Thetextpage.com a PR Stunt or the real deal?

I’ve come across some dodgy websites in my time, which have been set up to create money with an untrue story behind it. Themilliondollarhomepage (selling pixels to advertisers), set up by Alex Tew, strings to mind as it’s story seemed credible with the poor student that doesn’t want to be in Uni debt but wants to study. Until I realised he was a middle class lad who had financial support at his finger tips and he immediately dropped out of university after making 1 million and a vast amount of press coverage due to his fake sob story.
Then 4 years later I come across a similar story about budding entrepreneur Spyros Pyrgiotis who is selling text to advertisers on his website thetextpage.com to raise his 17,000 university fees. At first I put Spyros in the same category as Alex and thought another lying student using a sob story to gain money but then I actually read his blogs and the article in The Independent newspaper and changed my mind.
Spyros comes from an island in Greece where unfortunately his working class parents cannot support him and as he’s been in the UK less than 3 years he cannot even get a loan or any financial support what so ever. Then I thought well get a job like the rest of us but realised he does work but will not earn enough by September 2009 when his MBA course starts. So already the story defers a lot as Alex, unlike Spyros, actually had a student loan but basically didn’t want to leave Uni and be in debt. Spyros’ tale is different as if he doesn’t raise the money he doesn’t go to University and his dreams are shattered so back to Greece he goes.
My conclusion is get onto thetextpage.com and support Spyros as he is genuine and a true grafter. He is selling text to advertisers for $2 (1.30) per character and you get to choose the colour of your choice and when the page gets refreshed the text changes position on the page. Cheap as chips and helping a good cause.

Are geeks better than buff men in bed?

Who would have thought that those who work in the tech sector are less selfish in bed and more open to using sex toys, whilst the same research also found that those who work in the fitness industry or were regular gym-goers were more likely to be selfish and think of their needs above their partner’s. This was all discovered from a nationwide research of over 2000 people in relationships.
An anonymous study of 2,084 British men and women in relationships conducted by the UK’s leading independent PS3 videogame and console site has found a correlation between geeks and their openness to pleasing a partner in bed, with four in five agreeing that sex should be more about ‘the partner’, as opposed to people who worked in the sports and fitness industry where just 41% agreed. That is quite a shocking result.
The question “During sex, do you consider your partner’s sexual needs above your own?” prompted the following responses, with over half of fitness workers and business owners proving to be the most selfish in bed:
Men that answered ‘yes’ broken down by sector in which they work,
1. IT workers – 82%
2. Office workers – 74%
3. Unemployed – 69%%
4. Manual workers– 53%
5. Business owners – 49%
6. Sports and fitness workers – 41%
Mike Elsmore, head developer of PS3PriceCompare.co.uk said,
“This study was initially just a fun idea between myself and my friends, wondering whether due to the more ‘methodical’ nature of us tech-minded individuals, our sex lives were any different to say, business owners or fitness buffs.
“The response by the participants that made me giggle the most was that those of us more into gadgets and new technology were more likely to use sex toys with our partners, something that with hindsight may have been obvious before the box was ticked!”

Iran love Obama

Believe it or not the world’s leading people search engine has found that Barack Obama is the most searched for individual around the world and the most searched for person in Iran. Go Obama!
The statistics from yasni are based on 50 million searches in Q1 2009 from across the globe and despite media speculation surrounding the relationship between the US and Iran, the diplomatic approach that the Obama administration has adopted has resulted in a growing interest in Obama.
The results from www.yasni.com reflect a huge increase in searches for Obama from Iran in the last 3 months. The overall Top 5 searches for yasni.com worldwide are as follows:
1. Barack Obama
2. Michael Jackson
3. Nelson Mandela
4. Mugabe
5. Kaka
Steffen Ruehl, CEO and Co-founder of yasni confirms,
“Barack Obama is going from strength to strength according to our results and demand for more information about him has been growing by the day; this really reflects the increased global media interest in Obama and his ability to seamlessly become a citizen of the world.
“It is interesting to see the correlation between people from all across the globe; there may be thousands of miles between us but we all share an interest in politics, pop music and football!”

Staff wages may contain errors within small businesses

Surprise, surprise; A survey carried out by GfK NOP for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, 11% of small employers said they still use manual tables to calculate the tax and NI on their staff wages, despite computerised tools being freely available.
Using the manual tables entails, every pay day, looking up figures in several tables and then combining the numbers using simple arithmetic. For a typical employee, this involves looking up numbers in at least 3 tables and carrying out 8 arithmetic steps. The tables, complete with instructions, can be downloaded from HMRC’s website or ordered by telephone from the HMRC Employer Orderline.
There are many computerised tools available to make calculation of tax and NI simpler. These include commercial payroll packages, web based services and free tools on HMRC’s website. I think this is lazy and ridiculous especially because it’s free. Businesses who don’t do this are not progressing and will lose staff because of it.
The Payroll Site is one web-based service designed to make payroll calculations simpler. Managing Director, Steven Tucker, said "I'm amazed that anyone has the patience to use the manual tables for anything other than a one-off check. I tried this when I first operated PAYE a decade or so ago and I found it time consuming and error prone – and I’m a maths graduate." He continues, “That’s why we first launched our website: to make life easier for small employers, so they can just click a couple of buttons, print their payslips and get on with running their business.”.

Men dominate White Vans

Well there’s no surprise that 75% of van drivers are self-employed and are men, according to an in-depth analysis of 65,000 Swinton Commercial Vehicle Insurance customers. The analysis found that 96% of the van drivers were male with an average age of 37. That’s seems correct to me as whenever I peer into a white van there’s a middle aged men with a cap on behind the wheel.
The analysis was carried out in preparation for the start of Swinton Commercial’s new van insurance “Quote and Buy” scheme, which recently launched with a market-leading offer of 1/3 off all new policies.
Insurer Development Manager for Swinton, Steve Chelton, confirms: “As builders, painters, plasterers, and other tradesmen, commercial vehicle drivers play a vital role in our economy and we should celebrate the work they do every day – especially at this difficult time. And to help workers through these difficult market conditions we are offering motorists 1/3 off all new commercial vehicle policies.”

Happy 115th birthday

Yes this is not a joke, Gertrude Baines is officially the oldest person in the world as recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records. Born in 1894 in Shellman, Georgia Ms Baines has celebrated her 115th birthday with a probably the Worlds biggest birthday cake. She even received a letter from the President of the United States Barack Obama, who she voted for "because he's for the coloured". She owes her long life to the lord, not smoking or drinking and not fooling around. Let’s hope I can stick to these rules and maybe I can live that long. Doubt it. Happy birthday Getrude.

Kids Get Ruder

A study among teachers has confirmed that pupil’s behaviour has got worse over the past few years. Teachers are now used to being insulted and disrespected by school children while trying to teach. The survey was conducted by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), which found that three quarters of teachers confirmed that pupils use mobiles phone in class as well as ignoring their requests. I say it is the job of their parents to make sure they show respect to their elders. Teachers are there to help you learn, although I must admit you don’t quite see it that way when you’re at school. However, they is no need for pupils to be abusive, rude and disrespectful towards people who are there to effectively give you a good education foundation. Although I am way to young to have felt the effects of the cane I believe it should have never been taken away.