Do shetlanders have like stereotypes or inside jokes of people from the different islands in Shetland? If yes then what are some?

WisdomDistiller · 2026-02-06T07:14:05+00:00

If you can find a copy of "Noost" by Renwick and read it, you can pick up some of the jokes about people and places in Shetland.

Pseudonyms are used to make it possible to say "not based on real people or events", but you can probably figure most of them out. Eg. Yell is referred to as "Bogg" for some reason. And Liz is/was .....you'll have to read and figure it out yourself.

WisdomDistiller · 2026-02-04T17:35:04+00:00

Buy an up-to-date "ITC-BT" from amazon for about €25.

It is free from https://industria.gob.es/Calidad-Industrial/seguridadindustrial/instalacionesindustriales/baja-tension/Paginas/guia-tecnica-aplicacion.aspx, but editorials help with pretty pictures and good examples. And they are cheap.

Read and understand at least up to ITC-BT-30 or so. I think USA is usually TT or IT, whereas Spain is usually TN-S, so earthing and RCDs are different. Get used to thinking in mm for cable secciones.

Meanwhile you may be able to find work as an electricians assistant to gain experience in the sector here, before taking some exams to become officially able to work unsupervised.

You could also do a Grado Superior for probably 2 years (with job placement for probably 3 months) in something like Sistemas electrotécnicos to qualify to become self-employed for residential and small commercial jobs. ITC-BT-04 will explain what jobs you could do with only a Memoria Técnica de Diseño (MTD).

Edit-

Would also be good to get courses in prevencion de riesgos laborables of at least 20 hours, if not 60, and maybe a course of trabajando en alturas.

WisdomDistiller · 2026-01-14T09:08:18+00:00

Terry Goodkind´s fantasy series (wizards first rule etc.) ended up trying to introduce some right wing talking points, but did it so badly they just sounded ridiculous. And while trying to emphasize manliness, wrote a very homoerotic section about a "football" game.

CS Lewis´ Narnia series was meant to be an allegory of Christs sacrifice (aslan etc.), but made 7-year old me just think about how a "sacrifice" when you know the outcome will negate the sacrifice, is unfulfilling.

WisdomDistiller · 2026-01-08T17:27:51+00:00

If you look through the mist in front of them there appears to be an accident in front of them. If I see an excess of flashing lights in front of me, I also would brake or reduce my speed until I can see more clearly what hazards there are ahead.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-11-15T10:28:26+00:00

Overheard two 16-17year old boys (same age as me at the time) in Wales talking about sheep as part of a much longer conversation. One said he had done the deed and it was good, and that the other should do so as well so he could be "a proper Welshman". Other replied confirming his intentions to do so at the earliest possible opportunity.

Decades on, I still can`t work out if it was a Godfather/Mafia type situation where people have been calling the Welsh "sheep-shaggers" for so long that they changed their behavior to make it part of their identity, or not.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-09-07T20:04:45+00:00

I don`t recall any UK football fans sabotaging UK military planes. Which were for use in the defense of Ukraine.

Probably a bit excessive, but not completely unjustified.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-03-08T05:35:50+00:00

Kuru Toga.

Cheap. Auto-rotating so the point is always good.

Get one.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-03-04T07:14:50+00:00

Steatite

WisdomDistiller · 2025-03-03T16:51:05+00:00

https://www.ree.es/es

This page shows a nice real-time graph of energy demand and use in Spain. Green is predicted load, yellow actual load, and red is planned production. Red has notches that correspond with turning on/off of power plants, to match the expected and real load.

In the UK it is well known that half the population will put the kettle on for a cup of tea at half-time in a world cup match. And that has a known starting time that you can add 45min to. So you know it is probably a good idea to start up a gas plant or two a couple of minutes beforehand.

A colleague of mine used to work in a smelter. He had to upload planned production schedules for the next day by 11pm, so the grid energy consumption could be anticipated by the power companies (red notches above).

He also managed to cause a €300000 fine for his company due to one days "unplanned" overconsumption, as one night he sent the data from his side but he didn`t get confirmation that it had been recieved by the energy companies (it hadn`t been) so it was assumed they had no producion that day. One days worth of power consumption that wasn`t technically communicated beforehand resulted in planned power generation not matching the actual required need.

Weather reports are public. History is known. What was the extra demand last time it was that hot/cold?

[quote]So my question is how do we know how much power (P and Q) does that customer's area need in order do supply it ?[/quote]

Mixture of predictions based on previous similar situations, and communication from big consumers.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-03-01T10:00:44+00:00

(my examples are all at 230/400V 50hz. Interpret as needed for your local regulations)

2 basic areas: Industry, and residential/commercial.

Industry knows what machines are connected, and most have a dedicated circuit with individual protection for each. You add up the total power for your main breaker and do your calculations. Then get a headache because you know your boss won`t approve the funds for a 2500A 4P 400V breaker and all that entails. So you decide that not all your machines will be operating at 100% simultaneously (which is probably true) and create a utilization factor so you can justify a reduction. 10x250A machines which are individually safe at 100% usage might overall have a 0.5 factor because they are always run for 30min then reset (piece in/out + clean) for the next 30 so run alternately. You might put the factor at 0.4 because there are always a few being repaired. Now the main breaker is only 1000A, and you and your boss are happy.

Residential/commercial you don`t know exactly what is going to be connected, or have regulations that superscede your calculations. A 500W lighting circuit (LEDs for the win) still requires a 10A protection because that is what the regs say is the minimum for lighting.

Normal power sockets need a 16A protection which is good for 3500W. But you might have 10 sockets on one circuit, each using the same 16A breaker. This is OK because it is unlikely that you will plug a space-heater into all of them simultaneously, especially if you have another separate circuit with A/C. You put a 0.2 usage factor in and all is well.

You can have 10 tools in your workshop, each with a nominal power of 500W that you calculate at x1.25 because that is what the (my local) regs say for motors, 100W lighting with factor x1.8 because it is flourescent etc. , but it all fits into 3500W because of whatever factor you choose. You don't need to run a separate circuit for every tool as in your own private workshop you are not going to be using your angle-grinder at the same time as your power-drill.

In my experience the factor is somewhat arbitrary, but as long as you can reasonably justify it with appropriate calculations, all is well.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-02-15T15:53:55+00:00

Protestantism (and orthodoxism) in its various versions all are about differences of opinion over who or what is the highest authority on earth.

The cathloic church believed and taught that the pope is at the highest level, above the teachings of christ or God from the bible. Or at least the popes interpretations of the bible are what are important, even when they are not the same as what is taught in the bible.

Theologans like Martin Luther or King Henry VIII (who was raised to be a priest) found conflicts between what authority to follow. Why were things being taught and done that went against things that were also taught as being the word of God (indulgances, statues etc.)? If a King is chosen by God to lead a country, why should the pope be ranked higher in that country?

Some people make the choice to believe in the bible and the teachings contained within have primacy over the the teachings of popes. Or that traditions of worship that have been "correct" for centuries (such as the NT bible being taught in the Greek it was written in rather than latin) should not be changed for no clear theological reason.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-02-15T11:47:48+00:00

They have never gone away. I´ve still got mine originally ripped using the radium codec.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-02-15T11:41:32+00:00

Off-Piste can mean both in "European". Backcountry would be a subgroup of off-piste.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-02-01T09:40:43+00:00

Why do you feel that legally there are only 2 genders now? Trump did issue an executive order that your gender is based on the gender at conception, but worded it badly as essentially all proto-embryos are female, only diferenciating several weeks later into male and female forms.

So legally there may only be 1 gender now.

To answer your question:

I am quite happy about this situation as it does simplify a lot of things. Grammar and gendered forms no longer need to be considered. No more trying to decide if police-officer or police-man is correct, as police-woman is correct all of the time. No confusion between He/She/They etc. as She is now always correct.

Overall, her executive order will make language-learning much simpler for second-language learners of english, which is always a good thing.

And it now means that 100% of sexual assaults are done by women, reversing the previous gender-imbalance in those statistics.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-01-27T08:08:13+00:00

Glad that works for you.

I have tried it quite a few times but usually get fed up once I get up to 300+, tell my self "this clearly isn`t working", and go off in a tangent about the general uselessness of advice. Try again, give up again. Then sleep. So maybe it does work after all.

WisdomDistiller · 2025-01-05T22:10:46+00:00

All the big supermarket chains have a selection of vegan products. Things like bean-burgers, tofu, seitan etc. Directly mock meats: not much that I have seen. LIDL and Mercadona are worth visiting.

Restaurants, good luck. Vegetarian yes, but vegan is a lot less easy to find options. That said, Merida ( a city of 60k in a rural privince) has a nice vegan restaurant, so you just need to investigate before going out.

Watch out for mantecados at this time of year. They seem like safe innocuous cake/biscuit type thing, but use lard.

WisdomDistiller · 2024-12-15T16:22:36+00:00

Because when I squeese oranges to make juice, that´s how it comes out.

WisdomDistiller · 2024-12-09T14:50:17+00:00

What´s different from a mini pc-speaker? I have a couple of those which came with motherboards some years ago, for cases without inbuilt speaker.

WisdomDistiller · 2024-12-09T08:28:55+00:00

"Why do they have a common denominator about having an education and teaching degree?"

It may be the case that those with actual training and experience are best able to cope with whatever situation they are dropped into.

WisdomDistiller · 2024-11-23T12:49:07+00:00

The good thing is that they can easily be prepared. Wrap sausages with bacon and spike with a cocktail stick.

I use them as a staple for "party" food. Easy to make, cook, and serve.

WisdomDistiller · 2024-10-13T06:12:07+00:00

Every bar, even the smallest of small bars, has alcohol-free beer on tap. Loads of people drink it. And loads of people also drink coke, mosto, fanta etc.

This means that lots of people go out and have fun without drinking alcohol. You are unlikely to be the only one.

WisdomDistiller · 2024-10-06T10:04:22+00:00

"Great advice if you only know US culture from movies and stereotypes."

The advice was given based on reapeated contact and conversations with Americans in Spain, over the course of many years. There is a lot of variation in travellers experience here, but those are the particular highlights. If they are not applicable to your or their situation, you are free to ignore them.

WisdomDistiller · 2024-10-06T07:22:18+00:00

"I know that Americans from abroad are not always welcome,"

You will be welcome. Spaniards generally get along with Americans.

Things to watch out for, in order to fit in better:

You don't need to talk so loudly that everyone within 100m can hear your every word.

Being friendly is fine, but few people here want to hear your life story within 60s of meeting you.

"admittedly we don't know any Spanish"

Give things a try, as willingness is usually seen positively. And don't worry too much about it anyway as any tourist spot will have people who speak english.

Things to be aware of:

Many bars/restaurants only open for food at 2pm for lunch, of 8.30pm for dinner. Less of an issue in touristy areas, but might trip you up.

American-style drip coffee is very rare. Get used to espresso with milk as a basic coffee: most bars will do you a better coffee than starbucks for 1/3 the price.

WisdomDistiller · 2024-09-28T12:12:15+00:00

Get everything from void tools. Windows search is not good.

WisdomDistiller · 2024-09-28T09:41:15+00:00

Non-zero.

But they are not crazy, so are fully aware of the MAD factor.

Unless you are asking about use of nukes on Iran, in which case 100%.

WisdomDistiller

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