BitchAboutIT

Today I filled up at my usual Shell station, a station i remember being slightly aghast at having to pay 75p/litre less than three years ago.  Today I paid £1.16/litre, now I realise the price of stuff does go up but *piss off*, seriously.

Now, some people will claim that it’s appropriate given that a) Oil is running out and b) fossil fuels are ‘bad’ and we should all cycle, walk or use public transport to get to work.

Let me address this view… Oil is running out? Bollocks, ok yes, it’s finite but it’s always been finite, estimates on how much is left vary because these estimates are made up by the media or guesstimated by the people who want us to stop driving, either way it’s not going to dry up anytime soon.

Fossil fuels are bad?  Yes, probably, but so is the majority of ‘modern’ living, however our pollution levels are significantly lower than 100 years ago.  I hear a knob in a flowery shirt shout that car contribute towards the green house effect?  Well yes, but nowhere near (and i mean so far away from) natural processes and not a patch on how much ‘developing’ countries do.

Cars are unnecessary as commuting tools? Maybe for some, especially some who live and work in cities, but for the millions that live in the suburbs and work in industrial areas they are the only feasible way to travel to and from work given how shit our public transport is.  I work 15 miles away from home, and thanks to the M4 it takes me about 20 minutes each way in a car, and slightly quicker on my bike.  If I bussed it to my local station, then train’d into Reading and bussed it back out to my office it would take slightly less than two hours.

I want the expense and effort I have taken to reduce my energy usage and waste in other areas to offset the cost of going to work because I *cant* do without transport, and the increase in travel costs will only serve to raise my salary expectations, which is a cost my company will have to pass on to it’s customers, and eventually the public will bear the cost (as with almost every business at the end of the chain is joe bloggs buying a product or service.

I wouldn’t have an argument if the government started to invest in industry to produce alternative ‘fuels’, infact I’d welcome a short term rise in my cost of living to look forward to buying a car/bike that cost me and the environment significantly less.  Alas that isn’t gonna happen because it’d cost our government dearly and at the end of the day all this is about is money, they don’t give a shit about the environment, that’s just the current political excuse.

Lastly before anyone suggests I get a job closer to home, or live closer to work, you’ve missed the point regarding how residential and industrial sectors work outside of our cities.

Frankly all this is even enough for me to consider buying a scooter, 100mpg.

Tags: Commuting, Life by ksb
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Randomly surfing the net can be a cool idea, I stumbled upon this speed camera site, it’s USA based, but the guy involved takes a stand against revenue based camera installations and even drives out to sites that are being monitored by a physical police presence and holds up a sign warning motorists to slow down.

A gut reaction may be that he is helping people cheat the law, but as he testifies in a videoed encounter with a plod he is simply reducing everyone’s speed in the area rather than the panic reaction of a few drivers who actually spot the police.

As a biker and an obvious target for the boys in blue, I support this type of action and have done it myself by ‘waving down’ oncoming traffic to warn them of mobile gatsos or police radar traps.  To be honest, I’ve also done it when i think oncoming drivers are taking the piss a bit… it serves the same goal.

Tags: Bikes, Life by ksb
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I neglect this website far too much, but I do enjoy posting crap here, so I am trying a new look and am going to make an effort to start commenting on the world at large.

I’ve come to the swift conclusion that people are rarely interested in the mudane aspect of average life, so I’ve decided to pick on the news and casual observation, which is what the site was meant to be about.

So, if anyone does read this then I hope you enjoy, otherwise I guess I’ll just continue to bitch in my own little box

Tags: Life, Media by ksb
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I started a new character in World of Warcraft at the start of this year, I levelled up to 70 in 8 weeks, and jumped straight into a Tier 5 raiding guild.  I then very quickly gained good gear and we completed SSC and TK, then moved onto the Tier 6 content (Mount Hyjal and Black Temple), which was up until the last major patch, the last two ‘dungeons’ of the game.

I then left that guild after we completed MH and had done 3/9 bosses in BT and migrated to a busier server and straight into a guild that had made a start on Sunwell (which is now, the last dungeon in the game).  Since then, I have completed BT several times and the guild is making good progress in Sunwell.

All good right?  Well yeah, I have experienced all of the original ‘end game’, got some fine gear and had a lot of fun, but I’m now bored of playing and I think it’s because of a few reasons;

1) Sunwell is a bit of a joke in my opinion.  Blizzard are a good 6 months off releasing the next expansion and naturally they needed to throw players a bit of a bone to keep them interested.  Whilst I understand that, it does seem like bad planning.

2) I don’t enjoy PVP, and even when I get the urge it gets boring very quickly as there are only 4 battlegrounds and playing arena games is almost impossible without the right gear.

3) Apart from sunwell I have done every encounter in the game dozens (if not 100s) of times, I have nothing to gain from repeating them.

4) I could level yet another character, but it takes serious commitment and there are no classes left I desire to play enough.

So, Really… Give us the next expansion Blizzard or potentially face losing a lot of dedicated players, as once you go away from the game for a few weeks you tend to grasp reality again and suddenly spending 30 hours a week online doesn’t seem a priority.

Tags: World of Warcraft by ksb
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Well my fascination with smart phones continues, and having previously tried the Nokia 9300 and been impressed, although almost immediately regretting not waiting for the 9300i (wifi), I decided to have another go.

The phone is the fairly usual ‘brick’ size, I mean it’s not really a complaint rather just a fact of these devices.  It feels heavier than the 9300 and personally I think it’s less stylish.  When you first open the device all that goes away, it really is well designed, strong build quality and superb hinges.  The immediate benefit is that the external screen allows you to access any of the applications where as previous communicators only allowed very simple contacts/sms/phone functionality without opening the phone.

I haven’t really had time to put it through it’s paces but my first impressions are good, it properly selects connections methods when a wifi signal is in range and the battery life is outstanding.

Once I’ve had time to read all the tips and advice on usage (and there is a lot of info on the net about this phone) I’ll blog some more about it.

Tags: Gadgets by ksb
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