Sky Broadband Router - Sagem Bull...

I only had this with the Sky Broadband for a couple of weeks now, and every few minutes, it just seems to die with a red (amber / orange) light, and internet connection is lost..

Googled that, and everybody seems to be having the same problem with no straight forward solution, just conjecture and BS alien abduction theories.. Oh well, good job I still have the Virgin Media Connection...

I hate my new Postman..

For the past month we've had a new postman doing the rounds, however, we seem to get a wrong item, packet or letter every day, which is very worrying, sometimes for the neighbours either side, or even a road few hundred yards away..

I don't know when people say, that the Cheque is in the post, or we've sent it, or whatever. If the item is really on its way, or whether it had been delivered to the wrong address.

I don't want to complain to the Postoffice, because the man may lose his job, especially in this day and age, but I'm really getting close to doing that...

Things I hate about Windows Printing..

These things seem to happen a lot in my line of work, especially when it comes to some USB, thermal, receipt printers. If you unplug the USB printer, then plug it back into the wrong USB slot, Windows will assume that this is a new printer and give a new Virtual USB Printer Port, which means, the printer will just stop working, until you select the new port or put it back into the existing USB slot...

"Use Printer Offline" - I really don't know what this is about. Say you are printing something, and you run out of paper, the printer sends an error code back to Windows... Windows just selects, "Use Printer Offline", automatically and without even telling you.  You insert a new paper roll, delete all jobs, and the printer still does not work, because "Use Printer Offline" is selected... You delete all print jobs, un-tick the "Use Printer Offline" option, then try again. This time it will work, still, I get very annoyed when it does happen...

Finally, I hate stupid users, I've just had a problem with a printer and I tried to sort that out over the phone, and the user tells me that all is working according to the plan, and that nobody had touched anything or moved anything or changed the settings, it was working one minute, then all hell broke loose, and the printer is not working now, but we he failed to tell me, that when he run out of paper, and instead of just changing the roll, he decided to install 3 more instances of the same printer, using the printer install CD, and he also selected a different printer as the default one.

What a bastard, so I travel the many miles to his shop, remove the other printers, select the correct port and hey presto, all is working once again... 

It does work.. 2 Into 1...

For around 2 weeks now, I've had both Sky and Virgin Media Broadband at my place, so to make things a bit more interesting, I decided to see if I can increase the speed of my Connection, by using both at the same time. My desktop already had a PCI network card installed, so I plugged in a USB Wireless Network Adaptor. I connected the first to the existing Virgin Media Network and the Second to the Sky Network.

I don't know, how, why, when or where, but my connection is now faster than ever. So the sum of these 2 is greater than their individual throughput. Result...

PROBLEMS: You might not get as good a reception, just change the channel on your router. And also, when I reinstalled Windows, it insisted that my network card was a Broadcom Dell one, and it would not detect anything, I un-installed it, and it still did not work. So I disabled it, un-installed it and removed all traces of that in the Windows Registry... Then I re-installed it using the manufacturers CD, this time it did work, but only after a few reboots.

So, what's the SAFE WORD...

Dr. Who and the Daleks - 1965 Movie - That is one benefit to having Sky TV. You can expand your horizons by watching some awfulness, and then you would truly know what a bad movie is. Now this one is. Watch it, its highly recommended by aliens and Daleks alike...

love the transvestites with make up, lashes and all...

Sorry, just watched an even worst movie than the first, Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966) - Enjoy.

 love the gimp pvc rubber suits. So, what's the safe word?..

 

There is a reason - but I can't tell you.. Just enjoy..

What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man...

The other day I watched Chuck Norris in a movie, on DAVE, and that was really, really one of the worst movies of all time - The man had some style, especially when he killed around 30 gringo's, without a weapon, and just by walking down a mountain. Just imagine what he can do with a weapon, and guess what, he does....

I can't remember the name of the movie, but its highly recommended for sheer entertainment value...

Sky TV

This is my first comment regarding Sky TV. There is a lot of choice which, in my opinion, dilutes and confuses everything, and it definitely messes your attention span (well, it does mine). Because it's so easy to keep changing the channel to see what else is on, and you eventually end up watching nothing and everything at the same time.

As usual, every now and then, we have a hidden gem. And I'm gonna mention two of these. "The Legend of Hidden City 5" - Now this must be one of the worst things that I have ever watched on TV, for a very long time. I can't believe that somebody has paid some money to make a number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the show, and I can't believe that somebody was stupid enough to pay to show this thing, and I can't believe how stupid I was to watch 10 minutes of that, and I thought that Chuck Norris's, Texas Ranger movies were bad, but compared to this effort, these are classics - You can watch this and other, QUALITY, moves on the Movies4Men Sky Channel. 323.

There was another program last night, it follows the Bailiffs while they are doing their rounds. There was one poor woman, having 2 jobs, trying her best to keep her head above water, and refusing to claim benefit, being, virtually, kicked left right and center, in the teeth with a couple of bastard bailiffs, who are trying to get the rest of her Council Tax bill (in full plus the £150.00 they are charging per visit). They kept on asking her for a substantial amount or else... They saw how she lived and what she was trying to do. She didn't even have any stuff worth selling, in her flat, but still, they kept on pushing harder and harder... They asked whether she had a car, and why not, and how does she go to work then... They did not seem to know or care how, this woman, and others living on the bread line, copes. People don't seem to understand that if you push people so far, that all she will do, and I would not blame her for once, is leave work and claim benefit. Everyone's a winner.

Sinalco, Sinalco, wherefore art thou Sinalco.

I remember, when I was a kid, back in Iraq, the sweet taste of my favorite soft drink, Sinalco I haven't had one of these drinks for over 30 years. I know that taste and palette changes with age, but I still so yearn for that taste. And on that note, I written a letter to Sinalco HQ (this happened few years ago), offering to buy some Sinalco, for delivery to the UK.

They apologised and said that they do not have a distributor in the UK, and they do not intend to sell the drink over here. They also included a Sinalco calendar for me to enjoy...  I wasn't happy, so I thought, why not buy the sinalco.co.uk domain name, as a humage to my favorite drink, and hopefully, in the future, when I save enough money, I can import and distribute the drink myself... 

A few weeks later, I received a letter from Sinalco's Legal Department, ordering me to relinquish all, and to stop using the Sinalco domain, that is, unless I have a lot of cash to buy a UK bottling and distribution deal, and then all should be OK...

All I really wanted, was 1 bottle of Sinalco.. But sadly, they did not understand, and I'm still Sinalco-less 5 years down the line..

If anybody reads this, who wishes to help, or just feels sorry for me, please contact me. I will pay whatever it cost for the item (Bottle of the Original Yellowish / Orange Nectar) and postage.... Thank you..

 I hope I don't get sued or ordered to remove these photos from here..

What is the most expensive form of transport in the World? Cost per mile please?

I took my new, old, car to the garage. We had the following problems: Replace Exhaust System (Rear, Middle, Flexi & Gaskets),  Replace Rear Hydraulics, Cylinders and Shoes, to include Shoe Kits, Clean Front Shoes, Replace Rear Bearings, Replace both Front Tyres, Reset Check Engine Light... The whole thing was not as bad as I thought, and it cost me half the price I already paid for the car....

So the 200 or so miles that I've driven before the car fell to bits cost me around £8.70 per mile, and this figure does not include the price of insurance, taxes, petrol or anything else, what a bargain...

Parking ticket for car with lines painted beneath it

An accountant from Manchester returned to her car after work and found it parked facing the opposite direction, with a fresh set of yellow lines painted underneath. Accountant Sally Barker had parked her Peugeot 206 CC on Little Quay Street that morning, near her office. There were no yellow lines on the road and no parking restrictions in place.But the council was so keen to get new double yellow lines painted that it used a tow truck to hoist the car into the air while it did the work.

A parking ticket was issued immediately, though after being challenged by the Manchester Evening News, council workers replaced it with a note reading, 'your car has been repositioned by the council'. Parking enforcement agency NSL defended the placement of the ticket, which it says was done to prevent another warden issuing a ticket later. It was immediately declared void and wouldn't have led to a fine. That didn't abate Mrs. Barker's anger, however, who said: “To find out that the council moved my car, without my permission and then placed it on double yellow lines they had just painted is disgraceful. I suggest they close the road prior to putting the restrictions in place.”

 The first thing that comes to mind (we elected those bastards)

Please come back, all is forgiven....

A few weeks ago I got a Sky salesman knocking at my door, trying to sell me the new faster, better, stronger, cheaper, all singing, all dancing 20MB Broadband, Satellite TV & Telephone deal, as seen on TV, all for £20.00 or there about. I don't usually buy anything on the doorstep, and according to my wife, I'm usually quite rude to pushy door to door salesmen. I don't know what it was, but on that day, I listened to the salesman, I don't know whether it was out of pity or due to the Jedi mind control techniques employed by this shrewd salesman (it was pity, I genuinely felt sorry for the man)...

Regardless, I decided to go for it, and signed up for the 20MB Unlimited Broadband Plus the Unlimited Call Package and the Satellite TV for around £40 a month, which is OK, because it was still less than what I was paying with Virgin Media, besides, the Broadband is 20MB with Sky, while I'm getting only 10MB with Virgin Media.

2 Days later, Sky installed the Satellite Dish and the Decoder.  A week later we got the telephone line, and today, we got the Broadband (around a month later)...

The first thing I did, was check the Connection Speed - I love the TV choice, but I'm really not happy with the, supposedly, 20MB Broadband Speed. See the screen image for the results...

Sky 20MB Broadband

 Virgin 10MB Broadband

And believe me when I say, you will notice the speed difference between what you had, and what you think you are paying for and should have.

I think one of the main reasons that I wasn't happy with Virgin is the fact that they treat existing customers, like SHIT, and with contempt.

I was one of the first people in the street to get a NYNEX phone line and Cable TV (around 1996), after a bit, they changed the name to NTL, to protect the innocent, and I stuck with them and added the dial-up internet connection, followed by a 1MB broadband package (this was later upgraded to 2MB), and when they finally sold-out to Virgin Media, I stuck with them through thick and thin. 

Shortly afterward, Virgin and Sky had a fallout which resulted in me, missing my daily dose of the Simpsons. I decided then to cancel the Cable TV subscription, because the only reason I had that was to watch the Simpsons on Sky 1, and during that period I had 90 Cable TV Channels with 80 being blocked and the other 5 being FREE TO VIEW terrestrial ones, like BBC1, 2, ITV, C4 & 5. So instead, I invested in a FREEVIEW box, that had a lot more choice than the Cable.

Still, with only a Phone Service and a 2MB Broadband, I was paying upward of £40 a month.. For few years I was quite happy, til my neighbor, who had just moved next door around a week earlier, had a problem with his Virgin Broadband and asked me to sort it out, and when I asked him how much he was paying, he said, around £17 per month for the first year, for a 12MB Broadband, Digital TV and Phone Service, and that it will go up to £24 a month after the first year.

I really wasn't happy. I felt that I was treated shoddily by them, especially when you consider what I was paying and how long I have been with them, my loyalty and my pathetic Broadband speed, so I phoned Virgin and tried to cancel the whole shebang (they apologised and told me that they will increase the Broadband speed to 6MB immediately, and they will increase that to 10MB within the next couple of months - this being the maximum speed that my modem and line could support). They will also reduce the amount I pay per month. I grudgingly accepted their offer, because I needed to keep my existing telephone number (I use that for business)..

And true to their word, they did increase my speed to 6MB, and around 2 months later, they increased that to 10MB, that lasted for about 4 weeks, then it dropped to the usual 6MB, without them mentioning anything to me or telling me why. I was still paying around £40 per months for the service.

Now I have an unlimited 20MB Broadband that only delivers 3.5MB on a good day... And when there are other users online, it performs considerably worst.. 

So what's the moral of the story. Well, its simply this - Regardless of what you are promised, what you do or what you try, you are screwed, because everybody is just going to lie to you and cheat you til they get your money, and afterward, they will just ignore you, because you no longer matter....

God's Day Off....

I really love ASDA's white Chocolate Chip Cookies. However, today's batch seems to be a bit more down to earth and ordinary, in comparison to the usual throughput...

While I chew my way through the new batch, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed at the, mortal, flawed quality and nature of these. They are not that bad, but they are not right. They are perfectly round, but they do not taste as good. They are thinner and crispier than normal, with a bit more crunch, but less chew...  Oh well, even God needs a day off...

My New Old Car - Grease is the word...

I had problems with my old car since I don't know when. I seem to have a different problem every couple of weeks, mechanical or otherwise, if its not the tyres, then its the rims, the bearings, the brakes, the timing belt, the windows, the exhaust, the engine, the shaft, the windscreen wipers, the whatever and whatever else...

The car was getting really old and very creaky.  It was due its yearly MOT  test the other week, and knowing the it would definitely fail this time, and that it would cost me an arm and a leg to keep it roadworthy for another year, I decided instead to scrap the beast and get a "newer" car...

As per usual, I searched through the classified ads on www.autotrader.co.uk and managed to narrow the search to 5 cars, within my budget...  I called the first, the second and the third choices, and, conveniently, these were just sold, today or yesterday, but miraculously,they managed to get other cars in, but this is twice the price of the advertised one... However, they will keep on advertising the nonexistent vehicles, in order to get more customers...

So my choice was reduced to 2. The first, was an exact replica of the car I'm disposing of, and my wife did not like. The second seemed to tick all the boxes. it was younger than the other car, or that's what I thought, less mileage than other car, or at least, that's what showing on the dials, and it looked clean and well cared for, or that's what I thought....

So I phoned the "PRIVATE" seller, and arranged for a test drive, the man agreed... We met the next day at the agreed time and location, the car seemed to drive well with no obvious problems... Everything on the car was really shiny and clean, including the upholstery and the engine. Its. just like somebody had stored that in a time capsule for the duration, awaiting my arrival... However, one thing was not accurate in the description, the car was as old as my original one, however, and because of the condition of the vehicle, I overlooked this little mishap... So we agreed a price, I paid the man and drove off into the sunset, well, Bolton ...

[Day 1] The car performed admirably, all day - everything seemed very tight and perfect - I had a few niggles with regards to the car design, but I thought I will get over these niggles for the simple reason that, beggars, can't be choosers, and the car was cheapish.

[Day 2] The car performed well on a 60 mile round trip - 2 niggles, the fumy oily smell and the 1/8th of an inch gap in the window that causes a loud shrieking noise when driving, at any speed on the motorway, so instead of going deaf, I opted for keeping the window open when driving fast.. .

[Day 3] The back wheel bearings seem to make a squeaky noise..

[Day 4] The 4 wheels seem to wobble like a supermarket trolley, in a very uncontrollable way... You just need to go over a bump, and the wheels seem to go all over the place, pulling the car left, right and center... And after the initial wobble over a bump, we now have the car toning and exercising our bottoms and thighs, by wobbling and shaking all the time... 

[Day 5] The brakes seem to work in mysterious ways. Sometime they work, and sometime they don't.. And also, there is a lake of black oil and Grease underneath the car.. The tyres are very slippy, I think it is something to do with the amount of Grease used in order to make the tyres look newish and in a better condition to what they are really are in.. 

[Day 6] Fumes and Carbon Monoxide seem to be filling the inside of the car, with real vengeance, so after10 minutes of driving, you will feel drowsy, dizzy and sick... Also, we have 3 light illuminating the interior, these are on all the time, the "Ignition Key" light, the "Battery Warning" light and the "Air Bag" light, the latter flashing all the time, a bit like a Christmas Tree, with the whole effect being a bit like a 70's Disco..

[Day 7] Today we have the "Check Engine" light on, all the time - and the rear wheel bearings have seized....

Now, what can I do? Absolutely nothing. The man has disappeared from the face of the earth, and I ended up with a lethal Lemon, that needs an arm and a leg to repair and to make road safe....

Here is a list of few niggles, some are specific to my car while others are a manufacturers design fault....

The Car designed by Orangutans for Orangutans. You need very long arms to get the key in to start the engine, and you really, really, need long arms in order to grab the seat belt . You can tell that nobody even tried to use the car during the design stage, or even to sit in the seat to see if its OK or not.

Wheels seem to have a mind of their own, they have what you call an independent unilateral movement, this is especially evident when you drive over a bit of uneven road (i.e. every road in the country), the wheels seem to flap in every direction with the car moving in a random direction that you have no control over, a bit like a 1 ton shopping trolley....

Brakes are made of Plasticine (Playdough) and you need to really keep your distance, as they operate to the 2001:Space Odyssey theme. DAAN, DAAN, DAAAN, DAAN, DAN, DA, DAN DAN DAAAAN,,,  Repeat twice, and the brake is on, just like that...

The windows, which are manual, are extremely hard to wind up or down (I think they forgot to put Grease on these, about the only place with no Grease).. The car seems to want to roll over every time you turn around a corner. And also, we seem to have an under steer and an over steer problem, all the time, at the same time... And to top it all up, the steering wheel does not return to its central resting point, when you turn, instead it will just keep on driving in that direction, i.e. towards a wall, some hapless pedestrians or a car, until you turn it, by hand, in the opposite direction...


I really thought that My Daewoo Lanos was bad, however, it did not know what bad was until I got my "Hyundai - Accent", now this is really bad.

Compared to this piece of junk, that have nothing to offer but problems, my original Daewoo - Lanos felt markedly "Superior"...  And to all the people who think that a Daewoo car is bad, or that it hasn't got a soul (including me, especially after this), I urge you to think again...Yes I admit it, I used to drive a Daewoo - Lanos, and now, I drive and even worst Hyundai - Accent...

 PS. In the interst of impartial reporting, here is a list of "Good Points":

[1] The car has a "Good Stereo", made by Panasonic and installed  by the previous owner...

If GOD Baked a Cookie

I love these  ASDA, White Chocolate Chip Cookies . I truly believe they are a taste of Heaven. Sweet, Chewy in parts, Crunchy in others, Moist, Tasty, Scrumptious (I really don't like this word, a bit too poncy). I don't know what other words to use, just that they are really, really good ... They do look a bit distressed and not very pretty or uniform, but it all adds to the character of these outstanding Cookies, and what they lack in looks, they more than make up for in taste and substance...

I tried the rest, but I always seem to come back to the  ASDA  ones, they seem to have got the balance just right, the balance between Perfection and Flawlessness (you can tell that I'm not biased)..

 Random Photo From the Internet


PS. I really don't work for ASDA and I absolutely have no connection with them, apart from the weekly shop for these, beautiful disks of deliciousness...

World Cup 2010 - South Africa

Just watched the World Cup Final, absolutely the worst and most boring match/one, ever... It would­ have been better if it ended with penalties. but the­ better team did win, albeit, with a bit of help from the ref­ ....

A Dutch Player Administering Some Tough Love

What was an overall poor World Cup ended­ appropriately....With a poor final. I could not­ believe the lack of quality on show.. So many misplaced­ passes, crosses and shots... A World Cup to forget­ quickly... End....

Manchester United launch £29m bid for Wesley Sneijder... and eye Inter Milan team-mate Mario Balotelli

The problem is that these BIG clubs don't encourage young, local, talent. All they are bothered about is the bottom line and instant gratification, which is OK for the business side of the equation, but it's a very shortsighted view and, frankly, disastrous for the country and the future of football in the UK.  Hence, the reason why we will never win the World Cup ever again...

Just imagine young, local, talent that you, encourage, cultivate and even export, think of the income generated in transfer fees alone, just think how many you can train with this £29m. I know it would not and could not happen overnight, but surely the FA could do something about it, instead of doing FA, pardon the pun.

PS. Today we have over %59.2 of foreign players in the Premiership.....

World Cup 2010 - South Africa

Holland just, unconvincingly, beaten Uruguay - 3-2 OK match - but the premise that we will all be treated to a repeat of the 1974 Germany vs Holland Final.  I was 11 at the time, and the game was one of the first Football Matches that I remember watching, I really wanted Holland to win, I loved the Orange Shirts, the Movement, the Flow of the Game, the Magic, the way they played, the 'total football' ideology, the exceptional talent of Johan Cruyff.  Sadly, they could not beat the Franz Beckenbauer inspired West German team, and they never earned any tangible recognition for their talents on the international stage.

I just hope that, this year it's theirs for the taking, and hopefully, avenge the events of 1974, and make the dreams of an 11 year old boy come true at last...

World Cup 2010 - South Africa

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claims the weight of expectation on Wayne Rooney was to blame for the striker's poor form at the World Cup.

To be fair to Rooney, he did­ have his mind set on the holiday he booked before the World­ Cup, and he forgot that it starts during the tournament. So instead of losing the deposit, he decided to play SHIT. Just like the rest of the­ team.... Everyone's a winner...

D.O.A - Dead Or Alive the Movie

I can't believe it, I've just sat through 78 minutes of sheer dumbness, watching this movie on ITV 1. The movie has no plot, story line, acting talent, dialogue, meaning, not that it matters. The only way I can describe it is, 'Hot women, kicking ass in bikinis.' And there's nothing wrong with that.... Can't wait for the sequel..

World Cup 2010 - South Africa

Very sad to watch Ghana lose out to Uruguay - The match was very enjoyable - I really did not want either side to lose. Ghana did come on to their own during the second extra period, and they really should have scored, more than once, but "Such is Life" and "Such is Football"...

Big Who, Where, When...

I'm not a big fan of Big Brother (Channel 4), I've never ever watched a single installment, however. This morning things were different. I woke up and turned the TV on to watch Frasier Crane on Channel 4 - Sadly, this morning we had an installment of the final, the last ever, Big Brother on.

There were, Shabby, Iffy, Sunshine & Josie, who ever they all are. One of them, acting like a big Spoilt baby, screaming about her Lucky hat, I really thought it was a lot of overacting for the sake of £1.00 hat. Followed by Josie talking about how she bring herself out of depression. When I'm feeling Sad, I just think about the woman who had her face ripped by a Chimpanzee, and that makes me happy, and I thank God that I wasn't that woman... It was something to that effect, so with such nuggets of wisdom, how can anybody not watch the program... I  quickly turned the channel over, feeling dumber after that 30 second exchange...

The Secret Spam Tags Page...

I'm a bit unhappy today. I've been doing this Blog for ages and I still have no followers. Even my kids won't follow me... My son said, why not use secret spam tags somewhere on the site, hence, this R18 posting..
Sadly, you will not be seeing any Naked Ladies, Chicks, Guys, Dolls, Celebrities in Compromising Positions, Bikini Babes Covered in Baby Oil. No Porn, Pornography, Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, Pools, Outdoor, Indoor, Ten Pin Bowling, no Bouncy, Juicy things. Nothing, absolutely nothing. You will not Make Money from this and there are no FREE anything to be had from reading this or clicking on any of the links. There are no illegal downloads, or the latest movie releases, no reviews, No MP3's, MP4's, MP5's or MP6's whatever these are...No Animals, No Minerals, No Battery Operated things, No freeware, shareware, crap-ware, underwear, pirated software, TV shows. No income tax, no VAT, no money back no guarantees.

I really don't know what else to say, you can advise or drop me a line, regardless. I hope it does work...

Enjoy...

These images are curtsey of wordle.net