Argiferous

How useful are Amazon reviews?

2013-02-21T21:53:00.001+00:00

Just like you dear reader I like to think of myself as a pretty thorough type of guy. So when I buy something on Amazon that I don't really have much knowledge about I tend to check the reviews to make sure I'm not buying, well, a bag of shite. So here I was looking at a small media player to plug into my TV and noticed one five start review entitled 'great' which read 'the product is what i wanted it fits well it looks even great its a very good product highly recomend'. Sounds good I suppose and I'm happy to excuse the poor English. But on closer investigation I noticed that the reviewer had actually posted a total of 63 five start reviews, all for different products, and all called 'great' and with the same glowing appraisal. Actually one of them was called 'woeeeeeeeeeee' and had slightly different wording. So I did the decent thing and reported the reviews to Amazon on the basis that there was a trend there which implied they weren't necessarily helpful for anyone really. So maybe in future I'll treat Amazon reviews that same way I treat Trip Advisor ones - ignore the five star and one star reviews and just believe the ones in the middle.

Is Expedia Britain's worst company?

2011-02-07T22:33:00.002+00:00

I really don't know to be sure, but in my book they're certainly up there with the rest of the rogues and I'll give them top marks for trying their darnest to hack me off.
It's a bit tedious to tell you the whole story here but briefly: Expedia took £764 out of my account so that they could tell me the flight I wanted to book wasn't suitable for me after all. They didn't refund my money when I asked them. They didn't refund my money when I asked them for a second time. They did make the refund the third time I asked. To be honest I swore at them the third time and maybe that let them know I was getting annoyed.
Anyway it was a horrible painful process which involved being kept on hold for 17 minutes, being given the wrong email address for their complaints department, and yes, being down £764 for over a week just to find out if they were selling the flight I wanted. And no they're not prepared to pay any compensation for the 'theft' of my money or explain why not.
When I was young I would lie in bed at night dreaming of being a pilot or racing car driver. I wonder if the future owners of Expedia would lie awake at night thinking, "When I grow up I want to be a bastard".

Are you listening anonymous?

2010-04-19T23:29:00.000+01:00

I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed I have 17 comments on one of my posts, and a little disappointed that they were all from anonymous. I don't know why they're all attached to that blog either. In truth I have no knowledge or interest in the technicalities of spamming. I did notice that the blog contained the phrase 'Google search'. So if google search is a trigger I should get some spam here as well. Go anonymous, do your stuff or I'll google search you. You think I'm afraid of a little google search? Why I've been google search (ing) since you were no more than a fly on your mother's gin bottle.
I have no idea what that analogy means.

Britain's worst cinema experience

2009-12-31T19:52:00.000+00:00

What a mistake a visit to the Glasgow iMAX turned out to be. Against all odds I was strangely looking forward to seeing a James Cameron movie (Avatar obviously) but my whole evening was spoiled by my worst ever cinema experience. Actually my wife once threw up during a screening of Eternal Sunshine but the cinema staff were very helpful - even after I traumatised two teenage girls when I 'looked' in to the ladies toilet. But the iMAX in Glasgow was rubbish. We arrived later than planned due to heavy football traffic so we were in the second row. We were far too close to the screen, my wife had to leave after an hour. I stayed to the end but gave myself a headache. The temperature was sub-tropical - no really, I was sweating in a cinema. How ridiculous is that? The leg room isn't good - you would feel real guilt squeezing past everyone if you needed the loo. And at the end of the film they made everyone leave by the doors at the back. So you had to climb up the stairs, go out the door and climb down the stairs again to get back to ground level. Meanwhile, members of staff guarded what looked like the natural exits - the ground level doors. One of the staff explained to me that 'people don't listen' when I tried to use the door I was standing next to. Fucking Nazis, I remember thinking.
After all that they have the audacity to charge me £3 to park my car in an ice rink that they call a car park.
I genuinely hope I never go back there again.

Congratulations Mr Obama

2009-10-09T13:53:00.000+01:00

I'm not that old yet but I can't think of an American president in my lifetime who deserves a Nobel Peace Prize more. In truth he hasn't really done that much yet but his intentions are good. I'm sure that over time many people across the world will feel the benefit of his approach. However, it looks like Gary McKinnon, self-confessed computer hacker, won't be one of them. Gary's appeal against extradition to the US on charges of breaking into the Pentagon’s military networks has been refused. So it looks as if this Asperger’s sufferer will be whisked across the Atlantic for some American justice. Gosh, if the American's find out he was born in Scotland he'll really be for it! Maybe if he lived in Scotland now, he would have been shown some compassion by the Scottish government. He's clearly not as high a profile fugitive as Roman Polanski, but he is a more vulnerable human being who deserves our support. Goodness knows what will happen to him once he's incercerated in the American penal system - if he even manages to get there.
Somehow I know that when Mr Obama collects his prize, which I'm not disputing he deserves, I'll not be able to feel truly pleased about it. I'll be thinking about Gary McKinnon.

History doesn't remember celebrities

2009-07-08T17:27:00.000+01:00

I was born within three months of Michael Jackson and have enjoyed (most of) his music. But I never felt ‘linked’ to him in any way and to be honest his death didn’t strike me as the biggest surprise of the week. In fact, if anything, there’s a certain inevitability about Michael Jackson dying ‘young’ at age 50 – I guess that many of us in his position would have reverted to medication at a much earlier age to cope with the pressure his particular breed of celebrity status brought.
But Michael’s death isn’t the point; it’s the media coverage that’s got me. The Daily Record managed to devote 20 pages to Jacko on the Saturday following his death and goodness knows how but they somehow contrived to include his picture on the sports pages as well. In sharp contrast, the death of a young woman in Iran at the hands of a sniper’s bullet achieved much less media coverage. For me, and I’m sure for many others, this was the most significant piece of news that week. I’m certain that in 500 years from now the name of Neda Agha Soltani will be connected with a greater impact on the future of our planet than Michael Jackson.
I don’t have any problem with Michael Jackson or most (genuine) celebrities. It’s the media that hacks me off. Some of them, not all of them, just drag out the same old hackneyed lies for a whole year. Some of them, not all of them, are pricks.

Isn't it strange how you forget things

2009-06-19T13:02:00.000+01:00

We were just chatting at work the other day and the subject or world records came up. It reminded me that when I was in my early teens I resolved to become a Guinness world record holder - inspired no doubt by the boundless energy of Roy Castle. Although I also think that if I grew old and never achieved fame I would have my world record to look back on. So far though I haven't achieved any fame but that's another matter. Anyway, I realised there was no point in challenging athletic records or unusual skills. I had to collect something unique. I chose wishbones from chickens, and quite possibly there were some turkey ones in there as well. I kept them in an old teapot at the bottom of my wardrobe. It had been our family teapot for many years, silver in colour and kind of octagonal in shape as I remember. I must have saved for a few years I guess. When I was sixteen or thereabouts I gave up collecting and the idea of writing to Ross and Norris seemed less appealing. However, to this day I still believe I had the world's largest collection of wishbones - unless someone can prove me wrong. So I am an unofficial world record holder. And, to be honest, it does provide me with a quirky little anecdote when work chat randomly turns to world records, say, every decade or so.
I had 36 incidentally.

This must be messing with children's minds

2009-02-18T10:46:00.000+00:00

There's an ad on TV at the moment for a toilet freshener, can't remember which one. Anyway, I find it a bit disturbing. It's the one where the little boy needs a 'poo' but can't do it at his own house. It seems he feels compelled to go and do his poo at someone else's house. Is he going to post it through the letter box, make a dirty protest or what? In fact, no it's none of these things. He's simply attracted by the odour at his friend's house. This means he's already done a poo at his friend's house and experienced toilet odour nirvana.
Now I know this advert is aimed at adults since they form the bulk of Britain's toilet freshener purchasers, but where does this leave our children, or at least those who chance upon this ad? I think some might find it traumatic and not be able to vocalise the anxiety they feel over toilet related issues. For goodness sakes it's not beyond the realms of possibility that some children do have issues with toilet smells. Does this ad help these children or reinforce their anxieties or am I reading far too much into this? I don't know but if at least three people suggest I am, then I'm prepared to go with the flow.
On a more general point, this ad looks like one of these strange 'Euro ads'. You know the type that are used across Europe with a bit of dubbing and questionable lip sync. Kinder ads are just the same. Not that that makes them bad ads. Well yes it does actually.

Almost unique

2008-10-07T15:52:00.000+01:00

I just did a Google search of the word argiferous. It produced four results and three of them are links to this blog. The genuine use of the word appears on a site which tells the story of mining in Leadhills and Wanlockhead. When I say genuine use what I really mean is typo since argiferous is just a word I made up. I think what they mean is argilliferous which is an adjective for a type of rock that contains clay.

I challenge anyone to explain what's really so great about mind mapping software

2008-06-13T16:29:00.000+01:00

Call me old fashioned. Call me a luddite. Call me a man who is finding it hard to accept that computers are the greatest invention since the Panasonic breadmaker and have made our lives easier than sliding down a slippy pole on the slippiest day of your life whilst clothed in a vest of slugs. Do so and you would be thrice wrong for I am none of these things. But - I can't see the value of mind mapping software. I can do the same thing with a pencil and some parchment. In fact I can draw many more interesting shapes and introduce themes (I'm thinking animals, denim accessory collections, car parts and so on) which add colour and interest. Of course I can't make it interactive, add links to documents and URL's and share it with the world very easily. But what I can do is think. And it doesn't matter whether I use a pencil or a mouse, I can still think the same. Software doesn't make you better at thinking. Only thinking, listening, experiencing, reading etc makes you better at thinking. So when a colleague thinks about developing mind mapping software I have to question the validity of that enterprise. Surely before going ahead with such an endeavour you have to explore all the possibilities through, say, a mind mapping session? Eh? Where's my pencil?

What do I do now I know this?

2006-11-29T21:59:00.000+00:00

I was reading through the site of a major UK house builder today and came across the fact that "Coatbridge is Scotland's 23rd largest town". It made me stop and think. Why would anyone want to know this? Is it possible that someone's house purchase criteria includes the stipulation that their domestic residence must be situated in a town with a size ranking in the low twenties? What troubles me now is which town is 22nd and which is 24th. If I had that sort of data I would be a king or something, or some kind of guy with low self awareness maybe. I'm left thinking it's a code. An answer or a question in some sort of Da Vinci way, though I suspect I'll go to my grave never knowing.

I'm not really happy

2005-11-24T22:44:00.000+00:00

It really just struck me recently. All this blogging stuff is fundamentally a bad idea, for everyone on the planet I mean, not just me. The reason, simple. Too few of us have anything significant to say. You think I'm wrong? Then ask yourself this question - "When did I last read a blog which had an impact on my life or my beliefs?". OK some of them may "challenge" you but so what, that doesn't make the blogger the new Nelson Mandela.
We're not going to change the world with blogging folks but we could try to introduce some minimum standards. Imagine you were sitting on a train and you could hear what all the other passengers were thinking. That might be alright if you were sharing a carriage with Stephen Hawking and his brother (I assume) Stephen Fry but otherwise no. So lets raise the level of content a bit and think before we write any old inane rubbish that would only be appreciated by doting and tolerant parents - and even then probably only superficially.

This has been bugging me

2005-08-05T00:46:00.000+01:00

I can't believe that I set this thing up with the intention of making regular meaningful contributions and then forgot not only my user name and password but also the name of the site. It's taken me fully six months to figure it out but I remember now.

This is what I always wanted

2005-01-31T14:28:00.000+00:00

Well I always wanted to have my own site but I really don't know what for. I figured I could maybe write some clever interesting stuff - you know, that stuff that's not really relevant but makes you seem knowledgable and conversant with popular culture - but I don't know where to start.
I will resolve to solve this issue before another century passes me by.