Businesses in a district aiming to be a global technology centre would be better off using carrier pigeons to send files than using the internet, an MP has said.
Labour’s Emily Thornberry suggested owls and ravens would also offer an improved service in Tech City, a Government-backed area endorsed by the Prime Minister, compared to the slow broadband speeds available.
The former shadow minister said it took nine hours for one of the companies based in the east London start-up collective to send a two-and-a-half minute film to Ford.
Thirty-eight businesses signed a petition last May complaining about slow and unreliable broadband in the area, MPs heard.
Ms Thornberry also said she took a sample case to BT although she was informed it was not commercially viable to connect a green cabinet outside that company’s premises, despite high-speed broadband being available in the area.
David Cameron has previously stated he wanted to help Tech City become ”one of the world’s great technology centres” while Mayor of London Boris Johnson is also backing the area.
Ms Thornberry urged the duo to ”lean” on BT to give the companies the tools they need.
The MP for Islington South and Finsbury told a Westminster Hall debate: ”This is an area that ought to be exporting but if they simply cannot export a two-and-a-half-minute film without nine hours time to upload it, it really can’t be called Tech City I’d respectfully suggest.
”Tech City doesn’t just serve the UK.
”Companies in my constituency have clients throughout the world and these clients expect these companies to have fast and reliable communications.
”I spoke to (Michael Proudfoot, of film production company Proudfoot) and it was clear his business has evolved over the past 10 years but his connectivity has not improved in line with his work.
”He said that to send a high quality sound file to Covent Garden it was quicker to put it on a stick and cycle it round to Covent Garden.
”Perhaps he should attach it to a stick and then put it on an owl like Harry Potter or perhaps put it on a carrier pigeon or even a raven, as they do in Game of Thrones. That might be equally effective.
”He said that some of his employees get better broadband speeds on their domestic home connections than they do in the heart of Tech City.”
Ms Thornberry added: “Tech City should not be relying on Game of Thrones’ ravens.”
Replying for the Government, Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said vouchers had been made available in London which would allow a business to apply and have the connection charge met.
He said 2,500 businesses in London had taken advantage of this.
Mr Vaizey said: “I get a lot of criticism about BT in debates like this and I sometimes feel that I am BT’s spokesman in the House of Commons because I’m constantly having to defend them either on customer service or on the grounds of competition.
“But it is interesting to note where you can make money and a good margin there is a competitive market – so if you’re in the centre of a city like London with a lot of SMEs you will find a lot of suppliers willing to build up networks and supply that marketplace.
“But if you’re a village in a very rural area, the only game in town tends to be BT.”
In a statement, a BT spokeswoman said: “Ultrafast high-capacity broadband services are available throughout the whole of Tech City and Government grants are available to businesses which want them.
“The prices for these services are set to fall from this April with the wholesale installation charge for our one gbps service falling by 46% to cite just one example.
“These dedicated business lines are likely to be needed by any business with sizeable digital demands.
“Domestic level fibre broadband is available to around two-thirds of premises in Tech City. Plans are in place to extend this to 90%.”
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A courthouse which is being defiled by birds is taking drastic measures to protect itself as staff are planning to feed the local pigeons birth control chemicals.
Staff at the Wayne County court house in Wooster, Ohio, claim they have run out of options to protect the beautiful 19th century building from the ever increasing amount of bird-poo covering it.
After years of other plans doing little to deter the birds from defecating on the beloved building, Wayne County officials say they will add a chemical into bird seed that will stop the pigeons from reproducing.
MORE: Somerset police actually cordon off a swan sat in the road, for some reason
They say the seed will only affect pigeons, and will cut the population of birds that reside around the courthouse by half after only one application.
The strange new plan comes after citizens began complaining about the cost of repeatedly cleaning the ornaments on top of the building.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
AN OAP was left suffering from a deadly lung disease after a flock of pigeons set up home in an empty property above her.
Rosslyn Osinski, 67, had to be taken to hospital with pigeon fancier’s lung after 70 birds moved into the derelict home and excrement started to seep through her ceiling.
Her husband Michael, 68, feared for her life after she lost more than a stone and was hooked up to oxygen to keep her alive.
Rosslyn spent two weeks in hospital and had to undergo a six-month course of steroids.
Last night, Rosslyn demanded someone is held accountable, blasting: “This has been an absolute nightmare.”
Rosslyn first visited her GP in January last year with breathlessness, diarrhoea, vomiting and fatigue.
She went to Borders General Hospital where she was put on antibiotics and hooked up to oxygen.
Rosslyn said: “On Christmas Day, I just managed to get out of bed. I looked like skin and bone – I looked absolutely terrible.
“I spent a week in hospital on antibiotics and oxygen and then I was released.
“Within 24 hours, I had to call an ambulance. I couldn’t breathe. I went back to hospital, looked at myself in the mirror and I just started crying.
“I just thought to myself, ‘I’m going to die in here.’ I thought, ‘This must be what it’s like to die’.”
Michael said: “They did a CT scan and her lungs were white. If a doctor had not spotted it, she’d be dead.”
Rosslyn’s nightmare started after the Crown Hotel above her basement home in Coldstream, Berwick- shire, fell into disrepair and the birds moved in.
The couple are taking legal action against Scottish Borders Council, claiming they failed to make the building safe despite complaints. But the council’s insurers have denied liability.
Rosslyn’s basement home – which is underneath the hotel – was repeatedly flooded with “dirty, brown, filthy water” which had filtered through piles of pigeon excrement.
The couple were left with a £5000 bill to repair the damage.
Rosslyn, who had hoped to run a B&B from their home said: “I still have scar tissue in my lungs and so there’s no way I can cater for people.
“It’s ruined the little business we hoped to have.”
A spokesman for Scottish Borders Council said: “We have no comment to make at this stage as we feel it may prejudice the legal process.”
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
A hawk – or hawks – once made the top of City Hall home. And, apparently, the birds of prey did yeoman’s work in keeping the pigeon population in check.
Those hawks, though, have found another place to rest their claws. No one knows why. Since then, the place has really gone to… the other birds.
With no predators around, the pigeon population proliferated. So did the amount of pigeon droppings that rain down from the ledges where they perch on the 12-story building.
The droppings have become such a problem that the city hired an animal control company to move the birds. The city has also paid to have the windows power washed three times. Some city staffers have relocated important meetings because of the unsightly office windows.
“It’s gross,” city spokeswoman Lori Crouch said. “You can’t have a meeting in your office when your windows are literally covered in poo.”
So far, the animal control and cleanings have cost $24,000, with another $6,700 job coming after the holidays, according to the city. The power washings, which likely will continue every week or two, cost $1,600 apiece.
City staffers see the humor in the ordeal. One joke involves a new nickname for the building. (Hint: It rhymes with City Hall.)
For a holiday gift exchange, Crouch received a “bird poop survival kit,” including Windex, a squeegee, wipes – and a bird ornament.
Another staffer got a bird feeder.
A company named ACME Animal Control has been trying to resolve the issue since August. But, in some respects, things have gotten worse.
ACME installed bird spikes around the top floors of the building where the pigeons roost to deter them from sticking around. While some have taken the hint, the rest have gathered on a panel just below the building’s roof.
“Every place we spiked pushed them up higher and higher,” said David Freeman, director of the city’s General Services Department.
“And as they started going higher, the poop problem started getting worse.”
Freeman described a “splatter effect.”
“It has a lot more intensity when it hits something,” he said.
The windows on the 10th and 11th floors on the north and east sides of the building take the worst of the waste.
After the holidays, the city will add another round of spikes and hope that does the trick, Freeman said. If not, it will look at other options.
“It’s been a cat-and-mouse game,” Freeman said. “We’re winning all these battles and eventually we’re going to end up winning the war.”
Of course, Freeman wouldn’t mind a little help. A hawk would be a welcome addition to the neighborhood.
“They certainly would not starve,” Freeman said. “There would be plenty of food to eat.”
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
As per reports, the birds have been seen dropping dead from trees along the roads shedding saliva from their mouths.
Plenty of carcasses were seen in Brahmagiri market, Brahmagiri-Kusubenti and Delang-Brahmagiri roads. While the cause of death of pigeons have not been ascertained, possible spread of avian influenza has worried the locals.
Meanwhile, two persons have been admitted to Capital Hospital in Odisha capital for avian flu infection.
In the second week of December last year, a bird flu alert was sounded by the local administration in Chilika lake after hundreds of migratory birds were found dead in the area.
The local administration had put up posters around Chilika urging people not to catch, prey or eat bird meat or step over their excreta. The posters had also advised the locals not to let their domestic animals go anywhere near the dead birds or touch it themselves warning them that they could risk getting infected if they did so.
It may be noted that, many migratory bird had died in 2012 in similar fashion. H5N1 avian influenza was detected after swabs and blood sample collected from dead birds from seven different areas of Nalabana were studied by experts from Institute of Natural Historical Science, Mumbai and Bird Research Centre in Bhopal.
As Brahmagiri is not far from Chilika, the largest brackish water lake in India, the people in the region have reasons to worry about.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Businesses in a district aiming to be a global technology centre would be better off using carrier pigeons to send files than using the internet, an MP has said.
