Chris 77

Email Advice

I don’t know loads of stuff. I’m not into history that much, I don’t know what Pantone Mugs are (I was given these for Christmas and have a sneaking suspicion they have something to do with arts and crafts), but I do know a thing or two about technology. Specifically internet-based stuff. And one specific thing I know about, seeing as I have so many of them, are email addresses. It may seem like a boring thing to read about, More

Stand Out Negativity

One of my most favourite things about the internet is the way you can read about people’s life stories. Buying things online is great, of course, but it costs money, whereas reading blogs is free, and often a much more productive way to spend your time (rather than window shopping for things you don’t need and can’t afford…).

One recent story I stumbled across online was about Holiday villas in Portugal . It was, quite simply, the blog of one More

Mr Grumps

I have a confession to make: I really hate writing groups (yeah…almost as much as I hate apple mac support london who never seem to be on the end of the line when my computer is playing up…). I just don’t see the point in going to them. I mean…writing is a solitary activity, isn’t it? So how could you possibly learn more by sitting next to other people and NOT writing? It really does seem completely nonsensical. I can’t More

Life On Mars?

Click the link to see something that I have known for some time: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11886943

Yes, it’s true: scientists have discovered bacteria in a lake that has incorporated arsenic into its actual make-up. But then, I’m not surprised: speaking of pond life, our local council also recently managed to fix up what us locals call “pot hole hell road” (after promising they would for about ten years). Surely this means that anything is possible? I think so, and now I have More

Love Or Loathing

Why I love the internet:

1) I can order anything I want online.

2) I don’t have to leave the house to do much.

3) I can sort my finances online.

Why I loathe the internet:

1) I can order anything I want online which means I don’t need to go to the shops and converse with people, a crucial part of staying mentally sound.

2) I don’t have to leave the house to do much, which makes staying in More

The Dump

Recently I decided that I was spending too much time thinking about negative thoughts; not thinking negative thoughts, exactly, but thinking about negative thoughts (as if I were circling a rubbish dump while seated in a car that was actually quite good, far enough away that I couldn’t actually smell the dump and could only see it and sort of feel like because I could see it I could also smell it, if you know what I mean?) So, a More

Flat Foots Unite

Running for the bus the other day, I realised a horrible truth (on top of the one that I had had when I woke up: no fosters in the fridge and must buy some for later that evening to make the pain or work go away). A truth that lurks within most people and is only exposed for the world to see when a bus decides to arrive a bit too early, thus forcing a man who SIMPLY MUST GET More

Me Am Man

I am not your typical man, I suppose. If I would have been born in the age of cavemen and cave women and cave painting and cave humour then I guess I would have been the one caveman at the camp who didn’t know how to light a fire and who didn’t get immense pleasure from chasing and murdering large and scary animals that deserved it for eating all our babies and children. But still, that’s the way it is for me. I am still a man, don’t get me wrong. Everything is more or less in the right place – possibly a bit to the left: my heart, of course – but I am alright, me. I think. I hope.

One thing which makes me unlike my mates is my distaste for driving games (as well as jobs in beirut, where it seems you can’t sit at a desk for ten minutes without being kidnapped, or is it just me?). I am not big on them. Give me a beat-em-up any day. But there again, these kinds of games do have their uses, so they are not all bad.

One of the ways in which driving games helps is…Well…They help you to learn to steer (especially ones where you use a little wheel in the air and actually imitate a real driving experience). I was recently chatting to a science-boffin about just this, and he told me that there is actual evidence to suggest that this can help people to REALLY drive, like on the roads. Now, I don’t know, but that’s pretty cool, isn’t it? It means that normally dangerous people can be inside away from everyone else, and hopefully then they might be able to go out on the road without putting others at risk!

Prizes For Those Who Do

Sometimes you get a reminder that there are actually an awful lot of people in the world who are doing their bit for the environment. This is one of them: http://www.theenigin.com/2010/07/28/become-an-energy-saver/#more-45

The problem, which is obvious, is that there are just so many people still who don’t do a thing and aren’t likely to any time soon…and that means that you can be forgiven for being a bit cynical that there is any number of people out there who truly More

G20 Protest and the rest…

So finally, after more than a year of waiting the results are in. There is to be no police prosecution over the death of Ian Tomlinson, the innocent man battened to the ground by the police on the day of the G20 protest in London in April 2009.

Despite there being evidence on video, despite the fact that CCTV footage recorded what happened and despite photographs and witness statements, despite there being a coroners report by someone who is qualified More