Craig Sawyers

Having just been to see Coriolanus (Shakespeare), we went through the list of Shakespeare plays we have seen. We've seven yet to see. But the most memorable productions were: Merry Wives of Windsor. David Troughton (son of Patrick Troughton, one of the early Dr Who's) Much Ado about Nothing. David Tennant and Catherine Tate. The Winter's Tale. Kenneth Branagh and Judy Dench. Titus Andronicus (a gore fest revenge play; blood and guts from beginning to end). David Troughton Julius Caesar. Ben Wishaw. Hamlet. Michael Sheen. King Lear, Four notable productions. Frank Langhella (excellent), Ian McKellen (superb), Glenda Jackson (RIP, but was superb), and most recently (this year) Kenneth Branagh (surprisingly superb). Macbeth. Patrick Stewart (the definitive play! For a treat watch this on You Tube), Sean Bean and Samantha Bond, Rory Kinnear and Anne-Marie Duff, and by far the worst one Christopher Eccleston. Have tickets to see David Tennant this autumn. As you might tell, we like this play! Othello. Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear.

RIP Kristofferson. At 88 - how did that just happen? What an icon.

First off - we were lucky enough to see James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave in Driving Miss Daisy in 2011. From row 3 in a West End (London) play. Vanessa Redgrave is still alive and voice over acting still at 87. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/oct/06/driving-miss-daisy-theatre-review We were not lucky enough ever to see Maggie Smith on the stage though - although that is how she started out as an award winning stage actor in the West End and the RSC.

Have a great one Wayne!

And walkie talkies. So far with exploding pagers and walkie talkies 12 dead, including an eight-year-old girl who went to pick up the pager for her father, and an 11-year-old boy. Around 2,800 others were wounded, with hundreds needing surgery. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c781d8y397do And even worse estimates https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz04m913m49o

The current spec sheet just says 5cu "on disc". But the old specification, on stereophile, makes the 100Hz explicit https://www.stereophile.com/content/denon-dl-103-phono-cartridge-specifications No idea why 100Hz, but this is not uncommon. Perhaps it is easier to measure?

The compliance is an interesting number, if only because it is frequency dependent. The quoted DL103 compliance is at 100Hz, which is useless for calculating arm effective mass/compliance resonance at around 10Hz. So a compliance at 10Hz is a much more relevant number in this regard. As far as I can find, and I failed to find a proof for this, you multiply the 100Hz compliance by 1.7 (root 3?) to get the 10Hz compliance. So for the DL103, you get 8.5 x 10^-3m/N. This means you need a total effective mass of around 30g to hit the resonance sweet spot at 10Hz. Now I use an SMEIV arm, which has a rather light effective mass of 10-11g. So the regular DL103 with a total effective mass of 22g, giving a resonance of 11.6Hz. Now I use the heftier Zu Audio DL103, where they take the motor out of the plastic bit, and precision glue it into an aluminium housing. That has a mass of 14g, which with the SMEIV puts the resonance at 11Hz Because all this is a square root thing, you'd have to add 5g at the headshell to my set up to get to 10Hz, or with the regular DL103, 8g. I use the SME cartridge spacer (because it is needed anyway for the tall Garrard 401) but that adds a useful 3g, getting my effective mass to 11+14+3 = 28g, putting my resonance at 10.3HZ, which I'm very happy with. All that is with the SMEIV. If you had deep enough pockets to go for the SME M2-12R 12" arm, with an effective mass of 18g, that would hit the 30g effective mass sweetspot of 10Hz right on the button with the regular DL103 and DL103R. Oh - of course you have to add the weight of the cartridge screws too to get the total effective mass!

Predates the Republicans and the entire USA by a handsome margin. Listed in the Domesday Book in 1086 as Wochinges. Going further back, the first part of the name derives from an Anglo-Saxon individual called Wocca and the Old English ingas, which means the family of. So Wocca and his family lived there sometime between 450AD and the Norman invasion in 1066. Factoid # 23A

A few years ago in Woking UK, I watched a tall truck heading for a bridge that was too low for it. The guy spotted the height restriction and stopped in time, and then had to reverse his huge truck a good half mile against heavy traffic to find a place to turn around. It collected quite a few bystanders (me included!).

Happy birthday you tall Brit! Hope you are having a spiffing one.

We, the Brits with the USA, did precisely that to Dresden in February 1945. 1000 bombers in 5 waves. Lancasters and Flying Fortresses. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/apocalypse-dresden-february-1945 The total dead is only an estimate because so many civilians were burnt to ash in the resulting firestorms. We achieved that carnage in a mere 2 days. History does not speak kindly to this, and similar raids on civilian centres in WWII.

Hammond nearly killed himself twice. First time in a jet propelled dragster at 320mph when a tyre blew in 2006. Suffered brain damage from which he has mainly recovered. And much more recently Freddie Flintoff as part of the new Top Gear team, flipped the trike he was driving as part of the show at around 130mph in December 2022 and suffered life changing facial injuries. Still has flashbacks and nightmares. Top Gear production has been suspended, and may never be rebooted. https://www.lancs.live/news/celebs-tv/paddy-mcguinness-six-word-response-29780242 https://www.lancs.live/news/celebs-tv/freddie-flintoff-shares-harrowing-images-29734993?int_source=nba

In the UK we have stringent laws regarding firearms, the only non-controlled firearms are those obtained illegally. The number of firearms covered by a government certificate is currently 615,627, and the number of shotguns 1,340,452. These have to be in a controlled, locked and regularly audited cabinet of defined construction. Although nothing prevents someone with a firearm certificate going nuts and going on a rampage. Fortunately very rare. Legislation was tightened after the Dunblane massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre . The only other two were the Hungerford Massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungerford_massacre , and the Cumbria Shootings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumbria_shootings . Mercifully that is the sum total of nutters with guns going on a shooting rampage. But there are no restrictions regarding knives. Even a kitchen knife is a lethal weapon. And knives are the weapon of choice in gang warfare, and many teenagers, usually from deprived areas go tooled up with knives when they go out at night (or even to school).

RIP the three young children knifed to death in Southport UK. Many others injured. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy68z9dw9e7o A 17 year old is in custody.

Happy birthday Antonio!

When I was your age I trained for a long distance hill run called the Bob Graham Round in the English Lake district. 63 miles with the height of Everest in it. 42 peaks, a lot on bouldery broken ground. You have to complete it in less than 24 hours. If I was not climbing at 160bpm plus on an ascent I wasn't working hard enough. Now if I get to 160bpm in the gym, at 68, I think I'm going to die. Age is not your friend as you pile on the years. Mind you at 61 I did the Yorkshire 3 peaks. Biggest hills in Yorkshire - a marathon distance but with 6,500 feet of ascent. I trained hard for that, and did 7h15m.

That, Nate, is impressive. Average speed of nearly 18mph on a hilly course with power a hair under 200W - even when I was a few decades younger and regularly weekend cycling I couldn't have got close to that.

That must be the worst 1m50s I've had the misfortune to see. Who watches this junk?

Then there is the subculture of extreme ironing

Yes - Pogacar's amazing bike handling avoiding the barrier at 30mph alas had the knock on effect that one rider braked as Pogacar suddenly appeared in front of him - and a bunch of riders ended up on the floor. And that bunny hop was astonishing. They guy unclipped one foot in the extreme avoidance, somehow kept upright, and clipped back in.

Anybody notice that Mark Cavendish yesterday won his 35th stage win in the Tour de France? Aged 39, he has finally won more stages than the legendary Eddy Merckx? Actually Merckx won his 34 stages in a combination of wins - mountain top, breakaway etc. Cav has done his 35 stage wins all in a bunch sprint. He actually threw his chain as he crossed the line, having gone from 1700W into the bike to freewheeling kind of instantly. When one stage win is a defining moment for a pro cyclist for most riders in the Tour, 35 stage wins is heroic. Everyone who he outsprinted slapped him on his back as they crossed the line in his wake - and all riders, including Tadej Pogačar in yellow almost queued up to hug him - a popular win by the whole peleton. The "Manx Missile" finally has the 35 wins monkey finally off his back.

Looks to be. Associated Press.

Years ago, my daughter sent me a birthday card with that image on it. She reckoned it was a typical stupid dad play on words joke. You are on fire with this series of posts!

In wonderful irony, the awful Anita Bryant's granddaughter in 2021 "...Sarah Green, came out publicly on an episode of Slate's One Year podcast series by announcing her pending marriage to a woman, although she was having difficulty deciding whether she should invite her grandmother to the ceremony."