Vape Ban Isn’t Working, Says Waste Firm Boss
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
The ban on disposable vapes is failing to stop millions being thrown away incorrectly, and the devices are still causing chaos for the waste industry, a boss at a leading firm has said.
These three introductory paragraphs add more detail.
“We’re seeing more vapes in our system, causing more problems, more fires than ever before,” said Roger Wright, the strategy and packaging manager at Biffa.
Vape firms have launched cheap reusable devices, so instead of refilling and recycling them, people were binning them and buying more, he said.
A spokesperson for the vape industry said the June ban had been a success, and any rise in devices being thrown away was likely due to black market trade.
It looks to me, that the government didn’t get the legislation right.
Are Disposable Vapes Available On The Internet?
To find the BBC story, I typed “Disposable Vapes” into Google.
I found headlines like these.
- Cheap Disposable Vapes | From 50p | Free Delivery
- Disposable Vapes – Multi-Buys & Free Next Day Delivery
- Legal Big Puff Disposable Vapes on Sale in the UK
Why aren’t these adverts being taken down?
World-First Operation To Treat Rhino’s Broken Leg
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
A rhinoceros with a broken leg is back on its feet after a world-first operation.
These are the first three paragraphs.
Amara, a southern white rhino at Knowsley safari park, was given keyhole surgery and had to wear a cast for four weeks.
Surgeons took what they knew about operating on horses and applied it to Amara because there was so little information about rhinos which had been injured in this way.
A team of 10 vets was involved in the operation, which they described as “unlike anything we’ve experienced previously”.
I bet it wasn’t like a horse, as equines in my experience don’t have a bodger on their bonce.
The BBC featured the story in BBC Breakfast this morning and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it turn up later or on the Internet.
Some may say, is the expense worth it to operate on a rhino.
But I would say, that the experience gained by the University of Liverpool, will be applied to the treatment of other large animals, like buffalo, bison, draught horses, elephants and hippotami.
Also, knowing Scousers as I do, I suspect that some of the techniques used, will be scrounged by Liverpool’s medics and applied to humans.
A Very Bad Night’s Sleep
Last night, I must have woke several times in the night, before I finally gave up at about three-thirty and got up and started doing the puzzles on the Internet, and having some mugs of tea.
At four I went back to bed and was able to grab perhaps thirty minutes of sleep.
But my body hurt all over with a vengeance.
- There was pain in the back of my left hand.
- My toes hurt badly.
- My right hip was painful.
- All my skin felt very dry.
So at five, I decided to get up and have the cure-all remedy, which is a deep hot bath.
It certainly worked and I felt a lot better,
After the bath, I got back in bed, and although I didn’t sleep, I rose and left the house soon after nine to get my gluten-free breakfast in Leon on Moorgate, with added tea and orange juice.
As I left the house, I noticed that one of the upstairs windows was open, so I had to go back and shut it.
As I never open this window, I thought it must have been the cleaners, who’d left it open. Especially, as it had happened before, a couple of weeks ago.
But then, I realised what had happened.
- The window hadn’t been properly secured.
- Last night, a storm with a low-pressure area had gone through..
- The pressure had just been low enough to pop the window open.
- The low-pressure had then just sucked the water out of my body.
My hot bath had put the water back in, the way, that it had come out.
After breakfast and picking up a prescription from Boots, I took a bus home.
On arriving home, I needed to have a poo, but was unable to go, as I was just too constipated.
After a laxative and several drinks, that problem was cured.
Conclusion
Were all my problems today, down to the fact that the weather stole my body’s water and I didn’t drink enough to put it all back?
Tiny Data Centre Used To Heat Public Swimming Pool
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
The heat generated by a washing-machine-sized data centre is being used to heat a Devon public swimming pool
These three paragraphs outline the story.
The computers inside the white box are surrounded by oil to capture the heat – enough to heat the pool to about 30C 60% of the time, saving Exmouth Leisure Centre thousands of pounds.
The data centre is provided to the council-run centre free of charge.
Start-up Deep Green charges clients to use its computing power for artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Note.
I find both of these interesting applications.
The Ultimate Bus Stop
London has very comprehensive bus stops as these pictures show.
Note.
- Most bus stops have a pole mounted roundel, that can be seen from a reasonable distance. In many cases, anybody with reasonable sight can see the roundel for the next stop.
- Where space permits, bus stops have a shelter with seats, maps and instructions on ticketing.
- Some stops have been extended into the road, so that it is a level step into and out of the bus.
- As shown in the pictures, so bus stops have displays showing the next ten buses, that will be arriving.
But I do think, they could be improved, with extra features.
Internet Connectivity
I feel strongly, that all bus stops should have good internet connectivity.
This could be 4G, 5G or just wi-fi, but I believe this could help with the safety of people on the street.
Comprehensive Lighting
To contribute to safety, I also feel that all bus stops should be well lit.
CCTV Issues
I also feel that all bus stops should have provision for CCTV, so if there was a need, it could be quickly fitted. But if the bus stop had good internet connectivity, then this shouldn’t be a problem.
Phone Charging
New buses have this feature, so why not at the stops?
Power Supply Issues
If we add all these features, we could be needed an uprated power supply.
- So could we see bus stops, with solar panels on the roof.
- Perhaps even a mini wind turbine?
- I think a vertical wind turbine, which was similar to a SeaTwirl, but smaller, could be ideal!
- Could it be called a StreeTwirl?
- A self-powered bus could be created with the addition of a battery.
Self-powered bus stops might be easier to install.
Conclusion
Bus stops will have more features in the future.
It’s Time We Used Cyber Dark Arts To Foil Putin
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times, which was written by Edward Lucas.
This is the first paragraph.
Breaking the Kremlin’s grip on the Russian people is the greatest national security priority of our lives. We cannot (or rather, will not) fight the Russian invaders in Ukraine. But we can fight inside Russia, using disruption and subversion to disable the war machine, ideally to the point that the country becomes ungovernable.
He suggests the following.
- Russian speakers could sow doubt about the regime’s lies and brutalities.
- Use the Russian diaspora to contact friends and relatives back home.
- Build and unleash a psychological warfare arsenal against Putin’s cocktail of crimes, lies and secrecy.
- Send condolences to family members for their losses in the war.
- Prepare Nuremberg for war crimes trials.
- Highlight the friendly treatment that Ukrainians give Russian deserters.
- Use wit as a weapon.
Edward Lucas then talks about the antics of Sefton Delmer in World War II. Wikipeda says this about him.
During the war, he led a black propaganda campaign against Hitler by radio from England. It was so successful that Delmer was named in the Nazis’ Black Book for immediate arrest after their planned invasion of Britain.
I suspect he was very good at his job. Two of his weapons were.
Aspidistra, which was a 500 kW radio station.
A daily “grey” German-language newspaper titled Nachrichten für die Truppe (“News for the Troops”). These leaflets were delivered by the USAF.
Edward Lucas says that we should all read Delmer’s autobiography, which is called Black Boomerang, which is now out of print and difficult to find.
Wikipedia gives this explanation of Black Boomerang.
When fighting entered Germany itself, black propaganda was used to create an impression of an anti-Nazi resistance movement.
At the end of the war in Europe, Delmer advised his colleagues not to publicise the work they had been involved in, lest unrepentant Nazis claim (as had been the case after the First World War), that they had been defeated by unconscionable methods, rather than on the battlefield. Consequently, former Nazis were able to claim, without contradiction, that they had assisted the fictitious resistance movement; Delmer described this unintended consequence as a “black boomerang”
Edward Lucas suggests reprinting Black Boomerang.
If someone has a good clear copy, I could possibly arrange it.
Demoralising The Russians
Edward Lucas believes, we can use similar techniques to Delmer to attack the Russians.
But instead of using a massive radio, he proposes using the Internet and its various messaging apps.
I suspect with a bit of arm-twisting Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft et al, could produce a very good list of Russian Internet users.
It might be against the law, but who cares? It’s a war out there, we’re not using the information to physically hurt anybody or steal anything of value.
News For The Troops
I believe we can go one better than Sefton Delmer.
We are dealing with Russians invading and occupying Ukrainian territory, where many of the inhabitants can certainly read Russian.
So could we develop a truthful leaflet, that is delivered across Ukraine to both Russian Troops and the Ukrainian population?
Delivery would be primarily by the Internet, but why not deliver it by drone?
Delivery from say 5000 feet would distribute the leaflets over a wide area.
Could We Go Candy Bombing?
Gail Halvorsen, who died recently was known as the Candy Bomber.
This is the introduction to his Wikipedia entry.
Gail Seymour Halvorsen (October 10, 1920 – February 16, 2022) was a senior officer and command pilot in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the “Berlin Candy Bomber” or “Uncle Wiggly Wings” and gained fame for dropping candy to German children during the Berlin Airlift from 1948 to 1949.
I think, his actions could be copied in Ukraine.
Consider.
- The Ukrainian people are starving in the occupied territories.
- The Russian soldiers aren’t doing much better.
- These days, we can supply nutrition bars instead of sweets.
- Automated drones could deliver them safely from 5000 feet.
- They could be flown on behalf of the Red Cross from over the border in Hungary, Moldova, Poland and Slovakia.
Organised properly, the Russians would have a problem.
- If they let the drones through, the siege will be broken in a small way.
- If they shoot them down, their soldiers won’t get the smallest snack and the Russians will be attacking the Red Cross.
We might lose a lot of drones, but eventually we’ll get the nutrition through, each wrapped in a large dollop of propaganda.
Is The Truth Getting Through To The Man Or Woman On The Moscow Tram?
I ask this question, as it appears that Russian TV is parroting, the Kremlin’s lies.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, I used to work for ICI.
A couple of times, I came across fellow engineers, who had worked on the Polyspinners project.
In this Wikipedia entry for September 1964, this is said about Polyspinners.
Edward du Cann of the British Board of Trade announced the signing of the largest trade deal in the history of British relations with the Soviet Union, with the Soviet purchasing agency Techmashimport and the British conglomerate Polyspinners, Ltd. agreeing for the supply of British textile machinery to a polyester fiber plant being constructed in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. In all, the United Kingdom agreed to advanced $67 million of credit over a 15-year period.
It was a large project and ICI did well out of it.
My colleagues at ICI generally spoke well of the project and friends they had made in Russia and in those pre-mobile phone and internet days, they regularly sent each other cards and letters.
That was nearly sixty years ago, but human beings generally want to be friends with each other, so how many links are there between people living in Western Europe, North America, Australia and other countries and those living in Russia, which started as family, business or historic links or even casual meetings on say a holiday in the Mediterranean?
I should say that two of my best British friends in the UK, I met on holiday in St. Kitts and Moscow.
There must be millions of these links and they will surely allow the truth to get through to the man or woman on the Moscow tram.
Is Thermify The Ultimate Zero-Carbon Boiler?
In The Sunday Times today, there is an article, which is entitled Tech Is Putting Net Zero Within Reach, which lists several ideas to help us achieve net zero.
The first is the best idea, that I’ve seen this year.
When you talk using a phone, tablet or computer to your family, preferred social network, bank or company, you are probably talking to or through a server somewhere on the Internet.
These servers are often a bank of computers and they use a lot of electricity and give out a lot of heat. So they are often located in unusual places like Iceland. Someone has even suggested putting them deep under the sea.
Under a section entitled Computer Power, the article in The Times introduces Thermify.
The Welsh company has combined a computer server with a heat exchanger to replace your gas-fired boiler.
I suspect all of these servers fit together just like data centres do all over the world.
It would be ideal for my house, as I only use gas for heating and hot water and I have solar panels on the roof and under-floor heating using hot water.
I shall be contacting the company next week.
Bucks Council Supports New Internet Lines
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Mix96.
Buckinghamshire County Council are proposing to use the construction of the new East West Railway, as a route for extra Internet connectivity.
How sensible!
Are East West Railway and Buckinghamshire County Council talking to Hive Composites, about their next generation composite poles for a 5G-enabled railway, that won funding in the latest round of first-of-a-kind funding from Innovate UK?
Will other councils and companies be using other rail construction to advantage?
Nationalised British Broadband
Labour’s plans to nationalise broadband and provide it free to homes and small business is a cracker!
Advantages For Labour
It would have one big advantage for Labour!
It’s a great way of listening in to all their political opponents. They only have to ask the Chinese how to do it!
How for instance, would another political party, with a radical agenda organise?
But!
Consider these points.
- Mobile phone traffic uses the same Internet backbone as broadband.
- Internet tech giants like Amazon, Facebook and Google wouldn’t pay up without a fight
- Everybody’s pension fund would suffer, as BT is often there and shares would be replaced by junk bonds.
- Virgin Media and other broadband suppliers would be nationalised as well or could become worthless.
- A lot of American Internet companies would go running to the US President and just as Trump has applied tariffs willy-nilly in his trade war with China, a future President wouldn’t take it lying down.
- The high-tech industry has already said they don’t like it.
The biggest problem is that Internet usage will grow exponentially with 5G broadband and all the connected devices, like
- Driverless cars.
- Automated warehouses and delivery systems.
- Connected smart household and other appliances.
- Connected massive screens, which every business, school or home will have.
- Every child watching content on mobile devices.
- Collectinbg operating data from cars, trucks and trains to make them more reliable.
- Automated care assistance for the ill, frail and elderly.
Can any government afford the cost of continual upgrading of capacity, which will not be like anything seen before?
It certainly, is a cracker!
And if it is implemented, it will blow up in the ultra-Marxists’ faces.
The Anonymous Widower 