ChrisB
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 408
- Location
- The Hills of the Chankly Bore
People who drive too slow on the highway
People who drive too fast in parking lots
People who drive too fast in parking lots
Me too, but at least my car has indicators, not that they were ever optional extras, although you would be forgiven for thinking so these days.I used to complain about old people who drive slow, until I became one.
I wasn’t in the first wave of “driver’s ed,” which, I was told, featured grisly films and other warnings of the horrors of the road, which really were bloodier then than they are now. (The numbers don’t lie.)
But my recollection of my time in driver’s education is that almost all of it was wasted. We had a “simulator,” such as it was. It was a trailer outfitted with a movie screen at one end and maybe 20 student stations, each equipped with a steering wheel and two pedals. Student input had no effect whatsoever on what was showing on the screen. It was the self-driving car of its time, and we were all along for the ride.
But the on-the-road instruction was worthwhile. I had started driving long before I was of legal age, some of it on the public rights of way, and some in other contexts. So I knew how to control a car going into it. But our instructor, a teacher from another high school, really did offer worthy tips. And it was fun to drive those big late-model American-made sedans, on loan from local dealerships. Those cars were equipped with two brake pedals, one for the teacher, in the right front seat, to stomp on should the occasion arise.
When you drive in London, you don't drive on the left hand side of the road, you drive on what's left of the road."I've never driven on the wrong side of the road;"
You drive in London? So you drive on the wrong side of the road every time you get behind the wheel!
Since January 1 of this year I've received more junk texts than all of the previous years combined. Their subject matter so far has been mostly one of two types--either a contest that never existed yielded results with me in second place and they want me to contact them to claim my "prize", or a courier I've never heard of (except for the occasional invocation of "Fed Ex") wants me to contact them for delivery instructions. All lies, of course, but the moment you fall for it, follow their instructions, and call them, you've given them a valid phone number and they'll never stop pestering you.
Quite so, that's why I still pay cash, as in, the filthy folding stuff. Cash is anonymous.Given such a sudden upsurge in such very specific scams, I would suggest the probability is there was a dataleak somewhere that has your email over the December period, and the hackers responsible have either started scamming you themselves, or sold the data to those who are. At least these are relatively low level threats, but that doesn't make them any more irritating, of course.
Yeah, true enough. I really ought to do more of that. But with so many of my transactions conducted online (sure is convenient), leaving a record is unavoidable.Quite so, that's why I still pay cash, as in, the filthy folding stuff. Cash is anonymous.
Yeah, true enough. I really ought to do more of that. But with so many of my transactions conducted online (sure is convenient), leaving a record is unavoidable.
I’ve been seeing signage at auto repair shops and the like saying either no checks accepted or limiting them to smallish amounts. I don’t fault those businesses one little bit for that. If there’s sufficient funds in the customer’s account, a debit card will clear. If not, it will be declined.
I’m confident those businesses would rather not have to adopt such policies. And I’m equally confident they didn’t do so just for the hell of it. Deadbeats make themselves difficult to track down. Not only is the business getting stiffed, it’s also tying up its personnel in attempting to rectify the matter.
I still get checks a couple-three times per month on average — some for business, some for personal matters. I deposit them with my iPhone, using the bank’s app. Takes maybe a minute, although sometimes it asks me to take the photos two or three times before it accepts them. Beats driving to the bank.Cheques are pretty much dead in the UK now. When I opened the current account I use now c.2012 they asked if I wanted a chequebook; I took it just in case, but it's still intact, unused, in a drawer all these years later. The advent of Paypal was the game changer for me with that. I now see a cheque exactly once a year, a birthday gift from a relative, and it's actually a little tricky to get into my account as I'm a tube or two away from the nearest branch now.
Quite a few places in London now are card-only; I like to still have the option of cash, but unless I'm abroad (where I prefer to use local cash), I tend to card everything now. In 2009, 30% of UK transactions were done by card; by 2019 it was 70%. These things are moving fast. My last publication was a chapter on cybersecurity, made me very paranoid!
Have you done something like a thesis on cyber security Edward? Out of interest, if I had lost or had stolen, my debit card, but I was unaware that it was missing for a given period of time, could the thief use it as in tap and go? The reason for my asking is that I have just been issued with my new debit card. The letter states that when I first use it for cash withdrawal or for something else, it will trigger the tap & go ability. Surely that means anyone can just tap & go. It annoys me that I can't opt out of the technology.Quite a few places in London now are card-only; I like to still have the option of cash, but unless I'm abroad (where I prefer to use local cash), I tend to card everything now. In 2009, 30% of UK transactions were done by card; by 2019 it was 70%. These things are moving fast. My last publication was a chapter on cybersecurity, made me very paranoid!
I still get checks a couple-three times per month on average — some for business, some for personal matters. I deposit them with my iPhone, using the bank’s app. Takes maybe a minute, although sometimes it asks me to take the photos two or three times before it accepts them. Beats driving to the bank.
I still occasionally find myself in a supermarket checkout line behind a person writing a check. That person is typically elderly and a model of inefficiency. She doesn’t begin the check-writing process until her purchases are totaled and bagged and awaiting her, when she commences to fumbling around in her purse for her checkbook and for a pen, which she may or may not locate and, should she find it, may or may not work, at which point she asks the checker if she has one.
It’s a patience-building exercise.
Have you done something like a thesis on cyber security Edward? Out of interest, if I had lost or had stolen, my debit card, but I was unaware that it was missing for a given period of time, could the thief use it as in tap and go? The reason for my asking is that I have just been issued with my new debit card. The letter states that when I first use it for cash withdrawal or for something else, it will trigger the tap & go ability. Surely that means anyone can just tap & go. It annoys me that I can't opt out of the technology.
Given such a sudden upsurge in such very specific scams, I would suggest the probability is there was a dataleak somewhere that has your email over the December period, and the hackers responsible have either started scamming you themselves, or sold the data to those who are. At least these are relatively low level threats, but that doesn't make them any more irritating, of course.
Cheques are pretty much dead in the UK now. When I opened the current account I use now c.2012 they asked if I wanted a chequebook; I took it just in case, but it's still intact, unused, in a drawer all these years later. The advent of Paypal was the game changer for me with that. I now see a cheque exactly once a year, a birthday gift from a relative, and it's actually a little tricky to get into my account as I'm a tube or two away from the nearest branch now.
Quite a few places in London now are card-only; I like to still have the option of cash, but unless I'm abroad (where I prefer to use local cash), I tend to card everything now. In 2009, 30% of UK transactions were done by card; by 2019 it was 70%. These things are moving fast. My last publication was a chapter on cybersecurity, made me very paranoid!
The one piece of information I neglected to include in my previous post is that the increase in scam texts has always followed my retiring my previous-and-not-working-particularly-well cell phone and getting a new and allegedly better one. The overall amount of scam texts is about the same, but the tactics and subject matter of those texts changes.
These days I write one check every month, to pay the man who owns/runs my gardening service. I've never really discussed it with him because he seems fine with receiving my check, but I really don't know how else I'd pay him. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I sincerely hope you're able to keep your medicaments to a minimum as you grow older.
"I've never driven on the wrong side of the road;"
You drive in London? So you drive on the wrong side of the road every time you get behind the wheel!
When you drive in London, you don't drive on the left hand side of the road, you drive on what's left of the road.
Is it just my impression or are the marketing boys going into "fashionable" hearing aids, actually??
I had to look twice in our railcar to make sure, that it's not an Borg implant.
Is it just my impression or are the marketing boys going into "fashionable" hearing aids, actually??
I had to look twice in our railcar to make sure, that it's not an Borg implant.
In the UK we use term, walking stick, rather than cane. My own is really more of a comfort blanket, the surgeon who performed my hip replacement surgery recommended it. He explained that should I stumble, using the stick to steady my balance will help prevent a fall. How right he was, twice it's saved me from a serious tumble.I already own the cane I hope I won’t be needing anytime soon. It’s a simple wooden crook, which to my eye is far better looking than those aluminum things, and much more elegant than those fancily carved jobs.