Pledge to drive safely
Brake is the UK’s road safety charity - they’re currently campaigning for things that I think are important, including lower speed limits in residential areas and increasing the number of police looking for bad drivers on the roads.
I’ve signed up to their Pledge to drive safely with the twelve item pledge list.
* Belt Up - front and back and ensure children are correctly restrained
* Slow Up - abide by limits and only overtake if totally safe
* Wake Up - never drive tired and take breaks every two hours on long journeys
* Sober Up - ‘just say no’ to alcohol and drugs if driving
* Look Up - look out for people on bikes, horses and foot
* Wise Up - if it’s night, bright, or bad weather, go slower
* Buck Up - calm yourself before driving if stressed, angry or excited
* Move Up - adjust head restraints so the top is no lower than the top of your head to help prevent whiplash
* Sharpen Up - wear glasses or lenses if you need them
* Shut Up - switch your phone to voicemail
* Back Up - from the vehicle in front - it’s your braking space in a crisis
* Check Up - check brakes, tyres, lights mirrors and windows
There are 2 more lines which I think BRAKE should add:
* Light Up - Use your lights and indicators appropriately - turning off lights that aren’t appropriate too (like front-facing fog lights)
* Line Up - Be in the correct lane for the road, conditions, and the manoeuvre you’re planning to make.
Worried about ID Theft? No? Why not?
Are you worried about identify theft - the act of criminals obtaining credit (in other words, running up debts) in your name - debts which you are responsible for and appear on your credit rating?
No?
Really No?
Watch this from the BBC.
Now are you worried?
Think about the stuff you throw away - how much of it has your name, address, bank account number, credit card number (or part of it) on - now think about that reciept from the petrol station - that’s got (part of) your credit card number on it, put it in the same bin as something which just has your address on - and that information that can be put together to identify you.
I’m already in the habit of shredding anything I throw away which has my name, address, or is a receipt. Even just a petrol receipt. If you aren’t - you should get into that habit. Really Quickly.
Also, be wary of phone calls asking for personal information - I had one from a marketing company - “I’m calling on behalf of ****card - are you Mr Marshall, yes, good, can you confirm that by telling me your date of birth and last 4 digits of your card number.” - My answer - “NO, you called me - I have no guarantee you’re from ****card - I’m not giving you personal information”. Her reply - “I can assure you I’m calling from ****card” - no, she wasn’t. The callerID display gave me a number which I called back - it was a marketing company, not my credit card company.
I then called my card suppliers customer services line - it turned out this was a legitimate marketing call - they’d passed my details onto this 3rd party marketing company in order to ask me if I still wanted to be opted out of their junkmail and sales calls. Yes, despite being opted out, they passed me details to another company, and got that company to pretend to be them, call me, lie outright, and try to get me to sign back up to marketing junk.
I will be closing my account as soon as possible - I will not deal with companies that abuse my trust.
Don’t forget the other old favourite scam - “I’m calling from your mobile phone provider - would you like a free upgrade.” - reply is “Who are you calling on behalf of?” - “my mobile phone company?” - “who is my mobile phone company?” - “you don’t know?” - “so how are you calling on their behalf if you don’t even know who they are?”
Petition the Government
Filed under: Early Christmas, In The News, Moronic Driving, Politics
As the UK governments online petition system has been making headlines, I’ve had a look to see if there are any on there which should be brought to your attention… here’s a few that I feel should be receiving a lot more publicity:
- Make it an endorseable offence to sit in the middle lane of a motorway for no reason
- Create a Road Safety Information Campaign to improve driving standards
- increase the number of traffic police and ensure that they effectively enforce the dangerous driving laws.
- Stop the sale of Christmas Stock untill 1st December
I’m not highlighting the ones which call for the PM to do stupid things, like juggle ice-cream (yes, that’s in there) - but the above are all serious issues affecting people in the UK on a day-to-day basis (or at least in the case of the last one, on a day to day basis for 6 months of the year)
V-0 2007
It’s no good thinking you’re going to get away with bringing home a box of Milk Tray from the local garage this Valentine’s Day. Here are some sites that will make you look like you’ve put some thought into your present.
(from cnet.co.uk)
It’s this kind of reporting that adds pressure to the increasingly “Christmas like” - Singles Awareness Day sorry, I mean “St Valentines Day”- the day where couples the world over celebrate not being single by showering each other in expensive, pointless and completely unnecessary gifts… while all the single people just try to ignore the total overloading of pink stuff which replaced all the plastic snowmen in the shops a few weeks ago, and will thankfully soon make way for acres of overpriced chocolate eggs…
Now, why do the media/shopkeepers of the UK (and no doubt it’s the same in other countries where this pointless “holiday” is celebrated) force you to show your feelings for that special someone in your life on one particular date, and as a result use the rules of economic supply and demand to charge far more for the same stuff - especially if it’s limited like tables in small restaurants…
If you’re lucky enough to be in a relationship, you should be expressing those feelings on any date in the calendar - why do you all think that February 14th is somehow more romantic than any other Wednesday? Please explain why you do what you do on that date - and please don’t just say “because society expects it”.
Edit: Post title changed due to comments made that maybe it was a bit too dramatic…
How green is your PC
Local Cooling is a website and a small piece of software which helps you set up your PC’s Power Saving features to optimise the amount of power your PC is using.
If you’ve never set the power saving features on your PC - nows the time, you’ll be saving money, saving energy, and helping reduce your effect on the environment.
Check it out:
More snow… another pic
Just another photo of the work car park after 4 hours of continuous snow in Cardiff (snow that wasn’t forecast last night, the car park was clear this morning)
I’m lazy - I walked to work…
Yes, I’m giving into pressure (yes Dave and Dave, I’m talking about you) and writing a post about the current weather here in Cardiff…
When I got up this morning, and faced with the prospect of scraping snow off the car and driving in treacherous, slippery conditions on ungritted local roads (yes, they only gritted the main roads - the less used local roads weren’t gritted) - I decided that I just couldn’t be bothered with it all, and donned my decent boots and walked in. Very pleasant it was too, footpaths through snow covered parks, pristine and white before the schoolkids get to it and throw it at each other…
On arriving at work, it became clear they’d not bothered gritting the carpark, making me even more glad I hadn’t battled the traffic…
Now if I can muster the enthusiasm to walk in when it isn’t less hassle than driving, I might make some progress on that graph over on the right…
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