Not sure whether it's an age thing but the days, months and years seem to just fly by for me.
Dropped my son off at Uni in September and it seems like only a few weeks back, but he's back tomorrow after over 3 months of being away.
The wife's big operation was five months ago and that also seems like only weeks ago.
Has the world speeded up or are the things I do nowadays responsible, watching TV, using the internet etc are all time consuming while giving the impression you haven't achieved anything, so is my brain relating achievment to time periods as in "he's only done 2 weeks work in the last 3 months, so it's only been 2 weeks"?
I know what I mean.... haha
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Junk Spam Whatever
I wonder what the chances are that the people who have sent me all that junk mail recently read my little rant the other day?
Just seemed strange that I've just checked my mailbox and not one single mail about Viagra, Rolexes or College degrees were there, usually it's at least ten per day at the minimum.
Got my customary bank scam one which was kinda funny as the link to verify my account had an address leading to Scubapirate.com which seemed appropriate :)
Just seemed strange that I've just checked my mailbox and not one single mail about Viagra, Rolexes or College degrees were there, usually it's at least ten per day at the minimum.
Got my customary bank scam one which was kinda funny as the link to verify my account had an address leading to Scubapirate.com which seemed appropriate :)
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Bargain?
So all the high street shops are offering massive discounts in the attempt to get credit crunch hit families in before Christmas.
Now I'm cynical of all "half price" and "60% off" type discounts as over and over again I see products still costing the same as they used to before the discounts, there are laws against this but the department that enforces it must be totally overrun as every store is doing it.
It was nice to be proved right again today as the wife went to buy my Daughter-in-law a Christmas present, she had checked in an old Argos catalogue we had (the early 2008 edition) and the price was £14.99, so she went in and was shocked to see the price had doubled to £29.99 in the new catalogue but on checking the with the cashier she found out that there was a 50% Christmas discount on the item bringing the price down to the original £14.99 .... that was lucky!!
Who said Rip Off, no the increase during the year was obviously down to the price of Oil wasn't it? I know it's only a jewellery item but there must be a legitimate reason for the 100% increase during the year.
Sigh
Now I'm cynical of all "half price" and "60% off" type discounts as over and over again I see products still costing the same as they used to before the discounts, there are laws against this but the department that enforces it must be totally overrun as every store is doing it.
It was nice to be proved right again today as the wife went to buy my Daughter-in-law a Christmas present, she had checked in an old Argos catalogue we had (the early 2008 edition) and the price was £14.99, so she went in and was shocked to see the price had doubled to £29.99 in the new catalogue but on checking the with the cashier she found out that there was a 50% Christmas discount on the item bringing the price down to the original £14.99 .... that was lucky!!
Who said Rip Off, no the increase during the year was obviously down to the price of Oil wasn't it? I know it's only a jewellery item but there must be a legitimate reason for the 100% increase during the year.
Sigh
Oliver Postgate RIP
Strange thing happened the other night while watching the news on TV, they announced the death of Oliver Postgate and I suddenly felt incredibly sad :(
Know I didn't know the man and to be honest I probably would never have even recognised him if I saw him, but I felt the sort of sadness you only get when a loved family member or close friend dies.
For anyone who hasn't heard of him he was the creator of classic kids animations in the 1960/70's such as the Clangers, Ivor the Engine, Bagpuss and Noggin the Nog amongst others.
The sort of TV programmes I grew up with and will still sit and watch if they appear on Telly, I even bought the box set of Clangers on DVD.
This was the sort of innocent childrens TV that is now sadly missing, you knew it was cheaply made but you didn't care because that's what gave it it's charm.
The closest thing I can think of today is Nick Park's plasticine animations such as Wallace and Gromit and Creature Comforts.
Here's a classic Clangers episode
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wfsMZKwqw3w
Junk Mail
Since having a computer and e-mail I've always received junk mail but lately it's getting ridiculous.The pic (left) is a small selection of the 200+ junk mails I've had in the last week, I don't know any of the people in the "from" or "to" boxes and if your name is there it probably means your computer is carrying some sort of trojan / mailing worm and you need to run anti-virus.
I hate to think just how much if the internet's bandwidth is being wasted with this amount of junk flying around, surely it's only a matter of time before this and all the annoying advertising on every web site kills the net.
About 5 years ago I could happily surf the web with a 33.6 kb modem connection, now it's not much faster despite a 20 gb broadband connection due to every site having a multitude of flashing adverts and pop-ups.
Reasons for my increase in junk mail over the last couple of months? I've put it down to one or two things (or both).
In this period I joined Facebook, and I used my e-mail address on one of those car insurance comparison sites.
Just in case anyone sending out this shit cares!!
I don't need Viagra or Cialex (I have no problems in that area)
I don't want a replica Rolex (My old Timex works fine)
I don't need a genuine college degree (because it's not genuine is it).
Friday, 5 December 2008
What a bunch of Bankers
So I go into the bank today (the one who cut my overdraft after I used it for the first time in years) to deposit the money they wanted after withdrawing it from my gambling account.
I decide not to have an argument over their pretty shitty way of treating me so I'm reasonably calm at the counter and then the assistant says to me "have you received a leaflet about the banking changes?", "No" I say "what's changed", so he tells me that I can no longer draw out less than £30 and I can't ask for a mini statement at the counter.
Cue a mood swing "So you're going to cut your bank charges then due to the reduced service are you", he replies "no sir it's to reduce waiting time at the counter" so I point out that it takes as long to withdraw £30 as it does £10 and possibly longer.
He gives me the raised eyes look so I then ask what happens if I only have £29 and he says I can still use the ATM, "and what if I only have £9.99 how do I get my money then as the ATM has a £10 minimum" "surely you stopping me from withdrawing MY money is theft and must be against the law".
Don't know if he's buzzed for help but another member of staff appears and rescues him by taking me off to her desk.
I make my point and also tell her what I think about their overdraft policy but as usual it's banging your head against a brick wall with these people.
I still regret the day all those years ago when my work told me that they weren't paying us in cash anymore and we had to open bank accounts.
I decide not to have an argument over their pretty shitty way of treating me so I'm reasonably calm at the counter and then the assistant says to me "have you received a leaflet about the banking changes?", "No" I say "what's changed", so he tells me that I can no longer draw out less than £30 and I can't ask for a mini statement at the counter.
Cue a mood swing "So you're going to cut your bank charges then due to the reduced service are you", he replies "no sir it's to reduce waiting time at the counter" so I point out that it takes as long to withdraw £30 as it does £10 and possibly longer.
He gives me the raised eyes look so I then ask what happens if I only have £29 and he says I can still use the ATM, "and what if I only have £9.99 how do I get my money then as the ATM has a £10 minimum" "surely you stopping me from withdrawing MY money is theft and must be against the law".
Don't know if he's buzzed for help but another member of staff appears and rescues him by taking me off to her desk.
I make my point and also tell her what I think about their overdraft policy but as usual it's banging your head against a brick wall with these people.
I still regret the day all those years ago when my work told me that they weren't paying us in cash anymore and we had to open bank accounts.
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Ban DVD's
20+ Years of video collection (and even some bought at full price).
Now they're all worth less than 50p each :(
Might just be me? but some of the later ones were pretty poor quality even when bought new.
Would that have been the companies trying to persaude you that you needed to buy them all again on DVD for top quality?
I wonder if the quality of DVD's will now start to diminish in the hope that we all go out and buy replacement Blu Ray discs?
A New Collection
New health warnings on my ciggie packs.
Have to smoke more so I can get the full set.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Bank Whores
They love you when you've got plenty of money, but as soon as time's get hard they just want to drop you.
Not the first time it's happened to me but it still pisses you off, when I had a fair amount of money with them and a regular wage it was "we love you" and here's a bigger overdraft even though you've never asked for it.
But as soon as you go overdrawn its "we've had to review your overdraft and we've decided to reduce it, so please pay in the required amount to keep your balance in credit".
I assume they think I have bank accounts elsewhere with thousands of pounds of spare cash!!
A nice touch by them was to have my new zero overdraft in effect from the 26th December.. Merry Christmas.
'kin Bastards
Not the first time it's happened to me but it still pisses you off, when I had a fair amount of money with them and a regular wage it was "we love you" and here's a bigger overdraft even though you've never asked for it.
But as soon as you go overdrawn its "we've had to review your overdraft and we've decided to reduce it, so please pay in the required amount to keep your balance in credit".
I assume they think I have bank accounts elsewhere with thousands of pounds of spare cash!!
A nice touch by them was to have my new zero overdraft in effect from the 26th December.. Merry Christmas.
'kin Bastards
Insurance Vandals
Received an e-mail from Direct Line offering me car insurance with vandalism cover.
The headline was "are you worried about the car vandalism in my town", now I hadn't heard about any vandalism in my town so wondered why they mentioned it?
Three days later I read the local paper and it reported a spate of car vandalism had occurred the day before in my town.
Coincidence maybe?
I can't help thinking that some marketing type had bunged a few quid into the hands of a local hoodie gang and told them to go round and smash a few motors, but they had obviously taken longer than expected to do it so the e-mails had already been sent.
Of course this is just my opinion.
The headline was "are you worried about the car vandalism in my town", now I hadn't heard about any vandalism in my town so wondered why they mentioned it?
Three days later I read the local paper and it reported a spate of car vandalism had occurred the day before in my town.
Coincidence maybe?
I can't help thinking that some marketing type had bunged a few quid into the hands of a local hoodie gang and told them to go round and smash a few motors, but they had obviously taken longer than expected to do it so the e-mails had already been sent.
Of course this is just my opinion.
Wannabe Gangster
I've finally found a reason for using Facebook, the addictive games.
Loads of gangster games like Mob Wars, Mafia wars, Gang wars etc where you can gather together mobs of "friends" (or people you'll never ever meet or know) to go around committing various crimes and murders in this virtual world.
Bad taste yes, but really addictive.
Tesco Shares
The wife cashed in her Tesco shares a couple of months back as she wanted to get another car (or old banger).
She'd accrued them while working for Tesco's for many years and they were worth about a grand.
I thought she was mad as one company in Britain that seems to always be on the up is Tesco's due to them taking over every free space and garage around (we have around ten of their outlets within five miles of us).
But it seems that people have finally realised that Tesco's are ripping people off (with their prices now looking more like Waitrose), where they used to be one of the cheaper supermarkets.
The share price has tumbled as worries over stores like Aldi, Iceland and Lidl who are taking Tesco's customers.
At times in the past I have shopped in all of them and Aldi and Iceland are pretty good although I'd have to be desperate to shop at Lidl's (personal opinion based on some right crap I bought there a few years back).
I think a lot of people are following my style of shopping where you buy the products on offer at a specific shop and don't touch the other goods which they've raised the prices on to cover the advertised bargains.
So the upshot is that she has made a couple of hundred pounds more than if she cashed them in now :)
she should be a stockbroker with that financial insight.
She'd accrued them while working for Tesco's for many years and they were worth about a grand.
I thought she was mad as one company in Britain that seems to always be on the up is Tesco's due to them taking over every free space and garage around (we have around ten of their outlets within five miles of us).
But it seems that people have finally realised that Tesco's are ripping people off (with their prices now looking more like Waitrose), where they used to be one of the cheaper supermarkets.
The share price has tumbled as worries over stores like Aldi, Iceland and Lidl who are taking Tesco's customers.
At times in the past I have shopped in all of them and Aldi and Iceland are pretty good although I'd have to be desperate to shop at Lidl's (personal opinion based on some right crap I bought there a few years back).
I think a lot of people are following my style of shopping where you buy the products on offer at a specific shop and don't touch the other goods which they've raised the prices on to cover the advertised bargains.
So the upshot is that she has made a couple of hundred pounds more than if she cashed them in now :)
she should be a stockbroker with that financial insight.
Monday, 3 November 2008
Time To Grow Old?
I was wondering at what age you get old? I'm now in my 40's and have 2 grandchildren, but still feel and act like someone who's half my age.
Is there a point you reach when you suddenly start disliking modern music and stop playing games and go buy yourself some slippers?
Am I embarrassing to my kids, they haven't said anything and still ask my advice on what bands are hot at the moment and how to use computers and the internet.
Although I'm older than my wife she seems to have aged much more than me, mentally and physically and much as I love her it's becoming a pain not being able to do the things I want to do as she is not as fit as she used to be.
Maybe it'll hit me soon and I can age gracefully?
Is there a point you reach when you suddenly start disliking modern music and stop playing games and go buy yourself some slippers?
Am I embarrassing to my kids, they haven't said anything and still ask my advice on what bands are hot at the moment and how to use computers and the internet.
Although I'm older than my wife she seems to have aged much more than me, mentally and physically and much as I love her it's becoming a pain not being able to do the things I want to do as she is not as fit as she used to be.
Maybe it'll hit me soon and I can age gracefully?
Bank Scams
One of the many bank scam e-mails I've received this week, this one took my notice due to the really obvious error of pretending to be from the Abbey bank and using a Nationwide e-mail address?
The "Security advice" banner is from the Nat West and the link to verify your account details points to jhallman.com who if you google them are supposed to be suppliers of "Back to the Future" props!!
Strictly amateur stuff, scammers should at least try a bit harder if they hope to rip off people.
Saturday, 1 November 2008
Lee Evans
Went to see Lee Evans at the Wembley Arena last night (the wife is a big fan) and mostly he was as manic and funny as always.The "Big" show was 3 hours (with a 20 minute break in the middle) and Lee was his hyperactive self throughout, getting through 3 suits in that time he reminds me of the guy from the Lynx advert with the gushing armpits, he certainly sweats a lot.
It was the first time I'd been to the Wembley Arena since the refit and although looking fresh it hasn't really improved as a place to watch live acts, like a lot of venues they seem to think everyone is about 5 foot tall as the small seats and narrow aisles make it really cramped for someone like me who is over 6 foot.
Having seen him live once before on the "XL" tour about 3 years back I thought this one wasn't quite as good, still really funny but lacking the depth of the previous show, the opening half was Lee at his best with his take on topical news and life in general but in the second half I thought he overdid the "my wife" jokes although every one was a good take on the realities of a long term relationship.
The encore was a bit disappointing with him coming back with 2 songs, the first featuring him strumming frantically on a miniature guitar and the second a topical/political song sung at the piano which started well but the lyrics lacked any real humour.
He saved the encore at the end with the old favourite "Bohemian rhapsody" which is always funny.
Overall impression was that if you've never seen him live you should make the effort as it's a really good experience, but I'm not sure if this particular show was worth the £30 ticket.
Friday, 31 October 2008
Fallout
Over 50% of the TV news taken up again by the Ross/Brand story (sigh!).Latest is the BBC are being urged to censor some of it's best shows to please the moral minority, with the brilliant "Mock the week" the latest target.
MTW star turn Frankie Boyle (pictured) is in my opinion the funniest comedian to be seen on TV at the moment and his irreverant comments have me in stitches every week, but as it's bash the BBC week I suppose they want a few more heads to roll.
I find many things really offensive, every time I see people like David Cameron and Anne Widdecombe on the box I get the urge to throw a brick through the telly (not really I turn it over), but the point is everyone has a different view of what they like and what they don't like so why should a few people (who have their own hidden agenda for regulating the BBC) be given so much air time to slag off the station and try to force changes, when the majority of the British people never heard the offending broadcast and probably didn't care if they did.
Story What Story
The credit crunch, the American election, Bombings in India, Freak weather and flooding in Devon, The Menezes trial, The Congo crisis, Earthquakes in Pakistan, All are worthy news stories to justify coverage on news programmes this week.
So what do we get taking up most of the allocated news time? Russel Brand and Jonathan Ross's prank calls to Andrew Sachs!!
Does anyone actually give a toss? and why is it taking up so much air time.
Surely Ross could have chucked him a million and said sorry in private to save us having to put up with this drivel all week.
Or have news programs just dropped into the same sewer as newspapers where news is tucked away behind the front page headlines of "Kerry Katona's alcohol hell" or "Victoria Beckham broke a nail" type stories that dominate most front pages.
So what do we get taking up most of the allocated news time? Russel Brand and Jonathan Ross's prank calls to Andrew Sachs!!
Does anyone actually give a toss? and why is it taking up so much air time.
Surely Ross could have chucked him a million and said sorry in private to save us having to put up with this drivel all week.
Or have news programs just dropped into the same sewer as newspapers where news is tucked away behind the front page headlines of "Kerry Katona's alcohol hell" or "Victoria Beckham broke a nail" type stories that dominate most front pages.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
In The Dark
Just to show how up with the news I am, I've only just read that Gordon Brown (UK prime minister) is blind in one eye and has been for 42 years.
The fact I haven't bought a newspaper in over 10 years, and that I rarely watch TV news has probably got something to do with that.
Although the truth was always the main thing missing from newspapers so they probably didn't know either.
The fact I haven't bought a newspaper in over 10 years, and that I rarely watch TV news has probably got something to do with that.
Although the truth was always the main thing missing from newspapers so they probably didn't know either.
Good Causes
It seems I've won £850,000 from the UK lottery board ... yipee!!
But then I ask the question if it's the UK lottery board, why does the e-mail eminate from westga.edu (which is supposed to be the University of West Georgia in the USA) and if I Google the claims department phone number it seems I am only one of thousands of people that have won £850,000 and have reported this e-mail as suspicious?
They only want the following details from me to send me my prize -
1.full name: 2.Home Address: 3.Age: 4.Sex: 5.Tele: 6.Occupation: 7.Country Of Residence: 8.Nationality: 9.Amount Won: 10.Religon
I wonder if we can all get together and help out third world poverty? if anyone knows of a worthy charity and they are willing to supply the details required we could send our Billion pounds to them.
e.g
Claims Requirements:
1.full name: Gordon Brown
2.Home Address: 10 Downing Street, London
3.Age: 57
4.Sex: M
5.Tele: 0207 270 3000
6.Occupation: Politician
7.Country Of Residence: United Kingdom
8.Nationality: British
9.Amount Won: £850,000
10.Religon: Church Of Scotland
That would help a country who are up to their eyes in debt.
Of course this just might be a scam!!
But then I ask the question if it's the UK lottery board, why does the e-mail eminate from westga.edu (which is supposed to be the University of West Georgia in the USA) and if I Google the claims department phone number it seems I am only one of thousands of people that have won £850,000 and have reported this e-mail as suspicious?
They only want the following details from me to send me my prize -
1.full name: 2.Home Address: 3.Age: 4.Sex: 5.Tele: 6.Occupation: 7.Country Of Residence: 8.Nationality: 9.Amount Won: 10.Religon
I wonder if we can all get together and help out third world poverty? if anyone knows of a worthy charity and they are willing to supply the details required we could send our Billion pounds to them.
e.g
Claims Requirements:
1.full name: Gordon Brown
2.Home Address: 10 Downing Street, London
3.Age: 57
4.Sex: M
5.Tele: 0207 270 3000
6.Occupation: Politician
7.Country Of Residence: United Kingdom
8.Nationality: British
9.Amount Won: £850,000
10.Religon: Church Of Scotland
That would help a country who are up to their eyes in debt.
Of course this just might be a scam!!
Monday, 20 October 2008
Healthy Food
Probably mentioned this before but I eat what is considered to be an unhealthy diet, no fruit, veg eaten rarely and lots of white bread etc.
The outcome of this is although I'm a bit fatter than I should be I'm never ill.
Just spent a couple of days last week at the in-laws who eat "healthy food" no white bread, lots of veg salad and fruit.
From the second day there I had sickness and diarrhea and a constant headache which has taken 5 days to clear, so how on earth can this be healthy?
The outcome of this is although I'm a bit fatter than I should be I'm never ill.
Just spent a couple of days last week at the in-laws who eat "healthy food" no white bread, lots of veg salad and fruit.
From the second day there I had sickness and diarrhea and a constant headache which has taken 5 days to clear, so how on earth can this be healthy?
Monday, 13 October 2008
Bank Scammers
I'm sure none of you are dumb enough to fall for the recent upsurge in Bank details scams, using the banking crisis to increase the number of attempts to phish people's details.
But sadly I know a few people who would believe this!!
The picture above is one E-mail I've just received and it's well written without the obvious spelling mistakes that some have, the picture of the Lloyds horse is from the official Lloyds page, and the line "Failure to do so may result in temporary account suspension" is usually enough for some people to panic and click the link.
If you check the link at first it looks legit "http://online-lloydstsb...." it's only when you see it's followed by " .tk" you can actually guarantee it's a scam, as far as I know Lloyds TSB aren't based in Tokelau (a territory of New Zealand) although with all this investment in foreign markets they could be!! :)
A page I've read about Tokelau (.tk) gives more than enough evidence of scamming -
Quote "By most measures New Zealand's remote colony of Tokelau is paradise but on the internet it has become the world's most dangerous domain for surfers.
Californian based internet security company McAfee this week said websites with Tokelau's dot-TK domain were "unusually risky".
Many of the fake websites and emails offering "security alerts" from banks around the world arrive via a Tokelau or Niue top level domain (TLD) address.
A senior New Zealand diplomat trying to help Tokelau and Niue told Fairfax Media both have lost control of their internet domains and, along with New Zealand, risk losing their international reputations.
Niue's site has become infamous for hardcore pornography while Tokelau, which has just 1300 people, no airport and no capital, is synonymous with computer viruses, spyware and malicious software covertly dumped onto computer main drives."
You have been warned.
Although for me the fact I'm receiving e-mails from the scumbags at Lloyds was enough of a clue, as it was this bunch of crooks who repeatedly tried to rip me off for years with double loan payments and unfair bank charges before giving me an unrequested overdraft which once I used it they took it away and hit me with another ton of bank charges before blacklisting me, so there is no way I'd have an account with them as in my opinion they are only marginally better than the scammers (sorry into another personal rant there!).
They might make good train adverts but they would be the last bank on earth etc .....
Personally I have never used internet banking, I don't trust it.
So when I receive the 5-10 E-mails a week asking me to update my bank details for every bank and building society in the land I can dismiss them straight away, but I know a lot of people do use internet banking so the chances are one of the scam mails might be from your bank.
Unless something has changed recently Banks will never ever ask for your details in an e-mail, they already have them and if you do need to change something you will usually be asked by letter to go to your branch.
Public service announcment over :)
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Sorry
Just reading through this blog and realised I haven't done a decent blog post this year :(
I think some of my earlier posts were pretty good, well thought out, sarcastic and backed by good facts but recent ones have been self obsessed pathetic rants?
Maybe I'm just not bitter and twisted anymore or maybe I (like the rest of the world) really don't give a fuck anymore?
Maybe it's just that I don't mix with the sort of morons that used to wind me up so much before, I don't know?
D- Must try Harder
I think some of my earlier posts were pretty good, well thought out, sarcastic and backed by good facts but recent ones have been self obsessed pathetic rants?
Maybe I'm just not bitter and twisted anymore or maybe I (like the rest of the world) really don't give a fuck anymore?
Maybe it's just that I don't mix with the sort of morons that used to wind me up so much before, I don't know?
D- Must try Harder
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Esther Rantzen's Second Thoughts
Interesting to watch a programme last week by Esther Rantzen who started the Childline charity to offer help to abused children many years back.
Probably seems two-faced to bring this up after a post about kids getting a beating for doing wrong, but I'm sure you'll realise the difference.
There is no excuse for the type of people who abuse children (physically, mentally or sexually), and these people should be caught and exposed.
The basis of the programme was that Esther was actually blaming herself for the rise of over the top Political correctness that we see today, although her motives were good at the time she didn't anticipate the steps that are currently in place.
The programme showed instances such as a 2 year old girl who died after falling in a fish pond after wandering out of a nursery, she was seen by a guy going past before her death but he didn't stop to check for fear of being labelled a paedophile if he was seen talking to her, another was a little girl who was out on a school trip and ended up with serious sunburn, her parents had supplied her with sun cream and told her to ask a teacher to put some on her back if it was sunny, it had got hot that day so the child asked the teacher who refused as she wasn't allowed to touch the children for fear of being sued or worse?
An experiment was set up using child actors in a shopping centre, the kids were asked to pretend to be lost and in a state of distress, hundreds of people walked by before a woman actually stopped, when asked if she was worried about asking the kid if they were alright she said she was in case people had the wrong idea, virtually every man that was asked said they didn't stop for the same reason.
Brought back memories of the James Bulger incident.
Esther's conclusion was that Political Correctness was now becoming a risk to children, the Childline project was set up to help the Children that had no one to turn to, but under today's climate all kids have a lot less people to turn to as everyone is afraid of helping.
Probably seems two-faced to bring this up after a post about kids getting a beating for doing wrong, but I'm sure you'll realise the difference.
There is no excuse for the type of people who abuse children (physically, mentally or sexually), and these people should be caught and exposed.
The basis of the programme was that Esther was actually blaming herself for the rise of over the top Political correctness that we see today, although her motives were good at the time she didn't anticipate the steps that are currently in place.
The programme showed instances such as a 2 year old girl who died after falling in a fish pond after wandering out of a nursery, she was seen by a guy going past before her death but he didn't stop to check for fear of being labelled a paedophile if he was seen talking to her, another was a little girl who was out on a school trip and ended up with serious sunburn, her parents had supplied her with sun cream and told her to ask a teacher to put some on her back if it was sunny, it had got hot that day so the child asked the teacher who refused as she wasn't allowed to touch the children for fear of being sued or worse?
An experiment was set up using child actors in a shopping centre, the kids were asked to pretend to be lost and in a state of distress, hundreds of people walked by before a woman actually stopped, when asked if she was worried about asking the kid if they were alright she said she was in case people had the wrong idea, virtually every man that was asked said they didn't stop for the same reason.
Brought back memories of the James Bulger incident.
Esther's conclusion was that Political Correctness was now becoming a risk to children, the Childline project was set up to help the Children that had no one to turn to, but under today's climate all kids have a lot less people to turn to as everyone is afraid of helping.
Anti Social Behaviour
Anti Social behaviour, is it a growing problem or is it the same as it's always been but just reported more?
When I look back on my youth I see a lot of similarities.
I first had a knife held at my throat at age 14, although knives were everywhere throughout my childhood, virtually everyone carried one (including me) but almost no-one would dream of using them.
Fights were commonplace but were mostly fought with fists, very rarely were weapons seen or used during one, it was considered cowardly if you couldn't defend yourself without resorting to the threat of the knife.
Indeed the knife at the throat incident was sorted out using fists, I still have the scar on my thumb where I'd grabbed the blade before knocking the kid out.
I saw my first gun at 15, a school friend I met at the weekend in a local town turned up with one in his pocket, it looked real and he said it was and I wasn't going ask him to prove it, The estate he lived on was renowned for trouble, my uncle lived there and he would tell me of the usual weekend gang fights, but I don't recall anyone actually being shot despite guns being available, and this was Seventies Essex not inner city London.
Football matches attended usually had a dark overtone with fights breaking out in the ground, outside the ground or at the station, but we'd still go every week.
When I left school at 16 I started drinking and going out, no need to stand around on street corners when pubs never worried about age and the beer was cheap, strangely there was hardly any trouble at pubs, people would get drunk but everyone seemed to be happy.
Disco's on the other hand seemed to attract the troublemakers, rarely would a night out end peacefully without at least one person threatening you or trying to fight you or a riot breaking out.
The only time I was actually stabbed was at one of these Seventies disco's, after some drunken idiot accused me of staring at his girlfriend, I didn't remember staring at any girl but he decided to knife me anyway, luckily I saw it coming and managed to dodge most of his lunge just ending up with a small wound above my hip, I grabbed his knife hand and kicked him in the nuts, when he went down I carried on until one of the bouncers grabbed me, the bouncer told me to clear off and a little while later the guy was dragged out by the bouncers and thrown into the street.
One noticable change with today's teens seems to be the lack of respect to adults and Police, my friends and I all respected our parents and almost all other adults, if someone came out and told us to clear off we would usually do it and say sorry.
The respect of the Police was born out of fear, a couple of my mates got arrested one for fighting and another for TDA (car theft), both were taken in and given a going over while handcuffed followed by a night in the cells, no one ever questioned the bruises and cuts and both ended up doing six months on the carrot farm (or young offenders centre), So if the police said move on, you moved on without any backchat.
Sadly today's political correctness which sees most adults afraid to say anything to kids has a lot to do with it.
The gobby twisted kids of my youth who would talk about doing some of the more unsavoury aspects that happen today would not risk actually going ahead with it for fear that someone would sort them out if they did.
People were able to sort out their own problems, I saw many incidents of adults giving kids a "thick ear" if they had done things like throwing stones or shouting abuse, the Police were never called and your parents were likely to do the same if you told them about it.
So to sum up as I see it the majority of kids are no worse than those of my youth, but where they would be made to think about the consequences of their actions and what would happen to them, that dissuading factor has been removed for all but the most serious offences nowadays so kids will push it to the limit and I imagine it will only get worse.
When I look back on my youth I see a lot of similarities.
I first had a knife held at my throat at age 14, although knives were everywhere throughout my childhood, virtually everyone carried one (including me) but almost no-one would dream of using them.
Fights were commonplace but were mostly fought with fists, very rarely were weapons seen or used during one, it was considered cowardly if you couldn't defend yourself without resorting to the threat of the knife.
Indeed the knife at the throat incident was sorted out using fists, I still have the scar on my thumb where I'd grabbed the blade before knocking the kid out.
I saw my first gun at 15, a school friend I met at the weekend in a local town turned up with one in his pocket, it looked real and he said it was and I wasn't going ask him to prove it, The estate he lived on was renowned for trouble, my uncle lived there and he would tell me of the usual weekend gang fights, but I don't recall anyone actually being shot despite guns being available, and this was Seventies Essex not inner city London.
Football matches attended usually had a dark overtone with fights breaking out in the ground, outside the ground or at the station, but we'd still go every week.
When I left school at 16 I started drinking and going out, no need to stand around on street corners when pubs never worried about age and the beer was cheap, strangely there was hardly any trouble at pubs, people would get drunk but everyone seemed to be happy.
Disco's on the other hand seemed to attract the troublemakers, rarely would a night out end peacefully without at least one person threatening you or trying to fight you or a riot breaking out.
The only time I was actually stabbed was at one of these Seventies disco's, after some drunken idiot accused me of staring at his girlfriend, I didn't remember staring at any girl but he decided to knife me anyway, luckily I saw it coming and managed to dodge most of his lunge just ending up with a small wound above my hip, I grabbed his knife hand and kicked him in the nuts, when he went down I carried on until one of the bouncers grabbed me, the bouncer told me to clear off and a little while later the guy was dragged out by the bouncers and thrown into the street.
One noticable change with today's teens seems to be the lack of respect to adults and Police, my friends and I all respected our parents and almost all other adults, if someone came out and told us to clear off we would usually do it and say sorry.
The respect of the Police was born out of fear, a couple of my mates got arrested one for fighting and another for TDA (car theft), both were taken in and given a going over while handcuffed followed by a night in the cells, no one ever questioned the bruises and cuts and both ended up doing six months on the carrot farm (or young offenders centre), So if the police said move on, you moved on without any backchat.
Sadly today's political correctness which sees most adults afraid to say anything to kids has a lot to do with it.
The gobby twisted kids of my youth who would talk about doing some of the more unsavoury aspects that happen today would not risk actually going ahead with it for fear that someone would sort them out if they did.
People were able to sort out their own problems, I saw many incidents of adults giving kids a "thick ear" if they had done things like throwing stones or shouting abuse, the Police were never called and your parents were likely to do the same if you told them about it.
So to sum up as I see it the majority of kids are no worse than those of my youth, but where they would be made to think about the consequences of their actions and what would happen to them, that dissuading factor has been removed for all but the most serious offences nowadays so kids will push it to the limit and I imagine it will only get worse.
Friday, 10 October 2008
Crunch 3
Something that used to be a bit of a joke (or maybe the truth?) was that when financial institutions were having a bad time it was worth looking up when going near any of their buildings, in case another businessman who's investments had failed decided to end it all by jumping out of the window and ending it all.
Might have missed it if it has happened recently, but as far as I know none of them have, which to me says that none of them actually give a toss and they know they'll be bailed out by the government to start ripping us off again soon enough.
Crunch 2
I'm finding it hard to feel sorry for all these people that appear on television complaining that their saving aren't safe despite the government's 50 grand guarantee.
What are you doing with over 50 grand in savings? to my mind the only people with that sort of spare cash are drug dealers, high class prostitutes and the scum that have been reaping the profits from ripping everyone else off.
Maybe my outlook on life is different from anyone else in that throughout my adult life I've worked for the simple reason of supporting my family, if we've had any spare cash it would be spent on providing things that had been missed out on when times were hard.
What are you doing with over 50 grand in savings? to my mind the only people with that sort of spare cash are drug dealers, high class prostitutes and the scum that have been reaping the profits from ripping everyone else off.
Maybe my outlook on life is different from anyone else in that throughout my adult life I've worked for the simple reason of supporting my family, if we've had any spare cash it would be spent on providing things that had been missed out on when times were hard.
Crunch 1
Just a few brief thoughts without having to think too hard on the ongoing Credit crunch / World market failure.
One thing that's come out of the recent troubles for me is that I actually watch the news on telly, something I got out of the habit of doing years ago.
Not sure why I'm watching it? as it's not as if I've got Millions invested in Icelandic banks or Bradford and Bungley.
I suppose I'm just getting some sick pleasure about seeing these tossers who have lived luxurious lifestyles off the back of the common man finally get their come-uppance, wish they would jail the lot of these frauds and crooks who have played with our money for so long.
One thing that's come out of the recent troubles for me is that I actually watch the news on telly, something I got out of the habit of doing years ago.
Not sure why I'm watching it? as it's not as if I've got Millions invested in Icelandic banks or Bradford and Bungley.
I suppose I'm just getting some sick pleasure about seeing these tossers who have lived luxurious lifestyles off the back of the common man finally get their come-uppance, wish they would jail the lot of these frauds and crooks who have played with our money for so long.
Social Networking
My son persauded me to try Facebook recently, and have been on Myspace for a couple of years.
The first thing that strikes me about Facebook is that I'm probably too old for it, the only attraction I can see is if you've got a ton of School / college friends who all add you on to it to relay info or slag people off en-masse.
I'm not that big a fan of MySpace but the fact that you can personalise your page. and that you do come across a hell of a lot of new music on there make it interesting.
Facebook doesn't seem to have any of the redeeming factors mentioned :(
After adding my son to my friends, I have been added by a lot of his friends (some I know, a lot I don't?), so I login and have all these wonderful messages everyday like "i'm gonna get wasted tonight lol" and "xx scored 500 on this game" really interesting stuff!!
I feel like a "Johnny no mates" because I've yet to find any of my friends who use it, I only know a couple of people of my age who used MySpace and that was because they were in bands.
I'll carry on with it for a while just because my boy is away at Uni and doesn't seem to be able to use the phone or e-mail but seems to be able to only use this?
Although I'm still not comfortable with the whole world being able to read any conversations we have.
Neglect
Sorry have been neglecting this blog a bit, I'll try harder :)
Everyday I think of some personal (obscure) take on the news but never get to write it down, as I log onto the PC and end up somewhere else instead.
Sorry.
Everyday I think of some personal (obscure) take on the news but never get to write it down, as I log onto the PC and end up somewhere else instead.
Sorry.
Monday, 15 September 2008
Music
Do you ever wonder just how much brilliant music is out there that you'll never ever here?
The wonder of the internet and those many thousands of blogs etc that post music have over the years introduced me to tons of bands and musical styles I'd never have heard if I just listened to radio and bought music CD's.
Everytime I download an obscure bands songs from some blog just because I like the name and find out it's really good, or just go browsing through the millions of MySpace band pages and listen to some of their songs it makes you realise that you'll never live long enough to hear everything.
Plus there is over 60 years of stuff already recorded that I'll probably never ever hear, and in amongst it there is probably tons of songs that I would absolutely love.
Many of my favourite ever songs are album tracks that have never been released as singles, so the chance of hearing them on the radio is very small.
I still believe that a lot of artists record music because they want people to enjoy it, but if you've got to pay out over a tenner a time to buy a CD you're going to be choosy and the majority of people won't buy an unknown bands CD if they've never heard it.
I guess there are hundreds if not thousands of new albums released around the world every week so the chances are without the internet 99% of these would never be heard by people other than followers of the specific band.
It's nice to see so many high profile artists cottoning on to the trend such as Prince, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and most recently Iron Maiden all releasing their albums free on the net knowing that if people like the music they're far more likely to want to go and see the band or even buy some back catalogue, clever stuff.
But still the record companies are trying to hang on to their profits by hounding the free music sharers still believing that one day everyone will have to go back to the old method of having to buy all your music and paying the inflated prices charged by record companies.
Those days have gone thankfully, and despite the warnings of P2P etc killing the music industry, it is probably in the healthiest state it's ever been due to the rise of thousands of bands who got their fame due to the quality of their music and the ability of people being able to listen to it for free.
The wonder of the internet and those many thousands of blogs etc that post music have over the years introduced me to tons of bands and musical styles I'd never have heard if I just listened to radio and bought music CD's.
Everytime I download an obscure bands songs from some blog just because I like the name and find out it's really good, or just go browsing through the millions of MySpace band pages and listen to some of their songs it makes you realise that you'll never live long enough to hear everything.
Plus there is over 60 years of stuff already recorded that I'll probably never ever hear, and in amongst it there is probably tons of songs that I would absolutely love.
Many of my favourite ever songs are album tracks that have never been released as singles, so the chance of hearing them on the radio is very small.
I still believe that a lot of artists record music because they want people to enjoy it, but if you've got to pay out over a tenner a time to buy a CD you're going to be choosy and the majority of people won't buy an unknown bands CD if they've never heard it.
I guess there are hundreds if not thousands of new albums released around the world every week so the chances are without the internet 99% of these would never be heard by people other than followers of the specific band.
It's nice to see so many high profile artists cottoning on to the trend such as Prince, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and most recently Iron Maiden all releasing their albums free on the net knowing that if people like the music they're far more likely to want to go and see the band or even buy some back catalogue, clever stuff.
But still the record companies are trying to hang on to their profits by hounding the free music sharers still believing that one day everyone will have to go back to the old method of having to buy all your music and paying the inflated prices charged by record companies.
Those days have gone thankfully, and despite the warnings of P2P etc killing the music industry, it is probably in the healthiest state it's ever been due to the rise of thousands of bands who got their fame due to the quality of their music and the ability of people being able to listen to it for free.
Cynical 'ol me
Might just be me? but I get very cynical about company announcements.
Recent ones have included airlines who despite proof to the contrary have decided to keep their ban on liquids being carried as hand luggage because of terror fears, this ban of course includes all drinks that might be carried on long distance flights forcing passengers to cough up extra for drinks onboard.
Various supermarkets plan to charge for plastic carrier bags to "save the environment" while still overpacking just about everything they sell, nothing to do with not making a profit from the free bags I suppose? incidentaly They tell us these bags survive for thousands of years in landfills which is amazing as those I put some old books in and put in the loft have already crumbled to dust after only a couple of years?
My internet company Virgin are charging me extra to have my bill sent in paper form as they say that this is damaging to the environment and I should set up an internet account, while I receive at least one personal letter a week advertising their wares plus several leaflets from them shoved through my letterbox with the pile of junk mail I (and everyone else) get every week.
Now if they didn't send this crap out wouldn't that be better for the environment?
In some ways I admire inginuity of these people who come up with these ideas of how to turn anything into a profit making excercise, it shows great imagination.
Although stringing the lot of them up would make me happier.
Recent ones have included airlines who despite proof to the contrary have decided to keep their ban on liquids being carried as hand luggage because of terror fears, this ban of course includes all drinks that might be carried on long distance flights forcing passengers to cough up extra for drinks onboard.
Various supermarkets plan to charge for plastic carrier bags to "save the environment" while still overpacking just about everything they sell, nothing to do with not making a profit from the free bags I suppose? incidentaly They tell us these bags survive for thousands of years in landfills which is amazing as those I put some old books in and put in the loft have already crumbled to dust after only a couple of years?
My internet company Virgin are charging me extra to have my bill sent in paper form as they say that this is damaging to the environment and I should set up an internet account, while I receive at least one personal letter a week advertising their wares plus several leaflets from them shoved through my letterbox with the pile of junk mail I (and everyone else) get every week.
Now if they didn't send this crap out wouldn't that be better for the environment?
In some ways I admire inginuity of these people who come up with these ideas of how to turn anything into a profit making excercise, it shows great imagination.
Although stringing the lot of them up would make me happier.
Cop Shows
Do you ever find yourself ranting at the telly when watching these shows like "Police, camera action" and similar?
Every week you see the Police following stolen cars rampaging through the streets nearly killing people and smashing people's property, and after they catch them you assume they're going away for a few years and at the end of the programme they point out that the guy who's stolen a car and run down a mother and baby and smashed through some old persons garden has been given a warning or a suspended sentence?
I would much prefer the American methods to be used, they chase the car and run them off the road and if they survive that a dozen police officers drag them from the car and jump on them while sticking guns in their ear and battering them with sticks before hauling them off for a long stretch inside.
Not politically correct I know and downright brutal at times, but seems to be a better solution than our "imaginary slap on the wrist" methods.
Every week you see the Police following stolen cars rampaging through the streets nearly killing people and smashing people's property, and after they catch them you assume they're going away for a few years and at the end of the programme they point out that the guy who's stolen a car and run down a mother and baby and smashed through some old persons garden has been given a warning or a suspended sentence?
I would much prefer the American methods to be used, they chase the car and run them off the road and if they survive that a dozen police officers drag them from the car and jump on them while sticking guns in their ear and battering them with sticks before hauling them off for a long stretch inside.
Not politically correct I know and downright brutal at times, but seems to be a better solution than our "imaginary slap on the wrist" methods.
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Banks (Part 2)
Another 45 wasted minutes on the phone and I just end up with the opinion that they are a "shower of shit" (as an old guy I used to know called people who didn't know what they were doing).
I managed to get the number to ring the complaints department direct and after 10 minutes of recorded info about the ongoing court case over unfair charges I finally had someone to speak to, several holds later after explaining my concerns she said that as the payment was taken by DD they wouldn't have checked things like account name and signatures?
I said I wasn't happy about their anti-fraud measures and wanted to speak to someone in the anti-fraud department to register a complaint, eventually I was passed on to that department and another ten or so minutes was wasted voicing my concerns that anyone who had obtained my account number could withdraw money from my account even with the wrong name and no signature (I'm sure if the postie had nicked my Bank statement he would have even had the correct name), but they just kept saying that DD's were set up totally on the account number and other info wasn't checked.
So again I asked to register a complaint about the ease of fleecing bank customers and was passed onto yet another department, this time the DD Indemnity team? have to say he was the most knowledgable of the 3 people I spoke to even though he was in a department you wouldn't normally deal with.
But the basic outcome was that although you could cancel a DD after it had been taken, if anyone had set one up for the entire contents of my bank account the bank would pay them and the first you would know about it (if you didn't check your statement) is when they tried to charge you overdraft fees for a second month payments!
So advice to all fraudsters, use the Abbey as they only check if you try to pay money in?
No wonder banks are going bust.
I managed to get the number to ring the complaints department direct and after 10 minutes of recorded info about the ongoing court case over unfair charges I finally had someone to speak to, several holds later after explaining my concerns she said that as the payment was taken by DD they wouldn't have checked things like account name and signatures?
I said I wasn't happy about their anti-fraud measures and wanted to speak to someone in the anti-fraud department to register a complaint, eventually I was passed on to that department and another ten or so minutes was wasted voicing my concerns that anyone who had obtained my account number could withdraw money from my account even with the wrong name and no signature (I'm sure if the postie had nicked my Bank statement he would have even had the correct name), but they just kept saying that DD's were set up totally on the account number and other info wasn't checked.
So again I asked to register a complaint about the ease of fleecing bank customers and was passed onto yet another department, this time the DD Indemnity team? have to say he was the most knowledgable of the 3 people I spoke to even though he was in a department you wouldn't normally deal with.
But the basic outcome was that although you could cancel a DD after it had been taken, if anyone had set one up for the entire contents of my bank account the bank would pay them and the first you would know about it (if you didn't check your statement) is when they tried to charge you overdraft fees for a second month payments!
So advice to all fraudsters, use the Abbey as they only check if you try to pay money in?
No wonder banks are going bust.
Banks
A while back I tried to pay in 2 cheques made out to me in the name Lee, both banks that I have accounts with would not accept them because Lee is actually my second name (long story...).
A couple of months ago a guy from the Red Cross came around looking for a donation, seemed genuine and gave me a pile of info etc, so feeling charitable I said I'd give him some money at which he pointed out that they could not accept money at the door but I could set up a direct debit.
OK I said, give me the form and I'll post it to my bank but he insisted on seeing a bank card, at this despite still believing he was the genuine article the scam alarm bells started ringing.
So my cunning plan was to show him my bank card for my second account (current balance £18, set up for any internet dealings like e-bay etc) and give my name as Lee as I knew they wouldn't accept it without at least checking with me first as I was unable to pay in using that name even after showing them identification.
So imagine my surprise when the first monthly DD has been taken from my account without even a phone call to check?
So bank security is so tight that I am unable to pay money in to my account in person even with ID and my missus who has an account at the same bank standing beside me, but a complete stranger can set up a DD on my account by using my account number and a wrong name and no signature with no trouble at all?
No wonder fraud is so rife.
It does appear the money has gone to the Red Cross and I'm glad to help out, but if he had been a scammer it seems he would have no difficulty in clearing my account.
----
Oh and one other thing the bank in question is the Abbey, the complaints procedure is all on their website and you can make an online complaint which I tried to do but when you press "send" the fucking thing won't connect, tried it about 6 times.
So the other option is to ring them up which I tried and after waiting about 15 minutes I got a woman with very little grasp of English who after a minute put me on hold for another 10 minutes, then I got a different person who in broken English said that I needed to contact my branch!! so I asked for the number and got put on hold again, I gave up after another 10 minutes ..... Fucking useless Bastards.
A couple of months ago a guy from the Red Cross came around looking for a donation, seemed genuine and gave me a pile of info etc, so feeling charitable I said I'd give him some money at which he pointed out that they could not accept money at the door but I could set up a direct debit.
OK I said, give me the form and I'll post it to my bank but he insisted on seeing a bank card, at this despite still believing he was the genuine article the scam alarm bells started ringing.
So my cunning plan was to show him my bank card for my second account (current balance £18, set up for any internet dealings like e-bay etc) and give my name as Lee as I knew they wouldn't accept it without at least checking with me first as I was unable to pay in using that name even after showing them identification.
So imagine my surprise when the first monthly DD has been taken from my account without even a phone call to check?
So bank security is so tight that I am unable to pay money in to my account in person even with ID and my missus who has an account at the same bank standing beside me, but a complete stranger can set up a DD on my account by using my account number and a wrong name and no signature with no trouble at all?
No wonder fraud is so rife.
It does appear the money has gone to the Red Cross and I'm glad to help out, but if he had been a scammer it seems he would have no difficulty in clearing my account.
----
Oh and one other thing the bank in question is the Abbey, the complaints procedure is all on their website and you can make an online complaint which I tried to do but when you press "send" the fucking thing won't connect, tried it about 6 times.
So the other option is to ring them up which I tried and after waiting about 15 minutes I got a woman with very little grasp of English who after a minute put me on hold for another 10 minutes, then I got a different person who in broken English said that I needed to contact my branch!! so I asked for the number and got put on hold again, I gave up after another 10 minutes ..... Fucking useless Bastards.
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Scream
No not the film, just my reaction to those bloody people who seek to make your internet life a misery.
I had a music file in an AIFF (Apple) format, which I couldn't play so I opened up my music converter program and found I didn't have the right codec, so I download it and it tells me it'll only run with an updated version of the main program :(
So I search for a program update (the original has served me well since 2003) and I find one to download, install it and install the new codec and convert the file.
I play the file and it's just 3 minutes of buzzing even though I know it was a music file from the person who gave it to me.
Then I try to go the net to see if I've got the right version and my browser (IE) starts throwing up virus messages :(
I know from experience that it's one of those browser hijack programs that tells you to download some crappy anti-virus programs because you've got thousands of viruses, even though you just have the one dodgy trojan.
Trouble is with these is it's a long winded process deleting them, so I've had to reset my IE and run a few removal programs with multiple shut down / restarts before it's clear.
So I've wasted over 3 hours to get a program which doesn't work properly and the new version is not as easy as the original.
So aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!
I had a music file in an AIFF (Apple) format, which I couldn't play so I opened up my music converter program and found I didn't have the right codec, so I download it and it tells me it'll only run with an updated version of the main program :(
So I search for a program update (the original has served me well since 2003) and I find one to download, install it and install the new codec and convert the file.
I play the file and it's just 3 minutes of buzzing even though I know it was a music file from the person who gave it to me.
Then I try to go the net to see if I've got the right version and my browser (IE) starts throwing up virus messages :(
I know from experience that it's one of those browser hijack programs that tells you to download some crappy anti-virus programs because you've got thousands of viruses, even though you just have the one dodgy trojan.
Trouble is with these is it's a long winded process deleting them, so I've had to reset my IE and run a few removal programs with multiple shut down / restarts before it's clear.
So I've wasted over 3 hours to get a program which doesn't work properly and the new version is not as easy as the original.
So aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Ethnic Cleansing
Found this picture at http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/
You'd think that Prince William might be concerned that the outboard motor has disappeared, even if he wasn't worried about the guy steering the boat.
Must be true it's in the Sun.
Spiders
Are Spiders secretly taking over the world?
We seem to be inundated with Spiders everywhere at the moment, if you don't go in a room for a couple of hours you walk straight into a web, every time I walk out of the front or back door I walk into a web.
Every time I have a bath or shower the spiders have taken over, fed the cat and there was a web built in her bowl, every time I go out in the car the wing mirror spiders have covered it in webs.
I went to hang some washing out and every peg on the line has its own spider and attached web.
I don't normally jump when I see one but the other night a largish one crawled out from behind the computer screen and started walking towards me.
They seem to have taken over every modern appliance and made it their own.
Now I know what the World Wide Web actually means.
All Balls
Sat through an episode of "Golden balls" today for the first time in ages, for anyone not familiar with the programme it is a British game show where lying and cheating could win you money, presented by former comedian Jasper Carrot it basically encourages the worst sides of human nature.
What the game comes down to at the end is they win a pot of money and 2 contestants go head to head and have the choice of "Split" or "Steal" to take the prize, if they both choose Split they share the prize, if they both choose Steal nobody wins anything, and if one splits and one steals the one who chose "Steal" pockets all the cash.
I vowed not to watch it again a few months back after a polite young lad who had been completely honest throughout the game believed the other contestant (a 20 something girl) that she was going to split the prize (about £25 grand).
He revealed his "Split" ball and she had chosen "Steal", so he goes home with nothing and she takes the lot, he just sits there looking crestfallen and Jasper wraps up the game.
I remember thinking "I hope someone stabs her on the way home" and I'm pretty mild mannered compared to a lot of people.
I understand the logic of the company who make this, as they get an hour long teatime slot with probably a lot of viewers and most days it doesn't cost them a penny as the greedy contestants usually both choose steal and both go home with nothing.
Anyway back to today's episode, the wife was watching it for the first time and asked me to explain it to her which I did "greedy bastards lie to each other and go home with nothing" sort of summed it up well I thought.
Certain similarity with today's game as a Mr Honest type got to the final against a guy who needed money for his upcoming wedding, the pot was £40 grand and Mr Honest says his piece and they even shake on a split and it comes to the reveal, Mr Honest has split and the other guy has stolen.
Now he just sits there looking sorry for himself, at this point I would have been over the table smashing this guy's face to pulp (which would have made great telly).
Can anyone who has just been robbed of £20 grand say they wouldn't be a little upset, because that's basically what had just happened.
Didn't see this episode below but the least he could have done was call her a lying c*nt (maybe he did and they cut it?).
Infections-R-Us
Oh well the missus finally got out of hospital alive :)
She caught the obligatory infection, which happens after every op she's had, despite all their new anti-infection initiatives (Fortunately not the MRSA type infection that they gave to my dad).
So the 5 day stay turned into almost a month, and now she has to have a nurse turn up at home every day for the next month to treat the unhealed wound (sigh).
Another thing she brought home was a stinking cold, which she passed on to me :)
Strangely although I'm pretty infection resistant I managed to develop just one symptom, a bad throat which has actually been quite funny as the main effect has been to change my voice every day, by day 3 I was doing a really good impression of Lee Marvin doing "Wandering star" :)
By day 4 I was the singer from Crash test dummies (if you remember that song "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"), sadly it's returned to normal now so my "voice-over" career is over before it began.
She caught the obligatory infection, which happens after every op she's had, despite all their new anti-infection initiatives (Fortunately not the MRSA type infection that they gave to my dad).
So the 5 day stay turned into almost a month, and now she has to have a nurse turn up at home every day for the next month to treat the unhealed wound (sigh).
Another thing she brought home was a stinking cold, which she passed on to me :)
Strangely although I'm pretty infection resistant I managed to develop just one symptom, a bad throat which has actually been quite funny as the main effect has been to change my voice every day, by day 3 I was doing a really good impression of Lee Marvin doing "Wandering star" :)
By day 4 I was the singer from Crash test dummies (if you remember that song "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"), sadly it's returned to normal now so my "voice-over" career is over before it began.
Monday, 4 August 2008
Visiting Time
Just another thing to get the "ripped off" feeling brewing.
The wife has spent a lot of time in hospital over the years, so I've spent a lot of time visiting her.
The maternity unit at Southend used to be in a different hospital at nearby Rochford, where you could stay most of the day and the parking was free with many available spaces.
About ten years back Rochford hospital was closed and the maternity unit was moved to Southend General.
It was always a problem to park there due to a lack of spaces, which was made worse when the extension was built to house the new unit.
At least you had the option of staying all afternoon if you'd made your way there by bus, or if you had took the car and found a space it was £1.50 a day to park.
The current situation is even less spaces and a rising scale of parking charges from £2 for 2 hours upwards, the visiting times have changed to two slots of two hours a piece forcing you to leave the premises in beetween.
So if you travel by bus by the time you've got home it's time to come back for the next visiting slot, so it's pointless using public transport which is pretty expensive these days anyway.
The roads around the hospital are all yellow lines and parking restrictions, and each road is patrolled by a team of traffic wardens and recently you never fail to see at least one policeman sticking cones in various places?
So to be a good husband and visit my missus for the four hours a day available it costs me a minimum of £4 - £5 a day or over £30 a week.
Also makes you wonder where the money goes, as the hospital services seem to decline all the time, the wife's dinner today was one slice of extra thin ham and some lettuce leaves!
There's a lack of nursing staff (my niece who has no medical training was working there at the weekend as a nurse to make some extra cash).
The wife has spent a lot of time in hospital over the years, so I've spent a lot of time visiting her.
The maternity unit at Southend used to be in a different hospital at nearby Rochford, where you could stay most of the day and the parking was free with many available spaces.
About ten years back Rochford hospital was closed and the maternity unit was moved to Southend General.
It was always a problem to park there due to a lack of spaces, which was made worse when the extension was built to house the new unit.
At least you had the option of staying all afternoon if you'd made your way there by bus, or if you had took the car and found a space it was £1.50 a day to park.
The current situation is even less spaces and a rising scale of parking charges from £2 for 2 hours upwards, the visiting times have changed to two slots of two hours a piece forcing you to leave the premises in beetween.
So if you travel by bus by the time you've got home it's time to come back for the next visiting slot, so it's pointless using public transport which is pretty expensive these days anyway.
The roads around the hospital are all yellow lines and parking restrictions, and each road is patrolled by a team of traffic wardens and recently you never fail to see at least one policeman sticking cones in various places?
So to be a good husband and visit my missus for the four hours a day available it costs me a minimum of £4 - £5 a day or over £30 a week.
Also makes you wonder where the money goes, as the hospital services seem to decline all the time, the wife's dinner today was one slice of extra thin ham and some lettuce leaves!
There's a lack of nursing staff (my niece who has no medical training was working there at the weekend as a nurse to make some extra cash).
Sunday, 3 August 2008
The Op
Well the wife has had her operation and everything went well :-)
A total of 4 ovarian cysts were removed, one very large 35cm x 20cm x 20cm (Rugby ball), one about 5cm round (Tennis ball), and 2 smaller ones.
Slightly worrying is that some parts had to be left behind, part of the large one was attached to her bladder so the skin of it was left, and although one ovary was removed the other remains.
This is good in the sense that she won't need to have HRT treatment, but bad in that the cyst problem may reappear as this was the ovary that the large cyst eminated from.
She seems in good spirits even though they've taken away the Morphene now and she's feeling the pain.
Another reason not to wear a bikini, as they had to make two incisions this time, one from Belly button down, and another on the twice opened scar (where she had the ceasarian and hysterectomy) due to the size of the cyst being too big to get out of the first cut.
Her stomach is battered and bruised looking, but she's glad it's done.
Hopefully no complications or infections, and she'll be home in a day or two :-)
A total of 4 ovarian cysts were removed, one very large 35cm x 20cm x 20cm (Rugby ball), one about 5cm round (Tennis ball), and 2 smaller ones.
Slightly worrying is that some parts had to be left behind, part of the large one was attached to her bladder so the skin of it was left, and although one ovary was removed the other remains.
This is good in the sense that she won't need to have HRT treatment, but bad in that the cyst problem may reappear as this was the ovary that the large cyst eminated from.
She seems in good spirits even though they've taken away the Morphene now and she's feeling the pain.
Another reason not to wear a bikini, as they had to make two incisions this time, one from Belly button down, and another on the twice opened scar (where she had the ceasarian and hysterectomy) due to the size of the cyst being too big to get out of the first cut.
Her stomach is battered and bruised looking, but she's glad it's done.
Hopefully no complications or infections, and she'll be home in a day or two :-)
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Google Adsense
Joined this about a year ago, hence the adverts on this page.
I've just checked how much I've earnt in that time -
Total Earnings $0.00 - Impressive!!
I've just checked how much I've earnt in that time -
Total Earnings $0.00 - Impressive!!
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
A Problem Shared?
Probably time to write about something closer to home, as my wife is off to hospital in the next few weeks for yet another operation.
Text removed as it was just a "get it off my chest" moment :)
Text removed as it was just a "get it off my chest" moment :)
Wind Turbines 2
Had a comment on my wind turbine post (or rant) pointing me to this webpage - - Rattle and Hum
About the line "the argument about noise is false", I accept the point and I should maybe have said "in my opinion, or based on personal experience the argument about noise is false", as the large ones I worked near were virtually silent, or couldn't be heard above traffic noise from a nearby 'A' road.
It reminds of an incident about 5 years back at the power station where a few people living in a small housing estate about 1½ miles from the station, had complained to the council of a similar problem "a low frequency hum" usually only heard at night.
Eventually the council figured out it might be down to the power station and sent various environmental types down to do readings, at first no problem was found and nobody at the station could hear anything (myself included).
The problem persisted and further checks finally revealed a problem, it turned out to be just one of the gas turbines, which had a flexing of one of it's parts when the cooler night air was drawn in causing an inaudible hum which seemed to only become mildly audible over a distance?
One night shift around 3 in the morning I travelled down to the area and although I couldn't hear anything you could feel a mild pulsing vibration on the body of the van?
Strange stuff.
Anyway the offending parts were replaced and everyone seemed happy.
So the lady in Deeping might have to raise this problem at a higher level, as I'm guessing at least one of her local wind turbines has a minor problem.
I imagine cost cutting that is seen in every other walk of life goes on in this industry as well, and there is every chance inferior cheaper turbines were installed to cut costs.
About the line "the argument about noise is false", I accept the point and I should maybe have said "in my opinion, or based on personal experience the argument about noise is false", as the large ones I worked near were virtually silent, or couldn't be heard above traffic noise from a nearby 'A' road.
It reminds of an incident about 5 years back at the power station where a few people living in a small housing estate about 1½ miles from the station, had complained to the council of a similar problem "a low frequency hum" usually only heard at night.
Eventually the council figured out it might be down to the power station and sent various environmental types down to do readings, at first no problem was found and nobody at the station could hear anything (myself included).
The problem persisted and further checks finally revealed a problem, it turned out to be just one of the gas turbines, which had a flexing of one of it's parts when the cooler night air was drawn in causing an inaudible hum which seemed to only become mildly audible over a distance?
One night shift around 3 in the morning I travelled down to the area and although I couldn't hear anything you could feel a mild pulsing vibration on the body of the van?
Strange stuff.
Anyway the offending parts were replaced and everyone seemed happy.
So the lady in Deeping might have to raise this problem at a higher level, as I'm guessing at least one of her local wind turbines has a minor problem.
I imagine cost cutting that is seen in every other walk of life goes on in this industry as well, and there is every chance inferior cheaper turbines were installed to cut costs.
Monday, 30 June 2008
Food and the Health Police
So the government and it's advisors are telling us we're fat bastards and need to eat the products they suggest to survive.
Always took the view that if you worry about something it will probably kill you (An early idea formed after my nan who constantly talked and worried about cancer, became the only person in my very large family to ever have it and die from it?).
Virtually everyone I know who follow a "healthy" diet seem miserable and more prone to illness than those who just eat what they like.
My sister watches everything she eats and is a cleanliness fanatic, but is constantly sick with colds, flu, coughs etc and is currently suffering from depression.
I'm overweight due to a love of toast, pizzas and potatoes and a lack of excercise.
I rarely eat meat (because I'm not keen on it) not sure if kebab meat counts, I hate fruit and haven't eaten any in years (except tomato soup) and the only veg I eat is potatoes (apart from the salad that comes with kebabs), I don't like sugar and I rarely drink alcohol.
I smoke because I like smoking (but that's another argument).
These are all personal choices so it doesn't worry me that I'm missing them.
Stressing about how many calories you can eat surely reduces your life expectancy more than if you just ate the food you are told to avoid?
I might drop dead tomorrow but it's not something I'll lose sleep over, but the lack of worrying about it in my opinion is why I almost never seem to be ill (once a year usually around Christmas I get the flu).
Always took the view that if you worry about something it will probably kill you (An early idea formed after my nan who constantly talked and worried about cancer, became the only person in my very large family to ever have it and die from it?).
Virtually everyone I know who follow a "healthy" diet seem miserable and more prone to illness than those who just eat what they like.
My sister watches everything she eats and is a cleanliness fanatic, but is constantly sick with colds, flu, coughs etc and is currently suffering from depression.
I'm overweight due to a love of toast, pizzas and potatoes and a lack of excercise.
I rarely eat meat (because I'm not keen on it) not sure if kebab meat counts, I hate fruit and haven't eaten any in years (except tomato soup) and the only veg I eat is potatoes (apart from the salad that comes with kebabs), I don't like sugar and I rarely drink alcohol.
I smoke because I like smoking (but that's another argument).
These are all personal choices so it doesn't worry me that I'm missing them.
Stressing about how many calories you can eat surely reduces your life expectancy more than if you just ate the food you are told to avoid?
I might drop dead tomorrow but it's not something I'll lose sleep over, but the lack of worrying about it in my opinion is why I almost never seem to be ill (once a year usually around Christmas I get the flu).
Wind Turbines
A modern misconception doing the rounds is that wind power is the answer to all our future needs, and that it will save the environment.
While it is a possibility that in the future fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) will eventually run out and we'll have to look elsewhere for our energy, the current "build a wind farm in the country" policy that is being touted is flawed in so many ways.
Basic facts are that a large wind turbine can generate between 1 and 3 mw/h (megawatts per hour = 1,000,000 watts per hour) at full capacity, that is providing the wind is blowing at 28mph or above (current limit is usually 28mph, if it blows stronger you don't get more electricity generated, the turbines are limited as if the blades turned faster than this it could shake the whole structure to destruction).
If the wind is light (as it is in most inland areas) they would only generate a fraction of that amount.
Electricity prices work on supply and demand process, in Summer less electricity is used and prices can fall to around £20 per mw/h, it can rise to around a £1000 per mw/h in strong demand winter period where everyone is using heating and lights etc usually on cold winter mornings.
So assuming a strong wind is blowing the wind turbine could make between £20 and £3,000 per hour, not bad until you realise that the 80 tonne turbine on top of that huge column probably costs well in excess of two million pounds to install, and it's life expectancy without a major refit is around 20 years.
Also you must remember that a very large proportion of Britain will only see those wind speeds for a couple of days every year, the offshore farms might have a break even chance.
I used to work at a gas fired power station producing in excess of 1,000mw/h (or 333 to 1,000 wind turbines depending on size), a commonly touted reason for wind power is the amount of pollutants released by these fossil fueled stations, when in reality the "greenhouse gases" produced in a day by these modern stations are less than one airliner crossing the Atlantic.
So cut down on air travel (but that's a different argument, and not very popular with the globetrotting politicians).
Back to the wind turbines, how much environmental damage is done in producing them? only a fraction are made in the UK and most are imported from Scandinavia and the far east.
As I said the ones I know about weigh in excess of 80 tonnes, that's a lot of steel
production and global transportation contributing to world pollution.
I was told when 2 were put up near the place I worked, the only reason they were there was because of huge incentives offered to local companies and councils to take them, basically government grants paid a high proportion of the cost and installation, and preferential tax rates were available to companies and authorities who were seen to be "going green".
I imagine farmers and landowners will be offered similar deals in the future if the
government goes ahead with it's proposed plans, as I'm sure anyone that's looked into the financial side of building a wind farm would see it's a non starter without outside help.
In case anyone thinks I'm one of these nimby's (not in my back yard) I should say I'd have nothing against it (as long as it blocked the view of my nosey neighbour, and kept some of the police helicopters away :).
Having worked in close proximity to one for years, the argument about noise is false and I quite like the look of them, but as pointed out earlier it really is pointless putting them up in the majority of Britain.
I can't help thinking there is a wind turbine shareholder or two in the government?
Country Life
So I grew up in a little country village with nice genuine people (and a few nutty farmers), then one by one we all moved away after Thatcher's right to buy on council houses saw nearly everyone sell up and make a quick profit after getting a 50% discount.
Snobby townies saw the opportunity and moved in, soon the bus services were removed and the village shops closed down as the newbies all had poncy Range Rovers and wouldn't be seen dead mixing with the local scum, our village pub suddenly didn't have a dart board, and instead of a pie and a pint all you could get was a cordon bleu meal and wine if you could afford it.
The elderly were left stranded needing to travel miles to get basic supplies, so eventually they all went as well, leaving the village as an upmarket desirable location for anyone willing to spend upwards of a quarter of a million quid buying an ex-council house worth ten grand twenty years ago.
Sit in a field watching the world go by and I guarantee some busy body or the police will come and ask you what you're up to.
Freedom of Speech
A few random quotes explaining "Freedom of Speech", something that the facists running the tory rags and those people you find on any virtually any internet forum you visit, like to forget when accusing anyone with a view alternative to their's and not conforming to their hidden agenda of not being PC.
1) "If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don't like. Goebbels was in favour of freedom of speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you're in favour of freedom of speech, that means you're in favour of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise."
2) "If we don't believe in free expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."
3) "Freedom of speech is being able to speak freely without censorship. The right to freedom of speech is guaranteed under international law through numerous human-rights instruments, notably under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, although implementation remains lacking in many countries. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes preferred, since the right is not confined to verbal speech but is understood to protect any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used."
4) Some commentators have argued that the term "political correctness" is a straw man (A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position) invented by conservatives in the 1990s in order to challenge progressive social change.
The term was later adopted by the radical left in the 1960s, initially seriously and later ironically, as a self-criticism of dogmatic (the term dogmatic, used to describe a person of rigid beliefs who is not open to rational argument) attitudes.
1) "If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don't like. Goebbels was in favour of freedom of speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you're in favour of freedom of speech, that means you're in favour of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise."
2) "If we don't believe in free expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."
3) "Freedom of speech is being able to speak freely without censorship. The right to freedom of speech is guaranteed under international law through numerous human-rights instruments, notably under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, although implementation remains lacking in many countries. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes preferred, since the right is not confined to verbal speech but is understood to protect any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used."
4) Some commentators have argued that the term "political correctness" is a straw man (A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position) invented by conservatives in the 1990s in order to challenge progressive social change.
The term was later adopted by the radical left in the 1960s, initially seriously and later ironically, as a self-criticism of dogmatic (the term dogmatic, used to describe a person of rigid beliefs who is not open to rational argument) attitudes.
Political Correctness
I can't help feeling everytime someone shouts "political correctness" it's usually a cover for their own inbred racism, much as the people who come across as Homophobes usually turn out to be gay.
My father-in-law although on the outside a pleasant guy, is a racist - when I first met my wife she told him she was going out with a guy called Lee, his reply to her was "he's not black is he" assuming it was short for Leroy?
Luckily he lives in the tory heartland down south and I don't have to meet him often.
He is someone who brings up political correctness a lot.
My father-in-law although on the outside a pleasant guy, is a racist - when I first met my wife she told him she was going out with a guy called Lee, his reply to her was "he's not black is he" assuming it was short for Leroy?
Luckily he lives in the tory heartland down south and I don't have to meet him often.
He is someone who brings up political correctness a lot.
Collected Rants
Sad to say I rarely have time to sit down and compose well thought out posts to publish here, so I thought I'd just post a few collected rants I post on forums and blogs (so apologies for stuff that doesn't make any sense) :)
Monday, 26 May 2008
Still Alive
I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, I've just been in DIY Hell :)
Hard to find time to post when every spare moment is taken up with learning a new trade.
My kitchen was a bit of a s***hole, due to years of smoking, cooking and general lack of any maintenance, so I decided it was time I pulled my finger out.
Inspired by buying 2 new appliances, a fridge that needs to be plumbed in and a washing machine that is a foot deeper than the previous one.
The old washing machine had been leaking for months which brought up the floor tiles around it and rotted the bottom of the kitchen cupboards.
So the first job was to repair the floor, but after moving everything in the area I found that I had 3 layers of damaged tiles, which after removing left me with a totally uneven floor meaning I would have to take the entire lot up.
Once all the tiles were removed it was even worse as it revealed areas where walls had been removed and meant I would have to totally replace the floor using a fllor cement.
The outer wall had been plasterboarded and was showing signs of wear, so I removed that and found all manner of horrors behind it, electrical conduits not buried in walls but just hidden behind, plus a totally uneven wall.
Decided it was time I replaced the entire electrics as it was a good opportunity, and later found out the kitchen was run on an old radial circuit or basically a series of spurs.
Have added a shedload of sockets and after ripping down the ceiling managed to connect everything through a safer ring main.
The next major project was using this chance to re-route the plumbing as also on the aggenda was a replacement bathroom with a proper shower, which meant locating the upstairs taps at the opposite ends of the bath.
Currently I've finished the electrics (including replacing the fuse box with MCB's) and the plumbing is in place for the final changeover, but have spent a week plastering the uneven wall (nearly an inch thick in places).
I have experience of re-wiring and limited plumbing knowledge so that wasn't a problem, but must admit to being a complete novice with plastering so this has been a good learning curve.
Friday, 29 February 2008
Bloody Scammers
Ordered my new washing machine this week and today get a phone call from someone saying he was from the company.
He thanked me for the order and asked if would be interested in appliance cover? I said I'll think about it, so he says he needs to set up a direct debit so that the monthly premium can be taken if I decide to take out the cover.
He reads out all the info I've supplied including the last 4 numbers of my credit card, and points out that he wouldn't have that info if it wasn't genuine.
Maybe my suspicious nature but it just doesn't ring true to me.
I say to him send the details and I'll post the debit info later if I decide I need the insurance, but he claims he can't send out the info without setting up a DD first, as the post isn't a safe way to send bank info!!
Maybe I should tell my bank this when they send my statement by post :)
After refusing to give him the info, he gets the hump and hangs up.
I've contacted the company and told them their info is being used by probable scammers, will wait and see what they say.
Maybe I'll get some money off as a reward? haha
He thanked me for the order and asked if would be interested in appliance cover? I said I'll think about it, so he says he needs to set up a direct debit so that the monthly premium can be taken if I decide to take out the cover.
He reads out all the info I've supplied including the last 4 numbers of my credit card, and points out that he wouldn't have that info if it wasn't genuine.
Maybe my suspicious nature but it just doesn't ring true to me.
I say to him send the details and I'll post the debit info later if I decide I need the insurance, but he claims he can't send out the info without setting up a DD first, as the post isn't a safe way to send bank info!!
Maybe I should tell my bank this when they send my statement by post :)
After refusing to give him the info, he gets the hump and hangs up.
I've contacted the company and told them their info is being used by probable scammers, will wait and see what they say.
Maybe I'll get some money off as a reward? haha
Artists to sue the RIAA
You have to laugh.
It seems most artists haven't received a penny from the estimated $400 million that the RIAA screwed out of early P2P pioneers such as Napster and Kazaa.
Virtually none of this fortune has filtered down to the actual artists they were supposed to be defending, and the artists have had enough and are threatening legal action.
The rumour is that most of the settlements were used to cover the high legal costs of actually getting the money.
So the only winners as usual are the lawyers, and it looks like they might be looking forward to another huge payday soon.
It seems most artists haven't received a penny from the estimated $400 million that the RIAA screwed out of early P2P pioneers such as Napster and Kazaa.
Virtually none of this fortune has filtered down to the actual artists they were supposed to be defending, and the artists have had enough and are threatening legal action.
The rumour is that most of the settlements were used to cover the high legal costs of actually getting the money.
So the only winners as usual are the lawyers, and it looks like they might be looking forward to another huge payday soon.
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Consumer Advice
Finally (a year after I promised the wife) bought a new washing machine today.
Our old one leaks all over the floor and the water running down the inside has corroded the foot so it now stands at an angle which means it rattles all over the place when the spin cycle starts, yesterday it shook a jug of the side and it smashed leading the wife to say "where's my new washing machine" :)
It's done well considering it's about 15 years old and the electrics have been held together with cable ties (wonderful invention) for the last 5 years.
Been looking at a couple of models for a while, but even during the "January sales" the price didn't really come down much, but after some internet searching found one at a good price today, 50 quid lower than their "Sale" price of last month.
When ordering I noticed a "promo code" box, I had saved nearly a £100 when buying a new fridge last year by using these codes, so did some searching and found a few sites offering deal codes and managed to save an extra £50 with a free delivery code and a £25 off if you spend £250 one.
So some useful consumer advice for anyone buying on-line electricals.
There are a multitude of sites out there offering discount codes for nearly all the major electrical retailers, so it's worth a Google
Just enter "discount code" "promo" or "voucher" with the name of the retailer and sites like discountcodes, voucherstar, couponsurfer, everydaysales etc will probably have a promo code for saving some pennies.
Look around as some offers are better than others and some retailers might only accept one of the codes.
Our old one leaks all over the floor and the water running down the inside has corroded the foot so it now stands at an angle which means it rattles all over the place when the spin cycle starts, yesterday it shook a jug of the side and it smashed leading the wife to say "where's my new washing machine" :)
It's done well considering it's about 15 years old and the electrics have been held together with cable ties (wonderful invention) for the last 5 years.
Been looking at a couple of models for a while, but even during the "January sales" the price didn't really come down much, but after some internet searching found one at a good price today, 50 quid lower than their "Sale" price of last month.
When ordering I noticed a "promo code" box, I had saved nearly a £100 when buying a new fridge last year by using these codes, so did some searching and found a few sites offering deal codes and managed to save an extra £50 with a free delivery code and a £25 off if you spend £250 one.
So some useful consumer advice for anyone buying on-line electricals.
There are a multitude of sites out there offering discount codes for nearly all the major electrical retailers, so it's worth a Google
Just enter "discount code" "promo" or "voucher" with the name of the retailer and sites like discountcodes, voucherstar, couponsurfer, everydaysales etc will probably have a promo code for saving some pennies.
Look around as some offers are better than others and some retailers might only accept one of the codes.
Bogof?
To lighten the tone of this blog I'm back on dodgy supermarkets.
Son's on a health kick and is eating lots of tinned tuna (sorry Greenpeace), anyway the local Morrisons are charging £3.19 for 4 tins a rise of 20p on their previous price and the buy one get one free (bogof) offer has ended, so off we toddle to Tescos and they have the same product on a "bogof" deal, "great" I think then notice the price .... £4.99!!
So £2.50 a pack is a better price but how can they get away with saying it's buy one get one "free" when they're charging nearly twice as much?
Ended up in Iceland's and their price without special offers is £2.50.
So if Tescos price is correct and it really is buy one GET ONE FREE, they are charging 100% more than a competitor.
No wonder they make so much money as it's certainly not the only product they use this scam on, but Tescos is always packed and Iceland's is usually empty?
The words "rip off" come to mind for some reason.
Son's on a health kick and is eating lots of tinned tuna (sorry Greenpeace), anyway the local Morrisons are charging £3.19 for 4 tins a rise of 20p on their previous price and the buy one get one free (bogof) offer has ended, so off we toddle to Tescos and they have the same product on a "bogof" deal, "great" I think then notice the price .... £4.99!!
So £2.50 a pack is a better price but how can they get away with saying it's buy one get one "free" when they're charging nearly twice as much?
Ended up in Iceland's and their price without special offers is £2.50.
So if Tescos price is correct and it really is buy one GET ONE FREE, they are charging 100% more than a competitor.
No wonder they make so much money as it's certainly not the only product they use this scam on, but Tescos is always packed and Iceland's is usually empty?
The words "rip off" come to mind for some reason.
Racism, PC and Britain today
Probably shouldn't comment as any opinion voiced on the subject of race seems to get you labelled as supporting one or other of the extreme ends of the argument, but I'll risk it.
There seems to be an agenda at the moment perpetrated by the tory rags (Mail, Express, Sun, Telegraph etc) to bring us a few stories every day of how the Muslims and other immigrants are demanding this and that.
This leads the papers readers to come out and reply with things like "well if they don't like it ...." etc.
Then the second phase kicks in with replies claiming "political correctness" and accusing anyone who bothered to reply about being concerned of being Nazi racist scum, which then infuriates the readers further and anyone who didn't rise to the bait at first gets dragged into the argument as it now seems we aren't allowed to care about Britain anymore, leading to people who have never witnessed any of the supposed muslim takeover of Britain calling for action.
While the newspaper editors sit back smugly knowing their right wing agenda is a hot topic guaranteeing paper sales for years to come.
Maybe I'm just cynical or totally misguided?
Nothing promotes racism more than these stories of political correctness we are subjected to (e.g don't put up Christmas lights as it offends members of other religions etc.), I'm sure these are specially selected for maximum impact.
Every ethnic group and religion has extremists but it's a question of whether you listen to them or not, you could go out and interview a BNP member who wanted all immigrants shot but would you get away with calling him representative of the views of all British people? of course not, and nobody would believe it, but if you interviewed someone like Abu Hamza his extreme views are taken as the opinion of all muslims by a lot of people.
I've just viewed another link on a (normally sensible) forum I visit, to a guy reading his diatribe on "how Britain should stop pandering to the Muslims" posted by a "concerned" reader.
The guy in the video appears to be reading every headline I've seen on the Telegraph website over the last 6 months, the sort of things that are guaranteed to make you think Britain is becoming a muslim state and you need to take action.
I also know the message is getting through because I received an e-mail from my (as far as I ever knew) non racist mother-in-law with the old "bird feeder" analogy which is doing the rounds at the moment.
Unfortunately race riots are almost inevitable in the future as the British public is being conditioned by the media to treat all immigrants with suspicion, and the "PC brigade" are just inflaming the situation.
The "Sun reader" mentality that swept the tories to power in the late seventies is sadly still alive and kicking, too many people still believe everything they read in their morning papers and follow whatever lead they're told to.
There is a very real problem of Britain becoming overcrowded in the future due in part to the steady influx of economic and political immigrants coming into Britain, but also to the longer life expectation of the elderly, I read that there are five times as many people over 85 as there were fifty years ago and for the first time in recorded history the over sixties outnumber the under sixteens, advances in medicine means people are just living longer which accounts for a high proportion of the population increase.
The "cut down to the bare bones" public services will not be able to cope, my local area has half as many hospitals as it did when I was young in the sixties and seventies, so even if the population hadn't increased in that time they would be struggling.
Labelling every immigrant a terrorist is not the answer to this problem, it just reeks of "looking for a scapegoat" to cover the mismanagement of Britain by the tories and now carried on by new (we're like the tories but nicer) labour.
I don't know the answer? and it appears after years of governments lining their pockets to the detriment of the British people they don't either.
There seems to be an agenda at the moment perpetrated by the tory rags (Mail, Express, Sun, Telegraph etc) to bring us a few stories every day of how the Muslims and other immigrants are demanding this and that.
This leads the papers readers to come out and reply with things like "well if they don't like it ...." etc.
Then the second phase kicks in with replies claiming "political correctness" and accusing anyone who bothered to reply about being concerned of being Nazi racist scum, which then infuriates the readers further and anyone who didn't rise to the bait at first gets dragged into the argument as it now seems we aren't allowed to care about Britain anymore, leading to people who have never witnessed any of the supposed muslim takeover of Britain calling for action.
While the newspaper editors sit back smugly knowing their right wing agenda is a hot topic guaranteeing paper sales for years to come.
Maybe I'm just cynical or totally misguided?
Nothing promotes racism more than these stories of political correctness we are subjected to (e.g don't put up Christmas lights as it offends members of other religions etc.), I'm sure these are specially selected for maximum impact.
Every ethnic group and religion has extremists but it's a question of whether you listen to them or not, you could go out and interview a BNP member who wanted all immigrants shot but would you get away with calling him representative of the views of all British people? of course not, and nobody would believe it, but if you interviewed someone like Abu Hamza his extreme views are taken as the opinion of all muslims by a lot of people.
I've just viewed another link on a (normally sensible) forum I visit, to a guy reading his diatribe on "how Britain should stop pandering to the Muslims" posted by a "concerned" reader.
The guy in the video appears to be reading every headline I've seen on the Telegraph website over the last 6 months, the sort of things that are guaranteed to make you think Britain is becoming a muslim state and you need to take action.
I also know the message is getting through because I received an e-mail from my (as far as I ever knew) non racist mother-in-law with the old "bird feeder" analogy which is doing the rounds at the moment.
Unfortunately race riots are almost inevitable in the future as the British public is being conditioned by the media to treat all immigrants with suspicion, and the "PC brigade" are just inflaming the situation.
The "Sun reader" mentality that swept the tories to power in the late seventies is sadly still alive and kicking, too many people still believe everything they read in their morning papers and follow whatever lead they're told to.
There is a very real problem of Britain becoming overcrowded in the future due in part to the steady influx of economic and political immigrants coming into Britain, but also to the longer life expectation of the elderly, I read that there are five times as many people over 85 as there were fifty years ago and for the first time in recorded history the over sixties outnumber the under sixteens, advances in medicine means people are just living longer which accounts for a high proportion of the population increase.
The "cut down to the bare bones" public services will not be able to cope, my local area has half as many hospitals as it did when I was young in the sixties and seventies, so even if the population hadn't increased in that time they would be struggling.
Labelling every immigrant a terrorist is not the answer to this problem, it just reeks of "looking for a scapegoat" to cover the mismanagement of Britain by the tories and now carried on by new (we're like the tories but nicer) labour.
I don't know the answer? and it appears after years of governments lining their pockets to the detriment of the British people they don't either.
Friday, 22 February 2008
Tesco and Alcohol
A suprisingly responsible call from Tesco to ban them from selling cheap alcohol Here
Obviously made me laugh as they are one of the companies that introduced it in the first place, and have probably been responsible for a high proportion of the drunken yobs that inhabit most areas every day.
But it seems they are finally taking some of the blame, and are being honest enough to say they won't stop selling unless their is a law as it would be "commercial suicide" for them to come out on their own.
The cynical part of me says that no company does anything these days unless there is a profit in it!, just look at anything marked Organic or environmentally friendly or even Healthy eating, they always cost a lot more than the basic label as so many people just swallow the con (pun not intended) .
They are trying to do away with plastic bags 'for the environment' of course, nothing to do with how much money they can save by not giving away free bags, while still overpackaging almost every item in their stores.
I've struggled on some occasions to buy loose tomatoes, Leeks and potatoes as a lot of stores only have them in polystyrene clingfilmed packs, surely if they had an environmental conscience they would scrap all unnecessary packaging.
The other thing I thought about was if you've been to a 24 hour supermarket, they have to employ extra security staff to deal with the abusive drunks who usually turn up late at night to buy their "fix" after the pubs and corner shops have closed.
So by not selling cheap beer they could up the prices for the regular customers while saving many wages by cutting back on security staff as it would surely lead to less drunken behaviour from the undesireables.
A win win situation possibly?
But I could be wrong and maybe they should be applauded for making an effort.
Rant - I like a pint and have been drunk on more occasions than I should admit to, but I can't understand why drinking and getting drunk seems so socially acceptable unless it's done by youngsters, whereas smoking now seems to be almost a criminal activity.
NHS figures quote -
There are 1.2 million incidents of alcohol-related violence per year.
40% of A&E admissions are alcohol-related, Rising to 70% between the hours of midnight and 5AM.
This costs the NHS £1.7 billion per year.
Obviously banning cheap supermarket alcohol won't solve the problem on it's own, although possibly helping with the amount of street corner drunks we all have to endure.
The whole culture of acceptable drinking has always amazed me, every soap opera on TV is based on the local pub with everyone in the local most nights drinking, virtually every programme on TV shows people getting home from work and having a stiff drink to relax? and just about everyone pulling out a bottle of spirits at the drop of a hat.
Maybe it's just my upbringing? but feeling the need for alcohol in everyday situations is alien to me, and just says dependency or addiction.
Alcohol is just another drug after all, but no other drug is promoted and accepted like it, and then people wonder why the young after years of indoctrination into the culture of acceptable drinking feel the need to go and get drunk?
Obviously made me laugh as they are one of the companies that introduced it in the first place, and have probably been responsible for a high proportion of the drunken yobs that inhabit most areas every day.
But it seems they are finally taking some of the blame, and are being honest enough to say they won't stop selling unless their is a law as it would be "commercial suicide" for them to come out on their own.
The cynical part of me says that no company does anything these days unless there is a profit in it!, just look at anything marked Organic or environmentally friendly or even Healthy eating, they always cost a lot more than the basic label as so many people just swallow the con (pun not intended) .
They are trying to do away with plastic bags 'for the environment' of course, nothing to do with how much money they can save by not giving away free bags, while still overpackaging almost every item in their stores.
I've struggled on some occasions to buy loose tomatoes, Leeks and potatoes as a lot of stores only have them in polystyrene clingfilmed packs, surely if they had an environmental conscience they would scrap all unnecessary packaging.
The other thing I thought about was if you've been to a 24 hour supermarket, they have to employ extra security staff to deal with the abusive drunks who usually turn up late at night to buy their "fix" after the pubs and corner shops have closed.
So by not selling cheap beer they could up the prices for the regular customers while saving many wages by cutting back on security staff as it would surely lead to less drunken behaviour from the undesireables.
A win win situation possibly?
But I could be wrong and maybe they should be applauded for making an effort.
Rant - I like a pint and have been drunk on more occasions than I should admit to, but I can't understand why drinking and getting drunk seems so socially acceptable unless it's done by youngsters, whereas smoking now seems to be almost a criminal activity.
NHS figures quote -
There are 1.2 million incidents of alcohol-related violence per year.
40% of A&E admissions are alcohol-related, Rising to 70% between the hours of midnight and 5AM.
This costs the NHS £1.7 billion per year.
Obviously banning cheap supermarket alcohol won't solve the problem on it's own, although possibly helping with the amount of street corner drunks we all have to endure.
The whole culture of acceptable drinking has always amazed me, every soap opera on TV is based on the local pub with everyone in the local most nights drinking, virtually every programme on TV shows people getting home from work and having a stiff drink to relax? and just about everyone pulling out a bottle of spirits at the drop of a hat.
Maybe it's just my upbringing? but feeling the need for alcohol in everyday situations is alien to me, and just says dependency or addiction.
Alcohol is just another drug after all, but no other drug is promoted and accepted like it, and then people wonder why the young after years of indoctrination into the culture of acceptable drinking feel the need to go and get drunk?
Saturday, 16 February 2008
Shit Britain
What a crap country I live in nowadays.
A country full of two faced arseholes and a general public who are afraid to say or do anything.
A country where it's frowned upon to discipline your kids when they do wrong, and when they grow up and murder people it's the parents fault.
A country where although we've adopted metrication, we still openly use both metric and Imperial measures for virtually everything, but only market stall holders get taken to court for selling a pound of apples, when every pub sells pints and the road speed limits are all in Miles per hour.
A country where the government is going to introduce laws to target anyone who downloads music from the Internet while failing to do anything to the retailers who charge 2/3 times as much for CD's than the rest of the world.
A country that still claims inflation is running at 2% when everything I use and buy has gone up by at least 10% in the last year.
A country full of do-gooders who do no good whatsoever.
A country where you are afraid to say anything about immigrants even if they've just murdered your granny, because you'll be branded a racist.
A country where violent criminals get lighter sentences than shoplifters.
A country that has shut down my favourite pub, because a few people don't like smoking even though 8/10 regulars were smokers.
A country that is talking about not allowing overweight people or smokers to get treatment, while still treating drug addicts, drunks and people playing dangerous sports.
A country where everything is profit driven, basic services are cut because it's not cost effective.
To be continued
A country full of two faced arseholes and a general public who are afraid to say or do anything.
A country where it's frowned upon to discipline your kids when they do wrong, and when they grow up and murder people it's the parents fault.
A country where although we've adopted metrication, we still openly use both metric and Imperial measures for virtually everything, but only market stall holders get taken to court for selling a pound of apples, when every pub sells pints and the road speed limits are all in Miles per hour.
A country where the government is going to introduce laws to target anyone who downloads music from the Internet while failing to do anything to the retailers who charge 2/3 times as much for CD's than the rest of the world.
A country that still claims inflation is running at 2% when everything I use and buy has gone up by at least 10% in the last year.
A country full of do-gooders who do no good whatsoever.
A country where you are afraid to say anything about immigrants even if they've just murdered your granny, because you'll be branded a racist.
A country where violent criminals get lighter sentences than shoplifters.
A country that has shut down my favourite pub, because a few people don't like smoking even though 8/10 regulars were smokers.
A country that is talking about not allowing overweight people or smokers to get treatment, while still treating drug addicts, drunks and people playing dangerous sports.
A country where everything is profit driven, basic services are cut because it's not cost effective.
To be continued
Simplistic View
Two hot topics in the news, introducing Sharia law into Britain and proper punishment for murdering thugs.
So the simplistic view is introduce some of the harsher aspects of Sharia law and stone the bastards to death, then everyone's happy ........ aren't they?
So the simplistic view is introduce some of the harsher aspects of Sharia law and stone the bastards to death, then everyone's happy ........ aren't they?
Money Saving
Was thinking of going back-packing around the world to "go and find myself",
but then I looked in the mirror, and there I was.
Fortune saved ........
but then I looked in the mirror, and there I was.
Fortune saved ........
Monday, 28 January 2008
Junk Mail
So were all supposed to recycle paper for the good of the planet, so I suppose I should be grateful that I get so much junk mail enabling me to put a bag full of paper outside for collection every week, which must impress any environmentalist that's passing.Of course if they didn't shove so much crap through my letterbox every week I would hardly need to recycle, when is someone going to start sueing these people?
The Picture is just one weeks junk mail.
Depressed (not yet)
I should be really depressed today, but at the moment I'm OK... might hit me later?
To explain I play Fantasy footie with one of the newspapers and I've just missed out on a £1000 prize by one point, the second prize is only £50.
Annoyed because it turns out I was 6 minutes from winning when the idiot Croatian full back (Corluka) picked up a booking yesterday and cost me 2 points.
Suppose it hasn't really sunk in because up till yesterday it looked unlikely I would get anywhere near the top prize but after 3 inspired player picks (and one bad one) I nearly made it.
Anyway I've been playing music and updating my other blog since finding out, and music makes me forget most things.
In the last 20 years I've had many real reasons to be depressed such as death of loved ones, poverty, eviction, work stress, illness, injuries etc and I always find that music keeps things on track.
The wife knows what I'm like and leaves me to it, as talking to her when I'm stressed and depressed usually leads to an argument.
I tend to inflict my troubles on complete strangers who are detached from the reality of the situation, it works for me although I've probably left many people thinking I'm nuts.
So I've written this and realised there's nothing to get depressed about because life hasn't changed at all, in fact I'm £50 richer than I was yesterday :)
If I had got the grand the wife would have insisted on a new washing machine and me finally getting round to sorting out the bathroom, so it's saved me the effort :)
To explain I play Fantasy footie with one of the newspapers and I've just missed out on a £1000 prize by one point, the second prize is only £50.
Annoyed because it turns out I was 6 minutes from winning when the idiot Croatian full back (Corluka) picked up a booking yesterday and cost me 2 points.
Suppose it hasn't really sunk in because up till yesterday it looked unlikely I would get anywhere near the top prize but after 3 inspired player picks (and one bad one) I nearly made it.
Anyway I've been playing music and updating my other blog since finding out, and music makes me forget most things.
In the last 20 years I've had many real reasons to be depressed such as death of loved ones, poverty, eviction, work stress, illness, injuries etc and I always find that music keeps things on track.
The wife knows what I'm like and leaves me to it, as talking to her when I'm stressed and depressed usually leads to an argument.
I tend to inflict my troubles on complete strangers who are detached from the reality of the situation, it works for me although I've probably left many people thinking I'm nuts.
So I've written this and realised there's nothing to get depressed about because life hasn't changed at all, in fact I'm £50 richer than I was yesterday :)
If I had got the grand the wife would have insisted on a new washing machine and me finally getting round to sorting out the bathroom, so it's saved me the effort :)
Saturday, 26 January 2008
Justice?
It's a crazy world?
The local paper this week reported two crimes this week that show what's important in the British Justice system these days.
Firstly it was the tale of a road rage incident where a guy threatened a van driver with an illegal taser gun, and told his victim if he rang the police he'd come and sort him out. Mr Taser had a previous record with several convictions for robbery.
The second incident involved a bloke going into Ann Summers and walking out with five pink rabbit shaped vibrators without paying, value £250.
So which one got 3 months in jail, and which one got a suspended sentence?
Yeah you guessed it, Mr Bunny Dildo lover goes to jail while Mr Armed and Dangerous gets to threaten and rob more people.
Seems to be the norm recently, knife weilding thugs and gangs who terrorise old people get a slap on the wrist, but if anyone thieves from big business it's an instant jail term.
So as with everything else these days money and profit is all that matters, people don't.
The local paper this week reported two crimes this week that show what's important in the British Justice system these days.
Firstly it was the tale of a road rage incident where a guy threatened a van driver with an illegal taser gun, and told his victim if he rang the police he'd come and sort him out. Mr Taser had a previous record with several convictions for robbery.
The second incident involved a bloke going into Ann Summers and walking out with five pink rabbit shaped vibrators without paying, value £250.
So which one got 3 months in jail, and which one got a suspended sentence?
Yeah you guessed it, Mr Bunny Dildo lover goes to jail while Mr Armed and Dangerous gets to threaten and rob more people.
Seems to be the norm recently, knife weilding thugs and gangs who terrorise old people get a slap on the wrist, but if anyone thieves from big business it's an instant jail term.
So as with everything else these days money and profit is all that matters, people don't.
Saturday, 5 January 2008
Only healthy people allowed in Hospital
So a latest rumour is that if you smoke or are overweight you might not be treated by the NHS, Well I smoke and I'm overweight so I'm completly fucked.
I pay income tax, national insurance plus more taxes on every ounce of food I buy and every packet of ciggies I buy, I'm probably overweight because I drive a car instead of walking and pay fuel duty, Road tax, Car insurance and MOT costs which must include tax for that privelege.
I pay tax to live in my house, I pay tax on any electric, gas and water I use.
If I manage to save any money after all these taxes I am taxed on the interest.
So if I die due to not getting treatment for an illness, you bastards ain't going to get anymore taxes are you.
Do the maths, it's better to keep me alive isn't it.
Oh and where can I claim my refund for the health services I've paid for all my working life, that you intend to deny me now?
I pay income tax, national insurance plus more taxes on every ounce of food I buy and every packet of ciggies I buy, I'm probably overweight because I drive a car instead of walking and pay fuel duty, Road tax, Car insurance and MOT costs which must include tax for that privelege.
I pay tax to live in my house, I pay tax on any electric, gas and water I use.
If I manage to save any money after all these taxes I am taxed on the interest.
So if I die due to not getting treatment for an illness, you bastards ain't going to get anymore taxes are you.
Do the maths, it's better to keep me alive isn't it.
Oh and where can I claim my refund for the health services I've paid for all my working life, that you intend to deny me now?
January Sales
I thought there were laws against companies offering "sale" goods, that weren't actually cheaper than the pre-sale price?
Obviously doesn't apply anymore or the agency that regulates this is too damn busy to keep track of all the offenders.
I finally made my way into town today for the first time since Christmas and am confronted everywhere buy "half price" "60% Off" etc sale offers.
Now I can't say I have a complete list of every price offered pre Christmas, but do have a good memory for the prices of the things I bought people for Christmas as the rip-off prices are imprinted on my brain.
So I have a look today at (for example) a scarf and glove set I bought the wife which was only a fiver before Christmas, now it's 50% Off bargain and it costs ... £6!!
I thought my maths were ok but I'd figured 50% of £5 to be £2.50 obviously I was wrong.
A whole list of other stuff I'd bought was now on sale but exactly the same price it was before the sale.
I know that by sticking these signs on things cons thousands of people into buying them, as it appeals to our mentality but surely there must be others out there with enough common sense to see the con? or am I the only one that looks beyond the offer at the actual price tag before purchasing?
Obviously doesn't apply anymore or the agency that regulates this is too damn busy to keep track of all the offenders.
I finally made my way into town today for the first time since Christmas and am confronted everywhere buy "half price" "60% Off" etc sale offers.
Now I can't say I have a complete list of every price offered pre Christmas, but do have a good memory for the prices of the things I bought people for Christmas as the rip-off prices are imprinted on my brain.
So I have a look today at (for example) a scarf and glove set I bought the wife which was only a fiver before Christmas, now it's 50% Off bargain and it costs ... £6!!
I thought my maths were ok but I'd figured 50% of £5 to be £2.50 obviously I was wrong.
A whole list of other stuff I'd bought was now on sale but exactly the same price it was before the sale.
I know that by sticking these signs on things cons thousands of people into buying them, as it appeals to our mentality but surely there must be others out there with enough common sense to see the con? or am I the only one that looks beyond the offer at the actual price tag before purchasing?
Thursday, 3 January 2008
TV For The Deaf
British TV seems to assume that deaf people only watch television after midnight, when they put their "sign zone" on, most of the major channels BBC, ITV, C4 and a few cable ones do it.
I don't want to sound like I'm having a go at the deaf, but why in this digital age can't I turn off the big lump in a loud shirt doing the hand jive right in front of the section of screen I'm trying to watch?
Those that use "signing" are forced to stay up late at night to watch a limited selection of programmes, where surely as with subtitles you could have an on/off choice at any time of day?
Had to laugh when I noticed one of the MTV stations were doing it as well, the poor woman signing seemed to be having trouble with the rap lyrics they had her interpreting.
I don't want to sound like I'm having a go at the deaf, but why in this digital age can't I turn off the big lump in a loud shirt doing the hand jive right in front of the section of screen I'm trying to watch?
Those that use "signing" are forced to stay up late at night to watch a limited selection of programmes, where surely as with subtitles you could have an on/off choice at any time of day?
Had to laugh when I noticed one of the MTV stations were doing it as well, the poor woman signing seemed to be having trouble with the rap lyrics they had her interpreting.
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