A British Post Box

They don’t make them like this anymore. Usually now you just get a boring red metal canister on a pole on the corner of the road. I like taking photos of the prettier post boxes. In my filing cabinet I’ve got a pic of a real old fancy one outside Worcester Cathedral I did in 1998. In fact, I’ve got a whole bunch of nice pix I made in the late 1990s, all on slides. I’ll actually get round to having them digitized one day, then I’ll post them online so everyone can see them (yeah right, how many times have I said that in the past 13 years)!

I’m afraid I messed with this pic a little before I posted it here. Nothing major: it needed levelling n stuff. But I also used the Brightness-Contrast control to make it a bit more colourful. Please don’t his me in the face.

Possibly interesting fact that you might not know: that E II R script on the front means “Elizabeth II Regina”, or in English: Queen Elizabeth II. So we know it was made after 1952 (which was when Queen Liz was crowned).

More damn useful info: the Royal Mail (the company that gets the mail out of the boxes, sorts out where it’s gotta go then sticks it through your day the next day) separated from Parcelforce (the parcel delivery division) in 1990.

So there ya go: a pretty photo of a post box and some useful education on UK postal services. So now you won’t punish me for gimping up them bricks n stuff??

I know I asked for more Comments… but not bloody spam!!!

I know, I know… I asked for more Comments and now I’m getting more Comments. So why am I moaning here? Because I suspect a lot of them are real actual Comments from real actual people. I’m getting spam comments!

So okay, why do I believe this? Am I a paranoid schizophrenic with delusions of grandeur? I don’t think so (yeah I know, I would say that wouldn’t I?) – let me share my “evidence” before it’s laughed out of court –

In response to one of my most popular posts (“How to download and save streaming video from the internet, using Linux”) I have received Comments:

My brother suggested I would possibly like this blog. He was once totally right.

This post truly made my day. You cann’t imagine just how a lot time I had spent for this info! Thanks!

and

What’s up, always i used to check webpage posts here early in the break of day, because i like to learn more and more.

and

A person essentially help to make critically articles
I’d state. That is the very first time I frequented your web page and so far? I surprised with the analysis you made to create this actual put up extraordinary. Excellent activity!

and

Hello.This article was extremely remarkable, particularly because I was browsing for
thoughts on this subject last Tuesday.

and

each time i used to read smaller articles or reviews that also
clear their motive, and that is also happening with this
article which I am reading at this place.

All these Comments make no comment on the post they’re claiming to comment on. Some of them are bizarre, like maybe computer-generated? And all the Commentators have included a url which improves their Google score and can lead to Google Adverts revenue earned (every time a site’s url appears online, the site’s Google rating gets higher, and they can earn more from Google Ads).

Please don’t take this as a “don’t comment” warning. I want people, as many people as possible, commenting on my posts. But I want them to be relevant. What I’d really like is for readers to comment on my posts, others comment back, and before too long there are online conversations going on here, like that damn Bruce Schneier and others. I’ve been blogging here since 2007, and I’d really like I HATE HATE!!! become popular (I know I’ve got some regular readers and I love ’em, but I want more more more!

If I’m not posting stuff you want to get into conversations about me, use the CONTACT FORM button at the top of the page. Tell me what you like/hate/kill people for, and I’ll try to post about it. I don’t want this blog to be just a me-telling-you-stuff kind of place – I want lively discussions. I want to make my readers happy/sad/angry/peaceful/murderous. All you gotta do is hit the CONTACT FORM button.

Oh and please, no more spam. Or I’m gonna name and shame you, your email accounts and IP addresses and everything. I hate douchebags.

Is Maggie in heaven with Jesus and the angels now, Mommy?

Thatcher’s dead.
Don’t watch TV.
Everyone in their eulogies
Is spouting shit like “she loved the poor.”
Mining industry? Not a word.
Privatisation? Not a peep.
I’m just glad she’s gone to sleep
And will never wake again
From the racks and the torments of her hellish pain.*

Then again, she’s probably having a drink with Saddam, Gaddafi and the rest of ’em. How many WMDs do you reckon Reagan shoved up her rear entrance during their “special relationship”?

So she’s having a good time… so why shouldn’t we (apart from the fact that the ConDems have made fun a luxury, reserved only for the rich). We ought to make 8 April a public national holiday? Get pissed, have a laugh, wear Spitting Image Thatcher masks. Then at nightfall we can congregate around bonfires and burn effigies of the Beast.

Margaret Thatcher, milk-snatcher. 1925-2013… took bloody long enough didn’t she!

An afterthought: do we burn effigies of Guy Fawkes because of “gunpowder, treason and plot”? Or is it cos he failed to exterminate the scum? Just asking…

*”Thatcher’s dead” poem by me. (OMG how talented am I? No nasty replies to that plz)

I like donkeys but I couldn’t eat a hole one

I am not a particular fan of Facebook, but you can find nice things every now and then. Comme ceci:

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred – Forgive.

2. Free your mind from worries – Most never happens.

3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less from people but more from yourself.

Kinda nice.

FFS now Nickelback are spamming my blog! (not them personally, just a member of their website, but still…)

WordPress’s spam-snaffling tech is pretty good. I rarely get “traditional” spam get through into my Comments.

But what I’ve noticed recently is a rash of spam that’s getting through, spam messages that appear to have been created automagically, and messages that are generally positive and flattering but don’t actually mention the content of the blog post in any detail. I’m loathe to do anything to spread this crap, but I have decided to show you some of what I’m on about.

I recently got this Comment to my blog post “How to download & save streaming video from the internet, using Linux”:

A person essentially help to make critically articles
I’d state. That is the very first time I frequented your web page and so far? I surprised with the analysis you made to create this actual put up extraordinary. Excellent activity!

WordPress tells me this Commentator (name: “www.nickelback.com” sent this Comment from a computer with IP address 205.164.XX.XX (address redacted by me as I respect online anonymity and freedom of expression). A quick whois told me that the IP addy belongs to a Network Operations Centre. Not very helpful; but there are a couple of contacts in the whois info, so I can send some emails if this IP block continues this behaviour.

Interesting thing: “nathanielwmqbea” (the nickelback.com member who sent the comment, provides an url on nickelback.com that belongs to “Choice Loans” and promotes a service called “Merchant Cash Advance”. And she’s been a member of www.nickelback.com for just 5 days! So “nathanielwmqbea” is apparently not a real person, but actually is a tool for advertising Choice Loans’ products. Companies do this because there more often their urls appear on the web, their Google Score gets beigger and they get paid morem for any Google Ads they’re carrying. And as I already said, nathanielwmqbea is not a one-off phenomenon: I’ve spammed/trashed several Comments I’ve received like this, and I’m sure I’ll get more too. And if you are a blogger, you’ll likely get them too.

So, fellow bloggers, if you get Comments like this (vaguely flattering but short on actual details) and the Commentators are carrying urls for commercial enterprises…my advice is don’t reply to the Comments or even let them stand, but trash or spam them. And if they continue, get email their ISP’s abuse officer (available through whois) and get them slapped down – virtually, obvious. Don’t let the rats use you to get them money.

Oh, and if Nickelback fans think I’m being mean about Nickelback… I’m sure they’re thoroughly innocent in all this. And to show there’s no bad feelings, here’s a pretty picture of them.

Nickelback: innocent victims of an evil spam operation.

WTF is anarchism? Lend me your ears… and together we will change the world

WTF is anarchism? Lend me your ears… and together we will change the world.

Thatcher’s dead

Thatcher's dead.

Growing Frogs

Growing Frogs.

When I was a kid, me and my bro would go down to where the water from the nuclear power plant drained into the canal and collect buckets of frogspawn. We’d pour the gloop into an old fishtank at the bottom of the garden and watch as the little black dots grew tails and became tadpoles, swimming around in the goo. Next their legs would form, like miniature chicken drumsticks… then the double-elbowed arms with their seven-fingered hands, and the heads, the glowing eyes and the mouths with their serrated razor-sharp cutting-edges. Then finally their wings would inflate and the frogs would fly away to hunt for rats and kittens, before mating season came round and the frogspawn formed again.

Sometimes, when the tumours don’t hurt too much, I look back at my childhood fondly. It’s amazing how great things seem when you don’t know shit.

Kill the poor!

Kill the poor!.

Attention all bloggers: Copyright trolls giving you trouble? WordPress.com are watching your back!

Attention all bloggers: Copyright trolls giving you trouble? WordPress.com are watching your back!.