WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tardis]

The number of people asking me what the itineray for the square was

I didn't keep a copy from the council meetings

[Big Kev]

The number of people asking me what the itineray for the square was

I didn't keep a copy from the council meetings

If it's the itinerary for this weekend there are details on the visit Barnoldswick website http://www.visitbarnoldswick.co.uk/even ... eventid=34

[Tardis]

yes, generally the questions were coming from those without t'internet

[Stanley]

I missed Barlick Bells on Sunday because I wasn't up in time! Most unusual for me.....

[Tripps]

I didn't - it was at 5.43 am, and I was dozing when I heard the name St Mary le Ghyll Barnoldswick. I've recently had a hip replacement operation and must still sleep on my back. Consequently there's not much sleeping being done at the moment. I'm not a much of a fan of bells, but this peal was mercifully brief, and actually, I thought it had quite a nice tone.

[Stanley]

Good luck with the hip, didn't know you'd had it done. I suspect I might be heading the same way. Old age isn't for cissies!

[Nolic]

Good luck with the hip Tripps. Nolic

[PanBiker]

Yes, good luck with the recovery Tripps. Mobility as soon as possible is the key to success (according to my dad anyway). He had both of his done and both knees. He booked himself a job in the hospital pushing the early morning tea trolley each time he was admitted for his ops. He used to push the trolley around with his drain bottle on the bottom shelf. He was discharged after 48 hours after his second hip was done and he cycled the 9 miles to Skipton from Barlick for his first outpatients appointment 10 days later and then came home on the bike as well! I did follow him in the car from a discreet distance expecting to have to scrape him up out of the road though! Giving up was not an option for my dad, typical of the generation. It should make a vast difference to you once you have mended up.

[Tizer]

I wondered why you were so quiet Tripps! I hope you're back on your feet quickly and enjoy being bionic.

[Stanley]

I watched some of the coverage of the ships on the Thames and was struck by the poor research. The presenters had very little knowledge of the craft, to the extent that at one point they told the viewers that HMS Belfast displaced 91,000 tons. They later reduced it to 14,000 and then eventually one of her old crew put them right at about 11,000 tons. Highlights were seeing Tower Bridge fully opened and the impeccable way the royal ship was inched sideways into the jetty at the stone frigate. I think if you analysed the input of the presenters about a third was comments on the rain.... Most used adjective was 'soggy'. I think the use of that word is changing... LINK

[Stanley]

Transit of Venus on Wednesday but doubtful if anyone will see it direct. (LINK)

[Tripps]

Thanks for the good wishes gents, much appreciated. I winced just reading about your dad Ian !

[Thomo]

Best wishes from here as well Tripps. Stanley was right about the river pageant, the stars of the show were supposed to be the vessels, we saw much more of the presenters and we did not need to be reminded about the weather, it was obvious. We could hear the old steam boats but saw little of them and the Tall Ships were at great distance. Kate looked stunning, if Williams heart doesn't skip a beat every time he sees her, then there is something amiss, Harry looked as cheeky as ever and her Majesty looked frozen. Saw Colin Brittain "Whitby Colin" on coast later amid good coverage of the Rohilla tradgedy. This county's own Alan Titchmarsh is proving to be a very able presenter, he appeared again last night with "All the Queens horses" another very good performance, he has come a long way from the park gardens of Ilkley. The troupes of horses and riders were all first class and those from the middle East showed a side of their culture that sadly we do not see often enough.

[Tizer]

I don't know if we've had this Scottish propeller powered monorail on here before. I've put several links here because they all have photos and other images...
http://www.gearwheelsmag.co.uk/archive/ ... ure_13.htm
http://io9.com/5915280/this-propeller+p ... n-to-paris
http://dewi.ca/trains/bennie/car.html
http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/vie ... 9&start=30

[PanBiker]

I missed Coast last night we had family round. Must have a look for it on the BBC player.

Trips, my dad had a very good relationship with the orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital. So much so that he could see dad was fascinated by the whole experience and invited him to the viewing theatre along with the junior doctors to watch a hip replacement being performed the day before his operation. When I went along that night he told me he could now fully understand why you were so sore in the aftermath. Apparently they "park" your leg by you shoulder for inserting the new ball joint which does involve rather a large hammer and the equivalent of a surgical torque wrench!

[Thomo]

If you don't find it Ian you are welcome to come down and see it here, I have it recorded on BT Vision box.

[PanBiker]

Thanks Peter but it shouldn't be a problem. Not sure if Coast isn't repeated through the week anyway. I'll have a look on the Sky planner.

[Stanley]

Best coverage I've ever seen of the Rohilla wreck. The rest of the programme was good as well but I wish someone would take Nick Crane on one side and tell him that talking slowly and portentously doesn't make him sound any better!

[EileenDavid]

Soggy bunting and flags. Good luck with the hip replacement Tripps I wish you a speedy recovery. Do they still play music to you when the ops being done. My mum was in orthapedic for 6 months following a bad traffic accident and the lady in the next bed was having a hip replacement and was choosing what she wanted to listen too whilst having the op under a local. Eileen

[Tizer]

More on the Scottish prop-driven railplane...here's a brief video of it in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ijLwFbu50M

[Stanley]

A US drone kills another 'terrorist' in the border regions of Pakistan. (and anyone else who happened to be near) Computer games in the real world. A form of 'terrorism' in itself? We live in a strange old world.....

[Tardis]

Someone over there, wrote some verse about here:

http://1emeraldcity.wordpress.com/2011/ ... ik-a-poem/

Found via twitter

[Tizer]

More cases of Legionnaire's Disease in Edinburgh and the possibility that it's due to "a contaminated cloud being emitted from a cooling tower in the south west of the city." I wouldn't like to be someone in Edinburgh suffering from cold symptoms or a headache this week, you'd be bound to wonder what you've got. I do wonder if this incident would have gone unnoticed, with people being given other diagnoses, if it hadn't been for another species of the Legionella bacterium getting into the news in recent weeks in Scotland. `Legionella longbeachae' is well known in Australia for causing illness among people handling dry potting compost and all compost sold there has to carry a warning notice. Recently this strain of Legionella has been blamed for some illnesses in Scotland, so the issue of Legionella in general has been boosted in Scotland, perhaps luckily for some of those people affected by the Edinburgh problem.

Also "Social networking website LinkedIn is investigating claims that over six million of its users' passwords have been leaked onto the Internet." LinkedIn claims to have about 150 million users worldwide and it seems to feature a relatively high proportion of older and professional people, it isn't just teenagers talking about the latest pop music but there are people running businesses networking through it.

[Stanley]

Legionella is a funny little beastie. I first came across it when Newton Pickles was diagnosed with it in the 70s and the cause was put down to his experience when he was almost drowned in the well at Whitemoor Waterworks. I looked into it further because I was dealing with water and the public and found that by far the most common source was cooling towers where non-potable water was used over and over again as it ran down the cooling fins under a strong blast of air caused by fans or in the case of very large towers like those used at power stations to cool condenser water, by convection in very large towers. That's the 'steam' you see coming out of them (not steam of course, it's a cloud of water vapour). Almost all large buildings have cooling towers for the cooling water used in the air conditioning systems. The cure is so simple, inject hypochlorite or a similar germicide into the water reservoir of the cooling tower. Funnily enough, this was one of the modifications I recommended to the Science Museum when Michael Wright was consulting me on the Siberia engine. It sounds as though someone has either ignored the risk or not monitored germicide levels in the cooling water.
On another water-related matter. How fortuitous that after 'two month's exceptional rain' the southern water companies supplying London have forecast that the drought order in force for their region can be lifted. Just in time for the Olympics! Funny thing is that when the orders were introduced we were assured by the water engineers that it would take many months of rain to get ground and river water levels back up to a safe level. Now they tell us that the aquifers and rivers have recovered. It's a miracle! They can scale down spending money on long-term alleviation of water shortages now.....
At the same time the Association of Water Engineers tell us that everyone should have a water meter and use grey water for car-washing and garden watering....
Just heard a quote from Prof. Hugh Pennington describing the infection as a failure of maintenance and saying that the danger was over because the towers had been given 'a chemical shock'. Most likely chucking a few gallons of hypochlorite in the water to kill the bugs. Talk of investigations and compensation. The lawyers will be delighted! Question is what caused the failure in maintenance, cost-cutting or ignorance? I'd guess at simple incompetence being at the root of the matter.

[Tizer]

Are the cooling towers they are referring to in Edinburgh going to be for air conditioning buildings? I suppose they have to be `open', evaporative systems because they are working at relatively low temperatures compared with industrial coolers which might be cooling from very high temperatures and which can be closed systems like a car radiator.