Recently I mentioned that 2016 was a leap year.

 If I haven't got the settings right you might get some messages of February 29 saying that it is my birthday. Those really know me know that my birthday is not on February 29.

The reason?

I have never knowingly put my actual birth date anywhere public on the Internet.

I picked a (significant ) leap year so that silly reminders of my 'birthday' would only happen once every four years.

More importantly, the two most important bits of data are your birthdate and mother's maiden name. With those two bits of information your personal data security is at significant risk.

I think anyone must be mad to put their real birthday anywhere but on the most encrypted sites on the Internet. Publishing them on social sites is a risky endeavour.

I bet you have a shredder to destroy paperwork before it goes into the recycle bin.

The chances of someone raiding your bins to find out information is infinitely more unlikely and difficult than the ease of accessing data on the Internet.

Unfortunately, like a tattoo, once on, almost impossible to remove.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan is supporting a flawed concept.
Having supported a number of students with various disabilities through their GCSE maths, I can comprehensively support the need for numeracy in life. But learning the 'times table," often by rote, just to get through the test is not the answer.
Besides the fact that students with dyscalculia or a number of other disabilities, would find a timed test, even if it is on a computer, daunting at least and, at worst, impossible.
Also, why the heck does it stop at 12? Surely developing a working process of addition and multiplication calculation is the way to go. I have asked students who have successfully 'learnt' their tables what is 13×7 and been presented with a somewhat blank look. Painters and decorators or builders plus a host of other trades would be completely screwed if they could not get past 144.
I strongly suggest that all the politicians in the House of Commons plus all of the members of the House of Lords should be obliged,publicly, to take this computerised test before considering imposing it on the rest of us.

I have a thing about advertisements particularly TV advertisements. A few, a very few are brilliant. Some more are just good, but then it goes downhill from there.
My bugbear at the moment are the ads for nicotine vapour suckers. I am all for using a vapour as a transition to giving up smoking but the ads are now comparing them with sexy, smart technology. They remind me of the old fag adds that were allowed many moons ago.
They're not selling a solution but a product that is actually encouraging new users. Shame on them. The fact that Griff Rhys Jones as lent his voice over to one of these ads shows anyone would go something the money. Shame on him to.

I would like to wish you all happy New Year (especially for when it actually happens).
As you may or may not know 2016 is a leap year. The reason for the leap year is that the Gregorian calendar has a year of 365 days but in actuality the time it takes the Earth to orbit around the Sun is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds.
The reality is that the real New Year is later tonight.
 If you're up to it, I suggest you PARTY ON.