What is this? Some kind of #seeds / #pollen that has been blowing about the entire yard the whole day - it made me cough and I even had to abandon valeting the interior of a recently purchased fleet car (as it was pointless trying to hoover the carpets as it was entering the car in some quantity). What tree/plant is it from?
I photographed two large trees nearby before it got too dark, and plantnet.org (filtered for Northern Europe) identifies one as a black poplar - so this must the source of all the pollen..
Margaret Calvert recently turned 88 years old - along with Jock Kinneir she is the graphic designer responsible for the UK's distinctive #GraphicDesign and #dynamic_typography
of road signs introduced in the 1960s, which is one of the few things this country can still be proud of (the signs are easy to read from a distance even at night).
The font of the gov.uk website is also the same one from the road signs..
Someone in the village must have got a fat fine or even a ban for #speeding - the local speedwatch sign has been destroyed - even though the electronic "SLOW DOWN" sign cannot result in a charge even if it contains a camera (some do!) -All that happens is after repeated hits the registration mark is put on a list, driver gets a warning and the list sent to #Suffolk Constabulary (so they would have to be repeat offenders to actually get a ticket) #RoadSafety
@vfrmedia
Ach, never mind warnings, just fines and points on the licence. I can forgive people for speeding on the open road. I've got no time for speeders in towns and villages. Too many lives are at risk.
@fitheach where the sign is is just before a 4 way junction and a main route to the highway, its been put there for a good reason (as folk think they can get away with sending it through the village and it has ended badly before, in fact there have been worse incidents than in the large town)
Just read on FB a young mum bemoaning the fact it costs £45 for her teenage lad to attend the high #school prom, plus around £200 for suit hire (for just 4 hours!). Some other mums are trying to help her, but I was just thinking "why the fuck did we import this whole concept from the USA in the first place?" What was wrong with the "end of term school disco?"
@zleap it happened between 1990 (when I finished high school) and a few years before social media became popular, as I was chatting to a lad from Yorkshire on a forum in the late 2000s who was then in his teens and just left school and they already had school proms (he also thought it was a daft idea)
#Germany has part decriminalised #cannabis - but I've still not seen any plans on how they reconcile this with their love of #cars and #motoring and acceptable limit for #driving in blood being even less than that in the UK! I fear this could lead to selective enforcement , even #RacialProfiling and a backlash / drivers feeling "persecuted" and moving further towards right-wing conspiracies (or at least the FDP, who have lobbied for the limit to be increased)
Random thought - a modern #van or #lorry used for transporting items from place to place with the telemetry and cameras commonplace today is both a pantechnicon and a panopticon 😁
This large #ship has run aground - as well as calling PAN PAN on the radio to alert the Coastguard / Harbourmaster and other vessels, as a visual signal 3 balls are displayed on the front mast (this is to the left of the picture). If the vessel cannot be steered, 2 balls are displayed.
This is why in #Britain when something has gone badly wrong, we often say there has been a "total balls up" 😁
One thing I find somewhat alarming on otherwise harmless funny cat/dog videos, is just how many people (particularly in USA and East Asia) seem to find it completely normal to have a #CCTV camera running 24/7 inside their house! Not even those widely sold for watching pets, but cameras that are clearly hooked up to a multi channel DVR and intended for general security/surveillance purposes..
@sidereal I can even understand external CCTV schemes (to keep an eye on cars/vans parked outside, or deliveries and random visitors) and pet/wildlife cameras, but these folk seem to have a 24/7 live camera in their living rooms..
@vfrmedia I can’t explain it, I can merely observe & report 🤣 it is mystifying to me as well. I mean I guess if they have a cute dog it’s an easy way to monetize it
A #German teenager works as a software dev whilst literally living on the #train (he pays about 9952€ for a countrywide ticket). This is all perfectly above board, although requires quite a minimal lifestyle (I'm more intrigued as to how someone just out of high school manages to land a tech job that allows this level of remote working and pays enough for him to do this)
A big oversight of these #EV#van manufacturers - the consequences of cost-cutting and inadequate testing - surely it would make more sense to also monitor the 12V vehicle battery and if necessary charge it alongside the high voltage batteries when the vans are being charged up, and the circuitry required shouldn't be that expensive either? #Hyundai#Stellantis#SAIC
@vfrmedia The 12V battery has been a major weakness in the Nissan LEAF, to the point that the community warns new owners to carry a battery pack booster. It's so bizarre to have a big ass battery full of juice rendered useless by this tiny little battery.
In my early 1990s friend circle, there was a Desi "uncle" (in mid 30s, a bit older than most of us) who ran the small suburban #PostOffice, if he wasn't working on Sundays he would hang out with us after we got back from raves and smoke a bit of pot.
He mentioned even then it was a stressful job due to racists, robbery attempts and a "guilty until proven innocent" attitude of the PO when it came to counting cash and any discrepancies. This was years before Horizon was even deployed..