DJ360

From Clogs to Clegs!!! I've spent most of the last month practically kitless in the garden. No problems and no bites. Today it's a bit cloudy and there are signs of rain. Stepped out of the back door to bring my weight training dumb bells in and just as I stepped back in onto the new kitchen tiles, a 'Cleg', or Horse Fly landed on the back of my hand. Having 8Kg of steel in each hand I couldn't do much and I certainly wasn't going to drop the weights on the new floor, so before I could sweep the little B£$%%$r off my hand with a weight.... she'd got me. I know it was a she b

ON KITES, PLANES, ROCKETS and STUFF...... This came to me again during a Sun Soaking Session in the garden this afternoon... Kites: A kite is a simple enough thing.. but back in the 1950s, kids like me were not bought such things. If we wanted them.. we made them. Not as simple as it sounds. Let's take the classic 'diamond' shape. ( I suppose it's properly known as an 'Elongated Rhombus' or somesuch.. but for this purpose.. who cares..? ) It's easy right? A bit of paper and a couple of sticks..... So.. paper? If you are Col in 1957 on a Council Est.,

Mrs Col worked for a while at the Nichols plant in Haydock, which is in St Helens Boro, just a bit south and west of Golborne, where there was evidently a Vimto Plant. Nichols owned Vimto at the time and the Haydock sdite was known to all as 'The Vimto'.. though I can't establish whether they actually made the stuff there. I think you might need to revise that opinion somewhat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Manchester_people I'm sad to say I didn't go there. I chose instead, Manchester Poly. now MMU.

Didn't know the bloke but I did go to the original 'Pete Stringfellow's King Mojo Club' in Sheffield. Around 1967.. when we used to hitch to a different club every weekend before I strted DJ in myself. No booze inside. You had to go to the pub across the road. They served that strange Yorkshire Light Mild, which was rubbish.. but better than most Dark Mild.. Anyway. The bloke was obviously a bit of a lad but I doubt he meant any harm and he certainly did me none. RIP

No dancing here... . Felt pretty rough last night. Chills, headache and lower abdominal pain. Mrs Col reckoned it might be a 'touch of the Sun', but since I've spent pretty much all day everyday outside in 'minimal attire' for the last month, I can't see why yesterday should be any different... In fact I was not in the Sun for as long as usual yesterday as I had to get my car in for new brake calipers. And I do always wear a hat.... at least.. A bit sinusy too. Wondering if it's maybe pollen related, or some sort of low level summer bug. Who knows? Anyway.. I survived the night and fee

Ours is a 'ClickFree' device. Mrs Col bought it when she was working as a Freelance Translator and worried about losing work. Essentially a hard drive with a bit of software loaded to manage the back ups. So, essentially similar. It's permanently connected but set to only back up when instructed. Currently all my pics and music are still on it as I've not restored them tho the PC yet and won't do so until PC is properly sorted and has new 2Tb HD in place. The music is only really a convenience issue, as I have it all on vinyl/CD s well. I'm intending to copy all my pics to my new port

We have a iTB back up drive permanently connected to the PC. I've also just bought a 1Tb portable HD

Loppy, if I'm not mistaken.. SD cards up to 1Tb are now available.. but very pricey. That said, the price of memory is falling all the time. My first works issue laptop had a 1Gig hard drive. I've just bought a 2 terabyte hard drive for my PC and that's not a 'big' drive these days. The trouble is that in much the same way that work is said to expand to fill the time available, it seems that software programmers add 'bloat' to fill the memory available..

Also worth using Malwarebytes( free) to prevent/check for assorted nasties which can come from anywhere.. I also use Avast Anti Virus and Glary utilities, to prevent attacks and clear out the rubbish/cookies/temporary internet files which will otherwise acumulate. It's surprising where stuff can catch you. A year or so back I googled the number of a steam loco seen on a TV prog. This led to an enthusiast site with lots of info about said loco. An innocent looking link on the site led to some very nasty 'ransomeware', which took a bit of getting rid of, by my friend who knows mor

I'm happy with Firefox. So long as you don't get involved with 'add ons' etc, it's a simple and uncluttered browser. Much of what search engines do can be switched off etc., so I'm not too bothered about using Google. I don't post critical personal info such as passwords or PIN nos etc. In fact the way that Google automatically saves all my phone pics to 'Google Photos' has saved my bacon recently.. but it can also be switched off. Most unsolicited emails can be stopped by looking for the 'Unsubscribe' info at the bottom. Search Engines such as: 'Duck Duc

It's not a secret that these companies use your data to target ads and no doubt in other ways. The question is.. What Data? As I understand it they mostly just use your search behaviour and 'key words' to target advertising at you. That bothers me not one bit because I'm not easily susceptible to advertising. It is up to you how much truly 'personal' data you put out there. I do not do any internet banking for example, as I'm not convinced of the security systems. Others seem quite happy about it. Kids putting images of themselves online is an area wher

19 degrees Nonna? Luxury!! We yoosed ter dream of 'avin 19 degrees!!! ( Credit: Monty Python. 'Yorkshiremen' sketch) Seriously though yes.. it looks like Southern Europe and the Med has been 'copping it' a bit this year. And conversely (though about time) we've had a long run of decent weather here in NW England. For some years now I've been complaining ( "complaining.. DJ360? surely not!!" ).. that we are lucky if we get more than a handful of days over 20 degrees C but much of May was like that and June is looking OK so far with minimims of 19 C and mostly 20-21C forecast fo

Well.. our local independent computer shop had a Toshiba 128 Gig SD card for not much money, so I bought one . Stuck it in my phone and while I was trying to figure out how to move existing images from internal storage to the SD Card, I managed to delete the lot.... Excellent...... This is one of those times when you are actually grateful that Google has taken over your life and quietly squirrelled all your pics away whether you wanted it or not. They are still there somewhere..

You're welcome Dave.

Mercifully, he called me back today and apologised. He's injured his back and is having a week off to recover then he has hols booked, so I won't see him for about 3 weeks. But, the job's been ongoing since last November.. so another couple of weeks won't make much difference...

Mine is small.... but beautifully formed...........

So, I've finally finished digging out a new trench for a new exterior soil pipe and drain, to run from the loo to the access chamber under the back lawn. It will of course also take the waste water from the bath/shower/washbasin etc. I started on this job just before the kitchen fitter and co. commenced operations last November. I couldn't locate the existing underground drain so had to hold off while they were working, as I didn't want to be responsible for anyone falling down a hole. Then.. a long and cold winter didn't really encourage me.. so it's dragged on until now.

There is of course something in what you say, but do you really believe it's a Binary thing? Do you not wonder whether the much more free availability of firearms in the US, compared to the UK, contibutes to the much higher proportion of firearms related deaths in the US, c.f. the UK?

I wasn't intending to respond further on this topic as I was being clearly unable to get across my basic point. Also I have a lot of respect for Dave ( Loppy) and I don't want to fall out with him. If fact, I don't want to fall out with anyone. I'd hoped we were past all that. However: I don't think there's any need to personalise this debate. I accept that I'm an argumentative old sod, but I do always try to bat the ball.. not the man. So.. firstly, I don't claim to be an expert on anything. I have a certain amount of knowledge, an ability t

Loppy, please read the list of school shootings which I linked to. This has been going on in the US since the 19th C and the only common factor is the availability of Guns. It might be a factor Loppy, but whatever the mental state of the 'Perpetrator', they can only use guns if guns are available and accessible. This is only the case in the USA. Col

Of course I'm aware. It is also illegal in most cases, for anyone of any age, to shoot anyone else of any age. The single common thread across all school shootings in the USA is the availability of weapons. Kids don't need to own weapons to acquire, and use them. They often simply take them from their parents' homes. And whatever the motivation of the shooters, they would simply not be able to wreak the havoc they have done, if they did not have access to guns. This does not happen in the UK, or in any other country except the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_

I'm saying one thing about Trump because I too don't want a political argument and in any case you can't change anyone's mind on a forum. So here's my one thing. He has just upset half the World by slapping trade tariff's on steel and aluminium imports. This is technically illegal under international trading law. He's upset Canada, the UK and the EU. He seems incapable of grasping ( among many other things) that trade is a two way thing. When you start a trade war.. nobody wins. The man is a clown.

It would be even lower if you removed the guns from the hands of schoolkids.

Ayup, I'm not stupid. nor do I have a death wish. I am going on an all inclusive hotel based trip to Cancun. I will not be using public transport, driving into the hinterlands, drinking Tequila with the local crooks in downtown anywhere, etc. I will not be patrolling the US/Mexican border, engaging in protest or political discussion with the locals, hunting crocodiles, swimming with sharks, scoring cocaine etc. The most adventurous I'm likely to get is a possible trip to a historical site.. organised by the tour operator. It'll be fine.

It is certainly at unprecedented levels, but is mostly affecting young blacks in major cities. It's a very sad situation, but it doesn't usually affect the more general population. According to my sources. 'Intentional Homicides' are running at slightly less the 1 per 100,000 population in the UK, 6 per 100,000 in the US, and 16 per 100,000 in Mexico. The World average appears to be around 7 per 100,000. There are many much more dangerous places. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate