The Poor Student 8th Jan

[Mike K Smith]

Dave Larrington wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> MartinM ([email protected]) wrote:

>>and being a horse-piddle they pay considerably less than folk who sit
>>in front of Babbage Engines all day, hence the need to spend one's
>>weekends watching falling and rising Hb's (and other things)
>
>
> (Light dawns)
> (Light goes out again)
>
> Hb's to me are either pencils or Vauxhall Vivas...

Hb is also an abbreviation for haemoglobin to those in the biomedical
professions[1].

Martin, do you measure haematocrits, too?

Mike

[1] I speak as one who worked in a hospital laboratory for 8 years
before he managed to get someone to pay him to play with Babbage Engines.

 

[MartinM]

Mike K Smith wrote:


> Hb is also an abbreviation for haemoglobin to those in the biomedical
> professions[1].
>
> Martin, do you measure haematocrits, too?

Naah; I believe Hct is now measured indirectly by a formula involving
RBC(1) Hb and MCV(2), whereas previously it involved a Wintrobe tube or
a glass capillary which one placed in a ultra fast centrifuge in order
for it to disintegrate and have to be re-done. Most (sensible) labs
still use Coulters, although Babbage Engines also feature heavily these
days.

(1) red blood count, a good thing to artificially raise in order to be
better at climbing (has many associated helath risks)
(2) mean cell volume, by which we often differentiate between chronic
and acute anaemia

 

[MartinM]

Mike K Smith wrote:


> When I first started working as a junior MLSO the lab I was at had a
> single-channel Coulter which was obsolete even then (1977). I think the
> counter display used Nixie tubes, or possibly dekatrons.

Probably a ZF/FN or somesuch; they are now all singing all dancing
walk-aways that do diffs and platelets and retics and... (as are the
coag and even blood grouping ones) But then at 1100 FBC's a day!!. I
started in 1978 when the start of the art was a Coulter S.

> To keep thise close to on-topic, any idea if the drug-testing labs use
> indirect calculation or centrifuges to measure Hct of racing cyclists?

On a walk-away, more accurate and the reference range (that's normal in
oldspeak) is more reliable for the cheats to be above. Don't think
anyone knows how to do a spun HCT these days, probably banned for H/S
reasons anway.

 

[MartinM]

Got my Blue Peter brevet back today thanks Nik; I would suggest just
print up new word doc inners for next year and stick them into this
year's cards, that's what I'm doing for some of mine.

A great ride; even though I at times wondered what on Earth I was
doing, it was a good kick-start to the year, will do it next year as
part of a hopeful RRTY, and nice to know you even raised some cash for
a good cause ;-)

 

[nik]

The message <[email protected]>
from "MartinM" <[email protected]> contains these words:


> Got my Blue Peter brevet back today thanks Nik; I would suggest just
> print up new word doc inners for next year and stick them into this
> year's cards, that's what I'm doing for some of mine.

> A great ride; even though I at times wondered what on Earth I was
> doing, it was a good kick-start to the year, will do it next year as
> part of a hopeful RRTY, and nice to know you even raised some cash for
> a good cause ;-)

They never did arrive! (I think Pam said she was going to extract
compensation from the Royal Mail.)

Nik

 

[MartinM]

nik wrote:

> They never did arrive! (I think Pam said she was going to extract
> compensation from the Royal Mail.)

I lost several layers of skin waiting for mine to arrive! Your ones
were fine (says he who puts them in the resyk when he gets them back,
heathen that I am)

BTW was I the poorest Poor Student? I picked up two of those receipts
off the floor, but accurately timed. A posting box at the petrol
station would be a very good idea; although I quite liked the whole
"post back your card" thang ;-)

 

[Nik Windle]

The message <[email protected]>
from "MartinM" <[email protected]> contains these words:

> BTW was I the poorest Poor Student? I picked up two of those receipts
> off the floor

Sounds more like a good way to remain the richest!

 

[davek]

MartinM wrote:
> A great ride

Seconded. I only wish I had been in the right physical and mental shape
to finish it...

d.

 

[Dave Larrington]

In article <[email protected]>, davek
([email protected]) wrote:
> MartinM wrote:
> > A great ride
>
> Seconded. I only wish I had been in the right physical and mental shape
> to finish it...

You weren't the only one... A large chap, whose name I /still/ haven't
found out but whom I've met on every AUK ride of 2006, bailed at the
exact same point as you. Nik says he's going to cover up the word
"Oxford" on that signpost next year

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
Hoc ardur vincere docet.

 

[davek]

Dave Larrington wrote:
> Nik says he's going to cover up the word
> "Oxford" on that signpost next year

Heh. I almost wish he had.

He could, alternatively, add a footnote to the sign, detailing the
large, fast-moving vehicles and narrow stretches of single carriageway,
which should be enough to put most sensible people off using that road.

d.