Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Why do you SPAM?

To all those spammers out there, do you have any morals? Does it not worry you that you are cursed everyday by thousands of readers of your spamming emails? What do you hope to achieve by entering adverts for fake Viagra sites into blogs when 99% of people on the Internet will just delete them?

posted on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 9:44:51 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]

 Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Is WiFi bad for you?

Having watched the BBC program Panorma about the dangers of WiFI I have suddenly become very paranoid about my own two WiFI routers in my house. I wasn't aware until I watched the program that several countries have banned the use of WiFi transmitters in schools if even one child feels ill. If  people are sensitive to radiation from WiFI and cell phone masts they get grants for anti radiation paint to shield their homes or have the antennas removed

You could understand what a massive loss on investment it would be if new legislation suddenly came out over night saying that no Cell phone or WiFi antennae's could be located anywhere nears residents who may be affected by it, or schools where children are more susceptible to it.

The radiation from WiFi antennas could have some pretty adverse effects in the long term on human beings, it could even be responsible for:

  • DNA breaking up
  • Increase risks of cancer
  • Headaches and nausea

As a precaution I have made sure I turn off all my WiFi transmitters at night. As I see it, its probably better to be safe than sorry right?

If you've been suffering headaches for no apparent reason, try turning off your WiFi connection for a week and see if it helps, and if it does I would be interested to hear from you. All of a sudden cable running around my house doesn't sound like a bad idea.

posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 8:00:29 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]

 Monday, May 21, 2007
I'm back!

I've been away for a few days in Ireland for a friends wedding it was a truly wonderful event set in the lovely county of Carlow in the sleepy little town of Tullow situated an hour and a half drive from Dublin.We stayed in a large 5 bedroom cottage on the grounds of the Mount Wolseley Hotel, the houses in this part of Ireland are pretty large our own cottage was huge by comparison to the little house we have here in Surrey.  One of our friends commented that the living room was so spacious it looked like a bowling alley with its shiny wooden floors.

We managed to a get a great deal that cost us £327.72 which we spread among 5 friends worked out to be very good value for money for a weekend. Why not take a look at their website if you are planning a mini break away?

posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 8:27:32 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]

 Monday, May 14, 2007
Making money off your credit card

No this isn't another scam, its something I have read on the Fool.co.uk and have done myself for quite a long time.

Basically there are many 0% interest free credit cards out there trying to lure people who ring up large credit card bills over to them. If you are clever you can make the most out of this introductory rate, as long as your are strict with your finances.

Here's one example of what I do.

  • Get yourself a good credit card with a 0% interest free rate on purchases and balance transfers for a year or more (if you can get it)
  • If like me, your work pays for your travel expenses, start putting all of your travel expenses on your credit card.
  • When your work pays back your expenses, place these in a separate high interest savings account or a cash ISA.
  • When your 0% interest rate ends, pay off the balance in full and keep the interest you have earned and if you want, start the whole thing over again.

Now the above works really well as long as you:

  • Are not tempted to use your card for any other expense. This card is only for expenses nothing else!
  • Make a note of when your 0% interest rate ends so you are not suddenly stung for interest payments. If you use Outlook or some other email organizing program you can put a date reminder in here so you don't forget.

Good luck and if you have any similar tips I would love to hear from you!

posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 8:57:36 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [1]

 Sunday, May 13, 2007
Supermarkets

We all know that the super markets we go to, give their suppliers a very raw deal when it comes to buying their produce. They argue though, that this is partly to do with us the consumers wanting the lowest prices but the highest quality. Prices are so low in supermarkets that its possible to live off just a couple of pounds a day if you shop frugally enough. But the truth is that when we buy food from our super markets so much of it goes to waste we buy one and get another free but we seldom eat the free item. Portions we buy are large to big for us to consume in the time we have to eat the produce. Would it really hurt us if we paid just a little bit more for our food just that 50p extra that would be the difference between a farmer being able to pay for his farm or going bankrupt.

Many people have already started;

  • Getting your milk direct from your local dairy
  • Getting your vegetables delivered from box schemes such as Able & Cole
  • Getting meats and fresh produce from local farmers markets
  • and there are many more

I am not saying supermarkets are bad or we shouldn't use them, but like everything in life things have to be balanced its called avoiding a monopoly. We the consumer, need to reintroduce the balance once again by making sure we have a good alternative to supermarkets and that producers of food products also have a good alternative market for their food. Choice is good and it has to exist in both supply and  demand, when it doesn't certain factions get more power than they should and start to dictate the way we live.

 

posted on Sunday, May 13, 2007 5:07:16 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]

 Saturday, May 12, 2007
Be your own boss work from home work your own hours

How many times have you seen the above title? Have you seen it so many times that you were about to skip this blog post all together? Don't panic I am not introducing some get rich quick scheme although I am writing about what I really hate about them!

If you have ever seen adverts on TV that show some poor bloke in a so called dead end job and that he can solve all his problems with a career in IT. All he has to do is get some qualifications from them and he will have a marvelous car, large figure salary, a large house or supervising people working for him. So many of my friends in IT laugh at these adverts, the adverts seem to make it seem so easy. The truth of the matter is, is that when people hire people in IT one of the most important things they look out for after qualifications is experience, actual implementation of what you have learnt for at least 2 years min or more. Don't get me wrong we all have to start somewhere and the money you spent on training will take a long time to pay itself back or for you to see the benefits. There are plenty of other ways to get into IT but just like any other profession it takes time and some people will pick it up and others will find they are better suited to other careers.

The other thing that annoys me is work from home scams. We would all like to work from the comfort of our own homes and earn lots of money for it. Scammers know this only too well and prey on desperate people or those who would just like to earn some money working from home. Usually this is mothers who are always at home taking care of kids or our parents have seen it and thought it might be a good idea. Some of these scams are so intricate, one of them was a CD sent to a friend of mine containing a professionally done video showing a happy couple driving expensive cars and living in a house the size of a small shopping mall. The couple went on to talk about how successful their lives were thanks to this scheme they had come up with. The funny thing about it is how they talk about how wealthy they are and how good their life is, but nothing about how the scheme works. This is usually saved until the end, where the scheme is revealed it usually involves buying 200 copies of the CD to flog to some more unsuspecting people for 50 pounds each! So how do you recognize these pitches?

  • The scheme talks more about the benefits than it does about the actual scheme
  • You need to purchase something
  • You hardly have to do any work just sit back and wait for the money to come in.

Just remember working from home or running a business from home is not easy in the slightest, being your own boss, while it enables you to decide what times you want to work or how much you want to work. If you don't work you are probably not going to earn any income and then starve ... its that simple. Being your own boss also means going on holiday or taking time off sick means no income.

posted on Saturday, May 12, 2007 2:48:24 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]

 Thursday, May 10, 2007
Buying an LCD TV

You would have thought buying an LCD TV was easy if you had saved enough cash, it was the first time I had bought one and I had seen a DGM 32 inch display going for £344 pounds at DABs. I jumped at the chance and and when this lovely TV arrived I plugged it in and was almost immediately dismayed to see 2 red pixels glaring at me (ahhhhh!).

Oh well I thought having never bought an LCD TV before I just logged into DAB's site and registered for a faulty return and booked a courier on DAB's site to pickup the TV. It was just going to be a question of them seeing the fault and saying "Oh its faulty lets send this fellow a brand new TV as a replacement" right? Wrong! Apparently so many manufactures have a policy on what constitutes a faulty LCD TV screen,  according to a certain standard depending on how big your screen is depends on how many faulty pixels your screen has before they agree to replace it!

So lets take that into perspective, if you have a 32 inch LCD TV with 3 faulty red "stuck" pixels, and when you watch your TV that is all you think of as it ruins your viewing pleasure. The manufacturer will not consider it faulty as it does not fit  within their 5 or more faulty pixel rule for your size of TV! So you shell out all of this money for a faulty TV that they will not accept as faulty or replace by their standards! The thing is they don't make this very evident on DAB's website when buying an LCD TV what you have to expect and its all hidden in their help section. The problem I have now is that DAB's do not believe in phones so its very hard to contact them about anything especially when you can't get onto a computer with an Internet connection to use their online chat and the only way I was able to find their "email us" form was by searching for it on Google! Anyway the TV is being collected tomorrow and I have put a note in the box, having not been able to contact them I have not really been able to talk about the fault and how I only read about the returns pixel policy after the return had been logged. I have now asked if I can have a refund as part of their 10 days no quibbles refunds policy. Hopefully I can get my money back and go to AriaPC these guys if you pay £35 extra will test the LCD TV of your choice before sending it to you for faulty pixels! What service! I only wish I had found these guys earlier. I have a feeling I am going to have a lot of problems with DAB's....

posted on Thursday, May 10, 2007 8:33:00 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [1]

 Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Feeling Sorry for myself

If any of you read my wife's blog you would have seen the post about how our cat Lucy bit me (pictures included), followed now by how I have started suffering an infection for which I need to take antibiotics for as a result of the bite.

Now I have been bitten by a cat once before. This was by one of our other cats Oliver

and this was caused by me trying to give him a worming pill. Oliver doesn't like worming pills and decided to bite me for my efforts, for which I had to have an anti tetanus injection. Of course back then I didn't realise that Oliver would do anything for ham and I could have wrapped the pill in the ham doh!. Lucy on the other hand must have been spooked, I picked her up like I always do but this time she struck out at me and I had to quickly throw her away from me, as she set her teeth into my hand. Funnily enough now Lucy is acting incredibly cute, as though nothing has happened trying to get me to pick her up again and brushing past me making cute meowing sounds. Urrrgh cats can be so unpredictable!

posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2007 8:32:17 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [1]