@bullstuff2
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” Doing a good job around here is like wetting yourself in a dark suit, it gives you a warm feeling but no one else notices. ”
I love that one Dwynne, it has so many applications.
I was really too hard on the LincsAlert people, they have so much county to cover and so few bodies to cover it with, thanks to the cuts. The information they provide is quite good actually: atm they are concerned with what is called “The A16 corridor” which runs approximately north to south from Grimsby to Boston. Distance is almost 50 miles of single carriageway, mostly rural villages and farms, along or adjoining the road at various distances. Thefts of agricultural machinery, which in Lincs means massive and expensive machines to work large farms, are rife. Isolated villages in beautiful countryside often have expensive houses, with saleable stuff such as top-end quad bikes, motorbikes and garden machinery. People are warned to secure this stuff, but they still leave keys on a hook by the door and are outraged when a fine car or other items are taken. Our village is on the main A157 coast road: we get thieves nicking cars in the East Midlands, South Yorkshire etc and driving them to our resorts. They dump and fire them in the country, then steal another to get home. A lot of local cars and other items have been recovered by Lincs Police, after putting details on the site, with photos if available. I print off anything I think might be seen on my travels and have passed on details: I was able to spot a stolen Golf GTI on my way back from a show late at night. I passed it on with my mobile from a layby down the road and there was a car there within 15 minutes. They recovered the Golf and I received an official Thank You. On this occasion, the offenders were local.
The system does work, but would work much better as you say, if more of the population showed concern and didn’t think “It won’t happen to me.” All our bungalows in the Close have property marked and signs to say that, thanks to materials provided by Lincs Police and distributed by Muggins here.
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I'm out.Not true wrt Russia Bob: “The Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab said its analysis showed that there had been about 2,000 attacks – most in Ukraine, Russia and Poland.”
I cannot find the part of the report in (I think) RT which initially had some Russian figurehead boasting that Russian business was not affected, Ed. After visiting yesterday’s Beeb report, I see that a lot of Russian business is affected, including Antonov, Rosneft, (biggest Russian oil business) and Chernobyl monitoring software.
I humbly apologise to the Russian state, which is a strange thing for me to have to say!
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I'm out.I get regular alerts from Lincolnshire Alert, a Lincolnshire Police website which warns members like me online about everything criminal, including these Scams. I asked them once, what about people using the net for the first time, who have not been informed about LincsAlert? Their answer: they depend upon people like me to spread the news. Fine, I said, but it’s actually the 2nd largest county and population density is low. How do you expect us to cover the whole county? Silence.
Why not organise meetings at local venues, I said. Pass out leaflets and crime prevention stuff, with LincsAlert featured. No answer until it reached the CC, now it has begun to happen.
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I'm out.I see an inverted parallel with the sudden U-Turn by Nicola Sturgeon, as she decides not to carry on pushing for another Referendum on Scottish Independence. According to my gt-nephew, (a proud Scot born and bred, works in the Oil Supply industry) there is a big change of heart and opinion amongst friends and businesses north of the Border. Many former YES voters of his acquaintance, have changed their minds. I believe this is also happening in England and Wales, regarding Brexit.
All of this mess was of course caused by the voices in Cameron’s head, after UKIP *appeared to be threatening the Tory vote. The Tory government is now a runaway train and the buffers do not look to be capable of absorbing the impact.
* Hmmmm – UKIP – whatever happened to that organisation?
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I'm out.Please translate the Leet Graham. I recognize the symbols but try as I might I cannot transliterate them into English.
Had to look up “Leet” Ed, to know that it is a code. But yes, Graham, please translate for those of us who never dealt with it.
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I'm out.More than rumour Ed: https://tinyurl.com/yb9c8m9o
” A growing number of security experts, including the British malware expert Marcus Hutchins – credited with ending the WannaCry ransomware outbreak – claim to have logs that reveal (Ukrainian tax-filing software) MEDoc as the source. ”
Note that Russia is proud of not having suffered an attack…
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I'm out.In stating this, the immigration/free movement requirements of the EU are hugely complicating issues and it would not surprise me if in 17 months time nothing has been agreed and the country will have no other option but a hard Brexit. Whether this would trigger another referendum is going to be a very different and difficult political decision for that time. I know someone will cry foul, but it is not unknown for a referendum within a country to be reversed. The Irish have already done exactly this over an EU issue.
I wish, Ed. I wish…
But in that situation, I can see streets full of Brexit protesters and social media full of abusive messages. Then certain politicians on both sides of the matter, preparing new lies and fears. The real question is, given a new Referendum, would the EU be interested in taking us back? My German friends say that they definitely would, they don’t want us to leave, but they are fed up with our politicians and our media. (Join the club, mein liebe freunden)
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I'm out.Not like the Real Thing, Dave! SFX!
When I first went to sea at 16, my first trip was around the Med on an ancient 2,500 ton cargo vessel. I was on 4 on/8off watches, meaning I did 4 hours sea duty and 8 hours off. Being a very junior Deck Hand with no experience, my watches were spent on the Monkey Island: https://tinyurl.com/zfw44ok
That is where I stayed for 50 minutes of every hour, being spelled by a crewmate for 10 minutes and a big mug of “fortified” cocoa. On that trip, we sailed through the Bay of Biscay in a Force 9 and I climbed up and down that ladder whilst the ship was revolving below me. As I watched from my lofty perch, every one of 12 Bedford trucks meant for Algiers that were wired to the deck, snapped their 2″ diameter steel wire ropes and were washed overboard. I was on the highest point and could see seas washing level with my head, as that old tub struggled up and down some monster waves. Being young, I thought it must always be like that, but I was told by the older guys that it was the worst storm in the Bay for decades. They also told me that I had ” … earned my Sea Legs!”
There was another, worse storm for me in a much bigger ship later, going through the Strait of Magellan (tip of South America) and that was hellish.
The lad who had already been through this trip once in relative calm, was as sick as a dog, whilst I was fine, just soaked to the skin, but actually enjoyed it: too young and daft to be scared, I guess. But no simulator could have given me that experience.
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I'm out.Dave as I understand the question you want me to ask myself: I see the UK currently sucking up to the US, whilst distancing ourselves from Europe as a result of Brexit.
I see that as A Very Bad Thing for several reasons. I know that we have a shaky history with the French: I was part of several military exercises involving French troops, in their “non-NATO” days. But they are our closest neighbours and I believe that we should share as much military expertise as possible with them, and with European NATO nations generally. It makes more sense than trying to work with the current US systems and people, governed as they are by a POTUS who has absolutely no idea where most other nations in the world are actually situated, and whose idea of diplomacy is to annoy as many other nations as possible.
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I'm out.There are those who do not see, those who cannot see, and those who will not see. Figures and statistics mean different things to those who wish them to reflect their own POV and opinion, and those who actually know what they mean.
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I'm out.The decision to build these carriers was made at a time when the carrier-based aircraft strike force was thought to be king. Well before they were half-finished, they were obsolescent, if not obsolete. The whole project hinged upon the use of one aircraft, Ed’s aptly-named Flying Turkey, and the original deal between BLiar and Bush, which has seen UK and Us defence procurement bodies, allocating more and more billions to get the project off the ground. Pun intended. This deal has been slavishly adhered to by successive UK governments.
Meanwhile, the French, having departed from the Eurofighter/Typhoon project, developed a very good aircraft of their own, the Dassault Rafale: https://tinyurl.com/y7664e5l
This has evolved to become a really good multirole aircraft. It sells across the world: the Indian Navy is the latest to place an order. The Naval Rafale would be an ideal replacement for the F-35, which is showing all the signs of being a failed project, a fact apparently being completely ignored by the UK government. Not for the first time, our leaders are myopic when it comes to following the directions of US defence manufacturers, who have millions invested in a failing defence item which has nothing to offer UK defence, except massive outlay which means stripping and/or cancelling other defence projects.
Why did we not cancel any further use of the turkey, and either adapt the Typhoon (as the French adapted the Rafale) or buy the Rafale instead? I have no doubt that we could build the Rafale under licence, possibly using Rolls Royce engines. There is relatively little UK manufacturing input into the F-35.
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I'm out.Another use for Light: https://tinyurl.com/mzyw6m9
Light Sailing.
More details, including proposed launch date for Lightsail 2: https://tinyurl.com/ycojnvrn
SF Lives!
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I'm out.First thing I do every morning after shower and brekkers, is quickly check my phone for emails, messages, news and weather. This alerts me to anything I might need to check in depth later, find out if we can have a stroll out somewhere and know what news to avoid.
Up to about 18 months ago, checking all that would have taken much longer. This from an oldphart who never thought he needed a smartphone! SWMBO was even more against having one, to the point of throwing a hissy fit when I bought her one. Now she is on hers much more than I am, then complains that her battery does not last as long as mine. (Because the screen is always on, my dear!) ??
My last point of resistance, is that I refuse to bank online using my phone. I know all the arguments for doing this, but I am uncomfortable with it. The desktop and laptop are both protected, I’m not sure about the phone and TBH I don’t really need to use it for banking anyway.
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I'm out.I understand what you mean Steve, about other people and passwords when they need PC help. I don’t mind the fact that not everybody is non-tech. However, I try to get through to locals around me, is that buying a device (PC, laptop, phone, tablet, whatever) means looking after it the way they look after all expensive possessions. That means keeping it secure, not just from thieves, but from thieves who can use poor security on the device, to take anything on it and use it to do whatever they want.
Most of my neighbours and others in the village know my attitude now. If you break it again by doing the same thing you did before, you are on your own. I always tell anyone using the internet for the first time to go down to the library and pick up a leaflet about local courses. I tell them they have to understand the first things about the devices and what they do, before using them. You would not try to drive a car if you never had a lesson, would you? If I get the glazed eyes, I walk. “You’re not listening, so I’m not talking.”
I must admit though, that when I was with Plusnet, they had a great website and Support, and they nagged me to change the router and wireless passwords from the ones they gave.
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I'm out.Steve, TSB is much better than it was under Lloyds. Sabadell decided they wanted an “ethical” bank for ordinary working people and have left the whole UK management structure as it was when TSB first became independent and returned to its roots. Take a look at this:
We get 3% on the first £1,500 in our current account and then transfer £250 a month into a Monthly Saver, which pays 2%. We get 1% cashback on the first £500 with the contactless credit card. Making 20 debit card payments a month, gives £5 cashback. All we have to do is pay at least £500 a month into our current account, use online paperless banking. I don’t know another bank that gives all that: some give a “Reward” lump sum, £100 to £150, but if I total up all the advantages with TSB, I get more than that – quite a bit more. If they decide after a period of time to change some or all of that, well, it’s easy to switch nowadays. But I don’t think they will, they are making a big thing out of being a “People’s Bank.”
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I'm out.Yes John I forgot to add the admin bit: that severely P****s me off also. Makes you think that Sky does not give a wotsit for customer security. Ah well, soon be time to give it the heave-ho.
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I'm out.Sure you’re right BL, it just seems a bit sus to me atm. I bank with TSB, which is now wholly owned by Sabadell, a Catalan Spanish bank. In January this year, TSB broke away from its last ties with Lloyds by setting up its own IT systems.
If I have any problems that cannot be solved online (rare, only happened twice) I can take a short trip into town and speak to a human being. It’s the only bank I have ever used which has the Manager greeting customers at the door. The fact that it’s owned by an EU bank does not worry me at all: Sabadell say that the UK leaving the EU may actually give them an advantage. I’m a bit surprised by that one, but time will tell.
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I'm out.It appears that the first blows are landing in the financial sector ED: https://tinyurl.com/y7r7acp7
RBS is still 73% owned by the taxpayer, but considering the past incompetence and abysmal record of the bank, taxpayers are not likely to see much in the way of percentage on the sums spent to keep the bank afloat. I may not know much about finance, but I can speculate about what will be lost, as opposed to the cost of letting RBS sink at the time, and reimbursing account holders from public funds. The sheer size of the RBS debt to the taxpayer, is enough to boggle the mind: https://tinyurl.com/yaomuwkl
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I'm out.I have never forgotten the huge, 5 star hotel in München where we spent the last 3 nights after a Danube cruise in 2015. Right in the middle of (supposedly) the most technologically advanced city in Germany. A hotel used by Etihad Airways staff, you could see pilots and cabin crew entering and leaving all the time. Business people, huge limo’s, Porsches, a Ferrari or two and some of the most expensive Merc’s. One evening there was even an old US Cord roadster, I could hardly believe it.
And the WiFi was 0.5 Mbps DOWN! Plus we had to pay for it, and the TV if we wanted anything other than the BBC and local News channels. I told the Desk Staff (in my best Deutsche Spräche), that even the smallest B&B in the UK has FREE WiFi and usually Freeview TV. I was not impressed and I let them know it.
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I'm out.I should have added, BL, that my opinion has no greater value than that of anyone else, my Army service is irrelevant. That’s democracy, your opinion and your views are your own and have equal value to every other citizen’s in the UK. Or at least, they should have equal value, although certain media and political figures may not agree with that aspect of democracy.
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