Don't worry I've since moved, although my uncle and Dad still have this problem. The TV licencing letters are twice as long in Wales though as they insist on making them bilingual. I really didn't mind them coming, I just found it disruptive and annoying (especially when at the time I was working from home and was losing money in the time it took me to deal with them).

How about the moon?

Yes, but do we need to listen to Vogon poetry as a result!? :P


"Oh freddled gruntbuggly/thy micturations are to me/As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee.
Groop I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes. And hooptiously drangle me with crinkly bindlewurdles,
Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon, see if I don't!"

It seems that the BBC on this "slash and burn" of its websites (or bonfire of its websites) is keeping its core audience (all the kids stuff and stuff aimed at teens stays). However this client group isn't the one that pays the TV licence. In many cases people pay a TV licence and don't use the BBC's website or other offering (eg radio). The TV licence also goes to fund enforcement. As (when I lived on my own) I had no licence every so often a succession of strange men would come round, inviting themselves in to look for the "mythical" TV they thought was there. Each time the "quest for mythical TV" costing the licence payer 3.5% extra on their TV licence was a failure. Those engaged on the quest, left with sad faces, downcast and demoralised by yet another visit. In addition vast forests of trees were chopped down and red ink used for threatening letters, seemingly every few weeks. In this "Alice in Wonderland" fantasy TV licencing exists in they said "We can't trust people when they tell us they don't have a TV licence as some lie to us". Instead the humble people without TVs got persecuted by letter and people. Up was down, the ministry of the truth was the ministry of lies and Great Britain went on as it did before.

I thought the fun was in trying to solve it yourself, not through having a machine give you the correct answer.

Sorry that should read geotargeting not geogtargeted. I blame it on the wife watching TV next to me taking my mind off my train of thought!

There is already geotargeted of videos online done on commercial grounds. If different types of traffic get "throttled" it'll only make it harder on the users of any high-bandwidth activity whether video, gaming or anything else where the ISPs are likely to be costed more than these consumers are paying. For example I used to be able to watch The Daily Show on the Comedy Channel's website from the UK. Since they sold the rights to E4, that isn't possible without going through a proxy.

Well you're very talented at parody lyrics then! I do have the musical talents (church organist amongst other things); but unfortunately I don't have the sheet music for Bohemian Rhapsody or a kareoke tape of it. Maybe if I can get the tune worked out in a singable key I'll record myself singing your lyrics and upload it to youtube for a laugh. :)

>I have no say in how my society is governed; I >doubt very much you do either. I do through voting and standing in public elections. I did hold public office for two years. This year I got 699 votes (roughly 1 in 6 of people voting). Although some politicians ignore me, I do have influence in affecting decisions. Unless you don't live in a democracy ultranova; in which case why not change your society to something that gives the public more of a say?

From what I remember card skimming has been going on locally here in the UK too. I remember a report from the police into it a while ago; although they didn't go into as much detail about the devices used.

Here most cards are "chip and pin" so you need the magstripe, chip and PIN to make a transaction.

However in foreign countries, especially over the phone or internet where a PIN can't be entered, the information on the magstripe eg card number/expiry date can be enough. The trouble with foreign transactions is they can take days after the transaction before the bank reports them.

Many people with high limits wouldn't notice until the end of the month, or if their card gets declined for hitting its limit. There are people who can view their credit card statements online; which reduces the risk of a fraud going unnoticed for longer periods.

Either way its fraud, which banks have systems in place to detect, however fraud/Identity theft is hard for the police to investigate and prosecute without evidence eg fingerprints, mobile phone numbers, details of where the fraudulent sales were sent to etc.

I've known fraudsters use stolen card details to top up a mobile phone; others have just gone on a spending spree. A similar con is writing cheques that'll bounce (although that does at least give the retailer (and in States District Attorney) a name or names as well as address (from the bank or cheque) to prosecute.

That's great, is it your original or copied and pasted? Any chance of a Youtube version or an mp3? :D