WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

I read one of your earlier posts (Pennine Weather) calling it Storm Karen and therefore I replied using that name too. But then I found it's really Storm Callum!

Look what the storm did to this waterfall...
`Storm Callum: Waterfall 'reversed' by wind on Skye' LINK

[Stanley]

Ah Tiz, just shows what old age can do to hearing and the brain! I stand corrected. I thought it was funny at the time because I seemed to remember protests about them being given female names......
I'm reading yet another book on WW2 on Churchill and what struck me was the revelation, 80 years ago, just how vulnerable massive warships were to air attack. Look at the damage the old 'stringbag' Fairey Swordfish did. And we have just spent billions on the biggest one yet.
The fact that Yemen is heading for the greatest famine in a century, all man made.

[Tizer]

Coincidentally I watched a TV programme last night where they showed that although the Swordfish torpedoes crippled the Bismarck by destroying the rudders and the RN battleships pounded it with shells it was scuttled by the crew.

I wonder what spin Trump will use when he hears that Sears is filing for bankruptcy with $5 billion of debt and potential loss of 90,000 jobs? LINK

[Stanley]

I noted that as well Tiz. I think he'll avoid the subject or put it down to bad trading.....
The fact that my GP wants yet another test......
Later, breaking news suggests that the Saudis are about to admit that the journalist who went missing in their embassy died 'during an interrogation that went wrong'.....

[Tripps]

This could almost need a new topic - Questions to which the answer is 'NO'

but I'll put it here . . . .

I doubt it. . .

[Stanley]

David. Just another example of the Gordian Knot that is man-made emissions.....
I had to break a cast iron rule yesterday and buy two bottles of water! I need to be able to refill my bladder between two tests at Airedale on Friday and this is the only reliable way of doing it, take bottled water with me.....

[plaques]

Stanley, Your kidneys will process fizzy drinks faster than plain water. I would suggest Lemonade rather than champagne. Don't want you to get up to any mischief.

[Tizer]

Tripps, 20 years ago the craze began for `biofuel' made from vegetable oil. The promoters said it was going to replace petroleum. I soon had to publish a technical paper by an author at Unilever explaining the adverse economics and warning that it would be a serious danger to the food supply. The promoters then said we could circumvent that problem by using waste frying oil instead of fresh oil. It hasn't caught on and I doubt there is enough used frying oil to make a dent in the use of petroleum. Yet the idea still pops up now and then.
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This is worth a read...
`The peculiar history of the Ordnance Survey' OS history
Also it has a link to this Timepix web site... Timepix
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Here's a video of WW1 soldiers where the image has been coloured in - rather like Kev's still images! LINK

[Stanley]

I've invested in the Highland Spring now P. It will be OK I think...... they are aware of the problem and will perhaps give me some leeway.... It's coming to a pretty pass when these matters assume importance!
I heard something on R4 that grabbed my attention, it was in a medical programme in the afternoon. A lady who seemed to know of what she spoke said that in post mortems of men over 80, 60% had died with prostate cancer present but it was so slow growing it wasn't that which killed them. I have taken note.....
See THIS BBC report on the astounding story of the mistake which means that tens of thousands of claimants on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). have been underpaid since 2011 to 2014. This isn't the worst aspect of this case. Charities supporting the claimants say that the DWP ignored their warnings and eventually tried to time limit the refunds. I'll leave you to read the article but it is unbelievable. It leaves the strong impression that there was contempt and belittling of the claimants.

[Tizer]

...in post mortems of men over 80, 60% had died with prostate cancer present but it was so slow growing it wasn't that which killed them.

One day we'll probably find that everybody has cancer cells forming much of the time in various parts of our body but the defence mechanisms routinely kill them. The trouble comes, especially later in life, when the defence mechanisms begin to break down through ageing or when we abuse our bodies through poor diet, lack of exercise, too much alcohol, cigarettes etc. In past times the major causes of death were infections and injuries, not heart disease or cancer; these latter problems have become common because we live longer.

[Stanley]

Very true Tiz and much on my mind of late.....
The changes in Stockport, more of them tomorrow when I have time. It was a good day out!

[Stanley]

Saudi Arabia has made a partial admission about the murder in the embassy. More to come on this I am sure.
Mick's new car, a hybrid petrol Rav 4. It has so many systems on it that it's like being in a space ship! So quiet as well, Susan has very sensitive hearing aids and she said that contrary to her usual experience in vehicles, her aids worked perfectly. Mick says he averages over 80mpg. I distrust all this modern technology on vehicles but there is no doubt they are vastly improved.

[Tizer]

And there's this too in the Guardian...
`Saudi Arabia pays UK firms millions to boost image' LINK

[Stanley]

I heard that report. I have always thought it is so transparently wrong for MPs to accept freebies from anyone that it should be banned. PE regularly publish the names of those accepting them and our shining example of an MP has been on there in the past.

[Stanley]

See THIS CNN report of the apology by the Australian PM to the children who fell foul of the system from 1950 onwards. Apologies are all well and good but I wonder if anything will be done to track down all the surviving perpetrators or doing something as token compensation for the survivors. Definitely a black episode and I am glad that late though it is, the matter has been brought into the open.
How well I feel!
The egg all over the faces of the commentators on C4 who went on and on about Lewis Hamilton heading for closing his grip on the world championship in Texas yesterday only to see him fail! Nice.....
Saudi Arabia changes its story about the journalist again.

[Tizer]

The weekend was lovely weather here with blue skies, absolutely still and silent, and very warm in the sun. But yesterday there seemed to be no-one but us out and about to take advantage of it even though there are hundreds of houses around here. Where are they all?

[Stanley]

I often have similar thoughts about activity in the town first thing in the morning when Jack and I are having our walk, always between 05:30 and 06:30. Some mornings there are people about and quite frequent traffic on the main road, other mornings we never see a soul. This is weekdays by the way and you would expect it to be consistent with people going to work.
Another thing that often strikes me is that excepting for the shift workers at Silentnight and Rolls Royce, the people that are about are either Polish or poor! There are quite a few Poles in the area and many work at a slaughter house near Gisburn that I think is owned by a Pole.
That reminds me of my friend Peter in Oz who is Greek. He worked at a factory making transformers and when I went to see him there he told me that they played Macedonian music in the morning and Greek in the afternoon. I asked to foreman if you had to have Greek connections to get a job there, he smiled and said "It helps!". Blood is thicker than water....
As for your absent neighbours.... who knows? People are subject to the strangest influences.....
Mail this morning from Rachel, the grand daughter of my deceased friend. She is bringing her mother to visit me, must be almost 70 years since I last saw her. That'll be nice!

[Stanley]

The site went AWOL for about twenty minutes after 06:30. Back up at 06:50.

[Stanley]

A sneaking suspicion that no matter how much we hate him, every now and then Trump rushes headlong in what could be the right direction.....

[Stanley]

The speed with which Airedale is reacting. I don't know whether I should be worried by this or not!

[Tizer]

You'd be complaining if they weren't responding quickly!

[Stanley]

Quite! I got the appointment letter for today's pre-op which, from the wording is expected to precede setting the date for the operation itself but this presents no problems. With luck it will be quick!

[PanBiker]

Mentioned elsewhere but I arrived home just before tea time yesterday. I will report my adventure elsewhere when I have sorted out my notes. More physio ahead which I will relate in the medical thread. Nice to be home, I can now be spotted with walking poles if out and about.

Speaking of which, good luck Stanley, your pre op will just be MRSA swabs from nose, armpits and groin, maybe another blood test. Cant have infected people coming in. If you test positive its an antiseptic gel scrub for the bath or shower or they will lather you up with protective stuff for the op.

[Stanley]

That's the best post for a while.... Welcome back to the world Ian!!
I'm off for the pre-op in an hour, Susan is calling in for me....am scrubbed up and presentable!

[plaques]

No photos please.