Somebody Else's Problem

2012-05-29T09:35:00.001+01:00

I seem to be chilling out. I can no longer maintain a sense of outrage long enough to write about it. This blog was always a bit of an experiment to see if I could get some money with google ad sense and Amazon. Never made a penny so that didn't work.
I think the reason I haven't had the energy to rant is that the world is just gone to hell. So much of what you hear is ludicrous. So I'm going to start a new blog maybe name it happy times or something and only write about uplifting and inspirational stuff. If I can find any. so to all intents and purposes this blog is now closed.

THE END!

Four Horsemen

2012-03-13T09:30:00.001+00:00

"I've never been so busy." said War " There is conflict in so many different countries I find it hard to keep up!"
"True" said Famine " There are so many people starving I've taken on two extra staff, they are called Indifference and Self-Interest.
Pestilence smiled "Although small pox has been eradicated, one of my favourites. I find that I am doing quite well with Malaria and Aids, not to mention Cholera. Business is booming!"
I was aghast. " This is the 21st century" I said, " Are things really so bad? Were will it all end?"
The fourth horseman sat upon his pale horse, peered at me from beneath his dark hood and grinned.
" COME AND SEE!" He said.

It's Winter

2011-12-08T14:00:00.001+00:00

BREAKING NEWS: High winds, Snow and rain country wide

have taken emergency services by surprise. " we weren't

expecting it." said an official from the Highways Agency.

"It's never happened before!" When asked just what do you

think usually happens in winter he replied " Winter? err

what's that? Never heard of it, is it some new kind of biscuit?"

Meanwhile an anti-terrorist spokesperson in London has said

that Winter maybe linked with terrorism. Pointing to the fact

that many terrorist countries do not have winter.

The cold weather could bring a resurgence of Bird Flu which

may now have mutated to such an extent that WE'RE ALL

GOING TO DIE!

Riotous behaviour

2011-08-15T09:38:00.000+01:00

I think the main lesson that can be earned from the recent riots in England is what a house of cards civilisation is. A bit of civil unrest and suddenly otherwise law abiding citizens think it's ok to raid the local telly shop and cart off the biggest TV they can. The most pathetic bit of looting I heard about was a student who stole 2 T-shirts.

2012 WE'RE ALL DOOMED

2011-08-05T09:58:00.000+01:00

According to some ancient Mayan prophecy the world is supposed to end on 21st December 2012. I think they might have got their calculations wrong. The USA is bankrupt so are most European countries and the Middle East is a war zone. Looks like we might not last until 2012. We might find it hard to get past 2011.

Murdochgate: A dangerous time

2011-07-15T22:54:00.000+01:00

Rupert Murdoch's empire seems to be crashing around his ears. The Sun is now being targeted as possibly hacking phones and the FBI are investigating allegations of phone hacking of September 11 victims. All well and good, many of us dislike Murdoch and his empire. However there is something worrying here. Parliament are howling like a pack of wolves after Murdoch and his newspapers but I heard tonight that maybe other papers may be involved. It sounds to me like the start of a witch hunt. Using the public's outrage at the press Parliament could rush through legislation curbing their power. I'm no advocate of the tabloids but the recent exposure of the excesses of MP's expenses was I think a valid use of journalism to expose what is a blatant misuse of privilege.

So we need to keep a weather eye open to make sure the MP's don't further erode our rights by curbing those legitimate investigations by the press that uncover the cheats and scoundrels who purport to have our best interests a t heart.

Rupert Murdoch and the deathly Hackers

2011-07-13T11:13:00.000+01:00

So the News Of The World hacked peoples mobiles,proving once again that journalists are the lowest of bottom feeders. All of a sudden the other newspapers and news media find that they are on this moral highground. From this rarified height with there heads held high they can cheerfully piss on Murdoch's head.
The only difference between them and Murdoch is that he's been caught. I bet the rest of them have skeletons in the closet that they hope will never come to light.
It's strange that all this should come to a head now just as Murdoch had been given the go ahead to buy BSKYB. If I was a conspiracy theorist I'd say someone had been sitting on this waiting for the most opportune moment but all this came to light via the police and the government. They wouldn't do that, would they?

Music

2011-06-25T14:24:00.000+01:00

Now I'm unashamedly locked into the 70's when it comes to music,particularly 70's prog rock. Is it just me or is modern music so alike that it can be interchangeable? I like bands such as Cold Play and Snow Patrol but they could just as easily be called Snow Play and Cold Patrol they could also be dropped into a 70's rock gig and not be out of place.
Time was when you could hear an opening riff and identify the band fairly accurately even if you didn't know the song.
As for hip hop, rap and that genre of music well I think I'll refrain from commenting except to say I agree with George Harrison's comment that there is a silent C in rap.

Old Horror Films

2011-06-13T11:14:00.001+01:00

Caught an old film on BBC4 last night. The Witchfinder General, starring Vincent Price. Based on the true character of Matthew Hopkins, during the English civil war. These old horror films are so dated now and the overacting makes them a bit comical. I must admit though I do like Vincent Price he always managed to bring a sense of menace to his performances.
Time was when on a Friday night you could settle down and watch a good Hammer Horror film. with Vincent Price or Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing. None of the splatter fests you get nowadays in horror films and I suppose they were a bit cheesy but they were fun.

News

2011-06-11T11:41:00.000+01:00

I really must start taking some notice of the News again. Haven't had anything to rant about for ages. The problem is TV news is as bad as some of the worst of the tabloids sensationalising everything in a desperate need for ratings.
Take for instance this recent E coli outbreak in Germany. Now I'm not trivialising it but there was no indication that anyone had caught the bug from anyone else. The only people in the UK that had it could be directly linked with visits to Germany and there were about eleven of them. Yet on the TV news out trots the "expert" to tell everyone about how it's resistant to antibiotics and how IF it ever became transmittable how much danger we could all be in.
So here we go, it's the end of life as we know it all over again. Time was when the TV news concentrated on the facts but now with so many channels everything becomes a ratings war. I haven't bought a news paper in years because of this sensationalism. Now I find it hard to watch TV news for the same reason. Having to filter the facts from a torrent of bullshit makes me angry and I end up ranting about the content of the report instead of listening to the news.
Still I suppose if they stuck to the facts and reported objectively I'd have nothing to put in this blog.

If they say it's too good to be true.....

2011-06-02T09:00:00.000+01:00

Had an email saying "Build your own website for free and earn money". Go on then I thought give it a go. So I clicked the link. At first it tells me that for about $90 I can get the pro version with 10 websites that will give me more income,or (in little print) I can continue with the free version. I clicked for the free." Sure you don't want the pro version?" it asked. again click on the little print for the free version. " absolutely the last time you'll never see this again. buy pro version for $90 instead of $190. You will not get this offer again!". Again I click on the small print for the free version and hey presto I go to the set up page. Whoopee. I select products write a review and move on to the next page which is getting a domain name. Think up a domain name and click for availability. Yes it's available at a cost of $24.99. Ok run that past me again... what part of this is free? I can do exactly the same on Google and it costs nothing. If it looks too good to be true, it usually is.

Measles

2011-05-31T09:26:00.000+01:00

http://newsthump.com/2011/05/27/why-are-all-my-children-getting-measles-ask-homeopathy-fans/

The above link from Newsthump is a satirical look at the failure of some parents to have their children vaccinated against measles.
The scare about the MMR vaccine 10 years ago meant that a lot of people didn't get their kids immunised.
I think people forget that until the arrival of penicillin measles was often a killer disease and even now can lead to complications.
Measles is a very serious disease which I think the labelling under "Childhood diseases" tends to trivialise.

learning on the fly

2011-05-30T12:06:00.001+01:00

Well I'm not much of a computer head so I just made some changes to the template and so far the computer hasn't blown up. Only time will tell.

The Final Frontier

2011-05-29T18:04:00.000+01:00

I know they say that necessity is the mother of invention but I wonder, if we hadn't spent most of human history trying to find more efficient ways of killing ever larger numbers of people, whether we might not have had some reasonably good space travel by now.
With earth's population growing and resources running low I think we need to move out and colonise. Unless some scientist can discover hyperspace (much beloved by the sci-fi writers) for instantaneous travel, then it's going to have to be done by slowly moving through the solar system colonising different planets and moons. consolidating and moving on.
Way back in the late 60's this almost seemed to be attainable but the cutting of funds for the space programme and the paranoia of the superpowers meant a shelving of ideas for bases on the moon and voyages to Mars. Now some entrepreneurs are trying to build passenger space vehicles for space tourism but is it too little too late? Only the very rich will be able to afford to go and will it ever be enough to finally get something like a moon base built?
Will there ever come a day when a true interplanetary space ship is built in space large enough to take a population of colonists across the void. To boldly split infinitives where no man has gone before?

Special relationship

2011-05-24T14:15:00.000+01:00

I've just been hearing on the news about President Obama's visit to the UK. A lot of talk about the "special relationship" we have with the US. Now I've not really been keeping up with politics but is this the same relationship Tony Blair had with Bush, where Bush would say " Jump!" and Tony would answer " How high?"

Rapture Didn't Come May 21, Atheists and Humanists Blamed

2011-05-24T13:59:00.001+01:00

Rapture Didn't Come May 21, Atheists and Humanists Blamed

I don't class myself as a Humanist. I don't really even class myself as atheist it's just a convenient label. The above article amused me however.

"Free" to enter competitions

2011-05-24T12:12:00.000+01:00

I have an old email address that I just use for those offers that are always cropping up. The amount of free to enter competitions that I get is ridiculous. TANSTAAFL. (Ther ain't no such thing as a free lunch.) When you get into these competitions you find that at some point they want your mobile number. If you supply your number you are then bombarded with texts that cost you money to answer questions. The text can cost a pound each so if you have a pay as you go mobile you can soon lose all your credit. Free? Bah!!!

2 days late?

2011-05-23T16:50:00.000+01:00

Well there's a volcano erupting again in Iceland and it's blowing a gale here.
I'm not really bothered if the world does end. I just hate the fact that Harold camping will get the opportunity to saay "I told you so!".

The Rapture

2011-05-21T10:35:00.000+01:00

Just read an article that says the world is going to end today. So all you christians ready for the rapture send me your now worthless money I'll accept cash or cheques.

I Sit and Think. J R R Tolkien

2011-05-20T22:42:00.000+01:00

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall never see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

Nostalgia Gonna Get Ya

2011-05-20T09:09:00.000+01:00

It started with a photo, a photo and a name. Out of the dim dark recesses of my mind a name I had not heard for 35 years. The Rafia. Started as a bit of fun by two schoolboys the Rafia has grown to be the biggest organised crime syndicate in the world.... oh no that's the Mafia.
The Rafia had different objectives. Our gods were Monty Python, Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies, Benny Hill, The Goons and The Goodies. Our aims? We didn't have any. Just a laugh, mad catchphrases, Polo Mints and alcohol(never forget the alcohol.).
Anything could become a catchphrase. Mostly from the above mentioned shows but once the catchphrase was Embisco wafer biscuits. Why? Who knows it just was.
Follow that Rickshaw was the most enduring catchphrase. Can't remember where it came from now maybe a film but it did seem to become the motto of the Rafia.
Just a bit of harmless fun, and a name now consigned to the past. I can't help thinking though if we'd tried that bit harder we could have owned half of Las Vegas by now.

THE STREET THAT CUT EVERYTHING

2011-05-18T10:49:00.000+01:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b011crrw/

I watched the above programme on the BBC the other night. Quite good as reality tv goes. An experiment in what happens when a whole street has it's council run services cut and has to do it themselves.
If you can ignore the fact that it did tend to focus on the conflict between various members of the community, it was quite a thought provoking programme.
At first they tried to save as much money as they could by a lot of DIY rubbish collection and street cleaning. It was when the bombshells of paying towards the services of the wider community when things began to go wrong. Like most of us all they were thinking of was that the money they were receiving paid for the services of their own street. It wasn't until they were stopped money to pay for parks, city centre street cleaning, that they began to understand the wider picture.
The biggest cause of contention though was that one of the people in the street was in receipt of council grants for rent and education and another was receiving help with her father who needed care. As her father didn't live in the street some didn't see why they had to pay.
I think most of us only think of the services we receive directly from our councils. Usually that the bins get emptied. The programme did highlight the fact that we all contribute to all council services whether we use them or not.
With all the cuts that are bound to happen over the next few years many of those services will either go or be drastically reduced. We may find that we have to do some of those things the council now take care of, particularly the care of the elderly and infirm.
That all this has been caused by the banks making investments akin to gambling on a 100-1 shot at Aintree makes me angry. The self same bankers who are still voting themselves huge bonuses and pay rises while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet.

Eurovision Post Mortem

2011-05-14T23:42:00.000+01:00

So we didn't win. I never expected us to. The winner was Azerbaijan, no surprises given the tendency for these ex eastern bloc countries to vote for each other.
What really fills me with despair is that Ireland, the land that has given us U2, Thin Lizzy, Clannad and a wealth of folk music, fielded Jedward as their hopeful AND THEY BEAT US. Now I'm no Blue fan but I thought their effort was far and away better than those 2 morons.
Oh and all those in the Uk who voted. SHAME ON YOU for giving Ireland 12 points.

The Eurovision Song Contest

2011-05-14T09:58:00.002+01:00

I have watched the eurovision song contest for many years and shall watch it again tonight. I always have this hope that someone will come up with a song that will completely blow me away. Well about 30 years of watching it and it hasn't happened yet but maybe one day.
Just listened to our entry by Blue. Well it didn't blow me away just another boy band song but I suppose it's good enough for eurovision. I shudder at some of the entries that get in and to think that they actually have to qualify. Makes you wonder just how bad the ones that didn't get through were.
Of course if we had to qualify we'd never get into the competition again. As one of the "Big Five" though our place is assured. Which means that just about every country in europe can make war on us from the comfort of their armchairs.
I miss Sir Terry Wogan's commentary on the proceedings. His caustic comments made the whole show much more entertaining. Graham Norton is ok but it's not the same. Instead now I have to make my own caustic comments. This does not go down well with my wife but I have to entertain myself somehow.
I always wanted someone like Pink Floyd or Queen to do our entry. May have made it really worth watching.
Still I'll be there tonight, glass of whisky in hand, caustic comments at the ready and hoping against all previous experience that this year there will be a song that I can like. I'm dreaming aren't I?

What it should be like: http://youtu.be/0wtiNzci1Wc

The reality: http://youtu.be/V_tspk1ifFI

AT THE DOCTORS

2011-05-11T21:22:00.000+01:00

I had to go to the doctors today to renew my sick note. I've been off work for 2 months with a bad back. He said it's only wear and tear and he doesn't think it will damage it if I were to work. Well and good but would he climb up and down on the back of a lorry and haul tonne weight pallets about with a bad back. I think not!
All well and good to sit in a chair all day but if you have to do manual work there's only so much pain you can take and I can't take really strong pain killers because I have to drive. Bloody doctors have a bit of a reality gap sometimes.
Got a note for another 3 weeks. Hope I can find another job soon.
Anyone need a chauffeur?