WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

Whoops!...
`Watch: Cargo ship tips on its side in Turkey' LINK

`Northern Lights: The aurora that dazzled us in 2024' BBC

[Big Kev]

My car was collected by the garage this morning, it has a recurring sensor fault on the DPF. Don't you just love technology. It has had two sensors replaced already, the ECU identified them as faulty and now another has failed. It's unfortunate that they are exhaust temperature sensors and the ECU shuts the engine down when it gets a spurious reading. The new sensor is coming from Stockport so not likely to arrive until Friday, hopefully it'll sort the problem as the 4th sensor has to come from Germany.

[Stanley]

Loved the clips Peter.
Kev, you confirm everything I have ever said about vehicles being too complicated these days. I suspect that if someone built one with no computers or sensors it would sell like hot cakes. It seems to me that cars are designed with one thing in mind, keep the client paying!

[Stanley]

I saw THIS report .......
Twenty big cats - including a Bengal tiger and four cougars - have died of bird flu over the past several weeks at an animal sanctuary in the state of Washington. "This tragedy has deeply affected our team, and we are all grieving the loss of these incredible animals," the Wild Felid Advocacy Center of Washington wrote in a post on Facebook. The devastating viral infection, carried by wild birds, spreads primarily through respiratory secretions and bird-to-bird contact and can also be contracted by mammals that ingest birds or other products. The sanctuary is under quarantine and is closed to the public to prevent the spread of the virus, the statement said. The animals died between late November and mid-December, the sanctuary's director, Mark Mathews, told the New York Times, external.
I had never seen the word 'Felid' before, so I went looking.... "a mammal of the cat family ( Felidae ); a wild cat.

[Tizer]

I had never seen the word 'Felid' before, so I went looking.... "a mammal of the cat family ( Felidae ); a wild cat.

Hence `Felix the Cat'
You've probably been following Roland Pease on BBC World Service's `Science in Action'. He's been reporting on the advance of H5N1 bird flu especially in the US but elsewhere in the world, although we've heard little about it here in the news.

[Stanley]

It sounds more serious in the US than it is here Peter..... See that report from Washington.

See THIS latest report on the plane crash in Kazakhstan.
The chief prosecutor in Kazakhstan said later that the investigation had not yet come to any conclusions. But some commentators in Azerbaijani media say that Azerbaijan expects Russia to admit shooting down the plane. Several TV channels, which are under strict control of the Azerbaijani government, on Thursday started broadcasting interviews with experts who have openly spoken about the possibility that Russia was responsible. AnewZ channel said a preliminary investigation had concluded that the plane had been hit by shrapnel from a surface-to-air missile from Russia's Pantsir-S defence system. Another pro-government website, Caliber, quoted government sources as saying that no-one was claiming the plane had come under attack intentionally, but that Baku expected an apology from Russia.

[Tizer]

It seems that Netanyahu and the IDF don't care who they kill or injure and have no respect for other countries and international organisations. If American politics falls into disarray under Trump then Netanyahu might find the chickens coming home to roost...
`UN health chief at Yemen airport during Israeli strikes' BBC

[Stanley]

I read that report and thought the same thing Peter. Clever stuff though because both the US and the UK have done the same thing......
I don't think he is bothered too much about Trump changing policies because let us not forget that every penny paid for arming Israel goes straight into the coffers of the American arms manufacturers and Trump needs the business to keep them happy.

See THIS report from Gaza. The IDF is continuing it's policy of depopulation ready for eventual annexation.
One of northern Gaza's last functioning hospitals has been forcibly evacuated by the Israeli military, medics say, after dozens of people were reportedly killed in Israeli strikes targeting the area around the healthcare facility. Eid Sabbah, head of the nursing department at Kamal Adwan hospital, told the BBC that at about 07:00 on Friday, the military gave the administration 15 minutes to evacuate patients and staff into its courtyard. Israeli troops subsequently entered the hospital and were removing the remaining patients, he said. The Israeli military said on Friday afternoon that it was carrying out an operation in the area of the hospital, which it called a "Hamas terrorist stronghold". Israeli troops had "facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients and medical personnel" from the hospital before beginning the operation, it added. The military did not say where the patients would be moved. But earlier in the week, an Israeli official said that they intended to relocate those at Kamal Adwan hospital to the nearby Indonesian hospital, which was itself evacuated by the military on Tuesday.

[Tizer]

I don't think he is bothered too much about Trump changing policies because let us not forget that every penny paid for arming Israel goes straight into the coffers of the American arms manufacturers and Trump needs the business to keep them happy.

Agreed. But with Trump anything can change quickly and unexpectedly. He was very anti-cryptocurrency, anti-TikTok (Chinese!) and anti-abortion but now is a dedicated supporter of them. He could be in love with Iran next week!

[Big Kev]

Kev, you confirm everything I have ever said about vehicles being too complicated these days. I suspect that if someone built one with no computers or sensors it would sell like hot cakes. It seems to me that cars are designed with one thing in mind, keep the client paying!

I currently have my son's car, he's not using it over Christmas and they can use his wife's when they need to go anywhere. I'm surprised how much fuel it uses compared to mine, it's a petrol BMW X1. A warning popped up on it the other day, fortunately it was just before my son dropped it off to me. I would have been labelled a jinx if it flagged up while I had it
It's a warning to change the auto transmission fluid within the next 1000 miles.

[Stanley]

Kev, the only warning light I ever had was if the oil pressure dropped or the alternator stopped charging. Beyond that it was down to good check routines and that's how I liked it.
What got my attention was Susan and Mick's itinerary. They fly out of LHR tomorrow at 10:00 on a non stop flight to Perth (16:30 hrs) and so I shall be home alone until March. I would not like to be in a plane for that long......

[Stanley]

The fact that Susan and Mick fly out of Heathrow this morning at noon on Quantas QF10, a non stop flight to Perth, WA. I shall be tracking them......

[Stanley]

Tension mounts. They take off in half an hour.......
Later at 12:30. They are out of the country, just crossed the coast at Folkestone. Now for a dadnap!

[Stanley]

Mail from my nephew Michael. He has been working hard in physio to rehabilitate two major tendons in his knees that he tore 18 months ago. Yesterday during physio one of them tore again so he's back in hospital! What Lousy luck.
Mick and Susan are flying over the Indian Ocean at 555mph, 2 hours out of Perth. I'll bet they will be glad to get off the plane...... (17 hrs flight.)
Later at 04:50. I have watched them land safely.... now I can relax! (Isn't the web wonderful!)

See THIS BBC report of Laura Kenny's comments about the effect of training on women.
Olympic gold-medallist Dame Laura Kenny is Britain's most successful female athlete. She has two young boys but also had a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy, and has always wondered if the physical toll of elite sport had damaged her fertility. The BBC News Health team has investigated. Dame Laura, 32, gave her body to cycling for more than a decade. "Every training session I went in there to give 100%, every race I went in there to give 100%. "I took it to the limit - if I wasn't sick after a race I'd be like, 'Did I try hard enough?'"
I can't remember the context but I have heard this concern voiced before and I can remember women reporting that their periods had stopped during heavy training. It wasn't only women, men complained that heavy training affected their immune response and it was common to find athletes being disabled by stomach infections particularly.
It seems to me that as in so many other fields of life, excess can be dangerous.

[Stanley]

We've had a power cut but it's back on now. But it's still dark, the security light comes on if you go outside and it's still raining!

[Stanley]

A complete change in the weather. We are promised sun all day!

[Stanley]

I am at the stage where I normally go in the shed. I think I have to sit here on guard instead as we are being attacked by spammers. I am deleting them as fast as they pop up but I need Wendy or Ian.....

[Big Kev]

The A59 at Kex Gill (Blubberhouses) reopened this afternoon, hurrah!

A landslip yesterday has completely closed the A59 at Kex Gill again. Additional roadworks, on the previous diversion route, aren't helping things either. North Yorkshire Council reckon it could be several weeks before it's open again.

[Stanley]

That piece of road was always uneven but I can't remember it ever being blocked. Derbyshire had a road like that over Mam Tor and I think in the end they abandoned it.
Touch wood, no spammers yet!

[Stanley]

The main thing is the Met Office amber warning of snow, so far all we have had is light rain.....

The other thing is the sudden demise of my Dyson V6 hand-held cleaner. It is suffering from the well-known 'flashing red light' syndrome the cure for which is to pay Dyson £65 for a new battery (Or £25 for a Chinese knock-off). I am minded to do neither of these things but will have a word with Garry who is my vacuum cleaner man. I strongly suspect that the battery is pre-programmed to fail and force the purchase of another. It went from fully functional to useless with no intermediate stages.

Later, I see that 'flaneurism' is to be the subject of an R4 programme this morning........

[Big Kev]

The other thing is the sudden demise of my Dyson V6 hand-held cleaner. It is suffering from the well-known 'flashing red light' syndrome the cure for which is to pay Dyson £65 for a new battery (Or £25 for a Chinese knock-off). I am minded to do neither of these things but will have a word with Garry who is my vacuum cleaner man. I strongly suspect that the battery is pre-programmed to fail and force the purchase of another. It went from fully functional to useless with no intermediate stages.

I replaced mine with a 'Chinese knock-off' and it's been working perfectly for over a year now.

[Stanley]

Let me know which one you got Kev and I'll give it a try.....

[Big Kev]

Let me know which one you got Kev and I'll give it a try.....

I ordered mine from eBay but the original listing has expired. The battery is branded Sony and there are lots of the same if you search (on eBay). Just make sure it has a maximum delivery time of around 3 days and it'll be from a UK warehouse. For the V6 they range in price from £14 to £21, most with free delivery. Definitely worth a punt.

[Stanley]

Noted..... Thanks for the information Kev. I shan't be going for the cheapest......

[Stanley]

Something that occurred to me this morning is that one of the big influences that is shaping society today is the general reduction in attention span that I think is happening, largely because of our screen culture. This came to me while I was reading and editing a piece of research on the mills at Coates this morning. The question that popped up in my mind was whether I was wasting my time because I couldn't see many people having the attention to detail to read and understand, so what was the point in putting the effort in.
Is this just my innate pessimism about the human race (and no doubt in turn a product of my age) Or is there something in my forebodings......