<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>A limey&#039;s ramblings</title>
	<atom:link href="http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com</link>
	<description>Notes on life and maybe even something interesting, one day.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:34:19 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.com/</generator>
<cloud domain='vteclimey.wordpress.com' port='80' path='/?rsscloud=notify' registerProcedure='' protocol='http-post' />
<image>
		<url>http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.png</url>
		<title>A limey&#039;s ramblings</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com</link>
	</image>
	<atom:link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/osd.xml" title="A limey&#039;s ramblings" />
	<atom:link rel='hub' href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/?pushpress=hub'/>
		<item>
		<title>Pondering Socialism</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/pondering-socialism/</link>
		<comments>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/pondering-socialism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:15:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>limey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[comment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Association of Train Operating Companies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[British Rail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chief executive officer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Railroad engineer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socialism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Train operating company]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Transport]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/?p=511</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have never really considered myself a socialist, but there is one aspect of socialism that I do have a lot of sympathy with. That is the state ownership of services and facilities. That’s not say that I think that capitalism isn’t capable of providing excellent quality services and facilities, because I think it can. [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=511&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have never really considered myself a socialist, but there is one aspect of socialism that I do have a lot of sympathy with. That is the <a class="zem_slink" title="State ownership" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_ownership" rel="wikipedia">state ownership</a> of <a class="zem_slink" title="Public services" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_services" rel="wikipedia">services</a> and facilities.</p>
<p>That’s not say that I think that capitalism isn’t capable of providing excellent quality services and facilities, because I think it can. However, the current trend towards boardroom greed puts the <a class="zem_slink" title="Consumer" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer" rel="wikipedia">consumer</a> at the bottom of the priority pile and the shareholder at the top. This is the wrong way round.</p>
<p>The population depends on excellent services and facilities and when the demand for higher and higher profits and <a class="zem_slink" title="Share price" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_price" rel="wikipedia">share price</a> performance gets in the way of providing good quality service at reasonable prices then it’s the consumer who will suffer. The big issue with services and facilities is that often there is little alternative to the end user and so the <a class="zem_slink" title="Company" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company" rel="wikipedia">company</a> concerned ends up with a monopoly which means there is no drive to become competitive or consumer focused.</p>
<h3><a class="zem_slink" title="Railroad engineer" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_engineer" rel="wikipedia">Train Operators</a></h3>
<p>Train operators are a good example of what I mean. Here in theUK, the train operator that you use depends on the region of theUKyou live in, so there is no real consumer choice over the train services that you use. What was once <a class="zem_slink" title="British Rail" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail" rel="wikipedia">British Rail</a> is now broken up into several different <a class="zem_slink" title="Train operating company" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_operating_company" rel="wikipedia">train companies</a> operating services on a rail network that is owned by yet another company. Multiple companies mean multiple boardrooms and multiple sets of shareholders and share prices to satisfy.</p>
<p>Each year, these companies post good profits and yet the consumer at the end sees fair rises that are higher than inflation at a time when the majority of the people who rely on the trains to get to work each day are on salaries that are either static, or have risen by less than the rate of inflation. Expand this across all the services and facilities that we pay for and you get a picture of families with extremely stretched incomes where the cost of everything has gone up to point where some families are now having to choose which non-essentials to sacrifice so that the basics can be afforded.</p>
<h3>What’s this got to do with <a class="zem_slink" title="Socialism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism" rel="wikipedia">Socialism</a>?</h3>
<p>This is one area where I have think that government ownership of such services is a better idea that letting the free market manage it. The company could still have shareholders and a board, but the objective is to provide a service to the customer and not to have a profitable bottom line. Of course, to turn a profit should be a target, but on the occasional year, say if some major investment is required, it will be okay to not be profitable. I won’t go so far as to say that the tax payer should always subsidise this type of service, it should attempt to be profitable, but the profit aimed for should be modest, enough to put aside for future investment so that consumer prices are kept to reasonable and predictable levels. The kind of unregulated price increases that have been seen of late are not acceptable.</p>
<h3>How about facilities?</h3>
<p>I feel similarly about facilities such as water, electricity and waste. The driver should be excellent service to the consumer at a reasonable price. <a class="zem_slink" title="Profit (economics)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit_%28economics%29" rel="wikipedia">Excessive profits</a> should never happen and surplus should be turned round into future investment so that the service is always as efficient and environmentally sound as possible.</p>
<p>Facilities such as those mentioned above are essential to everyone and the day to day reliability of them is paramount. Its also insane to consider that some people are now struggling to afford them having had prices of everything rise steeply and no salary rise to match.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that facilities should be run as a charity, but they should not be treated as just another private enterprise.</p>
<h3>A different type of company?</h3>
<p>In discussion about this particular issue round the dinner table recently I found that I am not alone in thinking like this. There are others who think that the capitalist way of working does not, or should not, apply to services and facilities and that at the very least there should be a separate tier of enterprise for this type of company that restricts its activities or binds its policies.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size:1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8984522/Train-operators-accused-of-greed-over-disabled-travel.html&amp;a=68718739&amp;rid=00000042-7d17-000F-0000-0000000001ff&amp;e=eaefb732be6fe493d7369db51d475ccf">Train operators accused of greed over disabled travel</a> (telegraph.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.autonetinsurance.co.uk/news/insurance-news/2011/12/20/train-ticket-prices-set-to-increase/">Train ticket prices set to increase</a> (autonetinsurance.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.rail.co/2012/01/05/train-companies-cancel-free-assistance-to-the-disabled/">Train companies cancel free assistance to the disabled</a> (rail.co)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8959306/Rail-commuters-face-double-whammy-of-fare-and-car-parking-charge-rises.html&amp;a=66685993&amp;rid=00000042-7d17-000F-0000-0000000001ff&amp;e=ad9bb7fa489bc92fecc5d1ba5882d83c">Rail commuters face &#8220;double whammy&#8221; of fare and car parking charge rises</a> (telegraph.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081136/Rail-passengers-pay-double-Britains-biggest-firms-cuts-peak-hours.html?ITO=1490">Rail passengers pay double after one of Britain&#8217;s biggest firms cuts off-peak hours</a> (dailymail.co.uk)</li>
</ul>
<br />Filed under: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/comment/'>comment</a> Tagged: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/association-of-train-operating-companies/'>Association of Train Operating Companies</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/british-rail/'>British Rail</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/chief-executive-officer/'>Chief executive officer</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/rail/'>Rail</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/railroad-engineer/'>Railroad engineer</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/socialism/'>Socialism</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/train-operating-company/'>Train operating company</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/transport/'>Transport</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/511/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=511&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/pondering-socialism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/470661efa4eae3ae257284748057534e?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">limey</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Just What are the Anti-Capitalists Actually Anti?</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/just-what-are-the-anti-capitalists-actually-anti/</link>
		<comments>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/just-what-are-the-anti-capitalists-actually-anti/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>limey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[comment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anti-capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Sciences]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occupy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/?p=508</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the things that continually puzzles and amuses me about the Anti-Capitalist movement is working out exactly what it is they are anti. The movement, best known for its well publicised demonstrations inLondonandNew Yorklast year, is not a new movement and there are several groups associated with the various anti-capitalist events. Phrases like ‘Capitalism [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=508&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>One of the things that continually puzzles and <a class="zem_slink" title="Amusement" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusement" rel="wikipedia">amuses</a> me about the <a class="zem_slink" title="Anti-capitalism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-capitalism" rel="wikipedia">Anti-Capitalist movement</a> is working out exactly what it is they are anti. The movement, best known for its well publicised demonstrations inLondonandNew Yorklast year, is not a new movement and there are several groups associated with the various anti-capitalist events.</p>
<p>Phrases like ‘<a class="zem_slink" title="Capitalism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism" rel="wikipedia">Capitalism</a> = Greed’ and ‘Capitalism is a sickness’ seem to spring up quite a lot.</p>
<p>The source of my puzzlement and amusement is when it comes to considering the alternatives. If one accepts at face value that capitalism is a sick and broken ideology that is incapable of generating a cohesive society then the only option is to pick an alternative.</p>
<h3>What is the alternative?</h3>
<p>When I look around the world and consider what else there is I am not exactly filled with confidence.</p>
<p>Would any of the anti-capitalist <a class="zem_slink" title="Protest" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest" rel="wikipedia">protesters</a> prefer to live under a communist regime? You don’t need to look at the history of theUSSRto know that the answer would be no. How about a bit of Despotism NorthKoreastyle? Or maybe sir fancies a bit of Dictatorship, of which there are many examples.</p>
<p>Not only would none of the vocal anti-capitalists not want any of the above mentioned alternatives, its also highly unlikely that they would even have had the freedom to make their protests in any country featuring them.</p>
<p>Broken or not, sick or not, I don’t think there really is an alternative to capitalism. The vocal postulating by a largely young and idealistic section of the populace is well meaning but misdirected. Its also extremely unhelpful that whenever these groups get together to try and make their points, they seem to get piggy-backed by a destructive and anarchistic minority. Sadly this hurts significantly any good that the movement could do.</p>
<h3>Need to re-think Strategies</h3>
<p>I am not anti-capitalist by any stretch or measurement. However, I do agree with the general claims that the movement makes. There is a staggering amount of <a class="zem_slink" title="Criticism of capitalism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_capitalism" rel="wikipedia">corporate greed</a> in the world today and the requirement to make as much money as possible being the single most critical factor of any boardroom decision is very real source many of the worlds ills.</p>
<p>In fact I am pretty sure that if you could get one of the lead protesters to put down their megaphone, stop shouting quick quips and punchy rhetoric, have a bath and sit calmly around a table with a bunch of suits for a casual chat about real issues that the working man faces and how big company policy is greedy I’d likely agree with most of what they would say. Its not the foundation of the anti-capitalist message that is wrong, its how its packaged and portrayed; much the same as with capitalism.</p>
<p>The other issue I have with the anti-capitalist movement is that they are big on problems but short on solutions. Yes, it is possible to find considered solutions to the issues raised, but in general the casual member of the general public, like myself, only gets to here noisy complaint delivered in a shouty and unattractive manner with very little opening for considered discourse.</p>
<p>If the issues of the world are so important to them, then they should be standing for election and publishing a manifesto detailing their plan for change.</p>
<h3>Capitalism Does Need to Change</h3>
<p>Its all well and good making stereotypical jokes about the standard anti-capitalist, but there is a serious point behind it all. That is that greed as been allowed to run through the corporate world and poison big business to the point where many people despise their employer and distrust industry. The <a class="zem_slink" title="Bank run" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_run" rel="wikipedia">banking crisis</a> is the best example of crumbled <a class="zem_slink" title="Consumer confidence" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_confidence" rel="wikipedia">consumer confidence</a>.</p>
<p>On a more personal level, it galls immensely to see executives who have clearly not done a great job of running their company getting an annual bonus that is more than their already immense annual salary, when most of the employees are told they are getting a pay freeze.</p>
<p>Such brazen disregard for the bread and butter worker of an organisation only serves to demonstrate just how out of touch many company bosses are. Worse than that, it demonstrates how they simply don’t get how motivated a happy and looked after <a class="zem_slink" title="Workforce" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workforce" rel="wikipedia">workforce</a> can actually be. It may cost profits to spend money on making a workforce comfortable, but it also costs profits when <a class="zem_slink" title="Turnover (employment)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnover_%28employment%29" rel="wikipedia">staff turnover</a> is high.</p>
<p>A motivated and happy workforce does a better job for the company anyway, the greed we see today undermines that terribly and something does need to be done to tackle it.</p>
<p>Complaining about capitalism is not the solution.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size:1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://listverse.com/2012/01/16/top-10-disadvantages-to-capitalism/">Top 10 Disadvantages to Capitalism</a> (listverse.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://alwaysquestionauthority.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/are-the-01-capitalists/">Are the .01% Capitalists?</a> (alwaysquestionauthority.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://markamerica.com/2012/01/11/a-flawed-understanding-of-capitalism/">A Flawed Understanding of Capitalism</a> (markamerica.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/laurie-penny/2012/01/occupy-movement-london">The Occupy movement: three months on</a> (newstatesman.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://jonmaiden.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/busting-myths-about-the-occupy-movement/">Busting 8 Common Myths about the Occupy Movement</a> (jonmaiden.wordpress.com)</li>
</ul>
<br />Filed under: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/comment/'>comment</a> Tagged: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/anti-capitalism/'>Anti-capitalism</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/capitalism/'>Capitalism</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/economic/'>Economic</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/occupy/'>occupy</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/politics/'>Politics</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/protest/'>Protest</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/social-sciences/'>Social Sciences</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/508/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=508&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/just-what-are-the-anti-capitalists-actually-anti/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/470661efa4eae3ae257284748057534e?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">limey</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Guide Dog Puppy &#8211; Week 1</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/guide-dog-puppy-week-1/</link>
		<comments>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/guide-dog-puppy-week-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:50:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>limey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guide Dog Training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guide dog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Puppy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recreation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tooth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Train]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Working dog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/?p=505</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Actually its almost two weeks now, we’ve had two weekends with Tout plus a day or so either side. There have been some frustrations as well as some good times. The effect on family life continues, we’re still adjusting to having an extra body to look after and care for. My daughter continues to be [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=505&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Actually its almost two weeks now, we’ve had two weekends with Tout plus a day or so either side. There have been some frustrations as well as some good times.</p>
<p>The effect on family life continues, we’re still adjusting to having an extra body to look after and care for. My daughter continues to be nervous of this jumpy and bouncy thing as he is not at all careful with his <a class="zem_slink" title="Tooth" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth" rel="wikipedia">teeth</a>. So we have to spend a bit of time being mindful of that.</p>
<h3>First the positives</h3>
<p>He is a very healthy and bouncy puppy and full of energy.</p>
<p>We’ve got him sitting pretty much on command now and most of his ‘busy’ business is done outside on the gravel area we have assigned for the job. We give him praise and a treat when he does this, which usually means that when he has done his stuff, he sits by the food cupboard and waits for the treat, so there is definitely an association there.</p>
<p>While we have not measured or weighed him, we agree that he has grown a little, but noticeable, in the time we’ve had him. Later this week we’ll get our first visit from out <a class="zem_slink" title="Guide dog" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guide_dog" rel="wikipedia">Guide Dog</a> Association rep to check out the first fortnight.</p>
<p>He still likes and seeks out human company. Often he’ll clamber onto my lap as an indication he wants to sleep. He is also now very comfortable with his cage and will go into there for a rest several times a day. He also likes to take his treats into there for consumption.</p>
<p>In my last post I mentioned that we would be turning his cage about at night to give him a safe open area at night and a mat to do his stuff on. This was an alternative to being locked in the cage all night. Its worked out better for us all, but he will still wake us up in the night whining after he has done his midnight ‘busy’. Of course we ignore it and he eventually settles. Hopefully he’ll soon stop the whining and just do his stuff and resettle.</p>
<p>We’ve discovered that he loves ice cubes. It must be a combination of being hard, so good for crunching, and cold on his teeth. So we use ice cubes as an occasional treat, which means we don’t need to worry about over feeding him when giving him a treat.</p>
<h3>Now the negatives</h3>
<p>We’ve had some very aggressive behaviour from him at times; aggressive to the point of snapping deliberately at hands and barking at us, usually at me specifically. On some occasions we’ve taken him out at this point and he’s done a ‘big busy’ and calmed down afterwards so there may be a correlation there.</p>
<p>It usually starts off with gentle play, we constantly remind him to be gentle and are firm with him when teeth get used; as directed in the training book that was left with us. However, this tends to spiral into worse and worse behaviour until we have to cease the play.</p>
<p>My wife spoke to our Guide Dog Association rep this morning, who suggested that we were not being hard enough with him and we should grab him very firmly by the back of the neck and pull him away when he bites. This is what his mother would have done and if we do that it’ll get the message across. She said, not to worry if he yelps when we do it. We’ll try that out and see how it goes.</p>
<p>Another issue we’ve started to have is weeing in the middle of the kitchen floor. It happens whenever my wife leaves him alone in the kitchen, less so with me. She only needs to step out of the kitchen for a few minutes and as soon as she is back there is a puddle waiting for her. Even if he’s recently been taken out for a ‘busy’, he still manages to find some more to leave. It certainly seems like its intentional, though we are not entirely sure why. Our Guide Dog Association rep thinks that it’ll stop when we get the biting behaviour sorted out and we’ll just have to deal with it until then.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size:1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/guide-dog-puppy-day-1/">Guide Dog Puppy &#8211; Day 1</a> (vteclimey.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/guide-dog-puppy-the-first-weekend/">Guide Dog Puppy &#8211; The First Weekend</a> (vteclimey.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebMerial/making-of-a-guide-dog/prweb4434904.htm">The Making of a Guide Dog &#8211; Celebrated In a New Film Series</a> (prweb.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://puppywithapurpose.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/dogs-chase-cats/">Dogs chase cats</a> (puppywithapurpose.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://puppywithapurpose.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/rochester-has-arrived/">Rochester has arrived!</a> (puppywithapurpose.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/2/prweb8103185.htm">Resolve to Change a Life in 2011 &#8212; Including Your Own</a> (prweb.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebmerial/guidedogs/prweb4467434.htm">The Extraordinary Magic Of A Guide Dog Partnership &#8211; Celebrated In A New Film Series</a> (prweb.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.brandflakesforbreakfast.com/2012/01/dog-mans-best-friend-and-guide.html">dog: man&#8217;s best friend and guide</a> (brandflakesforbreakfast.com)</li>
</ul>
<br />Filed under: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/guide-dog-training/'>Guide Dog Training</a> Tagged: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/dog/'>dog</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/guide-dog/'>Guide dog</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/pet/'>Pet</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/puppy/'>Puppy</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/recreation/'>Recreation</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/tooth/'>Tooth</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/train/'>Train</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/working-dog/'>Working dog</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/505/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=505&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/guide-dog-puppy-week-1/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/470661efa4eae3ae257284748057534e?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">limey</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Guide Dog Puppy &#8211; The First Weekend</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/guide-dog-puppy-the-first-weekend/</link>
		<comments>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/guide-dog-puppy-the-first-weekend/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:04:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>limey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guide Dog Training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Door]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guide dog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Puppies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Puppy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recreation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toilet training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Train]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/?p=502</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What is it with Puppies and their teeth? Why on earth does everything have to be bitten constantly? First weekend with puppy has gone mostly okay. He sleeps well, he’s not noisy, unless upset, and he loves a good play and human contact. Oh Puppy, what sharp teeth you have! Puppy’s teeth have been the [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=502&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h1></h1>
<p>What is it with Puppies and their <a class="zem_slink" title="Tooth" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth" rel="wikipedia">teeth</a>? Why on earth does everything have to be bitten constantly?</p>
<p>First weekend with puppy has gone mostly okay. He sleeps well, he’s not noisy, unless upset, and he loves a good play and human contact.</p>
<h3>Oh <a class="zem_slink" title="Puppy" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy" rel="wikipedia">Puppy</a>, what sharp teeth you have!</h3>
<p>Puppy’s teeth have been the biggest challenge. They find everything and they want to bite or chew everything. Chair legs, table legs, cushions, <a class="zem_slink" title="Warning label" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warning_label" rel="wikipedia">warning labels</a> attached to furniture, the <a class="zem_slink" title="Baseboard" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseboard" rel="wikipedia">skirting board</a>, the oven mittens, towels, trousers, scarfs, socks, grass, snails, worms, stones, floor mats, drink mats, curtains, electrical leads, his cage, doors, carpet, and of course any bit of exposed human flesh. I am sure that’s not an exhaustive list; basically, if puppy can reach it, puppy will chew it.</p>
<p>The need for the teeth to target in on moving human limbs is a constant frustration. It has caused the daughter tears already and while she adores him and wants to help with him, she is also very cautious and after a few minutes is happy to leave him to the adults and play on her own.</p>
<p>No doubt he’ll grow out of it eventually, we understand its all a natural part of being a puppy and that even human babies will put everything in their mouth’s. That doesn’t stop it being frustrating though.</p>
<h3>Time to get busy</h3>
<p><a class="zem_slink" title="Toilet training" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_training" rel="wikipedia">Toilet training</a> is very mixed, but its early days to we can’t expect him to get it right away. He seems to have learnt that he needs to go outside for his toilet. It us reading the signals that he needs to go that is proving the slow part. We try to take him outside regularly for his ‘busy’ but he fights that almost every time, probably due to the cold.</p>
<p><a class="zem_slink" title="Night" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night" rel="wikipedia">Night time</a> busy’s have been interesting and he’s woken us up in the middle of the night the last two night with whining due to having done a ‘big busy’ on the mat in his cage.</p>
<p>Tonight we are going to try something new that was suggested to my wife by a puppy owner. We’re going to place the cage near the <a class="zem_slink" title="Door" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door" rel="wikipedia">back door</a> and place a puppy mat by the door. We’ll then seal of that part of the kitchen to make it safe for him and leave the cage door open. The idea being that he will be able to leave the cage to do his busy on the mat and return to the cage to sleep. Hopefully this will eliminate 1am whining that wakes the whole house.</p>
<h3>Loving The Human Touch</h3>
<p>There has been no obvious sign that puppy is missing his siblings. He seeks out human contact constantly, often preferring to play with humans than his toys, hence the issue with teeth and daughter. This is especially true when he doesn’t want to play. He simply must flop his head down onto what body part is available; usually this will be a foot. This can make evening <a class="zem_slink" title="Television" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television" rel="wikipedia">TV</a> watching easy as he will snuggle up and rest for a couple of hours while the pesky humans watch the funny magic picture box.</p>
<h3>Change is Everywhere</h3>
<p>In amongst all the newness and the goodness that we are doing with this puppy there is a more subtle change that is happening. That is the change to the family. Everything that we do and think involves the puppy at some level. From the smallest action, like making sure the <a class="zem_slink" title="Living room" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_room" rel="wikipedia">living room</a> and kitchen doors are always closed, to how we interact and our various priorities.</p>
<p>It became obvious over the weekend when my wife and I were in the kitchen with the puppy and our daughter was on her own in the living room because she wanted to be away from the puppy. Obvious this is early days and the puppy needs much more human presence than he will later, but at the same time the puppy should not take priority over the needs of our family and so we need to put in extra effort to avoid that.</p>
<p>Change is good though, because it brings about a challenge to the status quo and I think this will be a positive thing for us as a family. The adventure and the challenge shall continue.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size:1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/guide-dog-puppy-day-1/">Guide Dog Puppy &#8211; Day 1</a> (vteclimey.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://puppywithapurpose.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/day-4-in-the-small-puppy-house/">Day 4 in the small puppy house..</a> (puppywithapurpose.wordpress.com)</li>
</ul>
<br />Filed under: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/guide-dog-training/'>Guide Dog Training</a> Tagged: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/dog/'>dog</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/door/'>Door</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/guide-dog/'>Guide dog</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/pet/'>Pet</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/puppies/'>Puppies</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/puppy/'>Puppy</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/recreation/'>Recreation</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/toilet-training/'>Toilet training</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/train/'>Train</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/502/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=502&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/guide-dog-puppy-the-first-weekend/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/470661efa4eae3ae257284748057534e?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">limey</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Guide Dog Puppy &#8211; Day 1</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/guide-dog-puppy-day-1/</link>
		<comments>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/guide-dog-puppy-day-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:11:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>limey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guide Dog Training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guide dog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labrador]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Puppy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recreation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Working dog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zambia]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/?p=492</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Family limey received a 7 week old Golden Labrador Yesterday. This puppy is destined to become a Guide Dog and so is not a regular pet at all, or even a pet for that matter, this will be a working dog and he will need to be treated as such. We’ve never had a [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=492&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_491" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://vteclimey.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc_7906.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-491" title="Guide Dog Puppy" src="http://vteclimey.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc_7906.jpg?w=300&#038;h=199" alt="Guide Dog Puppy" width="300" height="199" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Guide Dog Puppy puts carer under paw.</p></div>
<p>The Family limey received a 7 week old Golden <a class="zem_slink" title="Labrador" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrador" rel="wikipedia">Labrador</a> Yesterday. This puppy is destined to become a <a class="zem_slink" title="Guide dog" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guide_dog" rel="wikipedia">Guide Dog</a> and so is not a regular pet at all, or even a pet for that matter, this will be a working <a class="zem_slink" title="Dog" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog" rel="wikipedia">dog</a> and he will need to be treated as such.</p>
<p>We’ve never had a dog of any sort before so this will be a challenge for us, but something that we are looking forward to.</p>
<p>As a child my family had several dogs over the years. In <a class="zem_slink" title="Zambia" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-15.4166666667,28.2833333333&amp;spn=10.0,10.0&amp;q=-15.4166666667,28.2833333333 (Zambia)&amp;t=h" rel="geolocation">Zambia</a> this was a necessity for a white family, for security reasons. So these dogs were not treated as <a class="zem_slink" title="Pet" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet" rel="wikipedia">pets</a> either. They were guard dogs, they lived outside and the garden was large enough to not require them to be taken out for walks.</p>
<p>So all in, this is going to be a new experience for us and I will be putting occasional updates on the experience.</p>
<h3>Getting Approved</h3>
<p>Since it is my wife who will be taking the biggest responsibility in the care and training of the puppy, it was her who did the interview with the Guide Dog Association and received the approval. It was a relaxed check, basically to assess the suitability of our house and us as a family. We were also given a brief run through of the responsibility of caring for a Guide Dog in its first year.</p>
<h3>There are rules</h3>
<p>This puppy is not ours; we only get to look after it for the first year. There is a point to this first year of training, the puppy needs to be trained and prepared for life as a guide dog. Everything we do with the puppy during this first year is with the aim of turning this puppy into an effective Guide Dog in the future.</p>
<p>We have to toilet train the puppy to go in a specific place in the garden, this is because you can’t expect a blind person to clean up after their Dog while they are out and about. We also have to make an effort to get the puppy used to crowds in various different places, shops, public transport, basically as many public places as we can.</p>
<p>While play is allowed, we are not to play fetch games with the puppy as he has to learn to come to the owner on command. We also have to train him with a <a class="zem_slink" title="Whistle" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistle" rel="wikipedia">whistle</a>, to eat on a whistle blow and to return to us on a whistle blow.</p>
<p>This is by no means a complete list of our responsibilities for the next year, but it does give an indication of our role as carers and not owners.</p>
<p>We will have regular contact with and support from the Guide Dog Association so we are not in this alone.</p>
<p>Personally, I am looking forward to the challenges to come, it won’t be easy and it’ll certainly be a change to our normal everyday life.</p>
<h3>First time didn’t work out</h3>
<p>We were originally supposed to get a puppy back in November last year (2011) but on the day before he was due to arrive we received a phone call to say he had a <a class="zem_slink" title="Heart murmur" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_murmur" rel="wikipedia">heart murmur</a> and had been withdrawn from the programme. We later heard that he had been put down.</p>
<h3><a class="zem_slink" title="Puppy" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy" rel="wikipedia">Puppy</a>’s First Day</h3>
<p>Yesterday was second time lucky for us and puppy arrived as promised with a handler and we were given a run down on what to achieve in the first few weeks. We’re told he is a small puppy and at the lowest weight that puppies are typically given out to their first carers.</p>
<p>With daughter and school and the wife out for an appointment I had the pleasure of a few hours alone with puppy in our kitchen on his first afternoon with us.</p>
<p>He seems a quiet and relaxed puppy and seemed to want to spend a lot of time getting attention from me. It wasn’t long before he was tired, but I couldn’t get him to rest in his dog cage. He kept getting out and seeking the warmth of my body. Eventually I was able to let him doze off and then transfer him into the cage for his nap.</p>
<p>Those first few hours appear to have made an impression on him and now the first sign of him being tired is him seeking out my lap and curling up.</p>
<p>As part of the package of stuff we received with him, we were given a cut off from his early-days blanket. This is a blanket his mother and brothers and sisters all slept on. We put this in his dog cage last night to try and encourage comfort and familiarity; however he seems to be ignoring it completely after giving it a brief cursory sniff.</p>
<h3>First Tasks</h3>
<p>Our first tasks are to get the puppy used to hearing the whistle and food time and to get him to do his toilet outside in the garden. We have to associated the word ‘busy’ with wee and ‘big busy’ with poo. Its not gone so well yet, but then it is January and its cold outside and he certainly is not liking that.</p>
<p>It is early days and we’ll have to see what the next few weeks bring.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size:1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://puppywithapurpose.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/rochester-has-arrived/">Rochester has arrived!</a> (puppywithapurpose.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_arent_poodles_good_guide_dogs">Why arent poodles good guide dogs</a> (wiki.answers.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://puppywithapurpose.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/182/">Puppy preparation , P &#8211; 24hours and counting&#8230;.</a> (puppywithapurpose.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://theaaroncraig.com/developing-a-new-puppy-as-an-a/">Developing a new puppy as an a&#8230;</a> (theaaroncraig.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebMerial/making-of-a-guide-dog/prweb4434904.htm">The Making of a Guide Dog &#8211; Celebrated In a New Film Series</a> (prweb.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_tell_a_guide_dog_apart_from_a_regular_dog">How do you tell a guide dog apart from a regular dog</a> (wiki.answers.com)</li>
</ul>
<br />Filed under: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/guide-dog-training/'>Guide Dog Training</a> Tagged: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/dog/'>dog</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/guide-dog/'>Guide dog</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/labrador/'>Labrador</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/pet/'>Pet</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/puppy/'>Puppy</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/recreation/'>Recreation</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/working-dog/'>Working dog</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/zambia/'>Zambia</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/492/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=492&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/guide-dog-puppy-day-1/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/470661efa4eae3ae257284748057534e?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">limey</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://vteclimey.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc_7906.jpg?w=300" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Guide Dog Puppy</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>BBC Frozen Planet Team under fire for misleading the public</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/bbc-frozen-planet-team-under-fire-for-misleading-the-public/</link>
		<comments>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/bbc-frozen-planet-team-under-fire-for-misleading-the-public/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:51:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>limey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[comment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alastair Fothergill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arctic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BBC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daily Mirror]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Attenborough]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Footage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Frozen Planet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Polar bear]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://vteclimey.wordpress.com/?p=482</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The BBC Frozen Planet Team have come under fire for misleading the public in a recent episode of the excellent series. The accusation is centred around the fact that a clip of Polar Bear Cubs feeding was actually filmed in captivity and not the wild. In this clip http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16142580 Alastair Fothergill defends the action saying [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=482&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The <a class="zem_slink" title="BBC" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC" rel="wikipedia">BBC</a> Frozen Planet Team have come under fire for <a class="zem_slink" title="Deception" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception" rel="wikipedia">misleading</a> the public in a recent episode of the excellent series.</p>
<p>The accusation is centred around the fact that a clip of Polar Bear Cubs feeding was actually filmed in captivity and not the wild.</p>
<p>In this clip <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16142580">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16142580</a> <a class="zem_slink" title="Alastair Fothergill" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Fothergill" rel="wikipedia">Alastair Fothergill</a> defends the action saying there was no intentional misleading of the public and that filming of bear cubs in the wild is impossible.</p>
<p>While it the latter may be true, the former is dubious. There may have been no intent to mislead, and the programme commentary, as acknowledged by Fothergill, is very careful not to link the pictures shown with the wild facts stated. It is not made clear that the cubs shown are captive cubs.</p>
<p>While many watching would have worked out that the <a class="zem_slink" title="Footage" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footage" rel="wikipedia">footage</a> could not have been wild footage, many others would also have not considered it and just assumed that the cubs were wild, because that is the context of the programme.</p>
<p>Fothergill is being disingenuous in his stance by saying that the wording was intentionally generalistic so as not to give the wrong impression because while he was not misleading by intent, there was certainly the capability of being mislead through omission. By not making it utterly clear what the situation was, the film was allowing the impression to be made.</p>
<p>The issue is one of a wider obsession with documentary makers of having to tell a story. They are not content to give the facts and let an intelligent audience appreciate the beauty of what is filmed and the associated commentary. Film makers pander to short attention spans and the myth that a story is tantamount and create a false world by mixing location footage with created scenes in the mistaken belief that prettier is better.</p>
<p>The cubs scene concerned is truly a beautiful piece and deserving of broadcast in its own right, it didn&#8217;t however, add anything to the episode in question. If anything the revelation has distracted from the rest of the episode, which is a great shame.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size:1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16142580">VIDEO: BBC denies misleading Planet fans</a> (bbc.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/entertainment-arts-16137704&amp;a=66058938&amp;rid=00000042-7d17-000F-0000-0000000001e2&amp;e=95f5eb44b8af43201c9e15e776c3ea24">BBC denies misleading Planet fans</a> (bbc.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/dec/12/bbc-denies-misleading-frozen-plant&amp;a=66044740&amp;rid=00000042-7d17-000F-0000-0000000001e2&amp;e=91c41bedb34b2685222f9c06ae0b055d">BBC denies misleading Frozen Planet viewers over polar bear filmed in zoo</a> (guardian.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-denies-misleading-viewers-over-frozen-planet-footage-6275886.html">BBC denies misleading viewers over Frozen Planet footage</a> (independent.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//news.sky.com/home/showbiz-news/article/16128554&amp;a=66061820&amp;rid=00000042-7d17-000F-0000-0000000001e2&amp;e=fc55a79b577eeff97ae8bff6eb3d8e93">BBC Denies Misleading Over Frozen Planet</a> (news.sky.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/12/digested-read-frozen-planet-crace&amp;a=66126227&amp;rid=00000042-7d17-000F-0000-0000000001e2&amp;e=cf72e433514f102d46229d5af655fce8">Digested read: Frozen Planet by Alastair Fothergill and Vanessa Berlowitz</a> (guardian.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/dec/12/frozen-planet-polar-bear-bbc&amp;a=66077507&amp;rid=00000042-7d17-000F-0000-0000000001e2&amp;e=2441571e1d2cf6ff961d18153d7e5137">Frozen Planet&#8217;s polar bear footage was standard practice, claims BBC</a> (guardian.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/3993691/Attenborough-denies-misleading-fans.html">Attenborough denies &#8216;misleading&#8217; fans</a> (thesun.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/david-attenborough-denies-misleading-viewers-over-frozen-planet-footage-filmed-in-a-zoo-20111213-1oryw.html">Sir David in the cold</a> (theage.com.au)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/12/13/frozen-planet-scandal-sir-david-attenborough-defends-fake-polar-bear-footage-115875-23631238/">Frozen Planet scandal: Sir David Attenborough defends fake polar bear footage</a> (mirror.co.uk)</li>
</ul>
<br />Filed under: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/comment/'>comment</a> Tagged: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/alastair-fothergill/'>Alastair Fothergill</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/arctic/'>Arctic</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/bbc/'>BBC</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/daily-mirror/'>Daily Mirror</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/david-attenborough/'>David Attenborough</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/footage/'>Footage</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/frozen-planet/'>Frozen Planet</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/polar-bear/'>Polar bear</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/482/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=482&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/bbc-frozen-planet-team-under-fire-for-misleading-the-public/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/470661efa4eae3ae257284748057534e?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">limey</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Humax HD FreeSat PVR</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/humax-hd-freesat-pvr/</link>
		<comments>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/humax-hd-freesat-pvr/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:55:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>limey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BBC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BBC iPlayer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Button]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DivX]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FreeSat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freeview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humax]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PVR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[remote]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Television]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/?p=467</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As part of my move away from being a Sky subscriber (http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/farewell-sky/), I’ve purchased a Humax FreeSat HD PVR and figured I’d put my first thoughts down. Picture First view of TV using the Humax, I wanted to check out the HD quality. The free HD channels from the BBC sufficed for the first test [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=467&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As part of my move away from being a Sky subscriber (<a href="http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/farewell-sky/">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/farewell-sky/</a>), I’ve purchased a <a class="zem_slink" title="Humax" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humax" rel="wikipedia">Humax</a> <a class="zem_slink" title="Freesat" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freesat" rel="wikipedia">FreeSat</a> HD PVR and figured I’d put my first thoughts down.</p>
<h3>Picture</h3>
<p>First view of <a class="zem_slink" title="Television" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television" rel="wikipedia">TV</a> using the Humax, I wanted to check out the HD quality. The free HD channels from the <a class="zem_slink" title="BBC" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC" rel="wikipedia">BBC</a> sufficed for the first test and my first impression is that the quality wasn’t quite as good. Of course it may be the original filming wasn’t HD. My old <a class="zem_slink" title="SKY HD (Italy)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKY_HD_%28Italy%29" rel="wikipedia">Sky HD</a> box has a setting to show me what programmes were originally recorded in HD and what was not. This was very useful for seeing the difference between SD and HD broadcast.</p>
<p>Now that its been a couple of weeks, I am not so actively noticing the poorer quality so it could be that my first impression was based on an SD broadcast on an HD channel. Watching genuinely HD content does appear to be good enough quality that I can’t be sure that I can see a difference anymore.</p>
<p>The other thing that was noticed was that the colours seemed brighter, in a good way.</p>
<p>So on balance I’d say I am very happy with the picture quality from the Humax.</p>
<h3>Menus</h3>
<p>The menu system on the Humax is not as user friendly as I have been used to on the Sky boxes I’ve used over the years. This is one area where Sky are undeniably better, their menu systems are clear. The Humax will take a little getting used to as it is something new, but they do need to put some effort into design if they are going to attract the less tech savvy user.</p>
<p>There is also a small noticeable speed difference between the Humax menu system and the <a class="zem_slink" title="Sky1" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky1" rel="wikipedia">Sky one</a>. Its not enough to cause any issues, its just that moving from a Sky HD box to a Humax you can’t help but notice that tiny extra dely.</p>
<h3>Remote</h3>
<p>The remote is another area where Humax need to put some design effort. The Sky remote has clear colour coded buttons and the most used buttons are in a prominent place. The buttons are also sized and shaped to make navigation around the remote easy and simple. In most situations the remote can be operated by the hand that is holding it and without a need to look at the remote to confirm the correct button is about to be used.</p>
<p>By contrast, the Humax remote is much more uniform, in a bad way, and the more regularly used buttons are scattered about in no obvious manner. Two handed, eyes-on operation is essential.</p>
<h3>On Line</h3>
<p>We’ve not tested the on line abilities extensively, but we have tested the BBC <a class="zem_slink" title="BBC iPlayer" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_iPlayer" rel="wikipedia">iPlayer</a> integration and mostly its very good.</p>
<p>On our first few uses we were suffering from slow <a class="zem_slink" title="Broadband" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband" rel="wikipedia">broadband speed</a> and the player had trouble keeping up. This resulted in regular pauses in the programme we were watching, which was extremely frustrating.</p>
<p>The iPlayer integration offers normal and higher quality viewing, you really want the higher quality as the normal quality is less than SD <a class="zem_slink" title="Broadcast quality" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_quality" rel="wikipedia">broadcast quality</a> and you do notice the reduction. However, the higher quality does require a reliable broadband connection.</p>
<p>One shortfall that seems to be the case with the Humax is that it does not appear to buffer iPlayer content. For example, while we were watching the mentioned programme above and suffering from lag issues, we paused the player for 10 minutes while we made a cup of coffee each. When we returned, the lag issue was back within a minute, we expected the player to continue to download the programme while the player was paused. This did not seem to be the case.</p>
<h3>Summary</h3>
<p>There have been a few times when there has been confusion in the limey household about what certain things mean. Humax do need to address the usuability of the player, not just the design of the menus and the remote, but also the language used, to make everything unambiguous and much clearer.</p>
<p>Despite my stated short comings, I don’t hesitate to recommend the Humax FreeSat PVR, it has some good positive features and, design issues aside, it isn’t difficult to use. There is no regret at buying it, quite the contrary; we are pleased to have made the purchase, it’s a great product, with a few tweaks its can be an excellent or even perfect product.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size:1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.opera.com/press/releases/2011/11/16/">HUMAX and Opera Software launch HD set-top boxes with ready web apps</a> (opera.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://blog.reevoo.com/2011/07/the-best-freeview-digital-video-recorders/">The best Freeview digital video recorders</a> (reevoo.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/video/home-video/7-best-freeview-hd-boxes-in-the-uk-today-718172?src=rss&amp;attr=all">Buying Guide: 7 best Freeview HD boxes in the UK today</a> (techradar.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/video/recording/10-best-freeview-hd-recorders-in-the-uk-718241?src=rss&amp;attr=all">Buying Guide: 10 best Freeview HD recorders in the UK</a> (techradar.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/home-cinema/freesat-reaches-2-million-hardware-sales-mark-1017664?src=rss&amp;attr=all">Freesat reaches 2 million hardware sales mark</a> (techradar.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.reghardware.com/2011/07/27/freesat_itv_player/">Freesat ITV Player out of beta</a> (go.theregister.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/home-cinema/freesat-reaches-2-million-hardware-sales-1017664?src=rss&amp;attr=all">Freesat reaches 2 million hardware sales</a> (techradar.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/television/10-years-of-sky-the-epgs-948572?src=rss&amp;attr=all">In Depth: 10 years of Sky+ &#8211; the EPGs</a> (techradar.com)</li>
</ul>
<br />Filed under: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/reviews/'>Reviews</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/reviews/technology-reviews/'>Technology</a> Tagged: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/bbc/'>BBC</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/bbc-iplayer/'>BBC iPlayer</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/button/'>Button</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/divx/'>DivX</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/freesat/'>FreeSat</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/freeview/'>Freeview</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/hd/'>HD</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/humax/'>Humax</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/pvr/'>PVR</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/remote/'>remote</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/television/'>Television</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/467/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=467&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/humax-hd-freesat-pvr/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/470661efa4eae3ae257284748057534e?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">limey</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Farewell Sky</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/farewell-sky/</link>
		<comments>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/farewell-sky/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:19:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>limey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[comment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Customer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FreeSat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leaving Sky]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LoveFilm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sky (UK & Ireland)]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Television]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/?p=461</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Having suffered from appalling customer service as part of my recent house move (http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/moving-your-sky-services-to-a-new-house/), I’ve decided to cease being a Sky customer. As part of the following up with Sky for cancelling my Broadband, Phone and TV package I was asked to fill out a survey form and speak to a customer representative. Both of [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=461&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Having suffered from appalling <a class="zem_slink" title="Customer service" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_service" rel="wikipedia">customer service</a> as part of my recent house move (<a href="http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/moving-your-sky-services-to-a-new-house/">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/moving-your-sky-services-to-a-new-house/</a>), I’ve decided to cease being a <a class="zem_slink" title="Sky (UK &amp; Ireland)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_%28UK_%26_Ireland%29" rel="wikipedia">Sky</a> customer.</p>
<p>As part of the following up with Sky for cancelling my Broadband, <a class="zem_slink" title="Mobile phone" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone" rel="wikipedia">Phone</a> and <a class="zem_slink" title="Television" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television" rel="wikipedia">TV</a> package I was asked to fill out a survey form and speak to a <a class="zem_slink" title="Customer representative" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_representative" rel="wikipedia">customer representative</a>. Both of which I was very happy to do. What I did find interesting was that it was the cancelling of the TV package that prompted the request and not the Broadband or Phone packages. I interpret that as Sky making a higher percentage profit from the TV package and that the Phone and Broadband does not make them enough money to warrant the follow up.</p>
<p>I was very happy to explain to the customer services agent that the handling of my issues by Sky staff was very poor and that for a customer to alert them to an issue (twice) was not acceptable. The service agent acknowledged that, well he had to really, but would not budge from the position that the compensation offered was all that would be considered. In fact he even went as far as to imply that the free mobile dongle and free <a class="zem_slink" title="Satellite dish" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_dish" rel="wikipedia">satellite dish</a> installation should also be considered as monetary value. This I would not accept as they were part of the house move package anyway and did not come under the banner of compensation.</p>
<p>Even more disappointing was that at no point did he even ask the question “What would it take to tempt you back as a customer?” I’d have thought that this would be an essential question to ask when talking to a recent ex customer and hoping to get their business back. Of course the answer would have likely been nothing, I have now made the decision to go <a class="zem_slink" title="Freesat" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freesat" rel="wikipedia">FreeSat</a> and not pay for my TV package at all. Extras that I want will be rented from <a class="zem_slink" title="LoveFilm" href="http://www.lovefilm.com/corporate/index.html" rel="homepage">LoveFilm</a>, Sky will certainly, not be getting any of my money again.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size:1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/moving-your-sky-services-to-a-new-house/">Moving your Sky Services to a New House</a> (vteclimey.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/broadcaster-bskyb-profits-increase-by-32-2372675.html">Broadcaster BSkyB profits increase by 32%</a> (independent.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/boost-for-sky-as-consumers-splash-out-on-hd-and-broadband-2373086.html">Boost for Sky as consumers splash out on HD and broadband</a> (independent.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/25/ofcom_customer_satisfaction_report/">Punters even more dissatisfied by Virgin Media&#8217;s package</a> (go.theregister.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://thenextweb.com/uk/2011/11/25/sky-tops-ofcoms-uk-communications-industry-customer-satisfaction-report/">Sky tops Ofcom&#8217;s UK communications&#8217; industry customer satisfaction report</a> (thenextweb.com)</li>
</ul>
<br />Filed under: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/comment/'>comment</a> Tagged: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/broadband/'>Broadband</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/customer/'>Customer</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/customer-service/'>Customer service</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/freesat/'>FreeSat</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/leaving-sky/'>leaving Sky</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/lovefilm/'>LoveFilm</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/mobile-phone/'>mobile phone</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/sky-uk-ireland/'>Sky (UK &amp; Ireland)</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/television/'>Television</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/461/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=461&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/farewell-sky/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/470661efa4eae3ae257284748057534e?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">limey</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Roberts MP43 Update</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/roberts-mp43-update/</link>
		<comments>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/roberts-mp43-update/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:58:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>limey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Button]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Digital Audio Broadcasting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Digital radio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FM broadcasting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IPhone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPod]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Radio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roberts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/?p=457</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have already reviewed my Roberts MP43 DAB radio and iPod dock here (http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/roberts-mp43-dab-clock-radio-with-ipod-dock-and-cd-player/). This is a brief update on the device usage as I think it warrants it. Firstly, everything that I have written in my original review is still valid and I have not changed my opinion on it. The sound quality is [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=457&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h1></h1>
<p>I have already reviewed my Roberts MP43 <a class="zem_slink" title="Digital Audio Broadcasting" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Broadcasting" rel="wikipedia">DAB radio</a> and <a class="zem_slink" title="IPod" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod" rel="wikipedia">iPod</a> dock here (<a href="http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/roberts-mp43-dab-clock-radio-with-ipod-dock-and-cd-player/">http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/roberts-mp43-dab-clock-radio-with-ipod-dock-and-cd-player/</a>).</p>
<p>This is a brief update on the device usage as I think it warrants it.</p>
<p>Firstly, everything that I have written in my original review is still valid and I have not changed my opinion on it. The <a class="zem_slink" title="Sound quality" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_quality" rel="wikipedia">sound quality</a> is still excellent and the operation foibles that I reported are all still there.</p>
<h3>DAB Reception</h3>
<p>My original review reported that I had poor DAB reception and so could not use this very much. I am glad to report that since moving home I am now is a great DAB reception area and the <a class="zem_slink" title="Radio" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio" rel="wikipedia">radio</a> function of the Roberts is now being used for several hours a day. The radio quality is clear.</p>
<h3>Remote and Panel Operation</h3>
<p>Operating the Roberts using the <a class="zem_slink" title="Button" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button" rel="wikipedia">buttons</a> on the <a class="zem_slink" title="Front panel" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_panel" rel="wikipedia">front panel</a> is still a frustration and the remote is definitely the preferred method of operation. However, the remote itself is also not perfect, the design is poor and the buttons do not give very good feedback. This is something that Roberts really do need to put some effort into. I have not seen any reviews on newer products so I can only hope that this has been addressed.</p>
<h3>Phantom Operation</h3>
<p>In my original review I commented on the random menu operation of some functions on the Roberts. I never did find the cause of this and I hoped that after my house move they would stop.</p>
<p>Sadly this is not the case. The Roberts now sits on a <a class="zem_slink" title="Window" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window" rel="wikipedia">window sill</a>, facing away from the sun and I still get phantom operation. I think this rules out the <a class="zem_slink" title="Infrared" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared" rel="wikipedia">infra red</a> response to sun rays landing on the device, which was my first thought.</p>
<p>What is more frustrating is that the phantom operation seems to have extended. Its now no longer just refined to operating the info button as originally reported. There have now been a few occasions when, listening to the radio, the device has cycled through the different pre-programmed sound stages. It’s a bit disconcerting when your radio changes from rock sound to classic sound mid song. It doesn’t happen often enough to make me want to throw it out the window, but it is an issue that Roberts need to get to eradicate from the design.</p>
<p>Having ruled out infra red as the source of the phantom operation, I am now wondering if its dust sitting on the front panel causing the buttons to operate. I am not entirely convinced by this idea, but I have nothing else to suggest, other than an actual fault with the Roberts itself. As this phantom operation is not predictable, its hard to come up with ideas for the issue.</p>
<p>As already stated, this phantom operation is not bad enough for to cause me serious issues and so I am still more than prepared to forgive that and I still highly recommend the Roberts for anyone wanting good quality sound from a reliable product.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size:1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/audio/hi-fi-radio/best-dab-radio-which-one-should-you-buy-901928?src=rss&amp;attr=all">Buying Guide: Best DAB radio: which one should you buy?</a> (techradar.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/21/battle_on_dab/">Gov: DAB must battle on, despite being old and rubbish</a> (go.theregister.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.reevoo.com/decidewhattobuy/2010/07/top-5-dab-radios/">Top 5 DAB radios</a> (reevoo.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://stuffem.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/local-dab-no-thanks/">Local DAB No Thanks</a> (stuffem.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/22/dab_consultation/">Local radio stations band together against DAB</a> (go.theregister.com)</li>
</ul>
<br />Filed under: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/reviews/'>Reviews</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/reviews/technology-reviews/'>Technology</a> Tagged: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/button/'>Button</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/digital-audio-broadcasting/'>Digital Audio Broadcasting</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/digital-radio/'>Digital radio</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/fm-broadcasting/'>FM broadcasting</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/iphone/'>IPhone</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/ipod/'>iPod</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/radio/'>Radio</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/roberts/'>Roberts</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/457/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=457&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/roberts-mp43-update/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/470661efa4eae3ae257284748057534e?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">limey</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Final proof of the Moon Landings?</title>
		<link>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/final-proof-of-the-moon-landings/</link>
		<comments>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/final-proof-of-the-moon-landings/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:08:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>limey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[conspiracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[space]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apollo 11]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LRO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moon landing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moon landing conspiracy theories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NASA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YouTube]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/final-proof-of-the-moon-landings/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently had the pleasure of watching a video on on YouTube which compares the Apollo 11 descent footage with LRO hires footage, and with the magic of Goole Moon, recreates the same angles for side by side comparison. Watch the almost 10 minutes of awesomeness here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Nh5qWzqMY What I like about this video is [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=452&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zemanta-img">
<div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 266px"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:369234main_lroc_apollo11labeled_256x256.jpg"><img title="LRO sees Apollo 11 landing site" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/369234main_lroc_apollo11labeled_256x256.jpg" alt="LRO sees Apollo 11 landing site" width="256" height="256" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image via Wikipedia</p></div>
</div>
<p>I recently had the pleasure of watching a video on on <a class="zem_slink" title="YouTube" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube" rel="wikipedia">YouTube</a> which compares the <a class="zem_slink" title="Apollo 11" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11" rel="wikipedia">Apollo 11</a> descent footage with <a class="zem_slink" title="Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter" rel="wikipedia">LRO</a> hires footage, and with the magic of Goole <a class="zem_slink" title="Moon" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon" rel="wikipedia">Moon</a>, recreates the same angles for side by side comparison. Watch the almost 10 minutes of awesomeness here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Nh5qWzqMY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Nh5qWzqMY</a></p>
<p>What I like about this video is that it take two separate sources of moon images, separated by about 40 years, and demonstrates that they are of the same features.</p>
<h4>Will it actually shut up any Moon Hoaxers?</h4>
<p>Sadly, I don’t actually think it will stop the hard core hoaxers because they have too much invested in their <a class="zem_slink" title="Hoax" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoax" rel="wikipedia">hoax</a> belief that accepting and admitting they could be wrong will simply be too hard for them. I guess the same is true of any dedicated conspiracy follower.</p>
<p>What I do hope the video will achieve is to make those who do question the 1969 <a class="zem_slink" title="Moon landing" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing" rel="wikipedia">Moon Landings</a> think again and convince them and so reduce the audience of those who continue to make money from peddling their conspiracy nonsense.</p>
<h4>What will the Moon Landing Deniers say?</h4>
<p>Well, the only thing a <a class="zem_slink" title="Moon landing conspiracy theories" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy_theories" rel="wikipedia">Moon landing</a> Denier can say is that the LRO images are faked in order to make them match the secret studio on which the fake Moon landing was filmed.</p>
<p>Of course, this creates a problem. <a class="zem_slink" title="NASA" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA" rel="wikipedia">NASA</a> has the LRO imager currently photographing the moon in glorious high resolution. Somehow, these images will have to be doctored so that all areas that correspond with fake moon footage match the fakes. At some point real images and fake images will have to be stitched together seamlessly.</p>
<p>However, that’s not all. Japan had their own <a class="zem_slink" title="Lunar Orbiter program" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Orbiter_program" rel="wikipedia">Lunar Orbiter</a> taking images of the moon and nothing was flagged up in any of those results.</p>
<p>The simple fact is, if the original Moon Landings were faked, the information would have been made public by now. There should be no need for videos like the one I link to at the top of this post to be used as proof of the landings, they should exist simply as an exercise in nostalgia, which for me, is a glory in itself. Using them as a tool with which to mock the moon hoax idiot reduces the value of them.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size:1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://newslite.tv/2011/09/07/nasa-release-new-photos-of-moo.html">NASA release new photos of Moon landing sites</a> (newslite.tv)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://skepticalteacher.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/more-high-resolution-images-of-the-apollo-moon-landing-sites/">More High Resolution Images of the Apollo Moon Landing Sites</a> (skepticalteacher.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/09/apollo_17/">Apollo 17 Moon landing: Shock revelations</a> (go.theregister.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/moon-landing-latest-photos-disprove-conspiracy-theory/">Moon Landing-Latest Photos Disprove Conspiracy Theory.</a> (ramanan50.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/06/new_lunar_images/">NASA releases stunning new moon-landing snaps</a> (go.theregister.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2011/09/28/apollo-11-landing-on-google-moon-of-the-day/">Apollo 11 Landing on Google Moon of the Day</a> (geeks.thedailywh.at)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=167407">NASA fake moon landings proved fake by fake photos [Simoncartoono.co.uk Ellinas]</a> (ecademy.com)</li>
</ul>
<br />Filed under: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/conspiracy/'>conspiracy</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/category/space/'>space</a> Tagged: <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/apollo-11/'>Apollo 11</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/lro/'>LRO</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/lunar-reconnaissance-orbiter/'>Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/moon/'>Moon</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/moon-landing/'>Moon landing</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/moon-landing-conspiracy-theories/'>Moon landing conspiracy theories</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/nasa/'>NASA</a>, <a href='http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/tag/youtube/'>YouTube</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/vteclimey.wordpress.com/452/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=vteclimey.wordpress.com&amp;blog=4357399&amp;post=452&amp;subd=vteclimey&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://vteclimey.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/final-proof-of-the-moon-landings/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/470661efa4eae3ae257284748057534e?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">limey</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/369234main_lroc_apollo11labeled_256x256.jpg" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">LRO sees Apollo 11 landing site</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
