"Nothing but the rain"
What’s better than a Wokka flying overhead?
Three Wokkas flying overhead.
iPhone photos. No telephoto. Sorry. #avgeek #wokkas pic.twitter.com/4OYZz0MhiU
— Ian Parish (@iparish) April 2, 2017
Everyone should love the sound of these elegant beings. They are gorgeous.
I went to see Monster Trucks at Rochester Cineworld Cinema. It’s a kids film. I rated it (surprisingly high) on IMDB and you should read this before taking my ratings seriously.
I rated Monster Trucks (2016) 6/10 #IMDb https://t.co/QTiAwOvm97
— Ian Parish (@iparish) April 2, 2017
You know what? This film was alright. It was a bit like an earthly version of Transformers. There was a young man who was obsessed with trucks but also quite intelligent and a young woman trying to impress him. I’m not really sure. There was also some step-dad stuff along the way with Danny Glover playing a scrap metal merchant in a wheelchair.
There were monsters. But, of course, they were mostly friendly. Apart from the physics of crashing down a hill and crushing your vertebrae this film was mostly good fun.
The last in this recent Season of Lego this is a road sweeper and repair unit.
At work:
Last view (a fish-eye!):
I went to see Ghost In The Shell this afternoon. I booked a 14:30 showing. As is custom I went to the Cineworld at Rochester. Maybe one day I’ll change my “usual”.
I rated Ghost in the Shell (2017) 8/10 #IMDb https://t.co/PRJQl1opAC
— Ian Parish (@iparish) March 31, 2017
So, the thing with the ratings is that you should read this communication.
I enjoyed what I saw of this film and I thought it was good. I recently watched the original anime version and thought that was brilliant. I don’t care for comparing across the genres. The only film I would get touchy about is that tour de force Akira.
I did “rest my eyes” a few times during this film and so I think it would be sensible for me to go again sometime when I am feeling more awake. A short and sweet review this time!
I recently had a day trip with the cadets to RAF Brize Norton. We visited three main areas of the base:
I learnt a lot and saw two types of aircraft I hadn’t seen before. The weather was quite grey and so the photos are a bit of a washout, I don’t do Photoshop. The low cloud base did mean that the aircraft would take off and about fifteen seconds later they would climb through the cloud.
Now, the final communication. Here’s the bucket wheel working:
Here’s the machine turning the bucket arm:
Moving forward:
And general operation:
Overall this was great fun and very relaxing. Hour for hour entertainment it was about the same as watching an IMAX film.
This is the final push. The operators cab and safety railings is built. Along with adding lights and ladders this now completes the Bucket Wheel Excavator.
This was probably another hour and a half so total build time is roughly 11 hours. I would argue it was worth every penny.
Some detail photos for you now:
This part of the Bucket Wheel Excavator is to build the power section. This includes a motor, battery pack and the gearing system to turn on and off different drives.
This was another hour after a few mistakes were made! Then I had to connect it to the main bucket wheel arm.
A top view:
Then this arm had to be connected to the main body.
Then the bucket arm was secured and the top superstructure was built.
Current total time: 9 hr 15 mins
The next section of this mammoth build was the conveyor away from the bucket wheel.
This was another hour. So current total time is 8 hr 15 min.
And, one more for luck.
I recently ordered a day-sack cover from a company using Amazon. It arrived and I was somewhat shocked.
The rest of the box had that paper-stuff in it to hold the rain cover in place. I have written about this before in this communication.
While this sort of packaging excess does seem a waste I’ve got some other ideas. Fuel use for transporting goods is largely dependent on the mass of the object. So although the box added something to the mass it was still reasonably light and so not a huge carbon drain. If the box is recycled then it doesn’t really matter about how much cardboard there was. There’s probably more carbon used in making the plastic wrapper of the item than in the box, as long as the box comes from a sustainable source.
So, upon reflection this excessive packaging may not be as bad a first thought.
I do think that eventually everything will be labelled with a “carbon factor” to make people aware of just how much carbon they emit and how well we are fucking the planet. Because we are. It is fucked. Utterly fucked. I am glad I will be dead in one hundred years. There are going to be wars over water, food and power. I am just very sorry that my children, or potential grandchildren, will be involved in that and the people to blame will all be dead. My parents’ generation and mine have screwed this planet over.
I could be calmed, I guess, by fluffy cat or dog pictures. But they don’t distract me from the bullshit. They reinforce our collective ability to ignore all that is going on.