WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Sunray10]

Teresa May getting heckled at the Police Ferederation AGM. Delegates saying what they think to her 20 percent cutbacks in policing. You should have seen Ms Mays face.

[Stanley]

I saw that as well Ray. But what else did she expect? One wonders how many enemies a government can make and still function.
Private Eye (4th May) printed yet another article in their five year campaign to support the team who were trying to obtain the release of Sam Hallam, gaoled in 2005 for murder on what they claim was defective evidence. Nice to see that Sam was released yesterday on police bail and the prosecution stated that they were not going to press for his conviction to be upheld. Looks as though common sense has at last prevailed. Good and well done all round but what about the seven years of his life he has lost?

[Stanley]

A fishing boat with three crew members missing off the South Coast. The price of fish....
Face-book shares valued at 100x earnings when usual ratio is between 10x and 15x. Could it be that when the price rises tomorrow as small investors pile in many of the shares bought at $38 will be sold at a p[rofit and then the share price drops as the company fails to live up to profit expectations? Sounds familiar?

[Tardis]

The amount of rubbish in the car park adjacent to the Co-op, which belongs to Pendle

[Tizer]

It's bizarre when you hear about people piling into Facebook shares while at the same time banks are failing and other big businesses are finding life difficult. Something has gone wrong with our ideas of what is valuable.

[Stanley]

A parallel thought Peter.... Will the MPs be popping off for the summer holidays? Which will be more important, Euro melt-down or a month abroad.... Priorities?
The three fishermen. One body recovered and an object the same size as the boat has been found on the sea bed.
How much better Valley Gardens looks without the fences and the dog grids.

[Tizer]

It's bizarre when you hear about people piling into Facebook shares while at the same time banks are failing and other big businesses are finding life difficult. Something has gone wrong with our ideas of what is valuable.

I'm quoting myself here because another, related, thought came to mind. The way banks work, handling `our money', is really all based on trust and sentiment, they don't have our money sitting there in a vault, or gold bars - it's all virtual, electrons whizzing about on computer disks and up & down cables, or it's via radio waves. So the truth dawned upon me this morning - we should let Google and Facebook run the banks! Instead of bothering with economics and fiscal this & that, they can create money for us just by pressing keys on their computers. Bingo! We won't even need to put money into our accounts, they can do it for us. We could use Greece as a trial, and if it works move on to Spain (or vice versa if necessary). Just think what we've been missing, these bankers have been conning us for centuries, nay millenia, and now we can see through them at last. Likewise the central banks and the ratings agencies, we can get rid of the lot!

[Tardis]

Fences and grids were removed from Valley gardens through action of the West Craven Disability Forum (Glenn and Jenny set it up) and came as a direct result of wheelchair users finding it difficult to get across the grids. I believe that Pendle had to check with the Friends of Valley gardens before they carried out the work, but well done to all for recognising the issues raised

[Stanley]

Tiz, the strange thing is that your scenario is just as credible as the activities of the casino banks. My mate Karl Marx identified the problem of 'phantom money' in Das Kapital in the mid 19th century. Quantitative Easing is the concrete evidence that this funny money exists, if you haven't got enough just print some more! This is of course diametrically opposite to genuine wealth created by taking raw materials, working on them and adding value. Which is of course what the advocates of growth as the credible way out of the crisis are arguing. As my mate Newton said all those years ago "There aren't enough people making things". He was not an economist, just a practical man who saw right through the problem.
The wreck on the sea-bed 200 feet down has been identified as the Isle of Purbeck. The skipper's body has been found but the search for the two younger crew members has been abandoned because the under-sea camera revealed that the life raft hadn't been deployed. Those poor lads dying slowly in a cruel sea. Worth thinking about as you sit by the fireside with your fish and chips.
You could also think about the last South Pacific episode last night which concentrated on over-fishing. Puts an entirely different slant on the Tuna sandwich.....

[Stanley]

Rang an old mate who I haven't talked to for a couple of years and found that he had been struck down by an obscure disease that destroys your nerves about 18 months ago. He survived and is improved but in a wheelchair and in a continuing care facility in Rochdale. He's only 67 and it was such a shock. I've made arrangements to get to talk to him when it's appropriate. He was such a good man for me when I was doing Ellenroad, it's NOT FAIR!!!

[Kingsley]

Well done Blackpool, a great effort.

[Tizer]

An article in The Times reminds us that Greece owes 104 billion euros to the European Central Bank after having been given all that money to prop up its banking system...and then it states that much of that borrowed money has now been withdrawn from Greek banks by account holders and moved out of the country for safety. A lot has gone into German banks, for example. So the ECB lent money to Greece to stabilise the country but it's been drained out by Greeks, not surprisingly, wanting to secure their savings! The article is pessimistic about the Eurozone situation and predicts that the outcome will be decided not by the actions of the Greek government but by the actions of Greek people deciding to continue withdrawing their money from their banks.

[Nolic]

A director of a company for whom I am doing some work commented today that she found my reports clear, succinct and yet comprehensive. My response was " Words are precious and I try not to waste them".
I don't know who was most impressed with this her or me as I've no idea how it got into my head. Anyone any idea where I might have picked it up? Nolic

[Tizer]

Perhaps from Moh's lovely signature: "Say only a little but say it well."

[Stanley]

I thought of that as well Tiz... No doubt that contributing to OG is good practice and it doesn't surprise me at all that you came out with an apposite and accurate reply. The chairman of Littlewoods once said that my report on Dee Mill was the best he had ever seen. My suspicion at the time was that it wasn't because mine was great, just that it was better than the usual ones he got. Good succinct report writing is an art and very thin on the ground these days.
The latest attack on experiments with GM wheat reinforces the blind antagonism of dinosaurs to the stark reality of today's world food needs. The GM genie is out of the bottle and responsible experiments by well-supervised scientists should be the logical way forward to improvements. The worst form of NYMBYISM.

[Tizer]

Well-written reports and instruction manuals, and the people who can write them, are becoming very thin on the ground. Unfortunately, many companies and other organisations no longer can see the value in good writing (and in paying for it), otherwise folk like us would be doing very well thank you!

[Stanley]

I've only ever found one book dedicated to report writing; 'The Modern Researcher' by Barzun and Graff. Well worth reading even though it was first published in 1957. Mine is the third edition, 1977.
The thing that grabbed me was that we had warm weather at last!

[Tizer]

A gentle reminder to anyone with a workshop (i.e. shed!)....make sure it's well-ventilated and you wear a mask if doing anything very dusty. One of Mrs Tiz's relatives in Canada has had to go for a battery of tests because he was coughing and spluttering badly all the time and they feared lung cancer. He's just been to the doc for his results and was told it's not cancer but he needs to ventilate his workshop better! He does a lot of carpentry and should really know better, but we're all prone to taking shortcuts, I guess...until it catches up with us and then you get a serious fright.

[Tardis]

Was only half awake this morning when liver fluke has intimated involvement in Bovine TB. Didn't hear the specifics

Wonder if that is the same type of liver fluke that may or may not be in the valley gardens Watercress?

[Tizer]

Tardis, thanks for mentioning that, I hadn't seen the bovine TB/liver fluke story. I've put a link and some details here:
http://www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/view ... =75#p17282

[Stanley]

Tiz. You are right about wood dust and of course the dust from the new composites is much worse as it contains formaldehyde. I once talked to lady who had been turned on to lathework by Johnny Pickles and for years enjoyed wood-turning on the Myford Lathe her father bought her but had to stop in later life because the hardwood dust was irritating her lungs. Same thing applies to floor-sanding as well, very dangerous dust and unlike stone dust from cutting wheels can have an aggressive chemical content and attacks the lungs more quickly.
What grabbed me yesterday was the number of tattoos revealed by the ladies as they moved into summer gear. I don't think I've ever seen as many and one lady in particular had a right leg completely covered by a large tattoo, I suppose it's a personal thing but I have to say it didn't do anything for me! Are they more common these days?

[EileenDavid]

The big blue Brittany Sky wonderful Eileen

[PanBiker]

Two parlours in Barlick now Stanley, there must be mileage somewhere. Perceived fashion and what constitutes "the body beautiful" is a strange thing isn't it?

[Tizer]

I wonder if tattoos reduce vitamin D synthesis by blocking out sunlight?

[Tardis]

I am assured by a Pendle operative whom I contacted that the car park next to the Co-op is litter picked everyday.

I said the evidence was somewhat contrary, but note that it looks like the paths have now been swept at least.