tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31410572024-03-16T00:00:44.511+00:00Groc's various musingsIt's like I'm a half-demented taxi driver and you sit in the back - being polite but also appalled by my opinionated rantings and ravings.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1257125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-24434725354544070422023-03-31T04:45:00.000+00:002023-03-31T04:45:30.150+00:00more guns in the 'items we carry' stuff:my eyes have been rolling so much over this forum I am in danger of getting brain damage but not from what this guy might think:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>For the most part, they're a bunch of idiots. Groc has brain damage. The group is at least 2 years old, and has over 2,000 submissions. So for the past 2 years and 2,000 posts, there are pages and pages of wallets, keys, and the occasional knife. Now, for the past two weeks, they're getting something outside the norm for that group. Do they relish the chance to look at something different? Nope. They cry that now "all the posts are boring because they're all guns".<br />
<br />
So, 2000, photos of my car keys is exciting, 20 photos of my firearms are boring.<br />
<br />
I get it. Morons. </blockquote>from someone calling them-self Marlett <br />
<br />
Oh? If the group was so desperately dull and uninteresting before - then why join? Oh wait - it's OK now because it has a few guns in it.<br />
<br />
Do we relish the chance to look at something different? Well - no. We're not the gun club.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-36522432324335190622023-03-18T13:27:00.002+00:002023-03-31T04:45:43.310+00:00giving snakes their legs back.<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/1SgGfMlbCoM" width="480"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-27457709945158496202023-03-03T07:05:00.001+00:002023-03-03T07:05:22.790+00:00Business podcast bros<p> <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(136, 153, 166); color: #8899a6; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap;"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">business podcast bros <a href="https://t.co/xHcbfN0PQL">pic.twitter.com/xHcbfN0PQL</a></p>&mdash; Michael Spicer (@MrMichaelSpicer) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrMichaelSpicer/status/1630979429429043200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-52185518733479094122023-01-15T09:30:00.002+00:002023-01-15T09:34:21.728+00:00Living in a plane<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/26/73-year-old-pays-370-bucks-a-month-to-live-in-a-1066-square-foot-plane.html " rel="nofollow" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">73-year-old pays $370/month to live in a plane he bought for $100,000 from a salvage yard</a></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Love the idea. But I'd make it a lot more Austin Power-y in the interior myself. As it is it's a bit too 'Lost' chic.</span> </p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-46509266200313466372023-01-14T10:09:00.000+00:002023-01-14T10:09:54.790+00:00Mmm PFAs. Everywhere.<p>https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64192516 </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-50600019781206762312022-02-16T20:45:00.002+00:002023-03-03T07:06:08.828+00:00<p> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60353916 </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-91901663845191221682020-09-01T18:58:00.001+00:002020-09-01T18:58:24.210+00:00First colour E reader devices<div><br></div><div>Oooh looks promising though. </div><div><br></div>https://gizmodo.com/the-first-color-e-ink-devices-are-finally-here-1844832864Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-80320274445550741872016-05-06T04:55:00.000+00:002016-05-06T04:55:04.128+00:00Nightmare Britain<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35873541" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35873541" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pupils 'come to school hungry', says teacher union</a></div>
<br />
and this has been happening for a while now and any public outrage about it? - there came none...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-82530795364516789672016-05-06T04:46:00.001+00:002016-05-06T04:46:36.415+00:00Blogspot vs the rest...I'd blog more - or at least copy/back up things I've posted on FaceBook and Tumblr and Google+ here if only Blogger automatically made nice links with picture thumbnails like all those other places do. Blogger hasn't moved on much in yours now... Odd considering all the other attempts Google have made to try and do something new (all of them failed) in the world of social media.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-76722570439420805822015-10-30T02:31:00.001+00:002015-10-30T02:31:01.357+00:00This Week - yet another Tory shill gets a platform.<p dir="ltr">Was watching 'This Week' and being incensed by the vile Julia Hartley-Brewers effectively blaming the under-paid people who have to claim tax credits for er... being poor and having to claim tax credits. According to her it's a simple 'life style choice'. So it's nothing to do with businesses taking the piss by not paying their workers a decent enough wage so they don't have to claim benefits, nothing to do with people not being given the chance to take a full time job because, again businesses are finding it easier and a lot cheaper to take on two or three part timers rather than the one full time employee. Which has also been a crafty ruse of the government in keeping unemployment figures down, if it wasn't for the <u>massive</u> increase in zero hour contracts and part time jobs we'd more than likely have unemployment levels running at something like three or even four million. Julia Hartley-Brewers is your typical 'blame the victim' right-wing shill.<br>
Worse - the token lefty Margret Hodge did nothing to shoot her down, instead she was practically agreeing with her. With people like her in opposition who needs door mats?</p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-31174786980774081092015-10-05T21:59:00.001+00:002015-10-05T21:59:32.937+00:00New google chrome now with audio out socket.<p dir="ltr">Woo-hoo which might make it a little bit more useful.</p>
<p dir="ltr">http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/29/9412755/google-chromecast-audio-announced-price-release-date</p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-9795407725266458642015-09-23T06:21:00.001+00:002015-09-23T06:21:00.999+00:00The lens that could shrink your camera - BBC Click<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1DRN4vY82j8" width="480"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-16310888806623373892015-08-24T09:47:00.000+00:002015-08-24T09:47:06.214+00:00Battery life.I could do with one of these now - to replace the dying battery in my Nexus 4.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/worlds-first-hydrogen-powered-battery-6304919" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">World's first hydrogen-powered battery will charge your iPhone for 7 DAYS.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-59944742280635821482015-07-09T06:18:00.001+00:002015-07-09T06:18:38.299+00:00camera lustTech Radar<br />
<a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/compact-cameras/lytro-light-field-camera-1165502/review" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lytro review </a> Got one at long last.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/digital-slrs-hybrids/olympus-pen-e-p5-1150234/review#articleContent" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">New Olympus pen E-P5 </a> So pretty.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-24619982911578978932015-07-09T06:17:00.001+00:002015-10-30T02:35:49.393+00:00Poor Microsoft<p dir="ltr">- they still don't get it - that nobody likes <u>those</u> bloody horrible tiles.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Wired: <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/07/windows-lost-smartphones/">Microsoft Thinks the Smartphone Is Over. It’s Wrong.</a></p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-73300108790092766262015-04-12T14:21:00.001+00:002015-04-12T14:21:45.280+00:00The Smallest SLR Of All Time<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EyBGPzNzGog" width="459"></iframe><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Asahi Pentax Auto 110 Film Camera Review.<br /><br />
I really wanted one of these back in the day.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-59795052764651129162014-09-17T05:08:00.001+00:002014-09-17T05:08:47.326+00:00Rescued 1980s Relic: The Sharp RP-114 Vertical Turntable<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/u_YAmDbEuPg" width="480"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-46646790222050657252014-07-29T01:50:00.001+00:002015-04-18T22:23:00.438+00:00Vivian Maier<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12247395" target="_blank">Vivian Maier: A life's lost work seen for first time</a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
"<span style="color: #404040; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.375;">The photographs reveal teeming streets, children at play in an alley, couples captured in a sleepy embrace, the intricate latticework of an elevated train platform, a drunk smeared in filth.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 23px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The arresting, artfully framed scenes from the streets and byways of New York, Chicago and beyond seem alive with movement. And for years, they were probably seen by no-one but the solitary Chicago nanny and amateur photographer who shot them.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
But now, two years after her death in a nursing home, Vivian Maier is finally being recognised for her talent after a lifetime of obscurity."</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-71383623217050753912014-02-07T17:31:00.001+00:002014-02-07T17:31:36.782+00:00Paul O'Grady speaks to Gay Star News at Sochi protest London<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/HqxsGjX4eus" width="480"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-51160860595256136592013-11-04T20:52:00.001+00:002013-11-04T20:52:09.865+00:00I hope there's more to comehttp://doctorwhoarchive.com/2013/10/28/latest-missing-episodes-rumours/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-8057421699301828412013-10-29T15:26:00.001+00:002013-10-29T15:31:18.792+00:00Daily doodle.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkO0wc9W43q7EWsNIOUcmv05LlSZsKzFZ7f_eHVKttPtR11zr3FhQP-L0JgE0KhJdhXXU1N-k9czMK7SMV2tdjMycaIx0Yz0R23dOshIrzS8o5nV5TUgAb98SHyHkQRAqOQEHwYw/s1600/Sketch292152353.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkO0wc9W43q7EWsNIOUcmv05LlSZsKzFZ7f_eHVKttPtR11zr3FhQP-L0JgE0KhJdhXXU1N-k9czMK7SMV2tdjMycaIx0Yz0R23dOshIrzS8o5nV5TUgAb98SHyHkQRAqOQEHwYw/s640/Sketch292152353.png"> </a> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-44640573900309796162013-02-23T17:28:00.001+00:002013-02-23T17:28:11.924+00:00sketchy kev<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/grocko/8501172792/" title="sketchy kev"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8087/8501172792_54b36970ef.jpg" alt="sketchy kev by groc" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/grocko/8501172792/">sketchy kev</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/grocko/">groc</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-9408549219055691792012-11-22T06:52:00.001+00:002012-11-22T06:52:09.169+00:00pink shirt press releasesPapers mindlessly reprint Press releases - shocker<br />
<br />
Daily mail:<br />
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2236652/The-power-pink-Men-wear-shirts-colour-earn-1-000-year-don-t.html" target="_blank">The power of pink: Men who wear shirts of that colour earn £1,000 a year more than those who don’t </a><br />
<br />
Daily Express:<br />
<a href="http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/359674/Why-future-is-bright-for-men-in-pink" target="_blank">WHY FUTURE IS BRIGHT FOR MEN IN PINK</a><br />
<br />
No doubt there will be other papers covering the same reports findings.<br />
<br />
Now why do I have a sneaking suspicion someone in some company somewhere* has an overstock of pink shirts they need to offload? Oh yes... that'll be because I've read 'Propaganda' by Edward Bernays where's there's a whole chapter on who he made velvet a popular fashion choice.<br />
<br />
[*Stephanie Thiers-Ratcliffe, International Marketing Manager for Cotton USA - who commissioned the report.]Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-70353670605950526872012-11-02T18:06:00.005+00:002012-11-02T18:39:50.260+00:00Housing benefit changes<h3>
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14916580" target="_blank">BBC Wales on 'the Bedroom tax' [video]</a></h3>
A mother who has two children one boy aged 9 one girl 3 years old - but new rules state that because both children are under 10 - that they're supposed to move to a smaller property and the children to then share a bedroom. If they don't or simply can't because there's nowhere smaller to move to, or because they simply can't afford to move, then they get a cut in their housing benefit, and will have to make up the shortfall out of the rest of their already inadequate budget - just as fuel, food prices and everything else is skyrocketing.<br />
<br />
Add that to the information that<br />
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8201900.stm" target="_blank">The UK builds the smallest homes in Europe, according to the government's adviser on architecture.</a> [BBC magazine from 2007]<br />
and<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14916580">'Shoebox homes' become the UK norm.</a>
<br />
and<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/aug/10/rooms-private-housing-too-small">No room to cook dinner or seat guests? Welcome to 'rabbit hutch Britain</a>
<br />
showing that these smaller properties are just not there to downsize into - we've a perfect storm looming on the horizon.<br />
<br />
So the same way the Govt. is trying to force people into jobs that simply aren't there and punish them harshly when they're not getting those non-existent jobs - they're now about to make people move to non-existent smaller properties and then punish them when they can't. Already councils are housing people in Bed & Breakfast - at great expense to the taxpayer and inflicting misery on people forced to live there because there isn't enough suitable housing... and it's now only set to get a lot, lot worse.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141057.post-68663482142877688902012-10-18T10:47:00.002+00:002012-10-18T10:47:39.855+00:00Apple fibsWhat did a certain Mr Steve Jobs say about 7 inch tablets back on <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/230710-apple-s-ceo-discusses-f4q10-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single" target="_blank">18th October, 2010</a>?<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
... I'd like to comment on the avalanche of tablets poised to enter the market in the coming months. First, it appears to be just a handful of credible entrants, not exactly an avalanche. Second, almost all of them use seven-inch screens as compared to iPad's near 10-inch screen. Let's start there. One naturally thinks that a seven-inch screen would offer 70% of the benefits of a 10-inch screen. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. The screen measurements are diagonal, so that a seven-inch screen is only 45% as large as iPad's 10-inch screen. You heard me right; just 45% as large<br />
If you take an iPad and hold it upright in portrait view and draw an imaginary horizontal line halfway down the screen, the screens on the seven-inch tablets are a bit smaller than the bottom half of the iPad display. This size isn't sufficient to create great tablet apps in our opinion.<br />
Well, one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference. It is meaningless, unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of the present size. Apple's done extensive user-testing on touch interfaces over many years, and we really understand this stuff. There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touch screen before users cannot reliably tap, flick or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps.<br />
Third, every tablet user is also a smartphone user. No tablet can compete with the mobility of a smartphone, its ease of fitting into your pocket or purse, its unobtrusiveness when used in a crowd. Given that all tablet users will already have a smartphone in their pockets, giving up precious display area to fit a tablet in our pockets is clearly the wrong tradeoff. The seven-inch tablets are tweeners, too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad.<br />
Fourth, almost all of these new tablets use Android software, but even Google is telling the tablet manufacturers not to use their current release, Froyo, for tablets, and to wait for a special tablet release next year. What does it mean when your software suppliers does not (inaudible) to use their software in your tablet? And what does it mean when you ignore them and use it anyway?<br />
Fifth, iPad now has over 35,000 apps on the App Store. This new crop of tablets will have near zero.<br />
And sixth and last, our potential competitors are having a tough time coming close to iPad's pricing, even with their far smaller, far less expensive screens. The iPad incorporates everything we have learnt about building high value products from iPhones, iPods and Macs. We create our own A4 chip, our own software, our own battery chemistry, our own enclosure, our own everything. And this results in an incredible product at a great price. The proof of this will be in the pricing of our competitor's products which will likely offer less for more.<br />
These are among the reasons we think the current crop of seven-inch tablets are going to be DOA, Dead on Arrival. Their manufacturers will learn the painful lesson that their tablets are too small and increase the size next year, thereby abandoning both customers and developers who jumped on the seven-inch bandwagon with an orphan product. Sounds like lots of fun ahead.</blockquote>
Now can you guess what the rumours are that Apple will be releasing soon? Hope they'll be giving away some Apple branded iSandpaper for the fanboys.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0