Strike!
Posted: Fri 3 August, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Cynicism 2 Comments »Maybe I’m just naïve, but I really don’t understand how mail workers going on strike is supposed to resolve their dispute.
Royal Mail’s trying to cut costs, partly by laying off up to 40,000 people. Now if it were me, I’d be looking at getting rid of the fuckers that were knackering my business by striking…
But strikes don’t – in my perception – engender sympathy from the public for the plight of those on strike. Instead it’s all “fucking strikers”, and “making a pain in the arse of themselves”, particularly when you start wondering whether they’re also still getting paid full wage while standing around doing sod all.
So how does striking resolve the issue?
Spam Mail
Posted: Thu 2 August, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Geeky 1 Comment »Recently, I’ve been getting shedloads of spam email (or it could be viral email, I suppose) with subject lines like “You’ve received a message from a Schoolfriend!”.
In a way it’s quite a smart way to do things – which makes me wonder why it’s not been done before now – and I suppose it’s a development from the entire “See Anna Kournikova nude” and so on that used to pollute the web. But at least it does make you think “Oh, OK, I might click on that” – well, I can see how it would make people think that. Me, I look at the email and see it’s still purportedly from “Lazarus Matthews” or whoever, and then I know it’s crap. (Although some now come via “FreeWebCards” or somesuch, which adds to the ‘reality’ until you look at the email address itself, rather than the ‘pretty name’ and see it’s from zxc@abc.com or wherever)
Mind you, I’ve still no idea what this particular bunch of spam is advertising or what information it’s trying to get hold of – but I can at least see why people would click on this one in the mistaken impression that someone had emailed them…
Regular Dumping
Posted: Fri 27 July, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Charm School, Cynicism 1 Comment »You really have to wonder about some people, don’t you?
Not content with taking a shit out in public, this guy apparently made a habit of it, ‘regularly’ getting caught short. Sorry, but if it’s a regular occurrence, then be prepared for it, you know?
Ha
Posted: Tue 17 July, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, News 4 Comments »Victoria Beckham : “It’s exhausting, being fabulous”
How the hell would she know?
Cynical – yet true
Posted: Mon 2 July, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism Leave a comment »Ah, I do love to see that other people can be as cynical as me when it comes to ‘terrorism’.
Two Titled
Posted: Sat 30 June, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Cynicism, Sweary, Thoughts Leave a comment »I’ve mentioned before that I’m quite a fan of the books by Richard Morgan – I’ve read (and re-read) all of his stuff so far: Altered Carbon, Woken Furies, Broken Angels, and Market Forces.
So I was fairly high on the purchase list for the new novel, Black Man, and read it when I received it.
Between ordering Black Man a while back, and the time it (finally) got delivered, I noticed that there was another Richard Morgan novel coming out – also in hardback, but two months later than Black Man. This one was called ‘Thirteen’ (Or ‘Th1rte3n’, if you believe the typography) so, like the fanboy I so obviously am, I ordered that too. Great, two novels in a short time – that explains the delay in releasing Black Man, and how long it’s taken the new stuff to come out.
I received ‘Thirteen’ (sorry, I just can’t be arsed with the typographical nancing about) yesterday. And it turns out it’s just ‘Black Man’ with a different title and cover.
To me that’s a pretty scummy way to do things. I don’t know if it’s been decided that ‘Black Man’ is a title that won’t sell, or something. But I would have thought it better to have some form of notification that it was actually a rebranded title, rather than alienating Morgan’s readers, and making the book purchasers feel like shit-for-brains arsehats who’ve been taken for a ride and bought two copies of the same fucking book.
Access code
Posted: Tue 26 June, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Organised 3 Comments »One of the things I’m abysmal about remembering is the access code to the wireless network at home. Both laptop and PC remember it now (and the PC even remembers it between network cards, which is useful when one goes tits-up – of which more tomorrow) so I don’t bother so much.
Except when there’s new devices in the house (and currently it’s the in-laws’ laptop), when I need to track down the booklet that’s got it in. Which, having only just moved, could prove interesting tonight, when I’m hunting for it.
If I had any common sense, I’d write a little text file reminder, and dump it somewhere obscure (and emphatically not named ‘wireless network access code’ – although, on second thoughts, maybe that’s so obvious it’d be obscure in itself) on both laptop and PC, so that when I need it, I can just call it up.
Maybe I’ll remember to do that this time…