Category: Life

So when is World Book Day?

I check out a few of the official Google blogs and today they had an interesting post. It’s regarding some work being done by various organisations and part-sponsored by Google to help improve literacy numbers. All well and good. But the article is “In celebration of World Book Day” – which according to the World Book Day website was back in March.

Then I did a little digging. The link above is the top link should you search for “World Book Day” in Google itself. Despite the use of the word “World” and the “.com” domain, it seems it’s more of a UK thing. In fact, it was kicked off by Tony Blair back in 1998 – five years before UNESCO’s version which is actually somewhat more international in flavour.

In fact, UNESCO’s version is actually more English than our own version – given that it’s celebrated on St George’s Day. This is actually one of the reasons for them picking the date. In Catalonia (a province / part / territory / autonomous community / whatever) of Spain, it’s traditional on this date for men to give a rose to their lover, who in return gives a book.

Regardless, can someone explain how we can have a World Book Day, and a World Book Day (UK and Ireland) which are on two different dates? We obviously didn’t make ours “world” enough, despite nabbing the better domain name, and we only seem to concentrate on initiatives within the UK anyway. So another chance to lead the world wasted by a pathetic Labour government. Kudos for the fantastic idea and great initiative – they just didn’t take it far enough.

However, check out the title of UNESCO’s effort – it’s formally called World Book and Copyright Day. Which, to me, sounds a bit of a gobful and slightly legalese. There’s no denying, though, that it’s more widely accepted worldwide than the UK version.

As an aside, doesn’t it gall many of the English readers that our national saint is celebrated more in other countries around the world (I’d somehow expect Georgia to have a holiday) than in our own?

The BBC News Web Page. Top quality… or… not

I see this morning they’re plugging how wonderful the new video embedded in the BBC News page is. Two problems:

1) About 1/3 of the content can’t be viewed outside the UK, yet a still image with a message telling you you can’t look at it is included, even in the “International” page. They might has well put “So nya-nya-nya-naanaa” after.

2) The page with some examples on, telling you how great it all is… well. It doesn’t work. All but the Top Gear video just have a still picture with “Sorry this content isn’t available at the moment” on.

Top notch.

[EDIT – Around 8 hours later and it’s finally working… and been laid out differently]

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Ryanair are thieving *****

Safety CardImage by Ultrastar175g via FlickrOK, so it’s not a huge revelation but Ryanair are, indeed greedy thieving ********. Sneaky, conniving, slippery *****. And that’s just a few of the words I’d use to describe them. Any way they can fiddle you out of more cash, they’ll do it.

I’m booking tickets for some friends for the Graspop trip in June. Three people return from Stansted, one person (me) one-way from Eindhoven to Stansted. All nice and simple. Obviously, there will be credit card fees involved, so I want to book as many flights at once to reduce the fees involved.

OK, so I can’t book three out, 4 in with one transaction. It’s 3 out on one booking, 4 back on another. Or 3 return and then a separate booking for the guy going one-way. Either way, two credit card fees.

Wrong.

Either way it’s SEVEN credit card fees. Ryanair have gone all original and charge per person, per flight segment. So if I were paying on Visa, I could expect a whopping £21 in credit card charges. Frankly – ******* ludicrous. Even using a debit card, it’s £7.

More sneakiness. If you’re booking a flight from Europe to the UK, there is no choice on currency. You pay in Euros. And the flights are rounded to nice, convenient amounts – which are higher than the cost of the flight when booked as part of a return. Example – sterling price for Eindhoven to Stansted is £9.99. Booking it as a single is €14.40. At the current exchange rate this is £11.61. It doesn’t stop there as all the booking fees, card fees, baggage fees, taxes and so on are also lifted. The resultant flight is around a tenner dearer than it would be in Pounds. not to forget that most credit cards / banks charge a fee for dealing in non-sterling.

Add to that their 15kg checked luggage limit – 5kg below that of most other airlines. A 10kg carry-on limit – 2kg below that of others. A baggage check-in fee of £6 for the first bag and £12 for the next. Which necessitates that you check in at the airport… a further £3. Surely if you’re going to check one bag in and therefore have to check in at the airport (as opposed to the free online alternative), they may as well charge you £9 for the bag and include the fee? Ah, but then they’d not be able to claim their baggage fees were low…

Also note that every money-making option is selected on the web page unless you turn it off. As if anyone really wants to pay an extra £6 to be one of the first onto the plane. And insurance is selected by default.

I still loathe their advertising. My flight – according to their advertising – was £9.99. It actually cost me nearer £45. And if you want to complain (or check up on a booking you’re not sure has gone through because their website crashed)? 10p/min in the UK (34c/min in France).

I’m currently stuck as I’ve received no confirmation details for the 6 flights I booked for my friends. Have they been booked? I don’t know. I didn’t get an email confirming the details of the flight I do know went through, so the lack of mail for the other one is no indication at all.

Ryanair – the shittest airline on the planet, budget or not. British Airways may be able to decimate an entire airport terminal in 8 hours, but Ryanair are simply just ****. And greedy. Greedy and ****. And sneaky.

Dog poo

A U.S. Army soldier using a Schiebel AN 19/2 MOD7 metal detector, public domain photo from navy.Image from WikipediaI responded to a post on Scaryduck’s blog and ranted on a bit. So I pinched my reply to use here:

We’re supposed to be a nation of animal lovers, but frankly we seem to treat dogs like the **** you’re complaining about. It’s not the dog’s fault it needs to done a poo. It’s the owners for not tidying up afterwards.

All dogs should be injected with nano-bots at an early age. Harmless and designed to sit over the arse-opening. On poopage, they’re deposited with the turd and emit a radio signal unique to each pooch. This will allow inspectors with a poop-detector (like a metal detector but smellier) to locate these and identify the guilty party. And pick up the poop for smearage over the relevant front doorhandle.

I’m sequestered in France right now, in a very touristy town. There is a dog **** issue here as well, but not to the scale as back home. Which is strange, as a lot of dogs just run around on their own here. The owners don’t walk them per se – they just let them out to walk by themselves.

Go into a pub and I’ll almost guarantee you’ll see at least one dog sat on the floor, or wandering around enjoying the attention. Dogs in supermarkets, dogs in shops… as long as it doesn’t **** on the floor nobody cares.

Actually, one pup did **** on the floor of the MBC (microbrewery pub) the other week… to a rousing cheer from the locals before the staff cleared it up.

Why is this not racist

The Voice, a newspaper for people of coloured background… African Englishpersons… whatever – has compiled a list of the most influential black people in football. Surely this is racist? Can anyone imaging the outcry if the BNP published a list of the most influential white people in football?

Can’t people just see past skin colour? Can’t we just have a list of the most influential people (should it even be needed), regardless of skin colour? Is it so ******* difficult for people to see past a skintone?

****’s sake.