Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Yes, you are correct. The closure is clearly marked in Google maps with the traffic option turned on. If it is blocked you will have to go via Canvey. At least you get an overseas trip. I believe the work had turned out to be more extensive thuan originally thought. At first only one eastbound lane was shut but damaged pipe was found needing  a bigger hole closing 3 of 4 lanes. 

Apparently the alternative routes are now gridlocked. Someone I know who lives very close to Tony said it took him nearly two hours to get home from Pitsea.

[Tony_S]

54 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Apparently the alternative routes are now gridlocked. Someone I know who lives very close to Tony said it took him nearly two hours to get home from Pitsea.

Even a single broken down vehicle on the short stretch of road where the burst main is can cause tailbacks for quite some distance.  Years ago where the site of a Tesco Express is now was a garage/car dealer. When they had vehicles delivered the transporter was on the main road. At rush hour it was chaotic. It is usually fine now, except when something goes wrong with the traffic light timings. 
Tony

Edited December 19, 2022 by Tony_S

[Coombe Barton]

... Four years ago today Sandy started chemotherapy. And 41 years ago in 1981 the Solomon Browne, the Penlee Lifeboat, was lost with all hands. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/12/19/sounds-of-the-season-2022-23-23-rate-of-increase-30-more-rapid-than-in-october/

[Tony_S]

57 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

get home from Pitsea.

The local schools last day of term is tomorrow. Quite a few (bus loads) of students travel in from Pitsea. They won’t be happy. 

[PeterBB]

32 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

... Four years ago today Sandy started chemotherapy. And 41 years ago in 1981 the Solomon Browne, the Penlee Lifeboat, was lost with all hands. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/12/19/sounds-of-the-season-2022-23-23-rate-of-increase-30-more-rapid-than-in-october/

At the time as an active fund raiserfor the RNLI I remember the Solomon Browne Penlee Lifeboat disaster like it was yesterday  and a picture of when I had seen the boat came straight to me.  Had not realised just how long ago it was.

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

However, in the context of this thread Jobs insisted that some of the bridge workstations for navigation assistance use Apple hardware.

Unsurprising, however impractical.

 

I would be a matter of time before someone posted a photograph of a competing badge on his bridge, captioned with something like "even Steve Jobs doesn't trust his products" etc.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I can't help admiring Apple's marketing, they've managed to retain that cachet of being the alternative choice, for people who think differently, ...

Re: Apple fan boys:

 

Brian: You are all individuals.

Crowd: Yes we are all individuals!

Brian: You are all different.

Crowd: Yes, we are all different!

Individual: I'm not.

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, pH said:

The Scottish meaning of “havering” would appear appropriate to the young man’s verbal behaviour.

The Scottish meaning of havering is also appropriate to a lot of the conversations I have been a party to in the London Borough of Same. 

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Even a single broken down vehicle on the short stretch of road where the burst main is can cause tailbacks for quite some distance.  Years ago where the site of a Tesco Express is now was a garage/car dealer. When they had vehicles delivered the transporter was on the main road. At rush hour it was chaotic. It is usually fine now, except when something goes wrong with the traffic light timings. 
Tony

I remember when it was a garage. It used to sell Reliant three wheelers. IIRC it had half of one hanging on the wall of the showroom. 

[Ozexpatriate]

15 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

You missed the point.

I didn't. The market-driven mandate for profit, competition, and the technology refresh cycle and the cost of backwards compatibility are all tightly connected.

15 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Supporting older products is done in the pharma industry (the companies I worked for still had people assigned to older products - to follow up with health authorities as needed, supporting clinicians doing clinical trials using an old drug in a new way, etc.), 

With the increase in antibiotic resistance and a looming potential for so-called "super bug" mutations, why is big pharma not investing in new antibiotics - or even, it might seem (though I claim zero expertise in pharmaceuticals), manufacturing enough of the existing ones?

There is currently a shortage in availability of antibiotics in many western countries. Separating the issue of over-prescription (particularly in pædiatrics) which can increase antibiotic resistance over time, I don't understand why this should be so.

 

The prevailing wisdom seems to be that it is not "profitable" enough - leading to this Canadian paper* studying whether (of all things) financial incentives should be offered to pharmaceutical companies.

 

* Which in full disclosure I did not read thoroughly and include it only as an example of the antibiotic research / profitability issue. 

 

Meanwhile I see a deluge of commercials advertising life extending medications suitable only for terminal breast cancer patients with a very specific diagnosis.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Anyway just as he was doing the bit about how robust the system was and suitable for unsupervised use, the one I was using just froze, visible to all on a big screen. Of course he carried on saying this while everyone else in the audience could see what had happened.

Much of my career involved doing software demonstrations of technical software. We called this sort of thing "Demo Hell". It happens all the time - "Murphy's Law" in action.

 

Worst is when the demonstration requires a sequence of steps to recover the position where the crash happened - and it crashes again.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

And 41 years ago in 1981 the Solomon Browne, the Penlee Lifeboat, was lost with all hands. ...

As always the Christmas lights are turned out here for an hour and just a single candle burns in the window. 
 

The voice recordings captured here include the very last from the Solomon Browne.  You can perhaps hear the crash of a wave smashing the boat as my one-time school buddy Stephen Madron advises the coastguard “We’ve got four off ….. “ 

 

And then there was a dreadful silence 

 

 

[Tony_S]

1 minute ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Much of my career involved doing software demonstrations of technical software. We called this sort of thing "Demo Hell". It happens all the time - "Murphy's Law" in action.

 

Worst is when the demonstration requires a sequence of steps to recover the position where the crash happened - and it crashes again.

I had, I suspect done more presenting of hardware/software to fairly critical audiences than the Apple man ever  had which is why I would never have deliberately messed up his presentation. At first I felt sorry for him that his product had crashed but not after his petulant outburst. 

[Ozexpatriate]

The advertising algorithm seems to have actually connected for once. Unlike this page (Netflix / Harry & Meghan) there is a thread on NFL football. On that page a video popped up wanting to tell me about Rhianna headlining the next Superbowl halftime. (Not useful, but at least marginally relevant to the topic.)

 

Edited December 19, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis has jumped in with both feet tonight so I might have an early night tonight. This afternoon I paid for my auction bids, 364 modelling tokens including buyers fees, VAT and postage, not too bad as the bids came to £270 and the VAT at 20% was the biggest slice of that. They have several such auctions each year so I might bid again if anything catches my eye.

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Went for the tooth extraction but it didn’t happen.Pah and turdy curses.

Apparently the root is too long, convoluted and embedded in one my sinuses. I’m going to have to go for specialist treatment as it’s going to be ‘tricky’. Not really what I wanted to hear,

An early night if possible but SWMBO is watching ‘The Real Housewives of Cheshire’ .Is it for real or just buIIsh!t ?

I think someone is making a packet making ‘buIIsh!t. Wish I’d thought of it first.

Goodnight.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, Erichill16 said:

Apparently the root is too long, convoluted and embedded in one my sinuses. I’m going to have to go for specialist treatment as it’s going to be ‘tricky’. Not really what I wanted to hear,

My dentist immediately recommended me to a Endodontist for a recent root canal. They do have a lot more specialized equipment than a 'normal' dentist.

 

I hope you can schedule it before the Christmas break.

[polybear]

7 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

An early night if possible but SWMBO is watching ‘The Real Housewives of Cheshire’ .Is it for real or just buIIsh!t ?

 

 

Both, I suspect.

 

Bear here......

This afternoon's achievement?  Refitting the door dust guards to the upstairs (bedroom) doors.  Tick.  And that was it.  Shameful.

Tomorrow sees....commencement of sanding the stair stringers, newel post, base rail and hand rail; not sure just how many of those bits will be attacked (I suspect it'll take "numerous" days) - it all depends on just how much of a b1tch the job is.  It's the last significant pooey job on the list (plenty of small poo's will still occur afterwards though) prior to starting the more interesting/creative stuff.  I've no idea just how well the woodwork will sand up - there'll definitely be plenty of dents n' dings that'll need subsequent filling, but hopefully I can get it somewhere near half reasonable.  With a lot of luck.

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

I hope you can schedule it before the Christmas break.

One of those frustrating incidents. I’ve had pain from this tooth for quite a few years and have be told that it’s partly due to it having a large filling and also receding gums. I have  on occasion smeared Synsodyne  toothpaste over the effected area as recommended by the dentist for a few days and that has eased the issue but this time nothing has helped. Last week it hit a crescendo and I decided to make an appointment and after looking at an X ray the dentist  thinks the tooth may be cracked. Seems ridiculous that I’ve had issues for years and now, less than a week before Christmas I’m chasing around to get it removed.

I don’t want to tempt fate, but it’s not as bad today, I thinking last weeks cold weather made things worse but I think it’s time for it to come out.

I don’t think there’s much of the tooth to save as most of it is ‘filling’

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Both, I suspect.

 

Bear here......

This afternoon's achievement?  Refitting the door dust guards to the upstairs (bedroom) doors.  Tick.  And that was it.  Shameful.

Tomorrow sees....commencement of sanding the stair stringers, newel post, base rail and hand rail; not sure just how many of those bits will be attacked (I suspect it'll take "numerous" days) - it all depends on just how much of a b1tch the job is.  It's the last significant pooey job on the list (plenty of small poo's will still occur afterwards though) prior to starting the more interesting/creative stuff.  I've no idea just how well the woodwork will sand up - there'll definitely be plenty of dents n' dings that'll need subsequent filling, but hopefully I can get it somewhere near half reasonable.  With a lot of luck.

 

I shall be monitoring you closely Mr Bear as I have a new staircase to fit this winter. Now that the weather has turned inclement, work on the boundary fence has been put on the back burner, so my attention  has turned to this much delayed installation.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Today saw me completing the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix, this was then followed by picking up a click and collect package from John Lewis, then calling at Costco and filling the car up.

 

After dinner, I decamped to the living room and read Model Rail, but only until my eyes began to get heavy, then I did a bit of eyelid inspection. That’s the sum of today’s activities, but to be honest, I quite enjoyed it. 

 

Goodnight all

[pH]

Apparently, we had an occurrence of the pretty rare phenomenon of thundersnow on Sunday morning. I slept through it. My wife heard it, but thought it was a plow running with the blade down on the road.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundersnow

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Good wins for England Women and Men's cricket teams.long may this continue! Both teams have some young players, both play positive cricket.

 

Off to collect Dr Eldest Herbert at some point today. We shall call in at the Cheese Hamlet in Didsbury to purchase a small selection of cheese for our Christmas delectation.. hopefully this will include some single Gloucester,  Waterloo and a bit of Stilton. Wensleydale would be nice .. you eat it with Christmas  Cake.

 

Not much else to report.. a bit cooler here but still above freezing. Great!

 

Time to...drink my mugatea and drivel on ...

 

Have a great day!

 

Stay safe!

 

Baz

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a dark Charente.  Cake was consumed yesterday at Gateaux then in the afternoon we both went to the Pharmacy to get ourourlatest tracking chips installed in our arms, disguised as vaccinations against the wuhan flu.

 

This morning I'm off soon to have my ears lowered by Veronique then it's on to the Supermarket.  Not a lot else to report.

 

Jamie