WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[PanBiker]

I'm afraid so Tiz, the plug is part of the safety equipment of the appliance hence most are moulded on jobs nowadays. You actually need a fully qualified electrician to change the plug and then probably PAT test for insulation and safety to maintain any warranty on the equipment. Crazy I know, I often wish I had a pound for every TV or appliance that I fitted a ring main plug to in the 20 years I was in the trade. Back in the 70's appliances were more often than not supplied without a plug because there were still quite a few different standards in domestic use. In Earby and Barlick in the 1970's you could still find any one of 4 variations of Wilex plugs, 5A and 15A round pin and the ring main plugs that eventually became standard. Moulded on plugs have increased the safety factor many times over though now that ring main sockets are the norm.

[Stanley]

I've used all those plugs Ian. The big round Wilex was standard when I was a lad (with the hollow earth pin in the middle). Then we got the round pin in two sizes then the modern 13amp plug. I've never quite trusted the 13amp because if you take the full current through one of them they can overheat. Never happened with the 15amp in my experience. Mind you in those days we used to have adaptors on the lighting socket so we could run the toaster by plugging into the light socket! Height of convenience and modernity in those days, meant you could have the toaster on the breakfast table with no trailing wires on the floor.
What grabbed me yesterday was a visit from Doc who looks well and is getting on nicely with his life. He looks to be on track now for in the new house for Xmas and off round the world around May 2014. While he was here another bloke walked up the yard carrying a parcel...



It was Mick bringing me the plaque for the name plates and he's mitred the edge and varnished it for me to his usual standard! He was on his way down to Oswestry via his mate at Burnley who is going to take him forward today to the specialist hospital where they are going to take the steelwork out of his leg. Hopefully he will make a good recovery and finish up with a sound lag! Good look Mick. Nice that he and Doc could meet. A nice afternoon.

Very sad to see the spectacle of Nelson Mandela's family riven by argument about who should control his legacy while he is still alive. Incidentally a report this morning from one of his friends who has visited him was illuminating. He asked the doctors if any thought had been given to shutting down the systems which are keeping him going and they told him that as there was no major organ failure this hadn't even been discussed. A tough old man indeed!

[PanBiker]

My lads posting on Facebook. Apparently yesterday he got a little more exercise than he planned for. Jack lives down in Earby and goes to the gym in Barlick a couple of times a week. Last night he biked it up from Earby to find that he had forgotten his lock key for the bike. So he cycled back down to Earby then back up the hill again to the gym. Did his circuits, weights and whatever else he gets up to on his regime then set of to bike it home. Found he had a puncture so ended up walking back to Earby with bike on his back! Good job it's a lightweight road bike, although a spare tube and a couple of tyre levers would have been a better idea, wait while I see him!

[Stanley]

Can you remember the yellow elongated tins that held the Dunlop puncture repair kit? And the serrated bottom of the tin used to roughen the tube before applying the rubber solution. The swift kiddies with more money than sense swanked with their spare tubular tyre shoved up the back of their jumper or taped to the saddle column.
Andrew Stephenson's column in the BET.... All agog for his article extolling the virtues of motherhood and apple pie....

[PanBiker]

Can you remember the yellow elongated tins that held the Dunlop puncture repair kit? And the serrated bottom of the tin used to roughen the tube before applying the rubber solution. The swift kiddies with more money than sense swanked with their spare tubular tyre shoved up the back of their jumper or taped to the saddle column.

Indeed Stanley. I'm belt and braces on my bike, I have both! Spare tube for the quick fix and a puncture kit for if it's a nice day. The bike does have two wheels as well so scouts motto is in order in my book.

[Cathy]

Just a thought... is there anywhere to go on OG that says what time it is over there? It would be nice to have a clock showing your time, it can be confusing when you (we) have to work out the time difference then try to work in daylight saving stops and starts on both sides.

Any chance ??

[PanBiker]

Nothing built into the site to do that Cathy. Time shown on the Forum page will be your local time as set in your user control panel. There are plenty of world time clocks out there on the internet, try a Google search.
Another way if you are running Windows desktop that supports gadgets is to load the desktop clock gadget and set it for BST or GMT. I use this for my Amateur Radio as all contacts made are recorded in GMT which currently is 1 hour behind BST. I just have the desktop clock set to GMT on my radio station PC.

[hartley353]

As a matter of course I remove all moulded plugs from equipment and fit them with good quality plugs. they cost quite a bit more but are not manufactured to a minimum standard. If the manufacturer wished to revoke any guarantee, I feel sure I could prove my case. As they used to say better safe than sorry.

[Bodger]

My lads posting on Facebook.

A few years ago, i left work in Oldcastle, went for a few !! pints of Guinness,, l left the bar at 1-30 am, couldnt find my car, so walked 3.1/2 miles home, sat at home drinking tea, decided the car had to be in Oldcastle , so walked back, and there the car was, i had walked past it the first time !.More recently the landlord of my local decided i had too much drink to drive, so his son drove me home, the same 3.1/2 miles, again after a cup of tea, i walked back, orderd a pint and then drove home, i'm not boasting, just proving that "Guinness keeps you going"

[Stanley]

What grabbed me was finding during a final check that over the years of loading and reloading the LTP on the site the image files have been mangled and I've had to go back to the originals to repair them. I found another problem with the text as well which means I have to read most of them again to check them. Over a million words...... Not happy about it.

[Cathy]

PanBiker Thanks for your reply.

At the moment you are 11.45am and we are 8.15pm, my problem is with daylight saving. I don't see why I should have to check into a different website just to check what the time is each time before I go into OG. Surely a clock on OG is possible. Pluggy where are you??

[Tizer]

Perhaps Panbiker or Pluggy can say whether it would be possible to insert on OG, as a `live' graphic, this web page to give the UK time:
http://onlineclock.net/
On the other hand, this clock may detect where in the world the user's computer is...and Cathy would then get her own time instead of ours! --- Cathy have a look at the link and see whether it gives UK time or Oz time for you!

[PanBiker]

PanBiker Thanks for your reply.

At the moment you are 11.45am and we are 8.15pm, my problem is with daylight saving. I don't see why I should have to check into a different website just to check what the time is each time before I go into OG. Surely a clock on OG is possible. Pluggy where are you??

You don't have to if you can use the desktop gadget clock I mentioned above it's built into the last few versions of Windows. Simply add it to your desktop and set it to UK time. If you have that facility you can have as many clocks as you wish all set to different time zones.

There will be plenty of other downloadable desktop clocks that will do the same thing. You just need one that is independent of the built in system clock. Here's a link to dozens of different clocks. There is a world clock in the mix. You just need to find one compatible with your OS.

Free Download Desktop Clocks

Adding the facility to the forum may well be possible but we are trying to streamline the site rather than add more extra bits to it. I will have a look and see if there is a modification for it for the platform software and see what the overheads may be.

[Big Kev]

If you have a version of Windows that uses Gadgets (I used a Windows 7 machine). Right-click on the desktop, choose Gadgets from the dialogue box that opens, click on Clocks (your clock will appear in the top right of your desktop). Click on the "spanner" icon next to the clock and choose a time zone. There's a 40 second video clip at the link below.

[Tardis]

6 beautiful A4 Pacific locos:

There were rather a lot of people there at York in the Railway Museum too, both yesterday and today. Queued all across the concourse. Waves of humanity

[Stanley]

Cathy, unfortunately one of the reasons why the original 2004 version of the site and it's replacements have been so complicated and unstable is that it tried to do everything for everybody. Try a post-it on the desk telling you how many hours to add.....
Abu Quatada left the building last night...... He will be in Jordan today. At last!

[Cathy]

Thanks guys very much, I will look into them

[Stanley]

Saatchi announces he is divorcing Nigella because "she didn't defend me" over the strangling incident. Really? I'll bet she has a different view.....

[Wendyf]

Cathy, you could change the setting on the site to UK time, then you would know what time it was here.

[Cathy]

Have just noticed that it states the time in the forum when you first log in to OG. It doesn't change as you are watching it but if you go back to the forum after viewing a topic, the time has changed.

Wendy not sure what you mean by settings or what to do.

[Wendyf]

If you go to the User Control panel and open the Board Preferences tab there is a option to change the time zone. We are on Western European time with the option for Summer time checked

[Thomo]

Quatada has indeed gone, shame though that his tribe did not go with him! Egypt, noticeable on the news is that where the rebels are in Tahrir Square, there are many Women, whereas in the groups of the ex presidents supporters there are very few.

[PanBiker]

The new British Wimbledon Champion - Andy Murray, well done!!

[Stanley]

Wendy, just heard a report that over 7,000 horses in the UK are either abandoned, badly neglected or being fly-grazed. Reminds me of an old farmer's saying if sheep had strayed.... "Not to worry, they have their mouths with them".

[Bodger]

Cutting crystals for radio use in the 1940s, some precision reqired !