The Internet and You

I'd like to spend some time considering how the internet is affecting us all. It's like a creeping tide which even Canute couldn't stop so whether we like it or not it's something we've all got to live with.

For better or worse, the internet is no respecter of age and I like to think of it as being a good servant but a bad master. I've heard so many folk say - with ill disguised arrogance - that they would never have a computer because they see no reason to change the way they have always managed their affairs.

I have to smile because unless they do adjust to what can be described as a new culture, they will risk finding themselves marooned between an unyielding rock and a very hard place.

I say smile but it's not funny. A lot of these people are close friends but unfortunately friends who refuse to discuss the subject.

It's sure to happen and maybe sooner than later - I'm well prepared for when my help is solicited. In most cases it won't be an apologetic approach but more likely with an outpouring of excuses as to why there were too many other constraints on their valuable time.

I'm not saying that I'm an expert in the complicated field of hardware and software, but I have an advantage in that I enjoy computing and try to learn something new on a daily basis. I'm not exactly happy about the situation because the time is not far distant when all communications will be conducted digitally. There will be very few options which don't involve the use of computers.

Youngsters will have no trouble because they only understand the modern way. Do you know any child not wearing nappies who hasn't got a mobile phone? Most will have, not just a simple phone to merely make calls but a device with internet access on a contract funded by loving parents.

Senior citizens will inevitably be the ones to suffer most from this new alternative culture - or at least a lot will!

So many have lived long lives with simple needs and have always paid their bills on time; bills which have dropped through the letter-box in buff coloured envelopes - but not for much longer.

How will they now survive without understanding a modicum of the new technology? They will need whatever help they can get. Help from anyone who has the knowledge.

I appeal to everyone to demonstrate that the community spirit is still alive and kicking because governments and big business are unlikely to do much to help in a situation which could ruin life quality for so many.  

Energy Bills and initial considerations

Energy bills should be easy to read and understand; but alas, many householders either don't know how to or don't bother to take on board the one or two significant figures which are shown on every bill.

This is only a short post where I attempt to highlight the problems which ignoring these few salient facts can produce. In a later post I will go into more detail and provide, as it were, a simple check-list of actions to be taken.

At regular intervals going back over many years, I've read horrendous hard luck stories in the press, written by people who have found themselves in difficulties which have affected their quality of life.

The majority of these sufferers will blame everyone but themselves and in particular the energy supplier.

With regards to the suppliers, they all have their 'in house' rules and regulations which don't always make sense to outsiders but these have to be accepted by the customer without argument. The customer can't win so it's no good arguing and it's not fair to give a firm's employee an uncalled for 'ear bashing.' These employees are constrained to working to a system and after all they are only trying to earn a living.

I personally rarely have to contact my energy supplier because I practise what I preach and happen to be adept at number crunching and adopting a systematic approach to most things which influence my life.

I'm an octogenarian and can appreciate the difficulties which fellow seniors may have when bills drop through the door but I know I can help if only people will listen. I think this subject is so important that I will make the reading easier by splitting my content into several posts.

The first lesson to be learned is not to think that you can have any control about what the press will often refer to as the exorbitant cost of energy. It is up to government departments and regulators to deal with this.

Your concern starts with selecting a contract to suit your purposes and then to regularly monitor your bills to ensure that everything remains valid.

Energy bills are not something to be thrown in a corner and forgotten. They need your immediate attention as soon as you get them!   

Content creation and TIME

We often hear the grumbles about information overload but for the millions who use the internet to conduct searches information overload doesn't apply in the sense that I understand it.

These countless millions may want to buy stuff or sift out facts, figures and data in which they have a specific interest but information overload in these cases will stem mainly from being spoilt for choice.

I consider myself to be a 'content creator' and information overload affects me because many gurus out there in cyberspace seem determined to help me - for payment that is - to better my performance. Relatively few ever come up with a new take on well covered subjects.

I intend to carry on muddling through and teaching myself as I go along. I contend that using the internet is largely a matter of trial and error. However, as a lone operator, information overload for me is not a crucial issue but TIME is!

It's ridiculous to think that time is not fully appreciated until later years when so much has been wasted in one's earlier formative years.

The issue of time utilisation is particularly important for me at the present time. I am currently trying to keep several balls in the air at the same time and juggling is not a skill with which I'm particularly conversant.

I've decided to shift my office to a different room in the house. This involves some complicated modifications and adjustments to furnishings - and my desk in particular. 
Running concurrently with this I want to carry on with my computer based activities, find time to watch the football world cup matches and fit in eating and sleeping periods.

I just haven't learnt the art of  delegation and that's one reason why I'm re-arranging the house myself and not getting a co-author to help with the blogging. 
I'm guilty of not having the patience to explain to potential helpers what I am hoping to achieve and the time scales involved.

Right now I'd like to be writing posts on the football and politically there is presently a lot going on both domestically and on the global stage. 
Ah well...right now my posts will be less frequent but please bear with me over the next couple of months as I've also got a holiday to fit in and when I'm on holiday I just want to relax and get away from everything relating to computers!

It makes me cringe to think of the time I wasted as a youngster when at my present geriatric stage I want a minimum of 30 hours in the day.    

England for the World Cup

I must apologise for not having published a post for the last day or two. As you may have guessed by the consistent rubbish content, I am a lone author who is just trying to get to grips with this blogging business and at times things get on top of me.

There are not many subjects in which I am not interested and am only too eager to have a rant about - yes you've got it - and I do tend to jump in feet first before my brain is in gear.

Yes...feet first... and this leads nicely to the subject which is trending well at the moment...THE WORLD CUP.

Even those who have never been to a soccer ground and have no time for the over-paid so called stars whose brains seem to be in their feet, will not be able to resist an occasional peek at what is going on in Brazil.

Have you seen any of the opening matches? If so what do you think of it so far? I've been surprised by the number of goals that have been scored.

In most World Cups the first few games are usually dour hard-fought no score draws or maybe a team might inflict a one nil threshing on the opposition. I don't know what's going on this year! Who could possibly have forecast that a repeat of the 2010 final would have produced a five one result?

What hasn't changed is that there is going to be a good smattering of useless referees who will do their utmost to ruin what could be a superb football tournament.

I think that too many of these guys see refereeing not 'as a way to put something back into the game' - which of course they will insist is the case - but as a way in which they can get on first name terms with the stars and exercise dominance over them.

The very first match needed a referee to ensure that the hosts weren't embarrassed by an ordinary European team and in so many cases of poor decisions it always seems that the underdogs will be penalised. NOTHING CHANGES!

Anyway what about our great English side? Are YOU going to burn the midnight oil tonight? I think you shouldn't miss seeing us play Italy live if only to watch the players sing God Save The Queen.

No seriously, I hope Roy's team plays out of its collective skin and that we won't hear our knowledgeable pundits say 'nine times out of ten he'd have scored that' when what they really meant was that 'nine times out of ten he could normally be relied on to do what he's just done.'

Come on let's get behind the lads and hope they return our confidence by emulating the boys of '66 - or at least tonight, taking the first step.

  

Leaving the UK

Is there anyone out there who understands what this Scottish Independence business is all about? If there is will you please tell me, but more importantly, tell all those native Scots living north of the border. 
Let's face it, all those so called big hitter politicians, political commentators and programme presenters just fill the airways with undiluted waffle telling us all a big fat ZILCH! Don't forget it's just as important for the rest of us in the UK beside the Scots, to know all the implications.
Ah well they've got to appear to be doing something - however useless - to earn their overinflated salaries so however hard it is for the thinking individual to stomach let's try to be tolerant.
How many people know about the origins of the UK? Not too many I guess. A lot more would see it as not worth allocating thought to and might not even know that in the early years of the eighteenth century, Queen Anne had a lot to do with it.
I'm a great believer in the old saying that 'if it aint broke don't fix it' and that the Scots need only ask themselves two questions when considering which way to vote in their referendum...

• Will I be better or worse off in an independent Scotland.?
• Will my decision be based only on my historical hatred of England?

The first question is never going to be easy to answer if the powers that be do not provide details of what the post independence model is going to be.
The second question will probably be tied in with getting revenge on England's Edward 1 or thoughts related to Culloden and the Jacobite Rebellion. I ask you...shouldn't sitting on and breaking the crossbar at Wembley and an occasional win at Twickers or Murrayfield have been sufficient to put this to bed?
I'm not going to say much more or I'll get tagged with being an over-opinionated Englishman but I must question why it's all so one-sided.
The Scots are the prime movers in this business and obviously feel very strongly about breaking from the UK. Their leaders want something more than having their own parliament and also having a say in the other UK country's affairs by their seats at Westminster. Shouldn't the playing field be levelled up?
Shouldn't the other countries of the UK be asked to vote on whether or not they prefer that Scotland should remain as part of the UK. Seems a reasonable suggestion for after all the Scots started this whole sorry episode! 

Appreciation of sacrifice.

c.1970 I was living in Westbourne, a district of Bournemouth.
I was renting the first floor of a big old house in Ormonde Road just off the famous Avenue which leads down to the sea front.
I was very friendly with the owner Miss Paula White, a charming elderly lady who was crippled with osteoarthritis. We were great friends and I had the run of the house.
No doubt you will be wondering what the above photograph has to do with my story. All will become clear.
The property included a dilapidated wooden garage into which no one must have ventured for many years. I had the idea of clearing out all the rubbish which was stashed within so that I could keep my car off the road.
There were piles and piles of old mags and papers which were all damp and musty: but as I like old stuff I went through it all very carefully before ejecting it.
I found the above scroll and as I read it I must admit to tears and a feeling of deep sadness. I carefully dried it out before cleaning it up as best I could.
How could this scroll have been thrown out as something unwanted and I wondered how long it had just lain there...rotting? Being a scroll relating to the death of a WW1 soldier, it could have been laying dumped and rotting for over half a century!
Was Private Frederick Clift of the Royal Fusiliers just as unwanted by his family and friends as the commemorative scroll itself? Was he like so many others just a young lad who had never had a life, or perhaps he was a more mature soldier.
Paula could throw no light on who he was or how the scroll had come to being unceremoniously dumped in the garage.
Perhaps the answer lay with some previous owner of the property which when I lived there went under the name of Little Owls.
On a trip to London about this time I went into a pub in Soho the walls of which were covered with these scrolls. These however were in pristine condition so they had been subjected to a modicum of care at least. Someone remarked disgustedly 'that this was all a brave man's life merited...a scrap of paper.'
This sadness has been with me for years and I would dearly love to know who Frederick Clift was, a bit of his history and where his final resting place is.
If anyone can help in any way however small, please ring me on 02380861514 , email me at rock505@talktalk.net or drop me a line at...
Ken Rowland, 32 Gover Road, Redbridge, Southampton, Hants. SO16 9BR

Dish the dirt.

At last people power seems to be having a serious affect on British politics - and not before time!
Nigel Firage and his UKIP party have recently taken the country by storm by showing that he is in tune with what the majority of us are thinking. At last we have a mouthpiece which with any luck should influence the government to act more in accordance with our desires.
No...I'm not saying that UKIP are a direct threat to the two major parties at the ballot box. OK, so it has swept them both aside at the recent local and European elections but most thinking people will recognise that at this point in time they haven't the specific skills to be able to staff a ruling cabinet.
At the Newark by-election, UKIP had a chance to get its first MP -  but failed. The Tories were delighted and wasted no time in expressing this.
I don't think that by putting up a candidate at Newark, UKIP were doing more than testing the water! Nigel didn't expect to win and that's probably why instead of helping with the campaigning at Newark he went ahead with a previously arranged trip to Malta to address a meeting of travel people. Now this is where the Tory party really covered themselves in glory...NOT!
Pictures were plastered all over predominately right wing newspapers showing our much loved chain smoking, boozing Nigel partying with his hosts and one shot showed him with his arm around a very attractive lady. This latter was obviously meant to depict that a bit of extra marital had been going on. What the picture didn't show was that the lady in question had to walk with a crutch and that Nigel was merely performing a gentlemanly act. Talk about dishing the dirt! Its well known that MPs have access to our money in order to fund their frequent jollies so Dave (Cameron) and his mob should get out of their glass houses!
One of the underlying points the Tories were trying to make was that Dave had gone to Newark on four or five occasions to Nigel's zero. By this they tried to depict that UKIP is not a serious party and is only toying with the electorate's affections. Oh what a collection of tiny minds!
Instead of dishing the dirt on UKIP the two major parties should be  cosying up to it if they want to succeed at the 2015 general election. I don't  expect UKIP to win more than a handful of seats but I'm certain it will hold the balance of power: not in Parliament necessarily but by influencing which candidates win the wards.
Let me say that I'm not a UKIP supporter but like so many others who have avoided political thinking because democracy ends at the ballot box, I'm willing to vote for their candidate in my ward thereby making both Tories and Labour know that we cannot continue to be ignored. A vote for UKIP can take a vote from either of the major parties so they both have to make sure they don't push voters towards Nigel's party and to do that they'll have to stop riding roughshod over us.

Sing up boys!

The soccer world cup is almost upon us so let's look at some of the trivia that's been thrown up.
I found it hard to believe what the England manager, Roy Hodgeson was instructing his players to do at the line ups before each match. He has told them to sing the national anthem as if their lives depended on it. Now honestly, do you think he's really considered the repercussions this could have? If not I'll tell you what I make of it.
Not everyone wants to sing. Some will have a go - sometimes - but it might take supreme effort. Many of us have got scrapey, wheezy voices which are a source of embarrassment not only to ourselves but to others in the vicinity. Take church services for example. I know that these days with my breathing problems, I'll at the best make a token gesture by miming. Think of these young lads now, standing alongside their mates, totally out of tune and dreading the comments to come in the changing room! This could easily go from good natured banter to fisticuffs. Great for team bonding...I don't think!
I want our lads to do well for our country but at the pre-match line ups, I want to see faces with expressions of burning desire and determination. What I don't want to see is a load of tonsils.
When Roy gave this stupid order (I'd like to think he didn't and that it's only paper-talk) I can imagine his squad glancing at each other and wondering what sort of leader they'd been landed with!
Before I comment further, I'd like to go back in time to two earlier England managers.
Glen Hoddle was a superb player and could have been the ideal manager - until he started dabbling with faith healing and became a national joke.
The much maligned Steve Maclaren became known as 'the wally with the brolly' for sensibly doing his utmost to avoid a soaking when parading the touch line during an England match. I wouldn't mind betting that he was handed the brolly by a considerate member of his entourage.
The main thing to be learned from these two examples is that if you want to do something that's never been done previously, you have to be successful...and neither won anything for the national team.
If they had been successful just think what could be happening now. English football managers - perhaps even global managers - would be seen encouraging their players beneath umbrellas safe in the knowledge that they've got a honours degree in faith healing to fall back on.
So what you're doing Roy - if indeed it's true - is setting yourself up as a choirmaster whereas you should be telling your charges to save their breath for the match.
You really have put pressure on yourself because your team - even if they fail to pick up this most prestigious of trophies - must play out of their skins, have a good run and not fail on any penalty shoot outs should they be deciding factors.
The bottom line is Roy, don't even think of trying to turn these young players into choristers because if you fail as an England football manager you will forever be known as the 'Crap choirmaster' or something else of an equal derogatory nature.   

Closing ranks

If you are no good at your job or go against its rules and regulations, you expect to be punished.
It often works on the 3 strike system...verbal warning, written, final then OUT or something of that order. No one who lives in the real world can  dispute the sense of this.
But our ruling personnel - the politicians - who we have trusted with our governance by exercising something called democracy at the ballot box, do not agree. In fact most of them are are so ungrateful as to ignore us completely...oh bother...what can we do about it?
The answer of course is a big fat nothing, zilch, rien, call it what you will! Our men at Westminster don't live by the rules which we have to obey. OK, most have to tow their party line but they only get a slap on the wrist whereas if we transgress it's normally a capital offence.
But wait...there's light at the end of the tunnel. I've just read in my paper dated June 5 that in the wake of the 2009 expenses scandal, to assuage public anger, all three main parties had pledged to introduce something called 'power of recall' whereby constituents could present a petition ostensibly to sack an MP who they believed had demeaned their office. Yes, you heard, sack them, WHOOPEE!
Hey, hold fast a minute, it sounds too good to be true - and it is! The petition must include 10 per cent of all registered voters - typically 7000 - and that might be pie in the sky considering the abysmal voter turnouts at general elections.
Just imagine that this threshold is reached it then has to pass another litmus test whereby a committee of MP's have to decide whether their colleague's misdemeanour was serious enough to merit a by-election.
So you still think there's a chance of your voice being heard? Watch out for those low flying pigs.
Marking one's own homework and closing ranks are two expressions which readily come to mind.  

What has James got to say?

I was idly flicking through the TV programmes a night or two ago when I happened upon something to do with a comical look at the forthcoming World Cup.

I thought that I'd give it a look. 3 guests were introduced...Harry Redknapp, Rachel Riley and James Corden. I could easily listen to all 3 so I stayed tuned.This programme was on BBC 3 and since the BBC is tax-payer funded I expected some decent repartee.

After some initial neutral tittle tattle James took the stage and remembering how impressed I'd been when I first came across him with his part in Gavin and Stacy, I anticipated some real mind blowing comedy. But...Oh dear dear me...!

So he probably doesn't know much about football per se, but he seemed to know a lot about changing rooms and almost immediately it was evident that pulling shorts on and off merited some discussion. Happily he didn't go too deeply into things like mooning or relative manly attributes. I looked at Rachel's face and detected a modicum of disdain. All power to her for not being impressed with Corden's diatribe.

At this stage I wanted someone else to take over and so I ceased to concentrate fully - and it was approaching my bedtime - but I couldn't miss it when James picked up a can of this paint like that used by graffiti artists and quickly put some artwork on the floor. Although I couldn't believe what I was seeing, I must admit he showed some talent. Anyone could see it was the most common of fallic symbols - except Rachel that is!

With a genuine perplexed look on her face she enquired "What's that?" Quick as a flash "It's a penis" James replied. Rachel's mouth dropped open and you could sense that she was wondering why she'd ever agreed to do this show.

Thankfully - as far as I was concerned - the real stars took over. Harry came up with some really amusing football anecdotes and then came the icing on the cake when an ex footballer (I think he was) put in an appearance and he and Harry went into a double act which was hilarious whether rehearsed or not.

Apparently some years ago when Harry was new to management he'd signed a South American star. Harry and the club did everything possible to make the man feel at home - free car, free travel, expensive accommodation etc - but all to no avail. The guy didn't even turn up for training!

To cut a long story short he disappeared off the face of the earth and Harry never saw him since those days ten years ago. But the new guest on the show said I met him only last week in Chile. This story was the real comedy content which made me see the show through to the end.

Thankfully, as for me and presumably Rachel, I was relieved that James added nothing else to the proceedings but I would like to know whether I'm out of step in not appreciating lavatorial humour and whether the BBC should be more selective when spending our money. Please let me know before I make a fool of myself by 'rubbish ranting.'