Grumbling Tummy

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I’ve been informed that the original news agency report, that was picked up by the main stream press, got some of the facts surround this story a little muddled. This blog post has been modified to reflect the corrections starting to appear from the main stream press. As part of the update, we’d like to point out the originally quoted BBC news article still needs to be modified (as of the 24th May) and instead point you over to the Daily Mail updated story and Guardian article that starts with a correction.

What the f&*k! It would appear we have individuals that brings street dogs from Sri Lanka to the UK. It is bizarre that UK import regulation allows this in the first place when Sri Lanka is a known hotspot for Rabies. Turns out that one of the latest batch of puppies from that very country had Rabies and may have infected three people involved in its care.

One of the individuals involved in this incident also runs a UK charity setup to help animals out in Sri Lanka. It should be made clear that the charity, Animal SOS Sri Lanka, wasn’t involved in this particular case as was reported by the main stream press and picked up by myself and the blogsphere at the time.

Now back to the main points of the blog post that were kicked off by reading the original news reports and remain substantively in their original form regardless of who may or may not have brought the infected animal into the UK….

Woof!

Some important questions I’d like to see answered of those individual who feel the need to import stray dogs:

1. Don’t we have enough dogs looking for homes already in the UK?

2. Why import more from a country that is known to be a Rabies hotspot?

3. Don’t we put down enough dogs in the UK every day because we can’t rehome them?

4. Are the dogs flown into the UK thereby contributing to global warming?

The saving grace behind this story is the UK’s system to keep Rabies out of Britain appears to work a treat. Kudos to the people who thought up our quarantine controls.

Now it is fingers crossed time for the three workers that they don’t go all foamy mouthed and start snarling at passing cars!

Technorati Tags: Animal SOS Sri Lanka, BBC, charity, dog, puppy, rabid, Rabies, Sri Lanka

The world famous Freuchie Cricket Club are now online.

The fame comes from being the only Scottish team to win the Village Cricket Competition, which was achieved at Lords in 1985.

Check out the blog called, “Round the Wicket“.

Technorati Tags: blog, cricket, Fife, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Lords

Did you vote at the last elections? Most probably you didn’t! Much has been made with the state of engagement of British politics and the public it is supposed to serve. So what could be so wrong?

The Power Inquiry took eighteen months to research and consult on this very topic, thereafter leading onto the production of a thirty point report.

There are some exceptionally good ideas and recommendations for reform in there that should get due consideration by the representatives of the people, put their by you and me. Please pass this information onto others so we can start a campaign to change the political system that should be serving us.

It has been a long time since I last attended an eXtreme Wednesday session: most probably over a year. In that time it seems I’ve forgotten everything I once learned on using Eclipse and Junit - well maybe not everything but it is close. What a crying shame as the guys over there really did teach me a thing or two!

At least I’ve managed to download the latest release candidate and get it installed with Java 1.5.0 running away. Now I can see a lot of Googling and eXtreme Wednesday mailing list messages being posted over the coming weeks.

I will be blogging on my experiences of relearning Eclipse and Java over the coming weeks both here and the more professional viewpoint over on the Roundtrip Solutions Blog.

The Institute of Incorporated Engineers ran an excellent visit to the ExxonMobile Fife Ethylene Plant at Mossmorran earlier tonight. The event consisted of a short presentation, a glossy corporate video and a superb tour of the facility.

Ethylene is used extensively in modern life. One usage it to produce polyethene, which is used to make products such as plastic bags, containers, nappies, etc. For the environmentally friendly amongst us, they are now producing bio-degradeable polythene. It does take approx ten years to bio-degrade but this is much better than the nearly indestructible polyethenes of yesteryear.

Some mind-bending numbers about the plant:

I’ve “borrowed” the Process flow diagram shown below from the ExxonMobil literature. I hope they don’t mind!

On many occasions I’ve driven past the site from the main road and nearly always glance over to see if the plant is “flaring”. This is the term used when they burn off the gases from the process through a 300 feet chimney stack. It can be almost hypnotic when the plant is at maximum flare: nearly a 100 feet high flame, burning off up to 100 tonnes per hour. Superb site to behold and you can feel the heat miles away! I’ll post a photograph the next time I’m passing and it is flaring.

However, I’ve heard comment from others that after a major flaring the local weather turns to rain. This makes sense: large amounts of steam are pushed into the atmosphere, which will condense back into water and the poor sky can’t hold onto it forever!

Another amazing aspect of the visit was the proliferation of wildlife darting about the facility. We came out of the training centre at the beginning of the evening to be greeted by an Oyster Catcher skuttling away. Iain, our guide, actually took us over to the stony walk way to reveal the bird had actually been sitting on a couple of eggs.

Midway through the tour, a fox was slithering amongst the trees and shrubbery just below the security fence. We were told that they had decimated the gull population that used to be a complete nuisance to the employees - things like dive bombing and waste products were mentioned as tactics employed by these menaces of the skies!

I was also impressed by the work they do and resources they provide for the local community. Fife needs more companies like this who genuinely care about the environment, people and the community.

The staff attrition and retention rates were also unusually in these days of employees and companies who don’t truly care about each other! We met a nightshift employee who had been at the plant since it was commissioned. Seems like an excellent place to work.

Unfortunately cameras aren’t allowed onsite so the pictures are from a distance. Next time we visit I will see if there are ways of getting to take some good snaps of the facility up close and personal.

Thanks ExxonMobil for a fantastic visit. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Big thanks to Iain, our guide, the nightshift crew and the security guys on the gate.