WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

Hope you and J had a good holiday Tiz. I've read your post about the draught!
What struck me yesterday was the minefield of H&S regulation in our brave modern world. Before the fitter pulled the Company Fuse to rewire the main leads he had to put on full safety gear, hard hat, visor, insulated gloves and a special insulated coat. All this in the warmth and comfort of my front room! It got worse, when I said I was taking Jack for a walk I was told that I had to lock the fitters out of the house while I did it! Luckily they had to work on the outside gas meter and so I locked them out then. Whatever happened to common sense and old fashioned trust? When they went up into the bathroom to check the CH boiler I asked if I should accompany them to make sure they didn't steal the loo rolls.... I got a funny look from the supervisor!

[plaques]

A survey in the Guardian Newspaper (Office of National Statistics) saying that Pendle is the most anxious place to live in the UK scoring only 3.6 out of 10. Link. . The survey suggests the 'Overall wellbeing' is a indication of inequality. Generally speaking I'm not a fan of this sort of survey given that there are far too many variables to get a meaningful answer. However, if one looks at the population statistics from the National census which shows that there has been no increase for the past eleven years people seem to be voting with their feet. Perhaps they are not too far out after all.
Note, the article shows a picture taken along the North Valley Rd Colne before the Glen Mills chimney was demolished.

[Tizer]

Here is evidence of what the wild life thinks of Volkswagen management after the revelations of their attitude to environmental pollution - my diesel Golf this morning!



Yes, thanks, Stanley. We had a good holiday in west Cornwall, mixed weather but lots of interesting mining history amidst wonderful countryside. It's great to see how much more is being done to preserve and restore old mining sites and equipment. A lot are now World Heritage sites and that brings them much more publicity and attention. In Hayle a part of the quayside that belonged to Harvey's foundry has lain waste for a long time but an Asda supermarket has been built on it. It's better than it sounds - the building is low and the walls are covered in hanging tiles made of bronze in a nod to the local importance of copper and to old Hayle buildings that have the same cladding. They've also renovated some of the old quayside too and shoppers vie for the best parking spots around the edge of the car park with views across the harbour to the old houses and towards the impressive railway viaduct (impressive not least because some of the old stone pillars holding up the viaduct now lean somewhat!).

[Marilyn]

Gosh...you were well and truly shat on!

[Stanley]

P, an interesting article and not surprising, in line with poverty and infant mortality in some wards. What grabbed me was THIS article on inequality embedded in that piece. Anyone waiting for the 'Northern Powerhouse' to improve things shouldn't hold their breath.... Nothing but a vote-grabber in the manifesto.....
Tiz, if the bird crap is truly an indication of good luck, back a horse immediately!
The fact that the grill on my electric cooker uses far more juice than the Harrison lathe!
Later. The energy monitor switched on at 06:00.... I don't know when it goes to bed at night apart from the fact that it's later than me at 22:00!

[Bodger]

Re V W., a thought struck me, in the 1930s Hitler had the idea of a Volkswaggen, in the 1940 he gassed 100,000s of people, and now the two are combined and gassing people world wide

[Tizer]

That's one way of looking at it, Bodger. But unfortunately there's increasing evidence that other motor manufacturers have been up to similar tricks. Independent test organisations find nitrogen oxide emissions for the `normal' vehicles of many manufacturers are, like VW's, many times greater than those claimed in the `official' tests. Apparently those official tests are carried out by the manufacturers themselves in their own test suites with an `official' watching and the cars are all specially set up for the test. The industry calls them `golden cars' and they are very different from the models we end up buying. How would the official ever be able to know what has been done to the test car in advance?

Maz, yes, by both the birds and VW!

[Marilyn]

Maybe the seagulls thought your car looked like a fat man in a red jumper, carrying a big package of hot chips?????

[Tizer]

It would have been much worse if they'd been seagulls Maz. I think the culprits are sparrows roosting in the bush next to the car. When they all take off they empty their little bowels to improve flight performance!

[Tripps]

I'm confused - not for the first time - about this VW crisis. I can understand them fiddling the official test conditions - surely no one believes the official fuel consumption figures anyway.
However at the annual M.O.T. test, my understanding is that what actually emerges from the tail pipe is analysed, and compared to a standard.

The result is either above or below this and thus fails or passes. It is an absolute figure, and applies to all vehicles, not just VW. We are told that VW has arranged that the engine knows it is being tested, and software reduces the emissions for the test. I don't believe it - and if the software does reduce the emissions - surely that's a good thing. I also read that compared to the USA test, the British test is very easy to pass, so no fiddle is needed.

They say there will be legal action. On what grounds?

[Pluggy]

The Americans are always slow off the mark, the rest of the world knew about the big discrepancy between test results and real world NOX levels last year.

This is an article covering this very topic written in October 2014:

http://www.theicct.org/real-world-exhau ... iesel-cars.

Newsnight are proud that they did a news article on it in December 2014.

My new Dacia has an old school petrol engine in it (with old school test figures) and the particular engine (Circa 1998 vintage 1149 CC 16V)is often slated as being as being thirsty, whereas the more modern engines (in particular the 3 cylinder 900cc turbo petrol) have much lower figures and attract lower road tax. In the real world there is little difference between the old engine and the newer variants in fuel consumption. I achieve close to the official 'combined' figure on my car, which is a total non starter on the later "less polluting" engine.

[Tizer]

Tripps, as i understand it the `test' that is being cheated is the one done on examples of the new model by the manufacturer when it is launched, not the standard MOT test. The so-called `defeat software' can sense that the car is not running normally but is in a test condition and changes the behaviour for the time that it is under that test. But they can't sell the cars in that `test condition' because the performance wouldn't match up to their claims.

As Pluggy says, independent testers have known for ages that the real life figures were totally different from the test ones - but the big manufacturers have stronger lobbyists, big PR departments and loads of money which has allowed them to prevent it getting out of hand. I can't believe that the VW CEO didn't know what was going on - it sounds like a `Rebeka Brooks situation' to me.

The legal situation is already dire with a large number of class actions against VW under way in the USA. The same thing is about to happen here because UK law changes soon to allow similar action.

[Tripps]

Yes I get what you're saying, about the difference between bench testing, and the MOT. That was what I'd thought.

I now find that the MOT does not have an absolute standard for emissions, but for vehicles registered after 1992 the emission of CO2 and Hydrocarbons must match the manufacturers specifications. i.e. there is a separate level for every model of vehicle.
They do not seem to test for NOX.

That does not explain to me what the benefit is of artificially lowering the specification for emission levels - since that would make it more likely to fail, when tested in the real world.

[Stanley]

I am in the same boat as David. I get the fact that the defeat programme settings reduce power but don't understand why, if the software can detect test conditions it doesn't kick in at the MOT. The bottom line is that the only test regime that would make any sense would be a test under road conditions while the vehicle was actually working. Oh and by the way, engine wear alters the efficiency as well..... I used to breathe on Land Rover engines regularly to cure the blue smoke syndrome. Most fitters just advanced the timing but that lead to broken crankshafts. No computers then, I took the play out of the skew gear drive on the camshaft to the distributor pump....

[Stanley]

The Volkswagen affair gets worse daily. What is going to happen if other manufacturers have been using the same cunning wheeze..... Who will suffer in the end? The customer of course!

[Tizer]

Another cartoon in the paper today. Two Red Indians looking into the distance at puffs of black smoke rising from behind a hill. One is saying to the other: "Looks like the chief has bought a VW". By the way, I read that the VW chief who resigned may get £23 million in severance pay - and that's not a joke.

[Stanley]

I saw that as well Tiz. I wonder whether an employee found stealing or committing fraud would fare with his severance pay? These payments aren't a pension, they are rewards or bonuses. What exactly does a board member have to do to incur disqualification? We hear a lot about 'The Politics of Envy' but the old song is still true, It's the rich what gets the money, it's the poor what gets the blame..... Isn't it a bloody shame! I see Switzerland has banned the sale of any VW vehicle that may have the defeat software.... Questions in Parliament about secret deals between Cameron and Merkel.... Meanwhile the government says 'We will look into it', management speak for ' We'll wait until we see the size of the problem before we do anything.'

[Stanley]

The Blood Moon at 02:40.



By 03:25 you can see the red colour.

Later at 04:00 the moon was AWOL but I have an idea some cloud has come in....

[Stanley]

Latest news from VW is that many Audi and Skoda cars have the defeat software installed. The CEO is being investigated by the German police to establish the extent of his culpability. I'm waiting to see whether Mercedes are in the same boat..... Nothing would surprise me at this point....

[Stanley]

I've just remembered something from my walk this morning. There was a very bright object in the sky directly South at 6AM, it seemed to be moving slowly towards the East. Too big for a planet.... Helen at the Co-op asked me if I'd seen it and that reminded me to post. Anyone any idea what it was?

[PanBiker]

ISS maybe?

[PanBiker]

The NASA tracker for the ISS only has data for visibility from major cities. Viewing from Manchester or Liverpool had the ISS 21 degrees above due South traveling to 11 degrees SSE at 5.16am but this was on Saturday 26th. Next visibility from the same locations is from October 5th onward. The ISS is very bright and on a good pass can be seen clearly with binoculars it orbits at around 400Km.

NASA - International Space Station

Looking at the news on the site, it could have been the transfer vehicle recently released from the ISS, which was due to de-orbit and burn up on re-entry.You may have caught it on its re-entry trajectory.

[Stanley]

It was very bright and definitely a transient. I like your possible explanation. I shall inform Helen at the supermarket!
I have been meaning to post (but kept forgetting!) about the transfer of the Wave feature from the Barlick in Bloom display in the Town Square to the frontage of Rainhall Road School. It is in peak condition, well worth a viewing and a credit to all those involved. It must have been a bugger moving it! Must get a pic.....
Defeat Software.... Knowing how technology tends to transfer across corporations by devious means I wonder how many other car manufacturers have been using it or similar ploys.... I have an idea this is going to run and run. Are all the motorists running about with it installed breaking the taxation rules? Is someone looking at the possibility of claiming back the tax advantage? I would be amazed if this wasn't being considered.
06:40. I solved the UFO problem this morning. The council are replacing the sodium light units in the main street lights with units that give a very bright white light and very directions, far less scatter. The units have a flatter profile than the old ones and from the side look like a bright white line. No mist this morning so a clearer view and that's what the light is.... Sorry kids!

[Stanley]

More 'UFOS' this morning...
Litter dropped within arm's length of bins....
More revelations about VW and the defeat software.... (LINK)

[Stanley]

The shootings in Oregon. (LINK). Once again President Obama goes on national television to deliver another impassioned speech about gun control, he must be so frustrated! Many people have tried to explain the origins of the US obsession with guns and while I understand the historical roots I have great difficulty with the consequences. I met several 'survivalists' and outright red-necks during my time in the States (Definition, a Good Old Boy drinks beer while driving his truck down the road. A red-neck does the same but throws the can out of the window...) I talked to a man one day who told me that his first consideration when looking at a new property was the field of fire and whether it had a cellar fit to be converted into a safe room. Bumper sticker seen in NY, 'If the gun laws go through only the bad guys will have them'. I have a suspicion that a lot of the craze stems from insecurity. Not only on the grounds of personal safety but as a confirmation of masculinity. I doubt if many of the gun owners have ever heard of the Minutemen, they are not driven by historical arguments but a need for control. A semi-automatic and a bunch of college students is seen as a good way to assert this. So sad.....
Later after reading the BET. The front page is devoted to flood relief measures in Earby and if you remember my article in the BET recommended the same thing for Clough mill site and the Ouzledale Clough.... modesty forbids....
There are two good letters this week which are well worth reading. One is on the latest report from the National Statistics office in which Pendle is top of the league in England as the most anxious town. Meanwhile Stephenson rabbits on about children visiting Parliament.... Draw your own conclusions. The second letter concerns the rise i debt since 2010 which is quite shocking. Now lets see, what happened in 2010.... Are the two letters related to each other and the 2010 election? Again, make your own mind up....