An Old-Fashioned Tablespoon
I have one old-fashioned tablespoon, that is the right size for cooking.
An Old-Fashioned Tablespoon
If anybody has any spares they don’t need, please let me know!
Solving the Roadkill Problem
It is being reported that roadkills cost a Norfolk council about £1,500 a month to send them to a crematorium.
But there is a more elegant and dramatic solution.
Why not release a few more red kites? These birds would love all those roadkills.
How Much Do London Black Cabs Cost?
I am trying to buy a house in London and wondered how much it would cost to get there in a black cab from various parts of the city.
I searched the Internet and found this site. It is excellent!
I Can’t Fold Shirts
I’m just packi ng for my trip to Edinburgh tomorrow and have just realised that I can’t fold shirts, so they fit in my case.
But it’s not the stroke, as I couldn’t do it three years ago!
Perhaps I should try harder! Or should I get someone else to do it?
Odd Uses For Products
I was reminded last night of the old true tale about Barratt’s aniseed balls being used as part of the trigger for a limpet mine. They were protected by a condom and this was then removed to allow the ball to dissolve, which then let the trigger fire. Simple and it worked very well, although some people in the Ministry though that it was wrong that part of the war effort rested on a sweet costing less than an old penny.
Last night, someone told me that a well-known luxury skin care product, is also a good fly repellent, when applied to horses. I didn’t believe it, but I did find this page. It’s about half-way down.
Too Many Allergies
NICE thinks that too many children are labelled with food allergies, according to reports like this.
I might agree, as I think so many people these days have vanity or lifestyle allergies.
I don’t, as I am a coeliac, that was properly diagnosed at Addenbrookes, when I was over fifty. Since avoiding gluten, I’ve had no diarrhoea, no migraines, no joint pain and no chronic dandruff. I’ve also stopped biting my nails.
Probably about 1-in-100 are coeliacs like me, according to researchers at Nottingham University, Coeliac-UK and the NHS.
But I’ve had all sorts of cranks and quacks tell me that such things as homeopathy can cure my allergy. They are talking crap. But they are the same sort of people who imagine and test for all sorts of things in their children. Often, they are so stupid and paranoid that they don’t believe in vaccination and won’t allow their children to play outside.
But why are we getting so many allergy sufferers. With coeliac disease, a lot of the increase has come because, those born before 1960 are now being properly diagnosed. I was found to have a problem from a simple blood test, which showed I had a vitamin B12 deficiency. Remember that children with coeliac disease couldn’t be diagnosed until the early 1960s.
Also there is more awareness of coeliac disease and how it is passed on through the genes.
Benefit Fraud and Daisy
My software, Daisy, has been used several times to combat mass fraud.
It was used to check winter fuel payments by the DSS. They drew a chart based on Surname and Post Code. In some cases they found severalclaimants at the same place. Some were genuine as they were old peoples’ homes, but others were fraud.
The software was also used to check student loan applications. I’m not saying how, but there was a large amount of multiple applications from people, who were never seen again.
It is possible to set up a system, where a large database of claimants for benefits or grants is analysed and then split down into groups, say based on town, post code or street. These can then be e-mailed as individual Excel spreadsheets to the fraud investigators responsible for that area.
I have just set up my mobile phone, so that it can post to Twitter. If you want to follow me on this, my user name is VagueShot.
Viruses on Smart Phones
It is being reported that smart phones are now being targeted using apps that contain trojans and viruses.
This is just another reason, why I stick to my Nokia 6310i.
It is now ten years old and may be a bit battered like me, but it sends texts and hey, it makes phone calls too!
I can drop it, which because of my stroke, I frequently do and if I go away for a few days, I know it will stay charged long enough, so I don’t have to take the charger.
The Anonymous Widower 