“Love the life you live. Live the life you love.” - Bob Marley
22nd May 2020 / Issue #371
giffgaff Happenings
by bluemoonbaz
Payback reminder
Don't forget to make your choice for your payback method (here). If you don't make a choice, your Payback will roll over to the next period. Rollover only happens once for each set of Payback, so if you rolled over your Payback last period, make sure you make a selection or it will be lost.
2-step verification update
giffgaff are working on adding "2-step verification" to protect the members from fraudulent access to member accounts. What we are looking for with this new feature is that: All new and existing members can choose to enhance the security of their accounts by turning on the "2-step verification". For all the update information, head over here. See how the improvements are progressing here.
2020 Charity Nominations - now open
Hello, it's time to give your charity nominations. To place your nomination for a registered charity all you have to do is hit the reply button and give us the name, and why you’re nominating them. Head over here. to read about this year's nominations. giffgaff will give us a daily update and summary on nomination totals in this thread here.
Welcome to giffgaff academy
The giffgaff academy focuses on teaching you digital skills through a series of online videos. Lessons have been created in partnership with influencers like Giles McMullen, Ania Kurbow as well as Clamp Agency who have each set up their own tutorial pages to share their knowledge with the digital community. Does this float your boat? Head over and see what it's all about here.
Our weekly round from our fellow members' recent discussion threads, head over and give them your views:
Say Hello!
by kathleen414
Please give our new member @chivato a big warm welcome to giffgaff and the community here.
Hello to another newcomer on our community. Welcome to @darren1900 who joined us a few days ago and says "Who joined today and it all went smoothly". Pop over and say hello here.
Our new member @steven49332 who recently joined us has a question about his transfer from Vodafone. I am sure it will be answered in a jiffy, so please give our friend your advice and a big welcome to giffgaff here.
Please give our returning member @unicorntales a big welcome home here ❤️.
Happy giffgaffiversary!
by ijustcantdoit
Three Years
@kgloki says "Just had my 3rd anniversary with giffgaff. How the time has flown. Not bad to say I only intended joining for a few months."
My giffgaff journey
@joshpt says "I've completed two years with giffgaff. Very happy journey going so far. I'm very happy."
My 3rd giffgaff anniversary
@themzbiker says "That's right I've been with you lovely people 3 years I actually joined on 1st May 2017 & started posting on our awesome community on 2nd May."
If it's YOUR giffgaffiversary, please let the team know by sending a private message to @ijustcantdoit.
On This Day In History
by jammydodge
1897 The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames was officially opened.
1623 The British Forces and the ‘Potomac River tribes’ agreed on a treaty with a toast to friendship. The chief and 200 tribesmen died from drinking poisoned wine.
1970 The Cricket Council, pressured by Home Secretary James Callaghan, allowed South African cricketers to tour England.
Photo Of The Week
by brulaw
This week's featured photo is Southwest by @rjs75. Some of the comments on the photo included:
- "Absolutely beautiful & great reflection on the water" (themzibiker)
- "Amazing photo 👍 Captured beautifully" (tinawilliams0410)
- "Such a beautiful view" (katie84741)
- "Gosh what a glorious photo of this breathtaking lake thanks" (the_bookie)
- "Beautiful photo, captured everything" (jpwrr17)
Another week has passed and, as always, there have been lots of excellent images, despite the lockdown. Thanks for the photos and keep them coming!
Uni 2020 Dilemma
by toxiic
Hi everyone. This week I thought I’d cover a dilemma plaguing anyone that’s thinking of going to university this year (in September) that’s been created due to the coronavirus ordeal.
Simply put, universities are having to plan their actions around trying to keep thousands of students as safe from COVID 19 as possible as they start university in September - perhaps using online methods of teaching and/or strict face to face learning.
As you may have heard on the news recently, Cambridge University announced that all of their lectures will be moving online with a small number of face to face teaching groups as long as social distancing can remain in place. Other universities have also followed in a similar fashion.
An issue arises regarding practical, STEM subjects like chemistry where students need to use the equipment in university labs to assist learning. There is also the concern over ‘freshers week’ (the first week of uni - involving a lot of socialising) not happening which is highly looked forward to by most prospective university students. It’s highly likely that students will have to pay the full tuition fee cost this year regardless of how the teaching is delivered.
There’s a worry that students may defer (wait until next year to go to uni) which could cause a gap in funding for universities with a study by the London Economics suggesting around 20% of students could defer - leading to a £760m gap in funding (source).
Opinion...
What happens from September in universities is anyone’s guess. I am of the opinion that if many students defer this year then it will be more competitive in getting into university next year (affecting the current YR12’s). Though, with that, I’d assume that it would be slightly easier to get into university this year if many defer. Thinking of deferring? Here’s a useful article.
Sources: BBC article 1. BBC article 2. Guardian article.
Thanks for reading. If you’re interested, check out my content hub on the giffgaff forum here.
Tech Developments
by revilo10
Contact Tracing: Our new reality?
It is becoming increasingly clear that we will be living with COVID-19 for a long time, depending on whether or not a vaccine is found and the ability of the virus to mutate and/or reinfect someone who has already had the virus and recovered. Until we have those two key pieces of the puzzle, it’s safe to assume we’ll be living with some sort of restriction on daily life for a long time. It’s not just a pandemic, it’s reality.
A few weeks back, the NHS began trialling a new technology on the Isle of Wight called contact tracing. Which to put it simply is an app that is linked up to a national database of confirmed COVID-19 cases and it tracks your location via GPS and will notify you if you come into contact with someone who ends up testing positive for the virus. In theory, it’s a great idea, however, a lot of people have had genuine concerns over security and privacy with the app, as it constantly tracks where you are in relation to other people.
The app works by notifying you only when you have been in what is known as ‘high-level contact’ with a person who tests positive, which varies depending on the context of the situation you are in. A known standard would be 15 minutes within 2 metres of a person, but of course, the science goes a lot deeper than that, and there’s no guarantee that even if you’re stood 2 metres away you won’t catch it. You can still catch it from surfaces and air droplets which hang around. You may ask why the app was trialled in the Isle of Wight - according to the NHS website, the Isle of Wight is a perfect geographic area and has a perfect population count to allow the app to be properly scaled up to a national level whenever it is ready.
Security is a big concern, as already mentioned, however, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has written an extensive blog post on the issue and the implications and protections of the app. The reality is, in order to beat the virus, we may have to make some sacrifices, which is unfortunate, however, never before in our lifetimes have we faced something this big before. The question for today is, what would you be willing to give up to fight this virus?
Thanks for reading!
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