Posts by Jean Le PHARMACIEN 244 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Aug 2011
Having worked in the NHS for 35+ years I have met:
1. A not inconsiderable number of stupid doctors
2. More than a few arrogant staffers who were not doctors ( my own staff group included as well as IT..)
Also, there are more than doctors, nurses and 'management' in the NHS.
The NHS needs *good professional* managers so clinicians stop being poor managers - I know, I worked for many years in a Trust proud of its "clinician management" and bullying wasn't in it.
Rant over
I have had good results with CloudReady version of ChromeOS on my Thinkpad and HP thin clients (although I nearly choked at Win install to a USB key - eventually got the Mac download and use of dd to work).
Also ChromeOS from builds on arnoldthebat.co.uk work on my Wyse thin client laptop.
Perhaps not the "full" ChromeOS e.g. run android apps but they both run fine....(personally I prefer Debian+LXDE on the same hardware but have to think of other family members...)
Change 'IBM' and insert CQC visit to xxxx NHS Trust
Been there and done it.
Interestingly for me on a my late visit to my usual clinical area (standing in for full time of absent colleague) I happened upon one bedspace with visitors and after I apologised/made excuses to nurse present for being late; said visitors introduced themselves as CQC inspectors. After short question and frank answer exchange I left to finish my day (I normally had daily workload that NHS regs said were 2.7 wte per day)
CQC visited my directorate head and clinical manager and within 6 weeks trust had advertised;interviewed and selected person for 2nd post (normally a 6mo process)
Perhaps CEO visits should always without entourage to get a true picture
I have one of these sockets in my house in France...no 'New York code' involved though (Statue of Liberty excluded)
Unfortunately said socket is under the stairs furthest away from where any sane person would put ..say a lamp (nearest socket for that is ..er.. not 'room switch controlled) . It is, however, very conveniently close to my UPS / Comms cabinet. Needless to say there is a long cable top a lamp standard and an equally long cable in the opposite direction feeding the the UPS ('onduleur') ...
"Vive La France!"
Where are all the charging points?
1. In the streetlamps? - Only four down one side of our road - and the cables to the cars (see later)
2. buried in the road? - good luck with that after VM's mess of cable installs. What happens if some b???end parks slightly off one wireless point? Everyone else is off as well and no-one charges..
3. cables from houses to your car - excellent -look forward to everyone tripping over those at night - I did as some idiot ran his cable along the pavement to his BMW i3, not to mention those with poor eyesight/mobility
4. what happens if you simply cannot park near your house to charge - either due to parking density or road unsuitable? My house faces onto dual carriageway by-pass for town centre+railway line. I already walk 200ft to the *nearest* parking area.
The whole charging scenario for EVs is poorly thought out for UK and seems to be based entirely on suburbs with everyone having a drive for two cars/personal parking space outside your house
And don't get me started on range. How about 30mile commute to then from Liverpool in winter with obligatory 2 hour wait in accident induced traffic jam on the M6 thrown in on occasion...
See title.
I was with UKLinux.net (Entanet reseller -> BT Openreach) via FTTC and then copper to my (overhead cable) house - about 150m copper (and it is ALL copper apparently from BT guy in the hole).
Only got 38Mb but have to say it was very reliable (from my SamKnows box info)
Went to EE (I know they are part of BT now) and got a bundled reduction in home BB (already had mobile with them)
Big cock-up on changeover as BT Wholesale hadn't done paperwork properly years before and said I was still with Entanet. Took 2 months to sort (EE very helpful and informative - gave me 12 gb/mnth to use my 4G phone as internet connection whilst sorted)
End result: now get 48mb+ (still good and reliable) - only downside is the old cable /connections to exchange (less than 1.5 miles).
OK not greatest. But it works *reliably* month on month speedwise and connection. Reliability is all for me. Don't do streaming of TV/Video/Facetwat YMMV
If you are happy with service level; you don't post and nobody knows..
[FFS why have 8 million concurrent downloads of Eastenders clogging interwebs when they could record on their Mythbox over FTA Freeview and watch later. Sheesh]
on a quick view and assessment of visibility of all those outside the vehicle on UK motorways - they would still be dead. Standing *next to the vehicle* and not in high vis jacket is no improvement - you are even less protected and more likely to die.
Perhaps we ought to push ' out and upstream of vehicle WITH high vis jackets on EVERYONE'.
(I suggest upstream of vehicle because if your car is hit...bits of it and the colliding vehicle will be heading for you...)
I have the lower spec VTR+ C5 tourer with conventional suspension. Was somewhat disappointed with that, (loved my Xantias) but I have to say Citroen have tuned it to feel almost exactly like the hydropneumatic Xantias. Very good long distance cruiser. Over 4 years and 60K miles been very reliable - nothing dropped off so far. Have had the punctured AC condenser though. Paid very little for it second hand and wouldn't change it for an Audi. Most people on the road seem to take it for an Audi/BMW - worryingly, that could be the way I drive......
Very underrated car. Citroen certainly seem to have improved over the past 10 years
I work in an NHS hospital; on wards with patient contact. I have a smartphone (actually had one since my Nokia 9500 Communicator for same purposes) on which I keep reference materials/clinical guidlines/specialist references. Stuff that means I don't have to run about looking for the nearest terminal that's not broken/partly functional/working but in use to look up the latest info on cotrimoxazole via a CVC.
I have read and taken the NHS courses on data protection - as have all these doctors and nurses - it's part of your required mandatory training. Not following the requirements is a disciplinary offence.
As a result I have never:
1. used SMS/Text for conveying/communicating any patient information [don't get me started on why text is a rubbish protocol for anything important - just let me say IT IS NOT INSTANT MESSAGING and no audit trail]
2 used email for conveying/communicating any patient information [even standard Trust intranet/Exchange is apparently not secure enough]
3 ever used Facetwit or whatever it is, ever, at all
Does this make me :
A. Smug self righteous b*****d
B. Boring so'n'so with no snese of up and coming use of technology
C. so scared of disciplinary process in the NHS and it's 'no blame culture' which is no blame as long as I can stick the blame on someone else (been there and seen that)
D. all of the above
E. I wouldn't like my personal information bandied about insecurely so stick to what's in the NHS regs
32 Gb SSD more than large enough. In fact only 5Gb would do for a frontend unless you wanted local storage (which defeats point of Mythtv front/backend split) Openelec would suite - almost entire ssd for your local library and still link to networked resources.
At 125gbp works out cheaper than buying Zotac ionitx boards + case + other bit'n'bobs
Bought my wife a Nexus 10 nearly 2 years ago. As she's not managed to break/step on it it or 'break' the software - it's still working absolutely fine with no hold ups or shortage of storage. No need to replace = no more sales. As others have said already; that the most likely explanation for plunging sales.
Re Core 2 duo desktops - mine are ye original HPs still doing excellant service as desktops and 'versatile' media boxes - 5 years old at least (and all on Linux if anyone's interested - which I suspect not). No need to replace them until they break irrepairably. H**k, I've even got an HP Pentium 4 dual core doing MythTV server duties without sweating, so that's not being replaced yet.
As I scanned this on the homepage I read it as "Three ETOnians"!. Fortunately my shock and fears were allayed when I read this article and found we were dealing with three eastern europeans 'skilled' in IT rather than three from a well known public school skilled in....
Time to go to Spexsavers I think, (or the pub - it is Friday)
Indeed. I have a house in France and portion of the "taxe d’habitation" has a portion marked "la redevance audiovisuelle" (which is a fairly recently devised piece of the tax) which in 2014 was €133. Apparently if you have no device capable of receiving broadcast programmes (which includes Digital TV Recorders and tape TV recorders) you can claim a refund. I did; as I only have a mini-PC into which I drop a mirror image of my home DTR hard drive. It's only been six months and I'm still waiting for the refund.
BTW if I don't watch commercial TV stations; can I claim back the TV advertising portion of every product I buy?
Is that a "No" I hear?
It would seem then, that I am paying for a service I don't use/want. In which case it's a worse tax than VAT. It's such an unfair tax!
Grammar checker?
all so = also
witch = which
'they aren't' = who 'they'?
aloud = allowed?
Phone lines attached to mains electric distribution poles is quite common in rural (even not so rural) France but haven't seen it in UK much. Of course, this doesn't mean it does not happen, just do not see it often in semi-rural Cheshire. I seem to remember, (in the mists of time) that Post Office telephones 'rented' poles for telephony so they may have originally been electricity distribution. All the 'poles' round here (edge of south west Manchester) are BT poles for the final 50-100ft to your (usually terraced or semi-det) house.
BTW not sure about fibre to house/premises via a 'pole' point of distribution, (pole presumably being connected to a nearby cabinet). Technically possible? desirable? We don't have any cable network locally for me to fall on experience here.
Good old Douglas Adams, got there long, long ago (not sure if that's also 'far, far away')
Still could be worse, you could have Marvin as your in-car assistant! 'Here I am; brain the size of a planet...' etc etc. He has got form with transport - parking vehicles at the Restaurant At The End Of The Universe.
I'll be very worried when my car starts complaining about a terrible pain in all the diodes down it's left side. Then again, perhaps they've already started
Already happened to me but in the 1980s so cannot pin this on anymodern IT foul ups. In short - after me chasing Natwest for step by step detail; some minion in the Natwest branch had transposed two numbers in my Abbey account reference and sent money elsewhere. Apparently they 'hand entrerd/typed' through the standing order payments from accounts! Still took the customer to badger and investigate 'lost' payment though.
What was then, is now, (and probably always will be).
"But the greater issue is that it is this fear of cycling that is the greatest impediment to people who want to cycle to actually do it"
Actually, as an ex-cyclist I found that it was the UK weather and lack of facilities at destination, (i.e. shower).
Arriving at destination wet/mud spattered; hot and sweaty is not great when changing into work clothes. A shower [paid for of course - seeing as car drivers pay for parking] would make this a good deal better and encourge me to cycle more.
Re cycling up the inside of trucks etc; I see many d**k cyclists trying to commit suicide. I also see many d**k drivers overtake cyclists close to junctions and cut acrosss them to turn left when waiting all of 15 seconds would be safer. Said d**k drivers do this to other motorists too. I suggest cyclists cycle VERY defensively and perhaps widespread use of car/cycle cams with footage to police can sort/remove the d**k motorists
Following your spec; all existing set-top box solutions including DVRs (service provider types also) fail as entertainment centres.
Looking round at most friends' living rooms; most have a DVD player plus DVR of some sort; a Skybox/Virgin media/BT Vision box connected to the t'internet. I'm not aware that any fulfil your specifications. I may be wrong as I have none of these, (no cable in my area but a BT Vision box is a possibility). Perhaps if they had them play audio output via their hifi/home theatre system we would be getting there, (not many do). Still, at that setup, most are using up to 3 remotes to control their TV/media Box/hifi (I know unify remotes are possible but few go down that road).
Windows Media Centre was never really pushed but if it had been - people may have bought into it and used systems such as the Medion media PC (but better overall spec would probably become available).
The problem with many set-top box solutions is that the media being captured is constantly evolving in terms of mechansim of media delivery (codecs) and distribution (shifting between broadcast/cable/internet delivery. A sing unified solution would be out of date almost as soon as it was out. At least a PC-based system could be capable of of this rather than several set-top boxes. Unless, of course, this freedom is exactly what the providers of entertainment media do not want you to have....
As someone who has owned 3 xantias; a Xsara Picasso; Picasso C4; C5 and C5 X7 - most drven way beyond 150,000miles can I say the ONLY time I have used the RAC/AA/Green Flag was when my camshaft sprocket failed at over 70mph in the offside lane on the M6 [caused by an incompetant fool using the wrong bolt type when the cam belt was replaced]. The Xantia had the grace to give powered steering and braking to reach the hard shoulder easily - due to the hydrpneumatic suspension/braking/PAS.
Citroen have unjustifiably got a bad name in my experience and proved far more reliable and cheaper than a VW Golf I owned.
If you talk to French, they regard Citroen/Peugeot as good reliable cars - unlike Renault. For a country with no national breakdown assistance companies - there are an *awful* lot of Citroen/Peufgeot on the road
Er NO
If you NEED to be seen - headlights. Sidelights are position indicators not 'be seen' indicators. Even in a 30 zone there are too many cars with such feeble sidelights that they are almost invisible on a grey drizzle February 4pm in Manchester. Even worse there are the 'invisible' cars on the M62 motorways driving in the rain on sidelights.
I'll take the comments about badly adjusted headlights/too bright but thats a maintenance issue or the Richard Cranium with illegal HID conversions
Didnt downvote you Lee as I agree with the rest.....
read 'The Prince' by Nikolai Miachiavelli?
Really? if not, you should. It's all there from 500yrs ago.
Nothing really changes; just the techniques.
It's quite short but you need to read past the 'classical' style of exposition and illustrating your argument.
Oh, and there is a pithy bit about 'what the people want done' in their name to maintain stability/security of the state
driving up my exhaust on the M6 (I'll admit to going near 80mph)
Had a 5yr old Mark 2 Golf once. Was crap; front window [manual] winder mechanism broke on both windows; twice
Clutch failed; twice in 2 years [I've not replaced clutch in any of my 180,000 plus cars]
Steering rack boots needed replacing every year [split]
Auto choke used to flood engine on motorway runs after 30miles and rev engine out of engine bay at startup. VAG dalers failed 6 attempts to fix (and >£700). Strange that my BMW 3.18 with the same base carburettor *with additional feature of fuel cutoff on throttle lift off* worked perfectly.
Sold it fast as possible after 3 years of pain
Anyway back to this paragon of German engineering and reliability. the only real question is does it require a trip to the dealer to change a [non-xenon] headlight bulb?
If yes; it's not fit for road use
Not just in Switzerland. In rural France you may find you get a visit from the Gendarmes if you annoy neighbours by cutting grass; using chainsaw on a Sundy afternoon.
And the shops are shut.
- also like Switzerland - dry weekend if you don't remember to stock up on Saturday - many shops in rural areas also closed on a Monday..
Sundays are very quiet - except for the hunters and farmers who seem to be able to fire up; cut; saw muck spread on Sundays. Must have a legal blanket exception.
Thanks to an almost universally EU-hating press and UKIP/Farage successes - you may find your stay in Germany somewhat curtailed and/or much more difficult to move into a job there (or anywhere else in Europe).
Psersonally I find our attitude to EU membership akin to the state of Delaware saying to the rest of the US "We're not part of you any more - much more interested in the rest of the world". Geographically and culturally daft.
C5 because it's next down the model line from the C6............
Most people are snide about Citroen models because:-
1. They've never been in a modern one (all vintage ones are cool)
2. They've never driven one
3. someone in the dealership at Ford/Vauxhall/BMW/Audi/pub told them they were rubbish
4. They don't drive 500miles on motorway in one trip
Having driven >5 to between 125 - 200k miles each I have tested them. Thoroughly
I moved from BMW as a daily drive as I hated paying >£1600 per annum in insurance for 5yrs+ no claims in an 1800cc petrol with round badge.
I still own a [1987] BMW for sunny summer days. OK it's a poor man's version - 3.18i with M10 engine. Oh and it is that very same fisrt car I bought. Nice
Is this why I have a four-ring badged car attached to my towbar* when driving down the M62**?
Bootnote: I drive a 2009 Citroen C5 - it's quick and absolutely no feedback from the road which is just as well on the M62
* for a [big] trailer - no caravans
** that's going between Warrington and Liverpool where it is possible to do a decent speed unlike the stationary bit over the Pennines
I've had three Xantia TDs - driven to 175K; 198K and 120K. They were the older 'mechanical' hydraulic suspension and had only 3 'problems' -new spheres (v cheap compared to fitting shockers) every 60K. Seized rear height adjuster at 10yrs old in another and my 14 yr old one developed a crack in one hydraulic line under the bonnet. Would buy one again. Caused far less trouble than my BMWs.
Had a C5 mk1 2.0Hdi estate - enormous and very quick once chipped. Loved it. Now onto a 'teutonic' C5 with mechanical suspension (as I baulked at the thought of toys-suspension excepted- in the Exclusive failing). Have to say the steel suspension feels *very* like the hydraulic.
Do a lot of driving in central France (Indre) seems to be the last home of Xantias. Everyone seems to have one. French peeps I've asked, regard Citroens/Pugs as good reliable cars but wouldn't touch Renault
In my non representative (i.e. non IT pros) Facebook is used by 'hip' over 50s/parents of teenagers. Me , I looked at it when it first started:didn't care what it offered and could see the way it could go: stayed out.
Have not changed my view and more and more people I know are coming round to my opinion.
My wife is on / has an account - all it seems to do is cause her Nexus phone and tablet grind to a halt. Everything to be resolved if I uninstll the app...
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