Scam

Because I’m self-employed, I have my own limited company. It’s been useful, and continues to be so. However, today I got a piece of not-quite-junk mail from the Data Processing Protection Corporation (they have a domain here but it’s just a holding page) telling me that I need to be registered with the Information Commissioner under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Now, I know I don’t, and I’ve heard plenty about these scamming bastards who try to charge £95 for registration – which the IC does for £35. In short, it’s a con, targetted at the many company directors etc. who don’t have a clue. A quick Google search for the DPPC revealed a whole host of results, none of which were – shall we say – exactly flattering or complimentary to the scam-merchants. Also, the Information Commissioner has a list of the known scammers to date.

The moral of this story? Know what you’re talking about, and don’t believe anything from these conning bastards. I know Neveratoss got one of these letters recently too, so there’s obviously a resurgence of them coming out just in time for the festering season…

Scapegoating

Well, it’s come as no particular shock at all that Ian Huntley has been found guilty on two counts of murder. The shock (for me, anyway) was that he’d been accused no less than three counts of rape, one of indecent assault, and four of underage sex – and yet had never reached court on any of them. Each time, either the accusers backed down, or the CPS decided they couldn’t be sure of a conviction. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that what judges and juries are for? Rather than some bunch of pen-pushing bureaucrats?

(On a slight tangent, the CPS’s “What does the CPS do?” page answers the question with several photos of people, and fuck all information. How very apropos.)

In the bunch of scapegoating and “how could this happen?” hindsight that’ll ensue, it looks like background checks are going to be the main victim. But how can a check into the criminal record of an applicant be properly vetted if the court system, CPS, and police apparently cosnpire to make sure that people aren’t even cautioned, let alone accused? The “blunders” that allowed Huntley to work as a school caretaker can be laid directly at the door of the CPS and the relevant police forces for failing to prosecute on any one of these accusations. But instead we’ll end up with a specialist police unit based on the FBI which’ll still prove to be fuck-all use, because the Crown Procrastination Service will still fail to prosecute unless they’re pretty sure they can get a conviction.

Linkage

Would someone who’s viewed this site after coming from some discussion board on wilwheaton.net please tell me why I’m getting linked? The poxy message board won’t even let me read the posts, let alone say anything. I’m waiting to be authorised for a log-in so I can read it, but for now I’ve no idea whatsoever.

Thanks.

Allergic? Psychotic, more like.

via Gordon, a story I’d missed on the BBC about people who are allergic to christmas.

This will come as a surprise to some people, but I think this is absolute bobbins. People seem to use allergies as an excuse for many things now, in a similar way to how depression is an excuse for just about every work-shy sickie-puller on the planet. True allergic reactions can be bloody nasty – I’ve seen people have major ones to things like nuts and seafood, and they never joke about “being allergic to work” or anything else.

So yes, I can see that people who are allergic to latex would have problems with festive balloons, etc., and that dust-allergic people might have a reaction to a fake christmas tree that’s been in the loft for 11 months. But allergic to Christmas itself? Get a grip.

There are many ways I could describe my feelings about Christmas. Most of them would involve a large selection of four-letter words, and probably some frothing at the mouth. But I’d never say I was allergic to it. I don’t even have a phobia about the Festering Season™. I simply dislike it. (Well, OK, bloody loathe it – but that’s still not a phobia)

Mayfly

Looking back on it, my 2002 Mayfly Project entry was this :

Split up, pissed about, started d4d, found work, read logfiles, wrote loads, avoided Christmas. Good year.

A year in 20 words. Quite a challenge – so, what am I going to put for this years? I’ll add it in here when I’ve decided…

Well, I’ve done two – one for the site, one for me. Maybe that’s cheating, I don’t know. D4D™’s one was :

Ambled along. Fought Wileys. Lost. Huge support. Changed URL. Carried On. 100,000th visitor. Thought about redesign and MT. Strange Year.

Mine, on the other hand, has been slightly more challenging, and has now been decided on as :

Dental work. Loads of it. Met friends. Lost friends. Stayed working. Two breakins. Moved. Manic. Huge SAD fit. What’s Next?

And that’s that. Roll on 2004.

In the meantime, add your own year to the Mayfly Project. Thanks Meg.

Pissed Off

While I was in HMV yesterday, I spotted a long-time favourite film of mine, Nikita, on DVD – brilliant. However, it’s the bloody dubbed version, rather than the subtitled one – it’s still a good film, but I bloody hate the dubbing. It’s so annoying, watching lips move and not match the words.

Gnomes

Ah, the joys of a failed sense of humour. I love the idea of sending a letter to gnome owners threatening eviction of said gnomes because they’re in violation of planning laws. Having done my fair share of gnome kidnappings, along with a couple of “world tours” for the hostage gnomes (including sending postcards home – I like having friends on round-the-world journeys!), the idea of an eviction notice just makes me grin evilly…