Oops

A quick apology to Gert for messing up the site-counter just as it was getting to the grand 50,000 marker. Oops. Sorry. *Blush*

Now that’s irony

Following on from the Guardian’s stunning article yesterday on the “death” of irony, comes the story (also in the Grauniad) of story of a boy who got injured in an anti-bullying class. Which seems to be the living definition of irony.

Paradoxical

Yesterday, I went out and bought a new DECT phone, as the old one’s batteries were just on this side of knackered. This time, it was the BT Synergy 3200 which can also send SMS text messages.

The way it does the text messages is a pain in the arse – there’s a middle layer between sending and receiving, where it all goes through some company called Bizzyline (sic) – they’ve no web-presence, which is why there’s no link. If I send a text message from my landline, it gets my number appended to the bottom of it, wrapped in #’s, so it looks like ‘#0161xxxxxx#’ – and it needs that to be in the message when it’s replied to. Fair enough. It’s a pain in the arse, but fair enough.

Then I read the Bizzyline Terms & Conditions (I’d scan this in, but can’t be arsed, so you’ll have to take my word for it) that (and this is a quote) “SMS, like any Service, can allow strangers to meet and chat anonymously. … Don’t give out your name, address, or telephone number via SMS.” I’ve emailed them to ask how the hell I can send a text message without revealing the phone number. When/If I get a reply, it’ll be posted here too.

Sounded better in the head

While I can understand what was meant by the headline in this story over at the Guardian, I’m sure it could have been phrased better.

After all, “Troops return to massacre town” sounds far more like “Troops return to kill of every inhabitant in town” than it does to “Troops return to town where massacre (and do six people really qualify as a massacre?) happened earlier this week”

See, Tabloid headlines are infectious.

Another week, another time-sheet

I can’t deny it, I’ve been on a bit of a downer this week. I don’t know exactly why: there’s been an awful lot of stuff all at once, coupled with a lack of sleep, and it’s all just been chaotic.

So yes, for once I’m glad it’s the weekend, and even more glad I’ve got nothing planned. I was supposed to be sorting myself out for a week down in Devon with a group of friends – and yes, the break would have been much-needed – but got myself stuffed by my current workplace at almost the last minute. So my weekend is now open and free, and I’m planning on doing as little as possible.

I’m not going to make any guarantees about the regularity of posts over the next couple of days – it’ll either be prolific or deader than a dead thing from deadtown. I suspect I’ll decide that tomorrow morning.

What the Fuck?

I despair – when these talentless bastards are at number 2 in the UK pop chart it’s just going to get worse from here…

Fag Ash Lil

I’ve been saying for a while that the new-style health-warnings on cigarettes were more designed as a “collect the set” than a proper deterrent to smokers. So I’ve just seen that a company is selling sheets of stickers with which to cover up the warnings.

Of course, the anti-smoking lobby is getting all snotty about it, but I think the company selling the stickers has a point. As Denis Leary used to point out, “What do they expect? That a smoker’s suddenly going to read the warnings and say Yeah, Bill, I’ve got some cigarettes.. HOLY SHIT! These things are bad for you! Shit, I thought they were good for you! I thought they had Vitamin C in them and stuff!’”

In the BBC story itself, there’s a quote from Deborah Arnott of ASH, saying “ Telling people that smoking is cool is a dangerous message“. Pure bollocks. You think they haven’t got the message yet? Get a grip. The simple fact is, people will smoke – no matter how much the tax on the packs is, no matter what size the warnings are made, no matter whether they’re advertised or not, people will still smoke. And that’s coming from a non-smoker.