A random thread for small things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[Cudzoziemiec]

On a similar note, why am I no longer able to log into the OED's website? I suspect this is part of Mayor Marvin's cuts. (yes, FWP!)

[hellymedic]

Splatford Split!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-devon-40595537/police-car-explodes-on-dual-carriageway-in-devon

[Andrij]

Has anyone seen my British Library Reader Pass?  I really don't feel like coughing up ten quid for a replacement.

Methinks it may have fallen victim to a "Hurry, tidy up, we have visitors" exercise. It's here, somewhere, so I'll have to set aside a sizeable chunk of time to dig through the TPOC. 

But not today.  Instead, I'm going to go play with someone else's old books.

[Biggsy]

News discovered via Postage Pro UK app:

"Surprise postage price update: Royal Mail are very quietly trialling greatly discounted online/self-printed postage for [2nd class] parcels between 2kg and 5kg, but only for people who pay online and print their own postage labels."

[TheLurker]

News discovered via Postage Pro UK app:

"Surprise postage price update: Royal Mail are very quietly trialling greatly discounted online/self-printed postage for [2nd class] parcels between 2kg and 5kg, but only for people who pay online and print their own postage labels."

Oh. That's surfaced at last.  I remember doing some prototyping at the RM Tech. Centre at Dorcan for self printed postage 20 years ago.  IIRC the blocker was how to make sure people couldn't game it to get lots of free postage.

[Biggsy]

RM has been providing self-printed postage for a long time.  What's new (being trialed) is the discount compared to buying at the post office or using ordinary stamps.

[hellymedic]

They're offering half price for the next three months IIRC.
Suspect the sh!te couriers have been undercutting them.

[Basil]

I've just found my National Cycling Proficiency certificate. 

Dated March 1962.   Wow.  That's 55 years ago.

I was going to put this in the 'You Know You're Middle Aged When' thread, but that is way beyond 'Middle Aged'   

[ian]

I was noodling away on a graphic for inclusion in a proposal. To get things properly spaced, I drew a few triangles, and a circle as guides so I could snap everything into tidy place. Without realizing it, I'd drawn a very good and rather diabolically accurate pentagram, the sort of thing that's ideal for making collect calls to your favourite demons (well, you trying getting even 3G in Hell).

While I was admiring my inadvertent brush with satanic ritual, our marketing lady came over to ask me something. Now she's American and her computer desktop features a daily quote from the bible and she says 'at my church' more frequently than even most other Americans manage. She stopped dead staring at my screen and backed away mid-sentence.

Oh well. I probably shouldn't introduce to Finestre, as she's an actual demon, had three pet souls, and as befits her status as an executive demon of such things, a house and pool in Hell's favoured suburb and gated community, Dress Down Friday.

[Little Jim]

I thought that they made you work from home apart from when you were Thought Leading in foreign places?

[ian]

They don't make me work from home, I just stopped going and I'm such a lowly minion on the corporate hierarchy that no one noticed. I do occasionally beam aboard the motherships to remind them that I'm still collecting a salary and, of course, to delight my fellow minions with my non-virtual presence. Why are you here? squints one of the subdeck minions in a manner that suggests my presence cannot be anything but nefarious. Merely to bathe in the warm sunlight of your disposition, dear colleague. Is that sarcasm?

Plus, going to the London mothership is a good excuse for a bike ride. Less so the Philadelphia mothership, as I'd get wet feet.

[TheLurker]

One of the nice things about RIAT is that all the local second-hand and charity shops dig out all of their aero related stock and plonk it in their windows so you find stuff that you wouldn't otherwise.   As a result I now have a nearly 20 year old copy of, "Model Aircraft Aerodynamics", 4th Ed.  by Martin Simons which cost me the grand total of a fiver from the Cirencester Oxfam shop.  Really rather pleased with it.

[andytheflyer]

One of the nice things about RIAT is that all the local second-hand and charity shops dig out all of their aero related stock and plonk it in their windows so you find stuff that you wouldn't otherwise.   As a result I now have a nearly 20 year old copy of, "Model Aircraft Aerodynamics", 4th Ed.  by Martin Simons which cost me the grand total of a fiver from the Cirencester Oxfam shop.  Really rather pleased with it.

Ah ha.... I have one too! Bought new and I don't remember where or when!

[fuzzy]

News discovered via Postage Pro UK app:

"Surprise postage price update: Royal Mail are very quietly trialling greatly discounted online/self-printed postage for [2nd class] parcels between 2kg and 5kg, but only for people who pay online and print their own postage labels."

Oh. That's surfaced at last.  I remember doing some prototyping at the RM Tech. Centre at Dorcan for self printed postage 20 years ago.  IIRC the blocker was how to make sure people couldn't game it to get lots of free postage.

Ooh! I bin there! About 28 years ago. I did a day there whilst agency working. They were working on a parcel sorting system utilising voice recognition. I spent a several of hours reading post regions of of parcels on a conveyor belt- BelDel, BelDis ect.

[robgul]

RM has been providing self-printed postage for a long time.  What's new (being trialed) is the discount compared to buying at the post office or using ordinary stamps.

Yep - I must have been using it for about 6 or 7 years .... it has slowly improved over time but still a bit labour intensive with keystrokes.  You can either pay for one off items with a car over a certain minimum value - or run an imprest account linked to a card.  I think I have an auto-top up of £20 when it gets down to the min threshold.  It's simple - print the postage label with stamp, stick it on the item and bung it in the postbox.   A discount (as franking machine users get) should be an incentive for greater use .... but it's been a long time coming.

Rob

[T42]

Dunno if it's available in the UK, but over here you can order stamps with your own pics on them.  YACF postage stamps would be rather nifty.

[Zipperhead]

Dunno if it's available in the UK, but over here you can order stamps with your own pics on them.  YACF postage stamps would be rather nifty.

I think the Royal Mail might refuse to handle any item that had a Hummers stamp on it.

[Ham]

If anyone can look at this bike and not think  "The Luggage" you are reading the wrong books https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGwGOvIuJ6w

[Pedaldog.]

If anyone can look at this bike and not think  "The Luggage" you are reading the wrong books https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGwGOvIuJ6w

Has the riders Staff got a Nob on the end?

[T42]

If anyone can look at this bike and not think  "The Luggage" you are reading the wrong books https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGwGOvIuJ6w

My main thought was that his arse would never forgive him.

[itsbruce]

Today is the 30th anniversary of the premiere of The Lost Boys

[citoyen]

This is too good for the terrible jokes thread, and it's not mine, it's Danielle Ward's...

Q. How do you make apple crumble?

(click to show/hide)

A. Remind her that her mum is Gwyneth Paltrow and her dad is in Coldplay.

[T42]

Today is the 30th anniversary of the premiere of The Lost Boys

That's 30 years I've been spared.  I had actually heard of Coldplay, though. Thought it was something like a backwater of Compuserve, such as a cryo facility for moribund pop groups.

Well, there you go.  Somehow I feel diminished, but I'll get over it in 15 minutes.

[Kim]

I had actually heard of Coldplay, though. Thought it was something like a backwater of Compuserve, such as a cryo facility for moribund pop groups.

Not that far off, really.

Ob-Coldplay:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/OtfNI6P7zDo&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/OtfNI6P7zDo&rel=1</a>
https://youtu.be/OtfNI6P7zDo

[T42]

What my papa would have called "the tune the old cow died on". Glad I never ran into their stuff.