Virgin Media - pile of shit broadband

So I am paying for an 8mb connection and I get less than half a megabite download?! why? because Virgin tossing broadband is consistently shit. Even more shit in the evenings and at weekends of course, when other people are using it too. Well, its ok during the day though,  so thats good - when Im at freeking work you twatting shisters!  

Really pisses me off that I have to waste my time  and more money by phoning Virgin only to talk to some twat with a script and a bastard calm voice for 20 minutes and to be told that its my fault for using the internet at the wrong time of day.

Why the Fkk should I have to call to tell them they are steeling my money? dont they know that?! Grrrrr!

Makes me mad it does  -  give me my money back you thieving wankers!

I Am a Vandal

What did the Vandals do? They sacked Rome - they ruined it.

So, I am a vandal because most of the things I do every day lead, indirectly to vandalism on my behalf. Vandalism isn't bad on its own - its only bad when the thing being vandalized is very important.

Every time I drive anywhere, eat packaged food, turn the lights on, watch tv or even spend money in a chain store, I unintentionally and indirectly vandalize the thing that gave me my life and allows it to continue.

This very important thing that I vandalize every day, on which (ironically) I have a free ride for as long as I am alive is an amazing self-sustaining organic planet. This planet doesn't need me to survive - I need it. Yet I vandalize it and for so long I didn't think about it because the damage I do mostly gets washed or blown away or buried underground far away from me where I cant smell, see or touch it.

I don't need to bleat on about climate change, overfishing, sea acidification, or C02 emissions or the giant pacific garbage patch or any of the other media guilt trips out there, its much simpler than that for me.
I can breathe air because earths delicate eco systems are still producing it for me. I can drink fresh water because sea is still healthy enough to make rain happen.

It doesnt matter whether all our vandalism to the eco-system will be enough to kill us all off -  thats not the point at all. Its just plain stupid to try hack away at the hand that feeds me. Earth is the hand that feeds me, so am I wise to vandalize it?

This isn't about God, or morals or being green even, its just about human stupidity and the unfortunate false sense of security that we get from living far away from any real danger here in our developed country. I can sometimes see the danger way off in TV land or youtube land, but then I can forget it and sleep in a warm bed and everything is fine in the morning when I will make a cup of tea with fresh, clean water that comes out of my tap, before flushing another bucket full of fresh drinking water down the toilet to wash away my crap (well some of it anyway!). 

Never mind, tomorrow is a new, clean day.

Vandalisation: The ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable

Devjolly - A new dictionary word?

I have often used the word devjolly to describe things at work - It just seems to fit so many circumstances that I have tried to define it as a new term - here is the rough draft:  
  ----------------------------------------------------------

Devjolly
–noun
In a programming context... 
 

1. Developers having fun.
2. The act of employing development techniques or tools unnecessarily, simply for their own sake, during the writing or extending of an application.

Its taken me 4 hours just to change the list ordering in a sodding html drop down. This whole app is a shafting devjolly! 

-Adj

1. Describing code that is written at the whim of the developer who would have typically employed the latest coding techniques, tools and methodology without due consideration of the eventual commercial impact of doing so.
2. Coding techniques, tools and methodology that are employed, merely to satisfy a desire to learn, or to produce code that will impress confuse or confound peers, serving to elevate the authors own  peer group status. 
3. A 'devjollied' application would typically lock in unnecessary external dependencies and contain overly complex code that requires increased development time for anyone but the original author, to enhance or bug fix it.

–verb (used without object)
1.  Your having a  f****** devjolly!
 ---------------------------------------------------------- 

Middle Age and Happiness

I read this Economist report recently about middle age and happiness from which I quote  "People are least happy in their 40s and early 50s." Well I'm 43 now, and over the last few years I have had cause to reflect on my own state of happiness, or lack thereof. I'm not blue all the time, mainly during the week I suppose, when I'm work-tired  - although I do struggle with purpose most of the time and they say that if you don't have any achievable goals in sight... blah blah.

When I think back a bit, i'm sure I have always had goals or achievable ambitions, through my 20s and mid 30s. i dont remember ever having long term goals though, so maybe, having achieved all my modest goals, I've simply ran out? Doh!

bah, maybe I shouldnt read so much crap? according to this graph, I've got another 7 years of misery at least before I start climbing out of the U-Bend!!


fuck!

heres the report (safe to read if you're over 50 i guess)
(http://www.economist.com/node/17722567)