Sim-O

I’ve had a few teething problems since setting up camp on WordPress. It happens when you don’t test properly. *rolls eyes*

One of the problems was Feedburner not liking the new feed url so I’ve had to delete it at Feedburner and reburn it.

This means that the person that subscribed by email has to re-subscribe. Everyone else should be alright as the new Feedburner feed URL was the same as last time.

Just to make things easy, I’ll just leave these links here:
Subscribe by email
Entries RSS
Comments RSS

Right. What’s next on the list…

What do you reckon, then?

There’s still a few things to sort out like getting the feeds back through feedburner and little bits and bobs, but other than that, it’s all done.

I hope you like it and would appreciate if you’d let me know of any problems you come across, either in the comments or by email.

The Times:

In its relentless quest for world living-room domination, Nintendo is preparing to take on the might of the world’s biggest broadcasters by launching its own television channel.

Viewable by anyone with a Wii games console and an internet connection, the Wiinoma channel is expected to deliver a family- oriented blizzard of cartoons, “brain-training” quizzes, cookery, educational and other lifestyle shows: all of it original content produced exclusively for Nintendo.

Broadcasts in Japan should begin in the spring and the console maker is considering international expansion that would lead to the channel being available in the homes of about 40million Wii owners by the end of 2009.

Mark Steel:

The gap between the might of Israel’s F-16 bombers and Apache helicopters, and the Palestinians’ catapulty thing is so ridiculous that to try and portray the situation as between two equal sides requires the imagination of a children’s story writer.

The reporter on News at Ten said the rockets “may be ineffective, but they ARE symbolic.” So they might not have weapons but they have got symbolism, the canny brutes.

It’s no wonder the Israeli Air Force had to demolish a few housing estates, otherwise Hamas might have tried to mock Israel through a performance of expressive dance.

The rockets may be unable to to kill on the scale of the Israeli Air Force, said one spokesman, but they are “intended to kill”.

Maybe he went on: “And we have evidence that Hamas supporters have dreams, and that in these dreams bad things happen to Israeli citizens, they burst, or turn into cactus, or run through Woolworths naked, so it’s not important whether it can happen, what matters is that they WANT it to happen, so we blew up their university.”

Wikileaks, Northern Rock vs Wikileaks:

The combined publishing might of the British press and the Internet has proved unfit (with the exception of Wikileaks), to provision a key document in British politics to the public. Every insider has it. Surely the British people deserve to see it, after all they’ve paid for it — £400 each.

The UK press is the most injuncted, litigated and censored among the liberal democracies. The population suffers accordingly and as we have seen, this hobbling of the UK press is now exported world wide via extra-territorial claims. The claims have limited power in theory, but are effective tools of suppression in practice as neither profit motivated ISPs nor publishers with UK business dealings will stand their ground. It is time for urgent reform.

And now

Wikileaks previously released the gag order for the Northern Rock bank collapse, now we release the secret gag order made by High Court Justice Tugendhat on Dec 15, 2008 aimed at covering up an email leak from the British establishment. The secret order first targeted UK newspapers, but our copy was destined for the UK Parliamentary blogger ‘Guido Fawkes’, editor of ‘order-order.com’. The summary states:

1. The identities of the Applicants/Claimants must remain confidential.
2. The fact of the existence of the Orders must remain confidential.
3. The terms of the Orders must remain confidential.

(PDF)

Via

Telegraph:

The Culture Secretary is young and media-savvy; can he really believe that cyberspace is susceptible to top-down regulation from government? The notion of ratings for websites betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how the internet works. Dubious, bizarre and revolting material can be accessed from virtually any computer screen in Britain, and teenagers are probably quicker at finding it than anyone else. Mr Burnham talks about “child-friendly web access”; in fact, this is readily available, but it needs parents or responsible adults to install and monitor the appropriate software.

At risk of sounding like a libertarian. It is your responsibility to ensure that your child is viewing only child friendly stuff on the internet. Just like it is your responsibility with regards to what your child watches on the telly. No ratings there is there?
More to the point, how is this going to be implemented? With registration of websites? What are the sanctions going to be if the age rating isn’t displayed? Are only websites that have an age rating going to be allowed through the government firewall? Doesn’t it sound a bit like what everyone is giving China shit for?

It. Isn’t. Going. To. Work.

Via

I just got back from the Next sale in Luton with Mrs -O. What a horrible experience. And that’s not even taking into consideration the rampant consumerism.

We were there an hour and got bumped about. unintentionally I will admit, but only three people said sorry, or excused themselves before pushing past. Ignorant fucks.
What does it take to just murmer one or two words instead of standing expectantly close behind me in the hope that I will telepathically know that they want to get past. How about a bit of a warning with the words ‘excuse me’ before bouncing me out the way? I don’t expect a full on apology, but at least an acknowledgement that I’m here and they’ve tried to stand in the same place as me at the same time.

But the things that really pisses me off is the queue. Why do other people have to stand so close that the coat hangars they are carrying poke me in the back? They’re bags on the floor, why do they have to push them forward so they keep hitting the back of my legs? Just back off a bit, eh?

Let’s all give each other a bit of room and curtesy. It doesn’t cost anything and it might stop stop someone ruining your day.

Being as organised as ever, I haven’t sorted out a proper Christmas post. Y’know the sort, funny, satirical, thought provoking or just a plain ol’ ‘fuck Christmas’ item.

I would just like to say, and I don’t do heartfelt nicey nicey stuff very well, at the end of this year:

Cheers guys. It’s been fun.

Next year there will be a couple changes, for a start I’m changing software to wordpress so there will be those little extra functionalities that make things easier and one or two other things that I’m keeping quiet about in case it doesn’t happen.

Anyway thanx for reading and commenting and have a good time over Christmas/New Year.

The Times:

The government has been accused of trampling on individual liberties by proposing wide-ranging new powers for bailiffs to break into homes and to use “reasonable force” against householders who try to protect their valuables.

Under the regulations, bailiffs for private firms would for the first time be given permission to restrain or pin down householders. They would also be able to force their way into homes to seize property to pay off debts, such as unpaid credit card bills and loans.

The government, which wants to crack down on people who evade debts, says the new powers would be overseen by a robust industry watchdog. However, the laws are being criticised as the latest erosion of the rights of the householder in his own home.

We’re fucked here, aren’t we?

Lets just take one scenario here. You come home from work/holiday/the shops and find your door kicked in. You enter the house to find it’s been ransacked. You enter the living room. The telly, the DVD player. Gone. The draws of the side board are shut, but you know that someone has been going through them. You go upstairs just dreading to what you’re going to find. In one room after another, chests of drawers have been rifled. Someone has gone through all your most intimate items. Your business filing. Wage slips. The jewellery gone as well.

How do you think that’s going to feel? Thinking that someone has broken into your house and stolen your belongings, that’s bad enough, but when in reality the ‘thieves’ have had the law on their side and are allowed to ransack your home, when even the police can’t just walk in, is an abomination.
Now you have all the upset, distress and associated hassle of having to get it all back because it turns out it wasn’t you that owed the bank/loan company/district court money. It was the people that lived where you do previously. Or you just happen to have the same name as some one who owes money. Or it could just be a completely random reason why you have appeared on the bailiffs records.
How does that feel? I bet you’d be feeling a bit shit and angry about it all. Good job you’ve got a strong character and are able to deal with the stress by someones’ typo. How fortunate that you happen to have enough savings to get you by while you claim back everything from the bailiffs. Just remind me, how much do lawyers cost? Because I bet it won’t be a quick and easy process.
It’d be hard but you’d survive the experience. What about the old lady next door? Would she? What’s she going to do when the bailiff sticks his boot through the door?
Or how about the ‘highly excitable’? Ending up being pinned to the ground with a broken arm? Or worse.

I could just about bear it if the Police or Customs burst through the door, with the proper paperwork chasing proper criminals, but these private contractors, for civil debts? No. fuck off. If the state wants to enter my fucking house it can fucking well do it itself.

What the fuck is the world coming to when a private entity is given authority to trample all over the rights of an individual.

BBC:

The government has held talks with Jaguar Land Rover over the possibility of state aid for the carmaker, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has confirmed.

He said no decision had yet been made – as it was too early to tell if any car firm needed help – and that ministers did not have “an open chequebook”.

What?! Colour me stupid, but isn’t Jaguar Land Rover Indian now?
I’m as idiotic patriotic as the next bloke and would hate the idea of two of the most iconic British names to be relegated to the pages of history, or at least one of those ‘Worlds Greatest Cars’ books that turn up at Christmas.
I sort of understand the reasoning behind bailing out helping out the banks, what with them being such an integral part of the economy that when these private institutions get it wrong and don’t make any money to trickle down to the ordinary public, the ordinary public have to chip in and keep things going.
And I sort of understood why Woolworths got shown the middle. After all, it is a private company and we wouldn’t want to distort the market now, would we?
So why is cunty-chops* talking state aid with a foreign company to keep 15,000 employees in work making stuff that very few people will be able to afford (new, at least), but fucks off a British company that is selling stuff that is out of reach of only the most desperate of people and putting twice as many people on the rock ‘n’ roll?

Related:
Tim Almond: Jaguar Bailout

*Sorry for the swear, but he is, isn’t he?