at9

Rocket science is easy. Rocket engineering is very hard.

PS: I'm an engineer (Chartered Electrical Engineer, Fellow of the IET). I still have immense respect for scientists, even if some of what they do verges on non-falsifiable and hence not really in the realm of science at all. Engineers have simpler criteria to judge their creations: Does it work?

My wife and I have just been to a restaurant for dinner. I was wearing a simple kahki skirt, below the knee. I was wearing flat mean's sandals.

This guy had a mixed experience: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/jul/11/harry-styles-can-get-away-with-wearing-a-skirt-but-can-i

My understanding Is that if you wear a skirt etc and present as a man then that's OK.  If you try to appear as a woman then it isn't. 

There will be a few awkward edge cases but most will be pretty obvious. 

Twinkle, twinkle little LED

How I wonder if you're dead.

This side of The Pond we say it as both the word LED and "ell ee dee".

The wiki entry for TTFN https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TTFN states what I believe is the correct origin, the BBC WW2 radio comedy "It's that man again", usually abbreviated to ITMA. The Winnie the Pooh film reference is given (it's not in the books) but the surprise was its use in Batman in 1966.

I too corresponded with Megan. A lovely person and a great loss.

Way back then, men wore frocks (often called robes) and high heels didn't exist.

As the late great comedian Dave Allen used to say when signing off at the end of his programmes: "And may your god go with you". Don't know if that show ever went across The Pond.

I'm sure most us here will know the quote: "He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!" That's my sort of religion! Along with the cheesemakers.

I think this about when you first signed up to the site. In my case 2006, which makes me a fairly old timer but not truly vintage.

I would much prefer not to muck about with computers. Most of the time all I need is a web browser and office stuff. Unfortunately I've had to learn far too much in order to support my own work requirements. Being self employed I either have to pay somebody to help or do it myself. I'd rather rely on my own efforts.

If you want to get an Apple but need to run Windows stuff that what Parallels and/or virtual machines are for.

If you run Linux (just about any variety) then a lot of Windows software will run using WINE. Otherwise a virtual machine. I've certainly run XP under Linux Mint using VIrtualbox. For that matter I've run XP under later versions of Windows when I 've had to use software that won't work on W7 or later.

The performance hit for using a VM on modern hardware is minimal.

French slang for the "facilities" was (possibly still is), in bad phonetics: "le vaysay". Which is how the letters WC might be pronounced in French.

Incidentally the term "crap" predates Thomas Crapper, the famous maker of water closets.

My paternal grandparents were from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kropyvnytskyi#cite_note-enc-15

Ukraine's record is hardly spotless, but then which country can claim that. Certainly not the UK or the USA. They left (forced out might be a better description) c1900 and arrived in London as refugees. In 1905 the British parliament passed the first act to limit immigration, in response to the surge of refugees from eastern Europe.

Many from that part of the world would have landed at Ellis Island which is now a museum of immigration. I would recommend that museum in New York to anyone.

And since when has Russia even regarded itself as communist or socialist? Not in this millenium. Unlike China, they don't even pretend to be communist.

Looks like Zelinskiy* was a better entertainer than a certain B-movie actor who ended up as president of the USA a few decades ago. Even a recent former governor of California did better in the movies than that ex president.

*The transliteration of the name from cyrillic is variable. Zelinsky looks natural to western eyes but is now often regarded as rather too Russian. Zelinskyy just looks odd so the usual version is Zelinskiy.

There are a few videos out there of men dancing in hihg heels but this is both impressive and relevant.

For some reason it made me rewind over 50 years to somebody who danced a lot, but probably not in high heels:

It's not difficult to cut about 10mm off the heel of a 1020 to get the balance right. I did it when I had a pair.

Peel back the covering, pull out the tip, cut the heel with a hacksaw or dremel (grip the scrap end in the vice), drill the hole deeper, glue back the covering, replace tip.

Looking at the mytheresa website I can't find those actual boots but all their stuff is expensive. A few hundred £££/$$$. If you decide to buy them (and why not) make sure there is an easy returns process in case they don't fit.

Saw a man (I think it was a man, only had a back view) wearing huge platforms in London yesterday. At least 3" platform and 5" heel, possibly more. Not so rare in Camden where there are lots of goths who wear that sort of thing, but this was in Dalston.

You've given me a first opportunity (outside of maths lessons) to use the word "frustum".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frustum

Had another compliment on my Asos leopard boots yesterday. At an orchestral concert in central London. She was oriental, at least 30 years younger than me, and with her male partner.

Took a screenshot, saved as JPG. Was 117kB so it loads here without trouble.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-59745374

Evans no longer exists and most shops only go to UK8, sometimes to UK9.

For fetish/glam/goth footwear (Pleaser, Ellie etc) Alternative Footware are reputable: https://www.alternative-footwear.co.uk/

For mainstream you could look to Magnus and Long Tall Sally. I'm sure there are others. By googling "large womens shoes uk" I found this for example: https://www.prettybigshoes.com/shops?location=uk

Went to see the new West Side Story film last night. Rita Moreno doesn't have a big part this time but she is an absolute star. She was also executive producer.

Apparently during planning for the film Sondheim and Spielberg were SS1 and SS2.

Some amusement here: https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/p/platform_shoe.asp

Not sure where this extreme platform picture came from. I found it on my PC in a file dated 1999. The domain name that's visible no longer seems to exist. Falling off these could be rather nasty. Doorframes would be another hazard for many of us.

Love them or loathe them, platforms seem to be making a comeback. Lots of articles earlier this year and this the other day: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/nov/28/walking-tall-platforms-are-shoe-of-choice-for-the-party-season

Possibly also for men: https://www.justjared.com/2021/11/26/tom-daley-rocks-a-red-suit-platform-heels-for-2021-team-gb-ball/

For men's shoes most places seem to convert UK9=EU43. For women's you often see UK9=EU42. Since both UK and EU sizes are meant to be the same for men and women this is just plain crazy. In theory a single increment of UK, US and EU sizes is meant to be the same amount bigger. Real world says that sizing often verges on random.