The Zopans Are At Work
There has been activity on my Zopa account this morning, with £150 credited from repayments and a couple of outstanding loan offers have been approved.
I suspect that a lot of these actions are just clever software, but some might have needed an OK from someone with a face and a brain!
Four loan offers have also appeared on my account with today’s date. So there are definitely people out there, who need a loan on most days in the year. My two loan offers on Christmas Day are still being processed.
Incidentally, looking at my loan book, I have a loan that was started on Christmas Day 2010.
And Now Blackburn Sack Henning Berg
Blackburn have just sacked Henning Berg according to this report. I did include Blackburn in this post as a club in need of management at the top level.
They just proved, that they are load of idiots, who probably couldn’t run a chicken farm.
London’s Swedish Black Cab Driver
I found this article about London’s only Swedish black cab driver.
I wonder what other unusual or unexpected nationalities drive London’s black cabs.
I remember years ago, when we lived in Suffolk, our postman was Californian. He’d come in the USAF, married an English girl and he’d stayed.
He actually preferred the climate, just like the Swedish cab driver says he does.
George Backs Graphene
This report says that the Chancellor has found £21.5 million for research into graphene.
Some of the applications of graphene are listed here on Wikipedia. This is the first paragraph.
Several potential applications for graphene are under development, and many more have been proposed. These include lightweight, thin, flexible, yet durable display screens, electric circuits, and solar cells, as well as various medical, chemical, and industrial processes enhanced or enabled by the use of new graphene materials.
Of all the possible applications they list, graphene’s properties as a filtration membrane, may lead to some of the first widespread applications. This link points to an article about research at MIT, which shows that graphene may offer new ways of water desalination.
Graphene may seem to be a wonder material and the money for research is very much to be welcomed.
In the 1960s, there were two areas of research, for which great hopes were held out.
The first was carbon fibre, which when tried as fan blades for the RB 211 helped to bankrupt Rolls-Royce. But now, it is a ubiquitous substance, that appears in many applications, from golf club shafts to almost complete aircraft, like the Boeing Dreamliner.
A scientific curiosity at the time was the laser. Every university had one and would proudly show you their expensive example, generally doing nothing, except emitting an eerie green light. But now lasers are everywhere and most homes have at least one in a CD or DVD player.
Who will accurately predict what the uses of graphene will be in fifty years?
My only questions are.
1. Are we putting enough money and resources behind the researchers?
2. What other ideas are there out there with the potential to change the world for the better, that need proper backing?
An Abuse Alert System For Hospitals
This system, which is reported on today is to be welcomed.
But why is it just to flag up child abuse?
I remember a notorious case in North Essex in the 1980s, where the wife was always being beaten up by her husband. He used to take her to different A & E units, to minimise the chance of the truth being discovered.
In the end, she was found murdered.
A Pension Scam
I’ve also received a text message saying.
Hi, as you have a frozen pension, you can get a large cash payment within 4 weeks, to get it started today reply ‘CASH’ to this text.
It was unsigned. That told me it was a scam, as if my pension manager wants me urgently, he comes round on his bike, or gives me a call on the land-line.
The grammar is all wrong too. one of the advantages of an education system, that no longer teaches how to form sentences correctly, is that it’s easier to spot frauds.
And my grammar isn’t perfect!
What Is O2 More?
I just received some advertising spam, which said this.
Do you run a UK business with global aspirations? HSBC could help. Ring 08452669781. Terms apply. To stop O2 More text stop to 20502.
I, of course didn’t ring or text either of the numbers.
But if I get another, the ICO will be hearing from me. I will be leaving O2 as well. Especially, as I never registered to receive spam.
Certainly, HSBC has gone on my not do business with list.
Thanks! But No Thanks!
Sean O’Driscoll has been sacked as Nottingham Forest manager, despite a high league position and winning 4-2 today. It’s all here on the BBC.
Sounds like Forest have got themselves owners with more money than sense.
Where have we seen that before? How about Portsmouth, Blackburn, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Hearts and Darlington for a start! But not Glasgow Rangers, as I don’t think they had any of either!
Farewell Gerry Anderson
Sadly.the death of Gerry Anderson has been announced.
He will always be remembered for Thunderbirds. Although, Wikipedia doesn’t mention this, I remember seeing the first episode, Trapped in the Sky, in a prime Saturday evening slot and ITV billed it as Gerry Anderson’s first adult program. Only later did it settle into being a children’s program.
That first episode is one of the best pieces of British television. If it had a problem, it was that it set a standard that was impossible to attain consistently.
A Pharmacy With Young Assistants Wearing High Heels?
When I first went to Liverpool, the local girls were always described as totties. So this pharmacy caught my eye in Charlton!
A Pharmacy With Young Assistants Wearing High Heels?
The explanation at the time for tottie, was that the girls always tottered on very high heels.
I suppose now, they’d be called supertotties, as the heels are so much higher.
The Anonymous Widower 