Further context. Quite aside from Stanislav Petrov saving us all in 1983, his actions are even more remarkable in the context of the Able Archer 83 and Operation Ryan war scares.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_RYAN

I was a baby when it came out so I’ve heard about it but never seen it.

The reviews on IMDb make it sound horrifying.

Does it have the same impact in 2024? Or is it like watching old Dr Who with the cheap makeup and wobbly sets etc?

Watch it and let us know how you get on. I’m genuinely fascinated to know how its received now, as it traumatised me quite a bit the first time round, I now realise.
I’m not sure if I can watch it again. I’ll decide tomorrow.

I’m double booked for tomorrow night.
Mudhoney at St Lukes at exactly the same time as my son’s band in Mcchuills.
I feel a bit bad about possibly missing my son’s band, as I’d vowed to try to go to all of his gigs that I could. Luckily St Lukes and Mcchuills are fairly close by, so if stage times are kind I might see them both.

I’ve had hip pain flare up out of nowhere recently. I’ve kind of been expecting a problem in that hip for years – a same-side foot injury years ago has left me with bad arthritis in my big toe and a subsequent gait change. But in my mind, arthritis wouldn’t just appear, you’d feel it coming, and this hip became suddenly painful maybe a month ago.
Anyway, made worse by sitting and driving, thats not to rule out the repetitive nature of cycling not exacerbating it.
I’ll need to try and get a docs appointment for it soon.

The Lovecraft Investigations on the BBC has already been mentioned, but it really is excellent, and in no way a straight retelling of any of the HPL stories they are inspired by.
I also enjoyed The White vault series. Spooky again and very much a feel of old-fashioned radio drama.

Seconding the MS Power Automate suggestion.

I’m a Tolkien nerd, disliked series 1 because not only did it smash up the setting needlessly, it made the unforgivable error of being shite. However, that said, series 2 got off to a great start and have quite liked it so far. Giving the Orcs agency, families and children is a fantastic plot twist.

I’m all for Adar starting an Orc Liberation Front and being a chaotic neutral force in the forthcoming war between Sauron, the elves and Numenoreans. So much for canon…

Not quite the same thing, but I’m coming to the end of my BA in History with the OU. 1 more module to go and will finish next June, just short of my 53rd birthday.
I only really did this for me, not for the route into the legendary world of opportunity that being a history graduate offers. However, I’ve enjoyed it and will miss the process when its over, so much so that I’m thinking about a Masters, depending on how I end up. If I did though, I’d want to go to a uni to do it, not do it part time from home, like my BA. Expensive though, and possibly not worth it at my stage of life for what is essentially, as its already been pointed out to me, a vanity project.

Anyway, being disciplined through years of having worked helped a lot. You know what you need to do and can organise and prioritise effectively. The tip about ergonomics was really insightful, incidentally. I work from home and study from the same desk in the evenings and at weekends, so thats 50 to 60 hours a week sitting at the same desk. So make sure your study set up isn’t going to hurt you.

Forestry Commission in the valley are apparently very difficult to work with. The trails on the inners side for example get zero maintenance. There’s been a couple of high profile digs of very short sections, but general necessary maintenance is zero from the forestry commission. Adrenaline Uplift have been pushing for ages to take on some of that work and the forestry simply won’t allow it. I get the liability angle, but it’s not an unsolvable problem. It just seems like a lot of barriers to getting the work done.

The trail fairies are no more. TVTA have a very limited number of trails they’re allowed to work on.

Is this a recent change in F&LS’s attitude or have they always been like that?

I’ve just finished a module on 20th century European history as part of a History degree. This all feels very 1920s Germany. Disaffected people having their fears and prejudices stoked enough to go out and start cracking skulls and breaking shit, which is exactly the point. Their violence will encourage further violence, which liberal societies, like ours, like Weimar Germany, seem completely wrong-footed by.

She might get called, but might not. I’ve been a witness to 1 thing that had me spend a morning sitting in the Sheriff court waiting room before being let go without being called.

The wee guy will have been in Zoom meetings with Californian real estate people all day today. Back to normal tomorrow. For certain value of normal.

“It has been two days since it was announced, I’m starting to get impatient for the next laugh – what the **** is he doing? Has he taken the Bank Holiday weekend off? I keep looking for news updates.”

Once he emerges from whatever ‘spoons he’s been focus-grouping in, it’ll be corporal punishment in schools. Absolute red meat for the headbangers he seems to be courting.

“It’s a proposed punishment for the crime of not being the Tories’ core voter block”

Community Service for the crime of being young does sound about it.

This is the single stupidest idea I’ve heard from a government, which given the low bar of the last 20 years, is quite an achievement.
The more you unpack it, the stupider it gets. Anyone thats ever worked with volunteers will tell you, theres a level of volunteer commitment where said volunteer starts to provide and receive value, rather than being an overall burden. Someone turning up once every month will never learn enough about whatever it is they’ve volunteered for to be relied upon. They will always need 1:1 supervision.
Then you think about where they are suggesting that the voluntary work will take place. Special Constables, Fire and Rescue, care settings, delivering prescriptions. All skilled, all with responsibility for real-world health, well being and safety, all public services in the teeth of years of Tory imposed funding cuts. What in the actual **** does Rishi! think a once a month commitment to any of these vital services will bring, other than disruption, risk and overhead?
Then! You start to think about the bureaucracy that will need to be behind this. The database full of personal data. The management of PVG checks. Attendance. Rostering. Then you start to see part of what this will be about. Yer Capitas and Mones will be circling this like vultures.

Not that it will happen, of course. Excuse me while I clean the sick up from saying this, but Farage is right. They’ve focus-grouped a bunch of Reform voters and are just trying to minimise the Reform threat by working their way down the list of authoritarian, crypto-fascist nonsense they spout. It’ll be the return of corporal punishment in schools by the end of the week.

“The drive side cap is a left hand thread screw on with 17mm flats.”

Sorry, still can’t figure out where the quote thing has gone. Anyway, that all sounds very Novatec to me. I had an old Superstar Switch hub way back. I snapped the axle in it years later and even though Superstar didn’t do them any more, they told me exactly what Novatec model it was to get a replacement axle.
If Sonder aren’t being helpful, maybe ask Novatec?
https://www.eshop.novatecwheels.eu/eshop/hubs-disc-6-bolt/c-10.xhtml

“Farage,……… if he sees an opportunity for grift (& a safe reform seat- he wont risk the humiliation of an 8th defeat as an MP candidate) he will be back as the leader in a fash”

I see what you did there. If that was deliberate, very well played. If it was a mistake, very well played.

The series is exhausting. You need to concentrate because of the subtitles and because the story is very complex. Just as well its so good that it can command the attention it needs.
Plus, the Mariko Translates memes have made the internet for me this last week.

It feels like there are more drumming YouTube channels than there are stars in the sky, so its a case of sorting the gems from the dross, that said, this is, by far and away, my favourite drum teacher on YT
http://www.youtube.com/@love_to_learn_drums

If it looks like he’s sticking it out (lol puns are funny) consider actual tuition too.

This is like the 3rd or 4th recommendation for Howlin Wolf I’ve seen in the last week. Might need to check it out.

“That escalated faster than a fight in Best Kebab.”
If they don’t behave, they’ll be sentenced to a shift in the Argyle St\Jamaica St McDonalds…

I think Kelvin has it here. For being so useless, Truss remains an astonishingly well-backed outrider for certain wealthy American interests on the economically laissez-faire\libertarian end of the spectrum. For them, her only mistake was pulling the pin on that budget before the country was ready, and even then, there’ll have been lessons learned there.

Waxy O’Connors promises much, but delivers so little! For a pub thats been designed to be so quirky and is so pretty inside, it has absolutely zero atmosphere.
Friday night? Could do worse than going to see some live music. <shamelessplug>I hear theres a half decent band on in King Tut’s on Friday. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5qjLKWKejo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== </shamelessplug>

“There’s something every one of these countries has in common, if only I could put my finger on it”

Theres something deeply ironic in the US’s proclivity for massive state intervention where it thinks the free-market is at risk.

I’m having another go at getting through Empire of Democracy by Simon Reid-Henry. Its making more sense to me now, and feeling a bit more relevant as its tying in nicely with what I’m currently studying.

Just had a poke around on Rightmove…Christ almighty. £700 pcm for an unfurnished 1 bedroom flat in Dennistoun?

The Art School is better, as its in town, so you can get trains into Central or Queen Street from all over the place. Not too bad for the subway too.
I have many fond, if hazy, memories of the year a mate shared a flat in Garnethill while he was at uni.

Not sure how these work, but Glasgow seems overrun with dedicated student housing developments. Might be worth a look.

Glasgow Uni? If he can’t get near the uni (it is expensive in the West End) then it’d be handy to stay somewhere near a train station that serves Partick station. Its easy to get to from points east, west and north of the city centre via train, and has a subway station, so easy access to Hillhead and the uni.
Or, somewhere near a subway station, like Govan, as someone else already said. Govan might be a bit of a shitehole, but you can say that for pretty much the whole of Greater Glasgow nowadays.

Is anyone else who has read the books kind of basking in smugness at all the “boring” comments? No spoilers from me, but I bought it to see what the fuss was all about, not really expecting to like it. Ended up binge-reading all 3, back to back, despite how slow it can be and how dense some of it is to get through. It remains the most terrifying bit of fiction I’ve ever read.

Self taught experts and guardians of the facts

Actual History student here. Any criticism I’ve made has been mild, and based on my perception of the productions storytelling, not historical accuracy. Its a drama, not a documentary. Besides, I try VERY hard to not be a history bore, even on subjects I’m passionate about, just because it is so **** boring and such a stereotype.

Fair comment though, and very true.

I forgot Arrochar! Theres a lovely, old-school xc loop there, plus if you fancy, you can push up the Cobbler path as far as you dare and fly back down. Bein Ime is nearby too, if you have time and weather.

shame about the storm damage on the Kilpatricks. The open trails are good fun too, but there are only so many times you can do that climb

I think we’ll have the forest part as open as its going to be shortly. 3 of the 6 trails still have fallen trees that are too much for us to deal with, so they may be back if we can re-route them. The open hill bit is great, and theres some nice new stuff on it, but like you say, its hard to put a loop together that does more than 1 or 2 of them without having to re-climb that **** road.

There was a jumpy trail build just to the East of where the forest trails are

Sounds like TechDH on Strava and Trailforks, or Blood, Sweat and Beers. Both were still there last time I was up, maybe around last August.

Any other decent riding in striking distance?

Depends what you mean by “decent” and how far your striking distance is. Theres some trails and lots of gravel round at Ardgartan, but it shares the same west of Scotland wetness that Helensburgh does and has suffered from felling. Been 2 or 3 years since I was last there, so I have no idea what state its in now. Theres my local at the Kilpatrick Hills, a few stops away on the train. These are ok, but have suffered from storm damage, hopefully I’ll have the affected trails opened up soon though. Further out again, theres some good looking DH stuff around Campsie Glen and then Aberfoyle, as you said.
Typing all that out has just highlighted how poorly served the west central\greater Glasgow area is for trails.

Highlandman’s Wood is ok, with some decent quality of building work hidden in the trees, but its the wettest place I’ve ever ridden a bike. Quite rooty and tech in some places, but with no crazy steepness like at Aberfoyle. Good for a change for me, as its only a few stops away on the train.

There looks like there’s plenty of XC or gravel routes there. Not my thing, but going by the strava routes some people I know do, a long trip to Helensburgh for a pint and an ice cream in the summer seems popular. The 3 Lochs Way is nearby, certainly.
https://threelochsway.co.uk/
Easy enough to cycle over the hill to Loch Lomond and get an ice cream at Balloch too.

Blimey, I’d no idea the rainfall was that different. Twice as wet and less than 100 miles from Glasgow. Mental.

I’m assuming you are a MTBer, as you are posting on here (I know, right?) but there’s not a lot round there to ride. I’ve had a look, as I quite like the place and entertained a fancy of moving out there from Glasgow, but it is quite isolated.

I’ve only been in Spring and Summer, but I imagine in winter, it might get a bit oppressive round there, with 1 road in, 1 road out, and if its wetter than Glasgow, then that really is quite something.

Field trip down to Manchester to see Fever Ray at the Albert hall tonight, not disappointed!

I’m seeing The Breeders in there in June. Looks a nice venue, but it’s been a mission arranging travel down from Glasgow.

it was a bit heavy on the “USA, USA,USA” in the end

It was a drama about the USAAF though, so that doesn’t really bother me.
It was a good episode. Quite downbeat and melancholic in the end, which was quite a thoughtful approach.
Overall, a decent series. It didn’t reach the heights of BoB, but that is hard to do, given how good that was. But I’m glad I watched it and will miss settling in every week for a new episode.

Sad to see Governor-General Alistair Jack stepping down instead of getting voted out. Not that there’d be much chance of that, right enough. Douglas Ross stepping down from his MP role? Wonder if he’s read the runes and fancies his chances as First Minister in some horrendous Faustian horse-trading stitch-up between Scottish Labour, Tories and Lib-Dems?

So, I’d like more trails, built closer to cities.

There’s been talk of a trail centre in the Pentland hills for years but I’ve seen anything.

Or what about the hill ranges that are relatively close to Glasgow or Edinburgh

Who’d be funding, building, managing and maintaining these? I remember going to a meeting with F&LS years ago, when they first bought up loads of the Kilpatrick Hills. The Ranger’s face went chalk-white when someone mentioned Glentress type trails up there.
I kind of get the feeling that the Stanes trails were very much a product of their time and it’s unlikely we’ll see anything like them being built from scratch again. Maybe the futures in smaller scale, community group led development?

Of course the auditors are mostly dicks. Unfortunately, so too are many of the security guard jobsworth types who think that a uniform give them the right to bully and assault members of the public who may be dicks, but who are fundamentally harmless dicks.

Or, the security types are just people at their work. Often low-paid work that they probably don’t receive much training and support from.

Auditing is real bottom-rung content.