Keeping in touch

I have a mobile 'phone which, as a 'phone, is used strictly for emergencies and, until relatively recently, for sending e-mails.  But they cost, and some time ago my grandchildren introduced me to Whatsapp, which is a way of sending messages using the 'phone but which is free.  All the family are part of a Whatsapp group and we can message each other as and when.  Brilliant - but it does make you wonder what the future is for e-mails?  Indeed, what the future is for mobile 'phones, although I think they make their money these days more from people who use them to access the Internet.

Safety 101?

Surely - even in France - everybody know that if you're caught in a thunderstorm, the last place you choose to shelter is under a TREE??

Blow into this bag please Sir.

Didn't realise that a year or so ago, Scotland introduced a new drink-drive limit of 22 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.  The limit in England and Wales remained at 35.  So this has created a strange situation where a driver in Scotland has been given a 12 month ban from driving for being found with a reading of 32, even though that reading would have been OK outside Scotland.  The point is that the ban applies throughout the UK, so he can't drive in England and Wales even though he would have committed no offence had he been stopped with that reading there.

You don't say??

The Commons Treasury Committee have condemned both sides in the Referendum debate for making misleading claims in support of their causes.  Well, yes, but where have they been for the last few weeks?  Talk about stating the obvious!

The special one??

Have to confess to a certain amount of schadenfreude about the goings-on at Manchester United, but I do wonder whether Mourinho is really the man for them.  It seems to me that for the second time in a row they have sacked a manager who was beginning to show signs of putting together a cohesive team capable of living with the best.  Van Gaal comes across as a rather dour character and for much of the season the team's football seemed to reflect this, but towards the end of the season they began to play more like the Manchester United of old.  But now it's back to the drawing board and getting used to a new manager who is known for having his own very definite ideas and not suffering fools gladly - so we shall see.

Ve haf vays...

I am one of those who have been caught by the latest Microsoft trick.  I leave my computer on overnight and came down on Saturday morning I think it was to be confronted by a blue screen saying "Welcome to Windows 10".  So the latest Windows had installed itself overnight without so much as a by-your-leave.  Microsoft have responded by saying that "we want to help people upgrade to the best version of Windows".  So "best version"??  My Chrome browser now doesn't work, and Netflix doesn't work properly.  I have a feeling that I am going to find other problems as time goes on.  Needless to say, I am not impressed.  Who do Microsoft think they are?

Too loud!

In the early days of sound recording, when wax cylinders and early discs were played on phonographs with big brass horns, the sound produced was somewhat harsh for many people's taste, and often some material, like a sock, would be inserted into the horn to muffle the sound and make it more acceptable. And this is where the saying "put a sock in it" comes from.

Here's an interesting question...

...is the number 0 odd or even?  Now there are various ways you can approach this question.  If you go back a year or so, I was arguing that zero is not a number - it is in fact the essence of a lack of number, so on that basis 0 is neither odd nor even. But then...  one definition of an even number is a number which is exactly divisible by two.  Well 0 divided by two is 0.  Then again, another definition of an even number is a number which ends in 2,4,6,8 or 0 - and 0 fits that bill.  So you could argue that 0 is an even number.  Does it matter?  Do me a favour!

The VAT man cometh...

Remember the story about Jaffa Cakes?  Well the VAT man is at it again.  Children's colouring books are VAT free.  As I'm sure you are aware, there's been a recent craze for more complicated colouring books aimed more at adults.  So they're VAT free as well, right?  You will perhaps not be surprised to learn that the taxman has been scrobbling around looking for some way of getting his hands on 20% of the cost of these items.  There is a class of publication known as "uncompleted products" covering things like diaries and notebooks and which attract VAT, and HMRC are seeking to have adult colouring books classed as such. Who was it who said there are only two certainties - death and taxes.

Trim that hedge!

I don't know about you, but on Mondays I rarely get any post - sure, the postman comes, but what he puts through the letterbox is invariably rubbish - unsolicited mail and flyers,  Last Monday it included an invitation to invest in a hedge fund.  No thank you, but it did cause me to think - where does the expression "hedge fund" come from?  And of course it didn't take long to realise that it came from that other expression "to hedge your bets" - that is to make other bets so that, if your main bet fails, you don't lose everything.  But of course, this simply raised the question - where did that expression come from? Well, it seems that "hedge" as a verb has been around for at least 600 years in the sense of  "to limit" - which of course is exactly what a hedge does - it limits an area of land.  Its use in the sense of limiting your financial liability can be traced back to the 1600s.