Football

I see that football appears to be infesting TV again. Live and let live, but I’ve never understood games with balls. Well, some of them I understand, of course, I just don’t understand the obsession and fascination with them. But, I have my obsessions in other areas, so fair enough.

Shave me eyebrows?

So what’s all this shaving tiny bits out of your eyebrows business, eh?

Drunk driving bitch

I got to hear the news today that a girl working for a company I have a relationship with (the company not the girl), was sacked on the spot.

Satire

Satire is a wonderful thing. The satirical writers of our world make us laugh by pointing at those who should be laughed at. Satire isn’t cruel or mean. It never picks on people who are the underdogs or are genuinely pathetic or in need of help and understanding. That’s not satire. Satire picks on people who should know better. Satire caricatures the dogmatic and the obsessive, those with closed minds or opinions, those who can’t see beyond their own mirrors, and it gives us wonderful comedy based on people who really really should know better.

Bob’s Bob?

Maybe that goldfish is trying to tell you his name is Bob.

Flash mobbing

I think the sport of streaking first started in the 1970s. This was the completely harmless yet completely pointless activity of taking all one’s clothes off and running stark naked through a highly televised event such as a cricket match. In fact, one large breasted lady became famous for so doing. I remember the breasts but forget her name.

Motivate to Metric

Good to hear that Ireland has removed all the silly imperial road signs spouting stuff like ‘miles per hour’ speed limits and has properly replaced them with metric signs showing ‘kilometres per hour’.

Whose holocaust?

Last month we had ‘Holocaust Memorial Day’.

Why do Jews never really acknowledge the “others” who were gassed, shot, or in other ways ‘terminated’ by the Nazis in the Second World War? Why are they re-writing history as if the Holocaust was only a Jewish thing?

Emergency Radio

Reading through the ‘Preparing for Emergencies’ book we all got quite a while ago, I notice that I have to gather up my belongings and along with a load of spare batteries, I need to have with me a portable radio. Indeed, I also have to make sure I know how to tune in to my ‘local radio station’.

Being 19

In conversation, I very very occasionally drop into the discussion that I am 19 years of age (Ok, I actually say it a lot). This often rushes by people, but others who examine the things I discuss, especially relating to things I’ve done, will question how it’s possible that I’m so young. Those who have followed my meanderings for many years will point out that I appear to have been 19 forever.

Time to cull the old people at Radio 1

What’s going on at Radio 1?

Either there is some obscure mental condition affecting those in control or it’s really really really time to cull the old people again. They did it once before in the early 90s when they repositioned Radio 1 back to being for da yoof instead of the older listeners it had accidentally drifted into serving.

The Fear that is London

In America, well New York, even before September 11th 2001, an interesting thing was happening. Crime was falling dramatically, and even murder had reduced by over 60% in 5 years. Attitudes were changing. The place was feeling safer. People felt happier and more optimistic.

Fear of mono

Around and about radio enthusiast sites and mass debating pits I notice there continues this horror and fear of mono.

Why are (radio anorak type) people so scared of mono?

Just because you can broadcast in stereo on FM it doesn’t mean you have to, does it? If your programme content doesn’t actually need to be in stereo because it’s just voices, mainly on the phone or ‘down the line’, then what’s wrong with broadcasting in mono?

Nothing.

And yet, there’s a mass suicide and panic by foaming anoraks herding themselves up to the top of multi-storey car-parks ready to throw themselves off because a station has dared to switch to mono. Case in point: LBC 97.3 in London.

The owners of LBC are talking about providing similar stations in other areas (such as Manchester) and only broadcasting in mono on FM. Again, there are anoraks acting like rabbit dogs over this announcement. I don’t get it. Why does this upset anoraks so much? Foaming at the mouth they are.

I remember decades ago anoraks calling a London pirate I was on berating the fact that we were in mono whilst most other pirates of the day were in stereo. This annoyed the engineer so much that he fitted a tone generator in line to light the stereo lights in the whinging anoraks’ receivers. We were still actually and completely in mono, nothing had changed, but the foaming anoraks were suddenly happy and stopped whinging because their stereo light was on. Indeed, one said we were much clearer and a far better listen. Pathetic.

I don’t get this need to waste bandwidth unnecessarily. If the programme content doesn’t need stereo, then don’t be in stereo. If the programme content is designed to be consumed in places where it doesn’t need to be high quality, then let it be low quality.

Yet, all the time, these foaming anoraks are giving themselves coronaries because stations aren’t wasting bandwidth just to please them and their obscure unnecessary quality demands.

Shouldn’t they actually listen to and try to enjoy the content of the radio stations instead of worrying about matters technical that no ordinary listener cares two hoots about?

Chris Evans’ TV set

I never really liked Chris Evans on the radio other than when he was first on GLR. I thought he was good on the Big Breakfast TV show, and liked the original Friday shows (got bored by the end), and was a complete anorak of the Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush series, but radio, no.

Valentine’s Day hype

I realise that Valentine’s Day is a hype. It is a device used to generate profit for those who publish and sell cards. And those who sell flowers. Or chocolates. Or sexy lingerie. Or sell food in a restaurant. Or sell ads in a newspaper. Or…well, the list never ends. The fact is, it’s Valentine’s Day and you are supposed to spend your money.