Why would training centres and SAS head quarters be radioactive? No wonder they moved out!

Im sure there are a few people gipping right now but let me tell you, Its the future!!

I have recently made a batch of pizza dough following Jamie Olivers pizza base recipe. This is easily the best pizza dough recipe i have found though it does make a lot of dough.

Firstly i have found that cooking the pizza on a very thin base is best, mainly because it cooks through the dough quicker and its my personal preference. Because of this i have found that half quantities of the recipe will still make around 6 medium pizzas.

When you are following the recipe it doesn’t tell you how long to knead the dough for but i can tell you it needs doing for at least 15 minutes, If when you are rolling the dough you have found it springs back, then you haven’t kneaded the dough for long enough.
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***Update ***

Before you read on about me ranting about the twitterific app i feel i need to update people about what more i have discovered which changes quite a bit about how i feel IconFactory have conducted themselfs.

The initial complaint from me was that my app broke and they wouldnt fix it, i know they have a new version out but i wasnt interested in that i just wanted my app to work.

It turns out that IconFactory have no way of updating the authentication issue in V 2 of twitterific even if they wanted to, Because they released V 3 of the app they had to remove V 2 of the app from the app store, this means there is no way to push out the update. I wanted to make this update as i think if IconFactory had explained the situation a little better they wouldn’t have the bad rep they seem to be getting quite rapidly over the last few weeks

*** Original Blog

As you may realise i feel very agreaved by this subject. For those of you who don’t know, Twitterrific is an Ipod / Iphone / Ipad app which keeps you up to date with twitter.

They have two versions of the app, a free version which is supported by adverts, and a premium version which i paid £2.99 for if i remember correctly. Twitterrific is one of the few apps i have ever paid for, i thought the app was really good and it was worth the money so i paid.

The app has worked like a dream until Twitter changed the authentication method to OAuth. This doesn’t seem to have created any issues with anything i have that connects to twitter, yes an update was needed but it was nothing that meant going to far out of the way.

That is until i tried to log in on my ipod using Twitterrific. The authentication on the app no longer works. I ran an update (which updated my other twitter apps) but there was no update for the app i had paid for.

When  you go onto the Twitterrific website you are greeted with the following message

For those with dodgy eyes, it says:

Problems logging In?
Twitter recently Changed Their API
Updating to the most recent version of Twitterific Will Fix The Problem

This is their admission that they know nobody can use Twitterrific V2 any more because it is broken but upgrade to V3 and all will be fixed. Again, this is fine but doing some reading before i updated and checking twitter, it becomes apparent that the version they are asking you to ‘Upgrade’ to is actually a downgrade unless you pay for the premium version of the app. This is were my back gets up. I have paid for an app which has now broke, they blame twitter for this and state that version 2 premium to version 3 premium is a payable upgrade.

Again this is fine, i understand that work goes into these apps and the chances are that i would have upgraded because it is an app i love. The case is however that Twitterrific are forcing people off the old V2 app that they have paid for and expecting people to pay for the new V3 app or put up with the unpaid version, Twitterrific are basically forcing people to pay more or downgrade.

I feel this is despicable behaviour from the makers of the app, maybe they feel the new version isnt good enough for people to want to pay to upgrade from V2? They are happily blaming twitter for changing the authentication type, however it hasn’t taken long for other app makers to update their apps and i don’t believe it would take a much effort to make V2 off the app to authenticate correctly.

I dont have an issue with them charging for the upgrade, i have an issue with their solution being to pay again.

Because of this i will never be using Twitterrific or any product from the IconFactory again. Why should anybody be expected to pay twice for the same product?

This blog post is a great reason why you shouldn’t get an Egg card, or any other credit card for that mater.

A few years ago, i thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of 0% interest on an Egg card, i thought it was a short term solution to money, in reality it was a long term burden.

Over the next couple of years, and a couple of thousand pounds the interest free part of the card finished and i started paying the interest. Not something i wanted to do but it was the situation i was in. I kept on paying it not really checking my online account, after all the interest rate was 17.9% variable, a lot of money but nothing more than anyone else.

Then one day, i was checking my account when i noticed the interest i was paying on the account, it was 26.9%, WOW, ive been paying almost 27% interest on my card which is a lot more than what i expected, it became priority ot get rid off!!

Then today i was randomly looking online when i saw the Egg website, they were advertising a new offer on one of their cards, 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers (sound familiar??)

To my surprise, they are still charging 17.9% interest after the o% finishes. I was shocked and to be honest annoyed at this, why was i being charged such a premium rate on my card when they are offering new cards at such a higher rate?

It’s not hard to work out why really, o% on everything is a really good offer, balance transferring could buy you 12 / 18 months interest free which is very appealing, the truth is, they know you will still have credit when the offer finishes and this is when they sting you… hard!!

If you want to see, check out the images below, top image, a screen shot of my interest, bottom image Egg’s latest card offer

Now the egg website

A few weeks ago i received a text message during the day while i was at work, it seemed a bit strange because it said it had come from 00. When i opened it up it said

Your Barclaycard account is overdue. You are unable to use your card until you make a payment. Call Barclaycard now on 08442412951

Naturally i was a little suspicious so didn’t respond to it as i thought it may have been a scam or some sort of phishing text.

When i got home that night i was still curious, i do have a Barclaycard but i also had a direct debit so i couldn’t have missed a payment. After a very quick Google of the number i was reading ‘Who Calls Me’ and there was a long list of angry people saying it was all a scam and people even got the text messages when they didn’t have a Barclaycard.

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Last week, we had a couple of cats come to our house for a holiday, they were called, Yoda and Veda. They had come over from Newcastle to stay. They have been over before and they don’t mind staying.

That was until, last Tuesday night, Yoda jumped out of the bathroom window and didn’t come back!

A few days passed and it was time for them both to go home, we had walked the length and breadth of the area we live in looking for her but to no avail.

Poor Veda went home to Newcastle on her own. We made up some posters to put about our area in the hope someone had taken her in and she wasnt just lost.

Then today, a full 8 days after she jumped out of the window Yoda came back in through the window in the night!

look

Im not sure were she has been but she got in herself and she has been asleep for about 10 hours now only getting up for a bite to eat.

Lets hope she doesn’t run away again before she gets back home! Trip to Newcastle anyone?!?!?!

I’ve just watched this and im flabbergasted!!

Mary tonight went into a bakers named Maher and Sons. It’s an old-fashioned bakers which sells bread and cakes.

Now i secretly love programmes like this. Just like Sarah Beany, Mary Porter is at the very top her game, her knowledge is invaluable. It is astounding how people can be so short-sighted and dismissive of an expert.

Mary went in to make the woman more money as that’s what she does, its her job day in day out.  The woman dismissed her own baker as not being capable which is a down right insult to the poor guy who even showed that he could do it, the guy was on cloud 9 after he produced the speciality bread and you could see how proud he was.

The woman kept saying she had done it for 36 years so she knew best, if she knew best why did she apply for the show? She even rejected the designs of the company who designed Top Shop and Marks and Spencer.

Let me summarise, the owner of an outdated bakery who asked for help to make more money, Rejected the advice of a business woman at the top of her trade with her own TV show, rejected the design of an award-winning company who has designed shops we see every day, slated her own staff as being incompetent because she knows better?????

Shoot Me!

Update** The  penny has just dropped, ive just read one of the many comments left on review websites for her shop, one person pointed out she just wanted her shop to have a facelift at the expense of the BBC, They were totally right, when she was sat in the designers the only question she asked was ‘what are you doing with the floor and ceiling’ when she was told she wasn’t getting a new ceiling and floor she was recorded on the phone saying they were not replacing it to ‘stick in the boot’!!

Ill take that second shell now please

Now don’t get me wrong with the title of this post, I love the Great British Menu and would love to sit there tasting all the food they produce!

However, the editors that put the programme together must think were idiots!

I’m sat here watching the banquet programme, they have interviewed Prince Charles, great! The first chef has arrived and started cooking his duck, still the day before but everything is getting going.

Then, two pieces of the strangest TV ever! One chef is cooking Mackerel, he has arrived at his kitchen with 24 hours to go and his fish isn’t there, so he decides to phone his fisherman who has just gone out on his boat to catch enough fish for 100 people and there were two people in one boat!!! Im not a fishing expert but that seems to be cutting it fine, 24 hours to go and guys just nipped out in his boat to get them!

Then the second bolt hits, The other chef needs strawberries, he gets there and finds no Strawberries. He makes a call as well to his strawberry grower who tells him he has no strawberries to send. Let me get this right, The banquet is in Bath, the strawberry grower is in Northern Ireland and with 24 hours to get the chef rings up to see if any strawberries have grown! Surly you would have known with more than 24 hours to go that you didn’t have a product!

Next series, must try harder!

10th May 2010, Gordon Brown has stepped down as leader of the Labour party.

So today is the last day of the season, I’ve earned my pass for the afternoon by helping the Mr’s and im waiting for the guys to come round and trash the place!!

Being on the brink of the summer, ive decided to get some San Miguel in for the game, We have decided to stay in and watch it (in HD) so we can flick between the United game, and the Chelsea game.

United need to win today no matter what, we have got Stoke so i cant really see it being a problem. Chelsea play Wigan who to be honest don’t have anything to play for. I am prying for a slip up in in reality its going to take divine intervention for United to keep the title.

My predictions for today which will mean United win the title

Man Utd 3 – 0 Stoke

Chelsea 2 – 2 Wigan