My wife has COVID, which suggests that I probably did last week too, even though it felt more like a cold. That’s scuppered her work Christmas party tonight. 
I’ll probably test when I get home tonight, but it’s a bit late. Glad I wore a mask when out at the weekend.
The state sponsored online trolls in Russia will be very busy supporting Trump for the US elections
_ “Putin is pretty confident that he can stoke up the culture wars here, there and everywhere. And just with a little bit of deft use of political influence operations and propaganda, he can keep things that are moving in his direction already, moving in his direction._
There are new processing providers coming into the market who charge much less that the traditional banks - on the odd occasion I need to accept in-person card payments I use Square - they have a flat fee of 1.75% for most transactions (plus a 25p flat fee per transaction on top if you need to offer online card processing i.e. selling via a website). And the money comes through to my account in 24 hours.
Their card reader gadget is cheap (£23) and easy to use, and works flawlessly. (I also tried Sumup whose gadget was a nightmare - would not connect to any device I own, and their tech support was horrible).
A lot of stall holders in the local markets use square. So a sign that it is a good deal.
Typical, my grandson diagnosed with Scarletine last night by the doctor. Apparently a lot of it about in the schools, always something just before xmas in our family! He is only 3 so not feeling at all well and is off school today so missing his special lunch.
Such a shame. They do look forward to the fun at the end of term.
A Dutch Christmas ad with feeling
Some good news made possible by AI
As I approached the revolving doorway to SuperU I saw that it was blocked by a man lying down with someone kneeling beside him, and other people standing around. As I entered the adjacent side door I glanced back and saw an elderly man lying on his side looking unconscious. My immediate reaction was to clap my hand over my mouth - I felt distressed.
Reading the Guardian article ‘How to spot a liar’ there is this - “We cover our mouths when we see something shocking or horrible, because “it prevents the casting of our scent, which predators can pick up on.”” Never knew that.
A short but interesting read.
“King Charles – he’s always playing with his cufflinks. This is how he deals with social anxiety. Prince Harry – he’s always buttoning the button that’s already buttoned – another comforting behaviour.”
And “Most people can’t spot a lie”.
I’d love to be one of those experts who can read body language and spoken words to spot a lie.
I think I saw ‘random laughter’ from Rishi Sunak when talking with a bystander about the NHS. He couldn’t get away from her fast enough.
‘“We know that 1% of any given population – here in America it may be way more – are psychopaths,” says (former FBI agent) Navarro.’
Didn’t Desmond Morris write a book about it way back when?
The Human Animal? I read that when it was first published. Another read is due I think! It’s around in my very untidy book cases, somewhere!
I think it was called the naked ape. I had a copy of it at prep school and as too often happened it was taken away on the grounds of being unsuitable and I had to make a considerable effort to get it back. I wasn’t old enough to have a prurient mind, Matron however…
I might have both books. Opportunity to hunt them down and tidy up all my dreadfully dishevelled book shelves at the same time!
Renault Clio 111 car-radio-code?
Don’t use my car radio much but when I switched it on recently it didn’t work and I saw that the dashboard was asking for a 4-digit radio code to be entered.
My car was repaired not long ago which required the battery to be disconnected, which killed the radio, requiring a code to be entered to get it started again.
But where on earth is the radio code, which I knew nothing about?
I YouTubed my way to the solution, but why would such a security measure be in place? To deter car radio theft?
Just in case anyone has the same car/same problem then look no further than this very helpful video. I think similar methods apply to other various makes of car.
The code is normally on a sticker inside the car handbook, if you still have that document.
Yes I would imagine it’s an anti-theft measure, though I don’t think thieves are as interested in car radios as they once were, since so many of them are model-specific.
It isn’t in the car handbook manual but it is in the service booklet which I can’t find. I followed the video instructions and the radio is back on again. Once the pre-code is found, as shown in the video, I had to download a free app which translates the pre-code to the actual code needed.
Is there now a note of it in the car handbook?
Have to ask why one even needs a code when the radio’s built-in.
Yes, I’m well aware that today one needs a code for even the most trivial things, but…
Often because the insertion of 4 cocktail sticks and the radio is built out 