Grandad October 21st, 2009
Some boring facts.
Nearly a quarter of a million visitors.
They read 454,340 pages.
They wasted a total of 10,354 hours reading those pages.
1,292 posts.
21,003 comments.
435,000 words.
Only 836 uses of the word ‘fuck’.
Only 52 uses of the word ‘cunt’.
And that is all this site has to show for itself after three years.
What a fucking waste of time.
*sigh*
Grandad October 20th, 2009
They want to reduce the drink limit for drivers again.
Of course most people will greet this announcement with cheers and say it’s a good thing.
But then most people don’t actually stop and think about the crazy logic of the whole setup.
Take an example of a hundred average drivers. Of those, ninety nine can have a few pints and quite safely drive home after. They can do that because they know their own capabilities and will adjust their driving accordingly. The other person of course will think he is capable of holding any amount of drink and will cream himself over the countryside in a spectacular manner, thereby improving the general gene pool.
The logic of this is to weed out the cretins who can’t hold their drink, and then let the rest of us carry on with our lives.
Not so with the Nanny State.
The Nanny State fails to realise that it is the one percent who causes the havoc. It is the one percent who go out speeding, driving recklessly and generally causing carnage on the roads. The Nanny State says that we all have to be treated as if we were that one percent.
You only have to look at the figures. Despite all their best efforts, there are still roughly the same number of casualties on the roads each year. They tighten up the speed limits and they reduce the drink limit, but that has a negligible effect on the statistics. Why? Because the one percent are still out there, and by their nature, they are going to ignore all the rules and regulations.
In the meantime, the rest of us have to suffer the consequences.
What about the other side of the coin?
What about the decimation of rural communities, and the isolation of the rural farmer?
Poor old Paddy has to spend his nights now stuck up on a mountainside, on his own. He daren’t go to the pub any more because of the draconian laws. Paddy had been driving the tractor for decades down to O’Tooles for his couple of Guinness and two half ones for decades. He had never had an accident, because he knew the route like the back of his hand and the tractor never did more than about ten miles an hour anyway. It was his contact with his fellow neighbours. It was his social life. It was his life.
Now Paddy has to spend his evenings in isolation. He rarely meets his neighbours. In fact, he rarely meets anyone.
I’m sure Paddy is greeting the new drink limits with open arms. I’m sure he is content to sit in his isolation in the comforting knowledge that his sacrifice, while not actually achieving anything is making the government feel good.
This is for you, Paddy.
Grandad October 19th, 2009
Dear Retailers,
Yes, I am aware that Christmas is on the distant horizon, but I would like to point out that it is but one day, and hardly warrants nine weeks of advertising.
It is just one day. That’s all. Twenty four hours. There is absolutely no need to get your knickers in a twist over it.
There is one thing I like about Christmas, and that is that it nearly coincides with the Winter Solstice [no accident, I may add]. Come that day, and the evenings start getting lighter. It’s a small milestone in the year, so please get things into proportion. It is not the only day in the year when people spend money. It is not the only time I buy anything.
To those of you who are advertising sitting room suites and promising delivery in time for Christmas, I would like to point out that if I buy furniture, I expect delivery within days, not months. If you have to brag that you will have delivery in time for Christmas, then you obviously have delivery problems and your company should be avoided like the plague.
To those of you who advertise your rubbish as being necessary for the “perfect day” – fuck off. I cannot imagine any day being ruined because I don’t have an air freshener or the latest CD by some fifth rate performer, so just please drop that expression. The mere mention of “the perfect day” irritates me, and I promise that any company who uses it within earshot will be firebombed. Be warned.
I know times are hard in the retail business. I know you are desperate. But if you thing you are going to lay your grubby little hands on my pension by shouting at me you are going the wrong way about it. On the contrary, if your advertisement annoys me [and all advertisements annoy me] then I shall go out of my way to avoid your tacky little product.
So here is the bargain….
You save yourselves a fortune in advertising costs, and I will try not to burn your premises down.
OK?
Grandad
Grandad October 17th, 2009
“Would yiz ever go and remove that ivy from the end wall” says Herself.
“Nah,” says I. “It’s holding the wall up.”
“Don’t be smart,” says Herself. “It looks terrible. Go out and remove it.”
I did.
Now I have to rebuild the end wall.
*sigh*
Grandad October 16th, 2009
You may accuse me of going on a bit about the smoking ban, and you may be right.
But have you ever stopped to really think about it?
The anti-smoking movement started in the States [where else?!], and is largely based on pseudo-science, lies, distortions and just enough hard facts to create a movement. Through skilful propaganda, this movement has grown into a world wide phenomenon. Quite why this movement exists, I’m not sure. They claim to be concerned about the general health of mankind, but I find this very hard to believe, as surely such things as famine and wars do far greater damage?
What really concerns me is the way the movement has created a shift in public opinion that defies logic.
Take for example the case that was reported yesterday of a man caught giving a cigarette to a three year old. Now I wouldn’t for a second condone this, just as I wouldn’t condone giving a three year old alcohol or control of a car. But the public perception of the “evils” of smoking led to this bloke getting a prison sentence. What? What he did was irresponsible, but the reaction was completely out of proportion to the action simply because of the now ingrained perception of cigarettes being the ultimate evil.
The anti-smoking lobby have successfully cordoned off smokers as a separate group within society and have turned society against them. Smokers are filthy, irresponsible sub-humans who must be “educated” and re-integrated into “normal” society at all costs.
One of the sites which I frequent is the excellent Freedom-2-Choose, which is informative and often very humorous. Yesterday there was an article which got me thinking and finally polarised my thoughts. In his article Collective Madness 2, Frank Davis examines the growing rift between smokers and anti-smokers.
You may think this is all an overreaction, but is it?
The question I would ask is where will it stop?
Already “they” are turning their attention to alcohol and obesity. Soon the lover of the occasional pint of stout will be seen as the dregs of humanity, who is indulging in a filthy habit and must be shunned by “decent society”? A person eating a plate of chips must immediately be “re-educated” for their “own good”?
And what will come after that?
Will they turn their beady eyes on the non eco-friendly? Will they demand that iPods be taxed out of existence because of the horrific damage being done to the hearing? Your guess is as good as mine.
One of the aspects of all this that really gets up my nose is the snitch-lines. They have set up phone numbers for members of the public to inform the authorities of their neighbours transgressions. How insidious is that? We have phone numbers to call if someone [God forbid] is smoking where they shouldn’t. We have phone numbers to call if we think someone is driving the way they shouldn’t.
Where is this going to end?
Are we going to have phone numbers to call if a neighbour is found putting a bottle in the normal bin?
Are we going to have phone numbers to call if we think a neighbour is getting too fat?
You mark my words – it will come.
Sooner or later you will fall into a target group.
Remember the Soviet Union?
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