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blakeyboy

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Posts posted by blakeyboy

  1. Was working in Brussels this week, and on the way back I hunted down the remains of the original tarmac

    of the road that hosted the speed trials. These bits are right by the Total services by Jabbeke, heading NW.

     

    From the Wiki entry:

    Speed records

    In the 1940s and 1950s it was renowned for the number of speed records set on a measured kilometer of highway. Not just absolute speed records, manufacturers wanted each model's maximum speed measured and certified by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium. For example, the Healey Elliottwith 110.65 mph in 1946, at the time the 'fastest car in the world in series production',[2]the Jaguar XK120achieved an officially timed 126 mph (202.78 km/h); the "Jabbeke Speed Record" Triumph TR2(124.889 mph) car was driven by Ken Richardson; André Piletteset a Belgian record in the 2 litre class in the VeritasRS 206 km/h (128.00 mph); in 1952 the RoverJET 1 turbine driven by Spen Kingset the first speed record for gas turbine cars at 151.965 mph (244.56 km/h) over the flying kilometre; and the exotic Pegaso Z-102clocked 250 km/h (155.34 mph) to make it the 'fastest production car in the world'.

     

    P1030355.jpeg.87b3ace72bbd2141284753f17c42b116.jpegP1030356.jpeg.bff7d4f23b5c549a7e4c55d103ca66a1.jpeg

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  2. Oh- I forgot to mention that when Eric and his family watched the Mr.Preview sketch at Christmas, at home ( I meant, above, to say it was in front of an audience, and there was really only time for one take- it was recorded, not live) he turned to his family and said "We can't top that"....he just knew it was the peak of his career.

    Previn had such a tiny amount of time to rehearse with M+W, they were pencilled in for a five-day rehearsal, which didn't happen because Preving mother was ill  in the US, but was his wonderful wit that sparked his lucrative career in the UK music scene.  He had his own beer glass in his local pub with "Mr.Preview" engraved on it.....

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  3. Oh yeah- in the Mr. Preview sketch, they do a lot of chat with Previn in front of the curtains.

    Eric was really really worried- Previns plane was late, so there was no time for a rehearsal,

    they had never met him, and it was live in front of an audience.

     

    During the banter, when Previn says he needs to go get his baton, and it's in Chicago, _watch Eric_.

    He's jubilant and punches the air, because he realises that Previn understands comedy, and that's when he decides

    it's safe to ad-lib later in the Greig sketch, and grab him by the lapels, since he felt, to his immense relief, that Previn can be trusted.

    I always enjoy the orchestra laughing behind them, who cannot believe what they are seeing.....

     

     

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  4. On 6/26/2024 at 7:48 PM, copper123 said:

    one of the best sketches ever 

    Well, interestingly, I played a lot of American friends the Mr. Preview sketch, and they all enjoyed it.

    However, when I played them the Cleopatra sketch with Glenda Jackson, that were all absolutely bowled over.

    You watch it again- its full of ad-libs, it's very fast paced and more like US comedy.

    Jackson, herself, has a masterful comic touch throughout.

     

    Incidentally, when Eric throws the grapes on the floor, treads them, then picks up a glass of red wine, he necks it in one,

    and coughs and stares at the glass, because it had been ribena in each rehearsal, and the production staff switched it for a strong red wine as a joke....

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  5. If you look at the picture, the whole piece has moved  outwards- the teeth and rim have moved, so there is surely a crack

    underneath the metal blob....

     

    Is it reverse die or obverse die that sits in the collar while the opposite side comes down and strikes, or does the ring/collar also move?

  6. I suspected that was the case, because the coin was very rare, or in unusually good condition,

     but I can't believe that something invented last week, that doesn't exist, is such a lure for people.

    How or why 'mining' happens is a mystery too.

     

    When it all collapses into a Malthusian nightmare, and people are jumping off tall buildings like they did 100 years ago,

    then I'll understand a little more.

    • Like 1
  7. Explain this to me please this, bitcoin people

     if, for example, you made £1K from buying and selling a bit coin,

     

     

    who has lost £1k?

     

     

  8. 18 hours ago, ozjohn said:

    Made the following measurements with my trusty vernier caliper gage:

    1888  29,24 mm.

    1887 29,24 mm.

    1912 29.25 mm.

    1945 28.30 mm.

    1927 RAM 28.56 mm.

    1924 28.55 mm.

    1895 28.35 mm.

    Just a small sample. 

    * gage or gauge I like US spelling it makes more sense like mold for mould. In any case much US English is older English.

    ..but then you lose the understanding of the etymology and derivation of a word which I think is a shame.

    Mr.Webster can take the blame for this- immigrants couldn't learn English quickly so they simplified it.

    At least in the US or the UK we don't have to explain to foreigners why we think windows are feminine.....

     

  9. 8 hours ago, Menger said:

    Calling a spade a spade is good - and that applies to each of the bad actors (individuals or institutions) in current conflicts.  

    Attributing aggression to “the Russians” as a people comes close to the same category error as the snippet at the beginning of this thread “but for her people being slow in thought and backward”.  In my view, the category error is between a people (the Chinese, the Russians) and the culture and historical system (imperial).  
     

    Perhaps I am splitting hairs in this instance, but the mantra I often resort to is “culture matters, race not at all”.  There is an unfortunate reversion in our current culture of identity politics to invert that - to assume that one culture is no better or worse than any other; and that somehow race is important.  The reversion is back to the imperial mindset of the snippet. Woke mindset is an intellectual and moral cultural regression.  We as a people can do better than that. 

    Zionism versus Judaism.....

  10. 22 hours ago, Peckris 2 said:

    Oh yes, though I haven't read any for years. My favourite was the guy who fitted a very large powerful rocket to the top of his car. Yes, it achieved incredible speed though a sandstone bluff brought EVERYTHING to a sudden end.

    I thought 'Sandstone Bluff' was a card game......or maybe Donald Fagan's second album.....

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