quote:

---

Originally posted by TurquoiseTastic:
Does anyone know what has happened to Susan Howatch? I am a big fan of her Starbridge books, but she does not seem to have written any novels since 2004 (after producing one every couple of years for the previous I-don't-know-how-many-years).

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hart:
2) I live near the boundary between two timezones. Whenever I drive West, my phone updates time automatically, but driving East I have to turn it on and off. I don't know if the West switching is quite instant, but it's faster than it takes me to get to an offramp from the interstate to check. Going the other direction, I can leave it for hours and get no switch.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Huia:
Are there any walking songs that pilgrims sing on the way?

Huia

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hart:

2) I live near the boundary between two timezones. Whenever I drive West, my phone updates time automatically, but driving East I have to turn it on and off. I don't know if the West switching is quite instant, but it's faster than it takes me to get to an offramp from the interstate to check. Going the other direction, I can leave it for hours and get no switch.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Carex:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hart:

2) I live near the boundary between two timezones. Whenever I drive West, my phone updates time automatically, but driving East I have to turn it on and off. I don't know if the West switching is quite instant, but it's faster than it takes me to get to an offramp from the interstate to check. Going the other direction, I can leave it for hours and get no switch.

---

Perhaps because nobody is sure which parts of Indiana are in which timezone at any given moment?


(Explanation for overseas readers: it used to be that each county in Indiana could choose whether to go on Daylight Savings Time or not, which caused a bit of confusion on occasion. I don't know if that is still the case, but it might fit with lilBuddha's suggestion that it has something to do with the network providing service: the networks in Indiana might not force their local time on users if they might not all be using the same local time.)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Carex:
I thought Arizona had to go to Daylight Savings Time due to some Federal benefit or another. So, at least the last I heard, they do observe Daylight Savings Time, but the state also changes timezones. So during the winter they are on Pacific Standard Time and in the summer they are officially on Mountain Daylight Time, which results in no change to the clocks.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Carex:
I thought Arizona had to go to Daylight Savings Time due to some Federal benefit or another. So, at least the last I heard, they do observe Daylight Savings Time, but the state also changes timezones. So during the winter they are on Pacific Standard Time and in the summer they are officially on Mountain Daylight Time, which results in no change to the clocks.

---

Nope. We're on Mountain Standard Time all year.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by balaam:
When I first visited Arizona we had to change clocks when we visited the Navajo settlement as the whole of the Navajo Nation, whichever state it is in, employs daylight saving, though the rest of Arizona does not.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:
Arizona has a similar situation -- most of the state has the good sense to avoid Daylight Savings Time, but Navajoland observes it.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
You mean "Residual Circuit Breakers" (known as RCCBs or RCDs).

---

Ah, so that's what RCDs are I'm a bit clueless when it comes to things electrical. No, I've got old fashioned fuses.

The electricity company came and did a "free visual wiring check" a couple of years ago and advised that everything was safe but not compliant with current standards (or some such phrase).

 

---

Posted by The Machine Elf (# 1622) on :
 
If you have a fire designed in the 1960s, it's also quite likely not made to the same standards for finger penetration as a modern one would be, which may be an issue if children or animals are present.

I can remember my Dad having to put the cat out several times in the 1970s after she brushed against the fire.


TME
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Several times? Not the brightest kitten in the basket, was she?
 

---

Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
Smudgie posted

quote:

---

Any ebay/paypal users out there?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
I'd second that suggestion. Favourable customer ratings are very valuable to e-Bay vendors.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by St Everild:
Does anyone know what antimacassars are called nowadays?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smudgie:
Having closed the case about the delay in posting, and having accepted the phone and used it for two days, are we now - as I suspect - too late to do anything about the fact that it's rubbish?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
Domestically, didn't they used to be called 'chairbacks'? I seem to remember embroidering some in my youth.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by SusanDoris:
If someone is lurking, can s/he read discussions on any of the message boards?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
I have a memory of someone asking a similar question a few years ago and a Shipmate saying it was to satisfy rules and regs--that some fool jurisdiction had made it necessary for ALL foods to carry an expiration date, even the ones that neither expire nor cause you to expire. Sounds the kind of thing that would happen round here...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
I just bought some sea salt and noticed that the package said, 'Best before 8/14'.

I never heard of salt deteriorating, especially when it's in an airtight container. Does anyone have any idea what that's about?

Moo

---

Yes, it's barmy, like the honey that I buy which has a 'Best before' date two years ahead when honey will keep perfectly well for decades, if not centuries. It's just a backside-covering, anti-compensation-culture legal device which transfers the risk of any ill-effects of consumption from the producer to the consumer after the date specified, even if there is a vanishingly small likelihood of the food product deteriorating in any way. It just means: 'If you eat this after the date given and you are unwell, it's all your fault and you can't sue us for compensation'.
Angus
 

---

Posted by Zacchaeus (# 14454) on :
 
'Eat by' a date, is the date by which it is considered safe to eat.

'Best before' means that it is still safe to eat but the quality might deteriorate after that.
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
It always mystified me that mineral water, which the producers advertise as having been "filtered through volcanic rocks over thousands of years" still has a best before date.


 

---

Posted by Dormouse (# 5954) on :
 
When re-fixing the heel to my favourite black zip-up ankle boots, I inadvertedly squeezed the shoe & heel togeter so well that, unbeknown to me, the super glue oozed out and spread onto the zip. Which now appears to be superglued in the open position.
Is there any way of dissolving superglue, that doesn't involve spending a lot of money, or do I resort to buying new shoes?
 

---

Posted by Ann (# 94) on :
 
You can get super glue remover or, I seem to remember, acetone? (nail varnish remover) was kept in the lab to unstick the fingers of the foolish. Whether or not it would dissolve the zip is another matter.
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Not all nail varnish removers are acetone, and so they won't all work (in general acetone-based ones are harsh and efficient, non-acetone ones are less efficient but kinder to your nails).

You can get superglue remover (Amazon have a variety at around £2-3).
 

---

Posted by The Machine Elf (# 1622) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
It always mystified me that mineral water, which the producers advertise as having been "filtered through volcanic rocks over thousands of years" still has a best before date.

---

You're not storing in it the rock though - after a certain point, the plasticisers from the bottle will leech into the water sufficiently that drinking it will turn you hermaphrodite.

Or maybe it will just task a bit stale.
 

---

Posted by Gracious rebel (# 3523) on :
 
Broadband question.

We are having LOTS of trouble with our T*lk T*lk broadband. Seriously thinking of upgrading to something more reliable, but wanted to do a sanity check first. We keep losing the connection, on a daily basis now it seems. Somethimes we've noticed that the connection drops when the phone rings, other times it seems to be more random.

The Talk Talk helpdesk said maybe the router is faulty, and suggested we try another one, but I'm not sure that using an old router or someone elses would work as don't they have to be configured with your own account details etc. They also told me if they send an engineer round to check our connection, any fault caused by the internal phone wiring inside the house would mean we would have to pay £50 for call out. Want to avoid this charge, and also the embarrassment of calling them out to discover its our 'fault', so I wanted to run our set-up past you knowledgeable people, to do a sanity check of whether it could be the cause of these problems, and if so, upgrading to a different provider is unlikely to help.

The phone line enters the house just inside the front door, that's where the phone socket is. Unfortunately there is no power point in the hallway, so can't locate the broadband router there as no power for it, without trailing cables in from another room. So when we moved in last year, I bought a 10 metre (I think) phone extension cable. This runs from the socket, up the stairs, into the study upstairs. Terminates with a phone socket, into which we have plugged the ADSL filter. Coming out of the flter is the phone wire, and the wire to the router. Nothing else is plugged into the downstairs phone socket except the extension cable (but no filter at that point - I didn't think it was necessary as everything goes through the filter upstairs).

Is this set-up likely to cause problems?
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
When we had a problem with our BT phone line (the phone, not just the broadband) they told us to take the front off the main socket and plug the filter and phone into the inner socket. If there was still a problem it had to be with the external phone wiring (and therefore not our expense).

This is obviously less helpful in the case of an intermittent fault, and in your case there would still be the possibility of a fault with the extension cable or the router, but it should exclude the rest of internal wiring.
 

---

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
Gracious Rebel

I am with T*lkT*lk, and I have not used a company supplied router for over a decade! The settings are all available on the website for the routers, and if you have a techy friend they normally can work out which settings actually apply to the router you are using (even if it is not one of the ones listed).

Jengie
 

---

Posted by The Machine Elf (# 1622) on :
 
Oddly enough, I spent half of Sunday adding an extra mains socket near to the master socket to eliminate an extension. It hasn't eliminated drop-outs on our service, particularly when the phone rings (this is a symptom of there being excess resistance somewhere in the circuit, so the fewer non-permanent connections in the wire the better). Try putting your router into the master for a few days and see if it helps. If there are other reasons for disconnections which are external to the house (our service also tends to go down when it snows ), then again it's more likely to be a line fault.
 

---

Posted by Gracious rebel (# 3523) on :
 
Well, I followed my hunch and tried plugging the router directly (via a filter) into the master socket downstairs. Had to use an extension cable for the power of course, so have wires trailing from the lounge .... but it works. When it hadn't been working since about midday when plugged in upstairs (when I posted this afternoon I was using a 3G dongle to connect)

So I think I have answered my own question - that it DOES make a difference to not involve the long extension cable. So maybe we don't need to change supplier after all ... will have to see if it stays connected like this, and if so, will have to look into getting a new power socket added into the hall.

TME thanks for the info about resistance etc, exactly the sort of info I was after, and it explained why it so often went down when the phone rang etc.

Still can't work out why it worked satisfactorily with this wiring, (with only very occasional drop outs), for about a year, and only recently has it been a daily occurrence for connection to be lost.

[ 20. February 2013, 18:37: Message edited by: Gracious rebel ]
 

---

Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :
 
Bit of a strange one here - from time to time, I get calls or texts on my mobile phone from loan companies. They all think I am called 'Claire' - which I definitely am not! - and that I am looking for a loan of £200 (again, thank goodness, definitely not). There's always a way to stop the texts- text 'Stop' or 'End' - and it's only a minor annoyance BUT I'm a bit worried that there may be something behind it. I can't imagine anyone giving the wrong mobile number by accident to 6 different loan companies

Has this happened to anyone else?

I've had that number for about 15 years, I should think, so it never belonged to anyone else.

Mrs. S, puzzled
 

---

Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
I had a similar hassle with my mobile phone about 2 years ago. I was getting up to 20 calls and texts a day from different loan companies, all telling me that my loan was ready and asking to speak to Sa*****a Rob***on.

Not only have I never even encountered someone by that name, but I have had the phone number from new since 1994!!

At first, they were just annoying, but after several weeks of this, my blood-pressure was rising. I tried various tactics to get them to stop... from being polite and asking nicely to being downright stroppy and rude. They all insisted that it was my fault!

Eventually, I used the tactic (which was in fact true) that I had a relative who was seriously ill in Hospital and that every time the phone rang or I got a text, I feared the worst. That seemed to work.

I asked one of them why I was getting calls from so many companies and they told me that they are all in a 'group' and 'share numbers'!

B*stards!
 

---

Posted by Sergius-Melli (# 17462) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Intrepid Mrs S:
Bit of a strange one here - from time to time, I get calls or texts on my mobile phone from loan companies. They all think I am called 'Claire' - which I definitely am not! - and that I am looking for a loan of £200 (again, thank goodness, definitely not). There's always a way to stop the texts- text 'Stop' or 'End' - and it's only a minor annoyance BUT I'm a bit worried that there may be something behind it. I can't imagine anyone giving the wrong mobile number by accident to 6 different loan companies

Has this happened to anyone else?

I've had that number for about 15 years, I should think, so it never belonged to anyone else.

Mrs. S, puzzled

---

Someone has probably made a loan/car insurance (etc.) enquiry online and used fake details to do so (I must confess I am notorious for doing it myself) inadvertantly using your number in the process and the company they were searching has then sold those details on to a numbre of comapnies who then will randomly text/call you in the hope that you are a person who fits the product they are tryign to con someone out of their money for.

Alternatively you may have done this and not ticked (or possibly not unticked) the appropriate box which means the company cannot sell your details on.

I get several of these calls occassionally (despite being extra careful about allowing companies to sell on my details) and either try and turn it into some evangelising opportunity (which normally means they never phone back) or if I'm being narky allow them to waffle on for a while before explaining, very sweetly, that out of politeness I have allowed them to waffle on but I am not the person they are looking for (it has the same reaction, though the other day I had f**k off repeated at me several times before they hung up).

But anyway - your number has somewhere along he line been sold onto one of these companies who are just hoping to hit a person to scam.
 

---

Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :
 
Thank you Meerkat and Sergius-Melli. Each of these companies seems to obey my instructions to STOP or END, and mercifully they don't often call - so I suppose I'll just delete them. I have checked and the SMSs aren't premium numbers or anything.

Ah well - thanks again guys

Mrs. S, grateful
 

---

Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
Mrs S, if you're in the UK you can report unsolicited/unwanted calls and texts to the Information Commissioner's Office. Each time I get a text (I never get calls thankfully), usually about PPI or accident compensation, it's my first port of call
 

---

Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
Too many pancakes...

If held aloft forever, would all the golden syrup eventually drop off the spoon? It's been bugging me for a while!
 

---

Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
Presumably, but if it was me holding the spoon the only way the experiment could take place would be if I was holding it over my open mouth.
 

---

Posted by Ricardus (# 8757) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jack the Lass:
Mrs S, if you're in the UK you can report unsolicited/unwanted calls and texts to the Information Commissioner's Office. Each time I get a text (I never get calls thankfully), usually about PPI or accident compensation, it's my first port of call

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zach82:
Whot, "When Israel was in Egypt-land, let my people go?"

---

No, that's not it (although there was certainly a song with "and Moses said 'let my people go!'" as a refrain). The thing I'm thinking of was definitely aimed specifically at children.
 

---

Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :
 
This is more a request for comment than a question with a definite answer, but it doesn't seem worthwhile starting a new thread and this seems the best place to ask.

I've just finished a book by an American author, which involves two American women, probably about 60 years old, who are on a trip to the Scottish highlands. One of them is going to go by train to Edinburgh, and tells the other that she is looking forward to the trip because she has never been on a train - her companion makes no comment so presumably she, and the author, do not think this a surprising comment to make.

This brought me up short, as the idea of mature person from a developed country who had never been on a train seemed very odd. But them I thought about how long-distance travel in America is usually depicted on screen as involving flying (or 'Greyhound' coach?) rather than train travel. On the other hand, it's not as though trains are unknown in America.

Do American shipmates think the idea of an adult American who has never travelled by train unusual or perfectly common or an indication of someone from the boondocks or what?

[ 27. February 2013, 21:55: Message edited by: Chapelhead ]
 

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Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
Different parts of the US have different train usage. Places of denser population like on the East Coast and parts of the urban Midwest are more likely to use them for commuting. I live in California and bar a a little train museum school trip, never rode a train in the US until my forties when the Metrolink commuter trains started up. Now I can take a train to Union Station in L.A. when I feel like it. I might take it next week to check out some galleries in Chinatown.

A person who was a homebody in a town in the wide expanses of the West might well have never taken a train.
 

---

Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :
 
Also note that whilst it is possible to travel long distances between some cities on Amtrak, it is both slow and expensive. I have relatives who have taken an Amtrak trip, but as a means of seeing the countryside rather than as a means of transportation.
 

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Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :
 
Phoenix is the sixth largest city in the U.S. We no longer have passenger trains. The closest one is over 100 miles away. We do have a "light rail" but that hardly counts.

I'd love to have train service to other western cities, and there's been talk of it for years but I don't know if it will ever happen.

(I grew up in the eastern U.S., so I have taken trains many times -- as well as in other countries -- but many people here never have.)
 

---

Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Train travel would have been more common in an earlier age, before the automobile became the primary mode of transportation. If the book were set around 1950, it would depend on the age of the women and where they grew up. Train travel was much more common around the turn of the century, when it often was the primary connection for longer distance travel, so an older woman would be more likely to have ridden a train. But one who grew up during the Great Depression and WWII (when people didn't travel as much) may have done all of her travel by bus if she had traveled at all. (

While air travel was available around 1950, it really didn't become popular for the masses until around the 1960's. It's really the only practical way to get any significant distance around the country unless one can afford to spend several days in transit.

In later years train travel became even more uncommon. Many cities don't have any passenger service by train, and the remaining trains are used primarily for freight.
 

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Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
They keep talking about a bullet train from L.A. to Las Vegas. Yeah, right. Just what we need- a way to gamble government money and personal money.
 

---

Posted by Zach82 (# 3208) on :
 
No, it wouldn't be that unusual for an American to never have ridden a train. Outside of Europe and Japan I have ridden a train for exactly one trip, when I was 22, and I greatly regretted not taking the bus.

It really is difficult to express how miserable the state of American passenger rail is. The system has seen absolutely no investment at all in the past 50 years, and Republicans have been actively trying to murder it for half that time.
 

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Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :
 
Why are the windows in all automobiles electric and there are no longer any manual, roll them down with a circular lever knob thing windows like they were in the olden days of 10-15 years ago?

I write this as the passenger side electric window has ceased to do anything but roll down, and it is winter here. It seems like useless and preferably optional technology to me. You can get them up if you take the door apart, and then you must refrain from touching the down side of the rocker button. My second question is how to get myself and everyone else trained to not touch the window button for that window until we can get it fixed! (-22°C yesterday, near freezing today, but you may get the urgency and annoyance about it!)
 

---

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
I've often wondered the same thing - particularly when there have been floods, since electric windows are unlikely to work when submerged, and doors are hard to open against water.

The window controls failed on my previous car, and replacing them would have cost considerably more than the car was worth. I carried a hammer in the glove box so that I could smash them in an emergency.

Manual controls make so much more sense.
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Drifting Star:
I've often wondered the same thing - particularly when there have been floods, since electric windows are unlikely to work when submerged, and doors are hard to open against water.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zach82:
Whot, "When Israel was in Egypt-land, let my people go?"

---

No, that's not it (although there was certainly a song with "and Moses said 'let my people go!'" as a refrain). The thing I'm thinking of was definitely aimed specifically at children.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by no prophet:
Why are the windows in all automobiles electric and there are no longer any manual, roll them down with a circular lever knob thing windows like they were in the olden days of 10-15 years ago?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
It is not something from Pharaoh to Freedom?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by no prophet:

... the passenger side electric window has ceased to do anything but roll down...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by no prophet:

I write this as the passenger side electric window has ceased to do anything but roll down, and it is winter here. It seems like useless and preferably optional technology to me. You can get them up if you take the door apart, and then you must refrain from touching the down side of the rocker button. My second question is how to get myself and everyone else trained to not touch the window button for that window until we can get it fixed! (-22°C yesterday, near freezing today, but you may get the urgency and annoyance about it!)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chapelhead:
Well, gosh. Thanks for the comments on the American railway system - it's strange that something so commonplace in Europe should be so uncommon in parts of the USA.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by chive:
Does anyone know how the Jews were treated by Bulgaria in the second world war?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by chive:
Would anyone know how easy it would be for a Jewish Bulgarian to get an Israeli settlement visa at that point in history and how easy it was to leave communist Bulgaria at that time?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hart:
Google is discontinuing their reader service this summer. Does anyone have an replacement they like?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Does this page help?

Jengie

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Huia:
I hate it when the clocks are adjusted for Daylight Saving as i always seem to stuff up International phone calls. Here in NZ we have just adjusted clocks back an hour to NZ Standard time. Before (during summer time) I used to ring my brother in Miami at 1pm. What time do I ring to catch him at the same time?

Does Florida also adjust clocks?

Huia - easily confused

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Does this page help?

Jengie

---

No -- it's an hour slow. (Currently says 9:48, but it's actually 10:48 in Florida.)

---

How unusual. It showed an hour fast for me.

And yes, Florida does adjust clocks. Unfortunately.
 

---

Posted by Percy B (# 17238) on :
 
A friends church is looking for some simple wooden stools suitable to put next to priests seats at the Eucharist, ideally with a shelf underneath, perhaps ones that could double up as seats too.

Someone told them to try Ikea but that doesn't seem to work. It's for a chapel so the expense of church furnishes isn't what's wanted.

Anyone any suggestion, please?
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
A friend has asked me what's the difference between a christening and a baptism. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I know either, so can anyone enlighten us?
 

---

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
You mean something like this? I admit it is not officially a stool.

Jengie
 

---

Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Does this page help?

Jengie

---

No -- it's an hour slow. (Currently says 9:48, but it's actually 10:48 in Florida.)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
You mean something like this? I admit it is not officially a stool.

Jengie

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Percy B:
A friends church is looking for some simple wooden stools suitable to put next to priests seats at the Eucharist, ideally with a shelf underneath, perhaps ones that could double up as seats too.

Someone told them to try Ikea but that doesn't seem to work. It's for a chapel so the expense of church furnishes isn't what's wanted.

Anyone any suggestion, please?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
A friend has asked me what's the difference between a christening and a baptism. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I know either, so can anyone enlighten us?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Percy B:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
You mean something like this? I admit it is not officially a stool.

Jengie

---

Yes something, LIKE, that but it seems a bit too tall to serve as a stool too...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by L'organist:
... which is why Welsh is the language of heaven.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Percy B:
A friends church is looking for some simple wooden stools suitable to put next to priests seats at the Eucharist, ideally with a shelf underneath, perhaps ones that could double up as seats too.

Someone told them to try Ikea but that doesn't seem to work. It's for a chapel so the expense of church furnishes isn't what's wanted.

Anyone any suggestion, please?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by L'organist:
... which is why Welsh is the language of heaven.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:

quote:

---

Originally posted by L'organist:
... which is why Welsh is the language of heaven.

---

Because it takes all eternity to learn it?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Percy B:
A friends church is looking for some simple wooden stools suitable to put next to priests seats at the Eucharist, ideally with a shelf underneath, perhaps ones that could double up as seats too.

Someone told them to try Ikea but that doesn't seem to work. It's for a chapel so the expense of church furnishes isn't what's wanted.

Anyone any suggestion, please?

---

Ikea in the UK offer these. We have 4 at home, and after assembling, sanding and varnishing they look good. I am not a great DIYer but I think even I could fit shelf to it.

Hope this helps
 

---

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
Last Sunday I was in St Mary Magdalen's in Coventry. Their lady chapel is very beautiful thanks to some very lovely stained glass, all portraying female saints. However the saints are not named and I couldn't quite figure out two of them.

I recognised St Mary Magdalene, the BVM, St Clare and St Joan of Arc. One I thought was St Margaret of Scotland since she was a queen, but looking St Margaret up that looks unlikely. She was holding keys and a pouch/purse, and portrayed with a boat with a cross for a mast. Perhaps St Helena?

The other saint I didn't recognise had a face surrounded by fire and was shown healing someone. I thought she was perhaps St Brigid due to the fire but it doesn't look like it.

Who are these saints?

(I do recommend the church by the way - lovely sung Eucharist with incense and a very friendly and welcoming congregation, even though I was just visiting.)
 

---

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
You do know that Margaret of Scotland was shipwrecked and that is how she ended up in Scotland.

Jengie
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
The female saint with the face surrounded by flame is St Brigid
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
St Margaret of Scotland's other "boat" connection is that she set up a ferry (the Queen's ferry) across the firth of Forth to facilitate pilgrimages to St Andrews. The villages at either end of this ferry are still called North Queensferry and South Queensferry.
 

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Posted by scuffleball (# 16480) on :
 
What's the correct technical term for a sparkling water bottle like you sometimes see in posh restaurants and hotels, with a metal clasp at the top like a jarfait jar, like the one in this photo?

http://www.portstyle.com/images/GLA37110.jpg

(Before you ask, the photo is labelled "Glass Water Bottle" which doesn't really help a great deal.)
 

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Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :
 
In the States at least, you can find them by searching for "flip top bottles." I collect brown versions as I find them for bottling home brewed beer. Sometimes you will see them being sold used as "Grolsch Style bottles." But "flip top" I think is the generic term.
 

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Posted by scuffleball (# 16480) on :
 
Cool, thanks for the prompt reply!
 

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Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :
 
aka 'swing top bottles'
 

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Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :
 
Does anyone have a reputable source for the Jewish (Cabbalistic?) tradition that the Shekinah glory of God hovers over the marriage bed?

Google finds the tradition for me, but not a source.
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
You can get flip/swing top bottles from anywhere that has home brewing paraphenalia.

Lakeland also used to stock them -very handly for mixing vinaigrette/storing it in the 'fridge.
 

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Posted by Scots lass (# 2699) on :
 
The drain on my bath is blocked. I've chucked chemicals down it but that's not cleared it. On poking at it with one of those drain clearing rod thingies, I'm hitting something hard just beneath the trap. Do I have to call a plumber now, or does anyone have any suggestions for what I should try next?
 

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Posted by lily pad (# 11456) on :
 
Do you have a plunger? It would be worth a try.
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
If you haven't a plunger you might create enough partial vacuum by placing your palm over the drain, pressing down, then lifting up sharply. Repeat until a) it works or b) you get fed up.

It's worth a try.
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
This is a long shot but does anyone on here belong to or know anyone who belongs to YLGC (Young Lesbian & Gay Christians)? I've registered for the forums but have not received an activation email. Have clicked the link on the boards to resend the activation email, but have not received one (and yes I have checked my junk mail!). Out of the contact email addresses on the website, one is not working and the other hasn't responded to my email. Only members can see other members' profiles so I can't find a member to email and ask them to contact a moderator.
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
A further, kind-of-related request. I would love to hear any memories of life in Coventry between 1955 and 1965 approx for some research I am undertaking (you will be credited if published). I am particularly interested in memories of the following communities

*the Irish community
*the Catholic community and main churches/church schools
*the Caribbean community, particularly Catholic members
*the Coventry motown/northern soul scene
*the early LGBT (gay/lesbian) scene - I realise at this stage it would have been very much underground and mostly illegal, but that doesn't matter, anything will help

Please PM me with your info, so I have it on file!
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Okay, it's bugging me...

Within the last four months I have heard various people suddenly starting saying "I DO!" with an up-pitch on the DO. In answer to, well, basically everything.

Do you have a pencil? "I DO!" (almost girlish squeal)

Do you need to use the toilet? "I DO!" etc. etc. etc.

People used to say "Yes," "Sure," or "Here, borrow mine." Now I'm getting nothing but "I DO!" from all sides.

What ***forsaken celebrity are they imitating? There has to be one.

[ 28. April 2013, 21:00: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Yes, Lamb Chopped:

An American acquaintance tells me it is the US version of the upLIFT at the end of every sentence that became common in the UK with the rise of Neighbours .

A cure? Well, since the rising inflexion in UK English is used as an interrogatory, try this approach:
Person A to up-lift ender B

A Do you have a pencil ?
B I DO
A Yes, that is a pencil. Look, we're all getting a bit concerned at your inability to recognise everyday objects: have you seen your doctor about it?
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
tempting.

The squeal is not on the right pitch for the US interrogative, though; it's more the pitch we'd use to friends to announce that we'd just won the lottery. "I WON!" which seems way too delighted for something as mundane as a pencil--or a toilet either, unless you were in truly desoerate straits. Is it still the same phenomenon?

[ 29. April 2013, 11:26: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
LC, some of just get very excited about pencils
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
You DO!

(admit it, you knew I was going to do that)
 

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Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
If you're talking about the family all of whom have the last name 'Connolly,' would you call them "the Connollys" or "the Connollies"?
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
My cousin's cousins on the other side are Connollys! They keep the 'y'. Others may vary!
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
Hart, as a guide proper nouns remain as they are, plus an "s", others take "ies", hence maple trees have leaves but the hockey team is the Maple Leafs.

I'm sure there are exceptions, probably as a consequence of trademarks and the like.
 

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Posted by Ricardus (# 8757) on :
 
The rule I know is that if the noun X is short for a longer group of nouns in which X is not itself the element being pluralised, then you add an -s to X regardless of its normal plural.

So for example, 'Maple Leafs' is short for something like 'Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club players'. When you say 'the Maple Leafs', you don't mean that there is more than one maple leaf (the club logo has only one), but that there is more than one player who bears the maple leaf logo. It is 'players' that is plural, not 'leaf'.

Likewise, when you say 'the Connollys', you are not suggesting that there is more than one Connolly family. You are saying there is more than one Connolly family member. Ergo, the plural -s is used, not -ies.
 

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Posted by Longshanks (# 16259) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Scots lass:
The drain on my bath is blocked. I've chucked chemicals down it but that's not cleared it. On poking at it with one of those drain clearing rod thingies, I'm hitting something hard just beneath the trap. Do I have to call a plumber now, or does anyone have any suggestions for what I should try next?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Hart:
If you're talking about the family all of whom have the last name 'Connolly,' would you call them "the Connollys" or "the Connollies"?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Gill H:

quote:

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Originally posted by Hart:
If you're talking about the family all of whom have the last name 'Connolly,' would you call them "the Connollys" or "the Connollies"?

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Our friends Mr & Mrs Foot were officially the Foots, but we always called them the Feet - it just sounded better.

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Not really an answer, but a bit of whimsy. Our friends are the Penn family. So, natch, they are known as the Penns.

However, because we live in France, they jokingly became known as Les Stylos.

Whenever I address their Christmas card etc to Les Stylos, I now think of a fat greasy Anglo-Greek café owner called Les (short for Leslie) Stylos.

Edited because I never use preview post and only see the spelling mistakes (or typos) as I press Publish. Sigh.

[ 03. May 2013, 09:08: Message edited by: Dormouse ]
 

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Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Thanks, all! "Connollys" it is.
 

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Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
This is curiosity and puzzling me.

I know there people like Tony Philips who are interested in the mathematics of drawing Labyrinths*, I also know plenty of people who are interested in creating copies of either the Cretan or the Chartres Labyrinth and a few who occasionally do different ones. However does anyone apart from me enjoy drawing different labyrinths and actually exploring the way you create the shapes and paths that form them?

It just seems weird to me when there are literally thousands of different options that we have basically stuck with two.

Jengie

*I am fully aware that there is lots out there on the mathematics of solving mazes.

[ 09. May 2013, 21:07: Message edited by: Jengie Jon ]
 

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Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
Just to add my only page which is pretty good on drawing at the present is this one. There used to be a better one on standard forms but I can not trace it.

Jengie
 

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Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
At last found usual reference point. Dig down and you will find more.

Jengie
 

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Posted by Dormouse (# 5954) on :
 
Has anybody else with a blog on Wibsite found that it's disappeared? When I try to access either my blog OR other peoples' I get this message:
"The requested URL /wp-login.php was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request."

Can anyone enlighten me as to what's happened?
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Dave W posted on Twitter that the site was down for a while, so there is a known problem that is being dealt with.
 

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Posted by Dormouse (# 5954) on :
 
Thanks Drifting Star...As I'm hardly computer literate enough to import phots, I don't follow any social media, so I missed this.

Thank you for the "heads up"
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
That's probably an indicator of sanity rather than a lack of computer literacy!

Glad to help.
 

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Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
A question about what was contemporary Christian music in the 1970s.

I'm trying to locate a song with lyrics something like, "welcome to the worst show on earth, it's incredible, second to none."

Can anyone remember it?
 

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Posted by scuffleball (# 16480) on :
 
Hi; in infant school I learnt a Somalia nursery rhyme called "The Little Fish."

It went something like this -

The little fish
Hatched from the egg
Slipped into the water
Father caught it
Mother cooked it
We all ate it
It was delicious

Except it was in Somali. Does anyone know the title in Soomali?
 

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Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
I'm sorry I don't, but I think it is a great song!
 

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Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
I just read of an interesting puzzle on xkcd of all places. Can someone answer this: if the lift of an airplane depends on the rate of the air flowing over the wing being faster than that under a wing, how do planes sometimes fly upside down?
 

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Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
I understand that when a plane flies upside down, the pilot stears it (thereby changing the profile of the wings) as if it would go down in normal flight (but this down is now up).
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Once you are at altitude and have sufficient airspeed, you can set the flaps for minimum lift and flip the plane over. At that point there is a slight downward lift from the wings in addition to gravity, so you can't fly that way for too long. But by setting the tail flaps to aim the nose slightly upwards you can take advantage of your airspeed to maintain altitude.
 

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Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
Ah- good answers- Thank you!
 

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Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
PS Don't try it at home
 

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Posted by Thyme (# 12360) on :
 
Not so long ago there was a thread started by someone who wanted advice on buying a smartphone. I've had a quick search and googled but no luck. Does anyone remember the thread and/or can point to a link? I'd be ever so grateful. Ta muchly.
 

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Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
you mean this one which is a year out of date or this one about how we use it, which is more recent.

Jengie
 

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Posted by Thyme (# 12360) on :
 
It was the first one I was thinking of Jengie Jon, but the second one looks useful as well. I have bookmarked them both now. Thank you!


 

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Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :
 
Hearing the birdsong this evening, I was reminded of something I read yesra ago about Summer beginning of an evening. (And either Autumn or Winter beginning of a morning)
Does anyone know where this qoute comes from?
 

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Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 
Does anyone happen to know why we say 'adoption' but 'adaptation' rather than 'adoptation' and 'adaptation' or 'adoption' and 'adaption' (IYSWIM)?
 

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Posted by Ricardus (# 8757) on :
 
AIUI, abstract nouns in -ation are ultimately based on -io[n] added to the Latin past participle ending -at[um], which has the sense of 'having been __ed'. Thus adaptation is from adaptatum, which means 'having been adapted'.

Adoption, however, doesn't mean the state of having been adapted, but rather the act of adopting, and so the -ion is added directly to the stem, which is adopt.

In reality, the difference between 'having been __ed' and 'the act of __ing' is often less clear-cut than you'd imagine, so the answer 'just because' is probably equally valid ...
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
had we not would have been galloped...

There was a lot of (often daft) assimilating of English grammar to Latin (Wilkins his spade) - but the whole thing has gone to Hell in a handcart since people started being 'hospitalised' - which ought to mean being turned into a hospital, but apparently is meant to indicate that they have been taken to one. Look no longer for any coherence; that pass is long sold.
 

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Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 
Thank you, Ricardus- very clearly explained and just the sort of answer I knew I could rely on the Ship for.
 

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Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :
 
Rereading Pride & Prejudice I was confronted by an old question: how does one pronounce the last name of Lady Catherine de Burgh? I grew up saying Burr, the wonderful BBC adaptation used Burg, while a recent unabridged audiobook went for Borg. Is there any way of knowing, or does it all come down to personal preference?
 

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Posted by Zach82 (# 3208) on :
 
Howzaboot "deBurf?"
 

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Posted by cattyish (# 7829) on :
 
I'd say Burg, since that's how the BBC and most British people I know would say it. She is English after all.

Cattyish, Scottish.
 

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Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :
 
But, in both Scotland and England, "burgh" at the end of a place name is pronounced "burr". It's only in America, I believe, that it's pronounced "burg".
 

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Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :
 
I have a question for my cousins across the pond. What are "plus fours"?
 

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Posted by Ricardus (# 8757) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Robert Armin:
But, in both Scotland and England, "burgh" at the end of a place name is pronounced "burr".

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Albertus:
Thank you, Ricardus- very clearly explained and just the sort of answer I knew I could rely on the Ship for.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The5thMary:
I have a question for my cousins across the pond. What are "plus fours"?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Albertus:
There are, or were, also plus twos, plus sixes, and plus eights, with suitably varying degrees of bagginess.
I used to wear plus fours occasionally in my fogey youth. Jolly comfortable.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Ricardus:

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Armin:
But, in both Scotland and England, "burgh" at the end of a place name is pronounced "burr".

---

Really? I've always pronounced it like 'borough' or 'burra'. 'Edinburgh' has four syllables for me, even though one is written without a vowel.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Robert Armin:
But, in both Scotland and England, "burgh" at the end of a place name is pronounced "burr". It's only in America, I believe, that it's pronounced "burg".

---

I don't think "burgh" is ever really pronounced "burr", is it? Edinburgh, for example, is either pronounced with three syllables (Ed - in - bruh) or four (Ed - in - bur - uh).

I hear a lot of Americans successfully avoiding rhyming it with iceberg, only to end up with something close to Ed - in - burrow.
 

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Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
De Burgh is originally a Dutch name, so it should be pronounced with a long, rolling chch at the back of the throat
 

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Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by LeRoc:
De Burgh is originally a Dutch name, so it should be pronounced with a long, rolling chch at the back of the throat

---

Or "de Beau" in America?

The lady's name is actually de Bourgh, not Burgh, but vowels in English names tend to have a certain optional character.

Debretts offers "de Burg" as the correct pronunciation of "de Burgh", although some hypothetical de Burgh calling himself Deborah wouldn't be out of line.

As for the lady herself, with an 'o', you could make a reasonable case for either Burg or Borg. There's almost no chance of a soft 'g' on the end.
 

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Posted by comet (# 10353) on :
 
Any coin collectors out there?

Sifting through my tip jar and came across a 1922 silver US dollar. Looks like it might have some value. Any idea how to go about getting the best price for it, and how much that might be?
 

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Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :
 
LC:

quote:

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There's almost no chance of a soft 'g' on the end.

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I bow to your superior knowledge, but why not? Place names have a soft "g", although I concede I got the number of syllables in "Edinburgh" wrong.
 

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Posted by Ricardus (# 8757) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by comet:
Any coin collectors out there?

Sifting through my tip jar and came across a 1922 silver US dollar. Looks like it might have some value. Any idea how to go about getting the best price for it, and how much that might be?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by comet:
Any coin collectors out there?

Sifting through my tip jar and came across a 1922 silver US dollar. Looks like it might have some value. Any idea how to go about getting the best price for it, and how much that might be?

---

quote:

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A Normal relief coin (the most common variety) will be priced between $17.00 and $175.00 according to wear.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Hart:
Not sure if anyone has the appropriate local knowledge, but it's always worth a try. I'm going to be in Austin, TX later this week for a wedding and in my free time, I'd love to do some swimming in Lake Travis. I've found online that there are a bunch of parks you can do this from, but I can't verify that any of them have lockers. I'll be on my own and I don't really like the idea of leaving my car keys on the beach while I swim. Does anyone know of anywhere that has these, or if they'll look after keys at the place where you pay admission?

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quote:

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Originally posted by North East Quine:
Prior to the First World War, Aberdeen (and, I assume, many other places) had nuns in a teaching order who came from a variety of countries. There were several French nuns, and at least one German. This set me wondering - when enemy aliens were being interred during the First World War, what happened to German nuns? Were they interred?

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I hope that, for all the rabid anti-Germanism of 1914, the worst that happened to them was that they were interned
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 


Indeed! I wondered what would happen to a German nun, living in a British convent, when Germans were being interNed during WW1.
 

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Posted by Not (# 2166) on :
 
Fairly sure only men were interned, and then only within a certain age range (based on Judith Kerr's memoirs)

Mainly men, from what I can make out from this

Suspect nuns would be classed as low risk...
 

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Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
Is there anyone there who knows London Heathrow airport well and can tell me, is there anywhere there still open to the public (landside) where you can go and watch the planes taking off and landing? I know years ago it used to be the Queen's Building but I assume that is long gone. I have a plane-mad little boy coming to stay with me soon and thought it would be nice to take him out there to watch the planes.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Planespotting at Heathrow used to be the highlight of my half-term holiday when I was a girl, but with recent events the spectators' area has now been closed. Unless you're actually travelling, when you'll get to see them from the terminal windows, you now have to go further down Bath Road to what used to be the visitors' centre, I believe. Heathrow's guide for spectators.

It isn't quite as glam but maybe City Airport might do? I haven't been able to find out whether they're having the London City Airport Fun Day this year at the start of July, but if they are your little lad might enjoy that.
 

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Posted by Macrina (# 8807) on :
 
Does anyone know how to remove the little grease stains that blutack leaves from painted walls?
 

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Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
WD40 removes most oily and waxy stains from painted walls, even wax crayon.
 

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Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hart:
I'll be on my own and I don't really like the idea of leaving my car keys on the beach while I swim.

---

It's probably too late for this trip, but I picked up several different sized Aquapacs for a recent trip to Hawaii for the same reason (and to keep sand out of my cameras and phones). Their Keymaster model was perfect for a car key, ID, credit card, and some cash. It all stayed nice and dry. My boardies all have some form of a pocket (velcro or zipper) to keep it in.

For the ladies, or guys who prefer banana hammocks, the Aquapacs come with lanyards to tie around a wrist/ankle/waistband. I found mine online, but some higher-end outdoor outfitters carry them too, like REI.

http://usstore.aquapac.net/keymaster-fits-asthma-inhalers-uss608.html

[ 17. June 2013, 20:34: Message edited by: monkeylizard ]
 

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
I might get an aquapac next time I go surfing without my wife. As I get older, I work less and am spending more time surfing in the off-season. Our 2013 Ford Focus Titanium does not have a "key" as such, just an electronic fob which the car senses is in your pocket and opens the doors. You push a button to start the car. I would be in a world of hurt if that was the car I took to the beach.

Last time I went surfing was in February before I bought the new car and the rented Chevrolet Cruze had an electronic key, so I buried it in the sand!

Next time I go surfing, I'll have to take my old surfer wagon and it no longer has an electronic fob, just a metal key I can put on a string in the pocket of my board shorts before I don my wetsuit.
 

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Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 
I got the Keymaster for my carkey and cards/cash, the Mini Whanganui for my iPhone (had to remove the iPhone case to make it fit), and the Mini Camera Case with Hard Lens for the camera. All three kept out the sand and water over 2 weeks of beach, surfing, and snorkelling and all look as good as new. If your pocket camera has an extending lens, get the one with the hard lens. If not, the Small Camera Case would do the trick.

The "secret" (it's on the packaging) is to inspect the seal area each time you close it up for any stray sand, hair, or other bits of stuff that can keep the seal from forming properly. Rinse it well in fresh water after use to get rid of any salt/sand.

Speaking of surfing...I tried it for my first time on Waikiki about 2 weeks ago. It was awesome! Sadly, I'm too far from a beach to get into it.
 

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Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :
 
I've recently read a book, written in the 1960s, in which one character refers to another as having "his ears too high on his head". This expression seems to suggest that the person is not to be trusted, in the same way as "having his eyes too close together". I'm not sure if this is just a 'private' expression used by these characters, or if this term was in more general use.

Google does not seem to be my friend on this. Has anyone else come across this expression?
 

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Posted by A.Pilgrim (# 15044) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Macrina:
Does anyone know how to remove the little grease stains that blutack leaves from painted walls?

---

With the caveat that I've not actually done this myself, I would try using a small dab of Swarfega* on a piece of paper kitchen roll. Swarfega is my all-time choice for removing oily marks on anything, especially fabrics. (Followed by hand soap and then water on a fabric, but I guess that an impermeable surface such as a painted wall won't need them). Of course, it might happen that the Swarfega takes the paint off the wall, in which case, don't blame me!
Angus

*UK terminology. I regret that if this product is unknown across the pond I can't help with alternative names or suggestions.
 

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by monkeylizard:

Speaking of surfing...I tried it for my first time on Waikiki about 2 weeks ago. It was awesome! Sadly, I'm too far from a beach to get into it.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Macrina:
Does anyone know how to remove the little grease stains that blutack leaves from painted walls?

---

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that rubbing bread on them would do it. Worth a try anyway.
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Blotting paper and then press with a warm iron - if you can't find blotting paper then brown wrapping paper will do, matt side onto the stain.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Bread does get rid of grease stains and some black marks, and is a gentle way of doing it. However, I haven't tried it on Blu-Tack, which isn't the same kind of grease as butter or oil, and doubt that it would work.

There are lots of suggestions on the internet but they only seem to have limited success or none at all. I'd suggest looking for some kind of stain remover in your local hardware shop - Stain Devils have a comprehensive range and there might be something there, if you can get them where you are.
 

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Posted by Percy B (# 17238) on :
 
I read a review a while ago - say a year or two - of a book about the rosary, recently published, written by a RC priest who has a particular love of / ministry with the Rosary - I think he was Irish...

Can anyone help with a title?
 

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Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on :
 
Bread is also useful for gently cleaning the covers of old books.
 

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Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Percy B:
I read a review a while ago - say a year or two - of a book about the rosary, recently published, written by a RC priest who has a particular love of / ministry with the Rosary - I think he was Irish...

Can anyone help with a title?

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Hmmm. Is there any chance that you are thinking of The Rosary: Chain of Hope, by Father Benedict Groeschel? I think that was published in 2012. I don't think he is Irish, but I could be wrong.
 

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Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Patrick Peyton?
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
Best budget Chinese in London's Chinatown? Doesn't have to be authentic but would prefer it if it was. Noodles (in soup and ho fun especially) preferred to rice dishes.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Wander round and take your pick. They're all crammed into quite a small area, and they're all much of a muchness, pricewise.

My personal favourite is the Vietnamese just around the corner that looks like someone's front room. No frills, not hugely expensive, just authentic food with no concessions to the Western palate.

(I still remember the duck portion that came, roughly chopped into over-large "bite-size" pieces, with bones still attached, to be eaten with chopsticks. Somehow, I managed, and yes it was pretty good.)
 

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Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
Any suggestions on how to remove chewing gum from the side of some quite lovely black leather shoes?

So far, I've used bits of soft tissue, dunked into warmish water, and the chewing gum is gradually coming off. But it's painstaking work, and I couldn't be bothered to do all of it yet.

Any better ideas? Thanks.
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
I would say put it in the freezer, but you really need to have some idea about the effects of freezing on leather before you do. Maybe holding an ice cube on it, possibly in a plastic bag, would be a good compromise.

Freezing is far and away the easiest way to get rid of chewing gum from most things.


[Edited because grammar is good.]

[ 02. July 2013, 10:05: Message edited by: Drifting Star ]
 

---

Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
Any better ideas? Thanks.

---

Belt sander. Guaranteed to remove the chewing gum.

I agree with Drifting Star. Get the gum cold and it will be easier to remove as it hardens.
 

---

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Spray with compressed lighter fuel - it will come off. If any of the dye comes off the leather then use a leather dye to blend into the surrounding areas.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
You can get a Stain Devil for that. I got one and found it worked, though this was on fabric rather than leather. You might have to polish the leather up afterwards with some black shoe polish, but that won't hurt.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
Thanks, all! I'll give this a thought, and shall report back in due time.
 

---

Posted by PeteC (# 10422) on :
 
My study just got some new burgundy blinds. I like burgundy.

The walls in the study need some patching and painting and rather than do it in boring old white (original colour 25 years ago), I was wondering about a light pastel. What colours complement burgundy, in your experience?
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Cream, light grey, beige or gold; or you could try a pastel pink (if you're careful about which hue you pick) or sage green. Blue-green if you want a stronger colour, but it needs to be strong and won't look good as a gentle pastel next to burgundy.

There is always the fallback option of a much paler shade of the original colour, but you might prefer to have a contrast rather than a complement.
 

---

Posted by PeteC (# 10422) on :
 
Thank you very much. Although I am tempted by gold, I think I will settle for a light grey.
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
Certain shades of light blue or greyish blue would go nicely also. You have to pick the shades carefully.

Moo
 

---

Posted by Kittyville (# 16106) on :
 
Colours from opposite sides of the colour wheel go well together. I have some oil paintings with a dark red/burgundy background. On the advice of a rellie in the rag trade, I painted the wall they were to hang on pale green. It works really well.
 

---

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
I had 2 MP3 players that died recently. I am missing having some music to listen to as I commute around town and I am trying to find out the pros and cons of i-pods, MP3 (or 4) players and any other format that may suit.

I am what PeteC refers to as a technopeasant, so something that is simple would be best.

At present all my music is on cds and I would be downloading them onto whatever format I choose (or getting a friend to do this for me if I don't have the technological expertise).

So, what would you suggest?
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
Get any new (or old) mp3 player, if you feel like it!

I've just bought another old SanDisk Sansa of the e200 series, which all come with a MicroSD card slot: the newer ones of these (other brands are available!) accept MicroSD cards of up to 32GB, which is a lot, and relatively cheap. Cards of smaller storage sizes are also there, like 4, 8 or 16GB (check for compatibility with the player's software).

However, what I've found myself doing is using the same extra storage card trick with my (SonyEricsson) smart phone: I've slapped the same type MicroSD card with 32GB storage in there, and so I can use the phone for listening to music, if I'm en route.

Main thing seems to be, store your music on an external harddrive, connected to your computer, and then transfer all you desire to the mp3 player/smart phone, possibly the extra card. That way you won't lose much if they crash again.

Hope this gives you a few points to consider. For further and more techy advice, check out this thread, should you wish.
 

---

Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 
Just as a music player, in iPod isn't really any better or worse than the competition like Wes mentioned from SanDisk.

I never thought I'd be an Apple fan, but when it comes to iPod/iPhone I'm 100% sold.

iPod shines for 2 reasons: Apps and iTunes. The importance of apps will depend on what kind of iPod you're considering. If you want a tiny little iPod Shuffle, then you won't be running any apps. An iPod Touch is basically an iPhone* without the phone part and can run apps and communicate over the Internet via WiFi. I'm not sure if the new Nano can run apps or not. I know it has some built-in ones, but I don't know if you can add more or not.

iTunes is the software you install on your Mac/PC for managing your media library (songs, movies, podcasts, etc.) It seems to be a love it or hate it package. Control freaks hate it because of the way it stores the files behind the scenes. People who switch brands a lot hate it because it encodes music in an Apple format that other players don't read. It can do .MP3 but it's not the default.

One huge advantage of iTunes is how easy it is to use. My FiL, who needs help to login to gMail, loves iTunes. It's very easy to access the music and app stores to purchase new stuff and displays your library in an easy to read way. It also has a few less steps than many other players' software for purchasing and importing from CD and then placing them on your player.

It also makes gift giving easier for your friends..."oh I'll give him/her an iTunes card"

If all you want is a simple music player, look at the iPod Shuffle. You still get the ease of use of iTunes in a very simple package.


*If you happen to also be ready for a new phone, the iPhone is also a player. No need for both an iPhone and iPod for most people. One device for everything. I know most Android-based phones are also .MP3 players and they all run apps so that's not an iPhone exclusive thing. Not to start an Apple vs. Android war as both have good and bad, but in my experience iOS (used by iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPod Nano) is much easier to use. My wife and MiL can't figure out how to do much of anything on their Androids without my help but can both easily use my and my FiL's iPhones. Both will be switching to iPhone soon, for their convenience and my sanity.
 

---

Posted by Ricardus (# 8757) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by monkeylizard:
iTunes is the software you install on your Mac/PC for managing your media library (songs, movies, podcasts, etc.) It seems to be a love it or hate it package. Control freaks hate it because of the way it stores the files behind the scenes. People who switch brands a lot hate it because it encodes music in an Apple format that other players don't read. It can do .MP3 but it's not the default.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Perhaps it might help to get a spelling checker plugin for your browser - anyone got any good recommendations?

---

I have a spell-checker form my browser

quote:

---

Or another option might be maybe to copy your posts into Word before you post them, and get Word to spell-check them for you.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by PeteC:
...how does one get a rust stain out of low-pile (aka indoor-outdoor) carpeting without ripping it all up and starting anew?

---

That's a toughie. You can get rust stains out of fabric by putting lemon juice on them and exposing them to sunlight. This may fade the fabric.

Moo
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
If a coloured garment that's in the wash has run all over white clothes, i.e. the dye is unstable, why is it so difficult to get the colour out of the white clothes? Logically, it ought to be as easy to get it out of those as it is to lose it from the original, no?

(I know, when did logic ever apply to clothes?)
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
You can buy special dye removers.

Moo
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
After my earlier question on chewing-gummically-challenged shoes, here's one from a different branch (sic!) of life:

I've just got this kitchen trolley, second hand, for not much dough. I'm planning to use it as a mobile workbench, similar to that in the article; it doesn't have to look great, to start with. It's birch wood.

I've now found that the worktop/butcher's top is splitting along some of the seams; you can see these if you zoom in on the first link. As I've never experienced anything like it in IKEA furniture - except on a few 20-odd-year old Ivar shelf boards (pine wood) - I'm curious as to, in your expert opinion, a) why it may have started to split, and b) what you think can be done about it.

To a) I thought, perhaps very dry room for extended period. To b): perhaps use woodfiller or glue (the cracks are max 0.5 to 1 mm wide only, and don't go all the way)? Or - I may be totally off the mark here! - would a 1 or 2hr waterbath help the wood to sort of regain some its flexiblity, and help close the cracks? (Only asking, I really don't know!)

Thank you again, Shippies!
 

---

Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
If a coloured garment that's in the wash has run all over white clothes, i.e. the dye is unstable, why is it so difficult to get the colour out of the white clothes? Logically, it ought to be as easy to get it out of those as it is to lose it from the original, no?

(I know, when did logic ever apply to clothes?)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
If a coloured garment that's in the wash has run all over white clothes, i.e. the dye is unstable, why is it so difficult to get the colour out of the white clothes? Logically, it ought to be as easy to get it out of those as it is to lose it from the original, no?

(I know, when did logic ever apply to clothes?)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by jackanapes:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
If a coloured garment that's in the wash has run all over white clothes, i.e. the dye is unstable, why is it so difficult to get the colour out of the white clothes? Logically, it ought to be as easy to get it out of those as it is to lose it from the original, no?

(I know, when did logic ever apply to clothes?)

---

Generally, a certain amount of fabric of a certain type will hold fast a certain amount of dye of a certain type. It can hold extra dye in a non-fast state. It is this extra dye that comes out in the wash and colours your whites. Your whites will then hold fast some of that dye.

Once dye is fast, it is difficult to remove although, as stated upthread, there are products available that will do this job more or less well, dependent on dye and fabric involved.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Huge request, we are trying to trace my father's cousin who he is in vague contact with*, as Dad is in hospital. The problem is we really have very little to go on.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Huge request, we are trying to trace my father's cousin who he is in vague contact with*, as Dad is in hospital. The problem is we really have very little to go on.

---

Letters to local papers in that area? I regularly see letters like that locally asking for any information or on the local society websites. You can e-mail the letter, or maybe tweet and ask for a RT to the papers in that area.

---

The Eastern Daily Press is widely read in Norfolk.
 

---

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
... and if he's around 70 he's more likely to list himself as Raymond, rather than Ray.

Any idea if he's married, wife's name, etc? That could all be helpful too...

Good luck
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
My lavatory cistern has suddenly started making a loud moaning sound whenever it is flushed. Any suggestions?

(This is a serious question .....)


 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Mine did that. At first I thought I had Moaning Myrtle stuck down it. It seemed to happen more if it wasn't flushed for a few hours, then for whatever reason, it cured itself after some weeks. I'm assuming in this instance it was low water pressure, though the internet suggests there can be more than one reason for this problem.
 

---

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
I'm planning on shaving my head to raise money for the Behcets Syndrome Society in memory of a friend's sister who died from the disease this year. I will put a JustGiving link in my signature once I've set it up, but does anyone have any hints for taking care of a bald head? I will need sunscreen (I am pale and use spf 30+ as standard) but other than that, is there anything else to be aware of?
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
Any suggestions on how to remove chewing gum from the side of some quite lovely black leather shoes? [...]

---

Thank you all for your advice and encouraging words! I've just now tried with my Kärcher steam cleaner, and lo and behold: all the chewing gum's come off! So, apparently, both extremes work: ice and steamy heat. Yay! - I shall reward myself with a pot of peanut butter.
 

---

Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
Any suggestions on how to remove chewing gum from the side of some quite lovely black leather shoes? [...]

---

Thank you all for your advice and encouraging words! I've just now tried with my Kärcher steam cleaner, and lo and behold: all the chewing gum's come off! So, apparently, both extremes work: ice and steamy heat. Yay! - I shall reward myself with a pot of peanut butter.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
I've just got this kitchen trolley, second hand, for not much dough. I'm planning to use it as a mobile workbench, similar to that in the article; it doesn't have to look great, to start with. It's birch wood.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by monkeylizard:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
I've just got this kitchen trolley, second hand, for not much dough. I'm planning to use it as a mobile workbench, similar to that in the article; it doesn't have to look great, to start with. It's birch wood.

---

You'll want to clean out any 'crud' that has built up down in the cracks as best you can. Then get some good wood glue. In the US we have a brand called Tightbond that works well. After working the glue down in the cracks, you'll want to put clamps on the whole thing to squeeze the joints together like this. On that size, 2 clamps should do it. Clamp it for 24 hours then sand it smooth to remove any glue that squeezes up from the cracks.

The easier option is to work some wood filler into the joints and then sand it smooth after it dries. No clamps to deal with and it'll probably hold up just as well unless you're really beating on that surface.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hart:
Lumosity -- actually a useful service for mental training worth $5 a month and a few minutes each day of your time, or a rip-off based on pseudo-science? Thoughts, please!

---

The evidence so far is no.
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
I have an old Black & Decker hammer drill that I've had for years and years but don't need to use it much. When I last used it a few weeks ago it was fine, but when I got it out again yesterday it isn't working. I've tried changing the fuse but that doesn't help. I don't have the instruction leaflet any more.

There is a button on the side of the drill which I seem to remember is some kind of "reset" button, but pressing that doesn't make any difference.

Any advice appreciated on what I can do to get it working again - or should I just give up and get a new one?
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
What model is it? It ought to say somewhere on the machine. You/we could then google/duckduckgo/startpage for a manual, and perhaps for advice on similar problems people had. - That's at least what I normally do for a start; it sometimes even works!
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wesley J:
What model is it? It ought to say somewhere on the machine. You/we could then google/duckduckgo/startpage for a manual, and perhaps for advice on similar problems people had. - That's at least what I normally do for a start; it sometimes even works!

---

I don't know if the manual would be available, the drill is at least 30 years old!
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
You might be surprised and find it available, Sparrow.
Question: does the chuck rotate when twisted? Might need to be forceful with it.
Two reasons to try. One, it might be frozen. Two, in motors with brushes, the brushes can develop a "flat spot". Rotating it might allow it to move. Also check the cord for breaks.
 

---

Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 
You might be surprised. Search Google using the model number from the serial plate and you may find the manual.

If it's 30 years old or more, it leads me to wonder if it may be one of the old metal housed ones. If it is, then it breaking is the best thing that could happen to you. Any metal housed power tools should be replaced with plastic* ones. The "vintage" ones look cool and have a certain nostalgia to them, but that metal conducts electricty. If the motor inside arcs, it will zap you. They're also very heavy compared to plastic ones.

*Plastic/polymer/glass-filled-nylon/whatever that stuff is.

[ 30. July 2013, 19:17: Message edited by: monkeylizard ]
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
Yes, it is a metal housed one and very heavy! I think you are probably right, time for a new one.
 

---

Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 
Get rid of that death machine! You'll be surprised at how much easier the lighter weight is to handle. Here's a comparison from Popular Mechanics of some popular models. It looks like the one from Rigid would be a good choice.

I have an old metal housed Craftsman drill (complete with nylon braided electric cord). I don't use it but I keep it because it's one of the only things I have of my grandfather's.
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
I've Rigid cordless tools and they are terrific. Durable and reliable.

BTW, Monkeyliizard, your link does not work for me.

[ 31. July 2013, 14:12: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
It's possible that this is the link monkeylizard intended.
 

---

Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :
 
If it's an old drill, check if it has replaceable brushes. Many of these have two caps which hold the brushes in and over a long time the brushes wear out and usually can be replaced.

Metal housings are dangerous if the drill isn't grounded. In the US this is a three prong plug. The weight may be a problem but it also damps the vibration for those of us with bad wrists.

Black and Decker invented the hand drill (or gets credit in the US) and originally made fine tools. Over time they cost engineered the quality out to make it a cheap consumer tool. They then bought DeWalt, which was a professional tool maker and started engineering the quality out.

Rigid used to make very high quality plumbing tools ( and calendars of extremely pneumatic models). I believe the Home Depot DIY hardware store bought a license to their name and is making consumer grade tools. They still make the expensive and high quality pipe threaders, but I'd look at the drills carefully.

Milwaukee is still an expensive and high quality drill and tool supplier. Their 3/8 hammer drill is the tool to buy if you have to drill holes in concrete. It's also worth buying a few of their expensive drill bits even if you have a cheap drill rather than use cheap bits.

[ 31. July 2013, 17:46: Message edited by: Palimpsest ]
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
I don;t know if we have Rigid in the UK, I've never heard of them. Black and Decker are the leading manufacturers here.
 

---

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
I have two Black and Deckers. The 1/2" has a metal housing and I don't use it anymore. I also have an early bottom-of-the-line 1/4" which came with no reverse. It does have a plastic housing. I plan to use it next month to install a wall-shelf in the dining room. I've never had any problem with either of them!
 

---

Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
I don;t know if we have Rigid in the UK, I've never heard of them. Black and Decker are the leading manufacturers here.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hart:
Lumosity -- actually a useful service for mental training worth $5 a month and a few minutes each day of your time, or a rip-off based on pseudo-science? Thoughts, please!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
Have you ever come across an alternative to sticky tape for fixing to the top of venetian blinds - my bedroom faces west, high up, and really heats up in the afternoon - I tried hanging an old sheet sprayed with water over the top but need a temporary fix that can be redone each day. I really need to replace the blinds with curtains. (My mind has just got to work on this. The windows are the full width of the room, so there's nowhere to pull them right back to allow the full effect of the view - I have just realised I can get a curved end to the rail. But meanwhile, I need to fix the sheet to the blinds.)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Rare earth magnets are very strong.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Porridge:

Do any shipmates have long-term experience with standing computer stations? My computer work requires speed and concentration on word-processing material. Any advice?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Porridge:

Do any shipmates have long-term experience with standing computer stations? My computer work requires speed and concentration on word-processing material. Any advice? I'm tempted to put my dibs in, but want to know about potential downsides, as once it's mine, it'll be a loooong commitment.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
It's possible that this is the link monkeylizard intended.

---

Yep. Thanks. I don't know what went wrong between the COPY and the PASTE.
 

---

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 
Ariel--

Thanks for the games link!
 

---

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Thanks to people who gave feedback on lumosity. I think the conclusion I've reached is that if I have time and keep on finding it fun, it's probably more productive than wasting time on buzzfeed or something, but less so than going for a run, reading the news, reviewing Hebrew verb paradigms, cleaning my sink, etc. I was just trying to calibrate it!
 

---

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:

quote:

---

Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Rare earth magnets are very strong.

---

Thanks - and reasonable. Though I am abjuring Amazon at the moment.

I've been looking up bay window curtain rails, as I want to have the curtain come back round a corner on the side near my bed, possibly with a cord. Turns out that I can't have it corded at one end at that size, unless I pay about £400. I'm sure there used to be a DIY way of cording curtains simply.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:

quote:

---

Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Rare earth magnets are very strong.

---

Thanks - and reasonable. Though I am abjuring Amazon at the moment.

I've been looking up bay window curtain rails, as I want to have the curtain come back round a corner on the side near my bed, possibly with a cord. Turns out that I can't have it corded at one end at that size, unless I pay about £400. I'm sure there used to be a DIY way of cording curtains simply.

---

Where are you located Penny? I recently had a London based firm come and put up a curved curtain rail round my front room bay window. They were very helpful.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
About 4 metres with two bends in it to fit round the bay. I didn't have a cord but they would have done it if I wanted it. I can PM you their details if you like.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
I have bought some curly curtain rail. I have consulted my Readers Digest "How to do just about anything" which has said something along the lines of "some track comes with cord ready fitted, or you can do it yourself" and then TOTALLY FAILS TO TELL ME HOW!

I can work out a way of cording it to open the curtains, but not how to do the close without leaving cord dangling across the window when it is open. And I know my parents had done it on old fashioned curtain rails about 50 years ago without any professionals.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Martha:
Has anyone had any success in mending Le Creuset stoneware? I unthinkingly put frozen fish fillets in my baking dish and popped it in a hot oven, whereupon it cleanly cracked in two, right across the middle. It's such a clean break that it seems like gluing might work, but I wasn't sure if there was anything that would hold up to being cooked and washed.

---

I'm sorry to have to say it is extremely unlikely that this can be fixed so as to survive cooking and washing
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Martha:
Has anyone had any success in mending Le Creuset stoneware? I unthinkingly put frozen fish fillets in my baking dish and popped it in a hot oven, whereupon it cleanly cracked in two, right across the middle. It's such a clean break that it seems like gluing might work, but I wasn't sure if there was anything that would hold up to being cooked and washed.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
I have bought some curly curtain rail. I have consulted my Readers Digest "How to do just about anything" which has said something along the lines of "some track comes with cord ready fitted, or you can do it yourself" and then TOTALLY FAILS TO TELL ME HOW!

I can work out a way of cording it to open the curtains, but not how to do the close without leaving cord dangling across the window when it is open. And I know my parents had done it on old fashioned curtain rails about 50 years ago without any professionals.

---

Does this help, it would take more detail but you need to remember you are pulling on a loop not a single string and actually it is moving a master glider.

Jengie

---

Thank you - I had a nose around on that company's site but hadn't found that page. I'm only going to be hanging one curtain, pulling in one direction, but with a curve at one end to take the fabric away from the glass which nearly fills up the whole wall. The problem with the loop is going to be keeping the cord from falling down when it isn't a track with a slot for it (because those tracks will not allow me to do what I want - they are most emphatic about it). Maybe a weight on the operating loop will keep it taut.
 

---

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
The loop runs both along the top and bottom of the rails. One of the sides of the loop goes through the glider the other is blank.

Jengie

[ 10. August 2013, 12:22: Message edited by: Jengie Jon ]
 

---

Posted by Pearl B4 Swine (# 11451) on :
 
when I checked this thread, just the last post, to see what was being chatted about, Jengie's post was at the top of a fresh page. For the life of me I can't imagine what the blazes the subject is! I scoured me brayne for something that has loops and rails and a glider. And I resisted the temptation to look at the previous page.

But now I AM going to go look.
 

---

Posted by RuthW (# 13) on :
 
Since this seems to have gone unanswered ...

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jade Constable:
I have a question! There is a cat who lives up the street from my parents' (he definitely has a home) who is what looks like an un-neutered male - you can tell his sex from across the room - but has the loveliest, most gentle nature. Loves belly rubs, doesn't mind being picked up, loves pettings and isn't noisy. He has also never sprayed, that I've seen, and since my mum gives him treats we see him a lot. He is a big cat but tall rather than stocky, with long legs and radar ears, and small paws for a male cat. Is it possible that he is neutered and his balls just stayed big? He just doesn't act like an un-neutered male at all.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
when I checked this thread, just the last post, to see what was being chatted about, Jengie's post was at the top of a fresh page. For the life of me I can't imagine what the blazes the subject is! I scoured me brayne for something that has loops and rails and a glider. And I resisted the temptation to look at the previous page.

But now I AM going to go look.

---

Noooo! Don't look! It'll be curtains for you!
 

---

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
I've just finished reading the diary of a 12 year old who was killed when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. I made me realise how little I know about why Japan went to war. All the war history I did at school focussed on the war in Europe or various battles New Zealanders fought.

Can anyone suggest a starting point from for finding out more about the Japanese?

(Hosts, I'm not sure if this might be better as a thread in Purg, but I'm posting it here first as I want fairly specific information).

Huia
 

---

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Huia

You should first look at the Russian-Japanese hostilities of 1904-5 and then go onto read about the Japanese invasion of China (Manchuria)in 1931 - this will give you a beginning for the Japanese in WWII. The ceding of the Korean peninsula was also a factor, plus the Japanese exploitation of native unrest in some colonial possessions - notably those belonging to the Dutch - gave the Japanese opportunity to encourage localised unrest.

The Japanese were invading SE Asian countries before the war began in Europe and long before the Americans came in after Pearl Harbour.
 

---

Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 
As L'organist said, it goes back further than the official start of WW2. If you're specifically interested in what led to the Empire of Japan attacking the U.S, then here is a short version of what led up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Keep in mind the Japanese expansions that had been going on since the turn of the century that L'organist mentioned.

There's some nuance left out in that summary. There were people in the Emperor's advisors that tried really really hard not to go to war with the U.S. Even Admiral Yamamoto knew that it was only a matter of time before Japan lost if they went after the U.S. He said in a letter to the prime minister that In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success. 6 months to the day after Pearl Harbor, the U.S won the battle of Midway which was the turning point in the Pacific theater.
 

---

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Thanks L'Organist and Monkeylizard, with the little I have read your suggestions make perfect sense. That's one of the difficulties with history, the roots of an event often lie much further back, so finding a place to start can be challenging.

Huia
 

---

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
Not sure it requires a thread of its own (tell me if you think it does though) but has anyone here been InterRailing? I turn 25 in February so next summer is my last chance to do it on a youth pass. I have only been as far as France and Belgium and have always wanted to see Eastern Europe. I am happy to travel alone and use youth hostels. I would probably want the 22-day continuous or month-long pass, so I can see as many countries as possible.

Edited to add - Ruth, thanks. He is un-neutered.

[ 15. August 2013, 13:28: Message edited by: Jade Constable ]
 

---

Posted by Qoheleth. (# 9265) on :
 
A question for Polish speakers, please. Maximilian Kolbe whose feast was observed last Wednesday - how should we pronounce his name, please? Google Translate offers "Kol-beh" (short 'e' as in 'get'). Can I trust Google ?

thanks
 

---

Posted by chive (# 208) on :
 
I have very dark hair and no grey hairs. My father is in his late sixties with the same colour of hair and no grey hairs. My grandmother died in her early nineties with the same colour of hair and no grey hairs. All this is good. But suddenly I've developed grey hairs in my eyebrows. I don't want to look like a reverse Alistair Darling so I pluck them madly.

How come my eyebrows are going grey but my head hair isn't?

[edited to stop stupidity on a fairly stupid post anyway]

[ 17. August 2013, 11:02: Message edited by: chive ]
 

---

Posted by argona (# 14037) on :
 
Eyebrows are their own creatures.
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Qoheleth.:
A question for Polish speakers, please. Maximilian Kolbe whose feast was observed last Wednesday - how should we pronounce his name, please? Google Translate offers "Kol-beh" (short 'e' as in 'get'). Can I trust Google ?

thanks

---

Wikipedia has that too. In addition, if you just enter 'Kolbe' there, you'll find quite a number of famous German-origin people with that name. His father was an ethnic German (according to Wiki), so it certainly makes sense, IMO.
 

---

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
If in may copious free time ( ) I wanted to get better at chess, how should I go about it? I know the rules, but I've never really studied the game much at all beyond that. Against the free chess game that comes with Windows, I can beat the computer on its easiest setting just over half the time, which I think probably makes me pretty bad.
 

---

Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
My dad's answer would definitely be learn a few standard chess openings, and learn to stop giving away your pieces, if you haven't already.
 

---

Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :
 
Also, find a human who is better than you to play with - either in real life, or I gather that there's an internet chess server that my chess-playing godson frequents, which contains players of a wide range of standards.

Computer chess programs tend to be a bit idiosyncratic.
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by chive:
I have very dark hair and no grey hairs. My father is in his late sixties with the same colour of hair and no grey hairs. My grandmother died in her early nineties with the same colour of hair and no grey hairs. All this is good. But suddenly I've developed grey hairs in my eyebrows. I don't want to look like a reverse Alistair Darling so I pluck them madly.

How come my eyebrows are going grey but my head hair isn't?

[edited to stop stupidity on a fairly stupid post anyway]

---

Eyebrows are typically the last part to change. Know one knows why hair colour varies on the same head.
 

---

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :
 
At 5:30 this morning I was woken by a beeping sound in my kitchen -- sounded like someone pushing the buttons on my microwave. I went to see what was going on, and my microwave clock read "99:99." Went back to bed, the beeping started again. I unplugged the microwave.

There didn't seem to be any electrical storm last night, and all other clocks are o.k.

Any idea why this would happen? Do I need to dispose of my 11-year-old microwave and get a new one? Or do I call an Exorcist???


 

---

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Possibly caused by a power surge.

Switch the microwave back on and then proceed to set the clock.

In other words: if all else fails switch off, wait and then start again.
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Get out of the house now!

Run! Run!

11years?! Likely a fault within the microwave itself, though possibly a wiring fault. Plug the microwave into a separate circuit, if it happens again, there is your answer.
 

---

Posted by Pearl B4 Swine (# 11451) on :
 
My microwave oven trips the circuit breaker every now & then. Its annoying to go to the basement to re-set it. Only happens every couple of months. But sometimes it happens several times in 1 day GRRR

Question: How can I keep bread from getting moldy as long as possible? I know some smarty will say "Buy it fresh every day". Does keeping it in the refrigerator help any? What about freezing it?
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:

Question: How can I keep bread from getting moldy as long as possible? I know some smarty will say "Buy it fresh every day". Does keeping it in the refrigerator help any? What about freezing it?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Golden Key:
Pigwidgeon--

Do you have any pets that roam about? Might they have played with the microwave?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
My microwave oven trips the circuit breaker every now & then. Its annoying to go to the basement to re-set it. Only happens every couple of months. But sometimes it happens several times in 1 day GRRR

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
Thanks for all the bread tips. Tho I'm an excellent cook ( it's the truth ! ) my only failing category is yeast dough.

---

• Q: What are the top 10 hypoallergenic dog breads?
  A: No dog breeds are truly hypoallergenic. There are only 'low allergen' dogs. Bichon Frise, Poodles etc. Read More »
  Source: wiki.answers.com

quote:

---

Originally posted by L'organist:
If blackberries are bitter try this: wash and then put into pie (or whatever) with a large spoonful of honey and the juice of an orange...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smudgie:
Years ago I had a link to a website which was laid out like a spider diagram and linked all genres of music along a "if you like that, you may well like this" sort of style. You'd just click on the bubbles on the spider diagram and hear the music, and all the bubbles linked to it would be of a similar or overlapping genre. Anyone know a)what it was, b)whether it's still around and c) where I can find it again? I can't remember for the life of me what the website was called, and googling hasn't helped so far.

Needless to say, the website was free, but you couldn't download the music, you could only listen to it on that site.

---

Pandora?

Though now I'm not sure. I have a visual memory of something older than Pandora that was like that. I think Pandora uses similar technology, but it doesn't have that sort of diagram. Still thinking about this one, because I know exactly what you mean!

[ 04. September 2013, 16:49: Message edited by: Gwai ]
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
There's an app called Discovr Music that is arranged like that.
 

---

Posted by The Kat in the Hat (# 2557) on :
 
There is this one Every Noise at Once

or maybe this one
Music Map
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Not certain whether to kiss you or trample your Hat, Kat. Brilliant sites, but I can see much time spent...
 

---

Posted by Dormouse (# 5954) on :
 
Was it Misicovery ? - which is a site I think I discovered courtesy of The Ship some time back.

ETA And if I could spell, I'd have written MUSICOVERY

[ 05. September 2013, 06:35: Message edited by: Dormouse ]
 

---

Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
My microwave oven trips the circuit breaker every now & then. Its annoying to go to the basement to re-set it. Only happens every couple of months. But sometimes it happens several times in 1 day GRRR

Question: How can I keep bread from getting moldy as long as possible? I know some smarty will say "Buy it fresh every day". Does keeping it in the refrigerator help any? What about freezing it?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Galloping Granny:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
Question: How can I keep bread from getting moldy as long as possible? I know some smarty will say "Buy it fresh every day". Does keeping it in the refrigerator help any? What about freezing it?

---

We eat 1-4 slices a day, of a bought wholegrain loaf. We put the sliced loaf in the freezer, and take out not more than 6-8 slices in a bag in the fridge. Works for us. We never know when we'll be out for lunch, or decide to get something totally different.

GG

---

• "It seems I impregnated Marge
  So I do rather feel, by and large,
  Some cash should be tendered
  For services rendered,
  But I can't quite decide what to charge."

quote:

---

Qoheleth.: Hi - I'm hunting for an over-the-top arrangement of Happy Birthday (pref SATB) for a joint 80th/90th party coming up soon. Google tells me that Arnold Bax did one in 1951 which might be rather splendid, but I can't locate it either online or on paper. And the 'Murcans can get a set of eight arrgts by Russell Robinson, but not available in UK.

---

There are a number of SATB arrangements on the internet. I haven't found the one by Bax though.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
How do I work out what kind of these new-style lightbulbs are equivalent to a) a 40W bulb, b) a 60W bulb and c) how do I dispose of any lightbulb containing mercury - which I'm really not keen to buy but may have to - I assume they should not go into the glass recycling bins?

Any advice gratefully received. There's no clue on the packaging and I don't know what a 7W light bulb might be used for.

[ 28. September 2013, 10:30: Message edited by: Ariel ]
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
I think I have old enough packaging at home to give me equivalents to double check this but 7W I think is equivalent to 40W in old money, 11W to 60W and 15W to 100W

[ 28. September 2013, 10:58: Message edited by: Curiosity killed ... ]
 

---

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 

quote:

---

Curiosity killed ...: I think I have old enough packagmg at home to give me equivalents to doubles check this but 7W I think is equivalent to 40W go old money, 11W to 60W and 15W to 100W

---

Hmm, I see a rule there somewhere
 

---

Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :
 
Wiki is your friend even including a helpful table
 

---

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
Our local dump has a special bin for low energy bulbs.
 

---

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by L'organist:
Nautical in origin.

From sailing close to the wind (called BY the wind by old salts) and sailing downwind (called LARGE because if you sail downwind you can use large sails and you'll go fast).

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Thanks for the helpful advice on lightbulbs. My next question (and this should be my last on this) is: can I put one of these new-style 15W bulbs (equivalent to c. 100W) into an older desk lamp that's designed to take a maximum of 60W, or will the desk lamp overheat? Should I be looking at the 11W(60W) instead?

I have a small and rapidly dwindling stash of 60W lightbulbs but really could do with a brighter light. If I could get away with the equivalent of 100W in a 60W appliance, it would be quite useful.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Darllenwr:
The majority of languages distinguish between 'you' (singular) and 'you' (plural), something that English clearly fails to do. Yet English still had both deferential and familiar usage ('thou' and 'you') in James I's time, as witness the KJV Bible.

Does anybody know when the use of 'thou' fell out of the English language in the UK?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Darllenwr:
The majority of languages distinguish between 'you' (singular) and 'you' (plural), something that English clearly fails to do. Yet English still had both deferential and familiar usage ('thou' and 'you') in James I's time, as witness the KJV Bible.

Does anybody know when the use of 'thou' fell out of the English language in the UK?

---

This article, among others, is instructive. "Thou" and "thee" were originally singular, and "Ye" and "you" plural. The plural forms migrated over to the singular side as polite address, and by Shakespeare's time they began to supplant the other singular forms.

A similar phenomenon occurred in Spanish (the voseo, as it is called) and other languages.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
"Thou" and "thee" were originally singular, and "Ye" and "you" plural. The plural forms migrated over to the singular side as polite address, and by Shakespeare's time they began to supplant the other singular forms.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by L'organist:
I think you mean The Leopard by Giuseppi di Lampedusa, Duke of Palma. This is his best-known work although he also wrote prize-winning poetry.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
I have heard a story about a duke or earl who was on trial, and objected to being addressed as 'thou'. He said he retained his rank even though he was on trial.

Unfortunately, I can't give you a date for this.

Moo

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
On closer examination it looks like some sort of coaxial cable, there is an inner quite thick copper wire, surrounded by a layer of what looks like insulation, then surrounded again by a layer of copper wire, then the plastic cover. It looks like it would fit the sort of connector in your link, I just don't know how it would fit on!

Might cut a chunk off the end and take it into Maplin's and see what they say.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by BroJames:
Recent sad news from Lampedusa has brought the name to mind again. I am sure I have read a 'classic' English poem called and/or about Lampedusa, but I can't track it down. Does anyone know it?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
Among all the energy-saving tips being promoted for this forthcoming winter, I've seen the old recommendation that you should put sheets of tin foil behind your radiators to reflect the heat back into the room. Has anyone ever tried this, and does it help at all?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:

We will probably move in the next year or so (for other reasons) and look for something modern and insulated and poky.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by TonyK:
A rather technical question - but not computer-based, so not for the Geeks thread!

Some 'kind' person has fiddled with the mixer sliders on our church sound system. Nobody seems to have a clue what the original settings were, and I don't know enough to fix the situation properly, although I have managed to stop the feedback!!

Basically my question is this: The radio mic receivers show -40 to -20 db on what I assume to be the incoming audio frequency. The sliders go from +30 to -40db (I think, it might be -30).
I've currently got the sliders on about -10, but it doesn't sound right somehow.
Does anybody know how to sort this out - or have we got to spend money we don't really have and get the installers back.

---

On the assumption that you're using a regular mixing desk...

There is a pot at the very top of the row. This is the gain, and will probably be also marked with +-db values. Turning the gain up (clockwise) will increase the signal to the desk.

Below that will (again, depending on your setup) be four or five pots controlling the treble, midrange and bass components of the signal. This will change the tone of the top, middle and bottom frequencies of the sound.

Only then does the signal get passed to the fader (the slider).

I hope that helps, and that I haven't hopelessly patronised you.
 

---

Posted by TonyK (# 35) on :
 
Doc Tor - not patronising at all.

We don't have a mixer in the traditional sense with multiple controls for each channel. Each receiver feeds a single slider control in a unit of twelve sliders - only 6 of which are labelled (4 radio mics; 2 wired mics) At the extreme right end are two additional sliders - one labelled CD (which presumably feeds in the CD signal) and another slider which seems to control the overall signal to the power amplifier, though I am not certain about this. One of the church wardens told me that she understood that this was it's function...

There is what appears to be a graphic equaliser (as far as I understand it!!) but it's safely behind a clear plastic shield so hasn't been tweaked.

The general feeling is that the volume from the radio mics is too high, while the wired mics are about right. As I was trying to sort things out during a service, I didn't want to change the volume too much. I'll have another session in an empty church, but this too doesn't make for an accurate scenario, as there'll be no bodies to absorb sound - and presumably radio signal.

Why can't people just leave things alone when they don't understand it? And why didn't the installers leave a note of the optimal settings?

I hate being the one-eyed king in the land of the blind!!
 

---

Posted by TonyK (# 35) on :
 
LilBuddha - I'll take a photo next time I'm down there - the hardware is mainly Audio-Technica (3000b series) though I think the power amplifier is a different make.

It'll be a day or two though...
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by TonyK:
LilBuddha - I'll take a photo next time I'm down there - the hardware is mainly Audio-Technica (3000b series) though I think the power amplifier is a different make.

It'll be a day or two though...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by TonyK:
Why can't people just leave things alone when they don't understand it? And why didn't the installers leave a note of the optimal settings?

---

quote:

---

TonyK: But how can a receiver show that it is receiving -40 to -20db? How can you have a negative signal??

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by TonyK:
But how can a receiver show that it is receiving -40 to -20db? How can you have a negative signal??

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by comet:
can anyone recommend an english translation of Gilgamesh that would be easily accessible to a bright but easily bored 12 year old?

---

Comet, Andrew George has done a good modern English translation, but it is still in verse form, so you might want to check if your 12 yr old is ok with yards of poetry.

Joyce Tyldesley has done some excellent translations of Egyptian stories specifically done with younger readers in mind, if they like Gilgamesh, they may enjoy these as well.

I trust you will not be quite as excited by the epic of Gilgamesh, as its re-discoverer, George Smith, "On reading the text he...jumped up and rushed about the room in a great state of excitement, and, to the astonishment of those present, began to undress himself."

Photo of the original text

[Took the extra http out of the link. It's a common mistake!
jedijudy-Heaven Host]

[ 04. December 2013, 01:49: Message edited by: jedijudy ]
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by AngloCatholicGirl:

Photo of the original text

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
This might be a stupid question.

Yesterday, Royal Bank of Scotland had a computer glitch which stopped people being able to use their debit cards. Student son was one of those affected. He doesn't have a credit card, so he had no access to any money, and he doesn't normally carry much cash.

It's sorted now, but I realised I have no idea how to get money to someone in that situation - is there a way?

---

quote:

---

Moo: Also, does anyone have any suggestions about what I can do?

---

I think what you're talking about is CAPTCHA. Most CAPTCHA boxes have a little loudspeaker icon next to them, where you can hear the letters instead of reading them. Maybe this can help?
 

---

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
I also find those hard. I've never tried the speaker, I may have to at some point. I'd guess it normally takes me 2-3 tries to get one right.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Also, no spaces (even if the characters are shown in two groups). The site I usually encounter them on though changes the display if I get it wrong, so sooner or later I get ones I can decipher.
 

---

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Polly Plummer

Best to look at the luxury end of the market - Turnbulls, Selfridges, etc - or try House of F****r - and HofF have an on-line shop.

Had a quick squint and they have a variety of plain white available.

(Some sites don't list under handkerchiefs - try "pocket squares".
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
There is no speaker icon.

This is the website for a company that installs expensive gutters that supposedly can't be clogged by leaves. (If they get clogged, the company will send someone to clear them for free.)

Why on earth do they want to make it so difficult for a potential customer to contact them?

Moo
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
On the captcha things, may they roast in hell--

If you have any unusual software doohickeys (like the one that allows me to add Viet accent marks) make sure the bloody things are off before you enter anhthing, or they'll throw funky coding in there and mess it all up.
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
I gave up and telephoned them. I didn't want to because of my hearing problem, but I couldn't think of anything else to do.

The call went okay, and they made an appointment to come and give me an estimate.

Moo
 

---

Posted by Polly Plummer (# 13354) on :
 
Thanks, l'organist, I'll try something more upmarket!
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
Also, no spaces (even if the characters are shown in two groups). The site I usually encounter them on though changes the display if I get it wrong, so sooner or later I get ones I can decipher.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dormouse:
Mr D and I were having a bit of a (ahem) "discussion" about the fact that he had left the stairs and landing lights on all day again and he said that they were only two LED lights and a low energy bulb (true) and that
1. They were designed to be left on all day
2. They took up minimal amount of electricity
3. It took more energy turning them off and on than it did leaving them on all day (for 12 hours)
4. I often leave the kitchen door open and let out all the heat and that is a much worse sin and makes the Baby Jesus cry because it pisses all the heat away.

Now, I will concede that (4) is possibly true (except maybe the bit about the Baby Jesus crying) but the other three points sound like slightly-guilty-justifying-myself bollocks. But I don't know. What do People Who Know About These Things think?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Doc Tor:

Also, shut the bloody door. 'Born in a barn?' is a frequent cry in our household.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by chive:
I know nothing about opera except that when I do listen to a soprano singing some anguished song (I don't even know what to call the songs) I find it soothes the mental. Can anyone recommend a CD of suitable anguish to provide said soothing?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by balaam:
That's because what you are not running your browser directly, but through another programme which reads everything you do. And you have downloaded it when you clicked on a link on an infected site somewhere. Virus checkers won't find it because it isn't a virus running in the browser but a programme running in front of it. How to get rid of it? Have look at the list of programmes you have installed, In My Computer on a PC. If you can find something that isn't supposed to be there uninstall it.

Do not use internet shopping or banking while it is still there. Seriously. You are being tracked.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
Does anyone know how the custom of running toy trains at Christmas got started? The trains were part of my childhood Christmas, but now I can't see the connection.

Moo

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
Does anyone know how the custom of running toy trains at Christmas got started? The trains were part of my childhood Christmas, but now I can't see the connection.

Moo

---

Anyone who has ever received any toy as a Christmas gift feels they must play with it there and then. - I know I did.
 

---

Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :
 
I would also suggest that, beyond the toy playing connection, there is something of a natural connection in that the train track (at least with starter sets) tends to be a big circle--and thus perfect to set up around the tree with the trunk in the center.
 

---

Posted by Stercus Tauri (# 16668) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by chive:
I know nothing about opera except that when I do listen to a soprano singing some anguished song (I don't even know what to call the songs) I find it soothes the mental. Can anyone recommend a CD of suitable anguish to provide said soothing?

---

Solo songs in an opera are arias. If you want anguish, you'd probably like Puccini (I don't particularly, but I don't like anguish). You might want to try something like this.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Clotilde:
Does anyone remember the simple 'Rules for a Church goer' or whatever it was called that the Archbishops - of Canterbury and York wrote?

It used to be printed sometimes on Confirmation Cards or was it baptism.

Can anyone signpost to an online version of it?
We'd like to see it at our church and maybe revise it a little bit for local use.

---

The card I received when I was confirmed (in 1995) had printed on the back: "A Short Guide to the Duties of Church Membership issued by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York" - is that what you're looking for? I found this link: http://www.suffolksaints.info/download_files/er_letter.pdf

Not sure if that helps?
 

---

Posted by Pre-cambrian (# 2055) on :
 
I know the rule about not re-freezing something once it's been defrosted. But if, for example, you defrost some raw meat and then make something like a stew out of it can you freeze the leftovers of the cooked result? Or would that still count as re-freezing, resulting in death, destruction and excessive trips to the lavatory?
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
i think what the real problem is with refreezing is mostly a breakdown of texture. Double freezing can give you mush. It could also get you sick IF you managed to lose track of the total amount of time you had had it defrosted altogether, and wound up boubking the safe period ...
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pre-cambrian:
I know the rule about not re-freezing something once it's been defrosted. But if, for example, you defrost some raw meat and then make something like a stew out of it can you freeze the leftovers of the cooked result?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pre-cambrian:
I know the rule about not re-freezing something once it's been defrosted. But if, for example, you defrost some raw meat and then make something like a stew out of it can you freeze the leftovers of the cooked result? Or would that still count as re-freezing, resulting in death, destruction and excessive trips to the lavatory?

---

The main issue is the risk of bacterial contamination/growth. Cooking stuff through resets the clock. Even with an already cooked food like soup, say, provided you can thoroughly reheat it to kill any bacteria, you would then be able to refreeze. (Though, as others have pointed out, other qualities in the food might suffer.)
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
From my own experience, if you cook something within 24 hours of it being defrosted, and freeze the leftovers when they're cold, then defrost and reheat them for eating, personally I haven't had any ill effects from doing so. However, not everything will taste the same or have the same texture once re-heated.

Also, fish and seafood are something to be careful with. I don't refreeze and reheat those.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I'm of the freeze once raw, freeze once cooked. And if it's not finished up by then, you're probably sick of it anyway.

If I am freezing stuff, I tend to bag it up into single meal helpings (we bulk buy from Costco from time to time).
 

---

Posted by Pre-cambrian (# 2055) on :
 
Thanks all. This is very helpful. And in accord with what I hoped the advice would be . It's beef which I'll be using in a sort of rendang, although the recipe doesn't use that name. I've used the recipe before, but to my taste the amount of spices needs to be upped significantly. I'll see what happens this time.
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pre-cambrian:
I've used the recipe before, but to my taste the amount of spices needs to be upped significantly. I'll see what happens this time.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pre-cambrian:
I've used the recipe before, but to my taste the amount of spices needs to be upped significantly. I'll see what happens this time.

---

Freezing may affect the flavor of the spices.

Moo

---

It seems to weaken the taste of cinnamon IME.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
We regularly cook things with meat that's been frozen and then freeze and re-heat the left-overs, and we've never had any ill-effects.

So far, anyway ...
 

---

Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by piglet:
We regularly cook things with meat that's been frozen and then freeze and re-heat the left-overs, and we've never had any ill-effects.

So far, anyway ...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Clotilde:
Thank you - that was very helpful. I do use Thunderbird.

---

I'm a Buckie man myself

[ 16. January 2014, 20:01: Message edited by: Albertus ]
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
Pyx_e - how fast do you want that picture?
 

---

Posted by Pyx_e (# 57) on :
 
Thanks Euty, the first one (bus wise). Ken I am nearly at that point! Ariel, what a great site, sadly no pictures I could find of someone jumping on the boarding platform of a moving RM.

CK, I am very keen to get a decent pic. We are trying to present faith as somthing that is moving and is a journey. Hence a "getting on the bus" picture. Ariel's site has a few pictures from training sessions of people falling off the platform, which maybe useful for where we are How fast? Well I have been looking for over 6 months, The poster can't happen until I have the right pic. I am willing to contribute to a fund of anyones choice for decent, action, movement filled picture. Money, Chocolate.......

Fly safe, Pyx_e (ex LT worker and fan of Routematers having spent many a drunken night sitting in the set at the top of the stairs going back and forth between Wood Green and Tr Sq on the 29)
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
I'll look on Flickr later and through what I've taken. we have Routemasters on a steam train link where I live and I see the 9 when I am in town.
 

---

Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :
 
This is from the Routemaster entry in Wikipedia and is open source so you can use it
Routemaster
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
OK can't see anything that I suspect is what you're looking for on the EOR Flickr group I checked but it does have cool red Routemasters.

There's this guy might be worth asking or checking his blog.

Is this sort of thing any good or do you have in mind someone swinging themselves aboard a moving bus with blur for movement in the surroundings? I have that image in my mind but I can't find it, either. Does it have to be the old Routemaster or the new one.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Yes, I had a mental image of something more like this, though that isn't coloured, obviously, or this, rather than one where the bus is motionless.

Though Pyx_e might like this to illustrate how religion teaches you to rise above it all.
 

---

Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :
 
Do you have a contact who could Photoshop what you want?

GG
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
Galloping Granny - the reason I'm asking new Routemaster or old is that I'm going to be near Tottenham Court Road on Thursday evening and the 38 is a new Routemaster and goes along TCR, so I could have a go at getting the shot. Or if old, I could have a go on my High Street - but if he wants London it means going to Piccadilly ... and I could be around there on 1st and 2nd February. And if I get something half way there, I could probably photoshop the rest.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Is this any good? Or this?
 

---

Posted by Pyx_e (# 57) on :
 
Again, thanks some great photos that last one is the closest (Thanks BT). CK, in my mind its the old RM but I can not ask you to go wandering around London. For me part of the frustration is that "someone running to jump on a routemaster" is my iconic mental picture of these buses. There MUST be a photo lol. Ah well as long as it's not me being daft.

Fly Safe. Pyx_e
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
Pyx_e - I wander round London with a camera in hand anyway.
 

---

Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pyx_e:
I want a decent quality picture (for a church poster) of someone jumping on the back of a red routemaster bus. I have tried google, flickr Iphotostock and various other sites. Any suggestions as to where I might find one?

It's drving me slightly crazy.

Fly Safe Pyx_e

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pyx_e:
I want a decent quality picture (for a church poster) of someone jumping on the back of a red routemaster bus. I have tried google, flickr Iphotostock and various other sites. Any suggestions as to where I might find one?

It's drving me slightly crazy.

Fly Safe Pyx_e

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Go to e Strand in London, where the 9 and 13 routes still use old buses?

---

I rarely take buses in London: I prefer the Underground. I took a long walk from a station not far from Russell Square to Marble Arch because I needed to go to M & S to replace clothing lost by British Airways after an extended US visit. I did take a bus with a Shipmate after a meet in Bristol though because I feared shifting my hired car which was in a busy neighbourhood near a public park across the street from our lodgings. Though it was a lovely Renault Megane convertible hardtop we got as an upgrade, I shall never drive there again! It's a bloody nightmare and we missed our train. Thank God, there was safe passage on the next one!
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
I used to use the underground, until I found that some of the stations were closer together than I thought. With busses you get to see more of London.
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
I find it odd that people rely on London Underground to get around. There are too many stupid journeys - like Leicester Square to Covent Garden or Regents Park to Great Portland Street when you can stand outside one station and see the other.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
It breaks up the quantity of people travelling by public transport, though; if there was no Tube, the buses would be phenomenally overcrowded.

The system works for people who are less familiar with London, though where it falls down is on the Tube when people unfamiliar with how the Underground works are trying to leave a station where the exits are labelled something like "South side of Regent St", or in giving directions to any tourist that start "Take the southbound Northern line then change for the eastbound Circle and District..."
 

---

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
Total change of subject, a churchy sort of question, about organisational language. It's been niggling me for a couple of weeks since an episode of Midsomer Murders in which a maddish woman vicar (or rector) finds a painting in the crypt and various shenanigans follow while she plans to open up the place as a pilgrimage destination or something.
And a part of me was going "No, you can't do that, not without a ******** from the deanery, or the Archdeacon", and I simply can't recall the word.
It is a technical word meaning something like permission in context, but sounding like something else in ordinary speech. And though I am never likely to need it, it bothers me that I can't remember it.
 

---

Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
The word is 'Faculty'
 

---

Posted by Chocoholic (# 4655) on :
 
Faculty? Usually from the diocesan advisory committee I think.

I watched that episode but Just kept thinking she should be in Lewis!
 

---

Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
Faculties can be a pain, too!
 

---

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
Thank you. I only ever came across it once during my connection with the CofE, and it was in the church my parents went to, not one I was associated with. So not essential to my life to know. But there was this faculty shaped hole in my brain that wouldn't fill up. Thanks again.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Is anyone able to suggest a kind of heat pad or collar for neck muscles - the sort you can pop into the microwave that retains heat for a while? I'd originally thought a wheat one, but they all seem a bit heavy for someone elderly, so possibly gel. If anyone can recommend one, that would be great.
 

---

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Is anyone able to suggest a kind of heat pad or collar for neck muscles - the sort you can pop into the microwave that retains heat for a while? I'd originally thought a wheat one, but they all seem a bit heavy for someone elderly, so possibly gel. If anyone can recommend one, that would be great.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by leo:
A lovely image, I found it in To Grow in Love: A Spirituality of Ageing by Brian Grogan.

He says it is from a theologian but there are no footnotes.

Does anyone know which theologian?

---

quote:

---

“the reality of creation as a whole has become a monstrance of God's real presence”

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
This is a three font problem, not a two.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Tell me how I am to distinguish this other voice then?

---

1. Getting the word count right
2. They are too long for boxes
3. They actually fit into the written structure of the chapter

The aim is partly to support the academic text but partly also to destabilise it. I am inviting people to explore imaginatively the same phenomena and see if they agree that my interpretation is plausible.

Left and right justification is out due to writing conventions.

Jengie

[ 23. February 2014, 08:29: Message edited by: Jengie Jon ]
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Fortean occurrence in the cupboard.

We have a large, walk-in cupboard on the shelves of which are a large number of miscellaneous glasses. This morning, three glasses sitting together contained liquid - apparently water, with a yellowish tinge but little or no perceptible odour. There was no liquid on the shelf round about, nor on the shelf above. One glass (a goblet) had a small amount, one (a tall tumbler) was one third full and a stemmed beer glass was almost completely full. They are at the front of the collection, in fairly frequent use, and the liquid is unlikely to have passed unnoticed - so this has happened overnight or at most in the last day or so.

Your theories are invited.
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Someone is messing with your head.
 

---

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
It is out of fear of this that every house I've lived in where I've had this power has stored glasses upside down.
 

---

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
What is shelf underneath made of / covered with? I.e. if there had been some sort of leak / drip 36 hours ago, would the shelf have absorbed any liquid on it and now appear dry?
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Painted wood.

But there is nothing to leak from. No bottles above, not adjacent to or underneath a wall or ceiling.

If it were a condensation event - though as an interior cupboard the climate is a very stable one - why just those 3 glasses, and how come the high variability in volume?

LC - trouble is, there are only the two of us in the house. That and a rather lively (incontinent? but tidy?) mouse.
 

---

Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
What is the difference between "second cousin" and "first cousin once removed"? And does either of these terms explain the relationship of me to my cousin's child? (and if not, what is the term to describe this relationship?)
 

---

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
First cousins share a common grandparent.
Second cousins share a common great grandparent.
Third cousins share a common great-great grandparent.

"Removed" comes into play if the two people are of different generations.
Once removed - a single generation apart.
Twice removed - two generations apart.

So you and your cousin are first cousins.
Your child and your cousin's child are second cousins.

Your cousin's child is your first cousin, once removed.
You are your cousin's child's second cousin, once removed.
 

---

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :
 
Your first cousin once removed is the child of your first cousin.

The grandchild of your great aunt or great uncle is your second cousin.
 

---

Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
Thank you both - that's very helpful and cleared it up for me
 

---

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
Basically, to get the "first / second/ third / fourth you count back from you to the common ancestor. Then to get the "once /twice/three times removed" bit you count down from the common ancestor to your relative. If you're the same generation, then there's no "removed" if there's one generation difference you're "once removed"

The reason why you and your cousin's child aren't the same to each other is because your cousin's child has to count an extra generation to get back to the common ancestor. But the generational difference is identical either way, so you're both "once removed"

ETA -cross posted

[ 25. February 2014, 17:17: Message edited by: North East Quine ]
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
This morning, three glasses sitting together contained liquid - apparently water, with a yellowish tinge but little or no perceptible odour. There was no liquid on the shelf round about, nor on the shelf above. One glass (a goblet) had a small amount, one (a tall tumbler) was one third full and a stemmed beer glass was almost completely full. They are at the front of the collection, in fairly frequent use, and the liquid is unlikely to have passed unnoticed - so this has happened overnight or at most in the last day or so.

Your theories are invited.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
Fortean occurrence in the cupboard.

We have a large, walk-in cupboard on the shelves of which are a large number of miscellaneous glasses. This morning, three glasses sitting together contained liquid - apparently water, with a yellowish tinge but little or no perceptible odour. There was no liquid on the shelf round about, nor on the shelf above. One glass (a goblet) had a small amount, one (a tall tumbler) was one third full and a stemmed beer glass was almost completely full. They are at the front of the collection, in fairly frequent use, and the liquid is unlikely to have passed unnoticed - so this has happened overnight or at most in the last day or so.

Your theories are invited.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
That's a quare thing.

1) Have you had guests round recently who might have put glasses in the cupboard while you weren't looking?

---

quote:

---

2) Are you sure it's water in the glasses?

---

quote:

---

3) Are the glasses all of the same provenance i.e. left to you by an elderly teetotal relative in a will, who hated the Demon Drink?

---

quote:

---

4) Are the glasses in order, i.e. the fullest on the side furthest from the emptiest? If so, you may have a tidy ghost.

---

quote:

---

5) Empty, wash and put them back with a request for [your favourite brand of white wine or beer] next time. Sit back and await results.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:

We want to know:
1. Do you still have the glasses with the liquid in them?
2. If so, does the differing levels of water let you play a tune on them?
3. Where is the nearest source of liquid? Any pipes running through the cupboard?
4. Have you had anyone in the house in the last couple of days?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Golden Key:



Candles sometimes contain odd ingredients, and who knows how they might react in a microwave?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by TheAlethiophile:
Query: is it right that we are now in late Feb 2014 and this thread is still titled 2013?

Should it not be closed down and a new, fresh thread begun?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by TheAlethiophile:
Query: is it right that we are now in late Feb 2014 and this thread is still titled 2013?

---

quote:

---

Should it not be closed down and a new, fresh thread begun?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Golden Key:



Candles sometimes contain odd ingredients, and who knows how they might react in a microwave?

---

That's the fun part.

It could be spectacular.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:

We want to know:
1. Do you still have the glasses with the liquid in them?
2. If so, does the differing levels of water let you play a tune on them?
3. Where is the nearest source of liquid? Any pipes running through the cupboard?
4. Have you had anyone in the house in the last couple of days?

---

1. No. Realistically - no sterile, sealable container to decant to, and no chance either of us would get round to finding an analyst.
2. At most it would have been three notes. But yes, it might have summoned the mothership.
3. No pipes. A number of bottles in the general vicinity, but I think we would have spotted if the liquid had the characteristics of any of them.
4. Owing to ongoing dental misery, we've been in social purdah.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Horseman Bree:
I've never heard of "THE Crimea".

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Horseman Bree:
I've never heard of "THE Crimea".

---

Its the new name we thought up for the west side Cimmerian Bosphorus when the Turks took it from the Tatars. Before then it was plain old Crim Tartary. (And nothing to do with Paphlagonia)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by monkeylizard:
Because water doesn't sell for $112 per barrel.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by monkeylizard:
Because water doesn't sell for $112 per barrel.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Church starts at eight (maybe nine, if you have a humane schedule) and you're out by midmorning. Unless you've got commitments that force you to stay through two or more services.

---

Is this normal across denominations?

In the UK it's normal to start at around 10 and have breakfast before you go unless you are fasting.
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Our After Church Lunch Bunch eats together every Sunday after the 10:30 service, but ours is definitely lunch. Some of our friends go to the early service (9:00) then go to breakfast together. I think that may be the main reason they go to early church!
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
It varies from congregation to congregation. Those with a single service tend to have it about 9 or 10. Two services will usually produce 8 or 8:30 and a 10:30-ish one, with an education/coffee hour in between. More, and you're basically starting at ouch o'clock and scheduling a new one every hour and fifteen minutes until they're all fit in. And then of course there are evening or non-Sunday services at many churches.
 

---

Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
I'm interested to read about when our church services are because if I hadn't read this, I would have said that churches in America are at 11 usually, and 10 sometimes. Certainly that is vastly the norm in my experience though the church I attend now has a 9am service in addition to the 11am.
 

---

Posted by TheAlethiophile (# 16870) on :
 
Having moved around in the UK a bit, I've found regional variations. In London, an 11am service seems to be the norm. The only major exceptions are the anglicans, who are fairly haphazard. If you pick a time, you can a find a church whose meeting starts then.

In Bedfordshire, 10am was the preferred time, though I haven't lived there for some time.

In Sussex, a happy medium was 10:30.

Personally, I prefer an earlier service as I feel as otherwise I'm just pottering around at home beforehand and tend to get home quite late for lunch.
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Maybe it is denominational, then, though I was going off the noticeboards and ads of everything I've seen, which here and in CA have been mainly Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, non-denom and various flavors of charismatic. I suspect but can't prove that the earlier service times occur in congregations where a large percentage of the people feel pushed for time on Sundays (eg working that day or coping with children's scheduled activities).
 

---

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
There is a lot of variation. I'm sure CofE churches with algernative 8am services still exist, if only because so many people here say they do. But its been a long time since one crossed my radar. The choice seems to be between 10, 10:30, and 11.

I know some places with the main service at 9am, but they are all - all two of them - part of teams where they share one priest who needs to be somewhere else for 10:30.

As for breakfast - I'd far rather stay in bed an extra hour than get up earlier than I have to before church! So I leave off eating till afterwards. Much easier on the old bones.
 

---

Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
(puts up hand) Macarius & I go to the 8 am Prayer Book service, then go home for breakfast and then I go out to ring for the 10.30 service (I don't stay for that, just go home after).

M.
 

---

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :
 
Honest answer: I suspect most of them have a bowl of cereal or toast before church. (I'll admit to it- no one would want anything to do with the grumpy troll that is hungry me.)

Some of the southern Episcopalians I have known like to say that a sermon should always be short enough to allow you to beat the Baptists to the brunch buffet.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
There is a church here which has its service at 10.40 am. Originally that was to fit in with the bus timetable, but I'm sure that has changed many times since then! Anyway, most folk come by car these days ...
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Some of us are naturally not breakfast eaters. It runs in my family.
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Okay, we've got a murder case which has been dragging on and on and ON and it hasn't even gotten to trial yet, lo these five years later. I'm watching the freaking thing on Casenet to see current status and it just keeps getting continued, often no reason specified. Last week two things popped up i don't understand: ON CALL MEMO FILED and CASE REVIEW SCHEDULED (and then continued to April, naturally). Does anybody know what these mean and whether we might be slouching slowly toward trial? I know the people and just want this slo-mo trainwreck to be over.
 

---

Posted by monkeylizard (# 952) on :
 
IANAL, but I think an on-call memo is a notice X hours or days before the trial is planned to start.

[ 15. March 2014, 02:26: Message edited by: monkeylizard ]
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I hope you're right. We have yet another month of this...
 

---

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :
 
I've got some multicoloured IKEA LED lighting strips. I've noticed that when I switch them to blue, things like orange stickers on nearby stuff light up quite brightly.

What is the physics behind this, and are there other colours that react to blue (or any different colour) light in a similar way?

This is not UV light yet, is it? In the 1970ies/80ies discos of me yoof, you could see specks of dust on your jacket when they turned on the UV lamp effect.

Thanks for your insights.
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
why we see things in colour: different coloured light means only certain amounts of light to reflect from coloured objects. Under a red light, red objects look black as all the light is absorbed by the object. Under a blue light an orange object will reflect all the light back as there's no blue in orange.
 

---

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I have a freezer full of homemade soup. The main constituents are a variety of vegetables plus stock I have made myself from poultry carcases. I do not add salt in either process. But after eating the stuff, which does not taste particularly salty, I have a salty aftertaste. I don't understand this.
 

---

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
why we see things in colour: different coloured light means only certain amounts of light to reflect from coloured objects. Under a red light, red objects look black as all the light is absorbed by the object. Under a blue light an orange object will reflect all the light back as there's no blue in orange.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
why we see things in colour: different coloured light means only certain amounts of light to reflect from coloured objects. Under a red light, red objects look black as all the light is absorbed by the object. Under a blue light an orange object will reflect all the light back as there's no blue in orange.

---

But it is the other way around. Red objects absorb all light, but the red so under a red light they are brighter while blue objects look black as they have no blue light to reflect.

Jengie

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
I have a freezer full of homemade soup. The main constituents are a variety of vegetables plus stock I have made myself from poultry carcases. I do not add salt in either process. But after eating the stuff, which does not taste particularly salty, I have a salty aftertaste. I don't understand this.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
I have a freezer full of homemade soup. The main constituents are a variety of vegetables plus stock I have made myself from poultry carcases. I do not add salt in either process. But after eating the stuff, which does not taste particularly salty, I have a salty aftertaste. I don't understand this.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Palimpsest:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
I have a freezer full of homemade soup. The main constituents are a variety of vegetables plus stock I have made myself from poultry carcases. I do not add salt in either process. But after eating the stuff, which does not taste particularly salty, I have a salty aftertaste. I don't understand this.

---

You can also get a lot of salt if you added celery. You may have also used brined chickens. This is common if you buy a pre roasted chicken at a store or if it was a koshered chicken.

You might try cooking a peeled potato in the soup; and discarding the potato and see if that removes the salt.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by St. Stephen the Stoned:
...a person delighting in the name of Seraphim Newman-Norton.

---

I'm embarrassed to admit that I thought this was somebody's affected soubriquet.

I wonder if he wants the book back. After I've read it of course. It has annotations, perhaps by His Grace*.


*if that's the correct style. Apologies if it isn't.

[ 24. March 2014, 16:27: Message edited by: St. Stephen the Stoned ]
 

---

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :
 
As a valleys girl, I would pronounce it Llan to ny - "thlan toe nee. It used to annoy when my late mil pronounced it Llanto-nee - generally the stress is either on the second sylable, or the penultimate sylable if the word is long
 

---

Posted by Zach82 (# 3208) on :
 
From the annals of "questions you didn't think to ask," this map from The Economist weighs coffee vs. tea consumption across the world. Americans opt for coffee 75% of the time, Brits opt for tea 78% of the time, while Australians and Canadians sit on the fence.
 

---

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
Few surprises for most peopel there I'd think - except that the Middle East, including Turkey and Iran, is tea-drinking, not coffee. There seems to be a boundary down the middle of North Africa - Libya, whuich they miss of their map, is a tea nation, Tunisia and Algeria are coffeee.

And Kenya, where most of the high-quality coffee imported into Britain is grown (the cheap stuff comes from South America) is one of the most heavily tea-drinking countries in the world. I am an eye-witness - I suppose a mouth-and-stomach witness - to this. When I lived in Kenya there were coffee bushes growing outside our window. Well-cared-for, high-value, arabica coffee, native to East Africa, and the source of the majority of the income of the village. (You had to go a few miles further up the mountain to find tea) Yet everyone drank tea, every day. The only coffee available to drink was small, overpriced, sachets of Nescafe instant that were IMPORTED from America.

But the chai was wonderful
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Few surprises for most people there I'd think - except that the Middle East, including Turkey and Iran, is tea-drinking, not coffee.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by Penny S:
I have a freezer full of homemade soup. The main constituents are a variety of vegetables plus stock I have made myself from poultry carcases. I do not add salt in either process. But after eating the stuff, which does not taste particularly salty, I have a salty aftertaste. I don't understand this.

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I think this may be a weird physiological thing. I sometimes find that I a left with a salty aftertaste after drinking coffee (black, strong, no sugar). The coffee itself tastes fine. I am experiencing it now at almost 9am, having not eaten or drunk anything else other than water (and a couple of headache pills) since last night.

I would love to know why.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I am beginning to wonder if what I am tasting is actually stuff which has run down the back of my mouth from my nose. Given that the natural fluids of the body are a bit saline.
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
That makes a lot of sense.

So something in your soup and my coffee is possibly causing an increase in the charmingly named post nasal drip. I'm thinking that the culprit is a different one for each of us!
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
Observation since suggests that it isn't from my nose, it's in the saliva*. So I'm wondering if there's some process by which the stomach needs a certain amount of salt to function properly, which it hasn't been given. So the salivary glands secrete it, and it gets swallowed.
*Though currently, I am getting it from the nose - but I haven't had any soup. Nothing since breakfast.
 

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Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Taste is a weird thing. Many causes can alter your perception of taste. Because you perceive a salty taste does not mean you are tasting actual salt.

In looking around, I found nothing to suggest the stomach needs salt. The kidney hold or release salt depending on the body's needs.
 

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Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
Saliva is mildly alkaline to optimise the conditions for amylase, the enzyme in saliva that starts breaking down starch. Those electrolytes that make the saliva alkaline could be what makes it taste salty.

Nasal drips flow down the back of throats, usually imperceptibly and won't necessarily be obvious, and that really does taste salty.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
But it doesn't always taste salty. Does at the moment, post soup. I learned to control salivation, when taught about Pavlov's dogs*, and later when I found about the two sorts of saliva. The thick sort isn't tasting of salt, and that would be the one with the enzyme, as I recall. The watery type seems to the the culprit. I will test again tomorrow at various times.
If salivary glands have any similarity with mucous producers in the nose, tear producers in the eyes, or sweat glands, they could move sodium and chlorine ions about.
I've just had a drink of milk to change the environment a bit, the saltiness went, and now it's back again. It's about the same as tears in strength, and definitely at the front of my mouth, not the back.
Maybe it's a symptom of something horrible.
*I sat in the biology lab thinking of eclairs, and then simply switched to thinking of salivating.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Why do people dislike "Shine, Jesus, Shine" so much?
 

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Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
I don't! I'm a child of the 'fifties' and far prefer the more traditional C of E worship and Hymns, but I rather like SJS.

I must be a bit strange!
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Take your pick:

1. Because its the late C20th version of Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.
2. Because the idea of a "shining" deity is getting perilously close to the notion of the Sun-King so beloved of Louis XIV: As we gaze on your kingly brightness, So our faces display your likeness
3. Because its theologically illiterate and musically dire.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

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1. Because it's the late C20th version of Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.

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2. Because the idea of a "shining" deity is getting perilously close to the notion of the Sun-King so beloved of Louis XIV: As we gaze on your kingly brightness, So our faces display your likeness

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Originally posted by L'organist:
You may find the tune 'energising' (whatever that means: but if you look at it in the cold light of day it is a not very good homage (there are other words for it) to Dave Brubeck's Take Five.

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Originally posted by L'organist:
On the whole, a foundation course at art college may not be the best preparation for a career in original composition, orchestration, etc.

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Originally posted by L'organist:
3. Because its theologically illiterate and musically dire.

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Posted by leo (# 1458) on :
 

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Originally posted by L'organist:

3. Because its theologically illiterate and musically dire.

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Originally posted by L'organist:
You may find the tune 'energising' (whatever that means: but if you look at it in the cold light of day it is a not very good homage (there are other words for it) to Dave Brubeck's Take Five.

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Originally posted by Ariel:
Why do people dislike "Shine, Jesus, Shine" so much?

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Originally posted by North East Quine:
Our church has a gravestone dated 1748, which has a carving of an angel with outstretched arms. It holds a timer in one hand and a scythe in the other. From its mouth comes a banner, with words, but those words are now illegible. The first three letters are VIV... and it looks as though the phrase may have been three words long. At any rate, it's not a long phrase.

Any suggestions as to what a mid C18th gravestone angel might have been saying? Were there a few stock phrases for use on gravestones?

ETA - the stone has flaked at one point, and I don't want to try taking a rubbing as I think it might flake further.

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Originally posted by North East Quine:
Our church has a gravestone dated 1748, which has a carving of an angel with outstretched arms. It holds a timer in one hand and a scythe in the other. From its mouth comes a banner, with words, but those words are now illegible. The first three letters are VIV... and it looks as though the phrase may have been three words long. At any rate, it's not a long phrase.

Any suggestions as to what a mid C18th gravestone angel might have been saying? Were there a few stock phrases for use on gravestones?

ETA - the stone has flaked at one point, and I don't want to try taking a rubbing as I think it might flake further.

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Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
This is a case of I do not know but I almost certainly know an organisation that does. I have a friend that was involved with them at one stage. However on exploring on the web and pages I think what you need to get hold of is a copy of the Whithorn Town Trail which looks at thirty buildings around Whithorn.

I have a memory of it connecting with a family who had a role in the town, but that is vague. I would however suspect that there is a "1" missing at the front.

Jengie

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Originally posted by BroJames:

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Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
This is a case of I do not know but I almost certainly know an organisation that does. I have a friend that was involved with them at one stage. However on exploring on the web and pages I think what you need to get hold of is a copy of the Whithorn Town Trail which looks at thirty buildings around Whithorn.

I have a memory of it connecting with a family who had a role in the town, but that is vague. I would however suspect that there is a "1" missing at the front.

Jengie

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Unfortunately the Whithorn Trust doesn't know. Last time I was there, they were going to mention it to an archaeologist working on this sort of thing in the town - but they forgot. I probably need to see if I can get a lead on the archaeologist.

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Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:
Does anyone know if there is an iPhone app that includes the Catechism from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, a.k.a. TEC? I'd ideally get the entire BCP, but I'd settle for just the Catechism.

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Originally posted by L'organist:
Penny S
Some libraries may still have a copy of Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage; failing that, try Burke's Peerage.

Between the two there should be an entry for all armigerous families in the UK and Ireland - although I'm not sure whether Irish titles were kept up-to-date after partition.

Failing that, try The College of Arms or, if Scottish, the office of Lyon King of Arms.

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Every British duke, marquess, viscount, earl, baron and baronet, and the living members of their families in the male line

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the definitive guide to the genealogy and heraldry of the Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Landed Gentry of the United Kingdom

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Originally posted by Mrs Shrew:
It's a long shot I guess, but a friend, surname Seal, was explaining that his (late) father was a theologian, and diocesan expert on demonology (also professor of such but I didn't catch where) from area of St Albans.

He gave me his dad's first names, and it sounded familiar, but I was very tired at the time and promptly forgot the first names, making a quick trip to Google to find out whether he truly did sound familiar, and what stuff I had read or intended to read by the mystery person impossible (because Seal is a word as well as a name I simply don't have enough to go on).

Does anyone know who my friend's dad was? He was definitely ordained, possibly methodist or free church and will have died more than about two years ago but I don't know how much more than that.

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Originally posted by BroJames:

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Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
This is a case of I do not know but I almost certainly know an organisation that does. I have a friend that was involved with them at one stage. However on exploring on the web and pages I think what you need to get hold of is a copy of the Whithorn Town Trail which looks at thirty buildings around Whithorn.

I have a memory of it connecting with a family who had a role in the town, but that is vague. I would however suspect that there is a "1" missing at the front.

Jengie

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Unfortunately the Whithorn Trust doesn't know. Last time I was there, they were going to mention it to an archaeologist working on this sort of thing in the town - but they forgot. I probably need to see if I can get a lead on the archaeologist.

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Originally posted by BroJames:

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Originally posted by L'organist:
Penny S
Some libraries may still have a copy of Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage; failing that, try Burke's Peerage.

Between the two there should be an entry for all armigerous families in the UK and Ireland - although I'm not sure whether Irish titles were kept up-to-date after partition.

Failing that, try The College of Arms or, if Scottish, the office of Lyon King of Arms.

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Debrett's only claims to cover

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Every British duke, marquess, viscount, earl, baron and baronet, and the living members of their families in the male line

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not all armigerous families.

Burke's Peerage is more ambitious in scope. It claims to be

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the definitive guide to the genealogy and heraldry of the Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Landed Gentry of the United Kingdom

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Burke's General Armory of 1884 is freely searchable online. The only motto close to the inscription on the stone is that of the Goldsmiths' Company, but the arms are very different.

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Originally posted by Penny S:
OTOH, that device does seem like a technical sort of balance, with a means of raising and lowering carefully, such as might be required in the weighing of precious metals. A sort of precursor of the chemical balance.

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Originally posted by St. Stephen the Stoned:
I'm reading a book in our collection called "The Enthusiast: An Enquiry into the Life Belief and Character of The Rev. Joseph Lyne alias Fr. Ignatius O.S.B Abbot of Elm Hill, Norwich & Llanthony Wales" by Arthur Calder-Marshall.

I've got to the part where he gets involved with Llanthony Priory. My question is: how should it be pronounced? I know how to pronounce the Welsh double L (and I can*), but it always looks to me as though it should rhyme with "lantern-y". Is it LlAN-thony or Llan-thO-ny? And is the O long or short?

(The book itself carries an ex libris sticker showing that it once belonged to a person delighting in the name of Seraphim Newman-Norton.)

*(although perhaps not to the satisfaction of a native Welsh-speaker)

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Originally posted by BroJames:
Yes it does, with something with two stars above it. There is strong evidence (from the title deeds) to suggest that that part of the house was built in about 1800, at which time it was owned by a merchant named Alexander Conning (who acquired in in 1768). Before him it was owned by somebody named Alexander McClelland, and before him by someone named James Broadfoot.

None of these names AFAICT are associated with arms anything like those shown on the stone.

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Originally posted by Edith:

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Originally posted by St. Stephen the Stoned:
I'm reading a book in our collection called "The Enthusiast: An Enquiry into the Life Belief and Character of The Rev. Joseph Lyne alias Fr. Ignatius O.S.B Abbot of Elm Hill, Norwich & Llanthony Wales" by Arthur Calder-Marshall.

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He's a neighbour of mine, lives down the road, known also as Abba Seraphim, retired teacher of English, active member of our local community and a very nice chap indeed.

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Originally posted by ElaineC:
I'm sure you can do a postcode check on the Ocado site to see if they deliver to your required destination.

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Originally posted by Edith:

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Originally posted by St. Stephen the Stoned:
I'm reading a book in our collection called "The Enthusiast: An Enquiry into the Life Belief and Character of The Rev. Joseph Lyne alias Fr. Ignatius O.S.B Abbot of Elm Hill, Norwich & Llanthony Wales" by Arthur Calder-Marshall.

I've got to the part where he gets involved with Llanthony Priory. My question is: how should it be pronounced? I know how to pronounce the Welsh double L (and I can*), but it always looks to me as though it should rhyme with "lantern-y". Is it LlAN-thony or Llan-thO-ny? And is the O long or short?

(The book itself carries an ex libris sticker showing that it once belonged to a person delighting in the name of Seraphim Newman-Norton.)

*(although perhaps not to the satisfaction of a native Welsh-speaker)

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He's a neighbour of mine, lives down the road, known also as Abba Seraphim, retired teacher of English, active member of our local community and a very nice chap indeed.

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Originally posted by St. Stephen the Stoned:
I'm reading a book in our collection called "The Enthusiast: An Enquiry into the Life Belief and Character of The Rev. Joseph Lyne alias Fr. Ignatius O.S.B Abbot of Elm Hill, Norwich & Llanthony Wales" by Arthur Calder-Marshall.

I've got to the part where he gets involved with Llanthony Priory. My question is: how should it be pronounced? I know how to pronounce the Welsh double L (and I can*), but it always looks to me as though it should rhyme with "lantern-y". Is it LlAN-thony or Llan-thO-ny? And is the O long or short?

(The book itself carries an ex libris sticker showing that it once belonged to a person delighting in the name of Seraphim Newman-Norton.)

*(although perhaps not to the satisfaction of a native Welsh-speaker)

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I'm not sure if you can get chocolates and flowers delivered together. Flying Flowers and Flowers by Post (both from the Channel Islands) are good, otherwise look at Interflora which is a network of florists around the country.

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Originally posted by Jengie Jon:

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Originally posted by BroJames:
Yes it does, with something with two stars above it. There is strong evidence (from the title deeds) to suggest that that part of the house was built in about 1800, at which time it was owned by a merchant named Alexander Conning (who acquired in in 1768). Before him it was owned by somebody named Alexander McClelland, and before him by someone named James Broadfoot.

None of these names AFAICT are associated with arms anything like those shown on the stone.

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Right it is a Merchant Mark. The next source in your hunt is the source of that picture.

Jengie

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Vivat in æternis?

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Vive memor leti

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Vive memor mortis

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Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:

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Originally posted by Edith:

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Originally posted by St. Stephen the Stoned:
I'm reading a book in our collection called "The Enthusiast: An Enquiry into the Life Belief and Character of The Rev. Joseph Lyne alias Fr. Ignatius O.S.B Abbot of Elm Hill, Norwich & Llanthony Wales" by Arthur Calder-Marshall.

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He's a neighbour of mine, lives down the road, known also as Abba Seraphim, retired teacher of English, active member of our local community and a very nice chap indeed.

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Can't be the same chap, as Ignatius died in 1908. - you must be thinking of someone else.

Can't help with the pronunciation, but Llanthony is an amazing place with a great pub in the middle of the ruins (unless it's closed since I was last there, some years ago).

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Originally posted by Lothlorien:
I want to send some good chocolate, perhaps some flowers too, to someone in the UK whom I know from another place. Where would be a good place in UK where I can shop from down here and have it posted/delivered to her. She's been having a really rough time lately.

PM would probably be best, please, as answer. Or perhaps something else if anyone has any bright ideas. I don't know her age but she has grandchildren.

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Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Do Anglican ordinands graduating from theological college (in England) get an academic hood or is it different for theological colleges?

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Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Do Anglican ordinands graduating from theological college (in England) get an academic hood or is it different for theological colleges? If they do get a hood, what happens now for those studying outside Durham, now all the degrees are coming from there? Do they get the academic hood of Durham or where they study?

Asking because somewhat unusually for mainstream denominations, it's not a requirement to have a degree to be accepted for ordination in the CoE (I don't know about elsewhere in the Anglican Communion) - so if theological college doesn't provide an academic hood, many priests would presumably not have one.

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