Let’s talk about fraud prevention
Debit cards are amazing inventions. Wherever I am in the world, I can get access to the cash in my bank account through an international banking network (for a small fee). The name ‘Visa’, originally applied to credit cards and now increasingly found on debit cards, was adopted as a symbol of this worldwide acceptance. Well, that’s how it should work, anyway. Unfortunately, the modern prevalence of identity theft has caused my bank and many others to introduce a cumbersome fraud prevention system on top of this freedom. I first encountered this in force on a business trip in September – I tried to take money out of a cash machine in Taoyuan Airport, Taiwan without first contacting my bank to say I was going out there. Reasonably enough, it...
Office icon colours: an unusual Microsoft legacy
Here’s an interesting thought: When you think of word processors, spreadsheets, and overhead presentations, what colours come to mind? Blue, green and red respectively, right? As far as I can tell, this branding exercise was a Microsoft invention, added in early versions of Microsoft Office to associate the components of Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) with the existing four-colour Windows logo (with yellow representing Outlook Express), but it’s persisted much further than that. Google Docs, OpenOffice and LibreOffice all use the same colour scheme. Even Lotus Symphony has broken out of the Lotus standard colour scheme with its 2.0 icons. I’m fascinated by subtle corporate branding that makes its way into the common consciousness without being...
I’m not stupid, but: how do semicolons work?
Punctuation lovers are always complaining about the decline of the semicolon. It seems to be gradually disappearing from the printed word entirely, being replaced by the comma, which serves a related but different purpose. Sadly, the distinction between the comma and the semicolon is a really useful one for comprehending sentences correctly the first time. The rule for when to use a semicolon is actually really straightforward; once you know it, you’ll probably never confuse it and the comma again. Use a semicolon when you want to connect two strongly related phrases that could stand on their own as sentences. Here’s an example I saw on the Manchester Metrolink tram the other day. When a stop is announced, an LED marquee displays something like the...
Laptop lids
(Goodness, this is only my second post this month. Evidently real life is getting in the way. I have a massive list of things I’d like to write about, if that’s any consolation to my readers.) We live in the time where the laptop computer is ubiquitous. Most people who have a home personal computer use a laptop now, and it’s starting to become the primary workplace device too. Although tablets are gaining in popularity, it’ll be a while before they have anything like that market share. So let’s talk about laptop lids. Laptop computers fold away for ease of portability. It’s very easy to carry around a cuboid-shaped device. This isn’t news to anyone. But wherever I go — home or office — I see people walking around with...
You’re grounded
This week I have been abroad on business, and suffered a major delay of about 5 hours coming home when one engine of the aeroplane failed to start during the takeoff procedure. When this happens on a long-haul flight, the passengers are subjected to something rather odd: They are asked to stay on the plane. In the dark. With nothing to do. From asking around, it seems the explanation for this has two key components: Pilots are only permitted to work for a certain number of hours, so they can guarantee alertness. For this reason, letting people back into the terminal building when there is a race against the clock could be disastrous, as one lost passenger could cost the entire flight. The main cabin lights, entertainment system and microwave/fridge for food and...
Leeds-based non-binary nerd and sewist. I won't break my streak on Duolingo for anyone. 
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