We went on the choochoo!
There are several excellent heritage railways within day-trip distance of us. We haven’t been to one in ages. They’ll soon stop running for the year (except the Christmas trains in December), so off we went on Sunday.
It was a beautiful run through the countryside. Sheep and cows and little streams with little bridges over them. Clusters of oaks and blackberry bramble. A proper castle, even! You can go a long way in the countryside here without seeing anything ugly.
We splashed out on First Class and had it to ourselves. On this train, First Class was a corridor with those little wooden compartments, like in the Agatha Christie movies. We forebore to murder each other.
There wasn’t a tea service this time, but we bought a packet of sandwiches in the station and made do.
We were so worried that some of these railways wouldn’t survive the lockdown. Despite much of their staff being volunteers, they’re terribly expensive to operate. Not only have they survived, but a couple of them are working to reach a main line station – and then they’ll be more than just a novelty service.
September 26, 2022 — 6:08 pm
Comments: 6
One word: Ravenholm
Oh my word, people – the Half Life 2 VR mod has just been released in beta and it is a BLAST. I haven’t encountered a bug yet and I’ve got as far as driving down the coast blowing up ant lions.
Well, I mean, I guess ant lions are bugs.
The original is 18 years old (wow! really?) and the textures are a bit jarring in VR, but the gameplay is spectacular. The team promises to release regular tweaks. It’s a fan project and it’s free, which is awesome. And good on Valve for letting them do it.
And thank you to everyone who weighed in on my USB issues. I’ve been reading up on power supplies. One article that said a gaming rig should have a 1000 watt power supply. Mine is 500, so that seems the likely culprit. I mean, it probably doesn’t qualify as a gaming rig in 2022, but it’s still likely underpowered.
Now I have to bull my way through the specs and pick one.
Oh, hey, Windows invited me to install Windows 11 today. First time. Anybody taken the plunge yet? I’m…dubious.
Good weekend, all!
September 23, 2022 — 4:45 pm
Comments: 14
Glut of tomatoes?
Homemade V8! Makes a kickass bloody mary.
Preboil celery and carrots in a little water until soft. Add the tomatoes and cook another 20 minutes with the lid off. Put in a blender or zizz with a mixer. You’re supposed to strain it through muslin then, but that makes it too thin for my taste. I just trawl trough it for chunks (celery is the usual culprit).
According to campbells.com, the proper article is tomato puree plus carrots, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress and spinach. But the as long as you have tomatoes and Tabasco, you’re good.
Sorry about yesterday. It was the database on my server. I didn’t even bother to file a ticket. I knew they were working on it and I wasn’t too fussed. I had bloody marys!
Any hardline computer geeks online?
I’m having a mystery problem with my fancy computer. It’s three years old and it’s the absolute highest spec I could afford.
While it was still fairly new, I noticed the USB ports in the front were a little flaky – sometimes cutting out briefly. I assumed that bank of ports wasn’t fully plugged into the motherboard.
Then the ones in the back got a little flaky. Then all of them got pretty flaky. Then all of them got intolerably flaky, stuttering in and out constantly.
So I broke down and bought a PCI card with four USB ports. Which worked a treat. For about a week.
What could make all my USB ports unreliable, even freshly added ones. Would that be (please no) a motherboard issue? Could it be the power supply?
September 22, 2022 — 5:19 pm
Comments: 15
Eyyyy…we’re back!
Sorry. Some kind of MYSQL error for five hours. Back. Talk later!
September 21, 2022 — 8:50 pm
Comments: 6
Oh, she running
The Clinton Global Initiative held their first annual meeting since 2016. This is the Clinton Foundation’s mini-Davos.
I don’t know if they’re happy or sad that they were completely knocked silly by the royal funeral, but I’ve been saying since forever she’s not given up yet.
So what’s Hillary’s path to the presidency? I don’t think she’ll risk running again. My theory is, Joe croaks, Kamela appoints Hillary VP, then Kamela finds a way – any way – to step down if she doesn’t want to get dead.
Also, Putin gives a speech at midnight-oh-one Moscow time. Doesn’t that sound ominous? It’s probably about this:
But what does it mean? We’ll know in two hours, I guess.
September 20, 2022 — 7:07 pm
Comments: 11
The most famous spider in history, y’all
An estimated five point two billion people saw this little eight-legged ham today. And almost no-one saw Meghan.
You can’t tell me that was chance. Nothing at these ceremonies is by chance. At every turn she was behind a candle or a pillar or a tall guy blocking her face. Also, spider bro got closer to the crown than she’ll ever get.
Seriously, however you feel about monarchy, if you weren’t part of the 60-some percent of the planet that supposedly watched this thing, do watch some of the footage. Brits do these pageants brilliantly, always.
Also, your girl got the day off!
September 19, 2022 — 5:49 pm
Comments: 8
Dead Pool 158: A Farewell to Liz
Lavendergirl wins it with Elizabeth II. And that’s all I have to say about that.
0. Rule Zero (AKA Steve’s Rule): your pick has to be living when picked. Also, nobody whose execution date is circled on the calendar. Also, please don’t kill anybody. Plus (Pupster’s Rule) no picking someone who’s only famous for being the oldest person alive.
1. Pick a celebrity. Any celebrity — though I reserve the right to nix picks I never heard of (I don’t generally follow the Dead Pool threads carefully, so if you’re unsure of your pick, call it to my attention).
2. We start from scratch every time. No matter who you had last time, or who you may have called between rounds, you have to turn up on this very thread and stake your claim.
3. Poaching and other dirty tricks positively encouraged.
4. Your first choice sticks. Don’t just blurt something out, m’kay? Also, make sure you have a correct spelling of your choice somewhere in your comment. These threads get longish and I use search to figure out if we have a winner.
5. It’s up to you to search the thread and make sure your choice is unique. I’m waayyyy too lazy to catch the dupes. Popular picks go fast.
6. The pool stays open until somebody on the list dies. Feel free to jump in any time. Noobs, strangers, drive-bys and one-comment-wonders — all are welcome.
7. If you want your fabulous prize, you have to entrust me with a mailing address. If you’ve won before, send me your address again. I don’t keep good records.
8. The new DeadPool will begin 6pm WBT (Weasel’s Blog Time) the Friday after the last round is concluded.
The winner, if the winner chooses to entrust me with a mailing address, will receive an Official Certificate of Dick Winning and a small original drawing on paper suffused with elephant shit particles. Because I’m fresh out of fairy shit particles.
September 16, 2022 — 6:00 pm
Comments: 64
Endings
That, in case you don’t recognize it, is the Three Man Globe of Death. There are three – 3! – motorcycles zooming around in there. It’s been the finale of our local circus for years.
And you know what that means – the circus is here and summer is officially over. The circus is the last event on our annual calendar of events, and it’s always a nail-biter. They don’t decide whether they’re coming to our area until a few days before they actually do.
They operate on a shoestring and each year we worry will be the last. The ringmaster gets older and fatter every time.
But we were spared one more year. Roll on autumn!
Shall we have the Dead Pool tomorrow?
September 15, 2022 — 7:09 pm
Comments: 9
Why ruin a perfect record?
I had today off. It rained heavily. I have done exactly jack and shit today. It was glorious. I’m not about to ruin it with an effort post.
So I give you a riddle. The picture is of a plaster caste of a plaice that I posted about ten years or so ago. Can you tell what makes it unique among front page photos on my blog?
Answer in the comments.
September 14, 2022 — 6:48 pm
Comments: 12
Abundance
Oof! I’ve been in a Zoom meeting this evening, so please enjoy this photograph of muddy carrots.
Yes, it’s that time of year again – the end of the cottage garden when the last of the ragtag bunches of vegetables that come out of the ground. My remaining spring onions are now the size of golfballs.
I say ‘my’ spring onions – the garden is entirely the province of Uncle B. My only contribution is keeping the chickens off it (I don’t always succeed). Oh, and eating the vegetables. It is glut time.
My specialty is a little number I like to call Cream of Shit-from-the-garden Soup. Throw whatever I’ve got in a pot, boil it with chicken broth, zizz it with a hand mixer and add cream. It’s different every time, but always delicious.
I have been forbidden from fermenting vegetables since the Brussel Sprout Incident. Damn near asphyxiated everyone.
September 13, 2022 — 7:35 pm
Comments: 5