There seems to be much huffing and puffing at today's announcement that the amount of consumer debt in Great Britain has, for the first time topped £1 trillion - this being £1 followed by an awful lot of zeros! Apparently this approximates to somewhere in the region of £17,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.
SEVENTEEN THOUSAND? I wish, if only my mortgage alone was anywhere near that low, a happy man I'd be...
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Time for the Next Giant Leap?
Thirty five years ago today I watched enthralled as the (rather grainy) TV pictures came through from the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle, which had just accomplished the first manned landing on the moon. Another five landings took place over the next three years...and nobody's been back there since.
Within the next decade or two, and not before time in my opinion, it's quite possible that people will return. The big question, though, is not so much "when" as "who"?
President Bush has already announced plans for an eventual return by the US - which cynics would suggest means that they must think that there's oil there(!) - but I don't think this will actually happen. I reckon that it'll be the Chinese this time and it'll be interesting to see whether or not I turn out to be right...
Within the next decade or two, and not before time in my opinion, it's quite possible that people will return. The big question, though, is not so much "when" as "who"?
President Bush has already announced plans for an eventual return by the US - which cynics would suggest means that they must think that there's oil there(!) - but I don't think this will actually happen. I reckon that it'll be the Chinese this time and it'll be interesting to see whether or not I turn out to be right...
Monday, July 19, 2004
Two Wheels Good, Four Wheels Bad!
Saturday just gone I finally had a proper cycle ride. There was a time when I used to cycle a lot, but then I turned seventeen, along came a driving licence and a car and that was that!
Saturday afternoon showed me what I was missing. We covered maybe ten to twelve miles of beautiful Sussex countryside. You can't drive across some of the tracks we cycled down and nobody in their right mind would want to - surely something this much fun shouldn't be healthy as well!
Saturday afternoon showed me what I was missing. We covered maybe ten to twelve miles of beautiful Sussex countryside. You can't drive across some of the tracks we cycled down and nobody in their right mind would want to - surely something this much fun shouldn't be healthy as well!
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
The Day the Music Died?
No, it's very unlikely that music will ever die - but the antics of the recording industry aren't helping it any.
I've complained before about copy-protected audio CDs, but the days of the CD may in any case be numbered. It was recently announced that there will soon be an official music download chart, which is surely the shape of things to come.
There is, however, a massive problem with buying your music online. The other day I decided to give this a whirl - there were a couple of particular tracks I've been looking for - a couple of old Blondie songs as it happens - so I bought and downloaded them from, of all places, the Coca-Cola music store.
Downloading the music wasn't any problem. Playing it back most certainly has been. I should have realised that I was heading for trouble when I saw that the format of these songs was Microsoft's WMA, rather than the ubiquitous MP3 file. When I tried to playback either song, I received an error message telling me that I had no licence for them and heard...the square root of bugger all. I've contacted the support team from the music store and, as yet, have had next to no help. Each track may only have cost me 99p, but even for that piddling little amount I'd like to think that I could listen to the music without all the jumping through hoops and general buggeration I seem to be going through.
I'm concerned that this could be the thin end of the wedge. If you can licence playback, what's to stop implementation of a system whereby you have to pay up each and every time you listen to a particular song?
From here on, if I can't actually see a physical medium carrying a piece of music, be it CD,DVD or whatever, I just won't buy it!
I've complained before about copy-protected audio CDs, but the days of the CD may in any case be numbered. It was recently announced that there will soon be an official music download chart, which is surely the shape of things to come.
There is, however, a massive problem with buying your music online. The other day I decided to give this a whirl - there were a couple of particular tracks I've been looking for - a couple of old Blondie songs as it happens - so I bought and downloaded them from, of all places, the Coca-Cola music store.
Downloading the music wasn't any problem. Playing it back most certainly has been. I should have realised that I was heading for trouble when I saw that the format of these songs was Microsoft's WMA, rather than the ubiquitous MP3 file. When I tried to playback either song, I received an error message telling me that I had no licence for them and heard...the square root of bugger all. I've contacted the support team from the music store and, as yet, have had next to no help. Each track may only have cost me 99p, but even for that piddling little amount I'd like to think that I could listen to the music without all the jumping through hoops and general buggeration I seem to be going through.
I'm concerned that this could be the thin end of the wedge. If you can licence playback, what's to stop implementation of a system whereby you have to pay up each and every time you listen to a particular song?
From here on, if I can't actually see a physical medium carrying a piece of music, be it CD,DVD or whatever, I just won't buy it!
R U OK?
For a long while I've been very scathing about the practice of texting via mobile phone. Now though, I may have to reapparaise my objections, having found a use for the concept.
Sadly, earlier this year my marriage broke down and my wife and I separated. Recently I've started to see someone new and, during the day, the only way I can contact her is via SMS message. This enables us to keep in regular contact and I enjoy doing so.
There's a bit of a challenge in seeing how much you can fit into the 160 character limit without mangling the English language completely and, if I do say so myself, I don't think I do too badly...
Sadly, earlier this year my marriage broke down and my wife and I separated. Recently I've started to see someone new and, during the day, the only way I can contact her is via SMS message. This enables us to keep in regular contact and I enjoy doing so.
There's a bit of a challenge in seeing how much you can fit into the 160 character limit without mangling the English language completely and, if I do say so myself, I don't think I do too badly...
Saturday, July 03, 2004
Keep Britain Tidy
Picture this, there I was this morning peddling my bike - well pushing really, as I had a flat tyre - through the Sussex countryside near Arundel when what comes into view but a couple of dumped fridges - hardly beautifying the landscape!
The thing is, as was pointed out to me by my companion bike pusher, you don't just slip a fridge in your pocket and dump it as you pass by a likely spot. She's right of course - the damn things are rather heavy and would have been taken to their misplaced grave by car or truck. The point is that as the lowlife moron dumping them must have used some form of vehicle, then what's so hard about driving them to the local tip for proper disposal?
We have some beautiful countryside round here - wouldn't be nice if the idiot-brigade would try not to spoil it for the rest of us...
The thing is, as was pointed out to me by my companion bike pusher, you don't just slip a fridge in your pocket and dump it as you pass by a likely spot. She's right of course - the damn things are rather heavy and would have been taken to their misplaced grave by car or truck. The point is that as the lowlife moron dumping them must have used some form of vehicle, then what's so hard about driving them to the local tip for proper disposal?
We have some beautiful countryside round here - wouldn't be nice if the idiot-brigade would try not to spoil it for the rest of us...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)