Although there’s no option that allows you to block all retweets from all people you follow in one fell swoop (yet), you can block all retweets from each person individually.

So, if, for example, you’re following me (@sheilaellen) on twitter and wish to stop receiving all the messages that I retweet:

1. Go to my twitter page: http://twitter.com/sheilaellen
2. Find the retweet icon
3. Click on it.

Before:

Retweets On

After:

Retweets Off

This should mean that you will now only receive messages from me that have been written by my own fair hand (or, possibly, a spammer who’s p0wned my account).

Repeat for each other compulsive retweeter that you follow.

My thanks go to Chris for writing it up so clearly.

As per usual, I received an email almost immediately, confirming that I had placed the order. It also informed me that the order would be split into two deliveries but that both were still due for delivery on my nominated date. Although we had practically zero snow on the ground in our corner of Central London, the media and my colleagues assured me that the rest of the country was covered with the stuff so I wasn’t too surprised when, come Saturday, just the one package arrived, containing a single item. Disappointing but I was sure that the rest would eventually arrive, once the snow cleared up.

Four days later and still nothing (except more snow). And then two emails pop innocently into my inbox:

We are sorry let you know that the following item/s you ordered are no longer available.

…

Unfortunately, due to an exceptionally high number of orders placed at the same time, some popular items have sold out and we do apologise for any disappointment and inconvenience this has caused.

The out of stock items have been removed from your order and you have not been charged for them. All remaining available items can be viewed in your online account.

And yet I’ve just been on the site and ALL BUT ONE of these items is still available to order and listed as in stock in my size – in fact, for many of them the site goes so far as to reassure me that they have MORE THAN 10 of them.

It would seem that even though we’re supposedly in a recession, Marks & Spencer can afford to turn down business on a whim with barely an apology for wasting my time. Hardly the actions of a company that values their customers.

UPDATE: Re-reading this post, I realise that I left out a crucial piece of information – the items being cancelled were all 15 of the outstanding items.  Although M&S were very apologetic – they even sent me a bunch of flowers! – when I called Customer Services to arrange for the order to be resubmited, I was initially told that I would need to provide the size and colour information for each item (miraculously that data became available when I refused).  During a second call (which was made in response to my tweets) there was initially no record of the previous call and re-submitted order, which almost lead to a duplicate re-submission… So, although 1 blog post, several tweets and 3 phone calls (1 from me, 2 from M&S) later, my order finally arrived (13 days after I had first placed it), overall the experience was still a major #FAIL.

Bites is very simple recipe manager, in interface and functionality; beautifully quick and easy to use. What makes it special, though, for me, is its integration with OI Shopping List: at the press of a button in Bites, I can add all of the ingredients I need to my shopping list.

If I already have an ingredient, I can tick it off before I copy it across and only the ingredients I really need will be added. If, like me, you have more than one list set up in OI Shopping List, the process allows you to specify which one, exactly, the ingredients should be added to. Also, to help you remember why it’s essential that you buy black treacle this week, the name of the recipe it’s required for (fruit cake) is appended to each ingredient name in the Shopping List.

The only feature that I miss, from both apps, is the option to specify the name of an ingredient/item and the quantity required separately. I’ve requested this from both app makers and have my fingers crossed that it’ll be added in the New Year.

Christmas planning is going so much more smoothly with the help of these two apps (and RTM), though. Only a zillion things left to do..!

There are some apps that I could delete but I’m reluctant to do so because I like them and might forget what they’re called should I acquire a more powerful android device and wish to reinstall them.  There are others that I rarely use but do exactly what I need them to do on those rare occasions that I do need them.  Until now, I’ve been managing to hang on to the aforementioned apps by deleting apps that I’ve installed either because they looked as though they’d do what I needed but didn’t or simply because they looked shiny in the store but quickly dulled with use.  However, with Christmas looming, last night I thought I’d try installing the RTM android app – and it’s a whopper (~3.75MB).  I’m determined to give it a proper trial but this means that finally I’m going to have to get ruthless with the other apps.

As I shall probably wish/need to reinstall some of them at a later date, if not on this phone then another, here’s a rollcall of the victims of this cull:

The RTM app had better be good…

• Mike Little (@mikelittlezed1) – finally!  Although better known for co-founding WordPress, Mike’s also a member of the ORG tech community, so I’d seen him around before online but never met in person.
• @_vixx, who really should get together with @mseckington sometime as they’re both game crazy :)
• Rhys Wynne (@rhysw1) – who very bravely hosted a session on localisation, with particular reference to Welsh
• Simon Dickson (@simond) – who presented an informative talk on how WordPress is being used by government in the UK
• Jeff Van Campen (@otrops), Rachael Furn (@calmbanana), Laura Kalbag (@laurakalbag), Gareth Tickner (@garethtickner) and Robert McKenzie (@m1xzg) for allowing me to join them in a WordHack, which resulted in  Mobile Kubrick.
• Tony Scott (@tonys) – for organising the event :)

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped however you like
• 1 tsp butter
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp garlic granules
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp coarse ground pepper
• salt
• 1/4 pt boiling water
• 1 portion rice noodles (uncooked)
• 1 olive oil
• 3 cardamon pods

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat and add the onion.  Stir until the onion has softened to your liking.  Add the turmeric, curry powder, ginger, pepper, garlic granules, tomato puree and vinegar and stir together.  Add the water, oil, cardamom pods and noodles.  Stir briefly to mix everything together and prevent the noodles sticking together. Turn up the heat to bring the concoction to the boil. Once it’s boiling turn the heat back down again so that it simply simmers and keep it simmering until the noodles are cooked and the sauce has reduced to a consistency you’re happy with.  Remove from the heat, pour into a dish and serve.

Result

Tasty :)

Update: Note to self – try adding banana and currant and/or raisins next time.

I request that my web sites be excluded from scanning by the
Phorm/BT Webwise system, as I consider deep packet inspection to be an infringement of privacy.

Here is a list of the domains that should be excluded (please exclude
any and all subdomains as well):

bluegumtree.com
bluegumtree.co.uk

Many thanks,

Sheila Thomson
webmaster@bluegumtree.com

I based the format of my email on the message sent recently by Brion Vibber, CTO of the Wikimedia Foundation.  Like him, I have already received an automatic response:

The response I received is almost identical but for the last line: a promotion for  the anti-anti-Phorm website they launched today.  Unfortunately, it’s not been as well received as Phorm might have hoped and may now even be something they’d prefer to be shoving discretely under the carpet.

Anyhoo, it seems all I have to do now is wait 48 hours.  Wonder if there’s any way I can then double-check that my domains are on the exclusion list?

In case you’re wondering, the motivation behind doing all this is that Phorm relies on deep packet inspection (DPI), which I consider to be an invasive technique that infringes on personal privacy and that employing it simply to improve the effectiveness of advertising is a poor trade-off.

For more information about how DPI is being used in this context, see https://nodpi.org/faq