Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

A belated morning all from Estuary-Land. I overslept this morning, not waking up until half past eight. I had breakfast then went upstairs, laid down on the bed and went to sleep again.

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

And not I suspect good for the Iran football team. Had they won, they would have been heroes at home and the " authorities" couldn't have touched them.. But now not singing their anthem and losing to the USA....

Those that dare to go back, I can see a few defections coming up.

[Coombe Barton]

... God can’t like money much – look who he gives it to ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/11/30/sounds-of-the-season-2022-23-04-st-andrew/

[iL Dottore]

Returning, for a mo, to oncology: I do get a wee bit annoyed about those fund-raising ads that go along the lines of “together, we’ll beat cancer”

 

Err, no we won’t - as cancer is due to various defects in the immune system (even for cancers secondary to significant exposure to carcinogens - it’s all down to whether or not your immune system can eradicate the cancer - which is down to having the right genome which in turn is due to having the right parents). So as long as people have immune systems that can “fail” there will be cancer (I’m simplifying a bit, immuno-oncology is incredibly complex)

 

However, as we learn more about cancer - how it develops, how it evades the immune system, where the vulnerabilities are - we learn that there is more than just one type of breast cancer or just one type of prostate cancer and in the very many types of each cancer “group” (such as breast cancer) are the various subtypes - does the cancer cell express Wild Type or Mutated EGFR? does the breast cancer patient with ductal carcinoma in situ have any inherited mutations (none? BRCA1? BRCA2? Both?) etc., etc.

 

Fortunately the immune system “fails” in the same way in most individuals afflicted with any certain given type of cancer. In fact, many of the new therapies are designed to get the immune system to (basically) react to the cancer the system is ignoring (it’s a bit like a concerned citizen going up to a donut eating cop and saying “you do know there’s an armed bank raid going on next door - hadn’t you better do something?”)

 

The typing of the cancer can be a critical factor in whether or not a cancer can be treated: I worked on a drug development programme which was developing a very, very effective treatment for breast cancer - but only if the cancer had a particular genetic mutation - without that mutation the treatment barely worked. As you can imagine it was difficult informing women who wanted to volunteer for the study that, yes they had breast cancer, but no - they didn’t have the right type of breast cancer to be allowed into the trial.

Interesting medical factoids:

• men can get breast cancer.
   
• It is estimated that every human will get cancer and every sexually active female will get pregnant at one time or another if not using effective contraception - but the immune system is usually very, very efficient at sniffing out and then destroying mutations. Geneticists and other experts in in reproductive and onco-biology reckon that most genetically defective fertilised ova and most malignant cells are destroyed by the immune system so quickly that at the macro level the individual won’t ever know she had been fertilised or they had had cancer*

* of course sometimes the immune system doesn’t work as it should and thus people get cancer and infants are born with birth defects…

[The Lurker]

Best wishes to Chrisf.

[Tony_S]

13 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

d every sexually active female will get pregnant at one time or another i

That is wrong and for many women rather a cruel statement. 

[DaveF]

 I woke to a dull cold morning, the temperature has remained at 3C so far with a very light drizzle from time to time.

 

Yesterday did not turn out as expected.  The groceries came on time, then I started to sort out photos to put on here and other places on the web.  I was making good progress until I received an e mail from the solicitor concerning the flat asking if I was ready to accept a completion date in the near future.  There followed a quite lengthy series of e mails, together with a phone call to the estate agents to get it sorted out.  In the end a date has been agreed.

 

After that I had to talk to the gas and electricity people about a time for the final meter readings which has been agreed for the day before completion.  Then I had to contact the management company for the flat to ask if they needed any extra information - we agreed that I will simply e mail them on the day.  The only bill to pay be if they decide to apportion the year's ground rent between Mum's estate and the new owner - but they said for a total of £10 a year it is probably not worth it.

 

When all that was done it was time to go to Morpeth to see my solicitor to sign my new will and get it witnessed.  Fortunately it was not too busy so I was able to park in the car park opposite the solicitors, once I had found my parking disc - once you have one it is free to park for up to 3 hours (in this case).  I had a few minutes to spare so walked up the road to the m---l shop to get something I need (and it is need, not want).  Then on the way back I looked in an antique shop and found another paperweight which needed a new home - it was at a very good price too.

 

After signing  I was going to take photos at the station but it became very foggy so instead went to a country park to eat my sandwiches before coming home and sorting out a few more things.

 

Later a friend rang and as usual we put the world to rights.  Then in the evening I watched an old episode of Eisenbahn Romantik, listened to Radio Eviva and read.  I think I lead a very quiet life.

 

David

[iL Dottore]

11 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

That is wrong and for many women rather a cruel statement. 

Why?

“Pregnant” may be a broad term and used for simplicity, but biologists estimate that ova get fertilised on a regular basis and most do not even get implanted as at the genetic level there are errors which the immune system recognises and the fertilised ovum is destroyed. So, yes, at one time point or another a sexually active female not using contraception will have ova fertilsed.

 

As for being “cruel” biology is biology. A pack of wolves bringing down an elk and then start eating the prey’s internal whilst the prey is still alive is “cruel”. 

[grandadbob]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

From the Money Saving Expert Website:

"Your renewal notice from your insurer will show the new price for next year (and the price you paid last year). It's usually sent around 28 days before your current policy ends. If you do nothing, it'll usually automatically renew at that new price, so always have your renewal date in your diary to take action. 

The cheapest time to get quotes is 23 days ahead of your renewal date – cover becomes more expensive the closer you get
 

 

Thanks PB.  Purely by coincidence the quotes I got 2 weeks ago are in fact 23 days ahead of my renewal date!  I've gone with the AA, not quite the cheapest but good enough for me.

Just been advised that my toys will be delivered tomorrow along with a case of beer that Steve has ordered for me so that looks like being a good start to my birthday.  😄

[Tony_S]

16 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Why?

“Pregnant” may be a broad term and used for simplicity, but biologists estimate that ova get fertilised on a regular basis and most do not even get implanted as at the genetic level there are errors which the immune system recognises and the fertilised ovum is destroyed. So, yes, at one time point or another a sexually active female not using contraception will have ova fertilsed.

 

As for being “cruel” biology is biology. A pack of wolves bringing down an elk and then start eating the prey’s internal whilst the prey is still alive is “cruel”. 

Alright perhaps not cruel when talking in Darwinian biology terms. Exceedingly insensitive. Are you one of those people who thinks women without  functioning ovaries and wombs are not women. Have,you ever been to a fertility clinic?  I have. Also I worked in predominantly female workplaces. The lengths some women went to get pregnant when they had fertility problems were incredible. Some had conditions that meant they never would. If you are going to get pedantic and say someone is pregnant because an egg is fertilised even if it can’t implant due to fibroids or endometriosis then I think you are trying to be too clever by three-quarters. 
Infertility in females has so many reasons. Relationships for some people have ended due to the stress of what turned out to be futile.

Tony

[Tony_S]

45 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

I've gone with the AA, not quite the cheapest but good enough for me.

We have been with the AA since 1982. In those days they had AA shops where you arranged your insurance. When Aditi first needed car insurance she had an annually renewable driving licence and I had a provisional licence. None of the insurers she contacted including her union supported one wanted to insure her but instead of formally declining they said she should try other people. We found a broker in Southend who insured us, ( for larger premium than normal) Aditi joined the AA and they kept asking us to let them insure us. They in fact,turned out not to charge more for declared conditions. So,out of some brand loyalty we have stayed with them. They must have put us with just about every motor insurance company over the years( search for best price)  but for the last couple we have been with their own insurers. I can’t recall any problems. When needed they have been efficient. Last time  I claimed, the policy was issued by the CoOp . They were good. However when I got the Evoque the AA said the CoOp wouldn’t issue a policy so another company was found. 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Tony_S

[iL Dottore]

6 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Alright perhaps not cruel when talking in Darwinian biology terms. Exceedingly insensitive. Are you one of those people who thinks women without  functioning ovaries and wombs are not women. Have,you ever been to a fertility clinic?  I have. Also I worked in predominantly female workplaces. The lengths some women went to get pregnant when they had fertility problems were incredible. Some had conditions that meant they never would. If you are going to get pedantic and say someone is pregnant because an egg is fertilised even if it can’t implant due to fibroids or endometriosis then I think you are trying to be too clever by three-quarters. 
Infertility in females has so many reasons. Relationships for some people have ended due to the stress of what turned out to be futile.

Tony

“Pregnant” may have been used in a simplistic way.  But I don’t see how you made the jump from a statement about biology (which was about the immune system and how it generally is able to eliminate genetically defective cells - including fertilised ova) to concluding that I’m a misogynistic insensitive dinosaur, who knows little of and cares less about infertility and womens’ concerns, worries and hopes about that.

 

At the start of my career I volunteered at a clinic dedicated to providing free medical care (including sexual and fertility medicine) to women and in my career I have mostly worked surrounded by smart and clever women - so I don’t need to be told about predominantly female workplaces. Or about the concerns they have.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

sexually active female will get pregnant at one time or another if not using effective contraception

 

15 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I don’t see how you made the jump from a statement about biology (which was about the immune system and how it generally is able to eliminate genetically defective cells

I never said or implied you were a dinosaur. Quite simply the first statement wasn’t offered in context. Now you are trying to say you meant a more precise definition of pregnancy. You didn’t originally. I am very aware that being pregnant is not the same as producing a baby some months later. Having a child is not just about gametes and hormones. I still think that stating all women in the circumstances you describe is insensitive and wrong. It may be “correct” in some technical description of the fertility process. It was a provocative statement and provoked me. Well done.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Tony_S

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Interesting medical factoids:

• men can get breast cancer.

Something like 20% of breast cancers are male, if I read at least one report correctly.  Us chaps have a lot of tissue in common with the ladies up there.  On the other hand this has, of late, become one of the greater success stories and many breast cancers are now completely survivable albeit often requiring a little surgery along the way.  

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

it’s all down to whether or not your immune system can eradicate the cancer

An interesting statement and one which I could perhaps agree with from the standpoint of having been a patient but never an oncologist.  I also heard more than once in the radiation oncology department treating me the maxim "Once a patient - always a patient" because in some cases the cancer returns stubbornly and often in a different primary location.  

 

I am at least very thankful that when I needed it there was good treatment nearby (albeit at a significant cost to myself; radiation isn't covered by the Australian Medicare system although your total outgoings over the year are supported by a safety net) meaning I could both choose my regime (radiation and a minor day procedure rather than more invasive surgery and hope for the best) and get there from home very easily in the car.  On a good day I could even walk it.  

 

My immune system was significantly compromised by the radiation but has come back to almost where it was before.  I seldom go down with anything despite working outdoors in often cold, sometimes wet and windy, conditions up close and personal with many thousands of my fellow humans.  But the immune system did not prevent the cancer growing in the first place; it might however have contributed to the fact that it never spread.

 

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

d every sexually active female will get pregnant at one time or another i

That is wrong and for many women rather a cruel statement. 

I will not show Dr. SWMBO - not that she ever sees anything here anyway to the best of my knowledge - but she was diagnosed with PCOS some years into our marriage when it became apparent that despite trying no little Gwiwers were forthcoming.  She has remained very coy about the subject since, had required three similar procedures across the years to manage internal bleeding caused by the condition and is particularly saddened at not being able to have children.  

 

I very much doubt if there has ever been one one the way at any stage.  At ages when it would have made a difference we were certainly "sexually active".  

[polybear]

On a somewhat lighter note.....

 

@iL Dottore What wondrous Chrimbotat can we expect to be announced by CCI Gmbh Inc. this festive season?  

 

In other news....

Bear is awaiting delivery of three parcels at the moment - none of which are earth shatteringly exciting but seem to be taking their time all the same, one of which is no doubt due to Postie strike action; a second is in the care(?) of good 'ol Evri (Hermes) - who also see fit not to collect parcels at the agreed time, whilst the last is courtesy of The Big River so will no doubt be dumped on the doorstep to take it's chances against any light-fingered scrote who may happen to be passing.  The moral of the story is:  if you want anything special delivered for Chrimbo then sooner rather than later seems to be the order of the day - more so this year than for previous years.

Bear gone.

 

edit:  The Big River has just delivered - dumped on the doorstep, bell rung (makes a change....) and off out the gate by the time Bear opened the door....

Edited November 30, 2022 by polybear

[Ian Abel]

HUMP day...

Yesterday was an "inside" day given the snow was pretty unrelenting.

 

In what is a very unusual event, the MSP airport was closed for two hours due to poor visibility and snow-fall rates, the plows couldn't keep up. Only happened a handful of times in the 40+ years I've lived here!

Snow slowed by early evening, leaving us with 6+ inches, the city plows were round at least 4 times during the day, and our "plow guy" got to us around 8PM

No problem as we had no need or intention of going out anyway 😃

 

I had to shovel a small area out back for Whitney, and it all looks especially winter-wonderland now.

 

-10c getting the newspaper, sunny and cold, -5c the high "with luck" 🤯

 

Onward.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Ian Abel said:

I had to shovel a small area out back for Whitney

Robbie cleared his own area (though I suspect  it wasn’t ever as much as you get). He liked to show how good he was by somehow bringing much of it back in. 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Tony_S
Tense of verb

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

All posts since yesterday are read.

 

@Chrisf - here's hoping for the treatment to be not punishing and to be effective.

 

Went to Bewdley this morning after the fodder run, and still had to drive through low cloud between Clee Hill and Cleobury Mortimer - and on a 17 mile drive, encountered no less than FIVE sets of contractor's traffic lights - three within less than a mile - when I worked for BT, the highways authorities would not allow two sets within a mile of each other, but I guess that this ruling has since been abandoned - and also some of these lights were on minor roads where a hole in the ground used to be just coned off and drivers sorted themselves out with no problem.

 

Not a lot more to report, so

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited December 1, 2022 by 45156

[Tony_S]

31 minutes ago, polybear said:

moral of the story is:  if you want anything special delivered for Chrimbo then sooner rather than later seems to be the order of the day - more so this year than for previous years.

I think you are right. I think people trying to book Royal Mail stuff online yesterday before the strike days may have broken the system. We couldn’t log on. I ended up taking Aditi’s parcels to the CooP post office but the services she wanted are only available to purchase online. I was told none of the stuff I handed in would go until Friday anyway. I think it should get there in time as Aditi had sent it all early anyway. We seem to know so many people with birthdays in December. 

[Barry O]

What a day! Trans Pennine non Express cancelled the train I should have met at Donny. I drove to Grimsby and collected BiLthen drove down via the A15 and A46. There is a service station on both sides of the A180 just outside Grimsby serving JET petrol at £1.519 per litre. 

I filled up on the A1 where it was £1.55 a litre ..2p a litre cheaper than moreasons.

 

Lunch was excellent .. if you need food inp Rutland I would recommend the Jackson Stops Inn at Stretton. Not cheap but very nice.

 

Time for a mugatea then off down the Model Railway Club.

 

Baz

 

[Tony_S]

28 minutes ago, Barry O said:

I filled up on the A1 where it was £1.55 a litre

I tend to fill up at the same Shell garage as we don’t seem to venture too far nowadays.  However my car shows cost of fuel at nearby garages on the sat nav.  However it is always wrong for the garage we use and their indicated price on the sat nav is really high. As I am going overseas (Canvey Island) tomorrow I will have a look at the fuel cost. I can’t remember what I last paid, about £1.59 a litre I think.

Tony

Edited November 30, 2022 by Tony_S
Spelling. Grammar. Loads of errors.

[monkeysarefun]

Everyone here in Australia is  suddenly incwedibly  interested in soccer now til we get knocked  out in the  next bit whatever thats called.

Edited November 30, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

... the upwards movement of the Yellowstone caldera floor and the rising of the Yellowstone plateau have been increasing a lot recently - have declared that a supereruption of the Yellowstone is “overdue”. So if you have places to visit in the US on your bucket list, you’d better visit them “toot-sweet”

The real "see it before it's gone" US national park is Glacier National Park in Montana.

 

The glaciers are projected to completely disappear by the end of the century.

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

It’s sobering to reflect that many ERs (including yours truly) would be D-E-A-D had we been born even just 50 years earlier than we were.

Given our demographics, I imagine that perhaps most of us would have shuffled on.

 

Antibiotics (and doctors having more than one to try) certainly saved me before the age of 30. My youngest was 6 months old at the time.

[monkeysarefun]

47 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Everyone here in Australia is  suddenly incwedibly  interested in soccer now til we get knocked  out in the  next bit whatever thats called.

... and probably via a penalty shootout.

Edited November 30, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

Yesterday's weather was a curious mix. As related by @pH, Vancouver, BC saw snow. So did Seattle. Portland did not, though the Columbia River Gorge (60 miles from the reporting station at the airport and at minimal altitude) saw substantial snow (in the range of 6" - 11") - as did the mountain.

 

A short-lived warm front pushed though and highest temperatures yesterday (above 8°C) occurred close to midnight; though this did not scour the cold air out of the gorge. This was closely followed by a cold front with rain and wind overnight. Happily my morning walk was dry. After momentary sunshine, it's raining again now.