Alex Harries's diary

Pugwash RSS

In its first day of being online, Pugwash's homepage has had over 400 hits. Which is nice.

Thing is, we know that not everyone is going to be inclined to check back for updates every day, complete with bated breath, so I've collated a handy set of RSS feeds for Pugwash readers. The main one we're promoting is the announcements feed, which pops up a new article each month letting you know there's a new issue of Pugwash mag online. We also have a further seven feeds with different flavours of Pugwash goodness, so if you're just interested in the features, or only want to read gig reviews, you can sign up using our RSS feed - and an RSS aggregator - and not have to worry about checking back to look for new information. See the full list of feeds on our about RSS page.

More bugs, all my fault

While reviewing Google's site report for UPSU.net, I noticed a very large number of "page not found" errors for the blogs section, which turned out to be an oversight in the SEF engine related to my earlier post about the forums being broken. That's fixed now, but I have to apologise lots and lots for not spotting it before - sorry!

Related articles

The latest little touch which might make it easier to browse around the UPSU site's news pages is our "Related articles" box at the bottom of all news articles, for example at the bottom of this page. This widget looks for news articles in the same news stream, and related news streams, and lists them, along with a short list of latest news and blog entries from the article's author.

Adverts. The best of a bad bunch? ;o)

I'm also trialling Google Adsense around the site. You shouldn't spot it on the site, but you might notice it if you take a look through the site's HTML. That said, if you're looking around our code, you must be really really bored indeed. Why not take a look at Pugwash mag instead ;o)

After 3ish weeks, many many late nights and loads of arse-ache, the first online issue of Pugwash is up. Please - make me happy by clicking through it. You never know, you might even enjoy the read ;o)

The next issue is almost going to print as I write, so Fraggy's going to have to pull his finger out if he wants the second issue to make it online as well: (please excuse me blowing my own trumpet a bit here) although I did almost everything to get the first issue online, from designing the layout templates and figuring out how everything was going to make it online, to putting the articles online and slicing and dicing the images (although Fraggy did pitch in and help out a fair bit on the last few articles with this side of things), I've begged Mr. Fraguela to sort me out some help if he wants issue 2 to make it onto the interweb - I can't do another load of 60 hour weeks!

There's also a poll on the Pugwash homepage - let us know your thoughts by voting. It only takes a minute and we're interested in your views to make sure Pugwash online is something you'd all like to read :o)

I'm off to catch some Jackass. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, but it's ok - my housemate put the channel on, not me, so I don't have to look like I enjoy watching grown men injure themselves ;o)

Peace out /al

(Off topic fun. Isn't it always these days?)

I've just been reminded by a friend that you can apply to reclaim any bank charges you've had in the last 6 years. For example, a direct debit for £15 was bounced recently because I had only £14.12 in my account (yup, I was 88p short). For that I was charged £27 for bouncing the charge, £30 for an unauthorised overdraft (caused by the £27 charge), and then charged a further £30 the next day for not repaying my unauthorised overdraft.

To recap: that's £87 of charges for being 88p short. To add insult to injury, the reason I didn't have enough in the bank in the first place was my bank's shiny new online banking website which displayed my bank balance, recent charges, a block of text and a nice, shiny, flashing advert all on top of each other. (If that's the level of ability of their webteam, maybe I should apply to them for a McJobbidge? ;o).

A lot of information and advice is available online - a quick Google search turned up www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk near the top of the results, and there's a lot of information on there to get started on reclaiming your charges. ThisIsMoney also has a good feature on it.

In short, what you normally do is:

• Send a form letter to your bank requesting your bank statements and details of any charges applied (you can get up to 6 years' worth in England and Wales, or 5 years' in Scotland). Normally they have 40 days to reply.
  
  
• Once you receive the statements, total up your charges and send a second form letter - with the total amount of these charges plus any other bits and bobs (the information is provided online) - and send it back. This shouldn't take more than 14 days I think?
  
  
• In an ideal world, you should then get either a settlement offer back from the bank, confirmation of a refund for all your charges, or confirmation that they're going to investigate your complaint. It's important that you read all the information you can get your hands on throughout this procedure to make sure you're doing everything the right way!

Think I'll be starting to do some maths tomorrow. A bit of mental artithmetic comes up to a figure of £bloody hell for me... ;o)

Couple of points:

• The whole process can be completed within 80 days, depending on your bank's level of cooperation.
• This might also be suitable for credit cards, or if it's not, being able to claim credit card charges back is something that's definitely in the pipeline.
  
• You can get (usually free) independent advice from the Citizen's Advice Bureau, or (normally) paid advice from a solicitor, financial adviser, or another suitable professional - this is never a bad idea so you can make sure everything you're doing is correct and above board.

Disclaimer: I'm not a financial adviser. Hell, you shouldn't even be listening to me, so it's up to you to figure out if the information contained in here is useful to you and accurate. Please don't sue me if it all goes horribly wrong - although it shouldn't - 'cos I can't afford it!

(Off-topic. This isn't an endorsement or recommendation by UPSU - I just happen to think it's rather cool. And yes, I'm a gadget freak... ;o)

I've just seen this mentioned on BBC news.

It's hand-held gadget that lets you home in on a postage stamp-sized tag which you can stick on to anything (or anyone) valuable. Handy for finding lost keys, laptops, kids, cars, and I'm sure there's at least one stalker and/or private detective out there who'll want fifty of these...

£99 gets you the gadget, 1 panic homing tag (which is the tag that sets the Loc8tor's alarm off if it goes outside a certain range) and 3 mini homing tags.

Think I'll get one for the Macbook :D

/al

With an eerie sense of timing, just as Alexander Litvinenko - the former Russian spy with an outspoken hatred of Russia's spying tactics - finds himself in the news after his apparent poisoning, this month's issue of Pugwash carries a story on the subject of the similarities between Russia's long-standing spying culture, and Britain's apparent move towards such a culture in the name of fighting terrorism.

Alexander Litvinenko claims his poisoning attempt - which has resulted in serious illness, and appears to have been caused by a poison formerly used as a rodenticide until its use was banned due to health fears - was the work of his former KGB employers, who are apparently somewhat underwhelmed by his criticisms of the Russian government.

You can read Agnes Smedley's "Under Surveillance" in this month's Pugwash online, or grab a copy of the magazine from the Union.

UPDATE: According to BBC News, Litvinenko has died of a suspected heart attack shortly after 9pm, Thursday 23rd November. Doctors believe he may have been poisoned with radioactive Thallium. Not a nice way to go!