Terrorism Arrests at Sellafield
There have been arrests under the Terrorism Act at Sellafield.
I have been over nuclear facilities in both the UK and the United States and am pretty sure, that untrained people without the right technical background could learn anything of use, that they couldn’t get from something like Wikipedia or Google. They certainly wouldn’t get inside.
In fact all they’ve done is draw attention to themselves and get arrested.
I’d do them for wasting Police time.
Ipswich Town Supporters in London
I’ve just set up a web site for Ipswich Town supporters, who live and/or work in London.
I have used WordPress to set it up and it can be viewed at ipswichtownlondon.wordpress.com.
In some ways it is showing how you can use WordPress to create a Blog-Based Small Business. Although this isn’t a business, we’re trying to attract Ipswich Town supporters and create a source of useful information.
The Great Storm
I’m posting this because of the horrendous storms in the United States. It actually comes from my old blog, which I no longer update.
On the 16th October 1987, we experienced one of the worst storms in the UK. Contrary to popular belief, it was not a hurricane, but it caused more damage than any storm for 300 years.
At the time we lived at Debach, north of Ipswich and we were without electricity for nearly two weeks. Luckily we cooked on a gas AGA and surprisingly the phones kept going.
It is also the time, when I had the narrowest escape of my life.
I’ve always got up early in the morning to work, as it is the best time, when you don’t get interrupted by phone calls or family. But that morning although I was up, I wasn’t in the office as luckily there was no power. At about six-thirty the chimney blew over, came through the roof and went right through where I normally sat.
We’d also turned out two horses in the field that night for the first time. One was an old racehorse, who’d been confined to his box for two years with leg problems and the other was a newly-weaned foal.
They had no problems, as instinct kept them to the safe place in the middle of the field, with their backsides to the wind.
So does the Internet help?
Hopefully the warnings and the weather forecasts would be better. But I suspect that the chaos might actually be worse, as many people would be unable to connect and would be suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms.
Olympic Ticket Problems
I had no problems with getting my places in the Olympic auction for tickets. But then I reserved them three weeks ago.
When will people learn, that the deadline is not the day you actually do something? With the Internet, you can set transactions up early, so they happen at the right time!
Illustrated Computing
I just had to post this video of a computer bubble-sort algorithm, illustrated by Hungarian folk dancers.
There are more here.
Do Large Organisations Cut Themselves Off From the Internet?
I sometimes criticise (and praise) companies and organisations on this blog. Here are a few examples.
- Dixons
- First Great Western
- John Lewis
- Leon Restaurants
- Runners Need
- Towneley Park and Hall
- Virgin Trains
Most of those comments are positive, as I don’t want to get a reputation for not being fair. However, the really interesting one is about John Lewis, where I didn’t hold back in criticising their performance. If you read the comments on the post, you’ll see that Customer Support at John Lewis found it and asked me to e-mail them. The problem I had been having was resolved.
So if say you are the manager of the Islington Upper Street branch of the Midland Bank, other than being immortal, do you check what is being said about your branch on the Internet? And if you do, do you check blogs and forums?
I have a feeling that John Lewis might be an exception here. But surely, any business interested in what its customers think about it should be searching what is on the Internet, even if some of it is perhaps abusive or badly-written. To take my bank example, it is very easy to set up a Google Alert for Midland Bank, Upper Street, Islington.
I have a feeling that companies often spend fortunes on market research finding out what customers and others think of them. But do they need to, when with a bit of training and perhaps some affordable software, of the sort I can write, it’s all out there waiting to be delivered?
The Non-Arrival of a Refund from East Coast
On the 3rd of February, I travelled down from York on the 19:35 East Coast train from York. The train was about ninety minutes late into King’s Cross and forms were given out to claim a refund. I filled the form in the next day and posted it to Newcastle in the envelope provided.
I have not heard anything since.
It could be a malfunction of the postal service, but since I have moved, I regularly send letters to my old house in Suffolk and know that they arrive the next day, when I put them in the box opposite my house here.
On Sunday, I tried to report this non-arrival of the refund through the East Coast web site. I got a server error, asking me to submit it again. I didn’t as it was quite a long form and after all, it’s not that much money in the greater scheme of things.
But I tried again to submit the e-mail and still got a server error.
I also tried to send a simple e-mail saying that I was getting server errors and got another server error.
It really isn’t good enough!
So I put a letter in the post.
Patek Trading Company
I haven’t seen one of these for some time.
Greetings, If you have access to a computer, and have up to three hours spare time per- week, would you like to work part or full time online from home and get paid weekly? If yes, then please read carefully. _____________________________________________________________________ ABOUT US ______________________________________________________________________ Patek Trading Company Limited was founded in 1986. Besides its main office and laboratory, the Company also owns large warehouse to serve its customers with on time delivery. Since its establishment, the Company has been focusing on trading of textile dyestuffs, pigments and auxiliaries imported from all over the world and Products include reactive dyes, acid dyes, direct dyes, cationic dyes, disperse dyes, vat dyes, leather dyes, pigments and auxiliaries of textile dyeing, printing & finishing etc… ______________________________________________________________________ JOB POSITION _______________________________________________________________________ We are currently seeking part/full time employees for our ever-growing Foreign Payment Receiving Officer. Through extensive demographic research, we have discovered a wealth of untapped human resources that, for one reason or another, need the freedom to work from home and consider becoming part of our company. as part of our ongoing Multi Level Marketing Network, we seek capable individuals to work for us as our representative.You can easily make £500 – £2,000 or more in a week by working for us as Sub-contractor in your geographical location, you will be in charge of collecting payment on behalf of our affiliates and Smallbusiness organizations that are registered under us. Note that no form of investment is needed from you and this job will take only 1-3 hours of your time per week. ______________________________________________________________________ JOB RESPONSIBILITY _______________________________________________________________________ The position of Foreign Payment Receiving Officer entails the following duties: coordinate payments from our clients, receive payments which come in form of Bank Wire Tansfer, process payments at your local bank, and forward 90% of funds received to the proper branch office, as instructed. The remaining 10% is your gratuity. Since this position is need-based, you will have plenty of free time while enjoying a good income. _______________________________________________________________________ RENUMERATION _______________________________________________________________________ Every assignment in form of payment received from clients, you’re entitled to 10% which excludes the cost of processing western union to any regional office accountant Also you get a monthly salary of £1500 which comes at the end of every month, plus other incentives and benefits that accrue, which includes tax holidays. ________________________________________________________________________ INTERESTED APPLICANTS (HOW TO APPLY) ________________________________________________________________________ Interested applicants should reply with: First Name:- Last Name:- Address:- Gender:- Phone Number(s):- E-mail Address:- Our Human Resource Managers can contact you via email, with further details if the management decides you’re a successful candidate. We look forward to working with you. NB: Ignore this mail if you are not interested in this offer. Sincerely, Mr. Sue Young President/CEO Patek Trading Company Limited. Hong Kong, China. .
But just like all of the others, it’s a scam and will do you no good if you sign up.
I do like the opening statement about if you have access to a computer. Would you have received this rubbish, if you didn’t have access?
It also appears to be from a boy named Sue!
Do We Need WikiPlates?
I think I know London and its various sites very well. And as I have read the excellent book; The Great Stink of London: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victorian Metropolis
But I was caught out on Wednesday, when I went to the Olympic Park, in that I hadn’t realised that the Greenway sat on top of Bazalgette’s Northern Outfall Sewer.
But there was nothing to tell me, that I was walking on the creation of a giant!
Obviously, a proper information board would be best, but these get damaged and if you made them from metal, then scrap thieves will take them.
But surely in this age of the Internet, all that is needed is a simple plate, which points you to the relevant place on the web.
If they linked to Wikipedia, through say a reference number, they could be called WikiPlates.
The possibilities for a simple system are endless, especially if you bring in smart phones and SMS messages.
The Anonymous Widower 