Blog

Is there a fundamental flaw in the Back to the Future films?

I suspect I’m not the first person to realise this but I’ve realised there’s a fundamental flaw in the Back to the Future trilogy.

In the second film, Doc explains how the timeline works and, in particular, how if you change it, it creates a new future timeline on which you then travel.

So, when in the 3rd film they go back to 1885 and they change the future (the ravine, etc), this means they create an alternative future. A future in which Marty didn’t go back to 1955 and change how his parents meet. So when he ends up, at the end of the film, in 1995 doesn’t he now have the dorky parents and siblings again?

3rd July 2016
Why one product destroyed my faith in Crowd Funding

Over the years I’ve invested in a few products from crowd funding websites, both Indiegogo and Kickstarter. And, although the end products have been variable in their use, I still turned to these sites for great new ideas and ways to invest to get them to market.

But the thing is, as I suspect is the case for a lot of people, I assumed my invested money was safe. It isn’t. And recent collapses of invested projects, losing all of the money that people have contributed, has brought home to me just how much you’re gambling. And the problem is I’m not a gambler.
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30th June 2016
How quickly good customer service can change…

I have an excellent laptop bag from STM and it’s been in daily use for over 2 years. However, recently, the shoulder padding on the strap tore. I contacted STM to see if there was any way I could get a replacement strap.

Their response was that they would be happy to send me one free of charge. Brilliant! I provided them with my address and then they responded to say…

My mistake, since you are located out of the continental U.S, there will be a shipping fee of $30 as our warranty does not cover shipping internationally.

And $30 is about how much it would cost for a replacement bag. No thanks.

The thing is here is that, desperate to provide good customer servicer, they agreed to do something without asking the relevant questions – i.e. say they’ll provide me with a free strap before asking where I lived. That was THEIR mistake. Most companies, upon realising that would have just replaced it free. But no, and by doing that, they quickly turned satisfaction into dissatisfaction. Indeed, they didn’t even tell me if it was possible to buy a strap nearer to home – you know, where it doesn’t cost as much again to buy the bag.

2nd June 2016
"My ass, Manhattan"?

I’ve just received an email from the company RevenueHits. Now, up-front, I should add this was spam – I’ve never signed up to them and they’ve used an email address of mine that I’ve not used for many years.

However, what caught my eye was the appalling grammer…

RevenueHits miss you and created the contest for you and used the Summer-Olympics spirit to create a contest with huge prizes like the below

And…

Click here to sign up I am here for any question!!

However, the icing on the cake is the address they list…

RevenueHits Ltd. · My ass · Manhattan, NY 00000 · USA

Classy.

30th May 2016
Advanced CSS Tricks & Techniques

CSS is my weak spot in web development, so I’m always happy to come across useful compilations of useful snippets – in this case CSS that allows you to do some pretty whizzy stuff, really easily.

24th May 2016