WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Wendyf]

Little fat legs????

[EileenDavid]

Wendy's post had to read back on earlier posts. Why do spammers do it? Eileen

[PanBiker]

A lot of the registrations are automated and others are paid services available for advertising purposes available from various IT hotbed areas around the planet. India, China and the USA seem to be favourites at the moment but a few recently from the Scandinavian countries. Mongol hordes and Norse raiders. You only have to look at some of the gobbledegook names in the new member list to get an idea what we have to fight off.

[Tizer]

Why do spammers do it?

Some spamming is done to dupe people into paying the spammer money or to get personal details to sell or use for reward, some is simply a form of vandalism - why do people vandalise graveyards and monuments, throw bricks onto motorways and railway lines? Many who do such things will be gullible types mimicking others - you only need a few `leaders' to cause a lot of trouble.

[Whyperion]

Mongol hordes and Norse raiders , typical for Barnoldswick anyway

[Stanley]

There is movement on the Condor front. Helen tells me she was called by Mr Murrells who gave her a stock code for forcing an order for Condor Green. Unfortunately it didn't work so she is calling him again. It looks as though there is an algorithm in the stock order programme that is running the business and depriving me of my tobacco. At least I have got their attention!

[PanBiker]

Emails this morning, Lancaster University issued an amber Aurora alert last night at 00.05am by 00.55am this was escalated to a red alert. Looking at the magnetometer graphs this morning shows that it had dropped off by 4.00am, (probably due to the earth's rotation). If the flares are still active and we have a clear sky it will be worth having a look N through NE tonight and the next few days.

Aurora Watch UK - Lancaster

[Tizer]

Paul Lewis did a good job this morning, on the Today programme, of identifying the flaws in the government's new `initiative' on pensions and the danger that people are going to think that they'll now be OK and will be able to continue the same lifestyle when they retire as they had while earning a living.

[Stanley]

I heard him as well. Basically the idea of persuading people to pay into a pension fund is sound, I did it when I could afford it and I'm glad I did. However, there are two big problems, imposing the scheme with the opportunity for opt-out in a time when disposable incomes of the target population is falling is a big problem. There is also the small matter of NEST, the government backed pension scheme that is being offered to the smaller firms as a route to compliance. Private Eye has looked into this and their report is not reassuring. Nobody can guarantee the return from investment in a pension. Think of the benefit if the government gave assurances that they would make up any shortfall if the markets failed the fund. Look at the problems people are having now converting their funds to pensions. I get twice what I would have had and on better terms if my year 2000 conversion had been happening now. No incentive there!
The man who knifed his two children and then committed suicide. Incomprehensible.
Disturbing reports about Jimmy Saville. I was always a bit troubled by him but of course never nailed it down. BBC being accused of covering up knowledge about his activities as women come forward to corroborate the stories.

[Stanley]

I heard from Doc this morning. He has been off the plot for a week because of a family emergency which involved him having to go to Turkey but is back now. He is going to look into the upgrade of the platform and the non-availability of the LTP.

[Stanley]

The abduction of the little lass near Aberystwyth. What the hell goes on in minds like that?

[PanBiker]

A number of things regarding my new (to me) car.

A bigger engine than my last vehicle but £90.00 cheaper on the vehicle licence. My 1.6 petrol cost me £215.00 for 12 months the 1.9 diesel is £125.00 for the year. All down to emissions of course, this is much cleaner despite being considerably more powerful.

How smooth and quiet it seems in relation to my last car.

How my insurance company can offer to change my existing policy to the new car with an extra payment of £188.00 from quote on Monday. I had already been on the comparison sites to check the price before contemplating buying the car and had various quotes for considerably less. I asked the girl to run a check on how much cancelling my existing policy and starting a new one with the new vehicle would be. Including cancellation and admin fees this worked out at a difference of £113.00 so this option was best so far.

I put a deposit on the car on Saturday with a contract to purchase, the dealer rang this morning to say that it was ready for me with a new MOT and 12 months tax.

I had a reference number from my insurance for the £113.00 quote I had been given on Monday so I rang today to put the new insurance into place before I picked up the car. The guy I spoke with this morning said that the computer system was down and they could not process a new policy for me but in order to keep my business he would put me through to their "adjustments department" to see what they could do with varying my existing policy, (£188.00 variation fee quoted on Monday). The nice girl on the end of this phone line managed to get that down to £76.00 by waiving the fees for change of vehicle, administration and policy commission with the provider, winner!

So I have ended up with new policy documents via email within 15minutes of agreeing the deal. My previous X reg 1.6 has been replaced by a 57 reg 1.9DCI 120 (with 32K on the clock). Shows what can be done with a little perseverance.

On the way back from collecting my car, I heard on the radio that the police had stood down all the civilian volunteers who were helping to look for the little girl who is missing.

[Nolic]

The police officer in charge of the hunt for April indicated that the reason civilian volunteers were asked to stand down was that the nature of the areas being searched presented a risk to them and he did not want the emergency services distracted from their search by looking after others. Seems a sensible action to me. Nolic

[Stanley]

I agree and they have said this morning that she is using medication. Not looking good, those poor parents.....

[Nolic]

Local volunteers have set up their own arrangements for searching for April http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-19824594 Nolic

[Tizer]

A major trunk road runs through our village connecting big towns. For the last week the road has been closed on the south side of the village for repairs to a bridge (which lost its parapet ages ago but nowt was done until now). There are no close alternative routes so traffic has to be redirected away to travel through other towns. There are many big red signs along the trunk road and at all junctions for several miles before the village telling drivers to turn off onto the other main roads unless they only want to visit the village. You get the odd person who doesn't seem to get it and drives into the village then wonders where to go next. But this morning there was a great big, articulated, frozen foods lorry in the village, stopped on the road where it exits in the southerly direction and the driver asked "Is the road ahead closed"! (A British driver and lorry too, not a foreigner.) People had to help him to reverse into a narrow lane and turn the wagon around completely and drive out north again. How on Earth did he miss all those signs? Even if he couldn't read he would surely understand the arrows. Did he just ignore them? If so, why? It's a bit worrying to think of someone like that in charge of such a big wagon.

[PanBiker]

Similar situation yesterday Tiz when my friend gave me a lift to collect my car from Baxenden. We went over the top road from Barlick and noticed when we were dropping down into Barrowford the 16 wheel, 35 ton artic going the other way up the lane. Locals will know the lane but essentially 300 yards up the lane which is a B road there is a 90 degree bend to the left just where Red Lane runs in from Colne. Absolutely no way that a vehicle that size can negotiate it which is why there is a sign when entering the lane restricting access to a maximum of a 7.5 ton vehicle which I think roughly equates to a box van. It is clearly marked but the route is the shortest on Sat Nav, so the totally oblivious British driver probably would rather believe that than use common sense for the road conditions and chose to ignore the signs.

I travelled that particular road for 10 years when I worked in Burnley and would often come across foreign truckers stuck on the corner with traffic backed up half a mile each way. The lane is barely wide enough to turn a car round in three so the only way out for a big one is backwards. Nightmare for the police who have to turn up and put diversions in place to stop everyone else on the route from getting ensnared until they can supervise clearing everything behind and then overseeing the reverse out. Foreign drivers maybe have a bit of an excuse, not much though as to drive on our roads you are supposed to be able to understand the road signs, according to the Highway Code anyway. No excuse of course for a native trucker.

[Wendyf]

I just received a text from my big brother to say that he and my niece Anna have arrived at Everest Base Camp. Congrats to him for getting there (at 63 years old), and how amazing that he can send me a text!

[PanBiker]

Excellent Wendy, he does have the advantage of height though with regard to the mobile signal! I would think that the infrastructure would have been put in as soon as the technology developed, probably a satellite link somewhere in one of the villages on the route.

[Stanley]

One of the great advantages of the wagon and trailer was that you could get round corners like that easily. Good job because if you have to deliver or pick up at a farm you have to be able to get there.Tightest spot I had to deal with was the lane from Roughlee up to Stang Top. Not a lot of clearance!

Main event yesterday was a visit from daughter Susan who gave some parts of the kitchen that I find painful to access a deep clean. Lovely to have the visit without the cleaning! Aren't daughters wonderful.....

[Sunray10]

It was announced today by Ofgem that we will have power supply shortages in 3 years time due to coal-fired power stations having to close down. Spare capacity by then will be only 4 percent, down from 14 percent at the moment. So if nothing is done, and it probably won't, we could face possible power cuts - starting with industry being shut down for a few days in the Winter. Could we be going back to the 1970s ??

[Stanley]

Abu Hamsa and the other appellants are on the plane to the States. Gig sighs of relief all round. Looks about right to me but 14 years was too long. Who paid all the legal fees?

[Nolic]

Comrade, you me and all other taxpayers, pensioners etc. Nolic

[Stanley]

I think we might be looking at the end of the Barnoldswick and Earby Times edition of the Nelson Leader Series. Since Roy Prenton left the staff has been cut to the bone, as far as I can see only two reporters are left and they have to look after all the editions. Last week the price was increased from 80p to 95p and one or two people have told me that this is the final straw as very few items of Barlick and Earby news are included. In effect we are getting the Nelson edition with a couple of pages of our news. It's a shame and it remains to be seen what the implications are for my articles..... I'm still sending them in, it's up to them what they do but I foresee falling sales figures for Barlick and Earby.

[EileenDavid]

Hello Stanley, this happened to us the Radcliffe Times is now a regurgitated Bury Times with a Radcliffe Times cover. I complained our identity was being taken away but the Editor said the two papers were completely different which was garbage and his justification of the extra cost was because there was now more in the paper. Yes there is more adverts.

What attracted my attention today how quickly the weather changes. Eileen