Whitby A'hoy

Away for the next few days to Whitby, shall try and take some photos, weather-permitting! Dracula, 99s with chocolate flake toppings.......

Postman Pat's Modern Britain

Having watched the video, what comparisons can we observe about the postal service in Modern Britain, and how it relates to Postman Pat's world?

• Today's news that 30% of Royal Mail could be sold off in a bill proposed Thursday seems to have already happened to him. No royal mail signs are present in the programme, unless you count his hat
• There are enough distribution centre jobs for all of one person in Pat's world; a sign of the times here
• The HSE (Health & Safety Exec.) are still to question Pat about the presence of his beloved feline on his regular rounds. A clear health hazard. In the UK, he would be facing civil proceedings against him by now 
• He drives a half empty van of parcels, a clear decline in the use of 'snail mail'
• Pat still goes out of his way to retrieve parcels, and isn't questionned by police for harrasment/driving across designated green lanes/public nuisance.
• Cramped Trains plague Pat's world; I too would be on a motobike by then.
• There is the presence of a Policeman, Farmer, Mechanic and Shopkeeper all helping load his van, a sight of community not seen for a very long time
• The tradtional market town still exists, but with less people using it. Tesco have yet to invade Pat's world.
  
• Homeowners paranoid of who is at the door; perhaps knife crime has finally come to Pat's world
• Royal Mail/Consignia should consider using helicopter drops, it might actually be more efficient for a change, and customers may receive post quicker

Rob Toy, 1940 - 2009

Well known Raddleman Rob Toy sadly passed away on Wednesday this week.

Tributes can be found on the Rutland Times Website here.

Free Breakdown Recovery for 1 mile

For those accustomed to travelling the UK highways and byways, you will often see roadworks advertising 'Free Recovery' if you breakdown within the set of works.

Obama's team have set up 'www.recovery.gov', a free website that shows where all the Stimulus Bill money is going. The website has a very handy diagram to show where this money is going, and in proportion to the total $787 Billion.



Do not adjust your sets, that really is $8billion on other.

The rest of the website is also quite interesting. There is no further breakdown of the figures on the website. This picture is the closest Joe Public will get to a balance sheet.

Also of interest is the map of jobs saved/created. Again, your eyes aren't deceiving you. That really was saved/created. I too ask myself the question, what is saved/created?

I think I might go save/create myself some breakfast.

NTARCbook, MyNTARC, NTARCster, NTARCtube?!

The US' National Terror Alert Response Center has launched it's own networking site, akin to Facebook, MySpace etc.

NTARC

It's interesting to see how it's 'Prepared Communities' policy is taking shape, and using the internet as it was designed for: information and communication.

I can also recommend viewing the videos hosted by the network. Particularly of interest is the 33 minutes video, posted here. Whilst I normally find these mini documentaries interesting, it can be said this is using a few scare tactics. Can anyone imagine a UK version of the video?

Campaign for Honest Food

Here's one for the books......

Porkulus Bill Passes Representatives

Courtesy of Twitter & Livestation, I was able to follow the US Stimulus bill heading into the House Of Representatives. This bill gives the US nearly $1 trillion to boost the economy

One of the top quotes from my news feed in Twitter was ''Way to go House Republicans! :)'', Posted by a fellow member of #tcot (topconservativesontwitter.org). It then began to flow through my feeder. US Republican activists were really pleased at party unity over voting no. They were also really pleased that 8 Democrats voted against the bill.

It still shows that the G.O.P (Grand Old Party, another name for Republicans) has a lot to do to stop legislation being piledrived through the Capitol.

Though two lessons to draw from this: Twitter is a fantastic source for news, if you log on at the right time. Also, if your Republican, avoid Friday 13th!

UPDATE: The bill has been made into law, with all but 3 of the Republicans voting no in the senate. Everyone is also complaining that the bill was only made available at 11 p.m (4 a.m GMT) Thursday night.

Welcome To Rutland

From Our Rutland Correspondent is live! In the coming weeks I hope to comment on news and politics from the UK and US! Be sure to have your RSS feeders digesting any new posts.