Since everyone else is doing it and I see no particular reason not to, if you have stuff you want to say to me in a screened comment, go ahead in this post. I've never worked out why people like these things rather than email, but there we go. I don't care if it's stuff about BiCon (maybe you didn't find me to talk to me about something?) or other stuff (maybe there's stuff I write about I've failed to give context for or similar).
Was really not very amused when the phone rang just after 8am this morning. I was expecting it to be someone-important-for-work-reasons not a computer generated voice with some sort of voice recognition system.
It's fundamentally bad security for a bank to be phoning me asking for security details. How am I supposed to tell that it is the bank and not a criminal scam?
I phoned them back about an hour later and again got an automated answering system, wanting me to talk to it before I could get through to a person who confirmed the automated phone call was Egg and that I had to go through to their security team.
Egg is only worth putting up with because Egg Money Manager is useful. Otherwise they could fuck right off with their computer generated speech calls at uncivilised hours of the morning and lack of alternative provision to the automated answering system to enable one to speak to a human.
It's fundamentally bad security for a bank to be phoning me asking for security details. How am I supposed to tell that it is the bank and not a criminal scam?
I phoned them back about an hour later and again got an automated answering system, wanting me to talk to it before I could get through to a person who confirmed the automated phone call was Egg and that I had to go through to their security team.
Egg is only worth putting up with because Egg Money Manager is useful. Otherwise they could fuck right off with their computer generated speech calls at uncivilised hours of the morning and lack of alternative provision to the automated answering system to enable one to speak to a human.
Election - campaign material
May. 8th, 2010 10:32 pmPosting so that I can put these leaflets in the recyling bin and cutting for boredom ( Read more... )
Oxford - Professor of Poetry Election
Apr. 14th, 2010 11:35 amIf you're a member of Convocation, you can now register to vote in the election for the Professor of Poetry.
I'm still willing to consider nominating anyone wanting to stand.
I'm still willing to consider nominating anyone wanting to stand.
Internet not so welcoming
Feb. 28th, 2010 05:31 pmI've been feeling fairly exposed on LiveJournal, in relation to the numbers of people able to access my locked content who weren't (apparently) reading it and to a lesser extent in relation to people able to read my locked content whose content I wasn't reading. For this reason I've removed a whole pile of journals from my LiveJournal friends list and removed a number of journals from filters I use to post to. I've also removed some journals that look like they've been abandoned.
I'm almost certainly willing to add back anyone who was reading but not commenting much or anyone with an abandoned journal who comes back and starts using it again.
I'm almost certainly willing to add back anyone who was reading but not commenting much or anyone with an abandoned journal who comes back and starts using it again.
Heating insurance cover/service contract
Jan. 30th, 2010 12:52 pmI don't really want to continue with British Gas Homecare as British Gas, as a company, have irritated me enormously over the past year. The cost of what they propose for the next year "Homecare 200 Flexi" is £150. This includes an annual service.
Google has led me to Homeserve and I like the look of Easy Pay Gas Central Heating Cover. I know there is no cover for the first 28 days of the policy. It will cost £86.30 for the year. [The cost for the alternative product including an annual service is £153.42]
My boiler is at least 19 years old, if not closer to 29 years old. It would be eligible for the £400 government grant for replacing it, but that isn't something I want to do right now.
Given the age of the boiler, am I right in thinking that I should probably find insurance cover/a service contract that includes an annual service? [I'm not going to go with Homeserve's product as it's more expensive, but will keep looking].
Does anyone know anything about Homeserve?
Anyone have any other pearls of wisdom regarding heating cover products they want to share?
Edit
AOS are more expensive than British Gas and require someone to come out and see the system before you can apply for cover.
Domestic and General won't cover my boiler as it's a conventional boiler over 15 years old.
EON won't cover my postcode
Google has led me to Homeserve and I like the look of Easy Pay Gas Central Heating Cover. I know there is no cover for the first 28 days of the policy. It will cost £86.30 for the year. [The cost for the alternative product including an annual service is £153.42]
My boiler is at least 19 years old, if not closer to 29 years old. It would be eligible for the £400 government grant for replacing it, but that isn't something I want to do right now.
Given the age of the boiler, am I right in thinking that I should probably find insurance cover/a service contract that includes an annual service? [I'm not going to go with Homeserve's product as it's more expensive, but will keep looking].
Does anyone know anything about Homeserve?
Anyone have any other pearls of wisdom regarding heating cover products they want to share?
Edit
AOS are more expensive than British Gas and require someone to come out and see the system before you can apply for cover.
Domestic and General won't cover my boiler as it's a conventional boiler over 15 years old.
EON won't cover my postcode
PSA - voting + libraries
Jan. 30th, 2010 12:32 pmIf you are in the UK and didn't register to vote during the annual canvas in October 2009, you should register to vote soon, as there must be a general election on or before 3rd June 2010. The deadline for registering will be 11 working days before the election and it's possible that an election could be called at short notice (rather than May, which is when I would expect it to be called).
Also, if you are in England and Wales, some counties have opened library registration to people who don't live within the area but live elsewhere within England and Wales - Westminster (has a number of reference/special interest libraries), Southwark, Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire (to those in neighbouring counties, not all of England and Wales).
Also, if you are in England and Wales, some counties have opened library registration to people who don't live within the area but live elsewhere within England and Wales - Westminster (has a number of reference/special interest libraries), Southwark, Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire (to those in neighbouring counties, not all of England and Wales).
Housekeeping poll - Part 1
Jan. 16th, 2010 09:07 pmI know other people have tried to do similar things to this in the past and not got very far because comment conversations are still very LJ centric, but I'm going to give it a try. What I'm trying to work out is who I can stop reading on LJ and read on DW instead. I still don't have any intention of not reading LJ any more, but I want to try to move over to reading more stuff on DW. For the purposes of the poll I'm assuming people are using the same usernames on both sites - I know that's not true, hence why there's a second poll. Very unusually for me, I am screening all comments to this entry to allow people to tell me about what they're doing with any other accounts/anything else they're happy to tell me but not the whole world. I will unscreen comments on request.
Oh dear, the first poll isn't working. Will have to create it again in a separate post.
[Poll #1512418]
Links to the DW polls below. I don't care which poll you complete.
Oh dear, the first poll isn't working. Will have to create it again in a separate post.
[Poll #1512418]
Links to the DW polls below. I don't care which poll you complete.
Housekeeping poll
Jan. 16th, 2010 08:54 pmI know other people have tried to do similar things to this in the past and not got very far because comment conversations are still very LJ centric, but I'm going to give it a try. What I'm trying to work out is who I can stop reading on LJ and read on DW instead. I still don't have any intention of not reading LJ any more, but I want to try to move over to reading more stuff on DW. For the purposes of the poll I'm assuming people are using the same usernames on both sites - I know that's not true, hence why there's a second poll. Very unusually for me, I am screening all comments to this entry to allow people to tell me about what they're doing with any other accounts/anything else they're happy to tell me but not the whole world. I will unscreen comments on request.
Poll #2102 DW + LJ usage
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 21
From the account/username I'm answering this poll from I
View Answers
post the same content to DW + LJ
11 (52.4%)
post different content to DW + LJ
2 (9.5%)
only post to LJ
5 (23.8%)
only post to DW
1 (4.8%)
do something else
2 (9.5%)
Poll #2103 DW + other usernames
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 0
I have a different user name on DW. It is:
I have a separate blog/website you should know about. It is:
I didn't know about Elgin till Friday - it's the electronic local government information network and fascinating, if you're into this kind of thing - some LAs show gritting routes, others bus stops and nearly all show roadworks on a much more local level than I've seen elsewhere.
The reporting of this story on the BBC Radio 4 1pm news today (no transcript available) is worse than the webpage itself. The obesity experts (from the Obesity Forum) are explicitly saying 'we don't care what the science says' - they're not saying 'we're not sure if the study was conducted properly and we need some more evidence to be certain', but are openly, (and indeed without adequate challenge from the journalists), wanting to willfully ignore recommendations that are coming from scientists, because of the 'obesity epidemic'.
It's 2009, research looking again at recommended calorie intake that was done in 1991 is now 18 years old, so it probably is time to look at it again with the benefit of new developments/research techniques/knowledge gained in the past 18 years. The report is from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition - that's a link to a summary of the findings. The report itself.
It's entirely possible to consider, on the balance of the evidence, that obesity is bad and wrong and evil (or simply to consider as many do that being a 'normal' weight is healthy and being an 'abnormal' weight is unhealthy) and still be opposed to the mangaling of science like this - namely, wanting to suppress and ignore the research stating that the recommended calorie intake should be increased by 16% from the 1991 recommendations.
I'm quite surprised at the lack of critical challenge by the BBC journalists - I expect better of Radio 4, because the point being made is so clearly wrong. I'm also quite pleased at the huge hole the Obesity Forum is digging for itself. It's (in this instance, leaving aside generalised fatphobia) leaving itself so open for attack, it should be child's play to shoot it down. Though that said, the SACN summary findings are clearly written against a background of DangerDangerObesity, so they perhaps aren't all that confident in their own recommendations cf:
Revised reference values should not be interpreted to mean that individuals or groups should increase their energy intake. Energy expenditure needs to increase in relation to energy intake from food to reduce the number of overweight and obese people.
I do actually agree with the point that a change in the reference values shouldn't lead to people concluding they automatically now require an extra slice of bread or portion of chips. On the other hand, one has to wonder at the culture where grown ups would rather trust a government recommendation about how many calories they need to consume rather than their own body's signals of hunger. And their second sentence is a linguistic nightmare. We go from the individual to the national without proper thought. Even if it is accepted that reducing the number of overweight and obese people is a good public policy goal, it makes no sense to jump from recommending increased exercise in relation to food intake - which is an individual recommendation to the effect this would have on the total numbers of people classed as overweight and obese without linking the two things together and considering the other complex social factors involved.
SACN fully endorses current recommendations on physical activity that adults should participate in at least 30 minutes of activity of moderate intensity on five or more days a week, while children and young people should aim for 60 minutes every day.
And the expertise of SACN to endorse that recommendation comes from where? It's an advisory committee on nutrition, not an advisory committee with expertise in appropriate exercise levels. It's not recommendation different reference values for people who have particular high energy expenditure eg. Olympic swimmers, coal miners, breast feeding mothers, people recovering from surgery etc. It's toeing the party line, despite its evident lack of expert knowledge to make such an endorsement.
It's 2009, research looking again at recommended calorie intake that was done in 1991 is now 18 years old, so it probably is time to look at it again with the benefit of new developments/research techniques/knowledge gained in the past 18 years. The report is from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition - that's a link to a summary of the findings. The report itself.
It's entirely possible to consider, on the balance of the evidence, that obesity is bad and wrong and evil (or simply to consider as many do that being a 'normal' weight is healthy and being an 'abnormal' weight is unhealthy) and still be opposed to the mangaling of science like this - namely, wanting to suppress and ignore the research stating that the recommended calorie intake should be increased by 16% from the 1991 recommendations.
I'm quite surprised at the lack of critical challenge by the BBC journalists - I expect better of Radio 4, because the point being made is so clearly wrong. I'm also quite pleased at the huge hole the Obesity Forum is digging for itself. It's (in this instance, leaving aside generalised fatphobia) leaving itself so open for attack, it should be child's play to shoot it down. Though that said, the SACN summary findings are clearly written against a background of DangerDangerObesity, so they perhaps aren't all that confident in their own recommendations cf:
Revised reference values should not be interpreted to mean that individuals or groups should increase their energy intake. Energy expenditure needs to increase in relation to energy intake from food to reduce the number of overweight and obese people.
I do actually agree with the point that a change in the reference values shouldn't lead to people concluding they automatically now require an extra slice of bread or portion of chips. On the other hand, one has to wonder at the culture where grown ups would rather trust a government recommendation about how many calories they need to consume rather than their own body's signals of hunger. And their second sentence is a linguistic nightmare. We go from the individual to the national without proper thought. Even if it is accepted that reducing the number of overweight and obese people is a good public policy goal, it makes no sense to jump from recommending increased exercise in relation to food intake - which is an individual recommendation to the effect this would have on the total numbers of people classed as overweight and obese without linking the two things together and considering the other complex social factors involved.
SACN fully endorses current recommendations on physical activity that adults should participate in at least 30 minutes of activity of moderate intensity on five or more days a week, while children and young people should aim for 60 minutes every day.
And the expertise of SACN to endorse that recommendation comes from where? It's an advisory committee on nutrition, not an advisory committee with expertise in appropriate exercise levels. It's not recommendation different reference values for people who have particular high energy expenditure eg. Olympic swimmers, coal miners, breast feeding mothers, people recovering from surgery etc. It's toeing the party line, despite its evident lack of expert knowledge to make such an endorsement.
Card carrying solicitor
Oct. 20th, 2009 01:12 pmOn Friday I finally received my Law Society Membership card, having been waiting for it since July 2008. It doesn't really entitle me to anything I couldn't have got in other ways (use of the Law Society's library in Chancery Lane/some discounts the Law Society has negotiated with companies) but it's nice to finally have it.
Television
Oct. 12th, 2009 04:55 pmIn more important news, over the weekend, I've lost reception for Channel 4, so I now have BBC1, BBC2 and ITV and that's it:-( I've tried searching through the whole spectrum and can't find Channel 4 at all (apart from something very blury at about the place it always used to be). I don't imagine there's anything else I can do to get it back? I'm already using an aerial booster. [Freeview doesn't work, I have the wrong sort of aerial and the aerial company couldn't fit me one that would work because the sugar beet factory is the way, I'm intending to set up Freesat at some point in the future (once the satellite decoder boxes are cheaper), so I'm after a temporary solution]
As a general rule, I try to avoid backing myself into corners and leave myself plenty of room for manoeuvre, as I know I don't always have all the information I need to be certain about things. On an intellectual level, I'd always been willing to accept that I might like women as well as men - it's the kind of thing that's quite clearly possible and it wasn't something I was willing to rule out happening at some point. In many ways it's like my agnosticism. I don't think there is a God/Gods/$other supreme beings, but I'm not sufficiently certain in my belief to be convinced that there isn't. Maybe there is some form of supreme being or other supernatural forces at work in the world? I'm not prepared to do more than believe that we cannot prove the existence of such a being/beings. For a while I described myself as 90% straight for this reason; I didn't think it very likely I'd be attracted to a woman, but accepted it was possible it might happen. And then something along those lines did happen as I'm going to post this very publicly indeed this isn't the place for more detail. So yes, I'm attracted to some women and some men and I identify as bisexual as this is a useful way of describing how attraction isn't gender dependent for me.
Silly question
Oct. 4th, 2009 08:38 pmHow many layers of clothing is it reasonable to be wearing before deciding its cold enough to put the heating on?
EeePC + Vodafone mobile broadband
Sep. 21st, 2009 07:57 pmI have an EeePC 900 running its original operating system and a Vodafone mobile broadband PAYG dongle K3565 made by HUAWEI.
To make the Vodafone mobile thing work I ended up doing the following:
1. Restoring the EeePC to its factory settings (press F9 while its booting, then you get a menu allowing you tell it to restore factory settings). I'm fairly certain my Eee PC hadn't been properly shut down at some point in the past. The discussion there seems to indicate that this is the way to fix this sort of problem.
2. Opening a terminal window (ctrl + alt + t) and then opening synaptic (software that deals with installing updates/new software) as per the Betavine instructions 'sudo /usr/sbin/synaptic'
3. Reloading the existing repositories [press the reload button] and installing all the upgrades as recommended [press the 'mark all upgrades' button, then the 'apply' button].
4. Then continuing to follow the Betavine instructions, by adding in their repository and installing their specific bits of software.
5. Open the Vodafone connect software while the dongle is in the USB slot. It connected quite happily. The 'email' and 'internet' buttons within the software both open Firefox.
6. Put dongle into USB slot on PC running Windows Vista, install Vodafone's connect software for Windows machines. Connect to the internet using Vodafone mobile thing, discover the telephone number of the SIM card in the dongle (text messages can be sent to it, but not from it (I think because it's a PAYG thing and this is a limitation imposed by Vodafone rather than a technical limitation).
7. Register that telephone number on the Vodafone website, so that I can top it up when I run out of credit.
To make the Vodafone mobile thing work I ended up doing the following:
1. Restoring the EeePC to its factory settings (press F9 while its booting, then you get a menu allowing you tell it to restore factory settings). I'm fairly certain my Eee PC hadn't been properly shut down at some point in the past. The discussion there seems to indicate that this is the way to fix this sort of problem.
2. Opening a terminal window (ctrl + alt + t) and then opening synaptic (software that deals with installing updates/new software) as per the Betavine instructions 'sudo /usr/sbin/synaptic'
3. Reloading the existing repositories [press the reload button] and installing all the upgrades as recommended [press the 'mark all upgrades' button, then the 'apply' button].
4. Then continuing to follow the Betavine instructions, by adding in their repository and installing their specific bits of software.
5. Open the Vodafone connect software while the dongle is in the USB slot. It connected quite happily. The 'email' and 'internet' buttons within the software both open Firefox.
6. Put dongle into USB slot on PC running Windows Vista, install Vodafone's connect software for Windows machines. Connect to the internet using Vodafone mobile thing, discover the telephone number of the SIM card in the dongle (text messages can be sent to it, but not from it (I think because it's a PAYG thing and this is a limitation imposed by Vodafone rather than a technical limitation).
7. Register that telephone number on the Vodafone website, so that I can top it up when I run out of credit.
DVD player remote control
Sep. 7th, 2009 08:42 pmCame home this evening intending to watch a DVD and found that the DVD remote control wasn't working (though it was working perfectly well yesterday). I have tried:
1. Replacing the batteries - it now has batteries that I know to be good in it
2. Unplugging + replugging in the DVD player
The remote doesn't seem to be giving off any infrared signal (I can't see a red light where one normally appears). The DVD player works when using the controls on the box itself.
What really obvious thing am I missing/have I forgotten to check?
Am I better (1) buying a universal remote that does DVD players from Argos or (2) buying a replacement RC2K16 (model no. of remote) from the internet? [Never watching DVDs again isn't an option, there aren't enough options on the front of the DVD player to make using it without a remote really viable, replacement remotes are cheaper than replacement DVD players]
1. Replacing the batteries - it now has batteries that I know to be good in it
2. Unplugging + replugging in the DVD player
The remote doesn't seem to be giving off any infrared signal (I can't see a red light where one normally appears). The DVD player works when using the controls on the box itself.
What really obvious thing am I missing/have I forgotten to check?
Am I better (1) buying a universal remote that does DVD players from Argos or (2) buying a replacement RC2K16 (model no. of remote) from the internet? [Never watching DVDs again isn't an option, there aren't enough options on the front of the DVD player to make using it without a remote really viable, replacement remotes are cheaper than replacement DVD players]
Mobile broadband
Sep. 6th, 2009 10:27 pmI could do with a PAYG mobile broadband thingy to use with my Eee PC, and this offer from Vodaphone looks reasonable, but says it only works on Windows machines. Does anyone know whether it would work with a linux based Eee PC and if not any alternative PAYG mobile broadband deals that do work with Eee PCs?
European & County Council Elections
Jun. 4th, 2009 09:12 amI have received the following by way of electoral communications
Trevor Beckwith, Independent × 2 [only standing in the County Council election]
BNP
Conservative × 3
Green
Labour × 2
Liberal Democrat
Libertas.eu
UKFP (United Kington First Party)
UKIP
[a number of other parties have put up candidates for the Eastern Region, but haven't sent me any publicity]
I shall be voting for Trevor Beckwith for Suffolk County Council and Liberal Democrat for the European Parliament.
Trevor Beckwith, Independent × 2 [only standing in the County Council election]
BNP
Conservative × 3
Green
Labour × 2
Liberal Democrat
Libertas.eu
UKFP (United Kington First Party)
UKIP
[a number of other parties have put up candidates for the Eastern Region, but haven't sent me any publicity]
I shall be voting for Trevor Beckwith for Suffolk County Council and Liberal Democrat for the European Parliament.
I'm now 28, which feels close to 30 and I suppose these days I've got much more in common with people in their thirties than people just turning 20 who tend to be still undergrads at uni/in very junior work roles. [insert enough 'approximatelys' and 'in generals' for the above sentence to work for you].
Thank you for all the birthday wishes.
I'm having a day off work, most of the morning has been taking up complaining at British Gas and sorting out some building work. Time to do nice things now.
Thank you for all the birthday wishes.
I'm having a day off work, most of the morning has been taking up complaining at British Gas and sorting out some building work. Time to do nice things now.
Pandemic influenza
May. 10th, 2009 10:54 pmPandemic influenza is something that happens at regular intervals, we are overdue for a pandemic and have been for a number of years (the last one was 1968, before that there was one in 1957 and one in 1918). Whether the current swine 'flu is what becomes a pandemic remains to be seen - we still haven't got enough evidence yet. It might be the one, or it might be some other strain of avian or swine or other 'flu in a number of years time.
It's quite difficult to predict exactly what the effects of a pandemic will be. There are places on the internet where people are talking about stockpiling enough to isolate themselves from the world for six months or so as an appropriate pandemic-preparedness strategy. I don't think the effects will be so severe as to cause a breakdown of law and order or that the appropriate response is to isolate onself for six months or that the cost/benefit analysis of preparing to have six months worth of stuff stockpiled works in one's favour.
A lot of what's out on the internet about pandemic preparedness is premised on the idea that people don't live alone and this is not particularly useful for me and in general isn't very good as there are a relatively high propotion of people living alone than there would have been in previous pandemics. So what I'm going to talk about here is pandemic preparedness for those of us who live alone - specifically how it's different from that which applies to people who don't live alone.
( Read more... )
It's quite difficult to predict exactly what the effects of a pandemic will be. There are places on the internet where people are talking about stockpiling enough to isolate themselves from the world for six months or so as an appropriate pandemic-preparedness strategy. I don't think the effects will be so severe as to cause a breakdown of law and order or that the appropriate response is to isolate onself for six months or that the cost/benefit analysis of preparing to have six months worth of stuff stockpiled works in one's favour.
A lot of what's out on the internet about pandemic preparedness is premised on the idea that people don't live alone and this is not particularly useful for me and in general isn't very good as there are a relatively high propotion of people living alone than there would have been in previous pandemics. So what I'm going to talk about here is pandemic preparedness for those of us who live alone - specifically how it's different from that which applies to people who don't live alone.
( Read more... )
