WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

No, they asked me to look afater them and I pawned 'em.
Realised this morning that it was while since I had a pop at the Co-op so here's what I sent this morning:

For the attention of:
Peter Vincent Marks, Group CEO
Steve Murrells, CE Co-operative Food.

Subject: Stock Control at Barnoldswick Store.

Five months ago I asked why Condor Green Pipe Tobacco was not being stocked at Barnoldswick. Mr Murrells assured me on 13th August 2012 that it would be in stock within 'the next couple of weeks'. Six weeks later there was one delivery. Since then your Stock Control Programme has refused to allw an order to be placed despite repeated requests by your staff. It would appear that you are not controlliong the business, your stock programme is over-riding your orders and the consequence is you are losing £500 per annum turnover from me alone for this one item..
You may care to enquire why Colman's Dry mustard is no longer stocked.

It would be nice to get a proper reply andf not the stock automated response.

Stanley Challenger Graham
10 East Hill Street
Barnoldswick.

[Pluggy]

I complained to the Co-op store manager that they'd stopped selling frozen corn on the cob a while back. He said it was a seasonal thing and that it would be back. He also said he didn't have a lot of say in what was stocked in the Barlick store. I dunno.......

[hartley353]

If my flat screen telly used 1.3 kW I'd be seriously worried (or perhaps not, it only has a 5 amp fuse in the plug) . Its an old one, its a lot greedier than new ones (because it has CFL backlighting whereas new ones use LED) and it uses 125W actually measured (two ways) . New ones with LED backlighting are generally sub 80W, even big ones. I long since stopped believing what the manufacturer puts on electrical plates, its more often than not to protect their backsides and often bears no relation to reality, especially on electronic stuff. An old computer I have sat on my desk is rated at 4A 220-230vAC on a label on the outside. Which comes out at 880 - 920W. The power supply inside is rated at 450 W Measuring it, it actually uses a maximum of 150 W and less than 100 most of the time.

Where to start on the PV panels. About 30% of the narrative actually holds water. Its comparatively easy to come up with your own figures entirely independently of any 'snake oil salesmen'. And perhaps everybody works on 20 years now because the FIT is only paid for 20 years with the latest iteration of the tariffs. Most salesmen work on the figures from PVGIS (feed it into google). And if you do some 'what if' variations in one of the many on-line calculators you'll find that the pitch and orientation of the roof isn't that critical. My own figures from my own panels agree fairly closely with PVGIS. The speed at which the tariffs are being reduced and the speed at which electricity is rising in cost, the FITs will become a minor player in the economics of PV not long from now by my reckoning. Electric currently runs circa 12p a unit from most suppliers, The FIT for domestic sized PV is now less than 16p per unit. March last year it was over 45p per unit. You do need an energy survey but unless you live in a property with less than a D rating its no problem (We didn't need it, but our late Victorian end terrace with medium loft insulation is easily a D). A friends 60's bungalow was rated as a D and it didn't have any loft insulation at all. It became a B when he had decent loft insulation installed. And would have been A if he'd gone the whole hog and had cavity wall insulation as well.

So visit this site :

http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/ ... map=europe

To get an estimate of what your roof will produce if adorned with panels.

Multiply the number of units it comes up with by the figures from

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Gen ... FITs#rates

to get a return per year. Reduce it by 10% for good measure.

Most firms are charging around £6000 for a 4kWp system these days. Come to your own conclusion. No salesmen required. Neither site has any connection with any PV companies. The politics, ethics and long term reliability of the FIT is out of anyones hands. They pay now.

Sorry pluggy your 5 amp fuse wil quite easily carry 8amps without blowing,and I have witnessed 13 amp fuses carrying 19 amps and just feeling warm.To the uninitiated google is not the place to seek fact the waters are very muddy and the truth well hidden. when i was a member of the IEE we had a query line this was the only place I would turn when baffled,and the advice was always sound. New technology such as TPV is breaking more efficient than the 50 percent of PV. Which on a sunny day will fall to 80 percent of 50 percent when the panels reach high temperatures When jumping in to new technology remember it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

[Pluggy]

It still only uses 125 watts though. I've never tested a fuse to destruction, maybe something I should try. The wife keeps nagging for a bigger telly, and it would be nice to have one that could receive telly without an external box (its too old to have freeview). I might even go for a smart telly, but it grates when the old one is still working. I still have an ancient 14" CRT in the dining room with a cheap freeview box. (40 watts running, a rather horrendous 14 watts on standby which is why I switch it off).

PV is nothing like 50% efficient - a quarter of that would be nearer the mark. The best time for buying into PV has passed. The government is never going back to the FIT of old. I wouldn't trade mine for new ones with twice the capacity and a third of the FIT. Wendy and I caught the bus. If they keep paying for another 5 years, they'll have paid for themselves, anything after that goes to my retirement funding. I sunk my redundancy money from my last job into them. I'm glad I did. The ROI on panels today is about what it was when they first introduced the FIT (April 2010). The system cost 3 times as much, but you got 3 times the returns. The golden time was in the months before March 2012 before they started reducing the FIT and panels were comparatively cheap. Whether it is a good investment now is up to you. I didn't bother back in 2010.

[hartley353]

It still only uses 125 watts though. I've never tested a fuse to destruction, maybe something I should try. The wife keeps nagging for a bigger telly, and it would be nice to have one that could receive telly without an external box (its too old to have freeview). I might even go for a smart telly, but it grates when the old one is still working. I still have an ancient 14" CRT in the dining room with a cheap freeview box. (40 watts running, a rather horrendous 14 watts on standby which is why I switch it off).

Some times one shouldn't open a can of worms. I realise that you are into electronics,and understand the subject,I first took an interest in PV from articles in electical journals, and started experimenting with building systems to provide me with electricity whilst camping. My last build is in the garden mounted on my aviary. After a couple of years I gave up non were efficient.I now pay for an, electrical hook up on site In PV the panels are simple to manufacture but difficult to make reliable Hot spots would develop if the cells were obstructed by snow, bird droppings, leaves, etc so shunt diodes were introduced to prevent over current failures, then more diodes to prevent damage to the safety diodes. If your system has visual displays it is very difficult for the home owner to know if the power generated is down because of poor light or because parts of the panels have failed,and unless you were to take readings and over a long period.the only solution is regular maintenance and at high cost.
Like you I also have a old 25 inch CRT, the only one I like to watch F1 on still a picture to beat and 10 years old.

[Tardis]

The co-op manager should be able to approach a buyer in HO to take the block off the product line, unless the Co-op as a group is no longer stocking the product

[hartley353]

PS.

There isn't a recognised measurement of kW per year. That would actually be a rate of change of power which is non nonsensical. The established measurement is kWh per year. kW is power, kWh is work. You pay for Electricity and gas by the kWh. Sometimes called a "Unit".

A kW is a bigger ( X1000) version of the Watt (W). A kWh (Kilowatt hour) is a huge (X3,600,000) version of the Joule (a Watt second). Which where the mysterious 3.6 multiplier on your gas bill comes from. A kWh is 3.6 Megajoules. 3600 is the number of seconds in an hour, and 1000 Watts in a kW, so 3,600,000. In some parts of the world energy is metered by the Megajoule (MJ) rather than by kWh. The numbers are just 3.6 times as large. KiloJoules (kJ) are the SI variant of the infamous calorie (more accurately the kilocalorie) much loved or hated by dieters. So now you can work out how many Mars bars there are in a Unit of electricity given that a standard 58g Mars bar has 260 kilocalories or 1088 kJ.......

Pluggy, I shouldnt have tried to put a complicated subject into simple terms,your maths are excellent. If my memory serves me well this formula will help to work out your power usage for anything. Watts multiplied by hours used, divided by 1000 , the result multiplied by the cost per Kw hour Thats how much it costs to run.
Just tried to find a figure for how much power is used by computers, a couple of years ago 15% of generated power was used by computers and their ancilliaries
PS Using the above calculation I managed to work out my telly is costing me £42 a year to run,the big surprise was the AV amp when run along side the set it costs me £154 per year. Just reconfigured the set up so it will be only on for DVD'S.

[Tripps]

I spoke to Andrew Lansley MP, Leader of the House, in Waitrose at Trumpington, ( just love that name ) this afternoon. Last time we spoke it was in Tesco "Household Goods" before they were elected. Spotted him in “Milk and Dairy” with his children, but from a distance, and decided to leave him in peace to enjoy the second week of his half term holidays.

Later in “Ready Meals” our paths crossed again, and he was alone, so I couldn’t resist it, and had a word. I reminded him that last time we spoke he told me of their scheme to charge everyone £7,000 on retirement, and that would guarantee residential care in old age if needed. I said I had queried his figures as optimistic at the time, and it seemed to have gone up to £75,000 now. “Ah yes “ he said - “but that is a guaranteed maximum, and when the insurance companies get their act together there will be an insurance product which will fund that cost , and the premium is likely to be about £7000. So that’s OK isn’t it.”

He’s quite formidable to speak to – doesn’t look directly at you, and it’s impossible to land a blow when he’s in full flow. I don’t think Andrew Neal, or John Humphries have anything to worry about.

I bought the buttered chicken curry – it was reduced by 50p, and very good.

[Stanley]

The problem with the Condor at the Co-op started when they started using an upgraded version of their computerised stocking system. It decided that Bruno was OK but Green Condor was a no-no. By going directly to the group CEO and the CE (Food) directly by letter I got a promise that it would be stocked. They got one delivery but since then there has been none despite multiple phone calls by staff to the relevant person. The system chucks the request back at them. Condor isn't the only thing that has vanished and the staff hate the new system.... A small piece of coding somewhere is causing this but it seems they can't (or don't want to) control it. Bottom line is that the programme is running their business!
Five million kilometres of dental floss used per annum (?) round the world. Yet no research or evidence to show it does any good. Do you ever feel that the dentists are trying to frighten people into more and more expensive treatment? I have no problem with bacterial load in my mouth of course, pot gobblers and a good diet. My tongue never has a hearth rug and is nice and pink! So, forget the floss, smoke black tobacco and eat a good diet!
Oscar Pistorius bail hearing gets even more complicated as it is revealed that the chief police witness is himself under investigation for attempted murder.

[Stanley]

I keep forgetting to mention an advert I saw on TV the other day that made me laugh out loud. It showed a bloke sat at a desk with a Moose head on the wall above it. Then it went to the other side of the wall where another bloke at a desk had the rest of the Moose and was working between its back legs. Brilliant! Mind you, I haven't the faintest idea what it was advertising!

[Tizer]

Landsley: "...when the insurance companies get their act together there will be an insurance product which will fund that cost , and the premium is likely to be about £7000. So that’s OK isn’t it.”

I'm amused by the phrase "when the insurance companies get their act together" - that equates with "when the cows come home" by my estimation. Even if it does happen the £7000 premium will probably be only for people about to die after signing up. After all, they don't want to take the risk of having to pay out for long, do they?

Hartley, what's TPV? When I was in journalism and when I was a scientist I was always taught to define abbreviations on first use and never to assume that everyone knew their meaning. People with widely differing backgrounds read the the OG forums. Thanks!

[Pluggy]

Hartley, what's TPV? When I was in journalism and when I was a scientist I was always taught to define abbreviations on first use and never to assume that everyone knew their meaning. People with widely differing backgrounds read the the OG forums. Thanks!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermophotovoltaic

Been around for 50+ years, doesn't appear to have got past proposals and the odd prototype. I can't see them being a threat to PV before mine have paid for themselves.

Now if I could only get my daughter to turn off lights and not leave her computer running all night when she's asleep.....

[Tardis]

The jury in the Vicky Pryce case.

Maybe the wigheads didn't explain the Law adequately to the 8 women and 4 men. Never the fault of the system

Now we waste more public money, when her husband has already plead guilty.

[rossylass]

The Oscar Pistorius bail hearing is more like a trial & it gets madder & madder. Why is a policeman on bail for attempted murder allowed to continue working??

Michael Mansfield defended the jury in the Vicky Price case & said that the questions show that the system is working....some of them were very naive though.

[Bruff]

Hmmm, I don't know. In my two experiences of jury service (one very recent), the judge was absolutely crystal clear as to our role and what we could and could not take into account in arriving at our verdict. We the jury were left in no doubt that we were the judges of the facts such as they were presented; the judge is simply there to advise and guide on aspects of the law. I find it difficult to believe a judge would fail to impress on a jury these points. Though it may happen and of course what's clear to me may not be clear to others.

I remember one of our deliberations very well, when we spent a good length of time discussing just what 'reasonable doubt' means. How do you judge this? What is 'reasonable' and when does it become unreasonable? Is there a metric? Until you face this question, with 11 other people in a room from all backgrounds, what appears straightforward is anything but. And the judge as he noted yesterday, can't advise on this - it is for you to make the test of reasonableness.

This doesn't put the 'blame', if we are to apportion any (and I personally would rather we didn't), onto the jury. No amount of advice and guidance can satisfy or inform everyone and frankly the jury did the right thing in making clear to the judge the difficulties some jury members may have had (there is an assumption there, perhaps erroneous, that it is 'some' and not 'all'). The system if you like worked well, which is reassuring and not in my view a waste of public money. Nor is it a waste of public money if someone pleads 'not guilty' to a charge their co-accused pleads guilty to. That is their fundamental right, which I for one would not wish to change.

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

Richard, thanks for that reassuring contribution. If I had to face a jury I think I'd like you on it! My own view is that like many human-based mechanisms, the jury system is not precise or ideal. However, if you want an example of how to assess 'reasonable' just look at the way benefit assessment is being managed by ATOS using a tick-box system. In effect they are supposed to be making 'reasonable' assessments of people's abilities. Like you, I recognise that just because something isn't 'perfect' is a bad reason for chucking it out.
Tiz, it must be commercially confidential information. Like you I was always taught to give an explanation of an obscure term or acronym the first time it was mentioned in text. My mind goes to management speak where complicated terms and sometimes even new words are used to cut back on possible interventions and questions. Keeps it in the club. A bit like the days when priests and lawyers used Latin. There is another aspect to this problem and that's when you are reading text written by someone who is so soaked in his subject that obscure terms are part of his world. I have had to refer to the dictionary several times while reading MacCulloch's biography of Cranmer. Some ecclesiastical terms are very archaic. For instance I was convinced that 'vice-gerency' was a misprint for vice-regency until I looked it up!
What grabbed my attention yesterday was nicking my left index finger as I carved a small piece of brisket! As many of you will remember I pride myself on having razor sharp knives. If you could have heard me lecturing myself on safety I think you would have smiled! I was not easy on the operator!

[Stanley]

How I hate waiting around for a parcel delivery. I woke this morning to find a screwed up postcard ion the letter box that simply has '20' written on it. Does this mean it's been left there? By the way, I was in all day....

[Tizer]

There are codes that the couriers use but I can't remember what `20' means. There is one for `no signature needed' but I know they often use it even though the customer wasn't asked if this was OK when they placed the order. Mrs Tiz's parents lost out on an M&S hamper of food we sent to them at Christmas due to this problem.

[Tripps]

"like the days when priests and lawyers used Latin. "

Reminds me of the after dinner joke from Vic Feather, and others probably, a long time ago

There is a lawyer's bar-room story about the day a pompous judge had before him a young barrister representing a handler of stolen goods from the said town.

"I trust," said the judge, "that your client is familiar with the principle "Nemo dat quod non habet."

"Indeed, m'lud," riposted the young turk. "In Barnsley they speak of little else."

[Tizer]

I wish I could come up with quips like that but I always think of them too late!

Talking of quips, we watched a Dad's Army episode the other evening (we always resort to them in times of stress!) and Captain Mannering was going to give the men a talk on `camouflage'. He appeared out from behind a curtain, covered in leaves and twigs, and said "Now men, what am I going to talk about tonight?" to which Private Godfrey replied "Pruning, Sir?"

[Thomo]

The speed at which my wife was "processed" from being a valued member of the team to being a redundant statistic, just over five minutes. This took place on Thursday afternoon and took her completely by surprise, it didn't take long to work out who had set the ball rolling however, it was no doubt she who had been voted "manager of the year" last week. All of the staff who set up the Pavers Shoes concession in Boundary Mill have now been removed, these are the people who built up the department to be the biggest earner not just in Boundary Mill but throughout the entire Pavers empire. Gone are all of the staff members who had time for their fellow workers and customers alike, they have been replaced by the new breed of management who probably got their training watching the Apprentice on TV and who's attitude to life is reminiscent of North Korean troops, there are no more "Slapped Wrists" for minor indiscretions, it goes straight to the company head of "Human Resources" for a formal and humiliating reprimand. This new breed of managers cannot abide employees with the ability to think for themselves and more likely to be feared than respected, since this new company puppet appeared on the scene the turnover of staff has trebled, and she now has her own personal aide in the form of the assistant manager who is a mirror image of herself. It was always my belief that a good manager was a person who had worked their way up to that position and knew all there was to know about the business, this no longer appears to be the case. There is just one redeeming factor though, when they fall they get hurt badly, and it will be interesting to see what happens when the good results that have attended this company venture, "Flatline". In the 48 hours since being made redundant my wife has already had two offers of employment should she wish to work again, she is already a pensioner!!!

[Pluggy]

Been there, twice. It sucks. The last time my demise was engineered by a younger head teacher who fancied himself. I've heard since that LCC have removed him because he was no good....

It doesn't do any good dwelling on it IMO. Pick yourselves up, dust off and move on.

[Tardis]

Yesterday's B&E with the reply from the council about the roads

"Anyone would think that there was an election"

[Tardis]

Today: someone appears to have stolen the copy of the B&E from the library

[Stanley]

I have a line from W C Fields when he was close to death and a friend caught him reading the Bible. His friend asked if it was conversion he said "Hell no! I'm looking for a loophole!" It came to mind yesterday when I was chasing up some more reading on theology and I wondered why the subject was interesting me so much. However, I consulted my mate Steve at Lancaster and one of the books he recommended was by John Romer, an Egyptologist who has written a very well received book 'Testament. History of the Bible'. I found a copy on Bookfinder and ordered it and this morning got a garbled email directing me to pay on a site called 'Realex'. I started to do it but then realised there was no indication this was a secure site and only the minimum information was required like card number security code and address and at this point my crap detector started whining. I've cancelled the order, given none of my card details and told the retailer why I have done it. Then I went to Amazon, found a good second hand hardback paid for via Amazon and ordered it. I looked Realex up out of curiosity and found that they have a history of broken web operations. I'm not sure if it was a scam but there was no lock symbol on the page and I hadn't heard of them. Am I paranoid or just sensible?