Early Risers.

[BoD]

5 hours ago, PupCam said:

Well that seemed to work.   Managed to extract some of wispy nebulosity.

 

 

 

That is very impressive.

 

Another D’oh type question if I may.  How much of that can be seen through the telescope using a Mk1 eyeball and how much is due to your stacking software.

[Tony_S]

20 minutes ago, pH said:

That’s what pipette bulbs are designed to prevent! People have to use them, though.

I certainly knew that, I am sure all the other students did too. No idea why he didn’t use one! It must have had a lasting impression as the person concerned had a career later in Health and Safety.

[pH]

6 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I sincerely  hope that I am in as good a state at that age as she is.

I think I would be happy just to be the age she is.

[pH]

9 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

 No idea why he didn’t use one! 

Forgetfulness, impatience, incompetence, arrogance - take your pick.

[BoD]

Evening all.  Something along the lines of the G.P./N.H.S discussions of  late….
 

We were babysitting our grandson today and I took him out for a walk. Not far, he’s not two so doesn’t do far yet.  Within two or three hundred yards I saw three vans from three different  pharmacies delivering, I guess, prescriptions.  All three were delivering to the same couple of streets.  I know there will be all sorts of ‘organisational’ reasons for this arrangement but I thought what a farce, wasteful of time and money.  Non of the vehicles were electric either. Surely they could/should come up with a better system than this.  

[southern42]

' evening all from red dragon land.

 

Clear skies possible so I am doing early dinner so Mr Suvvern can get his telescope out - so long as the clouds stay away and the moon does not get in the way. If it works out it will give me a chance for an extra toot on the flute to work on the tricky bits. 

 

Time enough to get a mugadecaf...

Polly

[Winslow Boy]

33 minutes ago, pH said:

Forgetfulness, impatience, incompetence, arrogance - take your pick.

 

You forgot one- youth.

[BoD]

I see from the banner that we may lose RMweb for a time for a software update.  I hope it goes smoothly, that AndyY doesn’t have call to tear out more non existent hair, and that we all make it safely to the other side with our photos and other attachments intact.

[Coombe Barton]

... 25th January - Burns Night. It’s also eleven months until Christmas Day. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/01/25/covid-case-numbers-rising-and-chinas-running-out-of-coffins/

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, pH said:

Forgetfulness, impatience, incompetence, arrogance - take your pick.

 

49 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

You forgot one- youth.

Not to mention blissful ignorance.

 

I was in graduate school long before H&S, BioSafety Levels and the like. Safety standards were rudimentary at best.
 

Working with neurotoxins (although I never cut corners by pipetting by mouth with those) - no mask, no goggles, no gloves, no safety cabinet. Then a quick wash of the hands, tune the radio to Round The Horne on PBS Radio, unwrap my lunch and eat it the lab!

OK, apart from the neurotoxins there wasn’t much in the way of really nasty things in the lab, but even so sometimes I wonder how I managed to survive my 20s.

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by iL Dottore

[zarniwhoop]

45 minutes ago, BoD said:

I see from the banner that we may lose RMweb for a time for a software update.  I hope it goes smoothly, that AndyY doesn’t have call to tear out more non existent hair, and that we all make it safely to the other side with our photos and other attachments intact.

Really ?  I'm only seeing the green banner for nominations, and the orange banner for the survey.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Our surgery (yes I've just looked it up!)

7500 patients and 4 doctors.

1 practice manager,

1 business manager,

1 office manager 

2 management assistants,

2 receptionists,

5 medical secretaries and one apprentice,

3 nurse practitioners,

2 nurses,

1 nurse assistant,

3 health care assistants.

1 dispenser manager,

1 senior dispenser,

3, dispensers,

3 dispenser clerks, 

1 dispenser apprentice,

1 delivery driver.

 

I wonder why it's difficult to see a doctor.....

 

Four Doctors, 32 "Others".  Bluddy Hell.  The wages bill must be interesting.

[PeterBB]

27 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Not to mention blissful ignorance.

 

I was in graduate school long before H&S, BioSafety Levels and the like. Safety standards were rudimentary at best.
 

Working with neurotoxins (although I never cut corners by pipetting by mouth with those) - no mask, no goggles, no gloves, no safety cabinet. Then a quick wash of the hands, tune the radio to Round The Horne on PBS Radio, unwrap my lunch and eat it the lab!

OK, apart from the neurotoxins there wasn’t much in the way of really nasty things in the lab, but even so sometimes I wonder how I managed to survive my 20s.

 

You have provided another reminder of days gone by - early 60s this time.

 

At the time and as a relative 'junior' a consultant was missing on a day or two and I was brought his tea at the bench by the domestic .  

 

Again this was before Aberfan and the resultant and eventually the H&S at Work Regulations.  Post the morning tea and before the H&S an orange booklet on laboratory  regulations (H&S in labs) was published and distributed and in my hospital everyone was given a copy (cannot find mine at present but still have it).  In those days we also had after work pathology laboratory meetings - attendance was voluntary but numbers were usully very good - that included discusion and method procedural changes that were necessary.

Edited January 25, 2023 by PeterBB

[Gwiwer]

6 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

The difficulty I think my surgery has is that it also covers the university. So as you can imagine it's almost like a split personality. With the university students being quite happy doing things on line, but the rest of us luddites wanting to actually see a human being

Ours has an outpost within the university. Theoretically open to anyone but the only way to book an appointment is through the uni itself. 
 

Having had a goodly number of student neighbours over the years I have heard good things about the facility. 
 

A female student always sees a female doctor; male sees male.  They see you in person though you book online with your student ID.  And they seem to have a hotline to the sort of support students may need ranging from sporting injury specialists (for a sports-oriented uni) to STI and morning-after clinics. 
 

I suspect I am a little beyond needing any of those specialities. 
 

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. A bit late as I've overdone the eyelid inspection.

9 hours ago, Barry O said:

Have you had any tests to see if your eczema is caused by allergies?

 

Baz

No, because I know the cause of the eczema. I was prescribed Ramopril for high BP and that kicked off  the eczema. It also resulted in kidney stones and poor blood circulation in my lower legs. At least its effect wasn't as drastic as with my brother. He also had a kidney stone that  blocked the pipework resulting in him losing the kidney further compounded by failure of his one remaining kidney. He is now on dialysis three days a week. My BP is currently 140/75 which is normal for me. The eczema is a lot easier for me today and I hope it stays that way. 

[Ozexpatriate]

22 hours ago, Tony_S said:

One of the UK papers was reporting today that our household appliance could be spying on us and reporting back to China. Does this mean we need to play music loudly to confuse them. Also the article said the data would be transmitted by the 5G network which doesn’t actually exist here in our postcode yet. I think any data originating from our oven and dishwasher would be very boring.  ...

It's hard to know what is real and what is hyperbole.

 

In 2018, Bloomberg reported that Supermicro motherboards had 'extra' chips inserted during manufacturing in the PRC. Denied at the time by Supermicro, but a follow-up story ran in 2021. (Reporting here.)

 

There is long-standing research on hardware-based Silicon security technology embedded in Silicon devices. See "automated implementation of secure silicon". 

 

I don't think most appliances would be reporting much in the way of useful intelligence - even if they are voice activated (or conceivably contain concealed microphones/video cameras). Except for espionage novel-type bugging devices, it's hard to imagine manufacturers deliberately including microphones with phone-home capability in air fryers etc.

 

There was a scare about voice-activated televisions a couple of years ago. All voice-activated systems (like Alexa) are constantly monitored and DIY home security systems are quite vulnerable. The biggest legitimate concern continues to be mobile telephones - made obvious in the wake of the Israeli NSO Group Pegasus trojan. (Orwell never imagined that we could carry telescreens in our pockets.)

 

Governmental agencies in the US can't decide what to do about the TikTok application. It is banned from government employees' devices in many jurisdictions. "Reassurances" are made that data harvested from US customers does not go back to the PRC (for what that is worth). For my sake I wouldn't knowingly purchase anything with Huawei components.

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Dave Hunt]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Marmite covered toast?

 

Marmite covered toast!???

 

That's put me right off doing the autopsy that has!

 

 

Although putting Marmite on toast is not the best way of eating it, I don't think it is that bad. It isn't to be compared with the Marmite sandwich using thick slices of granary bread, which is yummy.

 

Dave

[PupCam]

4 hours ago, BoD said:

Another D’oh type question if I may.  How much of that can be seen through the telescope using a Mk1 eyeball and how much is due to your stacking software.

 

I suppose the real answer to that is:   Yes but the extent depends on .... 

 

The particular telescope (or binoculars), the eye-piece and many other factors etc etc.      In my case, it's a budget telescope, with not very good (ie cheap) eyepieces which don't work very well particularly with my varifocal glasses.   In addition, I personally can't see many of the colours which normal, unimpaired colour-sighted individuals could possibly see.  Through the telescope I can see the basic the basic shape and brightness of the "splodge" (technical term).   This looks similar to my eye as that seen in the portion of a screen grab of one of the many photographs "as it was recorded by the camera" seen on the left.   By the way, when the camera is used there is no eyepiece so the apparent magnification is reduced but the field of view recorded is greater than that seen by the eye.          What the stacking software does is effectively improve the quality of the images by effectively generating longer exposures and eliminating noise from the image.  This image was created from 57 four second exposures so the equivalent of nearly a four minute exposure.    I've seen some beautiful images recently  that were the equivalent of a 50 hour exposure!

 

Unfortunately if you (or I) want to significantly improve on a budget telescope, get a half decent mount and add a decent,  proper astrocamera etc you are easily in the land of 20 sound equipped Deltics  but you could easily spend much, much more!    But then, spending money is the easiest part of any hobby 😂

 

 

If you've got a pair of binoculars try taking a look at the Orion nebula and see what you can see.  It's the easiest thing in the world to find if you can recognise Orion as it's the middle "star" in his sword.   Now is the time to try as he's not visible during the summer months!

 

 

Night All!

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by PupCam
Added the Before and After view

[Dave Hunt]

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

To recover your appetite I recommend a hearty lunch of bitter sa-pie...... Speaking as a sinophile my advice is that if a Chinese person describes a dish as having 'mysterious flavours' then run.....

 

(for the uninitiated, bitter sa-pie is a type of sa-pie made with cow bile, I won't go further in case any of you are eating)

 

Oh, dear, we really do need a YUCK! button sometimes.

 

Dave

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

If a certain Bear were to be marooned on a Desert Island my choice of food would be.......

LDC?  Nope

Pizza?  Nope

Mince Pies?  Nope

F/E?  Nope

Toast & Marmite?  Oh yes, without a doubt.  If I had a quid for every slice I'd scoffed......

 

Recommended survival food here in case you are ever lost in the outback or drifting helplessly out into the Sth Pacific cos your tinnie lost its motor is peanut butter. 

Edited January 25, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, pH said:

Forgetfulness, impatience, incompetence, arrogance - take your pick.

 

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

You forgot one- youth.

 

Isn't that just an all-embracing term for the others?

 

Dave (AKA grumpy old git)

[monkeysarefun]

19 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

I suppose the real answer to that is:   Yes but the extent depends on .... 

 

The particular telescope (or binoculars), the eye-piece and many other factors etc etc.      In my case, it's a budget telescope, with not very good (ie cheap) eyepieces which don't work very well particularly with my varifocal glasses.   In addition, I personally can't see many of the colours which normal, unimpaired colour-sighted individuals could possibly see.  Through the telescope I can see the basic the basic shape and brightness of the "splodge" (technical term).   This looks similar to my eye as that seen in the portion of a screen grab of one of the many photographs "as it was recorded by the camera".   By the way, when the camera is used there is no eyepiece so the apparent magnification is reduced but the field of view recorded is greater than that seen by the eye.          What the stacking software does is effectively improve the quality of the images by effectively generating longer exposures and eliminating noise from the image.  This image was created from 57 four second exposures so the equivalent of nearly a four minute exposure.    I've seen some beautiful images recently  that were the equivalent of a 50 hour exposure!

 

Unfortunately if you (or I) want to significantly improve on a budget telescope, get a half decent mount and add a decent,  proper astrocamera etc you are easily in the land of 20 sound equipped Deltics  but you could easily spend much, much more!    But then, spending money is the easiest part of any hobby 😂

 

 

If you've got a pair of binoculars try taking a look at the Orion nebula and see what you can see.  It's the easiest thing in the world to find if you can recognise Orion as it's the middle "star" in his sword.   Now is the time to try as he's not visible during the summer months!

 

 

Night All!

 

Alan

 

 

The Horsehead nebula is also worth a try.

 

[pH]

22 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

 

Isn't that just an all-embracing term for the others?

 

Dave (AKA grumpy old git)

A group of us, then in our 40s, we’re reminiscing over a few beers about the stoopid things we had done in our youth. One guy summed it up, Yogi Berra style, “If we were living now the way we lived then, we’d all be dead.”

Edited January 25, 2023 by pH

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... 25th January - Burns Night. It’s also eleven months until Christmas Day. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/01/25/covid-case-numbers-rising-and-chinas-running-out-of-coffins/

26th January - Australia Day. We get a day off just for living here!

[Winslow Boy]

9 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

 

Isn't that just an all-embracing term for the others?

 

Dave (AKA grumpy old git)

 

Is that a way of saying everyone other than me.