It's been an interesting week. First, Brown makes a speech saying that "Within four decades each pound of GDP needs to produce just one-sixth to one-twelfth of the CO2 equivalent that it does today." and calling for tough cuts in CO2 emissions. A few days later, Ruth Kelly destroys all hope for a stop to the expansion of Heathrow airport, applying the typical "if I don't fly, the plane still takes off" mentality on a massive scale. This is a real problem: the people who have the power to make real changes aren't willing to do anything but talk. Read More...

I'm working on a project that requires a file to be uploaded through a webform and then sent as an email-attachment. No problem, I though, nothing I can't work out with a bit of googling.
Not so easy, it turns out. Here is how it works. Read More...

After I found out about Scottish and Southern's greenwash tactics, I decided to ditch our electricity contract with them and go for a company that actually gets all of its electricity from genuine renewables - small-scale hydro, wind, and solar. When I cancelled my contract with them, they didn't ask me why (though I was prepared to tell them, should they have asked).

Today I received a letter, telling me how sorry they are to see me go. The letter just shows me that I made the right decision. Get this:
Scottish Hydro Electric ask me for the reasons why I left. Is it the price of electricity? They want to know how much the new supplier charges, so they can adjust their pricing scheme to be more competitive. Well, that wasn't why I switched.

The next section is for people who look beyond the price."Are you looking for more than a good price?" It starts as follows:

FREE AirMiles with energyplus AirMiles - you'll receive 250 miles in the first year without paying any more than our standard energy prices.

Great! That's exactly why I switched to a company that prides itself of being oh so green. So I can then get my flights cheaper! Yes!
A bit further down, it's all good though:

Fight climate change with power2 - we're the UK's largest generator of renewable electricity so it makes sense that we lead the way in providing an energy product which helps to fight global warming.

Ah, now I feel better about the airmiles. They even promise to plant 6 trees for me every year.

A perfect example of a company wanting to play both ways: attract environmentally conscious customers like me, while not scaring away from the "regular" customer base who like their long-distance flights. Exactly the type of hypocrisy the "green movement" produces en masse.

Well, you lost me as a customer. And I'm certainly not coming back.