[news] why the blog's been dormant

I'm posting this while the technician artificially holds me in the internet.

The system has crashed and I need new processor, new hard disk and a different internet provider. We've done the latter but the other two must be done on Monday morning. We have to reinstall Windows and the other programmes in conjunction with this. He says the FAT 32 is useless for what I'm trying to do. I haven't a clue what he means.

On every seven or eight tries, the blog opens for about ten minutes so I'll try to get three pieces together and post them in one hit tomorrow around lunchtime. I'll have to wait till Monday to surf and say hello to you.

Trouble is, yesterday my wiper motor rod broke in the car in the excessive snow [that's a post in itself] and today the vacuum cleaner went down and the threaded rod sheered on the old tap in the bathroom - that one was my fault entirely for not replacing it sooner. These have to be fixed first. It's a fun time coming up to the birthday but the health is fine [touch wood].

To regular readers - the Blogfocus will be on Tuesday now. Hope you're all right yourselves, nothing broken and see you then. Miss you.

[consumer debt] worse for older men, single mums

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service has seen a boom in demand for its services in the past year, with a 65% increase in clients. However at the same time, charity Citizens Advice said it had seen a 15% increase in debt cases year-on-year.

The bottom line was that it’s the older male and the single mother who are in most trouble.

The latter are problematic because one has to ask why they’re single. This gets into age, the lessening attractiveness of marriage and the unwillingness of the new male to take on the burden of a partner with a more feminist ‘in it for myself’ perspective.

It’s partly his own debt problems and partly the new hedonism. With the new girl giving sex virtually on tap [the pub scene], there’s no incentive for any young man to tie himself down any more and provide for a girl.

As for the older male, aspiration and the spiralling costs of affording key items like houses and cars, together with trying to maintain the ‘good life’ and re-mortgaging have pushed these people into credit debt upon credit debt and the result is always the same.

The answers are: for the girls - only have sex with someone you intend to marry and who intends to marry you and for the older males – live within your means and cut your lifestyle to suit your wallet. To both – use no credit, only debit cards.

If the answers sound glib, I say it’s perfectly possible. It just takes a little willpower.

[climate pact] disquietening political aspects

Amidst the spin over the latest global agreement, one paragraph stuck out in my mind:

The informal meeting also agreed that a global market should be formed to cap and trade carbon dioxide emissions. The non-binding declaration is seen as vital in influencing a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, correspondents say. The forum's closing statement said man-made climate change was now "beyond doubt".

I don’t believe they’d have made their move unless it had been based on sound science. These are very calculating people and they’ve obviously factored in the backlash and its ability to prove there is no climate change. Their ‘beyond doubt’ is seriously worrying.

The other worrying aspect is ‘global market’. Clear to see where that is leading.

[snoring] how to resolve the problem

Men and women can both snore but this article deals with the usual situation:

“I am a snorer and it sometimes drives my wife mad. I know this because she tells me! As the snorer, it is difficult in this situation. I don't like the thought of her [or me] sleeping in another room. That could be a total relationship killer in my view, but then again so is the snoring! Catch 22. Neither of us is a fan of the Darth Vader Mask either. I do appeal to the all the snoring victims out there, spare a thought for the poor snorer too; it's not a deliberate act and it is very frustrating for us too!”

“I sent my husband packing to the spare room almost two years ago when I figured out his snoring was contributing to me being depressed. He was shocked to see the video of it. My brain was simply not getting enough of the feel good chemicals, and my body was stressed. Ever since we have slept apart, he gives me a cuddle every night and every morning for at least 5 minutes [smart man, he knows what women want].”

Real estate writer Mark Nash writes about it in his book 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home, saying US home builders have documented the emerging trend to create a "snore escape" near the main bedroom. These rooms are usually no bigger than 12-feet by 12-feet and are often soundproofed with acoustic gyprock.

All the catamarans and trimarans I’ve designed have compartments fully sealed off from one another both for secondary buoyancy and for the reason of snoring. Mine is always the furthest away. One lady had no problem with my steam train impersonation. The other few, over the years, did have a problem with it, inversely in proportion to their ages. It’s not a beautiful topic and most snorers either try to conceal the fact or become ultra-defensive.

It’s certainly a topic which requires resolution, one way or the other. Have a good night. I’m for bed.

[thursday] you can keep it

Between lunch time and ‘chas pik’ [peak hour], I can usually do the run into or back from town in 20 minutes and my record is 12 minutes. Today I left town at 1830 and now at 2035, I’ve just walked through the door.

The fSU is a country with only the barest lip service given to law and order and the moment unusual conditions prevail, it’s a signal for people to do absolutely anything they want.

There was one intersection where cars were hurling themselves into that intersection irrespective of functioning traffic lights and citizens were standing in the middle, blocking traffic in an effort to get their friends through. Cars were at every conceivable angle, like something from a chase film.

Not one policeman was controlling the situation. They were on the sides of other roads somewhere else taking money from passing motorists. I tell you – only aggressive driving got me through that intersection, only to repeat it at the next. So why the complete mayhem?

A bit of snow.

Well actually, quite a bit. Like 36 hours of it, non-stop. That’s all right usually but when the temperature alarmingly climbs to 0 degrees, you know you’re in trouble. It’s slush, cars are bogged everywhere, sliding into one another, let me give you an idea. In my carpark place, it was up over the hubs and I measured 20cm on the roof and bonnet.

Oh, by the way, you may have noticed no posts today. Internet down. The telephone also decided to go down in sympathy and then the car’s windscreen wiper connecting rod snapped in two and the car spent some time at the garage. Today was the day 47 new girls started and I had to meet and orient them. That part was quite nice, actually.

Lovely day. Lovely.

[total oil] interesting headlines, interesting reactions

Have a look at these two headlines and taglines:

Total's record profits stir up French election
Oil giant Total's record profits stirred up France's presidential campaign on Wednesday and the Socialist party said the figures underlined the need for a tax on excess oil profits.

Total profit slips 4.7% on weaker oil prices
Net profit fell to 2.23-billion euros, $2.9-billion, in the October-December period from 2.34-billion euros a year ago, Total said.

What do the Left consider excess profits and how could Total’s profits drop just like that?