hfbrew Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 My boss retired and there was seemingly a lovely article in the local paper. I was quoted! But the paper never actually spoke to me... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 There are many different branches of journalism. Investigative journalists have uncovered corruption in high places again and again and foreign correspondents risk their very lives in war zones. Three Al Jazeera journalists are currently imprisoned in Egypt simply for doing their job. There are gutter press hacks to be sure, but there is a deadly serious side to journalism too. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 And sometimes even the seeming gutterpress can carry out valid investigative journalism, hard though that is to believe. The NOTW used to be renowned for its investigations into corruption as well as its page 3, celebrity gossip and sleaze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 (edited) Indeed there are many types of journalism, from the truly courageous who risk their lives in war zones or have the integrity to carry on investigating wrongdoing in the face of threats to their safety, to the other end of the spectrum. There must be a market for the gutter end of journalism. There is certainly no shortage of publications catering to this apparent need to read about human behavior in all its sordid detail. I believe The Sun is still the top selling 'newspaper'? Reminds me of that great line from Porridge, when Fletcher asks for a copy of The Sun, 'Oh, and get me something to read as well'. One of the things that struck me in the trial about hacking celeb's phones, was who on earth is interested in these people? I couldn't care less what A said to B about C, but obviously somebody does, or thinks they do. Of course if you are not interested in celeb 'news' or generally lazy, soundbite reporting, you avoid certain programmes/publications. My point about Channel 4 News, was that it is a serious news programme, which takes itself very seriously. Because of my work schedule, it is the one I tend to watch. I don't care for the increasingly hectoring tone of the interviewing, in which interrupting and shouting down seem to be the order of the day, as if to say look at us, we are a serious news programme and we don't give our interviewees an easy ride. Nevertheless, it is somewhere I expect to find some attempt at responsible reporting of the facts and not somebody doorstepping family, friends, neighbours of victims, who are clearly traumatised and the intrusion is unwarranted and utterly insensitive. Edited July 20, 2014 by Jacqueline 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 I won't even talk to the journalist from our back-of-beyond hicksville local paper any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Just noticed in our electricity bill that there's a surcharge starting this month for what they're calling "reliable" electricity service. The state is allowing the company to do things (I assume like trimming trees but I assume not like actually burying the cables) that make power cuts less frequent and shorter, and apparently we have to pay extra for this because it appears that reliable service isn't part of the basic contract. And here's me thinking that was what service was all about. Not these days... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Unbelievable Melody! We keep getting letters from United Utilities advising us to insure our water supply pipes running through the garden. A friend told me that the law was changed a few years ago and the water provider is now responsible for the pipes right to the entry point into the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 That's interesting Janet, does that apply if you are on a water meter as well? (Our meter is under the pavement in the street out front). As far as I know we have the responsibility all the way up to the meter. Has that changed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Oh I don't know Taxi, we're not on meters yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2dancersmum Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 (edited) I think Janet's friend has perhaps got confused. Water supply pipes are the householders responsibility from the property boundary/water meter up to the point of entry into the house and for pipes inside the house - regardless of whether the water supply is metered or not. Some companies will repair pipes free of charge or waive water charges from leaks for the outdoor pipes though - often as a one off goodwill gesture. It is for the waste water pipes that the law changed in 2011. Previously you were responsible for all waste pipes within your property boundary - even if it was carrying waste from another property and/or just passed through your garden. Most waste pipes do take waste from several properties and these pipes are now no longer the householders responsibility. Edited July 24, 2014 by 2dancersmum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Thanks for that clarification!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Sometimes I despair. I've been looking for a particular book for weeks (my books sometimes have this habit of disappearing down random black holes for months on end and then reappearing all of a sudden), and it just refused to be found. So we started on this programme of rationalisation and sorting, meaning that we now have boxes of books to go to the charity shop, and some room on the bookshelves to accommodate at least a few of the random piles of books around the place. But the book I was looking for was still not anywhere to be seen. Finally found it last night on my Kindle. Sigh... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I exactly know your feelings on that one Melody! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted August 1, 2014 Author Share Posted August 1, 2014 Melody, I thought you were going to say you'd bought another at the charity shop and then discovered that you had bought back your own copy you had donated by mistake! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Well, I haven't gone that far, but I have occasionally let my books fake me out into believing one of them has disappeared for good so I've bought a replacement, and then the original has popped out of its black hole looking innocent. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 The so-called out-of-hours 111 helpline that replaced NHS Direct. Don't even think about bothering with this service - it's totally pathetic and useless. Dial 999. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 That sounds ominous, dear Taxi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 Dear Fiz, thankfully all ok, will PM you when I can. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 (edited) Had to buy a new washing machine when the old one decided to die young. I particularly wanted one that had its own heater, because the hot water in this house takes forever to actually get hot. Anyway, it was delivered, I did a hot wash, and basically nothing happened. So I consulted the small print in the owner's manual, and apparently this machine does have an internal heater but it only works on the intake from the cold tap, not both of them. So it quite happily heats water from the cold tap to make sure it's warm enough to do a cold wash (or a warm one), but it doesn't heat water from the hot tap to make sure it's warm enough to do a hot wash. So now I have to remember to run the hot tap next to the washing machine and make sure the water is hot before starting to do a hot wash, and then run it again about 20 minutes later to make sure it hasn't cooled down. Otherwise I'm doing a hot wash that's colder than the cold wash. Someone probably won an award for coming up with that design. Edited August 18, 2014 by Melody 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Buying things on line by credit card. My card has some sort of SecureCard system, so every time I buy something on line, it asks me for 3 digits from a password, say the 3rd, 5th and 8th. It seems that every time I do this, it rejects my digits, so the transaction fails. So then I go through the whole purchase process again, only this time when it requests my digits, I say I have forgotten my password. I then have to go through another palaver so that they know I am who I say I am, and then I type in a new password. The trouble is, my passwords are becoming more and more complicated, because it keeps rejecting my choices, saying I have already used that password. I am running out of new password choices that I can remember, and at the same time I have no idea why my previous passwords (which I 100% certain were correct) have been rejected. It is so frustrating. And in the meantime, whatever it is I am trying to buy has either gone, or gone up in price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 My current credit card doesn't have that extra level. However a previous one did and, like you Fonty, it DROVE ME ROUND THE BEND!!! I could never remember the password either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 I've just had an odd experience with a utility bill I paid on line, I received a red notice from Thames Water telling me I hadn't paid, so I rang them and told them I had paid on line and gave them the date and time. They confirmed that I had made a payment but that the payment hadn't gone through and that I should speak to my credit card provider. So off I trot to the bank to be told that they couldn't find the payment, so clearly for some technical reason the payment hadn't worked. When I paid for a second time I paid over the phone, press hash they said for your confirmation number, so I press hash and all I get is some endless spiel about their services and no conformation number. I wonder if I'm about to receive another red notice, grrrrr. By the way my secure bank service deals with 12 digits whereas my password has 9, so every time they ask for my 10th, 11th or 12th digit, I'm in trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 Got sent this and it did make me laugh. I know the feeling: Creating a Password cabbage Sorry, the password must be more than 8 characters boiled cabbage Sorry, the password must contain 1 numerical character 1 boiled cabbage Sorry, the password cannot have blank spaces 50boiledcabbages Sorry, the password must contain at least 1 upper case character 50BOILEDcabbages Sorry, the password cannot use more than 1 upper case character consecutively 50BoiledCabbagesShovedUpYourArseIfYouDon’tGiveMeAccessImmediately Sorry, the password cannot contain punctuation. NowIamGettingReallyPissedOff50BoiledCabbagesShovedUpYourArseIfYouDontGiveMeAccessImmediately Sorry, that password is already in use 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 There has been a lot of publicity over the last couple of days about celebrities having their i-cloud storage hacked and Apple have said they should use more secure passwords. If you have a different password for each site that requires it how do you remember them all? Do you write them down? Do you try and use something that means something to you but isn't obvious? Believe me you soon run out of options! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 (edited) Well, this is the problem. They suggest that people use password managers - then of course when the password managers get hacked, the hackers have access to all your passwords, not just the one or two they'd get from hacking individual sites. Plus I've had two cases recently where hackers have got into password databases at different companies (including the one where I have my email) and broken the encryption, so it doesn't matter how secure your password is. It really annoyed me when I came to create a new password after one of those hacks and was told it wasn't as secure as it could be. As long as the company's encryption software was vulnerable, every password was completely accessible. Edited September 3, 2014 by Melody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 Just logged on to my iPad and, guess what, I've been forced into changing my Apple passwords! I wonder why... Rest assured, dear Readers, naked photographs of me will not be circulating on the internet! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 I'm still not entirely convinced that the whole thing isn't a publicity stunt set up to promote the movie "Sex Tape", which is just coming out here. The timing is suspiciously good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 So I consulted the small print in the owner's manual, and apparently this machine does have an internal heater but it only works on the intake from the cold tap, not both of them. So it quite happily heats water from the cold tap to make sure it's warm enough to do a cold wash (or a warm one), but it doesn't heat water from the hot tap to make sure it's warm enough to do a hot wash. I have a nasty feeling that all machines sold in the UK are now cold-fill only Buying things on line by credit card. My card has some sort of SecureCard system, so every time I buy something on line, it asks me for 3 digits from a password, say the 3rd, 5th and 8th. It seems that every time I do this, it rejects my digits, so the transaction fails. So then I go through the whole purchase process again, only this time when it requests my digits, I say I have forgotten my password. I then have to go through another palaver so that they know I am who I say I am, and then I type in a new password. I know the feeling . I used to have 2 cards I used for online purchases: they started off with the same password, then I had to update one by 1 for some reason, and after that I could never remember which password was which. So then I got the wrong one, and had to re-set it by 1 again, and then I confused that with the password for the other card, and got that one wrong, and so on, and so on ad infinitum. I HATE Verified by VISA! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted September 5, 2014 Author Share Posted September 5, 2014 To the audi driver who was following me this morning about four feet from my rear bumper - I don't care if you want me to go faster. I don't care how close you get. I will continue to drive at 30 miles an hour along this stretch. Because that's the speed limit, in case you hadn't noticed. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Good for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted September 5, 2014 Author Share Posted September 5, 2014 DH (a former driving instructor) actually told me that the only safe way to deal with aggressive tail-gaters is to slow down and not let them intimidate you into speeding up. If you go faster, they will probably stay just as close anyway, which is far more dangerous at higher speeds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 It's going to have to be "you and Yours" radio programme today. I think this might upset you a bit too Janet!! The presenter was talking to someone in charge of Retail in Manchester and they were just discussing the fact that many shops might close in the next five years because of Licence renewals all due in this period. The Retail man was bemoaning this as Manchester has many smaller feeder towns like Oldham Stockport Wigan Bolton And LIVERPOOL!!! WHAT!! So Liverpool is just a feeder "town" for Manchester now is it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Since when?! I was listening to a radio programme the other day and there were representatives from the city councils of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham. There had been a lottery allocation (I think) of a large sum of money to expand links and transport in those areas to improve businesses. The money had not been apportioned but the councillor from Manchester was stridently and aggressively tell the presenter and the other councillors why Manchester deserved the lion's share of it! He was jaw droppoingly rude and my husband and I just started at each other in disgust at his arrogance. I am sure most Mancunians are lovely but that man did them no favours at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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