Telling it like it is

El Busho warned today that the US is in "more danger of attack" because Congress failed to extend legislation on domestic wiretapping laws allowing the government to listen in on phone calls and intercept e-mails without a warrant in the hope of intercepting communication by foreign tur'rst suspects. In other news, YOU CAN'T JUSTIFY EVERYTHING WITH FEAR. SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU WARMONGERING RETARD!!!!!

Colour me surprised and pleased. One of my all time 80's tracks, Voyage Voyage, done in 1987 by Desireless, has been re-done by Kate Ryan. Why am I pleased? For my ears, she's actually made it better - something that normally never happens when covers are done.

Why is everything so bloody difficult when it comes to Microsoft? All I want to do is a rip a CD as a single MP3 with no gaps in it. Microsoft, in all their widsom, won't allow me to do that. Mediaplayer has no way of telling it to rip a CD all in one go. No - instead, when I put a mix CD in, it rips every single bloody track as a unique mp3. In iTunes? Simple - tick a box. The problem is our corporate overlords won't allow iTunes as an installed application on our hobbled PCs so I'm stuck with what Bill Gates wants me to use, and as usual, it's shit. Microsoft : Where user-unfriendliness isn't a motto - it's a way of life.

I'm not sure I'll ever understand why Utah drivers do what they do. Following last night's blizzard, we got up this morning and the roads were all clear - well done UDOT for getting the plows out while everyone was asleep. In some cases, the roads had been cleared so long that they were actually dry. So why the hell was everyone doing 5mph? Deep, drifting snow - they all do 60mph and drive into each other. Clear roads but snow in the air - they all do 5mph and clog up the streets. Worse are those who are so damn lazy they just won't clear the snow off their windows and drive around looking out of a little clear spot front and rear. How difficult is it? Really? Swish - there - the whole window is clear. My favourites are those who are so incredibly lazy that they don't clear the snow from in front of their radiators. I see them every snow day, standing at the side of the road, hood up, with steam pouring out of their radiators because the snow and ice on the front b...

The roads were bad when I left work tonight - I went over to Mike's to do his mail and a normal 10 minute journey took me an hour. Now we're in a super blizzard. The motorways are at a standstill and people are abandoning their vehicles all over the place. Visibility is down to zero and the snow plows can't work because all the roads are clogged with beached and abandoned cars. I blew about 4 inches of snow out of the drive when I got home and it's still snowing. The temps are due to go up a bit in the next couple of days but it looks like Antarctica outside right now. This was when the weather was still great :

Here's a conundrum for you. Why do identical cars from identical manufacturers get lower gas mileages in America? Given the difference in a US gallon and a UK gallon, (a factor of 1.2), gallon for gallon you'll go much further in the European version of the car. Here's two examples showing the city / highway / combined mpg values. For the UK models I've put the imperial mpg first and the equivalent US mpg in brackets. These are for identical spec cars - same weight, same engine, same trim level - everything. Honda CR-V 2.0 manual UK 27.2 / 42.2 / 35 (22.6 / 35.1 / 29.1) US 20/27/23 Honda Civic 1.8 5dr manual UK : 33.6/51.4/42.8 (28 / 42.8 / 35.6) US : 26/34/29

Some movies have titles that sort of describe the content of the film, and then some movies have titles that describe the film itself. "Superbad" falls firmly into the second category. It's awful. Truly terrible. I got about 20 minutes in before I gave up with it. I rented it because it was a BluRay title - to check out some HD content, but I just couldn't sit through a minute more. It joins my list of truly terrible films. Films so terrible that nothing can save them. Unforgiven Blair Witch Project Garfield (not even Jennifer Love Hewitt could save that one) The 40 Year Old Virgin Superbad.

Bloody hell it was warm up top today. The sun was up when I got to Solitude and it just got warmer and warmer. People were skiing without jackets by the time I left - it was like March skiing, not February. Either way, I was right in my comfort zone today and had a lovely morning hooning down the slopes.