ID Cards
Posted: Sat 8 November, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts 3 Comments »As per Reynolds post on the subject, I find myself incredulous that Jackie Smith alleges that people come up to her, “eagerly wanting to sign up for ID cards as soon as possible“.
My statement of intent with regard to ID cards is the same as that of Reynolds…
I refuse to carry any national ID card that is based around a national database and would rather go to prison than submit to this attack on my privacy and security. They will have to get my biometric data* by force and I will shred any ID card of this type that I am sent.
*Which is still hideously flawed and throws up too many false positives and negatives.
To be fully informed please visit No 2 ID.ID Cards are a huge white elephant. I can’t think of a single terrorist-driven event where ID Cards would have been at all useful – well, except for (supposedly) easily identifying the victims of said event and/or the perpetrators after the fact.
Would ID Cards have stopped the london bombings on 7th July 2006? No.
Or the idiots who tried to blow up Glasgow Airport? No.
Or the idiots who tried that car-bomb in London? No.
Or the events of 9/11 ? No.
Or the IRA’s truck-bomb in Manchester? No.So go on, tell me, just what fucking use are ID cards in their purported ‘anti-terrorism’ roles?
Remember, Remember
Posted: Wed 5 November, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Depression, Domestic 6 Comments »Shit, I’m thirty-fucking-seven.
Blimey.
End Of Another Hype Phase
Posted: Tue 4 November, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, News, Thoughts 4 Comments »At long last, the American Presidential election is going on today. And thank Christ for that – because I’m certainly getting deeply bored of all the coverage of it in the UK Media.
Now yes, I know, it’s important in the context of being US President, and all the guff around the “special relationship” between the US and the UK. (Why we don’t go the whole hog and just call it “being seen as the 51st state”, I don’t know) And I think that some of the coverage has been important to remind us all just how stupid some Americans can be – I’m thinking particularly of all the crap about “Obama must be a turr’rist, because his name sounds like Osama”, and seeing the way people think he’s Muslim (or even an Arab, forgetting the entire thing in their own country’s laws banning non-Americans from running for President – which is why (thank fuck) we’ll never see President Schwarzenegger)
But at the same time, I’m just so bored of the entire thing. I don’t honestly care whether Obama or McCain is leading the polls, or who said what at the latest debate in West Buttfuck, Idaho. Just. Don’t. Care.
So I’ll be glad when it’s all over.
Or at least, “over” as in “won’t hear about this again for another three years”…
Brand/RossGate
Posted: Mon 3 November, 2008 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism, News, Thoughts 2 Comments »I’m going to come into this one a bit late, now that the hype around Russell Brand,Jonathon Ross, and those phone calls has faded a wee bit.
First of all, I didn’t hear the calls when they went out. Secondly, I’m not a great fan of either Brand or Ross, as I tend to think they’re both pretty much complete cocks at the best of times.
However, I don’t think that Brand deserved to lose his job (resign, quit, whatever – he still lost his job) for being a cock. I don’t think that Ross deserved a three-month suspension for being a cock. I do think that the producers of Brand’s show should have been fired – something which I don’t know whether it’s happened or not – as the calls were pre-recorded, and should’ve been checked pre-broadcast. And I think that the R2 controller should’ve fired the producers, not quit herself.
My personal opinion is just that the entire thing was Daily Mail-fuelled spite and hysteria (not for the first time) considering that at time of broadcast, a grand total of two people complained, and the complaints only exploded in number once the Daily Bigot had gone up in arms about it. (As usual, the Guardian’s Charlie Brooker sums it up far better than I ever could)
Yes, Brand and Ross are utter cocks. But they’re paid to be utter cocks. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up for debate – if I had control of a radio station, I wouldn’t employ them, but as I don’t, I’m left with the option to just not bother listening to them, or watching them. Which is in fact pretty much what I do. And that, so far as I can see it, is how things should be – we can all make the choice of who to listen to – and if we want to complain about something they’ve said, then fine – but at least complain about something that you’ve heard, not what some hate-mongering bigoted black-shirt rag tells you to complain about, or be offended by.
Parking Policies
Posted: Thu 30 October, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts, Weirdness 2 Comments »I swear, I’m never going to understand some people.
In the new job, there’s a large staff car park – which is fine, there’s a lot of staff. There’s no space reservations, or team/department delineations on who parks where – it’s just “find a space and use it”. However, most mornings I’ll see people either:
- ‘Having’ to park in ‘their’ space (and/or getting annoyed because some inconsiderate soul has parked in ‘their’ space)
or- Driving round the car-park (sometimes twice) in order to find the “best” parking spot – despite driving past any number of empty spaces in order to find one closest to the office.
Me, I just use the first space I see. It’s simple. I’m capable of remembering where my car is in the car park, and going back to it when I leave the office.
So I just don’t really understand these little obsessions with having one’s own parking space, or with trying to find the absolute closest available space to minimise walking (one assumes) when you’ve already driven past umpteen empty spaces.
Just bizarre, in my (oh so) humble opinion.
In The Cloud(s)
Posted: Wed 29 October, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Geeky 2 Comments »Is it just me, or does all the guff about “Cloud Computing” just sound like all the old thin-client and server stuff, updated for t’internet?
Maybe I’m a Luddite of sorts, but I have to say, I prefer my data to be somewhere I can control – not in the hands of Google, Microsoft, Amazon et al. If I want my data available “whenever, wherever”, I’ll put it on a USB stick/drive, and use it that way, thanks.
That’s all.