Lance Armstrong

This vid just about sums up the whole sorry situation.

A £4 toothbrush - Really ?

Times are tough, so it was interesting to see at the local supermarket that Colgate are actually trying to sell a £4 toothbrush. That's $6.5 in USA money an outrageously unnecessarily high price for a piece of plastic with some bristles. For goodness sake the Nasa astronauts only spend $3 on tooth brushes to repair and save the international space station.

There it is on the top right row of this photo, a "Colgate 360 Surround toothbrush", single brush for £4 next to the similar one for £3.98.  Looking at the other tooth brushes on sale we can see a range from the basics range 18p (twin pack) through the 67p four pack and the starting to get a bit spendy Aquafresh twin pack for £1.25.  Seriously is any  toothbrush worth 44 times more than the cheapest alternative ?

Teeth are important and dentistry has made big strides in keeping our knashers in good order but expecting that price for a toothbrush, that is not going to last more than a couple of weeks, is taking the michel.  Keep those chompers in good shape with this advice.

In typical supermarket psycho sellmore style, the most expensive brushes are on the shelves easy to reach at just lower than eye level. The cheaper generic and other reasonable brand alternatives are found on the lower shelves slightly to the left right near by.

For some products paying 44 times the lowest price really gets something special.  The Dacia Sander costs about £ 6000. You can pay 44 times that price ( £250,000) and get a Ferrari 458 ( second hand on Autotrader.co.uk ). But really, can you afford to be buying a Ferrari just for your teeth ?

Dacia Sander £6000 aprox

Ferrari 458 £250,000

Update your locks

Here is a good idea for the new year, update the locks for your doors. It's not that hard and not too expensive either.

Many modern door locks use a standardised lock barrel called a "Euro lock". These parts can exchanged quite simply. The lock unit is held in from the side edge of the door by a single screw. Some lock barrels require the door handles are removed ( from the inside ) to facilitate sliding the new lock into place.  The euro lock units come in a selection of sizes determined by the measurements in mm to the middle rotating section ( in black below) from the outside and inside faces.

An example for sale  Yale Anti Snap 90mm Long Euro Cylinder Lock 50 x 40mm Bright Nickel

Look for features such as anti-snap, Anti-Bump and British Standard BS EN1303:2005 and Sold Secure Diamond Standard SS312 markings. One alternatives its the Avocet ABS Anti Snap Anti bump door lock security snap secure euro lock cylinder chrome or gold.

Expect to play about GBP 30 or GBP 200 if fitted by your 24H call out locksmith.  

Uprated Yale Euro lock uint.

Next up are the electronic locks to your doors; update your passwords.  This is also easy, for a quick measure just add at least 4 more character to your existing 6 letter password, include a number or special char from !@£$%^&*()_{}:"|?>< .  Be sure not to use the same password for your social and money sites. Avoid names and works, using the first letters from a phrase is a good way. The first letters from "remember my passwords so I can get in" = rmpsIcgi is just so much better than using Password.

For full advice and guidance on choosing a good password set check out this article.

Be safe out there ...

Gannett