Coeliac Disease And Atrial Fibrillation
I’ve got both and according to this study, if you have coeliac disease, you’re more likely to have atrial fibrillation.
Which I’ve got and is generally considered by my doctors to be the cause of my strokes
This is another problem to add to a long list of those caused by coeliac disease.
One For The Freezer
I like a fish pie and use a recipe from Jamie Oliver to cook a big one for a party.
Yesterday I had a fish pie from Waitrose for my supper.
A Waitrose Fish Pie For One
Last night’s was so good so today, I bought another one and put it in my freezer.
It may not be as good as mine, but at least it’s gluten free, readily available and in the double size it would be ideal for entertaining a lady. Not that I’m being lucky in that area at the moment! But then who wants a wreck with a gammy left hand, poor eyesight, a stubborn mind and no driving licence? But I do have a little bit of what attracted Debbie McGee to Paul Daniels. I’m also taller than Mr. Daniels with more hair! So I’m not giving up yet!
The Angel Was Like A Morgue
I went up to the Angel as I usually do and it was like a morgue. There was only myself and one other in the queue in Starbucks and I got my preferred window seat. I didn’t see anything worth photographing for the blog.
Waitrose was empty too and I think the staff were lonely, as many talked to me, whilst they were stacking shelves and looking for items.
There weren’t any chuggers or smokers outside the shopping centre!
And of course the bus was virtually empty coming home.
Perhaps, some big event has finished and everybody has left. The bus doing press-ups has gone too!
The Olympics Cut Crime In London
Figures show that crime fell by five percent during the Olympics. Read all about it, here in the Daily Telegraph.
On a similar vein, the BBC in London has just announced that London Ambulance had a quiet time. Come to think of it, I’ve only seen the Air Ambulance once in the last couple of weeks. It tends to pass over, where I live.
In fact, although I’m not that far from the Olympic Park, I have hardly seen any helicopters at all; police, military, ambulance or otherwise.
Let’s hope it continues. I’m not bothered about the noise, but it just means that crime and serious accidents are a a low level.
Did Betfair Lay Down The Model For Social Lenders?
Zopa, Funding Circle and Ratesetter, think they are unique, but did they just borrow the principle from the betting exchange, Betfair.
In all four, you can play both sides against each other, although the purpose of Betfair is different.
The same principles could also be applied to an energy exchange. Let’s say a town or an area got together and pooled their energy needs and say they wanted a particular price, which the energy suppliers could then bid for.
I don’t see too much difference.
This Bus Is Beautiful
Coming home from the Angel late this afternoon, as I was getting on one of the New Buses for London, an attractive black lady of about thirty or so, approached the driver, leaned over so he could hear and said “I just had to tell you, but this bus is beautiful!”
How many times has such a statement been said about a humble bus?
Birthday Charity Giving
I’ve had some more positive responses on my idea for giving to charity on your birthday, which I outlined here.
It just seems to hit a chord with people, to give to celebrate another year of life, hopefully well-lived.
So I’ve now given it a name of Birthday Charity Giving. It was the only sensible name I could think using the first letters of the names of my wife, son and the late company accountant, who set me up with the good pension I enjoy.
Creating A Ratesetter Account
I have just created a Ratesetter account, as I want to see how other peer-to-peer lending sites work.
As a Zopa user for many years, I could be considered biased, but although I got registered quickly, there are some things I liked and didn’t.
E-Mail Address Based Account
All accounts, should be based on e-mail addresses. They are in Ratesetter.
Passwords
Because of my gammy left hand, I don’t like passwords where case is important, as I often get it wrong, when I use the shift key. Ratesetter insists on at least one number.
At least though they didn’t use the dreaded Captcha system beloved of so many sites.
Check Questions
They only have one question, which you setup yourself. I’m happy with that.
Addresses
I had no problems here and they only wanted my current one.
Debit Cards and Bank Transfers
Ratesetter allow both methods of transferring money to the account. I prefer the bank transfer.
But I did successfully register my account and transfer £1,000 into the account.
MPs Don’t Like Google’s Tax Affairs
According to this article in the Daily Telegraph, Google only paid £6m tax on revenues of £395m.
Obviously, it is not in the interest of the UK, that major international companies pay so little tax. It’s also not in the interest of small UK companies, who perhaps pay high rates of tax and see their foreign competitors in the UK, paying very little.
Years ago, I was involved in monitoring the perception in the press of major companies. After a couple of quarters bumping along at the bottom, companies quickly picked their ideas up.
So perhaps a publicly available table on the Internet, showing the turnover, tax and a few other figures of companies, might not be a bad idea.
Suppose say it was obvious that a well known restaurant chain, was paying a very low rate of tax. Would it mean that customers went elsewhere? Possibly, but it might mean they did other things to justify the low rate, that were of benefit to the UK.
Kiva – On-Line Microfinance
Kiva is almost a cross between peer-to-peer lending and micro-finance.
You choose an entrepreneur with a business in some faraway country, who needs some finance to either start or expand their business. The business might be a recycling business in Pakistan or a cafe in Vietnam, but the list is endless. You then contribute something like $25 to the loan they require.
The About page on their web site tells you more. I just signed up and then lent $25 through my PayPal account to a pharmacy in the Congo to buy more drugs. Of the pukka sort that is! It was a very simple process, where you just sign in and then start lending in chunks of $25 to those borrowers you choose from a map of the world. I have since made a loan to a woman starting a restaurant in Ecuador. I chose Ecuador, as I have experience of the country, so know a bit about the way they work.
So far they claim they have lent over $337 million dollars and they have a near 99% repayment rate.
I regard any money, I give to Kiva as a donation to charity. If I get any money back, then that is a bonus. If I get all my money back with interest, then that’s an investment.
I think the big disadvantage of Kiva is that it appears you have to pay by PayPal or a credit card, whereas Zopa or funding Circle can be fed using a direct bank transfer.
Perhaps if you’ve had a clear-out and got rid of unwanted clutter through eBay, Kiva is a good way to spend your PayPal funds creatively.
Remember too, that most of our charity donations are either made by cash or credit card, often through something like JustGiving. A lot of these will be increased by Gift Aid.
The Anonymous Widower 