I do not know what possessed me to arrange to have such a huge building project done in the depths of November. I should have known that the cheapest builders North London has in offer would not finish any project on time – and sure enough now we’re being told that the job won’t be done before Christmas which means we’ll be celebrating the festive season in the middle of a building site as “the boys don’t work over the holidays”. In the meantime, I’ll have to cook Christmas dinner in a half finished kitchen and we will have to put up with an annoyingly cold draught when the wind blows from the east.
Many of us are getting updates about recent products of different companies, we get constant support from manufacturers when we buy certain products and always keep in touch with the organizations providing us with services - for example broadband or mobile services. We also stay updated about employment opportunities like London teaching jobs or freelance photography work. However, we subscribed and wished to receive such information. And another industry is making anything it can to make us hate checking our emails for regular products - the so called spam industry.
The Spamming industry is what is one day going to make me use paper mail rather than using my email services. Every morning when opening my mailbox, I need to delete a dozen of messages that I would never subscribe for receiving - messages such as ’great iPhone deals for minors’, ’amazing work opportunities for single moms'and so on. I mean, this is the only making me reluctant to even check my mailbox and simply delete all new messages that I got.
And despite being angry, at the same time, I am feeling quite curious - why are not regulators of internet traffic doing something about it? Why there is not greater protection to web personalities created through emails and why aren’t companies spamming our mails fined? Such questions beg for answer and yet there is an even more annoying part of the problem - the spam mail is sometimes quite densely populated with viruses that might ruin your computer (if not something more serious). So even if a spam mail gets me interested in some marketing message, it might turn out to be a completely different thing and shoot at my computer leaving me moneyless and with broken computer.
So once again? Why do we keep up with the spamming industry? Can’t we simply subscribe and choose the advertisement messages we would be interested in rather than suffering the mail deleting procedure almost twice a day, every day!
Once some powerful people sat down and decided tat Europe would be a continent of freedoms, a continent where mutual prosperity and political unification would be the ideals that would contribute to the establishment of a single European nation. And these people were right - the creation of the EU is a step guaranteeing the accumulation of common values for the European peoples, a way of showing that unified, the people of Europe are stronger, more confident and capable to caring for each other. But some significant concepts are still far too young to be adopted by Europeans.
Freedoms are guaranteed in the EU - I can easily export my CD printing business across the EU because freedom of movement of services, capital and people is free. However, the creation of another component is what bothers me - the creation of the border free area called Schengen. It is a border removal for European citizens meaning that once crossing a Schengen border, a person would be allowed to travel around the union without worrying about border checks and constant inspections.
What is troubling in this concept: imagine millions of people travelling across Europe daily - some of them are doing business, others are tourists and so on. Now imagine a nation as young as Europeans (as a nation and not separate peoples) - it dates to only a few decades back when the term was first used. Now the concept of federation like the US is largely used to describe what Schengen is all about.
However, there is a risk that Europe might get endangered - allowing too many people the freedom to suddenly extend their areas of residence is a potential risk not only for terrorism. Hundreds of people would attack the economically strong countries in order to obtain better welfare options (countries such as Germany and France - UK not in Schengen), criminals would be enabled to easily cross borders before being caught and thus avoid justice because incorporating common borders does not mean incorporating common approach to fighting crime.
So despite looking pretty good and quite strong as a concept the Schengen Area might not be really that safe - speaking both economically and socially.
Growing up in a village where there was little to do at night except hang out at the bus-stop, I dreamed about the day that I would be able to afford a car and explore the world with total independence. Just to get in it and zoom down to the seaside when I wanted, or visit a friend without having to worry about what time the last bus was. Owning a car was a fantasy which wasn’t fulfilled until I was eighteen years of age, and when it finally did happen the bubble burst in a big, alarming way.
For the first time I was learning that actually, owning a car wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Yes it was great for independence, but it wasn’t exactly good for other things, namely money.
It’s due to the rising cost of fuel and oil that many of my friends have started selling their cars. Why have they started selling their cars? Because the cost is just too much and they can’t justify it. But then, it’s hardly surprising when you look at all the things you need when you have a car…
Should we all sell our cars and jump aboard the eco bandwagon and start walking everywhere without any shoes on, stopping to hug each and ever tree along the way?
Insurance comes top of the list, of course. It’s vital that you have horse insurance if you own a horse, and insurance for life if you do a lot of bungee jumping, so this should come as no real surprise. But when you add on to that the cost of a yearly MOT, car tax and parking fines, things start to look positively scary. And all this before an oil spill, which further pushes up the cost of already rocketing fuel prices.
So, then, what is the solution? Should we all sell our cars and jump aboard the eco bandwagon and start walking everywhere without any shoes on, stopping to hug each and ever tree along the way? Well, in a word, No. If we did that then that wouldn’t solve anything. People would still be driving around, it just wouldn’t be us. Once again it would be a false solution to a very real problem that each and every one of us must address.
Maybe, once electric cars start to become cheaper and more efficient – and also offer us similar driving potential as conventional fuel powered cars – we’ll all find a way to own a car. But until that day it looks like a much better idea to favour public transport over our own personal independence giving vehicle.
I have no idea why I waited so long but it seemed to be worth it. Looks like the aftermath of the onslaught from Friends, Happy Days, Full House and Seinfeld, Showtime and HBO production really stepped up the soaps competition. After watching White Collar, Dexter, Mad Men, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire and a couple of other series, 6ft under is the latest to the edition. And I must say, although the plot sounds completely unattractive from the cover case, More
One of the most common things you’ll hear from Mac users is “I’ve never really had a virus”, whilst their Windows based friends suffer the onslaught of Trojans, Viruses, Malware, Spyware, Browser Hijackers, Diallers and Toolbars. However, now and again, a new virus comes along that enters the Mac arena.
One such problem is MAC Defender, distributed by targeting commonly used Search terms and paid listings this virus preys on users who are looking for legitimate virus protection software for More
I can remember, as a child, getting Velcro shoes. It was about the time when Velcro finally became cool and everyone wanted it. It was also the most annoying time to be an adult, I suspect. In the playground at break literally all you could hear was the sound of people ripping the Velcro tabs off their shoes and doing them up again…and ripping them again. We just could not get enough of it.
I was talking with my good friend about the results of a sibling dna test she had done when she suddenly asked if I had any idea about determining the amount of money that is needed to start a business. Here is some of the advice I gave her.
The world is now the world of business and in this world everyone wants to make a great name in the field of business but find it very hard to estimate More
Reasons that lead to baldness amongst men are many and the most common reason is hereditary. This problem as such is a common occurrence amongst men and many are afflicted with this very psychologically intensive problem. One can only educate oneself on the various facts about baldness and thereby make it easier to deal with this issue. Knowing that this is a common occurrence gives one the satisfaction that such an ill looking effect is not descending upon the pate More
Many couples tend to be married each year due to finding each other through online dating. Should you be interested or positively involved in online dating services there are certain issues you should know to ensure your experience is more satisfying.
Choose an online dating site based on the needs you have. You can choose from distinct relationship types to locate a date; there are more laid-back chatting and teasing type communities, there are sites based on certain personal traits More
