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  RE: https://c.im/@nickrauchen/117304280530477897 This is: A) a brilliantly useful tool which I'm glad to have found out about (though not so glad it's so recent) and B) a perfect illustration of what an utter mess Apple (and others) have made of creating “intuitive” user interfaces; like quite a few iOS features it's totally undiscoverable if you're not told about it.

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  Barclaycard emailed this morning to announce that they're dropping their web interface from October 7th allowing only app usage. OK, they are, by construction, tied into the Visa system but it seems pretty bloody stupid in the current state of the world to place themselves at the mercy of Apple and Google as well.

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  Ham radio kit. My neighbour came round earlier today to offer me her (recently deceased) husband's radio stuff. She'd tried the local ham group and it seems its chairman is also recently deceased and she doesn't know anybody else who might be even slightly interested around here. There's a Yaesu FT-857 with an associated power supply, antenna tuner (I think that's what it is, just at a glance) and what have you. Really not of interest to me. There's also an Icom IC-R30...

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  Ordered a heating oil tank fill on Thur Sept 3rd. Not urgent as I estimated it would take about 850 litres and the tank has a nominal capacity of 1000 litres, actually a bit more but probably not ideal to get too close to the bottom. Actual delivery on Mon 7th was 861L vs estimate (from logged boiler flow temperatures) of 856L - so pretty good estimate. My theory for not waiting a bit was that, with the low usage at this time of year, it wouldn't make much difference to when I next nee...

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  https://nebula.tv/videos/practical-engineering-every-us-electrical-outlet-explained/ Laughs in European. The British standard is the best, obviously. 😀 Well, OK, apart from the supposed caltrop problem, perhaps, though I've lived with BS1363 plugs for nearly 70 years and not yet found it a problem. (Edit to add: …and ring circuits can get back in the 1940s.) But I'll take any continental European wiring over US any day. (It'll be on his YT channel soon, I imagine: htt...

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  @Pepijn Having done quite a lot of gliding in the 1980s and 90s, yes, I've shouted in frustration at quite a few clouds.

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  Anybody here lost a tooth? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/12/fossilized-mastodon-tooth-10000-years-found-california

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  In the spirit of “any ship can be a submarine/minesweeper … once”, it's easy to store stuff. Just harder to find it again. I've had a solar filter for my telescope for quite a few years. Here's its last serious/successful use for the transit of Mercury in 2016: https://edavies.me.uk/2016/05/transit-of-mercury/ I probably used it a few times after that. In May 2024 I used it to look at some sunspots. When I was finished I took it off the telescope but fumbled and droppe...

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  RE: https://mastodon.world/@lennart/116975886961424522 WTF, did somebody use genAI to design a sailboat?

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  @MicroSFF@mastodon.art e

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@zapaman/116505739443645045 ““We will be able to inject or absorb up to 1.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity in a few milliseconds, equivalent to the power of the Leibstadt nuclear power plant [also in canton Aargau near the German border],” co-founder Marcel Aumer told Swiss public broadcaster RTS.” Did nobody editing the original article or quoting it in the referenced one not notice that this is idiotic? If we're transferring 1.2 GWh in a few milliseco...

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  That’s a democracy done. SNP, SGP.

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  Suddenly the RSS feeds for YouTube channels are 404ing. I wonder if they've finally stopped them.

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  @Pepijn Had two different inspectors do the annual inspection on my glider on and off over the years. One insisted the bearings for the control rods be well greased and the other that they be only very lightly greased (for the attracts-dirt reason). Oh well, at least they got a thorough clean every couple of years. @martijn_geerdes

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  @HighlandLawyer Inverness? Leakey's? Waterstones? Or do you know another one?

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  Snow showers here on the east coast of Caithness. No chance of them settling but still… Also quite windy. Had a power cut 12:05 to 12:20.

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  Isar Aerospace about to make their second launch attempt from northern Norway. T-30. https://isaraerospace.com/mission-updates-overview https://youtube.com/live/MsbZj8PxmUk