2012

2011 nearly over, 2012 soon to start.
I make a prediction; the same, incompetent, self serving politicians will continue to lie and line their pockets at our expense. Bankers will, of course, continue to be at the forefront of society. Filling their pockets even ahead of the politicians.
The police will have their numbers reduced to match prison sentences. Obviously the real criminals never even go to court. Bankers, politicians etc..

Of course, we will pay more for transport, it's the green tax thing. I mean to say, all that greenhouse gas we don't produce by using trains and buses. There is a problem with public transport though. You can only use it if there is some available. In rural Flatshire, we don't have any trains, Mr Beeching saw to that. Buses are rarer than fruit bats. Of course we mustn't pooh on our own doorstep, we only have one habitable planet, and  we are currently residing on it. However using the excuse of being 'green' to raise more in tax is wrong. Especially as so much of it is frittered away on none green things.
Eyjafjallajokull, of course, produced tonnes of CO2 and other gases. (Though, apparently the grounding of aircraft reduced the global CO2 output) However, Eyjafjallajokull is only one volcano, others are available, erupting nearly continuously, producing tonnes of CO2 and useless hot air. Politicians again.

We look at places like N Korea. And we despair at the poverty of the man on the street, and yet I feel that our moral poverty is worse. They have nothing and need many things, and have lots to gain by rebelling. We have lots and wont rebel because we have lots. Not things that we really need. If we were in poverty, we have charities, and government departments to look after us. Until we have nothing will we actually do something, by then it will be too late. We will be assimilated by the New German Empire.

I see that lots of fireworks are being let off all over the world to celebrate the new year. Lots more greenhouse gases, lots more money up in smoke. Pity they have the day wrong. The real new year was on the 22nd December.



On that happy note, I wish you all a wonderful 2012.

Events, seasonal and otherwise.

As the North Koreans are finding out, the death of their 'beloved' leader is not to be the end of their woes. The leeches at the top are ensuring that. Funny to think, the 'haves' of NK are so much better off than the have nots. But even they actually have less than most of us. By keeping their own people down, they are actually keeping themselves down too. Of course, if the people realise that they could overthrow them with little or no opposition from the military, they will. The whole country is on a knife edge, a glass knife at that, one that will shatter in all directions, killing the wielders as well as the victims What will happen if it does implode? Will there be a blood bath of monstrous proportions, as all those repressed people take revenge for all their suffering? Will there be a surge of refugees fleeing over the border into South Korea? How will the South cope with them all? It will be many times worse than the re-unification of Germany. What will fill the vacuum? And what will happen to all the nuclear stuff?
Of course, it's easy for me, a comfortable, well fed, westerner to sit here and type about a place I have never been to, nor do I have any desire to go to there. I even wonder if there will be a place to go to soon.

On a happier note. Xmas is over.

NORAD

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/

Show the kids this, then send them to bed, knowing he is on his way.

Solstice!

Happy New Year! Solar year anyway. The winter solstice occurred at 05:30 ish. So contrary to many meeja outlets assertions, today is the shortest day, not yesterday. It bothers me that a national 'news' service cannot get a simple fact like the solstice right. I mean FFS, it's not even actually news. It does make you wonder what other 'facts' are reported inaccurately. The solstices are predictable for thousands of years, and are not affected by human affairs. However, human affairs are affected by them. More so in the past, as of course, the seasons are marked by them so planting and harvesting are timed from the equinoxes ( For the first day of winter its warm, currently 9.9C ).

So, for the meeja:-
The Solstice and Equinox times to 2017. (From Wikipedia)

year	Equinox Mar		Solstice June		Equinox Sept		Solstice Dec
	day	time	day	time	day	time	day	time

2011	20	23:21	21	17:16	23	09:04	22	05:30
2012	20	05:14	20	23:09	22	14:49	21	11:11
2013	20	11:02	21	05:04	22	20:44	21	17:11
2014	20	16:57	21	10:51	23	02:29	21	23:03
2015	20	22:45	21	16:38	23	08:20	22	04:48
2016	20	04:30	20	22:34	22	14:21	21	10:44
2017	20	10:28	21	04:24	22	20:02	21	16:28

Don't get it wrong again. I would hate to think that you are as reliable as a religious text. Ie; full of lies, bigotry and misogamy.

A fetid pile of pooh (not the bear)

Don't buy a Peugeot Expert van. Ever. Especially one on an 08 plate. (unless you want to be on first name terms with the local RAC crews, as I now am). To date, it has had the flywheel fall off (at only 2000 miles). It has had four thoroughly pointless fuel cooling radiators torn off in puddles. Puddles, I mean, it never rains in the UK does it? I know, I know, you can easily avoid puddles, except when a skip wagon is coming the other way, or, as tonight, the puddle covered the single track road.
The damned vehicle keeps coming up with 'anti pollution fail' and goes into limp home mode. This usually occurs when overtaking a large wagon,or tractor and trailer, or snail, and can be extremely thought provoking. The fault can be cured buy turning the ignition off, and then back on again, whilst swearing (swearing optional)( No it isn't). Because the French don't know how to assemble things without cross threading bolts, the driver's side sliding door has fallen off twice, (I have a nice scar on my back to prove it) . Other bits have fallen off, trim mainly.  FFS, it's supposed to be a working van, not a pimp mobile. Why stick on bits of pointless plastic, that you have to pay for in fuel carting around, when they could be left off? It is also extremely uncomfortable, the gear lever cover assembly gets in the way of your left knee. The seat is not fit for purpose, unless it's purpose is some form of torture device.
We have a fleet of these toxic things, one of which has spent more time in the garage than on the road.
Oh, and don't get me started on 'Economy mode*'. The moron came up with that idea needs to be flayed alive, and left to be eaten by magpies. And why, oh why, does the thing tell you when you have left the keys in the ignition? I am sure you are aware that you have just driven the damned thing without it reminding you. All in all a complete pile of pooh. And not the bear.

* For those with proper vehicles, 'economy mode' turns off various functions when the engine is off. So there you are, eating your lunch, listening to your favourite midday radio programme, and then *bing!* "Economy Mode". The radio is turned off. The only way to turn it on again is to run the engine for a minimum of five minutes. Unless, of course, you want *bing!* "Economy Mode" a few seconds later. Oddly, the hazards stay on until the battery is flat, which takes many hours.

Oh, and guess where the battery is? Yes,  if you are the driver, the lethal, toxic sulphuric acid filled weight is... Under your feet! So if you have double misfortune of being in a Peukerot Inexpert and upside down, well, enjoy the plastic surgery.

Annoyed

We're stuffed. We have 'leaders' that cannot find their arses with both hands and a map. We need to get away from the toxic Euro Zone as fast as fast can be, we have been their financial milk cow for so long now. Germany has to hang on, they have put more in than us and cannot afford to let go. The French have gained more than any other state and cannot afford to let go. Greece and the like lied to get in, and have been so burnt, they have only one option, Get out now. Print Drachma, and sell, sell, sell. Cheap holidays, cheap anything. They will win doing that. Italy will be sure to follow. Eastern Europe (Poland and the like) don't want us to get out, who else will take their Scrotes free of charge? Most of our local criminals are from Poland. We would be best telling Europe to do their own thing, and create better ties with India and possibly Pakistan (where else are we going to get good doctors from?) and perhaps ever further into Indonesia. 

We have a society where ball kicking scum are treated better than the people we expect, nay demand, to care about us when we tear a fingernail. Than the real Heroes who protect us, and ours . Those that sacrifice themselves and their rights to protect those that take and take, even the people who sent them to war are not averse to sticking their noses further in the trough. 

We have a society where doing wrong is celebrated, ( and not in a Robin Hood style) and doing right doing is brushed aside. Criminals have 'rights' that trump all others. Even those that put themselves in danger arresting these scrotes are censured if they cause harm to the criminal, even though the criminal has just caused grievous harm to someone else.

We have a society where responsibility is shed, not shared. (If I do something, it is not because I came from a broken home, it is not because I was abused as a child, it isn't the states fault. It is because I made the decision. Me. No excuses. Nor will I suddenly find sky pixies as a mitigation. Or suddenly decide to be a good father to the kids, whose equally feckless mothers let me inseminate).

We live in a society where anyone can breed willy nilly (as it were) and yet to adopt a child, you have to jump through so many hoops, the wee one is nearly fully grown. Local case: Scum have child. Child is fostered. Four years later, foster parents try to adopt child. Original mother has only seen child twice. Now one would think that it is in the best interest of the child to stay with it's foster parents. The people who love it and have loved it for four years. 'No' says a judge, let us ruin this child's life by giving it back to the feckless scum that spawned it. 

We are screwed.

Odd webs

    Imagine: You receive a report that an expensive push bike has been stolen from the bike compound. The fence around the compound is of the steel paling type, with the spiky, fleur-de-lis type tops. You are too busy with other happenings to do an imediate review of CCTV, but will be able to do it, perhaps, tomorrow. As it is, you are dealing with a couple of shoplifters and what appears to be a stabbing. A cyclist has, he claims, been stabbed by a female on Charge St, he has fallen off his bike, due to loss of blood. A couple of good Samaritans have called for an ambulance, but you cannot assist as unfortunately there are no cameras covering Charge St. The female has left the scene with the victims bike, so you start an area search with the cameras, looking for the female, as obviously, this could be an attempted murder, and she is the prime suspect.

    Meanwhile, the on site engineer, after messing about with a reluctant work station (all damn day), admits defeat, and offers to check the recording for the stolen bicycle. This will test the workstation realistically, and relieve you of a probable nothing to report. And make him feel useful. With some success. He actually sees the suspect, he is with a woman with a push chair She wanders off, and the suspect is seen to climb over the fence into the bike compound, and about 5 minutes later, sees the suspect throw the bike over the fence then climb out.

There is lots of radio traffic referring to the stabbing. Police are being mobilised, descriptions passed...

   Your shift relief has come in, been another loooong day single manned, with only a very sweary engineer for company. You have to carry on what you are doing, whilst you brief the relief. Your handover includes what the engineer is doing because, well, it may be relevant. At this moment, a description of the victim of the stabbing is passed over the radio... You look at your relief, the engineer looks at you, your relief looks at him. Realisation dawns. The 'victim', and the 'thief' are one and the same thing!

Further quick study of the CCTV, shows as the thief climbs back over the fence, he slips and impales himself on it! Why he tells his good Samaritans that the female has stabbed him we do not know, but now we can understand why she ran off. After all, theft is much worse than attempted murder isn't it? The thief is carted off to hospital, (at our, the taxpayer's, expense) the female has absconded with the stolen bike. The child in the push chair? Sadly we do not know. 

    Much later: In hospital, the female arrives to find out how her partner (it turns out) is. She is arrested for receiving stolen goods. The bike is recovered too.

Listen and learn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h39vBsiR68

For those that serve.

Promises

Banks. All I want from my bank is for me to lend them my money, and them to give me money as payment.Ok, I am happy for them to keep some of my interest to pay staff, and the like. I do not want 'Points' for things. I will never, ever cash them in, and I suspect most wont. Air miles..FFS I cant afford to fly anywhere, nor (unless I am actually piloting the ac) will I ever want to. I wonder how many other people have loyalty points and will take them to their graves? And, I wonder, how much the givers of points rely on the points never being claimed? It really bugs me that my bank is giving these extra 'services' that I do not want, and yet, I cannot have an upgraded account without these fripperies. You may wonder why I take issue with this. Lets say I have had a deposit account with this bank for 30+ years. Now, if they really want to reward my loyalty, how about keeping the percentage interest on the account the same for all that time? No, I have had to 'upgrade' it periodically for little, because they have introduced better 'products'. Excuse me? Products? They are a bank, not British Steel.(ok, Tata). It's a bit like buying a Ferrari, and have them come around every so often, and take a couple of cylinders away from the engine. But it's that's all right, 'cos it looks the same...Then they offer them back to you, but you have to have Boots vouchers too (other High Street chains and/or footwear are available) which you will never use, and you get the feeling that the cylinders you are getting back are from an Allegro... Its all tinsel an no substance. But when it come to Bonuses.

Oh, the strawberry? Tasty it was too.

Down the tubes.

I was going to have a rant.
   Lackwits dropping objects from bridges onto passing vehicles. What the hell do they think they are doing? Sooner or later someone is going to die. In the meantime, the culprits, even if caught, will not get any meaningful punishment. The hand wringers and appeasers will blame everyone other than themselves for the weakening moral standards of this country. No one takes responsibility for their actions. Nanny state forbids it, and yet Nanny state cannot enforce old sensible laws. No leadership, no leaders.
  But I am not going to rant about that.
  The euro is going down the tubes. Well, now that is a surprise. After all, the sole reason for keeping the euro is for Germany to finally win a war in Europe. Angela Merkel is determined to make France, again, capitulate to Germany's wishes. And this time, the likelihood is that she will. And again Europe will need to be rescued by someone on the outside. Only this time there isn't anyone. We have enough problems of out own, and need to be embroiled less than we are. I would like to tell Brussels to sod off and stick their stupid regulations where the sun don't shine. I would rescind the 'Human' rights act with immediate effect. I would introduce a Citizens rights act in its place. Those that pay into our society would have rights. Those that do not, well, best they keep their noses very clean.
   Ok, I ranted. Sorry.

Friday! Wheee... Again

 

  Well, it has been a busy week. Well, I am sure someone has been busy. We managed to make something work after many weeks of faffing about. Well, I say work, OUR bit works, but due to multiple small faults, half the system doesn't work. This is now out of our hands, so now we have to await a third parties input. Which could be a long time. Meanwhile the customer has umpteen hundreds of pounds of kit that is virtually useless. 

Another customer has had to have a building demolished. We were going to recover as much of the equipment from the building as we could, as the bulk of it was reusable as spares or to be re fitted into other sites. However, as the building was deemed unsafe (annoying, as I had only been in it a couple of days before and nothing had changed) only structural engineers were allowed in. The customer gave the person in charge of the demolition a list of things that had to be saved (a total cost in excess of £50k.) Imagine my horror seeing the building being torn apart. As far as we can ascertain, none of the kit has been recovered. (though I suspect  someone has trousered it)

  The strike was, as they say, a bit of a none event. Now for once, I do sympathise with many of the public sector workers who went out on strike. I work very closely with some of them, and they were sorely torn between  striking or duty to the public. Unfortunately, as those of us in the private sector know, the strike will not make a jot of difference, and the workers at the bottom of the heap will have their conditions changed to their detriment. Those at the top will not be affected, and of course, the union leaders will get their 'earnings' no matter what the outcome is. So all in all, a waste of time and money for all workers concerned. Disruption for all those dependent on the said workers doing their job. Not so for the union leaders and the government. Perhaps Jeremy is wanting to shoot the wrong people. I can hear the lawyers rubbing their hands together from here.