Lazing on a sunny afternoon
Ah, there’s nothing like it – the lazy life! It’s Saturday, so there’s no work, the sun is out and I’ve got no particular place to be.
I was actually up quite early this morning, and when I looked out of the window and saw glorious sunshine at 7am, I knew we were in for a good day.
First order of the day was breakfast. Freshly showered and dressed, I then sat down to a perfectly cooked bacon sandwich (they’re always so much nicer when they’re cooked by someone else). Having devoured this fine repast, it was a quick trip into town for some bike cleaning sundries.
Yes, it has taken six months but the Bandit is now back on the road. And I thought that, as she’s been a bit neglected recently, the least I could do was to give her a bit of a clean.
Of course, a freshly cleaned bike just cries out to be ridden so it was on with the gear and off for a quick spin. Despite not having ridden for six months, it’s amazing how it all comes flooding back within about the first six feet. You don’t forget any of it – the observational skills, the ability to read the road, the way you know what the guy in front is about to do even before he does; it comes flooding back.
And bike riding is just one of life’s great pleasures. You don’t need to be screaming along at 100+ to enjoy the unique experience that is a motorbike ride; pootling along at 30 can be tons of fun too.
50 miles of bliss later, and it was time to return home for lunch. A quick trip to the local carvery to satisfy the hunger pangs and now here I am, sat in the back garden in the sunshine, pint in hand and some tunes on the iPod. At this moment, I can’t think of a single thing I’d rather be doing.
Long may it continue.
Brief Notes
I must start this latest in my Brief Notes series with an apology to anyone that’s been wondering where Song Of The Day has gone. The last one went up on 7 January and there’s been no sign of it since. The simple answer is that I’ve been too busy to get round to putting anything up recently, but I’m hoping to get back on to it in the next day or so.
The frequency of SOTD postings may change for the future, too. I’m going to try as much as possible to get back onto the one song per day schedule, but where that’s not possible there may be a few days gap in-between. I’m also going to stop filling in the gaps where I miss days. For example, in the past if I’ve missed a two days, then I’ve done two date-adjusted posts to fill in the gaps. From now on, the gap will stand. I’m hoping that what this will help me to do is to write about each song a bit more.
I’m going to continue calling the feature Song Of The Day, because that’s quite established and it will still apply. It doesn’t say that I have to post a song every day….
So, on to some of the news stories that have caught my eye recently and which I’d like to comment briefly about:
1. The EU Commission are apparently going after Microsoft. Again. For anti-competitive practices. Again. Because Internet Explorer is bundled with Windows. Again.
Sorry, but haven’t we been there, done that? I didn’t get it before and I don’t get it now. Browsers are, generally, free. There are a number out there that can be downloaded and installed on Windows. So what’s the big deal? Can Microsoft really be expected to either not offer a browser with Windows, or permit other browsers to also be bundled with Windows? I don’t think so.
If the argument is that by bundling Internet Explorer, Microsoft have forced all other browsers to be free-to-own then is there any indication that anyone could ever have made money selling browser software? Personally, if I bought an operating system that did not come with an included browser I’d see that as a bad thing.
And why should Microsoft be singled out for bundling their browser? Apple do it with Safari. If it’s an anti-competitive practice, it should be applied across the board. But no, as we’ve seen before Apple get away with that sort of thing – even when they tie up the online music market with their iTunes / iPod stranglehold.
2. As I may have mentioned before, I work for a company that sells complementary medicine products – in our case, nutritional supplements. The complementary medicine field has become more and more popular over the years and you can now visit therapists for nutrition, reflexology, kiniesiology and many more. There have often been calls – usually from the tabloid press, or traditional medicine practitioners – for some sort of governing registration body to oversee them all.
Well, that day has come and the CNHC is now with us. Trouble is, it seems like it’s doomed to failure because it’s voluntary, doesn’t cover all disciplines of therapy and costs therapists a fee to join. I have an objection to such organisations when they take money to, supposedly, vet and approve members. It becomes in their interests to have more members, and that’s when you have the possibility of standards slipping.
I’ve always thought this about the Soil Association, one of the UK bodies that deals with organic registrations. Many people seem to think the Soil Association are the only people that can register a product as organic, but this isn’t the case – they’re just the biggest one. Unlike some of the other bodies in the UK, they charge not only a fee for their initial classification of a product as organic, but they also take a percentage of the sales turnover for that product. Therefore, they earn money for every unit of every registered product that is sold. To me, that makes it in their interest to register as many products as possible. And that makes me think that there’s the potential for the profit margins to take over.
3. Two stories about parents now. The first concerns a couple that have been told that they can’t adopt as the husband is too fat. Never mind that he’s not unfit, or that he and his wife could offer a good loving home to a kid that really needs it. No, apparently being too fat is just another item on the list that means you’re not qualified to be an adoptive parent.
4. Unfortunately, there’s no such list for natural parents and stories like this really make you wish there were. This story is really quite distressing, and makes me wish that we lived in years gone by where we would be able to properly punish these monstrous, inhuman scum. I’ve got friends who’ve got children of the same age, and I just don’t understand how anyone could inflict that sort of pain on such a helpless little one. One can only hope that a goodly amount of prison justice gets meted out to them.
Personal responsibility. What’s that, then?
I’ve been mulling this post over in my head for a few days, since I read this story about a couple dodging their debts through a loophole in the Consumer Credit Act. Reading it, I was reminded of the free-for-all we had not so long ago with people taking the Banks to court to reclaim money they’d paid out in charges. And, as I did with all of the people reclaiming their Bank fees, I thought to myself – why should these people be allowed to dodge out of their responsibilities?
We seem to live in a society where individuals are no longer expected to take any responsibility – or blame – for their own actions. Government and pressure groups are continually stepping in to try and legislate for people’s stupidity. It doesn’t seem to matter what it is – smoking, drinking, fast food, educating or disciplining children, managing your finances. You know, all those things that are your responsibility to take care of.
Why should people who can’t manage their life be bailed out by the rest of society? Why should, for example, McDonalds be forced to take responsibility for you being a fat git just because you’re too lazy to eat properly? As Morgan Spurlock proved, living on fast food is not healthy for you yet people continue to do it. Why should that be McDonalds fault?
Likewise, why should people who can’t manage their finances properly be allowed to dodge out of paying their debts back? Whether it be claiming back “unfair” bank charges (which don’t apply if you know how to keep your account in proper order) or using a loophole to dodge your creditors, it shouldn’t be allowed. You’ve spent the money, you should damn well have to pay it back. But it seems that’s not how things work these days.
While thinking about what I was going to write in this post, I came across another story that illustrates another facet of this argument. Personal responsibility extends to the type of person that you are, but – as a result of the over-therapised nature of modern society – the type of person you are is now nothing to do with you; it’s all to do with the way you were raised; or the fact that you were only child; or the fact that you weren’t an only child.
The woman in the story was conceived with the help of sperm donation; because of that, she claims that she doesn’t know who she is and she’s on a years long crusade to find out who her father is. Sorry, but that’s bollocks. Your father is the man that was there when you were growing up, the one who provided for you, the one who tucked you in at night. Your father is not the person who jacked off into a paper cup in some cubicle somewhere. And your search to find out who you are? Look in the mirror. That’s who you are.
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If you’re having problems taking responsibility for your own life, check out this website which very succinctly describes what personal responsibility is and how you can change your life to be able to accept yours.
Meet the Funky Widget
Haven’t quite decided if Funky Widget is a boy car or a girl car, but the name really did pick itself. And, whether boy or girl, it’s fun to drive and lots of fun journeys are sure to be had.
Writing that last bit, I kept wanting to put ‘her’ or ’she’, so I’m thinking that Funky Widget might be a girl….
Brief notes
I’ve been a bit remiss recently, and haven’t been blogging as much as I used to. Yes, the Song Of The Day feature continues unabated but where’s all the other good stuff? Well, to try and put that right, here’s another in my series of Brief Notes. This one is a bunch of news stories that have caught my eye recently, for one reason or another.
File under tolerance
A number of stories over the last few days have highlighted the lack of tolerance of other people’s views / lifestyles / religions / whatever that exists in society today. Which, really, is not a very cheerful thought and doesn’t inspire hope for the future.
A priest in London has come under fire for suggesting that all gay people should have their backsides tattooed with the words “Sodomy can seriously damage your health”. He maintains that he was being satirical, attacking the militant promotion of homosexuality by groups such as Outrage. The type of viewpoint that insists everyone is gay, they just don’t know it yet.
While Rev Mullen’s words might have been a little ill-thought out, is his stand against militant gay groups necessarily wrong? Shouldn’t those on both sides of this argument be able to see the other’s point of view?
Priests are not having a good time of it just lately; Yvonne Hobson, a parish priest in Cornwall, has received death threats simply because she’s a woman priest. Not exactly the peace and love that religion supposedly teaches us, is it? Why does the fact that Ms Hobson is a woman affect her ability to be a priest, or her ability to believe in God? I know they can be a bit insular down there in Kernow, but even so…
Once again, Muslims are getting their knickers in a twist – this time over a novel. Seems that we can’t say anything about their faith – good or bad – without them wanting to firebomb the infidels. As with so many religions, the fundamentalist view seems to be the only one that hits the headlines, and the millions of peace-loving Muslims across the world are tarred with the brush of their violent, bomb-happy brethren.
Every religion has been guilty of this at some point in history, but the modern world offers much greater capacity for death and destruction than existed at the time of the Crusades. Again, isn’t religion, belief in God, supposed to be about peace, love and understanding?
Even Corrie has had to pander to minority opinion recently, after they received complaints about a Scottish character suggesting that he could never support Rangers. Apparently, Rangers fans – being the delicate, sensitive souls that they are – felt hard done by over this, and Corrie bosses have changed future scripts to remove similar references.
Two things about this: first, it’s only television – it’s not real! Second, why is television programming being changed according to the wishes of a very small percentage of the viewing population? I don’t watch Corrie and couldn’t care less about Rangers, but what worries me is the trend we seem to have at the moment to not want to upset anyone, however much of a minority they might be. TV is already bland enough, if we continue on like this there won’t anything left to watch, no programmes out there to question what is happening in the world, no hope for the future.
We’re all green
Starbucks have come under fire again (they must be used to it by now), this time for wasting millions of litres of water every day. Apparently, staff are not allowed to turn off taps that are used to clean spoons; this helps to reduce the growth of bacteria and helps the global chain to achieve health and safety standards. I’ve never been in a Starbucks (because I have a kettle at home and know how to make a cup of coffee for myself), but I can’t imagine that the experience is worth the waste of so much water.
Lung disease is set to kill 83 million people in China over the next 30 years, according to a recent study. Mainly because of widespread use of wood burning stoves for heating and cooking and the fact that the Chinese smoke one third of all the cigarettes in the world.
China has a population of just over 1.3 billion people, crammed into a land mass of about 9.3 billion square kilometres (as opposed to the US where 303 million people live in about 9.1 billion square kilometres), so you’d think they might be glad of the extra room.
Got him at last
We all knew it had to happen some time; OJ has finally been thrown in jail. Not, as you might expect, because they’ve found some way to find him guilty of his wife’s murder after all these years, but because he committed an armed robbery.
But we all know that really he’s been put away because no-one ever believed he was innocent of his wife’s murder.
Not our fault
Apparently, the fact that they shot an innocent man seven times in the head, on a crowded London tube train, is not the fault of the officers with the guns, nor of the Metropolitan police as a whole. It’s the fault of the nation for not preventing the 21 July bomb attempts of which Mr de Menezes was suspected. And, just to make sure that we all feel re-assured, it has been said this sort of thing could happen again. Is DAC Cressida Dick living up to her name?
And finally, a Max Moseley story
Max has been in the news again, saying that Formula One needs to drastically cut costs if it wants to remain credible. Which I think is a bit much, really, coming from the one man who has done more than any other person (except perhaps for Bernie Ecclestone, who insists on taking the sport to tracks that even Ferrari don’t like) to make Formula One a laughing stock across the world.
If Max wants to make F1 credible again, then he should stand down as president of the FIA.
Wolfs Helpers
