Sunday, 16 January 2011
The subjectiveness of art and literature.
The following strip from All over the house - click here - goes a long way to explain subjectivity of art and literature. It achieved a record number of hits (around 1.3k) and was shared 55 times on Facebook alone at the time of writing this. It was a joke that Zoë came up with, and whilst I sort of get it after she explained it (but not before) I personally didn't find it anywhere near our funniest. Apparently the internet disagreed and thought it was the funniest thing since that woman got stuck inside her front loading washing machine (well, not quite - but you get the picture).
Cars and cupcakes.
I hate cars. I treat it to a set of new spark plugs and an oil change and what does it do to reward me? Seized front brake. Well, if it thinks it's getting cleaned then it is very much mistaken.
I've spent the last week hard at work on editing. With the rather impressive sales of 'Bringing home the stars' has come a renewed interest in some of my earlier books. The only problem is that they are currently out of print whilst All Mouse Media concentrates on the current book. I went back and had a glance through the manuscripts of my previous books and have come to the conclusion that I want to edit them first. The book I have chosen to work on first is The Atlantic Connection. Writing is like anything else that if you practice it enough, you get better. I look back now and feel that I had good ideas that could be realised a little better. So I've done what Terry Pratchett did with the second edition of his The Carpet People and pulled the threads and rewritten it somewhat. That makes the editing process a lot slower, but it should be worth it.
After I'm done with The Atlantic Connection I'm going to move on to editing the follow up book to BHTS. I don't like to think of it as a sequel, as that implies that you have to have read the first book first - you don't. It is also true to say that the first book ties up loose ends so that it does not leave you thinking at the end "So I have to buy another?" But AMM requested that a follow up be on the cards, and the popularity of BHTS suggests that more on a similar theme would be good. Zoë said this even before BHTS went to print so I obliged in writing a first draft then. I'm glad I did, because I haven't had an awful lot of time to do more writing on the signing tour (other than my name in the front of books). I'll work on editing up a second draft then Zoë wants to read it before suggesting corrections.
I'm signing off now to go and fetch a lovely universal one-size-fits-all screwdriver - aka a hammer - and adjust that sticking front brake calliper on my car. No doubt the air will turn blue, so children cover those ears!
I've spent the last week hard at work on editing. With the rather impressive sales of 'Bringing home the stars' has come a renewed interest in some of my earlier books. The only problem is that they are currently out of print whilst All Mouse Media concentrates on the current book. I went back and had a glance through the manuscripts of my previous books and have come to the conclusion that I want to edit them first. The book I have chosen to work on first is The Atlantic Connection. Writing is like anything else that if you practice it enough, you get better. I look back now and feel that I had good ideas that could be realised a little better. So I've done what Terry Pratchett did with the second edition of his The Carpet People and pulled the threads and rewritten it somewhat. That makes the editing process a lot slower, but it should be worth it.
After I'm done with The Atlantic Connection I'm going to move on to editing the follow up book to BHTS. I don't like to think of it as a sequel, as that implies that you have to have read the first book first - you don't. It is also true to say that the first book ties up loose ends so that it does not leave you thinking at the end "So I have to buy another?" But AMM requested that a follow up be on the cards, and the popularity of BHTS suggests that more on a similar theme would be good. Zoë said this even before BHTS went to print so I obliged in writing a first draft then. I'm glad I did, because I haven't had an awful lot of time to do more writing on the signing tour (other than my name in the front of books). I'll work on editing up a second draft then Zoë wants to read it before suggesting corrections.
I'm signing off now to go and fetch a lovely universal one-size-fits-all screwdriver - aka a hammer - and adjust that sticking front brake calliper on my car. No doubt the air will turn blue, so children cover those ears!
Thursday, 13 January 2011
All over the house cuteness!
Zoë came up with this strip and I can't stop laughing at it. It's just one of those jokes that is so ludicrous and silly that it hits the spot.
All over the house cuteness this way...
All over the house cuteness this way...
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Another signing date.
I have just been told that another date has been added to the signing tour. This will be at the Waterstones branch in Wigan on the 19th of February. I'm looking forward to it as it will be the first time I will have been to Wigan since a school visit to Wigan Pier many, many years ago. Do they still sell those glass jars filled with pear drops I wonder? I remember the jars were very handy for keeping other stuff in afterwards when the original sugary contents had been scoffed!
Beware the internet 'experts'!
The internet is full of a lot of useful stuff. However, it is also stuffed with a lot of bad advice and misinformation. But we already knew that, didn't we?
For a long time now my File Server has failed to see any capacity on a hard disk above 128Gb. Even if the hard drive is physically a lot bigger. The usual fix for this with Windows XP is to install Service Pack 2. On my File Server this doesn't work. Google is our friend, and a search on the Motherboard (Asus A7V133) reveals many other people with the same issue. On all the tech fora there are a multitude of 'fixes' involving downloading drivers, editing the Windows registry and all sorts. You would have thought that techie nerds would have the answer? Well, no. After wading through a lot of advice, I hazarded upon the Asus website and the download section.
The A7V133 motherboard is there, along with hundreds of other products. Low and behold the answer came up in a flash:
"Upgrade to BIOS version 1010A - fixes 48bit disk access issue allowing drives bigger than 128Gb with Windows XP"
Well, there you are. Why were all the techie fora filled with nonesense about potentially system crashing editing of the registry? I don't know. Now I have the fix in a handy 256Kb file. There's only one problem - I have to flash the BIOS from a bootable floppy disk. The only thing is, the File server does not have one of these archaic devices. I have the fix, but not the inclination to find a floppy drive and doing the BIOS flash. A solution for another day - it isn't like I urgently need the space.
It's amazing how quickly hardware becomes outdated. It wasn't that long ago that a floppy drive was essential to set up a computer. Now you cannot find such a thing or the disks to go in them for love nor money. Well, probably a lot of money off Ebay, but let's not go there. I'd only get sniped at the last minute by some-one who wants every floppy drive in existence for any price. Where are these people when I'm actually selling something?
For a long time now my File Server has failed to see any capacity on a hard disk above 128Gb. Even if the hard drive is physically a lot bigger. The usual fix for this with Windows XP is to install Service Pack 2. On my File Server this doesn't work. Google is our friend, and a search on the Motherboard (Asus A7V133) reveals many other people with the same issue. On all the tech fora there are a multitude of 'fixes' involving downloading drivers, editing the Windows registry and all sorts. You would have thought that techie nerds would have the answer? Well, no. After wading through a lot of advice, I hazarded upon the Asus website and the download section.
The A7V133 motherboard is there, along with hundreds of other products. Low and behold the answer came up in a flash:
"Upgrade to BIOS version 1010A - fixes 48bit disk access issue allowing drives bigger than 128Gb with Windows XP"
Well, there you are. Why were all the techie fora filled with nonesense about potentially system crashing editing of the registry? I don't know. Now I have the fix in a handy 256Kb file. There's only one problem - I have to flash the BIOS from a bootable floppy disk. The only thing is, the File server does not have one of these archaic devices. I have the fix, but not the inclination to find a floppy drive and doing the BIOS flash. A solution for another day - it isn't like I urgently need the space.
It's amazing how quickly hardware becomes outdated. It wasn't that long ago that a floppy drive was essential to set up a computer. Now you cannot find such a thing or the disks to go in them for love nor money. Well, probably a lot of money off Ebay, but let's not go there. I'd only get sniped at the last minute by some-one who wants every floppy drive in existence for any price. Where are these people when I'm actually selling something?
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Value added?
The VAT rise, which occurred back on Tuesday, has raised a number of questions and points. Namely, that there are a lot of people who don't think or even do their sums before they call into radio talk shows. I heard one woman ranting about how "Something that costs £10 will now be £12.50". Er, no. That would actually be a 25% increase. A lot of other people had equally bizarre theories, claiming in one case that "prices will rise by 20%". Er, again - no. VAT may be going up to 20%, but it was already at 17.5%. Another little nark is people and businesses that make the claim that prices will rise by 2.5%. Again, no. If a £100 item is subject to a 2.5% VAT increase, the price would rise only by 2.13%.
Right, the maths over, there were a few other things that I found despairing yet amusing. Businesses that claim that this rise will put them out of business were another firm favourite. Quite frankly if a business' margins are so tight that having to raise prices by 2.13% to cover the VAT increase will put them out of business then they were running on questionable economics anyway. Other points that prices will be hiked by a lot as retailers try and sneak in a boost to the profit margin and blame it on the VAT increase were also somewhat questionable. Yes, some businesses might try this but the consumer is not that thick (one hopes). Businesses that try to profiteer off the back of this will be punished by the consumer, just as retailers have been punished for attempts to profiteer in the past.
One thing that annoyed me the most was the chancellor's boast about how the VAT rise would be a boost for jobs. Who is he trying to BS? He would have been well advised to keep his gob from shooting the breeze on that one. People aren't that stupid Mr. Osbourne, so keep your political double-speak to yourself because we all were made to read George Orwell's 1984 at school so know how it works.
Will the VAT rise make a huge difference? It remains to be seen. In the grand scheme of things, it isn't a huge amount extra. But it is one extra cost amongst many extra costs that the British public has to endure, and I can't help thinking that at some point there will be a straw that breaks the camel's back.
The very real problem though is that certain things are subject to VAT that quite frankly should not be. Fuel is the big thing. Now, VAT is supposedly a luxury tax - hence 'value added'. I rather feel that fuel is a necessity, not a luxury and I'm sure there are an awful lot of people filling up their cars to be able to commute to and from work who would agree. We already pay a stifling amount of fuel tax already, so it is rather galling to then find another tax heaped on top of that. What is more in a rather unfair piece of double accounting, the government makes us pay VAT (now at 20%) on the proportion of the fuel price that was already tax in the form of fuel tax. I've seen pump prices now rise to beyond the 130p/litre mark in a lot of places. That's £5.85 per gallon if you want to strip away the façade that tries to hide from people the true cost of this commodity. Remember when prices were actually on the pump in gallons? Back then they would not dare raise the price by 4.5p per go, but they do just that now thanks to using a smaller unit of measurement. One for the conspiracy theorists I think!
I leave you with a sobering thought in the wake of the VAT increase. Next time you see a lorry trundling long distance up the motorway, spare a thought for the driver. In the course of his shift, the lorry will use a greater value of diesel than they are getting paid to drive it.
Right, the maths over, there were a few other things that I found despairing yet amusing. Businesses that claim that this rise will put them out of business were another firm favourite. Quite frankly if a business' margins are so tight that having to raise prices by 2.13% to cover the VAT increase will put them out of business then they were running on questionable economics anyway. Other points that prices will be hiked by a lot as retailers try and sneak in a boost to the profit margin and blame it on the VAT increase were also somewhat questionable. Yes, some businesses might try this but the consumer is not that thick (one hopes). Businesses that try to profiteer off the back of this will be punished by the consumer, just as retailers have been punished for attempts to profiteer in the past.
One thing that annoyed me the most was the chancellor's boast about how the VAT rise would be a boost for jobs. Who is he trying to BS? He would have been well advised to keep his gob from shooting the breeze on that one. People aren't that stupid Mr. Osbourne, so keep your political double-speak to yourself because we all were made to read George Orwell's 1984 at school so know how it works.
Will the VAT rise make a huge difference? It remains to be seen. In the grand scheme of things, it isn't a huge amount extra. But it is one extra cost amongst many extra costs that the British public has to endure, and I can't help thinking that at some point there will be a straw that breaks the camel's back.
The very real problem though is that certain things are subject to VAT that quite frankly should not be. Fuel is the big thing. Now, VAT is supposedly a luxury tax - hence 'value added'. I rather feel that fuel is a necessity, not a luxury and I'm sure there are an awful lot of people filling up their cars to be able to commute to and from work who would agree. We already pay a stifling amount of fuel tax already, so it is rather galling to then find another tax heaped on top of that. What is more in a rather unfair piece of double accounting, the government makes us pay VAT (now at 20%) on the proportion of the fuel price that was already tax in the form of fuel tax. I've seen pump prices now rise to beyond the 130p/litre mark in a lot of places. That's £5.85 per gallon if you want to strip away the façade that tries to hide from people the true cost of this commodity. Remember when prices were actually on the pump in gallons? Back then they would not dare raise the price by 4.5p per go, but they do just that now thanks to using a smaller unit of measurement. One for the conspiracy theorists I think!
I leave you with a sobering thought in the wake of the VAT increase. Next time you see a lorry trundling long distance up the motorway, spare a thought for the driver. In the course of his shift, the lorry will use a greater value of diesel than they are getting paid to drive it.
Sunday, 2 January 2011
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