WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Marilyn]

Heading off in the morning!

[Tizer]

Here's something different to listen to at Christmas!
`SantaLand Diaries: David Sedaris' YouTube link

[Stanley]

Good decision Maz.
Wendy's disrupted Xmas Day......
Good thoughts of Janet.

[PanBiker]

The cost of a Silsden Taxi at 9pm on Christmas day from our Carla's in Silsden to a friends house in Steeton. Loaned to us to save us having to drive home, thanks Carly. I could not believe the cost, £3.50, bargain by anyone's standard, I was expecting at least a tenner.

[Stanley]

Good! Taxi costs loom large in my life at the moment......
Unfortunately at the moment it is the parlous state of the world.
Ana Krakatau is the subject of a 5km exclusion zone. That story isn't over yet.

[Tizer]

Flights have also been diverted to avoid the ash clouds from Ana Krakatau. In the early 1980s on a flight to Australia we had a stopover in Java. It was longer than we expected because all flights out were cancelled for a while due to a volcano erupting. As always, people complained but they were a bit more subdued when they heard the news that just before the flight ban an airliner had plummeted many thousands of feet before the ash cleared out of the engines and it managed to stay in the sky. Not an experience any of us wanted!

If you notice that Ana Krakatau (Child of Krakatau) is spelt with the -au ending, not the -oa as in Krakatoa there is a story behind this. At the time of the eruption of Krakatoa (1883) The Times (London) was a step ahead of other newspapers around the world by getting the story via Reuters who were using the undersea cables to gather their news. It published a very brief note announcing the eruption but an editor must have made an error because the note referred to Krakatoa although Reuters had use the correct spelling, Krakatau. Then, as now, newspapers often `lifted' news from other papers and the incorrect spelling was propagated worldwide even though the name eventually given to the `child' island was spelt correctly.
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`Striking photojournalism from around the UK' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-46275259

[plaques]

Nothing as dramatic as Krakatau. Lloyds pharmacy in Sainsbury's is closing down in February. Talk of Specsavers taking the space over. Needs looking into.

[Tizer]

Is it Santa? No, it's Donald Trump!...
`Air Force One seen over Sheffield on secret journey' LINK

[Stanley]

Nice story Tiz about Krakatoa/Krakatau, i shall try to remember.
As for Trump over Sheffield.... Could it be causing the computer problems?
I have been using the same glasses for the computer for years and after a long session my right eye is strained. Yesterday I decided to try a different set of glasses for reading as my book is very heavy and when on my knee it is a shade too far away and my bum right eye causes problems. These are my latest prescription and they are good for both the reading and the computer. Don't ask me why they have been sat in the drawer...... Bit of a result.

[Stanley]

Later, listening to a lady who has Synesthesia. (LINK) Her version of it is that she experiences false smells. At one time she was getting a strong small of gas in the kitchen but dismissed it as her partner couldn't smell it but in the end, as it persisted so long, they got the gas company in to advise them. There was indeed a gas leak!
It reminds me that there are so many people experiencing problems far worse than any we have in terms of impact on our lives.

[Tizer]

There are reports this morning of councils spending large amounts of money on buying up failing shopping centres in their towns, 26 since 2016, 10 in the last year alone, and changing them to a broader mix of uses. For example, Bolton bought its centre for £14 million. Perhaps it's a good idea but there is a catch - they are borrowing these vast sums of money. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy says councils shouldn't expose public funds to "unnecessary or un-quantified risk". Could we be about to see a re-run of when councils lost their funds by putting them into Icelandic banks that were subject to risk warnings from the ratings agencies?
`The councils trying to save the High Street' LINK

[Stanley]

I saw that report Tiz and on the whole I approve because of the knock-down price. If rents can pay low interest charges it looks like a good bet. After all, that is how good business uses credit. Just think, if the PFI builds had been done using that model, we would be a lot better off.
The experiment with changing glasses has worked. It always takes my eyes/brain a while to adjust to a new prescription and I mustn't have given these new glasses a fair trial when I got them last year. One pair of readers works for both the computer and reading now and I suspect they'll be good shed glasses as I don't need distance vision in there. Another plus is that I am not straining the right eye as much and this will get better the longer I persevere with them, it takes a few days for all the changes to be compensated for and I suspect that's more in the brain than the eye itself. A good improvement.

[Stanley]

Later, listening to views about whether to put more Border Patrol cutters in the channel. What I'd like to know is how many of the ones at present tied up are fit for sea or even have a crew? Could these factors be influencing the government stance that putting more to sea would perhaps be counter-productive?
Later a member of the Border Patrol let slip that only two are fit for sea and one of them is in the Mediterranean.

[Tripps]

The Gatwick drone saga seems to have left the news. It was a puzzle wasn't it? Why did the Police keep the suspects in custody for over 36 hours including two nights when their alibi seemed to have been clearly established fairly quickly. A recent TV Police series based in Luton, showed us that they must charge or release within 24 hours except in some exceptional circumstances.

I read a few days ago in a weird website (which I will spare you sight of), that in fact Sussex Police had been flying drones themselves over Gatwick. Surely not I thought, but googled and found that they do in fact have quite a few drones. Drones. That seems reasonable and in order, and they say they of course comply fully with the law - so no flying within a kilometre of an airport. Leaving aside the fact that they cost £64,000 each!

Then today I find this from Andrew Neils site. He is usually totally credible.
Andrew Neil

Here's the interesting bit, in case it moves down the list.

Matthew Scott
Verified account @Barristerblog
Chief Constable of Sussex: Some of the drone sightings may have been police drones looking for other drones. #bbcr4today


Bearing in mind that one of the open lines of enquiry is that there may not have been any drone there at all. What's a chap to think?

[PanBiker]

I saw one report that said that the police drones could have contributed to over 80% of the sightings and as you say maybe even 100%. At £64K each, one would assume, (especially an electronic nerd like myself) that each police drone would have tech on board such as an ID transponder that could be picked up by airport radar. I.E. spot the goodies from the baddies or am I being too naive here? I know that top end civilian drones have GPS transponders so that they can be located if the user flies it out of range or loses it some other way.

Every mobile phone has GPS and orientation sense and many have altitude sensors as well, (my Motorola does), oh and they all have a unique MAC address. Surely with tech so cheap to manufacture an ID transponder should be an easy addition?

[Tizer]

I read a few days ago in a weird website (which I will spare you sight of), that in fact Sussex Police had been flying drones themselves over Gatwick. Surely not I thought, but googled and found that they do in fact have quite a few drones.

I heard on radio news that the police were flying their own drones over Gatwick but I assumed this was only a reference to the period when Gatwick was closed to airliners and the police were using their drones to look for the baddy drone(s).

Something a bit bigger than drones...
`Found: The plane wreck that could solve a 50-year-old mystery' LINK

[Tripps]

From memory - I heard no mention of 'good' Police drones, when the crisis was at its peak. Just reports that there had been many sightings (50 - 60? ) of a drone / drones, including a report that one was taunting the ATC Tower, by approaching it switching on its lights then scarpering.

It's an offence to fly a drone within 1 km of an airfield at any time I think - unless there is a dispensation for 'good' drones. The Police website says they comply with the law at all times. Perhaps it's like emergency service vehicles going through red traffic lights, which I find they are allowed to treat as 'give way' signs in an emergency situation.

I still think there is a lot more to this than meets the eye.

Really should get out more.

[Stanley]

"I still think there is a lot more to this than meets the eye. "
I agree with you David. The chief constable of Sussex got a severe grilling on Today and was quite obviously on the defensive.
It's the time of year for reviewing the past year and predicting the future. Amazing how many commentators out there know exactly where May went wrong. Funny thing is I haven't heard anyone mentioning Cameron's role in the genesis of the catastrophe or the wider effects in terms of international cooperation.
We can't even find a border patrol cutter fit to go to sea amongst the three tied up in dock and yet we still talk about 'punching above our weight'. I'm afraid we are not going to be at 'the top table' for much longer. The Emperor has no clothes! (That's one of my predictions.....)

[plaques]

Funny thing is I haven't heard anyone mentioning Cameron's role in the genesis of the catastrophe

Just finished a book on Cameron's term as Prime Minister during the coalition period. The general theme was that throughout this period the rightwing faction of the Tories were bent on kicking him out. He was therefore always in a defensive position fighting off the wolves. In the book he came out as a Europhile and with Merkel's help he thought he would would have a good argument for stopping in. He was more than naive in thinking that he could win this argument against the tide of opinion that was against him. Ref: the £350M per week to the NHS. Basically you can say he kept his position against all that were working against him but ultimately he was out maneuvered and had to resign.

[Tizer]

I still think there is a lot more to this than meets the eye.

Perhaps the sightings were really of UFOs!

By the way, have you noticed that while all this Gatwick drone stuff has been occupying the press, the airport has been sold to the French?

[Tripps]

the airport has been sold to the French?

Yes - seems it was cheap to them - due to the fall in he value of the pound.

The scurrilous site said that the police drones were using facial recognition technology. Is it conceivable that all the sightings were of police drones, and that in their enthusiasm for the new project, they simply forgot it was illegal to fly in an airport.

I doubt it - but don't worry - Brexit will reach a crescendo soon, and we''l forget all about drones.

[Tizer]

Airports ought to engage the help of the local plane spotters and ask them to spot drones instead of shooing them away. If that Leicester spotter could photograph and identify Air Force One flying at 35,000 feet he could probably beat the police at spotting drones!

[Stanley]

What struck me yesterday was that every time we launch a space probe we run the risk of hitting space junk. Same situation as running an airport with a drone in the air.
The silly buggers letting off very loud explosive fireworks at midnight when Jack and I had been asleep for two and a half hours already. Luckily we both went straight back to sleep.
The fact that I have survived another year, I used to be convinced that I would die when I was 42, don't ask me why..... In February on St Valentines Day I shall double that. How wrong can premonitions be? The secret is good grub, good sleep and moderation. One day at a time!

[Stanley]

I've posted this on Pennine Weather but can someone put it on Facebook? Please post that a stray dog was seen on Town Green this morning at 05:30. Too dark to identify it but the impression I got was of a Bedlington/Spaniel cross? It was frightened, wouldn't come to me and when I whistled it ran away. Very likely frightened by fireworks last night? Someone is worrying about it somewhere.

[Wendyf]

I've posted it on a Missing & Found pets in Pendle Facebook page but I'm not a member of the local chat groups.