2007 April archive at daryl.mu

Archive for April, 2007

Bank bans ‘poor’ customers.

Published by daryl April 13th, 2007 in Corporate Crooks. 0 Comments

Some HSBC customers in a Dorset village will no longer be able to see their bank manager as the branch turns into one of the most exclusive in England. At its Canford Cliffs branch, the self-titled “world’s local bank”, which made around £11 billion in profits last year, will only allow face-to-face banking for its “premier” customers.

The move, which starts in June, means Canford Cliffs will be the country’s only exclusively “premier” HSBC branch.

An HSBC spokesman said it has no plans to introduce such a service elsewhere.

The cheapest house currently on the market in Canford Cliffs, near Poole, is priced at £330,000 with the most expensive priced at more than £8m.

To be eligible for the face-to-face banking service at Canford Cliffs, customers must have:

£50,000 savings

or a £200,000 mortgage

or a £100,000 mortgage and £75,000 salary

or pay £19.95 a month “premier” account fee and have £75,000 salary

Other customers will have to visit nearby branches in Poole or Westbourne, although they will still be able to deposit and withdraw funds from cash machines at Canford Cliffs, which does not have a cashier service.

One customer, who did not want to be named, said: “That’s what this area is all about - money, it’s the way it’s going. HSBC have made millions from illegal bank charges and now they ban the same people they charged.”

An HSBC spokesman said: “The reason we are doing it is because Canford Cliffs is a very wealthy area and well serviced by HSBC. It’s a unique location.

“A high percentage of customers at this particular branch are premier customers.”

Session save path unwriteable when installing Joomla on Plesk

Published by daryl April 6th, 2007 in Joomla. 1 Comment

I’m installing Joomla on Plesk for my new ipod.mu site and in the pre-installation script had the session save path as unwriteable. If anyone else gets this and needs to fix:

ssh onto the domain and do the following:

cd httpdocs

mkdir sessions

chmod sessions a+w

cd ../conf

vi vhost.conf

In the vhost.conf file hit ‘i’ to enter insert mode then type:

php_admin_value session.save_path “/var/www/vhosts/<your domain>/httpdocs/sessions”

Then hit wq! <return> to save and quit. Now reload your vhost.conf with:

/usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/websrvmng -a -v

This should hopefully fix it!

A third ‘will refuse ID checks’

Published by daryl April 5th, 2007 in Database State and Police State. 0 Comments

One in three people are expected not to cooperate with identity card checks, Home Office papers from 2004 suggest. Papers revealed under information laws show officials have worked on the basis 60% of people would carry a card if and when it becomes compulsory to own one.

They assume 10% will happily confirm their ID via fingerprint or eye scans, but 30% “will refuse” to voluntarily show their card or biometric data.

The Home Office said the documents were “incredibly out of date”.

A spokesman said the identity card scheme had evolved a great deal since these “historic documents” were produced.

But he declined to say whether the assumptions - which only covers people who have got an ID card - themselves had changed.

Continue reading ‘A third ‘will refuse ID checks’’

‘Talking’ CCTV scheme expanding

Published by daryl April 4th, 2007 in Database State and Police State. 1 Comment

In an alarming move “Talking” CCTV cameras that tell off people dropping litter or committing anti-social behaviour are to be installed in 20 areas across England. They are already used in Middlesbrough where anyone seen misbehaving can be told via a loudspeaker, controlled by control centre staff, to stop.

CCTV Home Secretary ‘Mad’ John Reid has earmarked nearly £500,000 to fund the expansion.

Critics (including me) say the cameras are absurd and another example of excessive government intrusion into everyday life.

Mad John said they were aimed at “the small minority” who “litter our streets, vandalise our communities and damage our properties”.

Apart from being absurd, I think it’s rather sad that we should have faceless cameras barking at us

Opponent Steve Hills

“We all pay council tax so, in the end, we all pay when our communities are disrespected - both in our pockets as well as in our daily lives,” he said.

The disturbed home secretary said competitions were being held at schools in many of the areas for children to become the voice of the cameras.

“By funding and supporting these local schemes, the government is encouraging children to send this clear message to grown ups - act anti-socially and you will face the shame of being publicly embarrassed,” Mr Reid added.

The talking cameras will be installed in Southwark, in London, Barking and Dagenham, in London, Reading, Thanet, Harlow, Norwich, Ipswich, Plymouth, Gloucester, Derby, Northampton, Mansfield, Nottingham, Coventry, Sandwell, Wirral, Blackpool, Salford, South Tyneside and Darlington.

Continue reading ‘‘Talking’ CCTV scheme expanding’

Dell’s new love for Linux: the proof is in the penguins

Published by daryl April 3rd, 2007 in Linux. 0 Comments

Dell Linux In response to recent demand for Linux preinstallation, Dell plans to expand its Linux offerings. At the present time, Dell’s Linux lineup is limited to three Dell Precision workstations which come with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and sell for the exact same price as the equivalent Windows-based systems.

After conducting a survey to help determine the wants and needs of Linux users, Dell decided to expand its Linux lineup to include additional desktop and notebook systems.

Dell hasn’t provided many details yet and, more importantly, hasn’t addressed important questions like distribution selection and support options. It is possible that Dell’s announcement is intended to show consumers that the company is giving serious consideration to public feedback while the relevant decisions are being made. According to Dell, more information will be made available within the next few weeks.

Oracle Linux Adopters Suffer Backlash

Published by daryl April 3rd, 2007 in Linux. 0 Comments

One of the first converts to Oracle’s support for Linux said it has endured a public backlash since its decision to drop Red Hat. ‘Melbourne company Opes Prime Stockbroking told ZDNet Australia that in the weeks following its announcement to adopt Oracle Linux, upset Linux enthusiasts phoned, e-mailed and wrote about the company online to complain at the decision.

“People called us out of the blue to tell us we were idiots,” said Opes executive director Anthony Blumberg.

Pension ’spin’ attack on Treasury

Published by daryl April 2nd, 2007 in Teflon Tony. 0 Comments

The leader of the UK’s largest business organisation has accused the Treasury of using a spin in the row over scrapping pension tax credits.

Ministers say business leaders urged Gordon Brown to make the move prior to his first budget in 1997. Pensions

But Richard Lambert, the Confederation of British Industry’s director-general, says his group objected to the policy.

It follows opposition claims that Mr Brown ignored warnings from officials over the effect of the tax change.

The row comes barely a month before Mr Brown is expected to begin his bid for the Labour leadership.

Continue reading ‘Pension ’spin’ attack on Treasury’

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