Monthly Archives: May 2023

  • Behind the wheel …of a pub

    Down at the Temple Way Ministry of Truth, the ambiguity department has been hard at work.

    Again (posts passim).

    Headline - Incredibly beautiful West Country beach you can drive on with a lovely pub

    One commenter rejoicing in the name saveenergy decided to have some fun with this latest illiteracy from the Post, as follows:

    “beach you can drive on with a lovely pub”

    What if you don’t drive a lovely pub ??

    Is it exclusively for drivers of lovely pubs, or can I drive my spit & sawdust bar on this beach; Are taverns, ale houses, inns & wine bars excluded ???

    We need to know.

    “There is a great pub right on the sea”

    How do they stop the drinks spilling when the sea is choppy ??

    Well done, sir or madam. Your ‘umble scribe could not have mocked the piece better himself. πŸ˜€

  • Community litter pick this Saturday

    Your ‘umble scribe will be ignoring all that nonsense in London SW1 involving Mr & Mrs Charles Mountbatten-Windsor for something far more vital to the health of the nation.

    Their bling bonnet day in Westminster unfortunately clashes with a regular event of local importance – the monthly Barton Hill community litter pick.

    Barton Hill community litter pick poster
    Stuff the coronation. This IS important!

    Last month four of us turned out for an hour’s cleaning, managing to clear several bags of litter (as well as reporting half a dozen instances of fly-tipping. Ed.), having a bit of gentle exercise with tea and coffee afterwards, all punctuated by good company and good conversation.

    The end of April's litter pick

    If you can join us outside the Wellspring Centre (formerly the Settlement) at 10.00 am on Saturday, we’d be very pleased to see you.

  • Firefox Focus – first impressions

    Your ‘umble scribe is a great fan of the free and open source Firefox web browser and has been using the desktop version since version 0.x many years ago. One of its major attractions has been its emphasis on security and privacy.

    Until recently it was also the default browser on my smartphone, until I discovered Firefox Focus. Firefox Focus is a free and open-source privacy-focused mobile browser based on Firefox which is available for Android and iOS devices. First released in December 2015, it was initially a tracker-blocking application for mobile iOS devices, but was developed into a minimalistic web browser shortly afterwards.

    Firefox Focus iconAccording to Mozilla, Firefox Focus is a dedicated privacy browser with automatic tracking protection. meaning web pages load faster and your data stays private. It’s also easy to delete history, passwords and cookies, so advertisers and other ne’er-do-wells don’t follow you around online. Just tap the erase button on the search field and all that data is gone. Tracking protection is also very strong. The browser blocks a wide range of common trackers by default, including social trackers and those sticky ones that come from things like Facebook ads.

    After using Firefox Focus for one week, I can say I’m impressed with the way it works. Although it required me to learn how to use tabbed browsing (hint: hold down a link in your search results and a menu appears, offering the option to open the link in a new tab. Ed.), once that was cracked, I was away. As for fast page loading, that’s not disappointing either, even on notoriously slow-loading sites, like that of Bristol City Council, which still seems to be powered by a horse turning a shaft in the basement of the Counts Louse (which some call City Hall. Ed.). πŸ˜‰

    If you value your privacy and security, I’d recommend Firefox Focus on your mobile device.

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