WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

Notable that apart from the Mail and the Guardian the mainstream media are avoiding the 'shocking affair' like the plague. The Guardian's Greenslade article is rewarding if you read between the lines, a coded message there I think., Why should another blog detail the ancestral relationships connected with David Cameron? Interesting that they switched the blog off connected to the article. A bit of censorship going on here? (LINK)

[Tardis]

Apart from me being very tired after my trip to York,

The work continues apace in the National Rail Museum

[Tizer]

Be careful if you use a `contactless' payment card, you could be in for a surprise when your bank accunt gets drained by fraudsters. I was glad to hear the matter raised on the radio this morning by a security expert, it's worried me for some time now that little was being said except hidden away in the money pages of certain newspapers. These are the cards that you simply swipe across a machine to pay or use your mobile phone to pay, with no PIN or visual checking. They've been around for some years now but mainly for limited small payments and specific uses, such as the Oyster card for travelling on London Transport. Not surprisingly, the banks and card companies have gradually extended their use and their limits, and now security problems are beginning to emerge. The cards must use a radio-frequency chip because the machine can read them from a short distance without any actual contact. Guess what, customers in M&S have been having money removed from the contactless cards in their pocket or handbag without them knowing until they found there was the wrong amount left on the card. The machine was simply scanning the cards as they went close by!

Now the computer expert was explaining that he can use a mobile phone to gather your card details from the contactless card in your pocket then use those details to make purchases elsewhere. The makers of the cards claim that it isn't a danger because you can only use a maximum of £20 per purchase and make only a set number of transactions at a time. But the expert said if the card is used online there is no limit. The card people say that the expert cannot scan the CVC security number of the back of the card and therefore can't use the rest of the stolen card data to make online payments, but it now turns out that the mighty Amazon retailer doesn't use the CVC code so the card data can be used there by the thief. The expert seemed to say that the thief could use the card data on Amazon to spend an unlimited amount of your money. I don't understand enough about the cards to know whether he means the thief would have access to your money in the same way that he would with a conventional credit card or just that it would be access to the full amount allowed by the contactless card. I suspect it may be general access to all your money - card companies and banks are so closely entwined that they can shift your money about without your consent. Whatever the answer, I would be cautious about using one of these cards unless it was a simple one like the Oyster card.

[David Whipp]

The government inspector considering the Aldi planning application has turned down the appeal by the developers.

The inspector agreed with the decision of local councillors that the cumulative impact on the town centre of an Aldi and the larger store planned for the Albert Hartley site would be too great.

[Stanley]

Tiz, I share your misgivings. Just imagine someone on a crowded environment like public transport with a card reader in his pocket! I seem to remember seeing a suggestion that keeping the card in a foil liner or similar was the only protection. Do you think that would work?
About the WW1 Victory Medal. Got a minimal reply from the Lancs Fusiliers this morning advising me they had no details but that I would be able to contact people who would help me! I simply sent them the details that Wendy kindly found with no comment. The medal is up for grabs, if anyone wants it let me know, I don't think the museum is wildly enthusiastic!.

[Stanley]

A case in the High Court today is long overdue. Several construction companies are in court accused of running a Black List and blighting the careers of workers who were on it. This has been an open secret for years but has never been pinned down. Let's hope that some good comes out of the case.

[EileenDavid]

Blue skies and sunshine and how much better it makes you feel. Eileen

[Wendyf]

Stanley wrote:
"About the WW1 Victory Medal. Got a minimal reply from the Lancs Fusiliers this morning advising me they had no details but that I would be able to contact people who would help me! I simply sent them the details that Wendy kindly found with no comment. The medal is up for grabs, if anyone wants it let me know, I don't think the museum is wildly enthusiastic!."
I might be able to track members of the family forward from the 1911 census...it's not easy, but it's sometimes possible.

[Tizer]

Tiz, I share your misgivings. Just imagine someone on a crowded environment like public transport with a card reader in his pocket! I seem to remember seeing a suggestion that keeping the card in a foil liner or similar was the only protection. Do you think that would work?

Yes, according to this web site: http://linuxcentre.net/disabling-contactless-cards
It also describes how to disable the `contactless' function of credit cards by nicking the card at a point where the nick cuts through the antenna. Wikipedia gives a lot of information about the cards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_payment
You can tell why they are being promoted so strongly when you read: "Because no signature or PIN entry is typically required for purchases under US$25 in the US and under £20 (£15 prior to 1 June 2012) in the UK, research indicates that consumers are likely to spend more money due to the ease of small transactions. MasterCard Canada says it has seen "about 25 percent" higher spending by users of its PayPass-brand RFID credit cards." We are told they are introduced for our convenience but we always have to remember that the real reason is that they make a lot of money for other people with a vested interest in use of the cards.

[Tripps]

There's always resistance to change in these matters. I didn't trust the "hole in the wall" when they first appeared. How could you prove that the wrong amount of cash had been dispensed was my worry. Now I don' t even count it - just stuff it in the wallet. Never been wrong.
I also recall that a "World in Action" TV programme proved that microwave ovens all leaked and caused cancer. We were also told that they cooked food from the inside outwards! Don't hear much of either theory now.
Yes - I think a foil lined wallet would remove all risk of data theft. There will be one on JML shortly no doubt.

[Stanley]

The first time I used a hole in the wall it ate my card, never used one since, I can live without them.
I realised yesterday while having my afternoon sleep that nothing wakens you up faster than the sound of a dog being sick on the duvet. Jack doesn't often join me in bed but he must have been feeling a bot off yesterday and in need of TLC. Heat cause it I think.... Quick decamp, wash session and everything put in order!

[Tizer]

There's always resistance to change in these matters. I didn't trust the "hole in the wall" when they first appeared. How could you prove that the wrong amount of cash had been dispensed was my worry. Now I don' t even count it - just stuff it in the wallet. Never been wrong.

It's like many things in modern life - millions of people use it and can't understand what the fuss is about, while a tiny proportion have a serious problem with it. But a tiny proportion of millions is a lot of real people having trouble. The NHS is another example.

[Cathy]

Smoking cigarettes comes to mind. Marilyn and I have both just given up, hopefully for good, but i have to say I don't feel any different (I'm still on the chewies...). Our Mother just turned 80yrs of age and has always smoked and from what I know, I don't think any of her health problems are due to smoking. Look at some of the old rock'n'rollers that are still going strong and seem to still have all their brain-cells even tho they have smoked more than (just) nicotine cigarettes and used untold amounts of all sorts of drugs. Doesn't make sense. I don't think humans were designed for any of these things (duh) but not everyone is affected in the same way... maybe some of us have internal chemical reactions that the unfortunate ones don't, or is the other way around. ??

[PanBiker]

The thief who has just taken a decorated pot and plant from our back yard!

Sally noticed it had gone when she came back from her trip round town. We have quite a number of pots in our back yard as it is something that Sally enjoys doing. So sad that some people think that they can just come along and take whatever they want. Not a lot of monetary value, £5 maybe for the pot and £2.50 for the plant. A few more would represent a reasonable value though.

Sally rang the police as a matter of course, better that they are aware that this kind of thing is going on and where. Answering machine at Barlick police station but. PC Matt Lunney and his Community Support Officer colleague were round within about 20 minutes. Not a lot they can do of course without actually seeing who did it. I know the Barlick in Bloom group have had problems with people taking newly planted stuff from around the town throughout the Spring. A few years ago there was an incident of some of the towns hanging baskets going missing. I think they turned up at Gisburn Car Boot. Our theft may also be part of something like that, take one from a few different gardens and yards and you have the makings of a plant stall. Might not be the case of course but worth being vigilant. Anyone else in the town gets the same thing, please report it.

[Marilyn]

Cazza...worked out it was five months ( yesterday) since I gave up the fags.
I don't feel any better for it either!
( I wasn't sick whilst on them and so can't feel any better than I did !)

Panny... Not sure I would bother the police with the theft of a £7.50 pot plant...BUT the fact that someone invaded the sanctuary of your back yard is distressing. It is the principle of having your privacy invaded that upsets.
I felt that recently when my car was broken into...for a mere few pounds parking money, which was tucked away in the glove box. Awful when you cannot keep anything at all in your own car. Gone are the days you could leave your sunglasses or jacket etc on the back seat.

[PanBiker]

Dead right Maz, not the monetary value at all but the fact that it is going on. In a small place like Barlick the local Police and Community Support Officers like to know what is going on. It all adds to the bigger picture. If they don't get told they have less of a finger on the pulse. PC Matt said he would keep his eyes peeled at the Kelbrook car boot to see if anyone was flogging pot plants.

[Tardis]

I met Matt and Neil as they were walking through Valley Gardens with Merlin. I wonder if the call that they got was about your pot plant. Otherwise they were in Valley Gardens for the homeless man or the asb youths

Quite a few plants have gone missing from Bloom and other gardens, but when my parents moved from the Avenues up to Monkroyd they lost all their roses the day after they planted them and that was in the '70's and still lose plants to this day

One well known person up there was caught cutting holly off someone's hedge for their christmas decorations

[Stanley]

Cathy, I think you put your thumb on it when you suggested different people have different responses to drugs. Can't see that smoking my pipe has ever done me any harm but fags were deadly for me, they gave me regular bronchitis. I've always thought it was the additives, not the tobacco.
What grabbed ne was the 84 year old lady who has come forward as the winner of the record lottery jackpot in America. Instead of taking the $600million over 30 years she opted for the $400million cash payout.... That makes sense!

[Cathy]

I wonder how much the lottery winner will get after paying the tax on an amount like that? I'm pretty sure that we don't pay tax on winnings over here, just on the interest you make (while the bank looks after it for you, and makes their own interest).

[Big Kev]

My attention was caught by being told that Pumpkin, in Albert Road, is closing down. That'll be a shame...

[Tizer]

Plants even get stolen in a country lane like ours, hidden away in deepest Somerset. We planted several ornamental shrubs along the outside of our hedge to make it look more attractive for us and for those passing by. By the following day the one shrub that was in flower was gone, leaving just a hole in the ground. And this is a narrow local lane with few vehicles passing by. Fortunately we don't get much crime but we did have one odd theft just after Christmas. It was the first post-Christmas rubbish & recycling collection and I had a lot of cardboard to dispose off, so pushed it all into one big cardboard box. I put the stuff out the evening before and in the morning all the cardboard had gone before the collection lorry arrived!

[Tardis]

People unsure of which way they should drive around the cone, put there to protect the tarmac whilst it sets after the pothole was filled

[EileenDavid]

How weather forecasters both here and the UK keep getting it wrong and are paid well for the privilage. We are still toasting here even though it was forecast the last two days would have tropical storms. Eileen

[Tizer]

Seeing Wendy post "I seem to have shrunk by an inch! It must be all the heavy feed bags I have to carry...or is it from sitting hunched over the computer for too long every day" prompts me to relate the following. Mrs Tiz ordered for herself a couple of pairs of trousers from M&S in her usual size but when they arrived they were miles too big! All her other clothes still fit as usual so she hasn't shrunk...could it be M&S with a Cunning Wheeze perhaps to flatter us all by making us think we've got slimmer, like those distorting mirrors in the changing rooms?

[Marilyn]

I think if we phoned the police station to say we had a pot plant stolen, there would be a sudden silence at the other end of the phone, followed by a click!
Short shift, I am afraid.
Must be a dazzling career for a Barlick policeman...