They now reckon the Beeston work will finish at the end of May 2014. It should have been done by last October! In the meantime, traders are complaining that “compensation” is inadequate (I put that in inverted commas, because for it to be true compensation it would have to make good all shortfalls in earnings caused as a result. And it hasn’t). Chilwell Road has been closed since March 2013 – so more than a year by the time it reopens.
Project director for Taylor Woodrow Alstom, Michael Anderson, said: “We understand it’s very difficult for traders but we were unable to do the work in a different time frame. It’s very regrettable that it’s taken so long.”
Isn’t it just? And the article adds a couple more months by concluding:
All roads in Beeston should be fully reopened by July, the firm said, with trams running to and from Nottingham by the end of 2014.
So they’re still clinging to the end of the year, are they? I’ll ask what I asked previously: if you can still finish by the end of 2014 as originally planned, HAVING LOST SEVEN UNFORESEEN MONTHS IN BETWEEN TIMES, why the hell did you PLAN to cause the disruption for so long in the first place?
Nottingham’s tram is a monumental waste of money. It isn’t green. It is destroying lives and businesses. It is destroying this city. And it will continue to do so.
This article reports that trials by BT and Alcatel-Lucent have achieved broadband speeds of 1.4 terabits per second between London and Ipswich (over a 410km link – though Ipswich is only about 80 miles from London).
That would be equivalent to being able to transfer about 44 HD movies in one second!
It isn’t going to be available any time soon, but it does open the way for the future. Mind you, you have to read some of the comments on that BBC story. I love this one:
Kieran
9 Hours ago
10mb is adequate for anyone. 30mb is nice to have. Why does anyone need more?
Let’s get everyone on at least 10mb (I’ve had it for years and it’s a must-have these days), and providing better upload speeds, before we start messing around with anything faster. Even the 100mb fibre rollout is pointless IMO; how it will provide any economic benefits is beyond me.
I wonder if Kieran goes around smashing weaving machines in his spare time? And then this one:
Richard
9 Hours ago
For ordinary home broadband users it’s pretty meaningless. It’s not as if anyone needs to download “44 HD films in a second” . Is anyone’s life so busy that they can’t spare a half hour or so, to download what they need?
Those are “editor’s picks”, too! And some clown actually wrote this – on an online comments system, remember:
I have never used the internet and I never will.
Ah well. I’ll just stick with my good old Virgin Media connection, which was automatically upgraded this week, and let the Luddites and senile Daily Mail readers carry on. Here’s my current speed:
I can download a 1gb file in less than a minute, so I’m not complaining (that would be less than 5 minutes for a whole film). And I get the same result (apart from the ping) if I run the test on a Frankfurt server.
This story on the Beeb reports that Google is testing a “smart” contact lens which can help detect glucose levels in tear fluid.
If left at that, it sounds like a good idea. But the report adds:
The firm said it is also working on integrating tiny LED lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed certain thresholds.
Google really can’t help itself, sometimes. I guess we should be grateful that technology isn’t yet advanced enough for the things to contain a camera – though I will lay odds that Google is already looking to integrate this with Google Glass, which would mean it DOES have a camera capability. I can also think of at least one crackpot in America who will be at the front of the queue to be a beta tester.
I wonder how long it will be before your contact lenses start sending you spam based on what you’ve been looking at?
The headline of this one made me smile. More and more appliances are being built so they can connect to the internet, and although I’m as techy as they come, I have never been able to fathom why you’d want something like a toaster, a kettle… or a fridge to be able to connect to the web.
I mean, why on earth does a fridge need to have that feature? TVs have this dubious capability these days, and although in the case of these there is a half a good reason to be able to do it (downloading firmware updates, and maybe downloading content), the fact that the damned things can autonomously connect and start pumping data out without your knowledge is of far more benefit to others than it is to the owner. LG, for example, has been coming over all Google and has been caught harvesting data it really shouldn’t have. Apple has been doing it for ages. And I won’t even try and list the numerous separate occasions on which Google has been caught spying on people – sending you emails about things you’ve looked at is just the tip of the iceberg, and most people will remember the Google Maps cars harvesting private Wi-Fi signals.
But the idea of a fridge sending out spam is as funny as it is sinister.
Last November I mentioned a news item whereby a woman in America – Cecilia Abadie – had been pulled over for speeding, and then cited for wearing Google Glasses behind the wheel. For anyone still living in the Dark Ages when it comes to technology, Google Glass is a wearable computer with a small display in front of your eye. It also has a camera, which – given that Google is involved – has kicked up a stink about privacy from numerous angles At the moment, Google Glass costs around £1,000!
As I mentioned at the time, in her Google+ profile she describes herself thus:
Geek, Google Glass Pioneer, Self-Quantifier, Transhumanist, Blogger, Speaker, currently playing with fun new ways to a better self…
She has profiles on all the social networks, and finds time to post copiously on all of them – and that’s on top of her blogs. She has a full time job, and she’s married. She likes (and uses) phrases like “paradigm shift” alongside words like “evolution” (anyone who has read a little and knows what a “paradigm shift” is might raise an eyebrow at that. Abadie has taken some sort of vow – honestly, she has – to wear Google Glass 24 hours a day. She is evangelising it beyond the point of obsession, arguing that Google Glass should be taken up by doctors and the agricultural industry.
But cutting through all that, she was caught speeding. She was driving at 80mph in a 65mph zone. – and then found to be wearing Google Glass behind the wheel. She absolutely and definitely broke the Law relating to speed. She is arguing that the Laws relating to distracted driving do not apply to Google Glass.
One thing I know from experience – both as a driver, and as a driver trainer – is that when your mind wanders then you cannot control your speed. It’s quite simple: if you are fiddling with your phone, the radio, the satnav, trying to read directions on a sheet of paper, or any number of other things, then you are distracted. Even if you are looking out of the front window you are not actually seeing things properly because your mind is elsewhere. So your speed can either fall or increase – it depends on the driver and the situation. One thing it is unlikely to do is remain fixed.
If you have a computer-cum-smartphone stuck on your face, and one which in Abadie’s case is likely to be incandescent with incoming texts, tweets, and various other inane communications, you WILL be distracted. And then some. And then some more.
At the time of Abadie’s original ticket, no mention was made (including on her Facebook page, which she delighted in keeping up to date) that her Google Glass wasn’t switched on. Her mantra about technology versus the World was all that mattered. However, now her case has come to court it would appear that all the bravado about challenging the Law – one which bans motorists from watching TV behind the wheel, and therefore a law which doesn’t apply to a computer monitor – is being muddied somewhat by her claim that Google Glass wasn’t switched on at the time. One can only wonder why she was wearing the damned thing if it was turned off.
The worrying thing is that there is every possibility that the judge will end up agreeing with Abadie that the Law in question doesn’t apply to Google Glass, even though it is obvious that it should. And that comes on top of the fact that the DfT over here might be “reconsidering” its original prospective ban on using Google Glass behind the wheel. I love the part where the DfT says:
We have met with Google to discuss the implications of the current law for Google Glass. Google are anxious their products do not pose a road safety risk and are currently considering options to allow the technology to be used in accordance with the law.
What they mean is that Google is anxious not to lose any revenue from sales of Glass. When it comes to money versus safety, Google knows where its priorities lie.
Update: As expected, she managed to get off. True to form, the American judge decided that there was no proof she had them switched on, so there was no case to answer. It isn’t clear if she was still prosecuted for the crime she DID commit of speeding. The chances are she wasn’t.
Abadie will no doubt claim this as some sort of “paradigm”. It isn’t. If it COULD be shown she had them switched on, she would still have been in trouble – or at the very least, the judge would have had to engage a couple more brain cells before letting her off. As it is, the issue of wearing them whilst driving has become moot thanks to this particular judge. The matter has not been furthered or resolved one way or another.
And she was pulled over for speeding, remember. The Google Glass thing has become a smokescreen.
One of my favourite TV shows as a child was The Champions. I remember that I had a schoolboy crush on Alexandra Bastedo, who was one of the stars.
Well, I just saw on the BBC website that she has died at the age of 67 after a long illness.
In her younger years she was considered one of the most beautiful women on the planet. She starred with Peter Sellers in Casino Royale, and was romantically linked with various Hollywood superstars. I didn’t realise quite how much other work she had done.
Apparently, she’d had two bouts of breast cancer and recovered, but from what I can gather it was cancer that killed her.
This story in the news today suggests that councils are using car park fines as a “cash cow”. Did anyone ever think that they weren’t?
Last year, I parked in one of the West Bridgford car parks. The ticket machines there used to just print out a ticket when you paid your money, and since you got 2 hours for 50p (later, £1) people were passing them on to each other if they had excess time left. The council didn’t like this one bit, and it introduced new machines where you have to type in the numerical digits of your car’s registration plate just to prevent tickets being transferred.
Anyway, on this particular occasion I accidentally typed “61” instead of “62” when buying my ticket. The fact that the warden had actually seen me pay – I even smiled at him as I passed him (but I won’t be doing that again) – meant nothing. Nor did the fact that I was only away from the car at the bank for about 6 minutes. I was slapped with a ticket which the council refused to overturn on appeal, and which they refused to discuss further (i.e. by ignoring me completely). Even the people who you appeal to after that didn’t respond.
More recently I parked in a council car park in Leeds (just before Christmas when I went to see Status Quo). The park was ANPR-controlled, meaning that they scan your registration as you enter, and confirm it in full at the ticket machine when you pay. I paid using my debit card and was charged £8.50 – the only option available. I was there for just over 4 hours. My bank account was debited two days later. You’d think that would have been the end of it, but no.
Just after Christmas I got a letter informing me of a PCN for “insufficient fee paid”. Since I’m not the registered keeper (I lease the car) the lease agent paid the fine immediately. I am now embroiled in trying to appeal against the fine and get a refund.
What makes this recent case all the more interesting is that on the night of the concert – before I knew any of this was happening – my friend in Leeds told me that his wife had had the exact same fraudulent claim made against her a few weeks earlier in the same car park while she was Christmas shopping. She kicked up a stink and they dropped the claim.
I’m not going to say too much while the appeal is on-going, but if you Google for UKCPS (Car Parking Solutions) a very gothic image starts to emerge of them. Suffice it to say, I only know two people who have used that car park in Leeds, and both have had the same scam pulled on them. So it doesn’t take too much imagination to picture a huge cash cow whereby hundreds of these “fines” are made each day on the premise that 1% of recipients won’t challenge them. And at £60 (going up to £100 if you pay late) a time, the titties on that cash cow up in Leeds must be bloody sore!
Is UKCPS a scam parking operator?
Well, me and my mate’s wife have direct experience of the kind of things they get up to. But take a look at these links:
These are a tiny sample. Try Googling for “UKCPS parking scam” or “UKCPS Ltd parking ticket” and see what you get. There are hundreds and hundreds of people like you who these cretins are trying to intimidate (including disabled people parking in disabled bays that these gutter trash operate). That Responsive link sums it up nicely by pointing out that UKCPS usually backs down at the first appeal – and that’s because they know that they can make money from those who don’t appeal. You don’t need to be a genius to work out if it’s a scam or not.
Is UKCPS a legitimate company?
Unfortunately, yes. However, their business practices appear to be far from legitimate, and councils such as Leeds City Council have washed their hands of the affair to the extent that they are sanctioning this dishonest behaviour.
I’ve written before about how certain idiots in this country – many of them supposed medical experts – have ruined everything we eat by forcing manufacturers to either remove or reduce the salt content. This is in spite of research which shows salt isn’t as bad for you as the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) radical sect would have us believe.
Now, the same people have formed a new group – Action on Sugar – with the avowed intention of screwing up sweet stuff for us, too. This is based almost entirely on the fact that some people (and their parents) are too bloody stupid to be allowed out unsupervised, and who subsequently suffer from obesity and other health problems as result of drinking 6 litres of Coca Cola a day, and who eat nothing but chocolate and biscuits.
This newly-named bunch of activist idiots goes on to name a range of products and the amount of sugar contained in them. It’s worth reproducing it here to help us do a reality check:
Starbucks caramel frappuccino with whipped cream with skimmed milk (tall): 273kcal; 11 teaspoons of sugar
Coca Cola Original (330ml): 139kcal; 9 teaspoons of sugar
Heinz Tomato Ketchup (15ml): 18kcal; 1 teaspoon of sugar
Out of that list, I would only ever eat or drink Coke (perhaps a small bottle or two on hot summer days), Ragu (once in a blue moon, though I’d choose Dolmio given the choice because it tastes better), and Heinz Ketchup (a tablespoon a couple of times a week). So, not every day, and not to excess. That’s because I’m not a prat who needs nannying. However, if I was one of those people who ate everything on that list every day, to excess, and who also fed it to my children, then I’d deserve to have them taken away from me and put into care.
The BBC story quotes a doctor (also a member of Action on Sugar):
Dr Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist and science director of Action on Sugar, said: “Added sugar has no nutritional value whatsoever and causes no feeling of satiety.
I may be missing something here, but I think Dr Malhotra is deliberately trying to mislead. You see, herbs and spices have no nutritional value either, but they are essential in making food taste nice. Dr Malhotra might also want to take a close look at the food his or her countrymen have been eating for centuries. Salt has been in use since before recorded history; oil has been used for almost as long; and likewise with sugar. Is he/she suggesting they stop?
The bottom line is that not one of those listed processed foods will do anyone any harm at all as long as they don’t stuff themselves with it all day, every day. The problem isn’t that foods contain sugar. The problem is that some people are complete morons.
And that doesn’t appear to be a bar to entering the medical profession.
This story on the BBC website reveals that the prats in charge of Nottingham want a Phase 3 tram line to stretch out to Kimberley. And they now have government backing.
Hope and pray that Labour gets back in at the next election. For all our sakes.
Many years ago not far from me there were plans to build a dirt bike track on flood plain land. Residents were against it on the grounds of noise and the unsavoury types it would attract, and they formed a group to oppose it at the council’s subsequent public meeting. However, it became clear that the “chairman” of this informal group had political ambitions, and he effectively hijacked the group in order to further his own interests. The problem was that he was an idiot – well, maybe it wasn’t that much of a problem for him (he got into local government, as I remember), since being an idiot is high on the list or prerequisites for aspiring politicians, but it certainly screwed up the residents’ action group. Since then, though, I’ve noticed that all “action groups” have someone like this.
So it comes as no surprise to hear Andy Cooper – chairman of the Kimberley Eastwood and Nuthall Tram Action Group (a pro-tram sect) – say the following:
…there are quite a few areas in Nottingham hoping for the next phase of the tram…
…This area is crying out for regeneration – it’s a neglected area…
…Not only that it would cut down on traffic congestion – the Nuthall island on the A610 is a nightmare.
People like Cooper take stupidity to a new level. You see, the Nuthall Roundabout is busy because it is a quarter of a mile from Junction 26 of the M1. In fact, for all practical purposes, it IS Junction 26 of the M1, so you will not cut traffic on it by building a bloody tram line out to it.
The tram – phase I, and the current phase II lines – is a complete and utter waste of money. Even if it were full most of the time it would still only service a tiny percentage of the population. As it is, it is usually empty. So it is laughable to see the additional justification for a phase III posited as servicing 116 new homes, which have recently been given the go ahead.
Those 116 homes would maybe house 400 people at most, which would represent about 0.15% of the population of Nottingham. And on the strength of this they argue that it warrants a third tram line, likely to cost in excess of £570m (that’s the price of phase II).
We’re only a few days into the year and already there are numerous candidates for the 2014 Darwin Awards. These early candidates come courtesy of the bad weather we’ve been having recently. The first ones come from Blackpool.
The next one is in Wales.
Not sure about these next two, but they’re from the same BBC news video clip.
But you really need to run that news clip – this guy is current front runner for the 2014 award. He is clearly shitting himself, because he nearly got washed out to sea.
People have already died because they got too close and were washed away. Police have issued warning after warning about staying away.
But still they come – those members of society having only one helix in their DNA, or an abnormal number of chromosomes. Oh, yeah. And they all appear to wear hoodies.
One of my favourite TV shows as a child was The Champions. I remember that I had a schoolboy crush on Alexandra Bastedo, who was one of the stars.
you got 2 hours for 50p (later, £1) people were passing them on to each other if they had excess time left. The council didn’t like this one bit, and it introduced new machines where you have to type in the numerical digits of your car’s registration plate just to prevent tickets being transferred.
manufacturers to either 
The first ones come from Blackpool.
