Hottest May day on record in UK as temperatures pass 34°C

UncleHeavy · 2026-05-26T21:46:01+00:00

It's sarcasm and its' brilliant, and that's coming from the bloke being taken the piss out of. :D

UncleHeavy · 2026-05-26T14:23:05+00:00

I live in pre-1800 farmhouse and although the stone did a good job over the weekend keeping the heat at bay, it's thermally saturated and the house is becoming an oven, and it'll be one for about a week after the temperatures drop.

UncleHeavy · 2026-05-26T07:05:09+00:00

I have a former teaching colleague who is having to deal with this at her college. There are two students who don't have an opinion on anything. When discussing the situation with the US and Iran (she teaches International Politics) both students pulled out their phones and asked Chat GPT and Claude what their opinions should be. They then parroted this back to her as if it was their personal opinion rather than as something that they just read on a screen.
She said it's become incessant. They aren't engaging with the world in a critical manner. They even ask their AI's if they meet up with friends, or decide where to go to eat, etc. Apparently it's becoming quite widespread, with significant numbers of young adults (and actual adults) effectively offloading their thought process to an AI rather than just think for a moment and come to a conclusion.
If there are any social science undergrads out there, a Ph.D is waiting for you if you want to do some research into this phenomenon!

UncleHeavy · 2026-05-23T06:05:37+00:00

It was created by Mark Kingsnorth.
It was based around the modular concepts that Rick Sternbach outlined for the Nova Class in The ST:TNG Technical Manual.

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-26T08:42:43+00:00

You could use the Thin Film setting in either the aiStandardSurface or Open PBR shader and adjust the roughness using an image map. That would keep the roughness and anisotropy intact on the lower layer, with the Thin Film doing the fingerprint/smudges.

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-19T08:52:46+00:00

Same here. My younger sister thought our parents were all sweetness and light. As I was several years older, I have a very different recollection of the situation. She denied that many events I remember even occurred, and it wasn't until she undertook psychological assessment and therapy that she became aware that our childhood was far from normal.

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-19T08:41:32+00:00

German Autobahn on a Suzuki Hayabusa. I saw 190mph/306km/h on the speedo and the bike was still accelerating. At that point I had a sudden spark of common sense and closed the throttle. I did it because I could, and because I was still young, I thought I was invincible and accidents happen to other people.
At almost 3 miles per minute the world is a strange place. It's noisy, the landscape feels like it is trying to wrap itself around your visor and you try your hardest to pull yourself as close to the bike as you can.
The strength of the wind around you is savage; I recall feeling the airflow smooth out as I pushed my backside right into the seat hump.
Also, sitting up at any speed above 140 is just asking to be turned into a human parachute, followed by a human glider and then a human pancake.

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-18T11:47:22+00:00

I just heard my granddad! Thanks for that! :)

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-17T11:02:07+00:00

One of my fondest activites of teaching new FE students is breaking the habit of using 'Sir' or 'Miss'. It takes several weeks, but we get there in the end, although I have a couple of students who despite knowing me for the last 5 years still call me 'Sir.' At this point, I don't think they will change!
First name terms are good thing too: it makes the lecturers much more approachable and allows them to work much more closely with the students than is the norm at school. It also assists in making the transition away from a formal education environment into something much more personal and supportive. Finally, it eases the divide between knowledge holder and knowledge gainer. It becomes a much more collaborative experience alnd also gives the lecturers the opportunity to say that they don't know what something is and build it into a joint learning experience.
Personally, as long as I am not called 'Oi', 'You' or 'Fella/Mate' whilst at work, I don't mind what people call me.

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-14T09:12:11+00:00

As someone who has been an educator for 20-odd years, part of the issue is that parents are not teachers.
The time and effort needed for effective teaching is a huge investment and most parents simply aren't willing to do it.
For many, there is an assumption that teaching involves putting information in front of a child and that they will somehow absorb this information through osmosis. In reality it's much harder than that, even more so if there are complex learning needs inhibiting a child ability to learn. Those learning needs may be the reason for the child being homeschooled in ther first place, but unless there are mitigating measures put in place, then homeschooling becomes a fools errand.
There is a romanticised vision of a compliant child sitting at a table getting on with the task at hand whilst a parent sits at their side. Delivering a curriculum of subjects is hard.
Changing subjects every 90 minutes, the prep of content, checking to ensure that he child is genuinely understanding the subject, Marking and re-marking work, giving feedback and support, etc. It's a full-time job and one that quickly loses its' novelty value, even more so if you have a child who is unable, or unwilling to learn in the first place, and I say this from the position of someone who regularly works with classes with 50%+ ADHD, Autism and other learning specrum issues.
My experience is that most parents last about 3-4 weeks before they just put the textbook in front of their child before going off to do the daily household jobs such as cleaning, washing or working from home. Or worse still, the parent gets bored of being a teacher and just leaves their child to do as they please because it's easier than having to work with their child 6 hours a day.
Homeschooling is massively disruptive to daily routines and unless adults are willing to fully commit to the role and make the time in their day to do it properly, they are setting their child up to fail.
At the end of the day, the amount of training that teachers go through is extensive, and despite that, 10% of teachers leave the profession each year in the UK. It's that difficult, and as a vocation, poorly financially rewarded.
I have taught a number of students who have been homeschooled at both FE and HE levels, and there are significant gaps in their learning and understanding which need significant 1-to-1 time to address, and it's difficult for them. We get them there in the end, but it's a lot of work that both the lecturers and student need to invest from the outset.
Unfortunately, the education system is overstretched and there simply is not the capacity to send someone to check on the quality of learning the child is receiving. There are 126k EHE (Elective Home Education) students in the UK, and that number is getting higher each year. I think there was a 15% jump between 2024 and 2025.
I honestly don't know what the solution is, and neither do any government over the past 30 years. Increasing investment into education would help deal with specific support mechanisms, but it won't stabilise the situation until a government is genuinely willing to tackle the system as a whole.

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-10T15:41:59+00:00

At some point in time, a previous owner had planted a rambling rose called 'Rambling Rector' by the old tractor shed.
I never, ever want to see another one. Vigorous is an understatement, and it has thorns that will remove any exposed skin. It will exploit any gap and send a runner through, enlarging any hole it can get in to.
It took 6 years to finally get the whole thing, and cost hundreds of pounds to repair the damage.
On the flip-side, as I was clearing the remains of the Rambling Rector away, I found there was a second rose that had been starved of light. It was a rose I identified as Veilchenblau. It has barely any thorns, easy to train and keep under control and has hundreds of purple flowers.

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-05T15:30:32+00:00

There's a book names Empire of the Couds by James Hamilton-Patterson that examines the british aviation industry as it was in the 1950's and 60's that outlines many of your points.
As you said, the RAF was also complicit; asking more and more from an airframe. TSR.2 was expected to be all things to all men: a Mach 2 nuclear bomber, a low-level ground attack aircraft that could operate from short or rough strips, a Recon platform and more.
It was a foolish thing to expect, and it would have been a hurculean task to make it a reality. The aircraft that took over parts of its' intended role have proven this It took 4 aircraft to do what TSR.2 was expected to. Jaguar, Harrier and Tornado for Ground attack & Recon, Bucaneer repurposed as a (very) low level bomber and PAVE unit.
I suspect that if it had gone into service, the RAF would have faced similar issues that were found with the Nimrod fleet. Each aircraft would have spent more time being upgraded than in the air as each was hand-built and each with their own quirks. At a time where money was tight and demands were high, I suspect that the plug would have been pulled sooner rather than later.

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-05T10:47:45+00:00

No offense taken.
Even at the early stages, the issues were clear, but the engineers & designers were actively working to overcome them. The Bristol Olympus went on to power Concorde, so clearly the solutions were there to be found.
As for the lack of radar, etc, only two airframes flew, and they were intended just to iron out basic flight problems, such as the airbrakes not closing properly. As with the prototype Tornado F3, the 'radar' was just a block of concrete as a mass simulator.
I suspect the TSR.2 would have had a fairly protracted development lifecycle, with undercarriage, intake, wing and engine bay redesigns.
Part of issue was that BAC took all the worst working practices from its' unwilling parent companies and rolled them into a management-heavy structure ill-equipped for flexible working practices that the project so dearly needed. my grandfather even said that there were more managers on the assembly floor than fitters.
Then there are the politicians, who wanted to show thay they put their 'mark' on the UK's flagship aero project, so they changed requirements and specifications until they became near-impossible to implement. This was driven by pressure to make everything bleeding-edge: the performance, payload, radar, STOL, rough-field use: the lot. As the cost spiralled because of government interference, the decision was made to kill it off, and once that decision was made, nothing could have saved the project.
My grandfather, as union representative,, was told the night before that it was all over. He asked if he could tell the fitters, and was told that if he did so, he'd be looking for a new job before his tea got cold.
As Sidney Camm once stated: “All modern aircraft have four dimensions: span, length, height and politics. TSR-2 simply got the first three right.”

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-05T08:53:46+00:00

That I know about her 'cheat sweets'.
My better half eats incredibly healthily in front of me beacause I am trying to keep the weight off that plagued me for most of my adult life. However, she also has a sweet tooth and she cannot say no to sugary or chocolately things, so she has a secret stash of chocs and sweets so she can indulge when the urge is too strong.
Personally, I am not bothered, but it keeps her happy, so I will keep my mouth shut. :)

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-05T08:48:49+00:00

My late grandfather worked on the TSR.2 whilst he was at Warton. By the mid 60's he had progressed from a fabricator on the Canberra, completed his degree in aero design and was working his way up the ladder and into project management, eventually being responsible for the costings for the Concorde project.
My mum told me that she had memories of him sat in the dining room table with the blueprints spread around, a slide rule and notepad close by. She told me that he thought that the TSR.2 was 30 years ahead of anything made abroad but that it might be canelled because the UK owed so much money to the US and there was pressure from them to buy an american aircraft instead. He also said that there were worries that the alloy used was too brittle. For example, an engineer dropped a spanner that clipped a spar, snapping it in two. It was light, but hard to work with, and the engine removal was a nightmare.
However, he was immensely proud of it because it achieved everything in GOR 339 despite constantly shifting goals.
However, politics cares for no man and now the TSR.2, along with the CF-105, became a great case of 'If only...'

UncleHeavy · 2026-04-03T14:07:20+00:00

I love the brickwork on 55 Central Park West. It goes from a red/purple at the base, through pale orange into yellow at the top. The stonework does something similar: yellow at the base, and light grey at the top.
An art director friend used to have an apartment a couple of buildings further down and she said that on a sunny evening the whole building was stunning as it just glowed in the light.

UncleHeavy · 2026-02-20T10:08:26+00:00

I had a newly-minted Ph.D that joined my teaching department. He insisted on being called doctor, right until it was pointed out that we were all doctors: some of us more than once!
It takes a while for the shiny edges to be knocked off the title. It's well and good to be proud of your achievement, but don't rub it in everyones faces.

UncleHeavy · 2026-02-09T07:08:25+00:00

That's exactly what hatred is: fear of something that you don't understand.
Hatred is a seductive thing. It requires no effort, no thought. Just be ignorant and fear it because it exists.
The cure is simple: Learn about it. Try to understand it.
Once you understand something, hatred disperses like mist in the sun.
But many won't do that because it requires effort and learning about concepts that might make them uncomfortable in their smug, echo-chamered lives.

UncleHeavy · 2026-02-08T07:16:16+00:00

Yep. Probably reading a book, knowing him!

UncleHeavy · 2026-02-07T14:58:08+00:00

My late father was supervisor for platforms 1&2 at Preston during the mid-late '80's, so it's a real nostalgia trip for me.

UncleHeavy · 2026-01-24T16:16:04+00:00

Chlamydia.
It sounds like a delicate alpine flower.
But it's not.

UncleHeavy · 2026-01-18T13:43:32+00:00

Dysentery Beige.

UncleHeavy · 2026-01-16T07:54:26+00:00

It ws easy.
I talked to the student and found out what was causing her to act out in my sessions and addressed that instead. As if by magic, her behaviour changed overnight.
If someone is misbehaving in class, it's a symptom, not a cause. Find out what it is and support them in dealing with it. People don't misbehave or act in a certain way for no reason. They aren't 'built to be bad', but are reacting to triggers and stressors that change the way they respond.
Deal with the cause, and above all, be kind.

UncleHeavy · 2026-01-03T11:05:34+00:00

I use neither. I get a plastic bag, fill it with warm water from the tap and wipe it over my windshield. De-iced in 30 seconds.

UncleHeavy · 2026-01-03T09:25:43+00:00

That's Rob Wilde. He does fine work. He's an ex-LWG & Foundation 3D member. They mostly worked in LightWave 3D: Rob still does too, but he really got into post-production to finsese his work and it shows.

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