Re-supply
Posted: Fri 22 August, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic 3 Comments »At long last, we’re due to be getting our water supply pipe redone today and tomorrow.
This entire farce started back on April 17th following a long-term leak from the oil tank of one of the other people on our road. The mains water pipe was replaced and tested by the end of June, and since then we’ve been dealing with house insurance (who have been very good) and organising a plumber to come and replace the entire supply pipe from mains to house.
And that’s what’s happening today.
I think we’ll then need to organise getting the supply checked again by Anglian Water before they’ll sign off on the entire thing, but at least we’ll be able to officially use the water from the mains again. (Admittedly, I gave up on the bottled water thing back at the start of July, having lost the will to live with the entire farce, and there’ve been no ill effects so far. However, Herself has still preferred to use bottled water ’til we get the official OK etc.)
I just hope it all works out OK.
Faked Tickets
Posted: Thu 21 August, 2008 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Cynicism, Thoughts 2 Comments »The BBC today has a piece about how to avoid being stung/scammed when it comes to buying concert tickets, following on from the hassles with non-existent tickets from SOS Masters Ltd over the last couple of weekends.
Really though, the entire thing could be summed up with “Only buy tickets from known sources” – even if that means using fuckwit scumbags like Ticketmaster who’ll charge an extra £5 or so per ticket for posting them to you. (not even in separate envelopes) But at least you get the tickets from them (99% of the time – I’ve had one fuckup with them which never got resolved, but that is a rarity) And yes, my opinion is still that it’s better to be ripped off for £5 per ticket than for the full £150 (or whatever) price of a ticket to Reading or Leeds festival, for example. And at least Ticketmaster et al only sell you the tickets they’ve got.
All the same, stories like this won’t stop people from trying to get tickets to sold-out events through resellers or what amounts to online ticket touts, and some people getting ripped off as a result.
Mind you, if times are hard next spring/summer, I can suddenly see a business opportunity – or at least a way to make some cash…
Quote of the week
Posted: Wed 20 August, 2008 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism 2 Comments »“Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak………”
From Slashdot
AVG Updates
Posted: Tue 19 August, 2008 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Geeky 8 Comments »For the first time since I installed it, AVG Antivirus is beginning to annoy me.
In general, it’s a fantastic product, and the updates run quickly and easily.
However, for some reason this week every single fucking update is requiring that I restart the laptop. And it’s insisting on it in the middle of a piece of work, which makes it even more fucking annoying.
Hopefully it’ll stop this shit soon, or I’m going to be looking at replacing it.
Intent
Posted: Tue 19 August, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »I still really don’t understand how someone can be found guilty of posessing documents that promote terrorism. It’s almost as dodgy (in my opinion) as being found guilty of “planning a terrorist attack”. (i.e. it was talked about/thought about, but nothing actually happened)
In this case, the person was “found to have a book on how to make napalm” in his posession. I can think of two or three books just off the top of my head that explain how to make napalm – or at least the basic concepts.
To me, this is the same as saying “Well, you’ve got lots of murder-mystery books, so you must be planning to kill someone”. Hell, I’ve got at least two books that go through the intimate details of shooting heroin. So that must mean I’m planning to take it myself, right?
Dumbed down
Posted: Mon 18 August, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts 2 Comments »Out of interest, in gymnastics when did the asymmetric bars become called the “uneven bars” ? (After all, technically they’re very even – there aren’t any lateral flaws in either bar, are there?)
Was it decided that too many people wouldn’t know what asymmetric meant?
And if that’s the case, why aren’t the parallel bars now known as the “even bars” ?
The man is a god
Posted: Mon 18 August, 2008 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism Leave a comment »Charlie Brooker spouts forth about the London Olympics in comparison to the Beijing Olympics.
Yet even as my eyes took delight in the colour and magic, my spirits sank. I’m no patriot, but I feared for our national pride come the 2012 London Olympics. How the hell are we going to top a display like that?
Our plans currently consist of six roman candles, Bernie Clifton riding his ostrich, and some Britain’s Got Talent prick-a-ma-boob beatboxing on a trampoline. It would be less shameful if we all marched into the arena one by one, dropped our trousers, yanked our bumcheeks apart and let the entire globe gaze right up our apertures for an hour, while the Kaiser Chiefs perform their latest single in the background.
If nothing else, it would give the rest of the planet something to think about.They’d never mess with us again, that’s for damn sure.
© Charlie Brooker/Guardian Newspapers 2008
I’ll be back in a bit – I just have to get Sprite out of my sinuses.