Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

But now a question - what accent does Tony's car have when reading out the texts - is it traditional Solihull or something a step up market to suit the company's current image?

It isn’t a robotic sounding voice. Female BBC newsreader. No particular regional accent.  
I am not sure that the citizens of Solihull would ever accept that there are more up market accents. After all they have a John Lewis. If my Range Rover had an accent based on where it was built it would be Liverpudlian. 

[J. S. Bach]

Deleted as inappropriate.

Edited December 3, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[iL Dottore]

Evening All,

A very busy day at work today, I have about 20 minutes to enjoy myself in before I go back to work for a one hour teleconference lasting from 9 to 10 pm. Such is life.

 

One thing that has puzzled me, is there has been absolutely no mention on Wheeltappers about the MHRA approval of the Pfizer vaccine. One would have thought that an announcement of this magnitude would’ve been commented on. Perhaps AY is afraid that such a thread might disintegrate into an emotionally charged and highly divisive discussion.

 

A number of colleagues from my consulting group have been volunteers in the Pfizer vaccine trial. One thing Pzizer is being quiet about is that yes, recipients do have adverse events. The safety data shows that the adverse events are mostly graded mild to moderate (Grade 1 or 2 on the CTCAE grading system) are self limiting and generally resolve within 24 to 48 hours after inoculation. Amongst the most frequently encountered AEs are pain at the injection site. nausea and fatigue (so not much different to a standard flu vaccine).  The other thing that is not being emphasised in the media reports (at least in my view) is that it is a two-part vaccine. You have two inoculations 21 days apart (this is to do with how the vaccine stimulates the immune system). And a very real fear is that people, because of the adverse events experienced after the first inoculation, will not go back and get the second part. Quite frankly, I can put up with having a sore arm and feeling like sh1t for a day or so, twice, than come down with the organ destroying complications of COVID-19.

 

Onto other medically related topics: I’m glad to see ChrisF has survived his CT scan. Given that my traitorous DNA has given me quite a few joint problems over the years, I have experienced (on both sides of the stethoscope, so to speak)  the whole gamut of investigative procedures: CT, MRI, x-ray, PET-CT and so on. CTs (or to give them their full name Computerised Axial Tomography - hence the old abbreviation: CAT scan) are pretty boring, unless you get injected with a contrast medium which makes things rather surreal and you feel like you are on an LSD trip; MRIs (a.k.a. Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is being bored in a very narrow space as a very loud banging takes place near your ears, x-rays? Really ho-hum, but at least nowadays with the digital x-rays you don’t have to wait around half naked for them to develop the film and find out that they’ve x-rayed the wrong part of your body (or worse, you spent five minutes in an uncomfortable position and then breathed out at exactly the wrong moment); PET-CT is interesting and has to take place in a very specialised unit, because the PET part of the PET-CT stands for Positron Emission Tomography - which means that you have to take a radioactive tracer. Arthroscopies are fun, mainly because you get more than adequate analgesia and, if your surgeon likes teaching (and most do like showing off their knowledge), you can get to watch the whole procedure on the monitor.

 

Apparently, at least in terms of undergoing investigative and certain other procedures, I am quite the model patient: I come in, get ready, receive the appropriate ingestible/injectable/inhalable substances and then lie back and enjoy the process (in fact, I have been known to doze off during dental surgery or during an arthroscopy under local anaesthesia).

 

Gods, I love modern medicine!

 

And on that cheery note, I bid you a good evening and I am off back to work for an hour’s T/C

 

iD

Edited December 3, 2020 by iL Dottore
Typo

[J. S. Bach]

In reference to iD's comments above, I had a bone density scan a while back; the device reminded me very much of a radial arm saw!

[Tony_S]

38 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 The other thing that is not being emphasised in the media reports (at least in my view) is that it is a two-part vaccine.

Plenty of media coverage here about it being a two part vaccine. Also about most common side effects being sore injection site, headache, nausea and some fatigue. 
Main Covid discussion point on today’s media  is the US and EU authorities criticising the UK approval process. 

 

[Tony_S]

45 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

CAT scan) are pretty boring, unless you get injected with a contrast medium which makes things rather surreal and you feel like you are on an LSD trip;

You must have different stuff in Switzerland. When the contrast medium here goes in you get a warning you may think you have wet yourself , although you haven’t.  

[PeterBB]

15 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Plenty of media coverage here about it being a two part vaccine. Also about most common side effects being sore injection site, headache, nausea and some fatigue. 
Main Covid discussion point on today’s media  is the US and EU authorities criticising the UK approval process. 

 

How on earth could the EU criticise the UK when ,until now, the European source for testing was the UK approval process.  The US is presumably  a 'trumped-up' charge.

[southern42]

On 01/12/2020 at 08:10, southern42 said:

' morning all from red dragon land.

snip...

 

Advent Calendars at the ready. We have not yet decided what time of day or night we shall be opening the windows and having a chocolate. His chocs are hearts, mine are creatures...I will update on that later...

 

snip...

 

 

Two Advent calendars.  Both the same scene but different renderings...so I know which one is mine!  

His...with a short fact on the Christmas Story , a heart-shaped chocolate, and a country flag (UK on day 1 and France on day 2) behind each window.

 

 

Hers... with an animal fact and a different animal behind each window, only the animal does not tally with the creature for that window!    Hey, Ho ho ho. No matter...they are small but simply delicious! I savour it until it melts away.  Today's creature story is a squirrel who's forgotten-about acorns are grow into oak trees!  The chocolate is a duck or is it a Christmas Goose  (The Muppets' Christmas Carol)?

 

 

 

 The choccy Duck

 

 

The Christmas cards of my take of the film 'Snow (1963)' - Waiting for the Train (1962) and told as a carton strip - arrived this afternoon,  Definitely glad I chose the gloss finish rather than the matt.  All I have to do now is sort out who is to get them, write on them, address the envelopes, and post them. Aaaaaghhhhh!

 

Back later........I maybe some time.

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

It isn’t a robotic sounding voice. Female BBC newsreader. No particular regional accent.  
I am not sure that the citizens of Solihull would ever accept that there are more up market accents. After all they have a John Lewis. If my Range Rover had an accent based on where it was built it would be Liverpudlian. 

 

If it's a Ford, I think the voice is Kathy Clugston. A Radio 4 presenter/continuity announcer from Northern Ireland.

She used to be referred to as PR4L [*] on the Scott Mills show on Radio 1 

 

[*] Posh Radio 4 Lady

[iL Dottore]

36 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Plenty of media coverage here about it being a two part vaccine. Also about most common side effects being sore injection site, headache, nausea and some fatigue. 
Main Covid discussion point on today’s media  is the US and EU authorities criticising the UK approval process.

You're quite right that the coverage does mention the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has two (I just looked at the BBC report on the MHRA approval), but I don't think that it is emphasised enough (in that without the second inoculation the vaccine may not work adequately enough), nor do I think that enough emphasis is given to the adverse event profile - not that it's bad, but that Grade 1 to 2 AEs are seen in 80% of people receiving the vaccine (according to the safety data discussed at my meeting yesterday).

 

It's the two part aspect that concerns me: how many people will get the first jab, feel like crap for a day or so (with a sore arm to boot) and then decide NOT to get the second part. That could be a problem...

[iL Dottore]

39 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

You must have different stuff in Switzerland. When the contrast medium here goes in you get a warning you may think you have wet yourself , although you haven’t.  

I may have also had that feeling, I don't know, I was too busy communing with the Astral Planes

[J. S. Bach]

24 minutes ago, southern42 said:

 

Two Advent calendars.  Both the same scene but different renderings...so I know which one is mine!  

His...with a short fact on the Christmas Story , a heart-shaped chocolate, and a country flag (UK on day 1 and France on day 2) behind each window.

 

 

Hers... with an animal fact and a different animal behind each window, only the animal does not tally with the creature for that window!    Hey, Ho ho ho. No matter...they are small but simply delicious! I savour it until it melts away.  Today's creature story is a squirrel who's forgotten-about acorns are grow into oak trees!  The chocolate is a duck or is it a Christmas Goose  (The Muppets' Christmas Carol)?

 

 

 

 ...snip...

Back later........I maybe some time.

I like the top (red) one better; easier to visualize.

[New Haven Neil]

I certainly got the wet myself feeling, but not the trip.  I had a good laugh with the staff on the second scan, about the percentage certainty I hadn't wet myself because it certainly felt like I had!  Maybe they put more in that time, still no trip 

[simontaylor484]

Greetings all

 

Been suffering from internet problems intermittently through most of day BT messing about in cabinet at topof the road

Glad your procedure went ok Chrisf

I have MRI scam tomorrow 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I must admit that I'm not looking forward to the Covid-19 vaccination. The reason is that I have an aversion to having needles stuck in me. I did hear that some labs are working on vaccines that can be administered orally or by a patch, if they want volunteers to test such means of administering the vaccine here I am. A bit more on the scooter scrotes, apparently when the police checked out serial numbers on the first one it flagged up some parts as from a stolen scooter or two. The second scrote they pulled was also found to be riding a scooter consisting of bits from stolen scooters. They are both likely to be prosecuted for possession of stolen property.

[Tony_S]

48 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

If it's a Ford, I think the voice is Kathy Clugston. A Radio 4 presenter/continuity announcer from Northern Ireland.

She used to be referred to as PR4L [*] on the Scott Mills show on Radio 1 

 

[*] Posh Radio 4 Lady

It isn’t a Ford, it is a Land Rover of the Range Rover Evoque variety. It does sound like a Radio 4 lady.  Matthew described his Mum’s accent as Radio 4 newsreader lady with a hint of Yorkshire. Siri on my iPad is male and Irish just to be different. 

[Coombe Barton]

... inappropriate political self-congratulation ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/12/03/sounds-of-the-season-5/

[laurenceb]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

You must have different stuff in Switzerland. When the contrast medium here goes in you get a warning you may think you have wet yourself , although you haven’t.  

A friend of mine when he was being scaned, when they put the tracer in said that it felt like the stuff was running down the outside of his arm

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[polybear]

5 hours ago, The Lurker said:

A slight variation today involved a trip round the corner to Waitrose to pick up two items Younger Lurker considers essential ......and Lemon Drizzle cake. He's declared the latter his fave cake and requested it for his birthday in a couple of weeks' time.

 

Young Lurker has obviously been taught well and will go far.  Salted Caramel Cake is also highly recommended.

On the subject of learning, in Bear's day you had to break in late at night, find and photocopy the exam papers and then exit - all undetected and without leaving any tell-tale signs of such skullduggery.  Now it seems they'll be almost giving out the exam questions to all and sundry.  Whilst I appreciate the issues faced by pupils it does seem to be that a 2019 exam grade will be worth more than the same awarded in 2020/21.

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

The other thing that is not being emphasised in the media reports (at least in my view) is that it is a two-part vaccine. You have two inoculations 21 days apart (this is to do with how the vaccine stimulates the immune system). And a very real fear is that people, because of the adverse events experienced after the first inoculation, will not go back and get the second part. Quite frankly, I can put up with having a sore arm and feeling like sh1t for a day or so, twice, than come down with the organ destroying complications of COVID-19.

 

.............unless you get injected with a contrast medium which makes things rather surreal and you feel like you are on an LSD trip..........

 

 

After watching the Channel 4 documentary shown at 9pm last night this little Bear considers it to be classed as "essential viewing" - especially for cockwomble deniers.  I'll say no more.....

Bear rather likes to see Prof. JVT on the telly - his down-to earth approach seems to work well.  When asked "is the vaccine safe" he replies by stating that he's already told his 72(?) year-old mum that she's having the vaccine....

One question he was asked was a bit silly though - "Will Santa be in the first group being immunised" - to which JVT answered "yes".  Wrong.  Bear has first-hand knowledge and can confirm that Santa has natural built-in immunity already.

 

As for the "feeling like you are on an LSD trip", I suspect that fellow ER'ers will have to bow to your obvious expert knowledge.....

 

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

You must have different stuff in Switzerland. When the contrast medium here goes in you get a warning you may think you have wet yourself , although you haven’t.  

 

Been there, done that.  Or rather, I hadn't - fortunately.....

 

In other news, Bear has spent yet another day working on the infamous stair box - namely the wooden framework for the plasterboard.  Deep joy - not, and still more to do

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by polybear

[Chris116]

17 minutes ago, polybear said:

In other news, Bear has spent yet another day working on the infamous stair box - namely the wooden framework for the plasterboard.  Deep joy - not, and still more to do

 

Glad you are being kept out of mischief and away from everyone else's cake!

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Not been around much today, spent most of the day collecting leaves and cleaning the patio. Very fine drizzle most of the time but not cold.I’ve just noticed a bit of snow on the lawn. 
Glad to heard Chrisf managed to get his procedure done and that the Bods are fighting off the virus. Thoughts for Newbryford and his big brother. I hope that everyone else is well and I haven’t missed anybody out. 
See what tomorrow brings, Goodnight,

Robert

 

[brianusa]

3 hours ago, PeterBB said:

How on earth could the EU criticise the UK when ,until now, the European source for testing was the UK approval process.  The US is presumably  a 'trumped-up' charge.

The US is always wary of others successes, more jealous of beaten to the post!  On the whole they are quite cautious but there is a large constituency of doubters who have to be considered, many of whom these days reject anything to do with the party in power, even if it does save their lives.  Such is the power of political persuasion

     Brian.

Edited December 3, 2020 by brianusa

[Erichill16]

I had an MRI scan last year and was told it would take about ten minutes. I didn’t have any music to listen to so started to loose track of time. I began to think I’ve been in here rather a long time so stated to count in order get a sense of how long I’d been in there. I soon realised that it was quite a bit longer than the ten minutes and started to feel uneasy and began to contemplate the panic button. Eventually I was ‘released’ and found I’d been in there for 45minutes, not a happy bunny. To make things worse SWMBO had gone off for a drink somewhere and taken my phone so had to Waite for her to come back.

Robert