Posts by Da Weezil 528 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Jun 2009
The poor sods at the sharp end of government departments know full well the misery of suffering the crud heaped onto the public sector by the likes of Crapita. They suffer daily from systems that don't work as intended or are so old they are digital museum pieces, with little apparent concerned from the upper echelons of the amount of anger and aggravation the public and the staff experience.
Had a 50 min wait in Cardiff last week while the 112 service was held for 3 passengers coming (from Birmingham?) by taxi as the connection had failed. 4 days later same service left Birmingham 15 late and despite missing 2 stops where there were no passengers saving a few minutes from the trunk Rd to the edge of town we were still 30 mins late wherein alighted 3 stops from the end of the route
The Hitachi torture racks are the thing that persuaded me to drive long distance. Less comfortable trains are not really an improvement for long distance passengers. For stations west of Cardiff the discomfort is tinged with annoyance that this was supposed to bring electrification to the line, which was curtailed at Cardiff. They found money to electrify the valley lines, but as it seems increasingly obvious, Cardiff and its surrounds are all that matters. NOTHING has been done to improve journey times to West Wales, hence the reason that people opt to travel by car
Sad to think that we invented the railway but lost the ability to innovate for better/faster rail travel (ex railwayman)
It's the same sort of statistic fudging that the road safety mob use in the "killed or seriously injured" stats they use in thier apparent quest to restore the red flag act for cars - or at least reduce our progress to that of an arthritic snail.
As ever, " There are lies, dammed lies and statistics"
I love the response I got from the developers of the NHS site when I queried why navigating from a link on their site took me to a page that claimed the server didn't understand where I wanted to go, despite the link being clear about its intended destination.
2 days later I got the " How did we do?" Email asking me to rate support.
3 months and counting I've still not heard from support regarding that issue.
But then this is the same outfit that insists it is correct to be sending everyone trying to log in to the site to an account sign up page, despite the fact that this page is only useful for initial sign up with a one time code, and no matter how you butcher the URL you can't game the site to take you to a straight forward "existing users" log in.
Very annoying when you are trying to set up dyslexic users who struggle with things at the best of times.
I have a single Anker 5 port in the house (and 1 at work that is around 6 years old now and a 12v model in the car. It charges All my kit from several makers, but I also buy decent quality cables for my kit, given that many manufacturers are not supplying a power brick with new kit I wonder Where is this “mountain” coming from? Far better to outlaw the cheap chargers that have no longevity and those with fixed cables.
Yep total waste of time contacting ours, he has his lips firmly attached to the party rump and will blindly only vote for whatever the whips tell him, so much for being elected to represent US, he is only interested in representing the views of his party bosses.
Democracy, does that happen anywhere anymore?
Time for prison sentences for the directors, no point in pussyfooting around with fines against a soon to be dissolved/bankrupt company, directors should be personally liable on pain of imprisonment to avoid them claiming the 5 bed executive house he/she lives in actually belongs to his/her spouse or partner. The one thing they can’t lay off is their physical person, that should be the forfeit.
And is of course on of the drivers behind the push to smart meters that will eventually see “time of use” tariffs heavily weighted to drive the poorer users off of the load at peak times.
The “lower” tariffs offered now to households with smart meters installed won’t survive past the stage that they finally force them on everyone and achieve the goal of ripping us off for lighting heating and cooking food at normal times.
Absolutely no use in rural areas where different households travel at different time to different destinations, you’d need as many of these self driving miracles as .... oh yeah, the cars that people own now that are parked in a place convenient to the users and are a available to use at whim..
I heard one comment in radio news yesterday that suggested the septics may seek extradition, this shouldn’t happen until the septics send back a certain u.s. gov shielded female to face justice here. Killing a man is far more serious than upsetting a few overpaid “celebrities”. For far too long extradition has been a one sided process with the US. It’s time this was rectified.
They seem as bad as the ad industry for assuming that they have some absolute right to our data, whether our interests and purchases or our actual likeness. Publicly posted or not, I decline to grant permission for them to take my image and use it for their commercial ends, and this should really be enshrined in law
Early adopter back when networks often charged for ordinary texts. Dumped it a while ago over a previous change in T&C. Moved to Telegram, seems to work ok, and voice calls actually work on there with some friends for whom what’s app calls would connect without audio.
I’m curious to know if they are schlurping the whole address book of a phone that it’s installed on... because I haven’t provided my number to friends for wa/fb to process, so if my number isn’t in a contact list but is taken from the phones general contact list surely that would breach gdpa and they are using pii for a purpose other than that which it was provided for?
It’s past the time for these marketing parasites to be slapped down hard and reminded it’s OUR data not theirs by right, I’m so sick of hearing the whining about the poor advertising”industry“. You can do general ads, but my interests and contacts are MY business and it’s long overdue for the regulators to police this bunch far more closely and strictly.
Once there were several claims of problems with the system any prosecutions must have been based on evidence of which witnesses CANNOT have given with absolute certainty which must give rise to suspicions of perjury by the management of the organisation and its witnesses. Officers of the company have to face the same ordeal of legal process as they subjected the innocent sub postmasters to for there to be any sense of justice.
It is becoming all to regular in the UK for companies to buy their way out of situations like this. Given that the courts were used as an instrument to try to cover up this issue The courts themselves should have those responsible from with Post Office management (and that includes those who were part of the issue but have now moved on) bought before them for due process. Clearly in certifying the evidence that was given in court they were playing fast and loose with facts and truth.
No prosecution = No Justice.
In the case of Europe surely this amounts to processing “personally identifiable information” without consent under GPDA?
There is a need to reign in these tech companies that seem to think they can do whatever suits them with our stuff (like photos that I may post online for whatever reason) for their own benefit and gain, particularly when this stuff is being scraped to be used by a company that 1. I haven’t voluntarily given the “data” to and 2. Has no direct relationship with the original placement site of the data.
No such thing as a free lunch guys... and I eat expensive when someone else is paying
The Federal system looks increasingly feudal from here, with threats to withhold/withdraw federal funding to states with Governors that displease the Orangeutan, a bit like a old time nobelman would bestow or withdraw patronage.
I fear for friends over there and mourn the loss of a country that was once part of the great human democracy, now reduced to a level lower than farce (if that is possible)
The consequences of his period in office could resonate for generations.
You forgot to mention that the UK govt manages to tax taxation... they add "Fuel Duty" to the cost of road fuel, which is then subject to "Value Added Tax" on the whole sum - so they actually tax the tax they have already levied.
I hate hearing politicians talking about lowering taxes when in reality all they do is hide them from plain sight. Of course if we conducted our affairs that way it would probably be called fraud.
I still mourn the loss of my Wharfedale Dovedale SP2s, lent to a friend of my ex's for a party and never returned. I replaced the with some Ventanas at the time but never really liked the sound from them... and now... I can't find a pair of SP2's
Sonos just lost a sale here too, was about to kit out a surround system from them for my sister because of the lousy output from her recently purchased flat screen TV, and I know my partner recommended them to family over xmas, luckily they havent yet made the purchase and we headed that one off at the pass too.
It seems Sonos has a death wish, certainly they will have no future purchases from us or our families
In the case of the charity I volunteer with, every penny that goes to the money grubbing venture capitalist scum (or thier supporters) is money that DOESN'T go to the core function of providing Hospice care to the terminally ill, now I can understand that to those to whom "profit is all" this may seem a waste, but the fact is that not all "not for profits" are really "businesses" that abuse the Not For Profit status, but dont tar all charities with this same brush. Excess profits extorted in this manner is really against the spirit of the domain.
Maybe we need a new TLD purely for the (registered) charitable sector, and abandon .org to the venture capitalists hopefully to sink without trace. The USA has a real problem with its language usage - "Not For Profit" is a clear example. Its a shame that so many organisations that are not "disguised profit businesses" are caught up in this, and it is easily fixable with a TLD for purely charitable organisations that are registered with a regulator as they have to be in the UK, and I'm sure other conutries have a similar system.
Yeah they are doing a lot to make it harder - to operate my account.
No one can pay cash into my account for me unless I add them as an authorised person, which is causing me a lot of inconveneience as I dont wish to add the 2 or 3 people who used to pop into the bank for me as they pass and the new super hi tech ATM that HSBC replaced our old green screen ATM with doesnt accept deposits.
However, the banks cant stop people taking money by transfer if the receiving account details are not identical to those given by the payment originator.
With the security holes, lack of branches and the few ATMS we have left round here being often out of cash Im back at the point where cash is king. Maybe its time we were given back the right to wages in cash - that migh wake this dozy lot up.
God help us when this hits Wales. My GP used to use the "my surgery" website service that just worked fine, the log in page would populate from my password vault and everything was good - even my dyslexic sister could cope with it.
The they inflicted (My Health On-line) emisweb.co.uk mess on us. despite several attempts to anchor my log in to the log in facility the site defaulks to https://www.myhealthonline-emisweb.wales.nhs.uk/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2f with a 3 field table for you to REGISTER with, use requires an id code issued by your GP surgery to make your initial registration, on this page is a tick box for "I have a username" that then modifies the log in box to a 2 field table for just username and password.
In my view the "register" page should only be seen when using the site for the first time - after that you should be able to land directly on the page with the correct 2 field table to log in without having to click through from the "wrong" table (it doesnt remember the choice from previous visits). When I raised this with the Twonks in Cardiff i was told this was how it had been delivered by the people who built the site and we would just have to live with it. Totally unbelieveable.
So like all things the come out of Cardiff Bay and its satellites, Im expecting it to be as bad as anything else.
"purchasing booze, cigarettes, driving, using public transport, opening a bank account, renting property, get a job etc etc."
Im not sure where you live but it doesnt seem to be in the same UK as me.
You are NOT required by any law to carry your licence or indeed any form of ID when driving - and while the Police can ask for passenger ID - this would only usually be the case where there is a strong suspicion that the occupants of the vehicle had been involved in a particular offence, certainly I have not had any issues with roadside checks nor have my passengers.
Lasty month we purchased train tickets with cash for a weekend trip where I didnt want to drive and have thew hassle of parking, no ID required, and I have never had a bus driver demand "Ausweis Bitte" when paying my fare on on of my infrequent bus journeys so no NOT equired to use public transport.
Regularly pick up beer for a quiet evening at home and smokes for my disabled sister. No ID demanded and its not like I always go to the same place.
Landlord has never seen any ID for me and only recently started getting paid by Direct Debit rather than me popping it into his bank. It seems anyone can withdraw on a transfer order - even with the wrong name - but now - no one must ever pay into your account without chapter and verse of thier lives. Shows where thier priorities are all backwards!
"I carry an expired ID that I use as a minor protest against such jobworths. In 10 years, 2 people noticed."
But here in the UK, that would be seen as another nice revenue stream for issuae and obligatory periodic update of such a docuent, and you can be absolutley certain that producing an out of date ID would be an offence with the obligitory fine, probably all overseen by one of the govenrnents favourite contactors - yes they love OUR money.
When they introduced the photocard driving licence they neglected to tell the populace that it had to be renewed every 10 years and of course an obligitory fee applies whereas the old paper one only needed updating if you changed address (excluding factors such as adding classes of vehicles) it was only the eagle eyed that noticed an rxpiry date on the photocard part - although the licence itself is valid till age 70 the photo ID aspect expires 10 years from issue.
Its all just a scam - an "Identity tax" .
I remember a few years back seeing a TV "Reality" thing where the High Court Enforcement guys turned up at the HQ of Toyota Racing with a writ for an unpaid debt from one of the teams suppliers.
Enforcement Officer 1 to his colleague: (While eyeing an F1 car on display in the reception area)
"Do you think we could tow one of these behind the Transit?"
They soon had a payment cleared in settlement.
Actually guys you are *dead* wrong.
In many UK call centres there is a protocol that requires the agent handling the call to alert a team leader or similar if they become concerned about the health and wellbeing of a caller - either physical or mental. This can and does lead to concerns being passed on to the relevant emegency service - its considered to be "better safe than sorry" in these cases
This probably wouldnt happen with an overseas call centre and is another reason that they are a bad idea that often produces a worse customer experience than a UK based centre.
We like the ones who are patient enough to wait while we "download team viewer over our dial up connection in the remote Scottish Highlands, thats usually good for over 30 mins of tying these tw*ts up.
While we are jerking them around, they are not victimising some poor sod who doesnt know enough to catch on that the call is a scam.
We consider it our public minded duty :)
The Welsh one is less than amazing too. Despite already having a log in set up, and having gone as far as entering the log in page url manually and saving it, the site persists in sending you to the registration page where you are expected to input a unique ID code issued via your GP practice, which makes using a password manager rather annoying as despite this entering username and password in the "wong page" clicking on the "I already have a username" link that takes you to the log in removes some of the input from the same fields in the next page.
Raising this with NHS Wales resulted in a "thats just how it works cos our IT contractors set it up that way and youll just have to put up with it."
Not very helpful - nor correct as the site is obviously badly constructed and isnt operating correctly.
Confuses the hell out of my dyslexic sister when she tries to use it.
The sad thing is my GP Practice used to use the "My Surgery" site that operated flawlessly, so clearly this is another waste of money by the muppets at Cardiff bay with public money being laid out on second rate and poorly constructed IT. Raising this with my AM did no good and I wonder why it is we spend so much supporting that whole useless set up.
We had someone locally on faecebook advertising/boasting how he was buying/selling weed... can you guess how many days it was before he got a visit from several men in blue? An easy bust for posssession with intent to supply....
*It should be noted that I DONT have an account, Zucks antisocial network was credited by the plod in the various news reports in local press as the source of information.
South Wales? Funny you say that because according to the vans carrying those who work on our local grid... and who say we need to call them in event of an outage - its actually Western Power Distribution that deliver the juice to our meter heads. They also distribute to the South West and East & West Midlands
I understand they are a subsidiary of an American Company
Define home computer? my disabled Sister - hardly a power user - has a laptop, smartphone and a desktop .... oh and a tabet. she is also dyslexic.. not that that is too much of an issue, but the fact is this non power user often uses the internet when NOT at home on a "portable device" - using a password manager where she needs to input user details.
"Most people use the internet from thier home computer and thats it" ???? How 1990s is that view?
For some time now most batteries have been moving toward sealed for life. A battery should not need topping up if the charging system is working correctly.
Its been a while since it only took a screwdriver to swap a battery the old lead cap with the centre screw died out years ago, and there is the retainer to loosen, usually a Hex or Torx bolt involved in that
Theres a new type of spark plug coming too... ACIS works without the need for a coil pack... or what was an ignition coil on older cars... it wont be a retrofit... but cars will get ever more complicated and user unfriendly as manufactirers struggle to proptect the revenue stream for thier dealer workshops.
What you really need is VCDS from Gendan, comes in a kit with a decent OBD connector, but it iasnt cheap, however it does all of the Diagnostic stuff with VAG cars, and you can make tweaks to your car depending on the model, for example on the Seat Leon 1P (aka the mk2) you can set up the auto park mirrors, reset the digital speedo from Kph to Mph or vici verki, turn off that annoying "second fob press required to unlock all the doors... and other stuff.
The licence can be pruchased for a limited number of vins registered or fully unlimited (you wouldnt want that). It wasnt cheap but... buy cheap buy twice as they say.
We got it for the Leon FR and my Octavia VRS, I think its pretty much paid for itself so far, and as licenced users we get updates to both the program and the obd connector drivers.
"Safety and longevity don't get a look in."
May be the case now, but then I look at my partners 15" Macbook Pro from..... 2008. OK it has has a new HDD, a fan and a dvd drive over its 11 years, but even stuck in time as it is on El Capitan - it soldiers on battle scarred from many travels, and last month we finally treated it to a new battery - admittedly as pattern part as the Apple part is long since obsolete. It has demonstrated the sort of build quality we expected from it.
Cant claim that amount of longevity from anything Samsung I ever owned The smart TV blew its motherboard at only 13 months, the galaxy S3 LTE dropped its USB socket at 15 months , and being told by Samsung support that this would be classed as damage because i had clearly been charging it too often was enough to ensure that in future, I spend Nothing on anything with the Samsung badge, Cleasrl;y they only build ornamental stuff - I wanted a smartphone I could use daily.
My iPhone 6+ has lived through my 4 years in an industrial unit where I was daily crawling around machinery with it in my pocket and has been flawless, and remains so snug in its Survivor case, I'm not interested in the new phones, they lack what I want, and I have no interest in thinnner/shiney, I buy kit that lasts, sadly I'm not sure where I go from here, except that it WONT be any of the current favourites, I guess I will see how long the 6+ lasts!
Personally I think Apple have lost thier way under Cook.
Home button, would be a serious backward step for me, Ive seen a few people gurning at thier phones, much prefer to just thumb the button.
Headphone jack, I detest earbuds, I find them uncomfotable and annoying. so as well as not wishing to move on from my folding skullcandy travel kit, I also find use from time to time for a 3.5 jack patch to connect to non bluetooth kit.
Glass casing. Its hard enough keeping the sccreen intact, I live out in the real world not farting about in a nice warm office with carpets and other soft furnishings, so pretty arty farty glass backings are of zero interest to me, my 6+ lives in a Griffin Survivor case, Ive never needed to replace the screen or any other part of the casing.
The current overpriced line up has zero attraction for me, so once the security updates stop I may well turn off mobile data, dump apple pay and any other financial apps and just use it as a phone and text message unit.
The next phone might well be something with LineageOS, it wont be Apple, because despite liking the OS, I hate the hardware they are producing, and the grossly inflated pricing, I may even look at popping an alternative OS into the iMac.
Well Done Tim Cook heres just one household you have alienated.
Ah.... $ currency, you are clearly unfamilar with the situation in the rural UK. Successive recessions have left the place devoid of small stores, just the big chains that will happily serve you with what they think you want, but not anything that I NEED.
For Example, the local motor factor that serves the trade prefer to batch order so my part may not be even be ordered for near 24 hours, the alternative is Halfords, who have a great range of camping gear and cycling gear and oils and fuzzy dice and even stupid racing pedal sets, but NOT the rear wheel bearing assembly I need for my car.
Additionally, in many fields, the Stupidity and shortsighteness of the government in power throughout the 1980s means we lost most of our engineering skills and capability in the rush to become the nice clean "service economy" while common grubby and dirty engineering was sold off to overseas companies or left to wither and die because the country didnt need it in the bright new future that somehow never arrived.
The problem with buying locally for me is the lethargy of local suppliers....
You recall the Simpsons Stonecutters episode? In the flooded basement scene, where the plumber says "If I ordered the part today.... which I wont..." That sums up local suppliers here, if I want it in less than 3 days I have to go online... where generally I can get it in 24 hours.
No.. not Outer Mongolia or the middle of the Sahara.... this is West Wales!
Wait longer AND pay more... yeah Im gonna do that out of altruism....
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