I completed the programming of my payload including four tracking systems, pyrotechnic firing and safety circuits, and Iridium satellite communications, and a go-pro camera (for those who haven't met me, I'm the one in the FCCUK jacket!)



attached it to a hydrogen balloon while observing all due safety precautions



persuaded it into the air



and tracked it as it rose to 27 363 metres (89 773 feet 7 and 15⁄32 inches)



http://track.spacenear.us/

and spent a couple of hours on a small boat five miles off the coast trying to find the payload

I watched my third Grandson being born

OK, I'm out-cooled. Sincere congratulations!

Congratulations. All the best.

I felt like a loser just reading the title.
I do stuff Just not great stuff.

That's much more down to earth

Rousers, the two of you!

Lol, thanks

You're not out cooled though Neil, what you've done is just as cool, just in a different way

You did ask what had we done today, so had to reply, sorry

You do great stuff without realising it.

You sent me an alarm siren, without charge and because you wanted to.
May not be great stuff to some people, but it is to people like me and it's appreciated (Although I still haven't fitted it lol )

Losers don't have big hearts or feelings, so you're far from being a loser

Congratulations Theresa. Nothing like seeing a child born to raise the emotions.

Gill and i are cutting straight hazel and chesnut branches in an attempt to build a woven fence about 30 metres long.
Its tough going having to battle with brambles etc.
We have realised that we need an awfull lot more branches than what we have allready cut.
We will need to get permission from some local wood/forest owners to coppice some more.
It should look nice when done though.

Sounds interesting Joe - put some photos up when it's finished

Changed my post to sort the pictures out - something weird happened at photobucket.

Sorry to ask a daft question, but what happens next? Is the plan to see how far it gets?

Nope. The next phase is to launch a rocket plane at a serious height and see how high we can get. We're aiming for forty or fifty thousand metres... (sorry but details are classified).

Did you manage to find it and if not is it still alive floating somewhere ?

I have absolutely no knowledge about any of this...

...but it's certainly more interesting that my hobbies.

And congrats to T.

Pretty cool...



... but this is the bit i'm waiting for.

No. We think it's still floating somewhere in the channel but it's no longer transmitting - or if it is, the aerial is underwater so only radio controlled fish can hear it.

If anyone finds it, I'd like to know! There's telemetry logging data on that bird I can use. And of course, we really want our Playmonaut back: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/29/playmonaut_mission/

Ah that's a shame, with any luck it will wash ashore and find its way home !

Went metal detecting near Wendover in Bucks and found not a lot. Still a beautiful day to be out and about.

Drove stepson to Silverstone for his first "rookie" driving lesson. He did very well - he shared the Clio Cup with another lad (also a go-karter) and the instructor said they were both really good.
By contrast, my first lesson involved being sworn at round the streets of Sheffield by an ex-para telling me his exploits at "f***ing Arnhem".

Small beer by comparison to others (congrats, T, commiserations, Neil), but fun!

Feel free to apply the equations of motion to a rocket with a thrust-weight ratio of 7 and a burn of 10 seconds. It's moving surprisingly quickly at the end of that burn...

Wow. All I've done today is feel rough as toast after a party at mine, and had a poo. I'm wasting my life!

Chopped trees back, went to tip, windged about back now hurting, Cleaned oil from last owners overalls off my jaaag seats, this is why they cant have nice things.

Where was my invite?

We went to see Father Christmas

Cleaned the bumblebee for the first time in exactly three weeks, fortunately nothing happened this time , refitted the n/s rear interior panel that had been off for several weeks but noticed that water was coming in the pinin badge holes , re-aligned the o/s wiper where the AA guy had left it missing the last six inches of the screen...

Watched England - All Blacks (if I was a conspirator I'd be tempted to think NZ weren't trying through some of the game)

Went with Mrs Ed to see Skyfall in our local family-owned cinema: big plush double sofas each, free Pringles and unlimited soft drinks

Can't complain!

Why cant there be a cinema like that near me. if they offered a service like that I wouldn't actually mind paying. We just get flung in to a tiny room with overpriced "snacks" in chairs that would make ryan air look like luxury liners.

They wonder why the cinema is dying? because there in no "theatre" to it any more, no experience no grandeur with a stack them high and sell them expriance attitude with a business model that's slowly desolving /end rant

The Dominion in Morningside is still family-run and has 4 screens, 2 of which are in tiny auditoriums. Tickets for the Bond movie were nearly £11 but the atmosphere and comfort are great, ridiculous legroom where folk could pass by even if your legs are stretched out on the footstool! Not that we're Steven Finns but you get the picture....
For a popular film you may have to join the end of the queue outside on the steps initially but the personal touch kicks in when the manager steps up to organise everyone possible into the small foyer.
It has closed 3 times for refurbishment and enlarging since it opened in 1938 and if possible we like to use it to help an independent cinema flourish.

I honestly don't mind paying £15+ for a ticket if I get to see a film in an adult environment in a comfi chair. Basically if it can offer me an experience that I cannot replicate at home ill hand my ready's over with pleasure. I want it to be an event, I don't want to just see a film, I can do that anywhere now.

I have one cinema, a very small one with in 20 miles that may turn up trumps which im off to next week... but we will see

I went to a memorial service to honour my daughter and other babies that were stillborn
And then I picked up a birthday cake for my son,,,22 today,,strange old day

?? in other cars thread?

Nice if not guzzly