Google reader is to die…..

This is not good news from my point of view – RSS feeds may be a bit ‘old school’ but I find it a great way to scan the news and any websites that I am interested in. And Google Reader served me well over the last few years as a way of aggregating all this data – that is until this coming July when Google are killing it.

RSS readers take raw feeds of data—headline, text, timestamp, etc.—and display that information in a stripped-down interface along with many other feeds, which is what makes them so efficient.

Now this is all very sad for people like me who like to keep an eye on things in an easy to scan manner, but the real problem is the effect it will have on countries that censor the Internet. Sadly Google are going to be cutting links to the outside world for many parts of the world.

Less obvious is how many RSS readers, including Google’s, serve as anti-censorship tools for people living under oppressive regimes. That’s because it’s actually Google’s servers, located in the US or another country with uncensored internet, that accesses each feed. So a web user in say, Iran just needs access to google.com/reader in order to read websites that would otherwise be blocked.

Not a good move Google…..

 

We are all working harder – well most of us….

The general theme that comes across when I talk to people in business is that we all appear to be working harder than ever (generally for lower fees), this is not a complaint (that comes later) – it is a fact of life. The economy is in a bad way so we have to ‘dig in’ and work through it, or at least most of us do – but not it seems the Royal Mail…..

courtesy of Viz…

I will admit to not being one of the Royal Mails biggest fans, I have blogged various times before about them and can’t recall any of them being positive, and this one isn’t either!

I accept that if I am not in the Royal Mail can’t deliver packages to me, and I have asked them not to deliver them to my 85 year old neighbour. Previously the card left asks me to wait 24 hours for the package to return to the sorting office – around 2 miles away. That is fine, I really don’t have an issue with this.

However, it now appears that it takes 48 hours to do this – why?

All I can assume is that the package is placed back into the Royal Mails own post – as we all know everything (even first class post) takes at least 48 hours these days……

 

When to and when not to tweet…

Twitter has become an integral part of our society, it seems that there are a huge number of users who have signed up – quite a few people I know are ‘watchers’ rather than active tweeters. Certainly at work we have an active account and I know many of my colleagues regularly use it to publicise deals or events. In the correct hands it can be quite effective.

However, as with anything that has such a massive readership you need to keep an eye on what you tweet – and in responding you need to be accurate and understand the original tweet…..

So I couldn’t help smiling when I saw the news about David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham who was outraged by the BBC’s ‘racist headline’ about the smoke from the Vatican’s chimney being black or white. He was in the House of commons and misread the original headline…….

His tweet was swift and decisive.

I did think his subsequent tweet when he realised his mistake was spot on as well however.

This highlights two things – firstly you should think before you tweet and secondly MP’s shouldn’t tweet in the commons!

 

As a shooter I believe you need to read this!

There needs to be gun control – I do not disagree with this statement. I also don’t agree with the NRA of America’s attitude – they really don’t help themselves or their cause in my opinion. Hopefully those two statements have allowed me to hold your attention and also assured you that I am not a maniac!

In this country the legislation relating to firearms is as strong as any in the world, and in my opinion is adequate. It is the management of the law that is at issue.

The National Rifle Association have this weekend released a press release that explains why they consider no further legislation is required – it is worth a read in full so I have set it out below. No doubt the likes of the Daily Mail will ‘edit’ the article to make shooters appear to be ‘Satan’s spawn’ – we aren’t. I leave you to make your own opinion……

No Need for Review of Firearms Licensing

Recent calls for a review of firearms licensing have been made by the coroner after ruling that three women were unlawfully killed in County Durham.

The killer, Michael Atherton, had legally owned weapons despite a history of domestic abuse.

The case highlights failings not in firearms licensing legislation but failings with implementation. This was recognised by Michael Banks, Durham’s Deputy Chief Constable, who stated “If we were presented with the same facts today… (Michael Atherton’s) licence would not be granted”…if there’s any intelligence around domestic violence in the family setting or intemperate behaviour then there is a presumption that a firearms licence or shotgun certificate will not be granted”.

Local police firearms officers work hard and generally deliver a highly professional service with rigorous scrutiny for firearm applications and renewals.

UK firearms legislation is recognised as some of the most restricted in the world; and the UK system is widely held across Europe to be an exemplar for responsible and safe firearms ownership.

The granting of a firearm certificate is wholly at the discretion of the police who need to be confident that the applicant is responsible and poses no risk to the public.

Applicants are obliged to justify good reason to own a rifle; provide independent character referees; be checked for criminal records; give consent for police to question their GP for evidence of alcoholism, drug abuse or personality disorders; and provide evidence of specialist secure storage for their rifle.

Shooting is a legal and major participation sport in the UK, and today over 700,000 certificates are granted covering 1.8m rifles and shotguns.

The incidence of legally held firearms being used in criminal activity is very rare, hence the keen media interest in such stories. The comparative statistics for knife crime are astonishing – in the year to June 2012 there were 29,613 recorded offences involving knives and other sharp objects. This supports the National Rifle Association’s long held view that it is the person not the weapon that causes harm and that the current firearm legislation, properly implemented, continues to deliver safety and protection to the public.

Andrew Mercer
Secretary General, National Rifle Association

 

Am I just getting old or is this wrong?

I am getting old, sadly there is no escaping that fact. I am also becoming less tolerant, again a fact of getting older. This could make me less open to new ideas – I do like to think I have a fairly open mind to things (friends may tell me otherwise), but some things are just ‘not right’.

I have blogged before about my home town of Malmesbury, a small hilltop town in Wiltshire with a Norman Abbey at its centre. It’s a fairly traditional place (some would say boring) and that is one of its attractions to me. So a few years ago when a new vicar came to the abbey one of his ideas did not go down well with much of the town.

His idea? Turning the Abbey into a skate park for a week! If I am honest I still don’t like it – it just doesn’t feel ‘right’ to me – but it has now been happening for a number of years and is established on the calendar. It appears popular with the kids which is probably the result the church are after (although whether or not it results in ‘bums on seats’ is not clear).

I suppose we do now have a Pope who twitters (although I am guessing he has someone who does it for him!) – so perhaps it’s just my age?

 

Would this make you buy one?

I think the phrase “brand blurring” is relevant here. We are used to seeing large corporations swallowing up smaller companies – in the world of computers both Apple and Microsoft are regulars in this area. But perhaps the most high profile is the car industry.

Back in the ‘good old days’ the British car industry was British owned and run, produced diverse models (and then went to the wall). In stepped the likes of Ford and BMW who picked up the corpses and either revived the mark – as with Mini in BMW’s case, or killed it off – names like Triumph, Wolsley, Singer, Hillman and Riley (although BMW have mentioned a possible re-use of this brand) to name but a few have disappeared into the big manufacturers vaults possibly never to reappear. To be fair most of the manufacturers have been sympathetic to past car ‘marks’ and haven’t abused their names too much (although BMW are pushing it in my view with the Mini).

Ford on the other hand appear to be using their previous link to Aston Martin in what cannot in my view be considered a good way. Aston’s are well known for their characteristic grill shape – it has been the same since the 1950′s (think of the classic Bond car). so why have Ford now decided that their cars look better with the front grill of an Aston Martin? I cannot believe for a minute that it will sell more Fords – but it can only devalue the Aston brand in my view. Perhaps the current owners of Aston will have something to say?

I may be missing something – but I don’t remember Ford ever having grills shaped like this – or am I wrong?

 

Are we getting ‘soft’?

I watched what would be described as a ‘vintage’ TV program at the weekend – (an old one to you and me) – it was the BBC’s round up of the events of January 1963, otherwise known as ‘the big freeze’. Two things became very obvious from the program;

Firstly that we really haven’t made that much progress when it comes to dealing with unusually cold weather – in the current snow the papers have been reporting similar issues with roads, railways and services that were issues in 1963.

Secondly, and far more scary, is the depth of the weather in 1963 – the cold snap lasted for over a month and the temperatures were below freezing (a long way below) for all of that time. Snow fall was measured in feet – not centimetres – and the country really did grind to a halt!

So when we are all clearing the windows on our cars this week and then ‘struggling through’ a couple of centimetres of snow give some thought to what would happen if we had some real winter weather!

The BBC documentary from 1963 is available on the BBC iplayer and is well worth a watch if you have some time. You can find it here;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01q9d86/Winterwatch_1963_The_Big_Freeze/

 

Clever carparks!

I do like something that is clever, slightly ‘techie’ and makes life easier….

This weekend I was in Leicester collecting a new iPhone from the Apple store in the Highcross Centre for my daughter to replace the one that she had stolen just before Christmas. Normally I would park at our leicester office and walk down, but this was to be a swift hit so the shopping centre carpark was the chosen venue for the car.

I had not parked there before but found it a very pleasant experience. It was very well lit and the spaces appear to be a good size. But most impressive is the way in which cars are managed in the carpark by the system. As you enter the facility there is a board indicating which floors have spaces available and how many there are free. The best part is that this is a dynamic system so it changes as cars leave the relevant floor!

So finding a space is faster and much less stress free as there is no hunting a floor for a space – you already have an indication that a space is available! There are also red and green lights in the roadways – green means you can go that way, red is no entry – simple but very effective. This is so much more useful than the system we have in Nottingham which tells you a mile or more from the carpark if spaces are available!

Top marks to Leicester!

 

This did make me laugh!

I am an Apple fan – anyone who reads this blog will be aware of that already. I do however like any tech – if its clever and works I don’t mind who makes it. My first entry to ‘gizmos’ was British – Psion PDA’s, they were fantastic and at the time world leaders, sadly time moves on….. and Apple make the best tech currently.

I have looked at the new Microsoft entry to the tablet market – the surface – it looks OK but the only time I have managed to actually get my hands on one in a store (John Lewis in Nottingham), it didn’t want to work properly! The much vaunted keyboard / cover didn’t seem to work very well at all – now this was probably a one-off, but how many not working iPad’s have you come across in a similar situation?

So I suppose the attached press clipping didn’t come as a great surprise to me – someone breaks into the Microsoft campus and steals Apple gear only! This does sadden me as Apple need some competition to keep them sharp, currently this is only coming from Samsung it would appear. Perhaps Microsoft will eventually move back into a ‘good place’, it just doesn’t feel likely at this time.

 

A classic example of what is wrong with football?

I have a somewhat ‘jaundiced’ view of the ‘beautiful game’ – I have blogged numerous times about it and have to say it really doesn’t appear to be getting any better – that is football as well as my grumpiness!

This last weekend we had the 3rd round of the FA Cup – the chance for lower league clubs to have a go at some of the Premier league clubs if they are lucky enough to be drawn against them. The Premier League clubs all tend to see it as a chore to go to the lower league clubs as it gets in the way of their main reason for existing (to make money?).

Anyway – locally we had Mansfield Town taking on Liverpool, the excitement in the area was palpable – I wasn’t there (no surprise there), but I know a man who was. I gather that Mansfield left free seats in the stand in memory of the 96 who died at Hillsborough, a very nice act that I approve of. They also played well and only lost out to a last-minute goal from Suarez – which was the result of his hand ball.

Mansfield’s manager would not be drawn by the press on the foul, and was full of praise for his players. Suarez played on as if nothing had happened and then on Monday I saw this tweet from Grant Holt (Norwich City) – the general tone is in my view appalling – basically supporting cheating – (and I guess most professional footballers have the same view?) – surely not what we should be saying to our kids?