Stormy Weather

[mangerton]

... hmmm. "Cameron". - Now, where does that name come from?

Oh, quite. It's a Scottish name, but I don't imagine for a minute that Cameron regards himself as a Scot any more than I or the majority of Scots would.

[Flay]

Oh, thanks Flay. I have no idea if I've been vaccinated, should we ask our GPs whether we should have the jab?

Are you pregnant, Anna? No, it is for mums in later pregnancy.

[Flay]

got a flu jab appointment for 27 Oct. Should I bother?

Of course. Why risk flu when you can avoid it?

[Pianorak]

Of course. Why risk flu when you can avoid it?

Well yes - it was a rhetorical question. But couldn't help thinking horse, bolted etc.

[marthe]

Pertussis isn't wiped out. No vaccine works in everyone, but if enough are covered then the illness is kept at bay. Smallpox has been eradicated, it is being tried with polio, but whooping cough will be here for a long time. Because there was a poor uptake some years ago, more adults have not been protected, so it is spreading (even some who have been jabbed will inevitably be unprotected if they failed to respond to it). You cannot immunise newborns because their immune systems aren't mature eough. The idea is to boost the pregnant mother's imunity so newborns have "passive" immunity from antibodies which go through the placenta.

This is important. Pertussis is a very nasty debilitating and potentially fatal disease. Please encourage everyone to have the jab.

I agree with Flay. Pertussis does permanent damage to the lungs. My children had their DPT (Diptheria/Pertussis/Tetanus) immunizations when they were infants followed up by booster shots when they were pre-school age. Their English cousins, who did not get immunised against Pertussis, came down with whooping cough. This was back in the 70s when there was widespread concern in the UK that the vaccine did more harm than good. The bout of whooping cough was serious and left permanent damage to my niece's and nephews' lungs. Most school districts in the US require proof of immunization before you are allowed to enroll your children in school.

[Flay]

Most school districts in the US require proof of immunization before you are allowed to enroll your children in school.

That includes the MMR, doesn't it, Marthe? If only we could do that here (permitting only the very few genuine exceptions).

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm hoping that having had whooping cough as a 6-year old (at the same time as having measles!) I am immunised against having it again forever more.

Dull, muggy, continuous rain or drizzle, caused by the dawdling cold front that dropped its precipitation over the midlands and north yesterday, expected to last until evening here. Interesting-looking forecast for the end of the week, with a rapidly deepening secondary low whizzing up the Channel giving heavy rain over S England and I would imagine, strong gales to N France and our S coast, then Denmark. Our friend at Weathernet seems to think it'll turn colder at the weekend, but much warmer sometime during next week with the winds turning around to the south. Hmmm - remains to be seen.

[salymap]

It's been a depressing day in Kent/Greater London borders. I've lacked the will-power to totter across the road for my breakfast bananas and the shredding etc has been put off again. I must get out more Brrr

[Serial_Apologist]

It's been a depressing day in Kent/Greater London borders. I've lacked the will-power to totter across the road for my breakfast bananas and the shredding etc has been put off again. I must get out more Brrr

Is that shredding as in, loud heavy metal rock guitar playing, saly?

[salymap]

Is that shredding as in, loud heavy metal rock guitar playing, saly?

Of course

[mercia]

as I look out at a cloudy night sky only two stars are visible. one in a vaguely south-east direction twinkling (what causes that effect ?), the other vaguely north-east, very bright, in fact usually visible right up to day-break - what would that star be ............. a planet ?

supplementary astronomical question

as the year progresses the sun rises in different places [in relation to my fixed point of observation] - my question - at what time of year does it rise due-east .............. midsummer ?

[Flay]

That would have been Perelandra, the "morning star."

The atmosphere makes stars twinkle.

If the sun ever rises at the true east the I expect it would be at the equator, and at mid-summer. Any other suggestions?

[mercia]

That would have been Perelandra, the "morning star."

thanks - wikipedia tells me Perelandra is Venus
[and that morning star can mean either Venus, Mercury or Sirius]


lovely orange sky at the moment

[Flay]

[and that morning star can mean either Venus, Mercury or Sirius]

It is also a newspaper. But Venus is a planet just about the size of the earth, with an atmosphere, and closer to the sun. So that is the bright star you see near the sunrise or sunset.

[mangerton]

If the sun ever rises at the true east the I expect it would be at the equator, and at mid-summer. Any other suggestions?

The sun rises due east - and sets due west - at the equinoxes, 20 March and 22 September. It does this at all latitudes, not just at the equator.

In the northern hemisphere sunrises and sunsets will move progressively further south until the winter solstice in December. They will then move northwards until the summer solstice in June.