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Archive for the 'ambrand' Category
Government must deal with the reality of repossession
Published January 20th, 2010 in ambrand. 0 CommentsTHE Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Cork Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen has called on the Government to urgently address the growing risk of home repossessions occurring across the country.
Figures published by credit rating agency Moody’s show that the 6,400 mortgage holders did not make any repayments in 2009. Deputy Allen warned that when repayment moratoriums begin to expire there is likely to be a dramatic rise in the number of repossessions being sought by lenders.
Deputy Allen said, “The threat of repossession is not just an economic one. Every home repossessed represents a story of heartbreak for the family involved affecting everyone. It places people under incredible stress and can contribute to family breakdown.
“Given the billions that are being pumped into the very institutions who created this disaster in the first place I believe there is a moral duty on the Government to do all they can to help ordinary people who find themselves in trouble as well.
“It is now time for the Government to give serious consideration to the Homeowner Support Scheme put forward by Fine Gael to help those in dire need and protect the thousands of Irish families facing repossession of the family home.
“The clock is ticking now for thousands of Irish families and it is time for the Government to step up to the plate and help,” he concluded.
Sark Island (pop. 600), Bailiwick of Guernsey, Channel Islands is a Crown Dependency in the southwestern English Channel. It has a population of about 600. Sark’s main industries are tourism, crafts and finance. Sark has an area of two square miles (5.45 km²) and was the last European territory to abolish what some called classic feudalism, in 2008.
Owners of the island’s 40 tenements had an automatic seat in the Chief Pleas, and islanders chose 12 people’s deputies.
Sark’s government can directly trace its roots back to Queen Elizabeth I, who once granted the ruling “Seigner” a fief on the tiny Channel Island.
The unelected descendents of 40 families brought in to colonise Sark, after the French abandoned it in 1553, had governed life on the island ever since. But its feudal system of government started coming under pressure in 2000 in the light of human rights laws. Two proposals for reform were rejected in 2005 and 2007
Seneshal Lt Col Reg Guille, who acts as a presiding officer of the Chief Pleas, said the original settlers of the island would be “horrified” at the change. A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “Sark is seeking to reform its feudal constitution in order to make it comply with the European Convention on Human Rights and other international obligations. The UK is responsible for ensuring that Sark’s constitution meets those requirements and the UK is vulnerable to challenge if it does not.”
The man with the silky smooth voice
pool.com locked me out
Published December 31st, 2008 in custhelp, problem, sucks and ambrand. 0 CommentsFor some months now I’ve been locked out of my pool.com account. When I try to login it says my username/password combination is incorrect.
Firstly why can’t it be specific as to which is incorrect? Is it the username or the password. Well it turns out that both are correct. If I use the “Forgot Password” route I am emailled my password, which is correct.
But yet the system won’t let me in. The drones on technical support are of no assistance. As we all have experienced when dealing with large companies (anything above 20 persons in my book) a different person signs off each email, and despite there being a subject tracking number they never seem to read back one page. Thus the customer remains the expert on an issue and the customer service drone is a chair warmer.He or she only has the power and inclination tosuggest I do something I’ve already done i.e. use the “Forgot Password” route.
I assume pool.com eats its own dog food, and thus I must conclude the reason for the lockout is I have bagged a good domain and someone in pool.com wants it. They have ensured I cannot login so that I cannot update my credit card information. Once a certain period has elapsed the domain will revert into the hands of pool.com itself as I will be a non paying customer. At that point perhaps my account will be unlocked?
Suggestion: If you use pool.com then input your credit card that has the longest expiry date.
Noel Coward had perfect diction, but just like Brian Sewell when one speaks too perfectly and happens to be male one sounds a bit Brian Sewell.
no, on with the music.
Chris Ewbank is the “Lord of the Manor of Brighton”, although this is a purchased Title, rather than a Royal appointment. He has used the ancient right of this position to appoint a Town crier.
Montserrat
Published July 14th, 2008 in british empire, montserrat, British Overseas Territory, ambrand and commonwealth. 0 CommentsSome day, when I have the money I hope to visit the Island Paradise of Montserrat. I’s nice flag speaks for itself…
… whats that? you’re lost?. Well let me be your John Locke and interpret what the island has to say.
Montserrat is often referred to as the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean, due both to its resemblance to coastal Ireland and to the Irish descent of most of its early European settlers. It is a British overseas territory.
Montserrat is located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It measures approximately 16 km long and 11 km wide, giving 40 kilometres of coastline. Montserrat was given its name by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World in 1493, after its namesake located in Catalonia.
Its Georgian era capital city of Plymouth was destroyed and two-thirds of the island’s population forced to flee abroad by an eruption of the previously dormant Soufriere Hills volcano that began on 18th July 1995. The eruption continues today, but on a much reduced scale with the damage being confined to the areas around Plymouth including its docking facilities and the former W.H. Bramble Airport. The subsequent exclusion zone extends from the south coast of the island north to parts of the Belham Valley has been closed because of an increase in the size of the existing volcanic dome. This zone includes St. George’s Hill which provided visitors with a spectacular view of the volcano and the destruction it has wrought upon the capital. A new airport at Gerald’s in the northern part of the island opened in 2005. Appropriately we understand it was constructed by a Northern Irish company.
The village of Brades currently serves as the de facto centre of government.
Hotel frontdesk software
Published June 5th, 2008 in paperless revolution, frontdesk, paperless, paper to screen, hotel software and ambrand. 1 CommentOne of my friends runs a busy “Guesthouse”, although its central location and high standards mean it might as well be called a Hotel. The property uses a pen and ink booking system.
So unless you want to phone or walk-in any electronic inquiry you make will have a lag of say 1 hour at best, i.e. they check email, check the book, reply. Today that just doens’t cut it. Any potential guest will have meanwhile found examplecorporatehotel.com and will have been able to confirm availability in 5 seconds and booked in 5 more with his credit card.
I have been trying various “Front desk” software programs.
When running a hotel there are a few key functions you will need in software.
- The home page of the program should be a calendar
- Check-in button
- Check-out button
- A rock solid backup method, something internal is good, but if a hotel is to commit its priceless calendar to a piece of software it should have files that can be backed up from DOS/Explorer, something like Outlooks .pst
ASI Frontdesk
Support: An American address, with Indian employees. There are a few bugs in the software. Like most things made for the American market the address field expects a two letter state abbreviation (eg CA) and a character zipcode (90210 with or without 1234). An Irish address can fill neither of those fields and the software does not truncate the final address on the letter head, leaving nasty spaces. Overall the software is badly designed.
I’ll keep trying and report more…
I remember how a few years ago it became stylish to order bottled water in a Restaurant or Bar. Moreover the brand chosen was supposed to sent a message. Would sir prefer Ballygowan or Perrier? We can laugh at such showiness, and our laughter is supported by the environmental lobby.
Why should water be transported from one country to another wasting finite fossil fuels, when it is freely available from the nearest tap. Further consider the fossil fuels wasted in creating the plastic or glass bottles which may not be recycled.
So why don’t we drink from the nearest tap? well bottled water does have advantages.
- It can be fizzy - hands up who has seen a Soda Stream machine since 1989, Anyone, Anyone, Bueller?
- Your water may be disconnected, or it may harbour cryptosporidium (temporary)
Actually thats it, never mind the health stuff its fluff. Here at Ambrand.com we have thought of one other advantage of bottled water that we have not seen mentioned elsewhere. Perhaps it is an advantage that is only manifest in Ireland. So here goes…
In the the public buildings, towns, cities of Ireland there are no drinking fountains. So, if you want something to quench your thirst you must spend mone, and considering how bad Coca Cola is supposed to be for you we recommend water, which of course comes in a bottle. We couldn’t care less if the water came from a tap in a factory yesterday or a spring in France last week, we must buy bottled water. Unless you go into a Pub and ask for a glass of tap water, but then there will be an awkard silence while the barman wonders if he should charge you and how much. But perhaps a Bar is the place to go, because another problem in Ireland is its lack of public toilets.
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