Wonga – Police Investigation

Wonga – Police Investigation

Here is a snap shot of an article in the weekend FT. I have been watching the wonga adverts and thinking how unethical it is that a company can prey on the weak and desperate to make themselves a ridiculous fortune and then in the process get recognised as an amazingly successful company that muppets look up to.

How is it ethical and moral that a company can charge up to 2000% APR to people who are struggling beyond our recognition and understanding. Struggling to feed themselves and their family and all they get is preyed on like weak, insignificant rats in a sewer.

Their lack of knowledge and desperation means they see a way out via wonga but only get deeper into debit and due to the massive interest rate take even longer to get out of debit. I was talking to a friend yesterday who has an overdraft with their bank. They are the bank’s perfect customer. They get charged for the privilege of having an over draft every month. They get charged a fee for being in their overdraft every month and they get charged a high interest rate. Win, win, win for the bank, loose, loose, loose for the customer. Awesome…

I guess it comes back to Charles Darwin. Survival of the fittest, the strongest. The weak will die and fall by the wayside.

Looking at Barclay’s Bank in the news. Pushing the boundaries of being ethical if they can all agree via alleged emails. What drives mankind today? What drives us to be successful? Is it possible to be successful via ethical and moral means or do we have to eat and devour the weak to be successful ourselves? Let me know as while this is simply not in my nature, I may have to try and evolve into a man eater?

Wonga - Police Investigation

In addition to the above: How on earth does Wonga manage to register Student Loans as a brand? I can’t get my head round how something that student’s take advantage of world wide is actually some kind of brand for a company. Anyone care to explain this one to me?

Essentially Wonga sent out thousands of letters to Students from fake law companies telling them they were in serious trouble for not keeping up with their payments. I can only envisage the decision made at a wonga board meeting where they decide to simply make up law firm names and threaten people rather than pay a small fortune to said organisations to issue official letters to their customers.

I suspect that if the heat continues, Wonga will simply change name and continue trading under a different brand as they search for the loop holes in the system to push the boundaries of ethics and morals to make themselves enough cash for lots of bubbly at the end of year party?

 

Top New York securities regulator sues Barclays over ‘dark pool’

New York’s top securities regulator has sued Barclay’s for favouring high-speed traders using its “dark pool” trading venue while misleading institutional investors.

Dark pools allow investors to trade large blocks of shares anonymously, with prices posted publicly only after deals are done. They were created as a way for institutional investors to place large orders without actually effecting the overall share price and thereby disadvantaging themselves.

Read more here

walking with Lions

walking with Lions

Some friends of the family recently had a little trip to Antelope Park to walk with Lion cubs. Certainly makes me miss Africa and the bush.

Walking with the lion cubs

With a lion cub

Antelope Park Sean with lion cub

Antelope Park 1

why kids are obese

why kids are obese
coca cola

All you ever wanted to know about Coke! 6 videos

All you ever wanted to know about Coke! 6 videos

Here is a great video to start you off with. Have a quick watch of an advert for Coke if it had to say exactly what Coke really is and what it will do to you

Next up is an experiment where an egg is put into a cup of Coke for a year. OK, a little extreme putting it in there for a whole year. Be interesting to see what happens over a shorter period of time but take a look as it is still interesting.

here is some facts about what’s in coke zero.

Staying with Diet coke. Here is a more in depth video from a few years ago but obviously still relevant. Aspartame is a sweetener that is used in thousands of different products. There is a lot of controversy regarding it’s safety. Quite frankly it comes down to who you believe. The companies making significant fortunes from selling it, or the so called conspiracy theorists. Regardless, are you willing to put your health at risk? Do you enjoy it enough to give yourself cancer further down the line.

Here are some interesting facts on coke. What I like about this is that he looks at only one coke a day. Quite often we think we are doing something in moderation but in reality, over time it really adds up. I love my coffee and I won’t have more than two a day generally however I am sure that if I added that up over a month I am not doing my poor body any favours at all. Have a listen.

Here is another video on what happens to your body when you drink a coke.  Quite an interesting process of how the body tries to the cope with what you have just shoved down your throat.

Coke is the most valuable brand in history, and “Coca-Cola” is the world’s second-most recognized word after “hello.” However, the beverage itself is an absolute poison to the human metabolism. Coke is very acidic, it’s only one point higher on the pH scale than battery acid. Consequently it can clean surfaces equivalent to and often better than many toxic household cleaners.

I have always found it strange that it’s cheaper and easier to buy back home in Zimbabwe and other third world countries than it is to access clean water. Coke tries to convince consumers and entire nations that it is an “environmental company” when really it is linked to pollution, water shortages, and disease.

Unfortunately, people who consume soft drinks such as Coke apparently have a 48% increase in heart attack and stroke risk, compared to people who did not drink the coke or other sodas. A study published in the journal Respirology reveals that soft drink consumption is also associated with lung and breathing disorders including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Still like coke?

The carbonation in Coke causes calcium loss in the bones through a 3-stage process:

1. The carbonation irritates the stomach lining.

2. The stomach adds the only antacid at its disposal: calcium. It gets this from the blood reducing the available calcium to the rest of the body which it has to replenish by taking it from the bones.

3. If it did not do this, muscular and brain function would be severely impaired. Obviously you end up with weak bones.

But, the story doesn’t end there. Another problem with most Coke is it also contain phosphoric acid (not the same as the carbonation, which is carbon dioxide mixed with the water). Phosphoric acid also causes a draw-down on the body’s store of calcium.

There are two ways that Coke softens your bones:

1. Carbonation reduces the calcium in the bones.

2. Phosphoric acid reduces the calcium in the bones.

Esophageal cancer was very rare two generations ago — now, it’s common. The basic mechanism works as follows:

1. Mechanical damage to cells is a huge risk factor for cancer. It’s why asbestos particles, for example, cause lung cancer.

2. All soft drinks cause acid reflux (stomach acid rising up past the esophageal valve). This is more pronounced when the body is horizontal (as in sleeping), but the sheer volume of Coke and soft drinks consumed by people in this day and age means the acid reflux is well past the danger point.

3. tomach acid dissolves tissue — that’s its purpose. The stomach lining does not extend into the esophagus, so the lower esophagus gets damaged by acid far more frequently in soft drink users than in non soft drink users. This results in a radical increase in cell mutations, along with a far higher level of free radicals.

So, now when you next have a coke or diet coke, you can do so with more knowledge that you are indeed damaging your body.

Core work outs 3 videos to get yourself a monster core

Core work outs 3 videos to get yourself a monster core

Here are a few awesome core workouts you can use to be stronger overall. Most people have a very weak core that cause many other problems. Especially if you train a lot, it is important that you core is strong to support your whole body.

If it is weak then other parts of your body over compensate causing injuries.

The key principle of core strength is the ability to control the spine while moving. The spine contains the central nervous system which controls how efficiently and powerfully we can move our legs and arms which is generally pretty relevant to athletes regardless of what sport you participate in.

So if we lack core strength, we cannot hope to move our arms or legs very well, making something as complex as running for example a very difficult task!

Everyone, regardless of being an athlete or not will benefit from a strong core.

Craig Alexander is a multi World Triathlon champion. Winning the coveted Hawaii Ironman 3 times.  He has been a top pro for many years and is one of the strongest triathletes in the field due to his strong core.

Why be boring and non controversial? Here is a great work out from the guy who was one of Lance Armstrong’s strength trainers. Love him or hate him, drugs will only take you so far. And with everyone else taking drugs, you still have to put the hard work in.

The Best Core Exercises For Better Run Form

New EU data regulations 5 things your business needs to do

New EU data regulations 5 things your business needs to do

Recent events over the past couple of years, in particular the Snowden affair, have had a huge influence on privacy and our personal data. The European Union is set to dramatically change the regulations which govern what businesses can do with personal data and what rights you have to protect it.

Click here to read more

10 cloud-based security tools to protect your computer network

10 cloud-based security tools to protect your computer network

Believe it or not, it doesn’t matter what size you are when it comes to protecting your network. PLC or home user: Hackers will still want your information right now. If they don’t want your information then they want to use your computer to get someone else’s information and cover their tracks by using your little (or large) network.

email-security-img-padlock

You can read more here

Extreme Ironman – Scotland – City to summit

Extreme Ironman – Scotland – City to summit

Yep, it’s almost a year ago that I embarked on an extreme Ironman adventure in Scotland. In fact, it’s just one week to go before myself and two friends (Darren and Steve) travel once more up to Scotland to beast ourselves like no other experience.

city to summit

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