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Swine Flu Pandemic 2009 (Official)

11/06/2009

EDIT: THIS IS FROM 2009, SO IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR THE LATE 2010 MEDIA FRENZY YOU’LL NEED TO LOOK AGAIN.

So the WHO is still talking this up to create unnecessary panic!

Just watching the news now and one statistic jumped out:

Out of 13,217 cases in the USA, there have been 27 deaths… this is far fewer than die as a result of seasonal flu.

Worldwide there have been around 30,000 cases, but only 141 deaths. So just what the hell are they going on about it for? You can read the BBC story (and see the WHO talking itself up) here.

The most telling quote has to be:

It is the first flu pandemic in 40 years – the last in 1968 killed about one million people.

However, the current pandemic seems to be moderate and causing mild illness in most people.

It makes you want to scream, doesn’t it?

Kneeling Chair Project #3 (update)

09/06/2009

DOAADI

DIY

I’m putting the parts together at the moment – just finished the seating half.

While I was assembling it I discovered an error in one of the dimensions on the diagram in Part 2 of this project.

You can find Part #4 (the final) of this project here.

The support strut longest length should be 90mm and not 110mm.

I’ve amended the original diagram and annotated the Part 2 write up. Apologies to anyone who has been following this (and there appear to be quite a few) – but at least it is an error in the right direction – the part will just need trimming slightly. I used a flap wheel on my angle grinder to work it down.

I don’t know how it happened. I made a mock-up out of paper when I did the original calculation, so I can only guess that I put the wrong dimension in the drawing as a typo – and that’s what I was following!

Incidentally, I’m getting better at welding as I do this and one thing I’ve learned – probably obvious to those with more experience – and that is GO SLOWLY . You get a nice weld without gaps or pockets of slag.

EDIT: If you came to this page from a search engine, don’t forget to look for Kneeling Chair Project parts #1, #2, #3, and #4 (plus a couple of updates) using the site search facility. This project is now complete and there are drawing/blueprints in the other parts.

Kneeling Chair Project #3

05/06/2009

DOAADI

DIY

Here’s an update to my on going project (Part 1 here and here, Part 2 here) to build a kneeling chair .

Also take a look at the Part #3 Update here.

The diagram below – you can call it a blueprint or whatever (I make no claims in that area) – shows the holes and necessary cut outs for the support struts I am going to fabricate from the steel I purchased recently.

Don’t forget that I am using some of the parts from my existing chair, and that explains some of the oddities (e.g. the 9mm holes, the hole spacings on the seat plate, and so on).

The plans above should make sense – the 9mm holes are in the sides of the A and B struts, and there are a set of 5mm holes in the top faces of the B struts for the knee-cushion to be fixed to. All the holes go through both faces of the struts.

At the bottom end of the A and B struts, in the side faces, there needs to be a cut out 30mm across (the width of the box section metal) and with a radius of curvature of ¾” (so it fits the 1½” diameter tube which forms the feet of the chair).

I’ve spent a few hours over each night of the last week sanding the parts to remove corrosion and oil coating, cutting out the curved notches, and drilling holes. I’m hoping to at least start the assembly over the weekend.

EDIT: If you came to this page from a search engine, don’t forget to look for Kneeling Chair Project parts (#1), #2, #3, and #4 (plus a couple of updates) using the site search facility. This project is now complete and there are drawing/blueprints in the other parts.

Good Pass Today!

04/06/2009

DOAADI

KFC “Clone” Recipe

03/06/2009

DOAADI

Food

If you, too, are sick and tired of going to KFC branches – only to end up waiting for ages as the one person serving deals with the spotty-faced berk in front who insists on having something complicated that isn’t on the menu – try this recipe. I found it on the Internet and it actually tastes better than KFC and is much more crispy (and that’s something else: they claim KFC is crispy, but it is always soggy).

No one is saying this is how they make it in KFC branches. KFC use pressure fryers to cook their chicken, and these are expensive (and big). The purpose here is to cook something that tastes good.

300g Plain Flour
2 tsp Garlic Salt
½tsp Cayenne Pepper
1tbsp Dried Parsley
½tsp Dried Thyme
1 tsp Salt
½tsp Dried Oregano
1tbsp Celery Salt
½tsp Dried Sage
½tsp Dried Rosemary
3tbsp Monosodium Glutamate

You can leave out the last item (MSG) if it worries you. Put all the items in a clean, dry box or polythene bag and mix together by shaking. If you have the ingredients to hand, it takes less than 5 minutes to make the dry mix.

Now, take your chicken pieces (it works with chicken breast or chicken portions – just make sure they aren’t huge otherwise they won’t cook properly). The best thing to do is marinate them overnight in buttermilk, but you can also dip them in beaten egg. Then roll them in the dry mix. (do them in small batches otherwise the coating powder gets all wet). If you want, you can dip them in buttermilk or egg wash again and coat them a second time.

Deep fry at 180ºC until golden brown.

Try it! It really is good. It isn’t like authentic Southern Fried Chicken – but neither is KFC. But it does taste very much like KFC.

KFC Sucks!

03/06/2009

DOAADI

Food, General

I don’t know why I bother! KFC has to be the most badly run outfit on the planet. I’ve had repeated problems getting served in various local branches, but his is what happened in one branch over the last 7 days.

Visit #1

I went in and, since there was only one person there, I decided to try and order something (if there is a queue of any length then you’re looking at a 30 minute wait at best). I stood and waited. The primate serving stood in front of the hot trays and fiddled with something. Then she waddled over to the till and pushed something. Then she waddled back to the hot trays… and immediately waddled all the way back around the other side of the hot trays. Then she waddled back to the front. All this time not one item of food was touched or ended up in the box that was presumably assembled for the customer’s order. Meanwhile, in the background, the half dozen acne collections around the back were busy staring up at screens and merrily serving the constant flow of pratmobiles that frequent the drive-thru. After several minutes I just walked out.

Visit #2

I went in and there was no one in the queue at all. I know from experience this is no guarantee of being served quickly. Anyway, after about a minute a young girl came up. There was no verbal communication, but the eye contact suggested she wanted to take my order. I said :”Can I have a Bargain Bucket… “, but before I could finish she put her finger up and in broken English said “one minute… ” I said “Isn’t anything ready? “, and she said again “one minute… ” I just said “thanks ” and walked out.

Visit #3

I went in and there were two youths in front of me. One was eating a burger (there is a Burger King across the road) and sucking on a milkshake. The primate serving appeared to open one of those little envelopes for fries, then made some sort of gesture, then waddled all the way round the back of the hot trays, did something else with a paper envelope, looked around, then waddled round the front again. I said to the couple who had come in behind me: “this is going to take hours, again “, and walked out.

Visit #4

I finally got served almost immediately. Before I did, I asked the guy who was serving: “I want a 16 piece Bargain Bucket – is there enough food ready to have that immediately? ” He said “Yes “. I said: “OK. I’ll have one, and can I have three large beans instead of fries? ” “No problem “, he said, and took my £14.99. This was too easy… He filled the bucket, then a minute or two later came back and said “the beans are going to be about 5 minutes. Is that OK? ” Aaaargh! About 10 minutes later I finally got out with my food. While I was waiting I counted about 7 chavs in pratmobiles driving out of the drive-thru.

Seriously, KFC is a waste of space. It’s managed and run by idiots. The car park is a pig sty – bags, boxes, and food everywhere. It’s usually full of chavs in pratmobiles with there chavette girlfriends. One was there last night changing a wheel (and getting in the way of everyone else). There are broken Stella bottles everywhere. The “One Way” and “No Entry” lane markings are totally ignored. The speed limit in the car park must be the same as on the 40mph road outside judging by the way they drive in there. And so on.

The Perfect Job!

02/06/2009

DOAADI

Funny, News

Someone sent me this story in an email today:

TRUE STORY:

Outside Bristol Zoo there is a car park for 150 cars and 8 coaches.

There also used to be a very pleasant parking attendant at the Bristol Zoo with a ticket machine charging cars £1 and coaches £5.

This parking attendant worked there for all of 25 years, then one day just didn’t turn up for work…

“Ho hum”, said Bristol Zoo Management, “better phone up the City Council and get them to send a new parking attendant.”

“Err no”, said the Council, “that car park is your responsibility…”

“Err no”, said Bristol Zoo Management, “the attendant was employed by the City Council, wasn’t he…?”

“Err NO!”

Sitting in his villa in Spain is a bloke who had been taking daily the car park fees amounting to an estimated £400 per day at Bristol Zoo for the last 25 years.

YES, I’ve done the sums = £3,650,000

Like most of these things, I’m not convinced it is true – but can you imagine getting away with something like this if it was?

Cutest Picture Ever?

31/05/2009

DOAADI

Funny, General

I just had to post this!

If you use WordPress you get a Random Hot Post link every time you refresh your admin page. I have a look if the title attracts me, and this one did.

It’s a baby Pygmy Marmoset. Is it cute or what?

You can read more at the original site: Science News at WordPress.com. I’ve added the site to my blogroll as I couldn’t contact the author to ask permission to use this photo – I hope he doesn’t mind.

Cash For Your Old Mobile Phone?

31/05/2009

DOAADI

Kneeling Chair Project #2

29/05/2009

DOAADI

DIY

OK. This ongoing project for a DIY kneeling chair is well on its way now. Here’s the schematic of the parts I’m using and the relevant dimensions. You could call it ‘plans’ or ‘blueprint’, but I’m not making any claims in that area!

Also refer to the next article (Part #3) here.

EDIT: Please note the dimension in yellow… this corrects an error I discovered when I put the seating section together (it originally said 110mm).

I spent today (had most of the day off in order to get this going) trimming the parts. Last week I used an angle grinder to take the 3m lengths of 30mm box and 1½” round steel sections down to manageable pieces. The diagram below shows roughly how the parts will fit together – I’ll put up a better drawing with dimensions later.

Basically, there are two seat struts (A) parallel to each other, and two knee struts (B) the same. The seat struts are closer together and fit inside the knee struts in a distorted X shape. I’ll use the spacers to make sure that the struts are the right distance apart.

You can see how those seat support struts (Aa) I mentioned in Part #1 will work. The original chair didn’t have these, so you can imagine how weak it would have been. In order to accommodate these struts I increased the size of the seat plate from the original, though the hole spacings will be the same. At a later stage I’m going to build my own upholstered seat and knee pads, but for the time being I’ll just transfer the ones off this existing chair (hence the hole spacings).

Anyway, I ended up using a good old hacksaw to cut the 45º angles. It was far less hassle then I’d imagined (from metalwork days back in school). I must confess I used the angle grinder and a coarse grinding wheel to trim the ends, though. I finished/squared these off with a metal file.

EDIT: If you came to this page from a search engine, don’t forget to look for Kneeling Chair Project parts (#1), #2, #3, and #4 (plus a couple of updates) using the site search facility. This project is now complete and there are drawings/blueprints in the other parts.