Hearing Aphex Twin for the First Time
Wednesday 11 August 2021
Monday 9 August 2021
COMPETITION: Win My Life is Murder Series One on DVD
COMPETITION CLOSED
1. Closing date 23-08-21
2. No alternative prize is available
3. When the competition ends as indicated on this page, any and all entries received after this point will not count and emails blacklisted due to not checking this page first.
4. Winners will be chosen randomly and will be informed via email.
Sunday 8 August 2021
UPDATE: Natasha Is No Longer Homeless
July 3, 2012, was a rainy night in London. I had just arrived from the airport. I was jetlagged with my head pounding. I went for a walk to get some food and there she was. I didn't have a camera with me, so I recorded a short video with my phone. Here is a link to Natasha's first video: https://youtu.be/6TLVgwoqhoc
Overnight the video reached over 169,000 views on YouTube and started a conversation about welfare reform in the UK that was just gorgeous.
The next day I tried to find Natasha. She was sleeping rough in London. Someone commented that they saw her at London Waterloo station. I could not find her. That started my journey of traveling between London Waterloo station and Embankment tube station every future visit trying to find her.
I searched online constantly. I searched Google, and I searched social media. I could not find her. Someone started a fundraising page for Natasha, but they didn't have any connection to her, and I don't think the person they found was the same girl. I was concerned for her, and concerned people were using her video to make money. Over the last six years, I aggressively tried to find Natasha.
A week or so ago I received a message request on Facebook. Seems some woman had been trying to get my attention, but I never see the requests. I forget that feature is even there. That woman turned out to be Natasha - the real Natasha - the young homeless girl I had met sleeping rough in London six years ago. She found me.
There are no words to describe how happy I was that she reached out to me and how utterly ecstatic I was she was no longer homeless. Natasha is now a young mother. She lives with her partner trying to make the best of it. She works three jobs trying to survive. So often the end of homelessness just starts new challenges.
Every single day someone contacts me asking about Natasha and how they can help. I have been messaging with Natasha back and forth, and since so many of you wanted to help her, I suggested she start a GoFundMe page.
This is Natasha's GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/54qyw-no-longer-homeless I have validated it is her. Although I made the suggestion, all donations go directly to her. She set up the page herself.
From talking to Natasha, I learned that they don't have a lot of furniture. Like I said, she works three jobs. That's got to be hard on a young family.
Friday 6 August 2021
Natasha is 22 years-old and has been homeless sleeping rough in London for 4 years
Natasha is 22 years old and has been homeless in London for four years. Only moments before meeting her on a dark rainy night I met two other homeless women. One woman had been on the streets for 33 years.
Natasha says because she is not using drugs or alcohol or pregnant there is no help.
It's hard to imagine what a young girl like Natasha's life is like on the streets. It's nothing but a miracle that she still is positive and can smile.
Tuesday 3 August 2021
Saturday 31 July 2021
Thursday 29 July 2021
Try to cancel Comcast contract? Good luck with that
I'm sure there are few Comcast customer service calls that go well. But there are probably even fewer—we hope, anyway—that go this bad.
Comcast customer Ryan Block had recently called up Comcast's customer service line to cancel his service, which is simple enough. Just not for the customer service rep Ryan Block reaches on Comcast's end.
We drop in at about 10 minutes into the call, according to Mr. Blocks description, and Comcast's rep is in full-breakdown mode. All of it, it seems, began with the question "Why is it that you don't want faster speed? Help me understand why you don't want faster internet."
It is, in effect, the telecommunications version of the clingy ex-boyfriend, just begging you to not leave and make it all better.
He writes on Soundcloud:
The representative (name redacted) continued aggressively repeating his questions, despite the answers given, to the point where my wife became so visibly upset she handed me the phone.
This recording picks up roughly 10 minutes into the call, whereby she and I have already played along and given a myriad of reasons and explanations as to why we are canceling (which is why I simply stopped answering the rep's repeated question — it was clear the only sufficient answer was "Okay, please don't disconnect our service after all.")
Ultimately, Mr. Block perseveres through the Comcast rep's fusillade of questions to emerge victorious, canceling his service to switch over to Astound. With any luck, his new provider will be more sensitive to his needs.