LATEST MOAN FROM YOU AND ME - 2022

Life is now so difficult, you have to cover your bum, fed up with it all

 

And the TV adverts are much louder than the programme.

 

it is the lack of dynamic range with adverts. They are not louder than the loud bits of programmes just the quieter passages. The programmes have a wide dynamic range (soft to loud) the adverts have very little.
Oh yes. And I hate how program has virtually replaced programme. Okay for computer speak but not for good English.

 

So, we’re thinking of having a gas fire fitted. To that end, we visited a local showroom. We decided that we would go ahead and the dealer said he would be in touch the next day to arrange a survey, that was days ago, still nothing. Ah well, look elsewhere. Searched the web, ‘Gasworld’ looked promising. Their website said “our lovely staff are here to answer any questions you have”, great. Went there only to find that although the showroom was open, one has to make an appointment to actually talk to anyone - no mention of this on their website. Ok, look elsewhere. Went to A N Checker, very local to us. Their website says they’re open until 4pm, and that we’re welcome to look around. Great. Got there just before 3. Sign on the door, you guessed it, shut. As I could see there were people there ( in the office area) I decided to give them a call. Got a recorded message saying “I’m sorry, we’re busy looking after other customers etc”. Yeah, right. What on earth is going on? You’d think that companies would be keen for custom, wouldn’t you? This sort of thing makes me angry, anyone would think they’re doing you a favour!

 

Finally, someone recognizes the obvious.

"Rex Murphy: Canada's obsession with trees delves into the absurd

Planting an additional two billion trees on top of the 318 billion we already have is, as the proverb states, akin to bringing coal to Newcastle"

We don't have any coal plants in my province our national parks are huge- just one of them in my province is large enough to contain 6 Londons.

I'm tired of people going on about polluters without including the factors which mitigate that same pollution. Our current government just doesn't seem to be able to ignore absurd claims from outside our borders. Even our lumber companies are compelled to replant trees for every one they chop in order to maintain our canopy.

 

Lori, you're country is one of the few left on the planet that still has wild environments and untouched places.
Look after it.
You don't want to end up like S. America with all the illegal logging going on down there .

Once they have stripped the rain forest the world will come after your timber, they probably are already.

 

While I do think it's unfair to point the finger at one country while others are doing little or nothing, taken individual countries out of the equation, there are still many things to consider.

A sapling doesn't sequester anything like the co2 that a mature tree does. It doesn't support anywhere near as much biodiversity either. So simply replacing a mature tree with a sapling doesn't replace what's lost.

Then there are the eco claims that go with the practice. It came to light recently that our Drax power station is classed as a source of renewable energy because it runs on biomass. That biomass, it turns out, is mature trees shipped from Canada. Hardly renewable when the power station can burn trees faster than they can grow, not to mention the shipping and processing of the wood before it goes into the power station.

Another consideration is what saplings are actually planted. Commercial forests are often very low in biodiversity due to the fact they tend to be largely monoculture. Hectares and hectares of woodland all a single species, and the management of the land often meaning that not much else gets to grow naturally.

That's not to say it's bad to grow trees for timber. It's a big and complicated topic with pros and cons. The point I'm trying to make is that promises to replace every tree taken with one or more saplings, on its own, is what the kids of today are calling greenwashing. It is certainly not as simple as that.

 

Speaking from a timber perspective, during my lifetime of work there has always been what I would class as "in" timbers.
These are hardwoods so maybe not from Canada, but just illustrates how we have taken out trees all over the world world.
In the 70s and 80s brazilian mahogany, we then moved on to ash and then cherry and then maple and so it goes on.
At one point we used lots of tulip wood.
But we keep stripping it all out and moving on to a different species .
There were lots of others that were also used in smaller quantities but not easy to get hold of now.
In recent times we have been stripping the Congo of sapele to just paint, sad really.
Softwood has also been stripped you can tell by the quality of it now in comparison to what it used to be like.
Unfortunately, due to over crowding in parts of the world it tends to fall on the countries with space to keep up the good work.

 

Just had my home insurance renewal price. They want an extra £2.44. Scandalous.

 

Printers

Why don't they work when you want them to, put in new cartridge and they just won't print
after doing this and that half an hour later i've got it to print, twas getting to the stage i was going to get a hammer or though the thing out the window

 

I've got a printer that I've only used a couple of times, since then its not worked.
The ink always seems to dry up in them, and it costs an arm and a leg for new cartridges.
I've given up on mine.

 

Frequent use seems to be the key, it's not something I need that often but a pain to not have one when you do.
If you use them a lot I dont think the ink gets chance to dry up inside the machine.