeeves and Wooster DVDs. I have 5 of them which I'd happily pop in the post to you, but they have a "Region 2" code on them which means, I think, that they can be played in Europe, but not in America.

Can a more technologically minded shipmate advise?
 

---

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Janine:
I'd like to introduce her to some videos of Hugh Laurie in other settings.

---

Look up Blackadder. He's bloody hilarious in it
 

---

Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :
 
What the Martian said. IMO his finest hour is playing Thick George the Stupid Prince in the third series.
 

---

Posted by Janine (# 3337) on :
 
I am always interested in getting other people hooked on Blackadder.

I am totally ignorant about the whole DVD regions thing. Mostly because I've never been exposed to it as a problem, because all the more tech-savvy people in my family take a look at the problem, and snort and cock their heads sideways like clever birds, then they spout off commentary filled with all sorts of incomprehensible (to me) computery Internet argle-bargle, then they say "eh, voila!", or maybe "I. Am. A. Genius!", 'cause they've solved the problem.

Eh, la la.
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Janine, Hugh Laurie also has a small part as Mr Palmer in one of the movie versions of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility - also on DvD.

Stayed true to the book., but made me see the character in a new light.
 

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Posted by Percy Blakeney (# 17238) on :
 
Not sure if this is the place to ask. Hopefully someone can help.

A certain young man in my family loves Horrid Henry books. They Re just right for his reading level and they engage him.

S far, so good.

Now it would be good to broaden out a little. Same reading level but different engaging stories...

Any suggestions? Or, maybe, any suggestions how to find out!
 

---

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Huia:
Janine, Hugh Laurie also has a small part as Mr Palmer in one of the movie versions of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility - also on DvD.

Stayed true to the book., but made me see the character in a new light.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
The owner's manual says that this happens in very hot and humid weather; the solution is to reset the thermostat. Unfortunately they don't say whether I should raise or lower it. There are separate thermostats for the fridge and the freezer. I have the fridge set on 40°F and the freezer on 0°F.

---

Are you getting the condensation in both the fridge AND the freezer? If you are getting it in both, that would sugggest that lowering the temp in the fridge isn't going to help--because the freezer is 40° colder and still getting it. On the other hand, it would also suggest that raising the temp of the freezer won't help because the fridge is 40° warmer and still getting it. So, if it is in both, playing with the thermostat strikes me as useless.

If it is just in the fridge but not the freezer, then colder is the answer. And the reverse if it is in the freezer but not the fridge.

But that is just me thinking it through in a manner that I laughingly refer to as logical. I don't have any personal experience. And years of bitter experience have taught me that what I think is logical has no bearing on the real world.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Rapidly converting to Celsius, that would appear to be the same as the settings on my fridge and freezer. So if that is the normal range, it suggests unusually warm conditions would require lower temperatures. I can't imagine it would be a good thing to have foodstuff any warmer than -4 C.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Ho-kay. Another weird problem.

I've got a seventeen-year-old boy in my extended family who is suffering from a great need for orthodonture AND an eccentric father. Specifically, T's two front teeth are buckled (as if you had a double door someone had pushed on the center of, so the inside edges are rotated closer to the back of the mouth, the outer edges toward the lips. Also, one partly overlapping the other).

Naturally he's selfconscious and desperately wants braces. Sad to say, Dad flat out refuses to spend money on any such frivolities or to allow anyone else to do so (being poor-in-his-own-estimation but proud-to-a-ridiculous-degree).

I am trying to figure out a way to circumvent him.

What I want to know is, is there any kind of braces/retainers/whatsit that might work in this situation but Dad won't notice? He's still got his vision, and I don't think T. can spend months and months walking around with his mouth shut.
 

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Posted by mertide (# 4500) on :
 
Could you not suggest to the generous benefactor that he could give an appropriate sum to the boy for his 18th birthday, and then he, as an adult, could make his own choice how to spend it?
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Would that I could, but Vietnamese children don't reach financial independence until they marry and move out (by tradition). And Dad is intensely traditional. And T is kindhearted.

[ 10. August 2012, 03:12: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
 

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Posted by mertide (# 4500) on :
 
Here we have a style of brace called invisalign which are fitted on the inside of the teeth. I can't imagine how the dad won't notice the teeth getting straighter over time, though. They tend to be a bit more expensive, and I'm not sure if they're effective on such a large orthodontic problem.

It seems T has taken on more American culture with his worries about straight teeth than his family. It may well be outside normal Vietnamese culture to spend $5000 plus on a cosmetic issue on a boy. Maybe a Vietnamese local dentist or orthodontist may be able to talk to the parents, or perhaps the boy could do a contra deal with an orthodontist, paying for it in after school or weekend chores or work, so as not to have cash change hands.
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
Originally posted by Percy Blakeney:

quote:

---

A certain young man in my family loves Horrid Henry books. They Re just right for his reading level and they engage him.

S far, so good.

Now it would be good to broaden out a little. Same reading level but different engaging stories...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by mertide:
It seems T has taken on more American culture with his worries about straight teeth than his family. It may well be outside normal Vietnamese culture to spend $5000 plus on a cosmetic issue on a boy.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
I have a problem I hope someone can help me with. My year-and-a-half old refrigerator suddenly has a lot of condensed moisture inside.

The owner's manual says that this happens in very hot and humid weather; the solution is to reset the thermostat. Unfortunately they don't say whether I should raise or lower it. There are separate thermostats for the fridge and the freezer. I have the fridge set on 40°F and the freezer on 0°F.

Does anyone know what I should do?

Moo

---

The problem might be your drain line. If it is blocked, or partially blocked, this can lead to condensation.
 

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Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 
Wipe down the rubber gasket seal around the door too. Some warm water and dish soap will be fine. If that gasket isn't making a good seal, it will let that humid air in.
 

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Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
This question is about a book I read some time ago and would like to read again... but I can't remember the name and Google has failed me so far.

The plot is roughly:

After an apocalyptic event, time starts to go in reverse. Everything that anyone does is in reverse. People are born from the grave and die in the womb. They 'eat' by taking pipes of 'food' through the place from which it normally leaves the body. The reverse is true... the food is 'regurgitated' etc.

That's about all I can remember... can anyone help?
 

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Posted by Late Paul (# 37) on :
 
Meerkat,

Sounds like a story from 2000AD when I was a kid, although if I remember correctly there was just one person experiencing time backwards and no apocalypse.
 

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Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :
 
Martin Amis' Time's Arrow fits the premise although not the date.
 

---

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :
 
Sorry, bad link. Try this one (and curse the 1-minute edit time coupled with 2-minute flood control )

[ETA: ]

[ 14. August 2012, 12:08: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
 

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Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
Eutychus... that sounds like it, from the 'look inside' link in Amazon... it was a few years ago. If that is the book, I think I'll 'Kindle it'... many thanks. Did you know the book, or is your Googling better than mine??
 

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Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :
 
I read a review when it was first published (I'm one of these people who remembers lots of what I read). It didn't make we want to read it in the slightest, but was enough to chime with your post.
 

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Posted by TurquoiseTastic (# 8978) on :
 
An earlier book with a similar premise is Philip K. Dick's Counter Clock World
 

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Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
TurquoiseTastic... having 'looked inside' the book you mention, I found a key word which tells me that your suggestion is indeed the one for which I was looking... thanks (to you and Eutychus).
 

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Posted by Pre-cambrian (# 2055) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by TurquoiseTastic:
An earlier book with a similar premise is Philip K. Dick's Counter Clock World

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Huia:
Does anyone know what the theme music for the TV programme Grand Designs is please?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Huia:
Thanks alienfrog - I'll have to wait until I can go on-line at the library - I'm on dial-up here.

Interesting that it's been used at weddings, I like it, but wouldn't go that far.

---

No problem... but I am not an alien frog!!!!!

AFZ
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
What an idiot I am, I have been misreading your name for a long time. I am not dyslexic, but sometimes my brain doesn't work well. One of the men at church suggested I have liquefaction of the brain from the earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks, but I think it's just how I am.

Sorry.

Huia
 

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Posted by Dormouse (# 5954) on :
 
Don't worry, Huia - with the little green avatar and the fact it starts alien fro -- and finishes with a "g" means that my brain (too used to jumong chunks of text in books) also reads alienfromzog as "alien frog" You're not the only one!!
 

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Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dormouse:
Don't worry, Huia - with the little green avatar and the fact it starts alien fro -- and finishes with a "g" means that my brain (too used to jumong chunks of text in books) also reads alienfromzog as "alien frog" You're not the only one!!

---

 

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Posted by Percy B (# 17238) on :
 
We are thinking of getting a comb binder or wire ring binder machine for larger one off A 4 format books at church - such as large print service / music books of our own.

Anyone recommend a good binder?
 

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Posted by The Kat in the Hat (# 2557) on :
 
A comb-binder means you can continue to add to it. I don't think this is the case with wire-binders.
You can also reuse the combs.
Some people think wire-binders look more professional.
 

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Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dormouse:
Don't worry, Huia - with the little green avatar and the fact it starts alien fro -- and finishes with a "g" means that my brain (too used to jumong chunks of text in books) also reads alienfromzog as "alien frog" You're not the only one!!

---

Same here.
 

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Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
Can anyone advise on a way of getting dried-on splatters of emulsion paint off a varnished wood floor? (Careless painter, not me!)
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
This is off the top of my head.

I would try scraping them off with a plastic scraper.

Moo
 

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Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
If you're reasonably careful and the varnish is very smooth you should be able to use a razor-blade type scraper. Keep the blade very flat to the floor and go in tiny pushes.
 

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Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Emusion paint (latex, US) is not very penetrative but it might have gripped the varnish. Waiting never helps, but be gentle. Slip a scraper between the paint and the floor and determine if it will peel. You may end up with a dull spot in the varnish regardless.
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
I've just been to the optician, and had my contact lens prescription increased. I am short-sighted, and need to use reading glasses with my contact lenses for close-up work.

The optician has suggested that I have contact lenses where one eye is the distance prescription, and the other the reading prescription. She says that my brain would very quickly get used to this, and would adapt to using one eye more than the other for distance or reading, which would mean that I didn't need to use the reading glasses.

Does anyone else have experience of this? Has anyone even heard of it? It sounds like a perfect prescription for a permanent headache to me. They are giving me a free trial starting in just over a week (they hadn't got the right lenses in stock) and I would like to be a bit better informed before I go back. I'm sceptical about it working properly, but on the other hand, if it does it would be far more convenient.
 

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Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
My immediate questions are: How do you judge distances? What would it mean for driving or cycling? I know what it's like if I've only got one lens in (but my sight is appalling)
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Drifting Star, way back when I got presbyopia at the tender age of forty, my eye doctor recommended the same monovision contact lens fix. It worked very well for about ten years or so until I had to give up my contacts for other reasons.

The brain does indeed make allowances for the two different sights you are seeing. It seemed I switched effortlessly from far to near sight within a week or so.

If you just sit and look, you can definitely see the haziness of the off eye, in my case, looking to the distance, my left eye was unfocused. And the opposite happened when looking at reading distances. But just general 'going about my business' activities weren't affected at all.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
I was invited to have that. I'm afraid I just laughed, thinking the optician was joking at first. Then I refused, wondering what the long-term effects of this might be - and what about middle distance: computer use and the like? And how do you choose between eyes?

If you drive you'll need to be able to judge depth (in order to park, see distances from kerb, gateposts etc) and if you're shortsighted you may find night driving less easy, especially when it comes to judging depth. With only one eye in focus I personally wouldn't risk it but you may be able to see more and be more confident.

There was also the day when I was coming off a motorway onto a slip road leading to a three-lane roundabout, and one of my contact lenses slipped out of place with nowhere to pull over and fix it. I got home driving with one eye, but it made me think at the time that if I'd started off with one and that slipped I'd be done for.

When reading I wear reading glasses over contact lenses. At night I just take the lenses out and have ordinary glasses. It's whatever you're comfortable with, really.
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
That's very reassuring JJ - thanks. Did you feel that you could see as well for distances as you would have been able to with the basic distance prescription?

CK - the optician seemed to feel that this was a good solution for driving, but I can probably avoid driving if I need to for the fortnight when I'm trying them out.

ETA Ariel - I have been using reading glasses with my contacts until now, because I can read with just the lenses but my distance prescription has increased, and I suspect that means my near vision with contacts is going to be worse.

The prescription she has suggested for my left eye (the one that will be for reading) is the same as it is now, and that is good enough for driving on its own, so the issue of finding myself with just one eye to use while driving shouldn't be a problem.

[ 08. September 2012, 17:44: Message edited by: Drifting Star ]
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Drifting Star, if I remember rightly, my distance vision seemed to have been the same or similar to what it had been before I got the monovision. Which isn't saying much, as my corrected vision has never been wonderful. The joys of having a vertical and horizontal astigmatism in my eyes.

[tangent] I remember how amazing it was wearing my contacts the first time and discovering that the trees had leaves on them! [/tangent]
 

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Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 
Drifting Star, I have, like JJ, had monovision contacts for several years, and it has worked very well for me. The brain adjusts very quickly to it. I will say that I remove my contacts and switch to my glasses by early evening, but that's more a habit from my many years of hard or gas-permeable lenses. I will also switch into my bifocal glasses if I'm going to have to do several hours of reading. But for all the activities of daily life -- driving, working, housework, using the computer, gardening, whatever -- the monovision lenses have been just fine.
 

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Posted by Percy B (# 17238) on :
 
I have to be in London at the end of October for a few days. I'd like to try to see if I could find a good play to see. Is there a what's on website that goes far ahead with listings?
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Percy B:
I have to be in London at the end of October for a few days. I'd like to try to see if I could find a good play to see. Is there a what's on website that goes far ahead with listings?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by jedijudy:
[tangent] I remember how amazing it was wearing my contacts the first time and discovering that the trees had leaves on them! [/tangent]

---

That is exactly what happened to me when I was 16 and had my first glasses! I honestly didn't know that it was normal to be able to see the leaves.
 

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Posted by mertide (# 4500) on :
 
If you don't have much astigmatism, ask your optometrist if you might be suitable for multifocal contacts. They generally have concentric areas with distance and near focus, which allow much better depth perception than monovision. There can be a slight trade off in the visual acuity in some light conditions, due to pupil size variations, but I tend to find my patients are much more satisfied than with monovision if they have a suitable prescription.

An option if you choose monovision is to get specs for driving if you're having depth perception issues to correct your reading eye back to distance. That can be very useful for night driving.

(I am an optometrist, but please seek the advice of your practitioner didah didah).
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Has anyone tried haybox cooking? Any do's or don'ts?

Made your own haybox? Any tips?
 

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Posted by Polly Plummer (# 13354) on :
 
They showed haybox cooking on this week's instalment of The Wartime Farm, which is still on I-player. A very informative programme.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
That was what gave me the idea... just wondering if it would be practical to set something up before I left for work. It might be overcooked by the time I got back.
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
To go back to the contact lens question, I have worn just one contact lens for quite a while. I wear a contact lens so I can see distance but am able to read and do close work with my un-contact lensed eye. I have never had any problems at all - my brain adjusted immediately.

I started it because I resented having to wear reading glasses when wearing contacts, when I didn't need them if I wasn't wearing contact lenses.

I checked with the optician, who told me it was a viable strategy (and I'd just thought it was a good idea!).


If I'm driving, though, I wear glasses.

M.
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
Why does the sky inside a rainbow appear lighter than the sky outside it?
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Thanks mertide - I will keep that in mind if I don't get on with the new lenses, which are being fitted tomorrow. I only have a small amount of astigmatism in one eye, but I do have larger than normal pupils, which sounds as though it may be a problem. (Sorry for the delay replying, I've been in a place where there is no internet. )

quote:

---

Originally posted by M.:
To go back to the contact lens question, I have worn just one contact lens for quite a while. I wear a contact lens so I can see distance but am able to read and do close work with my un-contact lensed eye. I have never had any problems at all - my brain adjusted immediately.

I started it because I resented having to wear reading glasses when wearing contacts, when I didn't need them if I wasn't wearing contact lenses.

I checked with the optician, who told me it was a viable strategy (and I'd just thought it was a good idea!).


If I'm driving, though, I wear glasses.

M.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jack the Lass:
Why does the sky inside a rainbow appear lighter than the sky outside it?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by jedijudy:
And this tells about the lightness inside the rainbow and some other interesting things about bows!

---

quote:

---

You will note that the colors of the secondary bow are reversed from the primary bow.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jack the Lass:

quote:

---

You will note that the colors of the secondary bow are reversed from the primary bow.

---

I have never noticed this before, but will look out for it now. I guess I'm lucky we have plenty of rainbow-inducing weather here.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ricardus:
If so, why is it that some words ending in an -aa sound are sometimes written -a and sometimes as -ah? E.g. sadaqa or sadaqah (charity), risala or risalah (prophecy).

---

quote:

---

Is it possible to have two words, e.g. rikarda (which I've just invented) and rikardah, where the only difference is whether there's an -h at the end, or would they effectively be different transliterations of the same word?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ricardus:
Thank you! That also explains (I think) why I have also seen risalat and sadaqat, which I had assumed must be some kind of plural or derived form.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Pardon my naivety but I thought Kindles were dedicated to only downloading books, and those basically from Amazon?

I suppose you would have to pay a monthly charge for use of internet to be able to get the news on it.

---

Mine has a web browser; you can get news from any subscription-free source as long as you have access to an open (or your own) wireless.
 

---

Posted by Ann (# 94) on :
 
You can buy a subscription to a magazine or newspaper for your kindle - it would be downloaded to it from your wireless connection at home (or however you get the books if you don't have wireless). If the station/train offers wireless, you could use that. You can get the kindle with 3G for extra money so you can get books at any time - the 3G is included in the price of the kindle and they don't charge a monthly fee.

You can (just about) get websites if you are in range of a wireless connection or on 3G, but the standard kindle isn't wonderful at it.

You can get any e-book for the kindle as long as it's in a kindle-readable format (there are three or four types of file the kindle can read - and a program to convert other file formats to kindle- or v.v.) and load it onto your kindle by USB cable.
 

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Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 
Kindle Fire HD can be had now with 4G for a one-time up front fee. The built in browser (Amazon Silk) was updated with the "HD" versions and isn't terrible to use, but it spies on you. A lot.

[ 24. October 2012, 01:43: Message edited by: monkeylizard ]
 

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Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
This is for listeners to BBC Radio 4:

It seems to me that the Friday evening, 26/10/2012 (and Saturday afternoon, as a repeat) comedy programme 'The News Quiz' is not available online, see here or here, for Friday. I've also subscribed to the podcast, which I get regularly as soon as the Friday edition has been broadcast. This isn't available either (Link), so this is highly unusual, especially with The News Quiz being one of the BBC's flagship programmes of its genre.

I realise that they may just be late encoding it, but I imagine there may have been just a few jokes too many about the BBC management - I listened to a few minutes only. Has anyone heard the entire programme, and knows more?

It would be quite surprising and even shocking if they'd pulled it!

Any thoughts? - Thanks.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
It does look as if the libel lawyers are even now combing through the transcript.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
Well, yes - but it was recorded in front of a live studio audience on Thursday night, so they had about 20 hours to do just that. They normally record an hour or so of material; there should be satire aplenty for the 30 minute-programme (perhaps not for the News Quiz Extra, extended to 45 minutes, on Radio 4Xtra). Grrr!


 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
They do get glitches in this - i-player usually goes up very fast but sometimes things take a day or two. I've had this happen for other things I've wanted to watch / hear.

I doubt there's a libel problem, there's been so much about Jimmy Savile on different programmes that are out there. Any Radio 4 programme that can cover a Jimmy Savile angle has and is.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
They do get glitches in this - i-player usually goes up very fast but sometimes things take a day or two. I've had this happen for other things I've wanted to watch / hear.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
It does look as if the libel lawyers are even now combing through the transcript.

---

There's more. Mr Plod has arrested Gary Glitter as part of this investigation. As more people alive now, including former and just possibly current BBC staffers, are coming into view, this becomes an increasingly touchy subject.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
Got there 1 minute before you, but yes, it's rather interesting, isn't it.
 

---

Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :
 
I listened to the programme, and I didn't notice anything particularly libellous (but I wasn't checking for such things, so something may have passed me by).

Certainly there didn't seem anything beyond the sort of thing said on "Have I got news for you", which is available, except that the News Quiz was funny, which HIGNFY hasn't been for the last couple of weeks, because of this story.
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
No, I can't remember anything more outrageous than was said on NewsJack or HIGNFY or ... so many programmes currently
 

---

Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
A question my sister asked me this morning. She is taking am anti-epilepsy-type tablet for referred pain in her eye as a result of nerve damage to her neck. It really does significantly reduce this pain. She was told it was because the tablet affects the firing of the nerves. Why, then, do other painful things (e.g. where she accidentally burnt her hand on the grill) hurt just as much as they would? How does the tablet know to stop the pain in her eye but not affect the pain in her hand?
 

---

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
No, I can't remember anything more outrageous than was said on NewsJack or HIGNFY or ... so many programmes currently

---

Looks like the podcast is available, though I haven't downloaded it.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
Excellent news (quiz). Thanks muchly!

Oooh, Charlotte Green...
 

---

Posted by Pyx_e (# 57) on :
 
Voice recognition software. I am not a good or natural typist. I have to write some longish stuff. And my experience of the software supplied with Windows Vista is not encouraging (Slow, stuttering, complicated). But on the plus side I can talk for England and edit well.

Is it worth buying a dedicated bit of software and any recommendations?

Thank you.

Fly Safe, Pyx_e
 

---

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
Excellent news (quiz). Thanks muchly!

Oooh, Charlotte Green...

---

As Dead Ringers had her saying 'Sufferers from erectile dysfunction may like to know that the sound of me trying not to giggle on the News Quiz is now available without prescription...'

Enjoy the voice while you can!
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Pyx_e,

No voice recognition software is perfect, but Dragon Naturally Speaking seems to have fewer complaints than the others.

Side note: I highly recommend upgrading from Vista to Win 7. Much better user experience in my book.
Though I take no responsibility if it does not work similarly for you.
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
Pyx_e - I was going to say Dragon too - but you have to teach it to recognise your voice, so do all the long slow boring exercises to set it up. Then it works well. Otherwise it has problems.
 

---

Posted by Pyx_e (# 57) on :
 
Thank you both, I am looking at Dragon on Amazon now.

Fly Safe Pyx_e.

[ 30. October 2012, 11:47: Message edited by: Pyx_e ]
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
I am being kept awake at night by the light from the digital display of my bedside radio alarm. It has the facility to turn down the display to a "dimmest" setting but that is still way too bright for me. I was wondering if there is any kind of filtering film that I can buy to stick over the display to cut down the brightness at all?

I've tried googling and I see you can buy anti-glare filters for PC screens etc, but I only need a little strip of film a few cm wide. Alternatively can anyone suggest a different solution? (Other than turning the thing around so it faces the wall, but then of course I can't see the time at all!)
 

---

Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
This might work. In a stationers, you can buy coloured 'plastic' document sleeves... they are 'tinted', more than 'solid'. Cut a strip from one of them??
 

---

Posted by Jonah the Whale (# 1244) on :
 
While failing to get to sleep one night I noticed that if you square the sum of a series of integers from 1 to n the result is the same as the sum of the cubes of those integers. For example (1+2+3) squared is 36. And 1+8+27=36. Add 64 you get 100, and so on.

Can anyone explain why this is the case?
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Meerkat:
This might work. In a stationers, you can buy coloured 'plastic' document sleeves... they are 'tinted', more than 'solid'. Cut a strip from one of them??

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
Well that certainly helped - though not enough! I may need to try two layers of film.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jonah the Whale:
While failing to get to sleep one night I noticed that if you square the sum of a series of integers from 1 to n the result is the same as the sum of the cubes of those integers. For example (1+2+3) squared is 36. And 1+8+27=36. Add 64 you get 100, and so on.

Can anyone explain why this is the case?

---

Hey Jonah... I really like this question. Mostly because I think mathematics beautiful.

I must confess that I cheated slightly with the 'net but had got most of the way myself (oh and
Claret10 checked my thinking!)

So... the first part of it is easy. Well I think so. The square of the sum of consecutive whole numbers is the square of a triangle number.

Triangle numbers are of course what you need to build up neat rows increasing by one integer each row - like 10 pin bowling! The formula for that is easy its;

[n(n+1)]/2 or if you prefer (n^2 + n )/2

You can check that graphically if you draw out a square (say 4x4, for example)and then put a line through it diagonally - that will give you the n^2 /2 and then you need the n/2 to make up the little squares you've sliced in half to full squares.

This then is the triangle number.
If you square triangle numbers the formula therefore MUST be [(n^2+n)/2]^2

[(n^2+n)/2]^2 =[(n^2+n)/2] x [(n^2+n)/2]
= [(n^2+n)(n^2+n)] / 4
= (n^4 + n^3 + n^3 + n^2) / 4
= (n^4 + 2n^3 + n^2) / 4

Now the fascinating part that you found is that this formula fits for the sum of consecutive cubes.

The reason for this is that the difference between the square of two consecutive triangle numbers is a cube.

Triangle numbers; 1,3,6,10,15,21 etc.
- 3^2=9, 1^2=1 and 9-1 = 8 = 2^3

Hence the two sequences are intrinsically linked.
This website explains it fully.
I'd also recommend this one - there's a lot of stuff on cube numbers but about half way down is a graphical representation of your observation which for me really illustrates it really well; essentially the cube of n is equal to the nth triangle number squared minus n squared which brings us back to the formula I showed you above:

(n^4 + 2n^3 + n^2) / 4

Hope that helps

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Jonah the Whale (# 1244) on :
 
Thanks AFZ. I'm glad there are other weird people on board (no offence, I hope). I feel like I missed a couple of lines of explanation when you jumped to

quote:

---

The reason for this is that the difference between the square of two consecutive triangle numbers is a cube.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
I am being kept awake at night by the light from the digital display of my bedside radio alarm.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jonah the Whale:
Thanks AFZ. I'm glad there are other weird people on board (no offence, I hope).
JtW

---

Absolutely not... after all, I am from another planet!



AFZ
 

---

Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by alienfromzog:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jonah the Whale:
While failing to get to sleep one night I noticed that if you square the sum of a series of integers from 1 to n the result is the same as the sum of the cubes of those integers. For example (1+2+3) squared is 36. And 1+8+27=36. Add 64 you get 100, and so on.

Can anyone explain why this is the case?

---

Hey Jonah ... Hope that helps

AFZ

---

Holey friggin' moley

 

---

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :
 

quote:

---

Holey friggin' moley

---

My sentiments too as my eyes glaze over. Not my scene at all.
 

---

Posted by Jonah the Whale (# 1244) on :
 
Well thank you Lothlorien and Zappa for taking the trouble to read it anyway. You really shouldn't have you know.
 

---

Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
Can somebody please help my aged brain resolve a question?

Some years ago... in the early 80's, I think, there was a telly program (short series) in the UK about a couple of men who had a post-war bomber at an airfield and used it to transport cargo. I think that Michael Kitchen may have been one of the actors, but my Googling has not come up with anything.

Any clues?
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Starman screwed up his face for a few minutes and then said Airline.

ETA Roy Marsden was the Michael Kitchen look-alike.

[ 03. November 2012, 22:37: Message edited by: Drifting Star ]
 

---

Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
Thank you for that! The name of Roy Marsden came to me in the middle of the night, but I couldn't remember Airline.
 

---

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Our church has not fallen down like so many here, nor developed has it developed large cracks caused by quake activity. The engineers need to know why, or they will have to deconstuct it to find out how it's built, and whether it's likely to remain safe.

This has led to a scramble to find the blueprints, which were on display this morning.

So my question is why are/were blueprints blue? Is it something to do with them having to; last a long time? be more difficult to forge? oris there a totally different reason?

Can anyone help please?

Huia
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
It's the method used - it gives a blue ink effect - it's actually light and chemicals in a lamp type printer - the only way of printing on paper that huge. I've used the machine but years ago and I'd have to remember how I did it.
 

---

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
This may be a stupid question. I have two e-mail addresses in my e-mail address book to which I no longer seem to be able to send e-mails. E-mails from me appear in my "sent" folder, but not in their inbox.

One address is that of my church minister, the other is also church-related.

The problem appears to have started after a three-way e-mail exchange about the stained glass artist Willie Wilson. I thought that the word "Willie" might have been the issue, but changing his name to "William Wilson" hasn't helped.

Is there any software which might have identified my e-mail address as one which sends out dodgy material, based on a couple of e-mails including the word "Willie" and which might have blocked them from getting any e-mails sent by me?

Or could it be something else?
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
Several things that would happen. One is that your e-mails are going into the spam box and they need to check that (btinternet.com e-mails often do this). Or they've marked you as spam and the filter is filtering you out, and they need to click a button that says you are approved.
 

---

Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Huia:
So my question is why are/were blueprints blue? Is it something to do with them having to; last a long time? be more difficult to forge? oris there a totally different reason?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
This may be a stupid question. I have two e-mail addresses in my e-mail address book to which I no longer seem to be able to send e-mails. E-mails from me appear in my "sent" folder, but not in their inbox.

One address is that of my church minister, the other is also church-related.

The problem appears to have started after a three-way e-mail exchange about the stained glass artist Willie Wilson. I thought that the word "Willie" might have been the issue, but changing his name to "William Wilson" hasn't helped.

Is there any software which might have identified my e-mail address as one which sends out dodgy material, based on a couple of e-mails including the word "Willie" and which might have blocked them from getting any e-mails sent by me?

Or could it be something else?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by monkeylizard:
Blueprints aren't blue any longer*. With the advent of plotters (really wide ink-jet printers) and drafting software the older multi-step process described by CK is no longer needed. They're still called blueprints though.

*I suppose that it's possible someone somewhere is still doing drawings by hand on drafting tables and then making copies the old "blue" way.

---

quote:

---

If it's a three-way email conversation, are you putting the names into the 'To', 'Cc', or 'Bcc' field?

---

quote:

---

Once they mastered crossing roads and avoiding the color orange after Thanksgiving the state would be theirs.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
Does my theory that the problem was triggered by the name "Willie" seem feasible? My husband thinks "Willie" is too innocuous a "bad word" to cause problems.

One address is "blueyonder" and the other is "free-online" and the problem seems to have happened with both following stained-glass artist related e-mails.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chapelhead:
Why should the deer avoid the color orange after Thanksgiving?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Huia:
Our church has not fallen down like so many here, nor developed has it developed large cracks caused by quake activity. The engineers need to know why, or they will have to deconstuct it to find out how it's built, and whether it's likely to remain safe.

This has led to a scramble to find the blueprints, which were on display this morning.

So my question is why are/were blueprints blue? Is it something to do with them having to; last a long time? be more difficult to forge? oris there a totally different reason?

Can anyone help please?

Huia

---

Blueprint paper was a type of photographic paper with a diazo dye. You placed a large original drawing over the paper, and exposed it to light, either in a frame or by passing it into a pair of rollers with a bright light source. Then the blueprint paper was passed through ammonia fumes and the area exposed to light became blue, and the area behind the black pencil or pen ink became white.

Later on they invented other papers that could do other colors like black on white background and red. The originals were not necessarily permanent. It was an inexpensive way of making copies of large drawings without a camera.

My uncle used to sell the paper and I once had a lovely set of sample packets.
 

---

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Palinpest - thanks for the clear explanation.

Huia
 

---

Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on :
 
There's a bit in the middle section of A Canticle for Liebowicz where a monk in the far future is copying some of the documents of the Blessed Liebowicz as a present for the Pope. He finds the blueprint very hard to do, with all those large areas of blue, but he realises that originally it was done that way because it was in some way easier. He also does a more conventional illuminated manuscript - which is the one that is stolen when he is on his way to meet the Pope.
 

---

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by jbohn:
Here in MN, the deer season has already started- and yes, deer hunters here are required to wear blaze orange, so as to avoid being shot by other hunters.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by claret10:
I don't know a huge ammount about e-mail filters, however I do know that that in a science lesson the school filter reacted to pupils typing in the word 'grass' into google. They were supposed to be making a poster about the germination of seeds and types of grass. The filter perceived it as grass=canabis.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Huia:
Palinpest

---

Nice typo. Thinking about Sarah?
 

---

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Heavens no, just posting too quickly and taking a while to get used to progressive lenses

Sorry Palimpsest
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by mark_in_manchester:
This isn't very heavenly, but it's not a discussion in Purg either. On cleaning the churchyard, I'm finding loads of packets / empty blister packs of 'Nytol', a sleeping pill. Anyone know if this stuff gets used recreationally? Enquiring minds want to know.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by mark_in_manchester:
This isn't very heavenly, but it's not a discussion in Purg either. On cleaning the churchyard, I'm finding loads of packets / empty blister packs of 'Nytol', a sleeping pill. Anyone know if this stuff gets used recreationally? Enquiring minds want to know.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Rogue:
Middle Rogueling wants to know what Mary set alight in the chorus of the carol "We Three Kings". Can anyone remember better than me?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Rogue:
Middle Rogueling wants to know what Mary set alight in the chorus of the carol "We Three Kings". Can anyone remember better than me?

---

???? Mary is not mentioned in the carol AFAIK. Not even in the chorus, which is all about the Star ("Star of wonder, star of light, Star of royal beauty bright...").

One of the verses does refer to "Myrrh . . . a bitter perfume." Could Middle Rogueling have heard that as "Mary" and "lit her perfume?"
 

---

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :
 
Nothing that I know of. Nothing in "Three Kings from Persian Land Afar" either.

I did find this from a discussion of "We three kinds" parodies:

quote:

---

Oh star of wonder, star of light Jesus knickers caught alight Mary called the fire brigade and put it out with lemonade.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
Would that be a reference to circumcision?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chapelhead:

Is 'Wolowitz' a Jewish name? Would an American (in particular a 'cornhusker' as Sheldon refers to Christy) assume that someone called 'Wolowitz' is Jewish?
...
Am I missing something, or trying to make too much of something that was just a rather silly joke?

---

Actually, from my point of view, I think it was all a silly joke pointing directly at the not-very-bright bimbo. Also, the rest of the joke is that Howard doesn't care as long as he gets to have his fun!

And to the questions of American names, we really are such a melting pot, that you absolutely cannot assume someone's family background from their surname! One of our previous (Methodist) pastors has a Jewish surname. We, of course, called him Rabbi. Our present pastor's wife has his very Irish name, but she's definitely not Irish!

In my part of the USA at least, I don't think surnames form a basis of stereotyping individuals. YMMV, of course!
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
It is true that circumcision is very common in the US.

But I think the point is that many of the Eastern Europeans in the US emigrated in the pre-inter-post-war period hence there is a strong correlation with Eastern European names and Jewishness and yes the point is that Howard doesn't care.

AFZ

More to the point in the newest series (Streamed so this Brit can watch it) They declare that to American girls, the English accent is officially the sexiest.
 

---

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :
 
Wolowitz may be a made up name rather than a classic Jewish name like Cohen, but I do think it is a play on how if you have a name that sounds somewhat Jewish, people assume that you are Jewish. Many of the writers of the Big Bang theory are Jewish, and they have probably experienced similar treatment, either from other Jews or from non-Jews. In the old days, it was probably a burden to have a Jewish name, because it singled you out for discrimination, and this kind of joke may spring out of the experience of earlier comedians who suffered from this kind of discrimination.
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
I need advice on how to remove bloodstains. I have treated them with peroxide, and there is now only a slight discoloration. Should I keep using peroxide to get rid of the discoloration, or start using something else?

Moo
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
I tend to start with cold water and salt on blood stains and reluctantly move on to soaking in enzyme detergent and cold water overnight. (I'm allergic to enzyme detergents)
 

---

Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :
 
Soak in cold water, then I find rubbing with a Vanish bar before washing as normal does the job.
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
I need advice on how to remove bloodstains. I have treated them with peroxide, and there is now only a slight discoloration. Should I keep using peroxide to get rid of the discoloration, or start using something else?

Moo

---

This probably doesn't help this time but the key to removing blood really is COLD water immediately. The reason why warm water is so bad is that much of the fresh blood will be cells. Warm water lyses the cells releasing more haemociderin which is what stains.

Once you have an 'established' stain I've no idea. There's quite a lot on google but how useful any of them I have no idea

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
My dad who is quite elderly and suffers from thin skin and the use of blood thinners swears by working on the blood stain with cool club soda water. He says it comes right out, even if dried.

Now my question: are there different formats in CDs between those from North America and those from Europe in the way there are between DVDs? Can a professionally produced CD from the US be played on a typical player in the UK?

Thanks.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I'm sitting a few yards away from a couple of thousand music CDs. Some, I know, were purchased in the US (some in Norway, some in Italy, some in China...). I would think that were there any international incompatibilities in the format, we would have discovered them by now.

[ 24. November 2012, 08:05: Message edited by: Firenze ]
 

---

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
I guess that's a "no" on conflicting formats. Thanks!
 

---

Posted by Pancho (# 13533) on :
 
There is one CD format that might give you trouble. Super Audio CDs (SACD) can't be played on most regular CD players unless it's a hybrid SACD. There aren't that many around any more but it's not always easy to tell them apart from regular CDs.


[URL fixed, as the link had been to "post reply". Hope this gives the information you wanted to provide!]

[ 24. November 2012, 17:38: Message edited by: Ariel ]
 

---

Posted by Pancho (# 13533) on :
 
Yes, Ariel. Thank you. (I had too many windows open!).
 

---

Posted by Ricardus (# 8757) on :
 
Question for the Ship's scientists.

Supposing you have a population group that shows an Interesting Characteristic and you're carrying out genetic research on them.

What sort of sample size would you need to demonstrate a.) that the characteristic is genetic in origin, and b.) what genes or combination of genes are likely to cause it?
 

---

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
We had an elderly lady staying with us on Mon night and I turned our central heating up higher than we'd ever have it for ourselves. I turned it back down after she left yesterday. Today the house is still very warm. We had extra loft insulation put in over the summer under the government free insulation scheme. Are we reaping the benefits of this, or is my thermostat malfunctioning? How long should it take for a house to cool down to "normal" after a day of having the central heating on high?

I don't know whether to be rejoicing over our insulation efficiency, or calling out a repairperson.
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
I'd have thought you should be able to tell from the temperature of your radiators - if it's warm even though they're not belting out heat, rejoice! If they are hotter than you think they should be, maybe there is a cause for concern.

We've been trying to figure out why, with all thermostats up way beyond our normal level, our radiators (and the house) are so cold (yes, they have all been bled). It appears that we have solved it - when the boiler had some work done on it in the summer the engineer seems to have turned down the heat setting on the boiler.
(or a colder version, maybe...)

[ 06. December 2012, 10:58: Message edited by: Drifting Star ]
 

---

Posted by Pre-cambrian (# 2055) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pancho:
There is one CD format that might give you trouble. Super Audio CDs (SACD) can't be played on most regular CD players unless it's a hybrid SACD. There aren't that many around any more but it's not always easy to tell them apart from regular CDs.

---

Even a hybrid SACD can cause a regular CD player to act temperamentally. In the UK at least a SACD jewel case has curved corners , but that's no help if it's in a box set or a digipak.
 

---

Posted by Spike (# 36) on :
 
I need to renew my passport, but the old one expired nearly two years ago. Should I be able to renew it or will I need to apply for a new one as though it's my first?
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Renew. They will want to see the old one.
 

---

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ricardus:
Question for the Ship's scientists.

Supposing you have a population group that shows an Interesting Characteristic and you're carrying out genetic research on them.

What sort of sample size would you need to demonstrate a.) that the characteristic is genetic in origin, and b.) what genes or combination of genes are likely to cause it?

---

quote:

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Originally posted by Lothlorien:
Many churches down here have envelopes for planned giving. Split down middle with one side for missions, the other for the parish church. That was the first thing I thought of when I saw your question and a quick search turnd up this dated looking document suggesting the same thing. See here.

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Ah! that looks exactly right, thanks. Your Google skills are more finely tuned than mine! Does anyone have an image from a UK church?
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Not from UK, but our denom publisher Concordia Pub House prints a huge number of these to this day.
 

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Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :
 
The church I attended many years ago (as a teen) used them. But then they decided the parish needed the money more than the missions did, so the money from both sides of the envelopes went into the parish coffers.

 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Does anybody have a clue why dark battleship gray seems to have become THE color of choice for walls, floors, etc, esp. In dark hallways and basements? At least three places I am forced to spend a lot of time have decided to dump blue, green, red, etc and instead to place us all in Stygian darkness. Did I not get some memo?
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 

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Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Does anybody have a clue why dark battleship gray seems to have become THE color of choice for walls, floors, etc, esp. In dark hallways and basements? At least three places I am forced to spend a lot of time have decided to dump blue, green, red, etc and instead to place us all in Stygian darkness. Did I not get some memo?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Does anybody have a clue why dark battleship gray seems to have become THE color of choice for walls, floors, etc, esp. In dark hallways and basements? At least three places I am forced to spend a lot of time have decided to dump blue, green, red, etc and instead to place us all in Stygian darkness. Did I not get some memo?

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Originally posted by jedijudy:
You can see that quite clearly here. This is the rainbow I told you about yesterday. The sun was very low, so the bow was huge!

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Originally posted by Albertus:
Question for US shipmates arising from random thought this morning: do you have British-style Christmas pudding (rich boiled dried fruit and suet pudding - aka plum pudding) over there? If not, what do you have for dessert with your Christmas dinner?

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Originally posted by SusanDoris:
I clicked on the link and a blank window came up. Is there something I should do to bring up the photo?

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Originally posted by Robert Armin:
Outside the Ship - does anyone know an active website that discusses The Legion of Superheroes? I have Googled, but all the sites I've tried seem to be moribund.

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Originally posted by Robert Armin:
Surely, somewhere on the web, there is a site that discusses what is happening at the moment? A sort of comics version of the Ship?

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Originally posted by Albertus:
Question for US shipmates arising from random thought this morning: do you have British-style Christmas pudding (rich boiled dried fruit and suet pudding - aka plum pudding) over there? If not, what do you have for dessert with your Christmas dinner?

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Yeah, coming into this late .. plum pudding is super-rare in the US and is mostly consumed by British expats and Anglophiles. For what is on the table ... as noted, it really depends where you're eating dinner! Some people have traditional desserts that are family or cultural traditions. Other gatherings leave it up to someone to provide dessert - either the dessert-making maven of the group or someone who knows a good bakery.

In my household it is usually chocolate. My mother used to make a "Swiss roll" cake when I was young; my grandmother made buches du Noel and eclairs; I am bringing chocolate truffles.

As a cultural note, the US Thanksgiving holiday has a "traditional" set menu - dessert in it includes pumpkin or sweet potato pie. Obviously not everyone chooses to eat the whole traditional menu and some people do variations like pumpkin cheesecake but a large fraction of our large and diverse country does have something pumpkiny at Thanksgiving. Christmas is much more up to a combo of personal taste and cultural background.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Our dessert tomorrow will be Klondike bars. It may become a new tradition in the Jedi Temple.
 

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Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :
 
This will be our dessert tomorrow.

 

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Posted by ChastMastr (# 716) on :
 

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Originally posted by Robert Armin:
Where is Chast when I need him?

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Originally posted by Pre-cambrian:

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Originally posted by Pancho:
There is one CD format that might give you trouble. Super Audio CDs (SACD) can't be played on most regular CD players unless it's a hybrid SACD. There aren't that many around any more but it's not always easy to tell them apart from regular CDs.

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Even a hybrid SACD can cause a regular CD player to act temperamentally. In the UK at least a SACD jewel case has curved corners , but that's no help if it's in a box set or a digipak.

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