Steve Williams

BT are/have dumped Yahoo as their e.mail provider. A California-based company called 'Critical Path' will deliver BT Mail services. One of the results of this BT/Yahoo divorce is that BT customers now need a Yahoo e.mail address to use flickr (which is owned by Yahoo). Previously a BT Broadband account meant you didn't pay for a flickr Pro Account and you used your BT e.mail address.

Nearly twelve months ago we had a new kitchen. This left us with an almost new Cannon cooker with electric oven and gas cooker. Could I give it away? Cancer charities, Heart Foundation, 'Sally' Army - none of them would touch it because it had a gas component. You would think I was offering them crack cocaine. I really don't understand what the problem is with gas appliances. If they are prepared to take electric items, why not gas? There is no more likelihood of their being a fault with gas as there is with electricity, and at least, if there was a problem, you would probably smell it rather than simply touching something and going out with a bang. I really can't understand why these charities don't have a tame 'Gas Aware' chap (or chapess) they can call upon to give things the 'once over' in the same way as electric items are PAT tested. Eventually, nearly twelve months later, I have found a Christian charity, that helps people back on their feet, who were pleased to take it. They were happy to take my son's old HP A3 printer as well which I couldn't bring myself to 'skip'.

...but have since been removed by people undertaking 'Community Service Orders'.

I used to take three pairs to exhibitions with me. First thing I did when assisting Chris Gilbert, was to line them up behind the layout. helping with Horth Haston at Nottingham last weekend, he commented at the end of the day, that I hadn't worn my glasses once. I had never realised, but he was right. Following my one cataract removal, I don't need glasses for focal lengths between about 18" and ten feet. For the first time in years I can read all the little words on the car dashboard. My sight in my left eye is better than before I developed the cataract.

Major computer issues over last few days. Caused, I suspect, by a corrupted McAfee update. Seems to be running OK now (touch wood). Probably a good job I am having an upgrade to Windows 7 within the next couple of weeks. Don't want to - I hate change.

Don't wish your life away. It will pass quickly enough as it is. :-)

That is correct. After you have had chicken pox, the virus lodges in your spine. It may remain there for years until activated, often, when you are stressed or your resistance is low. it then travels along one of the nerves from your spine. This is random, and dependent upon which nerve it travels along, a particular part of the body will be affected. In my case it travelled along the trigeminal nerve and affected my eye and forehead into my scalp. You can not get Shingles from being in proximity to someone with chicken-pox. However, I do believe that if you come into contact with someone with Shingles, they can infect you with chicken-pox if you have not previously had it. However, they can not give you Shingles.

Dave you have my sympathy. I had it in my eye and on my head. Three and a half years later, I am still suffering from constant Post-Herpetic Neuralgia. Not nice at all. As Sherry advises, take it easy.

Just came across this quote purely by chance: “The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction and malperformance. ” — Peter Drucker Seems apposite in the light of recent posts.

I was going to order a bed, but they all came with Reds under them.

So Rebekah Brooks' assistant confused MI5 with MFI. Well all I can say is that when I ordered a bookcase two very nice men from the KGB came and assembled it in no time.

Presumably, they complement the white stilettos!

I was once in the back of a two door Alfa when it caught fire. It was leaving a trail of flame behind it in the road like something from wacky races. It is surprising how fast you can get out of a car when you have to. The person in the front passenger seat nearly went through the windscreen as I pushed the seat forward! That was a fuel pipe that had come disconnected.

Sadly, it would seem that an increasing number of managers are rising to the level of their own incompetence.

Thanks for the responses re cutting ply fellas, much appreciated. Someone did once tell me that with a chop saw it is possible to get a blade with teeth angled in a particular way to avoid splintering. However, I have no idea if that is true or not.

What type of saw blade is the best for cutting ply, as it always seems to splinter on the one side?

When they whisk you off to Guantanamo, just use the statutory defence that orange just isn't your colour and is SOOOO 'last year'.

I would have thought that 4800dpi is more than adequate. Eventually, screen and eye-sight limitations must surely come into play so that one can not detect any meaningful improvement past a certain level. I wouldn't have thought you would be printing stuff off at poster size. Don't know if you are pushing them through Photoshop, but I now use CS6 and have set the Smart sharp to 'Lens Blur' rather than the default 'Gaussian Blur'. The radius is set at 0.3, whilst I vary the amount between 70 up to 120. this was following an online tutorial that I watched.

That's the one I have my eye on. We use a couple at the museum. Big chunky b*****s and they wouldn't win any prizes for elegance, but they get very good reviews on the whole.

Wherever it came from Jack, it was a virulent little b****r. Finally starting to subside.

Back from an enjoyable 'Model Rail' in Glasgow, helping Chris Gilbert with North Haston. Performed very well once we had upgraded to a 5amp NCE system. It would have been a VERY enjoyable time as opposed to just an enjoyable one, had I not come down with a whopping cold just over a week after I had got rid of flu, and single-handedly created a national shortage of Kleenex tissues. My wife did suggest that this particular exhibition does me no good at all, as last year I had an eye haemorrhage whilst I was there!

May have missed an earlier posting, but which one have you bought?

Richard, I can relate very much to this, having had the same issue almost exactly twelve months ago. A PVD is a very common occurrence as one gets older. Most often happening around 65+. It happens because as we get older, the vitreous becomes more liquid in form. This tends to happen towards the centre of the eye and, as a result, the vitreous can't support itself, and collapses inwards slightly. The flashing lights are caused by a mechanical stimulus of the optic nerve. In my case I was 61. A lot of people don't even know they have had one. As the vitreous collapses towards the centre of the eye, it separates from the retina, in most cases, without any complications. In my case the separation resulted in a minor bleed. I suffered a second, far more serious bleed some time later. I was actually at ScotRail in Glasgow when I temporarily lost 95% of the sight in my left eye because of the bleed. I also had literally hundreds of floaters caused by the resultant debris. It was like someone had emptied the contents of their wheely-bin into my eye. Subsequent investigation determined that I hadn't detached my retina, although I had torn it. This was addressed with cryopexy which is where, in effect, the tear is repaired by 'spot-welding' using a freezing technique. Unfortunately, at my two week check-up, it was found that the repair hadn't worked as some fluid had already seeped behind the retina and prevented a good repair. In addition, the retina had also become detached. This meant I then had to have a vitrectomy, cryopexy and a gas-bubble insert. Stop reading now if you are squeamish! A vitrectomy involves a needle being inserted into the eye and the vitreous gel being sucked out, taking most of the debris with it. A second needle inserts a sophisticated saline-type solution to replace the gel. The cryopexy technique then repairs the retina, whilst a third needle inserts a gas bubble into the eye to hold the repair in place. All done under a local anaesthetic. I was required to spend 10 days lying on my right-side for 24 hrs a day (10min break each hour if I needed it) in order to keep the bubble in the correct position. The bubble gradually becomes absorbed and so by about day 8 is much smaller in the eye, but more noticeable. I started to feel like a spirit-level. This operation was a success. However, about 36 hours after the op my intra-occular pressure hit 40 (normal pressure in the eye should be between 10-21). 3am in the morning and I was getting a taxi to A&E pleading for weapons-grade pain-killers. I then spent the following day at Birmingham Eye treatment Centre whilst they tried to get the pressure down. I have since suffered with Occular Hyper-tension and in December had a laser irodotomy, which is where they zap a couple of holes into the iris to increase drainage and reduce pressure. This worked immediately for a while, but the pressure has since risen and I am now taking drops for it. One of the almost inevitable consequences of a vitrectomy, is the development of a cataract within two years. Mine developed very quickly and it is this that I had removed last Friday. it is quite possible that this is the main course of my raised IOP, as the cataract can apply pressure to a part of the eye causing a a narrowing of the angle at the point where the eye naturally drains. Fortunately, my consultant can find no evidence of optic nerve damage caused by the raised IOP (Glaucoma). I shall be going back to my consultant in a month. My treatment at the Birmingham Eye Centre was very good and they don't hang about when you present with a problem. However, because of the complications I had with my eye, I elected to have my cataract removed privately. That way I was guaranteed a consultant, and, more to the point, I was able to choose the consultant I wanted. I would underline the need to take action immediately one gets anything like flickering lights in the eye. Similarly, any thing that seems to be like a blind coming in from the side (or, presumably, top or bottom), should not be ignored, as it may well be indicative of a detached retina.

Thanks for the support folks, much appreciated. Op went well according to the consultant. Can't see a damn thing at present as 'steristrips' holding eye-lid down. Hopefully, this may prove the end of twelve months of eye trouble! Fingers crossed.

Decided to have my cataract done privately. After having had so much trouble with my eye over the last twelve months, I wanted a specific consultant to perform the procedure. Went to the Spire hospital in Worcester on Wednesday for my consultation. Having the op. done this afternoon!