Much lack of lack of cold, more than a whimsy of atmospheric
movement, quite a lot of ex skywater and just a glimpse of dawn's crack at the
Castle this morn.
Poor old Angus is doing OK, the diabetes thing is now back
under control despite a toof ache-toof out-infection and antibiotics, and I
spent most of the last more than seven days fettling the garden; extra bamboo
screens, moved the stepping stones to accommodate the new extendable washing
line, put up a new fence in the quiet corner, painted the fences (hint-DO NOT
buy Homebase's own "light oak" fence stuff-it is orange when
applied-even more orange with a second coat, I finally used B&Q's own stuff
which is artistically called "brown"-covered in one coat), and did
the first cut on the moss. I even washed the Honda...
The hunt for MH370 goes on, and on, and on, it seems that
the latest "clue" is a blurry photo of something that looks like a
giant upside dahn motor, but the mystery deepens as it turns out that A US
technology company which had 20 senior staff on board Malaysia Airlines Flight
MH370 had just launched a new electronic warfare gadget for military radar
systems in the days before the Boeing 777 went missing.
So a few hints as to where it may be:
Norf Korea's rear exit.
eBay.
The Castle's moat.
How is it that "they" can listen to all our phone
calls, see all our emails but can't find a bleedin great jet with an orange
black box that is emitting beeps every few moments?
Apparently son of a B........aronet and alien reptile in
disguise chancer of the exchequer George (I love pensioners) Osborne has done
yet another Budget, which will allow the elder part of the population to snatch
and squander their pension pots.
This will of course allow we old
farts to buy "luxuries" such as gas and electricity, food and even
some go juice for the motor as well as being able to buy more than one pint of
beer and play bingo to excess.
And will of course "stimulate"
the economy adding many squillions in tax to the Piss Poor Policies
Millionaires Club Coalitions' coffers.
Cheers George......
After many years and many deaths
allegedly the Healthwatch England watchdog thingy has come to the conclusion
that the complaints system for the NHS in England is "hopelessly complicated"
and needs an overhaul.
Apparently Healthwatch
England says more than 70 organisations are involved in dealing with complaints
about the NHS and social care.
It wants the
process to be simplified to ensure patients get more support.
Healthwatch England
chairwoman, Anna Bradley, said: "It's no wonder the public are left
confused and frustrated. With so many organisations involved it's difficult to
know where to start, let alone having the strength and persistence to navigate
the system on your own.
No shit...remember the photo, we will be watching....
Allegedly ATOS that wonderful French supplier of the
infamous Fit to work assessments which went so well that they want to end the
contract early has now managed to secure the contract for the PIP (personal
independence payments) has been telling porkies to grab even more of our loot.
In its tender document,
submitted to the Department of Work and Pensions, Atos suggested that more than
700 healthcare providers, including 56 NHS hospitals, had contractually agreed
to provide accommodation where assessments for new Personal Independence
Payments could take place. It claimed the “hyper-local” network would mean that
no disabled claimant would have to travel more than 60 minutes to attend an
assessment, with “over 90 per cent of claimants able to reach the centres in 30
minutes”.
But the Public Accounts
Committee heard that, since the scheme was launched, over 40 per cent of all
claimants have had to travel for more than an hour to reach an assessment
centre, with only 40 per cent being able to reach a suitable location in less than
45 minutes.
Atos had in fact
contracted fewer than 100 healthcare providers to provide accommodation – and a
miscalculation by the DWP over how long each session would take meant that some
severely disabled people were waiting longer than six months to be seen.
MPs accused Atos of
“playing fast and loose with the truth” in the bid document – resulting in
ministers misleading Parliament about how the scheme would work.
Personal Independence
Payments began to replace Disability Living Allowance in April last year. Most
people applying for PIP have a face-to-face assessment to determine
eligibility, which is carried out by Atos Healthcare and Capita Business
Services.
But a report from the
National Audit Office found claimants were waiting an average of 107 days, and
terminally ill patients 28 days, for a decision on their cases – much longer
than had been predicted.
MPs told Lisa Coleman,
senior vice-president of Atos, that they believed the firm had been misleading
in its bid document.
“You only managed to
work with a quarter of the trusts you named in the document,” the committee’s
chair, Margaret Hodge, told her. “If there had been one or two falling out then
I could have accepted your argument – but only a quarter?”
She then asked: “Is it
usual to lie in the tender document, Ms Coleman?”
Ms Coleman told the
committee that because the DWP had pushed back its plans for mandatory
re-assessment of all DLA claimants until 2015 fewer sites were needed than had
been suggested in the bid document. “We have had sufficient coverage,” she
said. “If we had used all 750 sites they would [each] be doing about three
assessments a week.”
Ms Coleman added: “What
we talked about in the tender document was what we thought we could achieve.
When you write a tender document you say this is the specification that I can
deliver. This is what I am responsible for.”
She added: “We are not
there yet. I am not going to sit here and say we are.”
An Atos spokeswoman
subsequently said the company categorically denied making misleading claims in
the tender document.
Yeah right......
87-year-old pilot
Shannon Trembley was practicing take orfs and landings at South Lakeland
airport in Mulberry, Florida when he managed to crash into a parachutist who
wasn't practicing landings but took orf again.
His Cessna got
caught in Mr Frost’s strings and spun through 180 degrees before crashing into
a landing field.
Onlookers pulled
Mr Trembley out of the plane in case it caught fire.
Emergency
services arrived soon afterwards and took the two men to hospital.
Mr Frost was
later allowed home but doctors kept Mr Trembley in for observation.
The National
Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are
investigating.
Should have gorn to Specsavers...
Volvo has been testing its automatic braking system with
crash test Kangaroos, apparently there are more than 20,000 kangaroo strikes on Australia’s roads every year?
In response to the rogue roo problem, Volvo is in the process of training
it’s City Safe autonomous braking system to recognize kangaroos that enter into
the path of the vehicle. The system are responsible for -and
automatically slam on the brakes if the driver does not.
The system
was originally developed to detect pedestrians; later this year the same setup
will enable selected Volvo cars to also detect cyclists.
A radar
sensor in the grille scans the road 100 metres ahead and a camera in the
windscreen works with the radar to detect which way the object is moving to
help the computer decide what action to take, if any.
The system
processes 15 images every second and can react to an emergency in half the time
a human driver can, Volvo claims. With some kangaroos taller than six feet, the
system may prevent considerable vehicle damage.
Didn't go
too well on the last try..
Volvo claims
it is working on a system that can recognize dogs and cats.
How
can a motor know that his Maj is called His Maj?
And finally:
Right more than a lot of imperial yards Independent car safety body, Global NCAP, has found that a number of small cars on sale in India pose a very serious risk to their occupants in the event of a crash.
In the first-ever independent crash tests of some of India's most popular small cars, Global NCAP awarded entry-level models of the Volkswagen Polo, Ford Figo and previous-generation Hyundai i10 zero stars for adult protection. This is in stark contrast to the current European equivalents – the Ford Fiesta and Polo achieved a five-star rating in their Euro NCAP tests, while the old Hyundai i10 managed a respectable four.
India's best-selling car, the Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, was also assessed, as was the Tata Nano. The five cars were afflicted by two major problems – namely a lack of structural integrity and an absence of airbags, meaning that too much energy is absorbed directly by the people in the cars in the event of a crash.
In the 40mph NCAP crash test, the Indian version of the i10 achieved a zero-star rating for adult protection, a one-star rating for child protection and was unable to meet the UN's minimum safety requirements in the 35mph crash test. Along with the Alto 800 and Nano, the i10 was also found to be structurally inadequate, collapsing onto occupants in a crash too easily.
The Ford Figo, which is based on the previous-generation Ford Fiesta platform, achieved zero stars for adult protection and a two-star rating for child protection. What's more, it only met the UN's minimum safety requirements in the 35mph crash test because the dummy's head in the driver seat narrowly avoided direct contact with the steering wheel.
Glad they are not sold in Blighty...
That's it: I'm orf to get a new app for the smart phone
And today's thought:
They seek it here, they seek it there
Angus
