Under the hammer horror

It's great to know that a new batch of Hammer Horrors will be getting churned out. Fantastic films.

But that aside, I happened to catch the TV programme "Under the hammer" the other day. Basically, people buy rotten old houses in auctions, do them up and either live in them, rent them out or sell them. One couple bought a plot of land and, before they'd even had planning permission to build on it, they were pondering how much the proposed two homes would be worth "at today's prices" - two homes that they and their father/in law would be living, respectively. So if they're going to be living in them, what does it matter how much they're worth?

I get so pissed off with this obsession that people have over the values of their homes. The value is often an awful lot less than what people actually have to pay for them, thanks to the ludicrously inflated house prices in the UK.


The God Delusion
I picked this book up because it was on offer in Waterstone's. Basically, Richard Dawkins - scientist and confirmed atheist - assembles a number of very good arguments against the possibility of there being a supernatural being "out there", in charge of stuff. Reading his long-winded arguments, you see how totally illogical religion is. It's basically something that has been used for centuries for the sole purpose of population control. So we're in a situation, in the 21st century, where we have to consult with all sorts of people about things to gauge their feelings, based not on evidence or logic, but superstitious mumbo jumbo.

The monotheistic religions have whittled away at all the ancients Roman, Greek and Viking gods of this or that, leaving just the one. It's about time we got rid of the last one.

This book should be compulsory for all school children, politicians and religious leaders. Far too many people try to justify their own bigotry or just plain stupidity and stubbornness, because of their faith. It's about time modern society stopped bending over backwards to accommodate them. In another age, or with a different "God", the same people might be accused of having a mental illness.


The dog delusion - aka Pets in head buckets
I love it when animals have operations and they have to wear those cones on their heads. I might suggest a company makes some special designs with pictures of flowers, radiant sunshine, spirals and that. They'd be cool.


It ain't rocket science
As I drove into Manchester from Rochdale this morning (about 14 miles), it struck me how many sets of lights there were on my route. What also struck me was the proportion of them that were on red as I reached them. I wasn't exceeding the speed limit, I wasn't racing between sets, just driving along fairly sensibly.

I pondered.... If I could be bothered - and I would have done this back in my obsessive compulsive, let's count everything phase - I would count all the sets of lights on this route and also calculate the proportion that were on red, green, or amber. With a map, you'd be able to measure the distance between the lights and calculate the average speed covered between them - either at a constant 30 or 40mph (depending on the stretch of road), or in terms of acceleration from zero. Doing a bit of simple maths, you'd then be able to come up with some sort of formula for ensuring that the majority of the lights were on green as you reached them if you travelled at the speed limit.

Now, if I can think of this in my sleepy state on the way to work, why the fuck doesn't the Department of Transport?

Cunts.


Gadgets
I'll soon be undertaking a new role at work. As part of this, I'll be getting: laptop with 3G card for internet anywhere; mobile phone; PDA (already have a good one, but it'll be OK for novelty/play value for a day or so); perhaps even a shat nav (I'll Ebay this and pretend it got nicked). Do they not realise what providing me with all this gadgetry will do to me? Fools.