Cafe Einstein - LPTPW 17 - animal, vegetable, and/or a minerally type chemically thing, and maybe some other things as well, yes :)

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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Fires. Now here's a thing :

Fires. Now here's a thing : north of Melbourne in the last hour, over an area of around 200 sq miles, some 15+ fires adjacent to roadways have all been discovered/reported b/w 2:15 to 2:20 pm local time. There has been a freshening breeze but clear sky ( no storms, lightning ) etc. As we speak all but one have been safed ( we have hotshot fire crews ). I don't believe in co-incidences.

Mike.

( edit ) All bar two have now been rated as false alarms. Yup, the fire service has definitely been given the run-around this afternoon. Mind you the crews are still hotshot as they all turned up to site under 15 minutes ( in a rural area ! ) to service the calls. Hmmmm ..... our Country Fire Authority doesn't do readiness tests.

Actually some of our CFA guys were over in the North/West of US helping out in August. They mainly slotted in areas where the standing crews were utterly knackered and needed a sleep. More watch roles than burning edge stuff but heck it released manpower. We've had vice versa every few years for some time now, as needs be. A great practice and real experience building for the teams. Some a-holes have viewed it as merely PR/'Semper Fi' stuff but not by those who have been there and done that ! :-) :-)

( edit ) All now rated as false alarms. There were no fires to the West to explain smoke ie. call-ins on smoke sightings alone.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Phil
Phil
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For shame! Double post by the

For shame! Double post by the eminent Dr. Hewson (who has never seen a case...)

That's 3 demerits and NO Scooby snacks for YOU mister.

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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RE: For shame! Double post

Quote:

For shame! Double post by the eminent Dr. Hewson (who has never seen a case...)

That's 3 demerits and NO Scooby snacks for YOU mister.


Ah, Phil my man. Always ready to jump out : no one expects the Phil Inquisition ! :-) :-)

Well, well, well Cardinal Phil. I do hope you are well. Have the Gods Of The Iron Horses been kind to you ?

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Chris S
Chris S
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I think Aussie and USA

I think Aussie and USA fireman are pretty good myself, especially when you bear in mind the vast areas in volved. The very worst fires in the UK can call upon a dozen stations within a 50 mile radius to help out, not over there. Kudos from me.

HIiyah Phil - into Ham Radio I see, I was into the CB stuff some years ago but we had the sideband lot with boots that drowned us out.

Waiting for Godot & salvation :-)

Why do doctors have to practice?
You'd think they'd have got it right by now

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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RE: I think Aussie and USA

Quote:
I think Aussie and USA fireman are pretty good myself


They all have a special place in my heart not unlike military service personnel, police and like. They are simultaneously both ordinary and extraordinary. Ordinary in that they are people behind the uniforms and suffer much the same as we all may, perhaps more, and extraordinary in that they can perform some amazing feats when the time comes. There is way too much derision these days of such community roles from the bleeding hearts, chattering classes, whingers and 'coconut grovers'. Yet we have these unsung people who don't seek the glory etc that others crave. But they get up daily and do it time and again ......

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Chris S
Chris S
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RE: There is way too much


Quote:
There is way too much derision these days of such community roles from the bleeding hearts, chattering classes, whingers and 'coconut grovers'.


+ 100

Waiting for Godot & salvation :-)

Why do doctors have to practice?
You'd think they'd have got it right by now

MAGIC Quantum Mechanic
MAGIC Quantum M...
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We have the best fireman


We have the best fireman here.......since they get all that practice here with California is on fire all the time and my State has so many trees that once they get started they cover a thousand acres in minutes.

So many forest fires and too many rich people who decided they should build a big house in the middle of a forest and wonder why the house gets burned down and then a bear eats them when they return to build a new one .

I planted most of my trees but also built my house with a metal roof and concrete siding sitting on a concrete foundation.

David S
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Saturday was about as much

Saturday was about as much fun as I expected. Illinois Terminal 415 just had new brake shoes installed on one side, so it stops very quickly. On the other hand, it's allowed out on the main, so it doesn't have its parallel points blocked out and is actually capable of going fast. And it is nice to barrel down the main at ~40 mph (I say ~ because it has no speedometer). I'm sure that if this had been official training, I would have qualified. The only hard thing to remember is to keep your hand on the controller handle while you're moving, or it will go into emergency and kill the power. I managed to only do that while I was stopped already (mainly I'd release the brakes without putting my hand on the controller).

The last trip of the day was literally a cleanup run: that usually means it's just one last trip for any visitors who haven't left yet, but in this case we stopped in half a dozen places to pick up discarded water bottles.

Once I'm qualified, I can work that car on weekdays.

(Phil, I was in IN on Sunday, but only as far as Griffith.)

David

Miserable old git
Patiently waiting for the asteroid with my name on it.

anniet
anniet
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I was a trifle unwelcoming

I was a trifle unwelcoming during my last firemen encounter :( *hang head from lamppost* I did apologise afterwards though :)

I didn't even let them get as far as my front door, instead, charged at the gate like a maddened bull, then flung it open with the words "You better not be coming here..."

They'd gone to so much trouble poor things - a-l-l... *try counting from memory* ... loads of them. Especially the ones in some sort of hazard suit thingy topped with breathing apparatus. Much better turned out than the last five times they sirened up I must say, and they were far less hostile than the police always are when they come storming in all unbelieving of my innocence.

*wave arms suddenly to encompass all the above* And it's always BT's fault, people.

*note disbelief spreading through einsteinians*.

It's true! Yes, I know everyone knows I'm not too keen on them and might be exaggerating a bit, but I'm not.

During the... we're-highly-bored-now... I-know-let's-prankcall-999-from-THIS-public-callbox part of the school summer holidays - the address BT sends ALL the emergency services to, is mine. Every time. Doesn't matter how many times I remind them that my phone number is the one they bill me for and is COMPLETELY different, and that that phone is ... weirdly ... inside my house and oddity of oddities, where they installed it, and not hanging forlornly in a phonebooth that never works - apart for prank 999 calls.

If there ever WAS an actual emergency occurring to someone in that phonebooth - I suspect they would die unnoticed whilst watching their much-hoped for assistance go wailing past to bang violently on my door :( And, if you've ever tried explaining all that to someone in Mumbai - don't. The ones that don't think you are asking to have your phone cut off, think you live in a 1m by 1m by 2m high perspex-sided street cubicle with no door.

And today's clew is...

and is a vegetable

Please wait here. Further instructions could pile up at any time. Thank you.

Phil
Phil
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@Mike The iron horses are

@Mike

The iron horses are treating me well. So far, so good, and hopefully less than a month to go for training. I'm currently working the district with the worst hills, but I ran that district for years as a conductor so quite a bit easier visually knowing the terrain.

What I need now is a nice 15,000 ton monster to practice doing the hills. Should be a bunch of fun, hehe.

Gotta get your kicks somewhere ya know.

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