GRIPES

[spacesailor]

Just the same as Spain has at the moment. 

Over 200 deceased & still lots more missing .

We as individuals are helpless,  in those situations. 

spacesailor

[nomadpete]

My point is  that in the face of the above, the Spanish floods are similar, similarly tragic,  but no less so.

 

Further, the Spanish weather event was not unprecedented, and was the result of a known weather process, and should have been  better prepared for.

 

Is the Spanish tragedy more related to too many heads in the sand?

 

 

Edited November 3 by nomadpete
one wrong letter in the wrong place can change everything

[facthunter]

It was an UNUSUAL process and these things can be quite localised in the way they  happen.. Some parts of Spain are very poor  and the infrastructure hundreds of years old.so effective flood prevention/ mitigation works are not likely or possible. Nev

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

It was an UNUSUAL process

More "not usual" than "unusual". The "not usual" idea comes from the fact that  what happened in Spain was something that the current population has never experienced. Remember that maps are produced that show the expected areas of flooding from 100 year and 500 year floods. No one alive today has a personal memory of what happened 100 years ago. There are people who are centenarians, but they would have been toddlers at best 100 years ago.

 

The Sydney Basin is a good example of history either being forgotten, or other factors influencing flooding. Floods along the Hawkesbury River, which forms the western boundary of the Basin, have been recorded from the earliest days of European settlement. Steps have been taken to use the knowledge of those historical floods to minimise damage. However, the nature of the land use has changed dramatically. Over the past 40 years, and more specifically in the past 10 to 15 years, vast areas of that Basin have been converted from pasture/forest/bushland to residential occupation. That has resulted in a high percentage of that land, which was able to absorb heavy rainfall, and slow the flow of what could not be absorbed, in become impervious to water, resulting in rapid drainage into the natural watercourses which quickly overflow and start to make the water back up and flow well away across floodplains where housing and industry have been built without proper assessment of the effects of making those areas impervious.

 

[old man emu]

A gripe.

 

A bloke was replacing a batten light fitting with an oyster light fitting in the boot room this morning. Things were going along reasonably smoothing, including the usual stuff ups and accessibility difficulties, but finally the fitting was in place and all that was needed to do was insert the three wires into the terminal block in the light fitting. 

 

How many of you can quickly put your hand on a #0 Phillips Head screwdriver? That is what was needed to secure those wires into the terminal block. Luckily the bloke had one, but I'm sure that they put those weird sized screws in to prevent your average mug from playing with electricity.

 

Another thing I noticed was that the terminal block had the input holes marked for Active, Neutral and Earth. With an incandescent light, it doesn't matter which side of the fitting the Active and Neutral are connected to, however, the fitting is for LED lights. An LED has two pins – anode (positive or incoming) and cathode (negative or outgoing). I found out that it only works when its anode is connected to the Active wire. I figured that if the Active and Neutral were not connected as indicated, the LED wouldn't work. Here's a  diagram of an LED circuit. 

 

 

[red750]

Why does everything have to be hot and spicy? I thought spices were introduced to hide the bad taste of meat going rancid. Bought some chicken tenders at Aldi yesterday, didn't notice the small print "Buffalo style". 

[pmccarthy]

What has Buffalo got to do with it? That has confused me for a while.

[red750]

Buffalo wings, etc., are strongly spiced. You need something cold, like a glass of milk to cool the mouth.

[old man emu]

Buffalo wings and Budweiser

[facthunter]

Salt and spices hide the taste of Rotting. .   Nev

[onetrack]

The name comes from Buffalo, N.Y., where the spice-infused chicken wings originated.

[onetrack]

Todays gripe: I'm thoroughly sick of trying to buy new jeans and pants, and finding the zips are about 75mm long! - and they only reach halfway to the crotch of the strides!

What is it about these clothes designers? Do they all think our dicks are located near our navel? Or are they making all mens pants zips the same as womens pants zips?

As it is with these jeans and pants, you have to loosen your belt, undo your waist band and drop your strides several cm, to be able to get your old fella out for a wee!

The only pants and jeans I've found that have decent 150mm length zips are from Rivers and Country Road - and now it looks like Rivers are going belly-up soon, so I'm going to be stuck with Country Road, which are normally pretty expensive, upmarket strides for good wear. I notice that even Levis and Gazman and Jag are adopting the short zips, so I don't know where all this change in basic good design is going to end up.

 

I reckon the Chinese clothes designers have "dumbed down" a lot of our fashion and clothing now anyway, with good styling in clothes going out the window.

Everywhere you look now, you see people dressed sloppily in puffer jackets, trakkie daks, shapeless elastic waist garments galore, and T-shirts now seem like a national icon. Even the collars on shirts today are rubbish, no doubt due to cheap Chinese design.

Even good Italian clothes are starting to become a rarity - talk to any Italian, and they moan about how their Italian clothes manufacturing has been taken over by the Chinese in Italy, and dumbed down.

[willedoo]

Made in China jeans will always be a problem. If you can track some down made in Africa you should be right.

[red750]

I know exactly how you feel. onetrack. I have a urostomy pouch. I have to empty it twice as often,because it is difficult to get out, and if it is too full, there is a risk that the adhesive plate that sticks it to my stomach may pull away, allowing urine to get into the adhesive resulting in a leak. If it is too full, I have to drop my trousers to my knees. You can't really do that at a urinal, so I always have to use a stall.

[old man emu]

10 hours ago, onetrack said:

What is it about these clothes designers?

Onetrack, I thought that I was reading my own post when I read yours. It is word for word what I would be saying, including your comments regarding styling. 

 

I was ironing a shirt the other day and realised that it would be useless to give my grandsons lessons in ironing because I have never seen any of their clothes that need ironing, although I do believe that cotton T-shirts need it.

[nomadpete]

Ironing....

Ironing....

Aaah, I remember my mum had an iron. But I can't remember seeing her using it.

 

I guess I'm just one of those scruffy modern dressers.

 

[Marty_d]

I had to iron and wear collared shirts for 34 years. 

Now I've changed to another agency without public contact, so jeans and t shirt are allowed under the dress code.

I'm much happier, and don't care if i never see an iron again.

[onetrack]

I've got "work clothes" that I don't bother ironing (for when I'm getting down and dirty around machinery and workshop work), but I do iron a range of "good" shirts, for when I want to appear in clean public areas, such as pubs, restaurants, offices, shopping centres, etc. I only wear a suit to Anzac marches, weddings and funerals - but a suit does give you a certain level of pizzazz.

 

SWMBO has a big thing about "smart dressing", i.e., looking your best in public. I think she has a point, if you're smartly dressed, you always garner attention faster, and provide a more impressive appearance to others you wish to interact with - especially those in positions of power or Govt regulation.

And she says nothing looks worse than an old person who is scruffy and unkempt in their appearance, it looks like they've given up caring about their appearance and personal hygiene.

[facthunter]

Get fancy track pants with belt loops and just undo the belt and drop the front. It has to be quick. Zippers jamb and are invented by  the devil. Nev

[red750]

The last time I wore a collar and tie was my wifes memorial service 18 months ago. I attend the Shed 3 days a week, and have 3 Shed tee shirts, Below is a photo of former member Chris in one of the designs, Shed logo on Chris's left, sponsors logo on his right. I don't iron tee shirts.

 

My son is fastidious with his ironing and can take half an hour getting everything 'just right'.

 

[facthunter]

You have to when you're in the Army.  Nev

[rgmwa]

6 hours ago, Marty_d said:

I had to iron and wear collared shirts for 34 years. 

Now I've changed to another agency without public contact, so jeans and t shirt are allowed under the dress code.

I'm much happier, and don't care if i never see an iron again.

Same here, but I've now gone one better. Working from home, nobody cares what I wear. 

[willedoo]

4 hours ago, onetrack said:

SWMBO has a big thing about "smart dressing", i.e., looking your best in public. I think she has a point, if you're smartly dressed, you always garner attention faster, and provide a more impressive appearance to others you wish to interact with - especially those in positions of power or Govt regulation.

Going back to the 1980's when I spent a bit of time in SE Asia I always used that procedure when travelling or dealing with certain people. If you wear long trousers and a long sleeve business shirt and are reasonably dressed while travelling in Asia, people are much more helpful, cooperative and respectful. They really look down their nose on those tourists who travel on buses and trains dressed in shorts, thongs and T shirts. In their culture shorts are what poor people and rice farmers wear and to see tourists dressed like that in situations that would normally call for a better standard of dress is a bit offensive to a lot of locals.

[spacesailor]

"Reasonable dressed ".

That never worked in France .

Much more welcoming in Spain, Portugal, Turkey. 

Look how far Brits are roaming. 

Were do ' they ' get so much money to flit around the globe .

spacesailor.

[Marty_d]

2 hours ago, spacesailor said:

"Reasonable dressed ".

That never worked in France .

Much more welcoming in Spain, Portugal, Turkey. 

Look how far Brits are roaming. 

Were do ' they ' get so much money to flit around the globe .

spacesailor.

Per capita I reckon Aussies travel a lot more than Poms.