GRIPES

[willedoo]

On the topic of storms, a pile of bad ones came through again this afternoon. I heard on the news that some areas had hail 140mm in diameter. That's five and a half inches across. It punched holes through tile roofs causing rain to collapse ceilings. The size of cricket balls is the biggest hail I've seen or heard of before.

Edited October 31, 2020 by willedoo

[Jerry_Atrick]

I saw on ABC News in a'burb, virtually every roof had tiles destroyed from hail... was pretty rough... I lived in Brissie in the mid 90s for abut a year.. the wx in the summer there was awesome to watch.. the turquois clouds before a big hail storm were amazing.. Althogh it was nowhere near as bad as yesterday...

[Bruce Tuncks]

I've got a new gripe...  using the word "privilege" associated with flying. As in...  "to exercise the privilege of being able to fly your plane".

Rotten nonsense, say I. What's it there for? To soften us up for a dictatorship where the deal is " to exercise the privilege of being allowed to continue living...  " etc.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Bruce - I understand where you're coming from.. And to some extent, I agree. We have to go way above what is really required to even get the privilege (licence/certificate) to fly.. Then we have to endure couontless illogical regulations to maintain our "privilege". At this stage, it is a right, not a privilege... right?

 

But, if in our exercising of those rights, we abuse them, or don't meet our obligations under those rights, then do we maintain those rights? If the answer is no, then they are a privilege, because those rights can be taken away.

 

To give you an example, in the UK, there is a system of airspace in the South East that could be best described as being overly generous if it was described as a dog's breakfast. The fragmented slciing of airspace has resulted from political and economic pressures over good governance, which is a feature of the modern UK system. Teh result is, more and more GA (and I include recreational/permit) aricraft infringe. And when they do, boy, do the regulators (who are the judge, jury and executioner) go after them.. Normally.

 

But, I would contend that while the infringement may be a technical one and not bring danger to a silver cylinder carrying 300 people, it is the lack of airmanshiip that gets them in the end. Some don't carry a radio (in the UK, even on the equivalent of a RAA RPC, you can use the radio), or, when they are flying throug the airspace - they either have the radi on on the wrong frequency (admitted to by a Flyer magazine writer who is a commerical pilot), or they have the radio off. Yep, the CAA went after them and while they weren't prosecuted or had their licence revoked, they had to attend some course. I will get to the reason why the CAA may be acting disingeniously if anyone wants to know.. but they basically diod not live up to their obligations..

 

I did in fact breach as well. As I was heading back to the home airfield, I breached Heathrow;s CTA by 400'. It was a really busy day and I could not get a call into Farnborough, who works that area. But, I was called by them (and I could hear the alarm bells in the background) to tell me, if I was on frequency, that I had breached and to descend immediately. I resonded and went into a steep descending turn.. Despite the breach and not calling the controllers after I landed as I was interrupted for about an hour (and it was late already), I never heard from the CAA, although I was ready for it. I debriefed myself and it was, to be honest, a complete absence of good airmanship that put me there. Although I self-diagnosed the issue and had therefore understood what I needed to do in the future, mine was a case where I really should have been put on one of those courses.

 

The point is, if I kept on doing it, of if, as some bozo did, not only breached Luton's airspace, but ground all commercial ops to a halt for about 15 minutes, then, yes, my right, which is really a privilege I have earned, should be removed, at least until I can demonstrate that I can meet my obligations in exercising my privilege.

 

But, going back the the judge,jury and executioner... The UK CAAare attracting a lot of criticism at the moment. If we look at airspace busts, the CAA will allege it based on detection systems with the same error potential as that in light GA aircraft. They will not provide you with any of the evidence they have for you to contest. If you decide you will contest anyway, they will suspend your licence while the appeal goes throgh (which can take months).. And since you are not provided the evidence (disclosures), you have ni idea what you are fighting.. So, Bruce, I do agree. this talk of privilege can be counterproductive to a free, fair and decent society!

[onetrack]

A privilege is something to be earned after lengthy study and the expenditure of money. The dictionary definition is - "a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group".

 

Studying and paying out serious money to learn to fly, which confers upon you a licence to fly, is definitely a privilege that sets you apart from millions of others, who either have only dreams of being able to fly, or who have no interest in learning to fly.

 

As a result, when that privilege is conferred on you, it allows you to utilise airspace in the aircraft you're licenced to fly in, at will - and according to the rules and regulations of using airspace.

 

Fail to obey those rules and regulations, with outrageous and dangerous behaviour, and your privilege can be removed from you. I don't see where the problem (or gripe) lies.

 

If you empower yourself with something that has the ability to cause loss, damage, injury, fatalities, pollution, or any other impact on any other persons quiet enjoyment of life, I regard controls over that activity as a basic necessity.

 

I guess what you're really griping about is control over your flying activity being overseen by "faceless bureaucrats". Flying is not alone in that respect  - virtually any activity I undertake that involves moving outside my property. involves obeying a multitude of rules and regulations, all of which I have to be conversant with. Failure to observe any of those regulations will involve financial penalties or rebukes from "officialdom".

 

It's the price we pay for living in a "civilised society". The alternative is a country where anything goes, and controls are non-existent, and disasters and injuries and deaths occur with no compensation, no penalties, and a far lower quality of life. I know what I prefer.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Thanks guys, but I disagree with onetrack's definition which uses the word "earned". This word was not in the dictionary definition.

The most privileged people I can think of are the royals, and there is nothing earned about their privileges.

AND we don't talk of our wages as being a privilege, we darn well worked hard for that money. 

Apart from that, there was some good sense in what was said. The potential to damage people on the ground does mean a special right has been granted to us. I never thought that this ( along with driving a vehicle and buying a box of matches) made it a privilege, but I see the point.

 

[willedoo]

As per usual at this time of year, I'm whingeing about the heat. Seven days into summer and I'm over it already. Last couple of days has seen 36-37 degrees inside with the fan blowing hot air and high humidity you could cut with a knife. Only way to get through it is to keep jumping in the shower fully clothed, then sit in front of the fan and let the evaporation of the wet clothes do the trick. That and a wet rag on the head and neck. The ears are burning and have to be regularly swabbed with a wet rag. Those temperatures here with the humidity are the equivalent of about 50C in the drier heat of the inland. There's a lot to be said for air-con.

 

Back in September, the weather mob were warning us to get a flood plan in place as they said a huge El-what's his name was forming in the Pacific. Much higher spring and summer rainfall was predicted, but spring has gone without rain and we're in drought. A week into summer and the only hope on the horizon for summer rain is the usual destructive storms. Maybe the floods will come later than expected.

Edited December 7, 2020 by willedoo

[red750]

My gripe today is the exorbitant fees charged by specialists.Just had to take my wife to a specialist for a consultation for a "ladies problem". Less than an hour. Fee - $225.00 Medicare refund $72.00. Balance out of pocket - not claimable on private health insurance. Requires a day procedure tomorrow  -  specialist fee $550 before she goes to hospital, out of pocket. Health insurance will cover the hospital bill. He's driving around in a nice Mercedes while I can't afford to put petrol in my 20 year old Falcon. I'm sure they have no conscience.

[old man emu]

Your missus is damned lucky she got to see one of these leeches. My missus is still waiting for a simple diagnostic examination in a day surgery. She tried to arrange for a telephone consultation with her doctor, just to get her insulin scripts, nothing else, but the doctor has no vacancies until 21st December. The wife's insulin will run out this week. 

 

Lawyers ought to go to medical school to learn how to rip off the working class. Just because somebody puts in a few years of formal study, why should they charge like wounded bulls for their time? I suppose they charge so much in order to pay their liability insurance so that if they made a dog's dinner of a treatment, the lawyers won't go without.

[Marty_d]

Well, I for one wouldn't want their job.

 

Not only do they have to do half a decade of extra study, after that they have to intern in a public hospital doing endless shifts of stupid hours.

After that if they want to make money they have to do even more study to specialize, at the end of which they have a HECS debt the size of a mortgage.  Then they have to build up a business.

Added to which they have sky high insurance premiums and do a job which in many cases means they literally have someone's life in their hands.

Yes, they make bloody good money, but then again most of them do a bloody good job and have a huge amount of responsibility.  I don't begrudge doctors their coin, I think they've earned it.

Hedge fund manages or day traders on the other hand - people that move money around and do nothing useful for anyone, then walk away the richest people on the planet - they're the truly undeserving.

[Yenn]

Marty. hay you say may be true but I have today contributed $825  to get my eyes measured for cataract surgery, that is after #310 for the first consultation. Next is the $4000 or so for the specialist, plus the anaesthetist and then the hospital. Then I see an ad on TV asking me to carry on what fred Hollowes started and give $25, which will sav someones sight.

I agree that the rich should help the poor, but I fail to see why eye surgeons should big note themselves for shafting Aussies so that they can become philantrophists.

[old man emu]

Thanks to that little COVID bug, 2020 has been the year of the online shopping search. No longer do we go "window shopping" by walking up and down the streets of the retail areas of our cities and towns. Now we hunch over a computer screen and go from website to website searching for what pleases us.

 

My gripe is unfinished retail websites. I was looking for a local retailer of rechargeable batteries for my grandson's RC car. I went to several sites of hobby shops that I know and was disappointed to follow internal links to pages and pages that were blank, apart from the site's common sidebars and headers. Here's an example

http://www.kellettshobbies.com.au/

 

I know what the exact cause of this is. The retailers have been conned into having some nerd create a website, but the nerd has failed to finish the job by completing the e-Commerce part - failing to link the products database, and failing to create the sales and delivery section. The result of this is that e-Commerce gets a bad name amongst small businesses because they get no return on the investment by way of increased sales. 

 

My son's business is creating e-Commerce websites, so I often send him links to websites that I find are in need of overhaul. His usual response is that he doesn't want to try to sell his skills to Mum and Pop operations because they are "once bitten, twice shy" and he can't afford the time trying to point out the benefits of a properly functioning e-Commerce site. He is quite happy to do a good job and have the clients spread the word to their networks. He says that his completed e-Commerce sites are his "Professional Portfolio", so every site must be his best work. Here's one of his sites

https://www.chiltonsantiques.com.au/

 

I'll continue to gripe about poor e-Commerce sites until the cows come home, but as long as people falsely put themselves out as expert e-Commerce website developers without complete knowledge a gallon of gripe water won't cure the problem.

[onetrack]

It never ceases to amaze me how so many business owners only pay lip service to their online portals - like it's a back room to their business. They are unaware, that today, it's the front room!

 

There are so many websites, that even when coupled to the products database, and that have a sales and delivery section, still don't work properly, or are totally user-unfriendly.

 

One thing that infuriates me is the total stupidity of many product search menus. You want a specific size or specification, and the size or specification is not listed - but you get a price range instead!!

 

A price range is totally useless when you're looking for a specific value, such as battery amperage, length, ID or OD, or material it's made from.

 

I give up trying to find what I want on these idiotic site layouts, where pricing and colour are listed in the search menu. This is a search designed for womens clothing tastes, not engineered items.

 

Then there's the website layouts where the colours are Godawful, or there's a convoluted search to try and find the estimated shipping cost - usually meaning you have to go through five pages of supplying purchase information, just to get to the pre-payment page, to find the actual shipping cost. As if people don't care about shipping costs. Some may not, but I'm not going to purchase an item. only to find the shipping cost is more than the item cost.

 

And of course, there's always those websites that tell you nothing, and you're expected to call them, to find out about their secretive product range and prices. That's at their convenience, of course.

[willedoo]

2 hours ago, old man emu said:

Here's one of his sites

https://www.chiltonsantiques.com.au/

Checked it out, ome. It's good, easy to search menus. Very intuitive and informative compared to a lot who treat their products as some sort of state secret not to be divulged.

[willedoo]

2 hours ago, old man emu said:

Here's one of his sites

https://www.chiltonsantiques.com.au/

One thing I noticed about the site - after scrolling to the bottom of a category page, there's the page index to go to the next page. I've seen sites where that is always at the top of page, with no return to top link. So you read the page top to bottom then have to scroll all the way back to the top to click on the page index for the next page. Makes you wonder what some designers are thinking (or not thinking).

Edited December 29, 2020 by willedoo

[Bruce Tuncks]

Medical specialists have the most amazing industrial conditions of all. They have a government -backed closed shop, plus a government ban on anybody else prescribing certain medications, plus  the ability to stop others entering their speciality.

The result is incomes of 3 million plus a year. Plumbers could achieve this too given the same circumstances.

In Alice Springs, there were a few GP's who studied most evenings and sat for the specialist union...er...  college exams which they routinely " failed " . Everybody usually failed except sometimes a relative of those in control of the college.

Why does the government support this situation? Because with the number of specialists so small, the medibank payouts are less than if there were lots of specialists.

I reckon they have gone too far though. Apparently it takes years to see a neurologist in Adelaide. I heard 10 years but this seems too crazy for me to accept. But I did know this guy who was told that he had perhaps 6 months to live and that there was no way of making a neurologist  appointment within that time. The GP went on to tell him to be taken to casualty in an ambulance, whereupon he would be seen much sooner. So he fell over crossing a road and was taken to the local hospital where there was actually a meeting of neurologists so he saw a few at once.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Bruce Tuncks

[old man emu]

59 minutes ago, willedoo said:

Makes you wonder what some designers are thinking (or not thinking)

Thanks for your response, Willedoo. I will show it to him tonight. He operates on the basis that if a moron like me can use the website as designed, then it will work for the target audience. 

 

He took one retailer to over a million dollars in sales in about 6 months when he launched the e-Commerce site. The only problem is that he has a share in the online sales (he's no fool) which means he was going back and forth to his computer all this past weekend dealing with stupid questions.

 

 

[Yenn]

Have you looked at government sites. They seem to be designed to not work.

[willedoo]

Here's my last gripe for the year. Those business/contractor websites that will tell you absolutely nothing. Just one page with a link to request a quote. I see it as a form of arrogance and surely it would drive away the majority of potential customers. My usual response to a site like that is to back straight out of it while muttering "dickheads!".

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, willedoo said:

surely it would drive away the majority of potential customers

It does. And it's a proof that the contractor has been conned. Most of these one page websites are created simply to get an email address. For many small (less than 5 workers) businesses in the service industries, a free email address from Google etc does the job. It only needs a Yellow Pages entry to put you business on their website in the category you are involved in.

[red750]

My gripe is with hospitals. Every time you have to go to hospital, you have to fill out a wad of forms listing all you previous medical history, medications, allergies, etc., even if you were there only a couple of weeks before. Don't they keep a database record? Our GP supplies a printed detailed medical history but you still have to complete the archaic forms. What is the point of myHealth if they don't refer to it? And what if you have half a page of typed history and they only give you two lines to enter it.?

[spacesailor]

Just " name address  " and pin your GP forms to their form.

spacesailor

[red750]

Seems like I have quite a few gripes lately.  I thought I posted this one earlier but it has disappeared.

 

It relates to TV commercials such as Danoz direct, which advertise a product with a small charge for, say, 30 days trial (plus postage and handling), and offer additional "free" items if you order, or buy one, get one free, but never tell you what the final total price will be. You can bet your bottom dollar the price of the "free" goods is built into the total. Absolute false advertising.

 

So you order a widget, plus free wotnots, get a second widget plus free wotnots, and end up paying ten times what the widget is worth.

 

[Marty_d]

The answer to that one is not watch commercial TV...

[spacesailor]

HE DIDN,T !.

SHE, did,

spacesailor