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Seano

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    Working in the industry
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    Rigger. Music mostly. Former noise boy & theatre luvvie.
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    Sean Orchard

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    South Yorks

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Technical Manager

Technical Manager (13/14)

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  1. Perfectly usable to charge your phone in any of the cafes, shops or hotels where they've thoughtfully put a little plastic "safety" device in the socket you can just whip out and shove back in upside-down. :)
  2. Long gone I'm afraid - but this is what some of their old team are doing these days: http://nononsensegroup.com/
  3. Apparently so, because there are lots of situations in lots of jobs where somebody suddenly and unexpectedly losing consciousness would result in deaths and injuries and there's no effective control measure against that. That's why there are health requirements to hold a driving licence, which are somewhat stricter for bus and truck drivers. Epilepsy, diabetes, heart disease and so on can all disqualify you from driving. If you find it upsetting that a trapeze artist who faints might not survive and the only control measure in place is that they're healthy enough that they probably won't - how do you feel about bus drivers? ps: With feigned apologies for pedantry (see what I did there), please note the spelling: faint/feint
  4. Well I don't care what everyone else is saying I'm with you. Stunts shouldn't be allowed if they look dangerous, and circus performers should definitely be banned from doing anything that couldn't be done by an overweight 50 year-old electrician.
  5. On a slightly less larcenous level, in some venues they have an irritating habit of wandering away from the stage and propping doors open all over the place.
  6. I just had a go (using version 2.8) - no apparently not, it seems to work fine. GIMP is free and open source, available for download here: https://www.gimp.org/
  7. A pair of gravlocks and a short piece of scaff, then hang your projector exactly as you would from a truss or a lighting bar.
  8. PRG have done it too, based on a Bad Boy or Best Boy fixture. Their controller mimics a traditional followspot more closely than the Robe (including the unfortunate 'legacy' feature that it's a profoundly right-handed device that makes no concessions to lefties). Traditional short-throw truss spots are already almost obsolete, I can't remember the last time I saw a truss chair* on an arena tour. Just as well probably. Apparently truck drivers can't climb ladders any more and we've been through a bit of a transitional period of spot-ops being winched up to trusses on Limpets which was frankly just embarrassing. Edit to add: * - Pah. Bloody luxury. When I were a lad you were lucky to get a bit of foam and some gaffa tape to soften the plank of wood ratchet strapped across the top of the truss. </four yorkshiremen>
  9. For rigging purposes? You want a vertical dot, not a horizontal line? The Topcon PLS3 has been the 'industry standard' for a good few years. Sadly, since their buy-out by Fluke the design has recently changed and the new one is rather bulky. If you think you'll be needing a 'proper' one any time soon, I would try to snap up one of the 'original' PLS3's while they are still (just about) available - they're no longer being made so when existing stocks run out that's it, they're gone! (UK Rigging still have a few red ones in stock.) If you're just wanting a relatively cheap one that'll do: Stanley SPL3 I bought one online last week for £80 inc VAT to have a play with. Can't comment on durability as I haven't really given it any use/abuse yet but otherwise it seems rather good. Not as good as a PLS3, but seems to be great value for half the price.
  10. Several things immediately spring to my mind.. PPE needs to be issued, maintained and inspected. Using it correctly requires training and competent supervision. Anchor points should be fit for purpose, which is not trivial if they're to meet the required standard for fall-arrest and a rescue plan (and appropriate kit) may be needed. (Which in turn requires more training.) If the harness is to be used as 'work restraint' does it allow sufficient freedom of movement to do the job efficiently, or does it introduce new problems as far as manual handling is concerned (or exacerbate current ones)? The use of PPE sits at the bottom of the so-called "hierarchy of controls" and in most cases it really should be pretty much the last resort when it comes to controlling the risk of falls from height. Top of the list for addressing an "unprotected edge with a significant drop" would be to take it away, perhaps through the use of guard rails, cages, kick boards etc. If there really is a risk of falling from the loading gallery, PPE is not the answer until other solutions have been carefully explored and ruled out as genuinely impractical.
  11. And let's not forget how this, in one of the worst aspects of our industry for many of the more poorly paid, has spread to many other industries as unscrupulous employers rush to take advantage of "freelance" staff, successive governments smile on the practice and the tax-dodging billionaire press barons have convinced so many working people that unions are their enemies. Jobs that need doing day in day out, jobs that clearly ought to be providing someone with proper, regular employment are on a 'zero hours' basis. No holiday pay, no sick pay, no overtime, no security, no structure. They even call it "the gig economy".
  12. Draftsight 2019 beta is free to use indefinitely on macOS or Linux too.
  13. They're not hiring a cleaner or a company manager, it's casting. Of course it's legal.
  14. Seano

    Spice girls sound

    Well that about covers it. What a refreshingly excellent article.
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