Hi Doug is this all a dream? In my dreams I seem to come out all OK and less pains. It is you lot that may be the fiction!

I work on the premise that" I make model boats therefore I am!" I do go in and out of reality, well that's what my wife says.

Is my reality the same as yours the cunning part, if this all a fantasy that we share the same references, this kind of sophistication maybe beyond Stephen of the Fireboat's pay grade.

If it all were a fantasy I would like to pay for a s/w upgrade and lose the pain in my right knee and get back some of the attributes I had in the past. After all it would not be real money.

One other thing I think I have a bug in my s/w as my memory often fades a bit after lunch!

Roy

Hi Doug the answer B is correct. The comparison was with a long keel. The keel refered to acts as an aerofoil and does as it says.

Got model yachts with both keel forms and the long keel is not an aerofoil e.g. Inga IV she does her best but does not point up so well into wind. The sides of the keel are parallel so just represent wetted surface. I think it would give a smoother ride full size

The cheap plastic model yachts have the very deep keel and a pronounced profile of the keel with the weight at the bottom. Personally I dislike them but that is because I like my model yachts to look good out of the water. They sail well!

Full size in following seas which is decidedly dodgy needs sails to keep as stable as possible, a following wind can add excitement but added danger.

I have been in the above situation and it needs concentration to avoid rocking side to side. I expect I shall be sailing in March, April next year, will report if anything happens.

Roy

Again, all our thanks to Stephen - and hey ho, I've jumped from 22 back to 8 without answering a question!

Hi All,
I think Stephen is doing a sterling job considering he does it out of love for the site. If more people subscribed it would help with the hosting costs and make his life easier.
Without pointing a finger I have noticed that some people post unnecessary club logos over and over again, multiple times on some posts, this is a waste of storage on the server.
Stephen must be a lot more tolerant than I am. In the past I have maintained and run large Intranet sites and users that post unnecessary content only got one warning then were locked out until their manager had pushed them to change their behaviour.
I doubt most members would appreciate how much time it takes to maintain a web site like this, let alone modifying anything on it.
My 2 pence worth

Ed 🤔

Lots to unpack there Doug. I’ve always respected your thoughts on the site though.

Temu ads are concerning. You certainly shouldn’t be seeing any ads at all as a contributor. Separately I’ll see if Temu can be dropped as an advertiser anyway. I don’t control which ads come up, but I do think it’s possible to at least disable certain advertisers. Where abouts do you see these ads?

Server space/memory etc, the only real limitation I’m keeping my eye on at the moment is the 2GB database limit which is approaching, but it shouldn’t affect any of the improvements you’re suggesting on emojis, gifs and text formatting.

PC users can use any emoji already, but PC’s don’t typically have emoji keyboards like on smartphones. It’s that reason I put some limited emojis to pick from under the post text box. Can’t see the harm in changing the UI here and allowing for some kind of emoji picker instead with all emojis. I’ll see what I can do.

GIFs are more complex to do. So when images are uploaded, they’re all changed to a lower resolution PNG regardless of the original upload format. PNGs don’t animate. It’s boring though, I’ve wanted to post little animated GIFs before too.

It’s been a while since I’ve looked into it, but I’ll redo so. One consolation is that the original upload is saved, so it’s technically possible in retrospect to animate past uploaded GIFs.

Text formatting - this could be done through BB code. Not something I’ve ever enabled server side, but the use of [b]bold[/b], [u]underline[/u], [i]italic[/i] and [quote]quote[/quote] is doable. You won’t see the text effect until posted mind. I’ll add this to the Xmas list 😁

Finally on the question of the day - reason for tinkering was the 15 second wait time for the page to load. But yes, some code optimisations changed the scoring position numbers. I’ll fix that soon, should be an easy one.

Been quiet over the last few months, mostly due to a house move. Don’t recommend anyone to move house 🤣

Stephen

"A real mess. "
Yes Alessandro, I agree.
Seems that Stephen has been tinkering again and inadvertently caused a Right Royal Screw Up!
Sure he's corrected the 'Doppelgänge' appearances, and deleted the individual current position display, but the scoring is still screwed.
It now seems to calculate participant positions purely on the basis of how many participants are above him, rather than grouping together all those with the same score on one position as before.

Frankly this doesn't bother me unduly BUT ...
What does irritate me me is he is wasting time, and server space, on such tinkering but has done nothing about requests for other improvements to the user interface on the grounds that 'It would cost too much memory space on the server' or some such.
Requests made some years ago-
1. That PC users could use the same full range of emoticons that Smartphone App users can.
2. That PC users could use GIF emoticons.
(I have several with nautical connotations in my archive😂)
3. That full text formatting can be used, e.g. Italic, bold or underline.
All these requests were rejected on the grounds that it would require too much server memory space!
Question: How much has server memory capability increased and associated hardware and rental cost decreased in the intervening years?
(Yes guys I do contribute to these costs, for several years now. But I'm starting to reconsider when I see Temu ads appearing. A company which is currently under EU investigation for fraudulent marketing practices and substandard products.)
Question: What arrangement has Stephen entered into with Temu or is this yet another example of their intrusive marketing techniques that the EU is currently investigating?

Question: How much server space is now being used for functions that are now simply irritating us all? Or we don't really need?

Stephen: In all my decades of Electronic Service / Development and ultimately System Engineering one of the very first tenets I learned was -
IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT!!
So why are you now tinkering with things on your site that have worked for years, and 'inadvertently' upsetting both the function and your members through such tinkering, rather than addressing the PC user interface improvements suggested over recent years?

Best regards, Doug.
PS As a former development Programmer I can appreciate that often changes to one section of a program can have unforeseen consequences somewhere else in the same App (as they call software these days🙄).
But that is what trials, simulations and debugging are for! Nicht wahr?

AI told me I got it wrong today (15.11.25) with answer C.
Told me B. was correct!
What a load of old cobblers awls!!😠

😎

Roy,
Re: 'Perhaps all of you are unreal and just a functioning algorithm to keep me sane?'
"I think - therefore I am."😊 Hmm! Or do I just THINK I am?🤔

So where does that leave you Roy?😁
Do we just think that you are - and therefore YOU ARE? Or ...?
Or are we all just figments of some omnipresent programmer's imagination?

Commensurate with several scientist's conviction(🙄) that our entire universe and existence is nothing more than a hologram. 😂🤣😆

😎

A real mess.

Lucky you Steve - overnight I have gone from 8th to 22nd!!!! Don't think we can blame AI for this - or has our data been hacked?

Yes I too had my name doubled 😎😎 but I was blaming my 12 year old phone 👎for the problem 😐. Sorry phone, and the position score has also changed to take into account how many 3rd, 4th, 5th.etc is before your actual position. I was shocked to find that I had suddenly gone from 5th to something like 16th 😩.That was before I had figured it out..
A.I. must be having a meltdown or laughing it's ??? Processor head off 😂😂😂..

PhilUK -

I had no idea of the answer (or even the question!) but I remembered someone saying the answer with the most words is usually the correct answer.

It wasn't!

I feel much better now I am back to normal 🤣Keep taking the tablets..

I think maybe it is A.I. diagnosing SS to have a split personality! We are looking at A.I. generated questions but is A.I. looking back and evaluating us?

Perhaps all of you are unreal and just a functioning algorithm to keep me sane?
Roy

Hi i would like to thank every one who have liked most post along the way, not sure if you are surposed to respond or just except it gracefully😂
Philuk

If thete are two of ss make you both answer correctly 🤔
Philuk

Not the answer with the most words today😁
Philuk👍

Hi SS you can see yourself as others see you!
Roy

Rather shocked this morning to find I had dropped from 7th yesterday to 20th this morning! Having answered today's question correctly I went up to 18th !!???

Yep, we are all being credited twice on the list - now need to have our points scores doubled!!!

A repeat question this morning but I thought I had to read and answer it twice. Not sure why there are two of me now. Double points 😂

Thought there was a problem but it’s only me, I’m seeing double 🤣

I now seem to be on the ranking list twice now. In duplicate even .

Steve, I think the drama series set aboard a Grimsby Trawler was called "Snacker", featuring two young lads starting out as deckhands...

Something's wrong.
Nine days ago, a question I answered correctly was cancelled, and the rectangle went from green to gray.
Today, I was doubled.
Luckily, the second-best score isn't lower.

Hi, Phil I was going to put something like that about the trawler fishing programs on the TV, but I couldn't remember the name of the series.🤔
I always looked forward to watching it, not ever thinking it would help me in the future with this quiz.😀..
Today's SOLAS question has been on before in a slightly different manner so quite an easy one 😀😀.

Me thinks i just accquired super powers😮

Most words seems to win every time!

Hi i have a lot to thank deadly est catch program about trawler fishermen as they keep saying its up to captain where we fish.
Philuk👍

Todays was hard, each answer was reasonable so i went with the one with the most words.

The score has nothing to do with AI, it is simple mathematics. The total of correctly answered questions over the past 30 days divided by 30 and multiplied by 100 giving a percentage. Unfortunately not answering a question does not equal a correct answer. If it did I could have aced all the exams I have ever taken by not even attending 🤣

Yes, I can see your point as well, but in theory, if not posting means no loss of points, there would be a temptation to hold on to a good position if you weren't sure about the answer.

I like to pit my wits against the daily question, and have to admit that at least half of my replies are a semi-educated guess. I know far more about model boats than I do about issues affecting full size boats. But i never check before submitting my guess!

Thanks for the advice, Pat, it's very valuable.
I see how you've changed your mind about people in top positions who consistently get 100% on their questionnaires.
Before, you doubted they could maintain that position for so long without consulting books or the internet before responding.
Now you believe it's possible.

I can see where you are coming from but because some can not answer in not fair as if penalised for getting it completely wrong

But if that was applied, then as soon as someone reaches 100% they could stop posting and just stay there.

BTW - congratulation on reaching the top, please don't take my comment personally!

That leads to another problem with the AI aloritham - I think if you dont answer you should stay where you are not be marked as wrong but thats only my opinion

The secret to getting to the top is to know the answer to the questions but the ones you get wrong will come around again sooner or later so remember them, if you know the answer it does not have to tax your brain if you have to remember something you dont its harder work

Soon due to dip again as I will be away without access to tinternet soon !!

Nov.11 2025 Remembrance Day and club meeting attended Legion ceremony Our club took some models for the attendees to view.After service at the Cenotaph.Legion lunch.In the evening Club meeting, where I picked up a model sports two seater that needs some TLC & should be ready for the 2026 season Snowstorm on the way home so took some time to get home and had a Rum & Coke a Cola AND forgot to do Question!!

Today's question has already been debated.
If I remember correctly, Ross and I explored a somewhat controversial option.
However, I believe there's no doubt about the correct answer today.

I agree with Phil.
Congrats, Pat.
Getting and maintaining a 100% correct answer rate without consulting books or the internet before answering is truly a remarkable achievement (especially considering the topics range from bulk cargo regulations to marine biology).

Hi Dave, this is truly a sad event.
For an Italian (but I think also for a European) it's unusual to talk about a storm on a lake. Ours are small bodies of water.
The great American lakes, in size, are comparable to seas like the Aegean, the Adriatic, and the Tyrrhenian.

I see southportpat has shot up throught the ranks now leading the class 😁 well done mate.
Philuk👍

Glad I got it right then! I have always hated doing lines.

Everyone that gets this wrong again must write out the answer 100 times
🤣

I can't think why I remembered the answer to this one. Must have been a documentary I saw in the past.
Roy

This evening, there is going to be a 50th Anniversary Commemoration event at Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior. They do a commemorative lighting every year on November 10th, but this year it is a large organized event. They sold out reserved admission, and are expecting thousands more to show hoping to find a place to witness the lighting.

Here is text from the Minnesota Historical Society's Splitrock Lighthouse website:

Every year on the 10th of November, the beacon at Split Rock is lighted to commemorate the sinking of the freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald, and all the other vessels lost on the Great Lakes.

At 4 pm Central time, the lighthouse will close temporarily while the names of the crew members are read to the tolling of a ship's bell. Following the ceremony, the beacon will be lit, and the tower will be open again to tour. This event is included with regular site admission. Advanced registration is strongly encouraged.

The memorial beacon lighting will be live-streamed on this webpage, as well as the Minnesota Historical Society's YouTube page and Split Rock Lighthouse's Facebook page. You can also follow the Minnesota Historical Society and Split Rock Lighthouse on Instagram for more historic content.

Dave B

Edit: I grabbed some screenshots from the livestream of the commemorative lighting of Split Rock Lighthouse tonight.

I see only 6% have not been paying attention, we will have to ask this one again. 🤣

This is a question that has been asked before which I got wrong last time !

Lightfoot's WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD

Hi DWB, thanks for that, I have sorted it out. I shall remember for next time.

As was pointed out the webmaster should not have to beg for running money. Some time ago I thought that as I was enjoying the way this forum works then a contribution was in order.
Only Bronze and as you say pensioners are near the bottom of the pecking order.
Regards to all,
Roy