Technorati: Get Your Act Together

I use Techonorati to keep an eye on all of my favourite blogs. Until recently I would have recommended it as a good tool to find out when your favourite blogs have been updated (I don't really to RSS feeds).

Recently, however, the Favourites section of Technorati has been down. Eventually, on the 20th of this month there was a posting on the support page just saying that Favourites/Fans Currently Down and that they are working on it.
Today, apparently Favourites/Fans (are) Back which they are, to some extent. I am able to click on the Favourites link and see my favourites area, but it is not populated by any recent posts. Clicking on the Favourite Blogs tab seems to work about 50% of the time. The other 50% of the time it tries to load and just shows their "Techonrati is Borked" page.

Come on Technorati, sort it out!

Games, Heroin, and Teenage Pregnancies - What's the Difference?

I have just read an article by Giles Whittell of The Times entitled Video Games: I'll never buy one. The reporter/contributor/"notebooker" describes why he will never be buying his children any games consoles. Apparently the answer is because games "suck real people into fake worlds and hold on to them for decades at a time." What a wonderfully broad and sweeping statement. And if that is his main reason, then maybe he should stop his children from watching TV, going to the cinema, surfing the internet, or reading.
Now, I am old enough to remember getting my first games console in the mid 80's, and have had many games machines since. I do not believe I ever wasted my life. I enjoyed playing games, because of the adventures they took me on. Just like reading, and going to the cinema. I enjoyed the social aspect of them; my mother and I used to sit up late into the night playing the latest adventure game.
I do agree in a small way with Mr. Whittell in that many children seem to be so intent on finishing the next level that they barely look around sometimes. For that, I do not blame games, I blame the parents. Surely, it is the parents who should tell little Farquar and Portia to put down their Nintendo DS until after dinner, or whenever. I know it's easy to blame the parents, but in this case I truly believe I am right. My parents used to make sure I stopped playing on my games console and went outside, or stopped playing my Gameboy at the table, and so on. Don't deny your children, but educate them enough to make their own choices and govern themselves.

And equating games with heroin and teenage pregnancies ("It's because, compared with everything else on offer in a kid's life, video games and heroin and teenage pregnancy are a colossal waste of time.") is just irresponsible. Well done for inciting people to read your article Giles, but it is a low blow, and a tenuous analogy at its best. 

Incorrect Use of The Rearview Mirror No. 1

This morning on the way to work I was followed by a woman applying her makeup. Now not only was she in the driver's seat, but she was attempting to drive at the same time as using the rearview mirror to see where she was applying her makeup.
Ladies, the rearview mirror is not for makeup application, it is meant to help  you see what is behind you. Also, why not get up five minutes earlier and do your makeup at home, rather than endangering yourself and other road users?

What They Do Best

Looking outside my office window I saw this.

I am always amused by the amount of times I look at road works and either see everyone sitting around doing nothing, or seeing no-one at all.

It must be a tough life...

4x4 Rage

I unfortunately have to travel to work most days by car. This is because it is cheaper and quicker for me to get to work this way.
My route takes me past a few schools during the school run period. Living down the road from a couple of posh schools, one of which is The Beacon School for Boys, puts me right in the path of all the 4x4 drivers. I and my friend both have a policy of not letting out 4x4 and "buses" (people carriers, SUVs, etc.). This is because it is not necessary for a 2.4 children family to drive around in a 4x4 in the misguided idea that the passengers will be safer. GET A PROPER CAR!

Anyway, for the past two days, I have been amazed at the laziness and bad driving of some of the 4x4 drivers in the area.
First, there was a woman who drove from the school to Lollards Close, a total of about 0.8 miles. This distance in any car doesn't get your engine up to optimum heat. This will wreck the car. Try walking. Both you and your child will benefit from getting out a bit.
The second example, which never ceases to amaze me, is the way 4x4 drivers shy away from puddles, usually quite close to hitting the oncoming traffic. If you drive any 4x4, chances are you are the heaviest vehicle around. Everyone else is driving through the puddle, and they're in normal cars!

In short, if you have no relevant reason to own a 4x4 take it back and buy a normal car. You might find it easier to exit driveways, and will probably find you have a bit more money due to not having to fill up at every petrol station you pass.
And don't mention safety. They aren't safer. All you are doing is putting anything you hit in more danger of being killed, especially children. Given that all most people in the London area seem to do is drive their 4x4 or SUV to school and back this has a certain irony to it.

Once again, buy a proper car.