[muglo] Re: Adobe Acrobat for 8.6 or 9.2 (internet payments) [OT]

>Transfers from my US-dollar account to my regular Canadian bank have never
>taken more than 48 hours, and payments from US and International clients is

Didn't know that PayPal worked with Canadian banks. Cool!!!

>On the UK internet... Most Europeans still pay for their telephone on a
>minute-by-minute basis! I wouldn't be on the internet either if it was

I think most places have converted to flat-rate internet access (at least, 
the UK seems to have gone that route).

>costing me a buck or so a minute even on a local call! Fortunately, DSL is
>now appearing and most Brits and other Europeans have been using digital
>satellite for many years....

Unfortunately DSL is *incredibly* (well, relatively) slow here and if you 
want anything decent you have to pay through the nose. I haven't had 
internet access slower than 1.3 Mbps (and with cable 4 Mbps) since 1998. 
Here it seems the vast majority of DSL access is 64, 128 or 512 Kbps (such 
slow speeds severely limit your options for video conferencing and other 
high band width activities).

>I've always found produce incredibly fresh and

The produce is mixed (some of it is definitely better than what I'm used, 
other stuff is definitely worse... like tropical fruits that can be grown in 
the US or locally grown veggies (local fruits are excellent)).

>a huge variety ay most Sainsbury's in the UK and you can go for days 
>without
>eating any meat by visiting any of the Indian food stores.

Unfortunately the selection of vegetarian items (beyond the basics (veggies 
& fruits & sauces (lots of Indian sauces.... it's a good thing I love Indian 
;) is pretty limited and what is available is horribly fatty or sugary (& 
not good fat!!!... hydrogenated oils)). Plus, they have a horrendously broad 
selection of dairy products (not exactly the poster child of a food group 
that's good for you on a regular basis... high in sugar and saturated 
fats... calves have to gain 100s of kg/year, an adult human does not) and 
the vast majority of them full-saturated fat (that's what you get with a 
hyper-subsideized EU milk market... too much and cheap milk). There's a 
movement afoot to improve the health of Brits b/c their wastelines are 
expanding too rapidly (fast food ;).... improving the food available on the 
supermarket shelves might go a little way towards that (plus all those meat 
pies <shudder>)... making car ownership even more expensive (£0.80/L, ~ $2 
CAD/L... quit your whining Canadian drivers.... you should be paying the 
true cost of your unhealthy addiction.... not the hyper-subsidised rate you 
enjoy now (including the privilege of killing people through accidents and 
pollution b/c of unnecessary/excess driving and killing yourself through a 
sedentary lifestyle) (and don't give me none of that "we're a large" 
country" crap b/c the bulk of the trips are short distance). Making driving 
less convenient would probably be the single best thing the Brits could do 
for their health short of banning/taxing "convenience" and "fast" foods to 
death (if you'll pardon the pun ;))

I'm not sure what to make of customer service here (salse people not pushy, 
not present). I think I like the NA pushiness better (plus, NA sales staff 
seem friendlier (they're paid to be friendly ;)... I don't think it's a 
reflection of society in general though b/c I've noticed that people 
generally seem quite friendly.... I took a bus recently that experienced a 
minor fender bender (psychotic driver (like most drivers here.... they make 
Torontonians seem calm))... the passengers were laughing about it (& I would 
expect a Toronto bus to be filled with irate and indignant riders b/c of the 
delay... maybe Londoners (UK ;) would behave differently).

Eric

>Garth.
>
> >> Martin A has told me a bit more about PrintToPDF, which is still
> >> available as a download, but it involves paying online, which I
> >> detest, even from a secure site.
> >
> > Do you ever give out your credit card over the phone or use 
>phone-banking?
> > Do you ever allow someone to make a physical imprint of your credit card
> > (the way CC payments used to be processed before the advent of card
> > readers). If so, you should be aware that these are [often much] *less*
> > secure than paying on-line, especially if you ever use a cordless phone 
>or
> > cell phone to make your calls (with a cheap $50 receiver you can tune 
>into
> > any cordless phone, and for only a little more you can tune into 
>analogue
> > cell calls). A physical imprint of your credit card is the worst for 
>your
> > personal security -- not only do people have you CC number, name and 
>expirey
> > date, but they *also* have your signature. All they need is your birth 
>date
> > and they can start doing nasty stuff in your name.
> >
> > Anyway, I understand your skepticism of paying on-line. For the longest 
>time
> > I was leery of it and never thought I'd dare use it (even though I'd 
>been
> > banking on-line for years). That was about a year ago. Now I do as much
> > on-line as possible (more convenient). A lot of companies are giving
> > discounts if you use their on-line service rather than calling in or 
>doing
> > things in person, and on-line transactions are inherently more secure 
>than
> > those conducted in person (since less information is transferred).
> >
> > Also, if you're leery of paying on-line to just anyone with your credit
> > card, you may want to open up a PayPal or Kagi account which act as
> > intermediaries btween you and the merchant. Both are reputable companies
> > with secure connections.
> >
> > PS Am finding the UK an interesting place to observe. Web access is slow
> > compared to Canada, smoking is still culturally accepted and accepted in
> > public places, food is *horribly* meat-centric (& they even put meat in
> > their pies... shudder), everything is pasturised, even freshly squeezed 
>OJ
> > sold in the supermarket (the pre-packaged OJ here tastes like tang), the
> > vegetarian selection is pretty limited (about where Canada was 5-6 years
> > ago... soya milk... I've *only* found 1 L So Good plain (no flavours,
> > nothing like Beatrice 's fruit-concoctions (yummy)) and some fruits
> > (oranges) and veggies are pretty bland or unpalatable (zucchinis have 
>been a
> > dismal failure whenever I got them.... bitter).
> >
> > But there are upsides to the food too, more than compensating for the
> > drawbacks: the markets are wonderful and the apples and pears are 
>*amazing*,
> > they have lots of good Dutch & European cheeses  and some excellent 
>local
> > cheddars (I like (the cheap) Red Leicster (spelling?)), a *wide* range 
>of
> > Indian foods (lots of premade sauces) and lots of organic stuff (& lots 
>of
> > bakeries with fresh bread)!
> >
> > The entertainment and TV culture is interestingly different (from my
> > Canadian POV). They still bleep afew "dirty" words (piss-ing/-ed off/-er 
>is
> > the only one I've noticed) but fortunately fewer than in Canada and they
> > don't have the debased NA puritanical phobia/obession regarding nudity. 
>They
> > also have religious services on the BBC (shocked the hell out of me when 
>I
> > first figured out what I was listening to on *public* radio).
> >
> > The "debate" about a gay preist (or cardinal or whatever) shows an
> > interesting aspect of UK society (maybe my take on things will change 
>with
> > further observations). In Canada we'd have some pretty nasty vitriole 
>about
> > the evilness of homosexuality/homosexuals followed by a platitude like 
>"love
> > thy neighbour" (so long as they're straight ;) (as evidenced by the 
>filth
> > coming out of Canadians' mouths about gay marriage). Here the clergy 
>make
> > noise but it seems like real people are not scandalised by the thought 
>of
> > having a gay guy ordained (maybe this is b/c most peopole here don't 
>care
> > about/for religion). In contrast to that ambivalence about something 
>that
> > would be a hot button issue back in Canada it seems that xenophobia is  
>all
> > too common (not that we don't have anti-immigrant factions in Canada... 
>you
> > just don't usually get exposed to these anti-immigrant/anti-refugee 
>people
> > (except when a CRAP MP or Ontario Tory MPP opens their mouths :()... the
> > things I've heard from a few locals about "Pakies" makes the hairs on 
>the
> > back of my neck stand up (it seems like they assume that b/c I'm white 
>and
> > am a native English speaker I am naturally a "like minded person"... 
>but,
> > this is only a minority of the people I've met (still a disturbing 
>minority
> > though)!).
> >
> > Also, no real 24 hour news channels  or weather channels (& that's with 
>Sky
> > TV (digital cable service)... though, there are so many channels (>100 I
> > figure)  I may be missing the2 4 hour news channels)
> >
> > Anyway, tha's a lot of OT stuff mixed with some on-topic stuff. It's an
> > interesting country. The UK has problems where Canada has none and vice
> > versa. (lots of bureacracy here).
> >
> > PS AOL is truly AOHell. Why someone would in their right mind pay for 
>AOHell
> > boggles my mind. (I'm using it only b/c it gave one month free while I 
>look
> > for a high speed provider)
> >
> > L8r, Eric.
> >
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> >
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