Archive for the ‘Rant’ Category

Should we be going Fairtrade?

We should all be doing our bit for people in third world countries who are being unfairly treated and not given a chance – but what is the best way to go about helping out?  Is buying Fairtrade really the route we should be jumping onto?

Fairtrade has grown in popularity over the past few years – around half of the population of Britain can safely say that they recognise the Fairtrade logo proving that its efforts aren’t in vein.

Fairtrade products have a presence in a great range of products from bananas to coffee, from third world countries like Sri Lanka and India.

Let’s be fair

The idea behind the Fairtrade foundation is to, as the name suggests, provide a fairer method of farming for workers in third world countries who are usually given un-fair treatment and pay for their products.

Fairtrade provides a minimum price to the farmers, which covers costs and provides the farmers with a stable income, something which has probably never been afforded to them in the past.

The farmers then have to meet certain requirements, such as health and safety regulations, worker’s rights rules and social, economic and environmental development.

So everyone is a winner?  Only if people in the western world buy the products at the end of the day…

Fairtrade sales

So far things are looking good for Fairtrade sales – Fairtrade sales came to more than £1.6 billion worldwide in 2007 alone, a figure up around 47 per cent against the previous year.

But it still isn’t enough.  Although bananas are the most popular Fairtrade product on the market they only make up 12 per cent of overall banana sales in Britain.

However things are looking up for Fairtrade as they are starting to get even more of a presence in large chain supermarkets around the country – the Co-op was the first major chain to introduce Fairtrade products in the UK, and Sainsburys and Waitrose will only sell Fairtrade bananas.

Fairtrade has its fair share of critics

As with anything there are arguments against Fairtrade – many critics claim that Fairtrade is not a long terms solution and claim that the issues in the developing world will continue to cause problems as they did before the introduction of Fairtrade products.

The editorial director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Professor Philip Booth, claims that Fairtrade is projecting a falsehood when they claim that they are helping the developing world in such a way.

Booth claims that the money earned by farmers working through Fairtrade is incomparable against the kinds of money going into the pockets of workers and manufacturers in Europe and Fairtrade isn’t in a position to change that.

But what about you?

What do you think about Fairtrade?  Did you know what Fairtrade was before reading this article?  After reading are you going to start looking for Fairtrade products?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think…

Is it time to stop eating meat?

Could you live without meat?  Some people do it right now…others couldn’t even think about it…but by giving up meat you could be doing more than protecting your arteries.  Not only will you be saving countless innocent animal lives but you will also be doing great things for the greenhouse crisis and you will be reducing your footprint!

Meat is good for you – it has important nutrients like iron and protein that we need for energy and fuel and above all most of us like the taste of it.  But unfortunately for meat lovers there are some pretty reasonable arguments against the consumption of meat.

Methane

It is interesting to find out that methane is actually far worse for the environment than the usual suspect carbon dioxide – did you know it came out of the wrong end of a cow?  Furthermore were you aware that farming is responsible for a staggering 38 per cent of the United Kingdom’s entire methane emissions?

One cow standing on its own produces from between 100 and 200 litres of methane every single day!  Think about that next time you drive past a field full of cows…

Water

The waste of water involved in making a hamburger is just too much to think about – it takes around 2,400 litres of water, from the growth of the cow to the actual process of making the burger.  Now imagine how little water it takes to grow some veg?

A portion of green beans from Kenya uses only 80 litres of water to produce from start to finish – an insignificant number in comparison.  Water is one of the big problems of today’s climate issue as it is increasingly becoming scarce.

In this light, a vegetarian only consumes around 2,000 litres of water while a meat eater contains 5,000 litres.

Deforestation

We are eating more and more meat and so we need to find more and more room for all the animals we are eating.  The Amazon and areas of South-East Asia have been ripped up to make room for cattle while we are already worried about the lack of trees left in the world.

However the argument against this worry is that most meat eaters in Britain actually eat meat farmed in Britain so there is very little, if any, contribution to deforestation from Britain.

Land

The population of the Earth is growing at amazingly scary rates and while this is a problem in itself we could be helping the issue if we turn away from meat.  Cattle farming takes up massive amounts of land areas which could be used for other things such as providing areas for people to live in.

What do you think?

Would you say goodbye to meat to save the planet?  Are you a veggie and think that others should follow in your footsteps?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think…

Yesterday we sparked the debate that is raging on through the streets of all the major cities around the world – paper books vs Ebooks!  We looked at the paper book’s argument and although it had some good points it’s time to give Ebooks a chance to speak out…

Ebook argument;

Pros

•    Easy to read – you can zoom about, move the page about and do a lot of funky stuff with the electronic page.  It’s basically a tool to help you to read so you can imagine that you can do pretty much anything with it to do with reading…they do say that technology is supposed to make our lives easier.

•    Even more portable than a book – if you thought a book was portable then you really have no idea how much you will love carrying an Ebook around.  An Ebook is made up of 1s and 0s and you can fit hundreds in your pocket – obviously there’s no way to know what size reader you have but if you have a relatively small one then you could be carrying all the books you could want in your pocket!

•    Think about the trees! – there are no poor trees being knocked down to provide the paper for you to read off…by backing Ebooks you will be doing something great for the environment which could save you getting a cup of green “custard” thrown in your face…

•    Make note – unlike paper books you can make notes on Ebooks and you don’t have to worry about ruining the book for the rest of time.

Cons

•    My eyes… - Did your mum ever tell you that watching television for too long will make your eyes go square?  Reading an Ebook can be quite difficult on the eyes – you may find you will  need to take breaks to rest your eyes and that isn’t something that you want to factor into your reading time.

•    Where’s the power? – with a paper book there isn’t that nagging issue of battery usage.  With an Ebook you will be constantly worried about how much longer your battery will last and if you will reach page 314 in time – STRESS!

•    Portability is an issue again – Some people read Ebooks on their laptops…would you rather carry around a paper book or a laptop?  Spilling coffee onto a book can be annoying…spilling coffee onto your laptop can ruin your week!

•    Where are they – There is always the issue that they aren’t readily available, unlike paper books.  Where are they being sold?  Ebooks aren’t exactly taking off like the mighty DVD so for the Ebook to be successful they need to start appearing in more places otherwise just forget it!

So what shall we do? I vote that we should stick with our traditional paper books and leave Ebooks to the bargain bin of the Internet – I don’t think anything can beat reading a book by an open fire with a cup of hot chocolate – technology can’t really make up for tradition in this case.

Maybe you don’t agree – I’m sure not everyone does!  Let us know what you think about the debate and which format you are backing…

There is a war raging on between books and Ebooks – who do you think is going to win?  Each format allows you to do pretty much the same thing – read.  However which one do you think will be the one that will be picked up by popular demand over the next few years: paper vs binary…

Paper argument;

Pros

•    They can be picked up anywhere, from Borders to WHSmiths – we know where to get books from.  How many places could you name that sell Ebooks?
•    Books aren’t exactly heavy – sure if you have about 10 huge library books that you need to cart across a 3 mile journey then maybe books aren’t your best friend.  But say you have one book that you want to read – slip it in your bag and you can forget about it until you arrive at Starbucks, then you can open it in seconds and be immersed in the story.
•    There’s no eye strain involved – when you spend all day in front of a computer screen do you really want to spend the night sat in front of another computer screen containing your book?  Don’t you think a nice paper book would be able to provide a bit of relief?
•    Check the battery – you won’t need to with a book.  You don’t have to plug it in, worry about updating the software or thinking that if might break if you drop it…it’s just a book, plain and simple!

Cons

•    Books can be heavy – As I say above books aren’t exactly heavy, but actually they are if you have more than 3.  We’re all used to gigabytes now and we all know that we’d rather carry a USB pen compared to 10 large books.
•    I can’t see – if you’re in a dark room then forget trying to read your book.  You need a light to read a paper book and when there isn’t one there isn’t much you can do – have you ever tried to read a book in a car at night and you’re constantly trying to catch the light from the lampposts but it’s whooshing past and you’re basically not reading anything?
•    Don’t bend that spine – if you want to write in your book, bend a page or crack the spine then you have made a decision that you won’t be able to go back and change.  You won’t be un-creasing that page or rubbing out that pen scribbling.  You’ll be stuck with it!

Paper books have provided their argument…but what do you think?  If you want to hear Ebook’s argument then stay tuned to the site because we’re going to deal with the other side of the battle tomorrow…

Are you pro-paper or do you think that you want to bring Ebooks to the masses?  Let us know…

I was driving in my car last night after a long day at the office, and I heard something on the radio that made my blood boil…

Does anyone here watch/get-made-to-watch-by-their-girlfriend the X-Factor? If you haven’t, allow me to explain what this is. This show masquerades as a talent show, where they get a group of hand picked nobodies from a bunch of auditions to sing on stage over 12 weeks, and be publicly voted off the show. The eventual winner sings a “winner’s song”, and we get a 5 month break before it all starts again.

Doesn’t sound to bad right? Well, sorry, you’re wrong. You see I used the word masquerade earlier, and I meant it. This show is a pathetic example of how our society is full of pathetic people that need to win shows like this to “change their pathetic life”, blah blah blah. Get a grip please. If this show was actually about talent, I’d be happy to watch it, instead I’m treated? to an hour and a half of sob stories, and sympathy voting. It’s a total fix, and if you can’t see that you are being very naive.

Simon Cowell is the only non-idiot on the show. He knows that it rakes in millions of pounds; he knows that he’ll only have to give the winner a one album deal if he wants to, and he knows that controversy creates cash. If you honestly believe that that girl, who everyone thought was going to win (Laura), wasn’t a fix by the producers to gain more publicity, you are sadly mistaken. The media went mental, across every page was splashed “X-Factor Drama!!11!!” so what are you going to do if you read that on a news stand? Well you’re going to watch it to find out what happens next, right?

So you want to know what drove me mad yesterday? It was that loudmouth Rachael Hylton. She was on the radio accusing people of not being sympathetic enough – because she’s had a tough life and she deserves a break…RIGHT! Hold on one second. You were voted off NOT because of your shady drug dealing, granny beating, house breaking past, but because you were the WORST singer to have ever made it to that part of the show. You had no tonal control – shouting at the top of your voice does not make you a soul singer. Soul is supposed to move you, not knock your teeth out. Your image was terrible, you looked like a girl who would pick on people. You broke the rules by sacking Danni Minogue. You shouted back at Cowell. You are generally a terrible example to human kind, but it was because you sucked at singing and performing is why you were voted of the show.

I really hate how much I know about this show.

I don’t know how I do it, but I often eat food really fast, knowing fine well that it’s hot, only to moan for the rest of the day that I burned my mouth. Is it stupidity, or is it because I like to moan? Well yeah, I do like a moan, as anyone who’s read any of my posts in the past will say – “that guy likes having a moan.”

Well I can’t deny it, I love moaning about stuff. Things that have annoyed me, things that will annoy me in the future, people that annoy me, playing a game of football and not scoring, animals, drivers, idiotic football fans, people who tie a knot in the bread – why? Why would you intentionally ruin my morning, as I try to open a knot that is far too tight, on a slippy cellophane wrapper. What a nightmare.

I’m not by nature an angry person. I’m actually quite sedate in real life, but sometimes the people on this stupid planet do drive me insane. Like people who don’t indicate until they are three feet from the junction. Or what about people who insist on making your life difficult, or people who trigger your guilt.

Like the time an old granny queue jumped me in Tesco. I let it slide, she’s old, and has probably led an interesting life, but then she did it to the next person. Then the next. I watched as this be-hatted old woman played on the emotions of innocent shoppers to get herself to the front of the queue.

So what next. What should I direct my natural ability to have a moan at? Its cold, but my left side is too hot due to the heater. But if I turn it down, I’ll be cold all over…do I sacrifice having a half-flu next week because I wanted the vaguest amount of heat imaginable, or should I have a whole flu from turning it off.

I played football the other night. Did I score? Did I hell. I hit the bar twice, and the post once. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get the ball in the net, but everyone else playing that night scored…I reckon my chi has been disturbed.

So how do I reign in my favourite hobby? Maybe I should become even more relaxed, but if I did that I’d never achieve anything. I think I’ll stick with moaning abut stuff. Its good to vent, and it doesn’t hurt anyone either as usually I’m only annoyed because I’ve done something dumb. Anyways, if you enjoy my rants, check back on Monday for the latest news on my stupid weekend.

Yesterday I had an insane drive in the car. I was at work and I had to leave at 2.45pm to go back to my flat and take the missus to the doctors for an appointment at 3.40pm. The journey was supposed to be easy, however it ended up more like a mix between Clockwise (cringe-worthy John Cleese film) and an Indiana Jones movie.

In classic Jack Bauer style, I’ll go by the clock:

2.40pm: I start switching my computer off at work, and I make a quick call to the missus to let her know I’m on my way home.

2.45: I pull out of the work car park, and get cut-across by a huge lorry with a cement mixer thing turning on the back of it…He’s being difficult and driving in the middle of the road on the way out to the main street, so I’m stuck behind him.

2.47: Finally approaching the junction, he signals right…sweet I say to myself, as I want to go left. He’s about two feet from the junction, and then he changes his mind and signals left. Damn!

2.50: I’m crawling through the winding roads of the village just outside my place of work at 20mph, cursing my luck. I start doing the maths: it normally takes me 15 minutes to get home from where I was, so if I could just get past him I’d be back for 5 past. The missus was sitting waiting, so I’d call her at the bridge, and we’d get back to the doctors at about 3.35pm.

2.51: I begin to pray to the traffic god. “Please make this guy turn off at the next junction/roundabout/whatever”, but no, instead he continues down the same way I want to go. Now I know I have to get past him before the back roads (about ten miles of near-single-track roads, but to my dismay, he decides he’s taking his 5 ton truck down the country roads, at about 25 mph. Aaaarrrrggghhhh…

2.59: I’m starting to lose my hair rapidly, I’ve called the missus to explain, and while talking an the phone, in front of my cement mixer lorry, was another car, led by another lorry.

3.02: The lorry in front pulls off at a farm. Sweet. The cement Mixer pulls off a few hundred yards later. Awesome. I zip past the other guy in the car. Nice. I pull out of the junction into my town. Great.

3.02 and 12 seconds: I’m sitting in a traffic jam. I contemplate getting out my car, and walking away never to be seen again… I call the missus and tell her to start walking, and she does.

3.10: I’m still in traffic when I pick up an un-amused girlfriend, and try to turn in the road, which I can’t do because some idiot in his Land Rover doesn’t understand how roundabouts work and is sitting half-out of it with a bemused look on his face.

3.15: Were on the road to the main town, we’ve got 25 minutes to get their and get parked. It’s a 40mph speed limit. So why in gods name is their a guy driving a chicoquento (the worlds most pathetic car) at 27mph, so far over to the right hand-side that none of the 3 cars in front of me can get past.

3.35: We approach the final round-about before the town. Sensing the chance to pull a fast one, I nip up the outside lane. I get past the three cars in front of me, but somehow the guy in the Chicoquento has found the accelerator, so I can’t overtake (I’m nervous about speeding theses days…), then he cuts in-front of me in to the second lane, but behind a transit van. Infuriated, I quickly signal and pull in to the left lane, but the transit van does the same, and I nearly lose the nose of my car.

3.39: Some swearing, beeping of the horn, and a general cloud of misery forming over my head, we pull into the car park, and my girlfriend makes it on time.

3.41: One minute after her appointment, she comes out with a prescription for painkillers. And that was that.

Now I know, no exciting end to the story – think of it like a Will Smith movie, but that was the most stressful hour of my year so far. So I’ve prepared this list of things that drive me insane when driving. Feel free to give me suggestions to add to the list!

• Driving considerably slower than the speed limit, and not letting people pass you easily
• Driving a chicoquento – it’s a girls car that most girls would refuse to drive
• Taking lorry’s up country roads
• Not looking in your mirrors
• Traffic Jams/lights

Everyone these days has a social networking profile, but some are better than others in my opinion. We all have our favourite, so in an effort to stem today’s boredom, and have a bit of a rant, I’ve done a comparison of the three main ones that I’ve used: Myspace, Facebook and Bebo.

Myspace

What is it: Myspace wants to introduce you to loads of new people, catch up with old friends and hear new music.

Who’s it for: Although initially Myspace was used by alternative types (yes I was within the first 15,000 members) as a place to met other people, more commonly referred to as scenesters. A scenester, as you may or may not know, is someone who attaches themselves to the scene of the moment. If dance music is cool then they listen to dance music, dress like they listen to dance music, and also play terrible music. The same can be said for most genre’s of music but none more so that the Emo scene, or Emotional Hardcore scene. This means big hair, black eyeliner (girls and boys) and loads of pictures of hearts, stars and self took ‘emotive’ pictures of themselves frowning, along with other stereotypical stuff you can see in Kerrang! Magazine every week.

Why’s it good: It’s good because you can find cool people who you know, and cooler people you don’t. Myspace Music is genius, and when it first arrived was an amazing way of letting thousands of people hear your band – believe me its amazing when you hit 10, then 20, then 30, the 40 then 50,000 plays. Other cool stuff are ease of use, the photo albums and the ability to design your own profile.

Why’s it bad: Myspace has become the place that not-cool people go. I like to think of it as the overspill from Bebo. The music section is now over saturated, and the excitement of finding new music has all but vanished, because they’re not just your band that only you and know one else has heard of. Also the new site design is horrible, and it slows your PC down to a grinding halt if you have a slow one.

Facebook

What is it: Facebook is a way for people in suits to talk to each other about business, their kids, and look at each other terrible photos. It’s also the place your boss looks to see what you get up to at weekends.

Who’s it for: Facebook is for people with no imagination, and who feel the need to spy on each other.

Why’s it good: Some nice user-made apps, and can be handy for spying on someone you want to see fail.

Why’s it bad: Facebook is rubbish. It looks rubbish. The back end is rubbish. Sending inane gifts to people is pathetic. The people you meet all work in an office (probably yours). You get found by people that gave you hell at school, and think because you haven’t seen them for ten years, you’ve forgave them. You can’t do anything cool with your profile, and you have to rely on user made content to make anything remotely amusing. Facebook can go to hell.

Bebo

What is it: This is where the dreg’s of society go. This is like that club beside the awesome club that only cool folk get in. This is a microcosm of how much or society is in trouble. Bebo has been responsible for the suicide of a hell of a lot of people.

Who’s it for: Bullys and Schoolkids

Why’s it good: Its not.

Why’s it bad: design is terrible. Back end is terrible. People are terrible. Photo function is terrible. It’s terrible. The designer needs to go back to stacking shelves in Tesco.

The moral of this story is this:  If you are a remotely decent person who wants to find good new music (and doesn’t mind hunting for hours) then head to Myspace. If you are a guy in a suit – Facebook’s for you. If you are lazy, and want to bully people till they can’t take it anymore – head to Bebo.

I visited animal prison yesterday, otherwise known as the local Zoo. I love seeing animal’s, they are often fluffy, toothy, trunky, smelly, funny… but after a short time I started to feel really sad. It’s the monkeys and apes. These awesome creatures share 99 percent of our genetic make-up, yet they are the ones locked in cages. I swore that they were looking at all the buck-toothed passers-by gawping at them, and thinking to themselves “why me”.

No I know that they are there for a reason. They are bred in captivity to preserve the species, etc etc, but you can’t help but feel terrible.

I look at it this way: As a nation, we pretty much suck. Knife crime is through the roof, robberies are common place, the police are useless, the courts are pathetic, the government seems to brush over areas of the country with a magic brush that hides over this nations pathetic excuses for human beings, yet we hold creatures that probably have more intelligence in their left nostril than the majority of the dregs that pollute of towns, shopping centres and public parks in tiny little enclosures, that doesn’t exactly look very fun.

Now I’m not having a go at the zoo keepers, or zoo’s for that matter. Do I think more could be done to make these animals lives more bearable? Yes I do, but I understand that the government can’t afford to subsidise the zoo’s, and other animal sanctuaries, as they are too busy subsidising Vicky Pollard look-a-like’s with seven kids called; Briteni, Kristina, Briteni 2, Beckum, Roonney, Cher and Crystal Dimonnd the third.

Perhaps I’m being shallow-minded? Perhaps as a nation we are secretly terrified of a monkey rebellion, and this is a government’s way of quelling any thoughts of a primate takeover.

Anyways, I saw some cool animals, tortoises, giraffes, and I was about five feet away from 4 African elephants – amazing. That’s the great side of zoo’s. In our world these creatures can’t walk around freely without fear of some poacher hunting them down, so at least they are safe. I just wish that the government would do something to make their stay a little bit more comfortable.

So I’m sitting in my car, just chilling on my way to work this morning. Stuck in my usual 45 minute traffic jam, I was listening to the fat idiot Chris Moyles on the radio, I had my hot air blower on to de-steam my windows, school kids were walking past shouting/screaming/being kids, cars were beeping their horns, a workie was drilling in the road, and I was rapidly becoming the opposite of “chilled”…I was becoming, not-chilled…

I felt like William ‘D-Fens’ Foster, in Falling Down, I groaned to myself as I was surrounded by wave after wave of obnoxious noise. This noise was horrible, painful, if it was a person it would be Jeremy Kyle, and if it was a car it would be a Humvee. The oppressive nature of this racket was swiftly becoming agonising. I must have looked like a man possessed as I childishly stuck my fingers in my ears, in a vain attempt at drowning out this cacophonous din.

Once the traffic got moving the sense of relief I felt at getting to work was unbelievable. The silence was truly golden. It’s got me thinking though, gone are the days when I used to listen to music screaming out my car at a ridiculous volume. I used to look at people glaring at me and think, ‘what’s their problem?’, as I’m getting older, I’m realising that this was dumb. Now I’m the old git looking at daft chavs with intolerable dance music blasting from their windows, believe me, there is NOTHING cool about a repetitive drum beat that shakes you to the core.

When it comes to noise, the most infuriating thing is the washing machine. I can’t describe the noise my machine makes. It’s like having a dentist drill attached to a wall of Marshall Amps screaming its way around your flat. When it hits the spin cycle, I have to leave the room. Watching the television becomes instantly pointless, as you have to turn that up to hear it, and when the washing machine stops – suddenly and without warning – you get your face practically blown off by the idiot box.

I need to invent an anti-hearing aid. I don’t want ear plugs, because they make everything sound tiny, and I want to hear some stuff normally. So I need something that will allow me to adjust the volume – down the way – so I can handle the insane noise created by the world. I’m sure there is something already available, and a short Google search might prove fruitful, but the tapping of my keys as I type this is driving me daft.