Monday, February 20, 2006
Apologies

Sorry to anyone looking for the 'What kind of looter am I' entry, I had to take it down. The links I used were rather obscene and not what I thought they were. They were notsomething I want to associate myself or sffworld with, so sorry all round. I will try to get up something a little more friendly later in the week.

My Bad :)

Posted by Owen Jones 2006-02-20 06:49:37

Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Make Drugs legal

I was watching the other day on Sky the British Navy take control of a ship that had £350 million worth of drugs on board and there was some discussion between the four panellists over what it represented. One said that it was proof that current methods were successful and acted as a deterrent, the other three disagreed - with one of the three going so far as to use the awful 'drop in the ocean' pun. So like most topics currently, it got me thinking and what I was thinking is 'How can the drugs trade be stopped.' To which I replied to myself 'It can't.'

For multiple reasons that include addiction and money, drugs are here to stay. It is accepted that there will always be someone, somewhere willing to pay for this product. So realistically speaking, drugs won't ever be 'off the agenda'. Not that I'm condoning drug use, it's distribution or anything to do with the process. Rather I'd like to believe that I'm capable of thinking about the problem objectively. In which case the important question is, how then to deal with the situation. Now mad as it sounds, I thought about what legalising drugs would do and was quite surprised with what I came up with.

Firstly consider what government/societal control of drugs would mean. Less violence, less likelihood of the product being tampered with creating dead bodies (a whole government watchdog programme could be set up to monitor quality and quantity) More taxable revenue; legitimate, accountable distribution and a law that puts anyone selling to minors or even under-21's in jail for a long, long time. In addition there would be more police available for duties elsewhere and less gang related violence.

Areas could be designated in each town/city where Drug shops can set-up, all adequately policed and controlled in advance. It would be an easy place to monitor individuals suspected of criminal activity and allows society to know exactly where it is the drugs are found. Health care would be an issue, but if distribution is controlled then the only serious problem would be adverse reactions to the drugs. A card signed by the user stating of their own free will they took the substance would mean responsibility falls on the user. I'm not advocating legalising drugs and most of these ideas came to me while I was watching the programme, so they're implications haven't really been thought out properly but it is interesting to see when you put aside 'good' and 'bad' what you can come up with. I don't know the figures but deaths related to drug use can't be much higher, if at all, than alcohol or cigarette related deaths. Yet drinking and smoking are legal. I'm not sure that makes sense. Strange world.

Posted by Owen Jones 2006-02-07 19:50:01

Sunday, January 29, 2006
Sorrowful students

Having been 'out' for approaching 18 months, I can vouch for the fact that life after university isn't as easy as many in education would make it appear. In the last two weeks it has been hard to avoid the number of student debt-related suicides in the UK press. What has been most disappointing is the lack of response from the area of further education and the government. Certainly the vast majority of students leave university or college in debt and cope with it. For those not so lucky though, there really is nothing being done to support them. Universities and the government see this massive windfall that the infamous 'top-up' fees will be next year and have not considered what this will do to even more students.

Debt is not an easy thing to deal with, I've struggled for the last 18 months to pay board and lodge to my parents let alone begin to pay off the £10,000+ and growing I owe to the loan company. Sure 2% interest isn't a bad deal on such a large loan but given the former system and the fact that the average student loan takes 10-12 years to pay off, the government is still making money off students debts. With 'premier' universities likely, and able thanks to the system, to charge as much for a single year's fees as my total debt for four years at uni, those students who don't come from money won't have access to the best possible education. Quite aide from the elitist notion this conveys, students can rack up debts of £40,000-50,000 and will be paying it off for the rest of their lives. It's too much and is more than likely to increase the suicide rate amongst students heavily in debt. This is not a good situation that is only being exacerbated by a lack of action and willingness to recognise the problem. The system does not work.

I extend my deepest condolences to those parents whose children have chosen to take their lives, no parent should have to hear such news, least of all after accomplishing so much.

Posted by Owen Jones 2006-01-29 19:26:12

Thursday, January 26, 2006
Messenger annoyances

Now there is a line of thought that says I don't have a lot of patience. This line of thought is one hundred percent accurate. However in the case of MSN Messenger I do believe that a certain standard of practice is required. Over recent months I have begun to use Messenger more and more frequently for my job and also the work I do for websites in my spare time. I am not a people person nor am I particularly sociable, however I am never rude when typing - I save that for the phone. What I have noticed though is that I do not receive the level of civility I believe I'm due, even as a raging lunatic. Below then are some of the things that annoy the living hell out of me when on MSN:

- If you don't want to talk to me, set your status to Busy or falsely Offline. There is nothing worse than someone online who refuses to answer the flashing yellow icon with accompanying hiccup sound. I'm older than ten, I can take rejection.

- If you say 'I'll be right back' don't jump on a jet and fly to Paris for the weekend. If you mean 'I'm going to eat a six course meal followed by movie, drinks and some bedroom bouncing' say so. Waiting for someone to respond when they're three time zones away isn't my idea of funtime.

- When you ask me a question, I will respond in a timely fashion. Please extend me the same courtesy. I do not make small talk unless absolutely necessary, so if I'm asking a question then it is most likely urgent/important.

- Messenger has a tonne of great options but do not think winks is one of them. Anyone sending me one of these will receive an OMAC virus that will physically manifest and stick a size 12 where the sun doesn't shine.

- Lastly I accept that most people type with two fingers, nonetheless something remotely resembling a sentence would be appreciated. I don't care how you text or post on forums, you do not talk like that (anyone who does obviously needs a mobile phone enema) and it's bad for your written skills.

Posted by Owen Jones 2006-01-26 18:41:05

Thursday, January 12, 2006
Going back

I frequent a few other forums, one of which has a collab stories section. I went back to this site recently because I had received an e-mail saying that one of the story threads I was involved in had been revived. So I browsed on over and was pleasantly suprised to find the story going well. After reading it over I found that it was actually quite good, even though I couldn't remember writing many of the posts accredited to me. Now this may be an unhealthy dose of ego but since I have written very little in the space of time between now and then, it made me wonder whether we aren't too quick to judge ourselves harshly.

There are of course people who believe their pen or keyboard writes gold from the moment they start, but I'm not one of them. I like to rewrite and rewrite until stuck in a vicious circle that forces me to lose interest. I'm very conscious of doing it and have become enured to the fact that I will have to break down this barrier before I am able to finish any of the pieces that, at times, I itch to complete. One of the ways to do this, if today is any indicator, is to go back and look at what you can do - it won't all be bad and may give you enough hope to get on with it.*

*I am wellaware of the ironythat, after several similar blog posts over the course of the last year, I have yet to 'get on with it'.

Posted by Owen Jones 2006-01-12 19:00:44