Many school children these days have a bigger knowledge of computer-based activities than their parents.  Some parents just let the kids get on with it and others are so paranoid of the potential dangers that they refuse to allow their children to use the internet at all.  Both outlooks are cause for concern.

I have just returned from a seminar at my child’s school.  The accompanying paperwork says that the aim is to “give parents the confidence to be able to enjoy the internet safely”.  This is a commendable aim and exactly what is required.   The trouble is… I have come home somewhat disappointed.

Parents are at risk of being scare-mongered into keeping their children off the internet altogether.  The attendees were bombarded with dozens of statistics about the number of paedophiles and the number of searches for porn and the number of children with internet access.   Many parents attended the session because they were not very computer savvy and already had fears and concerns for their children who were racing ahead on the technology track.

Facebook was repeatedly targeted.  Cyber bullying is a major cause for concern and this was discussed at length.  I agree wholeheartedly that bullying needs to be addressed but banning your child from Facebook is not the answer.  By the end of the session some attending parents were getting very worked up and declaring that it’s plain and simple… “Facebook is pure evil and I wont allow it in my house”.

Of course Facebook is not at all evil.  The evil comes from those who misuse it.  Kids can be so cruel to each other.  Facebook, texting, forums and chat just supply additional mediums for them to express their cruelty.  We need to get the problem the right way up.   We need to address it from the perspective of the cruelty and teach responsibility with social interaction.  It’s too easy to blame the tools.

Another parent said that in her day things were so much easier.  She said that all they had was bullying in the playground and at least they could go home and close the bedroom door and get away from it but these days it’s all around… on the computer and on the phone and you cant get away from it.   I’m proud that my ten year old daughter sees it differently.  She says she would rather be bullied online than at school.  “Because” she says “online you can block them and de-friend them or report them.”  She understands the tools at her disposal and knows how to use them.

I drove home desparate to redress the balance so here’s my rant about the positives of Facebook!   Let’s take bullying in the playground.  If that’s happenning to my children then I have little or no visibility of it.  With Facebook, if I am in my child’s friend list, then I actually get to see who my child is interacting with.  I get to see who their friends are.   I get to see who the nice ones are and which ones we’d rather not invite round for tea!

Children should use the internet.  They should understand how to use Google, how to research and how to use to social and networking tools that are available to them.  Our fear of the internet must not cause us parents to deny our children access to it. 

One comment from a teacher who had been on a child safety course summed it up nicely:  We all know that we can’t live without water but water can kill us if we were to drown in it.  We must not deny our children water; we must teach them to swim.

Recommended reading:
The Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre
The CEOP’s Think You Know website

Baldrick, Vicki, Patrick and Nick

I can’t believe it is any kind of natural reaction, but that’s me, still SMILING while standing at the open door of an aircraft 12,000ft in the air!  What was I thinking?  It’s all a bit of a blur now but, Wow! what a rush.

Saturday 16th May at Hibaldstow Airfield.  Vicki and I were made very welcome by Mike and Rachael of Target Skysports.  We were called for a spot of training: how to jump out of the plane, how to fly, how to land, that sort of thing.  Family and friends gathered and then came the long wait as we waited for the weather to give an opportunity for another plane load to go up.

We were plane load 11 out of 12 but it was worth the wait.  We donned a  flying suit and harness.  Me in a lovely turquoise number with flying hat designed to make you look stupid in the video!   I was met by cameraman Wez who asked me a few questions for the film.  I was to be strapped to Nick (because he was strapped to the paracute!)  ‘Nick’ sounded like a good strong ‘being in charge’ kind of a name and I knew I could trust him.  Vicki was to be strapped to Baldrick.  Hmm…

The plane was small and felt quite cramped.  Perhaps that was because I was strapped tight to Nick.  At 12,000 we shuffled ahead of Vicki and Baldrick to the back door of the plane with cameraman Wez.  I still can’t believe I was smiling – every bit of  logic within me knows that you dont open the door until the plane is on tarmac.

We jumped.  We fell.  We went rather fast.  Camerahead Wez tried to keep up but Nick had a definate weight advantage with me strapped to him!

I remember having no real sense of how high I was as there was an awful lot of cloud.  Come to think of it, there wasn’t a huge sense of speed.  The only reference point I had got was Wez and he was falling at the same speed right in front of me with his thumbs in the air and a grin on his face.  Having said that, my face did feel like it was about to turn inside out.

We waved goodbye to Wez and opened the canapy.  What a contrast.  After the initial tug as we settled into the harness we slowed and gently floated in the sky.  Nick and I were now able to have a conversation.  He produced a pair of straps that he invited me to take hold of.  We pulled hard on the right and span around.  We pulled harder on the left and span the other way.  Excellent fun!  I think I enjoyed that bit better than the falling.  It’s good to be in control!

As we got below 1,000ft Nick took the reins so that my hands were available for waving.  I could see the assembled crowd.  I had no idea whether they could pick me out under my bright orange canapy but I waved anyway!

Back with my feet on the ground, Wez pointed the camera at me for a reaction.  Ten out of ten!  I looked round to see Vicki landing safely.  Excellent – We did it!

Would we do it again?  Oh yes!

Huge thanks to all those who turned out in the questionable weather to watch.  Many thanks to Stuart for putting the opportunity my way.  Thanks especially to all those of you who sponsored us.  Vicki and I are close to raising £1,000.  There’s still time for you to add to the total is you haven’t had an opportunity yet: Click here to give money!

Click here to join the Facebook group.

UPDATE: Vicki now has her pics so here’s one of hers.  See her blog.

Please please help me raise a heap of money for Marie Curie Cancer Care.  There’s not long left so I have to make a concerted effort to reach target (£800).

On May 16th I will be visiting Hibaldstow Airfield with a bunch of friends and we will be doing a tandem jump from 10,000 feet.  Jumping out of a plane will be a first for me so its all very exciting and a chance to tick another box of ‘things I ought to have done by the time I finish being 40′!

Many many thanks to those who have already sponsored me, particularly mum and Clare for getting things started so generously.

If you haven’t yet sponsored me then you are invited to do so by clicking on this link – markham.ph/sponsor-me

I will be arriving at the ‘drop zone’ at 13:00 on Saturday 16th May.  If you would like to come and watch then you would be very welcome to come along and join the ground crew.  Non jumpers on the ground include brother David, mum and dad, Jane and Stephen.  If you plan on coming along please leave a comment on this blog.  In fact leave a comment on this blog anyway!  Please give me whatever support you can!

That link again: markham.ph/sponsor-me

Thanks!

UPDATE (Wednesday 13th)  Sponsorship is now in excess of  £700.  If we can get over £800 then Vicki will jump too!!  How exciting

UPDATE (Thursday 14th) We have reached to £800 mark.  That means Vicki will be joining me and diving from the plane!  New target is £1,000.

Background

Impact
The damaged main data artery immediately affected vital services such as mobile phone cell sites, remote connections to traffic light signals and emergency services.  Needless to say, phone and broadband services were also affected.

I am an independant computer services technician working in Lincoln and the surrounding area.  I have had dozens of clients call me complaining of their lack of broadband connectivity (their phone services have been unaffected.) Confirmed affected areas that I have had first hand information about include Saxilby, Fiskerton, Sturton-by-Stow, Ingham, Glebe Park, Nettleham and Lincoln city centre.

Some of these clients lost their broadband on Saturday afternoon.  This would appear to be a direct result of the incident as you would expect.  More interestingly, other users had an uninterrupted service over the weekend but have experienced outages during Monday and today (Tuesday.)  This wouild imply that users accross the country are experiencing ‘planned outages’ in order to cope with capacity issues.  The problem is that no one is being advised of these planned outages.  Some BT reports have even denied that anyone outside of east London is affected.

Comment
Clearly such a huge incident is not going to be repaired overnight.  Imagine a colapsed service tunnel 32m below ground.  Construction workers will have to gain access, make safe and repair the area before any access can be granted to telecom engineers.  Once the engineers get on site the repair job is still mamouth.  In the mean time it would appear that the data can be re-routed.  But at what expense?  The capcity appears to be being borrowed from domestic users from what I can see.

If you have been affected by this issue then please leave a message detailing the extent of your outage and the ISP that you use.  Most of my clients use Tiscali Broadband but what about you?  What are you doing about it?  Will you expect to receive compensation from your ISP?

Update (Wednesday morning)
I have just been in touch with my contacts at Tiscali to try and get some more info.  The quote from their technical team is as follows:

“We identified a further issue yesterday morning (Tuesday) relating to the BT outage, there is a further two STM-4 (622Mbps) IPStream pipes down which is around 15% of our (Tiscali’s) overall IPStream capacity so this will be causing some customers to be without service across the UK. BT are working on resolving these two breaks but as there is 1186 cables to be repaired it won’t be a quick fix.”

It’s nice to be told ‘something’ but it begs more questions than it answers.

Update (Good Friday)
There are a couple of photos on Flickr now.   The big orange thing is the boring machine cutting through the cable tunnel.  Actually it’s a much tidier job than I’d imagined!  Still, it’s had a huge impact on our broadbnad service.  (Note that I have no way of telling whether these photos genuinely releate to this issue.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23919135@N00/

Other Related Stories
The Register  |  BBC News

Now is a great time to sign up and join the team and here’s why.

Tiscali Network have just announced a new and revised pay plan which will take effect from May ’09. 

• There is a 50% increase for all new product registrations.  That means that we now get £15 for each new product so if you sign someone up with broadband, phone and TV you get £45
• There is an increased bonus for signing up a new recruit.  Instead of £30 we now get £45
• The team bonus has risen from 0.75p to £1.00.  This means that for each new customer anywhere in your downline you get a pound.
• It is now totally free to join!  There is nolonger a £199 charge to graduate from IBA to IBM.  The annual admin fee of £20 has also been scrapped!

I am on an intensified recruitment drive.  If you want to join my team, get in there early and get a good placement within the matrix.  I am looking for entrepreneurial people who are ‘driven’ and keen to make this business work for them as it does for me.  Training and training materials are all included (free).

Click here for more information (just enter your name and email address – I’m the only one that sees it) or click here to sign up now!

Today I have installed one of the best gadgets since sat nav!   It is a mobile phone signal repeater.  My very own mobile phone cell site!  We now have a 4 or 5 (out of 5) bar signal right round the house. 

The AT-600 from AnyTone is a 60dB amplifier with a high gain (11dB) outdoor yagi antenna and an indoor 2.5dB omni-directional antenna.   This kit works in the 900Mhz band which means it is suitable for O2 and Vodafone.

Installation is a breeze.  The first thing to do is ring your service provider and find out where your nearest cell site is.  You may find that the person you speak to cannot give you this information.  You should thank them very much, put the phone down and ring back.  Repeat this process until you have found a clued up customer service person and managed to plot all the cell sites in your area. 

In my case I found that the nearest O2 cell site was 4 miles (6km) away and exactly south west from here.  I was wondering how and where I was going to erect a mast to put the outdoor yagi antenna on.  My other half hates the sight of aerials on the roof and wondered why it couldn’t just go in the loft with the TV antenna.  Brilliant idea!  Saves me some work and the signal should be fine from up there.

So, the yagi is wedged in the loft and pointing directly south-west.  The AT-600 and the indoor antenna is mounted in the cupboard under the stairs.  I have a solid mobile phone signal.  Fantastic!

There are several suppliers of this kit on eBay.  The one I chose is called flash-mart and is located in Hong Kong.  At the time of writing he has a 100% feedback score and over 5,000 sales.  I asked a couple of questions before I purchased and he came back quickly with knowledgeable answers.

The photos I have used belong to him so here’s a link to his eBay listing.  His photos and very descriptive text are excellent so take a look.  If you have any questions about this kit then do post a comment and I will be happy to help.

Mobile broadband is now well and truly with us and its popularity is growing at an incredible rate.  It can now boast decent speeds and affordable prices.  In the past the expense just wasn’t worth it.  PC Plus magazine once worked out that you could download 20GB for the price of a semi-detached house!

So which operator is best?  Do I go with O2 (my phone provider) or Vodafone, Orange, T Mobile or 3?

After initial reading in the PC mags I had decided that Vodafone would be the best bet.  My respect for that company changed dramatically after my partner’s experience of Vodafone’s customer service when she tried to get a PAC code.  Read all about it in her blog.

O2 joined the mobile race a little later and it took them a while to get up to speed.  I am now expecting that speed is no longer an issue on their network.  I’m currently favouring O2 as my mobile provider.

Contract or PAYG is the next option to ponder.  Currently around £15/month for a contract or £15/month pay as you go.   Since my usage is going to be sporadic, I reckon that by not using the thing at all for a couple of months will save me £30/year.

That’s it then!  Let’s try an o2 PAYG modem!  A review will no doubt follow.

Update: 23/03/2009 – Got one!  I’ve not put any credit on it yet but the software seems good.  More details to follow.

To begin, simply insert the CD and follow the on screen instructions.  The same software can also be downloaded and installed from the AVG website.  Once installed, you will find that you have a fully working version of the software with a 30 day trial period.

Now you need to license the product.  When you purchased the product you will have been issued with an AVG SALES NUMBER.  What you need to do is to convert this sales number into a LICENSE CODE.

You should visit the AVG website at avg.co.uk  Near the bottom of the page you should click on the link that says Register AVG.  You should now register the product by entering your AVG SALES NUMBER and your personal details.  Once done you will be issued with your LICENSE NUMBER.  This will be displayed on screen and sent to you by email.

If you get a message telling you that your Sales Number is invalid then you need to make sure that you have typed it correctly.  The most common mistake is with the Internet Security product.  You should note that the code begins 80I (that’s capital I for India).  It is often mistaken for a number 1 (one) or lower case L.  It is an I and it stands for Internet Security!

If you experience any further issues then please post your experiences here and I will make sure that readers are updated.

To purchase AVG products at discount prices click here.

Our children are of course getting quite familiar with the story of the baby Jesus.  They all take part in the primary school nativity playing roles such as kings, angels or shepherds.  Our pre-school three year old was able to watch his older brothers and sister perform.  When asked where the baby Jesus was born he confidently, if somewhat patronisingly, exclaimed “On the stage in front of the donkey. Derrr.”

Having experienced all of this at school it was a real thrill for them to visit the Castle and follow the journey of Mary, Joseph and the donkey.  We could see the shepherds minding the sheep in the neighbouring fields.  We spotted the three Wise Men in the distance as they made their way around the perimeter wall of the Castle.  We witnessed several inn keepers miming the frustrating news that they were fully booked.

Eventually Mary and Joseph parked their donkey and settled in the Castle’s bath house making a wonderfully intimate stable.  From the distance we could hear the cries of a new born baby and we could see a hive of activity as various visitors assembled.

Jesus then led the following crowd up the hill and we were all invited in turn to enter the stable and take a closer look at the shepherds, the three wise men and of course, at the centre of the scene, the baby Jesus in his mother’s arms with Joseph looking proudly on.  A radiant angel hovered above to over see the tale as it had been foretold.

That’s all.

Is there a print server that will do it?  I can’t find one.  In the past I have tried various Netgear offerings and something from Belkin as well as something from Linksys.  For nearly two years now I have used a laptop running Windows XP as the print server.  Its a rather untidy piece of over-kill just to run a printer.

Please leave a comment here if you have a solution.  I’ll update you if I find out anything worth while.