Mobile phone operator history and phones I used

1. 2002: BT (Vodafone) (Philips Cellnet)
2. 2009: Tesco Mobile (O2) (Nokia 1110, Sony Ericsson W300i, LG Cookie, Sony Ericsson W850i)
3. 2010: Three (HTC Wildfire)
4. 2012: Giffgaff (O2) (LG Optimus 2X, Google Nexus 4, 5, 5X)
5. 2017: Vodafone (Google Pixel 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9)
6. 2022 (6 months free): Lebara (Vodafone)

How to use an airport

Pre-req:

• Passport (not expiring within 6 months)
• Booked tickets and boarding pass loaded to phone
• Booked hotels
• Travel insurance
• Online check-in completed as early as possible, not at the last minute 
• If driving, book parking
• Data roaming planned 
• Check for required vaccinations on government travel advice
• Arrive 2 hours before the departure time
• Power adapter
• Generally, no liquids over 100ml or pressured cans
• Cabin luggage (backpack, small suitcase etc) 
• Checked in luggage (suitcases and large items)
• In-flight entertainment (game, book, movie)

Steps:

1. Regularly check the gate and departure time on display boards for cancellations
2. Go to Checked in luggage to drop off suitcase
3. Go to Departures
4. Go through Security. In most cases, remove shoes, belt, jackets, hats, and sometimes electronics, liquids in their own bag, empty your pockets. Check all pockets for water you might still have etc.
5. Go through the shopping labyrinth to the gate waiting lounge
6. Wait until your gate is announced then go to gate. Buy snacks or drink for the plane.
7. Scan boarding pass and board the plane (may involve a bus, corridors, waiting rooms, walking outside) 
8. Find seat, ignore anyone who asks to swap a seat with you
9. Follow instructions. Get up at least once an hour or two either for toilet or water or chat, it really helps with anxiety.
10. Leave plane, double check you have everything e.g. headphones, passport, overhead bags 
11. Arrivals - Passport stamp, customs bags checks if required
12. Collect luggage from the right conveyor for your flight
13. Exit / Transport. Book Uber or get train, etc, using maps app to your hotel

Introduction to programming and web development Part 1

 Install the following

1. https://code.visualstudio.com/
2. https://www.python.org/downloads/
3. https://www.apachefriends.org/

The best free course: Harvard CS50 https://learning.edx.org/course/course-v1:HarvardX+CS50+X/home

PlayStation 1 game emulation playthrough progress

 Remastered for PS5:

• Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver
• Tomb Raider 1-3
• Tomb Raider 4-6
• Spyro Reignited Trilogy
• Pac Man World
• MediEvil
• Crash Bandicoot
• Final Fantasy VII
• Resident Evil
• Abe's Odyssey > New 'n' Tasty
• Abe's Exodus > Soulstorm

Played on PS5 classics emulation:

• MediEvil 1
• MediEvil 2
• MediEvil Resurrection
• Toy Story 2 - Buzz Lightyear To The Rescue
• Ape Escape 
• Ape Escape P
• Not yet played
• Dino Crisis
• Metal Gear Solid
• Final Fantasy VIII
• PaRappa The Rapper

Not yet remastered or released on PS5 Classics Catalogue, so played on RetroArch/DuckStation:

• Silent Bomber
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Asteroids
• Who Wants to be a Millionaire
• Monsters Inc, Scare Island
• 40 Winks
• Star Ixiom
• Atlantis The Lost Empire 
• Blitter Boy (Net Yaroze compilation)
• Vib Ribbon
• Devil Dice
• Tomba
• Lego Racers
• Tarzan
• Kula World
• Ghost in the Shell
• Bugs Bunny & Taz - Time Busters
• Jimmy White's 2 Cueball
• Grand Theft Auto
• Gran Turismo
• Kiss Pinball
• Spice World video
• Demo One (Version 7, Europe)
• Yet to play:
• Rayman
• Silent Hill
• Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2
• Vagrant Story

Best UK mobile operators and SIM plans

Signal

Best to worst signal from hours of my own testing:

1. Vodafone 
2. O2
3. EE
4. Three

Vodafone and Three are going to merge. All UK signal is crap right now because of banning Huawei, anti-5G locals, and lack of infrastructure funding after Brexit.

Check signal coverage here: https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/mobile-coverage

Another plus for Vodafone, their "Ultra 5G" which currently only works on some phones. Google Pixel 8/9 Pro also has ULCA for faster uploads which is unique to Vodafone 

https://www.stuff.tv/news/heres-why-some-uk-pixel-owners-will-notice-faster-5g-speeds/

Customer Service

If you care about customer service, best to worst: 

Tesco, Nomad, Giffgaff, Lebara, O2, Vodafone, BT, Anywhere, 3

Ofcom reports on customer service: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/service-quality/numbers-up-best-and-worst-telecoms-customer-service-revealed/ 

I recently tried Honest Mobile as well, which roams EE, O2 and Three. I only tried the Smart SIM, which I personally, would only use as a backup in case of patchy signal, but they have a main SIM I may try. 

Anywhere SIM offers similar thing, but more expensive, it's really if you want to get the best signal everywhere but money isn't a problem.

Cashback

Highly recommend mobiles.co.uk for your SIM and TopCashback/Quidco. I get the Red Entertainment plan for Spotify, so after all that, my effective monthly cost goes from £42/mo to about £5/mo.

From using TopCashback/Quidco/Rewards Gateway, I've earned over £2,200 back from all sorts. Referral codes for minimum £10 back

https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/robertcathles

Mobiles.co.uk

https://aklam.io/njFNc8

If you want cheap as possible, look out on HotUkDeals for SIM cards, the best ever deal was 1 pence a month for 12GB data with Lebara, for 6 months. So overall cost me 6 pence 😁

Also don't buy a handset with a SIM combo, if you can afford it - it's always cheaper to buy a handset, get insurance, and get SIM only. 

Also here's a thread with tips on cancelling phone contracts

https://x.com/rjc_uk/status/1306409373175078912?s=19

And general tips on upgrading Android phones:

https://x.com/rjc_uk/status/1834272448457445799?s=19

Tips for earning more money as you spend

I've earned £3000 so far from Topcashback/Quidco/Reward Gateway. I earn £300 cashback a year by getting my SIM through Mobiles.co.uk + TCB. I earn hundreds by switching bank accounts, and moving money around 10 different bank accounts so I can get the monthly transfer bonus. I have a Barclaycard Reward for zero international transaction fees when abroad. Some cards have cashback on purchases. I have bonds with NSI, which is basically a free lottery ticket every month, earning over £1000 a month best case. I use Compare the Market to find me the lowest insurance every year rather than stick with the same plan. I use Zen Internet because they are super reliable and it's a fixed price forever. I use Vodafone because from tests and Ofcom charts, they have the best signal - though their customer service is not the best. Vodafone also have VeryMe (similar to O2 Priority) with ocassional freebies. I don't use Trainline because you don't get charged fees if you order direct, typically a ticket is valid for any operator, and their refund feature undermines better compensation via Delay Repay. Loyalty cards and reduced section can be a godsend. More advice on Money Saving Expert (by Martin Lewis), and good offers on HotUKDeals.

I'm a part-time vegetarian - here's why

Carbon footprint

The real problem of meat, beyond ethics or if it is healthy, or even the ruthless handling of animals, is the carbon footprint. Beef in particular is the worst offender. 

1. Cows release a lot of methane, which causes global warming 10x faster than CO2.
2. Some 3/4 of the water we process goes just into growing animals for food.
3. Huge areas of land previously occupied by biodiverse forests are now cultivated, which endangers the resilience of life and the intricate symbioses in the ecosystem, which ultimately threaten our ability to grow food for ourselves and any animals we farm.

https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local

https://www.waterfootprint.org/resources/Vanham-et-al-2013_2.pdf

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46459714

A vegetarian or vegan diet, at least if you only do it some days and not every day, means demand for meat will go down, and we can return land to nature. Also, limiting consumption of beef, and instead having meat that produces less CO2, like chicken or fish, would drastically reduce the damage.

Health

Meat is also not necessarily healthy, too much red meat causes high blood pressure, and processed meats like bacon, sausage and pepperoni cause cancer.

https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2021/03/17/bacon-salami-and-sausages-how-does-processed-meat-cause-cancer-and-how-much-matters/

Vegans also live longer than omnivores:

https://www.purdueexponent.org/nation_world/article_ba11a723-6959-568d-85a6-ee64cda22ae3.html

https://plantyou.com/do-vegetarians-really-live-longer-than-meat-eaters-the-shocking-truth/

https://www.mdedge.com/obgyn/article/105574/heart-failure/vegetarianism-may-protect-against-heart-failure

Ethics

On ethics, cows especially are mistreated. Calves are taken from their mom right after birth, fed and milked to exhaustion like a machine, fed and washed in strong chemicals, killed without question if unhealthy or past their use, extremely bloated, trapped inside for most of their lives (they might get one day a year they are allowed to go outside, they actually jump and hop around like dogs when they are free to roam a grassy field), and it's clear they feel suffering. 

What do I eat instead?

• Huel (£10 off first order)
• Quorn
• Nuggets are especially good, just cook on a higher temp so they are more crispy
• Pepperoni is also really good

• Impossible burger is probably the best, cannot tell the difference
• But many decent ones are also out there
• Linda McCartney's vegetarian sausage rolls are also excellent

Find out more

• "Cow" (2021). The up-close footage clearly shows the cows scared, in pain, restless, worn down, and bellowing for help. Cows are not nurtured, they are treated like industrial tools.
• "Gunda" (2020). In particular, the ending.
• "Seaspiracy" (2021)
• David Attenborough's "A Life on Our Planet" (Netflix, 2021)
  
  
  
  
  
• Climate change food calculator: What's your diet's carbon footprint?
• Kurzgesagt on YouTube:

  

Response to "what is a woman?"

Woman is one possible adult gender or sex, typically associated with a certain range of genotypes and phenotypes that are associated with the term female.

Conditions: 

It's a spectrum (i.e. not binary, for example intersex people and women that produce more testosterone than some men) so the definition depends on if you're asking about biological sex, legal sex, or gender - they are not necessarily in alignment.

As only individuals can know their own gender, same as goes for things like sexual orientation, that means if someone says they are that gender, the best thing you can do is accept it at face value. This is accepted regardless of the underlying biological sex, because there are few situations that require the biological sex to be known, and it stands in solidarity with people who have gender dysphoria out of respect, as it is not a choice. This is why gender recognition certificates allow people to change their legal sex, because it is a valid and real thing.

Biological sex may appear immutable but ultimately is not immutable, in the same way that all DNA is not immutable, because genes mutate and can be edited, such as with CRISPR. It is also possible that genetics may differ based on other state information, in other words some genetic markers change given hormones applied to them. Hormones and their impact on sex and gender expression are best seen as two ends of a string, or a sympathetic and parasympathetic pathway, in the same way that when trees grow and drop their leaves, it isn't two discrete processes, but in fact one process under given conditions.

Science is not an absolute truth generator either because it can't answer things like are parrots good, and there are actually very few things that are objective - if any at all.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/02/gender-critical-beliefs-under-the-microscope

Neurodiverse observations: part 1

 Since we are now looking for examples of autism and neurodiversity, I just realised the following and thought I would share. I am not deliberately trying to criticise you, but I do want to offer friendly advice and help you in these social situations. don't expect you can instantly resolve any of these overnight because it takes a while to change habits, especially ones you might not be aware of. I recommend trying to spend just a little extra time observing, taking a breath, or whatever you do to relax and calm down, to also reduce your anxiety. I am also guilty of these from time to time so don't make it your life's work to live by these.

0. if you have anxiety or any kind of worry, others will pick up on it and it rubs off on them too. the easiest way to avoid this I find is just smile or compliment people at any opportunity, and it's free! a great way to break the ice too. if you're struggling with anxiety, my advice is always tackle it head-on rather than bury it, be that challenge someone or talk about how you feel, let it go, or write something down and save it for later. if you're not sure how you feel, shut your eyes, deep breath and take a moment to compose yourself before answering. there really is no rush to respond quickly.

1. speaking too loudly amongst friends / not reading the right volume at the right time. try to be aware of how loud everyone else is and how loud you need to be, at any given time

2. pedantry over terminology can come across as being a smart ass, even if you don't intend to. instead try to play it a different way, maybe "I looked into this and as far as I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong, so in a nutshell..." it's very mature to state humility up front, as often just telling people facts about things is informative, but jarring depending on context and the flow of conversation, so it's good to try and be emotionally intelligent and use mature defence mechanisms

3. forgetting things, multiple times you've left something behind. I'm sure everyone forgets stuff every now and then. I would advise that before going anywhere, even if you're just doing something as casual as leaving the bus, always do a 360° and look around your surroundings and review where you were before leaving

4. speaking in monotone, it can make people seem "boring" when one's speech is devoid of emotion. so whatever possible, always try to add a little more energy into the way you're speaking, like sing-song, or raising tone up instead of down at the end of the sentence, or smiling when you're talking (you know that saying, you can tell when someone on the other end of a phone call is smiling). there's a really good TED video called "how to talk so people will listen", I recommend that, and generally any of their popular videos

5. at any possible opportunity, share something positive to talk about like a funny experience or something cool/interesting to you or that you're passionate about, rather than a negative one. sharing your frustrations with the world works best when it's a shared pain because then you can connect with others (if you remember the ending of the film Inside Out). 

6. don't feel you have to fill silence with conversation, although conversely, randomly bringing up topics if the energy is high is a great way to connect and enjoy discussing things you're passionate about 

Counter-arguments against transphobic statements

 In response to replies about Marks & Spencers setting up unisex changing rooms.

"Sex is binary. There are only men and women. You can't change someone's sex."

That's not what trans people are asking for

Nobody is saying you can change your biological sex. I mean, technically we are all intersex when we are conceived, and then the XY chromosome triggers testosterone etc, but apart from that, sex is semi immutable... in humans. It's not binary either, because you have intersex people and many other factors.

However, changing biological sex isn't what trans people are asking for.

Trans people experience gender dysphoria

What they are asking for is to help them feel comfortable in the gender that the gender dysphoria they experience tells them they are.

Studies show that trans people typically appear to have a brain that matches the pattern of the gender they identify as. So it's not just in their mind, there is a physical difference between the brains of men and women, and trans people seem to have the opposite brain.

Nearly half of all trans people have attempted suicide, and this is because of the discrimination they receive. The hatred they endure on a daily basis makes them physically ill too.

And some just can't handle it, which is a huge shame, that people aren't being accepted by a society just because it's how they were born - some even submit to performing surgery on themselves because of how disassociated they feel in their bodies and the sex people say they are.

Being trans is not a choice

But even if there was no evidence we found to physically prove someone was trans or has gender dysphoria, why should we not believe someone? We don't currently know what makes someone gay, lesbian, or bi. And we respect other people who didn't choose how they were born either, like if you have a disability, or their race. Then there are some things we protect that we don't have control over like age, religion or belief. Same goes for what someone says their favourite colour or flavour ice cream is. Then there's stuff that is protected out of respect, like marriage or civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. 

So because trans people don't choose to be trans, they've been observed for thousands of years, in other species too, and they tend to have a poorer quality of life, and basically out of sheer respect that we have for each other (and it's really not a lot to ask to basically trust someone when they share how they identify), it seems completely fair to prioritise gender over sex in basically all social situations. Do we need to know what's in their underwear?

"Too many men violate women"

The slippery slope fallacy

So I'd like to point out a likely slippery slope fallacy in your argument - that there are "too many" men violating women. I agree with you, there are way too many attacks on women - however, firstly, the majority of attacks on women are not in safe spaces. The top places to be attacked are in the home (domestic), parking lots, and generally outside e.g. parks, on the street. All of these places are gender neutral. The number of attacks in changing rooms is very rare. And the number of attacks by trans women on cis women is even rarer.

The overwhelming vast majority of trans women don't attack cis women. If anything, trans people are actually more scared of cis people than you are of them, because they terrified of being judged and rejected by society.

But if we take your logic, shouldn't we ALL men from from spaces women use? No, because it would be a slippery slope to assume that every man will attack a woman - because attacks on women overall is about 25%, which is the minority. So overall, most men are trustworthy, and it would be disproportionate to ban men from basically all public spaces. We don't have statistics for how many trans people there are, as so many of them feel do not feel comfortable to out themselves, because of how unaccepting we make them feel, but statistically the fraudulent ones are an an extreme minority of them.

I'm not saying that fraudulent trans women don't exist. However, to judge all your views on trans people based on a really small subset of them, and then pair them with the bigger problem, cis men, is not a fair conclusion to make. In the same way we don't assume that every Muslim person is a terrorist, or that every person wearing a hat is a pedophile. To do so is to stereotype, jump to false conclusions, and underrepresents the vast majority of law-abiding, good-willed citizens who aren't like that

So therefore, for the overall number of trans people exist that are law-abiding and good-willed, we shouldn't let the fraction of them ruin it for the others. 

Conclusion

Trans people just want to feel accepted for who they are, more than anything, and I'd argue that it's ethically and morally wrong to not trust what trans people say. In nearly all cases, having trans women in women's spaces, which is one of the far few places that women are attacked, should not be a major concern, and is actually a distraction from the far larger problem of domestic abuse.