Advertising Consultant 1 : To make our adverts cheap but engaging lets use the Halifax staff as a source of cheap actors?
Advertising Consultant 2 : Great idea.
Advertising Consultant 3 : Wait a minute, what if it comes across as amateurish?
Advertising Consultant 1 : Oh yeah. What if we got actors to play Halifax staff?
Advertising Consultant 2 : That's even better.
Advertising Consultant 3 : Hang on the actors wont really be convincing talking about serving customers, branches and accounts.....
Advertising Consultant 1 : I've got it what if we have the actors play Halifax staff running a crap radio station instead of doing banking?
Advertising Consultant 2 : Swish!
Advertising Consultant 3 : I can't see anything wrong with that. Well done.
Advertising Consultant 1 : That's why i earn the big bucks.
This is why all meetings should have a chairperson, a designated note taker and a common sense monitor(or bullshit filter if you would)! To stop this and other stupid ideas from ever leaving a meeting unchallenged.
Monday, 21 March 2011
iCalendar for Saints Super League fixtures 2011.
Just because their is a gap in the market ;-).
Here for your usage free of any licence or other stupid legal double speak, is an iCal file for Saints fixtures in the 2011 Super League.
This iCalendar can be imported into pretty much any calendar software(even Lotus Notes.)
Here for your usage free of any licence or other stupid legal double speak, is an iCal file for Saints fixtures in the 2011 Super League.
This iCalendar can be imported into pretty much any calendar software(even Lotus Notes.)
Sucker Punch
Mainly for Jones.
Sucker Punch has been described as "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns". Babydoll (Emily Browning) has been locked away in a 1950s asylum against her will. Their she meets the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) and the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish). Sucker punch follows her and her 4 friends escape as her vivid imagination overlays her real existence with something a little more interesting, with dragons and B-25 bombers. Its in cinemas from the 1st April.
Sucker Punch has been described as "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns". Babydoll (Emily Browning) has been locked away in a 1950s asylum against her will. Their she meets the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) and the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish). Sucker punch follows her and her 4 friends escape as her vivid imagination overlays her real existence with something a little more interesting, with dragons and B-25 bombers. Its in cinemas from the 1st April.
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Simon Peg and Nick Frost's "Remake" of Star Wars
This is what Simon Peg and Nick Frost get up to in their free time.
So funny.
So funny.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
The Kat's tips on staying safe online and beyond.
Scammers scammers everywhere. Their are people out their trying to trick you into providing them with your information. I thought I'd give a few tips on keeping safe online and beyond.
Spam
Like the junk mail you get through the post, but ever so much more dangerous than fast food menu’s and fake clothes collections. Spam emails will offer anything from share tips to cheap Viagra. None of which is real and is just designed to have you part with your good money.
A good rule of thumb is if you have not asked for the email by signing up to newsletters on sites, than don’t even open them just delete them.
Phishing Emails. Banks/Shops/Deals etc.
Dangerous little beasts, appearing as emails from your bank or a shop you are signed up to (e.g Amazon or Play.) They will vary from the easily spotted ones from a bank that isn’t even yours to the very sophisticated well made emails that appear the same as legitimate emails from the business.
The emails will have a link to the banks/Shops site and will gather any information you happen to enter. Giving them access to your accounts, passwords and other information. Easily spotted phishing emails are emails from Halifax@jeffsStore.com the banks name will always appear after the @ of an email. Slightly harder are ones like accounts@Halifax-bankingservice.ac.uk at first glance its fine, but Halifax-bankingServices.ac.uk is not Halifax’s email domain. Also don’t assume a phishing email will use the old “you must log in and update your details”, more devious emails will just be looking to get you onto a fake site to steal your login details.
Top tip is assume all emails are phising ones, if your get an email from your bank wanting details (and there are legit ones,) or an offers email from an internet shop, don’t click any links or images inside the email. Open a new browser window and go direct to google.co.uk search for the bank or shop you received a mail from. This will make sure it is the real website you are entering, there you will be able access any offers you received by mail or be asked to enter any required information.
Phishing Phonecalls
This is one that catches a lot of people out. This is a very simple scam, a scammer will phone you saying they are from company x and ask for your security information. They than use it. This isn’t helped by the fact that legitimate companies do phone you, and they do ask for this sorts of information.
Top tip. Never give any details to someone who has phoned you. If its something important or a must not miss deal ask for a number you can ring them back on and check that number online before phoning it. Most scammers will hang up when they cotton on your not an easy target, though some will brazen it out seeing you as a challenge.
Cold Calls
These are not scams but are almost as bad. A person phones you offering you a deal on something. They say they are phoning from or on behalf of a well known company.
Top Tip. Again don’t give out information to someone who phones you. If you already use their services they should have your info. It will be at this point that you normally find out it isn’t Orange that’s ringing. It is in fact someone who has been authorised (sold the right) to phone you on their behalf. Hang Up.
Some parting tips on Internet Browsing
Turn the url bar on, in your browser. You should be able to see at the top of this page. http://the-kats-blog.blogspot.com/… This give you a lot of information about the sight your on.
URLs should match up. Urls can be complicated but the first part is called the domain. It’s the bit that follows http(s)://. Examples are Spree4.com, Google.co.uk and uk.yahoo.com. This is where to look if you think you on Spree4.com and the url domain is hackersDen.au.com than hightail it out of there.
Don’t trust direct links. If you are given a link that has ip address ( e.g. http://10.1.1.1/) don’t click it. Domain names are cheap and easy to register. The absence of one means the site is very very dodgy.
Hover over links, when you surfing if you see a link you can hover over it and your browser will let you know which url it is pointing to. If it isn’t what you expect than don’t click.
Google is your friend. If your on a strange site and don’t trust links posted on it. Simply google the site suggested.
Spam
Like the junk mail you get through the post, but ever so much more dangerous than fast food menu’s and fake clothes collections. Spam emails will offer anything from share tips to cheap Viagra. None of which is real and is just designed to have you part with your good money.
A good rule of thumb is if you have not asked for the email by signing up to newsletters on sites, than don’t even open them just delete them.
Phishing Emails. Banks/Shops/Deals etc.
Dangerous little beasts, appearing as emails from your bank or a shop you are signed up to (e.g Amazon or Play.) They will vary from the easily spotted ones from a bank that isn’t even yours to the very sophisticated well made emails that appear the same as legitimate emails from the business.
The emails will have a link to the banks/Shops site and will gather any information you happen to enter. Giving them access to your accounts, passwords and other information. Easily spotted phishing emails are emails from Halifax@jeffsStore.com the banks name will always appear after the @ of an email. Slightly harder are ones like accounts@Halifax-bankingservice.ac.uk at first glance its fine, but Halifax-bankingServices.ac.uk is not Halifax’s email domain. Also don’t assume a phishing email will use the old “you must log in and update your details”, more devious emails will just be looking to get you onto a fake site to steal your login details.
Top tip is assume all emails are phising ones, if your get an email from your bank wanting details (and there are legit ones,) or an offers email from an internet shop, don’t click any links or images inside the email. Open a new browser window and go direct to google.co.uk search for the bank or shop you received a mail from. This will make sure it is the real website you are entering, there you will be able access any offers you received by mail or be asked to enter any required information.
Phishing Phonecalls
This is one that catches a lot of people out. This is a very simple scam, a scammer will phone you saying they are from company x and ask for your security information. They than use it. This isn’t helped by the fact that legitimate companies do phone you, and they do ask for this sorts of information.
Top tip. Never give any details to someone who has phoned you. If its something important or a must not miss deal ask for a number you can ring them back on and check that number online before phoning it. Most scammers will hang up when they cotton on your not an easy target, though some will brazen it out seeing you as a challenge.
Cold Calls
These are not scams but are almost as bad. A person phones you offering you a deal on something. They say they are phoning from or on behalf of a well known company.
Top Tip. Again don’t give out information to someone who phones you. If you already use their services they should have your info. It will be at this point that you normally find out it isn’t Orange that’s ringing. It is in fact someone who has been authorised (sold the right) to phone you on their behalf. Hang Up.
Some parting tips on Internet Browsing
Turn the url bar on, in your browser. You should be able to see at the top of this page. http://the-kats-blog.blogspot.com/… This give you a lot of information about the sight your on.
URLs should match up. Urls can be complicated but the first part is called the domain. It’s the bit that follows http(s)://. Examples are Spree4.com, Google.co.uk and uk.yahoo.com. This is where to look if you think you on Spree4.com and the url domain is hackersDen.au.com than hightail it out of there.
Don’t trust direct links. If you are given a link that has ip address ( e.g. http://10.1.1.1/) don’t click it. Domain names are cheap and easy to register. The absence of one means the site is very very dodgy.
Hover over links, when you surfing if you see a link you can hover over it and your browser will let you know which url it is pointing to. If it isn’t what you expect than don’t click.
Google is your friend. If your on a strange site and don’t trust links posted on it. Simply google the site suggested.
Hutton Report on Public Sector Pay
Will Hutton who the Tories brought in as a well respected expert to review public sector pay has released his report, and what a report it is.
Highlights of the report and his interview are:
The fact that the Prime Ministers pay is an arbitrary figure and completely useless as a comparison. Actually he agrees with me that when all benefits are taken into account (free house, free transport, free holiday home. Etc) The PMs salary is in excesses of £500,000 per year. Which is significantly above any public servant.
That a cap on executive pay at 20 times the lowest paid member of an organisation is a good idea in theory but rubbish in practice as “large complex corporations” with low paid staff(councils.) would be capped lower than simple small organisations with only (relatively) high paid staff(Schools).
He also up holds my viewpoint that Chief Officers are paid at market rates. They are paid at what the market says is appropriate, already incurring reductions due to sources of funding and reductions due to political oversight not present in the private sector, leading to them earning considerably less than their private sector compatriots. As he says how much would you want paying to manage child services in Haringey? Would you want someone doing that job that wasn’t up to the task, which is what would happen if pay was reduced. This is a point the right wing press would wrongly appose, saying “There is no direct comparison between Chief officers of private industry and public..” blah blah blah. Of course there is, if these positions where so easy and so overpaid why aren’t there 10s of thousands of highly trained private sector staff gunning for them when they come up, and through that driving the wage down? Don’t say its some strange sector loyalty that only works the other way. If Ms X at Capita is paid £100,000 a year and is more than qualified to run her local council where she would receive £200,000 a year and a decent pension, are you seriously saying they wouldn’t be typing their CV as we speak.
Another interesting suggestion from Hutton is that both public and private sector companies should have to publish executive pay and the multiples of median/lowest. Again right wingers suggest it is no place of government to control CEO pay in the private industry and that this pay is controlled by share holders and market forces, where as public sector has no such control. Rhubarb! Firstly I happen to be a shareholder of several companies, I have never been asked my opinion on executive pay or bonuses. If you’re interested its to much! Pay the workers more or give me higher dividends! Also the checks on local government pay are greater than private sector! Yes a ridiculously large pay settlement will not lead to a council going bankrupt (I’m looking at you Marconi!), but as has been shown these payments are subject to democratic review both locally and nationally, effectively making the general public the shareholders and the Councils their board of directors. They also are subject to market forces in the same way any job in the private sector is you get paid what the market deems appropriate or someone else will take your job and do it better or cheaper.
Highlights of the report and his interview are:
The fact that the Prime Ministers pay is an arbitrary figure and completely useless as a comparison. Actually he agrees with me that when all benefits are taken into account (free house, free transport, free holiday home. Etc) The PMs salary is in excesses of £500,000 per year. Which is significantly above any public servant.
That a cap on executive pay at 20 times the lowest paid member of an organisation is a good idea in theory but rubbish in practice as “large complex corporations” with low paid staff(councils.) would be capped lower than simple small organisations with only (relatively) high paid staff(Schools).
He also up holds my viewpoint that Chief Officers are paid at market rates. They are paid at what the market says is appropriate, already incurring reductions due to sources of funding and reductions due to political oversight not present in the private sector, leading to them earning considerably less than their private sector compatriots. As he says how much would you want paying to manage child services in Haringey? Would you want someone doing that job that wasn’t up to the task, which is what would happen if pay was reduced. This is a point the right wing press would wrongly appose, saying “There is no direct comparison between Chief officers of private industry and public..” blah blah blah. Of course there is, if these positions where so easy and so overpaid why aren’t there 10s of thousands of highly trained private sector staff gunning for them when they come up, and through that driving the wage down? Don’t say its some strange sector loyalty that only works the other way. If Ms X at Capita is paid £100,000 a year and is more than qualified to run her local council where she would receive £200,000 a year and a decent pension, are you seriously saying they wouldn’t be typing their CV as we speak.
Another interesting suggestion from Hutton is that both public and private sector companies should have to publish executive pay and the multiples of median/lowest. Again right wingers suggest it is no place of government to control CEO pay in the private industry and that this pay is controlled by share holders and market forces, where as public sector has no such control. Rhubarb! Firstly I happen to be a shareholder of several companies, I have never been asked my opinion on executive pay or bonuses. If you’re interested its to much! Pay the workers more or give me higher dividends! Also the checks on local government pay are greater than private sector! Yes a ridiculously large pay settlement will not lead to a council going bankrupt (I’m looking at you Marconi!), but as has been shown these payments are subject to democratic review both locally and nationally, effectively making the general public the shareholders and the Councils their board of directors. They also are subject to market forces in the same way any job in the private sector is you get paid what the market deems appropriate or someone else will take your job and do it better or cheaper.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Tuesdays Ten "Interesting" Facts 6
1. TV Physicist Brian Cox, played keyboards for D:Ream (of "Things will only get better fame.) and appeared on Top of The Pops.
2. Tsutomu Yamaguchi who was unfortunate enough to be present at both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings as a young man, was fortunate enough to survive both and live till the grand age of 93.
3. The Great wall of china is not visible from space. It would require a resolution 7.7 times that of than the average human.
4. Iron (in particular Fe58) has the highest (net) binding energy. That means that you can't get (again net) energy out of iron through either nuclear fusion or fission.
5. The Fontainebleau Resort is Las Vegas' tallest building. (The stratosphere doesn't count as a building for some obscure reason.)
6. On average a performance of Macbeth starts every 4 hours.
7. Annakin Skywalker(aka Darth Vadar) has been "played" by 5 people. In the original films David Prowse was the body, James Earl Jones the voice, and Sebastian Shaw was the face when Darth Vader was eventually unmasked. In the prequels Jake Lloyd played young annakin, while Hayden Christensen played a grown up annakin before finally donning the Vadar suite for his final scene.
8. In "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" as Harry enters Dumbledore's study, a portrait of Gandalf the Grey is included in the collection of paintings. (It is above the doorframe.)
9. For Lord of the Rings Sean Astin gained 30 pounds for his role as Samwise the "Stupid fat Hobbit.".
10. Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days following an argument with her soon to be ex husband. Though theories from nervous breakdown to publicity stunt abound the 11 days where never accounted for.
2. Tsutomu Yamaguchi who was unfortunate enough to be present at both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings as a young man, was fortunate enough to survive both and live till the grand age of 93.
3. The Great wall of china is not visible from space. It would require a resolution 7.7 times that of than the average human.
4. Iron (in particular Fe58) has the highest (net) binding energy. That means that you can't get (again net) energy out of iron through either nuclear fusion or fission.
5. The Fontainebleau Resort is Las Vegas' tallest building. (The stratosphere doesn't count as a building for some obscure reason.)
6. On average a performance of Macbeth starts every 4 hours.
7. Annakin Skywalker(aka Darth Vadar) has been "played" by 5 people. In the original films David Prowse was the body, James Earl Jones the voice, and Sebastian Shaw was the face when Darth Vader was eventually unmasked. In the prequels Jake Lloyd played young annakin, while Hayden Christensen played a grown up annakin before finally donning the Vadar suite for his final scene.
8. In "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" as Harry enters Dumbledore's study, a portrait of Gandalf the Grey is included in the collection of paintings. (It is above the doorframe.)
9. For Lord of the Rings Sean Astin gained 30 pounds for his role as Samwise the "Stupid fat Hobbit.".
10. Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days following an argument with her soon to be ex husband. Though theories from nervous breakdown to publicity stunt abound the 11 days where never accounted for.
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