caldrail

Hi Cinzia8. Mansio's are not wayside inns but a network of hostels for official business of the state. Couriers, diplomats, representatives, soldiers, or perhaps even those with enough clout to get permission to use them might be found. Wayside inns would be in most cases a very downbeat experience. Sometravellers hired prostitutes and left grafitti, amnd the rooms would not generally make many concessions to luxury. This might help you better - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansio As for eating in a room alone, I suspect that might attract some comment. A womans place is by her husbands side as it were, and if the husband is busy with business, the ladies would temnd to congregate for socialising. I wouldn't have thought meals were taken to a room.

Times may be a'changin', but Swindon carries on going its own way. Or is it? Just recently I notied our local HMV store has re-opened after falling victim to the terrible economic Black Death that stalked the towns and cities of England not so long ago. Not only that, but just the other afternoon I spotted the first white metal frames at the Old College site. As if I could miss them. They tower above the surroundings and make the assurances of the developers that the buildings wouldn't be any higher than the yard look like promises made by megalomaniac German dictators not to invade neighbouring countries. Yes, the Old College is a'changin'. They've stopped shuffling piles of mud, sand, and gravel around and everywhere I see machines and building materials in a chaotic life or death struggle for space. You mean... They're actually going to build it? Oh Joy Not everything changes. The male population of this town still seems to have trouble with orsinary social contact. These days I only have to be caught glancing at some people and I get accused of being a pervert. I had no idea rolling cigarettes was such a private and intimate experience. Perhaps if the gentleman concerned might care to do that in private no-one would notice him. On the other hand, I if walk past minding my own business, I get sarky comments for not being sociable. It seems the only way to avoid such social difficulties is to walk with your head down looking at a mobile phone. Half the population seem to be dowing that now. Is it just me or am I living in some kind of fifties scifi B movie? Any moment now and I'm going to hear a Tardis appearing with some extrovert idiot waving a sonic screwdriver around. The good Doctor had better watch it though. We have plenty of joy riders in this area... Foggy Start It was foggy this morning. Just thought I'd mention it. Stain Of The Week Every so often I make a vain attempt to take a decent night-time photograph. The results are always blurry and unsatisafying no matter what setting I use, but I try, nonetheless. Anyway with that new frame on the building site and a somewhat misty night, the scene was atmospheric, full of shadow and soft light in amber and pale green. Having made the effort I stopped to take in the scene properly. The night air had a bite to it, yet without a breath of wind to make it uncomfortable. For a moment I I took it all in then noticed an odd shadow in the yard below me. Is that a fox? It was. Staring up at me as if transfixed by the activities of some idiot human being who really ought to be doing something useful like catching mice or digging nice warm holes. Once the young fox had realised the show was over it got on with being a fox, and incidentially, if you're the owner of a silver hatchback with some mysterious stains on the left hand side, I know who did it.

Haven't had much time for music of late but I must admit to a few repeqated listens of Rumours (Fleetwood Mac). Classic album, not usually the sort of thing I listen to, but an album of contrasts that is deeply attractive, hence the success of it. Although the actual events of the album (the breaking relationships within the band) don't necessarily come across if you don't know about them, you do pick up the emotion and a sense that the artists wer trying to say something besides sell albums. Everyone should listen to this album at least once in their lives.

Just one of those days I guess. All of a sudden everyone wants to talk to me, everything has to happen as soon as possible, and poor little me has to rush around like an overstressed gibbon trying to get through it all. I have to point out of course that most of you do this all day every day. I don't. Being unemployed for a long time rather reduces your pace of life. For me popping down to the shops is an event. A phone call? For me? I didn't know this thing actually worked. Anyway, I was at the library and having finished reading important emails, sending urgent replies, and recording that all important online information my claims advisor doesn't read, I had one last phone call to make concerning a job opportunity. So log off and down to the foyer where I can use my mobile. A librarian followed me down the stairs. Going about her business rather than actually following me, you have to understand, but hey, I live in hope. Funnily enough though she was watching me descend. I know this because as I stumbled and risked a much quicker and painful descent, she made a helpful comment that I had nearly fallen ass over tit. I wish to extend my appreciation for her helpful observation on the matter. Could save my life one day. Under Observation On the subject of being at the library, and having previously written about my own personal conspiracy theory, I notice that there's a young gentleman who seems to be taking an interest in my going to and fro. Normally that would worry me somewhat. Blonde female librarians are more than welcome, big burly blokes are not. The reason I mention this is that after I stride past he mutters "He's on his way back to the house". A paranoid individual might assume that some super secret intelligence agency is putting me under surveillance. Pfah! Yeah right. Since when did a 'tail' make himself obvious by passing information within earshot of the subject? Now as it happens, I learned about surveillance techniques courtesy of Wiltshire Polce many moons ago. So, matey boy, where are the other eleven personnel needed for a minimum close surveillance team? Don't tell me, they're on Facebook like all the rest of your fantasy friends. Hey, I've just realised - I am my own wikileaks! Forget Julian Lozenge and Edwin Snowed-under, check out the reality of conspiracy theory right here on this very blog. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some red laser dots to avoid. Can't wait for the car chase. Observation of the Week The other day I bumped into a mate of mine. We worked at the same warehouse over last christmas. I got laid off for the same old reasons; being too good at my job, being too scruffy, and being too friendly with female managers. The usual. He still works there in between getting blind steaming drunk, but I guess he can afford the booze. That's the advantage of a steady job. Anyhow every time we bump into each other he's always got an anecdote about his latest inebriated night out. I so look forward to his tales of derring do and falling over. Mostly the story ends with him waking up in some ridiculous situation. This last episode culminated in him waking up beside a female shop mannequin. Trust me, the British Board of Censors won't like the climax of this tale. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer blonde female librarians. As I know from my own experience they make useful life saving comments.

Changing the official record of previous Caesars in this way is something of a Roman habit. One would have to suspect that in many cases it had little to do with personal preferences but rather courting popularity of majorities whose opinions favour such views. Of course, when dealing with individuals so powerful, there's also the potential for "you will praise these former Caesars from now on. Because I said so. Any problems with that, gentlemen?"

Seriously mate, do have a problem with spacial relationships? Those two diagrams are exactly the same! Hilarious. Well, despite living and breathing aviation as a child, flight theory and tests as a teenage air cadet, practical experience with motor gliders and military trainers, continued interest in aviation literature both historical and instructional, training as a private pilot successfully in both Great Britain and New Zealand, not until this ridiculous thread have I ever heard anyone use the phrase "forward slip" in connection with flight. Of the pilots I had dealings with over the years from various countries, many were far better qualified and experienced than me. One of my instructors was a second world war veteran. I had the privilege of flying with a gentleman who had flown warbirds for the film industry, and with another who was the chief test pilot for light aircraft for the CAA. I often had conversations with a gentleman who flew business jets. None of them ever mentioned "forward slip". I've done my time at the controls of real aircraft as pilot in command. Like everyone else who handles aeroplanes in the real world, I've had to conduct flights which challenged my skills either because of my own mistakes or because weather, circumstance, or technical issues made things difficult. In one case, a pilot I had conversed with a few times at the hangar met all those challanges at once and died in a tragic accident along with his passengers. That's reality. Flying is an activity that takes place in a very unforgiving enviroment. That's why I don't place much faith in self professed internet experts or the wannabee crowd on flight sim forums. Since you haven't taken any notice of what I've said so far it's a safe bet you haven't any intention of doing so. I'll make sure I don't fly with you. But in the meantime, please don't bother trying to lecture me on sideslip. You haven't the slightest idea what it means nor the people you're getting this rubbish from. So I guess I won't be taking any notice of this thread any more.

Poor old badgers. They do seem to be getting in the neck right now, with a government authorised cull in progress. As it happens badgers have always had a difficult existence what with rural baiters and the like. A couple of years ago I headed out into the countryside for a hike and by the roadside was a dead badger impaled on a stick, clearly left for someone to see. I wonder who? I must be honest, at the time that gory sight left me unmoved. Hard to understand why. Witnessing the natural world, especially those moments when something unexpected happens, can be a wonderful experience. The inanimate corpse seemed a little unreal. Deprived of life the badger had become an ordinary object in some way. That's the trouble with nature. A tiger is a magnificent creature, full of colour and character. It's also a very powerful and dangerous carnivore. I watched documentary footage of a mother tiger leaving an unconcious deer to one of her cubs so it had the opportunity to discover how to kill it. Life goes on. Personally I don't want to see large numbers of badgers slaughtered. However, I'm also aware that the countryside is not a public park even though, like most townies, I tend to treat it as such. It's a working enviroment, a place to cultivate and produce food, and if the threat of badgers spreading tuberculosis to agricultural herds is real and will affect my own ability to eat and drink, then survival kicks in and I must reluctantly allow those who know better to get on with it. Is it any wonder that badgers and foxes see towns as a better bet? Giving Generously Every so often you see adverts on television asking for donations for charity. They usually show children, because our natural instinct is to help the helpless. Background music gives an emotional edge, accentuating the tragedy of their situation, appealing to us to right wrongs with a smal gesture of what is curently a fashionable

Stop ujsing the phrase "forward slip". It isn't stabndard nomenclature.

Don't be ridoculous. According to your recent definition of "forward slip", it's just crabbing. That's a basic terchnique taught to every pilot during his initial training. Nothing obscure about it at all, although I should point out that the 'wing down' method is just as effective and in many cases better idea, since crabbing has the unfortunate aspect of sidweways travel along the ground which has to reduced befiore touchdown to avoid landing accidents, which will - as I soon found myself in real life - re-introduces the very same drift you're trying to avoid, the caveat with the 'wing-down' method being that wing tip strikes must be avoided and that the initial stress of touchdown is on one undercarriage member only, and then at an angle. Anyone who comes in at dangerously hgih or fast is flying dangerously (and badly) thus has no just cause for doing so. Such an approach is indicative of poor planning on the approach, poor decision making, and poor flying. Do get some education on principles of flight. Do it properly, not this internet rubbish.

When landing an aerplane you need to fly at the lowest speed possible commensurate with safety. The faster you approach the more likely you will 'float' on landing and risk an overrun or worse. Aircraft are suprising cpable to staying airborne when in ground effect. Parachutal mode? Not the slightest idea what that is although it does sund like another of your blind alleys. Actually it was ground loops that were the greatest bugbear in operating Mosquito's. After a series of accidents a very irate squadron leader addressed his men and told them in no uncertain terms that the Mosquito does not veer - "It's you stupid b******s that make the aeroplane swing!". Funnily enough the accident rate improved no end. Go and learn some principles of flight. You clearly don't understand it - that paragraph contains some of the worst misconceptions about flying I've ever seen.

Flapless landings are always performed at a slightly higher speed to compensate for the lack of extra lift/drag and by necessity require a longer landing run. That's a standard part of ab-initio flight training. maybe "forward slip" is the incorrect term? I certainly believe that to be the case and so should you. A sideslip is a sideslip. Period.Since an aeroplane is moving relative to the medium of air, wind makes no difference unless it relates to movement compared to the ground. Further, using full rudder on a slip is potentially hazardous because it leaves you no further control input in the event of air fluctuations. Other than that this "forward slip" business is nonsense invented by people who don't know anything about flying and want to sound clever.

And also the privilege, also the burden of of official pay for all these messengers.

You keep trying to invent "forward slips". Bottom line - slips are lateral movements of an aeroplane in flight, also called skids when slipping outward in a turn. Whether caused by imbalance of lift and gravity, poor flying, or by intentional control input, the effect is the same. Crabbing or slipping is irrespective of the wind - it's the direction of travel that's important. A conventional aeroplane will try to weathercock out of a slip because the rear fuselage area is greater than the forward, although some aeroplanes (The Handley page Hampden was one) do not easily recover from slips. Swept wing designs are not well suited to slipping for the reasons I've already given. You will not find anyrthing called 'forward slip' in a british flight training manual.

Right hand with the trident and net with the left. Shoulder guard on the left. Both the net and shoulder guard substitute for the shield. Right handedness was the norm for gladiatorial training/combat However, left handed gladiators were considered unusual and in some cases special. The emperor Commodus was very proud of his left handed fighting for instance. The British Museum in London has funerary art showing a retiarius with trident in the right hand, shoudler guard on the left, and a dagger in the left hand - the Retiarius was allowed a dagger as a reserve weapon - sometimes the net isn't depicted, and in some of the small figures of retiarii the fighter is shown leading with his left side, shoulder guard foward, holding the trident with both hands.

Interesting conundrum. The later empire was weighed down with bureaucracy so it isn't beyond reason that you're right, but a part of me thinks that the warrant was merely a badge of authority to send messages rather than the message itself. It seems ridiculous that a senior government official could only send a limited number of messages, but then, was this an official limit to prevent using official business to cover nefarious activity? I must consider this further.

Please do not use the phrase "Forward Slip" any further - it isn't standard aviation nomenclature. In fact, by defintion, all slips or skids are forward because otherwise it isn't flying, but crashing, and if the Americans do use that term, then that's typical of the poor standard of trainign they're infamous for.

As a jobseeker the vast majority of vacancies I find are pretty mundane. So dull and boring, I suspect, that these companies need to advertise for desperate jobseekers to fill the role. For a country with a National Minimum Wage, it comes as a suprise to see so many advertised for

What's all this stuff about helmetcams? Airline crew don't wear helmets, nor have I ever heard of a crew videoing their own performance as "a means to improve" - why would they? Their flying record is regularly reviewed and subject to testing at intervals. PPS - You ought to learn about flying because you couldn't be more wrong. Side slip is when an aircraft has a sideways component of travel. My instructor used to challenge me about "flying out of balance" because that was effectively side slipping, or as you put it, foward slipping. I would avoid using those bogus definitions of aviation you get from the internet. Actually, it would probably be better if you avoid trying to lecture me on flying. I may not be Biggles or a world authority, but I qualified for a PPL in two countries, have eight years of flying experience behind me, used rogallo wings as the basis of my physics project in my schooldays, and designed an aeroplane in my teens.

????!!!!!!! I don't worry about sink rate - I don't have to - I'm not ATPL qualified and therefore limited to 5 tons AUW, in which sink rate is less of an issue (and actually not part of flight training at that level since training aircraft are far more responsive to input and ground effect) . Your method of sink rate avoidance actually doesn't do that - all you're doing is managing energy in a different style and risking a worse sink rate by manovering in that manner at potentially low altitude - such manoevers are not recommended - you're dealing with aeroplanes often weighing in excess of twenty tons with considerable momentum. Far better to plan your arrival ahead and arrive in the safest attitude and aerdynamic condition possible. The problem here of course is that as the aeroplane slows down the controls are less effective. With control surfaces designed for airspeeds edging toward the speed of sound on aeroplanes that are significantly heavier than a typical trainer, there is reason to avoid such low speed manoevers. That wouldn't be tolerated in Britain. Field operators would risk losing their license and would soon put a stop to such antics. Serious cases would be result in prosecutions - One guy I know of whose flying is a bit on the wild side has become somewhat notorious for court appearances, and the fines levelled against pilots are in thousands of pounds, not hundreds as you would exopect for driving offenses. Forward slips are side slips (I wouldn't pay too much attention to Wikipedia on that point). Crabbing is merely creating a controlled side slip condition and swept wing aircraft have serious issues with them, not least that the trailing wing is no longer generating lift because the airflow is both masked by the fuselage and the airflow along the wing rather than across it. I should jlolly well hope so too. As it happens British flight training aims to get a pilot flying solo as soon as possible which by definition involves coping with potential engine problems at any stage of the flight. Television? Only the second worst source of information ever devisd by man.

Although agricuklture as a whole continued productively, there was an increasingly fragemented western economy, held back by high taxation and costs, further stifled by provincial lawlessness and piracy. Besides which, it had been a Roman policy to attempt to concentrate wealth in the east (which admittedly wasn't a total success but the same thing happened anyway).

Christianity written by the Romans to pacify the Judaeans? That sounds like utter tosh to me. Christiabnity wasn't a unified movement (nor a majority one) at that time but rather a series of unconnected cults on the similar theme, and for that matter, regarded with some suspicioon by ordinary Romans who heard strange rumours of the cults practises.

High sink rates are a hazard that can cause serious accidents and ground effect won't stop it, especially very heavy large aeroplanes. For that matter, flaring has to be done right or it adds to your woes. I remember watching a Philipino lady under training and she could not get it right, always flaring too early, and causing some very abript arrivals. The poor woman broke down in tears outside the hangar and I'm not sure the instructor was able to convince her to continue. Airliners are not all terrain vehicles. Nor are they designed for coping with rough strip operation, being intentionally designed to operate from smooth weight bearing concrete/asphalt runways. Also being nose wheel aeroplanes they are inherently prone to nose wheel collapses. Sometimes you need to operate from strips in an ad hoc fashion though this often requires permission, such as getting resident aeroplanes out of Meigs Field in Chicago on the taxiway after the strip was sneakily closed without due warning by Chicago's mayor. In another incident, I recall a light aeroplane that had force landed in a field due to technical problems was allowed to access an adjacent road as a runway in southern Britain, closed off by police for the event, which given the nature of rural roads, must have been a nail biting experience. Airliners are less aerodynamically suited to sideslip because of their swept wing design, being far more likely to suffer wing drop, and at low altitude in a heavy aeroplane recovery would be impossible and might make the accident worse if you tried as an incipient spin is provoked by use of aileron. In any case the resulting sink rate is not advisable in such large aircraft. This is why flying airlioners is an exercise in accurate flying to begin with - you have less margin for error than light aircraft. I once landed Concorde on an aircraft carrier. The only way to achieve it was to approach low at minimum speed, nose high, and stall it onto the deck with minimal clearance, then swerve side to side to increase braking distance. But of course that was a flight simulator. Plenty of tricks - I doubt anyone could pull that off in real life, or ebven envisage trying. The "I have the controls" phrase and it's mandatory acceptance by the others has been standard practice since at least before WW2 in all spheres of flight. The wording might be subject to regional variations but the intent is always the same.

Switch on the television today and chances are a car advert will appear. Not sure why they're so frequent all of a sudden but it might have something to do with the daft names they give cars these days. Go? Ka? Cee'd? What's all that about? Now I see one for the Vauxhall Adam. What next? The Nissan Nigel? Toyota Terence? The Ford Fred? God forbid someone should build a car called Eve. That will bring new meaning to a warning sign for "road humps". I can't help thinking that the use of 'fun' names is to try and compensate for a boring motorised shopping trolley. That would be bad enought, but the adverts themselves are just so daft Watching a vehicle swerve through an urban landscape to avoid getting splashed wiith paint by jealous buildings is an interesting piece of media, just not an interesting car to feature. Watching a high diver slip majestically through the space left by open doors of a suspended vehicle is clever, but when would you actually park a vehicle on its side twenty feet above a swimming pool? Truth is, it's the visual theme or the music soundtrack that's more interesting than the hybrid eco-buggy they want you to buy. Good album that. Must log onto iTunes and download it. Adverts can be pretentious too. "Soul of motion"? What's that? A mystical force created by all moving things that surrounds us, binds the universe together? I have this image in my head of car designers sat at their workstations with the blast shield down, stretching out with their feelings to try and create a car that Han Solo will say is a match for a good blaster. I seriously don't believe that the adverts are right when they descrivbe a car as "breaking with convention". Not only do they look exactly like everyone elses, they probably are the same vehicle to all intents and purposes. Face it, a truly unconventional car wouldn;t sell. Car names used to be classy, or at least, better than the monosyllabic versions we get now. Even if the cars themselves were heaps of junk built in between tea breaks and strikes by union activists in the midlands of darkest Britain, the names were in a different league. Forget this idiotic obsession with trying to make customers believe their cars are in any way interesting. What we need are bold exciting names like Ferrari Fury, or Lamborghini Lacerator, names that inspire the designer to put a bit of life into their project. As it happens Audi has saved civilisation as we know it by showing their R8 with the engine cover removed on a rolling road. A quick acceleration through the gears then coming to a standstill, engine burbling menacingly, interspersed with some vicarious snorts and growls, exuding testerone and to my mind one of the best car adverts ever. Building Site Update Still fascinated by the Old College site visible from my back window. So are many other passers by, who stop at the wire fence to oggle the wierd and wonderful machinery used to excavate a massive canyon in the side of Swindon hill. It just keeps getting deeper. At the far end the channel is now so deep that even from my high vantage point, the diggers are almost lost inside. Before long it'll get so feep that the site will generate its own climate. There'll be hairy sub-human mutant tribes descended from long lost construction workers, dragging peoples cars into the depths at night to worship the starnge God of automobile mass production. Maybe they'll find archaeological evidence of my stolen Eunos Cabriolet? The Bicycle Cometh The road junction at the bottom of the hill can get quite entertaining. The traffic lights sometimes get out of sync and you can always tell when that happens because suddenly every vehicle in sight draws to an undignified halt with a crecendo of horn blasts. So noisy in fact that motorists are forced to communicate with sign language. Coming round the bend at the other end from me was a black BMW, accelerating quickly and risking angry gestures from frustrated motorists. I've noticed for a ong time that BMW drivers are often quite arrogant and self absorbed. He just couldn't resist a couple of hundred yards of empty road ahead of him. This was one of those strange moments when time seems to slow almost to a halt. Even at that distance, even with his tinted windscreen, we locked eyes on each other. We knew each others mind. He wanted to tear past me enjoying his germanic performance. I wanted to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing. He looked at me. I looked at him. He gunned the accelerator, I pressed the fateful button. He gritted his teeth in a determined dash to beat the lights. I waited patiently with a smug grin. His car slithered to a halt before a red light with a flattened nose visible on the glass. I walked across the road unflustered and victorious. Bow down before the might of civilisation, BMW driver. But what's going to happen after the government have invested gazillions of pounds promoting bicycles instead of keeping roofs over the heads of unemployed people? Truth of the matter is cyclists have a rule book all of their own, and it isn't very thick. They routinely ignore pedestrian crossings or bye laws prohibiting cycling on the pavement. Just the other morning a youngster performed a wheelie whilst managing to avoid the pedestrians. He aimed his bike in my direction. I looked at him with raised eyebrows He brazenly defied sanity by continuing his wheelie. I got out of the way. So there you have it. The bicycle is more powerful than the BMW. Or me.

There is of the famous quote that the Holy Roman Empire wasn't holy, wans't Roman, and wasn't an empire.

People sometimes get away with some serious antics in light aeroplanes. I once saw a guy land a motor glider with a last minute steep turn pver the control van. Not recommended. But then I used to land early model C150's with full flap at 40deg - the plane comes down at a heck of an angle but useful for getting into a field in a short distance - which is not recommended as I discovered from an instructor afterward. Nor for that matter is excessive crabbing recommended for landing - the problem being that if encountering variant airflow at low altitude you really can't do much about it. One intersting thig about airline flying isn't so muuch what they learn on, but what they practice every day. A bunch of guys were taught to fly a spitfire for a documentary recently. The airline piot failed the course before qualifying on Tiger Moths because he was used to the 'fly by wire' response and momentum of a heavy Airbus. 'Sink rate' is a situation that can afflict heavy aeroplanes and isn't necessarily linked to glide angle. Some modern jet airlines will descend happily in a near or fully stalled state thanks to their stability design and control system. If your downward velocity is excessive you're looking at potential undercarriage collapse and please remember that the pilot will naturally want to 'flare' his aeroplane at the last moment, causing extra load on the gear because of the length of the aeroplane and therefore the undercarriage members longitudinal offset. Airliners are quite efficient gliders as it happens but unfoprtunately they tend to have lots of freight or people strapped in the back, weight that restricts their performance, and for that matter, attempting to glide back to the field is one of the most lecturable mistake an instructor will berate you for. Generally you won't make it, and trying to extend a glide to do so leads to disaster, which is the case in point as in recent years a light aeroplane crashed trying to return to the runway. A better policy is finding a landing spot ahead, if possible. Wrecking an aeroplane is fine if it's done controllably and you can all walk away from it after. I don't know about America, but in Britain the phrase is "I have control", which must be confirmed by the other pilot. I do understand however that in the recent Hudson River landing the senior pilot said "My aeroplane" for the same effect (and it was confirmed by the co-pilot)