As a child I was very small, almost feral looking. My hair was the wiry dispicable kind that even a mother can’t love, not really. I lived in a house like everyone else did, a house with a roof and running water, but still, for some reason puberty got pretty confused. It didn’t know which way it wanted to turn. Some days it wanted me to become a regular human man, but some days it wanted something different. I got the impression it was happier with me hiding out in the woods scampering about than walking around in cities. So that was what I used to do.

But I finally did learn to be part of a team; I never stopped being the child who got picked last for Rugby, of course, but I learnt what being part of a team was all about. Then I hit adulthood and discovered that being part of a team doesn’t always mean being listened to. Being adult doesn’t give you a green-light. Even if you don’t look feral you can be considered one of the masses and therefore not-listen-worthy-able!

But, phew, that’s not everyone.

Enigin listen to their members, you see, and they actually do read their feedback and act on it. Act on it I tell you! Not put it through the shredder. They actually try to understand their company’s viewpoints. That’s much better than most companies out there, and the way we all need to be going to make employees trust their businesses and vice versa.

It’s important stuff this; yes, they may be boring to listen to but the energy-saving professionals know what’s up when it comes to saving the planet.

So what is this all about?–you’re probably screaming at the screen right now (and to be fair I’d probably be the same). Well, let me elaborate: Enigin are aiming to start up a kind of forum for professionals concerned with energy saving problems and solutions. That’s right. Finally, somewhere where big massive crucially important ideas can be swapped and mulled over at light-speed! More importantly, the professionals will be able to talk about their own energy-saving businesses, thus spreading the word to the general public and letting them know what they have up their big and clever sleeves.

But is it so clearly wrong? There are a lot of films and albums which you just cannot buy anymore and the only way to get them is by downloading. Surely there are different degrees of piracy, aren’t there?

It wasn’t so many years ago that records and cassettes were the formats we used for music. And just about everyone recorded a new album that someone else had paid for. And no-one was ever taken to court over it. Isn’t file-sharing exactly the same principle, only on a larger scale?

Of course, there is a difference between that and downloading new movies to sell. Go and have a look around your nearest car boot sale and you will find at least one guy selling illegal copies of the latest films. How they actually have the audacity to do this is a mystery to me, but there you go.

However, if you look at piracy from another perspective then it changes things considerably. There are plenty of up-and-coming musicians who are struggling like mad to break into the big time. And if you mention piracy to someone like this then it will not go down very well. You can understand it; every time someone downloads one of their albums it is costing them a lot of money.

I wonder what will happen with it all. Online piracy certainly cannot just be stopped because it is so very well established. But if it is to be controlled then it will need to be done carefully and in a sensible way.

As you all know I have been looking into this supposed enigin scam. And I found this great new website written by one of the employess, you should all really check it out!

Picture the scene: you’ve been working for the company for five years and have done well, as well as anyone, what with the over-time—but times are hard; a new mortgage is hard to come by, everything costs more and more every day, and you need to find some way of making money: you need to do this fast. Then you discover that by simply altering a few numbers—things which only you would notice, small, insignificant things that can’t do any kind of damage, not in the grand scheme of things—that money can be made an instant reality.

Six months later there is a knock on your door. It’s two policemen, behind them a van. Except the policemen are not the every-day kind. They are from the fraud-squad, and they would like to talk to you, which involves being woken up from your Luxury designer bedding, being arrested and hauled off to the police station.

That’s the way it should be, is it not, if we are being universally fair, that is? If you have committed an offence such as fraud, you would expect that arrest could be a possibility.

Unless you’re an Mp. The following story, though satisfying in some ways, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

If we’re already going easy on them before the hearing, then what’s to say this will not be carried through into the court-room?

I don’t think it’s enough to simply ask the MPs in question to turn up at the court-house, do you? It seems as though every stage of this process—a process which has already been long and drawn out and only happened at all because a huge fuss was made by the public and the media—has been altered for the sake of people who should have known better. Not only altered, but allowed to run amok: can this be reasonably classified as ‘law and order’?

Portishead are one of those bands that like to mess around with film-making. For a lot of musicians, this can be a rather dodgy area. Making music is one thing, but managing to create a half-decent movie is a very different matter. You think that’s harsh? Then you obviously don’t remember Vanilla Ice. Actually, his music and his film were both crap so that is perhaps a bad example… But if you do manage to get it all right then it will certainly impress your fans; and probably bring you a lot of new ones at the same time.

If you are a lover of Portishead’s music then you have maybe heard of their short movie; it is called, ‘To Kill a Deadman’. But what you may not realise is that it’s available to watch on YouTube! And any connoisseur of their work really should take the eleven minutes of running time to check it out.

It is, essentially, a spy film. The retro ‘crime movie’ sound that is so evident in their songs has been successfully transferred onto celluloid. It’s grainy, moody and shot in an arty black and white. All three members of the band star in the film and play their parts really well. However, for me, it is Geoff Barrow who steals the show. The role of a hitman just seems to suit him so well.

It never ceases to amaze me what you come across on YouTube. Whatever rarity you can think of, you always seem to be able to find it on there.

I have just updated the illustrations on the site for kerosene oil, I know that it might surprise you that I am working for an oil company; but I don’t think they are as environmentally unfriendly as I once surmised. Plus, I’ve sold out, I need the pay!

I have never gone much for the theory of evolution, but when it comes to mice it is a different matter… To avoid confusion, I should point out that I am not talking about the cute, furry variety. They may have evolved, but it is something that I have no knowledge of. The mice of which I speak are, of course, for computers.

The first mice for PCs had balls. And I do not mean they were valiant. They were cumbersome and horrible to use, but we did not complain too much as we didn’t know any different.

And then, a clever man in computer design came along and castrated them all. The new generation of mice were here and they were optical! But, in recent years, a new batch has been born and these ones are cordless!

I recently purchased my second cordless mouse. It is a ‘Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000’ and I am very, very impressed. The only problem that I did have with it was that it stopped my screensaver from coming on. I spent absolutely ages looking into why this was and I finally discovered that it was causing a conflict with Windows. With this knowledge I was able to simply download an appropriate update and instantly solve the problem.

Now my Microsoft mouse is great! I would strongly recommend it to anyone and if it ever goes wrong I would certainly buy myself another. It only requires one AA battery and it will usually last for several weeks. It is very responsive, comfortable to use and just the right size.

I said that this was my second cordless mouse… I only had the first one for a day before I got rid. It was made by Trust and it really was horrid. It was chunky, unresponsive and cumbersome; more like a cordless guinea pig really!

If you are looking for a better mouse, and one that is cordless, then you cannot go far wrong with the Microsoft range. They may be a little bit more expensive, but it is well worth paying the extra.

Quick thing, I have just had a look at the web design for this hr software page and I feel I should say in my web trained opinion it is incredably eye-catching. I think that this is a really good example of using flash in a subtle way. I for one, am a fan!

Windows 7 is the latest operating system from Microsoft. The company purports that this new system will not have many of the problems its predecessor, Vista, did. Windows 7 has brought with it some very new features and improvements in other areas. Here is a simple review of Windows 7.

Speed

The new operating system performs much faster than Vista did. Speed was one of the main issues users of Windows Vista had. They accomplished this improvement in speed by changing the way in which the operating system shows graphics to your monitor. Now what happens is that the operating system cannot start displaying things until all background information is sorted out. This helps to reduce the time it takes an application to load and also how responsive the system is when being used.

Networking at home

One new feature of Windows 7 is the ability of users to do home networking. This allows home users to do file sharing among the computers within the network. This can be done with great ease which makes this operating system so much simpler to use. Users will also be able to add printers to the network.

Desktop shortcuts

One of the great features of this operating system is the desktop shortcuts which allows you to manage opened windows. So if you have a number of windows open and you click on and shake one of them the rest will minimise. There are other similar features which help to make the experience much easier.

Functionality

There is a marked improvement over Vista in taskbar functionality. Windows are bunched together in a more functional and clever way. You can now close a preview window by simply clicking on the “x”.

Internet Explorer

In the past users could not uninstall IE and use another browser but with Windows 7 you have the option of doing just that.

Alright before I go, it is time for my amazing link of the week. I have lately came across upon this article called Enigin Scam, not only is this company great at what they do, but I am really respecting this article as well.

When you spend hours on end in front of a computer screen you can listen to all of your favourite music whilst you work. I find it easy to concentrate on my web design and listen to all kinds of things at the same time. I think that I am very lucky to be in my line of work because there are plenty of other jobs out there where listening to songs would not be an option.

Some people have said to me that they think web design must be very boring. They seem to think that I just sit at my laptop in silence all day. It is the ideal job for me because I love to listen to music anyway. The way that I see it sometimes is from the other way round; I am doing a bit of work whilst I am listening to all of my best CDs.

So, what is my music of choice while I am tapping away at the computer? I like all sorts of stuff but I think that ‘world music’ or anything ‘ambient’ is really relaxing when you are working. Although sometimes I will put on David Bowie or The Smashing Pumpkins and sing along to my favourite tracks.

On a slight tangent what do you think of the before and afters pictures on the hair loss treatments webpage, They are not exactly asperational. Come on! I recone we should just remove them.

Ha, Ha. I really enjoyed reading, ‘Runt’s Life is For Sale – Again’. There are so many rotters out there who are trying to do people out of money and it is brilliant when you hear a story like this.

The internet is rife with scammers and con-artists. It isn’t so bad for people who are familiar with most of the tricks but I feel really sorry for anyone who is new to it all.

There are a lot of older people who go out and get a PC to try and keep up with the times. The last thing that they need is to cross paths with cyber conmen.

One last bit of news, I am aiming to sort out something for my sister as a gift. When I was talking with her the other night she said that she would like some new running clothing. Does anyone know of a reliable place to get it?

I have been a big fan of the GTA games right from the very first one on the old, chunky Playstation. When I look back on it I can’t believe how much fun it was to play the first ‘top down’ episode of the series. After a few years passed and Rockstar released ‘Grand Theft Auto III’ in glorious 3D it completely blew me away.

I think that ‘San Andreas’ is still my favourite but I am very interested in getting my mitts on the latest installment…