Something I ran into yesterday via a comment on Going Postal I thought y’all may ‘enjoy’.
How very dare someone hand a Bulk Brainwashing Club person their bottom on a plate eh?
Enough, here it be.
Hope you're having a happy chocolate egg celebratory weekend...
Quote; Groucho Marx.
“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”
Well, so, after two – let’s give ‘em three – hot summer days with temperatures in the high thirties and breaking forty at a phew airports, that, I’m sure you’ll agree, was proof positive of man made global griddling, things seem to have reverted to temps in the high teens to mid twenties with overcast grey miserably drizzly skies and I’m sure you’ll agree that this is just weather. Must be, as there’s nary a mention of the quick change from warm to unseasonably miserable in the media.
In other morning confusion, I found myself watching some ‘news and current affairs’ program on the televisual receiving implement by the name of, I think, Good Morning Blockheads.
Anyhoo, the presenters had their under garments all bunched up and were crying about the cost of living ‘crises’ relating to schools hitting holiday time and the stress this would put on many millions of families with extra mouths to feed at lunchtime and food banks running out of free stuff and the exorbitant costs involved to give their kids days out etc. and don’t forget the fear of energy price rises yet to come of course.
This was confusingly followed by reports of, like, total grid lock at Dover caused by many thousands trying to board delayed ferries to get to France for their onward holidays as schools broke up.
This was further followed by a ‘reporter’ at some airport breathlessly stating staff were bracing themselves for their busiest day for, like, ever and they’re expecting to see many millions of passengers during the school holidays.
It was also mentioned that some - was it environ-mentalists? Fuel cost protesters? Sorry, can’t remember as there seem to be so many groups of nutters operating throughout the country with impunity just now. Anyhoo, one of the many groups are going to glue themselves to the roads just as many millions take to their cars to go on holidays an’ such. Just how poor are we then? A tad confusing is it not?
Giving all that no never mind good people, just keep feeding the machine as...
...Something's going on, just look around,
Fear is on the rise,
And there's blood all over the ground.
Let's all just blindfold the poor,
We must remind them what's in store.
We got 'em now,
Just break them down a little bit more.
“Don’t worry about the world ending today, it’s already tomorrow in Australia.”
I see the media are gearing-up for the next scare thingy as the climate is starting to creep back towards the top ‘news’ item.
Wot did we have today? Some story about an iceberg breaking in half and some fellow going by the unlikely name, John Curry declaring that we’re ‘moments’ away from being ‘beyond catastrophic’ with temperatures set to rise by four degrees.
Bring it on I say as round here, where I be, a four degree rise right now would get the early morning temperature up to one or two degrees above freezing and that would go a small way to making it feel a tad more spring like...
You think this is wot the pandemidodad has all been about? Just a trial to see how far us lot down here can be led, directed, told wot to do, wot we’ll accept as a given without question and how easy it could be to silence any and all dissent ready for the great climate emergency restrictions?
If so, I’d suggest it’s been a stunning success beyond their wildest dreams and I’d also bet that the restrictions and lockdowns of the past year, after a few months of savage save the world restrictions, will be looked back on with sad longing like the wonderous times of, like, freedom.
In other news I see the NHS, blessed be its name, is way behind on various treatments. Hay, you can’t produce all they Look-At-Media offerings and be expected to be looking after sick folk as well, now can you? Anyhoo, the government are going to throw yet another shed load of lolly at em; that would be us then. Going by the amounts mentioned that’s a huge number of new Diversity and Inclusion managers to be hired right there.
Quote; H.L. Mencken.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false face for the urge to rule it.”
Last week, where I be, we had the two coldest days of winter so far. So far, so wot? So the gas boiler threw a sulk and quit. This sulk was detected early AM but the repair person was crowded out ‘till the next day PM. That was a cold night away from the front of the fire let me tell ya’.
Anyhoo, boring story short, and I’ll quickly repeat an old by-the-by, there was a knock on the door and the fellow standing there greeted me with, “I understand you have an old boiler giving you grief?” To which I replied, “Yes I have but she’ll be fine once she’s warm again.” So, roll up he did, had a look and announced a part was required and he’d be back the next day AM so we suffered another cold night and we were starting to need proper showers... And thus, next day, he came, he fixed, he left - he left two folk arm wrestling for first go in the shower.
During this cold interlude I gave a thought to Greta, blessed be her name, and her ideas for us all and felt confident I’d prolonged the planets life by a minute fraction of a millisecond while the boiler was down. This saving may well have been negated owing to the gas fire consuming close to a weeks output from a North Sea gas field.
During that crisp pause I did me one of they ready meals. Hunters chicken with wedge potatoes and man, it looked good on the box. Once made hot I must say it was rather tasty. However, as with all this type of food, it lived up to its name and I had to hunt for the chicken. These ready meals, however attractive the box illustration is, you can be sure that ninety percent of the meal will comprise of the cheapest produce you see in the picture. Rice, potatoes and peas seem to be favourites.
Quote; Robert Byrne.
One plan is to save the planet. Sadly, it’s only us here but I’m sure it’ll all workout for the best...
Plan A? At an estimated cost of a mere trillion pounds – and that’s a ‘conservative’ estimate – to eliminate greenhouse gasses from this once green and once pleasant land. Never mind; the instant result will be one hopefully happy autistic sixteen year old. And let’s not forget the ‘Youth Steering Committee’.
For the first time, young people will have the chance to shape our future climate policy through the Youth Steering Group. The Group, set up by DCMS and led by the British Youth Council, will advise Government on priorities for environmental action and give a view on progress to date against existing commitments on climate, waste and recycling, and biodiversity loss. They will start their review in July.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Plan B? Have seventy five year olds pay the TV licence fee for the pleasure of watching cooking and antique programs interspersed with copious numbers of repeats. If they don’t pay do they get locked-up? That’ll work; three free squares a day in the warm, medical assistance as required and free TV. We have a winner.
Interestingly, along with these announcements, we’ve had a handful of those who would rule over us admitting to imbibing in various drugs of naughtiness many years ago. If these same folk believe that sending one small island back to the stone age, that’s a small island on a minute bit of space debris, hurtling through the vastness of space in close proximity to a blazing star, the output of which cycles from being not so hot, to hot to very hot, is going to ‘change’ anything, then I respectfully suggest they’ve never given up said drug usage. But I repeat myself.
Quote; William S. Burroughs.
After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say, 'I want to see the manager.'
Well, so, the birthday day was a roaring success and the gold painted colander really hit the spot. Sadly, the spot it hit was the bridge of my nose. Do I really need to add the next bit? Just in case; only kidding. On the downside, it now has pride of place on the sitting room windowsill.
In other news from a little bit after a while ago, missed by the MSM as far as I can remember, is research conducted by Professor Valentina Zharkova that would suggest the sun is heading for a partial but dramatic shutdown, starting in a couple of years, which would lead to a three to four hundred year long ‘cold snap’.
“Professor Valentina Zharkova gave a presentation of her Climate and the Solar Magnetic Field hypothesis at the Global Warming Policy Foundation in October, 2018. The information she unveiled should shake/wake you up.
Her models have run at a 93% accuracy and her findings suggest a Super Grand Solar Minimum is on the cards beginning 2020 and running for 350-400 years.
The last time we had a little ice age only two magnetic fields of the sun went out of phase.
This time, all four magnetic fields are going out of phase.”
I’m quietly confident that, should this come to pass, it’ll be ‘proved’ to be our fault. That damn Co2 gets everywhere eh? However, wot then for windmills and solar panels? As this professor has a 93% accuracy record, I’m sure our betters are sitting-up, taking notice and are preparing for all eventualities. A bit like with regards to that Brexit thingy, right? And I somehow doubt just doubling our order for wood pellets is going to cut it.
If this does materialise, Is there a plus side? Possibly; firstly, they woolly mammoths are absolute meat mountains and secondly, we need to get this Super Grand Solar Minimum information out there, in simplified form, for our newest bestest ever friends to take a look at as it could well encourage many of them to start planning their move back to way down south the ways with some measure of urgency.
Finally, something I borrowed as it made me smile:
Thank you Michael Nöthem for this:
Picked up a hitchhiker last night. He said thanks but how do you know I’m not a serial killer? I replied, the chances of two serial killer’s being in the same car are astronomical.
Quote; Mors Kochanski.
“In cold weather a good rule is to light your fire first before doing anything else. It is always more sensible to keep yourself warm rather than trying to thaw yourself out later.”
With increasingly cold nights advancing, thanks to global warming, I thought I’d pass along an old winter-lude tip. Again.
Are you a ‘sufferer’ from window condensation? Does that water running down your windows not bother you at all? Move on; nothing to read here. If, however, it do bother you and you’re sick of wasting time every morning wiping your bedroom, windows down, try this simple and cheap ‘remedy’.
Never mind double glazed or not, using a dehumidifier, keeping the temperature at X degrees, and opening a window a tad – there’s a big plus and a big minus right there by the way – the sure way to prevent window condensation is not to breath while sleeping. It would seem this method works well but isn’t widely recommended.
This leaves us with one cheap and cheerful method: First off wipe dry the window that’s giving you ‘problems’ and then simply take a slightly damp cloth, squeeze some washing-up liquid – or any liquid soap – onto this cloth and wipe it all over the window. Don’t be disheartened by the messy and streaky looking result; it’ll dry out and the window will look perfectly normal**. That is all that’s required for a cheap fix to winter window condensation.
NOTE: This fix will show best results if carried out on the INSIDE of the windows, okay? At least it’s wet now and not like it was when many of us were pups when the condensation froze. Yes young folk; froze on the inside.
**My experience? To be sure of no visible streaking at all, use that bathroom liquid soap that comes in they little pumpy action bottles.
A long time ago I mentioned I’d done this on the toilet cistern as with cold water vs. warm room in winter, it was constantly wet on the outside and dripping floor-wards. The liquid soap works a treat. Pardon? The back o’ the tank you say? Dependant on your courage level, you can slack off the holding screws just enough to wipe the back using a long kitchen knife and soap soaked tissues. Low courage level? Stick some tape along the bottom between the cistern and the wall and just generously squirt soap down along the top edge. Give it a few hours, remove the tape and wipe away any run-off.
Yes, I hear you; where’s the moisture in the air condensing if it’s not doing so on the windows? It would seem, through an experiment I conducted a goodly while ago, that it remains in the air as there’s nowhere as cold as the windows for the vapour to condense out to with any great speed. This I discovered by running the dehumidifier** overnight prior to soaping the windows and measured the collected water. After soaping there was a measurable increase in overnight dehumidifier collected water.
**The dehumidifier on its own did reduce the winter window condensation but didn’t totally cure it on very cold nights. Older property and that annoying breathing thingy I guess.
If anybody’s still here, and as strange as this may seem to you, I’ve just had a thought. Would WD-40 work the same as soap? It’s a moisture repellent is it not? Smell?
Quote; Terence McKenna.
“We live in condensations of our imagination.”
Here’s a post by the good Ripper – actually copied from the comments – relating to an iffy trip to toil he had and thoughts on that common problem of screen washer jets freezing up. My idea was to heat the washer reservoir but it was politely pointed out to me that you can add anti freeze to the reservoir. Dumb of me eh? Anyhoo, food for fun for all you garden shed and garage folk who enjoy a challenge. Me? I’m thinking of trying a dab of olive oil on the jets of an evening and I’m quietly confident this’ll work now the thaw has set in...
Like the majority of people I know, I disregarded all those reports as scaremongering rubbish. Okay, so its a bit cold, and there has been a small dusting of dry powdery snow where I live, but nothing to worry about. Until last night, that is.
I work night shifts and its about a 42 mile round trip to work and back, along an unlit dual carriageway. During the summer all the trees and hedgerows lining the carriageway had been cut down because their overgrowth had been causing problems for a while. My car is currently having problems with one headlamp, no dipped beam on the near side so I'm driving on offside low beam and front driving lights, which does the job. As I get onto the carriageway the windscreen has collected a fine coating of the dusty stuff being blown by the wind, which triggers the automatic wipers. This produces a wide smear of road salt across the screen, so instantly I hit the washer button. Crap! the washer jets are frozen! So I end up traveling to work at less than 30mph on a 70mph road, can't see a thing. Added to this, the powdery snow has been blown across the road, courtesy of the missing trees and I have no idea, because I can't even see the kerb let alone the road markings, of my position on the road. Its only by vehicles occasionally overtaking me that tells me that I'm in the near side lane. That was the most scary journey I've had in decades and worse than the times I've had to drive in thick fog.
Then I got to work, and proceeded to freeze to death for the rest of the 12 hour shift. Due to a stuck loading bay door (going up/down all night) which is very near to where I work, I spent the entire night in what was, in effect, a -3 degrees C wind tunnel, which was the temperature on the shop floor. Half the shift hasn't turned in because their route to work is by untreated country lanes which made it too dangerous to try, but those like myself who had made it, were wearing hi viz padded jackets wherever possible. Unfortunately for me it wasn't.
I will still regard the news reporting as scaremongering, but I intend to be a bit more prepared in the future.
You have my sympathy. I know exactly what you mean regarding the windscreen problem as, even round here, although we got off relatively lightly snow wise, just moments into a drive and that auto wiper kicks in and visibility is gone and frozen washer.
Here’s something for an engineering fellow such as yourself to spend your shift figuring out. Ready? You may like this.
You know that windscreen de-icing boost button? Works really well and fast and alleviates the need for any scraping.
Why not, also activated by that de-ice button, have a heating coil round the windscreen wash tank, pump and short run of small bore piping? A coil round the water reservoir? An electric kettle type element in the reservoir? Would it work? Is it already out there? Yes? Okay, move along. No? How about coming up with a DIY retro fit kit? Patent that thought.
I drive a Ford so I do have the heated screen, I know what you mean about it being very fast, a god send when I come off work on a frosty morning, while the others are busy scraping I'm off halfway down the road.
Regarding the washing system, I've thought about this already. The tank, pump and piping are okay, since they get filled with screen wash which I made sure won't freeze above -10. The problem is those little jets on the bonnet. They are exposed to the elements so the water content in the screen wash freezes and forms a plug in the end of the jet nozzle. Sometimes a squirt of de-icer will sort it out but on Thursday the temperature was too low for the de-icer to get into that tiny hole and do its job. Now it would be possible to fit a heater into the jet. I don't know if this has already been done, but if not it needs to be. It would be a nice little winter earner for any manufacturer of aftermarket car parts. I mean, for the bike I can get all manner of replacement parts which not only bling the bike up but function in better ways than the original.
This subject has intrigued me to look online to see if there are any solutions, and from a couple of forums dating back to 2007 I find that some cars have been fitted with heated screen-wash jets for some time. However, there are still problems with those. But I also found that there is a kit which consists of a heater/pump arrangement called Heat Shot. I went to their site to read about it, and treated it with some scepticism, since this uses a LOT of battery power to heat the fluid to 60 deg. before it even reaches the jets. They make a lot of claims as to its efficacy, some clutching at straws regarding security of the vehicle while its defrosting.
But then I dropped on a site that had done some rigorous testing of this product, and according to them it does what it says on the tin. Still too pricey for my liking though, but I would pay that if it meant being a bit safer than Thursday night's ordeal.
But that has also made me think - a length of copper brake line could be coiled and fed into the top radiator hose, The brake pipe would carry hot coolant and be coiled around the feed tubes to the screen jets, close enough to heat the body of the jet enough to defrost it. You would have to wait until the engine began to warm up, but that's better than making a whole 1 hour journey with a filthy screen. I will give more thought to this idea.
Quote; Whitney Wolfe.
“Have a dream, chase it down, jump over every single hurdle, and run through fire and ice to get there.”
Further to yesterdays post and the bit about old folk having a rudimentary grasp of the concept of winter equalling cold and the comment by the good Caratacus, I'd humbly like to link to this post relating to hot water bottles. Time passes and it now appears that old post has one dead link.
However, when I went back I realised I hadn't completed the set of pictures in relation to basic winter bed warming in days of yore as there was one more device that came into use during the fifties and sixties.
That item was, of course, the world renowned, well loved Glow Baby and thus I can now complete the set of pictures from the earlier post thusly;
![images_thumb[2]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXK3321QX2jdeZBeKXmyPqrBIHmKSgvQ4FU2KBzMwt0732nyNdHYBi5a_i07gl1kf6T6E3caYUhide2gg8Otg8tylwISyshJZ3Csyu9KQDURQ8alrEiDAH6qPxIq9g3hkkj4JaUWmyfDay/s1600-h/images_thumb%25255B2%25255D%25255B2%25255D.jpg "images_thumb[2]")
![hot_water_bottle250_thumb[2]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAH9Ws1wUp4IZDaMlr3uA2KlZ8sXPXjGfy0BIyr05ZSKQ0aApkSBpd82ijn8CGiKwyU2poAooDG4GCpMns3tgR-II2epImsETDqV4vUJkLG9U_UI5zc9DtajRQL1v1gkX0Ic1fCN3NnrFM/s1600-h/hot_water_bottle250_thumb%25255B2%25255D%25255B2%25255D.jpg "hot_water_bottle250_thumb[2]")
The first two pictures are hot water bottles and the last picture is the Glow Baby, okay?
The one I remember was spherical but the idea was the same; bob a sixty watt lamp in him, push him under the bed covers – none of your fancy duvets in pre-smartphone days, just a mattress sheet, another sheet a blanket, two if you were well-off and an eiderdown – usually pretty thin as you only had one that was used for all seasons - plug him in – this required an electrickery socket in your bedroom, not always a given back in the day, or a rather long wandering lead – and leave him on for an hour or so. The longer the warmer. Unplug and remove prior to boarding the bed.
You know what? It worked. And why not? You remember how much heat a sixty watt lamp used to pump out before they were outlawed during the great bulb purges of a few years ago?
Can you imagine the seven shades of red fit all the regulators and health and safety Timidadians would throw if you tried to get a Glow Baby to market today?
"You do what now? You stick a sixty watt lightbulb under the bed covers, switch it on and leave it? Are you nuts?"
With a little further searching it seems I did mention the Glow Baby in another post back when.
Lastly, but not leastly, this is how Hiawatha, whilst sitting by the shores of Gitche Gumee, prepared for winter;
HE killed the noble Mudjokivis.
Of the skin he made him mittens,
Made them with the fur side inside,
Made them with the skin side outside.
He, to get the warm side inside,
Put the inside skin side outside;
He, to get the cold side outside,
Put the warm side fur side inside.
That ’s why he put the fur side inside,
Why he put the skin side outside,
Why he turned them inside outside.
Thank you all for sharing your valuable time with me but now please don your headphones and click along here to enter your own Personal Universe and relax for a while.
Quote; Teilhard De Chardin.
"It doesn't matter if the water is cold or warm if you're going to have to wade through it anyway."
…. just fine. I mentioned the other day that the bear begging TV advert has made a come-back, then I ran into, via Watts Up With That, a new{?} place.
Please, if you can 'bear' to, check this WWF advert out and then compare that scary scenario to the information contained on this site. Also over Here.
As hard as this may be for you to believe, all this got me – are you ready? – thinking…
The question I asked me to think about was; what makes some people believe, without question, the video and quickly part with their money? Then I thought, of course you could reverse the argument for those who run into the other sites first and take that as gospel.
What makes some other people, whichever site they hit first, question that sites 'facts' and search for explanations or alternative ideas? How many believe the first site they hit, find an alternative narrative and 'convert'? I would guess there are very few who are swayed from their original beliefs.
As an example, there are very many fellows out there who worship the ground Ed Davey stands on. However, I put myself amongst those who worship the ground he's going to. This has the knock-on effect that if you come down on the side that thinks young Ed's as mad as a sack o' cats, what conclusion must you come to regarding the fine judgement of those up the ladder who put him into his position? And no amount of, 'Well, I think….' will sway me. Right or wrong.
Where does the truth lie in all these 'for and against' 'like and dislike' type arguments? Somewhere in the middle? Does it matter? I will never be convinced that man is responsible for the climate and I know, for sure, that the sandal wearing old hippy over there will never be convinced that man isn't responsible for the climate. {See wot I done did there? I typecast the believer. Why?}
So, is the side you take on the climate debate and other such arguments, irrespective of the 'facts' for or against, all down to our personal in-built, inherited, or preordained belief systems? As for me, well, it's not often I'm right and I'm probably wrong again.
Quote; Lemony Snicket.
“It is very unnerving to be proven wrong, particularly when you are really right and the person who is really wrong is proving you wrong and proving himself, wrongly, right.”
Well, that was a cold night and we awoke to a white world with snow that's in dramatic drifts of up to an inch in places. This snow seems not to have had the effect on everyday life that the news media would have liked it to have had as all seemed to be ticking along okay.
I was, however, remindful of the fact that after a night so cold it's good to call in on the elderly folk in the neighbourhood to check they're okay and, to save them venturing out in cold, slippery conditions, ensure they have all they need.
I then realised that, sadly, I'm pretty well at the age at which the good neighbourhood folk should be looking in on me.
I also remembered the last time I flew through Amsterdam, three years ago? and on the transfer bus from the plane to the terminal, which is always full, a young buck, seeing me strap-hanging, offered me his seat. Man, that hurt. {I accepted his offer out of politeness…}
All that reminded me of this;
"The local deli ran out of milk again due to the freezing weather. Fortunately, my elderly neighbor, Doreen, has plenty stacked up on her doorstep."
I've also noticed that the days are getting longer. Actually, they're not. I know that this year will be one second longer than last year, thanks to the work of the International Earth Rotation Service, but it's doubtful we'll notice this on a day-to-day bases. What I've actually noticed is the days are staying lighter longer.
Pardon? Really? You were totally unaware of the existence of an organisation by the name of the International Earth Rotation Service? I wouldn't worry too much. I'm guessing the only people aware of the existence of the International Earth Rotation Service are the fellows who have adrenalin pumping work with the International Earth Rotation Service.
Anyhoo, me and her, or her and I, eager to use part of our extra second, did make it out through the settled snow and scary drifts all the way into town where I stopped by an e-liquid shop where I enquired of the counter attendant if they had USA tobacco blend to which he replied, "No, sorry. All we have is American tobacco blend."
"Is that the north or the south one?" I asked putting on my best expression of puzzlement.
"It doesn't say. It just says American." he said, turning the little box in all directions while squinting at the minute print thereon.
"You know what? I'll take a couple. North or south, it can't be all that far from the USA, right?"
"Not too sure about that but you can return it if you don't like it as long as the box is still sealed." He said, beaming with helpfulness.
"That's good to know, but please, through the day, play that last bit over and over in your head and see if you can spot the problem."
Quote; Sarah Addison Allen.
“Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people's legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world.”
If I have this right, a bunch of Greenpeace people tried to board a Russian rig that's drilling right up there the way. The Russians, having diligently reviewed the way the UK authorities handled the Balcombe protests decided to respond in a slightly more forthright manner. Impound the ship, arrest 'em all and charge them with piracy.
I feel the Russian action may well focus the protesting children's minds quite a bit quicker than our fluffy gloved stroking of the Balcombe boys and girls.
I was up in Murmansk on mans boat many years ago, so long ago we had to continually manoeuvre round the sunken remains of war-time convoy vessels as we made our way up the river, and let me tell ya', it was summer and it was cold.
It seems some of the protesters, after their initial jubilation of being arrested and the accompanying publicity, when the possible prospect of fifteen years in a Northern Russian pokey sank in, yogurtless, are now complaining of the cold conditions in their cells. I have news for 'em; winters not there yet children, but when it hits – boy, it's going to get really chilly in your state provided accommodation. I'm betting after the first few days of a Murmansk winter you'll all appreciate the cosy comfort fossil fuels can provide and to hell with the Bottle Nosed Dolphin! It's an area of pristine natural beauty? The hell with that as well – roll the dice and get me warmth!! Now!!
You may be interested in the comments on this CTV site.
On a final note, if they do go to trial and if they're found guilty and the Judge sentences them to time to be served in an open prison – they shouldn't get overly excited by the term 'open prison'.
Quote; Dave Barry.
"When I heated my home with oil, I used an average of 800 gallons a year. I have found that I can keep comfortably warm for an entire winter with slightly over half that quantity of beer."
A pretty happy day then.
One thing Mr Huhne; if, by some remote chance, you do get banged up, not that we're presuming your guilt of course, don't fall for that old lags line, "Yo, Chris, wanna come to my cell an' see some windmills?"
Nothing else to say. Well, one thing. Mr Dave, remember us? The people? At present, the cold people? You do? Then please go find a grownup, from the real world, to manage our energy policies. Not too much to ask is it? Thank you, with forlorn hope.
Caratacus, thanks for the link and love your comment. As for the closing line; …but perhaps a small measure of schadenfreude may be in order? Tow things Sir; I've never seen the point of small measures and I'm not a great lover of German wines, but I'll sure have a large Scotch while I take a moment to delight in his misfortune.
With that last post, along with comments from Caratacus and Giolla Decair, I couldn't help but be drawn to this classic clip…
Quote; Lucius Annaeus Seneca.
"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials."
With the chance of a little snow on the horizon my mind did one of its time travel thingies and I ended up back in primary school, aged about seven.
This is an awful long time ago, let me tell you. I remembered the times happily walking to school through the overnight snow, then all of us kids sitting in the classroom just waiting for playtime so’s we could get back out into it. Back out into it? Like we had a choice? Back then the weather had to be bad on Biblical proportions before we were allowed to stay indoors. Remember?
At playtime, somehow, natural selection kicked in and within seconds of being out in the snow, two groups had formed, a defensive group and an attacking group. Again, within seconds the defenders were busy rolling and pushing snow to construct a ‘U’ shaped redoubt. ‘U’ shaped? Of course. Open at the back to facilitate a quick and unobstructed escape should the need arise.
This group sub-divided to form redoubt constructors and ammunition makers with a further ammunition maker sub-group of roughie toughie kids secreting stones in their snowballs. Bless 'em.
The attacking group were similarly manufacturing ammunition while a small sub-group was involved with formulating redoubt attacking tactics along the lines of, “We’ll charge now then.”
Soon battle was joined and the air was filled with flying snowballs, small, and not so small, stones, kids wild screams and, occasionally, from far away, the voice of a teacher reminding us to be careful. Yeah, right.
Eventually it was close quarters combat. At this time, with ammunition low and not a snowball in hells chance of making a snowball, scratching, biting, a bit o’ hitting an' kicking was used with no mercy shown by either side. Alarmingly, the girls seemed to be the fiercest close quarter fighters.
All too soon the whistle went and back inside we trooped nursing various scratches, cuts, nose bleeds and the occasional loose tooth, grinning from ear to ear, to wait for the lunch hour when battle would be re-joined, spookily, from exactly where it left off at playtime.
And teachers reactions when viewing the wet, bedraggled, bleeding, battered, grinning bunch of kids before them? “Who won then? Looks to me like you all lost. Right, what's next? **Ah, here we are, Health and Safety then Global Warming.”
That was then. Do they still get to do that stuff now? No? Well, I’m so surprised you could knock me down with a stone loaded snowball.
**That bits made up by the way.
Quote; Norm Crosby.
"My school was so tough the school newspaper had an obituary section."
It's been seasonally cold round my way for the past many days. Happily, although I be old, I've managed to figure this out for myself and have also grown up fully understanding the concept of clothing used in layers dependant on temperature.
I managed to figure all this stuff out, while a pup, without media help, public safety advice, inclement weather warnings, that I see are helpfully colour coded, and those annoying traffic announcements continually telling me to be alert. What's a Lert then? See? Now that would be helpful information. Hard to be a Lert if you don't know what a Lert is. I did try Google.... (n) A small furry woodland creature with senses that are always very intensely attuned to its surroundings.
Anyhoo, it's still gratifying to know the media is on hand to inform the less savvy folk out there when it's cold and give their oft repeated warning that, if you're going out, you should wrap up warm. I'm truly amazed the Huhnatic hasn't been on TV telling the old and infirm that, if they're staying in, they should wrap up warm.
A country that built an empire now needs to be told when it's cold? I guarantee the old don’t need to be told when it's cold. Or is it just the media that thinks we need to be told when it's cold, when, in fact, folk still know when it's cold without being told. Which is it then? These days, I'm honestly not sure.
I also wonder if the Huhnatic has noticed, yet again, the spooky correlation between extremely cold days and the eerie lack of that windmill turning watch-a-ma call it stuff, wind. Seems to work that way up my way anyway.
Before I be gone, if you haven't already, get over to The Slog and read a great article regarding the old and the new.
Quote; Kelvin Throop III.
“Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?”
Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider.
“Time for the weather report. It's cold out folks. Bone-crushing cold. The kind of cold which will wrench the spirit out of a young man, or forge it into steel.”
I really do hate to burst your bubble Mr Huhnatic, and I use the salutation 'Mr' in its loosest possible form, but have you, or any of your minions, or that nice Mr Cameron, and I use the salutation 'Mr' in its loosest possible form, checked these two articles out and the links given therein?
Whoa, well, wither my wobbly windmill. Pretty cool eh? And, apparently, a good chance of getting cooler. Think about that one young Huhne; a chance of getting cooler. Seems to me this man-made murky climate thingy is unravelling faster than a cheap pair of Christmas socks worn by a Durban docker.
Just a quick note here Mr Huhne, and I use the salutation 'Mr' in its loosest possible form, the above clicky bits seem to point to proper science as opposed to computers being fed differing data 'til they spit out the desired, dire result. How grown-up is that then?
Hay, Mr Huhny baby, and I use the salutation 'Mr' in its loosest possible form, come on, please, give it up. It's been a lot of fun, but can we now stop with the windmills and get with the shale gas gift we've been given, and lower our energy costs? On behalf of the old, the infirm and the present and future poor of this land, in high expectation, thank you.
Mr Huhnatic, and I use the salutation 'Mr' in its loosest possible form, may I also say thanks for your forthcoming humble public apology regarding getting it all so very expensively wrong. This apology is surely coming as we all appreciate you're an honourable, honest, upstanding public servant who will obviously 'do the right thing'. Oh, wait a minute……
Let's be perfectly truthful, we've all made mistakes, right? Thankfully, not one as huge as falling for the theory that something we breath out, which then gets sucked in and cleaned up by plants, which, in turn, give back for us to breath in again, is somehow going to cook us all in the next 50 ----- {Insert your own preferred time measurement.}
I bet you're starting to see what a doozey that one was, eh Mr Huhnatic? And I use the salutation 'Mr' in its loosest possible form. Can we have our money back now please?
Quote; Ann Landers.
“Know when to tune out; if you listen to too much advice you may wind up making other peoples mistakes."
While burning off fuel from the car, prior to trading him in, mean as I am, we had a tootle round the countryside. For those of you not familiar with the UK, the countryside is the bits of green between the cities, towns and windmills. As we tootled, 'her indoors' pointed out an interesting point wot was well worth her pointing out.
You may remember my prediction of a severe winter? No? Doesn't matter. We got a doozy. I'm predicting the same, or a tad worse, for this year. Please don't shout at me if I'm wrong, 'couse it's not often I'm right and I'm probably wrong again.
Last years prediction was arrived at using nothing but the berry barometer. This year the berry barometer seems even more scarily bountiful, and to be bountiful bloody early. In fact 'her indoors' was noting the bountifulness of berries in the bushes back in mid July. If this truly is natures harbinger of a horrible winter to come, be prepared!
I guess it's also safe to assume that, if reports of the sun going out, or some-such, prove true, well, that sure won't help any.
Regarding stuff getting warmer, there've been very few days this summer when we haven't had some sort of heating on for some part of the day or evening. Cold? No. Warm? No.
I guess it'll be more long periods for those twirly-whirly sentinels to folly, windmills, to stand, eerily un-moving, silently surveying the frozen landscape. Unless they're turning, via back-feeding from the grid, to prevent them freezing solid of course. If only we had a grown-up taking care of our future energy needs.
Quote; Oscar Wild.
“Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”
Hay 'propeller head', you see how many of the good folk of this once proud land are in fuel poverty? Can't afford heating and cooking? You see that? Did you?
Hope you didn't catch it on the BBC news, 'couse you may have missed it as it was almost falling off the end.
What did the BBC use for an accompanying tube? A pensioner? The disabled? A disabled pensioner? You're kidding, right? An African refugee is what they used. And let me tell ya', he looked as fat and happy as could be, so he did. Hay, good luck to the guy, but really, please, come on already.
Never mind, did it embarrass you a little LHuhne? Make you feel a tad guilty? Cringy and crawly? Suppose not. It's a blue do, getting bluer and no mistake.
Seeing that Mzzzz. Brooks is going to be questioned about something or other next week, may I suggest to the inquisitors that the first question should be to see if she had her hair done like that for a bet, or does she honestly believe it makes her look super cool? If the reply is, for a bet, well, okay, proceed as planned with your questions.
Quote; Anonymous.
"It was so cold, the wolves were killing sheep just for the wool."
