GRIPES

[nomadpete]

5 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

This has to be the gripe of the month. Happy new year, fellas: https://time.com/6550584/5-shock-events-world-future-essay/?utm_source=upday&utm_medium=referral

The biggest risk mentioned in that article for 2024 was Big Don winning the top job. And all the global instability he might bring.

 

I prefer to look on the bright side....

2024 just might be the year his lifelong diet of big macs catch up.

[nomadpete]

Gripe of the day....

 

A pretty electrical storm just went past us. My grandkids had blank looks when I called it 'A Fizzer'.

 

They just don't have a grasp of English language!

What is the world coming to?

[facthunter]

Fizzer was the name given to a firecracker where the fuse went out before it did it's job. Perhaps they've never had that experience . Malcolm Turnbull was called one once.  Didn't meet expectations according to some.   Nev

[old man emu]

4 hours ago, nomadpete said:

My grandkids had blank looks when I called it 'A Fizzer'.

Call a kid a damp squib and they'll think you are calling them a wet wizard. A squib is a person born to wizard parents, but who does not possess wizardly powers. It is basically the opposite of Muggle-borns (wizards born to Muggle parents). 

[willedoo]

A squib is also a small explosive device used in aircraft and things like car airbags. The fuse in old time muzzle loading cannons technically would also be a squib.

 

Edit: the friction primer I meant when I wrote fuse.

Edited December 30, 2023 by willedoo

[willedoo]

Your cannon wouldn't fire if you had a damp squib.

[willedoo]

The friction primers were a great time saving device in their day. The artillerymen would carry crates of them pre-made. Once the ball and powder charge was rammed down the barrel, they would poke a spike down the vent hole (flash hole) to prick the powder bag, then insert the friction primer which was set off by pulling an attached lanyard. They were a simple copper tube filled with black powder, crimped off at the top and temporarily sealed at the bottom with a small amount of wax. When the powder in the friction primer ignited, it would melt the wax and allow the flash to contact the main charge in the chamber.

 

At the top of the primer was a small primary ignition section of antimony sulfide and potassium chlorate which was ignited by withdrawing from it a serrated wire friction piece by pulling the attached lanyard. Very similar to striking a match. Modern day re-enactors often don't use the original antimony sulfide and potassium chlorate mix. A modern way is to shave the material off match heads and mix it together with a weak glue which ignites ok when the striker is pulled.

 

 

 

[willedoo]

Guilty of thread drift; there's no complaints in the preceding posts. Maybe I should start an artillery thread in the history section. I have the U.S. 1864 Field Artillery Tactics manual to back it up.

[onetrack]

I couldn't imagine what it would've been like to have your flintlock primed and loaded, and enemy charging at you - and you had a "flash in the pan"! Another term the youngsters have probably never heard of!

[willedoo]

4 minutes ago, onetrack said:

I couldn't imagine what it would've been like to have your flintlock primed and loaded, and enemy charging at you - and you had a "flash in the pan"! Another term the youngsters have probably never heard of!

The first muzzle loader I ever fired was a flintlock. The bloke who owned it and was supervising warned me about a possible flinch due to the time lapse from the flint striking the primer charge to when the main charge went off. Regardless of what he said, I squeezed the trigger and it misfired. I flinched that badly, the ball would have hit the ground 30 feet away if it had fired. The second attempt was more successful. He sharpened the flint with his pocket knife and it fired ok and I was more aware of the flinch business that time. The delay is a bit strange and totally different to a caplock which is instantaneous firing. Caplocks would have been another big technological advance in their day. But either way, definitely dry weather warfare. 

[spacesailor]

I had a 410 gauge shotgun that had " screw-in post " that would take a 22 casing to fire  the " black powder " , the ' hammer would hit the 22 , would send the ' hot- charge into that black powder charge , propelling the buckshot. 

Or take out the post & put a pin ,in that hit the centre of a standard 410 cartridge. But it was hard to " break " the chamber. 

spacesailor

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by spacesailor
A I changed a word on me,, again

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, willedoo said:

Maybe I should start an artillery thread in the history section.

When ya gunna do that?

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, willedoo said:

But either way, definitely dry weather warfare. 

Keep your rifle high and your powder dry.

[pmccarthy]

Check that the lock is primed and the load is in place. Hence the order “lock and load”.

[Litespeed]

On 28/12/2023 at 7:00 PM, Jerry_Atrick said:

This has to be the gripe of the month. Happy new year, fellas: https://time.com/6550584/5-shock-events-world-future-essay/?utm_source=upday&utm_medium=referral

The really depressing thing is the most important person for the year was considered as a billionaire rock star " Taylor Swift".

 

More important things happened than someone making a billion dollars charging $500 plus for a bloody concert ticket.

 

Time , get your priorities straight.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I have often been perplexed as to why entertainers are so revered in society. I understand the importance of entertainment and the arts in general, but the pedestal they are individually placed upon in society (and add sports people to that as well) is something I genuinely don't understand. Even to the point where until their unqualified opinions on some given disproprotionate gravtiy against that of experts.

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, Litespeed said:

The really depressing thing is the most important person for the year was considered as a billionaire rock star " Taylor Swift".

 

More important things happened than someone making a billion dollars charging $500 plus for a bloody concert ticket.

 

Time , get your priorities straight.

Heard quite an interesting radio segment on Taylor Swift.  Apparently she's quite different from other major celebrities in that she does actually meet some of her fans, treats them as friends, knows the names of their pets etc and often sends a gift box to their house later.  (This is all highly organized - she has a team who will whisper the appropriate researched details to her).

However to get that access she has a volunteer army online who keep an eye on who's buying the most merchandise, regularly going to her concerts etc.  So only the people who spend the most money will get that personal treatment.

In that way she's more like a politician than an entertainer (the biggest donors get access) - or even a cult leader, as her acolytes strive to be the "best" fan ever by spending vast amounts in the hope of a personal meeting.

[red750]

I wish they'd get their damned act together. We now pay a deposit on plastic soft drink bottles and on cans. Your can redeem the deposit by taking them to a recycle station. Many places have a large machine (powered by a deisel generator according to my brother - so much for saving the environment), but in our area, we take them to the newsagent, place them in large cardboard box near the counter, and get paid from the register.

 

The label on the bottles, at least a lot of them, say "Crush bottle and replace cap." Sounds reasonable, saves space in the boxes, fit more in. I took down a dozen crushed bottles thhis morning. "Sorry, we can't accept crushed bottles."  A dozen bottles in the yellow recycle bin, $1.20 down the drain.

 

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

My son used to use extension leads until the latest 18.5 volt battery-powered tools came out. He was too ikey to lose his best month's income to insurance premiums, and tripping over contractor's power tool leads is a good way to make a claim. So it was safe for awhile to avoid insurance safely, until the insurance companies went straight for the jugular and stopped contracts going to the self-insured.

[old man emu]

4 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

ikey

Now there's another of those lost sayings. Probably extremely non-PC in the current political climate.

[onetrack]

Now there's a bit of slang I've never heard before, I had to look it up. It appears it comes from "Kike", which is word I've heard used, but only very rarely.

"Tight-arse" would have been a more commonly used bit of slang around here.

Perhaps we haven't got enough miserable Jews here on the left coast, although they show up pretty regularly in business and retailing here.

[red750]

This is an offshoot of the 'car lengths' discussion on the electric car thread.

 

Two main  gripes. 

 

1. Zipper merge on freeway on-ramps. The on-ramp is supposed to let you speed up to freeway speed for merging, but when you get there, there is no space to merge into.

 

2. Parked cars on busy main roads. We have  situation on Canterbury Road where it is a Clearway (No Parking) between 7.30 am and 9.30 am. At 9.30 am every day, the driver of a 4wd ute parks it outside a boat yard. He either owns the yard or works there. All perfectly legal. People familiar with the setup leave the left lane free for 100 mt or more. But there's always someone who zooms up in the left lane then tries to force their way into the second lane. Usually, there is only the one parked vehicle. Immediately after, there is a bus stop, and cars move left ready to turn into a shopping square.

 

In the photo from Streetview below, (obviously taken during Clearway hours), the red box indicates where the ute gets parked, the arrow points to the shopping square.

 

[facthunter]

Entering freeways badly is one of the worst performed and dangerous parts of driving on freeways.   Nev

[willedoo]

The biggest problem is nervous, indecisive mergers.

[spacesailor]

willedoo

That ' nervous ' , is lack of experience. 

spacesailor