Thursday 30 July 2009

Get your dongle out...

Mobile Broadband. Anytime, anywhere.

Its the latest craze, isn't it? People can now plug in a USB Broadband dongle and surf the net wherever they are in the country with a laptop. Sounds like a great idea though doesn't it?

Many companies are offering this mobile broadband service to their customers. It isn't cheap though. You could expect to get the lowest quality mobile broadband package for around £20 a month.

It doesn't sound too bad, but when my family pay £14 per month for a good phone and broadband package with Talk Talk, it does sound a bit extortionate. Saying that however, it has proven popular, and it has proven to be a good business focus for many companies such as O2, T-Mobile, Sky and Orange.

By the way, you can pat yourself on the back if you noticed that 3 out of 4 companies just mentioned are mobile phone companies, and also if you noticed that they are all telecommunications companies.

Moving on, I can see why they seem like such a great idea and how they allow you more freedom with your roaming, but are they really what they are cracked up to be? I was going to sign up for it myself, so I had a good look at what is on offer. I have even used it on a friends laptop before.

For starters, you don't get unlimited downloads. This means that when you have downloaded over a certain limit, usually about 8 Gigabytes (Gb) of data, you cannot download any more data. Well, that's the idea anyway. In recent news however, it has been found that anyone who exceeds the download limit by just 1Gb then you are landed with a tasty fine.

The following outlines the additional fines if you exceed your download limit by 1Gb on some networks who offer the mobile broadband service:
  1. O2 = £200
  2. Three = over £100
  3. Vodafone = £15
  4. Virgin = £14.95
  5. Orange = £14.95
  6. T-Mobile = Free
Yes, I can confirm that T-Mobile (holy noise) does not charge you if you exceed your download limit! Instead of fining you and making you hate them, they advise you to change your mobile broadband tariff in order to get the best deal for you, and the deal that is more relevant to your on-the-go broadband needs. Pretty good I think!

Let's clear one thing up though. The download limit includes any information downloaded to your computer from any website you visit, including cookies. This is on top of any music you may download, any videos, games, programmes...you get the gist.

I most certainly do not agree with O2 and Three fining customers if they exceed the download limit, at that price anyway. At least with Orange and the other two companies, it isn't such a hefty and ridiculous charge.

All in all though, if I had mobile broadband and was asked to pay any fine for exceeding a limit of some kind, I would rather puke in their faces than cough up my money.

To add to it all, I hate Three anyway as a company. They try to add costs wherever they can in order to legally scam their customers into giving them lots of money. Bastards. Burn their headquarters down I say!

Monday 27 July 2009

This was their finest hour...

The Task has been set by Lee over at Surprisingly Bewildered, who is part of the Phenomenal Four team. The question we need to answer is below:

What, in your opinion, is one of the most revolutionary events/inventions that has changed the world since the very first moon landing?

Well, I am going to oust this and say that this was not an awesome event compared to others that had happened. If you want awesome events, look at the history of the Royal Air Force. Look also at the day Volkswagen was born.

They led to the rising of awesomeness in the world today.

The Royal Air Force was created on 1st April 1918. In 1940, the Battle of Britain began, and this was the first ever air-only battle. The RAF had just under 2000 aircraft, whereas the Luftwaffe had just under 4,100 aircraft.


This shows that the RAF was severly outnumbered. Saying this however, the RAF fought and fought hard, proving to the world that they were the best in what they do, and eventually they won the battle.

This was the birth of one of the best quotes in the history of mankind, and still is. It came from Winston Churchill after the Battle of Britain ended with an RAF victory.

"Never, in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many, to so few."
Those who were involved in the Battle of Britain
are still today known as The Few, and rightly so. We owe a great debt to these people, who no doubt drank Pimms.

This brings me on to my second but final topic of this post, which begins with a question I hope you can all answer with ease. Before I ask the question, I think it is right to state that Chris over at Potential Difference will definately know the answer to this...

What is heavily British and was first produced in 1823 by a man called James Pimm?

If you all jumped off your seats shouting "PIMMS" then you would be not just be correct, but you also can give yourselves a pat on the back and maybe even a gold star.

Pimms is the ultimate British drink. It is epic in Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. Any Pimms will do, however, I have only ever drank the Pimms No. 1 Cup which is gin-based and seriously good.
When you take a sip from your Pimms No. 1 Cup, you feel British. I like that feeling of being properly British and I don't think many people can get that feeling any more unless they drink Pimms, simply because our country isn't what it used to be, mainly thanks to immigration.

It has even evolved into a canned form (Pimms that is), allowing you to buy 250ml ready-to-drink cans of Pimms and Lemonade, and they are awesome, just like the bottles of Pimms you can buy. This drink is however, rather expensive, but if you want a delicious refreshing drink which is utterly epic in every way, then it is worth it.

Guess what ladies and gentlemen...Its Pimms O' Clock!

Wednesday 15 July 2009

Panthers Claw

We have just pulled out of Iraq with the close-down of Operation TELIC after handing over to the US and as good as this sounds, you need to look at the events happening on the other side of Iran.

Operation Herrick. Afghanistan. The situation here is getting a lot worse. This week just gone, the UK endured a horrific 15 deaths in just 10 days. 8 of these, within 24 hours. Why is this happening though? How come the sudden rise in deaths?


The UK Ministry of Defense has begun Operation Panthers Claw in Afghanistan with the aim to drive the Taleban out of their strongholds in order to weaken them, and in order to gain land which can be utilised in the future. The top brass knew the risks involved, and with these recent deaths of heroes, everyone's fingers are pointing at the government - and rightly so.

Gordon Brown was continuing to tell the military top brass that they cannot send more troops to Afghanistan. Why? Because he is a fucktard and doesn't understand the need for more troops in order to be able to squash those "rag-head" militants and push the more difficult groups of those inhumane scumbags out of strongholds which they have held for years.


It is time for change.

It doesn't take a genius to realise that our heroes out in Afghanistan on Operation Herrick are under-equipped and as a result, putting their lives at such a risk all the time. Some guys are even walking around in the standard 'Greens' colour combat clothing, instead of wearing the necessary desert pattern combat clothing. What the hell is going on?!

There aren't enough helicopters either. The Royal Air Force simply cannot deploy any more helicopters than it has already done so. They cannot send every helicopter out there, as they are required to hold some on standby for when some come back for maintenance, and others are currently being maintained.


The Chinook helicopter, the workhorse of Afghanistan, as a good example, is so vital to preserve life and save lives of those who would travel otherwise on the dirt tracks and desertified land of Afghanistan. Whenever troops travel on the roads, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonates and people are injured or killed.

The vehicles are being changed, but, they still aren't performing. The British Army needs more stronger vehicles which can withstand IEDs, such as the Jackal vehicle, designed to spread the blast away from the centre of the vehicle where the occupants sit.

No-one in the Armed Forces are paid enough either in my opinion, for the job that they do. On a tour, they put their lives on the line for anything over 4 months on a daily basis without being able to guarantee their return. Realistically, all they can do is hope for the best. I think that the minimum Armed Forces wage should be £30,000 - starting with the people on the smallest wage - the British Army soldiers, the cannon fodder.


The Government, namely the Prime Minister and the rest of the stupid Labour Party seem to think that the UK forces are infact well equipped and are perfectly able to continue their operations perfectly well with the equipment already provided out there. But they are obviously incompetent bed-wetters who are hiding from the real truth. They are under-equipped, and the sooner the Govt. realise this, the better!

Now here are two questions which could be difficult to answer. Who are the Taleban? Why do they seem so effective?

The answers are actually infact quite simple. The Taleban are cowards and the reason why we are fighting them is because they are a direct threat to our national security, and this applies to the UK, the USA, and any other ISAF force in the country at present.

They are cowards because they use women and children to shield them from being bombed by our Air Forces. When a Harrier GR7/GR9/GR9A flies over, or any other aircraft, they ensure that there are women and children walking around the compound so that our rules of engagement state that we cannot drop the bomb on the target.

Another example of how they are cowards is the way in which they drop their weapons and hide when an Apache gunship helicopter arrives to help out the troops on the ground. They drop their weapons, and wait for the Apache to be low on fuel before picking up arms and starting again as it leaves the area. That's cowardly. They know our rules of engagement stop us from firing upon unarmed men.

A third and final example of how they are cowards comes from the experience we all know too well. Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). These have proven deadly for our ground troops, which is why more helicopters are needed. The rag heads plant horrific IEDs into the road, where they know our troops will travel, then disappear elsewhere.

Why are they effective? They use tactics which they learnt from the last Gulf War. Many of them, as they are elders, fought in this war and lost friends to the enemy at the time. This would have made them press on to become much stronger, and better equipped.

They use their pre-dated yet good tactics learnt in previous years, and couple it with their outstanding knowledge of the area, including where all the irrigation ditches lead to, and use this to fight the British, or whoever they are engaging at the time.

I predict that the Government will only act upon this problem of resources when the Labour Govt is squashed and kicked out, and when the Conservative Govt, led by David Cameron takes over.

I do however, propose a solution. Chris at Potential Difference only knows this too well...

Nuke
And
Forget.

Friday 3 July 2009

Give it the beans... unleash the tsunami of power

The Car: Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk6 (2009)

A Quote from the Top Gear website from their own review:
It's time to make a suggestion. More than that, a bold assertion, that the Mark VI Golf GTI is the best car in the world you can possibly buy right now.

Performance and Spec:
Engine: 2.0L TSI 210PS
Fuel: Petrol
OTR: from £22,415
Transmission: 6 Speed Auto DSG or Manual
0 - 60mph: 6.9 seconds
Top Speed: 149mph
Fuel Consumption: 35mpg
Emissions: 170 grams of CO2 per km

It is all well and good for me to slap a load of statistics onto this post to prove how good this car is, but they aren't necessary at all. Lee, over at Surprisingly Bewildered, is wanting to produce a scoreboard using these figures and I know that this car won't win - but it doesn't need to win. To put it simply, it is in a league of its own - above all scoreboards and tables of data. Just look at it...


Looks:
It really is a stunning car from both inside the vehicle (above) and outside the vehicle (below). In my opinion, Volkswagen really have taken a modern stance on the traditional Golf GTI cars that have advanced through the years. Its a car for the present day, maybe even the future.

Not only this, but Volkswagen have made the GTI a car for everyone. By this, I mean that they have most likely said to various people scattered throughout Volkswagen "Old man, I want a new GTI" or "Slightly retarded work experience boy, make modification." Gladis seems to be happy with it:

Bob: "Sunday drive, Gladis?
Gladis: "Only if it is in your new Golf GTI!"

But who cares who is driving it? Whether it is Gladis and Bob, or Robert Mugabe and George Abdugduhgwengo. I feel the need to make clear that this is not a chavvy car - far from it infact. It is a masterpiece displaying beauty, providing us with a superb purr with the engine idling, or a breath-taking roar when you put your foot down and give it the beans.

The design of the vehicle is sleek, gracious, powerful and the shape of the car makes it look fast. It is certainly the head-turner when it is on the road. You have the choice of standard (yet very nice) upholstery of a high quality, or a fine grain leather for the seats and the choice of two is more than enough. Volkswagen wouldn't want to spoil you more with this car than they already have done.

Speed
Now, in order for me to review this vehicle, I needed to do research. By research I mean that I need to sit infront of my laptop reading emails, occasionally visiting the Volkswagen website for some technical stuff and googling a few images and selecting a handful to use.

I found out that on paper, the new Ford Focus RS is a faster vehicle than the VW Golf GTI Mk6. But that is on paper...and paper can be recycled, or set alight, along with the new Focus RS (available in a Radioactive Puke Green colour) Nevertheless, it is certainly a fast car. But it is not just a fast car. It has it all. Performance, practicality, safety, strength, traction, affordability... and that is just to name a few!

It has the torques to throw down the moment that accelerator is pressed ever so gently down a centimetre (with the clutch being lifted of course). The engine reacts like a tramp on chips, throwing torque here, there and more importantly, everywhere! This car has what Jeremy Clarkson loves.

POWER!!!

There really is no need to sacrifice any Lebanese prostitutes as Lee so kindly states when describing his car. There are no prostitutes to sacrifice, unless of course Lee abducted a selection when he visited Lebanon in his Porsche Frog-Arse. They were all mowed down by this beast of a car. The king of the road. The cream of the crop. The icing on the cake and finally, the cherry on top of the icing on the cake.

One question which I can also answer right now is this. The Golf, the Porsche and the DB5 are head to head in a fight to the death. Which car would win? The Golf of course. It has Steve Bandy's seal of approval - which is enough proof for me!

Another Opinion
This brings me on to revealing what the tamed racing driver would say about this truly magnificent car. Some say that he can smell the scent of vinegar from a mile away and that his hands are actually dog paws. All we know is, he's called The Stig.

I reckon that The Stig would give this car a gloves up stating that it is a serious car and is a remarkable product from Volkswagen. Yet again, the car company have created a superb car which ticks both my boxes, and the boxes in the Top Gear office as they awarded it 17/20 on their reviews! But would you buy it?

The Price
£22,415 - £24,305. It isn't expensive, and it isn't cheap either. It sits comfortably at that price, attracting a wide range of interest in the direction of the car. If you are buying the car, you should want it to look amazing, so I would recommend the optional alloy wheels rather than the manufacturer fitted ones. In addition to this, you may want to get the number of packs available to really improve your car, adding to the price even more.

Reviews from Top Gear
They reviewed this vehicle twice. On both occasions, the two different people both awarded this truly stunning car 17/20. A supercar score for a superb car.

I leave you with the thought that maybe, just maybe, badgers could evolve to take over the planet and that North Korea would provide them with the nuclear weapons so that they can launch an attack on every country on Earth, whilst simultaneously damming up the Atlantic Ocean.

And on that bombshell, it is time to end this post. Goodbye!
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