Sunday hits an all time low

Quick post today. Mainly because I’m busy...

Beat The Star

But has Sunday taken an all time low when we have Martina Hingis dropping dried peas into a wine bottle in order to stop some dental assistant from winning £50,000.

Does this post need to say more?

That was quick!

Just a day after uploading my little diatribe against the sort of US citizens who walk around with “Commies Go Home!” plastered on them, I’ve had my balanced opinion swung in both directions.

First off, thanks to anybody who took the time to send an email (via Facebook) on the subject.

To be honest, it was as I expected. I got a fairly 60/40 split of “You’re an insane communist” to “I agree and the protesters views don’t represent ALL opinions”.

I was of course, being particularly targeted towards them and in retrospect, I was heavy handed. For which I am sorry.

... and now a story about a tap dancing bear.

When social means socialism (US style)

The US is a country of enormous wealthy and hypocrisy. Blanket statement I know, but let me back this up.

Coming from a European country, where socialised medicine is the norm, I guess I just can’t understand the prevailing (or at least loudest) opinion that somehow inexpensive health care for the masses is the end of all that is good and true for America.

Costs of US Health Insurance



What I also find confusing is just how much Americans pay in terms of medical insurance compared to what Europeans pay in additional tax for the same services. In fact, that comparison isn’t fair, for socialised medicine provides preventative care; not part of standard health insurance schemes. How much is too much? Well, in the US an average four person family pays around $12,700 per year on health insurance. Which sounds terrible to start with and they you realise that the median household salary in the US is $50,233.00. So this makes health insurance 25.2% of the average persons income, over a quarter!

UK Costs for comparison


Now in the UK it’s a bit confusing to make a comparison. Because our “National Insurance” contributions are both means tested and represent not only a payment for health care, but also a payment towards a future pension paid by the Government to everybody over a certain age.

Another factor is that basically, EVERYBODY who is a UK citizen gets free health care. So if you had a family of FOUR, it wouldn’t matter how many we’re earning or in fact if ANY of them were working. I guess we consider that even the poor have the right to live.

But lets take the average household with a salary of £30,000*2 ($44,334). National Insurance contributions on that salary would be £2,702.15 ($4,000 approx.).

The outcome......


So US Health Insurance is £5,887 ($8,700) MORE expensive than the UK equivalent. MORE expensive, not less.

So you’ll not be too surprised that it makes my BLOOD BOIL when I hear on US television from either the actors they employ to run the stories or the idiots they are interviewing that socialised medicine costs more. Even a complete idiot could work out that it wouldn’t..... OH, there you go. I see the problem.

The land of the .... hypocrite


But there is something that amuses me the most. If ‘social’ things are so bad; why do Americans not bat an eyelid to pay for the Fire Service or Police Service? What makes it OK for the Fire Service to be perfectly acceptable and a social Medical Service to not be? What about the school service? Isn’t that free (but paid for in taxation).

Well, for one the thing, I guess the Fire Service and Police have historically been paid for by tax, although this obviously hasn’t always been the case. Prior to the introduction of a socialised Fire Service everybody had to pay a fee to a local company or they would let your house / company burn down. Thankfully we’ve all moved on since those bleak times. Well, some of us have.

Why bother...


I was going to go on to produce statistics showing the huge levels of deaths due to medical incompetence in the US. Or how the majority of medical advances in the last twenty years have come from SOCIALISED medical services.... where profit isn’t a factor in treatment.

I could go on to point out that socialised doesn’t mean socialism.

But the fact is, what would be the point. The fact that people like this.
No

No “Socialism” says Julio the contractor. Better disband the Police, Fire and School services then. Although the sign next him saying “WerNot Going To Take It America IS HUMBLE” probably points to the idea that the school systems needs a shakedown.


More anti COMMUNIST rhetoric

My favourite moron for today. His matter earnestly reads
“I Want my Children to be in the USA not the USSA”

Two things;
  1. The USSR stood for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; the R not being Russia. So USSA makes not friggin’ sense at all. Union of Soviet Socialist Asses perhaps? What a moron!
  2. It is socialised medicine and not SOCIALIST. In the same sense that a paediatrician is definitely not the same thing as a pedophile.

It reminds me when Fox started the whole “Liberal” is bad routine when it failed to strike a cord with the American public that the founding fathers must have had similar opinions in order to declare all men as “being equal”.

Just to make something clear... socialised medicine is merely a publicly funded healthcare system that is paid for using means tested taxation. The origin of the term is from society and not socialism.

For those interested in the reasoning and history of the National Health Service, I’m sure this Wikipedia article will help.

Like I say, what’s the point. I’m either preaching to the converted or I’d be regarded as a lying communist.

All the statistics come from the Office of National Statistics in the US / UK respectfully.

M1 Tragedy - How could it happen?

I’ve just been reading this story on the BBC Website.

Essentially, a Polish registered Volkswagen Passat drove the WRONG WAY up the M1 and collided at speed with a Jaguar carrying four people. The results shouldn’t be a surprise and tragically all we killed.

But what I find extraordinary is how the Polish driver (and I suggest he must be Polish) managed to get onto the M1 THE WRONG WAY. I mean that would mean driving the WRONG WAY around a round about, against the signs, and driving the wrong way down a slip road (again, with signs being backwards) before then driving down the motorway.

It just doesn’t seem possible to me how somebody could make so many mistakes. Yet, this appears to be the case.

More details are sure to follow.

Rainy Manchester

I know Manchester has a reputation for sudden downpours. But this Google streetview is ridiculous.

I’m looking Dawsons the musical instrument store (fancy a Korg nanokey for when I’m out and about) but I’m not sure where in Manchester it is.

So I thought I’d use Google’s Steeetview to get a good picture of it.

So here is the junction of Nicholas Street and Portland Street (Dawson’s is somewhere ON Portland Street).

On the junction of Nicholas St and Portland St

One more click on the yellow bar and suddenly it’s piddling down, gloomy skies and very bleak.

Just 20 yards into Portland Street it rains

Not to worry though, just two clicks down the road and it’s sunny again! Hurrah!!

Sunny again!

And that’s EXACTLY how the rain falls in Manchester Happy

By the way, just for your information... according to the Met. Office, Plymouth is the wettest city in England and NOT Manchester.... so there! Happy

Just in case you’re wondering.... here is Dawsons.

Dawsons!

Avon goes all Resident Evil

I wonder where AVON got the inspiration for their latest advertising campaign.... Hmmmm... Let me think.

Oh yeah, Resident Evil!

Don’t believe me... compare the two

Avon




Resident Evil




Or is it the other way around?

Hillborough - 20 years on

It’s crept up on all of us who remember this particular day, 20 years ago. Perhaps sooner than any of us would like to reflect upon. Of course, at the time we were unaware of everything that transpired until the following Monday, when we all heard the news in person.

Carl Brown was a nice guy who happened to love Liverpool football club and computers in equal measure. Carl and I studied a City and Guilds 418 Programming Course at Leigh College, in Leigh Lancashire. It was his local higher education site and for me it was the only local college that covered the extra computer courses I wanted to cover. So we ended up studying on Marshall Street at the same time. I’m not staking claims to being Carl’s best friend, he had many others. But I did like Carl and I think we got on fine.

Carl wasn’t to complete his computer course though. Because on this day 20 years ago Carl died, aged just 18, at Hillsborough supporting the team he loved so much. I don’t think anybody who remembers that day or the subsequent service at Leigh Parish Church. Partly because it was so packed and I guess partly because of the Vicars use of two very inappropriate and misguided phrases.

Something that I am reflecting most upon right now is the fact that I’ve subsequently lived more years since that day than Carl had in his entire life.

Where I wanted to live as a kid

Growing up in the early seventies meant a lot of going on ‘local’ holidays and for us, that meant Blackpool or if we were pushing the boat out... Lytham St. Annes (which is the more posh place NEXT to Blackpool).

You’ve got to realise that in the early 1970’s, Blackpool was a VERY different place in terms of perception. Sure, there were the odd racy T-Shirt, but nobody walked around with an inflatable penis on their hen night.

In fact, Blackpool was good, working class family entertainment. Or at least that’s how I saw it... aged 8 and younger. I mention the age, because by the time 1978 had come around I’d not only got my own passport but I’d been abroad. After that, Blackpool felt just a little TOO close.

One treat that still affects me still is, of all things, a house I always wanted to live in. It’s on the coast road of Lytham and stands out for having a few very interesting features.

Most notable of which is the front door. Its ROUND! I mean it’s a freakin’ round door!

You have know idea how outstandingly cool that was in the 1970’s to have a round door. I guess these days it’s more associated with Hobbits and the like. But in 1970 it meant “space age” and “hyper modern”. It was the brick and mortar equivalent of Moonbase Alpha!

Microsoft’s Virtual Earth offers a useful view of the house in question here.

The round door house from a distance

With this being a close view of the amazing door.
As close as Microsoft will go on birds eye view

I suspect now it’s just a round portal and normal door(s) on the inside. Still, the door is still round.

I used to imagine myself driving home and parking some expensive red Italian sports car in front of the house while some sultry brunette calls the dogs back off the beach and puts the kids to bed early. Happy

Terrorist in the North West - Aparantly

I don’t know how you feel about this, but I’m getting pretty fed up with the total ‘lack of’ news regarding the 11 terrorists SUSPECTS arrested in the North West.

Basically the facts are;
  • 12 men have been arrested under suspicion of terrorism
  • 11 of them are from Pakistan and are here on student visas
  • No evidence of bomb making has so far been found
  • The raids were brought about because Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick decided to not carry documents classified as “Secret” in a folder! He’s since resigned.

That’s it...

Now here’s what’s being speculated.
  • That they ‘took pictures’ of various sites around Manchester
  • They ‘frequented’ an internet cafe

In other words, those in the media HAVEN’T GOT A CLUE. Listen out for choice phrases such as “this is an evolving story”, “police remain tight lipped” and yet more versions of “we haven’t a clue”.

Despite this, the nation news gave us an exclusive shot of police knocking down a door and 20 minutes of the top three facts over and over and over. Then the local news did EXACTLY the same. Question: Can two people offer ‘exclusive’ video?

Anyway, here’s what I think. If they new EXACTLY where to pick these guys up at a moments notice you’ll have to assume that they were previously the subject of a 24 hour surveillance program. But then look at all the previous ‘terrorist raids’ that resulted in highly public arrests and very quiet subsequent releases with charges. Remember those two guys in London who got ‘accidentally’ shot in an anti-terrorist raid only for the whole ‘evidence’ for the raid being based upon a neighbour who hated them.

So you’ll have to accept I’m a little sceptical about all this. Partly because the amount of information is minimal and therefore the constant regurgitation of known facts seems more about scare mongering than providing a true service.

Ice shelf falls off, anybody check for Earthquakes

BBC news is reporting the mysterious and worrying collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf bridge yesterday, 4th April.

It’s a climate change story... sorry, we are back to ‘global warming’ again.

I wandered over the USGS, that’s the United States Geological Survey website and sure enough there is a report of an earthquake in the magnitude of 5.4 in the region of the collapse on the given period it did so. Last Friday there was another earthquake of 5.2 in a similar spot.

OK, so they are not RIGHT ON TOP of the collapse. But as the ice was described as being brittle, I don’t think it would have taken much to cause the shift.

Kind of reminds me of the Mount Fuji photo on “The Inconvenient Truth”. Mount Fuji being a volcano and all... sometimes it does loose it’s snowy cover.

Funny how embedded science is these days.

60 Ways to save the world.. whare the other 59!?!

IMG_0202
I wonder how many of you have seen this incipid little message on the towel rail of the your travelodge.

It’s the helpful ‘green’ message regarding the reuse of towels and/or linen in order to save the planet.

There are number of things that strike me most about this message of environmental appeasement, so I’ve created a list.

If this is number 57, what are the other 59 ways to save the world?

How about ;
1. Traveleodge starts using recycled plastic bags in their bins.

2. They stop turning on my damn radiator every time I go out for the day. I neither want the heating on nor understand why anybody would heat an empty room! NOTE: The only time I ever needed to heat the room because it was bitterly cold - the radiator didn’t work. Is THAT the reason to turn them on, to make sure they still work?

3. That Travelodge stop changing the bloody mini soap bar EVERY SINGLE DAY! It got to the point where I’ve even tried leaving a note asking for a new block not to be replaced when the previous days block is perfectly useable. But the cleaner failed to READ the note and I ended up with a friendly “OK” and three extra bars. What did she think I was doing with them? Eating them!?

Apart from the obvious total waste of soap, these things come in plastic bags. Doesn’t anybody do soap in paper these days?

4. Why the hell are the kettles in hotel rooms so massive these days. Used to be that your average kettle would make a couple of cups at a go. Which, when you think about it, was perfectly fine as most rooms only allowed two people in it. But in my last room (Travelodge - Towcester) the kettle was so massive that I could have brewed up for the entire sodding hotel, in one go! I’m not joking, this thing was a huge domestic job.

My point being that while it is true that most modern kettles are designed to be (slightly) more efficient. The fact that they are geared to heating four times the amount of water means they burn through electricity faster.

5. Turn the bloody power off on the TV. It’s not rocket science and if the room is going to be empty (frequently the case over winter) why not. I’m sure that even the most dopey of people will be able to work out how to turn a plug socket on (you would hope).

6. What’s with all the light! Ever single Travelodge I’ve ever been in is lit up like the forth of July. I’m sure there must be better ways to manage the lighting in common areas than have the power blaze away all night.

7. Stop with the automatic upgrades and check before you replace. Marstone Moretaine was a pretty unused little Travelodge just South of Newport Pagnell and while the decor did have something a little mid-90’s about it; it was perfectly clean and perfectly serviceable. The carpets where actually pretty comfy wool jobs.

But some muppet at head office decided that it wasn’t in keeping with the new Travelodge colour palette and as a result the entire hotel had it’s clean carpet ripped out and replaced by some tragic blue stuff with the electrostatic properties of a Van der Graaf Generator! Now the reception is beset with complaints of static shocks and the likelihood is that one day there will be a coming together of loose fuel vapour from the local petrol station and spark and the whole place will go up like a Michael Bay movie.

Vampire Baby Found On Mars!!!!

... OK. So that’s a lie. Which is EXACTLY what it has in common with this headline in the April 3rd posting on the Independent news paper.

The headline reads

Obama hails the new world order

Then goes on to describe how UK Prime Minister Brown said where we no “quick fixes” and that “today’s decisions will not immediately solve the crisis. But we have begun the process by which it will be solved.”.

So far, no comment from Obama regarding the “New World Order”.

By paragraph eight it is mentioned that a UK cabinet minister, with regards the enhanced role of world institutions like the IMF, whose budget will triple, that “a new world financial order has been born, almost by accident, because of this crisis.”

Still no comments by BHO himself then...

In fact, I’ll spare you any further reading. At no point does the article mention ANY incident of President Barack Obama so much as mentioning the “New World Order” a “New Order of the World” or any combination of the three words.

But I tell you what, I bet every rabid, right wing agenda website is now directed towards the Independent. People like Alex Jones or Jeff Rense will be looking to cool there ardors (he he he) in the light of this ‘revelation’. Or should I say ‘non-revelation’ because with the exception of some traffic capturing, I’m not suer of the point.

Which is where this posting has something over the Telegraph piece. Because my post DOES include “Vampire Baby Found On Mars!!!!” in the body of the text.

They haven’t found any... just in case you’re still wondering.