Posted in July 2008

Cornish Pasty Makers Closer To Protected Geographical Indication

Source: hazel eyes
Friday 25th July 2008, 4:46pm

The government have backed the Cornish Pasty Makers Association (CPA) in the bid to get regional protection from the EU.

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs will take the CPA's application for Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) to Brussels.

DEFRA have confirmed that the application meets all the requirements for a protected food name.

Any trademark would cover the Cornish pasty's traditional recipe and appearance. A genuine Cornish pasty has a distinctive D shape with the pastry crimped on one side, never on top.

It is filled with minced or roughly cut chunks of beef, swede or turnip, potato and onion.

If successful, only pasties made from this traditional meat and veg recipe will be able to be sold as a Cornish pasty.

The Cornish pasty makes up about 6% of the Cornish food economy, with about 13,000 people benefitting from CPA trade.

The CPA said "We believe it is not unreasonable to ask companies to honestly label their products so that the consumer is guaranteed a level of quality, recipe and origin when they purchase them.

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Get Back At The Scammers

Source: hazel eyes
Thursday 17th July 2008, 3:17pm

If you've had scam emails and want to fight back, report them to 419 Eater! A couple of people on here have done a bit of scambaiting, but not to the extent these people do, they are pro's.

Hopefully people are getting more aware of the scam emails that come through now and again - someone wants to transfer millions into your account, pay you to cash cheques and send them the money etc etc.

DON'T DO ANY OF IT, IT'S DIRTY AND YOU WILL GET NOTHING!

If it sounds too good to be true - its a scam!

The guys at 419 Eater are absolutely brilliant at wasting the scammers time, we're talking several months. The website contains several tips on scambaiting, but it also states that if you are not prepared to deal with these people, then don't. Personally I always delete emails that are from people I don't know.

Keep Your Blood Pressure Low

Most of all though, don't get stressed with them, its not worth making yourself ill over a Nigerian criminal. I wonder why the majority are from Nigeria?

I found the site from a Land Rover forum I was perusing, its a bit hard going if you want to read the stories, but superbly funny. I'm glad someone is giving these people a taste of their own medicine.

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Cracking Down on Spam

Source: hazel eyes
Friday 11th July 2008, 2:47pm

A government review has recommended a crackdown on email, junk mail and cold callers. Will it make any difference?

Dirty Spammers

SPAM. We can't get away from it, our Inbox, our mail and even on the phone! About half my mail goes straight into the recycle bin and I get the occassional cold call even though I'm suposed to be on the 'no cold calling' list.

Gordon Brown To The Rescue

Gordon Brown comissioned this review about a year ago which now recommends making it easier for members of the public to keep track of who has got their personal information and also banning Town Halls from selling edited versions of the electoral role. Hefty fines are recommended for those which break the rules.

Will It Work?

Personally I doubt it, but marks for trying (3/100)!

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More Good Food

Source: hazel eyes
Tuesday 8th July 2008, 4:55pm

ASK in Exeter is turning out to be a very good place to go out and have some consistently decent grub.

I went out last night for a meal in ASK, Exeter and very nice it was too. A selection of pasta, spagetti pizza and some salad dishes. I especially recommend the desserts if you've got room!

One of my other half's friends invited us out with them as they had a 'buy 2 meals, get 1 free' voucher - from the News of The World I think. We've been there a few times now and every time it is superb for grub, ambience and staff.

Help, No Broadband Speed Test Available

The only thing that I can think of to top it of is that there isn't anywhere to plug the old laptop in, which might be handy for business persons at lunchtimes. Perhaps they are afriad that their broadband speed wouldn't be fast enough. The SPCK shop just around the corner advertises free wifi though, so its obviously possible.

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New Bike (Non-motorised)

Source: hazel eyes
Thursday 3rd July 2008, 4:59pm

My other half is taking the plunge and giving up the fags (trying to anyway) and to avoid too much weight gain he wanted a pushbike to ride around on.

I believe it was Big Boy that said 'giving up smoking is easy, I've done it loads of times'. This applies to my other half, he's given up a few times before with varying success - once for 2.5 years before he started again.

So we wander off to Partridge Cycles and have a look around. Neither of know much about bikes, so it was a bit flummoxing, but a nice man called Russel came along and picked out a couple for him to try.

As he wasn't going on any black runs (whatever they are) or places you'd need a Freelander to climb, he said a hybrid was probably the best option, this is ok for steady tracks and things, without creating too much drag on the road.

He tried out a couple and predictably the most expensive one was the one he likes to most - lightweight, nice gear changes and easy to ride. So out came the credit card and 1 pushbike is now at my house.

This means we can now go on bike rides together - but I'll be taking the one with the engine!

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