The son of a neighbour of my parents is a Royal Marine. A short while ago he and another Royal Marine who was just back from the Middle East went to a local pub for a quiet pint. Another patron told them that somehow they had drawn the ire of a group of yobs in another corner of the pub and that the two of them would be attacked when they left. When the two of them left, the yobs were waiting for them. Big mistake: the two RMs switched into combat mode and sent the pack of them running: "I'm a Royal Marine, I'm just back from ****, and I'm going to rip your throats out." (I imagine the language was rather more colourful). And then they just walked home.
That's class. Well done, sirs!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
"Bother" said Q
I'm supposed to be in Birmingham for the launch of Windows Server 2008. But the thieving bastards at the railway station wanted £107 for the ticket. So bollocks to that. And I wasn't going to try Birmingham City Centre at rush hour.
At least I got a good long walk out of it.
At least I got a good long walk out of it.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Well done Hamilton!
It was a blinder of a race this morning. Hamilton did very well to win it, though all the interesting stuff happenned behind him. It looks like it's going to be a most interesting season.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
So I wrote to George Osborne...
I'm writing to you in your capacity as Shadow Chancellor.
I saw your response to the budget and while your points on inheritance tax, fuel, and drink were well made, I cannot help but feel that all parties have somewhat lost the plot on taxation. You're too busy papering over the cracks to see the gaping hole. Taxation only works if people are earning money, and all too many taxes get in the way of that.
The more people earn, the more the government can tax them. This was amply shown by Reagan and Thatcher. The current taxation regime stops people earning.
Consider the fuel duty: a few years ago I was spending what would be today £2000 per year on commuting, and over 75% of that was duty. To add insult to injury, that £2000 is after tax, so I'd have to earn over £3000 just to afford the petrol. Cut fuel duty and you improve the flexibility and profitability of the workforce.
Consider the minimum wage: people earning the minimum wage pay tax. But if it's the minimum wage, isn't that a contradiction? And they still have to pay hugely to get to work. So raise the tax-free allowance enormously to £8000, which is about the minimum wage for a 40-week working year.
Benefits: benefits cost money. It costs more than £1 to dispense £1 in benefits. There's a huge, baroquely complex, infrastructure, not to mention fraud. Why not raise the tax-free allowance to the minimum wage so more people don't have to be paid benefits?
Children and family: it is no secret that Britain faces a demographic time-bomb. Children are currently very expensive for people not on benefits. And caring for older relatives is also expensive. I have a suggestion to cope with this: give everyone, from birth to death, the full tax-free allowance, and let this allowance be transferrable to those family members within the bounds of consanguinuity or civil partnership. This will help the mother stay at home to look after the children, and allow granny to come and stay to help or be helped.
Inheritance tax: this was introduced to break up the great estates. An estate of £1M, great though that may seem, is not a great estate. Please raise that figure to £10M or even more.
I hope you find some of these ideas of interest.
I saw your response to the budget and while your points on inheritance tax, fuel, and drink were well made, I cannot help but feel that all parties have somewhat lost the plot on taxation. You're too busy papering over the cracks to see the gaping hole. Taxation only works if people are earning money, and all too many taxes get in the way of that.
The more people earn, the more the government can tax them. This was amply shown by Reagan and Thatcher. The current taxation regime stops people earning.
Consider the fuel duty: a few years ago I was spending what would be today £2000 per year on commuting, and over 75% of that was duty. To add insult to injury, that £2000 is after tax, so I'd have to earn over £3000 just to afford the petrol. Cut fuel duty and you improve the flexibility and profitability of the workforce.
Consider the minimum wage: people earning the minimum wage pay tax. But if it's the minimum wage, isn't that a contradiction? And they still have to pay hugely to get to work. So raise the tax-free allowance enormously to £8000, which is about the minimum wage for a 40-week working year.
Benefits: benefits cost money. It costs more than £1 to dispense £1 in benefits. There's a huge, baroquely complex, infrastructure, not to mention fraud. Why not raise the tax-free allowance to the minimum wage so more people don't have to be paid benefits?
Children and family: it is no secret that Britain faces a demographic time-bomb. Children are currently very expensive for people not on benefits. And caring for older relatives is also expensive. I have a suggestion to cope with this: give everyone, from birth to death, the full tax-free allowance, and let this allowance be transferrable to those family members within the bounds of consanguinuity or civil partnership. This will help the mother stay at home to look after the children, and allow granny to come and stay to help or be helped.
Inheritance tax: this was introduced to break up the great estates. An estate of £1M, great though that may seem, is not a great estate. Please raise that figure to £10M or even more.
I hope you find some of these ideas of interest.
Monday, March 10, 2008
United Guilds Service: I got to sit in the Quire
An excellent service, and I got to sit in the Quire - that's the bit between the choir and the altar. I was almost directly opposite the Lord Mayor himself and had an excellent view of all the pomp and pageantry.
But the bench was ever so hard!
But the bench was ever so hard!
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Windows Home Server
Why is the bloody backup failing at 35% every time? This has also been bugging me all week.
Friday, February 29, 2008
This past week
I have been investigating Windows Home Server, which seems very nice, and Vista's network performance, which is absolutely abysmal. The latter has taken the bulk of the week for very little result.
Plug 'Vista network slow' into your favourite search engine and you'll see that I'm far from alone and you'll see all the things I've tried.
Plug 'Vista network slow' into your favourite search engine and you'll see that I'm far from alone and you'll see all the things I've tried.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
The Book Thing
Shamelessly stolen from Kim du Toit.
Which [type of] book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?
Philosophy. I simply find it extremely hard going. Plus Plato's Republic in the original Greek was not exactly the ideal introduction.
If you could bring three [fictional] characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?
Thraxas, Gandalf, and Granny Weatherwax.
You are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?
Atlas Shrugged: I just cannot get into it.
Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?
None. Like Kim, however, there are books which I've only read in translation when I could have (at the time) read them in the original.
As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?
Again, none. That said, there are books which I've re-read and seen in an entirely different light. Most recently, the Harry Potter books after it was revealed as a Christian cycle. Additionally, there are books which I wish I had the intellect to understand better, like Sun Tzu's Art of War.
You’ve been appointed Book Advisor to a VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (if you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead of personalise the VIP.
Sun Tsu's Art of War. It's just so deep, but it's short and will set them thinking.
A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?
I'm really torn here: part of me says Latin so I can reread everything I read at school and more; the other part says Chinese - there's a whole mountain of literature there.
A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?
Dead easy: Tolkein's Lord of the Rings
That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.
Whatever else it is, it's circular with a ladder that can go round.
Which [type of] book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?
Philosophy. I simply find it extremely hard going. Plus Plato's Republic in the original Greek was not exactly the ideal introduction.
If you could bring three [fictional] characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?
Thraxas, Gandalf, and Granny Weatherwax.
You are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?
Atlas Shrugged: I just cannot get into it.
Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?
None. Like Kim, however, there are books which I've only read in translation when I could have (at the time) read them in the original.
As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?
Again, none. That said, there are books which I've re-read and seen in an entirely different light. Most recently, the Harry Potter books after it was revealed as a Christian cycle. Additionally, there are books which I wish I had the intellect to understand better, like Sun Tzu's Art of War.
You’ve been appointed Book Advisor to a VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (if you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead of personalise the VIP.
Sun Tsu's Art of War. It's just so deep, but it's short and will set them thinking.
A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?
I'm really torn here: part of me says Latin so I can reread everything I read at school and more; the other part says Chinese - there's a whole mountain of literature there.
A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?
Dead easy: Tolkein's Lord of the Rings
That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.
Whatever else it is, it's circular with a ladder that can go round.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Deep fun.
Having been ill over Christmas, I'm trying to get my old job back and wrestling with migrating my email - all 250,000 items - from PMMail 2000 to Pocomail. On th former, I'm waiting for people to get back from holiday; on the latter, we shall see.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Merry Christmas
I'm just back from my brother's family in Scotland where we celebrated Christmas. But everyone was struck down with colds. I've still got one.
My nephew and niece were angels. Most of the time. :)
My nephew and niece were angels. Most of the time. :)
Thursday, November 22, 2007
E-mooning!
We all know those cute little computer symbols called "emoticons," where:
:) means a smile and
:( is a frown.
Sometimes these are represented by
:-)
:-(
Well, how about some "ASSICONS?"
Here goes:
(_!_) a regular ass
(__!__) a fat ass
(!) a tight ass
(_*_) a sore ass
{_!_} a swishy ass
(_o_) an ass that's been around
(_x_) kiss my ass
(_X_) leave my ass alone
(_zzz_) a tired ass
(_E=mc2_) a smart ass
(_$_) Money coming out of his ass
(_?_) Dumb Ass
:) means a smile and
:( is a frown.
Sometimes these are represented by
:-)
:-(
Well, how about some "ASSICONS?"
Here goes:
(_!_) a regular ass
(__!__) a fat ass
(!) a tight ass
(_*_) a sore ass
{_!_} a swishy ass
(_o_) an ass that's been around
(_x_) kiss my ass
(_X_) leave my ass alone
(_zzz_) a tired ass
(_E=mc2_) a smart ass
(_$_) Money coming out of his ass
(_?_) Dumb Ass
Friday, November 09, 2007
Best Science Blogs
Seems Bad Astronomy and Climate Audit are neck and neck for the Best Science Blog.
Looking at the other awards, I'm going to find this one useful. I think next year I'll be voting for Misty for that.
Looking at the other awards, I'm going to find this one useful. I think next year I'll be voting for Misty for that.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Today, I am mainly
Today I am mainly doing the ironing. I'vegot a month's worth to do and I've left it too long.
This evening, I shall be going to the fireworks show. I'll walk; hopefully, I'll manage to lose some of the weight I've put on recently.
This evening, I shall be going to the fireworks show. I'll walk; hopefully, I'll manage to lose some of the weight I've put on recently.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Party!
I went to a wonderful party at the weekend, hosted by my friends Karin and Roland. Good company, good food, good wine; for what more can one ask?
Friday, October 12, 2007
Friday, October 05, 2007
The day I tried mead
I used to quite like mead, but I hadn't had any since my student days. Anyway, I was given a bottle. So, some time later, I got out a tankard and poured myself a glass. And took a long pull. But this was no ordinary mead: it was more honey wine - 13% alcohol! It was not the long refereshing drink I had expected. Still, it tasted very nice.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
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