Seasalt Steve?

I'll have one for Xmas...

LINK

And a follow up...

ReTwotting I just twoted all over the place...

Just cos I can...

Tis the season....

...to get fat!!!

Starbucks Eggnog latte and Turkey Feast panini...

I wish..........

Hoo bloody rah...

My broadband/internet connection has just been restored!!!....

25 Days...

...since I lost my broadband/internet.
Last Friday I was told that Pipex engineers were still trying to fix the problem. They hoped it would be sorted within 24 to 48 hours. I asked did they mean it would be after the weekend it would be fixed and when told it would decided enough was enough.
I called the cancellations department for a migration code but they tried to assure me they were doing all they could to fix the problem.
I have decided to move - I'll wait to see if they do fix my service by tomorrow (Tuesday) as promised but they have lost a customer. I have already contacted BT regarding moving my phone and line rental back to them and as I now have the MAC number as soon as my broadband is back up and running I'm moving.
Over three weeks is an unacceptable time to not have a service that is being paid for. Now to see if I can get that 'technical refund'.

I'm not completely happy with the result, as BT still has left the 'door' open regarding the PHORM Webwise snooping software partnership, but having dabbled with ISPs which have to rely on the one company (BT) which controls the infrastructure of the phone/internet system I have had enough of call centres in countries where the staff have 'westernised' names to help the customer understand them.

You know what I mean...

Spread the news...

For a few years now I have been partial to a certain butter and buy it on a regular basis.
The butter is Bridel Brittany Butter with Sea Salt Crystals. My local Waitrose stocked it and recently I noted that alongside the Bridel butter was what appeared to be Waitrose's own version.

I muttered something along the lines of "I bet they stop stocking the Bridel..." and sure enough last week I noticed that the shelf label for the Bridel had been taken off.

I asked one of the staff if they were discontinuing this line but he stated after asking a 'manager' that it was a supply problem, and they had taken the label down to prevent confusion. (Yeah...)

Normally they leave the label up with a "Currently not available" sticker over it. No confusion there normally...

I have yet to check other Waitrose branches but this isn't the first time they have removed items from their shelves which I have developed a taste for...

Two weeks broadbandless...

21 August 2009 - 4 September 2009

So today is the two week 'anniversary' of not having any broadband connection.
Two weeks ago the DSL light on my router went out and it is still out.
Several calls to Pipex/Tiscali/TalkTalk/whoever and two visits from BT engineers and a Tiscali Broadband engineer have not solved the issue.

My equipment is not to blame. Rebooting/reseting the router made no difference. Swapping to a spare router made no change. Changing the micro-filter made no difference. Pipex tested the line with a '680 error' reported (that's no dial tone to save you Googling it).
BT arrived eventually but could not help as the line was fine and he was told it was a line fault then departed after trying to confuse me with a shitload of acronyms/abbreviations (he succeeded).
Tiscali Broadband engineer arrived about 10 days later and said it wasn't my equipment (surprise) as his router failed to illuminate the DSL light, and went within ten minutes. Couple of days later another BT engineer arrived to fix a line fault but not a BB fault!

What? Wait, it was reported as a line fault NOT a broadband fault? I sense I'm getting stuck in a loop here....

He did go to the exchange and checked the "mapping" (OK) and the line (OK) and swapped out the BT socket (just in case) and now, today, I have been sitting around since 8am waiting for the broadband guy to arrive. Appointment was set for between 8am and 1pm and it is now 1215pm.
Wonder if he'll turn up at 1259pm?

Wonder if he'll get me back online?

Wonder if I'll still be relying on a 3G modem on my Macbook in an area where there is no 3G coverage.

Wonder where I will take my business to, once that little green light on my router starts to flicker and pulse again?....

Facebook - the truth hurts?

Found this article in the Wall Street Journal which rings true for me -
http://bit.ly/iuTRk

Some of the commenters are obviously hardcore MyFacing Twattering saddos......

Where have I been?...

Travelling.
Break.
Vacation.
Holiday.

Take your pick.

I missed this though -

Twitter Goes Down Again After More Cyberattacks...

Must have sent waves of panic thought the breasts of all those Twatters....


Awww.....

At Last....

"PithHelmet 2.8.5 finally adds support for Safari 4."


LINK

Phucking Phuming @ Phorm

I'm a Pipex customer.
Pipex was taken over by Tiscali.
Tiscali went bust and was eventually taken over by TalkTalk (owned by Carphone Warehouse).
TalkTalk (along with BT and Virgin) are linked to the Phorm advertising/snooping company.
TalkTalk have stated that customers will have an opt-in choice to be subject to their 'traffic' being monitored (rather than BT's opt-out).

Opt-in or opt-out, I want nothing to do with this and have written to Pipex requesting clarification of whether they will be subjecting their customer base to it.

Time to look for another ISP...

What is this butcher saying about his pies...

I just twoted all over the place...

Enough is enough...

Back in January 08 I had a few words to say about the likes of Twitter and those who use it and similar micro-blogging tools.
Well, I have to say, my stance on these hasn't changed. In fact, I think my hatred of Twitter et al has actually deepened, with the news that UK politicians are now signing up for Twitter accounts, in order for us to see what they are wasting their time doing.
While the uptake on Twitter accounts is low (only 35 use it so far, 1 in 18 MPs) there is a site where you can read all their collective daily "Tweets" together - http://tweetminster.co.uk/
One Labour MP tweets so much I wonder if he gets any work done? Tom Watson [Lab] - West Bromwich East (1750).

More and more people are seeing the need to share the drudgery of their everyday lives, and maybe my voice is alone in the wilderness of internetwebland, so I will just have to tut and roll my eyes in frustration.
And live on in the hope that Twitter hurries up and dies...

---000--*U*--000---

On a side note, I did have a chuckle at the 'news' that Twitter were going to launch 'premium accounts' - Twitter Unveils New Premium Accounts - I watched in some amusement as the Twitterers "retweeted" this around the 'net (or the "Twittersphere", as they have named their corner of the 'net' ).

Many were completely fooled by this satire and I expect some were getting quite excited at the thought of having more than 140 characters to spell out their activities with.
100 pages of search results exist for "Twitter Unveils New Premium Accounts" and I suspect there would be more but it appears Twitter won't show up any more than 100 pages!!!

And still they post 'tweets' on it - 3 days after the piece was published!!!

A great joke on the Twitter users - but I wonder if it will backfire on the author when Twitter does introduce 'premium' accounts...

...and will he be offered a "secret "Black" account"?...

Oops...

iWhat?
I wonder if anyone at Apple realised that this App Store application spelt out a rude word?
Apple is being a little odd with some of the apps it is approving or not approving on grounds of 'taste' so I wonder if this app logo slipped past those responsible?...

Omniweb browser...

Omnigroup have now made their Omniweb browser free!

I used to use this browser until it had to be paid for, then I switched to Camino, which I have used pretty much as my default browser since.

So I was interested to see the news that Omnigroup had decided to make it available for free. Re-acquainting myself with it today, I am quite impressed with the speed it loads pages.

Safari 4 is still in beta and its option to view open tabs in a Coverflow format seems like a slightly slicker version of the 'preview' tabs which Omniweb and the "Speed Dial" open tab review that Opera uses.

I have used Camino for so long now that maybe a free Omniweb is a little late in coming but I'm willing to give it a chance again.

The Cavalry?

I snapped this picture on Saturday as the Don't Bomb The BART demo made it's way along Market St before turning down 4th.

Hidden up an alley opposite the hotel were these cops on trail bikes - for some reason the image of the US Cavalry waiting to head the injuns off at the pass came into my head!...

Thieves Standing Around

So, one of my bags must have been searched by the TSA on the way home. Items of toiletries had gone missing from a bag when I unpacked on getting home. No notice left in bag to show it had been searched. The bag was fitted with one of those combination TSA approved padlocks.
A USB cable for the Just Mobile Gum Pro battery pack I picked up in SF had vanished from the same bag. Do the TSA people just tip the contents out, kick it around a bit then put some back?
I have written an email to the TSA to complain but I'm not holding out hope for a reply...
Maybe TSA stands for Taking Stuff Arbitrarily?...

Don't bomb the BART demo...

A large protest on Saturday - the anti-Israeli/US Gaza demo joined up with the protest about a youth who was shot by the BART police up in Oakland.

A new era?

Macworld has gone out with a whimper. So many companies seem to be saying that next year they will be staying away. Is MWSF going to go the same way as Paris and London?
It may survive by becoming smaller, and filling the black hole left in the middle of the main hall by the departure of Apple, with all the z-lister companies who are normally relegated to the North Hall. Adapt or die?

Guess we'll have to see but I suspect this may be my last trip to SF.....

Kidnapped...

Homeless guy with sign, "My wife has been kidnapped. I just need 99c
more to pay the ransom. "

9am demo in a drizzly SF...

"Stop the bombing in Gaza!"...

I have to wonder if they are demonstrating in Gaza to ask Hamas to stop firing rockets at the Israelis? From my viewpoint I have to say that it goes both ways.
But then that's the great thing about living in a democracy guys - you get to shout your slogans, march along busy main streets and carry your banners with a police escort ensuring you are free to protest.

Some places the police would be beating your head to a bloody pulp with your own banner poles!...

Yeah.....

Off the plane and first stop after hotel? Yep, good ol' Beard Papa for one of their Vanilla Bean Cream Puffs....


...well, two actually!

A380 in the flesh...

At the airport...

Sitting in my room after a few beers and a burger in the hotel bar. Managed to configure the MacBook to work with the T-Mobile 3G modem I bought a while back. Speed seems to be reasonable now that I am in a 3G area and the laptop has a USB 2.0 port to plug it into (old iBook didn't, so couldn't test it fully before)
Flight tomorrow to SF so time to get the old noggin down so I can rise early for the shuttle bus to the terminal...

Packing apathy...

Sitting here looking at a pile of clothes, two cases and I just have no enthusiasm for packing today.

Better do something before tomorrow though!!