JohnDMJ

Good Afternoon Awl, however it may not remain thus!

Being a (relatively) responsible citizen, I have voluntarily undertaken PCR tests to monitor my C19 status.

I have also availed myself of a Lateral Flow home Test Kit which arrived in less than 24hours of its being requested. I have read that this is, probably, not the most accurate and reliable method of testing but, hey, let's give it a go!

All tests carried out per the instructions proved negative, i.e. C19 free.

Then the Engineer in me kicked in and I 'wasted' a test to see what result it would give. I took the swab out of its sheath and rubbed it in the solution as prescribed then applied the four drops to the device. Marker went straight to the C (i.e. clear, negative) position.

Want to fake your results - seemples! Don't even need to shove the swab up your nose!

Good Morning Awl, for with an Engineering train passing though later, it may well be!

I note:

12 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

That’s a very good point, Dave. I certainly agree that much modern technology comes with minimal instructions - presumably because, at least according to those designing the systems, such OS are supposed to be “intuitive“. But you could argue that it’s only “intuitive” if you have been playing around with that technology for a considerable amount of time.

 

The other part of your comment, regarding the technology itself, does pose the question is the technology used in smart phones really well designed?

I think you can very strongly argue that the technology of the hardware is well designed, but the software for operating that hardware may not necessarily be so.

The technology, per se, is not usually the stumbling block. It is usually the end-user's perception of what it can do which is the problem!

Good  Morning Awl, for there remains every possibility of it becoming thus.

Bank Holiday morning has dragged a bit but there is impending danger of some eyelid inspection anytime soon!

It has been said:

38 minutes ago, chrisf said:

I sympathise.  Some time after I bought mine I had to take it back to the shop to be shown how to answer it.

 

Chris

Perhaps leaving it switched on and working out how to ignore some calls and respond to others might be their next point of tuition!

Thanks for the info, @PhilJ W; where is 'locally'?

30 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

There is a Pride march locally scheduled for next weekend and AFAIK its still going ahead.

Whilst marching to demonstrate my style (in which I do take Pride!) is not my thing, it is always interesting to map the progress of such things!

A propos of nothing in particular, it would seem that both Southampton and Crawley's Pride marches have gone ahead today!

Some of us can live with that!

Good Evening, as it is becoming such.

1 hour ago, chrisf said:

I'll bear that in mind too.  Now go and annoy someone else.

 

Chris

I will refrain from upsetting @chrisf any further! (For now, at least!!)

53 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

In my case it was.  You were not allowed to ride your bike to school until you had passed your cycling proficiency badge.  A pre-requisite for that was to pass a test on Highway Code knowledge after having been through the classes. 

However, the Highway Code also applies to pedestrians and horse riders, as few realise!

Good afternoon Awl, for it has that potential!

2 hours ago, chrisf said:

I'll bear that in mind.

 

Chris

In current times, with the existence of, as you so frequently describe it as ""that ruddy virus"", the NHS has been trying hard to indicate its spread by using mobile phone technology. If your 'phone is not switched on then you are selfishly unable to benefit from these generous efforts!

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Might also depend on the driver’s background.   You won’t find many antipodean tourists in the UK right now but you can still find plenty of antipodeans. 
 

British traffic lights have a “pedestrian phase” with all road traffic offered reds whilst the “green man” allows safe crossing. Aussie traffic lights are different. You get the green after the red (no red-and-amber) but must give way to pedestrians crossing any street you turn into; they will have the “green man” and have right of way.

But not all.

IMHO, the whole philosophy of driving in the UK is down to inconsistent practices. We have The Highway Code, which many people do not realise applies to them as it "only applies to road users"! It applies to everybody who walks, cycles, etc. on a public highway. IMHO, it should be taught in Junior School.

In sailing terms, power gives way to sail. In road terms, pedestrians cyclists, horse riders, and so on, take precedence over the car.

THE CAR IS NOT KING!

5 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I think you are being a bit extreme there JMU, because with good earthing, and ideally with a local RCD, metal-cased, single-insulated kit can be used safely.

 

It might not be a good idea to entrust its ownership to the uninitiated, so I agree it’s maybe best not on eBay, but collectors of vintage kit know what they’re about. People even run “mains through a light bulb and rheostat” set-ups under controlled conditions.

 

Genuinely early, by which I mean pre-c1930, which this clearly isn’t, electrical appliances were seriously interesting, and are now astonishingly rare because they were junked due to safety deficiencies, so IMO the crusher should only be deployed judiciously.

 

 

As also someone who has the qualification to PAT certify equipment, @John M Upton's remarks are relatively understated.

The only thing plausible with that piece of trash is, as has already been stated, condemnation by sledge hammer!

All too many railway modellers have little or no comprehension of electricity and how components can degrade over time.

If anyone calls, in my professional capacity, to discuss anything Hammant & Morgan, I will give them concise answers and mention asbestosis!

IMHO, the equipment should be condemned and the user certified!

Good Afternoon Awl, for being the first in a series of 16 at home, it has the potential so to be.

However, the world seems to be at odds with itself:

6 hours ago, TheQ said:

Cockwomble of yesterday, stopped to allow pedestrians cross the road.. at a pedestrian light controlled crossing.. while the lights were at green for cars.. by the time the pedestrians had crossed.. the lights were at red for the cars...

So Sail now gives way to Steam or powered?

Was the ""offending"" vehicle of UK registration? All non-UK drivers are taught to respect pedestrians!

It would be interesting to have a take on this from any Police Response drivers!

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

It’s good to see that ChrisF is still at the cutting edge of white hot technology! 

It certainly would be!!

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I take my phone everywhere, I have a number of incredibly useful apps on my device, photos of things that I need to replace or get bits for (useful, as I don’t have to cart around said objects  but can just carefully match up parts to detailed photographs), various notes for various things, password protected access codes for a number of different places that I need to access, a number of linguistic apps (so I can translate some of the more obscure words I may need to use into German) and a real-time currency converter.  I also use it for two-factor or three-factor authentication in order to access various work related databases and so on.

Me too! Checking my bank accounts and transferring funds are the key requisite.

Texting comes next as it is very much less intrusive than calling the recipient!

IMHO, the telephone is the rudest invention ever - it interrupts your flow and demands attention. Unless I am expecting a planned call, tough, it will go to voicemail! I may respond to any message left. (Case in point - whilst behind a shop counter, I was talking with a customer face2face and the 'phone started ringing. He asked me if I was going to answer the call, to which I said that I was engaged with his business!)

@chrisf, I abhor your attitude to leaving your 'phone switched off until you want to use it and respectfully suggest that you yourself are able to filter the incoming calls and accept or ignore as necessary.

Good Evening Awl, for it marks the start of 16 work-free days!

I note:

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Just goes to show what an arrogant and self centred species H0mo sapiens is. We’ve only been around for a very short while in Earth’s long history and because we have opposable thumbs, stereo vision, can use tools and have mastered fire we think we are the Lords of Creation.

Who is to say that we were THE first technological society to inhabit this planet. 500 million years on a geologically active rock like our planet Earth would certainly eliminate all traces of a technological society.
 

I wonder if, in another 500 million years, the descendants of man or alien species were to come across our planet whether or not they would find any trace of our society.

 

”Deep Time” is pretty scary and awesome to contemplate…

To heck with opposable thumbs! Flies have compound vision. Chimps and otters, to name but two, regularly use tools to assist feeding (and I don't mean knives and forks!). Nature itself is the best controller of fire with natural forest fires not only clearing unwanted growth but also stimulating some species of flora, fauna and 'livestock' into regeneration.

Mankind has not created anything in this sense, mere abused and disrespected it.

As an Engineer, I have oft observed that we are on a technologically decreasing spiral.

IMHO, I am glad that I have not introduced offspring into this mess for I would fear for their future.

Technology and other developments are already leaving us in danger of "I ordered this tomorrow, why hasn't arrived yet?"

Has anyone seen the Great Oozlum Bird recently?

Description should include the fact that it's home made, non-proprietry.

I'd offer £1.00 just to get it OUT of general circulation! I can see no evidence that it would achieve PAT Certification.

Evening Awl, for I anticipate it might become a tad frustrating.

Only one more POeTS day until 9 days leave and a Bank Holiday so hopefully won't be too bad!

Met with a couple of colleagues at the walk-through C19 PCR test centre this morning; hopefully will compare notes (either face2face or by text) tomorrow. Results expected early morning. (Lateral Flow tests have shewn negative thusfar!)

Elsewhere:

21 hours ago, chrisf said:

Let.s see what the brochure says.  Day 1: get there.  Day 2: train from Palma to Manacor and back, with time to explore.  Day 3: Palma to Soller by train, Soller to Soller Port by tram.  Day 4: Palma to Inca and Sa Pobla.  Day 5: coach tour.  Day 6: go home.  I know virtually nothing of the island and its trains but that could change!

 

Chris 

Aaah, sounds like a gravy boat holiday! Hope you get to use as much track as possible and have a relaxed 4 days!

Good Evening (again?) Awl, for this evening has been interesting with much telephoning and texting.

Elsewhere, child-hood memories have been stirred:

1 hour ago, brianusa said:

PC killed off the source.  Can't tell religious jokes any more nor anything remotely discriminating.  No naughty jokes about the clergy nuns or choir persons.  Nothing that could be considered personal.  Even Benny Hill would have a problem in this day and age; the Venerable Beeb was happy to run his show, girls and all though and everybody laughed.  So how does one turn off humour and what do you laugh at these days?

    Brian.

A quick google suggests: https://www.google.com/search?channel=fs&client=ubuntu&q=robertson+jam+golliwog

Good Evening Awl, for, even after the day it has been, still has potential.

PCR test taken at 17:30 last evening; result at 18:20 (after a day of angst!) unreadable! In process of rearranging a re-test!.

Elsewhere:

11 hours ago, TheQ said:

Except for 6 years in Saudi, I'm the same.. (and only part of that)

The galling fact is that I started at the same time as someone much younger than I at the same time and the same salary. When I was researching for my tribunal, I learned that said whipper-snapper was on in excess of £40,000!

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I know that that anecdotal evidence is not “proof“, but the few vegans I have met have all been sanctimonious and smugly “in your face“ virtuous and yet, although professing to want to save the planet, they eat a lot of commercially prepared vegan food (big business now for Tesco et al) that is highly processed, highly chemical and much of which is - in itself - a threat to the environment (do you know how much water is required to make 1 litre of almond milk? Or how much vegan food has palm oil in it - the demand for which is so great that they are cutting down swathes of the rainforest to plant palm tree plantations).

Eschewing meat and all other animal products is of course feasible, the Jains have been doing it for centuries, but the Jain diet, as far as I am aware, does not include vegan “sausages”, vegan “milk” or vegan “cheese” but consists of grains, pulses, vegetables, herbs and plant oils.

 

Somehow, I don’t see many Western vegans adopting the very simple animal-product free Jain diet (and lifestyle).

[rant/OFF]

iD

p.s. My (retired) GP friend has told me about the considerable number of vegan and vegetarian patients he had treated who had severe nutritional deficiencies. He explained that many of them were young women and many were following diets that they had found out about on the Internet. Unfortunately, according to my GP friend, some nutritional deficiencies have severe consequences and are not reversible even when the missing trace element or nutrient is put back in the patient’s diet

A colleague delights in wearing a leather jacket with full arm tassels. One of his female acquaintances (now, I understand, no longer with us) was a practising vegan. He happily accompanied her on her stand at a (IIRC) Green Party conference and, when asked about his jacket, simply replied that it was re-cycled grass!

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

They are starting to be used more routinely in the clinic, but uptake has been slow even though there is very solid data to support the fact that dogs are as good as, and sometimes even better than, the most sophisticated technology for detecting certain illnesses.

 

Sadly, both Lucy and Schotty failed canine medical school: they never got beyond being able to detect the sausage in the pile of cabbages!

"Every dog has its day!"

Good evening Awl, although with the news about Charlie, maybe more inevitable than good!

A reasonable day had; sanity retained (such as it is!)

Finally, thanks to a colleague, managed to crack the code for a C19 test which has now been undertaken; just awaiting the results. It seems at least 3 of us were tested at the same centre!

Elsewhere:

9 hours ago, chrisf said:

Something tells me that you are not the only inmate asking that question.  In fact I know you're not.  I am!  Fellow m*d*ll*rs, the time for secrecy is over and gone.

 

Chris

The Awlgle has landed?

Noticed the change from E5 to E10 on 95 Octane last time I filled up. Normally, I'd get just shy of 300 miles from a full tank; this time I only achieved 251 for the same daily journeys. 35 mile warning came on and soon dropped to 20 miles in less than 4 miles travel!

Just filled up and am trying 98 octane E5 to see if that counters the effect.  Car's computer suggests 350 mile range!

OK, let's get this over and done with:

19 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

Why would anyone be an anti-vaxxer?

 

Mine cleans my carpets perfectly well 

You know it's just a sham, and it stinks!

Good Afternoon Awl, for shopping is shopped and I am now back home to repose and wind down before the whole tread-wheel kicks off again tomorrow!

Two interesting observations (for which I thank the observers):

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Crikey John, take care mate, that's quite a list.

It was in recovery from a gastroenterology procedure that cardiac got involved! Recovery room on the ground floor; blood pressure on the first floor and pulse in orbit somewhere!

14 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Oh dear. Well firstly, I hope that your cardiovascular problems are suitably addressed before your Op. Secondly, you can rest assured that “local anaesthesia“  is going to be somewhat more sophisticated than what your dentist uses (by the way, a note of caution: if you really do not benefit from lidocaine or any of its derivatives when used as a local anaesthetic, DO mention it  well before surgery so suitable adaptations can be made to your anaesthesia). 

As for “being out for the count“ modern soporifics mean that whilst technically you won’t be “unconscious“ you will definitely not be aware of your surroundings.

One of the benefits of modern anaesthesia is that you can really enjoy the benefits normally associated with illegal/recreational pharmaceuticals and do so completely legally!

It is ensuring that I am unaware of what is going on in my surroundings that is my main concern.

I still remember the root canal treatment I had in the late 90s; two phials of the usual anaesthetic (novocaine?) followed by a total of three individually applied clicks on the ratchet of a more powerful potion and the dentist gave up!

6 minutes ago, BoD said:

They forgot to include the Allan key too.

And an illustrative piece of paper!

Good Afternoon Awl, although only if the mizzle turns into something definitive and decisive; sunshine, torrential rain, anything but mizzle!

On retirement:

1 hour ago, BoD said:

 

When Ikea’s owner retired his staff sent him a cake…

 

It's not flat-packed!

1 hour ago, Nigelcliffe said:

AE are the Chinese company who supply DCC Concepts (that's what it says on the AE website).  So the manual may be the same.

Wonder if @newbryford's looking in?

Is there nothing in the decoder's instructions? It is not relevant that you are using an ECoS controller!

Good Evening Awl, for it is unlikely to be any worse than the day just completed. Perhaps a shot (or two) of something around 40% proof might help it pale into insignificance, but that's only a temporary fix and the round will start again all too soon on Moanday. (Cue The Boomtown Rats?)

In other news, I note that driving standards are again in topic:

10 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Obviously I am talking about Oregon and not the UK, but the requirement is Oregon is to:

The intent of this is implied crosswalks at every intersection. Pedestrians are not supposed to cross in the middle of a block and there is a failure to yield to vehicle law.

At the approach to a roundabout, drivers must:

The intersection of the road with the roundabout would likely be construed as an "unmarked" crosswalk, if no marked crosswalk was present.

 

Crossing to the 'island' of a roundabout would not be permitted.

Given my experience in France, Germany and Switzerland, it seems that pedestrians have a higher 'priority' than cars. Even in the UK, you can often spot a foreign-taught driver by their courtesy to pedestrians and cyclists!

I have learned a lot from watching others drive but still (albeit rarely) revert to the bullish British 'Car is Supreme' mentality when I my mind is not fully on what I am doing.