Author Topic: what I have learned today.  (Read 847124 times)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2725 on: 11 September, 2018, 02:53:50 pm »
Related point: Who thought tetra-pak was a good idea?  I suppose you can burn them...

ian

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2726 on: 11 September, 2018, 03:04:17 pm »
Related point: Who thought tetra-pak was a good idea?  I suppose you can burn them...

I imagine the beneficiaries the Tetra-Pak fortune. Well, the ones who aren't dead.

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2727 on: 11 September, 2018, 03:31:57 pm »
I thought most wine, worldwide, was transported in huge cisterns and mise en bouteille au pays de marche. There is a "wine train" that collects them from Avonmouth docks.

I'm sure that's right, but WRAP gives the current glass prices:

• Clear cullet prices dropped to £15 per tonne in early July, having previously held at £18 per tonne since January 2018
• Amber cullet prices also declined in early July to £10 per tonne, having previously achieved £13 per tonne since  September 2017
• Green cullet prices continued the slow decline seen over the last few months. Current prices in early July are £8 per tonne.
• Mixed cullet prices also dropped to £8 per tonne.

Think we bottle a lot more jam and marmalade in the UK than wine!  I suspect the brown (amber) cullet gets a better price than the green because we bottle more British (cf The Pub Landlord) beer (rather than that Continental fizzy pop) than we do bulk imported wine (as in fermented fruit drink for the lady...….).

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2728 on: 11 September, 2018, 03:36:28 pm »
Related point: Who thought tetra-pak was a good idea?  I suppose you can burn them...

I imagine the beneficiaries the Tetra-Pak fortune. Well, the ones who aren't dead.
Everyone used to think Tetra-Pak was a good idea. Well, everyone who could open them. It's only relatively recently that we've become concerned about recyclability and waste disposal. A good prompt to ask what aren't we concerned about now that we will realize in ten or thirty years time we should have been? Could be some surprising answers.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2729 on: 11 September, 2018, 03:41:41 pm »
A good prompt to ask what aren't we concerned about not that we will realize in ten or thirty years time we should have been?

Nazis.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2730 on: 11 September, 2018, 06:05:28 pm »
Legendary Radio 1 prat Mike Read refused to play "New Song" by Howard Jones because it sounds a bit like "Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel.  Just the first line.  And it's in a different time signature.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2731 on: 11 September, 2018, 06:10:35 pm »
Just how much of a rapacious bunch of bastards a certain Teutonic car manufacturer is.

A piece of plastic trim smaller than a postage stamp costs over 14 quid. Rinsed or what...
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2732 on: 11 September, 2018, 06:21:32 pm »
That the Welsh term for busking translates into English as "singing in the street".

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2733 on: 12 September, 2018, 10:39:10 pm »
Today  think I may have learned what happened to the old Birmingham library after they demolished it.
I've just seen the new Dundee V&A on the news.
 :facepalm:
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2734 on: 12 September, 2018, 10:49:30 pm »
Today  think I may have learned what happened to the old Birmingham library after they demolished it.
I've just seen the new Dundee V&A on the news.
 :facepalm:

The BBC have some lovely photos, which I'm sure barakta will be along to rant about in due course: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-45432993

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2735 on: 13 September, 2018, 09:20:37 am »
Yeah that's got all the usual fuckwitted contenders for pissing me off...

I want to flash strobes in the eyes of every fucker who signed off on those until they apologise (and then some more just so they know how painful it is), rip it down and build something which isn't sensorily hostile! I bet the acoustics are appalling!

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2736 on: 13 September, 2018, 03:07:25 pm »
That main hall or whatever it is looks like a barn roof after a bad hailstorm. Waste of wood.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2737 on: 13 September, 2018, 09:40:56 pm »
That main hall or whatever it is looks like a barn roof after a bad hailstorm. Waste of wood.

Must have taken a lot of effort to get those panels as mis-aligned as that, and then miss a few out.  Even I could have got them installed better than that......

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2738 on: 14 September, 2018, 12:37:47 am »
Yeah that's got all the usual fuckwitted contenders for pissing me off...

I want to flash strobes in the eyes of every fucker who signed off on those until they apologise (and then some more just so they know how painful it is), rip it down and build something which isn't sensorily hostile! I bet the acoustics are appalling!

But it's art ...

Out of interest, what are 'the usual fuckwitted contenders'? I presume lighting is the primary issue? Spots/point sources? Harsh contrasts (eg in the photo of the stairs) and shadows?

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2739 on: 14 September, 2018, 01:55:51 pm »
Usual contenders are:

Lighting:
* Exposed lighting strip in wooden (often striped) background - they hurt me to look at and are often placed in eyelines.
* Exposed bulbs in whatever fancy arrangement. (Faux 40s ones often flicker).
* Spotlights which are too dispersed so there's point sources of pain while it's just too dim overall - usually spotable by shadows. For extra shits and giggles sometimes you end up with multiple shadows from multiple light sources which means I'm getting eye strain from focus issues. Shadow is often a warning sign for me. 
* Reflections of light sources on too much glass or glossy surfaces - I can't tell what's real and what's reflection and my brain goes into panic.
* Just TOO damned bright overall, overlit at 600-800Lux Cos Airy...

Any and often many types of lighting can flicker for various reasons, e.g. wornout CFLs, magnetic ballast fluorescents at end of life and modern LEDs with shit control electronics.  I can't tell if flicker exists without either video at 60fps (it beat frequencies with our likely UK 100Hz harmonics) or seeing it for myself. Sometimes if the light is v bright it can be flickering but I can't see it - but still get headaches from hell. I can often SEE the flicker, it makes everything stripy in my vision.

Stripy interiors:
There is a mathematical formula for how "visually stressful" something is, basically closer to the ratio of 3 cycles per degree which is the relative width of stripes to one another... Eyecatching for some, debilitating for others.

I also struggle with aircon grilles which tend to be silver with black holes and they literally vibrate and are unbearable for me to look at.

Often patterns of dots can also be visually stressful, too much visual noise, too much to focus on. Extra lolz if they use strong conflicting colours like blue and red/orange as those bother most people.

Lots of clashingly harsh contrast, so super white walls with often dark or bright red or strong colour interiors. Some contrast good, too much contrast bad. Also when contrast is used for no purpose, so doesn't denote doorways or walking lines, but is just random.

This video covers some of the stripy stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBOzv9HgoWM


And the acoustics of these things are often AWFUL. There's no legal requirements for it. :(

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2740 on: 14 September, 2018, 02:01:40 pm »
That the Milton Keynes cycle paths are really quite fun. For certain varieties of bumpy fun.

hulver

  • I am a mole and I live in a hole.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2741 on: 14 September, 2018, 04:45:38 pm »
Just on the flickery lights thing, I read this the other day. Which, despite the hyperbolic headline is quite interesting.

https://theconversation.com/leds-could-be-harmful-to-health-the-eu-halogen-ban-will-make-it-worse-102589

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2742 on: 14 September, 2018, 05:47:30 pm »
I hadn't seen that specific article Hulver, but I know Professor Arnold's work well and he wrote a longer one at the same place https://theconversation.com/the-scientific-reason-you-dont-like-led-bulbs-and-the-simple-way-to-fix-them-81639 which I do share often.

I find people *don't* believe me when I say lighting flickers. I like the fidget spinner idea, see how well that correlates...

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2743 on: 15 September, 2018, 07:04:18 pm »
James Robertson Justice served in the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. I'm not sure what Sir Lancelot Spratt would have made of that.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2744 on: 15 September, 2018, 08:16:39 pm »
I find people *don't* believe me when I say lighting flickers.

Ah.  Thanks for reminding me.  Last week I reported via the council's website that an LED streetlight near us was on all the time.  Remarkably, on Friday they came to change the head unit.  Very speedy fix.  The website said up to 60 days for a non-emergency repair.

Woke up at 4am today to wonder why the room was lit by a strobe (these new LED streetlights are a bit too bright for my liking).  It was the replaced LED head flashing at about 5 Hz.

Seeing your post reminded me to re-report a fault on that light.

But, before I did, I stuck my head out of the front door, to confirm that it was still flashing.  Only to see that the light is behaving as it should (but it's still too sodding bright....).  Maybe it needed an on-off cycle to reset the sensor.

But thx anyway.




ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2745 on: 15 September, 2018, 08:42:32 pm »
Oh yeah, definitely flickerable.  My laptop has developed a nasty habit of making my second external screen flicker nastily.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2746 on: 16 September, 2018, 09:01:07 pm »
That Enoch Powell and Fitzroy Maclean were the only two men to start the Second World War as Privates and end it as Brigadiers.
Rust never sleeps

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2747 on: 17 September, 2018, 06:01:41 am »
I learnt this one earlier in the week, but had to keep it under my hat until now, as I used it as a Thing of Interest on my Tandem Club ride today.

Jomo Kenyatta, Prime Minister and first President of Kenya lived in Storrington during World War 2 and was employed growing tomatoes at a market gardeners in nearby Thakeham.

He was also the great-uncle of Rage Against The Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2748 on: 17 September, 2018, 07:11:16 pm »
Nachschlag.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #2749 on: 17 September, 2018, 07:32:07 pm »
I believe they are a German beat combo, your lordship.