The grumpy thread

[Metal Guru]

3 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

There's no "have"; the govt were going to make it mandatory, but bottled it at the last minute after receiving criticism from all quarters. As a result all the propaganda telling people it would be mandatory had already been paid for and broadcast, so the "worried well" were predisposed to be preyed upon by con artists flogging £150 of fire alarms for £500, and they were duly fleeced. It's not mandatory and insurers mostly do not care whether you have fire alarms, never mind if they're interconnected(policies do vary so check your own). The fire alarms most people already had in their houses are fine, do the job and there's no reason to replace them before their 10th birthday and I'm still sceptical of the value of the interconnectivity in 99% of homes; the biggest problem is morons not replacing batteries when they go flat.

I’d just renewed all my smoke alarms with 10 year battery ones when the Scottish government announced the interconnecting ones would be required. I was going to ignore it anyway but glad they backed down. (I have one in every room anyway and I have a bungalow so can jump out any window). As you say, it’s people not replacing batteries that’s the problem, though I think ones with replaceable batteries have been phased out. Not sure if that’s a good thing, if you wouldn’t replace a £3 battery , you’re very unlikely to replace a £15 alarm.
I think you need mains operated ones if you let a flat out but not sure if they have to be interconnecting.

[Pieman]

40 minutes ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Keep saying it but since COVID the world has gone mad & humans especially  males are de-evolving

I'm rapidly agreeing with the militants on Twitter who think all men should be rounded up and executed to solve all the world's problems.  And they can do it to me too, I don't care any more.

[New POD]

On 27/09/2024 at 14:51, comfortablynumb said:

Couldn't get Iron Maiden tickets 😕

You got lucky then. 

[warch]

9 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Keep saying it but since COVID the world has gone mad & humans especially  males are de-evolving

I’ve noticed a real rejection of science and reason in favour of conspiracy theories or right wing religious or conservative views. The internet seems to be stuffed full of nationalists, incels, edgelords and trolls these days, to whom reasonable and informed debate is a foreign concept.

I was watching Chris Packham’s superb Earth series and at the end of the one about the Permian extinction event (that went on far longer than and was far more damaging than the K-T extinction that killed the dinosaurs) he makes the point that the earth has seen much worse than the damage we’ve inflicted on it and managed to recover over time. I find that quite comforting really.

[Talbot]

1 hour ago, warch said:

I’ve noticed a real rejection of science and reason in favour of conspiracy theories or right wing religious or conservative views. The internet seems to be stuffed full of nationalists, incels, edgelords and trolls these days, to whom reasonable and informed debate is a foreign concept.

The irony of people who reject science using the Internet platform is mind-boggling.

[Talbot]

Today's grump.  Bloody glowplugs on the om606.  I seem to be going through them at an absurd rate of knots.  The most recent warning of a failed plug lasted exactly one cold start before coming back on.  I have no idea if it's the same plug that has failed.

It's doubly irritating since the inlet manifold has to come off to get to them, which is itself not a quick task.

 

Also...

This has been happening more and more.  Multiple threads on the exact same subject.  Just means you can never find the post or information you think you've seen before, as it's in a completely different but exactly the same thread.

[captain_70s]

1 hour ago, warch said:

He makes the point that the earth has seen much worse than the damage we’ve inflicted on it and managed to recover over time. I find that quite comforting really.

The only aspect of the world we can really fuck up is the bit that keeps us alive.

I'm of the opinion that the absence of humans wouldn't be a bad thing, if we finish ourselves off life will continue without us.

[comfortablynumb]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

The only aspect of the world we can really fuck up is the bit that keeps us alive.

I'm of the opinion that the absence of humans wouldn't be a bad thing, if we finish ourselves off life will continue without us.

There's a great line in the original 'Edge of Darkness' with Bob Peck

' if humanity becomes the enemy, then the planet will destroy them'

There's a train of thought that goes something along the lines of the planet being much older than we think it is, and we evolve to about now, then blow ourselves to oblivion and the whole cycle starts again.

[horriblemercedes]

I saw a promotional deal to get the Disney+ streaming service for £1.99 per month, so thought I'd give it a go. Turns out that it you have adverts, which is OK. 

 

The problem is that it's only one advert, which is for Marvel. Every few minutes it's the exact same advert. I'm an adult so I'm not interested in superheroes, but it's the same weird, bollocks script every few minutes, with sensible-looking adults talking as if superheroes are a reasonable thing for adults to like. 

 

I wouldn't have particularly wanted to read a Marvel comic or watch a Marvel film, but now I'm determined that I will actively avoid them, whereas before I would've given it a go. The advert is that annoying. 

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, Talbot said:

The irony of people who reject science using the Internet platform is mind-boggling.

If you believe something, it’s fact.  Or if some influencer tells you it is.

[Lord Sterling]

On 28/09/2024 at 02:55, Lord Sterling said:

Flu; just fuck off, it's been 16 bloody days already. I don't need to be coughing my guts up.

Because I suffer from Asthma, when I get ill, the first thing to go are my Airways which fill up with phlegm causing me to wheeze like a bagpipes, this in turn causes a reaction to it causing me to try and cough it up.

I sometimes cough so much that for a few seconds I barely know I exist or have any idea of the real world as I come back to normality.

The actual influenza has passed but it's left me with the after effects as in my airwaves are battered and the coughing still persists. I have taken a covid test last week when I was deep in flu and tested negative thankfully. 

Tried to go back to work despite feeling fairly Ok the day before, I literally struggled at work. So now I'll taking a couple of extra days holiday off to give me a good few more days to recover.

The last time I had this was when I actually had covid in 2020 but that really battered me, it was 50 times worse than what I have now and took a good few months to get over. I've occasionally had influenza symptoms since then but they've usually just been lazy ones that didn't do much apart from some very mild symptoms. 

Well, that escalated....

Now sat in hospital after my tongue decided to go numb and my general balance took a back seat.

Called NHS 111 and spoke to a couple of clinicians. The last one suggested I attend hospital to ensure I have nothing more serious. The NHS staff have so far been absolutely brilliant despite me feeling like a pin cushion after they took blood from me.

I took the rest of the week off work as holiday so I actually get paid properly as I only got statutory last week when I was off, so was just lazying about last night as I struggled thr first two nights. I decided to go to sleep early this morning when my tongue went funny and my head and general balance decided to go west.

Thankfully, so far it isn't serious and is related to my the coughing caused by a mixture of my asthma and previous flu symptoms.

At least I got to use the Jag today which I haven't used since I came back from Belgium. 

[artdjones]

3 hours ago, warch said:

I’ve noticed a real rejection of science and reason in favour of conspiracy theories or right wing religious or conservative views. The internet seems to be stuffed full of nationalists, incels, edgelords and trolls these days, to whom reasonable and informed debate is a foreign concept.

I was watching Chris Packham’s superb Earth series and at the end of the one about the Permian extinction event (that went on far longer than and was far more damaging than the K-T extinction that killed the dinosaurs) he makes the point that the earth has seen much worse than the damage we’ve inflicted on it and managed to recover over time. I find that quite comforting really.

A load of scientists "researching" in a lab have managed to release a virus that's killed seven million people and wrecked the world economy. And people have lost trust in science.

Cant think why.

[Pieman]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

A load of scientists "researching" in a lab have managed to release a virus that's killed seven million people and wrecked the world economy. And people have lost trust in science.

Cant think why.

It was probably supposed to kill seven billion.

[warch]

2 hours ago, artdjones said:

A load of scientists "researching" in a lab have managed to release a virus that's killed seven million people and wrecked the world economy. And people have lost trust in science.

Cant think why.

I was thinking more terms of the rejection of scientific principles rather than blokes in white coats meddling in things we were not meant to meddle in. 

[iainrcz]

Out in the sticks in Northumberland. Pulled over to let a wooden top past and clipped the kerb.

[iainrcz]

Oh and the eczema on my face is flaring up, so I look a right cunt.

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, warch said:

I was thinking more terms of the rejection of scientific principles rather than blokes in white coats meddling in things we were not meant to meddle in. 

Scientists claim to base what they do on scientific principles. When it turns out that they are just as venal and incompetent as everyone else, the principles they claim to work by get called into question, too. 

Edit:- Plus the scientific establishment spent lots of effort on trying to make everyone think a lab leak was an impossibility. Now most people think the virus did come from a lab. So an awful lot of people have difficulty accepting anything the scientific establishment says, even if it's scientifically impeccable.

 

[Bren]

Won a wrought iron gate on ebay. I was the only bidder.

After paying seller informed me they had given it to the scrap man the previous week.

[chadders]

32 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Scientists claim to base what they do on scientific principles. When it turns out that they are just as venal and incompetent as everyone else, the principles they claim to work by get called into question, too. 

Edit:- Plus the scientific establishment spent lots of effort on trying to make everyone think a lab leak was an impossibility. Now most people think the virus did come from a lab. So an awful lot of people have difficulty accepting anything the scientific establishment says, even if it's scientifically impeccable.

 

My understanding is that it was probably natural rather than man made due to the speed that it mutated. Mind you I was told that by a scientist....

(Who I trust implicitly)

[comfortablynumb]

16 minutes ago, Bren said:

Won a wrought iron gate on ebay. I was the only bidder.

After paying seller informed me they had given it to the scrap man the previous week.

Which is eBay speak for ' it didn't reach what I think it's worth, so it'll be relisted next week ' 🤬

[artdjones]

1 minute ago, chadders said:

My understanding is that it was probably natural rather than man made due to the speed that it mutated. Mind you I was told that by a scientist....

(Who I trust implicitly)

Most observers have difficulty in believing that an outbreak of Coronavirus whose original host was bats started naturally only a few miles from a lab which was a major centre for gain of function research on bat coronaviruses. Which was altering bat coronaviruses to make them much more infectious to humans. And which involved unusual features in the virus that can be added in research labs, but which are quite an unlikely development in nature.

Think about the 2007 foot and mouth outbreak in the UK, which took place close to a foot and mouth research centre. They knew where to look straight away for the leak.

[chadders]

11 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Most observers have difficulty in believing that an outbreak of Coronavirus whose original host was bats started naturally only a few miles from a lab which was a major centre for gain of function research on bat coronaviruses. Which was altering bat coronaviruses to make them much more infectious to humans. And which involved unusual features in the virus that can be added in research labs, but which are quite an unlikely development in nature.

Think about the 2007 foot and mouth outbreak in the UK, which took place close to a foot and mouth research centre. They knew where to look straight away for the leak.

That's your opinion, mine is different.

[warch]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

Scientists claim to base what they do on scientific principles. When it turns out that they are just as venal and incompetent as everyone else, the principles they claim to work by get called into question, too. 

Edit:- Plus the scientific establishment spent lots of effort on trying to make everyone think a lab leak was an impossibility. Now most people think the virus did come from a lab. So an awful lot of people have difficulty accepting anything the scientific establishment says, even if it's scientifically impeccable.

 

Scientific principles are universal across a number of disciplines, including what I do for a living.

There is no implicit guarantee about the quality of the research/fieldwork or the results. That is why we present our findings and are subject to peer review, so they can be checked and critiqued. Scientific knowledge isn’t fixed or immutable either, it changes constantly as people discover new things or present challenges to existing beliefs.

You don’t have accept anything because someone says it or believes it to be true but we don’t have a better alternative for scientific principles or consensus.
 

 

[horriblemercedes]

10 hours ago, warch said:

I’ve noticed a real rejection of science and reason in favour of conspiracy theories or right wing religious or conservative views. The internet seems to be stuffed full of nationalists, incels, edgelords and trolls these days, to whom reasonable and informed debate is a foreign concept.

I was watching Chris Packham’s superb Earth series and at the end of the one about the Permian extinction event (that went on far longer than and was far more damaging than the K-T extinction that killed the dinosaurs) he makes the point that the earth has seen much worse than the damage we’ve inflicted on it and managed to recover over time. I find that quite comforting really.

I think those people were always around, just years ago their discussions were in pubs, not on the Internet. 

 

My own father was quite like it and a daily pubgoer. If I was ever there with him for some reason, I'd typically hear all sorts of bullshit ideas from his friends and he would sometimes mention something at home that he had heard in the pub. 

 

Wednesday afternoon pub people are a different breed to Friday and Saturday night social drinkers. 

[New POD]

2 hours ago, Bren said:

Won a wrought iron gate on ebay. I was the only bidder.

After paying seller informed me they had given it to the scrap man the previous week.

I laughed, because you couldn't make it up how stupid some people are. 

[High Jetter]

Who decided a 382 bayonet bulb was no longer suitable for indicators? Now I have orange bulbs with offset pins. No, not offset like 380 stop/tail, but same depth and less than 180 degrees. Why?.

[somewhatfoolish]

9 hours ago, Bren said:

Won a wrought iron gate on ebay. I was the only bidder.

After paying seller informed me they had given it to the scrap man the previous week.

Call their bluff and ask which scrapyard.

[EspenO]

10 hours ago, artdjones said:

only a few miles from a lab which was a major centre for gain of function research on bat coronaviruses.

What an illogical place to set up such a facility.

[somewhatfoolish]

How so? The logical locations are co-located with universities that produce research scientists or near centres of population where those scientists might like to live. The whole premise of the quote is illogical and is just fuel for tinfoil nonsense, the poster has decided it's the fault of scientists rather than a totalitarian state with a track record of lying and secrecy.

[Metal Guru]

15 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

I think those people were always around, just years ago their discussions were in pubs, not on the Internet. 

 

My own father was quite like it and a daily pubgoer. If I was ever there with him for some reason, I'd typically hear all sorts of bullshit ideas from his friends and he would sometimes mention something at home that he had heard in the pub. 

 

Wednesday afternoon pub people are a different breed to Friday and Saturday night social drinkers. 

Historically, Religion has a lot to answer for for putting stupid ideas in people’s mind (above and beyond the obvious imaginary friends).

Scientists have often been at loggerheads with religious leaders , an obvious example being Galileo being ex-communicated and harassed by the Catholic Church for saying the earth weren’t round the sun etc rather than being the centre of the universe.   They didn’t finally admit they were wrong until 1992!