Saturday, October 29, 2011

When Blogs Vanish

What's happened to LC's blog, anybody know? My work from home life is so sad that keeping up with the few blogs I follow is actually seen as a highlight of the day.

And whilst I'm at it, Ben enable comments you cunt!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

An Ode To Cancer

Cancer, you are a fucking cunt.

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Why I Will Never Give My Credit Card Details To Microsoft Again As Long As There Is A Hole In My Ass

When you combine these bank transactions:-



with the fact my xbox live account is now in the name of somebody called Audrey from Russia who has managed to setup a Live profile without ANY valid information and associate it with my tag. Then when you add in the fact that those points were spent in Russia when every piece of information related to the original account (and the card used for it for fucks sake) specifies UK - all without anything being flagged at Xbox. Then you look a little closer and see that the points were used to buy games already played and completed with that account, and still nothing is flagged. Then when you add in that the password associated with the hacked account has only ever been used with that account, and that it wasn't even fucking changed as part of the hijack. Then just to top it off you have Microsoft denying that they have a security issue when the simplest check on Twitter shows this to be a little more than isloated:-

Xbox Live Accounts Hacked

And then you get to spend an hour racking up phone charges because they are experiencing high demand for support...which have nothing to do with the multitude of cunts who have gained access to other peoples accounts of course ;) At least Sony had the decency to admit there was a problem and turn off their system. Wonder when Xbox will do the same?

Monday, October 03, 2011

176-0

The number of comments posted on Facebook (from my friends) about the X-Factor vs the number of comments posted about the very recent general election. And people wonder why the place is going down the shitter.

I'm hardly an academic, nor bright for that matter but even I can work out that the X-Factor is nothing more than a circus freak show in order to separate as many people as possible from as many micro payments as possible over as long a time period as possible. It's laughing at mentals for entertainment and then paying through your phone bill for the pleasure.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Democracy

There have been quite a few polls done in Germany recently to try and ascertain what the general view is on Germany increasing its contribution to the European bail out fund. The average* result has been somewhere between 60% and 70% of Germans don't want to put more money in the pot to prop up corrupt bullshitting governments.

The vote in the German parliament was a slightly different matter:- 523 in favour, 85 against, 3 abstained

Remember that those people voting have been voted in to REPRESENT THE GERMAN PEOPLE in a democratic way. This is the democracy that everybody is so proud off and that Americans get so uppity about every time a country veers away from its path? Ask yourself who is answering to who?

And in related news it's election day on the Isle of Man, we stand on the edge of a cliff and the only thing stopping us falling is if people can be brave enough to vote for ideas and policies and not their "mate" or somebody whose helped a "mate". Basically we're screwed.

*from what I've seen

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Working From Home Is Like Living In Space

....nobody can hear you scream!

And on that note I'm off to find something better to do today than looking at this stupid fucking screen.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Fat Bastard

As we get older we all like to think that were ageing well don't we? I know I do, for somebody in their 30's I'm no Ryan Giggs but I'm doing alright (I'm not chasing reality stars half my age like a dog with 2 dicks so I figure a little bit of slide is OK). I'm not a massive eater, or a big drinker, my body fat percentage is around the 17% mark, not great but good enough...and this is how I see myself...middle of the road.

It's amazing how what we perceive and what others see can be so different though. A bit like when you're looking at photographs and don't even recognise yourself, "Who the fuck is that mong?" It's not very often we get a totally unbiased view of what we're really like but today I got a beauty.

In the gym class and the instructor decides were going to do some intervals on a treadmill. She's looking at each of her budding students with a sincere intensity, determined to pick the level that she thinks will really push each and every one of us. It comes to my turn..."TEN!" Ten what? 10 kph, that's the running speed which she HONESTLY thinks is going to push me. 10kph for 30 seconds. To be fair at the time I didn't know if this was good or bad but during the warm-up I became obsessed with doing some mental arithmetic. Back in the day I'd do an average 200m in about 25-26 seconds but lets say I lope around in 30 seconds, we've got to allow for some ageing here. That means 400 metres in a minute (still slow) or 5 minutes to do 2000 metres. That's 12 kilometers in 30 minutes or 24kph. And the perception is I'll struggle at 10, remember it's only for 30 seconds. Really? Really fucking really? Do I really look that fat that people think I'm incapable of moving quicker than 10kph in short bursts? Fuck de fuckidy hell.

Anyway I did it, I set it at 10 and I ran. I say ran, it was more of a slouching shuffle, I was tempted to stick it up to 20 just to make the point, to who I'm not sure, but in the end I thought bollocks to it and ran at 10. But that's not the point, people think I'm fat! I'm off to eat a family sized fruit and nut then cry.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Manx Economy - For Simple People

I've been doing everything I can to avoid the local media in the run up to the Manx general election, there's only so many regurgitated press releases I can take. But now it's started to find its way into the national press I have caught a few bits and pieces and it amazes me how little understanding there actually is of the current situation on the Isle of Man. Here's my simple guide for simple people...like me. Think of the island as a home:-

In the good old days our home had a family income of £30,000 a year, this was very good, our little family was very happy. Of this £30k we spent about £27k on living and the rest went into a savings account. Aren't we good?

Then the world changed, we all had to take a pay cut and the family income dropped from £30,000 a year to about £20,000 a year. Bad? Yes. But not the end of the world because we could tighten our belts, we could reduce that £27,000 that we spend and besides we had £40,000 in our savings account. No need to panic, or so you'd think?

However when the times were good we weren't spending our money on one off things, like a nice big TV :) Instead we decided to commit our self to long term payments, we hired a cook, a cleaner and a gardener, it's not like a house our size really needed them but hell the money was there so why not? They were our friends and they needed jobs. We put them on generous contracts content that the world would never change. Whilst we were at it we decided to have an extension built and borrowed the money to do this. A bigger mortgage, no problem for us because the world would never change? In the end when all was added up of that £27,000 we were spending each year almost all of it was monthly direct debits that we just can't get out of easily. We are committed. OK so we might be coming up short but we STILL have our savings of £40,000 to see us through the tough times, who knows, maybe we'll get a pay rise in the next few years? Maybe.

Except, and this is the real bugger, we might have £40,000 in our savings account now but we also owe £60,000 on our mortgage. We forgot about that, and the interest rate on our mortgage means that the amount we owe is getting bigger each year!

So what do we do? Do we sack our friends and not only risk upsetting them but also being taken to court? Do we go to our boss and ask for a pay rise, in a competitive market where other people are prepared to do our jobs for less than us? We might find ourselves getting let go? There is no easy answer, just a massive fucking mess. It's not that we didn't save money, it's that we spent too much and that's a really horrible habit to break.

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Three Coats

How the fuck is it even possible for somebody who only goes out at most half a dozen times a year to lose THREE coats by the beginning of September?

Monday, August 22, 2011

Benidorm In 1 Sentence

A great beach but nights wrecked by endless pissed up British chav families taking turns singing either Amy Winehouse, Adele or Taylor Swift.

I don't mind pissed Karaoke but do you really need to entertain us with the 40th different rendition of "Someone Like You" in the last 3 hours? Oh and as good as you think your 5 year old daughter is at singing, is a fucking pub at 3 in the morning really the most appropriate time to show it off?

Jesus that was a struggle to write cos I actually like the place.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Hola!

I'm in Spain, it's very hot and all is well with the world!

The best thing about Spain though isn't the weather, or the way you can get away with living in a pair of shorts, or not shaving but fitting in, it's the don't give a shit attitude. Even though they are right at the heart of that whole EU thing that gets blamed every time the UK becomes even more of a boring shit hole they just don't give a flying fuck about anything. Smoking, drinking, road safety, who cares. As for copyright, what copyright? I've seen more latest release blockbusters in the past 10 days than I've seen in 5 years back home. I'll be buying the ones I liked on Bluray when they come out...strange how that works. If I'd already paid £8 to go to the cinema chances are I wouldn't be buying the £15 Bluray. Saturday I watched the 3pm Premier League games from a pub with full English commentary.

As well as dodgy movies and lazing around the pool it's been a great holiday all around, even the bits of work I've had to do isn't so bad when you can do it from a warm sunny balcony overlooking frolicking chicks in the pool, sure beats the hell out of being locked in a box room looking at a damp cold IOM. If only they didn't hate immigrants so much I could get used to this ;)

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Regrets

I really REALLY should have said fuck it and went out in the boat today.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sproston Green - When Music Was Good

I've been meaning to do a post of my favourite 10 songs of all time (mainly so I can put a marker down in history and then moan at myself 10 years down the line) but every time I start it I end up getting distracted (note to self, saving is your friend). Here's one from it anyway:-

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Cock-knockers

This island is full of them, and sooner or later (sooner, much sooner) the "me,me me's" are going to fuck up this place so badly that all that will be left are a couple of thousand government workers demanding pay rises and more pensioners than you can throw a stick at. All clinging to a rock shouting and screaming about what they want from their friends who they've voted in again.

In the meantime I think I'm going to block all access to any sort of local news, if somebody could just give me a shove when it's all over I'd be grateful.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Reality Bites - VAT Black Hole

This was posted nearly 3 weeks ago....yet it's only today we'll hear any confirmation on it from our elected leaders. This is something that will affect the lives of every normal person living on the Isle of Man. By the time this is finished Public Sector salaries and the various state benefits will account for considerably more than 80% of the islands total income. You can't function like that, something will have to give and in a massive way.

Isle of Man In The Shit

There are so many problems that it's hard to know where to start. I suppose you can look at the local population and taxes, except that for normal people the island is not a low tax environment. When everything is taken into account we are not that much better off than most EU states or the UK for that matter. There is also the cost of living. For those of us born here we've been told to accept the ridiculous cost of living (don't get me started on that fucking rant) because it's balanced by taxes and ever so slighlty higher average earnings. Except the average earnings figures are skewed by an extremely generous public sector and those massive earners the government is so keen to attract. Outside of goverment most people are not earning £25k a year. How can you possibly increase taxes on those amounts by enough to even make a dent in that hole and still give people enough take home to live? It doesn't add up. How many normal working class people will want to stay here with such limited services and being taxed through the nose to pay for them?

The other side of the coin is that government cuts costs. Except that they have already proven themselves totally incapable of doing that (Much easier to fiddle the GDP figures). Right now, this very minute, there will be people sat in their government offices reading magazines, playing solitaire or even better sat staring into space who will expect a pay rise. They will moan about how hard they have it. I know this for a fact because I spent a couple of years amongst them before I was driven to the brink of insanity. They have done this for years and they will do it till they retire. This is their right, along with a generous pension and job for life. The bill for this is around 320 million pounds a year...and it only ever gets bigger. We also have an amazing benefits system, even in the worst of times there is always more money for those on a fixed income. Yes, as if the majority of people working don't get a fixed amount each week/month. So you've got the untouchables of salaries and benefits, what's left? That's just it, not a lot. Not enough to run a country, never mind provide what tax payers want for their money.

I'm no expert but I reckon we're screwed this time. We've obligated ourselves to the millionaires lifestyle on the income of a Government EO. A good salary all the same but it doesn't buy a Ferrari.

"Treasury Minister Anne Craine is due to make a statement about the VAT revenue sharing agreement with the United Kingdom, with speculation the changes could eventually cost the Island another £75 million a year.

At the same time government departments will ask the court to approve £5 million in spending.

...while North Douglas MHK Bill Henderson will continue his campaign over the loss of jobs on the Island's railways. (5 jobs to be exact, out of a workforce of 8000)"
" - From Manx Radio

Monday, July 11, 2011

Sharktopus

I was out fishing yesterday and caught an Octopus and a Shark (technically a fucking huge Tope, but still a shark). The not very friendly tope didn't hang around for pitcures when I finally (30 minutes later) got him to the surface however I have got a video of the Octopus and was going to Youtube it, then apathy kicked in and I couldn't be arsed. That is all.

Update:- Beats doing some work I suppose.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

A Week In The Life

Monday 27th June


I was up very early to catch the tides and have a play with my new metal detector. It wasn't a warm day and it was also very windy but it was all made worthwhile when I found my first thing that couldn't be described as modern rubbish. It's made of brass, it looks like it's been shot but I have no idea what the hell it is? It does have some writing engraved into it but so far I can't read it:-





Tuesday


Tuesday was stinking hot. I made it to my gym class in the morning but instead of working during the afternoon I decided to get myself a day license for the reservoirs. I caught this:-





Well actually 2 of them but I always like to put the first fish of the day back. I uspet a lot of fly fishermen who looked like they'd been there for the day. Between the six of them I didn't see anybody catch anything. For £15 I want something for the pot. Tuesday night the girls arrived back on the island after their dancing comp.

Wednesday


Work day. I worked from about 8am till sometime around 9pm

Thursday


Gym until mid morning and then some hardcore work for the rest of the day. I managed to get something working just right for 3-4 hours which brought in a tasty $700.

Friday


Housework. Daughter is having a sleepover on the Saturday and I had plans so that meant any cleaning had to be brought forward. The joy of having both of us working full time is that housework only tends to get done on a needs must basis. In this case it meant a full day of cleaning for me. At least it was appreciated which makes it all worthwhile.

Saturday


Boat day. Me and Mrs B ventured out for the day on the boat (the wifes first trip of the year). Within 20 minutes she'd managed to catch this:-



Which is frankly the biggest fish I've seen landed in a long time. For somebody who had never even used that type of rod and reel before Mrs B did amazingly well to even get the thing to the surface, never mind in the boat. We caught lots more but all were put back. Saturday night I watched the Haye vs Klitchsko fight in 3D. Well I say in 3D, the wife complained so much that it ended up being mostly 2D. There was the sleepover which all went to plan and we were so knackered that nothing was going to keep us awake.

Sunday


Another boat day for me whilst the girls went of to the Tynwald Garden Party - obviously I wasn't invited. The weather forecast was completely wrong and what should have been a lovely day was in fact a pile of crap, something which only really occured when I was about 12 miles from home. It was a very bumpy trip back. Chinese for tea and I slept the sleep of a thousands sleeps. I was dead on my feet by 10 o'clock.

Monday


Work, lots of it. Then the reality that the weather has been given to change tomorrow and our hedge desperately needs cutting. At about 4 in the afternoon I whip out the hedgecutter and ladder and set about it. Just as I'm finished something goes quite badly wrong. The ladder flips leaving me flying through the air with a hedge cutter dangling between my legs! Before I can stop it, it has banged of my foot (thankyou toe caps) and gone straight through the mains cable fully accompanied by a lot of smoke and sparks. I end up flat on my back with a hedge cutter resting on my leg and a live cable draped across me. The reality of the situation kicks in and I move very slowly. I don't suppose there's ever a good time to snuff it but as far as weeks go that one takes some beating.



Of course if I die at the end of this week where I have nothing planned but mountains of work I'll be pretty pissed off.

Friday, June 24, 2011

To Wash or Not to Wash!

Do you remember the old days? You went out for a couple of hours drinking and as soon as you got home all your clothes went in the wash basket as they stunk of cigarettes and “Pub”.

But what is the etiquette now? I had 3 hours in the Pub last night, but as no one smokes, are my clothes ready for the wash or do they see another day of wear?

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Metal Detecting

The Beach Detecting Dream






The Reality


You spend 4 hours walking up and down a wind swept beach digging up every tin can that's been dropped in the last 5 years. Then just to add to the joy you discover that every other rock on the beach is actually fucking ferrous, of course you don't realise the full magnitude of this until you've dug up your third boulder and broke your spade. Plus my right arm feels like it's going to drop off and my feet are piss wet through.

But I can think of much worse ways of spending a sunny Thursday morning :)

Update:- I've just found out I spent 4 hours on the wrong beach! Talk about all the gear with no idea. It takes a very special person to mix up 2 of our lovely Manx Glens in such a fucked up way.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Manx Ass Syndrome


You're probably wondering what Manx Ass Syndrome is? It's something that afflicts ladies of a certain age who live on the Isle of Man, ladies who should be in the prime of their lives and at their hottest. Somehow and for a reason that science has failed to diagnose (although the diet of chips cheese and gravy, lager and counting Facebook as a sport, may have something to do with it) they develop a massive fat ass. Some are immune, mainly it seems those from Eastern European descent, it must be in the genes, but for most of the women living on the rock Manx Ass is an inevitable reality. Damn you nature.

As a man you expect there to be certain places that you can go for a break from Manx Ass, like a gym for example. Imagine my shock this morning then when one of the newer personal trainers appeared with what can only be described as muffin chub peaking over the top of her lycras! A personal trainer FFS! It looked like she'd hoiked her ass up over the top of her pants, cunning perhaps but not enough to fool somebody who has grown up surrounded by Manx Ass. If personal trainers aren't safe then who is?!

I can only hope that medical science advances at a pace that those of the next generation aren't going to have to put up with this, cancer, aids (the bad type) are nasty, but there are things much much worse out there.