Eunoia
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About
Stu Savory ;-) School report for Stu Savory
Eunoia, who is a grumpy, overeducated, facetious, multilingual ex-pat Scot, blatantly opinionated, old (1944-vintage), amateur cryptologist, computer consultant, atheist, flying instructor, bulldog-lover, Beetle-driver, textbook-writer, long-distance biker, geocacher and blogger living in the foothills south of the northern German plains. Not too shy to reveal his true name or even whereabouts, he blogs his opinions, and humour and rants irregularly. Stubbornly he clings to his beliefs, e.g. that Faith does not give answers, it only prevents you doing any goddamn questioning. You are as atheist as he is. When you understand why you don't believe in all the other gods, you will know why he does not believe in yours.

Oh, and after the death of his old dog, Kosmo, he also has a new bulldog puppy, Clara, since September 2018 :-)


Some of my bikes


My Crypto Pages


My Maths Pages



Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Nice Curves!

Several biker readers have asked me over the winter months for tips about nice curvy roads for bikers, preferably showing videos. I don't take videos because they seduce you into showing off, riding faster than is sensible. So I've just linked to a couple of YouTube videos (which confirm my theory) instead.

I'm showing you two routes I liked riding, Mulholland Drive near Malibu (Los Angeles) in the USA and the San Boldo pass which tunnels through the Alps in northern Italy.

I last rode the Snake (Mulholland Highway and Mulholland Drive) in the late 90´s on a hired Honda Blackbird 1100XX. Since then it has become VERY overcrowded at the weekends. mostly by bikers and some sportscars. Here is a video of the excessive bike traffic there. Unfortunately, a non-negligable portion of these weekend-warriors overestimate their abilities, go faster than they can (due to showing off), and crash :-(

Aged 76, I now ride slower and enjoy some fantastic roads and scenery. Here is a spectacular road in the Italian alps, the San Boldo pass which tunnels through the Alps!

There is a good video here of the alternating one-way (tidal flow) section here. Enjoy! Biker-friend Frank is particularly enthusiastic about the San Boldo pass road. Note that there is MUCH less traffic, it's a tip for tourist-style biking. Frank rides his Yamaha FJR1300 on these trips. I downsized to a Triumph Street Triple after my own FJR1300, see clickable photos of both bikes on the left sidebar.


Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Royal-Air-Force Museum Duxford GB

No thanks to Covid travel restictions, lockdown and hotels/restaurants being closed, I haven't been making many motorcycle trips this year. Which is why you are getting a rehash of older M/C trips today. These are photos taken by my old petrol-head friend Paul Gockel on a visit to the Royal-Air-Force Museum in Duxford (GB). He has graciously given me permission to use them.

The Royal-Air-Force Museum in Duxford is specialised in restoring planes etc from WW2, showing (and flying) the restored WW2 aircraft, and opening their workshop hangars to show us their work-in-progress.

In no particular order, here is a Stringbag biplane torpedo-bomber such as were used to help sink the Bismarck. Built by Fairey afaik.

This photo below shows a downed Me109 / Bf109 with a member of the Home Guard keeping watch on it to prevent souvenir hunters stealing pieces. I've had to cover the swastika on the rudder fin to comply with current German laws about not using Nazi symbols. Prop-blades bent back due to a wheels-up crash landing.

This is a V-1 German flying bomb, the first (subsonic) cruise missile, on its ramp.

Below is a Bf109G German fighter, with a Focke-Wulf 190 in the background. Neither with the characteristic yellow nose for identification in dogfights. Swastikas covered up by me to comply with current German laws about not using Nazi symbols, as explained above.

Close-up of the crankcase of a twin-row radial engine, without its cylinders in place. As seen in a work-in-progress restoration hangar.

The next two photos are also work-in-progress, showing biplanes used e.g. by the Royal Navy as torpedo bombers.

Below is an american P51D Mustang fighter; restauration work-in-progress.

Finally, the two stalwart Brit fighters of WW2; this is a Hawker Hurricane.

And this is a Spitfire with a second cockpit added aft (for tourist/publicity flights and for (rich!) pilots getting their type ratings).

Comments (3)
Cop Car wrote " [The Spitfire] With a 4-bladed prop, yet! (The added seat makes for a rather strange looking Spitfire.) Thanks for the mini-tour, Stu. Interesting! CC" No Spitfire time for me; but I do have 16 minutes in a Messerschmidt.
Schorsch (D) noted "Nicely timed entry for this theme, did you time it on purpose?" Yes. On Hitler's birthday, pissing him off even in his grave ;-)
Pierre (F) asks (I translate) "Where can I get a flight in a two-seater Spitfire or Hurricane? At Duxford?" The nearest airfield for you would be over in the UK naturally, at Biggin Hill. A company called Fly a Spitfire offers passenger rides in a Spitfire and/or a Hurricane. They are expensive of course, starting at £2750 for 30 minutes up to about £7200 for 75 minutes. Hurricanes are naturally two-seat capable if you are a smaller person, weighing under 95 kg, flat bellied, and being less than 180 cm tall (so a tight fit for me ;-) ). Also ask yourself how fit you are, can you still pull 2g? , if you want aerobatics, e.g. simulated combat or a victory roll. Then definitely something for the bucket list :-)


Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Yuri Gagarin orbital anniversary

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first orbit of the Earth, the first man in space. I apologise for forgetting to blog about it/him and thank Ivan for his email admonishing me :-)

So it was on April 12th 1961 that Yuri Gagarin, a 27 year old fighter pilot, was launched into an elliptical orbit around the Earth lasting 108 minutes, the first cosmonaut. The flight was controlled from the ground, that was the way the USSR did things, so Gagarin was mostly just a passenger. In fact he only had 4 switches in his spacecraft. For comparison, Alan Shephard (USA) had 56 for his 15 minute sub-orbital lob a few weeks later.

The spacecraft was an R-7 ICBM rocket developed by the team of Sergei Pawlowitsch Koroljow, the USSR version of Wernher von Braun. The R-7 had launched the Sputnik back in 1957. In slightly modified form it is still used for the Sojuz rocket; tried and true, Reliable!

By january 1961 three candidates had been chosen for the ride, Yuri Gagarin, German Titow, and Grigori Neljubow. But Sputnik 9, which flew on March 9th, had a dummy called Iwan Iwanowitsch and a dog on board the Wostok capsule. The Wostok back then was not built for a landing, so Iwan Iwanowitsch was ejected to land safely by parachute; I assume the dog stayed on board and crashed :-( On April 8th Gagarin was chosen for the orbital flight; he was only 157 cms tall and so fitted easily into the capsule. Upon return, he too ejected and landed by parachute, a fact the Soviets hid for almost a decade!

After a safe landing, secrecy was released and much press publicity was made with photos of Gagarin in his spacesuit. He had a photogenic smile :-)

I was seventeen at the time and much fascinated by the news. Gagarin was subsequently sent on a propaganda tour to other countries. I remember this photo of him with the then UK Prime Minister (Harald MacMillan) and being surprised at how small Gagarin was, only 5 ft 2 inches.

Gagarin died when his MiG-15 fighter jet crashed in bad weather several years later; I've seen the plaque on the Kremlin brick wall where his remains are interred. Read more about him in his detailled Wikipedia page.

Comments (3)
Pergelator wrote " On 'Rare Newspapers' (https://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/558007) I found this: Wikipedia notes: Chernushka ("Blackie") made one orbit on board Korabl-Sputnik-4 (Sputnik 9) on March 9, 1961 with a cosmonaut dummy (whom Russian officials nicknamed "Ivan Ivanovich"), mice and a guinea pig. The dummy was ejected out of the capsule during re-entry and made a soft landing using a parachute. Chernushka was recovered unharmed inside the capsule. Of course that could just be Soviet 'Truth'. Wikipedia says nothing about the fate of the dog. Surely someone knows what really happened." I've met a couple of cosmonauts, but if I asked them I'd only get the "official truth" (called Prawda in Russian ;-)
Ivan (RU) said "Thankyou for your blog about Juri". Blogged as requested :-)
Billions of Versions wrote " It seems like a lot longer than 60 years ago that space people came into being. A lot has happened in 60 years." Indeed, Mike. When my granny was born, the Wright brothers had not yet flown. Before she died, man was on the moon!


Thursday, April 8, 2021

The Number of the Beast

As you may know, Biblical numerology is the use of numbers to convey a meaning outside of the numerical value of the actual number being used. Happens in the Torah and in the Bible too. One passage, KJV (King James Version), Revelations 13:18, gets everyone curious; it reads "... Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:... and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

With this is mind, use the usual biblical numerological trick of assigning numerical values to each of the letters (in English, since this was the language used in the KJV). Thus A=1, B=2, C=3 all the way through to Z=26.

Then write down a word we all now know, CORONA, vertically in the left column, counting one for each letter at the bottom of that column, so getting 6. In the right column write the numerical value assigned to each letter and sum these at the bottom of the right column. Now see what you get when you juxtapose the numbers at the base of the table.

CORONA = 666, the Number of the Beast :-(

But while we're talking about Corona, the good news is that SWMBO and I had our first jabs yesterday. The Biontech variant. Second jabs due mid-may, so we are just 6 weeks behind Yellow Dog Grannie , we are now expecting immunity by june.

Comments (4)
Doug wrote "Got the Pfizer vaxx yesterday - next one in 4 months or sooner" That's good news Doug :-)
Mike wrote " According to Wikipedia the original mark of the beast was 616. Then as things happen over time it got changed to 666. As far as CORONA goes, with the magical jump from 9 to 70 and then from 79 to 10, I think this 666 is the mark of Stu." We no longer have Marks; it's all Euros now ;-)
Kate and Noel (UK) wrote " Delighted to hear you have had your 1st jab hope you are well. We had our 1st in Jan and second yesterday... [family stuff]...We have all felt so sorry for you guys in the EU with team EU causing so many difficulties." Yes, EU and Germany are really screwing it up :-( We got it done by my local doctor (GP). 17 minutes of EU documentation and burocracy then 2 seconds for the actual jab.
Jenny (Ibiza) asked "Any side effects?" Minor side effects only. I got a bump on the arm 5mm high, cold shakes that evening, and the next day EXTREMELY tired. All good signs that the body is reacting to the jab :-) So all is well :-)


Monday, April 5, 2021

Easter Eggs in high quality :-)

Over the years, we have found that the quality of factory-made easter eggs has gotten worse. We don't like Hershey's US chocolate and Cadbury's Creme Egg isn't even made of chocolate any more, Wikipedia phrases it carefully as "... a chocolate-like confection..." :-( So this year we decided to lash out on easter eggs hand-made by a professional chocolatier, each about half as big as a rugby ball, made from dark chocolate and split almonds, hollowed out and containing over 20 pralines of various flavours. Delicious, just as good as we remembered from decades ago!

They survived the parcel post since Herr Haberstroh had labelled them as "Fragile : glass!" :-) Once opened they were to be seen in all their glory :-

We can thoroughly recommend these traditional easter eggs. Here are the German contact details for Mr. Haberstroh, including his web-page.

Cost? Yes, they are not cheap. Including shippage for two ostrich-egg-size ones, they cost about €34 each. A bargain for their fantastic quality though!

PS: Contain no preservatives, so not suitable for shipping overseas. Sorry :-(


Friday, April 2, 2021

Misheard Lyrics @ Easter

If you wanted to hear what the original lyrics might have sounded like, here it is, recited in Aramaic, a widespread language used in Palestine around 33 AD. Like Susan coughing up Evergreen phlegm that was blocking Sue's passage.


Link to the previous month's blog.
Recent Writings
Nice Curves!
RAF Museum Duxford
Yuri Gagarin anniversary
The Number of the Beast
Easter Eggs
Misheard Lyrics @Easter
Toad mating season
Famous female scientists
Mike the Bike
RIP Sabine Schmitz
On St. Patrick's Day
Roadkill
To the barber at last
Earth is flat ;-)
Easy Covid Math
Chapter and Verse
RIP Hans-Werner Grosse
Corona Policy Q & A
Valentine's day 2021
Motorcycling in Winter :-)
360° video of a belfry
No Privacy on WhatsApp
FTP problems
Minus fortyfive
Laws of Nature 2.0
Thank you Georgia
Quadratic equations
Give generously ?
Dead Stick Landing
Salmon Pie
Local call from ET ?
My last Great Conjunction

Blogroll
Ain Bulldog Blog
All hat no cattle
Balloon Juice
Billions of Versions...
Cop Car
Digby's Hullabaloo
Earth-Bound Misfit
Fail Blog
Finding life hard?
Hackwhackers
Infidel753
Mockpaperscissors
Observing Hermann
Pergelator
Scotties Toybox
Silicon Graybeard
Starts with a Bang
Yellowdog Grannie

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Link Disclaimer
ENGLISH : I am not responsible for the contents or form of any external page to which this website links. I specifically do not adopt their content, nor do I make it mine.
DEUTSCH : F?r alle Seiten, die auf dieser Website verlinkt sind, m?chte ich betonen, dass ich keinerlei Einfluss auf deren Gestaltung und Inhalte habe. Deshalb distanziere ich mich ausdr?cklich von allen Inhalten aller gelinkten Seiten und mache mir ihren Inhalt nicht zu eigen.

This Blog's Status is
Blog Dewey Decimal Classification : 153
FWIW, 153 is a triangular number, meaning that you can arrange 153 items into an equilateral triangle (with 17 items on a side). It is also one of the six known truncated triangular numbers, because 1 and 15 are triangular numbers as well. It is a hexagonal number, meaning that you can distribute 153 points evenly at the corners and along the sides of a hexagon. It is the smallest 3-narcissistic number. This means it?s the sum of the cubes of its digits. It is the sum of the first five positive factorials. Yup, this is a 153-type blog. QED ;-)
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