Bagpipes: Love Them or Hate Them!
I am actually fairly ambivalent about bagpipes. Partly because I’m a bit deaf on the street where I might hear them, but mainly because in London, you might see all sorts of musical buskers, but I can’t remember seeing anyone, Scot or not, playing pipes in the last few years.
So I was surprised to see that Edinburgh is stopping shops playing loud bagpipe music.
On the other hand, in one of C’s offices in Ipswich, a piper decided that outside her window, was the ideal place to play the one tune he knew. The barristers were thinking about taking out an injunction, when the council imposed the standard Suffolk solution. He was run out of town on a rail.
The Man With The Artificial Heart
This is definitely the good news story of today.
From what I can gather, the recipient is now able live a much more normal life until he can get a heart transplant.
My late wife, C, died of a squamous cell carnimona of the heart. It just grew in her heart and strangled the life out of her. She just lived only a few months after the diagnosis.
I got the impression at the time, that if she had been younger then they might have tried a transplant. But I also know that if it had been offered she would have said no!
But after today’s news, if I was in the same state and they offered me an artificial heart for a few month’s life, I think I’d take it. In fact, I sometimes think that if by having the operation I had a high chance of not making it, but would help to advance knowledge, I’d take that risk. It might be better to die under the knife, than suffer a long-lingering death.
Not that this mongrel is thinking of going yet! There are too many windmills at which to tilt!
Cambridge Busway Gets Smart
From the day it opens, the Cambridge Busway will have its own smartcard.
It was inevitable, as having two separate operators with their own systems was idiotic, as I pointed out months ago.
Let’s hope Cambridge integrates the busway into the new universal ticketing proposed by the banks.
Kitler Finds a New Home
Enough said!
Rainbow Cauliflowers
When I first heard this story I thought it was April 1st, 2012 and had been to sleep for a few months because of the hay fever.
But it’s true and it’s all down to clever traditional plant breeding rather than genetic engineering. But then we’ve been doing that for centuries.
The article also explains why carrots are orange.
Until the 17th century most carrots eaten Europe were white, yellow or purple. The orange pigment was added by Dutch plant breeders looking for a way to celebrate Holland’s royal family.
So blame the Dutch.
NHS Waiting Times
There was a report yesterday that said that some NHS Trusts are imposing a minimum and maximum waiting time for some operations and treatment to save money.
If they are they, they are breaking the First Law of Scheduling, which is you maximise your efficiency by agreeing dates between both parties as soon as you can.
I first came across this, when I worked in the Research Department of ICI at Runcorn. We had a small workshop that would make equipment you needed. Everybody used to put a delivery date of ASAP on everything, even if they didn’t want it for a month or so. The outcome was that nothing got delivered in a reasonable time.
The situation couldn’t go on and the manager of the workshop decided that no work would be accepted without an agreed delivery date.
The outcome was harmony and everybody was happy. One interesting side effect of this method, was that when the workshop could see a high peak of future work, they would sub-contract some jobs to an external firm.
I must admit that I stole this technique when I wrote the task scheduler for Artemis, but of course this was a legitimate steal and it made the task scheduler very good.
Some NHS Trusts do use this agreeing of appointments method. Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge do and I’ve negotiated a suitable date and time on the phone several times.
I know too of a farmer, who needed a hip replacement and got the operation done at one of the quietest times in the farming year and a slack time for Ipswich Hospital.
Now most of us have e-mail or can use SMS, surely this negotiation can be an almost painless and automatic process.
It oviously won’t work for emergencies, but say you need something like a hip replacement, a mutually convenient date is best for all parties and in my view will probably add a few percentage points to hospital capacity.
How many NHS Trusts still manage appointments and waiting lists on a non-scientific basis.
What We’re Good At!
I was very pleased when I read the third leader in The Times today, entitled Capital Idea.
This was the first paragraph.
After the on-time and underbudget Olympic Stadium, yesterday brought the opening of the Hindhead Tunnel on the A3, on the main route between London and Portsmouth, on time, on budget and garlanded with awards for its safety record. Britain is in danger of getting a reputation for being good at large infrastructure projects.
I could add another couple of projects like the London Overground, where the engineers delivered quality at a price well under the budget.
A Tree For Norway
Michael Morpugo has proposed this.
I will add nothing. But do listen to his words.
He’s absolutely right.
What Have Betty Boothroyd, David Attenborough, Lord Foster and Tim Berners-Lee In Common?
They are all members of the Order of Merit, which is the only British honour that is a personal gift of the Sovereign. It is limited to 24 members and with the deaths of Lucien Freud and Joan Sutherland, there are now only twenty two full members and one honorary one; Nelson Mandela.
From inception in 1902, the honour has always been open to women and originally was awarded as a means to acknowledge “exceptionally meritorious service in Our Navy and Our Army, or who may have rendered exceptionally meritorious service towards the advancement of Art, Literature and Science”.
Looking at the current list, there are no military figures, two women, an archbishop, three politicians, of whom one is a Canadian, a playright, several Nobel prize winners, a sculptor, a broadcaster; David Attenborough, several scientists and mathemeticians and a couple of philanthropists. Perming any six from twenty-two would make one hell of a dinner party.
So the Queen has a problem!
She has to fill the two vacancies and she will do this without political interference.
There is only one from the theatre;Tom Stoppard, so such as Alan Bennett, Judi Dench and Ian McKellen must be in the frame. Alan Bennett has already refused a knighthood, so he may not accept. On the other hand, it might have been Benjamin Britten, who initially refused, but accepted when he was told that the honour was the personal gift of the sovereign.
There is no doctor, so perhaps Lord Winston or someone of equal stature should be added. I have one doctor in mind, as he helped me greatly when C died, but I won’t name him here.
There are also no sportsmen or sportswomen on the list and if you look at past holders none came from sport. But then when the order was founded sport was an irrelevance to most people, except for gambling and entertainment. So should this ommission be rectified? In my view the only possible person might have been Chris Brasher, but he died a few years ago. Ian Botham will be another possible in a decade or so, as he is too young at present.
The Anonymous Widower 