Mm-humm. My Pharmacy Law & Ethics background is more than two decades out of date, and specific to the UK as well, but I can't see the GPhC's inspectorate letting that one lie. The retail side of a pharmacy that sells non-medical items would be subject to normal retail regulations, but anything medical ...? That's another matter.
]]>Even with an ex-directory number (for some years) registered with the TPS, I'm getting this shit.
They're not just using autodialers, they're using VoIP gateways that cut their calling fees to just about nothing (as long as they stay off the mobile networks). POTS-over-landline is in danger of becoming unusable in the not-too-distant future without, at a minimum, a decent voicemail system with spam filtering.
]]>Ah hah ahahahahahhhh.
Already there.
I finally cancelled my landline a couple of weeks back. 75% of the calls I received were from "debt collectors" attempting to contact random people who have never had that number, but who had a name that (sometimes) sounded similar to mine. 20% of the remaining calls were from charities. Pretty much all the rest were wrong numbers. I realised that with election season coming up, I'd start to get lots of those as well.
So, less than 1% of calls on my landline were calls I wanted. And that's with me registered with "do not call" lists.
]]>Even so I deleted my account on principle - it's one thing for me to blunder into some online scam - But I really don't want it getting hold of my friends list and marketing to them.
]]>I need a phone answering system which can do simple things the equivalent of captcha; "what is 21 plus 14; enter your answer now", and only on successful value will my phone ring.
]]>And you probably have phone handsets with working displays, and a memory that isn't so full of decades-old junk that you can memorize eleven digit numbers for everyone you meet ...
]]>Or if the algorithms decide that you should now be subject to additional screening at airports. According to persistent rumour, that runs on the basis of "would not know where the error is or have a chance to correct it"...
]]>Bellinghman @ 112 Finmere - as on the late-lamented Great Central Railway?
Charlie @ 120 I/We are on Telephone preference, too ... But the bastards still do it, by basing themseleves in Asia or the USSA - wher Brit/EU law does not run. Um. As yes @ 131 too ... A lot are automated, and you can't do anything. Sometimes, there is a real person on the other end. The ONLY thing to do then is to be as personally, racially abusive as possible - deliberately breaking UK law in fact. THEN they're in a cleft stick. Nice.
Paul Knight @ 144 That is why "Private Eye" call them CRAPITA. Bacuse they are.
Andrew G @ 155 Ah you obviously have nothing to fear - because you have nothing to hode. Excuse me, but.... terminally stupid is my politest response.
Steve Masters @ 161 "In other words, do you abide by the law or do you abide by what you can get away with?" Absolutrly spot on. And you've reminded me of another authoritarian horror of absolute dictatorship coming down a road near you. Off-topic, perhaps, but I don't think we can afford to ignore it. It's called the ESM and replaces, or will replace the EFSF. It's really scary - a recipe for absolute dictatorship, with full leagal immunity for those in appointed power.
The full treaty can be read HERE Please pay especial attention to articles: Preamble 4 - where does that money come from? See also Article 8. Article 5 - an unelected, appointed Board of Governors.... Article 27 is the really worrying one. Read THIS, from A 27 ... 3. The ESM, its property, funding and assets, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall enjoy immunity from every form of judicial process except to the extent that the ESM expressly waives its immunity for the purpose of any proceedings or by the terms of any contract, including the documentation of the funding instruments. 4. The property, funding and assets of the ESM shall, wherever located and by whomsoever held, be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation or any other form of seizure, taking or foreclosure by executive, judicial, administrative or legislative action. 5. The archives of the ESM and all documents belonging to the ESM or held by it, shall be inviolable. 6. The premises of the ESM shall be inviolable. 7. The official communications of the ESM shall be accorded by each ESM Member and by each state which has recognised the legal status and the privileges and immunities of the ESM, the same treatment as it accords to the official communications of an ESM Member. 8. To the extent necessary to carry out the activities provided for in this Treaty, all property, funding and assets of the ESM shall be free from restrictions, regulations, controls and moratoria of any nature. 9. The ESM shall be exempted from any requirement to be authorised or licensed as a credit institution, investment services provider or other authorised licensed or regulated entity under the laws of each ESM Member.
And Article 30 Immunities of persons 1. In the interest of the ESM, the Chairperson of the Board of Governors, Governors, alternate Governors, Directors, alternate Directors, as well as the Managing Director and other staff members shall be immune from legal proceedings with respect to acts performed by them in their official capacity and shall enjoy inviolability in respect of their official papers and documents.
They can steal all your money, do anything at all, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Admittedly this ONLY applies/will apply inside the Euro-zone, as presently proposed, but ..... I think Prince Paul Metternich would have loved it!
]]>That's not a complaint about the blog, but just me marking out* about how many of your books give me a feeling of melanoia (which I've heard is the converse of paranoia -- I mean the feeling that unseen forces are contriving to work together in your favor.)
I suspect it's just that we're of similar ages and seem to have been in the same tech, fan and gaming sub-cultures (perhaps excepting pro wrestling, in your case.) So for me, reading your books gives me a lot of "I wish I'd said that!" moments.
But here on the blog, you're just another grumpy mortal with sysadmin status.
Currently, in our local Tesco, there are 250 gramme blocks of Tesco Lighter Mature Cheese for £1.69 a time.
There are also 500 gramme blocks of Tesco Lighter Mature Cheese for £4.11 a time.
(Prices as per the linked web-pages, correct at time of going to post.)
Now, conceded, there is a 3 for 2 offer on the large blocks, which brings their price a little below that of the small blocks, at the equivalent of £1.37/250g. Except the small blocks also have a 3 for 2 offer.
I have also seen the "2 for a little bit more than twice the price of one" pricing.
No, either Tesco are getting sneaky right now, and hitting those who try to save by buying in bulk, or (and actually I believe this more) they're currently pricing with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. If they're running dumb algorithms, it's possible that pricing bulk quantities at more than smaller ones does bring more income, and that the consumers aren't as rational as we ought to be.
]]>I'm fairly sure it didn't use to happen in Tesco, but I've started seeing it in the last year or so. Totally coincidentally, code that I wrote is now involved in the printing of the shelf edge tickets I'm seeing, but since our code only has read access to the pricing database, we're pretty sure it's not us.
]]>Facebook (in particular) runs the real risk of spending a decade fighting the EU, just as Microsoft did.
The distraction arguably cost Microsoft its industry dominance.
Smart Californian companies might want to avoid that error.
]]>And Klout are a little bit sensitive about me :)
(The link goes here, for those who aren't too interested in the rest of your rather commercially oriented blog)
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