APPLE PRODUCTS, ARE THEY REALLY THAT GREAT?

It has been a fraught week for our lass and myself to try and get a computer that works and after a weeks trying and two IMACs later, our lass still has no working computer and her old G4 has crashed so she is Apple(less).

I on the other hand have a perfectly working (touch wood) computer. Which set up and ready to go in minutes.

So it begs the question.

Are Apple products really that great?

I work for a mobile phone company and the desire of people to own the latest apple I phone is so great they will pay hundreds of pounds to get out of contracts, yet another hundred pound for the product itself and then sign up for a two year deal which will cost them a grand if not more.

But why?

Is it brand or product, is Apple the Nike of the mobile and computer world. It is seen as am elusive item and because of sleek design it covers over some flaws of design. Anyone who had the Apple I phone 4 and just happened to be left handed found that out to their cost. When the top dog at Apple was promoting his new product he had to ask everyone to switch theirs off so he could demonstrate it due to the product not working with to many trying to work off the wifi at once. This would have been a fatal blow to a products career yet Apple brush it aside.

For myself me and my lass have tried and failed twice to get a IMAC the first was an ex display so can be forgiven for having a faulty screen where the pixels were fading a damaged. But the second one was brand new just out of the box and never been touched.

It's fault came apparent straight away a pixel had gone in the bottom right hand corner. We thought it was just a tiny dot and it would not detract from the item itself as you could hardly notice it. We proceeded to load the product up and set it ready for our lass. The screen then flickered when you went onto the internet and the very next day the dot had grown in the corner.

If you spend £1,200 on anything you expect perfection, so back it went to the store and refund given. So at present my own experience with apple product is not good. I have family member who would never touch apple phones as in the past the old phones seem to just crash without warning and not last the two years you have to sign up to pay for them.

So is it really that great?

What are your own experiences?

I myself have nearly convinced our lass to get a much cheaper and equally good windows 7 computer so that is one less devotee to Apple.

42

42 As we universally know is the meaning of life according to Douglas Adams. For me today it was the number of connections which had increased in the two hour push.

May I thank all the new people who connected and some of my friends who have been with me since the beginning. It was an interesting couple of hours and although I didn't reach my goal and first thresh hold of 1,000 connection but I definitely made a good movement towards it.

Two hour push for a thousand contacts

 I have my last day off for a while now, so I thought I would use today to catch up on things and I know in the grand scheme of things it maybe not important but it is also good to rest your mind as it is to work it. So I am going to spend the next two hours to see if I can expand the connections to the first thresh hold of 1,000.

So this is how it stands at the moment and I will add thru the next two hours to how it is going.

MY BLOGLOG CONTACTS 217 (+12)
BLOGGED FOLLOWERS (of me) 175 (+1)
MY BLOGLOG MEMBERS 133 (+1)
FACEBOOK FRIENDS 109 (+2)
TWITTER FOLLOWERS 103
BLOG FOLLOWERS 57 (+3)
BLOGGED FOLLOWERS (of blog) 32
NETWORKED BLOG FOLLOWERS 16
BLOG FROG FOLLOWERS 13 (+13)
FACE BOOK GROUPS (ME+MILLION CONNECTIONS) 12 (+3)
ONE MILLION WAYS TO CONNECT PROBOARD MEMBERS 12 (+3)
BLOG CATALOG FOLLOWERS 4 (+4) thankyou ROPCORN

TOTAL 883 (+42)

A country loses its proof of ID

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11565853

It seems like millions of other people the country of Fiji has lost its birth certificate. A document handed over when it was made independent 40 years ago has been lost and like any citizen in the UK they have had to go back to the central records office and ask for a replacement copy.

Now what sort of proof of ID would they need?

Well if it is anything like us it would be your date of birth, where you was born and a cheque for 15 pounds.

I have always wondered why when we hold our security of identity to sacred and we have so many hoops to go through to get even a job. That to get one of the pieces of ID is so easy to obtain. I could get the birth certificate of anyone by simply knowing their birthdate, where they was born and pay the cost of replacement. You will then have a full birth certificate which most jobs need as one of your proofs of ID you can then once you have a job go get a replacement national insurance number, saying you lost yours. You then get a bank account once you have a job and birth certificate and then the world is your oyster.

I wish they would make it a little more difficult to get a birth certificate or a little easier to get a passport. I had to go thru a humiliating nationality test when I have been in the UK all my life yet the walls were plastered in languages from around the world to help people to get a UK passport. Surely if English is not your mother tongue then that is a bit of give away you might not be totally British.

Rant over,

Wonders how much Fiji had to pay for the replacement? A lot more then 15 pounds I guess.

Mind over matter

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear mind over matter in the past was a phrase my dad saId. "I don't mind and you don't matter." But I haven't seen my dad for a few years now and when I last saw him it was to be told to "BOGGER OFF and that he didn't want to see me again." So I kept him to his word.

Anyways that is not what I am writing about today. I am writing about funny coincides just the other day I watched a programme on EDEN called "LET IT SNOW" and it talked about a Japanese scientist who had done a study of positive and negative thoughts and how they effected the shapes of snow flakes. Positive music created near perfect flakes whilst negative thoughts and music made more imperfect flakes. Now I thought this was just a flight of fancy,

Then the other day I bought the new Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol (please don't tell me the end as I am only at page 119) But it seemed the premise of part of the book is the Noetic science. On how brain waves can actually alter the mass of an object. Now it is science fiction. But can we actually put a our brains into action and create something completely new.

All these self help books about better conversation and selling, is all normally about the LAW OF ATTRACTION. How positivity attracts positive thoughts and negative thoughts attract negative ones. Now who am I to question it, but it can not be any less of a nonsense than a lot of things that happen today.

So if you matter and you have a mind..... BE POSITIVE!

So far so good for the forum.

http://1millionways2connect.proboards.com/

Much like this blog it is difficult to get it set up and then folks to read it, and then hope people are interested enough to come back and use it again.

The forum has now got 8 members and all have contributed with some coming back again. It like most things in the garden will need a little attention but once formed I guess will simply look after it self. I just thought it might make a great addition to the blog and give folks more of their own input as they can advertise their own sites and use it to communicate with others.

Time will tell, but if you don't try you wouldn't get to find out if it works.

Happy connecting.

Well, I bought two new computers.

I had no intention of doing so and it seems when me and our lass go out we should go with some sort of security guard to ensure we don't just buy things.

Yesterday we went to go and get a charcoal drawing of ourselves framed. The drawing was done by a street artist in Venice and is very funny so once framed will have pride of place in the dining room. But we still had time and it was good to be out together as we are normally in different time zones work wise. We just never seem to be off together at the same time. Anyways. we go and have a look at kitchens and bathrooms because our lass is practical like that. We come home with a new I mac computer for our lass and a new windows 7 based computer for me so I can play the PC games our lass got us for my birthday.

We do have history of going out for one thing and then coming back with something completely different. one day we went out for milk and came back with a brand new sofa. Then after a weekend in Whitby we bought a new car on the way back. Now before you send begging letters thinking we are millionaires. neither of us smoke and we drink little and apart from the holidays and selected nights out we don't spend much. So when we do it is to feather the nest. Even yesterdays purchase earned us vouchers with Tesco because I used the interest free card to buy them and then make sure I pay it back in the year.

So we are not unfortunately rich but we are careful. So our lass has to figure out how to save all her photos and I have spent most of last night and this morning trying remember passwords for every site I ever been on as I always ask the computer to save them and as I use a different password for each site. There may well be a few sites I will either have to rejoin or never go to again.....

But I do love it, as I now have a mouse and not the slab of plastic which may be cool but is bloody irritating to use when you want to right click and copy and paste. Plus with the new computer everything is faster.

So whoppee.....

A new way to communicate and connect.

 UPDATE
 ***Proboards are experiencing problems with servers so TOO many connections, quite funny considering I am wishing to get a million connections. It should be up and running soon.***

UPDATE(10 mins later)
***Well that was quickly fixed they are a good service provider at proboards.*** 

http://1millionways2connect.proboards.com/

I have set up a chat board to compliment the blog, I hope that it might be useful for people to advertise their own blogs and sites and for it to become a little community where you can exchange ideas, places you have found and make new friends.

You would have to join to be able to post on the board. This is to stop bots from putting automated programmes onto the site. But everything will be viewable to members and guests a like so you don't have to join if you just wish to read.

I hope it can become a hub for people and help for not just myself to make new connections but everyone else as well.

Happy connecting

Fools Gold, Cube shines and PG movies.

It has been a hectic few days, and so not been able to get on the Internet to much. One thing I have been able to fit in was my viewing of strictly come dancing result show on Sunday night. The first contestant was eliminated and where most people thought it would be Ann the ex politician or Paul Daniels the now elderly TV magician it was Goldie and his controversial Russian dancing pro. Now was it a trick by the BBC or did the public really vote them off.

Last year the Russian professional dancer was in all the papers as she was reportedly the reason for why the professional boxer she was dancing with on last show split from his long time partner to be with her. It is also reported that Goldies son has been had up for murder and so could leave the BBC in a difficult position like last year when a celebrity contestant them self was being hauled before the courts and so missed an episode. Did the BBC push these two out or did the public vote them out ?

Cube shines !!! Have you ever tried to use predictive text when it doesn't know what you are wanting to spell, or even if you don't know how to spell what you want to say yourself. Cube shine is the nearest our lass could get to aubergine as she was cooking moussaka last night (it was fantastic) but cube shine was one of those happy accidents which actually make more sense than the word it self and so from this day forward I wont call them aubergines but cube shines.


And finally............

PG movies who do you sell them too. Our lass works in a supermarket and asked the question today, as normal her bosses never gave a straight answer, and considering you can get sacked or fined or both if you are really unlucky a clear message should be sent out.

At what age is something PG ? Some parents might be stricter than others. How do you define PG. Whilst the boss was giving out his speech he said " If a minor was trying to by a 12, 15 or 18 certificate and you refused them and they were with the parents and the parents said its OK I will by it for them, you would have to refuse to sell it to them as well"

Oh joy that would be a great conversation and news front page headline. 40 year old refused to be sold a 12 certificate film........

I wish the laws were more clear and that bosses would support their staff and not just dump on them, not a nice place to be in if you think you will get the sack on a technicality.

Was it you?

Well, there is one ticket for the Euro Millions sold in the UK. It is still not know if it is held by one person or a group but they win 113 million pounds / 183 million US dollars.

I myself didn't get even one number I couldn't have been further away if I had picked letters instead of numbers.

Oh well UK lottery tonight it has been a few years since I have even won a tenner my luck must change at some point.

112 million pounds eurolottery JAKCPOT. IS IT OBSCENE?

Well tonight is a super rollover of the euro millions lottery and the jackpot has reached 112 million pounds that is approx 130 million euros and 180 million yankee dollars. All in all it is a huge amount of money If someone wins from the UK they will probably make it into the top 500 rich list. So whilst others make the list by aptitude or skill one person could jump straight in by being luck.

But should one person win all that money? Why not spread the fortune have 112 new millionaires or even better still give 100,000 pounds to 1,120 people.

Now would I refuse the prize on principle if I was to win tonight. Hell no. I might have a conscience but I also have a brain who would refuse such a prize. Well maybe a wise man would. I spent 50 hours in total on a coach to Italy and back with our lass. I said that was test of our relationship I think being the owner of such a fortune would test it even further.

Who indeed would be your true friend? Would they befriend you or your money? Who exactly could you tell? I would prefer just for me and my lass to know and no one else in the family. But would that cause tension? I don't want begging letters neither would I want Sunday paper tittle tattle from people who have wild imaginations which sells papers but destroys lives as everyone would sell a story about you.

As for the money just how many houses and holidays could you possibly have? Wouldn't you want to do good with the money? I don't know if you have seen the 80s American show HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_to_Heaven but if I had the money I wouldn't mind going from place to place helping those in need. Helping charities, not by splashing money straight onto them but by staying with them as one of them and then purchasing the things they really need so the money wasn't lost in administration to pay for people to collect the money they want. (I hat that in charities).

So God! If you read my blog this is my promise to you if you let me win the lottery tonight I will dedicate my time to help those less fortunate and spread the wealth. ( I sound like a beauty queen now ) AGRHHH!


But I do feel that such an amount of money could do much more spread around than ruining the life of one person.

Anyone want a couple of lottery tickets as not sure now if I want to win?

In reply

 Luke from http://mylifejakarta.blogspot.com/ left a message

Hi there, have you considered using link referral etc as a way of attracting new visitors. Gaining followers seems a quite a task but if you follow everyone else then more will follow back. It takes more time and investment but can be worth it. Blog catalog also can help you get more followers and retweeting posts will gain more views and maybe in time followers.

Hope this help

Thank you for the comment Luke, and anyones advice is clearly welcome. In response I do have blog clicker at the top and that helps drive thru traffic to the site. I do use blog catalog and mybloglog the site which has created most connections so far is mybloglog closely followed by blogged. I also have this linked in with facebook and twitter so it automatically puts a post on both and I will as time goes by find ways to automate a lot of what I do thru here.

I think the biggest thing you touch upon is time, three years ago I almost lived on the internet and this sort of project would have had my full attention and I would have lost myself in it. Nowadays I have my wonderful lass and a full time job, so these sorts of whims become ideas I have and a desire of wishing to complete the project but simply not having the time to invest into them.

So it has become my hobby, I also collect fridge magnets (yes I know, sad) but now I am collecting connections. It is good to have people like yourself who invest your precious time to read and to comment. Lets see what the future holds but I am looking upon this project as a hobby which will only expand my network of friends with people like yourself.

Thank you for your time.

Any Questions?

Day three of work for me so it means I get a long weekend off. So if anyone has any questions for myself no matter how silly leave a comment after this post. Thanks.

How I count my connections

I would like to thank Ropcorn for her question of how do I count my connections to thus blog?

It is a bit like creative accountancy and some people will be counted more than once, so if one person knows me thru several different mediums ie Twitter, blogged and facebook. They would be counted three times and not just the once for them self.

To be honest it was the only way I could count the connections. So a connection is counted by a person who has connected with me via any medium on the internet which I am using.

Thank you for the question Ropcorn.

How not to improve staff morale

First day back at work yesterday after my holidays and it seems I have missed all the action. Next time I go on holiday I will be putting a general email out to everyone telling them that there will be some impending doom.

In most of my previous jobs each time I took a holiday the companies I worked for have either sacked a lot of people or layed them off. I had gone to Whitby once and when I came back found only myself and two others working in what had been a full office in my previous job. It seems on the Friday they had split all the workers into two groups and those who had a job went into one room and those who didn't crowded into another. One room was exceedingly more full than the other and lets say they wasn't very happy. I not soon after left and got my current job.

I go to Italy to return and find out that they are getting rid of 1200 supposedly duplicated jobs and have made everyone above manager role redundant and asked them to reapply for their old jobs. You have a 90 day notice if you win your job back you stay if not you are made redundant you will find out just before Christmas.

This of course has made the whole workforce extremely uneasy. Luckily it doesn't directly effect me, but it does in the fact that the bosses now are worrying for their own jobs.

You do wonder is there a better way of organising life and those in business ? Why do we pay certain people benefits just to stay at home but tax others to the hilt and then make them worry about their own financial security?

I personally would scrap benefits of any sort to anyone and ensure we all fend for ourselves you would truly find out who could work and who couldn't.

As for my work place this Christmas could be a happy one as you have to apply to see if you get your own job back or one of A new horizon.... YO HO HO !!!

Norman Wisdom Dies

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11473214

For those who didn't know who he was I have included a link to his Obituary. He was much like Marmite you either loved him or hated him. He was much like the office clown who joked and played the fool at every occasion even if that occasion wasn't appropriate. But what you can't say bad about him is that he worked nearly right up until his death at the age of 95 only in the last year did he go into a rest home.

It must be amazing to have such a hold on a nation that when they hear the words "Mr Grimsdale" They instantly recognise who you are, and that you have become ingrained into a nations conscience. I found him funny as a kid but then I grew up. Maybe growing up isn't all what it is cracked up to be and we should all stay young at heart like Norman Wisdom did.

EUROPE 14.5 V 13.5 USA

Been a lazy last day before returning back to work. Great to see that Europe managed to regain the Ryder Cup, even though they did try to grab a defeat from the jaws of victory as at one stage the projected score was 18 v 10 and it slowly but surely slipped back to the USA. It made a good game to watch though and made it last till the end.

746 not out

746 Connections so far, been a little slow due to work and my recent holiday but thank you for all those people who are helping me reach my goal of a million connections.

It might seem a target which is far off. But how do you eat an elephant? One mouthful at a time.

Guilty pleasures

Just waiting for our lass to get ready and so thought I would pop on line. Whilst I have been away I have been thinking about many things. All of them I will discuss tomorrow, but first guilty pleasures. 

My guilty pleasure is the Internet to be honest I would give up work to be on the Internet all day and if me and my lass ever split up I would spend the rest of my spare time on here. Is it right ? Well I don't drink/smoke and I am not a porn fiend so I see no wrong. But should something envelope your life so much ? I do feel guilty for the amount of time I think about certain things on the net. Such as what I could write on my blog. Like now I could be doing something around the house but have nipped onto the Internet. Guilt should never be over taken by remorse I know I should be doing other things but I never let them build into regrets.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Why aren't the Italians more relaxed about toilets?

Hello, I am back.

Just a flying visit it took yesterday to get over the coach trip back and today we are off to see our lasses first grandchild. So still a full schedule.

Will tell all about holiday soon enough. But must remark on Italian loos. They were simply holes in the ground around 80% of the time. For such a relaxed nation you would think they would want something to sit on and give them chance to read the paper or contemplate life. Not  just two foot rests and a handle if you are lucky to hold on to.