Halloween

Not a bad effort from me -mines on the right.

Tunein radio - possibly best iPhone app

It's so handy and brings instant access to every radio channel on the planet - everywhere.

Rudyard Kipling wasn't half bad at writing

Below is his study in an amazing house in the ancient Sussex Weald .

Tintin

Proof directors are over payed

It's a disgrace really that over the last 10 years directors pay has shot up massively, making many very wealthy yet the graph shows the share prices of the FTSE 100 and 250 haven't gone up. Sickening isn't it. How do people justify it - old boys club voting themselves daft pay.

Autumn - 20 degrees? But November to be cold

Euro zone comedy

View on YouTube

Photographic Competition 2011

It's a wonderful world for all 7 billion of us

Well hopefully. But the problem is there will be at least 2 billion more of us by 2050. Look at the population growth over the last two years.

World population in numbers

1 billion- 1804
2 billion- 1927
3 billion- 1959
4 billion- 1974
5 billion- 1987
6 billion- 1999
7 billion- 2011
Source: UN

Scary ehh.

Read this for more detail - http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/25/us-population-baby-idUSTRE79O4DZ2011...

The stress on water management, food, minerals etc will cause many a war in the next 40 years as its already doing in many parts eg north Africa.

In the UK the population is also set to sore through immigration, birth rates and living longer.

So we can all expect to live in England's green and pleasant land OR more likely a concrete block.

I think it's the biggest issue facing the planet as it directly affects all others.

The Ides of March

Looks like it could be a decent political thriller.

Lies, damn lies and DI Bob Campany

WARNING – THIS POSTING CONTAINS INACCURATE COMMENT, DEROGATORY STATEMENTS AND OUTRIGHT LIES.

"Years ago, robbers would attend the Old Bailey wearing suits, and they still do, but too often now they masquerade as defence lawyers.

Quite often suspects make it clear they want to give their account in a police interview, but once they have spoken to their legal representatives they are almost without exception advised to make no comment

The legal advisers hide behind the caveat that they don’t want their clients to incriminate themselves, which roughly translated means they don’t want their client to tell the truth.

If they tell the truth, this negates their opportunity for a trial, stopping lawyers from earning a shed load of money.

There’s no reason not to give an account in police interview. Interviews are all video-taped anyway. If there is an aggressor in the interview room it is either the suspect or the lawyer or both.

A ridiculous defence at public expense

…courts have become so obsessive in their desire to ensure a defendant has a fair trial. Nobody doubts that principle but the need (sic) to be fair to victims, their families, witnesses...."

Right that’s the inaccurate, derogatory and untruthful comments over.

The words above were reported in an article in the Daily Mail where they interviewed DI Bob Campany after the conviction of Stuart Crawford. You can read the article here (this is probably the one and only time I link to the Daily Mail) HTTP://WWW.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK/NEWS/ARTICLE-2045791/TOP-OFFICER-BOB-CAMPANY-COMPARES-LAWYERS-ROBBERS.HTML#IXZZ1A2AN9YYF

SEE here for a response to this UTTER UTTER rubbish - http://crimsolicitor.wordpress.com/

Oooops Apocalypse

According to the spectator the British Government is sitting on a paper loss of 35 billion quid on it's RBS and Lloyds rescue.

The credit default swap spreads Market indicates things will remain bleak - great!

Random fact of the day

£50 Note - there are 210 million in circulation worth £10.5bn.

The new note comes out in November

Words that no one really understands

Example one - quantitative easing or QE.

Apparently it's this - Central banks increase the supply of money by "printing" more. In practice, this may mean purchasing government bonds or other categories of assets, using the new money. Rather than physically printing more notes, the new money is typically issued in the form of a deposit at the central bank. The idea is to add more money into the system, which depresses the value of the currency, and to push up the value of the assets being bought and to lower longer-term interest rates, which encourages more borrowing and investment. Some economists fear that quantitative easing can lead to very high inflation in the long term.

Anyway I hope the extra 75 billion quid helps, but note the earlier 200 billion QE hasn't put a stop to all the economic chaos - it's global.

For way more detail go here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing

T M Lewin - the never ending sale

I have never not seen a sale on their website. It's amusing.

Sent from my iPad

Preston bus station

There has been some recent discussion suggesting the building is a historical gem of the "brutalist" modernist movement and should be saved. - NOOOOOOOO blow it up as soon as possible. I have seen it on a grey day in Preston and it is soul destroying. Utterly soul destroying. Plus on a practical note I recall the bus station being miles away from the train station.

Only a photo taken from a kind angle on a sunny day can make it bearable and that's hardly "living" with it.

There is even a website for people trying to save it - http://www.prestonbusstation.co.uk/ - are they mad. They must be and they must not succeed.

Sent from my iPad

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

This day is very bad for his family, bad for Apple and bad for consumers. Wonder if he left a list of Inventions to work on for Tim Cook the newish Apple CEO. Remember also Tim Cook and the other bosses looked a little underwhelmed at the launch of the new iPhone this Tuesday. In hindsight they clearly new Jobs was seriously ill and so puts their efforts in a different light.

Jobs was phenomenal - his ideas and his drive were an incredible combination. I wonder if his spirit will live on at Apple.

Sent from my iPad

Tesco law goes live today

Will the Legal Services Act really change the face of legal provision? Err Yes - it certainly will. In years to come any straightforward will, probate, conveyance etc will be the done by banks or supermarkets legal departments. They will be able to do it cheaper due to scale etc. However they will not want to do complex wills etc. So solicitors firms will survive but I would imagine small high street practices doing run of the mill law may end up being stuffed - not next year but in 5, 10, 15 years time.

The big BUT is will people actually stop and consider you get what you pay for. We shall see.

The Daily Mails attempt to get ahead

Of the curve backfires!

Paid Content

A good blog for UK digital media news.

The Antennae Galaxies

A pair of distorted spiral galaxies about 70 million light years away in the constellation of Corvus (the Crow).

Ed Ex?

Have you seen the odds on Ed being leader of Labour by the next election. They are terrible. Poor bloke is in trouble already, but he simply doesn't look like a future PM. However the current favourite is Yvette Cooper - noooooooo. Please noooooooo.

Amanda Knox Appeal Upheld

Seems like Meredith Kercher was killed by one man who has already been found guilty.

The Court have decided that there were a lot of holes in the DNA evidence. Indeed more than that they appear to had said Knox and her partner are not guilty, not just successful in appeal.

The local scenes of crimes officers and police investigators have taken a pasting.

The Greek people's view

Of their own economy is rather bleak.

Rush Hour

Sent from my iPad

NHS family planning advice

Strasbourg Parliament summed up

Tune

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Powerful Tune

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Alright Alright Amazon

I admit the Amazon Kindle looks okay, is cheap, has a better ecosystem than all but Apple and could make a go of it. A successful launch this week. People almost willing it on to be a decent rival to apple as there aren't any others. It's not a direct competitor to Apple but does the essentials eg Internet and mail, plus can link into Amazons books, DVDs etc.

Time will tell.

October 4th

iPhone 5 - Apple has finally issued media invitations for a special iPhone event to be held this Tuesday, October 4th at the company's Town Hall auditorium at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. The event is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. 

As noted by The Loop, invitations for the event carry the tagline "Let's talk iPhone" and depict iOS icons for Calendar, Clock, Maps, and Phone. 

Note the first icon gives the date, the second the time of the event, the third icon gives the location and the fourth icon suggests the event is about the iPhone. The tagline suggests it will include new voice recognition software. 

We shall see.

Eyewitness: The Charge

I saw this Guardian Eyewitness photo: http://gu.com/p/32am4/iw

They look like they mean business but it's a slow charge.

Also look like they have been around forever.

It's tough in Helmand, very tough indeed

Read this interesting article - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14897977

The heat

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