Off Topic The "Discuss Anything Else" Thread

Der Kaiser?

 

Cyc, on your photograph of HMS Hood on the Arts thread, this brings back sad memories for me when I was a nipper. One of my dad's best and favourite customers was Jack Pierce, a Chief Petty Officer on HMS Hood. He was known as 'Jack the Sailor' to all of us, and he was one super guy. He was in hospital with a liver ailment at the time of the sinking of the ship. Jack lost every single one of his comrades (except the one survivor, if my memory serves me correct), lots of whom he had served with for many years. Jack actually took us on a grand tour of the ship when it was in dock once, one of my earliest childhood memories. Although a senior non-commisioned officer, it was so obvious how well he was respected and how popular he was with all the sailors we bumped into when we were on board. Gosh, poor Jack was so devastated after this terrible setback for the Royal Navy that I don't think he ever got over it.
On a brighter note, do remember he just loved his horseracing, and never missed a meeting at our then local track where we lived, the now defunct Hurst Park (this is where the Victoria Cup was run in those days). Hurst Park was a quaint frying pan track, just like the old Alexandra Park (Ally Pally) one in east London.

 

What a memory Swanny. To have had the pleasure of setting foot on such an renowned ship must fill you with all sorts of conflicting emotions. I think I'd probably lie awake at night wondering about what it must have been like for those men on that fateful day. I'll put a bit of film on the other thread mate.

 

Tks, Cyc, will take a look at the bit of film later. Yes, memories did indeed flood back.

 

1st January 2017; 06.08.

Thank f**k it has finally arrived. Soon be back off to Koln for the first time since June 2016!

 

UK household debt now a record £13,000, says TUC

Is this the TUC trying to start a fight in an empty room?

We have known for ages that personal debt has been running out of control. This started ages ago when Bush/Blair thought that the retail economy was the way to stimulate the economy generally. The internet torpedoed that one because it did not create loads of retail jobs and lots of tax receipts from consumer spending. Anybody but those two idiots could have seen that.

So the TUC (specifically Frances O’Grady) thinks that this is a problem of weak wage growth when in fact it is a problem of people living beyond their means and taking out cheap credit to keep up with The Jones.

How much of this debt is down to people buying rip-off i-Products or subscribing to rip-off satellite television products? This is just the societal failure to accept personal responsibility for their own actions.

 

It's taken Lincoln City until this season to get over his sudden departure for Watford in 1977. They were top of the old third division by a reasonable margin when he left and they ended up not even getting promoted that season. Downhill ever since but green shoots of recovery this term, just taken the 40 years. RIP Graham Taylor.

 

I agree mainly but the word debt could be misleading. If it refers to high interest debts for the reasons you mention, then fair comment. However there is nothing wrong in people borrowing cheap (easily affordable) money so that they and/or family can have things now rather than later. I would argue that makes financial sense, especially if the things the borrowed money is used for are likely to appreciate in value/cost more later

 

I think that debt is perfectly fair but perhaps could be more accurate by adding in references to unsecured and private.

We currently have record low interest rate levels, so borrowing is cheap. Many of us would argue that governments should be borrowing money now (public debt) and using that money to fund tangibles such as infrastructure and technology that are going to (potentially) stimulate economic growth and generate sufficient revenues to cover the cost of servicing the debt even if interest rates rise marginally in the near future. Unfortunately Osborne targeted balancing the public books for a surplus.

The problem with private debt is that it is generally not insulated against interest rates so easily. We have a property bubble that is making Bank of Mum and Dad the only possible route onto the property ladder for many; and with the stagnation of wage growth, people are borrowing for things that have no tangible value such as holidays, cars and entertainment, all of which contain an inherent risk of debt default. The economy is badly out of balance in so far as consumerism is concerned and excessive levels of private debt have often been the precursor to financial crises, arguably including the most recent global one in 2008. The Bank of England monetary policy committee may have to take private debt into consideration when deciding whether to raise interest rates any time soon.

 

Best to crank up the sound on this one. Stick on the head phones and enjoy. An Avro Lancaster with a number of low passes. The four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines give off a wonderful sound. Apparently the Lancaster was second only to the B-29 Super Fortress when it came to payloads.

 

In 1938 the LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard set a world record for a steam powered train, clocking 125mph. That record still stands today, but it's under attack. An American group called The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) T1 Steam Locomotive Trust had set in place a fund called The T1 Trust, hoping in the future to wrest the speed record from the UK flyer. The PRR T1 set the standard for steam design in the USA. It's said that T1s ran to 120mph and as the UK speedsters did, often unofficially ran well past the recognized speed record. The 125mph certainly looks under threat. In 2013, in honour of that amazing record run, the UK government gave permission for Mallard's sister, LNER Class A4 4464 Bittern, to exceed the limited 75mph imposed on restored steam trains, allowing Bittern to make three runs of 90mph. I was tempted to put this item in the Art section, such is the beauty of the train in her original Garter Blue livery.

 

The (PRR) T1 Steam Locomotive is an aggressive looking beast, in fact they look like monsters. They reek of strength and power, but they are no oil paintings. Alongside Mallard and Bittern, they are pretty ugly. The pic below is sister to the proposed restoration with which the Americans plan to assault the record.

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Wish I could find more film like this. These guys are coppers doing a demmo at the Sydney Police Carnival. It seems that it was a real sport in those days. People are saying that the bikes look like Indian Scouts.

 

One eyed monster

 

Amanda in a début album video

 

Young Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, shuts-up a sarcastic reporter with his reply on Quantum Computing:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...u-quantum-computing-explanation-a6988031.html

 

How often do we actually think long and hard about the finish? Not the winning post or the full time whistle, but the end, curtains ..... eternal rest ..... death. Who in this day and age wants to be planted deep in the earth? Does the thought of having six feet of sod thrown over you, fill you with a sense of dread? Claustrophobia maybe? Well fear not fellow brothers and sisters, there is of course another option .... cremation. Want to know a little more about it? Then please feel free to read the link below. Enjoy.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/s...s/news-story/5574073dc67f2d50fdf431b3be8a07ae