[slowbird]

I bought some Indycal decals for a specific car I was building a few years ago and carefully put them in my decal folder, a few months later I wanted to apply them to the car and they had vanished without trace.

I bought a very nice condition Scalextric March 711 last year to use for a conversion, I put it in my storage boxes with all my other pending projects, a few months later I wanted to start the build and the car has disappeared without trace.

I know these have never been been moved from where I stored them so it's a complete mystery how they have disappeared.

David

Not sure what's worse, losing things or forgetting you ever bought them. I bought some Indycals decals for a model car, never applied them to the car, forgot. Months later, thought "oh I need to buy decals for that car" and ordered a set. Then I got a nagging feeling in the back of my head. Sure enough, I now have two sets of the same decals!

 

[PETER GUNN]

Must be a woman involved somewhere, i cannot leave any thing out without it dissapearing .

 

[beardy56]

The one that always puzzles me is then doing anything with tools you put one down on the floor, so it's within arms reach, you don't move at all then when you go to pick it up it's vanished

. When the jobs done there it is again

.

 

[Kit Spackman]

It's the Carpet Monsters.

They have an inexhaustible appetite for smalll things, be they bits of cars, tools or whatever, but they have very fragile stomachs and re-gurgitate quite a lot of the stuff they try and eat, thus the re-appearance of the 'missing' bits later on.

 

[Ecurie Martini]

In radioisotope decay, the "half life" of an element is the time it takes for 50% to disappear. Thus, if the half life is X years, at X it is half gone, 2x, 3/4 gone, 3X 7/8 etc.

I have calculated the half life of some commonly used slot car bit and tools: a 1-72 grub screw: 3 minutes. hex wrench to fit same: 17 seconds, the last chassis-to-body screw: 4.6 minutes, any clear plastic part: 2.3 minutes, the last bit of a stick of solder: 25 seconds, #11 Xacto blade and handle: 11 minutes, forceps used for lifting water slide decals from the dish: too short to measure (disappearing immediately after being put down)

EM

 

[Trisha]

Brilliant, Al, and 100% accurate!

 

[mickey thumbs]

Before invoking nuclear physics, I start with simple optics then advance to magnetic force. First, a general scan of the area with the magnifiers used to paint drivers faces, then the readers, followed by none, and finally finishing with the driving specs. Then examine all sources of magnetic attraction- old motors, screwdrivers, and of course the box containing all the removed chassis magnets using the same series of lenses. Amazing how many little bits and pieces turn out to be ferrous.

 

[Trisha]

The latest literary rash to infect the English-speaking world is the word, 'essentially', and they're all 'at it'.

Listen to a news and current-affairs programme, and everything becomes "essentially" within seconds.

Icon, legend, genius - all grossly over-used words, and usually taken out of context, but now: "He's essentially a legendary, iconic genius."

Baa!

 

[David Lawson]

I have woken up grumpy this morning so I will share my current pet hate. Why do so many people nowadays start every sentence with "So".

They are asked a simple question and they pause and say, "So - I work for the civil service", as though they are delivering some sort of proclamation rather than just answering a straight forward question. No one used to say this but nowadays like most affectation it is now common place,

David

 

[Trisha]

I've sometimes wondered if Beethoven was the world's Grumpiest Old Git. This year marks the 250th anniversary since his birth, which is why BBC Radio 3 is broadcasting the great German's work on an industrial scale.

Going deaf from his 20s can't have been fun, but his infamous rudeness to all and sundry must have been amusing for bystanders not on the receiving end of his depleted temper.

Incidentally, he was a 'van' rather than 'von' because his family origins were in Belgium rather than Germany. At least, I'm not aware that his middle appellation was an abbreviation of Yvonne. It's a plausible explanation, though, for his constantly grumpy demeanour...

 

[Trisha]

David

Couldn't agree more. So, so, so! It's awful, superfluous, and a most inefficient way of communicating.

Moreover, the practitioners of "so" usually add "like" to the middle of sentences.

All absolute tommyrot, of course.

 

[Kit Spackman]

Don't get me going on all these 'addon' words!

It started off with 'you know', and some people, even some very well known people, use these two words so often that it becomes ridiculous. Even one of the political party leaders does it, over and over!

It's moved on to 'basically', some people can't seem to start a statement without using it.

And no-one's ever upset or worried about a problem or an incident these days, they're always 'devastated'.

Aggggggghhhhhhhhh!

 

[StuBeeDoo]

................ seem to find it difficult to form longer sentences without the prefix "So........".

Why do so many people nowadays start every sentence with "So".

 

[PETER GUNN]

I like the word legend when some overpaid idiot of a presenter talks about a 23 year old twit as a legend in his own lifetime .

 

[Trisha]

A good point, KFW. The same sort of people also seem to find so many ordinary, mundane things to be "incredible".

This is, of course, hyperbole without foundation. Irritating!

 

[David Lawson]

Stuart

I can't stand people who don't read back in the thread carefully enough..... My excuse is that I have the memory of a goldfish these days and I almost certainly read your post at the time but it's floated off into the ether.

David

 

[StuBeeDoo]

I have to be honest, David, I knew as soon as I read your post that I'd posted something similar.

However, it took me ages to locate it. I couldn't, for the life of me, think how long ago it would have been. Last week?? Last month?? Last year?? Before this thread was even started???............

 

[Gripping Pneus]

And another one . . Epicentre.
I hear on the news that the epicentre of the corona virus outbreak is Wuhan The centre of the outbreak is therefore somewhere in the atmosphere directly above the city. I wonder at what height it spontaneously appeared?
Note for all journalists - te epicentre is not closer to the centre than the centre already is.

 

[RikoRocket]

I really hate it when SWMBO goes out and buys ingredients without checking the cupboards. Now 3 bottles of tabasco sauce...

But...

I've been going through my boxes still looking for that Mustang dragster and I've found (so far)

duplicate purchases of

AutoArt red Porsche Carrera GT

SCX ford fiesta WRC

SCX Compact MotoGP #99

SCX Compact MotoGP #27

SCX Compact MotoGP #46

Numerous Scalextric C28, C22, C17 that I bought to replace my originals, and then forgot I'd bought them so bought another and another

I blame swapmeets

Conclude? Maybe it runs in the family...

 

[Trisha]

Another silly epithet: 'pro-active'. It means 'active', but pro-active has spread throughout media networks, and especially at the BBC.

Duh...