Paradoxical

Yesterday, I went out and bought a new DECT phone, as the old one’s batteries were just on this side of knackered. This time, it was the BT Synergy 3200 which can also send SMS text messages.

The way it does the text messages is a pain in the arse – there’s a middle layer between sending and receiving, where it all goes through some company called Bizzyline (sic) – they’ve no web-presence, which is why there’s no link. If I send a text message from my landline, it gets my number appended to the bottom of it, wrapped in #’s, so it looks like ‘#0161xxxxxx#’ – and it needs that to be in the message when it’s replied to. Fair enough. It’s a pain in the arse, but fair enough.

Then I read the Bizzyline Terms & Conditions (I’d scan this in, but can’t be arsed, so you’ll have to take my word for it) that (and this is a quote) “SMS, like any Service, can allow strangers to meet and chat anonymously. … Don’t give out your name, address, or telephone number via SMS.” I’ve emailed them to ask how the hell I can send a text message without revealing the phone number. When/If I get a reply, it’ll be posted here too.

Sounded better in the head

While I can understand what was meant by the headline in this story over at the Guardian, I’m sure it could have been phrased better.

After all, “Troops return to massacre town” sounds far more like “Troops return to kill of every inhabitant in town” than it does to “Troops return to town where massacre (and do six people really qualify as a massacre?) happened earlier this week”

See, Tabloid headlines are infectious.