The Scandal of Gift Aid
The thinktank, ResPublica estimates that charities are losing £750million in donations because of the antiquated Gift Aid system, run by HMRC. Read about it in The Guardian.
Surely, it is better for charities to spend the money on what they do, rather than spend it on back-office administration.
Verified By Visa
I’m all for good Internet security, but this system on my Visa card is totally useless.
The reason is that I can never remember the password and as it has to be entered,partly in upper and partly in lower-case, even if I do, it is a nightmare to type in with my gammy left hand. So inevitably, I end up having to create a new password, which surely defeats the system in the first place.
Thinking laterally, if American Express can get their security right in a much simpler way and in many years of using their card on-line, I’ve never had a problem, then surely Verified By Visa in its current form is a waste of space.
I’ve just started to get spam from someone claiming to be verifbyvisa.com. Because of my problems in using the system, I was quite worried, but on checking, there was no problem.
Why Not a Wayne Rooney Foundation Scam?
Now that footballers earn a lot of money, I’m surprised some of our friends in the 419 scam business haven’t been creating things like the Wayne Rooney Foundation, which chooses to give people at random large amounts of money. After all, judging by the recent press reports, he might actually be stupid enough to do something like this off his own bat! Some would argue, he should after his abismal performance in South Africa!
Perhaps because something like this hasn’t turned up, it just shows that the scammers are even more stupid, than your average footballer.
A Symposium Invitation
This spam with its invitation of free travel to the United States is just too good to be true! And it is!
With Due Respect
We the Human Right And Social Welfare Organization (HRSWO), I Miss Trinity Hayden, a member of the United Association for Global Affairs, invite you to participate in the International Global combine Symposium on Violence and Human Trafficking, which the (HRSWO) is excited to be hosting in November 22nd – 26th 2010, Venue; Sheraton Central Hall (Washington D.C- U.S.A), and from November 29th – 3rd December 2010 (Dakar Senegal West Africa)for the second phase.
The Workshop welcomes paper presentation from any interested participants.
For registration form and other details, write an acceptance letter to be part of this event and send directly to Mrs. Isabella Jacob (HRSWO Secretariat)Note:you will be provided with air tickets, visa assistant, and accommodation for the period of stay in the United States.
Register Now!
Regards
Miss Amelia. Preston
It is just the sort of e-mail, that the Delete key was designed for.
I’m slightly puzzled about how this scam works, but I suspect they’ll ask for some money at some point.
Self-Repairing Solar Cells
I like this story. It just goes to show that if anything gets the world out of the mess, it will be scientists, engineers and other thinkers, who use science and technology correctly. It will be not be politicians, union leaders or those that believe God is always the solution. These people will just hold back those like the scientists in this story, who might be leading us to salvation from our lack of energy.
Bank Margins
The margins banks are charging on lending are being criticised. And rightly so!
It’s actually all our fault. We borrow too much to on things like credit cards and always go the conservative route about how we borrow and invest. We also don’t shop around with our banking and change when we should!
So don’t complain about the banks, look for sensible alternatives.
As I’ve said before, I lend money through Zopa. I also know of people, who’ve used the company for a loan. I’ve not heard any complaints yet. So it does appear there are alternatives out there! But be prudent! It’s just a pity that Prudence wasn’t, or we’d all be in a better state.
The Edgley Optica
The airship photo and the associated comments with Paul, have got me thinking about aviation.
It lways seems, that any alternative approach to replace conventional fixed wing types or helicopters, ends in failure.
Sometimes, this is because the technology doesn’t work, sometimes because there are accidents, but I do feel that sometimes vested interests strangle the new ideas at birth.
I used to be a competent private pilot and I still have over a thousand hours in my log book, if I can find it. It is quite a lot of varied flying in both singles and twins, all around the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and Australia. I used to follow the aviation press a lot too, so I’m not without knowledge and experience of what has been tried and what works in aviation. Artemis, the project management system, I designed, was also used on a lot of aviation projects.
One of the aviation projects that fascinated me was the Edgley Optica observation aircraft. It was designed as an alternative to a helicopter for low-level surveillance, for use by those such as the Police. In about 1986, the company was in trouble and looking for investors, so I checked them out and actually had a flight in the aircraft as a passenger. I did take control for a few minutes and it was an easy plane to fly.
The company’s troubles were probably in part caused by an unexplained crash of an Optica being flown by Wiltshire Police. It certainly wouldn’t have helped sales.
The pilot had his own theories about the crash but writing over twenty years later, I can’t give any credence to what he said.
However, this doesn’t mean that this unusual concept isn’t worth pursuing. Especially as now we have learned so much more about the lightweight structures that might just make designs like this possible and economic.
I have a personal regret about my trip in an Optica. I didn’t have my camera with me!
The Anonymous Widower 