CoTT 2 House of Cards

[dughlas]

43 minutes ago, Marty said:

Scofflaw...

Never come across that word before. I'm thinking it probably means she like to scoff at the law...

The term is strictly American coined in 1924 for those "lawless drinkers" during Prohibition. Now it can be applied to anyone who willfully disregards laws, i.e. exceeding the speed limit, ignoring mask mandates, etc.

[clochette]

28 minutes ago, Marty said:

In other news (@clochette may have already heard about this)......

French police's MDMA haul was actually strawberry sweets

Extract:

A MAJOR HAUL of the drug MDMA

 I hadn't hear of this. I guess they didn't want to brag about it

All week has only been about the new restrictions 

[clochette]

52 minutes ago, Marty said:

Scofflaw...

Never come across that word before. I'm thinking it probably means she like to scoff at the law...

More like law enforcers

[Marty]

12 minutes ago, clochette said:

More like law enforcers

Oh, I'm not so sure about that in Val's case...

The way she told the story, I got the impression she was secretly (or maybe even openly) chatting the officer up...

[clochette]

4 minutes ago, Marty said:

Oh, I'm not so sure about that in Val's case...

The way she told the story, I got the impression she was secretly (or maybe even openly) chatting the officer up...

Ahh nah that's because I've mixed up scoff with scarf

So yeah of course chatting up the officer to later scarf him down would be more val's style

[Marty]

Week 51 of 52 monochrome photo (only one more week to go)...

It's a view through one of the ground floor doorways of the old stone cottage in my back garden. 

I tried something technically a wee bit different this week, and used what's known as "bracketing" - where several different shots, each using a different amount of exposure, are taken of the same scene, and then software used  to blend the different shots together.

The idea behind it is that some of the shots are exposed perfectly for the brighter parts of the shot (the outside wall of the cottage in this example), but underexposed (and therefore much too dark) for the darker parts (the room inside the doorway in this example). Conversely, other shots in the sequence may be exposed long enough to show the detail inside the doorway, but these would completely overexpose the outside wall, leaving it just a white expanse with no detail in it. The software uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to analyse the different shots in the sequence, and then attempts to create one final image from them that reveals all the details - both in the darker areas and the lighter ones.

In this instance I took three shots. One at the exposure that the camera assumed to be the correct one for the overall light hitting the sensor, and then one overexposed by a full stop, followed by one underexposed by a full stop.

It might sound really technical, but it's really not too difficult in practice.  

Edited March 20, 2021 by Marty

[Bucket1]

29 minutes ago, Marty said:

Week 51 of 52 monochrome photo (only one more week to go)...

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

oh wait you said there would be another challenge so it’s all good

[Marty]

2 minutes ago, Bucket1 said:

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

oh wait you said there would be another challenge so it’s all good

It might not start until much later this year, though, when hopefully the camera club can meet in their usual meeting room instead of having to meet over Zoom...

[Marty]

I've gotten used to digging up stones, some of them quite large, as I have been tidying the garden this past twelve months. However, I really struggled with one today. I was trying to remove an old tree stump from beside the door leading into the upper floor of the old two story stone cottage. It was a case of using the crow bar to lever the stump from side to side to try and loosen the roots, and digging down to expose side roots so I could saw through them or break them with the hatchet.

Every now and then I would find a large stone in the way, and it would occasionally prove quite difficult to remove it. I came across one stone, maybe a foot (30cm) deep that proved exceptionally difficult. It was right up against the main root of the stump, which meant I was finding it hard to drive the crow bar between it and the root in order to try to lever it out of the way. It was also the biggest stone I have come across so far. After a lot of grunting and heaving (and uttering a number of quite rude words), I finally managed to lever it upright...

It turned out to be an almost perfectly round and flat stone, about 21 inches (53cm) in diameter, and 3 inches (7.5cm) thick. It has also been dressed (chiselled) and looks almost as though it may have been a millstone, apart from the fact that there is no hole in the centre of it. I'm not sure exactly what it may have been used for, but think it may have been part of some garden ornament. Whatever it is, it's extremely heavy and, even after finally removing the tree stump, proved difficult to actually get out of the hole.

When the damp earth on it has dried, I'll clean it off and see if I can work out what it may have been used for.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Marty
typo

[Albert1434]

[Headstall]

4 hours ago, Albert1434 said:

Was kind of a shock😲

 

[dughlas]

10 hours ago, clochette said:

More like law enforcers

Oh come on, seriously, Val and a guy in uniform plus handcuffs ... I doubt she scoffed.

[dughlas]

10 hours ago, Marty said:

Week 51 of 52 monochrome photo (only one more week to go)...

It's a view through one of the ground floor doorways of the old stone cottage in my back garden. 

I tried something technically a wee bit different this week, and used what's known as "bracketing" - where several different shots, each using a different amount of exposure, are taken of the same scene, and then software used  to blend the different shots together.

The idea behind it is that some of the shots are exposed perfectly for the brighter parts of the shot (the outside wall of the cottage in this example), but underexposed (and therefore much too dark) for the darker parts (the room inside the doorway in this example). Conversely, other shots in the sequence may be exposed long enough to show the detail inside the doorway, but these would completely overexpose the outside wall, leaving it just a white expanse with no detail in it. The software uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to analyse the different shots in the sequence, and then attempts to create one final image from them that reveals all the details - both in the darker areas and the lighter ones.

In this instance I took three shots. One at the exposure that the camera assumed to be the correct one for the overall light hitting the sensor, and then one overexposed by a full stop, followed by one underexposed by a full stop.

It might sound really technical, but it's really not too difficult in practice.  

Well you say it's not difficult, maybe because you had help from an artificial brain, but me, I'm a point and shoot guy.

Is that a bricked up doorway in the backwall?

[dughlas]

9 hours ago, Bucket1 said:

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

oh wait you said there would be another challenge so it’s all good

 

9 hours ago, Marty said:

It might not start until much later this year, though, when hopefully the camera club can meet in their usual meeting room instead of having to meet over Zoom...

You're almost as bad as the bloody author that posts a cliffy and then makes us wait for resolution. You've created an addiction amongst us.

[Timothy M.]

On 3/15/2021 at 5:40 PM, Marty said:

the same biologist said something about another walrus having been spotted in the past day or so well south of their usual habitat in Denmark, or somewhere like that. Perhaps @Timothy M. has heard something?

  Uhm, we don't have walrus in Denmark, unless you're thinking about Greenland. So seeing one outside zoos, is major news here. But we do occasionally see young males on beaches in North Jutland and yes there was one here in February (only the fifth seen since 1900) https://nyheder.tv2.dk/lokalt/2021-02-17-hvalros-dukket-op-paa-dansk-strand-det-er-noget-af-en-sensation

On 3/15/2021 at 10:50 PM, Marty said:

(And I'm not even going to ask just which door he is thinking of knocking on. )  

The picture and your comments belong in the Inadvertently Gay Topic. 

19 hours ago, Headstall said:

So, I said no.

Good for you  

16 hours ago, Headstall said:

 I have the right to say no.  

 stick to that - your son will be grateful in the long run.

[northie]

20 hours ago, Headstall said:

So, I said no. I told them I wasn't up to looking after their puppy(and I don't believe they are)

Hi, all. Very occasional lurker here.  👋 😄 

I think you're right, Gary. Far too many people have seen social media posts of pets and think, 'That's for me. I want one' without any consideration as to the consequences. Once something like full working returns here in the UK (whatever that's going to look like), there'll be a rush of abandoned pets, I'm sure. In a way, that's almost preferable to cats and dogs being left, locked up, in small houses and flats all day.

Pets aren't playthings. 🐕

[dughlas]

It's another gray, chilly blustery day here. Currently 41/5° but with the wind factored it feels just above freezing. High temp forecast to be 54/12°, that's well below normal for this time of year. It has set my head and mum's knees to aching, bah. 

[dughlas]

59 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

But we do occasionally see young males on beaches in North Jutland and yes there was one here in February.

Wow, I'd have thought more young Danish males would spend time on the beaches ... oh, you were referring to young male walrus.

[Marty]

2 hours ago, dughlas said:

Well you say it's not difficult, maybe because you had help from an artificial brain, but me, I'm a point and shoot guy.

Is that a bricked up doorway in the back wall?

It is. It originally led out into the rear yard of the village shop.

I couldn't reopen it, even if I wanted to, as there have been stones laid in the rear yard of the shop that now cover the lower couple of feet of the doorway. I could try insisting that these stones be removed, but that might involve a lot of legal hassle, and perhaps a falling out with my neighbour; something I wouldn't really want to happen.

Those stones were only laid down in the past 5 years or so, and I actually watched that happen at the time, not realising that the cottage actually belonged to the property that I would eventually purchasing.

Just out of interest, here's a screenshot from a Google Street View looking down to the rear of the shop taken in 2009, where you can see that doorway (the nearest one in the photo), before the stones were laid...

(I was renting the nearest house with the red door when the stones were being laid)

And here's a closer view of the cottage from the back of the shop that I took a few minutes ago.

The doorway in question is the right-hand one (behind the bushes).

The other doorway led into the smaller of the two ground floor rooms of the old cottage. I may eventually reopen the upper parts of both doorways and put windows in, to let more light into the cottage. If I ever do get round to that, I will probably reinstate the window to the upper floor as well.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Marty
Tidying up

[Marty]

2 hours ago, Timothy M. said:

The picture and your comments belong in the Inadvertently Gay Topic. 

[Marty]

1 hour ago, dughlas said:

Wow, I'd have thought more young Danish males would spend time on the beaches ... oh, you were referring to young male walrus.

You beat me to it, bro!

 

[Marty]

At 09:37 UTC today the sun was perpendicular over the equator. This was the equinox, the moment when day and night will be exactly 12 hours each over the whole world. North of the equator this is the vernal (spring) equinox, and between now and midsummer's day the hours of daylight will be getting longer. In Britain the vernal equinox officially marks the first day of spring (unlike Ireland where St Bridget's day, on February 1st, is considered to be the first day of spring).

The equinox, the seasons, and the changing length of daylight hours throughout the year are all due to one fact: the earth spins on a tilted axis.

The tilt - possibly caused by a massive object hitting Earth billions of years ago - means that for half the year, the North Pole is pointed toward the sun. For the other half of the year, the South Pole gets more light. It’s what gives us seasons.

Happy equinox everybody!

[Headstall]

1 hour ago, northie said:

Hi, all. Very occasional lurker here.  👋 😄 

I think you're right, Gary. Far too many people have seen social media posts of pets and think, 'That's for me. I want one' without any consideration as to the consequences. Once something like full working returns here in the UK (whatever that's going to look like), there'll be a rush of abandoned pets, I'm sure. In a way, that's almost preferable to cats and dogs being left, locked up, in small houses and flats all day.

Pets aren't playthings. 🐕

Hey, northie.  No, they're not toys. My son and his girlfriend love animals, and they know if I'm here there is no way another dog wouldn't be looked after, so they can be gone for days and not have to worry. They would never intentionally abuse an animal, but they will take advantage of me. I have felt stressed for much of the pandemic, and the last thing I need is to fret over a puppy.  

[Headstall]

1 hour ago, dughlas said:

It's another gray, chilly blustery day here. Currently 41/5° but with the wind factored it feels just above freezing. High temp forecast to be 54/12°, that's well below normal for this time of year. It has set my head and mum's knees to aching, bah. 

Hey, bro and Mum.  Sunny and 3 degrees here. Supposed to get up to 11 C today.  

[Headstall]

9 minutes ago, Marty said:

At 09:37 UTC today the sun was perpendicular over the equator. This was the equinox, the moment when day and night will be exactly 12 hours each over the whole world. North of the equator this is the vernal (spring) equinox, and between now and midsummer's day the hours of daylight will be getting longer. In Britain the vernal equinox officially marks the first day of spring (unlike Ireland where St Bridget's day, on February 1st, is considered to be the first day of spring).

The equinox, the seasons, and the changing length of daylight hours throughout the year are all due to one fact: the earth spins on a tilted axis.

The tilt - possibly caused by a massive object hitting Earth billions of years ago - means that for half the year, the North Pole is pointed toward the sun. For the other half of the year, the South Pole gets more light. It’s what gives us seasons.

Happy equinox everybody!

Happy Equinox, Marty.