Baked couch potatoes

You may not be using much as you slump in front of the console of your game, but it is. And some more than others... or not. This from the Guardian, and my reply:

This is why I love blogs. And am so frustrated by them.

I pounced on this because I thought to myself, 'ey up, this looks like a worthy addition to our (Junkk.com) section on home electronics, and folk can not only decide on bells and whistles, but eco-considerations for gaming consoles, too.

But then I read on. And what was up was down. And black was white. Who was the genuine tester of juice consumption, and who was the PR agency for a) Microsoft, b) Sony or c) Nintendo?

Now I do have one of those energy meters, but all I have is an XBox, which doubtless is not as good as a 360. And I certainly cannot afford to buy the others to do a comparison and/or review. In any case I get blown up before the chip has come out of hibernate, so it wouldn't be apples vs. apples anyway.

Sod it.

I guess I'll just trust Pish & Slashdot for now.

Or watch this space a bit longer to see what next transpires. Sheesh.

I think'll I just watch people play footy. Or... play it myself!

Your tax £ at work

Golly. Who'd have thunk? This hoot from the Daily Mail. I had to pitch in.

And how much from the public purse will be forked out to him, the geniuses that put him in, the ones who got him out (sideways promotions and gold-plated pensions all round!), the various interested parties in debating and pursuing both sides of what I'm sure will be a long a protracted case (including, one presumes, with no small sense of irony, the missus of the guy he was protecting) with much offence to be taken all round? Plus of course, those who will wallow in the reporting (and drumming up) of same.

Lunatics. Asylum (cripes, don't let's get started on another thread!) anyone?

Gordon, we need another tax initiative to fund this, quick!

So how much from your chip & bin fine will go to reuse, and how much to the Plod who nicks you's early retirement on account of the stress of smelly bin diving?

Taking Sides

I wish we were not so strapped as to be pinching pennies left and right, especially when it comes to good intel.

Because I would dearly love to have read the full text of this piece in the Indy: Dominic Lawson: The dangers of crying wolf over the climate

Moving swiftly on from the observation that he gets paid to say what I have been banging on about for years, at least it's nice to see that the paper can entertain views that are not so slavish as to render the cause less effective.

Into the valley of dead box tickers, went the optimistic innovator (again)

I don't think you can do this with RSS feeds, as I believe you get served what they think you'll like.

Because I was having a little trawl in the Telegraph, and off to one side was a contest.

Well, we know I'm a glutton for punishment, so it should come as no surprise that I decided to have a look despite it having the words 'Innovation Awards' in there, which has not proven to be the most fruitful use of my time of late, what with us apparently not being deemed very innovative or much to do with making a social or enviromental difference and all.

But I think I may just give it one last try...

ps: Couldn't resist the irony of this being headed by an ad dragging you off on a cheap skiing holiday. If the snow is melting around you, ponder that one as you fly home.

DIYD2

That's my new acronym, which stands for 'Damned if you do. Damned if you don't'.

And I introduce it having read this: 'Give Children hats to save on heating'.

Now, I'm no great fan of npower (try ecotricity!), but what the heck is all this about?

And at risk of being a pot to other's kettles, what are these critics actually saying? That no one can suggest ways to reduce heating bills? I seem to recall a lot of stuff flying about on dropping the thermostat and wearing a jummy. But a pair of socks and a beanie is going too far?

I'm sure their hearts are in the right places, and if there wan't such stuff they wouldn't have much to do, but I'd just love to know who pays these guys to come up with this nonsense. Oh, let me think... it's probably us.

Those who can, do.. if someone doesn't try to stop them

Still getting my feet under the table. For once I have decided to pick up with 'now' rather than worry about 'then' first, though I do hope to post on a few bits from my jaunt last week.

This one was too good not to share: Beware, reading this could really get your goat

It was the first one about charging the guy landfill tax for using waste to create a wetland reserve that really stuck home.

Of course there are those who will say (isn't that neat media speak for 'I'm going to ask this but don't want to be held accountable for the question') that it's easy to highlight the few such travesties that will inevitably occur.

But frankly it happens too often to be anything but a concern, and a trend to watch with horror. I don't see it reversing. How could it? The desire to cover one's backside is creating ever more backside coverers, whose first instinct is inevitably to make their mark by covering more backsides. Will we end up with a culture entirely composed of those who monitor and restrict those who try to do stuff, only to find there are none left to impose upon?

I applaud the media for highlighting this. But I do criticise for the manner. It has become a quick harrumph and a snigger. I very much doubt anything changed as a result of these idoicies being spotlighted. No names shamed. In fact I'm sure those responsible for the one I mention above are now Heads of Policy for some new quango... and doubtless at a conference on global warming in Bali as I write.