Early Risers.

[jjb1970]

10 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

This was a massive issue back in my HR management days, far too common an attempted occurrence, and I once had to really stand my ground with a senior person who wanted what they had actually said, totally reversed in meaning.  No way Jose, you said it, you have to stand by it.  It was of course, complete bolleaux what they had said.....completely caught out.  Made an enemy there, but they were later somewhat, err, compromised with 'something else' (can't say) that ended their employment. 

 

I go to a lot of meetings at IMO and other regulatory fora where the reports of meetings (in effect, the minutes of meeting) are quite important, it has the weird consequence that agreeing the report can take as long as the substantive discussion. 

It's very common is to refer to reports in written submissions and to link statements to written arguments. So they're pretty important.

 

An evil trick I've played myself in the past is to offer a 'compromise' of striking all statements made by a delegation from the report if they play the 'that's what I said but not what I wanted to say' card as it can put them in a very awkward position.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, BR60103 said:

We used to get a lot of calls from "Unknown Name".

Anonymous calls (usually caller ID withheld and show as "unknown") are easily blocked. Most telephone companies here have the option for automatic blocking of all anonymous calls. I don't believe this is an extra fee capability.

 

"Unknown" calls, and those flagged as 'fraudulent' are the minority. Most of the calls I receive come in with a 'legitimate' telephone number on the caller ID, (variably a business, an individual or a unassigned regional number) being spoofed by a VOIP robocaller - with a different number every time. (The spammers use numbers with my area code to make it look like the call is local.) It doesn't help to block specific numbers and it doesn't help to block "unknown numbers". 

 

Ever since Australia implemented the 'national broadband network' for telephony (all* calls are now VOIP in Australia), any call I get from Australia shows as "unknown number" on caller ID so I always answer them. I had a surprise call from my brother this evening - it was flagged as "unknown number" and happily, I answered it.

 

* 90% as of 2020

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

Our "landline" is actually VOIP. TV, Internet and "landline" all arrive on one coax that's fed from fiber just up the road.

A quick search suggests that POTS*-only households are down to single digit percentages in the US. My landline is fibre to the house with a converter box provided by a local telephone company, to which my traditional telephone is connected. It is separate from my cable (television and internet). I could pay a lot less to consolidate it all.

 

* Plain Old Telephone System (analog twisted pair)

 

My mobile** reception is so bad at home that I only use WiFi calling when I use the mobile phone at home.

 

** Haven't upgraded from my old 4G-LTE telephone

[TheQ]

12 hours ago, DaveF said:

All I can say about the heavy book of photos is that I am enjoying looking at it.  I have seen a very few of the photos before but the other 99% are fascinating.  There is so much incidental detail - ideal for period railway modellers.  Obviously the bigger the town etc the more the photos.  It's well worth the money (to be honest it might even have been worth it at full price).

 

Today has not had anything dramatic.  This morning I worked on photos and at the last possible minute decided to have sausage and chips for lunch instead of salad.  Fortunately the oven heated up quickly.  Just after lunch my expected delivery came via Yodel, a man in a very clean and shiny black car.  It was 1 large pack of 20 chrysanthemum plants from Woolman's.  They are garden sprays, I've potted them up and later on they will go in the garden to flower in the autumn.  I grow them most years and always enjoy them.  I used to grow the large flowered greenhouse ones but stopped when I decided that heating the greenhouse was too expensive for the benefits it gave.

 

After that I gave some more spare tomato plants to neighbours, I ended up with one left over which I will put in a spare pot tomorrow and keep as a spare.  Then I decided to go out for a very short ride in the car, just to the car park half way along the Links as I had noticed a yellow field on the inland side of the road which need photographing.  I also saw a field of buttercups and cattle, very old fashioned.  I headed for home and passed the cemetery so went to have the very short walk to Mum and Dad's grave which looks tidy but isn't yet grassed as some of the ground is still settling, hardly surprising given all the rain we've had in the last few months.

 

I stopped off at the beach for a few minutes, the Battery people were setting things up ready for this year's WW2 reenactment over the coming weekend.  Then my toe decided it had done enough walking.

 

I heard a little more about yesterday's fire - the man of the house had been on night shift and was asleep and only woke when someone knocked on the door to say his house was on fire.  I don't know who it was that raised the alarm.  His wife was at work and his two children at work and school.

 

A few photos I took today are below.

 

 

Yellow field

 

 

Buttercups and cattle

 

 

In the cemetery

 

 

Beach huts

 

 

View from the Links

 

 

WW2 weekend 1

 

 

WW2 weekend 2

 

David

Pity the first Landrover wasn't sold till 1948... 

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Looked out of the window just now... fatchy pog observed.

 

@Two_sugars.. glad it went well.. peach melba! That takes me back a long time.

 

Another school reunion in November at the Coms in Horden. Plate pies, corned beef squares etc have been ordered and hopefully some ham and pease pudding finger buns...

 

Wire strangling went well. A couple of damaged wires have been fettled.. a couple more have been investigated. Pah! i will return either tomorrow or monday to fix them.

 

one or two people I know are suffering from a non covid lurgy. It's like a really bad cold but tests are negative. Hopefully I can steer clear of it.

 

Time for my mugatea then.. who knows until cricket later on.

 

Hope you enjoy whatever yo do today!

 

Baz

[iL Dottore]

12 hours ago, DaveF said:

 

WW2 weekend 1

 

 

WW2 weekend 2

 

David

Err, I may not be the world’s preeminent military historian, but I’m pretty sure the Landrover came after WWII 🤣

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

5 hours sleep long awake. 1 hours sleep.

 

BT were introducing VoIP here in the UK, but there was a house fire when the electricity system was down, in an area mobiles didn't work. Total loss of house due to being unable to call the fire brigade.

That put the Voip introduction on hold for some time, but it's now back on with a ups for the router in areas where it's needed.

 

Oh and that land rover Ambulance is either a late model 2A or series three which didn't come in till 1971.

 

Lots of goodies arrived yesterday,

Cash sorting machine,

Insoles for my rigger boots,

1Tb windows SSD

This year's 3 Rivers Race shirt .

 

Cash sorter has been demonstrated to SWMBO, as it still had batteries in .

Insoles will be installed in the next few minutes before morning patrol.

3RR shirt put to one side for the event itself 

SSD will be installed later as fig tree area clearance is today's plan.

 

First

Time to put those insoles in.

 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

12 hours ago, polybear said:

"The satisfaction in exercising this type of professional judgment has been much diminished in recent years by increased regulation and scrutiny, with the need to record every consultation in time-consuming detail. Applied to something as straightforward as syringing the ears for wax-induced deafness, “I used to write ‘Ears syringed, clear of wax, drum intact’”, writes one GP. “Now there is a template 44 lines long that takes three times as long to complete as the procedure itself”.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/medical/the-real-reason-you-can-t-get-an-appointment-with-your-gp/ar-AA1bovSC?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=5f99dff4733c447283d1e41fef4cb78c&ei=25

 

Too true, Bear, too true!

When I started in my career, you had to document that something had been done, then it became: you had to document that you had documented that something had been done. Now, too often, you have to document that you have documented that you have documented that you documented what you have done.

 

I can easily understand why many physicians in the UK are moving towards providing private appointments: it’s not so much the money (although cash is always appreciated), but a near absence of the stifling bureaucracy that is part and parcel of working for the NHS. Generally people go into medicine because they want to practice it; but when you are spending more time filling out pointless forms than practising medicine, it gets quite dispiriting and soul destroying.

 

Just to give an example: I was looking for guidance on a certain type of anticancer drug intravenous administration - I wanted to see what the various practices were and if anything could be considered as the “gold standard“ for that particular IV administration). I downloaded one such guidance available on a particular NHS trust website (much of this sort of information is publicly available in one form or another). This particular NHS trust guidance was 10 pages long, of which one page was dedicated to describing how to give this particular anti-cancer drug administration and the other nine were dedicated to various “administrative“ requirements such as “impact on minorities“, impact on gender“, reporting sign-offs necessary (a lot!), “impact on the environment” and so on…

 

I think too much of this is basically CYA “just in case”. And to be brutally frank, if something goes wrong medically, you’ll have a lot more to worry about than whether or not the impact on X was assessed

Edited May 20, 2023 by iL Dottore
Correction

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a cloudy Charente.   Yesterday was sunny and warm and the pool got to 23.   Nearly ready for me to brave it.   The car did achieve what i expected.

That was en route to a model railway meeting that went well.

Today it's time to carry on with the hot tub base.

 

Jamie

[Winslow Boy]

8 hours ago, TheQ said:

Is he related to Norman Stanley Fletcher?

 

Grandson I believe.

[iL Dottore]

In regards to nuisance calls, if I don’t recognise the number, then I answer by giving the name of my consulting company and a cheery “how can I direct your call?” or “how can I help you?” and they hang up.  On occasion, the nuisance caller persists by asking “is this the telephone number for X?” (And they wouldn’t have to ask that question if they actually knew me) and a repetition of “you have called consulting company, how can I help you“ usually does the trick. Very rarely (and these are invariably the Microsoft scam calls from one of the Indian subcontinent scammers), they are unshakeably persistent and in that case I say “hold on a minute, let me transfer you to my information security and protection department“ at which point they hang up” Having said that, if I’m feeling particularly bored (and malicious) I do try and string these scammers along.

 

Unfortunately, I do have to answer unknown callers simply because they may be a potential client (but the potential clients normally introduce themselves within the first few seconds)

[Ozexpatriate]

12 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

This particular NHS trust guidance was 10 pages long, of which one page was dedicated to describing how to give this particular anti-cancer drug administration and the other nine were dedicated to various “administrative“ requirements such as “impact on minorities“, impact on gender“, reporting sign-offs necessary (a lot!), “impact on the environment” and so on…

 

I think too much of this is basically CYA “just in case”

It does feel onerous. On the other hand there are demonstrably different levels of diagnoses and therapies based on gender and race - with resulting differences in outcomes (at least in the US) suggesting that *something* is going on - beyond access to care (which is, of course, a major factor).

 

This sort of thing.

[Ozexpatriate]

4 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Having said that, if I’m feeling particularly bored (and malicious) I do try and string these scammers along.

I've taken to asking the (rare) persistent human callers, whom they work for, and where they are calling from*. They tend to hang up quickly when I start asking them questions.

 

* Usually different from what shows on caller ID, so I can ask them why they are calling under false pretenses. 

[iL Dottore]

26 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

It does feel onerous. On the other hand there are demonstrably different levels of diagnoses and therapies based on gender and race - with resulting differences in outcomes (at least in the US) suggesting that *something* is going on - beyond access to care (which is, of course, a major factor).

 

This sort of thing.

(My emphasis). This, of course, is very true. However, these are important factors which will be included in the actual guidance (so you’d have things like “in women over the age of 60 you will need to do “X”). What I was referring to was the huge amount of unnecessary “administration” (to put it politely) bolted on to the guidance itself.

Edited May 20, 2023 by iL Dottore

[polybear]

9 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Perhaps a new thread for (none railway) book reviews might be an idea?

 

 

There's already a "Book" section on RMWeb; I was particularly interested in the book mentioned on ER rather than in general terms.

 

9 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Talk of spammers, this guy will be out of action for a few years.

https://news.sky.com/story/tejay-fletcher-jailed-for-running-multimillion-pound-criminal-website-ispoof-12883414

Makes you wonder how many more out there?

 

He should've got life.

[jjb1970]

I remember many years ago, sometime around 2002 or 2003, in Trinidad I had to visit the doctor and he just asked questions from a screen, entered my answers and then told me what the computer had diagnosed. I refrained from asking what reason he had to exist given that I could have done the same thing myself using the world renowned internet. It was like the famous 'Little Britain' character, computer says no.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Anonymous calls (usually caller ID withheld and show as "unknown") are easily blocked. Most telephone companies here have the option for automatic blocking of all anonymous calls. I don't believe this is an extra fee capability.

 

It's easy enough in the UK:

 

Instructions for Withholding Number on a Per call Basis

Dial 141 before the number you are dialling. Make the call and ‘Number withheld’ will be displayed to the receiving party - hiding your number.

If you are permanently withholding your number and you wish to display your number on a call-by-call basis. Do the following:

Dial 1470 before the telephone number you are dialling. This will allow the receiver to see your number on this occasion.

 

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I had a surprise call from my brother this evening - it was flagged as "unknown number" and happily, I answered it.

 

 

Bear hasn't heard from Bruvver Bear (apart from Birthday & Chrimbo Cards - sent by his SWMBO) since early 2011 - I'd call him but got the feeling he rather wished I hadn't; on the last call he said "we'll have to come over and see you - or you come here (they live 1hr 20m away) - I'll have a word with SWMBO and get back to you".

I'm still waiting.....

 

5 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Telstra here have a free service on their own branded phones. If the number isn't in your contact list they'll get a message asking them to say their name. If they say it my phone will ring and I'll get a message saying "X" is calling me and I can decide to hang up if it sounds dodgy or hit the answer button again to take the call. At this point I can hit a button to block the number, or if its legit and I don't mind them calling in future  another button will add them to my contact list and white list them so they no longer have to say their name when they call  again.

 

If they say nothing or they are a robot which doesn't understand the request to say their name  they will not connect and my phone will not ring.

 

The only issue I have is that my work number is a private one so every time I call home it asks me to say my name but at least that shows me its working!

 

A couple of friends in the UK have similar systems where you have to announce your name before the call is accepted and forwarded to the recipient.

Personally I don't get enough spam calls to warrant spending money to block them.

 

Bear here.....

Today?  Danglin'......first top coat this time.  After that it's MIUABGAD.

 

Fortunately the dizziness seems to have bvggered off.  Weird.

BG

[jjb1970]

A big red flag which tells you to ignore a call here is if the number display includes +65. +65 is the international code for Singapore, calls within the country don't include it (just as you don't dial +44 if calling someone in the UK) but something goes on with scam calls. I've never bothered finding out why but I'm guessing it's some workaround to disguise naughty calls from naughty countries. Another red flag to cause you to hang up is if the caller claims to be from the government, there are tonnes of scam calls from the ministry of health, ministry of manpower etc. Almost everyone here uses the Singpass App which is part of the digital ID system and if the government is actually trying to get hold of me they'll send a message in that system.

[Winslow Boy]

23 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

It's easy enough in the UK:

 

Instructions for Withholding Number on a Per call Basis

Dial 141 before the number you are dialling. Make the call and ‘Number withheld’ will be displayed to the receiving party - hiding your number.

If you are permanently withholding your number and you wish to display your number on a call-by-call basis. Do the following:

Dial 1470 before the telephone number you are dialling. This will allow the receiver to see your number on this occasion.

 

 

Bear hasn't heard from Bruvver Bear (apart from Birthday & Chrimbo Cards - sent by his SWMBO) since early 2011 - I'd call him but got the feeling he rather wished I hadn't; on the last call he said "we'll have to come over and see you - or you come here (they live 1hr 20m away) - I'll have a word with SWMBO and get back to you".

I'm still waiting.....

 

 

A couple of friends in the UK have similar systems where you have to announce your name before the call is accepted and forwarded to the recipient.

Personally I don't get enough spam calls to warrant spending money to block them.

 

Bear here.....

Today?  Danglin'......first top coat this time.  After that it's MIUABGAD.

 

Fortunately the dizziness seems to have bvggered off.  Weird.

BG

 

Dear Bear Doctor Winslow here. I've read your description- severe dizziness, and I can tell you that you appear to have come down with a severe case of Gardenitis. Unfortunately there is no known cure of this malady I'm afraid so all you can do is avoid doing anything in the garden. Please feel free to contact me if you require any further information on this illness which is growing in numbers now that the summer has arrived.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Winslow Boy

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Pity the first Landrover wasn't sold till 1948... 

 

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Err, I may not be the world’s preeminent military historian, but I’m pretty sure the Landrover came after WWII 🤣

And the Pinzgaer was not introduced until the 50's.

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Mooring Awl,

Oh and that land rover Ambulance is either a late model 2A or series three which didn't come in till 1971.

 

It has a K registration so 71/72.

[iL Dottore]

16 hours ago, polybear said:

But.....Bear is a very dizzy little, er, Bear - it got worse n' worse throughout the afternoon to the point where I several wobble round the garden moments doing my best not to fall over; I decided to call it quits before I did actually fall over (I'd had enough G-word anyway).  B.P. & Sats. seem normal so it must be cake deprivation.

(My emphasis) - see below

13 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Dear Bear Doctor Winslow here. I've read your description- severe dizziness, and I can tell you that you appear to have come down with a severe case of Gardenitis.

Wishful thinking WB, but no.

A few things come immediately to mind - which, given the Bear’s age, are definitely possible Dx. They are:

• Postural hypotension
• Hypoglycaemia
• Electrolyte imbalance

Of the three, postural hypotension seems to be the most likely: repeated bending down and straightening up (or extended bending over then rapidly straightening up) will cause a temporary drop in BP leading to reduced cerebral perfusion leading to dizziness. Hypoglycaemia is possible, but would depend on the Bear’s pre-gardening blood glucose levels and Bear would have to have been really sweating like a pig to have excreted in his sweat enough electrolytes to cause an imbalance.

 

There ARE other reasons for such dizziness (and for postural hypotension for that matter) some quite serious indeed.

 

If it happens again, you (Bear) should get it checked out. Better safe than sorry!.

 

p.s. CAKE is NOT an acceptable or recognised treatment for hypoglycaemia; a glucose syrup can be administered by mouth or glucose can be administered intravenously (furthermore, just in case you’re wondering, there’s no such thing as intravenous cake either)

[45568]

When you are concentrating hard on getting the photo subject just right, your faithful dog photobombs you!

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

[DaveF]

The sun has come out now after a grey and misty start.  I've done most of the odd jobs and will shortly settle down to look at photos I've taken recently plus some from the 1980s ans 90s.

 

I thought there would be comments about the Land Rover in the photo, I deliberately didn't put anything in the caption so as to see the reactions - I know that's a bit naughty of me.  I probably won't go to the event this year mainly because my toe still gets painful after 45 minutes or so wearing anything other than soft slippers though it is slowly improving. The other reason is because it looks to be much the same as in previous years with a lot of things rather out of time and place. 

 

I suppose that it is no worse than preserved railways having locos in prenationalisation liveries hauling Mk1 coaches.  As well as out of period things I always notice that the reenactors are much "bigger" than most people in WW2 which destroys the effect.  I remember some years taking Mum and she spent a lot of time pointing out, very politely, the errors by telling people that she remembered the war and what people really looked like and what they did - and the equipment she saw as most of her friends were in the services and she was at university from 1941.

 

David

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The arthritis was going this morning, in my left hip. Largely because I was laying on it for most of the night. A bit of moving about and Nurofen are dealing with it. Not going out today but there's plenty to do indoors.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A bright sunny start to the day here in England’s northwest corner, the current temperature is 10C but it’s expected to reach 29C later this afternoon. We will shortly be setting off to collect Ava and then we’ll all go to the Trafford Centre, Ava wants to visit Waterstones, so I’ll have a look whilst we’re there. We’ll also go for a drink and a slice whilst we’re there, after all, it would be rude not to! After dinner, the plan is for Ava and I to make some flapjacks. 
 

Back later.
 

Brian