Plane Stupid
Posted: Wed 9 September, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Security, Thoughts 2 Comments »I still find it hard to understand the certainty of the Government and Security Forces that terrorist attacks will happen again on aeroplanes. Maybe they know something I don’t.
To me, security – or at least the perception of security – comes about through making easy targets into harder targets. When it comes to home security, we don’t look at making our houses completely thief-proof. We look at making them into a harder target than my neighbours.
In my opinion, people in general – whether it be your everyday office worker, a burglar, a politician, or a terrorist – are lazy. They’re not going to do something difficult if they can do something easy.
On the terrorism front, airports are (in theory at least) the hardest target around now. Bear in mind though that I’m still a firm believer in ‘Security Theatre‘ – so airports at least appear to be the hardest target. They’re certainly more hassle than (for example) sitting on a bus or a train.
So I find it hard to understand that conviction that planes are still the prime target. Personally I’d probably be trying to look at anything but planes and airports.
10:10 – Buying Yourself Green
Posted: Sat 5 September, 2009 Filed under: 10:10, 1BEM, Cynicism, Green, Thoughts 2 Comments »Looking at the list of the Guardian’s 10:10 suggestions from yesterday’s post, I couldn’t help but think that there was an awfully high number of those pointers that suggested buying/installing something new. Sure, they then (usually) said to recycle the old ones, but still, there was some significant investment involved in reducing that carbon footprint.
So, being a geek, I put the list into a table, and estimated some prices for those items with a cost…
(Click on the more link to see the table – it’s a biggie…)
NHS Staffing
Posted: Thu 3 September, 2009 Filed under: Business, Charm School, Creativity, Cynicism, Health, News, Thoughts 2 Comments »Today there’s a lot of coverage about a suggestion to reduce the workforce of the NHS by 10% – and the resultant kerfuffle between Government, the NHS, and management consultants.
Currently the Government is saying that they have rejected this advice by McKinsey and Company, (Never heard of ’em? Me either.) which included closing 137,000 clinical and admin posts in order to save £20bn by 2014.
I’m pretty sure I could show how to save the NHS that much money by 2014, without losing a single clinical staff member.
Mind you, it would involve getting rid of shitloads of middle-managers, consultants, and fuckstick accountants. And of course that’s a plan that would never achieve approval – because it’s got to go through all those levels of shitbag middle-managers, consultants and fuckstick accountants before it can happen. And those self-serving fuckers are never going to do themselves out of a job. (Which is the same reason the “paperless office” will never happen)
I’m not suggesting getting rid of all the managers, as I think most people would agree that there need to be some of the buggers around, if only in order to make sure that the clinical professionals don’t drown in paperwork and procedures in the meantime. (Although of course if you get rid of enough of the middle-managers, you probably get to eliminate a whole host of the bullshit paperwork at the same time – sorry, it’s “streamlining” now isn’t it, not “getting rid of the shit”)
Still, wield a big enough axe, drop it from high enough, I’m pretty sure it’d still work…
Clouds and Silver Linings
Posted: Mon 31 August, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Business, Cynicism, Thoughts Leave a comment »I don’t know if it’s just me, but the recession of the last year does seem to have had one (slightly) positive effect this weekend – the number of TV adverts for “Bank Holiday Weekend Sales” appear to have dropped through the floor.
After all, there’s now no :
- MFI
- Sofa Warehouse
- Allied Carpets
- [several others I can’t currently recall]
who always used to do that kind of sale.
Of course, there’s still bloody DFS, (Although they just seem to have one big year-long sale) and B&Q and Homebase are both doing “15% off everything” weekends, but still it seems like there’s nowhere near as many Bank Holiday Sales this year.
Mind you, it could also be because I’ve hardly seen any TV over the last week or so…
No, Really?
Posted: Fri 28 August, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, News, Thoughts Leave a comment »Filed firmly under “No shit, Sherlock” comes this story courtesy of the Department of Health…
English holidaymakers are turning to drink on their breaks with the average adult consuming eight alcoholic drinks a day, a survey suggests.
Blimey, what a revelation. People on holiday drink more. Who’d have thought it?
As usual, the “survey” consisted of only 3,500 people (from however million who’ve been on holiday over the summer) and there’s no indication of the age ranges for the survey. So at best it’s “dip a finger in the water” guesswork.
iPhones Galore
Posted: Tue 25 August, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, iPhone, Technology, Thoughts Leave a comment »On the journey into London yesterday, I couldn’t help but notice how ubiquitous the iPhone now is – it seems like everyone and their dog has one.
When I used to commute in to London from Bracknell, Blackberrys were the thing everyone had – or at least all the “Look at me, I’m so important” fucksticks had, anyway.
While I do agree that iPhones are a nice bit of kit, I’m still not convinced I’d actually use one if I had one. That lack of a “proper” keyboard is (for me) still a significant factor, as most of what I do on a phone involves typing – text messages, emails, SSH connections to servers for admin, that kind of thing.
But there’s also the ubiquity of it that’s (for me) detracts from any desire to own one. It may be childish, but I have a built-in reaction to doing “what everyone else does”, and while it’s not an over-arching reason for not getting one, it certainly contributes.