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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Marking Your Own Homework
Hello Michael, We’ve checked your broadband speed 344 times over the last 3 months, and we’re delighted to let you know that everything’s running smoothly.
Virgin
Awarded UK’s Most Reliable Broadband Experience by Uswitch (2025 & 2026)
The verdict
With fast speeds and reliable performance, your broadband makes streaming, gaming and browsing seamless. Top marks. |
It's very nice of you to say so. I have, I admit, been very busy lately.
Just a small point. This is the first time you've sent something like this to me. I expect this is because of the various snafus we've been experiencing hereabouts over the years. But anyway, let me return the compliment. Top marks!
Keep it up.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Those of you who been given a scare by something you saw on YouTube should get out that blood pressure thingy you bought several years ago. Yes, it may well give an alarmingly high figure.
However, if you measure it next morning you will find your blood pressure has already gone down from 177 to 172. Now draw a graph with these two points on it (you may have to use dotted lines to get from one side of the graph to the other) and return the blood pressure thingy to its cubby hole. Job done!
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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You are a Victorian gentleman and are planning a trip from your Pall Mall club to Birmingham where you intend to buy some iron foundry or other. You ask Soames, the hall porter, to arrange the tickets.
"By train, sir?"
"Of course, man, how else am I going to get there, Shanks's pony?"
"It's just they've built a turnpike, sir, so I thought maybe..."
"How fast does a Hansom go on one of them?"
"I'm looking, sir... ooh, no, they've built a motorway now, you'll be going seventy miles an hour all the way."
"That's no faster than a train. Besides, I'm not trusting myself to a hansom cab driver, not at those speeds."
"You have to drive it yourself, sir."
"Talk sense, man. First class, smoker, back to the engine."
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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On a point of national cultural differences, I was watching a YouTube the other day made by an American who was testing out some ex-British rolling stock acquired by AMTRAK.
After expressing wonder at seats facing one another, rather than all pointing forward airplane-style, he said, 'Those Brits must be terribly fond of talking to complete strangers.'
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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But now I've thought about it some more, these train sets are always designed to be driven from either end so you don't have to waste a bunch of time shunting the driving unit around every time you arrive at a terminal.
Imagine an airplane where everyone is facing backwards on every other flight. I am now a bit bemused about the whole business.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Thames Water wrote: | Hello, Due to the hot and dry weather, a hosepipe ban is now in place to help protect water supplies and the environment. The ban was announced on 21 July and is now in force.
Please do not use hosepipes, sprinklers or jet washers for any use including cleaning, watering gardens or allotments, or filling any paddling pools, swimming pools or hot tubs.
Some exemptions may apply, for example customers with medical conditions. To find out more about restrictions, check if an exemption applies to you and read our FAQs, please use the button below. |
One of the fierier elements at our weekly 'Demo of the Week' meeting pointed out this means the fuzz won't be able to use water cannons if we decide to march on Thames Water House. "What exactly will we be protesting about?" asked a newbie.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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My Wes Streeting story on Medium is still at 'nil views' and 'nil reads' after a week. That makes it definitive and it roused me to action. I checked the figures for all the other 731 stories I have posted on Medium (it is Sunday).
Plenty of 'one view/no reads', plenty of 'no views/one read' but only Wes is 'no views/no reads'. Am I down-hearted? Am I buggery. I'm breaking new ground.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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On Sunday I turned my immersion heater down from 'scalding' (where my bathroom renovators had left it) to 'adequate for washing dishes and householder'. My gas usage for Monday went down from 3 kwh to a quarter of a kilowatt hour.
This will save me so much I will probably be in credit by the time I've got all my government subsidies, and OVO will have to start paying me. Unless I die from food poisoning or scabies.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Have you noticed that 'I don't wish to be disrespectful' has replaced 'With the greatest respect' when intending to slag someone off. I myself don't use either formula because (a) I am never disrespectful and (b) I just go ahead and slag people off.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Mick wrote: | | My gas usage for Monday went down from 3 kwh to a quarter of a kilowatt hour. |
But the next day it was back to three kwh. This infuriated me, but more importantly puzzled me. It took a long time for the penny to drop. I will give you the length of this sentence to work out what had happened.
No? Nothing? Go on, last chance.
Well... the system didn't require any gas while the temperature of the water was being adjusted downward but, it seems, it requires just as much gas to maintain water at 60 degrees as it does at 90 degrees. A great blow. And surprising in itself.
Things may be different when central heating comes into the equation but I don't know how immersion heaters and combi-boilers operate in tandem. I was having my BCG when they covered that at school.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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The UAE have just completed their first railway. It is, as would be expected, a hi-speed line with all the trimmings. One of which is a notice in all carriages
| There are no prayer-rooms on this train but they are available at all stations. |
Public prayer room are necessary in a country officially inhabited by devout Muslims who have to pray five times a day. Some thought must have gone into this being compatible with long distance railway travel. But have they come up with the right solution?
"Dear Lord, please ensure the driver stops long enough for me to complete my obligatory prayer. That's all for now, I'd better be off, talk to You later."
I don't see why some of the toilets--of which there are a great many on UAE hi-speed trains--couldn't be converted into prayer rooms. You just turn on the Engaged sign and get on with it. No disrespect to Allah.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Americans are getting increasingly fed up because President Trump spends most of his time on ballrooms, reflecting pools and suchlike. On the contrary, I say, it is to all to the good he should be doing this. Least done, soonest mended.
In fact we might build an entire Potemkin Washington somewhere for him to play with. We can have actors scurrying about doing his bidding. (I mean real ones, not ex-Fox anchors.) And here's the kicker. Gianni Infantino will soon be available to be his Chief-of-Staff. In fact there may be a coup...
Speaking of which, Volodymyr Zelensky once played a president, then became a president, and may soon be an ex-president. He will be delighted to reprise some of these roles in a Alt-Hist series for Netflix featuring a war between Trump's America and Ukraine. Which was of course where the whole Potemkin thing started.
[Use AI to continue this theme, Charlotte, and post it on Medium.]
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Nutritional programming of gastrointestinal tract development. Is the pig a good model for man? by Cornelia Metges |
Pretty much.
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