Prank

Prank

I've been reflecting on the series of events surrounding two Australian DJ's making a prank call to the hospital treating Kate Middleton and the subsequent tragedy of the nurse who took the call  taking her own life.  

I've never been a fan of prank calls.  Playing on other peoples gullibility (or vulnerability depending on how you see it) has never amused me.  Along with prank calls I place aspects of TV shows like X-Factor where there is a need to show people who have little or no talent or ability in a way that's just pure ridicule.  I've long said that at some point someone would react badly to the ridicule and suicide would be the end result.  As it turns out I have the right outcome from the wrong activity, its a prank call that brings this bit of soothsaying by me to a truth.

For my mind it comes down to the issue of responsibility for ones actions.  The DJ's clearly did not intend to humiliate someone into suicide but that is the actual outcome of their prank call. Intended or not, they are responsible.  If we dispense them from that responsibility then where do we draw the line?  Its a dangerous notion that we would remove someone from the consequences of their actions.

Personally I think they should be charged.  It would send the right message to those who would engage in this kind of infantile kind of stunt.  Playing with peoples emotions, pounding their dreams, making them look ridiculous should all be on the cards if the consequences are accepted.

For the nurses family I feel dreadfully sorry, at the end of the day they are the only victims of this.

High Street Decay

High Street Decay

There is a train of thought about the decay of the traditional high street that I think is misleading.  Most local councils charged with the upkeep of the local high street launch into the "regeneration" of their environment with gusto.  They pedestrianise, they reconfigure, they strip. This can often lead to sterile environments that end up as boarded up ghost towns.  This "regeneration" is often quoted as the root cause of the decay of the high street but I'm not sure it is ... I think its Supermarkets.

When I was a kid, a supermarket (like the co-op) just sold food.  I remember going with my parents maybe once a week at most and we got a small selection of foods that were not carried in the smaller shops locally.  It was more of a special occurrence and not something that   anyone considered doing on a regular basis.

The birth of the modern supermarket, the one that sold clothes, electricals,  insurance and now health products and mortgages is a modern phenomena.  The goods and services that existed on the high street in the 70's and 80's are no longer the purview of the small retailer you would have found on the high street.  The supermarket with its insane purchasing power and its ability to scale up to any height required is what has truly killed the high street in my opinion.

Small boutique shops and the medium sized retainer that inhabited the high street no longer really exists.  The mantra for any new entrant to the retail space is to "get big quick" - and the sell out.  If we could turn back the clock knowing what we know now then curbing the growth of supermarkets would surely be high on the list of changes.

Rage Against the Cash Machine

Cash Machines

The title would suggest that I have something against cash machines.  I don't in the sense that they are a useful and necessary part of modern life.  I'm old enough to remember a time before cash machines.  I used to have to wait until Saturday to go into town, queue, take my cash out etc.   When cash machines arrived on the high street it was a revolution.  

What I'm contemplating in this blog post is the effect of the cash machine on a younger generation that hasn't know a time without them.  

I always understood where money came from and how hard it was to accumulate it.  My parents worked hard and at times money was in short supply.  I never assumed that my parents could just keep producing money for whatever I wanted.

I recently heard a child say "just get more money from the machine" to a parent who clearly wasn't in the same frame of mind.  This made me think.  The child associates money coming from a machine and that the supply is endless.  There is a disconnection between where money comes from, how you accumulate it and what the point of excess is.   

Parents should take the time to describe money in its fullest sense to children.  Their understanding of it will shape their actions and define how they approach life in lots of ways.  Without guidance and a firm understanding of how to manage money and how it effects their options then children will struggle to make sensible choices.

What I'm sure of is young people need to break the relationship between cash machines and where money comes from ... it never will be a good association.

Train Etiquette

Trains

I use trains a lot.  I like using the train.  I've typically found driving quite stressful so where possible using the train has been a better option.  The downside is (as it always has) other people.  I have always thought that there was an etiquette to being a train passenger - but apparently that's just me in the main.  I find myself constantly amazed at the things I see and hear people do and say.  In no particular order:

• Passengers accusing other travellers of taking their booked seat for it to turn out that they're on the wrong train, or the wrong time train, or even on a couple occasions - the wrong date!
  
• Passengers that think its perfectly OK to consume their own seat, the seat next to them and all the table space in front of them and think that no one else will mind.
  
• Passengers that let their kids run riot on the train - almost feral behaviour at times, treating the idea that they're on the train like the they're in a playground somewhere.
  
• Passengers that feel the need to commentate on the whole trip - everything they see out of the window needs to be narrated for the rest of the passengers.

The train operators don't help.  They tolerate some passenger behaviour for their own sake, not the sake of other travellers.  They also act in a manner that can sometimes leave passengers in a negative frame of mind even before they have got on the train:

• Allowing families with small children to book seats in the quiet coach - thereby defeating the purpose of the quiet coach.
  
• Leaving passengers stood in wet and cold conditions - not allowing them to board until the set time and thereby creating ill feeling before dealing with each other after boarding.
  
• Cancelling trains under circumstances that make no sense (I recently had a train cancelled at the departure time because of a "lack of train crew" - something they would have clearly known some time before the departure time but waited to inform the passengers).

Back to the etiquette.  There should be a clear set of guidelines for the passengers about what is acceptable and unacceptable once on the train.  Personally I've never been afraid of speaking to another passenger about the issues caused by their actions on the train - it would just be better if I had something to point at in a more official sense.

This probably makes me sound like a bit of a train-nazi in some senses but I spend a stupendous amount of time and money (about £5k a year) on train travel and for me its a serious issue that can easily be dealt with - so why not deal with it if the establishment would like more people to travel on trains.

Windows 8

Windows 8

Having had Windows 8 on my main work machine for a couple of weeks now I have to say it continues to grow on me day by day.  At the start it seemed to have just been a superficial attempt to placate the market with something that was modern and orientated towards the "touch generation".  Digging deeper it reveals a clever and thoughtful approach to some of the frustrating navigation concepts that previous versions of Windows had been based upon.

The first thing to grasp is that everything is not that different in terms of the bigger concepts that Windows has traditionally been about.  Folders, files in folders, double click, right click etc.  All those basic concepts are still there.  I kind of expected Microsoft to have tried to reform the operating system completely, but its not like that.

The thing that does come through once your used to it is the new concept of short-cuts and the almost macro-based approach to common or regular tasks and actions.  The top graphical level that has replaced the Start button has also brought forward the notion of the collection of functions into a single button click.  Funky when you first see it - almost awkward the first time you try and use it - long term it becomes time saving and almost fun to use.

The second and other fundamental change to the Windows mentality is that of connecting to the web.  Every aspect of the new Windows 8 has some connection to the internet, either directly through a Microsoft-based service (Hotmail, xBox Live etc.) or through a 3rd part such as Facebook, Twitter etc.  Traditionally Microsoft has limited its connectivity (no apparent reason) but is now in the fold of apps, live services, downloads and connectivity between systems.

Overall I like it - I never really have been a Microsoft hater although they have frustrated the f**k out of me at times.  I think for the main stream home user its a winner.  The purists, the Linux brigade, the uber-users will have issues with it I'm sure.  Microsoft needed to get themselves back in the game within the new generation of touch-based devices, Windows 8 does exactly that.

Just another blog ...?

... hopefully not!  Everyone needs a dumping ground for their thoughts ... welcome to mine.