simoncoles.org   Simon Coles Personal Blog

We sometimes use Wikipedia to help the boys with their homework – most recently Josh had to write about India etc. However, we’re always a little nervous about what else they might find.

Then I bumped into Wikipedia for Schools and the problem is solved!

This 2008/9 Wikipedia DVD Selection is a free, hand-checked, non-commercial selection from Wikipedia, targeted around the UK National Curriculum and useful for much of the English speaking world

Excellent stuff – the power of open content…

So I tried to upgrade my iPhone and wasn’t that happy that O2’s attitude was a flat “Non!”. Now it seems O2 have finally relented and if we’re good enough customers we can upgrade our iPhones early.

Apparently there’s an “O2 Priority List” (is this new?) which I’ve never heard of before. Here’s what it means apparently:

• All customers continually spending over a minimum of £80.00 a month, receive a 6 month early upgrade
• All customers continually spending over a minimum of £50.00 a month, receive a 3 month early upgrade
• All customers continually spending a minimum of £35.00 a month, receive a 1 month early upgrade

I travel a lot and my phone bill is regularly over £100/month thanks to roaming charges, so I assume I’m at the higher level. Not that O2 has mentioned anything to me.

So let’s review.

• I wasn’t a valued customer until there was competition. O2 were happy to hold me captive and screw me for as much as they could.
• Now I have choices for my iPhone carrier, apparently I am a valued customer. Although they haven’t bothered to tell me.
• My contract ends in 3 months – so the “6 month early upgrade” would have been useful when I first tried to get an upgrade but now it’s just insulting.

Thanks O2, I think I’ll wait until January. I already know you don’t value my business and whilst I know the other carriers are probably as bad, at least I’ll have some choices about plans and probably cheaper International Roaming charges.

There’s a real market opportunity here for a carrier that treats customers as customers, not prisoners.

Didn’t realise you could do this. I know you could get blackboard paint, but whiteboard paint? Sounds very cool – haven’t tried it though. My inner engineer is of course completely unable to have an in-depth conversation without a diagram…

Both my parents have passed away, so I’ve done the whole Will/Inheritance/Estate thing and having a passing interest in all things legal I found it all quite fascinating.

In last week’s Economist Magazine they had an article on how inheritance laws differ across the EU.

In 26 out of 27 European Union countries, Mr Buffett’s plans would not just be shocking, but illegal. The exception is Britain, or rather England and Wales (Scotland has its own, centuries-old legal system, with a strong continental flavour). In continental Europe a big part of an estate (often around half) is reserved for the surviving children of the deceased and must be equally divided between them. This “forced heirship” makes it impossible to disinherit feckless children (though several countries exclude bequests to “unworthy” children, who have for example murdered a parent or two). Such rules also make it hard to reward the deserving by, say, leaving more to a daughter who gave up a career to care for her ailing parents. Finally, “clawback” laws in many countries stop parents from dodging forced heirship by giving assets away while they are still alive. This applies to gifts made in the last years of life (two years in Austria, ten in Germany), or much longer: in some countries, no time limit applies.

Wow – I had always taken it for granted that you could leave your assets to whomever you pleased. But apparently not… and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Read the article for all the details, but I can see it would cause us real problems.

It is quite a shock how something Id’ viewed as almost a human right turns out to be viewed with abhorrence in a next door country which I had viewed as being broadly similar to the UK. It’s a reminder that some things are very cultural dependant and you can’t make assumptions… especially about things you assume are common!

Just come across an old blog post (from 2003!) Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder which made me laugh – I suspect I’m more than guilty….