[Richard]

Just a shade brighter here today, though the sun is still too shy to appear. Still at 10 degrees it is a shade warmer, though still some way to go before it is officially warmer.

[Richard]

I have some suspicion about the cloud services since many of them have folded and even the big boys have sometimes decided to pull the plug on services. With the EU currently so keen on attacking Google and other digital services, nothing is really beyond the threat of loss. However, optical had a promise that has never really been fulfilled, perhaps it was sacrificed by the greedy paws of the Intellectual Property protecting studios? They have been outfoxed by on line services, which I think have devoured optical’s breakfast,  lunch and dinner. At the more personal level spinning rust appears at least as stable and more likely to be available while solid state devices claim to be more immortal, is anything really immortal? Diversity is a key in my opinion, with good old paper being the standard fall back suggestion from archivists. The latter is hardly useful for many pictures or for films of any type.

[Richard]

After the promise of the last couple of days, today has dawned dull and very overcast here. The dogs were keen to go out, perhaps they did not notice or care about the cool wind. The smaller one appeared happy with her 1.4 miles, but the husky was far from impressed by her slightly longer hike. Mind you after nearly three miles I was looking forward to breakfast! The days has still yet to warm up and the only photo opportunity that comes to mind is the bin where the produced collected on the walk(s) is held prior to disposal. After some careful consideration no camera in a mobile or in other device is ever going to make that a work of art, or even slightly appealing.

[Richard]

JayCeeDee wrote:

That looks quite familiar. We get that sometimes too. I think it’s a ‘by-product’ of dog poo. No matter how often you clear up, ( my neighbour calls it clearing land mines!! ) there’s sometimes just a small residue left and this is what grows. It gets bagged with the rest of the poo and I pour boiling water on where the stalk or root would be, that clears it up in that spot, but there are bound to be others later on.

While that could be the issue, in this case I suspect the death of an old poplar tree in the neighbour’s garden. This had extensive roots that stretched into our garden and disrupted various things before it died a year or two back.

[Richard]

Today is a new kettle of fish for us with no overnight or morning rain. I went out with the dogs and is was just under ten degrees, now an hour or two later it is showing just under seventeen, that is progress. No hat or gloves today and no mud bath for the dogs, civilisation may yet be saved. A check of the garden for new ‘produce’ produced an image of this odd fungus, several outcrops of which have been noticed, they looked fresher yesterday. I always assume that anything no known is not safe so will not be trying to eat this or let anything, or anyone eat this ‘crop’.

[Richard]

Very sorry to read of your loss, I understand it has hit you hard. Ed gave you great advice.It will take time to grieve and if you accept help it will assist you through the process and with any necessary paperwork.

I thank you for your time and efforts with the site.

[Richard]

Yes Tippon I can easily agree with your statement though one of the images did look a little over processed. I believe that I could do some HDR work with my digital camera, but time energy and a whole lot else get in the way of learning. Some years back I scanned some prints from photographs my daughter took on a school trip. The originals were of muddy bits in a fog, the scanned images were not the same as those in your link but by heck they were a whole lot better than the originals. So, yes I can believe in processing capabilities, but can I feel the burn towards an HDR TV? Sadly not, my current investment in TV is too far from being amortised.

[Richard]

For a long time I did not bother much with the ‘TV races to get better’ and the same old multi standard kit we used in Japan met our needs. Then I splashed out on a plasma TV, a much larger beast but then later on, for some reason, we decided that a new larger slim line item would be nice, so we splashed out once more, actually twice more a Blu-ray / DVD player (not yet used) came along with a sound bar. I know that there will always be something else new to try to tempt cash from my pocket, I easily ignored 3D and though removing my cataracts was magic, I rarely bother to watch the high definition channels rather than the standard ones as it makes little or no real difference to the programmes. I suspect many are heavily processed from ‘other sources’ and when viewed from 20 ~ 25 feet away the difference fades to nearly nothing; its better to save storage space on the PVR.

Mind you I do find the digital retuning a pain as channels come and go yet secure no real change.

I am told HDR is the next ‘great thing’ but to me it sounds like too much marketing and too little substance to justify a change.

I understand your view about moaners Bob. I admit to being one tonight. We just caught a fast non stop train to our local station within our cheap day ticket validity period returning from my wife’s London hospital visit to replace the sample the Yanks ‘lost’. Then I turned left out of the station and spent 50 minutes travelling under a mile on the way home. I could have turned right and used the route that had us stuck for half an hour doing a similar distance on the way there making us later than planned. Just don’t talk about the car parking machines, most touch screens ignore me, these registered an input from 4 inches away, always the wrong input! The print outs fall into a bin at less than knee height, making them painful to retrive if you have joint pain. Do the idiots want people to let the train cause the strain or not?

I should feel better after dumping that lot, moans over, time for a drink I think.

[Richard]

ED, yes that was the point I was hinting at when I wrote quote; there is yet more sobering comment about how well the FAA handled themselves and their safety roles in certifying the ‘new’ plane, end quote.

Re your previous message comment, One problem in calculating a probability of two simultaneous failures is that there may be hidden dependencies or other links between the failing devices. This applies with mechanical, electrical and dare I say human ‘devices’. Bunging in a second doubtful reliability device will not ensure anything at all. If I had even a penny for each time a 1 in a million event happened, I would be very considerably richer than I am now. In the case that is in view at the moment the anti-stall system can with luck be over ridden, but then it immediately re-arms and tries to bring the nose down again, rinse and repeat until the ground is encountered. If both pilots realise that an automated system is going rogue, without cause or reason, perhaps they should at the very least be able to disable or slow down its cycle rate.

The complex factors evoked by this cock up require more than a further band-aid of dodgy software slapped on its bum.

A critical rethink of the methodology appears overdue.

There are several hundred lost soul reasons for meaningful caution, (along with numerous brown trouser cases from pilots who survived). We might think we can avoid this dodgy device by declining to travel in one, but when (not if) the next error hits the ground, someone might be on that spot of ground already.

Who will be that lucky soul be, you or me?

[Richard]

Bob Williams wrote:

Ed, that is a sobering link. Penny pinching that is going to cost them $billions, I believe.

Bob, there is yet more sobering comment about how well the FAA handled themselves and their safety roles in certifying the ‘new’ plane.  Single points of failure should never be a design item, yet the comments suggest that was almost feature. One that has caused too many to pay a deadly price. I agree, that result should be a costly bill to those responsible; – but that will not recover any of the lives needlessly cut short.

[Richard]

Ed P wrote:

Richard I think you raise issues that only a specialist/medical researcher can answer. From a theory standpoint all genetic diseases can eventually be eliminated by gene editing CRISPR-Cas9 etc, but the real question is when will this become affordable/available to all? I’m veering towards saying show and tell based on my wife’s niece, but this carries very heavy emotional stability risks.

I agree, there are horns on all choices and this is no exception. The risk of problems are clear, but was there ever a time when battles were won by walking away? If you still die and learning was lost there can be no win. So I am on the edge forward and yes, show and tell.

[Richard]

That ties a number of other reports together and possibly explains why they were finally grounded in the US. I read that as an end-result design issue.

[Richard]

My third walk of the day saw me dash home in the middle of a hail storm. The ‘Fit’ application on the phone decided not to bother counting the steps, distance or activity, or the sensors could not keep up. The forth dog walk saw better weather, some sun, no hail, but still a biting sharply cold wind. Yesterday we though the Husky was ill, she would not eat, stayed in her basket and almost had to be dragged out for a walk. I turned out she hates the strong wind, the other one hates the snow but did not mind either the wind or the rain. The range of their sensitivities are getting more like humans every day.

[Richard]

The insurance risk angle is one issue but one daughter would never be able to afford  insurance anyway with almost no chance of ever working. The other probably would not, both her and her partner work for the NHS. However, setting that slightly to one side if any test revealed a risk factor then insurance would be moot and I rate that risk as high. The real issue would become one of deciding if the risk could be mitigated. Three known generations on my wife’s side have either already died from or suffered from several cancers. Being able to manage the risks going forward for our children and by guiding grandchildren as to the risks that they could face with the wrong partner might be a game changer. A family we know have a now-known and revealed genetic risk, three daughters are OK the fourth is not. The three sisters know their situation and will make their life choices accordingly. In that family case, both the husband and wife were unknown carriers of a genetic element with unfortunate results for their last child.

Is knowledge power, when it can avoid known risks, even if it means avoiding consideration of unknown possibilities? The issue is multidimensional, if screening shows no heritable risks then that should restore the status quo. ‘Normal’ form filling has a range of questions relating to health anyway and risk enhancers can easily be picked up via such as ‘age of parents at death if not still living‘ and cause of death if known, etc. my level of trust in the insurance industry ranks them below politicians and rabid bats.  My parents held on into their 90s but my wife’s parents went while they were ten years younger than I am now.

[Richard]

It appears to be the current way, everyone is a specialist and only able to do one thing. Our water company works the same way. One lot dig a hole and if you are lucky fit the replacement bit, be it a meter or a new valve or pipe. They then fence off the hole and go away, then the fun starts. Someone comes along to fill the hole, though that alone may take several visits if a mix of fills is needed. Then concrete, tarmac or top soils, then grass seed if needed, then spoil removal, then barrier removal and if it was big enough an inspection, phew.

Our medical front grinds slowly and is on the cusp of running out of time. My wife was offered genetic screening to take part in a research project back in December and we hot footed it off into London for the samples to be taken the day after boxing day. Last Thursday we were told the samples have been ‘lost’, darned USA, could we come back for a retry? Friday my wife agreed -if the results will be back in the promised two weeks. Then the oncologist rang back to say that though he was part of the research and test team he was not happy with any more delay, as it could prevent any further treatment. So Tuesday should see not only a sample taken in the hope of getting some answers, but also a rather more pointed and focussed debate about just what is going to happen, ASAP.

Happily the previous drugs have not left too many signs of damage, neuropathy is limited, radiation burns have healed her eyes and heart do not yet appear to have suffered. Unfortunately, the rheumatologist was singing a different story in her report about my wife’s laundry list of underlying autoimmune conditions. Still the latest drug cocktail is helping with her mobility about the house, to which she remains largely self confined.

I was reading about some interesting research into genetic analysis, genome mapping and threat analysis today. I know it raises profound concerns. However, once you have already stared into the depth of the pit of risks, does it become more or less ethical to know the risk package and how it is structured for your children and subsequent generations? Do they have a right to know?

[Richard]

Yep, I had a couple, both from ‘George’ if anyone wants them you are out of luck; both deleted and done.

[Richard]

To lighten the mood a tiny bit here is shock result in a good way. My wife saw her rheumatologist a few days ago and a letter came in this week. This afternoon the GP rang to discuss the results with her stop one drug, double another,  maintain two others, all in line with the consultant’s report. If other issues had not got in the way I would have written a letter to them this so  I have saved a letter and a prescription already been issued – success.

[Richard]

Do some research on what you suspect to be wrong and ask the GP to perform the relevant blood tests that can pick up such as arthritis including which type, try to get auto immune issues screened in or out.

I had the same sort of rigmarole between 2002 and 2012 until one of our then GPs organised an MRI as I could only walk with the aid of crutches and my left leg was withering.

I am not sure how you can overcome the physio barrier, though I have found recent physio therapists to have much better targetted routines than they had ~15 years ago. My recent post operative physio was very, very good, though I stuck only to the exact routines and only increased the repetitions when I could meet the progress point without side effects. Other than that I am generally a crap (im)patient whose strong stitches pull out and whose dissolving ones do not dissolve.

[Richard]

I hope you get further than our daughter. She saw the ‘expert’ a number of years ago. Now some years later we have still not had any useful feedback, other than “go away and wait on developments“.

[Richard]

It appears that new information has been found and as a result the model has been grounded world wide. I have seen more comments from pilots that survived earlier ‘events’, suggesting the autopilot and anti-stall functions caused them concern. Some had managed a rapid back out from autopilot soon after take off when the plane pitched nose down, while close to the ground. Others suggested the manuals were not worth the paper that they wasted, ouch.

[Author]

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