What to watch over the summer

TV

Today at work I was trying to work out what I could start watching over the summer period. 24, Smallville, My Name is Earl, Battlestar Galactica and Heroes are now over and it won’t be long before Lost stops too. This is now leaving me with around 5-6 hours of TV time free.
But then on the way home I remembered what I watch to fill my free time over the summer. Big Brother! With pictures of the new house in the papers and on the web, I can’t believe that I couldn’t put the two together. Season Eight is only 8 days away, so whilst all the good American TV is on it’s break, I’ll just put up with the cheap space filling stuff you get on Channel 4.

YAY: Whilst researching this post I had originally wrote

On top of that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has been axed.

but the NBC website shows a NEW episode to be aired this Thursday. Web reports show that there are 6 episodes still to be aired and that the future of Studio 60 is still being decided.

Eurovision – Live Blogging

TV

23:13 FIX – The Serbian Hiro was in the bottom half of my votes. Oh well, see you next year.

21:47 My top three: Ukraine, Russia and Sweden

21:43 Moldova – More leather 7/10
21:38 Armenia – More beer is needed! 4/10
21:35 Turkey – I suppose he’s ok 7/10
21:30 Bulgaria – ee! 3/10
21:26 Romania – Oh no 4/10
21:24 United Kingdom – Ouch my ears hurt, but better than most 7/10
21:22 Just realised my Stella has been imported from the Ukraine. Does the shop around the corner know something about the contest?
21:18 Ukraine – ai lyu lyu? 9/10
21:14 Serbia – Is that a Serbian Hiro? 5/10
21:11 Germany – German crooning – not good 6/10
21:07 Russia – Definitely no moustaches 8/10
21:03 Latvia – Not keen on the hats, can sing, but just not Eurovision 6/10
21:00 France – Are they French or English? 7/10
20:59 Back from getting beer and chocolate 🙂
20:53 Sweden – Finally something that is alright 7/10
20:50 Georgia – Dancers are the best bit of this one 5/10
20:45 Greece – A London Enrique 6/10
20:43 Lithuania – Looks like Gorillaz are in the band 5/10
20:39 Hungary – Did nothing for me 4/10
20:36 Need beer and chocolates, but have neither 🙁
20:34 Slovenia – hmmm 3/10
20:30 FYR Macedonia – Nice 6/10
20:26 Finland – Best so far, but not that hard 6/10
20:22 Ireland – Very Irish, but can’t understand her 4/10
20:19 Worried I might run out of negative words
20:18 Belarus – Not bad 6/10
20:12 Spain – zzzzzz 3/10
20:08 Bosnia and Herzegovina – Nothing exciting 4/10

EXCLUSIVE: Brown not to stand!

Labour

Word from my contact in the Treasury is that Gordon Brown WONT announce that he is standing tomorrow, nor will he ever.
Gordon has worked out that with inflation and interest rates at high levels, it’s time to bail. This way he’ll be remembered for being one of the best chancellors and not a poor one-term Prime Minister who had to deal with Iraq, Terrorism and Inflation.

Thank you and goodbye

Council, Labour, LibDems, Lincoln, Tories

Polling StationI would like to thank those who elected me last year, and voted for me this year. However with the boundary changes and all-ups unfortunately both Heather and myself are no longer the councillors for Park Ward. The Liberal Democrats did avoid a complete wipe out with Helen Heath taking one of the Labour seats in Carholme Ward.
The Tories did what they promised all year and took control of the council from Labour with 17 councillors (up 6). There was bad luck for Claire Metcalfe (Con) who got elected with me last year, she came 4th in Glebe, losing out to her 18 year old daughter Charlotte (Con) who came 1st and I wish Sandra Gratrick (Con) the best of luck next year having to stand for the third year in a row even though she’s been elected twice.
This years other losers were: Steve Allnutt (Lab); Lesley Rose (Lab); Larry Wells (Lab); Morris Cookson (Lab) and Geoff Ellis (Lab)

The signs at Flames of Lincoln

Council

It seems that Flames of Lincoln have decided to go to the press over the decision by the Development Control Committee to part reject their retrospective planning application for external signs.
Now whilst I don’t have a problem with the actual signs, I do believe that they have too many, especially the vee-board over the window. Also the key point behind the rejection of the signs was that we have a City wide policy on signage. The owners should wander down the High Street to see how this policy has been applied.
Now if Flames of Lincoln had come to the council before putting up the signs we wouldn’t have had a problem. However instead they were put up without any permission and now wonder why they are being asked to take them down.

Chip and Pin Scam

Tech

Chip-and-WoofToday the BBC report about a credit card skimming scam that has been found in Hull.
Now whilst I haven’t blogged about this before I’ve been saying it’s possible since the new machines arrived.

The scam is quite easy.
Step One, get a card reader like the ones at Tescos which is attached to the till screen. These readers are two-in-one it reads both the magnetic strip and the chip.
Step Two, add the classic skimming device to the top of your slider.
Step Three, place a camera or get someone to look at the PIN being entered.
Step Four, clone the card onto a Tesco Clubcard
Step Five, wander into the High Street to an old cash-point (one that won’t read any chips) and enter the PIN you’ve stolen.
Step Six, take the cash and run.

To be truthful this may not work, it’s not exactly like I’ve tried to test it. However there are steps you can take to ensure it never happens to you.

Never let your card out of your hand. With the new chip-and-pin machines only you should need to handle the card. Don’t give it to the till staff at the supermarket, nor give it to the waitress at the restaurant. Make sure you place it in the machine and that you take it out. Chip-and-pin machines are shallow and can’t read the magnetic strip data.
Never let anyone see your PIN. Place your hand over the top and move your body to ensure no-one behind you can see.
Finally if you do spot anything odd on your bank statement phone your bank straight away.