The totally off-topic thread

[markis10]

Anyone here cooked seared scallops before?

About to attempt it for the first time tomorrow. I've read so far:

• Olive oil or butter - 50/50 preference here. Heat at full bore until smoking or foaming butter.
• Pat dry scallops and season before searing.
• 30-60 seconds per side. Some say "until just opaque", which I interpret to mean that the flesh colour just turned white.
• Don't put too many in the pan otherwise they will boil each other.

Sounds about right?

Go the butter, higher smoke temp than refined Olive Oil, if it's Virgin Olive Oil other way around, both are pretty low on the scale of oils good for frying.

 

[vetrade]

Go the butter, higher smoke temp than refined Olive Oil, if it's Virgin Olive Oil other way around, both are pretty low on the scale of oils good for frying.

A little splash of olive oil as well will stop the butter burning when using high heat.
Don't cook too many at once because it lowers the pan temp and they don't cook quick enough

 

[markis10]

Bugger, the nav is broken, back to the gate we go.

 

[amaroo]

Those Turks are on the ball.

 

[erkpod]

Highway Patrol spotted this car last night. Lights removed, no fine issued. What do you think?

 

[medhead]

An even handed approach.

 

[Pushka]

It's only 12.30 and so far I've seen a car towing a boat catch on fire. A cyclist being hit. And had to brake hard to avoid a car towing a caravan thinking the gap between the car in front of me and me, was large enough to get both his car and caravan through whilst turning right into a service station that has a large dip causing right turners to break or take out the bottom of the car. He braked of course. Leaving me to contend with the caravan which of course was now completely across my path.

Then there's the usual car park rage.

I think people wrap their brain up in the Christmas wrapping.

 

[Quickstatus]

The taxpayers of Australia funded my ironing lessons. I see it as an obligation to make sure they get value for money from the training investment.

On a related note I'm currently doing 6 months of electronic filing. Hence procrastinating here. (one down 14 to go)
But the previous occupant of my current desk, but not my position thankfully, thought that it was a waste of taxpayers money for him to scan and file documents. In fact he had a massive rant at one of the admin support staff at the next desk how the taxpayers expected her to do his scanning.

Medhead, i too procrastinate when it comes to electronic filing.
I used to live next to bushland which had not seen a bushfire in over 25 years. I thought at that time it would be prudent to scan and file the pdf and then shred the documents. The practice continues now even though I am not near bushland.

Im interested in your computer infrastructure supporting your electronic filing.

I have a fast colour scanner with automatic duplex sheet feeding. And I scan to pdf. Filing is according to financial year. Files are saved to a striped raid array of 2 disks for faster retrieval and this raid is backed up to a mirrored raid array of 2 disks using Apple Time Machine. I change all 4 hard disks each year when I have to change the clocks around Easter time for daylight savings. The old hand drives get stored. Hard drives are inexpensive and I dont need the multi terabyte ones. My 12 years data currently 576GB. So my striped disks are 500gb each and mirrored array 1TB each.

Im thinking of deleting files older than 10 years.

I have not gone to SSD because of cost but may in near future replace the striped array with a SSD and just have a 2 disk mirrored array.

I find the small receipts from petrol stations the most tedious

 

[erkpod]

While you're singing Xmas Carols this year, Batman has a message for you.

 

[medhead]

Medhead, i too procrastinate when it comes to electronic filing.
I used to live next to bushland which had not seen a bushfire in over 25 years. I thought at that time it would be prudent to scan and file the pdf and then shred the documents. The practice continues now even though I am not near bushland.

Im interested in your computer infrastructure supporting your electronic filing.

I have a fast colour scanner with automatic duplex sheet feeding. And I scan to pdf. Filing is according to financial year. Files are saved to a striped raid array of 2 disks for faster retrieval and this raid is backed up to a mirrored raid array of 2 disks using Apple Time Machine. I change all 4 hard disks each year when I have to change the clocks around Easter time for daylight savings. The old hand drives get stored. Hard drives are inexpensive and I dont need the multi terabyte ones. My 12 years data currently 576GB. So my striped disks are 500gb each and mirrored array 1TB each.

Im thinking of deleting files older than 10 years.

I have not gone to SSD because of cost but may in near future replace the striped array with a SSD and just have a 2 disk mirrored array.

I find the small receipts from petrol stations the most tedious

I was (still am actually) filing in a work environment. Scan with a big photocopier or attach electronic files into a records management system called TRIM. The scanning is easy, the tedious bit is the file naming convention and structure according to corporate standards. That'll teach me to save up 6 months of reports.

I still have to get around to backup/electronic files at home. I have a NAS with about 2 TB of effective storage. 4x1TB drives in a raid. I can't remember the number, but mirrored.

I've looked around at scanning all in ones for home. But double sided scanning seems hard to find. What scanner do you use?

 

[JessicaTam]

I was (still am actually) filing in a work environment. Scan with a big photocopier or attach electronic files into a records management system called TRIM. The scanning is easy, the tedious bit is the file naming convention and structure according to corporate standards. That'll teach me to save up 6 months of reports.

I still have to get around to backup/electronic files at home. I have a NAS with about 2 TB of effective storage. 4x1TB drives in a raid. I can't remember the number, but mirrored.

I've looked around at scanning all in ones for home. But double sided scanning seems had to find. What scanner do you use?

We have started using TRIM at work. I have nothing to do with it.

I do scan some important documents such as assessments or interview records. The photocopier we have scans double sided with page feed and then sends to my email. All I do then is save the file with an intelligent name for prosperity.

 

[Quickstatus]

I've looked around at scanning all in ones for home. But double sided scanning seems had to find. What scanner do you use?

I use Avision AV8350. Around $5k (proscan.com.au)

duplex scanning in colour elevates scanners to expensive level and you wont find this is Gerry's shops.

My reason for using this and not a $500 one is:
100 page document feeder with true duplex - ie it scans both sides simultaneously in a single pass.
very fast in color- i estimate full color in 200dpi the speed is about 30ppm whether duplex or simplex.
blank page detection
skew correction
and importantly has driver support via Mac OSX software via ExactScanpro.

This is not a 3 in one unit. For proper electronic filing you need a fast colour duplex scanner. i have tried the consumer grade $500 units but its very very slow.

Im prepared to pay more for a "commercial scanner" because its fully tax deductible, saves a lot of time with its speed and reduces the tediousness. But i still procrastinate.....


I use it to scan my self employed work stuff, ATO stuff, invoices, letters, communications, receipts.
Anything that is on paper and worth scanning.

i have had the unit for 3 years - just had to replace paper pickup rollers and thats it.

 

[medhead]

We have started using TRIM at work. I have nothing to do with it.

I do scan some important documents such as assessments or interview records. The photocopier we have scans double sided with page feed and then sends to my email. All I do then is save the file with an intelligent name for prosperity.

I first used trim 10 years ago and it was mostly a pain. Had to use cover sheets to manually document administration/processing of a "document". This info was all entered into the system by an admin person with user rights, but paper records were kept on file. Painful and practically useless.

Now I have full access and management for files for my area. So same scanning as you, email to me, then drag and drop into trim. However, in this case I'm sorting out my dose estimate/risk reports. So I have the final dose and risk report, but also all the submitted documents/information that I used to make the dose estimate. Bit of a hassle finding the input documents in my email. Plus I've also decided on a uniform naming/file structure. Due to TRIM (most likely my lack of knowledge in using it) that means I need to create the documents/folders in a particular sequence.

Trim is easy to keeps corporate records. But also tedious at times.

I use Avision AV8350. Around $5k

My reason for using this and not a $500 one is:
100 page document feeder with true duplex - ie it scans both sides simultaneously in a single pass.
very fast in color- i estimate full color in 200dpi the speed is about 30ppm whether duplex or simplex.
blank page detection
skew correction
and importantly has driver support via Mac OSX software via ExactScanpro.

Im prepared to pay more for a "commercial scanner" because its fully tax deductible, saves a lot of time with its speed and reduces the tediousness. But i still procrastinate.....

That sounds like an excellent machine. Single pass duplex scanning at work is excellent. I'll probably not worry for home.

 

[TheEmu]

So just bought a bicycle so I can ride around Foshan here in China.. first thing after grabbing the bike was to buy a jacket.

It's cold when i'm scooting along! Got a few strange looks from the locals.. part of the fun!:shock:

...fun? :shock: I've thought about getting a bike a few times but one quick walk usually convinces me otherwise:

Road accidents kill more people in China than cancer, Lancet study finds | South China Morning Post

Getting pretty cool further north too, hummel: -2 in NKG this week but that didn't stop Cruiser Elite turning up in just a shirt and light jacket, muttering about soft-somethings?...didn't quite catch it.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Was a tad colder in PEK - I stood outside The Den for half a bloody hour in short sleeves at -8 waiting for a taxi - now that was invigorating!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

=> Admin <snip from another thread>

We have a new moderator for the new year!

It give me much pleasure to announce that that from 1 Jan 2015, we will have a new moderator!!

JessicaTam will be joining our leadership team currently comprising of the five existing moderators plus our Social Ambassador.

Why would AFF reward riff raff who recently caused that ruckus in QF F Lounge in MEL?

J/K of course Deserved - fine poster - never seen less than a valuable post from JT.

 

[TheEmu]

Was a tad colder in PEK - I stood outside The Den for half a bloody hour in short sleeves at -8 waiting for a taxi - now that was invigorating!

After downloading the Taxi-Book app some time back, I finally used it in Shanghai this morning! Works a treat.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

After downloading the Taxi-Book app some time back, I finally used it in Shanghai this morning! Works a treat.

Ah huh - a MUST for ALL Chinese visitors = IMHO of course.

 

[NFF]

Spanish village sees tourism boom thanks to 'Beast Jesus' painting restored by pensioner | Daily Mail Online

 

[markis10]

=> Admin <snip from another thread>

Why would AFF reward riff raff who recently caused that ruckus in QF F Lounge in MEL?

You are of course assuming being a mod is rewarding :shock: