WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

The healthy Sage plant that Wendy gave me when we attended the Majestic Church last night.
The impending visit this afternoon of a long lost relative from Oz.
Kev, I thought it looked a bit bedraggled when I passed it yesterday. Sorry to see a business closing. I wonder if high cost of postage is killing what used to be a roaring trade in cards?
10:15. My long lost relative rang this morning. He and his wife are in Balloch on Tayside and when I mentioned that it was a long drive to Barlick he said not to worry, this is such a small country! He was going to go the Blackpool first but I persuaded him he'd save an hour by coming here then going on to Blackpool for the night....

[Thomo]

A headline yesterday proclaiming that the wage bill for premier league football is now in excess of £1.8 billion annually is that ever "gross" or not, when some people are having to do without essentials, let alone luxuries!

[Stanley]

Visitors came and went and It was a wonderful occasion. Grant is the grandson of my Aunty Doris in Australia and it was a delight to meet him and his family. Had great fun astonishing his two sons, they were expecting a boring visit to some decrepit old fart, they got that of course but one or two surprises as well.... I shall have to spend time writing it up for the kids!

The main thing that grabbed me is the furore about 'the US government' tapping into the data-bases of major providers like phone companies and search sites. The CEOs of these companies issue statements saying that they haven't authorised any access but these are weasel words, what they don't say is that they aren't actively preventing entry by the US Prism programme. (LINK). The existence of another Project, Echelon, has been known for many years. (LINK) and so Prism should come as no surprise.
Anybody who has been surprised by the recent news has been living in a fool's paradise. There are far bigger data-gathering programmes being run by commercial firms for whom information is market power. Anyone who collects Nectar points has signed their privacy away in respect of their purchases. Every time I use my debit card at the Co-op I tell the computers what my shopping habits are, we are constantly monitored by video surveillance. The bottom line is that unless you are locked in a room with no electronic equipment involved and no connection to the web, privacy is dead! get used to it! No system is 100% secure, remember Wikileaks?

One little item of news about our own site security. Members would be delighted if they knew the amount of work going on at the moment behind the scenes to increase the security of the site and also to make it more robust, less likely to crash and easier to reinstate if it does. Not an easy task and in particular Ian and Pluggy are putting a lot of time in. Just thought you ought to know......

[chinatyke]

One little item of news about our own site security. Members would be delighted if they knew the amount of work going on at the moment behind the scenes to increase the security of the site and also to make it more robust, less likely to crash and easier to reinstate if it does. Not an easy task and in particular Ian and Pluggy are putting a lot of time in. Just thought you ought to know......

A big thank you to all those people who work behind the scenes and make the site possible.

[EileenDavid]

I agree with Chinatyke on the hard work that goes into keeping this site working. Will make a donation when I get back to the UK won't be much but little is better than nothing. Haven't done it earlier as I was waiting for the 2013 target and as you know I haven't been able to use the site much due to medical reasons. Eileen

[Stanley]

No need to feel you have to explain Eileen. I'll be joining you for a while perhaps because I initiated the surgery on my eyes for cataracts yesterday. Not happy about going for it but I know it needs doing.

Here's a pic for you. my long lost grand-cousin (?) Grant and me yesterday.

[Tizer]

The main thing that grabbed me is the furore about 'the US government' tapping into the data-bases of major providers like phone companies and search sites...

What puzzles me is why they keep it secret when it would be more effective if it were well-publicised. If potential terrorists and criminals were better informed about how they could be tracked easily then surely they might be deterred from malicious activity. And it's better to prevent such events than to let them happen then chase after the perpetrators later. It's a bit like having a burglar alarm but keeping it secret. (Chocolate teapot!) We are now held back by people who are obsessed with secrecy, it makes them feel powerful - "I know and you don't" - and it then allows all sorts of other things to get hidden too.

[chinatyke]

Here's a pic for you. my long lost grand-cousin (?) Grant and me yesterday.

Hey, he looks like you! Definitely a family likeness. especially mouth and chin and eyes.

Typical Aussie though, they just won't wear waistcoats!

[Cathy]

I wonder what our G Grandfather, or is it GG Grandfather would make of that... hehe. (Should say that he was a Barnoldswick Policeman)

[Marilyn]

T'was our GGGrandfather...Edward Albert Fletcher...Barlick policeman. Lived on back Colne Road.

[Tardis]

Yesterday: The pavements in Leeds are filthy

[Tardis]

Today: visitors, Sara & Alex. I will show my children the wonders of Letcliffe Park

[Cathy]

So annoyed, i wanted to quote Obama about the US Goverment tapping into govt databases, phone companies etc., Obama said a few words the other day (Thursday, Friday) that made a lot of sense and would you believe I have trawled thru the last few days reportings and can't find the exact quote... Mmmm, should I think something fishy there?? It went along the lines of 'We can't have national security if we don't know who is doing what, when, where ' . He only said a few words, but he made me stop and listen. I think he makes a lot of sense. I for one don't worry if I or who is being checked out or recorded etc., if it helps with national security / global security.

[Stanley]

China, you're a bit wrong about Aussies and waistcoats. I have two I bought there, one leather and the other Dryza-bone. Grant says that I look a lot like my Aunty Dos, his grandmother. I'd look more like grant if I had my bottom teeth in! Lovely visit.....
Train drivers on Swedish Railways have protested against being prohibited from wearing shorts during a heat wave by indenting for uniform skirts which the company can't ban on the grounds it would be discrimination against women. One way of solving the problem.....
How lucky we are with weather like this and long days..... Barlick doesn't get much better!

[Tizer]

Cathy, I got this Obama quote from the Wall Street Journal web page: "If people can't trust not only the executive branch but also don't trust Congress and don't trust federal judges to make sure that we're abiding by the Constitution, due process and rule of law, then we're going to have some problems here." But I did have difficulty finding it in mainstream `respectable' newspapers. When I put the appropriate words into Google I got all sorts of web sites giving quotes similar to the WSJ one but I had to search a lot further to get it in any well-known newspaper.

A couple of his other quotes on this issue are: "When it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls", and "..it's important to recognize that you can't have 100% security and also then have 100% privacy and zero inconvenience. You know, we're going to have to make some choices as a society."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 96824.html

[Cathy]

Thanks Tizer, Obama's words came to me today, he said 'You can't have national security, and privacy'. It caught my attention and got me interested, and it struck me that he said so few words, but made it very clear. Makes a lot of sense to me.

[Stanley]

Surveillance of one sort or another is as old as the hills. When I was researching my dad I found that Naval Intelligence had a file on him in 1919. Difference then was they were individual targets, now they have powerful computers they can trawl almost everything. See this LINK for the source of the PRISM leak. Noticeable that when William Hague was 'denying' the news of data-gathering he used his words very, very carefully. Reading between the lines the message was 'Yes we' are getting information but it's not as bad as you think'.

[Nolic]

I've now been tangoed. Thanks. Nolic

[Stanley]

They're working hard in the background Comrade. Some beneficial changes soon.
Heard a government spokesperson talking about the events linked to WW1 anniversary next year. She said that they weren't going to do much on the history because modern youth wouldn't be able to take it in. All the more reason for telling them you Jerks! It's called education! I despair sometimes at the way they dumb our kids down, they're just as intelligent as us and even we got hold of the story in the end.

[PanBiker]

I'm sure I heard on the R2 news this morning that all older primary school children were going to be taken to the WW1 battlefields next year.

[Tizer]

Yes, Ian....October 2012 BBC news: "£5m pledge for school World War I battlefields trips"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19914368

I'm off to the surgery this afternoon to get my ears syringed. One ear has been blocked with wax for a week now and I've not been able to clear it, so I've been almost deaf in one ear. When I rang and asked for an appointment they said you have to have been putting oil in for 3 weeks (!) before they'll syringe ears - luckily I could truthfully tell them that I put oil in fairly often and so they gave me the appointment. But what about people who are working and get blocked ears? If hearing was important to their work they might have to be signed off for 3 weeks just because of ear wax!

[Marilyn]

That sounds like an extra-ordinary (!) waiting time for ear wax, Tiz. An overnight application of oil should be ample.
Sorry...complete 'poppycock'.
Given the size of the average ear hole, how long would they like you to clear out you colon before doing a colonoscopy?!!

[Cathy]

What type of oil are we talking about here? Sounds very squishy and trickly to me, eeuw! Not looking forward to it when it is my turn My daughter brought home some of those 'ear wax removing candles' a while back saying that we both had to try them, oh what a waste of time and palaver they were!
I do feel for you tho Tizer, I know what it's like when things dry up because of age changes (oops too much information haha)

[Tripps]

Would that be "Hopi ear candling" ? It would be hard to find a more nonsensical process.

Look here Ear candling

Put nothing in your ear except your elbow is good advice.

[Cathy]

No idea what it was called specifically, just had to lie on my side for a good ten minutes and wait...