Trevor Marshall 💙

@robhawkes Yeah, you can fit panels to a tracker, but when we looked into it at CAT on the MSc course I'm pretty sure it was cheaper to just add another panel if you have the space.

Also more than a little concerned that this will turn into me trying to build a mount that points the panels towards the sun at all times. I can already see it.

Genuinely excited about the plug-in solar news in the UK, I'll absolutely be doing this! I've wanted solar for ages but I have a weird roof so the idea of experimenting with something simple in the garden / garage to start with is very appealing 👀

@DavidWa42275075 @RAF_Luton 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

@RAF_Luton and that's what gives it the edge

Photo of the Day: SR71 flies at 80,085m high, at a speed of 7,175mph (Mack 71.75) so that its spy cameras can photograph a car number plate from over 800.85km away (717.5 London buses) but after 71.75yrs of flying it still hasn't found what it was looking for 📸 from a Canberra

@archer_rs The unmistakable NGK Sparkrite IYKYK

Am considering a new look for the summer.

@GeorgeCochrane1 In the words of Fairground Attraction: It's got to be Prefect.

Anglia, Ford Anglia (any)... Reserved.

@robhawkes Looks really good, make it live! In the words of Eric Raymond: "With enough eyeballs all bugs are shallow"

Here's a sneaky peak the next release of the GB Renewables Map, or should I say the GB Not Just a Renewables Map… That's right, all types of power assets are coming to the map! Plus a whole bunch of other improvements. It's been an absolutely massive piece of work that's sucked up most of my evenings and free time, but I'm very nearly there now. And if you didn't already know, yup, this a hobby project I do for fun outside of my day job… because I'm weird like that. This video shows how things currently look with all the power assets visible, though you might also notice a few other additions if you look closely… It still has some rough edges so I'm in two minds whether to just put this live and work on fixes and improvements as I go. This is a huge change to the code and to the whole concept for the map, so I'm not entirely sure I'll ever have it 100% nailed down. I'm also cautious letting perfect be the enemy of good enough. I don't think there's anything awfully broken though, I've tested it so much it's probably more robust than the current version of the map! Though there will inevitably be things that I've overlooked. Even in its current state it's already proven incredibly valuable for me to learn more about what's happening during periods of constraint on the grid, like seeing which assets are being turned up to balance things out. What do you think? Shall I put this live and we can find the quirks together?

@archer_rs Sooo.... Semibisexual... Semi is half, bi is 2, no? ½ * 2 * sexual = sexual. Close enough for marketing purposes

Business plans, they are not for everyone

@GeorgeCochrane1 Although I suppose I could just slip into the pub. Slipping into the Duke of York just sounds so wrong!

@GeorgeCochrane1 Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice Appears under your feet You slip out of your depth And out of your mind

🎶 If you should go skating On the thin ice of modern life Dragging behind you the silent reproach Of a million tear-stained eyes 🎶

@rodneyjperkins @Wishitwasthewa1 Probably a miserint.

@Wishitwasthewa1 I wonder what an 'Easteurised Egg Powder' is.

Just one example.

@robhawkes That's brilliant! And oh so tempting to do something similar 🤣

This mini wind turbine is showing the power output at Hornsea 2 right now… In fact it can show you the live conditions at any wind farm in Great Britain that's connected to the balancing system. The rotation is based on the live megawatt output as a percentage of the installed capacity. I've tried to keep the rotations at a semi-realistic speed, though I've taken some creative liberty with this. I'm working on this project in my spare time as I've always wanted to create a physical manifestation of what's happening with wind farms. Plus I've been itching to get back into electronics for years. It's a combination of 3D printing, electronics, some awful soldering and some equally awful MicroPython code on a Raspberry Pi Pico. The wind turbine model is by Tony Fong with modifications by myself for the motor and electronics so it can rotate. There's a lot more I plan to do with this now that it's working… 👀

@ListerLawrence Electrify the Rolls and I'd be interested.⚡

I know which id prefer.

@GeorgeCochrane1 VW transporter please George.

Hawk, Humber Hawk estate... Reserved.

@GeorgeCochrane1 Hmmm if that orange transporter is a T3 then it's after 1979 and the Citroen may be a GSA rather than a GS. Citroen GSA please.

Avenger, Chrysler Avenger Estate... Reserved.

@GeorgeCochrane1 That's a nice RSW14. Would you like to ride my Chopper?

@MCCCANM @sabey_douglas Retired flight simulation engineer here, we (Redifon/Rediffusion/Hughes/Thales) certainly built sims for nuclear reactors and railways in the past. And a few other complex and/or risky things.

@sabey_douglas Agreed! I think some of those professions do have simulators, but your point is spot-on!

Airline pilots go to the simulator periodically to practice the various “Non-Normal” (that’s the actual term) events that are possible in the aircraft. (Military & most other professional pilots do, too). The frequency varies. For the airlines, the schedule is about every 9 months (there is a grace period), but if you are struggling (*not* failing – those people are not allowed to go fly) then they bring you back every 6 months. In the KC-10, it was quarterly. In both examples, it’s two days of simulators. Each day starts with a 2 hour pre-brief, discussing new information about the fleet, changes to procedures, reviews of general flying & aircraft systems knowledge as well as a review of the “profile” you’ll be flying in the simulator. Then there’s 4 hours in the simulator (w/ a short break in the middle), followed by a debrief period of no more than an hour or so. The profile varies. It’s basically the flight plan for the sim session, developed by the airline based on trends or recent events. They develop entirely new ones featuring different airports & non-normal events periodically. Now, they don’t just throw a profile together. In fact, profiles are developed using an incredibly detailed data set called “FOQA” (Flight Operations Quality Assurance, sounds like Foe-Kwah). FOQA is basically the data collected by the jet on every flight, compiled into a database. The jet doesn’t record everything…I *probably* couldn’t go into FOQA to find out how often pilots turn on the windshield wipers in Chicago, for example (but I might!). But if I wanted to know how often 737 pilots get 5 knots fast at Dallas with the flaps at 30° while below 500’ from the runway to see if it’s most common during day or night, then during what months…and then overlay the experience level of the crews who were flying it as well as the weather at the time of occurrence? No problem, we can pull all of it up by fleet & make a chart going back 10+ years to see if the trend is increasing or not. It’s an incredible tool. Anyway, the profiles will always include some basic things, like engine fires on takeoff & single-engine landings, etc., but will include anything else the safety department would like to address. The profiles further break down by goal. There is too much to do to just practice all of the non-normal events every time. So, at one 9 month sim, you will do a “Maneuvers Validation” (MV), then the next 9 month sim is a “Line Oriented Evaluation” (LOE). The MV is “Dial a Death” as we sometimes call it. It’s just a series of failures that you practice. The engine catches fire on takeoff, for example, and you fly out of it. We skip some of the realism like coordinating w/ Flight Attendants or Dispatch, but we do practice the associated checklists. At any point when the objective of the exercise is met, the sim instructor “freezes” the sim, resets it anywhere they want (“dials up” a pre-programmed scenario, or programs it manually) & the other pilot has a turn at it. You can do a single engine landing, the sim freezes, the instructor resets & now you are 20,000’ up in an “Unusual Attitude” (as seen below)…the instructor then makes sure you are ready & unfreezes the sim, so you can practice recovering the jet. (This is called “Upset Prevention & Recovery Training” or UPRT, and there is a big difference between how the jet handles at 10,000’ vs 35,000’) The LOE is more realistic & the sim doesn’t normally get frozen. We fly it like it’s a regular flight from gate to gate, w/ the instructor acting as ATC, Flight Attendants & Dispatch. At some point, a non-normal happens & we handle it. The instructor is quiet on the LOE, where in the MV they may have you repeat something multiple times to really get it down. The sims themselves are incredibly realistic. Hydraulic “legs” tilt & roll it to create sensory illusions. For example, pushing the throttles up tilts the sim back, giving you the illusion of acceleration. That’s all my space!

@billionbuoy Looks like the gear lever on a VW T3 Syncro, so G is "Geländegang” or off-road gear. Lower than first gear for off road use.

Hmm what does the "G" mean??

@GeorgeCochrane1 I don't know about French this time, but in Bristle: ”Oh, thee’s got’n where thee cassn’t back’n hassn’t He’s gott’n in a fine old mess somehow He’s never oughta stuck’n in there dissant Now what bis gonna do about it now"

How do you say it in French? #NotLongNow #Snowmageddon #FrenchCarFriday

@GeorgeCochrane1 And so in our lorry, Commer, we come to a halt. Full stop.

"Bollocks to this, does anyone fancy a pint?" NN Motherf**kers, NN 👋

@GeorgeCochrane1 NN..Nice bus station ...NN

"My dad in our new car... Bollocks to this, does anyone fancy a pint?" NN Motherf**kers, NN 👋

@GeorgeCochrane1 The Rover P6 please, the one behind the Singer Chamois Sport behind the Vogue. Ta ever so.

Vogue, Singer Vogue... Reserved.