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2 minutes ago, Sophie said:

Things have changed a lot since the 90's. Both in technology and culture.

How do you think things will be in 30 years time?

Phew - good question, and the sort which I'm notoriously bad at getting right.

Looking at the differences between 90's and then 2019, I guess the one thing which seems to have occurred is 'fusion'. Back then we had mobile phones, we listened to music on iPods or mp3s, browsed the internet on tablets, laptops and PCs.  Now we have the internet of everything - I arrive home and my car tells my house I'm home, it puts my lights on, plays my music and puts the oven on.  My fridge can know what groceries are in it....

Yet currently we're still dependent on different competitor's technologies - Apple HomeKit vs. Amazon Alexa vs Google Home.  If I have the right brand of lightbulbs Alexa can control them and so on.  So I wonder if the integration will continue as more of a holistic solution, where everything talks to everything a lot more transparently. 

Above I've deliberately referred to 2019, because 2020... just WTF.  It seems that life has been turned on it's absolute head - in my case suddenly working from home and communicating remotely after decades going into the office five days a week.  The entertainment industry, travel industries, and others literally crumbling.

So I'm speculating two diverse possibilities - one is a glossy science fiction where we live our lives for leisure, controlling our environment and communicating with our friends without needing to lift a finger - a real virtual world reacting to little more than thought.   The other world though...   the sixties feared us being subjugated by Martians or Daleks, the eighties feared the crash of civilisation into nuclear winter, the last decade has feared us being washed away by melted ice caps.  Will we have been erased from existence by a strain of supervirus?

Or to put it another way, I haven't a clue.

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3 minutes ago, Sophie said:

In your opinion, what is humanities greatest invention?

Sex?   - humanity would have been short lived without it?

Espresso?

I'm a bit torn between the greatest being the development of language and the wheel.   Language allowed the human race to share experiences, to pass on accounts of events that had occurred, to express and pass on knowledge, best ways of doing things, ways of avoiding mistakes. Poetry, song, theatre...   The wheel seems to epitomise humankind's ability to utilise machines both for transport and to manufacture. Without the wheel (or using logs as rollers) then the largest burden that could be moved would be that which a horse or other beast could carry. With rollers and wheels the pyramids were built, gears were developed and so on.

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3 minutes ago, steve25805 said:

If you were given the opportunity to be the first man on Mars, would you go? In spite of the dangers and long period away from home?

Throughout this pandemic situation I've lost track of how many times I've found myself wishing I could hide on a desert island somewhere - I think a way of coping with the frustration of 'can it get any worse - oh, it just did'.

That said, I think I'd prefer to be part of the bigger team in mission control - doing some sort of technical specialist role as part of the wider team...   And sacrifice all the after-dinner speaking fees.  It's not so much anything to do with the danger or isolation - just I think I'd enjoy the team aspect more than glory seeking.

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30 minutes ago, gldenwetgoose said:

Throughout this pandemic situation I've lost track of how many times I've found myself wishing I could hide on a desert island somewhere - I think a way of coping with the frustration of 'can it get any worse - oh, it just did'.

That said, I think I'd prefer to be part of the bigger team in mission control - doing some sort of technical specialist role as part of the wider team...   And sacrifice all the after-dinner speaking fees.  It's not so much anything to do with the danger or isolation - just I think I'd enjoy the team aspect more than glory seeking.

Or, you can be the first man to pee on Mars. Make sure to yell “Mine!” as loud as you can!

Edited by Merkus
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  • 1 month later...
11 hours ago, Kupar said:

Name three things that make you happy (nothing related to pee is allowed in your answer).

Actually - this is a really difficult one. Two things is easy, but the third....   It's pretty much taken all night to think of the right words:

1).   Family, which in my case is wife and son.  It's easy of course after a couple of decades of marriage to get into a routine and of course it's not all roses. Together though watching our son grow from the first moments of staring into each other's eyes at 15mins old, to him now being 2yrs into his training to be an officer in the armed forces. That's been an incredible source of happiness. 

2).    I can't think of the word for it, but when a particular sight, smell or sound invokes a flood of memories.  Memories things make me happy.  One of many examples is that as a young toddler my parents were heavily into watching motor racing - season ticket holders at Oulton Park.  Now seeing those 1970's era racing cars, footage of the classic battles back in the day all bring happy memories flooding back.  Oh and the TV footage can never capture the evocative smell of Castrol-R...

3)     I'm going to be blunt here and make a confession. Having my ego stroked makes me happy.  Now I really don't like to think I have an ego, I'm really not a 'everyone look at me, everybody adore me' type (and maybe that's why when it does happen it's so pleasing).  Sorry if the next bit sounds like a stuck record but as an example over the last ten years I've photographed some very cool people albeit in a very narrow field - but when I pop on Facebook and see images of those cool people and I know they are my photos. That and when at those events, feeling a belonging - both to the event and a warmth from its people (Also a bit of #2 comes into play when I hear an old song on the radio and realise I've photographed a guy from that band...)

So - three broad areas that make me happy. Hope that all makes sense.

Now you've delved into the warped mind of GWG... Go and get yourself some therapy and you may recover from the experience 😁🤭

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i can relate with sites, smells and sounds of motor racing, theres nothing like going to a speedway night, it just does something to me listening to them loud engines and the strong smell of petrol and of course the beautiful smell of onions frying away on a food truck that's parked close buy  , I've been going since i was a kid so like you Gldenwetgoose its pure nostagior 😊 

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2 hours ago, Pissy91 said:

seems so this was supposed to be a question for you, hears mine .... who do you support football/socca wise?? and why?? if anyone.

Well, disappointingly I've never really been into footy (soccer).  At school near Manchester the local team were Bury, although they were always in the lower leagues and actually have now closed all together.  I have to say I'm not a football fan at all really so there's never been a replacement.

Other sports wise...  I have a friend in the USA who has sort of got me following the Nashville Predators in ice hockey - last time we were there the whole town was going wild as they were fighting for the league championship. I say 'following', from this distance it's more a case of checking the scores occasionally.

My main sport I enjoy watching is motorsport - pretty much any, but of course everyone thinks of F1 (well apart from those closer to IndyCar I guess). I don't really have one favourite driver, usually one of the younger promising drivers - George Russell, Carlos Sainz Jr and slightly longer in the tooth Daniel Ricciardo.

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3 hours ago, gldenwetgoose said:

Actually - this is a really difficult one. Two things is easy, but the third....   It's pretty much taken all night to think of the right words:

1).   Family, which in my case is wife and son.  It's easy of course after a couple of decades of marriage to get into a routine and of course it's not all roses. Together though watching our son grow from the first moments of staring into each other's eyes at 15mins old, to him now being 2yrs into his training to be an officer in the armed forces. That's been an incredible source of happiness. 

2).    I can't think of the word for it, but when a particular sight, smell or sound invokes a flood of memories.  Memories things make me happy.  One of many examples is that as a young toddler my parents were heavily into watching motor racing - season ticket holders at Oulton Park.  Now seeing those 1970's era racing cars, footage of the classic battles back in the day all bring happy memories flooding back.  Oh and the TV footage can never capture the evocative smell of Castrol-R...

3)     I'm going to be blunt here and make a confession. Having my ego stroked makes me happy.  Now I really don't like to think I have an ego, I'm really not a 'everyone look at me, everybody adore me' type (and maybe that's why when it does happen it's so pleasing).  Sorry if the next bit sounds like a stuck record but as an example over the last ten years I've photographed some very cool people albeit in a very narrow field - but when I pop on Facebook and see images of those cool people and I know they are my photos. That and when at those events, feeling a belonging - both to the event and a warmth from its people (Also a bit of #2 comes into play when I hear an old song on the radio and realise I've photographed a guy from that band...)

So - three broad areas that make me happy. Hope that all makes sense.

Now you've delved into the warped mind of GWG... Go and get yourself some therapy and you may recover from the experience 😁🤭

Thanks @gldenwetgoose for your thoughtful, considered reply to my awkward questions. I am absolutely with you on the first one (my wife and children make me very happy almost all the time), and agree that there is happiness in memories that suddenly come back - at least, happy memories. And again, I'm with you on the third one too. (I've always been much more motivated by the approval of others than by anything else, for instance money or power. Employers have sometimes recognised this 😉.)

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  • 3 weeks later...
2 hours ago, Kupar said:

I have another questions for you GWG, if that's OK. You love your coffee: how do you make it at home? (A fellow espresso enthusiast asks...)

Good question!  I don't consider myself an expert by any means, so I'll give you a bit of a history too...

I've enjoyed coffee for a good while, but I suppose became aware of drinking reasonably good coffee maybe nearly 10 years ago now when our company opened a Costa Coffee franchise in the building right next to mine. Subsidised prices too...   The occasional coffee turned from small to medium (always Black Americano which I gather is a UK term for an espresso topped up with hot water - or a double espresso in the medium case).

Then I changed jobs, still the same company and same site but different buildings to work in a big office with half a dozen Italian guys. The office had a syndicate to run a Jura bean-to-cup semi-professional machine at a few pence a cup, with the Italians offering me espresso shots "we take coffee, you like one?"   Now their espressos are like nothing you've ever tasted before, strong but silky smooth, and it truly is like watching a craftsman at work when they prepare them. I learned from them that opinion in Italy on the finest coffee is split and just comes down to region between Lavazza and Illy, with the latter being their choice.

So - at home, if I'm after a quick coffee we have a Tassimo pod machine (one of those presents you buy your wife because you want it yourself) and by chance I've found a passable espresso pod on Amazon for it - Marcillo brand.  One shot of that plus freshly boiled water is drinkable.

Preference though is to use a Moka pot - the classic hexagonal base aluminium stove top pot. Technically it's not an espresso I believe, in that it doesn't use the same pressure.  I use Illy moka ground tinned coffee, I seem to get through quite a lot to get the flavour out of it. Heat on a medium heat until water starts to filter through and then reduce the heat, taking it off the hob as soon as it starts to bubble more angrily.  A standard pot full will make me two mugs when topped up with boiled water, so I tend to have one immediately and then the other later warming it up with the hot water. If I'm going into the office I'll have one at breakfast and take the other in a small flask for mid morning.

Cleaning the pot is just a case of shaking out the grounds and rinsing out the two chambers.

 

Hope that long winded ramble helps...

 

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13 minutes ago, gldenwetgoose said:

Good question!  I don't consider myself an expert by any means, so I'll give you a bit of a history too...

I've enjoyed coffee for a good while, but I suppose became aware of drinking reasonably good coffee maybe nearly 10 years ago now when our company opened a Costa Coffee franchise in the building right next to mine. Subsidised prices too...   The occasional coffee turned from small to medium (always Black Americano which I gather is a UK term for an espresso topped up with hot water - or a double espresso in the medium case).

Then I changed jobs, still the same company and same site but different buildings to work in a big office with half a dozen Italian guys. The office had a syndicate to run a Jura bean-to-cup semi-professional machine at a few pence a cup, with the Italians offering me espresso shots "we take coffee, you like one?"   Now their espressos are like nothing you've ever tasted before, strong but silky smooth, and it truly is like watching a craftsman at work when they prepare them. I learned from them that opinion in Italy on the finest coffee is split and just comes down to region between Lavazza and Illy, with the latter being their choice.

So - at home, if I'm after a quick coffee we have a Tassimo pod machine (one of those presents you buy your wife because you want it yourself) and by chance I've found a passable espresso pod on Amazon for it - Marcillo brand.  One shot of that plus freshly boiled water is drinkable.

Preference though is to use a Moka pot - the classic hexagonal base aluminium stove top pot. Technically it's not an espresso I believe, in that it doesn't use the same pressure.  I use Illy moka ground tinned coffee, I seem to get through quite a lot to get the flavour out of it. Heat on a medium heat until water starts to filter through and then reduce the heat, taking it off the hob as soon as it starts to bubble more angrily.  A standard pot full will make me two mugs when topped up with boiled water, so I tend to have one immediately and then the other later warming it up with the hot water. If I'm going into the office I'll have one at breakfast and take the other in a small flask for mid morning.

Cleaning the pot is just a case of shaking out the grounds and rinsing out the two chambers.

 

Hope that long winded ramble helps...

 

Thanks - that's interesting and helpful. If you are ever down my way, pop in and I'll make you an espresso or Americano with my mid-life-crisis Lelit machine, or the Moka pot as your prefer 🙂 I'm not promising it'll be as good as if made by your Italian colleagues though! Strangely, I get my beans from a supplier not far from you, in Bolton.

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14 minutes ago, Kupar said:

Thanks - that's interesting and helpful. If you are ever down my way, pop in and I'll make you an espresso or Americano with my mid-life-crisis Lelit machine, or the Moka pot as your prefer 🙂 I'm not promising it'll be as good as if made by your Italian colleagues though! Strangely, I get my beans from a supplier not far from you, in Bolton.

You're on!  And likewise if you're 'oop north.   Will think of a non-PF reason we know each other for my wife's benefit.

 

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4 minutes ago, gldenwetgoose said:

You're on!  And likewise if you're 'oop north.   Will think of a non-PF reason we know each other for my wife's benefit.

 

That would be lovely GWG. And likewise ... though I could be open with my wife about how I know you, you probably wouldn't want that!

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Since you have asked me it's my turn to ask you as well 😝:

I have sort of two questions on the same subject if I may. The whole pandemic situation has been a crazy time for many people.  During 2020 you may have found yourself reprioritising things in your life.

- What is the most significant thing that has moved way up your priority list during 2020?  Something which you never really bothered about before, but now hold as precious.

- What is the thing that surprisingly has dropped off your personal priorities?  Something that you felt you couldn't be without, but now it's gone - actually life goes on.

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Fair enough that I should have to answer my own questions...

The thing that's moved most up my priority list - that is the thing that's hit me hardest and I'm missing most - freedom to travel.  In general the pandemic has been easy on me, I'm incredibly fortunate I've been on full salary throughout, able to be idle at home initially and then to work either from home or office.  But for the last twelve months I've been having to travel to Spain regularly. At the start of this year I was there one weekend in every four or five. The reason I need to be there hasn't diminished, yet the last time I was able to go was July, four months ago.  As well, my Facebook feed started showing me photographs taken in New York a couple of years ago - will I ever get there again? Closer to home, we have a caravan, and there's a Facebook group discussing caravan sites. It seems to be weekly that someone points out 'if you're in tier three you can't visit a site in a lower tier'.  I swear every time I just about stop myself replying "Yes you ^&*%$& - we've been in tier three since August, thank you so much for smugly reminding me what I can and can't do".  (sorry - rant over).

The thing that's dropped off my priorities -  probably going out in an evening socialising.  Don't assume from that I live in the pub every night like some soap opera characters seem to.  Perhaps one night every week I'd have gone into our local pub with the same mate, and bumped into half a dozen to a dozen acquaintances.  Sometimes we'd jump in the car on a Friday night and see my friends band at their residency venue where we know quite a few passing friends, or I would go on a Saturday night and sort of roadie for the band.  I feel desperately sad that all their work is written off - no live music and at the moment no pubs open at all. But personally I'm not really missing it - I seem to have turned into something of a recluse, and it's not really hitting me as much as I expected.

So - if you're still awake, hope that's answered that one.

Please do keep asking...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have another awkward question for you @gldenwetgoose.

If you had the choice of one year alone on a desert island with a solar-powered laptop and decent Internet access but no prospect of meeting another person face to face in that time, and no ability to videocall your family ...

... or one year living in a commune of 30 nice, chilled, free-peeing, sexy men and women, with adequate supplies of food and drink (including southern French red wine and single malt whisky) - but no Internet access, or any other comms technology ...

... which would you choose? 

Edited by Kupar
typo
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1 hour ago, Kupar said:

I have another awkward question for you @gldenwetgoose.

If you had the choice of one year alone on a desert island with a solar-powered laptop and decent Internet access but no propsect of meeting another person face to face in that time, and no ability to videocall your family ...

... or one year living in a commune of 30 nice, chilled, free-peeing, sexy men and women, with adequate supplies of food and drink (including southern French red wine and single malt whisky) - but no Internet access, or any other comms technology ...

... which would you choose? 

Wow a very good question indeed. 

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On 12/7/2020 at 1:27 PM, Kupar said:

I have another awkward question for you @gldenwetgoose.

If you had the choice of one year alone on a desert island with a solar-powered laptop and decent Internet access but no prospect of meeting another person face to face in that time, and no ability to videocall your family ...

... or one year living in a commune of 30 nice, chilled, free-peeing, sexy men and women, with adequate supplies of food and drink (including southern French red wine and single malt whisky) - but no Internet access, or any other comms technology ...

... which would you choose? 

Must be proving a tough one to answer I guess! (And I don't know how I'd answer it myself 🙂)

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On 12/7/2020 at 1:27 PM, Kupar said:

I have another awkward question for you @gldenwetgoose.

If you had the choice of one year alone on a desert island with a solar-powered laptop and decent Internet access but no prospect of meeting another person face to face in that time, and no ability to videocall your family ...

... or one year living in a commune of 30 nice, chilled, free-peeing, sexy men and women, with adequate supplies of food and drink (including southern French red wine and single malt whisky) - but no Internet access, or any other comms technology ...

... which would you choose? 

 

On 12/7/2020 at 2:37 PM, speedy3471 said:

Wow a very good question indeed. 

 

2 hours ago, Kupar said:

Must be proving a tough one to answer I guess! (And I don't know how I'd answer it myself 🙂)

Sorry guys, must have overlooked the notification - and you're right, it definitely is a tough one.

So, like any technical problem, first step was trying to break down into simple elements, and I think you may have given me a couple of gaps in the key information:

  • Totally alone    vs    Commune of 30 nice, chilled, free-peeing, sexy men and women
  • Internet    vs    No internet
  • No videocalling   vs   No comms of any form
  • some unspecified food & drink    vs   adequate supplies of food and drink (including southern French red wine and single malt whisky)

Is there any food or drink on the desert island, do I have to cultivate and forage my own...? That could be a big decider.  And ok, no video calls but are there any other person-to-person comms on the desert island?  Can I email converse with loved ones?

 

Well, being in a group of 30 people with free reign to enjoy my and their pee would be like a dream come true... at least on the face of it. Today I can only dream of it, but with the internet I do enjoy being in the virtual company of you fine people.  And if I'm in that commune I don't have the internet access...

In respect of the other parts of my life, on the desert island then if I can continue to be in text, email (and maybe voice call) contact with real life family and friends, and I can keep up to date with current affairs and the vast resources of YouTube, Google etc not to mention unlimited porn and of course peefans....  The down side is I probably end up with a coconut for sole 'real' company....

Today I don't have the commune at my disposal, I consider what I have is the next best thing - the virtual commune. I think to be honest I can cope ok with that, I think the desert island may not be so bad - on the proviso that the unlimited internet includes typed out comms with family & friends.  So on that basis I'll go desert island.

 

However...

If you're telling me I can have the internet but without the ability to use it to email, text chat or communicate with family at all then that may be a different matter altogether.  Similarly the idea of ample food and fine drink without the risk of starving myself are strong motivators - If those are the limitations then I may as well be in the commune after all...

 

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