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Many years ago, my employer bought the technology to control conveyor belts in coal mines from a company in the town of Ashby de la Zouch, situated in England's Black Country. I spent a few weeks studying the technical aspect of the systems in their factory.
One frosty January evening, I decided to step out and find a shop where I could buy English style fish and chips. Walking down the very quiet streets, I came across a bobby that was walking his beat. I asked him where I could find an open shop. He escorted me to a little hole-in-the-wall shop in a side street that was open.
I ordered a serving of cod and chips. When it was done, the owner took a large sheet of white paper and rolled it into a funnel shape. The fish and chips were handed to me inside the paper funnel, seasoned with salt and vinegar. I can still smell the vinegar! It was the best fish and chips I ever had!
Nowadays, when I think of Ashby, it's that meal of fish and chips I mostly remember. Strange how one's memory works at times!
How do we preserve the wisdom men will need,
when their violent passions are spent?
- The Lost Horizon
modified 3-Oct-15 12:13pm.
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I had a similar experience with food. I was renting a cruiser for the week on Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal and was on the dock at Foyers loading our stuff. They had a makeshift cafe there and we ordered ham and cheese toasties (with ketchup inside). I don't know if it was the hunger after a long drive, the fresh air of the early morning, the peaceful environment or the excitement of the start of a vacation, but I will always remember how utterly delicious those toasties were! I have made them myself, and had them at other places many times since but somehow that one time sticks out as being the finest!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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They bring up strange associations as well: We were pretty poor as kids - Dad ran off with several other women and left Mum in the lurch with four kids, so we didn't eat "junk food" often, if at all.
But one Saturday we had fish'n'chips at a friend of Mum's house while watching her TV and to this day, the sound of the "Bewitched" theme tune makes me smell fish'n'chips with salt and "proper" vinegar! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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You've gotten our interest. Tell us about your first gin/gin-hangover.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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My first hangover was whisky - and I hadn't been drinking.
A friend left a full glass on the radiator in my Uni digs by mistake and it evaporated overnight. I woke up feeling gawd-awful and had no idea how or why...
Gin? Can't remember the first. Or the second. Or even the last one... 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Quite, which is why my missus always remembers our wedding night.
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So that's what the Three stands for.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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Quote: ... Ashby de la Zouch, situated in England's Black Country.
You W H A T ? Go and learn some geography/geology. The Black Country doesn't even stretch as far north-west as Walsall, let alone Ashby.
(I probably know which firm you're thinking about - I was the project engineer for a couple of mine winding engines back in the 1980s.)
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At the time, I was told by one of the company's employees that Ashby was in the Black Country. The information probably was incorrect.
If the mine winding monitors were destined for the Harmony gold mine in South Africa, we are talking about the same company. I spent some time at Harmony just after the equipment was installed.
How do we preserve the wisdom men will need,
when their violent passions are spent?
- The Lost Horizon
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At the time, the firm I worked for was replacing steam winders with electric, almost exclusively for the UK coal industry. I never heard where said firm's other business was, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if gold mines in SA weren't amongst their customers. (Was it Trans.....n, now defunct?)
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Quote: Was it Trans.....n
Yes. I did not realize they are no longer. Sad!
How do we preserve the wisdom men will need,
when their violent passions are spent?
- The Lost Horizon
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That's a really great and interesting story.
Thanks for sharing.
I was immediately pulled in on:
Cornelius Henning wrote: my employer bought the technology to control conveyor belts in coal mines
Hmmm... I wonder more about that.
Why did your employer buy that? For what purpose?
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My employer planned to sell the systems to coal mines in South Africa. That country has many massive coal mines. Virtually all their power plants are coal fired, with the exception of one nuclear plant. They also produce a substantial portion of their gasoline from coal.
How do we preserve the wisdom men will need,
when their violent passions are spent?
- The Lost Horizon
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Cornelius Henning wrote: I can still smell the vinegar
Cornelius Henning wrote: Strange how one's memory works at times!
Indeed. I can still smell the vinegar I used to clean my grandma's windows with many years ago. That stuff stinks so bad.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Quote: That stuff stinks so bad
Maybe it's an acquired taste? It's delicious as a seasoning on some foods.
How do we preserve the wisdom men will need,
when their violent passions are spent?
- The Lost Horizon
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Cornelius Henning wrote: It's delicious as a seasoning on some foods.
Could be. American food doesn't really use it much. Not to where you can still smell it.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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I hate vinegar on food, well chips (fries), which is pretty much the only thing it gets added to, aside from actual pickled foods of course.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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You really need to try my mother's German potato salad; warm, vinegary, with a little bit of sour cream on top.
:drool:
Software Zen: delete this;
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Darn you! I had just had my lunch, read your post and now I am hungry again!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Cornelius Henning wrote: little hole-in-the-wall shop
Do they deliver take-away? Post the number please.
What we got here is a failure to communicate
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How do we preserve the wisdom men will need,
when their violent passions are spent?
- The Lost Horizon
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So I've been using/suggesting AVG free for any number of machines. Comes Oct 15th and they'll become spyware.
Set up my firewall to keep it locked down, except for the occasional update - but they may be when they grab all the private data they've cached - so that seems like a poor option.
Replacing it.
I looked at a number of other on-line items with decent reputations, but, upon reading the TOS I found them to all be similarly busy minding my business.
Any suggestions about thrifty (==free) alternatives (Mostly Win7)?
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I have used AVG Free on many of my machines upgrading to paid when I have the cash! But I think Security Essentials seems to be the least evil option. I have heard good things about F-secure...
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For me it's like this:
-Win 7: MSE and malware bytes to scan every now and then(free or paid version)
-Win 8/Win 10: Windows Defender and malware bytes scanning every now and then
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