Requiescat in pace

Paul Newman passed away from cancer at his home in Connecticut on Saturday.  He was one of the greats, both as an actor and as a philanthropist.  Rest in peace, and our thoughts to your family.

Can...not...resist...

I'm sorry, I had to post this.  I could not resist sharing something so important with my loyal readers.  For suspense purposes, I shall only post the link, not the article.

Enjoy!

Article

My way of adding to the political "libel"

I got this as a forward from Laurel, who was on my MA course in Leicester with me. No, people don't randomly email me museum related news...I just get it from my coursemates, which is logical.  I didn't like Sarah Palin anyway, but this really sealed it for me.  And the best part?  It's not actually libel (or slander) if it's true.  I would include the link that came with it, but it seems to have died, so here's the article.

REPUBLICAN VP A MUSEUM FOE
Much of the copious news coverage swirling around Sarah Palin, Republican John McCain's surprise pick for vice president, has focused on the relative inexperience of the freshman governor of Alaska and former mayor of Wasilla, a suburb of less than 10,000 people outside Anchorage. However, the 44-year-old Palin had proven experience with one thing during her brief tenure in government: slashing museum funding. As mayor of Wasilla, Palin quickly moved to cut the budget of the Dorothy G. Page Museum, a city-run institution that teaches Alaskan history and includes exhibits about the Gold Rush and the Iditarod.

According to a 1997 report in the Anchorage Daily News, Palin summarily fired museum director John Cooper (along with many other city officials. Palin, known for injecting her religious beliefs into government, also reportedly pressured town librarian Mary Ellen Baker to ban books, and then tried to fire the woman when she refused). Palin cut $32,000 from the Page Museum's $200,000 budget, provoking the three 15-year employees of the museum, Ann Meyers, Opal Toomey and Esther West, to resign en masse. "They'd rather quit than continue working for a city that doesn't want to preserve its history," the Daily News reported. Wasilla was running a $4 million budget surplus at the time.

An utterly charming movie

I watched a lovely "modern" fairy tale last night entitled Penelope.  I don't really want to give any of it away, but it was charming and sweet, funny and honest.  It stars Christina Ricci and James McAvoy, as well as Catherine O'Hara and Peter Dinklage (I'm sure you'll recognize him if you look him up).

I know this isn't much to go on, but I found it to just be a beautiful movie all the way around.  Funny, sweet, sad at time, but with the lovely happily ever after.  So go watch it.  Cuz I don't want to spoil it.

Funny, yet disconcerting

Although I do think this is funny, I'm also more than a little uncomfortable that they can see--and change--your password. Though I suppose someone somewhere at my financial institution can see my password, that's at a level well above the local branches (I know, I've asked). And no one ever knows your PIN for your debit card, so it can be kept totally secure.

So yes, a bit discomfited, but the story is funny. And also pasted here.

UK banking giant de-pants irate customer over password
By Joel Hruska | Published: August 28, 2008 - 12:30PM CT

Lloyds TSB is the fifth-largest banking group in the UK, but the bank's recent actions prove it still cares about the little guy. When it isn't partnering to sponsor the London Olympics in 2012, or recognizing the contribution of Asians to British society via the Asian Jewel Awards, the banking giant enjoys rooting through customer records and changing passwords it finds offensive, then refusing to change them back.

Steve Jetley of Shrewsbury discovered this firsthand, after he changed his telephone banking password to "Lloyds is pants" ("rubbish" to us American sods on the wrong side of the pond). Upon calling in, Jetley discovered that his "pants" password didn't match what was in the system. Instead, his password had been changed to "no it's not." Initially, this was no big deal.

"I thought it was actually quite a funny response," Jetley told the BBC. "But what really incensed me was when I was told I could not change it back to 'Lloyds is pants' because they said it was not appropriate. I asked if it was 'pants' they didn't like, and would 'Lloyds is rubbish' do? But they didn't think so."

"Barclays is better," didn't meet with approval either, seeing as how Barclays is another, even larger UK bank and a Lloyds competitor. At that point, Jetley was suddenly told that passwords had to be one word. When he offered "censorship" up as an appropriate password, he discovered passwords were required to be just one word, and no more than six letters long (not terribly secure, that). This undoubtedly came as something of a surprise, since his previous password had been accepted by the system, but the staff manager in question was apparently adamant.

Lloyds has since apologized, and told Jetley that the staff member had been let go. The bank also clarified its password policy, stating, "Customers can have any password they choose and it is not our policy to allow staff to change the password without the customer's permission." Lloyds did note that it is "disappointing" that Jetley chose to express his dissatisfaction by changing his password, indicating, perhaps, that he should have expressed his satisfaction by finding a different bank.

There's no word on whether or not Jetley got his "pants" back, but this isn't the first time Lloyds has come under public scrutiny for how it treats its customers. Earlier this year, Lloyds customers mounted a campaign to have certain charges refunded after the bank refused to do so. Oystar, a British group, released a parody of "I Fought the Law," called "I Fought the Lloyds." The song detailed the customers' struggles, and was popular enough to hit number 25 on the UK singles chart. Given these sorts of cases, we'd suggest Lloyds give Jetley back his coveted pants, and perhaps take a Carnegie course or two.