Amelanchier

I might add that good science will survive even the strongest kicking.

The X-files is soo nineties. As I've said before, in my view the credibility of TI/TTMS is damaged by your choice of language. Your message to the consumer is confused - is it science or is it new age dross. Worse still, might it be some impotent hybrid. My skepticism has always related to the claims surrounding the tech. MBT has patiently addressed many of the queries and doubts and I can see real benefits for the application of the system. No doubt Dr Catena's presentation to the Arb Conference in September will enlighten us further. Insinuating that skeptical or disinterested people are closed minded, limited plebs who currently practice dark age (i.e., archaic and uniformed) arboriculture is a retrograde marketing step. Insulting your clientbase is a poor move.

Andrew, That's a lot of questions about me - I feel very priviledged. Thank you for the personal implications regarding my philosophy and outlook. Whilst those that actually know me might describe them as petty and baseless I can see that they are bourne of your passionate drive for arboriculture. Your sincerity clearly precludes me from challenging or doubting you. Furthermore, any scepticism I feel toward your psuedo-scriptural rhetoric must obviously derive from the depths of my repressed psyche and is not under any circumstances based on a wider opinion of your presentation style. Can we all hold hands and chant praise to the earth mother while we dance round a healing crystal now? Don't laugh, I'm seriously passionate...

You might like to point out to the LPA that considering their only veto when faced with notification of works in a Conservation Area is to serve a TPO, the paperwork is pointless as you could undertake the exempt works anyway. Notice/notification need not be in paper form. Send them an email.

Well I have been told I do look a bit scruffy from time to time... You can't be implying that a data capture device is infallible? Or that data translation is infallible? Junk in = Junk out. The image is a snapshot of the trees functionality for a given moment in time, all sampling methods have caveats. I'd be interested to know what yours are? I suspect you both mean that your recommendations based on TI/TTMS are more auditable as the basic data collected in the field can transparently presented as supporting evidence - and that this strengthens the recommendations? I'm not sure this is a unique approach. In terms of insurance, two things come to mind; Firstly the insurers are gambling on an individuals likelihood of being wrong. The use of TI/TTMS is unlikely to reduce that likelihood despite accuracy claims given that it is a supplementary system (i.e., it informs other systems). Secondly, in the light of the NTSG draft and their renewed focus on the 'reasonably prudent landowner' mantra it would seem that there is an increasing desire within the wider tree owning population for a considerably lighter touch. Now this might well be a USP for TI/TTMS but it might also be surplus to insurance requirements and therefore tricky to market. How do you get TI/TTMS out of its niche? I think part of the PR war might be to avoid overstating its abilities and to clarify the language. This is not the future, it will not revolutionise arboriculture, the people who don't use it are not living in the dark ages, there is no new language - this is a handy tool which can help tree guys assess trees and decide what to do with them. If it is here to stay then fair enough if not then we'll chuck it in the shed with the other glimpses of "the future" that promised so much, Sinclair C5, the Minidisc, the Amstrad email phone and yes, the Betamax. Thankfully we'lll still have room for the IPad.

Yup. The terms Hardwood and Softwood come from the timber industry and are therefore generalisations to make life easy for the commercial retail of timber. As has been said above this tends to mean; Conifer = Softwood Everything else = Hardwood However, all generalisations break down when you look at the extremes - as Ben90 indicates, you can have hard softwood and soft hardwood. But, the same goes for the other general labels of Broadleaf and Conifer. Some "broadleaves" have narrow leaves (Gleditsia / Mimosa?) and produce cones (Alnus!). Angiosperm / Gynosperm? Just another set of labels essentially based on seed morphology. Seems to be synonymous with conifers and broadleaves until someone brings up Ginkgo... Basically, when the end user wants to buy a door, he'll / she'll find it easier to distinguish timber quality (and therefore product value) based on a nice simple term rather than on the mode of sexual reproduction or foliage characteristic of the host species which both carry similar overlaps and errors...

You might be able to install it into xp from this update pack... http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tabletpc/experiencepack/overview.mspx

I think this is probably best settled with a straight out winner takes all fight... Blue corner - Cat Red corner - Dog Ding ding, round 1...

Google withdrew the satellite imagery from their embedded print option. You'll need screen capture software like the Vista/Windows 7 Snipping tool to grab the image then print as you would a regular picture.

Thanks for the feedback - its this kind of information we need. I shall see what our resident ISA Certification Liason Officer has to say... One for you Dan?

There's a world of difference between a "power" and a "duty".

Bump.

How about just giving him notice under the Access to Neighbouring Lands Act (can't remeber the year, sorry) that you'll be entering his land to undertake the work. IIRC he'll need an injunction to stop you.

Thats it though huh - you know its good and you hear it every day but you have other priorities. That's trees.

Another thing is the conditioning of third party Arb supervision. If the council doesn't have the money to watch the site - make the developer pay for Arbs to do it for the council. Its something that we add in our development reports and often undertake. We provide updates and photo evidence to the TO - completely impartially. We sort out those stupid little site problems that take up some much time (is the fencing in right?) and the more switched on developers realise that is costing them double money to fix the snags. Problem is only one council round our way is known to explicitly condition it within the planning consent.

There is a big timelack of resources but sometimes, like this time it would seem, people who should know better make mistakes. The Aussies (ever the practical types) often require a bond or deposit up front, refundable on completion. If the trees don't go in (or the reatined trees get damaged) - you don't get it back and then you have some money to put things right. So yep you can build that (no worries mate?) but we've valued the trees at £500,000, so hand that over and you can have it back if you don't screw up. Never going to happen with the current state of the economy though.

Indeed. Our risk management policies that we produce for our larger clients require staged planting before the lower priority end of risk work. We push tree benefits all day every day. I try to think sometimes about what it must be like on the recieving end of the 'propaganda'. I guess its a bit like the leaflets I get through my letterbox from the council reminding me about saving energy. Great for the environment - each special lightbulb saves 15 polar bear cubs etc and reduces your bills too. I still haven't got round to upgrading the loft insulation...

Steve Jobs solves iPhone 4 reception problems: 'don't hold it that way' | Technology | guardian.co.uk Have you tried holding it in a special way?

I'm all for valuation of trees as assets but I was thinking more in terms of competitively pricing root work and being able to demonstrate a gain. I dare say that most residential clients are not interested in making their tree more healthy or encouraging its growth - most arb work is removing trees or parts of trees.

This keeps on happening because we keep our complaints to ourselves.

Just wondering but perhaps there is a cost resistance from the residential client? We undertake a considerable amount of root investgation and decompaction work through commercial developers but very little in the residential sector. I suspect there are financial incentives during development that aren't realised by / sold to residential customers.

Did you try it with your left hand...

Seriously, make a complaint. We'll all just sit here and moan on about how bad it is - and we'll do it all again next week when it happens again. Write a formal letter of complaint to the council reminding them of their duty under the TCPA 1990 and when they fob you off with waffle -make a formal complaint to the ombudsman. Local Government Ombudsman • Making a complaint

Yep - sorry forgot the smilie that would have added a wry grin to the statement. Also that early adopters might well be big names who know their stuff but popularism is king.