WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Big Kev]

The trunk has also been kept as a potential for a carving of some sort. The paving contractors highlighted the damage to surrounding buildings, I don't believe the decision to remove it was taken lightly.

[Stanley]

Thanks Kev but I am still sad to see it go. Walnut, properly sawn and dried is a most expensive timber.
I wonder if they'll plant a replacement?

[Big Kev]

Thanks Kev but I am still sad to see it go. Walnut, properly sawn and dried is a most expensive timber.
I wonder if they'll plant a replacement?

Several cuttings have been taken for planting elsewhere in the town.

[Tripps]

David Whipp also says -

The county council has said that they'll pay for another tree to be planted in an alternative location. (The roots prevent replanting in the same place.) Cuttings are being taken from the tree in the hope that new saplings can be grown for future planting in the town.

[Stanley]

It sounds as though everything has been done correctly. I shall shut up but I am still sad to see it go.

[Tizer]

There's a large walnut tree near our house and the squirrels plant the nuts in our garden, even in our flower pots so walnut is a weed for us! I hope they've considered alternative trees. Walnut is a lovely tree but I wouldn't plant one in a busy pedestrian area. The fruit case surrounding the nut contains a black dye which stains clothing and sticks to shoes, then stains carpets, even timber flooring. But if you've already had one there I suppose Barlickers are used to avoiding stepping on the fruits!

[Big Kev]

I mentioned a while ago that a part of my granddaughter clock had broken, yesterday I found someone who made me a new part. I'm chuffed to bits

[Stanley]

Sleeping two hours longer than usual gets your attention. No bother, I shall just ditch the shed. (It's nice being retired......)

[Stanley]

Sleeping in for an hour again! Must have been all the walking in Clitheroe.

[Wendyf]

Watch out for the Red Arrows flying over on their way to Blackpool this morning around 10am.

Later: They didn't come this way.

[Tizer]

Oh no, it's non-fungible tokens again. This lad's learning that there are many gullible people out there!
`Twelve-year-old boy makes £290,000 from whale NFTs'
[Link after Stanley reminded me! NFTs

[Stanley]

I had to look it up Peter.... LINK
I note he is being paid in crypto currency and then I saw this.... "And former Christie's auctioneer Charles Allsopp told BBC News buying them made "no sense". "The idea of buying something which isn't there is just strange," he said earlier this year. "People who invest in it are slight mugs - but I hope they don't lose their money.""
It's all very clever but it's la la land and flags up the difference between this lad and his world and a similar child growing up in a deprived part of the country.

[Tizer]

Thanks for pointing out my missed link.

I was amused this morning by this story. Pigeons have become a pest here in Taunton, especially the feral pigeons which in the past spent most of their time in the town centre park feeding on bread and discarded food. Now they've spread out to local domestic gardens, dominating birdbaths, trying to get at ponds and eating whatever seed might fall from a birdfeeder. They're a nuisance because they're not scared of humans - they think you want to feed them like the people in the park do. They leave poo all over the place and, worst of all, in the bird baths and ponds. This is how the disease they carry has killed off some finch species such as chaffinch and greenfinch (we never see any of them now). The council won't do anything about them but perhaps Elon Musk will!
`Why pigeons mean peril for satellite broadband' LINK

[Stanley]

Do you remember when Ken Livingstone was attacked for saying he wanted to feed the Trafalgar Square pigeons contraceptives?
I agree with you, I had a powerful BSA .22 air rifle at Ellenroad to shoot any birds that got in the engine house. You'd be amazed how much muck they bring down by fluttering about!

[Wendyf]

Around 6am this morning I looked at flight radar to see who was flying over and there were 3 Qatar Airways passenger planes crossing the area heading to the US from Doha and bound for New York, Washington and Chicago. I just went to check my facts using the playback facility and only the New York bound plane remains to be seen, either I was dreaming or they have been wiped from the skies!

[Tizer]

Perhaps the other two were redirected while in flight and the Flight Radar data hadn't caught up with them?

The photo of Weston-super-Mare in this article shows how big the town has become - it's now a popular dormitory town for people working in Bristol. When I first visited it in the late 1960s in my Austin A35 it was tiny. (I still remember that visit because I was returning from a camping holiday in Devon and the car broke down in Weston!)
`Paramotor pilot shares pictures of John O'Groats-Land's End flight' LINK

[Stanley]

I watch Flight radar quite a lot Wendy and many a time I see aircraft and there is no track for them.
Loved the pictures Peter by the guy with the para glider. Reminds me of my chimney days, amazing how much more you can see with some elevation. We are so lucky today to have footage shot from drones.

[Stanley]

I've just talked to Stuart models and they are sending the castings I need, the price is reasonable and they are paying the postage and packing which will be about £7. That draws a line under that one.

[Tripps]

What a difference a lifetime makes.

This is what happened in Manchester, and most of the North in the 1950's. Whit walks
It doesn't happen now. Spot the Ukrainian contingent.

I noticed this is happening in nearby Blackburn recently Religious procession

[Stanley]

Whit walks in Barlick in the 1960s. The woman on the right in the dark outfit is my late mother in law, Mary Agnes.
Is it my imagination or are there more women in Whit walks than Shia?

[Tripps]

Oh no, it's non-fungible tokens again

I saw a long discussion on this subject NFT'slate last night on the Chess channel.
The lady involved was Alexandra Botez .

I had a strong feeling throughout, that no one really understands the thing, but there is money to be made, and everyone is scared of missing out. She has a razor sharp brain and thinks a lot faster than me ( not hard ) but she is still looking to see how to use it.

Her world seems to be almost exclusively digital and the term NFT was used casually throughout. I don't think it was coincidence that the kid referred to above had an IT professional father.

Include me out. . . .

[Tizer]

Perhaps this helps. It's from this Investopedia page which mas much more information... LINK

`Like physical money, cryptocurrencies are fungible i.e., they can be traded or exchanged, one for another. For example, one Bitcoin is always equal in value to another Bitcoin. Similarly, a single unit of Ether is always equal to another unit. This fungibility characteristic makes cryptocurrencies suitable for use as a secure medium of transaction in the digital economy.

`NFTs shift the crypto paradigm by making each token unique and irreplaceable, thereby making it impossible for one non-fungible token to be equal to another. They are digital representations of assets and have been likened to digital passports because each token contains a unique, non-transferable identity to distinguish it from other tokens. They are also extensible, meaning you can combine one NFT with another to “breed” a third, unique NFT.

`Just like Bitcoin, NFTs also contain ownership details for easy identification and transfer between token holders. Owners can also add metadata or attributes pertaining to the asset in NFTs. For example, tokens representing coffee beans can be classified as fair trade. Or, artists can sign their digital artwork with their own signature in the metadata.'

[Tripps]

Yes - it looks like an extension of the Crypto currency thing. It got very technical and frankly lost me, for a lot of it. It's bargepole territory for me though. This was the site they were discussing Crypto punks Beyond comment really. Look at the sums of money involved. Little of it real in any accepted sense of the word though, I'd imagine.

I see no appeal at all in having one of "10,000 unique collectible characters with proof of ownership stored on the Ethereum blockchain"
They look like they were created on a Sinclair ZX, and how would you fancy selling them on the Market Square on a Saturday morning for real folding money - to a Yorkshire person.

[Wendyf]

We watched some of the harness racing at Kilnsey Show yesterday. I don't think I want to watch it again!

[Stanley]

Fungible or non fungible, like David I am not in the market.
Wendy, was that because of the mechanical gait? I don't like it either. I think the main interest is backing them!
I once rode a horse bred for trotting for about seven miles while I was in Oz, a very uncomfortable ride at the trot, good at the walk and cantering but avoid the trot!