For those interested in improving your memory, NLP, sales techniques, religion, crystals, snake oil and improving your memory, I can heartily recommend the excellent Tricks of the Mind, by Derren Brown.

You’re not going to like it much if you’re into faeries, God, crystal healing, snake oil, reiki or stuff like that, but if you want to improve your memory and learn a few neat tricks, this is a good book.

But the last quarter of the book is which he calls a “rant” against pseudo-science, bad science, religion and all sorts of other dillusions, neatly disecting the mumb-jumbo and putting it firmly in its place. And gives some good ideas as to what to look out for, too.

Oh, and it’s 51% off at Amazon at the time of writing, so I’m fairly sure you won’t regret it for £3.94!

Categories: Uncategorized
2 Comments »

Admittedly, they are straight from the department of the bleedin’ obvious, but in the same week that Gordon Brown pointed out that…

…each household could save £420 a year by not throwing away edible food. Approximately 4.1 million tonnes of food which could be eaten are disposed of each year, the government estimates.

David Cameron said:

…that some people who are poor, fat or addicted to alcohol or drugs have only themselves to blame.

He said that society had been too sensitive in failing to judge the behaviour of others as good or bad, right or wrong, and that it was time for him to speak out against “moral neutrality”.

“We talk about people being ‘at risk of obesity’ instead of talking about people who eat too much and take too little exercise,” he said. “We talk about people being at risk of poverty, or social exclusion: it’s as if these things — obesity, alcohol abuse, drug addiction — are purely external events like a plague or bad weather.

“Of course, circumstances — where you are born, your neighbourhood, your school and the choices your parents make — have a huge impact. But social problems are often the consequence of the choices people make.”

Blimey. Personal responsibility? Whatever next?! Not sure a country infantalised by ZaNu Labour is ready for this kind of thing….

Tags: brown,cameron,food,green,labour,Politics,waste
Categories: Politics
1 Comment »

I lost my Glastonbury virginity in 2008, and what a pleasant surprise it was…almost.

Unfortunately, I only had the Saturday there, but armed with one bank card, a bit of cash and some wellies, I walked the 17 miles from the car park to the site.

To be honest - I can’t remember what bands we saw before 2pm, I was just agog at the size of the place - and the price of food. £5 for a styrofoam plate of chips?! I thought a super-deluxe “the works” buffalo burger looked better, but although the meat was tasty, it was about the size of a £2 coin, lost in a cold soft bun and cold relish. About the only decent food we found was an italian place doing pasta and garlic bread for £3.50 (VERY good!) and a couple of stalls down, a Cornish Goan Fish Curry place. That was nice too.

The toilets? EVERYONE mentions the toilets from the public to the bands, the comedians, the reviewers..I have to ask -you’d think that for £160, you could at least have a toilet that you didn’t have to queue 10 minutes for to look down on a stinking sea of warm piss and crap. The stench is retch-inducing. I’ll admit, Glasto is a huge technical achievement, but I can’t believe no-one has thought about making a half-decent toilet.

But the toilets are part of something which I think Glastonbury has a problem with. Glasto is THE big commercial entity - stallholders pay £10,000 for a pitch, they are forced to buy products from Glasto’s own incredibly expensive and poor quality wholesaler (lots of gripes about this), and punters pay £160 to get into a site to pay £5 for a plate of burnt chips (and I believe there might be some music or something). Which is fine - the punter takes makes that knowing choice. It’s a huge ripoff, but no-one’s forcing him to go.

HOWEVER…it seems to me that there’s a lot of business sense lacking there. There were some “private” toilets called “comfy crappers” which were £2.50 for a single piss, to £15 for an armband. The queues were huge - probably 45 minutes. And the queues at food stalls, bars and cashpoints especially were very long too.

Does no-one have a drop of business nouse these days?! Why are there queues? Surely, 4 staff can serve twice as quick as 2 staff, your pitch will pay itself off quicker, more people will be attracted to less queues. Same goes for cashpoints, commercial “comfy crapper” bogs etc.

BUT, eating and pissing wasn’t the only reason I was there. Oh no! I was there for The Wurzels!

They really rocked the packed crowd and did a brilliant set of most of their stuff, including favourites like Don’t look back in anger, I’ve got a brand new combine harvester and I am a cider drinker.

After milling around the dance and alternative fields a bit, and we headed to the comedy tent to watch Jeremy Hardy. Now, this guy is great on The News Quiz and ISIHAC, but I’m afraid his set was a bit lame. STILL doing Thatcher jokes, Jeremy?! Didn’t she go, like, 20 years ago?

He came across as being staunch but very bitter Old Labour/Socialist, but just couldn’t bring himself to do ANYTHING topical with an anti-left-wing sentiment. So we were just left with the kind of jokes which would (and did) appeal to those in the audience who looked like they hadn’t been employed for about 15 years and would be nodding when started on yet another anti-Thatcher diatribe. He kind of left us with the impression that he’d love the whole of the UK to be concreted over, painted grey, and have all the excitement that comes with a Peckham crime-rate and lifestyle. He also drooled away on the notion that the underground bombings were by completely integrated and assimilated Brits and that every single ill in the world was whity’s fault.

However, the tent redeemed itself an hour or so later when a BRILLIANT Mitch Benn set had everyone in hysterics. Although I’d heard quite a few of his songs before, I never realised what a great visual comedian he was too, and he managed to combine a stonking comedy routine with a genuinely superb musical talent.

We had something good to see in the evening, we decided to go and see if Amy Winehouse could drag her sorry pathetic arse to the stage BEFORE collapsing in a pool of vomit. After all, despite making it to the site, Pete Doherty couldn’t stay unwasted long enough to actually perform, and was replaced by Franz Ferdinand.

Anyway, we found ourselves in a corner of the pyramid stage field about 15 minutes after Whorehouse started. It was pathetic. She was slurring her words, and in between, no-one could hear a word of what she was saying it she was so off her tree. Quite a few people were drifting away to go and see something good instead, as did we, leaving Winehouse to punch a fan, fall off stage, and not finish her set after being led away.

The Guardian (sponsors of the festival) described it as a “gutsy performance”.

Night fell, as we wussed out and went home to Watch Jay-Z live on the telly. To be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I had expected at all, so I stand corrected on the Jay-Z issue!

Anyway, all in all it was a great day, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tags: glastonbury,music
Categories: travelogue
1 Comment »

In the last few days…

From The Times (added 30th June 2008)

Pupils are being rewarded for writing obscenities in their GCSE English examinations even when it has nothing to do with the question.

Write ‘fuck off’ on a GCSE paper and you’ll get 7.5%. Add an exclamation mark and it’ll go up to 11%
One pupil who wrote “f*** off” was given marks for accurate spelling and conveying a meaning successfully.

His paper was marked by Peter Buckroyd, a chief examiner who has instructed fellow examiners to mark in the same way. He told trainee examiners recently to adhere strictly to the mark scheme, to the extent that pupils who wrote only expletives on their papers should be awarded points.

From BBC News

A report this week by think-tank Reform laments the drop in numbers of people taking maths A-level, at an estimated cost to the economy of £9bn.
“The UK remains one of the few advanced nations where it is socially acceptable, fashionable even, to profess an inability to cope with maths,” it says, despite a maths A-level putting on average an extra £10,000 a year on a salary

Also University cheats ‘not expelled’

University students who are caught submitting plagiarised work are very rarely expelled, shows a survey.
A study found only 143 students caught cheating were expelled out of 9,200 cases - despite almost all universities threatening expulsion as a sanction.

Exam papers had answers on back

Thousands of teenagers are facing uncertainty over their exams after a GCSE music paper was found to have some of the answers on the back.

Students ‘had hints’ before exam

An exam board is investigating suggestions that some teachers gave students hints about what questions would be in an A-level biology exam.

I know this myself - I went to Reading College 11 years ago, and it was tough graft.
I went back 2 years ago, and it was a joke - they virtually stood there and read the answers out as the exam was happening! I blogged about it.

All this came to mind when I heard Harriet Harmon whiffling on about how educational standards are far higher than they were 10 years ago.

Does ANYONE believe that?!

Tags: education,labour,Politics
Categories: education
1 Comment »

The BBC reports another nail in the coffin of free speech:

A French court has fined former film star Brigitte Bardot 15,000 euros (£12,000) for inciting racial hatred.
She was prosecuted over a letter published on her website that complained Muslims were “destroying our country by imposing their ways”.

Here’s a snippet of OSNews’ take on it

Yesterday, a French court has fined former film star Brigitte Bardot 15,000 euros for inciting racial hatred. She said she was “tired of being led by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts“, referring to a mass sheep slaughter/eating tradition by Muslims
You see, when I listen to Pat Condell’s videos, taking apart the whole Muslim culture, 10 times more vigorously than Bardot, I just feel bad for her for living in a country that doesn’t guarantee free speech. Condell was once accused of hate speech last year, but he doesn’t seem to take shit about it. The thing with Condell is that he is able to articulate the opinions of countless people that simply don’t have the strength to say it for themselves because of fear of lawsuits. When I watch Condell’s videos, I don’t just see someone who rips apart religions and cultures, but I see true free speech. I see someone who is not afraid to speak his mind. And same goes for all those religious activists who reply to his videos either with comments or with video responses disagreeing with him! That’s how our civilization and culture can grow, free speech is essential.

So if Condell can (thank God) speak his mind and not get punished by anything and anyone, why Bardot can’t? Is the blame on a restrictive French law, or he is simply luckier that his videos are hosted in USA, or is it the fact that he masquerades his opinions with stand-up comedy helps his cause? Whatever the answer is, people should not be fined for their opinions.

Categories: Uncategorized
1 Comment »

I got a cold call earlier (I am on TPS) and recorded it. Have a listen:

Key phrases in the call include:

This is a public opinion poll. You will receive two free boarding passes for an all inclusive cruise to Nassau Bahamas

In agreement with this confirmation, you are responsible for a $59 per person US Governmental Port and Service Fee paid directly to the cruise line fulfilment centre.

Please note, this is a complementary offer - you have neither won this, nor is it a prize.

The guy says it’s Imperial Majesty Cruise Line, the picture shows Regal Empress Cruise Vacations.
The company appears to be called National Research Group.

During the call, I am told to go to http://www.householdsurvey.com/ - this is a login page and site loaded with Google Ads.

UPDATE: I got a callback a few days after taking the “survey”:

The number they tell me to call back is 001 954 556 5867

Here are Wikipedia entries about Imperial Majesty Cruise Line and

Here’s a scathing criticism of Imperial

Here are other blogs mentioning this:
http://www.skyhasfallen.net/2008/05/theres-no-such-thing-as-free-lunch-or.html
http://think-pot.blogspot.com/2008/04/psa-imperial-majesty-cruise-line.html
http://byotipol.com/2008/04/lalabs-won-free-bahamas-cruise.html
http://smartercruising.blogspot.com/2008/04/win-free-cruise-for-life-on-imperial.html

Here are the questions asked during the survey (and confirmed in the page I was told to go to)
Note - the spelling of the word “question” is their spelling, not mine!

Qustion 1: Do You want to take the survey?
Answer: Yes

Qustion 2: Are you Male or Female? Press 1 for Male or 2 for Female.
Answer: Male

Qustion 3: What age group category do you fall into? Press 1 for between 18-25, press 2 for ages 26-35, press 3 for ages 36-49 press 5 for all ages 50 and above
Answer: Ages 36-49

Qustion 4: What type of television service do you have? Press 1 for Digital Cable, Press 2 for Satellite, Press 3 for Internet or press 4 for Over Air Antenna
Answer: Satellite

Qustion 5: Are you a Homeowner or do you currently rent? Press 1 if you’re a homeowner, press 2 if you are a Renter. Press 3 for any other type of living condition
Answer: Homeowner

Qustion 6: Have you purchased a New Television in the last 8 months? Press 1 for yes or press 2 for no
Answer: No

Qustion 7: When making purchases at grocery stores, or department stores do you prefer to use your Major Credit Card, Visa Debit card or do you prefer to write a check from your check book?
Answer: If you prefer your Major Credit Card press 1

Qustion 8: This is the 7th question. You’re almost finished. What type of internet service to you have? Press 1 for DSL, press 1 for Cable, press 3 for Dial up, or press 4 if you don’t have a computer.
Answer: DSL

Qustion 9: How often do you dine out? Press 1 for once a week or more. Press 2 for once a month, press 3 for I rarely dine out.
Answer: Once a week or more

Qustion 10: How many times to do Vacation every year? Press 1 for 1 or less. Press 2 for 2 or more.
Answer: 2 or more

Qustion 11: This is the last question. Assuming you own an automobile. Does you vehicle have either an existing manufacture warranty or an extended warranty? Press 1 for Yes. Press 2 for do it doesnt have a warranty. Press 3 for I dont own a vehicle.
Answer: Doesnt have a warranty

The information that I have provided through this process is true and correct. In exchange for my participation in a Consumer Market Research Survey, I will receive a complimentary Bahamas Cruise. I accept this reward and agree to be contacted by a travel coordinator within 72 hours to go over the information regarding this reward

Here are some places you may wish to report it:

http://whocalled.us/lookup/4047989983
http://whocalled.us/lookup/4099831671
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/8007300197

UPDATE 18/06/2008

I just got a call from 08006943328 and spoke to a Welsh bloke who actually seemed quite nice. He was just qualifying the leads, and I didn’t have time to be put through. But he’s definitely in the wrong job. He seemed quite earnest and genuine…if only he knew the cack he was selling!

The interesting this is that last week I got a call telling me I had received a free cruise to Nassau, Bahamas (all I had to do was pay taxes, charges and get myself to Florida!). I gave them a false name, and they asked me various questions about whether I drove a car, had a credit card, what age I was etc.

So, I can be pretty certain that UK Debt Information Line / FSDM are buying leads from the company that did the “free” cruise.

UPDATE 26/Aug/2008
Lots more people are getting ripped off lately. This is now the highest read and commented post on this blog. Here are some other places that might be able to advise:
Post your question on MoneySavingExpert’s forums or at the UK Legal group

Be careful with personal details, don’t use your real name.

Try contacting Trading Standards - they might be able to advise more about the credit card.

There is, of course, another idea - if you’re a family, have you thought about selling the story to a paper?
You’d probably get your money back that way AND you’d be warning more people about the same thing too.
It certainly is a very bad thing that you got ripped off like this, and I’m sure the Mail/Express/Sun etc would love this.

Just so as more people are warned about this, whichever route you choose can you please mention the link back to the blog page you found it on?

Tags: phone calls,scams
Categories: my stuff
28 Comments »

How one ranting moron can put back race relations to the dark ages -read the article. Good to see the comments though, such as this one…

As a convert from “left” to “right” I see now even more clearly why the left has run its course and self imploded in such a spectacular fashion.

In the absence of any real intellectual scrutiny by YAB comes forth a beautifully written but ultimately ignorant piece of work, something which the left are particularly good at but unfortunately YAB, no one is buying it any more, we have heard the rhetoric before and it doesn’t wash.

She talks of a rise of authoritarianism, unregulated capitalism, racism and cultural protectionism, but these comments fit the new labour “experience” (and by which I presume she means the left) like a glove.

She sees the rise of the right as a threat to her and her ilk, but it has been the left which has destroyed my existence in new labour’s “new Briton” It is the left which has left me disconnected, poor and without hope in my own country
So go on, pack your bags left, goodbye and frankly, good riddance! .

I’d also really like to read a transcript or hear a copy of Welcome to my world

Thursday 15 May 2008 20:00-20:30 (Radio 4 FM)
Singer Pauline Black has often felt uncomfortable in the countryside because of the colour of her skin. She visits one of Britain’s whitest areas, the south west, to meet Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, black farmer and prospective Tory MP. Miles Warde reports.

I’d be grateful for an MP3 of it.

Tags: Politics
Categories: Politics
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Following on from my earlier post exposing the train fares scam since the “simplification”, I have an update:
Cross Country admit the wrongly priced ticket are STILL on sale - even though they say they’ve know about them for a week (since last Wed - even though I first contacted them on 29th April!)

And yet, a letter from Arriva XC arrived this very morning - the key sentence is:
“Value tickets are now being charged based on the milage[sic] used. I can confirm the cots[sic] of your tickets are correct and in line with the CossCountrys[sic] fare structure for Value tickets”.

Here’s where we are now - I phoned ATOC, passenger focus, Virgin and Cross Country. They all blame each other, and after I gave up with the interweb and call centres, I went into a ticket office, and a helpful man looked at his official fare book, scratched his head, looked at something else, scratched his head again, looked puzzled and explained:

“I don’t understand this - according to the official fare book from ATOC, your ticket has gone up from £12 to £16 but that £16 fare isn’t shown as existing in the ticket system, another part of which says that the cheapest fare is £19.50 but that doesn’t exist either, and the cheapest ticket I can now find on the system is £21 which is an incorrect fare which it won’t let me book”.

He then rubbed his head in his hands and explained that basically, the whole thing had been a nightmare and that just today they had found another anomaly which meant that a certain Cross Country first class fare was £72 more than it should have been!

I tell you, this thing is going to blow up big time - but it’s taking more time and energy than I have. Can anyone help me with this? I need a fares expert and a media expert - I’ve contacted the Western Mail, Daily Telegraph, You and Yours and Moneybox. I need help pushing this story out to more media though, and with more rock-solid examples of how the public are being ripped off by this scam. Like this example below…

Show me more… »

Categories: Uncategorized
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