Stinky stuff
Drew
which over the years has dried out to less than pasty. Recently in
another of my incarnations as a machinist I found isoprop thinned it
out quite nicely so I squirted in a liberal dose. Couple of days later
the jar went balloon shaped due to vast internal pressure and the
contents had turned from blue to red. And my god does it stink now. One
of the most rancid honks not associated with death I've ever come
across, and I've smelled some pretty rank things in my time. Can't
really describe it other than it has a similar (though much worse)
quality as formaldehyde. Any ideas, and any suggestion as to how to
reverse the process 'cos it's quite expensive stuff.
Best
Norman
you that what you have most likely have is red mercury oxide. All
mercury compounds are volatile and very toxic (heavy metal poisoning).
The best I can advise you is to bite the bullet and start over. You
would need excellent extraction and anything you can smell aint doing
you good. Also keep what you have damp because with alcohol and
nitrates around there is just a chance you could form mercury fulminate
which is one of the compounds frequently used in blast caps.
You could heat what you have to 350°C to break the oxide back to the
metal (but see above!) dissolve the mercury in dilute hydrochloric and
follow the instructions in the following link.
http://www.finishing.com/61/95.shtml
Of course you could always keep what you have handy for the unlikely
event that anyone you know gets a dose of syphilis but the cure is
probably worse than the disease and anyway antibiotics work better.
Here is another link with a bit of chemistry but mercury is not a very
reactive metal.
http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Hg/chem.html
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I wouldn't keep what you have
around, it just aint healthy.
I once heard a story (don't know if it is true) about a woman who
accidentally broke a thermometer and a tiny globule rolled into a crack
in the floorboards and was irretrievable. For several years afterwards
she suffered headaches and nausea which she never had before. The link
was never proved but strongly suspected.
Norman
Norman
know if you realise that he works with heavy metals so maybe he has an
inside track. Mercury is not one words he sometimes drops into the
conversation so maybe he would just ask me but you never know.
Best
Drew
mercury based, partly because it's not dreadfully expensive and also
that most links say selenium. Sure doesn't smell like garlic to me
though. Perhaps it is hydrogen selenide. Kinda suspect it's
(originally) blue from non contributing added colouring agent, possibly
copper based. Still doesn't explain the ruby red colour, which does
look a bit like mercuric oxide. Don't think it is but I'll dry out
a wee bit and hit it with a hammer to see if it explodes on percussion.
Might also chuck some into hydrochloric too.
No I didn't know that Jan was into heavy metal (AC DC, Metallica
etc). Cool, run it past him. Nice to get to hear of his expertise. Is
his English up to Gurgle contributions, ie is it as tolerable as
mine;-)
Best
Norman
him.
I don't know if he is as interested in the impending vapourisation of
the American economy or of the American presidency as others but a
diversion from this would be welcome.
You are giong to ask him about gun-blue so you can ask him this too.
Best.
Jerry
Ah, yes, and I remember the plot of a film or book where someone was
sent mad by sticking mercury on a lamp so it would give off fumes.
Jerry
- posted the last reply, clicked sign out and it told me to log in to
complete the previous action
Why can't they stop tinkering.
Drew
today rewiring that ghastly Harley. Yanks make great V sixes, and
bugger all else! Tomorrow I'll be in the garage machining down a
bunch of big hex sockets then hopefully gun-bluing if a mate managed to
get some more in Ayr today.
In the sixties, school science (in Moffat) was a tad Victorian and the
danger of mercury poisoning hadn't quite filtered through. So we
played with globules of mercury on the bench whilst our science teacher
droned on, sounding like Ivor Cutler without the humour. Then we found
that copper pennies went all silvery if rubbed over with mercury and we
carried them around in our pockets. Is it too late to sue?
Oh yes Gurgle do keep fiddling don't they, colour (color) changes and
all. I don't seem to have as many problems as you Jerry but maybe
it's the time of day. Just looked at your last post time -- oouooh,
can't cope with mornings. Personally I never sign off and rarely get
bothered by having to log on again. Is this bad practice?
Best
Jerry
- we used to float coins in it
I tend to log out from Gurgle, I'm not sure why, possibly because I
have a different account here.
I doubt it really matters.
Drew
to the dangers of mercury. Jeez, not as if 'The Mad Hatter'
syndrome was exactly breaking news in the sixties. Another thing which
occurs to me, in fifth or sixth year a new school wing came on line
(Lockerbie) and pupils were enlisted to transfer chemicals by hand from
one end of the school to the other. I was allocated a bottle of bromine
and only after five minutes did I discover that it had been fuming all
over my hand. The 'tan' took a week to fade. Then there was the
time I over-sucked a pipette and got a mouthful of glacial acetic acid.
etc etc. You've probably got similar horror stories.
Remember our general agreement that nations had to progress through a
sort of rite of passage to mature civilisation. Heard PD James on radio
a couple of days ago so equated USA with Victorian Britain. Ruling the
world, unassailable confidence, foisting a certain naive philosophy on
the rest of the world for its own good by god's preferential grace.
How very very.....
Best
Jerry
result of the Indian Mutiny in about 1860
Prior to then it was 'private enterprize'.
Also the British Empire, and its predecessor, largely relied on local
troops.
While the Victorians were self confident, they were not that stupid,
probably they were acutely aware of 'local conditions'.
Drew
sizable chunk on the world prior to 1860 which went under the title of
The British Empire -- Canada, States, Australia, Africa and Rockall --
albeit private enterprise? Kinda like Halliburton in Iraq?
Yes we were quite successful at civilising the natives, uuugghh.
Coming from a long line of colonials and missionaries, nice people but
they never struck me as particularly au fait with other cultures.
Perhaps they were very aware, just didn't particularly respect. More
I'd say they were inclined to live and let live, or initiate the
locals to a subtly different set of social values. Even now some of my
relatives are 'out there', doing good deeds and god's work. I
haven't the heart to tell them that Victoria died in 1966. Can't
complain though, a legacy is that I am part owner of The Family Estate.
As a child I thought everyone had a family estate, which illustrates
that one may be inclined to view the world on a very narrow perception
based upon ones own environment. Still guilty.
Best
Jerry
part of the operation, rather than a Dominion or part of an 'Empire'
- the USA was a different matter, but it was handled tactlessly, also
IIRC it was touch and go as to whether English or German should be
their official language.
Probabably something to do with the German mercenaries stupidly sent
out there.
After 1860, the UK de-Halliburtonized the operation, people running
private armies are rather dangerous.
Of course there was the mega screw up of the Boer War - something I
find hard to explain in my most Panglossian mode.
Interesting that you come from a line of religious nutters, explains a
lot, like my views.
My bunch were Huguenots who gratifyingly were first recorded over here
well before St Bartholemews, and even more gratifyingly owned breweries
and convictions for being malcontents.
Unfortunately the 'IQ' died out until my grandfather's generation, when
they got on the make again, ditched strange religious practices and
started behaving sensibly.
As you have probably heard, some economists think it is a very good
idea to have a 'family estate' - they (our lords and masters) are even
incompetently trying to invent something like it.
I twigged at the age of 17 when working at a petrol station when I
first met a beneficiary of a small trust fund - there is something
interesting about someone who works for fun - not giving a toss is very
intimidating - especially when young and not obviously thick.
Drew
their status as Britain had of them? Damn right USA (precursor) was
handled badly -- is it too late to rescind their independence?
Mine were Scottish Calvinists. No sex on Sundays. Christ my bro's
middle name is after a covenanter! Never seen any of them rat-arsed but
we've made up for it. Prior to attaining a degree of consciousness I
was remarkably devout, in common with most rabid religion haters. Then
we spend the rest of our lives seething at the rape done to our minds
when we were young, trusting and defenceless. Sound familiar?
Hey I did the 'petrol boy' thing too! Twenty five pence per gal for
five star when I started. Likewise I pissed people off, especially
Melvin the Hammer (the mechanic) when I fixed things he couldn't when
I should have been serving petrol. Bovered? Carving a career out of it
I subsequently worked in another petrol emporium as a stopgap before
world domination.
Best
Jerry
think
- my parents were totally uninterested
However, the school we were sent to was a bit peculiar, based on
Steiner who basically invented his own sect - fortunately that cr*p was
water off a duck's back to me.
Petrol stations were quite a good source of work, in those days one
could always pick up a job, and the money was not that bad.
Drew
some of my nearest and dearest. I confess to never having understood
how intelligent, urbane and learned people can subscribe to utterly
transparent dogma. The only angle I can get is that their intellectual
development never reached that of mine of a tender age when I
rationalised it away. It appears to be reasonably true for the
foot-in-the-door brigade but it's not right for others who I
acknowledge to be far more 'developed' than myself. So what goes
on? Ach.
Petrol monkeying was dead dull though. Dull, dull, dull, my god it was
dull. It's a job for the extraordinarily bright or the
extraordinarily thick and I am neither. The former can occupy their
minds with higher thought and the latter can devote themselves
exclusively to the job. Half-ways have to concentrate sufficiently to
make sure the petrol is going in the right orifice but don't have
enough left over to be somewhere else more intellectually pleasing. I
also detest ironing and cooking for exactly the same reason. I look for
the word 'microwave' on food packets.
Best
Norman
some of the more mundane household jobs. If I have a free pick which is
always the case I will go for the washing up. It keeps your hands busy
and your head can be somewhere else. I took on a lot of stuff when
Chris had her back operation and as you can guess it kinda stuck. Years
ago I used to go in for creative cooking but now it definitely mundane.
How strange are national attitudes over food; I will say "What is for
tea"? and get the reply "Spinach". So I will try again with
something like "Is it chicken or chops"? and be told "Whatever
goes with spinach, you decide". Curious people the Belgians. I will
do the ironing for much the same reason as the washing up, I must be a
bit weird because I can race through shirts but don't like T shirts
much which is most of what it is.
Definitely I don't like dusting and cleaning although on one of my
previous Belgian sojourns I got one of the stupidest jobs of my life,
cleaning the darkrooms in Agfa Gevaert. They have to be cleaned the
same as anywhere else you can't let the muck pile up but when you
can't see your hand in front of your face..... This is not something
people think about every day.
I too have also done the petrol monkeying in the past, how these jobs
go round. It was really my mate who had the job but he was a party
animal so I would cover for him at the weekend. I could have made a
brilliant career out of it if the economy hadn't stabilised itself. I
did the weekend night shift during the OPEC crisis and the garage boss
had limited the supply to 50p per customer to ration it out. I knew one
or two of the private hire cab drivers who complained that they
couldn't put food on the table (more likely spend it down the pub) if
they couldn't get fuel so I would let them fill their tank up, for a
consideration of course (50p). Pretty soon word got around and everyone
in the line was a private hire cab driver. I figured out the petrol
companies were not loosing out because of it so why should I.
One night a copper turned up in uniform so I said" 50p limit -
sorry".
He said "You weren't sorry when you let me fill my tank up for 50p
last week". I said "Does your sergeant know you do a bit of taxiing
on the side". Anyway he filled his tank and I got 50p.
I also used to put a few gallons in my own tank and put the discrepancy
onto the next guy's shift, don't think anyone noticed, not if you
keep it small. I wasn't very nice in those days, probably waiting to
become a child of Thatcher but I did get better.
Best.
Drew
days were a little more prosaic, apart from groping Janice's (another
petrol monkey) ample credentials when there were no customers. Think I
mentioned I also rang church bells to call the flock? Guess that was
kinda mercenary since I had attained post-religion enlightenment by
then. Bit of a spare time job whore I was, preferring standing in for
others rather than having a permanent school-boy job. Come to think of
it, not a lot has changed but at least I was never a Thatcher's love
child.
Here's something else really funny (Blue Screen of Death).
http://opdenacker.org/fun/microsoftjokes.html
I recently read the story in a mag and it claimed to be true........
Erm, darkrooms. Now this may seem a crazy idea, but when I work in
darkrooms but not doing darkroom stuff I put the lights on. Always been
one of my unrequited fantasies......
I have a grudging admiration for people who can do ironing without
turning homicidal. Downy covers, that gets me into the mind of serial
murderers too. But it doesn't bother me spending an hour wearing an
eye lens reforming a watch escapement spring. Weird eh.
Best
Jerry
- if I had been older and wiser ....
What I erased earlier was that I once ran a petrol station, an
interesting experience.
Anyway a tanker driver short-delivered me 500 gallons, my area manager
spotted it and explained how to break a dip stick.
I guess he reckoned I would not fall for sleight of hand twice.
Our line was 'inadvertantly' handing out two receipts rather than one
- it is quite tricky tearing two pages off a pad when you are meant to
tear of one ...
During the three day week I was working six days in a local warehouse
(WWII blackout blinds on the windows) mostly I was re-pricing stuff
during the price freeze.
- one person I would have liked to have personally insulted was E.
Heath - the cretin.
I hate ironing, I have done none in the last four years since the lass
topped herself in mysterious circumstances.
As for washing up, just get a dish washer, I go for Bosch, they do a
neat half size model that actually (at last check) costs more than a
full sized one. Very canny. I go for full size.
I delegate dusting etc to my fortnightly 'domestic hygiene consultant',
she tells me that the guy who invents a silent (or quiet) vacuum
cleaner would make a fortune
Funny really, we are all a product of our upbringing (with the odd
defect thrown in)
Curious thought came to me today
- 'thinking outside the box'
Never much bothered me: Just a matter of drawing the 'box' oneself
- people are credulous - provide a viable intellectual/practical
framework and they will jump for it.
Drew
I just missed the obvious, but in my petrol days it never occurred to
anyone to do little scams. OK we skimmed the odd packet of fags when
they hadn't been counted properly but aside from that we were
scrupulously honest. It was a real shock to the system when my bicycle
pump was stolen. Blissfully naive perhaps?
Can't say that Eddy particularly raised my ire, on the other hand I
didn't really give a toss. No argument with anyone who detested him.
Have I ever mentioned a slight distaste for Thatch.......?
Trouble with thinking outside the box is personally I have trouble
thinking inside it to get a grip on what motivates the majority. Does
this strike a chord?
Best
Jerry
>thinking inside it to get a grip on what motivates the majority. Does
>this strike a chord?
Like a blast from Dr Phibes
- I can handle really thick people well
- but fail dismally with people who should be smart
The lass said (paraphrased) that I over estimate people's intelligence
We differ on the subject of Thatch, in 1979 the UK was descending to
3rd world levels, the problem with Thatch is that she was seduced by
the City (who are a bunch of parasitic scum - I know - I've worked
there).
Poll tax was a 'good idea' in that it pointed out that 'Council Tax' is
not really a tax, it is payment for goods and services.
The idea was to make people realize that councils are a bunch of
wasteful scum, and to incite the electorate into kicking them into
order.
The fatal flaw was that 'democracy' is a joke, and the electorate are
smart enough to realize that voting in council elections is a waste of
time.
Personally I reckon that the solution is to restrict revenue raising
powers to very few people, councils should /spend/ money - not raise
it.
As soon as you give someone the chance to raise money, they use all
their ability cranking the pump. Oddly it is one of the few things that
classical economists got right, because they were paid per tutorial
they understood that they would coach a moron at 9pm if the price was
right.
- medics are now riding that band wagon.
Thatch was a silly cow, the theory was right, but the outcome was
inevitable
- the scumbag councils would just carry on regardless
As for the miners, et al, frankly I resented the 3 day week and while I
feel sorry for people who as Scargill astutely pointed out, would be
sacked, I would have used a Kalashnikov or an Uzi on them. Blackmailers
are outlaws - eg: they lose the right to social protection.
Someone maliciously cuts off my electricity - and I'll gut them.
Thatch was half way on the right track, she was actually quite
anti-establishment, but she was not bright enough to realize that the
solution is not appealing to greed, but to install what Coleridge
called the 'Cleresy' and Plato the 'Guardians'
- latterly we had British Colonial Administrators who did a pretty good
job.
Frankly, I would then, and would now, put the UK on a 'Colonial' basis,
get rid of the Ottoman style revenue raisers and concentrate on
teleocratic principles (a good word to check out, as is its antithesis
'nomocratic') - just sort things out.
Astonishingly, I reckon that my wasted years studying PPE might be
useful, at least it showed me how to advocate 'benign despotism' -
which is a lot better than the showers we have had since I was
sentient.
I enjoyed that.
Drew
Thatch. Our views aren't opposite, nor are they tangential. More I
would say they are parallel, leading from and to slightly different
utopias. (Had a think about the plural form).
I have severe problems with watching the Thatch creature on TV,
likewise Shrub, Milosovic, Hitler etc. Wondering about autistic
behaviour where eye contact is avoided, I can't help comparing my
reaction. The autistic don't / can't seem to lie, whilst the
majority of us layer our truths in subtly masqueraded form. "How are
you?" "Fine thanks." Bit of a lie there. Usually I reply
"Horrid", "Dreadful" or something similar with a smile. It's
now expected of me and several friends have taken up the retort. Great
for ice breaking at interviews. Anyway, the point is that I cannot
avoid peering into souls, and when the lie is so clearly facile it
makes me physically sick. I can tolerate (almost) the honest liar but
Thatch doesn't know she's lying, nor does Shrub. They have become
the lie. So I become overwhelmed by the hollowness of their obscenity
and know that there is not one single thing they could ever say which
would impart anything of value. Sole-less beings, devoid of humanity,
conscience and consciousness. Organic automatons. OK, ultimately we are
all automatons but there are degrees of separation.
To "make the trains run on time" does not absolve one. Even the
most evil person who ever lived did some things which resulted in
betterment of society and the world. Not that this was necessarily
their intention. Without Blad The Impaler for instance, would we ever
have had Buffy? So if by chance Thatch performed some deed which
particularly appealed to someone, that someone might be of a mind to
say that she did some good. I would still say no, and be more inclined
to view the complete portfolio because that deed could equally well
have been performed by a truly good and wise person.
Scargill served Scargill. The miners were drawn into unrealistic social
(financial) aspiration by he and the rhetoric of Thatch etc proclaiming
a better life for all. Neither had this inclination at heart. Thatch
was motivated by pure spite / egotism / megalomania. So I do have a
degree of sympathy for the miners because they were mere pawns, patsies
for Thatch and Scargill, plus being targeted by little boys in blue
with the intellectual sophistication of a woodlouse. They were placed
in a totally invidious situation, the battle of Jutland played out with
miners instead of sailors. And does my sympathy extend to actually
supporting their actions? Well, no. Where the sailors erred was when
they signed up for the job, and the miners when they voted for thick,
ignorant, putative lefties. Other 'workers' threw their lot in with
the right because they equated their own higher financial aspirations
and actualities with higher social status. Wrong! Just because you vote
Tory and earn ten times as much as your labouring father does not a
middle class person make. Read a book. Notably, almost uniquely in
Scotland of late, Aberdeen went Tory. Too much money too quick.
The poll tax was another of these 'strike a chord' type exercises
so for some it seemed on the face of it viable and equitable. Plain
dumb if you ask me, especially the totalitist way in which it was
foisted. What was crucial in the breaking of the tax (albeit masked as
not a tax) was that it was vital that the power of Thatch be broken,
just as she had deemed it vital to break the miners. Had she not been
rendered effete, gawd only knows where her detachment from reality
would have led us. Ain't democracy a wonderful thing.
Benign dictatorship, yea. Not many good examples though. Perhaps Tito?
So following your other trains of thought, and freely admitting that
your grasp of events / outcomes / solutions is far more comprehensive
than mine, I cannot decry of agree. I may in fact be forced to promote
you to actual ruler of the world when I become ruler, my position being
purely titular.
Best
Jerry
- in both cases to describe the absence of empathy
- a sort of self serving automaton
Thinking about it, you are probably correct, Thatch does fall into that
category
I'm also, like you, nervous of zealots who have no self-doubt.
The Poll Tax was stupidly implemented and very badly thought out. At
the time I considered it outrageous, but I must confess I benefitted as
the council scum had a nifty trick of re-rating properties - my gaff
was a conversion in 1987, so I was paying vastly more than people with
equivalent or better places that had not been re-rated.
There is, interestingly, something similar going on with ID cards. I
don't think there is much wrong with ID cards, but I really object to
being forced to pay a fortune for one.
Of course the underlying objective that nobody seems to have spotted,
is to build a DNA bank.
The trouble is that DNA is not much more reliable than fingerprints,
both can be 'planted' and both are not truly definitive.
My view is that government should intervene as little as possible, and
where it does so, it should seek to be efficient. Obviously having
studied Economics, I know that one needs government intervention to
ensure that markets exist - the natural state is monopoly - or more
likely Mafia.
Hence my sneaking admiration of Putin - he has out Mafia'd the Mafia.
However micro-management worries me.
I have an instinctive dislike of so called 'lefties', they tend to be
rabble rousers or patronizing gits.
For example I once got Paul Foot to admit in public that he had never
worked on a shop floor.
I'm also wary of the 'Right' - they tend to be venal - and even worse
... thick.
Reverting to the main point, the miners had got right out of order,
back in Heath's days. Also North Sea oil was coming on tap - so they
could be 'tamed'. Any section of society holding a gun to the head of
the rest deserves a thorough kicking. Rather stupidly we closed down
the majority of mines and handed the rest over to Richard J Budge (I
have no opinion on how well he managed them) - they should have been
kept going on a low level as a strategic resource. Incidentally coal
mining in the UK was rather high tech in 1981.
In my youth I've been involved in certain forms of industrial unrest,
but I found that quiet sabotage was a lot more effective than
confrontation. The ex-BA Gate Gourmet operation could have been sorted
out rather effectively by the introduction of a little ptomaine
poisoning.
- problems happen, heads roll
I also reckon that Tito was probably rather smart, I would also like a
chat with Saddam (with two very good interpreters). However, my skills
are those of a Consiglieri or in conventional parlance - analyst
.
Drew
lying gaze seems quite common amongst 'normals'. Several people I
asked today also said they were unable to watch Shrub. Someone else
said she couldn't watch Germaine Greer but that was highly
subjective. Thatch never thought through her rabid notions beyond the
initial accumulation of meglo power. Shrub doesn't seemed to have
wisened up to this one either. I know I've talked the Thatch / poll
tax / Scotland thing before but what should be appreciated by our near
neighbours is that Scotland has always considered itself a nation,
albeit somewhat non-independent. However, when an English parliament,
headed by a deranged despot, utterly unrepresentative of the Scottish
electorate, guinea pigs bizarre social experiment upon us, is it not
reasonable that we take offence. I just heard on the radio "No one
could have anticipated that on the third anniversary of the Iraq
invasion that the situation should be so dire." Eh!!!!!! Why the hell
do we vote these stupid people into power. Mmmm, well actually I
wouldn't and didn't, and neither would my cadre of friends. Did you
by any chance hear on The World Service a few months ago a psychiatrist
(or something similar) suggesting that a high percentage of persons in
power are actually psychopathic -- which leads back to your equating
autism with the condition. Interesting thought.
ID cards are just plain daft too. Pointless waste of time and money,
predicated upon false appraisals of situations, practicalities and
efficacy. Even at its level of preventing credit card fraud it's a no
brainer 'cos no one gives a damn. Since PIN and chip there has been a
dramatic rise in 'card holder not present' scams. My Mither had her
card skimmed. Could only have been at a local petrol station because
she doesn't use the card for anything else. The bill for several
hundred quid was for a foreign holiday. On her statement were details
of the buyer and address. Now one would think it would be slightly easy
to trace this person, like a five year old could do it, but were the
police interested? Not unless it comes from the Proc Fisk or the card
company. I said I was reporting a crime, like 'crime stoppers'
exhort us to do. Nope, wouldn't follow it up, and the card companies
consider it not worth their while. So scamming sh**s get away scott
free and probably got their expensive holiday too. *Eventually* my mith
got her money refunded. So when Blare and his crooked cronies declare
his ID cards will make our lives more secure, he's just blowing off
into the wind.
Did you see a fascinating prog on TV last week about a Yank woman who
nearly had her kids taken away from her because according to genetics
she couldn't have been the mother. It is extraordinarily rare, but
what transcended is that she was actually a composite of two fused
proto-embryos. Other examples shown were those of black and white with
an exact dividing line down the abdomen, and another with a precise
large chequer board colouring. Hermaphrodites can also occur if the
embryos were male and female. The adopted term is 'chimera', which
probably rankles with your classical education.
Indeed coal should have been maintained as strategic reserve where
possible. Thatch wasn't having that though. Scorched earth again. I
can see where you come from with "sneaking admiration of Putin".
Can't myself afford any respect whatsoever because he is a thug,
though I can at least watch him. He lies with alacrity, but he still
knows he's lying, and that makes a difference.
Norman, where art thou Norman.
Best
Jerry
I didn't hear the psychiatrist on the World Service, but I'm not
surprized.
In the 1970s a pal of mine's father had built up an industrial
conglomerate and had got interested in psychological profiling. One
thing he did was to emply a psychologist as a consultant.
The guy said that from watching them on the box, a fair number showed
all the classic signs of being howling mad - one prime suspect was Sir
Keith Joseph.
I certainly saw that case of the woman with double DNA, quite
fascinating. Some time agop the very quietly raised the standards for a
DNA match (IIRC from 16 to 18) after they got a positive on someone who
could not possibly be anywhere near the scene, even with perjury.
I can see that being used as a guinea pig is pretty annoying, although
it had one upside - all day licensing.
We in England get a bit narked about the gross over-representation of
Scotland in Westminster, although most people seem sane enough to
regard English Regional Assemblies as an unattractive proposition.
One of the things about coal was that there was some talk about using
something like explosives to convert coal into liquid or dust, in which
case it could be sucked (or pumped) out.
Curiously yesterday a guy I know sent me info on a US company called
Ivanhoe Energy Inc.
They have technology for 'thinning' heavy crude so it can be piped,
also for converting natural gas into a petrol like liquid so that it is
easy to transport and ship.
- a bit of synchronicity - perhaps
Putin is definitely a nasty bit of work, but he strikes me as the right
man for the job, Russia was descending into chaos.
Quite interesting that plod was uninterested in that credit card scam,
I would have thought that it would have been an easy nick. Once the
were very interested in chasing someone for 100 quids worth of circuit
breakers - but totally uninterested in a GBP 60k mortgage scam that she
had pulled off at the same time.
Drew
East Lothian Question, or maybe it's West? Anyway it gives us a bit
of a giggle because Scotland had no representation whatsoever in the
Thatch period, nor indeed for considerable time after the crushing of
the Jacobeans but that's a different matter. A major American War of
Independence gripe was "no taxation without representation" was it
not? If one cannot learn from history then one has learned nothing,
ergo in addition to the catalogue of her other defects Thatch was
profoundly ignorant. It is of course not only the Scottish who consider
themselves to be a breed apart, England is also of the same view of the
Scots. Perhaps a slight difference in interpretation of the term :-)
but the point remains.
All day licensing is all very well but in the height of winter
'day' is kinda short. I believe our wee towrag of a First Minister
is moving to increase the amount of light in the Winter months,
believing it to have been an English conspiracy. Ah but yes it is super
supping chemical beer on a Edinburgh pavement cafe as the rain trickles
down your back. Global warming! Ah'll gie ye global warming ya bas!
It is peculiar what plod follows up and what they don't. I mentioned
before a scam telephone bill and all plod would do is insist that I
contact Citizen's Aid. Not interested in the slightest. Feel the
force of the law if you don't wear a seat belt or, heaven forbid,
have a fly fag. The whole thing about law and order is just a big PR
lie job though isn't it. Always has been and I doubt it'll ever
change. Did you watch the Dispatches prog on TV tonight about the Iraq
missing billions. Why does nothing surprise me any more. Oh yea,
curiously the program was produced and directed by a flat-mate of mine
from 25 years back. Absolutely super guy, in those days a Trot or a
Militant or Marxist. Alone though amongst the 'brothers' and
'sisters' he was a genuine humanist and worked tirelessly to
correct social injustices. Personally I think these politically extreme
groups are merely sha**in shops.
Wonder what's up with N. I'm not really sufficient foil for world
affair knowledge.
Best
Jerry
1981
I had gone up to the local office to 'launch' our new season with a
delectable colleague, we went out to a pub for lunch and about 2:30 I
thought everybody was behaving strangely
- there was no queue at the bar
- everybody was calmly supping away
Actually the English that I know, don't consider themselves a breed
apart from the Scottish, a bit like the with the Irish, scratch an
Englishman and you'll find Scottish or Irish blood - or both.
Mostly, I think that is why we have a slight distaste of being called
'English'.
The 'daylight hours' stuff is supposed to be about Scotland, personally
I've never seen the point, different regions could start and end
work/school/milking at different times. I think the term is
'flexitime'.
Even during the Thatch years, are you sure that Scotland was not
represented. Once MPs and Lairds get into Westminster they tend to find
more in common with each other than ... the rest of the populace
- for a start, fiddling expenses unites them.
Digressing, I've long agreed with the House of Lords, stick someone in
a job with total job security and he'll either skive off (which is
fine) or take an interest in things without worrying about getting a
kicking from some dragon fly.
Mind you, I'm having a heck of a laugh about Blairs 'Lending Babes' and
I'm intrigued to see who has been lending to the Tories.
No prizes for guessing where the idea originated, and I'll bet that
this is being stage managed by both mobs, as what they really want is a
stipend from the taxpayer.
Iraq's missing billions, didn't see it, but it is old hat, quite some
time ago somebody pointed out that the sums did not add up.
Incidentally, have you noticed how the BBC WS is bleating on about the
CIA and those 12 marines who got combat frenzy ?
Rather interesting, there is a signal being sent out, but I'm not sure
if it is preparation/innoculation or a warning shot.
Yeah, I agree about 'so called extremists', at college a mate of mine
and myself went out of our way to seduce the 'opposition' - fortunately
female.
It was quite interesting, they liked a sybarytic lifestyle and
appreciated a 'hard line' and pretty well informed analysis - a change
after woolly slogan slinging.
My mate is pretty famous now, as is one of the lasses.
I also wonder about Norman, possibly Benny has got out of his cage
again.
Drew
as my dictionary says). Bad enough when I've heard the word but
don't know what it means, but when I've never even heard
it..........:-) Slight frustration tonight, my video recorder was
playing up and rather than fix the thing I just ploughed it into the
floor from head height. Most satisfying. Ancient old thing and I've
lots more so I'll strip some useful bits. Have to vent off sometimes.
Prior to Scotland's quaffing liberalisation I seem to recall that our
hours were even more restrictive than England. All a pile of nonsense.
Even until relatively recently we had to go to a hotel bar for a drink
on Sundays. maybe England was the same?
Ah but do Southerners not consider the Scottish (Irish and Welsh too )
a breed apart? Usually expressed something like ******** Scotch! Of
course we did come into the equation in Thatch dark days but when we
finally returned zero, zilch, nil Tory MPs in a Tory government, is one
not reasonably justified to feel unrepresented? Supposing the SNP were
the majority party in Westminster, that is the equivalent of the
Scottish mood. Rightly or wrongly, Tories were perceived as the English
National Party. This was only confirmed by the guinea pigging of the
poll-tax North of the Border.
I'm ambivalent about the Lords. A council of wise elders is a good
thing. Unelected government, bad. Reining in Blair's stupidities,
good. Power by favouritism / breeding, bad. Guess in principle I
oppose, but in practice.....mmmmm. Made Thatch a Lord instead of
executing her and there are some complete dingbars in the ranks too.
Weird. Then there is the 'lending lord' nonsense. What a surprise.
It's all just too silly.
I feel BBC WS was merely reporting on the execution in Iraq from noises
coming from the States rather than provoking. Of course they are
selective about which obscenities are reported, like there isn't a
world wide choice, but I think they are public-interested-reporting
rather than going at it with an agenda. Doing the rounds with the
Afghani who converted to Christianity and now facing death sentence. As
I've said before, the news is high nineties about people doing really
dumb things.
Going to mail Norman. Did Benny not make close association with a
cooking pot?
Best
Jerry
occasionally.
Round where I live, there has been so much intra-UK migration that
people barely notice if someone is Scottish, Irish or Welsh - well any
more than Yorkshire etc.
The Tory heartlands are really in the South, quite easy to understand,
people tend to vote with their wallet.
The problem of having an elected House of Lairds is that bicameral
systems tend to compete for 'legitimacy' - I've always thought that the
Lairds should be made to wear frilly knickers on their heads and
contain a good sprinkling of congenital (ideally hereditary) idiots, so
that when they do rear up, it is because they are reflecting public
outrage, rather than indulging in self promotion.
That Afghani stuff is just amazing - such peasants
- priests are very dangerous.
Drew
spontaneity. There is always a pause of repercussion consideration even
on the rare occasions when I lose my temper big time. Worse than that,
my anger confrontation it is usually calculated to stun the offending
idiot into submission. Must try it on plod sometime.
Oh god, 'bicameral'. Yea I had to look it up. I do hope you are
enjoying this! ;-)
Best
Jerry
refuses to work) they 'float test' it
- it's surprizing how many things sink
Quite often I'm termped to float test things ....
Sorry about the jargon - I should be a bit more careful
Drew
No worries with unfamiliar words -- my problem. Keep 'em coming.
Reckon I'm in the top few percent, just you are a few points higher.
Best
Jerry
That's what makes it interesting.