Fran's Blog

I spend a lot of time bored; standing at the bus stop, waiting for erm… olives at a delicatessen. Anyway, I tend to start pondering things in the world which people might never think about/want to think about/think it’s too boring to think about.

Today I am in a pensive mood, a good mood, but pensive. So I decided to share my fairly boring, but could be made interesting in a pub, thoughts.

• Does the world have less, more, or the same water as it had in the beginning? (in any form, including ice).
• If we have hydrogen cars, will it mean it will rain more if everyone has a hyrdrogen car?
• Can you pull your tongue? And if so, how? (as in pulling a muscle, the toungue is meant to be a muscle)

So, there it is, something to bring up in the pub. Scintillating!

I was recently reading an article about Sweat shops. In fact it seems to have been something of a topic for a while, with programmes showing on different levels. I did watch one very interesting programme last week where they sent 4 young whipper snappers to Mumbai, India to see the conditions. Something that I found very interesting though, was the attitudes. At first these kids were saying “this is disgusting, it’s horrible”, then they spoke to the workers who were saying “if we didn’t do this, we’d starve”. By the end of the programme, the youngsters had 2 views on the subject.

Now, I’m not a sweat shop advocate, far from it, I think the conditions are appauling. But maybe we should think this through in a less black and white way, yes, they work all hours God sends (as some of the workers said, it is (some of the time) their choice, the more they work, the more they get). Taking the work over to LA (as American Apparel are doing) is lovely, or simply not buying clothes made in India, it stops sweat shops, then the workers without jobs in India claim income benefit? No, they potentially starve (along with the families they are supporting), or, go to another sweat shop to work.

Sorry for all the ranting which I do on my blog. I think as I approach 30. I turn from “man” to “grumpy old man” which I seem to be embracing well, roll on 30!

Anyway, today’s topic is about using the wrong term for something. E.g. saying Java instead of JavaScript. These are different terms. Saying this to someone who understands, it is similar to saying “it’s sunny outside” when in fact it’s just cloudy and day time.

Sometimes I get the feeling I am the only one who realises a failed company before it’s set up. In fact, I’m sure everyone else does before the company realises itself.

Take for example the Gizmondo, the handheld gaming device. It had no chance. It was competing against Nintendo’s stronghold in the handheld gaming market, also the PSP and the mobile gaming market. But still, they thought “I know, we’ll set up another handheld devied, with GPS, and a mobile built in”. Lovely idea, but it cost a small fortune. Knock in the fact that they had no deals with the big games developers (or any good ones for that matter). Add to that, the hugely expensive shops on Regent Street etc, and , BAM! 1 year later, it’s nowhere.