04 Jan 11 Primark Man

“If you’re going to spend money on clothes, you should buy one very good-quality thing rather than filling your trolley to the gag reflex point in Primark”‘.

OK. I’ll admit it. In fact I’ll do even more than that. I’m proud of it. What?

That I am the typical Primark Man. I feel it’s a job well done, if I come out with a trolley full of clothes and change out of 50 quid.

In the US, a similar exercise can be undertaken in Wal-Mart, Kmart, or Target.

“Look!” I have declared. “I’ve got all this for only this much!”

My idea of dressing up is putting on a shirt with a collar and a pair of ten quid trousers, and wearing my only pair of shoes instead of canvas ones or sandals. I dress for comfort you see, as well as being frugal about it. I know I don’t look as outrageous as some guys I see about, but OK, I’ll admit that I don’t look stylish either.

Isn’t that for those that have lots of money to spend on these things? I have noticed that some people I know will spend a tidy sum on new clothes, but then eat cheap junk food. Surely, I’m more sensible to spend much less on clothes, and fill my stomach with better quality food?

Perhaps, just perhaps I should tip the scales at least a little more. It’s a New Year. A new job is on the horizon in a new location. Perhaps I should celebrate, when the pennies start rolling in again, by getting myself a little pampering. A new hair style, and at least a few decent items for my wardrobe?

Now, I don’t want to festoon my body with designer labels. I’m still not convinced that they necessarily mean quality, and a poseur I am not. Designer labels only mean something to others that follow such things. I’ve never even heard of half of these names. No, if I am to invest in a new wardrobe, it has to be quality above anything else, as well as looking good.

Anyway, you may ask, why this article at all? It’s just so not like me is it?

I’ll fess up. I got a little inspiration from this article in the Guardian today.

http://bit.ly/ffTQjS

Check it out, and tell me what you think. Should I continue being a proud Primark person, or should I go a little upmarket this year?

Tags: cheap junk, designer labels, gag reflex, junk food, kmart, little inspiration, lots of money, new hair style, new job, new location, pennies, poseur, primark, quality food, sandals, target, tidy sum, trolley, wal-mart, wardrobe

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06 Apr 08 Yahoo Takeover

Microsoft is up to its usual game.

Find a target, try to take it over. If it doesn’t happen peacefully, then use bullying tactics.

Microsoft feels threatened by Google right now.

Microsoft has never been an innovator; they’ve always bought or loosely copied what they want to get to market. That goes right back to MS-DOS days.

Microsoft still effectively have a licence to print money with their Windows Operating System, and MS-Office. This has largely come about due to deals with PC manufacturers and dealers, not because Windows or other Microsoft products are particularly superior in any way.

Microsoft has sold around 500 million Office licenses to date.

It’s $400 price tag means it’s largely aimed at the corporate world. The average home buyer certainly can’t afford or justify that kind of layout; they probably only paid about that for the PC itself these days.

I’ve already said that I use Google products in preference. They’re free, yes, but more importantly, they do what I want, and I can access my documents anywhere there’s an Internet connected machine. I did download the latest MS-Office 2007 trial recently. Even on my Dual core AMD CPU equipped PC with 4GB RAM it wasn’t fast, and downright slow at times. I deliberately installed all the bells and whistles, and stuff like Plaxo and LinkedIn add-ins.

Well, with my Google Docs/Gmail/Remember The Milk set up, along with online access to Plaxo and LinkedIn I can do all that I need to do anyway.

So it’s people like me that are the real threat to Microsoft. Heck, I can do all that I do with my set up above without even using Windows, and I don’t on my laptop, which runs Ubuntu, and two of my desktops here.

Yahoo lost it’s way some time back. They tried offering more online apps, such as Yahoo Answers, and Yahoo 360, while Google went quietly ahead and developed very good search algorithms.

So Microsoft want to take over Yahoo, so they can somehow get a greater online presence. I do recall some time back that Gates said the Internet wouldn’t catch on. Ho Hum.

Tags: bells and whistles, core amd, desktops, dos days, dual core, google, google docs, heck, home buyer, innovator, microsoft products, ms dos, ms office 2007, pc manufacturers, plaxo, price tag, s 400, target, Ubuntu, windows operating system

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07 Dec 07 Pearl Harbor

On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii . By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in port. (The USS Enterprise was returning from < Wake Island, where it had just delivered some aircraft. The USS Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway, and the USS Saratoga and USS Colorado were undergoing repairs in the United States.)

In spite of the latest intelligence reports about the missing aircraft carriers (his most important targets), Admiral Nagumo decided to continue the attack with his force of six carriers and 423 aircraft. At a range of 230 miles north of Oahu , he launched the first wave of a two-wave attack. Beginning at 0600 hours his first wave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo bombers which struck at the fleet in Pearl Harbor and the airfields in Hickam, Kaneohe and Ewa. The second strike, launched at 0715 hours, consisted of 167 aircraft, which again struck at the same targets.

At 0753 hours the first wave consisting of 40 Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” torpedo bombers, 51 Aichi D3A1 “Val” dive bombers, 50 high altitude bombers and 43 Zeros struck airfields and Pearl Harbor Within the next hour, the second wave arrived and continued the attack.
When it was over, the U.S. Losses were:
Battleships
USS Arizona (BB-39) – total loss when a bomb hit her magazine.
USS Oklahoma (BB-37) – Total loss when she capsized and sunk in the harbor.
USS California (BB-44) – Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS West Virginia (BB-48) – Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS Nevada – (BB-36) Beached to prevent sinking. Later repaired.
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) – Light damage.
USS Maryland (BB-46) – Light damage.
USS Tennessee (BB-43) Light damage.
USS Utah (AG-16) – (former battleship used as a target) – Sunk.
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Cruisers
USS New Orleans (CA-32) – Light Damage..
USS San Francisco (CA38) – Light Damage.
USS Detroit (CL-8) – Light Damage.
USS Raleigh (CL-7) – Heavily damaged but repaired.
USS Helena (CL-50) – Light Damage.
USS Honolulu (CL-48) – Light Damage..
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Destroyers
USS Downes (DD-375) – Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Cassin – (DD-37 2) Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Shaw (DD-373) – Very heavy damage.
USS Helm (DD-388) – Light Damage.
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Minelayer
USS Ogala (CM-4) – Sunk but later raised and repaired.
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Seaplane Tender
USS Curtiss (AV-4) – Severely damaged but later repaired.
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Repair Ship
USS Vestal (AR-4) – Sever ely damaged but later repaired.
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Harbor Tug
USS Sotoyomo (YT-9) – Sunk but later raised and repaired.
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Aircraft
188 Aircraft destroyed (92 USN and 92 U.S. Army Air Corps.)