Observant
Posted: Wed 17 August, 2005 Filed under: Thoughts 6 Comments »A week ago, I got my replacement Switch (sorry, Maestro) card – the old one had been in my wallet for a year and was bent/cracking to within an inch of its life. That’s about normal.
Anyway, I got the card, and just shoved it in my wallet, as usual. Nothing special. I’ve used it since, so the old card is now a piece of worthless (and cracked) plastic, and I’ve got to re-remember my new card number, which is a bit of a pain in the arse, but I’ll do it. Such is life. At least they didn’t change the PIN this time without telling me they were going to. Always a good thing.
However, I did do one thing differently. Not consciously, because I’ve only just realised it today. But I didn’t sign the back. Oh whoops, oh bugger, oh chuff, I hear you cry. And yes, you’d be right. Except, and here’s the thing – I’ve been using the card. Not just online, but in shops. And I’m sure I’ve done at least one transaction where I’ve had to sign it, rather than using the PIN.
Which all goes to show, I suppose, just how few places actually check signatures etc. in the first place. It’s a bit worrying really, isn’t it?
Whoops
Posted: Wed 17 August, 2005 Filed under: News, Thoughts Leave a comment »So, it’s slowly emerging that the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes was even worse than had previously been speculated. I’ve suspected that this story was going to be a nightmare (and have said so previously) and now it looks like going roughly the way I thought.
So now the media are already asking “what went wrong?”. I’d be more tempted to ask “what went right?” – because the answer to the former is “everything” and to the latter is “nothing”. Let’s look at the list…
- Menezes wasn’t positively identified as the suspect when he left the building, because the relevant officer was having a piss. Good start
- Menezes wasn’t wearing a heavy coat, and was actually wearing a denim shirt/jacket
- Menezes perhaps ran to catch a train that was already at the platform
- Menezes wasn’t warned he was being followed, or given a warning before being shot
- Menezes wasn’t positively identified as the suspect, although it seems that assumptions were made that “someone else” had identified him
Is there even that much of a resemblance between the two men?
Suspect :Target :
The entire thing is a catalogue of screw-ups, errors, and mis-communication. With no warning being given, 8 shots to the head, and that (according to the leaked documents) he was being held down by a community police officer before being shot, surely this just looks more and more like an execution?
Safari
Posted: Tue 16 August, 2005 Filed under: Travel Leave a comment »Looks like – well, in some circumstances at least – the Comedy Smart Car and it’s ilk are at risk from more interesting things than just ‘everything else on the road’.
Helpful
Posted: Tue 16 August, 2005 Filed under: News, Weirdness Leave a comment »According to the BBC, a road in Oxfordshire is to be closed for resurfacing on Thursday. This is the full “story”
Drivers are being warned that a part of a road in Oxfordshire will be shut for resurfacing work.
A section of Wykham Lane will be closed between the A361 Bloxham Road and White Post Lane for one day on Thursday.
The county council said to avoid confusion with the continuing closure of the A361 at South Newington there would be no diversion signs.
The emergency services and those residents who live within the closed area, will still have access.
Now OK, I’m sure that’s useful – but where is it in Oxfordshire? – No town is given! The only location it reveals is that it is (I assume) somewhere near Stoke Newington.
So perhaps not as helpful as it could’ve been…
Updating
Posted: Tue 16 August, 2005 Filed under: Geeky, Sweary 2 Comments »Ah, that was one (thanks, Gordon) – Windows Bloody Update.
At work I’m using Windows XP, along with all the latest updates including the dreaded SP2. It’s not too bad – and I might as well get used to it, as the new PC I’m going to be building is going to run on it too. Anyway, I did all the updates the other day, and then got nagged every ten fucking minutes to restart the computer.
I didn’t want to restart the keffing thing, as it was in the middle of doing that log analysis, and I didn’t want to have to restart that either. So I kept on saying “no, do it later” – everyone in the office could tell when I was clicking it, because the comment of “No I don’t, now fuck off!” got louder as the day wore on.
But now, thanks to Gordon and his link, I have fixed it for the future. If anyone else wants to know, do the following :
Start -> Run -> gpedit.msc -> Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update -> Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations.
Fuckin’ brilyunt.
Drafts
Posted: Tue 16 August, 2005 Filed under: D4D™, Thoughts Leave a comment »You know, sometimes I really think I should set myself up a proper list of draft posts, just for days like today when I’ve got about 8 things I know I was going to remember to write, but of course now I’ve forgotten what they were.
Maybe I should just carry a notebook around – or, hey, use some of the pages in my filofax – now there’s a novel idea! It just gets so frustrating sometimes, knowing there were things I was thinking “Yeah, I’ll leave that ’til tomorrow to write about”, and now thinking “What the fuck was it I was going to say?”.
So yeah, I may just end up with a little notebook or something (or use that Filofax) to get some more productivity out of all this. We’ll see.
Repellent
Posted: Tue 16 August, 2005 Filed under: Health, Weirdness 1 Comment »This story contains one of the creepiest things I’ve seen in a long time. The first “Mr. Afghanistan”, a body-builder. And is it me, or is he actually gold?
Personally I’ve never been able to see the appeal in bodybuilding, particularly to this kind of extreme. It’s just grotesque.