New Girl called in sick today, and I was dragged back from oblivion by a phone call at 10 am and asked to do the afternoon shift. Since I was not expecting this, I had quaffed a large portion of the Bailie Nicol Jarvie the night before, intending to spend Saturday recovering from it. Instead I was at work, and I’m at work again tomorrow.
I would have thought it a very bad idea to call in sick after one week in a new job. I’d have dragged myself bleeding to work until I felt secure. I’d even go in with a head full of sand and teeth so fuzzy I had to shave them. Oh wait, I just did that. We (myself and New Girl) are both in probationary periods, at the end of which they decide whether to keep us or not. She just lost some Brownie points but it’s not all bad news. I gained some.
This is why I am utterly knackered tonight and will sleep early even though I don’t start until 1 pm tomorrow. I have some recovering to catch up on immediately after a hair of the dog. Well, okay, probably half a pelt.
Nevertheless, I have not been entirely idle. I’ve been watching this story for comments. Most are sensibly of the opinion that the mother is deranged. Antismokers with an ounce of sense would stay well away from this one but as we have found, there aren’t many with as much sense as that. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for one to show up.
Just goes to prove, smoking does kill.
doowdivad, Dublin, 27/10/2012 19:45
A child burned to death by his own mother, and the antis cannot resist making smartass comments because the child was smoking. The smoking overrides everything, the smokers must be eradicated by any means and if that means torching your own children, they are happy with it. The encouraging news is that he has been severely red-arrowed. It might mean some drones are finally waking up a little.
This is the Arnott legacy. One-fifth of the population are now legitimate hate targets for the mentally unstable and the eternally spiteful. They are even happy to see children burn in order to satisfy their spite. Anyone want to bring up Godwin now? Might as well, it’s obvious where this is going. Actually it’s not going there. It arrived there some time ago.
[slow handclap] Well done, Dreadful. Well done indeed. When do we start referring to you as Fuhrer? Don’t worry. We already have.
(On a lighter note – the red-lacquered white LED works so it’s now being Araldited into a tube. I’m also hoping to have the first part of Smoke Rider ready for Halloween, even if it’s just the head and torso. No 1/24th bike yet and when I do get one it’s going to need some serious modification, but I have found a way to avoid the ‘fibre out of the back of the head’ problem).
UPDATE More have turned up.
Although this is obviously terrible, what kind of messed up 9 year old smokes!?
toby. London, England, 27/10/2012 21:48
smoking kills
plaincaptain, salisbury, 27/10/2012 21:51
is it a loss?
FROM ANCHORSHOLME, ANCHORSHOLME, 27/10/2012 23:51
They are all so very Righteous, aren’t they? Live life their way or your children will burn and they won’t care at all. These are not people I would knowingly associate with on any level and yet our government, all main parties including SNP, loves them.
Voting time is coming. Are you voting for more hate?
Or would you like to see a little less Nazism in the UK? Your choice.
I’m not happy about painting a white led red!
Okay, so it works, but it’s not elegant! Or efficient.
How can you not have a red led? They’re only 7p!
Having said that, I just won 1000 white leds on ebay for £8, free postage.
(From China, bless em.) (see “top_auctions”)
I usually have bags full of them but haven’t built anything for ages, Tail lights use them up really fast and I can’t wait for mail order because this has to be ready for Smokyween on Wednesday. It’s an emergency. It’s also a rush job so there’s no point being fussy.
A laser diode gives the best effect but I’m not going to use one on a prototype.
Red laser diodes, 5mW at 3volt, (or add a 82ohm resistor to run on 5volt) (390ohm for 12v?) are 50 for about £15 (30p each) from “yyli666″ on eBay. About 2 in 50 are a bit weak. China, so very slow delivery. Free postage, though.
They, and others, also auction them in batches of ten. I bid £3 on these, so you won’t get them unless you bid more than that.
If you want 100mW red for £15+£3post, (you probably don’t), go to “odicforce”
For models I plan to sell on, I’ll stick to ordinary diodes. You just know someone is going to try staring down the end of the cigarette. For the ones I’m keeping, the laser diodes give the end a good ‘sparkle’ that does look very like a burning fag-end.
5mW will be plenty, I don’t want to melt the fibres!
Another one for the graveyard.
I have a nasty feeling this one isn’t the last, nor indeed the worst that will come to light. I notice they blame the mother’s ‘deprived childhood’ – no mention of the wave after wave of ‘hate the smoker’ propaganda from ASH and those who control them.
XX New Girl called in sick today, and I was dragged back from oblivion by a phone call at 10 am and asked to do the afternoon shift.XX
THAT is why you should never, NEVER give ANY bastard your phone number, PARTICULARLY a “boss” bastard. They think it mean they fucking OWN you from there-on-in.
Well, we’re both on probationary period and I’ve just impressed while she has just looked bad. Also, the state of my finances means I’ll take all the extra hours I can get at the moment even if it means working a seven-day week for the next three months. After that, when the contract is secure and my finances are stable, I’ll be more inclined to say ‘No, I’m desperately hung over and just want to lie here and say ‘aaargh’ for the day’.
XX Well done, Dreadful. Well done indeed. When do we start referring to you as Fuhrer?XX
You wouldn’t. She is….a woman????
You would refer to her as “Fuhrerin.”
Old man, you can get red “hi-brightness diodes” for little or no money on ebay. Or I shall send you a few, if you like.They take 1.72 volts. Any much more than that and they die (trust me on this one…). Current is about 0.018 Amps (18mA). They are all the same, whether they are the bright ones or the old types.
Most leds will handle 20mA, perform well at 10mA, and are good enough at 5mA if you want to maximise battery life.
No hobbyist has access to 1.72volt! Current limiting is a better approach.
Subtract the led voltage from the supply voltage, and muliply the result by 200 ohms (long battery life), or 100 ohms, or 50 ohms (highest brightness). Round off to suit “preferred value” resistors.
Or just go for 100 ohms per supply volt. You won’t go far wrong.
You can run several in series from 12volt. say. In which case you must subtract the total led volts from the supply volts before multiplying by 100 ohms.
Too much information? Is anybody still listening? Hello?
Yep got all that!
That’s very useful information. I’m using 470 ohm resistors on 3V supply because I want a cigarette glow, not a mouth-held beacon. Your method is a lot easier than the old LED resistor equation I have to keep looking up.
There is a local electrical shop whose prices are high but it’s handy if you just want one thing. For bulk, a trip to Maplin is worthwhile (currently costs me £7 to get there and back so I won’t go there unless I’m buying a bagful of stuff, but at least the bus is almost door to door).
Usually I use Maplin mail order. Haven’t yet hit eBay for LED supplies but I’ll look into that.
Punish smoking kids by dowsing them in paraffin and setting them alight, have ASH/CRUK/BHF/BMA issued a press excretion regarding this story?
They are strangely silent. Probably still partying.
Maybe Duncan Banitall should have tried it with his kid he found smoking, no he sensibly just stopped her allowance for a month or two, then had a heart attack, no doubt he was right to punish her, it was her 2nd/3rd/4th (pick whatever) that brought it on, poor bastard.
Does he ascribe his heart attack to second hand smoke? If so, may I wish him many happy returns?
I think that the future of “New Girl” is what used to be called, in London in the 70s/80s, “not entirely clear in a corporate sense”.
There are only four of us altogether so if she makes a habit of being ill on a Saturday, it’s not going to look good. When she’s there, she works well, but missing the heavy-load weekends will not please the bosses. Still, that’s her problem. Next week she’s due to take on the nightmare of Sunday afternoon – I’ve just done one – so I’d better make sure I’m in shape to take over, just in case! The only good thing about Sunday afternoon is that it makes the rest of the week feel like a doddle.
Perhaps the poor girl was poorly? Perhaps she was upset that she had to call in sick?
What a rotter you are, LI! A mini Tobacco Control apparatchnik. It seems to me that, after a week in the job, you have decided to be the new elite. Par for the course, I suppose. Amazing, isn’t it, how an anti-zealot can turn into a zealot at the drop of a hat.
Having said that, I am sure that your comments are very tongue in cheek….!
Tobacco Control is beginning to fall apart. Stoptober has been an unmtigated disaster. Only 265,000 people have ‘pledged’ to quit at a cost of £5,000,000. Almost all of them will renage because you can only quit if you are determined to do so – quit packs, patches, niquitine, champix, etc are useless. I have done it from time to time. I have quit. I did so for a full year once, and when I lit my first cig after 12 months, it was HEAVENLY!
The Zealots miss the point by miles. People who appreciate the enjoyment of tobacco are like people who enjoy fine wines. But the ‘fineness’ of the wines is a bit of a trick – the reality is that these people just enjoy ANY wine.The rest is bullshit.
By the way, we should understand that ASH is a NOTHING. It is just the advertising agency which is used by the real controllers of Tobacco Control. Its function is just to produce press releases and propaganda and to find the appropriate form of words. We need to find out who the REAL controllers are and attack them. ASH exists to deflect attention from the REAL controllers.
You misunderstand. I don’t want New Girl to fail. She’s very nice and works well. I was a bit miffed at having to go in with a hangover on my only day off, especially since the local boss goes on holiday next week so I’ll be working even more. So I admit to, perhaps, consoling myself with the thought that at least I made a good impression.
The problem is, pay comes from somewhere far, far away and all they see is attendance records and timesheets. New Girl going absent on a Saturday causes an instant assumption, one which I confess I jumped to since, well, I had a hangover so…
I saw her today. She’s genuinely not well so I gave her a copy of the little book of darkness and despair to cheer her up.