The really boring and totally pointless snippets thread IV

[ricardian]

Lots of free courses complete with videos of lectures are available from MIT

[TheGreenGoblin]

Lots of free courses complete with videos of lectures are available from MIT

Their courses are superb ricardian.

Here is an index RiS... Fill yer boots...

https://www.edx.org/schools-partners

You wil notice how much more advanced and generous the US based universities are in this area than their equivalents here in the UK with the exception of Imperial College whose courses in maths and physics I recommend if you are looking for an A or S level refresher.

[Groundgripper]

I switched the oven on to heat it up for the roast potatoes for lunch and, having par-boiled them for 20 minutes, put them in the pan of oil to roast and placed the pan in the oven. 30 minutes later I returned to the kitchen to see how they were doing, only to find that my last action of my previous visit must to have been to switch the oven off. Why? I do not know.
Lunch will be a little late(r).

The other day I repeatedly couldn't remember the word 'dementia' when discussing my sister (who has been diagnosed with it). Is that significant?

GG

[TheGreenGoblin]

The other day I repeatedly couldn't remember the word 'dementia' when discussing my sister (who has been diagnosed with it). Is that significant?

GG

It is strange how the brain works GG. I took my better half out for dinner last night and was discussing her plan to travel into Richmond today to visit her Swedish friend Cecilia who I have known for years. I woke very early this morning after dreaming that I couldn't remember Cecilia's name and filled with a sense of unease I got up and realised that I couldn't remember her name but remembered that I had left my phone in the car that my better half was using to visit Cecilia. I opened the car and as I picked up the phone her name was there as if it had never gone. Weird!

Pre-senile dementia or the way the brain works?

I have had the same thing since I was 19 with Charlotte Rampling's name. I always forget it until I remember the phrase "I have never Charlotte Rampled"...

[Ex-Ascot]

I have just had another scare over the loss of my creditcards - all of which are kept in a mini-wallet.

During the perceived loss I came to realise that I have no idea how many cards I carry or who to contact for replacements.
In addition I realised that without the cards I had no mechanism to obtain cash or pay for goods other than the residual cash that I carry.
Of course I can visit my bank and report the card(s) lost but how do I prove who I am?

I have my keys fastened to my belt with a ribbon and my mobile 'phone on a lanyard, but I need to revise how my card wallet is attached to me.

When we lived in the UK I was registered with a company where with one phone call you could cancel all credit cards that you had registered with them and order new. Also they had tags that you could put onto keys and finders just had to drop them into a letter box and they would be sent back to you. Also tags for bags that were lost. Also stickers for mobile phones. Just done a quick search but can't find a similar service. Maybe someone here knows? I know that I have an old key tag with information on it but it is half way up a mountain in Greece.

[Boac]

'Sentinel Gold'. Still in business.

[ian16th]

I have just had another scare over the loss of my creditcards - all of which are kept in a mini-wallet.

During the perceived loss I came to realise that I have no idea how many cards I carry or who to contact for replacements.
In addition I realised that without the cards I had no mechanism to obtain cash or pay for goods other than the residual cash that I carry.
Of course I can visit my bank and report the card(s) lost but how do I prove who I am?

I have my keys fastened to my belt with a ribbon and my mobile 'phone on a lanyard, but I need to revise how my card wallet is attached to me.

When we lived in the UK I was registered with a company where with one phone call you could cancel all credit cards that you had registered with them and order new. Also they had tags that you could put onto keys and finders just had to drop them into a letter box and they would be sent back to you. Also tags for bags that were lost. Also stickers for mobile phones. Just done a quick search but can't find a similar service. Maybe someone here knows? I know that I have an old key tag with information on it but it is half way up a mountain in Greece.

This was a service that Barclays offered.

It ceased some years ago.

[Ex-Ascot]

'Sentinel Gold'. Still in business.

Thank you Boac. yes indeed, not the same company I used but the same service.

[Pontius Navigator]

A plug for Sentinel Gold. We mislaid our passports after a house move - they paid for new ones. A daughter lost one of our house keys - they paid for a new key though we could have had new lock.
I lost my wallet at Gatwick but only discovered this in Barbados. After our initial call they rang us back and cancelled cards. They would have given us cash but my wife's cards were OK.

[llondel]

Karearea, nice one. I guess some had never experienced snow.

Until 2019 none of our dogs had ever experienced snow. Then Faraday and Kepler got to walk on some hard-packed snow at Donner Pass, but they probably considered it to be cold ground. Faraday got real snow last year when we took her to Reno for breeding purposes, she got to play with her boyfriend in snow.

[llondel]

Had a break from puppies today and took Kepler to a show. It was worth getting up at 5:30am, Best of Breed, against decent opposition too.
photo_2021-08-14_17-41-41.jpg

Is she just well brushed and groomed or is her hair trimmed as well?

With Scotties they need stripping and combing regularly.

Only the toe fur is trimmed, as per breed standard. Everything else is achieved with brushes and combs. I'd be hopeless with a breed that required trimming. Leos do shed a lot and you have to be careful with mats in the fur, especially under the ears and in the feathering on the back legs (aka butt floof). I often spend time just before bed grooming Kepler. She's nice and relaxed at that point and lets me trim nails and toe fur and work out any mats that might be developing. She's prone to them because she goes in the water a lot.

[llondel]

As you say, AC won out because it allowed the transmission of energy (current) at a certain rate (per unit time) over long distances while minimising energy loss due to heating, thanks to the ability to easily step the voltage of AC up or down, using simple wound induction coil transformers, thereby allowing the reduction of the heat producing current, while still delivering the same power, according to the power formula P = VI where P is power (the ability to do work), V is the voltage and I is the current . From this simple formula (Ohms Law) came the derivation of P=I^2R and P=V^2/R and these formulae are the basis of modern civilisation as we know it today, although a proper Electrical Engineer (like you I am guessing llondel) might raise a glass to James Clark Maxwell's equations which mathematically unified light, electricity and magnetism (electromagnetism) and which underpin Ohm's Law with big hat tips to Gauss, Faraday and Ampere and this leads me on to ask if you have named any dogs after Gauss and Ampere in the past llondel?

No, Tesla, Faraday and Kepler are the science dogs. Preceding ones were all rescues and came with name attached. One of the important tests for dog names is that you should be able to shout them out loud in public clearly and without embarrassment or offence. They also need to be fairly short to get the dog's attention, so Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is not recommended. Although, if we ever got as far as an L litter (current one is D) I could see using that as a registered name.

[llondel]

I have just had another scare over the loss of my creditcards - all of which are kept in a mini-wallet.

During the perceived loss I came to realise that I have no idea how many cards I carry or who to contact for replacements.
In addition I realised that without the cards I had no mechanism to obtain cash or pay for goods other than the residual cash that I carry.
Of course I can visit my bank and report the card(s) lost but how do I prove who I am?

I have my keys fastened to my belt with a ribbon and my mobile 'phone on a lanyard, but I need to revise how my card wallet is attached to me.

There are services out there which (for a regular subscription) will do all of that for you, so you make one phone call to them and they immediately notify all the relevant organisations and arrange for you to be provided with new cards. Probably cheaper to invest in a better wallet though.

[G-CPTN]

Probably cheaper to invest in a better wallet though.

Yes, but what?

[Pontius Navigator]

Ilondel, thanks. Our Scottie was born at the end of March 18 abs and we got her at 3 months. There was no rain until end of September during the daytime. She couldn't believe it.
It was a particularly hot summer and we live very near a spring. She learnt to paddle and cool off. Now she invariably goes for a paddle, winter or summer, and loves paddling though not swimming.
Her mum and dad both avoid water.

[Pontius Navigator]

G CPTN, Tile have a credit card size device. You search with the App and when you are near it sounds off.

[tango15]

Belated congrats, llondel. Lovely dog.

[Wodrick]

BBC2 @21:00 Natural World (repeat) Hippos in the bots delta - do the *EXAs* feature ?

[ricardian]

Power failure in the south of the island. Fortunately I live in Whitehall village which is in the north of the islan and thus unaffected. Good old SSE sent out the launch "Nigg Bay" from Kirkwall with a line crew to fix the fault and power was restored within a few hours.

[tango15]

I had to re-read that, Ricardian. I now understand that Nigg Bay was the name of the launch and that Nigg Bay is a relatively shallow sandy bay, consisting of mudflats, saltmarsh and wet grassland, located on the north east coast of the Cromarty Firth, five miles east of Invergordon, in the district of Ross and Cromarty and in the Scottish council area of Highland, and not the male offspring of a couple of NRs. An appointment with Specsavers has been booked!