Order of the Bath

I don’t know if the Darwin Awards have a category for industry enabling, facilitating and encouraging the improvement of the gene pool. If so prime candidates would be Smart for their little two person car and B & Q for their range of chain and bench saws.

For a runner up I would like to nominate Tesco for their “Spa Invigorating Bath Jet.” This device which looks like a cross between a fish tank filter and something that Ann Summers might sell is designed as a bathroom accessory to simulate a whirlpool bath. I am sure that it is safe and the instructions are “adequate” but it is just asking for those of pale complexion and intelect to run an extension lead (available on a nearby shelf) into the bathroom to plug it in.

What do you suppose Valencia Orange Cordial is like with Gin?

Nithe, vey nithe.

Not yet of course, I’m sure it is still a great deal of fun. But what will you do when it breaks, or you get tired of it and a cooler toy comes along? Weee is the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive which makes it compulsory for this sort of thing to be disposed of properly. The ideal situation would be for the council to collect them with the other recycling, and there is always a chance that someone else will have it away from your bin before it is emptied. Getting it working again for a second life is the ultimate in recycling. We have found that casually leaving old video recorders propped up against the front garden wall is the quickest way to get rid of them. Bigger stuff like TVs don’t go so easily.

I couldn’t possibly comment.

I have heard a complaint that 100% juice drinks are unfairly taxed with 17½% VAT when, at the same time, government is trying to persuade us to have our 5-a-day fresh fruit and vegetables. There is even a petition on the Downing Street web site (sponsored by ASDA) to reduce this to 5%. The principle is right—it is an anomaly when other less healthy foodstuffs are zero rated. Apparently it is because these high fruit drinks are regarded as luxury items. However, I don’t think we want to introduce multiple VAT bands for different things, just sort out what should be taxed and what shouldn’t. It would create chaos for everyone to not only figure out what is taxed but also at what rate. It is all very well for ASDA who have a sophisticated till system which already allows for it but the small shopkeeper has enough trouble with their VAT return already without adding this and the consumer wouldn’t know what was going on.

In the mean time I have a suggestion. Sainsbury’s Basics Oranges are currently 68p/kilo. I can get about 600ml or juice from a kilo of fruit. They are Valencia variety which we have discovered are very good for juice, are slightly sharp and have a minimum of pith (but too many pips for eating). They are sourced from Spain so no fair-trade worries, as an EU country they can sort out their own ethics. Compare that with 100% squeezed juice with bits at £1.30/litre and you will see that it is good value and much nicer. We have previously tried Jaffas (2 bags of 6 for £2 give 1.2 litres of juice) but find that these are a little too sweet and you need a knife and fork to drink the juice—still very tasty though. As other varieties come into season we will try those but steer clear of Satsumas—they don’t squeeze!

In your wallet you probably have two types of payment cards; credit cards with either the Visa or MasterCard logo and the bank card which goes with your current account. Usually the bank card performs multiple functions; it is a cheque guarantee card, it is an ATM card drawing directly on your current account and it is a debit card doing the same in retail transactions.

In its role as a debit card it works through the same mechanism as the credit card using the same organisations, Visa and MasterCard, and will display one of their logos on the front. However, unlike a credit card, it doesn’t attract the same transaction fee (I am not sure of the exact details). You wouldn’t normally notice because in most shops and online transactions the fee is absorbed by the retailer. The major exceptions are the travel industry and booking agencies who insist on adding it to the bill afterwards. It is their right and I suppose it means that if you do want to pay by some other method then the price is not loaded up front.

Now the catch. Many retailers don’t understand the difference between debit and credit and in travel agents you may find that they charge you the fee anyway (I have tried arguing and they still don’t understand and, at this level, don’t have the authority to change it). Similarly the online transaction pages don’t understand either, at least they appear not to.

Some years ago, debit cards had different logos on them, either Visa Delta or Mastercard Maestro. Web sites used to have a separate button for them which bypassed (or reduced) the fee. Some still do and it still works even though the logo no longer appears on the cards. So, if you have a Visa Debit card think Delta and if you have a MasterCard one, think Maestro and save money.

p.s. Visa Electron cards, which can be either Credit or Debit, don’t attract the fees and normally have their own button on web sites so are not affected.

A friend was asking today why you can never get decent British TV when you are on holiday (in Europe). The only English language programs seem to be BBC World, Sky News and CNN. The answer is down to the way the Satellites have been set up. All UK free-to-air programs, which includes all BBC, ITV, Film4 and recently C4 are on the Astra 2D satellite. This is very tightly beamed to the British Isles. But there is sufficient leakage to allow it to be viewed as far away as the Canaries and Cyprus, just that you need an ever larger dish the further you get from the UK; 3.5m diameter at the extremes. I presume that the apartments and hotels we stay in don’t bother.

The other 3 Astra satellites, 2A, 2B and 2C, carry Sky encrypted services and the rubbish (shopping) channels and have a much wider footprint but even if the hotels subscribe to this, it doesn’t enable them to get the standard services on 2D.

The reason for the restriction, because it is certainly deliberate, would seem to be copyright restrictions and also the terms of the BBC mandate which only allows a service for UK residents, hence also the control of the internet iPlayer service.

The situation may soon change a little. Freesat is due to launch on the 5th of May. This will include the majority of channels covered by terrestrial Freeview except Five, Virgin 1 and Dave and will be broadcast using the Eurobird 1 satellite. This has a wider beam than Astra 2D (which will continue to host most of the same services, at least for the time being) and so should be more widely available. The bird is located in nearly the same place as the Astra one but I don’t know if the receivers are compatible. They may use other methods, such as encryption and a free entitlement card, to control access.

Most of the information for this post was obtained from the excellent Astra 2D Website.

[Update 6-May] The Freesat service was announced today as expected. Either I misunderstood the information available beforehand or it has changed; now it seems that Freesat will broadcast from Astra 2D not Eurobird 1 so there will be no improvement for overseas viewers. Eurobird 1 will only be used for the Electronic Programme Guide. Their web site seems to be off the air this afternoon.

Last week Mat preached on John 21 v15 (in passing). This reads, in the Revised Standard

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

and he interpreted it as “more than these other disciples love me?” This was particularly interesting from my pedantic frame of thinking because I had never looked at this way before, always having interpreted it as “more than you love these disciples?” but it is classically ambiguous in the standard translations i.e. KJV, RSV and NIV. The New English, which has been my most common reference since it came out when I was a teenager, has it the way I thought

“do you love me more than all else?”

with “more than they do?” as a footnote. It is the Jerusalem and the Good News which have it

“do you love me more than these others do?”

I would be interested in the opinion of someone who can read the Greek as to what sense it is written there.

Here is one for Paul—just made for cleaning your keyboard, just pour it in and shake it about.