Thursday 8 October 2020

And The Winner Is ...

And so to our Colonialist Capitalist Quiz.  The amount charged by the RAF to the Egyptian government for the 3rd aerial survey in 1922 was £1,583 13s 5d.  

By my reckoning, the odd change in decimal is £0.6708  (13 x 12 + 5 = 161 pennies, / 240); so in guineas, 1,583.6708 / (1+(1/20))  =  1,508.26 guineas

So the winner is Sobers, with his very realistic stab.  A free lifetime subscription to C@W for that person - plus the first pint on me next time Blog Drinks are permitted.

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Incidentally, if a little schoolboy humour is allowed while we are in robust retro mood  - you gotta admire the QC who told the court this week that the idea children can safely opt for puberty-blocking drugs is "a fairy tale" ...

ND

23 comments:

John in Cheshire said...

Out of interest, what was the source of your information because I couldn't find anything by googling it?

Nick Drew said...

it's not online. (I have access to docs that others don't.)

DJK said...

Remarkable value for money. HMS Hood cost £6 million in 1919; HMS Queen Elizabeth is about 3 billion, so 500 times as much (or the money to pay for a capital ship has shrunk in value by 500 times.) So the £1583 charged to the Egyptian government is about £800,000 in devalued 2020 Great British Pounds.

Scrobs. said...

I demand a recount!

Nick Drew said...

DJK: a very useful comparison

how about trying cost of Bristol Fighter vs cost of F-35 ...!?

Sobers said...

Woo hoo! I feel the prize follows in well worn footsteps, I am renowned for winning bottles of wine at raffles, the irony being I'm teetotal........

DJK said...

ND: I'm not sure the F-35 is the right comparison. What would the present day RAF use to do aerial reconnaissance over friendly territory? Probably the Shadow R1 (Beechcraft King Air). Or perhaps a Reaper drone. What's the cost of flying a Reaper for a day against a Bristol Fighter in the 1920s?

Elby the Beserk said...

Nick,

I would think the legal; profession is licking its lips and setting up its offshore bank accounts to deal with the onslaught of legal cases against the NHS and Mermaids as a result of this case. Mermaids are already being expunged from the public sector. My FoI request to the NHS on this matter now 30 days overdue for an answer, and I have put in a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner. Request below...

"1. Paperwork and documented reasons behind the mandating within the NHS of the use of the service of the charity, "Mermaids Gender".

2. Paperwork and documented reasons for the removal of all references to said charity from NHS websites.

Ref. https://quillette.com/2020/08/05/at-the-nhs-and-bbc-important-steps-toward-restoring-balance-in-the-gender-debate/?v=322b26af01d5

"That’s why it’s significant that the website of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS)—the umbrella group for the country’s publicly-funded healthcare systems—has removed the prominent, once-numerous references to Mermaids from its online materials.""

===============================================================

I guess they need some time for shredding...

Elby the Beserk said...

And whilst we are here, here's another to the ONS!

it says, in this publication.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/whatisthedifferencebetweensexandgender/2019-02-21

""The UK government defines sex as: ... something that is assigned at birth

Who assigns it, and what is the procedure used to assign it? I ask this, as I was taught that sex is determined at conception.

The article also states that sex is "USUALLY generally male or female". Please list the other sexes.

Thank you

Jeremy Poynton

DJK said...

""The UK government defines sex as: ... something that is assigned at birth

Who assigns it, and what is the procedure used to assign it? I ask this, as I was taught that sex is determined at conception.


That's easy. The individual, as a legal person in their own right, comes into being at birth. The midwife takes a look and assigns it to the legal category of male or female, as appropriate.

Nick Drew said...

DJK (1)

Very good point.

or, you might argue, a pre-existing satellite - probably commercial!

Amazing thing is, with google earth it's actually a free service these days, which makes for yet another type of thought-process

Bill Quango said...

The BE2c was the RAF reconnaissance aircraft of the Great War. Designed in 1912 it was very useful for steady and slow photograph taking missions. Was the ideal mapper, being designed as a very stable aircraft. Other than that quality, it was awful. Just a terrible plane with dismal characteristics.

The Bristol Fighter, though an actual fighter, was designed in 1916, was a superb plane. So much do that it was still in front line service ( in quiet areas) in 1932. But as a reconnaissance aircraft. Mapping the desert, etc.

The BE2 was the subject of an actual inquiry into incompetence during the war, as it was so bad. And so many planes were lost.

The reality is, the BE2 was designed not long after a plane had first crossed the channel. And was designed without any thought of being involved in combat from other aircraft. It was easy to kill for even the most wretched of German fighters. It was a very good Aircraft for pre war.

The Bristol Fighter, despite its woeful introduction to service, had incorporated all the lessons of air war since 1914. And was able to be updated and upgraded to continue its service life.

dearieme said...

Apparently there's a good aerial survey of (mainly) southern England in the early 1940s available. The photos are held in Washington DC.

Nick Drew said...

Dearieme, there are several excellent DBs of aerial images

the really annoying one is NCAP (National Collection of Aerial Photography) which used to be easy access, based in (from memory) Reading U. Then, several years ago, the Scots asked to house it in Edinburgh and for some reason they were given it. They are like 3 years behind schedule in reopening it, and they are introducing much steeper charges for using it. Bastards!

dearieme said...

I was alluding to the Krauts' photos.

Nick Drew said...

yes, NCAP also holds loads of Luftwaffe stuff

(and it was Keele, not Reading before the scotties got their hands on it)

Anonymous said...

the really annoying one is NCAP (National Collection of Aerial Photography) which used to be easy access, based in (from memory) Reading U. Then, several years ago, the Scots asked to house it in Edinburgh and for some reason they were given it. They are like 3 years behind schedule in reopening it, and they are introducing much steeper charges for using it. Bastards!

Don't you need these aerial images if you are planning to carpet bomb a neighbouring country...perhaps there is more to this than you think.

Nick Drew said...

errrm - google earth ...

E-K said...

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12883867/protect-vulnerable-covid-live-normally/

Where's my prize ?

I told you all so from the outset.

We've trashed the economy and are going to have to go for herd immunity anyway.

Nick Drew said...

you can have free sub + beer too, Kev

E-K said...

Thanks.

:))

Nick Drew said...

always a pleasure, Kev. Sadly no west country trip this year, though we caught up with the Somerset tendency at a pub midway along the A303

Charlie said...

Jesus, that Guardian article... it's coming to something when a QC describes not prescribing unnecessary life changing drugs at the age of 13 as "radical".