1,726

(3 replies, posted in General Discussion)

There is also another potential problem.

If an employee is in an employer's pension scheme that has benefits if the person dies or is injured so that he or she can no longer work, that benefit covers events nothing to do with their work, provided it is not in connection with other employment.

The situation if the death or injury occurs after the person has gone on strike but not yet gone back into work is unclear.

Also unclear is if an employer tops up State Benefits to salary level if the employee is off sick, what is the situation if the employee goes on strike then becomes ill while on strike, maybe needing to go to hospital for weeks. Other strikers go back to work, but that person does not. Does the employer top up the person's State Benefits if the person has not actualy physically gone back on duty after striking?

William

> A New Ocean Is Forming in Africa and It Can Cause a Continental Split

https://greedyfinance.com/index.php/en/ … l-split-2/

William

> Scientists uncover why colds spike when the temperature drops

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/medica … r-AA14Xpqx

William

1,729

(3 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Yesterday I saw a chart showing some of which groups are sriking which days.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/20653167 … -christmas

The chart does not have anything about a strike by nurses. or ambulance staff.

I had not seen anything previously about a food delivery strike.

I am wondering what effects some of the strikes will have.

Strikes by nurses and ambulance staff could potentially have the effect of people dying when they need not die.

But will the on-the-ground effect be that staff who are working will just try to get through the day as best they can, then people go back to work, that's that as far as management is concerned, resentment amongst staff towards how people regarded the strike (on a "neglected their duty" to "defied the union vote" spectrum) that quite possibly might go on for many years until people retire or leave due to the bad atmosphere?

But what effect does a Royal Mail strike have? Some combination of mail piling up and delivered later than it would be, together with people not posting items.

What effect does a strike of beer delivery have?

As for rail strikes, what effects will they have?

Bitterly cold weather with snow is forecast.

On a bitterly cold day with a rail strike, will people who normally go to work by train just have a day off work? Will it be just get through the day, the strike took place, back to normal, so what, nothing changes?

William

1,730

(4 replies, posted in Art & Literature)

Do English words that begin with sn always, typically or often, have a meaning that is in some way unpleasant?

Is there a name for such a phenomenon?

It does not appear to be onomatapoeia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia

Words such as snare, snarl, snap, sneer, sneeky, snooty, sneeze, snore, snort

Some depend on one's point of view

Snow can be a delightful, picturesque winter wonderland, but not if one is stranded in snow with a broken-down car.

A snail could be regarded as a pest or a delight to observe depending upon one's point of view. But what was the opinion when the word originated?

Can anyone think of a word in English that starts with sn that has a pleasant meaning?

Perhaps snooze?

William

Thank you.

William

I searched for

Gadgets

at the Tesco store that deliveries grocery orders to me and I saw this, which was not there when I found the vlogging kit.

Global Gizmos Rainbow Ring Selfie Light

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/p … /312092390

As with the vlogging kit I was not aware of such products until I saw the above.

There is little information except what is on the picture of the box and I cannot make it all out on the 11 inch screen of this computer.

I am not "into" taking selfies and "no plans" (as the politicians say smile ) to do so.

But it does say "or video", so that is a different matter.

Also, it has "10 Static Colour Settings" so I am wondering if this is a sort of mini and led version of splotlights where one can put a colour gel filter in front.

So perhaps one can illuminate a scene one is videoing in one of various colours at a time.

A quick look on YouTube seems to have, thus far, some videos about ring lights, but I have not at this time found one about this specific product, and I have not yet watched any of them.

Has anyone here used a ring light and/or can ... um smile ... throw any light on the topic please?

William

1,733

(9 replies, posted in General Discussion)

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/e … l-28641334

Dubbed the 'Troll from Trondheim', the snowstorm could blanket parts of the UK with snow and see temperatures plunge.

Forecasters said the worst of the snow could fall between December 10-15, while flurries could fall elsewhere across the UK as early as Sunday.

As we have forum participants living in various parts of the United Kingdom, this thread is for readers, if they so choose, to post information about snow where they live, and more general comments about snow too if they so choose.

William

I suppose that for a connoisseur of fine cheeses and a restaurant making a good effort, then Selection from the cheese board would be a great delight.

How does it work in practice please?

Suppose that the menu has for dessert a choice of Lemon Meringue Pie, Apricot Mousse, Selection from the cheese board, and the diner chooses Selection from the cheese board.

Does the customer get to choose?

For example, is it one cheese in a portion size decided by the waiter, or can the diner have several pieces of good size?

Does Selection from the cheese board mean in practice that things such as bread, butter, crackers and so on are supplied too, or is it just a piece of cheese on its own?

Does it get placed on a plate?

These days, do they do a vegan cheese option and, if so, is it on a different board to avoid cross-contamination with non-vegan cheese?

And whatever information about how it is all done would be interesting please.

William

Truncated Brie wedge
Time proceeds on its journey
The rheology

William

In the days before I was a vegan I did sometimes eat cheese, though rarely and not for some years before becoming vegan, as I had found that I did not like cheese and it seemed not to like me. It was very fatty, seemed to get caught up in my teeth and I found it sickly. When I had eaten cheese it was never just on its own, I always had it in a sandwich or a bread roll.

Over the years I had tried, sort of once or twice each, Port Salut, Emmental, Gouda, Brie, Lymeswold.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymeswold_cheese

I remember a television news item about Lymeswold cheese when it was introduced. There was a man promoting it and the interviewer asked him about the name and he said it was to be like the name of a typical southern English village, though for copyright reasons it was not the name of an actual real village. The interviewer seemed unable or unwilling to accept this and persisted in saying that the name of a real village would be better while the man promoting the cheese kept trying to explain about the copyright issue and the need to have a specially coined name like an English village but not an actual English village.

I know that now there are vegan cheeses and soya substitutes for cream, but I avoid anything that is not low fat, so I have not tried them. I would have quite liked to have tried the soya substitute for the cream, but I thought better of it and did not. However, I have never fancied trying the vegan cheese.

I don't know why I find the bit about Selection from the cheese board on a menu funny now. I didn't back then, it was just an option that I never chose.

Maybe one time the trolley rattled as it was pushed along and people looked up and at the trolley and people at various tables smiled at each other for a moment before all becoming private groups again.

William

1,737

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

When I saw the card it reminded me of an optician's chart when having an eye test, though those charts had about six lines.

William

I know this is silly. smile

I have had a non-personal email from Tesco.

It is largely about food for Christmas festivities.

One section is Keep everyone sweet with a DIY dessert board

Mention of "board" in relation to food reminded me of that years ago, on the few occasions I dined in a restaurant where each course had a choice of two or three, for the final part, one that seemed to always be included was "Selection from the cheese board".

I never chose that, I usually had something like a piece of lemon meringue pie, or apricot mousse, that sort of thing, but I do remember seeing the cheese board on a trolley being taken to other tables. smile

Sort of a wooden board, perhaps an inch thick, with about six big lumps of cheese on it, unwrapped, sort of a yellow one, a red one, and an off-white one with lots of blue lines in it.

I wonder if the cheeses got replaced regularly or if they just sat there for months until they got used up.

I don't know why I find it funny, but I do.

I appreciate that some readers might find recognition humour in this, but that some people might well not.

I put "et cetera" in the title of the thread in case anyone has any anecdotes about food in retaurants and hotels that may amuse at least some of us.

William

The "not congruently" is because it is not always exactly a calendar month. In practice, anything from about 27 days to 33 days. So I send a reading some time towards the end of each calendar month. So, basically once a month, but not exactly one calendar month, like not exactly on the 28th of the month every month. So if I notice the reminder and I happen to be up early, I go and do it. If I feel I want some breakfast first I don't do it that day. I know that if it gets to the end of the month and i have not done it at switch over, then it will need to be done during the day, which takes longer as i need to keep pushing the blue button, which i cannot reach directly so I need to push it with a cardboard box, to get to the correct reading, then use the light to see it, and the display times out, so what with changing from box to mobile phone and the timeout issue interacting, there is an incentive to gather the readings at switch over time.

William

1,740

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

No, I wasn't thinking of that.

As soon as I saw it, I laughed out loud, recognition humour.

It reminded me of something. smile

William

1,741

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

For what occupation would this be a particularly suitable card?

https://www.papier.com/noel-3142

William

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Thank you.

For me, there is not congruently a fixed billing month.

I get a reminder email to send a reading about the 23rd of each calendar month.

Notionally my readings are due on 28th of each month. I wanted the last day of each month but they could not dp that as they had to have a day in the month number that is in every month, so the 28th as a compromise. I could have chosen any number from 1 to 28.

In practice I send it sometime within a week of that. At a ratechangetide big_smile , I send an extra one on the final day of the month, such as 31 March and 30 September, gathering the day reading near to midnight.

I send two readings.

Night is from 10:30 am GMT to 7:30 am GMT.
Day is from 7:30 am GMT to 00:30 am GMT the next day.

So in BST (British summer time) that is 01:30 am to 8:30 am and 8:30 am to 01:30  am the bext day on clocks.

The meter is above the back door with a liquid crystal display.

The display shows the reading for the tariff in use (ie night or day).

There is a blue button that can be pressed to give all the available data, press by press, shown for a while, then drops back.

But there are various things like the date, the sum modulo one hundred thousand of the two readings, and the two readings.

So I usually gather readings by noting the night reading just before switchover of tariffs and the day reading after switchover of tariffs. Not only does this meamn that I do not need to push the blue button, it makes it easier, because I usually need to shine the flashlight of my mobile phone on nthe display to be able to view it clearly.

Thus far the supplier has accepted my word of what are the readings as nobody else has read the meter since before the 2020 lockdown. The readings are correct.

As it happens, as I want/need a warm house, my bills are somewhat larger than the media headline annual cost, so maybe the large size of the bills means they have no concerns over the credibility of the readings.

Maybe they have it programmed that the £66 gets credited when the electricity for the last day of the month has been charged. That would seem a sensible way to do it. I gathered the readings on 30 November 2022, but as they always treat it as up to the end of the day before the readings are taken, the bill goes up to 29 November 2022.

William

The media keeps on about £2500 per year average cost.

There is also the media-stated £400 to each household, spread over 6 months, at £66, £66, £67, £67, £67, £67.

----

However, I am finding this somewhat different.

It appears that 17p per unit is being deducted from cost. The 17p appears to be the difference between what I am being charged and what I would have been charged if the Ofgen price cap values had been used.

It is not clear whether this is in addition to the £66.

I appear to have received the £66 for October 2022 but not for November 2022.

However, my reading, has been logged as for 1 November to 29 November, so I am wondering if the £66 only gets credited when electricity for every day of the month has been charged. That would seem a reasonable way to do it.

Can readers please say what experiences they have had please over electricity bills since 1 October 2022 please?

I do not have a smart meter. I have economy 7. I send in readings in an email each month. Nobody has arrived to try to read the meter since before lockdown started in March 2020. I always send accurate readings, day and night readings.

Please don't say to ask the supplier! sad I know! I know! smile

William

Pacific Time perhaps?

William

1,745

(2 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/hi … s-AA11Psti

William

This one is interesting. From 1955.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sis3jlplL50

As a child I remember reading of something about the topic with which the second contestant is connected.

I have noticed something, a pattern, in at least the early editions of What's My Line that went out live.

Typically they have two members of the public, then a celebrity, and then sometimes, but not always, another member of the public.

If they have the third member of the public, I have noticed that the person is always from New York, or close by, such as from New Jersey.

I suspect that this is because they are local, so if they are not called, then they are asked back the next week.

I also noticed that in this episode the American Airlines credit at the end mentions the contestant by name. I have not known of that before as best I can remember.

William


William

1,747

(5 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Actually, I don't think there will need to be a limit in future.

Unicode Inc. is using two fields, given and given2, where both of them may contain one or more spaces. So, for example, a first name such as Mary Jane can be accommodated, as could indeed the 22 footballer names, one in given and 21 in given2.

Whether programmers will do other than just use the first character of given and of given2 or use the first character and each character that follows a space remains to be seen. I suppose a lot depends uopn whether an employer has a culture of wanting good software, recognizing that writing good software takes time, or whether the employer has a culture of insisting on speed speed speed and threatening. staff with no job if not done by Friday.

It is amazing how many managers do not act in accordances with the 1908 findings of Yerkes and Dodson.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes%E2%80%93Dodson_law

William

1,748

(5 replies, posted in General Discussion)

People need to design software competently.

Regarding the children with 22 names, it is their name, as registered.

I remember reading once of a woman, upon learning that her husband had registered their newly born daughter with eleven footballer names, went to her mother's house, taking the girl with her.

It was resolved by the registrar agreeing to reregister the girl with two conventional girl names.

Someone told me once that one of his relatives had had three given names and had habitually used just the first two, and that when he died intestate the application for letters of administration had to be worded as (here I am using made up names as examples) Albert Brian Charles Smith, also known as Albert Brian Smith, ...

This is because his name on his birth certificate would not be the same as on, say, his bank account, so the High Court would need to decide whether the bank account belonged to the same person as did the birth certificate.

William

1,749

(5 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Oh, people have told me that they have one name and that is sufficient, that two is enough to identify someone, that two is enough for anybody, that someone could have twenty-six given names - one for each letter of the alphabet.

("First two" is not necessarily sufficient to identify someone - for example if driving licence and insurance certificate do not have exactly the same name on them)

But those points are not the issue.

The starting issue in this thread is why some people deliberately, in replying, recording in records, and so on, do not reply to, record, or whatever, the name of someone as it was stated by someone else, but choose to reply to, record, or whatever, an edited version.

What is the mindset for someone doing that, not what reasons he or she states to try to justify their action if their error is pointed out and they are asked to correct it.

William

1,750

(5 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I have three given names.

For some things I use just the first initial, like signing for a delivery, followed by my surname.

However for anything formal, I use three initials followed by my surname. I never ever use "just the first two".

Yet I have found, over the years, that some people are unable or unwilling to copy my name from one document to another.

For example, more than once, I have written a letter, signed with three initials and my surname, with my three initials and surname below my signature in capitals for clarity, and the reply has just the first two initials and my surname.

Why?

Once, in the 1970s, I worked somewhere and, from time to time, I wrote a letter out in longhand as a draft, for it to be typed on the employer's stationery. The person doing the typing would later bring it to me for signing. The lady who normally typed letters for me had always typed all three of my initials. One day, she had had a lot on from her core work as a senior secretary, so the letter got typed by someone else.

She had omitted the initial of my third given name.

I politely mentioned this and was amazed when she said that the lecturer at her typing course at the local college had told her to only use the first two initials if someone had more than two. Fancy that being taught in a college!

It just seems strange to me that some people, but not everybody, seem to think it is reasonable or even desirable to not include more than two initials.

I am genuinely puzzled by this phenomenon.

William