Posts by Heero Yuy

  • The Great British Weather Moan thread

    Unfortunately we don't have a greenhouse though we are planning to have a conservatory put in this year so that would double up for the tenderest plants.


    Very cold today with limited sunshine. Only +3°C but no overnight frost due to cloud.

  • The Endless thread

    Battery duly fitted to car. I used a bench supply set to 12v with an isolationg diode (Prevents reverse feeding) to hold the electrics up during the changeover. Avoids having to re-enter radio codes etc. Car turns over smartly now. Makes me realise how soggy the old battery had got. Still that's 9 years out of it. It's still better than the one in my other car in the garage so they'll get swapped too and the dead one goes for recycling.


    A good point of car lead-acid batteries: All of the unit including the plastic case gets re-used.

  • The Endless thread

    Ordered the battery yesterday morning, it was dispatched within the hour and DPD tracking says it'll be delivered this morning. Amazing as I opted for free delivery and the dates were this Friday to next Tuesday. (Tayna Batteries through Amazon stores)


    Got the bench supply and an isolating diode ready to keep the car electrics up whilst doing the swap. Avoids having to reset loads of things.


    [edit]

    Battery has just arrived, beautifully packed with plenty of cusioning and also in a large zip-lock bag in case of spillage. (None detected)

  • Judgment Day. Deal or no deal.

    Quote from Horizon

    I honestly thought by now she'd give up the goat and move on. How wrong I am.

    Could be the classic distraction technique: Keep them all focussed on trying to defeat her deal prevents them from other wreaking courses of action. Then the deal is dumped on 23:59 March 29 and we leave on WTO rules.

  • The Great British Weather Moan thread

    We had some cloud overnight which prevented a frost, only down to +2.5C. Sunny at the moment but only +4C. If the sky is clear there'll be a total eclipse of the moon visible early tomorrow morning and it will be a "Wolf Blood Moon" when the moon will appear red due to the sun's light filtering through Earths atmosphere. Same effect that give red sunsets.

  • The Endless thread

    We're lucky that the countryside is so close, just a few minutes away by car or foot and the South Downs is now a national park and protected.


    Car battery is still very soggy so it looks like a new one is needed. I can get one from Amazon (Exide) for around £70 delivered. I can fit it and the old one will do for my other car in the garage as it is a very good starter even with a tired battery.

  • The Endless thread

    Took the car out this moring for a run to get the battery charged etc. Same route as in post #886.


    Here's a photo from the Bostal road above Steyning Bowl looking eastwards. About 600ft up.



    This is the steep northern scarp of the South downs. The road is 1 in 6 on the way down into Steyning.


    Interesting contrast of temperatures: In Worthing it was +7. Up there +6 but down into Steyning the ice alert came on in the car and the temperature dropped to +1c. Storington was +5C but coming down into Amberly you could see smoke from a small fire stratifying in a layer about 100 ft above the village and as we descended into the layer the temperature suddenly dropped to +1C again. Meterologically this is known as an inversion.


    Another pleasant drive in light traffic.:)

  • Horizon's Gardening Topic

    As it turned out it didn't go sub-zero overnight. Lowest was about +0.8°C and it hasn't hit the nasturtiums. They're still looking good and a few flowers still.


    Weather outlook is about the same for today and then getting a little less cold so no "Beast from the East" yet.:)

  • Horizon's Gardening Topic

    Tonight there's a threat of a serious frost (sub zero) so I've just been out to fleece up (first stage) the banana palms, They're still green and growing so I've left some of the foliage on. Once it gets frosted I'll cut it off. Two potted geraniums and the banana palm in it's pot inside now. Got to find somewhere to put them that isn't alread covered in pots from my mothers conservatory.


    The geraniums in tubs I've moved to the sheltered spot just outside the back door together with some potted begonias that are still struggling on and even still flowering. Even when we get snow it never lays here as there are property walls on all three sides. I can always put some fleece over like last winter and they held up then.

  • Judgment Day. Deal or no deal.

    At least May's Hokey Cokey deal is dead as a dodo even if she won't admit it. The EU won't make any cast iron assurances in law that the DUP will accept and have also stated that there are no grounds for re-opening serious negotations. You can't just wish away a defeat of 230 with some vague assurances from the EU.


    I strongly suspect we'll stagger on towards March 29th with crisis after disaster after crisis while the clock ticks down and nothing is agreed: No GE, no "deal", no second referendum, no Irish backstop, no nothing. Just paralysis.


    That of course honours the result of the referendum: We leave properly and keep our £39bn


    I think there'll be a number of simple small agreements about aviation, medicines, food import/export etc to help past the tightest spots, indeed that should have been the objective all along over the past two wasted years, instead of some grand all embracing "deal" which really amounted to kicking the can down the road again. Many a mickle makes a muckle as the Scots say.

  • Latest scare ,the poor will eat poor quality meat after Brexit !

    There are plenty of food treatments that people know absolutely nothing about, much is designed to improve shelf life, appearance or food safety. I suspect that if they did know these could be made as controvesial as the chlorinated chicken hysteria.


    There are "poorer" cuts of meat but you just need to know how to cook them properly, brisket for example. Often these have much more flavour than the premium cuts.


    BTW I love Scottish black pudding as the fat is evenly distributed and the grain is much coarser, I think it's oatmeal. I just try not to think about the red ingredient.:/

  • Does the UK face a No Deal Brexit?

    Quote from The Sun

    The PM is on course for an eye-watering defeat by a majority of 228 during the meaningful vote on Tuesday, research by the BBC found.


    In a huge blow to No10, it emerged that 19 more MPs have come out to oppose her EU agreement since she delayed a vote on it in December, fearing a catastrophic drubbing.


    Judging by their public comments so far, a total of 433 MPs will still vote against it – including 111 Tories – and just 206 will back it.

    Trying to frighten MP's by running down the clock has spectacularly failed.


    Quote

    The biggest Commons defeat on record was by a majority of 166, against the minority Labour government in 1924.

    Nothing like setting a new recoed.^^


    Interestingly the Mayor of Calais has stated that on March 30th he doesn't expect there to be any greater amount of customs examinations than there are now.

  • Will Robots & AI take over?

    Quote from Mail on line

    Half of current jobs will be taken over by AI within 15 years, one of China's leading AI experts has warned.


    Kai-Fu Lee, the author of bestselling book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order, told Dailymail.com the world of employments was facing a crisis 'akin to that faced by farmers during the industrial revolution.'

    'People aren't really fully aware of the effect AI will have on their jobs,' he said.

    Ten most endangered jobs (from the article on the link):

    1. Telemarketer / telesales
    2. Customer support
    3. Warehouse workers
    4. Clerks and operational staff
    5. Telephone operators
    6. Teller/cashier
    7. Fast food workers
    8. Dish washers
    9. Assembly line inspector
    10. Couriers

    Glad to see that on the list of least vulnerable are engineers, computer programmers and fiction writers. All of which I do.:)

  • Netflix password sharers to be tracked down.

    Follow the link for the full story.


    Though this relates to Netflix I've put it in the Science and tech forum since it deals with AI to detect the simultaneous use of an account from two separate IP's.


    Could this be the start of deploying it on other premium subscription services?

  • Brexit and EU general chit chat

    QFT

  • Horizon's Cookery Class

    One thing I would add to the above is that I used 5% fat mince to attain the calorie values I posted. Both packs of mince were bought reduced a while ago and popped in the freezer for later use. Ordinary mince could easily double those values.

  • Horizon's Cookery Class

    Making up a batch of Bolognaise sauce:


    250g pork mince

    250g beef mince

    1 large onion, chopped

    2 large garlic cloves

    700g jar passata with basil. (Optional as basil can be added later)

    Worcester sauce (about 1 tbps)

    Tbsp mixed herbs

    Tbsp tarragon dried or fresh as available

    1-2 large carrots, chopped into about 1cm dice.

    Salt and pepper to taste.


    Brown the minces in a good size pan with a small amount of light oil. Meanwhile combine the rest of the ingredients with about half the passata in a food processor and blitz until pureed. Add to the minces together with the rest of the passata, rinse the jar with 300ml of water and add to the pan. Bring to the boil stirring. Then over low heat covered for about an hour. Stir occasionally. Makes 6 portions about 170 calories each.


    Serve with pasta of your choice, fresh parsley and grated Parmesan Reggiano


    I prefer to use passata as tinned tomatoes can be somewhat acidic. Passata is sweeter and all the hard work has been done for you.


    A recent TV programme with Rick Stein visited Bologna and they (the local people) cooked the sauce using tinned tuna as an alternative. (Use 2 tins drained) Works well.