Thank you for bothing to let me know that you visited BLiP and Patricia. I note your baseline Patricia and one of my continuing hobbies is Model Engineering which started here in Otago with OO trains. Built an 8x4ft layout for my son and my wife said it had to be capable of being operated by him and his best freind. So I was dumped in from the start with double pole switches to assign sections to a pair of controllers and then reverse loops. But because my lawyer invited me up to his home to see his layout I got a thing about being as close to scale as possible and I found that the Darjelling Railway, 2ft gauge, has a 50ft radius curve, which is quite possible when working in OO9. So I am I guess a 'narrow gauge nut' from the '70's:-)
Otago Model Engineering of which I have been a member for thirty years plus now has three basic groups and to break the 'monotony' of one discipline members do other things so I have a workshop and owned for awhile a 5" gauge electric loco ... carefully modelled on a shunter from the East African Railways ... so far away no rivet counter could see what I had done wrong.
At the same time I am also 'into boats' with various successful and not so succesful radio controlled craft. Awhile back the Boat Group made a 'run' of 22 quarter-scale jet boats. Each participating member had a job to do 22 times. Not being very skilled I spoke up quickly and got the job of making the motor mountings, first making jigs to ensure each of the 8x22 bits were standard. Others has much more difficult jobs such as converting the air cooled weed-eater 30cc petrol motors from air to water cooled. Another job was casting in aluminium the actual jet drives. Subsequently some have added a working reversing shell like the prototypes have to reverse the boat. This drops down and sends the thrust of water forwards under the boat. The completed boat has driver and co-driver modelled and dressed appropriately
Currently I seem to be back into OO9 and N gauge. The advantage of being in a club with numerous layouts is that one doesn't have to find room to have one at home. There is a fixed OO/HO/S scale layout, The latest N layout which fits a 6x4ft trailer with it's storage frame to hold the three sections. We are having a 'Little Train Show' next weekend 29-30 August and other layouts have been modified from our OO and N portable layouts. We also have a drive yourself for the children of any age.
That N layout used to be a 26 module to international standards and toured around the country ... originally parts seen in Auckland but other times normally in Invercargil and Christchurch. Supposedly NZR in 1/120 scale [ NZ120 ] inspired by the late John Rappard but with his passing it is just an N layout.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
I've been banned --- yet again
I'm not sure that I am actually been blocked from the Queen of Thorns site but in her usual manner she has told me to f... off. One of her favourite words sadly which to me in my old worldly thinking shows a certain lack writing ability and limited vocab.
So this is the fourth or fifth site that I can remember. The first was years ago when discussing one of my hobbies of the time 'G Gauge model railways' and answering a post from an Australian I said something about convict decendants. The Site owner told me not to answer back after the Aussie protested, I did in the most innocent way, pleading it was meant to be humourous, and was banned. These days I make sure to insert " :-) " hoping that will soften the reaction.
About that time my interests moved from model railways and other engineering subjects, I'm a Life Member of my local Model Engineering Society, to digital photography and I became really enthusiastic about the new medium. This got on the wick of a very successful American running a MSN site. He was a professional getting upwards of US$5000 a wedding most weekends, such is today's wedding photography, when I did it I usually just got a pound to cover my expenses in getting there and commission on sales, but that was decades ago. Anyway he got very upset that I promoted the advantages of digital over film, probably I was a bit carried away though I had too shot film for several decades professionally and for home use and welcomed the new option. So he banned me. Organising it so MSN blocked me from his site. So I invented a 'new' me and returned to the site and contributed a comment or two. But the funny thing was that inbetween banning me and my return he too had picked up on digital for his work and was waxing on about how wonderful it was ... oh well, what the hell :-)
I left the site then becuase I was sure that by expressing my views he would tumble to me becuase a leopard doesn't change his spots.
Years ago as part of my english training as a photographer the class went to see the annual exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society. This was 1952 and it showed soft fuzzy 'artistic' work which to the class's eyes was very poor trained as we had been for the commercial world of crisp results. So I had a certain 'thing' about Photographic Societies and the people who take part. I related this on a NZ photographic website and raised the wick of a rather pompos gent from Tauranga who asked why vermin such as me should be permitted to infest the site. I was a personal aquaintance of the site owner and respect his work and I resigned before he could push me.
Banning or telling somebody to f... off if you don't like their opinions is really rather childish though I could see the point of a site owner with few members concerned that others would leave becuase of one member's comments. There are so many sites, and so many individuals, that wandering off is common as muck with the internet. One Aussie site used to boast it had grown from 700 to 7000 members during my membership before a new owner started to cull the membership, becuase of the 7000 I doubt if more than a hundred participated. the other 6900 had visited once or twice, most just to look, and moved on.
So this is the fourth or fifth site that I can remember. The first was years ago when discussing one of my hobbies of the time 'G Gauge model railways' and answering a post from an Australian I said something about convict decendants. The Site owner told me not to answer back after the Aussie protested, I did in the most innocent way, pleading it was meant to be humourous, and was banned. These days I make sure to insert " :-) " hoping that will soften the reaction.
About that time my interests moved from model railways and other engineering subjects, I'm a Life Member of my local Model Engineering Society, to digital photography and I became really enthusiastic about the new medium. This got on the wick of a very successful American running a MSN site. He was a professional getting upwards of US$5000 a wedding most weekends, such is today's wedding photography, when I did it I usually just got a pound to cover my expenses in getting there and commission on sales, but that was decades ago. Anyway he got very upset that I promoted the advantages of digital over film, probably I was a bit carried away though I had too shot film for several decades professionally and for home use and welcomed the new option. So he banned me. Organising it so MSN blocked me from his site. So I invented a 'new' me and returned to the site and contributed a comment or two. But the funny thing was that inbetween banning me and my return he too had picked up on digital for his work and was waxing on about how wonderful it was ... oh well, what the hell :-)
I left the site then becuase I was sure that by expressing my views he would tumble to me becuase a leopard doesn't change his spots.
Years ago as part of my english training as a photographer the class went to see the annual exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society. This was 1952 and it showed soft fuzzy 'artistic' work which to the class's eyes was very poor trained as we had been for the commercial world of crisp results. So I had a certain 'thing' about Photographic Societies and the people who take part. I related this on a NZ photographic website and raised the wick of a rather pompos gent from Tauranga who asked why vermin such as me should be permitted to infest the site. I was a personal aquaintance of the site owner and respect his work and I resigned before he could push me.
Banning or telling somebody to f... off if you don't like their opinions is really rather childish though I could see the point of a site owner with few members concerned that others would leave becuase of one member's comments. There are so many sites, and so many individuals, that wandering off is common as muck with the internet. One Aussie site used to boast it had grown from 700 to 7000 members during my membership before a new owner started to cull the membership, becuase of the 7000 I doubt if more than a hundred participated. the other 6900 had visited once or twice, most just to look, and moved on.
Crisis in the operating room
Nicholas Kristoff in the New York Times relates the position of an Indian woman at child-birth.
I don't know how to give you the link but it was pretty easy to find, if you search with my title above. It tells of how the 'old women', the woman's in-laws who control her in Indian society, stopped her going to a hospital following her waters breaking. The cost was $3.75 for a taxi fare which for a family barely alive is a considerable sum .... but hardly much for a government subsidy to provide free transport to maternity hospital. Eventually the woman is taken to a local clinic and then the $3.75 is finally paid to take her on to a maternity hospital where it is found becuase she was too small the baby couldn't get out and she was operated on, saving her life because by then the baby was dead. An interesting twist was that the baby was a boy and if the 'old women' had known this the money would have been found.
I don't know how to give you the link but it was pretty easy to find, if you search with my title above. It tells of how the 'old women', the woman's in-laws who control her in Indian society, stopped her going to a hospital following her waters breaking. The cost was $3.75 for a taxi fare which for a family barely alive is a considerable sum .... but hardly much for a government subsidy to provide free transport to maternity hospital. Eventually the woman is taken to a local clinic and then the $3.75 is finally paid to take her on to a maternity hospital where it is found becuase she was too small the baby couldn't get out and she was operated on, saving her life because by then the baby was dead. An interesting twist was that the baby was a boy and if the 'old women' had known this the money would have been found.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Drinking a Russian under the table
My Grandfather was the champion drinker of the British Royal Navy Eastern Fleet. This was sometime between the Boer and World War One as far as I can work out. His ship was on a courtesy visit to the Russian Naval Base, maybe Vladavostock, more likely Port Arthur. The Russians had recently been clobbered by the Japanese and lost much of their fleet. Anyway it was decided that the champion Russian drinker and he would have a drinking contest. The last person to fall off their chair, each at the end of a long table, would be the winner.
The drinks to be the national drinks of each country in the world so one can image a hellish concoction going down their gullets .... whisky, gin, vodka, and others I simply don't know the name of.
Grandfather was rather nervous because the Russians have a name for holding their drink so he organised a plate of raisins and between each drink he ate a few raisins. This worked well becuase as he told my grandmother on his return to the UK he just remembered seeing the Russion fall off his chair before he joined him on the floor. He suspected that the raisins had absorbed enough of the alchohol to reduce the effect long enough to see out the Russian.
The sad tailpiuece to this story was later when in hospital with alchoholic poisoning and in considerable pain the Ward Sister organised a bottle of whisky to help him with the pain. But sadly it had no effect becuase he was completely pickled inside.
The drinks to be the national drinks of each country in the world so one can image a hellish concoction going down their gullets .... whisky, gin, vodka, and others I simply don't know the name of.
Grandfather was rather nervous because the Russians have a name for holding their drink so he organised a plate of raisins and between each drink he ate a few raisins. This worked well becuase as he told my grandmother on his return to the UK he just remembered seeing the Russion fall off his chair before he joined him on the floor. He suspected that the raisins had absorbed enough of the alchohol to reduce the effect long enough to see out the Russian.
The sad tailpiuece to this story was later when in hospital with alchoholic poisoning and in considerable pain the Ward Sister organised a bottle of whisky to help him with the pain. But sadly it had no effect becuase he was completely pickled inside.
Binge drinking leads to women being raped
Picked up from Kiwipolitico or could well have been Cactus Kate ....CK writes a very good post on the subject, but originally from the DominionPost.
The Wellington Police spokesperson talking about women binge drinking and unfortunately then getting raped. Of course women should be able to walk down any street and not get attacked, but that is hardly likely to happen in the real world we live in and pragmatically women of all ages should take reasonable precautions to avoid such happenings. I certainly wouldn't walk some places at night cold sober, it is just common sense precautions.
Alchohol reduces our inhibitions and sometimes we make indiscrete actions ... likely sooner with a smaller female body than a large male with more bodymass to hold drink. So there is a double jeopody in the situation when the woman gets blotto in the company of a drunken male with inhibitions reduced, sexual desires enhanced, and she is simply being very foolish and asking for trouble.
It is pragmatism or common sense to take basic precautions and simply not put yourself in that position. It is tough when your peers are not using their noddle and you want to hold back but don't want to be different. But I think it is worth the effort to avoid the consequences, a baby, STD, or AIDS ... maybe all three.
The Wellington Police spokesperson talking about women binge drinking and unfortunately then getting raped. Of course women should be able to walk down any street and not get attacked, but that is hardly likely to happen in the real world we live in and pragmatically women of all ages should take reasonable precautions to avoid such happenings. I certainly wouldn't walk some places at night cold sober, it is just common sense precautions.
Alchohol reduces our inhibitions and sometimes we make indiscrete actions ... likely sooner with a smaller female body than a large male with more bodymass to hold drink. So there is a double jeopody in the situation when the woman gets blotto in the company of a drunken male with inhibitions reduced, sexual desires enhanced, and she is simply being very foolish and asking for trouble.
It is pragmatism or common sense to take basic precautions and simply not put yourself in that position. It is tough when your peers are not using their noddle and you want to hold back but don't want to be different. But I think it is worth the effort to avoid the consequences, a baby, STD, or AIDS ... maybe all three.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Why didn't SOMEBODY do SOMETHING?
Recently there has been the story about the Hamilton Council officials fining householders who sat on their own house roofs to watch the car races ....I though that only happened with Football in Dunedin "Scotchmen's stands" .... It seems to have blown over with horrendous fines being withdrawn and that disgusting situation you couldn't argue your case until you paid the fine ... talk about getting you be the short and curlies ... but to my theme :-)
Every time something bad happens there is the inevitable cry "Why didn't somebody do something to prevent it" .... forget about one or more fools jumping off the earth and getting their cum upance ... so the poor affected officials rush around thinking up yet more by-laws or laws to further hem us into the Nanny State.
It is our own fault becuase we ask for it every time, and so the obliging officials present new rules to their councils and parliamentarians. So next time ... DON'T COMPLAIN
Every time something bad happens there is the inevitable cry "Why didn't somebody do something to prevent it" .... forget about one or more fools jumping off the earth and getting their cum upance ... so the poor affected officials rush around thinking up yet more by-laws or laws to further hem us into the Nanny State.
It is our own fault becuase we ask for it every time, and so the obliging officials present new rules to their councils and parliamentarians. So next time ... DON'T COMPLAIN
My son got very annoyed when I didn't smack him
Many years ago when my son was about 7yo and he and I were at Coronet Peak I had a problem with both of us. He's now in his forties. We both used bad language and I felt this was undesirable so we agreed that when he used a swear word he would get a smack on the bottom and when I swore he would get five cents.
This worked well for a few days until on reaching the bottom of Happy Valley{?} he really tore into me saying I was a cheat and dispicable bastard. This was amongst a crowd and I was extremely embarrased. I'm sure that he picked his time for the outburst because he is a brainy so-and-so taking after his mother.
The problem was that I had been working a sort of profit and loss account in my mind, balancing my swear words against his. This meant that he was missing out of the five cents for my words.
I guess when you consider his mother had made him some very ample ski-trousers a smack through them was not to be bothered about but missing out of numerous 5 cents was a serious matter.
This worked well for a few days until on reaching the bottom of Happy Valley{?} he really tore into me saying I was a cheat and dispicable bastard. This was amongst a crowd and I was extremely embarrased. I'm sure that he picked his time for the outburst because he is a brainy so-and-so taking after his mother.
The problem was that I had been working a sort of profit and loss account in my mind, balancing my swear words against his. This meant that he was missing out of the five cents for my words.
I guess when you consider his mother had made him some very ample ski-trousers a smack through them was not to be bothered about but missing out of numerous 5 cents was a serious matter.
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