Are we rushing to premature conclusions about the latest COVID figures? – politicalbetting.com
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All time medals per (million) capita
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Finland 54
GB 12.54
USA 7.62
India... 0.03
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I do wonder what happens with blazers and suit jackets. Which side will they button on?isam said:
There’ll be unisex hairdressers next!Theuniondivvie said:Sorry war on woke warriors, was checking the the Levis site for something and note they now have a 'Genderless' category. When capitalism takes a side, the war tends to be over.
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At that point in time, the Luftwaffe had proved themselves not able to hit slow moving merchant ships effectively. Manoeuvring destroyers were pretty much immune.Theuniondivvie said:
The Channel would have been extremely close to the Luftwaffe on French airfields and similarly difficult for manoeuvering..SussexJames said:
It's been pretty definitively shown that if the RN wasn't wiped out, sustaining an invasion of GB would have been impossible.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, they might make be interesting outlines. In the plot outline I have, the Kriegsmarine defeat the Royal Navy in the Channel, and it is a battle for the Home Fleet to fight its way down from Scarpa Flow. And yes, I have German paratroopers playing a major part.DecrepiterJohnL said:
There are alternative invasion routes you should consider for your novel. One is from Norway to Scotland (which was also considered in the other direction for D-Day). More realistic would be to use paratroopers for the initial invasion and have them capture and secure a British port, which could then be used to land German reinforcements of troops and armour. This was a genuine fear, and the Admiralty had plans to destroy ports by scuttling ships, dumping coal, and blowing up facilities, had the Nazis been about to invade.JosiasJessop said:
I've long been tempted to write a novel about an invasion (after I walked around a very atmospheric gun battery on the south coast and imagined a fleet of invasion ships coming across). Having read up on it, IMV to make it realistic a number of things would have to change.Malmesbury said:
I liked the time they gamed it with the entire RN and RAF going to the pub for the actual invasion. The Germans sustained 30% losses on the Channel crossing, all by themselves.........JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
For one thing, the Germans would have had to wanted to invade England for several years; enough time to build a proper invasion fleet of landing craft, torpedo boats and other craft to harry the Royal Navy. Winning the Battle of Britain would also have been very important, and spies/saboteurs within the UK would have helped. There were others.
I've got these changes written down somewhere, as the starting point for the writing. without them I couldn't really have the major battles I wanted on the mainland.
I have written some; from memory, the first scene is of a nineteen year old boy watching the German invasion fleet come in as planes bomb the battery he has volunteered in. One strand of the book follows him during the retreat and then the fightback. As I'm a modern sort of person, another strand is from the viewpoint of a German sailor who gets stranded on the mainland. And that's the part I have a problem with, as I found it very hard to write from that viewpoint ...
I am not a writer (tm).
One way the RN could have been wiped out would have been for it to engage the German navy close enough to Germany for the Luftwaffe to divebomb the ships, in an area where manoeuvring was difficult.
Which is why the RN got agitated when Churchill wanted them to sail the entire Home Fleet into the Baltic...
This led to RN over confidence in the Med, later in the war, when the Germans had figured out the issues and train their aircrews to hit ships.0 -
That would be a cut above what we have now.isam said:
There’ll be unisex hairdressers next!Theuniondivvie said:Sorry war on woke warriors, was checking the the Levis site for something and note they now have a 'Genderless' category. When capitalism takes a side, the war tends to be over.
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I've got two separate weeks in Spain booked for the end of August/beginning of September and end of September. I'm increasingly sceptical that the first at least will go ahead with leaks about Spain being made 'amber-plus' and consideration of compulsory outdoor mask wearing being reintroduced there (if outdoor masks are compulsory it's simply not worth it for me to go). Everything except flights is fully refundable until a couple of days before I leave (and I can get vouchers for the flights), so I'm not feeling over-exposed but a holiday really would be lovely.IanB2 said:
Planning a trip right now is rather like a military operation. My September trip is looking more of a go-er now we seem to have turned the tide of the latest wave, but I've had to ditch the Austrian and Hungarian bits of it as Austria still has a complete ban on overnight stays by British tourists, extended the Germany bit to avoid being caught up in the Italian quarantine regulations for UK travellers, and arranged a Plan B with ferry return from Holland in case the UK doesn't drop the French amber-plus in time; unlike last year you can't even transit France without being caught by the UK rules. Plus tests to arrange both here and there, on top of the post-Brexit complications for the dog. And a Green Card. And a stack of online registrations and sworn declarations to make for most countries prior to entry. Plus the normal Swiss and Austrian motorway tolls to pre-pay. At least I already have a German low emission permit!noneoftheabove said:
AIUI it is still country by country so some places are fine, others not, you would need to check before booking. (If only it was an EU competence! Ducks and runs for cover.....)Stocky said:
Well, that's a huge problem then - I hope they sort this out.noneoftheabove said:
Only if travelling internationally.Stocky said:What is the latest on the three (dodgy?) Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine batches?
My first jab was from one of these batches but my second wasn't.
Should I be concerned?
My original plan was a much more environmentally friendly two week trip with a train journey to Munich, cycle across the Dolomites to Verona and then train back to Munich/the UK, but now every extra country you travel through becomes more risk of quarantines/bans. Sigh.0 -
The misdirecting of bombing was technological, broadcasting false signals that miatched the German guidance system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_BeamsMalmesbury said:
It was a combination - the primary channel were the German agents in Britain. Who were all working for MI6.....JosiasJessop said:
I don't think that involved the Enigma, but a much more open form of misdirection. From memory, when a bomb exploded, the radio and newspapers would report it as being further north and west. This made the Germans think they were overshooting and reduce the range, meaning they were more likely to land in the lesser-populated southeast than London.OldKingCole said:
There's a similar story about the Enigma machine (or similar) and the Doodlebugs. They were 'misdirected' away from Central London.JosiasJessop said:
One podcast I listened to put the allies winning World War I down to the cutting of the cables in the first days of the war. It meant the Germans had to use radio, and that allowed the Zimmerman telegram to be intercepted, and helped lead the US to war.MattW said:
On the channel, two historical things I picked up on recently.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
Mine barriers laid across the Channel to block uboats.
That all of the German undersea telegraph cables in the channel were cut within hours of the start of WW1. Exactly the same basic strategy as WW2. Make them use radio.
https://warandsecurity.com/2014/08/05/britain-cuts-german-cable-communications-5-august-1914/
In the Cold War the Americans and UK tried intercepting communications in Berlin using a tunnel. Interestingly the Russians knew about the tunnel immediately due to George Bake's treachery, but they did not stop using the communication cables because they wanted to protect Blake ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gold
Someone can probably correct me.
What was interesting was that they didn't misreport hits - they actually reported a skewed sample of the actual hits.
0 -
Thread on those skewed Israeli stats.
You’ve probably seen reports from Israel on low vaccine effectiveness in this wave. Is it because of Delta? Waning immunity? We think the reason is mostly that we got the denominator wrong.
https://twitter.com/dvir_a/status/14200591247007006771 -
The explosion of ruddy heads if they started rebranding themselves as 'genderless' hairdressers would be remarkable. Terminology is a huge part of culture war whining, as any ful should kno.isam said:
There’ll be unisex hairdressers next!Theuniondivvie said:Sorry war on woke warriors, was checking the the Levis site for something and note they now have a 'Genderless' category. When capitalism takes a side, the war tends to be over.
1 -
Where are the empty shelves. Did a full shop yesterday. No missing items.1
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Fiji win the Rugby sevens. 29-12 vs New Zealand.0
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The Channel is much better for manouevring large ships - and it would have also been in range of the RAF, unlike the Baltic, making the Luftwaffe's job much more difficult if not impossible.Theuniondivvie said:
The Channel would have been extremely close to the Luftwaffe on French airfields and similarly difficult for manoeuvering..SussexJames said:
It's been pretty definitively shown that if the RN wasn't wiped out, sustaining an invasion of GB would have been impossible.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, they might make be interesting outlines. In the plot outline I have, the Kriegsmarine defeat the Royal Navy in the Channel, and it is a battle for the Home Fleet to fight its way down from Scarpa Flow. And yes, I have German paratroopers playing a major part.DecrepiterJohnL said:
There are alternative invasion routes you should consider for your novel. One is from Norway to Scotland (which was also considered in the other direction for D-Day). More realistic would be to use paratroopers for the initial invasion and have them capture and secure a British port, which could then be used to land German reinforcements of troops and armour. This was a genuine fear, and the Admiralty had plans to destroy ports by scuttling ships, dumping coal, and blowing up facilities, had the Nazis been about to invade.JosiasJessop said:
I've long been tempted to write a novel about an invasion (after I walked around a very atmospheric gun battery on the south coast and imagined a fleet of invasion ships coming across). Having read up on it, IMV to make it realistic a number of things would have to change.Malmesbury said:
I liked the time they gamed it with the entire RN and RAF going to the pub for the actual invasion. The Germans sustained 30% losses on the Channel crossing, all by themselves.........JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
For one thing, the Germans would have had to wanted to invade England for several years; enough time to build a proper invasion fleet of landing craft, torpedo boats and other craft to harry the Royal Navy. Winning the Battle of Britain would also have been very important, and spies/saboteurs within the UK would have helped. There were others.
I've got these changes written down somewhere, as the starting point for the writing. without them I couldn't really have the major battles I wanted on the mainland.
I have written some; from memory, the first scene is of a nineteen year old boy watching the German invasion fleet come in as planes bomb the battery he has volunteered in. One strand of the book follows him during the retreat and then the fightback. As I'm a modern sort of person, another strand is from the viewpoint of a German sailor who gets stranded on the mainland. And that's the part I have a problem with, as I found it very hard to write from that viewpoint ...
I am not a writer (tm).
One way the RN could have been wiped out would have been for it to engage the German navy close enough to Germany for the Luftwaffe to divebomb the ships, in an area where manoeuvring was difficult.
Which is why the RN got agitated when Churchill wanted them to sail the entire Home Fleet into the Baltic...0 -
I've been watching the documentary on iPlayer about the turnaround in UK Olympic sport between Atlanta and London 2012. An amusing snippet is that when the IOC inspection team visited London early in the bidding process, it had been pre-arranged with TfL that traffic lights would switch to green as the IOC coach approached each junction.Malmesbury said:
It was a combination - the primary channel were the German agents in Britain. Who were all working for MI6.....JosiasJessop said:
I don't think that involved the Enigma, but a much more open form of misdirection. From memory, when a bomb exploded, the radio and newspapers would report it as being further north and west. This made the Germans think they were overshooting and reduce the range, meaning they were more likely to land in the lesser-populated southeast than London.OldKingCole said:
There's a similar story about the Enigma machine (or similar) and the Doodlebugs. They were 'misdirected' away from Central London.JosiasJessop said:
One podcast I listened to put the allies winning World War I down to the cutting of the cables in the first days of the war. It meant the Germans had to use radio, and that allowed the Zimmerman telegram to be intercepted, and helped lead the US to war.MattW said:
On the channel, two historical things I picked up on recently.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
Mine barriers laid across the Channel to block uboats.
That all of the German undersea telegraph cables in the channel were cut within hours of the start of WW1. Exactly the same basic strategy as WW2. Make them use radio.
https://warandsecurity.com/2014/08/05/britain-cuts-german-cable-communications-5-august-1914/
In the Cold War the Americans and UK tried intercepting communications in Berlin using a tunnel. Interestingly the Russians knew about the tunnel immediately due to George Bake's treachery, but they did not stop using the communication cables because they wanted to protect Blake ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gold
Someone can probably correct me.
What was interesting was that they didn't misreport hits - they actually reported a skewed sample of the actual hits.1 -
That's to do with the aircraft attacks.SussexJames said:
The misdirecting of bombing was technological, broadcasting false signals that miatched the German guidance system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_BeamsMalmesbury said:
It was a combination - the primary channel were the German agents in Britain. Who were all working for MI6.....JosiasJessop said:
I don't think that involved the Enigma, but a much more open form of misdirection. From memory, when a bomb exploded, the radio and newspapers would report it as being further north and west. This made the Germans think they were overshooting and reduce the range, meaning they were more likely to land in the lesser-populated southeast than London.OldKingCole said:
There's a similar story about the Enigma machine (or similar) and the Doodlebugs. They were 'misdirected' away from Central London.JosiasJessop said:
One podcast I listened to put the allies winning World War I down to the cutting of the cables in the first days of the war. It meant the Germans had to use radio, and that allowed the Zimmerman telegram to be intercepted, and helped lead the US to war.MattW said:
On the channel, two historical things I picked up on recently.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
Mine barriers laid across the Channel to block uboats.
That all of the German undersea telegraph cables in the channel were cut within hours of the start of WW1. Exactly the same basic strategy as WW2. Make them use radio.
https://warandsecurity.com/2014/08/05/britain-cuts-german-cable-communications-5-august-1914/
In the Cold War the Americans and UK tried intercepting communications in Berlin using a tunnel. Interestingly the Russians knew about the tunnel immediately due to George Bake's treachery, but they did not stop using the communication cables because they wanted to protect Blake ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gold
Someone can probably correct me.
What was interesting was that they didn't misreport hits - they actually reported a skewed sample of the actual hits.
V2 was largely inertial, though there were some experiments with radio guidance. And some carried radio beacons so they could be tracked.0 -
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/28/rnli-hits-out-migrant-taxi-service-accusations
Interesting that the RNLI are not commenting directly on the borders and nationality bill, reason given it would be political to do so - but that leaves the question of the legal jeopardy of the RNLI and its staff and volunteers unresolved, so afr as I am aware.0 -
Tidal and wave power has been looked into for many decades now. They've never quite worked out (awaits those who start shouting 'Thatcher!'). They have so much potential, but it seems to be very hard to make them work reliably and economically. Yet hydroelectric dams are generally reliable (*). The difference is probably that maintenance on hydroelectric turbines are so much easier, and the environment much more controlled and passive?Flatlander said:
A previous prototype (different company) was installed off Ramsey Island in Pembrokeshire. I understand that didn't go too well...Nigelb said:
Actually British, with the anchors from Wales and the turbines from England. And investment from both the the EU and London..StuartDickson said:
Another Scottish success story.CarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
As this is a prototype, it's also a little early to call it a success. But I hope it will be.
(*): Except in Russia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfW5MqT7CSA1 -
Stukas (short ranged, however) were much more dangerous than level bombers. But only if the RAF and FAA weren't around.Malmesbury said:
At that point in time, the Luftwaffe had proved themselves not able to hit slow moving merchant ships effectively. Manoeuvring destroyers were pretty much immune.Theuniondivvie said:
The Channel would have been extremely close to the Luftwaffe on French airfields and similarly difficult for manoeuvering..SussexJames said:
It's been pretty definitively shown that if the RN wasn't wiped out, sustaining an invasion of GB would have been impossible.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, they might make be interesting outlines. In the plot outline I have, the Kriegsmarine defeat the Royal Navy in the Channel, and it is a battle for the Home Fleet to fight its way down from Scarpa Flow. And yes, I have German paratroopers playing a major part.DecrepiterJohnL said:
There are alternative invasion routes you should consider for your novel. One is from Norway to Scotland (which was also considered in the other direction for D-Day). More realistic would be to use paratroopers for the initial invasion and have them capture and secure a British port, which could then be used to land German reinforcements of troops and armour. This was a genuine fear, and the Admiralty had plans to destroy ports by scuttling ships, dumping coal, and blowing up facilities, had the Nazis been about to invade.JosiasJessop said:
I've long been tempted to write a novel about an invasion (after I walked around a very atmospheric gun battery on the south coast and imagined a fleet of invasion ships coming across). Having read up on it, IMV to make it realistic a number of things would have to change.Malmesbury said:
I liked the time they gamed it with the entire RN and RAF going to the pub for the actual invasion. The Germans sustained 30% losses on the Channel crossing, all by themselves.........JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
For one thing, the Germans would have had to wanted to invade England for several years; enough time to build a proper invasion fleet of landing craft, torpedo boats and other craft to harry the Royal Navy. Winning the Battle of Britain would also have been very important, and spies/saboteurs within the UK would have helped. There were others.
I've got these changes written down somewhere, as the starting point for the writing. without them I couldn't really have the major battles I wanted on the mainland.
I have written some; from memory, the first scene is of a nineteen year old boy watching the German invasion fleet come in as planes bomb the battery he has volunteered in. One strand of the book follows him during the retreat and then the fightback. As I'm a modern sort of person, another strand is from the viewpoint of a German sailor who gets stranded on the mainland. And that's the part I have a problem with, as I found it very hard to write from that viewpoint ...
I am not a writer (tm).
One way the RN could have been wiped out would have been for it to engage the German navy close enough to Germany for the Luftwaffe to divebomb the ships, in an area where manoeuvring was difficult.
Which is why the RN got agitated when Churchill wanted them to sail the entire Home Fleet into the Baltic...
This led to RN over confidence in the Med, later in the war, when the Germans had figured out the issues and train their aircrews to hit ships.2 -
I remember standing in the school playground and seeing a Doodlebug, a V1, if not overhead not far away. Then it's light went out and the teachers rushed us all into the shelters.Malmesbury said:
That's to do with the aircraft attacks.SussexJames said:
The misdirecting of bombing was technological, broadcasting false signals that miatched the German guidance system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_BeamsMalmesbury said:
It was a combination - the primary channel were the German agents in Britain. Who were all working for MI6.....JosiasJessop said:
I don't think that involved the Enigma, but a much more open form of misdirection. From memory, when a bomb exploded, the radio and newspapers would report it as being further north and west. This made the Germans think they were overshooting and reduce the range, meaning they were more likely to land in the lesser-populated southeast than London.OldKingCole said:
There's a similar story about the Enigma machine (or similar) and the Doodlebugs. They were 'misdirected' away from Central London.JosiasJessop said:
One podcast I listened to put the allies winning World War I down to the cutting of the cables in the first days of the war. It meant the Germans had to use radio, and that allowed the Zimmerman telegram to be intercepted, and helped lead the US to war.MattW said:
On the channel, two historical things I picked up on recently.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
Mine barriers laid across the Channel to block uboats.
That all of the German undersea telegraph cables in the channel were cut within hours of the start of WW1. Exactly the same basic strategy as WW2. Make them use radio.
https://warandsecurity.com/2014/08/05/britain-cuts-german-cable-communications-5-august-1914/
In the Cold War the Americans and UK tried intercepting communications in Berlin using a tunnel. Interestingly the Russians knew about the tunnel immediately due to George Bake's treachery, but they did not stop using the communication cables because they wanted to protect Blake ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gold
Someone can probably correct me.
What was interesting was that they didn't misreport hits - they actually reported a skewed sample of the actual hits.
V2 was largely inertial, though there were some experiments with radio guidance. And some carried radio beacons so they could be tracked.
By then we knew that if the light went out, it's engine had cut out.2 -
I'm slightly surprised there aren't more dams built across narrow channels - turbine action each way.JosiasJessop said:
Tidal and wave power has been looked into for many decades now. They've never quite worked out (awaits those who start shouting 'Thatcher!'). They have so much potential, but it seems to be very hard to make them work reliably and economically. Yet hydroelectric dams are generally reliable (*). The difference is probably that maintenance on hydroelectric turbines are so much easier, and the environment much more controlled and passive?Flatlander said:
A previous prototype (different company) was installed off Ramsey Island in Pembrokeshire. I understand that didn't go too well...Nigelb said:
Actually British, with the anchors from Wales and the turbines from England. And investment from both the the EU and London..StuartDickson said:
Another Scottish success story.CarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
As this is a prototype, it's also a little early to call it a success. But I hope it will be.
(*): Except in Russia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfW5MqT7CSA0 -
For those of us concerned about potential restrictions on betting being imposed by the government good to see a story in private eye highlighting the number of MPs who were entertained by bookmakers at Wembley and Wimbledon recently. For once I am in favour of the corruption (sorry, lobbying).2
-
India's general underperformance in many sports is fascinating. As a country they have so much potential, but cannot seem quite to grasp it fully.Pulpstar said:All time medals per (million) capita
Top -
Finland 54
GB 12.54
USA 7.62
India... 0.031 -
Yes, it's a hassle, but I think it'll be worth it. The trip I managed last September was great, especially as tourists back then were few in numbers so it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit places free of the crowds. I doubt this year will be that good!Maffew said:
I've got two separate weeks in Spain booked for the end of August/beginning of September and end of September. I'm increasingly sceptical that the first at least will go ahead with leaks about Spain being made 'amber-plus' and consideration of compulsory outdoor mask wearing being reintroduced there (if outdoor masks are compulsory it's simply not worth it for me to go). Everything except flights is fully refundable until a couple of days before I leave (and I can get vouchers for the flights), so I'm not feeling over-exposed but a holiday really would be lovely.IanB2 said:
Planning a trip right now is rather like a military operation. My September trip is looking more of a go-er now we seem to have turned the tide of the latest wave, but I've had to ditch the Austrian and Hungarian bits of it as Austria still has a complete ban on overnight stays by British tourists, extended the Germany bit to avoid being caught up in the Italian quarantine regulations for UK travellers, and arranged a Plan B with ferry return from Holland in case the UK doesn't drop the French amber-plus in time; unlike last year you can't even transit France without being caught by the UK rules. Plus tests to arrange both here and there, on top of the post-Brexit complications for the dog. And a Green Card. And a stack of online registrations and sworn declarations to make for most countries prior to entry. Plus the normal Swiss and Austrian motorway tolls to pre-pay. At least I already have a German low emission permit!noneoftheabove said:
AIUI it is still country by country so some places are fine, others not, you would need to check before booking. (If only it was an EU competence! Ducks and runs for cover.....)Stocky said:
Well, that's a huge problem then - I hope they sort this out.noneoftheabove said:
Only if travelling internationally.Stocky said:What is the latest on the three (dodgy?) Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine batches?
My first jab was from one of these batches but my second wasn't.
Should I be concerned?
My original plan was a much more environmentally friendly two week trip with a train journey to Munich, cycle across the Dolomites to Verona and then train back to Munich/the UK, but now every extra country you travel through becomes more risk of quarantines/bans. Sigh.
My original plan to circumnavigate the Alps to the east has turned instead into an extended tour around Bavaria followed by returns to my regular spots in the Italian Alps, but it looks better than 50:50 that my trip will go ahead
The outdoor mask rules will surely only apply in outdoor public spaces?0 -
Didn't see Tissue Price's name.noneoftheabove said:For those of us concerned about potential restrictions on betting being imposed by the government good to see a story in private eye highlighting the number of MPs who were entertained by bookmakers at Wembley and Wimbledon recently. For once I am in favour of the corruption (sorry, lobbying).
0 -
We went to Split last year and it was mint. Dubrovnik is the angle at the moment. On green list (watchlist, so wait for next review). Dubrovnik with no crowds (plus no cruise ships docking) would be superb.IanB2 said:
Yes, it's a hassle, but I think it'll be worth it. The trip I managed last September was great, especially as tourists back then were few in numbers so it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit places free of the crowds. I doubt this year will be that good!Maffew said:
I've got two separate weeks in Spain booked for the end of August/beginning of September and end of September. I'm increasingly sceptical that the first at least will go ahead with leaks about Spain being made 'amber-plus' and consideration of compulsory outdoor mask wearing being reintroduced there (if outdoor masks are compulsory it's simply not worth it for me to go). Everything except flights is fully refundable until a couple of days before I leave (and I can get vouchers for the flights), so I'm not feeling over-exposed but a holiday really would be lovely.IanB2 said:
Planning a trip right now is rather like a military operation. My September trip is looking more of a go-er now we seem to have turned the tide of the latest wave, but I've had to ditch the Austrian and Hungarian bits of it as Austria still has a complete ban on overnight stays by British tourists, extended the Germany bit to avoid being caught up in the Italian quarantine regulations for UK travellers, and arranged a Plan B with ferry return from Holland in case the UK doesn't drop the French amber-plus in time; unlike last year you can't even transit France without being caught by the UK rules. Plus tests to arrange both here and there, on top of the post-Brexit complications for the dog. And a Green Card. And a stack of online registrations and sworn declarations to make for most countries prior to entry. Plus the normal Swiss and Austrian motorway tolls to pre-pay. At least I already have a German low emission permit!noneoftheabove said:
AIUI it is still country by country so some places are fine, others not, you would need to check before booking. (If only it was an EU competence! Ducks and runs for cover.....)Stocky said:
Well, that's a huge problem then - I hope they sort this out.noneoftheabove said:
Only if travelling internationally.Stocky said:What is the latest on the three (dodgy?) Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine batches?
My first jab was from one of these batches but my second wasn't.
Should I be concerned?
My original plan was a much more environmentally friendly two week trip with a train journey to Munich, cycle across the Dolomites to Verona and then train back to Munich/the UK, but now every extra country you travel through becomes more risk of quarantines/bans. Sigh.
My original plan to circumnavigate the Alps to the east has turned instead into an extended tour around Bavaria followed by returns to my regular spots in the Italian Alps, but it looks better than 50:50 that my trip will go ahead
The outdoor mask rules will surely only apply in outdoor public spaces?1 -
Until they trained the Stuka pilots with effective tactics, not so much. They spent much of 1940 missing coastal steamers in the Channel, when they weren't attacking RAF airfields....Carnyx said:
Stukas (short ranged, however) were much more dangerous than level bombers. But only if the RAF and FAA weren't around.Malmesbury said:
At that point in time, the Luftwaffe had proved themselves not able to hit slow moving merchant ships effectively. Manoeuvring destroyers were pretty much immune.Theuniondivvie said:
The Channel would have been extremely close to the Luftwaffe on French airfields and similarly difficult for manoeuvering..SussexJames said:
It's been pretty definitively shown that if the RN wasn't wiped out, sustaining an invasion of GB would have been impossible.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, they might make be interesting outlines. In the plot outline I have, the Kriegsmarine defeat the Royal Navy in the Channel, and it is a battle for the Home Fleet to fight its way down from Scarpa Flow. And yes, I have German paratroopers playing a major part.DecrepiterJohnL said:
There are alternative invasion routes you should consider for your novel. One is from Norway to Scotland (which was also considered in the other direction for D-Day). More realistic would be to use paratroopers for the initial invasion and have them capture and secure a British port, which could then be used to land German reinforcements of troops and armour. This was a genuine fear, and the Admiralty had plans to destroy ports by scuttling ships, dumping coal, and blowing up facilities, had the Nazis been about to invade.JosiasJessop said:
I've long been tempted to write a novel about an invasion (after I walked around a very atmospheric gun battery on the south coast and imagined a fleet of invasion ships coming across). Having read up on it, IMV to make it realistic a number of things would have to change.Malmesbury said:
I liked the time they gamed it with the entire RN and RAF going to the pub for the actual invasion. The Germans sustained 30% losses on the Channel crossing, all by themselves.........JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
For one thing, the Germans would have had to wanted to invade England for several years; enough time to build a proper invasion fleet of landing craft, torpedo boats and other craft to harry the Royal Navy. Winning the Battle of Britain would also have been very important, and spies/saboteurs within the UK would have helped. There were others.
I've got these changes written down somewhere, as the starting point for the writing. without them I couldn't really have the major battles I wanted on the mainland.
I have written some; from memory, the first scene is of a nineteen year old boy watching the German invasion fleet come in as planes bomb the battery he has volunteered in. One strand of the book follows him during the retreat and then the fightback. As I'm a modern sort of person, another strand is from the viewpoint of a German sailor who gets stranded on the mainland. And that's the part I have a problem with, as I found it very hard to write from that viewpoint ...
I am not a writer (tm).
One way the RN could have been wiped out would have been for it to engage the German navy close enough to Germany for the Luftwaffe to divebomb the ships, in an area where manoeuvring was difficult.
Which is why the RN got agitated when Churchill wanted them to sail the entire Home Fleet into the Baltic...
This led to RN over confidence in the Med, later in the war, when the Germans had figured out the issues and train their aircrews to hit ships.
Interestingly the RN had trained their dive bombers (Skuas) in the art of hitting ships at sea. Which they then did....1 -
WTAF
Iraq war loot, presumably ?
Rare Cuneiform Tablet Bearing Portion of Epic of Gilgamesh Forfeited to United States
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/rare-cuneiform-tablet-bearing-portion-epic-gilgamesh-forfeited-united-states
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered the forfeiture of a rare cuneiform tablet bearing a portion of the epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian poem considered one of the world’s oldest works of literature.
Known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, it originated in the area of modern-day Iraq and entered the United States contrary to federal law. An international auction house (the Auction House) later sold the tablet to Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. (Hobby Lobby), a prominent arts-and-crafts retailer based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for display at the Museum of the Bible (the Museum). Law enforcement agents seized the tablet from the Museum in September 2019.
“Forfeiture of the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet demonstrates the Department’s continued commitment to eliminating smuggled cultural property from the U.S. art market,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Thwarting trade in smuggled goods by seizing and forfeiting an ancient artifact shows the department’s dedication to using all available tools, including forfeiture, to ensure justice.”
“This forfeiture represents an important milestone on the path to returning this rare and ancient masterpiece of world literature to its country of origin,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis for the Eastern District of New York. “This office is committed to combating the black-market sale of cultural property and the smuggling of looted artifacts.”
“The trafficking of cultural property and art is a lucrative criminal enterprise that transnational criminal organizations exploit to make a profit, regardless of its destructive consequence to cultures around the globe,” said Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York. “HSI continues to partner in art and antiquities investigations to ensure looted pieces are no longer trafficked through commerce for an illicit profit, because the cultural value of this tablet that travelled the world under false provenance exceeds any monetary value.”
As alleged in the government’s amended complaint, in 2003, a U.S. antiquities dealer (the Antiquities Dealer) purchased the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, encrusted with dirt and unreadable, from the family member of a London coin dealer. The Antiquities Dealer and a U.S. cuneiform expert shipped the tablet into the United States by international post without declaring the contents as required. After the tablet was imported and cleaned, experts in cuneiform recognized it as bearing a portion of the Gilgamesh epic. The tablet measures approximately 6 inches by 5 inches and is written in the Akkadian language....0 -
The usual cloth masks are fine in normal social environments such as supermarkets, but I’d want an N95 for crowded public transport, and an FFP3 for the Tube and plane travel.noneoftheabove said:
Oh definitely wear a mask. Surprisingly few people go for FFP2 or N95 but they are less than £1 each from amazon, hardly see anyone in Foxys recommended FFP3 but would give further protection still.eek said:
I'm not so sure with Delta that you need the x minute exposure that was true of other variants.noneoftheabove said:
Unless they need to travel at rush hour for some reason, particularly the morning rush hour, the tubes are not crowded and therefore feel safe. If still worried, then changing carriages every couple of stops reduces your chance of prolonged exposure to anyone infected. And as Foxy says London is a good walking city, so they should check how long the walks would take instead.DavidL said:
Son and girlfriend are going to London on Monday. They won't be going clubbing but they are worried about the tube. Hopefully it continues to be quieter. They are seriously considering using Uber instead given the risks. They are a sensible couple with their heads screwed on but it is going to be a worry.Foxy said:
Yes, I think that nightclubs are the main potential spreading events. It will be interesting to see if much comes out of Lattitude and other music festivals. Indoor music venues too come the autumn.DavidL said:4 of my son's friends went clubbing in London last week as a post school treat. 3 of them are now confirmed as having caught Covid, one quite badly and the fourth is self isolating. Its a pretty small sample but it does suggest that the opening of nightclubs is going to be a challenge to the figures. All of them had had 1 vaccine but in some cases too recently for it to give much protection.
The original hope was that the vast majority of those who were fully vaxxed would not catch Covid at all. That does not seem to be happening. They do catch it but the symptoms are much less severe and death is almost unheard of. Whilst this is good news it does mean that we are not achieving the level of herd immunity from vaccines that we once hoped. It also means we have a lot of mainly minor cases to come.
We are probably 2-3 days away from hospital admissions turning negative on a week to week basis too. The question is whether there will be sufficient potential victims left for a fourth wave in the autumn. I think, given the above, there will be, unfortunately.
I agree though about vaccinated folk. While obviously it gives major protection against hospitalisation, the effect on spreading seems much more modest.
A decent mask and staying in the same carriage is probably a better risk (and less hassle).0 -
Ah yes, sorry. The perils of skim reading!Malmesbury said:
That's to do with the aircraft attacks.SussexJames said:
The misdirecting of bombing was technological, broadcasting false signals that miatched the German guidance system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_BeamsMalmesbury said:
It was a combination - the primary channel were the German agents in Britain. Who were all working for MI6.....JosiasJessop said:
I don't think that involved the Enigma, but a much more open form of misdirection. From memory, when a bomb exploded, the radio and newspapers would report it as being further north and west. This made the Germans think they were overshooting and reduce the range, meaning they were more likely to land in the lesser-populated southeast than London.OldKingCole said:
There's a similar story about the Enigma machine (or similar) and the Doodlebugs. They were 'misdirected' away from Central London.JosiasJessop said:
One podcast I listened to put the allies winning World War I down to the cutting of the cables in the first days of the war. It meant the Germans had to use radio, and that allowed the Zimmerman telegram to be intercepted, and helped lead the US to war.MattW said:
On the channel, two historical things I picked up on recently.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
Mine barriers laid across the Channel to block uboats.
That all of the German undersea telegraph cables in the channel were cut within hours of the start of WW1. Exactly the same basic strategy as WW2. Make them use radio.
https://warandsecurity.com/2014/08/05/britain-cuts-german-cable-communications-5-august-1914/
In the Cold War the Americans and UK tried intercepting communications in Berlin using a tunnel. Interestingly the Russians knew about the tunnel immediately due to George Bake's treachery, but they did not stop using the communication cables because they wanted to protect Blake ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gold
Someone can probably correct me.
What was interesting was that they didn't misreport hits - they actually reported a skewed sample of the actual hits.
V2 was largely inertial, though there were some experiments with radio guidance. And some carried radio beacons so they could be tracked.0 -
Looking at the per capital tables there appears to be quite a significant correlation that religious countries underperform and the more secular countries overperform in Olympics. I don't know if that is fully explained by secular countries being on average richer.JosiasJessop said:
India's general underperformance in many sports is fascinating. As a country they have so much potential, but cannot seem quite to grasp it fully.Pulpstar said:All time medals per (million) capita
Top -
Finland 54
GB 12.54
USA 7.62
India... 0.031 -
Ha, yes - what a joy it is for the biggest worry of the day to be steering in a boat race.DougSeal said:
In truth I have reached my worry capacity. Not sure I’ve room for the boaties. Like the USA’s basketball team, all good things etc…MaxPB said:Hmm, worrying signs coming from the rowing team. Just watched the replay of the mens 4, what a shambles. 6 gold medals in a row to bumping into the Italians.
0 -
People generally see the US as quite a religious country, even though it's credible to argue that they're mostly only pretending.noneoftheabove said:
Looking at the per capital tables there appears to be quite a significant correlation that religious countries underperform and the more secular countries overperform in Olympics. I don't know if that is fully explained by secular countries being on average richer.JosiasJessop said:
India's general underperformance in many sports is fascinating. As a country they have so much potential, but cannot seem quite to grasp it fully.Pulpstar said:All time medals per (million) capita
Top -
Finland 54
GB 12.54
USA 7.62
India... 0.03
You've probably nailed the main driver. Although having greater female equality will increase medal prospects, as well.1 -
I wrote to my MP a couple of weeks ago suggesting that as general public mask use was phased out, FFP3 masks should be prescribed by the NHS to the extremely clinically vulnerable. He promised to raise it with the Health Sec.
Haven’t seen any sign of action yet. Seems a no brainer now the research is there to give them to healthcare workers and the vulnerable surely. Also why not make them a condition of entry to hospitals given what we know about the number of acquired infections there.
It’s quite frustrating how the government is so poor at targeted interventions like this, which would cost relatively little and have such an outsized impact on outcomes.2 -
Indeed, IIRC including at least one of the cruisers the Germans needed for Seeloewe.Malmesbury said:
Until they trained the Stuka pilots with effective tactics, not so much. They spent much of 1940 missing coastal steamers in the Channel, when they weren't attacking RAF airfields....Carnyx said:
Stukas (short ranged, however) were much more dangerous than level bombers. But only if the RAF and FAA weren't around.Malmesbury said:
At that point in time, the Luftwaffe had proved themselves not able to hit slow moving merchant ships effectively. Manoeuvring destroyers were pretty much immune.Theuniondivvie said:
The Channel would have been extremely close to the Luftwaffe on French airfields and similarly difficult for manoeuvering..SussexJames said:
It's been pretty definitively shown that if the RN wasn't wiped out, sustaining an invasion of GB would have been impossible.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, they might make be interesting outlines. In the plot outline I have, the Kriegsmarine defeat the Royal Navy in the Channel, and it is a battle for the Home Fleet to fight its way down from Scarpa Flow. And yes, I have German paratroopers playing a major part.DecrepiterJohnL said:
There are alternative invasion routes you should consider for your novel. One is from Norway to Scotland (which was also considered in the other direction for D-Day). More realistic would be to use paratroopers for the initial invasion and have them capture and secure a British port, which could then be used to land German reinforcements of troops and armour. This was a genuine fear, and the Admiralty had plans to destroy ports by scuttling ships, dumping coal, and blowing up facilities, had the Nazis been about to invade.JosiasJessop said:
I've long been tempted to write a novel about an invasion (after I walked around a very atmospheric gun battery on the south coast and imagined a fleet of invasion ships coming across). Having read up on it, IMV to make it realistic a number of things would have to change.Malmesbury said:
I liked the time they gamed it with the entire RN and RAF going to the pub for the actual invasion. The Germans sustained 30% losses on the Channel crossing, all by themselves.........JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
For one thing, the Germans would have had to wanted to invade England for several years; enough time to build a proper invasion fleet of landing craft, torpedo boats and other craft to harry the Royal Navy. Winning the Battle of Britain would also have been very important, and spies/saboteurs within the UK would have helped. There were others.
I've got these changes written down somewhere, as the starting point for the writing. without them I couldn't really have the major battles I wanted on the mainland.
I have written some; from memory, the first scene is of a nineteen year old boy watching the German invasion fleet come in as planes bomb the battery he has volunteered in. One strand of the book follows him during the retreat and then the fightback. As I'm a modern sort of person, another strand is from the viewpoint of a German sailor who gets stranded on the mainland. And that's the part I have a problem with, as I found it very hard to write from that viewpoint ...
I am not a writer (tm).
One way the RN could have been wiped out would have been for it to engage the German navy close enough to Germany for the Luftwaffe to divebomb the ships, in an area where manoeuvring was difficult.
Which is why the RN got agitated when Churchill wanted them to sail the entire Home Fleet into the Baltic...
This led to RN over confidence in the Med, later in the war, when the Germans had figured out the issues and train their aircrews to hit ships.
Interestingly the RN had trained their dive bombers (Skuas) in the art of hitting ships at sea. Which they then did....0 -
Stukas (short ranged, however) were much more dangerous than level bombers. But only if the RAF and FAA weren't around.
Very much so, although sustained anti-aircraft fire from ships was effective, not so much in hitting enemy aircraft, as in deterring pilots from pressing their attacks home. They tended to release their bombloads too soon.
Far more deadly for Mediterranean convoys were attacks from submarines and torpedo boats. Italian sailors acquitted themsleves very well, in particular. It's still hard to understand why the Italian high command were unwilling to risk cruisers and destroyers against the Royal Navy.1 -
He is referring to the part in Animal Farm where the animals couldn't tell the difference between the pigs and the humans (the former representing the communist elite and the latter the capitalists), when the pigs were supposed to have replaced the humans.Big_G_NorthWales said:
I have no idea what you are talking about but if you lived in the UK, shopped in the UK, and kept off twitter, you may have your eyes opened to the actual reasons for perceived shortages and affirmed by a cross section PB postersStuartDickson said:
And there you have it: big g goes full circle.Big_G_NorthWales said:
With respect that is nonsenseStuartDickson said:
She’s right. Empty shelves are caused by Brexit.MattW said:Talking of newspapers, does anyone know how to read die Zeit.
There's a glorious faceplant of an article by Bettina Schulz (who I thought reputable) starting thusly:
The pandemic as an excuse for empty supermarket shelves
Great Britain is in crisis, the new wave of infections is affecting countless industries. The government does not want to admit that many problems are due to Brexit.
An analysis by Bettina Schulz , London
For a long time the British supermarkets were able to hide their misery. For months, pasta, canned soups, avocados or honey were pushed onto the shelves so skilfully that it wasn't even noticeable how meager the selection really was. It is no longer possible, because now the employees are also missing. So there is no one who has time to sort the meager range of goods into Potemkin villages in a land of milk and honey.
...
https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2021-07/grossbritannien-corona-krise-lieferengpaesse-supermaerkte-brexit-delta-personalmangel-pingedemic
If it was caused by Covid we would be having the same problem in the European Union. We aren’t.
The pingdemic has caused the most almighty disruption and in my opinion is the cause of Boris's fall in the polls and was avoidable, especially as they are lifting the restrictions on the 16th August
Not everything is Brexit no matter how much you wish it to be
Have a re-read of Animal Farm. The bit where the animals stare through the window at the end. You’ve transmogrified into that which you once despised.
I think I follow why he mentioned it, but he hasn't noticed that this is a beautifully analogous to nationalists who want their lot, who are pretty dodgy (see recent allegations plus Alex Salmond being described by his QC as a bully and a sex pest,) to replace the British establishment (which also has a lot of Scots in it), because the British establishment is, well, er, dodgy. Hmmm!1 -
Have a short horizontal slit halfway up and you can button the top on one side and the bottom on the other.Carnyx said:
I do wonder what happens with blazers and suit jackets. Which side will they button on?isam said:
There’ll be unisex hairdressers next!Theuniondivvie said:Sorry war on woke warriors, was checking the the Levis site for something and note they now have a 'Genderless' category. When capitalism takes a side, the war tends to be over.
2 -
Writing to the government seems a waste of time recently. I wrote by email to Gove eighteen months back about something he was dealing with; nearly a year had passed and I had given up on getting a reply, when I got a one-liner saying the Cabinet Office didn't correspond on matters relating to specific departments (which by then it had become) and I should write to the Minister. So I sent a physical letter, thinking it would be harder to ignore, to the Minister some months back; so far, nothing.moonshine said:I wrote to my MP a couple of weeks ago suggesting that as general public mask use was phased out, FFP3 masks should be prescribed by the NHS to the extremely clinically vulnerable. He promised to raise it with the Health Sec.
Haven’t seen any sign of action yet. Seems a no brainer now the research is there to give them to healthcare workers and the vulnerable surely. Also why not make them a condition of entry to hospitals given what we know about the number of acquired infections there.
It’s quite frustrating how the government is so poor at targeted interventions like this, which would cost relatively little and have such an outsized impact on outcomes.
Contacting government as an ordinary punter often means waiting a bit, but the current shower seem worse at correspondence than ever I remember.1 -
I didn't realise this is just the latest in a long involvement by Hobby Lobby with stolen artefacts.Nigelb said:WTAF
Iraq war loot, presumably ?
Rare Cuneiform Tablet Bearing Portion of Epic of Gilgamesh Forfeited to United States
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/rare-cuneiform-tablet-bearing-portion-epic-gilgamesh-forfeited-united-states
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered the forfeiture of a rare cuneiform tablet bearing a portion of the epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian poem considered one of the world’s oldest works of literature.
Known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, it originated in the area of modern-day Iraq and entered the United States contrary to federal law. An international auction house (the Auction House) later sold the tablet to Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. (Hobby Lobby), a prominent arts-and-crafts retailer based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for display at the Museum of the Bible (the Museum). Law enforcement agents seized the tablet from the Museum in September 2019.
“Forfeiture of the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet demonstrates the Department’s continued commitment to eliminating smuggled cultural property from the U.S. art market,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Thwarting trade in smuggled goods by seizing and forfeiting an ancient artifact shows the department’s dedication to using all available tools, including forfeiture, to ensure justice.”
“This forfeiture represents an important milestone on the path to returning this rare and ancient masterpiece of world literature to its country of origin,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis for the Eastern District of New York. “This office is committed to combating the black-market sale of cultural property and the smuggling of looted artifacts.”
“The trafficking of cultural property and art is a lucrative criminal enterprise that transnational criminal organizations exploit to make a profit, regardless of its destructive consequence to cultures around the globe,” said Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York. “HSI continues to partner in art and antiquities investigations to ensure looted pieces are no longer trafficked through commerce for an illicit profit, because the cultural value of this tablet that travelled the world under false provenance exceeds any monetary value.”
As alleged in the government’s amended complaint, in 2003, a U.S. antiquities dealer (the Antiquities Dealer) purchased the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, encrusted with dirt and unreadable, from the family member of a London coin dealer. The Antiquities Dealer and a U.S. cuneiform expert shipped the tablet into the United States by international post without declaring the contents as required. After the tablet was imported and cleaned, experts in cuneiform recognized it as bearing a portion of the Gilgamesh epic. The tablet measures approximately 6 inches by 5 inches and is written in the Akkadian language....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_Lobby_smuggling_scandal
Followers of US politics will know that the company also tried to derail the Affordable Care Act.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burwell_v._Hobby_Lobby_Stores,_Inc.
Nice set of folks.0 -
That's an interesting take I hadn't considered, thanks.noneoftheabove said:
Looking at the per capital tables there appears to be quite a significant correlation that religious countries underperform and the more secular countries overperform in Olympics. I don't know if that is fully explained by secular countries being on average richer.JosiasJessop said:
India's general underperformance in many sports is fascinating. As a country they have so much potential, but cannot seem quite to grasp it fully.Pulpstar said:All time medals per (million) capita
Top -
Finland 54
GB 12.54
USA 7.62
India... 0.030 -
It does in fact generate in both directions (i.e. it's orientation is fixed, so flow direction changes with the tide)Selebian said:
If it's fixed in position, then both depending on whether the tide is going in or out? If it's tethered so that it can reorientate downstream of the tethers then it looks like it would stabilise with the turbines behind the trailing edge - and this picture https://orbitalmarine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/O2-ARRIVAL-ORKNEY-7-700x550.jpg from https://orbitalmarine.com/o2/ also supports that if that's it in-situ (flow seems to be from short to long end, which means trailing edge) not still being towed (the blades would likely be in maintenance position on the surface if towed?).Carnyx said:
Interesting - do the propellers operate in advance of the leading edge or behind the trailing edge? I can't work it out. The latter would be worse for fatigue, as the flow regime would not be uniform, but not as bad as if the outriggers were actually lift-generating wings (just been reading aboiut that very issue in the B-35 bomber of yore): presumably the thing is neutrally buoyant.JosiasJessop said:
That's weird looking, but also kind-of beautiful. It looks more like an aeroplane than a power generator (although that's probably because both have to operate in flows).CarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
Edit: maybe the blades are on the surface and it is under tow. But even then, it would likely tow in the same orientation that water would flow?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-57991442 (in the video)2 -
That surge and falling away in Holland is peculiar.MattW said:
We also do not know how huge the Delta wave will be in EU countries.CarlottaVance said:So what’s going on? It seems the case that Johnson and Sunak are keen on reopening the borders to foreign visitors as soon as possible, but that some other Cabinet ministers are more skeptical — so whoever briefed today’s papers might have been trying to gently bounce the decision over the line. The concerns of the cautious ministers are centered on the quality of vaccine certification in the U.S., which does not have a single digital vaccine passport scheme like the U.K. and EU, Swinford reports. He says some in government are worried that the American paper-based vaccine card, organized at state rather than federal level, could be vulnerable to forgery. Playbook is also told that some ministers are worried at being seen as soft on borders after being stung during the first wave and again by the Delta variant originally detected in India. Labour has made a major play of the government’s weakness on borders during the pandemic.
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/politico-london-playbook-fly-delta-7-up-fergie-time/
Some quite large R values are building up in various places.
UVDL is about to lose her 'EU success controlling COVID by vaccine rollout' narrative for a couple of months, but I'm sure she'll find somebody else to blame.
Crucially dependent on the feedstock of unvaxxed population.
0 -
It’s obvious that the grave incompetence of the Conservative government has made things worse, but the key, underlying problem here is Brexit. No question.IanB2 said:
But you don't have government-driven pingdemonium, either.StuartDickson said:
She’s right. Empty shelves are caused by Brexit.MattW said:Talking of newspapers, does anyone know how to read die Zeit.
There's a glorious faceplant of an article by Bettina Schulz (who I thought reputable) starting thusly:
The pandemic as an excuse for empty supermarket shelves
Great Britain is in crisis, the new wave of infections is affecting countless industries. The government does not want to admit that many problems are due to Brexit.
An analysis by Bettina Schulz , London
For a long time the British supermarkets were able to hide their misery. For months, pasta, canned soups, avocados or honey were pushed onto the shelves so skilfully that it wasn't even noticeable how meager the selection really was. It is no longer possible, because now the employees are also missing. So there is no one who has time to sort the meager range of goods into Potemkin villages in a land of milk and honey.
...
https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2021-07/grossbritannien-corona-krise-lieferengpaesse-supermaerkte-brexit-delta-personalmangel-pingedemic
If it was caused by Covid we would be having the same problem in the European Union. We aren’t.0 -
I am happy - nay, delighted - to report that the great Ready Flaked Parmesan Emergency has finally, after hours of widespread and harrowing deprivation, where people were forced to do home flaking with their bare hands and a grater, has now abated
3 -
Don’t tell the BBC.CarlottaVance said:
The EU is competing no more than Scotland is.StuartDickson said:
Huh? The EU has won 63 medals so far, including 16 golds, easily beating China, Japan, England etc.Fysics_Teacher said:
Sorry? The highest EU team is France, who are 8th.StuartDickson said:So pleased to see Primož Roglič winning gold in the ITT. That solidifies the European Union lead in the medal tallies.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/577984900 -
Yup, and given the effectiveness it's surely time to look at investing in long term domestic manufacturing to supply the NHS and other sectors indefinitely.moonshine said:I wrote to my MP a couple of weeks ago suggesting that as general public mask use was phased out, FFP3 masks should be prescribed by the NHS to the extremely clinically vulnerable. He promised to raise it with the Health Sec.
Haven’t seen any sign of action yet. Seems a no brainer now the research is there to give them to healthcare workers and the vulnerable surely. Also why not make them a condition of entry to hospitals given what we know about the number of acquired infections there.
It’s quite frustrating how the government is so poor at targeted interventions like this, which would cost relatively little and have such an outsized impact on outcomes.0 -
Yes. It needs to be like the AIDS campaign now, don’t die of ignorance.rottenborough said:
Maybe it is a time for a shock and horror campaign focused on the young? Maybe it is a bad idea and poor psychology to try and scare them into getting the bloody jab. But everything else doesn't seem to work. I suggested last night a TV ad campaign with a young guy on a ventilator being told it is now too late to get the vaccine.turbotubbs said:
It might help persuade the youngsters if a bit more was made of young people dying, especially if they were otherwise well.Nigelb said:
Much higher viral shedding (up to 1000x) by infectious individuals almost certainly accounts for that.eek said:
I'm not so sure with Delta that you need the x minute exposure that was true of other variants.noneoftheabove said:
Unless they need to travel at rush hour for some reason, particularly the morning rush hour, the tubes are not crowded and therefore feel safe. If still worried, then changing carriages every couple of stops reduces your chance of prolonged exposure to anyone infected. And as Foxy says London is a good walking city, so they should check how long the walks would take instead.DavidL said:
Son and girlfriend are going to London on Monday. They won't be going clubbing but they are worried about the tube. Hopefully it continues to be quieter. They are seriously considering using Uber instead given the risks. They are a sensible couple with their heads screwed on but it is going to be a worry.Foxy said:
Yes, I think that nightclubs are the main potential spreading events. It will be interesting to see if much comes out of Lattitude and other music festivals. Indoor music venues too come the autumn.DavidL said:4 of my son's friends went clubbing in London last week as a post school treat. 3 of them are now confirmed as having caught Covid, one quite badly and the fourth is self isolating. Its a pretty small sample but it does suggest that the opening of nightclubs is going to be a challenge to the figures. All of them had had 1 vaccine but in some cases too recently for it to give much protection.
The original hope was that the vast majority of those who were fully vaxxed would not catch Covid at all. That does not seem to be happening. They do catch it but the symptoms are much less severe and death is almost unheard of. Whilst this is good news it does mean that we are not achieving the level of herd immunity from vaccines that we once hoped. It also means we have a lot of mainly minor cases to come.
We are probably 2-3 days away from hospital admissions turning negative on a week to week basis too. The question is whether there will be sufficient potential victims left for a fourth wave in the autumn. I think, given the above, there will be, unfortunately.
I agree though about vaccinated folk. While obviously it gives major protection against hospitalisation, the effect on spreading seems much more modest.
A decent mask and staying in the same carriage is probably a better risk (and less hassle).
I was a bit shocked to hear that one of my son's (twenty-something) acquaintances died of COVID this week.0 -
Thank you and seems a probable explanationNigel_Foremain said:
He is referring to the part in Animal Farm where the animals couldn't tell the difference between the pigs and the humans (the former representing the communist elite and the latter the capitalists), when the pigs were supposed to have replaced the humans.Big_G_NorthWales said:
I have no idea what you are talking about but if you lived in the UK, shopped in the UK, and kept off twitter, you may have your eyes opened to the actual reasons for perceived shortages and affirmed by a cross section PB postersStuartDickson said:
And there you have it: big g goes full circle.Big_G_NorthWales said:
With respect that is nonsenseStuartDickson said:
She’s right. Empty shelves are caused by Brexit.MattW said:Talking of newspapers, does anyone know how to read die Zeit.
There's a glorious faceplant of an article by Bettina Schulz (who I thought reputable) starting thusly:
The pandemic as an excuse for empty supermarket shelves
Great Britain is in crisis, the new wave of infections is affecting countless industries. The government does not want to admit that many problems are due to Brexit.
An analysis by Bettina Schulz , London
For a long time the British supermarkets were able to hide their misery. For months, pasta, canned soups, avocados or honey were pushed onto the shelves so skilfully that it wasn't even noticeable how meager the selection really was. It is no longer possible, because now the employees are also missing. So there is no one who has time to sort the meager range of goods into Potemkin villages in a land of milk and honey.
...
https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2021-07/grossbritannien-corona-krise-lieferengpaesse-supermaerkte-brexit-delta-personalmangel-pingedemic
If it was caused by Covid we would be having the same problem in the European Union. We aren’t.
The pingdemic has caused the most almighty disruption and in my opinion is the cause of Boris's fall in the polls and was avoidable, especially as they are lifting the restrictions on the 16th August
Not everything is Brexit no matter how much you wish it to be
Have a re-read of Animal Farm. The bit where the animals stare through the window at the end. You’ve transmogrified into that which you once despised.
I think I follow why he mentioned it, but he hasn't noticed that this is a beautifully analogous to nationalists who want their lot, who are pretty dodgy (see recent allegations plus Alex Salmond being described by his QC as a bully and a sex pest,) to replace the British establishment (which also has a lot of Scots in it), because the British establishment is, well, er, dodgy. Hmmm!0 -
Indeed.Theuniondivvie said:
Or the UK..CarlottaVance said:
The EU is competing no more than Scotland is.StuartDickson said:
Huh? The EU has won 63 medals so far, including 16 golds, easily beating China, Japan, England etc.Fysics_Teacher said:
Sorry? The highest EU team is France, who are 8th.StuartDickson said:So pleased to see Primož Roglič winning gold in the ITT. That solidifies the European Union lead in the medal tallies.
Folk see what they want to see.0 -
LOL!. Does she actually believe the rubbish she writes?MattW said:Talking of newspapers, does anyone know how to read die Zeit.
There's a glorious faceplant of an article by Bettina Schulz (who I thought reputable) starting thusly:
The pandemic as an excuse for empty supermarket shelves
Great Britain is in crisis, the new wave of infections is affecting countless industries. The government does not want to admit that many problems are due to Brexit.
An analysis by Bettina Schulz , London
For a long time the British supermarkets were able to hide their misery. For months, pasta, canned soups, avocados or honey were pushed onto the shelves so skilfully that it wasn't even noticeable how meager the selection really was. It is no longer possible, because now the employees are also missing. So there is no one who has time to sort the meager range of goods into Potemkin villages in a land of milk and honey.
...
https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2021-07/grossbritannien-corona-krise-lieferengpaesse-supermaerkte-brexit-delta-personalmangel-pingedemic0 -
Error message when posting on the new thread - so don't all rush to it.0
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Very much so, although sustained anti-aircraft fire from ships was effective, not so much in hitting enemy aircraft, as in deterring pilots from pressing their attacks home. They tended to release their bombloads too soon.Sean_F said:
Stukas (short ranged, however) were much more dangerous than level bombers. But only if the RAF and FAA weren't around.
Far more deadly for Mediterranean convoys were attacks from submarines and torpedo boats. Italian sailors acquitted themsleves very well, in particular. It's still hard to understand why the Italian high command were unwilling to risk cruisers and destroyers against the Royal Navy.
Shortage of fuel was a big thing for the Italian fleet. Then there was the "fleet in being" idea.
Plus the RN surface fleet had establish a moral dominance - they always fought and fought hard. The German surface fleet was so pushed back by this, that Hitler wanted to scrap the lot.1 -
As I understand it the inter war Italian navy was built up partly to be a symbol of a resurgent world power? Difficult psychologically to put symbols at risk I think. They were also slow to adopt sonar and radar which may have been somewhat inhibiting.Sean_F said:
Very much so, although sustained anti-aircraft fire from ships was effective, not so much in hitting enemy aircraft, as in deterring pilots from pressing their attacks home. They tended to release their bombloads too soon.
Far more deadly for Mediterranean convoys were attacks from submarines and torpedo boats. Italian sailors acquitted themsleves very well, in particular. It's still hard to understand why the Italian high command were unwilling to risk cruisers and destroyers against the Royal Navy.2 -
The US is "surprisingly" behind most of Europe on the per capita Olympic tables. I guess only surprising because we are used to them being dominant but forget how populous it is compared to European countries.IanB2 said:
People generally see the US as quite a religious country, even though it's credible to argue that they're mostly only pretending.noneoftheabove said:
Looking at the per capital tables there appears to be quite a significant correlation that religious countries underperform and the more secular countries overperform in Olympics. I don't know if that is fully explained by secular countries being on average richer.JosiasJessop said:
India's general underperformance in many sports is fascinating. As a country they have so much potential, but cannot seem quite to grasp it fully.Pulpstar said:All time medals per (million) capita
Top -
Finland 54
GB 12.54
USA 7.62
India... 0.03
You've probably nailed the main driver. Although having greater female equality will increase medal prospects, as well.0 -
Salt in seawater is also a factor, but being able to control the water flow through the turbines makes a big difference in terms of knowing what forces you have to engineer it to withstand.JosiasJessop said:
Tidal and wave power has been looked into for many decades now. They've never quite worked out (awaits those who start shouting 'Thatcher!'). They have so much potential, but it seems to be very hard to make them work reliably and economically. Yet hydroelectric dams are generally reliable (*). The difference is probably that maintenance on hydroelectric turbines are so much easier, and the environment much more controlled and passive?Flatlander said:
A previous prototype (different company) was installed off Ramsey Island in Pembrokeshire. I understand that didn't go too well...Nigelb said:
Actually British, with the anchors from Wales and the turbines from England. And investment from both the the EU and London..StuartDickson said:
Another Scottish success story.CarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
As this is a prototype, it's also a little early to call it a success. But I hope it will be.
(*): Except in Russia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfW5MqT7CSA0 -
NEW THREAD (but comments not working yet)0
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Poor levels of nutrition especially in childhood probably explains some of it. Hard to become a professional athlete if you spend your childhood undernourished.JosiasJessop said:
India's general underperformance in many sports is fascinating. As a country they have so much potential, but cannot seem quite to grasp it fully.Pulpstar said:All time medals per (million) capita
Top -
Finland 54
GB 12.54
USA 7.62
India... 0.030 -
Had the Italian surface navy attacked during Operation Pedestal, they would have suffered heavy losses, but they would have sunk the convoy, and Malta would have fallen.Theuniondivvie said:
As I understand it the inter war Italian navy was built up partly to be a symbol of a resurgent world power? Difficult psychologically to put symbols at risk I think. They were also slow to adopt sonar and radar which may have been somewhat inhibiting.Sean_F said:
Very much so, although sustained anti-aircraft fire from ships was effective, not so much in hitting enemy aircraft, as in deterring pilots from pressing their attacks home. They tended to release their bombloads too soon.
Far more deadly for Mediterranean convoys were attacks from submarines and torpedo boats. Italian sailors acquitted themsleves very well, in particular. It's still hard to understand why the Italian high command were unwilling to risk cruisers and destroyers against the Royal Navy.0 -
It is uncontrolled shortages. Which means you may have a load of stuff missing in Asda and plenty of everything in nearby Tesco. Or vice versa. Seeing full shelves doesn't mean there are no shortages.Xtrain said:Where are the empty shelves. Did a full shop yesterday. No missing items.
0 -
How many would Great Britain have if Wales, Scotland and England entered, so each had more competitors and teams?BlancheLivermore said:
How many would they have if the US entered its states, or China its provinces, so each had more teams than the EU?StuartDickson said:
Huh? The EU has won 63 medals so far, including 16 golds, easily beating China, Japan, England etc.Fysics_Teacher said:
Sorry? The highest EU team is France, who are 8th.StuartDickson said:So pleased to see Primož Roglič winning gold in the ITT. That solidifies the European Union lead in the medal tallies.
Result of the Field Hockey at the 1908 Olympics:
Gold England
Silver Ireland
Joint bronze Scotland and Wales
5th Germany
6th France0 -
Well you seem to think the EU owns France, etc.StuartDickson said:
I’m sure the Americans will be delighted to hear that 4 July 1776 was all in vain. The English still think they own the place.DecrepiterJohnL said:
Ah but the English-Speaking Peoples (© Winston Churchill) have 23 Golds to the EU's 16. Adding together the Commonwealth is left as an exercise for the reader.StuartDickson said:So pleased to see Primož Roglič winning gold in the ITT. That solidifies the European Union lead in the medal tallies.
0 -
There is always an England team.Fysics_Teacher said:
The EU is not a single team. As pointed out earlier, other multinational groupings are available for comparisons which are just as valid.StuartDickson said:
Huh? The EU has won 63 medals so far, including 16 golds, easily beating China, Japan, England etc.Fysics_Teacher said:
Sorry? The highest EU team is France, who are 8th.StuartDickson said:So pleased to see Primož Roglič winning gold in the ITT. That solidifies the European Union lead in the medal tallies.
Oh, and there is no England team either.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.1 -
"A quarter of Britons haven't been hugged since the first lockdown last March and 44% haven't made a single new friend, survey finds
25% of Brits haven't been hugged in a year, while 37% haven't in six months
Meanwhile, nearly half haven't made a new friend in the last year
Researchers say there is 'huge risk' community spirit will be lost"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9831577/A-QUARTER-Britons-havent-hugged-pandemic-began.html
0 -
The BBC coverage is a joke. The event has started and instead they're in the studio chatting rather than showing the bloody sport. Get on with it.0
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My husband has just come back from Tescos and said there seemed to be a lot of large sized jars of coffee, salad cream, etc. on the shelves rather than the smaller sizes. It could be, as Rochdale Pioneers said, to make the shelves look full.RochdalePioneers said:
It is uncontrolled shortages. Which means you may have a load of stuff missing in Asda and plenty of everything in nearby Tesco. Or vice versa. Seeing full shelves doesn't mean there are no shortages.Xtrain said:Where are the empty shelves. Did a full shop yesterday. No missing items.
0 -
Delighted to see the covid theatre of plastic screens and one way systems dismantled at Sainsbury’s last night.2
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We would have picked up a couple more medals in golf on the rare occasions it has been contested and lost many more in team events and relays. Perhaps a recent Engand u23 Olympic football win as well.StuartDickson said:
How many would Great Britain have if Wales, Scotland and England entered, so each had more competitors and teams?BlancheLivermore said:
How many would they have if the US entered its states, or China its provinces, so each had more teams than the EU?StuartDickson said:
Huh? The EU has won 63 medals so far, including 16 golds, easily beating China, Japan, England etc.Fysics_Teacher said:
Sorry? The highest EU team is France, who are 8th.StuartDickson said:So pleased to see Primož Roglič winning gold in the ITT. That solidifies the European Union lead in the medal tallies.
Result of the Field Hockey at the 1908 Olympics:
Gold England
Silver Ireland
Joint bronze Scotland and Wales
5th Germany
6th France0 -
Yes me too.DougSeal said:Delighted to see the covid theatre of plastic screens and one way systems dismantled at Sainsbury’s last night.
To the contrary - this is a message from our local Snowdome (indoor skiing):
"Following the Government’s announcement regarding the easing of restrictions from Monday 19th July, Snozone will still request our members and guests to wear face coverings at all times within our venues.
We further request that guests and members respectfully retain social distancing measures as before, using their good judgement as prescriptive internal signage will now be removed.
Whilst we acknowledge the steps taken to re-establish previous practices, we also recognise that the pandemic is still very much with us and the health, safety and well-being of our team, members and guests is and will continue to be of paramount importance.
We therefore kindly request that these measures are adhered to and that a respectful space is given to each other.
We appreciate your support."0 -
Speaking of maritime symbols of doubtful purpose, probably £500m in the unlikely event of it ever coming to fruition? And I thought it was not going to be a 'royal' yacht, or are they going to persist with that terminology despite Brenda's disapproval?
0 -
Scottish Government sparks online debate by referring to pregnant ‘people’ – not pregnant ‘women’
https://twitter.com/ChrisMusson/status/1420320724951216133?s=201 -
The End of Days averted once again. How many near misses will we have?Leon said:I am happy - nay, delighted - to report that the great Ready Flaked Parmesan Emergency has finally, after hours of widespread and harrowing deprivation, where people were forced to do home flaking with their bare hands and a grater, has now abated
1 -
Ah, baby steps and all that. Haven’t felt as chipper as I have this week for a while. If the sun stays out I’m going to the beach.Stocky said:
Yes me too.DougSeal said:Delighted to see the covid theatre of plastic screens and one way systems dismantled at Sainsbury’s last night.
To the contrary - this is a message from our local Snowdome (indoor skiing):
"Following the Government’s announcement regarding the easing of restrictions from Monday 19th July, Snozone will still request our members and guests to wear face coverings at all times within our venues.
We further request that guests and members respectfully retain social distancing measures as before, using their good judgement as prescriptive internal signage will now be removed.
Whilst we acknowledge the steps taken to re-establish previous practices, we also recognise that the pandemic is still very much with us and the health, safety and well-being of our team, members and guests is and will continue to be of paramount importance.
We therefore kindly request that these measures are adhered to and that a respectful space is given to each other.
We appreciate your support."1 -
Strikes me as very optimistic from Sainsbury's. They will be pretty pissed off when they have to put them back in September.DougSeal said:Delighted to see the covid theatre of plastic screens and one way systems dismantled at Sainsbury’s last night.
0 -
Similar report from Mrs C at one of our nearer Tescos. Stock spread out on the shelves. A nearby 'refill store' is doing the same.SandraMc said:
My husband has just come back from Tescos and said there seemed to be a lot of large sized jars of coffee, salad cream, etc. on the shelves rather than the smaller sizes. It could be, as Rochdale Pioneers said, to make the shelves look full.RochdalePioneers said:
It is uncontrolled shortages. Which means you may have a load of stuff missing in Asda and plenty of everything in nearby Tesco. Or vice versa. Seeing full shelves doesn't mean there are no shortages.Xtrain said:Where are the empty shelves. Did a full shop yesterday. No missing items.
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It was all of them, and more.SussexJames said:
The misdirecting of bombing was technological, broadcasting false signals that miatched the German guidance system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_BeamsMalmesbury said:
It was a combination - the primary channel were the German agents in Britain. Who were all working for MI6.....JosiasJessop said:
I don't think that involved the Enigma, but a much more open form of misdirection. From memory, when a bomb exploded, the radio and newspapers would report it as being further north and west. This made the Germans think they were overshooting and reduce the range, meaning they were more likely to land in the lesser-populated southeast than London.OldKingCole said:
There's a similar story about the Enigma machine (or similar) and the Doodlebugs. They were 'misdirected' away from Central London.JosiasJessop said:
One podcast I listened to put the allies winning World War I down to the cutting of the cables in the first days of the war. It meant the Germans had to use radio, and that allowed the Zimmerman telegram to be intercepted, and helped lead the US to war.MattW said:
On the channel, two historical things I picked up on recently.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns
Mine barriers laid across the Channel to block uboats.
That all of the German undersea telegraph cables in the channel were cut within hours of the start of WW1. Exactly the same basic strategy as WW2. Make them use radio.
https://warandsecurity.com/2014/08/05/britain-cuts-german-cable-communications-5-august-1914/
In the Cold War the Americans and UK tried intercepting communications in Berlin using a tunnel. Interestingly the Russians knew about the tunnel immediately due to George Bake's treachery, but they did not stop using the communication cables because they wanted to protect Blake ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gold
Someone can probably correct me.
What was interesting was that they didn't misreport hits - they actually reported a skewed sample of the actual hits.
eg Don't forget, also, Operation Starfish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_site#:~:text=Starfish sites were large-scale,their ordnance over the countryside.0 -
There was no Jordan’s Strawberry Country Crisp at Sainsbury’s last night. The end times are truly upon us.SandraMc said:
My husband has just come back from Tescos and said there seemed to be a lot of large sized jars of coffee, salad cream, etc. on the shelves rather than the smaller sizes. It could be, as Rochdale Pioneers said, to make the shelves look full.RochdalePioneers said:
It is uncontrolled shortages. Which means you may have a load of stuff missing in Asda and plenty of everything in nearby Tesco. Or vice versa. Seeing full shelves doesn't mean there are no shortages.Xtrain said:Where are the empty shelves. Did a full shop yesterday. No missing items.
1 -
You’re a ray of sunshine this morning,rottenborough said:
Strikes me as very optimistic from Sainsbury's. They will be pretty pissed off when they have to put them back in September.DougSeal said:Delighted to see the covid theatre of plastic screens and one way systems dismantled at Sainsbury’s last night.
1 -
Have you told the Olympic autthorities, yet?StuartDickson said:
There is always an England team.Fysics_Teacher said:
The EU is not a single team. As pointed out earlier, other multinational groupings are available for comparisons which are just as valid.StuartDickson said:
Huh? The EU has won 63 medals so far, including 16 golds, easily beating China, Japan, England etc.Fysics_Teacher said:
Sorry? The highest EU team is France, who are 8th.StuartDickson said:So pleased to see Primož Roglič winning gold in the ITT. That solidifies the European Union lead in the medal tallies.
Oh, and there is no England team either.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.0 -
St Malo says Hi.LostPassword said:
Salt in seawater is also a factor, but being able to control the water flow through the turbines makes a big difference in terms of knowing what forces you have to engineer it to withstand.JosiasJessop said:
Tidal and wave power has been looked into for many decades now. They've never quite worked out (awaits those who start shouting 'Thatcher!'). They have so much potential, but it seems to be very hard to make them work reliably and economically. Yet hydroelectric dams are generally reliable (*). The difference is probably that maintenance on hydroelectric turbines are so much easier, and the environment much more controlled and passive?Flatlander said:
A previous prototype (different company) was installed off Ramsey Island in Pembrokeshire. I understand that didn't go too well...Nigelb said:
Actually British, with the anchors from Wales and the turbines from England. And investment from both the the EU and London..StuartDickson said:
Another Scottish success story.CarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
As this is a prototype, it's also a little early to call it a success. But I hope it will be.
(*): Except in Russia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfW5MqT7CSA0 -
Are you sure? I would imagine the IOC would take a dim view of a country that is not a member entering aquatic fowl instead of people. Something MUST be done!StuartDickson said:
There is always an England team.Fysics_Teacher said:
The EU is not a single team. As pointed out earlier, other multinational groupings are available for comparisons which are just as valid.StuartDickson said:
Huh? The EU has won 63 medals so far, including 16 golds, easily beating China, Japan, England etc.Fysics_Teacher said:
Sorry? The highest EU team is France, who are 8th.StuartDickson said:So pleased to see Primož Roglič winning gold in the ITT. That solidifies the European Union lead in the medal tallies.
Oh, and there is no England team either.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.2 -
Smells of sick - that's the issue.Leon said:I am happy - nay, delighted - to report that the great Ready Flaked Parmesan Emergency has finally, after hours of widespread and harrowing deprivation, where people were forced to do home flaking with their bare hands and a grater, has now abated
0 -
Radio 5 live even worse, quarter of an hour of yacking about Simone Biles this morning when plenty of events I'm sure were on.eek said:
I do wonder if there is a limit on the total number of hours they can show so they are being careful,,MaxPB said:The BBC coverage is a joke. The event has started and instead they're in the studio chatting rather than showing the bloody sport. Get on with it.
1 -
It hasn't though. It's gone in.DougSeal said:
Ah, baby steps and all that. Haven’t felt as chipper as I have this week for a while. If the sun stays out I’m going to the beach.Stocky said:
Yes me too.DougSeal said:Delighted to see the covid theatre of plastic screens and one way systems dismantled at Sainsbury’s last night.
To the contrary - this is a message from our local Snowdome (indoor skiing):
"Following the Government’s announcement regarding the easing of restrictions from Monday 19th July, Snozone will still request our members and guests to wear face coverings at all times within our venues.
We further request that guests and members respectfully retain social distancing measures as before, using their good judgement as prescriptive internal signage will now be removed.
Whilst we acknowledge the steps taken to re-establish previous practices, we also recognise that the pandemic is still very much with us and the health, safety and well-being of our team, members and guests is and will continue to be of paramount importance.
We therefore kindly request that these measures are adhered to and that a respectful space is given to each other.
We appreciate your support."0 -
I do hope the public are asked to name it. I nominate HMS Bozo Mc Bozoface . The "Mc" bit can be there to keep the whingers north of the border happy.Theuniondivvie said:Speaking of maritime symbols of doubtful purpose, probably £500m in the unlikely event of it ever coming to fruition? And I thought it was not going to be a 'royal' yacht, or are they going to persist with that terminology despite Brenda's disapproval?
0 -
Broken sunshine here after some rain. Not as nice as last week but not bad either. Probably won’t risk a barbecue but I think it’s warm enough to go swimming.kinabalu said:
It hasn't though. It's gone in.DougSeal said:
Ah, baby steps and all that. Haven’t felt as chipper as I have this week for a while. If the sun stays out I’m going to the beach.Stocky said:
Yes me too.DougSeal said:Delighted to see the covid theatre of plastic screens and one way systems dismantled at Sainsbury’s last night.
To the contrary - this is a message from our local Snowdome (indoor skiing):
"Following the Government’s announcement regarding the easing of restrictions from Monday 19th July, Snozone will still request our members and guests to wear face coverings at all times within our venues.
We further request that guests and members respectfully retain social distancing measures as before, using their good judgement as prescriptive internal signage will now be removed.
Whilst we acknowledge the steps taken to re-establish previous practices, we also recognise that the pandemic is still very much with us and the health, safety and well-being of our team, members and guests is and will continue to be of paramount importance.
We therefore kindly request that these measures are adhered to and that a respectful space is given to each other.
We appreciate your support."1 -
Sainsbury's was the only shop I wore a mask in on my Sunday shopping trip, as it was the only one with a sign up asking you to still wear a mask.DougSeal said:Delighted to see the covid theatre of plastic screens and one way systems dismantled at Sainsbury’s last night.
0 -
Here's the bit missed out. This is vaccine stats quality of media reporting ie sh*t.Nigel_Foremain said:
I do hope the public are asked to name it. I nominate HMS Bozo Mc Bozoface . The "Mc" bit can be there to keep the whingers north of the border happy.Theuniondivvie said:Speaking of maritime symbols of doubtful purpose, probably £500m in the unlikely event of it ever coming to fruition? And I thought it was not going to be a 'royal' yacht, or are they going to persist with that terminology despite Brenda's disapproval?
"The replacement for the long-scrapped Britannia, a brainchild of the prime minister, Boris Johnson, would be commissioned at “between £200m and £250m at a firm price”, Ben Wallace told a specially convened conference at Greenwich.
0 -
I wore a mask there yesterday until I saw that many of the staff and about 1/3 of the shoppers weren’t. So I took it off.JohnLilburne said:
Sainsbury's was the only shop I wore a mask in on my Sunday shopping trip, as it was the only one with a sign up asking you to still wear a mask.DougSeal said:Delighted to see the covid theatre of plastic screens and one way systems dismantled at Sainsbury’s last night.
1 -
Not very sunny here ATM. But, but, but u3a Wine Appreciation Group starts again today. Glasses of wine and nibbles in someone's garden.kinabalu said:
It hasn't though. It's gone in.DougSeal said:
Ah, baby steps and all that. Haven’t felt as chipper as I have this week for a while. If the sun stays out I’m going to the beach.Stocky said:
Yes me too.DougSeal said:Delighted to see the covid theatre of plastic screens and one way systems dismantled at Sainsbury’s last night.
To the contrary - this is a message from our local Snowdome (indoor skiing):
"Following the Government’s announcement regarding the easing of restrictions from Monday 19th July, Snozone will still request our members and guests to wear face coverings at all times within our venues.
We further request that guests and members respectfully retain social distancing measures as before, using their good judgement as prescriptive internal signage will now be removed.
Whilst we acknowledge the steps taken to re-establish previous practices, we also recognise that the pandemic is still very much with us and the health, safety and well-being of our team, members and guests is and will continue to be of paramount importance.
We therefore kindly request that these measures are adhered to and that a respectful space is given to each other.
We appreciate your support."
And I could, afterwards, go to the Beer Festival at the local Cricket Club, although I really feel that's a job for tomorrow.2 -
There's an 8-week gap between doses, so the maximum number of second doses that could have been given by 26th July is equal to the number of first doses given eight weeks earlier, by May 31st.CarlottaVance said:As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump’s wild, fabulist pronouncements inspired a horrified curiosity in American journalists and a cynical delight in millions of voters. The diverging reactions were explained thus: ‘The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.’
Nicola Sturgeon can’t take the press seriously because it insists on taking her literally. She was asked at her Tuesday media briefing why all 40-to-49 year olds hadn’t received their second dose of the Covid vaccine by 26 July. You won’t believe how those inky pedants had come up with such a specific target and precise date: they had gone and rewatched some thing from a month ago where someone said, ‘By 26 July, we expect to have given second doses to all 40 to 49-year-olds.’
And, get this, just because that thing was a statement to the Scottish Parliament and the someone who made it was the First Minister, they were now expecting her to explain it. The nerve of these people.
https://stephendaisley.substack.com/p/nicolas-level
For the 40-49 age group first doses were at 85.69% on 31st May. So that's the target. The second dose percentage for that age group on July 26th was 77.35%
That's a miss. The second dose percentage matches a gap between doses of nine weeks. So they're a week behind. Doesn't seem like that should be too terrible to admit to.0 -
That other big problem with tidal power is, paradoxically, environmental damage. It is essentially a trade off between getting nice clean non-fossil fuel power which is predictable (unlike wind and solar), but at a price to the local ecology that is potentially very high.MattW said:
St Malo says Hi.LostPassword said:
Salt in seawater is also a factor, but being able to control the water flow through the turbines makes a big difference in terms of knowing what forces you have to engineer it to withstand.JosiasJessop said:
Tidal and wave power has been looked into for many decades now. They've never quite worked out (awaits those who start shouting 'Thatcher!'). They have so much potential, but it seems to be very hard to make them work reliably and economically. Yet hydroelectric dams are generally reliable (*). The difference is probably that maintenance on hydroelectric turbines are so much easier, and the environment much more controlled and passive?Flatlander said:
A previous prototype (different company) was installed off Ramsey Island in Pembrokeshire. I understand that didn't go too well...Nigelb said:
Actually British, with the anchors from Wales and the turbines from England. And investment from both the the EU and London..StuartDickson said:
Another Scottish success story.CarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
As this is a prototype, it's also a little early to call it a success. But I hope it will be.
(*): Except in Russia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfW5MqT7CSA0 -
Brilliant video. That guy is a great YouTube follow, documenting his life on a narrowboat with some humour.JosiasJessop said:
Yes, it wasn't the best-planned operation...Malmesbury said:
For Operation Sealion, many of the barges the Germans were planning to use had a lower speed than the tide running in the Channel. So the invasion fleet would have spent half a day being pushed around by the tide. With a freeboard measured in inches.....JosiasJessop said:
My granddad had a similar story. He was on an old merchantman in a convoy going through the English Channel during the war. There was a storm, and after a day they were further back than they had been before, and they were alone as the convoy had steamed well ahead. I don't know much more about the story, but as he was a gunner in DEMS it must have meant a long shift at the guns - unless the weather was so bad German planes couldn't fly and the submarines couldn't easily attack.Big_G_NorthWales said:
My late Father in law as far back as the 60's maintained that harnessing the tides in the Pentland Firth would be the energy source of the futureCarlottaVance said:Tidal power generation starting up off Orkney:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
He used to recount that on many times when returning to his home port of Lossiemouth from fishing in the west of Scotland he would experience times when his fishing boat would actually be going astern even with full engines due to the strength of the tides
I wish I'd talked more about it with him whilst he was alive.
Talking about low freeboard, have you ever seen videos of narrowboats crossing the Wash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYmqKjdEns0 -
Based on the below I think we can expect England at least to break the seven day run of day on day falls today unfortunately -
0 -
Not hugging people is one of the few upsides of the pandemic.Andy_JS said:"A quarter of Britons haven't been hugged since the first lockdown last March and 44% haven't made a single new friend, survey finds
25% of Brits haven't been hugged in a year, while 37% haven't in six months
Meanwhile, nearly half haven't made a new friend in the last year
Researchers say there is 'huge risk' community spirit will be lost"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9831577/A-QUARTER-Britons-havent-hugged-pandemic-began.html4 -
Got my new car yesterday and me and the salesman instinctively shook hands. For both of us it was the first time in a year - we simultaneously apologised to one another!OnlyLivingBoy said:
Not hugging people is one of the few upsides of the pandemic.Andy_JS said:"A quarter of Britons haven't been hugged since the first lockdown last March and 44% haven't made a single new friend, survey finds
25% of Brits haven't been hugged in a year, while 37% haven't in six months
Meanwhile, nearly half haven't made a new friend in the last year
Researchers say there is 'huge risk' community spirit will be lost"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9831577/A-QUARTER-Britons-havent-hugged-pandemic-began.html1 -
That's why I compare the "previous" days seven day average with "todays" seven day average. Individual days of data are not really suitable for such comparisons.DougSeal said:Based on the below I think we can expect England at least to break the seven day run of day on day falls today unfortunately -
2 -
Tell the media that. They’ll be clutching their pearls at 4.05 this PM.Malmesbury said:
That's why I compare the "previous" days seven day average with "todays" seven day average. Individual days of data are not really suitable for such comparisons.DougSeal said:Based on the below I think we can expect England at least to break the seven day run of day on day falls today unfortunately -
0 -
It was only £100m when Johnson started wanking off over it.Theuniondivvie said:Speaking of maritime symbols of doubtful purpose, probably £500m in the unlikely event of it ever coming to fruition? And I thought it was not going to be a 'royal' yacht, or are they going to persist with that terminology despite Brenda's disapproval?
Meanwhile the RN are down to one functional air warfare destroyer (Defender) and that's in the South China Sea while Diamond is broken in (ironically) Taranto, Daring and Duncan are in deep maintenance, Dauntless is getting a power system upgrade so they can plug the kettle in when it's more than 25 deg C and Dragon is in pre-deployment maintenance.
That's tory defence priorities for you.3 -
Is surface-to-surface transmission still a thing?DougSeal said:
Got my new car yesterday and me and the salesman instinctively shook hands. For both of us it was the first time in a year - we simultaneously apologised to one another!OnlyLivingBoy said:
Not hugging people is one of the few upsides of the pandemic.Andy_JS said:"A quarter of Britons haven't been hugged since the first lockdown last March and 44% haven't made a single new friend, survey finds
25% of Brits haven't been hugged in a year, while 37% haven't in six months
Meanwhile, nearly half haven't made a new friend in the last year
Researchers say there is 'huge risk' community spirit will be lost"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9831577/A-QUARTER-Britons-havent-hugged-pandemic-began.html
This morning our carpet fitter insisted on the elbow bump thing while speaking directly to me from about a metre.
More Covid-theatre absurdity as far as I'm concerned.
0
This discussion has been closed.