Words About Things

Last week I wrote about the emerging trend of hiring a car rather than owning one. The idea being that if you just rent a car when you need one (which might be less often than you think) it will work out cheaper and better for the environment in the long run.

Apparently this idea is taking off and a recent Guardian article I just found has some stats to back it up. The average family spends over £2500 on their car each year including insurance, upkeep and fuel. The AA has predicted a rise in insurance premiums this year so that figure may rise. Another estimate puts the average annual spend at £2749 compared to around £700 to join a car club or use a normal car hire company such as easyCar.

Car clubs are mostly popular with those who only use their car occasional such as those who live in the city and commute by train, bike or on foot. The ecologically conscious are also turning to car hire as a way to reduce their carbon footprints. While they are still using a car, they only do so when necessary.

There are other benefits to choosing car rental over owning a car as well. If you drive to the airport when going on holiday there are parking cost to be considered. Use airport car hire and you don’t have to worry about that, you can even use a different drop off point for one-way trips.

An internet security expert has said that broadband users need to vary their passwords more. We should use a different password for each site that we log in to and try to avoid obvious passwords. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos says that as we use so many different sites it is important to use different passwords for each to avoid loosing our online identity. Having a different password for each site helps you to stay safe if someone gains access to your information.

The most commonly used passwords are

1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. link182
10. (your first name)

A good password is one that is hard to guess but easy to remember.

Scientists are attempting to find out how Geordies can survive a night on the town in the north east without suitable clothing. People from Newcastle (or Novacastrians as they are known) are famed for their ability to go out in next-to-nothing without feeling cold.

Whilst those in the south are willing to cover up with a coat, brazen northerners would often rather turn blue than cover up. I had always assumed that it was a combination of lots of alcohol and northern bloody mindedness but the scientists think it may be genetic.

‘Scientists’ may be a bit of an exageration, those organising the study plan to reveal the answer to the mistery using an online questionaire.