Blog now ‘Advert Free’

We are now ‘advertisement free’

This morning I wandered in to Jan’s studio and found her watching the latest blog entry about Philip Lane’s wonderful garden railway. When the piece finished I was quite shocked to see an advertisement for Groupon at the bottom of the posting. As I only ever get to see the ‘administrator’s’ view, which obviously does not include these advertisements, I had no idea that this was happening. I thought we had already paid all the ‘extras’ to WordPress (like the use of MP3 and video) but obviously not. The solution was simple, by crossing their palms with another £20 there will be no further advertising appearing now on our blog. The only advertisements or links to such which will ever appear on our sites are those ex-boys who are providing sponsorship like Roberts Radio who kindly now sponsor The Kingsland Archive.

Please accept my apologies if you have found the ads irksome but I genuinely had no idea they were appearing. Now what kind soul is going to make their Voluntary Annual Subscription to cover this?

Archive videos temporarily removed

I do hope you all got the chance to watch the archive footage of the “USA School Trip 1969″ and the ‘trailer for “Morocco Bound” as these have now been temporarily taken down whilst they are re-edited with new ‘copyright free’ background music. I am hoping to persuade Steve Woodward or any of our other great musicians to help out here by laying down a few tracks which we can use for this purpose.

Register access problem

Again I must apologise for a recent glitch to do with access to the Register.  For a short while it was possible to click on one of the labels on the main site’s Register access page and this was somehow taking you to a very old and outdated copy of the Register. This should now be rectified so if anyone is still able to access a Register which was updated before 20th January 2012 would they (first refresh their browser to double check) and let me know straight away. Thank you.

Amusing list from David Walmsley

Thank you David for providing the following funnies. Although clearly American in origin the  ’Sod’s Law’ principles apply just as well anywhere there are tools and folks to misuse them!

DRILL PRESS :

A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it. 

WIRE WHEEL : 

Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light.  Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned callouses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, ‘Oh Shit!’ It also throws fine wire like pieces of metal all over the freshly painted, previously dented object, safely stored in the corner.

SKILL  SAW :

A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short. 

PLIERS :

Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER:

An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW :

One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle… It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS :

Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH :

Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race. 

TABLE SAW :

A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK :

Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.

BAND SAW :

A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminium sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST :

A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

PHILLIPS  SCREWDRIVER :

Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER :

A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.

PRY BAR :

A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER :

A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER :

Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.

UTILITY KNIFE :

Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.

SON-OF-A-BITCH TOOL :

(A personal favourite!) Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling ‘Son of a BITCH! ‘ at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.