Xmas floods in Germany

Storm/hurrican "Zoltan" came in over the North Sea, pushing huge amounts of water eastwards into Europe. High tide was over ten meters (33 feet) above the usual high tide level.

The automatic floodgates which protect Holland closed. Germany has no such floodgates so the water pushed back up the rivers Weser and Elbe flooding e.g. Hamburg, Bremen and the river Oder. Meanwhile the storm raged here inland with 80mph winds and a deluge of rain; all this as the remaining snow melted here on the northern plains. So even this far inland we are getting flooded. See photos below.

Rivers overflowing and bursting their banks, flooding fields and villages here. This what it looks like, see the aerial photos below. Local fields over a foot or three deep in water.

The lucky farm buildings shown above are still a foot above the floodwater.
The photo below shows a bridge on a country road just peeking out of the floodwater. The normal river bed is between the line of trees left to right.

Many local country roads are closed off by the local fire brigade and civil disaster control authorities, to avoid people driving into any road dips.

Personally, we escaped the worst this time. We just had an inch or so of floodwater in the cellar, not nearly as bad as 20 years ago, when we had 6 feet, cutting off our electricity back then, for fear of shorts. We have lived here over 35 years now and this is our third flood. We live on the hillside, so when the snow melts the water rushes down the hill and through our back garden. Assisted by any (usual) pouring rain. All the houses on our road got flooded cellars, so we had the local authorities erect a floodwall between our gardens and the uphill farmer's fields. A drain was added to these fields; its diameter has proved to be insufficient, they built it too small just to save money :-( Which is why we got that inch of water in the cellar. Luckily and with foresight we still had the pumps and water scoop from the last time.

However, this did mean that SWMBO and I took turns hourly throughout each 24 hours, drying the cellar from any new leaks, so it has been tiring. A pause in the rain yesterday and today means we are now back to a dry normal. Others are worse off, the local riverside bakery had 3 feet of water in the house :-(

So we are waiting for the floodwaters to subside, hoping for less rain and dry weather, I'll keep you posted.

Comments (3)
Jenny (Ibiza) asks "What about your North Sea islands?" Afaik, flying cancelled due to high winds and ferry services have been suspended because of rough seas and inability to see the markers for the routes through the mud flats which are now submerged. When the storm stops we will see how much land has been swept away and lost.
Thomas (D) asks sarcastically "What about the climate nuts who glue themselves to the road; have they all drowned?" Afaik they only do that when the weather is warm, when it gets too cold for them they fly off to Bali (there is an actual documented case of that happening, I am not making this up!).
Billions of Versions... wrote " Do you not have perimeter drain tile and sump pumps in the cellar?" Nope, not in this old house. Maybe modern ones do ????

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on December 27, 2023 permalink Comments Email

Wright Flyer @ its 120^th anniversary

120years ago on this very day, the Wright Flyer made its first powered flight. The Wright brothers, Wilber and Orville, bicycle shop owners, had been testing and flying home-built gliders at Kill Devil Hills, four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for the 3 previous years, due to the good winds there. In 1903 they brought their first powered plane (see photo) there for testing. Orville made the first successful powered flight, a whole 37 meters (120 feet) after a catapult start.

My grandmother was a teenager when this happened; within her lifetime, mankind (Armstrong and Aldrin) had landed on the moon too! What great progress!

I have seen this airplane (or a replica?) at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution, a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Well worth a visit for anyone interested in human flight and space.

Here is a contemporary photo of the Wright brothers, Wilbur (left) died in 1912 afaik.

I suppose it is partly due to these two guys that I spent over ¼ century of my life as a pilot and as flying instructor, a most enjoyable time (almost 5000 hours aloft :-)

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on December 17, 2023 permalink Comments Email

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Monday, December 11

Is Rudolph trans?

Xmas is coming so you will be seeing Xmas cards like this one, wherein Xians celebrate nordic mythology, being more believable than their own.

But this is wrong too. This photo was taken about mid-october judging by the size and condition of the reindeers' antlers.

You see, these are male reindeers, as revealed by the size and shape of their antlers. But the males grow these antlers for rutting fights with other males during the mating season. After the mating season, in november, the antlers are cast off. So by Xmas, male reindeers have NO antlers !

Female reindeer keep their (shorter, less branching) antlers until they bear their baby reindeer in spring. So Santa's sleigh is drawn by female reindeer (reindeer are called caribou in north america).

So I suspect the reindeer in this and similar photos/paintings are trans ;) Rudolph et al are all trans ;-) Bet y'all didn't know that ;-)

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on December 11, 2023 permalink Comments Email

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Friday, December 8

Not just Pearl Harbour

Yesterday saw the Day of Infamy roll around again and there was a short TV show here investigating what today's US college kids know about Pearl Harbour. Not much. Some of them had seen the movie Tora!Tora!Tora! so remembered part of that, but were not aware of it just being part of synchronised Japanese attacks around the Pacific. Most didn't even know that Tora!Tora!Tora! translates as Tiger!Tiger!Tiger! although personally I think that when the attacking Japanese pilots broke radio silence, they reported To Ra! To Ra! To Ra! which translates as Torpedo Attack!Torpedo Attack!Torpedo Attack! which seems to make more sense.

So where else did the japanese attack on that day (Dec. 8th, Tokio time)?

In December 1941, the Japanese military launched several attacks simultaneously in addition to Pearl Harbor, the start of the Pacific War.
Guam: The Japanese captured Guam, a U.S. territory, on December 10, 1941, following a two-day battle.
Wake Island: The Japanese also attacked Wake Island, a US. territory, on December 8, 1941. After a fierce resistance by U.S. forces, the island was captured by the Japanese on December 23, 1941.
Hong Kong: On December 8, 1941, the Japanese also attacked British Hong Kong. The Battle of Hong Kong ended on December 25, with the British surrendering to the Japanese.
Malaysia: The Japanese also began their invasion of British Malaya the same day as Pearl Harbor. It was a significant victory for the Japanese.
Philippines: On December 8, 1941, the Japanese also attacked the Philippines, a U.S. territory at the time. The attack led to the Battle of the Philippines, which lasted until May 1942.

These synchronised attacks marked the start of Japan's major offensives during World War II in the Pacific region. Asked to point to these five other locations on a map, most US college students could not do so. Could you, my american readers? Did you even know of them?

Comments(2)
Billions of Versions... wrote " I know all of them but I couldn't have put a date on the attacks." Okay. Last year, after watching a WW2 movie, I had to ask Google Maps where Iwo Jima is.
Fuku-san (J) wrote "Actually, the americans fired the first shots, thus starting the pacific war. They shot at a japanese submarine surfacing at the entrance to the harbour." I did not know that, is it really true? BTW, is that your real name? Hard to believe!

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on December 8, 2023 permalink Comments Email

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Friday, December 1

The first motorcycle

As you might guess from the left sidebar, I am a motorcycling enthusiast and have been these past 61+ years, since my first motorbike, a BSA Bantam that my father bought me upon my finishing school. But today I am going to show you THE (not MY) first motorcycle the world ever saw.

built in 1894 by Wolfmueller and Hildebrand It was in a production run of 40+ in Munich, Bavaria. In the 1860s there had been steam-powered Boneshakers as predecessors and in 1885 Daimler's 3-wheeler Reitwagen car. However Wolfmueller and Hildebrand even patented the name Motorrad (engl: motor-wheel) for their twowheeler. After the steam boneshaker they tried a two stroke engine built by their mechanic Geisenhof before going with the 1448cc 4-stroke twin. Each of the (very) longstroke horizontal cylinders drove the rear wheel directly via long connecting rods, needing long rubber bands to pull the con-rods back and thus the pistons back too. So no primary drive, gearbox and no clutch. Push start and jump on. Adjust the manual ignition advance as you gained speed.

Inlet valve was an automatic sniffle valve. Outlet valve driven by a cam on the rear axle and a very long rod, timing set by a very long rubber band from that cam. Glowplug ignition. 2½ horsepower at 240 rpm drove the 84 kg motorcycle at up to 40 km/h (=25mph).

Stopping via a wooden block on the front tyre and turning the fuel flow off. In emergency, a spike could be lowered into the dirt road.

Your can imagine how difficult it was to start and ride and stop this thing !!! There were so many customers complaining and demanding their money back that the company went bankrupt in 1897.

Bonhams recently auctioned one original off for over 195 thousand Euros. This is what it looked like.

Mike Kron has built some 20 replicas so far, for museums etc. You would not be allowed to ride one on public these days afaik.

Comments(3)
Billions of Versions... wrote " That thing sounds like an absolute nightmare!"
Jenny (Ibiza) asks "What is the oldest bike you have ever ridden?" If I remember correctly, a 1906 Brutus, for 200 yards, about 20 years ago.
Peter Harris (UK) wrote "I bought an aerial square four some time in my teens and it was seized up.. so we had to buy a withdrawal tool to get into the crank case we spent the best part of a sunday morning searching catford for without much luck… other than that I think I used dads Trojan engine mounted to a cycle to visit deal and meet one of my first dates… a big deal maybe but a copper stopped me (mister plod) and ordered me off. and I took a liking to pleated skirts not a complete theory though." Yes, they siezed easily in the rear cylinders.

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on December 1, 2023 permalink Comments Email

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Link to the previous month's blog.

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