This is really starting to get on my tits.
I've had 8 missed calls in three days from 0845 4122750.
T-Mobile are responsible for these calls, and every time I pick up, the phone goes dead.
One solution, from whocallsme.com suggests that the T-mobile broadband team are trying to get their individual sales call figures up, and this is a cheap and time-effective way to do it.
Well they may be persuading their boss that they're working hard enough for a raise, but they aint persuading me to renew my contract.
Again we see the problems that unreasonable targets produce; we've seen it with the NHS and we've seen it with the police, workers will try to scam their way around them, producing a worse, not better, service for customers in the long run.
[I do sympathise, I did telesales for about 6 hours and then quit because I couldn't hack the constant monitoring, it drove me crazy]
Friday, 8 August 2008
Missed call 08454122750
Water Water Everywhere - Too Expensive To Drink
Do you ever wonder "Have I got too much money?" Well, now here's a definitive check.
If you find yourself breaking out your credit card to buy Voss Artesian bottled water at £25 for 12, consider yourself institutionalised by capitalism. It does come in a natty glass bottle. But it's still just water, even if it's sourced from under a million-year old glacier in deepest Norway, filtered through virgin's hair (and bottled in a factory on an industrial estate).
To break the cycle of wasting your money on this old rope I recommend giving away all your earthly possessions. Perhaps to some starving journalists. They can be found hanging around Manchetser's pubs and park benches trying not to look like alcoholics.
Voss water can be purchased from Smithfield Wine, previous winners of Salford's Chapel Street Business Group Business of the Month. They also do a very interesting-looking bottle of Lanchester mead for 7 quid. Incidentally, if you've never tried mead, it's honeyed liquer, I promise you'll never go back to wine again.
Cuba: Not the Land of Freedom
Saw this whilst researching for a piece about internet censorship. While the Cuban government considers the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay a violation of international treaty, there are laws concurrently running which allow authorities to jail members of the public even if they have committed no crime. The irony would be sweet if it wasn't so terrifying.
Oscar Sánchez Madanbecame the 27th independent journalist to be jailed in Cuba, this time for four years, without trial and without a lawyer, for proving to be a "pre-criminal social danger", mainly by writing on Cuban issues on a press freedom website Cubanet.
Monday, 4 August 2008
I'm Not Lazy, I've Got A Sleep Disorder
I often sleep for 12 - 14 hours, and it takes me a long time to fully "wake up" - I'm drowsy for hours after getting out of bed, I will mostly just fall back to sleep and nap for two or three more hours. This means that some days in the week I am awake for very few hours in the day.
This fact astonishes and sometimes disgusts my friends: when I say I still sleep until mid-afternoon, I am accused of chronic laziness, of being immature, which is frustrating and embarrasing. I've been hoping for years to find out that it is beyond my control; now reading sites like medlink.com and webmd.com, I can contend that I have a sleep disorder, perhaps hypersomnia.
Sleep disorders are well-documented in the US, but are a relatively ignored phenomenon in the UK (although it's tricky to find a sleep disorder site not set up by a bed/mattress company). To read more about sleep disorders, go here.
Murray Wins Masters Series Title
Not long to go till Andy hits the Top 3, in my opinion. He beat World No.3 Djokovic for the second time this year to win the Cincinnati Master title yesterday, 7-6 7-6.
He's finally starting to get recognition for all his hard physical work, despite his unpopularity with some tennis fans for his perceived anti-English comments.
I know he's Scottish, but that's close enough for me. We do live in Great Britain, after all.
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Bored? Try SalfordOnline.com
Here's a decent alternative for anyone who's bored. Try this link for SalfordOnline.com's A Bit of Fun, there's thousands of hours worth of fun shit to do, including crosswords, optical illusions, slashdot pics, jokes, cartoons, animations, videos and more.
Monday, 28 July 2008
Murray goes down to Nadal
So Andy lost to Nadal again. This was always on the cards - Nadal is looking to topple Federer (who lost in Toronto in the 2nd round) from the No.1 spot and was in blistering form, taking the eventual title.
Next stop on the American Hard Court tour is the Cincinatti Masters where Andy is seeded 9th.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Murray vs Djokovic Toronto Masters 2008
Photo copyright Getty Images
Andy Murray, seeded 8th here in the Toronto Masters, thrashed the 3rd seed Novak Djokovic today to set up a semi-final with Rafael Nadal.
This is Andy's first win against the Serbian ace, having slumped to heavy defeats in their previous three encounters.
In this, his first successful post-Wimbledon tournament, Murray has the chance to go all the way to the final if he can find a way check Rafa's steamroller forehands, and keep his first serve percentage high.
See how Andy battled his way to the final here. Click Here to Read More..
Friday, 25 July 2008
GIMP - Best Free Software
The best free software of the moment is the GIMP: Gnu Image manipulation programme - it's basically a free alternative to Photoshop and the options are endless. I mean I'm an utter beginner at this, and I could knock up the above in about 3 minutes
It is a truly amazing program, and even better for the fact that it's so powerful, and people are writing new plug-ins/additions for it all the time. Open Source, we love you.
For more go here
Thursday, 24 July 2008
My Recent Portfolio
You can see my recent work at the following links. These include: a story about disabled access in Salford, a business feature on Salford City Radio, my coverage of an academic conference on The Fall and an interview with Turkish rock artist.
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Salford Bloggers Do It For Free!
If you live in Salford and belong to a community group, and you want to join the online revolution, go here, to Charlestown & Lower Kersal Social Media Centre. They'll teach you how to get a free blog, where you can post your thoughts, get involved in online debating and even market yourself for jobs.
Safe, mate, d'ye knaa wha meen?
Friday, 18 July 2008
Manchester Media: Salford Online
Salford Online is a news and community website serving, well, Salford.
Long perceived as Manchester's "scruffy neighbour" (see here for the offending article), Salford has for years been playing catchup in terms of coverage and media outlets. Salfordonline attempts to redress this balance, and is looking for new amateur journalists and writers to cover the vast variety of stories on offer.
It's led by editor Brian Everall and a very small (ie single figure) team based in Eccles, but constantly provides high-quality journalism despite this lack of resources.
You may recognise star reporter Tom Rodgers from this site, or from his articles in the Paul Foot award-winning Salford Star (produced by mad scally Stephen Kingston) and on crossrhythms.co.uk!
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Manchester Media: Freelance Writing
How-do.co.uk, the website for North-west media professionals, is offering up and coming freelance writers the chance to write for their website. This could be a networking dream if you take it up. I'm going to have a go.
See the ad here
Monday, 7 July 2008
iLog: Electronica Extraordinaire
What could be more interesting than a shapely wooden box which creates and records samples of glitch electronica, noise, and the "sound" of light?
Devised and created by three Manchester artists, Simon Blackmore, Antony Hall and Steve Symons, the iLogs allow you not only to listen to music, but to create experimental electronic compositions.
They come fashioned out of mulberry, yew tree or laburnam wood, and to show the boys have a sense of humour, they've called them The iLog Rustle.
They'll be available from Christmas 08, and are potentially the most interesting present you could possibly give.
Make the world a more exciting place and buy one for yourself, an electronica-obsessed friend or wood-fancying hippy!
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Warning: Salacious* Content Below!
I'll be honest. As a 25-year old male with the mind of a 15-year old and the attention span of a 5-year old, I only use the internet for three main purposes:
I prefer the third option, believe it or not. How else would you stumble upon a little bit of genius like The Problems of Being an Egg, from Gumtree's genuinely funny Gumtastic Ads.
Reproduced below without permission, but the author is a dairy product, so one would assume he is unlikely to have legal representation:
Please find below the problems of being an Egg
1- You only get laid once
2- It takes you three minutes to get hard, and when you do someone hits you over the head with a cold spoon
3- Only your mother gets to sit on your face
4- When you come, its in a box with Eleven others
5- Your father was a cock
This was hard to write as being an Egg myself i had to face many of the listed concerns - help please.
Advice, anyone?
*to improve your voculabulary
Thursday, 3 July 2008
Reclaiming Bank Charges: UPDATE
You may remember a little case concerning the billion-pound rip off of customers by banks charging over the odds for:
- Going over your overdraft limit,
- Late payments etc.
The latest news on this is that the Office of Fair Trading is deciding whether these charges are "unfair".
The situation at the moment is that all payments are on hold from banks to their customers, so there's going to be a very long wait if you haven't written to you bank yet to reclaim these unfair penalties.
Martin Lewis has the latest here. Click Here to Read More..
How To Get Rid Of YooNo Toolbar
Mozilla's latest download, Firefox version 2.0.0.14, includes a Yoono Toolbar (beta) that takes up screen space on the left-hand side, and you can't close it.
Clicking the X repeatedly, shouting at the computer and mashing the keyboard, nothing works.
To rectify this problem, go to your Mozilla browser's Tools > Add-ons > Extensions then scroll down to the Yoono icon, click on it, then click on Uninstall.
Bob's your uncle, Robert's your mother's brother, Job Done!
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
My latest
I am temping to support my journalism habit. From unemployment to Network Rail in 2 days, that's a personal record.
Click Here to Read More..Friday, 6 June 2008
Plato was an excercise freak
All over the net, exercise fans are quoting Plato:
"Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it."
Where exactly is this from? I've been trying to decipher in which text Plato supports exercise, but with no joy so far. Is it apocryphal? Is it bullshit? Where's it from, tell me so I can check it! Any ideas?
Thursday, 5 June 2008
The Four Quadrants of Manchester
Great and provoking post from this guy sleth. check it owt it's well funny like.
Click Here to Read More..
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