WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Big Kev]

I'm surprised the Cellar Bar and Bistro, on Rainhall Road, hasn't been snapped up. What with all the publicity from GBHighSt I would have thought it would be a great investment opportunity for the right people.

[Whyperion]

Legislation , minimum wage, VAT on food, uncompetitive vs Supermarket prices, less disposable cash sloshing around in peoples pockets thanks to upcoming changes to rates of calculations of inwork benefits, needs to get large deposits on buying real estate, all conspire to make moving small businesses forward difficult at present times.

[Stanley]

I hadn't noticed it was up for sale Kev... I see one of the units under the Majestic is populated with sporting trophies. Can you remember when there was a tiny shop in Orchard Street that sold them but it vanished. If that's all that is going to be offered in the new shop I suspect they will be on a sticky wicket....
THIS strange and potentially dangerous mistake by American Airlines grabbed me. They used the wrong plane for the flight to Honolulu, a twin engined Airbus that wasn't certified for long over-water flights. They flew it back empty when the mistake was realised. As it happened it was OK but a bit embarrassing for AA....

[Big Kev]

I hadn't noticed it was up for sale Kev... I see one of the units under the Majestic is populated with sporting trophies. Can you remember when there was a tiny shop in Orchard Street that sold them but it vanished. If that's all that is going to be offered in the new shop I suspect they will be on a sticky wicket....

I believe it's the same people, they moved to Earby for a while.

[PanBiker]

Just passed the 63000 posts mark on the site since the rebuild.

[Tripps]

For what it's worth - I've been keeping score on the back of an envelope for the past four weeks.
I see we have had 31 different posters in that time, and the number Pans gave above prompted me to see what their total was since the new site was rebuilt. This is about 85%.
These 31 have together made a total of 54,056 posts.

I would get out more, but the van is in for a service today.

[PanBiker]

If you like stats Tripps I have my daughter and sons timings and positions in the Great North Run which they completed yesterday. All the results for every entrant is now up on the GNR Website.

Each entrant is given a bib with their race number which contains an inbuilt tracker which triggers on the day when they pass the start gate. Along the route at every half mile there is a transponder that updates the tracker as each is passed until the finish gate which then gives the final timing and uploads all the information from each entrants tracker. This ensures that every entrant can be tracked over the whole length of the course and found by marshals if required.

Entrants are ranked on the start order according to how they assess their performance at the time they enter. Jack estimated that he could finish in 2h30m and Carla expected to complete in 3 hours. Consequently Carla was ranked in the start order about 3 groups behind Jack. They wanted to run together, the rules allow entrants to move further back in the start order but not forwards. This ensures that those with better performance should be nearer the front. A statistic is generated from their start position which projects their expected finish position. Jack moved back in the start ranking to join his sister. Carla was predicted to be in 51,155th place and Jack in 39,537th place based on their original start positions / performance.

There were slightly more than 57,000 starters, Carla and Jack completed the whole route together and passed through the finish gate at essentially the same point, both with a time of 2h39m57s. Carla must have been slightly behind Jack as he was placed 31,834th with Carla at 31,835th. Comparing this result with their expected positioning shows that Carla did a lot better than she estimated 20,000 positions at the finish better with Jack 8,000 better placed than estimate. Jack was 7,352nd in his age (20-34) and gender group, Carla was 2,160th in her age (35-39) and gender group.





Carla was running for the childrens cancer charity Candlelighters and Jack for Bosom Friends based here in Barlick. Between them they have raised over £700.00 in sponsorship for their efforts. A proud dad

[LizG]

Australia has another Prime Minister.

[Cathy]

Yes Liz, and without any of us actually voting - again!!

[Marilyn]

Yes....5 Prime Ministers in 5 years is not helpful for anyone trying to pass an Alzhiemers Test is it?

[Stanley]

Maz and Cath... it surprised me as well. These politicians have a habit of trying to run our countries as though they actually own them....
Nice stats for the site Ian. Another aspect is the number of page reads by guests, I noticed that since I bumped Warner the other day it has got a surprising number. Perhaps we ought to bump the more obscure elements more often....
The fact that I seem to have cracked the tool shape for my shaper.... Very Satisfying!

[PanBiker]

Final one on the GNR, another Barlick lad, Jacks mate Tom Brewster ran as well. Tom is a runner and is a member of Clayton Le Moors Harriers, he runs in 5K and 10K events but has never run a half marathon, this was a first for him. He was ranked to come in at 37,857th but finished well better than that at 524th, he ran the course in 1h27m29s, nice one Tom.

[Stanley]

Being discharged from the Eye Clinic. I shall try to avoid needing to go back there!
How busy the Clinic was and how much pressure the staff were under....

[Tripps]

Yes....5 Prime Ministers in 5 years is not helpful for anyone trying to pass an Alzhiemers Test is it?

Great response. I discovered that Malcolm Turnbull, the new Prime Minister was the defence barrister at the Spycatcher trial of Peter Wright in the 1980's. I have the book (remaindered at 99p) and have managed to find it. The back cover shows he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford (like Bill Clinton), and worked with Harold Evans at The Times for a while, though I can find no reference to him in the index of Evans. biography.

The Spycatcher business seems to have been a lot of fuss about very little in the google age.

[Stanley]

I saw that as well David. I've just had a look at my copy of Spycatcher which I bought as soon as it was available. Printed and bound in Dublin, published by Heinemann in Australia. I forget where I had to send to for it but it was abroad. Could it have been Dublin? It was a big deal at the time but largely because of the paranoid reaction of the Thatcher government and the security services. Led to the Stalker saga of course and the book 'Poisoned Tree' that blew the lid off the Stalker persecution. The business man at Summerseat near Bury who was the target used to get Stalker was fully vindicated but not until he and his family had been ruined. A shameful episode all round.Stalker's only crime was that he was an honest copper....
The continuing good weather in contrast to the south. I have my bedding in the washer!

[Tripps]

I agree - I've got a couple of books on the Stalker case too.

I just missed seeing the Dalai Llama this afternoon in Cambridge. I did see however a couple of hundred protesters, some of whom seemed quite angry. Seems like a contradiction in terms to me. Shouldn't they have been meditating? They were part of this 'sect' Dorje Shugden

As Kipling says
And down the loaded air there comes
The thunder of Tibetan drums
And droned - Om mane padme hum
A world's width from Kamakura.


There was a large number of Police too. Always seem to be available in numbers for things like this.

[Stanley]

I agree with you. Isn't it funny what religious belief can do to people... I can't think of a more unobjectionable bloke than the Dalai Lama!
I was watching a report of a couple who had a burglar on the premises, rang the police and they were told the nearest officer was 40 minutes away.... The police say 'they are looking into the matter'. Don't you just love PR people! We are going to see a lot more of this in rural areas as budgets are cut further and deeper...

[Tripps]

If you get burgled - ring the Dalai Llama to come round - he's sure to bring several police cars and about twenty officers.

[Stanley]

Unfortunately there is some truth in that David.... Priorities seem to have shifted these days and this is why I don't trust the reassuring statistics that 'prove' crime rates are falling overall. Much of this is due to the public not bothering to report many crimes because they realise it is a waste of time....
I had a conversation with a friend who has started a course of chemotherapy and was struck by his bravery in facing the cancer. I was impressed by the fact that he has to do a lot of the medicating for himself and the doctors have quite evidently briefed him well on what the various drugs are for. He was explaining steroid doses at regular intervals to massage white cell and platelet production.... People are quite amazing and it brings my minor problems into perspective..... It reminds me yet again that we walk round amongst heroes who are coping with serious matters but keep quiet about it.

[Tripps]

I see that Findmypast are having a free weekend - until Monday lunchtime 21 Sep 2015.

Look here Free findmypast

That's what kept me up till 1.00am last night.

As a lapsed customer - I was surprised to see there was still a record there of every search I had ever done with them - going back several years. I deleted them all - seems a bit intrusive to me.

[Stanley]

I'll pass on that one David... I got genealogy out of my system when the kids and I dug into my dad.... I know I'd get hooked if I started to extend the search!
The lady with the Springer spaniel who was advised by a friend to get an automatic treadmill for her dog.... Luckily she is sensible.....
The surprising fact that Ferrari and Red Bull beat Mercedes for pole at Singapore..... Good, it's no good for the sport when one team has too big an advantage.

[Stanley]

I admit to being baffled by the news that Volkswagen have been caught out using an algorithm in the engine management computer which detected when the engine was under test and adjusted the system to give the lowest possible emissions. Once on the road the system reverted to normal operation giving up to 40 times more pollution.
I understand that but what I am wondering is why do it? I can understand doing it to pass the emission test but why allow it to revert to a dirtier setting on the road? One would think that the clean setting would give the greatest efficiency and the best fuel performance. Why was this seen to be a disadvantage. Could it be that the cleaner setting caused faster engine wear? I know that much of the cylinder bore lubrication in diesels was catered for by sulphur in the fuels and I know that when sulphur levels were lowered many engine manufactures got into trouble and the oil companies had to compensate by putting additional additives in diesel fuel. It's a bit of a puzzle..... One thing is certain, they must have had what seemed to them to be a good reason.

[plaques]

One would think that the clean setting would give the greatest efficiency and the best fuel performance.

It may have given good fuel performance but the power output would have gone through the floor. Cars are sold on their 'macho' performance, acceleration, BHP, etc. Who cares about breathing in particulates that's someone else's problem.

[Tizer]

I go away for a week's holiday, offline, no TV, and when I come back the world's got itself into an even greater mess! As well as everything else, I now find that VW has been blatantly breaking the regulations on it's vehicles' pollution levels while I've been happily getting 65-70mpg from my 1.6 Golf TDi. It's likely that VW has been doing this in Europe as the testing regime is softer here than in the US where they've been caught; and likely too that other car manufacturers are doing the same. You're both probably right about the reasons why VW's software tweaked the emissions better for the test but then returned them to the original poor level - according to the US vox.com web site:

"Volkswagen hasn't explained exactly why it cheated, but outside analysts have a pretty good guess. The NOx emission controls likely degraded the cars' performance when they were switched on — the engines ran hotter, wore out more quickly, and got worse mileage. Some experts have suggested that the emission controls may have affected the cars' torque and acceleration, making them less fun to drive. (Indeed, some individual car owners have been known to disable their cars' emission controls to boost performance, though this is against the law.) In other words, Volkswagen wasn't able to produce diesel cars that had the ideal mix of performance, fuel economy, and low pollution. (Or, at least, they couldn't do this profitably.) So they "solved" this trade-off by sacrificing cleanliness and loosening the emission controls. And they accomplished this via software designed to deceive regulators. This was wildly illegal, and they got caught."
LINK

At least the US regulators have bite, unlike European regulators. In the US, VW could face a fine of over $35,000 for each car affected. There might be further implications when the American public realises that it has been poisoned by VW. Another example of US regulators taking serious action is the current report about the Peanut Corporation of America which knowingly sold contaminated peanut butter (thought to contain salmonella) and killed 9 people. The ex-owner of the company has been sentenced to 28 years in prison, his brother to 20 years and a QC manager to 5 years. LINK Meanwhile, company bosses in Britain who cause mayhem simply get to retire or move on to another mega-salary elsewhere. I haven't heard anything more about the CEO of the Hugo Boss retail company where a child was crushed in March by a falling mirror slab. The company has been fined £1.2 million but I hear nothing about the management. LINK It would be a different story in the USA.

[Pluggy]

You can bet your life Volkswagon aren't the only ones using software to enhance their engines emission performance, once you've written software it literally costs nothing to reproduce it into all your cars. There's the ever increasing gap between what the manufacturers claim for their vehicles fuel consumption and what you can actually achieve in the real world, I suspect its 2 sides of the same coin. Its all part of getting the road tax down under present regulations. The government are abandoning the gms/km bit after 2017 for all but the first year after purcahse and then it reverts to a standard figure. It only aftects cars sold after the cutoff, the present ones will continue as is.