Category: Uncategorised

I had need of a plumber and yesterday was chasing down plumbers using Checkatrade as well as some direct calls.

Direct calls all panned out as worthless as they pretty much all gave up when they knew it was an immersion heater tank replacement – earliest was three weeks away.

Using Ratedpeople, I not only got three return calls (as many as they allow in a batch) all three have been on site and are either in the midst of or have quoted for the work.

Lesson, use Ratedpeople, avoid Checkatrade.

Obviously, I’ve yet to see the results, but two seem extremely competent so far. (Dyno were the dodgiest – he forgot a tape measure?? What else might he forget?)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44904619

Regardkess of your affiliation, you should know that both sides – EU and UK – are working on the no deal scenario.

The article gives some indication of why and what that would look like.

A no deal would be horrendous impacting much more than we realise.

If the second referendum was to happen, would you change your vote?

i wouldn’t, but then I voted against the madness to start with. :-/

If you voted Leave, think on what this chaos would look like.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-44949856

Everyone supposes divorce is easy, especially given the number we seem to read about, but this highlights it isn’t quite as straightforward.

Now, I am not saying she was being frivolous, but equally, if they were not married, it would be easier to split and move on.

I just got around to viewing this TED talk about Blockchain and why it is likely to be more impactful possibly than mobile phones or the internet.

However, its important that we get involved, make noise and work to make it work for us – you and me – the “little people”.

Why?

Well, this guy, Don Taspcott, explains it way better than I ever could.

Watch this video:

This is an interesting snippet of commentary from Mariella Frostrup, at one point a person of much interest to many men.

She highlights that as a woman she can make comments about an interesting man, but that if the roles were reversed, a man would be picked on by those highlighting their misogynistic perspective.

I absolutely see her point and perhaps we need to have that balanced perspective.

Thing is, should women still be allowed to lust over the men, or should they be held accountable to the same standards applied to men?

I’d like to think there’s a half way house, but I fear that to be too difficult to achieve.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44287094

I can claim no credit other than being in the same office and knowing both Harshitha and her sister – both of whom are amazingly capable ladies.

That said, I am proud to be working in a company which employs such talent, even if at present they have both only done a year’s internship, they clearly have a long way to go.

Harshitha has done a sterling job in her placement year and will doubtless be even more effective over time.

https://risingstars.wearethecity.com/rising-stars-shortlist-2018/technology-2018/

The Guardian seems to have a “secret” memo showing that if Amber Rudd is in control of her department she would have known about the deportation targets, which currently she claims not to be aware.

In all manner of ways, the current government have shown themselves as untrustworthy.

Their actions after Grenfell show their allegiance is more to landlords than tenants. Windrush shows its more to UKIPpers than people who have added to society. And then we get on to Brexit and the NHS – both situations not helped at all by the work over the last few years by the Tories.

I think we need a new way of governing as the impoverished are worse off, the ill are worse off, and the immigrants (invited to this country) are worse off. The only ones better off are those who are well off to start.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/27/amber-rudd-was-told-about-migrant-removal-targets-leak-reveals

I’m getting involved with something at work which means I’ve been getting my hands dirty with Moodle – https://moodle.org/.

Nothing too heavy yet, but everything I’ve seen so far is simple, straightforward and intuitive.

Which for any CMS, regardless of its focus, is a tremendous achievement.

I was chatting only yesterday saying that in this day and age, any UI (User Interface) that is not simple and intuitive (and with no built in training guidance) is insulting the user and of course will long term lead to a lack of engagement across all possible users.

So Moodle gets a thumbs up, as does WordPress. Joomla and other CMS less so, though I wish I had been able to play with Drupal, but that may yet happen.

So many inventions owe inspiration to shows, a lot of Star Trek has generated work such as tricorders.

But now a different franchise has made its impact – Transformers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-43919460/real-life-transformer-the-japanese-robot-that-becomes-a-car