Remember me?

Hello folks, sorry it has been so long. I really have been very busy, I am still doing my PhD, working a full-time job, making music and being in love with my beautiful girlfriend.

However, today my writers block has been broken by being totally annoyed! I finally worked out the one thing that annoys me more than anything else. I know I wrote about road rage in past blogs but this is worse than anything I talked about before.

So here it is... the chav bass tube/bin. This obnoxious little shit box is a speaker and amplifier idiots fit to their cars sound system so as to piss off other motorists / neighbours.

What makes these halfwits think I want to listen to their crappy dance / R 'n' B / Rap. It has been so bad in the past that at a red light once I couldn't hear the music in my car because of the asshole in a crappy "modified" car had his music up so loud!!! Have some respect for people. I don't want to hear your music, please keep it to yourself. I especially don't want to hear it when I'm in my own home. If you want to come to a respectable street then turn your music down to an appropriate level  so the other people in that street, in their own homes, don't have to hear it. FFS! He is at it again! I've heard it for over 2 hours today!!! Totally ruined my day off you selfish tool!

I'm going to find some ear-plugs and call the police.

More blogs to follow, I'm going to try to update this slightly more often again, maybe not weekly but at least one a month.

and now for something completely similar.

Hullo folks, today I have another list for you to enjoy. This week I thought I'd write about my top 10 words which need to be brought back into everyday use.

10. Hullo!

Hullo (according to my half-arsed research) was first used in publication in 1803. Today it is sometimes used as a greeting like hello, however it was originally used to express surprise or to gain attention. It is its use as an expression of surprise I wish to reinstate.

9. Foppotee.

Foppotee is a word that was used in the 1600's but for some reason stopped being used. The word means simpleton, as in "Everyone knew he was a foppotee by the fact that he abused apple users". The only problem is that I'm not sure how this word is pronounced.

8. Maleolent.

This is another word which was used on the 1600's but also in the 1700's then fell from favour. It means to have an ill or unpleasant odour.


7. Beseech.

Beseech means to ask or to implore urgently. I think it sounds nice so I but it needs to be followed by the next word to make the prefect declaration of intention.

6. Thee. 

Meaning "you". According to dictionary.com the words origins lie prior to 900! Although the first recorded use is 1662, from the rise of Quakerism. So combined with number 7, we can have the beautiful sentence "I beseech thee, where is the bathroom!".

5. Huzzah.

This awesome word is used as an exclamation of joy, applause or appreciation. Apparently this was first used in 1560's by sailors, I think it should be more widely used today. "Huzzah! they have Twinings Everyday Tea here!!!"... maybe not.

4. Scaevity.

Scaevity [Ska-vi-tee] means someone who is unlucky or left-handed. Again it is a word from the 1600's. Suggested use "Scaevity was the reason for Jim's quadruple boggy on the 14th hole".

3. Pseudo.

I've always been a huge fan of this great word. For those who don't know this word means false. I love this little word, it was even used in the name of my former band Pseudo Japanese. Other uses of the word could be "Mike new watch was so pseudo! Everyone knew it was a fake".

2. Ahoy!

Another greeting type word. First used in around 1751, from a hoy,  a nautical call used in hauling. No need to explain, it is cool and sounds a little piratey!


1. Comity.


Meaning a state of mutual harmony, friendship, and respect. First recorded use in the 1540's. Possible use "The comity between them was so strong that never a crossword passed between them in 20 years".


Quote of the Week:
"There is no quote of the week" - Me when asked what this weeks quote of the week would be.

 

So sorry once again.

I'm sorry dear readers but this week I won't be making a proper blog post as I don't have the time. I have fallen behind with these things and it is so hard to catch up.

I have a busy weekend planned, tonight it dinner with my family followed by either going to see live music or staying over at my girlfriends house with her friends and tomorrow I am off camping! I'll take my iPod touch so if I can I'll try to make a start on next weeks blog. Any ideas on what to write would be great. Although I do have some ideas but I'm not paid for this so it is a case of finding time when I'm not doing paid work/work which will help me with my PhD.

I'm also on the lookout for a new cell/mobile telephone. So I have to do that soon as my old deal ends soon so I want to get something sorted asap. I'm going to spend some time looking at telephones now but don't think I'll sort anything until next week.

It is really sunny outside so I might just forget what I planned to do and get a cold beer and my Kindle and enjoy the garden instead. Sorry this weeks blog post is yet another weak effort, I'll endeavour to do better next week. Thank you for your support and understanding.

Wake up and start rocking!

Good afternoon dear readers, this week you happen upon me in a sorry state. I have a sore throat which means I am of no use to anyone. This is also my excuse as to the lateness of this week's post, sorry. You might think that this week I would be posting a review of the fine medications available to individuals with sore throats, but you would be wrong. This week I'm going to post my top five songs to energise me in the morning and get me ready for the day to come.

Music is of great importance to me in my life, I have decided that writing about it and its effects is how I'd like to spend my time, ergo, I'm sure you understand that I listen to music most of the time. I rarely drive or walk anywhere without some music to listen to. It is ever present when I run and I sometimes listen to music whilst cycling (although not on the roads as I'd like to stay alive).

Within minutes of waking up in the morning I, like millions of others, listen to music. So here we are with today's list of MY TOP 5 SONGS TO ENERGISE ME IN THE MORNING!

5. Descendents - Mass Nerder

From their 2004 album Cool to be You, a punk song about being good at school and getting good grades! A great album.  After not releasing an album for years the Descendents released this album and nothing had changed, in a good way. The band still had that trademark sound and the critics agreed. This was the band's first album on Fat Wreck Chords, due to them being one of Fat Mike's favourite bands. I started listening to them after hearing references to them and their songs in NOFX songs. I'm glad I did, Cool to be You is a great album.

4. Black Sabbath - The Wizard

In 1970 an album was released which is often credited as developing a genre! That album was Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath! Upon its release the album was panned by critics who failed to see the world's first true heavy metal album for what it was... a monumental achievement which would shape much of the music to come for decades. Now the album is seen for what it is: ground breaking and the critics who dismissed it as "like Cream! But worse" look like utter idiots who aren't fit to even listen to the music of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward! Like with much of the music I talk about today I struggled to decide on which track to include in the list as I often listen to an album as a whole, not just selecting tracks.

This has always been one of my favourite Sabbath songs so that is why I picked this song to include here from an album of giant songs, BEST ALBUM EVER!

3. The Smashing Pumpkins - Freak

I have been a Pumpkins fan since the '90s, I've seen them live (back in the day with the old line-up) and I bloody love them and would like to thank them for all the musical enjoyment they have given me over the years. They provided the soundtrack to my college years! This song is from their current album Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. The album is free to download from www.smashingpumpkins.com.

Back to heavily distorted guitar sounds and Billy's distinctive voice, a catchy chorus and overdubbed vocals makes it totally Pumpkins. The only thing missing is a balls out guitar solo which would make it classic Pumpkins! Awesome song, from an awesome song and to make it even better it is all gifted to you for free!!! You couldn't ask for more. I am now currently listening to Try, Try, Try (Alternate) from Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, which was also free.

2. Frank Zappa - I'm the Slime

I have three versions of this song: the first is from the epic 1973 album, Over-Nite Sensation, the second is the brilliant live version on The Eyes of Osaka, and the last is another live version on the fantastic album You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 1 (disk 1). The vocal styles in each version are different, as are the guitar solos. A great social commentary about the filth, lies and negativity that the mass media pumps into our homes via our TV sets. It took me a long time to choose to include this song as Frank Zappa has released so much great music. I've got most of his albums on CD, or mp3 where no CD is available. I might write a piece about how great his music is and how influential his music has been in shaping modern music in the latter part of the 20th Century. If you've never listened to Frank Zappa then I suggest you go and listen to some as soon as you finish reading this blog.   

1. Less Than Jake - The Science Of Selling Yourself Short

Bloody great song from the brilliant album, Anthem. I could have easily have filled this Top 5 list with songs from this album, utter brilliance. The Science Of Selling Yourself Short is somewhat more chilled out than much of Less Than Jake's earlier work, but rocking all the same. In my opinion one of the finest ska-punk songs of all time, this song is also number one in my list of all time great songs.

I used to listen to this song an awful lot whilst I was doing my Masters degree - on my walk or cycle into University I would listen to this song at least once a week. It holds a special place in my heart. I think I'll end with the chorus of the song:

I'll sing along,
Yeah with every emergency,
Just sing along,
I'm the king of catastrophes,
I'm so far gone,
That deep down inside I think it's fine by me,
I'm my own worst enemy.


So there we go, my top five songs to energise me in the morning at the moment, this might all change next week but for now this is THE LIST!


Quote of the Week:
"Those chillies will make you wish you didn't have an arse!"

A short note.

I once again sit down to write my blog with any idea what I'll talk about. Thankfully I can always find something to talk about.

Last weekend I went down to London for the weekend. My main reason to be there was the FA Cup final. My team, Stoke City where playing the worlds richest club Manchester City. Sadly we lost 1-0, but I still had a great weekend. On the Sunday I visited the Natural History Museum.

The Natural History Museum is an amazing place and guess what it costs... Nothing! It is all free.

Unfortunately we didn't get to the museum until after 1 pm so we had less than four hours to look around a museum which you could easily spend two or three days looking around.

There isn't a great deal of point in me telling what is in the museum. All that information is on their website, I will recommend that you go through the main entrance rather than the side entrance despite the slight wait to get into the front door. This way you will see the museum's iconic deplodicus as you walk in.

There is so much to see that you will need at very least a full day there as an afternoon, like I had, isn't enough. I'll just have to visit again in the near future to see the rest.

That's about it for now, I'd write more but I'm writing this on my iPod touch as my MacBook has been hijacked by my sister.

Quote of the week:
"if it is in your way move it"


Sent from my iPod

Time for Tea

Because I enjoyed the list format used last week in my blog I thought I'd use it again, however this week I intend it to be a lot more positive. This weeks top 5 is the most British topic I could think of... Top 5 teas I've drunk this week!

I've been drinking loads of tea recently and I thought I'd inform you with regards the top 5 cups of tea I've drunk this week. Before it all kicks off let me reassure some of you that I still bloody love coffee but I feel that sometimes if I limit my coffee drinking it makes every cup a wonderful treat.

5. Twinings - Jasmine Green Tea.

Simply wonderful. This mild and refreshing tea is as tasty as it is fragrant. Another great green tea from those master blenders at Twinings! I would 100% recommend this tea to anyone!

4. Make us a brew! - Mint & Chilli Tea.

Delicious!!! With 48% Peppermint, 40% Spearmint and 12% Chilli this tea is super refreshing! The small amount of chilli adds a little kick without overpowering the mint and without adding too much heat. All the chilli seems to do is add extra freshness! A must tea for any mint tea fan as well as those of us that enjoy chilli and spice. Don't worry about the heat and leave the teabag in a little longer as the chilli and Peppermint do take some time to release their warmth into the water. Be brave, give it a try.

3. Clipper Nettle Tea.

The first sniff of this tea will put you in mind of the garden, to my nose it is the scent of gardening. Again this is a calming tea, a delightful liquid bliss in a cup which will brighten up any day. I find this tea to be perfect in the afternoon or late at night to refresh but not awaken. These days nettles are known as that painful stinging weed, but they have been used for centuries both as a food and to purify, cleanse and restore. The first uses of nettles can be traced back to the bronze age. So get a brew on and enjoy some fine nettle tea.

2. Twinings – Everyday Tea.

A tea for any time, any where! I don't think I could explain this tea any better than Twinings, “It’s the drink that warms you up, calms you down and makes every occasion better.” This is basically your standard tea, perfectly crafted and exquisitely balanced, you could add milk and sugar if you like but this tea is perfect with none of that gunk added.

1. Tick Tock – Rooibos (Red Bush Tea).
   
   
   
   
   
   Fantastic flavour! I really don't know how to explain how lovely this tea is. I have been enjoying this naturally slightly sweet tea as it comes simply adding boiled water, brewing for a few minutes then drinking it down. Ideal any time of the day or night, although there is no caffeine in rooibos it will wake you in the morning and due to its caffeine free nature is the prefect bedtime drink. Take a little risk and buy yourself a box and enjoy this fine tea for yourself, if you don't like it I'd be happy to come around and drink some of it for you.
   
   
   

   
   

   There have been many excellent teas drunk this week which didn't make it onto todays list, like the cheeky little green tea with roasted brown rice or the lovely roasted twig tea my wonderful girlfriend lovingly prepared for me, plus all the cups of standard Tetley, PG and whatever else people make me when they offer tea. I am grateful for every cup, thanks.

   
   

   Quote of the Week:

   “I bloody well love that stupid twit” - On the subject of friends.

   
   

   Proof bread by B. Johnson

    

Driving me crazy!

This week I noticed that the only time I am ever really angry, annoyed or have the feeling that I might actually lose my temper and beat someone to death with their own stupidity is when I'm driving.

I have what I believe people are calling “road rage”. However, unlike the popular press, I do not see my “road rage” as a negative thing. Some people are arses, utterly terrible drivers, and they need informing of this as loudly and aggressively as possible. They are, after all, in charge of a motor vehicle which has the potential to kill! Ergo, when they do something stupid and/or dangerous they should be scolded for it.

This is why I decided, after a suggestion from Anthony, to make a “Top 5 things that annoy me whilst driving list”. Here goes:

5. Driving too close to the car in front.

I can only drive as fast as the car in front of me, I cannot just ram it off the road (not legally anyway) and driving dangerously close to me will just annoy me so I'll eventually stop and beat you which will mean it takes you even longer to get were you need to be. Also you have to remember my car is small and light, if I slam my breaks on you will not have time to react no matter how fast you think you are. Just back off!!!

4. Driving too slowly.

The road sign indicates you may do 60mph it is a clear beautiful day and there is no traffic, what speed do you think is acceptable? Well the idiot I was behind the other day thought 25mph! 35mph slower than is suggested. I am not saying that you should always drive at the limits, but use some sense. If you cannot for any reason travel faster than 25mph then don't go out, in fact stay in and place a plastic bag tightly over your head and wait for the icy touch of death you ridiculous human being. Slow drivers cause normal humans to take extra risks, like overtaking, when they would otherwise not need to thus causing accidents! GET A GRIP SLOW DRIVERS!

3. Cutting in at the last second.

So you know you need the next exit, but there is traffic queueing, what do you do? Wait at the back like a sensible person or drive to the front and bully your way in? Well if you are a total fucking arse you might like to try to bully your way in, be warned however that I will crash into the side of your Audi/BMW when you try this as I have been waiting with all these other people. Manners cost nothing, use them wait your turn or join the slow drivers in their plastic bag. WAIT IN LINE!

2. Talking on the phone whilst driving.

This isn't just about phones here, I've seen people doing all kinds of stuff whilst they should be driving, but it is the phones which I see most. These idiots will cut you up, be on the wrong side of the road and not have control of their vehicle. There is a reason it is against the law to hold your phone to the side of your head whilst driving, it is dangerous! You might not give a shit about your own life but I quite like mine you jackass, hang up and drive or pull over and finish your chat whilst not moving. There are also loads of bluetooth things you could get so you can talk hands-free, get one of those if you have to talk to someone whilst driving.

I have a theory that someone on the other end is talking them through how to operate a motor vehicle and that is why they are so bad at it.

1. Stopping at a give way junction!

NO IT IS NOT A FUCKING STOP LINE! KEEP MOVING! THERE IS CLEARLY NOTHING COMING! I bloody hate this with a passion. Some people ALWAYS stop at a roundabout, without question actually STOP! It is not a stop line, it is an instruction that you should give way to traffic coming from the right (UK). When the road is clear you should keep moving. Why do so many people stop? I hate them so much! They are also usually the slow driver (see number 4.).

Quote of the week:
"What sort of world do we live in where a man would steal another man's battle ostrich?"

How's my driving?

Still I cannot write...

Howdy readers, sorry it has been a few weeks since my last "weekly" blog post, I've been really busy.

As some of you may know I work for Stoke City Football Club and as you may also know we, or rather the team, have made it to the FA cup Final at Wembley!!! This is a great achievement for the club, it is the first time in our nearly 150 year history! However, because of this I have had to work very long hours on the build up, doing 50+ hours of work a week. Also as regular readers of mine will know, I am doing my PhD and recently started a new research project, so I'm putting in a lot of hours on that too!

And dear readers I have recently started a new relationship (Yes I have girlfriend!) and as we're "all loved up" (as a friend put it) I have been spending loads of hours with her.

As a consequence of all these wonderful things I haven't found much time for writing, I seem to spend my free time reading my Kindle, which is deeply relaxing. I have also recently remembered I used to be a musician and am trying to relearn those old skills.

So dear sweet reader please forgive my neglect of you, I am so deeply sorry. I think the world of you and wish to continue to entertain you with my musings and rambling rants.

Another problem has fallen upon me, I don't know what to write about. If you have any suggestions of something for me to write please feel free to let me know, if I like the idea/suggestion I will write about your topic. After all, the quote of the week was a suggestion by a friend and I do that on every blog now...

Quote of the Week:

"I don't want to go to Tesco, it is really, really weird. Lets go to the park instead!" Lizzy age 2 years and 10 months.

P.s. I didn't know if I should include any pictures this week so I didn't but I would like to show you this, I'm thinking of getting one for next winter... Presenting the Beardo!

http://www.beardowear.ca/

Prof read by Bernard Johnson

SORRY

Hi folks, sorry there has been no blog this week, I've had a really busy few weeks and I haven't had the time to write anything worth posting.

I'm really tired now because of all the work I've been doing so now I am going to sleep, I'll make sure I have something for next Friday. Once again sorry.

Write or wrong?

This week I wrote something with a pen for the first time in a long time, it really isn't as easy as I remember... I think when I type things using a qwerty (standard computer) keyboard the words come easy. When those words need to come from the end of a ball point pen they struggle to form in the correct order. I think this is a problem I touched on last week when I said that my brain works faster than I can type, well this is definitely true when it comes to hand writing.


Because I want to ensure my writing is going to be legible later my handwriting is quite slow. My short term memory is also affected by my dyslexia, so I forget what I've already written in the sentence because it has taken me so long to get where I am. My short term memory isn't great either (see what I did there?).


Short term memory is also a problem for me when writing a single word. An example of this was I was writing a word the other day (again handwriting) and I stopped half way through the word because someone spoke to me. When I had answered them I continued with the word. I had to start the word again from the beginning because I couldn't access the individual letters; I only knew the word as a whole word. I don't know the individual letters that make it up, as I've said before I can only write because I have memorised all the words I use in my lexicon, lucky for me I can remember most words after only one or two goes at them. However, in handwriting I cannot do the same, maybe because the words do not always look the same, ergo it is harder to remember the look of the word.


I have made the effort to learn to write, I suggest some of Facebook's users do the same before making their next post...

This week I also completed the 2011 UK census. What an intrusive load of old nonsense that was. It asks for your qualifications. Now, I have a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Arts degree and am doing a Doctor of Philosophy degree and I'd like to inform the government how well I've done over the last ten years but they have one 'tick' box which covers all three! So what does that tell the government statistics people? Nothing other than some people have a wide variety of higher level academic qualifications. Waste of time! It asks if I have 4 GCSEs (any level) which I do; then if I have 5+ GCSEs (grade A to C) which I also do and informs me that I must 'tick' all the boxes which apply, so do I 'tick' all the boxes or just the higher level one?


It asks my religious beliefs which I feel have absolutely nothing to do with the government. I know it is an optional question but why is it a question at all? Will it affect the service the government will offer or the funding my community will receive? I truly hope not, my beliefs are my business and my business only!


I promise that next week I will try to write about something other than writing. Which brings us to the Quote of the Week!


Quote of the Week:
"It must be over the yardarm somewhere or other..."


Proof red by Bernard Johnson.

The proof is in the reading.

  This week I have employed a proofreader because every Friday evening after I have eaten my dinner my father picks his way through my blog for that week and points out all my mistakes, typos and general f-ups after it has been unleashed on the wide world. Not that I'm not grateful, I really am but it is such a pain after it has been posted to have to re-edit the post.

Generally it seems I mix up two letter words, I often place an 'it' where it should be an 'in', 'as', 'at' or 'is'. I don't know why I do this but I do. So, to all my Friday readers, sorry about the errors you have had to put up with for the past few weeks. I have no problems with longer words like anthropomorphising or antidisestablishmentarianism which I can easily spell with minimum of fuss, it is the silly things like writing 'my' when I mean 'may' or 'think' when I mean 'thing'. Maybe it is because my mind works faster than I can type it in, ergo mistakes do happen.

The edited versions of all my posts appear here at about seven o'clock in the evening, on the day of the post, once my father has informed me of all of my mistakes. You would probably be best advised not bothering calling in to read until after you've had your dinner and watched Emmerdale. I trust you all watch Emmerdale, don't know why I felt the need to include a picture of the opening of the show but for those who don't know what Emmerdale is there you go, it is that --->


So, as I said, this week we shouldn't have those problems, you can read this one before Emmerdale if you like, although you won't know that until now. So if you are reading this before Emmerdale, the Woolpack burns down in tonight's episode and if you're reading this after you've watched Emmerdale, then was it good? Did you enjoy it? You do know that isn't even really Andy's Land Rover don't you.


It seems this blog has turned into me wittering on about a TV show that very few of you actually watch but here is the little secret, I watch it... and on that bombshell here it is Quote of the Week!


Quote of the Week:
"[ENTER YOUR QUOTE HERE]"

This weeks episode of my blog was proofread by Bernard Johnson

What to write?

I sat down with the intention of writing something witty, clever and original; but I cannot think of anything remotely witty, clever and original. Not right now anyway. To anyone who has had to write something, for whatever reason this is not an unusual happening.

Whether it is an academic paper, article for a newspaper or website or even a short text for a weekly blog, writer's block can strike. I'm sure that you realise that when I sit down to write my blog for every Friday I don't have a plan of what I'm going to talk about, I just sit down and write whatever I feel like writing about.

Usually I don't have any problems with finding a topic and just going for it. I do a little research, maybe read a few articles and off I go, writing ill informed rants about anything and everything. This week is somewhat different.

It isn't like I have things on my mind which are stopping me, after a number of weeks of poor time management where my PhD work has been neglected and ignored I now have the situation under control. Getting cracking with lots of work this week, I've written two introductions for research papers, started building a website for my research data collection and even updated my academic website for the first time in a long time. So surely I should be in a better position to write something than in previous weeks.

Wait, I'm blogging right now! Maybe I don't have writer's block after all but it won't stop me talking about it.

The problem I find is that sometimes I find it hard to decide on what to write about, there are almost limitless possibilities and topics to cover. I want to keep it quite general as I don't want to put people off by talking about my research every week or blogging about statistical analysis of data sets. I like to discuss topics which everyone will relate to and enjoy (with the exception of the week I wrote about golf, I enjoy it but I understand other people don't).

Another thing which you may not know is I write articles for this blog which never quite make it, I wrote about politics a few weeks back but it is still in the drafts folder, I don't think it will ever make it into the blog, although it is nice to have a backup. After the week I was going to Essex on a Friday I rushed to get something out, so now I write the blog about a week in advance, for example I'm about to go to get a haircut but by the time this is online the haircut will be a week old. I think I've kind of left my topic slightly now, I'll try to get back...

I have been experiencing musical writers block for over a year now, I simply can't write any music which I enjoy. I write something, play it, enjoy it for a minute or two then delete the lot and tell myself it was crap and I'd be better off leaving it for today. I don't know how to solve it, I think it started when I lost some classical compositions I'd been working on (folder deleted in a hard-drive clear out), I lost all interest in writing then. I didn't even try to write anything for months and now I can't get back into it. Thankfully I have been able to put my energy into writing words not music, the same thing happened with drawing and painting but I put that down to the fact that I draw best when I'm bored, ergo if I find myself in a boring job or waiting in the car for someone I'll happily draw but I shouldn't try to draw.

I also think I'm quite easily distracted which I sometimes interpret as writer's block when in actual fact it is just distraction. For example, whilst writing this I have the cricket on, England are 144 for 3 against Bangladesh. I keep stopping writing to watch.

I think I've done quite well considering I thought I had writer's block... Although the quality of what is written may be a little sketchy.

Quote of the week!
"Do you want to buy a battleship?"

Get lost...

I was reading an article on the BBC website this week about our over reliance on Global Positioning System (GPS) in the UK. It states that 6-7% of Europe's GDP is reliant on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) that is approximately 800,000,000,000€. That is quite a large amount of money. This got me thinking, can people still navigate without their sat-nav systems?

I will admit that I do own a sat-nav system, I have used it on a few longer journeys and even one or two short ones. I do think it is a great tool to have, it makes it easy to find an address for the first time and navigate in unfamiliar towns and countries but should we rely on them?

My first drive across Europe was done without any kind of sat-nav or GPS, I found my way by looking at a map and knowing which towns, roads and countries I was heading for on my travels. I didn't get lost at any point during the journey, I always knew where I was and where I was heading. I miss judged the distance a couple of times, like when I said it'll take us about three more hours to get to Germany only to drive into Germany 20 minutes later but most of the time I knew within a few kilometre where we were. 

Driving in Sweden with my sat-nav in view.

On my second Euro-drive I used my sat-nav system to show me the way, I still knew approximately where I needed to be but followed where the annoying woman on my dashboard told me to go. Everything was planned out by her, she told me how long each stage would take, where the speed cameras were along the way and where I could get a coffee. Very nice. But there was no nice little surprises, like the mystery of what we'll find at the next rest stop, I liked that on the first drive and missed it on the second.


Using the sat-nav wasn't at all bad, I don't want to give the wrong impression, it was super useful. In Copenhagen my sat-nav found me some great free parking near the harbour, there is a travel guide which had some amazing things to see which was useful. Without it I think finding where we needed to be to meet my friend at the airport in Copenhagen would have been much, much harder.

I haven't had cause to use my sat-nav for quite some time but if I have to go to an unfamiliar town I might use it, although according to an article on geekswithlaptops.com one in fifty of sat-nav users in 2000 admitted that their device had either caused or nearly caused an accident. So maybe I'll leave it at home and look at a map before I set off.

Quote of the week:
"You chuckling moron! Is this person really sitting at home laughing out loud at the fact that it is sunny and but cold?" - anonymous upon reading yet another facebook update which needlessly ended with the author including "lol".

I swear I swear.

This week I wanted to rant about language again after reading some utterly abhorrent abuses of English recently. An example of this is a post I saw which stated "I shud of cum wiv u". After some time I deduced that the meaning the individual was trying to convey was "I should have come with you".

As I was saying I wanted to rant about language abuse this week but decided to ignore my instinct to abuse the abusers and instead stand up for a useful but often discouraged and frowned up on part language, profanity. At this point I'd also like to point out that there is some bad language coming up later, and I don't mean split infinitives, there will be some swearing.

Profanity, swearing, cursing, expletives, dirty words and my favourite sentence enhancers, call them what you like, and there are many other names, but the result is still the same. Some people find them shocking, inappropriate, insulting, rude, vulgar, desecrating and disrespectful, however they can also be humours, joyful, light-hearted and an important tool to add emphasis to a sentence.

Now I like to think I know when and how to use a good old swear but I thought I'd look at their prevalence in language, Patrick (1901) published a paper asking why do we swear and when do we swear. Since then there has be a great deal of psychological research into aspects of swearing. Jay (2006) suggests that past research states that 0.5% to 0.7% of all words spoken are swears. Which is a really fucking small amount when you consider that first-person plural pronouns (we, us, our) make up 1% of spoken words.

The good people at Keele University have published a paper which suggests that swearing is in fact beneficial to us. Stephens, Atkin and Andrew (2009) state that swearing increased pain tolerance, increased heart rate and decreased perceived pain compared with not swearing. So next time you stub your toe or slice off an arm just shout your favourite swear. However, overuse does seem to diminish their wonderful power.

I do believe there is a time and a place for profanity but sometimes "dropping the F-bomb", is both funny and therapeutic. So fuck what society thinks and do what makes you feel better, cut loose, tell 'em all to fuck off.

Although I still find it hard to say the C-word (the worst of all the English swears). I'm going to do it... here goes... Nick Clegg what a fucking cunt!

Quote of the week, as the article this week is on swearing I thought this weeks quote could be from Nofx's song "Perfect Government":

"Even if it's easy to be free what's your definition of freedom? And who the fuck are you, anyway? Who the fuck are they? Who the fuck am I to say? What the fuck is really going on?"

References:


Patrick, G.T.W. (1901). The psychology of profanity. Psychological Review, 8, 113–127.

Stephens, R., Atkins, J. and Kingston, A. (2009). Swearing as a response to pain. Neuroreport Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc. 20(12), 1056-1060. 

I'm listening.

This week I have been on the search for new listening material, as you may or may not know (I'm assuming you will), I have a wide and varied taste in music. I listen to mostly punk, alternative rock, progressive rock and classical, all these genre could be broken down further.

I have given up on commercial radio as I am tired of being force fed bland pop "hits". Generally I only listen to two radio stations  and neither of them play new/modern music (For those of you who are interested I listen to BBC radio 3 and 4).

I no longer read the music press as they seem to be only plugging and pushing the same dross as the popular music radio stations and I've never been a fan of music television.

So where can I find new music? Who can I turn to to find the music I would enjoy? I do like to read online band/album reviews. During my Master's degree in Music, Mind and Technology my fellow students and lecturers would suggest listening material from time to time, this would lead me to read about the band/artist and this would spread into me finding not only the suggested music but maybe related stuff. Good times.

The Horrorpops

Now I have to do all the looking myself, I have to search through millions of artists and billions of tracks to find something which I like. This works very well for me but takes time, I have found a whole genre of music which I never considered this way after listening to one band (for those interested the band were the Horrorpops, pictured here to the right).

From there I found Nekromantix, Tiger Army, Koffin Kats, Three Bad Jacks and many more related acts thanks to itunes. But itunes can only take you so far before you've gone full circle and it is telling you to listen to the band you started with. Also as I said before my tastes are quite varied and I might like to have a new genre suggested. Amazon is also quite good, until you buy a gift for someone on there then it suggests things like Take That's new album, sorry Amazon but I don't think so.

As I've been crafting this blog I asked the world of Facebook to suggest music for my listening pleasure. A friend suggests I try http://www.mapofmetal.com/ and you know what, I am and it is good, currently listening to Moonsorrow who I had heard of before but not listened to before now. The site started by play Black Sabbath at me really loudly (I had the volume on my MacBook all the way up) which instantly made me love the site! "What is this that stands before me?" A MAP OF METAL!

So once again my thirst for new music is sated again for now... but for how long?

By popular request here it is, the quote of the week!
"I was more scared when I couldn't get a good internet connection" - D. Johnson when asked if the film Paranormal Activity was scary.

If you have any suggestions for new listening material then please feel free to comment on this post with who you think I might like. Thanks D x

Should I say that?

I often spend quite a long time crafting lengthy replies to Facebook statuses, emails and SMS text messages only to delete them before posting.

I don't know whether that is due to my obsession with how I think other people see me or whether I am overly critical with my writing.

I know some people don't edit what they say in the above mentioned mediums, this is evident when you look at the standard of English used. But believe it or not I check and edit most of what I post online.

Even my tweets are carefully edited to not cause offence and to avoid people thinking badly of me. Does anyone else suffer from this crippling writers embarrassment? I'd like to just write something, put it out in the wide world and not worry about what others will make of it.

Maybe this obsession comes from my years at high school and college when I suffered from dyslexia, which meant I struggled to write. I was diagnosed with dyslexia shortly before starting university, since then I have worked very hard to overcome the negative affects it may have had on my life and embrace the positive aspects. I'm still not 100% how to spell in English, you know often words aren't written how they sound. I have to memorise every word, so it isn't a case of spelling the word it is remembering it as a whole word. 

Or maybe it is because I love me and I want you all to love me too... what a cock I sound.

Golf season is about to begin for me.

After the long winter break which some of us take from the sport of golf I am about to pick up the clubs again and head out for my first round of the year.



I've been out on the driving range a number of times over the winter, even more so over the past few weeks. Now I can't wait to get out there and play.


I don't really have much else to add to this blog, just a short one to say how much I'm looking forwards to the golf to begin! Role on Sunday... I might head down to the range now to hit a few, could always do with more practice.

Yet another distraction in my life.

Ever feel like you spend half you time planning to do things and the other half avoiding doing them? Well I do, I seem to always find something more important to do than what I planned.

Tomorrow, for example, was planned as a work day for me, but I managed to find something "more important" to do. Okay I do need to do what I've now planned, which is taking my MacBook to the Apple store to get a repair done but it is usually something much less important.


Today I planned to work from 9 until 3, I got up and to work early making a start at 8.30! Great! But by 11 I was running out of motivation so I decided I would take a break maybe practice my archery for half an hour then get back to work. It is now 8.15pm and I still haven't gotten back to it, although I have checked my emails, facebook and twitter about 5 times each.


This leads me to believe that today we have our priorities all wrong. It is way to easy to procrastinate with useless things, I know I'm not the only person that has honed this idleness to a fine art. I put in so much effort in avoiding working on things that it seems to be my job. I am a professional procrastinator! And this blog is just another tool in my endless struggle to always look busy whilst doing very little.

I'm even thinking about leaving this very blog until later, maybe get a drink and check my emails which might mean replying to people, I just checked twitter and facebook so I don't need to check them now, although someone might have posted something new... it wasn't always like this, during my Master's degree I planned things and stuck to the plans, even a few months ago I was better, working 9 til 5 sometimes longer. Over the last few weeks I have slipped back into the ways of the idle, however admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, I'll sort it all out tomorrow...