All entries

Archives

March 28, 2025 Setting Up a CNICK Payment Ring with FIDESMO Pay and CURVE Recently, I explored the exciting world of wearable payment technology by setting up a CNICK payment ring. I chose this path for several compelling March 26, 2025 DeadboltEdit: Secure, Simple, and Effective Text Encryption In today’s digital age, maintaining the privacy and security of sensitive information has become increasingly critical. If you have any doubts about March 22, 2025 AIKO: Revolutionising Transcription with Accuracy and Privacy In today’s world, accurate and efficient transcription is more critical than ever. Whether it’s converting meeting discussions, lecture notes, March 22, 2025 Nicholsons Heating - Five Star Service We had our regular boiler replaced with a combi boiler by Nicholson’s Heating in February 2023. Now, two years later, we feel it’s the perfect time March 8, 2025 Tackling Shoplifting in Supermarkets: A Fair Approach for Honest Shoppers Supermarkets across the UK are facing a growing problem with shoplifting, and in response, new anti-theft measures are being introduced. One recent March 7, 2025 Another SpaceX Disaster: How Many More Failures Can We Accept? On Thursday, yet another SpaceX rocket exploded shortly after launch from Texas, raising serious concerns about the company’s approach to space March 4, 2025 Santander UK: A Masterclass in Appalling Customer Service On 3rd February 2025, I received a letter from Santander UK that left me both alarmed and frustrated. The letter stated that ‘immediate action’ was March 4, 2025 Santander UK: A Masterclass in Appalling Customer Service On 3rd February 2025, I received a letter from Santander UK that left me both alarmed and frustrated. The letter stated that ‘immediate action’ was February 26, 2025 Getting Organised - DiscCatalogMaker My organisation programme goes on. I have now managed to feed almost my entire collection of data/software/odds and ends, M-Discs, DVDs and CDs February 26, 2025 “Awful April” The seven bills due to go up in April. Energy costs are one of a number of bill rises which will come into force at the start of what some February 26, 2025 Mobile Phone Theft - Be Prepared Many of us have a story about phone theft, whether that’s because your device was snatched or it happened to someone you know. Some 78,000 people February 25, 2025 Is it just Me? Sometimes I really do wonder whether it’s just me that gets affected by things like this. No matter what I order, almost invariably something seems February 23, 2025 Discovering Cyberduck: An Easy-to-Use FTP Client Recently, I found myself increasingly frustrated with the process of downloading files from Google Drive for burning to disk. Google often February 20, 2025 Is a Journal Worth The Effort? Writing a journal does require a bit of effort but as time and technology moves on it is getting quicker and easier to do. I still keep a few notes February 19, 2025 Why I’ve Chosen M-Disc for Long-Term Data Archiving After researching different storage solutions, I have decided to invest in an M-Disc compatible burner and reader, along with some M-Discs. My February 18, 2025 My Sad Postach.io Story This was what I wrote when I decided to move from Blogger to Postachio.io and what a performance it was. If only I’d know about Blot.im back then I February 17, 2025 The Wise Professor When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 beers. A February 17, 2025 Letter to David Smith MP - 28th December 2024 This is a letter I sent to my MP, David Smith (Labour) which remains unanswered almost 2 months later. Is it any wonder we lose faith in our February 17, 2025 Letter to David Smith MP - 16th October 2024 This is a letter I sent to my MP, David Smith (Labour) which remains unanswered 4 months later. Is it any wonder we lose faith in our politicians? February 17, 2025 Letter to David Smith MP - 30th July 2024 This is a letter I sent to my MP, David Smith (Labour) which remains unanswered 6 months later. Is it any wonder we lose faith in our politicians? February 17, 2025 Evernote - A short summary for potential student users… Consider Evernote to be a filing system for pretty much everything in your life. You can use it to keep a diary, to take notes, to store scanned February 17, 2025 Accident & Emergency Problems I just don’t get why the politicians want to arrange yet another “summit” to resolve the apparent problems with A&E services when the solution is so February 17, 2025 I Am Maximus… “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus February 17, 2025 Texting Whilst Driving - Easy? Even though it’s against the law people do it all the time and hundreds if not thousands die as a result of it. This experiment is one of the best February 17, 2025 Damned Banks At one time I thought banks were Ok, if you had a bit of money saved up they would give you a half decent payback in interest, they kept your money February 16, 2025 Blot.im: A Simple, File-Based Blogging Platform Blot.im is an elegant, minimalist blogging platform that turns a folder (DropBox or Google Drive) into a website. It eliminates the need for a February 15, 2025 Norman’s Eulogy This was the eulogy given by a gentleman’s wife at his funeral. The gentleman was called Norman. This is what she said: Norman needed a blood February 15, 2025 Something to Ponder I don’t know why but this thought popped into my mind earlier today, it concerns the wisdom or otherwise of saving for the future. Taking things at February 13, 2025 Yorkshire Air Museum Ideal weather for our visit to the Allied Air Forces Memorial & Yorkshire Air Museum. Ron, our host, had kindly agreed to drop us off at the museum February 13, 2025 Another Airline Rip-Off It’s the little sneaky things that annoy me when prices go up, much more than the bigger obvious things. We’ve always quite enjoyed flying with Jet2 February 13, 2025 Back To The Old Ways Over the last few years I’ve started to become pretty sick and tired of a lot of the “modern” ways of doing things. I just hate telephoning a February 13, 2025 Famous Typewriter Users Not sure why but I thought it would be fun to pull together a few short video clips of famous users of the humble typewriter, in action. Sadly the February 12, 2025 The Growing Risks of AI in the Workplace: Dependency, Privacy, and Exploitation A recent news report revealed that an international law firm has blocked general access to AI tools after noticing a significant increase in usage February 12, 2025 NHS Access, Learning Disabilities, The Forgotten I really am starting to despair about the National Health Service and how difficult it now seems to access it. There seems to have been a massive February 11, 2025 Borrow From Yourself There is an increasing trend these days for people to pay for things like house insurance, car insurance, maintenance contracts etc. etc. using a February 6, 2025 Sainsbury’s - When Is A Bargain A Bargain? This is the coffee we buy regularly and a little while ago we were buying it at Sainsbury’s for £5.50p. Then the price went up to £6.50 and we February 6, 2025 Typewriters and Security At the moment, the most secure and, at the same time, usable, method of creating, sharing and storing information is to write it up on a manual February 6, 2025 Brack — A Lovely Tea Loaf Ingredients 450g sultanas 220g raisins 220g currants 350g demerara sugar 300ml hot tea 2 eggs 450g Be-Ro Self-Raising Flour Method In a large, February 5, 2025 Writing & Artificial Aids I’ve been thinking about the way education is delivered these days and how employers complain that so many school-leavers and graduates do not seem February 5, 2025 Ozzy Bids Farewell and Trump Wants Gaza The world of music and global politics rarely intersect, but this week has brought two major stories that demand attention for very different February 4, 2025 A Tandem in Pastels During a housesitting trip to France a little while ago we visited an artist called David Flitcroft from whom we were planning to purchase a tandem. February 4, 2025 Kingston IronKey D500S: A Secure USB Drive Worth Considering In today’s digital world, protecting sensitive data is more important than ever. Whether it’s financial information, login credentials, or personal February 3, 2025 They Were Proper Cyclists! If you have a few minutes to spare this is well worth watching if you want to see what cyclocross was like in the good old days. Now these guys were February 3, 2025 Twenty Reasons To Use A Typewriter Security. Documents produced on a manual typewriter cannot be hacked or downloaded, keep the document in a locked drawer and unless you give it to February 3, 2025 Bruce Schneier - Cryptographer The term Schneier’s law was coined by Cory Doctorow in a 2004 speech, the law is phrased as: Any person can invent a security system so clever that February 3, 2025 Merging MP3 Files I take no credit for this but this information may well be useful, it was to me! The Question: I have an audiobook that’s been separated into a February 2, 2025 A Typewritten Journal & Digital Extracts If sufficient care is taken in terms of storage conditions, physical and fire security, an analogue paper journal should remain readable and February 2, 2025 A Typewritten Journal & The Atoma Notebook For more years than I care to remember I have toyed with the idea of writing a journal and from time to time I have actually managed to make some February 2, 2025 A HASE Pino & Us - First Ride! Having recovered from the journey and spent some time properly getting to grips with the HASE Pino at home it was time to try the bike out for real. February 2, 2025 Take Hold of Every Moment A friend of mine opened his wife’s underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package: “This, he said, isn’t any ordinary package.” He February 2, 2025 Head For The Safety of Analogue? Paying for messaging services from the likes of FaceBook, SnapChat, Apple etc. would still be no guarantee of any real privacy, I distrust them February 2, 2025 Pino Positivity! I thought I would jot down some of the positives of the 2021 Pino Steps, from our perspective. This list is not exhaustive and will vary from person February 2, 2025 My Marmotte Well, it’s done—what an epic ride! The biggest challenge was the heat, which hit 40°C coming off the Col du Galibier. It felt like an oven. The January 6, 2018 Greedy Banks - Savings Scandal The so-called savings account that paid just 15p interest on £1,000. Savers earned as little as 15p interest for every £1,000 in their nest egg last