Member postings for Samsaranda

Forgot to mention in my posting above that Bluetooth enabled aids will couple with Ring Doorbell so you can hear sounds and speech directly through the aids therefore cutting out any background noise which if you have a severe hearing loss is very helpful. When working in my workshop at the end of the garden I can hear the doorbell and still speak to the caller. Dave W

I have worn hearing aids for 30+ years, I currently have 90 db hearing loss on high frequencies, which is classed as severe, resulting from noise exposure in the Air Force without hearing protection, this was in the 60’s when we had noisiest generation of gas turbine engines. My hearing loss is a War Pensioned Disablement so I receive priority treatment via the NHS, both my aids are Phonak aids provided by the NHS. The same aids are currently available from private suppliers at well in excess of £1,000 each, I can see no reason why I would go private for the same piece of equipment. A few years ago I worked as a volunteer for a hearing disability charity, came across lots of people who had paid extortionate amounts for private aids and regretted not going for the NHS models. As an aside my wife is profoundly deaf with no hearing at all as a result of having had meningitis many years ago, twelve years ago she was fitted with a cochlear implant by the NHS, it transformed her life, nowadays she complains that I have the tv and radio too loud, this from someone who can hear nothing without her implant switched on. My NHS Phonak aids are Bluetooth enabled which means that I can couple my IPhone to them so that I can hear the phone directly through my aids, I find that this is now the only way that I can use a phone nowadays, I cannot hear on landlines anymore, sometimes that can be convenient. Also have a gadget that connects with our tv so that I can hear that through Bluetooth coupling with my aids, this means that we can turn the tv sound off and still hear everything through my aids. My experience of hearing loss and hearing aids is that I would never entertain privately provided aids, why pay when the same item is provided by the NHS, they have a huge range of aids from which they choose to match your hearing requirements. One important factor is that your hearing will constantly degrade over time, the NHS will retest your hearing every three years and adjust your hearing aid provision to suit any changes. This is still all free from the NHS. Totally irrelevant to this thread is that I have a deaf cat, he is with me always and when I am in my workshop he sits on the bench alongside where I am working and usually goes to sleep there. Dave W

Not wishing to speculate with alarmist conspiracy type theories but we are currently engaged in all but a proxy war with Russia and they have a very active and proficient internet hacking ability, there have been recent computer problems at British Airways and other important commercial enterprises. I think we can expect a lot more systems interference in future. Dave W

Duncan

The entrance into the submersible was via the titanium end cover which had the acrylic window embedded in it, the titanium end cover, as far as I can see, was about the same diameter as the carbon fibre body of the submersible and was bolted to it, that is the way in by the whole titanium end cover which was then bolted into position. Dave W

One thought concerning the crews problems is that if the Titan manages to surface, perhaps some distance from the mothership, there is no way that the crew can open the submersible from inside because part of the departure procedure is that the entrance to the craft is securely bolted from outside prior to entering the water. If the submersible surfaces without someone undoing all the securing bolts then they could still suffocate because they can’t access fresh air.

In the information now coming into the public domain is that a previous team member was tasked with carrying out a quality audit of the submersible he came up with the fact that there was no Non Destructive Testing Procedures to monitor the structural integrity of the pressure hull, he was subsequently dismissed from his employment. I realise that all sorts of conspiracy theories will emerge because of media speculation, but having spent eleven years as an NDT technician the comment that I read seemed to be particularly relevant. Dave W

I have used ACF 50, not cheap but certainly works well, depends how much value you put on your tools and equipment. Dave W

My sister had problems with her husband when he developed a fairly rapid form of Alzheimer’s, he would get out of bed and go wandering around the house in the middle of the night. To know when he was out and wandering my sister had a security alarm fitted which had sensors fitted in some of the rooms in the house, when retiring for the night she would activate the alarm system which would sound if there was movement in the rooms where the sensors were.. I think the record for number of times he wandered in one night was 25, it became very draining for my sister to cope with him, even with carers coming in. He moved into a rest home for respite care and never came home, he didn’t know who any of us were and had no speech, eventually his kidneys failed because he refused to drink anything and he died in hospital, funeral is on this Monday. Dave W

During my time in the Air Force at one station I used to drive an ancient Bedford Tanker which was filled with hot de icing fluid which we used for hot de icing of large transport aircraft. The tanker was quite large and I am sure that there was no syncro in the gearbox but the worst aspect of driving it was that it did not have power steering, it was a real brute to manoeuvre round corners with god knows how many thousand gallons on board in the tank, driving it was better than a workout in the gym. Dave W

A friend of mine was apprenticed as a painter and decorator and in those days they were taught to mix their own paints which included linseed oil and the required pigments. I find modern paints do not last, the slightest amount of weather outside and the paints start to fail, I rue the day that they banned lead based paints I always had good results with them and having grown up in an environment of lead based paints I seem to have survived unscathed, sure there are dangers with lead based products but you manage the risks, man has learnt to live with fire although I am sure some would ban it if they could. Dave W

Bob

I am not an electrician but if my memory serves me right there can be problems with Parallel earths just like you have created, there can be a build up of different potentials on the two earths. During my service in the Air Force I was aware of at least one tradesman who was killed by the potential that built up between two parallel earths, if my memory is right it was to do with ground power sets and aircraft supplies. Perhaps those who are more enlightened in respect of electronics could comment on this. Dave W

Edited By Samsaranda on 07/06/2023 09:44:03

A few years ago I had a Renault with an auto gearbox, during the warranty period it developed a very obscure and very infrequent fault, you would be driving along quite smoothly and all of a sudden there would be a jolt from the transmission accompanied by a loud metallic clang. Took it to the agents that I bought it from and they gave me a blank stare when I explained what had happened, they drove the car and of course the fault wouldn’t perform, their answer was well keep driving and if it still happens bring it back but they had no idea what was causing the fault. I carried on driving the car and periodically it reoccurred so I decided to fault find it myself, so I studied the ins and outs of the type of auto gearbox and eventually after much study and head scratching I worked out that the fault was in the valve chamber, it was one of the many valves that was sticking and suddenly freeing as pressure built up. I returned to the garage and explained my findings to the service manager and he openly admitted that he knew nothing about auto gearboxes but was prepared to accept my diagnosis as it would be charged to Renault as a warranty repair. This meant replacement of the valve block assembly, which I can only assume was a very expensive piece of engineering, it formed a plate bolted to the underside of the gearbox, the assembly was a maze of oil passages and valves. After the repair procedure the fault disappeared so it looked like my diagnosis had been correct. I still drive an auto but now buy Honda cars and in the words of the service manager at the Honda dealer “they are bulletproof “. Dave W

Martin

The alternative if the bank close down the account is to open a separate account with my own Bank in my own name, have been with them for 58 years and no problems whatsoever, and operate it just for the club that my wife runs. I realise that is probably not ethical but it’s the banks stupidity in the way they interpret their regulations that are the driving factor. Dave W

The Bank in question is Barclays, their level of service leaves me dismayed. In the local Bank they now only have one cashier desk staffed by a real person and this is a large town centre bank, when I took over as treasurer of my wife’s group I gathered together the takings, which is all in cash, and proceeded to the bank to pay into the account, because there is now only the one cashier desk that you can pay in the cash if it includes coin, I queued to wait my turn and it took 40 minutes to get served. I felt that my limited time left on this earth would be better served by not standing in a queue for 40 minutes if there was another alternative, consequently now when my wife returns from club meetings I take the monies collected and now make a transfer from my own current account into the clubs account at Barclays and the cash from the club goes into my pocket, not very ethical but way more practical than the alternative. We are currently bombarded with the premise that Banking is a Service Industry, however does that mean that the Banks serve the Public or is that the Public serve the Banks, not sure on that one ! Dave W

Is there anyone out there who is a committee member/treasurer of a club or group who is still encountering problems with their organisation’s Bank, in the past there have been many postings about how stupid the Banks have been in interpreting the regulations concerning identification and regulation of their customers in respect of the prevention of money laundering.

I am the treasurer of a group that my wife runs, there are about thirty in the group and they are all retired ladies that meet fortnightly in our Village Hall to practise crafts including knitting and cross stitch, it is quite a social club because many of the ladies now live on their own and are very lonely, suffice to say there is always plenty of tea and cakes as well. Two years ago their treasurer was diagnosed with cancer and she decided to give up the treasurers position and as no one else volunteered I agreed to take over, it isn’t very onerous, it means banking their subscriptions every fortnight and paying the Village Hall rent every three months.

Last year we received a form from the Bank requiring that all the signatories to the bank account should prove their identities, bearing in mind that these people, myself included, had when being appointed, attended at the Bank and produced Passports/ Driving Licences etc to provide photographic ID. This form supplied to us required us all to go through another ID process and we are required to supply numerous bits of paperwork about the club, many of these documents do not exist as the club isn’t a trading entity with solicitors and accountants who can supply evidence relating to the trading status of the club in question.

This is a group of old age pensioners who meet fortnightly for a few hours in their local Village Hall and the income of their group activities amounts to just over a thousand pounds a year, hardly an organisation that is going to be money laundering for the regime in North Korea, however the banks have received a directive that all accounts must be verified to a certain standard and there appears to be no intelligence applied to how this directive should be applied in the case of small accounts that are obviously well outside the scope of those that are likely or able to be part of this money laundering enterprise.

Currently in respect of the account that I am looking after we have been issued a notice that unless we supply the Bank with paperwork that in our case doesn’t exist then our account will be closed down in 60 days. I have complied with their form, on more than one occasion, and sent all the documents that we can supply but this isn’t good enough to meet their requirements. One requirement that we are required to meet is that we have to prove that the club exists as an entity, the fact that it was formed 22 years ago and has banked with the same bank for all that time doesn’t meet the criteria to prove existence. The Bank has relented on that issue and has deemed acceptable an invoice from our landlord, the Village Hall, including the full name of the group and it’s registered address, the irony in that is that the Village Hall is having the exact same problems with its bankers and they refuse to accept that it exists as an entity considering they have been its bankers for the last 50 years since it was built.

The form that I received from the Bank was a very shabbily constructed document it wasn’t very professional in its layout, in fact I think a seven year old could have made a better job of it. Another issue that I find unprofessional in their dealings with us is that two years ago we added my name to the account and deleted the previous treasurers, they continue to address the statements to the previous treasurer despite being told a number of times that they are sending to the wrong person. One thing that really winds me up is that there is a banking crackdown that affects many small clubs and groups such as old age pensioners yet the biggest culprits of wrongdoing in the money system are the Banks themselves they have been caught many times indulging in practices that are morally and legally wrong, it appears that this exercise they are going through in respect of money laundering is to deflect attention away from themselves.

Well if the Bank does close down our club account then it looks like it will have to be a tin box under the bed, not exactly ethical but practical. Dave W

Nigel

Community Service Orders are very variable in their efficacy, we were approached by the Probation service at our local Church to employ those on community service to cut the grass in our fairly extensive churchyard. The designated felons were brought to the Church and left unsupervised with lawn mowers and a supply of petrol and shown the extent of the task that they were expected to complete, they promptly poured away the petrol and then spent the rest of their allotted hours in trying to break into the Church, a total waste of taxpayers resources ! Dave W

I have just purchased a Vevor Rotary Table and I can say that the quality is well within expectations for the price paid, I am impressed with the item, my only comment is that the black crackle paint finish is not like one I have encountered before, it is very rough but perfectly serviceable. Dave W

It is amazing how much penetration that Microsoft has in our everyday lives, I don’t know if it is still the same but Cashpoint Terminals were all run using MS Windows, I was in our local bank one day when the staff had opened the enclosure housing the Cashpoint and low and behold inside the enclosure was a desktop computer and on the screen was the Windows logo. Dave W

I worked in the large Aircraft Hangar at Brize Norton for a number of years, it has underfloor heating, it mind sound luxurious but it is not pleasant to spend all day standing on it, your feet and ankles do suffer, given a choice I would steer well clear of underfloor heating for any workspace. Dave W

In the 60’s I had a brake stay part company with the aluminium fork slider on a Matchless G80, it smashed the fork slider but fortunately the bike was coupled to a sidecar at the time which meant that the machine stayed upright and came to a stop, the consequences could have been serious had the bike been solo. Great care is needed with anything to do with braking systems. Dave W

They seem to be going the way that the big car companies like BMW etc are going, extras are by subscriptions, like heated seats etc where you pay a subscription to have the extras turned on, seems like a big scam and we the poor consumer are milked for everything they can con out of us. Dave W