Early Risers.

[TheQ]

My Dad retired through Ill health at 53, he's now 80, so he's still got 11 years to reach the turn over point (worked for less years than retired) on his pension. I've been working for 42  years with another 6 and a bit years to go. I somehow doubt I'll ever reach the turnover point, although my First pension kicks in 277 days.

 

 A friend is visiting hospital quite often at the moment having had new knees, but he reports that getting into the hospital carpark is one thing finding a space is another. His last visit he had to abandon the car and walk to the appointment a long way having spent ages driving round in circles trying to find a space. Oh the parking fees for the Norfolk and Norwich are:

oh it's about £1.50 an hour, first 30 minutes free. Outpatients have a maximum fee of £3.00

[lightengine]

As Tony mentions, they are effective when your hands are already clean. I imagine that the alcohol interacts with the bacteria's lipid cell wall and... zap.

I once visited a hospital in Manila* and some of the Drs took me out to lunch. I was the only one to wash my hands before sitting down to eat. 

And I was the only one that ended up with a fever! Mind you, they were used to the local germs and I was just passing through**. 

 

* beige suits me. 

** actually, it was the other way round....no, you don't want to know....     

 

 

Tony, I'm going to keep a list and figure out which are the most desperate drinkers around the UK!  

I wonder if in some areas the gel dispensers are covered in brown paper ...........

[Purley Oaks]

 

As from today Bedford Borough Council has withdrawn the concession whereby bus passes may be used before 9.30 am on Mondays to Fridays.  Pass holders wishing to travel before then will have to pay £1.  Although this brings Bedford into line with the national scheme, not a bad thing in itself, it will have the effect of emptying early morning buses and overfilling those running after 9.30. 

Sorry to be pedantic, Chris, but by national you mean England and Wales, I think, rather than the UK.  Here in Scotland we're still able to get the concession tickets before 9.30am.

 

Good afternoon all

 

Beautiful sunny and warm day here - just a shirt and anorak needed to go outside - no fleece.

 

Hope that Sherry's op is well underway by now, if not finished. Thinking of you.

 

At my old workplace in Edinburgh, a lot of drivers were offered redundancy on Monday, to take effect from August. In their wisdom the company has decided to manage deliveries to Edinburgh, the Lothians, the Borders to Berwick-on-Tweed and Coldstream, Fife, and Perthshire from Glasgow. The drivers have been told that they can resume their jobs from Glasgow if they wish, but that would mean travelling to Glasgow (at least an hour), driving back to Edinburgh to do their job before returning to Glasgow, then home to Edinburgh.

 

So I'm glad that's clear...

 

Hope your day is going well

 

Mal

[petethemole]

For the shooters among us http://picsters.tv/tim-guenther-doppelherz-hit.

 

Imbolc greetings to all.

 

Pete

[Ian Abel]

Actually only 300 of the first Corvettes were made in Flint.

Mass production moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1954 and finally moved to the purpose built plant in Bowling Green,  Kentucky in 1981 - most of the St. Louis workers moved to the plant in Bowling Green. The Corvette Museum is in the same location. It famously  lost some examples down a large hole fairly recently. Apart from the Museum the factory has guided tours 3 times per day.

 

Such a nerd, I am.........

 

Best, Pete.

When I moved to Minnesota I became "involved" with Corvettes.

One of the founders of the company I worked for was a serious Corvette fanatic, member of local and national restoration clubs and owned about a dozen of them, from a '53 all the way up through a couple of '75s and a fresh out of the showroom '81. Some mint, some restored, some in-process. As a result, many others in a select group were part of a mini-club, myself included, and being un-attached at the time, I spent many more hours than I care to admit, over at his house, working on Corvettes and being fed by his wife, as they took me in as a "displaced young man alone in Minnesota" I quickly found myself the proud owner of a '64 327/365HP traditional RED Corvette "Stingray" that had side-pipe exhausts. I could scare the carp out of folks on the freeway by shifting DOWN at about 60mph to overtake them, the roar of the exhaust made some folks visible swerve slightly (and several probably soiled themselves), but HEY, I was young and stupid!

 

One of my Twitter followers posted the following link.  Knowing there are some amateur astronomers on here, I thought it might come in useful for showing how light polluted your area is.

 

https://www.lightpollutionmap.info

Lovely link - sadly, living in the suburb of a major city my location shows up as a very bad "example"... then again, the location of the dungeon/hotel where I'm at now is slightly worse!

 

 

 

Welcome to HUMP day.

 

Another day in dungeon land, this time punctuated by frantic requirements to build a new report providing heretofore unneeded details, for the auditors, all sitting here with me and salivating at the thought of receiving the much needed data!

That and a medium change in the chart of accounts, again precipitated by the same collective, has me with plenty to keep me busy.

 

Yesterday also saw the long awaited release/delivery (and you thought waiting for Hornby/Bachmann products was frantic) of a re-tooled version of the Boeing 747-400 simulator software I use for Flight Simulation. This has been probably 4+ years in the making, and the respective forums/activity/vendor bashing make anything on RMWeb look like a primary school spat.

When you add in the fact none of the software vendors in this hobby/marketplace will EVER announce a release date, most of the fine details of the product, OR the price until it's actually released - we didn't know until the web site purchase screen was activated what the cost was - the posting are vitriolic to the point of scary. This is a "hobby"???

 

I've yet to download it, only way it's available, but at $90 it exceeded everyones expectations as most folks were betting on it being closer to a $150+ price point.

Again, unlike "this" hobby, where most anything you don't like can be modified/customized AND with a few exceptions what you buy will actually RUN, there's still the possibility that many will be disappointed as they may not have sufficient PC horsepower to run the new version, and the inevitable bugs will also show up resulting in system crashes and frantic updates released by the vendor to correct them.

Nothing you can do to fix most problems yourself with these products, unless it's performance issues where you can throw more/expensive PC hardware at it. Oh well, it is fun - isn't it????

 

That's all I've got for now - sorry if it's way too wordy, but being an extrovert and somewhat NEEDING to be able to communicate with humanity, it seems even MORE isolating being in this dungeon with four introverted auditors!

 

4 and partly sunny here, expecting 8 for the high

 

Head over the HUMP and look, you'll see the weekend in the distance

Edited February 1, 2017 by Ian Abel

[Horsetan]

I wonder if in some areas the gel dispensers are covered in brown paper ...........

I'm getting visions of Father Jack Hackett drinking Toilet Duck, or a lethal combination of Babycham and Harpic....

[BSW01]

Good afternoon

 

I have just finished trawling my way through a list of almost 200 sites and checking the details/addresses etc. I've added the meter serial number/s for the sites that I had the information to hand, there are only 12 of the sites that I didn't have the information, so not a bad days work. Just spoke to my boss and he is very pleased with what I've done, brownie points earned there I think!

 

It's now time for a cup of tea!

[Smiffy2]

Just had good news from #1 son, his tests show him clear of cancer, bladder stone and infection. No real explanation of blood in urine, but they are thinking it may be diverticular disease that's causing his discomfort.

 

We are relieved!

[jamie92208]

Just had good news from #1 son, his tests show him clear of cancer, bladder stone and infection. No real explanation of blood in urine, but they are thinking it may be diverticular disease that's causing his discomfort.

 

We are relieved!

 

That's really good news Dick, very pleased for you and your son.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

When I worked for a London LEA we had auditors in who were checking that items purchased existed physically rather than just on some invoice. So they would ask where for instance a particular Epson printer was and go and physically check it in whatever school it had been issued to. So off they toddled to the school. Although the school had the correct number of printers they couldn't find the serial number of the one they were looking for and rushed back to harangue the person in charge of invoices. They made her cry after threatening her with all sorts of fraud. At this point the head of centre and senior inspector became aware of what was happening and ejected the auditors with dire warnings about what would happen if their staff were threatened again. It was actually quite simple. The school had originally had the serial numbered printer. It had failed and had been replaced. All records were in the technicians files.

Tony

[TheQ]

Just lost an hour of my life with power point poisoning, at least they provided a buffet for me to eat, while desperately trying to stay awake.

 The manager manager from the USA giving the presentation, had brought with him a Canadian flagged beeny hat to put on, if he has to go through any demonstrations at airports...here or anywhere else on his world tour.

 

One highlight a member of my sailing club (and his wife who does much of what the award was for) have won a major sailing award for volunteering, which had been presented by Princess Anne just before Christmas..That's been included in the company newletter (email) which is why it's been mentioned...

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

First off, hope all is going well for Sherry, and that she is now back on the ward.  My experience of hip surgery is that you can expect to be on the table for about 2/3 hours.  Ian - did she have a spinal or a general?  I had two generals, and my replacement with a spinal, and the recovery time was much better, as was the length of the stay.

 

DIck - good news there - has a kidney infection been ruled out as a possible cause, as a friend of mine had a similar experience, and that was the diagnosis - a good course of antibiotics soon put paid to any more problems.

 

All posts are read and rated, and greetings are sent to the ailing and the celebrating as usual. 

 

Not a lot to say today, as I had a raft of paperwork to deal with.  Also still waiting for insurer to accept the quotation of the roof repair, though it is now in hand and with the assessors.  We have decided not to proceed in copper, as Mrs Next Door had her dormer redone in felt, and the builder has said that it is much easier to build up my roof to meet hers, and then to join the two lots of felt.  Now, I wonder who will gain from the scrap copper coming down - the insurer, the builder, or me.  Given the price of this material, I hope it is the latter.

 

Back tomorrow.

Regards to All

Stewart

[Horsetan]

Probate with an Irish property element - ARRRGGHH Capital Acquisitions Tax AARRGGHH

[Ashcombe]

Back on the ward after a spinal block and sedation which sent me to sleep and all gone well. Lovely staff and wonderful care. Took a while for belongings to reach the ward so only recently reunited with phone.

 

Thank you for all your kind messages. Looking forward to food and visit from Ian this evening.

[BSW01]

Sherry

 

Glad all has gone well, hope the physio is not too discomforting. My only advice is do all the exercises they they give you as often as they tell you, even if it hurts, that will soon start to wear off. If you do all that, you'll reap the benefits.

Edited February 1, 2017 by BSW01

[The Stationmaster]

Another topnotch pedicure from one of the Indian lasses in one of our local nail bars.  It really is rather daft price wise as I had the full works of nail clipping & filing and rough skin removal plus nice foot massage for a tenner (wrinklies' price on Tuesdays & Wednesdays) whereas similar treatment, but without the soothing balm and foot & calf massage, would cost £38 from a local chiropodists - and she doesn't put a nice protective coating on your toe nails either.

[BoD]

Good to hear from you Sherry

Take care of yourself.......

 

....... and your new bits.

Edited February 1, 2017 by BoD

[Oldddudders]

I wasn't exactly an expectant father today, pacing up and down, but was glad to be out and about even though it was drizzly. When Sherry eventually txted me it was no surprise to learn that she had done well and pleased the staff. The same thing happened in 2005 when the other hip was resurfaced, and the staff were impressed with her progress. I suppose many of the hip replacement candidates are somewhat heavier than Sherry, which makes their recovery slower and maybe more painful.

 

I am off shortly in the rain to catch the first of two buses. Much easier than touring full car parks!

[laurenceb]

A good news day! Glad you have good news from your son Smiffy. Good to hear it went well Sherry

Edited February 2, 2017 by laurenceb

[Ozexpatriate]

One of my Twitter followers posted the following link.  Knowing there are some amateur astronomers on here, I thought it might come in useful for showing how light polluted your area is.

 

https://www.lightpollutionmap.info

This is very nice.  I'm impressed with the fidelity. On my (very short) drive home of a couple of miles I pass through three different graduations on the map and the night sky does indeed vary during that drive.

 

Empirically I find there is more to this than simply the light pollution intensity.

 

There are a lot of atmospheric effects that vary the quality of the night sky even in dark spots. Also an isolated bright spot still has a much darker sky than a bright spot of comparable intensity that is surrounded by similar light pollution.

[Happy Hippo]

Another topnotch pedicure from one of the Indian lasses in one of our local nail bars.  It really is rather daft price wise as I had the full works of nail clipping & filing and rough skin removal plus nice foot massage for a tenner (wrinklies' price on Tuesdays & Wednesdays) whereas similar treatment, but without the soothing balm and foot & calf massage, would cost £38 from a local chiropodists - and she doesn't put a nice protective coating on your toe nails either.

Do you thing she'll do mine (all four of them) for that price?

 

[Tony_S]

I looked at the historical light pollution data. We are less polluting than before probably because the streetlights go out at 1 am now

[BoD]

When I worked for a London LEA we had auditors in who were checking that items purchased existed physically rather than just on some invoice. So they would ask where for instance a particular Epson printer was and go and physically check it in whatever school it had been issued to. So off they toddled to the school. Although the school had the correct number of printers they couldn't find the serial number of the one they were looking for and rushed back to harangue the person in charge of invoices. They made her cry after threatening her with all sorts of fraud. At this point the head of centre and senior inspector became aware of what was happening and ejected the auditors with dire warnings about what would happen if their staff were threatened again. It was actually quite simple. The school had originally had the serial numbered printer. It had failed and had been replaced. All records were in the technicians files.

Tony

In the early days of the BBC micro we bought a load of spreadsheet and word processing programs that came on ROM chips. These had to be physically fitted in every machine (I'm sure you remember these Tony). Later, during an audit, in spite of being told that these chips had been fitted in lots of computers across the school, they insisted on seeing every chip. They were obviously unaware of what this actually involved. Once they twigged that each machine had to be dismantled just for them to see a little black chip they soon wanted to accept that the others existed. I made damned sure they stayed to see the lot.

[Tony_S]

In the early days of the BBC micro we bought a load of spreadsheet and word processing programs that came on ROM chips. These had to be physically fitted in every machine (I'm sure you remember these Tony). Later, during an audit, in spite of being told that these chips had been fitted in lots of computers across the school, they insisted on seeing every chip. They were obviously unaware of what this actually involved. Once they twigged that each machine had to be dismantled just for them to see a little black chip they soon wanted to accept that the others existed. I made damned sure they stayed to see the lot.

I remember the view and viewsheet ROMs. I recall fitting a few and doing memory upgrades on early PCs.

Our horrid auditors never showed their faces again. They were not council employees but some "bought in" experts.

[Horsetan]

This is very nice.  I'm impressed with the fidelity. On my (very short) drive home of a couple of miles I pass through three different graduations on the map and the night sky does indeed vary during that drive.

 

Empirically I find there is more to this than simply the light pollution intensity.

 

There are a lot of atmospheric effects that vary the quality of the night sky even in dark spots. Also an isolated bright spot still has a much darker sky than a bright spot of comparable intensity that is surrounded by similar light pollution.

 

It's also nice to know that my favourite places in Co. Clare and Co. Mayo are still substantially in the dark.