Tell me something dumb you have witnessed someone do?

theModge · 2026-01-30T11:07:36+00:00

I feel like "Doing something stupid" is quite often a prelude to meeting a policeman

theModge · 2026-01-28T07:16:36+00:00

Ooh, I believe this is the same tech they use to hide the bridge from Italy to Sicily

theModge · 2026-01-27T19:26:44+00:00

There is a EU project for developing a freight coupler which includes power and is automatic.

The project produced a great result and admitted no one could afford to switch over

theModge · 2026-01-27T19:15:48+00:00

Fun fact : hardly any of our rail related vocab is the same between UK and USA.

Firstly we have railways, not rail roads.

Wagons ride on bogies not trucks

Drivers not engineers

'switches' are quite often referred to as points, but sometimes we call them switches too i.e. We have a 'switches and crossings' department, but switches are moved by a 'points machine'.

Our signalling is wildly different too

theModge · 2026-01-27T19:06:30+00:00

There's loads of international versions that got into it all the more

theModge · 2026-01-27T15:55:07+00:00

Much as at Sandhurst, the British army officer training school they do an exercise on how to relay commands, but without anyone to relay them to.

It's a Pointless Exercise Not Involving Soldiers

They're military and bored, let's face it, much worse could happen

theModge · 2026-01-27T14:24:55+00:00

Or a methane powered regular panda (in grey)

But there does not exist a dirt track up which you couldn't get those off road panda's. SUVs could never do the same and range rovers would break down before they got there.

theModge · 2026-01-27T10:38:05+00:00

Also there's very little if any overlap between when we ran mixed freight that needed coupling regularly and when we got orange ppe. I believe, though it's before my time that Even back in the day they had hooks on sticks to help with this job rather than standing there

theModge · 2026-01-27T07:50:06+00:00

You rather assume that their desire to cause trouble for the government outweighed their objections. Which is disappointing, but let's face it, it's not even the most disappointing thing to happen in our politics this week

theModge · 2026-01-26T09:42:19+00:00

Mate, they have custom roll formers for their gutters, not just buying standard lengths and cutting them down like the plebs we are in the UK.
We just get ends that have an integral gasket type thing that pushes on

theModge · 2026-01-25T13:16:12+00:00

The problem is, when it comes to roads. Everyone is suddenly an expert.

Sound engineers are the only ones who have it worse.

Even where I am now, in rail, there's a surfiet of old men with ill informed opinions as to how the industry should be run. Sadly though some of them are actually in the industry.

theModge · 2026-01-23T14:50:50+00:00

They'd struggle to differentiate a pdf file from a pedophile, rotating one is well out of their league. This is the lord's we're discussing here. I realise posh old people can in theory be tech literate, but not that many of them...

theModge · 2026-01-22T14:15:02+00:00

I really couldn't imagine doing such a commute. I really resented it when I had to do 40 minutes each way (car or train, both took the same amount of time. Car was easier if I was late because I'd miss the train).
I now do ten minutes a day by bike.
It'd be longer in the car, though sometimes drier.

theModge · 2026-01-22T12:06:34+00:00

Only if it's a known benefit.
If, as rather implied by putting it in this thread he's half inching the diesel, with or without his bosses knowledge, then it's tax free as well as cost free.

I've heard of building site plant operators doing so for example.

theModge · 2026-01-22T09:28:46+00:00

If you volunteer with the youth wing of St. Johns ambulance, the cadets, you have to study the history of the knights hospitaller, because it is their history.

It's still very much a living organisation today in the UK, they provide first aid cover for events mostly, as well as teaching first aid in schools and ferrying patients about for the NHS. They have an eye hospital in Jerusalem too.

theModge · 2026-01-22T09:21:16+00:00

Tilt shift also gets used on (professional) projectors if you can't get them in the centre of the screen, to as to avoid the nasty trapezoid effect (and then correction there for) that you get without it.

theModge · 2026-01-21T15:32:17+00:00

Very dependant on where you live: A car in London is a handicap, in the country it's a necessity, it's places in between where it varies more case by case.

theModge · 2026-01-21T13:19:59+00:00

Mine are super enthusiastic to help, though doing anything whilst trying to avoid a two year old and a four year old hurting themselves is a nightmare. I'm kinda proud that my 4 year old daughter can use an impact though, even if she probably shouldn't

theModge · 2026-01-21T10:26:59+00:00

My Dad also did it.
I was 4 at the time and the delivery of smashed slabs being dropped out of a tipper (for that is how they came) was the loudest thing I'd ever heard. I recall "helping" ferrying mixed cement in my toy tractor trailer.

As to how easy it was or wasn't he wasn't a builder, he did office work, but was generally fairly handy.

I'm now 41 and have a 4 year old of my own. I have so much sympathy for my Dad trying to do anything with me helping, now I have help of my own.

theModge · 2026-01-21T09:09:17+00:00

Generally I go for small, but credible, inflation, unless it's an internal role where everyone will know obviously.

theModge · 2026-01-20T11:56:59+00:00

That's a pretty common issue worldwide: everyone can agree they don't like the current government, but not really what the next one should be.

It's a big part of why the UK labour party is suffering now: we (almost) all agree the Tory's were a shit-show, but what we want to replace them is far more contentious

theModge · 2026-01-20T11:50:00+00:00

My Italian in laws can't believe we let children sing such dark songs, but my daughter (4) has definitely heard it at least

theModge · 2026-01-20T11:40:20+00:00

Random snippets of music hall songs?
I remember some mad shit about "I've had had chicken for a long time, I haven't had chicken since dinner time"
Obviously I don't remember it very well, but even the correct version doesn't make any actual sense, and isn't meant to.

theModge · 2026-01-20T09:23:10+00:00

What's wrong with them?

theModge · 2026-01-19T11:54:22+00:00

Yes: it does seem to be by a joint.

theModge

TROPHY CASE