I don’t understand why this is not against the law:
“Misleading journalism … is becoming a public health problem.
“Healthy living advice hasn’t changed at all for at least a decade – don’t smoke, exercise, eat more fruit and veg. [Yet] a quarter of all respondents said that because scientists keep changing their minds, you might as well eat whatever you want, because it won’t make any difference anyway.”
Congratulations to the isocket team on securing their funding!
I did a little bit of work with isocket a couple of months ago, and both John and Zak are great guys, so I am sure this will be the start of big things for them — best of luck, guys, now that the really hard work will start! 
A recent post on TechCrunch talks about a backlash against micro-loan site Kiva’s decision to open up its lending service to allow funding to be made to people in the US.
“Kiva’s stated mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. The anti-U.S. lenders claim that lending to U.S. entrepreneurs doesn’t alleviate poverty because Americans aren’t living in true poverty, compared to people in underdeveloped countries.”
While I totally agree that in real terms, you can hardly say that there would be many (if indeed, any) people living in the US that are in poverty when compared to people elsewhere in the world, I don’t think it’s that simple.
I’d suggest that anyone that thinks that it is should read Paul Farmer’s Infections and Inequalities before making any judgment.
(Kiva was kind enough to give me $100 credit a number of years ago, so I’m an active user.)
Took the day off as leave, as I have two sets of tradesmen booked in for 8am this morning. Got up early this morning to finish making sure the house was prepared for them to do their thing (all furniture moved out of the way, coats and shoes out of the hallway, etc.), and….
Nothing. No one has turned up, and I can’t get either on the phone, despite having been calling them both for an over hour now.
Grand. Just. Grand.
Update: Just heard from one of them, fortunately, so the loft should still get insulated today, at least!
Update: The loft is mostly insulated. I’m now off to the hardware store to buy things, so that I can finish the job properly. Shame the company is dodgy, and it turns out the surveyor will happily say “yes” to whatever you want, and when the guy comes to do the work, he says “You’re kidding, right? We don’t do that…”
“Hello?”
“Good morning! This is *mumble mumble* from British Gas here. Could I please speak to the person responsible for the gas and electricity payments?”
“Speaking.”
“Well sir, I’m phoning you today to let you know that we have some great offers for households that used to be with British Gas, if they would like to switch back to us again. Could I please ask who currently provides your gas and electricity?”
“Certainly, it’s British Gas.”
“What? Oh, ummm. Our records show that your household isn’t with British Gas. Maybe they are not correct. Could I please have your full address and postcode please?”
“Yeah, I don’t think so. You phone up claiming to be from British Gas, but you don’t know that you already supply us? Why don’t you tell me the address and postcode of the property you *think* you are phoning, and I’ll tell you if you’re right?”
“I’m sorry sir, but the Data Protection Act prevents me from doing that.”
“Right. So the Data Protection Act prevents you from talking to me about what is supposedly *my* data.”
“Yes.”
“Well, either you’re not really from British Gas, or that’s just daft. Have a nice day.” *click*
Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I’ll quote Jamie Zawinski.” Now they have two problems.
Weather Forecast
Snow in back yard
Cathy in Walpole Park
Is it snowing?
Yes, it is.
Done! (Well, as always, there’s still work left – the guy we got in to do the wallpaper has managed to get a couple of bubbles in it, so we will have to see if anything can be done about those, and we still have to get someone to do the skirting board replacement at some stage, but it’s certainly done to the point where it’s liveable, and much more so than before!)