Yournamehere

2 L shaped wires; long arm forward, short arm in an empty biro tube or just in your fist. Tilt them slightly forward to point the long arms forward, tilt them slightly together to get them to cross in front of you or tilt them both to the left to get them to tilt to the left. That really is all there is to it. No more. I was sitting in a shed with a mate setting this up once (he wanted to show me it would work when he stepped over a hose-pipe) and with perfect timing, the lady we were working for (it was tea-time) appeared at the door and I tilted both wires to one side so that the long arms both pointed at her. As if by magic. They both absolutely refused to believe that I had done that, they insisted that I had magic powers and that I just didn't know it. In a controlled experiment, years ago (when New Scientist was still worth reading) but probably repeated, plastic bottles were buryed in a sandpit, some full of water, some empty, diviners were only allowed to proceed if they agreed that it was a fair test. I believe there may even have been sections of the pit with no bottles at all. The results were no better than chance. Some were meh, some were angry - some with themselves, some with the organisers - some accepted and reconsidered what they were doing. All went home better informed. T'were a long time ago but google it. As for water engineers looking for leaks, same thing, they just tilt the rods when their feet get wet. Happy days Yourn

Try reading it out loud.

I still remember that first proper party I went to.Got off with one of the girls; I was kissing Jenny Taylor all night long.

I'd be happy to help with anything if I can - maths especially; it was a long time ago that I studied - got made redundant and redundancy paid for Open University - but if anyone is struggling put up a post and I'll see what I can do. And I'm sure that there's others on here that would help in other fields too. Maybe put up a sticky/pin up in this (training,education) thread if there's not too many already. Happy Days Yourn PS. My top tip would be: You've got to want to do it; if you want to do it, that's half the battle won. Good luck.

Though we've all been there; few of us could recount it quite so poetically.

Taxi

I've bought an extra jar of honey: you know, just in case, like.

A Common device for Revealing a hidden message Or rhyme Sometimes used in The form of a poem or In a Cypher

yeah. ok. took a while.

Sorry; can't help after all: they don't use wood-chip of any kind.

woodchip off the logs or shreddings off the foliage? I can ask someone that I might see today for their opinion. Edit: Ha! yes any bugger can do that. The person I might see works at a stables.

Bed. Your own bed; not a hospital bed; not a mortuary bed. Good call.

James Dyson before brexit vote: Brexit! Brexit! Brexit! James Dyson yesterday: Singapore looks nice.

What you can't actually see in the vid is the three-foot-rsj-pile-driven-base of the tree-pusher over-thingy

Specso. Soon they'll be able to tell if you've got bald tyres and defective brakes too. Just won't be worth driving anymore. Tis ealth an safety gone mad. etc.

The phone's in the hallway; so I went out and shook it: you'll never guess what was on m'puter screen when I got back!

Away with this shrub nonsense: it's a tree.

Bollox to this; I'm gorn fishin. Happy Days Yourn

Yeah! Good spot. I'd say possible but unlikely.

... to the extent that maybe the soldering iron is a bluff and the lack of esp is the real test/answer they are looking for.

Ha yes I saw that and just thought 'ouchy that's gotta hurt'! And no ESP* either! Interestingly (fsvoi) if you saw the vids appearing to show banksy making his 'shredder' a while back, besides having blades lying flat to the paper so that no shredding could occur, at one point he too was holding a soldering iron by the hot bit. *electro static discharge protection: you are meant to be wearing an esp wristband which is then clipped via a lead to the piece of equipment you are working on to prevent static discharges zapping the i.c.s

I've use an oregon mulcher head a lot with an old chinese* combi which I use to save wrecking anything good as the mulcher puts a tremendous torque on the kit and does exactly this ie wears the securing holes in the tube to an oval which then becomes loose. I drilled extra holes in the tube and castings, tapped the casting to M6 and put two extra screws of just the right length - ie to go into the tube but so far as to foul the spindle - in to hold the tube more firmly. It still loosens eventually - such is the torque off the head - but not so soon as before. And when it has gone oval again I turn through 180 degrees and repeat and when/before it has gone/goes oval again I look on ebay for a spares/wrecked combi in the local area and get a new set of tubes for a tenner. And repeat. Don't know if this would work with a c.f. tube but yer welcome to it anyway. Happy days Yourn. *Big engines made of big parts; not so highly strung as more expensive alternatives.

As for the trees themselves, I was thinking something apply or peary, but was thrown by the yellow flowers - I even wondered about a eucalytus because of that!. They look as if they might have been grafted, so again, fruit trees on a sturdy root stock?.

Aha! You got me! And well done Nepia; I'm off to specsave! Happy Days! Yourn.

Mmm see where you're coming from with the solidago - the yellow clumps of flowers are a good match - but solidago is a clump forming perennial rather than a small tree. The small one in the foreground looks more like a pot plant - if you follow my meaning...