Keith Miles 2

Many years ago, on passing a large Ford dealership, I saw, in large painted letters on the showroom windows “Fiesta’s, Sierra’s...” etc. It put me off buying a Ford! (I got over it). Has anybody spotted the numerous and regular spelling and grammatical errors in the rolling headlines on the BBC News channel? Yes, even the BBC! We’re doomed! R.O.F.L.

Posted by Graham Bowers on 12/10/2020 09:42:35: I'd encourage any men in the susceptible age range to get tested. Whilst I totally understand and empathise with such a view from those who feel that it had a positive outcome in their particular case, I’m not sure that “encourage” is universally applicable nor is it the position of the NHS. There are many factors to consider and with the current state of knowledge and limits and risks of intervention, it has to be an individual decision. What might be the right decision for some might not be the right decision for others. Currently there is no clear position that the benefits of medical investigations outweighs the risks in a sufficient number of cases for prostate cancer screening to be “encouraged” irrespective of its commonality. If it were otherwise, then the case for a national screening programme would be much stronger, even unarguable. In the meantime, we can only hope, as in many other areas of medical science, that knowledge, prevention and treatments evolve over time and we must also accept that sadly , in many cases, this might never be achieved.

I hate the word “plane” unless it refers to a carpentry tool. Even worse when it is spelt “plain”. And don’t get me started on misuse of apostrophes for plurals! Aaaaaargh! Yes, I’ll keep taking the tablets! 😊

I do have to again pose the question that if it was felt, and promoted, that all males, particularly those in the higher age group, should be routinely tested for prostate cancer, and we all followed that advice, would the NHS be able to cope, physically or financially, given the numerous other demands on its services? If there was a single simple, reliable and cost effective means of early possible diagnosis, as seems to be the case with, for example, bowel cancer, then that would certainly help to answer that question and would also certainly aid the decision making process for all of us. Prevention is better than intervention, of course, but there is much about the various forms of cancer and the causes that, unfortunately, remains unknown. I do agree that for those who are worried, or who may have cause to be worried, a test might be worthwhile. At this point in time, I’m more worried about Covid19 and doing as advised to avoid it! Whilst cancers may be generic, at least they are not contagious! And there is NO current cure for the former which is also potentially fatal.

Posted by John Lee on 09/10/2020 17:01:03: The BMFA's own AGM is via Zoom on 14 Nov, your Club Secretary should have been sent the details. Spoke to him recently about this. He hadn’t heard anything. That might have changed since. I was just curious, that’s all. That said, he sent out an e-mail to members recently inviting suggestions regarding our own AGM and last I heard, he had only had one response. Mine.

Anyone know what the BMFA are doing?

The harder that you work a battery, whether discharging or charging, the shorter it’s life will be. The same, I imagine, applies to regular unbalanced charging, especially at higher charge rates. The manufacturers, of course, will be more than happy to supply you with early replacements! Speed and convenience or value for money? Yer’ pays yer’ money, yer’ makes yer’ choice, I suppose!

In view of the eventual excellent response from the retailer, maybe some praise is now in order? No reason now, perhaps, not to name the retailer in question. There are many things that can go wrong even in the best of organisations and, when frustrated, it’s all too easy to jump to conclusions or to get angry prematurely. An initial phone call doesn’t hurt, followed up, if necessary, by e-mail. The important thing is to follow a structured process. Always be polite but firm. I tend to use PayPal/Credit Card as much as possible as this provides two levels of protection in addition to standard legal rights. I can personally attest to the fact that the PayPal complaints procedure, whilst it might take a week or two to obtain a resolution, seems to produce results when all else fails. In my case, the company concerned (a laptop battery supplier) subsequently disappeared from the web shortly thereafter! I got the impression that whilst they appeared to be a large warehouse, it was likely that they were, in fact, merely a couple of individuals operating from home as even their return address, on making initial enquiries to Royal Mail, turned out to be bogus! As for Kings Lynn Models, I have just received, this morning, yet another prompt delivery from them this morning, preceded by progress e-mails including advance final notification of a one hour delivery slot which, again, was spot on. I also note that they have a 72 hour delivery policy together with a request that they be contacted if this is not met. As they say, one should perhaps judge a business on the manner in which it deals with complaints, assuming of course that the complaint reaches the appropriate person. Putting “F.A.O. The Manager” in an e-mail heading might be appropriate in many cases, as in this one, perhaps? it might be fair to say that we should consider, equally, the manner in which we complain in order to avoid any unnecessary delay in obtaining a resolution! And that is a general comment and not aimed at anyone in particular, especially the OP! Edited By Keith Miles 2 on 09/10/2020 14:26:56

David, I don’t doubt, for one moment, the statistics that you quote. As for the comment regarding reducing the costs to the NHS, however, it seems to me that if there was a strong argument to support that, then there would be little or no reason not to have a national screening programme and, indeed, every reason to perhaps introduce one. That said, NHS resources will always have limits which, of course, is the key factor behind attempts to minimise the transmission of Covid19 where, again, those likely to be most vulnerable are in the higher age group. And, as we are seeing, that issue is already having a negative impact on those needing other treatment. I am in no way being critical and for background, my Mother suffered most of her life from health issues including bronchitis, pneumonia, neuralgia, arthritis and Parkinson’s disease. She died of cancer. My younger sister was born with a heart defect and died of a brain aneurism, at age 44, just one week after collapsing at her daughter’s wedding. My other sister currently suffers from rheumatoid arthritis which she developed in her late twenties. In my youth, I had four hospital stays as result of an eventually diagnosed kidney issue which, I learnt later in life, could have killed me! Hopefully, I will take after my Dad who lived until he was 84 (despite having been a smoker for about 30 years) with no serious prior health issues until a heart defect in his final year prompted open heart surgery from which he did not recover, passing away in the ITU. Taking the emotion out of it both I and my sister whilst grateful to the NHS did both later question whether such a traumatic invasive and expensive procedure was cost effective in such a case. It is, of course, the classic moral dilemma and one that no doubt occurs regularly. So, as for any test for prostate cancer, specifically, given the uncertainties and other factors, it has to be a personal decision and, it would seem, not one to be taken lightly without a good deal of thought about our personal expectations until such time as a more reliable test comes along.

Posted by Tosh McCaber on 08/10/2020 15:06:21: Thx Keith, You're right, it does take a long while to charge upthe factory 2000mah battery with the Spektrum charger. So far though, I haven't been too bothered with the charging aspect of the battery- just switch it on after a flying session, and leavce it to simmer. But if I do need a spare, 4-Max is the way to go! Still leaves me withthe question as to how long it would take, beforeI would lose control of my glider ?? There's a story behind my pen-name, I'll let you have the details when I get a bit of time (I'm a slow typist!) Suffice to say I'm Scottish!! Thx for the reply! First thing to note, is that the DX9 charger is inside the Tx (hence the low current/slow charge). The plug in thingy is merely a transformer/DC power supply. That one confused me at first as my brain was stuck in the old days! That said, the old plug-in NiCd charger I had was also slow by modern standards! As for wanting to know when your glider will crash, I would suggest that the question is academic and not something that you would want to ascertain! And pushing things to the limits is always risky, too! Safest procedure is to stay at or above nominal working voltage for any RC battery and charge as soon as you drop below it! Scottish? Well, slap my kilt!

Craig, First and foremost, may I wish you continued health for the future. Further to my earlier point, it is interesting to note your GP’s comments about “assurance and peace of mind” whilst also pointing out that the PSA test can be unreliable. Those comments would seem to echo the NHS guidance. I would not, therefore, regard the lack of a national screening programme as “shocking” but perfectly understandable, given the apparent uncertainties and, as I said, the apparent lack of consensus regarding risk versus benefit. As the guidance clearly infers, a false positive is not necessarily going to provide either assurance or peace of mind and it further infers that, in such cases, there is, in fact, a risk of subsequent unnecessary intervention that might itself create unnecessary trauma or negative effects. I can well understand the view of those who were eventually positively diagnosed and for whom the decision turned out to be the correct one, however, I am wondering just how many have made the personal decision, or been professionally advised, to take a test and for whom the outcome was quite the reverse? If I felt that the decision to take a test was a simple one, I would not hesitate nor, I suspect, would the medical profession seem hesitant to advise patients accordingly or similarly hesitant to introduce a national screening programme. If things were clearer, I wouldn’t need a coin! Edited By Keith Miles 2 on 08/10/2020 17:21:36

An interesting thread and hats off to all contributors. Prompted by this thread, I took a look at the NHS guidance on this issue and it seems to be a difficult area in terms of the risks and benefits of tests/examinations. It seems that the lack of clear consensus in this regard is the reason why there is no national screening programme. So, for someone like me who is fairly healthy with no symptoms of Prostate Cancer, it would seem to come down to the flip of a coin in deciding whether or not to be tested and/or undergo an examination. The coin, for the time being, is still in my pocket.

Posted by Tosh McCaber on 07/10/2020 19:38:44: Just wondered how long it takes for the DX9 battery to go down to what seems to be the critical 7.2- 7.3v. I haven't used my one on the slope yet, but flights there can be quite long, over a day out. Edited By Tosh McCaber on 07/10/2020 20:10:14 Depends what the capacity of your Tx battery is! Also, leaving it switched on in “idle” mode to test it would not be a very trustworthy experiment! I did find that that my DX6i, with 4 x 2300 NiMh cells, required much less frequent charging than my DX9 on the latter’s original 2000mah Li-Ion. The main issue, for me, with the original “intelligent” Spektrum 2000 battery, given the relatively high power drain, is that it can only be charged in the Tx, with the supplied power adapter, at a fixed SLOW rate of charge whereas the 4-Max 4000 LiPo option can be fully charged in an hour or less on an external charger. The only negative is the need to unplug and plug (slightly fiddly, and a little care needed) the LiPo each time as the battery leads are necessarily too short and it’s probably better to remove it for charging anyway. The other issue with the original battery is the price of a spare.....OUCH! So, can’t answer your question but can only suggest that if you’re worried, and assuming that you have a suitable charger, buy a couple of the 4-Max LiPo packs! Love the name by the way! (You couldn’t make it up...or maybe...?) Edited By Keith Miles 2 on 08/10/2020 13:55:50

Posted by fly boy3 on 28/09/2020 22:17:33: Thanks Keith, decorating !!! At my age my daughters have banned me from all step ladders, triple extension ladders, even stools lol As they are so busy I have to pay people to do jobs I have done for over sixty years maintaining my home. The only decorating I do now is covering my models which I love. Keep safe My house needs a lot of work. I keep putting it off, to my great shame! I, too, might be palming much it off! Good luck with the I-pad. It costs nothing to try a few things before replacing it and you could learn something in the process! On which subject, my OS52 FS has suddenly lost all compression, valves look fine and no obvious leaks, so I've just been watching a YouTube video in case I have to take it apart! Not done a four stroke before.That said it looks easy enough and my brother-in-law is also a retired engineer with 50 years of model flying experience. Very handy! Hopefully it's nothing serious, or expensive, and I can get any needed parts! I'll stop there in order to avoid any "off topic" complaints! May your lock down be over soon and may your shops not run out of toilet roll!

Fly Boy 3. OOOPS! I should have gone to Specsavers. Oh, and it seems that I was also wrong about 2Mb. Seems it is still fairly common and supposedly adequate for most purposes, most of the time, depending on how many are connected to a given hub, and how many are using it at a given time! As I said, though, when mine went down to that level, Safari was taking so long to load a page, I could have gone and made a cup of tea and a sandwich! Apparently the service providers sometimes switch things to meet demand, presumably hoping that the “losers” don’t notice! Sorry that you’re in lockdown but, as you say, it might be an opportunity to sort a few things out, or maybe do some decorating? Aaaargh!