PC RANT

On 31/3/05 2:41 pm, in article [email hidden], "Dave

Larrington said:

James Annan said:

Oh, come off it, _everyone_ knows that quote.

/I/ didn't.

Have you worked it out yet?

And no one (no teven James ;-) seems to have been able (or cares) to answer
the cycling trivia question.. Where a particular culprit was apprehended
because he had a rare tread on his bike tyres.

...d

Dave Larrington said:

Tony Raven said:

Danny Colyer said:

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:

>If it worked.

Chemistry should work.

Remember the rules:
It it wriggles it's biology.
If it stinks it's chemistry.
If it doesn't work it's physics.

...and if it doesn't work until you kick it its engineering ;-)

In which vein software is the part of a computer you can't hit with a
hammer...

You just give it a hard boot instead ;-)

Tony

Alan Braggins said:

Simon Brooke said:

James Annan (') said:

Richard wrote:

>David Martin wrote:

>>"Better drowned than duffers if not duffers won't drown"
>
>But what are "duffers if not duffers"?

Someone didn't go to grammar school...

He does, however, know his literature, and can quote accurately from it.

I was assuming that James was implying that Richard would have
recognized the quote if he had been to grammar school, not that
David's grammar was poor.

Didn't it also feature in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" for the poor
non-grammar prols?

Tony

David Martin said:

On 30/3/05 8:24 pm, in article [email hidden],

John Hearns said:

Danny Colyer said:

CBeebies is a channel, not a programme. Any idea which programme?

What's the story, wouldn't you like to know?

Not sure. I'll Mull it over for a while..

and then get my coat.

Before you're pelted with Eiggs?

--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/
This is the year

David Martin said:

On 31/3/05 2:41 pm, in article [email hidden], "Dave

Larrington said:

James Annan said:

Oh, come off it, _everyone_ knows that quote.

/I/ didn't.

Have you worked it out yet?

And no one (no teven James ;-) seems to have been able (or cares) to answer
the cycling trivia question.. Where a particular culprit was apprehended
because he had a rare tread on his bike tyres.

Bikes featured in, umm, the one with Squashy Hat, (Pigeon Post?) but I
don't think there were any thieves in that.

There was a thief in Swallows and Amazons, but as he stashed the loot
on a small island, I don't think a bike would have been any use.
(although I hear slightly larger islands and bikes go together well,
don't they Sandy).

I shall interrogate my daughter when I get home for more details.

Tim

On 31/3/05 4:03 pm, in article [email hidden],

Tim Hall said:

David Martin said:

On 31/3/05 2:41 pm, in article [email hidden], "Dave

Larrington said:

James Annan wrote:

> Oh, come off it, _everyone_ knows that quote.

/I/ didn't.

Have you worked it out yet?

And no one (no teven James ;-) seems to have been able (or cares) to answer
the cycling trivia question.. Where a particular culprit was apprehended
because he had a rare tread on his bike tyres.

Bikes featured in, umm, the one with Squashy Hat, (Pigeon Post?) but I
don't think there were any thieves in that.

Nope, not that one..

Quoted message said:

There was a thief in Swallows and Amazons, but as he stashed the loot
on a small island, I don't think a bike would have been any use.
(although I hear slightly larger islands and bikes go together well,
don't they Sandy).

Not that one either..

Quoted message said:

I shall interrogate my daughter when I get home for more details.

Is her name Dorothea?

...d

Keith Willoughby said:

David Martin said:

On 30/3/05 8:24 pm, in article
[email hidden], "John Hearns"

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 19:05:46 +0100, Danny Colyer wrote:

>
> CBeebies is a channel, not a programme. Any idea which programme?

What's the story, wouldn't you like to know?

Not sure. I'll Mull it over for a while..

and then get my coat.

Before you're pelted with Eiggs?

It's a Rhum do. /Mucky/ pup.

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
World Domination?
Just find a world that's into that kind of thing, then chain to the
floor and walk up and down on it in high heels. (Mr. Sunshine)

David Martin said:

And no one (no teven James ;-) seems to have been able (or cares) to
answer the cycling trivia question.. Where a particular culprit was
apprehended because he had a rare tread on his bike tyres.

The Big Six, I think.

--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/
"The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand."

Keith Willoughby said:

Before you're pelted with Eiggs?

I didn't know you were Australian ;-)

Tony

On 31/3/05 5:22 pm, in article [email hidden], "Keith

Willoughby said:

David Martin said:

And no one (no teven James ;-) seems to have been able (or cares) to
answer the cycling trivia question.. Where a particular culprit was
apprehended because he had a rare tread on his bike tyres.

The Big Six, I think.

Spot on.. The culprit was teh only one who had John Bull tyres who could
have ridden along that particular muddy path. Everyone else had Dunlop
tyres. (Or it was the other way round). Anyway, he'd have got away wiht it
if it hadn't been for those meddling kids..

...d

David Martin said:

Spot on.. The culprit was teh only one who had John Bull tyres who could
have ridden along that particular muddy path

John Bull [1] was a printing set so no wonder they caught him if he
printed his name all the way down the path.

Tony

[1] Do they still make them? I used to love mine when I were a lad.

Tony Raven said:

David Martin said:

Spot on.. The culprit was teh only one who had John Bull tyres who could
have ridden along that particular muddy path

John Bull [1] was a printing set so no wonder they caught him if he
printed his name all the way down the path.

Tony

[1] Do they still make them? I used to love mine when I were a lad.

Likewise, now been replaced by the computer and printer..

There are loads available on eBay.

John Bull also made tyres as well as rubber block printing sets..
The full company name is John Bull Rubber Co. Ltd., Evington Valley Mills,
Leicester.

...d

Michael MacClancy said:

JLB said:

Quoted message said:

The problem is that the H&S Nazis are now going too far. They are trying to
eliminate risk and so are reducing the educational worth of any activity.
Risk is good. We have to learn to handle risk. It is when we cannot -- and
I fear we are breeding a generation unable to evaluate and compensate for
risk -- that accidents happen.

Would you be so good as to state who the H&S Nazis are, where they can
be found and what power they have to inflict all this misery?

Well, quoting from Sandy Morton's post that started this thread, there's at
least one in the BBC.

% I was phoned this morning, day of the hire, by the researcher to say
% that the person in London in carge of health and safety would not
% allow children to cycle on the public roads.

Well, YMMV, but one pathetic hyper-timid bureaucrat is not much of a
Nazi in my world. Where I come from Nazis are more of a big deal, but I
suppose there could be have been a severe devaluation since I learned
about them. Seems a shame though when Nazi has come to signify no more
than a nervous middle-manager.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Apart from
a load of tabloid tosh I'm having trouble finding the basis for these
stories. People seem to be frightening themselves (aided by the
sensationalist make-it-up media) about all this alleged repression as
much as anything.

It's certainly not easy, for example, to fit your description with the
views put forward here, which concerning learning to handle risk appears
more or less to agree with you.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/sensiblehealthandsafety/index.htm

Completely contrary to your "They are trying to eliminate risk" it says
"In a nutshell: risk management, not risk elimination."

It's quite possible for the HSE to say one thing whilst overzealous H&S
officials do something else, isn't it?

Show me. Give an example or two, instead of suspicions. I am
distinguishing officials in the sense of H&S regulators, with official
powers to carry out H&S enforcement, from anyone else. I'm not
interested in the latter, who clearly do include a fair number of
safety-crazed lunatics and risk-eliminators.

--
Joe * If I cannot be free I'll be cheap

David Martin <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

On 31/3/05 5:34 pm, in article [email hidden], "Tony Raven"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

David Martin said:

Spot on.. The culprit was teh only one who had John Bull tyres who could
have ridden along that particular muddy path

John Bull [1] was a printing set so no wonder they caught him if he
printed his name all the way down the path.

Tony

[1] Do they still make them? I used to love mine when I were a lad.

Quoted message said:

Likewise, now been replaced by the computer and printer..

Quoted message said:

There are loads available on eBay.

Quoted message said:

John Bull also made tyres as well as rubber block printing sets..
The full company name is John Bull Rubber Co. Ltd., Evington Valley Mills,
Leicester.

Down the road from my Infants' School, Evington Valley, which I attended
from 1964-5.

The John Bull factory was on Evington Valley Road, the school on the
juction of Evington Valley Road and Evington Drive.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 23:01:47 +0100, wafflycat wrote in
<[email hidden]>, seen in uk.rec.cycling:

[...]

Quoted message said:

OOOH!!! Prof, Heinz Wolff the *real* mad scientist!! He is *great*. As a kid
I was *fascinated* by his TV stuff. Heinz Wolff looks like wot a scientist
should look like - a true boffin indeed. And it seems he is still of this
planet! See http://www.sfb.co.uk/cgi-bin/profile.cgi?s=81

I'm intrigued as to what topic the Bathroom Association would want him
to speak on.

I do like the write-up from Sussex Enterprise. Two sentences worth of
enthusiasm from someone who obviously enjoyed every minute!

<http://www.sfb.co.uk/cgi-bin/profile.cgi?s=81&t=3>

I just wish I could get the Great Egg Race theme tune as a ringtone
for my mobile. ;-)
--
Ross, in Lincoln
Reply-to address will bounce; replace "junk-trap" with "me" for e-mail

On 31 Mar 2005 11:26:41 +0100 (BST), Alan Braggins wrote in
<[email hidden]>, seen in uk.rec.cycling:

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, David Martin wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Sodium. AN inch cube in a fire bucket was quite sufficient (outside in the
car park with everyone standing well back) to demonstrate a vigorous
exothermic reaction.

Sadly the "how do we dispose of this big jar of sodium - I know, we'll
stick it in an empty 40 gallon drum and get the fire engine to spray
water at it until all the fizzing stops and then keep spraying water
on it until the hydroxide is really well diluted" incident happened
the week before I spent a day with the site chemist. I'm told it was
great fun though. (On site (airfield) fire engine and crew.)

Huh. The best I ever managed had to wait until I started work.

The railway in its wisdom did a handling course for fire
extinguishers. During my training it involved an oil drum in which
paraffin was poured and set alight, with the various trainees playing
with different extinguishers to put it out (or not, depending on the
extinguisher). The oil drum was next to a siding.

The day I did it, there was a freight loco standing on the siding. The
inspector instructing happily waved the paraffin everywhere whilst
wittering to us, most of it going all over the loco and places in
between. We, of course, all stood there watching and didn't say a
word.

You can imagine what happened when he put a light to the barrel...

Certainly instructive. ;-)

--
Ross, in Lincoln
Reply-to address will bounce; replace "junk-trap" with "me" for e-mail

Keith Willoughby said:

David Martin said:

On 30/3/05 8:24 pm, in article
[email hidden], "John Hearns"

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 19:05:46 +0100, Danny Colyer wrote:

>
> CBeebies is a channel, not a programme. Any idea which programme?

What's the story, wouldn't you like to know?

Not sure. I'll Mull it over for a while..

and then get my coat.

Before you're pelted with Eiggs?

You canna muck about with that sort of rum joke.

A

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 08:50:57 +0100 someone who may be Michael
MacClancy <[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

No, all you have is a habit of referring to your secondary school as
'grammar school'. I find that unusual.

I don't. It is something I have heard on several occasions.

For the avoidance of doubt I went to a (very good) comprehensive
school, which had far better results than the grammar and secondary
modern/technical schools that it replaced. It was clear that,
despite claims of separate but equal development, the grammar school
had been provided with far more money than the other schools. This
imbalance had been corrected by converting to a comprehensive
school.

At a job interview someone did once comment that it was unusual for
a comprehensive school to be up front about being such a school.
Whether this was snobbery or incompetence I have no idea.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

John Hearns said:

Tony W said:

A late '50's penny (1d) banger would have the H&S Nazis rushing for their
risk assessments and modern kids diving for cover. Yet we carried them
round in our pockets and threw them at each other, cats,

(cue Miss Jean Brodie accent):
Rectum, Tony! Rectum!

Completely knackered 'em, mate!

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck

JLB said:

Michael MacClancy said:

JLB said:

>
>The problem is that the H&S Nazis are now going too far. They are trying to
>eliminate risk and so are reducing the educational worth of any activity.
>Risk is good. We have to learn to handle risk. It is when we cannot -- and
>I fear we are breeding a generation unable to evaluate and compensate for
>risk -- that accidents happen.

Would you be so good as to state who the H&S Nazis are, where they
can be found and what power they have to inflict all this misery?

Well, quoting from Sandy Morton's post that started this thread,
there's at
least one in the BBC.
% I was phoned this morning, day of the hire, by the researcher to
say
% that the person in London in carge of health and safety would not
% allow children to cycle on the public roads.

Well, YMMV, but one pathetic hyper-timid bureaucrat is not much of a
Nazi in my world. Where I come from Nazis are more of a big deal, but
I suppose there could be have been a severe devaluation since I
learned about them. Seems a shame though when Nazi has come to signify
no more than a nervous middle-manager.

The H&S people I've had to deal with are the type that get off on
exercising their little bit of power and are more than happy to find
problems but never offer solutions or even help towards a solution.
This makes them somewhat worse than being merely nervous middle
managers in my opinion but I agree "Nazi" is a little much.

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck