WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

They rejected my urine sample for the diabetes clinic at the lab because it was too pure.....
My time was wrong as well.... have changed it!

[Marilyn]

I am glad the site will be simplified.
It was way too complicated for its own good. Think Doc was like a kid in a candy shop when he set the new site up and grabbed everything he could think of. I know that no one liked the negative comments at the beginning, but a lot of us had similar views. I suppose the passage of time has highlighted the unnecessary elements.
Hopefully the atmosphere of the old site will return with the return to simplicity...
( that would be nice...remember when we actually used to TALK to each other?)

[PanBiker]

You have hit the nail on the head there Maz. Configuration of the site not helped by the fact that it had to be instigated while still in the development stage and rushed into use when the old site broke beyond repair. Can't see the wood for the trees in some cases so lets see if we can get it a bit nearer to what we actually need. I have the business section in my sights at the moment, that will be the next for a bit of remodelling. Anyone miss the Newshound and all the automatic job feeds etc.... I thought not!

[Pluggy]

I'm letting Ian prune things before I let a professional loose. I trust his judgement more than I trust my own when it comes to doing the right thing for OGFB, I'd get carried away with the secateurs I think and make things too simple.

[Tizer]

Have a look at this LINK for the opening of the tunnel under the Bosphorus today. Great achievement but I hope the engineers got the earthquake proofing right!

Yes, I think I'll give it a miss! Two tectonic plates meet 20km south of the Bosphorus, the northern Eurasian plate and the southern Anatolian plate. The latter is being pushed against the former by the Arabian plate as it moves north. The Eurasian plate isn't giving way and, instead, the Anatolian plate is releasing the pressure by sliding sideways to the west and rotating anticlockwise. This is called a transform fault and has the characteristic of `juddering' - friction prevents sideways movement until enough pressure builds up then there's a sudden release and movement, which gives an earthquake. The San Andreas fault in California is a transform fault.

[Tardis]

Official looking peeps doing what looks like tests around any proposed site of Hope's Velodrome

[Stanley]

Warm house with no CH after lighting stove last night....
Tiz, the Anatolian fault has been gradually unzipping on a regular pattern and Istanbul is reckoned to be overdue for a major quake. Good luck to them....

[Bodger]

A confrontation with an interesting result
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8g_tNim ... ture=share

[PanBiker]

I received a text from NHS Blood and Transplant yesterday appealing for donors to help with a shortfall in the stocks. I have just been on the website and the shortage is not with my blood group, which is A. No sessions in the area until January which is my next regular slot. I missed my last session due to holidays so I would have been in a position to help if it was my group.

Shortage is in O and B groups if anyone can help. More information below.

NHSBT - Blood Type Appeals

[Bruff]

For all you 'Tykes' out there, this:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/ ... -yorkshire

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

Well, thank you Bodge! Half an hour blown away watching the eviction video but well worth it. By the way, the Honda advert was pretty good as well! One has to wonder what the criteria are for recruiting bailiffs, is it just me or are they all out of the same aggressive mode?
Ross Brawn leaving Mercedes F1 team. Reason seems to be that he wasn't happy with losing overall control under Mercedes new management structure. I don't think he'll be out of a job for long with his record!

[Cathy]

Our bus service here in Adelaide has been thru quite a few changes of late. There have been a lot of complaints about buses running late, I'd hate to be a bus driver (anywhere) having to try to stick to a schedule and putting up with roadworks and extra traffic, of which we have plenty. To help curb the frustration of passengers we now have what they call Real Time Information Displays at our major bus interchanges. The electronic display shows when the buses are due to arrive at the stop you are waiting at. All done thru GPS. I wish them luck, hopefully it will be a big help.

[Gloria]

The blood donors rang me , and I also missed the last one due to hols. There is one next week but that is full, so I am down for Feb!!! They didn't mention sending me elsewhere which they sometimes do. I think they are stocking up for winter. My group is O rhesus negative so I often get phone calls/letters if they are running down. Sadly I now seem to be one of the oldest there, which is sad.

[Stanley]

That sounds sensible Cathy. Modern technology being used to help people instead of finding new ways to get money out of them. I'm all for it!
Something I noticed today, or rather I've noticed it before but not made the connection. A quarter of the page that holds my column in the BET each week seems to have been permanently booked by our local Tory MP. Roy Prenton once told me that apart from the front page, there were two locations in the paper that were most noticed, one was always the top of the right hand column on page 3 and the other was on the page that carried my article as a surprising number of people read it. I get the uncomfortable feeling that the Tory MP is riding on the back of the popularity of my articles. I wonder if that could be true?
Some good and accurate letters in the BET today laying out the real issues we face at the moment, particularly the plight of the lower 50% of the electorate who are of course being ripped off shamefully. Noticeable that there are no letters from government supporters arguing their case. Could this be because the opposition case is unanswerable?

[Tardis]

For all you 'Tykes' out there, this:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/ ... -yorkshire

Richard Broughton

Excellent! Yorkshire begins on a line sort of East of Leeds according to that! All the flat bits

[Tardis]

Almost run down on the Gisburn Road side of the crossings outside the school just now as I walked Merlin, by someone who just sailed through the crossing whilst I was on it. The other side had stopped and vision was unobstructed. Missed my toes by inches.

195
Zebra crossings. As you approach a zebra crossing

look out for pedestrians waiting to cross and be ready to slow down or stop to let them cross
you MUST give way when a pedestrian has moved onto a crossing
allow more time for stopping on wet or icy roads
do not wave or use your horn to invite pedestrians across; this could be dangerous if another vehicle is approaching
be aware of pedestrians approaching from the side of the crossing.

It is a moving traffic offence if a pedestrian is on the crossing. All zebra crossings are in 30mph (or less) zones and by rights any driver should be in 3rd gear, if not lower because of the junction to "maintain control of their vehicle".

[Bruff]

''Excellent! Yorkshire begins on a line sort of East of Leeds according to that! All the flat bits''

I suppose that's a reference to the 'must sees' at the end.

I don't know, maybe the attraction of the Dales and the 'hilly bits' and York is so well-known it pays to remind people of the scale of the county's charms and so focus, just this once, on the 'flat bits'? After all, I rather doubt the Lonely Planet rated Yorkshire thus solely on the back of the hilly bits. I for one think there are rather better hilly bits in these islands. It's most likely the flat bits and the hilly bits.....and the coast and the (unexpected) towns and (often unheralded) cities that impressed them.

Still, not to worry.............

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

The picture used on HIGNY last night to illustrate the Lonely Planet pronouncement was a Yorkshire terrier sat in a large Yorkshire pudding with the backdrop of Malham Cove so the hilly bits got at least one mention. In a straight competition for impressive scenery I reckon the West coast of Scotland could have the edge....
What puzzles me this morning is the disconnect demonstrated by the drone strike killing of the chief of the Taliban on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. Why kill the man who had agreed to start talking to the Pakistani government? Different hymn sheets?

[Wendyf]

Flicker from the wind turbine next door. A low sun and a south easterly wind combining to make it uncomfortable in the house.....but it only lasts for a few minutes.

[Tardis]

Cake experiments, intended for the bake off

Too much chocolate for my liking

[Stanley]

Lewis Hamilton spinning off track due to mechanical failure in the rear suspension yesterday in F1 Qualifying final session. Shades of the steering column failure that killed Ayrton Senna... Lucky lad..... He still starts 4th.

[Stanley]

See this LINK for a report on the number of homeless children this Xmas. That is children living in temporary accommodation. The Mirror puts it at 80,000 but perhaps are using different criteria. Whatever the number it's a sad commentary on our times.
Jack had a relatively easy night with the fireworks, he was disturbed but not distressed. Perhaps the wind direction helped as the main problem was the display at Victory Park. Hopefully most of them would be let off last night....

[Julie in Norfolk]

Well so far today, the guttering that has come away at the side of the house, maybe the ivy was the only thing holding it up, and the rear end of a mouse scuttering across the work surface. Both need fixing..... Mind you that is not the first mouse in the house, nor the first bit of guttering to discover gravity. What's the forecast like for the next couple of days?

[David Whipp]

What's the forecast like for the next couple of days?

Depends where you are; very different weather yesterday between north and south.

Birds feeding on the berries on our thorn hedge through the window from where I'm sat:

[Tizer]

What's the forecast like for the next couple of days?

It's going to rain gutters and mice.