Category: Rants

When it comes to cars, there’s no such thing as “Sold as seen”, but there should be a term which says “Buy at your own risk”. Lou (my partner) recently bought a Mitsubishi Pajero which turned out to be a dud. It was a private sale from a friendly family in a place called Frogwell… Continue reading Sold as seen

In a Recent Rant, I wrote about the terrible cost of using rail transport in the UK. Despite the price, I still find myself on trains that are packed to the doors between key stations. So what’s the big attraction? Well for myself, I like the train because I can sit in relative comfort in… Continue reading The age of the train

It’s a beautiful Easter Sunday and what exactly am I supposed to do with it? Due to our draconian laws, not a single store is allowed to open today. In fact it’s the only day for the entire year when the law prevents large shops from opening at all. I fancied an early morning trip… Continue reading Easter Sunday Trading

Last night myself and Lou decided to go and see the new James Bond film, Casino Royale. We booked tickets online using www.myvue.co.uk for a scheduled start of 8pm. 7:25pm – Arrived at the cinema to find the car park full to bursting and in a state of complete chaos. Committed to entering said car… Continue reading Cinema – It’s the experience!

I woke up with a stiff neck this morning, probably caused by my new gym programme. That combined with a seriously irritating laptop forces me to sit very still and write another rant. Trevor, my local landlord wants a laptop. In fact since moving to St Mellion about 3 months ago, three people have approached… Continue reading Windows XP Product Keys

The BBC reported today that a woman has successfully won her campaign to make it illegal to posses images of violent pornography. Liz Longhurst (the campaigner) probably did this with the best possible intentions but probably has no idea of how a law like this can be manipulated to take away an innocent person’s individual… Continue reading Ban on violent porn

Today my phone has rung a few times and stopped before I could pick it up. The calling number was 0800 0641081 so I thought I’d ring it and find out who the idiot is who calls and instantly hangs up. Turns out the number belongs to a company called LBM. From their website: LBM… Continue reading Telemarketing

Today The Register has this article on a woman suing MySpace because her daughter was sexually assaulted after using their services to talk to a man. I hate cases like this where a free service is being charged due to the actions of one of its users. The girl in question is 14 years old,… Continue reading The keyboard is mightier than the sword

Empower Systems are the only company I know of that are targeting me by name with Spam. Every message I get from these people has a Subject prefixed with my surname, something that annoys me intensely. I’m tempted to submit a request under the Data Protection Act to find out exactly what information they hold… Continue reading Empower Systems

Microsoft Genuine Advantage was thrust upon me some time ago and to begin with it was little more than a minor irritation. What was it really doing? What information was it obtaining from my PC? How was it validating my serial number? For all I know it could be transmitting all my passwords to Microsoft… Continue reading Microsoft Genuine Advantage

A couple of weeks ago I pre-ordered the new Harry Potter film, (The Goblet Of Fire) from Amazon. On the day of release my DVD showed up at 6:30am, a tribute to the efficiency of Amazon and the GPO and I must not complain about being woken up early if I order items that don’t… Continue reading Piracy is Theft!

Racing pundit Twat

“Our employees are our most valued asset.” The above statement is a most appalling example of utter bullshit. Once upon a time it might have been true that utility providers and outsourcers valued their employees but today it’s a lie. The modern version should read: “A cheap subcontractor is our least expensive overhead.” Lets face… Continue reading The art of corporate cost cutting. (aka. Offshoring)

I’m tempted to say that Linksys produce the best routers available for the home market. In fact that temptation extends to most of their home network products. Besides working well, they are neat boxes and they are stackable. For a geek like me, stackable stuff is great. It looks smart and doesn’t take up loads… Continue reading Linksys Routers

I recently received a letter from DVLA informing me that somebody was trying to register my car. The license number was that of a Red Honda Prelude that had been written off four years ago after I hit a deer on the A30 dual carriageway at night. I remember being amazed at the time that… Continue reading Insurance Companies

Why do musicians feel the need to do this?