WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Big Kev]

I know I was going to leave it for a bit but...

I adjusted the pendulum a couple of turns at 9pm last night, the time still matches my phone this morning. I'm going to leave it now (honest guv'nor) until the weather warms up when I'll look at cleaning and lubrication (the clock that is, not me).

[Stanley]

Which is just what a professional watch and clock maker would do. The only time you go back into it is if it starts to behave erratically. You have a clock that reliably tells the time. What more can anyone ask?

[Marilyn]

Stood in a 25 min Covid distanced line today to ask our Telco some questioned. We got closer and closer to the desk at snail space, creeping quietly past those being served. To our left was a same sex couple (female, with one obviously extremely butch) with a boy about 20 month’s old .
I have absolutely no thoughts at all about same sex couples. I could not give a damn and do not give it thinking space in my brain. What did attract my attention is that the youngster had tired of his mother and held his hands up to the other woman, calling “Daddy”.
Really? This is “Daddy”?!
Is this a thing we can all live with?
“Daddy” had breasts twice as big as mine!
( me thinks I have lived far too long)

[Marilyn]

One of the things hubby wanted to ask his Telco, is that he is charged every time he scans a QR code.
Yes folks, every time you scan to protect you and the public...government driven...there IS a data charge, that YOU pay for.
They do not tell you this.
Be aware.

[Big Kev]

All data charges are included in my mobile phone package, I get 4GB a month and unlimited calls and texts. Not that I've used a lot of data recently, the phone connects to the wifi when I'm indoors.

[Marilyn]

Hubby has the same thing, but declares he will sign into QR code’s with pen and paper from here on in. He objects to costs from QR code’s.
Why should anyone profit from a scan deemed necessary by the government?
We are doing the right thing, scanning our way every where we go, giving the government valuable data in their tracing systems. It should not be something our Telcos profit from.

[Big Kev]

From reading some of the Australian news websites the track and trace QR ((and manual sign in) isn't a centralised system, a lot are run by private companies. There looks to be a lot of public outcry around data protection and 'targeted' advertising. I would imagine the data would get to the government eventually. Something must be working as the reported infection rates are relatively low. The 'mistrust' of the government with people's data seems to be a common theme, the media reports the 'pen and paper' system being abused with reports of 'sign ins' from Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse.

[plaques]

I have absolutely no thoughts at all about same sex couples. I could not give a damn and do not give it thinking space in my brain.

People come in all shapes and sizes and this applies to beliefs and sexual orientation. Over my lifetime I've worked with all kinds and found them basically no different in their wants and desires than anybody else. As the old adage goes 'as long as they don't make it compulsory I don't care'. What really upsets me are those whose whole purpose in life seems to be to upset and control everyone with aggressive behaviour just to get their own way.

QR codes. I thought the network suppliers had made the NHS app free to use. But with 1p mobile I can easily absorb the charge of 1p. Money no object.

[Big Kev]

QR codes. I thought the network suppliers had made the NHS app free to use. But with 1p mobile I can easily absorb the charge of 1p. Money no object.

The NHS app does require an internet connection to transfer data, up and down, so will use a small amount of your data usage (it isn't connected all the time, it just sends and receives data 'bursts'). There's no additional charge for its use.

[Tizer]

I have absolutely no thoughts at all about same sex couples. I could not give a damn and do not give it thinking space in my brain. What did attract my attention is that the youngster had tired of his mother and held his hands up to the other woman, calling “Daddy”. Really? This is “Daddy”?! Is this a thing we can all live with? Daddy” had breasts twice as big as mine! ( me thinks I have lived far too long).

This is why there has been an outcry here in the UK about people who deny the existence of biological sex and want to recognise only self-chosen gender. At first the politicians were falling over themselves to accommodate such demands until lawyers and scientists began to explain to them what it would mean for medicine, science, law and commerce, let alone day to day life. And anyway, you can't rightfully deny the existence of sex any more than the flat-Earthers can rightfully deny the Earth is round. After a while the penny dropped and the politicians made some more sensible decisions. In the meantime people like JK Rowling who had opposed the demands were trashed on social media.
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Now for something different...
`In pictures: Cycling 5,000 miles in a city of change' LINK

[Marilyn]

We worked out that it costs about 4p every time you scan. This can add up over a week/month. We just wish that shopping centres had one QR sign in code, but here it is every single shop within the centre, regardless of if you are buying a newspaper or loaf of bread or sausages from the butcher etc.
Big Kev...the App is free...scanning is not.

[PanBiker]

I have to say that I have never seen a QR code at any of the places I have visited during our so called lock down. I don't pay to use the scanner on my smartphone or the barcode reader. I don't use roaming data only WiFI at home or where available and the GPS functions on the phone. Google reminds me to rate Aldi and the Coop after every visit so scanning a Q code if there was one is a bit pointless. The phone tracks you to within a few feet anywhere on the planet anyway.

[Big Kev]

Reading up on the NHS track and trace app, there's no charge for individual QR scanning, the data is stored in the user's phone and uploaded in a data burst. This means scanning multiple codes, in a short time, would upload them together. A lot of shopping centres here have free wifi so effectively wouldn't cost anything.

[Big Kev]

I have to say that I have never seen a QR code at any of the places I have visited during our so called lock down. I don't pay to use the scanner on my smartphone or the barcode reader. I don't use roaming data only WiFI at home or where available and the GPS functions on the phone. Google reminds me to rate Aldi and the Coop after every visit so scanning a Q code if there was one is a bit pointless. The phone tracks you to within a few feet anywhere on the planet anyway.

I've only seen QR codes in restaurants (when they were open), not aware of any shops having them. Reading the news reports, from Australia, and from what Maz is saying it sounds to be a bit of a money making exercise, not only from the data charges but from the private companies selling on personal information.

[Tripps]

What does 'scan a QR code' actually mean? Do I just take its photograph - I could manage that - or is there an app that I have to download before I do ? If so is it 'one app fits all' or are there many? What happens to the data gleaned? Who gets it and how long do they keep it?

I refuse to have anything on my phone that tracks precisely where I am. I do understand that to function at all, it needs to know where I am, but that's all I will tolerate.

[Big Kev]

What does 'scan a QR code' actually mean?

Have a read here, hopefully it explains it https://www.kaspersky.co.uk/resource-ce ... ow-to-scan

[Stanley]

I don't carry my phone when I go out unless there is a need for it, like calling for transport. Never been asked for a code, I'd do the pen and paper option....
What has attracted my attention is something different. I have see young ladies delivering parcels to front doors twice this morning while walking up to the pharmacy. Both had private cars with the seats full of parcels. Helping their husbands out? Or working on their own account. In either case, does their insurance cover them? Are they in effect driving without insurance?

[Tripps]

So just put phone in camera mode and point at the QR code seems to work.

In 2014 the Central Bank of Nigeria issued a 100-naira banknote to commemorate its centennial, the first banknote to incorporate a QR code in its design. When scanned with an internet-enabled mobile device, the code goes to a website which tells the centenary story of Nigeria.[

What could possibly go wrong

I will feign ignorance when I encounter one. That won't be difficult.

[Big Kev]

So just put phone in camera mode and point at the QR code seems to work.

In 2014 the Central Bank of Nigeria issued a 100-naira banknote to commemorate its centennial, the first banknote to incorporate a QR code in its design. When scanned with an internet-enabled mobile device, the code goes to a website which tells the centenary story of Nigeria.[

What could possibly go wrong

I will feign ignorance when I encounter one. That won't be difficult.

If an app relies on reading a QR code it will use the phone's camera. You can download an app to read QRs and decode them if you want to see what info they contain.

[Marilyn]

Both hubby and I own our phones, with no plans involved. We buy a recharge when topping up is required.
I have not bothered setting up data on mine, I just use it as a straight phone/camera, so I did not download the App.
Hubby has data set up on his phone, as he likes to keep an eye on his work emails whenever we are out ( they bounce from his home computer to his phone).
He downloaded the free government app, which is said to be free to use.
He got suspicious that his balance was slowly but surely going down...7cents a time...every time he scanned a QR code (mandatory here everywhere you go).
So that was why we were lined up to see the Telco yesterday. It is the Telco charging the 7 cents per time, as a data charge. They say scanning QR code’s is only free if you have a smart phone.
What percentage of the population have a smart phone? I have no idea. And what percentage of the population are being charged 7 cents, possibly up to 5 or 6 times a day, just to scan a mandatory code?
Back to pen and paper for hubby. I have advised him to carry his own pen. Who needs to handle pens that everyone else has used?

[Cathy]

I had to laugh yesterday while waiting for my bus at the bus interchange. A guy (dare I say old and physically challenged) was sat on the bench, waiting for the same bus that I was. I was stood a little way-a-way doing the ‘physical distance’ bit.
Suddenly, his body language told me that he had spotted ‘something’.
Up he gets and shuffles, using his walking stick, over to an empty shopping trolley, next to it on the ground was a box.
The printing on the box said that there was a Microwave Oven inside. He poked and prodded, pushed and pulled and miraculously finally picked it up. (Truly, I was so surprised )
A bus pulled up on the opposite side, destined for the opposite direction, and he managed to hop on the bus, with the box and off he went.
I think he was probably excited and couldn’t believe his luck, and ended up facing in the wrong direction. I hope there really was a Microwave Oven inside, good for him!
And I hope he eventually got home , in one piece, with his heavy find. The bus he got on would have added a couple of hours to his day.

[Marilyn]

Good on the old buggar. Hope it didn’t have a load of dead cats inside the box!

[Cathy]

Yes, I was thinking all sorts of things, but the box appeared to be sealed, and was definitely heavy.

[Marilyn]

We have the sweetest old aged couple who shop in the early hours of Saturday morning as we do, so we see them often. He has a stick and is not that mobile, so she settles him on a chair outside the supermarket to wait for her and reassures him she won’t be long. Then she flies around the supermarket...skinny and bent as she is, with stick arms and stick legs. Eyes always as bright as bright and an enormous smile for such a thin face - she always says hello as she rushes by. Then she is back by his side. She carries all the bags, though it looks like her stick arms will break. Sad to watch, but as I say, there is such a light to her face, it is not beyond her yet. She is truly amazing.
And...they always hold hands...

[Tizer]

Perhaps Cathy's `old man' collected cardboard boxes or just wanted one to store his stuff in. We once put out some large cardboard boxes for collection the following morning by the recycling lorry. Come morning, the boxes had disappeared before the lorry arrived!

Here's some typical Facebook daft censoring - they let nasty stuff through but ban innocent images (algorithms strike again!)...
`'Overtly sexual' cow blocked as Facebook ad' LINK