Sat in a branch of my local bank, I was impressed by a notice informing me that my account would now be accessible by voice recognition. Although a couple of days later, I was even more startled to read how someone had gained entry to such an account, simply by imitating the voice of the account holder! Merely a "teething problem" the bank may well be inclined to comment, putting no one's mind at rest. But then, when you think about matter's of security, there are always going to be a lot of disreputable types out there, trying to access your personal data and more particularly, your money.
If you're like me, then no doubt you are walking around with a notebook containing the average twenty-plus passwords you need to conduct your secure on-line life, be it Banking, Social Media and your personal life and websites. We are constantly being reminded to change our passwords, add a telephone number and include an address, date of birth and so forth, next they'll be asking for your National Insurance Number, supposedly to at least make your account seemingly more secure!
It can be very annoying trying to remember all the various spelling and misspelling of a password, some can be just to complicated to recall exactly, if you are not conversant with say the two or three most used. Ideally, some might say, it is advisable to change a password every three months and not by just a couple of digits. We are told to compose each password with various letters, upper and lower case, numbers and symbols, to make random spellings. Although most people would create a password something like; "john@abc123" which would be relatively simple to work out. A good idea is to use a short sentence of mixed words, such as; "Solitude Hired Kidnapper Magnate"which would take a hacker several lifetimes to de-code, whereas something more typical like; "AmbA$$Ador+8" could be calculated in a couple of days, (a fact which has been verified by a government agency) Although the majority of people are more likely to use something a little more conventional like; "12345"
Tuesday August 8 2017 Saw the passing of Glen Campbell, popular and country music star at the age of 81. He passed away with his family by his bedside at a care home in Nashville, suffering from Alzheimer's.
His musical career spanned over six decades and produced many memorable hits including; Wichita Linesman, Rhinestone Cowboy and Galveston and many more. He sold some 45 million records, had a dozen Gold Albums and at least 75 chart records.
Glen Travis Campbell was born in Billstown, Arkansas in 1936, the seventh son of a family of twelve children. He is said to have started playing on a $5 guitar at the age of four and remarkably in his early years was playing a few gigs and even doing appearances on local radio shows. He dropped out of school at the age of fourteen and moved to Wyoming, where he would pick up some work playing guitar with his uncle Dick Bills in his group, the Sandia Mountain Boys.
Later he moved to Los Angeles and found regular work as a session guitarist at the American Music Co, where he also made a minor recording; "Turn Around, Look At Me" which attracted the attention of Capitol Records, and they signed him to the label. Here he was able to sharpen his "picking" abilities and was much in demand working with major stars like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and the Monkees as well as renowned producers such as Phil Spector and Jimmy Bowen.
A lucky break came about for Glen in 1964 when he was invited to tour with the Beach Boys, due to the illness of Brian Wilson, Glen was able to replace Brian on bass and high harmonies. After a notable period with the group he was then able to follow this up with the success of his recording; "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" written by Jimmy Webb, who also wrote "Galveston" and "Wichita Linesman."
Glen also found some fame in film and television, following an appearance on the Joey Bishop Show, and "The Summer Smother's Brother's Show" for CBS. This in turn led to "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" which drew audiences of 50 million viewers, between 1969 and 1972. Interestingly Glen Campbell was offered the part of "La Boeuf," a Texas Ranger, in the John Wayne film, "True Grit" a part originally planned for Elvis Presley. The film, directed by Henry Hathaway, was a commercial success and won John Wayne an Academy Award, although Hathaway later said he was unhappy with Campbell's performance and later said his acting was "wooden" and only chosen for the part so that he could record the title track. Nevertheless Glen received a Golden Globe nomination for "Best New Actor" for his part in the film.
This could have signaled a change of direction for the singer, but in 1972 his television show was cancelled, coupled with a fall in his popularity, said to be due to his fondness for alcohol and drug abuse. At least the singer was still able to produce chart topping hits with "Rhinestone Cowboy" 1975 and "Southern Nights" 1977. However, along with falling record sales, he was heavily featured in various gossip columns and it was not until the later 1980's when he was able to break away from his life in Los Angeles, completely defeat his habits and addictions and became a Born Again Christian.
With his no holds barred, Autobiography, interestingly titled; "Rhinestone Cowboy" and later in 2005 being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2011 he announced he was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, this period saw an increase in his recorded work before the condition worsened and in 2012 he was awarded "A Lifetime Achievement Award, by The Recording Academy. In 2014 there was the release of a documentary; "Glen Campbell, I'll be me," featuring the song; "I'm not gonna miss you," which gave him an Oscar Nomination and The Grammy, for "Best Country Song."
A simple matter of UK National Debt, spiraling out of control. I suppose it's all a matter of numbers, at least according to the Bank of England, who warn of people piling up far too much debt and posing a high risk to the rest of the country. A seemingly recent shift in high credit card, car loan and unreliable mortgage lending debt all brought about due to the low borrowing interest rates. And said to be pushing Britain towards another financial meltdown.
The warning comes about after years of low interest rates falling to as little as 0.25 per cent and showing a marked increase in borrowing, coupled with years of little or no increase in average wages.
Chief areas of concern are the recent splurge of PCP deals, upon new cars, where the vehicle is basically purchased upon a lease deal, which will in theory lead to the customer buying the car outright over a given timescale, but with increasing debt levels may well bring about a greater number of repossessions, which in turn could mean a glut and lower prices in the second-hand car market.
Mortgage Deals, which were largely blamed for the last financial crisis, haven't seen any particular increase in recent times, although limits are being pushed to longer terms of loans, smaller repayments and remortgages, all adding a greater pressure to the borrower and the length of time needed to fulfill the payments.
Of course the reliable alternative to money, the credit card, chip and pin, tap and go, etc. Largely encouraged by Banks and their affiliates for various commercial reasons, have almost been at the forefront of the recent financial debt explosion. A simple, quick and easy payment method, which, if used correctly is the ideal payment method. Except it can be very tempting to spend the money you haven't got, not bother to keep a track of your receipts and assume you will make good on your payments at the end of each month. Only people recently defaulting upon their credit card payments, have seen a sudden and worrying increase, a trend which can only spiral should this go unchecked.
In the short term, there are plans to reduce the amounts of available credit and also a potential rise in interest rates, for which households must be prepared, the last actual rise being as long ago as July 2007.
I suppose my family has always had a certain interest in the exploits of the Royal Navy and paticularly aircraft carriers, ever since my uncle survived a kamikaze attack whilst serving upon HMS Indefatigable in 1944 with the British Pacific Fleet.
This the Royal Navy's newest warship HMS Queen Elizabeth and with her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales, at 932 feet and 65,000 tons are the Royal Navy's largest ships ever. And will fill a gap in the navy's maritime operations, supposedly for the next 50 years.
The ship is well supported with modern aircraft and helicopters, all manner of attack and defence firepower and a large contingent of troops, not forgetting all the latest radar and surveillance technology, in short a floating fortress.
And yet in some circles there is a certain disquiet, not just down to the scale of the costs, which always seem to run out of control upon such projects, but the thinking at the time of their planning was supposedly with the intention of turning Britain into a "modern sea power." The original cost being planned at £4 billion now already passed £6 billion and two years late upon delivery. Another problem arising from the purchase of the Lockheed American F-35 jets which are seven years late in production and with costs hitting the US at over £150 billion above the planned price. It's now been agreed Fleet Air Arm will cut their intended allocation of aircraft to just twelve per carrier.
The original plan was also to build eight Type-45 Destroyers to act as escorts, four per carrier, although their production was finally cut back to six with some being more or less permanently at anchor, not forgetting their recent well reported problems with operations in warmer waters. It is now thought by many, if and when the carriers put to sea, almost the whole of the Royal Navy's fighting ships will be required to act as escorts.
Elizabeth: The forgotten Years, got it in paperback, a recent re-release. Elizabeth the first of England a heroine queen in any and every perspective, last of the Tudor dynasty, a lifetime fending off foreign invaders, (on land and at sea) suitors, desirable and otherwise, not to forget several attempts upon her life and dealing with people such as Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.
The Forgotten Years, John Guy's title, concentrates upon the final two decades of her life, sometimes described as the second reign, a period in which she had to deal with Mary's claim to her throne and also Phillip ll and the Spanish Armada. She often kept a difficult relationship with her court, which was filled with dangerous and ambitious courtiers, yet essential to her rule, men such as Francis Walsingham her spymaster, the devoted adviser William Cecil. Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, the Earl of Essex, whom, perhaps not surprisingly, comes to something of a sticky end. All are intertwined in a story of high powered medieval intrigue and political diplomacy.
The author and historian, John Guy, turns an often difficult and sometimes downright boring history into an enjoyable and interesting read. Although there is some modern terminology in this work, this is all part of Guy's easy style and a lot of his research has come through Elizabeth's handwritten letters, in which there are interesting notes upon Dudley, Sir Phillip Sydney and Walter Raleigh and not forgetting the daring exploits of Drake and Hawkins. Of course as you can probably expect, Essex is one of the main characters in the book, not only for his daring do, but also for his often vain, feckless and self-righteous outlook upon Elizabeth, the Court and even England, such a man is likely to make many enemies.
The yearly festival, Ambleside Rushbearing, usually the first Saturday in July, an ancient tradition dating back across the centuries, relating to the one time widespread and yearly practice of replacing the rushes of earthen church floors. Now mostly forgotten, the memory is kept alive in the form of a festival, particularly in Ambleside and other Lakeland locations, most notably nearby Grasmere.
The bearings, from the large harp to small baskets of flowers, consisting of a range of rushes, reeds and grasses, mixed with summer flowers and greenery. Is a community event, mainly for Ambleside's children, but also grown ups to carry the larger offerings.
The procession, upon a circuit of Ambleside town, is led by the larger bearings, followed by all the lesser, crosses, hoops, clusters, bundles and baskets, carried by the children of the infants and junior schools and assorted parents. Usually accompanied by a brass band and assorted members of the local clergy.
Perhaps the highlight of the procession happens when the bearers reach the Market Square, the marchers come to an halt and the bearings are raised to the heavens, with the cry of; "Bearing's Up" and then. "Bearings Down!" The traditional Rushbearing Hymn (revd Owen Lloyd circa 1835) is sung as the procession makes it's way back to St Mary's Church.
There follows a short church service, with all the bearings placed in the church, every child then receives a slice of traditional gingerbread, upon leaving the church. There then follows a light meal, known as the "tea" and afterwards the "Sports" for all the children and the wonderful "Junior's Fell Race" to Todd Crag and back.
The ancient and spectacular city of Timgad in the country of Algiers is Rome's largest city in North Africa. Created in 100 AD by the Emperor Trajan 98 to 117 AD. For some centuries the city was partially buried by the desert sands until it's rediscovery by the Scotsman James Bruce in 1765. This was the ancient Roman city of Thamugadi now Timgad. Originally built as part of a Roman plan to appease and even seduce the local population, by means of promoting the Roman citizen's lifestyle of such virtues as equality among it's people. This was a town for army veterans and for a period of twenty five years, a former legionnaire might expect an equal division of land to his neighbour with housing blocks in the well planned city of an equal 20 meters square. There was the free public baths, regular citizens meetings and games at the forum, there was also the open air theatre with seating for over 3500 people where they could frequently see, often violent and immoral productions. No doubt, effective and probably very appealing to the local population.
At the heart of the city stands the mighty arch of Trajan, the three arched gateway, a surviving relic of the city former glories. There is an inscription devoted to Trajan and Rome's need for continuous expansion.
As with other Roman provinces, North Africa, was encouraged to become a granary to serve the empire, with typical produce being Olive Oil, Grain and Wine, etc.
Eventually Rome lost control of North Africa, through, dispute, wars and invasion, the city being finaly burnt and destroyed by local tribesmen.
