3rd Place goes to: Albania

2nd Place goes to: Serbia - Look like he is got 2 wife!! WOW &_&

and the winner of the man of the year is: Ireland

Ah, the Irish are true romantics.
At least he’s holding her hand

Looking like the creation of a retired scaffolder with an engineering passion, the Ariel Atom is more akin to contemporary sculpture than anything else. Study the beauty of the welding, where tubes meet for example; then step back and ponder the whole machine. Perhaps Mad Max springs to mind? Whatever, this has to be one of the most outlandish sportscars ever.

Well I for one love bizarre and minimalist machines. But this might just be minimalism too far! Kerb weight is 496kg and there is simply no fat on the bone. The option list does not include a heater, let alone windscreen or vestigial hood. Hell, this makes my favourite Caterhams positively sybaritic and spacious, but more of that anon.

Build Quality

Once you’re accustomed to the naked formula Ford looks, you notice the quality of components. Alcon brakes and monoblock callipers feature (optional), with custom inboard Bilstein dampers and special Dunlop formula R tyres and 16” wheels (option). Besides the substantial, bronze welded chassis there are lovely “Tilton” aluminium pedals and pedal box, further keeping the weight down. Other quality items abound, be it the stainless steel exhaust and manifold or “SPA” twin, easy to read dials. Everywhere you look you will find top quality bits and these all create the high calibre product that is the “Atom”.

Skimping is a word that does not exist in MD Simon Saunders vocabulary. There is something terribly British about the fellow and what they are achieving. He even runs a Defender TD5 and an Aston Martin. Hurrah! It is so enervating to find small British companies flourishing like this, confounding the experts.

Purpose

You cannot get away from the fact that this is one focused, track day car. The road car label comes second, but the company are filling a niche offering something much rawer and appealing. Quite how many buyers wish to drive a car so closely related to a motorbike may be debatable. But in this day and age of sanitised, safe everything, people are bound to kick against Big Brother and crave such a car. Donning motorbike weatherproofs and a full-face helmet adds to the frisson.

Climbing into this 220 bhp projectile is child’s play. Hold onto the back of the double moulded seat, clamber over the tubing (which has scratch protection film) placing feet onto seat and slide yourself in. Slightly easier if you remove the quick release steering wheel. Now comes the difficult part of clipping the four-point harness together and tightening everything up. Remove gloves and quietly fume inside your full – face. Once in, you won’t wish to get out every five minutes that’s for sure!

The newly enlarged 10 gallon, aluminium tank (sitting safely behind the bulkhead) will get you to most track day venues without stopping, but make sure you have visited the smallest room before departure! That one piece moulded seat slides on runners and has a bolted pin holding it in place. The steering wheel is fixed so it is important to tailor to sir’s exact requirements. I wish there was some lumbar support moulded in, but integral head restraints are spot on.

The handbrake is right by the tubing and difficult to get to when tightly embraced by the “Willans" harness. Neat racing like mirrors fall easily within reach and joy of joy, acres of footwell space await your plates, so ordinary shoes are no problem. Two pipes running down the middle of the floor take water to the tiny radiator up front. Beautifully clear dials (x2) sit directly in front of you, easily visible through the suede steering wheel (which has change lights built into the top section). How racing car is that for you!?

Light & Airy

A little blister is located either side of the dials, housing a few flick switches covering normal duties along with a rubber covered start button with key the other side. These pods are just a stretch too far for easy, telepathic operation. All around you is silver powder coated tubing with air drifting all about. Odd, very odd. There are slivers of bodywork if you can call it that. This amounts to a Concorde protruding snout and airbox / engine cover. That’s your lot. All part of the motorbike feel purposely designed in. Velcroed nylon panniers running along the sides are being developed, offering some vital ‘boot’ space.

Boot space such as it is, amounts to a titchy bin in the nose, behind the motorbike battery and fuse box.

When you see the car in the flesh you itch to drive it. Because of its’ nakedness you might feel anxious at first. Ensuring the “Toad” immobiliser is unarmed push that starter and welcome the lovely, rasping staccato bark of the Japanese spec Type R unit just behind you.

Performance

220 bhp and 496 kg equate to around 496 bhp per ton, providing enough thrills for most petrolheads. Ariel do offer a slightly tamer 160 bhp version, which would still get you to the office in double quick time!

Grasping the tiny suede steering wheel you gingerly set off, only to find a sharp, late biting clutch which can send you kangarooing down the road. Slowly get some heat into those slick like Dunlop’s (not easy in December) and feel the messages come flooding through the rim as you adjust to the weirdness of it all. The ride over bumpy British roads is very well contained, thanks to the unique Eibach springs and adjustable Bilsteins. Firm, but just compliant enough.

Pick up speed and the 1.7 turn’s lock to lock steering comes alive, writhing like a teasing lap dancer. The handling is neutral on the road inspiring great confidence. Push into a well known corner and it just hunkers down and slingshots you out the bend. With that deliciously telepathic steering, you begin to connect with this “Atom”. People not used to a 0 – 60 mph figure of 3.7 seconds will crawl out calling it “the atomic bomb”.

Quick!

Superbike junkies may call it adequate! Ariel are even planning a 280 bhp tuned version which should sate speed freaks, but believe me the standard model is just fine, safely taking you past most traffic and back before they knew you were there. At motorway speeds in December the wind chill factor comes in, freezing you quicker if not properly attired. Somehow a driver might keep warmer, as more blood courses round him as he concentrates on the job in hand. The photographer called it the “Atom FF”. Something to do with not dressing correctly and cold weather! Top speed is about 140 mph, which will feel like 160 mph! It sits quite happily at about 85 mph on motorways with plenty in reserve. Consumption may average out at 22 mpg driven with some gusto.

So the wind rips at your clothes and hooligan roundabout exits are not recommended, but could you drive for hours up a motorway? Not really. That wind again upsets the applecart. It gets under your full – face and tries to rip it off your head! So you adopt a slight head down style, which takes its toll on neck muscles after a while. You also miss some of the intoxicating induction roar with helmet on as you stretch it through each gear. The electric fan makes an awful noise in slow traffic, cutting in and out regularly, upsetting the whole sportscar ambiance.

Solid

Passing artics is fine and I felt less vulnerable than I possibly might in something akin to a Caterham. The main tubing is big enough to engender a safe, reassuring feeling.

Add to the fact that you sit down in this overhead lighting gantry on wheels with good forward visibility and you have nothing to worry about. Reversing however, is a complete bastard! All kitted up you can hardly see a thing. If ever a car needed park sensors as an option then this has to be it.

Also on a road car - and you may curse me for my nannyness - I would like to find ABS and traction control, even if they add some 2kg to the weight. I simply would not fancy connecting with an artic, having hit a patch of diesel coming out of a roundabout for example.

Comfy Version?

I also believe there's room in the range for a 3rd more road friendly version. A version with a centre console with cubbies to hold a mobile, wallet, bottle of water and filofax, plus a cigar socket to charge the ubiquitous mobile or run a radar detector. The clear perspex side panels and bigger wind deflectors are optional. As I write I was told they are planning an adjustable mini screen a la Healey 100 from the 50’s, which should be available in 3 months time.

Even so, you can bet your bottom dollar that such a positive, fast reacting company will carry on honing this unique, infectious road missile. The new VTec running gear is only some 10kg heavier with a better power delivery and so much more reliable than tuned K series models that increased loyalty is assured.

Weight distribution is a perfect 40 – 60% front to rear, giving better traction out of corners etc. Production is still 1 per week, but by November 2004 the new factory and showroom will be complete, ensuring 2 cars find their way onto the roads. Exports snaffle 50% of production, but 2nd hand values are far stronger than peaky, bike engined Westfields and the like. The average Type R car sells for £24,000 and the new baby bro 160 bhp model some £19,000 +. A 3-4,000 mile used example will cost about £17,500. Simon Saunders is also looking at introducing Atom driving days and maybe an Atom race series to speed development and eradicate glitches.

If you love bikes but hate oily roundabouts then try the bike with four wheels. The acceleration is stunning - you will be “atomised”.

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Most H.323 vendors did not implement encrypting the signaling connection with TLS. They only encrypt the media (RTP). But you can use the two GNU Gatekeepers to encrypt you call signaling even when your endpoints don't support this natively.

Suppose you have 2 locations and want to connect them securely over the public internet.

GnuGk can encrypt call signalling between those locations using TLS and encrypt the media (RTP) using H.235.6 (AES encryption). 

 Configuration for GNU Gatekeeper 1 (prefix 01)

[Gatekeeper::Main]

[RoutedMode]
GKRouted=1
H245Routed=1
CallSignalPort=1720
AcceptUnregisteredCalls=1
; make sure H.245 gets tunneled for TLS
H245TunnelingTranslation=1
; add AES media encryption if the endpoint doesn't encrypt itself
EnableH235HalfCallMedia=1
; only allow encrypted calls
RequireH235HalfCallMedia=1
; change the media key after 2^31 operations
EnableH235HalfCallMediaKeyUpdates=1

[Proxy]
Enable=1

[ModeSelection]
0.0.0.0/0=PROXY
; only use routed mode for local calls
192.168.0.0/18=H245ROUTED

[TLS]
EnableTLS=1
PrivateKey=/path/to/server.pem
Certificates=/path/to/server.pem
CAFile=/path/to/rootcert.pem
Passphrase=MySecret
CheckCertificateIP=1

[Gatekeeper::Auth]
FileIPAuth=required;Setup

[FileIPAuth]
; allow all calls from local network
192.168.1.0/24=allow
; only allow TLS encrypted and authenticated calls from elsewhere
any=onlyTLS

[RasSrv::PermanentEndpoints]
; the GnuGk in the other location, serving prefix 02
1.2.3.4:1300=remote-gw;02

[EP::remote-gw]
; use TLS to call remote GnuGk
UseTLS=1 

Configuration for GNU Gatekeeper 2 (prefix 02)

[Gatekeeper::Main]

[RoutedMode]
GKRouted=1
H245Routed=1
CallSignalPort=1720
AcceptUnregisteredCalls=1
; make sure H.245 gets tunneled for TLS
H245TunnelingTranslation=1
; add AES media encryption if the endpoint doesn't encrypt itself
EnableH235HalfCallMedia=1
; only allow encrypted calls
RequireH235HalfCallMedia=1
; change the media key after 2^31 operations
EnableH235HalfCallMediaKeyUpdates=1

[Proxy]
Enable=1

[ModeSelection]
0.0.0.0/0=PROXY
; only use routed mode for local calls
192.168.0.0/18=H245ROUTED

[TLS]
EnableTLS=1
PrivateKey=/path/to/server.pem
Certificates=/path/to/server.pem
CAFile=/path/to/rootcert.pem
Passphrase=MySecret
CheckCertificateIP=1

[Gatekeeper::Auth]
FileIPAuth=required;Setup

[FileIPAuth]
; allow all calls from local network
192.168.1.0/24=allow
; only allow TLS encrypted and authenticated calls from elsewhere
any=onlyTLS

[RasSrv::PermanentEndpoints]
; the GnuGk in the other location, serving prefix 01
1.2.3.5:1300=remote-gw;01

[EP::remote-gw]
; use TLS to call remote GnuGk
UseTLS=1 

Other options

You could also configure the remote GNU Gatekeeper as a neighbor, but beware that the RAS traffic between neighbors will show meta data (whois is caling who) in clear text! 

See the GnuGk manual section on TLS for more details and examples how to generate the OpenSSL certificates. 

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There has been a lot of mud-slinging over the referendum on the Alternative Vote. The “No” campaign have been particularly bad at avoiding sensible debate and resorting to fear-mongering and smears.

The polling shows they will likely win by a significant margin. They shouldn’t. And with apparently 20%+ of people still undecided, I’d like to share some thoughts that might tip the balance in some people’s heads: please share this with anybody who is still undecided.

Here are 10 very good reasons you should vote “Yes” in the AV referendum tomorrow:

1. First Past The Post (FPTP) doesn’t work in a system with more than two parties

You might only like one of the two leading parties, but you can’t deny that we live in a society where more than two parties matter. If you live in Scotland or Wales, multi-party politics is a reality even more so.

FPTP was designed when there were only two political groups in Parliament: the Tories and the Whigs. Since the birth of Labour, the reformation of the Liberals and the rise of nationalist parties and groups like the Green Party, we live in a nation where there are multiple political voices.

You might not agree with them, but you agree under a democracy that they have a right to be heard, right? So why would you persist with a system that denies them that voice?

Right now, an MP can have support of less than 20% of the people in their constituency, and be sent to Parliament on behalf of all 100%. AV eliminates that from being possible, and forces more engaged politics.

2. AV actually weakens extremist parties

There are three parties wholly against the Alternative Vote: the Conservatives, the BNP and the Communist party.

The Tories don’t like it for a variety of reasons along with some Labour MPs (see below), but the BNP and the Communist parties don’t like it because it reduces their chances of getting a seat. How? It comes down to second preference votes.

People who are inclined to vote for extremist views typically will place them first. People who put other parties first are unlikely to offer a second preference to an extremist party. That means on the whole, parties like the BNP are likely to be eliminated quite early on.

To win, a candidate must convince at least 50% of the people who vote to give them at least a second or third preference vote. The BNP and the Communists are unlikely to achieve that whilst their views and the electorate’s are so out of kilter.

Under FPTP it’s possible to win a seat with just 20% of eligible voters agreeing with you, or around 30% of voters who actually vote - a much more achievable target for extremist parties to get.

3. AV forces consensus and a new mode of political debate

You might have noticed politicians from opposite sides don’t seem to like each other very much. Most people can’t stand watching Prime Minister’s Questions for all its Punch & Judy mechanics. FPTP requires confrontation and feeds off fear-mongering.

AV forces politicians into a very different mode. They have to talk about what they’re for, rather than what they’re against (as tactical voting disappears, see below), and they need to seek out ways to find compromise and agreement rather than just shout the other side down.

You might have strong feelings against the coalition government, but you can’t deny that the disagreements seem to have been dealt with more philosophical debate than previous disputes between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. It’s not that either side has sold out completely, but rather it’s because that’s what coalitions need to work. AV turns that progressive debate into the daily routine of politics.

4. AV doesn’t cost a penny more. The only penalty is a slightly longer election night special on the BBC

There have been some preposterous claims made about the cost of AV. One leaflet suggested it would cost us £250m, and another campaign suggested that maybe the money would be better spent on hospitals.

We could argue that democracy shouldn’t have a price put on it - particularly one so low given the size of our GDP - however that’s not the point.

AV won’t cost us anything more. The referendum will cost virtually nothing as it coincides with many local elections anyway. There are no “counting machines” that need to be bought, and the cost of explaining AV to the electorate has basically already been met by the (privately-funded) “Yes” campaign and various other groups. If you don’t currently understand how AV works, you can learn it yourself in under two minutes by reading the article on Wikipedia about it.

5. FPTP supports incompetent and lazy MPs - it provides a “job for life”, undeservedly

There are a lot of very bad MPs in Parliament. You’ve probably never heard their names, but they’ve been there for a long time, and know that they have a job for life. They are in “safe seats” where it would take a political Tsunami of epic proportions to remove them.

If you analyse which Labour members support the FPTP system over AV, you will realise they are generally unpopular figures who have held safe seats whilst resorting to “we hate the other side” politics, which would likely flounder under AV: John Prescott, Margaret Beckett, et al.

The Tory back-benches are filled with a similar breed of politician. They resent the voter, on the whole.

These MPs do not represent their constituency in Parliament. They represent their party in the constituency. With perhaps no more than 35% of the vote (and often with low turnouts, just a 10-15% approval from their constituency as a whole), they know they can do pretty much what they want. For example, on average MPs in safe seats claim more in expenses than MPs in marginals, and cost the taxpayer more.

One beauty of AV is that it pretty much eliminates the concept of a safe seat. There will be some left where there is overwhelming support for a candidate, but MPs will be more inclined to fight for the continued support of their entire constituency, and therefore act more in accordance with their wishes.

6. Under AV you can - if you wish - select just one candidate (and it’s actually easier)

At the moment under FPTP you type an X in a box. Under AV, if you only want to support one candidate and have no second preference, simply write ‘I’ instead. It’s one less line. It could be argued that under AV you’ll halve your time spent actually physically voting.

OK, I’m clearly making a small joke here, but there is nothing complicated about AV if you don’t want to think about multiple candidates, just vote for the one individual you want to see elected.

But don’t you want the option of being able to specify a second candidate if your first preference doesn’t win, just in case? Isn’t the elimination of tactical voting worth it? That brings us onto…

7. Tactical voting pretty much disappears under AV

This morning I got a “the Tories can’t win here” leaflet from the Lib Dems through my door. We’ve all seen them. Basically, if you don’t want Labour to win in this ward, there is no point in voting Conservative because of how the vote is counted.

Under AV at general elections, this would make no sense. Tory voters, instead of being told their votes are futile, would be reached out to by both parties seeking to build bridges with that community who live locally.

You would no longer need to go to the polls and vote for a party you disagree with, just to keep another party out. Campaigners would instead want to listen to views across the political spectrum in the hope of getting a second preference vote from people within those groups.

It completely changes the way we think about politics and political campaigning. For the better, and permanently.

There is a more complicated explanation of how tactical voting pretty much becomes impossible under AV in a section of the Wikipedia article.

8. We all start to count again

You might have heard the phrase “Mondeo Man”, “Windsor Woman” or the like at previous elections. These are demographic groups targeted by campaigners whose vote determines the election.

You see, at the last election, it’s thought that only 1.6% of votes actually changed the outcome. Because of the way FPTP favours jobs for life, safe seats and promotes tactical voting and negative politics, experts realised that the “swing” that would win the election would come from less than 1 voter in 50.

They identified who these people were based on where they lived. They analysed their lifestyles based on demographic information and labelled them. Experts then ran focus groups composed of this tiny demographic, and party policy and manifesto promises were crafted around what was responded to by that group.

All of those billboards, manifestos, news reports and editorials. They weren’t meant for 98.4% of the electorate - they were crafted to shape the opinion of just 1.6% of the electorate.

Does that seem a reasonable way to run a democracy to you? Under AV, we all start to count again.

9. It’s not a rubbish version of PR, and we don’t want PR anyway!

Some people have argued we should hold out for Proportional Representation because that means the number of MPs representing each party is in exact proportion to the number of votes cast for that party nationally.

We don’t want that.

Note, I said the MPs would be representing each party. They would no longer represent a constituency, and would be positioned on a list based on their loyalty to the party elders and the small Westminster clique that runs politics today.

We want and need a system that means an MP is tied to a constituency. We want and need a system that makes the MP want to represent the constituency within Parliament, rather than the other way around.

PR doesn’t do that. FPTP doesn’t do that. AV does.

10. If we vote “No”, we keep the status quo for at least a generation. 

The reality is, if we collectively vote “No” to the Alternative Vote, that’s it, we don’t get any more reform for a while - probably at least a generation. The concession prize might be a reform of the House of Lords, in order to try and keep the coalition together (it’s a very weak second prize for the Lib Dems), but I suspect if we voted “Yes”, then Lords reform would be here within no more than one more Parliament anyway - it’d be popular with voters.

We all agree that the current system is broken, but if we vote “no” we’re saying “that’s OK”. We are committing our children and possibly several generations more to the broken politics we’re so disenchanted with ourselves.

So, there we have it. 10 reasons. If you need any more, feel free to email me and I’ll try and answer your questions and answer any lingering doubts before polls open tomorrow.

Long Term Life Tips: Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed:

An astonishing “top 5 list” blog comes to us via longtermtips and I’m pleased to say I’m pretty sure I won’t have any of these regrets when my time inevitably comes.

By Bronnie Ware (who worked for years nursing the dying)

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.

People grow a lot when they…

Go read. It’s worth it. Then think on it.

I’m a member of the Amazon “Vine Program”. If you’re unaware of it, this is a cool little channel Amazon run where top reviewers on Amazon’s website get to choose a couple of items from a pre-defined list every month, to receive for free. In return, you must review on the Amazon website at least three out of every four items you receive.

It’s a good programme, I’ve received a couple of dozen books from it over the years and it has this quality of both being free and serendipitous that book lovers should - and seemingly do - love. Publishers get lots of reviews on their product’s page, Amazon get UGC and the people who love to read and review books get free stuff. Win-win for everybody.

I’ve just received a very odd email from Amazon about it though. First, can I just say to whoever sent this out, that putting at the end:

Please note: This e-mail was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. Please do not reply to this message

has made an error. They’ve sent it from order-update@amazon.co.uk which the above implies is you know, a fake, non-read email account. So why then is the email itself cc’ed to that address? I think somebody does read mail at that address. Smart anti-spam skills Amazon! Alas, the game is up!

Anyway, that’s not the really weird bit. It goes on:

We are contacting you to let you know that there have been some changes to the Amazon Vine Voice Participation agreement. 

Do we all get a free pony? Really, I love Amazon Vine, that’s the only way it could get better… Somehow when I get an email informing me of changes to T&Cs though, I always feel the rest of the email is going to be me being told off for something I didn’t do. It goes on:

Please note the following changes: 

1) The ownership status of Vine products and the circumstances in which you may dispose of Vine products has been clarified. Ownership of Vine products supplied by Amazon or one of its subsidiaries (such as AmazonEncore books, AmazonCrossings books and Amazon Basics) transfers immediately to you upon receipt of the item and you can dispose of them at your convenience, but you may not transfer ownership to another person at any time. In the case of products provided by other suppliers, the product supplier retains ownership for six months from the date of your review, after which you may keep or destroy the product, but again you may not transfer ownership to anyone else. 

Wait, what now? Amazon: do you know you’re dealing with people who know how to read? From http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=ownership:

ownership: the relation of an owner to the thing possessed; possession with the right to transfer possession to others

So, if they transfer ownership, they are transferring the right to transfer possession to others. That’s what the word means.

I can understand publishers and Amazon getting sniffy if review copies are flooding the market before release dates, but the answer to that is simple: make it policy that selling pre-release copies (and it’s obvious when you get a review reader copy), before the release of the actual book will result in you being evicted from the Amazon Vine programme.

I’ve never sold any of the items I’ve received on Vine. I love books, I collect books, and I’m happy that my collection grows at 2 books/month beyond what I buy at no cost to myself in return for a review on the website for the majority of them. I’ve had books I’ve loved, books I’ve hated, and books I’ve simply just not seen the point of and been indifferent to. But I have always considered those books mine on receipt, and without logging into the Amazon Vine site, I wouldn’t even be able to identify which books came from the programme any more. They do not sit on a special shelf, so when the time comes to start selling copies off, I’m not sure I can definitely state that in 10 years time I will not sell off an edition I received via Vine.

Because these books are typically first prints of first editions, if the book should become very popular, this of course means I might profit greatly from the transaction. Publishers don’t want that to happen. All I can say is, the great success of the book to get it to that point is in part thanks to us reviewers talking it up in its earliest days. Stop being so silly.

Whilst I also understand the need of publishers to make sure the hundreds of review copies they give away don’t reduce initial sales because the reviewers are all flogging them on Amazon or eBay, I think this is a little silly. Just ask reviewers to play fair, and we will. We’re not bad people.

In fact, make it a condition that selling anything within six months is a no-no. I don’t think we’d have a problem with that. But trying to redefine the meaning of the word “ownership”? That’s crazy talk.

It gets better though:

2) You may submit Vine reviews on other websites, but not to any online or offline channel that advertises or offers the Vine product for sale except in the form of a link to a website operated by Amazon or its affiliates. 

So if you get a free copy of a book from Vine, you love it, you tell all your friends about it, and you go onto forums that happen to be affiliated with Waterstone’s (or B&N in the states) rather than Amazon, you’re in breach of T&Cs.

Amazon are - I suspect - paid by the publisher to distribute their books via Vine. I can’t imagine they make a loss on it. Therefore, I can’t quite understand how it’s in the publisher’s interest for a reviewer to talk less about a book that they love. I also have no idea how Amazon intend to police this.

If I recommend a book to a friend whilst in a bookshop, do I also have to “subtly hint” in the conversation that the book is available on Amazon.co.uk don’t you know and that Amazon is really good, or is discussion of the book whilst in a bookshop to be met with a mute indifference by me? If not, it possibly means I am submitting a review in an “offline channel” in a context that “advertises or offers” the book for sale in a form that isn’t a link to Amazon.

My friend might actually buy the book on my recommendation right there and then. How is it in the publisher’s interest that I refuse to discuss it. What if I forget that I originally got my copy on Vine and the Amazon police are around the corner and get to hear of it? Will I be punished?

These two combined make the Vine programme a little more crazy than I thought, when you try and stick to the letter of the T&Cs as opposed to perhaps the spirit.

On receiving a book, I can only discuss it on Amazon or Amazon-affiliated websites and nowhere else and I must keep the book for ever more and not sell it, give it away, donate it, or let anybody else consider it theirs until the end of time.

I am permitted however, to set fire to it. Book-burning: the kind of party Amazon Vine approves! Just you know, don’t talk about the books unless you have a laptop open nearby with Amazon.co.uk up…

I ordered up two books last night on Vine I am looking forward to receiving. I suspect they may be my last. I simply can’t see how I can commit to complying with those two conditions in a sensible way until the end of time, and I’m not somebody who likes to know he might be breaching an agreement unintentionally.

Maybe one day somebody will see sense at Amazon or at the publishers and they’ll make this all a lot simpler: don’t sell the books within six months, and whilst you’re free to talk about them wherever you want, your first and primary review should be submitted on Amazon. Simple.

bookoasis:

The World In A Bookshop by infra-leve.

My living room is starting to look like this actually…

In South Kensington they take their fashion so seriously, that if you find yourself on the District/Circle line platform wearing something untrendy, TfL have got you covered. 

Gap are a bit mainstream though. Surely a jumper from somewhere more boutique would have been more fitting?

THE cheapest two-year fixed-rate mortgages in more than a year were launched last week, heading straight to the top of the 'best-buy' tables. But borrowers should not be dazzled by the headline rates and assess all-round value when picking a...

When Sylvia and I started leasing and managing rentals in Austin in the early 1990s, the business operation was phone-based. I had a phone, answering machine, and spiral pad on a desk in our kitchen nook. All business happened there. I also had a Windows PC, a 386 with a dot matrix printer which ran the DOS version of my property management software. If you don’t know what 386, DOS or “dot matrix printer” means, you’re probably less than 40 years old. Oh, it probably had a 2400 baud modem as well, and a 50 meg hard drive. It wasn’t until 1996 that I put up my first website and started using email for business. All rental inquiries thus originated with a phone call to that one phone. It was a “single channel” communication system. Those callers either saw a yard sign or a 3-line ad in the Rentals section ... Read more

In an increasingly “unaffordable” Austin, it occurs to me that many of us could live way cheaper if we could just get along and live in extended family groups or roommate groups. I’ll use my own family as an example to explore this CRAZY idea for curing Austin’s affordability problem. Sylvia and I live in a home in SW Austin with a $3,000/mo mortgage. Our utilities average $250/mo for everything, plus yard care of $80 per month, and of course repairs and maintenance as needed. We intentionally downsized to this home from Westlake, because we want to live more “affordably” and we no longer needed to live in Westlake Eanes ISD after our girls graduated high school. My mom, in her 70’s, lives three blocks away in a home I purchased as investment (but for her to live in). I charge her $1,200/mo rent (market rent would be $2,000, my payment/cost ... Read more

And the real estate journey continues … Sylvia and I started Crossland Real Estate in Jan 1993, and remained independent until we sold our property management portfolio in 2004 and “retired” for a year. We didn’t actually formally retire … more of a sabbatical … as we were still in our 40s with kids 9 and 12. But we did take a year off from active real estate “production”. We weren’t sure whether we wanted to remain in real estate forever or not. I started a telecom services company and dabbled in Business Brokerage, both of which were interesting pursuits worthy of a full effort, and which I could have succeeded at doing, but after some time off from the daily real estate routine, something happened… The phone rang. It was Real Estate. It wanted us back. Sometimes distance from something brings perspective and a renewed appreciation of it. So, ... Read more

As the owner of a business where 100% live answer is not possible or cost effective, I do receive my fair share of angry voicemails from people wanting to talk to a human right now. It’s kind of interesting actually. I received this one just recently. Many would just delete it, as I usually do with rude voicemail tirades. We receive all manner of unbelievably incoherent, garbled and plain crazy voice messages from people. But as a blunt-spoken no-BS type of person myself, I appreciated this voicemail. I played it proudly for my wife. And I played it for my assistant, “listen, … this is great!” And now I’m blogging about it. The caller scolds me with the blunt, to the point assertion, “if no one is available you get no sales“. Listen to it again yourself. It’s perfect! It’s the kind of communication I respect. Clear, concise, to the ... Read more

Update August 2018: The Austin Board of Realtors has Discontinued use of the Coming Soon Status. It caused more trouble that it was worth. Austin Realtors can now enter For Sale listings into the Austin Central Texas MLS before the listing is ready for showing. For up to 14 days prior to the “Active” date. And, therefore, buyer agents and buyers can get a “heads up” on listings that are (supposedly) about to come onto the market live in the MLS. What Problem Does This Solve? During Austin’s red hot seller’s market of the past 5 years, it had become increasingly frustrating for Buyer Agents and Buyers trying to operate in a low inventory market. We heard tales of buyers literally driving zig zag through neighborhoods looking for “Coming Soon” signs. Every new listing that popped up live in MLS became a Red Alert fire drill, as I wrote about ... Read more

What is your Austin home worth, right now? When considering a sale, it’s generally worth “market value”, defined loosely as the highest price a buyer would pay, and that a seller will accept in an open, competitive market. This assumes neither buyer nor seller are under any undue stress or duress external to the transaction itself. Many homeowners want to know their home value even when not considering a sale. Such as when protesting assessed property value at Travis County. Or maybe you are just curious, or you want to update your Net Worth spreadsheet with a current value. If you don’t want the “market” to determine your home value, because you don’t want to sell, there now exists a plethora of “Automated Valuation Model” (AVM) tools that will tell you the supposed value of your home online based on mathematical algorithms and data. The most well know is perhaps ... Read more

The recent lawsuit involving the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and subsequent news coverage have sparked significant discussion within the Realtor community. I’d like to take this opportunity to share my perspective on the home buying and selling process, how Realtors are compensated, and the concept of ‘Uncompensated Effort.’ Realtors earn what is known as a ‘Success Fee.’ Essentially, we provide all our services for free until the transaction is closed and funded, at which point we receive a commission. Efforts that do not result in a closing are what I call ‘Uncompensated Effort.’ Every Realtor incurs this overhead, and it’s an integral part of a system that benefits consumers. Both buyers and sellers appreciate this system because it allows them to access services at no cost, even if they never purchase a home or their property doesn’t sell. For example, a buyer might contact an Austin Realtor based on ... Read more

In a surprising turn of events, the Brazilian government has found a new ally in its fight against inflation and energy challenges: online casinos and crash games, like Aviator operators. By introducing additional taxes on these rapidly growing sectors, the government aims to channel the revenue into critical areas of the economy, including the burgeoning green energy sector. This strategy not only addresses economic stability but also aligns with Brazil's long-term commitment to sustainable development.

The most useful tools that every programmer should know and use. These tools are essential to every coding working and also increase productivity.

The post The Essential Tools for Programmers appeared first on Digital Inspiration.

Widget Exhibition - The Art of John Dyer
An exciting new Widget, developed by Andrew Hedges, for the acclaimed artist John Dyer. Now you can have 40 of John Dyer's amazing paintings on your dashboard. Arrange them across your screen to hang your very own exhibition. The Widget contains paintings of Alan Titchmarsh's and Kim Wilde's gardens, many from the iconic Eden Project in the UK, including John's latest painting for Live 8, as well as paintings from Costa Rica, the Philippines, France, Italy and the UK. The widget can be flipped over to reveal links to the fascinating ethno-botanical stories behind John's work.

Studies say 97% of spam (no, not Spam) happens because you posted your email address to a web page somewhere...The Obfuscator to the rescue! The Obfuscator converts your email address into an encoded string that spambots can't read, but web browsers and email programs can! For convenience, your obfuscated string is automagically copied to the clipboard.

New in Version 1.0.1:

- Fixed trailing newline issue when copying data to the clipboard (thanks Ben Kazez!)

Fans of GetDilbert might want to check out Out There. Out There is a Far Side-like comic written by George Webster. Good stuff!