WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Bruff]

A not straightforward and arguably alarmist article in The Spectator that, as the 'comments' section below it makes clear. What are we to do with aborted and miscarried remains should the parents not take them to do with what they wish (and there seems little demand from parents for these remains)? The remains go to the incinerator like all other waste and is disposed of - that a by-product might be heat is neither here nor there. I would note that a town in Sweden is part-heated by the local crematorium and indeed Redditch here heats a local swimming pool from its crematorium.

Richard Broughton

[Tripps]

Diligent readers of this site will have had a warm glow last night when a question in University Challenge which stumped the combined brains of Manchester University and Trinity College Cambridge, was quite easy to those of us who had been paying attention. See Bob's Bits thread.

"In America, William Cobbett became a pamphleteer, writing under the pseudonym Peter Porcupine."

I wish I found it as easy to remember whether or not I've taken the tablets today.

[Stanley]

I agree with you Richard, a perfectly rational way to dispose of unwanted bodily waste. In terms of calorific value the incinerators connected to the heating are recycling the heat from the fuel used to burn the waste which, in comparison, will not generate much additional heat.
Interesting to look at the comments, some of them don't like the dreaded socialists do they!
Charlie Sutton and his mate Jack flueing the boilers at Burnley General Hospital. Jack asks Charlie if he wants a hand and throws him a forearm that was in the down-take. Turned out that the incinerator was off line and they had been dropping hospital waste into the flue at the back of the boiler where it was gradually incinerated. Charlie told me that they occasionally found gold in there and he reckoned more than one nagging wife had gone into the flues in the good old days!

[Tardis]

It may be perfectly rational.

I wonder why the process was not explained to those who's remains were being dealt with in such a manner?

[Tizer]

The remains go to the incinerator like all other waste and is disposed of - that a by-product might be heat is neither here nor there. I would note that a town in Sweden is part-heated by the local crematorium and indeed Redditch here heats a local swimming pool from its crematorium.

Some alarm has already been stoked up (no pun intended) by the purveyors of alternative forms of burial or cremation. They make unfounded claims about `dangers' from the cremation products issuing from the crematorium chimney to `prove' that their method is `safer'.

[Stanley]

"I wonder why the process was not explained to those who's remains were being dealt with in such a manner?"
Probably because someone made the sensible decision not to open the door to yet another superfluous administrative duty. Once you make the decision to inform where does it end? Birth waste, contaminated blood, minor excisions?
The appearance of the Commissioner of the Met before the House Committee. Not a happy man. I have some sympathy for him in that his problem is distinguishing between legitimate shredding of waste and destruction of important evidence.
The resignation of the Chief Constable of the Northern Ireland Police over selective erasure of driving penalty points.

[PanBiker]

Gus has posted some links to Rohilla information on the Facebook site for Barlick pictures. There is a link to the Pathe news coverage of the disaster.

Barnoldswick and Barlickers Then and Now

[PanBiker]

I have moved a number of recent posts from here to a more appropriate thread:

Speakers Corner

[Stanley]

The moving of the search site for debris from the downed plane 600 miles NE after a re-assessment of the speed. Talk about a needle in a haystack!

[Tizer]

Is it Bill or is it Ben? I snapped this flowerpot man taking a rest from working on his garden alongside the River Fal in Cornwall.

[Thomo]

In regard to the missing plane I have a fair idea what they are up against, and in the words of one of the team in Australia, "its not just like looking for a needle in a haystack, we are still looking for the bloody haystack"! One consolation though is that if the aircraft suffered a massive system failure, either accidental or intentional, all on board would probably have been unconscious for the duration of the aircrafts final hours. Sudden cabin pressure drop at high altitude gives only 15 seconds for emergency aid, slow pressure drop would eventually have the same effect but would give the flight crew time to respond. Whatever, it is still a sad situation. Last night we watched the film about the passenger who landed a plane after the pilot died, it was well done and I had a fair idea of what he was going through. It was going dark and he couldn't find the switch for the panel lights, the aircraft was quite old and all of the switches were grouped together, pressing the wrong one could have been fatal, he did the right thing and left them alone. For a Man of his years he displayed a level of courage and calmness that did him credit, there was little luck involved at all, just a small amount of guidance from others and his will to survive. Well done that Man. In the more modern versions of the Cessna, the various lighting switches are grouped at a distance from the main functional ones, either at the top of the panel or on the overhead display, the main flight information is displayed on a "glass panel" and is lit at all times.

[Tizer]

Thomo, your comment about hitting the correct switch reminded me of something I read about a jet fighter (can't remember offhand what it was) in the 1940s/50s that had the fire extinguisher button next to the start-up cartridge button. A report on the design fault said "If the pilot made a mistake there could be a delay in take-off" (what an understatement!).

Another airplane problem I read about recently was when the first crank-winged carrier borne plane went into operation in America in the 1930s (the folding wings being for storage under deck of course, for those unfamiliar with the design). At the beginning, the deck crews tended to forget to lock the wings open and the poor pilots opened the throttle, shot off the deck and the wings simply folded up!

[Stanley]

Formula 1 Qualifying this morning.....

[Cathy]

Haven't read all the comments re MH370 but I keep thinking did the food and drinks run out, what did the passengers think knowing that they should have landed hours ago and didn't the co-pilot read the cockpit instruments and ask questions?? Hope the mystery is solved very soon.

[Cathy]

Have just read article in DM by Colin Dunne (Last of the Summer Wine). He talks about his Yorkshire roots (Skipton) and geographical loyalty. Quite a funny read.

[Stanley]

Skipton was recently voted the best place to live in Britain in one of those polls....
It was a bit of a a shock when I read that a churchyard in middle England had over 5,000 bodies buried in it due to the age of the church. That got me to thinking about how many bodies are buried in Barlick. When you look at our long history and the fact that cremation is a modern method of disposal there must be tens of thousands of graves not only in the churchyard at Gill but in other place in the town we know nothing about. Our written history goes back over 1300 years, reckon up how many people that represents!

[Thomo]

There were graves in the yard at the Baptist Church on Walmsgate and at Bethesda Chapel. Monkroyd and Town Head are two other possibilities

[hartley353]

Have just read article in DM by Colin Dunne (Last of the Summer Wine). He talks about his Yorkshire roots (Skipton) and geographical loyalty. Quite a funny read.

Read the same article Cathy, now I know the best start in life was given to me by being born in Skipton. We still return to shop there, a lovely town.

[Stanley]

The 'news' that the queen has approved fracking in the grounds of Buckingham palace and that someone has invented a square egg that will be easier to scramble. (Could it be All Fool's Day)
More seriously, the effects cuts are having on animal health laboratories (LINK". The Royal College of Pathologists does not agree with DEFRA that this is 'an improved approach'. Add the cuts to the Forensic Service and I tend to agree with them. Remember the Law of Unintended Consequences.
The start of the new Hillsborough Inquest, the jury have been told to expect it to last for a year. There are going to be some very serious consequences from this and I predict that the police will say that the 'lessons have been learned'. I wonder if shredders will loom large in the evidence?

[Tardis]

Over the weekend I did a little more rail travel, and what struck me was that both out and on the return Virgin West Coast was not delayed. Made a change to actually make the connections.

Plus with the closure of the Rosegrove to Colne sections of the track, Northern rail put some much better rolling stock on the line

[Tardis]

I had a discussion with Lancashire Bus (Transdev) about the 07.17 (no28) from Barnoldswick.

I asked if it could leave 5 minutes earlier and then guarantee that it met up with the 07.48 Colne to Blackpool train, thereby allowing people to get to Preston for 9am.

They said that is enough people wanted it, then they'd consider it. Contact them on:

http://www.lancashirebus.co.uk/contact-us.jsp

Not entirely joined up, but who knows...

[Tardis]

My visit to The Archers Character invasion in Birmingham Library. I got a big hug from "Kathy"

[Moh]

My attention was attracted by learning Stanley's nickname when he was a driver - KNOCKER - wonder how he got that??

[Stanley]

It's a long story Moh.... 'Knocker' was usually given to people called West for some reason but I got it in the army when I happened to be in a room where there was a serious fight going on. I kept out of the way of everyone and finished up last man standing. My mates were most impressed even though I told them I was just good at dodging! Later on I got a reputation for being able to get hold of scarce items for the guns and our Platoon Sergeant Ted Lancaster reinforced the name by saying I must be knocking stuff off. It stuck for a long time and only faded when I was on the tramp, on my own all the time and nobody knew about it. I am occasionally called it again and it's always a bit of a shock.
Thinking back, you always got nicknames then in close groups, Smudge Smith, Slim Seaton (he was short and fat), Snowy White, Bing Crosby. It seemed that if you had a short forename you didn't get a nickname....

[Stanley]

Have a look at this LINK for reports of high levels of air pollution expected in the South today. Jules may have to wash her car.....