Thursday, November 22, 2007

Help the needy

Here I am at my desk awaiting for a client to get back to me with certain details. They do seem to be taking a while.

Being naughty I decided to have an "internet break" and came across FreeRice. This site donates rice to the needy every time you get a word right.

What better way is there, where you can help the needy and improve your English vocabulary.

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Thursday, October 04, 2007

chatterbox.com Cashback Turmoil

12 months free on a 12 month contract. Sounds familiar? Sounds too good to be true? Well, it is now.

While checking my emails, an email from chatterbox.com popped along in reference to my wife's phone. I was expecting this to say that I would expect the first cashback installment. But lo and behold, they cannot give the cashback.

Being an early adopter of this cashback philosophy, this email from chatterbox.com may see the beginning of the fears for other companies and spell disaster for those caught up in cash back contracts.

So how does this work and how come they cannot pay the cashback? This can be answered in a letter from chatterbox.com stating:
"...we adopted a 40% redemption model. This model was based on the business assumption that only 40% of all customers would claim their cash back. This model, however, proved to be wrong as the redemption actually was approximately 80%. As a result the company’s financial resources were drained."

The question is how many other companies are potentially affected? This is unknown, but is a growing trend for mobile phone businesses to lure customers. The result can spell be disaster, if this news spreads quickly.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Morange

I have a Nokia N70 on the T-Mobile network, and it's really impressive. Labelled as a Smart Phone, it is a bit like a cross between a PDA and a normal mobile phone. Boy does it live to expectations.

You can check your emails (POP/IMAP), read Word documents, Spreadsheets, view To-Do lists and so much more. Now I sound like a sales man. The most handy aspect is the ability of downloading "mini-applications".

What I really want to talk about is a mini-application that let's you treat your phone as if it is an iPhone. Yes, you heard me. An iPhone. Why bother with a mobile phone that costs you an arm and a leg for a phone with a pretty interface. Well, I would, but I would not like to risk my limbs in the process.

This application is called Morange (http://www.morange.com) and is feature rich. You can receive and "push" POP/IMAP emails. It even works with GMail. All you have to do is enable POP3 in the settings (Follow this link to find out how http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=13273). It has Chat that works with Google Talk, Yahoo and MSN, as well as its own network. Then there's RSS, storage space to share files, and Remote Desktop for technicians on the go.

I can't live without it. This is the closest I can get to an iPhone, without losing my arms (and legs). In the process of using this, no Smart Phone can go without this if you want to be completey mobile and organised.

So download it and join the ever growing online mobile community. I have.

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Keep your damn iPod down

Do you have those moments on the way to work that your train of thought is disrupted by someone playing their iPods on full blast? So do I, but all that I can do is silently fume and hope that the cheeky sod gets off at the next stop.

This seems to be a growing problem and is global. But, it is not just the iPod users to blame. It is also those with MP3 players and portable CD players.

Some consider it very rude when all the listeners have to do is keep it at a level that he/she can listen to it without annoying any one else around them. While the iPod is popularly fancied for those to spend time with themselves on a long commute, I don't particularly like the fact that the listener fails in etiquette and subjugates my eardrums to a bashing.

It's like those moments when someone literally yells into their mobile phones in a conversation. The listener does not realise that while they play their music loud and want to talk, they SHOUT INSTEAD OF TALKING.

Some try to argue their rights for doing so. "Did someone ever complain about a Walkman or a CD player?" Well, duh. They always do, but the complaints fall on deaf ears. Quite literally.

OK. Fine. The listeners are contempt with adjusting for fellow commuters, if you are friendly enough and approach them politely to turn it down. Don't think it's not possible. I've seen it with my own eyes. Being all grumpy and approaching the listener without etiquette yourselves may just spark the listener off and be un-cooperative.

But that's not all. You also get nutters who crank up the volume on their mobile phones, where the music get's crackly and more annoying. Why don't the mobile phone manufacturers ever think of forcing those users who play music can only do so when a headset is plugged it. They did it with the radio on the mobile phone.

I even got myself an MP3 player and played it at an acceptable level to commuters. That didn't work because the hot shot iPod listener's music is still far too loud and penetrates my music. No matter what, I don't keep my music loud as I'm the type of person who tries not to offend anyone.

We've got to set one thing straight with this generation of digital music. The reason why we don't appreciate the loud music, is that it's very rude. Oh, and I don't really like the music they play half the time.

What should we do? We should make a stand and not give in by joining in with them. I shudder to think what the future would be like if everyone plays their music loud and distracting each other with man-made noise pollution.

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I'm a daddy

I'm so happy, that I want to anounce it to the world. Yes. As of 3rd July this year, I am a proud dad of a beautiful girl.

Her name is Shafia. It's an Arabic term which means something along the lines of "healer, to make better, to cure."

Follow this link to the photo, which was taken at a relative's wedding: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29693602@N00/886889001/

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Monday, April 09, 2007

Lions, Shoes, Sex and Shopping

Richard McCormick offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: Lions, Shoes, Sex and Shopping
Author: Richard McCormickCategory: Dating, Men's Issues, Women's Issues
Word Count: 590
Keywords: Men, Women, Relationships, humour
Author's Email Address: LesP@NorthWestBlues.co.uk
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------
'Women are mental. Discuss.'

So began a post on a discussion forum, which no doubt came from a victim of that most fiendish of things. Female logic.

It is unwise and sometimes fatal for a man to try and understand a woman. If you have a lion as a pet, it will occasionally devour the odd passing postman. It's nothing personal, it's just what lions do. There's no point trying to reason with the animal, you either accept its unfortunate habits, or get rid of it. The same principle applies to women.

I had the experience, a couple of years ago, of being surrounded by a gaggle of girls at work. Most of the time they were able to communicate normally, but every now and then, they lapsed into Girlytalk. This is completely incomprehensible to males. It's like hearing someone speak in tongues.

With the aid of an interpreter I was able to gain an insight into the strange phenomena that is the female mind. Put simply, women's heads are full of rubbish. The things that matter to them, mean nothing to normal people ( ie males ). Take shoes for example. I wear them to keep my feet warm, and two pairs is more than enough. Women love shoes, and the acquisition of them is a vital part of female existence. Imelda Marcos owned three thousand pairs. All women would own this many, if they had the money and the space to store them.

Let's move onto shopping. I, like other males, am a high speed shopper. I know what I want and how to get it. If you get in my way, prepare to be mown down by a supermarket trolley. Men shop in order to avoid starvation. With women it's a sport. They form gangs and descend on the local mall, like a pride of lions circling a wildebeest. (Funny how that lion comparison keeps popping up.) They spend the morning shopping and then they go for lunch. Then they do more shopping, before going home sporting more baggage than a pack mule, a rosy glow of satisfaction and a melted credit card. It's probably your credit card.

Men endure this bizarre behaviour because they want sex. Even here women can't resist messing about. Instead of just getting on with the act they want to be rubbed first. This is referred to as 'foreplay.' Afterwards they claim to need a cuddle. This isn't necessary for the female. She demands it in order to stop her partner from doing the thing that he wants to do most by then, which is fall asleep. Be in no doubt, it's mattress warfare.

Women may be mental, but we just don't know. (It helps if you imagine David Attenborough saying that last sentence.) Mental or not, never try to understand them. Even more important, don't try to argue. The power of the phrase 'yes, dear,' should not be underestimated.

Despite the advice given here, not one of you will do the sensible thing and refrain from women. I won't either. You may be a tad irritated, as that lion on your doorstep, snacks on another of her Majesty's mail men, but admit it, you like having it around, despite all of it's foibles. After all, it is a magnificent beast.

Next week: a treatise on water buffalo.

Richard McCormick is publisher of News-Hog, an alternative look at the day's news, sport and television

http://www.News-Hog.co.uk
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

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Friday, February 09, 2007

Rabwah: A Place for Martyrs? Report Launch

Not so long ago, around the end of Jan this year I think, a report launch took place at the Houses of Parliament. Or, to be more precise, the House of Commons.

This report extended from an investigation, by the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, for Ahmadi Muslims seeking assylum in this country, from Pakistan. Pakistan is an Islamic country, you may think. Then you would ask "why?"

Because of mis-interpreted beliefs of this sect of Islam, other Muslims who chant religious slogans and being dangerous in acting in un-Islamic conduct, have a severe hatred of Ahmadi Muslims. I may get in trouble for saying this, but it's true. Many of those people who follow the Islamic faith, fail to uphold the basic fundamental of the religion - peace.

Unfortunately, many are ignorant and deluded men with dangerous and utterly un-Islamic conduct and ideas. In light of this, if a group of Muslims air their views on how Islam progresses into the future armed with peace and intent on improving the social well being of the people of this planet, they are in danger. In danger from, not only of those who are against Islam, but also many from within Islam.

Lord Eric Avebury, the Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group in Britain, is not a stranger to campaigning on the behalf of the world's good causes. So, with this report that is intended for the Immigration Offices to consider for the applications, Lord Avebury is also using this as strength for his indictment against Pakistan for its disgraceful treatment to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. However I shall leave that as another topic
(http://ericavebury.blogspot.com/2007/01/khalid-hasan-pakistan-daily-times.html).

The goal of this report was to find alternative routes of Ahmadi Muslims, safe and direct to Rabwah, should their case for assylum prove unsuccessful. However, having been compiled various images, notes from interviews and minutes of meetings with different people, ranging from residents to Government officials, this factual report presents a not-so-pretty picture that Rabwah is not a safe haven for Ahmadi Muslims.

So, the report launch gave an opportunity for the National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in the UK, with fellow colleagues to discuss the findings as well as voicing concerns. Members of other Muslim communities were also present.

Let's just hope and pray that these people are given a chance of a decent life and that Lord Eric Avebury has enough strength to pursue a just cause in Pakistan.

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