jayb111

Bloody Google

2016-03-03T12:16:11Z

Taking over everything in sight and making existing users of whatever it was jump through ever-changing hoops to get access. Or not. This is not the first time this has happened and now I think I've had enough. Think I'm going to abandon my other blog and start a new one when I've had time to look around and see what other blogging platforms are available. Preferably with a cast iron guarantee that Google will never be allowed anywhere near it.

Very pleased to see -

2014-09-14T19:25:18Z

- the White Horse of Kent being waved enthusiastically at the Albert Hall last night.

Can we have a referendum? After all, we were a kingdom first!!! And we have our own laws and customs.

Idiot BBC commentators

2014-06-06T09:19:13Z

The Queen is not Her Royal Highness!

One of them got this wrong at the Jubilee. I don't know if it's the same one, but she got it wrong today. Don't they have style guides to read in advance of events like this?

(Though really, if you don't know the correct way to refer to Her Majesty the Queen, you probably shouldn't be commentating for the BBC at all!)

(Royal British Legion Chaplain has a lovely voice, though.)

Where has this woman been all her life -

2014-05-14T10:25:47Z

- if she's 'surprised' at hearing schoolchildren addressing their teachers as 'Sir' and 'Miss'?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27403902

Google's front page today

2013-11-22T15:31:13Z

Go and look!

Am tempted to e-mail Sainsbury's -

2013-07-03T13:00:16Z

The BBC has a story about a woman who was asked by a checkout operator in Sainsbury's to end her mobile phone call before being served. The woman customer apparently says she's going to take her custom elsewhere in protest. Sainsbury's wants to apologise to her and offer a £10 voucher in recompense.

I'm tempted to tell Sainsbury's I shall be taking my custom elsewhere in protest against their spineless failure to back up their staff member and uphold decent standards of courtesy.

BBC fails again

2013-06-07T10:33:14Z

From a story on the BBC website this morning -

The Queen will be introduced to people who worked on the building project, and a number of TV personalities...

I know old rules of etiquette aren't strictly observed any more, but this one bugs me. The Queen isn't introduced to anyone. People are introduced to her. The BBC should know this.

I don't think there's anyone in the world to whom the Queen would be introduced.

Anyone would think -

2013-05-08T18:09:22Z

- that Alex bloody Ferguson was royalty, the amount of media attention his ~~abdication~~ resignation is getting.

What a difference a Dimbleby makes

2013-04-17T12:08:20Z

I didn't watch all of it, but I thought what I did see of the BBC's coverage of Baroness Thatcher's funeral was immeasurably better than their Jubilee coverage last year. David Dimbleby did the commentary on the event as well as hosting the studio guests - all of whom (that I saw) had something interesting and relevant to contribute. There wasn't an ill-informed girlie reporter or C-list celeb in sight.

There were moments when Dimbleby was talking when he should have shut up, and moments when he was talking nonsense, but mostly he kept quiet and let the pictures tell the story.

The interior of St Paul's looked magnificent, so kudos to whoever was in charge of the camerawork there.

So B/B+ for this one, BBC. Use it as a basis for planning the much greater state occasions that will be coming along in the future.

Technology and Being Green

2012-09-26T13:09:51Z

My printer is old. That means that a) I can only buy the ink cartridges online and b) they are expensive.

When I attempted to print something at the weekend I found that, having not used it over the summer, what had been a nearly new ink cartridge had dried up and wouldn't print.

I could buy a new printer, with more easily obtainable ink, for not much more than the price of a new cartridge for this one. But on the other hand, this printer still works, and I don't want to add to the gigatons of obsolete IT equipment that must be dumped each year.

For now, I've ordered a new cartridge. But I think I might have to look around for a new printer. (That is only a printer. I have a perfectly good scanner and I don't want a fax machine.)

On a more cheerful note, I was delighted to see that Amazon now offers the option of having things delivered to a nearby official Amazon pick up point, such as a convenience store, to be collected by the customer. I rarely buy things online that won't fit through my letterbox, because of the bother of having to wait in for deliveries, so am very pleased with this innovation. (It probably isn't all that new, but apparently it's quite a long time since I bought anything from Amazon and I hadn't come across it before.)

So much for showcasing Britain

2012-07-23T18:12:34Z

In Sainsbury's today I saw some Corgi models of London taxis, made by Hornby. There were several different types, so people could collect them. Nice, I thought. If I was going to buy an Olympic souvenir at all, that's the sort of thing I might buy.

Until I saw 'Made in China'.

One would think a model of something as iconic as a London taxi, produced by a company as iconic as Hornby, to commemorate an event as iconic as the Olympics, might actually be made in Britain.

Add that to the fact that places such as Greenwich Park have become no go areas for the duration, screwing up many people's regular commutes as well as depriving people of an amenity, I've pretty much had it with the Olympics before they've even started.

(I do wish the British team well, and the volunteers, police and soldiers who'll be working the events.)

Who writes this stuff?

2012-07-10T09:50:43Z

Looking for something to link to on my other blog, I came across a page on a .gov.uk site that looked promising - until I came to this: '...which can evidence crucial links to previous generations.'

No, just no. 'Evidence' is not a verb. This particular mangling of the language has been around in Officialspeak for some years, but I refuse to subscribe to it.

English is a wonderfully rich language. I can think of at least three different ways of saying what that sentence is trying to say without using words in ways they were never intended to be used.

Coining a word or phrase to convey a new idea or concept is one thing, especially in an informal context - it's happening in fandom all the time. But trying to force a word into a space where it doesn't belong, when there are already words that fit that space perfectly well, is something else entirely.

Sorry BBC -

2012-06-05T14:51:58Z

But I think Sky News won this one. Generally better choice of camera angle, less inane wittering from commentators, no cutting away from the outside action to talk to irrelevant studio guests or vox pop interviews.

Haven't we been here before?

2012-05-01T18:59:11Z

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17894176

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeI2cl3Sr7c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs_nNiNmNZg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqjrIhMwU8U

Time was -

2011-12-20T19:37:06Z

- when you couldn't think of what to get someone as a present, some writing paper and envelopes was a safe bet. There'd be a huge range of gift sets to choose from. Not any more. I've been in every likely shop locally today and all that was on offer was bog standard Basildon Bond in WHS. People do still write letters. The person I wanted to buy it for doesn't have e-mail.

(But I was sufficiently annoyed at having a wasted trip to one shopping centre that I decided to walk all the way home, two miles plus, rather than spend more money on bus fares, which must have been good for me.)

New Blog

2011-01-05T20:51:29Z

Happy New Year to all on my friendslist.

I've started a new blog, to talk about English history and general writing stuff. Here: http://theenglishhistorian.blogspot.com/

There isn't much there yet, as I'm still tweaking and finding out how blogspot works. But I'd appreciate it greatly if people could drop in from time to time and maybe leave a comment if they find anything comment-worthy.

(With apologies to the people who will see this twice.)

Here we go again...

2010-02-19T13:17:08Z

Two more things to add to the list of Things That Have Gone Wrong in my house over the last year or so.

Two weeks ago, glasses broke.
This week, fridge part of my fridge freezer packed up.

Soon there'll be nothing left in the house that I haven't had to replace or have repaired at some point.

And I don't keep much in my fridge, but I do use the freezer. So why are the fridge compartments always bigger than the freezer compartments in these things?

And finally, when I have a new one delivered, it will have to come along the back alley and through the back gate. So I'll have to spend time in the garden this weekend clearing stuff away from my back gate, making sure I can still open and close it, and making sure the alley is clear.

ETA: And finally finally, there are very few places in town centres now that sell this sort of stuff. They're nearly all in out of town 'retail parks', which is a real PITA when one doesn't have a car.

If this were fanfic...

2010-02-03T16:20:38Z

I've just started reading a lightweight crime novel wth a historical setting.

At the top of page two the heroine's 'deep emerald eyes' are mentioned.

When she took off her hat at the bottom of the page 'a mane of vivid auburn hair tumbled down'.

If this were fanfic I'd be screaming 'Mary Sue!' and hitting the back-button.

The author gets no points for scene setting, either. Everything about the opening scene suggests that it takes place in the countryside. Later there are hints that we are in fact in London - but nowhere is it specifically stated.

Why is it that ...

2009-12-23T18:01:35Z

... when you get a Christmas card from someone you haven't sent one to, it always arrives too late to reciprocate?

Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2010 to all on my friends list.

Aaargh!!!

2009-10-03T14:18:47Z

Long time no post and now it's a gripe.

My hi-fi last night became the latest in the long list of things that have ceased to work in my house this year. It is no more. It has ceased to be. It is an ex-hi-fi.

It was pretty old and wasn't a brilliant piece of kit and I do have other radios, tape players and cd players. I wouldn't mind too much except that a) I now have nothing on which to play vinyl and b) my Best of the Moody Blues cd is stuck in there.

jayb111 @ 2009-06-26T09:56:00

2009-06-26T09:03:20Z

New bathroom chosen and paid for.

Now awaiting date for installation - probably late August/early September.

Before then I have to finish stripping the old wallpaper and pick out (and pay for) extras such as new roller blind, towel rail etc.

Not looking forward to the hassle of having the work done, but am looking forward to starting the new academic year with a bathroom in which everything actually works!

Packaging un-rant

2009-04-11T12:57:44Z

After last year's rant about Easter egg packaging, I'm happy to report that this year the loose chocolates came in just a little cellophane bag and they and the egg were in a plastic tray inside a cardboard box. Much better.

(The chocolates used to come inside the egg, which meant the egg could be in a smaller box, but I suppose there's some EU regulation that forbids that now.)

I'm not the only person who was annoyed by excessive packaging last year:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7990446.stm

Saturday Klepto

2009-01-24T21:38:32Z

From innocent_lex

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next seven sentences in your journal along with these instructions.

Huh. This author writes long sentences. You can have one:

Finally, the sheer size of the Wealden parishes, and the fact that their farms were often remote from the parish church and isolated for long periods of the year, inevitably made them difficult to govern.

jayb111 @ 2009-01-19T17:25:00

2009-01-19T17:29:13Z

Why is it that when you're on a bus with a lot of noisy schoolkids, the ones making the most noise are always the last to get off, so you're stuck with them for nearly the whole journey?

Light Bulb Rant

2008-12-28T16:37:34Z

I need to replace some light bulbs in my house. They're in places where I need a good light, so I use 100w bulbs. I haven't had to buy any in a while, but I've used all I had in the cupboard, so today I went shopping for 100w bulbs.

Wilkinson only had traditional light bulbs up to 60w. For 100w, I'd have had to buy the 'energy saving' type. I don't like 'em, but it seemed I had no choice.

They'll last for up to eight years, it said in big letters on the front of the box. OK, I thought. Then I read the teeny, tiny print on the back. '.... if used for 2.7 hours a day.' Um - this is England in December. On a good day you turn the light on at around 3.30 pm and turn it off when you go to bed.

Then I looked at the price. £3.99 each. Four pounds?? Four pounds for a light bulb?? I have a box of 60w in the cupboard that cost 89p for four.

I came away empty handed.