WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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Quote ..'6. Pendle: 4.5 per cent of the population have points on their licences - a total of 4,078 points! According to the DVLA, Pendle has 2,923 drivers with three points, 833 with six, and 15 with 12, which usually results in a ban from the roads.'
At number six position and the number of 'speed traps' lurking round corners I didn't think this was too bad then up jumps the hooligan who nearly wipes you out and you begin to think otherwise.
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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BBC photo competition...
`Your pictures on the theme of 'opposites' LINK

They've finally noticed it's dangerous...
`MPs want halt to smart motorway rollout over safety concerns' LINK
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

Post by Stanley »

Two nice links....
The second on ALR motorways shows how crazy it is to give up the hard shoulder refuge just to pander to a few motorists who are being slowed up by congestion. If DafT are right in their arguments, what's the point of ever having hard shoulders? It's just a cheap way of getting more capacity out of already crowded roads. The country is car mad.....
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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The 15-year-old Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, who went on strike from school shamed the 190 countries represented at the United Nations COP24 conference in Poland last week. This is her speech to them...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 15 years old. I am from Sweden. I speak on behalf of Climate Justice Now. Many people say that Sweden is just a small country and it doesn't matter what we do. But I've learned you are never too small to make a difference.
And if a few children can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school, then imagine what we could all do together if we really wanted to. But to do that, we have to speak clearly, no matter how uncomfortable that may be.

You only speak of green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake.
You are not mature enough to tell it like is. Even that burden you leave to us children. But I don't care about being popular. I care about climate justice and the living planet.

Our civilization is being sacrificed for the opportunity of a very small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money. Our biosphere is being sacrificed so that rich people in countries like mine can live in luxury. It is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few.

The year 2078, I will celebrate my 75th birthday. If I have children maybe they will spend that day with me. Maybe they will ask me about you. Maybe they will ask why you didn't do anything while there still was time to act. You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.

Until you start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible, there is no hope. We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. We need to keep the fossil fuels in the ground, and we need to focus on equity. And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find, maybe we should change the system itself.

We have not come here to beg world leaders to care. You have ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again. We have run out of excuses and we are running out of time.

We have come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people.
Thank you.
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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Just been notified that my passport is ready for collection at the Visa Application Centre in Guangzhou just 12 days after I submitted my renewal application there. The passport itself is produced in Liverpool and returned to China. Great service by HMPO. :good:
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

Post by Stanley »

Tiz, "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings....." Give that lass an A Star!
China, that's impressive.... I suspect that's faster than the process for us.
See THIS report on Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech to mark 40 years of participation in the market. He makes more sense than Trump!
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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Stanley wrote: 18 Dec 2018, 05:01 China, that's impressive.... I suspect that's faster than the process for us.
I did mine online and it was delivered within a week, just did the same for my driving licenceand that was even quicker :-)
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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:good:
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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There's more being reported today on this news from last Friday:
`Plan for food waste to be separated' LINK
`All households in England may be given a separate caddy for food waste, under plans to be announced next week. Ministers are backing the idea, but will offer it for consultation before any changes happen. The scheme would reduce greenhouse gases from landfill, but could lead to less frequent collections of general household waste. Some councils will oppose the policy unless they are given extra funds to carry out the scheme. At the moment, only around 35% of households in England are obliged to put food waste in its own caddy. That compares with 56% in Scotland and 100% in Wales. The figures exclude food waste mixed with garden waste. While the new rule would force councils to offer separate food caddies, people would not be obliged to use them...'

I was puzzled when I saw the news article. I'd assumed that every householder in Britain was now separating their domestic food waste from the non-food waste for council collections. We've been obliged to do it here for something like 20 years, and so have our relatives in south-east England. I'm shocked that 65% of England isn't doing it. Food waste being put into landfill is bonkers. As the article says: `Unwanted food that goes into a general bin rots in landfill and creates methane - a powerful greenhouse gas. When waste food is collected separately, it can be put into an anaerobic digester - a tank in which the food breaks down into sludge, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane, which can be used for generating energy or running a vehicle. The residual sludge is used as a soil fertiliser.' Methane is 21 times worse than CO2 for warming the climate. We'll never stop climate change if we're as backward as this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now for something different!
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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This isn't what you expect on the ferry from Ireland to Scotland!
`Lorries toppled after 'big dip' on Larne to Cairnryan ferry' LINK
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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A few years ago the Council issued us with caddies and bags and put a separate food waste collection in place. It proved so expensive it had to be abandoned. I still have the equipment in the back yard. The key may be for the government to finance the scheme including installing the digesters and the organisation and that will be a massive expense. On past evidence, don't hold your breath! This policy aspiration has obviously been drawn up on the back of a fag packet over a slack weekend to give the impression of executive action.
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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With so much stuff being bought at this time of year it's good to know your rights for returning items...
`Revealed: Shoppers given WRONG sale return rights info by 10 online stores' LINK
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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What many shoppers don't remember when they have a complaint is the magic phrase; 'Not of marketable quality'. This legal term has a wonderful effect if coupled with the other magic name 'Trading Standards'. Try it!
What grabbed me was six mince pies and a Xmas Card on the window cill in the back yard. My friend Julie had sent Phil up with them but I mustn't have heard him knocking on the door last night after I had retreated to the TV in the front room. (She bakes wonderful mince pies!)
I've just had one with my coffee. A forbidden treat!
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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Stanley wrote: 20 Dec 2018, 04:22 What many shoppers don't remember when they have a complaint is the magic phrase; 'Not of marketable quality'.
`Not fit for purpose' seems to be the phrase now used in the regulations.

Why is it that we seem to have so many problems when simply trying to buy an item? Mrs Tiz ordered a `Double Size' electric blanket from John Lewis. It arrived yesterday but when we stripped off the outer wrapping and looked at the zipped up plastic bag it had `King Size' on the front; turned it over and it said `Double Size on the back! Phoned JL and they didn't believe us at first. Then they gave the OK for us to break the seal, open the bag and measure it - it was King Size. We have to return it; it's no use to us because it's a fitted type and far too big. They won't collect so we have to make a journey to the PO to send it off. Then we have to wait for them to see it and then refund us.

I've since searched around for somewhere else to buy it. It's for sale in plenty of places but when you try to buy the Double Size of the type we want they all say out of stock. I assume they've run into problems with the confused labelling. I've written to the manufacturer to ask them what's going on and when will it be available again in the correct size. Whoever produced the fancy printed zipped bags must have done a batch with the mixed up labelling. Someone's going to be embarrassed! :smile:

Later...A reply from the manufacturer:
`We are sorry that you have had an unfortunate experience. New stock will be available in the New Year.'
No mention of the problem itself. Notice the way that businesses respond these days - they're sorry I've `had an unfortunate experience' and not `We are sorry that we have caused you an unfortunate experience'. It's another of today's business mantras - never admit liability.

I also fired off a message to Argos asking them why their web page for the Double Size of the blanket shows an image of the pack with King Size written on the front. I'm guessing that if they turn the pack around they'll find Double Size written on the back! :smile:
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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The crazy situation in this day and age because of drone flying around an airport perimeter, total lock down of the airport, understandable but totally unnecessary.

First of all, technology could be built into the drone to make it impossible to fly near an airport but the downer is that the functionality could be turned off. Better still, just erect an RF blocking ring around the perimeter or the 1K demarcation boundary as per current regulations. Easily achievable with a bit of pole mounted jamming technology, drones on approach would simply fall out of the air.

A lot simpler than shooting them down with lasers or using birds of prey to hunt them or indeed another drone to capture them in a net. The last one kind of defeats the object somewhat.
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A drone expert on the radio said, as you did, that things could be built into the drones but could be turned off by those in the know, and that much of what could be done would simply make another danger for the aircraft. He did say there are ways of determining the location of the drone `pilot' but the authorities aren't yet geared up to do it (`getting all your ducks in a row' comes to mind!). A commercial pilot said the 1K boundary is far too little and it needs to be at least 5K.

There was a photo in the news yesterday of a delivery robot/drone lying on the pavement in the US after bursting into flames.
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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Big Kev posted a great photo on his Facebook page today of a Mercedes with the reg number CR15 REA which of course makes you think of the singer Chris Rea and his wonderful Xmas song " Driving Home For Xmas", which I love. Unfortunately it is forever associated in my mind with the Lockerbie disaster which happened 30 years ago at the same time as the song was first released.
We were living in Scotland at the time and drove up and down the A74 regularly, I spent a lot of time in the Lockerbie area and knew it well......the thought of people driving home for Christmas on a familiar road and being faced with a burning plane crashing into them didn't bear thinking about. Great song, awful event.
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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I've been humming that song all day :-)
Can't believe it's 30 years old, I remember the news flash interrupting a film on tv to report on Lockerbie. A shocking event...
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

Post by Stanley »

Tiz, when you think of all that could go wrong it's amazing when the system works! Hope you get it soon!
The song I always associate with Mercedes is 'Lord why don't you give me a Mercedes Benz, my friends all ride Porsches....'
The thing that grabbed me was a totally unexpected letter from Bosom Friends, out local cancer charity. I have a thank you letter to write and Ian will be hearing from me privately! I always said that unexpected gifts are the best!
The drone at Gatwick. Will all terrorists be taking note?
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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Stanley wrote: 21 Dec 2018, 03:30 The drone at Gatwick. Will all terrorists be taking note?
Indeed Stanley.
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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PanBiker wrote: 20 Dec 2018, 14:32 Better still, just erect an RF blocking ring around the perimeter
They say the perimeter is about 10 miles around so that would take quite a lot of effort, and a long time? It surely would need to be done at all major airports.

Various 'experts' have been commenting this morning on potential solutions for this situation.

First and perhaps most significant - a guy who runs a company which deals with the problems caused by drones said the operation seems very sophisticated, and the fact that there has been no interruptions to the radio control link by now, might indicate that there isn't one. He said it was quite possible to pre- program, and build in, a flight path for the device - I guess that means for a series of devices, since everyone seems to agree that the batteries only last for 20 - 30 minutes.

Someone else said that the frequency used (2.4 GHz) is also that used for WiFi, so any jamming would kill all the wifi on the airport as well. Check it out here Frequencies. I still don't know if that's true or not.

The guy that suggested getting all licensed shotgun owners from miles around to go to Gatwick, and shoot them down, deserves some sort of an award.

The interview with the Police Commander on the ground was toe curling. He got the full NIck Ferrari 'take no prisoners' treatment. I felt sorry for him. He could not admit that this was the first time hey had to deal with such a situation, and in fact they hadn't much of a clue what to do.

Here's a nice conspiracy theory - This was just a dry run to show what 'they' could do, as and when 'they' pleased. Perhaps the money to avoid it being repeated at London Heathrow is already being prepared. (In Bitcoin of course).

I think this will be solved by use of Human Intelligence.
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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Just googled a random selection of civilian drones ranging from £150 - £2K. A lot of them do not use what you would class as a dedicated transmitter. They use a bog standard mobile phone, Android or IOS and just ad joystick control to the device. The phone doubles up as a "pilots eye" viewing device, very cunning and I feel that the manufacturers (mainly China) have concocted what is in effect a perfect storm device.

There was a guy on the news last night that had a tracking system that would show active drones plotted on a map. Could be MAC address or IP maybe or a combination. Did not go into detail regarding range, I wonder if state of the art radar could be used to locate and track? All airports have that so maybe an avenue to investigate.
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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I know little about these drone matters but I do know the military in California and UK operate drones on the other side of the world. Those are very sophisticated, I know, but could it be possible that a smaller drone could be `piloted' from a distant country? Russia? China? You'd just need someone here in the UK and close enough to the airport to let it loose, so to speak, and the rest could be done from afar. I wonder when we'll see drones controlling other drones and thus making it harder to trace their launch site, pilots and ownership? There is so much that terrorists or belligerent other nations could do cause great harm to our people and our economy, we should be thankful that so far they haven't shown much imagination. I can think of plenty of ways they could easily cause mayhem. It always comes down to a balance between ensuring security and allowing us to live a `normal' life. Time to get out the Christmas sherry bottle, I think! :smile:
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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Tiz. Remember Watergate when Deep Throat said "Follow the money...."? I have always been puzzled as to why terrorists seem to be fixated on taking human life. The Gatwick affair illustrates that it's far easier to 'go for the money'. There are many more points in our modern infrastructure that are equally vulnerable. Is someone using their head and pointing the way?
Breaking news at 05:00 that two men have been arrested in connection with the drone attack at Gatwick.
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Re: WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

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Lord Somebody has demanded that manufacturers should have to fit all drones with a device that could be used by the authorities to bring them down. A drone expert has pointed out it wouldn't prevent drone attacks - anybody can go to a shop, buy the bits and make his/her drone to their own specification. Perhaps politicians should ask experts before pontificating? :smile:
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