Safe Speed Forums

Oh thanks Mr Whaley and I don't mean to get you down even more but it gets worse..

I asked another SLT and she thought the same too, and she's been in the same 'game' for some fifteen years and she has half the alphabet after her name!

I personally put it down to the nonsense about never mind the spelling or grammar; all that matters is the meaning behind it. (For a working class bum who had the worst start in life which I've never talked about in detail, I think I do well )

I can understand where this ethos of 'the message not the means' may apply but what’s happened, I think, is there’s little or no effort made to even bother getting it right these days, probably because it's regarded as discriminatory, so they end up not knowin nuffin about propa comunikation which is made all the worse by the CU L8R mob phone nonsense.

It’s my usual criticism of qualifications and how just about anyone can get a degree these days to 'prove' you are fit for purpose. My friend plagiarised most of his work to get his degree yet I never could get him to understand basic GCSE maths which he was supposed to need. (He couldn't factorise AX + BX to save his life at the time). He's a qualified nurse looking after nutters* now, allowed to inject them and things.

A piece of paper means little these days more than ever but I guess it's good for keeping people occupied where there's no work while getting them to rack-up £20K in fees to keep bankers in work. Don't get me wrong, education is everything and qualifications are important! But they are taking the pi$$ with paper in recent years.

You wouldn't believe how much English usage and abusage I see from professionals who earn thrice more than me. The mind boggles.


Take care all

Tone

* Sod PC

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Even though I think DCB is right -how many on here would stop to worry if it was not -as the man said - don't throw stones into a neighbours garden ,they might just land on his trampoline and return to shatter your greenhouse

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Are the letters in the right order?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/throe



My wife works for the Plain English Commission making sure that official documents are comprehensible to as many people as possible. Her mantra is that the "meaning behind it " is the most important thing but if the spelling, grammar and puctuation are wrong the meaning can be changed or , worse, made ambiguous. You can't have separate meanings for working class bums and Professors of English


My life would concur with that

And, to botach: I don't normally complain about bad spelling on the forums(most of them are typos, anyway) but Tone did throw the first stone so I merely angled my trampoline at him No offence, Tone.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

She has this lot: BSc MA CertMRCSLT PG Cert in HE

I'm amongst the least qualified, but very able. Bring back apprenticeships I say

None taken dc. I like to goof around. I'm the same at work

_________________
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

A quick search revealed this interesting site which was informative. I didn’t know there was a mid range part of the lenses which would be great for looking at my monitor.

The bottom line seems to be just try them; they work for most people. Can someone lend me £500?

Edit to add: Doesn’t the law stand that if I throw a brick at your shatterproof window and it bounces back and hits me you are still to blame?

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

.

Just occurred to me that it might be down to accent. In my West Yorkshire accent throws and throes are pronounced very differently. Throw has a very short final vowel whereas Throes has a very long one. For people who 'speak proper' the two words might sound almost identical.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

OK-dcb -no offence taken on my part either -just a bit of goofing ( as per Tone) -no sense throw( or throeing ) a fit over accentual problems -least not on my part - suspect if we met ,it would be like people from two other planets trying to communicate

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Love ya bud, in the appropriate way I bet you remember Mullard Dave.

I've still got the 1972 & 1973 little books I bought from new as a kid. Heptode, Triode, OC81 etc and so many others beside. I knew them off by heart - and how to use them.. Germanium came before silicon, but I know you know that And who can forget the ubiquitous 3055?

OC80 & 81, an output transformer used in push/pull and I experimented with an OC71. It was coated in black paint and if you scraped the coating off you could use it as an optical device.

When I was twelve I collected all kinds of stuff and had a carbon microphone, from wartime, and I could undo the Bakelite front part and see how it worked and experimented with different voltages to make it work louder/better – and worse.

I once stuck the live wires in a bowl of water to complete the circuit to light a mains 60 watt bulb by sprinkling salt in a bowl as an early dimmer. H&S had no say in the matter then and mum just let me get on with it!

All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain....

We are a small breed my friend.

Take care and best wishes

Luv Tone

_________________
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

I even remember a tech sheet from PO telecoms ( now BT) on a fault involving a tranny with a screen connection ( something like AF117) -instruction read -"in case of S/C collector to screen - cut screen leg ,and return to service" - now ,I questioned why screen was provided ,and the wisdom of this instruction ,and waited for further problems ,so we marked any boards with this fix .
inthe meantime ,in olden times -we were presented with screened cans , so we got a very large soldering iron ,opened cans and fixed fault -

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Yep. They had a place in Hazel Grove, near Stockport. Think I once applied for a job with them




Tragic innit? Our parents should have known better than to let us get so interested in a topic where the career prospects were so dire

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Yep. They had a place in Hazel Grove, near Stockport. Think I once applied for a job with them




Tragic innit? Our parents should have known better than to let us get so interested in a topic where the career prospects were so dire

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

And that's the truth. I could have made a fortune in America where engineering is respected but not here, as you say That's how I ended up on a band 5 working for the NHS. My engineering background is useful for making things and programming to help people

It doesn't pay well but then I'm not in it for the money. Would be nice to be recognised for what you do mind

In this country you pretty much have Engineer stamped on your forehead for life whereas in America you find people change their career several times. Over here it's like "you're an engineer, why are you interested in becoming a chef or a banker?".

Oh btw, where we live throws and throes does sound exactly the same

Ah yes Botach, PO telecoms or GPO as it used to be for the longest time. I seem to recall PO telecoms wasn't around for long before BT snaffled it..

_________________
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

It was GPO ,first (that included Mail & phones - something that the tax man couldn't work out - they sent my dad ,posty, a tax notice as a single man ,and me as telephone eng coding as married - and my mum - she got upset . )
Then PO Telephones - then a long time later came BT .
As for the valve books - to my shame ,at one time I could decipher the valve type from the number - ECC82 - was a double triode with a 6.3 volt heater . The 82 was the base configuration .
Then you wander in to the trem "Engineer " - me I respect one who has earned the title by training , not by being named that at birth

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

No, I was wrong there, it may be OK for a short while but for prolonged periods is unacceptable.

I have now ordered a pair of "occupational varifocals" which have an extended intermediate zone suitable for computer use, and only a small distance segment.

I also last year got a pair of single-vision distance glasses for driving.

So the original varifocals will now be effectively confined to the dustbin

They may suit some people, but obviously not me.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Well, I've got these now and so far they seem fine - there's a much wider field of vision for the computer screen, I can read small print and the top 25% or so of the lens gives distance vision.

They're obviously not suitable for driving, but in fact I could easily meet the driving test vision requirement using them.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Actually, having had the "occupational varifocals" for a day now, I would say they give ideal vision for all purposes apart from driving. Maybe the conventional varifocals have too much of the distance zone, and not enough of the intermediate zone. They seem to naturally follow the direction of the eye.

I did try driving in them for a short distance on quiet residential roads, but quickly reached the conclusion "this isn't right".

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

I read this and I had to concur with all comments on varifocals. I'm on my first pair (should have done much sooner though instead of using 3 seperate pairs). I had a lot of trouble adapting, as some have said, working on the computer gave me severe pains in the back of my head and got me quite worried for a while. I even visited my doctor about it! Not being sure what the cause was.
The first time I looked through them, I tested each eye....and thought.....this isn't right! Personally I still think that they got it wrong but anyway, I eventually became accustomed to them. I never had a problem with driving though and I could focus on the dashboard once again for the first time in years.
So, I suppose that the message is: Persevere! I think that you eventually learn to move your whole body back when viewing a PC screen rather than just angle your neck upwards which causes the pain. I still prefer to use a cheap pair of selected glasses though to use for the computer for longer sittings.....

On the black painted OC 71's and 81's.... I still have a few around! and some of the replacements as well (enclosed in a aluminium can and filled with a white gunk so that you still couldn't use them as photo transistors even if you removed the can! Mullard Smullard I say! Damn them!

As an update to this, having bought a new car in November 2010 with a slightly lower driving position, I found I was looking more at the road through the top part of the varifocals and so have slowly adapted to them for driving. In hindsight, I was probably a bit premature to buy the single-vision distance glasses for driving.

The "occupational varifocals" however were a huge boon for office work - the intermediate field of vision with the conventional varifocals was just too small. Having said that, I have recently unfortunately been out of work and have not felt the need to use them as I am no longer needing to scan screen-filling spreadsheets.

I now have 5 pairs of glasses, of four different lens specifications*, with a current prescription, which must be some kind of record

* 1 x conventional varifocals, 1 x occupational varifocals, 1 x single-vision distance lenses, 1 x single-vision distance prescription sunglasses, 1 x single-vision intermediate lenses

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Looking at Peter's last post reminds me of my late dad's comments on varifocals - he called them "double glazing"

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I’m in the same club Peter; well almost.

Don’t laugh but right now I am wearing a pair of Boots 1.5 magnification, at a cost of £1, on top of my normal specs to see my monitor. It looks silly but it works; until I can save up for a proper pair.

Two specs Tone

Now that is double glazing Botach

_________________
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.