Fuming at Ban...

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Northern Ireland has stubbed out smoking for good with a ban in cafes, bars and restaurants as well as workplaces coming into force today. That means it's illegal to smoke in these places, I mean it's bloody ILLEGAL. I have already had a visit at work this morning from the Environmental Health who gave me a ticking off for not having the correct signage up and when enquiring where I smoked (outside) reminded me that I can't, because there are no ashtrays in the street in which to put the butt, so in theory I could be prosecuted for littering. How dumb is that?! If only other laws where policed this effectively the country would be a better place.

Apparently research suggests 95 per cent of people support the legislation which is already in effect in Scotland and Wales and will be introduced across England in two months. Again this is rubbish, as every smoker I have talked to is pissed about it! Now don't get me wrong, I would not want to smoke where people eat, in the work place around other non-smokers, hospitals, etc but surely places like public houses should have a choice as to implementing this law or maybe a room could be provided for partaking in inhalation of tobacco products that is inside the building. What is this all for anyway, best guesstimate puts one death every fortnight due to second-hand smoke, that's 24 a year, more people probably get killed cleaning the bath. It's just my opinion and it counts for nothing as this ban is here to stay. On the plus side it will save me a fortune not hitting the club at the weekend!

Read the reactions here or anywhere, they are suspiciously one sided... Right, I am done with this now, move along and enjoy your Monday.

TODAY'S LINKS :: Smoking With Style :: James Barber Tobacconists :: Resume - George W. Bush :: Amazing Advertisements

REMEMBER KID'S :: "Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs!"

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BBC in Something for Nothing...

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I found this amazing site, Something From My Room. I don't remember how but I think it is a fantastic idea that I have not seen before. Anyway this guy, John, will send some random person on the internet something from his room...for free. It's brill!

Yesterday he offered something that I would love so, here is my begging E Mail:

Hey John, It Northern Ireland here. How fantastic, The Go! Team rock. I got a rubbish rip (really bassy) of this and have always meant to get a copy but you know how these things go, put off and put off... I am so surprised that they have not done better (charts wise), it's rare that you hear their stuff anywhere! It's the type of thing that you need first thing on a Monday morning, on the way to work, to lift you spirits for the week ahead. Sadly my copy does not really cut it! The only reason I can think that you send it to me is that I would actually really appreciate it, well maybe I would use the case to roll on or as a coaster but it's all about the music for me dude! Yeah, yeah, yeah yeahhh! Graham. P.S. Loving the idea for this blog *thinks about my blog and rubs chin*

Again I have been asked; The BBC iPlayer TV Test is currently only open to BBC staff but, as someone who has helped us test our services before, we would welcome your participation in the test. It offers a range of TV programmes for download to a PC. The number of programmes available for download will increase over the course of the test as will the functionality available. I will tell you all how it works out, it's the future... Mahahah!

Right, have a good one folks and be safe, I am off to smoke for my country in any pub I find, while I still can!

FRIDAY'S FUN LINKS* :: Billy Marks bounces a ping pong ball - Amazing Video :: The Stiff Kitten Club :: Funny Quotations and Sayings :: I Heart Beer

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*Not necessarily true or in anyway amusing

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This has to end, the crash is coming...

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Thursday already, my how this week has dragged! Roll on the weekend. Anyway, back to business. I just found out that a COUNCIL FLAT across the road from where I work, with small windows, outside stairs, right beside a busy carriage way that 35,000 cars used daily, in really run down condition, the type of place that a low wage first time buyer would be looking at has gone up for sale. Now the housing market in N.I. has went completely mad climbing 40% last year according to some estimates and leading Europe but imagine my complete astonishment to find out the price of this place is offers over £186,000. I know it's mad, utterly insane in fact and I think you will find that it rivals any property valuation in the UK (excluding the capitals) or maybe the world. Now maybe it does not sound THAT bad but let me break it down for you:

£20,000 - Deposit
£166,000 - Mortgage

Therefore with a 5 times salary mortgage (the highest possible) your wage would need to be £33,200. That's the wage of a top level manager in Northern Ireland and more than £10,000 above the average wage, considering it is the bottom run of the ladder property, how can anyone afford this? Not even taking in to account factors such as, what if interest rates keep climbing, water rates have still to be introduced, raising oil prices, higher cost of living in N.I. because of geographical position, etc! Repossession is just begging on that one!

This has to end, mark my words, the crash is coming...

TODAY'S LINKS :: Lots of BitTorrent Sites :: N95 The Phone I want but not at this price! :: N95 GPS Maps :: GAD123 PSP Site :: I Forgot 420

REMEMBER KID'S :: "If catapults are outlawed, only outlaws will have catapults."

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Sleep Deprived While Tiscali Limps On...

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I am a bit pissed off today, not least that it's been like 2 weeks or more since I have managed to get to sleep before 2am and longer since I have had a nights sleep without waking 5 times! It just is not enough to function on properly at 9am in the morning! So just don't wind me up, OK!!

MySpace is still messing me around with the phishing accusations, so I can't post bulletins, which I know a lot of people actually read, unlike having a blog but there you go. Think it might be the fact that in any one day I am accessing it with 3 different operating system (Win98, XP and Vista) and 2 separate connections *sigh*

I got a NETGEAR DG834G really cheap, I know it is yesterdays technology and not the best piece of kit but Tiscali where not playing ball with my modem, I wanted wireless and it was just easier that way. Unfortunately my speeds have been awful in the last week and I know it's not at my end, I have also been complying with the terms under the fair use policy. Nearly half the time it's under dial up speed! They have asked me for speed test results in the morning, 6pm and late at night before they will look at the problem. See if they come back with some crap about drivers, firewall, Vista or router I am not going to be happy, I know all these things are installed correctly and compatible with Vista! I KNOW A LOT ABOUT COMPUTERS, OK!!

So the week ahead is fairly normal, seeing Dimples tonight, Wednesday is Kayeso's home game hopefully, Thursday is cleaning, Friday meeting, drinking, poker online, NEW Heroes, South Park and getting trashed!

Saturday is a big one, the last weekend before the Smoking Ban takes effect, so going out dancing as it's maybe going to be the last time I can go to these local places, it's the end of an era! Thank god my local pub has a little outside area, unfortunately I don't think it's managed that well and will not be made use of effectively but there you go, at least I can still frequent there and it must have one of the biggest smoking client an tell!

Anyway I am rambling, have a good day folks!

The body of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin is to lie in state in Moscow ahead of a funeral on Wednesday - RIP

TODAY'S LINKS :: 50 Things She Wishes You Knew :: Slugger O'Toole is a news and research Blog in Northern Ireland :: Never swallow gum.. this is why! :: Six Funny Life Lessons :: After a while... :: Device Uses Solar Energy to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Fuel

REMEMBER KID'S :: "The more you complain the longer God makes you live."

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Top 10 Ways to Know You're a PC Snob and I Was phished.....

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This is taken from Gamespy and it's all true, I preach this stuff every day:

"The PC Gamer Snob, every gamer knows one, you may even be one yourself. They consider the PC to be the end-all be-all of gaming and will scoff at the idea of dirtying their hands on any sort of upstart console. Here's a handy guide to see if you or one of your friends fits into this especially snooty class of gamer.


10. HD is So Last Gen

1080i, 720p, 1080p, pffft, whatever. 1920x1200 is where it's at. That's 1200p if you want to put it in HDTV terms. You like to point out that PC gamers have been gaming in "high definition" well before consoles could even display games in "enhanced definition," better known as 480p. Heck, 1280x1024 already beats out 720p, and standard definition 480i games? Even stuff from the days of DOS topped that.

9. Mouse & Keyboard for the Win

You believe that only chumps play first-person shooters with a gamepad. In your eyes nothing matches the precision of the good old keyboard and mouse combo. No other control scheme comes close and you fully believe that with your keyboard and mouse setup you can easily best any console gamer in any first-person shooter. Including GoldenEye. Not that you'd play that.

8. Now You're Really Playing with Power

You constantly remind people how weak consoles are. Your PC has at least 2GB of RAM, far more than any piddling console and you'd pick an Alienware system over a PlayStation 3 any day. Why settle for a 60GB harddrive when you can get 600GB? Also, you believe Crysis looks better than any next-gen console game on the horizon. (You may have a point.)

7. Will Wright = Game God

"Will Wright is a bigger genius than Shigeru Miyamoto." There is nothing you love more than the expression console gamers get on their faces when you utter these words and slander the creator of their beloved Mario. You think Spore is far more promising than Super Mario Galaxy, and while you're at it you add that Peter Molyneux has more talent in his left pinky than Hideo Kojima and Shinji Mikami combined.

6. Kids' Play

Platformers are for kids. You wonder why in the world a person would want to play a game where all you do is jump from platform to platform and collect coins or rings or other such nonsense. You'd much rather be leveling up in World of Warcraft or moving up the ranks in Battlefield 2142. That's totally different!

5. Blame it on the Console Gamers

Console gamers are responsible for the decline of some of the PCs best franchises. For example, the original Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six titles were fantastic and realistic, but now they've been compromised as the games cater more to console gamers and tone down the realism. To you, this is an absolute travesty. A vein on your forehead bulges.

4. You Think That's Realistic?

GTR2 is far more realistic than Gran Turismo could ever hope to be, and if you really want to get into the nitty gritty, Gran Prix Legends is the racing game to play. Everything else is "too arcadey." Not only that, but all flying games on consoles are rubbish. The Ace Combat series is a pathetic representation of modern air combat and all the Star Wars console games don't a candle compared to Tie Fighter and X-Wing. Also, thanks to Microsoft Flight Simulator X you're fairly confident you could land a Boeing 737 in real life. How many console games can teach you that skillset?

3. GamerTags are Overrated

Who needs Xbox Live when you've got the Internet? You've been gaming online since Quakeworld. Not only that, but it's also completely free. You look at console owners who have to pay for online gaming services and think about all the extra custom mousepads you can afford.

2. The Invincible PC

PCs are forever. You refuse to ever buy a console and wonder why anyone would. Consoles are fixed technology whereas PCs continue to advance. PC tech gets better year by year. You just can't top a system that's constantly evolving.

1. Nyah, Nyah, Console Tools

You've read this entire column and agree with every point, own every game mentioned, and can't wait to forward it on to your console-loving friends who just don't know any better. Congratulations: You're a PC snob!"

In other news my MySpace account has been phished! Apparently anyway, they suspended my account amid suspicious behaviour! I have reset my password several times and everything seems OK. I am always really careful, enter the address from my favourites and use a fingerprint reader to store addresses and passwords but there you go.

Lastly the pound is killing the dollar, so get all those stateside purchases ASAP!

TODAY'S LINKS :: It Turns Out I Am Not A Typical Man :: New T-Shirt Hell Shirts :: Futurama Anime :: nintendo8.com - classic Nintendo 8-bit games online! :: USELESS FACTS

REMEMBER KID'S :: "It's lonely at the top, but you eat better!"

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As He Gazed Upon The Vista...

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I am back, hurrah is he murmur I can hear floating around in cyberspace! It's been so long that I have forgotten HTML and how to blog. I hope everyone had a good Easter. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond anyone's control my Easter was a bit of a wash out, nice to be off work and that tho, hope you all faired better.

Vista *cough* VISTA, arrived through my letter box last Friday, I was so excited and nervous at the same time, do I upgrade, clean install or what, will all my software work, will my hardware fall over... Arrrrggghhhh! It was 11pm when I started getting all the drivers and updates I needed, backing up my PC in prep for duel boot (one 320g HD for XP and another clean 320g HD for Vista). By 8am I was done and finally decided it was time for bed. Everything went smoothly really and by that stage I was completely happy using Vista and had it running the way I WANTED, it's so annoying that it try's to hold your hand when you attempt to do anything. Two small issues have arisen, my TV card will run in a compatibility mode but the glass effects must be switched off (no vista driver is available yet, IT'S BEEN OUT FOR MONTHS, how can this be) and I am only able to surf the internet at one third normal speed (Tiscali said not to upgrade and no solution was available, HOW CAN THIS BEEEEE, IT'S BEEN BLOODY MONTHS AND YEARS IN THE BLOODY PIPELINE) but that is fine for now and I can and do still boot to XP for downloading and that!

So what do I think? Well I have the business version, my PC rating is 5.3 (scaled from 1 - 5.9) and my graphics rate at 5.9 (bragging rights there then and when I get some more RAM I am sure the whole system will be almost 5.9) so my machine is very capable and I am in a good position to judge it's proficiency. In XP I used so many little programs to get it to work in a cool way, a sidebar, glass effects, windows blinds, etc that it all slowed the system down a fair bit, happily I find Vista faster than how I was using XP. I think it's a lovely OS, not leaps and bounds ahead like we all hoped but it's clean, looks nice, gets faster as you use it and for anyone new to PC's easy to use! Things like the Speech Recognition works straight out of the box, the search is fast and in a year or so when development really kicks in I doubt you will be able to fault it (Mac's new OS is delayed so for now anyway it's top dog), OK maybe just a little. For me personally I wanted to be able to get under the hood more, to see what's happening but it wants to just tick away in the back ground, without YOU seeing how, why or when anything is happening but for the mass market this is an advantage.

To up some, I like it and you will too but it's not ready for the mass market and won't be until 3rd party developers get their act together! As an upgrade, don't bother yet and on a new PC, well that choice is removed! Peace out folks!

TODAY'S LINKS :: Craig's Joke Images - Terrorist Advice :: World's Tightest Pants :: Something From My Room Blog :: Funny Student Exam Answers :: Torrent Google :: The End of the InterWebNet

REMEMBER KID'S :: "Senior Citizen: Give me my damn discount!"

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Last Post Until After Easter...

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So I have been ill this last week, coming to the end of it now, so that's dandy. Even tho I am not 100% I have a poker game to go to tonight, I must remember to be more aggressive because I threw it away last time!

With the Easter Hols I will probably not posts until the middle of next week so you will all have to survive without me! *sigh* I don't know what I am taking off work or even what my plans will be but in a DCI Hunt style I am sure my reaction to the question will consist of the one syllable word, if asked "PUB!". The GP will also feature, it's an early race as you can see:

Malaysian Formula 1 GP on ITV

Live qualifying Saturday 7th April 0630-0820 ITV3
Qualifying re-run Saturday 7th April 1340-1530 ITV1
Live race Sunday 8th April 0730-1000 ITV1
Race re-run Sunday 8th April 1540-1800 ITV1
Highlights Monday 9th April 0045-0145 ITV1
Highlights re-run Monday 9th April 1800-1900 ITV4

Short and sweet today. Have a great Easter everybody!

TODAY'S LINKS :: Bangor Northern Ireland Telephone Exchange Location :: New T Shirt Hell Shirts :: Great Northern Ireland Podcasts :: Declutter Your Desk :: How to Get Rid of Jehovah's Witnesses!

REMEMBER KID'S :: "Wanted: Meaningful overnight relationship!"

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