Coronavirus

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by pgk pgk on 23/03/2020 11:34:45:

At face value you'ld think this was a good idea Link

(the prospect of tracking folk and disease connections by mobile ap)

I'm not sure how well that's gonna work out here in the sticks where cell coverage is iffy at best. It will undoubtledly boost flagging mobile phone sales as every wally buys a 'burner'…

pgk

Fortunately doesn't have to work out in the sticks. Most valuable in crowded places. For example, if a virus carrier worked in central London it would be possible to identify where they went by bus or tube and when, plus finding quite a few of the people who were nearby. The bus could be deep cleaned. Doesn't have to be perfect, it only has to be more effective than guesswork. Won't fix the problem, but should reduce the impact. It all helps!

Dave

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Perhaps the supermarkets should only allow a basket shop on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Mike

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

We still get mixed messages, on one hand we are told wearing a mask is near useless and on the other that there is a shortage for NHS staff, who seem to be wearing the simple fabric mask rather than something more substantial.

Mike

[Roger ClarkParticipant @rogerclark]

Just tried to book a slot on Morrisons and Sainsburys and non available so I guess it's defy the self isolation and risk getting the virus or starve to death, I wonder how many healthy families have done big shops and then taken up the delivery slots to keep topped up? I suddenly don't like this world we live in much

Roger

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Posted by Rockingdodge on 23/03/2020 13:22:23:

Just tried to book a slot on Morrisons and Sainsburys and non available so I guess it's defy the self isolation and risk getting the virus or starve to death, I wonder how many healthy families have done big shops and then taken up the delivery slots to keep topped up? I suddenly don't like this world we live in much

Roger

Same with Tesco, have shopped on-line for years. Now I will have to break the isolation and go to a store, it will take me hours to shop as I don't know where anything is and have to read labels carefully for dietary reasons. Great

John

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

An awful lot of rubbish out there but this seems genuine, worth watching .

You Tube v=cZFhjMQrVts

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Mike Poole on 23/03/2020 13:05:28:

We still get mixed messages, on one hand we are told wearing a mask is near useless and on the other that there is a shortage for NHS staff, who seem to be wearing the simple fabric mask rather than something more substantial.

Mike

There are masks and masks. The type sold by DIY stores to keep out dust are mostly useless, surgical masks slightly better. An N95 respirator mask is more like it, but a full Hazmat suit can be had for about £120…

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Also very hot to wear unless you have a portable blower

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Let's not get morbid.

Good news is that today town was almost deserted and I was able to get a shop done – I actually got through the Aldi checkout faster than usual and I've seen it far busier on ordinary days.

My stepson says that although Morrisons was out of loo roll most otehr stuff is ins tock – they have so much bread they were selling it off at 5p a loaf at lunchtime.

And, if you are older, you can stay at home and ways will be found to keep you topped up with essential supplies.

Yes it will be boring and frustrating but anyone on here should have the wits and wherewithal to find things to do!

Time to take up scrimshaw?

Neil

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Wife suffers from severe asthma and I unfortunately had pneumonia at the end of January, so both us in the category of home isolation. Obtaining groceries a bit of a problem as daughter who lives local and has been shopping for us is required to quarantine for fourteen days, so supermarket delivery seems to be the way forward. Tried Sainsbury’s, Tesco , Morrison’s, Waitrose, Ocado and ASDA , all to no avail, all slots allocated. Last night at 1.00 am tried them again and surprise ASDA had a few slots available on the 13th of April so I grabbed one and submitted a list of what I could see we would need then, difficult to think 3 weeks in advance, another surprise was that I was able to reserve it as a regular weekly slot meaning we should be able to keep continuity of supplies always dependent of the items being in stock. I would advise anyone who needs a supermarket delivery to try them all and to keep trying, I secured my slot at 1.00 am, it might just be that they release further slots after midnight each day, who knows how it works. Meanwhile I hope you all manage to get supplies and stay safe.
Dave W

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

being stuck (for reasons beyond my control) I’m sitting it out in the UK – being in the Wrinkly’s group I made it round the very local Waitrose at 8.15 whilst shelves were being restocked (they were 99% empty on Sunday) so food not a problem at present – my small garden neglected as being scared of restarting back trouble is surrounded by neighbours 6ft fences seems to have attracted the local urban fox as its preferred convenience – any suggestion as to how to discourage it as the local council says they don’t ‘do’ foxes

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 23/03/2020 14:10:03:

Let's not get morbid.

…

Time to take up scrimshaw?

Neil

First catch your narwahl? With enough freezer space you wouldn't get hungry while you whittle by whale oil light..

pgk

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

Isn’t whale oil thought to be ideal for heat hardening certain steels – a now deceased friend said that the workshop where he had worked, now some 20years ago, used to have a bucket of the stuff available for this specific purpose which bucket had been around for many years – then a newly appointed non-technical manager thought it looked too untidy and got rid of it – then someone told him just how much it would cost to replace so I doubt if Neil’s wages would run to using it as a lamp oil.

Edited By Frances IoM on 23/03/2020 19:16:55

Edited By Frances IoM on 23/03/2020 19:17:38

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Posted by Frances IoM on 23/03/2020 19:12:09:
Isn't whale oil thought to be ideal for heat hardening certain steels – a now deceased friend said that the workshop where he had worked, now some 20years ago, used to have a bucket of the stuff available for this specific purpose which bucket had been around for many years – then a newly appointed non-technical manager thought it looked too untidy and got rid of it – then someone told him just how much it would cost to replace so I doubt if Neil's wages would run to using it as a lamp oil.

I'm sure if Neil can catch his own Whale then the cost of the oil becomes moot – just a matter of rendering some of the catch down. I have a vaque recollection that the grades of Whale oil depend on breed of whale and part used. Certainly when I first qualified spermaceti whale oil was sold as an ear wax solvent. By the time that became politically unacceptable and withdrawn it ran at £5 per 5ml tube. It was a superb cerumenolytic and outperformed the current offerings – almond oil is as good as anything else on the market should the need arise.

pgk

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

As Pubmed is my go-to source of information these days:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17851335

Abstract

An in vitro study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the commonly used aqueous and organic cerumenolytic (earwax solvent). Three agents were included in the study: olive oil, sodium bicarbonate and urea-hydrogen peroxide complex 5% in glycerol. Distilled water was used as a control. The disintegration of preformed wax plug was noted at specific intervals. The test tube containing distilled water as a control was found to be most effective and fastest in completely disintegrating the wax. This was closely followed by sodium bicarbonate. In contrast, the organic products, namely urea-hydrogen peroxide complex 5% in glycerol showed very little cerumenolytic effect. Olive oil, the most commonly used solution, was ineffective in disintegrating the wax plug even after 24 hours. The study shows aqueous cerumenolytics are more effective than organic agents.

Probably explains why my habit of letting my ears fill with warm water whenever I have a bath means I never have waxy ears!

Neil

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

The last copy of the British National Formulary I owned (a 90's edition) unequivocally stated that no commercial cerumenolytic performed better then almond oil. Just be careful buying the stuff cos a lot sold as almond oil is only x% almond . Warning – may contain nuts!

I freely bow to any later pubmed study.

When I treated chronic ear problems we irrigated with simple sterile saline – usually under g/a if you wished to keep some fingers – and it was quite rewarding in some of the bad cases to get a snail shaped plug of stuff flushed from deep in the middle ear….

pgk

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

Posted by pgk pgk on 23/03/2020 21:21:49:

When I treated chronic ear problems we irrigated with simple sterile saline – usually under g/a if you wished to keep some fingers – and it was quite rewarding in some of the bad cases to get a snail shaped plug of stuff flushed from deep in the middle ear….

Blimey! If there was wax in the middle ear the poor beast was in real trouble! (But I know what you meant.)

Beware the ear syringe. If the external canal is occluded with wax, you can't see that the eardrum is intact. Syringing wax, debris and water through a perforated drum, into the middle ear, is not a good thing to do… Wax dispersants are so much better. Sodium bicarbonate (1%, IIRC) solution was favoured by the NHS ENT people.

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

NZ enters UK-style lock-down tomorrow. There's a distinct risk that boredom and frustration will make my future posts even more irritable, pedantic, argumentative and generally unhelpful. You have been warned. However, please accept my advance apologies.

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Posted by Kiwi Bloke on 23/03/2020 22:14:31:

Blimey! If there was wax in the middle ear the poor beast was in real trouble! (But I know what you meant.)

Beware the ear syringe. If the external canal is occluded with wax, you can't see that the eardrum is intact. Syringing wax, debris and water through a perforated drum, into the middle ear, is not a good thing to do… Wax dispersants are so much better. Sodium bicarbonate (1%, IIRC) solution was favoured by the NHS ENT people.

I also did my share of bulla osteotomies for the necessary cases.

pgk

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

As said before on this forum I am still using whale oil for hardening steel components, gives a nice black finish and I don't find it necessary to temper cutting tools after hardening.

Emgee

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Posted by pgk pgk on 23/03/2020 21:21:49:

The last copy of the British National Formulary I owned (a 90's edition) unequivocally stated that no commercial cerumenolytic performed better then almond oil. Just be careful buying the stuff cos a lot sold as almond oil is only x% almond . Warning – may contain nuts!

…..

pgk

Ha Ha! I used to work in the aromatherapy oils industry. Sweet almond oil was touted as the main aromatherapy diluent (in the little bottles bought from sundry outlets) for essential oils. The oils bottled in our factory were rarely, if ever, supplied with sweet almond oil – high-oleic sunflower oil was cheaper.🙂. Many of the essential oils were not ‘exactly’ as described either. There were ways to deceive the analysts.

Clearly it was beyond the buyer’s wit to tell the difference – or perhaps the whole industry was telling porkie pies and none supplied aromatherapy oils in sweet almond oil. Job did not last long – the factory burned down.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Posted by Frances IoM on 23/03/2020 16:54:05:
any suggestion as to how to discourage it as the local council says they don't 'do' foxes

I put out bones etc in the garden to encourage the fox – in the hope it will also catch the darned rabbits.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Posted by Frances IoM on 23/03/2020 19:12:09:
Isn't whale oil thought to be ideal for heat hardening certain steels – a now deceased friend said that the workshop where he had worked, now some 20years ago, used to have a bucket of the stuff

We were world leaders at killing whales until there were almost none left, You could dodge national service by working on the whaling boats

When the profit from whale killing plummeted we became the world leaders at saving whales

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

At 10pm last night I got told to stay at home till further notice following the announcement that everyone has to stay at home.

I started thinking about all the little projects I could be getting on with in the garage, I could finish off my little IC engine, give my shaper a once over, rebuild that reground ML7 – heck, I might even be able to tidy up!!

I was back in work at 7.05am this morning…….

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Being under house arrest means we've had the nicest most relaxing morning lie-in for months

[Author]

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