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C Melody Saxophone Forum / Good Natured Banter / Social Chat.

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Captain Beeflat
User ID: 1738604 Jun 22nd 9:23 AM
As suggested by another poster, I am opening this thread for general chatter on any subject.
Those with no social skills, the grumpy, they who feel inclined to hide their background, they who still live with their mother, the anti social, they who never go out, those who know it all, those who contribute nothing but moans, those who tell us how to behave, the self opinionated, and the Oh, so serious, please feel free not to contribute.

alan (uk)
User ID: 0651814 Jun 25th 9:09 AM
Yes, Brown has also (almost) just lost that strange affliction/tic whereby he retracts his lower jaw after most phrases. Replaced now by a totally insincere smile, before it was just like a snake before it dislocates it's jaw........

To quote the Scottish doctor (Patrick Carghill) from the Tony Hancock 'Blood Donor' sketch - "We're not all Rob Roy's !"

ukebert - we've 'had him' all the time Blair was in power, pulling the strings,just now it'll really be seen to be him in charge. What's that they say, "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely..." I do believe there is a good man behind that tight-fisted penny-pinching squeeze-'em-till-it-hurts front - but will we really see him ?

Guwapo
User ID: 9363883 Jun 26th 3:19 AM
After the monsoon storm and deluge of Yorkshire where two months rain fell in 24 hours I know what the people of New Orleans felt like. I went out this morning and the whole place looks like a war zone, it's bizarre, I never seen anything like this before. Buildings have fallen down that had been there for years, and cars and televisions are floating down the streets. Luclily I am on higher ground, but the wind was driving the rain under and around the doors and through the windows, even though they were closed. I saw the flood rise by 4 feet in less than an hour. This morning it has gone down to about 2 feet but there is a slime mark now all around the buildings. Fun eh!

Captain Beeflat
User ID: 1738604 Jun 26th 3:52 AM
Very nasty...even if global warming is exacerbated by flatulent farm animals to an infinitely greater degree than 4x4s.
In the town where I live there is a tidal river. Until they installed the recent flood defences, the river would rise, at very high tides,to flood the quay and the adjoining road to a depth of about nine inches. With the flood water hiding the sheer drop of the quay wall, children used to ride bicycles in the flood water to within inches of the danger zone. The only indication being that the fishing boats, anchored to the quay wall, now towered above the road: this being the only clue to where the road ended and the river began....scary.

alan (uk)
User ID: 0651814 Jun 26th 4:36 AM
I must admit, the words 'Leeds' and 'flooding' didn't seem to be associated, but then there is a long history of localised flooding. But it's the old story of things just starting to get that little bit more extreme almost everywhere recently - whether it's global warming, or (that old excuse) a cycle of changing weather patterns..... Oh yeah ?

Same at Weymouth, Lewis, where they've had to build knee high walls (with drainage holes) all 'round the harbour to show where the edge is ! The combination of spring tides and rain caused many hilarious "parking in the harbour" miscalculations. Oh well, gives the tourists something to sit on while they scoff fish 'n'chips.

In fact, in the town centre, they no longer grant planning permission for ground floor residential development. I suspect an awful lot of 'flat' seaside towns are quietly getting worried.

Captain Beeflat
User ID: 1738604 Jun 26th 5:35 AM
On the plus side, remember that old Muggers is on the mountainous high seas playing on a cruise ship....what fun!
In reality, I suspect that he has been deported.

Guwapo
User ID: 9363883 Jun 26th 6:57 AM
In fact there has been a flood in Sheffield before, it happened in 1864, not many of us can remember that, when a dam was breached, causing the water it was holding back to shoot down a valley at an ever increasing speed demolishing everything in its sight. But the deluge we have just had is entirely unpresidented whether it is global warming or not.

Captain Beeflat
User ID: 1738604 Jun 26th 8:21 AM
The ecology nazis will now jump on the bandwagon and site global warming as the cause. I believe the reason to be far more basic....covering the country with asphalt and roofs, leaving a much reduced area for soak away. With reduced drainage area the County Councils direct the excess water into the rivers which promptly overflow and flood the towns. Just too many people in this country....and they want to build more houses. :-(

alan (uk)
User ID: 0651814 Jun 26th 8:49 AM
We do seem to have cunningly created very effective 'storm drains/culverts' by almost completely concreting over huge inner city and suburban areas...... So much for the 'brown field' development plan, hope John Prescott's replacement scraps that one !

Now the water can (mostly) drain away where there are no houses or people, on green field sites, via the unwitting storm drains - and woe betide the houses and people in its path.

ukebert
User ID: 0443584 Jun 26th 11:54 AM
Although I do think that manmade global warming is occuring, I have to agree with you Lewis that the flooding was caused by us making a lovely impermeable flood plain... I'm mercifully completely unaffected.

WW2
User ID: 8973393 Jun 26th 12:57 PM
Here in the Southwest USA our problem is the exact opposite! Snow pack near Lake Tahoe was only 29% of normal this year. This has resulted in a rather large and intense fire that has destroyed over 275 building so far.

In my neck of the woods... er, desert... we have only had 2.13 inches of rain this year. Our annual average is 14 inches. During the last 8 years we have had only three years with average or better rainfall. The average over the last eight years has been only 10.77 inches of rain. In 2000 we only had 0.37" (9.5mm) of rain for the year! 2002 gave only 5.29" of rain. Of course, the last recorded hurricane to hit California was in 1845 with wind speeds estimated at 75mph (category 1 hurricane). With the climate changing, will the next one be soon?

I watch the weather patterns on the Weather Channel and it seems that for the last few years that the rain stays well north of Southern California. Water is getting to be a problem here. Of course the fires that are intensified by the low humidity and high temperatures cause a waxy, creosote covering on the ground of the burn areas so that rain will not soak in but simply runs off causing flooding.

Southern California gets its annual rainfall in a few short months from generally heavy precipitation storm events. Unfortunately, this results in far more water than the ground can soak up so it all runs off into the ocean. All the storm drains and flood channels have greatly reduced the flooding in the populated areas, but the majority of rain water that falls in Southern California cannot be captured or stored so it runs off to the oceans where it is useless except to the sea life. Unfortunately, the water is so polluted by picking up the oils from the streets and sewage from processing facilities deluged by the large influx of water that it is toxic to the marine environment!

Global warming and climate change indeed! If I had the financial resources, here are the changes I would make to have a more green life and smaller impact on the environment:

1. Install full Solar Electric System on my house and garage roof areas. This should be large enough to generate all the electricity my household uses plus some surplus to put in to the grid. Currently, all my landscape lighting is solar. So far, I have over 21 solar lights marking pathways and landscaping in my yard. I expect this to grow to over 100 by the time I am finished. Now if only I did not have to use batteries in all these solar lights.
2. Drive a Tesla Electric Car (TeslaMotors.com) that is charged from my solar array. Currently, I burn gasoline in my car. However, I have upgraded to more efficient cars, so my impact is lessened, but still is terrible!
3. Work in my local community rather than commuting 75 miles to work each day. Too bad the only local jobs are minimum wage jobs that do not allow for luxuries such as food, shelter and clothing.
4. Capture all rain that falls on my 2,800 square feet of roof (house and garage). Filter and treat this water so that it is potable and store it for household usage. This is in the planning stages, with solar and wind power to be used for pumping and filtering. Storage will be at the top of the small slope of my yard so that the water tanks and gravity feed in to the house.
5. Capture all water runoff from my property. Filter this water and use it for non-potable applications around the house. This includes landscape watering and toilet flushing. Include a settling pond that will help to recharge the local groundwater with this captured water runoff. Similar pumping, filtering and storage as the potable water will be used. The capacity of this system will have to be 10 times that of the potable water system.
6. Landscape my 13,000 square foot lot with plants that have a positive impact on the local microclimate. I am already doing this, but it is a multi-year project that is very slowly happening.
7. Coat the roof of my house and garage with “Cool Roof” coatings to lower the temperature in the attic and reduce the air conditioning load of the house. Why does this cost US$15,000 for a residential application? This is really noting more that a thick white paint with insulating properties.
8. Grow my own produce to the extent possible to take the load off the commercial farming operations. So far my produce production is small and is made up of one lemon tree, one nectarine tree, one orange tree, and two apple trees. The nectarine tree was destroyed by freezing last winter, so it is starting afresh from a single twig about 10” long.

This may seem small, but imagine if the entire population of 2,026,803 in Riverside California did this. That would be Solar Electric generation of over 20 GIGAWATTS per day! Billions of gallons of water that runs off to the ocean each year would be captured for use in the local area. Now extend this to the entire population of the state, country, or even the world!

So, what are you trying to do to green up your impact on the planet?

ukebert
User ID: 0443584 Jun 26th 1:55 PM
1. Install loft and wall insulation
2. Get an eficient condensing or similar gas boiler
3. Repair, reuse, recycle
4. Buy locally grown/produced produce

All simple, and inexpensive.

J R Montrose
User ID: 9711993 Jun 26th 2:25 PM
Hey, this is a cool site.

alan (uk)
User ID: 0651814 Jun 26th 4:05 PM
Funny how getting as many "Air Miles" as possible has suddenly become irresponsible....

I don't fly any more, drive only locally when necessary as I retired early (now not frequently travelling hundreds of miles to fix a silly little problem that a customer could have easily fixed himself, but, because he had a maintenance contact, preferred to be 'down' for hours waiting for someone like me to just go 'tweak'....)

I also have an array of water butts, grow my own, plus buy local produce whenever posssible - I don't like to buy vegetables flown in from (e.g.) Thailand. And like ukebert, I "repair, reuse, recycle" to the ultimate degree - most of my possessions come from car boots (mass yard sales..) and ebay.

I suppose I should feel a little guilty about all the instruments bought and flown in from the US ? Nah !

WW2
User ID: 8973393 Jun 26th 4:35 PM
Instruments flown in from the US fall in to the "repair, reuse, recycle" so don't feel guilty!

By the way, I forgot to mention that both my garage and attic are ventilated with solar powered fans. The garage is 40 degrees (F) cooler! I did not measure the attic, but before the installation it was in the 140 to 160 degrees (F) range! I could only stay in there a couple of minutes during the hot part of the day (outside temp was 90F). This is where my AC and HEATER live, so cooling this attic by 40 or so degrees will make a major difference in my AC load.

alan (uk)
User ID: 0651814 Jun 26th 6:45 PM
Just love it when you guys talk about Air Conditioning, here we just open a window at the front, and a window at the back - nature does the rest.......

And as for heating, I have a faithful old calor (propane) gas heater that trundles from room to room ! Guess I qualify as not so much a "carbon footprint", more a "carbon tiptoe" !

alan (uk)
User ID: 0651814 Jun 26th 6:58 PM
Wade - just a thought - why not blow the cold air from the garage, into the hotter attic, using another solar powered extractor fan and some ducting ?

Alternatively, you could also use the sun to heat your hot water thro' a heat exchanger on the roof, and then store it in the hot attic....

Castaway
User ID: 9182423 Jun 26th 7:00 PM
J R Montrose: I have your album where you play with Ira Sullivan (Saxophone and Flugelhorn). I saw you play in person with Ira around 1962. You were excellent then, and I assume if you are still playing, you are as good or better now. You played tenor then. I believe you are from Belguim. Am I correct?

WW2
User ID: 8973393 Jun 26th 7:08 PM
First of all, I just read the news about what is happening weather wise in you part of the globe. Hope you all are safe, dry, and cool!

Open a window at the front and a window at the back. Temperature outside 105F. Temperature inside 105F. Sorry, the AC goes on! When the outside temperature is 80F or less, we do the window trick, unless there is smoke in the are due to the many fires in our area.

By the way, summertime humidity hovers around 10% so you feel like a crispy piece of bacon without AC and a nice cool drink. Everyone hides indoors during the day and comes out at night when temps drop below 85F. If it gets as cold as 75F everyone runs for a sweater or jacket!

Winter heat is seldom used, but is natural gas.

J R Montrose
User ID: 9711993 Jun 26th 7:20 PM
Castaway/ Glad you remembered. thanks for the compliment. Ira is alive and well and living in Coral Gables, Florida. I live in New York. I was born here in America. You are thinking of Bobby Jasper as far as being Belgian. But I am the guy you saw in Philly in 1962. Looking forward to reminiscing with you. Ira is still playing his butt off.

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Captain Beeflat User ID: 1738604	Jun 22nd 9:23 AM As suggested by another poster, I am opening this thread for general chatter on any subject. Those with no social skills, the grumpy, they who feel inclined to hide their background, they who still live with their mother, the anti social, they who never go out, those who know it all, those who contribute nothing but moans, those who tell us how to behave, the self opinionated, and the Oh, so serious, please feel free not to contribute.
alan (uk) User ID: 0651814	Jun 25th 9:09 AM Yes, Brown has also (almost) just lost that strange affliction/tic whereby he retracts his lower jaw after most phrases. Replaced now by a totally insincere smile, before it was just like a snake before it dislocates it's jaw........ To quote the Scottish doctor (Patrick Carghill) from the Tony Hancock 'Blood Donor' sketch - "We're not all Rob Roy's !" ukebert - we've 'had him' all the time Blair was in power, pulling the strings,just now it'll really be seen to be him in charge. What's that they say, "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely..." I do believe there is a good man behind that tight-fisted penny-pinching squeeze-'em-till-it-hurts front - but will we really see him ?
Guwapo User ID: 9363883	Jun 26th 3:19 AM After the monsoon storm and deluge of Yorkshire where two months rain fell in 24 hours I know what the people of New Orleans felt like. I went out this morning and the whole place looks like a war zone, it's bizarre, I never seen anything like this before. Buildings have fallen down that had been there for years, and cars and televisions are floating down the streets. Luclily I am on higher ground, but the wind was driving the rain under and around the doors and through the windows, even though they were closed. I saw the flood rise by 4 feet in less than an hour. This morning it has gone down to about 2 feet but there is a slime mark now all around the buildings. Fun eh!
Captain Beeflat User ID: 1738604	Jun 26th 3:52 AM Very nasty...even if global warming is exacerbated by flatulent farm animals to an infinitely greater degree than 4x4s. In the town where I live there is a tidal river. Until they installed the recent flood defences, the river would rise, at very high tides,to flood the quay and the adjoining road to a depth of about nine inches. With the flood water hiding the sheer drop of the quay wall, children used to ride bicycles in the flood water to within inches of the danger zone. The only indication being that the fishing boats, anchored to the quay wall, now towered above the road: this being the only clue to where the road ended and the river began....scary.
alan (uk) User ID: 0651814	Jun 26th 4:36 AM I must admit, the words 'Leeds' and 'flooding' didn't seem to be associated, but then there is a long history of localised flooding. But it's the old story of things just starting to get that little bit more extreme almost everywhere recently - whether it's global warming, or (that old excuse) a cycle of changing weather patterns..... Oh yeah ? Same at Weymouth, Lewis, where they've had to build knee high walls (with drainage holes) all 'round the harbour to show where the edge is ! The combination of spring tides and rain caused many hilarious "parking in the harbour" miscalculations. Oh well, gives the tourists something to sit on while they scoff fish 'n'chips. In fact, in the town centre, they no longer grant planning permission for ground floor residential development. I suspect an awful lot of 'flat' seaside towns are quietly getting worried.
Captain Beeflat User ID: 1738604	Jun 26th 5:35 AM On the plus side, remember that old Muggers is on the mountainous high seas playing on a cruise ship....what fun! In reality, I suspect that he has been deported.
Guwapo User ID: 9363883	Jun 26th 6:57 AM In fact there has been a flood in Sheffield before, it happened in 1864, not many of us can remember that, when a dam was breached, causing the water it was holding back to shoot down a valley at an ever increasing speed demolishing everything in its sight. But the deluge we have just had is entirely unpresidented whether it is global warming or not.
Captain Beeflat User ID: 1738604	Jun 26th 8:21 AM The ecology nazis will now jump on the bandwagon and site global warming as the cause. I believe the reason to be far more basic....covering the country with asphalt and roofs, leaving a much reduced area for soak away. With reduced drainage area the County Councils direct the excess water into the rivers which promptly overflow and flood the towns. Just too many people in this country....and they want to build more houses. :-(
alan (uk) User ID: 0651814	Jun 26th 8:49 AM We do seem to have cunningly created very effective 'storm drains/culverts' by almost completely concreting over huge inner city and suburban areas...... So much for the 'brown field' development plan, hope John Prescott's replacement scraps that one ! Now the water can (mostly) drain away where there are no houses or people, on green field sites, via the unwitting storm drains - and woe betide the houses and people in its path.
ukebert User ID: 0443584	Jun 26th 11:54 AM Although I do think that manmade global warming is occuring, I have to agree with you Lewis that the flooding was caused by us making a lovely impermeable flood plain... I'm mercifully completely unaffected.
WW2 User ID: 8973393	Jun 26th 12:57 PM Here in the Southwest USA our problem is the exact opposite! Snow pack near Lake Tahoe was only 29% of normal this year. This has resulted in a rather large and intense fire that has destroyed over 275 building so far. In my neck of the woods... er, desert... we have only had 2.13 inches of rain this year. Our annual average is 14 inches. During the last 8 years we have had only three years with average or better rainfall. The average over the last eight years has been only 10.77 inches of rain. In 2000 we only had 0.37" (9.5mm) of rain for the year! 2002 gave only 5.29" of rain. Of course, the last recorded hurricane to hit California was in 1845 with wind speeds estimated at 75mph (category 1 hurricane). With the climate changing, will the next one be soon? I watch the weather patterns on the Weather Channel and it seems that for the last few years that the rain stays well north of Southern California. Water is getting to be a problem here. Of course the fires that are intensified by the low humidity and high temperatures cause a waxy, creosote covering on the ground of the burn areas so that rain will not soak in but simply runs off causing flooding. Southern California gets its annual rainfall in a few short months from generally heavy precipitation storm events. Unfortunately, this results in far more water than the ground can soak up so it all runs off into the ocean. All the storm drains and flood channels have greatly reduced the flooding in the populated areas, but the majority of rain water that falls in Southern California cannot be captured or stored so it runs off to the oceans where it is useless except to the sea life. Unfortunately, the water is so polluted by picking up the oils from the streets and sewage from processing facilities deluged by the large influx of water that it is toxic to the marine environment! Global warming and climate change indeed! If I had the financial resources, here are the changes I would make to have a more green life and smaller impact on the environment: 1. Install full Solar Electric System on my house and garage roof areas. This should be large enough to generate all the electricity my household uses plus some surplus to put in to the grid. Currently, all my landscape lighting is solar. So far, I have over 21 solar lights marking pathways and landscaping in my yard. I expect this to grow to over 100 by the time I am finished. Now if only I did not have to use batteries in all these solar lights. 2. Drive a Tesla Electric Car (TeslaMotors.com) that is charged from my solar array. Currently, I burn gasoline in my car. However, I have upgraded to more efficient cars, so my impact is lessened, but still is terrible! 3. Work in my local community rather than commuting 75 miles to work each day. Too bad the only local jobs are minimum wage jobs that do not allow for luxuries such as food, shelter and clothing. 4. Capture all rain that falls on my 2,800 square feet of roof (house and garage). Filter and treat this water so that it is potable and store it for household usage. This is in the planning stages, with solar and wind power to be used for pumping and filtering. Storage will be at the top of the small slope of my yard so that the water tanks and gravity feed in to the house. 5. Capture all water runoff from my property. Filter this water and use it for non-potable applications around the house. This includes landscape watering and toilet flushing. Include a settling pond that will help to recharge the local groundwater with this captured water runoff. Similar pumping, filtering and storage as the potable water will be used. The capacity of this system will have to be 10 times that of the potable water system. 6. Landscape my 13,000 square foot lot with plants that have a positive impact on the local microclimate. I am already doing this, but it is a multi-year project that is very slowly happening. 7. Coat the roof of my house and garage with “Cool Roof” coatings to lower the temperature in the attic and reduce the air conditioning load of the house. Why does this cost US$15,000 for a residential application? This is really noting more that a thick white paint with insulating properties. 8. Grow my own produce to the extent possible to take the load off the commercial farming operations. So far my produce production is small and is made up of one lemon tree, one nectarine tree, one orange tree, and two apple trees. The nectarine tree was destroyed by freezing last winter, so it is starting afresh from a single twig about 10” long. This may seem small, but imagine if the entire population of 2,026,803 in Riverside California did this. That would be Solar Electric generation of over 20 GIGAWATTS per day! Billions of gallons of water that runs off to the ocean each year would be captured for use in the local area. Now extend this to the entire population of the state, country, or even the world! So, what are you trying to do to green up your impact on the planet?
ukebert User ID: 0443584	Jun 26th 1:55 PM 1. Install loft and wall insulation 2. Get an eficient condensing or similar gas boiler 3. Repair, reuse, recycle 4. Buy locally grown/produced produce All simple, and inexpensive.
J R Montrose User ID: 9711993	Jun 26th 2:25 PM Hey, this is a cool site.
alan (uk) User ID: 0651814	Jun 26th 4:05 PM Funny how getting as many "Air Miles" as possible has suddenly become irresponsible.... I don't fly any more, drive only locally when necessary as I retired early (now not frequently travelling hundreds of miles to fix a silly little problem that a customer could have easily fixed himself, but, because he had a maintenance contact, preferred to be 'down' for hours waiting for someone like me to just go 'tweak'....) I also have an array of water butts, grow my own, plus buy local produce whenever posssible - I don't like to buy vegetables flown in from (e.g.) Thailand. And like ukebert, I "repair, reuse, recycle" to the ultimate degree - most of my possessions come from car boots (mass yard sales..) and ebay. I suppose I should feel a little guilty about all the instruments bought and flown in from the US ? Nah !
WW2 User ID: 8973393	Jun 26th 4:35 PM Instruments flown in from the US fall in to the "repair, reuse, recycle" so don't feel guilty! By the way, I forgot to mention that both my garage and attic are ventilated with solar powered fans. The garage is 40 degrees (F) cooler! I did not measure the attic, but before the installation it was in the 140 to 160 degrees (F) range! I could only stay in there a couple of minutes during the hot part of the day (outside temp was 90F). This is where my AC and HEATER live, so cooling this attic by 40 or so degrees will make a major difference in my AC load.
alan (uk) User ID: 0651814	Jun 26th 6:45 PM Just love it when you guys talk about Air Conditioning, here we just open a window at the front, and a window at the back - nature does the rest....... And as for heating, I have a faithful old calor (propane) gas heater that trundles from room to room ! Guess I qualify as not so much a "carbon footprint", more a "carbon tiptoe" !
alan (uk) User ID: 0651814	Jun 26th 6:58 PM Wade - just a thought - why not blow the cold air from the garage, into the hotter attic, using another solar powered extractor fan and some ducting ? Alternatively, you could also use the sun to heat your hot water thro' a heat exchanger on the roof, and then store it in the hot attic....
Castaway User ID: 9182423	Jun 26th 7:00 PM J R Montrose: I have your album where you play with Ira Sullivan (Saxophone and Flugelhorn). I saw you play in person with Ira around 1962. You were excellent then, and I assume if you are still playing, you are as good or better now. You played tenor then. I believe you are from Belguim. Am I correct?
WW2 User ID: 8973393	Jun 26th 7:08 PM First of all, I just read the news about what is happening weather wise in you part of the globe. Hope you all are safe, dry, and cool! Open a window at the front and a window at the back. Temperature outside 105F. Temperature inside 105F. Sorry, the AC goes on! When the outside temperature is 80F or less, we do the window trick, unless there is smoke in the are due to the many fires in our area. By the way, summertime humidity hovers around 10% so you feel like a crispy piece of bacon without AC and a nice cool drink. Everyone hides indoors during the day and comes out at night when temps drop below 85F. If it gets as cold as 75F everyone runs for a sweater or jacket! Winter heat is seldom used, but is natural gas.
J R Montrose User ID: 9711993	Jun 26th 7:20 PM Castaway/ Glad you remembered. thanks for the compliment. Ira is alive and well and living in Coral Gables, Florida. I live in New York. I was born here in America. You are thinking of Bobby Jasper as far as being Belgian. But I am the guy you saw in Philly in 1962. Looking forward to reminiscing with you. Ira is still playing his butt off.