Diary Of An ADI

This is interesting on the BBC website. A recently-launched lunar probe has photographed the Apollo landing sites and identified equipment and footprints from orbit.

These first pictures are low-resolution compared to what will come in a few weeks time. You can see more images on the NASA website for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) – though I can’t find the ones on the BBC site anywhere! I guess they haven’t archived them yet.

I wonder if it will shut the conspiracy theorists up? Or will it just create more of them?

I wrote a while back about how Vauxhall was stopping its supply of free tuition cars to BSM.

I’m hearing rumours that a new deal has been struck with another car manufacturer. I can’t find out any more than that at the moment… but watch this space!

*** Click Here! BSM and FIAT sign deal (23/07/2009)***

I forgot to mention a first time pass last Monday (6/7/2009) – well done PW for just 6 driver faults.

And well done also to MT for his first time pass yesterday (14/7/2009) with 8 driver faults. Don’t forget the foo dobber – you’ll need it!

Both will be good, safe drivers and I wish them well for the future.

This caught my attention on the news during the day – The Telegraph has a reasonable write-up, and you can watch the BBC news story here.

Scientists at the  Northeast England Stem Cell Institute claim to have created human sperm from embryonic stem cells. If the claim turns out to be true, it could have implications for people unable to have children. On the innocent surface of it, childless couples could have children via IVF which are genetically their own. On a more sinister level, women might also be able to have children without the involvement of a man at all!

The whole thing has sparked controversy on numerous fronts.

Some groups are suggesting that the sperm are not viable – that is, they may not allow fertilisation to take place (although the technique used has already been used in mice and offspring have been produced, though all died shortly after birth). Others are questioning the ethics involved.

It will be interesting to see how this one develops.

As I’ve mentioned before, I do a lot of work on my PC when I’m at home.

Ever since I can remember, whenever the weather warms up a little – and this includes potentially every day of the year – the moths, flies, and gnats have driven me crazy. Even in deepest winter, if the temperature rises even a little above average they start hatching. And what do they head for through the open window?

Hinged Flyscreen

My monitor!

Last year it suddenly occurred to me that this is why (well, one reason) Americans have flyscreens. OK, I know this might sound stupid and obvious, but it was like a sudden flash of inspiration to me at the time.

A quick search and I came up with FlyscreensUK. You can get different mesh types, so I requested some samples – the company was extremely helpful with this and a few other questions about the kinds of insects they stop. In the end I decided to go for the finest (midge mesh), which I was assured would stop just about anything,

Retractable Flyscreen

Once it started getting a bit milder after the snow this year I sent away for the appropriate kit. It was easy to measure up (though you do have to cut the frame material using a hacksaw, so be aware of this) and assemble. They attach to the window using continuous magnetic strips to ensure no gaps.

I have to say I was sceptical about the ability of the midge mesh to keep out what I think of as ‘midges’ – those tiny little black things that get everywhere around this time of year. But after sitting outside the test centre the other day in the boiling weather we’ve had, and getting covered in these things, I’ve not had a single one get into the room where I have my computer (nor anything else with wings).

I also had a few reservations about the midge mesh blocking out light, but it doesn’t do that much at all. In fact you hardly know it is there.

Mine are just for normal windows, but you can get them for doors and French windows. These flyscreens are excellent, and I’d recommend them to anyone. They are one of the most useful things I’ve ever bought – and when I think of what I’ve put up with over the years…!

They really do work (and that seems to be a search term being used to find this topic via Google), and FlyscreensUK is a company I can highly recommend.

Another collection of music from the past, featuring the likes of Gordon Giltrap , Be Bop Deluxe , Johnny Winter , Thin Lizzy , Jimi Hendrix  and so on.

I’m not so sure I consider The Jam , Status Quo , or AC/DC as ‘guitar heroes’ – but the BBC does like to screw up and rewrite perfectly good history to make it accessible to all. When Still More Guitar Heroes is made, I expect they’ll have Dizzee Rascal and Jay-Z on it!

I’ll post a link to the show once it is online – it is being broadcast live on iPlayer at the moment.

The show is now online here (link now dead – this is an old story).

Why is that I am watching The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (with Clint Eastwood) for about the 1,000th time and – even with the most ridiculous number of ad breaks imaginable – I am seeing scenes I have never seen before?

There was one with Tuco meeting up with some friends immediately after Blondie dumps him in the desert, then another just now with Angel Eyes going to a semi-deserted and ravaged Confederate town and meeting up with some soldiers to ask about Bill Carson. And I’ve just seen another one where Tuco has taken Blondie into the desert and is washing his feet to torment him! They’ve never been shown before – and  there’s another 2 hours to go yet (well, maybe 90 minutes, not including the adverts).

TV usually has that irritating habit of cutting bits out, not putting them in.

I’m not imagining it. The original Spaghetti Western trilogy with Clint Eastwood is my favourite, and I’m a big Eastwood fan anyway. I’ve seen them lots of times, and I know these scenes are additions (the Tuco one was noticeably poorer quality and badly dubbed).

In 2003, a new law was introduced in the UK which prohibits the use of handheld devices whilst driving. Initially, you could be fined a fixed penalty (£30) for doing it, then in 2007 the law changed and the fixed penalty fine was increased (£60) – plus you’d get 3 penalty points on your licence. In all cases, if the case were taken to court a fine of up to £1,000 was possible. The RoSPA site has more details.

As I drive around on lessons each day, the number of drivers blatantly ignoring this law – and getting away with it completely – is staggering. I see people flying up behind me at junctions, only to slam their brakes on because they’ve got a mobile phone stuck against their heads. I have people tailgating me, also with mobiles glued to their ears, and who would not be able to respond anywhere near quickly enough if my pupil braked suddenly. I see van drivers turning corners with one hand – intently yammering away on their mobiles. Last week, I said to a pupil “look at this guy in front. He’s got his mobile against his right ear – now look at his left arm when he moves away and changes gear “… and yes, he changed gear with his left hand whilst holding the mobile to his head with his right!

But by far the biggest danger on the roads is people texting.

Texting is the favoured activity of the moron. Or I should say, young moron. Their entire lives seem to revolve around their mobile phones and texting. You see them walking down the street in bright sunshine, oblivious to nature going on around them, shoulders hunched, thumbs curled over their mobiles.

Have you ever read one of these texts? Meaningless drivel! You can get a rough idea by going to a typical web forum (or Twitter) and looking at a typical post by a typical user with a lot of posts to their names. It’s likely to be just a bunch of ridiculous smilies and symbols – and on the rare occasions actual communication takes place, it’ll be using embarrassingly poor spelling and grammar (as I’ve already mentioned, they are morons).

But back to the main point… next time you stop at traffic lights, just have a glance around you at the drivers in other cars – and especially the young drivers. Watch their eyes.

The number of people texting whilst driving their cars is frightening. Only today I was walking past a light-controlled junction and traffic was stopping. A girl in a blue car (didn’t get the model: reg. no. YT55 AVM ) was still moving, but slowing down behind another car, and as I looked down she had both hands off the wheel and was using them to text using the mobile phone in her lap .

The Police really ought to crack down on this. They could make an absolute fortune from it.

Edit 12/07/2009: Had another one today (silver Clio Sport (typical pratmobile) reg: YK55 OZB). He was in the wrong lane anyway (left turn only but he wanted to turn right). You should have seen his eyes flicking up and down as he frantically texted at the side of me as the lights were on red. As we moved off he did the typical trying-toedge-ahead routine, then managed to shoot forward and cut into a one-car-length gap in front of the car ahead of me. Disappeared at speed, only for me to catch up with him a few minutes later at traffic lights. He tailgated a car for about a mile, trying to overtake between pedestrian refuges. I saw a large gap coming and thought “this time he’ll go”. He did, and nearly hit another car head on. He vanished doing at least 50mph in a 30 zone.

Easily missed as a result of Jacko’s death, Farrah Fawcett also died yesterday.

I remember her from Charlie’s Angels when I was at school, but she had a successful – if low-key – career after that.

Another one who’ll be sadly missed. It’s a bad sign when you realise your childhood heroes (well, those people who were part of your childhood years, anyway) start popping their clogs.