Havant Borough Council election registration incompetence

Just received a letter today from Havant Borough Council from the electoral registration officer in an unsealed envelope.

The letter asks me to confirm the household details (as usual) for election purposes by filling in the form telephoning the council or by logging into a web page using two SECRET security codes printed on the letter! The same codes can be used to send a text confirmation on a mobile phone.

Yes you heard it, the envelope was unsealed and contained the security codes for me to enter personal details who lives at my address, their nationality, age etc.

I do not know if anyone looked inside the envelope and copied the codes. No one does. If the letter was sealed then there may have been some indication that it had been tampered with. Better still, hide the codes under a scratchable area.

On top of this apparent incompetence, they threaten a £1000 fine for supplying incorrect information. So someone could mess up your data for you and you get a fine as a result.

Any Russians out there that feel like abusing our council elections, feel free, it looks like we deserve it. Or at least the services cutting Tory council deserves it.

Sky News poll - The public don't want Brexit.

High tide at Southsea today

The Wellington - Revived?

A while ago I posted that The Wellington pub was to be demolished.
http://lovelywaterlooville.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-wellington-pub.html


Well it looks like I was wrong, although at the time of the post I think the info was correct.
The pub is being refurbished and being made into flats. I think previous news across the inter-web suggested that it would be demolished to make way for flats.

Here is a photo showing the current work:

Photo when it was boarded up.
You can see that in the more recent photo the roof has had a lot of work done to it.

Hydrogen vs Batteries to power EVs

Excellent video comparing Hydrogen and Batteries as the energy storage method for electric vehicles:

Electric Vehicle charging comes to the Borough

It's taken a long time, but soon Havant Borough Council owned car parks will have 48kW EV rapid chargers installed. The chargers will be a part of the Genie Point network:

https://www.cpsgenie.com/dis/

I believe these will charge a car to about 80% in 30 minutes, which is probably reasonable for a car park scenario. Ah it makes a change to post some local news and something positive!

An American Tesla Model 3 experience

An American Tesla Model 3 owner describes his experience trying to explain his car to his business clients!

Tesla on an Autobahn

Nowegian takes a Tesla onto an Autobahn, tops 155mph whilst taking on an Audi:

Jeremy Hunt today threatens businesses

It's always interesting how often the Tories fail completely to listen to business and even accuse companies of undermining Tory policy. So much for a party that allegedly supports business (take a look at Waterlooville to see what a lie that is).

The attack on democracy continues with Jeremy Hunt today accusing the likes of Airbus and BMW of threatening Theresa May and the future of the failing Tory government. Airbus and BMW have a right to say what is appropriate for their own business.

These companies have done the correct thing and they will not be the only businesses that are threatened by Brexit.

Why would we want to support the Tories??
His POV is not typical and is tainted by a desire to protect his own political position.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44593095

Be careful when buying on Amazon, the UK has failing standards.

'Which?' are reporting that Carbon Monoxide alarms sold on Amazon and Ebay failed to detect the gas they were designed to detect. Apparently the same alarms were flagged as faulty in 2016. Yet the same alarms are being sold. The BBC reports that 3 were made in China.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44563900

I recently bought some 'imperial' sized nuts for a project on Amazon, only to find that they were 'metric'. They had come via air transport (goodness knows what the carbon footprint of that was!!!) from an Asian country.

I complained but there was no way I was sending them back only to increase the carbon footprint further!

Generally speaking though UK based companies that sell on Amazon are better and sort out problems quickly.

This ties in with Brexit. Oh yes!
The fact is I don't trust a lot of crap imported from Asia unless it was designed and has been tested in an EU country, including of course the UK. But if you cut red tape to ease trade between us and some Asian nations, then inevitably many will pay, in some cases with their lives - when a poorly designed electronic device goes up in flames, bought by a low paid zero hours contractor desperately trying to keep up with the Jones.

Tories threaten war in a quagmire of lies

Are some Tory Brexiteers actually British?

Is Liam Fox British?

These Brexit appeasers of war want to ruin us all. That isn't in the best interests of these islands. There are more important things to worry about than who writes the current laws. Climate Change is a far bigger issue, as well as schools, health care and our ageing population.

I assume they want to win elections after Brexit. I don't see how increasing inflation and a wide spread loss of jobs is going to help them do that. They will however be sitting pretty with their foreign investments and us ordinary folk have to pay double or triple prices whilst collecting Universal Credit.

We will only survive a dangerous future with China, Russia, the US and others sabre rattling, if we stick together with the EU. If we want to change it, then stick with it. The only thing Brexit will achieve (apart from loss of jobs etc) is that we will blame Westminster for all the rubbish laws instead of Brussels. Nothing will ever change, that is the nature of democracy, it is slow and plodding. That is why it is good and is acceptable. It doesn't matter where it is, the results (if it is working) will be the same in Westminster or Brussels.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44575929

Brexit won't solve this problem or many like it:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44579422

Yet while we destroy our planet, all we can do is squable over which power hungry MPs determine our laws and where they place their big fat butts. 

Fully Charged Live Highlights

Looks like 'Fully Charged Live' was a success:

The Expanse is saved!

Jeff Bezos announced in the last few hours that Amazon had picked up The Expanse for Season 4 and for further seasons. Bezos is a big fan of the show and made the announcement at the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles, with the cast of the show in the audience.

Are car sales staff fit for purpose?

A recent survey found that staff at car dealerships do not make customers aware of Electric Vehicles as a purchase option.

A lack of sales staff knowledge about the changing face of vehicle technology is one factor. The survey showed that customers wanting to buy a car would remain ignorant of the EV option after speaking to car sales staff.

Myths perpetuated by car sales staff included:

1. Their brands EV had a range of only 80km (ranges currently vary between 180 to 540km).
2. They claimed that EVs were expensive to run (the opposite is in fact true).
3. A model was only available for petrol or diesel.
4. Told lies about EVs economy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44199160
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-018-0152-x

Save The Expanse!

Save Theeeeee Expaaaaanse!

More info here:
https://savetheexpanse.org/

On Twitter:
#SaveTheExpanse

Petition:
https://www.change.org/p/amazon-or-netflix-please-buy-the-rights-to-the-expanse-savetheexpanse

Cast:
https://twitter.com/SAghdashloo
https://twitter.com/Mi55Tipper
https://twitter.com/Casanvar
https://twitter.com/FrancoisChau
https://twitter.com/ffrankieadams 
https://twitter.com/theterrychen
https://twitter.com/CaraGeeeee


Authors:
https://twitter.com/JamesSACorey

Director:
https://twitter.com/Breck_Eisner

SyFy cancels The Expanse

What a bunch of dicks.

The best Science Fiction on the small screen and has gotten better every season. Then they go and cancel it after this years Season 3!

Yeah I pointed out previously that this was a cool show, with real physics and a great story. Something for everyone.

The streaming series is based on the books by James S.A. Corey, the last of which is due to be published next year.

If you haven't seen it yet on Netflix, then you should (along with the new series of Star Trek and Lost in Space!). Season 3 should be on Netflix this October.

Fully Charged Live at Silverstone

Roberts Fully Charged project is having a Live event at Silverstone racing circuit on the 9th and 10th June this year. You can register for tickets now. Apparently they have a lot of companies showing their electric cars, bikes, low carbon energy systems like solar energy, batteries and other stuff and there will be talks and other great things.



http://www.fullychargedshow.co.uk/fully-charged-live-event

Don't let his death be in vain

David Buckel a prominent US lawyer took his own life this weekend to highlight the damage we are doing to the planet. We can never do to much to preserve the planet for future generations.

Mr Buckel used fossil fuels to set himself on fire and he left a note explaining why he took his own life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43773650

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/15/high-profile-gay-rights-lawyer-sets-alight-new-york-park-suicide/

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/04/prominent-gay-rights-lawyer-david-buckel-dies-after-setting-himself-on-fire-in-new-york-park.html

Poppy Sculpture at Fort Nelson

The Poppy Sculpture originally displayed at The Tower of London is now on display at Fort Nelson:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-43744699/wave-poppies-sculpture-on-display-in-hampshire-fort

http://www.visitwinchester.co.uk/poppies-wave-fort-nelson

The sculpture will be at the fort until 24th June 2018. 

Litter at the entrance to B&Q

I visited B&Q recently to buy some paint and other DIY stuff. Whilst walking to the DIY store I looked down the embankment between the road entrance and the motorway bridge I spotted anormous amounts of Fast Food takeway litter.

The fact is a lot of it is in a location that would imply that it was thrown there by people in cars visiting the store and not cars passing the store heading for Leigh Park or Walmart.

The packaging is from a variety of sources including Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds.

It is sickening, especially as I believe the store provides bins in the car park.

I think authorities need to put in temporary cameras that will capture licence plate numbers and catch the culprits responsible.

As well as that I think the Fast Food businesses identified by the packaging along with B&Q need to get the mess cleared up.