Anything noteworthy happen to you today?

Pages: 1 .. 12 13 14 15 16 .. 77

aquagoat - 13-1-2011 at 20:19

Quote: Originally posted by polydigm

Had a great week in France and we're back in the UK having a lazy day.

where did you go?

BBP - 14-1-2011 at 11:51

When did you come from?

BBP - 15-1-2011 at 19:57

Auntie's House Clearing Update
Today I scrubbed the Toilet From Hell. It was gross, but it is clean now! Of course now I'll be pissed off if they remove that toilet bowl.
I also attempted to clean the plughole from the sink, but it's probably too far gone. I also cleaned several window frames, attempted to wash a window (but no right equipment at hand), removed the plastic from the shed's door, cleaned the bathroom tiles and floor (yes, where she was found), packed two boxes, attempted to help my father with sanding down the stairs, and found the bell back I wanted.

Dad got all dusty lungs from the sanding. Boy.

We had dinner at a small cafeteria, which was nice.

Huck_Phlem - 16-1-2011 at 01:48

Man! Sounds like a chapter from Cinderella. You deserve a nice dinner and some flowers and maybe a back rub.

BBP - 16-1-2011 at 21:33

Let's sing the Cinderella song!

The plughole has been cleaned by me. And I washed all the windows on both sides. I think she paid the windowwasher, considering the outside of the windows was clean. The inside, however...
It's pretty tragic to see how someone can let herself slip into oblivion like that. The sheer curtains were filthy and removing them to get to the windows was terrible. All the dust getting into my eyes... I opened the front room window to let out the dust, but unfortunately the window was so badly jammed I couldn't close it.
We found a lot of Tegenaria domestica http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_house_spider when we wrecked the closets in the shed. There were several in her house too, and today I found there was a reasonably fresh web in the corner of the room. She had a small cabinet there that we have gotten rid of since.
Normally domestic house spiders stay in their web, except for the males during the mating season (June to October), so the only reason why we've seen so many is because we're destroying their homes. Poor little blighters.

polydigm - 17-1-2011 at 02:23

Quote: Originally posted by aquagoat

Quote: Originally posted by polydigm

Had a great week in France and we're back in the UK having a lazy day.

where did you go?

My aunt and various cousins live around and about Alençon. We spent several afternoons and evenings experiencing their hospitality. Our daughter, who now lives in London, came with us and provided excellent translation as she speaks french quite well.

We stayed in a gîte on the outskirts of Alençon. We wondered about various places locally, visited one of their produce markets and sampled various delights from a nearby boulangerie.

We spent a day on Mont St Michel and another day in Paris, mainly visiting the Louvre, after parking underneath, followed by wondering around on foot along the Seine past the Notre Dame Cathedral. On the way back to the car we got some delicious crêpes from a street side stall. One with ham and cheese and another with nuttelex and banana.

I have to say the road tolls were a bit of a shock, driving from Callais to Alençon and later back again.

punknaynowned - 17-1-2011 at 06:54

sounds like fun! how long a drive in time, Calais to Alencon?

DED - 17-1-2011 at 10:33

That's fun allright
I think a 4 hour drive. Have you driven along the bridge in Le Havre. I first thought it was a roller coaster. Never been so high in the air with a car. Have been in Montauban quit a few times in a cheese and babymilk factory overthere (east of Le Mans). although it is nice I prefer the south and east of France.

Road tolls are high but the roads are very comfortable. If you take the Route national, it is free but will take a enormous time.
We managed to eat in Aix leaving the home early for the route de soleil. so it was including pauses a 12 our ride. from Eindhoven to Aix.
Riding on the N6 and 7 you see a lot but it takes you more than one day.
When i was in Paris for prof. reasons it was nice to see that when you drive in France with a 130 km/hr after an hour you are 130 km further. In Belgium 100 km in a hour speeding like hell but the road conditions are bad. In Holland speeding upto 140 km/hr you manage to reach a average speed of 85 km, due to the busy traffic.

polydigm - 17-1-2011 at 12:10

Quote: Originally posted by punknaynowned

sounds like fun! how long a drive in time, Calais to Alencon?

We went by car. About 2 Hours from Reading to Folkstone, 40 minutes on the Channel Tunnel Train from Folkstone to Callais and then about 3 and a half hours from Callais to Alençon.

Quote: Originally posted by DED

Have you driven along the bridge in Le Havre. I first thought it was a roller coaster. Never been so high in the air with a car.

Some of the bridges en route from Callais to Alençon are the biggest I've ever been on. Seriously long and high over vast stretches of valley and so on.

DED - 17-1-2011 at 23:32

I ment this special one
The Pont de Normandie

[Edited on 17-1-2011 by DED]

Huck_Phlem - 18-1-2011 at 00:45

I would assume that bridge is arched so much for ships to pass under?

polydigm - 18-1-2011 at 11:16

Oh well, a tense and boring day at the same time today. We're packing in preparation for the flight back to Australia leaving this evening.

BBP - 19-1-2011 at 19:01

Have a good journey, Poly!

I believe that arch is in case the Eiffel Tower will be shipped to the UK.

Visited a second-hand store today and tackled the infamous Belgian codecracker key. It is an incredibly difficult calculation key that was used to con people in one of those games on TV that the audience can phone to and win much money with after they've spent an equal amount in phone tabs.

How it works: some text and a math sum is put on screen. Meanwhile a host is trying to lure people into calling to win a large sum of money, that no-one is likely to get since the key is too difficult. So difficult in fact that 1 out of 6 of the puzzles on TV were given the wrong solution by the quizmaster.

It is estimated that the code made over 2 million dollars. Considering it was night-time TV in a small area (Flanders, 6 million people) that's much, even though it took a year and a half.

Been playing with the code. They gave us two fake puzzles, with solutions, and I can't reach the solution with all data I have. Frustrating and fun, like Tetris.

Philmore - 19-1-2011 at 22:03

What a drag it is getting old.

BBP - 20-1-2011 at 17:59

Do you mean you are annoyed with getting old, or is this forum tiring you?

BBP - 22-1-2011 at 13:04

Sent out the newsletter.

Yesterday I accidentally performed a sword-swallowing feat. I was looking for the thinnest knitting needles I have. I found #1 and locked it between my jaws so I wouldn't have lost it by the time I found the other, and when I found the second one the first one shot into my throat for about 20 cm. Save a raspy feeling I'm allright.

Huck_Phlem - 22-1-2011 at 17:05

(cue Sabre Dance)

Ladies and gentlemen right before your very eyes we have the amazing Bonny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqg3l3r_DRI

polydigm - 22-1-2011 at 23:21

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

When did you come from?

Very funny.

I hope you haven't done any lasting damage with that needle.

Anyway, we're back safely in Australia and still battling with jet lag. People thought we would find the cold winter in the UK hard to handle, but it was no big deal at all. In fact, now that I'm back, I'm finding this summer a bit hard to handle.

BBP - 23-1-2011 at 13:23

Is it very wet out there Poly?
I'm OK.

Philmore - 24-1-2011 at 13:24

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

Do you mean you are annoyed with getting old, or is this forum tiring you?

It's about all the stupid little pains you get with age.

BBP - 24-1-2011 at 17:58

There's nothing I can to about that... Except give you a hug!

polydigm - 25-1-2011 at 03:03

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

Is it very wet out there Poly?

Adelaide and suburban areas don't really get floods, although the Murray region has been flooded quite heavily in the past. But even when that happens it's usually from rain that falls elsewhere. Look up the River Murray on Google. It's sourced in New South Wales, forms part of the border between NSW and Victoria, and eventually passes through South Australia arriving at the sea in the south in a place called Goolwa.

It's quite warm and dry here in Adelaide at the moment. The only bonus is that we got a lot of rain last year and our water restrictions are freer than they have been for a long time.

[Edited on 25-1-11 by polydigm]

BBP - 25-1-2011 at 13:28

Okay...
My laptop has crashed badly. I couldn't even get Windows Recovery to start.

DED - 25-1-2011 at 15:20

Your scanlogbook (AVG) was ruined
That caused starting and stopping of the avg program.
it is now uninstalled.

If you had to download something pls use the desktop

polydigm - 26-1-2011 at 01:52

Today is Australia Day in Australia. A public holiday for everyone. We're going to the beach this arvo for a swim and some beach cricket and then coming back for a barby. Can't get more Australian than that.

[Translator: arvo = afternoon and barby = barbecue]

Philmore - 26-1-2011 at 13:50

Quote: Originally posted by polydigm

Today is Australia Day in Australia. A public holiday for everyone. We're going to the beach this arvo for a swim and some beach cricket and then coming back for a barby. Can't get more Australian than that.

[Translator: arvo = afternoon and barby = barbecue]

Happy Austrailia day! If you're going to the beach, don't forget your togs and sunnies.

DED - 26-1-2011 at 13:58

I had an old HPIIIp laser printer that was working quite allright together with a flatbedscanner on our old compaq pc.
With the new vista machine the scanner was not working (lack of a parallel port), the HP worked until the tonerdrum was empty.
It is hard to find a new one these days.
So I bought for 3 euro's a second hand Lexmark 3 in 1 printer. It scans like hell but printing in color was not working. B&W worked.
For another 3 euro's I bought a second one to exhange parts but it has the same problem.
Always something with second hand goods!!
So I bouht myself a brand new Canon Pixma 3 in1 printer.
It prints very nice and very good pictures. I made a copy of my pass when I needed it. Nothing above new???
When I had for a few weeks I want to make a scan. Printer is not connected properly was the message on the screen. With the handbook I tried to solve the problem. Tried in on another PC, Tried another USB port. Nothing helps. Read all about it in the forum, quite a few people have the same problem. In the mean time I placed the lexmark on the floor to make a quick scan and installed a old computer in a bedroom with the old flatbed for multiple tasks. We had that situation for over one year now.
Today I received a mail with a new forum post. Somebody had the same problem and tried another scan programm.
ACDsee-pro, with thatt he could scan. Today I installed a trial and yes my canon is scnanning pretty well.

Now I have to find out if there is a good reason to buy a peace of software, more expensive than the printer to scan a document.
I feel cheated by Canon.

Huck_Phlem - 26-1-2011 at 17:10

The ink is where they get you. I won't even buy ink and make my kids print out their school projects there by using flash drives.

BBP - 26-1-2011 at 21:00

Yep, popular marketing strategy.

polydigm - 27-1-2011 at 06:42

I had a great day at the beach yesterday. It's the first time I've gone swimming since my surgery. We played some beach cricket and although I've got sore muscles today it was great to be able play around like that again. Next step is to have a go at squash.

Badchild - 27-1-2011 at 10:19

Hi everyone. I got an Email telling to get with it and come here and Post....OR ELSE!
well here i am and i'm gonna post post post until the cows come home. You know what i mean jellybean??

I dont wanna end up lost in space and not being part of this, can we say "Historic" forum. How long has it been BBP ??

So what's happening ?? well i'm between jobs right now so i'm laying back a bit....doing the house husband bit....cooking -cleening and taxiing the kids to their activities....and listening to alot of music. I know got my whole appartment wired up with sound so it's nice to walk around and hear everything perfectly.

So there you go....it's bloody cold here in Bordeaux and winter just is not letting up....it's sunny though and that's better an nuthing right?

Am I ranting now ??? oh well i'll stop then..

Please don't kill my account here cause even though i dont post much...i still come and visit frequently...

Later people..and keep on truckin' Bonn!

there's a Hug for ya!

The Acadian

BBP - 27-1-2011 at 12:47

No don't worry Badchild, you're not on the Endangered Species list... that's for people who come here and have never posted.

Philmore - 27-1-2011 at 16:06

Quote: Originally posted by polydigm

I had a great day at the beach yesterday. It's the first time I've gone swimming since my surgery. We played some beach cricket and although I've got sore muscles today it was great to be able play around like that again. Next step is to have a go at squash.

My muscles are sore too, except it's from shovelling this goddamn snow.

We've already had over 50+ inches this year and we still have Feb. and March to go through.

BBP - 27-1-2011 at 16:13

Whoa! Where are you? North Pole?

Philmore - 27-1-2011 at 17:01

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

Whoa! Where are you? North Pole?

Feels like it. Looks like it too.

polydigm - 28-1-2011 at 07:37

Quote: Originally posted by Philmore

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

Whoa! Where are you? North Pole?

Feels like it. Looks like it too.

So where are you? Do we know you from that fun place called zappa.com?

BBP - 29-1-2011 at 10:12

Possibly in the New York area, I understand they've had the fifth snow-storm of the season.

In the mean time I did something stupid. One of my old newspaperfriends is on holiday for a few days (back Tuesday) and she asked me to do her round for the three times she's out.
That's yesterday, today and Monday. Her route is a large one at over 110 papers, it's far away for me, and it has a care centre for the elderly. At least there's one place where it's warm!
Tonight it was -5.

And DED, I was wrong: I do still have to do the folding. Unfortunately that meant I had to do that on the living room floor now that Lien has taken over here.

DED - 29-1-2011 at 22:29

Lazy day today because Friday was the last day in the house of auntie.
Tried another thing at the notebook of BBP (an back up of the D: partition of the hard disk. I succeed so no data will be lost forever.
Could not found the c:partition. I think it will end on bad sectors in the hard disk there where the registry is kept. That could be the reason of the error while extracting files. With a new HD it will be up quickly I think. Downloaded the first season of Baretta, the series where not so good as I remembered.

[Edited on 30-1-2011 by DED]

Huck_Phlem - 30-1-2011 at 05:27

barretta? hahaha I used to watch that when I was a pre teen.

BBP - 30-1-2011 at 18:39

Cleaned my room. Well, really only a section of it. Spent two hours. I gave Hammersmith Odeon a first spin, it sounds great!
Also found a great old Zappa review of OSFA in a magazine of which I can't remember how I acquired it.

polydigm - 31-1-2011 at 05:47

I'm suffering in the heat at the moment. This is the second day in a row reaching 42°C. Apparently it's dropping tomorrow to a mere 33° max and will stay there for about four days.

BBP - 31-1-2011 at 10:48

Poor Poly! That must be the worst!
Ah, the days in Portugal... Dad, sis, Gran and I went there on our 1995 vacacion. For some reason, Gran had little problems with the 39C heat, while I had reached boiling point and was barely fit to walk between sea and towel. She thought that was funny.
(of course, by the end of the holiday she wasn't fit to walk from sea to towel either. She'd broken her ankle. All her bones were still in place, so she could walk with it, but with much pain.

punknaynowned - 31-1-2011 at 13:28

after a couple days above 5C and bright, sunny, today they predict freezing rain and drizzle that will turn to snow and continue through Wednesday. Blizzard conditions with >56km/hr winds expected, so power lines might go out in all that. 30 - 40 cm snow expected which will drift in high winds.
I bought a professional microphone with a port for a cord for a USB connex.
And slowly play with audacity to see how it goes. So I have a new toy.

BBP - 31-1-2011 at 17:12

Hit the down. Apparently the US Blu-ray quality of Neverending Story is so bad that someone on another forum wanted to get the Dutch version, which I bought and then mailed to him.

polydigm - 1-2-2011 at 03:25

Hey Punky, I'd definitely not rather have a blizzard, but I am, in a strange kind of way, missing the UK. Mind you, I'm talking about on the same latitude as London or further south.

BBP - 1-2-2011 at 18:48

The aunt saga continues.

When my grandmother passed away, we found her camera, with some exposed film in it. We wound it back and took it to the photography store, where it got developed. Two pictures were on it: one of dogs that my cousin had made, and a picture of Gran she had made by accident. We were very happy with that Gran photo.

In my aunt's home we found a disappointingly low amount of photos, maybe about 30 while Gran had hundreds. But we did find a camera, containing a partly exposed Kodak film, of the pince nez shape. We wound back the film, and yesterday I took it to the shop.
"Can you do something with this?" I asked.
The friendly assistant replied: "I don't know if we still have the machinery for that. They stopped producing that type of film at least 15 years ago."
I quickly remembered that time my sister forgot her film and had it undeveloped in her camera for a year. When it came back from the shop, it had a warning card in it that leaving your film on the shelf for so long will cause damage to the photos, and they indeed were very blurry.
"So after fifteen years there can't be much left of the images, can there?"
"Well, we could always try."
And he went to call the lab. He warned me that it would be expensive, that the developing would cost 15 euros alone and that, since the film format didn't exist anymore, all prints would have to be cut manually. And that it would take two weeks. I paid the developing costs, left name and number, and went out.

Later that day we received a phone call from the photography shop. They'd started working on the film immediately and found only one photo on the film, and printing that would cost 10 euros. We agreed, and I went back today.

And so I went to pick up the 25 euro photo. It was in colour, but the photographer had it printed in black and white to make it slightly clearer.
In the foreground are a table and four chairs, which we don't recognize. The background looks like trees.
On the photo are a woman and child. Since the photographer told me the film dates back to mid-80s, it's possible that they are my mother and sister. But we can't be sure.

punknaynowned - 1-2-2011 at 19:22

I can't stand the heat in summer so I sympathize. Can never get naked enough while sweating on everything, never near a pool to cool down often enough, always tired. Just miserable without air conditioning. I admit.
On the other hand, I prefer winter, so long as I have a place to stay and it's warm. So far so good.

I like it here in Kansas because of the changes in the weather. Never the same day to day. That's what everyone says here, "Don't like the weather? Wait awhile, it'll change."
Always does. I would love to visit england or france to see the sights and so on. I don't think I could live there for long though. Rain all the time, why I wouldn't live in the northwest US, Portland, Seattle. Not bad for awhile...
I lived in Florida for just over a year. Didn't like it. No culture except for very specific spots that's all full of tourists (I'm thinking Key West and Miami). Plus it rained everyday. Then the sun would come out and be hot or always near 100% humidity. Yuck.
It's my perception that when it stops raining in england or normandy, the sun may come out but doesn't warm much. So it stays wet and cool more often with the warm sunny days less frequent. I may be wrong, but the culture, the tea drinking, the gabled roofs, the proliferation of hedges and bridges, awnings and smoke filled pubs, the clipped speech --- all speak to me as products of such a climate.
Lovely people, but dour climate produces pessimistic outlook. Just an observation, a generalization. Individuals are always different.

For comparison, I know it rains all the time in Holland. And again, I may be wrong in my perception but the dutch all seem sunnier in outlook somehow. Big bright colors on the buildings, even if the colors on a Rembrandt may be dark, the personality shines thru. As if because there is so much water in the lowlands, people have more time to see their reflection and have spent the time to scrub out the gloom.
Colors: Red and blue for england and france, I think of sea and beef blood. Holland's colors are bold orange and green which makes me think of bright banners and tapestries, big hunks of cheese :biggrin:

punknaynowned - 2-2-2011 at 08:05

but damn Poly! that looks a BIG hurricane heading for landfall...
I'm all safe and warm here, so far

BBP - 2-2-2011 at 20:20

Hope you're out of the hurricane zone, Poly...

polydigm - 2-2-2011 at 22:15

Think about North America. The hurricane zone is toward the equator, so, for example Florida in the south gets hurricanes but not New York in the north. In Australia, in the southern hemisphere, the directions are reversed. Northern Queensland or the north of Northern Territory get cyclones. I'm way down here away from the cyclone zone in the south of South Australia.

BBP - 3-2-2011 at 17:50

That's good news, I was worried there. Thing is I live in a stamp size nation in comparison to Australia and when there's harsh conditions up north the south is getting the same problem sooner or later.

punknaynowned - 3-2-2011 at 17:53

I see Milton Bradley over in the other place got some real snow in Michigan. We were ready here but got half of what we expected. Maybe 15-20 cm. It drifted. It's still real cold. But it took me 20 minutes to shovel off the walk. Pretty, white, cold. Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan all got hit pretty hard.

polydigm - 4-2-2011 at 03:53

Okay Bonny, seeing as you haven't answered my question on Cal's forum, here it is again. What is the year round weather like in Holland?

BBP - 4-2-2011 at 13:30

Year round? Changing. Really. Summers can be heatwave or five consecutive weeks of rain. We've had hail in June and very hot Januaries. This year's January had one warm week where I could go out in T-shirt, but it started freezing again a week later. In general, unpredictable is one of the better words.

Right now it's storming in the north, and over here it's quite windy too. That's why it's a bit confusing for me, weather in Australia. Netherlands fits many times into Australia, if something happens out north here the south will usually get some of the effects too. A storm on the other side of the country isn't ever as far away as you are from the floods.

DED - 4-2-2011 at 13:51

Measured from 1971 -2000
All are averages/year over this period

Days with rain (more than 1 mm) 131
Days with snow 25
Dry days 109
No sun 76
Fog 65

ours of sun 1524
rain in mm 827
Humidity % 82
Temp in winter 3.3 centigrade
Temp in summer 16.6 centigrade
summerdays (25-30 centigrade) 22
tropical days (30 and more) 3

source KNMI

At our base in Eindhoven it is alway a few degrees hotter in summer en colder in winter than close to shore (The Hague)
In Arabia we sell holidays with rain warranty. ( sure bet with 131 rainy days in average).

When we go on holidays in France we keep drivin' until the grass beneath the crash bars is brown. Due to all the rain Holland (where not urbanised) is green.
The painting of our houses is grey, white or standard yellow or brown bricks. The difference you will find is in tghe front door. Not a single one looks llike another.
For colorful painted houses you must go to the Algarve in Portugal or Crete.

And when we're home we have to make sure that we are save from the water

[Edited on 4-2-2011 by DED]

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polydigm - 5-2-2011 at 03:45

I get your point Bonny. It's a 2,000 km road trip to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland and about 1,750 km as the crow flies. The region where the cyclone hit is several hundred kilometres north of Brisbane, almost 2,000 km as the crow flies from Adelaide. Brisbane got hit with bad flooding but has very little risk of getting a cyclone, here in Adelaide we get neither.

Thanks for the info DED. Wow, do you really only get three days a year above 30C?

polydigm - 5-2-2011 at 03:48

Does anybody know what's happening with Calvin's forum? It seems to be down at the moment.

BBP - 5-2-2011 at 11:58

On average over 30 years that is. We've had heatwaves that have made me wish I was on the North Pole, and we've had years where winter gave spring and summer a miss and went straight into autumn.

DED - 5-2-2011 at 13:43

We have seasons with just one tropical day and we have seasons (not many) with 18 in parts of the country, but that is an exception.
Our country is splitted in 4 parts, the one at the coast is the coldest and north-east part of Limburg in the south is the hottest. When there is a average is about the whole country (with is no greater than aprox 400 x 250 square km). The hottest part is only 50 km long en aprox 10 width. Traveling within our small country can give a difference in temperature of 6 or 7 degrees. 20 at the coast and 27 in Eindhoven. In Belgium (smaller than the Netherlands differences are even bigger from the hills (ardennes) in the east up to the coast.

Eindhoven itselfs lies in a lower part than the surroundings, so temp is mostly higher, but also the air polution has high marks.
We dont have actual mountains or hills in our country. Differences in hight are due to the redrawing meltwater in the iceages. In the highest parts of the country (350 m above sealevel) you can find fossiles of fish meaning that our whole country was covered by water ages ago. Springtides (1953) and meltwater from the alps can cause some problems but apart from that we don't have many real extremities in weather. Our bodies are use to the conditions. In our parts of the world (including scandinavia) it is enough to be outside for 20 minutes to get our vitamines (d) out of the sunshhine. Arabian migrants here still clothed in their portable prisons mostly suffer from a lack of vitamine D.

I was once on Rhodos in Greece ( 8 day trip) where temperatures raise upto 40 centigrade in shade. It was a hell of a holiday, crawling from one air conditioned bar to another. Back home I was ill for weeks.

aquagoat - 5-2-2011 at 14:04

:swear:wow, a great week-end beginning at my house, no more water because a pipe is broken, some guys from the water company repair service are working hard to fix it, hope they'll soon succeed. My vacuum cleaner just broke down, strangely just a few weeks after the expiration of the two year warranty, I took a warranty extension when I bought it so I hope it'll be ok and get out of the shop with a new one, or they'll lend me one until they get mine repaired.

Well, anyway, my girlfriend and I will go to the restaurant tonight and have a good time, if the place hasn't burnt down to the ground by the time we get there. :umm:

[Edited on 5-2-2011 by aquagoat]

BBP - 5-2-2011 at 14:16

We have six vacuum cleaners right now, can we help?

aquagoat - 6-2-2011 at 09:52

well, maybe, we'll see in a few days.

BBP - 7-2-2011 at 11:26

Finished knitting a beautiful jumper for my sister, with a lot of cables, took 30 hours... and now I have to wait for two more weeks for her to come over and see it.

DED - 7-2-2011 at 11:46

pictures please I'm curious. ???? :cool:

MTF - 8-2-2011 at 06:25

Bonny, why do you have six vacuum cleaners? Isn't five enough?

DED - 8-2-2011 at 19:50

To tell you the truth we don't have enough money to buy a seventh one.

No reallly whe had two. a small one and a bigger one with a lot of noise and less prestation. Therefore ZAZ left us her vacuum cleaner. Than we had three.
Our late aunty had 4 one on a steel, one for the crums, a normal one and on the attic an almost antique Nilfisk (the powerful Norman). It stll works wonderfully. So we end up by having 7 vacuumcleaners, like every normal household :P

[Edited on 8-2-2011 by DED]

[Edited on 8-2-2011 by DED]

BBP - 10-2-2011 at 12:53

Sister and I are pleased as punch to see Primus coming to Europe, she'll buy us tickets as soon as they come out!

BBP - 10-2-2011 at 14:50

Today I received a form from Chartis. Over 1 year after my tumble I finally get my ex-boss's insurance to examine me!!

MTF - 11-2-2011 at 10:18

Bonny, I forgot that you're a big Primus fan. Well, you might like this: Primus did a run of shows around New Years at the Fox Theater in Oakland. They had the Residents open one of the shows.

A good friend of mine also happens to be friends with the Residents, so he got backstage passes and hung out with both bands. He had never seen Primus before, and was quite impressed.

Here's a really nice picture of Claypool from that show. It was taken by a news photographer named Josh Keppel:

polydigm - 11-2-2011 at 13:48

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

We have six vacuum cleaners right now ...

That sucks, big time.

(I couldn't resist)

BBP - 11-2-2011 at 17:40

Nice!

Of course, we can't go to Primus now. Some asshole companies bought up all the tickets, and they're now sold out. Sure, you can buy them off those but at three times the original price. I'm angry.

MTF - 14-2-2011 at 10:04

Sorry to hear that.

But here's another picture, from backstage at that concert. You've got Les Claypool, Josh Keppel (the photographer of the last picture), And Josh's son Lazlo.

Josh has some amazing pictures on his Facebook page. You can see them here:

https://www.facebook.com/joshkeppel#!/joshkeppel?sk=photos

BBP - 14-2-2011 at 12:00

They are great photos Mental! Thank you!

BBP - 15-2-2011 at 13:30

I've started learning Italian, and it's going well!

punknaynowned - 15-2-2011 at 19:00

Some of this is specific to US like I said but it reaches across the west in many ways. You saying you're learning Italian and knowing the anger that Italian women are showing Berlusconi today reminded me of this I wrote last November- hope you can enjoy some of it. I'm on the side of the women here!!!

I am constantly reminded how the US has no mommy. It's all about daddy who would rather take the kid to go hunting or shoot off rockets than scold him for not doing his homework or 'clean your plate, wash your hands, don't lie'.
Think about it. We've never had a mommy to do this here. The church acted like that for much of our history, but when there's a chance to make lots of money or go fight a war, we always ignored her anyway.Oprah's not our mommy, nor is Hillary. Martha Stewart? Nope.
Britain may be the example that proves the rule. Victoria and Elizabeth so overshadowed the British for the
18-1900's, she IS the state and everything maternal values stand for.
Russia has them in her history, Germany too. Italy, Spain, France all still have some form of a Mary, still an amazing figure and they all at least have sense enough to have state healthcare.

I'm not saying this as a lark or a joke. It's rather serious and getting worse all the time. Glenn Beck seriously needs his mommy.

But in at least three big ways have I seen this maternal role being played out in our American history
)Churchly community-oriented models and methods, like hospitals the way they used to be
)the culture of the university -- one that used to teach distinctions like between self-interest and enlightened self-interest as some point out and which now measures things in a strict cost-benefit analysis -- no longer has a collective understanding of what is meant when it's graduates are asked 'Where did you matriculate?' Of course, Matriculation has been replaced with a superior sleaker, business friendly model that works students like the products and strict resource producing assets they are. So long as they pay.
)the media in her watchdog capacity, with a history of popularizing things like abolition, even actions against Tamany Hall, for Abstinence, for Prohibition, Suffrage, later the growth of Labor Unions and so on.

In short, the Nanny Culture, though folks will hate the term. We don't have it. Absent.

Oprah may have seen this best and maybe did her best. Made a lot of money by ... comforting people.
But the country hasn't had even a surrogate, besides television since ... I don't know when.
Not Elanor Roosevelt though she was probably the last nation-wide descendant of that set of cultural waves borne out of Suffrage, out of Prohibition rallies and so on.
Nobody to tell us to wash our hands, wash our mouth out, or even 'don't take your guns to town'
[ahem]
"Amen, pass the ammunition "

This is no indictment either of half the population, not at all. In fact, it is the cue I see taken by many amazing women all over the country standing up and saying what's on their minds, pointing out what's so often very wrong that I see so much real hope of what there is what we can be that's out there.
I know Europeans who love Rachel Maddow for example or think Elizabeth Warren could act as a popular and thereby even necesary corrective to what ails so much of American CW about just the economy. And just for the record I think Nancy Pelosi has done a wonderful job, despite what others may say. Yay Nancy!
Y'know, Jon Stewart has a mommy and it shows. The Right is building one or is she self-grooming already? Gosh how fast they grow up.
Silvio Berlusconi is instructive here. Today's story -- Thursday's scoop [http://www.npr.org/2010/11/11/131251668/italy-s-berlusconi-embroiled-in-fresh-sex-scandal]
has him saying he likes beautiful women. But I don't think he respects them so much as he shown a pattern of acting like he owns them or perhaps, even more important to him, to then own the story.
Hence so much trouble. Ahh, he's a politician so he means the opposite of what he says. I Bet he didn't learn that from his momma.

polydigm - 18-2-2011 at 08:21

There's definitely something lacking in American culture in general. Mind you, I'm not saying Australia is much better, there are plenty of people here who would like to emulate the American example.

A quote from a movie I saw recently, forget the name, from a character who was very "American", as close as I can get it: "America is shit, but then at least, everyone else are the flies on our shit". Very depressing image.

polydigm - 18-2-2011 at 08:25

Anyway, on a much lighter note, after not having my teaching contract renewed from last year and falling into a bit of a slump while waiting for work and wondering how our financial situation would survive, I got a call today for four weeks work starting next monday. Wahoo. (I just watched that Einstein comedy the other day)

punknaynowned - 18-2-2011 at 12:40

glad you're working again!

BBP - 18-2-2011 at 17:49

That's great news Poly!

polydigm - 19-2-2011 at 06:40

Thanks for your thoughts guys. It's not just the money, I need to be working again. Music is an engaging past time but when you don't have a way into the business like FZ had it's hard to maintain your self respect in a vacuum. Anyway, teaching is part entertainment which is one of the reasons I keep doing it I guess.

DED - 19-2-2011 at 11:22

Pfff, after a period of months finally found a solution for you tube on our family website.
Problem first was that you had to choose your language again and again.
Second we modified the channel in our colorscheme and wanted to see only our uploads on a grid. It worked but you tube found it nessecary to add the profile and activity among a great with bar with a search field in top.
Since a few days there was another cange. You tube does not like frames anymore so the channel was opening on a new page and giving the standard startpage. That was enough for me. I found the video lightbox. A simple program to make xml pages with you tube movies. A free program for non commercial use. I cracked the javascript to get rid of their watermark. and now it works like the way i want. Why do i want to work with (invisible) frames? instead of drupa or joomla style? Well that is simple our menu sticks on the same place no matter how deep you are scrolling and we use the entire screen. You can check my work on www.3xploeg.com using the button top right wich stated streaming AV in the screen use button Ed in the our channels part.
As you can see on the start screen it also work with self hosted flv's.
I even found a way to directly link to the player screen. That gives me the idea of entirely ripping a english spoken Dutch movie and put the link in a members only section on this forum. As a present for 5 years of goose our own movie theatre.

polydigm - 20-2-2011 at 03:27

So what do you do for a living DED? I was just wondering, seeing as how you seem to like mucking around with computers at a higher level than most.

DED - 20-2-2011 at 12:34

solving managerial problems.
ICT was in our family since dos 1.26. In that time you need a lot of fantasy when the only thing you saw was A:>
Where A:> stands for a 160 kB floppy drive sindle side single density. Before that an 8 bit Atari with Atari Basic.
So computers have been quite a while in our family for fun, business and study. I managed to deal with all the major changes. Apart from that it is in our genes to find a solution for the situations were wish and reality lies far apart. We never give up not even in situations where it is more effective to give up.

polydigm - 21-2-2011 at 07:49

I hear where you're coming from DED. I'm sure I've spent way too much time programming computers. And then are the times when I've moved house and I had to throw out a whole heap of books I had once been very familiar with that were now irrelevant because of system upgrades or some such thing. It can be soul destroying.

[Edited on 21-2-11 by polydigm]

DED - 22-2-2011 at 21:11

Trying to make something new on the Goose. a forum part for member with streaming AV.
Our own Theatre.
On this moment I have a problem with the large flv files for a complete movie. The won't fit in the player. and the file disappeared instantly. Maybe the host doesn't like these big files. Still working on a solution

DED - 23-2-2011 at 20:25

OK finished it works

punknaynowned - 24-2-2011 at 05:56

works good!
"Don't mess with the Dutch."

aquagoat - 24-2-2011 at 09:13

yeah, it works well, thanx DED :forumsmiley111:

polydigm - 24-2-2011 at 12:06

This new job's going well, but it's hard work and boy am I looking forward to the weekend.

punknaynowned - 24-2-2011 at 12:38

the week is downhill from here

DED - 24-2-2011 at 18:07

We here are pleased when it is monday.
(for an exception)
2 weeks ago I forgot the waste bin and they only collect once in a fortnight, so I have my waste now for almost a month in my garden.

BBP - 25-2-2011 at 18:24

Well Poly, it's always hard to start up again isn't it? How is it going?

polydigm - 27-2-2011 at 02:45

Thanks Bonny, it hasn't gone too bad at all. Year 8,9 & 10 can be a bit of a struggle but I think I've got it in hand. It's a relatively tough school but they seem to be pretty good kids mostly. I've given out a few detentions already, but that happens when you're a new teacher while they inevitably test the boundaries and find out you mean business. And when you're a temporary teacher it's even harder because you can't establish long term relationships, but all up it's going pretty well. None the less, I was glad for the weekend, which is rapidly coming to a close. I've got a whole bunch of preparation to do this afternoon ready for the week ahead.

Spacebrother - 27-2-2011 at 13:26

All I can say is that my day was noteworthy enough in the sense that I can say all is good. Haven't had a mishap or injured myself since I busted my ankle since September '09.

punknaynowned - 27-2-2011 at 15:33

Good to hear SB! I was just thinking about yer ankle. No really, wondering how you were doing before this whole Wisconsin thing blew up.
An old friend blew into town last night and a bunch of us who used to work together came out to have a night. It was really super to see everyone. We don't hang out anymore, all have different lives, different jobs or live in different parts of the country. And we all picked up where we left off. Pretty neat.

Earlier in the day went to the rally in Topeka (state capital) in solidarity with the workers in Wisconsin. A fair number of people showed up, still pretty disappointing. Tonight there's a grammy party at another set of friend's. Robs makes a whole bunch of kickass food and we sit around and watch the awards show on tv. How we do.

BBP - 27-2-2011 at 16:02

That's good Spacey! I hope to stay on my legs long enough myself. I broke my ankle last year, but you knew that?

BBP - 28-2-2011 at 22:59

Father's friend phones, he's coming by tomorrow morning. Doing some emergency cleaning. Sent DED off to bed, he's too cranky.

BBP - 1-3-2011 at 15:19

Sooo... after Dad's hard work nobody has seen the movie?

punknaynowned - 1-3-2011 at 19:01

I watched it. It was good, I never saw it before. Can't think of another way I could see it. Not that it's rare but it's not on a list of things I've been dying to see. I don't do rentals or netflix etc. But not a waste of time, free! Decent story, acting and toward the end, interesting editing. The american lead seems a real lucky dumbass. So, cautionary like that. Good movie.

I think it's great Ed put it up there. I'll watch anything.

polydigm - 1-3-2011 at 22:58

I've been too busy Bonny, to do anything other than drop by and say hello. I'll have a look at it when this contract is over.

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