Do they mean an entire bus made from stainless steel?

So a European tour to learn the ins and outs of the uses of stainless steel in public transport. Maybe it’ll be a step up from sending the new lad to panel beating night school 101 at Nelson and Colne College. I’m sure Jasper will tell you it certainly beats the hell out of beating the hell out of the side of some bus that’s been driven into some rubbish bin on Burnley Road.

Stainless steels have innovative solutions to offer for public transport. Their mechanical properties help designers to reduce weight, enhance impact resistance and improve fire safety. Stainless steels combine intrinsic corrosion resistance with excellent reparability. And they can be surprisingly cost-effective.

Innovative solutions in bus building and in the design and manufacture of metro or other rail vehicles have been investigated in recent research projects. Their results will be presented to a larger circle of industry experts in a series of seminars, which will take place in autumn 2008 in various places in Europe:

25 September 2008, Berlin, Germany
in cooperation with Informationsstelle Edelstahl Rostfrei
Contact: caroline.bresink@arcelormittal.com

30 September 2008, Lille, France
in cooperation with Institut de Développement de l’Inox (I.D. Inox)
Contact: contact@idinox.com

2 October 2008, Rome, Italy
in cooperation with Centro Inox
Contact: g.gelati@c-s-m.it, phone +39 06 5055 20, or l.rizzo@c-s-m.it, phone +39 06 5055 292

7 October 2008, Warsaw, Poland
in cooperation with Polska Unia Dystrybutorów Stali (PUDS)
Contact: pawel.kiepel@outokumpu.com, mob. +48 600068 331 and adam.zymelka@outokumpu.com, mob. +48 602 347997

10 October 2008, Labein (Bilbao), Spain
in cooperation with CEDINOX
Contact: rsanchez@acxgroup.com

16 October 2008, Gustavelund, Tuusala (near Helsinki), Finland
Contact: hilkka.eronen@outokumpu.com

INSAPTRANS is a valorisation project, which is supported by the European Union from the Research Fund for Coal and steel (RFCS). It involves the following companies and organisations: Acerinox (Spain), ArcelorMittal Stainless Belgium (Belgium), Centro Sviluppo Materiali (Italy), Euro Inox (Belgium), OCAS (Belgium), Outokumpu (Finland) and VTT in cooperation with Helsinki University of Technology (Finland).

Persons who would like to be on the mailing list for the full programme are invited to select a convenient seminar and contact the respective INSAPTRANS partner.

And please don’t ask me any questions as what I’ve quoted above is all I received in the email - you’ll have to get in touch with the person running the seminar you happen to be interested in.

There seems to be an awful amount of second guessing as to what Flickr founder Stewart Butterfield meant in his Yahoo! resignation letter. Although I think it’s quite apparent he’s being overtly metalphorical:

And if you’re wanting to drink The Tinbasher milkshake, Stewie, just give me a bell.

Well the last time I remember some fancy dan golf day sponsored by Butler Sheetmetal - well, it wasn’t really a golf day so much as John and Matt dragging me off up our local municipal course, Marsden Park, to hank, shank and slice with gay abandon. Ten quid for the round and a jumbo Mars Bar, which had obviously softened somewhat by the time I got round to needing its nougaty nourishment around the tenth, was the full extent of their corporate hospitality.

Things must be going ’slightly better’ these days as they can afford to take a full Monday off to go swanning around some course in Harrogate with eight clients. So yes, if you didn’t get invited - like me (not that I would’ve gone - although I could’ve had a round over here on my own) - I suggest you kick up a bit of a stink by giving them a bell on 01282 870033 or leaving an irate comment below.

But, with any luck they may have stiffened up a bit (in the bad way) and be feeling the odd back twinge - a bit like this fella who’d been sub-contracted to do a spot of welding at Castle Cement in Clitheroe. As the Lancashire Evening Telegraph points out:

A WORKER had to be rescued after getting trapped in a pipe at a factory when he suffered back pain.

The 27-year-old, who was working as a contractor for Castle Cement at its site in West Bradford Road, Clitheroe, became stranded after his back “went” while welding.

Chris Fish, Castle’s safety officer, said the welder was working in a duct in a piece of machinery called a “scrubber tower”, which is used to make plaster.

He said: “The lad told me earlier that he had a twinge in his back and then when he was working in it just went.

“The duct is only just over a metre high and he could hardly move.”

Fire crews used an aerial ladder platform to free the worker at 2.15pm.

I bet he’d been sprauncing around at some golf day a couple of days earlier as well.

Let’s hope the medical cabinet at BSM HQ has an abundance of fiery jack.

Possibly the only reason to visit the Reebok until Bolton finally get relegated to the Championship or Burnley promoted to the Premiership. You can decide which is the most likely.

European Trade & Exhibition Services’ unique programme of regional industrial events moves to Bolton for the forthcoming North West Manufacturing & Electronics show at the Reebok Stadium on June 11th and 12th. Now in its 11th year, the North West Manufacturing & Electronics show is the largest and most significant event of its kind in the region, and one not to be missed by anyone involved in manufacturing enterprise. Entry to North West Manufacturing & Electronics is free and there is free car parking for over 3000 cars. Pre-registered ticket holders also benefit from a free show catalogue. Access to the Reebok Stadium by public transport is also extremely easy; Horwich Park railway station is within 100m of the venue. Full event information and registration for tickets and the free seminar programme can be found at http://www.industry.co.uk/NorthWest or call 01784 880890

Wycoller Panopticon

Here’s a lovely picture of the Wycoller Panopticon that the boys back at Butler Sheetmetal have just titivated. Wycoller (if I remember rightly) is on the back road to Skipton if you go over the tops from Colne. So it’s the scenic route to Yorkshire, and a rambling point - that is, ramble-able from John’s house in Trawden (erm, it’s here). It almost makes me wistful for a trip home - apart from the fact that I’m sure that picture’s been photoshopped to improve the skyline from foggy, drizzling miserable moor to other-worldly celestial.

Now this is more of an East Lancashire skyscape I’m used to:

Although it doesn’t usually include our new lad, Kaine, obscuring the foreground.

But at least Jasper was at hand to look longingly at a plastic bag.

Hmmm, I’m just trying to work out which globe is the shinier.

Anyway, here’s the feedback from Nick at Lancashire Council on the repair job and clean up we did for the Panopticon:

Just to say thanks for the work on the steel ball – we have had some very positive comments about it since it was reinstated.

The quality of the finish in particular has been commented on, the mirror finish better than the original!

Thank you, sir.

And if you’ve been for a walk round Wycoller way and seen the Panopticon, why not let us know what you think of it in the comments.