Smothered
Posted: Thu 31 July, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts 2 Comments »There’s a single out at the moment by (I think) Jordan Sparks. It starts off with the lyrics
If I die before I wake,
It’s ’cause you took my breath away
Now surely that’s actually murder? If she’s sleeping, and someone’s taken her breath away?
Or am I missing something?
Changing Broadband – Part Two
Posted: Thu 24 July, 2008 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Geeky 1 Comment »According to an email I’ve just received, the broadband at home is now running on Tiscali rather than BT.
Of course, I’m working in Essex today, so won’t know if it’s actually worked until I get home tonight and get it all set up. All the same, fingers crossed that it’s all worked smoothly, so I don’t have to spend time tonight swearing at connections etc.
I’m vaguely optimistic – but at the same time, I’m fully expecting to get home and have no broadband at all. I’m cynical like that.
So we’ll just have to see what works, and whether everything’s set up or not. You may (or, of course, may not) hear more about this tonight, depending on ye olde connectivity.
Stopping Cycles
Posted: Tue 22 July, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Weirdness Leave a comment »What’s wrong with this picture?
Yep, a barrier to stop people cycling – right next to a wide-open space, with nothing to stop people just cycling onto that instead.
Genius.
Now that’s what I call old
Posted: Mon 21 July, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism 2 Comments »Ways to make me feel old:
I’ve just seen an advert for Now That’s What I Call Music 70. Yes, fucking seventy.
I actually had NTWICM 1 and 2. So seeing it come to #70, yeah, that’s pretty certain to make me feel old.
Delayed Construction
Posted: Fri 18 July, 2008 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Thoughts 1 Comment »Today, the BBC is making some kind of big story out of the fact that the new visitor centre at the top of Mount Snowdon is going to be delayed until next year. The reason? There’s been a lot of bad weather while they’re building the thing.
The authority said progress on the scheme had been “remarkable” considering the conditions, including snow, heavy rain and winds regularly gusting over 80 mph.
Now my problem with this is simple – surely all the bad weather detailed above is exactly what you’d expect when you’re on the top of a mountain that’s some 3,560ft (nearly 1,100m) above sea level. What the fuck did they expect on a mountain top in Wales? Perfect sunny weather for two years?
So I just don’t see why it’s such a big thing – it would be far more newsworthy if the thing had been opened on time. In fact, it would be far more newsworthy if Carillion, the contractors, had actually planned the project and timescales correctly in the first place. Common sense, competence and professionalism breaks out? That’s a story that would be front page news at the moment.
National vs. Local
Posted: Thu 17 July, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, News, Thoughts 1 Comment »Way back in May, Gert left a comment on a post I’d written about local elections.
And why on earth should national and international factors matter in local elections? Or are you saying people are too thick to understand democracy…which is a rather patronising view?
Now, at the time I wasn’t saying that at all. But when I look at certain politics stories, it’s certainly true that both the media and the various political parties do connect national and local politics in local elections.
You only have to look at yesterday’s stories about Gordon Brown postponing the 2p fuel duty rise – “The planned 2p fuel duty rise is postponed – but Gordon Brown denies the move is linked to next week’s by-election.” (the BBC’s summary paragraph)
And in last week’s by-election win by David Davis, the story carried a quote of “Mr Davis said: ‘We have fired a shot across the bows of Gordon Brown’s arrogant, arbitrary and authoritarian government.’”
So yes, it certainly seems like there’s plenty of people who do connect up national and local elections and politics.
Knock-Off Nigel
Posted: Tue 15 July, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism Leave a comment »Out of interest, how is this supposed to make anyone decide to not download films?
The logic behind some adverts just leaves me utterly bemused…