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Posted: 09-10-2012 12:08 Post subject:

Ramonmercado - I don't condone prison sentences for freedom of speech. The consequences of publicly being a sick minded idiot will be social. Despite his bravado, being shunned by a large section of your own community cannot be a pleasant experience. That should be punishment enough.

Posted: 09-10-2012 19:14 Post subject:

Posted: 09-10-2012 23:50 Post subject:

Posted: 11-10-2012 13:26 Post subject:

Posted: 12-10-2012 08:16 Post subject:

French phone bill waived after 12qn-euro blunder

A woman in south-west France, who received a telephone bill of nearly 12 quadrillion euros, has had the real amount she owed waived - after the company admitted its mistake.
Solenne San Jose, from Pessac outside Bordeaux, said she received a huge shock when she opened the bill for 11,721,000,000,000,000 euros (£9.4qn). Shocked

This is nearly 6,000 times France's annual economic output. Cool

She had requested her account be closed after losing her job last month.
The former teaching assistant said she "almost had a heart attack. There were so many zeroes I couldn't even work out how much it was".

The phone company, Bouygues Telecom, initially told her there was nothing they could do to amend the computer-generated statement and later offered to set up instalments to pay off the bill. Shocked

In the end, the company admitted the bill should have been for 117.21 euros only, and eventually waived it altogether.
It has also apologised for the gaffe, which it says was down to a printing error and a subsequent misunderstanding between the client and staff at their call centre.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19908095

Posted: 12-10-2012 11:12 Post subject:

That made me chuckle.

Posted: 13-10-2012 07:48 Post subject:

Essex couple tear down walls in 'beeping sound' search

A retired couple driven to despair by a constant beeping sound ripped out walls in a bid to find the cause - only to find it was from a smoke alarm buried in a chest of drawers.
Paul and Jeanette Henry, of Frinton, Essex, are facing a bill of hundreds of pounds to replace the plasterwork.

Mrs Henry, 68, said she was "absolutely amazed" when they found the culprit - a 10-year-old smoke alarm in an old desk.
"We were tearing our hair out," she said.

The couple, who first heard the beeping a year ago, said they had called out electricians to try to find the cause.
The beeping eventually stopped during the summer.

However, on returning from holiday a fortnight ago, they discovered the beep had not only returned but it was now going off every 30 seconds, night and day. Shocked

"Paul took up all the floorboards in the attic but it was getting silly," said Mrs Henry.
"I was even going round listening to all the grandchildren's toys in case a battery was wearing out.
"We had to do something as we were getting desperate; we weren't getting any sleep."

Another electrician suggested a "mischievous builder" might have dropped an alarm between two plasterboard walls so builders were called to knock them through.
They did not find anything.
"We were tearing our hair out, we now had two gaping holes and there was still this blessed bleep," said Mrs Henry.

Eventually Mr Henry, 67, a retired print worker, decided to turn all the lights off upstairs and try to locate the sound in the dark.
He followed the noise to an old chest of drawers on the landing and, as he opened the desk, the sound got louder.

Mrs Henry said: "Right at the back he found a smoke alarm, which must have been about 10 years old, whose battery was running out and bleeping away quite happily to let us know.
"We couldn't believe it, we were absolutely amazed, but really relieved, although we still keep thinking we can hear it."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-19921055

Posted: 19-10-2012 17:25 Post subject:

M&S lorry gets stuck under York's Micklegate Bar

Fire crews in York have freed a lorry after it became stuck under one of the city's medieval gateways.
The Marks and Spencer lorry was travelling through the central arch of the 12th Century Micklegate Bar on Thursday night when it got stuck.

Micklegate Bar is one of four medieval gateways into the city and has a height restriction of 8ft 6in (2.59m).
The City of York Council said it had carried out an inspection of the bar and there was no structural damage.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said it had cut away a spoiler from the cab of the lorry in order to free it.

The incident prompted numerous comments on Twitter with many people using humour based on recent M&S television adverts.
Chris Wilkie wrote: "This is not just any lorry getting stuck...but an M&S lorry." Very Happy

"No ordinary accident. A Marks & Spencer Accident," was the comment from Andrew Little. Cool

The supermarket chain has not commented.

Since 1389, in a tradition established by King Richard II, monarchs visiting York must formally request permission to enter the city at Micklegate Bar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-20001098

Posted: 06-11-2012 23:03 Post subject:

Accounts merged after name mix-up by Prudential

Tens of thousands of pounds ended up in the wrong savings account following a mix-up over two customers with the same name and date of birth.
Insurance company Prudential mistakenly merged the records of the two customers in March 2007.
The mix-up, which continued for more than three years, resulted in large amounts of retirement savings ending up in the wrong account.

Prudential UK has been fined £50,000 by the Information Commissioner.
"This case would be considered farcical were it not for the serious sums of money involved," said Stephen Eckersley, the commissioner's head of enforcement.

A spokesman for the Prudential said that the confused names of the two savings customers were "not uncommon". He apologised and said that the customers had been compensated.

But he added that the problem originated from a mistake by one of the customer's financial advisers.
The two customers, who have not been identified, shared the same first name, the same surname, and the same date of birth.
This led to their two accounts being mistakenly merged by Prudential. It was 42 months later that the confusion was eventually resolved.

In the meantime, Prudential was told about the mistake on several occasions, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said.
This included a letter from one of the customers involved in the mix-up pointing out that he had not changed his address for 15 years, so there was clearly a problem.

The fine imposed by the ICO related to the failure of the company to investigate fully when alerted to the problem.
It is the first penalty handed out by the ICO which does not relate to data being lost by an organisation.
Previous fines charged to other businesses have resulted from the loss of disks or memory cards containing customers' information.

"In this case two customer files were consistently confused and the company failed to remedy the situation despite being alerted to the problem on more than one occasion before it was finally resolved," said Mr Eckersley, of the ICO.
"While data losses may make the headlines, most people will contact our office about inaccuracies and other issues relating to the misuse of their information.
"Inaccurate information on a customer's record, particularly when the record relates to an individual's financial affairs, can have a significant impact on someone's life.

"We hope this penalty sends a message to all organisations, but particularly those in the financial sector, that adequate checks must be in place to ensure people's records are accurate."

Prudential has now improved training for staff and updated its customer records processes, the ICO said.
A spokesman for the insurance company said: "We regret that this incident occurred and was not resolved more quickly. The circumstances surrounding this case are unique.
"The accidental merging of the two customers' details was not the result of system or process failures. It originally happened when the financial adviser of the first customer mistakenly provided the address of the second customer to us and requested that we change the first customer's registered address.

"We co-operated openly and fully with the review and we accept the fine imposed."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20221648

This is of interest to me as I was at school with another boy with the same name as me (first name, middle name, and surname!), but at least we didn't have the same DoB!

Posted: 05-12-2012 22:48 Post subject:

I can see the Mails twist on this, mayor hopping mad.

Posted: 05-12-2012 23:06 Post subject:

Posted: 16-12-2012 10:44 Post subject:

A 1955 mistake led to Xmas joy for generations of kids:

Santa ditches Google for Microsoft
After years with Google, the US military's Santa tracking service is switching to Microsoft Bing.
7:15AM GMT 16 Dec 2012

Since the 1950s, Norad, the North American Aerospace Defence Command, has been giving children updates on Santa's progress from the North Pole each Christmas Eve.
Norad has teamed up with Google to track Santa's progress online for the last five years but this year Microsoft is sponsoring the service for the first time.

A NORAD spokesman told Search Engine Land: “NTS [Norad Tracks Santa] and Google mutually agreed to go in new directions.”
NORAD has also built its own apps for Windows Phone, Android, and iOS, along with a Windows 8 app this year.

The Santa-tracking tradition began in 1955 after an advertisement misprinted a telephone number for children to call Santa. The phone number in fact put children through to the Commander-in-Chief's operations 'hotline' for CONAD, the forerunner of Norad. Shocked

The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had staff check the radar for Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called the hotline were given updates on his location as he made his journey. Cool

Geekwire commented: "This is a score for Microsoft, as nearly 25 million people are expected to follow Santa this year. Last Christmas, the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center in Colorado Springs received more than 102,000 calls, 7,721 e-mails and reached nearly 20 million people in more than 220 countries around the world."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/9745963/Santa-ditches-Google-for-Microsoft.html

Posted: 23-01-2013 09:42 Post subject:

Mix-up sparks two hour Lizard dog owner search
2:00pm Tuesday 22nd January 2013 in News

In circumstances resembling a plot straight out of a shaggy dog story, police officers and coastguards spent more than two hours searching for the master of a stray dog – whose owners each thought the other had it.

The dog, believed to be called Musky, was found at Kynance Cove, near The Lizard, by a member of the public, who called the police to say the animal had been roaming and “crying” for most of the day.
They were concerned that the dog’s owner might be stuck at the bottom of the cove, as the dog had a coat on and did not look abandoned.

Police officers and Mullion Coastguard’s cliff rescue team were scrambled, with a police helicopter and a search and rescue crew from RNAS Culdrose also put on standby although neither were called out in the event.
It was discovered that the dog was micro-chipped, with a contact number registered for someone in Falmouth.
With the person out of contact, however, police officers were forced to carry out a search of the area around their address.

Meanwhile coastguards carried out a search of the cliff path and shoreline in case someone was in trouble.
At 5pm a woman called to say the dog had been re-homed with a Constantine family. At around the same time a couple approached police officers at Kynance saying they owned the dog.

A police spokesman said: “They had brought two vehicles with them and both thought each other had the dog. They got home and then realised.”
The spokesman stressed the importance of owners having their pet information updated.
He said: “If the dog had got a tag with the owner’s name and address on it this could have saved a lot of time. I would encourage all dog owners to check their animals have some contact detail on them, in case they get lost.”

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10171566.Mix_up_sparks_two_hour_Lizard_dog_owner_search/?ref=mr

Posted: 29-01-2013 08:55 Post subject:

Anger over Twitter porn gaffe on Vine video service

Users have reacted angrily after a pornographic video appeared as an "Editor's Pick" on Twitter's new video service, Vine.
The six-second clip appeared at the top of users' home screen - covered by a warning notice.

After word spread on Twitter, the image was soon removed, but had by then made the "Popular now" ranking.
Twitter apologised to users, blaming "human error" for the video's appearance.
"A human error resulted in a video with adult content becoming one of the videos in Editor's Picks, and upon realising this mistake we removed the video immediately," the company said in a statement.
"We apologise to our users for the error."

Vine had been facing criticism over the amount of pornography being shared by users on its service.
But those images were generally only viewable to those who specifically looked for them by using search terms.
By being chosen as an Editor's Pick, the video appeared at the top of screen when users opened the app.

One user, Taylor Winkelmeyer, wrote: "I clicked on the link because I thought the warning was a joke.
"I am furious I had to see something like this. Someone please tell me how to get it off my feed."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21229764

Posted: 29-01-2013 11:37 Post subject: