The following are the questions I asked the doctors treating my 78 year old father who suffers from bronchiectasis.  I am sharing the questions in the hope that they will be useful to others confronting any medical condition.  The answers are obviously specific to my father’s state of health and the ailment: bronchiectasis.  The following relates UK treatment and medications; practices may differ in other countries.   I have simplified and embellished the answers with my own deductions (most notably in answer 4).   Q: what exactly is the problem?  E.g. bacterial infection, both lungs, bottom/middle/top, etc. A: unrecoverable lung damage (bronchiectasis) in lower part of both lungs.  Bronchi have been damaged by previous infections (not smoking).  Affected bronchi have lost flexibility, meaning poor lung action/reduced volume and poor circulation of mucous, leading to stagnation of mucous in lower lungs and thus increased risk of recurrent infections.   Q: what exactly has been done?  E.g. IV spectrum anti-bac (name/dose), x-ray, bloods, etc. A: x-ray; blood tests; mucous tests; intra-venous (IV) broad spectrum anti-bacterial course finishes today, to be followed by anti-bac pills.   Q: what exactly will be done over next 4/8/12 weeks? A: change ACE inhibitor blood-pressure pill (known to cause dry-cough in some people) to medication with no similar ...

Nobody likes making mistakes.  It became clear quite quickly that I had made one with my timing and choice of investment but it’s taken me five and half years to act on this realisation... My feeling is that while I cannot recover the money lost, I can consider this as a ‘purchase’ of experience and insight but only if I reflect and analyse and thus learn/benefit from my ‘investment’.  Writing this post is my attempt at claw-back and catharsis. Please read the following purely as a cautionary tale NOT advice on investment – I’m certainly not one to follow in that regard. My reason for writing now, is because I have just sold my meagre holding and belatedly fully awoken to the impact of fees. My first, and only, foray into the market was inspired by the prospect of getting premium quality shares at 'once in a lifetime' bargain prices.  This was made possible by the turmoil in the financial markets that appeared, in 2007 after 15 years of solid growth, to be a blip and, therefore, an opportunity.  This it most certainly was, but not for me. Luckily, I did not have much money to invest, so my total losses were small in absolute terms ...

Old news but worth sharing. Marquese Scott ('Nonstop') with Atlanta’s 'Dragon House' dancing 'Illusion of Choice'. And another beautiful sequence with Nonstop and Jon Boogz, this one called 'Dance Life'.

The export controls declaration form completed by the Chinese vendor 'Lonken'.  This lists the value of the shoes at $15 when I actually paid $173.   CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO EXPAND VIEW   [caption id="attachment_839" align="aligncenter" width="1847" caption="Fake designer shoes and tax avoidance"][/caption]

DETAILS On 15th May 2012 I purchased a pair of shoes for my wife, over the internet.  I paid £109.27 using my credit card to WWW.PREAPS.COM SHANGHAISHI as full payment for “1 x Christian Louboutin Canonita 100 Crepe-Satin Sandals (2012531)”.  This was the first time I have risked purchasing direct from a Chinese party. CHRONOLOGY 15 May order placed and confirmed on card. 15 May WWW.PREAPS.COM SHANGHAISHI £109.27 ## 00000001072.70 CNY @ 9.816967. 28 May chase by me re order status update. 29 May contact named Lonken (shopatoutlet@gmail.com) response: delivery in three days time. 09 June chase by me re order status update. 09 June Lonken response: courier lost package/will re-send. 26 June shoes received via DHL sender account: 631053552; from: address:   KING MA NSW C/O GLOBAL LINK BAIYUN DIST   26 June email sent to Lonken asking for return and refund procedure due to supply of goods other than as advertised. 26 June Website ‘ChristianLouboutinsDaffodile.COM’ no longer exists.  BUT ‘WWW.PREAPS.COM’ does. 27 June Lonken response: please send photos of shoes received. 29 June I email photos of shoes. 30 June Lonken response: photos checked – nothing wrong with shoes – refund refused. 01 July I repeat request for refund. 02 July Lonken repeats refusal of refund. 03 July Lonken offers to send a new pair of shoes (+$60 delivery ...

His Excellency, Hu Jintao, Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China   Dear Mr. Paramount Leader,   Re: Chinese reputation damaged   China’s future prosperity and success is built on trade and investment with the rest of the world.  This trade and investment is dependent on China’s reputation as a partner that can be trusted.  Trust is critical for trade and investment.   I recently purchased, in good faith, what I believed were genuine goods from a Chinese vendor.  This vendor not only supplied counterfeit goods, but has since refused to provide a refund.  In addition, the vendor defrauded the Chinese export and UK import taxation and controls systems by falsifying the value of the goods ($15 instead of the true value of $173).   As a result of this experience I, as a potential customer and investor in China, am greatly disinclined to make any further trades or investments in China, or with Chinese vendors.  In addition, instead of a positive story to relay to people, my voice must now reflect a negative experience which can only harm Chinese reputation which, in an age of mass internet communications, has more impact than ever before.   China has incredible potential but this potential can be delayed, wasted and misdirected.  China ...

My overriding thought as the last credit faded was: how truly wonderful, how majestic, to have so many talented people work heart and soul for you – to help you bring your visions to life.  And, how frustrating to come so close to success and then fail.  For ‘Prometheus’ is a failure.   This is a ‘good’ film but, not unfairly, I expected so much more from Ridley.   There is beauty on many levels: macro panorama, micro detail, textures, design of the physical and technical.  There are wonderful scenes: the insight into David’s (and Ridley’s) sensibility created by the clip from David Lean’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ but, but, none of this style matters when the credibility of the story is broken.   Even the exalted Ridley Scott fares no better than the legion of lesser directors who, like he, resort to populating their stories with morons guaranteed to make choices most of us would easily recognise as poor.   Why are the pioneers of the future always so stupid?   Ripley wasn’t.  The choices of the crew of Nostromo were appropriate for those characters in that situation.  As a result, ‘Alien’ was a credible story and, therefore, genuinely powerful.   In contrast, consider the following:   If you were a young scientist who ...

A personal account and lessons learned from the two-day (Sat 12th and Sun 13th May) 'Alpine Prep' course at Plas y Brenin national mountaineering centre in Snowdonia, Wales.   End of day one.  It’s 21:15 and I’m writing-up my notes before the details seep away.  Bryn Trych Inn is a short walk from PyB: too little of the Inn left for my liking, more hotel and restaurant, not a place to slump, or be too slovenly, but the menu looks good.  However, I shan’t be trying any of it (ate at PyB) and, at £3.90, I’ll make sure my pint of Guinness lasts the evening.   For the last hour, I’ve been sat on a peak, with a view down the valley terminating in cloud-swathed mountains.  I watched them turn pink in the setting sun.  The weather today has been unusually good for Wales and, indeed, for the country – it’s been a very wet year.   The day started with the eight of us split between instructors Tim and Simon.   I’d summarise the day as being oriented toward awareness of the risks of Alpinism, and an introduction to mitigating techniques (these dominated by rope skills) with Mont Blanc as a convenient focus.  The rope work focused ...

The following is an account of the holiday that my wife, four-year old, and I took to Norway to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis).  Catching these requires careful consideration of timing and location. Solar storms follow an eleven-year cycle.  2012 is a peak year for solar activity, and thus Northern Lights, hence our choosing this year to go.  I previously went, with my sister, to see the Aurora in Iceland, Reykjavik, for two-weeks in January 2001.  Saw minimal Aurora that time... The time of year is also important.  We chose the equinox (March 21st) as this was recommended by an Icelandic photographer (Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson; www.arcticphoto.is (amazing pics)), specialising in Aurora, whose advice I’d sought.  Also, at this time of year, it gets dark fairly early up north which is best as the more hours of dark the more chance of seeing the lights.  However, winter also means bad weather, so a longer stay (10-14 days) is wise (we could only manage 7days). As far as location is concerned, it has to be within the Arctic Circle.  It also has to have minimal light pollution, both artificial and natural.  To mitigate the former, we rented a cottage far from any town (but, ...

I climbed my first ‘Munro’ on Sunday 19th February.  Ben More [Crianlarich; Grid Ref. NN43262445].  I went up with my two friends: Simon and Andy.   Ben More is the 16th highest Munro (of 283) in Scotland at 1,174m (3,851ft).  A 'Munro' is a peak over 3,000ft.   With limited daylight and being aware of the speed with which the weather changes in Scotland in winter, we took the more direct/steep route and tried to maintain a good pace.  But, we are not experienced climbers/walkers and not disciplined enough to take pees at the same time or put on/take off crampons etc at the same time.  So, we had lots of separate stops which inevitably slowed us (though none of us complained of the breaks).   We started at 10:30 and were having 'lunch' on the top by 14:10 (3hrs 40mins).  We came down again in only 1hr 40mins.   The main purpose of the trip and climb was to try using crampons and ice-axe for the first time.  To do this we needed a reasonable amount of snow and ice.  Ben More provided this practice over the last hour of ascent.   The ice was more dangerous on the descent and I for one was pleased to have two ...