It's news to me

Good Morning. It's Saturday again, I shall be picking up my free papers a bit later from my friend Irene who saves them for me. I am glad they take The Times, at £1.20 per copy I wouldn't buy it myself, so it's good to be able to read something half decent, for nothing. There are some parts of it that I do not understand but I have made it my mission to at least try and read as much as I can. I am not particularly well educated, couldn't get out of school quick enough. I am frequently having to look up the meanings and spellings of words, so forcing myself to read articles which are baffling is a challenge. I am learning as I go.

Anyway, the gist of today's post is snippets I have found interesting in the papers in front of me. I find myself reading something and thinking, oh, I didn't know that.

The Consumer Affairs Correspondent says everyone in Britain should have two bank accounts, so that they can still access money if a bank suffers a cyber attack. I used to have two accounts with separate banks when I had a business, but for my own personal money I only have one. Apparently cyber crime poses an even greater threat nowadays. A bit worrying really. Maybe I should split my very small emergency fund into two accounts. I'm glad I don't have any dosh stashed away somewhere to worry about.

Did you know that hedgehogs are in decline because they can't move around as freely as they would like. People are too tidy in their gardening habits, graveling over areas and highly manicuring lawns, and erecting fences which imprisons them so they can't forage further afield. Hedgehogs need messy gardens so don't hoover up the fallen leaves, and cut a hole in the bottom of your wooden fences to create a super highway so they can wander from garden to garden.

I have only briefly worked in an office, many years ago, and it was a big office which was super friendly. Now they are saying staff would be more productive if companies scrapped their Christmas Party and make the office more fun all the year round. A survey of 2,000 people found that a quarter of them said they did not need a Christmas Party to boost morale. Makes sense to me. Let's spread a little happiness in September, or June, or March, or anytime. Let's have have fun any time we like.

I can sometimes mooch around the house in a dream, and according to an article by the Science Editor, walking slowly could be an early sign of dementia. A study has found, etc etc, then it gets complicated with medical terms related to the brain. Reading on it says, people shouldn't be worried, there are lots of reasons why people walk more slowly. Mind you, I do think I mooch too much, I blame it on the time of year, and the size of the house you live in could have something to do with it. It would be difficult to run around a small terraced house. I suppose I could try running from the kitchen to the living room.

I read that a very rich man, Mark Zuckerberg, is going to give a big chunk of his money to charity, so the headline says. Read on and it isn't what it seems. He is not going to write big fat cheques and present them to worthy causes, he has given a lot away in the past, he is going to start his own new giant charity. There is a lot more to this story which I am not going to go into here, but an interesting article nevertheless.

Wikipedia is a web site I often visit to glean more information on something I am interested in. Anyone can post on it so that means it is often susceptible to suspicious activity, a bit like the spammers we get on blogs, only more destructive. Tens of thousands of volunteers edit the site, but now they have come up with a way to do that automatically with a robot. It's chuffin amazing just what robots can do these days.

I found this a bit weird. A school in Merseyside held a funeral for a human skeleton which they had been using for scientific studies for 40 years. It is thought that the person died 100 years ago. They did the whole thing, casket, flowers, car, dressing up, the pupils carried the coffin, a proper burial. I don't understand why they did that, it wasn't even a full skeleton. Would they have done that if there was only one bone left? I'm all for paying respect to the dead, but for me that was just a bit weird.

Unlucky for you if you break down on one of the 33,000 miles of British roads, not covered by a mobile phone signal. The RAC have done research on this by analyzing Ofcom data on the mobile network. Best make sure your car is serviced and up to scratch then, and try not to get in any accidents.

A 34 year old woman from Ashurst in Hampshire, who was rejected by the Navy, has completed 60 marathons in 60 days. She has broken the world record of 17 consecutive marathons by a woman, and 52 by a man. Well I think that is bloomin marvelous. I haven't even done one marathon, not that I couldn't do it,  I don't want to run or walk with all those crowds of people. Good on yer, lassie.

That's my paper review. It's raining, not a nice day methinks, so a day indoors. I have a fridge malfunction and I need to eat everything in the freezer today and tomorrow. Luckily there isn't much in the top chiller bit. It's looking like I might need to purchase a new one, but no worries, my emergency fund will cover it.

Thanks for popping in. Have a nice weekend, indoors or out. Catch up soon.
Toodle pip