Pay As You Go Plus Points

I have pay as you go for both my mobile phone and internet for my laptop. The main reason for this is that it works out cheaper.

Pay As You Go generally works out to be the best option for people with a low usage, there are some great contracts out there with enough minutes and texts that you would have to spend all day and night on the phone to use them up, but its just not worth it for me when I only send a limited amount of texts.

Pay As You Go mobile broadband is the same. I only use the laptop when out and about, so topping it up now and then is ideal. At home we've now got the desktop pc, laptop, ps3 and tv all contributing to swallowing up my broadband download allowance from my ISP. The ps3 is particularly bad at this I discovered lately, something to do with firmware downloads. I can see my broadband usage online and was shocked to see it had used 7GB last Sunday night. I know it was the ps3 cos it was on the 'free time' between 12am and 8am (luckily) and hubby was playing LBP, not online, just by himself.

Obviously Pay As You Go isn't any good for heavy mobile broadband users, but for those of us who haven't quite embraced the need to Twitter or tell everyone on FaceBook when we've just eaten a sandwich, PAYG fits the bill nicely.

Climate Change First Impact

There has been much talk about climate change, but not much about where we will see its first impact.

Flooding, Drought, water is the vector of climate change, we already have seen in recent times in many areas around the world where there is intense competition for water; can we hope to sustain these areas that will be impacted by this issue? And what happens when you combine natural disasters such as the recent Indonesian earthquake?

Sustainability is the key to solving these problems efficiently and economically. We need to produce drinking water from either the sea or brackish ground water utilizing up to 100 per cent renewable energy.

Nuclear is the answer and yet we ignore the “elephant on the table". As history repeats, Copernicus had to take on “The Church,” so will be the battle with Nuclear Energy. While we need our elite intellectuals to profess the future and speculate, which is typically so they can fund their next grant, we need real solutions now.

Everyday we spew pollution into the atmosphere where is spreads all around us and contributes to climate change, and yet all that pollution could be densely contained into a small area. In the case of Nuclear energy that pollution then becomes fuel for a “breeder reactor,” until very little waste is left.

As engineers and scientists we should step up and be honest, nuclear technology is here now and ready. As Nuclear is wrapped in politics, one would think the rhetoric was from “oil barons” protecting their live blood, who knows maybe it is? Whether we will admit it or not, energy is the “life blood” of our economic existence. And the reality is that nuclear energy will be the differentiator between those who head towards a 3rd world status and those who evolve away from a third world status.

It is an insult to every Engineer when politicians claim that Engineering can not make Nuclear Energy the dominate energy source in developed countries.

Another British F1 Champion?

With the Formula 1 season nearing its end, we have a good chance of having a British champion for the second year running. For a detailed breakdown of the contenders and what they need to do, Toto Roche's post is excellent.

Currently, Jenson button has a 14 point lead over Rubens Barrichello and 16 points over Sebastian Vettel, which means that he could wrap it up if he finishes third or better in Brazil on the 18th. The worst case scenario would see Button go to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Barrichello needing to take 5 points from him.

Us British don't like to do things the easy way though, if there is a way to prolong the agony, we'll find it.

With the lead he's got, he is hot favourite to win the F1 title this year, for Barrichello or Vettel to come from that far back to clinch it would be spectacular.

Indonesia Earthquake

The Indonesia earthquake which struck off the island of Java last month measured 7.0 on the Richter scale, killed 44 people and damaged more than 700 homes.

The epicentre was 70miles South West of Tasikmalaya at 0800, being felt as far away as the Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, 500km from the epicentre and on Bali. A tsunami alert was also issued, but later revoked. Charity donations have been pouring in to help the survivors rebuild.

Landslides and collapsing buildings also added to the destruction and communication was severed to may parts of the affected areas. The Boxing Day Earthquake of 2004 measured 9.1 - 9.3 on the Richter scale and the resulting tsunami killed around 200,000 people.

Indonesia is situated in one of the most active areas in the world for earthquakes and volcanic activity, known as the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is a 40,000km horseshoe shape in the basin of the Pacific Ocean of nearly continuous oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and/or plate movements. It contains 452 volcanoes, is home to 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes with 90% of the world's earthquakes.

Party Season Dresses

The party season is nearly here and its time to dust off the little black dresses. The little black dress is a compulsory part of any woman's wardrobe. Typically above knee length and figure hugging, being black it also helps disguise those extra curves we wish weren't there.

Having said that, its not compulsory to go for the black dress. Christmas is generally a bit nippy on the weather front so sensible people might prefer to dress more for warmth and comfort. Having said that it does seem quite a popular pastime, even in winter, to gad about town wearing not much more than lingerie. I presume their beer (or alchopop) jackets must keep off the chill.

Jackets are another slight problem when out and about. Blokes seem not to bother with them so much, choosing instead to brave the cold with just their shirts. Personally, I hate waiting for a taxi at 2am freezing what's left of my assets off, so these days I go out in my little black dress with a coat. The problem is that in a pub for instance with no cloakroom, what do you do with it? Choices are hang it on your arm, or over the back of a chair. Both have their down sides of either getting drink spilt on it or getting nicked.

Hey ho, such are the joys of the party season and little black dresses.

Oxfam £9.5M Kenya Drought Appeal

Oxfam has launched a £9.5 Million appeal to help the millions of people suffering from the Kenya drought and affecting other parts of East Africa such as Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda, with Sudan, Djibouti and Tanzania also hit hard. Thousands of animals have already died and up to 23 million people may be affected by the drought - twice as many as in the 2006 crisis. However, Ethiopian officials say fewer people will require food aid this year than in 2008 and the government says it is confident it has done everything it can to feed its hungry people.

Oxfam says many infants have fallen ill and the elderly - who traditionally are the last to get food and water - are the worst hit.

According to sources, there are no reserves of food left as the rains have continued to fail year after year. For many people, their water is contaminated, causing more illness in the young and infirm.

Factors such as conflict, climate change and population growth may have all contributed to the severity of this year's drought, especially after 4 years of failed harvests. If the rains do come this year, El Nino could also make the situation worse as it typically turns them into deluges, causing more misery than aiding crop growth.