Madness

A further post on idiocy.  What is wrong with people nowadays?

Check out this link, it's a story about the Welsh 1000m Peaks Race and how four people are now missing due to adverse weather conditions.

Now I don't want to be a spoil sport, but what the hell were the organisers thinking? Allowing the race to start in the weather we are experiencing at the moment was utter lunacy.  I grew up in the area and know all too well how lethal those mountains can be.  Luckily for the people involved they were reasonably well prepared and all four have been accounted for with only two left on the mountainside. However eight people have been hospitalised due to their foolishness.

Of the original 600 expected to start the race only 245 did so, looks like Darwinism in action to me. At least over half of the entrants saw sense and decided to run another day.

It beggars belief that there were people prepared to risk their lives in the name of a competition and it angers me that they are putting other lives at risk as the brave people who volunteer to the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team have to go out to look for them.  The cost of having to deploy the RAF helicopters should be met by the organisers and a hefty sum should be donated to the rescue teams involved to teach them a lesson to respect to the mountains.

Each year too many people die in the area because they have no idea how harsh it can be up there.  They're usually ill-prepared people who think that walking in nothing more than a pair of shorts and sandals is okay, not realising that the weather can change instantly from pleasant to atrocious or that walking conditions require something a little more sturdy that a pair of sneakers.  These people are invariably clueless city dwellers but in today's incident we saw experienced fell runners make a bad decision and fall foul of the mountains.

If experience doesn't teach you to make a balanced judgement, what chance do ignorant people have?

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Lack of Understanding

I'm a fair bloke, although when it comes to imbeciles my patience can get sorely tried.  This is the main reason that I have blocked a few people from commenting on my blog.  So in an attempt to rile me, our dear unfriendly village idiot, Ken, posted a comment on another blog for me to see.  I'll share it with you.

ken replied to KingOfAnkh’s comment 
on Jun 5, 2009 at 10:02 PM

i know i have done this a few times before and i will say i'm sorry for it again ,but the queen of ankh just put up a pity post about labour losing in your country and the conservatives taking over and i just had to say …hahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahaha

Ok, where does one start?  Firstly, if you want to post comments about another country's politics, do some homework first.  You need to know the differences between the parties for instance.  I know that our Ken hates liberals and is a right-wing nutter, so I'd liken him more to a BNP supporter rather than a Conservative, which is a totally different thing to the American Conservatives.  Our Tories stance is middle to right-wing, they support gay marriages and gay adoption, they are progressive in their views about stem-cell research, they don't have racist leanings and in our joyous secular country, they don't let religious beliefs interfere with their political view of the world.

Labour is a socialist party, or used to be, nowadays they are middle to left-wing.  Their core values should be to support the working man and defend the welfare state and make the rich pay more taxes to help the poor.  Alas New Labour isn't much different to the Conservatives nowadays, that is why people don't bother to go out to vote as it does feel that you don't have much of a choice between the two main parties.

We also have the Liberal Democrats, these are the guys who are 'middle of the road', quite possibly the party that people like Ken would like to see burnt at the stake as they don't have much of an opinion, they just like things to work. But in today's British political scene, you can't really stand them apart from any of the main parties.

We also have many smaller parties, UKIP, Greens, Sinn Fein, Independents, SNP, Plaid Cymru to name a few.  They stand for various different opinions, but I urge you Our Ken to look it up on Wikipedia.

Secondly, I think you have absolutely no idea about my political views, you seem to have read my previous post and totally disregarded it.  I'm not a Labour or a Conservative supporter, nor am I a Liberal Democrat.  I choose to vote for a party that is right-wing in its values but at it's core is an understanding party that fights for environmental issues and for national pride.  I vote Plaid Cymru!

Plaid have and will continue to pledge to make my home country a better place for its citizens, they have assured that everyone will have free access to medical care and prescription drugs.  They have pledged to make Wales a country that is renewable energy self-sufficient within a generation, the first in the world may I add.  I vote for a party that has national pride at its core, a party that fights for our language and for our future.

The previous post you so blatantly misunderstood ripped into both main parties, I think that Gordon Brown is an idiot, has been ever since he took on the role as Chancellor of the Exchequer many moons ago.  He is slow to act and makes bad decisions, he has led this country to its knees by making silly mistakes whilst trying to make himself look like the saviour of mankind.  His trademark was to hide new taxes in future years so they don't take effect at the time he declared the budget, so nobody realised how much he was actually taking from us.  I think everyone now finds that they are taxed to the eyeballs without a penny to spare, but what has he done with the money that he's raised?  Squandered it.  

As a nation we have no reserves, we have borrowed and borrowed until we are at a stage where we are close to being unable to pay it back, our perfect credit rating with the World Bank is about to be reduced for the first time ever.  

But surely he spent all of those billions to help Britain be a nation above all others? No he didn't.

Nothing has been nationalised unless you count a few banks that should have been left to their own devices.  Our National Health Service is a bloated monster that is fast becoming ineffectual even after they spent 12 billion on a new computer system that has taken over a decade to realise, which still doesn't work.  We're still short on medical staff and our hospitals are rife with superbugs.  

Schools have meant to have been reformed, all I have seen and heard from my teaching friends is that there is no funding, the buildings are falling apart, our children are leaving with a sub-standard education, something Our Ken must surely know a lot about.  The level of education has also fallen, it's so much easier to pass a course now because our children are being taught how to pass an exam rather than learning about the subject.  Understanding is at an all time low.

Our Police Force is sorely underfunded which allows crime to wreak havoc in our communities.  Most crimes might as well go unreported for all the good it would do, the police provide you with a crime number and you just claim on your insurance.  Burglaries, car theft, muggings, no point telling the police any more, their hands are tied, they have no time to pursue these criminals, although they do have the time to chase after speeding drivers and they do have the time and resources to arrest a man when he defends his property.  They also have the time to stop and question anyone who looks suspicious, they have the resources to take your DNA and keep it on record even if you are innocent.  This is what is wrong with our Big Brother society.

Science has taken a back seat in this country, funding has been cut year on year, our best scientists are leaving in droves to other countries, mainly the US, so our greatest minds are being poached never to return.

Industry is on its knees, there is hardly any production going on in the UK, we've turned into a service sector giant, but what happens when there are no services to offer? That's right, unemployment ensues and Ken, guess what, our unemployment rate is staggeringly high at the moment which costs the country more, which meant the taxes get higher and the country needs to borrow more to stave off the failure of our government.

And who have we to replace our incompetent leader and his ineffectual party? Nobody!  This is what my previous post was alluding to.  The Conservatives will undoubtedly win the next General Election, but this does not mean what you think it means Our Ken.  We will not be living in a state that hates gays, we will allow them to marry and adopt children, we will support young women who need abortions, we will continue to research, we will still tolerate other ethnicities and religions and embrace them, we will allow immigration and continue to stave off oppression because our Conservatives are not radicalised like the American equivalent.

Laugh all you want Our Ken, but at the end of the day it is the rest of us who laugh at you because your view of the world is so insular and unforgiving.  At the end of the day we're all human and all we want is a little understanding and peace in our lives, something you simply cannot understand.

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You Don’t Mess With The Williams!

Zohan Me

I did a bit of 'shopping, I was going to use it as a new Facebook profile picture but I don't think its worked well enough as you can't really tell it's me.  Oh well, at least it killed 20 minutes.

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Knells Bells?

I've been paying particular attention to the political scene in Westminster lately, mainly because I can hear the backbench hounds baying for Gordon Brown's blood.  For those of you who don't follow British politics, I don't blame you, the British people had to vote yesterday for their local councils and MEP's and it looks horrendously bad for Labour.  They have all but lost almost every seat, some even to the BNP, and lets face it, if you lose a left wing seat to a far-right fascist party, something is going slightly awry.

Plus we've seen a huge revolt in the Cabinet itself, five members have resigned in as many days and after the furore of the expenses row, many MP's will be standing down at the next election.

So, what do we have left?  Not a lot.  A country that is being led by a 'leader' who cannot lead, who's Cabinet is as bare as my larder, even after an emergency re-shuffle it still looks like Brown is on his last legs.  At a time when this country needs a truly great leader we have an unelected idiot who can't manage to keep hold of his allies. No wonder Britain isn't weathering this global recession very well.

If the backbenchers don't act soon, Labour will be lost for at least a generation, the utter incompetence of this fool has been staggering over the last couple of years and if it carries on we will have nothing left. But alas who have we got to replace him?  The media pundits seem to think that Alan Johnson might be up for the job, on the other side of the house we have David Cameron, the housewife's pin-up, a man with only a couple of years of political experience who fights his corner with a handbag and a poodle.

Surely there must be someone out there who is made of sterner stuff, a leader we can look up to and respect, someone who can prise the country away from the jaws of death.

All I have wanted for months is a General Election, a chance for the people to oust Brown and his corrupt cronies.  Will it happen soon? I bloody well hope so, but I feel that Brown will hold on until the bitter end, damaging the country and his party, perhaps to a point where neither can return to prosperity for years to come.

What irks me is that it seemed easy enough to remove Thatcher from her post all those years ago and she was in a far stronger position that Brown is in today, even John Major was easily dealt with when his time came, so how come we are still stuck with Brown?

Are all of our politician spineless? Are they all too afraid to move against one man?

I do feel that they don't want to rock the boat too much as they might spill some of that gravy that they've been stealing from the train, but someone needs to do something or parties like the BNP will get stronger and we certainly don't need that!

I only wish Brown would see sense and resign.

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Double Dragon Pt.3

Well, Honeychild persuaded me to quaff, so it's her fault if I die of beer poisoning.  I looked at the best before date, it's Feb '08, so there is a slight chance of me going down the shitter, literally.  It's not that bad is it, fifteen months out of date, it's got alcohol in it, things with alcohol in them never go off, surely….

The Last Drink?

Anyhow, here's a little photo of me before I attempt to kill myself by drinking the solitary bottle of out of date Welsh beer.  I apologise for the unkempt look, it's been so hot that I haven't had the energy to shave. Anyway, you girls like the rough and rugged look don't you?

I also should apologise for the nakedness, again, it's too bloody hot, just think yourselves lucky I decided to crop the photo to hide the gut and the little peanut beneath.

Okay, I've opened it and it smells quite piquant, I don't think it's gone over, so here goes…….

Oooohhoooh! That's niiiice….. 

Tastes like it should, perhaps slightly sweeter than I remember.  If I never blog again, you know why, I died from beer poisoning, or it might be that bottle that Fundy pissed into cos we couldn't stop the car…. 

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Double Dragon Pt.2

In relation to the previous post, just to prove to the world that the bottle is in fact about two years old, here's photographic evidence, taken by the lovely Squilla on our return journey from deepest darkest Wales.

IMG_0174-1

Obviously the bottles in this picture were drank at the time, which I why I was so surprised to find this solitary bottle.

Believe it or not, this picture wasn't posed, I just happened to leave my bottle on the other side of the car whilst we went to pee in the bushes, the sheep had absolutely nothing to do with us.  Any accusations that I was trying to teach Fundy the lesser known art of sheep-catching whilst wearing wellies will be dealt with by the Welsh courts.  It simply isn't true.

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Double Dragon

A mate of mine asked me if I had a certain power cable for a G4 Mac the other day and being the hoarder I am, I knew I had one somewhere.  I'm terrible at keeping seemingly useless cables and connectors, you just never know when someone might want one.

I have several boxes of these bits and bobs stashed around the house and in my endeavour to find this particular power cable with the right connector I came across this solitary bottle of Double Dragon Ale.

FeelingFoul

The surprising thing about this particular bottle is that it was bought nearly two years ago whilst I was visiting Wales with Fundy & Squilla and the damn thing survived the Fundster and I when we were on a bender, plus it also survived being in my possession without being quaffed.

At this moment in time it's now chilling quietly in my fridge, but I'm feeling slightly sad at the prospect of drinking it.  Ok, it's slightly out of date, but it also holds dear memories, like nearly being killed by Fundy's driving when he didn't believe me that when it says 'slow' on the signs in Wales, you should take heed.

Do I imbibe this lovely bottle of ale or do I keep it as a relic of times gone by?

Your votes will determine the fate of this poor solitary bottle of lovely Welsh brewing.

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Fool Moon

I've just finished the second of Jim Butcher's Dresden novels, Fool Moon.  It actually took me an age to read it mainly because I kept finding other things to do rather than sit down and read.  For me this is usually a sign that I'm not enjoying the book, but once I got through the initial ten chapters or so, I finally sat down and read the rest of the book in no time at all.

Fool Moon (The Dresden Files)

Jim Butcher

As the title suggests it's about werewolves, but as always I'll not spoil anybody's enjoyment of the book by revealing the plot.

Some of you might recall that I found a TV series called the Dresden Files and I did manage to get hold of it and watch it.  The series borrows a lot from this book, one episode in particular mirrors the outline of the story so I felt that I was re-reading an old book.  My own fault I suppose, I should have read the books first.

I'm not sure if I'll jump straight into Grave Peril, the third in the series just yet, I might take a break and read another book first to freshen my mind, I quite fancy reading Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski, which the Moomin recommended to me a few weeks ago.

I'm immensely glad that I have taken up reading once again, all thanks to e-books and the ease of their availability and the wonderful iPhone Application, Stanza.

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Angels & Demons

There I was thinking to myself, ok, I can't go out because I'm horribly skint, so what is the next best thing that I can do by myself on a Friday evening whilst all my mates are in the Wychwood Festival enjoying themselves listening to various bands and events? No, I wasn't going to do that, I thought I'd watch this dodgy copy of Angels & Demons I managed to get hold of.

Think what you might like, watching this pirated version means I have just funded a few terrorists who are at this very moment piecing together a bomb to stop Dan Brown and Ron Howard from ever inflicting upon us such utter piffle ever again!  One can only hope that my tiny participation in their demise was well worth my having to sit there for over two hours trying to stop the blood from pouring out of my ears.  Not since I walked out of Solaris with George Clooney have I felt this strongly about a film.

Fair enough, almost three seconds into the film I was a little dumbfounded as I couldn't understand what was being said as it was all in Italian or some other heathen language, but even without understanding the language, I already could see the intricate plot unravelling in front of my eyes.  By the third minute I knew it was Ewan McGregor who was behind it all and to top it all off, the McGuffin, an anti-matter bomb, was so implausible that even a sci-fi geek like me couldn't suspend my disbelief to make it work.

Running around Rome looking for churches wasn't that entertaining, in fact I was so bored halfway through the film I went and cooked my tea, only to return to be disappointed further by the fact that one man, yes one guy, managed to take down about fifteen armed police officers and still managed to miss Robert Langdon, aka Tom Hanks.  

If that wasn't bad enough the whole plot revolved around timed set pieces and the ending totally relied on Langdon taking Ewan McGregor with him to find the bomb, nobody on the face of Gods creation could have anticipated or planned how this would all turn out with seconds to spare, not even Obi Wan Kenobi.

If my experience is something to go by, please let me help you out my lovely readers; if for whatever reason you feel the urge to see this disaster of a film, please do so with a ear plugs and a blindfold, you might then enjoy it.

For me the only redeeming factors this film has brought to me is that Ron Howard has fathered a hot daughter who I will never ever meet nor will she ever contemplate sleeping with me. I'm also closer to God now because I agree with the Vatican that this film should be banned, not for its religious insensibilities, but because it is the devils work and it will surely drive many cinemagoer to commit heinous crimes like murder of the director, script-writer/author or just simply force the viewer to commit suicide.

Oh, just in case you might not have understood my critique of the film, I though it was the worst film I have ever seen.  One hopes that in reading the book I might change my mind, but lets face it, Dan Brown wrote it, so that's not very likely is it….

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New Friend?

I've been thinking recently that I could do with a friend around the house, since little Charlie cat died last year it's been a little bit quiet around here.  Quite frankly, the fish don't quite cut it when it comes to company and I find it hard to relate to them in their own little eco-system.  So I've got it into my head that I should offer a place for a rescue cat in my home.

I have plenty to offer, I'm at home all of the time, I have a big garden and a comfortable place to live, I love animals and animals tend to love me, although I have been on the receiving end of a couple of bad dogs and a badger in my time.  Cats are independent enough so I can go out once in a while, plus on the upside you don't have to walk them as you would a dog, seems a perfect arrangement.

I have a friend who might be able to help me as she knows someone who works for the RSPCA but I haven't seen her in such a long time for one reason or another.  I'd go myself but I'm not driving at the moment and getting to Gloucester is a right pain which would be even worse if I had to carry a live animal all the way home, plus it's always nicer to be introduced.

What do you guys think? Should I dive in and get a cat?  What have your experiences been of rescue pets?

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