[Richard]

I thought that Ed’s summary was ‘on the money’. Nokia largely if not completely missed the new wave phones market and MS had no idea except that they realised it was passing them by.  MS thought that they had a product in terms of an OS and hoped that Nokia had the ability to graft together the hardware that could get them back into the game. It did not help that MS then stuffed in some of their people to look in the wrong direction. As was said elsewhere hardware and an OS were not enough. It turned out that you also needed a market place that sold an impressive range of things to optionally sit on the hardware. Not for nothing some nick named MS’s store Tumble Weed park. What I suspect MS did not ‘get’ was that the modern mobiles were not seen as mobile phones at all. They are not accessories to life, they are now many (most?) people’s lives. I shove mine in an inside pocket or leave it on a desk when at home, (reception is rubbish, use the landline). Most keep their’s in their hands almost all the time, even if it gets in the way of other aspects of life. While MS wanted to be in on that full scale involvement in people’s lives, I venture they did not and still do not really relate to what it means for a supplier to support that new way. Their other efforts produced only the wreckage of failed projects, such as their music offerings – did anyone ever use them? I stuck with my 6230 for ten years, it just did what I needed. I will not stick with my current phone for much longer, it fights me too much, so what to do when I fling it against the wall a final destructive time? But then I am different, so my needs are very different and the market ignores me, just as  it did MS.

[Richard]

I follow your line of thinking there but the pain is not the stomach organs as such but off to the side right against the hip. The surgery chap thought it might come from my spinal problems I have lived with for the past 14 years. To be honest it is not so much a pain which would be like some one sticking a sharp thing, but an ongoing ache like that very slightly and slowly varies pressure, but to the touch nothing. I see the spinal bloke in a couple of weeks anyway so perhaps he can shed some light on the matter, he did mumble about perhaps running another MRI to see if things are still as just as crap as they were or going further down hill.

I suspect there could be some negative developments in that area.

My wife’s ongoing treatment is the biggest concern at the moment; my speed bumps are just ‘other distractions’ for the moment. I need to ‘vent’ sometimes, but I take on board your comments as another vector to consider and perhaps explore.

[Richard]

It was certainly surprising as well as interesting for all those who need the access to historical records for a range of purposes. I doubt there will be a wild feeding frenzy, but for some there could be a few ‘life savers’, if only to show what really happened. That was always the most interesting aspect of any investigations I became involved in some years pre Office and the like.

[Richard]

I find music tastes to be too personal to ever advise anyone, or for me to take much input from others either. I only ever says I find things I enjoyed in the past may bring back pleasant memories and that more modern things lack those associations.

My biggest error was to not buy some pristine copies of LPs that were on sale in a dusty store in the souk many years ago, they were unsold from a few years earlier and several were quite rare copies even then.

[Richard]

I am having a poor week one way and another. Daughter has entered her ‘verge of melt down season’ and my wife has not reacted at all well to the mix of heat and chemo in spite of our air conditioning. The dogs are doing OK except that they eat all they can close to sun up and repeat the process at sun down when they think it might be a good idea to burn off some of the energy. If they are lucky I get them out when I can, so far I have kept up the two half hour sniff and walk session per dog per day, but only just.

I had a small operation six weeks ago and was due a follow up appointment on Tuesday. I had no less than six text messages asking me to confirm I would be there, thanking for confirming, etc. Then yesterday they rang, a voice call this time,’Sorry the clinic has been cancelled until further notice.’ so was it skin cancer or was it not? Perhaps I will never know. At least the bowel scan came back clear, or in other words, no reason for the pain and give up looking. Still they did manage to over state my weight by including shoes, clothes, change,(of which there is lots with all the hospital parking needs), keys, etc. and still come up with a (Gross loaded)BMI that is 5 points higher than my real BMI this morning. Today’s was based on the right height and this morning’s actual body weight, not some Gross fully loaded body including everything weight and a reduced height. So confidence has dropped a number of notches.

That was before my wife was told that next week there is only one oncologist and that is why she did not get her expected Monday afternoon pre-Wednesday infusion appointment. She is now shoe horned into Tuesday lunchtime, so cancellation of my Tuesday appointment is a blessing of sorts, as the two hospitals are 20 plus miles apart.

[Richard]

Yes thank you, I used that service when dealing with probate issues involving original copies of some irreplaceable documents, e.g. wills. They are hard to replace when dealing with probate for the deceased! My current dilemma is for more mild than that one, thank goodness. So it will be the ordinary mail and hope for the best in a moment.

[Richard]

Fax was long seen as a point to point medium provided that the handshakes were recorded before and after the message transmission so less liable to interception and abuse/error, shonky quality excepted. Email was not regarded as either secure or reliable so was not fully accepted by many, though common practice has taken it into wider use. This may be one of the reasons that so called secure email has been such a hot potato recently. I have a document that contains some confidential data concerning another person that I want to send to the person dealing with their affairs, but I am reluctant to email it until I obtain assurances from the far end as to their preferred document management. I could encrypt it but that takes two to tango, the other end must agree on the encryption method and so far getting a response from them is ‘challenging’, so it will go in the good old(?) snail mail later.

My pharmacy and GP use electronic prescribing – well most of the GPs now do it that way. As far as I know the pharmacy also order from suppliers the same sort of way, straight from their terminal.

Warning, a number of items are currently in short supply two people in front of me were told that at least one of their items was hard to obtain, i.e. no stock. I have been waiting for one of mine for more than two weeks. Supply ‘organisation’ issues at the suppliers end have been cited. I wonder if it is a rerun of previous currency speculation when suppliers bought stuff in at a controlled £ cost and sold supplies on overseas for a higher uncontrolled export price.

Bob, you have put your finger on the major obstacle to NHS progress and cost controls, human factors also known as NIH, (Not Invented Here) or Granny Would Not Like It done that way. I have told the story of the machine that could process 40 samples per batch, that was only doing one at a time, because ‘that was how the operator did their samples’. No wonder they want more money – I just hope some is spent on training.

[Richard]

johnbarry wrote:

True Bob You know i’ve got the nack for these things. W10 is alive again (not the backup though) fresh install. I have deleted W7 backups and don’t want to go back, Dave.

I was in Japan for some system testing we were out there for a planned three week session. One the first day I simply walked into the room and the system went down, several times. It took them the rest of the day to reach the point where I could approach the terminals ready to start on the test schedules before it fell over again. The Japanese staff ate, slept and worked without going home for those three weeks – they had planned on 6 weeks schedule…

Since then I have tamed my find the problem knack, so it is a bit more sociable now.

Glad you have that PC fixed again.

[Richard]

Thank you Bob, my wife has also reached her third cycle but having a range of issues it is is not such smooth sailing. Her other underlying conditions have erupted while her other treatments are suspended and the large doses of steroids intended to suppress reactions are impacting things. Like you Monday is check day and Wednesday is action day and a fairly full on one it is since it takes over 5 hours end to end. Reaction suppression is important, another patient reacted last week but was rapidly stabilised without reach full on anaphylaxis

I does sound as though you are doing well, for which I am pleased for you and Gert, though the cycle of ups and downs is familiar, the downs and demands are getting very clearly marked out as the cycles progress. This passed weekend has been less of an up than most and I am trying to limit contact and avoid any discussions.

Thank you for the reminder about trousers, the hot weather means my interest in clothes is ‘degraded’ (so am I) for the moment, (me for perhaps longer).

[Richard]

Tippon wrote:

Another member of the Awkward Bastard club here ? When I was in the coma, I was given high dose sedatives to keep me out while I recovered. If they gave me a vaguely normal dose I’d start fighting back, trying to push them away and pull tubes out (obviously not aware of anything, and not deliberately giving the staff a hard time). Apparently Ellen was told that my dosage should have knocked out an elephant, but it made her smile to see me full of tubes and needles, but trying to stop them putting in eye drops of all things! ??

You may be one of those who abreacts to sedatives. Both my elder daughter and I have that issue, we tend to act as ‘uncontrolled inebriated person’ aka roaring drunks with the wrong treatment. We had to strap our daughter into her car seat and carry her out to the car; the Japanese hospital tried to give her an MRI but the sedative didn’t sedate her. We tried again later without sedation I simply stood by her side as she went into the machine and told her it was a fun machine with all of its flashing lights and noises. That was far better than sedation.

My party piece was swinging from a traction frame, the knee that had been operated on two hours earlier was crooked over the traction bar. It took six people to get me down and strap me into a huge metal splint to stop me abusing the damaged leg, I guess I was lucky not to have done real damage.

[Richard]

PlaneMan wrote:

Many years ago I smashed my ankle. I was given a strong local anaesthetic, watching the operation. As soon as the first incision was made I informed the surgeon that it fecking hurt. Epidural, some gas and I slept for about 16 hours

I broke my ankle in the office slipping on a polished floor while working in the Middle East. My foot hit the wall and a significant mess was the result. I had one operation that day to retrieve the foot from the back of the leg and pull it down roughly into place. That involved a full anaesthetic and I knew nothing about what was needed or done. A week later they started to bolt the bones back into place, the socket was in two parts, one part was well up the leg, a half time x-ray showed that the bones were not fully closed together so they went in again; some of the effects of the anaesthetic were wearing off. I could not feel anything, but I could hear the drilling and screwing going on as they tried to close the gap in the bones forming the socket. I was in hospital for a month, at first I thought the painkillers were not working, then they were reduced and I tasted the food… Recovery physio consisted of long walks on crutches round Washington DC two months after the accident. I had flown there for a conference. That turned out to be fun, it was the reunion season for many of the USA armed forces. Every time I went to a hotel as I was on crutches, everyone assumed I was there for one of the forces events and I had to struggle to get to the correct events.

[Richard]

Bob, I thought that you had started the chemo already but I see not yet. Take all the help and guidance that is offered to you and be prepared to follow any advice you get. Do not be shy about taking and relief treatments, e.g. pain killers and be ready to take them as soon as you notice the pains start. They might not but take their advice and be ready. My wife tried to ‘hero ride’ her first cycle. Now she slays he dragons as soon as they start to stir, so the second cycle went much better, now in the third cycle and she paid the price for being a bit slow with the pain management last night, so today started about 3:30 a.m. (Once woken the Husky went out and took root on the lawn for hours.) Try to ignore all the dire comments from those who are not you and do not know too much what they are talking about, there might be some challenges, but they can be met and conquered.

[Richard]

Ed P wrote:

Corrosion/bad earthing can really screw up sensors, and is something to investigate if more than one sensor is involved.

Agreed, wiring or earth are most likely with a dodgy sensor as a runner up issue.

[Richard]

The Duke wrote:

I once had a £1500 quarter bill,(storage heaters, first winter), but never seen a refund like this. It is a massive annoyance to me that these companies don’t auto adjust your monthly dd payments to meet your usage. They all over charge and you have to initiate the adjustment.

A few years back the stupid squad failed to notice that my meter was not changing rates at the set time, in fact was not changing rates at all. Its clockwork bit went on strike so one meter showing all the use and the other one showed zero. This went on for several years and no one noticed. In most outfits a non moving meter earns a few comments. That took a while to sort out as they had to split the old usage across the two rates. Studies showed that it was not worth our while to have the two rates so we went on a constant rate basis. It did not stop a half blind subsequent reader inventing a summer meter reading, suggesting we used three or four winter month’s consumption in one quarter. No one noticed that at the time either, it was only when I entered the then ‘today reading’ and found it was thousand of units less than the ‘previous random number’ that the stink of something rotten emerged.

[Richard]

I have had a few refunds, but that one is a prize winner.

[Richard]

While Altzheimers gets all the press and is possibly the major form of dementia, it is not the only form and I believe that there could be as many as half a dozen types. One major form is vascular dementia where strings of mini strokes, none big enough to really notice cause gradual loss of capability in a staircase style of loss. Sometimes a big drop and sometimes going for a long time with hardly any change at all. That was the form my mother had, – the image of a late 80s person chasing after the police in night clothes to report her ‘missing parents’ is not a pretty one. No form of dementia is pleasant and some can go on for years, others are mercifully less drawn out but all destroy the person while often leaving the body initially only slightly affected. Vascular forms may be prevented by blood pressure treatment to reduce the risk of brain bleeds, though it did not help mother. All forms can be accompanied by rages brought on by frustration at forgetting how things work or being unable to do or remember things. It does not surprise me that possible links to a range of infectious agents such as herpes might be found, many otherwise independent problems causally link back to apparently unrelated triggers.

[Richard]

Yes, I agree and one of the first commercial machines was organised by a tea shop… The war time years launched a number of projects but it all ran into the sands. We once had a computerised machine tool industry, I repeat ‘we once’. Look up Elliott Automation 803., etc.

[Richard]

When we bought the new TV a year or two back I also replaced the old Humax with a new more capable one, added a multifunction DVD plus whatever player and dumped the old VCR at the same time. One load of hassle and it was in place. Apart from an initial test run the DVD has been unused though we do have some historic disks somewhere.

The setup came with a Netflix capability, but I have no desire for a subscription and no one has expressed any ‘must have desires’. It can access the Amazon offering, but I have only ever watched a couple of things when I was laid up. I found their index ‘thing’ darned hard work so gave up. I just cannot be bothered to get excited about films  so lack motivation. I believe some are technically available in 4k but I doubt that would be enough to motivate me to watch a film I do not care about.

I was shocked when the outlaws came round. I set up the TV with internet for the BIL to find out some sports information and more or less left him to it. What shocked me was he was almost inside the TV along with FIL to read the text. I normally sit at the far end of the room and with or without my glasses have no issue I was worried that neither of them should be driving. As for SD, HD or 4k issues, I thought that was an unlikely debate in their company. They did sit back a bit for TV viewing, but only a bit from the screen which is hardly tiny.

[Richard]

@Leon, no offence intended, I know little about people’s background and should assume less. If I stray onto potentially dangerous territory I always try to warn about the risks that might exist. I do not want someone to come suing me after the facts come to light.

[Richard]

@Leon, with the aroma of electronics that have ‘let the internal smoke and burning smell escape’ that does sound like a terminal situation. The fuses to which I referred are sometimes inside the PSU metalwork case, hence my warning to be careful about capacitor charges. Are those small enough, the dimensions look quite large compared to the unit in my server.

[Author]

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