News From the Wrights

Friends of Ed & Clr should go and read their blog

Junk Email

Now I don't know about you, but I don't like being sent email that suggests I approve of child abuse for not wanting to forward junk email, especially by members of my own family.

In fact I don't see what a campaign like that clogging up people's inboxes does to combat anything. The message I'm referring to claims to be "The blue ribbon campaign against child abuse" and consists of a poem written from the perspective of an abused 3 year old girl called Sarah, followed by a request that the recipient broadcast it out to everyone the recipient knows via their email boxes. The poem is pornographic in the way the writer tries and fails to imagine what an abused 3 year old thinks, and really badly written.

Claiming that someone failing to pass on a chain email approves of child abuse, is as bad as claiming that someone failing to pass it on will get bad luck (or at least fail to get good luck) and have horrible things happen to them. Actually, it's worse. Using child abuse as the emotional hook to get someone to pass on your chain message is to my mind just plain sick, whereas tails of good luck or rewards from Microsoft are relatively harmless.

A quick browse of http://www.breakthechain.org/ (bookmark it- a fantastic site) finds their take on the poem. Apparently the poem was originally about a child called Misty but since then someone has renamed the little girl in the hope of bypassing all the "Don't pass this on" postings on the internet. This surely says buckets about the sort of people that pass these things on.

If you want to do something yourself about child abuse, visit the NSPCC (or your country's equivalents) and look into the Full Stop campaign. Don't forward sick chain emails to people.

Scouting urban myths

Earlier tonight I had someone swear blind to me that one of the most common Scouting urban myths was true. 'British bulldog is banned' is up there with 'you must be wearing uniform to be insured'
Apparently it had come from his DC. I will write a list of urban myths when I get home.

Panic! It's a national disaster!

Did you know that 600,000 people die each year in the UK alone?

It's an outrage, somthing must be done about it!

Thanks

To Jon... My computer was refusing to start. Unplugging the CDRW drive in order to allow more power to other peripherals seemed to help. Jon came up with the inadequate power supply suggestion by the way.

Odd thing about ebay auctions, everyone seems to bid in the last 24 hours. What's the point in a 9 day listing if everyone ignores it for 8 days?

Today I have clashing meetings, so the unit won out.

Ritual

I think it's a ritual.

I tried to make these things easy for my family by setting up an Amazon Wish List. But every year my mum still rings me up and asks me what I want for my birthday, with an implicit "you never tell me what you want."

I wonder if the wish list has now become part of the ritual, she knows I have one and "Simon Jerram" isn't a common name. So me emailing the link to my wish list has supplanted me handing over a piece of paper listing various items I may like. My mum could get my sister to bring the list up for her, but then the yearly ritual wouldn't be there.

And they say men are difficult to buy for...

Bookcrossing

Needless to say if anyone wants on of my "availables" from my bookcrossing bookshelf let me know. Please note not all the books there were originally mine, they've just been captured/rescued by me.

Oh you can even try asking for a book marked "To be read", I may have given up on it.

From my childhood

With all the fuss over banks "banning" piggy banks, I discovered this figure from my childhood.



A memory worth £4 you think?

Just goes to show, though that the hype around the banning of piggy banks is just a load of nonsense. Banks have always used a variety of shapes for money boxes and rarely give out pigs. Nat Wests collectable pottery pigs being the notable exception. Choosing not to give out pig shaped money boxes is not an assault on British culture, that say changing the name of St Bart's hospital would be.

PS if you have a Nat West baby pig (but not the rest of the set) in perfect condition and want to sell it, please get in touch.

Pah Incompetence

Tsch. In just two days I had a letter asking me for the cheque to my solicitor I'd already handed over in person, and a letter from my building society asking for a completed direct debit mandate, but not asking for the other form I sent in the same envelope just over a week ago.

I'm told this is all typical.

But my appraisal was fine yesterday, so I'm not too fussed. And I think I'll be getting a new bike soon.

Innocent in London

C/o Henry Potts a worrying story.

I will certainy think twice about visiting London.

RIP

My bike had a little accident this morning. So I'm looking for a new back wheel or a new bike...

Andy T at work was great- he gave me a lift home.

A day out

After going to the post office to pick up my first two ebay purchases, spent a day with NW SAGGA in Ingleton.

Acronyms

IMHO the meaning of most acronyms are obvious in context.

But even if not there are websites for the hard of thinking, and a transation is only a couple of clicks away.

YMMV.

Do-nation

Just a quick post to note I've signed up online to the Organ Donor Registser.

And in December the bloodmobile is coming to work.

Beta Testing

Grr... I hate beta testing my banks non-integrated internet banking and mortgage enguiry service.

Of course they would claim I'm not actually a beta tester, in which case why so many bugs?

Home buying

Well the surveyor isn't hanging about- he's going round tomorrow. The mortgage company still recons on 6 weeks though...

Politically Correct?

Now you may have gathered I'm not the sort of person to bang on about "Political Correctness Gone Mad". I have a special withering look for the sort of loony who likes to use that phrase.

However when hearing about Cheif Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers remarks in the report on Wakefield Jail, thoughts of political correctness sprang to mind.

It's one thing to declare that tie pins showing political, religious, national or other affiliation can be misinterpreted. But it's quiet another to label a national flag as potentially racist. I think more political correctness, or sensitivity to other peoples feelings as it is more correctly called, would have been in order. The remarks were ill-judged and have caused far greater offence to more people than the tie pins themselves ever would.

And raising it as a concern is over the top too, the "Staff should not wear unauthoised tie pins" recommendation was more than enough.

Music

Kids these days tsch, don't know they're born. Where as these days you get LostProfets, Keiser Cheifs, The Killers and Franz Ferdinand, we had Rick Astley and Kylie and Jason. Even your fake manufactured bands are hand crafted from the finest quality plastic that we could only have ever dreamed of.

Anyone else find it odd to be having "In mah day we didn't have proper music like this stuff you have today with proper guitars, real energy and decent lyrics." conversations with the young folk?

And Andy Kirby claims music died with "Pump up the Volume" by MARRS.