Ed Davies

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 needed a refill and the situation in the Middle East could only get worse.

Indeed, with the recent kerfuffle in Yemen the price seems to have gone up from £1.05/L to £1.14/L (https://www.boilerjuice.com/heating-oil-prices-scotland/) though the supplier I use tends to charge a little less than that. Haven't had the invoice yet.

Still horribly expensive. My last fill in January was just under £0.59/L. Thank that git Trump.

And yet the UK government is still going out of its way to discourage heat pumps.

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

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

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: @PracticalEngineeringChannel@www.youtube.com )

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 dropped it punching a small hole in it.

In March 2025 I bought some more solar film and made up a new filter ready for the partial solar eclipse at the end of the month, but there was thick cloud and rain.

A few days later I added some safety tie wraps for more-convenient extra connection to the telescope (you really really don't want it to fall off mid observation - particularly if you're looking through the eyepiece rather than just taking photographs) but just as I was tightening the last one it pinged back and punched a hole in the new filter.

I had enough film to do another one but decided to put that off till I was feeling less clumsy and was thinking it would be a good early project if I got a 3D printer to print a filter housing to fit directly on to the telescope.

I carefully stored away the remaining film in a place where it would be safe and kept flat. It seemed very sensible at the time. Now, with the upcoming partial solar eclipse (August 12th) I have, of course, no idea where that was.

RE: @zapaman@mastodon.social

““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 milliseconds we're gonna need a bigger fuse.

I assume they meant they will be able ramp up their injection or absorption to 1.2 gigawatts in a few milliseconds. It's not what they wrote, though. Why do so many people find these concepts and units so difficult?

@Pepijn@mastodon.online 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@mastodon.social

That’s a democracy done. SNP, SGP.