Don't Kill The Floppy!

Time to move away from all the politics and rants and shift onto something a bit more geeky. I think floppy disks are fantastic. They sure as hell aren't perfect mind, and can be nackered quite easily by putting them near magnetic fields or in moist conditions, but CD's aren't much good in that respect either. A few deep scratches and you're screwed. Sure, CD's and DVD's can hold a hell of a lot more data than a typical 1.44Mb 3.5" floppy disk, but that is besides the point. So why then, do I like this storage medium so much?

Well to be honest when faced with that question, I haven't really much idea. They are small and humble, but given the choice of choosing to write a file under 1Mb to a CD or floppy, I'd go for the floppy any day. You can't beat a floppy disk for transferring small files. Or at least that used to be the case...

For years, it seemed the floppy was unkillable. 8" was shortlived, 5.25" was phased out by the mid 90s, but the 3.5" disk has been with us since the early-mid 80s and has been since a very popular storage medium. Such classic pre-CD era machines such as the Amiga 500, wads of 286s, 386s, 486s running DOS onwards, Atari ST's have all used floppies as the standard storage medium. It has been with us for over 20 years, and no one really thought they would go away even when CD-Rs came along. But that is now changing. Over the last few years computer manufacturers have began selling a lot of new machines without floppy drives. I personally think this is awful! They are great for creating emergency boot disks for example, a lifesaver if you're computer goes down. They are great for small text and Word documents, spreadsheets, smaller databases. CD's are too much of a pain to use. Even CD RW's do not offer the simplicity of the drag and drop method when working with floppies.

Systems such as Windows XP and OS X have made things easier, but simply erasing a couple of files on a CD and putting new ones on there isn't as simple as it should be.
USB sticks are much better.

I would love to see the USB stick become the successor to the CD-ROM for example. Just plug it in and go. No waiting for the lens and the drive to whir up, instant access. Read, write, delete, drag, drop as you please. You don't have to worry about scratching USB sticks or floppies either. The critical parts are safely housed with exterior casing.

So while the world gradually shifts away from the floppy disk, I can guarantee that I will continue to use them for the forseeable future.

CD's/DVD's I think should be phased out by something similar. Too often precious files are lost due to scratches. CD's/DVD's should come in a similar plasting housing to that of a floppy, or the media replaced by something more reliable.

The listening PM (who only hears what he wants to hear)

So today I read that only parliament will vote on the new EU treaty. "No public vote will be necessary" Gordon Brown claims, although the simple fact that it was promised in the Labour Manifesto of 2005 means it is absolutely neccesary. Not just that though, but the simple FACT that it is 98% the same as the old hated EU constitution rejected by France and the Netherlands.
Angela Merkel, a key backer and seemingly close friend of Gordon Brown said in June of this year that the "substance of the constitution is preserved". In other words, the so-called "changes" are purely cosmetic.

So already, the honeymoon for Brown seems to be over, with revolts from core Labour supporters and a high majority of the general public. 8 out of 10 people want an EU referendum, but it seems the "listening PM" who will "serve" his country needs a new hearing aid.

This is a big warning as to what he could be like if he wins the General Election. Manifesto promises being shattered, listening only when he thinks it suits him, and the arrogant "I know best, fuck the rest" attitude of this man.

I only hope that the British public see sense at the next General Election.

Under-age Drinking

I was looking on the Daily Mirror website and discovered they had conducted an investigation where they sent an ELEVEN year old girl into a local off-license to see if she would get served alcohol. Chillingly, she succeeded without any fuss or requests for ID. She returned to her parents (who gave permission for the investigation) with two litres of super-strength 7.5 per cent White Lightning, two litres of 5.3 per cent Strongbow, two litres of 5.5 per cent Blackthorn and three litres of 4.5 per cent Olde English Cider - enough to kill her, and if shared with friends make them ill and extremely out of control.

The shopkeeper who was responsible for serving her the drinks was later confronted, and said that he was "too busy" to ask for her ID. This is no excuse, this is just barmy.

What I suggest...

Parents to become much more vigilant and analyse their child's behaviour, but I think what would be even more effective is tougher penalties on shopkeepers who do not comply to the regulations. If they fear huge fines then they won't do it. You could even take it further and do what I would call a "strike-3", where if a shop is caught selling alcohol under age more than 3 times - over any length of time - it will get shut down.
Trading Standards also need to become firmer, and send more people out as mystery shoppers to root out the shops which do not comply, and give them an immediate fine and warning.

Stricter regulations on shops like the one which served the young girl and claim they are "too busy", when really they don't give a damn... they just want profit, balls to the safety of the children, is the only way this can be effectively conquered with some more vigilance from parents.

No Remorse, No Guilt, No Regret

Some of you may have seen a programme on BBC 2 recently about online amateur videos glorifying violence amongst youths. It is now a regular occurence in newspapers and TV that we hear of the latest assaults, be it a man confronting someone for throwing litter out of their car window, only to be threatened with a knife and eventually killed, school kids fighting to the death or seriously fatal, or defenceless vulnerable people such as the elderley or homeless being the target of yobs.

But what is even more shocking and frightening - is that in every one of these cases we hear about, the youths involved, if caught, do not show ANY signs of remorse, guilt or regret for what they have done. This is the culture we now live in, where such big incidents as a murder cannot be reflected upon the offender. They merely say "it was for a laugh" or that they simply do not have any guilt whatsoever over what they have done. There seems to be a distinct lack of respect and values here, and the parents are top to blame.

It's absolutely disgusting and beyond a joke, the Government also must take responsibility.

Parents should be teaching children values and respect, but the chances are, it goes back generations of bad parenting creating a domino effect of wrecklessness. Today's yobs are tomorrow's young parents, which have children who are no different to themselves: NO REMORSE NO REGRET NO GUILT.

Kids of 10 and 11 recently attacking a man and his son. This incident and the thousands of others occuring every week clearly state that these yobs are laughing in the face of the law, show no fear of the consequences of their actions, and the law indeed protects the guilty, criminalises the innocent and brave. Things must change before this farce escalates any further.

This goverment has introduced over 1500 (probably nearer 2000) new laws in the last 10 years solely for the purpose of generating an income from hard working honest citizens. And for rest the ASBO, a piece of paper that says don't do it again. A badge to be worn with pride in today's youths.
If children want to commit adult offences they should receive adult punishment.
Government should rely less on fines and more on tough action.
The punnishment for attacking someone is currently less than a speeding fine. This is ridiculous and wrong.

It takes no intelligence whatsoever to realise that the current law is far too soft on young offenders, is stupidly warped (as someone pointed out with the man who defended himself getting fined) and CORRUPT.
An example of this corruption is a man I know was arrested after coming to the aid of a blind man who was being attacked by five yobs, he intervened after he had been hit in the face. He was then set upon and I defended himself. The officer who arrested him let the 5 yobs go, because he had a job and was more likely to be able to pay the fine.
He dragged it out through the crown court and was found innocent on the grounds of self defence.
This boils down to the corrupt ways of our judical system... if you're a yob and you commit an offence and someone intervenes the law is there to protect you. If you're an honest citizen and you intervene then if your not killed you will be arrested for your troubles.

If you have money, you pay the fine. If you are a yob, you are free to leave.

This cannot continue!

What I suggest....

Tougher penalties, bring back the death penalty for serious crimes such as murder, that would soon solve prison overcrowding which in turn would mean stopping the stupid idea of shortening penalties. Human rights? Well committing a barbaric offense like murder, is hardly human, more animal-like.
Letting people go early is one of the biggest follies of our Labour government, if people know theyre gonna be let out early, are they really gonna be arsed about a few months in jail with Sky TV and pool tables anyway? It is fact that people who are released early are very likely to re-offend.

Tougher penalties are what is needed, this is no rocket science, purely common sense. People need to be frightened of the consequences of their actions. At the moment, offenders just laugh and don't give a hoot. This is no exaggeration, just blatantly obvious when you see some guy dead and a yob grinning.

Proud and British is becoming somewhat of an oxymoron - we are becoming known as being the soft touch not just of Europe but of the world.

Hi

Hello, I'm back to blogging. Some rants, raves, opinions, nonsense, sense, and more coming your way soon. Keep those eyes peeled open. A bit like an orange. Mmm, orange.