Category: Bullshit

  • Quite a long post about New Model Army

    I got into New Model Army in Kilbirnie Library, in the late 1980s. I was going through a bit of a punk/new wave thing at the time, and the library’s collection of vinyl LPs included one whose cover was a painted leather jacket, the words “only stupid bastards take heroin” disguised but still recognisable on…

  • Suicide is painless for Hyundai

    Yesterday, the internet was outraged by a viral advert for Hyundai that used suicide to sell cars. It was unbelievably irresponsible and utterly offensive, and as a result it’s been a huge success. It also demonstrates that people in advertising think we’re all fucking idiots. The advert was a terrible mistake, Hyundai says, and it…

  • Apple is dooooooooomed!

    Me, on Techradar: When I got up this morning, one of my dogs had crapped on the kitchen floor, my mobile was showing No Service and the coffee machine spat out hot water instead of coffee. “This can only mean one thing,” I said to myself. “Apple is DOOOOOOMED!” The article contains the phrase “diminutive…

  • Kwik-Fit’s definition of “urgent” is probably different to yours

    Back in 2006 I wrote a rant about my local Kwik-Fit and what appeared to be a bad case of incompetence. Time for a new one. I needed some new tyres on my very old and knackered Saab, and for once Kwik-Fit had the best price. On picking up the car, I was told that…

  • I demand compensation for my failed gamble!

    There’s a nice piece in the New Yorker about Apple versus Wall Street. Einhorn and Tepper paid an average of about five hundred and seventy-seven dollars for their shares, which suggests that they are each sitting on a paper loss of close to a hundred and thirty million dollars. Naturally, they aren’t pleased, but their…

  • Reviewers should be paid, not paid in kind

    I get a lot of emails like this, asking me to review things: Our first review roundup is of Bluetooth Speakers under £50, and we’d like to send you a couple of units (at no cost to you of course – and you can keep them, no strings attached) to review on your site. You…

  • The Jenny McCarthy Body Count

    You can’t accuse this site of mincing its words: In June 2007 Jenny McCarthy began promoting anti-vaccination rhetoric. Because of her celebrity status she has appeared on several television shows and has published multiple books advising parents not to vaccinate their children. This has led to an increase in the number of vaccine preventable illnesses…

  • Confirmed: a plausible rumour isn’t actually a fact

    It’s an Apple scoop! From Forbes.com, on Saturday: Confirmed: New iPhone Will Be Longer and Thinner and Have Smaller Dock Connector Confirmed? Not so fast. iLounge editor Jeremy Horowitz posted some rumours, and… These details match up with and expand upon his earlier reports, so this is seeming pretty credible. That isn’t confirmation, and the…

  • Fatherhood, depression and bullshit

    Many new fathers are filled with great joy on becoming parents, but for some it’s the beginning of a long, dark period of depression. Writing in the Observer, Barbara Ellen completely misrepresents the issue and writes the kind of heartless column you’d expect from the Daily Mail’s Jan Moir: I would have been more concerned…

  • I think you’ll find that I’m taking the piss

    Me, taking the piss out of iPad 3 speculation that gets entire articles out of analysing an invitation: If you look at the launch invitation the Calendar app icon is nice and clear and Retina-y, but just look at the Keynote icon to the right. It’s so blurry you can barely make it out. It’s clear…