How to get round the 'bedroom tax'

Lots of people are very upset in the UK over what has come to be known as the 'bedroom tax' or 'Under occupancy rules'. It hits poorer families renting from their local authority or a housing association hard.

What is the 'bedroom tax'?

The  'bedroom tax' is reform to the way housing benefit is provided in England, Scotland and Wales. It is due to be start on 1st April 2013.

The Government calls it removing the 'spare room subsidy' but it's also been referred as an 'under-occupation charge'.

Where does it apply?

The rules apply to those of working age (currently those born after  05 October 1951) living in council houses or housing association property.
Under the new rules
• Couples are expected to share a bedroom (Whether you snore loudly or can't stand the sight of each other  or not.)
• Two boys or two girls under 16 are expected to share
• A boy and a girl under 10 are expected to share

What does it mean to the poor?

The changes mean a cut to the amount of housing benefit people will receive if they are deemed to have a spare bedroom in their council house or housing association home.Those with one spare bedroom will have their housing benefit cut by 14%. Those with two or more extra bedrooms get a cut of 25 per cent. Tenants on housing benefit will either have to make up the difference towards their rents themselves, or move in to smaller properties.

The government's idea is that they should reduce the housing benefit of those who have more bedrooms than they need. If a couple have one child and they live in a three bedroom house then the government says they should either move to a two bedroom house or rent out the spare room. By doing this they hope to reduce the pressure on housing and save a billion pounds a year. Seems a reasonable idea at first but:
1. Moving is expensive.
2. Where a family has split up keeping a bedroom available for when you look after children isn't allowed.
3. Those disabled can not assume a bedroom will be allowed for their carer or essential equipment - it's up to the council.
4. There are few available houses with one or two bedrooms
5. If you are settled in a location it's hard to be forced to move to a new location.
6. Should young children have to share a bedroom as the rules suggest?
7. If your spare room is caused by a death you have a year to find alternatives.
8. You may be forbidden to rent out a room as the government suggests in your rental agreement.

Has this sort of 'tax' been used before?

Window tax caused this blocked up window

Yes, we in the UK have had this sort of 'tax' before:
• In 1696 - 1851 a window tax was in force - we bricked up a lot of windows
• 1662 - 1689 a hearth or fireplace tax was introduced - we bricked  those up too.

Is there a way round the bedroom tax? 

Yes there is! A bedroom is defined as a room bigger than 70 square feet of floor space. Anything smaller is considered a box room. Many UK houses have a third bedroom little bigger than this. By building a false wall or a cupboard in this room it's floor space can be reduced to box room size. With careful design this permanent cupboard can be easily removed when this stupid regulation is repealed.
Unfortunately this is going to cost money for the materials - timber framing, plasterboard, a door. It may be you can persuade your housing association/council to help but if not then those least able to pay will have to do it all themselves.

If this proves useful to you can you do us a favour in return? Download a free copy of our A Vested Interest book from Amazon. Even if you don't read it it will help our ratings at Amazon. You can get the book at http://smarturl.it/avi and if you do want to read it, (It's a top 20 technothriller and romantic suspense), you can read it on a phone, a tablet, a computer or even - a Kindle!

Reading between Tesco's lines

Here's a quote from Tesco's website:

"When we became aware that two of our products had been contaminated with more than 1% horse meat, we immediately withdrew them from sale - our frozen Everyday Value beef burgers on the 15th of January and our frozen Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese on the 5th of February."

What a very cleverly worded statement. The implication being that 1% horsemeat had been found in these products. The reality is a little different. According to the BBC the Everyday Value beef burgers contained more than 29% horsemeat and the Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese more that 60% horsemeat! That is certainly MORE than 1%.

I'm also a little concerned that the implication is that up to 1% of horsemeat in a product is acceptable. 

Here's another quote from Tesco:

"So far, we have completed tests on 149 products as part of our new DNA testing programme.
149 products came back with negative results for horse meat. 

This is the start of our testing programme to support our promise that what’s on the label is in the pack. We are now extending our use of DNA testing to look at those products where we think that there is a greater risk of rogue ingredients being used."

Hang on a minute! What about the two products known to contain horsemeat? Shouldn't that be '151 products with 149 free of horsemeat.' You sell a lot more than 149 products are you going to test ALL the rest? What about lamb, pork and chicken products? Are you testing those to see if they contain substances other than what they should contain? I don't find that 'where we think there is a greater risk of rogue ingredients being used' at all reassuring. Does this mean you were aware of this risk before and did nothing?

Sorry Tesco but this damage control statement isn't going to cut it. The only thing that will restore confidence in your 'Everyday' products is complete honesty and openness. You've been selling products labelled 'Beef' which were not 'beef' and my understanding is that that's against the law. Granted you may have been mislead by your suppliers but we trusted you to check that your suppliers supplied genuine products and you appear to have let us down.

We recognise that you are not the only supplier at fault Iceland, Aldi, Findus and others share your blame. Just don't try to fob us off with talk of 1% and giving those who have bought 'beef' products that were not 'beef' money back would have been a better gesture. 

Update 26 Feb 2013

Iceland have now sent out emails about their food. Unlike Tesco they didn't try to be evasive:

some good news from Iceland.
All Iceland own brand products containing beef have been tested by an independent scientific laboratory to ensure that they are completely free of horse meat. I am very pleased to tell you that they found no evidence at all of any such contamination in any Iceland beef product.
We aren't at all complacent, and will be testing a wider range of other meat products in the weeks ahead; as we constantly check to ensure that everything we sell under the Iceland brand is made to the recipe we specified and is correctly labelled.
I am sorry for any worry you have been caused by the publicity around this issue.

They also took the opportunity to tell me that Iceland did not use MSG, mechanically recovered meat or GM foods in their own brand products - something I didn't know.

So: 

Tesco - you left me doubting your meat products still.

Iceland - I'm happy to buy from you again.

15 screen wallpapers

Over the years I've collected a number of images which I have set as screen wallpapers. Most of these I collected from the Internet. I don't own them. Please do not assume they are public domain. Since they are publicly available though, you should be safe to download them for personal use. Where I have details I've credited the original author or website. A few are pictures I took myself. Since my laptop computer has a 1920 x 1200 screen they are all quite large images.

I have no idea where this image came from. Original filename: 4c66e3eb0f678b561
5c81a4063a82474.jpeg
Size: 2048 x 1365
Download link

 This appears to be what is called  a HDR image (High Dynamic Range). I first came across this image on an HTC Desire phone and looked for a higher resolution image which I found at http://http://bradwhitt.com
Original filename: Beautiful-Land.jpg
Size: 2560 x 1712
Download link

At first I assumed this was the Norfolk Broads in England but then I noticed the Canadian flag on the boat.
The picture was taken by Janine DeBaise in Canada and shows her Father's boat. In the background is the US I believe. Janine uses this as her Twitter page background (@writingasjoe) and that's probably where I got the image. You can also find it at her blog at http://writingasjoe.blogspot.co.uk/
2007/06/gone-fishin.html
Size: 1511 x 977

This image was created by Rogerio Stefanuto of Brazil. It featured on his page at the Computer Graphic Society where he describes how it was created. http://stefanuto.cgsociety.org/
gallery/840553
Size 1600 x 1200
Download link

This image of a very pretty garden in Japan I found at http://www.hdwallpapers.in/
japan_digital_landscape_hd_wide-wallpapers.html
Sorry - no details of exactly where in Japan it is.
Size 1920 x 1200
Download link

I found this lake picture at www.wallpapers.org - a site which has many other attractive images
Again there are no details of the actual location.
Size 1920 x 1080
Download link

This image of hot air balloons at Cappadocia, Turkey is a National Geographic 'Best image of the Day'. It was taken by  Kani Polat,
Details
Size: 1600 x 1200
Download link

An amazing picture - Myst - Point Reyes National Seashore, California taken by Patrick Smith through a row of trees on the way to the Point Reyes Lighthouse.
Size: 1920 x 1200
Download link

This one is quite a small image but it still makes an excellent screen wallpaper. It's of Bambrough Castle in Northumberland and was taken by Dave Hudspeth. I got the copy I have from Visit Northumberland's Facebook page. You can get this image at http://www.redbubble.com/people/
davehudspeth/works/7216075-bambrough-rainbow

An image of the Space Shuttle on it's launch pad from NASA. Look carefully and you'll find some people in the picture which give you an idea of the scale.
Size: 3872 x 2592
Download link

Another National Geographic Photo of the day by  David Doubilet, David took this underwater picture of a river Bushman in a canoe in the Okavango River in Botswana.
Size 1600 x 1200
Download link

Yet another Photo of the Day from National Geographic. This one is of a oceanic whitetip shark in the Bahamas. The picture was taken by  Brian Skerry. Now the question is - is that shark in front or behind the diver?

One of my pictures now and no prizes for guessing it's of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. I took this picture in August 2006. If you would like to see a 360° panorama of Stonehenge try here. You'll need to have Java installed
Size: 1600 x 1200
Download link

This image is from Microsoft's Erie Autumn Theme for Windows 7 Download the theme from http://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows/halloween-download-theme They describe it as 'spooky park fog in Copou Park Iasi, Romania'
Size: 1920 x 1200

Finally this image was constructed for our book 'Stones, Stars and Solutions'.
It's not a real place unless you know of a pyramid in the Arizona desert near Death Valley.
Image size: 3643 x 2482
Download link

Sick of Flash crashing in Chrome?

Try this fix:

1. Open a new tab in Chrome, type into the address bar chrome://plugins and press Enter.
2. At the right hand side click 'Details'. You should now see there are two Flash files. Expand the list by clicking the + next to details if necessary.
3. Disable the version of Flash with the lowest version number

It's as simple as that!

If you still have problems then re-enable the disabled version and disable the other Flash file.

Getting the first line right in Word 2007+

Take a look at some professionally printed books. Examine the first line after a chapter heading or after a text break. Notice how it’s not indented?

Now look at the work of many indie authors and you’ll find few use the same style. Many are not aware of this convention. Others don’t know how to implement it – especially in an ebook. It’s not something I’ve seen discussed widely and it’s not obvious how to implement it in MS Word. If you read Smashwords style guide they state it shouldn’t be done! In general Smashwords is correct – you shouldn’t use text indents and paragraph spacing but that very first line is an exception and if properly done, Smashwords will accept this.

Here’s how to do it in Word 2007/2010+

Make sure your normal style is set up correctly first. I set my normal (default) style to be:

Now create a new style ‘No Indent’ exactly the same but with no first line indent. In this style set the style for the following paragraph to be ‘Normal’ style.

Now modify your Heading 1 style (the one you should use for chapter headings) so that it’s following paragraph is set to ‘No indent’ style.

If you are producing non-fiction and use Heading 2/3 for subheadings then set their following paragraph to be ‘No indent’ in the same way.
Create a style for your text breaks if you are using them. I use the ‘Normal’ style but centred. Again, set its following paragraph style to be ‘No indent’.

And there you have it. Word will automatically follow chapter headings and other headings with a ‘No indent’ line and your next paragraph will be indented as it should be. Converting the file to Kindle format via html and the Calibre program will produce the same effect. Saving as a .doc file before sending to Smashwords will produce similar results. Your printed book and ebooks will have just that little bit extra professionalism.

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Have you seen the blogs I wrote on editing and formatting?

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'Snow need to worry. 1963 was worse.

As usual a few flakes of snow and everyone panics. It seems drivers today have no idea of how to drive in snow. They feel themselves sliding or their wheels spinning and try to correct this by braking hard or accelerating. Both being the wrong way to correct things. The trick when driving in snow is to drive as though you have a wineglass which you don't want to spill, balanced on your dashboard. You don't brake hard and neither do you accelerate or turn sharply.  Leave a much bigger gap between you and the car in front and watch out for people who could slide into you. With good tyres and a little bit of care a small amount of snow - say less than ten inches, shouldn't stop you.

I do however remember an extremely bad winter. That of 1963. It was bitterly cold, the coldest on record with temperatures down to -18ºC, and it snowed in a big way! Incidentally at -18ºC putting salt on ice won't melt it.

That year I was living on a hill farm in the North Pennines. The first I remember of that winter was when my father opened the front door and was met by a solid wall of snow. The previous five winters at the farm had taught us to keep a shovel inside the house so a few minutes digging got us outside. There had been a heavy snowfall. Added to that a howling wind had picked up most of the snow on the fells above us and blew it all into drifts in the valley where we lived. It was one of those drifts which buried our front door and the window of our sitting room. The picture shows our family standing outside that door and window later that summer. That's me on the left.

We had to dig our way across the farmyard to the cow byre to feed the cows and while we were doing that the postman arrived. He had made it as far as our lane but had then given up. He left the mail for the village of Carrshield at the Chapel below our house saying, 'If anyone gets here from there or goes there - ask them to take it'. Carrshield was a mere 2 miles from our house, further up the valley so to a 14-year-old boy that was a challenge. I got prepared. By then we had learnt to wear two pairs of jeans, one inside our wellingtons and one outside. Not only did that keep out the bitter wind but it also prevented snow from getting inside wellingtons. I put on a thick pullover, mits, Woolen hat and two jackets, one with a hood. Looking like the Michelin man I made my way down the lane to the chapel, struggled to put the post bag over my shoulder and marched off into the blizzard.

About 200 yards further the road went through a series of bends, through a small wood and over a small stream. It was there I met one of our neighbours, Roland Johnson, trying to dig out his Landrover which had got stuck in the snow. I gave him a hand and he turned back towards his home. I continued up the road - or at least what I thought was the road since the snow had completely covered it, the wall at the left and the fence at my right. It was hard going since the snow was soft and deep. I sank up to my thighs in it and began to think plans for making a set of snowshoes out of old tennis rackets.

About another 20 yards and I got tangled up in something buried in the snow. Fence wires? Nope it was telephone wires still attached and normally 20 feet in the air. That's when I gave up! Carrshield's mail could wait.

The snow there turned out to be 22 feet deep after it had packed down and been dug out. One of the pictures I have of it shows my brother-in-law, Colin Graham, standing on the shoulders of a friend, Brian Myers, next to the drift. As you can see the snow still towers above them.

It took gangs of men three weeks to dig their way to Carrshield. Even then there was one road which remained closed even longer where it went through a cutting which had been completely filled with a 44-foot-deep snow drift.


As to that 44-foot drift; 1963 was the first year the council tried out snow blowers. They imported one from Switzerland, brought it by low loader to Hexham then drove it from there towards that drift. About 200 yards from it, it broke down and the drift had to be cut out by men with shovels and mechanical diggers.

Incidentally, those snow blowers made keeping the roads open much easier. They did flatten a few greenhouses though until the council erected signs saying 'Snowblower - Blow left'. The guide wheel they used left a track which we all learnt to avoid - get your foot in that on a slope and it was like wearing ice skates.

It took a long time for the snow to melt that year. In June, when I came home at half term for a holiday there was still snow in places.

Now if it should get as bad as this again here are a few tips about driving:

• DON'T - stay home unless it's absolutely essential.
• Remember, drive as though you have a glass of red wine on your dashboard and don't want to spill it.
• Don't think of going on a long journey without a full tank of fuel.
• Carry a snow shovel
• Carry some cat litter! It's a lot lighter than grit and works well in snow to give slipping wheels traction.
• Carry some flattened cardboard boxes. Place them under a slipping wheel.
• Shoes are good to drive in but carry boots to change into if you have to get out.
• If you are making a long journey - plan what you will do if you get stuck in a blizzard. Got warm clothes? A sleeping bag? Something to eat? Something to drink? 
• Carry a torch and some tealight candles. Tealight candles give a surprising amount of heat out, make a snowbound car a lot more cheerful and help rescuers find you.
• If your car is buried, you MUST keep the exhaust pipe clear. Otherwise, when you run the engine to warm up the car you could end up killing yourself through carbon monoxide poisoning.

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Ten predictions for 2013

Predictions for 2013

OK I've decided to play the oracle and look forward into the future. What will 2013 hold for us?

1. Sooner or later Israel and Iran will come to blows. This will inflame an already tense area. Pressure will be put on governments of Europe and America to support one side or the other. A total arms embargo supported by the US, Europe, Russia and China might delay the flashpoint. One thing is pretty clear, for Iran to lob a nuclear missile at Israel would be a good way for them to commit mass suicide. Israel would squash them. As to the rest of the Arab World - they might not like Israel but Arabs have never been fond of Persians! They might well sit back, let them fight it out and then think about dealing with a weakened winner.
2. The US economy will go from crisis to crisis with little improvement. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. There will be ever increasing calls from the 99% for increased taxation starting at about £60,000 ($100,000) Forget that taxation at $450,000.
3. Europe will be much the same as the US and will continue to go from crisis to crisis, shoring up until they follow Iceland's lead and jail the bankers.

4. Apple will ditch the mini iPad, replacing it with a 'Retina' version and annoying thousands who bought the current mini. This, together with Java being removed in October  to protect virus stricken Macs and those infuriated by Apple Maps will see the end of the 'Apple can do no wrong' era.
5. Technology will take enormous leaps and bounds with nanotechnology and genetics having major impact.
6. Memristors, almost unheard of today, will transform computers making processors faster, cheaper, more powerful and memory less expensive. Memristors will begin to take over from DVD and Blue Ray.
7. HP will make a comeback in a big way, largely as a result of their investment in memristors.
8. We will continue to hear of miracle drugs promising the end to cancer and this year - there's a good chance of these being produced.
9. Populations will become increasingly disillusioned with central government.
10. Carbon emission targets will not be met. Fuel prices will continue to rise and pressure will be put on governments to fund/support serious renewable energy projects. The debate over global warming will continue with ever greater extremes of weather being believed to be climate change. (Things should start to cool down in 2014)

Updates

Seems people can lose faith in Apple - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21186991

Exactly when does the new year start? (Reductio ad absurdum 3)

OK I promised in an earlier blog to tell you how September, October, November and December got their names so this is from my genealogy site http://genlinks.org.uk:

Before 1751 the year started on 'Lady Day' - 25 March. Until then, we used the Julian calendar (introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE) in the UK. This meant that 31 December 1740 was followed by 1 Jan 1740 and continued until 24 March 1740. The next day was 25 March 1741. This causes a lot of confusion to people researching their family history, so in the years before 1752, you may find dates in transcripts referred to as January 03 1740/1, indicating that this was the 3 January 1740 by the calendar at the time but, 1741 by our calendar. This double dating is used only on dates between 1 January and 24 March.


By 1751, it was realised that the Julian calendar did not keep pace with the Sun and that Easter was arriving later each year. A change was made to the Gregorian calendar (named after the Pope who worked it out), this meant the dates ran as follows:
• 1750 ran from 25 March to 24 March, 365 days
• 1751 ran from 25 March to 31 December, 282 days
• 1752 ran from 1 January to 31 December, 354 days. It should have been a leap year but, the 29 Feb. and 11 days from the 3rd tothe 13th September were missed out to bring the calendar back in line with the Sun).
• 1753 ran from 1 January to 31 December, 365 days
The change in calendar upset quiet a lot of people, there were riots in some parts of the country where people felt that 11 days were being stolen from their life.

The tax authorities never worked up the courage to tax people twice in less than 365 days and if you add 11 days to 25 March, you will find the date is 6 April - the start of the new tax year in the UK.


You should note that Roman Catholic countries had changed to the Gregorian calendar by papal edict in October 1582. Protistent countries were slow to adopt the much better Gregorian calendar. The UK was one of the earliest to adopt it; others did not do so until the 20th Century.


By the Julian calendar, September was the 7th month (Sep being the prefix for 7 as in septuagenarian , October the 8th month (oct meaning 8 as in octopus), November the 9th month and December the 10th month, hence their names. 



Incidentally, this was not the first time the calendar had been reformed but, is the only one you are likely to come across.
• From the sixth century to 1066, the year ran from Christmas Day to the 24 December;
• From 1067 to 1155, the year ran from the 1 January to 31 December; 
• From 1156 to 1751, the year ran from 25 March to 24 March.

That means the months September to December relate to the months following Lady Day - the 'Lady' in question being the Virgin Mary. 

Maybe we should re-name those months also to avoid offending non-Christians?

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Samsung Galaxy S3 Alarm - No sound Solution

My wife just upgraded her phone to a Samsung Galaxy S3 and ran into a problem. The alarm suddenly stopped playing an alarm sound. After going through the alarm and sound settings she passed the problem to me.

It took me a while to track down the problem. Lots of other people seem to be having it also. In the end I discovered the problem was caused by a telephone marketer and poor default settings on the Blocking Mode.

The Galaxy S3 makes it easy to block unwanted telemarketing calls and when my wife got one she immediately added it to the offered 'Blocking Mode'. Blocking mode was started and that's when her alarm problem began. She didn't notice it but she wasn't hearing incoming calls either!

It's easy to fix. From your home screen swipe down from the top right hand corner of the screen. You'll see at the top under 'Ongoing' Blocking mode. Tap it and remove the check mark from 'Disable alarm and timer' then go down the screen and turn 'Allowed contacts' to 'All contacts'. Had you noticed that your phone was not playing ringtones?

A very merry 'Seasonal Greeting' or 'Reductio ad absurdum 2'

Surely you mean Merry Christmas?

There are loads of people on Internet who are upset that some people use the phrases 'Happy Holidays' and 'Holiday season trees' instead of 'Happy Christmas' and 'Christmas trees'. Officialdom is making these changes so as not to offend those of other faiths and those who are not religious. Each year we get this but in most cases, it simply isn't true.

BUT if it was true...

Yes - I can see their point BUT we can't stop there. There's an expression 'Reductio ad absurdum' which means following the implications of something to an absurd conclusion. Let's apply a little of this to the days of the week.

How the days got their names

Mithras - the sun god

• Sunday meaning "sun's day", the name of a pagan Roman holiday. It's the same in German: Sonntag and Dutch: zondag. Both meaning 'sun-day'
• Monday Means Moon-day. The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon monandaeg. This second day was sacred to the goddess of the moon. In French: lundi; Italian: lunedi. Spanish: lunes. All from Luna, "Moon". In German: Montag; Dutch: maandag. [both: 'moon-day']
• Tuesday was named after the Norse god Tyr. The Romans named this day after their war-god Mars: dies Martis This is apparent in French: mardi; Italian: martedi; Spanish: martes.



Wodin and Frigg

• Wednesday was named after Wodan (Odin). The Dutch used the same god to get Woensdag. The Romans called this day 'dies Mercurii', after their god Mercury from which we get French: mercredi; Italian: mercoledi; Spanish: miércoles.
• Thursday is named after the Norse god Thor. In the Norse languages this day is called Torsdag. The Romans named this day 'dies Jovis' ("Jove's Day"), after Jove or Jupiter, their most important god. This accounts for the French: jeudi; Italian: giovedi; Spanish: jueves.

• 

  Frigg

  
  Friday is named in honor of the Norse goddess Frigg, the wife of Odin. Her name also accounts for the German: Freitag and Dutch: vrijdag. The Romans named this day after the goddess Venus (dies veneris). From this we get French: Vendredi; Italian: Venerdi; Spanish: Viernes.
• Saturday is from the Latin dies Saturni or "Saturn's Day", by the ancient Romans in honor of Saturn. This also gives us French: Samedi; Italian: Sabato; Spanish: Sábádo; German: Samstag; Dutch: zaterdag.

That means that every day of the week must be renamed so that the days do not offend those of other faiths (including Christian) and those who are non-religious and we can't stop there either:

The months too

• January is named after the Roman god of beginnings and endings Janus.
• February comes either from the old-Italian god Februus or else from februa, signifying the festivals of purification celebrated in Rome during this month.
• March is named after Mars the Roman god of war.
• April is OK because being in spring it got it's name from the Latin aperire, "to open". Think opening buds. Wait a minute - maybe that would offend those in the southern hemisphere where it would be autumn. Granted that's only 10% of the world population but we believe minorities should be able to dictate to the majority. Right?
• May gets it's name from Maiesta, the Roman goddess of honor and reverence.
• June was named in honor of Juno, another Roman goddess who was the wife of Jupiter and mother of Mars.

So that means we have to rename every day of the week and the first six months of the year so that we don't offend. Think of all the diaries and calendars which will need changing. Think of the problems it will give us when we try to remember the new names of the days and months or the problems it will cause our descendants in the future when they look up a date. On balance I think it might be better to stick with what we have and if we are going to do that we might as well stick with Christmas.

So everyone - I'm looking forward to Christmas this year and if you are offended by that then you are welcome to pay for the date changes and have the blame for all the trouble it will cause.

Postscript - I know someone will ask so here's the rest of the months:
July got it's name from Julius Caesar who was born in this month. August was named after the Emperor Augustus. Maybe those ones are OK.
We don't need to worry about September, October, November, December because they come from the Latin for seven, eight, nine and ten. Huh! Shouldn't that be nine, ten, eleven and twelve? No - but that's another story.

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Download a free copy of the book I co-author 'Immortality Gene'. It's a technothriller, romance, medical thriller, science fiction... a bit of everything. Even if you don't read it, it will help our ratings. Available at Amazon, iTunes, B&N and others FREE!

Reductio ad absurdum 1

I once heard the comedian Dave Allen tell this story as he took a drink from his whiskey glass:
"You know I read that 40% of accidents on the road are caused by people who drink. If you look at that from the other side that means 60% are caused by people who don't drink...," he paused and took another drink from his glass. "...so why don't they get off the road and leave us drunks to drive in safety?"

That's an example of 'reductio ad absurdum' or following implications to an absurd extent. I love them and I've been collecting them over the years:

From 'Monk-e-business' at http://www.melcroucher.com/melspages/zygote/

• How are you feeling? Buddhist monks are reckoned to be happy, enlightened folk. They are not burdened by possessions, and in fact they carry their material wealth around with them. All they own is a plain robe, and a simple bag containing a wooden bowl, a water strainer and a needle and thread. Last time Zygote checked, the full monk kit would only set you back twenty quid from Tesco’s “you shop, we drop” online service. Meanwhile, Zurich Insurance has recently profiled the exact amount of wealth the average British citizen carries around with them. Staggeringly, and the use of that word is highly appropriate, we are toting an average of £1,043 worth of kit around with us when we step outside the front door. Most of that is in the form of accessories and electronic gadgets, including MP3 players, laptops, phones, cameras, sat-navs and the like. If you think about these things at all, you may think that the more we are weighed down by all these bits of expensive kit, the less enlightened we are. But according to yet another government report, you would be wrong. There is one more important item that most of us carry around with us at all times, and it is represented by plastic credit cards encoded by smart little electronic chips. And what they represent is debt. Steaming great piles of debt. The average UK adult is in debt via credit cards, overdrafts and unsecured personal loans to the tune of £4,506. According to Zygote’s diamond-studded calculator, if you subtract the average UK portable wealth from the average UK portable debt, then we clock in at minus £3,463. In other words, thanks to useless electronic gadgets and virtual debt the average UK citizen is 173 times more likely to reach Nirvana than the average Buddhist monk. Now doesn’t that make you feel better?

From SOPA and Writers at http://www.epublishabook.com/2012/01/23/sopa-and-writers/

• SOPA as I understand it wants to block sites which contain pirated content. Presumably that will be done by removing the domain name from DNS servers. You would still be able to access the site provided you knew it’s IP address.
Sounds fine in theory but let’s take it to it’s logical extreme.
In the UK a student, Richard O’Dwyer, is being extradited to the US because he created a website which contained links to pirated material on other sites. HE DIDN’T HOST OR SHARE THIS MATERIAL! That’s not against the law in the UK. To support his very successful site he used advertising on it. That too is not against the law in the UK. According to the US he made thousands of dollars from this advertising (something I find hard to believe.) Now in the US it’s against the law to make a profit from promoting in any way pirate products. The US used laws created in the UK to ease the extradition of terrorists to ask for Richard’s extradition. He’s never been to the US and hasn’t broken any UK laws.
Now hang on a bit – I’ve seen pirated content on YouTube. I found it easily using Google. Both US sites and both making a LOT of money from advertising. Why are they not being prosecuted?
To make matters worse if you post a YouTube video or link to it from your blog or web page you will be breaking the law if your page contains advertising from which you profit. You will be linking to a site which contains pirated content and be making money from it. SOPA will make your prosecution easier for the US law.
I’ve done this myself here: http://jaydax.blogspot.com/2012/01/oops-i-just-broke-us-law-hope-they-dont.html
This is plainly ridiculous and if SOPA goes through – the law is the law and justice is blind.
SOPA does censor the internet – it will say which websites you can and can not look at. It’s a step too far and open to abuse by the law.

• 
  

How can a small bookshop make money from ebooks?

Bookshops everywhere are worried. There's a revolution going on and they are losing sales because of it. The revolution is that of ebooks!

Oh I know there are those who say 'I love the feel and smell of a proper book' but these are mostly people who have not yet got an ebook reader. Once these people have got their hands on one it doesn't take long for them to change their minds. That means fewer sales of paper books.

Yet we all still like going to the library and browsing the books in a bookstore. Having found the book we like do we then buy the paper format or simply make a note of it and look it up at Amazon later to get it in ebook format? I have to admit, I've done the latter many times but felt guilty that I've denied the bookseller a profit from the sale. He/she has, after all, helped me in my book purchase.

So how can the bookstore make money from ebooks? I think there is an answer, and one which is simple to put in practice.

How a bookstore can cash-in on ebooks

The bookseller makes use of Amazon's affiliate program (or others such as Smashwords.) Here's how to do this:

1. If you, the bookseller, have not already joined Amazon's associate program then sign up for it at:
   UK - https://affiliate-program.amazon.co.uk/
   US - https://affiliate-program.amazon.com
2. If you do not have a Twitter account then sign up for that at
   https://twitter.com/
3. Add the site stripe to your Amazon account
   https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/landing/tools.html
4. On your computer navigate to a book's page at Amazon and click the Twitter button on the associate site stripe toolbar
   
   
   Copy the text as far as the 'via@...
5. Paste that text into a QL generator page on Internet. I use the QR Code generator at http://goqr.me/
   
   At this stage you can edit the text to include the price and any other details you wish to include.
6. Copy the QR code generated and paste it into Word for further editing as follows:
   
7. Print this out on a self adhesive label and fix it inside the back cover (or on the back if there's space). You might also need to make a few posters advertising your ebook service and where the customer can get a free QR code scanner app for their mobile phone. (Try QR Droid) 

Customers browsing your books can scan the QR codes and buy the books immediately using Amazon's 'one touch'. You get the commission on the sale. 

Of course there is no reason why this should be restricted to using Amazon as an ebook provider. If an author comes into your store promoting his/her books negotiate a deal with them to sell their ebooks through Smashwords - Not only do they support more reading devices but they provide a higher royalty rate to the author - 85% and the affiliate rate can be set so that you get a higher commission on the sale than you would get from Amazon 30-40% would seem fair.

You might even end up making more money from ebooks than you do from paper books and you won't have to do a thing at the till!

Extending a wireless network (and curing Kindle dropped Internet connections)

After lots of experiments with different router settings I've come to the conclusion that Amazon Kindles just don't like connecting to BT Home Hub 3 routers. The problem I have is compounded by my house having three feet thick stone walls. If I'm lucky I'll get a three bar wireless signal. I finally decided that if I was to avoid tearing any more hair out, the way to cure the problem was to add an additional wireless router to my home network.

What you will need

Over the years I've moved homes several times and changed ISPs several times too. I've acquired a number of wireless routers so I didn't have to buy a second router. This is what you'll need:

• A 2nd wireless router. I had a spare one already but if you need to buy one expect to pay about £35 for a new one or £20 second hand. Ebay and Amazon both sell them as do computer shops.
• A length of CAT 5 Ethernet cable with an Ethernet plug on each end. Get the length you need plus a little extra. These can be bought ready made, in various colours, quite cheaply on Ebay.
• Cable clips to fit your Ethernet cable.
• A short Ethernet lead (one probably came with your routers)
• A computer to change the settings with.

Position the second router

Decide where you need your extra router. It needs to be near a power socket and also somewhere easy to run a cable to. For the moment lay out the cable which will connect the routers without fastening it down or connecting it at either end.

Find out some information about your current router

Now you need to find out the IP addresses that your existing router uses. On your computer go to a command window and type in  IPCONFIG then press Enter. Make a note of your 'gateway'. Here's what I got typing this in on a laptop - the red arrow shows what you are looking for:

Next go to a web page and type the gateway address into the URL/address bar. In my case 192.168.1.254

You will need to know the router admin password. Usually this is written on the back of the router or is blank. On a BT Home Hub 3 its on the pull out tab at the top of the router. If you can't find it then read the manual which came with your router or go to the manufacturer's site and find the default password there. If you changed the password (as you should) and forgot it, then reset the router, usually by pushing a paperclip into the reset hole and holding it in for 10-15 seconds. Your router should be switched on while you do this.

Type in the password to get access to the router. Find out two things from it's settings:

1. The channel number the router uses. It may be set to auto. My BT router used Channel 6.
2. The DHCP network range of IP addresses the router uses.
   On my BT Home Hub 3 I found this by going to Settings > Advanced settings > Home network > IP Addresses. The addresses on mine were 192.168.1.64 - 192.168.1.253

Setting up the second router

Now we need to set up the second router. Connect it to it's power supply and connect the short Ethernet cable from it to your computer. Use one of the 4 sockets grouped together on the router NOT the one marked WAN.

You'll need to know the second router's IP address, administrator name and password. Again get this from the router manual or the manufacturer's website. Reset the router to it's factory default if you've forgotten a password you set.

I was using a D-Link router which used 192.168.0.1 as it's IP address, admin as the username and the default password was blank.

You need to make some changes to the second router's settings:

1. Find where you can change the router's IP address. On my D-Link I found this under Setup > Network Settings. Look at the gateway address you found and the DHCP network range of IP addresses the 1st router uses. Choose the nearest number to the Gateway IP address
   My BT Home Hub 3 gateway address was 192.168.1.254
   The DHCP network range of IP addresses the router used was 192.168.1.64 - 192.168.1.253
   The nearest IP address was then 192.168.1.253
2. On your computer open a command window and type in ping 192.168.1.253 (or whatever number was your nearest available one). IF that IP address is unused you'll see something like this:
   
   This is exactly what you want to see. Set the second router's IP address to this value
   
   If the IP address is already being used you'll get something like this:
   
   If this is the case you'll have to choose a different IP address - change the last part of the number only.
3. In the same area of settings (2nd router) look for DHCP server settings and disable the DHCP server
4. Save the second router settings. At this point your connection to the second router will end.
5. Disconnect the second router from your computer and connect it to the first router using the long Ethernet lead. Again avoid the WAN ports on both routers.
6. Back on your computer, in a web page type in the new IP address you gave the second router. Again enter the username and password to access it.
7. Change the Wireless Network Name (or SSID) of the 2nd router. Choose a simple to enter name but not one which contains personal information or the router type. On my D-Link router I found this under Setup > Wireless settings > Wireless network Name. I resisted the temptation to call it 'GoogleCameraCar' or 'MI5van'
8. Set the Wireless security mode to WPA-Personal or WPA/WPA2
9. Set the wireless access key (on D-Link routers this is called a pre-Shared key) to something cryptic, at least 10 characters long, and using both letters, numbers and symbols. Don't use a word found in a dictionary or a name. Make a note of this key!
10. Set the wireless channel to be different to the one used by the first router. If you have an older Kindle don't use channel 11. The further away the channel numbers are from each other the better. I used 6 on my main router and 10 on the 2nd router.
11. Save your settings again.
12. Now you need to set a new administrator password for the 2nd router. On my D-Link I found this under Tools > Admin. Again set this at least 10 characters long and make it a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols. NOT 'Password', blank, your car registration, your mother's maiden name, your pet's name, your date of birth or anything else easy to guess. Make a note of this password!
13. Save your settings again!

You should now find you get a MUCH stronger wireless signal and should be able to connect your ebook reader to the new network. If you are using a BT Home Hub 3 - no more lost Internet connections on your Kindle devices.

Tidy up those cables

The final job is to tidy up the Ethernet cable and fix it in place so that you don't trip on it. It's a little more complex than fitting a telephone extension cable because it's thicker and you should try to avoid sharp bends in the cable. These will slow the signal down. I find it's OK to hide it under the edge of carpets, or tack it in place using cable clips.

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If this post has proved useful to you would you do me a favour in return? Download a FREE copy of the book I co-author - a romantic technothriller called 'A Vested Interest'. Even if you don't read it it will help our ratings. You can get it at http://smarturl.it/avi and if you want to read it, you can use a phone, a tablet, a computer or even a Kindle.

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Mother. Go home and let me work!

Translation: Let those without sin cast the first stones
Mother, go home and let me work!

Wrong time and date on a Kindle Fire HD?

Here's how to cure it:

• Press and hold the power button for a full 20 seconds
• Release the power button
• Switch back on

When it restarts it will get the correct time from Amazon. You won't lose any of your downloaded books.

Moans and confessions

It's a while since I had a good moan about the things people leave outside my house (See If I Were JayDax Almighty) but today there was something new.

I live on a main road and just outside my house is a small lay-by (US: 'lay-by' = 'roadside parking spot'). It seems to be a favourite spot to clear their cars of the rubbish they gather in them. Every few days I go out and clear the grass of the stuff people throw there.

It's 22 miles to the nearest MuckDonalds, but that seems to be just the right distance for people to eat their fries and drink their shake. presumably it either takes longer or shorter to eat their burger because I never find the empty wrappers for them.

Despite it being illegal to drink and drive in the UK, I always find a few empty beer cans.

Soda bottles and empty crisp (chips) packets I get by the sackful.

Each day there are five to ten empty cigarette packets. I always wonder why smokers seem to think that they are not litter.

Every week or so I collect a used diaper - If I'm lucky it's wrapped up.

I could have gathered a fair collection of CDs (some even play but definitely not the one chewed by a dog). I've found two mobile phones, both broken. One DVD player - also broken. A black and white portable TV - which still worked and even had charged batteries.

And today's new item? A packet of four Viagra which brings me to the confession bit.

Expect me to confess I need Viagra? Not me! I may be ancient but I've not had that problem (yet). My confession is that once I built a website for a person selling Viagra and other prescription drugs online. You know - the sort of site that spammers try to send you to today.

We built the site back in 1998 soon after Viagra became available. At the time I'd never heard of it. I was asked to research it and make a website to sell it. Now at that time spam wasn't a big problem so I didn't see anything wrong in making the website. Apparently many people in the US didn't want to go to their doctor to talk about this nasty little problem they had so on-line sites sprang up where you could fill in a questionnaire. A doctor (we had a real one in California) would look over your answers and write you a prescription. The pharmacy would then send you Viagra (again the real stuff) anonymously. The site lasted about a year before the state of California decided it was against the law to sell the stuff in California online and prosecuted it's owner.

Would I do it again today? No way! Anyone buying Viagra online has to be some sort of fool because:

• there's no guarantee that you'll get the real stuff - apparently it's often faked
• it's invariably promoted by spam and I hate spam!
• giving your credit card details to a spammer is just asking for trouble.
• you really would be better getting checked out by a doctor who can do blood tests and check blood pressure e.t.c.

OK moan and confession over. You can go back to whatever you were doing. Oh - one last thing. The doctor we used a picture of sure gets around. The same picture was used in 2010 as part of a National Front campaign in the UK.

Solving Facebook Game Problems

Solving problems which prevent Facebook games working properly (Applies to all Facebook games)

For game issues try:

1. Refresh the browser page
2. Clear the browser cache See http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser's-Cache
3. Can you not see all of the game screen or see an uneven edge to it? Try resetting the screen view size. First click in a blank area of the window. Then most browsers will let you reset the screen size by holding down Ctrl and tapping 0 (zero key but not the one on a number pad). If this doesn't work in your browser try doing it in Google Chrome browser. You'll find this resets the screen size of Flash in all browsers.
4. Is movement jerky and difficult to control (referred to as 'Lag')? Restart the browser completely. Make sure you close ALL browser windows before reloading the page.
5. Clear the Flash cache at http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html
6. Try a different browser. Chrome seems to work best; Internet Explorer seems to cause the most problems although Internet Explorer 9 has solved most of them.
7. Check to see if it's a Facebook issue at http://developers.facebook.com/live_status
8. Restart the computer
9. Check to see if there is more than one version of Flash installed and delete any older versions. (Current version is 11.2.) If you are using a 64 bit browser then you may find things are helped by installing the 64 bit version of Flash available from Adobe.
10. Check the page http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ This page tells you if you need to update your Flash player. If you right click in the Flash area (the bit that moves) you will get a menu which gives you the option to 'Show all'. Make sure 'Show all' is checked.
11. Are you using Firefox and any add-ons? Mozilla have a web page about add-ons which slow down a browser. You should disable any of them you have installed to improve speed. The list is at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/performance/#addon-11
12. If your browser is still slow then turn off the music, the sound effects, animation and reduce the graphic quality using the game options (often a gear cog icon).
13. If your game fails to load completely or you get a server error message - There are often multiple servers hosting facebook games. It's possible that one may need restarting.
    If you find this problem affects you, try this:
    a. Close down ALL BUT ONE browser window
    b. In the last window log off Facebook
    c. Shut down your computer
    d. Re-start your router/modem - if that gets you a new IP address (does for most)
    e. Restart everything, log on again and restart the game
    
    Hopefully that will get you on a different server but you have a chance of getting the same bad one so you may have to do it again :(
    
    The same method MAY work if you are badly affected by lag.

The above steps fix most problems but if this doesn't work then:

14. Panic and raise the problem on the game's discussion board.