Infuriating Excel
I plot all of my Zopa investments in Excel. This gives me a good hold on how they are performing.
But about a week or so ago, the date axis on the chart disappeared. Strange because on my other computer the chart still works in the same way.
No matter what I do, I can’t seem to get them back. I get no message to say what is wrong either.
I hope I don’t write software like that!
I’ve done a bit of investigation and I’ve found that on the machine where the chart works, the version is Excel 2007 SP1 (12.0.6331.5000) and on the other machine that doesn’t it is Excel 2007 SP2 (12.0.6504.5001). I’ve since found that Windows updated my Office and probably Excel on the 27th of October.
The Daily Express Web Site
I first heard that the Higher Eco-Tax story was in the Daily Express.
It is not my favourite rag, so I don’t look at it very often, if at all. But I did go to the web site to find out about the story. You’ll note that I actually link to the Press Association. The reason is that you can’t enter the Daily Express web site without getting an extra copy of your browser with an advert.
So I won’t be visiting it in future.
Other web sites that I hardly use because of this practice include IMDB and Friends Reunited.
There are alternatives which I use instead.
Update for Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express (KB910721)
This is a scam.
What gives it away is that Outlook and Outlook Express are separate programs, so the update would not be for both of them. The version of the program is also not given. Click here, to see what Sophos, a respected computer security company says.
Basically, it installs a phishing program on your computer to get your banking details and other private information.
Don’t click the link or install it!
How to Show Football on Television – 2
It seems that the farce of showing the Ukraine-England match on television has had an effect.
The FA, who don’t really have a reputation for being media savvy have decided to show the England-Macedonia Under-21 International on Friday on the web.
Here’s their press release.
The FA has announced exciting details of the first England game to ever be screened live and for free exclusively on TheFA.com.
On Friday 9 October, The England v Macedonia 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifier at Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena will be streamed live on TheFA.com (kick-off 7.45pm BST).
The FA took the landmark decision to air the game for free on TheFA.com after UK broadcasters confirmed they were unable to schedule the match during peak-time.
Commenting on the move, Ian Watmore, Chief Executive Officer of The FA said: “This is the best way to ensure as many fans as possible around the country get the chance to see England’s young stars in action for free.”
Fans logging on to watch the game can look forward to seeing some great young players in action. Stuart Pearce has assembled an impressive squad including Theo Walcott – returning to the England Under-21s set-up fresh from scoring in Arsenal’s 6-2 defeat of Manchester City at the weekend.
Watching the game is simple. Just visit TheFA.com at 7.45pm on Friday night, click on the link to the game and enjoy all of the action free of charge.
Note the words “free of charge”.
The FA have certainly got this one right. To be fair they had nothing to do with the other farce.
How to Show Football on Television
Or rather how not to! This article in The Independent outlines the mess and problems caused by making Ukraine-England Internet only on a Pay-per-View site.
But like the earlier fiasco with ITV-Digital and the Championship and the failure of Setanta, it probably illustrates that there is a price viewers will pay and a price they will not. And those broadcasters that pay too much will end up going bust.
I have Sky and watch quite a bit of sport on their channels, like cricket, tennis and of course football. In general it is good value and it sustained me through some of the darker times since my wife died.
I have also subscribed to ESPN to take the extra Premier League matches. Whether I will continue to take the extra coverage for ever, is open to debate, as I have no interest in American Mickey Mouse sports, like basketball, baseball and American football.
But to return to the Ukraine-England match, that will only be shown over the Internet. I have watched some football in this way, through the Sky web site. The quality wasn’t that good and I suspect that here in deepest Suffolk, I would only get a very bad picture.
But in a few years time, this will be the way that many of us will not only watch football, but much of our television. But it will need much faster broadband and a proper device to put the pictures on a large screen.
I won’t be in England this weekend, but if I was, I’d be listening on BBC Radio Five. When it was pointed out to a pub landlord that it was being broadcast this way, he hadn’t realised it. But at least it might get a few punters in his pub! Especially, if he had wi-fi for a few laptops!
WordPress Statistics
My WordPress statistics haven’t seemed to add up for a week or so.
For instance, today, someone left a pingback on this blog and the counter didn’t move. The number of searches that brought people to the blog also equals the number of views and this can’t be right as pages that don’t relate to these searches are in the top pages.
Also a few days ago, I had thirty hits from someone searching for “Lotus Elan Yellow” and none of the pages about the Elan was in the top pages.
Am I paranoid or is there something wrong?
Loan Fraud
I assume that these two e-mails I received this morning are up to no good.
This one is from Homesteel Loan Management.
This is HOMESTEEEL LOAN MANAGEMENT, a private loan lender.We provide funding for companies and individuals that need funding. We work domestic as well as international companies. Our funding sources specialize in creative solutions to meet your needs for expansion, growth etc.
Our company do grant loans to individuals and companies as the loan grant varies from $5 thousand to $5 million Dollars with an interest rate of just 2.5 %.Borrower’s Information Needed
Full Names:…………………………………………
Country:……………………………………………
Phone Number:……………………………………..
Loan Amount Needed:…………………………….
Loan Term Duration:……………………………….Contact us today with the above information at honorablekalebcole1@gmail.com,mrkalebcole@sifymail.com
Company Name:HOMESTEEEL LOAN MANAGEMENT.
Registration Number: EA-ASL/941OYI/02/LN-UK
Telephone: +44-701-112-8005
Fax: +44 91-791-52-20Regards,
HOMESTEEEL LOAN MANAGEMENT
homesteelmanagement@gmail.com
And this one is from Eagle Loan Management.
This is Eagle Loan Management, a private loan lender.We provide funding for companies and individuals that need funding. We work domestic as well as international companies. Our funding sources specialize in creative solutions to meet your needs for expansion, growth etc.
Our company do grant loans to individuals and companies as the loan grant varies from $5 thousand to $5 million Dollars with an interest rate of just 2.5%.Borrower’s Information Needed
Full Names:…………………………………………
Country:……………………………………………
Phone Number:……………………………………..
Loan Amount Needed:…………………………….
Loan Term Duration:……………………………….Contact us today with the above information at eagleinvestment@sifymail.com
Company Name:EAGLE LOAN MANAGEMENT.
Registration Number: EA-ASL/941OYI/02/LN-UK
Telephone: +44-701-112-8005
Fax: +44 91-791-52-20Regards,
EAGLE LOAN MANAGEMENT
eagleloan.2009@gmail.com
Note that the registration, telephone and fax numbers are all the same.
Obviously, both of these e-mails are the same fraud. I suspect, that you will pay a lot of up-front fees and never see any money.
There is also the possibility that just phoning the numbers will be very expensive. In fact it is a good idea never to phone any UK number beginning with 7, unless you know who it belongs to! Many are mobiles, but some of them are linked to very expensive personal numbers.
Don’t whatever you do have anything to do with these crooks!
Some Lotus Elan Pictures
This is really to test out how the gallery in WordPress works.
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- Altenberg
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- At the Trafford Centre
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- In Amsterdam
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- Waiting for the Ferry
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- Travelling in Style
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- A Gazelle and a Hippo
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- Freshly Cleaned
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- A Short Car
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- The Hague
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- The Hague
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- In Blackpool
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- Lotus Evora on Test
It seems to work fairly well although there are the usual inconsistencies that programmers tend to create. I’m not saying I’m any better, but I work hard to have a philosophy that is the same everywhere.
Sometimes I fail, but I usually get there in the end.
But take here. I’m trying to get the space under the picture exact, so that the gallery fits in nicely. But I’m having trouble. It should be easy! My father, a printer, who was a stickler for layout would not have been amused.
What the Internet Has Become
I don’t use Yahoo much except as a host for the various groups that I moderate.
However this morning, I looked at their search engine as a friend had got problems with Google.
This is their top ten searches :-
- East Enders
- Heather Mills
- Champions League
- Britney Spears
- Rihanna
- Natalie Imburglia
- Ronnie Wood
- Amy Winehouse
- Coldplay
- Katie Price
So the economy, global warming and unemployment are all fixed then!
Electronic Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement
I’m getting a lot of this lately. What happens is that articles on this blog, get copied and put into other peoples’ web sites without attribution or a link. Wikipedia explains the difference between plagiarism and copyright infringement as.
Plagiarism is not copyright infringement. While both terms may apply to a particular act, they are different transgressions. Copyright infringement is a violation of the rights of a copyright holder, when material protected by copyright is used without consent. On the other hand, plagiarism is concerned with the unearned increment to the plagiarizing author’s reputation that is achieved through false claims of authorship.
But whatever it is I don’t like it and some of my readers have been moved to comment on my post on Cornflour. Why that one was copied, I haven’t a clue?
So how can we stop it, mitigate the effect of the copying or even benefit from it?
In the first place, if your post is good English, (or French, Spanish, Mandarin or anything else for that matter), with lots of recognisable phrases, you will be a bit more likely find them. I suspect that if I type “Electronic Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement” into Google in a few weeks, I’ll find a few copies of this article.
I have started putting a link into each post that links to the rest of my blog. The reason is that they generally don’t remove the links, so if any reader finds it interesting, they might link back to the rest of your site.
But whatever you do, don’t complain to the perpetrators. They’ll only wind you up and do it more often.
As I said in one of my comments, there are much more important things in life, than trying to stop this minor irritation.
The Anonymous Widower 