Representative Expression

I just received a weird telephone call from someone claiming to be from the National Television Control centre. The caller ID had been blocked so I couldn’t verify the number from which the call originated, but from his accent, I would guess they could be based in India.
He stated by saying “Good day, I’m calling from the National Television Control Centre and we have had reports of bad reception in your area. Can you confirm if your reception is working?”.
When I challenged him he became defensive and would not reveal any other details and eventually hung up.
(When I asked for details about the National Television Control Centre, i.e. who owned it, who run it, where it was based, he just became flustered and didn’t answer).

I have heard of a similar scam to do with Sky customers, but the caller never mentioned Sky, merely if my reception was fine.
Sky have put some information about a similar ‘scam’ on their own website (Sky Protect)

In my case, it appears that they are cold calling UK numbers rather than targeting Sky customers with the aim of finding any customers who are currently experiencing problems.
The scammers then apparently try to “help you resolve” the problem by offering to contact Sky support on your behalf. At no time however do they mention that you will be billed by them for this support.

Just be warned that there is no such organisation as the National Television Control Centre, at least not in the UK. If you receive such a call, do not reveal any personal information.
If they do claim to be from Sky, or working on behalf of Sky, ask them for your contact number, account number, or the type of receiver you have been supplied. I can assure you that they won’t be able to answer and will give you some waffle as to why they can’t supply that information. 

Lotus are to return to Formula 1 for the first time since 1994 after being granted the 13th slot on the grid from next season.

They will line up as one of four new teams for 2010 - alongside Campos Grand Prix, Manor and US F1.

Great news for us F1 fans, especially those who remember the good old days when Lotus were last involved. Admittedly, it’s been a fair few years since they could be classed as one of the successful teams, but I’m just glad to have the badge back amongst the starting grid. I was born in 67, so not quite old enough to remember their best years between the 60’s and 70’s. Not a lot of people realise that despite withdrawing from F1 back in 94, they are still the fourth most successful F1 team ever.

In its new incarnation the team is a partnership between the Malaysian Government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs and is being led by team principal Tony Fernandes, the founder and CEO of the Malaysian-based Tune Group which owns Air Asia airline.

Mike Gascoyne - who has 20 years experience in the sport after working with Jordan, Renault, Toyota, and most recently Force India - returns to F1 as the team's technical director.

For more information see the original BBC Sport Article: Lotus will return to F1 in 2010

Just a quick post to highlight a worthwhile cause and to ask you to help in anyway you can.
A friend of mine had reason to make use of BLISS some time ago, and I was recently reminded of the charity by a tweet by Tess Morris.
Tess and her husband (Lee Morris) will both be running 10miles in the Great South Run, and sponsoring them both is a great way to help the charity.
Even if you can't afford a few pennies at the moment, please donate 5mins of your time and forward this event on to your friends, family and work colleagues.

From the JustGiving page set up by Tess Morris.

Our little girl Eden Summer was born at 29 wks, 11 wks, early by emergency caesarean at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital, miles away from our local hospital which didn't have the facillities to look after a baby so small . Eden's incubator was donated to the hospital by Bliss and the intensive care unit was also referred to as Bliss. I eventually held Eden for the first time after 4 days and quickly started kangaroo care which Bliss says helps pre-term babies and parents,it did,after 3 wks Eden was transferred to our local hospital where she stayed another 3 wks after which we were allowed to bring her home. It was the scariest time of our lives but the staff at both hospitals and Bliss were fantastic .The work Bliss does is amazing and my husband and me are trying to raise as much money as possible for them to continue their work. So thats why we will be running 10 miles in The Great South Run so please help us help babies like Eden.

For more information on BLISS, you visit their website at http://www.bliss.org.uk

Bliss, the special care baby charity, provides vital support and care to premature and sick babies across the UK. Founded 30 years ago this year, we offer guidance and information at a critical time in families' lives. We also fund ground-breaking research and campaign for babies to receive the best possible level of care regardless of when and where they are born

Remember, these babies are too small to be able to help themselves. Help BLISS give them the best start in life. As I say above, even if you can't afford to give a few pennies, then forward this post to everyone you know, or send them the link to the JustGiving page.

New variant of Trojan via Hotmail Instant Message

Be warned and on the lookout for a new round of Hotmail accounts being hacked and suspicious links being sent to you from your contacts.
You might receive a message from a known contact that will contain a link to what initially appears to be a to a profile picture.
What it is actually doing is trying to get you to download a windows Trojan.
Hotmail Message from Hacked Account

The message you will receive could look something like the following:

The text will say something similar to the above: "ahha is this you?? hxxp://images-id.com/profile.php?=yahoo:shinerweb@yahoo.com"

How does the attack work?

If you receive the above message or similar, because it has come from a "trusted friend" in your Hotmail contact list, you are probably likely to believe the link to have come from them.
Most people will just click on the link, but don't worry, you haven't been hacked just yet. In this case of this attack it actually requires you to install it, but believe it not, many people will do just that.

In this instance, clicking on the link above will download a self-extracting zip file to your PC. (Yes, we are talking a Windows Trojan here).
But you still haven't infected your PC. You now have to actually run the self-extracting zip file by navigating to the location where it was downloaded and clicking on it. (Some chat programs allow you to open the downloaded file by simply clicking on it from within the chat program).
But you still haven't been infected if you do just that. All you have done is to extract the actual virus to your PC.
It still requires you to now navigate to where the file was extracted and open it.
Only now will you have infected your machine.

At the time of writing, only one anti-virus vendor was giving a warning, with two other vendors marking the file as suspicious.
It will take most of the leading Anti-virus companies up to another 6-12 hours before they release new definitions to catch this one.
It will probably be a few days before the rest of the bunch catch up with some taking up to a week.
So even if you have the most up-to-date virus definitions, you are not going to detect this trojan just yet.

Despite the number of manual steps involved in order to become infected, many hundreds of thousands of users around the globe will still do just that.
Some will do it primarily because the link and the files came from someone in their Hotmail contact list that they probably trust.

So why did my Hotmail contact send me this link?

Actually, your contact didn't. The bad guys have gained access to your contacts username and password and have control of their account.
There are a number of ways that the bad guys can gain access to these details.

Trojan: The payload in this instance is a trojan that installs other software to capture personal information from the infected machine. The user could already have been infected with this trojan or another similar and the Hotmail account details stolen (via a Keylogger for example).

Phishing: There have been a number of incidents already this year whereby legitimate sites have displayed adverts or malware inserted by the bad guys. This presents the visitor with a dialogue box very similar (almost an exact copy) of the Hotmail Login screen. The user then blindly enters their Hotmail Username and Password. The bad guys scripts will then usually display a failure message before redirecting the visitor the genuine Hotmail Login screen. But by this stage it is too late, they already have your Hotmail account details.

In this instance, this is what I suspect to have happened in that the user has fallen foul of a phishing attempt on a site they have recently visited.

The short answer is that your Hotmail contact did not send you the message. In fact, they probably have no knowledge what-so-ever of any messages being sent to you.
They will probably tell you that they didn't even have their computer switched on at the time so it could not have come from them.
The bad news is that it didn't need to be. The bad guys already have their username and password and they use a program of their own to login and send the messages from any computer they like.

At a later date, I will post an update on how to prevent or reduce the chances of falling foul of these types of attacks.
Some quick advice though is:

• Never to trust any files sent by friends no matter how much you trust them. It might not be them sending it in the first place.
• Always have your chat program configured to run an anti-virus scan of ALL downloaded and transferred files. (Though this would not have protected you in this instance).
• Any file you are not sure of, upload it to Virus Total and see what they have to say about it.
  

The information below is the technical information about how the virus works.

It happened to me last night around 12.30am.
It was my mobile number this time.
The phone rings twice, and then the call drops.
By the time I get to the phone, there is a missed call from 03598815400011

That is a number from Bulgaria and more than likely, a premium rate number.
I had a quick check online to see if there are any other reports on this number and low and behold, there are plenty. It does however appear to be a new number in use.

I was amazed to read some of the comments on one site and a few of the questions I have listed below:

"How do they get my number?"
"Why are they ringing me at that time of the morning? I'm not likely to answer".
"Why do they only let it ring once, I will never be able to answer the phone that quick"

Some people just don't seem to understand when they are about to be conned even when it jumps up and bites them on the nose.
They didn't "get your number".
And the reason why it only rings once is because they don't want you to pick it up and answer it.
(If you do, that costs them money and they don't want to actually spend any money, they just want to make as much as possible).

Here is a copy of my reply I posted in reply to one comment.

Well the quick answer is nobody special, although I get the impression that he probably is the kind of guy who thinks he is.
So what has he done to get up my nose? Well nothing major, so if you here for some gossip, move on, it’s just a rant from me.

I think it was 2006 or 2007 that I joined Ecademy which is a great UK based Business Social Networking tool (and here you can see my Ecademy Profile).

Retaggr so far appears to be the best site for placing all your contact points in one simple place.
I have multiple online personas, but Shinerweb/Chris A Wright are my main “personal” ID’s that I generally use online.

Sure am going to miss the guy… (for all the wrong reasons).

Still, I expect there is bound to be more fun ahead with 'Obi'

The following gave me a chuckle, and given the large number of Twitter accounts I run/manage, I was glad to see that no names were mentioned. It’s probably the one and only time I’m glad not to be mentioned in a tweet/post.

I must give credit to Ike Pigott (@ikepigott) for the idea of a "Top 10 People to Unfollow" list.  Although I can easily think of several individuals I’d like to place on this list, I figured it would be too mean to actually call them out by name (and possibly result in a libel suit).  So the list below contains ten archetypes that I’ve noticed on Twitter.

From the post “Top 10 List of People to Unfollow on Twitter” on the blog by Shannon Whitley.

I’m hoping I’ve never fallen into any of those categories, though looking at my main “personal” Twitter account, one or two (erm, try most) are getting pretty close to another Top 10 reason category of “Too Drab to be of any interest”.

Pop over to Shannon’s site and add any categories you can think of to the comments on that post.

Related articles by Zemanta

• To Tweet or Not to Tweet...Is That Even a Question?
• Social Media Museum has Bloggers all A-Twitter!

I am still here, just… Apart from being very ill the past few months (erm, let’s try apart from being ill since my last operation on January 8th which is more exact), I’ve been working on 10 new sites as well as a few new ventures with a couple of other people. I’ve also just come back from a 4 week residential pain management course at INPUT, St Thomas’ Hospital, London.  If you want to read all about that, you can follow my updates over at another blog of mine - “My Own Personal Pain”

Quite a lot has happened since my last post, and in fact it was when Pompey dropped out of the UEFA Cup last night that I remembered that the last time I posted was when the draw for the first round had been made (back in August 2008 - Pompey in the UEFA Cup).  I didn’t get to watch it last night, but I did catch poor old David James howler on the news this morning.  I think we can forgive him his error seeing as he probably earned us 75% of our points last season).

Anyway, I am hoping that I’ll be updating a lot more often over the next few weeks as I begin to put into practice what I learned at St. Thomas’.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Portsmouth's European adventure ended as Wolfsburg profit from defence lapses
• Brian Oliver: Pompey's ups and downs test jovial fans to the end

So Pompey have drawn Vitoria SC from Portugal in the UEFA Cup.
I could do with an away trip to sunny Portugal, just not so sure I could get away with it right now.
Oh well, I’m just glad that Pompey are in Europe for the first time in my life time that I can remember.
I shall just have to find out which non-terrestrial station will be broadcasting it and bemoan the fact that I don’t have a subscription for it.

The rest of the draw looks pretty good for British clubs too:

Portsmouth v Vitoria SC (Portugal)
Manchester City v AC Omonia (Cyprus)
Nancy (France) v Motherwell
Everton v Standard Liege (Belgium)
Litex Lovech (Bulgaria) v Aston Villa
Tottenham v Wisla Krakow (Poland)

Jogue acima o pompey, pompey jogam acima as they say in Portugal.

Image via Wikipedia

A few months back PIPEX changed my fixed IP address without warning. Ok, so I lost a few days in fault finding a few network issues when a few things stopped working because of the IP change. The fact that PIPEX changed my IP wasn't so much an issue, it was the fact that they never told me about beforehand. For operational reasons, I understand that sometimes an IP has to change, it just can't be helped. So I really wouldn't have minded. But to be not told beforehand is just bad business practice and causes a lot of unnecessary work. But PIPEX's ineptitude doesn't end there.

Image via Wikipedia

It must have been the third week of the summer school holidays in most places around the UK.  My wife was still working and wasn’t due her vacation for a few more days, so I had to keep the kids entertained until we could all do something together.
As is always the case this time of the year, the subject of "what to do and where to go" was all over the national and local news.

But I am confused?

Two adults, two children, 9-10 hours of watching top class motor racing at one of Europe's best racing courses (and I really do mean one of the top circuits in Europe!). Total cost? £24 (£20 if you had booked your tickets online). 

But the most confusing part, was that the place was virtually empty, and I mean really empty.  There were more family members of the drivers than actual visitors. I would even go as far as saying there were probably more circuit marshals than their were spectators.

Admittedly, the weather forecast for the day wasn't too good, but it wasn't that bad either. Yet again, perhaps people know just how crap the weather forecasts are in the UK because actually, the weather was horrendous. It was cold, windy and the rain came down like stair rods which played havoc with my back, but made for better racing rather than having just the one or two cars speeding off into the distance (as happens in F1).
We got to see drivers driving which sounds quite daft until you think about it.
There was also the small matter of the Olympics starting today, but I can't believe for one minute that people would have preferred to have watch that on television in preference to a day out.

So where was this all happening?

Just a quick post because I'm away from home right now, but I couldn't NOT say something about today's opening ceremony for the Olympics. So while I'm laying here waiting for my meds to kick in so I can slip into my drug induced 'haze' which I call sleep, I decided to give my congratulations to China on an amazing opening 2008 Olympic Ceremony.

Just how the heck the UK is going to compete with something like that I don't know. We'll be "knackered" for starters if we try and base it on our 'past' history.  We're probably responsible for 99.99% of all world cock-ups (colonisation, religious wars, slavery, corruption, etc etc)...  It should be fun seeing how we match up to what the Chinese did today.

It was fascinating to watch and even had all 3 of my kids glued to the TV for the whole even (which did surprise me).

Apparently China has "human rights" issues, and China has "a bucket load of other issues" according to a bunch of so called "perfect people" in some "perfect country".  Well hello...  Who are we to preach to anyone with our track record? (And that stands for both the US and the UK).  Who are we to impose our beliefs, our social and moral judgements on a country that basically 99.99% of us know absolutely nothing about. We (both the US and the UK) are not perfect, we don't live in a perfect world and hello, at least some people are at least open to change.

I hope that these games allow us to see China in a different light, a much better light than the media/governments would have us see.  The Chinese people are themselves are amazing and I wish them the best of luck with the Olympic games and hope it brings them the success that they deserve.  (To be honest, I have absolutely no knowledge what-so-ever of the Chinese Government on a personal level, only from some business dealings, so I base all my assumptions on the various Chinese people I have worked with or have come to know socially over the past few years).

$20 Billion is a lot of money I guess, and even I wonder if that money would have been better spent elsewhere, but then it is about more than just the money.  It's about the hope and belief that it brings to a country (and to all those taking part). It's about bringing the whole country together, which after the earthquake disaster has got to be a good thing. (Which won't be of any comfort to the families of the 20,000 people still missing). But who knows, it might give them something to focus on, to help them move on.  It might also educate the ROTW that the Chinese are not so different to the rest of us and it might actually bring us all that little bit closer.

"One World, One Dream"

We can only hope so.

This post was inspired by some work on one of my other sites but made me laugh so much it was worthy of being discussed here to.

We all get them, Paypal phishing emails that look like a mail from Paypal. When you click on them, they then take you to a site that looks like Paypal and when you enter your Paypal information, it gives you an error and redirects you back to the real Paypal site with you hopefully none the wiser... Except that you've now given the Phisher's your Paypal details...

So before I go any further, never ever click on a link in an email that subsequently is going to ask you to log in.

1. You get en email from "Company ABC".
2. Open your browser of choice.
3. Navigate to "Company ABC's" website.
4. Log in.
And you're done.

If you get into the habit of doing this, you can never ever fall prey to a phishing email.   
 
I'll say it once more just for effect, Never ever log in to a site that you have arrived from after clicking a link in an email.

Ok, warning out of the way, back to the main point for this post.
Earlier on today, I got a new format of Paypal phishing email.
The contents of which are quoted below:

Due to our recent database update we require that you confirm your PayPal account. The confirmation process takes 3-5 days.

So far, nothing new I thought...Here we go again and I look down for the usual phishing link, except I couldn't see one, so I read on.

We have taken this measure to reduce the number of the unused PayPal accounts in our database.

To confirm your PayPal account you must make a deposit in the bank account of our PayPal agent in charge with account management. The deposit amount of  $ 50.00 USD will be uploaded into your PayPal account.

So hold up...They want me to deposit $50.00 USD into their account and then they will pay it back to me.
hmmm, I'm starting to see a slight flaw in their plan already...

The details needed for the deposit are:

Amount to deposit: $50.00 USD
PayPal agent name: <details deleted>
Bank name: <details deleted>
Bank address: <details deleted>
IBAN: <details deleted>
SWIFT/BIO: <details deleted>

For security reasons, I've deleted various details from above, but in this case, they were all valid and did point to an existing foreign bank account with a valid name.

So just how exactly do the phishers collect their money?
Either someone else has been scammed and the bank account details belong to someone who has had them stolen or, the details actually belong to the phisher.

Now I know these people can be stupid, but I can't believe they would openly send out their own bank account details. Or are they that stupid? I'd like to think so, because that means by the time you read this, they are already hopefully locked up in some Gulag camp (now there is a clue as to where the bank account details were based which shouldn't surprise most of you).

But even if they weren't that stupid and the bank account belonged to some other poor soul who was totally unaware, surely there aren't enough people in the world dumb enough to fall for this for them to get enough money before the account was shut down.
The account is also in a country where I don't know what sort of relations the authorities in the west has.

Unfortunately, a great number of people do fall for these types of scams.It just beggars belief at the number of different methods that spammers and phishers will try in order to extort money from people.  What is more disheartening is that real people will fall for tricks like this.
So never ever click on a link from an email that subsequently wants you to log in.

For the techies out there: The email was sent using a compromised computer based in the US and the phishing website was being hosted on a Spanish server in Madrid. (They were probably distracted watching Spain at Euro 2008 or Nedal at Wimbledon).

I'm only just getting round to sorting out my old MyBlogLog account that I used to have on this blog.  I've been consolidating all my "Shinerweb" Social Networks and I'm afraid to say I nearly forgot about MyBlogLog .

One of the things you really need to check out on MyBlogLog is Connector.  I give up sometimes trying to work out where all my contacts on the various other social networks are.  I have multiple accounts on nearly all of the social networks, (which is why I'm currently setting up the "Shinerweb" Social Network for all the regulars I talk to).  I still need to keep my business contacts and business Social Networks, but I've built up quite a good number of new friends via my other accounts.  MyBlogLog's Connector should be a good tool to keep track of them in one place.

One thing I hadn't forgotten about was the take over of MyBlogLog by Yahoo a while back.  I needed to email support and I was dreading having to wait for some Yahoo tech with no knowledge of MyBlogLog, but nope, MyBlogLog support are still there working away.  It's not often you get great response times with replies from real people with a working knowledge of the problem, (as opposed to those canned replies from automated scripts that annoy the heck out me). So hats off to support and especially Tilly. 

Keep up the great work, and keep rolling out those new features.

It's a sad fact that more people in England celebrate St. Patrick's Day and even Bonfire Night than they do St Georges Day. 

I would also bet, most people don't even know who St. George was and when speaking to someone the other day, they didn't even know what a St. George Flag looked like.

So head on over to the St. Georges Day website and take part in their campaign!

So have a happy St. Georges Day...

God knows what we do to celebrate it though...
So I'm off for a cup of tea, some toasted crumpet and to watch a bit of Morris dancing.
Then I guess it'll be Guinness and a curry tonight (or should it be a kebab).

A few weeks back now, I made a rather large error in a post I made concerning a guy called Chris Miller and the problems he had with the airline Emirates .

Having emailed Chris a few times, I asked his permission to re-post his account to which he kindly agreed.

"Please think about this before you comment on any story published on a newspaper/tv media site:
Firstly can I start by saying that yes I am the person at the centre of the story. We had a perfect right to ask the airline for compensation based on the whole experience which you can see below. You should realise that going to the media will of course have ended any outside chance we had to get any compensation from the airline so we only went to the media because the attitude of Emirates was so appalling that we wanted to publicise how truly bad they were as a warning to other families.

Updated: 15th April 2008
This is a heavily edited version of the original post I made on the 6th April.
Usually, I don't completely edit a post, but then usually I don't write a post which completely slams someone when I've based the facts on something I read from one single source (in this case the BBC).

To be fair to the BBC, it was probably my interpretation of the article that was skewed in addition to the BBC not giving the 'complete' story.

Normally, this is just a personal blog full of "nothing" that no-one actually reads, it's just somewhere I can "let go", where I don't have to concentrate on as much as my commercial/business blogs.
Somehow I let my guard slip too far. I created this post in a few minutes and published it without due regard for the persons concerned.  The person mentioned below has since contacted me and given me the full story.  Now I know some of your will say, it's still only his side of the story, but the fact is, I made a rash post without the full facts, and that was entirely wrong for that reason alone.
I will publish his full story (with his approval) and I'll think you'll agree that (1) I was entirely wrong in judging him the way I did and (2) the story as presented by the British media did not give the full picture.

So first and foremost, before I make the edits, I offer my sincere apologies to Chris Miller and for any further problems this may have caused.

Here is an excerpt from a post made to a group that helps/deals with Malware reports on web sites.

I can no longer visit this site through google. "Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!" This is just a lie and I think we all know why this site is being persecuted. Keep your personal opinions and the opinions of your investors out of it. The deeper I dig in to the StopBadware.org manifesto the more obtuse your definitions become. A couple clicks and suddenly "Site may harm your computer" turns in to "contains or links to badware or otherwise violates Google's software guidelines." I hope someone sues you silly.

It just goes to show the general level of ignorance out there from people that:

1. Don't understand the size of the problem with regard to the sheer number of infected web sites.

2. Don't understand the dangers to there own machines when visiting such sites.

Infected Web Sites

In one case alone last week, 10,000+ sites were hacked and malware placed onto the sites.

In another case, a leading Advertising Agency that supplies adverts to 1000's of sites, unwittingly supplied an advert that carried malware.

And more alarmingly, a well known Anti-Virus/Spyware/Trojan Software manufacturer had it's own website hacked and malware placed on the site.

When Google or StopBadware report that there is malware on the site, you can bet that there is a very high probability that there is (or was at some point).  The false positive count is extremely low when you consider the number of sites that are listed.

The sky darkened and suddenly I was reminded of our 3 years in Texas.  I looked at my wife and said, "I think there's a storm a coming".  One of our friends was visiting and as we all looked out of the window, the first few hail stones began to drop.

Nothing ominous at first. In the last few weeks we've had a few hail/sleet showers, but looking at the sky you could tell this was going to be something a bit more substantial.

Sure enough, there was a crack of thunder immediately following by an increase in the size of the hail.  Now it was starting to remind us of Texas.  (Although I will add here, the hail today never approached the golf ball sized hail we once had in Fort Worth).




(Clicking on the images in this post opens up a larger version in the same window. Use your browser back button to return to the post)

Ok, so I open up today's spam mail folder and there at the top of the queue is a phishing email 'from' the NatWest Bank.

Clicking on the "log in" button takes you to a perfect replica of the NatWest site with a page for visitors to enter in their information to 'verify' their account.

The dead give away was the URL contained a non-NatWest looking domain.  What caught my eye this time, was the fact that I recognised the website that had been hacked.

http://www.companyA.com/folder/folder/natwest.com

rather than 

http://www.natwest.com

Rather than set up their own web server to 'host' the target bank web sites, one method the bad guys employ is to use a 'hacked' website.

In this case, the bad guys had obviously hacked their way into "Company A's" web server (who being an innocent party here, will remain anonymous).
They then uploaded their imitation "NatWest" bank site to which they would direct users from within the phishing email.
In this case, the phishing website would email any data entered into the fake form back to a central account which would be read by the attackers.

At the time of opening this email this morning, it already being detected by several anti-phishing filters, so at least those users would have been protected. (Note: If you haven't installed McAfee SiteAdvisor toolbar for Firefox or IE, then go do it now. It's free and it works).

A couple of years back I took advantage of an introductory offer on a .co.uk TLD domain name.
I can't remember the exact deal, but at the time it was something like £2 for a 2 year registration.

At the time, that was cheaper than my current registrar which worked out at about £1.99 per year, so £2 for 2 years wasn't to be scoffed at (especially when you are registering 50 or so .co.uk's a month).

The first of them is nearing renewal and so the 60 day renewal warning turned up in my inbox, and as I expected they increased their renewal price to £9.99 a year.  I'd already started the transfer to my current registrar so it wasn't a problem. As I said, I was expecting the hike, and I only registered with them to take advantage of saving a packet.

What I didn't expect was an email from Nominet.

Nominet is the Internet Registry for ALL .uk TLD's.

Here is an excerpt from a post made to a group that helps/deals with Malware reports on web sites.

I can no longer visit this site through google. "Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!" This is just a lie and I think we all know why this site is being persecuted. Keep your personal opinions and the opinions of your investors out of it. The deeper I dig in to the StopBadware.org manifesto the more obtuse your definitions become. A couple clicks and suddenly "Site may harm your computer" turns in to "contains or links to badware or otherwise violates Google's software guidelines." I hope someone sues you silly.

It just goes to show the general level of ignorance out there from people that:

1. Don't understand the size of the problem with regard to the sheer number of infected web sites.

2. Don't understand the dangers to there own machines when visiting such sites.

Infected Web Sites

In one case alone last week, 10,000+ sites were hacked and malware placed onto the sites.

In another case, a leading Advertising Agency that supplies adverts to 1000's of sites, unwittingly supplied an advert that carried malware.

And more alarmingly, a well known Anti-Virus/Spyware/Trojan Software manufacturer had it's own website hacked and malware placed on the site.

When Google or StopBadware report that there is malware on the site, you can bet that there is a very high probability that there is (or was at some point).  The false positive count is extremely low when you consider the number of sites that are listed.

How Safe Am I?

Gone are the days when the you could say, "But I don't use Internet Explorer, I use Firefox/Opera/Mozilla" or "I'm on a Mac/Linux" etc etc etc.

You must keep whatever system you use patched with the latest updates and with good Anti-Virus/Spyware and Rootkit detection. (If possible, use overlapping coverage from multiple products).

With one worm alone, during 2007 there were over 17,000 variants.   That's around 47 variants a day.  The worm went through multiple mutations a day !!

Most often a virus does not use a single attack vector, but will try a whole series of attacks looking at multiple security holes and it won't give in until it finds one.

Protection from the bad guys and ourselves

Not everyone is vulnerable to being infected and we are talking a very small percentage that are.  But a very small percentage of a large number of users is still a large number of machines that are being added to 'botnets' on a daily basis.  Some reports put this at hundreds of thousands of newly infected machines A DAY! And it's increasing.

Web site visitors must do their part in ensuring that their systems are fully protected, and web masters no matter whether large corporations or an "at home, one man band" must also ensure that their systems are fully protected. That includes any downloaded installations (such as blogs or forums).

Unlike the person above who appears to be in denial of any such problems, the responsibility lies at both ends of the browser! Don't become part of the problem, become part of the fight back!

Prince Harry is to be pulled out of Afghanistan after news of his secret deployment leaked out.

View Original Article

What has made me laugh about the press coverage are those arguing that the UK Media should never have kept it quiet because "the people" have a right to know.

A right to know what? This is not just Harry's life we are talking about here, what about those around him who would be put in danger. And what possible reasons could "the UK public" have for wanting to know where he is and what he is doing 24/7 365 days of the year.

Give me a break.  He's human, just like the rest of us. He leads a different life to pretty much everyone else, but why should he be denied his privacy.  (Obviously because of who he is and what he does there will be some aspects of this life that will always be public, but where do you draw the line ?)

Those same retards that are harking on about how it's some sort of cover up and a denial of freedom of information are probably the same bunch who would object to a National UK DNA database on the grounds of it being too much like a Police State activity.

There are some people that won't be happy until they have hounded Harry into doing something that will get him killed, not that it hasn't happened before... Let me see, who was his mother again?  Journalist scum who prey on peoples public lives are the lowest forms of life IMHO.

We seem to have lost the distinction between public and private and the media of this day and age seems to have no responsibility what so ever. Viewing figures and sensationalism are all that matters.

Good on Harry for going over there in the first place and kudos to the brass who had the balls to make the decision to send him.

I herd ;) it once, now you lot can suffer

The boys were playing indoor football again... And it was bound to happen, he says looking at them mowing the back yard for me...

Every bulb I use in this house came from one of the best online stores I've seen, not only for usability, but for the sheer numbers and types of GLS and CFL's they stock in their e-shop. 

I've just used my last spare bulb and on visiting the site, I see they stock a lot more items than when I last visited.

I spent ages looking for a new bulb for the oven a few weeks back and in the end gave up. None of the stores round here stocked one, and the guy in B&Q even tried to convince me that they "don't make em' like that anymore, can I interest you in a new oven sir..."

Having just logged into the ebulb shop, they jumped out at me, and low and behold, my lamp is the second one down on the list.  Looks like I'll be ordering a couple of them as well.  ebulb is just that... it's not just CFL's, I reckon if you get light from it, they'll stock it.

You can tell its been a few months (years??) since I last checked that site.  I've just spent a good while looking at all the new stuff they stock.

Never ever buy a bulb from your supermarket or dare I say your local DIY shop.  Even if they are non-filament type, I don't have any faith that they haven't been throwing around the boxes that the bulbs were supplied in.
A few weeks back when I was away, my wife bought two new bulbs from a large well known supermarket and both bulbs were broken, when she went back to change them, she found that most of the bulbs on the shelves were damaged in some way.  It was like someone had been playing football with them, (and no, my two boys were not with her).
She didn't realise I had a box of spares out in the garage (which was the original box supplied from ebulbshop.
That's the other thing about buying from a specialist. They not only can give you the best advice on which product you need, they also know how to look after the product right up until it reaches your front door. 

So how many friends do you have on Facebook?

For those web masters or indeed visitors out there that are not aware, StopBadWare.org is a site that lists sites that contain malware.  This article doesn't discuss how they malware got there, but more the way that Google lists them in its index.

StopBadware.org is a "Neighborhood Watch" campaign aimed at fighting badware. We will seek to provide reliable, objective information about downloadable applications in order to help consumers to make better choices about what they download on to their computers. We aim to become a central clearinghouse for research on badware and the bad actors who spread it, and to become a focal point for developing collaborative, community-minded approaches to stopping badware.

From: StopBadware.org

When a site is listed in Google as having badware on it, a warning is displayed similar to the following:

The contentious part of the above warning is the "This site may harm your computer".
When you click on the link within the Google index to a badware infected site, Google actually displays an information page telling you why you should not visit the site. (Note: I have purposely masked the name of the site above in order to protect the web site owner from being mentioned, the reasons why are discussed below).

If you want to see a warning for yourself, just go to the StopBadware.org site. In the search box, enter ".co.uk" for the search term.
Copy the 'domain name part' part of it but do not include the TLD and enter it in a Google search box.  (So if the domain was www.example-alien-web-design.co.uk, search for "example alien web design" not "example-alien-web-design.co.uk".
This 'should' display a list of search results which will have the warning displayed.
Then click the search result to see the warning page.

My personal thought is that Google should just temporarily remove the site listing from the index rather than apply a label against that site.
You have to ask why Google apply that label and prevent 'its' users from clicking on that link within it's index.
I can only guess at the following:

• Google wishes to protect its users from visiting a site that has malware on it.
  (Google has checks in place, or one would hope that they do, that prevents falsely labelling a site as hosting malware).
  
• Google is also expressing it's desire to help remove malware from the 'internet' by contacting and informing web masters of malware upon the sites it finds.
  It doesn't just list web sites, it does make a concerted effort to contact the web master of the site involved.

Google do have a right to stop users from visiting those sites infected, as potentially one could argue that they could be held responsible for forwarding its users to a site which ultimately costs the visitor time/money or both.
The problem is, that web masters feel that the label Google applies next to their entry in the index causes damage to the reputation of that web site as well as a loss of income. 

So why does Google apply a label?
Some have argued that it is the quickest method to ensure that the web master contacts them and the problem sorted.
(Sticking a big red flag next to your site does tend to bring it to your attention rather quickly when your users start complaining to you, OR, as should be happening, a good web master will find this out when he does his daily/weekly check).

I would rather Google remove the entry from the index altogether, not stick a "label" against the entry.  You can't visit the site from the link in the index anyway (without a spot of cutting and pasting - at least you can't in Firefox with my setup).You could say the link in the index is non-functional, so why bother putting it there in the first place?
Removing the infected site from the index achieves both points from above.

• It prevents Google users from visiting the site.  The result is simply not returned.
  It is no different from the supplemental index, or at least very similar to the supplemental index.
  After all, the StopBadware database is exactly that. It is an index of sites that contain or are believed to contain malware.
  Just like the supplemental index, the results are still there, but you have to search for them in a specific index. 
  
• Google can still contact web masters and let them know that their site has been placed into the 'malware' index as before.

The removal or placement into the "malware" index would be temporary. Rather than display a warning, it doesn't display anything.  No harder to code than it is at present. 

Any decent web master will be monitoring his PR and his SERP placement.  Suddenly dropping off the main Google index should be pretty obvious to them.
And if his visitors complain that they are not finding the web site in the index, that too should draw the web masters attention to a possible problem.

Google will still be trying to contact the web master and the web master should also be encouraged to join Webmaster central (http://www.google.com/webmasters/) to keep an eye on their site anyway...

However, web masters have no right what so ever to complain about the damage to their reputation.  Malware is a problem, and is far more serious to their users than a lot would lead you to believe.  Ok, you could say that around 85% of your visitors would be vulnerable to being attacked by malware (due to the browser type, security settings and whether javascript is enabled). Of of that 85%, at least 50% of them would be very vulnerable, due to no firewall, no or an outdated Antivirus/Antispyware.
So there would be a large percentage of your visitors that could potentially be damaged or effected by malware.

• You cannot say that some malware is less harmful than others.
  Malware is malware. Plain and simple.
  
• You cannot say I have a set of known visitors and I know them to be safe.
  (You are complaining about being in the Google index, therefore you are potentially available to everyone who has access to the Google index).

What damage would be done to your reputation IF, one of your users blogger on a popular forum that they went to www.example.com and they got hacked.  That www.example.com has no protection, or www.example.com has bad security. Or they blame www.example.com for them installing the malware on their computers (regardless of the fact that www.example.com had NO knowledge of the exploit in the first place).
At least an entry in the Google index as at present is temporary and will be removed once Google are assured that the malware has been removed.
An entry on a web site would be within the index for a lot longer (if not ever).
And that's if there was just one entry on one blog.  What you would do if your sites name was spread around the web by a disgruntled visitor (who was infected as a result of visiting your www.example.com)
There is no argument that the web master purposely allowed their site to become infected.
A web master of a major site earning major money will be running a much more secure system than a small time web hosting company (on a dedicated server or a shared web hosted account).  They are less likely to be the victim of an attack.
So it could appear that Google are against the smaller web hosts and web masters since you won't find big web sites listed. That is simply not the case. 
It is just the simple fact that the smaller web site, web host or web master is more vulnerable to attack since they cannot or do not spend money on massive security defenses against malware attacks.

A web master has a responsibility to protect the visitors to their site. (Whether they rely upon the web host to do this , or whether they takes charge is another matter for discussion).
Google have the same responsibility to it's users. They have chosen to protect their users by displaying a warning and not giving a clickable link to the infected web site.

I'd like to hear from Google as to why they chose the method they did, and for them to state why they don't just remove the link temporarily from the index.

A soldiers Story (fictional)

You're on your last patrol before your unit returns home after a 9month stint in Iraq.  You're on point covering for your squad as they return to the Warrior after inspecting a suspected arms dump on the outskirts of Basra.

Spirits are high because tonight's scran in the mess tent will be the last meal before you get home to your mum's Sunday roast.  In 8 hours, you'll be on the plane home in to the arms of the family you've been away from for so long. 

Your squad mates begin shouting, they are pointing towards 3 youths running out of a nearby building.  You are almost at the Warrior when there is an almighty 'whoosh', followed by a loud explosion.

 

When you open your eyes, you find yourself 20ft away from the Warrior.  You can't focus on anything, you can't hear anything. The dust is settling and you begin to see your surroundings. You try to clear the dust from your eyes, but there is something wrong. You look down towards your hand and there's nothing there. In a panic, you try to stand, but you fall over.  The bottom of your left leg is missing. In pain you slump down to the ground as the rest of your unit reaches you.

The next time you wake, you find yourself in the Military Hospital in Basra.  The medics have had to amputate your right arm from below the elbow, you've lost the left leg below the knee, and you are blind in your right eye.
After a week or so, you are transferred to the facility at Headley Court.

The above could have happened to any number of our serving personnel in Basra or in fact any of the current overseas theatre of operations.  But in this case, it's a fictional story. But there have been many of our service personnel over the years who have and are still going through similar experiences.

But the hardship doesn't end there. Once the injured personnel come back to the UK, there is yet more pain to endure, but this time by the families of the victims themselves. 
Often families have to travel hundreds of miles to visit their loved ones.  Living in a hotel or bed and breakfast is fine for a brief business trip or a short holiday, but when the family themselves are having to deal with the emotions involved with supporting an injured loved one, it creates unwanted stress.

In the US an organization known as "The Fisher House" exists which quotes the following on their web site.

Supporting America's military in their time of need, we provide "a home away from home" that enables family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful time -- during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury

Headley Court and the SSAFA

RAF Headley Court near Epsom in Headley, Surrey, England deals with with UK Military Forces personnel with physical disabilities obtained during service, and also deals with patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

With a dedicated staff of around 200, the care it provides is essential to the recovery of the personnel.  In 2005, Major David Bradley of the Princess of Wales‘s Royal Regiment was given a five per cent chance of survival as a result of injuries received whilst on duty in Iraq during 2004. Headley Court played a vital part in ensuring he had the best chance of recovery.

Having family around you during recovery is an important factor (and I know this from personal experience). Not only do families have to deal with looking at the some times horrific injuries to their loved ones, many patients will often reject the attention of their families, pushing them away as a result of their injuries, which causes further stress. 

The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) exists in the UK to help out where ever it can.

The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) Forces Help is the leading national charity committed to helping and supporting those who serve in our Armed Forces, those who used to serve, and the families of both.  We provide a reliable, caring and trusted service to more than 50,000 people each year.

36 Grays Lane

 The SSAFA were hoping to provide a home away from home for the family members visiting loved ones being treated at Headley Court, but met with some unexpected resistance from local residents.

It appears that a bunch of NIMBY's have been coming up with all sorts of reasons why 36 Grays Lane should not be used by SSAFA.  To see some of their reasons, visit the 36grayslane web site.

36grayslane has been set up to highlight the actions of the Management Company representing the local residents and to gain support for the SSAFA campaign.
If ever there was a perfect example of the phrase NIMBY, they are it.

It as if they don't want their neighborhood spoiled by having "the lower class" families of our service personal living in their area.
None of their concerns expressed (detailed at this page at 36grayslane have any merit what so ever.

Every single resident who has signed up in protest to the SSAFA proposal should be given a guided tour of Headley Court and spend time with the visiting families.

Each of the residents who signed up, should be ashamed of their selfishness and total disrespect for the families of our service men and women who have given more than most to protect our beliefs and interests.

The people at 36grayslane have a guestbook that you can sign to show your support.

There is also a petition set up on the 10 Downing Street E-Petition site.

The rest of the UK needs to show those residents of Grays Lane who are objecting just how pathetic their actions are.

I wouldn't mind if they founded their objections on anything reasonable, but they are not. Laughable at best.
If it were a travelers camp, nightclub, sex shop or something similar to those, I could see their argument. But the truth of the matter is that the house run by SSAFA would hardly be noticeable. Their argument shows snobbery and contempt beyond belief.

When we first moved to the US we were offered a 'cultural exchange' course.  At first we thought things can't be that different, after all, they do speak "English".
After living their for a few weeks you do begin to see differences between the way we live.  Obviously you would expect there to be some differences, you just don't think about all the little things.

Take the good old postman.  Post is post right? Here in the UK we expect our mail to be delivered in the morning, (although gone are the days of first and second post, where if you didn't get your mail in the morning, you'd hope it would come later on that day).  Then there are the old jokes and stories of postman being attacked by dogs as they made their way to the front door.  In the UK, when I want to post something, I have to go to the post office or find a post box.  There are 1000's of postboxes dotted all around the country, some dating back hundreds of years.

Now they still have the humble postman in the US, but delivery and pickup is much different than here in the UK.  I actually preferred the US version, (though I am not saying the UK doesn't do a bad job).  

At our house in Texas, we had a box similar to the one shown which was a Locking Mailbox.

Every house would have their own mailbox at the end of their drive.
Some places would have them attached to the house, but in our area, most were curbside. Some just had a box on a post, others had the builders leave enough bricks so that the postbox matched the house.

The mail vans were all right hand drive and the driver sat at a height whereby he just drove past each post box and delivered the mail without even getting out of his van. 

In apartments or gated communities, there was often a central mail collection point.

So rather than your mail being delivered to your door, when you left for the morning and/or on your return at night, you would drive by the post collection point and pick up your post from the security mailboxes.

Unless you actually wanted to buy some stamps, or drop off a large parcel or letter, when you wanted to post something, you would leave it in your post box.  Each post box would have a flag that you would raise to let the postman know you had mail to collect.  On his rounds, he's see the flags, drop by and pick up your mail to send.

We brought our dogs back from the US with us and they just cannot get used to some stranger stuffing paper through our letter box in the front door.  Most often they will just rip the letters out of his hand before he gets a chance to drop them. Whereas in the US, they never got near the postman because he was tucked safely away inside his van (and the dogs were usually out the back yard).

It was only because I came across a web site that it got me thinking about it.
Click on the image below had check out the different kinds of postboxes that you can get in the US.  All we have is a slot in the door/doorframe !!

Over at RealTravel.com they have a great online trip planner that allows you to build your itinerary for your complete trip.

Once you have added all of your intended destinations, you can sort out the dates and route that you intend to take.
They also have a great dynamic route map that shows your planned trip in an easy to follow layout.

When trying to organize a trip like this, one of the hardest parts is having to visit multiple sites to find all the information you need.  I've used the site to plan an upcoming trip, and the trip planner made the whole thing painless.

And if you are unsure of the place you are visiting, there are plenty of reviews and photographs from others who been there previously.

It even allows you to create your own notes and any other useful links that you find and save them with your itinerary.

Once you have saved your trip, you can email it to friends and family to keep them informed about your trip. (A great idea for young people to keep parents aware of your plans).

What with all the recent rain and floods of late, I've just only found a great site for checking out the latest UK Weather Radar.

There is one at the UK Met Office but the advantage of the new one I found at Meteox is that they provide an RSS Feed (see below).

They also allow you to define your UK location using a neat Google Map API interface to give a picture of your actual location.

With the weather coming up this weekend, it might be a good idea to use something like this to keep an eye on the rain.

If you want to use the following JS on your site, just cut and paste the following code into your template where you want the feed to be used:

<script language="JavaScript" src="http://yaps4u.net/feed2js/
feed2js.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Frss.meteox.co.uk%2F&chan=y&
num=1&date=y&html=a" type="text/javascript">
</script> 

<noscript>
 <a href="http://yaps4u.net/feed2js/feed2js.php?
src=http%3A%2F%2Frss.meteox.co.uk%2F&chan=y&num=1&date=y&
html=y">View RSS feed</a> 
</noscript> 

He qualified first at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, the first Englishman to do that for 11 years.

In the very last lap of qualifying (by all of the drivers), he drove superbly and beat Kimi Raikkonen by 0.102seconds.
(Raikkonen probably robbed himself of pole position by hitting the dirt in the very last bend).

Lewis probably gained half a second from the support of the local home crowd as evident by the massive roar that could be heard as he crossed the line at the end of Q3.

For someone so young to handle the immense media pressure is a testament to Lewis, his father (and family) and the support from McLaren.

I keep waiting for him to make a mistake and throw the car off the track, but the more pressure there is, the better he seems to perform.  8 podiums in 8 races is a dream start for a rookie in his first full season of F1 racing.

But as much as I want him to win this afternoon (1pm July 08th 2007), I have a sneaky feeling that in an effort to keep up with the apparently faster Ferrari's of Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, today is the day when a podium finish will elude him. If it does happen, it will be interesting to see how he handles the disappointment in his home Grand Prix.  Only Lewis knows what he himself is capable of, and only he knows what his level of expectation is.  Of course he has to go out there each race believing he is 100% capable of winning or there would be no point.
Take Jenson Button who yesterday was alleged to have claimed he would quit F1 rather than be content with finishing 8th every race.  When you believe you have the ability to win, but don't have the car to do it, things can be very difficult.

But the F1 following expect Lewis to win today, more so the British contingent.  The disappointment of not winning today, would be bad enough, not finishing on a podium would be unthinkable, and not finishing at all would be a total disaster. But is this how Lewis thinks, or is he really that level headed to know this is just his first season and that everything that has happened so far is a bonus.  Don't forget, Lewis has been prepared for F1 racing for years, so he's not where he is at the top of the F1 Driver standings for no reason. He is there because the guy has the skill and determination to succeed.

Of course I don't want him to fail today, I'll be there screaming out loud when he crosses the line in first. But at the same time, it would be a massive test of his character if he did fail today, and would let us know what he is really made of.  For him to finish in every race in a podium position in his first season would be something extraordinary.  

Images From: http://www.mclaren.com/interactive/wallpapers.php

PLANS TO MARK THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE LONDON BOMBINGS

The second anniversary of the attacks will be marked by a public act of remembrance and opportunities for private reflection.  Tessa Jowell, the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy will formally mark the second anniversary of the atrocity by laying flowers at Kings Cross station at the time of the bombings.

7th July Assistance Site

There will be no national 2 minutes silence this year, but that shouldn't stop each one of us from reflecting on past events and ensuring that we do something to help prevent this from happening again.

I hated that damn thing when I was a kid. We had a guy in our class who could solve the thing with his eyes shut, it wasn't worth competing with him (at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).
Only way I could ever solve it was by peeling all the damn stickers off.

I don't know whether the thing above can actually solve it, or whether it's just a simple, muck it up, and then reverse it's changes (screen doesn't match the cube).
See, I hate it that much, I'm still skeptical about people solving the damn thing.

Those damn nightmares are going to return again...

We are about 30-40mins west of Wimbledon, so when it rains here, with the direction of the wind and clouds, you can bet that the covers will be going on pretty soon.

One such time, it began raining really heavy outside, so I went out the back yard for a quick check of the sky to see this fairly young stag about 30ft away at the end of my garden.
 

He walked off into the maize that the local farmer is growing this year and stood and watched me for ages. 

If it had not be absolutely throwing it down with rain at the time, (and if I had recharged the batteries in my camera), I would have taken more photo's.

He comes round quite often of late. I guess he's been kicked out of the woods by the older stags so he's off trying to find his own new patch.

It wasn't until a few months back that I realised just how many deer there are in Bramley Woods.  I was walking my two dogs and as I turned into one of the fields, there must have been hundreds of dear just ambling around in the middle of the field enjoying the sun and eating the new grass.  They didn't mind the two dogs until we got within a few 100yards of them , when they just bounced off back into the woods.

Earlier on in the day, I had already seen a Green Woodpecker on a tree in the neighbours garden.  I could hear a tapping on the tree and there this was.  Usually they are quite timid and have only got hear the slightest noise and they are off.  But this one I think had a few youngsters waiting for it in the field.

Again it was absolutely throwing it down with rain and was standing against a fence under a tree in my back garden.  I took these on min the way aximum digital zoom and low resolution.

And a few days before, one of the Red Kite's was flying over.

We have about 4 of them living around here and every now and then they will soar on the thermals above the fields (assuming that there is any sun, which for the last few weeks we haven't seen much of). In fact I really should upload a picture of the damn thing so I can remind myself what it looks like. I'm sure the last time I saw it in anger was in France a few weeks back.

Again, this photo was taken at the maximum range of my zoom, but you can still make out the profile.

They look absolutely amazing close up and I often spend an hour or so watching them soaring. Clicking on the last image of a Red Kite will take you the the UK's best Red Kite web site. (Note: If you couldn't tell by the standard of the last picture, I didn't take it and I 'borrowed' it from their web site)

It was my first time to Omaha beach and to say it was a very humbling experience is an understatement.

We had arrived towards the end of the years D-Day Remembrance 'celebrations' so there were quite a few visitors to the American D-Day Museum and Cemetery.

You've seen the films, read the book, watched the series on UK History, but nothing prepares you for the sheer scale of the place.

Standing at the top of the hill where 1000's if not more soldiers from both sides died leaves you with a rather dry lump in your throat.  Arriving at the top of the hill, you can only imagine the look of the awaiting German forces as they witnessed the mass of boats coming towards them.

When you are standing on the beach looking back up the hill, you can't even appreciate the nerves it must have taken to even get off the landing craft and attempt to attack the hill.

I believe the beach is 6.9miles long. The day we were there, there must have been less than 20 people visible along the whole beach.  It was so quiet, peaceful and there is absolutely no evidence of the action that took place some 63 years previous.

My two boys who are very interested in that era as most young boys are were visibly moved by what they saw.  It was no longer an Xbox game where they could hit 'restart' and the game would begin again when they "died".  This was reality for them.
In the museum at the top of the hill, you could sit and watch footage taken at the time of the landings.  They sat for ages listening to the real soldiers tell their own stories.  There was no glorification, no Hollywood spin applied.  It wasn't gory, nor horrific, but they left with tears forming in their eyes as did I.

I think every world leader, politician or in fact every man, woman and child should visit Omaha Beach, (or any of the Normandy Beaches or just any battlefield). 

They should be allowed to walk the cemeteries alone and consider what those who went before us gave up so that we may live in the name of peace. 
Yet when we look at events that are going on in the world today, do we really live in peace?
Is there any need for war and the death, destruction and misery it causes. 

I left Omaha Beach with more questions than answers. It taught me humility when I wasn't really expecting it.  Those who control, start or fuel wars are never the ones at the front line. I think if they were to see what really goes on, you'd would at least hope they would think twice about starting something that causes so much death and destruction.

I've served in the Royal Navy and am very proud of doing so.  If you were to ask me to do so again now, I probably wouldn't.  Yet, I would do anything to defend my family and my way of living, so I contradict myself.  It is those responsible for the wars and violence who need to see and understand the consequences and perhaps one day there would be no need for all the suffering that it causes.

A Southampton licensee is hoping to get round the smoking ban by declaring his pub is ‘foreign soil’.

Source: http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.asp...

This article made me laugh, quite a novel idea to try and get round the upcoming smoking ban.

By declaring his pub as an Embassy, it would be classed as foreign soil, and therefore not covered by UK law.  Does that mean that all his drinks would be tax free too?

 A later article does quote a British Foreign Office official as saying:

Redonda is a territory of Antigua and Barbuda, and so is not entitled to an embassy.

Shame... Apparently he does have some other tricks up his sleeve.

http://www.antigua-barbuda.org/

 I just might and find some space on the beach in Antigua and smoke instead. Not sure if it would be legal though ;)  (And I'm not talking about a law forbidding smoking in public places either).

I've been in France for a vacation and was checking a few emails I missed while away. One included a link to a blog that had this YouTube Video of Paul Potts singing Opera in the ITV Show Britains Got Talent.

The guy was a night shift Tesco's shelf stacker, then working for the Carphone Warehouse and man can he sing... He says he has spent some £20,000 on training and has had some experience of public performing before, but certain events robbed him of a career in Opera.
Well that was before he won the ITV competition and good luck to him. Just the look of "here we go, some guy trying to sing opera" on the faces of the judges, and then the look of astonishment when he began, was worth watching.

I have only seen this one episode of the show, and have only just noticed the US version and hadn't even heard of it before last week. I don't watch that much TV, but glad someone pointed this out to me..

There is more video (better quality) on the ITV Website. That's one show/episode I wished I had watched.

This is a partial extract from an article I've written for another website.

You can find the full article available here (PDF | WORD | OOD)

Why you should never use an ISP Mail address for Business

As a member and contributor to various Anti-"spam" forums, this is a subject that often appears.
Now unless you have some technical understanding of how mail works, it is not surprising that many people are not aware of the pitfalls surrounding email.

This document will discuss the issue of using any ISP for email, and examine the various other options available.

The title was intended to be contentious in order to provoke the reader into understanding the concept of why it is potentially harmful to your business not to understand the effects of not controlling your email. It must also be made clear that there are good ISP’s out there with which you could have no problems what so ever, but the points raised below still hold true for ANY ISP.

Contact Email Addresses on your Web Site.

Most companies will provide an email address on their web site as a means of contact.
There are a couple of main reasons why this can lead to problems.

• Masses of “spam”.

• Users unable to send mail to the address.

• User sends mail, but it's not received by you.

Getting No Replies to your Mail?

Imagine you have received an inquiry from a customer.
You send a reply, but never hear anything back.
You send a further reply, but still nothing back.

Or imagine you send out a newsletter from your own ISP mail account.
But you have a really low return rate.

Does this mean that your customers are just not interested in you now?
(Then why would they contact you in the first place).
The chances are that the customer never received your mail in the first place.

You can find the full article available here (PDF | WORD | OOD)

Ok, it's that time again when I have to think of somewhere to go for a short weekend break.

I've used a lot of holiday type sites, but a great one was pointed out to me the other day.

EasyToBook concentrates on Barcelona, Amsterdam and Rome and because of that it has a lot more information about the hotels the places themselves.

Have a look at the details for Park Plaza Victoria Hotel Amsterdam and you will see what I mean.
This 4-star hotel has load of great information, maps and pictures to help you choose.

The site also claims no booking fee, which considering the very competitive prices is pretty damn good.

I recently sent my parents to Barcelona for a break and they enjoyed it will probably go back.
The last time I was there (6-7 years ago), was to watch Chelsea play Barcelona in the Champions League.
Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel Barcelona was a Hotel recommended to me if I ever go back, so I might pop to EasyToBook and check it out.

TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been criticized by the media watchdog Ofcom for using a term which was "capable of giving offence to homosexual people".

Ofcom said there was "no justification for using the word in this way".

Last year, he was cleared of making a racist slur about Germany because this was adjudged to be amusing rather than offensive.

From: Clarkson rapped over 'gay' jibe | BBC News

Now Ok, let me get this right...
You can't make jokes about homosexual people, because that is offensive.
But you can make jokes about the Germans, because that is funny?

Now I know some homosexuals would have found his comment funny.
I also know some Germans who would have found his comments offensive.

So just how did Ofcom determine which was right and which was wrong...
Either you allow some people to be offended or none at all.
You can't have one rule for one lot, and another rule for the others.

Do you think it has something to do with the fact that the head of OfCom is called "Manfred Von PenisTrappen" ?
Ok, maybe not... but please... let's have it one way or the other..
Plus, it's Jeremy Bloody Clarkson for godsake, you can't take anything he says seriously unless it's the technical specs of a car he's describing...

There must be a lot of gay people in the Green party that objected just for the fact it was Mr. Clarkson, and I guess that also means there can't be many Germans.

PC gone mad...

I don't care either way.  Personally I don't take offense at either remark (because funnily enough, I'm not gay and I'm not German).

Homophobia = bad.
Racism = good.

So I can't say "that car handled a tadge limp-wristed", but I can say "it had more holes in it that the German Army at Dunkirk and the 1966 German World Cup Squad defense"....

I should start a petition to get all Germans to contact Ofcom and complain.
Bloody ridiculous and a waste of bloody money.

When I was living in the US, one of the stores we occasionally visited for our shopping was Target. I suppose the UK equivalent was the BHS / Sainsburys combination stores, (sometimes called SavaCenters).  These days, most of the large UK stores (Tesco's, ASDA's, Sainsburys and Morrisons), all seem to do similar things, but still not quite on the scale that we saw in Texas, (and no, not just because everything is bigger in Texas)...

Target used to have grocery, clothing, household goods, electrical goods and various other products all under one massive roof.
It wasn't the regular place you would do your normal grocery shopping, since the local Wally's (Walmart) was a lot closer.

Well a spooky thing happened the other day, a colleague of mine in Australia mentioned that his local Target was going to be stocking a range of designer clothing by Josh Goot and Sally Green, the author or The Chic Alert had done an article on it.

Josh Goot at Target ?  Why so spooky? Because I happened to have the radio on at the time and they were doing a piece on the upsurge of Josh Goot at the very same time he mentioned it to me.

Josh is an Australian fashion designer, but his clothes are also featured at a number of stores in London, and I think they were talking about that on the radio.

Small world.

Anyway, check out Sally's article because it has all the real fashion news about it.
Me, I know nothing about fashion...

http://findmadeleine.com/ went live today to help with the hunt to find Madeleine McCann.

Pass the site link around to those you know.

We are only a few weeks away from this years holiday, but an email from a friend in the US has me thinking about where to go next year.
They are off to Hawaii in a few weeks and he was telling me about the Hawaii beachfront cottages available to view online at Hawaiian Beach Rentals where he found his cottage.

Now to us Brits, a trip to Hawaii seems a bit beyond us, but to most Americans its as common as a day trip to the beach would be for us.  
Hawaii to the Americans is within easy reach even though it could be many 100's if not 1000's of miles away from their homes.
It's not that far away from the UK other than an 8 hour flight and price wise, it can be as cheap as many European holiday destinations.

But when you look at what the island has to offer, it far surpasses anything that Europe could provide. 

And one of the advantage of using Hawaiian Beach Rentals is that you can avoid the large holiday hotels where you often end up fading into the masses that would be staying there.

You can choose between a Maui condo or Kauai vacation rental home, you can find any type of holiday home to suit your needs, and within your budget too.

 When you look at something like this home, it's hard to believe that it probably costs less than most hotels.  It would be like a home from home and yours for the whole time of your stay.

And you get to buy your own food and that can be a lot cheaper than most hotel food, but that won't stop you from eating out in the 100's of top class restaurants along the many beach fronts and towns.

It's something that we are going to seriously look at for next year, and Hawaiian Beach Rentals will be one site we'll be spending plenty of time on.

I've resisted posting about the abduction of Madeleine McCann because the whole subject chills me to the bone.  I'm a 6'4", 17st ex-Royal Navy, ex-Rugby playing 'built like the preverbal outhouse' kinda guy, but every news report I hear or see about Madeleine cuts right through to my core and has me looking to see where my own 3 children are.  No one can comprehend what the whole family are going through.  If Madeleine has one ounce of the strength and character of her parents, she'll get through this.

Anyway, I happened across this information today and it could be an important identifying feature.  Send these images to everywhere you can think of. Ping every social book marking service you can think of.  Link to the images below, or the images at the Sky News link below.

We want a copy of these images in every persons inbox and on every persons web site.

Picture at http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91210-12654...

If you have any information about her whereabouts, please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 UK
+441883731336 Outside UK

Help find Madeleine McCann

To download a copy of the Madeleine McCann campaign poster please click here.

Para fazer o download do poster da campanha para encontrar Madeleine McCann, por favor clique aqui.

Para bajarse una copia del poster de la campaña de Madeleine McCann, cliquen aquí.

Pour télécharger une copie de l’affiche publicitaire de Madeleine McCann, veuillez cliquer ici.

From: http://www.ceop.gov.uk/mccann.html

When you search any popular search engine, the results are varied, cluttered and full of results that you generally have no interest in.

Masterseek is a business to business search engine.  Basically it's a yellow pages of nearly all the business links and information that you would ever need or want.  It's global too, so you are not restricted to a specific country.  To that effect, it has a nifty little search for quick searches, and a simple to use Advanced search when you really know what you are looking for, but just don't know where to find it.

To quote from their website

Masterseek® Business Search Engine

Masterseek’s global search engine provides quick and free access to company profiles, contact information, and descriptions of products and services from more than 45 million companies in 75 countries.
You can also search in your own country or worldwide and find business partners, sales opportunities and new avenues to expand your business and increase your company’s profitability
Enter your company profile and showcase your products and services to the global community

Check out masterseek for yourself.

Is it real this time? Can you really get paid for blogging?
No, I don't mean, you sign up and post on someone else's blog and they pretend to pay you in shares or something.
Or, no, I don't mean you join 1000's of other mugs who sign up and basically provide the parent sites content (which they then sell on at 100x what they paid you, or they rake in bucket loads of PPC revenue).

I mean you get paid to blog about what you choose to blog about on your own blog.

If you are going to write something on your blog anyway, what is the harm in checking on Bloggerwave, seeing if your topic is on there and getting paid a few pennies anyway.  Even if its a miserable $10, that's double what you probably (should) be paying for your monthly web hosting costs.  Write one of those a month and all your web hosting is free.

And it might even get you into the habit of blogging more regularly. 
It's a brand new site, but I was asked to check it out for a client of mine.
Sign up process was easy, nice user interface and all in all it appears a pretty good bet.

Remember, you don't have to pay them anything, you just have to post like you was going to do anyway. So what you got to lose just for looking? 
Check out Bloggerwave and make your own mind up...

I was just about to send out a task to the guy that writes articles for me today when at the last moment I thought I would check out the web site requested.

Basically the job description said something along the lines of :

Ashleysboutique.com sells inspired by handbags of Louis Vuitton, Coach, Prada, Gucci, etc. Our target market is USA fashion conscious women.

Fair do's said I.  Should be simple for them to complete.
But then visiting the web site I notice that they sell Replica Purses, Knockoff Handbags, Knockoff Wrist Bands and much much more.  I didn't realize that inspired in the job description actually mean 'knockoff' or 'replica'.  Now 'knocked off' in the UK means stolen, but these goods don't appear to be stolen.

Now admittedly, they do not hide this fact.  And since the site is based is hosted in Canada, perhaps these are legal copies of the originals and what the site is doing is legal too.

When you compare the prices of the goods at Ashleysboutique.com  to those at the original artists sites, there is a big big difference.

Louis Vuitton: luxury leather luggage, French fashion designer

Coach Leather Goods

Prada

Gucci

Now I wonder what these sites think of Ashleysboutique.com.  The site isn't new, so you would think that if it 'were' illegal in the US/Canada, it would have been shut down a long time ago.

Go visit the site and see for yourself.  If it were not for the price, you couldn't tell the difference. (Can't say anything for the workmanship, I've never seen one before).

Switched on BBC News24 this morning to find there had been a 4.7mag earthquake near Ashford in Kent.

It appears from the USGS that it was just off the coast of Hythe, near Folkstone.
4.7 is a tadge stronger than most UK tremors, but still nothing to get overly worked up about.
It is pretty close to the Channel Tunnel though, so I wonder if they will be making checks to make sure all is Ok.

It's only 40-50mils from my parents house and they don't remember feeling anything (I spoke to them 20mins after the event), and it appears the tremors moved in a few directions only. (The South Downs probably insulated them from any tremors since that lies in between them).

Details can be found here USGS

Earthquake Details

 Google maps of center of earthquake.

Location Map 

More details can be found at the USGS web site.

Should Ministers be exempt from the FoI bill?
I don't think so.  In fact, they should introduce a "Lack Of Freedom" bill just for ministers in which every single second of their 'work' life is open to public scrutiny.
If you take Public Office then you were put their by the public and therefore you should be accountable to the public.

Yet another petition at the UK Petitions website, but this time it makes sense.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/foiparliament

Visit the site above and add your weight to a very important petition. 
We'll have Ministers doing a "pleading the 5th" before too long. In fact, if this Bill ever gets passed into law, they should just go the whole hog and introduce the US Constitution.

Freedom of information

The FOI gives you the right to ask any public body for all the information they have on any subject you choose. Also, unless there’s a good reason, the organisation must provide the information within a month. You can also ask for all the personal information they hold on you.

Scotland has its own Freedom of Information Act, which is very similar to the England, Wales and Northern Ireland Act. If the public authority you want to make a request to operates only in Scotland then your request will be handled under the Scottish Act instead.

If you are looking for a  Mini Moke for sale right now, then go visit http://www.grenyer.talktalk.net/.

They have one there that looks in great shape, good history and some great photo's, and all of that for £6,500.  Can't be bad. 

Email peter.grenyer@gmail.com for more details or visit the Mini Moke for sale web site.
(Even if you don't want to buy a Moke, go have a look just to check out some great pictures of fine looking Mini Moke.

Two people have been cautioned for using people's wi-fi broadband internet connections without permission.

Neighbours in Redditch, Worcestershire, contacted police on Saturday after seeing a man inside a car using a laptop while parked outside a house.

He was arrested and cautioned. A woman was arrested in similar circumstances in the town earlier this month.

From:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/...

There are those who would argue that leaving your broadband connection open for others to share is harmless. Providing you have locked down access to machines on your internal network, what is wrong with giving away bandwidth that you are not using?

Some argue that drive-by users who enter illegal porn sites, or send massive amounts of spam would be hard to trace and that the owner of the network would held liable for any actions by these free loaders.

Wi-Fi Planet - Securing your Wi-Fi Connection

intelligentedu - 5 Simple Steps to Securing your Wi-Fi Network

Linux.com - Secure your Wi-Fi Traffic Using FOSS Utilities

From Wikipedia - Wi-Fi Social Concerns

Measures to deter unauthorized users include suppressing the AP's service set identifier (SSID) broadcast, allowing only computers with known MAC addresses to join the network, and various encryption standards. Access points and computers using no encryption are vulnerable to eavesdropping by an attacker armed with packet sniffer software. If the eavesdropper has the ability to change his MAC address then he can potentially join the network by spoofing an authorised address.

WEP encryption can protect against casual snooping but may also produce a misguided sense of security since freely available tools such as AirSnort can quickly recover WEP encryption keys. Once it has seen 5-10 million encrypted packets, AirSnort will determine the encryption password in under a second.^[10] The newer Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and IEEE 802.11i (WPA2) encryption standards do not have the serious weaknesses of WEP encryption, but require strong passphrases for full security.

Recreational exploration of other people's access points has become known as wardriving, and the leaving of graffiti describing available services as warchalking. These activities may be illegal in certain jurisdictions, but existing legislation and case-law is often unclear.

However, it is also common for people to unintentionally use others' Wi-Fi networks without explicit authorization. Operating systems such as Windows XP SP2 and Mac OS X automatically connect to an available wireless network, depending on the network configuration. A user who happens to start up a laptop in the vicinity of an access point may find the computer has joined the network without any visible indication. Moreover, a user intending to join one network may instead end up on another one if the latter's signal is stronger. In combination with automatic discovery of other network resources (see DHCP and Zeroconf) this could possibly lead wireless users to send sensitive data to the wrong destination, as described by Chris Meadows in the February 2004 RISKS Digest. [3]

In Singapore, using another person's Wi-Fi network is illegal under the Computer Misuse Act. A 17 year old has been arrested for simply tapping into his neighbor's wireless Internet connection and faces up to 3 years' imprisonment and a fine.^[11]

I happened across bassabids the other day in an industry news letter and nearly dismissed it.
But I read something that caught my eye.
The lowest unique bid wins the auction.

To quote from their web site:

The "lowest unique bidder" is the person who has bid the lowest amount that no other person has bid. When two people place the same bid, that number is no longer unique. When a person has a unique bid but there are others that are lower, then it's not the lowest. To win any of bassabids online auctions, you must be the one with the lowest AND unique bid at the auction end - the "lowest unique bid"

There is also a much better explanation of the ' lowest unique bid' process on their site.

There are a number of free auctions and even the paid ones are only £1.50.
They are also developing an SMS bidding system which should be released in the near future.

Katie Batterman from USA recently won an IPOD Shuffle for £0.10 (see their List of current winners).

At the moment the site is 100% free whilst it is in beta testing phase, so pop over to bassabids, have a look around, register and make a bid (up to 10). It won't cost you anything but your time and you could win an IPOD for absolutely nothing.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the possible need for a "Blogging Code of Conduct" and there have been a number of events in the media recently highlighting bad behaviour by some people towards others.  (The recent incidents with Kathy Sierra  come to mind).

I was quoted in a BBC article a few days ago and a San Francisco Chronicle article on Thursday calling for a "Blogger's Code of Conduct" in response to the firestorm that has arisen as a result of Kathy Sierra's revelation that she's been targeted by a series of increasingly violent and disturbing anonymous comments on her blog and on a series of weblogs that appeared to have been created for the purpose of celebrating cyber-bullying.

Tim O'Reilly - First Discussion on Blogging Code of Conduct

We've drafted a code of conduct that will eventually be posted on bloggingcode.org, and created a badge that sites can display if they want to link to that code of conduct.

Draft Blogging Code of Conduct

And the latest story on the BBC about a blog being taken down...

A British diplomat's blog offering his thoughts on Thailand has been withdrawn after insults and accusations were posted on it by members of the public.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6548653.stm

I can't quite see the need for such a "code of conduct" and defiantly not for a badge.
(Though I would respect other peoples use of it if they so choose).
But there is nothing in there that isn't common sense already.
I mean, "Hey!, it's my blog". I can post what I like, about who I like, when I like.
I don't force anyone to read it.
But it's not like I am going to say anything that is likely to upset someone because it's not in my nature.
And I don't allow anonymous comments on my blog and that is for spam reasons, not to prevent any old Tom, DIck or Harry from posting on my blog.
I also moderate all of my comments. If someone posts something I don't agree with, then I remove it, (in fact I just plain delete it).  And that has nothing to do with restricting free speech. I had one guy object before and I just pointed out to him that it was my blog, my website, and I could do what I bloody well liked with it. I told him that I was not stopping him from commenting on my blog, I was just not letting him do it on my own blog using my own resources. I don't have a problem with him making what ever comment he likes on his own blog.

If someone does have a blog and they post material that's is illegal, then don't go back there.
Same goes for someone who insists on making personal attacks of any kind.
They can talk to themselves and post what they want, they'll soon get bored.

IMHO, it is nothing more application of common sense, and anyone who objects to my methods on my blogs, obviously doesn't have an ounce of common sense anyway...

As to the incident with Kathy Sierra, that just beggars belief...

I've reproduced the draft code of conduct below.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has joined with Google in an unprecedented online mapping initiative. Crisis in Darfur enables more than 200 million Google Earth users worldwide to visualize and better understand the genocide currently unfolding in Darfur, Sudan. The Museum has assembled content—photographs, data, and eyewitness testimony—from a number of sources that are brought together for the first time in Google Earth.
Crisis in Darfur is the first project of the Museum’s Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative that will over time include information on potential genocides allowing citizens, governments, and institutions to access information on atrocities in their nascent stages and respond.
"Educating today’s generation about the atrocities of the past and present can be enhanced by technologies such as Google Earth. When it comes to responding to genocide, the world’s record is terrible. We hope this important initiative with Google will make it that much harder for the world to ignore those who need us the most."
— Sara J. Bloomfield, Director, USHMM

From: http://www.ushmm.org/googleearth/

If you have ever used Google Earth and wondered what you could use it for, the above is a perfect example of using it for good effect rather than flying around places you've visited or places you have heard of.
For those who don't know what Google Earth is, the quote below is from the same USHMM site.

Using satellite imagery, Google Earth allows a user to fly to any location on the planet and explore from above in 3D. Additional "layers" created from data provided by the U.S. Government, United Nations agencies, non governmental organizations, and renowned photographers show the scope and personal impact of the genocide in Darfur and its continuing spillover into Chad.

Download the Crisis in Darfur layers for Google Earth.

I'm afraid 99.99% of the content above is directly quoted from their web site since I don't have the right words to do it justice.  When you think of the numbers of people killed, the property that has been destroyed, there isn't anything I can say that could ever describe it.
Why has the ROTW turned its back on the Darfur region?
I would ask why are we not doing more to help, but that question should really be why are we not doing anything!
2,500,000 people driven from their homes and over 300,000 killed.
How can we as a society in 2007 not being doing more to stop this?
Why are our governments not doing anything about it?
Why are YOU! not doing anything about it?

They Turned Our Dessert Into Fire - film by Mark Brecke

Now mention coupons in the UK and you get looked at like some pauper wanting a freeby or a handout. But not many people realize how much you can save with them and without having to pay a month fee to do so.
(For example, all nurses get given coupon books with their union membership, but most just throw it away without a second glance, and some of the deals are amazing...So go marry a nurse.. I did ;) )

Add to that many people in the UK don't bother with a store club card (like your Tesco's card), or if they do, they hardly every get round to spending any points that they accrue on them.

But in the US, I was given a link to the Coupon Chief site and at first dismissed it as per usual (being a Brit Expat). That was until he told me how much he has just saved on a brand new PC he'd bought from Dell with a discount coupon he had obtained from Coupon Chief.

Well my mate has just rung me to say that he was just about to spend a fortune at Bed Bath and Beyond, and remember the Coupon Chief and went and had a look at their Home and Garden section and just by entering their coupon code a the BedBathBeyond web site got an instant 20% off and free delivery.

And that's the thing with the Coupon Chief site, you don't need to be a member, you don't pay anything to them to join up (because you don't and can't join).  I guess that they get all of their income from referral fees.

Well my gripe is why don't we have something as good in the UK.  The only reason my mate had mentioned it to me in the first place was I'd just told him what I had just spent on some new furniture, and he told me how much he had paid, and saved by using the Coupon Chief.

In my US house when I first moved to Fort Worth, we had the air conditioning set to 70 degrees or there about.  Being around 100 degrees outside and upon arrival of our first $500 electric bill for the month, the thermostat was quickly set to 82 degrees.

But with the temperature set that high it didn't feel too comfortable at times, mainly because of the humidity.  A colleague of mine suggested fitting ceiling fans which at first I didn't think would help at all.

I used Farrey's as they have a great online catalog to choose a couple of ceiling fans for the main living room. 

The benefits were immediately obvious since despite the the thermostat still being set at 82 degrees you get a cooling effect from the fan which effectively drops the temperature to the low 70's.

After two months of lower electricity bills I decided to fit fans into all of the other rooms, so choosing the right fans was important. Farrey's have a great system to for selecting, configuring and ordering the right system and their search tool is one of the best I've used.

I've just helped a friend select and install a new fans in his house and he used Farrey's and he was impressed as I was.
They now have an even greater selection including fanimation,monte carlo fans, minka aire fans any many more.

I was looking for UK based websites offering details on 0% transfers on credit cards and the site title caught my attention, and since it's run by a Scot, it's bound to have some great advice.

It has a wealth of information on all things financial based. as well as the credit card info I was after.  Their section on Credit Cards transfers not only has advice but the latest news from the industry as well.

Whilst I was there I also noticed they had information on Loans, Debt Management and Bad Credit Remortgages (which I won't need just yet, but will do if people don't start paying me!!).

So if you want advice on spending, saving and debt.
Are you a spendthrift? or do you horde your money?
Then I would check out their website.
Has some great information for a change rather than trying to 'just' sell you something.

That site just saved me hundreds of pounds in interest and all it cost me was 30mins of my time in reading the available offers and then heading off and completing an online application.
Cant' be bad. I'm happy to have save a few quid and I'm not even a Scot! Just imagine how he feels.

Getting the 'Move your account to
Use the new Blogger' message.

It is that time! You log into your blogger account and you get the dreaded message.  Time to move to the new blogger (the old beta).  You can go to your dashboard, but you get one more chance of doing that and then you 'have' to move over.

(click on any of the images in this article to see the full size version in a new window).

So you get the message, what next?
Do you go ahead and agree to the terms of service and hit continue?

Well let me first say, I've not heard of anyone losing a blog because of a move over from the 'old blogger' to the 'new blogger'.  I've heard of and helped out a few people who have managed to trash their blogs by playing around with the new settings without realizing what they were doing.  But all in all, the process works well (now..).  A few weeks back a good friend of mine (Sally from The ChicAlert), was also apprehensive about moving from the old to the new system.  In the end the automated system determined it couldn't do the transfer and referred it for investigation by a blogspot engineer.  That was the first instance of that message I had come across and I have yet to hear of the final outcome with that story.

Zachary built a very nice looking electric guitar top from a $15 Ikea end table. He says he can build three tops from one end table.

This is one of the most interesting guitars I ever built and it is also one of the best.

The action is great, the tone is unbelievable, the neck is super fast, tuning stability is as good as it gets. In short, everything just worked out great on this guitar. This amazingly figured top is from Ikea Furnishings. I bought one of their unfinished end tables for $15 and I can get three guitar tops from it. What a shame that they would use such amazing "tone-wood" for their cheap furniture. Its a sacrilege.

From: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/02/21/1500_electric...

Not a bad idea, especially when you think for $15 he gets 3 guitar tops from a single table. 
It's made me think about popping to Ikea next time I need some wood for a project.  The wood in B&Q is extortionate.  Reminds of when I was living (for 3 years) in Texas.  I could get a power saw for $10, but if I wanted a lump of wood to use it on, it seemed to cost 10 x that amount.

The original link to the guitar makers site is http://www.zacharyguitars.com/120300pics.htm.

Road Pricing Response

Well like millions of other brits who had signed the petition (and who had given a valid email address {now to be added to the MI5/6 list of 'people to keep an eye on department'}), I received my reply from Tony Blair.

21 February 2007

Tony Blair has written a reply to more than 1.7 million people who signed a petition on the Downing Street website against road pricing.

The petition, created by Peter Roberts from Shropshire, has been by far the most popular on our e-petitions site since it was launched last November.

In his reply, the PM sets out the government's views on national road pricing, stressing that no decision has yet been made. Mr Blair says he sees the petition and his email as "the beginning, not the end" of the debate.

Read the full response on the 10 Downing Street Webiste.

Good or Bad Response?

Well to be honest, I think it was quite a good reply. (And don't even think for one minute I am a Blair fan).

After all, the thing that started was a call for discussion, not a statement from the government that they were actually introducing the scheme.

Do we really need a scheme?

Despite me being a fan of Hammy, Clarkson and the 'Slow One' (May), I take their comments as attempts at humour when they go on about damage to the environment from cars etc. Only a fool can ignore the damage being done to the environment, and yes, whilst our cars might not be the single biggest threat, we have to start looking somewhere.

I have 3 young kids and what I do now to the environment is my legacy to them.

So do we need a scheme? Yes I think we do. 
Is the 'road pricing scheme' that sparked the nearly 2 million hits the way forward? No, I don't think so.

Why I think it is a bad idea?

Whilst we do have technology at the moment that will allow us to track vehicles, doing this on a large scale would be expensive.  It will be a few years yet before technology exists at a cheap enough price that will overcome the many problems with the suggested system.

Why not use the 'KISS' principle and keep it simple (stupid).

Worried about big brother?

A lot was made about the possible implications of big brother watching over us, being able to track us and ultimately knowing where we are at any time of the day.
That was just 'hype' and 'scare tactics' being used by those opposed to the scheme for no other reason than simply being opposed to it.
For example, I can bet that nearly all of those people that signed the petition for this reason all have a mobile phone which can be tracked in exactly the same one, but you don't see them being worried about that.  In fact mobile phones are a damn site worse than cars, because I don't take my car everywhere I go, I tend to leave my car somewhere and walk the last bit of foot, but my phone is never more than a few feet away from me.
So there isn't really a big brother aspect to the road charging scheme as suggested in the many emails that were passed around.
In fact the emails that were being sent could even have provided more information about the user than a car tracking system ever could.

We already have tracking systems in use today, although not widespread across the UK.  For the past few years, MOT, Road Tax and Insurance records have all be linked via computer systems.  Add to that the new Tetra Police Radio Network that has a much higher data transfer rate it has led to a number of new systems being made available to them, (sort of like the police moving from dial up to broadband access whilst on their 'beat').

One such system which is a mobile based unit basically scans the number plate of a car going past them (much like a speed camera unit).  The registration details are then read, decoded, uploaded to a central server where the MOT, Road Tax and Insurance details are checked.  The results are then downloaded to a unit positioned further along the road. 

At present these mobile units are placed at large gatherings in the UK basically forming a ring fence around the venue. (So for example a match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, or perhaps a Cliff Richard Conference in Bournemouth ;) ).

The point is, it wouldn't actually take much effort to mount a few of these cameras on all major roads and already you have a system of tracking people in real time.  Of course this relies on the information being on the system in the first place, and again, it only tracks the car, not the person. It doesn't tell you who is driving the car.

The Tick Tock Project - Launch

What do people like the following celebrities, friends and foes, sports stars and world leaders all have in common? Then ask yourself what you may have in common with them!

The main purpose of the project has not been released yet, but there is a teaser at the site right now, so I won't go and spoil the fun by telling you all about it.  I'll let you all go visit it and see if you can work out what it's all about.

Four-legged duckling shocks owner

The mutation is rare but cases have been recorded elsewhere

An ugly duckling has made waves on a farm - when he was born with four legs.

A rare mutation has left eight-day-old Stumpy with two extra legs behind the two he moves around on.

Owner Nicky Janaway, of Warrawee Duck Farm in the New Forest, Hampshire, said she was gobsmacked when she turned Stumpy over to check his sex.

"It was absolutely bizarre. I was thinking 'he's got too many legs' and I kept counting: One, two, three, four,'" she said.

From the BBC News Website.

Go visit the Duck Farm website.

Hmm, a four legged duck eh? The farm is down in the New Forest and I didn't think there was any nuclear power stations down there.
They did have a nuclear sub dock in Southampton a few months back.
Apparently it happens quite often, but it still doesn't sound right.

Reminds me of an old story ;)

I used to have an uncle who had a farm.  I went to visit him one day and as I was walking up the track I spotted what I thought was a four legged chicken.
When I got the the farm yard I spotted my uncle and went over to greet him. 
"Here", I said, "I'm sure I just spotted a four legged chicken in the field back there.
"Eye", he says, "I've been breeding them for a few months now".
"Why?", I said.
"Well there is me, your aunt and your two cousins and we all like the leg of chicken when it comes to Sunday roast".
"Great", said I, "what do they taste like?".
He replied, "God knows, I've never been able to catch one".

Go-slow protest over road charge

The congestion charge zone is due to be expanded on Monday

An anti-congestion charge rally is taking place in London in a last-ditch attempt to stop the western extension of the zone in two days' time.

Organised by the West London Residents Association, the go-slow began at Addison Road, in Kensington, in west London.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6371051....

I have a friend living in the Kensington area and he has a neighbour who regularly drives what would be a 5 minute walk.
London has one of the best public transport infrastructures in the UK, so why is there is a need to drive everywhere.

Anything that reduces the impact of cars in that area is a good idea.  Whilst there maybe some legitimate claims, personally I feel the benefits far out weight those.  I'm no environmentalist either so I am not arguing it for the sake of.
I'm no major fan of 'Red Ken' but some of the schemes implemented in the Greater London area have had a positive effect and other councils should be taking note.

There is more information at The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea web site.

The Mayor of London extended the Congestion Charge into most of Kensington and Chelsea on 19 February 2007.

The Council has successfully negotiated a 90 per cent discount for all Royal Borough residents (including residents who live outside the enlarged congestion charge zone).

There is one charge for the new combined congestion charge zone.
You only have to pay the charge if you move your car between 07:00 – 18:00 during weekdays. You do not have to pay the charge simply to keep a vehicle inside the zone.
The enlarged zone covers most of the borough, west to the Earls Court One Way System, south to Chelsea Embankment and north to Harrow Road. To view the map go to TfL website

To view the map go to TfL website Transport for London map of enlarged zone [PDF file] (Large file 710 Kb)

The Scheme is run by Transport for London (TfL) on behalf of the Mayor of London.

This two page cheat sheet also offers a comprehensive reference to grasp of basic to advance Google query building concepts and ideas.

read more | digg story

Handy crib sheet full of information about Google Services, Hints and Tips

Why I will be at my own wake

Raising a glass: "I want to say thank you"

When you are told you have just months to live what do you do? Andy Fitchett, 56, decided to organise his own wake and is hosting it.

I'm a lucky man and have had a lucky life. Many people don't get a chance to say goodbye to people when they die but I have.

Link to BBC NEWS | Magazine | Why I will be at my own wake

Reading this story today confirmed that there are some real people left in the UK.  In my late teens I met a woman who amazed with a similar feat of inspiration as Andy Fitchett of Swindon.

I won't name her here, or go into too much detail, but she too had been told she had 'n' months to live.  The mother of 4 young daughters and left alone by her husband, rather than give up and die, she dedicated the rest of her life to doing the best not only for her daughters, but for others suffering from the same condition as her.

It has been some 25 years since I met her, but I still use the inspiration she gave me in my daily life today.  A few years after I met her, I had joined the Navy and was on a long deployment when I had heard that she had passed away.  Rather than just sadness, there was also joy because of the memories she had given myself all around her.  She would not have wanted sadness and all that knew her gained strength from her attitude towards life.
Like Andy Fitchett, she had prepared both herself, her friends and family for her final days.  Whilst there was still pain, it allowed us to celebrate her life rather than bemoan her passing.

I did work in Swindon for 5 years and went to the odd game at Swindon FC (under duress I might add). I don't know Andy Fitchett as far as I know, but reading the article on him both on the BBC and the local  Swindon  newspaper website, he appears to have the same strength of character of my friend I knew many years ago.  I won't be going to his wake, but I will make sure that on St Patricks Day 2007 (March 17th), I will raise a  glass in toast to him and in memory of one of the greatest women I have ever had to chance to meet.

A few months ago when the UK government was talking about the proposed 'pay-as-you-drive' scheme I couldn't quite understand what all the fuss was about.

The following is an excerpt from today's BBC News web site:

More road-charging debate pledged

The transport secretary has pledged to listen to opponents of the introduction of UK road charging.

Douglas Alexander said he will hear the concerns of more than a million people who signed a petition opposing pay-as-you-drive road charges.

The government has insisted that doing nothing would lead to a 25% increase in congestion in less than a decade.

But Mr Alexander said it was important to have a proper debate on the subject and consider a range of views.

The petition, which is the most popular on the Downing Street web site, calls for the scrapping of the "planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy".

It was posted by Peter Roberts, from Telford, Shropshire, who describes charging as an "unfair tax".

Mr Roberts - whose petition broke through the million-signature barrier on Saturday - believes charging is unfair on poor people and those who live apart from their families.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6352957.stm

I signed the petition because I don't agree with the methods they are discussing in tackling the problem with our transport system.
(Road charging petition).

I am not against the policy because of the big brother fears that have been expressed by certain groups, but because I think there must be a much better, more simpler approach that could be taken.

We all know that most people in the UK would be against extra taxes, because no one likes to pay any more tax than they currently do.
So I wouldn't put it past the government if the current proposals are designed to instill the fear of big brother tactics in the UK people.
But given the governments history on the Air Traffic Control System, the NHS Super Computer Network and the National ID Card scheme, I wouldn't rule out the idea that they would waste billions more on a such a difficult scheme to implement such as the pay-as-you-drive' scheme.

Forgetting about the 'big brother' idea, just the technology required to track and charge every single vehicle on the road would require something far beyond what we have at present.
There is technology available now that would come close, but how do you make it reliable enough.
For example if the system required having a device in my car that tracks where I drive, how long before someone places the transmitter/receiver in some sort of Faraday cage that restricts the signal between the vehicle and the satellite system.
What happens during times of bad weather that reduces the signal quality.
These are just small problems that the system would have to overcome.

The trials performed by the BBC ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6160174.stm ) showed charges of up to £2,338 a year for one driver.

US accuses Iran over Iraq bombs

Sophisticated roadside bombs are capable of piercing Abrams tanks

The US military has accused the "highest levels" of Iran's government of supplying increasingly sophisticated roadside bombs to Iraqi insurgents.

Senior defense officials told reporters in Baghdad that the bombs were being used to deadly effect, killing more than 170 US troops since June 2004.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/63512...

The US today came out and blamed Iran for either supplying the technology or the bombs themselves linked to the EFP devices being used against coalition forces in Iraq.

Back in June 2006 I remember reading an article on the Telegraph website about such bombs, and it was felt then that they were being supplied by the Iranians.

The precision-made mine that has 'killed 17 British troops'

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne...

By Sean Rayment, Defense Correspondent

Last Updated: 1:23am BST 25/06/2006

The first picture of an Iraqi insurgent mine, believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 17 British soldiers, has been obtained by The Sunday Telegraph.

The device, which has been used by insurgents throughout Iraq since May last year, fires an armour-piercing "explosively formed projectile" or EFP, also known as a shaped charge, directly into an armoured vehicle, inflicting death or terrible injuries on troops inside.

The weapon can penetrate the armour of British and American tanks and armoured personnel carriers and completely destroy armoured Land Rovers, which are used by the majority of British troops on operations in Iraq.

The device, described as an "off-route mine", was seized by British troops in Iraq earlier this year and brought back to Britain where it underwent detailed examination by scientists at Fort Halstead, the Government's forensic explosive laboratory in Kent.

Despite the Telegraph post going to on mention how the troops were bemoaning the lack of armoured vehicles to protect against such mines (using APC's and not Land Rovers), they seem to forget that this type of device is probably more lethal to an APC than a Land Rover.
The projectile that is emitted from the device would cause armoured 'backspall' which would be far more damaging that if the projectile passed through the thin skin of a Land Rover.  The backspall would be far less in a Land Rover. 
Similarly  if the APC were sealed, a pressure wave is also created within the vehicle which leads to more serious injuries.
The backspall would bounce around the interior of the armoured vehicle until its energy is expended.
A Land Rove might suffer more from the effects of the charge used to propel the projectile than it would from the projectile itself.
If these devices can take out an Abrams tank, then it really won't matter what sort of vehicle you are in.   I'd rather be in something that it could pass through and be protected from the accompanying blast, rather than in a tin can with a lump of molten metal bouncing around shredding everything it hits.

Flintoff hails comeback kings

England captain Andrew Flintoff toasted his team-mates after they crowned the Ashes tour with one-day success.

Flintoff’s men completed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in sporting history to shock world champions Australia 2-0 in the finals of the Commonwealth Bank Series.

England seemed destined to catch an early plane home when they lost twice in a week in Adelaide mid-way through the tournament but they somehow ripped up the form book to qualify for the best-of-three showdown.

From: http://www.ecb.co.uk/england/flintoff-hails-comeba...

I didn't manage to wake up in time (3.45am on a Sunday morning... I think not...), but when I did wake up and switch the TV on, the score was 39-2 and I thought that sounded promising, just as the rain came down.  (Why couldn't they play this at the MCG, no chance of rain there).
Every time we took a wicket it appeared that the Gods would be against us and the heavens would open, but unusually for the England team on this tour, they stood up to the plate and gave an extra effort to get the job done.

Ricky Ponting was full of praise for the England team having demoralized them in the Ashes tour he gave nothing but good words for the England team.

So the flight back in a few days won't appear so long with the one piece of silverware in the hold.  It's only a shame that despite the way England played, the actual Ashes trophy will also be coming back to.  If there was ever a time to let the holders keep the trophy, this was the tour to do so.  Australia confirmed their ranking of world number one.

8pm Sunday 11/02/07

This week we’re under-sexed, under-paid and over there as Top Gear heads Stateside for an all-American special.

Watch with shock and awe as Jeremy, Richard and James buy their own yank-tanks, before heading off on a massive interstate road-trip.

Along the way they’ll take in the vibrant, though slightly scary, nightlife of downtown Miami and alligator-strewn swamps of Louisiana, before eventually arriving in New Orleans.

It’s a roller-coaster ride of Americana in which we meet the Stig’s long-lost US cousin, learn to cook road-kill, and get run out of Alabama by an angry lynch-mob.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/nextepisode.shtm...

The new series of Top Gear goes over to the US this week.
Should be an interesting show. 
They'll be doing an interstate trip, something I wished I had done whilst I was living in the US, but I drove for 7 hours and I still didn't get out of Texas.

Knowing Clarkson I wonder if he'll manage to upset everyone he meets.  Hammy should fit right in with his pearly white teeth, and James will probably be adopted by some local bible bashing Church.

Second one-day final, Sydney:
Australia v England
Match starts 0315 GMT

England beat Australia in Friday's first final in Melbourne

England could end their Ashes tour in Sydney on Sunday by becoming the first side for 14 years to beat Australia in a home one-day final.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/63...

 At 3.15am on Sunday morning, Flintoff will lead out the England Cricket Team with a chance to gain back some credibility of what has been so far a disastrous tournament.
I'm still not sure how England managed to play their way into the finals.
Two fine consecutive innings from Paul Collingwood helped but will the rest of the team step up to the crease to make it 3 wins on the trot?

But for a poor performance by the Australians (a rare site after their previous performances), England could have been on their way home already.  But the innings played by Collingwood was probably the finest one day international innings for a long time.
McGrath was bowled out for a duck, dropped an important catch and didn't take a single wicket. Not often you can say that about one of the worlds finest players.

Winning this one day international series won't make up for losing the ashes, but as far as the players go, it will certainly make the long trip back home a damn site more enjoyable.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/englis...

Robinson scoring England's try just before half-time

England made heavy weather of beating Italy to earn an unconvincing second Six Nations win of the season.

Until Jason Robinson's try just before half-time, all England had to show for their early pressure was three Jonny Wilkinson penalties.

A second win in two weeks, but this wasn't the most convincing win I've seen from England. (It was still better than the more convincing defeats that I have seen in the last year or so).
A lot was said in studio commentary on the BBC about how poor England had played, but I disagree with that.
After the win last week we knew that Italy was going to be much less tougher opposition, so maybe we only had to do what was necessary to win today. 
Some had doubted the reasoning behind bringing back Johnny Wilkinson for last weeks match and that we should be holding him back for the Irish match in two weeks time. 
Well having played only 40mins of club rugby prior to last weeks win, he probably needs all the play time he can get.  Simarlly so for most of the England team. 

Last weeks win was important, as was the style that England played.
Not losing this week was important, not the style of winning. On that front England performed that task well.  Now we have two weeks to prepare for the match at Croke Park against the Irish.  The result of that match will provide a good indication of how far England have come or have to progress to get back to the World Cup form of 4 years ago.  It will also provide a measure of how much work the new coach Ashton has in order to prepare us for the upcoming Autumn World Cup Series.

Hardly an entertaining match for the 82,000 or so fans at Twickenham, but none the less, we can say that England are so far unbeaten in 2007, in the Six Nations and that has to be an improvement over last year.

Something on my Google Homepage in a news headline caught my attention tonight.
Don't know why. I wasn't a fan, follower or admirer of hers.

The tabloid staple and reality-TV star Anna Nicole Smith passed away Thursday. Fame (via her Playboy pictorials, her endless inheritance case and her E! TV show), as well as money, good looks and ample physical assets were not enough to keep Smith alive, which is very sad.

From: http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainm...

Now I don't agree with what she says on there, but a quote is a quote.
The part that shocked me was she was only 39 (the same age as me, well, for at least the next month).

I remember all the press coverage about her when she married J. Howard Marshall who promptly died and then left her a fortune.

On February 8th 2007, she was found in a hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe in Florida.  She was pronounced dead on arrival when she arrived at hospital a few hours later.

Ok, she's a star, a star with too much money, too much publicity, too many problems etc etc, but she was also my age, a parent (although of what quality I can't and won't say).
 

You don't expect stars to fall over, even the spoilt rich drugged fueled one.  It just caught me by surprise.  She gets all that money in somewhat controversial circumstances, and now what... Her "attorney" gets it ??  Something fishy going on here if you ask me.

Turbo-diesel flat-four claimed as world-first

Subaru's turbo-diesel boxer

Subaru said it's about to unveil what it called the world’s first horizontally-opposed turbo-diesel engine.

The company will be debuting the engine at the 77th Geneva International Motor Show next month, along with an entire, all-wheel-drive drivetrain.

Subaru said it "believes passionately" in its boxer engines which are more compact than in-line units and provide a much lower centre-of-gravity. This reduces body roll for safer cornering and also enhances handling precision.

Due for its first vehicle application early next year, Subaru claimed its boxer turbo diesel to be a highly rigid unit with low levels of noise and vibration, eliminating the need for a balancer shaft. Other benefits include compactness and strong pulling power at low engine speeds with high-rev throttle-response.

From: http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...

Knowing Subaru's experience at getting the most from an engine I wouldn't mind taking one of their cars with this engine in it for a test drive.
I still remember the first time I sat in a Subaru. It was my bosses car who I considered to be a quiet peaceful sort of guy, until he put his foot down and threw me into the back seat nearly breaking my neck in the process, (well that is what it felt like at the time).
And the noise that most Subaru's make is second only to that usually heard from most V8's in America. 

Can't wait to see what this new engine sounds and performs like.

Don't forget to head over to PistonHeads to check out more of the latest news and trends.
Cracking site, great bunch of members.

Waking up to Snow

6.30am, time to get #1 son up for school, except there is 2inches of snow on the ground.A quick check outside and the road is Ok, but not much traffic.
No busses, and the wife is at work and not due home until 8.00am.
So no school for the kids this morning, and as it later turns out, for the rest of the day.

No School for the kids

Not that the councils did a bad job, but laying salt by the bucket load didn't help much with the volume of snow that fell in the 2-3 hour period. 

It's now 11.50am and the snow is melting pretty fast.  #2 son and daughter are out withe neighbours sledding on a big hill somewhere local.

Benefits of living in the Country

I do like it when the countryside is covered in snow.  You can 'see' the silence.  Everything is peaceful (until you have 3 kids throwing snowballs at you).

All we have to do now is await the big freeze tonight. If we thought that the country stood still this morning, just wait until tomorrow morning when everything is all frozen up.
Slush and frozen ice is not so pretty.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6324129.stm

Top Gear insulting, says charity

Richard Hammond returned to the show on Sunday The handling of Richard Hammond's return to Top Gear has been branded "insensitive" and "insulting" by a charity for people with brain injury. Headway said it had been inundated with complaints particularly over comments made by presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

It seems the 'do gooder' brigade have lost their sense of humour.
Jeremy Clarksons comments were made in jest and not directed at anyone else other than Hammy (Richard Hammond).
For someone to take offense at the remarks obviously shows they have a very sad outlook on life.
It's another own goal for the PC brigade who seem to think that we can't say nothing that stands a chance of remotely effecting someone, some people or some things.
If Clarkson had directed those comments at someone or some group outside of the studio then their might have been an argument.
I didn't see anyone jumping to the defence of Jade Goody in the past few days (after the comments that were made about her). But then mind you did anyone disagree with those comments.

I suggest Headway should consider spending their time and resources on the real things that matter and not be trying to grab media attention by jumping on the 'slam Jeremy Clarkson everytime he opens his mouth to breathe' brigade.

The Washington Post's Style Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners:

• 1. Bozone (n.) The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.
• 2. Cashtration (n.) The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
• 3. Giraffiti (n) Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
• 4. Sarchasm (n) The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
• 5. Inoculatte (v) To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
• 6. Hipatitis (n) Terminal coolness.
• 7. Osteopornosis (n) A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
• 8. Karmageddon (n) It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
• 9. Decafalon (n.) The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
• 10. Glibido (v) All talk and no action.
• 11. Dopeler effect (n) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
• 12. Arachnoleptic fit (n.) The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
• 13. Beelzebug (n.) Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
• 14. Caterpallor (n.) The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

• Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an a-hole.

Ever since my kids showed me this YouTube video, I've had the damn tune going round and round in my head. So if I have to suffer, so should you...

Portsmouth 2-0 Everton

Matthew Taylor celebrates his spectacular strike for Portsmouth

Matthew Taylor's wonder-goal set up a comfortable win for Portsmouth against a disappointing Everton side.

Took my two boys and my father down to watch the game today.  The boys were impressed (as was I), when they saw probably what will turn out to be the goal of the season from Mathew Taylor.
We were sat behind the goal to the right in which Matty hit that 45 yard volley over the unfortunate Howard on the 16minute mark.
I knew it was a goal the minute it left his foot, just glad to say I was there to see it.  Worth the money to see the look on the boys faces.

As much as it still amazes me when I see Portsmouth 3rd in the table (ok, joint 3rd with Liverpool), they are there on merit.  I doubt that we will be there at the end of the season, unless they show the same determination as they did today in every match.
Sol Campbell is a rock at the back and it gives Primus the confidence in his game too.  If the current squad can stay fit, or if Harry gets a budget to buy some cover in January then there is a chance they will stay near the top. (Pompey in Europe ?  After last season ? More chance of me winning the lottery, but I can dream).

I think it took us 45minutes to travel down from home to Portsmouth.
On the way back, it took us 45minutes to get from the ground to the motorway such was the amount of traffic.  (There was only 19,528 fans which for Pompey isn't bad, but the roads just can't handle that amount).
I remember going to a Pompey - Man Utd match at Old Trafford a few years back with 50,000+ and that was no problem getting to or from the game.
Still, that was 45minutes to talk about 'that' goal.

http://www.techreview.com/InfoTech/17851/page1/

Monday, December 04, 2006

A collection of online editing applications lets people do more than just watch and share video.

More people are turning to the Web to watch television shows and movies, thanks to sites like YouTube and Apple's iTunes store. But there's an emerging breed of website that's letting people go beyond passively viewing video. A number of startups, including Jumpcut, Grouper, and Motionbox, are providing free software tools that let anyone mix video clips online and, in some cases, make movies even if they don't have content of their own.

Quite a good article this on the YouTube phenomenon which mentions a couple of online tools that I wasn't aware existed.  I've got to be honest though, I am not one of those who spends hours upon hours watching videos on YouTube.  I do have an account with a few videos, but only to see what all the fuss was about.

I will probably use YouTube in the future for posting my own 'home videos' to the net if only because it shifts the burden of bandwidth usage to YouTube away from my own servers.  Why pay for anything when you can get it for free.  So what if the viewer clicks on an advert and YouTube takes a fee, I'm not going to be posting anything that is going to make them millions.

 This is an example of something that was done on Jumpcut

There is a very interestesting interview with Bjarne Stroustrup over at TechReview.

Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of the C++ programming language, defends his legacy and examines what's wrong with most software code.

In the 1980s and 90s, Bjarne Stroustrup designed and implemented the C++ programming language, which popularized object-oriented programming and influenced numerous other programming languages, including Java.

C++ remains the archetypal "high level" computer language (that is, one that preserves the features of natural, human language), and it is still used by millions of programmers. Many of the systems and applications of the PC and Internet eras were written in C++. For all that, the language remains controversial, largely because it is notoriously difficult to learn and use, and also because Stroustrup's design allows developers to make serious programming mistakes in the interest of preserving their freedom.

Pop over to TechReview and read the complete 3 page review.  You can add your comments to the many that are already there.
Failing that, you can pop over to the accu.org site and join the excellent discussions over there.

Update: Viruses coming to a screen near you soon - vnunet.com

McAfee's complete list of predictions for next year:
1. The number of password-stealing websites will increase using fake sign-in pages for popular online services such as eBay.
2. The volume of spam, particularly bandwidth-eating image spam, will continue to increase.
3. The popularity of video sharing on the web makes it inevitable that hackers will target MPEG files as a means to distribute malicious code.
4. Mobile phone attacks will become more prevalent as mobile devices become 'smarter' and more connected.
5. Adware will go mainstream following the increase in commercial Potentially Unwanted Programs.
6. Identity theft and data loss will continue to be a public issue – at the root of these crimes is often computer theft, loss of back-ups and compromised information systems.
7. The use of bots, computer programs that perform automated tasks, will increase as a tool favoured by hackers.
8. Parasitic malware, or viruses that modify existing files on a disk, will make a comeback.
9. The number of rootkits on 32-bit platforms will increase, but protection and remediation capabilities will increase as well.
10. Vulnerabilities will continue to cause concern fuelled by the underground market for vulnerabilities.

ISP's should hopefully take the lead in educating their customers about the potential dangers of connecting via their networks. It won't happen but I long for the day when ISP's become accountable for the damage that their customers cause. Only then might they take note and take the action that would reduce the problems we see today and will continue to see a rise of in 2007.

Mobile phone companies have the ability to use hardware to prevent or at least reduce the effect of Viruses, only cost and the 'impact' on their profit margins could deter them.  Far too many companies see it as a 'non-value added process' when it comes to investment in the infrastructure required to halt the spread of viruses. 
For many years, most ISP's were quite happy to let the weaknesses in the OS's take the majority of the blame when in fact it is the users that ultimately shoulder the responsibility of ensuing the security of their machines.
If you sent an email to 1000 users with the subject of "This is a virus, do not open and execute", you can bet that there will be a percentage that will still open it and still run it.
If you sent the same virus but said "This is a free picture of a top celebrity doing something they shouldn't" an even larger percentage will open it.

I've often seen the analogy of buying a new car and not being able to drive it off the forecourt until you have proven you have the required insurance and qualifications to be able to legally do so.  Whereas I don't think there is a need for every PC owner to sit an exam in order to be allowed to use the internet, ISP's should ensure through regular education and updates the need for vigilance and caution when using the network.
I would like to see the day when the ISP and/or user is held accountable for the damage caused to my network because of the actions of the user.  Maybe then people will take due care when they know they can be held liable.

Give password scams the boot with personalized sign-in seals.

Fight password theft with seals you create and add to Yahoo! sign-in pages.

• Don't be an easy target of phishing scams

  • Create a sign-in seal you'll see whenever you sign into Yahoo!
  • If your sign-in seal is not there, it's likely to be a spoof page created by a phisher to steal your personal information

Now I don't know how long this 'feature' has been around at Yahoo, but at least it appears they are moving in the right direction.

• So what's the problem?
• So what is the purpose of a sign-in seal?
• Does it prevent 'phishing' attacks?

So what's the problem?

There are 1000's of scams and phishing attempts out there in the wild.  One of the most current is when you receive a message from apparently from someone on your contact list which 'tells you about  some new photos they have on their webpage'.  In fact there are no photo's and the webpage is a phishing attempt whose aim is to get people to log in to a fake Yahoo page.
The instant you log in, the phishers have your login credentials and are free to use your Yahoo account at their will.

So what is the purpose of a sign-in seal?

The sign-in seal works on a per-computer basis.  So you do have to remember that on each PC you use the seal, you have to upload a new one.
At https://protect.login.yahoo.com/ you can upload your 'seal'.
Once you have set it up, whenever you go to a Yahoo page (on that computer) your 'seal' will be displayed on that login screen. 
Each and every login page at Yahoo will display your 'sign-in' seal.

Does it prevent 'phishing' attacks?

No. It cannot prevent 'phishing' attacks.  Only you the user can prevent those. (Well apart from locking up the pond scum responsible for the 'phishing' sites.)
What it does do if give you 'the user' the ability to detect a phishing site with great ease.
There are some things you just don't do, such as open attachments from people you don't know (without virus scanning, anti-spy ware scanning etc).  There are some things that genuine sites just don't do, like supply you with a link to a login page, (they 'should' tell you to go to the main page and log in.  You 'should' already know the site if you are a member, so you should know.
If you do ever receive a link within an email, you should always check as best as possible, that the link is genuine.

There is only so much that a regular user can do to ensure a link is genuine and some phishing links are quite clever in their cloaking.
At least for the moment, when you visit a fake 'Yahoo' page, your 'sign-in' seal will not be displayed.  (I say for the moment because I haven't looked at depth as to how it achieves the sign in seal and we know how much effort the fraudsters put into defeating anything put in their way).

• Remember, if you are in an internet cafe reading your email and login to a Yahoo site, you won't have a sign-in seal on that computer so it won't be displayed.  It is on a per-PC basis.
• It will not stop you from going to any phishing sites, it will only highlight that the page you have visited is NOT a genuine Yahoo login page.
• It will only protect you on Yahoo pages.

Mom charged with baby's microwave death - CNN.com

Story Highlights• China Arnold is accused of killing her baby by putting her in the microwave • The baby was 1 month old when Arnold brought her to the hospital in August 2005 • Her lawyer says Arnold had nothing to do with the baby's death

I knew a guy who did something like this to a dog and I couldn't believe that at the time. This just sickens me to the core. How anyone can inflict pain on another human escapes me, but to do something like this to a baby I can't even contemplate what goes through the mind of someone doing that.

I hope they find the person responsible and lock them up and throw away the key. Death would be too kind for them. Sick in the mind isn't the word.

Damn, it's taken years for me to get the last song out of my head and now there is a new one? It'll be even worse if my kids find out...

http://www.NewNuma.com Gary Brolsma, the Numa Numa Guy, is back in his return video: New Numa! With the video comes a $45,000 worldwide New Numa contest where you can make your own New Numa video for a chance at the Grand Prize of $25,000 cash and a whole lot of internet fame!

Go to http://www.NewNuma.com to enter the contest, chat with Gary, check out the New Numa music and new music by Dan Balan (the producer/songwriter of Dragostea din Tei, the original numa numa!) Most importantly: Don't forget to laugh and have fun!! ... (more)

Trying to find the source of the above picture. It seems familiar and I think it is from a film or TV show of sorts.
Any clues?
And no funny remarks ;)

Bot nets likely behind jump in spam

A significant rise in the global volume of spam in the past two months has security analysts worried that bot nets are increasingly being used by spammers to stymie network defenses erected to curtail bulk email.

Estimates of the magnitude of the increase in junk email vary, but experts agree that an uncommon surge in spam is occurring. On the low side, Symantec, the owner of SecurityFocus, has found that average spam volume has increased almost 30 percent for its 35,000 clients in the last two months. Others have seen much more significant jumps: Spam black list maintainer Total Quality Management Cubed has seen a 450 percent increase in spam in two months, and the amount of spam filtered out every week by security software maker Sunbelt Software has more than tripled compared to six months ago.

Two weeks ago I noticed an increase of the spam creeping through my filters and landing up in my various in boxes.
I use SpamPal on all of my PC's on my network at home and I recommend it to every person I meet.
As a long term user of SpamCop I also recommend signing up and reporting ALL the spam that people get. You can get a free reporting account and although it will not necessarily mean a decrease in the amount of spam you get, it could help reduce the amount of spam others get. I say not necessary because (1) you may be put on a gray list by spammers if they find out your are reporting your spam (and trust me, they do), or (2) until such time as every user subscribes to submitting spam to RBL's, there will always be spam creeping through

Funny. I had been asked a few times by customers and in online forums about the activation, or more precisely the reactivation of Windows XP after moving it from one PC to another, or after an upgrade of a major component/reinstall. Then my neighbour pops round with a similar question.
I had a quick look into it and found a few facts out.

Madonna
AN OPEN LETTER FROM MADONNA 
Posted: 17 October 2006
My husband and I began the adoption process many months prior to our trip to Malawi. I did not wish to disclose my intentions to the world prior to the adoption happening as this is a private family matter. After learning that there were over one million orphans in Malawi, it was my wish to open up our home and help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and in many cases death, as well as expand out family.

With all the media hype around the Madonna option issue, I can't help thinking it is just the press searching for a story that isn't really there.
You'd have to ask yourself what would you do in that situation. I think that Madonna would probably have adopted the whole orphanage if it wasn't such an outrageous idea.  She already sponsors 6 of the orphanages and provides valuable funding for them.

The father of the boy involved has already expressed his backing for the child and the adoption process, but it still can't make it any easier for him.  No matter who you are, what country you are in, what the state of that country be, giving up one of your children is hard thing to do anywhere in the world.
I see it as one child who had little hope of surviving being given a chance of life.  Admittedly that life will be one in the spot light and he will be exposed to things that could never have happened has he stayed where he was. But in reality, the child would have been lucky to have seen his next birthday. 

I don't believe for one minute that Madonna has nothing but the best intentions.  I for one know that if I ever had the chance to go see such a place, I would probably want to adopt all of the kids as well.  Madonna is lucky enough to be in the position to do such a thing. 

Grab a Free Handbag with loads of Money In it, and I don't mean stand outside the local Post Office and steal it off your granny when she comes out with her social.

Chic Alert - Designer Clothing, Shoes, Handbags, Jewelry, Fragrances, Sales and much more.: Win a Designer Handbag!

Follow the link above to a site that has all the details. Basically, it looks like a UK site having some sort of promotion whereby you register your email address and a phone number and they are giving away a handbag every day. One of the bags has money in it... hmm.. Not like my wife's then... Actually, the last thing she needs is yet another handbag, but if the new one has £7000 in it, I won't be complaining... I might even register for one myself. I am sure if David Beckham can get away with it, for 7K I could too.

I was in London on Friday to have the arthroscopic procedure performed on my right hip this time.
Didn't have to wait around too long though this time since there were only 3 operations scheduled for that day, but I still ended up number 3 on the list. After the left hip operation, he knew to keep me to the end since that was meant to be a quick 30min go in, check things out and close up procedure, turned out to be a 90min operation to repair and clean up the damage.

The right hip was always the more painfull of the two and that was backed up by the amount of damage to the joint. If you click on the extended version of this post there are some more images. Plenty of bits floating around inside the joint and these had to be removed which should stop my hip 'locking up' when I am not expecting it.
The head of the femur again had to be scraped off and cleaned up again and the last picture shows them performing the Microfracture procedure.

Multiple holes, or microfractures, are made in the exposed bone about 3 to 4mm apart. Bone marrow cells and blood from the holes combine to form a "super clot" that completely covers the damaged area. This marrow-rich clot is the basis for the new tissue formation. The microfracture technique produces a rough bone surface that the clot adheres to more easily. This clot eventually matures into firm repair tissue that becomes smooth and durable. Since this maturing process is gradual, it usually takes two to six months after the procedure for the patient to experience improvement in the pain and function of the joint. Improvement is likely to continue for about 2 to 3 years.

BBC NEWS | England | London | Internet user admits 'web-rage'

An internet user has been found guilty of what police said was Britain's first "web-rage" attack. Paul Gibbons, 47, tracked down John Jones using details obtained online after the pair exchanged insults in an internet chatroom, a court heard.

Web Rage? That's a new one on me. Probably shouldn't blog this either incase one of them comes round and has a pop at me.
Mind you, can't say I haven't wanted to do that myself to many a person on the net. I'm sure that in certain newsgroups there must be a configuration that takes someone's IQ and sets it to a value lower than the persons age.

Some people do tend to lose their rag when taking part in online conversations. Can't see the point of it. If I didn't have anonymous comments disabled on this blog, I am sure there would be a flood of people annoyed with this post, just because they want to annoy someone. Flaming and Trolling seem to be common place in nearly all NG's and forums I am a member of.
Can't say I've ever 'flamed' anyone before, and I've always tried not to result to personal insults, unless the person is obviously 'one wire short of a twisted pair', in which case the thread has probably run its cause and they've lost the plot and then I give them both barrels.

It must have been some argument to make him want to drive 70miles from his home and do something about it.  And to attack him with a pickaxe handle?
I suppose before I have a go at someone in future, I should ask them where they live and if they own a pickaxe before I have a go at them.

Identity safety

Det Cons Christopher Creagh, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "This is the first instance of a web-rage attack."

Det Sgt Jean-Marc Bazzoni, of Essex Police, added the case demonstrates the importance of protecting one's identity on the internet.

"Mr Jones had posted pictures of his family on the web and had chatted to Gibbons on an audio link," he said.

"It demonstrates how easily other users can put two and two together and also shows how children could also find themselves in danger."

History Matters

A MASS BLOG for the national record. The History Matters campaign has designated October 17 a day for the public to make historic. We have chosen 'an ordinary' weekday of no particular significance to ask you to write a one day on-line diary.

Should be an interesting exercise. Go visit the site at the link above to read more about it.

Try the link above to see a new take on the Llama song...

On the 24th July, I finally sorted out why my left hip was locking up and also why I couldn't walk more than a few hundred yards before the pain made walking unbearable. Below are 3 pictures taken from within my hip joint.

The procedure was carried out in London by one of the only surgeons in the country to carry out Hip Arthroscopy. It was carried out as a day surgery and I was out of hospital about 2-3 hours after the procedure was completed (I was at the hospital at 7am, only to wait until 3pm to go down to theatre, but that's a different story). Afterwards, I was able to walk out of the hospital on crutches, go through the London Underground at rush hour, and catch a train back to my home town and still be home for supper.

The image above shows a piece of cartilage that had been floating around inside the joint. That is probably the reason for my hip locking up as it would get caught up when moved in a certain way.

Just seen a report on Richard Hammond, the TV Presenter most famous at present for his work on Top Gear is critically ill in hospital.
Apparently he was injured whilst driving a jet powered car in a piece for Top Gear.
Although he was unconscious on arrival at the neurological unit, he was said to have regained consciousness, but his condition was listed as critical.
I do hope he pulls through, since he is one of my favourite TV presenters, but even more so since he has a young family and it must be difficult times for them.
He has always appeared to be one of the unpretentious 'top blokes' on TV. My thoughts are with him and his family and friends.

UPDATE: 21st Sept 2006
Hospital has annoucned that Richards condition has stabilised, which hopefully is good news. He is still badly injured but it doesn't appear to be life threatening now.
Now all we have to do is hope that those pearly white teeth he spent so much money on survived intact or Clarkson won't let him live it down.

Get well soon Hamster.... We need you back... 2/3 Full is not a full tank.

Some guy (Alex Goss) started a donation page for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to raise funds to cover the cost of the £340 required to pay for the Hammy's trip to hospital. In just a few hours, it had paid for over 15 more such trips and is still going strong. That is a measure of the popularity of Hamster and the high regard his fans had of him. If we could cure people with well being and will power, he'd be back on the track tomorrow.

Well done Alex (Goss), great idea.

To donate, follow this link: www.justgiving.com/PHRichardHammond

UPDATE: 22 SEPT 2006 10.22 AM

The hospital has just anounced that he is no longer in Intensive Care and has been moved to the High Dependancy Unit.
Doctors have also said he is making satisfactory progress, which is great news.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

International Talk Like a Pirate Day isn't one o' those governmentally sanctioned holidays that shifts around to create a convenient three-day weekend. No, the date is ALWAYS Sept. 19 (Cap'n Slappy's ex-wife's birthday.) Now, occasionally Sept. 19 falls on a Sunday, and we recognize that may not meet everyone's desire for an excuse to party. While a lot of fun can be had ce;ebrating TLADP in a church setting (The choir will now sing, "How Great Thou Aaarrrrt!") we're suggesting that those of a more secular bent consider celebrating Talk Like A Pirate Weekend.

Ay' me hearties...
I was fed up dealing with cowboys all day, so I've turned me attention to pirates....

On the 9th August 2006, I will have been married for 17 years !!
My wife is as great today, as she was in 1989 (any grey hairs are wholly down to having to put up with me).

Aussies shocked by Croc Hunter's death - Breaking News - National - Breaking News

The 44-year-old television star and naturalist died around 11am (AEST) on Monday when a stingray barb punctured his heart while he was filming a nature documentary off Port Douglas in north Queensland.

As two of my kids woke up to get ready for their first day back at school today, they were shocked to see that Steve Irwin, the 'Crocodile Hunter' had been killed in an accident whilst filming a new documentary.
Steve Irwin was someone they had grown up watching and was instrumental for their interest in wildlife much as in the same way that parents today would have grown up with Johnny Morris (older older parents).

Steve was killed after a stingray barb pierced his heart in what seems to be a cruel piece of bad luck. Had he been struck elsewhere it might not have been so fatal. The fact that my kids were so shocked and saddened shows the impact that he had on their lives in teaching them about wildlife.

With Browzar you can search and surf the web without leaving any visible trace on the computer you are using.

Browzar is free, it only takes seconds to download and you don’t even need to install it, so you can download Browzar time and time again, whenever and wherever you need it to protect your privacy

Hmm... Sound too good to be true? Well not quite. From the F.A.Q pages on their site ( Browzar Web Site )

What are the system requirements for Browzar?
The minimum requirements for Browzar are: Windows 98 Second Edition (SE): and Internet Explorer (IE) 5.5.

At first glance it appears to have a very small footprint (about 250k) which makes it seem that its a very small application for browsing the internet. Although there is mention of it in the FAQ, it will not work without Internet Explorer on your PC, which probably explains why they are still working on the Mac OS and Linux versions of the tool.

What should be noted however is that sinced it relies upon IE technology, it will suffer from the same security problems as Windows IE and therefore you should always update your PC as and when updates become available.

Also, since it is a Beta version, there are still a few problems being reported and as such I wouldn't rely on it being totally secure until such time as the main release has been issued. There is one site that I know of that is documenting a few problems with it ( Computer Zen ) namely that it does not remove ALL traces of sites that you visited. (He tried it with Playboy.com)

Would I use it over something like Firefox? No.
I am an IE user foremost. I do have Firefox and Opera installed on this machine (my main development box), but I've never really got into the habit of opening Firefox or making it my default browser. I can't remember why but a while back it had something to do with certain sites I used not fully supporting Firefox and I've just never switched over proper. (But on my other PC's and laptop, Firefox is my browser of choice and the system default).

So why would you use Browzar? What possible benefit could it give you?
Well I suppose when it is finished and it works as advertised, then maybe the privacy option could be a motive.
But for now, the main reason for using it would be the lack of toolbars, addons and all the other poop that gets loaded along with IE right now.
In that respect Browzar is an excellent choice. From my initial tests it appears to load faster, run faster and I would say display pages faster. (The main reason for the last statement is that I have so many plugins installed on my development machine that it does hinder the display of web page content if for example a plugin keeps dialing home to let them know what I am viewing to have it guess what I am going to view next). So in this respect, Browzar does have a benefit over IE.

But will I use it as my first choice browser in future? I don't think so. Its IE with a 'skin' on.
Why use IE as its base?
Why not take the Open Source Firefox codebase and use that as a base for a 'secure browser' ?
Why open your application (Browzar) up to the same security issues as IE?
(Of course, not to say that Firefox is not open to any security issues of its own).

I'll watch it for sure, since I want to see where it goes. But to launch it as a new browser is misleading and IMHO it should be labelled as a new Skin for IE.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Comic Charlie Williams dies at 78

Pioneering stand-up Charlie Williams, who found fame on hit 1970s TV show The Comedians, has died at the age of 78.

BBC SPORT | Football | Premiership | Middlesbrough 0-4 Portsmouth
Portsmouth climbed to second in the Premiership with a magnificent victory over Middlesbrough at The Riverside.

Now if I was reading that at the end of the season, I'd be a happy bunny.
Still... I can only but dream.

They'd be second behind Chelsea of course

BBC NEWS | World | Pluto loses status as a planet

Astronomers meeting in the Czech capital have voted to strip Pluto of its status as a planet. About 2,500 experts were in Prague for the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) general assembly.

Looks like a planet to me...

I wonder how much it cost to host the conference and what real benefit to mankind will come of it.
Does that mean it is no longer on the itinery for the 'future' trip to outer space?
I mean, what real effect on humanity does it have, apart from trashing millions of library books and confusing school lessons for years to come.
"Shall we spend two weeks discussing whether or not Pluto is a planet, or should we dicuss things closer to home, like how to save the planet we are living on".

Wiki Entry on Pluto (Currently being updated)

BBC SPORT | Football | Premiership | Man City 0-0 Portsmouth

Manchester City earned their first point of the season in a match marred by a disgraceful challenge by Ben Thatcher on Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes.

In what turned out to be a mediocre match, the only noteworthy moment turned out to be a disgraceful challenge by Ben Thatcher on Pedro Medes. On viewing the reply you can clearly see Thatcher raise his hand towards the face of Mendes resulting in the Portsmouth playing appearing to collapse to the ground unconscious before sliding into the advertising hoarding.
Now whilst I can understand the reaction of Harry Redknapp and many of the fans, and although being a Pompey fan myself, I don't think Ben Thatcher intended to hurt Mendes. Having watched Ben Thatcher over the past few years, I think it was more of a dangerous tackle that he is prone to committing once in a while, but in no way am I condoning what he did. The F.A. needs to review the tackle and take the appropriate action before Thatcher ends up seriously injuring another player. If he could remove that element from his game, he would be a better player for it. No doubt Thatcher is remorseful for what he did, but the fact remains he could have seriously injured Mendes and needs to sort himself out as soon as possible. When you go into tackles at 110%, you have to be perfectly sure you make the tackle or it could be a career ending move for the other player.

Hopefully Mendes will be back in action as soon as possible. I still believe his goals towards the latter part of last season were instrumental in helping Pompey avoid the drop

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Man City | Thatcher faces FA & police probes

The Football Association and Greater Manchester Police are to launch investigations into Ben Thatcher's challenge on Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes.

Passengers explain pair's removal

Passengers on a Manchester-bound flight have described how two men were removed from the plane because other travellers thought they were speaking Arabic.

I was totally amazed by the piece of news on the BBC website when I first heard it. When we start to let these sort of things happen, we know the terrorists are winning the game.

Terrorism is the systematic use or threatened use of violence to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, or ideological change.

Whether or not the recent attempt to blow up several planes flying from the UK eventually took place, it doesn't matter. Those initiating the attacks probably don't care if they succeeded or not. When we start behaving like the passengers on the above flight did, the organisers are in a win/win situation.

What are we going to do next? See new airline companies start up such as COE Airlines, Vatican Airways. Will we start to see denomination based airlines where your religion on your passport determines which airline you can fly with?

Those passengers who kicked up such a fuss over 'two guys' possibly speaking 'Arabic' should be ashamed of themselves. Perhaps they had been watching the Jodie Foster in flight movie showing of Flight Plan and got a little too carried away with reality.

If I had been the airline concerned, I would have taken all the other passengers off and let the two guys fly in first class on their own

I could perhaps understand it if they were seen mixing explosives, comparing ruck sacks, hiding matches in their shoes, buying up all the pocket knives, uploading a final farewell video to YouTube or some other suspicious activity. But talking in Arabic?

Two of the alleged 'potential' bombers were born and raised 'white' English and converted to Islam many years ago, so speaking Arabic is no indicator as to the danger of someone.

I remember flying post 9/11 and meeting two Saudi passengers in the bar prior to the flight. They were more nervous than all of the other passengers because all eyes were on them. If the two guys in the above report looked nervous, is it any wonder?

I hope the airline has the decency to apologise, and to do it very publicly. As should any passenger who kicked up a fuss in the first place.

If you have a Centrino based Laptop, I suggest you go check the following. There are no reported vulnerabilities yet, but now this is out in the open, you can bet there will be some coming along in the very near future. Also, I doubt if this will be issued via a Windows Update, so you will probably have to go to Intels site and download the update

Wireless LAN Products - Intel? Centrino Wireless Driver Malformed Frame Remote Code Execution

Summary: Security vulnerabilities exist in the Microsoft* Windows* drivers for the Intel® 2200BG and 2915ABG PRO/Wireless Network Connection Hardware because of the way that they currently handle certain frames. An attacker could potentially exploit these vulnerabilities which could potentially lead to remote code execution and system control.

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Dozens killed in Lebanon air raid

More than 40 people, including 20 children, have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese town of Qana. Displaced families had been sheltering in the basement of a site which was crushed after a direct hit.

I am in no way a supported of Hezbollah, and if the headline had said 40 Hezbollah lined up against a wall and shot, I might not have battered an eyelid. It's the 20 children caught up in the blast that caught my attention.

Now you could ask are Hezbollah placing 'human shields' in place, but it doesn't appear to be the case in this instance.

What the hell are the US and UK governments doing stalling for so long to get the violence stopped - (from both sides).

I don't know why we get a world 'force' of 20-40K troops. Walk them in a link from Israel through Lebanon. Filter out the Hezbollah, shoot them on the spot, capture them, imprison them or whatever. So what if some of the 20-40k will die. They are soldiers doing their job, not innocent civileans. If Hezbollah want to attack the 'World' Force, then on their heads be it. The indescriminate bombing has to stop, the Israelies have shown themselves to be as accurate as the US when it comes to hitting the target. Remind me, where did they get the planes and ammo and do their training?

I have... so should you...If only a £1

British Red Cross - Help us in Lebanon, Israel & the Palestinian territories
British Red Cross - Middle East crisis appeal
The British Red Cross
44 Moorfields London
EC2Y 9AL

I was talking with a friend of mine on Friday about the troubles in the Lebanon and then on Sunday got a mail from another friend in the US with a link to the story/poem below.
Despite being ex-military, may be down to my mellowing years, I just can't see the point of what is going on over there in Lebanon right now. Don't get me wrong, I don't support either side in the conflict. I don't care who is right or who is wrong, I am just sick of hearing about death. A few soldiers from each side are being killed but mostly it will be the innocent civilians who will suffer the most.

I just can't see the need in this day and age for war, for violence or for death. It doesn't make sense. Surely we have enough 'big brothers' to stand between those with the problem and over time sort it out, (and I don't mean 1984 Orwell style big brother),

I also think back to the lyrics of a band that I followed in the late 80's (The Human League) that had a track out called 'The Lebanon'. Twenty years ago, it was just a song and I didn't know much about the troubles going on, just that there was. But why after 20 years or more have no lessons been learnt.

Someone tried to justify the Israel reaction by asking me what I would feel if some 'Hezbollah' group attacked and killed one of my children.
I countered this by asking him how he would feel if 'my country' bombed 'his' country in retribution for the attack on my family, despite his area, his family having no ties (or even weak ties) to the bombers. How would he feel at losing his family when he shares little or no sympathy with those that carried out the initial attacks.
Either way, in both our cases we would be the innocent victims of the consequences of others actions.

I am no pacifist, I am not aligned to any specific religion, I have my own god who I force on no one else. I have those who I harbour hatred towards, but there are those many more that I love or consider true friends.

When will we (the human race) finally end all conflict and stop the suffering?
Will there be anyone left to appreciate it?

The following can be found here.

Dear World

I am writing you to update you on the current situation in Lebanon.

I will not number the deceased, nor the wounded. They are too many.

I will not mention what places are being hit, Lebanon has become a non-place anyways.

Today, I will just focus on the people who are still alive. Lebanon is currently facing a huge social crisis. A quarter of Lebanon's population doesn't have a place to stay.

A friend of mine is volunteering in one of the public schools housing these people, and I went with him to see the conditions today. The school is housing 300 individuals: women, children, elderly. The volunteers are doing whatever possible to provide them with a decent daily life, but still all they eat is bread, packaged cheese, dry biscuits, and if they are lucky cooked rice and stew. There are over 50 000 people living like this in Beirut alone, this without counting the other villages and cities. The social crisis is huge, I just saw a sample of it today.

Today, a 100 people broke into our building's ground floor apartment because they have no place to stay, and our neighbors were complaining about them. I think that these people coming is a true blessing for us. Having the crisis closer to you actually makes you see the scale of it.

Over 100 villages are totally isolated from one another. Totally isolated from food sources, from hospitals, clinics or medication. People are starting to starve, children to get dehydrated. I just heard on television a phone call from the headmaster of one of the shelter schools in Bint Jbeil. The school has been bombed by Israeli forces, people are in the underground level. Over 100 people. Children have been without milk for 4 days. And this is only a sample. It has been nine days, it is too much.

The thing that tears me the most is that nobody is shaking a finger. This is not only about us. Not about Lebanon. I simply hope that this kind of suffering is the last that happens on the face of this planet.

We want to solve this. We want to look forward. The facts are that the disaster is huge. We want to channel our energies the best way possible to do whatever is needed, the best way possible.

If the fire ceases now, we might start doing something. But they don't intend to make it stop. And the International community gave Israel one more week, enough time to finish up the country.

Please human being, if you can communicate this information to the world, to shake some human being who can actually make this stop. All we have left is our hands, our heads, and the infinite possibility within.

Sorry if I was long, whatever I say will never be enough.

Please do something, all I can do is write.

A Lebanese Citizen

Larry Hyman wrote:
Let's face it, the are a lot of emails that are scams, they try to take your
money, your identity and your passwords..... ok, I understand crime is
crime...

But what about all those other spams trying to sell products, don't those
products come from real manufactures? Why can't law enforcement approach
those manufactures and arrest them for their illegal activity, I mean if you
put an add on TV you have to pay for it, if you send a snail mail mailout,
you have to pay for it....

who pays to send out spam and who gets money for sending it???

I am just asking... remember BLUE FROG? they used to say that for every
spam, there was a legitimate company behind it and they would hassle that
company until it would stop sending spam... that concept does make sense to
me.....

IMHO

Spam and therefore Spammers will always exist as long as there are people out there who open the mails and respond to them.
(Note the respond to them).
I am not talking about people who 'open' spam for diagnostic or just pure interest reasons, I am talking about those who are suckered in and open them because they are genuinely interested in them.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Fans lose trousers to gain entry

Football's governing body has explained why up to 1,000 Dutch fans watched a World Cup tie wearing no trousers. Around 1,000 fans arrived for the Ivory Coast tie in their traditional bright orange trousers - but bearing the logo and name of a Dutch brewery.

To protect the rights of the official beer they were denied entry, so the male fans promptly removed the trousers and watched the game in underpants.

It amazed me at the start of the World Cup that Anheuser Busch was trying to stop people from drinking German beer around the stadiums of the World Cup. Hmm.. .Would you rather drink Budweiser or a German Beer (some of the best beers in the world are German, and that comes from a Brit !!).

To see that they've taken it to the level where fans could not go into the stadium because of their trousers (which you can't really see) is an absolute farce.
If they are going to be that pendantic, I'd like to see Carlsberg supply the tee-shirts and bras of the Brazilian fans. That would take our minds of any dreary performance from them this time.

I've finally finished upgrading my web hosting website and its now available for taking live orders.
I'm still waiting for a few payment processor accounts to go live and these are easy enough to add as and when they become active.
For the moment you can select Paypal as the payment processor or a manual invoice step which allows you to place and order and then I email you back to sort out payment options.

So if anyone visits my blog, and wants to place an order, use the manual step for the time being and I will sort you out an extra discount.
Once we agree on a price, I will give you the access page for the payment processor of your choice with the new reduced fee.
For those people who are members of the 'forum', I'll even set you up accounts at cost. (Those who know which forum will know what I am talking about, those who are wise enough to work out which forum can also have the discount). After you have made your order, email me your 'forum' username and I will give you the true 'cost' price.

I am still working on adding much more content to the site, but wanted to get the basics out there and running. I am about to add the following sections:

• Web Site Design - This will include links to the various sites I have already designed and in operation right now.
• SEO - We will also be offering SEO services in order to help improve your site rankings.
• Blogging - More information on the blogging services we offer. This will include installations of many of the popular blogging applications and also dedicated accounts for hosting your 'blogspot' blogs.
• Add in the FAQ section - The FAQ module is there, but not visible at the moment as it has been causing cross-browser problems on verification. Its only a few minor tweaks required, its just getting the time to fix it that is the hassle right now.

This is a response to good article that I read on the use of abuse to fight abuse and the issues that surround such activity. There is a link at the end to oringal article by David Cory Hart.

Much of the spam that we receive is sent in direct violation of various federal and local laws. Many purveyors of spam are, simply stated, criminals.

The only issue I have with the above statement is that not all countries regard sending SPAM as a contravention of their laws. Having a global policy of making it illegal would be almost impossible to enforce. What I do agree with David is that it should be illegal everywhere and those responsible treated as criminals where ever..

Labour has unveiled its secret weapon in the battle against David Cameron's resurgent Conservative Party, a little blue lizard that changes colour to match his political environment

From the Times

Not that I usually pay attention to Politics at this time of year, but this did give me a chuckle. Especially when Cameron was right in the middle of his television broadcast, asked if there was any questions from the floor for the first one to be 'So what do you think of Dave the Chameleon?'.
I am sure he blushed a little before carrying on.
Only bad thing is I am going to have that damn culture club soundbite in my head for the next week.

Preliminary tests have confirmed the H5 avian flu virus in a sample from a swan found dead in Fife, health officials have revealed.

From BBC Scotland

Some how this Swan has made it to Scotland from god knows where and landed in or around the Fife area. They haven't found any other cases in the surrounding areas which is good news.
I wonder how many dead birds with H5 are currently lying unnoticed in the swans flight path. (Or dead foxes as a result of a freebie meal).

The BBC have a basic pop up guide that gives some information about Bird flu

Motorola RAZR V3

Having worked for Motorola for over 9 years, I have owned only 3 Motorola phones.
When I first saw the RAZR V3 and its list of features. I ordered one.
(This was despite being made redundant by them the week before I ordered it).

I had a problem with getting the phone to take a charge from the mains charger.
There would be periods when the phone would appear to be 'dead' and pressing the power button would cause the panel to briefly light and then go out completely.
Even with the charger plugged in, it would not power up.

I was told by the company I bought it from that sometimes removing the battery and leaving it out overnight would help. Well twice it did, but other times it wouldn't. (I since found out why that worked and I'll explain it below).

I did some digging around on the net and couldn't find a definitive answer, so I called a few colleagues at Motorola. Despite working for them for 9 years, I only worked on the Base station aspect of Mobile phones (plus a year working on Tetra equipment). I never worked with the Mobile phone division directly. A few people had told me about charging circuit problems, but no one had a clue as to what the failures were about.

I think I have found the problem with my phone, whether or not it works for you, I don't know. Basically, when the battery is dead flat, the mains charger is totally useless. The internal charging circuitry will not switch on to allow it to take a charge from the mains charger. How to get round this? Use the car charger for 10secs. 10secs on the car charger is enough to give the battery a small level that will allow it then to take a charge from the mains charger.

One of the features I specifically wanted the phone for, was bluetooth. This allows me to sync up between my various PC's without the need for cables etc. It also allows me to use my laptop via dial-up on the phone without cables. The bluetooth feature though is one of the reasons why the battery has a life of less than a day most often or not. If I place the phone close to the other bluetooth device, it lasts longer, but if I place my phone in the kitchen away from the PC's, it seems the bluetooth device in the phone places a large drain on the battery.

If the battery is already low and it is nowhere near the charger, then a single call will drain the battery completely and leave it unable to take a charge from the mains charger.

I now make sure it is hooked up to the charger whenever I am near a mains outlet, or plugged in to the car charger on trips. As soon as the battery level drops to a single bar, I have to switch off the phone until I am able to find a charging point.

I believe they have fixed this in the later models of the phone, but even with my contacts, it is hard to get Motorola to admit there is a problem, and to get them to replace my phone with a later model. Both my wife and son have a Nokia which they charge once a week if they are lucky. If my V3 goes without a charge for more than a day, it will die until I can get it near my car charger.

So if your RAZR V3 dies and it appears the battery is dead as a dodo, then I would go plug it into your car charger (assuming you have one) for a minute or so, just to give the battery a boost.

Now in fairness to the phone, it might be that the voltage output from my mains charger is slightly low and unable to trigger the internal charging circuit. Car charges tend to output a slightly higher voltage (and rely upon the phones internal charging circuit to get the voltage to the right level).
It might also be a fault with the phone itself and I am leaning towards this, since the later V3 models have a modified charging circuit and the charger remained the same. It could have been down to component tolerances rather than bad design in itself. But seeing as Motorola won't respond to any of my support requests, I'll just have to guess.

As for the battery drain itself, well that might have to be accepted. The more features you place in a phone, the more features you want from a phone, then the bigger the drain on battery life. Motorola never really got battery life sorted out as well as the competitors, but then that's because certain other companies 'cheat' when it comes to battery life. (By cheat, I mean for example, the standards say a mobile phone must 'talk' to the network every few time intervals. If you cut the number of times that the phone talks to the network, then you save on power used. Motorola was always big on ethics and tended to stick to the letter of the standard, no matter if the competition cheated slightly). Motorola are also quite advanced in fuel-cell technology and it won't be long before we begin pumping 'butane' into our phones.

But in the mean time, I need to learn to switch off my bluetooth (which sort of nullifies the use of my headset), make sure its hooked to the mains charger 24/7, or by a hat with an inbuilt solar panel. (Or go by a Nokia... but I just can't bring myself to do that, despite the layoffs, just hearing the Nokia ring tone still makes me cringe).

Has St. Harry (Harry Rednapp) finally got the team sorted out and will this be the start of a revival?
Looking at the other teams