Ted Max

There are many things I'm manifestly b*llocks at, but it wouldn't stop me having a crack at it with a smile on my face. I resent the inherent implication that it's somehow in my best interests to "have a crack". And all the while you all know the investment is only made to make you more productive, to smooth the edges of necessary social interaction in the workplace to generate a better outcome for your employer. Yes, the employer pays my wages - and for that it is right to expect I do my job, contribute to the smooth running of the business, all the rest of it. But to imply that further than that, I require this imposed enhancement to my character - for my own benefit? It's demeaning. And now there are people who offer work-bonding (training, problem solving, whatever) cookery courses, and community work (picking up litter, painting playgrounds), and art (let's build a scuplture) and drama workshops and so on. You can't object to this, the blackmail goes, we're doing good here. You're learning something useful. Even the smart employers who just put a few quid behind a bar can't hide the resentful expectation that you will attend and you will have a good time - even if you are the kind of person that finds having a relationship with anything more animated than your knitting needles too stressful. All of it can't hide the fact that your time is being bought, but unlike Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman you don't say who, you don't say where, you don't say how much. You just take it in every hole for the sake of the monthly BACS transfer. Drink after work, anyone? I'm cracking company.

Good stuff, Mick. I can hear him saying it.

Was worried it might be seen as a bit "look at me". Love the Sean story about picking up Keith's old customers. Gold.

Ah Keith's. I miss it too. (Post now restored to original glory)

Moos. Terrible old drama queen.

Kate Moss. Famous for it. Sorry, thought I was posting in the "Tiny little irritations" thread.

Moss = Drama Queen.

Franklins if you have the dollar - although it's not the veggiest place in the world. Le Moulin for a bit of retro non-chic. 12 is about full occupancy, though, so phone first. Green & Blue? Naice waine, decent eats, very "12 girls" sort of place, I'd have said.

Couldn't even tell you if the driver was male or female There's no need to be unkind.

Jeez, Steve, have a big handful of cheer the hell up ... and a handful of asses' milk. Actually, here's your own ass. You milk it. Anyone got a plate?

Yeah, and I bet they're going to fill it with plain old water, and not fresh, vintage champagne every morning. And the attendants will be under-stimulated blokes in their mid-20s, dreaming of escape, and not a selection of models hand-picked from Storm. Jeez, Steve, have a big handful of cheer the hell up.

I'm just basically saying people are entrusting a lot of details to someone who has the ability to prevent the same people accessing same - and I wish people were more "aware" generally I'm agreeing. It doesn't look like it, but I am.

Is this unusual? It's quite normal. There are cross-over phones, though, and the iPhone is one of them - mainly because of its perceived high status. Mr Ben, I don't know of a great phone that will sync with exchange, but what about one of the HTC Windows Mobile Touch phones?

Quids, if you are backing up monthly to external drive then I would hazard you that you are already in about the top 1% of data-savvy people. I've seen some stats around consumer behaviour on this. Most people are completely stuffed for something as important as contact info when they lose their phone, for instance. How many times have you seen that "I've lost my mobile can you all send me your numbers" email? I've always been amazed that mobile operators don't offer back up and restore services for contact and content as standard. Would make people much less likely to churn when they lose their phone, or drop it down the lavvy. Sean, in the event of the collapse you envisage - you think there would be government-backed rescue plans, like the banks, to recover people's email, picture, social network, accounts?

On a more serous note, I think you have raised a good point, Sean. Another one is the implications for the mobile networks. Consumers will expect broadband access to the cloud wherever and whenever (and not just high-rolling kings of the universe like Mr Ben). But at the moment even 3G coverage in the UK, for instance, is severely limited geographically. The network operators just don't have the money to build 5x 99% geo HSDPA coverage. So they agitate for more spectrum in the digital dividend band - which allows them to provide much wider coverage. Or will there be one shared "national" network provided as a social utility - with deeper layers of capacity provided on top by the different operators? At the moment, although mobile data usage is exploding, revenues are not rising accordingly for operators. So where's their incentive to build these ubiquitous networks? The only one is to have some slice of the services action, yet the Facebooks, Googles and Flickrs are already there - and free at the point of use. So who will pay?

My name is Jock Lodge, I come from Airdrie, play the pipes, have sore feet from marching all through July, have a picture of Barry Ferguson pissing on the Pope as my PC wallpaper, and I hope Celtic destroy the Arsenal.

This is where the Jyrkis come in. They hate the marketeers, because of what they did to their WAP portal dreams in 2002. They'll guard customer details with the rigour of Michael P eyeing the last naan in the basket.

The answer, Sean, is that most people are not Mockney, and have not backed things up onto external drives and DVDs. Most people have some photos on their desktop, some on their laptop (because that's what they happened to have to hand when the camera memory got full), and some on their phone memory card, that they have forgotten about. Most people, if they have dabbled in internet services, have their pictures on Google, a few Twitpics, perhaps a languishing Picasa or Flickr account. Never mind back-up, this is already dead content. Clearly there is a business case out there for a mega-backup storage aggregator. An alternative cloud to the cloud. This would be a host of triple-AAA rated, government backed, server farms, buried 25 miles below the Finnish tundra, staffed only by ex-Symbian developers called Jyrki. In fact I'm going to write the business plan now.

Let's back up a bit (sardonic clap) - Important spreadsheets?

Sheesh, tough crowd.

Right that's it. You've all had your chance and no takers, so I'll have to do it. I didn't want to but I couldn't stand to see HonaloochieB come round from his siesta and tap this one in. The answer is clearly ... Greyhound Cars. Next.

Also, they could have branded mini(buse)s that they can park in all the local side streets.

I think the Barry House asylum seekers should be moved into ED Foxtons. Then they can lounge about feeding each other free grapes and having tax-payer funded group sex in full view of bob and Tiger Ranks. At the moment if you want a peek of a traumatised, lost and lonely person thousands of miles from home, you have to sneak up the alley to the side of Christchurch and peer in through the windows. And that sort of thing can so easily be misinterpreted.

http://www.foxtons.co.uk/properties/uk-london-new-cross-914/properties-for-sale-in-new-cross.html

Oh noes, and I was so looking forward to his eight hour minimal set.