Archive

Archive for 2007

Radio 1 censors Christmas Classic

December 18th, 2007 No comments

Faggot of SticksAccording to the Register and the BBC itself, BBC Radio 1 has taken on itself to partially censor the Christmas classic “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues and the late Kirsty MacColl.

The line is question is “You scumbag, you maggot you cheap lousy faggot, Happy Christmas your arse I pray God It’s our last”. Ironically, the BBC has chosen to censor ‘faggot’ in case it may offend anyone, but considers ‘arse’ to be acceptable.

Credit: savia, Berkley, USA via FLickr (Creative Commons: Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic)Not being American, a faggot is either:

  • a bundle of sticks or
  • a meatball

so the British Broadcasting Corp is also pandering here to the American use of the word.

Hang on though, isn’t ‘Fairy’ also a derogatory term for homosexual? Shouldn’t they therefore change the title to ‘Tale of New York’ for fear of offending someone?

Interestingly, the ban does not apply to Radio 2, further showing how much Radio 1 has lost its way.

UPDATE

Radio 1 has now backed down.

John Darwin falls short of enacting Palindrome

December 9th, 2007 No comments

No doubt most people are aware of the current story regarding John Darwin faking his own death in a canoe in the North Sea five years ago, and his wife moving to Panama on the proceeds of the life insurance.

Now if only he’d tried faking his death on a canal boat, he would have been re-enacting a famous palindrome: A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama.

So close…

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The Savings from using Mail Order

November 26th, 2007 No comments

Cross DowelYou may recognise the picture on the right. It is called a ‘cross dowel’ and is used together with a screw to fasten furniture panels together.
B&Q stock these, however, they want £4.08 for a bag of five. That’s just over 81p each. That may not seem a lot until you compare that to Screwfix who are selling bags of fifty for £1.80. (a little over 3.5p each) Even if you had to pay the £5 P&P on Screwfix, that’s still only 13.5p.
Interestingly, Screwfix and B&Q are sister companies, both being owned by Kingfisher. I would expect a higher price at retail premises over mail order but I cannot believe that the difference is due solely to the cost of the retail premises.

As always, it pays to shop around.

Experian Cash in on Child Benefit Data Scare

November 21st, 2007 1 comment

Nice to see that Experian haven’t wasted any time in exploiting the current scare due to HMRC’s Child Benefit Data SNAFU. Entering ’25 million’ (or even just ‘million’ into Google, gets you an advert for Experian’s credit checking service, offering to ‘check that your Child Benefit data isn’t being used for fraudulent purposes’.

Experian Advert on Google
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Browser details on Comments

November 20th, 2007 No comments

If you are wondering how the browser details are shown in the comments, I have used an excellent plugin for WordPress from Priyadi Iman Nurcahyo.

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TV Licensing Trick or Treat

October 29th, 2007 1 comment

According to the Bolton News, Officers from TV Licensing have chosen the 31st October (Halloween) to target the homes of people who have failed to pay up.

I don’t know what kind of twisted logic they have used to come up with that idea. Of all the days in the year, I would say that Halloween is the single most likely night NOT to open the front door.

Stork Theory

October 28th, 2007 No comments

Love this one…

from the Institute for Stork Research and Science
Two different theories exist concerning the origin of children: the theory of Sexual reproduction, and the theory of the stork. Many people believe in the theory of sexual reproduction because they have been taught this theory at school. In reality, however, many of the world’s leading scientists are in favour of the theory of the stork. If the theory of sexual reproduction is taught in schools, it must only be taught as a theory and not as the truth. Alternative theories, such as the theory of the stork, must also be taught.

Evidence supporting the theory of the stork includes the following:

  1. It is a scientifically established fact that the stork does exist. This can be confirmed by every ornithologist.
  2. The alleged human fetal development contains several features that the theory of sexual reproduction is unable to explain.
  3. The theory of sexual reproduction implies that a child is approximately nine months old at birth. This is an absurd claim. Everyone knows that a newborn child is newborn.
  4. According to the theory of sexual reproduction, children are a result of sexual intercourse. There are, however, several well documented cases where sexual intercourse has not led to the birth of a child.
  5. Statistical studies in the Netherlands have indicated a positive correlation between the birth rate and the number of storks. Both are decreasing.
  6. The theory of the stork can be investigated by rigorous scientific methods. The only assumption involved is that children are delivered by the stork.
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UK Gov Transport Discrimination

October 25th, 2007 No comments

So, Ruth Kelly has come out and said that the current scheme to use of the hard shoulder on the M42 as a running lane is to be extended.

While I don’t agree with this policy, preferring to see money spent on properly widening the motorway or actually improving alternative transport, one part of this news item strikes me as odd: none of the proposed extensions of this policy will (thankfully) occur north of the Birmingham conurbation.

From this, you should surmise that these are the congestion hotspots that the government has identified to be targeted. If so, why is Manchester being targeted with a congestion tax and these are not?

Before anyone points out that the Manchester Tax is inside the M60, I experience zero congestion inside the M60, but heavy congestion on the M61 and M60 around Manchester.

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Central Heating Thermostats

October 22nd, 2007 No comments

It’s that time of year again, when the temperature starts to drop and people start considering switching the heating back on, which leads me to a question: In every house I’ve lived in, the room thermostat has been situated in the hall, not the living room or bedrooms. What is the logic in controlling the heating based on temperature in a room you don’t actually live in, except to move to another room, or answer the front door?

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CDs cheaper than Downloads

September 9th, 2007 3 comments

CDs cheaper than Download?I went looking on iTunes for an old album I used to have on tape, and sure enough – there it was for £7.90. Hmmm a bit pricey, so I looked on play.com and there it was for only £4.99.

So for almost three quid less, you get:

  • a real CD in a case with professionally printed cover notes. For iTunes, add the cost of a case, CD and printer ink;
  • no crippling DRM;
  • full bitrate recording instead of high compression;
  • you can still rip the CD onto your iPod;
  • if you get fed up of it (or wasn’t to your taste) you can still sell it on.

Most CDs are available from play.com and cdwow.com for around £7.99, so even at that price it’s still better to get the CD.

So what, apart from satisfying your impatience, is the attraction of downloading music?

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