Horse meat burgers | Police pay reduced

So I have been in hiding for the past few days, for purely personal reasons. I apologise for the lack of updates. To make up for it, I have two fairly big stories to cover today.

Horse meat found in supermarket burgers

This story has been circulating for a good 24 hours now and is still hot on the press. The long and short of it, is that horse DNA was found in supermarket value beefburgers. 

Burgers sold by Lidl, Aldi, Tesco and Iceland found to contain horse meat

The announcement provoked a large outcry from people - many of which probably never even ate the burgers. To me, if you aren't affected by the product, don't complain - it's completely pointless.

The supermarket that is receiving most criticism is Tesco. I am not entirely sure this is fair, when chains such as Lidl and Aldi were found to be selling burgers from the same supplier. It appears people are deliberately sticking the knife into Tesco yet again. It's a shame, because it was only very recently that Tesco announced a turn around from the drop in profits late last year, so this is a massive step back for them.

In my opinion, people were all fine with eating the burgers and possibly even enjoyed them, before someone told them there was horse DNA in there. People are fine with butchering a cow, a pig and a lamb but the minute it comes to horse people are outraged. Seriously, if you eat meat then don't complain when you're given meat. If you're so appalled to be eating horse, perhaps you shouldn't be a meat eater.

Police pay reduced

This is another story that has bothered me. The home secretary has announced that a police constables pay is to be reduced to around £18k. Before I begin, I do realise that this is a fairly standard wage in today's society but I don't agree with it.

Police are to have their pay reduced

The police do a remarkable job, and their responsibility is huge. If anything, their pay should be increased or at least frozen, not reduced!

It really makes me laugh as, if you've seen my post earlier this week, MP's are wanting a pay increase. So, let's get this straight, MP's who complain, complain, increase taxes, complain, complain, introduce more fees, complain, complain, etc... want an increase on the already extortionate wage they are paid whereas a policeman/woman who looks after society and upholds the law, whilst putting their own lives in danger are having their wage reduced.

This country is really falling on it's backside. It has been for a very long time, but the more these pompous idiots are in power, the faster we will head towards oblivion.

Appears Blackberry have lost it

Blackberry are in the news once more, with yet another service outage. Is it just me, or are Blackberry services down more than they are up?

Users were unable to use email and web facilities. Photo: uk.hardware.info

This latest blackout appears to have affected Vodafone customers and left users without email or web access. Whilst SMS and phone calls were still functional, the main purpose of a Blackberry is for email and various uses of the web (BBM, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

A lot of users took to Twitter to voice their frustrations - using their PC of course - and demand Vodafone to get things sorted. From what I understand, and from research, it appears that RIM placed the blame on Vodafone because all of their services were operating "normally".

I'm not sure how much longer the Blackberry has in the UK market. It still has an attraction to the common consumer in that you can pick one up relatively cheap, and it has the BBM feature that other phone's lack. The most common use for a Blackberry, that I have seen, is business. It seems they are the much easier option - plus the business side of the network never appears to have problems.

To think, at one stage, I used to want a Blackberry. How very lucky I feel that I was turned down for credit back then. Possibly the only time having no credit rating will save my life.

In other news...

Take a look at the below image. It's a box junction in London that has been dubbed "The Moneybox Junction". Drivers feel that the council have deliberately made the box larger than standard, as well as strategically place two sets of lights a few hundred metres away, all to generate massive sums of money.

I think the estimation is that the council made around £2M between 2011-2012 - crazy, isn't it!

Moneybox Junction. Photo: http://bit.ly/VY6OL4 (Daily Mail)

MP's are underpaid, wait... what??

I've just been reading a rather funny story. In all honesty, I read it yesterday but couldn't get my head around it properly in order to express my opinion.

The long and short of it, MP's have stated that they believe they are underpaid and are entitled to a 32% pay rise! Before I carry on, please bear in mind that most MP's are on a paltry sum of £60,000 p.a. so they deserve the pay rise.

Actually, no, they bloody well don't. A pay rise is generally awarded when an employee excels in their role, I don't believe MP's have even come close to correctly performing their role let alone excel. It just shows you how out of touch they are with the rest of the UK. 

It makes me laugh, they want all of us to vote for them, yet they cut people's benefits, they increase taxes, they introduce more fees and then have the cheek to say they want a bigger wage. The wage they are on at the moment is easily 3-4 times, if not more, as much as the standard working class citizen. In my eyes, if these citizens can live on their wage then the MP's can live on their so called "low" wage. If they can't, they should make sacrifices and cut their spending like everyone else has to. Sell that flash car, downgrade the property. You do whatever it takes to live on your wage. Most people I know, and those I don't, have a hell of a lot more expenditure to worry about and they DON'T complain - they get on with it. What a perfect example of how the country should be.

If I had my way, the country would be run by the majority. None of these wealthy bred, Cambridge educated toffs who have no idea how the majority of the UK lives.

Or, to make it fair, why not have it similar to America. Each area of the country run by a different government. One that is more in touch with the people of the area. Money made from that area goes straight to their particular government and spent in that area only. None of this centralised bullcrap where the high lords in London get to decide how the rest of the country lives, only spending money where they see fit.

You can find more info on this story here. I'm done. I could go on for hours and hours about how ridiculous this whole saga is.

Les Miserables

Les Miserables is a well known novel by Victor Hugo. It has been adapted into theatrical performances for many years now and has, this year, been turned into a film.

Sam managed to pick up some free tickets to a preview showing of the film this evening, so we decided to go and see it. I must say, I was impressed. I will admit that I was not looking forward to it. Having seen the theatrical performance (which is stunning, by the way) I couldn't see how they would successfully convert it into a film, a decent one anyway. However, as it was free, I though I might as well give it a go - after much persuasion from the Sam.

I'm not going to spoil it. If you have read the book or seen it at the theatre then there isn't really anything to spoil but for the benefit of those who are new to Les Mis I won't mention any part of the story.

Iconic image used to promote theatrical performances of Les Miserables

I was pleasantly surprised by the film to be quite honest. With strong performances from Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, you won't be disappointed if you do decide to go and see it. I must warn you, especially if you haven't seen Les Mis in the theatre, it is a very long film - around 2 and a half hours. It's worth mentioning that this will probably turn to about 3 hours ish with adverts and trailers (something that a preview doesn't have, fortunately).

Also, with it being a sung-story musical, there is non stop songs from start to finish. If this isn't your thing, don't bother.

Film poster

I would definitely recommend giving it a watch. It's an inspiring story and one you are not likely to forget. It also has an unforgettable music track list with favourites such as "I dreamed a dream" and "Look down".

If you haven't read the book, and would like to know the background story before watching the film, then you should be able to pick up a second hand copy relatively cheap. It's a French book so you'll need the English translation, unless you can read French of course. You can actually pick up the Kindle edition of the English translated version for £0.00 - yes, it's completely free at the moment. (Please note that this price is correct as of 23:54GMT on 08/01/13).

The film is released in UK cinemas on 11th January, 2013. It's a very popular tale so expect queues and packed screens on release day.

Playstation 4?

So I have just read something very interesting. Rumour has it, that Sony is due to announce their next gen console - dubbed the Playstation 4 (PS4). These rumours have been sparked by the news that Sony have ceased worldwide production of the Playstation 2 (PS2). Shortly after they did the same thing with the original Playstation, the Playstation 3 (PS3) was announced.

Now, I am not a Playstation gamer myself. I do own a PS2, and did originally own the first Playstation but I don't have the PS3. The reason for this is solely one of price. When the PS3 was first released, it was well beyond my budget. The Xbox 360, on the other hand, was much more affordable for me. Being an Xbox gamer for the last few years has made me rusty on the Playstation(s). I can't get used to the controller, so quickly give up and return to the Xbox.

I have no idea when Sony would even be likely to announce the PS4. It could be in a few days, weeks, months. It might not even be at all. They may have already shown a very select few individuals what they are working on, however.

Either way you look at it, a new console is inevitable from Sony. They know consoles like I know how to breathe - it completes them and, to be quite frank, is one of the key building blocks to their corporation.

In my honest opinion, I can't see myself going back to Playstation. If they make the controller similar to the Xbox, or they make the Xbox controllers compatible, I might consider it but I can't see that becoming a reality. We'll have to just keep our eyes and ears open for more juicy news.

You can see some concept art below the post. I don't think the PS4 (or whatever Sony's next console will be) is going to look a thing like these, but it's nice to see the community are so involved in the potential project and what they'd like to see. I can almost definitely believe that 3D will be introduced. With the likes of the 3DS and 3D televisions becoming ever more popular, I would think the likes of Sony would be first in there on introducing a 3D capable console - like they did with the Blu-Ray.

Concept design 1 - Kind of has the "Wii" look

Concept design 2 - Controller looks bulky and the console looks unstable

Apple lose £813,000 in Paris theft

I read this story late last night but didn't have chance to post my reaction. Basically a group of armed robbers broke into the Apple store in Paris, making off with goods worth £813,000 (1M euro).

Their planning was half decent, I've got to admit. The heist happened on New Years Eve, a time when the city was counting down to New Year and the attention of the Police was focused on the celebrations.

The Apple store in Paris, France

I have seen a lot of reactions to this online, stating that "it isn't a huge loss for Apple" and "they make billions a year, this isn't even pocket change for them". Whilst this is all true, theft is still theft. If you were a multi-millionaire it would still upset you to have something stolen from you.

Another point is that if Apple just shrugged this off, what's to stop more frequent and possibly dangerous heists being attempted? I count them lucky that the robbers decided to break in when the store was shut.

I feel these days, with the recent expenses scandal in the UK and the news of "tax evading" corporations, people have literally gone on a witch hunt. If you're a big corporation with lots of profit and hardly any outgoings, you deserve to be robbed. This is where the line should be drawn. No one "deserves" to have their possessions taken from them, regardless of how rich and/or powerful they are. At the end of the day, if you steal from someone then you're a low life who does not deserve to walk free.

We all need to accept that a business is there to make money, and a business only thrives on hard work and dedication, plus a lot of money, from the people who run it. Sure, some are gifted with rich parents or family who fund their ventures but a company can't simply run off borrowed money. It needs to turn into a successful and profitable business that can only be attained through dedication and a LOT of hard work.

Apple

The robbers of the Paris Apple store are still at large, with a lot of Apple products. Unless they're smart about how they shift the goods, someone is bound to get suspicious about the amount they're selling.

I, for one, seriously hope they are caught sooner rather than later and definitely before they have the chance to target anyone else.

Hello, 2013

First post of 2013! Happy New Year to you all, the views and shares I have had on this blog to date has been fantastic. I saw a real push yesterday when I clocked my highest ever view count, so thank you!

My post today is about Minecraft, more specifically Tekkit Servers. I've just purchased a server, got it setup and installed the Tekkit plugin but I keep running into problems when I attempt to play the darned thing! It keeps telling me I don't have certain mods that the server requires. I've managed to sort out a couple of them after some quick Google searches but I'm stumped with the other two. I've contacted the server techie guys, hoping they can help.

I am a technical guy myself but this stuff is just a little out of my remit, hence me asking the experts!

Tekkit - Possibly the most popular Minecraft Mod pack.

I really love Tekkit. I've only recently got into it so it is taking some getting used to, but the more I play the more I'll pick up. I've also been following a few YouTube series' to see how other people play, get an idea of what to do, what machines to start with, etc.

I might do a playthrough on Tekkit. If that's something you're interested in then check out my NerdyCraft blog, link here. That blog is empty at the moment but maybe my beginnings with Tekkit can be it's first adventure. I'll see how I go - got to get the server and my launcher working in tandem first however.

I'll keep you all posted.