E, T and C used in that order are the laziest 3 letters in the English language etc….
Ok, that’s it, I can’t stand it any longer. There is a large, inflatable homer Simpson Santa in the front garden of a house at the top of my road. I am bloody furious that it has even been designed/made etc let alone bought.
Its crap like this that reminds that the majority of people in this country are complete morons. I mean what a load of worthless tack. How is that anywhere close the meaning of Christmas? I am soon going to go out there with a large pin and deal with it. Perhaps I shall leave a note too, asking them to leave.
I guess it’s just the next step from the lights. Oh how I hate the Christmas lights.
Ok, don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas, I love decorations and love making the place look a bit warmer for a few weeks in the winter…but and this is big but:
- I see no reason for the lights to go up in November (as I am increasingly seeing).
- I hate this “battle” people seem to have for who has the most/brightest/most stupid/over-the-top lights on their house (unless its for a good cause, like raise money for charity).
- I hate “Santa stop here” signs.
- I hate neon style big flashing waving Santa’s.
When Christmas decorations turn into an inter-house competition and they feature cartoon characters then we know one of two things.
- The corporates are making too much money again.
- The human race is due a cull again.
Moving onto more things that have been bugging me:
Cyclists who go on the road with no form of lights or even reflectors. One day I’m going to run over one of you through not being able to see you. I’m probably going to reverse back and run over you again, because you deserve it. Anyone who has a death wish is welcome to ride round in the dark making it hard for drives too see them, be my guest FUCKING FOOLS.
Car drivers who pull away without looking. There have been 3 of these for me In the last 2 days. Each time I planted my hand on the horn and saw nothing but the face of stunned driver in their rear view mirror. It’s like they didn’t actually realise they were wrong.
Anyway, Happy Christmas
Ok, I have been brewing rants about several things over the last few days, so I now feel I can’t hold it in any longer.
Norton vs McAfee
Now I know this is an age-old battle, which one better. I see this old chestnut brought up all the time in the tech section in my forum of choice. The problem is, no one seems to really know. I have seen horror stories from both sides. Just today I saw someone saying that McAfee had let in 1000’s of virus’s. I also saw another one by some one saying they had to turn Norton off just to surf the web. I myself do no understand this. How on earth can this be? I mean, they are both major products in consumer land and have a huge following on either side. But there is no way one can be deemed better than the other, as there are glowing reports and stinking rants for both widely available. I have therefore concluded that this has nothing to do with the product at all and they are both perfectly capable applications (I have Norton and have used McAfee with no problems) and it is entirely (yes, not just a little, but entirely) the fault of the stupid people using them. Therefore, new rule #1 people who post a problem with them on a forum should have their browsers redirected to a simple, easy to follow guide to how to turn of their computer and then disable the on/off switch.
Random
Next, in reference to this, I have decided that actually, the sending the money collected to open office is more a of a long-term scheme (as 1.1.5 only just came out today, so 2 is a long way off). So I think as a nice fast (labour style) quick recovery solution we should send all the money into the porn industry, helping them get better listings on their sites so they are not so badly beaten by “random”.
floor
I now have a wooden floor in my room (well, now = as in for the last half a year and wooden = as in laminate) and the dirt on it is driving me up the wall. I would love to know where it comes from because I’m really not sure. I mean it has no distinctive look or feel to it, its just dark and there. It does make me dread what my old carpet was like underneath the top layer of fibres. On another not about dirt. I would also love to know why may fan blades seems to have some black scum on the blades (it takes in air from the window). I am slightly concerned as to how much of that stuff is in my lungs since my fan has only been here for about 3months, and I’ve been on this pair of lungs for over 19 years…hmm
Thumb twiddling
What the hell is my computer doing with all its spare time? I saw all about this the other day (a project where you download their little prog and when your PC is idle it goes off and works for them doing something productive (or so they tell you) with its time). So since I saw about this I’ve been trying to come up with what my computer actually does. I’ve now settled on two idea’s. The first is that my files are playing hide-and-seek on my harddrive (which would explain this) or my computer is actually working on a cunning plan to lower it self out of my window to freedom (which would explain why I cant find my bag of salvaged DC motors anywhere).
Tell me what’s really going on
Oh I do so hate politically correctness. I went to an event for beaver scouts (which I helped out at) where at the end they were told that the winners were $foo and the runners-up were $bar and the rest had done well for taking part and so had also won…WTF! So now, these kids a) think that they are great at everything as they win all the time and b) think that other people are better winners , so however hard they try, even if they win, they still loose. What kind of twisted world is this?
Ok, that’s it! I swear my computer has taken to eating my files! There was one particular file I was looking for that I’m sure I’ve seen in the last few days, that today I just could not find. I looked in all the places it should have been in, I then looked in all the places it could have been in, and then I looked everywhere else (via some searches) but all to no avail. So I ended up getting the friend who gave me the file in the first place to send it to me again ( for the record). Now I worked on it earlier in Photoshop, so just now, when I go back to the folder where it should have been and discover its gone, I go into Photoshop and try and find it in the recent list, but no, its not in there, and there are items that should have been above and below it. So I start the normal trundle through the places it could be….but once again, no luck. So next I go into my msn logs to confirm the name of the file and where it should be. This reports back to me that it should be where I have looked (yes, I am viewing hidden files). So in an act of desperation I just ran a search for the filename and low and behold, as I’m writing this LJ entry, it pops up….where of all places…my desktop! What the hell, I didn’t put you there! Argh, you stupid file, stay where I tell you to. Ok, either this machine is past it, or I require a straight jacket.
Please, for the love of all things good will you just stop suing each other! Why is it that every time there is a ruling in America, someone has to be sued? It seems like it almost become the norm. I mean, in the end it does little to no good, because if you sue them, they sue you back for damages from the original sue. So you might as well put a few layers out of jobs and NOT FUCKING START! Suing never proves a point, or damages anyone other than shareholders of insurance companies (as said companies end up paying the sues anyway). In fact, because the insurance companies end up paying (if the company doesn’t have the money) there is no real punishment either. Now yes, I agree there are times when suing is a sensible course of action to pursue. These are times like when someone has invented something, copyrighted it and then another company makes money from that idea (in effect stealing that idea), so suing for damages I think is quite appropriate. However, once that sue has gone through, that’s it, no more….put an end to it.
I mean, you end up starting a blame culture if you just allow people to sue for virtually any reason (normally because they are greedy bastards). Think about it for a moment, if companies are being sued a lot (as they often do by the afore mentioned greedy bastards) then to pay for all these claims, they are going to need money. Well, that money is going to have to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is most likely going to be their customers. Therefore, as the companies put up their prices, they are going to force everyone who buys things from them to pay more. Now of course this isn’t going to bother the greedy bastards as they have shed loads of money from all the suing they have done, but it may well bother our hard working customer who has done nothing but earn their decent, honest living. So now, you end up with the rather odd situation where the company is screwing the people who have chosen not to screw it, yet not screwing the people who have chosen to screw it.
I do really hope this rather stupid system doesn’t fully make its way into the UK. For the moment, cases like this are rare, but I fear they will not be for much longer.
Its seems that all the snails across the town where I live have got together and decided to have a “get in everyone’s way day”. From walking around outside for the past few hours I heard at least 4 crush beneath my feet and narrowly avoided those numbering in tens (I would guess in the region of 30). There was even an incident where the surface I was walking on suddenly had gravel on, which once stepped upon gave a sound very much like that that is given out by a crushed snail. I did move back several paces and confirm that this was not a snail (in the interest of keeping the numbers accurate). This does however make sense, as 2 days ago I was driving across town taking a friend home (a round trip of 10mins) when I had to avoid 2 hedgehogs. I have never before seen 1 hedgehog on the road before, let alone 2. The most plausible reason for these past events that I can conclude from this are that each type of animal throughout this area is taking a turn each day in a bid to reduce their numbers given the large quantities of our natural resources that they are taking up (namely in oxygen). I therefore thank the animals of this area in their bid to do something for the environment.
It occurred to me as we were driving through France on the most recent family holiday that we should try and introduce a genetically modified fly into the fly population of the world. Its most important attribute (other than killing off current flies to make it self the dominant species) is to be water-soluble. This way when you have several flies splattered across your windscreen your windscreen washer will be more effective at removing the annoying smears left by their innards.
The “baby on board” has been about the only “iconic” thing ever sold by Mothercare. It has been copied the country over by manufactures and I have no doubt has infiltrated itself into the cars of most well developed countries. It is however a sign that to this day I still see no purpose for. The best guess I have (which does seem to be the only real possible answer) is that it is there to inform drivers behind you to be careful (i.e not to crash into them). However, this makes little sense for several reasons. Firstly, if I were going to crash it is quite probable that I can do nothing to avoid that car. Am I sure like most people, I don’t want to crash the car. Secondly, if I were to crash, surely it makes more sense that I kill a baby (baby lovers of the world hold your horses, have no fear, there is logic). With a baby there is no certainty that it will reach the age of say 20, however, if I hit a car with a 20yearold in, we know full well they will get to 20, as they have done it. As the purpose of a race is to further itself (numbers wise) then we want the greatest chance to multiply, and that means knocking off the child that is less likely to reach the age where it can multiply. Surly if this is the case, we should now (like many boyracers already seem to) target these cars. My advice, remove these signs now.
Whenever you watch the extra’s section of a DVD you will always find an interview with the “brains behind the film”. Now in these interviews I have heard thinking time varying from 2 years to 5 years. Now this is the time between when they first started thinking about that film idea to the time when they make it. Now just imagine you are in this time period and then you see a trailer for a film just like the one you are working on. How depressing must that be!
and its as boring as i thought it would be
Ok, people that should be shot
All those who voted for bush.
All those who think the death penalty is right, just or words to that effect.
All those who own poodles.
All those run windows ME.
All those who don’t eat meat because it’s “cruel”.
All those who force their employees to say “missing you already” as their customer leave the shop.
All those who enjoy saying the aforementioned “missing you already”.
All those who think guns are “cool”.
All those who think good cars are ones that are shiny, have large wheels, have TV’s on the dash you can’t watch and play music so loud that it kills old people as they drive past.
All those who think 9/11 was caused because some nasty men in some country we’re not sure where it is don’t like the freedom, truth and justice which America stands for.
ah the great art of procrastination
i still have a huge amount of work due in this week. A databases assignment on Tuesday, my hardware logbook on Wednesday, my HCI assignment on Thursday and somewhere in this i have to write (along with the other two members of my group) a presentation to be given on Wednesday. I can not impress upon you the amount i still have to do.
So here is a list of things i have done this last week to make sure i didn’t have to get on with my work
written in my LJ
driven round in the car
cleared parts of the loft
helped my dad in re-boarding the loft
got the aerial for my TV sorted
started work on getting msn not to crash
started teaching myself video editing (cloning, masking etc)
tried to sort out Perl on my web server
tried to sort out ftp logins on my site
setup some more ftp logins
read almost everything on the golivewire forum
tidied my room (a little)
started sorting my college paperwork
sent out some emails to some people i didn’t really need to now
had a friend over for the day
when to church
went to my grand parents
done some photo editing
made ice-cream
sorted through some boxes
watched the entire Yes Prime Minister series 2
watched way too much TV
spent a very long time over my lunch
defragged my computer
helped at beavers
moulded random shapes out of blue tack
tried to fix the sound drivers on my computer
re-wired my PC
went into town
went for a walk
browsed far too much on online shopping sites
started organising my desktop a little. it looked like this
sharpened my knife collection
talked to lots of people on MSN and Yahoo
there is so much more, but i just cant think of it at the moment
Right, here I am browsing through my favourite forum
Footballers get too much money. Now I have said this many times before (possibly not here) and I will say it may times again, but I make this point not out of jealousy, but out a want for recognition to those who deserve it. Let us take an infantry soldier working for the British army. Now he earns say 20,000 pounds a year (plus housing etc (please note this is a guess)). He is very good at his job, he has spent years training, learning the drills, the equipment, the tactics and generally getting himself fit. His job will force him into early retirement, quite possibly leave him with some form of trauma (nightmares at least) and may even lead to his death while doing his job. This man must get his job right all the time, he can not fail, other lives depend on him. Now let us look at our footballer. He gets the same amount of money, just he gets it per week. He has to quite fit, he has to earn his money with maybe 2 games of 90 minuets a week playing a game of which is so simple is requires a patch of grass, 4 poles, a ball and some lines and of which the rules can be explained on a single sheet of paper. Yet this footballer screws up all the time in his job, he misses the ball 5% of the time, and almost all of his shots miss. How unjust is the world we live in that the people defending our country, defending our “beautiful game” are worth less to us than a bunch of over paid, under worked, unskilled idiots? I think we should scrap football, it is a pointless sport which has done nothing of good for anyone. I would like to see the billions they get in salaries, that are spend of building to play in, that are spent on people to win them their court battles to be sent to Africa and Asia in the form of tools, food and water. But ah yes, I speak with the voice of common sense, and where has that ever got anyone?
However much you think you are, you are still wrong. Being right is an ideal, but it is never achievable. This is not the right as starboard, but right as in to be correct. I mean, whatever argument you come up with for whatever situation you think of, someone will always have a counter argument. Just because their opinion is different to yours does not make them wrong and you right, it makes you wrong and them wrong, as neither of you agree, there is no right answer. You cant even be right with things we quantify. If I look at a bit of wood, I can say that is 3 metres long, but I would be wrong, as it’s never going to be exactly 3 metres long. Even when you get down to the molecules, it may be the right number of molecules but if you look close enough it will always be a little off. Its like that idea that was used to invent the concept of the atom, if I take this bit of paper and tear it in half, what happens when I keep going? Well, there is no definitive building block, because even that, to have things built out of it must have some dimensions. If you now take my description of two people, and multiply it up by world standards, you will never find something that everyone agrees with. This of course is the fundamental flaw with democracy, the fact that you will never have an absolute agreement on everything. This is therefore why change takes so long to happen. I’m not quite sure why America is so desperate to spread this “democracy” all over the world. Its like they think they have got it right, which as established, you cant get it right. You never know, perhaps one day they will see I’m right……
This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.
This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.
This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious” between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “oh, but we’re just friends!” And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you’re nice like that.
The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don’t seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date” or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me” or “he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn’t possibly ask him out!” or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.” Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.
So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.
Source: http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~jenf/writing/rant04.html
You know you’re living in 2005 when…
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don’t have e-mail addresses.
6. You go home after a long day at work; you still answer the phone in a business manner.
7. You make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial “9” to get an outside line.
8. You’ve sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies.
10. Your boss doesn’t have the ability to do your job.
11 You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in
the groceries.
12. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
13. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn’t have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
14. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
15You start tilting your head sideways to smile.
16 You’re reading this and nodding and laughing.
17 Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
18 You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
19. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn’t a #9 on this list