Bench Squatters and the Monster from the Deep

Well I am sick of it. Dancing around the changing room just because some twat feels like leaving his empty bag on the bench and his shirt and trousers hanging on the hook. That’s what fucking lockers are for, Mary!

I’m talking about the gym. I’m talking about the person or people who just leave their shit all over the place like they own it. Who do they think they are?

Normally I would have let it lie. I mean, I’m generally a cruisy sort of person, I don’t get wound up about things. Apart from stupidity. And the local city council’s harebrained plans. And old people that behave like cunts just because they are old. And people who drive round corners at -5mph.

But I’m a busy whore! I’ve got like 10 days before this US trip. I need to keep moving, so much to do.

Bench squatters are not the only people to get me fired up at the gym. The Monster from the Deep is another one. They emerge from the swimming pool, jump into the shower and don’t bother drying themselves one little bit before going back to the changing room, leaving a lake where they stand and a river behind them.

I’m actually not sure how it’s possible to drip so much water after walking 20 yards. Maybe it’s just a really bad sweat. The result is just downright rude.

Well, I can’t do anything about the Monster from the Deep, but I can do something about Mr Bench Squatter. As I left, I my backpack accidentally knocked his bag off the bench, then I think it may have caught on his hung-up shirt as I swung it over my shoulder. Oh dear, too bad. Should have used a locker.

I’m not normally like this, I’m just in a different mood of late.

Don’t fuck with me, Mary!!!

me 2

I was ranting at a friend the other day about how mindless I thought a lot of the blogs and sites I’m subscribed to. Granted, I have a lot of Mac technology stuff in there, because I need my finger on that particular pulse, but they’re all just posting the same shit. Seldom is there an original thought on the subject.

And the same could be said for a lot of things. Maybe that’s what people want, but my question is why embark on something like that in the first place? Why would someone want to be Just Another News Site with nothing that seemingly sets them apart from the rest? I know sites run by people who take the opposite approach, but ironically seem to relegated to the sidelines. It’s strange.

I appreciate that the work I do allows me to be original and produce something that looks and works quite differently to the competition (if any) and live in a sea of diverse products, but even so there seems to be so much “me too” out there, no matter what you’re talking about, and it baffles me.

So, quite simply, I want everyone to BE ORIGINAL.

k thx bai

Sarko

WARNING: This post is about politics, not weirdos in the gym showers or cute videos of dogs or drunken whores making arses of themselves.

On Sarkozy being elected the French president, Bicycle Mark makes some interesting points:

An old friend of mine in France once said, as much as his fellow citizens would never admit it, the French are very similar to Americans in many things. Every now and then, like in these elections, I think she was right.

He plays on fear. He threatens to be tough on immigrants and to cut taxes and benefits and whatever else he can cut. He goes on and on about national pride and what a great country it is.

From what I know about the French elections, people are unhappy with a number of things such as the high unemployment rate, the 35 hour week (limiting the money people can earn), crime, immigration issues and high taxes.

On that, Madge Weinstien said people people needed to become more media savvy in order not to fall for such fearmongering.

The French have apparently been indocrinated by Western corporate propaganda oozing out of the pores of just about every international news network and especially out of Rupert Turdcock.

This is evidenced not only by an increased need for ‘more and more’ but also by the xenophobia evident in French voter interviews by the New York Times. Fear mongering + Fear of terror + fear of loosing your job+ fear of arabs= this mess we’re all in.

So the US has what, 3.5 unemployment compared to the French’s 10%? Big deal. Do you know how many Americans work at Starbucks for 20 hours a week just to get health insurance. And how many ‘employed’ Wal-Mart workers are being subsidised by the US Welfare systems while they work for peanuts?

This is what Europe wants? I don’t think so.

It is surely possible to make social security, national healthcare and fair employment conditions work for all involved. Resentment from things such as immigration often stems from mismanagement or misrepresentation of the situation, not diehard racism. People don’t want their slice of the cake to be smaller. Take the opposite example: economic immigrants can be welcome in a country with a booming economy, as the UK shows (Daily Mail readers aside).

But clearly the French are wound up about these things because a lot of people voted – there was an 85% turnout. Mark goes on to talk about this high voter turnout:

Then again, 85% voting, with more than 50% of them choosing a pretty hardline conservative candidate also makes it hard for a country to deny who they are. At least in the US you can say “hey.. that’s only half of the 40+% that vote who chose that bum, we’re not really like that”. In France, you can’t say that anymore. So if Sarko ends up rounding up all the immigrants and putting them in labor camps. Or joining the US military in its latest adventure to invade and bring democracy somewhere. It won’t be just a small percentage of crazies that took over the government. Nope… it’s a majority of the country that actually shares (at least some of) these values.

That would be true, but from what I know about the French if Sarko actually attempts to do away with any of the things they French get out of their taxes, or take away their hard-won rights, there will be hell to pay. This election result seems more like the classic French “non”. Really, they just want to express that things aren’t working out.

Therefore, this election must surely be a failure of the Left to present ideas that address these issues by opting for the status quo, which is seen not to be working. This failure has allowed Sarkozy to turn it into a binary decision. Well, he’s in for an interesting ride.

Why I Decided Against Selling Software in Euros, Personal Edition 2007

Controversially (not really) I have decided to stick with the dollar for my software sales. I just want to reword the points I made on my Reinvented Blog:

• Most people in the US prefer to pay in dollars. They know exactly what it’s worth without doing any mental arithmetic, or to be told down the line that €25 is actually $34 (the price today) and probably worse given PayPal’s conversation rates.
• Most people outside the US know the dollar is at a real low point, so they’re getting a bargain. Even I get disappointed when I see something priced in euros because I know I might actually cost me money.
• Most people outside of Europe don’t know the rough value of the euro at any given time, so while they may be more accustomed to currency conversion, it’s not something they’re likely to do on the spot. It has the potential to confuse and infuriate.
• Moving to the euro would effectively create a price increase for US customers (and others) if the value of the dollar continues to plummet while the euro remains strong.
• Competing products are most often priced in dollars, although whether price is a consideration in that way is another matter.

Translated:

• Americans are stupid – at least half of them, anyway.
• Everyone else is smart.
• I’m not going to be a pioneer on pricing.
• Most people are lazy about this stuff.

And on the rest of the post, I think the euro is great as long as your economy isn’t based on it and I also have this hunch that Sterling isn’t going to be quite so strong for much longer and thus things will improve in that way.  So, as much as I’d like to save myself from the dollar by abandoning it, I’m just going to raise prices in line with new features eventually and if it really does crash and burn spectacularly, switch then.