Bloody Virgin

I was prompted to check out Virgin Media's broadband offering by their response to a BT announcement of a new 40Mb service (not yet available). They said more or less why are BT wasting their time with this, when we can do 100Mb?

I have a long history with Virgin and its predecessor companies ( Videotron/C&W/NTL ) not being able to deliver what they market.

I signed up for analog cable TV fairly early on and was reasonably happy.

I then moved and carried on with the service. I made enquiries about upgrading to digital cable and getting cable broadband. No dice. Because I lived in a flat it wasn't available.

I moved again, and still couldn't get digital TV or broadband so I switched to Sky for TV and BT Homehighway for internet and more or less gave up on Virgin.

I have since moved again an stayed with Sky and ADSL broadband over a BT line (although not from BT).

After the latest nonsense from Virin's marketing department, I went to their site and put in my postcode. Guess what? I'm not in a fibre optic area so the best they can offer me is broadband over a phone line. No better than I currently have.

All the places I have mentioned above are in Lambeth, which is central(ish) London and hardly a rural idyll. If Virgin can't provide their flagship services here, where can they?

Reading List: Jingo by Terry Pratchett

A fairly ordinary Diskworld novel. Funny, but no real depth and kind of falls apart at the end.

Rating: ***

New Online Scottish newspaper - Caledonian Mercury.

A new online-only Scottish newspaper has launched. At first reading it seems to be light on hard news, with most of the content being lightweight features or opinion pieces.

I shall keep an eye on it and hope it does well.

Reading List: First Among Sequels by Jasper Ford.

A belated fifth Thursday Next book. Not as good as the main quartet, or perhaps I just missed the jokes. A couple of laugh out load moments - a character called Isambard Kingdom Bunuel; and a good joke about a serial killer.

Rating: ***

Creationists lying to our children again.

An organisation called Truth in Science¹ is trying to infiltrate American produced religious propaganda into schools. This isn't particularly surprising as it is in the nature of religions to try to spread their lies and delusions. The disturbing part is that 59 schools are apparently using the material that the Liars To Children sent them.

It is important that this is stopped as soon as possible. You should contact your local school and make sure they are not teaching this rubbish as science.


¹ I suppose this is an appropriate name as there certainly isn't any truth in religion

Categories:

• religion
• education

Neal Asher

James Nicoll has a thread about Neal Asher and comments he has made in his blog. Some of the followup comments are from people who have decided not to start reading Neal Asher because of what he says in his blog.

I had already decided to stop reading Neal Asher, whose books I rather enjoy, because of what his blog revealed about his character. The blog was mostly rather banal, but there were a few comments which made me think he is not someone I would like if I met him - worse, he is not someone to whom I want to give my money.

Update: I wrote this some time ago but never posted it.

Say no to 0870

Just discovered, rather belatedly, SayNoTo0870.com.

Most companies in the UK use non-geographic (0870,0845 and variations) for customer service and other contact numbers. While these are nominally cheaper than a long-distance call, if you have an inclusive minutes package on your landline or mobile, these numbers are usually excluded and therefore cost more than a normal number.

SayNoTo0870 is a resource for finding alternatives to the published numbers.

A great idea.

Some people shouldn't be allowed to have children.

A couple in Wales have been jailed for not sending their daughter to school. However it is pretty obvious why the girl didn't want to school. The family name is Haine and they appeared to have named the daughter Shlaine. While Shlaine may be a mispelling of a welsh name, it looks more likely that they went to some lengths to find a name which rhymed and which ended in the same letters. If they just wanted rhyming what was wrong with Jane or Shane.

They also called their son Caine.

Identity Crisis

I bought some foreign currency from Thomas Cook the other day, paying by debit card. Not only was I asked to provided identification in the form of a driving license or passport, they also wanted me to write my address on the card slip.

I can think of no good reason why they need this information. The counter clerk claimed it was demanded by my card issuer, but surely a card and a PIN should be sufficient proof of valid access to the funds. Another excuse I have been given in the past (although not on this occasion) is that it is anti money laundering. However, had I paid by cash no additional information would have been requested so it obviously wasn't that.

Apart from the invasion of privacy, this transaction resulted in the creation of a piece of paper containing my card details and my address - prime information for an identity thief. The clerk claimed it was in a secure environment, but I am sure that carelessness by financial services companies and staff corruption are prime sources for the identity underworld.

I am going to follow this up.