Wasters To The Left, Wasters To The Right

I've come across a couple of news stories of late that pretty much confirm what I had suspected for quite some time: the UK is a wasteful shit hole.

 

Story number one comes from The Telegraph and I read it yesterday, it regards recycling in the UK. Compulsory recycling is now almost ubiquitous in the UK - although this development took a damned long time in coming and many councils are still not recycling all materials that are recyclable. The issue this story raises regards landfills - the UK makes too much use of them and as a result faces fines from the EU.

 

The answer? More recycling of course! The onus here is on food waste - apparently we're producing 100 million tonnes of the stuff yearly - that is literally TONNES of waste. The idea is to have what the article charmingly refers to as a "slop bucket" in every home - in reality this would just be an additional bin for putting food and organic waste in. That would march us up to 4 bins where I live - recyclables, glass, domestic and finally food/organic wastes. That's a lot of bins, and no doubt increasingly complex collection schedules. There is all ready a bit of a furor over current collection schedules which is basically alternating weeks between the recycling and domestic collections - some people are concerned about the smell of 2 week old rotting matter attracting pests and vermin, these self same people are undoubtedly going to be concerned about the new proposals, particularly with news outlets using the unsavory term "slop bucket" in relation to the notion.

 

Four bins, stinking rubbish in your back garden, confusing uplift schedule - fuck that shit. I think the notion of personal bins has to die at this point. This stuff is getting way too confusing, take ALL the bins away and replace them with communal refuse areas. This isn't a new idea, it's used in loads of areas already - particularly those areas with a high  concentration of flats where each property having its own bin is vastly impractical. The idea is simple, have smaller bins in your house for your crap, and then when they're full go empty them at the communal refuse point - ta-da, no stinking rubbish in or (relatively) near your house, and you don't have to worry about the schedule really either in this scenario. Sure you're going to have to put slightly more effort into disposing of your trash - you may even have to walk over 100 feet in the process!!! But if it's necessary then it's necessary - councils have a limited budget and they're facing a shit-tonne of financial pressure on this - either they keep dumping in landfills and pay the fines knowing that landfills have a finite capacity and they're going to have to find an alternative sooner or later anyway - ORRRR, they invest in recycling facilities now and we endure a tiny bit of inconvenience. I vote tiny bit of inconvenience.

 

Some folks worry about the cost of any new recycling reforms to the tax payer, well yes, it will cost us, but probably a damned sight less than continuing to pay fines for overuse of land-filling until the landfills are full of shit we could have re-used and we realise we need to bump up the recycling toot-sweet before we're all neck deep in empty bean tins and shitty nappy's. And hey, recycling is good for the environment too, so suck it up whingers.

 

The next story is very much related to the first, and I've just realised that one is also a Telegraph article. We're again talking about food waste, but this time not the sort you scrape into the bin after a meal - this is the stuff we're flinging away before its even been eaten! Apparently we, as a nation are throwing away £10 billion worth of edible food every year, and it's all to do with one confusing little phrase: "best before". The suggestion is that people and businesses are hoofing out food based on the "best before" date displayed on the packaging despite the fact that this food is still very much edible for a few days after that point. Quite sickening really that there are people in this country itself that struggle to feed themselves and their children and there are people throwing out edible food because of misunderstanding. Ten billion pounds too, just shy of 10% the NHS yearly budget - out for the rats.

 

Perhaps the people concerned about the stench of their bins are the self same people hoofing out edible food - in which case: eat it before you throw it out and most of the stink will end up down the toilet.

 

In other news, somewhat related in that it concerns a massive waste - Gordon Brown, but otherwise not. Good ole Gordon is apparently considering reforming the electoral system - you're only how many decades late G-money? I saw a bit of the PMs Questions earlier and David "smarmy arse" Cameron insinuated this move was somewhat related to Labours dismal performance in the Euro elections and basically a move to ensure the damage is limited when it comes down to future British General Elections. If I was a betting man you can bet your arse (and mine) I'd put everything on Cameron in this instance (although precious few others I might add). As I've said before the UK really needs to get rid of this undemocratic FPTP shit and move on to PR like most of the rest of the democratic nations in the world. Of course Brown isn't actually suggesting we adopt any form of PR, because that would be too fucking fair, right? Both Labour and the Conservatives are pretty keen to keep PR at bay because they both think they've got a decent shot at getting in power in any given election under FPTP and PR might shit on their chances of putting this nation through 5 years of roughshod mismanagement 70% of us didn't vote for. They are instead plumping for the "Alternative Vote". This is a preference based system where voters rank candidates in order of preference. The seat would then be decided by who the majority found most preferable, it is initially based on 1st preference votes, if no one receives 50% of the votes then the 2nd, 3rd, 4th preference votes etc are added to each candidates score until someone has >50%. This sort of system may benefit an unpopular Labour party who may fall out of the 1st preference category for many voters, but still acquire a significant number of 2nd and 3rd preference votes to steal a few seats back in marginal constituencies and minimise their losses.

So no PR then, David Cameron has already played the BNP card in his argument against PR, which essentially goes like this: PR may allow parties like the BNP who hold unpleasant views and policies to gain seats in Parliament, therefore PR is bad. Sorry David, but this is a democracy, and the fact that you, me or anyone else dislike the BNP and their policies shouldn't exclude the people who do support them from being properly represented in Parliament. It's the FPTP all over - repressing the views and opinions of everyone who doesn't hold yours. Perhaps if the BNP had to fight their policies in a professional political forum then they'd be exposed for the weak fascist insane fantasies that they are - this repression is giving the BNP some sort of fringe validation among the misguided fools who think they're right in some way. Well done Davy, shot yourself in the foot there, and I'd be quite happy for you to shoot yourself in the foot if mine wasn't right under yours with the foot of every other man woman and child in the UK.

freedoms_stain, despairing at the UK, out.

Musings on the European Results

So the European elections were held last week and the results are in. It's a mixture of good news and bad news in my mind. On the one hand there have been gains by parties who support online privacy and who take a favourable stance against harsh copyright laws such as the European Greens (who appear to be up roughly 8 MEPs at this point) and Sweden's Pirate Party who'll be getting at least 1 MEP, maybe 2; then on the other hand we have gains made by UKIP, the UK Independance Party who are rather anti-EU, the BNP, a bunch of fascist ignorant cunts to fascistly ignorant to realise how fascistly ignorant they are, even if fascistly isn't a word and a general rightward swing in the make-up of the EU parliament.

I'm always slightly worried when right-leaning individuals are in power, these are the sort of people who buy their votes with promises of freedom and decrying large governments and government involvement - then as soon as they are in any position to wield power they start yanking away freedoms, beefing up the government and sticking their noses into anything and everything. Lying Bastards in other words. These are also the type of people who'd be more willing to side with big business and the entertainment industries over things like copyright issues - little things like that that are aimed at benefiting the few over the many. Hopefully those parties with sensible copyright views will be able to make their presence felt.

Perhaps I'm confusing the European right wing with the US right wing too much, even right leaning Europeans are mild compared to the right leaning Americans - so perhaps my fears are unfounded.

One of the major shit stains surrounding this particular Election here in the UK has been Labours sizable fall from the premier party to 3rd place - doesn't really bode well for them in the coming general election - which I hope will be soon and swift. I think Labour deserve to lose power this time around, they just haven't been doing well enough and Gordon Brown is a weak as piss leader - I'd have Blair back any day, shit, I'd probably prefer John Major over this clown. People seem to think Brown was a good Chancellor, why? he has been a major influence on creating this craptacular economy we're supposed to be suffering for the next 8-10 years. So long Labour, maybe we'll have you back when Brown is a faded patch on the shitty mosaic that is British politics.

Pretty disgusted that people voted BNP at all, particularly in the levels that they did. Even if one of their primary policies wasn't a piece of disgusting wankery on its own (that'd be the one where they pay everyone not white or born in Britain or to white British parents to leave) it's plain fucking insanity when your economy is in the shitter and public services are being stripped to the bone to cope. Oh, I'm sure there'll be plenty of jobs when the "immigrants" leave - so many in fact that the economy will probably plummet further because there aren't enough adults of working age or condition to actually run the country!

Oh, and their "paying everyone not white and British to leave" policy isn't racist, just so you know. I can't see how its not racist even after reading their piss poor explanation for how it's not racist but they assure us it's not.

freedoms_stain, voted Green, out.

Out With The Old

Last summer I needed a new mouse, being a bit of a keen gamer I decide to go for something designed specifically for gaming. The gaming peripheral market isn't huge in the UK, but there's enough of a choice to merit significant pondering and in the end I pipped for the Saitek Cyborg Mouse (pictured above), after all on paper it looks fantastically impressive:

• Adjustable mouse size extends or contracts to suit any size of hand or grip
• Adjustable Scroll Wheel – changes click strength of scroll wheel
• Programmable, 4-way, low profile hat switch

• 2 additional programmable buttons
• 3200dpi for increased precision

Flashy, no? No. The problem is that despite the sexy specs the mouse is crippled in several ways.

Firstly there was the software, which didn't work out of the box, briefly worked after one update before returning to non-functional status and finally being fixed by yet another update. Even when it worked the software wasn't very good, the UI for the profiler looked like it had been designed in a highschool visual basic lesson - basically not very impressive.

Next there's the form factor. As you can see from the pic above it's a bit of an ugly bastard, and sadly that ugliness translates into poor ergonomics. The length of the mouse is adjustable (and is adjusted by a moderately cool electric motor mechanism - if you're easily amused) - this is supposed to allow the mouse to accommodate all hand sizes, but it doesn't. The problem arises with the side buttons, the mouse has the two extra 4+5 side buttons most mice have as standard now, on the cyborg these are located on the weird cornery bit under the cyborg logo on the unit - that's right the grey portion on there are the actual buttons, the one resting under the logo fits fairly comfortably under the thumb, but the one along the jutting out bit is awkward as mother fucking fuck, rather than pressing it you are required to perform a weird forward-pushing action with your thumb that feels weird and unbalances your grip, which is a dumb way to have things. The side is also home to a 4 way hat switch (roughly under the cyborg logo) plus an additional no 6 button which rests on the extreme edge of the weird fin-like extension on the base of the mouse. The first issue with these buttons is that Windows doesn't natively recognise them, which means you have to use the shitty software to macro functions to them for them to do anything, the second is that they're pretty uselessly placed. The hat switch is placed in such a position that no matter how I adjust the length on the unit either my thumb is awkwardly placed to reach it or if I get it in a position where I can reach it then my index and middle fingers end up too far up the mouse for comfortable clicking of the primary mouse buttons - yet another pain in the proverbial arse. The fin button is also poorly placed, if the fin had been about half as jutty-out it might've worked, but as it is it's just ass.

Added to the irritation this mouse has caused me the noise of the mouse wheel is harsh, noisy and grating.

And the final straw: The mouse stopper responding properly to Mouse-1 clicks, a minor irritation in everyday use, but when you're gaming, particularly online, and your fire button is acting up, that can be the difference between winning and losing - and that's bullshit. It actually developed a new trick the week prior to its replacement - interpreting single clicks as double clicks.

The fucker had to go.

Enter the replacement, the Razer DeathAdder! Much to my embarrassment and shame I had been advised to get a Razer product over the Saitek prior to purchasing the Saitek and ignored the advice - to my cost. The DeathAdder is a much simpler design, and far more ergonomic. The Razer techs have obviously focused on designing and producing a product that gets everything it does right rather than piling on ultimately useless gimmicks that hinder rather than enhance the units playability. Here we have a standard 5 button mouse (with wheel) with adjustable dpi up to 1800 - this is a lower max dpi than the Cyborg, but faster than I actually use a mouse at anyway - so more than adequate for my needs. Probably the most important factor here is that the thing is comfortable - it sits well in the hand and all the buttons are easily reachable without having to do thumb gymnastics.

Completely irrelevant but pretty cool anyway - the logo on the back slowly strobes :D

I guess the moral of this story is to canvas opinions rather than allowing flashy specs to sway you.

freedoms_stain, out.

Gears of War Woes

It rather appears like I've left it a bit too long to get involved with Gears of War on Windows, very few people appear to be playing these days. When I go looking for Versus matches to join or for Co-op partners I'm lucky if there's even one game to choose from. And then when I do find a game it's usually populated by people speaking languages I can't understand which isn't the greatest situation for team work, and the second to last Co-op partner I had was an ammo hog who pretty much forced me to use the crappy Locust weapons - dick.

What really sucks about this situation is that it makes it incredibly unlikely I'll ever be able to pick up any of the online play based achievements - well, I'm pretty unlikely to pick up any of the Versus achievements as it stands anyway as I really suck at GoW online, but I'd like the chance to improve which just ain't happenin as it stands.

Maybe there are unofficial servers or something I can play on, will have to investigate that.

freedoms_stain, out.

The Internet Just Got Bigger

This is Google Wave, a web app in development from the Google team that aims to revolutionise the way we communicate online.

And I must say, from the developer preview they've just showcased it looks pretty damned exciting. It's like a new take at email, combining principals of Instant Messaging, message boards and email itself into something that's very much unique. Anyone who has used Gmail knows that Google is fond of the concept of "Conversations" and Wave is very much a fulfilment of that concept.

Email is very linear - it works well on a one-to-one basis where participants are easily able to message and reply to messages, and Gmail is very good at collating messages that form a conversation (something that classic mail clients can be poor at). But when it comes to group conversations email becomes cumbersome and the more participants involved the more cumbersome it becomes. If a message is sent by one person to another 4, all of whom reply to the original message and all of whom subsequently comment on each others replies you quickly end up with a confusing myriad of messages that are difficult to collate into a coherent narrative. Wave aims to bring everything together into a single conversation at a central location much like a Message Board/Forum but far more flexible than that.

The great thing about Wave is that it removes the linearity that existing methods of online communication suffer from. If we go back to our group email, if the original message contained 5 points or questions then each participant would give their responses in one solid block which everyone would have to read as a single unit, possibly referring back to the original. With Wave any part of the original message can be replied to in isolation, therefore each participant can provide each of their replies directly under the point/question and reply directly to each other in the same location. The result is a single location for the conversation that can be contributed to in a fluid manner with contributors able to contribute anywhere within the conversation/Wave, even within other contributions. The Wave also has a playback feature that will playback every contribution to the Wave in order allowing the user to quickly track the progress of the Wave up to that point.

Another useful feature is the ability to embed content directly into the Wave, pictures, maps, videos, links, whatever you need really can be added to the Wave to enhance the conversation.

There is a whole slew of other shit going on here, and no doubt there'll be mountains more stuff to come, check out the video linked above to get the whole story so far - if you have 1hr 20mins to waste.

Wave is still developer-only at the moment, but it's expected to go into public beta later this year. I reckon there's a decent chance Wave could replace email as the online personal communication method of choice - it might even threaten IM protocols if they can get it to work fast enough. I do think email and IM have a place in the world with Wave, but I think their roles will change significantly. There is a strong possibility that Gmail and Wave could be combined at some point in the future, and with Googles strong commitment to integrating their web apps there's a strong probability Wave will be integrated too.

freedoms_stain, intrigued, and out.