Check you Electrical Appliances!

Mrs EP had a nasty shock yesterday.
From this 

She'd almost finished drying her hair, sitting at the kitchen table as usual, and I was upstairs at my computer (as usual) when I heard a scream.

It wasn't the usual "There's a spider scream" which I tend to ignore, but a more serious one so I thought I'd better put in an appearance!

The hair dryer was on the table, there was a familiar smell of burnt electrical equipment, and Mrs EP was holding her hand under the cold tap.

Fortunately things weren't as bad as they looked; her hand was black but from burnt PVC insulation, but there was quite a nasty blister. Things could have been worse, she didn't actually get an electric shock which might have caused real problems. This was the actual cause:

The cable had worn where it emerged from the drier, so it was just the flash and the burning insulation which did the damage. The fuse in the plug did its job and the flash was limited to a 5 amp flash rather than a 13 amp flash, and the supply breaker didn't trip.

My fault, I suppose. As a retired electrical engineer, I of all people, should have kept an eye on such things. I immediately had a look at the cables on all the other electrical appliances, particularly on the moveable things like the electric iron and kettle, the vacuum cleaner, coffee maker, etc.  It didn't take long, and I would now strongly advise any readers to do the same.

Mrs EP used it as an excuse to visit John Lewis (in spite of the snow) and buy a more upmarket drier. My suggestion that I should fit a new lead was totally ignored!

Snow

According to "Whats up with that?", The Northern Hemisphere in December 2009 has had the second heaviest snowfall since records began in 1966. North America set a new record level.
Strange how we always hear when it has been the hottest day since some date in the distant past, but we never hear about the coldest day. The BBC said that the temperature a couple of nights ago made this the coldest day of the year, but no suggestion that it might in fact have been the coldest day since the 1950's or even earlier.

And I suppose that we should not be surprised that Local Councils and Schools were totally unprepared for the snow. My waste time and money when the government experts all insisted that it was unlikely to happen, one professor apparently stating that we were unlikely to see snow in this country again.

Computer problems

I've been having computer problems lately. I know mine is old, but even so I can see no great advantage of lashing out on a new one.
I decided to fit an additional hard drive, but when I came to do so, I found that the spare slot had the cables to the front panel USB sockets and card reader fed via this slot blocking any possibility of installing a second drive. (Moral - never believe the manufacturer's specification!)
So I decided to bite the bullet and fit a larger drive, theoretically a simple exercise. The drive arrived on Christmas Eve in spite of the snow, thanks to e-Buyer and the man in the yellow van, and I resolved to sort out my computer immediately the Christmas festivities were over.
And that was where my troubles started, so at the moment I'm temporarily using a borrowed laptop (which has an awful keyboard!) Apologies to those who commented on my earlier blogs, I just wasn't able to look at your comments.

Does the crime of Treason still exist?

The Treason Act 1351 has since been amended several times, and currently provides for four categories of treasonable offences, one of which is
"if a man do levy war against our lord the King in his realm, or be adherent to the King’s enemies in his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm, or elsewhere".
The duty of the Crown towards its subjects is to govern and protect. The reciprocal duty of the subject towards the Crown is that of allegiance. Allegiance is owed both to the Sovereign as a person and, perhaps more importantly these days,  to the Sovereign in the political capacity.
The definition of treason depends on this allegiance and all British Nationals owe allegiance to the Queen  wherever they may be, which includes those who hold a British passport however obtained. The law also includes aliens (excepting diplomats) present in the United Kingdom at the time of the treasonable act.
Although the law is very complex, the above statements seem quite clear; anyone who endeavours to overthrow the government by force or give aid and comfort to the enemies of the Queen is committing treason.

I have been reading what the media has said about Anjem Choudary and his proposed demonstration at Wootton Basset and also about the Seven Muslim protesters who screamed insults at soldiers on parade at Luton. Her Majesty's Forces are servants of the Crown in both a personal and political capacity, and any insults or demonstrations against them are also demonstrations against the Crown, which in the past has been considered to be treason. If there is any doubt about this, in Choudary's case, he has been preaching the overthrow of British Law and its replacement by Sharia Law. He also is giving aid and comfort to the Queen's enemies in many of his statements and actions. These actions are both clearly contrary to the Treason Act.

So why haven't there been any prosecutions? Has the Attorney General got cold feet or is he too busy arguing against the Tory case for changing the self-defence laws? Or does the government think it would harm racial relations? The latter argument, I believe is fallacious; it is claimed that a majority of Muslims are opposed to the extremists, firm action by our government would convince them and the white majority, that these people are not going to be allowed to interfere with our way of life.

When aliens get UK citizenship they should be made to understand that part and parcel of this is allegiance to the Crown, not just the ability to go and collect the Job Seeker's Allowance and other benefits. Most apparently don't realize this and its about time they learnt, and the best way for them to learn would be a few prosecutions for treason. Anjem Choudary would be a good starting place.

Snow

It is still snowing and has been since yesterday evening. It's a nice calm day, the garden looks nice, the birds have been fed, I have no need to go out and all's well as far as I am concerned.
But it is the first of my observations that is the most important, the snow is falling straight down and there is no sign of drifting here on the edge of the Chilterns.
So what? Well it would appear that most people are staying indoors with the heating turned up, lights on and possibly, like me, sitting at a computer. Our electricity consumption will be at an all time high under these circumstances; indeed I imagine the generating companies are struggling to cope. And at the same time as we most need it, the main source of supply advocated by this government has failed. There is absolutely no wind and no wind-generated power. This appears to be generally the case in the UK, whenever we get these cold spells of winter the air is usually quite still and it's not too uncomfortable going out.
I trust all those who signed up for "Green Electricity" have turned off all their appliances, or are they taking part of my dirty electricity?

More Nanny State

"Restaurants and takeaway shops will now have to provide food warnings on menus as part of a government campaign to prevent obesity, climate change and global food shortages" according to today's Daily Telegraph .
We must be told the amount of sugar and fat in unhealthy meals! Customers are to be encouraged to eat less red meat and dairy produce in order to cut down on methane produced by cows. Shops will have to show food's "carbon footprint" to discourage transport over long distances. All this from Hilary Benn, our Environment Secretary and a vegetarian.
Just who do they think is going to take any notice of this rubbish. When we eat out it is because we are hungry and it is our normal meal time. In our case, this usually means a fast food outlet if we happen to be out shopping and Mrs EP has taken longer than I anticipated, or a leisurely meal in a pub or restaurant for pleasure and to save Mrs EP from having to cook. In neither case are we likely to take a blind bit of notice of how many calories are in the food, we eat what we feel like and have done this all our lives, except perhaps during and in the aftermath of the war. No government campaign is going to change us from our frequent routine of going to the "Royal Standard", as we did last Sunday, and having Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding and, to please the government, a good portion of fresh vegetables. And a lovely hot treacle sponge with excellent custard, just the thing for a cold day. Not of course forgetting suitable alcoholic refreshment which probably took me well over the government's limit for the week and forcing Mrs EP, whose alcoholic intake is regrettably restricted due to medication, to drive us home.
Has the government considered what all their proposals will cost. We have no idea how much fat or calories were in our meals nor do we care, we simply enjoyed it. But does the pub have any more idea? I doubt it. But what is it going to cost them (and ultimately the customer) to find out and make sure that they display it in accordance with the government rules. They'll certainly need a bigger blackboard chalkboard!
And how many more jobsworths will be employed checking up that the rules are being followed, taking samples of beefburgers from McDonald's and having them analysed; it's total madness.

But that isn't the end of it. "Best Before" and "Sell by" dates are to be discouraged to stop us throwing away good food. A few years ago, we were being told they were essential and they should never be ignored under any circumstance in order to avoid food poisoning. And aren't they a E.U. requirement; how can they possibly ignore Brussels?

And finally we are all going to have slop buckets for waste food which will need to be kept apart from other waste and composted. We did this during the war when the waste was used as food for pigs, but apparently it is no longer good enough for them. Mrs EP suggests that we will have to get one of those waste-pipe disposal thingies as she's not having smelly, rotting food hanging around the house, in or out, for two weeks at a time especially as the rats locally are already on the increase.
I just wonder how much electricity and water these waste disposal units use; probably more electricity than I'll save from energy saving lamps!

Happy New Year

Judge shows common sense

Judge uses Common Sense - Nationwide Protests - Judge overruled by Straw's Supreme Court

Well, not exactly, but the first has happened and I expect the second to take place any time now.

Today the Daily Telegraph revealed that an Employment Tribunal Judge had stated "An individual's race or colour is a fact of life. It does not follow that alluding to such matters to or in the presence of the individual concerned necessarily involves racism or less favourable treatment of the individual."  An employee was claiming damages for wrongful dismissal, having been sacked on the grounds that the banter between him and a coloured worker was racist and that he had added to the offence by being a member of the BNP. (Since when was being a member of the BNP a sacking matter?)
The Judge ruled that he had been wrongfully dismissed, the comments were normal workplace banter and that there was no evidence that the sacked worker belonged to the BNP. The Judge awarded him damages against Lambeth Council.
Incidentally, the original disciplinary hearing was chaired by a council official  whose title is Head of Resilience. What on earth can this mean? (see below)

The question now is "When will the protests start?". Surely the Race Relations Industry can't allow such a decision to stand as it would undermine the whole purpose of their existence. What would politicians do without the right to make unfounded racist allegations against an opponent when they have no logical arguments against what he is saying. These days the words "Racism" or "Racist" are used by anyone in order  to try to smear a person against whom they have a grudge.

And if protests do start, no doubt Lambeth Council will use Council Tax payers' money to fund appeals all the way to the Straw's "Supreme Court" in spite of their initial statement that they will accept the ruling.

Of course, the obvious question to ask is why everybody except the English seem to be getting so sensitive; it's not only the coloureds, but also the Scots and the Irish, where members of both groups have recently made claims of racism on the basis of normal workplace banter. Personally, I don't believe that they are more sensitive and that it is more likely these people are the modern fortune hunters; making complaints in the hope of hitting the compensation jackpot.

Before I retired, I had a Barbadian working for me. When I came back from my summer holiday he would joke that my tan had a long way to go to reach his standard; I'd make a comment when he returned along the lines that I was sure he was lighter than when he went. No doubt similar comments were exchanged with others and no-one minded the least. When he retired he went back to Barbados because of racism here; not he assured me racism from the whites, but from the more recently arrived coloureds who used such phrases as a "whitey's friend" and who suggested that he should have accused our employer of racism as he hadn't been promoted to a higher grade and that he should take more advantage of his colour.

Yes there has been the odd cases of severe racial harassment, but I remain convinced that probably 99% of the cases are being brought in the hope of getting money out of someone.


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Resilience:

1. The ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancy.

2. The property of a material that enables it to resume its original shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed; elasticity.