Facebook event for Jan 25th Andy Roberts night at Haverfolk http://www.facebook.com/events/297691586949028/
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Facebook event for Jan 25th Andy Roberts night…
http://distributedresearch.net/status/facebook-event-for-jan-25th-andy-roberts-night/
January 11 2012, 7:15am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
London 2012 tickets, Japan appeal and census targeted by scammers
Warnings issued over phoney doorstop callers, fake emails asking for money and too-good-to-be-true London 2012 Olympic tickets
This article titled “London 2012 tickets, Japan appeal and census targeted by scammers” was written by Jill Insley, for The Observer on Sunday 27th March 2011 00.05 UTC Bogus doorstep callers have been posing as census collectors to try to get into people’s homes – and householders are being warned to be on their guard for fraudsters after today’s deadline for filling in the form. Following an attempt by a fraudster purporting to be a census official from the county council to get into an elderly man’s home in Leicestershire, the Local Government Association has urged people to be vigilant. Paul Bettison, the chairman of local government regulation, said: “Fraudsters are known to take advantage of any situation. If they can make money from it, then they will give it a go. “People visiting a household for official business should be able to provide photographic identification and unless that is the case, nobody should allow anyone access to their property.” Official census collectors will, from 6 April, visit a small number of households that have failed to complete the census – which can be returned in a pre-paid envelope or filled in online – but they will provide identification. Anyone who thinks they have been targeted by a bogus caller should call the census helpline on 0300 0201 101. Fraudsters have also been trying to scam money out of people wanting to donate cash to the Japan Tsunami Appeal. A spokesman for the Red Cross said: “There are some fraudulent emails circulating claiming to be raising money for the Japan Tsunami Appeal. These may request that you donate through companies like Western Union or Money Bookers, which we would never do. If you suspect an email is fraudulent, do not open attachments or click on links. “In addition to this we have also received reports of people requesting money over the phone, or cash on the doorstep. Although the British Red Cross does undertake both street and telephone fundraising, our calls are for regular commitment by direct debit and not for donations by cash or credit card.” An email forwarded to the Observer includes a donation form requesting details that including the donor’s credit card details, their mother’s maiden name, driver’s licence or passport details, and Verified by Visa password. Mark South, a spokesman for the Red Cross, confirmed the email was fake and added that people wanting to donate money to Japan should ensure they never divulge their personal details to an unknown source. Donors should only give through trusted channels, such as the Red Cross website or via the British Red Cross hotline on 08450 53 53 53. All British Red Cross marketing email addresses end @mail.redcross.org.uk, and the charity does not use general email providers such as BT Internet or Gmail to solicit donations. Anyone suspicious of an email they have received should contact the British Red Cross supporter care team on 0844 87 100 87 or at supportercare@redcross.org.uk. The 2012 Olympics have also proved a temptation for fraudsters who have set up websites to act as fake or unauthorised ticket outlets for the games. The official Olympic website – http://www.london2012.com – includes a tool that will check if a website is a genuine outlet, plus a list of known unauthorised websites claiming to offer London 2012 tickets. These include genuine-sounding names like http://www.london-olympics-tickets.org.uk and http://www.london-2012-games.com/2012-olympics-tickets – two sites that are defunct or look like they have been abandoned. However, other fake or unauthorised sites are still live, including http://www.londonolympicstickets.com and http://www.2010olympictickets.net. Real tickets will carry the name of the purchaser, and it is illegal to sell them on through auction sites such as eBay or to ticket resale sites. Those who buy legitimate tickets but can’t go to the event will be able to resell through an official resale exchange: this will launch early in 2012 before tickets are sent out, and will set prices at the tickets’ face value. But, a spokesman for London 2012 admitted, many people will have had tickets bought on their behalf and while spot checks may be carried out, only those with cancelled or fake tickets are likely to be turned away from events. He said it would be impossible to check whether all tickets are being used by the original purchasers and their friends and families as 8.8m tickets will be issued for events at 34 venues over 16 days. “We’re more interested in protecting people from losing their money through the purchase of fake tickets,” he added. Michael Norton, the managing director of PayPoint.net, said: “We expect fraud levels to increase dramatically following the passing of the ticket application deadline on 26 April. Opportunistic fraudsters will be looking to take advantage of those unlucky consumers not able to get tickets for some of the most oversubscribed events.” Tickets may only be bought using a Visa debit, credit or pre-paid card, which enable consumers to claim all their money back if they do fall into the trap of buying fake tickets. Norton said ticketholders should check the London 2012 site for a list of the official sales channels, research the true cost of tickets and not be lulled into a false sense of security by a well-designed site – some of the fake ones look very legitimate. He added that they should print out or take a copy of all sellers’ details, including the terms of the ticket purchase, full contact information for the ticket seller, and any published criteria about ticket location and likely delivery date. This will let them pursue any issue with the order even if the seller website changes and will support any future credit card chargeback.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
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Related posts:London 2012: Ten best of the web Iran claims London 2012 Olympics logo spells ‘Zion’ London 2012 Olympics countdown clock stops
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March 27 2011, 10:00am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
May Day matters both for solidarity and our souls
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/05/may-day-matters-both-for-solidarity-and-our-souls
By all means celebrate St George’s Day as well but keep May Day as a bank holiday
Bluebells on May Day
This article titled “May Day matters both for solidarity and our souls” was written by Cole Moreton, for The Guardian on Saturday 5th March 2011 06.00 UTC Workers of Britain, unite! Rise and dance at dawn, or charm a worm out of the ground – or do anything, really, as long as it’s daft. May Day madness is under threat, and it is our patriotic duty to save it. The government wants to move the holiday, to celebrate St George in April or the battle of Trafalgar in October. Business leaders want to extend the tourist season, which is fair enough – but some also say that it would be more patriotic. That’s nonsense. English people don’t feel much affinity for their patron saint, who’s from Palestine anyway. And even the finest tourist officer would struggle to sell Parisians on the idea of coming over in the gloom of autumn for a day that marks the crushing of the French. In contrast, there is no day in the calendar more wonderfully British than May Day. This is the moment when May madness hits and our unique passion for doing eccentric things is seen once more in all its glory. Worms will be charmed, maypoles plaited and the sinister Obby Oss will stalk Padstow. Men and women will dance at daybreak in Dorset, re-enacting imagined fertility rites in or near the dominant part – so to speak – of the hugely well-endowed chalk figure at Cerne Abbas. The May Ball revellers of Oxford will risk their privileged necks jumping from the Magdalen Bridge in evening dress, even as a choir sings. And those are just the headline-making events. Right across the country, May Day is when the British people exercise their right to get outside and do something really silly. “We are eccentric,” I was told by Lesley Prince, a social psychologist and lifelong participant in civil war re-enactments. “It is part of the British national identity.” Of course, most of these “traditional” events are not nearly as long-standing as people claim. The crab apple fair at Egremont in Cumbria goes back to 1267, but the world gurning championships held there – apparently inspired by the sourness of the fruit – is a relatively modern invention. Worm charming in Blackawton, south Devon, appears beguilingly ancient and rustic but actually only started in 1984, when a bored local at the Normandy Arms wondered what happened to grass when you peed on it. He rose from his pint to find out, saw the ground come alive with worms, and a tradition was born. But whether these events are old or new, people love them. The numbers of participants and spectators have soared over the last decade or so. They generate income – people have got to eat hog roast and drink real ale while they do this stuff, obviously – but that’s not really what it’s all about. The point is to celebrate just being alive. Just being us. People on the left tend to be as embarrassed by morris dancing and maypoles as they are by the flag of St George. They would prefer to keep May Day for the workers, and for international solidarity. Which is fair enough, we need as much of that as we can get. But such squeamishness misses the similarity between the two strands of May Day. Both share the same spirit – a desire to resist being ordered about and told what to do. The British people can be a rowdy, bawdy, rebellious, fun-loving, mischief-making lot – when we’re at our best. That spirit has got stronger again in recent years, so that even our old Etonian prime minister must appear to be a man of the people. But moving the May Day bank holiday would be a big blow to that independent spirit, not least because many of the things we like to do just can’t be done in bad weather, which is more likely earlier or later in the year. Those rituals need to stay where they are, and we need to learn to love them, because there is a serious point here. Britishness is changing before our eyes, as ideas and cultures from all over the world remake us. Rather than lament the loss of our old certainties, we can – and must – choose to celebrate the possibilities of new Britishness. That means being open to the new – but it also means being proud of who we really are, which is a daft bunch of eejits. Let the tourism chiefs go charm a few worms, open their eyes and see May Day for what it is: a fabulous – and highly marketable – festival of Great British Eccentricity. We need it, for our souls. And anyway, who’d want to go cheese-rolling in the snow?
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
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March 5 2011, 4:30am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
St Andrew’s Day
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2010/11/30/st-andrews-day-2
Today, 30th November is St Andrew’s day. So in some countries, this would be my namesake saint’s day, which is like a kind of second birthday. Happy Birthday me. St Andrew’s Day in Edinburgh, however, has been cancelled due to snow! Tomorrow’s St Andrew’s Day celebrations have been cancelled. Organisers said the snow damaged two of the marquees, creating a potential public safety issue, and with the extreme weather set to continue, all events, including Tuesday evening’s Ceilidh Finale, have been cancelled. – Edinburgh Snowed Under at St Andrew’s Day
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Related posts:St Andrews Day Andrew Roberts – History of English Speaking Peoples Andrew Roberts
November 29 2010, 6:16pm | Comments »
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