Sky Channels (and others)

These are getting more annoying in several ways.

• The insistence of using spilt screens over the credit of programmes, advertising what is on next or later, or even worse, in the next episode of the programme you've been watching. This ruins any dramatic tension built up, and in some cases, ruins the credits themselves, where the programme might not actually have ended, or there may be extra jokes, meaningful title music, etc. Sometimes the dramatic pause and release in terms of the ending is needed. The last episode of "Lost" was a case in point - immediately after the series ending cliff-hanger, they showed clips from the next series which answered several of the questions posed a few seconds before. Not good.
  
• The use of an obtrusive banner across the screen during the show itself advertising what is one next. The BBC's coverage of the last weekend of the VI Nations was a case in point, reducing the size of the picture to a quarter of the screen so they could show a fancy graphic of what was coming up next.
  
• European television is not shown in widescreen, so when watching sport from France or elsewhere in Europe, you get the letterbox format with the edges cut off as well. I know the settings can be changed, but it is a pain to change them back again when you switch channels.
  
• Voice overs during theme music and credits (similar to the rant above).
  
• The size of the cannel ID logo, especially during the cricket.
  
• "Press Red" buttons which appear in so many programmes now. You can get
  rid of it, but it reappears after every advert break.
  
• The number of advert breaks on any US channel. Do American audiences have particularly weak bladders?
  

Namesakes

What do the following people have in common: Rodney Marsh, Simon Hughes, Brian Moore. For all of them, the person that I would immediately picture is not necessarily the one that a large chunk of the populace would. For those people brought up on football, March and Moore were footballer and commentator par excellence. For those listening to news of the Liberal Democrats, Hughes is their President and long-time MP (as well as failed leader candidate and allegedly user of sex chat lines). To me, Marsh and Hughes are cricketers from the 1970s/1980s and 1980s/90s respectively, and Moore the hooker come solicitor turned into vociferous BBC pundit in the VI Nations.

Diplomacy

I drove a diplomatic car across the borders of the old Iron Curtain last weekend. Sounds far more impressive than it actually was. The border guards at the Slovakian - Austrian border looked bored, but then I guess 20 years ago they would have had a far more exciting time than checking passports of Western tourists driving a borrowed Skoda. Bratislava and Vienna were both wonderful, if greatly contrasting places. Vlad and Vera were excellent hosts, and the castle at Devin was superb, the closest to a Welsh castle in terms of preserved ruins, design and care over the history, as you'd find in Europe.

Walking the Dog on Ladygrove

And no, that is not some bizarre euphemism. I'm getting steadily more annoyed with the way that other dog walkers look at me when I'm walking Buddy round the estate. I turn a corner, and they immediately call their dog to heel, pointedly put it on the lead and walk the long way around you.
Possibly I'm being paranoid, but they look at me as though it is my fault that their dog's freedom is being curtailed, and that I have no right to be out with my dog at the same time as they are out. (No more right to be on God's clean earth than a weasel). Face it, if your dog cannot be trusted to be out without a lead, then don't walk it around a housing estate with lots of other dogs, cats and children.

Set

The word in the English language that has more meanings than any other.

IOSH Gifts

In response to the ridiculous range of corporate gifts now available from IOSH (the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health), I've just posted this rant to their fora.


Just what are IOSH doing with our hard earned membership fees. The management appear to be locked in an ivory tower doing what they want to do, and not actually doing anything for the benefit of the mebership. Pens, safety knives and ties should hardly be the major priorities for our professional body, should they? Either IOSH or I are completely out of touch with what is actually needed. They seem to be making lots of decisions that have little or no effect on my (our?) working life, and just add to the image of the safety professional being a pompous buffoon out of touch with reality.

• Corporate membership - will mean absolutely nothing to my company's managers.
  
• Gifts for me to give out at training session - I'd be laughed out of town.
  
• Salaries for H&S staff with a PhD being >£50K - please return to the real world.
  
• The most points available in CPD to be gained from attending branch meetings - of very very limited use.
  
• 10% of CPD to be gaiuned by writing a "plan" - absolutely worthless.
  
• The view that safety professionals will be listened to more in their companies because IOSH say so - derisive.
  
• The complete lack of a sense of humour on any subject - again reinforces the stereotype of the H&S Officer.
  
• The preaching nature of letters on smoking bans and the continuing treatment of people as sheep to be prodded and led to the promised land of no risk.
  
• The hundreds of emails and wasted junk mailshots about the conference.
  
• The continued harping about what is best for IOSH not what is best for their members.
  
• The royal charter and corporate image being the only thing that IOSH seem to striving towards.

As you may have guessed, I will not be buying gifts. I only continue as a member as I need the letters after my name. I have responded to IOSH's questionnaires.

Anyway, I think I've calmed down now.

Opening Ceremonies

What is the point of opening ceremonies that have nothing whatsoever to do with the sport they are "opening". From the Commonwealth Games:

The Queen watched as the ceremony continued with a boy being led on a magical adventure by a toy duck, featuring scenes evoking Australia's cultural heritage.

So, Australians are happy to idenifiy with a toy duck, then?

Oh, roll on the Olympics in 2012. Can't wait to see what sort of utter claptrap we come up with.

Paraguay

In answer to Andy...! The flag of Paraguay is unusual that the emblem is different on each side.

Details:

three equal, horizontal bands of red (top), white, and blue with an emblem centered in the white band; unusual flag in that the emblem is different on each side; the obverse (hoist side at the left) bears the national coat of arms (a yellow five-pointed star within a green wreath capped by the words REPUBLICA DEL PARAGUAY, all within two circles); the reverse (hoist side at the right) bears the seal of the treasury (a yellow lion below a red Cap of Liberty and the words Paz y Justicia (Peace and Justice) capped by the words REPUBLICA DEL PARAGUAY, all within two circles).